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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/3868.txt b/3868.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..84e5c7d --- /dev/null +++ b/3868.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3308 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Memoirs of Louis XIV., Volume 9 +by Duc de Saint-Simon + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Memoirs of Louis XIV., Volume 9 + And His Court and of The Regency + +Author: Duc de Saint-Simon + +Release Date: December 3, 2004 [EBook #3868] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MEMOIRS OF LOUIS XIV., *** + + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + + MEMOIRS OF LOUIS XIV AND HIS COURT AND OF THE REGENCY + + BY THE DUKE OF SAINT-SIMON + + + + +VOLUME 9. + + + + +CHAPTER LXI + +Let me here relate an incident which should have found a place earlier, +but which has been omitted in order that what has gone before might be +uninterrupted. On the 16th of the previous July the King made a journey +to Fontainebleau, where he remained until the 14th of September. I +should suppress the bagatelle which happened on the occasion of this +journey, if it did not serve more and more to characterize the King. + +Madame la Duchesse de Berry was in the family way for the first time, +had been so for nearly three months, was much inconvenienced, and had a +pretty strong fever. M. Fagon, the doctor, thought it would be imprudent +for her not to put off travelling for a day or two. Neither she nor M, +d'Orleans dared to speak about it. M. le Duc de Berry timidly hazarded a +word, and was ill received. Madame la Duchesse d'Orleans more timid +still, addressed herself to Madame, and to Madame de Maintenon, who, +indifferent as they might be respecting Madame la Duchesse de Berry, +thought her departure so hazardous that, supported by Fagon, they spoke +of it to the King. It was useless. They were not daunted, however, and +this dispute lasted three or four days. The end of it was, that the King +grew thoroughly angry and agreed, by way of capitulation, that the +journey should be performed in a boat instead of a coach. + +It was arranged that Madame la Duchesse de Berry should leave Marly, +where the King then was, on the 13th, sleep at the Palais Royal that +night and repose herself there all the next day and night, that on the +15th she should set out for Petit-Bourg, where the King was to halt for +the night, and arrive like him, on the 16th, at Fontainebleau, the whole +journey to be by the river. M. le Duc de Berry had permission to +accompany his wife; but during the two nights they were to rest in Paris +the King angrily forbade them to go anywhere, even to the Opera, although +that building joined the Palais Royal, and M. d'Orleans' box could be +reached without going out of the palace. + +On the 14th the King, under pretence of inquiry after them, repeated this +prohibition to M. le Duc de Berry and Madame his wife, and also to M. +d'Orleans and Madame d'Orleans, who had been included in it. He carried +his caution so far as to enjoin Madame de Saint-Simon to see that Madame +la Duchesse de Berry obeyed the instructions she had received. As may be +believed, his orders were punctually obeyed. Madame de Saint-Simon could +not refuse to remain and sleep in the Palais Royal, where the apartment +of the queen-mother was given to her. All the while the party was shut +up there was a good deal of gaming in order to console M. le Duc de Berry +for his confinement. + +The provost of the merchants had orders to prepare boats for the trip to +Fontainebleau. He had so little time that they were ill chosen. Madame +la Duchesse de Berry embarked, however, on the 15th, and arrived, with +fever, at ten o'clock at night at Petit-Bourg, where the King appeared +rejoiced by an obedience so exact. + +On the morrow the journey recommenced. In passing Melun, the boat of +Madame la Duchesse de Berry struck against the bridge, was nearly +capsized, and almost swamped, so that they were all in great danger. +They got off, however, with fear and a delay. Disembarking in great +disorder at Valvin, where their equipages were waiting for there, they +arrived at Fontainebleau two hours after midnight. The King, pleased +beyond measure, went the next morning to see Madame la Duchesse de Berry +in the beautiful apartment of the queen-mother that had been given to +her. From the moment of her arrival she had been forced to keep her bed, +and at six o'clock in the morning of the 21st of July she miscarried and +was delivered of a daughter, still-born. Madame de Saint-Simon ran to +tell the King; he did not appear much moved; he had been obeyed! The +Duchesse de Beauvilliers and the Marquise de Chatillon were named by the +King to carry the embryo to Saint-Denis. As it was only a girl, and as +the miscarriage had no ill effect, consolation soon came. + +It was some little time after this occurrence, that we heard of the +defeat of the Czar by the Grand Vizier upon the Pruth. The Czar, annoyed +by the protection the Porte had accorded to the King of Sweden (in +retirement at Bender), made an appeal to arms, and fell into the same +error as that which had occasioned the defeat of the King of Sweden by +him. The Turks drew him to the Pruth across deserts supplied with +nothing; if he did not risk all, by a very unequal battle, he must +perish. The Czar was at the head of sixty thousand men: he lost more +than thirty thousand on the Pruth, the rest were dying of hunger and +misery; and he, without any resources, could scarcely avoid surrendering +himself and his forces to the Turks. In this pressing extremity, a +common woman whom he had taken away from her husband, a drummer in the +army, and whom he had publicly espoused after having repudiated and +confined his own wife in a convent,--proposed that he should try by +bribery to induce the Grand Vizier to allow him and the wreck of his +forces to retreat The Czar approved of the proposition, without hoping +for success from it. He sent to the Grand Vizier and ordered him to be +spoken to in secret. The Vizier was dazzled by the gold, the precious +stones, and several valuable things that were offered to him. He +accepted and received them; and signed a treaty by which the Czar was +permitted to retire, with all who accompanied him, into his own states by +the shortest road, the Turks to furnish him with provisions, with which +he was entirely unprovided. The Czar, on his side, agreed to give up +Azof as soon as he returned; destroy all the forts and burn all the +vessels that he had upon the Black Sea; allow the King of Sweden to +return by Pomerania; and to pay the Turks and their Prince all the +expenses of the war. + +The Grand Vizier found such an opposition in the Divan to this treaty, +and such boldness in the minister of the King of Sweden, who accompanied +him, in exciting against him all the chiefs of the army, that it was +within an ace of being broken; and the Czar, with every one left to him, +of being made prisoner. The latter was in no condition to make even the +least resistance. The Grand Vizier had only to will it, in order to +execute it on the spot. In addition to the glory of leading captive to +Constantinople the Czar, his Court, and his troops, there would have been +his ransom, which must have cost not a little. But if he had been thus +stripped of his riches, they would have been for the Sultan, and the +Grand Vizier preferred having them for himself. He braved it then with +authority and menaces, and hastened the Czar's departure and his own. +The Swedish minister, charged with protests from the principal Turkish +chiefs, hurried to Constantinople, where the Grand Vizier was strangled +upon arriving. + +The Czar never forgot this service of his wife, by whose courage and +presence of mind he had been saved. The esteem he conceived for her, +joined to his friendship, induced him to crown her Czarina, and to +consult her upon all his affairs and all his schemes. Escaped from +danger, he was a long time without giving up Azof, or demolishing his +forts on the Black Sea. As for his vessels, he kept them nearly all, and +would not allow the King of Sweden to return into Germany, as he had +agreed, thus almost lighting up a fresh war with the Turk. + +On the 6th of November, 1711, at about eight o'clock in the evening, the +shock of an earthquake was felt in Paris and at Versailles; but it was so +slight that few people perceived it. In several places towards Touraine +and Poitou, in Saxony, and in some of the German towns near, it was very +perceptible at the same day and hour. At this date a new tontine was +established in Paris. + +I have so often spoken of Marshal Catinat, of his virtue, wisdom, +modesty, and disinterestedness; of the rare superiority of his +sentiments, and of his great qualities as captain, that nothing remains +for me to say except that he died at this time very advanced in years, +at his little house of Saint-Gratien, near Saint-Denis, where he had +retired, and which he seldom quitted, although receiving there but few +friends. By his simplicity and frugality, his contempt for worldly +distinction, and his uniformity of conduct, he recalled the memory of +those great men who, after the best-merited triumphs, peacefully returned +to the plough, still loving their country and but little offended by the +ingratitude of the Rome they had so well served. Catinat placed his +philosophy at the service of his piety. He had intelligence, good sense, +ripe reflection; and he never forgot his origin; his dress, his +equipages, his furniture, all were of the greatest simplicity. His air +and his deportment were so also. He was tall, dark, and thin; had an +aspect pensive, slow, and somewhat mean; with very fine and expressive +eyes. He deplored the signal faults that he saw succeed each other +unceasingly; the gradual extinction of all emulation; the luxury, the +emptiness, the ignorance, the confusion of ranks; the inquisition in the +place of the police: he saw all the signs of destruction, and he used to +say it was only a climax of dangerous disorder that could restore order +to the realm. + +Vendome was one of the few to whom the death of the Dauphin and the +Dauphine brought hope and joy. He had deemed himself expatriated for the +rest of his life. He saw, now, good chances before him of returning to +our Court, and of playing a part there again. He had obtained some +honour in Spain; he aimed at others even higher, and hoped to return to +France with all the honours of a Prince of the Blood. His idleness, his +free living, his debauchery, had prolonged his stay upon the frontier, +where he had more facilities for gratifying his tastes than at Madrid. +In that city, it is true, he did not much constrain himself, but he was +forced to do so to some extent by courtly usages. He was, then, quite at +home on the frontier; there was nothing to do; for the Austrians, +weakened by the departure of the English, were quite unable to attack; +and Vendome, floating upon the delights of his new dignities, thought +only of enjoying himself in the midst of profound idleness, under pretext +that operations could not at once be commenced. + +In order to be more at liberty he separated from the general officers, +and established himself with his valets and two or three of his most +familiar friends, cherished companions everywhere, at Vignarez, a little +isolated hamlet, almost deserted, on the sea-shore and in the kingdom of +Valencia. His object was to eat fish there to his heart's content. He +carried out that object, and filled himself to repletion for nearly a +month. He became unwell--his diet, as may be believed, was enough to +cause this--but his illness increased so rapidly, and in so strange a +manner, after having for a long time seemed nothing that the few around +him suspected poison, and sent on all sides for assistance. But the +malady would not wait; it augmented rapidly with strange symptoms. +Vendome could not sign a will that was presented to him; nor a letter to +the King, its which he asked that his brother might be permitted to +return to Court. Everybody near flew from him and abandoned him, so that +he remained in the hands of three or four of the meanest valets, whilst +the rest robbed him of everything and decamped. He passed thus the last +two or three days of his life, without a priest,--no mention even had +been made of one,--without other help than that of a single surgeon. +The three or four valets who remained near him, seeing him at his last +extremity, seized hold of the few things he still possessed, and for want +of better plunder, dragged off his bedclothes and the mattress from under +him. He piteously cried to them at least not to leave him to die naked +upon the bare bed. I know not whether they listened to him. + +Thus died on Friday, the 10th of June, 1712, the haughtiest of men; and +the happiest, except in the later years of his life. After having been +obliged to speak of him so often, I get rid of him now, once and for +ever. He was fifty-eight years old; but in spite of the blind and +prodigious favour he had enjoyed, that favour had never been able to make +ought but a cabal hero out of a captain who was a very bad general, and a +man whose vices were the shame of humanity. His death restored life and +joy to all Spain. + +Aguilar, a friend of the Duc de Noailles, was accused of having poisoned +him; but took little pains to defend himself, inasmuch as little pains +were taken to substantiate the accusation. The Princesse des Ursins, who +had so well profited by his life in order to increase her own greatness, +did not profit less by his death. She felt her deliverance from a new +Don Juan of Spain who had ceased to be supple in her hands, and who might +have revived, in the course of time, all the power and authority he had +formerly enjoyed in France. She was not shocked them by the joy which +burst out without constraint; nor by the free talk of the Court, the +city, the army, of all Spain. But in order to sustain what she had done, +and cheaply pay her court to M. du Maine, Madame de Maintenon, and even +to the King, she ordered that the corpse of this hideous monster of +greatness and of fortune should be carried to the Escurial. This was +crowning the glory of M. de Vendome in good earnest; for no private +persons are buried in the Escurial, although several are to be found in +Saint-Denis. But meanwhile, until I speak of the visit I made to the +Escurial--I shall do so if I live long enough to carry these memoirs up +to the death of M. d'Orleans,--let me say something of that illustrious +sepulchre. + +The Pantheon is the place where only the bodies of kings and queens who +have had posterity are admitted. In a separate place, near, though not +on the same floor, and resembling a library, the bodies of children, and +of queens who have had no posterity, are ranged. A third place, a sort +of antechamber to the last named, is rightly called "the rotting room;" +whilst the other improperly bears the same name. In whilst third room, +there is nothing to be seen but four bare walls and a table in the +middle. The walls being very thick, openings are made in them in which +the bodies are placed. Each body has an opening to itself, which is +afterwards walled up, so that nothing is seen. When it is thought that +the corpse has been closed up sufficiently long to be free from odour the +wall is opened, the body taken out, and put in a coffin which allows a +portion of it to be seen towards the feet. This coffin is covered with a +rich stuff and carried into an adjoining room. + +The body of the Duc de Vendome had been walled up nine years when I +entered the Escurial. I was shown the place it occupied, smooth like +every part of the four walls and without mark. I gently asked the monks +who did me the honours of the place, when the body would be removed to +the other chamber. They would not satisfy my curiosity, showed some +indignation, and plainly intimated that this removal was not dreamt of, +and that as M. de Vendome had been so carefully walled up he might remain +so! + +Harlay, formerly chief-president, of whom I have so often had occasion to +speak, died a short time after M. de Vendome. I have already made him +known. I will simply add an account of the humiliation to which this +haughty cynic was reduced. He hired a house in the Rue de l'Universite +with a partition wall between his garden and that of the Jacobins of the +Faubourg Saint-Germain. The house did not belong to the Jacobins, like +the houses of the Rue Saint-Dominique, and the Rue du Bac, which, in +order that they might command higher rents, were put in connection with +the convent garden. These mendicant Jacobins thus derive fifty thousand +livres a-year. Harlay, accustomed to exercise authority, asked them for +a door into their garden. He was refused. He insisted, had them spoken +to, and succeeded no better. Nevertheless the Jacobins comprehended that +although this magistrate, recently so powerful, was now nothing by +himself, he had a son and a cousin, Councillors of State, whom they might +some day have to do with, and who for pride's sake might make themselves +very disagreeable. The argument of interest is the best of all with +monks. The Jacobins changed their mind. The Prior, accompanied by some +of the notabilities of the convent, went to Harlay with excuses, and said +he was at liberty, if he liked, to make the door. Harlay, true to his +character, looked at them askance, and replied, that he had changed his +mind and would do without it. The monks, much troubled by his refusal, +insisted; he interrupted them and said, "Look you, my fathers, I am +grandson of Achille du Harlay, Chief-President of the Parliament, who so +well served the State and the Kingdom, and who for his support of the +public cause was dragged to the Bastille, where he expected to be hanged +by those rascally Leaguers; it would ill become me, therefore, to enter +the house, or pray to God there, of folks of the same stamp as that +Jacques Clement." And he immediately turned his back upon them, leaving +them confounded. This was his last act of vigour. He took it into his +head afterwards to go out visiting a good deal, and as he preserved all +his old unpleasant manners, he afflicted all he visited; he went even to +persons who had often cooled their heels in his antechambers. By +degrees, slight but frequent attacks of apoplexy troubled his speech, so +that people had great difficulty in understanding him, and he in +speaking. In this state he did not cease his visits and could not +perceive that many doors were closed to him. He died in this misery, and +this neglect, to the great relief of the few who by relationship were +obliged to see him, above all of his son and his domestic. + +On the 17th July, a truce between France and England was published in +Flanders, at the head of the troops of the two crowns. The Emperor, +however, was not yet inclined for peace and his forces under Prince +Eugene continued to oppose us in Flanders, where, however, the tide at +last turned in our favour. The King was so flattered by the overflow of +joy that took place at Fontainebleau on account of our successes, that he +thanked the country for it, for the first time in his life. Prince +Eugene, in want of bread and of everything, raised the siege of +Landrecies, which he had been conducting, and terrible desertion took +place among his troops. + +About this time, there was an irruption of wolves, which caused great +disorders in the Orleannais; the King's wolf-hunters were sent there, and +the people were authorised to take arms and make a number of grand +battues. + + + + +CHAPTER LXII. + +Peace was now all but concluded between France and England. There was, +however, one great obstacle still in its way. Queen Anne and her Council +were stopped by the consideration that the king of Spain would claim to +succeed to the Crown of France, if the little Dauphin should die. +Neither England nor any of the other powers at war would consent to see +the two principal crowns of Europe upon the same head. It was necessary, +then, above all things to get rid of this difficulty, and so arrange the +order of succession to our throne, that the case to be provided against +could never happen. Treaties, renunciations, and oaths, all of which the +King had already broken, appeared feeble guarantees in the eyes of +Europe. Something stronger was sought for. It could not be found; +because there is nothing more sacred among men than engagements which +they consider binding on each other. What was wanting then in mere forms +it was now thought could be supplied by giving to those forms the +greatest possible solemnity. + +It was a long time before we could get over the difficulty. The King +would accord nothing except promises in order to guarantee to Europe that +the two crowns should never be united upon the same head. His authority +was wounded at the idea of being called upon to admit, as it were, a +rival near it. Absolute without reply, as he had become, he had +extinguished and absorbed even the minutest trace, idea, and recollection +of all other authority, all other power in France except that which +emanated from himself alone. The English, little accustomed to such +maxims, proposed that the States-General should assemble in order to give +weight to the renunciations to be made. They said, and with reason, that +it was not enough that the King of Spain should renounce France unless +France renounced Spain; and that this formality was necessary in order to +break the double bonds which attached Spain to France, as France was +attached to Spain. Accustomed to their parliaments, which are in effect +their States-General, they believed ours preserved the same authority, +and they thought such authority the greatest to be obtained and the best +capable of solidly supporting that of the King. + +The effect of this upon the mind of a Prince almost deified in his own +eyes, and habituated to the most unlimited despotism, cannot be +expressed. To show him that the authority of his subjects was thought +necessary in order to confirm his own, wounded him in his most delicate +part. The English were made to understand the weakness and the +uselessness of what they asked; for the powerlessness of our States- +General was explained to them, and they saw at once how vain their help +would be, even if accorded. + +For a long time nothing was done; France saying that a treaty of +renunciation and an express confirmatory declaration of the King, +registered in the Parliament, were sufficient; the English replying by +reference to the fate of past treaties. Peace meanwhile was arranged +with the English, and much beyond our hopes remained undisturbed. + +In due time matters were so far advanced in spite of obstacles thrown in +the way by the allies, that the Duc d'Aumont was sent as ambassador into +England; and the Duke of Hamilton was named as ambassador for France. +This last, however, losing his life in a duel with Lord Mohun, the Duke +of Shrewsbury was appointed in his stead. + +At the commencement of the new year [1713] the Duke and Duchess of +Shrewsbury arrived in Paris. The Duchess was a great fat masculine +creature, more than past the meridian, who had been beautiful and who +affected to be so still; bare bosomed; her hair behind her ears; covered +with rouge and patches, and full of finicking ways. All her manners were +that of a mad thing, but her play, her taste, her magnificence, even her +general familiarity, made her the fashion. She soon declared the women's +head-dresses ridiculous, as indeed they were. They were edifices of +brass wire, ribbons, hair, and all sorts of tawdry rubbish more than two +feet high, making women's faces seem in the middle of their bodies. The +old ladies wore the same, but made of black gauze. If they moved ever so +lightly the edifice trembled and the inconvenience was extreme. The King +could not endure them, but master as he was of everything was unable to +banish them. They lasted for ten years and more, despite all he could +say and do. What this monarch had been unable to perform, the taste and +example of a silly foreigner accomplished with the most surprising +rapidity. From extreme height, the ladies descended to extreme lowness, +and these head-dresses, more simple; more convenient, and more becoming, +last even now. Reasonable people wait with impatience for some other mad +stranger who will strip our dames of these immense baskets, thoroughly +insupportable to themselves and to others. + +Shortly after the Duke of Shrewsbury arrived in Paris, the Hotel de Powis +in London, occupied by our ambassador the Duc d'Aumont, was burnt to the +ground. A neighbouring house was pulled down to prevent others catching +fire. The plate of M. d'Aumont was saved. He pretended to have lost +everything else. He pretended also to have received several warnings +that his house was to be burnt and himself assassinated, and that the +Queen, to whom he had mentioned these warnings, offered to give him a +guard. People judged otherwise in London and Paris, and felt persuaded +he himself had been the incendiary in order to draw money from the King +and also to conceal some monstrous smuggling operations, by which he +gained enormously, and which the English had complained of ever since his +arrival. This is at least what was publicly said in the two courts and +cities, and nearly everybody believed it. + +But to return to the peace. The renunciations were ready, towards the +middle of March, and were agreed upon. The King was invited to sign them +by his own most pressing interest; and the Court of England, to which we +owed all, was not less interested in consummating this grand work, so as +to enjoy, with the glory of having imposed it upon all the powers, that +domestic repose which was unceasingly disturbed by the party opposed to +the government, which party, excited by the enemies of peace abroad, +could not cease to cause disquiet to the Queen's minister, while, by +delay in signing, vain hopes of disturbing the peace or hindering its +ratification existed in people's minds. The King of Spain had made his +renunciations with all the solidity and solemnity which could be desired +from the laws, customs, and usages of Spain. It only remained for France +to imitate him. + +For the ceremony that was to take place, all that could be obtained in +order to render it more solemn was the presence of the peers. But the +King was so jealous of his authority, and so little inclined to pay +attention to that of others, that he wished to content himself with +merely saying in a general way that he hoped to find all the peers at the +Parliament when the renunciations were made. I told M. d'Orleans that if +the King thought such an announcement as this was enough he might rely +upon finding not a single peer at the Parliament. I added, that if the +King did not himself invite each peer, the master of the ceremonies ought +to do so for him, according to the custom always followed. This warning +had its effect. We all received written invitations, immediately. +Wednesday, the 18th of May, was fixed for the ceremony. + +At six o'clock on the morning of that day I went to the apartments of M. +le Duc de Berry, in parliamentary dress, and shortly afterwards M. +d'Orleans came there also, with a grand suite. It had been arranged that +the ceremony was to commence by a compliment from the Chief-President de +Mesmes to M. le Duc de Berry, who was to reply to it. He was much +troubled at this. Madame de Saint-Simon, to whom he unbosomed himself; +found means, through a subaltern, to obtain the discourse of the Chief- +President, and gave it to M. le Duc de Berry, to regulate his reply by. +This, however, seemed too much for him; he admitted so to Madame de +Saint-Simon, and that he knew not what to do. She proposed that I should +take the work off his hands; and he was delighted with the expedient. +I wrote, therefore, a page and a half full of common-sized paper in an +ordinary handwriting. M. le Duc de Berry liked it, but thought it too +long to be learnt. I abridged it; he wished it to be still shorter, so +that at last there was not more than three-quarters of a page. He had +learned it by heart, and repeated it in his cabinet the night before the +ceremony to Madame de Saint-Simon, who encouraged him as much as she +could. + +At about half-past six o'clock we set out--M. le Duc d'Orleans, M. le Duc +de Berry, myself, and M. le Duc de Saint-Aignan, in one coach, several +other coaches following. M. le Duc de Berry was very silent all the +journey, appearing to be much occupied with the speech he had learned by +heart. M. d'Orleans, on the contrary, was full of gaiety, and related +some of his youthful adventures, and his wild doings by night in the +streets of Paris. We arrived gently at the Porte de la Conference, that +is to say--for it is now pulled down--at the end of the terrace, and of +the Quai of the Tuileries. + +We found there the trumpeters and drummers of M. le Duc de Berry's guard, +who made a great noise all the rest of our journey, which ended at the +Palais de justice. Thence we went to the Sainte-Chapelle to hear mass. +The Chapelle was filled with company, among which were many people of +quality. The crowd of people from this building to the grand chamber was +so great that a pin could not have fallen to the ground. On all sides, +too, folks had climbed up to see what passed. + +All the Princes of the blood, the bastards, the peers and the parliament, +were assembled in the palace. When M. le Duc de Berry entered, +everything was ready. Silence having with difficulty been obtained, the +Chief-President paid his compliment to the Prince. When he had finished, +it was for M. le Duc de Berry to reply. He half took off his hat, +immediately put it back again, looked at the Chief-President, and said, +"Monsieur;" after a moment's pause he repeated "Monsieur." Then he +looked at the assembly, and again said, "Monsieur." Afterwards he +turned towards M. d'Orleans, who, like himself, was as red as fire, next +to the Chief-President, and finally stopped short, nothing else than +"Monsieur" having been able to issue from his mouth. + +I saw distinctly the confusion of M. le Duc de Berry, and sweated at it; +but what could be done? The Duke turned again towards M. d'Orleans, who +lowered his head. Both were dismayed. At last the Chief-President, +seeing there was no other resource, finished this cruel scene by taking +off his cap to M. le Duc de Berry, and inclining himself very low, as if +the response was finished. Immediately afterwards he told the King's +people to begin. The embarrassment of all the courtiers and the surprise +of the magistracy may be imagined. + +The renunciations were then read; and by these the King of Spain and his +posterity gave up all claim to the throne of France, and M. le Duc +d'Orleans, and M. le Duc de Berry to succeed to that of Spain. These and +other forms occupied a long time. The chamber was all the while crowded +to excess. There was not room for a single other person to enter. It +was very late when all was over. + +When everything was at an end M. de Saint-Aignan and I accompanied M. le +Duc de Berry and M. le Duc d'Orleans in a coach to the Palais Royal. On +the way the conversation was very quiet. M. le Duc de Berry appeared +dispirited, embarrassed, and vexed. Even after we had partaken of a +splendid and delicate dinner, to which an immense number of other guests +sat down, he did not improve. We were conducted to the Porte Saint- +Honore with the same pomp as that in the midst, of which we had entered +Paris. During the rest of the journey to Versailles M. le Duc de Berry +was as silent as ever. + +To add to his vexation, as soon as he arrived at Versailles the Princesse +de Montauban, without knowing a word of what had passed, set herself to +exclaim, with her usual flattery, that she was charmed with the grace and +the appropriate eloquence with which he had spoken at the Parliament, and +paraphrased this theme with all the praises of which it was susceptible. +M. le Duc de Berry blushed with vexation without saying a word; she +recommenced extolling his modesty, he blushing the more, and saying +nothing. When at last he had got rid of her, he went to his own +apartments, said not, a word to the persons he found there, scarcely one +to Madame his wife, but taking Madame de Saint-Simon with him, went into +his library, and shut himself up alone there with her. + +Throwing himself into an armchair he cried out that he was dishonoured, +and wept scalding tears. Then he related to Madame de Saint-Simon, in +the midst of sobs, how he had stuck fast at the Parliament, without being +able to utter a word, said that he should everywhere be regarded as an +ass and a blockhead, and repeated the compliments he had received from +Madame de Montauban, who, he said, had laughed at and insulted him, +knowing well what had happened; then, infuriated against her to the last +degree, he called her by all sots of names. Madame de Saint-Simon spared +no exertion in order to calm M. de Berry, assuring him that it was +impossible Madame de Montauban could know what had taken place at the +Parliament, the news not having then reached Versailles, and that she had +had no other object than flattery in addressing him. Nothing availed. +Complaints and silence succeeded each other in the midst of tears. Then, +suddenly falling upon the Duc de Beauvilliers and the King, and accusing +the defects of his education: "They thought only;" he exclaimed, +"of making me stupid, and of stifling all my powers. I was a younger +son. I coped with my brother. They feared the consequences; they +annihilated me. I was taught only to play and to hunt,: and they have +succeeded in making me a fool and an ass, incapable of anything, the +laughing-stock and disdain of everybody." Madame de Saint-Simon was +overpowered with compassion, and did everything to calm M. de Berry. +Their strange tete-a-tete lasted nearly two hours, and resumed the next +day but with less violence. By degrees M. le Duc de Berry became +consoled, but never afterwards did any one dare to speak to him of his +misadventure at the peace ceremony. + +Let me here say that, the ceremony over, peace was signed at Utrecht on +the 20th April, 1713, at a late hour of the night. It was published in +Paris with great solemnity on the 22nd. Monsieur and Madame du Maine, +who wished to render themselves popular, came from Sceaux to see the +ceremony in the Place Royale, showed themselves on a balcony to the +people, to whom they threw some money--a liberality that the King would +not have permitted in anybody else. At night fires were lighted before +the houses, several of which were illuminated: On the 25th a Te Deum was +sung at Notre Dame, and in the evening there was a grand display of +fireworks at the Grave, which was followed by a superb banquet given at +the Hotel de Ville by the Duc de Tresmes, the Governor of Paris, to a +large number of distinguished persons of both sexes of the Court and the +city, twenty-four violins playing during the repast. + +I have omitted to mention the death of M. de Chevreise, which took place +between seven and eight o'clock in the morning on Saturday, the 5th of +November; of the previous year (1712). I have so often alluded to M. de +Chevreuse in the course of these pages, that I will content myself with +relating here two anecdotes of him, which serve to paint a part of his +character. + +He was very forgetful, and adventures often happened to him in +consequence, which diverted us amazingly. Sometimes his horses were put +to and kept waiting for him twelve or fifteen hours at a time. Upon one +occasion in summer this happened at Vaucresson, whence he was going to +dine at Dampierre. The coachman, first, then the postilion, grew tired +of looking after the horses, and left them. Towards six o'clock at night +the horses themselves were in their turn worn out, bolted, and a din was +heard which shook the house. Everybody ran out, the coach was found +smashed, the large door shivered in pieces; the garden railings, which +enclosed both sides of the court, broken down; the gates in pieces; in +short, damage was done that took a long time to repair. M. de Chevreuse, +who had not been disturbed by this uproar even for an instant, was quite +astonished when he heard of it. M. de Beauvilliers amused himself for a +long time by reproaching him with it, and by asking the expense. + +Another adventure happened to him also at Vaucresson, and covered him +with real confusion, comical to see, every time it was mentioned. About +ten o'clock one morning a M. Sconin, who had formerly been his steward, +was announced. "Let him take a turn in the garden," said M. de +Chevreuse, "and come back in half an hour." He continued what he was +doing, and completely forgot his man. Towards seven o'clock in the +evening Sconin was again announced. "In a moment," replied M. de +Chevreuse, without disturbing himself. A quarter of an hour afterwards +he called Sconin, and admitted him. "Ah, my poor Sconin!" said he, +"I must offer you a thousand excuses for having caused you to lose your +day." + +"Not at all, Monseigneur," replied Sconin. "As I have had the honour of +knowing you for many years, I comprehended this morning that the half- +hour might be long, so I went to Paris, did some business there, before +and after dinner, and here I am again." + +M. de Chevreuse was confounded. Sconin did not keep silence, nor did the +servants of the house. M. de Beauvilliers made merry with the adventure +when he heard of it, and accustomed as M. de Chevreuse might be to his +raillery, he could not bear to have this subject alluded to. I have +selected two anecdotes out of a hundred others of the same kind, because +they characterise the man. + +The liberality of M. du Maine which we have related on the occasion of +the proclamation of peace at Paris, and which was so popular, and so +surprising when viewed in connection with the disposition of the King, +soon took new development. The Jesuits, so skilful in detecting the +foibles of monarchs, and so clever in seizing hold of everything which +can protect themselves and answer their ends, showed to what extent they +were masters of these arts. A new and assuredly a very original History +of France, in three large folio volumes, appeared under the name of +Father Daniel, who lived at Paris in the establishment of the Jesuits. +The paper and the printing of the work were excellent; the style was +admirable. Never was French so clear, so pure, so flowing, with such +happy transitions; in a word, everything to charm and entice the reader; +admirable preface, magnificent promises, short, learned dissertations, a +pomp, an authority of the most seductive kind. As for the history, there +was much romance in the first race, much in the second, and much. +mistiness in the early times of the third. In a word, all the work +evidently appeared composed in order to persuade people--under the simple +air of a man who set aside prejudices with discernment, and who only +seeks the truth--that the majority of the Kings of the first race, +several of the second, some even of the third, were, bastards, whom this +defect did not exclude from the throne, or affect in any way. + +I say bluntly here what was very delicately veiled in the work, and yet +plainly seen. The effect of the book was great; its vogue such, that +everybody, even women, asked for it. The King spoke of it to several of +his Court, asked if they had read it; the most sagacious early saw how +much it was protected; it was the sole historical book the King and +Madame de Maintenon had ever spoken of. Thus the work appeared at +Versailles upon every table, nothing else was talked about, marvellous +eulogies were lavished upon it, which were sometimes comical in the +mouths of persons either very ignorant, or who, incapable of reading, +pretended to read and relish this book. + +But this surprising success did not last. People perceived that this +history, which so cleverly unravelled the remote part, gave but a meagre +account of modern days, except in so far as their military operations +were concerned; of which even the minutest details were recorded. Of +negotiations, cabals, Court intrigues, portraits, elevations, falls, and +the main springs of events, there was not a word in all the work, except +briefly, dryly, and with precision as in the gazettes, often more +superficially. Upon legal matters, public ceremonies, fetes of different +times, there was also silence at the best, the same laconism; and when we +come to the affairs of Rome and of the League, it is a pleasure to see +the author glide over that dangerous ice on his Jesuit skates! + +In due time critics condemned the work which, after so much applause, was +recognised as a very wretched history, which had very industriously and +very fraudulently answered the purpose for which it was written. It fell +to the ground then; learned men wrote against it; but the principal and +delicate point of the work was scarcely touched in France with the pen, +so great was the danger. + +Father Daniel obtained two thousand francs' pension for his history,-- +a prodigious recompense,--with a title of Historiographer of France. He +enjoyed the fruits of his falsehood, and laughed at those who attacked +him. Foreign countries did not swallow quite so readily these stories +that declared such a number of our early kings bastards; but great care +was taken not to let France be infected by the disagreeable truths +therein published. + + + + +CHAPTER LXIII + +It is now time that I should say something of the infamous bull +'Unigenitus', which by the unsurpassed audacity and scheming of Father Le +Tellier and his friends was forced upon the Pope and the world. + +I need not enter into a very lengthy account of the celebrated Papal +decree which has made so many martyrs, depopulated our schools, +introduced ignorance, fanaticism, and misrule, rewarded vice, thrown the +whole community into the greatest confusion, caused disorder everywhere, +and established the most arbitrary and the most barbarous inquisition; +evils which have doubled within the last thirty years. I will content +myself with a word or two, and will not blacken further the pages of my +Memoirs. Many pens have been occupied, and will be occupied, with this +subject. It is not the apostleship of Jesus Christ that is in question, +but that of the reverend fathers and their ambitious clients. + +It is enough to say that the new bull condemned in set terms the +doctrines of Saint-Paul (respected like oracles of the Holy Spirit ever +since the time of our Saviour), and also those of Saint-Augustin, and of +other fathers; doctrines which have always been adopted by the Popes, by +the Councils, and by the Church itself. The bull, as soon as published, +met with a violent opposition in Rome from the cardinals there, who went +by sixes, by eights, and by tens, to complain of it to the Pope. They +might well do so, for they had not been consulted in any way upon this +new constitution. Father Tellier and his friends had had the art and the +audacity to obtain the publication of it without submitting it to them. +The Pope, as I have said, had been forced into acquiescence, and now, all +confused, knew not what to say. He protested, however, that the +publication had been made without his knowledge, and put off the +cardinals with compliments, excuses, and tears, which last he could +always command. + +The constitution had the same fate in France as in Rome. The cry against +it was universal. The cardinals protested that it would never be +received. They were shocked by its condemnation of the doctrines of +Saint-Augustin and of the other fathers; terrified at its condemnation of +Saint-Paul. There were not two opinions upon this terrible constitution. +The Court, the city, and the provinces, as soon as they knew the nature +of it, rose against it like one man. + +In addition to the articles of this constitution which I have already +named, there was one which excited infinite alarm and indignation, for it +rendered the Pope master of every crown! As is well known, there is a +doctrine of the Church, which says: + +"An unjust excommunication ought got to hinder [us] from doing our duty." + +The new constitution condemned this doctrine, and consequently proclaimed +that: + +"An unjust excommunication ought to hinder [us] from doing our duty." + +The enormity of this last is more striking than the simple truth of the +proposition condemned. The second is a shadow which better throws up the +light of the first. The results and the frightful consequences of the +condemnation are as clear as day. + +I think I have before said that Father Tellier, without any advances on +my part, without, in fact, encouragement of any kind, insisted upon +keeping up an intimacy with me, which I could not well repel, for it came +from a man whom it would have been very dangerous indeed to have for an- +enemy. As soon as this matter of the constitution was in the wind, he +came to me to talk about it. I did not disguise my opinion from him, nor +did he disguise in any way from me the unscrupulous means he meant to +employ in order to get this bull accepted by the clergy. Indeed, he was +so free with me, showed me so plainly his knavery and cunning, that I +was, as it were, transformed with astonishment and fright. I never could +comprehend this openness in a man so false, so artificial, so