They hear of the King's ordering armies to march, of his winning or lofing battles, and thereupon they reafon according to their particular prejudices. Hiftory is fcarce more exact, and generally annalifts are but the echoes of public errors. I shall avoid here all the details that do not intereft the state; for I write rather the age of Lewis XV. than the hiftory of my own life. A king's favourite is only for the reign in which that prince lives; but truth is of all ages. mous fcribbler has gone farther by publishing a fcandalous book, to which he gave the title of the Hiftory of my life. M. le Comte d'Affry wrote to me from Holland, that this production was the growth of Great Britain. It is referved to the English to fully the reputation of perfons placed in a diftinguished rank at the court of France, and it is faid to be a prerogative of that government to foment a hatred between the two nations. Though my fortune was indifOne must not likewife expect ferent, my education was not nehere a circumstantial journal of the glected. I had mafters that formgallantries of Lewis XV. The ed me to dancing, mufic, and deking had many tranfient amours clamation, little talents which afduring my fojourning at Versailles. terwards were of service to me for He faw feveral women; but they the greatest matters. I also aphad no part in the public affairs. plied myself to reading; and Their reign began and ended al- when I was thought to be fufficiways in the bed of the prince. ciently accomplished, I was marThose weaknesses inherent to hu- ried to a man whom I did not love. man nature belong more to the This misfortune was followed by private life of a king, than to the a greater; that is, this man loved public history of a monarch. I me. I call it a misfortune, bewill fpeak of them fometimes, but cause I do not know of a greater it fhall be in a curfory manner. I in the world. A woman, not befhall fay nothing of my ancestors. loved by a man whom she has marThe Roman emperors often raised ried without love, enjoys at least to favour women of a more ob- her indifference. fcure birth than mine but, without going fo far back, a number of fuch examples are found in the hiftory of our kings. The widow of the poet Scarron, who afcended a degree higher than I did on the throne of France, was not born to come there. It is true fhe was the daughter of a gentleman; but the throne is placed at an equal distance for all women that are not born princeffes. A number of injurious anecdotes have been related in regard to my parents. A wretched anony During the first years of my marriage, there was great talk at Paris of the king's gallantries; and his inconftant amours gave a right to all the women who had charms enough to pretend to his heart. The place of mistress to Lewis XV. was often vacant. All the paffions at Verfailles had an air of debauchery. Love in that region was immediately worn out, as being reduced to enjoyment. Delicacy was banished the court; and the whole fcene of fenfibility paffed in in the bed of the prince. The monarch often went to bed with a heart full of love, and the next day rofe with indifference. This picture fhocked me, for I confefs that I had already formed the defign of making myself to be loved by that prince. I was apprehenfive that a heart accustomed to paffing amours was no longer fufceptible of attachment; and I blushed beforehand for indulging an inclination, which might leave after it nothing more than a fhort fatisfaction of the senses; but my defign was formed. I had often feen the king at Verfailles without being noticed by him. His looks did not meet with mine. My eyes had many things to fay to him; but they could never speak to him. At laft I faw the monarch, and converfed with him for the firft time. It is impoffible to exprefs what paffed within me on this firft interview. Fear, hope, admiration agitated my mind in their turns. At first I found myfelf confused, but the king fpirited me up. Lewis XV. is the most affable prince of his court. His rank in a tête-a-tête conversation lays no reftraint on any one he is then a thoufand Leagues from the throne: an air of goodness and candour fhews itself in all his actions. Our converfe had for me a thoufand charms I was pleafed, and I pleased in my turn. The king fince confeffed to me, that he had loved me from this first interview. It was agreed that we should meet in private at the caftle of Verfailles, and it was infifted that I fhould take immediately an apartment there; but I prayed to keep myfelf yet for fome time incog nito; and as the king is the politeft man in the kingdom, he granted my requeft. At my return to Paris, a thousand new agi tations ftarted up in my foul. The human heart is a ftrange thing! We feel the effects of paflions whofe caufe we are unacquainted with. I know that I had great pleasure that moment; but pleafure is not always a confequence of love. A multitude of other paffions are formed in us, which may all produce the fame effect. Our private correfpondence was infinitely pleafing to me; but the king at last required that I should fix my abode at Versailles, and I