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The original of tliis book is in 
 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924024572186 
 
Cornell University Library 
 DC 133 .3.132 1893 
 
 Court of Louis XV. 
 
 3 1924 024 572 186 
 
FAMOUS WOMEN OF THE FRENCH COURT. 
 
 From the French of Imbert de Saint-Amand. 
 Each with Fortraity izmo, $I.SS' 
 
 THREE VOLUMES ON MARIE ANTOINETTE. 
 
 MARIE AWTOINETTE AND THE END OF THE OLD REGIME. 
 
 MARIE ANTOINETTE AT THE TUILERIES. 
 
 MARIE ANTOINETTE AND THE DOWNFALL OF ROYALTY. ' 
 
 THREE VOLUMES ON THE EMPRESS JOSEPHINE. 
 
 CITIZENESS BONAPARTE. 
 
 THE WIFE OF THE FIRST CONSUL. 
 
 THE COURT OF THE EMPRESS JOSEPHINE. 
 
 FOUR VOLUMES ON THE EMPRESS MARIE LOUISE. 
 
 THE HAPPY DAYS OF MARIE LOUISE. 
 
 MARIE LOUISE AND THE DECADENCE OF THE EMPIRE. 
 
 MARIE LOUISE AND THE INVASION OF 1814. 
 
 MARIE LOUISE, THE RETURN FROM ELBA, AND THE HUNDRED DAYS. 
 
 TWO VOLUMES ON THE DUCHESS OF ANQOULiME. 
 
 THE YOUTH OF THE DUCHESS OF ANG0UL6mE. 
 
 THE DUCHESS OF ANGOULLME AND THE TWO RESTORATIONS. 
 
 THREE VOLUMES ON THE DUCHESS OF BERRY. 
 
 THE DUCHESS OF BERRY AND THE COURT OF LOUIS XVIII. 
 THE DUCHESS OF BERRY AND THE COURT OF CHARLES X. 
 THE DUCHESS OF BERRY AND THE REVOLUTION OF JULY, 1830. 
 
 Four New Volumes. 
 WOMEN OF THE VALOIS AND VERSAILLES COURTS. 
 WOMEN OF THE VALOIS COURT. 
 WOMEN OF THE COURT OF LOUIS XIV. 
 WOMEN OF THE COURT OF LOUIS XV. Vol. I. 
 WOMEN OF THE COURT OF LOUIS XV. Vol. II. 
 
MARIE LECZINSKA. 
 
WOMEN OF VERSAILLES 
 
 THE 
 
 COURT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 IMBERT DE SAINT-AMAND 
 
 TRANSLATED BY 
 
 ELIZABETH GILBERT MARTIN 
 
 WITH PORTRAITS 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 
 
 1893 
 
COPYRIGHT, 1893, BY 
 CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PAQ2 
 
 Introduction 1 
 
 EIEST PAET 
 [1715-1744] 
 
 CHJLPTEB 
 
 I. The Infanta Makie Anne Victoike, Betrothed 
 
 OF Louis XV 13 
 
 II. The Marriage of Marie Leczinska 23 
 
 III. The Disgrace of the Marquise de Prie 31 
 
 IV. The King Faithful to the Queen 39 
 
 V. The Favor of the Countess de Mailly 46 
 
 VI. The Countess de Vintimille 53 
 
 VII. The Disgrace op the Countess de Maillt 59 
 
 VIII. The Eeign of the Duchess de Chateauroux .... 68 
 
 IX. The Journey to Metz 75 
 
 X. The Death of the Duchess de Chateauroux.... 84 
 
 SECOND PART 
 [1745-1768] 
 
 I. Louis XV. and the Eoyal Family in 1745 97 
 
 II. The Beginnings of the Marquise de Pompadour 116 
 
 III. The New Marquise 126 
 
 V 
 
vi CONTENTS 
 
 OHAPTEB PAGE 
 
 IV. Madame de PoMPADonR's Theathe 133 
 
 V. The Gbandebes op the Marquise de Pompadour 147 
 
 VI. The Griefs op the Marquise de Pompadour ... 156 
 
 VII. Madame de Pompadour, Lady of the Queen's 
 
 Palace 168 
 
 VIII. Madame de Pompadour and the Attempt op 
 
 Damiens 180 
 
 IX. Madame de Pompadour and Domestic Politics . . 193 
 
 X. Madame de Pompadour and the Seven Years' 
 
 War 201 
 
 XI. Madame de Pompadour and the Philosophers . . 214 
 
 XII. The Death of the Marquise de Pompadour 225 
 
 XIII. The Old Age op Marie Leczinska 233 
 
 XIV. Marie Leczinska and her Daughters 245 
 
 XV. The Daufhiness Marie Josi;pHE or Saxony 258 
 
 XVI. The Death op Marie Leczinska 269 
 
THE COURT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
THE COURT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 IF you want romance, said M. Guizot one day, 
 why not turn to history? The great author 
 was right. The historical novel is out of fashion 
 at present. People are tired of seeing celebrated 
 people misrepresented, and they agree with Boileau 
 that 
 
 " Nothing is so beautiful as the true, the true alone is lovely." 
 
 Are there, in fact, any inventions more striking than 
 reality? Can any novelist, however ingenious, find 
 more varied combinations or more interesting scenes 
 than the dramas of history? Could the most fer- 
 tile mind imagine any types so curious as, for exam- 
 ple, the women of the court of Louis XV.? The 
 eternal womanly, as Goethe said, is all there with 
 its vices and virtues, its pettiness and its grandeur, 
 its weakness and its strength, its egotism and its 
 devotion. What an instructive gallery! What 
 diverse figures, from such a saint as Madame Louise 
 of France, the Carmelite, to Madame Dubarry, the 
 courtesan ! In the Countess de Mailly, we have 
 
 1 
 
THE COUBT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 the modest favorite ; in the Duchess de Ch&teauroux, 
 the haughty favorite ; in the Marquise de Pompa- 
 dour, the intriguer, the female minister, the states- 
 man ; in Queen Marie Leczinska, the model of 
 conjugal duty and fidelity ; in the Dauphiness Marie 
 Antoinette, the resplendent image of grace and 
 youth, of poesy and purity; in the six daughters 
 of the King, Madame the Infanta, so tender toward 
 her father ; Madame Henriette, her twin sister, who 
 died of chagrin at twenty-four because she could 
 not marry according to her inclination ; Madame 
 Adelaide and Madame Victoire, inseparable in ad- 
 versity as well as in happier days ; Madame Sophie, 
 gentle and timid; Madame Louise, Amazon and 
 Carmelite by turns, who cried in the delirium of 
 her last agony : " To Paradise, quick, quick, to 
 Paradise at full gallop! " 
 
 History is the resurrection of the dead, but this 
 resurrection is not an easy matter. To withdraw 
 one's self from the present in order to live in the 
 past, to display characters, to make audible the words 
 of all these personages who are sleeping their last 
 sleep, to rekindle so many extinct flames, evoke so 
 many vanished shades, is a work that would need 
 the wand of a magician. History interests and 
 impassions only when it penetrates the secret of 
 souls. To make it a painting, in animated tones and 
 warm colors, and not an insignificant monochrome, 
 it is necessary that men and things should reappear 
 as in a mirror that reflects the past. 
 
INTBODUCTION 
 
 The preservation of the palace where they passed 
 their existence facilitates the renascence of the 
 women of the court of Louis XV. It is some- 
 thing to be able to say : Here such an event was 
 accomplished, such a remark uttered. Here such 
 a personage rendered her last sigh. The sight o:: 
 the rooms where so many dramas were unfolded is 
 in itself a fruitful lesson. The theatre remains ; 
 the decorations are hardly changed. But this is 
 not all. The dust must be shaken from the cos- 
 tumes ; the actors and actresses must be hunted up ; 
 the play must begin anew. 
 
 There is no lack of materials for this work of 
 reconstruction ; they are even rather too abundant : 
 memoirs by Duclos, Marais, Barbier, the Duke de 
 Luynes, Maurepas, Villars, the Marquis d'Argenson, 
 President H^nault, Madame du Hausset, Count de 
 S^gur, Weber, Madame Carapan ; — histories by Vol- 
 taire, M. Henri Martin, Michelet, Jobez; — works 
 by the brothers Goncourt, Sainte-Beuve, M. de Les- 
 cure, the Countess d'Armaill^, Boutaric, Honor^ Bon- 
 homme, Campardon, Capefigue, Le Roi, Barth^lemy ; 
 — collections by M. Feuillet de Conches and M. 
 d'Arneth; — the secret correspondence of Louis XV. 
 with his secret diplomatic corps, that of Count Mercy- 
 Argenteau with the Empress Maria Theresa, new 
 editions of ancient books, autographs, recent publi- 
 cations — one is embarrassed by such a mass of 
 riches. Not days, but months and years, are needed 
 to become well acquainted with all these treasures. 
 
THE COUBT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 But life is so short and so preoccupied with affairs 
 that the public, with few exceptions, has neither 
 time nor inclination to study so many volumes. Is 
 it not a critic's business to spare his readers minute 
 researches, to guide them through the labyrinth, to 
 condense long works, to bring out saliently the most 
 characteristic passages ; in a word, to facilitate study 
 and popularize history while scrupulously respecting 
 truth? This is what we shall try to do for Louis 
 XV. and the women of his court. 
 
 This much-decried monarch is one of those waver- 
 ing, inconsequent, bizarre types of whom so many are 
 found in our world of contradictions and miseries. 
 Alas ! who has not something of Louis XV. in his 
 own soul ? To see the good and do the evil ; to believe 
 and not to practise ; to vainly seek a remedy for 
 ennui in sensual pleasure ; to act against conscience 
 and know self-condemnation, but not amendment; to 
 be dissatisfied with one's actions and lack strength 
 for true repentance, — is not this the common lot ? 
 How many honest citizens are mere repetitions of 
 Louis XV., lacking his crown! They show respect 
 for their wives and affection for their children. 
 They blame free thinkers severely. They speak 
 respectfully of religion. And at the same time they 
 do not observe the maxims of morality which they 
 preach ; they keep mistresses, they are guilty of 
 shameful debaucheries. Their life is a series of in- 
 congruities ; they know neither what they are nor 
 what they desire. Such was Louis XV. His religion 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 was not hypocrisy. His attempts at conversion came 
 to nothing, but they issued from the depths of his 
 troubled conscience. He remained in the mire, but 
 he dreamed of the light. Let us not be pitiless then. 
 Is it graceful in demagogues to display such severity 
 toward kings? Is there more morality under the 
 red liberty caps than above the red-heeled slippers ? 
 Louis XV. was not a faithful husband, but he had 
 a great veneration for his wife and a profound 
 affection for his children. In spite of unpardonable 
 scandals he was not so odious a character as he has 
 been painted. Weakness is the word that best char- 
 acterizes him, not malignity. 
 
 Take his favorites from the sovereign, and he might 
 be not simply a worthy man, but a great king. He 
 is intelligent and kindly. His people adore him. 
 Fortune has crowned him. Voltaire goes into ecsta- 
 sies over the glories of this reign, which the advocate 
 Barbier declares to be the finest epoch in the entire 
 history of France. What compromises, what ruins 
 all this ? The great enemy, voluptuousness. 
 
 Oh ! how swift, how slippery, is the descent into 
 vice! How one fault entails another! During 
 several years (1725-1733) Louis XV. is a model 
 husband. Then he mysteriously commits a first 
 infidelity; afterwards he stops at nothing. He is 
 timid at first; he hides himself, but by degrees he 
 becomes bolder. He declares himself at first with 
 the Countess de Mailly; afterwards with her sister, 
 the Countess de Vintimille ; however, he still main- 
 
6 THi: COURT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 tains some restraint. Louis XV. is stingy with the 
 State funds; his old preceptor, Cardinal Fleury, 
 retains some influence over him. But Fleury dies 
 (1743); the King has a mentor no longer; he 
 emancipates himself ; the scandal gains strength and 
 is triumphant in the person of a third sister, the 
 Duchess of Ch§,teauroux. Heaven, nevertheless, 
 sends the monarch some severe lessons; Madame de 
 Vintimille had died in childbirth (1741) ; the King 
 himself came near dying at Metz ; the Duchess of 
 Ch^teauroux dies of chagrin and other emotions at 
 the close of 1744. People think Louis XV. is about 
 to change his ways. 'Tis an error: here comes the 
 minister in petticoats, the Marquise de Pompadour, a 
 queen of the left hand. She, to use Voltaire's ex- 
 pression, is a sort of grisette made for the opera or 
 the seraglio, who tries to amuse this bored monarch 
 by diversions still more preposterous than his dul- 
 ness. She dies at the task, and Louis XV. has not 
 even a tear for her. As Rochefoucauld has said : "If 
 a man tliinks he loves his mistress for love of her, he 
 is much mistaken." Louis XV. is growing old. 
 The Queen dies in 1768. He regrets her, and people 
 fancy that at last he is going to follow the wise 
 advice of his surgeon, and not merely rein his horses 
 up, but take them out of the traces. They are reck- 
 oning without the woman who is about to bring the 
 slang of Billingsgate to Versailles. After great 
 ladies the great citizeness ; after her the woman of 
 the people; the De Nesle sisters are followed by 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 Madame de Pompadour ; Madame de Pompadour by 
 Dubarry; Dubarry, the "portiere of the Revolution." 
 One thing strikes me in this series of royal mis- 
 tresses ; I see debauchery everywhere, but nowhere 
 love. Love with its refinements, its disinterested- 
 ness, its spirit of sacrifice, its mysticism, its poetry — 
 where is it ? I perceive not even the least shadow 
 of it. Ah ! how right was Rochefoucauld in saying : 
 "It is the same thing with true love as with the 
 apparition of ghosts ; everybody talks about, but 
 very few have seen it." Voluptuousness, on the 
 other hand, is shameless in its cynicism, and when I 
 contemplate this wretched King whom it degrades 
 and corrupts and weakens, who is wearied and com- 
 plains and is sad unto death, I recall a page from one 
 of the most eloquent of men : " The intoxication 
 once past, there remains in the soul a doleful aston- 
 ishment, a bitterly experienced void. It may be 
 filled by new agitations ; but it is reproduced again 
 vaster than before, and this painful alternation be- 
 tween extreme joys and profound depression, between 
 flashes of happiness and the impossibility of being 
 happy, begets at last a state of continual sadness. 
 . . . Say no longer to the man attacked by it : See 
 what a fine day ! Say no more : Listen to this sweet 
 music ! Do not even say : 1 love you ! Light, har- 
 mony, love, all that is good and charming can do no 
 more than irritate his secret wound. He is doomed 
 to the Manes, and everything appears to him as if he 
 were in a sepulchre, stifling for want of air and 
 
8 THE COURT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 crushed by the weight of marble. . . . There comes 
 a moment when all the man's satiated powers give 
 him an invincible certainty of the nothingness of the 
 universe. Once a fleeting smile was all the despair- 
 ing man needed to open limitless perspectives before 
 him ; now the adoration of the world would not affect 
 him. He estimates it at its true value : nothing." ^ 
 
 Is not the profound sadness of Louis XV. a moral 
 lesson as striking as any instruction from the 
 preachers ? Here is a sovereign privileged by des- 
 tiny, handsome, powerful, victorious, surrounded by 
 general admiration, possessor of the first throne of 
 the universe, loved almost to idolatry by his people, 
 having a tender and devoted wife, good and respect- 
 ful children, soldiers who long to die bravely in his 
 service to the cry of, " Long live the King ! " He 
 dwells in splendid palaces ; when he pleases, he 
 shakes off the yoke of etiquette and lives like a 
 private gentleman in little residences which are 
 masterpieces of grace and good taste; every one 
 seeks to divine his wishes, his caprices; all the 
 arts are pressed into the service of making life 
 agreeable to him; all pleasures, all elegancies, con- 
 spire to charm and entertain him. His health is 
 robust; boon-companion, bold horseman, indefati- 
 gable huntsman and lover, he enjoys every pleasure 
 at his will. Well, he is plunged into the depths of 
 ill-humor, the most dismal melancholy, and the senti- 
 
 1 Laoordaire, 2d Toulouse Conference. 
 
INTRODUCTION 9 
 
 meat he inspires in those who observe him closely — 
 as every memoir of the time attests — is not envy, 
 but pity. 
 
 What conclusion can one draw from this except 
 that neither the dazzle of riches, the prestige of 
 pride, the fumes of incense, the caresses of flattery, 
 the false joys of sensual pleasure, nor the intoxica- 
 tions of power can make man happy ! He thirsts in 
 the middle of the fountain; he finds thorns in the 
 crown of roses that encircles his forehead, and a 
 gnawing worm creeps, like Cleopatra's asp, into the 
 odorous flowers whose perfume he inhales. The 
 lamps of the festival grow dim, the boudoirs look 
 like tombs, and suddenly the Manes, Tekel, PJiares, 
 appears in flaming letters on the portals of gold and 
 marble. O King, expect neither truce to thy woes 
 nor distraction from thine ennui, that implacable 
 companion of thy grandeur ! Thou art thine own 
 enemy, and all will betray thee, because thou art not 
 reconciled with thyself. Most Christian King, son of 
 Saint Louis, thou dost suffer, and oughtest to suffer, 
 for thou canst neither seat thyself tranquilly upon 
 the throne nor kneel before the altar ! 
 
 The end of this existence was dismal. Count de 
 S%ur relates that as Louis XV. was going to the 
 chase he met a funeral and approached the coffin. 
 As he liked to ask questions, he inquired who was to 
 be buried. They told him it was a young girl who 
 had died of small-pox. Seized with sudden terror, 
 he returned to his palace of Versailles and was 
 
10 THE COURT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 almost instantly attacked by the cruel malady whose 
 very name had turned him pale. Gangrene invaded 
 the body of the voluptuous monarch. People fled 
 from him with terror as if he were plague-stricken. 
 His daughters alone, his daughters, models of courage 
 and devotion, braved the contagion and would not 
 leave his death-bed. 
 
 Study history seriously. You fancy you will en- 
 counter scandal, but you will find edification. Cor- 
 rupt epochs are perhaps more fruitful in great lessons 
 than austere ones. It is not virtue, but vice, which 
 cries to us : Vanity, all is vanity. It is the guilty 
 women, the royal mistresses, who issue from their 
 tombs and, striking their breasts, accuse themselves 
 in presence of posterity. These beauties who appear 
 for an instant on the scene and then vanish like 
 shadows, these unhappy favorites who wither in a 
 day like the grass of the field, these wretched victims 
 of caprice and voluptuousness, all speak to us like 
 the sinful woman of the Gospel, and history is thus 
 morality in action. 
 
FIRST PART 
 
 [1715-1744] 
 
 11 
 
THE INFANTA MARIE ANNE VICTOIEE, BETROTHED 
 OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 WHEN Louis XIV. gave up the ghost, Ver- 
 sailles also seemed to die. No one ventured 
 to dwell in the palace of the Sun King. During 
 seven years it was abandoned. September 9, 1715, 
 at the very moment when Louis XV., then five and 
 a half years old, was returning to Vincennes, the 
 body of him who had been Louis XIV. was carried 
 to its last abode, at Saint^Denis. The people danced, 
 sang, drank, and gave themselves up to a scandalous 
 joy. The following epigram got into circulation : — 
 
 " Non, Louis n'etait pas si dur qu'il le parut, 
 Et sou trepas le justifie, 
 Puisque, aussi bien que le Messie, 
 II est mort poiu- notre salut." ^ 
 
 Such is the gratitude of peoples! This is what 
 remains of so many flatteries, so much incense ! Sic 
 transit gloria mundi. 
 
 ' No, Louis was less harsh than he appeared ; 
 His death has justified him, 
 Since he, as well as the Messiah, 
 Has died for our salvation. 
 13 
 
14 THE COURT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 France, which insulted the memory of the heroic 
 old man, was on its knees before a child. September 
 12, an enormous crowd was surging around the 
 palace of the Parliament in Paris. Little Louis XV. 
 alighted from his carriage amidst acclamations, and 
 formally entered the palace. He took off his hat, 
 and then, replacing it on his head, said graciously: 
 " Gentlemen, I have come here to assure you of my 
 affection. Monsieur the Chancellor will acquaint 
 you with my will." And the first president re- 
 sponded : " We are all eager to contemplate you 
 upon your bed of justice like the image of God on 
 earth." 
 
 " Princes are badly brought up," says the Marquis 
 d'Argenson. " Nothing flatters and nothing corrects 
 them." Ought not one to be indulgent toward a 
 prince to whom his governor. Marshal Villeray, kept 
 repeating on the balcony of the Tuileries : " Look, 
 master, look at these people ; well ! they are all 
 yours, they all belong to you." The regent said 
 to the little monarch : " I am here only to render 
 you my accounts, to offer matters for your consid- 
 eration, to receive and execute your orders." The 
 child thought himself a man already. 
 
 Li 1721 they affianced him to the Infanta Marie 
 Anne Victoire, daughter of Philip V., King of Spain. 
 Louis XV. was not yet eleven years old ; the Infanta 
 was only three. They had all the difficulty in the world 
 to induce the monarch to say the necessary yes. His 
 little betrothed arrived in Paris the following year 
 
THE INFANTA MARIE ANNE VICTOIRE 15 
 
 (March 22, 1722). Louis XV". went to meet her at 
 Montrouge. All along the route the houses were 
 decked with hangings and adorned with flowers and 
 foliage. The next day the gazettes informed the public 
 that the Queen — so they called the Infanta — had re- 
 ceived from the King a doll worth twenty thousand 
 livres. Three months later (June, 1722), Louis 
 XV. and his betrothed established themselves at 
 Versailles, which again became the political capital 
 of France. The King took possession of the bed- 
 chamber of Louis XIV.,' which he used until 1738. 
 The Infanta was lodged in the apartment of the 
 Queen, and slept in the chamber ^ that had been 
 occupied by Marie Th^r^se, the Bavarian dauphiness, 
 and the Duchess of Burgundy. She made the two 
 youngest daughters of the regent her inseparable 
 companions, treating them as if they were younger 
 than herself, although they were twice her age. She 
 kept them in leading-strings under pretext of pre- 
 venting them from falling, and as she embraced them 
 on their departure, she would say : " Little princesses, 
 go home now and come to see me every day." 
 
 Louis XV. was crowned at Rheims, October 25, 
 1722. "People remember," says the Marquis d'Ar- 
 genson, "how much he resembled Love that morn- 
 ing, with his long coat and silver cajD, in the costume 
 of a neophyte or candidate for kingship. I have 
 
 1 Room No. 124 of the Notice du Musee dc Versailles, by M. 
 Eudore Soulifi. 
 
 2 Room No. 115 of the Notice du Musee de Versailles. 
 
16 THE COURT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 never seen anything so affecting as his figure at that 
 time. All eyes grew moist with tenderness for this 
 poor little prince, sole scion of a numerous family, 
 all other members of which had perished, not with- 
 out a suspicion of having been poisoned." France 
 idolized this little King whose beauty, of a supreme 
 distinction, had somewhat ideal in it; the Emperor 
 of Germany said he was the child of Europe. Hav- 
 ing completed his thirteenth year, he was, as usual, 
 proclaimed of age (February, 1723), and that same 
 year, the Duke of Orleans, who had most loyally 
 fulfilled his duties toward his pupil, assumed the 
 functions of prime minister on the death of Cardinal 
 Dubois. He showed profound deference toward 
 the young sovereign, and carried his portfolio to him 
 at five o'clock every afternoon. The King enjoyed 
 this occupation, and always looked forward impa- 
 tiently to the hour. 
 
 When the Duke of Orleans died suddenly at Ver- 
 sailles (December 2, 1723), Louis XV. regretted him 
 sincerely. It was a woman who reigned under cover 
 of the new prime minister, the Duke of Bourbon. 
 She was one of those ambitious creatures to whom the 
 moral sense is lacking, but who possess wit, grace, 
 and charm ; one of those enchantresses who, by dint 
 of intrigues, end by falling into their own snares and 
 cruelly expiate their short-lived triumphs. The Mar- 
 quise de Prie, the all-powerful mistress of the Duke, 
 was twenty-five years old. The daughter of the rich 
 financier Berthelot de Pldneuf, she had married a 
 
THE INFANTA MxUilE ANNE VICTOIRE 17 
 
 nobleman whom she managed to have appointed, am- 
 bassador to Turin. She led a very fast life in that 
 city, and got herself into debt. Her father being 
 unable to maintain her any longer, she was obliged to 
 escape from the courts of justice, and the Marquis de 
 Prie was recalled from his embassy. The young Mar- 
 quise was not the woman to be discouraged by such 
 reverses. She had only to show herself in order to 
 subjugate the Duke of Bourbon, and assume a princely 
 luxurjr. " She had a charming face," says the Mar- 
 quis d'Argenson, " a sharp and crafty wit, a touch of 
 genius, ambition, and recklessness. . . . The Duke 
 was madly in love with her. I knew their habits, 
 their visits to the opera ball, their little house in the 
 rue Sainte Apolline, their gray-looking hack, which 
 had the appearance of a public conveyance on the out- 
 side, but was extremely magnificent within. . . . She 
 played the queen just as I would make a valet-de- 
 chambre of my lackey." 
 
 When they were carrying the reliquary of Sainte 
 Genevieve in procession in 1725, because the rains 
 had spoilt the crops, she said : " The people are crazy ; 
 don't they know that it is I who make rain and fine 
 weather ? " 
 
 Violent under an air of gentleness, insatiable for 
 money and power beneath an exterior of careless dis- 
 interestedness, a libertine through habit rather than 
 from passion, running after pleasure without seeking 
 love, betraying with impunity her lover who believed 
 what she said against the evidence of his own eyes, 
 
18 THE COURT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 Madame de Prie despotically ruled both the Duke 
 of Bourbon and France. But one thing disquieted 
 her: the young King's health was delicate. If he 
 should die suddenly, the crown would revert to the 
 Orleans brairch, between which family and the Duke 
 of Bourbon there existed a thoroughgoing enmity. 
 In 1725 the Infanta, the betrothed of Louis XV., was 
 only seven years old. Several years must elapse, 
 therefore, before the marriage could be consummated. 
 Now, there was no repose possible for the Duke and 
 his favorite so long as the King had no direct heir. 
 The Duke slept at Versailles in an apartment 
 directly under that of the King. One night he 
 thought he heard more noise and movement than 
 usual. He rose precipitately and went up stairs in a 
 great fright and his dressing gown. The first surgeon, 
 Mar^chal, astonished to see him appear in this guise, 
 asked the cause of his alarm. The Duke, beside him- 
 self, could only stammer : " I heard some noise — 
 the King is sick — what will become of me?" 
 Somewhat reassured by Mar<3chal, he consented to go 
 down again to his apartment, but he was overheard 
 muttering to himself : " I would never get back here 
 again. If he recovers, we must marry him." 
 It was resolved to send back the Infanta on 
 account of her youth. Her father, Philip V., was 
 indignant at such an outrage. " There is not blood 
 enough in all Spain to avenge such an insult," said 
 he. At Madrid the shouting populace were allowed 
 to drag an effigy of Louis XV. through the streets, 
 
THE INFANTA MARIE ANNE VICTOIRE 19 
 
 and the shepherds of the Spanish Pyrenees came into 
 tlie pasture lands of French valleys to hamstring the 
 cattle. 
 
 Two Princesses of Orleans were then in Spain. 
 They were both daughters of the regent, and had 
 been sent to Madrid at the time when Marie Anne 
 Victoire, the betrothed of Louis XV., had come to 
 France.^ One of them, Mademoiselle de Montpen- 
 sier, born in 1709, married the Prince of the Astu- 
 rias, eldest son of Philip V. The other, Mademoiselle 
 de Beaujolais, born in 1714, was aiBanced to Don 
 Carlos, brother to the Prince of the Asturias. The 
 first was sad, cross, and whimsical ; the second, on 
 the contrary, was a delightful child, as pretty as she 
 was intelligent. When she arrived in Spain, she 
 was seven years old, the same age as Don Carlos, 
 and Queen Elizabeth Farnese wrote to the Duke of 
 Orleans : " Her little husband is in transports of 
 joy over her, and is only too happy to have such a 
 charming Princess." 
 
 "When Philip V. abdicated in 1724, in favor of the 
 Prince of the Asturias (Louis L), Mademoiselle de 
 Montpensier became Queen. But the new King 
 died at the end of eight months. Philip V. resumed 
 the crown, and the widow remained without any 
 influence at court. As soon as it was known at 
 Madrid that Louis XV. was not to marry the In- 
 
 1 See the interesting work by M. ifcdouard de Bartlifilemy, Les 
 filles du Regent, 2 vols., Firmin Didot. 
 
20 THE COURT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 fanta, Marie Anne Victoire, it was determined by 
 way of reprisals that the widow of King Louis 
 and Mademoiselle de Beaujolais, the betrothed of 
 Don Carlos, should be immediately sent back to 
 Versailles. Spain saw the Queen, who was not at ■ 
 all sympathetic, depart without regret; but people 
 were grieved at the departure of Mademoiselle de 
 Beaujolais, who at the age of nine years was already 
 charming, and who, appearing like a ray of light in 
 the sombre Escurial, had made herself beloved by 
 her little betrothed. 
 
 In France, too, the sending back of the Infanta, 
 who was by anticipation already styled the Queen, 
 did not occur without exciting some regret. The 
 little Princess, now seven years old, had been con- 
 fided to the care of Madame de Ventadour, the 
 former governess of Louis XV., who loved her 
 fondly. The great-granddaughter of Louis XIV. 
 already knew how to nod graciously in response to 
 the homage of the crowd, and everj'body admired 
 her pretty ways. But Louis XV., who was in his 
 sixteenth year, and precocious, was hardly satisfied 
 with so young a fiancee. He was pleased therefore 
 with the breaking off of a marriage whose consum- 
 mation he must have waited for so long, and, accord- 
 ing to Voltaire's expression, he was like a bird whose 
 cage has been changed when he saw the Infanta 
 depart. Beautiful presents, however, were made to 
 the young Princess, and it was determined that her 
 return should be accomplished with a respectful 
 
THE INFANTA MARIE ANNE VICTOIRE 21 
 
 magnificence and ceremony. She left Versailles 
 April 5, 1725, and on reaching the frontier, she was 
 exchanged at Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port for the two 
 Princesses of Orleans (the widow of King Louis and 
 .Mademoiselle de Beaujolais). Married in 1729 to 
 Joseph Emanuel, then Prince, afterwards King of 
 Portugal, " she gave that sovereign," says Voltaire, 
 " the children she was not allowed to give to Louis 
 XV. and was not happier on account of it." As to 
 the two Princesses of Orleans, their destiny was 
 unhappy : the queen dowager of Spain, who died in 
 1742, lived in poverty, with a barren title and the 
 simulacrum of a court. Her two families had but 
 one thought, — that of ridding themselves of the 
 support of this unfortunate young woman. Spain 
 showed excessive negligence in the payment of her 
 pension, and after having reigned over one of the 
 principal kingdoms of the world, she was obliged, by 
 economical reasons, to spend three consecutive years 
 with the Carmelites of Paris. Still living, she was 
 treated as if already dead. Her sister. Mademoiselle 
 de Beaujolais, so amiable, sweet, and attractive, re- 
 tained a tender memory of her former betrothed, 
 Don Carlos (the future Charles IH.), who, on his 
 side, did not forget her. Possibly a means of renew- 
 ing their engagement might have been found. But 
 the young girl died in 1734, carrying her faithful 
 regret with her to the tomb. She was not yet 
 twenty. 
 
 The rupture of the marriage of Louis XV. was not 
 
22 THE COURT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 a fortunate event. The Prince was only fifteen years 
 old. He might easily have waited several years 
 longer before marrying. His studies and his energy 
 would both have been the gainers by it. Moreover, 
 it was an evil thing to insult a great nation like 
 Spain. It was not alone the Spanish people that 
 were outraged, but the glorious memory of the In- 
 fanta's great-grandfather, the grand King who had 
 said : " There are no more Pyrenees." A fatal lesson 
 was given to the young sovereign when he was thus 
 taught to violate sworn faith, and habituated from his 
 adolescence to those culpable caprices, those egotistic 
 desertions of which his reign was to afford more than 
 one example. 
 
II 
 
 THE MAEEIA6E OF MARIE LECZINSKA 
 
 IN the year 1725, a poor exiled king and his family- 
 were living in a dilapidated old commandery in 
 Wissemburg, a little town of Alsace. This king 
 without a kingdom, this fugitive who dignified his 
 poverty by the resignation with which he endured 
 misfortune, was the Pole, Stanislas Leczinski, the 
 prot^g^ of Charles XII. of Sweden. Driven from 
 Poland after a very short reign, Stanislas had found 
 an asylum in France, and lived in Wissemburg in 
 complete retirement with his mother, his wife, his 
 daughter, and several gentlemen who had been faith- 
 ful to him in misfortune. His daughter, Marie, born 
 in Breslau, June 23, 1703, was at this time twenty- 
 two years old. Pious, gentle, and sympathetic, she 
 was the joy of the exiles. When they spoke to her 
 of projected marriages, she would say to her parents : 
 " Do not think you can make me happy by sending 
 me away; it would be far sweeter to me to share 
 your ill-fortune than to enjoy, at a distance, a happi- 
 ness which would not be yours." Her education had 
 been as intelligent as it was austere. She spent the 
 
 23 
 
24 THE COURT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 time not occupied in prayer and study in working for 
 the poor of the city or embroidering ornaments for 
 churches. She was a true Christian, one of those 
 admirable young girls whose charm has in it some- 
 thing evangelic, and who make virtue lovable. 
 
 One day Stanislas, much moved, entered the room 
 where his wife and daughter were. " Let us kneel 
 down," he exclaimed, " and return thanks to God ! " 
 — " Father," said Marie, " have you been called back 
 to the throne of Poland ?" — " Ah ! daughter," he 
 replied, " Heaven is far more favorable to us than 
 that. You are Queen of France." It was not a 
 dream. The exile's daughter, the poor and obscure 
 Princess, living on alms from the French court, who, 
 but the day before, would have been happy to marry 
 one of those who were now to be her principal offi- 
 cials, ascended as if by miracle the greatest throne in 
 the world. How had she happened to be preferred 
 to the ninety-nine marriageable princesses, a list of 
 whom had been drawn up at Versailles ? There was 
 but this simple remark below her name in the list : 
 " Nothing disadvantageous is known concerning this 
 family." Louis XV. who had sent back the daughter 
 of a King of Spain could choose among the wealthi- 
 est and most highly placed princesses in Europe. 
 How did they contrive to make him marry this poor 
 Polish girl who brought him no dot and who was 
 seven years his senior (in an inverse sense, the same 
 difference of age that existed between him and the In- 
 fanta, his first betrothed) ? It is true that a former 
 
THE MARRIAGE OF MARIE LECZINSKA 25 
 
 secretary of embassy, Lozilli^res, whom the Duke of 
 Bourbon had sent to make inquiries about twenty- 
 seven princesses, had thus drawn the portrait of Marie 
 Leczinska : " This Princess, as simple as the daughter 
 of Alcinoiis, who knows no cosmetics but water and 
 snow, and, seated between her mother and her grand- 
 mother, embroiders altar-cloths, recalls to us, in the 
 commandery of Wissemburg, the artlessness of heroic 
 times." Was it this mythological style which af- 
 fected sceptical and depraved souls like those of the 
 Duke of Bourbon and his mistress, Madame de Prie ? 
 
 It was not this, at all events, which chiefly pre- 
 occupied them. If they selected Marie Leczinska, it 
 was because they fancied that, owing her elevation 
 solely to their caprice, she would esteem herself in 
 their debt and be their tool. What pleased them in 
 her was that she had no resources ; that a price had 
 been set upon her father's head ; that the exile, dis- 
 possessed of his throne for thirteen years, had wan- 
 dered from asylum to asylum, in Turkey, in Sweden, 
 in the principality of Deux-Ponts, and in Alsace ; 
 that the young girl was merely agreeable without 
 being beautiful ; that she was seven years older than 
 Louis XV. ; and that in calling her to the throne in 
 the most unforeseen and inconceivable manner, the 
 Duke and Madame de Prie would create for them- 
 selves exceptional claims upon her gratitude. 
 
 Louis XV. was at this time the most beautiful 
 youth in the kingdom. An ideal lustre illuminated 
 his charming visage, and when they were praising the 
 
26 THE COURT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 graces of her young betrothed to Marie Leczinska: 
 "Alas ! " said she, "you redouble my alarms." 
 
 One should read in the sympathetic work of the 
 Countess d'Armaill^,i the story of the beginnings 
 of this union which was at first to be so happy. 
 Louis XV. made his official request for the hand of 
 Marie Leczinska through Cardinal de Rohan, Bishop 
 of Strasburg. She contented herself with respond- 
 ing : " I am penetrated with gratitude, Monsieur the 
 Cardinal, for the honor done me by the King of 
 France. My will belongs to my parents, and their 
 consent will be mine." The mg,rriage by proxy took 
 place at Strasburg, August 14, 1725. The King 
 was represented by the Duke of Orleans. After 
 having received her parents' blessing, and distributed 
 souvenirs to the faithful companions of her exile, 
 Marie went to join Louis XV. She was greeted 
 everywhere she went with extravagant laudations. 
 " There is nothing which the good French people do 
 not do to divert me," she wrote at the time to Stan- 
 islas Leczinski. " They say the finest things in the 
 world to me, but nobody says that you may be near 
 me. Perhaps they will say so presently, for I am 
 journeying in fairyland, and am veritably under their 
 magical dominion. At every instant I undergo 
 transformations, of which one is more brilliant than 
 the other. Sometimes I am fairer than the Graces ; 
 
 1 La Heine Leczinska, by Madame the Countess d'Armaillg, 
 born De Sfigur, 1 vol., Dentu. 
 
THE MARRIAGE OF MARIE LECZINSKA 27 
 
 again, I belong to the family of the Nine Sisters; 
 here, I have the virtues of an angel ; there, the sight 
 of me makes people happy. Yesterday I was the 
 wonder of the world; to-day I am the lucky star. 
 Every one does his best to deify me, and doubtless 
 I shall be placed among the immortals to-morrow. 
 To dispel the illusion, I lay my hand on my head, 
 and instantly find again her whom you love, and who 
 loves you very tenderly." The new Queen of France 
 signed this letter with the Polish diminutive of her 
 name: Maruchna. 
 
 At Sdzanne, September 3, a page, the Prince of 
 Conti, brought her a bouquet from Louis XV. Near 
 Moret, the next day, she saw her husband for the 
 first time. As soon as he appeared she threw herself 
 on her knees on a cushion ; the King raised her at 
 once and embraced her affectionately. The royal 
 pair made their entry at Fontainebleau September 5, 
 and were crowned the following day. " The Queen," 
 wrote Voltaire, "makes a very good appearance, 
 although her face is not at all pretty. Everybody 
 is enchanted with her virtue and her politeness. 
 The first thing she did was to distribute among the 
 princesses and ladies of the palace all the magnificent 
 trinkets composing what is called her corbeille, which 
 consisted of jewels of every sort except diamonds. 
 When she saw the casket in which they had been 
 placed : ' This is the first time in my life,' said she, 
 ' that I have been able to make presents.' She wore 
 a little rouge on her wedding day, just enough to 
 
28 THE COVET OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 prevent her from looking pale. She fainted for an 
 instant in the chapel, but only for form's sake. 
 There was a comedy performed the same day. I 
 had prepared a little entertainment which M. de 
 Mortemart would not execute. In place of it they 
 gave Amphion and Le MSdeoin malgre lui, which 
 did not seem very appropriate. After supper there 
 were fireworks with many rockets and very little 
 invention and variety. . . . For the rest, there is a 
 frightful noise, racket, crowd, and tumult here." 
 
 The Queen pleased everybody by her extreme 
 affability. What they admired was neither the 
 magnificence of her costume, the Sancy that sparkled 
 on her corsage, nor the Regent that glittered on her 
 chaste forehead, but her modesty, her benevolence, 
 her gentleness, the grace which is still more beauti- 
 ful than beauty. Voltaire was in the front rank of the 
 courtiers of this new star which shed so soft a lustre. 
 But he did not find his rSle as flatterer rewarded by 
 sufficient gratuities. Hence he wrote from Fontaine- 
 bleau: "I have been very well received by the 
 Queen. She wept over Marianne, she laughed over 
 L' Indiscret ; she of tens talks to me, she calls me 
 her poor Voltaire. A blockhead would be satisfied 
 with all this ; but, unfortunately, I think soundly 
 enough to feel that praise does not amount to much, 
 and that the r81e of a poet at court always entails 
 upon him something slightly ridiculous. You would 
 not believe, my dear Thiriot, how tired I am of my 
 life as a courtier. Henri IV. is very stupidly sacri- 
 
THE MARRIAGE OF MARIE LECZINSKA 29 
 
 ficed at the court of Louis XV. I bewail the mo- 
 ments I rob him of. The poor child ought to have 
 appeared already in quarto, with fine paper, fine 
 margins, and fine type. That will surely come this 
 winter, whatever may happen. I think you will 
 find this work somewhat more finished than Mari- 
 anne. The epic is my forte, or I am very much 
 mistaken. . . . The Queen is constantly assas- 
 sinated with Pindaric odes, sonnets, epistles, and 
 epithalamiums. I fancy she takes the poets for 
 court-fools ; and in this case she is quite right, for 
 it is great folly for a man of letters to be here. 
 They give no pleasure and receive none." ^ 
 
 By dint of compliments in prose and verse, Vol- 
 taire obtained a pension of 1500 livres, which made 
 him write to la jJrSsidente de Bernidres, November 13, 
 1725: "I count on the friendliness of Madame de 
 Prie. I no longer complain of court life, I begin to 
 have reasonable expectations." 
 
 Some days afterwards (December 1, 1725), Marie 
 Leczinska left Fontainebleau and went to Versailles. 
 She installed herself in what were called the Queen's 
 apartments, and slept in the chamber which had 
 been successively occupied by Marie Th^r^se, the 
 Bavarian Dauphiness, the Duchess of Burgundy, and 
 the Infanta Marie Anne Victoire. There she brought 
 her ten children into the world, and it was there she 
 was to die. 
 
 1 Letter to M. Thiriot, October 17, 1725. 
 
30 THE COUBT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 The early days of the marriage were very happy ; 
 at that time Louis XV. was a model youth. The 
 counsels of his former preceptor, the Bishop of 
 Fr^jus; the sense of duty; religious beliefs; the 
 timidity inseparable from adolescence, — all these 
 contributed to keep in the paths of wisdom the young 
 monarch who dreamed of being a good husband and 
 father, a good king, and working out his own 
 salvation along with the welfare of his subjects. 
 Naturally inclined to the pleasures of the senses, he 
 attached himself to Marie Leczinska with the ardor 
 of an innocent young man who loves for the first 
 time. Notwithstanding the shamelessness of many of 
 them, the court beauties did not yet venture to 
 raise their eyes toward this royal adolescent, who 
 made even the most audacious respectful, by his 
 gentleness and his reserve. Nothing, at this time, 
 announced the disorders to which the young mon- 
 arch was one day to yield himself. The rouSs of 
 the Regency could not console themselves for hav- 
 ing so calm and virtuous a master; they awaited 
 with impatience the moment when they could thrust 
 him over the declivity of scandal, and, like real 
 demons, they lay in wait for their prey. 
 
Ill 
 
 THE DISGRACE OF THE MARQUISE DE PEIE 
 
 THE Marquise de Prie congratulated herself 
 upon having brought Marie Leczinska to the 
 throne. It was, in fact, as D'Argenson has remarked, 
 an excellent choice, according to the views of the 
 Marquise : " Fecundity, piety, sweetness, humanity, 
 and, above all, a great incapacity for affairs. This 
 court policy required, moreover, a woman without 
 attractions and without coquetry, who could only 
 retain her husband through the sense of duty and 
 the necessity of giving heirs to the crown." The 
 Duke and his favorite had found in the Queen all 
 the gratitude and complaisance they had counted 
 on. As to the King, amused by the chase, festivities, 
 journeys to Marly, Chantilly, and Rambouillet, he 
 occupied himself with politics very little. The 
 prime minister could flatter himself on being a real 
 mayor of the palace. But he had reckoned without 
 a prelate of seventy-four years, to whom ambition 
 had come with age, and who was about to cast down 
 with a breath all this scaffolding of intrigues and 
 calculations. 
 
 31 
 
32 THE COURT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 Fleury, Bishop of Frdjus, the preceptor of Louis 
 XV., was of humble origin, having been the son of 
 a tithe-collector^ in the diocese of Fr^jus. Ap- 
 pointed chaplain to Queen Marie Th^r^se in 1680, 
 "he was," says Saint-Simon, "received at the min- 
 isters' houses where, in fact, he was of as little 
 importance as he was elsewhere, and oftep supplied 
 the place of a bell before such things had been 
 invented." He was selected as preceptor for the 
 little Prince, who was to be styled Louis XV., and 
 gained his pupil's good-will by his easy, gentle, and 
 insinuating character, his perfect calmness, and his 
 mingled veneration and tenderness for a child who, 
 thinking himself always menaced, felt that this 
 assiduous and obsequious devotion protected him. 
 The secret of his affection for Fleury was that Fleury 
 never opposed him. He affected, moreover, an abso- 
 lute disinterestedness, and seemed to be making a 
 sacrifice to the King by remaining at court instead 
 of taking refuge in a convent. The Bishop was 
 always one of the party when the young King was 
 working, or pretending to work, with his Ministers. 
 In appearance he guarded the most humble, most 
 insignificant attitude ; but, in reality, he exerted an 
 influence which exasperated the Duke, and still more 
 Madame de Prie. The Queen herself was jealous 
 of the confidence enjoyed by this silent old man who 
 
 1 Beceveur des deaimes — the tithe formerly paid by the clergy 
 to the kings of JFrance. 
 
DISGRACE OF THE MARQUISE BE PRIE 33 
 
 followed the King like his shadow, and who seemed 
 likely to monopolize everything in spite of his modest 
 airs. The Marquise, who had constant access to 
 the Qaeen in her capacity as lady of the palace, con- 
 trived a real plot with her. It was a question of 
 getting rid of this troublesome third person who ^vas 
 always putting himself between the King and the 
 Prime Minister. " In order to deliver herself from 
 the old Bishop, Madame de Prie devised a scheme 
 by which she might take his place, and enter almost 
 openly into the council of State. She persuaded her 
 lover to induce the King to work in the apartments 
 of the Queen whom he loved, at least with that love 
 which every young man feels for the first woman he 
 possesses. The preceptor, having no lessons to give 
 there, would not follow his pupil, so that, without 
 being pushed too rudely he would slip out of his 
 place, and, naturally, find himself on the ground. 
 Then the Marquise, relying on the good-nature of 
 the Queen, would introduce herself as a fourth, and 
 from that time on would govern the State. Although 
 the plan seemed to her an admirable one, yet its 
 success was not equally so."^ 
 
 The little conspiracy, however, had been conducted 
 with great vigor. One evening, the Queen, who 
 happened to be with the Duke of Bourbon, sent the 
 King a request to come to her. Louis XV. com- 
 plied, and the Prime Minister handed him a letter 
 
 1 Memoirs of Duolos. 
 
34 THE COURT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 from Cardinal cle Polignac containing violent accu- 
 sations against the Bishop of Fr^jus. This was the 
 first time that Fleury had not been present when 
 the King and the Duke were together. Convinced 
 that his exclusion was henceforth determined, he went 
 at once to his own apartment, and after writing a very 
 mournful but tender and respectful letter in which he 
 took leave of his young master, he departed at once 
 for the Sulpician convent at Issy. The Duke and 
 Madame de Prie thought themselves sure of victory, 
 but they were in too great haste to triumph. On 
 reading the letter of his former preceptor the King 
 began to weep. He dared not avow the cause of his 
 chagrin, however, and being always timid and irreso- 
 lute, he kept silence. His first gentleman, the Duke 
 de Mortemart, at last emboldened him. " What ! 
 Sire, are you not the master ? " said he. " Have the 
 Duke told to send a messenger at once for Monseign- 
 eur de Fr^jus, and you will see him again." This 
 was no sooner said than done. The Bishop returned, 
 and hid his success at first under the appearance of 
 modesty. He pretended to desire nothing for him- 
 self, and showed profound deference toward the 
 Duke, but the Prime Minister and his favorite were 
 doomed. 
 
 The little King, with his seventeen years, was 
 about to show that he was master. With that dis- 
 simulation which from infancy he had been accus- 
 tomed to consider a quality indispensable to princes, 
 he silently prepared the Duke's downfall. As he 
 
DISGRACE OF THE MARQUISE DE PRIE 35 
 
 was getting into his carriage to go to Rambouillet, 
 June 11, 1727, he said to his Prime Minister with the 
 most gracious air in the world: "I expect you to 
 supper this evening." The Duke re-entered the 
 chateau in perfect confidence. But what was his 
 surprise when, three hours later, he received a royal 
 letter in these terms : — 
 
 " I order you, under pain of disobedience, to re- 
 pair to Chantilly, and to remain there until further 
 orders." This was a veritable exile. The Duke 
 submitted without a murmur. At the same time, 
 the Queen received this laconic billet from Louis 
 XV. : " I beg you, Madame, and if necessary, I 
 order you, to do all that the Bishop of Fr^jus shall 
 tell you from me as if he were myself." The poor 
 Queen wept and resigned herself. As to Madame 
 de Prie, she was struck at the same time as her lover, 
 and relegated to her estate of Courb^pine in Nor- 
 mandy. M. de Prie was startled at this disgrace. 
 He went about asking people with an affectation 
 which made everybody smile : " But what is there 
 in common between the Duke and my wife?" 
 Those who but yesterday were at the feet of the 
 Duke and his favorite now overwhelmed them with 
 gibes and sarcasms. The people lighted bonfires, 
 and the walls were covered with posters whereon 
 might be read: "A hundred pistoles' reward for 
 whoever finds a valuable mare accustomed to follow 
 a one-eyed horse." ^ 
 
 1 The Duke was blind in one eye. 
 
36 THE COURT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 M. Michelet, usually so severe and merciless 
 toward the court of Louis XV., speaks with a certain 
 complacency of the Marquise de Prie. " Though 
 history ought to be severe toward this female ty- 
 rant," says he, " it is, nevertheless, a duty to own the 
 vigor with which she supported the bold attempts of 
 Dnverney. This rude government, thoroughly vio- 
 lent and shameless as it was, had, nevertheless, in- 
 stincts of life which one may regret in the mortal 
 torpor of the asphyxia which followed it." One 
 hardly comprehends this indulgence, for there was 
 nothing moral, nothing great in the ephemeral reign 
 of the Duke and his mistress. 
 
 It is not an easy thing for a coquettish, ambitious 
 woman, accustomed to have her caprices accepted as 
 laws, to endure disgrace, humiliation, and retirement. 
 Madame de Prie was at first under an illusion. She 
 thought she would be speedily recalled to Versailles, 
 but when she saw she was mistaken, and that her 
 place as lady of the palace had been given to the 
 Marquise d'Arlincourt, her disappointment was cruel. 
 According to M. Michelet : " She devoured her own 
 heart, and could not conceal it. No caged lion or 
 tiger ever was so restless. She was furious, and 
 talked nonsense. She hoped to die, and later on she 
 tried to kill herself by furious excesses ; but in vain. 
 She lost nothing by it but her health, her freshness, 
 and her beauty. In extremis she still retained a 
 lover and a friend in her desert. The latter, very 
 malicious, very corrupt, a real cat, was Madame du 
 
DISGRACE OF TEE MARQUISE DE PRIE 37 
 
 Deffand, and the two friends scratched each other 
 every day between their caresses. The lover, a 
 young man of merit, persisted in loving her, bad as 
 she was. She was hopelessly dried up, and her last 
 punishment was that she could not resume life 
 through love. She was devoured by pride. She no 
 longer desired anything but to die like a Roman 
 woman, like Petronia." 
 
 All this seems to us exaggerated. We believe 
 Madame de Prie was too frivolous to experience such 
 despair. She had not v^aited for her exile in order 
 to know those alternations of sadness and folly which 
 accompany vice even when it has the air of being 
 happy. For some time, already, the taste for in- 
 trigue, the thirst for pleasure, the ardor of ambition, 
 had kindled in her veins a fever which undermined 
 her strength. Her plumpness had been succeeded 
 by an excessive lankness. Struggling against ill- 
 health with extreme energy, she tried to build her- 
 self up, to put a good face on everything, to shake off 
 trouble, and find amusement. Though her body was 
 so much weakened, says the Marquis d'Argenson, her 
 mind and temper were still as gay, shrewd, merry, 
 and frivolous as in the times of her greatest pros- 
 perity. Even in her misfortune she had courtiers 
 who deceived her. She had become ugly, and her 
 flatterers continued to tell her she was adorable. 
 She was hopelessly ill, and her physicians told her 
 she was doing very well. Two days before her death 
 she played in a comedy, and recited three hundred 
 
38 THE COURT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 lines with as much sentiment as memory. Never- 
 theless, she had predicted her approaching death. 
 People thought, however, that this was but a jest, a 
 pleasantry. Hence, when she breathed her last, 
 October 6, 1728, after such convulsions that her toes 
 were turned towards her heels, a rumor that she had 
 poisoned herself got abroad. Such a suicide is im- 
 probable, and not easily reconcilable with the super- 
 ficial character of Madame de Prie. M. Michelet 
 adds that she made a farcical confession (houffonna 
 une confession') — these are the expressions employed 
 by an historian who is often too fanciful. What can 
 M. Michelet know about it? Why does he affirm 
 that she did not repent of her faults and errors? 
 Greater sinners than she have been illuminated at 
 the last moment by a ray of light. It is certain, at 
 all events, that the sudden and terrible death of this 
 young woman of only twenty-nine years, who expi- 
 ated so cruelly her shameful successes, was a striking 
 lesson for her contemporaries. Was Madame de 
 Prie's deathbed conversion sincere ? God only 
 knows. 
 