profound, +or see in what manner it could be useful to him. + +One day he came to me by appointment, with a copy of the constitution in +his hand in order that we might thoroughly discuss it. I was at +Versailles. In order to understand what I am going to relate, I must +give some account of my apartments there. Let me say, then, that I had a +little back cabinet, leading out of another cabinet, but so arranged that +you would not have thought it was there. It received no light except +from the outer cabinet, its own windows being boarded up. In this back +cabinet I had a bureau, some chairs, books, and all I needed; my friends +called it my "shop," and in truth it did not ill resemble one. + +Father Tellier came at the hour he had fixed. As chance would have it, +M. le Duc and Madame la Duchesse de Berry had invited themselves to a +collation with Madame de Saint-Simon that morning. I knew that when they +arrived I should no longer be master of my chamber or of my cabinet. I +told Father Tellier this, and he was much vexed. He begged me so hard to +find some place where we might be inaccessible to the company, that at +last, pressed by him to excess, I said I knew of only one expedient by +which we might become free: and I told him that he must dismiss his +'vatble' (as the brother who always accompanies a monk is called), and +that then, furnished with candles, we would go and shut ourselves up in +my back cabinet, where we could neither be seen nor heard, if we took +care not to speak loud when anybody approached. He thought the expedient +admirable, dismissed his companion, and we sat down opposite each other, +the bureau between us, with two candles alight upon it. + +He immediately began to sing the praises of the Constitution Unigenitus, +a copy of which he placed on the table. I interrupted him so as to come +at once to the excommunication proposition. We discussed it with much +politeness, but with little accord. I shall not pretend to report our +dispute. It was warm and long. I pointed out to Father Tellier, that +supposing the King and the little Dauphin were both to die, and this was +a misfortune which might happen, the crown of France would by right of +birth belong to the King of Spain; but according to the renunciation just +made, it would belong to M. le Duc de Berry and his branch, or in default +to M. le Duc d'Orleans. "Now," said I, "if the two brothers dispute the +crown, and the Pope favouring the one should excommunicate the other, it +follows, according to our new constitution, that the excommunicated must +abandon all his claims, all his partisans, all his forces, and go over to +the other side. For you say, an unjust excommunication ought to hinder +us from doing our duty. So that in one fashion or another the Pope is +master of all the crowns in his communion, is at liberty to take them +away or to give them as he pleases, a liberty so many Popes have claimed +and so many have tried to put in action." + +My argument was simple, applicable, natural, and pressing: it offered +itself, of itself. Wherefore, the confessor was amazed by it; he +blushed, he beat about the bush, he could not collect himself. By +degrees he did so, and replied to me in a manner that he doubtless +thought would convince me at once. "If the case you suggest were to +happen," he said, "and the Pope declaring for one disputant were to +excommunicate the other and all his followers, such excommunication would +not merely be unjust, it would be false; and it has never been decided +that a false excommunication should hinder us from doing our duty." + +"Ah! my father," I said, "your distinction is subtle and clever, I admit. +I admit, too, I did not expect it, but permit me some few more +objections, I beseech you. Will the Ultramontanes admit the nullity of +the excommunication? Is it not null as soon as it is unjust? If the +Pope has the power to excommunicate unjustly, and to enforce obedience to +his excommunication, who can limit power so unlimited, and why should not +his false (or nullified) excommunication be as much obeyed and respected +as his unjust excommunication? Suppose the case I have imagined were to +happen. Suppose the Pope were to excommunicate one of the two brothers. +Do you think it would be easy to make your subtle distinction between a +false and an unjust excommunication understood by the people, the +soldiers, the bourgeois, the officers, the lords, the women, at the very +moment when they would be preparing to act and to take up arms? You see +I point out great inconveniences that may arise if the new doctrine be +accepted, and if the Pope should claim the power of deposing kings, +disposing of their crowns, and releasing their subjects from the oath of +fidelity in opposition to the formal words of Jesus Christ and of all the +Scripture." + +My words transported the Jesuit, for I had touched the right spring in +spite of his effort to hide it. He said nothing personal to me, but he +fumed. The more he restrained himself for me the less he did so for the +matter in hand. As though to indemnify himself for his moderation on my, +account, he launched out the more, upon the subject we were discussing. +In his heat, no longer master of himself, many things escaped him, +silence upon which I am sure he would afterwards have bought very dearly. +He told me so many things of the violence that would be used to make his +constitution accepted, things so monstrous, so atrocious, so terrible, +and with such extreme passion that I fell into a veritable syncope. I +saw him right in front of me between two candles, only the width of the +table between us (I have described elsewhere his horrible physiognomy). +My hearing and my sight became bewildered. I was seized, while he was +speaking, with the full idea of what a Jesuit was. Here was a man who, +by his state and his vows, could hope for nothing for his family or for +himself; who could not expect an apple or a glass of wine more than his +brethren; who was approaching an age when he would have to render account +of all things to God, and who, with studied deliberation and mighty +artifice, was going to throw the state and religion into the most +terrible flames, and commence a most frightful persecution for questions +which affected him in nothing, nor touched in any way the honour of the +School of Molina! + +His profundities, the violence he spoke of--all this together, threw me +into such an ecstasy, that suddenly I interrupted him by saying: + +"My father, how old are you?" + +The extreme surprise which painted itself upon his face as I looked at +him with all my eyes, fetched back my senses, and his reply brought me +completely to myself. "Why do you ask?" he replied, smiling. The effort +that I made over myself to escape such a unique 'proposito', the terrible +value of which I fully appreciated, furnished me an issue. "Because," +said I, "never have I looked at you so long as I have now, you in front +of me, these two candles between us, and your face is so fresh and so +healthy, with all your labours, that I am surprised at it." + +He swallowed the answer, or so well pretended to do so, that he said +nothing of it then nor since, never ceasing when he met me to speak to me +as openly, and as frequently as before, I seeking him as little as ever. +He replied at that time that he was seventy-four years old; that in truth +he was very well; that he had accustomed himself, from his earliest +years, to a hard life and to labour; and then went back to the point at +which I had interrupted him. We were compelled, however, to be silent +for a time, because people came into my cabinet, and Madame de Saint- +Simon, who knew of our interview, had some difficulty to keep the coast +clear. + +For more than two hours we continued our discussion, he trying to put me +off with his subtleties and authoritativeness, I offering but little +opposition to him, feeling that opposition was of no use, all his plans +being already decided. We separated without having persuaded each other, +he with many flatteries upon my intelligence, praying me to reflect well +upon the matter; I replying that my reflections were all made, and that +my capacity could not go farther. I let him out by the little back door +of my cabinet, so that nobody perceived him, and as soon as I had closed +it, I threw myself into a chair like a man out of breath, and I remained +there a long time alone, reflecting upon the strange kind of ecstasy I +had been in, and the horror it had caused me. + +The results of this constitution were, as I have said, terrible to the +last degree; every artifice, every cruelty was used, in order to force it +down the throats of the clergy; and hence the confusion and sore trouble +which arose all over the realm. But it is time now for me to touch upon +other matters. + +Towards the close of this year, 1713, peace with the Emperor seemed so +certain, that the King disbanded sixty Battalions and eighteen men per +company of the regiment of the guards, and one hundred and six squadrons; +of which squadrons twenty-seven were dragoons. At peace now with the +rest of Europe he had no need of so many troops, even although the war +Against the Empire had continued; fortunately, however it did not. +Negotiations were set on foot, and on the 6th of March of the following +year, 1714, after much debate, they ended successfully. On that day, in +fact, peace was signed at Rastadt. It was shortly afterwards published +at Paris, a Te Deum sung, and bonfires lighted at night; a grand +collation was given at the Hotel de Ville by the Duc de Tresmes, who at +midnight also gave, in his own house, a splendid banquet, at which were +present many ladies, foreigners, and courtiers. + +This winter was fertile in balls at the Court; there were several, fancy- +dress and masked, given by M. le Duc de Berry, by Madame la Duchesse de +Berry, M. le Duc, and others. There were some also at Paris, and at +Sceaux, where Madame du Maine gave many fetes and played many comedies, +everybody going there from Paris and the Court--M. du Maine doing the +Honours. Madame la Duchesse de Berry was in the family way, and went to +no dances out of her own house. The King permitted her, on account of +her condition, to sup with him in a robe de chambre, as under similar +circumstances he had permitted the two Dauphines to do. + +At the opera, one night this winter, the Abbe Servien, not liking certain +praises of the King contained in a Prologue, let slip a bitter joke in +ridicule of them. The pit took it up, repeated it, and applauded it. +Two days afterwards, the Abbe Servien was arrested and taken to +Vincennes, forbidden to speak to anybody and allowed no servant to wait +upon him. For form's sake seals were put upon his papers, but he was not +a man likely to have any fit for aught else than to light the fire. +Though more than sixty-five years old, he was strangely debauched. + +The Duc de la Rochefoucauld died on Thursday, the 11th of January, at +Versailles, seventy-nine years of age, and blind. I have spoken of him +so frequently in the course of these memoirs, that I will do nothing more +now than relate a few particulars respecting him, which will serve in +some sort to form his portrait. + +He had much honour, worth, and probity. He was noble, good, magnificent, +ever willing to serve his friends; a little too much so, for he +oftentimes wearied the King with importunities on their behalf. Without +any intellect or discernment he was proud to excess, coarse and rough in +his manners--disagreeable even, and embarrassed with all except his +flatterers; like a man who does not know how to receive a visit, enter or +leave a room. He scarcely went anywhere except to pay the indispensable +compliments demanded by marriage, death, etc., and even then as little as +he could. He lived in his own house so shut up that no, one went to see +him except on these same occasions. He gave himself up almost entirely +to his valets, who mixed themselves in the conversation; and you were +obliged to treat them with all sorts of attentions if you wished to +become a frequenter of the house. + +I shall never forget what happened to us at the death of the Prince of +Vaudemont's son, by which M. de la Rochefoucauld's family came in for a +good inheritance. We were at Marly. The King had been stag-hunting. +M. de Chevreuse, whom I found when the King was being unbooted, proposed +that we should go and pay our compliments to M. de la Rochefoucauld. +We went. Upon entering, what was our surprise, nay, our shame, to find +M. de la Rochefoucauld playing at chess with one of his servants in +livery, seated opposite to him! Speech failed us. M. de la +Rochefoucauld perceived it, and remained confounded himself. He +stammered, he grew confused, he tried to excuse what we had seen, saying +that this lackey played very well, and that chess-players played with +everybody. M. de Chevreuse had not come to contradict him; neither had +I; we turned the conversation, therefore, and left as soon as possible. +As soon as we were outside we opened our minds to each other, and said +what we thought of this rare meeting, which, however, we did not make +public. + +M. de Rochefoucauld, towards the end of his career at Court, became so +importunate, as I have said, for his friends, that the King was much +relieved by his death. Such have been his sentiments at the death of +nearly all those whom he had liked and favoured. + +Of the courage of M. de la Rochefoucauld, courtier as he was, in speaking +to the King, I will relate an instance. It was during one of the visits +at Marly, in the gardens of which the King was amusing himself with a +fountain that he set at work. I know not what led to it, but the King, +usually so reserved, spoke with him of the bishop of Saint-Pons, then in +disgrace on account of the affairs of Port Royal. M. de la Rochefoucauld +let him speak on to the end, and then began to praise the bishop. The +discouraging silence of the King warned him; he persisted, however, and +related how the bishop, mounted upon a mule, and visiting one day his +diocese, found himself in a path which grew narrower at every step; and +which ended in a precipice. There were no means of getting out of it +except by going back, but this was impossible, there not being enough +space to turn round or to alight. The holy bishop (for such was his term +as I well remarked) lifted his eyes to Heaven, let go the bridle, and +abandoned himself to Providence. Immediately his mule rose up upon its +hind legs, and thus upright, the bishop still astride, turned round until +its head was where its tail had been. The beast thereupon returned along +the path until it found an opening into a good road. Everybody around +the King imitated his silence, which excited the Duke to comment upon +what he had just related. This generosity charmed me, and surprised all +who were witness of it. + +The day after the death of M. de la Rochefoucauld, the Chancellor took +part in a very tragic scene. A Vice-bailli of Alencon had just lost a +trial, in which, apparently, his honour, or his property, was much +interested. He came to Pontchartrain's, where the Chancellor was at the +moment, and waited until he came out into the court to get into his +carriage. The Vice-bailli then asked him for a revision of the verdict. +The Chancellor, with much gentleness and goodness represented to the man +that the law courts were open to him if he insisted to appeal, but that +as to a revision of the verdict; it was contrary to usage; and turned to +get into his coach. While he was getting in; the unhappy bailli said +there was a shorter way of escaping from trouble, and stabbed himself +twice with a poniard. At the dies of the domestics the Chancellor +descended from the coach, had the man carried into a room, and sent for a +doctor, and a confessor. The bailli made confession very peacefully, and +died an hour afterwards. + +I have spoken in its time of the exile of Charmel and its causes, of +which the chief was his obstinate refusal to present himself before the +King. The vexation of the King against people who withdrew from him was +always very great. In this case, it never passed away, but hardened into +a strange cruelty, to speak within limits. Charmel, attacked with the +stone, asked permission to come to Paris to undergo an operation. The +permission was positively refused. Time pressed. The operation was +obliged to be done in the country. It was so severe, and perhaps so +badly done, that Charmel died three days afterwards full of penitence and +piety. He had led a life remarkable for its goodness, was without +education, but had religious fervour that supplied the want of it. He +was sixty-eight years of age. + +The Marechale de la Ferme died at Paris, at the same time, more than +eighty years old. She was sister of the Comtesse d'Olonne, very rich and +a widow. The beauty of the two sisters, and the excesses of their lives, +made a great stir. No women, not even those most stigmatized for their +gallantry, dared to see them, or to be seen anywhere with them. That was +the way then; the fashion has changed since. When they were old and +nobody cared for them, they tried to become devout. They lodged +together, and one Ash Wednesday went and heard a sermon. This sermon, +which was upon fasting and penitence, terrified them. + +"My sister," they said to each other on their return, "it was all true; +there was no joke about it; we must do penance, or we are lost. But, my +sister, what shall we do?" After having well turned it over: "My +sister," said Madame d'Olonne, "this is what we must do; we must make our +servants fast." Madame d'Olonne thought she had very well met the +difficulty. However, at last she set herself to work in earnest, at +piety and penitence, and died three months after her sister, the +Marechale de la Ferme. It will not be forgotten, that it was under cover +of the Marechale that a natural child was first legitimated without +naming the mother, in order that by this example, the King's natural +children might be similarly honoured, without naming Madame de Montespan, +as I have related in its place. + + + + +CHAPTER LXIV + +The Queen of Spain, for a long time violently attacked with the king's +evil around the face and neck, was just now at the point of death. +Obtaining no relief from the Spanish doctors, she wished to have +Helvetius, and begged the King by an express command to send him to her. +Helvetius, much inconvenienced, and knowing besides the condition of the +Princess, did not wish to go, but the King expressly commanded him. +He set out then in a postchaise, followed by another in case his own +should break down, and arrived thus at Madrid on the 11th of February, +1714. As soon as he had seen the Queen, he said there was nothing but +a miracle could save her. The King of Spain did not discontinue sleeping +with her until the 9th. On the 14th she died, with much courage, +consciousness, and piety. + +Despair was general in Spain, where this Queen was universally adored. +There was not a family which did not lament her, not a person who has +since been consoled. The King of Spain was extremely touched, but +somewhat in a royal manner. Thus, when out shooting one day, he came +close to the convoy by which the body of his queen was being conveyed to +the Escurial; he looked at it, followed it with his eyes, and continued +his sport! Are these princes made like other human beings? + +The death of the Queen led to amazing changes, such as the most prophetic +could not have foreseen. Let me here, then, relate the events that +followed this misfortune. + +I must commence by saying, that the principal cause which had so long and +scandalously hindered us from making peace with the Emperor, was a +condition, which Madame des Ursins wished to insert in the treaty, (and +which the King of Spain supported through thick and thin) to the effect +that she should be invested with a bona fide sovereignty. She had set +her heart upon this, and the king of Spain was a long time before he +would consent to any terms of peace that did not concede it to her. It +was not until the King had uttered threats against him that he would give +way. As for Madame des Ursins, she had counted upon this sovereignty , +with as much certainty as though it were already between her fingers. +She had counted, too, with equal certainty upon exchanging it with our +King, for the sovereignty of Touraine and the Amboise country; and had +actually charged her faithful Aubigny to buy her some land near Amboise +to build her there a vast palace, with courts and outbuildings; to +furnish it with magnificence, to spare neither gilding nor paintings, and +to surround the whole with the most beautiful gardens. She meant to live +there as sovereign lady of the country. Aubigny had at once set about +the work to the surprise of everybody: for no one could imagine for whom +such a grand building could be designed. He kept the secret, pretended +he was building a house for himself and pushed on the work so rapidly +that just as peace was concluded without the stipulation respecting +Madame des Ursins being inserted in the treaty, nearly all was finished. +Her sovereignty scheme thoroughly failed; and to finish at once with that +mad idea, I may as well state that, ashamed of her failure, she gave this +palace to Aubigny, who lived there all the rest of his life: Chanteloup, +for so it was called, has since passed into the hands of Madame +d'Armantieres, his daughter. It is one of the most beautiful and most +singular places in all France, and the most superbly furnished. + +This sovereignty, coveted by Madame des Ursins, exceedingly offended +Madame de Maintenon and wounded her pride. She felt, with jealousy, that +the grand airs Madame des Ursins gave herself were solely the effect of +the protection she had accorded her. She could not bear to be +outstripped in importance by the woman she herself had elevated. The +King, too, was much vexed with Madame des Ursins; vexed also to see peace +delayed; and to be obliged to speak with authority and menace to the King +of Spain, in order to compel him to give up the idea of this precious +sovereignty. The King of Spain did not yield until he was threatened +with abandonment by France. It may be imagined what was the rage of +Madame des Ursins upon missing her mark after having, before the eyes +of all Europe, fired at it with so much perseverance; nay, with such +unmeasured obstinacy. From this time there was no longer the same +concert between Madame de Maintenon and Madame des Ursins that had +formerly existed. But the latter had reached such a point in Spain, +that she thought this was of no consequence. + +It has been seen with what art Madame des Ursins had unceasingly isolated +the King of Spain; in what manner she had shut him up with the Queen, and +rendered him inaccessible, not only to his Court but to his grand +officers, his ministers, even his valets, so that he was served by only +three or four attendants, all French, and entirely under her thumb. At +the death of the Queen this solitude continued. Under the pretext that +his grief demanded privacy, she persuaded the King to leave his palace +and to instal himself in a quiet retreat, the Palace of Medina-Celi, near +the Buen-Retiro, at the other end of the city. She preferred this +because it was infinitely smaller than the Royal Palace, and because few +people, in consequence, could approach the King. She herself took the +Queen's place; and in order to have a sort of pretext for being near the +King, in the same solitude, she caused herself to be named governess of +his children. But in order to be always there, and so that nobody should +know when they were together, she had a large wooden corridor made from +the cabinet of the King to the apartment of his children, in which she +lodged. By this means they could pass from one to the other without +being perceived, and without traversing the long suite of rooms, filled +with courtiers, that were between the two apartments. In this manner it +was never known whether the King was alone or with Madame des Ursins; +or which of the two was in the apartments of the other. When they were +together or how long is equally unknown. This corridor, roofed and +glazed, was proceeded with in so much haste, that the work went on, in +spite of the King's devotion, on fete days and Sundays. The whole Court, +which perfectly well knew for what use this corridor was intended, was +much displeased. Those who directed the work were the same. Of this +good proof was given. One day, the Comptroller of the royal buildings, +who had been ordered to keep the men hard at it, Sundays and fete days, +asked the Pere Robinet, the King's confessor, and the only good one he +ever had; he asked, I say, in one of those rooms Madame des Ursins was so +anxious to avoid, and in the presence of various courtiers, if the work +was to be continued on the morrow, a Sunday, and the next day, the Fete +of the Virgin. Robinet replied, that the King had said nothing to the +contrary; and met a second appeal with the same answer. At the third, he +added, that before saying anything he would wait till the King spoke on +the subject. At the fourth appeal, he lost patience, and said that if +for the purpose of destroying what had been commenced, he believed work +might be done even on Easter-day itself; but if for the purpose of +continuing the corridor, he did not think a Sunday or a fete day was a +fitting time. All the Court applauded; but Madame des Ursins, to whom +this sally was soon carried, was much irritated. + +It was suspected that she thought of becoming something more than the +mere companion of the King. There were several princes. Reports were +spread which appeared equivocal and which terrified. It was said that +the King had no need of posterity, with all the children it had pleased +God to bless him with; but now he only needed a wife who could take +charge of those children. Not content with passing all her days with the +King, and allowing him, like the deceased Queen, to work with his +ministers only in her presence, the Princesse des Ursins felt that to +render this habit lasting she must assure herself of him at all moments. +He was accustomed to take the air, and he was in want of it all the more +now because he had been much shut up during the last days of the Queen's +illness, and the first which followed her death. Madame des Ursins chose +four or five gentlemen to accompany him, to the exclusion of all others, +even his chief officers, and people still more necessary. These +gentlemen charged with the amusement of the King, were called +recreadores. With so much circumspection, importunity, preparation, and +rumour carefully circulated, it was not doubted that Madame des Ursins +intended to marry him; and the opinion, as well as the fear, became +general. The King (Louis XIV.), was infinitely alarmed; and Madame de +Maintenon, who had twice tried to be proclaimed Queen and twice failed, +was distracted with jealousy. However, if Madame des Ursins flattered +herself then, it was not for long. + +The King of Spain, always curious to learn the news from France, often +demanded them of his confessor, the only man to whom he could speak who +was not under the thumb of Madame des Ursins. The clever and courageous +Robinet, as disturbed as others at the progress of the design, which +nobody in the two Courts of France and Spain doubted was in execution, +allowed himself to be pressed by questions--in an embrasure where the +King had drawn him--played the reserved and the mysterious in order to +excite curiosity more. When he saw it was sufficiently excited, he said +that since he was forced to speak, his news from France was the same as +that at Madrid, where no one doubted that the King would do the Princesse +des Ursins the honour to espouse her. The King blushed and hastily +replied, "Marry her! oh no! not that!" and quitted him. + +Whether the Princesse des Ursins was informed of this sharp repartee, or +whether she despaired already of success, she changed about; and judging +that this interregnum in the Palace of Medina-Celi could not last for +ever, resolved to assure herself of the King by a Queen who should owe to +her such a grand marriage, and who, having no other support, would throw +herself into her arms by gratitude and necessity. With this view she +explained herself to Alberoni, who, since the death of the Duc de +Vendome, had remained at Madrid charged with the affairs of Parma; and +proposed to him the marriage of the Princess of Parma, daughter of the +Duchess and of the late Duke of Parma, who had married the widow of his +brother. + +Alberoni could with difficulty believe his ears. An alliance so +disproportioned appeared to him so much the more incredible, because he +thought the. Court of France would never consent to it, and that without +its consent the marriage could not be concluded. The Princess in +question was the issue of double illegitimacy; by her father descended +from a pope, by her mother from a natural daughter of Charles Quint. She +was daughter of a petty Duke of Parma, and of a mother, entirely +Austrian, sister of the Dowager Empress and of the Dowager Queen of Spain +(whose acts had excited such disapproval that she was sent from her exile +at Toledo to Bayonne), sister too of the Queen of Portugal, who had +induced the King, her husband, to receive the Archduke at Lisbon, and to +carry the war into Spain. It did not seem reasonable, therefore, that +such a Princess would be accepted as a wife for the King of Spain. + +Nothing of all this, however, stopped the Princesse des Ursins; her own +interest was the most pressing consideration with her; the will of the +King of Spain was entirely subject to her; she felt all the change +towards her of our King and of Madame de Maintenon; she no longer hoped +for a return of their favour; she believed that she must look around for +support against the very authority which had established her so +powerfully, and which could destroy her; and occupied herself solely in +pushing forward a marriage from which she expected everything by making +the same use of the new queen as she had made of the one just dead. The +King of Spain was devout, he absolutely wanted a wife, the Princesse des +Ursins was of an age when her charms were but the charms, of art; in a +word, she set Alberoni to work, and it may be believed she was not +scrupulous as to her means as soon as they were persuaded at Parma that +she was serious and not joking. Orry, always united with Madame des +Ursins, and all-powerful, by her means, was her sole confidant in this +important affair. + +At that time the Marquis de Brancas was French ambassador at Madrid. He +had flattered himself that Madame des Ursins would make him one of the +grandees of Spain. Instead of doing so she simply bestowed upon him the +order of the Golden Fleece. He had never pardoned her for this. +Entirely devoted to Madame de Maintenon, he became on that very account +an object of suspicion to Madame des Ursins, who did not doubt that he +cherished a grudge against her, on account of the favour he had missed. +She allowed him no access to her, and had her eyes open upon all he did. +Brancas in like manner watched all her doings. The confessor, Robinet, +confided to him his fears respecting Madame des Ursins, and the chiefs of +a court universally discontented went and opened their hearts to him, +thinking it was France alone which could set to rights the situation of +Spain. + +Brancas appreciated all the importance of what was told him, but warned +by the fate of the Abbe d'Estrees, fearing even for his couriers, he took +the precaution of sending word to the King that he had pressing business +to acquaint him with, which he could not trust to paper, and that he +wished to be allowed to come to Versailles for a fortnight. The reply +was the permission asked for, accompanied, however, with an order to +communicate en route with the Duc de Berwick, who was about to pass to +Barcelona. + +Madame des Ursins, who always found means to be informed of everything, +immediately knew of Brancas's projected journey, and determined to get +the start of him. At once she had sixteen relays of mules provided upon +the Bayonne road, and suddenly sent off to France, on Holy Thursday, +Cardinal del Giudice, grand inquisitor and minister of state, who had +this mean complaisance for her. She thus struck two blows at once; she +got rid, at least for a time, of a Cardinal minister who troubled her, +and anticipated Brancas, which in our Court was no small point. + +Brancas, who felt all the importance of arriving first, followed the +Cardinal on Good Friday, and moved so well that he overtook him at +Bayonne, at night while he was asleep; Brancas passed straight on, +charging the Commandant to amuse and to delay the Cardinal as long as +possible on the morrow; gained ground, and arrived at Bordeaux with +twenty-eight post-horses that he had carried off with him from various +stations, to keep them from the Cardinal. He arrived in Paris in this +manner two days before the other, and went straight to Marly where the +King was, to explain the business that had led him there. He had a long +audience with the King, and received a lodging for the rest of the visit. + +The Cardinal del Giudice rested four or five days at Paris, and then came +to Marly, where he was introduced to the King. The Cardinal was somewhat +embarrassed; he was charged with no business; all his mission was to +praise Madame des Ursins, and complain of the Marquis de Brancas. These +praises of Madame des Ursins were but vague; she had not sufficient +confidence in the Cardinal to admit to him her real position in our +Court, and to give him instructions accordingly, so that what he had to +say was soon all said; against the Marquis de Brancas he had really no +fact to allege, his sole crime that he was too sharp-sighted and not +sufficiently devoted to the Princess. + +The Cardinal was a courtier, a man of talent, of business, of intrigue, +who felt, with annoyance, that for a person of his condition and weight, +such a commission as he bore was very empty. He appeared exceedingly +agreeable in conversation, of pleasant manners, and was much liked in +good society. He was assiduous in his attentions to the King, without +importuning him for audiences that were unnecessary; and by all his +conduct, he gave reason for believing that he suspected Madame des +Ursins' decadence in our Court, and sought to gain esteem and confidence, +so as to become by the support of the King, prime minister in Spain; but +as we shall soon see, his ultramontane hobbies hindered the +accomplishment of his measures. All the success of his journey consisted +in hindering Brancas from returning to Spain. This was no great +punishment, for Brancas had nothing more to hope for from Madame des +Ursins, and was not a man to lose his time for nothing. + +Up to this period not a word had been said to the King (Louis XIV.) by +the King of Spain upon the subject of his marriage; not a hint had been +given that he meant to remarry, much less with a Parma princess. This +proceeding, grafted upon the sovereignty claimed by the Princesse des +Ursine, and all her conduct with the King of Spain since the death of the +Queen, resolved our King to disgrace her without appeal. + +A remark upon Madame des Ursins, accompanied by a smile, escaped from the +King, generally so complete a master of himself, and appeared enigmatical +to such an extent, although striking, that Torcy, to wham it was +addressed, understood nothing. In his surprise, he related to Castries +what the King had said; Castries told it to Madame la Duchesse d'Orleans, +who reported it to M. d'Orleans and to me. We racked our brains to +comprehend it, but in vain; nevertheless such an unintelligible remark +upon a person like Madame des Ursins, who up to this time had been on +such good terms with the King and Madame de Maintenon, did not appear to +me to be favourable. I was confirmed in this view by what had just +happened with regard to her sovereignty; but I was a thousand leagues +from the thunderbolt which this lightning announced, and which only +declared itself to us by its fall. + +It wits not until the 27th of June that the King was made acquainted by +the King of Spain with his approaching marriage. Of course, through +other channels, he had not failed to hear of it long before. He passed +in the lightest and gentlest manner in the world over this project, and +the mystery so long and so complete! with which it had been kept from +him, stranger, if possible, than the marriage itself. He could not +hinder it; but from this moment he was sure of his vengeance against her +who had arranged and brought it about in this manner. The disgrace of +Madame des Ursine was in fact determined on between the King and Madame +de Maintenon, but in a manner a secret before and since, that I know +nobody who has found out by whom or how it was carried out. It is good +to admit our ignorance, and not to give fictions and inventions in place +of what we are unacquainted with. + +I know not why, but a short time after this, the Princesse des Ursine +conceived such strong suspicion of the lofty and enterprising spirit of +the Princess of Parma that she repented having made this marriage; and +wished to break it off. She brought forward; therefore, I know not what +difficulties, and despatched a courier to Rome to Cardinal Acquaviva, who +did the King of Spain's business there, ordering him to delay his journey +to Parma, where he had been commanded to ask the hand of the Princess, +and to see her provisionally espoused. But Madame des Ursins +had changed her mind too late. The courier did not find Acquaviva at +Rome. That Cardinal was already far away on the road to Parma, so that +there were no means of retreat. + +Acquaviva was received with great honour and much magnificence; he made +his demand, but delayed the espousals as long as he could, and this +caused much remark. The marriage, which was to have been celebrated on +the 25th of August, did not take place until the 15th of September. +Immediately after the ceremony the new Queen set out for Spain. + +An envoy from Parma, with news of the marriage of the Princess, arrived +at Fontainebleau on the 11th October, and had an audience with the King. +This was rather late in the day: For dowry she had one hundred thousand +pistoles, and three hundred thousand livres' worth of jewels. She had +embarked for Alicante at Sestri di Levante. A violent tempest sickened +her of the sea. She landed, therefore, at Monaco, in order to traverse +by land Provence, Languedoc, and Guienne, so as to reach Bayonne, and see +there the Queen Dowager of Spain; sister of her mother, and widow of +Charles II. Desgranges, master of the ceremonies, was to meet her in +Provence, with orders to follow her, and to command the governors, +lieutenants-general, and intendants to follow her also, and serve her, +though she travelled incognito. + +The new Queen of Spain, on arriving at Pau, found the Queen Dowager, her +aunt, had come expressly from Bayonne to meet her. As they approached +each other, they both descended at the same time, and after saluting, +mounted alone into a beautiful caleche that the Queen Dowager had brought +with her, and that she presented to her niece. They supped together +alone. The Queen Dowager conducted her to Saint-Jean Pied-de-Port (for +in that country, as in Spain, the entrances to mountain passes are called +ports). They separated there, the Queen Dowager making the Queen many +presents, among others a garniture of diamonds. The Duc de Saint-Aignan +joined the Queen of Spain at Pau, and accompanied her by command of the +King to Madrid. She sent Grillo, a Genoese noble, whom she has since +made grandee of Spain, to thank the King for sending her the Duc de +Saint-Aignan, and for the present he brought with him. The officers of +her household had been named by Madame des Ursins. + +The Queen of Spain advanced towards Madrid with the attendants sent to +accompany her. She was to be met by the King of Spain at Guadalaxara, +which is about the same distance from Madrid as Paris is from +Fontainebleau. He arrived there, accompanied by the attendants that the +Princesse des Ursins had placed near him, to keep him company, and to +allow no one else to approach him. She followed in her coach, so as to +arrive at the same time, and immediately afterwards he shut himself up +alone with her, and saw nobody until he went to bed. This was on the +22nd of December. The next day the Princesse des Ursins set out with a +small suite for a little place, seven leagues further, called Quadraque, +where the Queen was to sleep that night. Madame des Ursins counted upon +enjoying all the gratitude that the queen would feel for the unhoped-for +grandeur she had obtained by her means; counted upon passing the evening +with her, and upon accompanying her next day to Guadalaxara. She found, +upon arriving at Quadraque, that the Queen had already reached there. +She at once entered into a lodging that had been prepared for her, +opposite that of the Queen. She was in a full Court dress. After +adjusting it in a hurried manner, she went to the Queen. The coldness +and stiffness of her reception surprised her extremely. She attributed +it in the first place to the embarrassment of the Queen, and tried to +melt this ice. Everybody withdrew, in order to leave the two alone. + +Then the conversation commenced. The Queen would not long allow Madame +des Ursins to continue it; but burst out into reproaches against her for +her manners, and for appearing there in a dress that showed want of +respect for the company she was in. Madame des Ursins, whose dress was +proper, and who, on account of her respectful manners and her discourse, +calculated to win the Queen, believed herself to be far from meriting +this treatment, was strangely surprised, and wished to excuse herself; +but the Queen immediately began to utter offensive words, to cry out, to +call aloud, to demand the officers of the guard, and sharply to; command +Madame des Ursins to leave her presence. The latter wished to speak and +defend herself against the reproaches she heard; but the Queen, +increasing her fury and her menaces, cried out to her people to drive +this mad woman from her presence and from the house; and absolutely had +her turned out by the shoulders. Immediately afterwards, she called +Amenzaga, lieutenant of the body-guard, and at the same time the ecuyer +who had the control of her equipages. She ordered the first to arrest +Madame des Ursins, and not quit her until he had placed her in a coach, +with two sure officers of the guard and fifteen soldiers as sentinels +over her; the second she commanded to provide instantly a coach and six, +with two or three footmen, and send off in it the Princesse des Ursins +towards Burgos and Bayonne, without once stopping on the road. Amenzago +tried to represent to the Queen that the King of Spain alone had the +power to give such commands; but she haughtily asked him if he had not +received an order from the King of Spain to obey her in everything, +without reserve and without comment. It was true he had received such an +order, though nobody knew a word about it. + +Madame des Ursins was then immediately arrested, and put into a coach +with one of her waiting-women, without having had time to change her +costume or her head-dress, to take any precaution against the cold, to +provide herself with any money or other things, and without any kind of +refreshment in the coach, or a chemise; nothing, in fact, to change or to +sleep in! She was shipped off thus (with two officers of the guard; who +were ready as soon as the coach), in full Court dress, just as she left +the Queen. In the very short and tumultuous interval which elapsed, she +sent a message to the Queen, who flew into a fresh passion upon not being +obeyed, and made her set out immediately. + +It was then nearly seven o'clock in the evening, two days before +Christmas, the ground all covered with snow and ice, and the cold extreme +and very sharp and bitter, as it always is in Spain. As soon as the +Queen learned that the Princesse des Ursins was out of Quadraque, she +wrote to the King of Spain, by an officer of the guards whom she +despatched to Guadalaxara. The night was so dark that it was only by +means of the snow that anything could be seen. + +It is not easy to represent the state of Madame des Ursins in the coach. +An excess of astonishment and bewilderment prevailed at first, and +suspended all other sentiment; but grief, vexation, rage, and despair, +soon followed. In their turn succeeded sad and profound reflections upon +a step so violent, so unheard-of, and so unjustifiable as she thought. +Then she hoped everything from the friendship of the King of Spain and +his confidence in her; pictured his anger and surprise, and those of the +group of attached servitors, by whom she had surrounded him, and who +would be so interested in exciting the King in her favour. The long +winter's night pissed thus; the cold was, terrible, there was nothing to +ward it off; the coachman actually lost the use of one hand. The morning +advanced; a halt was necessary in order to bait the horses; as for the +travellers there is nothing for them ever in the Spanish inns. You are +simply told where each thing you want is sold. The meat is ordinarily +alive; the wine, thick, flat, and strong; the bread bad; the water is +often worthless; as to beds, there are