Court Memoirs of France Series — Complete

MY LORD:--Many wise people are of the opinion that the revolution of another great Empire is necessary to combat or oppose the great impulse occasioned by the Revolution of Fran...

[From the time that the Princesse de Lamballe saw the ties between the Queen and her favourite De Polignac drawing closer she became less assiduous in her attendance at Court, b...

The new chateau of Meudon, completely furnished, had been restored to me since the return of the Court to Versailles, just as I had had it before the Court came to Meudon. The D...

MADAME:--I lay it down as a maxim, that men who enter the service of the State should make it their chief study to set out in the world with some notable act which may strike th...

[On being interrogated the Queen declared that these five and twenty louis had been lent to her by my sister; this formed a pretence for arresting her and me, and led to her dea...

MADAME:--Cardinal Mazarin thought of nothing else now but how to rid himself of the obligations he lay under to the Prince de Conde, who had actually saved him from the gallows....

Situation of Affairs in Flanders.--Peace Brought About by Duc d'Alencon's Negotiation.--Marechal de Biron Apologises for Firing on Nerac.--Henri Desperately in Love with Fosseus...

Victor Amadeus II. The Grand Duchess, Consort of Cosimo II. of Florence The Duchesse de Lorraine, Elizabeth-Charlotte d'Orleans The Duc du Maine The Duchesse du Maine Louvois Lo...

Victor Amadeus II. The Grand Duchess, Consort of Cosimo II. of Florence The Duchesse de Lorraine, Elizabeth-Charlotte d'Orleans The Duc du Maine The Duchesse du Maine Louvois Lo...

was his rival, he became attached to one of his daughter's 'filles de chambre', who hoped to marry Jolis because he was rich; for this reason she received him better than my son...

MADAME:--Though I have a natural aversion to give you the history of my own life, which has been chequered with such a variety of different adventures, yet I had rather sacrific...

In December, 1651, the Parliament agreed to the following resolution: To send a deputation to the King to inform him of the rumours of Mazarin's return, and to beseech him to co...

Upon this the deputies were resolved to insist upon excluding the Cardinal from the conference, a determination which was so odious to the people that, had we permitted it, we s...

Henrietta of England, Monsieur's First Consort The Due de Berri The Duchesse de Berri Mademoiselle d'Orleans, Louise-Adelaide de Chartres Mademoiselle de Valois, Consort of the...

Philippe I., Duc d'Orleans Philippe II., Duc d'Orleans, Regent of France The Affairs of the Regency The Duchesse d'Orleans, Consort of the Regent The Dauphine, Princess of Bavar...

After the 14th of July, by a manoeuvre for which the most skilful factions of any age might have envied the Assembly, the whole population of France was armed and organised into...

During July the correspondence of M. Bertrand de Molleville with the King and Queen was most active. M. de Marsilly, formerly a lieutenant of the Cent-Suisses of the Guard, was...

In the beginning of the spring of 1791, the King, tired of remaining at the Tuileries, wished to return to St. Cloud. His whole household had already gone, and his dinner was pr...

Madame de Nesle, of whom no man could say so much, took this for an insult, and complained of it to the Duke, who promised to avenge her. Some days afterwards he invited young V...

Arrived at the grand court of the Tuileries about eight o'clock without having remarked anything extraordinary on the way. The coaches of the Duc de Noailles, of Marechal de Vil...

On my arrival at Paris on the 25th of August I found the state of feeling there much more temperate than I had dared to hope. The conversation generally ran upon the acceptance...

From the time of Louis XVI.'s accession to the throne, the Queen had been expecting a visit from her brother, the Emperor Joseph II. That Prince was the constant theme of her di...

Shortly after the public mind had been thrown into agitation by the performance of the "Mariage de Figaro," an obscure plot, contrived by swindlers, and matured in a corrupted s...

During the alarm for the life of the Queen, regret at not possessing an heir to the throne was not even thought of. The King himself was wholly occupied with the care of preserv...

In the beginning of the year 1792, a worthy priest requested a private interview with me. He had learned the existence of a new libel by Madame de Lamotte. He told me that the p...

At the period of his grandfather's death, Louis XVI. began to be exceedingly attached to the Queen. The first period of so deep a mourning not admitting of indulgence in the div...

During the first few months of his reign Louis XVI. dwelt at La Muette, Marly, and Compiegne. When settled at Versailles he occupied himself with a general examination of his gr...

Villeroy being banished, the last remaining obstacle in Dubois' path was removed. There was nothing: now, to hinder him from being proclaimed prime minister. I had opposed it as...

About the close of the last century several of the Northern sovereigns took a fancy for travelling. Christian III., King of Denmark, visited the Court of France in 1763, during...

The Queen of Spain, for a long time violently attacked with the king's evil around the face and neck, was just now at the point of death. Obtaining no relief from the Spanish do...

Maria Leczinska was just dead; the death of the Dauphin had preceded hers by three years; the Jesuits were suppressed, and piety was to be found at Court only in the apartments...

The death of Monseigneur, as we have seen, made a great change in the aspect of the Court and in the relative positions of its members. But the two persons to whom I must chiefl...

Madame la Duchesse de Berry was living as usual, amid the loftiest pride, and the vilest servitude; amid penitence the most austere at the Carmelite convent of the Faubourg Sain...

LOUIS XIV. began, as I have before remarked, sensibly to decline, and his appetite, which had always been good and uniform, very considerably diminished. Even foreign countries...

The Regent's daughter arrived in Spain at the commencement of the year 1722, and it was arranged that her marriage with the Prince of the Asturias should be celebrated on the 30...

On Monday, the 18th of January, 1712, after a visit to Versailles, the King went to Marly. I mark expressly this journey. No sooner were we settled there than Boudin, chief doct...

It was just at the commencement of the year 1706, that I received a piece of news which almost took away my breath by its suddenness, and by the surprise it caused me. I was on...

The Abbe de Vermond could not repress his exultation when he succeeded in getting the Archbishop of Sens appointed head of the council of finance. I have more than once heard hi...

The King was very anxious to establish his illegitimate children, whom he advanced day by day; and had married two of them, daughters, to Princes of the blood. One of these, the...

In relating what happened to Madame des Ursins upon her return to Spain, I have carried the narrative into the year 1705. It is not necessary to retrace our steps. Towards the e...

The reign of Louis XIV. was approaching its conclusion, so that there is now nothing more to relate but what passed during the last month of his life, and scarcely so much. Thes...

The year 1700 commenced by a reform. The King declared that he would no longer bear the expense of the changes that the courtiers introduced into their apartments. It had cost h...

A superb pavilion had been prepared upon the frontier near Kehl. It consisted of a vast salon, connected with two apartments, one of which was assigned to the lords and ladies o...

It was now a little after ten. We remained a good half-hour in our places, talking a little with each other, but on the whole rather silent. At the end some grew fidgety and anx...

On Wednesday, the 27th of May, 1707, at three o'clock in the morning, Madame de Montespan, aged sixty, died very suddenly at the waters of Bourbon. Her death made much stir, alt...

The Duc de Choiseul had reappeared at Court on the ceremony of the King's coronation for the first time after his disgrace under Louis XV. in 1770. The state of public feeling o...

Few events of importance had taken place during my absence in Spain. Shortly after my return, however, a circumstance occurred which may fairly claim description from me. Let me...

The death of the King surprised M. le Duc d'Orleans in the midst of his idleness as though it had not been foreseen. He had made no progress in numberless arrangements, which I...

Description of Queen Marguerite's Equipage.--Her Journey to Liege Described.--She Enters with Success upon Her Mission.--Striking Instance of Maternal Duty and Affection in a Gr...

After having thus described with truth and the most exact fidelity all that has come to my knowledge through my own experience, or others qualified to speak of Louis XIV. during...

Shortly after his arrival in Madrid, the new King of Spain began to look about him for a wife, and his marriage with the second daughter of M. de Savoie (younger sister of Madam...

Towards the end of the summer and the commencement of the winter of 1695, negotiations for peace were set on foot by the King. Harlay, son-in-law of our enemy, was sent to Maest...

He enjoyed, during the rest of his long life, intimacy with the King, distinction at the Court, great consideration, extreme abundance, kept up the state of a great nobleman, wi...

One of the reasons Madame de Maintenon had brought forward, which much assisted her in opposing the siege of Lille, was the excessive cold of this winter. The winter was, in fac...

To return now to the date from which I started. On the 6th of August, 1695, Harlay, Arch-bishop of Paris, died of epilepsy at Conflans. He was a prelate of profound knowledge an...

The disposition of the armies was the same this year as last, except that the Princes did not serve. Towards the end of May I joined the army of the Rhine, under the Marechal de...

While Meudon was filled with horror, all was tranquil at Versailles, without the least suspicion. We had supped. The company some time after had retired, and I was talking with...

But in Order to understand the part I played in the event I have alluded to and the interest I took in it, it is necessary for me to relate some personal matters that occurred i...

To-day, when time and reflection, and, perhaps, that fund of contempt which is so useful, have finally revealed to me the insurmountable necessities of life, I can look with a c...

This done I proposed, and the others approved my proposition, that a Bed of Justice should be held as the only means left by which the abrogation of the parliamentary decrees co...

Brissac, Major of the Body-guards, died of age and ennui about this time, more than eighty years old, at his country-house, to which he had not long retired. The King had made u...

The death of D'Avaux, who had formerly been our ambassador in Holland, occurred in the early part of this year (1709). D'Avaux was one of the first to hear of the project of Wil...

The King attended the Royal Council for the first time on Sunday, the 18th of February, 1720. He said nothing while there, or on going away, excepting that when M. le Duc d'Orle...