IV 
 
 THE KING FAITHFUL TO THE QUEEN 
 
 FOR several years Louis XV. gave no scandal. 
 Faithful to his religious duties, he lived like a 
 good Christian and good husband. The courtiers, 
 habituated to the manners of the Regency, did not 
 conceal their surprise and annoyance. One day, in 
 January, 1729, when there had been several sleighing 
 excursions, old Marshal de Villars wrote : " These 
 sleighing parties give the ladies some hopes that 
 things are going to be rather livelier. There was 
 dancing after supper, and if that happens often, it is 
 not impossible that some courageous beauty may lay 
 hold of the King." But this daring beauty was not 
 to be found. The intimidating politeness and freez- 
 ing glance of the young sovereign kept all women at 
 a distance. Louis XV. did not yield. People won- 
 dered whether pride or timidity, goodness or egotism, 
 wisdom or ennui, was what gave its predominating 
 character to his attitude of taciturnity and extreme 
 reserve. 
 
 The character of the King, who as yet did not 
 know himself, was an enigma to the court. Ver- 
 
 39 
 
40 THE COURT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 sailles, under the direction of an aged priest, re- 
 sembled an Escurial, and the small apartments 
 destined to so scandalous a future had at this time 
 the tranquillity of a convent or a sanctuary. If any 
 one mentioned a woman famous for her beauty to the 
 monarch, he would merely say: "She is not more 
 beautiful than the Queen." Marie Leczinska kept 
 her spouse within the bounds of duty by her ex- 
 quisite goodness, her remoteness from all intrigue, 
 her submissive and gentle spirit. Loving neither 
 luxury nor racket, she lived like a worthy citizeness, 
 charitable, modest, and entirely occupied with her 
 salvation. She arrived in France in September, 
 1725, and for three years she did not see Paris. A 
 sort of votive pilgrimage took her there for the first 
 time on October 4, 1728. She had brought twin 
 daugh<"'3rs into the world the previous year, Louise 
 Elizabeth and Henriette of France ; this time she 
 desired a son, and to obtain one from Heaven she 
 came to invoke the intercession of the Blessed Vir- 
 gin in the Parisian churches. Barbier, the advocate, 
 thus describes in his Journal Marie Leczinska's pious 
 excursion : — 
 
 " October. -^ Monday, 4, our good Queen has seen 
 Paris. She came to Notre Dame to ask a dauphiii 
 from the Virgin, and from there she went to Saint- 
 Genevi^ve with the same end in view. She made 
 this journey incognita after a fashion ; that is to say, 
 it was not a formal entry. She had only her usual 
 suite, which consists of four carriages with eight 
 
THE KING FAITHFUL TO THE QUEEN 41 
 
 horses apiece. ... As to the person of the Queen, 
 she is little, rather slender than stout, not pretty 
 without being disagreeable, and looks good-natured 
 and gentle, which does not impart the majesty need- 
 ful in a queen. She went about a good deal in Paris 
 and saw astonishing crowds of people. They saj 
 that money to the extent of twelve thousand livres 
 was scattered from the door of her carriage." 
 
 Marie Leczinska's prayer was heard. The next 
 year she had a son (September 4, 1729). She gave 
 the King ten children in ten years (1727-1737). 
 And yet there was no real intimacy between the 
 married pair. During the daytime they scarcely 
 addressed a word to each other. One might have 
 said they never came together but from a sense of 
 duty, for the welfare of the State. Cold, polite, 
 reserved, they mutually intimidated each other. 
 
 Was the Queen as clever as she ought to have 
 been in order to keep Louis XV. in the straight 
 path? One may be permitted to doubt it. Her 
 frank and simple nature knew neither astuteness nor 
 diplomacy. The secrets of feminine coquetry were 
 completely foreign to her. If D'Argenson is to be 
 believed, she was not adroit. He says she was too 
 prudish with her husband, thinking she had noticed 
 that in France it was considered in good taste to be 
 so. He accuses her of overdoing the matter, and 
 then lamenting her mistake with bitter tears when 
 it was past all remedy. He says, too, that she did 
 not do all that was in her power to make her society 
 
42 TBE COURT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 agreeable to her husband. " At the beginning of his 
 marriage," he writes, "the King wanted to spend his 
 evenings in the Queen's apartments, playing cards 
 and chatting. The Queen, instead of attracting him 
 thither, putting him at his ease, and amusing him, 
 played the disdainful. Hence the King grew dis- 
 gusted, accustomed himself to pass the evenings in 
 his own apartments, at first with men and afterwards 
 with women, his cousin Charolais, the Countess of 
 Toulouse. The King is naturally very timid and 
 seeks for those with whom he can be at his ease. 
 When he once meets them, it is plain to what degree 
 he is a man of habitudes." 
 
 The Queen would have tried in vain to use the 
 language of passion to her husband or treat him to 
 jealous scenes. Louis XV. had a horror of every- 
 thing that seemed to him exaggerated. In his wife's 
 chagrin he would have seen a freak, a forgetfulness 
 of etiquette, a want of deference. Already, in 1726, 
 Marshal de Villars had recommended calmness and 
 resignation to Marie Leczinska. He says in his 
 Memoirs: "The Queen led 'me into her cabinet, and 
 spoke to me with keen sorrow of the changes she 
 observed in the King's afPection. Her tears flowed 
 abundantly. I replied : ' I think, Madame, that the 
 King's heart is far removed from what is called love ; 
 you are not the same with regard to him; but, believe 
 me, it is best not to display your passion too much ; 
 don't let any one see that you fear a diminution in 
 his sentiments, lest the many fine eyes that are ogling 
 
THE KING FAITHFUL TO THE QUEEN 43 
 
 him continually should risk ever3rthing in order to 
 profit by this change. For the rest, it is all the better 
 for you that the King's heart is not much inclined to 
 tenderness, because where passion is concerned, nat- 
 ural coldness is less cruel than abandonment.' " 
 
 What is to become of this undecided, timid, vacil- 
 lating king ? In which direction will this young man 
 go, who, like Hercules in the fable, is hesitating be- 
 tween Virtue and Pleasure ? Will he be a saint or 
 a debauchee ? He wants to do what is right, but 
 will he have the courage ? Everything conspires to 
 thrust him into the evil way. His morality is be- 
 grudged him. The air he breathes is poisonous. 
 The women, who incessantly provoke him, rival each 
 other in glances and coquetries. His former pre- 
 ceptor, now become directing minister, dares not 
 venture a counsel. His first valet cle chamhre, Bache- 
 lier, already dreams of playing the pander, and great 
 lords, with the Duke de Richelieu at their head, 
 likewise aspire to those sorry but lucrative functions. 
 Who would dare to reprimand the monarch if he 
 gave a scandalous example ? The clergy hold their 
 peace. The nobles demand but one thing from the 
 King : to choose his mistress among women of qual- 
 ity. Shame needs a blazon. The bourgeoisie will be 
 too prudent to meddle with the secrets of the gods. 
 D'Argenson and Barbier, the nobleman and the advo- 
 cate, will rival each other in indulgent judgments on 
 adultery. 
 
 In D'Argenson's eyes the sole fault of favorites is 
 
44 THE COURT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 their propensity to meddle with State affairs. He 
 adds: "I approve of private persons confiding in a 
 mistress in whose affection they believe ; it makes 
 little scandal, and is even edification and honesty, 
 according to the present relaxation of manners, 
 which are coming closer and closer to nature." Bar- 
 bier, the lawyer, goes farther still. He says in his 
 Journal, with an astonishing mixture of cynicism 
 and na'ivet^ : " Fifteen out of twenty nobles of the 
 court do not live with their wives, and do have mis- 
 tresses ; nothing is so common even among private 
 persons. It is ridiculous, then, that the King, who 
 is certainly the master, should be in worse condition 
 than his predecessors." 
 
 The courtiers could not accustom themselves to 
 the absence of a royal mistress. It seemed to them 
 as if there was a place vacant, a post to which some 
 one ought to be appointed. How could any one 
 fancy Henri IV. without la belle Gahrielle, Louis 
 XIV. without La Valli^re and Montespan? And 
 what! said they with indignation, shall Louis XV. 
 confine himself to his wife, that Polish woman with- 
 out beauty, and seven years older than himself? In 
 their eyes this would be to derogate from all the 
 traditions of French gallantry. The military men, 
 impatient of peace, fancied that a favorite might be 
 an Agnes Sorel, who would rouse this new Charles 
 VIII. from his torpor, and lead him to victory. Fash- 
 ionable young people were persuaded that Versailles 
 would become animated, that there would be feasts, 
 suppers, diversions, pleasures of every kind. 
 
THE KING FAITHFUL TO THE QUEEN 45 
 
 The enemies of Cardinal Fleury, all those in 
 search of places, money, or credit, thought that a 
 mistress would bring about the downfall of the old 
 minister, so careful of the State funds. Ah ! if the 
 monarch yields, if he succumbs to temptation, the 
 guilty ones will be the counsellors, the cynical, cor- 
 rupt egotists, who persuade him to evil, who deify 
 his caprices, who exalt his adulteries ; they will be 
 Richelieu, the official go-between ; Voltaire, the laure- 
 ate in prose and verse of the reign of the favorites ; 
 the women who entreat the Christian Sultan to 
 throw them the handkerchief; the entire century, 
 still more responsible and blameworthy than the 
 King. 
 
V 
 
 THE FAVOR OP THE COUNTESS DE MAILLY 
 
 THERE are two kinds of royal favorites : the 
 proud and the humble; those who make a boast 
 of scandal and those who blush at it. The proud 
 brag of their shame as if it were a victory ; insatiable 
 for money, credit, pleasures, they are intoxicated with 
 the incense burned at their feet, and haughtily wave 
 the sceptre of left-handed queens. The humble are 
 less unreasonable ; they voluntarily abase them- 
 selves; they try to gain pardon for a situation 
 whose ignominy they comprehend, and though they 
 have not sufficient moral sense to be willing to re- 
 nounce the profits of their i81e, neither have they 
 the impudence to make an imperious demand of 
 homage and adulation. At the court of Louis XIV. 
 Madame de Montespan was the type of the haughty 
 mistress. The first mistress of Louis XV., the 
 Countess de Mailly, must be classed among the 
 humble ones. 
 
 Louise Julie de Mailly-Nesle, the eldest of five 
 sisters who all played a part at court, was of the 
 same age as the King: like him she was born in 
 
 46 
 
THE FAVOR OF THE COUNTESS BE MAILLY 47 
 
 1710. Married in 1726 to Count Louis Alexandre 
 de Mailly, her cousin-german, her fortune was small, 
 and the need of money was said to be one occasion 
 of her faults. The huntsman Le Roy, that master 
 of the hunt who was so sagacious an observer, and 
 whom Sainte-Beuve has qualified as La Bruy^re 
 on horseback, thus delineates the portrait of the 
 countess : " This lady was very far from being 
 pretty ; but her figure and her manners were very 
 graceful, her sensibility was already recognized, and 
 she had a complaisant character adapted to the 
 abridgment of formalities. This was essential to 
 vanquish the timidity of a prince who was still a 
 novice, whom the least reserve would have abashed. 
 They were sure, moreover, of the disinterestedness 
 of her who was destined to become the favorite, and 
 of her aversion from all ambitious schemes. Some 
 difficulty was experienced in establishing a complete 
 familiarity between a prince excessively timid and a 
 woman whose birth, at least, obliged her to have 
 some regard for appearances." Madame de Mailly 
 was lady of the palace to the Queen. This facili- 
 tated matters. At first everything was managed 
 with the utmost secrecy. " I have learned," says 
 the Duke de Luynes in his Memoirs, "that the 
 commerce of the King with Madame de Mailly com- 
 menced as early as 1733. I know this to be true 
 beyond all doubt, and at that time no one suspected 
 it." 
 
 The favor of the King's mistress was not known to 
 
48 THE COURT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 the public until four years later, and the advocate 
 Barbier declared " that there was nothing to say, the 
 name of De Nesle being one of the first in the kingr 
 dom." " The Queen," says D'Argenson, " is in a 
 cruel situation at present, on account of Madame de 
 Mailly, whom she is obliged to retain as lady of the 
 palace. During this lady's weeks she is in a horrible 
 humor, and all her domestics feel the effects of it. 
 Certainly, to make a third after supper, between her 
 and Madame de Mailly, is to render her a great ser- 
 vice." The poor Queen at last resigned herself. 
 When a woman no longer appeals to either a man's 
 heart or his senses, what can she do ? One day 
 when Madame de Mailly asked her sovereign's per- 
 mission to go to a pleasure-house where Louis XV. 
 was, Marie Leczinska merely replied : " You are the 
 mistress." 
 
 Cardinal Fleury did not complain, because the 
 favorite neither meddled with affairs nor cost the 
 King much. At this time Louis XV. was as eco- 
 nomical as he was timid. Count de Mailly, who had 
 set up an equipage as soon as his wife came into 
 favor, was soon obliged to sell it again, and con- 
 tinued to live a needy life. 
 
 In 1738, when Madame de Mailly was openly ac- 
 knowledged as mistress, Louis XV. changed his 
 bedchamber. He left that where Louis XIV. had 
 died, and which he had himself occupied since 1722, 
 to install himself in the chamber contiguous to the 
 Council hall, and which, even in the time of Louis 
 
THE FAVOR OF THE COUNTESS DE MAILLY 49 
 
 XIV., had been designated as the billiard roam 
 (room No. 126 of the Notice du Musee de Versailles, 
 by M. Eudore Souli^). 
 
 Louis XV. found this chamber more convenient 
 than the other, because it opened the series of small 
 rooms called the cabinets (rooms Nos. 126 to 134 of 
 the Notice i), where Louis XV. admitted a very 
 small number of courtiers to his intimacy. It was 
 there he hid himself from the vulgar crowd ; there 
 that, living more like a private person than a king, 
 he spent his time in trifles and futilities unworthy 
 of a sovereign. There he made tapestry like a 
 woman, or, like a cook, prepared side-dishes with 
 truffles. There, supping after the chase, he sought 
 forgetfulness of his remorse in bumpers of cham- 
 pagne. It was there he sought a remedy for his, 
 alas! incurable melancholy; there that he allowed 
 himself to be vanquished by his enemy, voluptuous- 
 ness. 
 
 Beneath the King's chamber lodged the Countess 
 de Toulouse, widowed within a year of the son of 
 Louis XIV. and Madame de Montespan. The coun- 
 tess occupied the apartment called the apartment of 
 the baths, which, after having been the abode of 
 Madame de Montespan, had been given to the sons 
 of the celebrated favorite, first to the Duke du Maine, 
 and afterward to the Count de Toulouse (rooms Nos. 
 
 1 The chamber of Louis XV. and the cahinets are now used as 
 the apartment of the President of the National Assembly. 
 
50 THE COUBT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 62, 53, and 54 of the Notice du Musee). This apart- 
 ment had one great advantage : it communicated 
 by a private staircase with the King's study. The 
 Count de Toulouse had the key to this precious 
 staircase. His widow had sufficient address to in- 
 duce the King to leave it with her. She was at this 
 time a woman of about fifty, who no longer wore 
 rouge, and often spent several hours in a confessional 
 in the chapel, where she read by the light of a can- 
 dle. In spite of her austere appearance, she was the 
 intimate friend of the Countess de Mailly, and slan- 
 derous tongues accused her of facilitating the latter's 
 meetings with the King. 
 
 Another woman also lived in close friendship with 
 Louis XV. This was Mademoiselle de Charolais, 
 who was born in 1695 and died in 1758 unmarried. 
 A sister of the Duke of Bourbon, she had the hauteur 
 of the Cond^s and the wit of the Mortemarts. She 
 was a type of the extravagant grande dame, a capri- 
 cious, witty woman, greedy for pleasure, frolicsome 
 as an elf, and fearless as a page. " This princess is 
 very accommodating to the King," says the Marquis 
 d'Argenson ; " she keeps company with Madame de 
 Mailly, and, in the midst of her complaisance, she 
 sometimes proposes to the King to take a prettier 
 mistress. At other times she advises Madame de 
 Mailly to profit by her reign, and secure all the riches 
 and grandeur that she can. . . . Madame de Mailly 
 is honest and well-intentioned, and confides in her. 
 This is what sustains her, in spite of her lighthearted- 
 
THE FAVOB OF THE COUBTESS DE MAILLY 51 
 
 ness, her temper, and the variety of opinions which 
 torment her. But as she is noble in the midst of her 
 necessities, her demands are not acrimonious nor her 
 intrigues underhanded and circuitous." 
 
 Among the influential persons surrounding the 
 King let us not forget his first valet de chamhre, 
 Bachelier, the master's confidant ; Bachelier with his 
 occult power, his fifty thousand pounds of income, 
 his charming property of La Celle, which the sov- 
 ereign honors by visiting. Listen again to D'Ar- 
 genson : " Le sieur Bachelier is a philosopher, well 
 content with his fortune, which is a good one. He 
 has an income, a country house, and a mistress. He 
 loves his master and is loved by him ; he desires the 
 public welfare. People of this character are difficult 
 to displace ; it is this also which accounts for the 
 force and elevation of our cardinal, and, fortunately 
 for France, the King likes men of this sort. It is 
 true that Bachelier is still a go-between " (D'Ar- 
 genson employs a stronger word). "But his office 
 allows this, just as that of a soldier permits him to 
 be a slayer of men. Perhaps it is he who prescribed 
 to the King to limit himself to a single mistress, as 
 he has done up to the present with little Mailly ; or 
 to seldom change them, and not to be prodigal of 
 money or power." 
 
 Nothing great could issue from such a society. 
 This voluptuous existence, parodied without poetry 
 or enthusiasm from the scenes of Lancret and Wat- 
 teau, belittled and atrophied the moral sense of the 
 
52 THE COURT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 King. What could he learn from a futile and idle 
 woman like Madame de Mailly, entirely devoted to 
 trifles and her toilet? Listening from morning to 
 night to silly and insignificant tittle-tattle, Louis 
 XV. himself became womanish. His preoccupations 
 were mean, his ideas narrow. He interested himself 
 in petty gossip unworthy of a king, unworthy of a 
 man. Madame de Mailly had neither wit enough to 
 amuse him nor tact enough to lead him. After 
 awhile she wearied him. He kept her near him, 
 however, while looking about for her successor. 
 
VI 
 
 THE COUNTESS DE VINTIMILLE 
 
 IN 1738, the Countess de Mailly had been for five 
 years the mistress of Louis XV., or, rather, his 
 slave. She no longer pleased him, and only the 
 lingering force of habit made him tolerate her. He 
 was so bored that Madame de Mailly wished to 
 divert him at any cost. She had a sister younger 
 than herself, Pauline F^licit^, who had completed 
 her education, but still remained at the convent for 
 economical reasons. The young girl, who Avas not 
 at all religiously inclined, considered herself a pris- 
 oner. She champed at her bit. Witty, ambitious, 
 burning to play a part, the splendors of the chateau 
 of Versailles constantly appealed to her imagination. 
 " I, also, would like to amuse myself." The good- 
 natured Mailly was not alarmed by the thought of a 
 rival. She supposed her sister would be a precious 
 ally, and that since a new-comer was absolutely nec- 
 essary in the cabinets, it would be better that this 
 new-comer should belong to the De Nesle family. 
 F^licit6 would dispel the King's melancholy. The 
 little suppers would no longer have a funereal air. 
 
 53 
 
54 TEE COURT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 Louis XV. would cheer up ; the situation would be 
 saved. Madame de Mailly showed the King the 
 beseeching letters in which her young sister spoke 
 of Versailles as an Eldorado, the kingdom of her 
 dreams. To be summoned to court seemed to her 
 supreme happiness. Louis XV., flattered by so 
 ardent a desire, granted it. Mademoiselle de Nesle 
 arrived at Versailles in December, 1738, and acted 
 at first as her sister's companion. She pleased the 
 King at once by her more than lively character and 
 her school-girlish good-humor. She was present at 
 all the parties and suppers, and it appears that 
 Louis XV. made her his mistress in 1739. He 
 thought afterwards of finding her a husband. 
 
 The sovereign who thus glided over the declivity 
 of scandal was, nevertheless, not without remorse, 
 and his melancholy increased along with his vices. 
 When the Holy Week of 1739 arrived, he felt a 
 secret anguish which troubled him profoundly. 
 This remark of Massillon's was realized : " The crime 
 which you pursue with such appetite, afterwards pur- 
 sues you like a cruel vulture, fastening upon and 
 rending your heart to punish you for the pleasure 
 it has given you." ^ 
 
 Corrupt as he was, Louis XV. had faith. He 
 suffered, because he acted against his conscience, 
 and his conscience spoke louder than all his flat- 
 terers. The more adulation they gave him the 
 
 1 Massillon, Sermon on I'Evidenoe de la loi. 
 
THE COUNTESS BE VINTIMILLE 55 
 
 more dissatisfied was he with himself. Nothing is 
 so sad as the condition of a man who believes but 
 does not practise, who is present at divine service, 
 who kneels before the altar, who prays or tries to 
 pray, and yet who does not amend his life. The 
 ceremonies of religion, so touching and poetic, are 
 then no longer consolations. They are torments. 
 Remorse pursues him everywhere. The chants of 
 the Church, if they are sad, increase his disquietude. 
 If they are joyous, their gladness brings them into 
 contrast with the bitterness of his heart. The soul 
 feels that it can nevermore rejoice. Occasionally 
 he conceives a horror of the woman who turns him 
 from his duty ; she appears to him for what she is : 
 his enemy, his bad angel. Then the habit of vice 
 resumes its sway. Remorse is stilled for awhile. 
 Holy Week has gone by. But the wound remains 
 at the bottom of his heart, profound, incurable. 
 
 Louis XV. dared not communicate in 1739. He 
 had been told of sacrilegious men, who, receiving 
 the Host in their mouths, and thus " eating and 
 drinking their own damnation," had fallen stiff and 
 dead. This made him reflect, and when the grand 
 provost asked whether he would touch for the king's 
 evil, which the Kings of France cannot do until 
 after they have received Communion, he drily 
 answered: No. A King of France who does not 
 make his Easter duty, a son of St. Louis who con- 
 ducts himself like a disciple of Voltaire, what a 
 scandal ! Concerning this, Barbier the advocate, 
 
56 THE COURT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 writes in his Journal: "It is dangerous for a king 
 to give such an example to his people ; we are on 
 good enough terms with the Pope for the Son of the 
 Church to have a dispensation to make his Easter 
 communion, no matter in what state he is, without 
 sacrilege and with a safe conscience." Strange man- 
 ner of comprehending religion ! The impression 
 made on the court was deplorable in this century 
 apparently so incredulous. D'Argenson himself af- 
 firms this. He says : " They tried to hide the inde- 
 cency by a Low Mass which Cardinal de Rohan 
 should say in the cabinet of the King, P^re de 
 Linieres being present; the fact that His Majesty 
 had not presented himself either at the tribunal of 
 Penance or to receive the Eucharist would be care- 
 fully concealed." 
 
 Some months later (September 23, 1739) the King 
 arranged a marriage for Mademoiselle de Nesle. He 
 had her espouse the Count de Vintimille, and 
 deigned to give the husband the bridal shirt with 
 his own royal hand. This was the first time that 
 Louis XV. had thus honored any one. Madame de 
 Vintimille was the only woman to whom he gave 
 any presents on New Year's Day, 1740. But the 
 new favorite was not much the richer for them. 
 The monarch, afterwards so prodigal, was at this 
 time more than economical. The countess applied 
 to him at least half of what was said of the Czar 
 Peter when he was in France : " He makes love like 
 a street-porter, and pays in the same way." The 
 
TUB COUNTESS DE VINTIMILLE 67 
 
 Marquis de Nesle, father of the royal mistresses, 
 remained in a very embarrassed pecuniary position ; 
 in November, 1739, he had been suddenly banished 
 to Lisieux, in spite of the credit of his daughters, 
 for having spoken scornfully of " his wretched suit 
 against his wretched creditors." D'Argenson grows 
 indignant at such severity. He says : " They will 
 have it that the King has performed a Roman action, 
 worthy of Manlius Torquatus and Brutus, in punish- 
 ing severely his natural and actual father-in-law for 
 a slight offence given to a simple member of the 
 council. This has astonished everybody, for, as a 
 matter of fact, one puts himself under obligations in 
 love, especially when one is king, and has a continu- 
 ous attachment for one of his subjects." 
 
 At the close of 1740, Madame de Vintimille 
 became pregnant. People said that Louis XV. had 
 more than one reason to be interested in the favor- 
 ite's condition. Perhaps he fancied that he was 
 going to taste family joys along with her. Vain 
 hope. Apart from pure sentiments and legitimate 
 affections there are only disappointments and cha- 
 grins. Madame de Vintimille was brought to bed 
 with a boy in August, 1741. The King went three 
 or four times a day to inquire about her. He em- 
 braced the child with transports. The mother seemed 
 at the height of favor. But the chastisement of 
 Heaven overtook the fault at once. Madame de 
 Vintimille was seized with miliary fever, and died 
 September 9, in atrocious torments, without having 
 
58 THE COURT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 had time to receive the sacraments. Louis XV. was 
 dismayed. He felt himself guilty of this death in 
 the sight of God and men. The lover had involun- 
 tarily been the executioner. He felt himself over- 
 whelmed by the weight of an implacable malediction, 
 and, horrified at himself, he besought pardon of the 
 dead woman and of God. If he tried to speak, sobs 
 impeded his utterance and he relapsed into silence. 
 Sick and despairing in his bed, he had Mass said in 
 his chamber, and people began to wonder whether he 
 would not seek a remedy for his remorse in asceti- 
 cism. Madame de Mailly, forgetting the rival in 
 the sister, went to pray every day beside Madame 
 de Vintimille's tomb, and it was in memory of his 
 second mistress that Louis XV. returned to the first 
 one. She had the advantage of being able to weep 
 with him, and he could make her the confidant of 
 his grief. 
 
VII 
 
 THE DISGKACE OP THE COUNTESS DE MAILLY 
 
 LOUIS XV. wept for Madame de Vintimille in 
 company with Madame de Mailly. But those 
 who thought him inconsolable little knew his char- 
 acter ; his schemes of conversion were but passing 
 caprices. He had not force enough to break the long 
 chain of his iniquities. He was not merely not 
 recalled to well-doing by the lamentable death of 
 Madame de Vintimille, but he fell back into the 
 paths of scandal with a promptitude which had not 
 even the excuse of passion. 
 
 Madame de Mailly was still the acknowledged 
 favorite, but the King had not loved her for a long 
 time. She spent another year at court after the 
 death of Madame de Vintimille. This was a year 
 of sorrow, humiliations, and afflictions. Louis XV. 
 caused the poor deserted woman to drink the chalice 
 of bitterness to the dregs, and made her so unhappy 
 that even the Queen took pity on her. 
 
 What is more lamentable than the last agonies of 
 love? To perceive that one has been mistaken; 
 that the being one has thought good, generous, and 
 
 59 
 
60 THE COURT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 grateful is wicked, perfidious, and ungrateful ; to iind 
 hardness instead of mildness, egotism instead of de- 
 votion ; what an awakening ! what a torture ! And 
 one cannot complain. Morality, decorum, religion, 
 all command silence. If you groan, the world scoffs 
 at you. Your afflictions obtain scorn and not com- 
 passion. You cannot confess your sorrow before 
 either God or men. The being who persecutes and 
 outrages you, who betrays and kills you, is still be- 
 loved, and this love, alas ! is only a folly, a weakness. 
 You humble yourself, you crawl, you cringe. And 
 all that avails you nothing. Your cause is lost. 
 Nothing is left you but to suffer and to die. 
 
 Such was the destiny of Madame de Mailly. To 
 lose the heart of the King was not enough. It was 
 reserved to her to find not merely a rival but a per- 
 secutor in her own sister, Madame de la Tournelle. 
 
 Marie Anne de Maillj'--Nesle, afterwards so well- 
 known under the title of Duchess de Ch&teauroux, 
 was the fifth and youngest daughter of the Marquis de 
 Nesle. Born in 1717, she married, in 1734, the Mar- 
 quis de la Tournelle, an extremely pious young man, 
 who spent the greater part of his modest fortune in 
 alms. Becoming a widow in 1740, at the age of 
 twenty-two, she took refuge with her relative, the 
 Duchess de Mazarin, lady of the bedchamber to the 
 Queen, who died two years later. Madame de Tour- 
 nelle was again on the point of being without an asy- 
 lum. But the King had already remarked her beauty. 
 She was appointed lady of the palace to the Queen 
 
DISGRACE OF THE COUNTESS BE MAILLY 61 
 
 (September, 1742). M. de Maurepas and Cardinal 
 Fleury, who disliked her and already had a presenti- 
 ment that she would be their all-powerful enemy, 
 made ruthless war upon her. But she had for adviser 
 the most audacious and wily of all the courtiers of 
 Louis XV., the Duke de Richelieu. 
 
 The Marquis d'Argenson draws the following 
 portrait of this personage, so celebrated in the erotic 
 annals of the eighteenth century: — ■ 
 
 " He carries too far the opinion one ought to have 
 of the defects of the monarchy and the feebleness of 
 our epoch. . . . He has made himself talked of ever 
 since he was twelve years old. He has been put into 
 the Bastille three times for three causes capable of 
 making a court hero illustrious : for having made 
 love to the Dauphiness, the King's mother ; for a 
 duel, and for a conspiracy against the State. His 
 love for voluptuous pleasures has ostentation rather 
 than actual enjoyment as its end. ... He is very 
 much the mode among women ; the pretensions and 
 jealousies of coquettes have procured him many 
 favors. There is never any passion in him but 
 plenty of debauchery. He has betrayed a feeble 
 sex ; he has taken the senses for the heart. He is 
 not fortunate enough to possess a friend. He is 
 frank through thoughtlessness, suspicious through 
 subtlety and contempt of mankind, disobliging 
 through insensibility and misanthropy. Such is the 
 sorry model copied by a gay and inconsiderate 
 nation like ours." 
 
62 THE COURT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 The Duke de Richelieu intended to reign under 
 cover of Madame de la Tournelle, whose guide and 
 inspirer he had become. This affair roused his en- 
 thusiasm. Pushing even to lyricism his sorry rSle of 
 intermediary, he exclaimed, in an excess of zeal : " I 
 mean that any one who shall enter Madame de la 
 Tournelle's antechamber shall be more highly con- 
 sidered than one who might have been in private 
 conversation with Madame de Mailly." ^ 
 
 The new favorite made conditions before yielding 
 to the King. Proud and imperious, like most beau- 
 tiful and flattered women, she required guarantees, 
 and transformed a so-called affair of the heart into a 
 diplomatic negotiation. " Love," says La Rochefou- 
 cauld, " lends its name to an infinite number of rela- 
 tions attributed to it, but with which it has no more 
 to do than the Doge with what goes on at Venice." 
 Madame de la Tournelle did not love, she calculated. 
 More peremptory than Madame de Vintimille, who 
 had tolerated a partnership with Madame de Mailly, 
 she determined to reign alone. What she bargained 
 for was not simply money and consideration but the 
 banishment of her sister. But this was not easy to 
 be obtained. The idea of quitting Versailles afflicted 
 Madame de Mailly. She made herself so humble, so 
 modest, so resigned, so submissive, that Louis XV. 
 felt unable to dismiss her. From time to time he 
 still felt for her certain returns if not of attachment 
 
 1 Memoirs of the Duke de Luynes. 
 
DISGRACE OF THE COUNTESS DE MAILLT 63 
 
 at least of compassion. He would have liked to keep 
 near him, as a faithful servant, this poor woman, 
 whose gentleness and kindness he could not refuse to 
 acknowledge. But Madame de la Tournelle was 
 inflexible. She had signified her intention not to 
 become the mistress of the King until after Madame 
 de Mailly should have been irrevocably driven from 
 the court. 
 
 Weakness makes men cruel. Louis XV., ordina- 
 rily affable and kind, was about to be severe beyond 
 measure towards his former mistress. She thought 
 to move him by immolating herself, and resigning her 
 place (November, 1742) as lady of the palace to the 
 Queen in favor of her sister, Madame de Flavacourt, 
 who stood well with Madame de la Tournelle. But 
 this sacrifice did not touch the cold heart of the King, 
 and he took pleasure in reducing to despair the 
 woman whose love had become embarrassing and 
 tiresome. 
 
 The Duke de Luynes does not disguise his sympathy 
 for the fallen favorite. "Her condition," he says, 
 " is all the more worthy of compassion, because she 
 really loves the King, and is as zealous for his glory 
 as she is attached to his person. She has many 
 friends, and deservedly, for she has never done any 
 harm, and, on the contrary, has been anxious to be of 
 service. . . . They pretend that the King said to 
 her some days ago : ' I have promised you to speak 
 plainly with you. I am madly in love with Madame 
 de la Tournelle.' Madame de la Tournelle says she 
 
64 THE COURT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 is loved by M. d'Agenois, and that she loves him, 
 and has no desire to have the King ; that he would 
 please her by letting her alone, and that she will 
 never consent to his proposals but on sure and ad- 
 vantageous conditions." 
 
 Everybody pitied Madame de Mailly: Cardinal 
 Fleury because she had never meddled with politics ; 
 women because she was not beautiful ; courtiers 
 because she had been serviceable. The Queen was 
 not one of the least affected. She displayed great 
 good-will toward a mistress who had had as much 
 modesty as tact. " The Queen," says the Duke de 
 Luynes, "seems to sympathize with Madame de 
 Mailly's situation, and to desire that she shall be 
 well treated." 
 
 D'Argenson is indignant with the faithless mon- 
 arch. The previous year he had been unwilling to 
 believe in the double passion of Louis XV. for 
 Madame de Mailly and Madame de Vintimille. 
 He wrote at the time : " They are the two most 
 united sisters that ever were seen. . . . What likeli- 
 hood is there that they could remain friends if they 
 were disputing the possession of a heart so illustri- 
 ous and precious ? , . . But people are never will- 
 ing to believe anything but evil." At this period, 
 D'Argenson did not doubt the sincerity of his mas- 
 ter's remorse. " The death of Madame de Vinti- 
 mille," said he, " will bring back the King to the 
 practice of religion. . . . He will come in the end to 
 living with Madame de Mailly as the Duke, they 
 
DISGRACE OF THE COUNTESS DE MAILLY 65 
 
 say, lived with Madame d'Egmont, simply as a 
 friend, relapsing, if at all, only by accident, and 
 then going quickly to confession. . . . He has a heart 
 which makes itself heard. How few of his subjects 
 have such a one at present ! He is grateful for the 
 sincere attachment shown towards him. He likes 
 kind hearts ; he is, perhaps, destined to be the de- 
 light of the world." 
 
 A year later, the Marquis is furious at having 
 been duped. "Great news!" he exclaims. "The 
 King has dismissed Madame de Mailly in order to 
 take her sister, Madame de la Tournelle. This was 
 done with inconceivable harshness on the part of the 
 Most Christian King. It is the sister who drives 
 away the sister; she demands her exile, and the 
 taking of this third sister as a mistress makes many 
 people believe that the second one, Madame de Vin- 
 timille, went the same way. I, for my part, have 
 always maintained that the King's extreme sensi- 
 bility at the death of Madame de Vintimille was a 
 praiseworthy sentiment toward the sister of his 
 friend, whose marriage he had himself arranged. 
 But farewell to virtuous sensibility ! So he de- 
 ceived his mistress, he bound Madame de Vintimille 
 to ingratitude ! He considers the child she left as 
 his son, and often has it brought secretly to his 
 room. It is all cleared up, then. Who has the 
 third sister must have had the second." 
 
 Madame de Mailly made no further attempt at 
 resistance. "My sacrifices are consummated," she 
 
66 THE COURT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 exclaimed ; " I shall die of them ; but this evening 
 I shall be in Paris." She actually departed, in tears 
 and despairing, almost frenzied, in November, 1742. 
 The King wrote letter after letter to her to tell her — 
 could one believe it ? — about his love for Madame de 
 la Tournelle. This time, he said, he was "fixed for- 
 ever^ Madame de la Tournelle having all the mind 
 necessary to make her charming." The fickle sov- 
 ereign congratulated himself in this more than 
 strange correspondence on "the general applause 
 given to his choice." 
 
 The new favorite triumphed with a barbarous joy. 
 The De Goncourt brothers, in their well-written and 
 interesting book on the Mistresses of Louis XV.,^ 
 have given the curious letter she wrote at this time 
 to the Duke de Richelieu, her confidant : — 
 
 " Surely Meuse must have let you know what 
 trouble I have had to oust Madame de Mailly ; at 
 last I have managed to have her sent away not to 
 come back again. You fancy perhaps that the affair 
 is ended? Not at all; he is beside himself with 
 grief, and does not write me a letter without speaking 
 of it, and begging me to let her return, and he will 
 never approach her, but only ask me to see her some- 
 times. I have just received one in which he says 
 that if I refuse I shall soon be rid of both her and 
 him; meaning, apparently, that they will both die 
 
 ' Les 3Iaitresses de Louis XV.-, par Edraond et Jules de Gon- 
 court. 2 vols. Firmin-Didot. 
 
DISGRACE OF THE COUNTESS DE MAILLY 67 
 
 of chagrin. As it would by no means suit me to 
 have her here, I mean to be firm. . . . The King has 
 sent you word that the affair is concluded between 
 us, for he tells me, in this morning's letter, to ■ unde- 
 ceive you, because he is unwilling to have you think 
 anything beyond the truth. It is true that, when 
 he wrote you, he counted on its being concluded. this 
 evening; but I put some difficulties in the way of 
 that which I do not repent of." 
 
 Before the close of the year, the affair was settled. 
 Madame de Mailly, after many tears and supplica- 
 tions, recognized that she was beaten. The King 
 paid her debts, and granted her a pension of ten 
 thousand livres in addition to the twelve thousand 
 she had already, and furnished a house for her in 
 Paris, rue Saint-Thomas-du-Louvre, where she es- 
 tablished herself. Thenceforward, Madame de la 
 Tournelle fulfilled, uncontested and without a rival, 
 the official functions of King's mistress. 
 
VIII 
 
 THE KEIGN OE THE DUCHESS DB CHATEAUEOUX 
 
 IF Louis XV. is a degenerate Louis XIV., his 
 mistresses are likewise inferior to those of the 
 great King. Madame de Mailly, spite of lier mild- 
 ness and her repentance, is not a La Valliere. Though 
 Madame de la Tournelle may become Duchess de 
 Ch§,teauroux, she will never be a Montespan, not- 
 withstanding her ambition and her arrogance. She 
 is doubtless pretty ; her big blue eyes, her dazzling 
 white skin, her expression both passionate and arch, 
 make a charming woman of her. But she is not a 
 mistress " thundering and triumphant," as Madame 
 de Sevign^ said of Madame de Montespan; she is not 
 that type of favorite who is " good to display before 
 the ambassadors." In spite of her high birth, and 
 her schemes for domination, there will always be 
 something mean about her, and the same is true of 
 Louis XV. himself. 
 
 She had scarcely become the royal mistress when 
 Cardinal Fleury died (January, 1743). When 
 Mazarin died, Lo-uis XIV. had said: At last I am 
 King. Louis XV. will content himself with saying : 
 
REIGN OF TUE DUCHESS DE CHATEAUBOUX 69 
 
 Now I am prime minister. He need no longer dread 
 his former preceptor's lessons on morality and parsi- 
 mony. He is the master. But he does not at once 
 renounce his economical habits, and at first Madame 
 de la Tournelle has trouble in extracting money 
 from him. "It must be owned," writes the Duke 
 de Luynes in April, 1743, " that the present arrange- 
 ment does not resemble what was announced at the 
 commencement of Madame de la Tournelle's favor. 
 . . . They said she would make no engagement un- 
 less she were assured of a house of her own, her provi- 
 sions, means to entertain people, and a carriage for 
 her private use, being unwilling to use those of the 
 King. It is true, she does not use these, but she has 
 none of her own ; hence, she never goes out, though 
 she is fond of spectacles." 
 
 She ended by making her lover less miserly. In 
 October, 1743, he gave her an excellent cook, an 
 equerry, a berline, six carriage horses, and, finally, 
 the title of Duchess de Ch§,teauroux, with an estate 
 bringing an income of eighty-five thousand livres. 
 The letters patent were worded as follows : " The 
 right to confer titles of honor and dignity being one 
 of the most sublime attributes of supreme power, the 
 kings, our predecessors, have left to us divers monu- 
 ments of the use they have made of it in favor of 
 persons whose virtues and merit they desired to 
 make illustrious. . . . Considering that our very 
 dear and well-beloved cousin, Marie Anne de Mailly, 
 widow of the Marquis de la Tournelle, issues from 
 
70 THE COURT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 one of the greatest families of our realm, allied to 
 our own and to the most ancient in Europe ; that for 
 several centuries her ancestors have rendered great 
 and important services to .our crown; that she is 
 attached as lady of the palace to the Queen, our 
 very dear companion, and that she joins to these 
 advantages all the virtues and the most excellent 
 qualities of heart and mind which have gained for 
 her a just esteem and universal consideration, we 
 have thought proper to give her the duchy of ChSr 
 teauroux, with its appurtenances and dependencies, 
 situated in Berry." 
 
 Parliament was assembled to record these letters 
 patent. " The assembly," says the Marquis d'Argen- 
 son, " has listened gravely to all these flowers of 
 speech which the monarch presents to his mistress, 
 and has decided on the registration." Barbier, that 
 faithful echo of contemporary public opinion, makes 
 certain observations on the subject in his journal 
 which are not altogether lacking in malice. " These 
 letters," says he, " are very honorable for the Mailly 
 family. The King declares that it is one of the 
 greatest and finest illustrious houses of the realm, 
 allied to his OAvn and to the most ancient of Europe. 
 One reflection occurs at once : it is surprising that 
 no one has yet decorated the males with the title of 
 duke, and that this celebrity begins with the women. 
 There might be something to criticise in the pream- 
 ble to the letters ; present circumstances considered, 
 the author has not been prudent; the crying them 
 
BUIGN OF THE DUCHESS BE CBATEAUMOUX 71 
 
 through the streets might also have been dispensed 
 with, it having given occasion for talk." 
 
 Behold Madame de la Tournelle Duchess de Ch&- 
 teauroux. She is officially presented in this quality 
 to the Queen, who says to her, in a kiirdly way: 
 " Madame, I compliment you on the grace accorded 
 to you by the King." The Duke de Richelieu is 
 rewarded for his zeal by the post of first gentleman 
 of the chamber. The new duchess thrones it at 
 Versailles. She keeps two of her sisters near her, 
 the Marquise de Flavacourt, who is, like herself, one 
 of the Queen's ladies of the palace, and the Duchess 
 de Lauraguais, of whom she makes an assiduous 
 companion. Neither of them is pretty enough to 
 make her jealous. She uses them as allies. Louis 
 XV. isolates himself in the society of these three 
 women, who have combined to keep him under the 
 yoke. He amuses himself by giving them nick- 
 names. He calls Madame de Flavacourt the Hen, 
 on account of her frightened air, and the Duchess 
 de Lauraguais la Hue des Mauvaises-Paroles, on 
 account of her caustic speeches. 
 
 Could anything great or noble proceed from this 
 coterie? Is it true, that, as the Goncourts have 
 said, " Madame de Chateauroux unites the energies 
 and ambitions of a Longueville to the ardors and 
 haughty insolence of a Montespan?" Is it true 
 that in her pride, her impatience, the fever of her 
 desires, the activity of her projects, the passion of 
 her spirit, she has the fire of a " Fronde as well as the 
 
72 THE COURT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 soul of a great reign ? " We do not believe it. To 
 judge from the Memoirs of the Duke de Luynes, so 
 impartial a witness, so exact a narrator, the Duchess 
 de Chateauroux was not a political woman, and still 
 less a heroine. He depicts her as dull, indolent, 
 taciturn, bored. " She and her sister," he says, 
 " spend the day in an armchair ; and except in her 
 week, Madame de Lauraguais generally goes out for 
 the first time at eight or nine o'clock in the evening. 
 . . . The King is with the two sisters as often as pos- 
 sible, and it appears that there is never any question 
 of important matters between the three. Madame 
 de Mailly would not have been so indifferent." 
 
 And yet France had been at war with Austria 
 since 1741, and England since 1742, and people 
 were amazed that Louis XV., then in his prime, had 
 not yet put himself at the head of his troops. One 
 must do him the justice to admit that he was brave, 
 and that, like all his ancestors, he had the sentiment 
 of military honor. He comprehended that longer 
 inaction on his part would be inexcusable, and that 
 his place was with the army. Marshal de Noailles, 
 whom he had chosen for his private adviser, at last 
 decided him on making his first campaign. But not 
 without difficulty. Louis XV. hesitated for more 
 than a year, and the dread of leaving his mistress 
 for several days was not one of the least causes of 
 his perplexity. The Marshal tried to appeal to the 
 royal instincts of his master. "France," he wrote 
 him, "has never beheld reigns fortunate for the 
 
REIGN OF THE DUCHESS OF CHATEAUEOUX 73 
 
 people nor veritably glorious for the kings, except 
 those in which they governed by themselves. . . . 
 A king is never so great as when he is at the 
 head of his armies." ^ On liis side, Louis XV. wrote 
 to the Marshal, July 24, 1743 : " I can assure you 
 I have an extreme desire to know for myself a pro- 
 fession my fathers have practised so well." And 
 August 9: "If they are going to devour my country, 
 it will be very hard for me to see it crunched with- 
 out personally doing my utmost to prevent it." 
 
 It was believed the King was at last going to 
 set off ; but the Duchess de Chateauroux wanted to 
 be able to follow him. Far from comprehending 
 how ridiculous the presence of a court of women 
 would seem to the army, she intrigued to obtain a 
 favorable opinion of the strange desire she cherished 
 from her friend, the Marshal de Noailles. In a 
 letter dated September 8, 1743, she said to him: 
 " I agree that the King should start for the army : 
 there is not a moment to lose, and it should be done 
 promptly ; what is to become of me ? Would it be 
 impossible for my sister and me to follow him, and 
 if we cannot go to the army with him, at least to 
 post ourselves where we can hear from him every 
 day? ... I think it well to tell you that I have 
 asked the King to let me write you concerning this, 
 and that I do so with his approbation." 
 
 1 Correspondence of Louis XV". and the Marshal de Noailles, 
 puhlished by M. Camille Eousset. 2 vols. Dumont. 
 
74 THE COURT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 Evidently Louis XV. was not going to make a 
 campaign without his mistress. Nevertheless, the 
 Duke de Noailles was frank enough to reply to the 
 favorite : " I do not think, madame, that you can 
 follow the King with madame, your sister. You, 
 yourself, feel the inconveniences of it, since you 
 afterwards reduce your demands to asking whether 
 you could not come to some town near enough to 
 receive daily news frorii His Majesty. ... I cannot 
 avoid telling you that both the King and yourself 
 would need some plausible reason to justify such a 
 step in the eyes of the public." The result of this 
 letter was to defer the military inclinations of the 
 monarch. He gave up the autumn campaign of 
 1743, and did not start for the seat of war until the 
 following spring. May 2, 1744. 
 
IX 
 
 THE JOURNEY TO METZ 
 
 AT last Louis XV. is at the head of his troops. 
 There is a burst of enthusiasm as soon as he 
 appears at the northern frontier. He is thirty-four 
 years old, has a fine bearing and an expression at 
 once kindly and dignified. He sits a horse well and 
 makes an excellent figure in front of the regiments. 
 He is present at the siege of Menin, and people lavish 
 praises on him. He has gone through the trenches, 
 he has visited the ambulances, he has tasted the broth 
 of the invalids and the bread of the soldiers. Everj^- 
 body cries : " He is a warrior ! he is a father ! he is 
 a king!" He has brought his chaplain with him, 
 Monseigneur de Fitz-James, Bishop of Soissons, to 
 give him the last sacraments if required, and his con- 
 fessor, Pere P^russeau, to give him absolution in case 
 he is in danger of death. There are no women in 
 camp. The Duchesses of ChS,teauroux and Laura- 
 guais have shown themselves at the opera to prove 
 they have not followed the sovereign. Things are 
 going on well. There is not the least scandal. 
 Menin opens its gates June 4. Fireworks are set 
 
 75 
 
76 THE COURT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 off at the H8tel-de-Ville in Paris. The Te Deum 
 is chanted in every church in France. Universal joy 
 and confidence prevail. 
 
 But presently a dark cloud appears in this clear 
 sky. Louis XV. is bored at the army as he was at 
 Versailles. Post equitem sedet atra cura. He misses 
 Madame de Chateauroux, and prefers the women's 
 jokes to the reports of his generals. The favorite is 
 likewise uneasy ; she fancies that the warrior will 
 deteriorate the lover; she fears for her position. "In 
 truth, dear uncle," she writes, June 3, to the Duke de 
 Richelieu, " I was not made for things like these, 
 and from time to time I am seized by teriible dis- 
 couragements. I am so naturally averse to it all that 
 I must have been a great fool to have meddled with 
 it. However, it is done, and I must have patience ; 
 I am persuaded that everything will turn out accord- 
 ing to my wishes." 
 
 Madame de Chateauroux is absolutely determined 
 to rejoin the King. But how is it to be done ? There 
 is not a single woman with the army. If she should 
 be the first one to arrive, the scandal would be much 
 too great. A princess of the blood, the Duchess 
 de Chartres, gives the example ; she sets off under 
 pretext of her husband's fall from a horse. Directly 
 Mesdames de Ch&teauroux and de Lauraguais follow 
 suit. June 6 they have the impudence to come and 
 say good by to the Queen, who carries long-suffering 
 so far as to invite them botli to supper. 
 
 "One cannot sufficiently praise," says the Duke 
 
THE JOURNEY TO METZ 77 
 
 de Luynes in noting the fact, "the courtesy she dis- 
 plays to all the men and women who come to pay 
 court to her." 
 
 Two days afterward the pair of duchesses leave 
 Versailles by night. The King receives them at 
 Lille, and then goes to take the city of Ypres. 
 Madame de Chateauroux carries fatuity so far as to 
 attribute this success to herself. June 25 she wrote 
 from Lille to the Duke de Richelieu : " You know 
 how ready I always am to see everything in rose- 
 color, and that I think my star, which I rely on, and 
 which is not a bad one, has influence on everything. 
 It answers instead of good generals and ministers. 
 He has never done so well as in placing himself 
 under its direction." Thus, as is plainly evident, 
 Madame de Chateauroux considers herself as the 
 King's directress. 
 
 A thing painful to admit, because it shows so 
 clearly the demoralization of the period, is that the 
 Marquis d'Argenson finds this ridiculous and scan- 
 dalous journey quite natural. He writes in his 
 Memoirs, June 30, 1744 : " The King has begun to 
 show himself at the head of the army. It must be 
 owned that this conduct is in good taste. Some 
 people claim that it is a stain on his glory to have 
 brought his mistress to the army, thus dishonoring 
 the princesses and great people who came with him. 
 Surely there is some prejudice in such a reproach. 
 For why, in fact, should he deny himself pleasures 
 which harm nobody ? The Flemish are superstitious. 
 
78 TEE COURT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 They have been told that the King has had three 
 sisters ; they are scandalized to see these two arrive 
 at Lille. Two hours afterward a barracks took fire, 
 and they said it was caused by fire from heaven." 
 
 Barbier is not quite so indulgent, but he pleads 
 extenuating circumstances. " The public," says he, 
 " does not find this journey to its taste. . . . Never- 
 theless it is just to say that a decent appearance is 
 given it by the concourse of three princesses of the 
 blood and a number of ladies who are all supposed 
 to have gone thither to keep company with Madame 
 the Duchess de Chartres, who had a legitimate excuse 
 for going to the army." 
 