some, but only for the mule- +drivers, so that you must carry everything with you, and neither Madame +des Ursins nor those with her had anything whatever. Eggs, where they +could find any, were their sole resource; and these, fresh or not, simply +boiled, supported them during all the journey. + +Until this halt for the horses, silence had been profound and +uninterrupted; now it was broken. During all this long night the +Princesse des Ursins had had leisure to think upon the course she should +adopt, and to compose her face. She spoke of her extreme surprise, and +of the little that had passed between her and the Queen. In like manner +the two officers of the guard accustomed, as was all Spain, to fear and +respect her more than their King, replied to her from the bottom of that +abyss of astonishment from which they had not yet arisen. The horses +being put to, the coach soon started again. Soon, too, the Princesse des +Ursins found that the assistance she expected from the King did not +arrive. No rest, no provisions, nothing to put on, until Saint-Jean de +Luz was reached. As she went further on, as time passed and no news +came, she felt she had nothing more to hope for. It may be imagined what +rage succeeded in a woman so ambitious, so accustomed to publicly reign, +so rapidly and shamefully precipitated from the summit of power by the +hand that she herself had chosen as the most solid support of her +grandeur. The Queen had not replied to the last two letters Madame des +Ursins had written to her. This studied negligence was of bad augury, +but who would have imagined treatment so strange and so unheard of? + +Her nephews, Lanti and Chalais, who had permission to join her, completed +her dejection. Yet she was faithful to herself. Neither tears nor +regrets, neither reproaches nor the slightest weakness escaped her; not a +complaint even of the excessive cold, of the deprivation of all things, +or of the extreme fatigue of such a journey. The two officers who +guarded her could not contain their admiration. + +At Saint-Jean de Luz, where she arrived on the 14th of January, 1715, she +found at last her corporeal ills at an end. She obtained a bed, change +of dress, food, and her liberty. The guards, their officers, and the +coach which had brought her, returned; she remained with her waiting-maid +and her nephews. She had leisure to think what she might expect from +Versailles. In spite of her mad sovereignty scheme so long maintained, +and her hardihood in arranging the King of Spain's marriage without +consulting our King, she flattered herself she should find resources in a +Court she had so long governed. It was from Saint-Jean de Luz that she +despatched a courier charged with letters for the King, for Madame de +Maintenon, and for her friends. She briefly gave us an account in those +letters of the thunderbolt which had fallen on her, and asked permission +to come to the Court to explain herself more in detail. She waited for +the return of her courier in this her first place of liberty and repose, +which of itself is very agreeable. But this first courier despatched, +she sent off Lanti with letters written less hastily, and with +instructions. Lanti saw the King in his cabinet on the last of January, +and remained there some moments. From him it was known that as soon as +Madame des Ursins despatched her first courier, she had sent her +compliments to the Queen Dowager of Spain at Bayonne, who would not +receive them. What cruel mortifications attend a fall from a throne! +Let us now return to Guadalaxara. + + + + +CHAPTER LXV + +The officer of the guards, whom the Queen despatched with a letter for +the King of Spain as soon as Madame des Ursins was out of Quadraque, +found the King upon the point of going to bed. He appeared moved, sent a +short reply to the Queen, and gave no orders. The officer returned +immediately. What is singular is, that the secret was so well kept that +it did not transpire until the next morning at ten o'clock. It may be +imagined what emotion seized the whole Court, and what divers movements +there were among all at Guadalaxara. However, nobody dared to speak to +the King, and much expectation was built upon the reply he had sent to +the Queen. The morning passed and nothing was said; the fate of Madame +des Ursins then became pretty evident. + +Chalais and Lanti made bold to ask the King for permission to go and join +the Princess in her isolation. Not only he allowed them to do so, but +charged them with a letter of simple civility, in which he told her he +was very sorry for what had happened; that he had not been able to oppose +the Queen's will; that he should continue to her her pensions, and see +that they were punctually paid. He was as good as his word: as long as +she lived she regularly received them. + +The Queen arrived at Guadalaxara on the afternoon of the day before +Christmas day, at the hour fixed, and as though nothing had occurred. +The King received her in the same manner on the staircase, gave her his +hand, and immediately led her to the chapel, where the marriage was at +once celebrated; for in Spain the custom is to marry after dinner. After +that he led her to her chamber, and straightway went to bed; it was +before six o'clock in the evening, and both got up again for the midnight +mass. What passed between them upon the event of the previous evening +was entirely unknown, and has always remained so. The day after +Christmas day the King and Queen alone together in a coach, and followed +by all the Court, took the road for Madrid, where there was no more talk +of Madame des Ursins than if the King had never known her. Our King +showed not the least surprise at the news brought to him by a courier +despatched from Guadalaxara by the Duc de Saint-Aignan, though all the +Court was filled with emotion and affright after having seen Madame des +Ursins so triumphant. + +Let us now look about for some explanations that will enable us to pierce +this mystery--that remark to Torcy which escaped the King, which Torcy +could not comprehend, and which he related to Castries, who told it to +Madame la Duchesse d'Orleans, from whom I learned it! Can we imagine +that a Parma princess brought up in a garret by an imperious mother, +would have dared to take upon herself, while six leagues from the King of +Spain whom she had never seen, a step so bold and unheard-of, when we +consider against whom directed, a person possessing the entire confidence +of that King and reigning openly? The thing is explained by the order, +so unusual and so secret, that Amenzago had from the King of Spain to +obey the Queen in everything, without reserve and without comment; an +order that became known only at the moment when she gave orders to arrest +Madame des Ursins and take her away. + +Let us remark, too, the tranquillity with which our King and the King of +Spain received the first intelligence of this event; the inactivity of +the latter, the coldness of his letters to Madame des Ursins, and his +perfect indifference what became of a person who was so cherished the day +before, and who yet was forced to travel deprived of everything, by roads +full of ice and snow. We must recollect that when the King banished +Madame des Ursins before, for opening the letter of the Abbe d'Estrees, +and for the note she sent upon it, he did not dare to have his orders +executed in the presence of the King of Spain. It was on the frontier of +Portugal, where our King wished him to go for the express purpose, that +the King of Spain signed the order by which the Princesse des Ursins was +forced to withdraw from the country. Now we had a second edition of the +same volume. Let me add what I learnt from the Marechal de Brancas, to +whom Alberoni related, a long while after this disgrace, that one evening +as the Queen was travelling from Parma to Spain, he found her pacing her +chamber, with rapid step and in agitation muttering to herself, letting +escape the name of the Princesse des Ursins, and then saying with heat, +"I will drive her away, the first thing." He cried out to the Queen and +sought to represent to her the danger, the madness, the inutility of the +enterprise which overwhelmed him: "Keep all this quiet," said the Queen, +"and never let what you have heard escape you. Not a word! I know what +I am about." + +All these things together threw much light upon a catastrophe equally +astonishing in itself and in its execution, and clearly show our King to +have been the author of it; the King of Spain a consenting party and +assisting by the extraordinary order given to Amenzago; and the Queen the +actress, charged in some mariner by the two Kings to bring it about. The +sequel in France confirmed this opinion. + +The fall of the Princesse des Ursins caused great changes in Spain. The +Comtesse d'Altamire was named Camarera Mayor, in her place. She was one +of the greatest ladies in all Spain, and was hereditary Duchess of +Cardonne. Cellamare, nephew of Cardinal del Giudice, was named her grand +ecuyer; and the Cardinal himself soon returned to Madrid and to +consideration. As a natural consequence, Macanas was disgraced. He and +Orry had orders to leave Spain, the latter without seeing the King. He +carried with him the maledictions of the public. Pompadour, who had been +named Ambassador in Spain only to amuse Madame des Ursins, was dismissed, +and the Duc de Saint-Aignan invested with that character, just as he was +about to return after having conducted the Queen to Madrid. + +In due time the Princesse des Ursins arrived in Paris, and took up her +quarters in the house of the Duc de Noirmoutiers, her brother, in the Rue +Saint-Dominique, close to mine. This journey must have appeared to her +very different from the last she had made in France, when she was Queen +of the Court. Few people, except her former friends and those of her +formal cabal, came to see her; yet, nevertheless, some curious folks +appeared, so that for the first few days there was company enough; but +after that, solitude followed when the ill-success of her journey to +Versailles became known. M. d'Orleans, reunited now with the King of +Spain, felt that it was due to his interest even more than to his +vengeance to show in a striking manner, that it was solely owing to the +hatred and artifice of Madame des Ursins that he had fallen into such +disfavour on account of Spain, and had been in danger of losing his head. +Times had changed. Monseigneur was dead, the Meudon cabal annihilated; +Madame de Maintenon had turned her back upon Madame des Ursins; thus M. +d'Orleans was free to act as he pleased. Incited by Madame la Duchesse +d'Orleans, and more still by Madame, he begged the King to prohibit +Madame des Ursins from appearing anywhere (Versailles not even excepted) +where she might meet Madame la Duchesse de Berry, Madame, Monsieur le +Duc, and Madame la Duchesse d'Orleans, who at the same time strictly +forbade their households to see her, and asked the persons to whom they +were particularly attached to hold no intercourse with her. This made a +great stir, openly showed that Madame des Ursins had utterly lost the +support of Madame de Maintenon and the King, and much embarrassed her. + +I could not feel that M. d'Orleans was acting wrong, in thus paying off +his wrongs for the injuries she had heaped upon him, but I represented to +him, that as I had always been an intimate friend of Madame des Ursins, +putting aside her conduct towards him and making no comparison between my +attachment for him and my friendship for her, I could not forget the +marks of consideration she had always given me, particularly in her last +triumphant journey (as I have already explained), and that it would be +hard if I could not see her. We capitulated then, and M. le Duc and +Madame la Duchesse d'Orleans permitted me to see her twice--once +immediately; once when she left--giving my word that I would not see her +three times, and that Madame de Saint-Simon should not see her at all; +which latter clause we agreed to very unwillingly, but there was no +remedy. As I wished at least to profit by my chance, I sent word to +Madame des Ursins, explaining the fetters that bound me, and saying that +as I wished to see her at all events at my ease since I should see her so +little, I would let pass the first few days and her first journey to +Court, before asking her for an audience. + +My message was very well received; she had known for many years the terms +on which I was with M. d'Orleans; she was not surprised with these +fetters, and was grateful to me for what I had obtained. Some days after +she had been to Versailles, I went to her at two o'clock in the day. She +at once closed the door to all comers, and I was tete-a-tete with her +until ten o'clock at night. + +It may be imagined what a number of things were passed in review during +this long discourse. Our eight hours of conversation appeared to me like +eight moments. She related to me her catastrophe, without mixing up the +King or the King of Spain, of whom she spoke well; but, without violently +attacking the Queen, she predicted what since has occurred. We separated +at supper time, with a thousand reciprocal protestations and regret that +Madame de Saint-Simon could not see her. She promised to inform me of +her departure early enough to allow us to pass another day together. + +Her journey to Versailles did not pass off very pleasantly. She dined +with the Duchesse de Luders, and then visited Madame de Maintenon; waited +with her for the King, but when he came did not stop long, withdrawing to +Madame Adam's, where she passed the night. The next day she dined with +the Duchesse de Ventadour, and returned to Paris. She was allowed to +give up the pension she received from the King, and in exchange to have +her Hotel de Ville stock increased, so that it yielded forty thousand +livres a-year. Her income, besides being doubled, was thus much more +sure than would have been a pension from the King, which she doubted not +M. d'Orleans, as soon as he became master, would take from her. She +thought of retiring into Holland, but the States-General would have +nothing to do with her, either at the Hague, or at Amsterdam. She had +reckoned upon the Hague. She next thought of Utrecht, but was soon out +of conceit with it, and turned her regards towards Italy. + +The health of the King, meanwhile, visibly declining, Madame des Ursins +feared lest she should entirely fall into the clutches of M. d'Orleans. +She fully resolved, therefore, to make off, without knowing, however, +where to fix herself; and asked permission of the King to come and take +leave of him at Marly. She came there from Paris on Tuesday, the 6th of +August, so as to arrive as he left dinner, that is, about ten o'clock. +She was immediately admitted into the cabinet of the King, with whom she +remained tete-a-tete full half an hour. She passed immediately to the +apartments of Madame de Maintenon, with whom she remained an hour; and +then got into her coach and returned to Paris. I only knew of this +leave-taking by her arrival at Marly, where I had some trouble in meeting +her. As chance would have it, I went in search of her coach to ask her +people what had become of her, and was speaking to them when, to and +behold! she herself arrived. She seemed very glad to see me, and made me +mount with her into her coach, where for little less than an hour we +discoursed very freely. She did not dissimulate from me her fears; the +coldness the King and Madame de Maintenon had testified for her through +all their politeness; the isolation she found herself in at the Court, +even in Paris; and the uncertainty in which she was as to the choice of a +retreat; all this in detail, and nevertheless without complaint, without +regret, without weakness; always reassured and superior to events, as +though some one else were in question. She touched lightly upon Spain, +upon the ascendency the Queen was acquiring already over the King, giving +me to understand that it could not be otherwise; running lightly and +modestly over the Queen, and always praising the goodness of the King of +Spain. Fear, on account of the passers-by, put an end to our +conversation. She was very gracious to me; expressed regret that we must +part; proceeded to tell me when she should start in time for us to have +another day together; sent many compliments to Madame de Saint-Simon; and +declared herself sensible of the mark of friendship I had given her, in +spite of my engagement with M. d'Orleans. As soon as I had seen her off, +I went to M. d'Orleans, to whom I related what I had just done; said I +had not paid a visit, but had had simply a meeting; that it was true I +could not hinder myself from seeking it, without prejudice to the final +visit he had allowed me. Neither he nor Madame la Duchesse d'Orleans +complained. They had fully triumphed over their enemy, and were on the +point of seeing her leave France for ever, without hope in Spain. + +Until now, Madame des Ursins amused by a residue of friends, increased by +those of M. de Noirmoutiers with whom she lodged and who had money, had +gently occupied herself with the arrangement of her affairs, changed as +they were, and in withdrawing her effects from Spain. The fear lest she +should find herself in the power of a Prince whom she had so cruelly +offended, and who showed, since her arrival in France, that he felt it, +hurried all her measures. Her terror augmented by the change in the King +that she found at this last audience had taken place since her first. +She no longer doubted that his end was very near; and all her attention +was directed to the means by which she might anticipate it, and be well +informed of his health; this she believed her sole security in France. +Terrified anew by the accounts she received of it, she no longer gave +herself time for anything, but precipitately set out on the 14th August, +accompanied as far as Essonne by her two nephews. She had no time to +inform me, so that I have never seen her since the day of our +conversation at Marly in her coach. She did not breathe until she +arrived at Lyons. + +She had abandoned the project of retiring into Holland, where the States- +General would not have her. She herself, too, was disgusted with the +equality of a republic, which counterbalanced in her mind the pleasure of +the liberty enjoyed there. But she could not resolve to return to Rome, +the theatre of her former reign, and appear there proscribed and old, as +in an asylum. She feared, too, a bad reception, remembering the quarrels +that had taken place between the Courts of Rome and Spain. She had lost +many friends and acquaintances; in fifteen years of absence all had +passed away, and she felt the trouble she might be subjected to by the +ministers of the Emperor, and by those of the two Crowns, with their +partisans. Turin was not a Court worthy of her; the King of Sardinia had +not always been pleased with her, and they knew too much for each other. +At Venice she would have been out of her element. + +Whilst agitated in this manner, without being able to make up her mind, +she learned that the King was in extreme danger, a danger exaggerated by +rumour. Fear seized her lest he should die whilst she was in his realm. +She set off immediately, therefore, without knowing where to go; and +solely to leave France went to Chambery, as the nearest place of safety, +arriving there out of breath, so to say. + +Every place being well examined, she preferred Genoa; its liberty pleased +her; there was intercourse there with a rich and numerous nobility; the +climate and the city were beautiful; the place was in some sort a centre +and halting-point between Madrid, Paris, and Rome, with which places she +was always in communication, and always hungered after all that passed +there. Genoa determined on, she went there. She was well received, +hoped to fix her tabernacle there, and indeed stayed some years. But at +last ennui seized her; perhaps vexation at not being made enough of. She +could not exist without meddling, and what is there for a superannuated +woman to meddle with at Genoa? She turned her thoughts, therefore, +towards Rome. Then, on sounding, found her course clear, quitted Genoa, +and returned to her nest. + +She was not long there before she attached herself to the King and Queen +of England (the Pretender and his wife), and soon governed them openly. +What a poor resource! But it was courtly and had a flavour of occupation +for a woman who could not exist without movement. She finished her life +there remarkably healthy in mind and body, and in a prodigious opulence, +which was not without its use in that deplorable Court. For the rest, +Madame des Ursins was in mediocre estimation at Rome, was deserted by the +Spanish, little visited by the French, but always faithfully paid by +France and Spain, and unmolested by the Regent. She was always occupied +with the world, and with what she had been, but was no longer; yet +without meanness, nay, with courage and dignity. + +The loss she experienced in January, 1720, of the Cardinal de la +Tremoille, although there was no real friendship between them, did not +fail, to create a void in her. She survived him three years, preserved +all her health, her strength, her mind until death, and was carried off, +more than eighty years of age, at Rome, on the 5th of December, 1722, +after a very short illness. + +She had the pleasure of seeing Madame de Maintenon forgotten and +annihilated in Saint-Cyr, of surviving her, of seeing at Rome her two +enemies, Giudice and Alberoni, as profoundly disgraced as she,--one +falling from the same height, and of relishing the forgetfulness, not to +say contempt, into which they both sank. Her death, which, a few years +before, would have resounded throughout all Europe, made not the least +sensation. The little English Court regretted her, and some private +friends also, of whom I was one. I did not hide this, although,--on +account of M. le Duc d'Orleans, I had kept up no intercourse with her; +for the rest, nobody seemed to perceive she had disappeared. She was, +nevertheless, so extraordinary a person, during all the course of her +long life, everywhere, and had so grandly figured, although in various +ways; had such rare intellect, courage, industry, and resources; reigned +so publicly and so absolutely in Spain; and had a character so sustained +and so unique, that her life deserves to be written, and would take a +place among the most curious fragments of the history of the times in +which she lived. + + + + +CHAPTER LVI + +But I must return somewhat now, in order to make way for a crowd of +events which have been pressing forward all this time, but which I have +passed by, in going straightforward at once to the end of Madame des +Ursins' history. + +On Monday, the 30th April, 1714., the King took medicine, and worked +after dinner with Pontchartrain. This was at Marly. About six o'clock, +he went to M. le Duc de Berry, who had had fever all night. M. le Duc de +Berry had risen without saying anything, had been with the King at the +medicine-hour, and intended to go stag-hunting; but on leaving the King's +chamber shivering seized him, and forced him to go back again. He was +bled while the King was in his chamber, and the blood was found very bad; +when the King went to bed the doctors told him the illness was of a +nature to make them hope that it might be a case of contagion. M. le Duc +de Berry had vomited a good deal--a black vomit. Fagon said, +confidently, that it was from the blood; the other doctors fastened upon +some chocolate he had taken on the Sunday. From this day forward I knew +what was the matter. Boulduc, apothecary of the King, and extremely +attached to Madame de Saint-Simon and to me, whispered in my ear that M. +le Duc de Berry would not recover, and that, with some little difference, +his malady was the same as that of which the Dauphin and Dauphine died. +He repeated this the next day, and never once varied afterwards; saying +to me on the third day, that none of the doctors who attended the Prince +were of a different opinion, or hid from him what they thought. + +On Tuesday, the 1st of May, the Prince was bled in the foot at seven +o'clock in the morning, after a very bad night; took emetics twice, which +had a good effect; then some manna; but still there were two accesses. +The King went to the sick-room afterwards, held a finance council, would +not go shooting, as he had arranged, but walked in his gardens. The +doctors, contrary to their custom, never reassured him. The night was +cruel. On Wednesday; the 2nd of May, the King went, after mass, to M. le +Duc de Berry, who had been again bled in the foot. The King held the +Council of State, as usual, dined in Madame de Maintenon's rooms, and +afterwards reviewed his Guards. Coettenfao, chevalier d'honneur of +Madame la Duchesse de Berry, came during the morning to beg the King, in +her name, that Chirac, a famous doctor of M. d'Orleans, should be allowed +to see M. le Duc de Berry. The King refused, on the ground that all the +other doctors were in accord, and that Chirac, who might differ with +them, would embarrass them. After dinner Mesdames de Pompadour and La +Vieuville arrived, on the part of Madame la Duchesse de Berry, to beg the +King that she might be allowed to come and see her husband, saying that +she would come on foot rather than stay away. It would have been better, +surely, for her to come in a coach, if she so much wished, and, before +alighting, to send to the King for permission so to do. But the fact is, +she had no more desire to come than M. de Berry had to see her. He never +once mentioned her name, or spoke of her, even indirectly. The King +replied to those ladies by saying that he would not close the door +against Madame la Duchesse de Berry, but, considering the state she was +in, he thought it would be very imprudent on her part to come. He +afterwards told M. le Duc and Madame la Duchesse d'Orleans to go to +Versailles and hinder her from coming. Upon returning from the review +the King went again to see M. le Duc de Berry. He had been once more +bled in the arm, had vomited all day much blood too--and had taken some +Robel water three times, in order to stop his sickness. This vomiting +put off the communion. Pere de la Rue had been by his side ever since +Tuesday morning, and found him very patient and resigned. + +On Thursday, the 3rd, after a night worse than ever, the doctors said +they did not doubt that a vein had been broken in the stomach. It was +reported that this accident had happened by an effort M. de Berry made +when out hunting on the previous Thursday, the day the Elector of Bavaria +arrived. His horse slipped; in drawing the animal up, his body struck +against the pommel of the saddle, so it was said, and ever since he had +spit blood every day. The vomiting ceased at nine o'clock in the +morning, but the patient was no better. The King, who was going stag- +hunting, put it off. At six o'clock at night M. de Berry was so choked +that he could no longer remain in bed; about eight o'clock he found +himself so relieved that he said to Madame, he hoped he should not die; +but soon after, the malady increased so much that Pere de la Rue said it +was no longer time to think of anything but God, and of receiving the +sacrament. The poor Prince himself seemed to desire it. + +A little after ten o'clock at night the King went to the chapel, where a +consecrated Host had been kept prepared ever since the commencement of +the illness. M. le Duc de Berry received it, with extreme unction, in +presence of the King, with much devotion and respect. The King remained +nearly an hour in the chamber, supped alone in his own, did not receive +the Princesses afterwards, but went to bed. M. le Duc d'Orleans, at ten +o'clock in the morning, went again to Versailles, as Madame la Duchesse +de Berry wished still to come to Marly. M. le Duc de Berry related to +Pere de la Rue, who at least said so, the accident just spoken of; but, +it was added, "his head was then beginning to wander." After losing the +power of speech, he took the crucifix Pere de la Rue held, kissed it, and +placed it upon his heart. He expired on Friday, the 4th of May, 1714, at +four o'clock in the morning, in his twenty-eighth year, having been born +at Versailles, the last day of August, 1686. + +M. le Duc de Berry was of ordinary height, rather fat, of a beautiful +blonde complexion, with a fresh, handsome face, indicating excellent +health. He was made for society, and for pleasure, which he loved; the +best, gentlest, most compassionate and accessible of men, without pride, +and without vanity, but not without dignity or self-appreciation. He was +of medium intellect, without ambition or desire, but had very good sense, +and was capable of listening, of understanding, and of always taking the +right side in preference to the wrong, however speciously put. He loved +truth, justice, and reason; all that was contrary to religion pained him +to excess, although he was not of marked piety. He was not without +firmness, and hated constraint. This caused it to be feared that he was +not supple enough for a younger son, and, indeed, in his early youth he +could not understand that there was any difference between him and his +eldest brother, and his boyish quarrels often caused alarm. + +He was the most gay, the most frank, and consequently the most loved of +the three brothers; in his youth nothing was spoken of but his smart +replies to Madame and M. de la Rochefoucauld. He laughed at preceptors +and at masters--often at punishment. He scarcely knew anything except +how to read and write; and learned nothing after being freed from the +necessity of learning. This ignorance so intimidated him, that he could +scarcely open his mouth before strangers, or perform the most ordinary +duties of his rank; he had persuaded himself that he was an ass and a +fool; fit for nothing. He was so afraid of the King that he dared not +approach him, and was so confused if the King looked hard at him, or +spoke of other things than hunting, or gaming, that he scarcely +understood a word, or could collect his thoughts. As may be imagined, +such fear does not go hand in hand with deep affection. + +He commenced life with Madame la Duchesse de Berry as do almost all those +who marry very young and green. He became extremely amorous of her; +this, joined to his gentleness and natural complaisance, had the usual +effect, which was to thoroughly spoil her. He was not long in perceiving +it; but love was too strong for him. He found a woman proud, haughty, +passionate, incapable of forgiveness, who despised him, and who allowed +him to see it, because he had infinitely less head than she; and because, +moreover, she was supremely false and strongly determined. She piqued +herself upon both these qualities, and on her contempt for religion, +ridiculing M. le Duc de Berry for being devout; and all these things +became insupportable to him. Her gallantries were so prompt, so rapid, +so unmeasured, that he could not help seeing them. Her endless private +interviews with M. le Duc d'Orleans, in which everything languished if he +was present, made him furious. Violent scenes frequently took place +between them; the last, which occurred at Rambouillet, went so far that +Madame la Duchesse de Berry received a kick * * * * , and a menace that +she should be shut up in a convent for the rest of her life; and when M. +le Duc de Berry fell ill, he was thumbing his hat, like a child, before +the King, relating all his grievances, and asking to be delivered from +Madame la Duchesse de Berry. Hitherto I have only alluded to Madame la +Duchesse de Berry, but, as will be seen, she became so singular a person +when her father was Regent, that I will here make her known more +completely than I have yet done. + +She was tall, handsome, well made, with, however, but little grace, and +had something in her, eyes which made you fear what she was. Like her +father and mother, she spoke well and with facility. Timid in trifles, +yet in other things terrifyingly bold,--foolishly haughty sometimes, and +sometimes mean to the lowest degree,--it may be said that she was a model +of all the vices, avarice excepted; and was all the more dangerous +because she had art and talent. I am not accustomed to over-colour the +picture I am obliged to present to render things understood, and it will +easily be perceived how strictly I am reserved upon the ladies, and upon +all gallantries, not intimately associated with what may be called +important matters. I should be so here, more than in any other case, +from self-love, if not from respect for the sex and dignity of the +person. The considerable part I played in bringing about Madame la +Duchesse de Berry's marriage, and the place that Madame de Saint-Simon, +in spite of herself and of me, occupied in connection with her, would be +for me reasons more than enough for silence, if I did not feel that +silence would throw obscurity over all the sequel of this history. It is +then to the truth that I sacrifice my self-love, and with the same +truthfulness I will say that if I had known or merely suspected, that the +Princess was so bad as she showed herself directly after her marriage, +and always more and more since, she would never have become Duchesse de +Berry. + +I have already told how she annoyed M. le Duc de Berry by ridiculing his +devotion. In other ways she put his patience to severe trials, and more +than once was in danger of public exposure. She partook of few meals in +private, at which she did not get so drunk as to lose consciousness, and +to bring up all she had taken on every side. The presence of M. le Duc +de Berry, of M. le Duc and Madame la Duchesse d'Orleans, of ladies with +whom she was not on familiar terms, in no way restrained her. She +complained even of M. le Duc de Berry for not doing as she did. She +often treated her father with a haughtiness which was terrifying on all +accounts. + +In her gallantries she was as unrestrained as in other things. After +having had several favourites, she fixed herself upon La Haye, who from +King's page had become private ecuyer of M. le Duc de Berry. The oglings +in the Salon of Marly were perceived by everybody; nothing restrained +them. At last, it must be said, for this fact encloses all the rest, she +wished La Haye to run away with her from Versailles to the Low Countries, +whilst M. le Duc de Berry and the King were both living. La Haye almost +died with fright at this proposition, which she herself made to him. His +refusal made her furious. From the most pressing entreaties she came to +all the invectives that rage could suggest, and that torrents of tears +allowed her to pronounce. La Haye had to suffer her attacks--now tender, +now furious; he was in the most mortal embarrassment. It was a long time +before she could be cured of her mad idea, and in the meanwhile she +subjected the poor fellow to the most frightful persecution. Her passion +for La Haye continued until the death of M. le Duc de Berry, and some +time after. + +M. le Duc de Berry was buried at Saint-Denis on Wednesday, the 16th of +May; M. le Duc d'Orleans was to have headed the procession, but the same +odious reports against him that had circulated at the death of the +Dauphin had again appeared, and he begged to be let off. M. le Duc +filled his place. Madame la Duchesse de Berry, who was in the family +way, kept her bed; and in order that she should not be seen there when +people came to pay her the usual visits of condolence, the room was kept +quite dark. Many ridiculous scenes and much indecent laughter, that +could not be restrained, thus arose. Persons accustomed to the room +could see their way, but those unaccustomed stumbled at every step, and +had need of guidance. For want of this, Pere du Trevoux, and Pere +Tellier after him, both addressed their compliments to the wall; others +to the foot of the bed. This became a secret amusement, but happily did +not last long. + +As may be imagined, the death of M. le Duc de Berry was a deliverance for +Madame la Duchesse de Berry. She was, as I have said, in the family way; +she hoped for a boy, and counted upon enjoying as a widow more liberty +than she had been able to take as a wife. She had a miscarriage, +however, on Saturday, the 16th of June, and was delivered of a daughter +which lived only twelve hours. The little corpse was buried at Saint- +Denis, Madame de Saint-Simon at the head of the procession. Madame la +Duchesse de Berry, shortly before this event, received two hundred +thousand livres income of pension; but the establishment she would have +had if the child had been a boy was not allowed her. + + + + +CHAPTER LXVII. + +It is time now that I should say something about an event that caused an +immense stir throughout the land, and was much talked of even in foreign +parts. I must first introduce, however, a sort of a personage whose +intimacy was forced upon me at this period; for the two incidents are in +a certain degree associated together. + +M. d'Orleans for some little time had continually represented to me, how +desirous one of his acquaintances was to secure my friendship. This +acquaintance was Maisons, president in the parliament, grandson of that +superintendent of the finances who built the superb chateau of Maisons, +and son of the man who had presided so unworthily at the judgment of our +trial with M. de Luxembourg, which I have related in its place. Maisons +was a person of much ambition, exceedingly anxious to make a name, +gracious and flattering in manners to gain his ends, and amazingly fond +of grand society. + +The position of Maisons, where he lived, close to Marly, afforded him +many opportunities of drawing there the principal people of the Court. +It became quite the fashion to go from Marly to his chateau. The King +grew accustomed to hear the place spoken of, and was in no way +displeased. Maisons had managed to become very intimate with M. le Duc +and M. le Prince de Conti. These two princes being dead, he turned his +thoughts towards M, d'Orleans. He addressed himself to Canillac, who had +always been an intimate friend of M. d'Orleans, and by him soon gained +the intimacy of that prince. But he was not yet satisfied. He wished to +circumvent M. d'Orleans more completely than he could by means of +Canillac. He cast his eye, therefore, upon me. I think he was afraid of +me on account of what I have related concerning his father. He had an +only son about the same age as my children. For a long time he had made +all kinds of advances, and visited them often. The son's intimacy did +not, however, assist the father; so that at last Maisons made M. le Duc +d'Orleans speak to me himself. + +I was cold; tried to get out of the matter with compliments and excuses. +M. d'Orleans, who believed he had found a treasure in his new +acquaintance, returned to the charge; but I was not more docile. A few +days after, I was surprised by an attack of the same kind from M. de +Beauvilliers. How or when he had formed an intimacy with Maisons, I have +never been able to unravel; but formed it, he had; and he importuned me +so much, nay exerted his authority over me, that at last I found I must +give way. Not to offend M. d'Orleans by yielding to another after having +refused to yield to him, I waited until he should again speak to me on +the subject, so that he might give himself the credit of vanquishing me. +I did not wait long. The Prince attacked me anew, maintained that +nothing would be more useful to him than an intimacy between myself and +Maisons, who scarcely dared to see him, except in secret, and with whom +he had not the same leisure or liberty for discussing many things that +might present themselves. I had replied to all this before; but as I had +resolved to surrender to the Prince (after the authority of the Duc de +Beauvilliers had vanquished me), I complied with his wish. + +Maisons was soon informed of it, and did not let my resolution grow, +cold. M. le Duc d'Orleans urged me to go and sleep a night in Paris. +Upon arriving there, I found a note from Maisons, who had already sent an +ocean of compliments to me by the Prince and the Duke. This note, for +reasons to be told me afterwards, appointed a meeting at eleven o'clock +this night, in the plain behind the Invalides, in a very mysterious +manner. I went there with an old coachman of my mother's and a lackey to +put my people off the scent. There was a little moonlight. Maisons in a +small carriage awaited me. We soon met. He mounted into my coach. I +never could comprehend the mystery of this meeting. There was nothing on +his part but advances, compliments, protestations, allusions to the +former interview of our fathers; only such things, in fact, as a man of +cleverness and breeding says when he wishes to form a close intimacy with +any one. Not a word that he said was of importance or of a private +nature. + +I replied in the civillest manner possible to the abundance he bestowed +upon me. I expected afterwards something that would justify the hour, +the place, the mystery, in a word, of our interview. What was my +surprise to hear no syllable upon these points. The only reason Maisons +gave for our secret interview was that from that time he should be able +to come and see me at Versailles with less inconvenience, and gradually +increase the number and the length of his visits until people grew +accustomed to see him there! He then begged me not to visit him in +Paris, because his house was always too full of people. This interview +lasted little less than half an hour. It was long indeed, considering +what passed. We separated with much politeness, and the first time he +went to Versailles he called upon me towards the middle of the day. + +In a short time he visited me every Sunday. Our conversation by degrees +became more serious. I did not fail to be on my guard, but drew him out +upon various subjects; he being very willing. + +We were on this footing when, returning to my room at Marly about midday- +on Sunday, the 29th of July, I found a lackey of Maisons with a note from +him, in which he conjured me to quit all business and come immediately to +his house at Paris, where he would wait for me alone, and where I should +find that something was in question, that could not suffer the slightest +delay, that could not even be named in writing, and which was of the most +extreme importance. This lackey had long since arrived, and had sent my +people everywhere in search of me. I was engaged that day to dine with +M. and Madame de Lauzun. To have broken my engagement would have been to +set the curiosity and the malignity of M. de Lauzun at work. I dared not +disappear; therefore I gave orders to my coachman, and as soon as I had +dined I vanished. Nobody saw me get into my chaise; and I quickly +arrived at Paris, and immediately hastened to Maisons' with eagerness +easy to imagine. + +I found him alone with the Duc de Noailles. At the first glance I saw +two dismayed men, who said to me in an exhausted manner, but after a +heated though short preface, that the King had declared his two bastards +and their male posterity to all eternity, real princes of the blood, with +full liberty to assume all their dignities, honours, and rank, and +capacity to succeed to the throne in default of the others. + +At this news, which I did not expect, and the secret of which had +hitherto been preserved, without a particle of it transpiring, my arms +fell. I lowered my head and remained profoundly silent, absorbed in my +reflections. They were soon disturbed by cries which aroused me. These +two men commenced pacing the chamber; stamped with their feet; pushed and +struck the furniture; raged as though each wished to be louder than the +other, and made the house echo with their noise. I avow that so much +hubbub seemed suspicious to me on the part of two men, one so sage and so +measured, and to whom this rank was of no consequence; the other always +so tranquil, so crafty, so master of himself. I knew not why this sudden +fury succeeded to such dejected oppression; and I was not without +suspicion that their passion was put on merely to excite mine. If this +was their design, it succeeded ill. I remained in my chair, and coldly +asked them what was the matter. My tranquillity sharpened their fury. +Never in my life have I seen anything so surprising. + +I asked them if they had gone mad, and if instead of this tempest it +would not be better to reason, and see whether something could not be +done. They declared it was precisely because nothing could be done +against a thing not only resolved on, but executed, declared, and sent to +the Parliament, that they were so furious; that M. le Duc d'Orleans, on +the terms he was with the King, would not dare even to whisper +objections; that the Princes of the blood, mere children as they were, +could only tremble; that the Dukes had no means of opposition, and that +the Parliament was reduced to silence and slavery. Thereupon they set to +work to see who could cry the louder and reviled again, sparing neither +things nor persons. + +I, also, was in anger, but this racket kept me cool and made me smile. +I argued with them and said, that after all I preferred to see the +bastards princes of the blood, capable of succeeding to the throne, than +to see them in the intermediary rank they occupied. And it is true that +as soon as I had cooled myself, I felt thus. + +At last the storm grew calm, and they told me that the Chief-President +and the