For the last two or three years the King of Spain had been in very weak health, and in danger of his life several times. He had no children, and no hope of having any. The quest...

After such a frightful spectacle as had been witnessed, so many tears and so much tenderness, nobody doubted that the three, days which remained of the stay at Marly would be ex...

I went this summer to Forges, to try, by means of the waters there, to get rid of a tertian fever that quinquina only suspended. While there I heard of a new enterprise on the p...

Here I will relate an adventure, which shows that, however wise and enlightened a man may be, he is never infallible. M. de La Trappe had selected from amongst his brethren one...

The ever-memorable oath of the States General, taken at the Tennis Court of Versailles, was followed by the royal sitting of the 23d of June. In this seance the King declared th...

Before I commence speaking of the affairs of Spain, let me pass lightly over an event which, engrafted upon some others, made much noise, notwithstanding the care taken to stifl...

On Saturday, the 19th of March, in the evening, the King was about to undress himself, when he heard cries in his chamber, which was full of courtiers; everybody calling for Fag...

It is now time that I should say something of the infamous bull 'Unigenitus', which by the unsurpassed audacity and scheming of Father Le Tellier and his friends was forced upon...

The consternation at the event that had taken place was real and general; it penetrated to foreign lands and courts. Whilst the people wept for him who thought only of their rel...

There presents itself to my memory an anecdote which it would be very prudent perhaps to be silent upon, and which is very curious for anybody who has seen things so closely as...

But, meanwhile, a great change had taken place at Court. Chamillart had committed the mistake of allowing the advancement of D'Harcourt to the head of an army. The poor man did...

In February, 1790, another matter gave the Court much uneasiness; a zealous individual of the name of Favras had conceived the scheme of carrying off the King, and affecting a c...

Peace was now all but concluded between France and England. There was, however, one great obstacle still in its way. Queen Anne and her Council were stopped by the consideration...

There was a meeting at Paris for the first federation on the 14th of July, 1790, the anniversary of the taking of the Bastille. What an astonishing assemblage of four hundred th...

On the 12th August, Madame de Saint-Simon was happily delivered of a second son, who bore the name of Marquis de Ruffec. A singular event which happened soon after, made all the...

The position of Monseigneur le Duc de Bourgogne at the army continued to be equivocal. He was constantly in collision with M. de Vendome. The latter, after the loss of Lille, wi...

It was the desire of the Duc and Duchesse d'Orleans to marry Mademoiselle (their daughter) to the Duc de Berry (third son of Monseigneur, and consequently brother of the Duc de...

After our long rest at the camp of Gaw-Boecklheim we again put ourselves in movement, but without doing much against the enemy, and on the 16th of October I received permission...

In this manner we passed the six weeks, which is the usual time for taking these waters, at the expiration of which the Princesse de Roche-sur-Yon was desirous to return to Fran...

Queen Marguerite Permitted to Go to the King Her Husband.--Is Accompanied by the Queenmother.--Marguerite Insulted by Her Husband's Secretary.--She Harbours Jealousy.--Her Atten...

In the midst of all this gaiety, that is to say on the 12th of February, 1706, one of our generals, of whom I have often spoken, I mean M. de Vendome, arrived at Marly. He had n...

Some little time previously it had been thought necessary to send an army to the frontiers of Portugal to oppose the Archduke. A French general was wanted to command this army....

Let me return to Maisons. Five days after the King's will had been walled up, in the manner I have described, he came to me and made a pathetic discourse upon the injustice done...

About this time the King caused Charnace to be arrested in a province to which he had been banished. He was accused of many wicked things, and; amongst others, of coining. Charn...

He was growing old, and though no external change in him was visible, those near him had for some time begun to fear that he could not live long. This is not the place to descan...

The Queen did not sufficiently conceal the dissatisfaction she felt at having been unable to prevent the appointment of M. de Calonne; she even one day went so far as to say at...

Here perhaps is the place to speak of Charles IV., Duc de Lorraine, so well known by his genius, and the extremities to which he was urged. He was married in 1621 to the Duchess...

After his return from the campaign, M. de Vendome continued to be paid like a general serving in winter, and to enjoy many other advantages. From all this, people inferred that...

I have already said that Dubois looked most unfavourably upon my embassy to Spain, and that I saw he was determined to do all in his power to throw obstacles in its way. I had f...

Saturday, the 7th of September, was the day fixed for the first Bed of Justice of the King (Louis XV.); but he caught a cold during the night, and suffered a good deal. The Rege...

Chateauneuf, Secretary of State, died about this time. He had asked that his son, La Vrilliere, might be allowed to succeed him, and was much vexed that the King refused this fa...

The King did not long remain without some consolation for the loss of the battle of Hochstedt (Blenheim). The Comte de Toulouse--very different in every respect from his brother...

It is time now that I should speak of matters of very great importance, which led to changes that filled my heart with excessive joy, such as it had never known before.

I was born on the night of the 15th of January, 1675, of Claude Duc de Saint-Simon, Peer of France, and of his second wife Charlotte de l'Aubepine. I was the only child of that...

At the beginning of October, news reached the Court, which was at Fontainebleau, that M. de Duras was at the point of death. Upon hearing this, Madame de Saint-Simon and Madame...

I have described in its proper place the profound fall of M. le Duc d'Orleans and the neglect in which he lived, out of all favour with the King, hated by Madame de Maintenon an...

I shall pass over the stormy period of Louis XIV.'s minority. At twenty- three years of age he entered the great world as King, under the most favourable auspices. His ministers...

Let me here relate an incident which should have found a place earlier, but which has been omitted in order that what has gone before might be uninterrupted. On the 16th of the...

After having paid the last duties to my father I betook myself to Mons to join the Royal Roussillon cavalry regiment, in which I was captain. The King, after stopping eight or t...

The officer of the guards, whom the Queen despatched with a letter for the King of Spain as soon as Madame des Ursins was out of Quadraque, found the King upon the point of goin...

As soon as Monseigneur le Duc de Bourgogne arrived at Lawendeghem, he wrote a short letter to the King, and referred him for details to M. de Vendome. But at the same time he wr...

Madame de Maintenon was a woman of much wit, which the good company, in which she had at first been merely suffered, but in which she soon shone, had much polished; and ornament...

Such was our military history of the year 1706--history of losses and dishonour. It may be imagined in what condition was the exchequer with so many demands upon its treasures....

Law had established his Mississippi Company, and now began to do marvels with it. A sort of language had been invented, to talk of this scheme, language which, however, I shall...

About the beginning of May, 1774, Louis XV., the strength of whose constitution had promised a long enough life, was attacked by confluent smallpox of the worst kind. Mesdames a...

In a previous page I have alluded to the Princesse des Ursins, when she was appointed 'Camerera Mayor' to the Queen of Spain on her marriage. As I have now to occupy myself more...

The winter following the confinement of the Comtesse d'Artois was very severe; the recollections of the pleasure which sleighing-parties had given the Queen in her childhood mad...

Here I think will be the fitting place to introduce an account of the daily life of the King and Queen of Spain, which in many respects was entitled to be regarded as singular....

The Czar was a very tall man, exceedingly well made; rather thin, his face somewhat round, a high forehead, good eyebrows, a rather short nose, but not too short, and large at t...

On Sunday, the 25th of December, Christmas Day, M. le Duc d'Orleans sent for me to come and see him at the Palais Royal, about four o'clock in the afternoon. I went accordingly,...

I have already shown in these memoirs, that the late King had made of the lieutenant of police a species of secret and confidential minister; a sort of inquisitor, with importan...

Mademoiselle de l'Enclos is universally known in the world for the agreeableness of her superior wit and her charms of face and person. When Madame de Maintenon, after the loss...

Meanwhile, as I have promised to relate, in a continuous narrative, all our military operations of this year, let me say what passed in other directions. The siege of Barcelona...

About the commencement of the new year, 1720, the system of Law approached its end. If he had been content with his bank his bank within wise and proper limits--the money of the...

Immediately after the issue of this decree an edict was drawn up for the establishment of an Indian commercial company, which was to undertake to reimburse in a year six, hundre...

MARIE ANTOINETTE JOSEPHE JEANNE DE LORRAINE, Archduchess of Austria, daughter of Francois de Lorraine and of Maria Theresa, was born on the 2d of November, 1755, the day of the...

Early the next morning I received a visit from Grimaldo, Minister of Foreign Affairs, who, overjoyed at my arrival, had announced it to their Catholic Majesties before coming to...

A the breaking out of the war in Italy this year Segur bought the government of the Foix country from Tallard, one of the generals called away to serve in that war. Segur had be...

For a long time a species of war had been declared between the King of England and his son, the Prince of Wales, which had caused much scandal; and which had enlisted the Court...

The changes which took place in the army after the Peace of Ryswick, were very great and very strange. The excellence of the regiments, the merits of the officers, those who com...

Canaples, brother of the Marechal de Crequi, wished to marry Mademoiselle de Vivonne who was no longer young, but was distinguished by talent, virtue and high birth; she had not...

Let me now speak of the amours of the King in which were even more fatal to the state than his building mania. Their scandal filled all Europe; stupefied France, shook the state...

Two very different persons died towards the latter part of this year. The first was Lamoignon, Chief President; the second, Ninon, known by the name of Mademoiselle de l'Enclos....

M. de Luxembourg, proud of his successes, and of the applause of the world at his victories, believed himself sufficiently strong to claim precedence over seventeen dukes, mysel...

It must not be imagined that in order to maintain her position Madame de Maintenon had need of no address. Her reign, on the contrary, was only one continual intrigue; and that...

On Thursday, the 27th of November, the King and Queen were to depart from Madrid to Lerma, a pretty hamlet six leagues from Burgos, where they had a palace. On the same day, ver...