 The people, who have the veritable moral instinct, 
 are more just and more severe. They are indignant. 
 The soldiers jeer at the two duchesses. The Queen 
 is pitied and the favorite detested. While all this 
 is going on, Alsace is invaded, and Louis XV. goes 
 to Metz, dragging after him his train of women like 
 an Asiatic monarch. On the way Madame de Ch§,- 
 teauroux falls sick at Rheims. The Kinsr thinks she 
 is going to die, and begins to consider where she 
 shall be buried and what sort of mausoleum he shall 
 build for her. It is only a vain alarm. The favorite 
 speedily recovers and goes to join the King at Metz. 
 She establishes herself and her sister in the Abbey of 
 Saint Arnould, and a long wooden gallery is con- 
 structed to put the abbey in communication with the 
 palace where Louis XV. is quartered. Four streets 
 are closed for this purpose. The people murmur. 
 
THE JOUBNEY TO MMTZ 79 
 
 In order to quiet them, an effort is made to persuade 
 them that the only purpose of this wooden gallery is 
 to make it easier for the monarch to be present at 
 Mass. 
 
 All at once a sinister rumor gets about. The King 
 has fallen ill on August 4. His life is in danger. 
 He thinks he has but a few moments before he must 
 appear before God. All his religious sentiments 
 revive. He wishes to make his confession ; but the 
 departure of Madame de Ch^teauroux is indispen- 
 sable for that, and Louis XV., always weak, has not 
 courage to dismiss her. He adjourns his confession 
 under the pretext that he needs a little time in 
 which to recollect all his faults. His mistress ap- 
 proaches his bed. He wants to kiss her hand. Then, 
 thinking better of it, he says : " Ah ! Princess, I think 
 I am doing wrong; perhaps we shall have to sepa- 
 rate." Madame de Ch&teauroux parleys with the 
 Jesuit P6russeau. She implores him not to have 
 her driven away. She swears she will no longer be 
 the King's mistress, but only his friend. But the 
 Jesuit is firm. Bishop Fitz-James behaves like an 
 apostle ; he says frankly to the King : " Sire, the 
 laws of the Church and our holy canons forbid us 
 to bring the Viaticum so long as the concubine is 
 still in the city. I pray Your Majesty to give new 
 orders for her departure, because there is no time to 
 lose. Your Majesty will soon die ! " Louis XV. 
 hesitates no longer ; the libertine disappears ; the 
 devotee alone remains. " I made my first commun- 
 
80 THE COUBT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 ion twenty-two years ago," he says to the Bishop; 
 " I wish to make a good one now and let it be the 
 last. Ah ! how unworthy I have been up to this 
 day of royalty. What accounts a king must render 
 who is about to appear before God ! " Louis XV. 
 receives extreme unction. Bishop Fitz-James, who 
 administers it, turns toward the spectators and 
 addresses them in these words : " Gentlemen the 
 princes of the blood, and you, nobles of the realm, 
 the King charges Monseigneur the Bishop of Metz 
 and me to acquaint you with his sincere repentance 
 for the scandal he has caused in his kingdom by 
 living as he has done with Madame de ChEteauroux. 
 He has learned that she is only three leagues from 
 here, and he orders her not to come within fifty 
 leagues of the court. His Majesty deprives her of 
 her post." " And her sister also," adds the King. 
 
 Could one believe it? This noble and Christian 
 conduct of Bishop Fitz-James finds detractors. Bar- 
 bier writes in his journal : " People hereabouts regard 
 the action of the Bishop of Soissons as the iinest 
 thing in the world. The public often admire the 
 greatest events without reflection. For my part, 
 I take the liberty of considering this conduct very 
 indecent, and this public reparation as an open 
 scandal. The reputation of a king ought to be 
 respected, and he should be allowed to die with the 
 rites of religion, but with dignity and majesty. 
 What is the good of this ecclesiastical parade? It 
 was enough for the King to have interiorly a sincere 
 
THE JOVRNEY TO METZ 81 
 
 repentance for what he had clone without making 
 a display of it." 
 
 All France is affected. It is rumored that the 
 King's malady was caused by his grief at the inva- 
 sion of Alsace. His kindness, his repentance, his 
 courage, his patriotism, are everywhere celebrated. 
 Masses are said for him in every church in the king- 
 dom. The clergy read from the pulpits the bulletins 
 from Metz and accounts of the King's public penance. 
 People speak of him with tears of tenderness and 
 admiration. As for his favorite, the " Lady in red," 
 as the people call her, she is loaded with maledic- 
 tions. The Queen is sent for to Metz. She leaves 
 Versailles August 15, amidst universal emotion. 
 When she reaches her spouse, he receives her with 
 tenderness. He embraces her and asks pardon for 
 the pain he has given her. 
 
 The next day Louis XV. has Madame de Villais 
 waked up at four o'clock in the morning. He knows 
 the Queen has great confidence in her, and he wants 
 her to tell him if Marie Leczinska has really forgiven 
 ■him. He expresses the most beautiful sentiments, 
 begging God, as he says, to withdraw him from the 
 world if his people would be governed better by 
 some one else. His convalescence begins a few days 
 later. The Queen is full of joy ; she thinks her 
 husband has become a saint. But here Ave leave 
 the narrative to the Duchess de Brancas, a witness 
 of the hopes and the disappointments of Marie Lec- 
 zinska : — 
 
82 THE COURT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 " The old court," she says in a curious fragment 
 of Memoirs, "found small difficulty in convincing 
 itself that God, after striking the King, would touch 
 his heart. The maid-of-honor was so devoutly per- 
 suaded of this one day that, finding the King in such 
 a condition that he could give the Queen indubitable 
 marks of a sincere reconciliation, she had the Queen's 
 bed changed into a nuptial couch and put two pil- 
 lows over the bolster. You can understand what 
 hopes were revealed, by the joy of some people and 
 the astonishment of others. The Queen had been 
 wonderfully well dressed since the King's convales- 
 cence ; she wore rose-colored gowns. The old ladies 
 announced their hopes by green ribbons; in fact, 
 there had been nothing so spirituelle in toilet adorn- 
 ments seen for a long time ; one was reminded of 
 ancient gallantry by the way in which they were 
 relied on to announce everything without compro- 
 mising anybody. But you can also conceive the 
 pleasure which the Duke de Bouillon and the Duke 
 de Richelieu took in speaking to the King about 
 what was going on in the Queen's palace. He 
 seemed so dissatisfied with it that these gentlemen 
 thought they would not displease him by notifying 
 the mothers of the churches that they had been 
 mistaken in getting ready a Te Deum which they 
 would never chant, and that nothing was more uncer- 
 tain than the King's conversion.- This was quite 
 enough to decide these ladies to change their toilette. 
 Some assumed more modest colors, others lowered 
 their headdresses, still others wore less rouge." 
 
THE JOURNEY TO METZ 83 
 
 The Duke de Richelieu, that Mephistopheles of 
 Louis XV., had propliesied correctly. When he was 
 sick, the King was a saint. When he was well, he 
 once more became a debauchee. A sort of human 
 respect made him blush at his momentary conversion 
 to virtue. He felt there was something ridiculous 
 in his repentance. He bore a grudge against his 
 confessor, his chaplain, and all those who had given 
 him good advice. The love of his people, far from 
 touching his heart, dissatisfied him, because these 
 loyal and faithful subjects had had the audacity not 
 to kneel before the Duchess de Chateauroux. He 
 took offence at the respect showed to the Queen, 
 and considered the priests who had prayed so well 
 for him almost as adversaries of his royal authority. 
 Poor Marie Leczinska's illusions were soon dispelled. 
 When Louis XV. was about to leave Metz, she 
 tremblingly asked his permission to follow him to 
 Saverne and to Strasburg. "It is not worth while," 
 he responded in a dry tone. The Queen went away 
 in despair. The heart she thought she had regained 
 had finally escaped her. 
 
THE DEATH OF THE DUCHESS DE CHATEAURODX 
 
 WHAT has become of Madame de CMteauroux ? 
 How is she bearing her humiliations and 
 her disgrace ? We left her at Metz at the moment 
 when, driven away ignominiously by the Bishop of 
 Soissons, treated as an accursed wretch by the people, 
 overwhelmed by the anathemas of the public con- 
 science, she with great difficulty procured a carriage 
 from Marshal de Belle-Isle in which to return to 
 Paris. Her flight had been painful. She only 
 escaped rough treatment by taking by-roads and 
 going through several villages in disguise and on 
 foot. However, she had not yet submitted. From 
 Bar-le-Duc she wrote to M. de Richelieu : ^ " I can 
 well believe that so long as the King's head is feeble 
 he will be in a state of great devotion ; but as soon 
 as he is a little better, I bet I shall trot furiously 
 through his head, and that in the end he will not be 
 able to resist, and will quietly ask Lebel and Bache- 
 lier what has become of me." 
 
 1 Lettres mitographes de la duchesse de GhSieauroux. Bihlio- 
 theque de Eouen. 
 
 84 
 
DEATH OF THE DUCHESS DE GHATEAUROTJX 85 
 
 In the same letter the fallen favorite speaks of 
 herself with admiring complacency. " So long as 
 the King is living," she says, " all the torments they 
 want to inflict on me must be borne with patience. 
 If he recovers, I shall affect him the more on that 
 account, and he will feel the more obliged to make 
 me a public reparation. If he dies, I am not the sort 
 of person to humiliate myself, even if I could gain 
 the kingdom of France by it. Up to now I have 
 conducted myself with dignity; I shall always pre- 
 serve that inclination; it is the only way to make 
 myself respected, to win back the public and retain 
 the consideration I deserve." Can one be amazed 
 at tlie illusions cherished by certain kings when a 
 mere royal mistress has her eyes so thickly bandaged? 
 
 Debility succeeded to fever. Sometimes Madame 
 de Chateauroux, intoxicated with pride and ven- 
 geance, fancied she was about to resume arrogantly 
 the left-handed sceptre which had just slipped 
 through her fingers ; sometimes she cast a disdainful 
 glance at the sorry spectacle of the human comedy, 
 and talked of abandoning everything. She wrote 
 from Sainte-Mdnehould to the Duke de Richelieu 
 (August 18,, 1744): "All this is very terrible and 
 gives me a furious disgust for the place I lived in 
 despite myself, and, far from desiring to return there 
 some day, as you believe, I am persuaded that even 
 if they wished it I could never consent. All I desire, 
 meanwhile, is that the affront offered me shall be 
 repaired, and not to be dishonored. That, I assure 
 
86 THE COURT OF LOUIS JTF. 
 
 you, is my sole ambition. . . . Ah ! my God, what 
 does all this amount to ? I give you my word it is 
 all over so far as I am concerned. I would have to 
 he a great fool to go into it again; and you know 
 how little I was flattered and dazzled by all the 
 grandeurs, and that if I had had my own way, I 
 would not have been there ; but the thing is done ; 
 I must resign myself and think no more about it." 
 
 These be sage reflections. But the favorite's phi- 
 losophy lasted no longer than the King's repentance. 
 La Rochefoucauld says in his maxims : " The intelli- 
 gence of the majority of women serves rather to 
 fortify their folly than their reason." Hardly had 
 she reached Paris when the Duchess felt all her 
 ambitious spites and rages rekindle to new life. She 
 wrote to the Duke de Richelieu : " You have good 
 reason to say it would be fine to make the day of the 
 Dupes come round again ; for me, I don't doubt, it is 
 all the same a Thursday ; but patience is needed, — 
 in fact, a great deal of patience. All you have been 
 told about the remarks made at Paris is very true ; 
 you could hardly believe how far they have gone ; if 
 you had been there at the time, you would have been 
 torn to pieces. ... I tell you we shall get through 
 it, and I am persuaded it will be a very fine moment ; 
 I should like to be there now, as you can easily 
 believe." 
 
 Evidently, renunciation of earthly vanities was 
 already far in the background. The Duchess wrote 
 again to Richelieu, September 13: "I hope the 
 
DEATH OF THE DUCHESS DE GHATEAUROUX 87 
 
 King's sickness has not taken away his memory. 
 No one but me has known his heart thus far, and I 
 assure you he has a very good one, A^ery capable of 
 sentiments. I don't deny tliat tliere is something a 
 little singular along Avith all that, but it does not get 
 the upper hand. He will remain devout, but not a 
 bigot ; I love him ten times better ; I will be his 
 friend, and then I shall be beyond attack. All that 
 these scamps have done during his illness will only 
 make my destiny more fortunate and secure. I shall 
 no longer have to fear either changes, sickness, or 
 the devil, and we shall lead a delicious life. . . . 
 Adieu, dear uncle, keep yourself well. For my part, 
 I am really thinking of getting a health like a por- 
 ter's, so as to enrage our enemies as long as I can 
 and have time to ruin them ; that will happen, you 
 may rely on it." 
 
 Meanwhile all this was accompanied by moral 
 and physical sufferings, convulsions, nervous attacks, 
 inquietudes, and agonizing pains. With her ecstasies 
 and self-abasements, her alternatives of pride and 
 humility, folly and clear-sightedness, ardor and 
 disgust, illusions and discouragement, Madame de 
 Chateauroux is the type of the passionate woman. 
 There is nothing sadder than this correspondence, 
 which is the confession of a soul. One lacks courage 
 to be angry with these avowals so naive in their 
 immorality. To make such scandals possible a 
 whole century must be corrupted. What one should 
 accuse is not a woman, but an epoch. 
 
THE COURT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 Madame de Ch&teauroux understood the character 
 of Louis XV. very well. She knew beforehand that 
 he would come back to her. He had, in fact, but one 
 idea, — to be reconciled with his mistress. He found 
 camp life insupportable. He consented to witness 
 the taking of Fribourg, but as soon as the city sur- 
 rendered he returned in haste to Paris. He made 
 his formal entry November 13, 1744, at six in the 
 evening, in one of the coronation carriages. Tri- 
 umphal arches had been erected with the inscrip- 
 tion : Ludovico redivivo et triumphatori. The houses 
 were filled to the roofs with applauding spectators. 
 The monarch alighted at the palace of the Tuileries, 
 where the nobles of the realm were drawn up in 
 double line awaiting him. The next day he went 
 with all the royal family to Notre Dame to render 
 thanks to God. Madame de Ch^teauroux was hidden 
 amongst the crowd. In the evening she wrote to 
 Richelieu : " I have seen him ; he looked joyful and 
 affected, so he is capable of a tender sentiment. . . . 
 A single voice near me recalled my misfortunes by 
 naming me in a very offensive manner." 
 
 It was neither of his glory, his people, or of God 
 that Louis XV. was thinking, as he came out of 
 Notre Dame. Madame de Chateauroux still occu- 
 pied his whole attention. She lived very near the 
 Tuileries, in the rue de Bac. That night, when all 
 was quiet in the palace, he crossed the Pont-Royal, 
 and arrived unattended at the favorite's house, like 
 a criminal who comes to entreat pardon. Madame 
 
DEATH OF THE DUCHESS DE CHATEAUBOUX 89 
 
 de Chateauroux received him with arrogance, and 
 imposed severe conditions before absolving him. 
 Louis XV. was ready to agree to everything except 
 the dismissal of Maurepas, a useful and agreeable 
 minister, who worked as well as amused himself, and 
 who had the gift of making business easy. The 
 King then returned to the Tuileries, and presently it 
 was rumored that the Duchesses of Ch§,teauroux and 
 Lauraguais were about to reappear triumphantly at 
 court. The people, who resemble the chorus in 
 Greek tragedies, at once resumed their anathemas. 
 " Since the King is going to take her back," cried the 
 market-women, "he will never find another ^ Pater ^ 
 on the streets of Paris." 
 
 The prudent Duke de Luynes was more circum- 
 spect in his speech. He said, apropos of the news of 
 this return to favor: "It has been almost publicly 
 spoken of all over Paris, and Versailles, where little 
 is said ordinarily, has not been absolutely exempt 
 from some remarks concerning it. However, as such 
 remarks serve only to displease, and are moreover 
 useless, those who are wisest have kept silence." 
 
 The thing was done, the arrangement concluded. 
 There had been a compromise between the King and 
 his mistress. Maurepas was not to leave the min- 
 istry, but it was he who was charged to bear the 
 King's excuses to Madame de Ch§,teauroux, rue de 
 Bac, and an invitation to return to Versailles. The 
 minister acquitted himself of this commission Novem- 
 ber 25. The Duchess, who was sick abed, replied 
 
90 THE COURT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 that as soon as she was able to get up she wouki 
 comply with the King's orders. That evening she 
 wrote to her friend the Duchess de Boufflers : " I 
 rely too much on your friendship not to acquaint 
 you at once with what concerns me. The King has 
 just sent me word by M. de Maurepas, that he was 
 very much offended by all that occurred at Metz, 
 and the indecency with which I had been treated; 
 that he begged me to forget it, and that, to give him 
 a proof of my having done so, he hoped my sister 
 and myself would have the kindness to resume our 
 apartments at Versailles ; that he would give us on 
 all occasions tokens of his protection, his esteem, 
 and his friendship, and that he would restore us to 
 our positions." 
 
 So many emotions had prostrated Madame de 
 Ch§,teauroux. Joy revived her for awhile, but all 
 was over with her; she was never again to see 
 either the palace of Versailles, so greatly longed for, 
 or the King whose love had been so fatal to her. 
 She never left her bed again. A burning fever con- 
 sumed her; she thought herself poisoned, and suf- 
 fered horrible tortures in soul and body. Her worst 
 enemies would have pitied her. Her agony lasted 
 eleven days. She had a violent delirium accompa- 
 nied by convulsive movements, and struggled against 
 death with all the energy of her youth, all the vehe- 
 mence of her character. In spite of his pretended 
 passion, Louis XV. did not trouble himself to come 
 and bid her adieu. He did not even send directly 
 
DEATH OF THE DUCHESS DE CHATEAXJBOUX 91 
 
 to inquire about her. Madame de Lauraguais, who 
 had just had a child, was not beside her sister's bed. 
 The Duchess de Chateauroux died alone, December 
 8, 1744. The King deserted her ; Jesus Christ did 
 not forsake her. At her last hour, she repented like 
 Magdalen, and for the first time in j-ears, the dying 
 sinner knew interior peace. "Pere S^gand was with 
 her," says the Duke de Luynes. "As he was speak- 
 ing to her of the confidence we ought to have in the 
 Blessed Virgin, she replied that she had always worn 
 a little medal of her, and that she had begged two 
 graces through her intercession, — ■ not to die without 
 the sacraments, and to die on one of her feasts. She 
 had already obtained the first and was presently to 
 obtain the second, for she died on the feast of the 
 Conception." 
 
 At first Louis XV. felt crushed. The Queen her- 
 self, who practised on so great a scale the wholly 
 Christian virtue of forgiveness of injuries, the Queen 
 shared sincerely in her husband's grief. She passed 
 in solitude the evening which had been set apart for 
 a friendly reunion at the hovise of the Duchess de 
 Luynes. During the night she became frightened, 
 and summoned one of her women : " My God! " cried 
 she, " that poor duchess ! If she should return ! . . . 
 I think I see her." — " Eh ! madame," returned the 
 chambermaid, " if she comes back, it will not be Your 
 Majesty that receives her first visit." 
 
 Barbier in his journal pities, not Madame de Cha- 
 teauroux, as one might imagine, but Louis XV. He 
 
92 THE COURT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 says : " Judicious people praise his sensibility, which 
 is the proof of a good character, but they fear for 
 his health. The common herd are rather pleased 
 than otherwise at this death ; they would like to 
 have the King unsentimental and take another one 
 to-morrow." The Marquis d'Argenson writes to 
 Richelieu : " Our poor master has a look which makes 
 one tremble for his life." D'Argenson might reas- 
 sure himself. Louis XV. was far too feeble to suffer 
 a long sorrow. His emotions were keen but transi- 
 tory. There was but one thing in his character which 
 had any tenacity, and that was ennui. He belonged 
 to the numerous family of egoists. Some of them 
 weep a good deal, but console themselves quickly. 
 Nothing was to be changed in the habits of the 
 master. A few days more and the name of the 
 Duchess de ChS,teauroux would be no more spoken. 
 There was but one person who truly regretted her, 
 and that was Madame de Mailly, the sister to whom 
 she had shown herself so coldly and pitilessly cruel. 
 An impression of melancholy and sorrow is what 
 remains from all this. What, in brief, was the fate 
 of the three sisters chosen by royal caprice ? One 
 of them, the Countess de Vintimille, died in childbed 
 at the age of twenty-eight, and her death was the 
 direct consequence, the immediate chastisement, of 
 her fault. Another, the Duchess de Chateauroux, 
 breathed her last at the age of twenty-seven, the 
 victim of excessive anguish and humiliation. Her 
 favor, like that of Madame de "Vintimille, had lasted 
 
DEATH OF TSE DUCHESS DE CHATEAUBOUX 93 
 
 only two years. The third, the Countess de Mailly, 
 better treated by Providence, since she had at least 
 time for repentance, lived until she was forty. But 
 her last years were merely one long immolation. 
 She covered herself with ashes ; she wore a hair 
 shirt ; and if, as she was on her way to church, any 
 passer-by recognized and called her by some insulting 
 name, she would say : " You know me — well, then, 
 pray for me." 
 
 How ephemeral are the pleasures of courts ! How 
 sad its sensual enjoyments ! How dearly one pays 
 for these swift moments of illegitimate joy and false 
 pride ! Ah ! I understand why Louis XV. should 
 be dissatisfied with others and with himself. I 
 understand his exhaustion, his discouragement, his 
 remorse, and I am not amazed that, in spite of the 
 clink of glasses, the glitter of chandeliers, and the 
 perfume of flowers, the boudoirs of Versailles some- 
 times resembled sepulchres. 
 
SECOND PART 
 
 [1745-1768] 
 
 95 
 
LOUIS XV. AND THE KOYAL FAMILY IN 1745 
 
 THE tragic end of the Duchess de Chateauroux 
 should have inspired Louis XV. with some sage 
 reflections. It was otherwise. At the end of a few 
 weeks a new favorite installed herself in the apart- 
 ment left vacant by the defunct. Before narrating 
 the long reign of the Marquise de Pompadour, let 
 us glance at the interior of the royal family at the 
 moment when this woman, who was much rather a 
 minister in petticoats than a mistress, and who un- 
 happily personifies a whole epoch, came into favor. 
 
 In 1745 Louis XV. is thirty-five years old. From 
 the phj^sical point of view he is a model sovereign. 
 His handsome face is characterized by an expression 
 of benevolent grandeur and gentle majesty. A fine 
 and sympathetic physiognomy, large blue eyes with 
 an expressive and profound regard, an aquiline nose, 
 a truly royal way of carrying his head, the most 
 dignified attitude without the least appearance of 
 stiffness, manners both elegant and simple, an agree- 
 able and penetrating tone of voice, all contribute to 
 give an exceptional charm to this king whom all 
 
 97 
 
98 THE COURT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 France surnames the Well-Beloved. He shows 
 extreme politeness to all who approach him, and one 
 might say that he seems to solicit the affection of 
 those to whom he speaks. An accomplished gentle- 
 man, he is always calm, always well-bred. He is 
 never irritated, never raises his voice. His domestics 
 find him the easiest of masters. One day as he is 
 getting ready to mount on horseback, somebody 
 fetches him two boots for the same foot. He sits 
 down quietly and contents himself with saying : " He 
 who made the mistake is more annoyed than I am." ^ 
 In general he is reserved, taciturn ; he does not give 
 himself away, but when he concludes to talk, his 
 conversation is full of ingenious views and judicious 
 remarks ; he has wit and good sense. 
 
 In religious matters he is not a hypocrite ; he 
 belongs to that numerous class of Christians who 
 retain both their vices and the faith. He goes to 
 Mass every day. On Sundays and holy days he is 
 also present at Vespers, Sermon, and Benediction. 
 As the Marquis d'Argenson says, he "mutters his 
 Paternosters and prayers in church with customary 
 decency," and he is putting off to some future time his 
 perfect conversion. When he is urged to eat meat 
 in Lent for the sake of his health, he answers that 
 one ought not to sin on all sides. At another time 
 he is heard congratulating himself on his rheumatic 
 pains, because, says he, his sufferings are an expiation 
 
 1 Memoirs of the Duke de Luynes. 
 
LOUIS XV. AND THE ROYAL FAMILY IN 1745 99 
 
 for his faults. One day when he is sending alms to 
 a poor man, he exclaims : " Let this poor man ask 
 God to show mercy to me, for I greatly need it." 
 When the feasts of the Church draw near, they 
 occupy his mind and disturb it ; when he dares not 
 communicate, through fear of sacrilege, his soul is 
 filled with sadness, and the flatteries of his courtiers 
 cannot give peace to his conscience. 
 
 His remorse takes the form of ennui. Dissatisfied 
 with himself, he often reflects that he is endangering 
 his salvation for so-called pleasures from which he 
 frequently gains nothing but physical and moral 
 fatigue, which are still harder to endure. Egotism 
 does not prevent him from yielding to disgust. As 
 is remarked by M. Capefigue himself, great admirer 
 as he is of royal pleasures, the capital defect of the 
 King's character is to allow the immense ennui 
 which consumes him to become too evident. " He 
 suffers the terrible chastisement imposed by satiety, 
 that cold branding of both soul and body ; he experi- 
 ences the emptiness and impotence of sensuality." 
 
 Such also is the conclusion of the Goncourts in 
 their fine work, Les Mattresses de Louis XV. 
 "Ennui," they say, "is the sovereign's evil genius. 
 It strikes with impotence all his fortunate natural 
 endowments ; it ages, disarms, extinguishes his will, 
 it stifles his conscience as well as his kingly appe- 
 tites. Ennui is the private torturer of his sluggish 
 existence, of his heavy hours. ... So true is this 
 that the story of a king's amours is also the story of 
 the ennui of a man." 
 
100 THE GOUBT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 The Memoirs of the Duke de Luynes fully confirm 
 this appreciation. He says in them : " The King's 
 temperament is neither gay nor lively; it is even 
 hypochondriacal. Details concerning maladies, oper- 
 ations, very often matters that concern anatomy, and 
 questions about where one expects to be buiied, are, 
 unfortunately, the subjects of his ordinary conversa- 
 tion." "Where vfould you like to be buried?" he 
 asks M. de Souvr^ one day. "At Your Majesty's 
 feet," replies the courtier, who is noted for his frank- 
 ness. Louis XV. remains pensive, because he has 
 just been reminded that kings are not immortal. 
 How well these profound words of Pascal apply to 
 Louis XV. : " It does not require a very lofty soul 
 to understand that there is no true and solid satis- 
 faction here below, that all our pleasures are but 
 vanities, that our woes are infinite, and that in fine 
 death, which threatens us every instant, must put us 
 in a few years, and perchance in a few days, in an 
 eternal state of happiness, or misery, or annihilation. 
 Between us and heaven, hell or nothingness, there is, 
 then, nothing but life, which is the most fragile of 
 all things in the world ; and heaven being certainly 
 not for those who doubt whether their soul is im- 
 mortal, they have nothing to expect but hell or 
 nothingness. Nothing is more real than this, nor 
 more terrible. Do all that the brave demand of us, 
 and yet there is the end which awaits the most beau- 
 tiful of lives." Here is the secret of the King's 
 implacable sadness. Like all men who have but 
 
LOUIS XV. AND THE ROYAL FAMILY IN 1745 101 
 
 half a religion, he finds in it not consolations, but 
 terrors. The feasts of the Church are not joys but 
 tortures to him. 
 
 His monarchical faith is like his religious faith ; it 
 disturbs rather than reassures him. He feels him- 
 self unworthy to be the anointed of the Lord. His 
 conscience as a king troubles him as much as his con- 
 science as a Christian. He esteems neither himself 
 nor those who surround him. He willingly agrees 
 with his minister of foreign affairs, the Marquis 
 d'Argenson, a monarchist who talks like a republican, 
 that " Numerous and magnificent courts, the bait of 
 fools and the wicked, will never make the splendor 
 of royalty. There will always be display enough in 
 decency. ... Be persuaded that the greatest vice 
 of monarchical governments is what is called the 
 court. To begin with the monarch, it is from him 
 that all vices are drawn, and from him that they 
 spread as from the box of Pandora." But do not 
 exaggerate, do not force the note. Recollect espe- 
 cially that republican courts — and there are such, 
 for democrats in power also have their courtiers — 
 are neither more rigid nor more moral than those of 
 kings and emperors. 
 
 It must always be remembered that a real difference 
 exists between the royalty of Louis XIV. and that of 
 Louis XV. Louis XIV. performed his kingly duties 
 with the facility of a great actor playing his part, 
 or, better, with the dignity of an officiating priest. 
 Louis XV., on the contrary, in spite of his noble 
 
102 THE COURT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 bearing and the successful beginnings of his reign, is 
 almost ashamed of his royal dignity. He does not 
 like what is grand ; what he prefers are small apart- 
 ments, little suppers, petty conversations. At times 
 the monarch is not even a private gentleman; he is a 
 bourgeois who makes up his own kitchen accounts, 
 who saves candle-ends, who haggles with his domes- 
 tics, who leads a mean and grovelling existence. It 
 is not he who would have chosen the haughty device 
 of tne Sun King: Nee plurihus inipar. The beams of 
 the royal star dazzle his eyes. What pleases him is 
 not the splendid glittering Gallery of Mirrors, but 
 smart residences, little dwellings hid in verdure; 
 Choisy for example, where, as the Duke de Luynes 
 puts it, he is almost like a private person who takes 
 pleasure in doing the honors of his chateau. 
 
 But neither let us forget that from time to time 
 Louis XV. has inklings of greatness, dreams of glory 
 and power. He is not the sluggard king that badly 
 informed historians portray. Military instincts revive 
 in him. The pride of his race awaked. " The King 
 amidst his troops, becomingly uniformed in white or 
 blue or jonquil, his hat placed coquettishly above his 
 ear, the white cord, the shoulder-knot on his coat, 
 himself starts the gay speeches, the tales of gallantry. 
 The nobleman goes to battle in ruffles and powdered 
 hair, with perfume on his Brussels lace handkerchief ; 
 elegance has never done harm to courage, and polite- 
 ness is nobly allied to bravery." ^ 
 
 1 M. Capefigue, Madame la Marquise de Pompadour. 1 vol, 
 Amyot. 
 
LOUIS XV. AND THE ROYAL FAMILY IN 1746 103 
 
 1745 is a triumphant year, the year of Fontenoy, 
 one of our greatest national victories. There Louis 
 XV. and the Dauphin behave like sons of Henri IV. 
 Voltaire's enthusiasm when he celebrates this great 
 day is not made to order, and the advocate Barbier 
 is sincere in exclaiming that the reign of Louis XV. 
 is the finest in all French history. 
 
 Nor let us believe tlrat this monarch, over-lauded 
 by his contemporaries but too much decried by his- 
 tory, is as indolent as people like to say. On the 
 contrary, he works, and works a great deal. He not 
 merely presides with the greatest regularity at the 
 ministerial council, but he busies himself in a very 
 special way with military and diplomatic affairs. If 
 he readily agrees with what is proposed by his minis- 
 ters without troubling himself to contradict them, it 
 is because apart from official politics he has a secret 
 policy whose springs he personally controls.^ His 
 intentions are good, he loves France sincerely. What 
 then will ruin him? Two defects which are nearly 
 always inseparable : sensuality and indecision. 
 
 Sensuality enfeebles, enervates ; the man who is 
 its victim can no longer either act or will. In the 
 end he arrives at that commonplace benevolence, 
 that insignificant good nature, that absence of char- 
 acter and energy, those inconsistencies and hesitations 
 which rob sovereigns as well as private individuals 
 of the very notion of just ideas and the courage of 
 
 1 M. Boutaric, Correspondance Secrete de Louis XV. 
 
104 THE COURT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 salutary resolutions. Louis XV. comes from the 
 arms of his mistresses without force enough left to 
 be a king. 
 
 Distrust and timidity form the basis of his char- 
 acter. " He knows he is badly served," says M. 
 Boutaric; "absolute master, he has only to speak 
 to be obeyed, and, fortified by conscience, he can 
 command, but he is so timid, let us say the word, 
 so pusillanimous, that after having carefully sought 
 the best way and seen it clearly, he nearly always 
 decides, although with regret, for the worst which 
 is proposed to him by his ministers or his mistresses. 
 It is of public notoriety that when the King proposes 
 anything in council, his opinion is always combated, 
 and that, after making a number of objections, the 
 prince always ends by adopting that of his counsel- 
 lors, knowing, meantime, that he is doing wrong, and 
 muttering to himself, ' So much the worse ; they 
 would have it.' " Thus he illustrates those lines of 
 
 Horace : — 
 
 " Video meliora pvoboque, 
 Deteriora sequor." 
 
 There are moments when, to use the expression 
 of Duclos, he affects to regard himself as a disgraced 
 prince of the blood without any credit at court. One 
 day when the Queen is complaining of the opposition 
 made to one of her recommendations by a minister, 
 he says : " Why don't you do as I do ? I never ask 
 anything of those people." In spite of his omnipo- 
 tence he feels himself always under the necessity of 
 
LOUIS XV. AND THE ROYAL FAMILY IN 1745 105 
 
 employing subterfuges and underhand expedients. 
 According to a man who knew him well and saw him 
 every day, Le Roy, master of the hounds, he consid- 
 ered dissimulation the most needful quality for a 
 sovereign. " His hobby," says the Marquis d'A]-gen- 
 son, " is to be impenetrable." Another of his defects 
 is to consider that very honest men are generally not 
 very able. Hence the great number of disreputable 
 men whom he intrusts with most important posi- 
 tions. With such a system he is doomed to per- 
 petual fluctuations, to that variability which is the 
 sign of weakness. He will hesitate between peace 
 and war, between a Prussian and an Austrian alli- 
 ance, between the Parliamentarians and their ene- 
 mies, between the Jesuits and the Jansenists. Pie 
 has a horror of the philosophers, and he will make 
 Voltaire a gentleman of the chamber and lodge Ques- 
 nay in an entresol of the palace of Versailles. He 
 sincerely believes in the truth of the Catholic relig- 
 ion, and he will take as his mistress, counsellor, and 
 directress the friend of the Encyclopedists. By con- 
 viction and principle he is essentially conservative, 
 and he will be the precursor of the Revolution. 
 
 "Oh! how well the word feebleness," exclaims 
 D'Argenson, " expresses the passions of certain men 
 endowed with good nature and facility. They see 
 and approve the best and they follow the worst. 
 Their virility is but a prolongation of childhood. 
 Frequently they mistake the shadow of pleasure for 
 pleasure itself. Youthfulness, childishness, self-love 
 
106 THE COURT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 without pride, their acts of firmness are but obstinacy 
 and revolt. . . . With this sad character a prince 
 tliinks he governs well when he simply does not 
 govern at all. Every one deceives him, and he is the 
 chief of his own betrayers. He has mistresses for 
 whom he has no predilection, and absolute ministers 
 in whom he does not confide. All the defects of 
 which foreigners accuse Frenchmen are found in 
 him ; contrasts everywhere, the effects of a too frivo- 
 lous imagination which overmasters judgment ; wasted 
 talents, good taste which nothing can satisfy, exact- 
 ness in little things, inconstancy and lack of 
 enthusiasm in great ones . . . ; memory without 
 remembrance ; patience and calm, promptitude and 
 kindness, mystery and indiscretion, avidity for new 
 pleasures, disgust and ennui, momentary sensibility 
 succeeded by general and complete apathy . . . total, 
 a good master without humanity." 
 
 Having thus drawn the portrait of Louis XV., 
 D'Argenson says in speaking of the Queen : " She 
 attracts by certain attentions, she repels by making 
 her friendship too common. Her rank is a rallying 
 signal and, since the King has declared mistresses, 
 those who inveigh against scandal attach themselves 
 to her for the sake of displeasing the King and the 
 favorite. Their murmurs are proportioned to the 
 royal patience." 
 
 In 1745 Marie Leczinska, who is the King's senior 
 by seven years, has arrived at the age of forty-two. 
 When her tenth child was born, July 15, 1737, 
 
LOUIS XV. AND THE ROYAL FAMILY IN 1745 107 
 
 Madame Louise, who was one day to become a Car- 
 melite, some one asked the King, who already had 
 six living children, if the little princess should be 
 called Madame Seventh. He answered: "Madame 
 Last." Thenceforward the Queen was neglected. 
 Her husband has treated her with frigid politeness, 
 but has alwa3rs kept her at a distance ; he never 
 speaks to her except before witnesses. On New 
 Year's day he gives her no presents. Not the least 
 intimacy, the slightest unconstraint. The short daily 
 visits he pays her are matters of decorum, formalities 
 of etiquette. The Queen eats by herself. Between 
 her apartments and those of the King there is a 
 barrier which she never crosses. The familiar life 
 and the cabinet suppers are not for her. Separated 
 from each other by the Peace Salon, the Gallery of 
 Mirrors, and the Council Chamber, each of the spouses 
 has a life apart. 
 
 Marie Leczinska is the only person who maintains 
 at Versailles the ceremonious representation of the 
 court of the great King, not through pride, but out 
 of respect for principles. By eleven o'clock in the 
 morning she has already heard one Mass, seen the 
 King for an instant, received her children and 
 the little entries ; at noon the state toilette and the 
 great entries. At one o'clock Marie Leczinska hears 
 a second Mass. At two o'clock she dines in public,^ 
 
 1 The dinner took place in the room called the Queen's Ante- 
 chamber, No. 117 of the Notice du Musee, by M. Eudore SouliS. 
 
108 TEE COURT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 served by her maid of honor and four ladies in full 
 dress. A low balustrade separates her from a crowd, 
 always curious to be present at this repast and to 
 contemplate the features of a justly honored queen. 
 Toward six in the evening she plays the game of loto 
 then in fashion, the Cavagnole. When the King is 
 present, she never sits down until he bids her do so, 
 and 'tis a wonder if the pair exchange a few syllables. 
 At ten the Queen withdraws, and after supper she 
 sees a very restricted circle : the Duke and Duchess 
 de Luynes, Mesdames de Villars and de Chevreuse, 
 Minister Maurepas, Cardinals de Tencin and de 
 Luynes, President H^nault, Monerif, and sometimes 
 old Fontenelle. On Sundays the presentation of 
 ladies takes place. It is also the day chosen for 
 the taking of tabourets. The ceremonies occur in 
 the room called the Queen's Salon,i contiguous to the 
 sleeping-chamber. The sovereign's chair is placed 
 at the back of the room on a platform covered by a 
 canopy.^ "By a few words, a nod, a glance, a smile, 
 Marie Leczinska knows how to encourage the lady 
 presented, whose embarrassment soon yields to a 
 gentle confidence as the Queen addresses to her one 
 of those remarks which remain engraven in the 
 heart." ^ 
 
 1 Room No. 116 of the Notice du Musee. 
 
 ^ The gilted screw-rings which served to support this canopy 
 may still be seen in the cornice opposite the windows. 
 
 ' La reine Marie Leczinska, by Madame the Countess d' ArmaillS, 
 bom de Sfegur. 1 vol., Didier. 
 
LOUIS XV. AND THE ROYAL FAMILY IN ms 109 
 
 To sum up, neglected as she is by her husband, 
 the Queen is happier than he, because she has the 
 great boon, the supreme good, which he has not: 
 peace of heart. " What comparison is there," says a 
 great preacher, "between the frightful remorse of 
 conscience, that hidden worm which gnaws inces- 
 santly, that sadness of crime which undermines and 
 depresses, that weight of iniquity which crushes, that 
 interior sword which pierces and which we cannot 
 draw out, and the amiable sadness of penitence which 
 works salvation? "1 This expression "amiable sad- 
 ness " is most applicable to the Queen. Doubtless 
 she suffers profoundly at seeing Louis XV. throw 
 himself down the declivity of scandal. But, far 
 from recriminating, she offers her sufferings to God. 
 Gentle and pious victim, she finds ineffable consola- 
 tions at the foot of the altar. Instead of avenging 
 herself on the King by reproaches and bitter speeches, 
 she prays for him. Her calmness, resignation, charity, 
 her Christian virtues, and exquisite affability, make 
 her the object of universal veneration. She is called 
 nothing but the Good Queen. 
 
 The Dauphin ^ is not less esteemed than his mother. 
 In 1745 he is sixteen years old. He is a pious, 
 well-taught, well-intentioned young man. He has 
 
 1 Massillon, Sermon sur les degouts qui acaompagnent la piete. 
 
 2 Born at Versailles, September 4, 1729, died at Foiitainebleau, 
 December 20, 1765. He married a Spanish Infanta in 1745, and in 
 1747 a princess of Saxony, the mother of Louis XVI., Louis XVIII., 
 and of Charles X. 
 
110 THE COURT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 made serious studies. His favorite reading is Plato, 
 Cicero, Tacitus, Lucretius, Horace, Virgil, Juvenal. 
 He knows by heart the finest passages of the philoso- 
 phers and poets of antiquity. For him were made 
 those magnificent editions of the Louvre, Ad usuni 
 Delphini, one of the most precious monuments of 
 contemporary typography. 
 
 Full of respect for his father, he never speaks to 
 him but in the tone of profound submission. He 
 effaces himself, he holds himself in restraint. He 
 says : " A Dauphin should employ one half his mind 
 in concealing the other half." Louis XV. is suspi- 
 cious ; it is well not to offend him. 
 
 The Dauphin marries at Versailles, February 23, 
 1745, an Infanta of Spain, daughter of Philip V., 
 Marie Th^rese Antoinette Raphaelle, younger sister 
 of that Infanta Marie Anne Victoire whom Louis 
 XV. was to have married. The affront of sending 
 back that princess is thus repaired. The marriage 
 festivities are splendid ; no such pomp had ever been 
 seen. "As the King has need of money," writes 
 Barbier, "especially for the very considerable ex- 
 penses of the Dauphin's marriage, a great many 
 tontines are raised.*' The day that the Dauphiness 
 arrived at Etampes, the King, who went to meet 
 her, said: "Here is a good day's work done." She 
 replied : " Sire, this is not what I dreaded most ; I 
 flattered myself you would receive me kindly. I am 
 more afraid of to-morrow and the next day ; every- 
 body will be looking at me, and I shall perhaps find 
 
LOUIS XV. AND THE ROYAL FAMILY IN 1745 111 
 
 less favorable dispositions." The new Dauphiness 
 is not pretty, but she is sympathetic. Her amiability 
 wins everybody. She says to Madame de Brancas 
 that she does not understand how one can become 
 angry, and that if any possible case arose to make it 
 necessary, she would beg some one the day before 
 to do so in her stead. 
 
 This marriage diverts the King, who no longer 
 thinks of the poor Duchess de Ch§,teauroux, who has 
 been dead two months. Pleasures tread on each 
 other's heels. The court is dazzling. How superb 
 are these Versailles festivities, the last term of ele- 
 gance and luxury ! What a magnificent masked 
 ball! in the radiant Gallery of Mirrors, glittering 
 sanctuary of ecstasy and apotheosis, modern Olympus 
 which seems made for goddesses and gods ! Imagine 
 that aristocratic crowd which SAvarms up the Ambas- 
 sadors' Staircase, streams through the grand apart- 
 ments of the King, the halls of Venus, Diana, Mars, 
 Mercury, and Apollo, the War Salon, to be present at 
 the fairy-like ball given in the gallery under the 
 vaulted ceilings decorated by Lebrun's magic brush ! 
 Fancy the animation, the tumult of good company, 
 the harmonious orchestras, the witty or gallant con- 
 versations, the bright eyes glowing behind their 
 masks, the colossal mirrors reflecting the richest 
 and most varied costumes : fabulous divinities, great 
 lords and chatelaines of the Middle Ages, Watteau's 
 
 1 February 25, 1745. 
 
112 TBM COURT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 shepherds and shepherdesses ; chandeliers innumera- 
 ble, pyramids of candles, baskets of flowers, a rain of 
 diamonds and precious stones, and, to heighten still 
 more the bewildering charm, the mysterious presence 
 of that monarch, the handsomest man in all the 
 kingdom, who hides his royalty under the folds of 
 his domino ! 
 
 In our civilian and democratic century we find it 
 very difficult to get a perfect notion of such festivi- 
 ties. " We children of a wretched and bloody revo- 
 lution," as M. Capefigue says, "see these galleries 
 of glass and gilding inundated with people in rough 
 clothing, with noisy, hobnailed shoes, like a muddy 
 torrent spreading over a parterre of tulips and varie- 
 gated roses." Let us not forget that there was 
 chivalry and courage, carelessness and gaiety, ani- 
 mation and native wit, charm and elegance, in the 
 last fortunate days of the French nobility. If the 
 men who shone at that period should return, they 
 would find ours mean and irksome. 
 
 The noise of battle succeeds the echoes of the 
 orchestras. Two months and a half after this fine 
 ball Louis XV. and his son are with the army. The 
 King wishes that the Dauphin, although but sixteen 
 years old, should set an example, and at Fontenoy 
 the young man excites the admiration of old soldiers 
 by his ardor and courage. 
 
 Louis XV. is a happy father. His son is a model 
 of filial respect. His six daughters, Mesdames Elisa- 
 beth, Henriette, Adelaide, Victoire, Sophie, and 
 
LOUIS XV. AND THE ROYAL FAMILY IN 1745 113 
 
 Louise, all of whom with the exception of Madame 
 Adelaide were educated in the convent of Fonte- 
 vrault, have the most religious sentiments and display 
 profound affection for their father. Only one of 
 them is married, the eldest, Madame Elisabeth, who 
 espoused in 1739 the Infant Don Philip, son of the 
 King of Spain, and with whom Louis XV. did not 
 part without keen sorrow. In 1745 only two of his 
 daughters, Henriette and Adelaide, are with him. 
 The other three, Victoire, Sophie, and Louise, are 
 still at Fontevrault, and it is singular that this king, 
 so affectionate to his children, should leave them in 
 a convent eighty leagues from Versailles Avhen it 
 would be so easy to place them, if not close beside 
 him, at least in some neighboring convent. 
 
 In order to complete this sketch of the royal family 
 in 1745, it remains to say a few words about the 
 Duke d'Orl^ans and his son, the Duke de Chartres. 
 
 Born in 1703, and widowed since 1726 of a prin- 
 cess of Baden, the Duke d' Orleans, only son of the 
 regent, seldom shows himself at court. The prema- 
 ture death of his wife, whom he had the misfortune 
 of losing after two years of marriage, had inspired him 
 with extremely grave and Christian reflections. His 
 tastes have become those of an anchorite. In 1730 
 he resigned his position as Colonel-general in order 
 to be more at liberty to make very frequent retreats 
 at the Abbey of Sainte Genevieve. In 1742 he finally 
 renounced all political action, and quitted the Coun- 
 cil of State in order to install himself definitively 
 
114 THE COURT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 in his dear abbey, where he leads the life of a monk, 
 between prayer and study. He has left the adminis- 
 tration of his property to his mother, keeping for 
 himself only an income of one million eight hundred 
 thousand livres, which he spends almost entirely in 
 works of charity. 
 
 'Tis a curious type this prince, so little like his 
 father; this Christian, pious to asceticism, who sleeps 
 on straw, drinks only water, does without fire in 
 winter, who composes but* will not print austere 
 works, a translation of the Psalms with commentaries, 
 part of the Old Testament and some of the Epistles 
 of Saint Paul, a treatise against the theatre, histori- 
 cal and theological dissertations, — a monastic prince 
 whom the court has inclined to the cloister, who at 
 his death (February 4, 1752) will bequeath his 
 library to the Dominicans, his medals to the Abbey 
 of Sainte Genevieve, and Avhose funeral oration will 
 be composed by Jean Jacques Rousseau. 
 
 His son, the Duke de Chartres, is twenty years 
 old in 1745. A brilliant and brave young prince, 
 who has distinguished himself as colonel at the 
 battle of Dettingen, and as lieutenant-general at the 
 siege of Fribourg. Married in 1743 to Louise Hen- 
 riette de Bourbon-Conti, he loves the world as much 
 as his father dislikes it, and he will be one of the 
 principal actors in the theatre of the little apartments. 
 
 So long as the Dauphin has no male children, it 
 is the Orleans branch which, according to the renun- 
 ciations of the treaty of Utrecht, must ascend the 
 
LOUIS XV. AND THE ROYAL FAMILY IN 1745 115 
 
 throne of France in case of the death of Louis XV. 
 and his son. But on both sides of the Pyrenees the 
 practical value of these renunciations is contested. 
 When Louis XV. fell seriously ill before his mar- 
 riage, in 1721, Philip V. made ready to reclaim the 
 crown of France if the young King should die. 
 When tlie Dauphin, who as yet has no heir, will him- 
 self be in danger of death, Madame du Hausset will 
 write in her Memoirs : " The King would be in 
 despair at having a prince of the blood as his recog- 
 nized successor. He does not like them, and looks 
 at them so distantly as to humiliate them. When 
 his son recovered, he said : ' The King of Spain 
 would have had a good chance.' It is claimed that 
 he was right in this, and that it would have been 
 justice; but that if the Duke d'Orl(ians had had a 
 party, he might have claimed the throne." 
 
 We have just outlined the portraits of the members 
 of the royal family in 1745. We are about to study 
 the character of the woman who, issuing from the 
 middle classes, was to exercise a real domination over 
 the King and all his court during twenty years. 
 
II 
 
 THE BEGINNINGS OF THE MAKQUISE DE POMPADOUR 
 
 THERE are names which are the abridgment of 
 an entire society. Such is that gay name which 
 rhymes so well with " amour," which seems made ex- 
 pressly for a grande dame after the manner of Lancret 
 or Watteau, which would fit so well a comic opera or 
 a pastoral, which is worthy to figure in the Temple 
 of Cnidos and to be celebrated by the pretty little 
 verses of the Abb^ de Bernis, which evokes so many 
 souvenirs of immoral elegance and factitious senti- 
 mentality of boudoirs and alcoves, comedies and 
 gewgaws, pleasures and intrigues: the Marquise de 
 Pompadour. Woman, name, title, all are alike gra- 
 cious, pretty, sprightly; but nothing is simple, noth- 
 ing true. The character is that of a comedienne 
 perpetually on the stage. The beauty owes a great 
 part of its prestige to the refinements of luxury and 
 the artifices of the toilette. The marquisate is a 
 contraband one. 
 
 The future favorite seems predestined almost from 
 the cradle to her part. She is a little marvel, an 
 infant prodigy. She is only nine years old when a 
 
 116 
 
THE MARQUISE BE POMPADOUR 117 
 
 fortune-teller by cards predicts to her that she will 
 be the mistress of Louis XV. This prediction 
 delights her family ; they believe in it as if it were 
 written in the Gospels, and they decide to do all in 
 their power to realize it. Aid yourself, and hell will 
 aid you. She who was one day to call herself Madame 
 the Marquise de Pompadour was then named Jeanne 
 Antoinette Poisson. Born in Paris, December 29, 
 1721, she had a father who was vulgar even to 
 indecency, Fran9ois Poisson, former clerk of the 
 Paris brothers, who was condemned to be hanged in 
 1726 for malversations, but rehabilitated in 1741 after 
 several years of exile. Her mother was a Demoiselle 
 de la Motte, daughter of the provision contractor of 
 the H8tel des Invalides, a very pretty woman, guilty 
 of many infidelities to her husband, and very richly 
 subsidized by a gallant farmer-general, M. Lenormand 
 de Tournehem. The financier imagines, possibly 
 with good reason, that he is the father of little 
 Antoinette. Hence he gives her the most careful 
 education. She is taught everything except virtue. 
 Jeliotte teaches her singing and the harpsichord, 
 Guibaudet dancing, Cr^billon declamation. She is 
 an actress, a musician, an accomplished singer. She 
 imitates la Gaussin and la Clairon marvellously. She 
 rides admirably. She dresses ravishingly. She is as 
 pretty as Cupid. Nobody tells a story so well as 
 she. She is pleasing, amusing, delightful. Her 
 mother, enthusiastic over such charms, exclaims: 
 " She is a morsel for a king ! " 
 
118 TBE COURT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 But how to justify the prediction of the sorceress? 
 The place of king's mistress is occupied by none but 
 very great ladies : a Countess de Mailly, a Countess 
 de Vintimille, a Duchess de Chateauroux. Can little 
 Poisson aspire to the same r81e ? If she persists in 
 such schemes, will not people say that the keg always 
 smells of the herring? Will the Duke de Richelieu 
 permit a hourgeoise to supplant the nobility in this 
 fashion? Mademoiselle Poisson does not allow her- 
 self to be discouraged. She has her fixed idea. She 
 believes in what she calls her star. Her marriage is 
 the first rung of the ambitious ladder. March 9, 
 1741, she marries a rich young man, M. Lenormand 
 d'Etioles, deputy farmer-general, nephew of M. Lenor- 
 mand de Tournehem, Madame Poisson's lover. The 
 bride is nineteen, the husband twenty-four years old ; 
 he is madly in love, and as his wife tells him she will 
 never betray him unless for the King, he mutters : 
 " Then I can be very easy." 
 
 The young wife is presently the fashion. She is 
 the gem of that financial society which has made such 
 headway since the latter years of Louis XIV. Presi- 
 dent Hdnault writes to Madame du Deffand, July, 
 1742 : " At Madame de Montigny's I met one of the 
 prettiest women I have ever seen, Madame d'Etioles. 
 She understands music perfectly, sings with all possi- 
 ble gaiety and taste, knows a hundred ballads, and 
 plays comedy at Etioles on a stage as fine as that of 
 the Opera, with machinery and changes of scenes." 
 