conformed to his will. Books are but feeble images of what paffes at courts. I fancied that I faw mortals of another species. Morals, manners, and customs are not there the fame as elsewhere. Every courtier, befides his particular character, has another which he forms for himself, and by which he acts all his parts: The favour of the prince gives life and motion to the foul of the courtier; and he receives no other light than that which comes to him from the throne. To fecure myself on this theatre, where I was quite a ftranger, Í was fenfible that my first care ought to be that of knowing the genius of the actors. I did not know the king but by the portrait made of him in the world, and the world is almost always miftaken in its judgment of the reigning prince. Flattery affigns him too many virtues, and diffatisfac tion gives him too many vices. Lewis XV. has naturally a great deal of genius. His wit is lively, active, and piercing. He fees at B 2 once once the fprings that fet in motion the most complicated business of politics. He knows the weak fides of the general fyftem, and the faults of each particular adminiftration. That prince is born with a noble, great, and fine foul. The blood of the legislator, the hero, and the captain, flows in his veins; but a too confined education has deftroyed in him the effect of those great virtues. The Cardinal de Fleuri, who had a common foul, made him in his youth apply himself to and be converfant in little things; but this education did not deftroy in him the most amiable qualities a fove.. reign can be adorned with. Lewis XV. has a heart extremely good; he is humane, mild, affable, compaffionate, just, equitable, defirous of doing good, and the declared enemy of all that does not bear the character of honour and probity. The queen, poffeffed of great virtues, has laid at the foot of the crucifix all domestic viciffitudes, Far from complaining of a destiny that might have filled with bitternefs the days of another princeis, fhe confiders it as a particular favour of Heaven, which is pleased to try her conftancy, to reward her for it in another life. She is never heard to utter any of thofe tart expreffions that indicate a difcontent of mind. She is always the first to exalt the qualities of the king, and to draw the curtain over his weaknesses. She never speaks of that prince but with refpect and veneration. No lady can carry farther Chriftian perfection, nor affociate fo many qualities in a rank, wherein the leaft faults deface the greatest virtues. The dauphin, ftill young, had no fhare in the general adminiftration. The king had ordered him to interfere in nothing, and he seemed well enough inclined to obey thofe orders. The madams of France were much devoted to reading in their private apartments : fometimes they went a-hunting, affifted at grand couverts, fhewed themselves at balls, and retired afterwards, without concerning themfelves much about the intrigues of the court. The duke of Orleans, the first prince of the blood, came feldom to Verfailles; he had given into devotion, and spent his life in diftributing alms. The prince of Conti was then engaged in the war, and thought only of acquiring glory. Condé was yet very young, and his uncle Charolois was involved in continued fcenes of drunkennefs. The other princes allied to the throne had little or no fhare in the public affairs, and only came to Versailles to affift at fome grand council, or be at the king's levee. Cardinal de Tencin had a great afcendant at court. The king placed great confidence in him, and they often conferred together. Several were of opinion that he was a great minister. I was little acquainted with him; fo fhall fay nothing of him; but, when I think of the misfortunes Richelieu, Mazarin, and Fleuri have brought upon France, I cannot help having a diflike to fee people of that ftate at the head of affairs. Of all the minifters that then governed France, the Count de Maurepas had moft genius, activi ty, bring two hundred millions into the king's coffers. He was called the grand financier, because he found refources for the king, by diminishing those of the state. ty, and penetration. He had been as long in the miniftry as Lewis XV. on the throne. The monarchy is indebted to him for the greatest establishments. It is he who had restored the marine, which after the death of Lewis XIV. was in a ftrange diforder. I have heard it faid that the branch of the Levant commerce was entirely his. He laboured much, and no one ever expedited fo many affairs; his correípondence was a masterpiece of exactnefs. I faw feveral of his letters. and it is impoffible in my opinion to fay fo many things in fo few words. The D'Argenfons, who happened to be made minifters, had not yet any decifive characters. It was faid of them that they were perfons of genius and probity; but that is not always fufficient for fulfilling the duties incumbent on minifters. I have heard it faid that an affortment of talents is neceffary, and that the privation of the leaft is enough to hinder a minifter to distinguish himself. M. de St. Florentin, who governed the affairs of the