Attorney-General--who, I knew, had been at Marly very early in +the morning at the Chancellor's--had seen the King in his cabinet soon +after he rose, and had brought back the declaration, all prepared. +Maisons must, however, have known this earlier; because when the lackey +he sent to me set out from Paris, those gentlemen could not have returned +there. Our talk led to nothing, and I regained Marly in all haste, in +order that my absence might not be remarked. + +Nevertheless it was towards the King's supper hour when I arrived. I +went straight to the salon, and found it very dejected. People looked, +but scarcely dared to approach each other; at the most, a sign or a +whisper in the ear, as the courtiers brushed by one another, was ventured +out. I saw the King sit down to table; he seemed to me more haughty than +usual, and continually looked all around. The news had only been known +one hour; everybody was still congealed and upon his guard. + +As soon as the King was seated (he had looked very hard at me in passing) +I went straight to M. du Maine's. Although the hour was unusual, the +doors fell before me; I saw a man, who received me with joyful surprise, +and who, as it were, moved through the air towards me, all lame that he +was. I said that I came to offer him a sincere compliment, that we (the +Dukes) claimed no precedence over the Princes of the blood; but what we +claimed was, that there should be nobody between the Princes of the blood +and us; that as this intermediary rank no longer existed, we had nothing +more to say, but to rejoice that we had no longer to support what was +insupportable. The joy of M. du Maine burst forth at my compliments, and +he startled me with a politeness inspired by the transport of triumph. + +But if he was delighted at the declaration of the King, it was far +otherwise with the world. Foreign dukes and princes fumed, but +uselessly. The Court uttered dull murmurs more than could have been +expected. Paris and the provinces broke out; the Parliament did not keep +silent. Madame de Maintenon, delighted with her work, received the +adoration of her familiars. + +As for me, I will content myself with but few reflections upon this most +monstrous, astounding, and frightful determination of the King. I will +simply say, that it is impossible not to see in it an attack upon the +Crown; contempt for the entire nation, whose rights are trodden under +foot by it; insult to all the Princes of the blood; in fact the crime of +high treason in its most rash and most criminal extent. Yes! however +venerable God may have rendered in the eyes of men the majesty of Kings +and their sacred persons, which are his anointed; however execrable may +be the crime known as high treason, of attempting their lives; however +terrible and singular may be the punishments justly invented to prevent +that crime, and to remove by their horror the most infamous from the +infernal resolution of committing it, we cannot help finding in the crime +in question a plenitude not in the other, however abominable it may be: +Yes! to overthrow the most holy laws, that have existed ever since the +establishment of monarchy; to extinguish a right the most sacred--the +most important--the most inherent in the nation: to make succession to +the throne, purely, supremely, and despotically arbitrary; in a word, to +make of a bastard a crown prince, is a crime more black, more vast, more +terrible, than that of high treason against the chief of the State. + + + + +CHAPTER LXVIII + +But let me now explain by what means the King was induced to arrive at, +and publish this terrible determination. + +He was growing old, and though no external change in him was visible, +those near him had for some time begun to fear that he could not live +long. This is not the place to descant upon a health hitherto so good +and so even: suffice it to mention, that it silently began to give way. +Overwhelmed by the most violent reverses of fortune after being so long +accustomed to success, the King was even more overwhelmed by domestic +misfortunes. All his children had disappeared before him, and left him +abandoned to the most fatal reflections. At every moment he himself +expected the same kind of death. Instead of finding relief from his +anguish among those who surrounded him, and whom he saw most frequently, +he met with nothing but fresh trouble there. Excepting Marechal, his +chief surgeon, who laboured unceasingly to cure him of his suspicions, +Madame de Maintenon, M. du Maine, Fagon, Bloin, the other principal +valets sold to the bastard and his former governors,--all sought to +augment these suspicions; and in truth it was not difficult to do so. +Nobody doubted that poison had been used, nobody could seriously doubt +it; and Marechal, who was as persuaded as the rest, held a different +opinion before the King only to deliver him from a useless torment which +could not but do him injury. But M. du Maine, and Madame de Maintenon +also, had too much interest to maintain him in this fear, and by their, +art filled him with horror against M. d'Orleans, whom they named as the +author of these crimes, so that the King with this prince before his eyes +every day, was in a perpetual state of alarm. + +With his children the King had lost, and by the same way, a princess, who +in addition to being the soul and ornament of his court, was, moreover, +all his amusement, all his joy, all his affection, in the hours when he +was not in public. Never, since he entered the world, had he become +really familiar with any one but her; it has been seen elsewhere to what +extent. Nothing could fill up this great void: The bitterness of being +deprived of her augmented, because he could find no diversion. This +unfortunate state made him seek relief everywhere in abandoning himself +more and more to Madame de Maintenon and M. du Maine. + +They soon managed to obtain possession of him, as it were, entirely; +leaving no art unexhausted in order to flatter, to amuse, to please, and +to interest him. He was made to believe that M. du Maine was utterly +without ambition; like a good father of a family, solely occupied with +his children, touched with the grandeur of his nearness to the King, +simple, frank, upright, and one who after working at his duties all day, +and after giving himself time for prayer and piety, amused himself in +hunting, and drew upon his natural gaiety and cheerfulness, without +knowing anything of the Court, or of what was passing! Compare this +portrait with his real character, and we shall feel with terror what a +rattlesnake was introduced into the King's privacy. + +Established thus in the mind and heart of the King, the opportunity +seemed ripe for profiting by precious time that could not last long. +Everybody smiled upon the project of M. du Maine and Madame de Maintenon. +They had rendered M. d'Orleans odious in the eyes of the King and of the +whole country, by the most execrable calumnies. How could he defend +himself? shut up as the King was, how oppose them? how interfere with +their dark designs? M. du Maine wished not only to be made prince of the +blood, but to be made guardian of the heir to the throne, so as to dwarf +the power of the Regent as much as possible. He flattered himself that +the feeling he had excited against M. d'Orleans in the Court, in Paris, +and in the provinces would be powerfully strengthened by dispositions so +dishonourable; that he should find himself received as the guardian and +protector of the life of the royal infant, to whom was attached the +salvation of France, of which he would then become the idol; that the +independent possession of the young King, and of his military and civil +households, would strengthen with the public applause the power with +which he would be invested in the state by this testament; that the +Regent, reviled and stripped in this manner, not only would be in no +condition to dispute anything, but would be unable to defend himself from +any attempts the bastard might afterwards make against him. M. du Maine +wished in fact to take from M. d'Orleans everything, except the name of +Regent, and to divide all the power between himself and his brother. +Such was his scheme, that the King by incredible art was induced to +sanction and approve. + +But the schemers had tough work before they obtained this success. +They found that the King would not consent to their wishes without much +opposition. They hit upon a devilish plan to overpower his resistance. +Hitherto, they had only been occupied in pleasing him, in amusing him, +in anticipating his wishes, in praising him--let me say the word-- +in adoring him. They had redoubled their attention, since, by the +Dauphine's death, they had become his sole resource. + +Not being able now to lead him as they wished, but determined to do so at +all cost, they adopted another system, certain as they were that they +could do so with impunity. Both became serious, often times dejected, +silent, furnishing nothing to the conversation, letting pass what the +King forced himself to say, sometimes not even replying, if it was not a +direct interrogation. In this manner all the leisure hours of the King +were rendered dull and empty; his amusements and diversions were made +fatiguing and sad and a weight was cast upon him, which he was the more +unable to bear because it was quite new to him, and he was utterly +without means to remove it. The few ladies who were admitted to the +intimacy of the King knew not what to make of the change they saw in +Madame de Maintenon. They were duped at first by the plea of illness; +but seeing at last that its duration passed all bounds, that it had no +intermission, that her face announced no malady, that her daily life was +in no way deranged, that the King became as serious and as sad as she, +they sounded each other to find out the cause. Fear, lest it should be +something in which they, unknowingly, were concerned, troubled them; so +that they became even worse company to the King than Madame de Maintenon. + +There was no relief for the King. All his resource was in the +commonplace talk of the Comte de Toulouse, who was not amusing, although +ignorant of the plot, and the stories of his valets, who lost tongue as +soon as they perceived that they were not seconded by the Duc du Maine in +his usual manner. Marechal and all the rest, astonished at the +mysterious dejection of the Duc du Maine, looked at each other without +being able to divine the cause. They saw that the King was sad and +bored; they trembled for his health, but not one of them dared to do +anything. Time ran on, and the dejection of M. du Maine and Madame de +Maintenon increased. This is as far as the most instructed have ever +been able to penetrate. To describe the interior scenes that doubtless +passed during the long time this state of things lasted, would be to +write romance. Truth demands that we should relate what we know, and +admit what we are ignorant of. I cannot go farther, therefore, or pierce +deeper into the density of these dark mysteries. + +What is certain is, that cheerfulness came back all at once, with the +same surprise to the witnesses of it, as the long-continued dejection had +caused them, simply because they understood no more of the end than of +the commencement. The double knowledge did not come to them until they +heard the frightful crash of the thunderbolt which fell upon France, and +astonished all Europe. + +To give some idea of the opposition from the King, M. du Maine and Madame +de Maintenon had to overcome, and to show how reluctantly he consented to +their wishes, more than one incident may be brought forward. Some days +before the news transpired, the King, full of the enormity of what he had +just done for his bastards, looked at them in his cabinet, in presence of +the valets, and of D'Antin and D'O, and in a sharp manner, that told of +vexation, and with a severe glance, suddenly thus addressed himself to M. +du Maine: + +"You have wished it; but know that however great I may make you, and you +may be in my lifetime, you are nothing after me; and it will be for you +then to avail yourself of what I have done for you, if you can." + +Everybody present trembled at a thunder-clap so sudden, so little +expected, so entirely removed from the character and custom of the King, +and which showed so clearly the extreme ambition of the Duc du Maine, and +the violence he had done to the weakness of the King, who seemed to +reproach himself for it, and to reproach the bastard for his ambition and +tyranny. The consternation of M. du Maine seemed extreme at this rough +sally, which no previous remark had led to. The King had made a clean +breast of it. Everybody fixed his eyes upon the floor and held his +breath. The silence was profound for a considerable time: it finished +only when the King passed into his wardrobe. In his absence everybody +breathed again. The King's heart was full to bursting with what he had +just been made to do; but like a woman who gives birth to two children, +he had at present brought but one into the world, and bore a second of +which he must be delivered, and of which he felt all the pangs without +any relief from the suffering the first had caused him. + +Again, on Sunday, the 27th August, the Chief-President and the Attorney- +General were sent for by the King. He was at Versailles. As soon as +they were alone with him, he took from a drawer, which he unlocked, a +large and thick packet, sealed with seven seals (I know not if by this M. +du Maine wished to imitate the mysterious book with Seven Seals, of the +Apocalypse, and so sanctify the packet). In handing it to them, the King +said: "Gentlemen, this is my will. No one but myself knows its contents. +I commit it to you to keep in the Parliament, to which I cannot give a +greater testimony of my esteem and confidence than by rendering it the +depository of it. The example of the Kings my predecessors, and that of +the will of the King, my father, do not allow me to be ignorant of what +may become of this; but they would have it; they have tormented me; they +have left me no repose, whatever I might say. Very well! I have bought +my repose. Here is the will; take it away: come what may of it, at +least, I shall have rest, and shall hear no more about it." + +At this last word, that he finished with a dry nod, he turned his back +upon them, passed into another cabinet, and left them both nearly turned +into statues. They looked at each other frozen by what they had just +heard, and still more by what they had just seen in the eyes and the +countenance of the King; and as soon as they had collected their senses, +they retired, and went to Paris. It was not known until after dinner +that the King had made a will and given it to them. In proportion as the +news spread, consternation filled the Court, while the flatterers, at +bottom as much alarmed as the rest, and as Paris was afterwards, +exhausted themselves in praises and eulogies. + +The next day, Monday, the 28th, the Queen of England came from Chaillot, +where she almost always was, to Madame de Maintenon's. As soon as the +King perceived her, "Madame," said he to her, like a man full of +something and angry, "I have made my will; I have been tormented to do +it;" then casting his eyes upon Madame de Maintenon, "I have bought +repose; I know the powerlessness and inutility of it. We can do all we +wish while we live; afterwards we are less than the meanest. You have +only to see what became of my father's will immediately after his death, +and the wills of so many other Kings. I know it well; but nevertheless +they have wished it; they gave me no rest nor repose, no calm until it +was done; ah, well! then, Madame, it is done; come what may of it, I +shall be no longer tormented." + +Words such as these so expressive of the extreme violence suffered by the +King, of his long and obstinate battle before surrendering, of his +vexation, and uneasiness, demand the clearest proofs. I had them from +people who heard them, and would not advance them unless I were perfectly +persuaded of their exactness. + +As soon as the Chief-President and the Attorney-General returned to +Paris, they sent for some workmen, whom they led into a tower of the +Palace of justice, behind the Buvette, or drinking-place of the grand +chamber and the cabinet of the Chief-President. They had a big hole made +in the wall of this tower, which is very thick, deposited the testament +there, closed up the opening with an iron door, put an iron grating by +way of second door, and then walled all up together. The door and the +grating each had three locks, the same for both; and a different key for +each of the three, which consequently opened each of the two locks, the +one in the door and the one in the grating. The Chief-President kept one +key, the Attorney-General another, and the Chief-Greffier of the +Parliament the third. The Parliament was assembled and the Chief- +President flattered the members as best he might upon the confidence +shown them in entrusting them with this deposit. + +At the same time was presented to the Parliament an edict that the Chief- +President and the Attorney-General had received from the hand of the +Chancellor at Versailles the same morning the King had given them his +will, and the edict was registered. It was very short. It declared that +the packet committed to the Chief-President and to the Attorney-General +contained the will of the King, by which he had provided for the +protection and guardianship of the young King, and had chosen a Regency +council, the dispositions of which--for good reasons he had not wished to +publish; that he wished this deposit should be preserved during his life +in the registry of the Parliament, and that at the moment when it should +please God to call him from the world, all the chambers of the +Parliament, all the princes of the royal house, and all the peers who +might be there, should assemble and open the will; and that after it was +read, all its dispositions should be made public and executed, nobody to +be permitted to oppose them in any way. + +Notwithstanding all this secrecy, the terms of the will were pretty +generally guessed, and as I have said, the consternation was general. +It was the fate of M. du Maine to obtain what he wished; but always with +the maledictions of the public. This fate did not abandon him now, and +as soon as he felt it, he was overwhelmed, and Madame de Maintenon +exasperated, and their attentions and their care redoubled, to shut up +the King, so that the murmurs of the world should not reach him. They +occupied themselves more than ever to amuse and to please him, and to +fill the air around him with praises, joy, and public adoring at an act +so generous and so grand, and at the same time so wise and so necessary +to the maintenance of good order and tranquillity, which would cause him +to reign so gloriously even after his reign. + +This consternation was very natural, and is precisely why the Duc du +Maine found himself deceived and troubled by it. He believed he had +prepared everything, smoothed everything, in rendering M. d'Orleans so +suspected and so odious; he had succeeded, but not so much as he +imagined. His desires and his emissaries had exaggerated everything; +and he found himself overwhelmed with astonishment, when instead of the +public acclamations with which he had flattered himself the will would be +accompanied, it was precisely the opposite. + +It was seen very clearly that the will assuredly could not have been made +in favour of M. d'Orleans, and although public feeling against him had in +no way changed, no one was so blind as not to see that he must be Regent +by the incontestable right of his birth; that the dispositions of the +testament could not weaken that right, except by establishing a power +that should balance his; and that thus two parties would be formed in the +state the chief of each of which would be interested in vanquishing the +other, everybody being necessitated to join one side or other, thereby +running a thousand risks without any advantage. The rights of the two +disputants were compared. In the one they were found sacred, in the +other they could not be found at all. The two persons were compared. +Both were found odious, but M. d'Orleans was deemed superior to M. du +Maine. I speak only of the mass of uninstructed people, and of what +presented itself naturally and of itself. The better informed had even +more cause to arrive at the same decision. + +M. d'Orleans was stunned by the blow; he felt that it fell directly upon +him, but during the lifetime of the King he saw no remedy for it. +Silence respectful and profound appeared to him the sole course open; +any other would only have led to an increase of precautions. The King +avoided all discourse with him upon this matter; M. du Maine the same. +M. d'Orleans was contented with a simple approving monosyllable to both, +like a courtier who ought not to meddle with anything; and he avoided +conversation upon this subject, even with Madame la Duchesse d'Orleans, +and with anybody else. I was the sole person to whom he dared to unbosom +himself; with the rest of the world he had an open, an ordinary manner, +was on his guard against any discontented sign, and against the curiosity +of all eyes. The inexpressible abandonment in which he was, in the midst +of the Court, guaranteed him at least from all remarks upon the will. It +was not until the health of the King grew more menacing that he began to +speak and be spoken to thereon. + +As for M. du Maine, despite his good fortune, he was not to be envied At +Sceaux, where he lived, the Duchesse du Maine, his wife, ruined him by +her extravagance. Sceaux was more than ever the theatre of her follies, +and of the shame and embarrassment of her husband, by the crowd from the +Court and the town, which abounded there and laughed at them. She +herself played there Athalie (assisted by actors and actresses) and other +pieces several times a week. Whole nights were passed in coteries, +games, fetes, illuminations, fireworks, in a word, fancies and fripperies +of every kind and every day. She revelled in the joy of her new +greatness--redoubled her follies; and the Duc du Maine, who always +trembled before her, and who, moreover, feared that the slightest +contradiction would entirely turn her brain, suffered all this, even +piteously doing the honours as often as he could without ceasing in his +conduct to the King. + +However great might be his joy, whatever the unimaginable greatness to +which he had arrived, he was not tranquil. Like those tyrants who have +usurped by their crimes the sovereign power, and who fear as so many +conspiring enemies all their fallen citizens they have enslaved--he felt +as though seated under that sword that Dionysius, tyrant of Syracuse, +suspended by a hair over his table, above the head of a man whom he +placed there because he believed him happy, and in this manner wished to +make him feel what passed unceasingly in himself. M. du Maine, who +willingly expressed in pleasantry the most serious things, frankly said +to his familiars, that he was "like a louse between two fingernails" (the +Princes of the blood and the peers), by which he could not fail to be +cracked if he did not take care! This reflection troubled the excess of +his pleasure, and that of the greatness and the power to which so many +artifices had elevated him. He feared the Princes of the blood as soon +as they should be of age to feel the infamy and the danger of the wound +he had given them; he feared the Parliament, which even under his eyes +had not been able to dissimulate its indignation at the violence he had +committed against the most holy and the most inviolable laws; he even +feared the Dukes so timid are injustice and tyranny! + + + + +CHAPTER LXIX + +Let me return to Maisons. Five days after the King's will had been +walled up, in the manner I have described, he came to me and made a +pathetic discourse upon the injustice done to M. le Duc d'Orleans by this +testament, and did all he could to excite me by railing in good set terms +against dispositions intended to add to the power and grandeur of the +bastards. + +When he had well harangued, I said he had told me nothing new; that I saw +the same truths as he with the same evidence; that the worst thing I +found was that there was no remedy. + +"No remedy!" he exclaimed, interrupting me, with his sly and cunning +laugh; "courage and ability can always find one for everything, and I am +astonished that you, who have both, should have nothing to suggest while +everybody is going to confusion." + +I asked him how it was possible to suppress a will registered by edict; a +document solemn and public deposited with ceremony in the very depths of +the palace, with precautions known to everybody--nature and art combining +to keep it in safety? + +"You are at a loss to know!" replied Maisons to me. "Have ready at the +instant of the King's death sure troops and sensible officers, all ready +and well instructed; and with them, masons and lock-smiths--march to the +palace, break open the doors and the wall, carry off the will, and let it +never be seen." + +In my extreme surprise I asked him, what he expected would be the fruit +of such violence? I pointed out that to seize by force of arms a public +and solemn document, in the midst of the capital, in despite of all--all +law and order, would be to put weapons into the hands of the enemies of +M. le Duc d'Orleans, who assuredly would be justified in crying out +against this outrage, and who would find the whole country disposed to +echo their cries. I said too, that if in the execution of such an odious +scheme a sedition occurred, and blood were shed, universal hatred and +opprobrium would fall upon the head of M, le Duc d'Orleans, and +deservedly so. + +We carried on our discussion a long time, but Maisons would in no way +give up his scheme. After leaving me he went to M. le Duc d'Orleans and +communicated it to him. Happily it met with no success with the Duke, +indeed, he was extremely astonished at it; but what astonished us more +was, that Maisons persisted in it up to his death, which preceded by some +few days that of the King, and pressed it upon M. le Duc d'Orleans and +myself till his importunity became persecution. + +It was certainly not his fault that I over and over again refused to go +to the Grand Chamber of the Parliament to examine the place, as Maisons +wished me to do; I who never went to the Parliament except for the +reception of the peers or when the King was there. Not being able to +vanquish what he called my obstinacy, Maisons begged me at the least to +go and fix myself upon the Quai de la Megisserie, where so much old iron +is sold, and examine from that spot the tower where the will was; he +pointed it out to me; it looked out upon the Quai des Morforidus, but was +behind the buildings on the quai. What information could be obtained +from such a point of view may be imagined. I promised to go there, not +to stop, and thus awake the attention of the passers-by, but to pass +along and see what was to be seen; adding, that it as simply out of +complaisance to him, and not because I meant to agree in any way to his +enterprise. What is incomprehensible is, that for a whole year Maisons +pressed his charming project upon us. The worst enemy of M. le Duc +d'Orleans could not have devised a more rash and ridiculous undertaking. +I doubt whether many people would have been found in all Paris +sufficiently deprived of sense to fall in with it. What are we to think +then of a Parliamentary President of such consideration as Maisons had +acquired at the Palace of justice, at the Court, in the town, where he +had always passed for a man of intellect, prudent, circumspect, +intelligent, capable, measured? Was he vile enough, in concert with M. +du Maine, to open this gulf beneath our feet, to push us to our ruin, and +by the fall of M. le Duc d'Orleans--the sole prince of the blood old +enough to be Regent--to put M. le Duc du Maine in his place, from which +to the crown there was only one step, as none are ignorant, left to be +taken? It seems by no means impossible: M. du Maine, that son of +darkness, was, judging him by what he had already done, quite capable of +adding this new crime to his long list. + +The mystery was, however, never explained. Maisons died before its +darkness could be penetrated. His end was terrible. He had no religion; +his father had had none. He married a sister of the Marechal de Villars, +who was in the same case. Their only son they specially educated in +unbelief. Nevertheless, everything seemed to smile upon them. They had +wealth, consideration, distinguished friends. But mark the end. + +Maisons is slightly unwell. He takes rhubarb twice or thrice, +unseasonably; more unseasonably comes Cardinal de Bissy to him, to talk +upon the constitution, and thus hinder the operation of the rhubarb; his +inside seems on fire, but he will not believe himself ill; the progress +of his disease is great in a few hours; the doctors, though soon at their +wits' ends, dare not say so; the malady visibly increases; his whole +household is in confusion; he dies, forty-eight years of age, midst of a +crowd of friends, of clients, without the power or leisure to think for a +moment what is going to happen to his soul! + +His wife survives him ten or twelve years, opulent, and in consideration, +when suddenly she has an attack of apoplexy in her garden. Instead of +thinking of her state, and profiting by leisure, she makes light of her +illness, has another attack a few days after, and is carried off on the +5th of May, 1727, in her forty-sixth year, without having had a moment +free. + +Her son, for a long time much afflicted, seeks to distinguish himself and +acquire friends. Taking no warning from what has occurred, he thinks +only of running after the fortune of this world, and is surprised at +Paris by the small-pox. He believes himself dead, thinks of what he has +neglected all his life, but fear suddenly seizes him, and he dies in the +midst of it, on the 13th of September, 1731, leaving an only son, who +dies a year after him, eighteen months old, all the great wealth of the +family going to collateral relatives. + +These Memoirs are not essays on morality, therefore I have contented +myself with the most simple and the most naked recital of facts; but I +may, perhaps, be permitted to apply here those two verses of the 37th +Psalm, which appear so expressly made for the purpose: "I have seen the +impious exalted like the cedars of Lebanon: Yea, he passed away, and, lo, +he was not; yea, I sought him, but he could not be found." + +But let me leave this subject now, to treat of other matters. On Friday, +the last day of August, I lost one of the best and most revered of +friends, the Duc de Beavilliers. He died at Vaucresson after an illness +of about two months, his intellect clear to the last, aged sixty-six +years, having been born on the 24th of Oct 1648. + +He was the son of M. de Saint-Aignan, who with honour and valour was +truly romantic in gallantry, in belles-lettres, and in arms. He was +Captain of the Guards of Gaston, and at the end of 1649 bought of the Duc +de Liancourt the post of first-gentleman of the King's chamber. He +commanded afterwards in Berry against the party of M. le Prince, and +served elsewhere subsequently. In 1661 he was made Chevalier of the +Order, and in 1661 Duke and Peer. His first wife he lost in 1679. At +the end of a year he married one of her chambermaids, who had been first +of all engaged to take care of her dogs. She was so modest, and he so +shamefaced, that in despite of repeated pressing on the part of the King, +she could not be induced to take her tabouret. She lived in much +retirement, and had so many virtues that she made herself respected all +her life, which was long. M. de Beauvilliers was one of the children of +the first marriage. I know not what care M. and Madame de Saint-Aignan +took of the others, but they left him, until he was six or seven years of +age, to the mercy of their lodge-keeper. Then he was confided to the +care of a canon of Notre Dame de Clery. The household of the canon +consisted of one maid-servant, with whom the little boy slept; and they +continued to sleep together until he was fourteen or fifteen years old, +without either of them thinking of evil, or the canon remarking that the +lad was growing into a man. The death of his eldest brother called +M. de Beauvilliers home. He entered the army, served with distinction at +the head of is regiment of cavalry, and was brigadier. + +He was tall, thin, had a long and ruddy face, a large aquiline nose, a +sunken mouth, expressive, piercing eyes, an agreeable smile, a very +gentle manner but ordinarily retiring, serious, and concentrated. B +disposition he was hasty, hot, passionate, fond of pleasure. Ever since +God had touched him, which happened early in his life, he had become +gentle, mildest, humble, kind, enlightened, charitable, and always full +of real piety and goodness. In private, where he was free, he was gay, +joked, and bantered pleasantly, and laughed with good heart. He liked to +be made fun of there was only the story of his sleeping with the canon's +servant that wounded his modesty, and I have seen him embarrassed when +Madame de Beauvilliers has related it,--smiling, however, but praying her +sometimes not to tell it. His piety, which, as I have said, commenced +early in life, separated him from companions of his own age. At the army +one day, during a promenade of the King, he walked alone, a little in +front. Some one remarked it, and observed, sneeringly, that "he was +meditating." The King, who heard this, turned towards the speaker, and, +looking at him, said, "Yes, 'tis M. de Beauvilliers, one of the best men +of the Court, and of my realm." This sudden and short apology caused +silence, and food for reflection, so that the fault-finders remained in +respect before his merit. + +The King must have entertained a high regard for him, to give him, in +1670, the very delicate commission he entrusted to him. Madame had just +been so openly poisoned, the conviction was so complete and so general +that it was very difficult to palliate it. Our King and the King of +England, between whom she had just become a stronger bond, by the journey +she had made into England, were penetrated by grief and indignation, and +the English could not contain themselves. The King chose the Duc de +Beauvilliers to carry his compliments of condolence to the King of +England, and under this pretext to try to prevent this misfortune +interfering with their friendship and their union, and to calm the fury +of London and the nation. The King was not deceived: the prudent +dexterity of the Duc de Beauvilliers brought round the King of England, +and even appeased London and the nation. + +M. de Beauvilliers had expressed a wish to be buried at Montargis, in the +Benedictine monastery, where eight of his daughters had become nuns. +Madame de Beauvilliers went there, and by an act of religion, terrible to +think of, insisted upon being present at the interment. She retired to +her house at Paris, where during the rest of her life she lived in +complete solitude, without company or amusement of any kind. For nearly +twenty years she remained there, and died in 1733, seventy-five years of +age, infinitely rich in alms and all sorts of good works. + +The King taxed the infantry regiments, which had risen to an excessive +price. This venality of the only path by which the superior grades can +be reached is a great blot upon the military system, and stops the career +of many a man who would become an excellent soldier. It is a gangrene +which for a long time has eaten into all the orders and all the parties +of the state, and under which it will be odd if all do not succumb. +Happily it is unknown, or little known, in all the other countries of +Europe! + +Towards the end of this year Cardinal d'Estrees died in Paris at his +abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Pres, nearly eighty-seven years of age, having +always enjoyed perfect health of body and mind until this illness, which +was very short, and which left his intellect clear to the last. It is +proper and curious to pause for a moment upon a personage, all his life +of importance, and who at his death was Cardinal, Bishop of Albano, Abbe +of Longpont, of Mount Saint-Eloi, of Saint-Nichoas-aux-Bois, of La +Staffarde in Piedmont (where Catinat gained a celebrated battle before +being Marechal of France), of Saint-Claude in Franche-Comte, of Anchin in +Flanders, and of Saint-Germain-des-Pres in Paris. He was also Commander +of the Order of the promotion of 1688. + +Merit, aided by the chances of fortune, made out of an obscure family of +the Boulonais country, a singularly illustrious race in the fourth +generation, of which Mademoiselle de Tourbes alone remains. The +Cardinal, brother of the last Marechal d'Estrees, their uncle, used to +say; that he knew his fathers as far as the one who had been page of +Queen Anne, Duchess of Brittany; but beyond that he knew nothing, and it +was not worth while searching. Gabrielle d'Estrees, mistress of Henry +IV., whose beauty made her father's fortune, and whose history is too +well known to be here alluded to, was sister of the Cardinal's father, +but died thirty years before he was born. It was through her that the +family became elevated. The father of Cardinal d'Estrees was +distinguished all his life by his merit, his capacity, and the authority +and elevated posts he held. He was made Marshal of France in 1626, and +it is a thing unique that he, his son, and his grandson were not only +Marshals of France, but all three were in succession seniors of that +corps for a long time. + +The Cardinal d'Estrees was born in 1627, and for forty years lived with +his father, profiting by his lessons and his consideration. He was of +the most agreeable manners, handsome, well made, full of humour, wit, and +ability; in society the pleasantest person in the world, and yet well +instructed; indeed, of rare erudition, generous, obliging, dignified, +incapable of meanness, he was with so much talent and so many great and +amiable qualities generally loved and respected, and deserved to be. He +was made Cardinal in 1671, but was not declared until after many delays +had occurred. These delays much disturbed him. It was customary, then, +to pay more visits. One evening the Abbe de la Victoire, one of his +friends, and very witty, arrived very late at a supper, in a house where +he was expected. The company inopportunely asked him where he had been, +and what had delayed him. + +"Alas!" replied the Abbe, in a tone of sadness, "where have I been? I +have been all day accompanying the body of poor M. de Laon." [The +Cardinal d'Estrees was then Bishop and Duke of Laon.] + +"M. de Laon!" cried everybody, "M. de Laon dead! Why, he was quite well +yesterday. 'Tis dreadful. Tell us what has happened." + +"What has happened?" replied the Abbe, still with the same tone. "Why, +he took me with him when he paid his visits, and though his body was with +me, his spirit was at Rome, so that I quitted him very wearied." At this +recital grief changed into merriment. + +That grand dinner at Fontainebleau for the Prince of Tuscany, at which +the Prince was to be the only guest, and yet never received his +invitation from the Cardinal, I have already mentioned. He was +oftentimes thus absent, but never when business or serious matters were +concerned, so that his forgetfulness was amusing. He never could bear to +hear of his domestic affairs. Pressed and tormented by his steward and +his maitre d'hotel to overlook their accounts, that he had not seen for +many years, he appointed a day to be devoted to them. The two financiers +demanded that he should close his door so as not to be interrupted; he +consented with difficulty, then changed his mind, and said that if +Cardinal Bonzi came he must be admitted, but that it was not likely he +would come on that particular day. Directly afterwards he sent a trusty +servant to Cardinal Bonzi, entreating him to come on such and such a day, +between three and four o'clock, conjuring him not to fail, and begging +him above all to come as of his own accord, the reason to be explained +afterwards. On the appointed day Cardinal d'Estrees told his porter to +let no one enter in the afternoon except Cardinal Bonzi, who assuredly +was not likely to come, but who was not to be sent away if he did. His +people, delighted at having their master to themselves all day without +interruption, arrived about three o'clock; the Cardinal quitted his +family and the few friends who had that day dined with him, and passed +into a cabinet where his business people laid out their papers. He said +a thousand absurdities to them upon his expenditure, of which he +understood nothing, and unceasingly looked towards the window, without +appearing to do so, secretly sighing for a prompt deliverance. A little +before four o'clock, a coach arrived in the court-yard; his business +people, enraged with the porter, exclaimed that there will then be no +more opportunity for working. The Cardinal in delight referred to the +orders he had given. "You will see," he added, "that it is Cardinal +Bonzi, the only man I excepted, and who, of all days in the world, comes +to-day." + +Immediately afterwards, the Cardinal was announced, and the intendant and +maitre d'hotel were forced to make off with their papers and their table. +As soon as he was alone with Bonzi, he explained why he had requested +this visit, and both laughed heartily. Since then his business people +have never caught him again, never during the rest of his life would he +hear speak of them. + +He must have had honest people about him; for every day his table was +magnificent, and filled at Paris and at the Court with the best company. +His equipages were so, also; he had numberless domestics, many gentlemen, +chaplains, and secretaries. He gave freely to the poor, and to his +brother the Marechal and his children (who were not well off), and yet +died without owing a crown to a living soul. + +His death, for which he had been long prepared, was fine-edifying and +very Christian-like. He was universally regretted. A joke of his with +the King is still remembered. One day, at dinner, where he always paid +much attention to the Cardinal, the King complained of the inconvenience +he felt in no longer having teeth. + +"Teeth, sire!" replied the Cardinal; "why, who has any teeth?" + +The joke is that the Cardinal, though old, still had very white and very +beautiful teeth, and that his mouth, large, but agreeable, was so shaped +that it showed them plainly in speaking. Therefore the King burst out +laughing at this reply, and all present also, including the Cardinal, who +was not in the slightest degree embarrassed. I might go on forever +telling about him, but enough, perhaps, has been already said. + +The commencement of the new year, 1715, was marked by the death of +Fenelon, at Cambrai, where he had lived in disgrace so many years. I +have already said something about him, so that I have now but little to +add. His life at Cambrai was remarkable for the assiduity with which he +attended to the spiritual and temporal wants of his flock. He was +indefatigable in the discharge of his functions, and in endeavouring to +gain all hearts. Cambrai is a place much frequented; through which many +people pass. During the war the number of wounded soldiers he had +received into his house or attended to in the hospitals passes all +belief. He spared nothing for them, neither physical comforts nor +spiritual consolations. Thus it is incredible to what an extent he +became the idol of the whole army. His manners, to high and low, were +most affable, yet everywhere he was the prelate, the gentleman, the +author of "Telemachus." He ruled his diocese with a gentle hand, in no +way meddled with the Jansenists; he left all untouched. Take him for all +in all, he had a bright genius and was a great man. His admiration true +or feigned for Madame Guyon remained to the last, yet always without +suspicion of impropriety. He had so exactly arranged his affairs that he +died without money, and yet without owing a sou to anybody. + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +Admit our ignorance, and not to give fictions and inventions +Arranged his affairs that he died without money +For penance: "we must make our servants fast" +The argument of interest is the best of all with monks + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Memoirs of Louis XIV., Volume 9 +by Duc de Saint-Simon + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MEMOIRS OF LOUIS XIV., *** + +***** This file should be named 3868.txt or 3868.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/8/6/3868/ + +Produced by David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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D.W.] + + + + + MEMOIRS OF LOUIS XIV AND HIS COURT AND OF THE REGENCY + + BY THE DUKE OF SAINT-SIMON + + + VOLUME 9. + +CHAPTER LXI + +The King's Selfishness.--Defeat of the Czar.--Death of Catinat.--Last +Days of Vendome.--His Body at the Escurial.--Anecdote of Harlay and the +Jacobins.--Truce in Flanders.--Wolves. + + +CHAPTER LXII + +Settlement of the Spanish Succession.--Renunciation of France.--Comic +Failure of the Duc de Berry.--Anecdotes of M. de Chevreuse.--Father +Daniel's History and Its Reward. + + +CHAPTER LXIII + +The Bull Unigenitus.