 She prepares her success skilfully. The trumpets 
 
THE MARQUISE DE POMPADOUM 119 
 
 of fame are at her disposal. Voltaire, Montesquieu, 
 Fontenelle, the Abb(5 de Bernis, are her friends. At 
 Paris, in her house in rue Croix-des-Petits-Champs, 
 and at Etioles in her chateau near Corbeil, she leads 
 a life of luxury and pleasures. She is an enchant- 
 ress, a siren. But she has only one desire, — to make 
 the King the objective point of all this magic. She 
 would scorn any other conquest. 
 
 The man she must have is Louis XV. To arrive 
 at this conquest she will exhaust the resources of 
 feminine coquetry. Never were manoeuvres more 
 persevering, artifices more sagacious. She has to 
 play the enamoured woman, the passionate woman, 
 to pursue the King when he hunts in the forest of 
 S^nart, to pass and repass, like a graceful apparition, 
 like the goddess of the forests, through the midst of 
 the escort with their dogs and horses, sometimes 
 robed in azure in a rose-colored phaeton, sometimes 
 in rose in a phaeton of blue. One day she is on 
 horseback; another day she drives herself, in an 
 elegant conch shell of rock crystal, two chestnut 
 horses swift as lightning. The King inquires the 
 name of this elegant and pretty woman. Then he 
 sends her some of his game. Madame d'Etioles has 
 good hopes. The Duchess de Chateauroux is dead; 
 she is sure of replacing her. 
 
 The masked balls given at the time of the Dau- 
 phin's marriage are excellent opportunities to display 
 one's self. At the HStel de Ville ball the prettiest 
 women of the bourgeoisie are grouped together on a 
 
120 TBE COURT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 platform hung with velvet, silk, and gold. Madame 
 d'Etioles appears as Diana the huntress, powdered, 
 the quiver on her shoulder, the silver arrow in her 
 hand. For an instant she takes off her mask and 
 pretends to let fly an arrow at the King. " Beautiful 
 huntress," cries the King, " the darts you discharge 
 are fatal." Then she resumes her mask and slips 
 into the crowd, but dropping her lace handkerchief 
 as she goes. Louis XV. picks it up and, sultan-like, 
 launches it with a gallant hand at the beautiful 
 unknown. " The handkerchief is thrown," people 
 mutter on all sides. 
 
 Madame d'Etioles is about, then, to reach her goal. 
 She has no reproach to make against her husband, by 
 whom she has had two children : a son born in 1741, 
 who only lived six months, and a daughter, Alexan- 
 drine, born in 1743, who will live until 1754. This 
 husband is an excellent man, gentle, affectionate, 
 easy to live with, much in love with his wife, not at 
 all jealous, happy and proud to be the husband of 
 the prettiest woman in Paris. But what would you 
 have ? Madame d'Etioles has taken it into her head 
 to be the King's mistress. 'Tis a fantasy of a coquet- 
 tish woman which, she must absolutely realize. 
 
 Taking advantage of her husband's stay in the 
 country, and protected by one of her relatives, Bivet, 
 valet de chambre to the Dauphin, she makes her way 
 into the palace of Versailles and parades a romantic 
 passion for Louis XV. She says she is menaced by 
 M. d'Etioles' vengeance and begs the King to shelter 
 
THE MARQUISE DE POMPADOUB 121 
 
 her. The monarch is affected and installs her myste- 
 riously in the chamber formerly occupied by Madame 
 de Mailly. Poor M. d'Etioles, on his return to Paris, 
 learns what has befallen him. He faints away at 
 the fatal tidings, and afterwards writes his wife a 
 letter so touching that Louis XV., after reading it, 
 cannot avoid saying : " Madame, you have a very 
 honest husband." In despair at first, the betrayed 
 husband at last resigns himself. He does not try to 
 contend with a king, and repairs philosophically to 
 the south of France, to make an inspection into 
 finances which is part of his official duties as deputy 
 farmer-general. 
 
 At court there is great commotion. It seems 
 impossible to imagine that a woman of the middle 
 classes, une robine, as D'Argenson says, can replace 
 a great lady like the Duchess de Chateauroux. The 
 Duke de Luynes writes in his Memoirs, March 11, 
 1745 : " All the masked balls have given occasion 
 for talk concerning the King's new amours, and 
 principally of a Madame d'Etioles, who is young and 
 pretty. It is said that for some time she is nearly 
 always here, and that she is the King's choice. If 
 such is the fact, it can hardly be anything more than 
 a case of gallantry, and not of mistress." 
 
 Louis XV., who is fond of mystery, amuses himself 
 at first by being discreet. He conceals his new 
 favorite. "It is not known where she is lodged," 
 writes the Duke de Luynes, April 23, 1745, "but, 
 nevertheless, I think it is in a little apartment that 
 
122 THE COURT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 Madame de Mailly had, and which adjoins the little 
 cabinets ; she does not live here all the time, bat 
 comes and goes to Paris." 
 
 A few days later. May 5, 1745, the King sets off 
 for the army with the Dauphin. But Madame d'Eti- 
 oles has the good sense not to rejoin him there. Nor 
 does she remain at Versailles, but withdraws to her 
 chS,teau of Etioles, near Corbeil, where Voltaire and 
 the Abb6 de Bernis keep her company. Louis XV., 
 much more occupied with his new mistress than with 
 the war, writes her letter upon letter. The Abb€ 
 de Bernis counsels the favorite who, with such a 
 secretary, cannot fail to reply to her royal lover in 
 the most charming and gallantly turned epistles. 
 "We read in the Memoirs of the Duke de Luynes 
 (June 19, 1745): "Madame d'Etioles is still in the 
 country, near Paris, and has never wanted to go to 
 Flanders. The King is more in love than ever ; he 
 writes and sends couriers to her at every moment." 
 
 All France uttered a cry of enthusiasm on learn- 
 ing the victory of Fontenoy (May 11, 1745). But 
 could one believe it? The person first felicitated 
 by Voltaire on account of that glorious day was 
 neither Louis XV. nor Marshal de Saxe, but Madame 
 d'Etioles. Before writing his poem on Fontenoy, the 
 obsequious poet addressed the favorite in these 
 
 stanzas : — 
 
 " Quand Cdsar, oe heros charmant, 
 Dont tout Kome fut idoiatre, 
 Gagnait quelque combat brillant, 
 On en faisait sou compliment 
 A la divine Cl^opatre. 
 
TBE MABQUISE BE POMPADOUR 123 
 
 " Quant Louis, ce heros charmant, 
 Dont tout Paris fait son idole, 
 Gagne quelque combat brillant, 
 On doit en faire compliment 
 A la divine d'lStiole." ^ 
 
 France, always maddened by success, is in a real 
 delirium. The Parliament of Paris sends a deputa- 
 tion to Lille to felicitate the King on his victory 
 and entreat him "so far as may be, not to expose 
 in future his sacred person, on which the welfare 
 and safety of the State depend." All the supreme 
 courts of the kingdom imitate that of Paris, and the 
 first president of the court of taxes exclaims in his 
 address to the King : " Your Majesty's conquests are so 
 rapid that the point is how to safeguard the faith of 
 our descendants and lessen the wonder of miracles, lest 
 heroes should dispense themselves from following, 
 and people from believing, in them." But the con- 
 quest which chiefly preoccupies Louis XV. is that 
 of his new mistress. 
 
 In July, 1745, she proudly displays eighty amorous 
 epistles from the gallant sovereign; the motto on 
 the seal is : Discreet and faithful ; one of them is 
 
 1 When Csesar, that charming hero, 
 Whom all Kome idolized, 
 Gained some brilliant combat, 
 People complimented on it 
 The divine Cleopatra. 
 
 When Louis, that charming hero, 
 Who is the idol of all Paris, 
 Gains some brilliant combat. 
 One must compliment on it 
 The divine D'J&tioles. 
 
124 TBE COURT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 addressed : A la Marquise de Pompadour, and con- 
 tains the brevet conferring this title. The new mar- 
 quise instantly discards the name of Etioles, leaves 
 off her husband's arms, substitutes three towers in 
 their place, and puts her servants in grand livery. 
 This marquisate enchants Voltaire ; he has become 
 the official poet, courtier, and familiar of the favorite, 
 and his complaisant muse thus celebrates the official 
 accession of the new royal mistress : — 
 
 " II salt aimer, il salt combattre ; 
 II envoie en ce beau sejour 
 Un brevet digue d'Henri quatre, 
 Signe : Louis, Mars et I'Amour. 
 Mais les ennemis out leur tour, 
 Et sa valeur et sa prudence 
 Donnent k Gand, le meme jour, 
 Un brevet de ville de France. 
 Ces deux brevets, si bien venus, 
 Vivront tous deux dans la mdmoire. 
 Chez lui, les autels de Venus 
 Sont dans le temple de la Gloire." ' 
 
 The democrats, perhaps, are in a trifle too much 
 
 of a hurry to erect a statue to Voltaire. 
 
 1 He knows how to love and how to fight ; 
 He sends to this fair abode 
 A brevet worthy of Henry Fourth, 
 Signed : Louis, Mars, and Love. 
 But the enemies have their turn. 
 And his valor and his prudence 
 Give to Ghent, the same day, 
 A brevet as a French city. 
 These two brevets, so welcome. 
 Will both survive in memory. 
 With him the altars of Venus 
 Are in the temple of Glory. 
 
Ill 
 
 THE NEW MABQXJISB 
 
 LOUIS XV. had had enough of glory. Impatient 
 to meet again the new marquise, he left the 
 army September 1, 1745, and returned to Versailles, 
 where his mistress awaited him in the apartment 
 once occupied by the Duchess de Chateauroux. 
 This change of reign was effected in an oificial 
 manner. There was no more attempt at mystery. 
 The Marquise de Pompadour v>a.s presented September 
 15, conformably to the rules of etiquette. Every 
 tongue at court was wagging over this scandalous 
 and ridiculous ceremony. Every one wondered how 
 the Queen would look. The King, his wife, and his 
 mistress thus exposed themselves to public view, 
 and the ancient ceremonial became merely a parody. 
 The Princess de Conti, whose debts and prodigalities 
 seemed to condemn her to such complaisant r61es, 
 was the lady who presented her. The Marquise 
 appeared at first before the King, whose countenance 
 betrayed an easily comprehended embarrassment. 
 Then she entered the salon of the Queen and could 
 not hide her confusion. 
 
 125 
 
126 THE COURT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 But Marie Leczinska, good and indulgent even to 
 exaggeration, reassured her by a gracious reception. 
 Naming one of the few aristocratic women with 
 whom Madame de Pompadour was connected, she 
 said : " Have you any news of Madame de Saissac ? 
 I have been much pleased to see her sometimes in 
 Paris." The Marquise, touched and grateful, know 
 not what to answer. She reddened and stammered 
 out : " Madame, I have the greatest passion to please 
 
 you." 
 
 The Abb^ de Bernis celebrated thus the new queen 
 of Cythera : — 
 
 " Tout va changer : les crimes d'un volage 
 Ne seront plus eriges en exploits. 
 La Pudeur seul obtiendra notre hommage, 
 L'amour constant rentrera dans ses droits. 
 
 L'exemple en est donne par le plus grand des rois, 
 
 ■ Et par la beaute la plus sage." ^ 
 
 The choice of Louis XV. was thenceforward set- 
 tled. The gallant monarch was about to plume him- 
 self on fidelity. 
 
 What do you think of this modesty and this dis- 
 cretion? As Sainte-Beuve says, these poets have a 
 way of taking things which belongs to them alone. 
 
 1 All is about to change : the crimes of an inconstant 
 No longer will be vaunted as exploits. 
 Modesty alone will obtain our homage, 
 Constant Love will resume his rights. 
 The example of it is given by the greatest of kings 
 And the most discreet of beauties. 
 
TSE NEW MARQUISE 127 
 
 There was plenty of adulation, but there was also 
 plenty of fault-finding. The great ladies could not 
 get used to seeing a bourgeoise occupy the post of 
 King's mistress. Tliey observed with malevolent 
 and ever alert attention this improvised marquise 
 who tried to give herself airs of nobility and gran- 
 deur. They recalled the fact that her grandfather 
 had been provision-contractor for the H8tel des 
 Invalides. She is the granddaughter of a butcher, 
 said they ; they jeered pitilessly about meat and fish ; 
 they found her awkward in her part, like a grisette 
 disguised as a marchioness. Exasperated at seeing 
 at Versailles a royal mistress not of his choosing, the 
 Duke de Richelieu tried, says Duclos, " to make the 
 King consider her on the footing of a bourgeoise out 
 of place, a passing gallantry, a simple amusement not 
 adapted to remain worthily at court." If anything 
 in her manners or her language was not perfectly 
 well-bred, the favorite became the butt of sarcasm as 
 soon as her back was turned. Louis XV. used to 
 say : " It will amuse me to educate her." 
 
 Madame de Pompadour had at all events the good 
 sense to maintain a humble and submissive attitude 
 when she appeared before the Queen. The rank and 
 virtues of Marie Leczinska intimidated her. Here is 
 a curious passage which occurs in the Memoirs of the 
 Duke de Luynes : " Day before yesterday, as she was 
 returning from Mass, Madame de Pompadour said to 
 Madame de Luynes that she was in the keenest 
 anxiety and most bitter sorrow ; that she knew some- 
 
128 TBE COURT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 body had frightfully aspersed her to the Queen ; and, 
 without explaining to what she referred, said she 
 hoped greatly that the Queen would not believe it, 
 and that she begged her to speak about it to her. 
 Madame de Luynes instantly gave an account of 
 this to the Queen." Here is the letter written to 
 Madame de Pompadour by the Duchess de Luynes : 
 "I have just been speaking to the Queen, Madame, 
 and I earnestly entreated her to tell me frankly if she 
 had anything against you ; she answered in the kindli- 
 est way that she had not, and that she was even very- 
 sensible of your efforts to please her on all occasions ; 
 she even desired me to write and tell you so." 
 
 This is the reply of the Mai'quise : " You bring 
 me to life again, Madame ; for three days I have 
 been in unheard-of pain, as you will believe with- 
 out difficulty, knowing as you do my attachment to 
 the Queen. They have made frightful accusations 
 against me to Monsieur and to Madame the Dauphin- 
 ess, who have been kind enough to allow me to prove 
 the falsity of the horrors they accuse me of. I had 
 been told some days ago that the Queen had been 
 prejudiced against me ; think of my despair, who 
 would give my life for her, who find her goodness to 
 me every day more precious. It is certain that the 
 kinder she is to me, the more will the jealousy of the 
 monsters of this place be employed in abusing me, 
 unless she is so good as to be on her guard against 
 them and will kindly let me know of what I am 
 accused. It will not be difficult for me to justify 
 
THE NEW MARQUISE 129 
 
 myself; the tranquillity of my soul on this subject 
 assures me as much. I hope, Madame, that your 
 friendship for me, and still more your knowledge of 
 my character, Avill be the guarantees of what I am 
 writing you. Doubtless you must be annoyed by 
 such a long story; but my heart is so full that I 
 cannot conceal it from you. You know my senti- 
 ments toward you, Madame ; they will end only with 
 my life " (February, 1746). 
 
 We read again in the Memoirs of the Duke de 
 Luynes' (March, 1746): "Madame de Pompadour, 
 who knows the Queen loves flowers, is so attentive 
 as to send her bouquets as often as possible ; she 
 continues to seek every occasion to please her." 
 
 The Queen may have reflected that, after all, since 
 a mistress was inevitable, this one was better than 
 another. Since he had been directed by Madame de 
 Pompadour, the King seemed in a less sombre temper 
 and looked a little less bored. But he lost in the 
 favorite's society the needful energy to continue the 
 successes of the French arms, and sign a really 
 glorious peace. 
 
 While Louis XV. was thus wasting away in futili- 
 ties. Marshal Saxe conquered all Belgium. Louis 
 XV. never made his appearance at the army from 
 May 4 to the middle of June, 1746. After having 
 made a triumphal entry at Antwerp he hastened back 
 to Versailles, apparently to be present when the 
 Dauphiness was delivered, in reality to see Madame 
 de Pompadour again. The Dauphiness died prema- 
 
130 THE COVET OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 turely in July. D'Argenson says she had become 
 as good a Frenchwoman as if she had been born at 
 Versailles. She was regretted, but the hurly-burly 
 of festivities soon began again, and Louis XV., after 
 a very short mourning, resumed his accustomed 
 diversions and pretended pleasures. 
 
 The successes of his troops were as brilliant as 
 they were rapid. Never had France held better 
 cards. It was a magnificent occasion to complete 
 national unity in the North. But though they had 
 known how to conquer they knew not how to profit 
 by the victory. The King did not comprehend his 
 mission. He was thinking more about Madame de 
 Pompadour than about the war, and while his sol- 
 diers were fighting so bravely, he, wholly given up 
 to frivolous trifles, was amusing himself, or, better, 
 he was trying to do so. This nonchalance became 
 fatal. All the fruits of the war were lost by the 
 treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (October 18, 1748). 
 
 People had believed that Louis XV., who was 
 master of all Belgium, of two Dutch provinces, of 
 Savoy, and the county of Nice, would claim to retain 
 at least a part of his conquests. But, to the general 
 surprise, he declared he would not treat as a mer- 
 chant, but as a king. This more than amazing phrase 
 signified that France would demand nothing, noth- 
 ing for so many dearly bought victories, nothing for 
 the five hundred thousand men she had sacrificed, 
 nothing for the twelve hundred millions added to 
 the national debt. Louis XV. restored all the con- 
 
THE NEW MABQVISE 131 
 
 quered cities and territories. He engaged not to 
 rebuild the fortresses of Dunkirk ; he recognized the 
 English succession in the Protestant line and carried 
 complaisance toward the vanquished of Fontenoy to 
 the point of expelling the Pretender, the heroic 
 Charles Edward, from France. Add to this that the 
 French navy, like that of Spain, was half ruined, and 
 that the time was not far distant when the sailor might 
 salute the ocean as Britannic. It is true that the In- 
 fant Philip, married to the eldest daughter of Louis 
 XV., obtained the duchies of Parma and Plaisance. 
 But this was but a petty advantage considered as a 
 recompense for so many sacrifices of men and money. 
 
 As might have been expected, the peace of Aix-la- 
 Chapelle was profoundly unpopular. " As stupid as 
 the peace," people said in Paris. The odium of it 
 was cast upon the woman who, to play her part as 
 queen of the left hand, had meddled with diplomacy, 
 finances, and the army. 
 
 In 1746 Voltaire had written to Louis XV. : — 
 
 " Grand roi, Londres gemit, Vienne pleure et t'admire. 
 Ton bras va decider du destin de I'Empire. 
 La Sardaigne balance et Munich se repent, 
 Le Batave, indeois, au remords est en prole ; 
 Et la France s'dcrie au milieu de sa joie r 
 ' Le plus aimd des rois est aussi le plus grand ! ' " i 
 
 1 Great King, London groans, Vienna weeps and admires tliee. 
 Thine arm is about to decide the fate of the Empire. 
 Sardinia wavers, and Munich repents ; 
 Batavia, undecided, is a prey to remorse ; 
 And France exclaims amidst her joy : 
 "The best loved of Kings is also the greatest ! " 
 
132 THE COUBT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 ^ * 
 
 Everything was greatly changed in 1748 ; London 
 no longer groaned, and Vienna did not admire. 
 There was neither repentance at Munich nor remorse 
 at Batavia, and very little was said about the great- 
 ness of the best beloved of Kings. The situation 
 already contained in germ the disasters of the future 
 Seven Years' War. France, which loves success, no 
 longer compared Madame de Pompadour to la belle 
 G-ahrielle. But the favorite had one grand consola- 
 tion under the rain of sarcasms and satires ; her 
 theatre of the little Cabinets of Versailles was suc- 
 ceeding very well ; and if she was hissed as a political 
 woman, she was warmly applauded as an actress. 
 
IV 
 
 MADAME DB POMPADOUK'S THBATEE 
 
 " ~r HAVE seen all that is done under the sun, 
 -L. and beheld that all is vanity and vexation of 
 spirit. I have said within myself: Let us take all 
 manner of delights and let us enjoy our possessions ; 
 and I have recognized that this too is vanity. I have 
 condemned the laughter of folly and I have cried 
 unto joy : Why dost thou deceive us vainly? " 
 
 What the Preacher thought, Louis XV. thought 
 also. Like Solomon, he was bored. His ennui was 
 the terror of Madame de Pompadour. The problem 
 she had to solve was how to entertain a man who 
 could no longer be amused. The favorite trembled. 
 Here was her favor barely begun, and already she 
 beheld symptoms of indifference and lassitude in her 
 royal lover. D'Argenson writes in 1747 : " The 
 Pompadour is about to be dismissed. The King will 
 live with his family." The Marquise was afraid lest 
 the sovereign, who really had a badly understood 
 but sincere religion at bottom, might some day 
 conclude to be truly devout. Hence she desired at 
 any cost to divert him from serious ideas and plunge 
 
 133 
 
134 THE COURT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 him, in his own despite, into the vortex of false 
 pleasures whose emptiness and poverty he knew so 
 ■well. 
 
 Even amid the splendors of Versailles, the new 
 Marquise regretted her successes as a private actress. 
 The echo of the applause she had become accustomed 
 to in the parlor theatres of M. Leuormand de Tour- 
 nehem, at Etioles, and of Madame de Villemur, at 
 Chantemerle, still resounded in her flattered ears. 
 Those who are habituated to the emotions and vani- 
 ties of the stage cannot easily do without them. 
 Madame de Pompadour was homesick for the foot- 
 lights and the boards. To play in comedy is such a 
 fine occasion for a pretty woman to shine ! To see 
 all eyes fixed on her ; to put beauty and her toilettes 
 in the best lights ; to be greeted when she appears 
 by a murmur of admiration; to receive when the 
 play is ended the rain of flowers and garlands that 
 tumble at her feet; and at last, when the actress 
 resumes the grande dame and re-enters the drawing- 
 room, to glean compliments, madrigals, and enthusi- 
 astic plaudits afresh, — what a triumph for a fashion- 
 able woman, what exquisite joy for a coquette ! 
 
 Women of the highest social rank are often jealous 
 of actresses. It annoys them to perceive that they 
 have not that order of charms which comediennes 
 possess. They envy them the privilege of attracting 
 the attention of a whole theatre, of being the object 
 of all regards, the subject of all eulogies, and the 
 ability to say to a lover after a triumph: "I have 
 
MADAME DJE POMPADOUR'S THEATRE 135 
 
 played only for you, I have thought of you alone ; 
 these flowers that have been thrown to me 'I give to 
 you." They envy them the excitement of those 
 noisy ovations, in comparison with which all the 
 flatteries of society seem tame. They envy them 
 above all that faculty of metamorphosis which trans- 
 forms the same woman into a shepherdess or a queen, 
 a nymph or a goddess, so that a man while adoring 
 a single beauty, but a beauty incessantly changed 
 and transfigured, finds himself at once faithful and 
 inconstant. 
 
 This is why Madame de Pompadour wanted to 
 play comedy at Versailles. Little by little she ac- 
 customed Louis XV. to this idea. Holy Week was 
 always a sad time for the monarch, who was tortured 
 by remorse and ashamed of playing so badly his 
 part as eldest son of the Church. The favorite con- 
 ceived the notion of enlivening this dreaded week 
 by interludes, half religious, half profane. Accom- 
 panied by actors and amateurs, she sang pieces of 
 sacred music. This Lent d la Pompadour, this mix- 
 ture of church and opera, this exchange of religious 
 for chamber, not to say alcove, music, was very 
 acceptable to such a character as Louis XV. and a 
 devotion as inconsistent and spurious as his. The 
 courtiers, of course, went into ecstasies over the 
 charming voice of the Marquise. They reminded 
 the King of the triumphs of the little theatres at 
 Etioles and Chantemerle, and pitied him for not 
 having seen comedy played by so remarkable an 
 
136 THE COURT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 actress. Sacred music had served its time ; another 
 sort was now in order. 
 
 Madame de Pompadour achieved her purpose. A 
 theatre was constructed for her at Versailles, — a 
 miniature theatre, an elegant little place, a perfect 
 gem.i The spot chosen was the gallery contiguous 
 to the former Cabinet of Medals, a dependence of 
 the King's small apartments (room No. 137 of the 
 Notice du MusSe de Versailles, by M. Eudore Souli^). 
 Nearly one-third of the orchestra was composed of 
 amateurs belonging to the most illustrious families, 
 the other two-thirds being professional artists. The 
 chorus singers were selected among the King's musi- 
 cians. The dancers were boys and girls from nine 
 to thirteen years at most, who, on reaching the latter 
 age, were to enter the ballet corps of the opera, the 
 Theatre Frangais, or the Com^die-Italienne (the 
 little girls distinguished themselves later on in chore- 
 graphic shows and gallantry). Celebrated painters, 
 Boucher at their head, supplied the decorations. 
 The mise en scene and the costumes were of incom- 
 parable elegance. As to the actors and actresses, 
 they bore such names as the Duke de Chartres, the 
 Duke d'Ayen, the Duke de Duras, the Duke de 
 Nivernais, the Duke de Coigny, the Marquis d'En- 
 traigues, the Count de Maillebois, the Duchess de 
 
 1 See the accurate and interesting little work ty M. Adolphe 
 Julian : Histoire du Theatre de Mme. de Pompadour, dit TheQtre 
 des petits cabinets, with m- etching by Martial after Boucher. 
 
MADAME BE POMPADOUR'S THEATRE 137 
 
 Brancas, the Marquise Livry, the Countess d'Es- 
 trades, Madame de Marchais, and finally, the principal 
 actress, the Armida of all these enchantments, the 
 Marquise de Pompadour. The Duke de La Valli^re 
 was chosen as director of the troupe ; as sub-director 
 Vhistoriogriffe of cats, Moncrif, academician and 
 reader to the Queen ; as secretary and prompter, the 
 Abh6 de La Garde, librarian to the Marquise. 
 Madame de Pompadour drew iip the regulations for 
 the players. As approved by the King, they con- 
 tained ten articles : — 
 
 " 1. In order to be admitted as an associate, it will 
 be necessary to prove that this is not the first time 
 that one has acted, so as not to make one's novitiate 
 in the troupe. 
 
 "2. Every one shall choose his own line of charac- 
 ters. 
 
 " 3. No one may choose a different line from that 
 for which he has been accepted, without obtaining 
 the consent of all the associates. 
 
 " 4. One cannot, in case of absence, appoint his 
 substitute (a right expressly reserved to the Society 
 which will appoint by an absolute majority). 
 
 " 5. On his return, the person replaced will resume 
 his own line. 
 
 " 6. No associate can refuse a part appropriate to 
 his line under pretext that such a part is unsuitable 
 to his manner of acting or too fatiguing. 
 
 " 7. The actresses alone have the right to select 
 the pieces to be represented by the troupe. 
 
138 TBE COURT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 " 8. They shall also have the right to fix the day 
 of representation, the number of rehearsals, and the 
 days and hours when they shall occur. 
 
 " 9. Each actor is bound to be present at the pre- 
 cise hour appointed for the rehearsal under penalty 
 of a fine which the actresses alone shall determine 
 among themselves. 
 
 " 10. To the actresses alone a half-hour's grace is 
 accorded, after which the fine they will have incurred 
 shall be decided by themselves only. 
 
 "A copy of these statutes will be given to each 
 secretary, who shall be bound to fetch it to each 
 rehearsal ." 
 
 Madame de Pompadour was quite right in drawing 
 up a severe code of regulations, for it is not an easy 
 thing to establish discipline in a troupe composed of 
 society people, where the intrigues of the courtier 
 are added to the vanity of the actor. What petty 
 jealousies, what mean vanities! What manoeuvres 
 to obtain this or that part, what solicitations and 
 cabals to ensure merely a spectator's place in the 
 ccenaculum ! 
 
 Louis XV. occupied himself seriously with such 
 trifles. The direction of this miniature theatre 
 gave him no fewer cares than the government of 
 France. He reserved to himself the right of select- 
 ing the spectators, and it was a signal favor to have 
 been thus chosen. Notwithstanding their ardent 
 desire to be among the privileged persons, neither 
 Marshal de Noailles, the Duke de Gesores, nor the 
 
MADAME BE POMPADOUR'S THEATRE 139 
 
 Prince de Conti were admitted to the opening of 
 the theatre. It took place January 17, 1747. Tar- 
 tuffe was given. Madame de Pompadour played 
 Dorine. The first theatrical season of the little 
 cabinets lasted until March 17. 
 
 After having secured applause as an actress in 
 Tartvffe, Les Trois Cousines, and Le PrSjuge a la 
 Mode, the Marquise triumphed as a cantatrice in 
 Erigone : " Madame de Pompadour sang very well," 
 says the Duke de Luynes; " her voice has not much 
 volume, but a very agreeable sound ; she knows 
 music well and sings with much taste." 
 
 The second theatrical season lasted from Decem- 
 ber 20, 1747, to March 30, 1748. The first repre- 
 sentation comprised a comedy, Le Manage fait et 
 rompu, and a pastoral, Ismene, the words by Mon- 
 crif . Voltaire's Enfant prodigue was given Decem- 
 ber 20, to the author's great joy. Madame de 
 Pompadour had promised Gresset to produce Le 
 Merchant. She kept her word. The play required 
 two months of study. It was given February 
 6, 1748, Madame de Pompadour playing Lisette. 
 The Duke de Nivernais was excellent as Valere, 
 and the Duke de Chartres took the part of 
 G^ronte. The grateful Gresset thanked the Mar- 
 quise thus : — 
 
 " On lie trace que sur le sable 
 La parole vague et peu stable 
 De tous les seigneurs de la cour ; 
 Mais sur le bronze inalterable 
 
140 THE COURT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 Les Muses ont trace le nom de Pompadour 
 Et sa parole invariable." ^ 
 
 Pastorals, opera ballets, comedies, succeeded each 
 other quickly. (The complete list may be found 
 in the opuscule of M. Adolphe Julien.) The usual 
 spectators were those of the actors and actresses 
 who were not playing, Marshal Saxe, Marshal de 
 Duras, all the ministers. President H^nault, the 
 Abb^ de Bernis. The King did not have a fauteuil. 
 He sat in an ordinary chair and, according to the 
 Duke de Luynes, he seemed to be amused. 
 
 The Marquise was charming in the ballet of 
 Almases. She had a splendid costume : a low-cut 
 corsage of pink taffeta trimmed with silver wire, 
 a petticoat of the same, pinked out with silver, 
 opening over a second petticoat of white taffeta 
 pinked out and embroidered in rose color; the man- 
 tle draping the whole was of white taffeta glazed 
 with silver and embroidered in flowers of their 
 natural color. 
 
 The first dancer of the troupe was the Marquis 
 de Courtenvaux ; the second, Count de Langeron. 
 Others were the Duke de Beuvron and Count de 
 Melfort, to whom were adjoined a ballet corps com- 
 posed of young boys and little girls. Mesdemoiselles 
 
 1 One traces but on sand 
 The vague and unstable promises 
 Of all the nobles of the court ; 
 But on imperishable bronze 
 The Muses have have traced the name of Pompadour 
 And her invariable promise. 
 
MADAME BE POMPADOUR'S THEATRE 141 
 
 Gaussin and Dumesnil, of the Com6die-Fran§aise, 
 gave advice to the actresses. 
 
 Under the title of ComSdies et ballets des petites 
 apartements, a collection was published, bearing on 
 its title-page a notice that it was "Printed by- 
 express command of His Majesty." Many were 
 displeased by this, especially the courtiers who were 
 not admitted to the much-envied entertainments. 
 The Marquis d'Argenson, who for some time had 
 ceased to be minister of foreign affairs, wrote March 
 1, 1748, in his Danubian peasant style : " They have 
 just published a very ridiculous collection of the 
 divertisements of the theatre of the cabinets or small 
 apartments of His Majesty, — wretched and flatter- 
 ing lyrics ; one finds in it dancing and singing 
 actors, general officers and buffoons, great court 
 ladies and theatre girls. In fact, the King spends 
 his time nowadays in seeing the Marquise and the 
 other personages trained by all these professional 
 actors, who familiarize themselves with the monarch 
 in an impious and sacrilegious fashion." 
 
 In October, 1748, France had lost, by the treaty 
 of Aix-la-Chapelle, an opportunity to enlarge its 
 dominions. Louis XV. consoled himself by enlarg- 
 ing, if not the realm, at least the theatre of the 
 little cabinets. A new hall was constructed in 
 the space containing the great staircase of the Am- 
 bassadors,^ care being taken to injure neither the 
 
 1 This staircase, whioh led to the large apartments of the King, 
 was destroyed in 1750. The present staircase in the wing of the 
 palace was constructed on the side of it. 
 
142 THE COURT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 marble nor the pictures. The new theatre was 
 movable. Fourteen hours were necessary to strip 
 it, and twenty-four to set it up again. It was opened 
 November 27, 1748, by the Surprises de. Famour, a 
 play due to the collaboration of Gentil-Beniard, 
 Moncrif, and De Rameau. The hall was a master- 
 piece of elegance. But Louis XV. was not amused. 
 He yawned. The grand opera of Tanored was given 
 December 10, Madame de Pompadour singing the 
 part of Herminie. Two days later Quinault's Mere 
 coquette was played. The really indefatigable Mar- 
 quise took the part of Laurette. She made a suc- 
 cess, even according to D'Argenson, her implacable 
 enemy, who wrote, not without vexation : " The 
 King, who was said to be tired of the favorite 
 sultana, is more insane than ever about her. She 
 has sung and played so well in the last ballets at 
 Versailles that the King praised her publicly, and 
 caressing her before everybody, said to her that 
 she was the most charming woman in France." 
 
 The beginning of 1749 was signalized by the great 
 quarrel between the dukes of Richelieu and La 
 Valliere. The Duke de Richelieu was one of the 
 four first gentlemen of the chamber who, in virtue 
 of their charge, had the grand apartments of the 
 King under their jurisdiction. Now the new theatre 
 was constructed in the space occupied by the great 
 stairway of the Ambassadors, which was considered 
 an integral part of the grand apartments. Conse- 
 quently, the first gentlemen of the chamber claimed 
 
MADAME I)E POMPADOUR'S THEATRE 143 
 
 that the right to direct the theatre appertained to 
 that one of themselves who was on duty, and that 
 the Duke de La ValliSre infringed upon this right. 
 The Duke d'Aumont, who was on duty in 1748, 
 raised the question, but somewhat timidly. Madame 
 de Pompadour mentioned the matter to Louis XV., 
 who contented himself with replying : " Let His 
 Excellency" (the title he gave Richelieu) "come. 
 You will see something quite different." 
 
 His Excellency made his appearance at the be- 
 ginning of 1749, and as soon as he took up his func- 
 tions he began a desperate striiggle against the Duke 
 de La Valli^re. 
 
 "He made nothing of thwarting little Pompa- 
 dour," wrote D'Argenson, " and treating her like an 
 opera girl, having had great experience with that 
 sort of women and with all women. Mistress as she 
 is of the King and the court, he will torment and 
 tire her out." 
 
 But Richelieu went too far. Some days later, 
 D'Argenson wrote in his journal : " M. de Richelieu 
 is too much attached to the trifles of the ballet 
 theatre. They say he has behaved like a fool ; he 
 was too open in his antagonism to the mistress, and 
 she has regained the upper hand. People consider 
 her to count for as much or more than Cardinal 
 Fleury in the government. Woe to any one who 
 dares to pit himself against her at present! She 
 unites pleasure to decision, and the suffrages of the 
 principal ministers to the force of habit which is con- 
 
144 TSE COTTBT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 stantly gaining strength in a mild and affectionate 
 monarch. But woe to the state governed in this 
 way by a coquette ! People are exclaiming on all 
 hands. It is kicking against the pricks to revolt 
 in any wise against her. Richelieu has found that 
 out ; he ought to give up this trifling business of the 
 ballet stage in order to pursue greater, more impor- 
 tant, and more virtuous matters. It would have been 
 enough for him to absent himself from these operas 
 and to do so from pride, as soon as his charge was 
 injuriously affected by them. The instructions he 
 gave the musicians were thus worded : ' Such a person 
 will be present at such an hour to play in Madame 
 de Pompadour's opera.' He was worsted at every 
 step. The real friends of those who made any pre- 
 tensions advised them strongly to make their way by 
 means of Madame the Marquise; homage must be 
 paid to her." 
 
 Like the majority of men too much favored by 
 women, Richelieu resembled a spoiled child. He 
 was stingy, proud, and wilful. However, he ended 
 by yielding. When this quarrel of etiquette was 
 at its height, Louis XV. carelessly asked him this 
 simple question : " Richelieu, how many times have 
 you been at the Bastille ? " — " Three times," re- 
 sponded the audacious courtier. But he promised 
 himself not to go a fourth time. He submitted, 
 therefore, and the Duke de La Vallidre, who re- 
 mained director of the troupe, was rewarded for his 
 patience by the blue ribbon. 
 
MADAME DE POMPABOUB' S THEATRE 145 
 
 The third theatrical season ended March 22, 1749 ; 
 it had cost at least a hundred thousand ecus. 
 Louis XV., who was not always prodigal, began to 
 find the expenses excessive. He did not get his 
 money's worth in amusement. The fourth and last 
 theatrical season of the little cabinets lasted from 
 December 26, 1749, to April 27, 1750. 
 
 Madame de Pompadour had successfully attempted 
 comedy, opera, and ballet. She wanted to add an- 
 other gem to her crown. After Thalia, Euterpe, and 
 Terpsichore, it was now the turn of Melpomene. 
 February 28, 1750, the Marquise played the part of 
 Alzire. Voltaire, enraptured, went to thank her for 
 her interpretation of his work, as she was at her 
 toilette, and addressed her in this not very original 
 impromptu : — 
 
 " Cette Am^ricaine parf aite 
 
 Trop de larmes a fait couler. 
 
 Ne pourrai-je me consoler 
 
 Et voir Venus a sa toilette? " 
 
 The King began to be bored by these incessant 
 spectacles. He decided that there should be no 
 more comedies, ballets, music, and dancing at Ver- 
 sailles, and that hereafter the representations should 
 take place at the Chateau of Bellevue. The stage of 
 this chateau was very small, and did not admit of a 
 
 1 This perfect American 
 Has caused too many tears to flow. 
 Can I not console myself 
 And see Venus at her toilette? 
 
146 THE COURT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 brilliant mise en scene. The number of spectators 
 had. to be greatly restricted. Accustomed to a real 
 theatre, splendid decorations, and a numerous audi- 
 ence, the actors and actresses no longer showed the 
 same enthusiasm. The hour of decadence had come. 
 However, Jean Jacques Rousseau's Bevin du Village 
 was very successfully played in 1753. Madame de 
 Pompadour took the part of Colette. The next day 
 she sent fifty louis to Jean Jacques, who thanked her 
 in the following letter : — 
 
 " Paris, March 7, 1753. — Madame : In accepting 
 this present, which has been sent me by you, I believe 
 I have testified my respect for the hand from which 
 it came, and I venture to add that of the two proofs 
 you have made of my moderation, interest is not the 
 most dangerous. I am with respect, etc." 
 
 The Devin du Village was the Swan Song. 
 Madame de Pompadour no longer pleased Louis XV. 
 as an actress. Hence she closed the Bellevue theatre, 
 and her ambition became, if not to amuse, at least to 
 interest, as a political woman, the master whose mis- 
 tress she was said to be. 
 
V 
 
 THE GKANDETJES OE THE MARQUISE DE POMPADOUR 
 
 LOUIS XV. had made his mistress what one 
 might call a vice-queen. She had the power, 
 luxury, riches, and adulations of royalty ; everything, 
 in fact, except its moral prestige. Surrounded by a 
 court of ministers, prelates, and nobles, she throned 
 it in the midst of pomp and opulence. She was the 
 type of the woman d la mode, elegant, coquettish, 
 absolute, always on show, insatiable for praise and 
 success, thirsting for dignities, pleasures, and money; 
 playing not merely the great lady, but the sovereign 
 having her courtiers, her creatures, her poets, reign- 
 ing alike over the King and the kingdom. 
 
 M. Ars^ne Houssaye has said with justice : " Louis 
 XV. had three prime ministers : Cardinal Pleury, 
 the Duke de Choiseul, the Marquise de Pompadour." 
 But the Marquise was not an ordinary prime minis- 
 ter ; she was a prime minister doubled with a mistress. 
 To a woman invested with this exaggerated r61e, a 
 display of power was necessary. The favorite set 
 herself to create around her a sort of decorum, eti- 
 quette, and factitious grandeur. Like little women 
 
 147 
 
148 THE COURT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 ■vvho wear enormously high heels, she made herself a 
 pedestal. Madame d'Etioles had disappeared ; noth- 
 ing remained but the Marquise de Pompadour. To 
 be a marchioness did not satisfy her, and she de- 
 manded and obtained the tabouret and the honors of 
 a duchess. She had a box at the court theatre with 
 a grating behind which she shut herself up t6te-a-t§te 
 with the King. In the chapel a gallery in the grand 
 tribune was reserved for her and her suite. People 
 waited on her stairway at the hour of her toilette 
 just as they await a ministerial audience in an ante- 
 chamber. She used to say to the ministers : " Con- 
 tinue ; I am satisfied with you," and to the foreign 
 ambassadors : " Observe that on Tuesdays the King 
 cannot see you, gentlemen, for I think you will 
 hardly follow us to CompiSgne." 
 
 One of the cabinets in her apartment was full of 
 petitions. Solicitors approached her with respectful 
 fear. The ducal mantle and velvet cap figured on 
 the panels of her carriages. A nobleman carried her 
 mantle and awaited her coming in the ante-chamber. 
 A man of illustrious birth, a Chevalier d'H^nen, of 
 the family of the Princes de Chimay, rode at her 
 carriage door as equerry. She was served at table by 
 a Chevalier of Saint Louis, her steward Colin, a nap- 
 kin under his arm. Her chambermaid was a woman 
 of quality, Madame du Hausset, who has left such 
 curious Memoirs. The all-powerful favorite had not 
 forgotten her family. Her father was ennobled in 
 1747. Her brother, Abel Poisson, became succes- 
 
THE GRANDEURS OF THE MARQUISE 149 
 
 sively Marquis de Vandi^res, Marquis de Marigny, 
 Marquis de M^nars. The marquisate not contenting 
 him, he obtained a place created for Colbert, that of 
 superintendent of crown buildings. He was as a 
 patron of artists a Mecsenas, an arbiter elegantiarum. 
 The King, who treated him as his brother-in-law, gave 
 him the blue ribbon and put him on an equality with 
 the greatest nobles of the realm. Young Alexan- 
 drine, the daughter of Madame de Pompadour and 
 M. de Etioles, was brought up at Paris in the convent 
 of the Assumption. 
 
 The nuns showed her the greatest attention. She 
 was addressed by her baptismal name, as was then the 
 custom for princesses of the blood, and she was ex- 
 pected to make one of the most brilliant marriages in 
 France. Madame de Pompadour desired pomp even 
 in death. She bought a splendid sepulchre in the 
 Capuchin convent in the Place Vend6me, Paris, from 
 the Tr^moille family. There she built a magnificent 
 mausoleum, where her mother was interred and where 
 she reserved a place for herself.^ 
 
 The favorite had not simply power, but beauty; 
 beauty, that supreme weapon. A veritable magician, 
 she transformed herself at will. As mobile as the 
 clouds, as changeful as the wave, she renewed and 
 metamorphosed herself incessantly. No actress knew 
 better than she how to compose an attitude or a coun- 
 
 1 See the learned and remarkable work of M. Campardon : 
 Madame de Pompadour et la cour de Louis XV., 1 vol., Plon. 
 
150 THE COURT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 tenance. In her whole person there was an exquisite 
 grace, an exceptional charm, a taste, an elegance which 
 amounted to subtlety. La Tour, the pastel painter, 
 is he who has best reproduced her animated, spir- 
 ituelle, triumphant physiognomy, the eyes full of 
 intelligence and audacity, the satin skin, the sup- 
 ple figure, the general harmony, the charming and 
 coquettish whole. 
 
 All the splendors of luxury were like a frame to 
 the picture. A new Danae, the Marquise disap- 
 peared under a shower of gold. It is known exactly 
 what she cost France from September 9, 1745, the 
 time when her favor began, until April 15, 1764, the 
 day of her death. M. Le Roy has discovered an 
 authentic document,^ containing an account of the 
 favorite's expenses during this period of nearly 
 twenty years. The total is 35,924,140 livres. In 
 this list of expenses is found the pension granted 
 to Madame Lebon for having predicted to the Mar- 
 quise, then only nine years old, that she would one 
 day be the mistress of Louis XV. 
 
 Nothing seemed fine enough for Madame de 
 Pompadour, either in dress, lodgings, or furniture. 
 At Versailles she secured for herself on the ground 
 floor, on the terrace looking toward the parterre on 
 the north, the magnificent apartments occupied by 
 the Duke and Duchess de Penthi^vre.^ (Part of the 
 
 ' Curiosites historiques, par M. Le Roy, 1 vol., Plon. 
 
 2 See rooms 56, 57, 58, 59 of M. Soulie's Notice of the Museum 
 of Versailles. No. 57 was the hedroom of the Marquise, No. 58 
 her study. 
 
THE GRANDEURS OF THE MARQUISE 151 
 
 ministry of foreign affairs is established there at pres- 
 ent. The minister's study is the same as that of 
 Madame de Pompadour. Her bedcliamber is now 
 the thirteenth hall of the marshals, her ante-chamber 
 the hall of famous warriors.) 
 
 The favorite bought a superb house in the city 
 communicating by a passage with the apartments of 
 the palace (it is now the hStel des Reservoirs). In 
 1748 she acquired the chateau of Ci^cy and the 
 estate of Aunay, and in 1749 the chS,teau of La 
 Celle, near Versailles. In 1750 she inaugurated, 
 on the hill commanding the Seine, between Sevres 
 and Meudon, that enchanting abode of Bellevue, 
 where all the arts rivalled each other to create a 
 magic entity. The ante-chamber with statues by 
 Adam and Falconnet; the dining-room with paint- 
 ings of game and fish by Oudry; the salon decorated 
 by Vanloo ; the apartment of the Marquise, hung 
 with Boucher's glowing pictures ; the park with its 
 parterres of rare flowers, its fine trees, grottos, and 
 fountains, its statues by Pigalle and Coustou, its 
 varied perspectives, its immense horizons, — all made 
 of Bellevue a real palace of Armida. At Versailles, 
 the Marquise obtained from the King a portion of 
 the little park wherein to construct a gem of archi- 
 tecture, which she called the Hermitage ; it cloaked 
 extreme elegance under an appearance of simplicity. 
 It had fine Persian hangings, panelled wainscotings 
 decorated by the most skilful painters, thickets of 
 myrtles, lilacs, and roses. This habitation is no 
 
152 THE COURT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 longer in existence ; a part of its site is occupied by 
 the rue de I'Ermitage at Versailles. The Marquise 
 had a house at Compidgne and a lodge at Fontaine- 
 bleau. At Paris she bought, for seven hundred and 
 thirty thousand livres, the hStel d'Evreux, which is 
 now the Elys^e. 
 
 At the Trianon her apartment was on the same 
 floor with that of Louis XV. At Ci^cy she received 
 as if in a royal chateau. The King's visits to this 
 splendid residence used to last three or four days, 
 and cost about one hundred thousand livres. 
 
 A woman so influential could not fail to have 
 a swarm of flatterers. The resources of fawning 
 and hyperbole were exhausted in her favor. The 
 most exaggerated of her sycophants was Voltaire — 
 Voltaire to whom the republicans are nowadays 
 raising statues. He treated the Marquise as a 
 superior being, a goddess, and pushed his flattery 
 to absurdity, to platitude. In 1745, the moment 
 when the reign of the favorite began, he sent her 
 this compliment : — 
 
 " Sincere et tendre Pompadour 
 (Car je peux tous donner d'avance 
 Ce nom qui rime avec I'amour 
 Et qui sera bientot Is plus beau nom de France), 
 Ce tokai dont Votre Excellence 
 Dans fitioles me regala, 
 N'a-t-il pas quelque ressemblance 
 Avec le roi qui le donna? 
 II est, comme lui, sans melange ; 
 
THE GEANDEUBS OF THE MARQUISE 153 
 
 II unit, comme lui, la force k la douceur, 
 Plait aux yeux, enchante le coeur, 
 Fait du bien et jamais ne change." ^ 
 
 In 1746, when Marshal de Lowendal had just taken 
 Berg-Op-Zoom, it was Madame de Pompadour whom 
 Voltaire felicitated on the victory, in strains like 
 these : — 
 
 " Les esprits, et les coeurs, et les remparts terribles, 
 Tout cede k ses efforts, tout flechit sous sa loi, 
 Et Berg-Op-Zoom et vous, vous etes invincibles ; 
 
 Vous n'avez cede qu'a mon roi. 
 II vole dans vos bras du sein de la Victoire, 
 Le prix de ses travaux n'est que dans votre coeur. 
 
 Rien ne peut augmenter sa gloire, 
 
 Et vous augmentez son bonheur."^ 
 
 1 Sincere and tender Pompadour 
 
 (For I can give you in advance 
 
 This name vrhich rhymeth v?ith amour 
 And soon will be the finest name in France) , 
 
 This tokay with which Your Excellence 
 
 At Etioles regaled me, 
 
 Beareth it not some resemblance 
 
 Unto the King who gave it thee ? 
 
 It is, like him, without melange. 
 Joins strength to mildness, pleasant art. 
 
 Pleases the eyes, enchants the heart, 
 
 Does good and never knoweth change. 
 
 ^ Spirits and hearts and ramparts terrible. 
 All to his efforts yield, all bend beneath his law, 
 And Berg-Op -Zoom and you, you are invincible ; 
 
 You have submitted only to my King. 
 'Tis to your arms he flies from Victory's breast. 
 Finds in your heart the guerdon of his toils. 
 
 His glory nothing can augment. 
 
 And you augment his happiness. 
 
154 THE COURT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 The Marquise rewarded Voltaire at the end of the 
 same year by producing the Enfant prodigue in the 
 theatre of the little cabinets, and taking the part of 
 Lise herself. It was then that the poet, beside him- 
 self with joy, addressed the beautiful actress the 
 following lines, which exasperated the daughters of 
 Louis XV. and dissatisfied the King himself : — 
 
 " Ainsi done, vous reunissez 
 
 Tous les arts, tous les dons de plaire ; 
 
 Pompadour, vous embellissez 
 
 La couv, le Parnasse et Cytheve. 
 Charme de tous les yeux, tresor d'un seul mortel. 
 
 Que votre amour soit eternel ! 
 
 Que tous vos jours soient marques par des fetes ! 
 Que de nouveaux suooes marquent ceux de Louis ! 
 
 Vivez tous deux sans ennemis 
 
 Et gardez tous deux vos conqufetes ! " ^ 
 
 So many madrigals were not enough. Both verse 
 and prose were needed. In addressing to the Mar- 
 quise a copy of the PrScis du siecle de Louis XV. 
 Voltaire inserted in it a passage, gravely congratulat- 
 
 ' So then, you reunite 
 
 All arts, all gifts to please ; 
 
 Pompadour, you embellish 
 
 The court, Parnassus, and Cythera. 
 Charm of all eyes, treasure of one alone, 
 
 May your love be eternal ! 
 
 May all your days be marked by festivals ! 
 May new successes mark the days of Louis 1 
 
 May you both live devoid of enemies 
 
 And both preserve your conquests. 
 
THE GRANDEURS OF THE MARQUISE 155 
 
 ing her upon that treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle which 
 'had so grievously offended the national sentiment : — 
 
 " It must be owned that Europe may date its 
 felicity from the day of this peace. People will 
 learn with surprise that it was the result of the 
 urgent counsels of a young lady of high rank, cele- 
 brated for her charms, her singular talents, her wit, 
 and an envied position. It was the destiny of Europe 
 in this long quarrel that a woman began it and a 
 woman ended it. The second has bestowed as many 
 benefits as the first caused harm." 
 
 Can one be surprised, after this, that Madame de 
 Pompadour should have been persuaded of her own 
 merit, wit, and even genius ; that she cherished 
 strange illusions concerning her rSle and her charac- 
 ter; that she took herself seriously, even tragically ; 
 that she regarded any adverse criticism of her as 
 high treason against beauty and majesty ? 
 
 With such an array of luxury and power, such a 
 mass of riches, jewels, objects of art, such a court 
 of ingenious and amiable courtiers, with all that 
 could soothe her vanity, coquetry, and pride, with 
 the ability to realize all her fancies and caprices, 
 one might perhaps think the favorite was happy. 
 Well! no. 
 