It was scarcely to be expected, perhaps, that M. du Maine would remain altogether quiet under the disgrace which had been heaped upon him by the proceedings at the Bed of Justic...

Journey to Poitou.--The Mayor and the Sheriffs of Orleans.--The Marquise's Modesty.--The Serenade.--The Abbey of Fontevrault.--Family Council.--Duchomania.--A Letter to the King...

The Duc de Lauzun died on the 19th of November, at the age of ninety years and six months. The intimate union of the two sisters I and he had espoused, and our continual interco...

M. de Brias, Archbishop of Cambrai, had died, and the King had given that valuable preferment to the Abbe de Fenelon, preceptor of the children of France. Fenelon was a man of q...

MY LORD:--Notwithstanding the ties of consanguinity, honour, duty, interest, and gratitude, which bound the Spanish Bourbons to the cause of the Bourbons of France, no monarch h...

In 1716 the Duchesse de Lesdiguieres died at Paris in her fine hotel. She was not old, but had been long a widow, and had lost her only son. She was the last relic of the Gondi...

I have elsewhere alluded to Alberoni, and shown what filthy baseness he stooped to in order to curry favour with the infamous Duc de Vendome. I have also shown that he accompani...

That same 14th, as I rose from dinner at Meudon, with much company, the valet de chambre who served me said that a courier from Cardinal Dubois had a letter for me, which he had...

At length my brother returned to Court, accompanied by all the Catholic nobility who had followed his fortunes. The King received him very graciously, and showed, by his recepti...

The King, who had made numberless promotions, appointed this year the same generals to the same armies. Villars was chosen for Flanders, as before. Having, arrived at the very s...

In 1670 the King wished to make a triumphant journey with the ladies, under pretext of visiting his possessions in Flanders, accompanied by an army, and by all his household tro...

The war this year proceeded much as before. M. d'Orleans went to Spain again. Before taking the field he stopped at Madrid to arrange matters. There he found nothing prepared, a...

Good Effects of Queen Marguerite's Negotiations in Flanders.--She Obtains Leave to Go to the King of Navarre Her Husband, but Her Journey Is Delayed.--Court Intrigues and Plots....

My LORD:--Madame de C------n is now one of our most fashionable ladies. Once in the week she has a grand tea-party; once in a fortnight a grand dinner; and once in the month a g...

On May 3d 1693, the King announced his intention of placing himself at the head of his army in Flanders, and, having made certain alterations in the rule of precedence of the ma...

I was ignorant of what had happened to my brother, and when the Scottish archer came into my bedchamber, I was still asleep. He drew the curtains of the bed, and told me, in his...

Madame de Montespan at the Palace.--M. de Montespan.--His Indiscreet Language.--His Absence.--Specimen of His Way of Writing.--A Refractory Cousin.--The King Interferes.--M. de...

The chase was every day the amusement of the King, and the Queen was obliged to make it hers. But it was always the same. Their Catholic Majesties did me the singular honour to...

His curiosity, joined to a false idea of firmness and courage, had early led him to try and raise the devil and make him speak. He left nothing untried, even the wildest reading...

MY LORD:--Bonaparte did not at first intend to take his wife with him when he set out for Strasburg; but her tears, the effect of her tenderness and apprehension for his person,...

But I must return somewhat now, in order to make way for a crowd of events which have been pressing forward all this time, but which I have passed by, in going straightforward a...

Courson, Intendant, or rather King of Languedoc, exercised his authority there so tyrannically that the people suffered the most cruel oppressions at his hands. He had been Inte...

Meanwhile our campaign upon the Rhine proceeded, and the enemy, having had all their grand projects of victory defeated by the firmness and the capacity of the Marechal de Chois...

Before this illness of the King, that is to say, at the commencement of June, I went one day to work with M, le Duc d'Orleans, and found him alone, walking up and down the grand...

MY LORD:--I can truly defy the world to produce a corps of such a heterogeneous composition as our Conservative Senate, when I except the members composing Bonaparte's Legion of...

The castle of Petit-Bourg, of which the King made me a present, is situate on a height overlooking the Seine, whence one may get the loveliest of views. So pleasant did I find t...

MY LORD:--The household troops of Napoleon the First are by thousands more numerous than those even of Louis XIV. were. Grenadiers on foot and on horseback, riflemen on foot and...

It is time now that I should speak of our military operations this year and of the progress of the war. Let me commence by stating the disposition of our armies at the beginning...

A little while before leaving the Cabinet of the Council for the Bed of Justice, M. le Duc d'Orleans had begged me to go to the Palais Royal with the Keeper of the Seals immedia...

Although, as we have just seen, matters were beginning to brighten a little in Spain, they remained as dull and overcast as ever in France. The impossibility of obtaining peace,...

I must say a few words now of Madame la Duchesse de Berry, who, as may be imagined, began to hold her head very high indeed directly the regency of Monsieur her father was estab...

My LORD:--I was lately invited to a tea-party by one of our rich upstarts, who, from a scavenger, is, by the Revolution and by Bonaparte, transformed into a Legislator, Commande...

It is time now to retrace my steps to the point from which I have been led away in relating all the incidents which arose out of the terrible winter and the scarcity it caused.

The Prince d'Harcourt at last obtained permission to wait on the King, after having never appeared at Court for seventeen years. He had followed the King in all his conquests in...

Amoung the novices at Fontevrault there was a most interesting, charming young person, who gave Madame de Mortemart a good deal of anxiety, as she thought her still undecided as...

When Madame de la Valliere (led by suggestions coming from the Most High) left the Court and the world to shut herself up in a cloister, she committed a great imprudence; I shou...

Alberoni had made himself detested by all Europe,--for all Europe, in one way or another, was the victim of his crimes. He was detested as the absolute master of Spain, whose gu...

MY LORD:--Had the citizens of the United States been as submissive to the taxation of your Government as to the vexations of our ruler, America would, perhaps, have been less fr...

First Vocation of Mademoiselle de la Valliere.--The King Surprises His Mistress.--She is Forced to Retire to a Convent.--The King Hastens to Take Her Back.--She Was Not Made for...

MY LORD:--I will add in this letter, to the communication of the gentlemen mentioned in my last, what I remember myself of the letter which was circulated among our diplomatists...

Introduction.--Anecdotes of Marguerite's Infancy.--Endeavours Used to Convert Her to the New Religion.--She Is Confirmed in Catholicism.--The Court on a Progress.--A Grand Festi...

It was now three o'clock in the afternoon, and no one present had yet dined. The Queen my mother was desirous that we should eat together, and, after dinner, she ordered my brot...

It is time now that I should say something about an event that caused an immense stir throughout the land, and was much talked of even in foreign parts. I must first introduce,...

The Marquise de Charlus, sister of Mezieres, and mother of the Marquis de Levi, who has since become a duke and a peer, died rich and old. She was the exact picture of an "old c...

The Queen my mother left me, saying these words. For my part, I remained a close prisoner, without a visit from a single person, none of my most intimate friends daring to come...

MY LORD:--Three months before Brune set out on his embassy to Constantinople, Talleyrand and Fouche were collecting together all the desperadoes of our Revolution, and all the I...

MY LORD:--I have read a copy of a letter from Madrid, circulated among the members of our foreign diplomatic corps, which draws a most deplorable picture of the Court and Kingdo...

MY LORD:--I believe that I have mentioned to you, when in England, that I was an old acquaintance of Madame Napoleon, and a visitor at the house of her first husband. When intro...

But it is time now for me to go back to other matters, and to start again from the commencement of 1701, from which I have been led by reciting, in a continuous story, the parti...

MY LORD:--Regarding me as a connoisseur, though I have no pretensions but that of being an amateur, Lucien Bonaparte, shortly before his disgrace, invited me to pass some days w...

MY LORD:--Bonaparte is now the knight of more Royal Orders than any other Sovereign in Europe, and were he to put them on all at once, their ribands would form stuff enough for...

I travelled from Piombino to Florence, where I had great honours and vast offers from the Grand Duke, though Mazarin had threatened him, in the King's name, with a rupture if he...

On Saturday, the 15th of February, the King was waked up at seven o'clock in the morning, an hour earlier than usual, because Madame la Duchesse de Bourgogne was in the pains of...

MY LORD:--Not to give umbrage to the Cabinet of Berlin, Bonaparte communicated to it the necessity he was under of altering the form of Government in Holland, and, if report be...

MY LORD:--You have with some reason in England complained of the conduct of the members of the foreign diplomatic corps in France, when the pretended correspondence between Mr....

Message from the Duc d'Anjou, Afterwards Henri III., to King Charles His Brother and the Queen-mother.--Her Fondness for Her Children.--Their Interview.--Anjou's Eloquent Harang...

The Verse of Berenice.--Praises of Boileau.--The King's Aversion to Satirical Writers.--The Painter Le Brun.--His Bacchus.--The Waterbottle.--The Pyramid of Jean Chatel Injuriou...

My LORD:--I am told that it was the want of pecuniary resources that made Bonaparte so ill-tempered on his last levee day. He would not have come here at all, but preceded his a...

Bussi Is Sent from Court.--Marguerite's Husband Attacked with a Fit of Epilepsy.--Her Great Care of Him.--Torigni Dismissed from Marguerite's Service.--The King of Navarre and t...

A Scotchman, I do not know of what family, a great player and combiner, who had gained much in various countries he had been in, had come to Paris during the last days of the de...

MY LORD:--Since my return here, I have never neglected to present myself before our Sovereign, on his days of grand reviews and grand diplomatic audiences. I never saw him more...

Le Guast.--His Character.--Anjou Affects to Be Jealous of the Guises.--Dissuades the Queen-mother from Reposing Confidence in Marguerite.--She Loses the Favour of the Queen-moth...