--My Interview with Father Tellier.--Curious +Inadvertence of Mine.--Peace.--Duc de la Rochefoucauld.--A Suicide in +Public.--Charmel.--Two Gay Sisters. + + +CHAPTER LXIV + +The King of Spain a Widower.--Intrigues of Madame des Ursins.--Choice of +the Princes of Parma.--The King of France Kept in the Dark.--Celebration +of the Marriage.--Sudden Fall of the Princesse des Ursins.--Her Expulsion +from Spain. + + +CHAPTER LXV + +The King of Spain Acquiesces in the Disgrace of Madame des Ursins.--Its +Origin.--Who Struck the Blow.--Her journey to Versailles.--Treatment +There.--My Interview with Her.--She Retires to Genoa.--Then to Rome.-- +Dies. + + +CHAPTER LXVI + +Sudden Illness of the Duc de Berry--Suspicious Symptoms.--The Duchess +Prevented from Seeing Him.--His Death.--Character.--Manners of the +Duchesse de Berry. + + +CHAPTER LXVII + +Maisons Seeks My Acquaintance.--His Mysterious Manner.--Increase of the +Intimacy.--Extraordinary News.--The Bastards Declared Princes of the +Blood.--Rage of Maisons and Noailles.--Opinion of the Court and Country. + + +CHAPTER LXVIII + +The King Unhappy and Ill at Ease.--Court Paid to Him.--A New Scheme to +Rule Him.--He Yields.--New Annoyance.--His Will.--Anecdotes Concerning +It.--Opinions of the Court.--M. du Maine. + + +CHAPTER LXIX + +A New Visit from Maisons.--His Violent Project.--My Objections.--He +Persists.--His Death and That of His Wife. --Death of the Duc de +Beauvilliers.--His Character.--Of the Cardinal d'Estrees.--Anecdotes.-- +Death of Fenelon. + + + + +CHAPTER LXI + +Let me here relate an incident which should have found a place earlier, +but which has been omitted in order that what has gone before might be +uninterrupted. On the 16th of the previous July the King made a journey +to Fontainebleau, where he remained until the 14th of September. I +should suppress the bagatelle which happened on the occasion of this +journey, if it did not serve more and more to characterize the King. + +Madame la Duchesse de Berry was in the family way for the first time, +had been so for nearly three months, was much inconvenienced, and had a +pretty strong fever. M. Fagon, the doctor, thought it would be imprudent +for her not to put off travelling for a day or two. Neither she nor M, +d'Orleans dared to speak about it. M. le Duc de Berry timidly hazarded a +word, and was ill received. Madame la Duchesse d'Orleans more timid +still, addressed herself to Madame, and to Madame de Maintenon, who, +indifferent as they might be respecting Madame la Duchesse de Berry, +thought her departure so hazardous that, supported by Fagon, they spoke +of it to the King. It was useless. They were not daunted, however, and +this dispute lasted three or four days. The end of it was, that the King +grew thoroughly angry and agreed, by way of capitulation, that the +journey should be performed in a boat instead of a coach. + +It was arranged that Madame la Duchesse de Berry should leave Marly, +where the King then was, on the 13th, sleep at the Palais Royal that +night and repose herself there all the next day and night, that on the +15th she should set out for Petit-Bourg, where the King was to halt for +the night, and arrive like him, on the 16th, at Fontainebleau, the whole +journey to be by the river. M. le Duc de Berry had permission to +accompany his wife; but during the two nights they were to rest in Paris +the King angrily forbade them to go anywhere, even to the Opera, although +that building joined the Palais Royal, and M. d'Orleans' box could be +reached without going out of the palace. + +On the 14th the King, under pretence of inquiry after them, repeated this +prohibition to M. le Duc de Berry and Madame his wife, and also to M. +d'Orleans and Madame d'Orleans, who had been included in it. He carried +his caution so far as to enjoin Madame de Saint-Simon to see that Madame +la Duchesse de Berry obeyed the instructions she had received. As may be +believed, his orders were punctually obeyed. Madame de Saint-Simon could +not refuse to remain and sleep in the Palais Royal, where the apartment +of the queen-mother was given to her. All the while the party was shut +up there was a good deal of gaming in order to console M. le Duc de Berry +for his confinement. + +The provost of the merchants had orders to prepare boats for the trip to +Fontainebleau. He had so little time that they were ill chosen. Madame +la Duchesse de Berry embarked, however, on the 15th, and arrived, with +fever, at ten o'clock at night at Petit-Bourg, where the King appeared +rejoiced by an obedience so exact. + +On the morrow the journey recommenced. In passing Melun, the boat of +Madame la Duchesse de Berry struck against the bridge, was nearly +capsized, and almost swamped, so that they were all in great danger. +They got off, however, with fear and a delay. Disembarking in great +disorder at Valvin, where their equipages were waiting for there, they +arrived at Fontainebleau two hours after midnight. The King, pleased +beyond measure, went the next morning to see Madame la Duchesse de Berry +in the beautiful apartment of the queen-mother that had been given to +her. From the moment of her arrival she had been forced to keep her bed, +and at six o'clock in the morning of the 21st of July she miscarried and +was delivered of a daughter, still-born. Madame de Saint-Simon ran to +tell the King; he did not appear much moved; he had been obeyed! The +Duchesse de Beauvilliers and the Marquise de Chatillon were named by the +King to carry the embryo to Saint-Denis. As it was only a girl, and as +the miscarriage had no ill effect, consolation soon came. + +It was some little time after this occurrence, that we heard of the +defeat of the Czar by the Grand Vizier upon the Pruth. The Czar, annoyed +by the protection the Porte had accorded to the King of Sweden (in +retirement at Bender), made an appeal to arms, and fell into the same +error as that which had occasioned the defeat of the King of Sweden by +him. The Turks drew him to the Pruth across deserts supplied with +nothing; if he did not risk all, by a very unequal battle, he must +perish. The Czar was at the head of sixty thousand men: he lost more +than thirty thousand on the Pruth, the rest were dying of hunger and +misery; and he, without any resources, could scarcely avoid surrendering +himself and his forces to the Turks. In this pressing extremity, a +common woman whom he had taken away from her husband, a drummer in the +army, and whom he had publicly espoused after having repudiated and +confined his own wife in a convent,--proposed that he should try by +bribery to induce the Grand Vizier to allow him and the wreck of his +forces to retreat The Czar approved of the proposition, without hoping +for success from it. He sent to the Grand Vizier and ordered him to be +spoken to in secret. The Vizier was dazzled by the gold, the precious +stones, and several valuable things that were offered to him. He +accepted and received them; and signed a treaty by which the Czar was +permitted to retire, with all who accompanied him, into his own states by +the shortest road, the Turks to furnish him with provisions, with which +he was entirely unprovided. The Czar, on his side, agreed to give up +Azof as soon as he returned; destroy all the forts and burn all the +vessels that he had upon the Black Sea; allow the King of Sweden to +return by Pomerania; and to pay the Turks and their Prince all the +expenses of the war. + +The Grand Vizier found such an opposition in the Divan to this treaty, +and such boldness in the minister of the King of Sweden, who accompanied +him, in exciting against him all the chiefs of the army, that it was +within an ace of being broken; and the Czar, with every one left to him, +of being made prisoner. The latter was in no condition to make even the +least resistance. The Grand Vizier had only to will it, in order to +execute it on the spot. In addition to the glory of leading captive to +Constantinople the Czar, his Court, and his troops, there would have been +his ransom, which must have cost not a little. But if he had been thus +stripped of his riches, they would have been for the Sultan, and the +Grand Vizier preferred having them for himself. He braved it then with +authority and menaces, and hastened the Czar's departure and his own. +The Swedish minister, charged with protests from the principal Turkish +chiefs, hurried to Constantinople, where the Grand Vizier was strangled +upon arriving. + +The Czar never forgot this service of his wife, by whose courage and +presence of mind he had been saved. The esteem he conceived for her, +joined to his friendship, induced him to crown her Czarina, and to +consult her upon all his affairs and all his schemes. Escaped from +danger, he was a long time without giving up Azof, or demolishing his +forts on the Black Sea. As for his vessels, he kept them nearly all, and +would not allow the King of Sweden to return into Germany, as he had +agreed, thus almost lighting up a fresh war with the Turk. + +On the 6th of November, 1711, at about eight o'clock in the evening, the +shock of an earthquake was felt in Paris and at Versailles; but it was so +slight that few people perceived it. In several places towards Touraine +and Poitou, in Saxony, and in some of the German towns near, it was very +perceptible at the same day and hour. At this date a new tontine was +established in Paris. + +I have so often spoken of Marshal Catinat, of his virtue, wisdom, +modesty, and disinterestedness; of the rare superiority of his +sentiments, and of his great qualities as captain, that nothing remains +for me to say except that he died at this time very advanced in years, +at his little house of Saint-Gratien, near Saint-Denis, where he had +retired, and which he seldom quitted, although receiving there but few +friends. By his simplicity and frugality, his contempt for worldly +distinction, and his uniformity of conduct, he recalled the memory of +those great men who, after the best-merited triumphs, peacefully returned +to the plough, still loving their country and but little offended by the +ingratitude of the Rome they had so well served. Catinat placed his +philosophy at the service of his piety. He had intelligence, good sense, +ripe reflection; and he never forgot his origin; his dress, his +equipages, his furniture, all were of the greatest simplicity. His air +and his deportment were so also. He was tall, dark, and thin; had an +aspect pensive, slow, and somewhat mean; with very fine and expressive +eyes. He deplored the signal faults that he saw succeed each other +unceasingly; the gradual extinction of all emulation; the luxury, the +emptiness, the ignorance, the confusion of ranks; the inquisition in the +place of the police: he saw all the signs of destruction, and he used to +say it was only a climax of dangerous disorder that could restore order +to the realm. + +Vendome was one of the few to whom the death of the Dauphin and the +Dauphine brought hope and joy. He had deemed himself expatriated for the +rest of his life. He saw, now, good chances before him of returning to +our Court, and of playing a part there again. He had obtained some +honour in Spain; he aimed at others even higher, and hoped to return to +France with all the honours of a Prince of the Blood. His idleness, his +free living, his debauchery, had prolonged his stay upon the frontier, +where he had more facilities for gratifying his tastes than at Madrid. +In that city, it is true, he did not much constrain himself, but he was +forced to do so to some extent by courtly usages. He was, then, quite at +home on the frontier; there was nothing to do; for the Austrians, +weakened by the departure of the English, were quite unable to attack; +and Vendome, floating upon the delights of his new dignities, thought +only of enjoying himself in the midst of profound idleness, under pretext +that operations could not at once be commenced. + +In order to be more at liberty he separated from the general officers, +and established himself with his valets and two or three of his most +familiar friends, cherished companions everywhere, at Vignarez, a little +isolated hamlet, almost deserted, on the sea-shore and in the kingdom of +Valencia. His object was to eat fish there to his heart's content. He +carried out that object, and filled himself to repletion for nearly a +month. He became unwell--his diet, as may be believed, was enough to +cause this--but his illness increased so rapidly, and in so strange a +manner, after having for a long time seemed nothing that the few around +him suspected poison, and sent on all sides for assistance. But the +malady would not wait; it augmented rapidly with strange symptoms. +Vendome could not sign a will that was presented to him; nor a letter to +the King, its which he asked that his brother might be permitted to +return to Court. Everybody near flew from him and abandoned him, so that +he remained in the hands of three or four of the meanest valets, whilst +the rest robbed him of everything and decamped. He passed thus the last +two or three days of his life, without a priest,--no mention even had +been made of one,--without other help than that of a single surgeon. +The three or four valets who remained near him, seeing him at his last +extremity, seized hold of the few things he still possessed, and for want +of better plunder, dragged off his bedclothes and the mattress from under +him. He piteously cried to them at least not to leave him to die naked +upon the bare bed. I know not whether they listened to him. + +Thus died on Friday, the 10th of June, 1712, the haughtiest of men; and +the happiest, except in the later years of his life. After having been +obliged to speak of him so often, I get rid of him now, once and for +ever. He was fifty-eight years old; but in spite of the blind and +prodigious favour he had enjoyed, that favour had never been able to make +ought but a cabal hero out of a captain who was a very bad general, and a +man whose vices were the shame of humanity. His death restored life and +joy to all Spain. + +Aguilar, a friend of the Duc de Noailles, was accused of having poisoned +him; but took little pains to defend himself, inasmuch as little pains +were taken to substantiate the accusation. The Princesse des Ursins, who +had so well profited by his life in order to increase her own greatness, +did not profit less by his death. She felt her deliverance from a new +Don Juan of Spain who had ceased to be supple in her hands, and who might +have revived, in the course of time, all the power and authority he had +formerly enjoyed in France. She was not shocked them by the joy which +burst out without constraint; nor by the free talk of the Court, the +city, the army, of all Spain. But in order to sustain what she had done, +and cheaply pay her court to M. du Maine, Madame de Maintenon, and even +to the King, she ordered that the corpse of this hideous monster of +greatness and of fortune should be carried to the Escurial. This was +crowning the glory of M. de Vendome in good earnest; for no private +persons are buried in the Escurial, although several are to be found in +Saint-Denis. But meanwhile, until I speak of the visit I made to the +Escurial--I shall do so if I live long enough to carry these memoirs up +to the death of M. d'Orleans,--let me say something of that illustrious +sepulchre. + +The Pantheon is the place where only the bodies of kings and queens who +have had posterity are admitted. In a separate place, near, though not +on the same floor, and resembling a library, the bodies of children, and +of queens who have had no posterity, are ranged. A third place, a sort +of antechamber to the last named, is rightly called "the rotting room;" +whilst the other improperly bears the same name. In whilst third room, +there is nothing to be seen but four bare walls and a table in the +middle. The walls being very thick, openings are made in them in which +the bodies are placed. Each body has an opening to itself, which is +afterwards walled up, so that nothing is seen. When it is thought that +the corpse has been closed up sufficiently long to be free from odour the +wall is opened, the body taken out, and put in a coffin which allows a +portion of it to be seen towards the feet. This coffin is covered with a +rich stuff and carried into an adjoining room. + +The body of the Duc de Vendome had been walled up nine years when I +entered the Escurial. I was shown the place it occupied, smooth like +every part of the four walls and without mark. I gently asked the monks +who did me the honours of the place, when the body would be removed to +the other chamber. They would not satisfy my curiosity, showed some +indignation, and plainly intimated that this removal was not dreamt of, +and that as M. de Vendome had been so carefully walled up he might remain +so! + +Harlay, formerly chief-president, of whom I have so often had occasion to +speak, died a short time after M. de Vendome. I have already made him +known. I will simply add an account of the humiliation to which this +haughty cynic was reduced. He hired a house in the Rue de l'Universite +with a partition wall between his garden and that of the Jacobins of the +Faubourg Saint-Germain. The house did not belong to the Jacobins, like +the houses of the Rue Saint-Dominique, and the Rue du Bac, which, in +order that they might command higher rents, were put in connection with +the convent garden. These mendicant Jacobins thus derive fifty thousand +livres a-year. Harlay, accustomed to exercise authority, asked them for +a door into their garden. He was refused. He insisted, had them spoken +to, and succeeded no better. Nevertheless the Jacobins comprehended that +although this magistrate, recently so powerful, was now nothing by +himself, he had a son and a cousin, Councillors of State, whom they might +some day have to do with, and who for pride's sake might make themselves +very disagreeable. The argument of interest is the best of all with +monks. The Jacobins changed their mind. The Prior, accompanied by some +of the notabilities of the convent, went to Harlay with excuses, and said +he was at liberty, if he liked, to make the door. Harlay, true to his +character, looked at them askance, and replied, that he had changed his +mind and would do without it. The monks, much troubled by his refusal, +insisted; he interrupted them and said, "Look you, my fathers, I am +grandson of Achille du Harlay, Chief-President of the Parliament, who so +well served the State and the Kingdom, and who for his support of the +public cause was dragged to the Bastille, where he expected to be hanged +by those rascally Leaguers; it would ill become me, therefore, to enter +the house, or pray to God there, of folks of the same stamp as that +Jacques Clement." And he immediately turned his back upon them, leaving +them confounded. This was his last act of vigour. He took it into his +head afterwards to go out visiting a good deal, and as he preserved all +his old unpleasant manners, he afflicted all he visited; he went even to +persons who had often cooled their heels in his antechambers. By +degrees, slight but frequent attacks of apoplexy troubled his speech, so +that people had great difficulty in understanding him, and he in +speaking. In this state he did not cease his visits and could not +perceive that many doors were closed to him. He died in this misery, and +this neglect, to the great relief of the few who by relationship were +obliged to see him, above all of his son and his domestic. + +On the 17th July, a truce between France and England was published in +Flanders, at the head of the troops of the two crowns. The Emperor, +however, was not yet inclined for peace and his forces under Prince +Eugene continued to oppose us in Flanders, where, however, the tide at +last turned in our favour. The King was so flattered by the overflow of +joy that took place at Fontainebleau on account of our successes, that he +thanked the country for it, for the first time in his life. Prince +Eugene, in want of bread and of everything, raised the siege of +Landrecies, which he had been conducting, and terrible desertion took +place among his troops. + +About this time, there was an irruption of wolves, which caused great +disorders in the Orleannais; the King's wolf-hunters were sent there, and +the people were authorised to take arms and make a number of grand +battues. + + + + +CHAPTER LXII. + +Peace was now all but concluded between France and England. There was, +however, one great obstacle still in its way. Queen Anne and her Council +were stopped by the consideration that the king of Spain would claim to +succeed to the Crown of France, if the little Dauphin should die. +Neither England nor any of the other powers at war would consent to see +the two principal crowns of Europe upon the same head. It was necessary, +then, above all things to get rid of this difficulty, and so arrange the +order of succession to our throne, that the case to be provided against +could never happen. Treaties, renunciations, and oaths, all of which the +King had already broken, appeared feeble guarantees in the eyes of +Europe. Something stronger was sought for. It could not be found; +because there is nothing more sacred among men than engagements which +they consider binding on each other. What was wanting then in mere forms +it was now thought could be supplied by giving to those forms the +greatest possible solemnity. + +It was a long time before we could get over the difficulty. The King +would accord nothing except promises in order to guarantee to Europe that +the two crowns should never be united upon the same head. His authority +was wounded at the idea of being called upon to admit, as it were, a +rival near it. Absolute without reply, as he had become, he had +extinguished and absorbed even the minutest trace, idea, and recollection +of all other authority, all other power in France except that which +emanated from himself alone. The English, little accustomed to such +maxims, proposed that the States-General should assemble in order to give +weight to the renunciations to be made. They said, and with reason, that +it was not enough that the King of Spain should renounce France unless +France renounced Spain; and that this formality was necessary in order to +break the double bonds which attached Spain to France, as France was +attached to Spain. Accustomed to their parliaments, which are in effect +their States-General, they believed ours preserved the same authority, +and they thought such authority the greatest to be obtained and the best +capable of solidly supporting that of the King. + +The effect of this upon the mind of a Prince almost deified in his own +eyes, and habituated to the most unlimited despotism, cannot be +expressed. To show him that the authority of his subjects was thought +necessary in order to confirm his own, wounded him in his most delicate +part. The English were made to understand the weakness and the +uselessness of what they asked; for the powerlessness of our States- +General was explained to them, and they saw at once how vain their help +would be, even if accorded. + +For a long time nothing was done; France saying that a treaty of +renunciation and an express confirmatory declaration of the King, +registered in the Parliament, were sufficient; the English replying by +reference to the fate of past treaties. Peace meanwhile was arranged +with the English, and much beyond our hopes remained undisturbed. + +In due time matters were so far advanced in spite of obstacles thrown in +the way by the allies, that the Duc d'Aumont was sent as ambassador into +England; and the Duke of Hamilton was named as ambassador for France. +This last, however, losing his life in a duel with Lord Mohun, the Duke +of Shrewsbury was appointed in his stead. + +At the commencement of the new year [1713] the Duke and Duchess of +Shrewsbury arrived in Paris. The Duchess was a great fat masculine +creature, more than past the meridian, who had been beautiful and who +affected to be so still; bare bosomed; her hair behind her ears; covered +with rouge and patches, and full of finicking ways. All her manners were +that of a mad thing, but her play, her taste, her magnificence, even her +general familiarity, made her the fashion. She soon declared the women's +head-dresses ridiculous, as indeed they were. They were edifices of +brass wire, ribbons, hair, and all sorts of tawdry rubbish more than two +feet high, making women's faces seem in the middle of their bodies. The +old ladies wore the same, but made of black gauze. If they moved ever so +lightly the edifice trembled and the inconvenience was extreme. The King +could not endure them, but master as he was of everything was unable to +banish them. They lasted for ten years and more, despite all he could +say and do. What this monarch had been unable to perform, the taste and +example of a silly foreigner accomplished with the most surprising +rapidity. From extreme height, the ladies descended to extreme lowness, +and these head-dresses, more simple; more convenient, and more becoming, +last even now. Reasonable people wait with impatience for some other mad +stranger who will strip our dames of these immense baskets, thoroughly +insupportable to themselves and to others. + +Shortly after the Duke of Shrewsbury arrived in Paris, the Hotel de Powis +in London, occupied by our ambassador the Duc d'Aumont, was burnt to the +ground. A neighbouring house was pulled down to prevent others catching +fire. The plate of M. d'Aumont was saved. He pretended to have lost +everything else. He pretended also to have received several warnings +that his house was to be burnt and himself assassinated, and that the +Queen, to whom he had mentioned these warnings, offered to give him a +guard. People judged otherwise in London and Paris, and felt persuaded +he himself had been the incendiary in order to draw money from the King +and also to conceal some monstrous smuggling operations, by which he +gained enormously, and which the English had complained of ever since his +arrival. This is at least what was publicly said in the two courts and +cities, and nearly everybody believed it. + +But to return to the peace. The renunciations were ready, towards the +middle of March, and were agreed upon. The King was invited to sign them +by his own most pressing interest; and the Court of England, to which we +owed all, was not less interested in consummating this grand work, so as +to enjoy, with the glory of having imposed it upon all the powers, that +domestic repose which was unceasingly disturbed by the party opposed to +the government, which party, excited by the enemies of peace abroad, +could not cease to cause disquiet to the Queen's minister, while, by +delay in signing, vain hopes of disturbing the peace or hindering its +ratification existed in people's minds. The King of Spain had made his +renunciations with all the solidity and solemnity which could be desired +from the laws, customs, and usages of Spain. It only remained for France +to imitate him. + +For the ceremony that was to take place, all that could be obtained in +order to render it more solemn was the presence of the peers. But the +King was so jealous of his authority, and so little inclined to pay +attention to that of others, that he wished to content himself with +merely saying in a general way that he hoped to find all the peers at the +Parliament when the renunciations were made. I told M. d'Orleans that if +the King thought such an announcement as this was enough he might rely +upon finding not a single peer at the Parliament. I added, that if the +King did not himself invite each peer, the master of the ceremonies ought +to do so for him, according to the custom always followed. This warning +had its effect. We all received written invitations, immediately. +Wednesday, the 18th of May, was fixed for the ceremony. + +At six o'clock on the morning of that day I went to the apartments of M. +le Duc de Berry, in parliamentary dress, and shortly afterwards M. +d'Orleans came there also, with a grand suite. It had been arranged that +the ceremony was to commence by a compliment from the Chief-President de +Mesmes to M. le Duc de Berry, who was to reply to it. He was much +troubled at this. Madame de Saint-Simon, to whom he unbosomed himself; +found means, through a subaltern, to obtain the discourse of the Chief- +President, and gave it to M. le Duc de Berry, to regulate his reply by. +This, however, seemed too much for him; he admitted so to Madame de +Saint-Simon, and that he knew not what to do. She proposed that I should +take the work off his hands; and he was delighted with the expedient. +I wrote, therefore, a page and a half full of common-sized paper in an +ordinary handwriting. M. le Duc de Berry liked it, but thought it too +long to be learnt. I abridged it; he wished it to be still shorter, so +that at last there was not more than three-quarters of a page. He had +learned it by heart, and repeated it in his cabinet the night before the +ceremony to Madame de Saint-Simon, who encouraged him as much as she +could. + +At about half-past six o'clock we set out--M. le Duc d'Orleans, M. le Duc +de Berry, myself, and M. le Duc de Saint-Aignan, in one coach, several +other coaches following. M. le Duc de Berry was very silent all the +journey, appearing to be much occupied with the speech he had learned by +heart. M. d'Orleans, on the contrary, was full of gaiety, and related +some of his youthful adventures, and his wild doings by night in the +streets of Paris. We arrived gently at the Porte de la Conference, that +is to say--for it is now pulled down--at the end of the terrace, and of +the Quai of the Tuileries. + +We found there the trumpeters and drummers of M. le Duc de Berry's guard, +who made a great noise all the rest of our journey, which ended at the +Palais de justice. Thence we went to the Sainte-Chapelle to hear mass. +The Chapelle was filled with company, among which were many people of +quality. The crowd of people from this building to the grand chamber was +so great that a pin could not have fallen to the ground. On all sides, +too, folks had climbed up to see what passed. + +All the Princes of the blood, the bastards, the peers and the parliament, +were assembled in the palace. When M. le Duc de Berry entered, +everything was ready. Silence having with difficulty been obtained, the +Chief-President paid his compliment to the Prince. When he had finished, +it was for M. le Duc de Berry to reply. He half took off his hat, +immediately put it back again, looked at the Chief-President, and said, +"Monsieur;" after a moment's pause he repeated "Monsieur." Then he +looked at the assembly, and again said, "Monsieur." Afterwards he +turned towards M. d'Orleans, who, like himself, was as red as fire, next +to the Chief-President, and finally stopped short, nothing else than +"Monsieur" having been able to issue from his mouth. + +I saw distinctly the confusion of M. le Duc de Berry, and sweated at it; +but what could be done? The Duke turned again towards M. d'Orleans, who +lowered his head. Both were dismayed. At last the Chief-President, +seeing there was no other resource, finished this cruel scene by taking +off his cap to M. le Duc de Berry, and inclining himself very low, as if +the response was finished. Immediately afterwards he told the King's +people to begin. The embarrassment of all the courtiers and the surprise +of the magistracy may be imagined. + +The renunciations were then read; and by these the King of Spain and his +posterity gave up all claim to the throne of France, and M. le Duc +d'Orleans, and M. le Duc de Berry to succeed to that of Spain. These and +other forms occupied a long time. The chamber was all the while crowded +to excess. There was not room for a single other person to enter. It +was very late when all was over. + +When everything was at an end M. de Saint-Aignan and I accompanied M. le +Duc de Berry and M. le Duc d'Orleans in a coach to the Palais Royal. On +the way the conversation was very quiet. M. le Duc de Berry appeared +dispirited, embarrassed, and vexed. Even after we had partaken of a +splendid and delicate dinner, to which an immense number of other guests +sat down, he did not improve. We were conducted to the Porte Saint- +Honore with the same pomp as that in the midst, of which we had entered +Paris. During the rest of the journey to Versailles M. le Duc de Berry +was as silent as ever. + +To add to his vexation, as soon as he arrived at Versailles the Princesse +de Montauban, without knowing a word of what had passed, set herself to +exclaim, with her usual flattery, that she was charmed with the grace and +the appropriate eloquence with which he had spoken at the Parliament, and +paraphrased this theme with all the praises of which it was susceptible. +M. le Duc de Berry blushed with vexation without saying a word; she +recommenced extolling his modesty, he blushing the more, and saying +nothing. When at last he had got rid of her, he went to his own +apartments, said not, a word to the persons he found there, scarcely one +to Madame his wife, but taking Madame de Saint-Simon with him, went into +his library, and shut himself up alone there with her. + +Throwing himself into an armchair he cried out that he was dishonoured, +and wept scalding tears. Then he related to Madame de Saint-Simon, in +the midst of sobs, how he had stuck fast at the Parliament, without being +able to utter a word, said that he should everywhere be regarded as an +ass and a blockhead, and repeated the compliments he had received from +Madame de Montauban, who, he said, had laughed at and insulted him, +knowing well what had happened; then, infuriated against her to the last +degree, he called her by all sots of names. Madame de Saint-Simon spared +no exertion in order to calm M. de Berry, assuring him that it was +impossible Madame de Montauban could know what had taken place at the +Parliament, the news not having then reached Versailles, and that she had +had no other object than flattery in addressing him. Nothing availed. +Complaints and silence succeeded each other in the midst of tears. Then, +suddenly falling upon the Duc de Beauvilliers and the King, and accusing +the defects of his education: "They thought only;" he exclaimed, +"of making me stupid, and of stifling all my powers. I was a younger +son. I coped with my brother. They feared the consequences; they +annihilated me. I was taught only to play and to hunt,: and they have +succeeded in making me a fool and an ass, incapable of anything, the +laughing-stock and disdain of everybody." Madame de Saint-Simon was +overpowered with compassion, and did everything to calm M. de Berry. +Their strange tete-a-tete lasted nearly two hours, and resumed the next +day but with less violence. By degrees M. le Duc de Berry became +consoled, but never afterwards did any one dare to speak to him of his +misadventure at the peace ceremony. + +Let me here say that, the ceremony over, peace was signed at Utrecht on +the 20th April, 1713, at a late hour of the night. It was published in +Paris with great solemnity on the 22nd. Monsieur and Madame du Maine, +who wished to render themselves popular, came from Sceaux to see the +ceremony in the Place Royale, showed themselves on a balcony to the +people, to whom they threw some money--a liberality that the King would +not have permitted in anybody else. At night fires were lighted before +the houses, several of which were illuminated: On the 25th a Te Deum was +sung at Notre Dame, and in the evening there was a grand display of +fireworks at the Grave, which was followed by a superb banquet given at +the Hotel de Ville by the Duc de Tresmes, the Governor of Paris, to a +large number of distinguished persons of both sexes of the Court and the +city, twenty-four violins playing during the repast. + +I have omitted to mention the death of M. de Chevreise, which took place +between seven and eight o'clock in the morning on Saturday, the 5th of +November; of the previous year (1712). I have so often alluded to M. de +Chevreuse in the course of these pages, that I will content myself with +relating here two anecdotes of him, which serve to paint a part of his +character. + +He was very forgetful, and adventures often happened to him in +consequence, which diverted us amazingly. Sometimes his horses were put +to and kept waiting for him twelve or fifteen hours at a time. Upon one +occasion in summer this happened at Vaucresson, whence he was going to +dine at Dampierre. The coachman, first, then the postilion, grew tired +of looking after the horses, and left them. Towards six o'clock at night +the horses themselves were in their turn worn out, bolted, and a din was +heard which shook the house. Everybody ran out, the coach was found +smashed, the large door shivered in pieces; the garden railings, which +enclosed both sides of the court, broken down; the gates in pieces; in +short, damage was done that took a long time to repair. M. de Chevreuse, +who had not been disturbed by this uproar even for an instant, was quite +astonished when he heard of it. M. de Beauvilliers amused himself for a +long time by reproaching him with it, and by asking the expense. + +Another adventure happened to him also at Vaucresson, and covered him +with real confusion, comical to see, every time it was mentioned. About +ten o'clock one morning a M. Sconin, who had formerly been his steward, +was announced. "Let him take a turn in the garden," said M. de +Chevreuse, "and come back in half an hour." He continued what he was +doing, and completely forgot his man. Towards seven o'clock in the +evening Sconin was again announced. "In a moment," replied M. de +Chevreuse, without disturbing himself. A quarter of an hour afterwards +he called Sconin, and admitted him. "Ah, my poor Sconin!" said he, +"I must offer you a thousand excuses for having caused you to lose your +day." + +"Not at all, Monseigneur," replied Sconin. "As I have had the honour of +knowing you for many years, I comprehended this morning that the half- +hour might be long, so I went to Paris, did some business there, before +and after dinner, and here I am again." + +M. de Chevreuse was confounded. Sconin did not keep silence, nor did the +servants of the house. M. de Beauvilliers made merry with the adventure +when he heard of it, and accustomed as M. de Chevreuse might be to his +raillery, he could not bear to have this subject alluded to. I have +selected two anecdotes out of a hundred others of the same kind, because +they characterise the man. + +The liberality of M. du Maine which we have related on the occasion of +the proclamation of peace at Paris, and which was so popular, and so +surprising when viewed in connection with the disposition of the King, +soon took new development. The Jesuits, so skilful in detecting the +foibles of monarchs, and so clever in seizing hold of everything which +can protect themselves and answer their ends, showed to what extent they +were masters of these arts. A new and assuredly a very original History +of France, in three large folio volumes, appeared under the name of +Father Daniel, who lived at Paris in the establishment of the Jesuits. +The paper and the printing of the work were excellent; the style was +admirable. Never was French so clear, so pure, so flowing, with such +happy transitions; in a word, everything to charm and entice the reader; +admirable preface, magnificent promises, short, learned dissertations, a +pomp, an authority of the most seductive kind. As for the history, there +was much romance in the first race, much in the second, and much. +mistiness in the early times of the third. In a word, all the work +evidently appeared composed in order to persuade people--under the simple +air of a man who set aside prejudices with discernment, and who only +seeks the truth--that the majority of the Kings of the first race, +several of the second, some even of the third, were, bastards, whom this +defect did not exclude from the throne, or affect in any way. + +I say bluntly here what was very delicately veiled in the work, and yet +plainly seen. The effect of the book was great; its vogue such, that +everybody, even women, asked for it. The King spoke of it to several of +his Court, asked if they had read it; the most sagacious early saw how +much it was protected; it was the sole historical book the King and +Madame de Maintenon had ever spoken of. Thus the work appeared at +Versailles upon every table, nothing else was talked about, marvellous +eulogies were lavished upon it, which were sometimes comical in the +mouths of persons either very ignorant, or who, incapable of reading, +pretended to read and relish this book. + +But this surprising success did not last. People perceived that this +history, which so cleverly unravelled the remote part, gave but a meagre +account of modern days, except in so far as their military operations +were concerned; of which even the minutest details were recorded. Of +negotiations, cabals, Court intrigues, portraits, elevations, falls, and +the main springs of events, there was not a word in all the work, except +briefly, dryly, and with precision as in the gazettes, often more +superficially. Upon legal matters, public ceremonies, fetes of different +times, there was also silence at the best, the same laconism; and when we +come to the affairs of Rome and of the League, it is a pleasure to see +the author glide over that dangerous ice on his Jesuit skates! + +In due time critics condemned the work which, after so much applause, was +recognised as a very wretched history, which had very industriously and +very fraudulently answered the purpose for which it was written. It fell +to the ground then; learned men wrote against it; but the principal and +delicate point of the work was scarcely touched in France with the pen, +so great was the danger. + +Father Daniel obtained two thousand francs' pension for his history,-- +a prodigious recompense,--with a title of Historiographer of France. He +enjoyed the fruits of his falsehood, and laughed at those who attacked +him. Foreign countries did not swallow quite so readily these stories +that declared such a number of our early kings bastards; but great care +was taken not to let France be infected by the disagreeable truths +therein published. + + + + +CHAPTER LXIII + +It is now time that I should say something of the infamous bull +'Unigenitus', which by the unsurpassed audacity and scheming of Father Le +Tellier and his friends was forced upon the Pope and the world. + +I need not enter into a very lengthy account of the celebrated Papal +decree which has made so many martyrs, depopulated our schools, +introduced ignorance, fanaticism, and misrule, rewarded vice, thrown the +whole community into the greatest confusion, caused disorder everywhere, +and established the most arbitrary and the most barbarous inquisition; +evils which have doubled within the last thirty years. I will content +myself with a word or two, and will not blacken further the pages of my +Memoirs. Many pens have been occupied, and will be occupied, with this +subject. It is not the apostleship of Jesus Christ that is in question, +but that of the reverend fathers and their ambitious clients. + +It is enough to say that the new bull condemned in set terms the +doctrines of Saint-Paul (respected like oracles of the Holy Spirit ever +since the time of our Saviour), and also those of Saint-Augustin, and of +other fathers; doctrines which have always been adopted by the Popes, by +the Councils, and by the Church itself. The bull, as soon as published, +met with a violent opposition in Rome from the cardinals there, who went +by sixes, by eights, and by tens, to complain of it to the Pope. They +might well do so, for they had not been consulted in any way upon this +new constitution. Father Tellier and his friends had had the art and the +audacity to obtain the publication of it without submitting it to them. +The Pope, as I have said, had been forced into acquiescence, and now, all +confused, knew not what to say. He protested, however, that the +publication had been made without his knowledge, and put off the +cardinals with compliments, excuses, and tears, which last he could +always command. + +The constitution had the same fate in France as in Rome. The cry against +it was universal. The cardinals protested that it would never be +received. They were shocked by its condemnation of the doctrines of +Saint-Augustin and of the other fathers; terrified at its condemnation of +Saint-Paul. There were not two opinions upon this terrible constitution. +The Court, the city, and the provinces, as soon as they knew the nature +of it, rose against it like one man. + +In addition to the articles of this constitution which I have already +named, there was one which excited infinite alarm and indignation, for it +rendered the Pope master of every crown! As is well known, there is a +doctrine of the Church, which says: + +"An unjust excommunication ought got to hinder [us] from doing our duty." + +The new constitution condemned this doctrine, and consequently proclaimed +that: + +"An unjust excommunication ought to hinder [us] from doing our duty." + +The enormity of this last is more striking than the simple truth of the +proposition condemned. The second is a shadow which better throws up the +light of the first. The results and the frightful consequences of the +condemnation are as clear as day. + +I think I have before said that Father Tellier, without any advances