church, was a person of no confequence either at town or in the court. He paffed for neuter in the intrigues of Versailles, and only minded his department. As no great genius was required for difpatching letters de cachet, and exiling priests, he filled his poft with all the dignity of a minifter who had nothing more to do than to fign. The Comptroller-general Orry had the reputation of being a man of abilities, because he knew how to project a great many exchange-edicts. Some months after his inftallation at Verfailles, he produced not lefs than twenty-five, which were to The Prince de Soubife was a perfon of knowledge and difcernment. He was well versed in a great many things; but those who were tender of his reputation, would be glad he did not meddle with war. The foldier had no confidence in him. Perhaps he was in the wrong; and a great man, defirous of becoming useful to his country, fhould pay fome deference to the opinion of the public. The Marshal de Noailles was a perfon of ftill greater knowledge. Human understanding could not ftretch farther the fpirit of detail. Nature, in forming him, had made an effort. He poffeffed all the fciences that enter the compofition of political, civil, and military government; but the exertion of thofe qualities did not pass the bounds of the cabinet. His foul, timid, uncertain, and wavering on a day of action, robbed his mind of the faculties of acting. However, his vaft and extenfive genius might intitle him to be the greatest man in Europe for counfel. Monfieur de Belleifle was then much the mode, being spoken. of both at court and at Paris. He was the only man in France that had given himself the greatest trouble to learn fuperficially an infinity of ufelefs things. He pretended to be made for all manner of things, and he found the art of perfuading it, fo as to keep people in perfect ignorance, that he was as bad a general as an indifferent negotiator. He feemed very gentle in his manner, and ex B 3 preffed pressed himself with great facility. A courtier puffed up with his knowledge, his pride flipped always thro' a ftupid modefty; I never knew a vainer mortal. The Chevalier his brother did not affect to have himself reputed fo great a wit, which made him, in fact, to be reputed a greater; but his ambition was equally unbounded. He perished in the attempt of forcing an intrenchment which was to confer upon him the staff of Marshal of France, The Duke de Richelieu was ftill more in request than Monfieur de Belleifle. The king could not do without him; he was fuperinten dant to him of the petits foupers,' and matter of the revels at Verfailles. No man ever shewed more taste for setting out a feaft, and embellishing it with little nothings. He was always torturing himself to efpy and catch at greedily all opportunities of pleasure, for diverting the king; but it was not for the monarch he took all this trouble. Motives of fortune and aggrandizing himself made him act. He is the most covetous man of rank and grandeur in the world. Without a genius for war, he had formed the defign of becoming marfhal of France, and minifter of ftate, without any proper talents for either. Maurice de Saxe was the hero of France. He was efteemed the tutelary angel of the monarchy. I fhall fpeak of him at the place that treats of the battle of Fontenoy. Monfieur d'Etrées had the reputation of being a great general, I fhall mention him in his place. Most of the other courtiers were officers of the second rank, They came from the army to Versailles, and from Verfailles returned to the army. Their intrigues at court were confined to promotions. There were then none, or scarce any women, at court, that aspired to the king's heart. Thole of a distinguished rank would not debafe themselves in becoming the objects of a tranfient love. Others that courted that favour, had neither beauty nor graces sufficient to recommend them. The Parifian ladies were the only ones that were of an intriguing humour. Several of them affifted at all the grand couverts,' and did not fail to be at every party of hunting. They ran after the king from morning till night; but this was no way of winning his heart. 6 I ftrove to fecure myself on the theatre to which fortune had raised me. The king was with me at all times when the affairs of the crown permitted him. He left his grandeur at the door, and entered my apartment without that oftentation which elsewhere accompanies him. I made it my business to ftudy his temper. Lewis XV, is naturally very gloomy; his foul is wrapped up in thick darknefs. A melancholy disposition forces him to spend many happy days in the bofom even of pleasures; and at certain times his melancholy increases to fuch a degree, that nothing can bring him out of that state of languor. Then the burden of life becomes infupportable to him. The enjoyment of a beautiful woman may, indeed, for fome time, diffipate his inquietudes, but it does not cure them; on the contrary, after poffeffion, the monarch is but the more dif. pofed to melancholy. un There is another misfortune inherent in the life of this prince : religion is continually at war with |