Birth of the Duc d'Anjou.--The Present to the Mother.--The Casket of Patience.--Departure of the King for the Army.--The King Turns a Deaf Ear.--How That Concerns Madame de Main...

MY LORD:--The reciprocal jealousy and even interest of Austria, France, and Russia have hitherto prevented the tottering Turkish Empire from being partitioned, like Poland, or s...

While the Turks and the Imperialists were fighting in the plains of Hungary, the King, followed by all his Court, had made his way towards the frontiers of Alsace. He reviewed c...

MY LORD:--The provocations of our Government must have been extraordinary indeed, when they were able to awaken the Cabinet of Berlin from its long and incomprehensible infatuat...

MY LORD:--"I would give my brother, the Emperor of Germany, one further piece of advice. Let him hasten to make peace. This is the crisis when, he must recollect, all States mus...

MY LORD:--Portugal has suffered more from the degraded state of Spain, under the administration of the Prince of Peace, than we have yet gained by it in France. Engaged by her,...

I do not desire to hold up to ridicule the rites of that religion in which I was born and bred. Neither would I disparage its ancient usages, nor its far more modern laws. All r...

MY LORD:--I promised you not to pronounce in haste on persons and events passing under my eyes; thirty-one months have quickly passed away since I became an attentive spectator...

The Bishop of Liege, who is the sovereign of the city and province, received me with all the cordiality and respect that could be expected from a personage of his dignity and gr...

After staying some time at Lyons, we went to Avignon. Le Guast, not daring to hazard any fresh imposture, and finding that my conduct afforded no ground for jealousy on the part...

The Court Goes to Flanders.--Nancy.--Ravon.--Sainte Marie aux Mines.--Dancing and Death.--A German Sovereign's Respectful Visit.--The Young Strasburg Priests.--The Good Bailiff...

MY LORD:--The sensation that the arrival of the Pope in this country caused among the lower classes of people cannot be expressed, and if expressed, would not be believed. I am...

Never did man give with better grace than Louis XIV., or augmented so much, in this way, the price of his benefits. Never did man sell to better profit his words, even his smile...

MY LORD:--Although the seizure of Sir George Rumbold might in your country, as well as everywhere else, inspire indignation, it could nowhere justly excite surprise. We had cros...

Death of the Queen of Navarre--Marguerite's Marriage with Her Son, the King of Navarre, Afterwards Henri IV. of France.--The Preparations for That Solemnisation Described.--The...

An opportunity was diligently sought by my enemies to effect their design of bringing about a misunderstanding betwixt my brother Alencon, the King my husband, and me, by creati...

MY LORD:--As long as Austria ranks among independent nations, Bonaparte will take care not to offend or alarm the ambition and interest of Prussia by incorporating the Batavian...

MY LORD:--Bonaparte has taken advantage of the remark of Voltaire, in his "Life of Louis XIV.," that this Prince owed much of his celebrity to the well--distributed pensions amo...

MY LORD:--Hanover has been a mine of gold to our Government, to its generals, to its commissaries, and to its favourites. According to the boasts of Talleyrand, and the avowal o...

The great liberty which we enjoyed at Fontevrault, compared with the interminable bondage of Saint Germain or Versailles, made the abbey ever seem more agreeable to me; and Mada...

MY LORD:--Though Government suffer a religious, or, rather, anti-religious liberty of the Press, the authors who libel or ridicule the Christian, particularly the Roman Catholic...

MY LORD:--That Bonaparte had, as far back as February, 1803 (when the King of Prussia proposed to Louis XVIII. the formal renunciation of his hereditary rights in favour of the...

MY LORD:--Joseph Bonaparte leads a much more retired life, and sees less company, than any of his brothers or sisters. Except the members of his own family, he but seldom invite...

The Prince de Mont-Beliard.--He Agrees to the Propositions Made Him.--The King's Note.--Diplomacy of the Chancellor of England.--Letter from the Marquis de Montespan.--The Duchy...

MY LORD:--That the population of this capital has, since the Revolution, decreased near two hundred thousand souls, is not to be lamented. This focus of corruption and profligac...

Madame de Maintenon at Loggerheads with Madame de Thianges.--The Mint of the D'Aubigne Family.--Creme de Negresse, the Elixir of Long Life.--Ninon's Secret for Beauty.--The King...

MY LORD:--A general officer, who has just arrived from Italy, has assured me that, so far from Bonaparte's subjects on the other side of the Alps being contented and attached to...

President de Nesmond--upright, clear-headed magistrate as he was--was of very great service to me at the Courts of Justice. He always managed to oblige me and look after my inte...

MY LORD:--No Sovereign Prince has more incurred the hatred of Bonaparte than the present King of Sweden; and I have heard from good authority that our Government spares neither...

The Young Nobility and the Turks.--Private Correspondence.--The Unlucky Minister and the Page of Strasburg.--The King Judged and Described in All the Documents.--The King Humili...

The Abbe Alberoni, having risen by the means I have described, and acquired power by following in the track of the Princesse des Ursins, governed Spain like a master. He had the...

MY LORD:--The Legion of Honour, though only proclaimed upon Bonaparte's assumption of the Imperial rank, dates from the first year of his consulate. To prepare the public mind f...

MY LORD:--Though loudly complained of by the Cabinet of St. Cloud, the Cabinet of St. Petersburg has conducted itself in these critical times with prudence without weakness, and...

Lovers' Vows.--The Body-guards.--Racine's Phedre.--The Pit.--Allusions.--The Duel.--M. de Monclar.--The Cowled Spy.--He Escapes with a Fright.--M. de Monclar in Jersey.--Gratitu...

The House of Saint Cyr.--Petition of the Monks of Saint Denis to the King, against the Plan of Madame de Maintenon.--Madame de Maintenon Summons Them and Sends Them Away with Sm...

MY LORD:--Though all the Bonapartes were great favourites with Pius VII., Madame Letitia, their mother, had a visible preference. In her apartments he seemed most pleased to mee...

Not long after the flight of Law, that is to say, on Sunday, the 24th of January, of the new year, 1721, a council was held at the Tuileries, at four o'clock in the afternoon, p...

MY LORD:--Upwards of two months after my visit to General Murat, I was surprised at the appearance of M. Darjuson, the chamberlain of Princesse Louis Bonaparte. He told me that...

After the siege and surrender of Maestricht, when the King had no other end in view than the entire conquest of Dutch Brabant, he took us to this country, which had suffered gre...

Little Opportune.--M. and Madame Bontems.--The Young Moor Weaned.--The Good Cure.--The Blessed Virgin.--Opportune at the Augustinians of Meaux.--Bossuet Director.--Mademoiselle...

MY LORD:--After the discovery of Charlotte Encore's attempt, Bonaparte, who hitherto had flattered himself that he possessed the good wishes, if not the affection, of his female...

MY LORD:--No act of Bonaparte's government has occasioned so many, so opposite, and so violent debates, among the remnants of revolutionary factions comprising his Senate and Co...

MY LORD:--I believe I have before remarked that, under the Government of Bonaparte, causes relatively the most insignificant have frequently produced effects of the greatest con...

MY LORD:--The amiable and accomplished Amelia Frederique, Princess Dowager of the late Electoral Prince, Charles Louis of Baden, born a Princess of Hesse-Darmstadt, has procured...

MY LORD:--I suppose your Government too vigilant and too patriotic not to be informed of the great and uninterrupted activity which reigns in our arsenals, dockyards, and seapor...

MY LORD:--The day on which Madame Napoleon Bonaparte was elected an Empress of the French, by the constitutional authorities of her husband's Empire, was, contradictory as it ma...

Parallel between the Diamond and the Sun.--Taste of the Marquise for Precious Stones.--The King's Collection of Medals.--The Crown of Agrippina.--The Duchess of York.--Disappoin...

MY LORD:--Notwithstanding what was inserted in our public prints to the contrary, the reception Bonaparte experienced from his army of England in June last year, the first time...

My LORD:--Should Bonaparte again return here victorious, and a pacificator, great changes in our internal Government and constitution are expected, and will certainly occur. Sin...

MY LORD:--You must often have been surprised at the immense wealth which, from the best and often authentic information, I have informed you our generals and public functionarie...

M. de Lauzun Proposes for the Hand of Mademoiselle de Thianges.--Letter from the Duc de Lorraine.--Madame de Thianges Thinks that Her Daughter Has Married a Reigning Prince.--Th...

I must not omit to mention an incident which occurred during the early part of the year 1718, and which will give some idea of the character of M. le Duc d'Orleans, already pret...

MY LORD:--Before Bonaparte set out for the Rhine, the Pope's Nuncio was for the first time publicly rebuked by him in Madame Bonaparte's drawing-room, and ordered loudly to writ...

King Charles, a prince of great prudence, always paying a particular deference to his mother, and being much attached to the Catholic religion, now convinced of the intentions o...

MY LORD:--When preparations were made for the departure of our army of England for Germany, it excited both laughter and murmuring among the troops. Those who had always regarde...

MY LORD:--Those who only are informed of the pageantry of our Court, of the expenses of our courtiers, of the profusion of our Emperor, and of the immense wealth of his family a...

MY LORD:--The plan of the campaign of the Austrians is incomprehensible to all our military men--not on account of its profundity, but on account of its absurdity or incoherency...

MY LORD:--It cannot have escaped the observation of the most superficial traveller of rank, that, at the Court of St. Cloud, want of morals is not atoned for by good breeding or...

The King, supposing that I was a principal instrument in aiding the Princes in their desertion, was greatly incensed against me, and his rage became at length so violent that, h...