on +my part, without, in fact, encouragement of any kind, insisted upon +keeping up an intimacy with me, which I could not well repel, for it came +from a man whom it would have been very dangerous indeed to have for an- +enemy. As soon as this matter of the constitution was in the wind, he +came to me to talk about it. I did not disguise my opinion from him, nor +did he disguise in any way from me the unscrupulous means he meant to +employ in order to get this bull accepted by the clergy. Indeed, he was +so free with me, showed me so plainly his knavery and cunning, that I +was, as it were, transformed with astonishment and fright. I never could +comprehend this openness in a man so false, so artificial, so profound, +or see in what manner it could be useful to him. + +One day he came to me by appointment, with a copy of the constitution in +his hand in order that we might thoroughly discuss it. I was at +Versailles. In order to understand what I am going to relate, I must +give some account of my apartments there. Let me say, then, that I had a +little back cabinet, leading out of another cabinet, but so arranged that +you would not have thought it was there. It received no light except +from the outer cabinet, its own windows being boarded up. In this back +cabinet I had a bureau, some chairs, books, and all I needed; my friends +called it my "shop," and in truth it did not ill resemble one. + +Father Tellier came at the hour he had fixed. As chance would have it, +M. le Duc and Madame la Duchesse de Berry had invited themselves to a +collation with Madame de Saint-Simon that morning. I knew that when they +arrived I should no longer be master of my chamber or of my cabinet. I +told Father Tellier this, and he was much vexed. He begged me so hard to +find some place where we might be inaccessible to the company, that at +last, pressed by him to excess, I said I knew of only one expedient by +which we might become free: and I told him that he must dismiss his +'vatble' (as the brother who always accompanies a monk is called), and +that then, furnished with candles, we would go and shut ourselves up in +my back cabinet, where we could neither be seen nor heard, if we took +care not to speak loud when anybody approached. He thought the expedient +admirable, dismissed his companion, and we sat down opposite each other, +the bureau between us, with two candles alight upon it. + +He immediately began to sing the praises of the Constitution Unigenitus, +a copy of which he placed on the table. I interrupted him so as to come +at once to the excommunication proposition. We discussed it with much +politeness, but with little accord. I shall not pretend to report our +dispute. It was warm and long. I pointed out to Father Tellier, that +supposing the King and the little Dauphin were both to die, and this was +a misfortune which might happen, the crown of France would by right of +birth belong to the King of Spain; but according to the renunciation just +made, it would belong to M. le Duc de Berry and his branch, or in default +to M. le Duc d'Orleans. "Now," said I, "if the two brothers dispute the +crown, and the Pope favouring the one should excommunicate the other, it +follows, according to our new constitution, that the excommunicated must +abandon all his claims, all his partisans, all his forces, and go over to +the other side. For you say, an unjust excommunication ought to hinder +us from doing our duty. So that in one fashion or another the Pope is +master of all the crowns in his communion, is at liberty to take them +away or to give them as he pleases, a liberty so many Popes have claimed +and so many have tried to put in action." + +My argument was simple, applicable, natural, and pressing: it offered +itself, of itself. Wherefore, the confessor was amazed by it; he +blushed, he beat about the bush, he could not collect himself. By +degrees he did so, and replied to me in a manner that he doubtless +thought would convince me at once. "If the case you suggest were to +happen," he said, "and the Pope declaring for one disputant were to +excommunicate the other and all his followers, such excommunication would +not merely be unjust, it would be false; and it has never been decided +that a false excommunication should hinder us from doing our duty." + +"Ah! my father," I said, "your distinction is subtle and clever, I admit. +I admit, too, I did not expect it, but permit me some few more +objections, I beseech you. Will the Ultramontanes admit the nullity of +the excommunication? Is it not null as soon as it is unjust? If the +Pope has the power to excommunicate unjustly, and to enforce obedience to +his excommunication, who can limit power so unlimited, and why should not +his false (or nullified) excommunication be as much obeyed and respected +as his unjust excommunication? Suppose the case I have imagined were to +happen. Suppose the Pope were to excommunicate one of the two brothers. +Do you think it would be easy to make your subtle distinction between a +false and an unjust excommunication understood by the people, the +soldiers, the bourgeois, the officers, the lords, the women, at the very +moment when they would be preparing to act and to take up arms? You see +I point out great inconveniences that may arise if the new doctrine be +accepted, and if the Pope should claim the power of deposing kings, +disposing of their crowns, and releasing their subjects from the oath of +fidelity in opposition to the formal words of Jesus Christ and of all the +Scripture." + +My words transported the Jesuit, for I had touched the right spring in +spite of his effort to hide it. He said nothing personal to me, but he +fumed. The more he restrained himself for me the less he did so for the +matter in hand. As though to indemnify himself for his moderation on my, +account, he launched out the more, upon the subject we were discussing. +In his heat, no longer master of himself, many things escaped him, +silence upon which I am sure he would afterwards have bought very dearly. +He told me so many things of the violence that would be used to make his +constitution accepted, things so monstrous, so atrocious, so terrible, +and with such extreme passion that I fell into a veritable syncope. I +saw him right in front of me between two candles, only the width of the +table between us (I have described elsewhere his horrible physiognomy). +My hearing and my sight became bewildered. I was seized, while he was +speaking, with the full idea of what a Jesuit was. Here was a man who, +by his state and his vows, could hope for nothing for his family or for +himself; who could not expect an apple or a glass of wine more than his +brethren; who was approaching an age when he would have to render account +of all things to God, and who, with studied deliberation and mighty +artifice, was going to throw the state and religion into the most +terrible flames, and commence a most frightful persecution for questions +which affected him in nothing, nor touched in any way the honour of the +School of Molina! + +His profundities, the violence he spoke of--all this together, threw me +into such an ecstasy, that suddenly I interrupted him by saying: + +"My father, how old are you?" + +The extreme surprise which painted itself upon his face as I looked at +him with all my eyes, fetched back my senses, and his reply brought me +completely to myself. "Why do you ask?" he replied, smiling. The effort +that I made over myself to escape such a unique 'proposito', the terrible +value of which I fully appreciated, furnished me an issue. "Because," +said I, "never have I looked at you so long as I have now, you in front +of me, these two candles between us, and your face is so fresh and so +healthy, with all your labours, that I am surprised at it." + +He swallowed the answer, or so well pretended to do so, that he said +nothing of it then nor since, never ceasing when he met me to speak to me +as openly, and as frequently as before, I seeking him as little as ever. +He replied at that time that he was seventy-four years old; that in truth +he was very well; that he had accustomed himself, from his earliest +years, to a hard life and to labour; and then went back to the point at +which I had interrupted him. We were compelled, however, to be silent +for a time, because people came into my cabinet, and Madame de Saint- +Simon, who knew of our interview, had some difficulty to keep the coast +clear. + +For more than two hours we continued our discussion, he trying to put me +off with his subtleties and authoritativeness, I offering but little +opposition to him, feeling that opposition was of no use, all his plans +being already decided. We separated without having persuaded each other, +he with many flatteries upon my intelligence, praying me to reflect well +upon the matter; I replying that my reflections were all made, and that +my capacity could not go farther. I let him out by the little back door +of my cabinet, so that nobody perceived him, and as soon as I had closed +it, I threw myself into a chair like a man out of breath, and I remained +there a long time alone, reflecting upon the strange kind of ecstasy I +had been in, and the horror it had caused me. + +The results of this constitution were, as I have said, terrible to the +last degree; every artifice, every cruelty was used, in order to force it +down the throats of the clergy; and hence the confusion and sore trouble +which arose all over the realm. But it is time now for me to touch upon +other matters. + +Towards the close of this year, 1713, peace with the Emperor seemed so +certain, that the King disbanded sixty Battalions and eighteen men per +company of the regiment of the guards, and one hundred and six squadrons; +of which squadrons twenty-seven were dragoons. At peace now with the +rest of Europe he had no need of so many troops, even although the war +Against the Empire had continued; fortunately, however it did not. +Negotiations were set on foot, and on the 6th of March of the following +year, 1714, after much debate, they ended successfully. On that day, in +fact, peace was signed at Rastadt. It was shortly afterwards published +at Paris, a Te Deum sung, and bonfires lighted at night; a grand +collation was given at the Hotel de Ville by the Duc de Tresmes, who at +midnight also gave, in his own house, a splendid banquet, at which were +present many ladies, foreigners, and courtiers. + +This winter was fertile in balls at the Court; there were several, fancy- +dress and masked, given by M. le Duc de Berry, by Madame la Duchesse de +Berry, M. le Duc, and others. There were some also at Paris, and at +Sceaux, where Madame du Maine gave many fetes and played many comedies, +everybody going there from Paris and the Court--M. du Maine doing the +Honours. Madame la Duchesse de Berry was in the family way, and went to +no dances out of her own house. The King permitted her, on account of +her condition, to sup with him in a robe de chambre, as under similar +circumstances he had permitted the two Dauphines to do. + +At the opera, one night this winter, the Abbe Servien, not liking certain +praises of the King contained in a Prologue, let slip a bitter joke in +ridicule of them. The pit took it up, repeated it, and applauded it. +Two days afterwards, the Abbe Servien was arrested and taken to +Vincennes, forbidden to speak to anybody and allowed no servant to wait +upon him. For form's sake seals were put upon his papers, but he was not +a man likely to have any fit for aught else than to light the fire. +Though more than sixty-five years old, he was strangely debauched. + +The Duc de la Rochefoucauld died on Thursday, the 11th of January, at +Versailles, seventy-nine years of age, and blind. I have spoken of him +so frequently in the course of these memoirs, that I will do nothing more +now than relate a few particulars respecting him, which will serve in +some sort to form his portrait. + +He had much honour, worth, and probity. He was noble, good, magnificent, +ever willing to serve his friends; a little too much so, for he +oftentimes wearied the King with importunities on their behalf. Without +any intellect or discernment he was proud to excess, coarse and rough in +his manners--disagreeable even, and embarrassed with all except his +flatterers; like a man who does not know how to receive a visit, enter or +leave a room. He scarcely went anywhere except to pay the indispensable +compliments demanded by marriage, death, etc., and even then as little as +he could. He lived in his own house so shut up that no, one went to see +him except on these same occasions. He gave himself up almost entirely +to his valets, who mixed themselves in the conversation; and you were +obliged to treat them with all sorts of attentions if you wished to +become a frequenter of the house. + +I shall never forget what happened to us at the death of the Prince of +Vaudemont's son, by which M. de la Rochefoucauld's family came in for a +good inheritance. We were at Marly. The King had been stag-hunting. +M. de Chevreuse, whom I found when the King was being unbooted, proposed +that we should go and pay our compliments to M. de la Rochefoucauld. +We went. Upon entering, what was our surprise, nay, our shame, to find +M. de la Rochefoucauld playing at chess with one of his servants in +livery, seated opposite to him! Speech failed us. M. de la +Rochefoucauld perceived it, and remained confounded himself. He +stammered, he grew confused, he tried to excuse what we had seen, saying +that this lackey played very well, and that chess-players played with +everybody. M. de Chevreuse had not come to contradict him; neither had +I; we turned the conversation, therefore, and left as soon as possible. +As soon as we were outside we opened our minds to each other, and said +what we thought of this rare meeting, which, however, we did not make +public. + +M. de Rochefoucauld, towards the end of his career at Court, became so +importunate, as I have said, for his friends, that the King was much +relieved by his death. Such have been his sentiments at the death of +nearly all those whom he had liked and favoured. + +Of the courage of M. de la Rochefoucauld, courtier as he was, in speaking +to the King, I will relate an instance. It was during one of the visits +at Marly, in the gardens of which the King was amusing himself with a +fountain that he set at work. I know not what led to it, but the King, +usually so reserved, spoke with him of the bishop of Saint-Pons, then in +disgrace on account of the affairs of Port Royal. M. de la Rochefoucauld +let him speak on to the end, and then began to praise the bishop. The +discouraging silence of the King warned him; he persisted, however, and +related how the bishop, mounted upon a mule, and visiting one day his +diocese, found himself in a path which grew narrower at every step; and +which ended in a precipice. There were no means of getting out of it +except by going back, but this was impossible, there not being enough +space to turn round or to alight. The holy bishop (for such was his term +as I well remarked) lifted his eyes to Heaven, let go the bridle, and +abandoned himself to Providence. Immediately his mule rose up upon its +hind legs, and thus upright, the bishop still astride, turned round until +its head was where its tail had been. The beast thereupon returned along +the path until it found an opening into a good road. Everybody around +the King imitated his silence, which excited the Duke to comment upon +what he had just related. This generosity charmed me, and surprised all +who were witness of it. + +The day after the death of M. de la Rochefoucauld, the Chancellor took +part in a very tragic scene. A Vice-bailli of Alencon had just lost a +trial, in which, apparently, his honour, or his property, was much +interested. He came to Pontchartrain's, where the Chancellor was at the +moment, and waited until he came out into the court to get into his +carriage. The Vice-bailli then asked him for a revision of the verdict. +The Chancellor, with much gentleness and goodness represented to the man +that the law courts were open to him if he insisted to appeal, but that +as to a revision of the verdict; it was contrary to usage; and turned to +get into his coach. While he was getting in; the unhappy bailli said +there was a shorter way of escaping from trouble, and stabbed himself +twice with a poniard. At the dies of the domestics the Chancellor +descended from the coach, had the man carried into a room, and sent for a +doctor, and a confessor. The bailli made confession very peacefully, and +died an hour afterwards. + +I have spoken in its time of the exile of Charmel and its causes, of +which the chief was his obstinate refusal to present himself before the +King. The vexation of the King against people who withdrew from him was +always very great. In this case, it never passed away, but hardened into +a strange cruelty, to speak within limits. Charmel, attacked with the +stone, asked permission to come to Paris to undergo an operation. The +permission was positively refused. Time pressed. The operation was +obliged to be done in the country. It was so severe, and perhaps so +badly done, that Charmel died three days afterwards full of penitence and +piety. He had led a life remarkable for its goodness, was without +education, but had religious fervour that supplied the want of it. He +was sixty-eight years of age. + +The Marechale de la Ferme died at Paris, at the same time, more than +eighty years old. She was sister of the Comtesse d'Olonne, very rich and +a widow. The beauty of the two sisters, and the excesses of their lives, +made a great stir. No women, not even those most stigmatized for their +gallantry, dared to see them, or to be seen anywhere with them. That was +the way then; the fashion has changed since. When they were old and +nobody cared for them, they tried to become devout. They lodged +together, and one Ash Wednesday went and heard a sermon. This sermon, +which was upon fasting and penitence, terrified them. + +"My sister," they said to each other on their return, "it was all true; +there was no joke about it; we must do penance, or we are lost. But, my +sister, what shall we do?" After having well turned it over: "My +sister," said Madame d'Olonne, "this is what we must do; we must make our +servants fast." Madame d'Olonne thought she had very well met the +difficulty. However, at last she set herself to work in earnest, at +piety and penitence, and died three months after her sister, the +Marechale de la Ferme. It will not be forgotten, that it was under cover +of the Marechale that a natural child was first legitimated without +naming the mother, in order that by this example, the King's natural +children might be similarly honoured, without naming Madame de Montespan, +as I have related in its place. + + + + +CHAPTER LXIV + +The Queen of Spain, for a long time violently attacked with the king's +evil around the face and neck, was just now at the point of death. +Obtaining no relief from the Spanish doctors, she wished to have +Helvetius, and begged the King by an express command to send him to her. +Helvetius, much inconvenienced, and knowing besides the condition of the +Princess, did not wish to go, but the King expressly commanded him. +He set out then in a postchaise, followed by another in case his own +should break down, and arrived thus at Madrid on the 11th of February, +1714. As soon as he had seen the Queen, he said there was nothing but +a miracle could save her. The King of Spain did not discontinue sleeping +with her until the 9th. On the 14th she died, with much courage, +consciousness, and piety. + +Despair was general in Spain, where this Queen was universally adored. +There was not a family which did not lament her, not a person who has +since been consoled. The King of Spain was extremely touched, but +somewhat in a royal manner. Thus, when out shooting one day, he came +close to the convoy by which the body of his queen was being conveyed to +the Escurial; he looked at it, followed it with his eyes, and continued +his sport! Are these princes made like other human beings? + +The death of the Queen led to amazing changes, such as the most prophetic +could not have foreseen. Let me here, then, relate the events that +followed this misfortune. + +I must commence by saying, that the principal cause which had so long and +scandalously hindered us from making peace with the Emperor, was a +condition, which Madame des Ursins wished to insert in the treaty, (and +which the King of Spain supported through thick and thin) to the effect +that she should be invested with a bona fide sovereignty. She had set +her heart upon this, and the king of Spain was a long time before he +would consent to any terms of peace that did not concede it to her. It +was not until the King had uttered threats against him that he would give +way. As for Madame des Ursins, she had counted upon this sovereignty , +with as much certainty as though it were already between her fingers. +She had counted, too, with equal certainty upon exchanging it with our +King, for the sovereignty of Touraine and the Amboise country; and had +actually charged her faithful Aubigny to buy her some land near Amboise +to build her there a vast palace, with courts and outbuildings; to +furnish it with magnificence, to spare neither gilding nor paintings, and +to surround the whole with the most beautiful gardens. She meant to live +there as sovereign lady of the country. Aubigny had at once set about +the work to the surprise of everybody: for no one could imagine for whom +such a grand building could be designed. He kept the secret, pretended +he was building a house for himself and pushed on the work so rapidly +that just as peace was concluded without the stipulation respecting +Madame des Ursins being inserted in the treaty, nearly all was finished. +Her sovereignty scheme thoroughly failed; and to finish at once with that +mad idea, I may as well state that, ashamed of her failure, she gave this +palace to Aubigny, who lived there all the rest of his life: Chanteloup, +for so it was called, has since passed into the hands of Madame +d'Armantieres, his daughter. It is one of the most beautiful and most +singular places in all France, and the most superbly furnished. + +This sovereignty, coveted by Madame des Ursins, exceedingly offended +Madame de Maintenon and wounded her pride. She felt, with jealousy, that +the grand airs Madame des Ursins gave herself were solely the effect of +the protection she had accorded her. She could not bear to be +outstripped in importance by the woman she herself had elevated. The +King, too, was much vexed with Madame des Ursins; vexed also to see peace +delayed; and to be obliged to speak with authority and menace to the King +of Spain, in order to compel him to give up the idea of this precious +sovereignty. The King of Spain did not yield until he was threatened +with abandonment by France. It may be imagined what was the rage of +Madame des Ursins upon missing her mark after having, before the eyes +of all Europe, fired at it with so much perseverance; nay, with such +unmeasured obstinacy. From this time there was no longer the same +concert between Madame de Maintenon and Madame des Ursins that had +formerly existed. But the latter had reached such a point in Spain, +that she thought this was of no consequence. + +It has been seen with what art Madame des Ursins had unceasingly isolated +the King of Spain; in what manner she had shut him up with the Queen, and +rendered him inaccessible, not only to his Court but to his grand +officers, his ministers, even his valets, so that he was served by only +three or four attendants, all French, and entirely under her thumb. At +the death of the Queen this solitude continued. Under the pretext that +his grief demanded privacy, she persuaded the King to leave his palace +and to instal himself in a quiet retreat, the Palace of Medina-Celi, near +the Buen-Retiro, at the other end of the city. She preferred this +because it was infinitely smaller than the Royal Palace, and because few +people, in consequence, could approach the King. She herself took the +Queen's place; and in order to have a sort of pretext for being near the +King, in the same solitude, she caused herself to be named governess of +his children. But in order to be always there, and so that nobody should +know when they were together, she had a large wooden corridor made from +the cabinet of the King to the apartment of his children, in which she +lodged. By this means they could pass from one to the other without +being perceived, and without traversing the long suite of rooms, filled +with courtiers, that were between the two apartments. In this manner it +was never known whether the King was alone or with Madame des Ursins; +or which of the two was in the apartments of the other. When they were +together or how long is equally unknown. This corridor, roofed and +glazed, was proceeded with in so much haste, that the work went on, in +spite of the King's devotion, on fete days and Sundays. The whole Court, +which perfectly well knew for what use this corridor was intended, was +much displeased. Those who directed the work were the same. Of this +good proof was given. One day, the Comptroller of the royal buildings, +who had been ordered to keep the men hard at it, Sundays and fete days, +asked the Pere Robinet, the King's confessor, and the only good one he +ever had; he asked, I say, in one of those rooms Madame des Ursins was so +anxious to avoid, and in the presence of various courtiers, if the work +was to be continued on the morrow, a Sunday, and the next day, the Fete +of the Virgin. Robinet replied, that the King had said nothing to the +contrary; and met a second appeal with the same answer. At the third, he +added, that before saying anything he would wait till the King spoke on +the subject. At the fourth appeal, he lost patience, and said that if +for the purpose of destroying what had been commenced, he believed work +might be done even on Easter-day itself; but if for the purpose of +continuing the corridor, he did not think a Sunday or a fete day was a +fitting time. All the Court applauded; but Madame des Ursins, to whom +this sally was soon carried, was much irritated. + +It was suspected that she thought of becoming something more than the +mere companion of the King. There were several princes. Reports were +spread which appeared equivocal and which terrified. It was said that +the King had no need of posterity, with all the children it had pleased +God to bless him with; but now he only needed a wife who could take +charge of those children. Not content with passing all her days with the +King, and allowing him, like the deceased Queen, to work with his +ministers only in her presence, the Princesse des Ursins felt that to +render this habit lasting she must assure herself of him at all moments. +He was accustomed to take the air, and he was in want of it all the more +now because he had been much shut up during the last days of the Queen's +illness, and the first which followed her death. Madame des Ursins chose +four or five gentlemen to accompany him, to the exclusion of all others, +even his chief officers, and people still more necessary. These +gentlemen charged with the amusement of the King, were called +recreadores. With so much circumspection, importunity, preparation, and +rumour carefully circulated, it was not doubted that Madame des Ursins +intended to marry him; and the opinion, as well as the fear, became +general. The King (Louis XIV.), was infinitely alarmed; and Madame de +Maintenon, who had twice tried to be proclaimed Queen and twice failed, +was distracted with jealousy. However, if Madame des Ursins flattered +herself then, it was not for long. + +The King of Spain, always curious to learn the news from France, often +demanded them of his confessor, the only man to whom he could speak who +was not under the thumb of Madame des Ursins. The clever and courageous +Robinet, as disturbed as others at the progress of the design, which +nobody in the two Courts of France and Spain doubted was in execution, +allowed himself to be pressed by questions--in an embrasure where the +King had drawn him--played the reserved and the mysterious in order to +excite curiosity more. When he saw it was sufficiently excited, he said +that since he was forced to speak, his news from France was the same as +that at Madrid, where no one doubted that the King would do the Princesse +des Ursins the honour to espouse her. The King blushed and hastily +replied, "Marry her! oh no! not that!" and quitted him. + +Whether the Princesse des Ursins was informed of this sharp repartee, or +whether she despaired already of success, she changed about; and judging +that this interregnum in the Palace of Medina-Celi could not last for +ever, resolved to assure herself of the King by a Queen who should owe to +her such a grand marriage, and who, having no other support, would throw +herself into her arms by gratitude and necessity. With this view she +explained herself to Alberoni, who, since the death of the Duc de +Vendome, had remained at Madrid charged with the affairs of Parma; and +proposed to him the marriage of the Princess of Parma, daughter of the +Duchess and of the late Duke of Parma, who had married the widow of his +brother. + +Alberoni could with difficulty believe his ears. An alliance so +disproportioned appeared to him so much the more incredible, because he +thought the. Court of France would never consent to it, and that without +its consent the marriage could not be concluded. The Princess in +question was the issue of double illegitimacy; by her father descended +from a pope, by her mother from a natural daughter of Charles Quint. She +was daughter of a petty Duke of Parma, and of a mother, entirely +Austrian, sister of the Dowager Empress and of the Dowager Queen of Spain +(whose acts had excited such disapproval that she was sent from her exile +at Toledo to Bayonne), sister too of the Queen of Portugal, who had +induced the King, her husband, to receive the Archduke at Lisbon, and to +carry the war into Spain. It did not seem reasonable, therefore, that +such a Princess would be accepted as a wife for the King of Spain. + +Nothing of all this, however, stopped the Princesse des Ursins; her own +interest was the most pressing consideration with her; the will of the +King of Spain was entirely subject to her; she felt all the change +towards her of our King and of Madame de Maintenon; she no longer hoped +for a return of their favour; she believed that she must look around for +support against the very authority which had established her so +powerfully, and which could destroy her; and occupied herself solely in +pushing forward a marriage from which she expected everything by making +the same use of the new queen as she had made of the one just dead. The +King of Spain was devout, he absolutely wanted a wife, the Princesse des +Ursins was of an age when her charms were but the charms, of art; in a +word, she set Alberoni to work, and it may be believed she was not +scrupulous as to her means as soon as they were persuaded at Parma that +she was serious and not joking. Orry, always united with Madame des +Ursins, and all-powerful, by her means, was her sole confidant in this +important affair. + +At that time the Marquis de Brancas was French ambassador at Madrid. He +had flattered himself that Madame des Ursins would make him one of the +grandees of Spain. Instead of doing so she simply bestowed upon him the +order of the Golden Fleece. He had never pardoned her for this. +Entirely devoted to Madame de Maintenon, he became on that very account +an object of suspicion to Madame des Ursins, who did not doubt that he +cherished a grudge against her, on account of the favour he had missed. +She allowed him no access to her, and had her eyes open upon all he did. +Brancas in like manner watched all her doings. The confessor, Robinet, +confided to him his fears respecting Madame des Ursins, and the chiefs of +a court universally discontented went and opened their hearts to him, +thinking it was France alone which could set to rights the situation of +Spain. + +Brancas appreciated all the importance of what was told him, but warned +by the fate of the Abbe d'Estrees, fearing even for his couriers, he took +the precaution of sending word to the King that he had pressing business +to acquaint him with, which he could not trust to paper, and that he +wished to be allowed to come to Versailles for a fortnight. The reply +was the permission asked for, accompanied, however, with an order to +communicate en route with the Duc de Berwick, who was about to pass to +Barcelona. + +Madame des Ursins, who always found means to be informed of everything, +immediately knew of Brancas's projected journey, and determined to get +the start of him. At once she had sixteen relays of mules provided upon +the Bayonne road, and suddenly sent off to France, on Holy Thursday, +Cardinal del Giudice, grand inquisitor and minister of state, who had +this mean complaisance for her. She thus struck two blows at once; she +got rid, at least for a time, of a Cardinal minister who troubled her, +and anticipated Brancas, which in our Court was no small point. + +Brancas, who felt all the importance of arriving first, followed the +Cardinal on Good Friday, and moved so well that he overtook him at +Bayonne, at night while he was asleep; Brancas passed straight on, +charging the Commandant to amuse and to delay the Cardinal as long as +possible on the morrow; gained ground, and arrived at Bordeaux with +twenty-eight post-horses that he had carried off with him from various +stations, to keep them from the Cardinal. He arrived in Paris in this +manner two days before the other, and went straight to Marly where the +King was, to explain the business that had led him there. He had a long +audience with the King, and received a lodging for the rest of the visit. + +The Cardinal del Giudice rested four or five days at Paris, and then came +to Marly, where he was introduced to the King. The Cardinal was somewhat +embarrassed; he was charged with no business; all his mission was to +praise Madame des Ursins, and complain of the Marquis de Brancas. These +praises of Madame des Ursins were but vague; she had not sufficient +confidence in the Cardinal to admit to him her real position in our +Court, and to give him instructions accordingly, so that what he had to +say was soon all said; against the Marquis de Brancas he had really no +fact to allege, his sole crime that he was too sharp-sighted and not +sufficiently devoted to the Princess. + +The Cardinal was a courtier, a man of talent, of business, of intrigue, +who felt, with annoyance, that for a person of his condition and weight, +such a commission as he bore was very empty. He appeared exceedingly +agreeable in conversation, of pleasant manners, and was much liked in +good society. He was assiduous in his attentions to the King, without +importuning him for audiences that were unnecessary; and by all his +conduct, he gave reason for believing that he suspected Madame des +Ursins' decadence in our Court, and sought to gain esteem and confidence, +so as to become by the support of the King, prime minister in Spain; but +as we shall soon see, his ultramontane hobbies hindered the +accomplishment of his measures. All the success of his journey consisted +in hindering Brancas from returning to Spain. This was no great +punishment, for Brancas had nothing more to hope for from Madame des +Ursins, and was not a man to lose his time for nothing. + +Up to this period not a word had been said to the King (Louis XIV.) by +the King of Spain upon the subject of his marriage; not a hint had been +given that he meant to remarry, much less with a Parma princess. This +proceeding, grafted upon the sovereignty claimed by the Princesse des +Ursine, and all her conduct with the King of Spain since the death of the +Queen, resolved our King to disgrace her without appeal. + +A remark upon Madame des Ursins, accompanied by a smile, escaped from the +King, generally so complete a master of himself, and appeared enigmatical +to such an extent, although striking, that Torcy, to wham it was +addressed, understood nothing. In his surprise, he related to Castries +what the King had said; Castries told it to Madame la Duchesse d'Orleans, +who reported it to M. d'Orleans and to me. We racked our brains to +comprehend it, but in vain; nevertheless such an unintelligible remark +upon a person like Madame des Ursins, who up to this time had been on +such good terms with the King and Madame de Maintenon, did not appear to +me to be favourable. I was confirmed in this view by what had just +happened with regard to her sovereignty; but I was a thousand leagues +from the thunderbolt which this lightning announced, and which only +declared itself to us by its fall. + +It wits not until the 27th of June that the King was made acquainted by +the King of Spain with his approaching marriage. Of course, through +other channels, he had not failed to hear of it long before. He passed +in the lightest and gentlest manner in the world over this project, and +the mystery so long and so complete! with which it had been kept from +him, stranger, if possible, than the marriage itself. He could not +hinder it; but from this moment he was sure of his vengeance against her +who had arranged and brought it about in this manner. The disgrace of +Madame des Ursine was in fact determined on between the King and Madame +de Maintenon, but in a manner a secret before and since, that I know +nobody who has found out by whom or how it was carried out. It is good +to admit our ignorance, and not to give fictions and inventions in place +of what we are unacquainted with. + +I know not why, but a short time after this, the Princesse des Ursine +conceived such strong suspicion of the lofty and enterprising spirit of +the Princess of Parma that she repented having made this marriage; and +wished to break it off. She brought forward; therefore, I know not what +difficulties, and despatched a courier to Rome to Cardinal Acquaviva, who +did the King of Spain's business there, ordering him to delay his journey +to Parma, where he had been commanded to ask the hand of the Princess, +and to see her provisionally espoused. But Madame des Ursins +had changed her mind too late. The courier did not find Acquaviva at +Rome. That Cardinal was already far away on the road to Parma, so that +there were no means of retreat. + +Acquaviva was received with great honour and much magnificence; he made +his demand, but delayed the espousals as long as he could, and this +caused much remark. The marriage, which was to have been celebrated on +the 25th of August, did not take place until the 15th of September. +Immediately after the ceremony the new Queen set out for Spain. + +An envoy from Parma, with news of the marriage of the Princess, arrived +at Fontainebleau on the 11th October, and had an audience with the King. +This was rather late in the day: For dowry she had one hundred thousand +pistoles, and three hundred thousand livres' worth of jewels. She had +embarked for Alicante at Sestri di Levante. A violent tempest sickened +her of the sea. She landed, therefore, at Monaco, in order to traverse +by land Provence, Languedoc, and Guienne, so as to reach Bayonne, and see +there the Queen Dowager of Spain; sister of her mother, and widow of +Charles II. Desgranges, master of the ceremonies, was to meet her in +Provence, with orders to follow her, and to command the governors, +lieutenants-general, and intendants to follow her also, and serve her, +though she travelled incognito. + +The new Queen of Spain, on arriving at Pau, found the Queen Dowager, her +aunt, had come expressly from Bayonne to meet her. As they approached +each other, they both descended at the same time, and after saluting, +mounted alone into a beautiful caleche that the Queen Dowager had brought +with her, and that she presented to her niece. They supped together +alone. The Queen Dowager conducted her to Saint-Jean Pied-de-Port (for +in that country, as in Spain, the entrances to mountain passes are called +ports). They separated there, the Queen Dowager making the Queen many +presents, among others a garniture of diamonds. The Duc de Saint-Aignan +joined the Queen of Spain at Pau, and accompanied her by command of the +King to Madrid. She sent Grillo, a Genoese noble, whom she has since +made grandee of Spain, to thank the King for sending her the Duc de +Saint-Aignan, and for the present he brought with him. The officers of +her household had been named by Madame des Ursins. + +The Queen of Spain advanced towards Madrid with the attendants sent to +accompany her. She was to be met by the King of Spain at Guadalaxara, +which is about the same distance from Madrid as Paris is from +Fontainebleau. He arrived there, accompanied by the attendants that the +Princesse des Ursins had placed near him, to keep him company, and to +allow no one else to approach him. She followed in her coach, so as to +arrive at the same time, and immediately afterwards he shut himself up +alone with her, and saw nobody until he went to bed. This was on the +22nd of December. The next day the Princesse des Ursins set out with a +small suite for a little place, seven leagues further, called Quadraque, +where the Queen was to sleep that night. Madame des Ursins counted upon +enjoying all the gratitude that the queen would feel for the unhoped-for +grandeur she had obtained by her means; counted upon passing the evening +with her, and upon accompanying her next day to Guadalaxara. She found, +upon arriving at Quadraque, that the Queen had already reached there. +She at once entered into a lodging that had been prepared for her, +opposite that of the Queen. She was in a full Court dress. After +adjusting it in a hurried manner, she went to the Queen. The coldness +and stiffness of her reception surprised her extremely. She attributed +it in the first place to the embarrassment of the Queen, and tried to +melt this ice. Everybody withdrew, in order to leave the two alone. + +Then the conversation commenced. The Queen would not long allow Madame +des Ursins to continue it; but burst out into reproaches against her for +her manners, and for appearing there in a dress that showed want of +respect for the company she was in. Madame des Ursins, whose dress was +proper, and who, on account of her respectful manners and her discourse, +calculated to win the Queen, believed herself to be far from meriting +this treatment, was strangely surprised, and wished to excuse herself; +but the Queen immediately began to utter offensive words, to cry out, to +call aloud, to demand the officers of the guard, and sharply to; command +Madame des Ursins to leave her presence. The latter wished to speak and +defend herself against the reproaches she heard; but the Queen, +increasing her fury and her menaces, cried out to her people to drive +this mad woman from her presence and from the house; and absolutely had +her turned out by the shoulders. Immediately afterwards, she called +Amenzaga, lieutenant of the body-guard, and at the same time the ecuyer +who had the control of her equipages. She ordered the first to arrest +Madame des Ursins, and not quit her until he had placed her in a coach, +with two sure officers of the guard and fifteen soldiers as sentinels +over her; the second she commanded to provide instantly a coach and six, +with two or three footmen, and send off in it the Princesse des Ursins +towards Burgos and Bayonne, without once stopping on the road. Amenzago +tried to represent to the Queen that the King of Spain alone had the +power to give such commands; but she haughtily asked him if he had not +received an order from the King of Spain to obey her in everything, +without reserve and without comment. It was true he had received such an +order, though nobody knew a word about it. + +Madame des Ursins was then immediately arrested, and put into a coach +with one of her waiting-women, without having had time to change her +costume or her head-dress, to take any precaution against the cold, to +provide herself with any money or other things, and without any kind of +refreshment in the coach, or a chemise; nothing, in fact, to change or to +sleep in! She was shipped off thus (with two officers of the guard; who +were ready as soon as the coach), in full Court dress, just as she left +the Queen. In the very short and tumultuous interval which elapsed, she +sent a message to the Queen, who flew into a fresh passion upon not being +obeyed, and made her set out immediately. + +It was then nearly seven o'clock in the evening, two days before +Christmas, the ground all covered with snow and ice, and the cold extreme +and very sharp and bitter, as it always is in Spain. As soon as the +Queen learned that the Princesse des Ursins was out of Quadraque, she +wrote to the King of Spain, by an officer of the guards whom she +despatched to Guadalaxara. The night was so dark that it was only by +means of the snow that anything could be seen. + +It is not easy to represent the state of Madame des Ursins in the coach. +An excess of astonishment and bewilderment prevailed at first, and +suspended all other sentiment; but grief, vexation, rage, and despair, +soon followed. In their turn succeeded sad and profound reflections upon +a step so violent, so unheard-of, and so unjustifiable as she thought. +Then she hoped everything from the friendship