VI 
 
 THE GKIBFS OP THE MAKQUISE DE POMPADOXJE 
 
 " T PITY you mucli, Madame, while all the world 
 -L envies you." The person who addressed this 
 just remark to the Marquise de Pompadour was her 
 inseparable confidant, her lady's maid, Madame du 
 Hausset, the woman to whom she told everything, 
 whom she always kept near her, and to whom she 
 said : " The King and I rely on you so fully that we 
 pay no more attention to you than to a cat or dog, 
 but go right on talking." The Marquise recognized 
 the truth of her confidant's melancholy words: 
 "Ah!" she answered, "my life is like that of a 
 Christian: a perpetual combat." Strange compari- 
 son ! Most inexact comparison ! for the Christian 
 combats for God, while the favorite was combating 
 for the devil. This, in fact, was the cause of her 
 sadness. The love of God consoles one for all sacri- 
 fices ; but woe to the woman who makes herself the 
 slave of a man ! Madame de Pompadour placed no 
 confidence in Louis XV., and she was right. The 
 Mar^chale de Mirepoix said to her one day : " It is 
 your staircase that the King likes; he is used to 
 
 150 
 
THi: GBIMFS OF TEE MARQUISE 157 
 
 going up and down it. But if he found another 
 woman to whom he could talk about his hunting and 
 his affairs, it would be all the same to him at the end 
 of three days." 
 
 Listen to Madame du Hausset. She says in her 
 Memoirs : " Madame experienced many tribulations 
 amidst all her grandeurs. Anonymous letters were 
 often written her containing thi'eats to poison or 
 assassinate her ; but what affected her most was the 
 dread of being supplanted by a rival. I never saw 
 her in greater vexation than one evening on her 
 return from the salon of Marly. On entering, she 
 spitefully threw down her muff and mantle, and 
 undressed with extreme haste ; then, sending away 
 her other women, she said to me after they went out : 
 ' I don't believe anything can be more insolent than 
 that Madame de Coaslin. I had to play hrelan at 
 the same table with her this evening, and you cannot 
 imagine what I suffered. The men and women 
 seemed to take turns in coming to examine us. Two 
 or three times Madame de Coaslin said, looking at 
 me : '■'• Va tout,^^ in the most insulting manner, and I 
 thought I should be ill when she said in a triumphant 
 tone : " I have played kings ! " I wish you had seen 
 her courtesy on quitting me ! ' " Thereupon Madame 
 du Hausset inquired what the master's attitude 
 had been. "You don't know him, my dear," re- 
 plied the Marquise ; " if he were going to put her 
 in my apartment this evening he would treat her 
 coldly before people, and me with the greatest affec- 
 
158 THE COURT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 tion." The favorite was in constaut alarm and anxi- 
 ety. She believed in neither the loyalty, the love, 
 nor the friendship of the King. Thus, as has been 
 wittily said by M. Paul de Saint- Victor : " She spent 
 her life in the attitude of Scheherezade, sitting beside 
 the bed where the caliph slept, his sabre at hand. 
 Like the head of the sultana, her favor depended on 
 a caprice of the master, on the gay or tiresome story 
 which she was about to tell him. And what happens 
 in the thousand and one nights of the harem from 
 which she is excluded ? Who knows whether a 
 firman scrawled by a grisette may not exile her 
 to-morrow to the depths of a province ? " In spite 
 of her knowledge of frivolous trifles and her array 
 of seductions, the Marquise could not succeed in 
 diverting Louis XV. It is again Madame du Hausset 
 who tells us as much : " The King was habitually 
 very dismal and liked everything which recalled the 
 thought of death, even though he feared it very 
 much." This melancholy humor of the monarch 
 distressed his mistress. " What a singular pleasure," 
 said she, " to occupy one's self with things the very 
 notion of which ought to be banished, especially 
 when one leads such a happy life ! " Madame de 
 Pompadour did not reflect when she talked like this. 
 She forgot that a debauchee can never be happy long. 
 The sovereign and his favorite were both suffering 
 from the same malady ; their consciences were not 
 at rest. To both of them might be' applied the 
 verses addressed by Lucretius to the Epicurean youth 
 
THE GRIEFS OF THE MATRQUISE 150 
 
 of Rome, which we translate as follows : " They 
 inhale sweet perfumes ; they deck themselves with 
 wreaths and garlands ; but from the middle of the 
 fount of pleasures rises bitterness, and sharp thorns 
 pierce through the flowers ; remorse rebukes them 
 from the depths of their soul and reproaches them 
 with days lost in idleness." 
 
 Of what use then were luxury and splendor to 
 her ? The Marquise was greeted by adulations in all 
 her chateaux, all her houses. Nowhere did she find 
 esteem. To tell the truth, all this array of factitious 
 grandeur, all this pretence at decorum, was but a 
 parody. Do what she might, the mistress of Louis 
 XV. was in reality nothing but the first kept woman 
 in the kingdom. Loaded and overwhelmed with 
 proofs of royal munificence, she never called herself 
 satisfied; ambition, like sensual pleasure, is insatiable. 
 The love of money and the love of flattery never 
 say : " It is enough ! " 
 
 The sumptuous abodes the favorite found means 
 to acquire were, after all, but monuments of her 
 shame. Her house at Paris (now the Elysde) was 
 styled the palace of the queen of courtesans, cedes 
 reginm meretricum. When the equestrian statue of 
 Louis XV., with its four allegorical figures sculptured 
 by Pigalle, was set up in the Place Louis XV., the 
 crowd pointing out to each other these emblems of 
 Force, Prudence, Justice, Love of Peace, said they 
 were the four most famous mistresses of the monarch : 
 Mesdames de Mailly, de Vintimille, de Ch^teauroux, 
 
160 THE COURT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 and de Pompadour, and a paper containing these 
 verses was posted on the statue itself : — 
 
 "Grotesque monument, infame pi^destal; 
 Les Vertus sont k pied, et le vice k clieval." ^ 
 
 The honors heaped on her family by the all-power- 
 ful Marquise were not taken seriously. When her 
 mother, Farmer-General Lenormand de Tournehem's 
 mistress, died, this quatrain was circulated : — 
 
 " Ci-git qui, sortant d'un fumier. 
 Pour f aire sa fortune entifere, 
 Vendit son honneur au fermier 
 Et sa fiUe au proprietaire." ^ 
 
 When her brother, Abel Poisson, metamorphosed 
 into Marquis de Marigny and superintendent of the 
 crown buildings, had received the blue ribbon of the 
 Holy Spirit, people said the fish was turning blue. 
 
 In 1754 Madame de Pompadour had the misfor- 
 tune of losing her only daughter, Alexandrine 
 d'Etioles, who was only eleven years old. She would 
 have liked to marry her to young De Vintimille, who 
 passed as the son of Louis XV. One day she 
 brought the two children together, as if accidentally, 
 at Bellevue, and showing them to the King, said 
 
 1 Grotesque monument, infamous pedestal ; 
 
 The Virtues are on foot, and vice on horseback. 
 
 2 Here lies she who, starting from a dungheap. 
 In order to make her fortune complete. 
 Sold her honor to the farmer. 
 
 And her daughter to the proprietor. 
 
THE GBIEF8 OF THE MAEQUISE 161 
 
 to him: "That would be a fine couple." Louis 
 XV. received this overture more than coldly. 
 Madame de Pompadour said afterwards to Madame 
 du Hausset : " If he were a Louis XIV., he would 
 make a Duke du Maine of the child, but I do 
 not ask so much as that; a position and a ducal 
 title is very little for his son, and it is because 
 he is his son that I prefer him, my dear, to all the 
 little dukes of the court. My grandchildren would 
 share a resemblance to both grandfather and grand- 
 mother, and this blending which I expect to see 
 will one day be my happiness." — "Tears came to 
 her eyes in saying these words," adds Madame du 
 Hausset. 
 
 Sainte-Beuve has poured witty contempt on this 
 adulterous dream. " It seems to me," says the prince 
 of critics, " that one lights unexpectedly on the per- 
 verted but persistent bourgeois vein in this wish of 
 Madame de Pompadour ; she brings ideas of affec- 
 tion and family arrangements even into her adulter- 
 ous combinations. She has sentiments; she thinks 
 of herself already as a most affectionate grand- 
 mother. A picture, which I would call a Greuze- 
 Pompadour, might be made of this scene, the Mar- 
 quise tearfully pointing out the two children to 
 the King." 
 
 The favorite found it hard to renounce her cher- 
 ished project of this alliance. Afterwards she 
 thought of the young Duke de Fronsac, Richelieu's 
 son, as a husband for her daughter. She caused 
 
162 THE COVET OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 overtures to be made to the celebrated courtier. He 
 answered by a disguised refusal. " My son," said he, 
 "has the honor of belonging, on his mother's side, to 
 the house of Lorraine ; hence I cannot dispose of him 
 without the consent of that family, but I shall proceed 
 to demand it urgently if the Marquise still persists 
 in her intentions." 
 
 Madame de Pompadour understood, and insisted 
 no further. She planned another marriage for her 
 daughter, who was promised to the young Duke de 
 Pecquigny, son of the Duke de Chaulnes of the De 
 Luynes family. But Mademoiselle d'Etioles died 
 prematurely at the very time when the marriage was 
 about to be contracted. She was buried in the sep- 
 ulchre her mother had bought from an illustrious 
 family. " The bones of the La Tr^moille," said the 
 Princess de Talmond, "must have been must aston- 
 ished at finding fish bones (les arites des Poissoii) 
 near them." 
 
 "We have seen the disgusting flatteries of which 
 the Marquise was the object. These hyperboles of 
 interested praise had a terrible counterpart. While 
 the court was obsequious, Paris remained implacable. 
 There was an incessant succession of sneers, satires, 
 and invectives. There had been mazarinades of old ; 
 now there were poissonades. Minister Maurepas was 
 the instigator and often the author of these violent 
 rhymed diatribes, which made people say France 
 was an absolute monarchy tempered by ballads. The 
 masses avenged themselves by refrains of more than 
 
THE GBIEFS OF THE MARQUISE 163 ~ 
 
 Gallic animation. We cite one among a thousand. 
 It was sung to the air Trembleurs d'Isis : — 
 
 " Les grands seigneurs s'avilissent, 
 Les financiers s'enrioliissent, 
 Et les Poissons s'agrandissent; 
 C'est le regne des vauriens. 
 On dpuise la finance, 
 En batiments, on d^pense, 
 L'Etat tombe en decadence, 
 Le roi ne met ordre k lien. 
 
 " Une petite bourgeoise, 
 filevee k la grivoise, 
 Mesurant tout k sa toise, 
 Fait de la cour un taudis ; 
 Louis, malgre son sorupule, 
 Froidement pour elle brule, 
 Et son amour ridicule 
 A fait rire tout Paris. . . . 
 
 "La contenance eventee, 
 Et chaque dent tachetee. 
 La peau jauue et truitfie, 
 Les yeux froids et le cou long, 
 Sans esprit, sans caractere, 
 L'ame vile et mercenaire, 
 Les propos d'une commere, 
 Tout est bas chez la Poisson. 
 
 " Si dans les beautes choisies 
 Elle etait des plus jolies. 
 On pardonne des folies, 
 Quand I'objet est un bijou. 
 
164 THE COURT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 Mais pour sotte creature 
 Et pour si plate figure 
 Exciter tant de murmure, 
 Chacun juge le roi fou."^ 
 
 1 The noble lords abase themselves, 
 The financiers enrich themselves, 
 The Poissons aggrandize themselves ; 
 'Tis the reign of good-for-naughts. 
 They exhaust the treasury, 
 They waste in buildings, 
 The State falls into decadence, 
 The King sets nothing straight. 
 
 A little bourgeoise. 
 Brought up like a wanton, 
 Measuring all by her own standard, 
 Makes a kennel of the court ; 
 Louis, in spite of his scruples. 
 Burns coldly for her. 
 And his ridiculous amour 
 Makes all Paris laugh. 
 
 A vapid countenance. 
 And each tooth spotted. 
 The skin yellow and freckled. 
 The eyes frigid and the neck long. 
 Witless and without character. 
 The soul vile and mercenary. 
 The tattle of a gossip, 
 All is low with la Poisson. 
 
 If among chosen beauties 
 She were one of the prettiest. 
 One pardons follies 
 When their object is a gem. 
 But when a ridiculous creature 
 And so flat a figure 
 Excites so many murmurs. 
 Every one thinks the King a fool. 
 
THE GRIEFS OF THE MARQUISE 165 
 
 Nor did people content themselves with ballads. 
 They likewise produced long pieces of emphatic 
 vei-se, distilling venom and hatred. More or less 
 skilful imitators of Juvenal composed satires full of 
 gall and bitterness. What specially excited the 
 indignation of the authors of these diatribes were 
 the representations at the theatre of the little cabi- 
 nets. One of them, addressing himself to Madame 
 de Pompadour, exclaimed : — 
 
 1 
 
 " Parmi ces histrions qui regnent avec toi, 
 Qui pourra desormais reconnaitre son roi?' 
 
 Another thus expressed himself : — 
 
 " Sur le trone f ranpais on fait regner I'amour. 
 La fureur du theatre assassine la cour. 
 Les palais de nos rois jadis si respectables, 
 Perdent tout leur eclat, deviennent meprisables ; 
 lis ne sont habites que par des baladins ! . . . " ^ 
 
 A pamphlet entitled "The School of Man, or 
 parallel between contemporary portraits and those of 
 Holy Writ," contained attacks of this sort against 
 Louis XV. : " Too much incommoded by his great- 
 ness to take a girl from the green room, Lindor 
 
 1 WTio can hereafter recognize his King 
 Amid these actors who reign with thee ? 
 
 2 Love has been set upon the throne of France. 
 Theatric rage assassinates the court. 
 
 The palaces of our kings, once worthy of respect, 
 Lose all their eclat, become contemptible ; 
 None but merry-andrews inhabit them I . . . 
 
166 THE COURT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 satisfied himself in true princely style : lie had a 
 large house with a theatre in it built expressly for 
 him, where his mistress became a danseuse by title 
 and office ; men infatuated by the vanity of dancing 
 women, insensate imitators of Candaules, do not 
 fancy that the last Gyges died in Lydia." 
 
 One should read the Memoirs of the Marquis 
 d'Argenson and those of Barbier the advocate in 
 order to get a just notion of the hatred felt for the 
 Marquise by both the aristocracy and the middle 
 classes. The people despised her quite as much, and 
 held her solely responsible for all wretchedness and 
 everj^ disaster. The luxury of' this parvenu irritated 
 them, and they detested her profoundly. The follow- 
 ing quatrain expressed the popular sentiment : — 
 
 " Fille d'une sangsue et sangsue elle-meme, 
 Poisson d'une arrogance extreme, 
 fitale en ce chateau, sans crainte et sans effroi, 
 La substance du peuple et la honte du roi. " ' 
 
 For those who knew how to listen, the Revolution- 
 ary storm was already rumbling in the distance. 
 
 Madame de Pompadour could not rely on her flat- 
 terers themselves. Voltaire, who had burned so 
 much incense at the adored feet of the Marquise, 
 who at Versailles had been her most zealous, ardent. 
 
 1 A leech's daughter and a leech herself, 
 Fish of an arrogance extreme, 
 Parades in this chateau, without fear or dread, 
 The people's substance and the monarch's shame. 
 
THE GRIEFS OF THE MARQUISE 167 
 
 enthusiastic courtier, forgot all that in his retreat at 
 Ferney. He chaffed at his former idol and drew a 
 most malicious portrait of her in his poem La Pucelle. 
 Thoroughly acquainted with the tone of public 
 opinion, since she had her own police and an arrange- 
 ment with the director of the post-office, who vio- 
 lated the secret of letters for her, Madame de 
 Pompadour was in despair at so many attacks. 
 Uneasy, feverish, dissatisfied with the King and the 
 kingdom, considering herself as a victim of destiny, 
 a woman unjustly dealt with by fortune, spitefully 
 angry at Frederick the Great, who scoffed at her; 
 at Louis XV., who neglected her for the young girls 
 of the Deer Park ; at the clergy, who regarded her 
 as a tool of hell ; at the Parliaments, which disdained 
 her ; at the nobility, who saw nothing in her but an 
 ambitious hourgeoise; at the middle classes, who 
 reproached her for being immoral; at all France, 
 which scorned her, — she suffered as much in her 
 vanity as in her pride, and said to her confidant, 
 Madame du Hausset: "The sorceress told me 
 I should have time to repent before dying ; I believe 
 it, for I shall die of nothing but chagrin." 
 
VII 
 
 MADAME DE POMPADOTJE, LADY OF THE QUEEN S 
 PALACE 
 
 MADAME DE POMPADOUR was ready 
 to play all parts in order to preserve 
 her empire. To be an actress and a political 
 woman was not enough; she willingly consented 
 to become by turns, and simultaneously if need were, 
 a devotee and a procuress, to favorize now the 
 Church and now the Deer Park, to submit to every 
 transformation, every servitude : Omnia serviliter pro 
 dominatione. Never did any minister cling more 
 firmly to his portfolio, never had any ambitious 
 man a greater thirst for power. 
 
 Louis XV. had a substratum of religion which 
 made the favorite uneasy. The day he insisted on 
 her reading one of Bourdaloue's sermons she was 
 frightened. With all her audacity she never dared 
 to criticise the Church in the presence of the Most 
 Christian King; for irregular as his own conduct 
 was, he would not suffer the faith of his fathers to 
 be insulted in his hearing. To keep her place, the 
 Marquise would have asked nothing better than to 
 
 168 
 
LADY OF THE QUEEN'S PALACE 169 
 
 assume the austere demeanor of a Madame de 
 Maintenon ; but she was married, unfortunately, and 
 so was the King, and Catholicism has never com- 
 promised with concubinage or adultery. Hence 
 Madame de Pompadour sought to avert the 
 difficulty. She put on a half-way devotion which 
 was wholly \<rorldly, made for show, a sort of com- 
 promise between God and the devil, between the 
 Church and the boudoir, the oratory and the alcove, 
 a spurious, derisory, hypocritical devotion, examples 
 of which are given by many women of our own 
 century as well as of the last. 
 
 She had determined to make a figure in the 
 Versailles chapel from the time her favor began. 
 She meant to shine everywhere, even before the 
 altars. It was this that made her request the Queen's 
 authorization to carry one of the basins at the cere- 
 mony of feet washing on Maundy Thursday, and 
 collect the offerings at the High Mass on Easter 
 Sunday. But easy as she was where no one but 
 herself was concerned, Marie Leczinska became severe 
 where God was in question : she refused. 
 
 The Jubilee of 1751 redoubled the anxieties of the 
 Marquise. D'Argenson wrote, February 2 : " People 
 assert that the King will gain his Jubilee and make 
 his Easter Communion. The Marquise says there is 
 no longer anything but friendship between the King 
 and her, and that they will put a fortnight's retreat 
 and truce even to this friendship." The attitude 
 of a repentant Magdalen would not have suited a 
 
170 THE COURT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 woman like Madame de Pompadour. She was will- 
 ing enough for a little devotion, but of an elegant 
 and worldly sort, ostentatious and luxurious. The 
 theatre, in a word, pleased her much better than the 
 church. D'Argenson wrote again, February 6 : " All 
 Paris has been talking of the representation of Thetis 
 et PSlee, eight days ago, at which the Marquise de 
 Pompadour was present. The actors addressed her 
 directly in the gallant parts, such as, ' Reign, beauti- 
 ful Thetis ! ' This she received with a triumphant 
 air which a woman of different extraction would not 
 have assumed; for some feed their vanity on what 
 others could not endure without shame." But what 
 afflicted the haughty favorite was the thought that 
 all this success might topple over in an instant, like 
 a house of cards. At the very time when, always an 
 actress, even under the deceptive appearances of her 
 so-called repentance, she was having a statue of her- 
 self as the goddess of Friendship made for Bellevue, 
 she had several attacks of fever — people called it the 
 Jubilee fever. 
 
 Madame de Mailly, the woman with whom Louis 
 XV. had begun his scandalous life, was at this time 
 at her last extremity. One reads in the Memoirs of 
 the Marquis d'Argenson, under date of March 27, 
 1751 : " Madame de Mailly, former mistress of the 
 King, is dying. It was thought she was better, but 
 the inflammation of the lungs is increasing, and she 
 has a hopeless fever. The King has not even once 
 sent openly to make inquiries, but the Marquis de 
 
ZAVr OF TBE QUEEN'S PALACE 171 
 
 Gontaud has bulletins four times a day and transmits 
 them to the King, who is afraid of offending Madame 
 de Pompadour. I am convinced he will be much 
 affected by her death. The pious people, those who 
 believe in Providence, remark that, the King having 
 had the three sisters, they have all died young. 
 This one, who was the first, and not incestuous, is 
 dying piously and the death -of the just : it is even 
 through her religious practices that she contracted 
 her malady ; apparently she will have a holy death. 
 The other two died in horrible anguish, and much 
 younger. People reflect also that God is so desirous 
 of the King's conversion, that this death happens 
 just in the Jubilee time, so as to touch His Majesty, 
 already prepared by sermons and disposed to make 
 his Jubilee sincerely. However, in the cabinets, di- 
 vertisements and ballets are still going on secretly." 
 
 In Barbier's journal are encountered similar re- 
 flections on the terrors of the Marquise: "Every- 
 body," he writes, "is carefully watching for what 
 will happen at the Jubilee. They say Madame de 
 Pompadour dreads the results of it. There are many 
 at the court, not merely ecclesiastics, but men and 
 women who are expecting this event to ruin the 
 Marquise, whose abuse of her position has for some 
 time gained her the hatred of all the nobles. The 
 King can hardly remain at Versailles without making 
 his Jubilee. Public prejudice is carried to the point 
 of respecting the Jubilee more than the Easter duties 
 which are of obligation. If he makes his Jubilee, he 
 
172 THE COURT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 cannot well return to the chS,teau of Bellevue a fort- 
 night later, and a month's absence would be danger- 
 ous. There are lovers of the court who are now 
 forming a plan to find a new mistress for the King 
 after the Jubilee ; for, melancholy as it may be, he 
 must have some diversion ; and if he should alto- 
 gether fear the devil and decide on amendment, this 
 would be not at all amusing for the nobles. This 
 event, then, which is not far distant, is what is agi- 
 tating the public high and low." 
 
 Madame de Mailly breathed her last March 30. 
 In her will she had asked to be buried in the ceme- 
 tery, among the poor, and to have a wooden cross. 
 The Marquis d'Argenson writes : " These austerities, 
 penances, and poverty increase the adverse opinion 
 against her who now occupies her former place and 
 whose conduct is so very different. It is also re- 
 marked, for the honor of religion, that Madame de 
 Mailly, who was often subject to fits of ill temper, 
 which was the cause of her being banished by the 
 King, had become as mild and equable as possible. 
 People say that if she was not holy, no other woman 
 ever will be." 
 
 But Madame de Pompadour was once more victo- 
 rious. The King did not allow himself to be touched 
 by the death of his former mistress, and, spite of the 
 warnings of heaven, he did not make his Jubilee. 
 Still the Marquise was not tranquil. D'Argenson 
 wrote, December 11, 1752 : " Madame de Pompadour 
 has been spitting blood since her youth. Et in pec- 
 
LADT OF THE QUEEN'S PALACE 173 
 
 cato concepit earn mater sua. She is becoming as dry 
 as a stick, and one can see her growing thin with 
 jealousy." And September 17, 1753 : " The King is 
 becoming superstitiously devout, respecting the clergy 
 more than morals. Marshal de Richelieu said to me 
 in a jesting way : ' The King shows angelic devotion. 
 He won't do anything without the episcopate in the 
 affairs of Languedoc' " 
 
 Madame de Pompadour no longer appealed to the 
 senses of Louis XV. Sensuality failing her, she 
 would have liked to be able to press religion into her 
 service. She sought to create a new rSle for herself 
 as favorite, more minister than mistress ; to legitimate 
 by duration as well as by a certain decorum her liai- 
 son with the King ; to assume, in brief, an attitude 
 as friend, counsellor, I might almost say matron. 
 
 Negotiating her conversion with the Jesuits as if 
 it were a diplomatic affair, she demanded as a condi- 
 tion sine qud non, that she should remain at Ver- 
 sailles. But here was the difficult point. The clergy, 
 even at a period of abasement, retained their princi- 
 ples, and the Church would not be the dupe of a 
 woman. But one thing, the absolution of a priest, 
 was needful to enable her to go on playing her part 
 as companion to the King, female minister, peace- 
 maker between the King and the royal family, the 
 Crown and the Parliaments, the clergy and the phi- 
 losophers. All she had to do to merit and obtain 
 this absolution was to withdraw from the court. 
 But the Marquise would have preferred death to 
 
174 THE COURT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 retreat. The atmosphere of Versailles was indispen- 
 sable to her. Far from the scene of her sorry tri- 
 umphs she would have expired in rage and despair. 
 Louis XV. well knew that to dismiss her would be 
 to kill her. Therefore he kept her near him, but 
 solely through compassion. 
 
 Madame de Pompadour had put herself in commu- 
 nication with a Jesuit, Pere de Sacy, whom she had 
 formerly known, and from whom she hoped to gain, 
 not only absolution, but permission to remain at the 
 palace of Versailles. As, in the preceding reign, 
 the " mistress thundering and triumphant," Madame 
 de Montespan, had been seen to humble herself 
 before a simple cur^, the all-powerful Marquise de 
 Pompadour was now seen humbly soliciting a Jesuit. 
 Pdre de Sacy remained firm : he would not let himself 
 be moved by the fine protestations of the Marquise. 
 It was in vain to show him that the communications 
 between the apartments of the King and the favorite 
 were now walled up; useless for the partisans of 
 loose morality and worldly religion to say to him 
 that he must not discourage repentance ; that too 
 much severity would spoil all ; that the Church had 
 need of Madame de Pompadour against the Ency- 
 clopedists ; in a word, that there ought to be such a 
 thing as compromising with heaven. The Jesuit 
 rejected this theory of relaxation and culpable con- 
 descension. He reminded his pretended penitent 
 that she had a husband still living, — a husband of 
 whom she could not complain, and that her place 
 
LADT OF THE QUEEN'S PALACE 175 
 
 was not at the palace of Versailles, but at the side 
 of M. Lenormand d'Etioles. This annoying souvenir 
 exasperated the favorite, infuriated by the conjugal 
 phantom that rose before her, and thwarted all her 
 plans. When she was convinced that, in spite of her 
 feminine tricks, she could never bend Pere de Sacy, 
 she dismissed him ; i and undoubtedly the admirable 
 conduct of the Jesuits was one of the causes which 
 brought about the expulsion of the order a few years 
 later. Madame de Pompadour was vindictive. She 
 never pardoned any one who had the audacity to 
 displease her. 
 
 Could one believe it? The favorite pushed her 
 assurance to the point of posing as a victim. To 
 credit her, people were unjustly opposing obstacles 
 to her conversion and that of the King. Priests who 
 refused absolution in this way were enemies of the 
 throne and the altar. At the same time, she shame- 
 lessly solicited a place as lady of the Queen's palace. 
 Marie Leczinska's obligingness had already been car- 
 ried too far. This time the good Queen made some 
 observations. To receive to a place of honor a woman 
 separated from her husband, a person who could not 
 even claim to receive the benefits of the general com- 
 munion, was an ignominy to which Louis XV. could 
 not really wish to condemn a Queen of France. 
 Accomplished intriguer as she was, Madame de Pom- 
 padour was not yet discouraged. She declared her 
 
 1 Clement XIV. et les JesuUes, by M. Crfitineau-Joly. 
 
176 THE COURT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 willingness to be reconciled with her husband, at 
 the same time secretly acquainting M. Lenormand 
 d'Etioles that he would do well to refrain from 
 accepting such an offer. The letter she wrote him 
 was replete with the finest sentiments. As much as 
 she had scandalized society by her separation, so 
 much she promised to edify it hereafter by an irre- 
 proachable union with her husband. But this prom- 
 ise was only a feint. Moreover, M. d'Etioles was 
 hardly anxious to take back his wife. He might 
 have applied to her the idea expressed in this line of 
 a modern tragedy : — 
 
 Et mon indifference a tue mon mepris. 
 And my indifference has slain my scorn. 
 
 It was long since the woman who had ceased to ' 
 bear his name and whose desertion had once ren- 
 dered him so unhappy, had excited in him either 
 anger or resentment. He had wept for Madame 
 d'Etioles. But Madame d'Etioles had been dead 
 more than ten years, and he did not know Madame 
 the Marquise de Pompadour. Nor had he any 
 desire to know her. What he was told about her 
 in nowise tempted him. He greatly preferred a 
 former dancer at the opera. Mademoiselle Rem, with 
 whom he lived maritally, and for whose sake he 
 had refused the embassy from France to Constanti- 
 nople. 
 
 Madame de Pompadour triumphed. The really 
 guilty person, said she, was her husband. He and 
 
LADY OF THE QUEEN'S PALACE 177 
 
 he alone committed the sin, he who refused to open 
 his arms to a repentant spouse. She could not re- 
 enter the conjugal abode by force. Hence the 
 Queen could have no complaint against her, and 
 no opposition could be made against her obtaining, 
 after having received absolution, that place as lady 
 of the palace, which was the height of her desires. 
 She formally received her Easter communion at the 
 church of Saint Louis, Versailles. But it was not 
 P^re de Sacy who heard her confession, but another 
 priest. 
 
 " I had been surprised," writes Madame du Haus- 
 set, " for some time past to see the Duchess de Luynes 
 coming secretly to Madame. Afterwards she came 
 openly; and one evening, Madame having gone to 
 bed, called me and said : ' My dear, you are going 
 to be very well contented, the Queen is giving 
 me a place as lady of the palace ; to-morrow I am 
 to be presented; you must make me look very 
 handsome.' I knew that the King was not quite 
 so much at his ease about it; he was afraid of 
 scandal and that people might think he had forced 
 the Queen to make this nomination. But there 
 was nothing of that sort. It was represented to 
 the Princess that it would be an heroic act on her 
 part to forget the past; that all scandal would be 
 obliterated when it was seen that an honorable posi- 
 tion was what retained Madame at court, and that 
 this would be the best proof that nothing but friend- 
 ship existed any longer between the King and his 
 
178 THE COURT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 favorite. The Queen received her very well. The 
 pious sort flattered themselves that they would be 
 protected by Madame, and for some time sang her 
 praises. . . . This was the time when Madame 
 appeared to me the most contented. The devotees 
 made no scruples about visiting her and did not 
 forget themselves when opportunity offered. . . . 
 The doctor (Quesnay) laughed at this change of 
 scenes and made merry at the expense of the dev- 
 otees. 'And yet,' I said to him, 'they are con- 
 sistent and may be in good faith.' ' Yes,' said he, 
 ' but they ought not to ask for anything.' " 
 
 The Marquise de Pompadour, who had had the 
 tabouret and the honors of a duchess since 1752, 
 received her brevet as lady of the Queen's palace 
 February 7, 1756. She began the next day her 
 week of attendance on Marie Leczinska, at the state 
 dinner in a superb costume. 
 
 D'Argenson, whose morality is often peculiar, 
 finds the thing natural enough. He approves rather 
 than criticises. " Sunday evening," he writes, " the 
 Marquise de Pompadour was declared at Versailles 
 lady of the Queen's palace, whence it is conjectured 
 that she is no longer the King's mistress. It is 
 even said that she begins to talk devotion and Molin- 
 ism, and is going to try and please the Queen as 
 much as she has the King. All this confidence 
 which has been evident during the three years since 
 the King began to have new mistresses is merely the 
 reward of the sweetness and humility with which 
 
LADY OF TBE QUEEN'S PALACE 179 
 
 she lias accepted her lover's infidelities. This is 
 only precarious and mere pretence, or, rather, it comes 
 from a sentiment of friendship, good taste, and grati- 
 tude, and a good-nature in which love counts for 
 nothing. But these reasonable sentiments can ac- 
 complish much in a sensible and well-ordered heart 
 like that of the King." Here one gets the sum 
 of the morality of the eighteenth century. What 
 could be expected of a society in which even worthy 
 men could use such language and show such com- 
 plaisance ? 
 
VIII 
 
 MADAME DE POMPADOUR AND THE ATTEMPT OP 
 DAMIENS 
 
 MADAME DE POMPADOUR was destined 
 to " live in the midst of alarms." For nearly 
 a year she had been congratulating herself on the 
 cleverness with which she had carried by assault the 
 post of lady of the Queen's palace, and had dismissed 
 the confessors, of whom she thought she had no 
 more need, when an unforeseen event was very near 
 making her lose all the ground she had so painfully 
 acquired. 
 
 Toward six o'clock in the evening of January 5, 
 1757, Louis XV. had just come down the little stair- 
 case leading from his apartments to a vestibule fac- 
 ing the marble court, and M'as about to enter a 
 carriage, when he was struck by a penknife in the 
 hand of a person named Damiens, who, either through 
 folly or fanaticism, wished not to kill him, but to 
 give him a warning. The King thought himself 
 mortally wounded. He belonged to that category 
 of Christians who are never pious but when they are 
 sick. When in good health they say : " There is 
 
 180 
 
THE ATTEMPT OF D AMIENS 181 
 
 always time to repent." But if danger threatens 
 them, they tremble, they go to confession, they be- 
 come saints for the time being, reserving the privi- 
 lege of resuming their vicious habits as soon as their 
 health returns. When he thought death vi^as facing 
 him, Louis XV. expressed himself in terms vi^orthy 
 of the Most Christian King. At Metz he had been 
 sublime. He was not less eloquent at Versailles. 
 The noblest maxims were on his lips, the most beau- 
 tiful sentiments in his heart. He named his son 
 lieutenant-general of the kingdom, and said to him 
 with emotion : " I leave you a very disturbed realm ; 
 I hope that you may govern it better than I have 
 done." He melted into tears of edification and ad- 
 miration all those who came near him. This was no 
 longer the man of the Deer Park ; it was the son of 
 Saint Louis. 
 
 One of his first words after being struck was a cry 
 for a priest. His Jesuit confessor, P^re Desmarets, 
 was not just then at Versailles. A priest of the 
 Grand-Commun was summoned (the ecclesiastics 
 who acted as chaplains to those persons in the King's 
 service who were lodged in the apartments called 
 Grand-Commun). Louis XV. made his confession 
 first to this priest, and again to Pere Desmarets, who 
 arrived in great haste from Paris. 
 
 Louis XV. had received only a trifling wound. 
 Damiens, who might have killed him, had not wished 
 to do so. He had two blades on one handle, a large 
 one and a small one, and had used only the latter. 
 
182 THE COURT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 The doctor said that if the wounded man were not a 
 king, he might go about his affairs the next day. 
 But the imagination of Louis XV. was easily excited. 
 When the wound had been probed, and he was 
 assured that it was not very deep, he exclaimed: 
 " It is deeper than you think, for it goes clear to the 
 heart." Baron de Besenval relates in his Memoirs 
 that when the doctors had no longer the least anx- 
 iety, that of the King was such that, believing him- 
 self dying, he made tlie Abb^ de Rochecour, the 
 chaplain of the neighborhood, give him absolution 
 every moment. 
 
 Louis the Well-Beloved was not as yet Louis 
 the Well-Hated. Barbier says there was general 
 consternation at Paris; everybody lamented. The 
 archbishop commanded the devotions of the forty 
 hours in all the churches. The priests and monks, 
 suffocated by emotion, could hardly intone the 
 Domine salvum fac regem. 
 
 What was happening to Madame de Pompadour 
 all this time ? She remained in her apartment in the 
 palace of Versailles, but she had not even dared 
 solicit the favor of seeing the royal sufferer. She 
 knew that Louis XV. was no longer the same man 
 when he was ill, and that it took him only a moment 
 to become once more a devotee. Remembering what 
 had happened at Metz at the time of the ignominious 
 banishment of the Duchess de Ch&teauroux, she was 
 convinced that she was about to go into exile, and 
 nearly everybody believed the same. 
 
THE ATTEMPT OF D AMIENS 183 
 
 "The people," says Madame du Hausset, "received 
 the news of the assault on the King with furious 
 cries and the utmost despair ; one could hear them 
 crying under the windows from Madame's apartment. 
 They came in crowds, and Madame dreaded the fate 
 of Madame de Chateauroux. Her friends came con- 
 stantly with tidings. For that matter, her apartment 
 was like a church, which everybody thought he had 
 a right to enter. They came to see how she took it, 
 under pretence of interest, and Madame did nothing 
 but weep and faint away. Doctor Quesnay never left 
 her, nor I either." 
 
 What was at this moment the attitude of the three 
 principal ministers. Count d'Argenson (brother of 
 the author of the Memoirs), Minister of War, M. de 
 Machault, Keeper of the Seals, Minister of Justice, 
 and Abb^ de Bernis, who had been appointed Minis- 
 ter of Foreign Affairs three days before the assault ? 
 The first was the sworn enemy of the Marquise. He 
 caught at the chance for vengeance. The second 
 was under obligations to the Marquise, but, believ- 
 ing she would henceforth be powerless, he declared 
 against her in order to salute the Dauphin's rising 
 sun. The third did not abandon the woman to 
 whom he owed the portfolio he had just obtained. 
 He wrote to M. de Choiseul this singular letter, in 
 which the words " honor " and "virtue " are employed 
 strangely enough : " The King has been assassinated, 
 and all that the court has seen in this frightful event 
 is a favorable moment for driving away our friend. 
 
184 THE COURT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 Every intrigue has been brought to play on the con- 
 fessor. There is a tribe at court who are always 
 awaiting the Extreme Unction in order to try to 
 augment their importance. Why should devotion 
 be separated so from virtue? Our friend can no 
 longer scandalize any one but fools and knaves. It 
 is of public notoriety that friendship has supplanted 
 gallantry these five years back. It is pure bigotry 
 to go back into the past to impugn the innocence 
 of the actual connection. This is founded upon his 
 need of being able to open his heart to a proved and 
 trusty friend who is, in the divisions of the Ministry, 
 the sole point of reunion. What ingrates I have 
 seen, my dear Count, and how corrupt our time is ! 
 Perhaps there have never been more virtues in the 
 world, but there has been more honor." 
 
 Count d'Argenson and M. de Machault did not 
 like each other, but they were in agreement respect- 
 ing the Marquise. If Madame de Pompadour was in 
 nowise astonished by the conduct of the first, whose 
 detestation of her she had long been aware of, the 
 defection of the second, who had been her creature, 
 put her beside herself, "Is that a friend?" she 
 exclaimed in amazement. 
 
 On being left alone with M. de Machault, after 
 the dressing of his wound, Louis XV. charged him, 
 as a friend of his favorite, not to send her an order to 
 depart, but to personally advise her to do so. The 
 Keeper of the Seals called therefore on the Marquise. 
 The interview lasted half an hour. The result was 
 
THE ATTEMPT OF DAMIENS 185 
 
 anxiously awaited, and the Abb^ de Bernis bad re- 
 turned to learn what passed. But Madame du Haus- 
 set shall tell the story. Nobody is so interesting as 
 ear and eye witnesses. 
 
 " Madame rang ; I entered, followed by the Abb^. 
 She was in tears. ' I have got to go away, my dear 
 Abb^,' said she. I made her take some orange flower 
 water in a silver goblet, because her teeth were chat- 
 tering. Afterwards she told me to call her equerry, 
 and she gave him her orders tranquilly enough to 
 have her house at Paris prepared for her, and to tell 
 all her people to be ready to start, and her coachmen 
 not to absent themselves. A few minutes later the 
 Mar^chale Mirepoix came in: 'What are all these 
 trunks for ? ' she exclaimed. ' Your people say you 
 are going away ? ' ' Alas ! my dear friend, the mas- 
 ter wills it, according to what M. de Machault has 
 told me.' — 'And what is his own opinion?' said 
 the Mar^chale. ' That I should go without delay.' 
 During this time I was undressing Madame unaided, 
 she wishing to be more at ease on her sofa. 'He 
 wants to be master, your keeper of the seals,' said the 
 Mar^chale, ' and he is betraying you ; who gives up 
 the game loses it.' " This language made the clever 
 Marquise thoughtful. Quesnay came in afterwards, 
 "and with his monkey-like air, having heard what 
 had been said, he recited the fable of a fox who, 
 dining with some other animals, persuaded one of 
 them that his enemies were hunting for him, so as to 
 snatch his part in his absence. I did not see Madame 
 
186 THE COURT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 again until very late, at the hour of her couchee. 
 She was calmer." 
 
 However, it was not yet known whether the favor- 
 ite would not end by being disgraced. Her enemy. 
 Count d'Argenson, seemed to possess the intimate 
 confidence of the sovereign. The King had given 
 him his keys that he might look for the secret papers 
 at Trianon, and the Count's brother, the Marquis 
 d'Argenson, wrote in his Memoirs, January 15, 1757, 
 ten days after the assault : " It is true that since the 
 assassination of the King, the Marquise has not seen 
 His Majesty for a single instant. She endures her 
 disgrace by concealing it ; but little by little she will 
 be abandoned. She has neither seen nor received a 
 billet from His Majesty, who no longer seems to think 
 of her. Meanwhile the King sees his confessor, P^re 
 Desmarets, every day, and has made declarations of 
 friendship and good conduct to the Queen. All this 
 smacks of a change at court. IM. the Dauphin has 
 entered the Council and is gaining credit there.' 
 The former Minister of Foreign Affairs was deluding 
 himself. On the very day when he wrote these lines, 
 the Marquise saw Louis XV. again and resumed her 
 former domination, as the Minister of War was pres- 
 ently to become aware. " The great talent at court," 
 saj's the Baron de Besenval, "is to be a good judge 
 of circumstances and know how to profit by them. 
 M. d'Argenson deceived himself in this ; he should 
 have reflected that ths ill-grounded terror of the 
 King might pass as quickly as it came, and that he 
 
THE ATTEMPT OF DAMIENS 187 
 
 would seek to resume power as promptly as he had 
 abandoned it. This is the way with all feeble souls. 
 The minister forgot this truth. In the first council 
 held after the attempt on the King, M. d'Argenson 
 proposed, in presence of M. the Dauphin, who 
 presided, that the ministers should hold their delib- 
 erations in the apartments of this prince, as lieuten- 
 ant-general of the kingdom, until the complete 
 recovery of- the King. It resulted from this fault 
 that M. the Dauphin, who was not very susceptible 
 of ambition, was not at all grateful to the minister 
 for his proposal, and that the King, hardly conva- 
 lescent as yet, found his heart again replenished 
 with that displeasure which his son had always 
 inspired in him ; that he withdrew him from affairs 
 and never forgave M. d'Argenson for the mark of 
 devotion he had given him on this occasion. When 
 one dares to be ungrateful, he ought at least to be 
 more adroit about it." 
 
 As Baron de Besenval again remarks, " a mistress 
 removed is not yet to be despised, and love has its 
 caprices and returns as prompt as those of fortune." 
 Madame de Pompadour stayed where she was. The 
 Minister of War and the Keeper of the Seals were 
 sacrificed to her. The favorite made a tearful scene 
 in presence of Louis XV. One would have thought 
 she was going to faint. Madame du Hausset went 
 to fetch her some of Hoffman's drops. The King 
 himself arranged the dose with sugar and presented 
 it to the Marquise in the most gracious manner. 
 
188 THE COURT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 She ended by smiling and kissed the hand of the 
 gallant monarch, who consoled her. 
 
 Two days later, Count d'Argenson received the 
 following letter from the King : " Your service is no 
 longer necessary to me. I order you to send me 
 your resignation as Secretary of State for War and 
 all which concerns the employments thereunto ad- 
 joined, and to retire to your estate of Ormes." 
 
 Things resumed their custolnary course. At the 
 end of January, 1757, the advocate Barbier wrote in 
 his journal : " The King is perfectly well. Madame 
 the Marquise de Pompadour has not quitted Ver- 
 sailles. A few days after his recovery the King paid 
 her a visit of a quarter of an hour, but since he holds 
 his councils as usual he has resumed his own occupa- 
 tions ; he has hunted several times, and the little 
 suppers have begun again." The chronicler, often 
 cynical, concludes as follows : " Notwithstanding the 
 criticisms of evil-minded persons, the best thing that 
 could happen to both him and us, that is to all good 
 citizens, would be for him to banish from his mind 
 a misfortune which ought not to affect one, and con- 
 tinue his ordinary dissipations.". 
 
 JBaron de Besenval's conclusion must also be 
 quoted : " Thus in the whole of this affair, M. 
 d'Argenson had been willing to sacrifice the King 
 to the Dauphin in order to prolong his own power. 
 The King had been willing to sacrifice his mistress 
 to public opinion and the terrors which disturbed 
 his mind. M. de Machault consented to sacrifice 
 
THE ATTEMPT OF D AMIENS 189 
 
 Madame de Pompadour, his friend, by giving her 
 advice which might please the monarch. And in the 
 end everything was sacrificed to love, which is what 
 happens and will happen always." Here the word 
 "love "is not accurate; "habit" is what he should 
 have said. 
 
 Once more the favorite had triumphed ; but in her 
 victory she bore a mortal grudge against the Jesuits 
 who had nearly succeeded in banishing her. She 
 began that underhand but violent struggle against 
 them which, a few years later, was to result in the 
 suppression of their order. She had the audacity to 
 forward secretly to the Pope a note which was a 
 censure on their conduct and, if one can believe it, 
 a defence of her own. This note, a copy of which 
 has been discovered in the papers of. the Duke de 
 Choiseul, is a veritable monument of cynicism or 
 else of a perverted conscience. It proves in the 
 woman who conceived it an entire lack of moral sense, 
 a forgetfulness of the most elementary decorum, 
 and of the respect which unbelievers themselves owe 
 to religion. 
 
 This curious document opens as follows : — 
 " At the beginning of 1752, determined by motives 
 which it is viseless to give an account of, to no 
 longer preserve for the King any sentiments but 
 those of gratitude and the purest attachment, I 
 declared as much to His Majesty, supplicating him 
 to cause the doctors of the Sorbonne to be con- 
 sulted, and to write to his confessor that he might 
 
190 THE COURT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 consult with others, in order that I might be left 
 near his person, since he desired it, without being 
 exposed to the suspicion of a weakness which I no 
 longer had." 
 
 So then, to credit Madame de Pompadour, she had 
 become a type of modesty and Christian renuncia- 
 tion. She adds : " Things remained in appearance 
 just as they had been until 1755. Then, prolonged 
 reflections on the evils which had pursued me, even 
 amidst the greatest good fortune ; the certainty of 
 never arriving at happiness by worldly goods, since 
 none had ever been lacking to me, and yet I had 
 never attained to happiness ; detachment from the 
 things which had most amused me, — all induced me 
 to believe that the only happiness is in God. I ad- 
 dressed myself to P^re de Sacy as to a man fully 
 penetrated with this verity; I bared my soul com- 
 pletely to him ; he tried me in secret from Septem- 
 ber to the end of January, 1756. During this 
 time he proposed that I should write a letter to 
 my husband, the rough draft of which, drawn up 
 by himself, I still have. My husband refused ever 
 to see me." 
 
 The Marquise then complained to the Sovereign 
 Pontiff of P^re de Sacy, who, according to her, was 
 the victim of intrigues of every sort, and guilty of 
 having told her that he would refuse her the sacra- 
 ments so long as she did not leave the court. She 
 added, in speaking of Damiens's crime : " The abom- 
 inable 5th January, 1757, arrived, and was followed 
 
THE ATTEMPT OF DAMIENS 191 
 
 by the same intrigues as in the previous year. The 
 King did all in his power to bring P^re Desmarets 
 to the verity of religion. The same motives being at 
 work, the response was not different ; and the King, 
 who earnestly desired to fulfil his duties as a Chris- 
 tian, was prevented from doing so, and soon after 
 relapsed into the same errors, from which he would 
 certainlj'- have been extricated had they acted in 
 good faith." 
 
 Perhaps all is not hypocrisy in this note. I incline 
 to believe that in spite of her idolatry for the court, 
 the favorite recognized its miseries and nothingness. 
 How many persons remain vicious while knowing 
 well that vice produces their unhappiness ! How 
 many passionate people own to themselves that their 
 passions are killing them ! O Ambition ! cries Saint 
 Bernard, by what spell does it happen that, being the 
 torment of a heart where thou hast taken birth, and 
 where thou dost exert thine empire, yet there is no 
 person whom thou dost not please, and who does not 
 allow himself to be taken by surprise by the flatter- 
 ing attraction thou dost offer him. ambitio, quo 
 modo omnes torquens omnihus places ? 
 
 It would have been easy to reply to the Marquise 
 de Pompadour that if the grandeurs of this world 
 gave her so little satisfaction, all she had to do was 
 to withdraw from the court. Hence the Pope re- 
 mained untouched by all this display of Christian 
 philosophy. He could not make up his mind to 
 consider the mistress of Louis XV. as a repentant 
 
192 THE COURT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 Magdalen; and, far from blaming the Jesuits who 
 had refused her absolution, he approved them. The 
 haughty favorite did not admit that she was beaten. 
 She kept silence, swearing, however, that she would 
 be avenged. 
 
IX 
 
 MADAME DE POMPADOUR AND DOMESTIC POLITICS 
 
 AT home as well as abroad, in parliamentary and 
 clerical quarrels, as in questions of external 
 politics, Madame de Pompadour's ideas were always 
 undecided, inconsistent, variable. For that matter, 
 it is not easy to find in a pretty woman the qualities 
 needful to manage public affairs well. With very 
 few exceptions, fashionable women are fickle, wilful, 
 excessively impressionable, capricious, like nearly all 
 persons who are flattered. If they meddle with gov- 
 ernment, their half-knowledge is more dangerous than 
 complete ignorance. They have infatuations, fore- 
 gone determinations ; their mania for protecting 
 makes them obstinate in sustaining undeserving 
 favorites. Their most serious determinations often 
 depend on trifles. A well-turned compliment in- 
 fluences them more than a good reason; they are 
 the dupes of any one who knows how to flatter them 
 without seeming to do so, and who can find more 
 or less ingenious pretexts for justifying their whims 
 or palliating their faults. Such was Madame de 
 Pompadour. 
 
 193 
 
194 THE COURT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 Is it not curious to see this futile woman leaving 
 her gimcracks and gewgaws to interfere in the most 
 arduous theological or governmental questions, to 
 pose as an arbiter between the magistracy and the 
 clergy, the throne and the altar? " Certes," writes 
 D'Argenson in a style well worthy of the epoch, " it 
 is better to see a beautiful nymph at the helm than 
 a villainous crouching ape such as the late Cardinal 
 Fleury. But these fair ladies are as capricious 
 as white cats, wliich caress you at first and after- 
 wards scratch and bite you." Madame de Pompa- 
 dour acted like that with the Parliament ; sometimes 
 she caressed, sometimes she clawed it. 
 
 The interminable struggle between secular juris- 
 diction and ecclesiastical discipline had all the 
 ruthlessness, all the asperity, of a civil war. A 
 society at once incredulous and fanatical grew ex- 
 cited over theological questions worthy of Byzan- 
 tium, and even in the heart of the Seven Years' War 
 there were at Paris, as Voltaire remarks, fifty thou- 
 sand fanatics who did not know in what country 
 flowed the Danube and the Elbe, and who thought 
 the universe turned upside down by the contra- 
 dictory propositions of the adepts of Jansenism and 
 the disciples of Molina.^ 
 
 The question, however, was more serious than one 
 might be inclined to believe. Jansenism, that third 
 
 1 See the very learned and complete work of M. Jobez : La 
 France sous Louis XV. Six vols., Didier. 
 
DOMESTIC POLITICS 195 
 
 estate of religion, as it has been so justly called, was 
 nothing more or less than a preliminary step toward 
 republican doctrines. "Do not believe," said Bos- 
 suet, apropos of the English revolution, " that it is 
 simply the quarrel of the Episcopate, or some in- 
 trigues against the Anglican liturgy which have 
 moved the common people. These disputes were as 
 yet only feeble commencements whereby turbulent 
 spirits made a trial of their liberty ; but something 
 more violent was stirring in the depths of men's 
 hearts ; it was a secret disgust for all that had been 
 authority, and an itching to innovate incessantly 
 after the first example had been seen." 
 
 French Jansenism had the haughty chagrin, the 
 indocile curiosity, the spirit of revolt, which charac- 
 terized the Protestantism of England. Louis XIV., 
 so jealous of his royal prerogatives, had seen this at 
 once. He felt that discipline is as indispensable to 
 the Church as to the barracks, and comprehended 
 that the throne has the same foundations as the 
 altar. The thing aimed at by the bull Unigenitus of 
 1713 was to re-establish unity in doctrines ; and when 
 the Jansenists refused to submit to the decree of the 
 Sovereign PontiiT, the great King said that this 
 rebellion against the Pope would give rise to attacks 
 against the monarchical principle. He was not mis- 
 taken. If the Parliament showed itself favorable to 
 Jansenism, it was far less on account of such or such 
 ideas on free will or grace, than by instinctive liking 
 for the revolutionary spirit which existed in germ in 
 
196 THE COUMT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 the new sect. Religious controversies were to lead 
 by slow degrees to political controversies. The Par- 
 liament led to parliamentarism. People began by 
 contemning the episcopal jurisdiction of an arch- 
 bishop in order to end by braving the authority of a 
 king. 
 