MY LORD:--The Italian subjects of Napoleon the First were far from displaying the same zeal and the same gratitude for his paternal care and kindness in taking upon himself the...

MY LORD:--Thanks to Talleyrand's political emigration, our Government has never been in ignorance of the characters and foibles of the leading members among the emigrants in Eng...

My LORD:--The arrival of the Pope in this country was certainly a grand epoch, not only in the history of the Revolution, but in the annals of Europe. The debates in the Sacred...

MY LORD:--The unexampled cruelty of our Government to your countryman, Captain Wright, I have heard reprobated, even by some of our generals and public functionaries, as unjust...

The Reformed Religion and Painting on Enamel--Petitot and Heliogabalus.--Theological Discussion with the Marquise.--The King's Intervention.--Louis XIV. Renders His Account to t...

MY LORD:--Since Bonaparte's departure for Germany, fifteen individuals have been brought here, chained, from La Vendee and the--Western Departments, and are imprisoned in the Te...

MY LORD:--On the arrival of her husband at Aix-la-Chapelle, Madame Napoleon had lost her money by gambling, without recovering her health by using the baths and drinking the wat...

M. de Lauzun and Mademoiselle de Montpensier.--Marriage of the One and Passion of the Other.--The King Settles a Match.--A Secret Union.--The King Sends M. de Lauzun to Pignerol...

MY LORD:--Bonaparte has been as profuse in his disposal of the Imperial diadem of Germany, as in his promises of the papal tiara of Rome. The Houses of Austria and Brandenburgh,...

Two or three days after our arrival at Fontevrault, the King, who loves to know all the geographical details of important places, asked me of the form and particulars of the cel...

MY LORD:--In a military empire, ruled by a military despot, it is a necessary policy that the education of youth should also be military. In all our public schools or prytanees,...

MY LORD:--Believe me, Bonaparte dreads more the liberty of the Press than all other engines, military or political, used by his rivals or foes for his destruction. He is aware o...

MY LORD:--The insatiable avarice of all the members of the Bonaparte family has already and frequently been mentioned; some of our philosophers, however, pretend that ambition a...

Mesdemoiselles de Mazarin.--The Age of Puberty.--Madame de Beauvais.--Anger of the Queen-mother.--The Cardinal's Policy.--First Love.--Louis de Beauvais.--The Abbe de Rohan-Soub...

MY LORD:--The defeat of the Austrians has excited great satisfaction among our courtiers and public functionaries; but the mass of the inhabitants here are too miserable to feel...

Madame de Maintenon was already forty-four years old, and appeared to be only thirty. This freshness, that she owed either to painstaking care or to her happy and quite peculiar...

M. Colbert had been ailing for a long time past. His face bore visible testimony against his health, to which his accumulated and incessant labour had caused the greatest injury...

Mademoiselle de Valois.--Mademoiselle d'Orleans.--Mademoiselle d'Alencon.--M. de Savoie.--His Love-letters.--His Marriage with Mademoiselle de Valois.--M. de Guise and Mademoise...

Madame de Sevigne.--Madame de Grignan.--Madame de Montespan at the Carmelites.--Madame de la Valliere.--These Two Great Ruins Console One Another.--An Angel of Sweetness, Goodne...

Judgment Given by the Chatelet.--The Marquis d'Antin Restored to His Father.--The Judgment is Not Executed.--Full Mourning.--Funeral Service.--The Notary of Saint Elig.--The Let...

Despite the endeavours made by the ministers concerning the pamphlet or volume about which I am going to speak, neither they nor the King succeeded in quashing a sinister rumour...

MY LORD:--The Prince Borghese has lately been appointed a captain of the Imperial Guard of his Imperial brother-in-law, Napoleon the First, and is now in Germany, making his fir...

The King Takes Luxembourg Because It Is His Will.--Devastation of the Electorate of Treves.--The Marquis de Louvois.--His Portrait.--The Marvels Which He Worked.--The Le Tellier...

My second sister, Mademoiselle de Mortemart, was so unfortunate as to fall in love with a young Knight of Malta, doomed from his birth and by his family to celibacy. Having set...

MY LORD:--In some of the ancient Republics, all citizens who, in time of danger and trouble, remained neutral, were punished as traitors or treated as enemies. When, by our Revo...

The four or five words which had escaped Mademoiselle de Montpensier had remained in the King's recollection. He said to me: "If you had more patience, and a sweeter and more pl...

The family of Madame de Maintenon had not only neglected but despised her when she was poor and living on her pension of two thousand francs. Since my protection and favour had...

Directly Tournai had surrendered, and the new outposts were occupied, the King wished to make his entry into this important town, which he had long desired to see. The people an...

The Duchesse de Lesdiguieres.--Her Jest.--"The Chaise of Convenience."--Anger of the Jesuits.--They Ally Themselves with the Archbishop of Paris.--The Forty Hours' Prayers.--Tha...

MY LORD:--Though the Treaty of Luneville will probably soon be buried in the rubbish of the Treaty of Amiens, the influence of their parents in the Cabinet of St. Cloud is as gr...

Pere de la Chaise has never done me good or ill; I have no motives for conciliating him, no reason to slander him. I am ignorant if he were the least in the world concerned, at...

MY LORD:--Since Bonaparte's departure for Germany, the vigilance of the police has much increased: our patrols are doubled during the night, and our spies more numerous and more...

MY LORD:--A ridiculous affair lately occasioned a great deal of bustle among the members of our foreign diplomatic corps. When Bonaparte demanded for himself and for his wife th...

MY LORD:--According to a general belief in our diplomatic circles, it was the Austrian Ambassador in France, Count von Cobenzl, who principally influenced the determination of F...

The King had only caused against his own desire the extreme grief which Mademoiselle felt at the imprisonment of Lauzun. His Majesty was sensible of the wisdom of the resolution...

MY LORD:--Nobody here, except his courtiers, denies that Bonaparte is vain, cruel, and ambitious; but as to his private, personal, or domestic vices, opinions are various, and e...

At the great slaughter of Candia, M. de Vivonne had the pleasure of saving a young Venetian drummer whom he noticed all covered with blood, and senseless, amongst the dead and d...

MY LORD:--No Sovereigns have, since the Revolution, displayed more grandeur of soul, and evinced more firmness of character, than the present King and Queen of Naples. Encompass...

I wept much during the journey; and to save the spectacle of my grief from the passers-by, I was at the pains to lower the curtains. I passed over in my mind all that the Duches...

The King, in his moments of effusion and abandonment (then so full of pleasantness), had said more than once: "If I have any physical beauty, I owe it to the Queen, my mother; i...

Henri, Duc d'Anjou, Elected King of Poland, Leaves France.--Huguenot Plots to Withdraw the Duc d'Alencon and the King of Navarre from Court.--Discovered and Defeated by Margueri...

Political Intrigue in Hungary.--Dignity of the King of the Romans.--The Good Appearance of a German Prince.--The Turks at Vienna.--The Duc de Lorraine.--The King of Rome.

Cardinal Mazarin.--Regency of Anne of Austria.--Her Perseverance in Retaining Her Minister.--Mazarin Gives His Nieces in Marriage.--M. de la Meilleraye.--The Cardinal's Festivit...

The Observatory.--The King Visits the Carthusians.--How a Painter with His Brush May Save a Convent.--The Guilty Monk.--Strange Revelations.--The King's Kindness.--The Curate of...

MY LORD:--The Pope, during his stay here, rose regularly every morning at five o'clock, and went to bed every night before ten. The first hours of the day he passed in prayers,...

The King became ever more attached to me personally, as also to the peculiarities of my temperament. He had witnessed with satisfaction the birth of Madame de la Valliere's two...

MY LORD:--You have perhaps heard that Napoleon Bonaparte, with all his brothers and sisters, was last Christmas married by the Pope according to the Roman Catholic rite, being p...

MY LORD:--No Queen of France ever saw so many foreign Princes and Princesses in her drawing-rooms as the first Empress of the French did last year at Mentz; and no Sovereign was...

On going out into society, I heard everybody talking everywhere about M. Fouquet. They praised his good-nature, his affability, his talents, his magnificence, his wit. His post...

No library of Court documents could pretend to be representative which ignored the famous "Memoirs" of the Duc de Saint-Simon. They stand, by universal consent, at the head of F...

The King Alters His Opinion about Madame Scarron.--He Wants Her to Assume Another Name.--He Gives Her the Maintenon Estates.--She and Madame de Montespan Visit These.--A Strange...

In marrying Maria Theresa, Infanta of Spain, the King had made an advantageous match from a political point of view. For through the Infanta he had rights with regard to Flander...

I had successively lost the first and second Comte de Vegin; God also chose to take Mademoiselle de Tours from me, who (in what way I know not) was in features the very image of...

The Casket of M. de Lauzun.--His Historical Gallery.--He Makes Some Nuns.--M. de Lauzun in the Lottery.--The Loser Wins.--Queen out of Pique.--Letter from the Queen of Portugal....

One day the King was passing through some of the large rooms of the palace, at a time of the morning when the courtiers had not yet made their appearance, and when carpenters an...

The Comte de Guiche.--His Violent Passion for Madame.--His Despair.--He Flees to La Trappe.--And Comes Out Again.--A Man's Heart.--Cured of His Passion, He Takes a Wife.

Monsieur's Second Marriage.--Princess Palatine.--The Court Turnspit.--A Woman's Hatred.--The King's Mistress on a Par with the First Prince of the Blood.--She Gives His Wife a L...

When leaving, despite himself, for the provinces, M. de Montespan wrote me a letter full of bitter insults, in which he ordered me to give up his coat-of-arms, his livery, and e...