of the King of Spain and +his confidence in her; pictured his anger and surprise, and those of the +group of attached servitors, by whom she had surrounded him, and who +would be so interested in exciting the King in her favour. The long +winter's night pissed thus; the cold was, terrible, there was nothing to +ward it off; the coachman actually lost the use of one hand. The morning +advanced; a halt was necessary in order to bait the horses; as for the +travellers there is nothing for them ever in the Spanish inns. You are +simply told where each thing you want is sold. The meat is ordinarily +alive; the wine, thick, flat, and strong; the bread bad; the water is +often worthless; as to beds, there are some, but only for the mule- +drivers, so that you must carry everything with you, and neither Madame +des Ursins nor those with her had anything whatever. Eggs, where they +could find any, were their sole resource; and these, fresh or not, simply +boiled, supported them during all the journey. + +Until this halt for the horses, silence had been profound and +uninterrupted; now it was broken. During all this long night the +Princesse des Ursins had had leisure to think upon the course she should +adopt, and to compose her face. She spoke of her extreme surprise, and +of the little that had passed between her and the Queen. In like manner +the two officers of the guard accustomed, as was all Spain, to fear and +respect her more than their King, replied to her from the bottom of that +abyss of astonishment from which they had not yet arisen. The horses +being put to, the coach soon started again. Soon, too, the Princesse des +Ursins found that the assistance she expected from the King did not +arrive. No rest, no provisions, nothing to put on, until Saint-Jean de +Luz was reached. As she went further on, as time passed and no news +came, she felt she had nothing more to hope for. It may be imagined what +rage succeeded in a woman so ambitious, so accustomed to publicly reign, +so rapidly and shamefully precipitated from the summit of power by the +hand that she herself had chosen as the most solid support of her +grandeur. The Queen had not replied to the last two letters Madame des +Ursins had written to her. This studied negligence was of bad augury, +but who would have imagined treatment so strange and so unheard of? + +Her nephews, Lanti and Chalais, who had permission to join her, completed +her dejection. Yet she was faithful to herself. Neither tears nor +regrets, neither reproaches nor the slightest weakness escaped her; not a +complaint even of the excessive cold, of the deprivation of all things, +or of the extreme fatigue of such a journey. The two officers who +guarded her could not contain their admiration. + +At Saint-Jean de Luz, where she arrived on the 14th of January, 1715, she +found at last her corporeal ills at an end. She obtained a bed, change +of dress, food, and her liberty. The guards, their officers, and the +coach which had brought her, returned; she remained with her waiting-maid +and her nephews. She had leisure to think what she might expect from +Versailles. In spite of her mad sovereignty scheme so long maintained, +and her hardihood in arranging the King of Spain's marriage without +consulting our King, she flattered herself she should find resources in a +Court she had so long governed. It was from Saint-Jean de Luz that she +despatched a courier charged with letters for the King, for Madame de +Maintenon, and for her friends. She briefly gave us an account in those +letters of the thunderbolt which had fallen on her, and asked permission +to come to the Court to explain herself more in detail. She waited for +the return of her courier in this her first place of liberty and repose, +which of itself is very agreeable. But this first courier despatched, +she sent off Lanti with letters written less hastily, and with +instructions. Lanti saw the King in his cabinet on the last of January, +and remained there some moments. From him it was known that as soon as +Madame des Ursins despatched her first courier, she had sent her +compliments to the Queen Dowager of Spain at Bayonne, who would not +receive them. What cruel mortifications attend a fall from a throne! +Let us now return to Guadalaxara. + + + + +CHAPTER LXV + +The officer of the guards, whom the Queen despatched with a letter for +the King of Spain as soon as Madame des Ursins was out of Quadraque, +found the King upon the point of going to bed. He appeared moved, sent a +short reply to the Queen, and gave no orders. The officer returned +immediately. What is singular is, that the secret was so well kept that +it did not transpire until the next morning at ten o'clock. It may be +imagined what emotion seized the whole Court, and what divers movements +there were among all at Guadalaxara. However, nobody dared to speak to +the King, and much expectation was built upon the reply he had sent to +the Queen. The morning passed and nothing was said; the fate of Madame +des Ursins then became pretty evident. + +Chalais and Lanti made bold to ask the King for permission to go and join +the Princess in her isolation. Not only he allowed them to do so, but +charged them with a letter of simple civility, in which he told her he +was very sorry for what had happened; that he had not been able to oppose +the Queen's will; that he should continue to her her pensions, and see +that they were punctually paid. He was as good as his word: as long as +she lived she regularly received them. + +The Queen arrived at Guadalaxara on the afternoon of the day before +Christmas day, at the hour fixed, and as though nothing had occurred. +The King received her in the same manner on the staircase, gave her his +hand, and immediately led her to the chapel, where the marriage was at +once celebrated; for in Spain the custom is to marry after dinner. After +that he led her to her chamber, and straightway went to bed; it was +before six o'clock in the evening, and both got up again for the midnight +mass. What passed between them upon the event of the previous evening +was entirely unknown, and has always remained so. The day after +Christmas day the King and Queen alone together in a coach, and followed +by all the Court, took the road for Madrid, where there was no more talk +of Madame des Ursins than if the King had never known her. Our King +showed not the least surprise at the news brought to him by a courier +despatched from Guadalaxara by the Duc de Saint-Aignan, though all the +Court was filled with emotion and affright after having seen Madame des +Ursins so triumphant. + +Let us now look about for some explanations that will enable us to pierce +this mystery--that remark to Torcy which escaped the King, which Torcy +could not comprehend, and which he related to Castries, who told it to +Madame la Duchesse d'Orleans, from whom I learned it! Can we imagine +that a Parma princess brought up in a garret by an imperious mother, +would have dared to take upon herself, while six leagues from the King of +Spain whom she had never seen, a step so bold and unheard-of, when we +consider against whom directed, a person possessing the entire confidence +of that King and reigning openly? The thing is explained by the order, +so unusual and so secret, that Amenzago had from the King of Spain to +obey the Queen in everything, without reserve and without comment; an +order that became known only at the moment when she gave orders to arrest +Madame des Ursins and take her away. + +Let us remark, too, the tranquillity with which our King and the King of +Spain received the first intelligence of this event; the inactivity of +the latter, the coldness of his letters to Madame des Ursins, and his +perfect indifference what became of a person who was so cherished the day +before, and who yet was forced to travel deprived of everything, by roads +full of ice and snow. We must recollect that when the King banished +Madame des Ursins before, for opening the letter of the Abbe d'Estrees, +and for the note she sent upon it, he did not dare to have his orders +executed in the presence of the King of Spain. It was on the frontier of +Portugal, where our King wished him to go for the express purpose, that +the King of Spain signed the order by which the Princesse des Ursins was +forced to withdraw from the country. Now we had a second edition of the +same volume. Let me add what I learnt from the Marechal de Brancas, to +whom Alberoni related, a long while after this disgrace, that one evening +as the Queen was travelling from Parma to Spain, he found her pacing her +chamber, with rapid step and in agitation muttering to herself, letting +escape the name of the Princesse des Ursins, and then saying with heat, +"I will drive her away, the first thing." He cried out to the Queen and +sought to represent to her the danger, the madness, the inutility of the +enterprise which overwhelmed him: "Keep all this quiet," said the Queen, +"and never let what you have heard escape you. Not a word! I know what +I am about." + +All these things together threw much light upon a catastrophe equally +astonishing in itself and in its execution, and clearly show our King to +have been the author of it; the King of Spain a consenting party and +assisting by the extraordinary order given to Amenzago; and the Queen the +actress, charged in some mariner by the two Kings to bring it about. The +sequel in France confirmed this opinion. + +The fall of the Princesse des Ursins caused great changes in Spain. The +Comtesse d'Altamire was named Camarera Mayor, in her place. She was one +of the greatest ladies in all Spain, and was hereditary Duchess of +Cardonne. Cellamare, nephew of Cardinal del Giudice, was named her grand +ecuyer; and the Cardinal himself soon returned to Madrid and to +consideration. As a natural consequence, Macanas was disgraced. He and +Orry had orders to leave Spain, the latter without seeing the King. He +carried with him the maledictions of the public. Pompadour, who had been +named Ambassador in Spain only to amuse Madame des Ursins, was dismissed, +and the Duc de Saint-Aignan invested with that character, just as he was +about to return after having conducted the Queen to Madrid. + +In due time the Princesse des Ursins arrived in Paris, and took up her +quarters in the house of the Duc de Noirmoutiers, her brother, in the Rue +Saint-Dominique, close to mine. This journey must have appeared to her +very different from the last she had made in France, when she was Queen +of the Court. Few people, except her former friends and those of her +formal cabal, came to see her; yet, nevertheless, some curious folks +appeared, so that for the first few days there was company enough; but +after that, solitude followed when the ill-success of her journey to +Versailles became known. M. d'Orleans, reunited now with the King of +Spain, felt that it was due to his interest even more than to his +vengeance to show in a striking manner, that it was solely owing to the +hatred and artifice of Madame des Ursins that he had fallen into such +disfavour on account of Spain, and had been in danger of losing his head. +Times had changed. Monseigneur was dead, the Meudon cabal annihilated; +Madame de Maintenon had turned her back upon Madame des Ursins; thus M. +d'Orleans was free to act as he pleased. Incited by Madame la Duchesse +d'Orleans, and more still by Madame, he begged the King to prohibit +Madame des Ursins from appearing anywhere (Versailles not even excepted) +where she might meet Madame la Duchesse de Berry, Madame, Monsieur le +Duc, and Madame la Duchesse d'Orleans, who at the same time strictly +forbade their households to see her, and asked the persons to whom they +were particularly attached to hold no intercourse with her. This made a +great stir, openly showed that Madame des Ursins had utterly lost the +support of Madame de Maintenon and the King, and much embarrassed her. + +I could not feel that M. d'Orleans was acting wrong, in thus paying off +his wrongs for the injuries she had heaped upon him, but I represented to +him, that as I had always been an intimate friend of Madame des Ursins, +putting aside her conduct towards him and making no comparison between my +attachment for him and my friendship for her, I could not forget the +marks of consideration she had always given me, particularly in her last +triumphant journey (as I have already explained), and that it would be +hard if I could not see her. We capitulated then, and M. le Duc and +Madame la Duchesse d'Orleans permitted me to see her twice--once +immediately; once when she left--giving my word that I would not see her +three times, and that Madame de Saint-Simon should not see her at all; +which latter clause we agreed to very unwillingly, but there was no +remedy. As I wished at least to profit by my chance, I sent word to +Madame des Ursins, explaining the fetters that bound me, and saying that +as I wished to see her at all events at my ease since I should see her so +little, I would let pass the first few days and her first journey to +Court, before asking her for an audience. + +My message was very well received; she had known for many years the terms +on which I was with M. d'Orleans; she was not surprised with these +fetters, and was grateful to me for what I had obtained. Some days after +she had been to Versailles, I went to her at two o'clock in the day. She +at once closed the door to all comers, and I was tete-a-tete with her +until ten o'clock at night. + +It may be imagined what a number of things were passed in review during +this long discourse. Our eight hours of conversation appeared to me like +eight moments. She related to me her catastrophe, without mixing up the +King or the King of Spain, of whom she spoke well; but, without violently +attacking the Queen, she predicted what since has occurred. We separated +at supper time, with a thousand reciprocal protestations and regret that +Madame de Saint-Simon could not see her. She promised to inform me of +her departure early enough to allow us to pass another day together. + +Her journey to Versailles did not pass off very pleasantly. She dined +with the Duchesse de Luders, and then visited Madame de Maintenon; waited +with her for the King, but when he came did not stop long, withdrawing to +Madame Adam's, where she passed the night. The next day she dined with +the Duchesse de Ventadour, and returned to Paris. She was allowed to +give up the pension she received from the King, and in exchange to have +her Hotel de Ville stock increased, so that it yielded forty thousand +livres a-year. Her income, besides being doubled, was thus much more +sure than would have been a pension from the King, which she doubted not +M. d'Orleans, as soon as he became master, would take from her. She +thought of retiring into Holland, but the States-General would have +nothing to do with her, either at the Hague, or at Amsterdam. She had +reckoned upon the Hague. She next thought of Utrecht, but was soon out +of conceit with it, and turned her regards towards Italy. + +The health of the King, meanwhile, visibly declining, Madame des Ursins +feared lest she should entirely fall into the clutches of M. d'Orleans. +She fully resolved, therefore, to make off, without knowing, however, +where to fix herself; and asked permission of the King to come and take +leave of him at Marly. She came there from Paris on Tuesday, the 6th of +August, so as to arrive as he left dinner, that is, about ten o'clock. +She was immediately admitted into the cabinet of the King, with whom she +remained tete-a-tete full half an hour. She passed immediately to the +apartments of Madame de Maintenon, with whom she remained an hour; and +then got into her coach and returned to Paris. I only knew of this +leave-taking by her arrival at Marly, where I had some trouble in meeting +her. As chance would have it, I went in search of her coach to ask her +people what had become of her, and was speaking to them when, to and +behold! she herself arrived. She seemed very glad to see me, and made me +mount with her into her coach, where for little less than an hour we +discoursed very freely. She did not dissimulate from me her fears; the +coldness the King and Madame de Maintenon had testified for her through +all their politeness; the isolation she found herself in at the Court, +even in Paris; and the uncertainty in which she was as to the choice of a +retreat; all this in detail, and nevertheless without complaint, without +regret, without weakness; always reassured and superior to events, as +though some one else were in question. She touched lightly upon Spain, +upon the ascendency the Queen was acquiring already over the King, giving +me to understand that it could not be otherwise; running lightly and +modestly over the Queen, and always praising the goodness of the King of +Spain. Fear, on account of the passers-by, put an end to our +conversation. She was very gracious to me; expressed regret that we must +part; proceeded to tell me when she should start in time for us to have +another day together; sent many compliments to Madame de Saint-Simon; and +declared herself sensible of the mark of friendship I had given her, in +spite of my engagement with M. d'Orleans. As soon as I had seen her off, +I went to M. d'Orleans, to whom I related what I had just done; said I +had not paid a visit, but had had simply a meeting; that it was true I +could not hinder myself from seeking it, without prejudice to the final +visit he had allowed me. Neither he nor Madame la Duchesse d'Orleans +complained. They had fully triumphed over their enemy, and were on the +point of seeing her leave France for ever, without hope in Spain. + +Until now, Madame des Ursins amused by a residue of friends, increased by +those of M. de Noirmoutiers with whom she lodged and who had money, had +gently occupied herself with the arrangement of her affairs, changed as +they were, and in withdrawing her effects from Spain. The fear lest she +should find herself in the power of a Prince whom she had so cruelly +offended, and who showed, since her arrival in France, that he felt it, +hurried all her measures. Her terror augmented by the change in the King +that she found at this last audience had taken place since her first. +She no longer doubted that his end was very near; and all her attention +was directed to the means by which she might anticipate it, and be well +informed of his health; this she believed her sole security in France. +Terrified anew by the accounts she received of it, she no longer gave +herself time for anything, but precipitately set out on the 14th August, +accompanied as far as Essonne by her two nephews. She had no time to +inform me, so that I have never seen her since the day of our +conversation at Marly in her coach. She did not breathe until she +arrived at Lyons. + +She had abandoned the project of retiring into Holland, where the States- +General would not have her. She herself, too, was disgusted with the +equality of a republic, which counterbalanced in her mind the pleasure of +the liberty enjoyed there. But she could not resolve to return to Rome, +the theatre of her former reign, and appear there proscribed and old, as +in an asylum. She feared, too, a bad reception, remembering the quarrels +that had taken place between the Courts of Rome and Spain. She had lost +many friends and acquaintances; in fifteen years of absence all had +passed away, and she felt the trouble she might be subjected to by the +ministers of the Emperor, and by those of the two Crowns, with their +partisans. Turin was not a Court worthy of her; the King of Sardinia had +not always been pleased with her, and they knew too much for each other. +At Venice she would have been out of her element. + +Whilst agitated in this manner, without being able to make up her mind, +she learned that the King was in extreme danger, a danger exaggerated by +rumour. Fear seized her lest he should die whilst she was in his realm. +She set off immediately, therefore, without knowing where to go; and +solely to leave France went to Chambery, as the nearest place of safety, +arriving there out of breath, so to say. + +Every place being well examined, she preferred Genoa; its liberty pleased +her; there was intercourse there with a rich and numerous nobility; the +climate and the city were beautiful; the place was in some sort a centre +and halting-point between Madrid, Paris, and Rome, with which places she +was always in communication, and always hungered after all that passed +there. Genoa determined on, she went there. She was well received, +hoped to fix her tabernacle there, and indeed stayed some years. But at +last ennui seized her; perhaps vexation at not being made enough of. She +could not exist without meddling, and what is there for a superannuated +woman to meddle with at Genoa? She turned her thoughts, therefore, +towards Rome. Then, on sounding, found her course clear, quitted Genoa, +and returned to her nest. + +She was not long there before she attached herself to the King and Queen +of England (the Pretender and his wife), and soon governed them openly. +What a poor resource! But it was courtly and had a flavour of occupation +for a woman who could not exist without movement. She finished her life +there remarkably healthy in mind and body, and in a prodigious opulence, +which was not without its use in that deplorable Court. For the rest, +Madame des Ursins was in mediocre estimation at Rome, was deserted by the +Spanish, little visited by the French, but always faithfully paid by +France and Spain, and unmolested by the Regent. She was always occupied +with the world, and with what she had been, but was no longer; yet +without meanness, nay, with courage and dignity. + +The loss she experienced in January, 1720, of the Cardinal de la +Tremoille, although there was no real friendship between them, did not +fail, to create a void in her. She survived him three years, preserved +all her health, her strength, her mind until death, and was carried off, +more than eighty years of age, at Rome, on the 5th of December, 1722, +after a very short illness. + +She had the pleasure of seeing Madame de Maintenon forgotten and +annihilated in Saint-Cyr, of surviving her, of seeing at Rome her two +enemies, Giudice and Alberoni, as profoundly disgraced as she,--one +falling from the same height, and of relishing the forgetfulness, not to +say contempt, into which they both sank. Her death, which, a few years +before, would have resounded throughout all Europe, made not the least +sensation. The little English Court regretted her, and some private +friends also, of whom I was one. I did not hide this, although,--on +account of M. le Duc d'Orleans, I had kept up no intercourse with her; +for the rest, nobody seemed to perceive she had disappeared. She was, +nevertheless, so extraordinary a person, during all the course of her +long life, everywhere, and had so grandly figured, although in various +ways; had such rare intellect, courage, industry, and resources; reigned +so publicly and so absolutely in Spain; and had a character so sustained +and so unique, that her life deserves to be written, and would take a +place among the most curious fragments of the history of the times in +which she lived. + + + + +CHAPTER LVI + +But I must return somewhat now, in order to make way for a crowd of +events which have been pressing forward all this time, but which I have +passed by, in going straightforward at once to the end of Madame des +Ursins' history. + +On Monday, the 30th April, 1714., the King took medicine, and worked +after dinner with Pontchartrain. This was at Marly. About six o'clock, +he went to M. le Duc de Berry, who had had fever all night. M. le Duc de +Berry had risen without saying anything, had been with the King at the +medicine-hour, and intended to go stag-hunting; but on leaving the King's +chamber shivering seized him, and forced him to go back again. He was +bled while the King was in his chamber, and the blood was found very bad; +when the King went to bed the doctors told him the illness was of a +nature to make them hope that it might be a case of contagion. M. le Duc +de Berry had vomited a good deal--a black vomit. Fagon said, +confidently, that it was from the blood; the other doctors fastened upon +some chocolate he had taken on the Sunday. From this day forward I knew +what was the matter. Boulduc, apothecary of the King, and extremely +attached to Madame de Saint-Simon and to me, whispered in my ear that M. +le Duc de Berry would not recover, and that, with some little difference, +his malady was the same as that of which the Dauphin and Dauphine died. +He repeated this the next day, and never once varied afterwards; saying +to me on the third day, that none of the doctors who attended the Prince +were of a different opinion, or hid from him what they thought. + +On Tuesday, the 1st of May, the Prince was bled in the foot at seven +o'clock in the morning, after a very bad night; took emetics twice, which +had a good effect; then some manna; but still there were two accesses. +The King went to the sick-room afterwards, held a finance council, would +not go shooting, as he had arranged, but walked in his gardens. The +doctors, contrary to their custom, never reassured him. The night was +cruel. On Wednesday; the 2nd of May, the King went, after mass, to M. le +Duc de Berry, who had been again bled in the foot. The King held the +Council of State, as usual, dined in Madame de Maintenon's rooms, and +afterwards reviewed his Guards. Coettenfao, chevalier d'honneur of +Madame la Duchesse de Berry, came during the morning to beg the King, in +her name, that Chirac, a famous doctor of M. d'Orleans, should be allowed +to see M. le Duc de Berry. The King refused, on the ground that all the +other doctors were in accord, and that Chirac, who might differ with +them, would embarrass them. After dinner Mesdames de Pompadour and La +Vieuville arrived, on the part of Madame la Duchesse de Berry, to beg the +King that she might be allowed to come and see her husband, saying that +she would come on foot rather than stay away. It would have been better, +surely, for her to come in a coach, if she so much wished, and, before +alighting, to send to the King for permission so to do. But the fact is, +she had no more desire to come than M. de Berry had to see her. He never +once mentioned her name, or spoke of her, even indirectly. The King +replied to those ladies by saying that he would not close the door +against Madame la Duchesse de Berry, but, considering the state she was +in, he thought it would be very imprudent on her part to come. He +afterwards told M. le Duc and Madame la Duchesse d'Orleans to go to +Versailles and hinder her from coming. Upon returning from the review +the King went again to see M. le Duc de Berry. He had been once more +bled in the arm, had vomited all day much blood too--and had taken some +Robel water three times, in order to stop his sickness. This vomiting +put off the communion. Pere de la Rue had been by his side ever since +Tuesday morning, and found him very patient and resigned. + +On Thursday, the 3rd, after a night worse than ever, the doctors said +they did not doubt that a vein had been broken in the stomach. It was +reported that this accident had happened by an effort M. de Berry made +when out hunting on the previous Thursday, the day the Elector of Bavaria +arrived. His horse slipped; in drawing the animal up, his body struck +against the pommel of the saddle, so it was said, and ever since he had +spit blood every day. The vomiting ceased at nine o'clock in the +morning, but the patient was no better. The King, who was going stag- +hunting, put it off. At six o'clock at night M. de Berry was so choked +that he could no longer remain in bed; about eight o'clock he found +himself so relieved that he said to Madame, he hoped he should not die; +but soon after, the malady increased so much that Pere de la Rue said it +was no longer time to think of anything but God, and of receiving the +sacrament. The poor Prince himself seemed to desire it. + +A little after ten o'clock at night the King went to the chapel, where a +consecrated Host had been kept prepared ever since the commencement of +the illness. M. le Duc de Berry received it, with extreme unction, in +presence of the King, with much devotion and respect. The King remained +nearly an hour in the chamber, supped alone in his own, did not receive +the Princesses afterwards, but went to bed. M. le Duc d'Orleans, at ten +o'clock in the morning, went again to Versailles, as Madame la Duchesse +de Berry wished still to come to Marly. M. le Duc de Berry related to +Pere de la Rue, who at least said so, the accident just spoken of; but, +it was added, "his head was then beginning to wander." After losing the +power of speech, he took the crucifix Pere de la Rue held, kissed it, and +placed it upon his heart. He expired on Friday, the 4th of May, 1714, at +four o'clock in the morning, in his twenty-eighth year, having been born +at Versailles, the last day of August, 1686. + +M. le Duc de Berry was of ordinary height, rather fat, of a beautiful +blonde complexion, with a fresh, handsome face, indicating excellent +health. He was made for society, and for pleasure, which he loved; the +best, gentlest, most compassionate and accessible of men, without pride, +and without vanity, but not without dignity or self-appreciation. He was +of medium intellect, without ambition or desire, but had very good sense, +and was capable of listening, of understanding, and of always taking the +right side in preference to the wrong, however speciously put. He loved +truth, justice, and reason; all that was contrary to religion pained him +to excess, although he was not of marked piety. He was not without +firmness, and hated constraint. This caused it to be feared that he was +not supple enough for a younger son, and, indeed, in his early youth he +could not understand that there was any difference between him and his +eldest brother, and his boyish quarrels often caused alarm. + +He was the most gay, the most frank, and consequently the most loved of +the three brothers; in his youth nothing was spoken of but his smart +replies to Madame and M. de la Rochefoucauld. He laughed at preceptors +and at masters--often at punishment. He scarcely knew anything except +how to read and write; and learned nothing after being freed from the +necessity of learning. This ignorance so intimidated him, that he could +scarcely open his mouth before strangers, or perform the most ordinary +duties of his rank; he had persuaded himself that he was an ass and a +fool; fit for nothing. He was so afraid of the King that he dared not +approach him, and was so confused if the King looked hard at him, or +spoke of other things than hunting, or gaming, that he scarcely +understood a word, or could collect his thoughts. As may be imagined, +such fear does not go hand in hand with deep affection. + +He commenced life with Madame la Duchesse de Berry as do almost all those +who marry very young and green. He became extremely amorous of her; +this, joined to his gentleness and natural complaisance, had the usual +effect, which was to thoroughly spoil her. He was not long in perceiving +it; but love was too strong for him. He found a woman proud, haughty, +passionate, incapable of forgiveness, who despised him, and who allowed +him to see it, because he had infinitely less head than she; and because, +moreover, she was supremely false and strongly determined. She piqued +herself upon both these qualities, and on her contempt for religion, +ridiculing M. le Duc de Berry for being devout; and all these things +became insupportable to him. Her gallantries were so prompt, so rapid, +so unmeasured, that he could not help seeing them. Her endless private +interviews with M. le Duc d'Orleans, in which everything languished if he +was present, made him furious. Violent scenes frequently took place +between them; the last, which occurred at Rambouillet, went so far that +Madame la Duchesse de Berry received a kick * * * * , and a menace that +she should be shut up in a convent for the rest of her life; and when M. +le Duc de Berry fell ill, he was thumbing his hat, like a child, before +the King, relating all his grievances, and asking to be delivered from +Madame la Duchesse de Berry. Hitherto I have only alluded to Madame la +Duchesse de Berry, but, as will be seen, she became so singular a person +when her father was Regent, that I will here make her known more +completely than I have yet done. + +She was tall, handsome, well made, with, however, but little grace, and +had something in her, eyes which made you fear what she was. Like her +father and mother, she spoke well and with facility. Timid in trifles, +yet in other things terrifyingly bold,--foolishly haughty sometimes, and +sometimes mean to the lowest degree,--it may be said that she was a model +of all the vices, avarice excepted; and was all the more dangerous +because she had art and talent. I am not accustomed to over-colour the +picture I am obliged to present to render things understood, and it will +easily be perceived how strictly I am reserved upon the ladies, and upon +all gallantries, not intimately associated with what may be called +important matters. I should be so here, more than in any other case, +from self-love, if not from respect for the sex and dignity of the +person. The considerable part I played in bringing about Madame la +Duchesse de Berry's marriage, and the place that Madame de Saint-Simon, +in spite of herself and of me, occupied in connection with her, would be +for me reasons more than enough for silence, if I did not feel that +silence would throw obscurity over all the sequel of this history. It is +then to the truth that I sacrifice my self-love, and with the same +truthfulness I will say that if I had known or merely suspected, that the +Princess was so bad as she showed herself directly after her marriage, +and always more and more since, she would never have become Duchesse de +Berry. + +I have already told how she annoyed M. le Duc de Berry by ridiculing his +devotion. In other ways she put his patience to severe trials, and more +than once was in danger of public exposure. She partook of few meals in +private, at which she did not get so drunk as to lose consciousness, and +to bring up all she had taken on every side. The presence of M. le Duc +de Berry, of M. le Duc and Madame la Duchesse d'Orleans, of ladies with +whom she was not on familiar terms, in no way restrained her. She +complained even of M. le Duc de Berry for not doing as she did. She +often treated her father with a haughtiness which was terrifying on all +accounts. + +In her gallantries she was as unrestrained as in other things. After +having had several favourites, she fixed herself upon La Haye, who from +King's page had become private ecuyer of M. le Duc de Berry. The oglings +in the Salon of Marly were perceived by everybody; nothing restrained +them. At last, it must be said, for this fact encloses all the rest, she +wished La Haye to run away with her from Versailles to the Low Countries, +whilst M. le Duc de Berry and the King were both living. La Haye almost +died with fright at this proposition, which she herself made to him. His +refusal made her furious. From the most pressing entreaties she came to +all the invectives that rage could suggest, and that torrents of tears +allowed her to pronounce. La Haye had to suffer her attacks--now tender, +now furious; he was in the most mortal embarrassment. It was a long time +before she could be cured of her mad idea, and in the meanwhile she +subjected the poor fellow to the most frightful persecution. Her passion +for La Haye continued until the death of M. le Duc de Berry, and some +time after. + +M. le Duc de Berry was buried at Saint-Denis on Wednesday, the 16th of +May; M. le Duc d'Orleans was to have headed the procession, but the same +odious reports against him that had circulated at the death of the +Dauphin had again appeared, and he begged to be let off. M. le Duc +filled his place. Madame la Duchesse de Berry, who was in the family +way, kept her bed; and in order that she should not be seen there when +people came to pay her the usual visits of condolence, the room was kept +quite dark. Many ridiculous scenes and much indecent laughter, that +could not be restrained, thus arose. Persons accustomed to the room +could see their way, but those unaccustomed stumbled at every step, and +had need of guidance. For want of this, Pere du Trevoux, and Pere +Tellier after him, both addressed their compliments to the wall; others +to the foot of the bed. This became a secret amusement, but happily did +not last long. + +As may be imagined, the death of M. le Duc de Berry was a deliverance for +Madame la Duchesse de Berry. She was, as I have said, in the family way; +she hoped for a boy, and counted upon enjoying as a widow more liberty +than she had been able to take as a wife. She had a miscarriage, +however, on Saturday, the 16th of June, and was delivered of a daughter +which lived only twelve hours. The little corpse was buried at Saint- +Denis, Madame de Saint-Simon at the head of the procession. Madame la +Duchesse de Berry, shortly before this event, received two hundred +thousand livres income of pension; but the establishment she would have +had if the child had been a boy was not allowed her. + + + + +CHAPTER LXVII. + +It is time now that I should say something about an event that caused an +immense stir throughout the land, and was much talked of even in foreign +parts. I must first introduce, however, a sort of a personage whose +intimacy was forced upon me at this period; for the two incidents are in +a certain degree associated together. + +M. d'Orleans for some little time had continually represented to me, how +desirous one of his acquaintances was to secure my friendship. This +acquaintance was Maisons, president in the parliament, grandson of that +superintendent of the finances who built the superb chateau of Maisons, +and son of the man who had presided so unworthily at the judgment of our +trial with M. de Luxembourg, which I have related in its place. Maisons +was a person of much ambition, exceedingly anxious to make a name, +gracious and flattering in manners to gain his ends, and amazingly fond +of grand society. + +The position of Maisons, where he lived, close to Marly, afforded him +many opportunities of drawing there the principal people of the Court. +It became quite the fashion to go from Marly to his chateau. The King +grew accustomed to hear the place spoken of, and was in no way +displeased. Maisons had managed to become very intimate with M. le Duc +and M. le Prince de Conti. These two princes being dead, he turned his +thoughts towards M, d'Orleans. He addressed himself to Canillac, who had +always been an intimate friend of M. d'Orleans, and by him soon gained +the intimacy of that prince. But he was not yet satisfied. He wished to +circumvent M. d'Orleans more completely than he could by means of +Canillac. He cast his eye, therefore, upon me. I think he was afraid of +me on account of what I have related concerning his father. He had an +only son about the same age as my children. For a long time he had made +all kinds of advances, and visited them often. The son's intimacy did +not, however, assist the father; so that at last Maisons made M. le Duc +d'Orleans speak to me himself. + +I was cold; tried to get out of the matter with compliments and excuses. +M. d'Orleans, who believed he had found a treasure in his new +acquaintance, returned to the charge; but I was not more docile. A few +days after, I was surprised by an attack of the same kind from M. de +Beauvilliers. How or when he had formed an intimacy with Maisons, I have +never been able to unravel; but formed it, he had; and he importuned me +so much, nay exerted his authority over me, that at last I found I must +give way. Not to offend M. d'Orleans by yielding to another after having +refused to yield to him, I waited until he should again speak to me on +the subject, so that he might give himself the credit of vanquishing me. +I did not wait long. The Prince attacked me anew, maintained that +nothing would be more useful to him than an intimacy between myself and +Maisons, who scarcely dared to see him, except in secret, and with whom +he had not the same leisure or liberty for discussing many things that +might present themselves. I had replied to all this before; but as I had +resolved to surrender to the Prince (after the authority of the Duc de +Beauvilliers had vanquished me), I complied with his wish. + +Maisons was soon informed of it, and did not let my resolution grow, +cold. M. le Duc d'Orleans urged me to go and sleep a night in Paris. +Upon arriving there, I found a note from Maisons, who had already sent an +ocean of compliments to me by the Prince and the Duke. This note, for +reasons to be told me afterwards, appointed a meeting at eleven o'clock +this night, in the plain behind the Invalides, in a very mysterious +manner. I went there with an old coachman of my mother's and a lackey to +put my people off the scent. There was a little moonlight. Maisons in a +small carriage awaited me. We soon met. He mounted into my coach. I +never could comprehend the mystery of this meeting. There was nothing on +his part but advances, compliments, protestations, allusions to the +former interview of our fathers; only such things, in fact, as a man of +cleverness and breeding says when he wishes to form a close intimacy with +any one. Not a word that he said was of importance or of a private +nature. + +I replied in the civillest manner possible to the abundance he bestowed +upon me. I expected afterwards something that would justify the hour, +the place, the mystery, in a word, of our interview. What was my +surprise to hear no syllable upon these points. The only reason Maisons +gave for our secret interview was that from that time he should be able +to come and see me at Versailles with less inconvenience, and gradually +increase the number and the length of his visits until people grew +accustomed to see him there! He then begged me not to visit him in +Paris, because his house was always too full of people. This interview +lasted little less than half an hour. It was long indeed, considering +what passed. We separated with much politeness, and the first time he +went to Versailles he called upon me towards the middle of the day. + +In a short time he visited me every Sunday. Our conversation by degrees +became more serious. I did not fail to be on my guard, but drew him out +upon various subjects; he being very willing. + +We were on this footing when, returning to my room at Marly about midday- +on Sunday, the 29th of July, I found a lackey of Maisons with a note from +him, in which he conjured me to quit all business and come immediately to +his house at Paris, where he would wait for me alone, and where I should +find that something was in question, that could not suffer the slightest +delay, that could not even be named in writing, and which was of the most +extreme importance. This lackey had long since arrived, and had sent my +people everywhere in search of me. I was engaged that day to dine with +M. and Madame de Lauzun. To have broken my engagement would have been to +set the curiosity and the malignity of M. de Lauzun at work. I dared not +disappear; therefore I gave orders to my coachman, and as soon as I had +dined I vanished. Nobody saw me get into my chaise; and I quickly +arrived at Paris, and immediately hastened to Maisons' with eagerness +easy to imagine. + +I found him alone with the Duc de Noailles. At the first glance I saw +two dismayed men, who said to me in an exhausted manner, but after a +heated though short preface, that the King had declared his two bastards +and their male posterity to all eternity, real princes of the blood, with +full liberty to assume all their dignities, honours, and rank, and +capacity to succeed to the throne in default of the others. + +At this news, which I did not expect, and the secret of which had +hitherto been preserved, without a particle of it transpiring, my arms +fell. I lowered my head and remained profoundly silent, absorbed in my +reflections. They were soon disturbed by cries which aroused me. These +two men commenced pacing the chamber; stamped with their feet; pushed and +struck the furniture; raged as though each wished to be louder than the +other, and made the house echo with their noise. I avow that so much +hubbub seemed suspicious to me on the part of two men, one so sage and so +measured, and to whom this rank was of no consequence; the other always +so tranquil, so crafty, so master of himself. I knew not why this sudden +fury succeeded to such dejected oppression; and I was not without +suspicion that their passion was put on merely to excite mine. If this +was their design, it succeeded ill. I remained in my chair, and coldly +asked them what was the matter. My tranquillity sharpened their fury. +Never in my life have I seen anything so surprising. + +I asked them if they had gone mad, and if instead of this tempest it +would not be better to reason, and see whether something could not be +done. They declared it was precisely because nothing could be done +against a thing not only resolved on, but executed, declared, and sent to +the Parliament, that they were so furious; that M. le Duc d'Orleans, on +the terms he was with the King, would not dare even to whisper +objections; that