 Christopher de Beaumont, that convinced priest, 
 that austere and inflexible prelate, so firm against 
 the temptation of grandeurs that Louis XV. had 
 been obliged to summon him thrice in order to make 
 him leave his diocese of Vienne, in Dauphiny, and 
 accept the archbishopric of Paris, Christopher de 
 Beaumont was faithful to the traditions of the 
 Church when he denied all competence over matters 
 purely religious, such as the administration of sacra- 
 ments, to the Parliament. His doctrine was after all 
 only that of the separation of the powers. Louis 
 XV. inclined to the views of the Archbishop, whose 
 virtues he appreciated. Like Louis XIV., he recog- 
 nized the bull Unigenitiis, and treated Jansenism as 
 a heresy. Like Louis XIV., he suspected, not with- 
 out reason, both the Parliament and the Parisian 
 population. "I know the people of Paris," said he ; 
 "they must have remonstrances and shows, and 
 perhaps worse than that some day." Madame de 
 Pompadour would have taken the part of the Arch- 
 bishop, as the King wished to do, if the Archbishop 
 had been a courtier ; but Christopher de Beaumont 
 would rather have died than compromise with con- 
 cubinage and adultery. He could not understand a 
 
DOMESTIC POLITICS 197 
 
 prelate's stooping before a royal favorite, and the 
 idea of soliciting a Pompadour would have made 
 him blush. He preferred to be twice exiled. " The 
 Qneen," wrote D'Argenson in December, 1754, 
 " Monseigneur the Dauphin, and all the royal family 
 are greatly troubled by the exile of the Archbishop 
 of Paris ; the Queen weeps over it every day." 
 Christopher de Beaumont received numerous visits 
 in his exile at Conflans. The orthodox considered 
 him the upholder of the faith. The King admired 
 the Archbishop, but did not sustain him. D'Argen- 
 sen wrote, March 6, 1756 : — 
 
 " The motto Dividatur might be recommended for 
 the personal government of Louis XV. He received 
 this spirit of compromise from Cardinal Fleury. All 
 his forces run to that. . . . Hence, doing good only 
 half way, he also does evil half way, which produces a 
 chaotic state of things, and the worst effect." With 
 this system the monarch dissatisfied the magistracy 
 and the clergy at the same time. By turns he ban- 
 ished the Parliament and the Archbishop. The cur^s 
 continued to refuse the sacraments to the Jansenists. 
 The magistrates sent their bailiffs' men and caused 
 the sick to be communicated surrounded by bayonets. 
 The Eucharist was abandoned to derision by the par- 
 ties to the strife. The court fluctuated between the 
 two opinions. After having sent the Archbishop of 
 Paris to Conflans, Louis XV., although leaving him 
 in disgrace, pronounced in his favor. 
 
 In a bed of justice held December 13, 1756, the 
 
198 THE COURT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 King forbade the Parliament to decree the administra- 
 tion of the sacraments, to convene general assem- 
 blies, to interfere with the course of justice, to 
 suspend the registration of edicts. He suppressed 
 the chambers of inquests, and declared that he would 
 punish any who would not obey. One hundred and 
 fifty members of the Parliament sent in their resigna- 
 tions. All Paris was in commotion. A riot was 
 momentarily expected. Nothing was heard but 
 oaths and curses. The Parliament and Jansenistic 
 diatribes had the result of exciting Daraiens to the 
 insanity of fanaticism. He thought that in striking 
 Louis XV. he was acting for God and the people. 
 Madame de Pompadour, still more versatile than the 
 King, was at this time the enemy of the Parliament. 
 However, the exile of the Archbishop continued, be- 
 cause nothing could induce him to curry-favor with 
 the favorite. The charge which he sent from Con- 
 flans to Paris displeased the Marquise. 
 
 " Let us enter into our own selves, my dear breth- 
 ren," said he, "and see whether the aberrations of our 
 own minds and hearts have not drawn upon us so 
 terrible an effect of the divine wrath. Examine 
 without prejudice what has been deserved by so 
 many errors diffused among the public, so much 
 license in speech, such blasphemies against God and 
 His Christ, such disputing against the known truth, 
 such scandals in every condition and of all kinds ; 
 observe, in particular, whether, since the weakening 
 of faith among us, a multitude of principles tending 
 
DOMESTIC POLITICS 199 
 
 to disobedience and even to rebellion against the sov- 
 ereign and his laws have not insinuated themselves 
 into men's minds and books. It would be easy for 
 us to remind you of the maxims of the holy doctors 
 which have never ceased to inspire those sentiments 
 of fidelity that are due to earthly princes; the de- 
 cisions of councils which have anathematized every 
 doctrine capable of revolting peoples against the sov- 
 ereign ; the perpetual instructions of pastors, who 
 have always said with the great Apostle : Obey your 
 temporal masters in all things. . . . What are we to 
 think of the execrable crime which has been con- 
 ceived in the bosom of the country and executed 
 under our eyes ? What must be our indignation at 
 the memory of a treasonable attempt, deliberately 
 planned, and made in that palace where everything 
 announces the majesty of the sovereign?" 
 
 This truly evangelical language was the admiration 
 of the Queen, the Dauphin, and all pious people. 
 But it seemed like a satire to the protectress of the 
 philosophers, the friend of Voltaire and Quesnay, the 
 patroness of the Encyclopedia. Louis XV. was in 
 reality of the Archbishop's opinion. He recalled 
 him in October, 1757. But, faithful to his system of 
 compromises, he permitted those members of the Par- 
 liament who had resigned to resume their functions. 
 The Archbishop, constantly pursued by the animad- 
 versions of the favorite, was exiled a second time, 
 from January, 1758, to October, 1759. The inflexible 
 prelate conceded nothing in point of doctrine. 
 
200 THE COUliT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 " Let them erect a scaffold in the midst of the court," 
 he exclaimed ; " I would ascend it to maintain my 
 rights, fulfil my duties, and obey the laws of my 
 conscience." 
 
 The quarrels over the bull Unigenitus were at last 
 appeased; but religious authority was weakened at 
 the same time as royal authority. Emboldened by 
 their polemics, the members of the Parliament began 
 gradually to pose as protectors of liberties and cen- 
 sors of absolute monarchy. Some of the nobles, on 
 the lookout for popularity, such as D'Argenson, 
 Choiseul, and other disciples of Voltaire, fancied that 
 the aristocracy could retain their privileges if the 
 clergy lost theirs. Louis XV., who foresaw the 
 coming cataclysms, was under no such illusion : at 
 bottom he was inimical to the Parliament and friendly 
 to the Church. If the Most Christian King some- 
 times showed himself indulgent toward the philoso- 
 phers, it was because they flattered his mistress and 
 sought to stupefy him while lulling his remorse. 
 
X 
 
 MADAME DE POMPADOUK AKD THE SEVEN YEAKS' 
 
 WAK 
 
 ONE of the principal calamities laid to the charge 
 of Madame de Pompadour, by her contempo- 
 raries and by posterity, is the Seven Years' War. 
 They have resolved to hold her responsible for all 
 the bloodshed, all the disasters and humiliations, for 
 Rossbach and Crevelt, for the loss of the colonies and 
 the profound injury done to the military prestige 
 and naval forces of France. There is some exagger- 
 ation in this, as we believe. It must not be forgotten 
 that the origin of the Seven Years' "War was an 
 unjustifiable aggression of the English, who were 
 absolutely bent on complete mastery of the seas. 
 Madame de Pompadour was certainly not responsible 
 for British ambition. It is true that France was not 
 ready for strife, and that its marine had been allowed 
 to fall into decay. But if the favorite was deceived 
 about the resources of the country, if she cherished 
 illusions which ruined peoples as well as individuals, 
 she was not the only one. 
 
 The Marquis d'Argenson accuses her of having 
 201 
 
202 THE COURT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 been occupied with porcelains at a time when people 
 should have been thinking of arms. "Madame de 
 Pompadour," he writes in 1754, " does nothing but 
 preach up the great advantage it has been to the 
 State to manufacture porcelain like that of Saxony, 
 and even to have surpassed it. A royal warehouse 
 for this porcelain is being established in the rue de 
 la Monnaie. There may be seen a service which the 
 King is about to send to the King of Saxony, as if to 
 brave and provoke him, saying that he has surpassed 
 even his manufactory. At the King's suppers the 
 Marquise says that it is uncitizenlike not to buy as 
 much of this porcelain as one can pay for. Some 
 one answered her: But while the King has been 
 so liberal in encouraging this manufactory, those of 
 Charleville and Saint-Etienne are abandoned, which 
 are quite differently useful to us, since they concern 
 the defence of the kingdom, and three-quarters of 
 the workmen are passing into foreign countries." 
 The reflection is, doubtless, just ; but a few Saxony 
 or Sevres porcelains, more or less, would not greatly 
 have altered the situation of France. It was her 
 misfortune to be slumbering in a fatal ease. Voltaire 
 has said: "All Europe never saw happier days than 
 followed the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, in 1748, until 
 toward the year 1755. Commerce flourished from St. 
 Petersburg to Cadiz ; the fine arts were everywhere 
 in honor. A mutual confidence existed between all 
 nations. Europe resembled a large family, reunited 
 after its dissensions." The French allowed them- 
 
THE SEVEN YEARS' WAR 203 
 
 selves to be deceived by this universal lull. Military 
 men and diplomatists felt an exaggerated confidence. 
 In a few years people became so accustomed to peace 
 that they no longer even thought of vrar. It was 
 the same thing that happened about a century later, 
 at the time of the Universal Exposition of 1867. 
 Peoples who wish to preserve their greatness ought 
 to beware of cosmopolitan theories. While the phi- 
 losophers were weaving their humanitarian dreams, 
 England was preparing her fleets and Frederick the 
 Great his armies. 
 
 A trifling contest between France and England for 
 some wild lands in Canada was the kindling spark 
 of a fire that was to inflame the four quarters of the 
 earth. But this quarrel, insignificant in itself, was 
 not the true cause of the war : it was at most its 
 pretext. 
 
 To avoid a struggle with England was well-nigh 
 impossible ; but what France might have done, and 
 did not, was to remain faithful to the alliance with 
 Prussia, instead of plunging into one absolutely 
 contrary to every tradition of its foreign policy, 
 the Austrian alliance. What the diplomacy of 
 Louis XV. lacked was consecutiveness. The versa- 
 tile monarch did not know what he wanted. Some- 
 times Prussian, sometimes Austrian, he fluctuated 
 between two contradictory systems. The see-saw 
 policy creates only a momentary illusion. It suc- 
 ceeds for a while, but it nearly always leads to ruin. 
 The secret of strong diplomatists is to persevere in 
 
204 THE COURT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 one idea, pursue one end, choose one good alliance, 
 and stick to it. Feeble diplomatists, on the contrary, 
 undo to-day what they did yesterday. It is like the 
 web of Penelope. Whoever studies seriously the 
 causes of our reverses, under Napoleonic France as 
 well as under the France of the Bourbons, will easily 
 convince himself that nearly all of them are due to 
 incoherent principles and inconsistent ideas. To 
 preserve a system and follow a tradition gives a real 
 strength. The strength of Prince Bismarck is to 
 have persevered in one idea, that of German unity, 
 and in one alliance, that of Russia. 
 
 The policy of the Versailles treaty of 1756, which 
 established an intimate accord between Louis XV. 
 and Maria Theresa, was not in itself a more objec- 
 tionable policy than another. But if it was desired 
 to adopt it, it ought not to have been necessary to 
 make war with Austria beforehand. Nothing is 
 more dangerous than to place one's self in a self- 
 contradictory attitude. No confidence is inspired 
 by such variable conduct; one is at the mercy of 
 every incident. 
 
 In politics, as in religion and literature, the prime 
 essential is unity. It is the same thing in diplomacy 
 as in style. 
 
 " Ce que I'on con9oit bien s'enonce claireraent, 
 Et les mots pour le dire arrivent aisement." ^ 
 
 1 What is clearly conceived is clearly expressed, 
 And the words to say it come easily. 
 
THE SEVEN YEAUS- WAH 205 
 
 What is required is a true spirit of method, a clear, 
 precise, definite object, straight lines, an absence of 
 tortuous proceedings. 
 
 The old maxim, " divide to reign," the presence in 
 the same ministry of men warring against each other, 
 of secret agents who undo the work of official agents, 
 underhand ways, countermines, politics by double 
 entr}', — all this is no sign of strength ; it is the expe- 
 dient of weakness. Occult diplomacy, like that of 
 Louis XV., is suitable to none but governments in 
 extremity. Woe to a sovereign who suspects his 
 own ambassadors ! If he has not full confidence in 
 them, let him change them ! 
 
 What lay at the root of the character of Louis XV. 
 was the habit of dissimulation, the vanity of being 
 considered impenetrable. It was he, not Madame de 
 Pompadour, who had created a government at con- 
 stant war with the principal agents it made use of. 
 Nor was the Austrian alliance a conception of the 
 favorite's. Louis XV. did not like Frederick the 
 Great, and he was not less taken with the flatteries 
 of the Empress Maria Theresa than Madame de Pom- 
 padour herself. If the adroit sovereign wrote the 
 Marquise a letter in which she treated her as a dear 
 friend, she was careful at the same time to display a 
 passionate admiration, a sort of cult, for Louis XV. 
 Moreover, there was an Austrian party at Versailles. 
 The Marquis d'Argenson wrote in January, 1756 : 
 " There is a large party in our court for the court of 
 Vienna. Austria has always had emissaries at our 
 
206 THE COURT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 court. I hear these emissaries saying that the house 
 of Austria is no longer what it was, that it has need 
 of us, that we ought to march in close accord with it. 
 I know these insinuations, and it was to opposing 
 them that I owe my disgrace in 1747. They preach 
 to us against the King of Prussia, they say he is all 
 English, and they excite us against him in view of 
 despoiling him, if we are able. Hence we sulk at 
 Spain, we are irritated against Prussia, our veritable 
 and sincere ally, and all this exasperates at court 
 femineo ululatu." 
 
 The partisans of the treaty of Versailles (May 1, 
 1756), by which France and Austria promised each 
 other mutual aid against their enemies, have a right 
 to extenuating circumstances. This passage from 
 Duclos must not be forgotten : " As soon as the 
 treaty was known, there was a sort of inebriation 
 which was increased by the chagrin displayed by 
 the English ; every one imagined that the union of 
 the two first powers would make all Europe respect- 
 ful. Ideas have greatly changed since then." 
 
 The Abb^ de Bernis, who had quitted the Vene- 
 tian embassy to take the portfolio of foreign affairs, 
 and who was one of Madame de Pompadour's favor- 
 ites, was charged with drawing up the treaty. " Not- 
 withstanding his first objections as a man of sense, 
 he did not long resist the general movement which 
 carried away all who surrounded him; he was daz- 
 zled, and thought he was contributing to the greatest 
 poli'ical operation that had been attempted since 
 
THE SEVEN YEARS' WAR 207 
 
 Richelieu. At first everything seemed to succeed 
 as well as could be desired, and the new alliance so 
 highly vaunted at court seemed to be taken even 
 better still by the public." ^ The Marquise tri- 
 umphed. She amused herself by engraving on an 
 agate in onyx an allegory, which represented France 
 and Austria joining hands above the altar of Fidelity, 
 and trampling under foot the mask of Hypocrisy and 
 the torch of Discord. 
 
 At the start, people were full of enthusiasm and 
 confidence. The victor of Mahon was esteemed as 
 successful in war as in love. Nothing was dreamed 
 of but mighty feats and conquests. But presently 
 all took on a gloomy look. The convention of 
 Closter-Seven, so imprudently signed by Marshal 
 de Richelieu on September 8, 1757, was the signal 
 for unnumbered catastrophes. " One does not die 
 of grief," wrote Bernis to Choiseul, December 13 
 of the same year, "for I am still alive after Sep- 
 tember 8. Since that epoch, faults have been accu- 
 mulated in a fashion one can hardly explain, without 
 supposing bad intentions. I have spoken with the 
 greatest force to God and His saints. I excite pulses 
 a little, and then the lethargy recommences ; people 
 open big eyes, and that is all there is about it. . . . It 
 seems to me as if I were minister of foreign affairs in 
 Limbo. Try, my dear count, if you can excite more 
 than I the spirit of life which is becoming extinct in 
 
 1 Sainte-Beuve, Causeries du Lunde, t. viii. 
 
208 TBE COUBT. OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 US ; for my part, I have dealt all my great blows, and 
 have concluded to be in an apoplexy like the others 
 over sentiment, without ceasing to do my duty like 
 a good citizen and an honest man." The former 
 abb^ of the court become a minister, the once super- 
 ficial man whom Voltaire used to call " Babet, the- 
 bouquet-holder," was indignant at the general apathy 
 and carelessness. "It is unexampled," wrote this 
 friend of Madame de Pompadour, "that so great 
 a game should be played with the same indifference 
 as a game of checkers. . . . Sensitive, and, if I dare 
 say it, sensible as I am, I am dying on the wheel, 
 and my martyrdom is useless to France. . . . May 
 God send us some will or other, or some one who 
 will have one for us! I would be his valet de 
 chambre if they liked, and with all my heart." 
 
 As soon as the struggle began, unfortunate France 
 was amazed at the illusions she had cherished. The 
 truth appeared to her. Bernis comprehended that 
 the shortest follies are the best. January 6, 1758, 
 he wrote to Choiseul, then Ambassador to Vienna : 
 " My advice would be to make peace, and to begin 
 by a truce on land and sea. When I shall know 
 what the King thinks of this idea, which I have not 
 found in my manner of thinking, but which has been 
 presented to rae by good sense, reason, and necessity, 
 I will inform you. Meanwhile, try to make M. de 
 Kaunitz certain of two things that are equally true ; 
 namely, that the King will never abandon the 
 Empress, but that it will never do for him to be 
 
TBE SEVEN YEARS' WAR 209 
 
 ruined with her. Our respective faults have made 
 a hopeless wreck of a great project which was infal- 
 lible in the first days of September. It is a beautiful 
 dream which it would be dangerous to carry further, . 
 but which it might some day be possible to resume 
 with better actors and better combined military plans. 
 The more directly I have been charged with this grand 
 alliance, the more ought people to credit me when 
 I counsel peace." 
 
 Unfortunately, Madame de Pompadour was head- 
 strong, which is one of the attributes of mediocrity 
 of mind. Confounding heroism with obstinacy, she 
 thought that to struggle indefinitely against ill 
 fortune, was to display greatness of soul. The more 
 faults a general of her choice committed, the more 
 inveterately did she uphold him. She was like 
 those gamesters who are checked by no ill luck, and 
 who never give up playing until they are ruined. 
 Public opinion condemned such obstinacy. The 
 French do not know how to support reverses. They 
 overwhelmed Soubise, defeated at Rossbach, with sar- 
 casms, and appeared to be infatuated with the victor. 
 People took the fashion of exalting Frederick the 
 Great and of cursing his enemy, Madame de Pompa- 
 dour, Cotillion IV., as she was called. Soubise was 
 the scape-goat on whom rained all the jests, chan- 
 sons, and satires : — 
 
 " Soubise dit, la lanterne k la main, 
 J'ai beau chercher, oil diable est mon avmde ? 
 Elle etait 1^ pourtant hier matin, 
 
210 THE COURT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 Me I'a-t-on prise ou I'aurais-je egar^e? 
 
 Ah I je perds tout, je suis un etourdi ; 
 
 Mais attendons au grand jour, k midi. 
 Que vois-je ? O ciel ! Que mon arae est ravie ! 
 
 Prodige heureux, la voila, la voila ! — 
 
 Ah ! ventre bleu ! Qu'est-ce done que cela ? 
 
 Je me trompais, c'est I'armee ennemie." i 
 
 It is not by means of chansons that France can 
 retrieve herself. She plays into the enemy's hand by 
 showing herself more Prussian than Prussia. Bernis 
 finds himself submerged by this deluge of criticisms 
 and assaults. " I am threatened by anonymous let- 
 ters," he wrote again to Choiseul in 1758, "with 
 being presently torn to pieces by the people, and 
 though I do not greatly fear such menaces, it is cer- 
 tain that approaching misfortunes which cannot be 
 foreseen, could easily realize them. Our friend runs 
 at least as much risk." Ill in body and mind, Bernis 
 could hold out no longer ; he handed in his resigna- 
 tion. Louis XV. accepted it in a letter dated October 
 9, 1758, which opened thus : " I am sorry. Monsieur 
 the Abb^-Count, that the affairs you are charged with 
 
 1 Soubise says, lantern in hand, 
 There's no use looking, where the devil is my army ? 
 
 It was here yesterday morning, anyhow. 
 Has some one taken it or have I lost it ? 
 
 Ah ! I lose everything, I am a rattlepate ; 
 
 But wait till broad daylight, till noon. 
 What do I see 1 heaven I How my soul is enraptured I 
 
 Wondrous prodigy, there it is, there it is I — 
 
 Ah I zounds ! What is that then 1 
 
 I was mistaken, 'tis the enemy's army. 
 
THE SEVEN TEABS' WAR 211 
 
 affect your health to such a point that you can no 
 longer support the burden of the work. ... I consent 
 with regret to your turning over the foreign affairs 
 to the hands of the Duke de Choiseul, whom I think 
 to be at present the only suitable person, as I am dis- 
 inclined to make an absolute change in the system I 
 have adopted, or even to be spoken to about it." 
 
 The three women in coalition against Frederick, — 
 Maria Theresa, Empress of Austria, Elisabeth, Em- 
 press of Russia, and Madame, the Marquise de 
 Pompadour — carried the war as far as possible. 
 France experienced nothing but reverses in every 
 quarter of the globe. As Voltaire remarked, it 
 seemed more exhausted of men and money by its 
 union with Austria than it had been by two centu- 
 ries of war against that country.^ It must be admitted, 
 however, that Madame de Pompadour's obstinacy was 
 very near succeeding. It is incredible that the King 
 of Prussia, who stood alone on the continent against 
 the forces of Austria, France, Russia, Sweden, and 
 half of the Empire, could long have maintained so 
 gigantic a struggle. An unforeseen event, the death 
 of the Empress Elisabeth of Russia, January 6, 1762, 
 saved him. Madame de Pompadour felt that her 
 vengeance was eluding her. It was necessary to 
 renounce all ideas of glory and conquest, and to 
 sign tlie disastrous treaties of Paris and Huberts- 
 burg (February 10 and 15, 1763). Louis XV. gave 
 
 1 Voltaire, 8iede de Louis XV. 
 
212 THE COURT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 up the cities he still possessed in Germany. He 
 restored Minorca to England, and ceded to it Aca- 
 dia, Canada, Cape Breton, the gulf and river of Saint 
 Lawrence, Grenada, Saint Vincent, Dominique, To- 
 bago, and the Senegal River v\fith its factories. He 
 only regained his Indian colonies on condition of not 
 fortif3dng or gariisoning them. Finally he undertook 
 to demolish anew the harbor of Dunkirk. The ruin 
 of military prestige, commerce, the navy, and public 
 credit, the loss of two hundred thousand men, several 
 millions of money, and nearly all the colonies, — such 
 is the balance sheet of the fatal war so ardently desired 
 by the Marquise. 
 
 Voltaire had good reason to exclaim : " What 
 was the result of this innumerable multitude of 
 combats the tale of which now wearies even those 
 conspicuous in them ? What remains from all these 
 efforts ? Nothing but blood shed vainly in waste and 
 desolate lands, villages in ruins, families reduced 
 to beggary, and rarely does even a dull rumor of 
 these calamities reach as far as Paris, always pro- 
 foundly occupied with pleasures or equally frivolous 
 disputes." Then, returning to the cause or rather 
 to the pretext of the strife, the author of the Steele 
 de Louis XV. says again : " It has been thought that 
 it would have been very easy to prevent such mis- 
 fortunes by coming to terms with the English con- 
 cerning a small contested ground near Canada. 
 But certain ambitious persons, to maintain their 
 dignity and render themselves necessary, precipi- 
 
THE SEVEN YEARS' WAR 213 
 
 tated France into this fatal war. The same thing 
 had occurred in 1741. The self-love of two or three 
 persons was enough to lay all Europe waste. France 
 needed peace so greatly that she regarded those who 
 concluded it as benefactors of the country." The 
 Duke de Choiseul remained popular because he had 
 been able to palliate somewhat the impression caused 
 by such reverses by concluding, in August, 1761, 
 the family pact between the Bourbons of France, 
 Spain, and Italy, and had also had tact enough to 
 win the support of the fashionable literary men, the 
 arbiters of renown. But his friend, Madame de 
 Pompadour, was the object of public vindictiveness. 
 Wounded in her ambition, her vanity, and her pride, 
 she could not be consoled. 
 
XII 
 
 MADAME DE POMPADOTJE AND THE PHILOSOPHERS 
 
 ONE day some one cited in presence of Louis 
 XV. the example of Frederick the Great, 
 who admitted the philosophers in vogue and famous 
 men of letters to his intimate acquaintance. " That 
 is not the way in France," said the King, " and as 
 there are a few more wits and great noblemen here 
 than there are in Prussia, I should want a very big 
 table to gather them all around it." And then he 
 counted on his fingers : " Maupertuis, Fontenelle, 
 La Motte, Voltaire, Piron, Destouches, Montesquieu, 
 Cardinal de Polignac." His attention was called to 
 the fact that he had forgotten D'Alembert and 
 Clairant. — " And Cr^billon," said he, " and La 
 Chaussde ! " — " And Cr^billon the younger," cried 
 some one ; " he ought to be more amiable than his 
 father; and then there are the Abbd Prevost, the 
 Abb^ d'Olivet." — " Very well," replied Louis XV., 
 " for twenty-five years all of that crowd would have 
 dined or supped with me." 
 
 Madame de Pompadour, who was acquainted with 
 the master's dispositions, would not have made ad- 
 
 214 
 
TRE PHILOSOPHERS 215 
 
 vances to tlie philosophers had she not been possessed 
 by the passion for flattery. But how was she to 
 resist compliments so well turned as those of Vol- 
 taire ? This man, who in speaking of the Christian 
 religion cried : " Crush the wretch ! " kneeled to 
 a royal mistress while enlarging the boundaries of 
 the most insipid flattery. The censer which he 
 wanted to banish from the churches he seized in 
 order to wave it respectfully before the alcove of a 
 Pompadour ! 
 
 The Marquise had in her intimacy a man who 
 never quitted her ; this was Doctor Quesnay, her 
 familiar, her guest, her confident, her physician, 
 whom she had lodged just above her in an entresol 
 of the ch§,teau of Versailles. This little entresol, 
 rendezvous of the boldest innovators, the most deter- 
 mined free-thinkers, the most ardent materialists, was 
 the secret workshop of the future Revolution, the 
 laboratory of disorder and destruction. There, talk- 
 ing, dining, declaiming, conspiring together, one 
 met men such as D'Alembert, the chief of the Ency- 
 clopedists; Duclos, who said of the nobles who 
 flattered him: " They are afraid of us as robbers are 
 of street lamps with reflectors " ; Helvetius, whose 
 whole doctrine is summed up in this monstrous 
 maxim, last word of egotism and immorality: 
 " Man being merely a sensitive being should have 
 but one object : the pleasure of the senses." Mar- 
 montel relates that the Marquise de Pompadour, 
 unable to induce this troop of philosophers to come 
 
216 THE COURT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 down to her salon, came to their table instead and 
 chatted with them. 
 
 Doctor Quesnay, her physician, was one of those 
 peasants of the Danube, or better, to adopt a happy 
 expression of the De Goncourts, one of those cour- 
 tiers of the Danube who cloak a refined cleverness 
 under an aspect of rudeness, and who live by the 
 monarchy even while playing to the republicans. 
 Strange Brutuses, contraband Catos, whose beautiful 
 maxims can deceive none but simpletons ! Rude 
 democrats in appearance, time-servers in reality, who 
 are proud to dine with great people and whose so- 
 called dignity provokes a smile ! Quesnay, this 
 physical confessor, knew both the strong and the 
 weak sides of the Marquise. He knew so well how 
 to take her that he could quietly install in his en- 
 tresol, just above the favorite's apartment, the first 
 club, that which agitated for the first time the down- 
 fall of the Church and the monarchy. 
 
 Madame de Pompadour was full of coquetries and 
 amiability for the most dangerous adversaries of the 
 old regime. La Tour's pastel, which is at the Louvre, 
 represents her seated in an armchair, her left arm 
 resting on a table whereon are a globe and some 
 books. The largest of these is the fourth volume 
 of the Encyclopedia, that great arsenal of impiety, 
 the prospectus of which had been launched by Di- 
 derot in 1750. Louis XV., always undecided, at 
 first tolerated the gigantic collection of writings. 
 Some years later (March, 1759) he revoked the 
 
THE PHILOSOPHERS 217 
 
 privileges of the editors. A royal declaration of 
 unwonted violence appeared at the same time 
 against the authors, printers, publishers, and colpor- 
 teurs of writings aimed against religion and royal 
 authority. Almost every line proclaimed a death 
 penalty. But a thousand means of eluding these 
 Draconian laws were found, and most frequently 
 authority closed its eyes. 
 
 Voltaire cried enthusiastically : " Long life to the 
 ministry of the Duke de Choiseul ! " 
 
 Nevertheless, warnings were not lacking to the 
 favorite. She saw as clearly as Louis XV. himself 
 the perils which the doctrines of the Encyclopedia 
 made imminent for all kings. Madame du Hausset 
 relates that a very curious anonymous letter was 
 one day sent to the King and his mistress. As the 
 author was bent on accomplishing his purpose, he 
 had sent one copy to the lieutenant of police, sealed 
 with this address : For the King ; one with these 
 words : To Madame de Pompadour, and still another 
 to M. de Marigny. This letter, which greatly affected 
 Louis XV. and his Marquise, struck them all the 
 more forcibly because it was written in very respect- 
 ful terms. Among other remarkable passages it 
 contained the following prediction : " The Encyclo- 
 pedists, under pretext of enlightening men, are sap- 
 ping the foundations of religion. All sorts of liberty 
 depend upon each other: the philosophers and the 
 Protestants tend to republicanism as well as the 
 Jansenists. The philosophers attack the trunk of 
 
218 THE COURT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 the tree, the others some of its branches ; but their 
 efforts, without being concerted, will some day bring 
 it down. Add to these the Economists, whose object 
 is political liberty, as that of the others is liberty of 
 worship, and the Government may find itself in 
 twenty or tliirty yeai-s undermined throughout and 
 falling tumultuously into ruin." 
 
 These prophecies of the coming Revolution are 
 incessantly renewed in the writings of one of the 
 ministers of Louis XV., the Marquis d'Argenson. 
 It is he who writes in January, 1750 : " Republican- 
 ism is every day gaining on philosophic minds. 
 People take an aversion to monarchism through 
 demonstration. In fact, it is only slaves and 
 eunuchs who aid monarchism by their false wis- 
 dom." And on December 20 of the same year: 
 " See how many philosophic writers there are at 
 present. The wind from England blows over this 
 stuff. It is combustible. Look at the style in 
 which Parliament remonstrances are written. These 
 procureurs general of Parliaments, these State syn- 
 dics, would at need become great men. All the 
 nation would take fire ; the nobility would gain the 
 clergy, and then the third estate. And if necessity 
 should arise for assembling the States-General of the 
 realm to regulate the demands for money, these 
 States would not assemble in vain. One should be 
 careful ; all this is very serious." 
 
 It must be owned that D'Argenson is a true 
 prophet. Every day he accentuates his sinister pre- 
 
THE PHILOSOPHERS 219 
 
 dictions. September 11, 1751, he writes : " We have 
 not, like the Roraans, any Visigotlis or Saracens who 
 might invade us ; but the Government may experi- 
 ence a revolution. Consider that it is no longer 
 either esteemed or respected, and, which is worse, 
 that it is doing all that is needed to ruin itself. The 
 clergj', the army, the Parliaments, the people high 
 and low, are all murmuring, all detaching themselves 
 from the Government, and rightly. Things are go- 
 ing from bad to worse." He returns to the charge 
 September 9, 1752 : " The bad effects of our govern- 
 ment by absolute monarchy are resulting in persuad- 
 ing France and all Europe that it is the worst of 
 governments. ... A mild but inactive prince 
 allows the abuses to grow Avhich were commenced 
 by the pride of Louis XIV.; no reform when it 
 is necessary, no amelioration, appointments blindly 
 made, prejudices without inquiry ; everything shows 
 an increasing tendency toward national ruin. Every- 
 thing is falling into tatters, and private passions are 
 working underhand to ruin and destroy us." 
 
 Is it not a curious thing to hear, forty years before- 
 hand, the first mutterings of the formidable tempest 
 which was to engulf everything, — nobility, clergy, 
 Parliaments, monarchy? We are in the year 1750. 
 The archers have arrested, as a police measure, cer- 
 tain vagabond children who were begging in Paris. 
 Suddenly a rumor spreads that abductions are multi- 
 plying and that no family is any longer in security. 
 Popular imagination is excited, overheated. People 
 
220 THE COURT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 say that in order to restore his wasted forces the 
 kingly debauch^, takes baths of children's blood, like 
 a new Herod. Madame de Pompadour, who has 
 been imprudent enough to come to Paris, has barely 
 time to escape from being torn to pieces. The peo- 
 ple want to go to Versailles and burn the chateau, 
 built, as they say, at their expense. The exasperated 
 King says that hereafter he will not pass through 
 Paris when going to Compi^gne. " What ! " he 
 cries, " shall I show myself to these villainous people 
 who say I am a Herod ! " And to avoid entering 
 thereafter the capital of which he has conceived a 
 horror, he establishes outside the walls the road which 
 is now called the path of the Revolt. 
 
 The tide of anger rises — rises incessantly against 
 the favorite. The people overwhelm her with curses ; 
 they call her the King's hussy. The daughters of 
 Louis XV. designate her by a still more vulgar name. 
 In November, 1751, the Dauphin and Dauphiness, on 
 their way to Notre Dame, cross the bridge of the 
 Tournelle. Some two thousand women surround 
 them. " We are dying with hunger ! " they say. 
 " Bread ! bread ! " The Dauphiness trembles like a 
 leaf. The Dauphin causes several louis to be distrib- 
 uted. "Monseigneur," say the women of the people, 
 " we do not want your money. It is bread we want. 
 We love you much. Let that wretch be sent away 
 who is governing the kingdom and ruining it! If 
 we had hold of her, there would soon be nothing left 
 of her but relics." 
 
THE PHILOSOPHERS 221 
 
 If such were popular impressions before the Seven 
 Years' War, it is easy to comprehend what they must 
 have been after the national humiliations which over- 
 whelmed unhappy France. Madame de Pompadour 
 thought she could remedy the immense unpopularity 
 which pursued her by flattering still more the philos- 
 ophers who could blow the trumpet of Renown for 
 her. These singular patriots, who had celebrated the 
 glory of the victor of Rossbach as if he had been a 
 Titus or a Marcus Aurelius, asked only one thing to 
 console them for the afflictions, shames, and miseries 
 of their country : a regular persecution against the 
 Jesuits. Madame de Pompadour was ready to fol- 
 low Voltaire's disciples on to this ground. She 
 misrht have hesitated if the Jesuits had been her 
 flatterers, if they had made a pretence of being her 
 dupes, if they had concluded to play a r81e of com- 
 plaisance in the comedies of her pretended repent- 
 ance, if they had seemed to take her for another 
 Maintenon, for a mother in Israel. But she did not 
 forget that when, in 1756, she had been obliged to go 
 to confession in order to be eligible for an appoint- 
 ment as lady of the Queen's palace, Pere de Sacy had 
 refused her absolution, and that when the attempt 
 was made on the King, in 1757, Pere Desmarets had 
 nearly obliged her to leave the court. Hence the 
 Jesuits were condemned. A Parliament decree of 
 February 22, 1764, commanded that within eight 
 days they should take an oath not to live any longer 
 according to their institute, to abjure the condemned 
 
222 THE COURT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 maxims, and to hold no correspondence with their 
 former superiors. " When the Jesuits were ex- 
 pelled," says Chateaubriand, " their existence was not 
 dangerous to the State ; the past was punished in the 
 present ; that often happens among men ; the Provin- 
 cial Letters had deprived the Company of Jesus of its 
 moral force. And yet Pascal is merely a calumniator 
 of genius ; he has left us an immortal lie." 
 
 The great crime of the Jesuits was to have dis- 
 pleased the Marquise de Pompadour. One saw holy 
 missionaries, untiring apostles, illustrious professors, 
 men who had honored religion and science, old men 
 surrounded by the esteem of all honest people, driven 
 from their houses, deprived of all resources, expelled 
 from France with a rigor and injustice so cruel that 
 certain philosophers thought they could take up their 
 defence in the name of humanity. Those Jesuits 
 whom Madame de Pompadour was driving out, 
 Frederick the Great was to shelter in his dominions. 
 " They are the best priests I have ever known," said 
 he. Catherine II. was to welcome them to her vast 
 states and make use of them in founding educational 
 establishments. 
 
 Voltaire triumphed. "Ferney was the European 
 court," says Chateaubriand again in his Analyse 
 raisonnee de VHistoire de France; "this universal 
 homage rendered to the genius who was sapping by 
 redoubled blows the foundations of society as it then 
 existed, is characteristic of the approaching transfor- 
 mation of that society. And nevertheless it is true 
 
THE PHILOSOPHERS 223 
 
 that if Louis XV. had caressed ever so slightly the 
 flatterer of Madame de Pompadour, if he had 
 treated him as Louis XIV. treated Racine, Voltaire 
 would have abdicated the sceptre, he would have 
 bartered his power against a distinction of the ante- 
 chamber, just as Cromwell was momentarily ready 
 to exchange the place he now holds in history for 
 the garter of Alix of Salisbury ; these are mysteries 
 of human vanity." 
 
 Madame de Pompadour had sought the eulogies 
 of Voltaire ; she obtained them. From the moment 
 when she persecuted the Jesuits she had a right to 
 his approbation. When she dies, the patriarch of 
 Ferney will be almost affected. He will write to 
 Damilaville : " Consider, dear brother, that true men 
 of letters, true philosophers, should regret Madame 
 de Pompadour. She thought as she ought to ; no 
 one knows that better than I. Truly, we have sus- 
 tained a great loss." And to Cardinal de Bernis: 
 " I think, Monseigneur, that Madame de Pompadour 
 was sincerely your friend, and if it be permitted me 
 to go further, I think from the depths of my rustic 
 retreat that the King experiences a great privation. 
 He was loved for himself by a soul born sincere, 
 who had justness in the mind and justice in the 
 heart." Voltaire is always the same. What he lacks 
 is not simply religious faith, but the moral sense. 
 
 While the foundations of the monarchy were 
 cracking on every side, the patriarch of Ferney, that 
 ancient courtier of noble lords and sovereigns, was 
 
224 THE COURT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 trembling with joy and pride. "All that I see," 
 he wrote to M. de Chauvelin, April 2, 1762, "is 
 sowing the seeds of a revolution which will in- 
 fallibly arrive, but which I shall not have the pleasure 
 of witnessing. The light is spreading so from place 
 to place, that it will burst out on the first occasion, 
 and then there will be a fine row. The young men 
 are very lucky ; they will see many things ! " 
 Madman, who regretted not being destined to see 
 the scaffolds of '93 ! 
 
 Madame de Pompadour also felt that the political, 
 social, and religious edifice would crumble within 
 a few years. But why concern one's self about the 
 future ? Why be saddened by dismal thoughts and 
 gloomy presentiments? What the haughty favorite 
 desired was the ability to retain to her last day, her 
 last hour, her sceptre as queen of the left hand. The 
 rest troubled her little. It was not Louis XV., it 
 was she who said : " After me the deluge ! " 
 
XII 
 
 THE DEATH OF THE MAKQUISE DE POMPADOUK 
 
 IT is a law of Providence that no one can shine 
 without suffering, and that jealous Fortune 
 avenges herself for all the successes that she grants. 
 Women are like conquerors : they always expiate 
 their triumphs. For these queens a la mode, these 
 dazzling magicians who appear like meteors and 
 who live amid a cloud of incense, there is after 
 all no alternative but death or dethronement. To 
 die or to grow old, that is the terrible dilemma from 
 which they are unable to extricate themselves. 
 Women whose attractions have not been more than 
 ordinary bend to this common law with sufficient 
 resignation. But the celebrated beauty, the haughty 
 beauty who delights in herself as if her youth were 
 never to end, secretly revolts against cruel destiny 
 and silently endures a real martyrdom. Her shriv- 
 elled hand tries to retain the sceptre that is slipping 
 from it. She is unwilling to descend from the 
 throne whence she has been used to surve}' a crowd 
 of servile adorers. As the changes come on grad- 
 ually, in a manner hardly perceptible, she has proba- 
 
 225 
 
226 THE COURT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 bly failed to notice the precursory symptoms of her 
 decline. She is told on all sides that she is more 
 seductive, more radiant, than ever. Then, in this 
 last blossoming of her departing youth, she experi- 
 ences that indefinable sentiment, that blending of 
 unquiet joy and voluptuous melancholy, virhich takes 
 possession of the soul under the light of the last 
 bright days of autumn. When one looks at the 
 azure sky, one cannot realize that winter is so near. 
 But if one drops one's eyes, the yellowing leaves 
 that cover the ground or are swept away by the 
 wind, remind one that the feast of nature is draw- 
 ing to a close. The woman who longs most to 
 preserve her illusions concerning the perpetuity of 
 her youth, finds warning accusations which afflict 
 and terrify her. The first wrinkles, the first gray 
 hairs ; the color which needs to be touched up, the 
 lips and eyes which call imperiously for paint ; the 
 insolent mirror which nevertheless one cannot break 
 because it is in opposition to the flatterers, because 
 in its mute language it brutally declares the truth ! 
 
 Madame de Pompadour was forty-two years old. 
 Aged prematurely by the unwholesome emotions of 
 intrigue, vanity, and ambition, she was suffering 
 both in body and in mind. Incessant palpitation 
 of the heart disturbed her. Fever was her constant 
 guest. On nearing the end of her career she looked 
 back sadly over the road she had traversed, and com- 
 prehended at last the inanity of the things in which 
 she had vainly sought for happiness. But for a 
 
DEATH OF THE MABQUISE 227 
 
 true repentance she lacked a religious faith like 
 that of Mademoiselle de La Valliere. In default of 
 faith, the Marquise had great courage. She strove 
 energetically against disease, but she remained worldly 
 and theatrical even in suffering and death. " She 
 would no longer appear in Paris," says M. Arsene 
 Houssaye ; " at court she never showed herself ex- 
 cept by lamplight, in the apparel of a queen of 
 Golconda, crowned with diamonds, wearing twenty 
 bracelets, and dragging after her an Indian robe 
 embroidered with gold and silver. It was always 
 the divine Marquise of other days ; but presently, 
 when one looked closely, one discovered that' it 
 was but a pastel, still charming, but rubbed out 
 here and there. It was at the mouth that her beauty 
 began to fade. She had early contracted the habit 
 of biting her lips, to conceal her emotions. By the 
 time she was thirty, her mouth had lost all its vivid 
 freshness. It was necessary to repaint it after every 
 meal and every kiss ! " ^ Her eyes had retained all 
 their brilliancy. But the rest of her person was 
 plainly aging. She tried in vain to conceal her 
 excessive meagreness under the skilful devices of 
 the toilette. She was a woman stricken hj death. 
 She fell ill at Choisy, and while there was still 
 time she asked to be taken back to Versailles in 
 order to die as she had lived, amidst the evidences 
 
 1 See the witty and interesting work by M. Arsene Houssaye : 
 Louis XV. 1vol., Dentu. 
 
228 THE COURT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 of her power. Her friends had an instant of hope, 
 for a slight amelioration was produced. The poet 
 Favart instantly produced this stanza : — 
 
 " Le soleil est malade, 
 Et Pompadour aussi ; 
 Ce n'est qu'une passade, 
 L'un es I'autre est gueri ; 
 Le bon Dieu, qui seconde 
 Nos vceux et notre amour, 
 Pour le bonheiir du monde, 
 Nous a rendu le jour 
 Aveo Pompadour." ^ 
 
 Palissot sent the following verses to the Marquise : — 
 
 " Vous etes trop chere ^ la France, 
 
 Au dieu des arts et des amours. 
 Pour redouter du sort la fatale puissance. 
 
 Tous les dieux veillaient snr vos jours, 
 Tous ^talent animus du zele qui m'inspire ; 
 
 En volant k votre secours 
 
 lis ont affermi leur empire." ^ 
 
 1 The sun is sick, 
 And so is Pompadour ; 
 'Tis but a transient tiling, 
 For both are cured ; 
 The good God who aids 
 Our wishes and our love, 
 For the welfare of the world 
 Restores to us the day 
 With Pompadour. 
 2 You are too dear to France, 
 To the god of arts and loves, 
 To fear the deadly power of fate. 
 
 All the gods watched over your life, 
 All were animated by the zeal that inspires me ; 
 In flying to your rescue 
 They have established their empire. 
 
DEATH OF THE MARQUISE 229 
 
 Madame de Pompadour did not allow herself to be 
 deceived by these fallacious hyperboles. All this 
 mythology did not mislead her. She understood 
 very vs^ell that there was nothing in common between 
 her and the sun, and felt herself already invaded by 
 the chilly shadows of death. 
 
 "It will come at the predestined day; it will 
 come," as Bossuet said, "this last illness when, amidst 
 an infinite number of friends, doctors, and attendants, 
 you will find yourself without assistance, more for- 
 saken, more abandoned, than the j)auper dying on the 
 straw without a sheet for his burial ! For of what 
 avail are these friends in this fatal malady? Only 
 to afflict you by their presence ; these doctors ? only 
 to torment you ; these attendants ? only to run hither 
 and thither about your house with useless zeal. You 
 need other friends, other servants ; these paupers 
 whom you have despised are the only ones capable of 
 assisting you. Why did you not think in time of 
 providing yourself with such friends as would now 
 hold out their arms to receive you into everlasting 
 tabernacles?"^ 
 
 Even on her death-bed Madame de Pompadour, 
 always the slave of the man whose mistress she was 
 called, feared the King more than God himself. 
 They say she sent to Louis XV. to ask if he desired 
 her to go to confession. The King replied affirma- 
 tively. A priest from Paris, the cure of the Made- 
 
 1 Bossuet. Sermon on Final Impenitence. 
 
230 THE COURT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 leine, administered the last sacraments to the dying 
 woman. When he was about to withdraw, it is pre- 
 tended that she retained him with a last smile, and 
 said : " One moment, Monsieur the Cur^, we will go 
 away together." A few minutes before she had 
 caused her will to be read to her, which commenced 
 thus: "I, Jeanne Antoinette Poisson, Marquise de 
 Pompadour, wife separated from the property of 
 Charles Guillaume Lenormand d'Etioles, equerry, 
 have made and written my present testament and 
 ordinance of my last will, which I wish to be exe- 
 cuted in its entirety. I recommend my soul to God, 
 entreating Him to have pity on it, to pardon my sins, 
 to grant me the grace to do penance and to die in 
 dispositions worthy of His mercy, hoping to appease 
 His justice by the merits of the precious blood of 
 Jesus Christ my Saviour and by the powerful inter- 
 cession of the Blessed Virgin and of all the Saints 
 in Paradise. I desire that my body shall be taken to 
 the Capuchins of the Place VendSme, at Paris, and 
 buried in the vault of the chapel conceded to me." 
 As one sees, the Marquise was not so faithless as 
 the Encyclopedists claimed. The poor woman had 
 learned for herself what earthly kings are. Perhaps, 
 at the last hour, she turned her eyes toward the King 
 of Heaven. 
 
 She breathed her last April 15, 1764. It was long 
 since Louis XV. had ceased to love her. He mei'ely 
 tolerated her. If he had kept her at court, it was 
 only lest her disgrace should make her die of chagrin. 
 
DEATH OF THE MARQUISE 231 
 
 This premature death was rather a release from 
 embarrassment than an affliction to him. It is said 
 that, seeing from one of the windows of Versailles 
 the carriage starting which was to carry her coffin to 
 Paris during a frightful storm, he said tranquilly : 
 " The Marquise will not have good weather for her 
 journey." Then, calmly drawing out his watch, he 
 calculated at what hour the funeral would reach its 
 destination — and that was all. 
 
 Madame de Pompadour's existence had been like 
 a parody of real greatness. It was the same with her 
 obsequies. A Capuchin had been appointed to make 
 the funeral oration. He extricated himself from this 
 heavy task like a man of wit. " I receive," said he, 
 " the body of the very high and powerful lady, the 
 Marquise de Pompadour, lady of the Queen's palace. 
 She was at the school of all virtues, for Her Majesty 
 is a model of goodness, of modesty, of indulgence." 
 And thus he went on for a quarter of an hour, mak- 
 ing a well-deserved eulogy of the Queen. Marie 
 Leczinska, always so charitable, was struck by the 
 extreme promptness with which the too celebrated 
 favorite was forgotten. " No one has anything more 
 to say here of her vi^ho is no more," she remarked to 
 President H^nault, "than if she had never existed. 
 Such is the world; truly it is worth while to love 
 it!" 
 
 Once dead, Madame de Pompadour seemed unwor- 
 thy even of hatred. Still, the men of letters and 
 the artists who had formerly been protected by her. 
 
232 THE COURT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 regretted her somewhat. Voltaire, while remember- 
 ing with bitterness that she had sustained Cr^billon, 
 wrote to M. de Cideville : " I have been much 
 afflicted by the death of Madame de Pompadour. It 
 is ridiculous that an old scribbler on paper, who can 
 scarcely walk, should be still living, and that a 
 beautiful woman should die at forty in the midst of 
 the finest career in the world. Perhaps if she had 
 tasted the repose that I enjoy she would be living 
 still." Diderot was more severe. He had to give a 
 description of the Salon of 1765, where a picture was 
 exhibited which Vanloo had painted during Madame 
 de Pompadour's illness, and which represented the 
 afflicted Arts addressing themselves to Destiny to 
 obtain the preservation of her life. "Vanloo's sup- 
 pliants," said the critic, "obtain nothing from Destiny 
 which is more favorable to France than to the Arts. 
 Madame de Pompadour died at a moment when she 
 was thought to be out of danger. Well ! what 
 remains of this woman who exhausted us of men and 
 money, deprived us of honor and energy, and upset 
 the political system of Europe ? The treaty of 
 Versailles, which will last as long as it can ; Bouchar- 
 don's Amour, which will always be admired ; several 
 stones sculptured by Giiay, which will astonish future 
 antiquaries ; a good little picture by Vanloo, which 
 will be looked at sometimes ; and a pinch of dust." 
 
XIII 
 
 THE OLD AGE OP MAEIE LECZINSKA 
 
 WHEN the eyes have been fatigued by the glow 
 of artificial lights, they willingly repose on 
 soft and real daylight. After the haughty favorite, 
 one likes to contemplate the good Queen. Compari- 
 sons made between the mistress and the legitimate 
 wife are always to the advantage of the second. To 
 one the agitations of a troubled conscience, to the 
 other peace of heart ; to one contempt, to the other 
 respect; scandal to one, edification to the other. 
 The Memoirs of the Duke de Luynes and of Presi- 
 dent Renault make us acquainted with the qualities 
 of Marie Leczinska, just as those of Madame du 
 Hausset lay bare the moral plague spots of the Mar- 
 quise de Pompadour. A solitary conclusion may 
 be drawn from reading all of them; namely, that 
 the Queen, neglected as she was, and in spite of the 
 hidden r81e which contented her modesty, was, not- 
 withstanding, less unhappy than the all-powerful 
 favorite, who disposed of the monarchy as if it were 
 a pension list. Each of them had her chagrins, but 
 God gives us strength to endure the ills He sends us, 
 
 233 
 
234 THE COURT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 ■while those we create for ourselves are intolerable. 
 The heaviest chains are those we forge with our own 
 hands. The list of suicides is a proof in support of 
 this observation. Is there, for example, an affliction 
 more profound than that of a mother who loses her 
 child ? Very well ! you never hear that a woman 
 has taken her life because she has had a grief like 
 that. On the other hand, how many suicides there 
 are among the victims of pride and sensuality ! Re- 
 ligion alleviates the sorrows which are in the nature 
 and order of things. But griefs which are in revolt 
 against Providence, afflictions voluntarily created by 
 criminal capiices, or insensate ambitions, have in 
 them something inconsolable and incurable. Madame 
 de Pompadour vainly sought an asylum for her soul. 
 
 The Queen found at the foot of altars such a 
 strength that after kneeling before the image of 
 our Saviour Jesus Christ, she could, on rising, 
 drink the cujd of bitterness without its leaving a 
 trace upon her lips. 
 