The Equipage at Full Speed.--The Poor Vine-grower.--Sensibility of Madame de Maintenon.--Her Popularity.--One Has the Right to Crush a Man Who Will Not Get Out of the Way.--What...

MY LORD:--The short journey of Count von Haugwitz to Vienna, and the long stay of our Imperial Grand Marshal, Duroc, at Berlin, had already caused here many speculations, not qu...

The Court Travels in Picardy and Flanders.--The Boudoir Navy.--Madame de Montespan Is Not Invited.--The King Relates to Her the Delights of the Journey.--Reflections of the Marq...

MY LORD:--I was particularly attentive in observing the countenances and demeanour of the company at the last levee which Madame Napoleon Bonaparte held, previous to her departu...

MARIA THERESA, the King's new consort, was the daughter of the King of Spain and Elizabeth of France, daughter of Henri IV. At the time of her marriage she had lost her mother,...

She was left for ten days, lying in state, in the mortuary chapel of Versailles, where mass was being said by priests at four altars from morning till evening. She was finally r...

Once a Queen, Always a Queen.--An Anonymous Letter.--The Queen's Confidence.--She Has a Sermon Preached against Madame de Montespan.--Who the Preacher was.--One Scandal May Aver...

MY LORD:--The Counsellor of State and intendant of the Imperial civil list, Daru, paid for the place of a commissary-general of our army in Germany the immense sum of six millio...

The Abbe d'Estrees.--Singular Offers of Service.--Madame de Montespan Declines His Offer of Intercession at the Vatican.--He Revenges Himself upon the King of Portugal.--Differe...

Madame Scarron.--Her Petition.--The King's Aversion to Her.--She is Presented to Madame de Montespan.--The Queen of Portugal Thinks of Engaging Her.--Madame de Montespan Keeps H...

Those spiteful persons who told the Queen how obliging the Duchesse de Montausier had shown herself towards me were also so extremely kind as to write an account of the whole af...

After this fatal event, which was as unfortunate for France as for me, we went to Lyons to give the meeting to the King of Poland, now Henri III. of France. The new King was as...

After the furious siege of Conde, which lasted only four days, the King, who had been present, left for Sebourg, whence he sent orders for the destruction of the principal forts...

The Duc du Maine Provided with the Government of Languedoc.--The Young Prince de Conti.--His Piety.--His Apostasy.--The Duc de la Feuillade Burlesqued.--The Watch Set with Diamo...

M. de Louvois--by nature, as I have said, hard and despotic--was quite satisfied to gain the same reputation for the King, in order to cover his own violence and rigour beneath...

Our Author, John Francis Paul de Gondi, Cardinal de Retz, Sovereign of Commercy, Prince of Euville, second Archbishop of Paris, Abbot of Saint Denis in France, was born at Montm...

Random Recollections.--Madame de Montespan Withdraws from Politics.--The Queen's Dowry.--First Campaign in Flanders.--The Queen Meets the King.--Some One Else Sees Him First.--T...

My father-confessor, who since my arrival at Court had never vexed or thwarted me, suddenly altered his whole manner towards me, from which I readily concluded that the Queen ha...

The King Contemplates the Conquest of Holland.--The Grand Seignior's Embassy.--Madame de Montespan's Chance of Becoming First Lady of the Harem.--Anxiety to Conclude Negotiation...

The youthful Marquis d'Antin--my son--was growing up; the King showed him the most flattering signs of his attachment, and as the child had lived only with me, he dreaded his fa...

The Abbe le Bouthilier de Rance,--son of the secretary of state, Le Bouthilier de Chavigny,--after having scandalised Court and town by his public gallantries, lost his mistress...

The Duchesse d'Orleans, commonly though incorrectly styled the Princess of Bavaria, was known to have maintained a very extensive correspondence with her relations and friends i...

The "Powder of Inheritance."--The Chambre Ardente.--The Comtesse de Soissons's Arrest Decreed.--The Marquise de Montespan Buys Her Superintendence of the Queen's Council.--Madam...

Charles II., King of England.--How Interest Can Give Memory.--His Grievances against France.--The Two Daughters of the Duke of York.--William of Orange Marries One, in Spite of...

Eight months after the wedding of Marie Louise, we witnessed the arrival of Anne Marie Christine, Princess of Bavaria, daughter of the Elector Ferdinand. The King and Monseigneu...

As Madame de Maintenon's character happened to please the King, as I have already stated, he allotted her handsome apartments at Court while waiting until he could keep her ther...

Monsieur would seem to have been created in order to set off his brother, the King, and to give him the advantage of such relief. He is small in stature and in character, being...

I have already told how the envoys of the King of Arda, an African prince, gave to the Queen a nice little blackamoor, as a toy and pet. This Moor, aged about ten or twelve year...

In marrying Monsieur, the King consulted only his well-known generosity, and the richly equipped household which he granted to this prince should assuredly have made him satisfi...

After six months of wedlock, Henrietta of England had become so beautiful that the King drew every one's attention to this change, as if he were not unmindful of the fact that h...

Comte de Vegin, Abbe of Saint Germain des Pres.--Revenues Required, but Not the Cowl.--Discussion between the King and the Marquise.--Madame Scarron Chosen as Arbiter.--An Unans...

Mademoiselle, having by means of her donations to the Duc du Maine obtained, at first, the release, and subsequently the entire liberty of Lauzun, wished to go to meet him and t...

Madame la Dauphine brought into the world a son, christened Louis at the font, to whom the King a few moments afterwards gave the title of the Duke of Burgundy. We had become ac...

I have related in what manner Charles II., suddenly pronouncing in favour of his nephew, the Prince of Orange, had signed a league with his old enemies, the Dutch, in order to c...

The Chevalier de Rohan.--He is Born Too Late.--His Debts.--Messina Ceded to the French.--The King of Spain Meditates Revenge.--The Comte de Monterey.--Madame de Villars as Consp...

The petty princes placed too near a great potentate are just like the shrubs that grow beside an old oak tree, whose broad shade blights them, while its roots undermine and sap...

Since Catiline's famous hatred for Consul Cicero, there has never been hatred so deep and envenomed as that of William of Orange for the King. For this loathing, cherished by a...

The King's studies with his preceptor, Perefixe, had been of only a superficial sort, as, in accordance with the express order of the Queen-mother, this prelate had been mainly...

The King, by the last peace, signed at Nimegue, had engaged to restore the Principality of Orange to William, Stadtholder and Generalissimo of the Dutch. This article was one of...

The unfortunate lady, Henrietta of England, had left, at her death, two extremely young girls, one of them, indeed, being still in the cradle. The new Madame was seized with goo...

The Abbe de Brisacier, the famous director of consciences, possessed enough friends and credit to advance young Brisacier, his nephew, to the Queen's household, to whom he had b...

Since the birth of Mademoiselle de Blois, and the death of Mademoiselle de Fontanges, the King hardly ever saw me except a few minutes ceremoniously,--a few minutes before and a...

Monsieur, having learnt what his cousin of Montpensier had just done for my Duc du Maine, felt all possible grief and envy at it. He had always looked to inherit from her, and t...

Embassy of the King of Arda.--Political Influence Exercised by the Good Looks of Madame de Montespan.--Gifts of the Envoys.--What the Comte de Vegin Takes for a Horse.--Madame d...

The King had not much leisure, yet occasionally he gave up half an hour or an hour to the society of a chosen few,--men famous for their wit and brilliant talents. One day he wa...

Close of the Queen-mother's Illness.--The Archbishop of Auch.--The Patient's Resignation.--The Sacrament.--Court Ceremony for its Reception.--Sage Distinction of Mademoiselle de...

My poor little Comte de Vegin died. We all mourned for him as he deserved; his pretty face would have made every one love him; his extreme gentleness had nothing of the savage w...

The Marquis de Bragelonne was born for Mademoiselle de la Valliere. It was this young officer, endowed with all perfections imaginable, whom Heaven had designed for her, to comp...

MADEMOISELLE DE LA VALLIERE was tall, shapely, and extremely pretty, with as sweet and even a temper as one could possibly imagine, which eminently fitted her for dreamy, contem...

Out of affection and respect for the Queen-mother, the King had until then sought to conceal the ardour of his attachment for Mademoiselle de la Valliere. It was after the six m...

One evening I was walking at the far end of the long terrace of Saint Germain. The King soon came thither, and pointing to Saint Denis, said, "That, madame, is a gloomy, funerea...

Historians have, on the whole, dealt somewhat harshly with the fascinating Madame de Montespan, perhaps taking their impressions from the judgments, often narrow and malicious,...

The reign of the King who now so happily and so gloriously rules over France will one day exercise the talent of the most skilful historians. But these men of genius, deprived o...

M. de Lauzun.--His Pretensions.--Erroneous Ideas of the Public.--The War in Candia.--M. de Lauzun Thinks He Will Secure a Throne for Himself.--The King Does Not Wish This.

A few moments before he died, Cardinal Mazarin, through strategy, not through repentance, besought the King to accept a deed of gift whereby he was appointed his universal legat...

My sisters thought it of extreme importance to possess positive knowledge as to their future condition and the events which fate held in store for them. They managed to be secre...

Eight days after the conclusion of the jubilee I returned to Versailles. The King received me with every mark of sincere friendship; my friends came in crowds to my apartments;...

The Material Preparations for the Bed of Justice--Arrival of the Duc d'Orleans:--The Council Chamber.--Attitude of the Various Actors.--The Duc du Maine.--Various Movements.--Ar...

External Life of Louis XIV.--At the Army.--Etiquette of the King's Table.--Court Manners and Customs.--The Rising of the King.--Morning Occupations.--Secret Amours.--Going to Ma...