the Princes of the blood, mere children as they were, +could only tremble; that the Dukes had no means of opposition, and that +the Parliament was reduced to silence and slavery. Thereupon they set to +work to see who could cry the louder and reviled again, sparing neither +things nor persons. + +I, also, was in anger, but this racket kept me cool and made me smile. +I argued with them and said, that after all I preferred to see the +bastards princes of the blood, capable of succeeding to the throne, than +to see them in the intermediary rank they occupied. And it is true that +as soon as I had cooled myself, I felt thus. + +At last the storm grew calm, and they told me that the Chief-President +and the Attorney-General--who, I knew, had been at Marly very early in +the morning at the Chancellor's--had seen the King in his cabinet soon +after he rose, and had brought back the declaration, all prepared. +Maisons must, however, have known this earlier; because when the lackey +he sent to me set out from Paris, those gentlemen could not have returned +there. Our talk led to nothing, and I regained Marly in all haste, in +order that my absence might not be remarked. + +Nevertheless it was towards the King's supper hour when I arrived. I +went straight to the salon, and found it very dejected. People looked, +but scarcely dared to approach each other; at the most, a sign or a +whisper in the ear, as the courtiers brushed by one another, was ventured +out. I saw the King sit down to table; he seemed to me more haughty than +usual, and continually looked all around. The news had only been known +one hour; everybody was still congealed and upon his guard. + +As soon as the King was seated (he had looked very hard at me in passing) +I went straight to M. du Maine's. Although the hour was unusual, the +doors fell before me; I saw a man, who received me with joyful surprise, +and who, as it were, moved through the air towards me, all lame that he +was. I said that I came to offer him a sincere compliment, that we (the +Dukes) claimed no precedence over the Princes of the blood; but what we +claimed was, that there should be nobody between the Princes of the blood +and us; that as this intermediary rank no longer existed, we had nothing +more to say, but to rejoice that we had no longer to support what was +insupportable. The joy of M. du Maine burst forth at my compliments, and +he startled me with a politeness inspired by the transport of triumph. + +But if he was delighted at the declaration of the King, it was far +otherwise with the world. Foreign dukes and princes fumed, but +uselessly. The Court uttered dull murmurs more than could have been +expected. Paris and the provinces broke out; the Parliament did not keep +silent. Madame de Maintenon, delighted with her work, received the +adoration of her familiars. + +As for me, I will content myself with but few reflections upon this most +monstrous, astounding, and frightful determination of the King. I will +simply say, that it is impossible not to see in it an attack upon the +Crown; contempt for the entire nation, whose rights are trodden under +foot by it; insult to all the Princes of the blood; in fact the crime of +high treason in its most rash and most criminal extent. Yes! however +venerable God may have rendered in the eyes of men the majesty of Kings +and their sacred persons, which are his anointed; however execrable may +be the crime known as high treason, of attempting their lives; however +terrible and singular may be the punishments justly invented to prevent +that crime, and to remove by their horror the most infamous from the +infernal resolution of committing it, we cannot help finding in the crime +in question a plenitude not in the other, however abominable it may be: +Yes! to overthrow the most holy laws, that have existed ever since the +establishment of monarchy; to extinguish a right the most sacred--the +most important--the most inherent in the nation: to make succession to +the throne, purely, supremely, and despotically arbitrary; in a word, to +make of a bastard a crown prince, is a crime more black, more vast, more +terrible, than that of high treason against the chief of the State. + + + + +CHAPTER LXVIII + +But let me now explain by what means the King was induced to arrive at, +and publish this terrible determination. + +He was growing old, and though no external change in him was visible, +those near him had for some time begun to fear that he could not live +long. This is not the place to descant upon a health hitherto so good +and so even: suffice it to mention, that it silently began to give way. +Overwhelmed by the most violent reverses of fortune after being so long +accustomed to success, the King was even more overwhelmed by domestic +misfortunes. All his children had disappeared before him, and left him +abandoned to the most fatal reflections. At every moment he himself +expected the same kind of death. Instead of finding relief from his +anguish among those who surrounded him, and whom he saw most frequently, +he met with nothing but fresh trouble there. Excepting Marechal, his +chief surgeon, who laboured unceasingly to cure him of his suspicions, +Madame de Maintenon, M. du Maine, Fagon, Bloin, the other principal +valets sold to the bastard and his former governors,--all sought to +augment these suspicions; and in truth it was not difficult to do so. +Nobody doubted that poison had been used, nobody could seriously doubt +it; and Marechal, who was as persuaded as the rest, held a different +opinion before the King only to deliver him from a useless torment which +could not but do him injury. But M. du Maine, and Madame de Maintenon +also, had too much interest to maintain him in this fear, and by their, +art filled him with horror against M. d'Orleans, whom they named as the +author of these crimes, so that the King with this prince before his eyes +every day, was in a perpetual state of alarm. + +With his children the King had lost, and by the same way, a princess, who +in addition to being the soul and ornament of his court, was, moreover, +all his amusement, all his joy, all his affection, in the hours when he +was not in public. Never, since he entered the world, had he become +really familiar with any one but her; it has been seen elsewhere to what +extent. Nothing could fill up this great void: The bitterness of being +deprived of her augmented, because he could find no diversion. This +unfortunate state made him seek relief everywhere in abandoning himself +more and more to Madame de Maintenon and M. du Maine. + +They soon managed to obtain possession of him, as it were, entirely; +leaving no art unexhausted in order to flatter, to amuse, to please, and +to interest him. He was made to believe that M. du Maine was utterly +without ambition; like a good father of a family, solely occupied with +his children, touched with the grandeur of his nearness to the King, +simple, frank, upright, and one who after working at his duties all day, +and after giving himself time for prayer and piety, amused himself in +hunting, and drew upon his natural gaiety and cheerfulness, without +knowing anything of the Court, or of what was passing! Compare this +portrait with his real character, and we shall feel with terror what a +rattlesnake was introduced into the King's privacy. + +Established thus in the mind and heart of the King, the opportunity +seemed ripe for profiting by precious time that could not last long. +Everybody smiled upon the project of M. du Maine and Madame de Maintenon. +They had rendered M. d'Orleans odious in the eyes of the King and of the +whole country, by the most execrable calumnies. How could he defend +himself? shut up as the King was, how oppose them? how interfere with +their dark designs? M. du Maine wished not only to be made prince of the +blood, but to be made guardian of the heir to the throne, so as to dwarf +the power of the Regent as much as possible. He flattered himself that +the feeling he had excited against M. d'Orleans in the Court, in Paris, +and in the provinces would be powerfully strengthened by dispositions so +dishonourable; that he should find himself received as the guardian and +protector of the life of the royal infant, to whom was attached the +salvation of France, of which he would then become the idol; that the +independent possession of the young King, and of his military and civil +households, would strengthen with the public applause the power with +which he would be invested in the state by this testament; that the +Regent, reviled and stripped in this manner, not only would be in no +condition to dispute anything, but would be unable to defend himself from +any attempts the bastard might afterwards make against him. M. du Maine +wished in fact to take from M. d'Orleans everything, except the name of +Regent, and to divide all the power between himself and his brother. +Such was his scheme, that the King by incredible art was induced to +sanction and approve. + +But the schemers had tough work before they obtained this success. +They found that the King would not consent to their wishes without much +opposition. They hit upon a devilish plan to overpower his resistance. +Hitherto, they had only been occupied in pleasing him, in amusing him, +in anticipating his wishes, in praising him--let me say the word-- +in adoring him. They had redoubled their attention, since, by the +Dauphine's death, they had become his sole resource. + +Not being able now to lead him as they wished, but determined to do so at +all cost, they adopted another system, certain as they were that they +could do so with impunity. Both became serious, often times dejected, +silent, furnishing nothing to the conversation, letting pass what the +King forced himself to say, sometimes not even replying, if it was not a +direct interrogation. In this manner all the leisure hours of the King +were rendered dull and empty; his amusements and diversions were made +fatiguing and sad and a weight was cast upon him, which he was the more +unable to bear because it was quite new to him, and he was utterly +without means to remove it. The few ladies who were admitted to the +intimacy of the King knew not what to make of the change they saw in +Madame de Maintenon. They were duped at first by the plea of illness; +but seeing at last that its duration passed all bounds, that it had no +intermission, that her face announced no malady, that her daily life was +in no way deranged, that the King became as serious and as sad as she, +they sounded each other to find out the cause. Fear, lest it should be +something in which they, unknowingly, were concerned, troubled them; so +that they became even worse company to the King than Madame de Maintenon. + +There was no relief for the King. All his resource was in the +commonplace talk of the Comte de Toulouse, who was not amusing, although +ignorant of the plot, and the stories of his valets, who lost tongue as +soon as they perceived that they were not seconded by the Duc du Maine in +his usual manner. Marechal and all the rest, astonished at the +mysterious dejection of the Duc du Maine, looked at each other without +being able to divine the cause. They saw that the King was sad and +bored; they trembled for his health, but not one of them dared to do +anything. Time ran on, and the dejection of M. du Maine and Madame de +Maintenon increased. This is as far as the most instructed have ever +been able to penetrate. To describe the interior scenes that doubtless +passed during the long time this state of things lasted, would be to +write romance. Truth demands that we should relate what we know, and +admit what we are ignorant of. I cannot go farther, therefore, or pierce +deeper into the density of these dark mysteries. + +What is certain is, that cheerfulness came back all at once, with the +same surprise to the witnesses of it, as the long-continued dejection had +caused them, simply because they understood no more of the end than of +the commencement. The double knowledge did not come to them until they +heard the frightful crash of the thunderbolt which fell upon France, and +astonished all Europe. + +To give some idea of the opposition from the King, M. du Maine and Madame +de Maintenon had to overcome, and to show how reluctantly he consented to +their wishes, more than one incident may be brought forward. Some days +before the news transpired, the King, full of the enormity of what he had +just done for his bastards, looked at them in his cabinet, in presence of +the valets, and of D'Antin and D'O, and in a sharp manner, that told of +vexation, and with a severe glance, suddenly thus addressed himself to M. +du Maine: + +"You have wished it; but know that however great I may make you, and you +may be in my lifetime, you are nothing after me; and it will be for you +then to avail yourself of what I have done for you, if you can." + +Everybody present trembled at a thunder-clap so sudden, so little +expected, so entirely removed from the character and custom of the King, +and which showed so clearly the extreme ambition of the Duc du Maine, and +the violence he had done to the weakness of the King, who seemed to +reproach himself for it, and to reproach the bastard for his ambition and +tyranny. The consternation of M. du Maine seemed extreme at this rough +sally, which no previous remark had led to. The King had made a clean +breast of it. Everybody fixed his eyes upon the floor and held his +breath. The silence was profound for a considerable time: it finished +only when the King passed into his wardrobe. In his absence everybody +breathed again. The King's heart was full to bursting with what he had +just been made to do; but like a woman who gives birth to two children, +he had at present brought but one into the world, and bore a second of +which he must be delivered, and of which he felt all the pangs without +any relief from the suffering the first had caused him. + +Again, on Sunday, the 27th August, the Chief-President and the Attorney- +General were sent for by the King. He was at Versailles. As soon as +they were alone with him, he took from a drawer, which he unlocked, a +large and thick packet, sealed with seven seals (I know not if by this M. +du Maine wished to imitate the mysterious book with Seven Seals, of the +Apocalypse, and so sanctify the packet). In handing it to them, the King +said: "Gentlemen, this is my will. No one but myself knows its contents. +I commit it to you to keep in the Parliament, to which I cannot give a +greater testimony of my esteem and confidence than by rendering it the +depository of it. The example of the Kings my predecessors, and that of +the will of the King, my father, do not allow me to be ignorant of what +may become of this; but they would have it; they have tormented me; they +have left me no repose, whatever I might say. Very well! I have bought +my repose. Here is the will; take it away: come what may of it, at +least, I shall have rest, and shall hear no more about it." + +At this last word, that he finished with a dry nod, he turned his back +upon them, passed into another cabinet, and left them both nearly turned +into statues. They looked at each other frozen by what they had just +heard, and still more by what they had just seen in the eyes and the +countenance of the King; and as soon as they had collected their senses, +they retired, and went to Paris. It was not known until after dinner +that the King had made a will and given it to them. In proportion as the +news spread, consternation filled the Court, while the flatterers, at +bottom as much alarmed as the rest, and as Paris was afterwards, +exhausted themselves in praises and eulogies. + +The next day, Monday, the 28th, the Queen of England came from Chaillot, +where she almost always was, to Madame de Maintenon's. As soon as the +King perceived her, "Madame," said he to her, like a man full of +something and angry, "I have made my will; I have been tormented to do +it;" then casting his eyes upon Madame de Maintenon, "I have bought +repose; I know the powerlessness and inutility of it. We can do all we +wish while we live; afterwards we are less than the meanest. You have +only to see what became of my father's will immediately after his death, +and the wills of so many other Kings. I know it well; but nevertheless +they have wished it; they gave me no rest nor repose, no calm until it +was done; ah, well! then, Madame, it is done; come what may of it, I +shall be no longer tormented." + +Words such as these so expressive of the extreme violence suffered by the +King, of his long and obstinate battle before surrendering, of his +vexation, and uneasiness, demand the clearest proofs. I had them from +people who heard them, and would not advance them unless I were perfectly +persuaded of their exactness. + +As soon as the Chief-President and the Attorney-General returned to +Paris, they sent for some workmen, whom they led into a tower of the +Palace of justice, behind the Buvette, or drinking-place of the grand +chamber and the cabinet of the Chief-President. They had a big hole made +in the wall of this tower, which is very thick, deposited the testament +there, closed up the opening with an iron door, put an iron grating by +way of second door, and then walled all up together. The door and the +grating each had three locks, the same for both; and a different key for +each of the three, which consequently opened each of the two locks, the +one in the door and the one in the grating. The Chief-President kept one +key, the Attorney-General another, and the Chief-Greffier of the +Parliament the third. The Parliament was assembled and the Chief- +President flattered the members as best he might upon the confidence +shown them in entrusting them with this deposit. + +At the same time was presented to the Parliament an edict that the Chief- +President and the Attorney-General had received from the hand of the +Chancellor at Versailles the same morning the King had given them his +will, and the edict was registered. It was very short. It declared that +the packet committed to the Chief-President and to the Attorney-General +contained the will of the King, by which he had provided for the +protection and guardianship of the young King, and had chosen a Regency +council, the dispositions of which--for good reasons he had not wished to +publish; that he wished this deposit should be preserved during his life +in the registry of the Parliament, and that at the moment when it should +please God to call him from the world, all the chambers of the +Parliament, all the princes of the royal house, and all the peers who +might be there, should assemble and open the will; and that after it was +read, all its dispositions should be made public and executed, nobody to +be permitted to oppose them in any way. + +Notwithstanding all this secrecy, the terms of the will were pretty +generally guessed, and as I have said, the consternation was general. +It was the fate of M. du Maine to obtain what he wished; but always with +the maledictions of the public. This fate did not abandon him now, and +as soon as he felt it, he was overwhelmed, and Madame de Maintenon +exasperated, and their attentions and their care redoubled, to shut up +the King, so that the murmurs of the world should not reach him. They +occupied themselves more than ever to amuse and to please him, and to +fill the air around him with praises, joy, and public adoring at an act +so generous and so grand, and at the same time so wise and so necessary +to the maintenance of good order and tranquillity, which would cause him +to reign so gloriously even after his reign. + +This consternation was very natural, and is precisely why the Duc du +Maine found himself deceived and troubled by it. He believed he had +prepared everything, smoothed everything, in rendering M. d'Orleans so +suspected and so odious; he had succeeded, but not so much as he +imagined. His desires and his emissaries had exaggerated everything; +and he found himself overwhelmed with astonishment, when instead of the +public acclamations with which he had flattered himself the will would be +accompanied, it was precisely the opposite. + +It was seen very clearly that the will assuredly could not have been made +in favour of M. d'Orleans, and although public feeling against him had in +no way changed, no one was so blind as not to see that he must be Regent +by the incontestable right of his birth; that the dispositions of the +testament could not weaken that right, except by establishing a power +that should balance his; and that thus two parties would be formed in the +state the chief of each of which would be interested in vanquishing the +other, everybody being necessitated to join one side or other, thereby +running a thousand risks without any advantage. The rights of the two +disputants were compared. In the one they were found sacred, in the +other they could not be found at all. The two persons were compared. +Both were found odious, but M. d'Orleans was deemed superior to M. du +Maine. I speak only of the mass of uninstructed people, and of what +presented itself naturally and of itself. The better informed had even +more cause to arrive at the same decision. + +M. d'Orleans was stunned by the blow; he felt that it fell directly upon +him, but during the lifetime of the King he saw no remedy for it. +Silence respectful and profound appeared to him the sole course open; +any other would only have led to an increase of precautions. The King +avoided all discourse with him upon this matter; M. du Maine the same. +M. d'Orleans was contented with a simple approving monosyllable to both, +like a courtier who ought not to meddle with anything; and he avoided +conversation upon this subject, even with Madame la Duchesse d'Orleans, +and with anybody else. I was the sole person to whom he dared to unbosom +himself; with the rest of the world he had an open, an ordinary manner, +was on his guard against any discontented sign, and against the curiosity +of all eyes. The inexpressible abandonment in which he was, in the midst +of the Court, guaranteed him at least from all remarks upon the will. It +was not until the health of the King grew more menacing that he began to +speak and be spoken to thereon. + +As for M. du Maine, despite his good fortune, he was not to be envied At +Sceaux, where he lived, the Duchesse du Maine, his wife, ruined him by +her extravagance. Sceaux was more than ever the theatre of her follies, +and of the shame and embarrassment of her husband, by the crowd from the +Court and the town, which abounded there and laughed at them. She +herself played there Athalie (assisted by actors and actresses) and other +pieces several times a week. Whole nights were passed in coteries, +games, fetes, illuminations, fireworks, in a word, fancies and fripperies +of every kind and every day. She revelled in the joy of her new +greatness--redoubled her follies; and the Duc du Maine, who always +trembled before her, and who, moreover, feared that the slightest +contradiction would entirely turn her brain, suffered all this, even +piteously doing the honours as often as he could without ceasing in his +conduct to the King. + +However great might be his joy, whatever the unimaginable greatness to +which he had arrived, he was not tranquil. Like those tyrants who have +usurped by their crimes the sovereign power, and who fear as so many +conspiring enemies all their fallen citizens they have enslaved--he felt +as though seated under that sword that Dionysius, tyrant of Syracuse, +suspended by a hair over his table, above the head of a man whom he +placed there because he believed him happy, and in this manner wished to +make him feel what passed unceasingly in himself. M. du Maine, who +willingly expressed in pleasantry the most serious things, frankly said +to his familiars, that he was "like a louse between two fingernails" (the +Princes of the blood and the peers), by which he could not fail to be +cracked if he did not take care! This reflection troubled the excess of +his pleasure, and that of the greatness and the power to which so many +artifices had elevated him. He feared the Princes of the blood as soon +as they should be of age to feel the infamy and the danger of the wound +he had given them; he feared the Parliament, which even under his eyes +had not been able to dissimulate its indignation at the violence he had +committed against the most holy and the most inviolable laws; he even +feared the Dukes so timid are injustice and tyranny! + + + + +CHAPTER LXIX + +Let me return to Maisons. Five days after the King's will had been +walled up, in the manner I have described, he came to me and made a +pathetic discourse upon the injustice done to M. le Duc d'Orleans by this +testament, and did all he could to excite me by railing in good set terms +against dispositions intended to add to the power and grandeur of the +bastards. + +When he had well harangued, I said he had told me nothing new; that I saw +the same truths as he with the same evidence; that the worst thing I +found was that there was no remedy. + +"No remedy!" he exclaimed, interrupting me, with his sly and cunning +laugh; "courage and ability can always find one for everything, and I am +astonished that you, who have both, should have nothing to suggest while +everybody is going to confusion." + +I asked him how it was possible to suppress a will registered by edict; a +document solemn and public deposited with ceremony in the very depths of +the palace, with precautions known to everybody--nature and art combining +to keep it in safety? + +"You are at a loss to know!" replied Maisons to me. "Have ready at the +instant of the King's death sure troops and sensible officers, all ready +and well instructed; and with them, masons and lock-smiths--march to the +palace, break open the doors and the wall, carry off the will, and let it +never be seen." + +In my extreme surprise I asked him, what he expected would be the fruit +of such violence? I pointed out that to seize by force of arms a public +and solemn document, in the midst of the capital, in despite of all--all +law and order, would be to put weapons into the hands of the enemies of +M. le Duc d'Orleans, who assuredly would be justified in crying out +against this outrage, and who would find the whole country disposed to +echo their cries. I said too, that if in the execution of such an odious +scheme a sedition occurred, and blood were shed, universal hatred and +opprobrium would fall upon the head of M, le Duc d'Orleans, and +deservedly so. + +We carried on our discussion a long time, but Maisons would in no way +give up his scheme. After leaving me he went to M. le Duc d'Orleans and +communicated it to him. Happily it met with no success with the Duke, +indeed, he was extremely astonished at it; but what astonished us more +was, that Maisons persisted in it up to his death, which preceded by some +few days that of the King, and pressed it upon M. le Duc d'Orleans and +myself till his importunity became persecution. + +It was certainly not his fault that I over and over again refused to go +to the Grand Chamber of the Parliament to examine the place, as Maisons +wished me to do; I who never went to the Parliament except for the +reception of the peers or when the King was there. Not being able to +vanquish what he called my obstinacy, Maisons begged me at the least to +go and fix myself upon the Quai de la Megisserie, where so much old iron +is sold, and examine from that spot the tower where the will was; he +pointed it out to me; it looked out upon the Quai des Morforidus, but was +behind the buildings on the quai. What information could be obtained +from such a point of view may be imagined. I promised to go there, not +to stop, and thus awake the attention of the passers-by, but to pass +along and see what was to be seen; adding, that it as simply out of +complaisance to him, and not because I meant to agree in any way to his +enterprise. What is incomprehensible is, that for a whole year Maisons +pressed his charming project upon us. The worst enemy of M. le Duc +d'Orleans could not have devised a more rash and ridiculous undertaking. +I doubt whether many people would have been found in all Paris +sufficiently deprived of sense to fall in with it. What are we to think +then of a Parliamentary President of such consideration as Maisons had +acquired at the Palace of justice, at the Court, in the town, where he +had always passed for a man of intellect, prudent, circumspect, +intelligent, capable, measured? Was he vile enough, in concert with M. +du Maine, to open this gulf beneath our feet, to push us to our ruin, and +by the fall of M. le Duc d'Orleans--the sole prince of the blood old +enough to be Regent--to put M. le Duc du Maine in his place, from which +to the crown there was only one step, as none are ignorant, left to be +taken? It seems by no means impossible: M. du Maine, that son of +darkness, was, judging him by what he had already done, quite capable of +adding this new crime to his long list. + +The mystery was, however, never explained. Maisons died before its +darkness could be penetrated. His end was terrible. He had no religion; +his father had had none. He married a sister of the Marechal de Villars, +who was in the same case. Their only son they specially educated in +unbelief. Nevertheless, everything seemed to smile upon them. They had +wealth, consideration, distinguished friends. But mark the end. + +Maisons is slightly unwell. He takes rhubarb twice or thrice, +unseasonably; more unseasonably comes Cardinal de Bissy to him, to talk +upon the constitution, and thus hinder the operation of the rhubarb; his +inside seems on fire, but he will not believe himself ill; the progress +of his disease is great in a few hours; the doctors, though soon at their +wits' ends, dare not say so; the malady visibly increases; his whole +household is in confusion; he dies, forty-eight years of age, midst of a +crowd of friends, of clients, without the power or leisure to think for a +moment what is going to happen to his soul! + +His wife survives him ten or twelve years, opulent, and in consideration, +when suddenly she has an attack of apoplexy in her garden. Instead of +thinking of her state, and profiting by leisure, she makes light of her +illness, has another attack a few days after, and is carried off on the +5th of May, 1727, in her forty-sixth year, without having had a moment +free. + +Her son, for a long time much afflicted, seeks to distinguish himself and +acquire friends. Taking no warning from what has occurred, he thinks +only of running after the fortune of this world, and is surprised at +Paris by the small-pox. He believes himself dead, thinks of what he has +neglected all his life, but fear suddenly seizes him, and he dies in the +midst of it, on the 13th of September, 1731, leaving an only son, who +dies a year after him, eighteen months old, all the great wealth of the +family going to collateral relatives. + +These Memoirs are not essays on morality, therefore I have contented +myself with the most simple and the most naked recital of facts; but I +may, perhaps, be permitted to apply here those two verses of the 37th +Psalm, which appear so expressly made for the purpose: "I have seen the +impious exalted like the cedars of Lebanon: Yea, he passed away, and, lo, +he was not; yea, I sought him, but he could not be found." + +But let me leave this subject now, to treat of other matters. On Friday, +the last day of August, I lost one of the best and most revered of +friends, the Duc de Beavilliers. He died at Vaucresson after an illness +of about two months, his intellect clear to the last, aged sixty-six +years, having been born on the 24th of Oct 1648. + +He was the son of M. de Saint-Aignan, who with honour and valour was +truly romantic in gallantry, in belles-lettres, and in arms. He was +Captain of the Guards of Gaston, and at the end of 1649 bought of the Duc +de Liancourt the post of first-gentleman of the King's chamber. He +commanded afterwards in Berry against the party of M. le Prince, and +served elsewhere subsequently. In 1661 he was made Chevalier of the +Order, and in 1661 Duke and Peer. His first wife he lost in 1679. At +the end of a year he married one of her chambermaids, who had been first +of all engaged to take care of her dogs. She was so modest, and he so +shamefaced, that in despite of repeated pressing on the part of the King, +she could not be induced to take her tabouret. She lived in much +retirement, and had so many virtues that she made herself respected all +her life, which was long. M. de Beauvilliers was one of the children of +the first marriage. I know not what care M. and Madame de Saint-Aignan +took of the others, but they left him, until he was six or seven years of +age, to the mercy of their lodge-keeper. Then he was confided to the +care of a canon of Notre Dame de Clery. The household of the canon +consisted of one maid-servant, with whom the little boy slept; and they +continued to sleep together until he was fourteen or fifteen years old, +without either of them thinking of evil, or the canon remarking that the +lad was growing into a man. The death of his eldest brother called +M. de Beauvilliers home. He entered the army, served with distinction at +the head of is regiment of cavalry, and was brigadier. + +He was tall, thin, had a long and ruddy face, a large aquiline nose, a +sunken mouth, expressive, piercing eyes, an agreeable smile, a very +gentle manner but ordinarily retiring, serious, and concentrated. B +disposition he was hasty, hot, passionate, fond of pleasure. Ever since +God had touched him, which happened early in his life, he had become +gentle, mildest, humble, kind, enlightened, charitable, and always full +of real piety and goodness. In private, where he was free, he was gay, +joked, and bantered pleasantly, and laughed with good heart. He liked to +be made fun of there was only the story of his sleeping with the canon's +servant that wounded his modesty, and I have seen him embarrassed when +Madame de Beauvilliers has related it,--smiling, however, but praying her +sometimes not to tell it. His piety, which, as I have said, commenced +early in life, separated him from companions of his own age. At the army +one day, during a promenade of the King, he walked alone, a little in +front. Some one remarked it, and observed, sneeringly, that "he was +meditating." The King, who heard this, turned towards the speaker, and, +looking at him, said, "Yes, 'tis M. de Beauvilliers, one of the best men +of the Court, and of my realm." This sudden and short apology caused +silence, and food for reflection, so that the fault-finders remained in +respect before his merit. + +The King must have entertained a high regard for him, to give him, in +1670, the very delicate commission he entrusted to him. Madame had just +been so openly poisoned, the conviction was so complete and so general +that it was very difficult to palliate it. Our King and the King of +England, between whom she had just become a stronger bond, by the journey +she had made into England, were penetrated by grief and indignation, and +the English could not contain themselves. The King chose the Duc de +Beauvilliers to carry his compliments of condolence to the King of +England, and under this pretext to try to prevent this misfortune +interfering with their friendship and their union, and to calm the fury +of London and the nation. The King was not deceived: the prudent +dexterity of the Duc de Beauvilliers brought round the King of England, +and even appeased London and the nation. + +M. de Beauvilliers had expressed a wish to be buried at Montargis, in the +Benedictine monastery, where eight of his daughters had become nuns. +Madame de Beauvilliers went there, and by an act of religion, terrible to +think of, insisted upon being present at the interment. She retired to +her house at Paris, where during the rest of her life she lived in +complete solitude, without company or amusement of any kind. For nearly +twenty years she remained there, and died in 1733, seventy-five years of +age, infinitely rich in alms and all sorts of good works. + +The King taxed the infantry regiments, which had risen to an excessive +price. This venality of the only path by which the superior grades can +be reached is a great blot upon the military system, and stops the career +of many a man who would become an excellent soldier. It is a gangrene +which for a long time has eaten into all the orders and all the parties +of the state, and under which it will be odd if all do not succumb. +Happily it is unknown, or little known, in all the other countries of +Europe! + +Towards the end of this year Cardinal d'Estrees died in Paris at his +abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Pres, nearly eighty-seven years of age, having +always enjoyed perfect health of body and mind until this illness, which +was very short, and which left his intellect clear to the last. It is +proper and curious to pause for a moment upon a personage, all his life +of importance, and who at his death was Cardinal, Bishop of Albano, Abbe +of Longpont, of Mount Saint-Eloi, of Saint-Nichoas-aux-Bois, of La +Staffarde in Piedmont (where Catinat gained a celebrated battle before +being Marechal of France), of Saint-Claude in Franche-Comte, of Anchin in +Flanders, and of Saint-Germain-des-Pres in Paris. He was also Commander +of the Order of the promotion of 1688. + +Merit, aided by the chances of fortune, made out of an obscure family of +the Boulonais country, a singularly illustrious race in the fourth +generation, of which Mademoiselle de Tourbes alone remains. The +Cardinal, brother of the last Marechal d'Estrees, their uncle, used to +say; that he knew his fathers as far as the one who had been page of +Queen Anne, Duchess of Brittany; but beyond that he knew nothing, and it +was not worth while searching. Gabrielle d'Estrees, mistress of Henry +IV., whose beauty made her father's fortune, and whose history is too +well known to be here alluded to, was sister of the Cardinal's father, +but died thirty years before he was born. It was through her that the +family became elevated. The father of Cardinal d'Estrees was +distinguished all his life by his merit, his capacity, and the authority +and elevated posts he held. He was made Marshal of France in 1626, and +it is a thing unique that he, his son, and his grandson were not only +Marshals of France, but all three were in succession seniors of that +corps for a long time. + +The Cardinal d'Estrees was born in 1627, and for forty years lived with +his father, profiting by his lessons and his consideration. He was of +the most agreeable manners, handsome, well made, full of humour, wit, and +ability; in society the pleasantest person in the world, and yet well +instructed; indeed, of rare erudition, generous, obliging, dignified, +incapable of meanness, he was with so much talent and so many great and +amiable qualities generally loved and respected, and deserved to be. He +was made Cardinal in 1671, but was not declared until after many delays +had occurred. These delays much disturbed him. It was customary, then, +to pay more visits. One evening the Abbe de la Victoire, one of his +friends, and very witty, arrived very late at a supper, in a house where +he was expected. The company inopportunely asked him where he had been, +and what had delayed him. + +"Alas!" replied the Abbe, in a tone of sadness, "where have I been? I +have been all day accompanying the body of poor M. de Laon." [The +Cardinal d'Estrees was then Bishop and Duke of Laon.] + +"M. de Laon!" cried everybody, "M. de Laon dead! Why, he was quite well +yesterday. 'Tis dreadful. Tell us what has happened." + +"What has happened?" replied the Abbe, still with the same tone. "Why, +he took me with him when he paid his visits, and though his body was with +me, his spirit was at Rome, so that I quitted him very wearied." At this +recital grief changed into merriment. + +That grand dinner at Fontainebleau for the Prince of Tuscany, at which +the Prince was to be the only guest, and yet never received his +invitation from the Cardinal, I have already mentioned. He was +oftentimes thus absent, but never when business or serious matters were +concerned, so that his forgetfulness was amusing. He never could bear to +hear of his domestic affairs. Pressed and tormented by his steward and +his maitre d'hotel to overlook their accounts, that he had not seen for +many years, he appointed a day to be devoted to them. The two financiers +demanded that he should close his door so as not to be interrupted; he +consented with difficulty, then changed his mind, and said that if +Cardinal Bonzi came he must be admitted, but that it was not likely he +would come on that particular day. Directly afterwards he sent a trusty +servant to Cardinal Bonzi, entreating him to come on such and such a day, +between three and four o'clock, conjuring him not to fail, and begging +him above all to come as of his own accord, the reason to be explained +afterwards. On the appointed day Cardinal d'Estrees told his porter to +let no one enter in the afternoon except Cardinal Bonzi, who assuredly +was not likely to come, but who was not to be sent away if he did. His +people, delighted at having their master to themselves all day without +interruption, arrived about three o'clock; the Cardinal quitted his +family and the few friends who had that day dined with him, and passed +into a cabinet where his business people laid out their papers. He said +a thousand absurdities to them upon his expenditure, of which he +understood nothing, and unceasingly looked towards the window, without +appearing to do so, secretly sighing for a prompt deliverance. A little +before four o'clock, a coach arrived in the court-yard; his business +people, enraged with the porter, exclaimed that there will then be no +more opportunity for working. The Cardinal in delight referred to the +orders he had given. "You will see," he added, "that it is Cardinal +Bonzi, the only man I excepted, and who, of all days in the world, comes +to-day." + +Immediately afterwards, the Cardinal was announced, and the intendant and +maitre d'hotel were forced to make off with their papers and their table. +As soon as he was alone with Bonzi, he explained why he had requested +this visit, and both laughed heartily. Since then his business people +have never caught him again, never during the rest of his life would he +hear speak of them. + +He must have had honest people about him; for every day his table was +magnificent, and filled at Paris and at the Court with the best company. +His equipages were so, also; he had numberless domestics, many gentlemen, +chaplains, and secretaries. He gave freely to the poor, and to his +brother the Marechal and his children (who were not well off), and yet +died without owing a crown to a living soul. + +His death, for which he had been long prepared, was fine-edifying and +very Christian-like. He was universally regretted. A joke of his with +the King is still remembered. One day, at dinner, where he always paid +much attention to the Cardinal, the King complained of the inconvenience +he felt in no longer having teeth. + +"Teeth, sire!" replied the Cardinal; "why, who has any teeth?" + +The joke is that the Cardinal, though old, still had very white and very +beautiful teeth, and that his mouth, large, but agreeable, was so shaped +that it showed them plainly in speaking. Therefore the King burst out +laughing at this reply, and all present also, including the Cardinal, who +was not in the slightest degree embarrassed. I might go on forever +telling about him, but enough, perhaps, has been already said. + +The commencement of the new year, 1715, was marked by the death of +Fenelon, at Cambrai, where he had lived in disgrace so many years. I +have already said something about him, so that I have now but little to +add. His life at Cambrai was remarkable for the assiduity with which he +attended to the spiritual and temporal wants of his flock. He was +indefatigable in the discharge of his functions, and in endeavouring to +gain all hearts. Cambrai is a place much frequented; through which many +people pass. During the war the number of wounded soldiers he had +received into his house or attended to in the hospitals passes all +belief. He spared nothing for them, neither physical comforts nor +spiritual consolations. Thus it is incredible to what an extent he +became the idol of the whole army. His manners, to high and low, were +most affable, yet everywhere he was the prelate, the gentleman, the +author of "Telemachus." He ruled his diocese with a gentle hand, in no +way meddled with the Jansenists; he left all untouched. Take him for all +in all, he had a bright genius and was a great man. His admiration true +or feigned for Madame Guyon remained to the last, yet always without +suspicion of impropriety. He had so exactly arranged his affairs that he +died without money, and yet without owing a sou to anybody. + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +Admit our ignorance, and not to give fictions and inventions +Arranged his affairs that he died without money +For penance: "we must make our servants fast" +The argument of interest is the best of all with monks + + + + +End of this Project Gutenberg Etext Memoirs of Louis XIV. and The Regency, +v9, by the Duc de Saint-Simon + diff --git a/old/cm31b10.zip b/old/cm31b10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c482d2e --- /dev/null +++ b/old/cm31b10.zip |