 While the guilty mistress beheld with such spite 
 and vexation the departure of her youth, the virtu- 
 ous wife experienced neither pain nor regret at 
 growing old. It is the privilege of honest women 
 to accept the laws of our common destiny without a 
 murmur, and not to attempt a foolish struggle against 
 nature in the hope of repairing the irreparable rav- 
 ages of years. The Marquise loaded her face, with- 
 ered by anxieties, with rouge and powder, and 
 exhausted all the science of a desperate coquetry in 
 
THE OLD AGE OF MARIE LECZINSKA 235 
 
 the effort to keep up an illusion. Marie Leczinska, 
 on the contrary, did not entertain for a moment the 
 thought of rejuvenating herself. Casanova, who 
 was present at one of her dinners at Fontainebleau, 
 represents her as "without rouge, simply dressed, 
 her head covered with a large cap, old-looking and 
 devout in aspect." This wholly Christian simplicity 
 was not without its charm. The Queen possessed 
 not merely goodness but wit, and her qualities were 
 reflected on her spiritual countenance without the 
 least pettiness, venerable with no touch of morose- 
 ness. While Louis XV. and his rnistresses were so 
 sad, so disillusionized, so disenchanted with every- 
 thing, though surrounded by all their voluptuous 
 pleasures, Marie Leczinska never uttered a com- 
 plaint. Gaiety was in reality the basis of her char- 
 acter, not that factitious, turbulent, ephemeral gaiety 
 which vice knows for a moment, but that soft, con- 
 tinuous, unaffected, equable gaiety imparted by a 
 serene disposition and a conscience in repose. 
 
 What an expi'ession of soundness, of moral well- 
 being ! What patience with life, what sympathetic 
 serenity ! The Queen is interested in many things ; 
 she is fond of honest amusements. Unlike Louis XV., 
 who is bored by everything, she has a taste for music ; 
 she paints a little, she embroiders, she plays the gui- 
 tar, the hurdy-gurdy, the harpsichord ; she willingly 
 takes part in games of chance. President H^nault 
 introduces us into the cabinet, whither she withdraws 
 after having dined alone in public, in accordance with 
 
236 THE COURT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 the formalities of etiquette : " Here," he says, " we 
 are in another climate ; this is no longer the Queen, 
 but a private person. Here one finds work of all 
 descriptions, tapestry, arts of every sort, and while 
 she is working she kindly tells us what she has been 
 reading ; she mentions the parts that have impressed 
 her and appreciates them." 
 
 Look at Latour's pastel, so admirably described by 
 Sainte-Beuve.' " It is a half-length portrait of the 
 Queen. She holds a closed fan in one hand; she 
 turns toward the spectator like some one who is 
 thinking, and who is going to say something arch, 
 some innocent piece of slyness. Her hair is slightly 
 powdered; on her head she wears a point of black 
 lace, a sort of little fichu called a faneJionnette ; a 
 mantelet of pale blue silk, with puffings or ribbons 
 of grayish white, the shades are so blended that they 
 lose themselves in each other. A tranquil harmony 
 pervades all the tones. The lips delicate, somewhat 
 thin, turning up at the angles ; the eye small and 
 brilliant ; the nose a trifle saucy, — everything in 
 this countenance breathes gentleness, subtlety, arch- 
 ness. If you know neither her rank nor her name, 
 you will say that this middle-aged person can cer- 
 tainly make a sound and appropriate repartee ; that 
 she has the grain of salt without bitterness." 
 
 How many times, at Versailles, I have stopped for 
 a while in the Queen's bedchamber,^ in that chamber 
 
 ^ Koom No. 116 of the Notice du Musee, by M. Eudore Soulifi. 
 
TBE OLD AGE OF MARIE LECZINSKA 237 
 
 which was occupied by Marie Leczinska from Decem- 
 ber 1, 1725, the day of her arrival at the palace of 
 Louis XIV., until June 24, 1768, the day of her 
 death ! At the back of the former alcove, on the 
 right, over a door which led to the small apartments 
 of the Queen,! ^ow hangs Nattier's fine portrait of 
 Marie Leczinska. The wife of Louis XV. is sitting 
 down, dressed in a red gown bordered with fur, her 
 arm leaning on a pier-table, on which lie the crown, 
 the royal mantle, and a New Testament. There is 
 nothing studied, nothing theatrical, in either the 
 pose, the countenance, or the costume. It is a blend- 
 ing of kindliness and dignity. It is a queen, but a 
 Christian queen. 
 
 ■ After the pencil, the pen ; after Nattier, Madame 
 du Deffand. Listen to the famous Marquise, ordi- 
 narily so sarcastic : — 
 
 " Th^mire has much wit, a sensitive heart, a kindly 
 disposition, an interesting face. Her education has 
 imprinted in her soul a piety so veritable that it has 
 become a sentiment, and one which serves her to 
 regulate all others. Thdmire loves God, and next 
 to him all that is lovable ; she knows how to bring 
 solid matters and agreeable ones into harmony. She 
 occupies herself with each in turn, and sometimes 
 combines them. Her virtues have, so to say, the 
 germ and pungency of passions. To admirable 
 purity of manners she joins extreme sensibility; to 
 
 1 No. 122 of the Notice. 
 
238 THE COURT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 the greatest modesty a desire to please which would 
 by itself achieve its object. Her discernment makes 
 her penetrate all caprices and understand all follies ; 
 her goodness and charity make her endure them 
 without impatience, and rarely permit her to laugh 
 at them. . . . The respect she inspires is based 
 rather on her virtues than her dignity. One has 
 entire freedom of mind when with her ; one owes it 
 to the penetration and delicacy of hers. She under- 
 stands so jjromptly and so subtly that it is easy to 
 communicate to her whatever ideas one desires, with- 
 out infringing the circumspection demanded by her 
 rank. One forgets, on seeing Th^mire, that there 
 can be other grandeurs, other elevations, than those 
 of her sentiments ; one almost yields to the illusion 
 that there is no interval between her and us than 
 that of the superiority of her merits ; but a fatal 
 awakening acquaints us that this Th^mire, so per- 
 fect, so amiable, is the Queen." 
 
 No one was a more faithful friend than Marie 
 Leczinska. The little circle amidst which she lived 
 displayed as much affection as respect for her. After 
 supper she went almost every evening to the apart- 
 ment of the Duchess de Luynes, her lady of honor. 
 There she met, besides the Duke and Duchess, Car- 
 dinal de Luynes, the Duke and Duchess de Chevreuse, 
 and President H^nault. This was a time of recrea- 
 tion and pleasant talk. The learned president shone 
 there by his wit. One day he offered the Queen the 
 manuscript of his AhrigS ehronologique. She re- 
 
THE OLD AGE OF MARIE LECZINSKA 239 
 
 turned it with the following words : " I think that 
 M. H^nault, who says so many things in so few 
 words, can hardly like the language of women who 
 talk so much to say so little." In lieu of signature, 
 she had written : Devinez qui (Guess who). The 
 gallant author replied at once : — 
 
 " Ces mots traces par une main divine 
 Ne peuvent me causer que trouble et qu'embarras. 
 C'est trop oser si mon coeur les devine ; 
 C'est etre ingrat que ne deviner pas." ^ 
 
 Another time, Fontenelle, then ninety-two years 
 old, had addressed these verses to the President : — 
 
 " H f allait n'etre vieux qu'i Sparte, 
 Disent les anciens ecrits. 
 Grand Dieu ! combien je m'eu eoarte, 
 Moi qui suis si vieux dans Paris. 
 
 Sparte ! 6 Sparte ! helas 1 qu'etes-vous devenue ? 
 Vous saviez tout le prix d'une tete chenue. 
 
 " Plus dans la canicule on etait bien fourr^, 
 Plus I'oreille etait dure et I'oeil mal eclaird, 
 Plus on deraisonnait dans sa triste famille, 
 Plus on epiloguait sur la moindre vetille, 
 Plus on avait de goutte et d'autre beatille, 
 Plus on avait perdu de dents de leur bon grd, 
 Plus on marchait courbe sur sa grosse b^quille, 
 Plus on ^tait, enfin, digne d'etre enterre, 
 Et plus dans ses remparts on etait honore. 
 
 1 These lines, traced by a hand divine, 
 Cannot but cause me trouble and embarrassment. 
 
 'Tvfere too much daring should my heart divine them ; 
 'Twere too ungrateful not to guess them. 
 
240 TSE COURT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 " O Sparte 1 6 Sparte ! h^las ! qu'gtes-vous devenue ? 
 Vous saviez tout le prix d'une tete chenue."^ 
 
 After reading these verses, the Queen wrote to 
 President H<^nault : " Say to Fontenelle that a head 
 like his ought to find Sparta everywhere." The old 
 man, very much flattered, responded by the following 
 quatrain : — 
 
 " Les ans aocumulfe me poussent trop k bout. 
 Je ne puis plus, helas I trouver Sparte partout, 
 
 Mais vous, I'e modele des reines, 
 Vous devez bien trouver partout Athfenes." ^ 
 
 ^ One should not be old except in Sparta, 
 Say the ancient writings. 
 
 Great God ! how far I am out of the way, 
 
 Who am so old in Paris. 
 Sparta ! Sparta ! alas ! what has become of you ? 
 You knew the full value of a hoary head. 
 
 The more one muffled up in dog-days, 
 The more the ear was deaf and dim the eye. 
 The more nonsense one talked in his sad family, 
 The more one criticised the veriest trifle, 
 The more gout and similar titbits one possessed. 
 The more teeth one had lost by their good wiU, 
 The more one stooped over his heavy crutch, 
 The more fit, in fact, one was to be buried. 
 The more within its ramparts one was honored. 
 
 O Sparta 1 Sparta ! alas I what has become of you? 
 You knew the full value of a hoary head. 
 
 2 Accumulated years have pushed me to extremity. 
 I cannot longer, alas I find Sparta everywhere, 
 
 But you, the model of queens. 
 Assuredly should find Athens everywhere. 
 
THE OLD AGE OF MARIE LECZINSKA 241 
 
 The kindly, affectionate character of Marie Lec- 
 zinska is fully displayed in the simple and friendly 
 letters she addressed to the Duchess of Luynes, her 
 lady of honor. We cite several of them taken at 
 hazard : — 
 
 " December 22, 1750. — Nothing could give me a 
 greater pleasure than your letter, if I did not expect 
 one still more sensible in four weeks, that of seeing 
 you. Nevertheless, it is true, that to give me nevi^s 
 of yourself sometimes, if you can do so without 
 injuring yourself, would help to alleviate a time 
 which already seems very long to me. All I ask of 
 you is not to be thankful for my friendship; it is 
 wholly due to you. Your letter affected me to tears. 
 Yes, God will preserve you as long as I live ; I ask 
 it of Him with all my heart. When I write to M. de 
 Luyiies, I say: 'I embrace Madame de Luynes,' but 
 since it is to you for him, I think it more honest to 
 beg you to take the trouble for me. And Monsei- 
 gneur, what would he like? I think it would be 
 better to enclose all in the benediction I ask for 
 him." 
 
 The Duke de Luynes had once sent the Queen 
 a casket as a New- Year's gift. Marie Leczinska 
 thanked him in the following note, dated January 1, 
 1751 : " It is useless to say the casket is chai'ming, 
 new in style, in a word, nothing so pretty in the 
 world; one knows all that. But what one doesn't 
 know is that I am like a child with a plaything that 
 pleases it. It pleases me with the same candor, 
 
242 THE COURT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 except that the gratitude proceeds from a person 
 who knows the world a little, and even at her own 
 expense, and whom God has granted the grace of 
 having amiable and estimable friends wholly corrupt 
 though she is." 
 
 Among other things the casket contained a pair 
 of spectacles of which the good Queen's eyes stood 
 in need. " Here I am gay for the whole day from 
 Madame de Luynes' good-night," she wrote to the 
 Duke, January 2, 1751. "Do you know what I was 
 doing when I received Monseigneur's letter ? I was 
 with . . . guess who ? . . . my fine new spectacles Qes 
 beaux yeux de ma cassette'). Never did VAvare love 
 his own so much. I am hurrying to get to High 
 Mass. I embrace Madame de Luynes, I bow before 
 Monseigneur, and I wish you good-day." 
 
 The Duchess's shortest absences seemed like an 
 eternity to Marie Leczinska. At such times she 
 wrote letter on letter to her lady of honor, saying 
 that long correspondences are the delights of friend- 
 ship. Here is a letter which shows what a tender 
 friend the Queen was. On receiving this heartfelt 
 epistle, the Duchess de Luynes must have been pro- 
 foundly affected : — 
 
 " January 23, 1751. — Do you know what pleasure 
 I gave myself last evening? I went to surprise 
 M. de Luynes in his apartment; I found him just as 
 he had finished his supper with Monseigneur (the 
 Bishop of Bayeux), in his pretty little room. I can- 
 not tell you what joy I felt in seeing your apartment 
 
THE OLD AGE OF MAJRIE LECZINSKA 243 
 
 again ; I rested there a moment in order to preserve 
 it, for, not finding you there yet, I began to be afraid 
 of what might succeed it. Pleasures which are only 
 imaginary need to be taken care of. I impatiently 
 await the real ones." 
 
 To great goodness Marie Leczinska joined solid 
 information. She knew six languages, — Polish, 
 French, Italian, German, Swedish, Latin. Men of 
 letters were struck by the shrewdness of her judg- 
 ments on the things of the mind. Several of her 
 maxims have been preserved, which attest a lofty 
 soul and a profound knowledge of the human heart. 
 Here are some of them : " We ought not to reflect 
 more on the faults of others than will suffice to pre- 
 serve ourselves from them. — Human wisdom teaches 
 us to conceal our pride ; religion alone destroys it. — 
 To live peaceably in society, we must open our eyes 
 to the qualities which please us, and shut them 
 on the follies and caprices which shock us. — The 
 women who pique themselves most on knowing what 
 it is allowable for them to be ignorant of are those 
 who care least about instructing themselves concern- 
 ing what it is shameful not to know. — Many princes 
 having regretted, when dying, that they had made 
 war, we never see any who repented of having loved 
 peace. — Good kings are slaves, and their people are 
 free. — The only thing which can make amends for 
 the slavery of the throne is the pleasure of doing 
 some good. — In politics, as in morals, the shortest 
 way to make men happy is to endeavor to make 
 them virtuous." 
 
244 THE COURT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 The sovereign who expressed such thoughts as 
 these was not an ordinary woman. She surpasses 
 all the favorites of her husband, not merely in 
 heart and virtue, but also in intelligence, knowledge, 
 and wit. 
 
XIV 
 
 MAEIB LECZINSKA AND HER DAUGHTEKS 
 
 MARIE LECZINSKA was a tender mother. 
 She surrounded her daughters and her son 
 with the most devoted cares, and knew how to in- 
 spire them with Christian sentiments. M. Michelet, 
 who, in his latest works, tried to sully whatever he 
 touched, has tried in vain to cast odious ridicule on 
 the daughters of Louis XV. In spite of his venom- 
 ous insinuations, his calumnious influence, he has 
 been unable to extinguish the aureole of puritj"^ sur- 
 rounding the brows of these virtuous princesses. 
 The truth may be found in the excellent work of 
 M. Edouard de Barth^lemy, an impartial judge, a 
 critic full of sagacity.^ A curious book, recently pub- 
 lished by M. Honor^ Bonhomme,^ has also avenged 
 the memory of the daughters of Louis XV,. against 
 attacks which the most bitter adversaries of the mon- 
 
 1 Mesdames de France, Jilles de Louis XV., by Edouard de 
 Barthglemy. Pidier. 
 
 2 Louis XV. et sa famille, after unpublished letters and docu- 
 ments, by Honorfe Bonhomme. 1 Vol. , Dentu. 
 
 245 
 
246 THE COUBT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 archy and the most violent of pamphleteers had not 
 permitted themselves. 
 
 All of the daughters of the King, vi^ith the excep- 
 tion of Madame Adelaide, spent their childhood at 
 the Abbey of Fontevrault. Cardinal Fleury thought 
 the presence of the little princesses at Versailles 
 entailed too much expense, and Louis XV., yielding 
 to the suggestions of his parsimonious minister, 
 regretfully determined on separating himself from 
 his children. Adelaide alone, by dint of prayers and 
 supplications, vs^as able to escape the abbey. On re- 
 turning from Mass, she threw herself at her father's 
 feet, and, although only seven years old, succeeded 
 in gaining her cause. The King wept a little, says 
 Barbier, and promised her that she should not go 
 away. 
 
 It is easy to comprehend how much the good 
 Queen must have suffered from this parting with 
 her daughters. She wrote to the Duchess de Luynes, 
 October 12, 1747 : " The King surprised me by show- 
 ing me the portraits of my daughters from Fonte- 
 vrault. I did not know they had been painted. The 
 two eldest are really beautiful, but I have never seen 
 anything so agreeable as the little one. She has an 
 affecting expression, very remote from ' sadness. I 
 have never seen anything so singular ; she is touch- 
 ing, sweet, spiritual. If you find my letter too long, 
 make allowances for the tenderness of a mother and 
 the confidence of a friend." 
 
 The six daughters of Louis XV. were born : the 
 
MARIE LMCZmSKA AND HER DAUGHTERS 247 
 
 twins, Elisabeth and Henriette in 1727 ; Adelaide in 
 1732; Victoire in 1733; Sophie in 1734; Louise, 
 the future Carmelite, in 1737. 
 
 The three princesses of whom the Queen speaks 
 in the letter we have just quoted, and Avho were 
 still at Foutevrault, were Victoire, Sophie, and 
 Louise. The twins, Elisabeth and Henriette, had 
 quitted the convent in 1739, and the former had 
 soon afterwards married the Infant Don Philip, son 
 of Philip v.. King of Spain. Thereafter she is des- 
 ignated as Madame Infanta. The six sisters were 
 all spoken of as Mesdames de France. Nevertheless, 
 there was but one of them who married. When she 
 took her departure for Spain, at the age of twelve 
 years (August 31, 1739), the twin sisters exchanged 
 heartrending farewells. They could not resign them- 
 selves to separation. " 'Tis forever ! " they cried, 
 their voices broken by sobs. Louis XV. accom- 
 panied his daughter as far as Plessis-Picquet. The 
 Duke de Luynes relates that while on the road he 
 gave his dear child most pathetic advice concerning 
 the conduct she should observe in her new country, 
 where, said he, her mild temper would infallibly win 
 all hearts. He spoke to her with so much affection 
 and tenderness that all who were in the carriage were 
 melted to tears. 
 
 In 1748, the husband of Madame Infanta obtained 
 the sovereignty of Parma, Piacenza, and Guastalla. 
 Before going to their new dominions with her hus- 
 band, the daughter of Louis XV. came to see her 
 
248 THE COURT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 parents at Versailles. This was a delightful moment 
 for the royal family. Princes and princesses made 
 few journeys in the eighteenth century. What joy 
 to embrace a father, mother, brother, sisters, who 
 had never expected to see one again ! Marie Lec- 
 zinska returned thanks to heaven. The little girl of 
 twelve, who had left Versailles, returned thither a 
 young woman in all the brilliancy of her twenty- 
 second year. The Dauphin was beside himself with 
 joy. In the first moment he embraced every one 
 he saw, even the lady's maids (December, 1748). 
 Sophie and Louise were still at the convent of Fon- 
 tevrault, but Henriette, Adelaide, and Victoire were 
 at Versailles. Their sister's arrival was an extreme 
 happiness for them. Madame Infanta, so delighted 
 to be once more with her family, had not courage to 
 leave them. Months passed without her being able 
 to decide on quitting Versailles, where her filial 
 and sisterly heart experienced emotions so sweet. 
 Nevertheless, it was necessary to be resigned. The 
 dreaded moment arrived in October, 1749. The fare- 
 wells must be spoken. It cost Henriette so much to 
 part with her beloved sister that she fainted several 
 times. The Dauphin was in tears, and Louis XV., 
 who loved his daughters most profoundly, showed 
 by his grief all the strength of his paternal tenderness. 
 Madame Infanta returned to Versailles some years 
 later, but at that time the joy of her return was not 
 untroubled. The Princess no longer found her twin 
 sister, that dear Henriette whom she regarded, so to 
 say, as the half of her soul. 
 
MARIE LECZINSKA AND UEIt DAUGHTERS 249 
 
 Henriette had just died at the age of twenty-four 
 (February 10, 1752). This young girl, as unhappy 
 as sympathetic, was certainly one of the most touch- 
 ing figures in the feminine gallery of Versailles. M. 
 Honor^ Bonhomme has made an exquisite portrait 
 of her, from both the physical and the moral point 
 of view : " Of a sickly constitution, Madame Hen- 
 riette had that ivory whiteness of complexion pecu- 
 liar to the daughters of the North, and which her 
 mother, Polish in blood and race, seemed to have 
 transmitted to her along with life. Delicate, tall, 
 and slender, there was something dreamy and inspired 
 in her person. Her mild, pure features, aristocratic 
 in their outline, charmed and yet inspired respect; 
 her smile was melancholy, and her whole appearance, 
 in which gloom seemed constantly warring against 
 brightness, bore the impress of fatality. It was 
 because she carried in her heart the secret of her 
 destiny. Like pale Ophelia, she was to die while 
 gathering flowers, and like Myrto, the young Taren- 
 tine of Andr^ Chenier, she was never to cross the 
 threshold of the spouse. For the rest, inwardly ani- 
 mated by the sacred fire, enamored of great things, 
 she possessed all subtleties of the mind as well as all 
 delicacies of the heart. Looking into her great, 
 dreamy eyes, which seemed to reflect the dormant 
 limpidity of deep lakes, one divined what abysses of 
 tenderness and devotion were hidden underneath, 
 and felt a presentiment that her first love would also 
 be her last, that she would die there where her soul 
 had fixed itself." 
 
250 TEE COXJBT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 That, in fact, is what happened. Madame Hen- 
 riette had conceived for the young Duke de Chartres, 
 son of the Duke d'Orldans, an affection which was 
 returned. The Marquis d'Argenson wrote, Novem- 
 ber 30, 1739 : " A secret effort is being made to bring 
 about a marriage between the Duke de Chartres and 
 Madame seconde [so Madame Henriette was called; 
 her twin sister, Madame Infanta, was known as 
 Madame premiei-el, and it is believed that the King 
 is determined on it and gradually working toward it. 
 Nothing could be more conformable to pacificatory 
 views, for Europe would plainly see from this that 
 the King was disposed to substitute the Orleans 
 branch to the Dauphin, rather than the Spanish 
 one." 
 
 To understand this phrase, it is necessary to recall 
 that the Dauphin was not yet married, and that 
 people often wondered what would happen if this 
 only son of Louis XV. should die without male pos- 
 terity. Many thought that in such a case the King, 
 in spite of the renunciations of the treaty of Utrecht, 
 would take his heir from the Spanish Bourbons, and 
 not from the Orleans branch. D'Argenson was in 
 favor of the latter branch. Cardinal Fleury, on the con- 
 trary, pursued it with hostility, as if he had an insight 
 of the future. The old minister prevailed so far, 
 that the King, who had nevertheless a real liking 
 for the Duke de Chartres, an amiable and estimable 
 young prince, would not give his consent to the pro- 
 jected marriage. One day the Duke was riding 
 
MABIE LECZINSKA AND HER DAUGHTERS 251 
 
 beside the King. "Sire," said he, "I had a great 
 hope. Your Majesty had not taken it from my 
 father. ... I could have contributed to the happi- 
 ness of Madame Henriette, who would have remained 
 in France with Your Majesty. May I still be allowed 
 to hope?" The King inclined toward the Prince 
 and sadly pressed his hand. This beautiful dream 
 of love, so quickly faded, must be renounced. Three 
 years later, the Duke de Chartres espoused the 
 daughter of the Prince de Bourbon-Conte. Madame 
 Henriette had the courage to conceal her immense 
 sorrow. She was present, death in her soul, a smile 
 on her lips, at the marriage of the man she loved 
 (December 9, 1743). From that day she felt herself 
 heart-stricken, and her last days were merely an 
 immolation. Prince Nattier has represented the 
 Princess under the double emblems of Fire and 
 Meditation. She is leaning against a tripod on which 
 half-consumed torches are smoking. These torches 
 are like the image of the nearly extinguished flame 
 of the Prince to whom the young girl would willingly 
 have given her faith. She never uttered a complaint, 
 a murmur. Calm, grave, recollected, she meditated 
 and she prayed. The stay of her twin sister at 
 Versailles was like a break in the darkness of her 
 night. But when this dear companion of her infancy 
 departed, all the wounds of her tender and loyal 
 heart reopened. 
 
 The arrival of her three younger sisters, Victoire, 
 Sophie, and Louise, who left the convent of Fonte- 
 
252 THE COURT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 vrault at the close of the year 1760, did not console 
 her. Having sacrificed her own happiness, she 
 desired that at least the Duke de Chartres might 
 be happy. But it was not so. The Duke had mar- 
 ried a woman whose conduct was said to be anything 
 but exemplary. He could not, then, forget that 
 tender, that virtuous Henriette who seemed to him 
 the image of sadness. The Princess wept silently 
 in her oratory, and offered her sufferings to God. 
 Earth was not worthy of her. 
 
 There are characters which can only expand in a 
 better world. Sorrow had undermined the constitu- 
 tion of Madame Henriette. She died February 10, 
 1752. " Ah ! my sister ! my dear sister ! " were her 
 last words. She died as she had lived : while loving. 
 "Sad sport of fate," says M. Honor^ Bonhomme, 
 "poor saintly girl, virgin and martyr, who spent 
 nine whole years in climbing, step after step, the 
 Calvary where she yielded up her soul." 
 
 After relating this death, the Duke de Luynes 
 adds : " No one can express the sadness into which 
 the King is plunged. The Queen is much afflicted, 
 and also the Dauphin, Madame the Dauphiness, and 
 Mesdames. Madame Adelaide does not weep, but 
 silent griefs are usually the longest. Madame Hen- 
 riette was much beloved. Her mild character, with- 
 out ill temper and even without will, rendered her 
 extremely complaisant toward the Dauphin, the 
 Dauphiness, and the ladies, her sisters." 
 
 On receiving tidings of this mournful death. Mad- 
 
MARIE LECZINSKA AND HER fiAUGETERS 253 
 
 ame Infanta wrote her father a most touching letter. 
 She said she wished to come and mingle her tears 
 with those of her family. She arrived in France in 
 September, 1752, and remained with her father for a 
 year. 
 
 Madame Infanta was not happy. She did not 
 greatly esteem her husband, and that Prince cut a 
 rather sorry figure in the little sovereignty of Parma 
 and Piacenza. He had neither money nor prestige ; 
 and his wife, who was very intelligent, his wife, of 
 whom Bernis said that she would make a good min- 
 ister of foreign affairs, was constantly dreaming of 
 some more considerable establishment for him. She 
 thought by turns of exchanging the Duchy of Parma 
 for Tuscany, or acquisitions in Flanders, Lorraine, or 
 even Corsica. She fancied that, thanks to her fath- 
 er's affection and the territorial changes in Europe, 
 she would end by obtaining something. The Mar- 
 quis d'Argenson, who had not much sympathy for 
 her, wrote, September 27, 1753 : " It is to be hoped 
 she will never come back to France. Is it just that 
 the State should suffer because she was married so 
 badly? Along with her go a great quantity of 
 chariots loaded with all sorts of things that the King 
 has given her." 
 
 Madame Infanta returned to France a third time, 
 but only to die there. She arrived at the chateau of 
 Choisy, September 3, 1757. To credit M. Michelet, 
 it was she alone who brought about the Seven Years' 
 War. But there is no foundation for this assertion 
 
254 THE COURT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 of the great writer who, toward the close of his life, 
 created what one might call the school of imagina- 
 tive history. At the time when she reappeared at 
 court, Madame Infanta was glowing with freshness, 
 brilliancy, and health. No one could have foreseen 
 that her death was so near at hand. One of her last 
 letters was addressed to her son Ferdinand, whom 
 she had left at Parma. It commenced as follows : — 
 
 " Life is uncertain, my son, and my character is 
 too sincere for me either to vaunt or even to affect 
 perfect indifference as to the length of mine ; but I 
 feel that the wish to see you, to leave you worthy of 
 the name you bear in the world, such, in fine, as I 
 desire you, is one of the ties that attach me most 
 to life, and one of the reasons, perhaps, which will 
 most abridge mine by the continual torments caused 
 me by this desire and the fear of not obtaining it. 
 It will be a great consolation to be able to leave you 
 an avowal of my sentiments if I die before you are 
 in a condition to read it. If I live, it will serve me 
 as a plan whereon to form you ; and in either case, 
 it will always be to you a proof of my tenderness 
 and of my care for your welfare at an age when 
 many people do not yet think of it." 
 
 Not many days after writing this letter, Madame 
 Infanta was attacked by small-pox, and died Decem- 
 ber 6, 1759. The twins, who had loved each other 
 so tenderly, both died prematurely. Madame Hen- 
 riette had died at the age of twenty-four, Madame 
 Infanta at thirty-two. She was buried at Saint 
 
MASIE LEGZINSKA AND HER DAUGHTERS 255 
 
 Denis, close to her sister, so that their union lasted 
 even in the tomb. 
 
 Marie Leczinska's heart was broken with grief. 
 But instead of murmuring against Providence, she 
 bent filially beneath the hand of God who smote her. 
 Her five remaining children, the Dauphin, Adelaide, 
 Victoire, Sophie, and Louise, showed her a profound 
 affection. Never was a mother better loved. Louis 
 XV. took pleasure in the society of his daughters. 
 As a father, he had that sort of citizenlike good- 
 nature which is unhappily rare among princes. Mes- 
 dames lodged underneath their father, in the former 
 apartment of Madame de Montespan. Madame Ade- 
 laide occupied a chamber which communicated by a 
 private staircase with that of her father. " Often," 
 relates Madame Campan in her Memoirs, "he brought 
 and drank coffee there which he had made himself. 
 Madame Adelaide pulled a bell-rope, which an- 
 nounced the King's visit to Madame Victoire. On 
 rising to go to her sister, Madame Victoire rang for 
 Madame Sophie, who in her turn rang for Madame 
 Louise." 
 
 In a twinkling the four sisters were gathered 
 around their father. At six in the evening, at the 
 unbooting of the King after the chase, as people said 
 in those days, the princesses came to pay a visit to 
 Louis XV., but this time with a certain etiquette. 
 "The princesses," says Madame Campan again, "put 
 on an enormous hoop which supported a skirt 
 braided with gold and embroideries. They fastened 
 
256 THE COURT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 a long train to their waist, and hid the negligence of 
 the rest of their habiliments by a large cape of black 
 taffeta, which covered them up to the chin. Knights 
 of honor, ladies, pages, equerries, ushers, carrying 
 large torches, accompanied them to the King. In an 
 instant the whole palace, usually solitary, was in 
 movement; the King kissed each princess on her 
 forehead." In reality, he found more true happiness 
 in the virtuous intimacy of his daughters than in the 
 circle of his courtiers and the arms of his favorites. 
 There were moments when people believed that in 
 growing old the debauchee would become wise. 
 " The King," wrote D'Argenson, " seems to wish for 
 no society but that of his family, like a patriarch and 
 a good man." 
 
 Marie Leczinska felt thankful to her husband for 
 the affection. he had for his daughters. The rela- 
 tions of Mesdames with their mother were full of 
 confidence, sweetness, and gaiety. They liked to 
 enter those little apartments of the Queen, where 
 Marie Leczinska forgot the splendor of the throne to 
 live modestly as a good mother. The little apart- 
 ments 1 comprised three rooms : a salon, a bathroom, 
 and a studio for painting. Madame the Countess 
 d'Armaill^, whose graceful and solid work we have 
 so often had occasion to quote, has given a charming 
 description of these three rooms in which Marie Lec- 
 zinska spent the greater portion of her time. " Is it 
 
 1 No. 122 of Notice du Masee de Versailles, by M. Eudore Soulifi. 
 
MARIE LECZINSKA AND HER DAUGHTERS 257 
 
 not true," she says, " that one may divine the char- 
 acter and tastes of a woman by merely inspecting the 
 sanctuary of her private life, or, to speak more sim- 
 ply, that place in the dwelling where she habitually 
 prefers to stay? It matters little whether this room 
 be a garret or a drawing-room. Nothing is so inti- 
 mate as certain interior arrangements ; nothing tells 
 the stoiy of a woman better than the way in which 
 she orders the room she inhabits. In the little apart- 
 ments of the Queen one found everything which 
 makes the charm of a peaceful existence. Here, 
 pieces of work begun for the poor, or for churches, a 
 whole piece of furniture embroidered by her hand; 
 there, an open harpsichord with Moncrif's cantatas, 
 Rameau's operettas, Polish hymns ; fui'ther away a 
 drawing-table, a spinning-wheel provided with its 
 distaff, frames for embroidering and weaving, a small 
 printing-press ; then flowers, paintings, portraits of 
 children, miniatures. On a console, a vase offered 
 by Marshal de Nangis, a manuscript given by Cardi- 
 nal de Fleury, a porcelain pagoda with verses by 
 Madame de Boufflers ; in an embrasure of the win- 
 dow a cabinet containing the Queen's favorite books, 
 with some verses by the Duchess de Luynes ; every- 
 where souvenirs of friendship, of maternal tenderness, 
 of useful or agreeable occupations." It was there 
 that, surrounded by her children, the virtuous Queen 
 tasted the joys of the heart, those joys imparted only 
 by a good conscience, and which the mistresses for 
 whom Louis XV. deserted her had never known. 
 
XV 
 
 THE DAUPHINESS MARIE JOSEPHS OF SAXONY 
 
 MARIE LECZINSKA was not less happy in her 
 son than in her daughters. The bad exam- 
 ples of the court had not spoiled the upright and 
 honest nature of the Dauphin. As is said by Baron 
 de Gleichen in his Memoirs, the piety of the young 
 prince was enlightened, and his policy foresaw the 
 dangers of irreligion. As son and father, as brother 
 and husband, he never ceased to display the quali- 
 ties of a good and virtuous heart. He had deeply 
 mourned his first wife, that sympathetic Spanish 
 Infanta, who died in 1746, when hardly twenty years 
 old. Reasons of State demanded that, in spite of 
 his great sorrow, he should promptly contract a 
 second marriage. 
 
 Louis XV. selected for his son a princess of the 
 house of Saxonjr, after Austria and Prussia the most 
 powerful of the Empire. He intended thus to con- 
 solidate his German alliances. Marshal Saxe, natural 
 son of Augustus II., King of Saxony, Elector of' 
 Poland, and of the beautiful Countess Aurora of 
 Konigsmark, was the principal agent of the negotia- 
 
 258 
 
THE BAUPHINESS MARIE JOSEPME 259 
 
 tion which was to form a pact of union between his 
 new country and his old one. A learned Saxon 
 diplomatist, now in the service of Austria, Count 
 Vitzthum, published some years ago an excellent 
 work, based on unpublished documents and letters 
 in the archives of Dresden, on the Marshal and the 
 princess who espoused the Dauphin. 
 
 Marie Jos^phe of Saxony, daughter of Augustus 
 III., was at this time fifteen years old. She was an 
 agreeable young person, with large blue eyes that 
 were at once keen and gentle. Her countenance 
 was intelligent, her character excellent, her educa- 
 tion complete. Marshal Saxe wrote to his brother, 
 Augustus III. : " Sire, what shall I say to you ? I 
 find this affair advantageous at all points for your 
 family, and I shall descend without regret to the 
 empire of the shades after I have seen it terminated ; 
 I shall have accomplished my career. I have enjoyed 
 the delights of this world; glory has covered me 
 with its benefits ; nothing more remained to me but 
 to be useful to you, and all my destiny will have 
 been fulfilled in a most satisfactory manner." 
 
 Marshal Saxe wrote to the wife of Augustus III., 
 mother of the future Dauphiness : — 
 
 " Madame, the Most Christian King sent me word 
 yesterday, that he had requested Your Majesty for 
 the hand of the Princess Marie Josephe for Monsei- 
 gneur the Dauphin. I flatter myself that this propo- 
 sition will not displease either the Princess or Your 
 Majesty, for, in truth, Monseigneur the Dauphin is 
 
260 THE COURT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 a Tery good match, and I should like to live long 
 enough to see our divine Princess Queen of France. 
 I think that would suit her very well. She has 
 always been my inclination, and it is long since 
 I destined her for the crown of France, which is 
 a fine enough morsel, and the Prince who will some 
 day wear it is fine also. The Princess JosSphe will 
 have no reason to be bored while she is waiting for 
 it. The kingly father-in-law is charming; he loves 
 his children, and from the caresses he gave the 
 late Dauphiness, I infer those which our Princess 
 will have to endure. This is word for word what 
 the King wrote me in a letter I received yesterday, 
 written by his own hand from one end to the other. 
 ' You will not be vexed with this marriage, my dear 
 Marshal ? Let your Princess be sure that it depends 
 on her alone to make our happiness and the felicity 
 of my people.' " 
 
 In the same letter the Marshal gave some very 
 sensible and prudent counsels : " I will say another 
 word to the Princess. To succeed here, neither hau- 
 teur nor familiarity is required; hauteur, however, 
 pertaining to dignity, she can more easily incline to 
 that side. The women of the court all have minds like 
 diamonds, and are wicked withal. No one will fail 
 in respect towards her, but they will try to entangle 
 her in their continual quarrels, and at these she must 
 do nothing but laugh and amuse herself. This is 
 what the King does ; and if anything displeases her, 
 she must address herself directly to the King : he will 
 
THE VAUPBINESS MABIE JOSEPHE 261 
 
 advise and conduct her very well. This confidence 
 vi^ill please him. He is the only person at court v\^ith 
 whom she should have no reserve. She should 
 regard him as her refuge, her father, and tell him 
 everything, good or bad, just as it happens, without 
 disguising anything. With everybody else, reserve. 
 If she does that, he will adore her." 
 
 The formal demand in marriage was made at 
 Dresden, January 7, 1747, by two ambassadors, one 
 extraordinary, the Duke de Richelieu, the other 
 ordinary, the Marquis des Issart. Richelieu wrote 
 to the Count de Loss, apropos of the future Dauphi- 
 ness : "I find her really charming ; nevertheless, she 
 is not a beauty, but she has all the graces imaginable ; 
 a large nose, thick, fresh lips, the biightest and most 
 intelligent eyes in the world, and, in fine, I assure 
 that if there were any such at the Opera, they would 
 soon be put up at auction. I do not say too much 
 to you, but I do not say so much to others." 
 
 Marie Josephe of Saxony left Dresden, January 14, 
 1747. She saw her betrothed for the first time 
 between Nangis and Corbeil. The nuptial benedic- 
 tion was given to the pair in the chapel of Versailles, 
 February 8, 1747. Four days afterward. Marshal 
 Saxe wrote to Augustus III. : " Sire, I shall have no 
 difficulty in saying agreeable things to Your Majesty 
 about Madame the Dauphiness, and renown will 
 serve as my guaranty. No one could succeed better 
 than this Princess ; she is adored by everybody, and 
 the Queen loves her as if she were her own child; 
 
262 THE COURT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 the King is enchanted with her, and M. the Dauphin 
 loves her passionately. She has steered her way 
 through all this with all imaginable address ; I could 
 not but admire her. At iifteen, according to what 
 they say, there is no such thing as childhood in this 
 society ; and, in truth, she has astonished me. Your 
 Majesty could hardly believe with what nobility, 
 what presence of mind, Madame the Dauphiness has 
 conducted herself. M. the Dauphin seems a school- 
 boy beside her." 
 
 The married pair were installed on the ground 
 floor, in the south wing of the central portion of the 
 palace, under the Queen's apartments. (The Dau- 
 phin's bedroom, where the Eegent died, is now the 
 third hall of the Marshals, No. 46 of M. Eudore 
 Souli^'s Notice du MusSe. That of the Dauphiness 
 is now the second hall of the Marshals, No. 41 of the 
 Notice.'} It was in the latter chamber that, according 
 to usage, the ceremonial of the putting to bed took 
 place. In the letter we are about to quote. Marshal 
 Saxe gives his brother an account of this strange 
 custom : — 
 
 " Certainly," he says, " there are moments which 
 call for all the assurance of a person formed to sus- 
 tain his part with dignity. Among others there is 
 one, that of the bed, whose curtains are opened when 
 the husband and wife have been put into the nuptial 
 bed, which is terrible, because the whole court is in 
 the room; and the King told me to remain near 
 Madame the Dauphiness in order to reassure her. 
 
THE DAUPHINESS MARIE JOSEPHE 263 
 
 She endured this with a tranquillity which aston- 
 ished me. The Dauphin drew the coverings over 
 his face ; but my Princess never stopped talking to 
 me with a charming ease, paying no more attention 
 to the people of the court than if there had been no 
 one in the chamber. On approaching her, I said the 
 King had ordered me to do so to keep her in counte- 
 nance, and that all this would only last a moment. 
 She told me I gave her pleasure ; and I did not leave 
 her until her women had closed the curtains, and the 
 crowd had gone away. They departed with a sort 
 of sadness, for it looked like a sacrifice, and she has 
 continued to interest everybody in her. Your Maj- 
 esty will laugh, perhaps, at what I have just said ; 
 but the blessing of the bed, the priests, the candles, 
 the brilliant pomp, the beauty and youth of the Prin- 
 cess, in fine, the desire one has that she may be 
 happy, — all these things taken together provoke 
 more thought than laughter." 
 
 This etiquette which weighed upon royal families 
 was a heavy burden, an excessive fatigue. For two 
 days the Dauphiness had eaten nothing. " Her great 
 fatigue is the cause of this," the Marshal wrote again 
 to Augustus III. ; " and I have told the King that if 
 she could not have some rest she would fall ill. 
 Indeed, I don't know how she can avoid it. I am 
 completely knocked up with following her. It is so 
 hot in all the apartments, what with the quantity 
 of people and the candles in the evening, that it is 
 enough to kill one. And besides that, her clothes 
 
264 THE COVET OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 are so heavy that I don't know how she has been 
 able to carry them. What is still more fatiguing are 
 all these endless presentations; and she wishes to 
 remember all the names, which is a terrible task to a 
 mind incessantly occupied, moreover, in trying to 
 please and show attentions. The other day the King 
 made me take up her skirt which lay on a sofa. It 
 weighed, at least, sixty pounds ; not one of our cui- 
 rasses weighs as much. I don't know how the Prin- 
 cess could have remained on her feet eight or nine 
 hours with that enormous weight." 
 
 Marie Jos^phe knew how to make herself esteemed 
 and loved. A courtier, who admired the graces and 
 virtues of this good and beautiful Dauphiness, said : 
 " Nobody ought to take a wife anywhere but in Sax- 
 ony; and rather than dispense with a Saxon wife, 
 when there are no more, I will make one out of por- 
 celain." Marie Leczinska forgot the quarrels that 
 had existed between the house of Saxony and her 
 father for the throne of Poland. She became ten- 
 derly attached to her daughter-in-law, and showed 
 her an almost maternal love. 
 
 The Dauphiness was delivered, September 13, 
 1751, of a son, who bore the title of Duke of Bur- 
 gundy, and who died when nine years old, after long 
 and horrible sufferings which he endured, a preco- 
 cious Christian, with admirable courage. The Mar- 
 quis de Pompignan wrote a biography of the little 
 prince. Some years later, another child, likewise 
 fated to undergo tortures, learned to read in this 
 
TBE DAUPHINESS MABIE JOSEPHS 265 
 
 book : it was that most innocent of victims, the 
 future Louis XVII. " How did my little uncle man- 
 age to have already so much knowledge and good- 
 ness?" cried the compassionate child. 
 
 The Duke of Berry was born August 23, 1754 ; 
 the Count of Provence, November 17, 1755 ; the 
 Count of Artois, November 9, 1757. These three 
 princes were to be called Louis XVI., Louis XVIIL, 
 and Charles X., — three names which on their first 
 appearance affect the imagination with a nameless 
 trouble, and transport it into an unprecedented world 
 of revolutions and catastrophes. 
 
 Marie Josephe of Saxony had eight children, five 
 only of whom survived her', the three sons, who 
 were all to reign, and two daughters, Madame Clo- 
 tilde, who was Queen of Sardinia, and another whose 
 mere name evokes the memory of the purest virtues, 
 the profoundest piety, the most sublime sacrifices, 
 the most heroic courage in sufferings, in prisons, on 
 the scaffold: Madame Elisabeth. 
 
 The Dauphiness was a perfect wife and mother. 
 Her goodness, sweetness, and charity rendered her at 
 once lovable and worthy of veneration. . . . One 
 finds consolation for the scandals of the court in con- 
 templating a united household, a Christian household 
 which set an example to France. Unhappily death 
 was soon to break up this virtuous and holy life. 
 The Dauphin, at the age of thirty-six, fell ill in 
 November, 1765. 
 
 Had we not good reason to say, at the beginning of 
 
266 THE COURT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 this study, that epochs in appearance most scandalous 
 and corrupt contain, like every other, treasures of 
 ediiication? The admirable death of the son of 
 Louis XV. is a proof of this verity. The agony 
 of the Dauphin was about to commence. 
 
 " Thanks be to God," he said to his confessor, the 
 Jesuit Callet, as soon as he saw him enter, "I have 
 never been dazzled by the splendor of the throne to 
 which I was summoned by my birth; I saw it only 
 from the side of formidable duties by which it is ac- 
 companied, and the perils that surround it ; I would 
 desire to have a better soul, but I hope in the infinite 
 mercy." Then, turning towards his sisters and his 
 wife, the good Prince exclaimed : " I cannot tell you 
 how glad I am to be the first to go ; I shall be sorry 
 to leave you, but I am well pleased not to remain 
 behind you." The next day, November 13, the 
 Archbishop of Rheims came to bring the sacraments. 
 Louis XV. was kneeling at the threshold of the 
 chamber, while the Duke of Orleans and the Prince 
 of Cond^ approached the bed to hold the communion 
 cloth. After the Mass the Dauphin said : " God has 
 made me taste at this moment so sweet a consolation 
 that I have never known one like it." And as the 
 Queen was speaking of his recovery : " Ah, mamma ! " 
 he exclaimed with vivacity, " keep that hope for your- 
 self, for my part I do not desire it at all." 
 
 The Prince, who had one day said, while looking 
 at Paris from the terrace of the ChS,teau of Bellevue : 
 " I am thinking of the delight that ought to be expe- 
 
THE DAUPHIN ESS MARIE JOSEPHE 267 
 
 rienced by a sovereign in causing the happiness of so 
 many people ; " this truly exemplary Prince was 
 taken, December 20, 1765, from the affection of a 
 people, who honored his virtues and his sincere 
 devotion. Nine days afterward, the Dauphiness 
 wrote to her brother, Prince Xavier of Saxony: 
 "The good God has willed that I should survive 
 him for whom I would have given a thousand lives ; 
 I hope He will grant me the grace to employ the rest 
 of my pilgrimage in preparing, by sincere penitence, 
 to rejoin his soul in heaven, where I doubt not he is 
 asking the same grace for me." 
 
 Marie Leczinska mourned bitterly for her son, who 
 had always been so good, so tender, and respectful to 
 her. The pious Queen was to undergo new trials. 
 She surrounded her aged father with the most touch- 
 ing attentions, and though far away, busied herself 
 with him as though she were by his side. He was 
 at Nancy, and she had just sent him a wadded dress- 
 ing-gown for the coming winter. It caught fire 
 while Stanislas was sleeping in his armchair ; always 
 amiable and affectionate, he attempted to tranquillize 
 his daughter by a note in which he wrote pleasantly : 
 "What consoles me, daughter, is that I burn for 
 you." This was the last letter Marie Leczinska was 
 to receive from a father whom she cherished. King 
 Stanislas breathed his last February 24, 1766. His 
 death brought about, according to treaty stipulations, 
 the definitive reunion of the duchies of Lorraine and 
 Bar to France. As the Countess d'Armaill^ has 
 
268 TEE COURT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 said, this was Queen Marie's last gift to the land of 
 her adoption. 
 
 Afflictions succeeded each other with deplorable 
 rapidity. Marie Jos^phe of Saxony died fifteen 
 months after her husband, March 12, 1767, recom- 
 mending her family to Marie Leczinska, who re- 
 gretted her as much as if she had been her daughter. 
 The Queen bowed to the decrees of Providence. 
 Her soul remained strong, but her body was crushed 
 by sorrow. " Give me back my children," she said, 
 " and you will cure me." 
 
XVI 
 
 THE DEATH OF MARIE LECZINSKA 
 
 AT the close of that last dialogue where, in the 
 harbor of Ostia, under a starry sky, overlook- 
 ing the limpid waves, she aspired to that life eternal 
 which eye hath not seen nor ear heard, nor the heart 
 of man attained. Saint Monica said to her son : " My 
 child, nothing any longer attaches me to earth. 
 What should I do here ? Why am I still here ? I 
 have realized all my hopes in this world. One thing 
 there was for which I desired to sojourn awhile in 
 this life, — it was to see thee a Christian before I 
 died. God has given me that joy in over-measure, 
 since I see thee despising all earthly felicity in order 
 to serve Him. What have I to do here any longer ? " 
 What Saint Monica said in the harbor of Ostia, 
 Marie Leczinska could say in the palace of Versailles. 
 She had inspired her children with Christian senti- 
 ments. Two of her daughters and her son had 
 expired in the peace of the Lord. The four remain- 
 ing daughters thought and lived like saints. Her 
 task was accomplished. She thought of nothing now 
 but dying. 
 
 269 
 
270 THE COURT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 The convent of the Carmelites of Compidgne had 
 become her chosen refuge. It was there that, fleeing 
 from grandeurs which had never dazzled her, she 
 humbled herself, annihilated herself before the King 
 of Kings, before Him who strengthens and consoles. 
 This Queen to whom her son had said one day : " Do 
 you know, mamma, you will end by quarrelling with 
 Saint Teresa ? Why do you want to be more fervent 
 here than the most fervent Carmelites, and make 
 still longer prayers than theirs ? " This Queen, who 
 would willingly have exchanged the royal mantle 
 for a serge habit, had for her oratory a cell in no 
 respect different from that of the nuns. She said 
 she wanted to learn how to die to the world and to 
 herself. 
 
 Madame de Campan, who knew the four last 
 daughters of Louis XV. so well, thus describes the 
 salutary influence which the Queen exercised over 
 their destiny : " Mesdames had in their august 
 mother, Marie Leczinska, the noblest model of all 
 the pious and social virtues ; by her eminent quali- 
 ties and her modest dignity, this princess veiled the 
 wrongs with which, but too unfortunately, one was 
 authorized to reproach the King; and so long as 
 she lived, she guarded for the court of Louis XV. 
 that dignified and imposing aspect which alone main- 
 tains the respect due to power. The princesses, her 
 daughters, were worthy of her ; and if some few vile 
 creatures tried to launch the shafts of calumny 
 against them, they fell at once, repelled by the high 
 
THE DEATH OF MARIE LECZIN SKA 271 
 
 idea people entertained of the loftiness of their sen- 
 timents and the purity of their conduct." 
 
 The woman who had been able to preserve a rem- 
 nant of decency in a corrupt society, and had thus 
 saved the remnants of royal prestige, was surrounded 
 by unmixed veneration. At this epoch, as at all 
 others, one encountered types of honor and virtue, 
 patriarchal and truly Christian existences, interiors 
 which were sanctuaries. It will not do to judge the 
 eighteenth century by the court and certain salons. 
 Worthy people were still numerous, especially among 
 the provincial nobility, the middle classes, and the 
 people. In spite of Voltaire's attacks, in spite of the 
 building of that Tower of Babel called the Encyclo- 
 pedia, Christianity continued to be what it had been 
 for so many centuries : the soul of France. The 
 attempts of the philosophers to create a morality 
 independent of religion failed miserably, and all 
 good minds recognized that the Voltairian school 
 was leading the nation into ruin. 
 
 The life of Marie Leczinska may be called the 
 symbol of the religious and virtuous element. In 
 the face of adultery, the pious sovereign had main- 
 tained the sacred rights of the family ; in spite of 
 his irregularities, Louis XV. would never have dared, 
 like Louis XIV., to legitimate the children of his 
 debaucheries and declare them eligible to the throne 
 of France. The scandal was in the boudoir of the 
 favorites, the edification by the hearth fire of the 
 Queen. 
 
272 THB COURT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 As greatly as Madame de Pompadour was hated 
 and despised, so greatly was Marie Leczinska 
 loved and respected. Her arrival was a festival, 
 her departure caused general sadness. "Is it not 
 admirable," she wrote, "that I cannot leave Com- 
 piegne without seeing everybody crying ? Sometimes 
 I ask myself what I have done to all these people 
 whom I do not know, to be so loved by them. They 
 remember all my wishes." She gave away all she 
 had, according to her lady of honor, the Mar^chale 
 de Mouchy, and when nothing was left, she sold her 
 jewels. One year when the high price of bread had 
 caused more than common distress, she pawned her 
 precious stones and wore false ones. Her charity 
 was as inexhaustible as her kindness. She had the 
 virtues of a woman of the middle classes, the man- 
 ners of a great lady, the dignity of a queen. The 
 resignation with which she endured her sorrows 
 inspired in every one a sympathy blended with re- 
 spectful compassion. Public opinion paid her homage, 
 envy and slander were silent in her presence. Even 
 the philosophers honored her. 
 