Mode of Life of the Duchesse de Berry.--Her Illness.--Her Degrading Amours.--Her Danger Increases.--The Sacraments Refused.--The Cure Is Supported by the Cardinal de Noailles.--...

Henrietta of England, Monsieur's First Consort The Due de Berri The Duchesse de Berri Mademoiselle d'Orleans, Louise-Adelaide de Chartres Mademoiselle de Valois, Consort of the...

Amours of the King.--La Valliere.--Montespan.--Scandalous Publicity.-- Temper of Madame de Montespan.--Her Unbearable Haughtiness.--Other Mistresses.--Madame de Maintenon.--Her...

Proposed Bed of Justice.--My Scheme.--Interview with the Regent.-- The Necessary Seats for the Assembly.--I Go in Search of Fontanieu.-- My Interview with Hini.--I Return to the...

Continuation of the Scene in the Council Chamber.--Slowness of the Parliament.--They Arrive at Last.--The King Fetched.--Commencement of the Bed of Justice.--My Arrival.--Its Ef...

The King's Health Declines.--Bets about His Death.--Lord Stair.--My New Friend.--The King's Last Hunt.--And Last Domestic and Public Acts.-- Doctors.--Opium.--The King's Diet.--...

Surprise of M. d'Orleans at the King's Death.--My Interview with Him.-- Dispute about Hats.--M. du Maine at the Parliament.--His Reception.-- My Protest.--The King's Will.--Its...

The Mississippi Scheme.--Law Offers Me Shares.--Compensation for Blaye.-- The Rue Quincampoix.--Excitement of the Public.--Increased Popularity of the Scheme.--Conniving of Law....

Personal Appearance of the Czar.--His Meals.--Invited by the Regent.-- His Interview with the King--He Returns the Visit.--Excursion in Paris.-- Visits Madame.--Drinks Beer at t...

Equivocal Position of the Duc de Bourgogne.--His Weak Conduct.-- Concealment of a Battle from the King.--Return of the Duc de Bourgogne to Court.--Incidents of His Reception.--M...

Encroachments of the Parliament.--The Money Edict.--Conflict of Powers-- Vigorous Conduct of the Parliament.--Opposed with Equal Vigour by the Regent.--Anecdote of the Duchesse...

Death of the Duchesse de Lesdiguieres.--Cavoye and His Wife.--Peter the Great.--His Visit to France.--Enmity to England.--Its Cause.--Kourakin, the Russian Ambassador.--The Czar...

Harlay and the Dutch.--Death of the Princess of Orange.--Count Koenigsmarck.--A New Proposal of Marriage.--My Marriage.--That of M. de Lauzun.--Its Result.--La Fontaine and Mign...

Death of Archbishop Harlay.--Scene at Conflans.--"The Good Langres."-- A Scene at Marly.--Princesses Smoke Pipes!--Fortunes of Cavoye.-- Mademoiselle de Coetlogon.--Madame de Gu...

Death and Character of Brissac.--Brissac and the Court Ladies.--The Duchesse de Bourgogne.--Scene at the Carp Basin.--King's Selfishness.-- The King Cuts Samuel Bernard's Purse....

System of Law in Danger.--Prodigality of the Duc d'Orleans.--Admissions of Law.--Fall of His Notes.--Violent Measures Taken to Support Them.-- Their Failure.--Increased Extravag...

Le Guast.--His Character.--Anjou Affects to Be Jealous of the Guises.--Dissuades the Queen-mother from Reposing Confidence in Marguerite.--She Loses the Favour of the Queen-moth...

Henri, Duc d'Anjou, Elected King of Poland, Leaves France.--Huguenot Plots to Withdraw the Duc d'Alencon and the King of Navarre from Court.--Discovered and Defeated by Margueri...

The King's Natural Children.--Proposed Marriage of the Duc de Chartres.-- Influence of Dubois.--The Duke and the King.--An Apartment.--Announcement of the Marriage.--Anger of Ma...

The Duke Tries to Raise the Devil.--Magical Experiments.--His Religious Opinions.--Impiety.--Reads Rabelais at Church.--The Duchesse d'Orleans.-- Her Character.--Her Life with H...

Settlement of the Spanish Succession.--King William III.--New Party in Spain.--Their Attack on the Queen.--Perplexity of the King.--His Will.-- Scene at the Palace.--News Sent t...

Early Life of Louis XIV.--His Education.--His Enormous Vanity.--His Ignorance.--Cause of the War with Holland.--His Mistakes and Weakness in War.--The Ruin of France.--Origin of...

A Scientific Retreat.--The Peace of Ryswick.--Prince of Conti King of Poland.--His Voyage and Reception.--King of England Acknowledged.--Duc de Conde in Burgundy.--Strange Death...

A Rumour Reaches Versailles.--Aspect of the Court.--Various Forms of Grief.--The Duc d'Orleans.--The News Confirmed at Versailles.--Behaviour of the Courtiers.--The Duc and Duch...

Situation of Affairs in Flanders.--Peace Brought About by Duc d'Alencon's Negotiation.--Marechal de Biron Apologises for Firing on Nerac.--Henri Desperately in Love with Fosseus...

My Interview with Du Mont.--A Mysterious Communication. --Anger of Monseigneur against Me.--Household of the Duchesse de Berry.--Monseigneur Taken Ill of the Smallpox.--Effect o...

The Regent Sends for Me.--Guilt of the Duc de Maine.--Proposed Arrest.-- Discussion on the Prison to Be Chosen.--The Arrest.--His Dejection.-- Arrest of the Duchess.--Her Rage.-...

Gervaise Monk of La Trappe.----His Disgusting Profligacy.--The Author of the Lord's Prayer.--A Struggle for Precedence.--Madame de Saint-Simon.-- The End of the Quarrel.--Death...

Character and Position of the Duc d'Orleans--His Manners, Talents, and Virtues.--His Weakness.--Anecdote Illustrative Thereof.-- The "Debonnaire"--Adventure of the Grand Prieur...

Behaviour of the Duchesse de Berry.--Her Arrogance Checked by Public Opinion.--Walls up the Luxembourg Garden.--La Muette.--Her Strange Amour with Rion.--Extraordinary Details.-...

Rise of Alberoni.--Intimacy of France and England.--Gibraltar Proposed to be Given Up.--Louville the Agent.--His Departure.--Arrives at Madrid.-- Alarm of Alberoni.--His Audacio...

The New Edict.--The Commercial Company.--New Edict.--Rush on the Bank.-- People Stifled in the Crowd.--Excitement against Law.--Money of the Bank.--Exile of the Parliament to Po...

Death of M. de Duras.--Selfishness of the King.--Anecdote of Puysieux.-- Character of Pontchartrain.--Why He Ruined the French Fleet.--Madame des Ursins at Last Resolves to Retu...

Quarrels of the Princesses.--Mademoiselle Choin.--A Disgraceful Affair.-- M. de Noyon.--Comic Scene at the Academie.--Anger and Forgiveness of M. de Noyon.--M. de Noailles in Di...

Monseigneur's Indigestion.--The King Disturbed.--The Ladies of the Halle.--Quarrel of the King and His Brother.--Mutual Reproaches.-- Monsieur's Confessors.--A New Scene of Wran...

Duchesse de Berry Drunk.--Operations in Spain.--Vendome Demanded by Spain.--His Affront by the Duchesse de Bourgogne.--His Arrival.-- Staremberg and Stanhope.--The Flag of Spain...

Message from the Duc d'Anjou, Afterwards Henri III., to King Charles His Brother and the Queen-mother.--Her Fondness for Her Children.--Their Interview.--Anjou's Eloquent Harang...

M. de Vendome out of Favour.--Death and Character of the Prince de Conti.--Fall of Vendome.--Pursegur's Interview with the King.--Madame de Bourgogne against Vendome.--Her Decid...

Daily Occupations of Madame de Maintenon.--Her Policy--How She Governed the King's Affairs.--Connivance with the Ministers.--Anecdote of Le Tellier.--Behaviour of the King to Ma...

The Lieutenant of Police.--Jealousy of Parliament.--Arrest of Pomereu Resolved On.--His Imprisonment and Sudden Release.--Proposed Destruction of Marly.--How I Prevented It.--Sa...

Intrigues of M. du Maine.--And of Cellamare, the Spanish Ambassador.-- Monteleon and Portocarrero.--Their Despatches.--How Signed.--The Conspiracy Revealed.--Conduct of the Rege...

An Odd Marriage.--Black Daughter of the King.--Travels of Peter the Great.--Magnificent English Ambassador.--The Prince of Parma.-- A Dissolute Abbe.--Orondat.--Dispute about Mo...

The Dead Soon Forgotten.--Feelings of Madame de Maintenon.--And of the Duc de Chartres.--Of the Courtiers.--Madame's Mode of Life.--Character of Monsieur.--Anecdote of M. le Pri...

Tremendous Cold in France.--Winters of 1708-1709--Financiers and the Famine.--Interference of the Parliaments of Paris and Dijon.--Dreadful Oppression.--Misery of the People.--N...

Appointment of the Duke of Berwick.--Deception Practised by Orry.--Anger of Louis XIV.--Dismissal of Madame des Ursins.--Her Intrigues to Return. --Annoyance of the King and Que...

An Honest Courtier.--Robbery of Courtin and Fieubet.--An Important Affair.--My Interview with the King.--His Jealousy of His Authority.-- Madame La Queue, the King's Daughter.--...

Death of D'Avaux.--A Quarrel about a Window.--Louvois and the King.-- Anecdote of Boisseuil.--Madame de Maintenon and M. de Beauvilliers.-- Harcourt Proposed for the Council.--H...