 In a changing epoch, when all minds and hearts 
 were in disorder, she preserved three qualities which 
 are rare in courts, — honesty, tact, and good sense. 
 There was nothing gloomy or morose about her 
 virtue. Her sweet, agreeable devotion recalled that 
 of Saint Francis de Sales, the most lovable of all the 
 saints. She had the gift of making herself beloved 
 by a word, a smile. As has been remarked by the 
 
THE DEATH OF UARtE LEOZinSEA 2T3 
 
 Countess d'Armaill^, there was hardly a salon in 
 France toward the close of the last century, in which 
 one could not meet some old lady always ready to 
 tell about her presentation at Versailles, and to be- 
 come affected in reciting the compliments which the 
 good Queen Marie had paid her on that memorable 
 evening. Affable by nature and principle, indulgent 
 by instinct and reasoned conviction, Marie Leczinska 
 was distinguished among all the women of the court 
 by a quality which is a force and a charm, a quality 
 still more necessary to sovereigns than to private 
 persons, — benevolence. 
 
 When she fell ill, the emotion was general. Every 
 Frenchman entertained for her the sentiments of a 
 brother or a sister. The people besieged the doors 
 of the chateau of Versailles to get tidings of her. 
 Sometimes Louis XV. gave these himself. The 
 churches of Paris and the provinces were crowded 
 with people praying for the good Queen. 
 
 The final moment was drawing near. The four 
 daughters of Marie Leczinska spent the last nights 
 at their mother's bedside with a devotion which made 
 them i-esemble' Sisters of Charity. At the moment 
 when the death struggle was about to begin, Louis 
 XV. kneeled beside his wife's bed, and said to her, 
 weeping : " Here are our daughters whom I present 
 to you." A Christian, the mother understood what 
 these words implied ; and raising her eyes to heaven, 
 she gave her children her last blessing. 
 
 It is an hour of torture and anguish, a doleful 
 
274 THE COURT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 hour, an hour heart-rending above all, when one 
 loses a cherished mother. The grief borders on stu- 
 por. One feels one's self the sport of a bad dream. 
 One cannot grow accustomed to so horrible a thought. 
 Those holy, venerable hands will never again be laid 
 in blessing on j^our head ! Those lips whence issued 
 counsels so wise, words so affectionate, are closed 
 forever ! That heart, so warm, so loving, is cold ; it 
 beats no more. Again you call to your mother ; you 
 call, and for the first time, alas ! she does not answer 
 you. Then, all she has done for you, your childhood, 
 your youth, your whole life, rises up before you. 
 Long years of devotion, of sacrifices and tenderness, 
 are concentrated in a single minute. The heart, 
 invaded by memories as by a rising tide, overflows, 
 and you burst into sobs. Oh ! woe to him who at 
 this fatal moment believes that all ends here below! 
 Woe to him who has not the conviction that the 
 dead woman is in heaven, that she is watching over 
 her children ; that they can still love and implore 
 her; that she will always be their strength, their con- 
 soler, their good angel ! But happy in the midst of 
 tears, happy amid the most cruel trials, the Chris- 
 tians who then recall the prayer of Saint Louis, 
 lamenting his mother, Blanche of Castile : " I return 
 thee thanks, O my God! Thou hadst lent me a 
 good, an incomparable, mother ; but I know well she 
 was not mine ! Now, Lord, thou hast withdrawn 
 her to thyself. . . . Thus has thy Providence deter- 
 mined. It is true that I cherished her beyond all 
 
THE DEATH OF MABIE LECZIN8KA 275 
 
 creatures in the world. . . . Nevertheless, since thou 
 hast thus ordained, may thine adorable will be done ! 
 My God ! may thy holy name be blessed forever ! " 
 
 Marie Leczinska died in angelic tranquillity. She 
 was still trying to say her rosary, when death inter- 
 rupted on earth the prayer which the holy woman 
 was about to resume in heaven. These beautiful 
 words of Massillon were realized for the pious Queen : 
 " The soul of the just, during the days of their mortal 
 life, dare not gaze fixedly upon the profundity of 
 God's judgments; they work out their salvation 
 with fear and trembling, they shudder at the bare 
 thought of that terrible future where the just them- 
 selves will hardly be saved, if they are judged with- 
 out mercy ; but on the bed of death, ah ! the God of 
 peace, who manifests Himself, calms their agitations ; 
 their fears cease, of a sudden and are changed into a 
 sweet hope, their dying eyes pierce the cloud of mor- 
 tality which still environs them, and see that immor- 
 tal country after which they have sighed so long, and 
 where they have always dwelt in spirit." Oh ! you 
 who have seen a saintly mother die, you who have in 
 your hearts a regret and an expectation, do not forget ! 
 
 It was the 24th of June, 1768, when Marie Lec- 
 zinska yielded her last breath. The very day before 
 she had entered her sixty-eighth year. Her reign 
 had lasted forty-three years, and during that long 
 period she had caused no tears to flow but those of 
 joy and gratitude. Her women, her servants, her 
 poor, collected the least scraps of her clothing to pre- 
 
276 THE COURT OF LOUIS XV. 
 
 serve as relics. Her mortal remains, exposed for 
 eight days on a bed of state, was the object of a real 
 cult on the part of the people. The Archbishop of 
 Troyes preached her funeral sermon. "Pontiff of 
 the living God," said he, addressing himself to the 
 Archbishop of Paris, "fear not to offer above her 
 tomb an incense which may one day be offered above 
 her altars." Compare this life and death with those 
 of the Marquise de Pompadour, if you wish to know 
 what vice is, and what is virtue. 
 
 Marie Leczinska is the last queen who has ended 
 her days upon the throne of France. The women, 
 who for now a century have worn the royal or impe- 
 rial crown in our unhappy and inconstant land, have 
 all been the innocent victims of the Revolution and 
 the caprices of fate. One perished an august martyr 
 on the scaffold ; another died at the moment of the 
 invasion, her heart broken by the afflictions of her 
 vanquished country. A third faded away almost 
 forgotten in the little duchy given her in exchange 
 for the finest empire of the world. A fourth died 
 holily in a foreign land, regretting perhaps that she 
 had been Queen ; and there is one who, at this very 
 moment, is sadly rewarded for her charity and cour- 
 age, her virtue and her patriotism. To-day, above 
 all, might a Bossuet say before Versailles abandoned 
 or the Tuileries in ruins : Mt nunc, reges intelligite ! 
 Erudimini, que judicatis terram ! And now, O 
 Kings, comprehend ! Be instructed, O ye who judge 
 the earth ! 
 
NDEX 
 
 Abr^g^ chronologique, Henault's, 
 
 238, 239. 
 Adelaide, Madame, allowed to 
 
 remain at Versailles, 246; her 
 
 apartment, 255. 
 Aix-la-Chapelle, the peace of, 130, 
 
 131. 
 Almases, performed at Versailles, 
 
 140. 
 Austria, France's alliance with, 
 
 203 et seq.; an Austrian party at 
 
 Versailles, 205. 
 Artois, Count of, 265. 
 Asturias, Prince of, 19. 
 
 Bachelier, the coniidant of Louis 
 XV., 51. 
 
 Barbier, quoted, 40, 44, 55; his 
 criticism of Bishop Fitz-James, 
 80. 
 
 Barthelemy, ]l!douard de, 245. 
 
 Beaujolais, Mademoiselle de, her 
 birth, 19; affianced to Don 
 Carlos, 19 ; sent back to France, 
 20; later life and death, 21. 
 
 Beaumont, Christopher de, sum- 
 moned to the archbishopric of 
 Paris, 196; his integrity to the 
 Church, 196, 197; exiled, 197; his 
 charge sent from Conflans to 
 Paris, 198, 199; recalled by the 
 King, 197 ; again exiled, 197. 
 
 Bellevue, Chateau of, 145, 146, 151. 
 
 Bernis, Abbe de, verses quoted, 126 ; 
 his attitude towards Madame de 
 Pompadour, 183, 184, 185; ac- 
 cused of drawing up the treaty 
 of Versailles, 206 ; his words on 
 the convention of Cloister-Seven, 
 
 207, 208 ; counsels peace, 208, 209; 
 threatened, 210; resigns, 210, 
 211. 
 
 Berry, Duke of, 265. 
 
 Bonhomme, Honore, his book on 
 Louis XV. and his family, 245, 
 246; his description of Madame 
 Henriette, 249. 
 
 Bossuet, quoted, 195, 229. 
 
 Bourbon, Duke of, prime minister, 
 16; ruled by his mistress, Ma- 
 dame de Prie, 16-18; his uneasi- 
 ness at court, 18 ; his description 
 of Marie Leczinska, 25 ; en- 
 deavors to overthrow Fleury, 
 Bishop of Frejus, 34 ; his down- 
 fall, 34, 35. 
 
 Burgundy, Duke of, 264. 
 
 Campan, Madame de, quoted, 255; 
 her words concerning Marie 
 Leczinska, 270. 
 
 Carlos, Don, 19. 
 
 Charles X., 265. 
 
 Charolais, Mademoiselle de, 50. 
 
 Chartres, Duchess de, 76, 78. 
 
 Chartres, Duke of, sketch of his 
 career, 114, 115 ; efforts to effec*: 
 a marriage between Madam: 
 Henriette and, 250, 251 ; his mar- 
 riage, 251 ; his unhappiuess after 
 marriage, 252. 
 
 Chateaubriand, quoted, 222. 
 
 Chateauroux, Duchess de, 1, 6; 
 words of the Goncourts concern- 
 ing, 71 ; wishes to follow the 
 King to the army, 73 ; joins the 
 King, 76, 77, 78; falls sick, 78; 
 is compelled to leave the King, 
 
 277 
 
278 
 
 INDEX 
 
 79; her return to Paris, 84-86; 
 believes she will regain the 
 King's favor, 8i, 86, 87 ; the type 
 of the passionate woman, 87; 
 among the crowd at the King's 
 triumph, 88; visited hy the 
 King, 88, 89; invited to return 
 to Versa,illes, 89, 90; her final 
 illness and death, 90-92. 
 
 Choiseul, Duke de, 211 ; his popu- 
 larity, 213. 
 
 Christianity, the soul of France, 
 271. 
 
 Cloister-Seven, the convention of, 
 207. 
 
 Clotilde, Madame, 265. 
 
 Coaslin, Madame de, her insolent 
 conduct toward Madame de 
 Pompadour, 157. 
 
 Conti, Princess de, 125. 
 
 D'Alembert, 215. 
 
 Damiens, wounds Louis XV., 180- 
 182. 
 
 D'Argenson, quoted, 44, 105, 106, 
 218 ; his attitude towards Madame 
 de Pompadour, 183; possesses 
 confidence of Louis XV., 186 ; 
 misled as to the feelings of the 
 King towards Madame de Pom- 
 padour, 186 ; proposes that meet- 
 ings of the ministers be held in 
 the Dauphin's apartments, 187; 
 dismissed from service, 188 ; his 
 words on women in politics, 194; 
 a true prophet, 218, 219. 
 
 Dauphin, the, 109, 110; marries, 
 110, 186, 187 ; surrounded by the 
 people, 220; his delight at visit 
 of his sister Elisabeth, 248 ; his 
 character, 258 ; marries Marie 
 Josfephe of Saxony, 261-263; 
 falls ill, 265 ; his last hours and 
 death, 266, 267. 
 
 Dauphiness, the, 220; see Marie 
 Josfephe. 
 
 Deffand, Madame du, 36, 37; her 
 sketch of Marie Leczinska, 237, 
 238. 
 
 Desmarets, P&re, 181, 186. 
 
 Devin du Village, Le, performed at 
 Bellevue, 146. 
 
 Diderot, his words concerning Ma- 
 dame de Pompadour, 232. 
 
 Duclos, quoted, 215. 
 
 Economists, the, 218. 
 
 Elisabeth, Madame, daughter of 
 the Dauphiness, 265. 
 
 Elisabeth, Madame, the Infanta, 
 marries, 247 ; goes to Spain, 247 ; 
 visits her parents at Versailles, 
 247, 248; her grief at her sister 
 Henriette's death , 252, 253 ; spends 
 a year at Versailles, 253 ; did not 
 esteem her husband, 253; her 
 ambitions, 253; her final return 
 to France and death, 253, 254; 
 accused by Michelet of causing 
 the Seven Years' War, 253, 254; 
 a selection from one of her last 
 letters, 254. 
 
 Elisabeth of Russia, death of, 211. 
 
 Encyclopedia, the, 216, 271. 
 
 Encyclopedists, the, 217, 218. 
 
 Enfant prodiyue, L', performed at 
 Versailles, 139, 154. 
 
 Eric/one, performed at Versailles, 
 139. 
 
 llltioles, Madame d'. Marquise de 
 Pompadour, see Pompadour, 
 Marquise de. 
 
 6tioles, M. Lenormand d', 118, 120, 
 121, 175; not anxious to take 
 back his wife, 176. 
 
 Europe, condition of, after treaty 
 of Aix-la-Chapelle, 202, 203. 
 
 Favart, verses by, 228. 
 
 Felicite, Pauline, Mademoiselle de 
 Nesle comes to Versailles, 54; be- 
 comes mistress of Louis XV., 54 ; 
 marries Count de Vintimille, 56; 
 see Vintimille, Countess de. 
 
 Fitz-James, Bishop, forbids Louis 
 XV. absolution while Madame 
 de Chateauroux remains with 
 him, 79; administers extreme 
 
INDEX 
 
 279 
 
 unction to the King, 80; his 
 
 detractors, 80. 
 Fleury, Bishop of Frejus, 30; his 
 
 origin and advancement, 32 ; 
 
 preceptor of Louis XV., 32; his 
 
 influence over Louis XV., 32; 
 
 Madame de Prie's plot to get rid 
 
 of, 33; departs from the court, 
 
 34; is recalled hy Louis XV., 
 
 34 ; his death, 68, 246. 
 Fontanelle, his verses to Marie 
 
 Leczinska, 239, 240. 
 Frederick the Great, 205, 214, 222. 
 Fre'jus, Bishop of, see Fleury. 
 
 Gresset, 139. 
 
 Helvetius, quoted, 215. 
 
 Henault, President, his words con- 
 cerning Marquise de Pompadour, 
 118; offers manuscript of his 
 Abrif/d chronologiqxie to Marie 
 Leczinska, 238; his verses to 
 Marie Leczinska, 239. 
 
 Henriette, Madame, 247, 248; de- 
 scription of her by Honore Bon- 
 homme,249; her death, 248, 249 ; 
 
 ■ her sad love affair, 250, 251 ; her 
 death, 252. 
 
 Hermitage, the, 151. 
 
 Infanta, Madame, see Elisabeth, 
 
 Madame. 
 Ismene performed at Versailles, 
 
 139. 
 Issart, Marquis des, 261. 
 
 Jansenism, 194, 195. 
 Jesuits, 173-175, 189-192 ; the order 
 condemned, 221, 222. 
 
 La Tour, his pastel of Madame de 
 Pompadour, 216; his pastel of 
 Marie Leczinska, 236. 
 
 Leczinska, Marie, see Marie Lec- 
 zinska. 
 
 Leczinska, Stanislas, his life of ex- 
 ile, 23 ; his death, 266. 
 
 Louis XV., women of court of, 1 et 
 
 seq.; daughters of, 2, 112, 113, 245 
 et seq. ; his character and career 
 reviewed, 4^10; his mistresses, 6, 
 7; his melancholy, 8, 158; his 
 death, 10 ; beginning of his reign, 
 14; affianced to Infanta Marie 
 Anne Victoire, 14, 15 ; established 
 at Versailles, 15; coronation of, 
 15 ; his health delicate, 18 ; his 
 marriage to Infanta Marie Anne 
 Victoire broken pff, 20, 21; his 
 beauty, 25; marries Marie Lec- 
 zinska, 26 ; meets Marie Lec- 
 zinska, 27 ; his early married 
 life exemplary, 30, 39, 40; his 
 affection for Fleury, Bishop of 
 Fre'jus, 32; recalls Fleury, 34; 
 expels Duke of Bourbon, 34, 35 ; 
 his growing indifference towards 
 Marie Leczinska, 42; influences 
 about him, 43-45; makes a fa- 
 vorite of Madame de Mailly, 47, 
 48; changes his apartments, 48; 
 his trifling life, 49, 52 ; becomes 
 tired of Madame de Mailly, 53, 
 59; makes a favorite of Pauline 
 Felicite, 54 ; his remorse, 54, 55 ; 
 his dismay at death of Countess 
 de Vintimille, 58; makes a fa- 
 vorite of Madame de la Tournelle, 
 62 et seq. ; his severity towards 
 Madame de Mailly, 61 ; dismisses 
 Madame de Mailly from court, 
 65; his economy, 69; makes 
 Madame de la Tournelle Duchess 
 of Chateauroax, 69, 70 ; isolates 
 himself at court, 71 ; hesitates to 
 join his troops, 72-74 ; at the head 
 of his troops, 74 ; misses Madame 
 de Chateauroux, 76; receives 
 Madame de Chateauroux at Lille, 
 77; goes to Metz, 78; falls ill, 
 79 ; is compelled to dismiss 
 Madame de Chateauroux, 79 ; 
 receives extreme unction, 80; 
 grief of France at illness of, 81 ; 
 his reconciliation with the Queen, 
 81 ; repentant only when sick, 
 83, 180, 181; returns to Paris, 88 ; 
 
280 
 
 INDEX 
 
 visits Madame de Ch8,teauroux, 
 88, 89 ; his neglect of Madame de 
 Chateauroux during lier last ill- 
 ness, 90 ; his emotions transitory, 
 92 ; his personal attractions, 95, 
 96 ; his religious feelings, 98 ; his 
 ennui, 92, 99, 100, 133 ; his monar- 
 chical faith, 101 ; how he differs 
 from Louis XIV., 101, 102 ; among 
 his troops, 102; not as indolent 
 as accused of being, 103 ; his sen- 
 suality, 103, 104; his distrust and 
 timidity, 104; his dissimulation, 
 105, 205; his indecision, 105; 
 D'Argenson's portrait of, 105, 
 106; neglects the Queen, 107; re- 
 ceives Marie Therfese Antoinette 
 Eaphaelle at l^tampes, 110; his 
 meeting with Madame d'litioles 
 at the Hotel de Ville ball, 120; in- 
 stalls Madame d'liltioles at Ver- 
 sailles, 121 ; joins the army, 122 ; 
 confers title of Marquise de Pom- 
 padour on Madame d'!fitioles,124 ; 
 returns to Versailles, 125 ; relin- 
 quishes his military activity, 129, 
 130 ; his policy in the peace of Aix- 
 la-Chapelle, 130; yields up the 
 fruit of his conquests, 130, 131; 
 Voltaire's lines to, 131 ; change of 
 public feeling toward, 132; his 
 interest in the theatre of Madame 
 de Pompadour, 138; becomes 
 bored by dramatic spectacles, 
 145 ; transfers performances from 
 Versailles to chateau of Belle- 
 vue, 145, 146; his conscience un- 
 easy, 158; equestrian statue of, 
 159, 160; public attacks on, 165, 
 166; his Jubilee, 169, 171, 172; 
 his religious tendencies, 166, 173; 
 retains Madame de Pompadour 
 only through compassion, 174; 
 wounded by Damiens, 180-182; 
 public sympathy for, 182; re- 
 ceives Madame de Pompadour 
 graciously, 187 ; his attitude 
 towards Jansenism, 196; his 
 spirit of compromise, 197; sum- 
 
 mons Christopher de Beaumont 
 to the archbishopric of Paris, 196 ; 
 sends de Beaumont to Confians, 
 197; recalls de Beaumont, 199; 
 his enmity to Parliament, 198, 
 200; his indecision, 203, 204; his 
 attitude toward Austria, 205; ac- 
 cepts resignation of Abbe Bernis, 
 210, 211 ; gives up cities possessed 
 in Germany, 212; his words con- 
 cerning famous men of letters of 
 France, 214; revokes the privi- 
 leges of editors of the Encyclo- 
 pedia, 216, 217 ; anonymous letter 
 to, 217, 218; called a Herod by 
 the people, 219, 220; his words 
 at the funeral of Madame de 
 Pompadour, 231 ; fond of the so- 
 ciety of his daughters, 255, 256 ; 
 selects a second wife for the 
 Dauphin, 258; at the death-bed 
 of his wife, 273. 
 
 Louis XIV., 13, 101; his attitude 
 towards Jansenism, 195. 
 
 Louis XVI., 265. 
 
 Louis XVIII., 265. 
 
 Louise, Madame, 247, 255. 
 
 Luynes, Duchess de, 127, 128 ; Marie 
 Leczinska's letters to, 241, 242; 
 Marie Leczinska's friendship for, 
 241, 242. 
 
 Luynes, Duke de, his gift to Marie 
 Leczinska, 241, 242. 
 
 Machault, M. de, his attitude 
 towards Madame de Pompadour, 
 183 ; his interview with Madame 
 de Pompadour, 184, 185. 
 
 Mailly, Countess de, 1, 46; her 
 birth and marriage, 47 ; descrip- 
 tion of, by Le Roy, 47 ; becomes 
 mistressofLouisXV., 47,48; loses 
 affection of the King, 53; intro- 
 duces her sister, Pauline Fflicit^, 
 to the King, 54; her grief at 
 death of her sister, 58 ; dismissed 
 from court, 60 et seq. ; pitied by 
 everyone, 64; pensioned by the 
 
INDEX 
 
 281 
 
 King, 67; her last years, 93; her 
 last days and death, 170-172. 
 
 Mai-iage fait et rompu, Le, per- 
 formed at Versailles, 139. 
 
 Maria Theresa, 204 ; her display of 
 admiration for Louis XV., 205. 
 
 Marie Aune Victoire, Infanta, affi- 
 anced to Louis XIV., 14, 15 ; sent 
 back to Spain on account of her 
 youth, 18, 20, 21 ; marries Joseph 
 Emanuel, 21. 
 
 Marie Antoinette, 2. 
 
 Marie Josfephe of Saxony, the Dau- 
 phiness, 259; the marriage of, 
 with the Dauphin, 259 et seq.; 
 the Duke de Richelieu's words 
 concerning, 261 ; leaves Dresden 
 for Versailles, 261; Marshal 
 Saxe's words concerning, 201, 
 262; marries the Dauphin, 261- 
 263 ; burdened by court etiquette, 
 263,264; makes herself beloved, 
 264; her children, 264, 265; a 
 perfect wife and mother, 265 ; 
 her words at the deatli of the 
 Dauphin, 267; her death, 268; 
 her life a symbol, 271. 
 
 Marie Lecziuska, 2; her birth 
 23; her character, 23-25, 272, 
 273; Duke of Bourbon's words 
 concerning, 25 ; suddenly called 
 to the throne of France, 24, 25; 
 her marriage to Louis XV., 26; 
 her letter to her father concern- 
 ing her reception by the French 
 people, 26, 27; meets Louis XV., 
 27 ; her gifts to the ladies of the 
 court, 27 ; pleases every one, 28 ; 
 goes to Versailles, 29 ; her early 
 married life happy, 30; jealous 
 of influence of Fleury over Louis 
 XV., 32; her worthy life, 40; 
 gives birth to twins, 40; her 
 pious excursion to Paris, 40, 41 ; 
 her children, 41, 245 et seq. ; her 
 behavior towards Louis XV., 41, 
 42; her suffering on account of 
 the favor of Madame de Mailly 
 with the King, 48 ; her sympathy 
 
 for Madame de Mailly, 64; visits 
 the King ill at Metz, 81-83; her 
 disappointment regarding the 
 King's feelings towards her, 83 ; 
 her feelings at the death oi 
 Madame de Chateauroux, 91; 
 D'Argenson's words concerning, 
 106; her tenth child, 106; neg- 
 lected by the King, 107; her 
 daily life, 107, 108 ; her peace of 
 heart, 109; called the "Good 
 Queen," 109; her reception of 
 Madame de Pompadour, 126; her 
 feelings towards Madame de 
 Pompadour, 128 ; refuses to per- 
 mit Madame de Pompadour to 
 take part in religious service, 
 169; her words concerning Ma- 
 dame de Pompadour after the 
 latter's death, 231; compared 
 with Madame de Pompadour, 
 233-235, 276; her character, 233 
 et seq.; portrait of, by La Tour, 
 236; Nattier's portrait of, 237; 
 sketch of ,by Madame du Deffand, 
 237, 238; her circle of friends, 
 238; her words to President Re- 
 nault, 239; President Henault's 
 verses to, 239; Fontanelle's 
 verses to, 239, 240; her letters to 
 the Duchess de Luynes, 241, 242 ; 
 her friendship for the Duchess 
 de Luynes 241, 242; her solid 
 information, 243; a tender 
 mother, 245, 255 ; the daughters 
 of, 245 et seq. ; her resignation 
 in grief at loss of two of her 
 daughters, 255 ; her relations to 
 her children, 255, 256 ; her apart- 
 ments, 256, 257; her liking for 
 Marie Josephe, the Dauphiness, 
 264; loses her son and father, 
 266, 267; crushed by sorrow, 268; 
 goes to the Carmelite convent of 
 Compifegne, 270; Madame de 
 Campan's words concerning, 270 ; 
 universally beloved, 272; falls 
 ill, 273; her last moments and 
 death, 273-275 ; her funeral, 276 ; 
 
282 
 
 INDEX 
 
 the last Queen who ended her 
 days on the throne of France, 276. 
 
 Marie The'rese Antoinette Ra- 
 phaelle, her marriage to the 
 Dauphin, 110; her amicibiUty, 
 111 ; her death, 12U, 130, 258. 
 
 Massillon, 275. 
 
 Maurepas, 89, 90, 162. 
 
 Memoirs of court of Louis XV., 3. 
 
 Mere coqvette, performed at Ver- 
 sailles, 142. 
 
 Michelet, his words concerning 
 Madame de Prie, 3B ; Ms effort to 
 cast ridicule on the daughters of 
 Louis XV., 245 ; accuses Madame 
 Elisabeth of being the cause of 
 the Seven Years' War, 253, 254. 
 
 Montpensier, Mademoiselle, her 
 birth and marriage, 19 ; becomes 
 Queen of Spain, 19; sent back 
 to France, 20; her later life, 
 21. 
 
 Motte, Mademoiselle de la, 117. 
 
 Nattier, his portrait of Marie 
 
 Lezinska, 237. 
 Nesle, Mademoiselle de, see Feli- 
 
 cite, Pauline. 
 Nuptial ceremony of putting to 
 
 bed, described, 262, 263. 
 
 Orleans, Duke of, 16 ; sketch of his 
 career, 113, 114. 
 
 Palissot, verses by, 228. 
 
 Parliament, Madame de Pompa- 
 dour's conduct towards, 194; 
 Louis XV.'s attitude towards, 
 196-198, 200; one hundred and 
 fifty members of, resign, 198; 
 members of, pose as protectors 
 of liberty, 200. 
 
 Perusseau, 79. 
 
 Philip, Don, son of Philip V. of 
 Spain, marries Madame Elisa- 
 beth, 247 ; obtains sovereignty 
 of Parma, Piacenza, and Guas- 
 tella, 247; not esteemed by his 
 wife, 253. 
 
 Philip V. of Spain, 18, 19. 
 
 l^oisson, Abel, 148, 149, 160. 
 
 Poisson, Fran9ois, 117. 
 
 Poisson, Jeanne Antoine, after- 
 wards Marquise de Pompadour, 
 117; see Pompadour, Madame 
 de. 
 
 Pompadour, Marquise de, 1, 6 ; her 
 character, 116, 117; her birth 
 and early life, 117 ; her accom- 
 plishments, 117; her marriage, 
 118; President Henault's words 
 concerning, 118 ; plans to cap- 
 ture the fancy of Louis XV., 
 119; appears as Diana at the 
 Hotel de Ville ball, 119, 120; her 
 children, 120; makes her way 
 into Versailles, 120, 121; con- 
 cealed by Louis XV., 121 ; with- 
 draws to her chateau at itioles, 
 122; receives title of Marquise, 
 124 ; her presentation, 125 ; treat- 
 ment of her by the court, 127; 
 her attitude toward the Queen, 
 127-129 ; her theatre of the little 
 Cabinets, 132 et seq. ; her fear 
 of losing the interest of the 
 King, 133; her successes as an 
 actress, 132, 134, 139, 140, 142, 
 145; wants to play comedy at 
 Versailles, 135; draws up regu- 
 lations for players at her theatre, 
 137, 138; plays and sings, 139; 
 in the ballet of Almases, 140 ; her 
 last performance, 146; Rous- 
 seau's letter to, 146 ; her power, 
 pomp, and opulence, 147 et seq. ; 
 her sepulchre, 149; her beauty, 
 149, 150; what she cost France, 
 150; her dwellings and apart- 
 ments, 150-152; verses to, by 
 Voltaire, 122-124, 145, 152-154; 
 her griefs and sadness, 156 et 
 seq. ; threatened with death, 
 157; insulted by Madame de 
 Coaslin, 157; her lack of con- 
 fidence in the King, 156, 158; 
 like Scheherezade, 158; her de- 
 sire to marry her daughter 
 
INDEX 
 
 283 
 
 Alexandrine, 160-162; death of 
 her daughter Alexandrine, 160; 
 verses at death of her mother, 
 160; Sainte-Beuve's words con- 
 cerninfj, 161 ; Paris implacable 
 towards, 162; verses abusing 
 her, 163-166 ; suffers under pub- 
 lic abuse, 167 ; ready to do any- 
 thing to hold her place, 168; 
 makes a show of devotion, 168- 
 170, 173; has a statue made 
 of herself, 170; is attacked by 
 fever, 170; her feeling of inse- 
 curity, 170, 171; endeavors to 
 obtain absolution from the Jesu- 
 its, 173, 174 ; refused absolution 
 by Pere de Sarcy, 171, 175; so- 
 licits a place as lady of the 
 Queen's palace, 17D; declares 
 her willingness to be reconciled 
 to her husband, 175, 176; receives 
 communion, 177 ; becomes a lady 
 of the palace, 177, 178 ; her con- 
 duct when Louis XV. was 
 wounded by Damiens, 182, 183; 
 attitude of the three principal 
 ministers towards, 183 ; inter- 
 view of M. de Machaiilt with, 
 184, 185; meets the King and 
 resumes her domination, 186- 
 189; her grudge against the 
 Jesuits, 189; her note to the 
 Pope censuring the Jesuits, 189- 
 192; her methods in politics, 
 193, 194 ; held responsible lor the 
 Seven Years' War, 201 ; her inter- 
 est in porcelains, 202; her atti- 
 tude toward the Austrian al- 
 liance, 205 et seq. ; her obstinacy, 
 209, 211; the object of public 
 vindictiveness, 213 ; her attitude 
 towards Voltaire, 215; her atti- 
 tude towards Quesnay, 215 ; her 
 attitude towards the philoso- 
 phers, 214 et seq., 221 ; La Tour's 
 pastel of, 216 ; anonymous letters 
 to, 217, 218 ; reviled by the peo- 
 ple, 220 ; effects the expulsion of 
 the Jesuits, 221, 222; eulogized 
 
 by Voltaire, 223; foresees the 
 crumbling of the government, 
 224 ; aged prematurely, 226, 227 ; 
 her courage in suffering, 227; 
 falls ill at Choisy, 227 ; feels the 
 coming of death, 229; fears the 
 King more than God, 229; her 
 death-bed, 229, 230; her will, 
 230 ; her death, 230, 231 ; funeral 
 service of, 231 ; regretted by the 
 men of letters, 232, 233; com- 
 pared with Marie Leozinska, 
 233-235, 276. 
 
 Porcelains, Madame de Pompa- 
 dour's interest in, 202. 
 
 Precis du siecle de Louis XV., 
 Voltaire's, 154. 
 
 Prejugi a la mode, Le, performed 
 at Versailles, 139. 
 
 Prie, Marquise de, mistress of the 
 Duke of Bourbon, 16; influence 
 of, at court, 10, IS; her life, 17; 
 pleased at marriage of Louis XV. 
 to Marie Leczinska, 31 ; plots to 
 get rid of Fleury, Bishop of 
 Frejus, 33; expelled from court 
 by Louis XV. , 35 ; the bitterness 
 of her last years, 36, 37 ; her 
 death, 38 ; rumored to have pois- 
 oned herself, 38. 
 
 Provence, Count of, 265. 
 
 Quesnay, 183, 185; the confidant 
 of Madame de Pompadour, 215 ; 
 his character, 216. 
 
 Revolution, the, prophecies of, 218, 
 219, 224. 
 
 Richelieu, Duke de, description of, 
 by D'Argenson, 61; his plan at 
 court, 62 ; made first gentleman 
 of the chamber, 71 ; his exaspera- 
 tion at the favor of Madame de 
 Pompadour with the King, 127; 
 quarrel of, with Duke de la Val- 
 liere, 142-144; his treatment of 
 Madame de Pompadour, 143, 
 261 ; his words concerning Marie 
 Josephe of Saxony, 259. 
 
284 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Kohau, Cardiual, 26. 
 Rousseau, his letter to Madame de 
 Pompadour, 146. 
 
 Sainte-Beuve, his words concerning 
 Madame de Pompadour, 161; his 
 description of La Tour's pastel 
 of Marie Leczinska, 236. 
 
 Saint Monica, 209. 
 
 Sarcy, Pere de, refuses Madame 
 de Pompadour absolution, 174, 
 175, 190. 
 
 Saxe, Marshal, negotiates the 
 marriage of Marie Josephe of 
 Saxony with the Dauphin, 258- 
 261 ; his words concerning Marie 
 Josephe, 261, 262 ; his description 
 of the ceremonial of putting to 
 bed, 262, 263. 
 
 " School of Man, The," a pamphlet 
 attacking Louis XV., 165, 166. 
 
 Seven Years' War, the, Madame 
 de Pompadour held responsible 
 for, 201 ; the results of, 212. 
 
 Sophie, Madame, 247, 255. 
 
 Soubise, 209. 
 
 Surprises de I'amour, Les, per- 
 formed at Versailles, 142. 
 
 Tancred, performed at Versailles, 
 142. 
 
 Tartuffe, performed at Versailles, 
 139. 
 
 Theatre of the little Cabinets, at 
 Versailles, 136, 137 et seq.; regu- 
 lations for players at, 137, 138; 
 dramatic performances at, 139, 
 140; collection of comedie.s per- 
 formed at, 141. 
 
 Thitis et FeUe, performance of, 
 170. 
 
 Toulouse, Countess de, her apart- 
 ment at Versailles, 49; accused 
 of aiding the intimacy of Louis 
 XV. and Madame de Mailly, 
 50. 
 
 Tournehem, M. Lenormand de, 
 117. 
 
 Tournelle, Madame de la, her birth 
 and marriage, 60 ; appointed lady 
 of the palace, 60; becomes a fa- 
 vorite of the King, 62; deter- 
 mines to have Madame de Mailly 
 dismissed from court, 62, 63; 
 her triumph, 65-67 ; inferior to 
 Madame de Montespan, 68; be- 
 comes Duchess of Chateauroux, 
 69-71 ; see Chateauroux, Duchess 
 of. 
 
 Tournelle, Marquis de la, 60. 
 
 Trois Coiisines, Les, performed at 
 Versailles, 139. 
 
 Unigenilus, the boll, 195, 196, 
 200. 
 
 Vallifere, Duke de la, quarrel of, 
 with Duke de Richelieu, 142- 
 144. 
 
 Vanloo, 232. 
 
 Versailles, deserted after death of 
 Louis XIV., 13; festivities at, 
 111, 112 ; theatre constructed for 
 Madame de Pompadour at, 136 ; 
 Madame de Pompadour's apart- 
 ments at, 150, 151 ; the treaty of, 
 204, 206; an Austrian party at, 
 205. 
 
 Victoire, Madame, 247, 255. 
 
 Vintimille, Countess de, gives birth 
 to a boy, 57 ; her death, 57, 58 ; 
 see Felicite', Pauline. 
 
 Vitzthum, Count, 259. 
 
 Voltaire, his words concerning 
 Marie Leczinska, 27, 28; his 
 Henri IV., 28, 29 ; obtains a pen- 
 sion, 29; with Madame d'llStioles 
 at her chateau, 122; his lines 
 to Madame d'liltioles, 122-124; 
 his lines to Louis XV., 131; his 
 lines to Madame de Pompadour 
 at her toilet, 145; his flattery of 
 Madame de Pompadour, 152-156, 
 215; his Enfant prodif/ue pro- 
 duced at Versailles, 139, 154;- 
 turns against Madame de Pom- 
 padour, 166, 167, 208; quoted, 
 
INDEX 
 
 285 
 
 211 ; his words concerning Seven 
 Years' War, 212, 213; eulogizes 
 Madame de Pompadour, 223 ; his 
 pleasure in foreseeing the French 
 Revolution, 224; his words con- 
 
 cerning Madame de Pompadour 
 after the latter's death, 232. 
 
 Women of court of Louis XV., 1 et 
 seq. 
 
 NotfaooB 53rf88 ; 
 
 J. S. Gushing & Co. — Berwick & Smith. 
 
 Boston, Mass., U.S.A. 
 
FAMOUS WOMEN OF THE 
 FRENCH COURT 
 
 CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS, PUBLISHERS 
 
 FORMER series of M. Imbert de Saint-Amand's historical 
 works have depicted the great French historical epochs 
 of modern times. The stirring events of the Revolution, of the 
 Consulate and Empire, and of the Restoration period, ending with 
 the July revolution of 1830 and the accession of Louis Philippe, 
 are grouped around the attractive personalities of Marie An- 
 toinette, the Empresses Josephine and Marie Louise, and the 
 Duchesses of Angouleme and of Berry. The remarkable and 
 uniform success of these works has induced the publishers to un- 
 dertake the translation and publication of a previous series of M. 
 de Saint-Amand's volumes which deal with epochs more remote, 
 but not for that reason less important, interesting, or instructive. 
 The distinction of the cycle now begun with the " Women of the 
 Valois Court " and ending with " The Last Years of Louis XV.," 
 is that, whereas in former series several volumes have been de- 
 voted to the historical events associated with each of the titular 
 personalities to which they were closely related, in the present 
 instance a more condensed method is followed. The color of 
 the present series is more personal, and therefore more romantic, 
 as is to be expected in the annals of a period during which the 
 famous women of the French Court were not only more numer- 
 ous but more influential than their successors of later times. 
 The dawn of the modern era, chronicled in M. de Saint-Amand's 
 " Marie Antoinette and the End of the Old Regime " was the 
 beginning of the extinction of the feminine influence that flour- 
 ished vigorously in afiairs of state from Marguerite of Angouleme 
 to Madame Dubarry. It is the history of this influence that the 
 author has graphically written in the four volumes now announced 
 — "Women of the Valois Court," "The Court of Louis XIV.," 
 and " The Court of Louis XV.," and " The Last Years of Louis 
 XV." 
 
FAMOUS WOMEN OF THE FRENCH COURT 
 
 The first volume is devoted to Marguerite of Angouleme and 
 Catherine de' Medici and their contemporaries at the French 
 court during the days of the last of the Valois — the most ro- 
 mantic period of royalty probably in all history. The two principal 
 figures are depicted with striking vividness, — the half Catholic, 
 half Protestant sister of Francis I., the grandmother of Henry 
 IV., the author of the famous " Heptaraeron," and one of the most 
 admirable historical figures of any epoch ; and the diplomatic, 
 ambitious, unscrupulous but extremely human Catherine, univer- 
 sally held responsible for the awful Massacre of Saint Bartholo- 
 mew. But the subordinate though scarcely less famous women 
 who adorned the Valois Court — Diane de Poitiers, the Duchess 
 d'Etampes, Marguerite of Valois, Marie Stuart, and others — 
 are described with an equally brilliant and illuminating touch. 
 
 The volumes on the women of the great Bourbon epoch, 
 the epoch of Louis XIV. and Louis XV., when the Bourbon 
 star was in the zenith, contain a great deal of intimate history 
 as well as setting in relief the interesting personalities of the 
 famous La Vallifere and Montespan and that perennial historical 
 enigma, Madame de Maintenon, in the volume devoted to the 
 court of the " Sun King," and those of Madame de Pompadour, 
 Madame Dubarry, Queen Marie Leczinski, and other celebrities 
 who made Versailles what it was during the long and varied 
 reign of Louis XV. The study of Madame de Maintenon is a 
 real contribution to history, and the pictures of the clever and 
 dazzling beauties who controlled so long the destinies not only 
 of France but measurably of Europe itself from the accession of 
 "la Grand Monarque" to the first threatenings of the Revolution 
 "deluge" are extremely lifehke and skilfully executed. TheWs- 
 torical chronicle of the time is by no means lost sight of by the 
 author, but in this series even more than in his works heretofore 
 published in English he appears not only as an interesting and 
 impartial historian, but as a brilliant historical portraitist. 
 
 POUR NEW VOLUMES. 
 
 WOMEN OF THE VALOIS AND VERSAILLES COURTS. 
 
 Eackwith Portraits, iiaS' Price per set, in box, cloth, Ss.oo; half calf, $10.00. 
 WOMEN OF THE VALOIS COURT. 
 THE COURT OF LOUIS XIV. 
 THE COURT OF LOUIS XV. 
 THE LAST YEARS OF LOUIS XV. 
 
FAMOUS WOMEN OF THE FRENCH COURT 
 
 VOLUMES PREVIOUSLY ISSUED. 
 
 THREE VOLUMES ON MARIE ANTOINETTE. 
 Each with Portrait^ $1.25. Price fer set, in box, cloth., $3.75; half calf , $7-50. 
 MARIE ANTOINETTE AND THE END OF THE OLD REGIME. 
 MARIE ANTOINETTE AT THE TUILERIES. 
 MARIE ANTOINETTE AND THE DOWNFALL OF ROYALTY. 
 
 In this series is unfolded the tremendous panorama of political events in 
 which the unfortunate Queen had so influential a share, beginning with the days 
 immediately preceding the Revolution, whea court life at Versailles was so gay and 
 unsuspecting, continuing with the enforced journey of the royal family to Paris, and 
 the agitating months passed in the Tuileries, and concluding with the abolition of 
 royalty, the proclamation of the Republic, and the imprisonment of the royal family, 
 — the initial stage of their progress to the guillotine. 
 
 THREE VOLUMES ON THE EMPRESS JOSEPHINE. 
 
 Each -with Portrait, $1 .25. Price per set, in iox, cloth, $3.75 ; half calf $7.50. 
 
 CITIZENESS BONAPARTE. 
 
 THE WIFE OF THE FIRST CONSUL. 
 
 THE COURT OF THE EMPRESS JOSEPHINE. 
 
 The romantic and eventful period beginning with Josephine's marriage, com- 
 prises the astonishing Italian campaign, the Egyptian expedition, the coup (Vitat of 
 Brumaire, and is described in the first of the above volumes; while the second treats 
 of the brilliant society which issued from the chaos of the Revolution, and over 
 which Madame Bonaparte presided so charmingly; and the third, of the events 
 between the assumption of the imperial title by Napoleon and the end of 1807, 
 including, of course, the Austerlitz campaign. 
 
 FOUR VOLUMES ON THE EMPRESS MARIE LOUISE. 
 Each with Portrait, $1.25. Price per set, in box, cloth, $5.00; half calf $10.00. 
 THE HAPPY DAYS OF MARIE LOUISE. 
 
 MARIE LOUISE AND THE DECADENCE OF THE EMPIRE. 
 MARIE LOUISE AND THE INVASION OF 1814. 
 MARIE LOUISE, THE RETURN FROM ELBA, AND THE HUNDRED DAYS. 
 
 The auspicious marriage of the Archduchess Marie Louise to the master of 
 Europe; the Russian invasion, with its disastrous conclusion a few years later; the 
 Dresden and Leipsic campaign; the invasion of France by the Allies, and the mar- 
 vellous military strategy of Napoleon in 1814, ending only with his defeat and exile 
 to Elba; his life in his little principally; his romantic escape and dramatic return to 
 France; the preparations of the Hundred Days; Waterloo and the definitive restora- 
 tion of Louis XVIII. closing the era begun in 1789, with "The End of the Old 
 Regime," — are the subjects of the four volumes grouped around the personality of 
 Marie Louise. 
 
FAMOUS WOMEN OF THE FRENCH COURT 
 
 TWO VOLUMES ON THE DUCHESS OF ANGOULEME. 
 
 Each iviih Portrait, $1.25. Price per set, in box, cloth, $2.50; half calf, $5.00. 
 
 THE YOUTH OF THE DUCHESS OF ANGOULEME. 
 
 THE DUCHESS OF ANGOULEME AND THE TWO RESTORATIONS. 
 
 The period covered in this first of these volumes begins with the life of the 
 daughter of Louis XVI. and Marie Antoinette imprisoned in the Temple after the 
 execution of her parents, and ends with the accession of Louis XVIIL after the abdica- 
 tion of Napoleon at Fontainebleau. The first Restoration, its illusions, the characters 
 of Louis XVIIL, of his brother, afterwards Charles X., of the Dukes of Angouleme 
 and Berry, sons of the latter, the life of the Court, the feeling of the city, Napoleon's 
 sudden return from Elba, the Hundred Days from the Royalist side, the second 
 Restoration, and the vengeance taken by the new government on the Imperialists, 
 - form the subject-matter of the second volume. 
 
 THREE VOLUMES ON THE DUCHESS OF BERRY. 
 
 Each -with Portrait, $1.25. -Price per set, in box, cloth, $3.75; half calf ,%'j.y^. 
 
 THE DUCHESS OF BERRY AND THE COURT OF LOUIS XVill. 
 THE DUCHESS OF BERRY AND THE COURT OF CHARLES X. 
 THE DUCHESS OF BERRY AND THE REVOLUTION OF JULY, 1830. 
 
 The Princess Marie Caroline, of Naples, became, upon her marriage with the 
 Duke of Berry, the central figure of the French Court during the reigns of both 
 Louis XVIIL and Charles X. The former of these was rendered eventful by the 
 assassination of her husband and the birth of her son, the Count of Chambord, and 
 the latter was from the first marked by those reactionary tendencies which resulted 
 in the dethronement and exile of the Bourbons. The dramatic Revolution which 
 brought about the July monarchy of Louis Philippe, has never been more vividly 
 and intelligently described than in the last volume devoted to the Duchess of Berry. 
 
 " In these translations of this interesting series of sketches^ we have 
 found an unexpected amount of pleastire and profit. The author cites 
 for us passages from forgotten diaries^ hitherto unearthed letters, extracts 
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 ing pictures. Nor is this all. The material he lays before us is of real 
 value, and much^ if not most of it, must be unknown save to the special 
 students of the period. We can, therefore, cordiclly commend these books 
 to the attention of our readers. They will find them attractive in their 
 arrangement, never dull, with much va7'iety of scene and incident, and 
 admirably translated." — The Nation, of December jg, i8go. 
 
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 best novel." — The Atlantic Monthly. 
 
 Marion Harland. 
 
 Judith. i2mo, paper, 50 cts.; cloth, $1.00. Handicapped. 
 i2mo, $1.50. With the Best Intentions. i2mo, cloth, $1.00; 
 paper, 50 cts. 
 
 " Fiction has afforded no more charming glimpses of old Virginia life 
 than are found in this delightful story, witli its quaint pictures, its admir- 
 ably drawn characters, its wit, and its frankness." 
 
 — The Brooklyn Daily Times. 
 
 Joel Chandler Harris. 
 
 Free Joe, and Other Georgian Sketches. i2mo, paper, 50 cts.; 
 cloth, $1.00. 
 
 " The author's skill as a story writer has never been more felicitously 
 illustrated than in this volume." — The New York Sun. 
 
 Augustus Allen Hayes. 
 
 The Jesuit's Ring; i2mo, paper, 50 cts. ; cloth, $1.00. 
 " The conception of the story is excellent." — The Boston Traveller. 
 
 George A. Hibbard. 
 
 The Governor, and Other Stories. i2mo, cloth, $1.00; paper, 
 
 50 cts. 
 
 "It is still often urged that, except in remote corners, there is nothing 
 
 in our American life which appeals to the artistic sense, but certainly these 
 
 stories are American to the core, and yet the artistic sense is strong in them 
 
 throughout. " — Critic. 
 
 E. T. IV. Hoffmann. 
 
 Weird Tales. With Portrait. i2mo, 2 vols., $3.00. 
 
 "All those who are in search of a genuine literary sensation, or who 
 care for the marvelous and supernatural, will find these two volumes fas- 
 cinating reading." — The Christian Union. 
 
SCRIBNER'S BRIEF LIST OF FICTION. 5 
 
 Dr. J. G. Holland. 
 
 Sevenoaks. The Bay Path. Arthur Bonnicastle. Miss Gilbert's 
 Career. Nicholas IVIInturn; Each, i2mo, $1,25; the set, $6.25. 
 Sevenoaks and Arthur Bonnicastle. Each, paper, 50c. 
 
 " Dr. Holland will always find a congenial audience in the homes of 
 culture and refinement. He does not affect tlie play of the darker and 
 fiercer passions, but delights in the sweet images that cluster around the 
 domestic hearth. He cherishes a strong fellow-feeling with the pure and 
 tranquil life in the modest social circles of the American people, and has 
 thus won his way to the companionship of many friendly hearts." 
 
 — The New York Tribune. 
 
 Thomas A. Janvier. 
 
 Color Studies, and a IVIexican Campaign. i2mo, papp--, 50 cts. ; 
 cloth, $1.00. 
 
 "Piquant, novel and ingenious, these little stories, with all their siiiplicity, 
 have excited a wide interest. The best of them, 'Jaune D'Antimoine,' 'f- 
 a little wonder in its dramatic effect, its ingenious construction." — Critic. 
 
 Andrew Lang. 
 
 The Mark of Cain. i2mo, paper, 25 cts. 
 "No one can deny that it is crammed as full of incident as it will hold 
 or that the elaborate plot is worked out with most ingenious perspicuity. '^ 
 
 — The Saturday Review. 
 
 George P. Latbrop. 
 
 Newport. i2mo, paper, 5octs.; cloth, $1.25. An Echo of Passion. 
 i2mo, paper, 50 cts.; cloth, $1.00. In the Distance. i2mo. 
 paper, 50 cts.; cloth, $1.00. 
 " His novels have the refinement of motive which characterize th* 
 analytical school, but his manner is far more direct and dramatic." 
 
 — The Christian Union. 
 
 Brander Matthews. 
 
 The Secret of the Sea, and Other Stories. i2mo, paper, 50 cts.; 
 
 cloth, $1.00. The Last Meeting. i2mo, cloth, $1.00. 
 
 " iVIr. Matthews is a man of wide observation and of much familiarity 
 
 with the world. His literary style is bright and crisp, with a peculiar 
 
 sparkle about it — wit and humor judiciously mingled — which renders his 
 
 pages more than ordinarily interesting." — The Rochester Post-Express. 
 
 George Moore. 
 
 Vain Fortune. i2mo, $1.00. 
 "How a woman's previous ideas and actions will completely change 
 when the medium of a wild, intense love is interposed, was never more 
 skilfully sketched." — Boston Times. 
 
6 SCRIBNER'S BRIEF LIST OF FICTION. 
 
 Fiti-James O'Brien. 
 
 The Diamond Lens, with Other Stories. i2mo, paper, 50 cts. 
 
 "These stories are the only things in literature to be compared with 
 Poe's work, and if they do not equal it in workmanship, they cctainly do 
 not yield to it in originality." — The Philadelphia Record. 
 
 Duffield Osborne. 
 
 The Spell of Ashtaroth. i2mo, $1.00. 
 
 " It has a simple but picturesque plot, and the story is told in a vi'idly 
 dramatic way." — Chicago Times. 
 
 Bliss Perry. 
 
 The Broughton House. lamo, $1.25. 
 
 "A wonderfully shrewd and vivid picture of life in one of our hill 
 towns in summer." — Hartford Tost. 
 
 Thomas Nelson Page. 
 
 In Old Virginia. Marse Chan and Other Stories. i2mo, $1.25. 
 On Newfound River. i2mo, $1 00, Elsket, and Other Stories. 
 i2mo,$i.oo. IVIarse Chan. Ills. bySmedley. Sq.iamo. $1.50. 
 
 "Mr. Page enjoys the distinction of having written the most exquisite 
 story of the war (' Marse Chan '), which has yet appeared. His stories 
 are beautiful and faithful pictures of a society now become a portion and 
 parcel of the irrevocable past." — Harper's Magazine. 
 
 George I. Putnam. 
 
 In Blue Uniform: i2mo, $1.00. 
 
 The author of this love story, who is an ex-army officer, has given a 
 very natural picture of garrison life in the Far West, with strong character 
 studies, and a sufficient diversity of incident to give movement and cumu- 
 lative interest to the tale. 
 
 Saxe Holm's Stories. 
 
 First Series. Second Series. Each, i2mo, paper, 50c; cloth, $1 .00. 
 
 " Saxe Holm's characters are strongly drawn, and she goes right to the 
 heart of human experience, as one who knows the way. We heartily 
 commend them as vigorous, wholesome, and sufficiently exciting stories." 
 
 — The Advatue