Character of Madame de Maintenon.--Her Conversation.--Her Narrow- mindedness.--Her Devotion.--Revocation of the Edict of Nantes.--Its Fatal Consequences.--Saint Cyr.--Madame de...

Fascination of the Duchesse de Bourgogne.--Fortunes of Nangis.--He Is Loved by the Duchesse and Her Dame d'Atours.--Discretion of the Court.-- Maulevrier.--His Courtship of the...

Conflicting Reports.--Attacks on the Duc de Bourgogne.--The Duchesse de Bourgogne Acts against Vendome.--Weakness of the Duke.--Cunning of Vendome.--The Siege of Lille.--Anxiety...

Position of the Prince of Orange.--Strange Conduct of the King.--Surprise and Indignation.--Battle of Neerwinden.--My Return to Paris.--Death of La Vauguyon.--Symptoms of Madnes...

The Farrier of Salon.--Apparition of a Queen.--The Farrier Comes to Versailles.--Revelations to the Queen.--Supposed Explanation.-- New Distinctions to the Bastards.--New Statue...

My Return Home.--Wanted for a New Commission.--Go to the Palais Royal.-- A Cunning Page.--My journey to Saint-Cloud.--My Reception.--Interview with the Duchesse d'Orleans.--Her...

Marriage of Phillip V.--The Queen's Journey.--Rival Dishes.-- A Delicate Quarrel.--The King's journey to Italy.--The Intrigues against Catinat.--Vaudemont s Success.--Appointmen...

Proposed Marriage of Mademoiselle.--My Intrigues to Bring It About.--The Duchesse de Bourgogne and Other Allies.--The Attack Begun.--Progress of the Intrigue.--Economy at Marly....

Queen Marguerite Permitted to Go to the King Her Husband.--Is Accompanied by the Queenmother.--Marguerite Insulted by Her Husband's Secretary.--She Harbours Jealousy.--Her Atten...

The Young King's Cold.--'Lettres des Cachet' Revived.--A Melancholy Story.--A Loan from Crosat.--Retrenchments.--Unpaid Ambassadors.--Council of the Regency.--Influence of Lord...

Philippe I., Duc d'Orleans Philippe II., Duc d'Orleans, Regent of France The Affairs of the Regency The Duchesse d'Orleans, Consort of the Regent The Dauphine, Princess of Bavar...

Charnace.--An Odd Ejectment.--A Squabble at Cards.--Birth of My Son.-- The Camp at Compiegne.--Splendour of Marechal Boufflers.--Pique of the Ambassadors.--Tesse's Grey Hat.--A...

Reform at Court.--Cardinal Delfini.--Pride of M. de Monaco.--Early Life of Madame de Maintenon.--Madame de Navailles.--Balls at Marly.--An Odd Mask.--Great Dancing--Fortunes of...

Birth and Family.--Early Life.--Desire to join the Army.--Enter the Musketeers.--The Campaign Commences.--Camp of Gevries.--Siege of Namur. --Dreadful Weather.--Gentlemen Carryi...

Death of My Father.--Anecdotes of Louis XIII.--The Cardinal de Richelieu.--The Duc de Bellegarde.--Madame de Hautefort.--My Father's Enemy.--His Services and Reward.--A Duel aga...

Arrival of Vendome at Court.--Character of That Disgusting Personage.-- Rise of Cardinal Alberoni.--Vendome's Reception at Marly.--His Unheard-of Triumph.--His High Flight.--Ret...

A Marriage Bargain.--Mademoiselle de Mailly.--James II.--Begging Champagne.--A Duel.--Death of Le Notre.--His Character.--History of Vassor.--Comtesse de Verrue and Her Romance...

Death of Pere La Chaise.--His Infirmities in Old Age.--Partiality of the King.--Character of Pere La Chaise.--The Jesuits.--Choice of a New Confessor.--Fagon's Opinion.--Destruc...

Danger of Chamillart.--Witticism of D'Harcourt.--Faults of Chamillart.-- Court Intrigues against Him.--Behaviour of the Courtiers.--Influence of Madame de Maintenon.--Dignified...

M. de Luxemhourg's Claim of Precedence.--Origin of the Claim.--Duc de Piney.--Character of Harlay.--Progress of the Trial.--Luxembourg and Richelieu.--Double-dealing of Harlay.-...

The Abbe de Fenelon.--The Jansenists and St. Sulpice.--Alliance with Madame Guyon.--Preceptor of the Royal Children.--Acquaintance with Madame de Maintenon.--Appointment to Camb...

Scandalous Adventure of the Abbesse de la Joye.--Anecdote of Madame de Saint-Herem.--Death of James II. and Recognition of His Son.--Alliance against France.--Scene at St. Maur....

Madame des Ursins.--Her Marriage and Character.--The Queen of Spain.-- Ambition of Madame de Maintenon.--Coronation of Philip V.--A Cardinal Made Colonel.--Favourites of Madame...

Death and Last Days of Madame de Montespan.--Selfishness of the King.-- Death and Character of Madame de Nemours.--Neufchatel and Prussia.-- Campaign of Villars.--Naval Successe...

Naval Battle of Malaga.--Danger of Gibraltar.--Duke of Mantua in Search of a Wife.--Duchesse de Lesdiguieres.--Strange Intrigues.--Mademoiselle d'Elboeuf Carries off the Prize.-...

Progress of the War.--Simplicity of Chamillart.--The Imperialists and the Pope.--Spanish Affairs.--Duc d'Orleans and Madame des Ursins.--Arrest of Flotte in Spain.--Discovery of...

Quarrel of the King of England with His Son.--Schemes of Dubois.-- Marriage of Brissac.--His Death.--Birth of the Young Pretender.-- Cardinalate of Dubois.--Illness of the King....

Projected Marriages of the King and of the Daughter of the Duc d'Orleans_ --How It Was Communicated to Me.--I Ask for the Embassy to Spain.--It Is Granted to Me.--Jealousy of Du...

Changes in the Army.--I Leave the Service.--Annoyance of the King.--The Medallic History of the Reign.--Louis XIII.--Death of William III.-- Accession of Queen Anne.--The Allian...

Abandonment of the Siege of Barcelona.--Affairs of Italy.-- La Feuillade.--Disastrous Rivalries.--Conduct of M. d'Orleans.--The Siege of Turin.--Battle.--Victory of Prince Eugen...

My Appointment as Ambassador to Rome.--How It Fell Through.--Anecdotes of the Bishop of Orleans.--A Droll Song.--A Saint in Spite of Himself.-- Fashionable Crimes.--A Forged Gen...

The King of Spain a Widower.--Intrigues of Madame des Ursins.--Choice of the Princes of Parma.--The King of France Kept in the Dark.--Celebration of the Marriage.--Sudden Fall o...

Meetings of the Council.--A Kitten.--The Archbishopric of Cambrai.-- Scandalous Conduct of Dubois.--The Consecration.--I Persuade the Regent Not to Go.--He Promises Not.--Breaks...

Death of the Queen of Navarre--Marguerite's Marriage with Her Son, the King of Navarre, Afterwards Henri IV. of France.--The Preparations for That Solemnisation Described.--The...

My Return to Fontainebleau.--A Calumny at Court.--Portrait of M. de La Trappe.--A False Painter.--Fast Living at the "Desert."--Comte d'Auvergne.--Perfidy of Harlay.--M. de Mona...

Discontent and Death of Barbezieux.--His Character.--Elevation of Chamillart.--Strange Reasons of His Success.--Death of Rose.--Anecdotes. --An Invasion of Foxes.--M. le Prince....

The Prince d'Harcourt.--His Character and That of His Wife.--Odd Court Lady.--She Cheats at Play.--Scene at Fontainebleau.--Crackers at Marly.-- Snowballing a Princess.--Strange...

Disgrace of the Duc d'Orleans.--I Endeavor to Separate Him from Madame d'Argenton.--Extraordinary Reports.--My Various Colloquies with Him.--The Separation.--Conduct of Madame d...

State of the Country.--New Taxes.--The King's Conscience Troubled.-- Decision of the Sorbonne.--Debate in the Council.--Effect of the Royal Tithe.--Tax on Agioteurs.--Merriment...

Imprudence of Villars.--The Danger of Truthfulness.--Military Mistakes.-- The Fortunes of Berwick.--The Son of James.--Berwick's Report on the Army.--Imprudent Saying of Villars...

I Am Sent for by Cardinal Dubois.--Flight of Frejus.--He Is Sought and Found.--Behaviour of Villeroy in His Exile at Lyons.--His Rage and Reproaches against Frejus.--Rise of the...

Good Effects of Queen Marguerite's Negotiations in Flanders.--She Obtains Leave to Go to the King of Navarre Her Husband, but Her Journey Is Delayed.--Court Intrigues and Plots....

The Duc d'Orleans in Spain.--Offends Madame des Ursins and Madame de Maintenon.--Laziness of M. de Vendome in Flanders.--Battle of Oudenarde. --Defeat and Disasters.--Difference...

The King of Spain Acquiesces in the Disgrace of Madame des Ursins.--Its Origin.--Who Struck the Blow.--Her journey to Versailles.--Treatment There.--My Interview with Her.--She...

First Appearance of Law.--His Banking Project Supported by the Regent.-- Discussed by the Regent with Me.--Approved by the Council and Registered. --My Interviews with Law.--His...

Bussi Is Sent from Court.--Marguerite's Husband Attacked with a Fit of Epilepsy.--Her Great Care of Him.--Torigni Dismissed from Marguerite's Service.--The King of Navarre and t...

Description of Queen Marguerite's Equipage.--Her Journey to Liege Described.--She Enters with Success upon Her Mission.--Striking Instance of Maternal Duty and Affection in a Gr...

Measures of Economy.--Financial Embarrassments.--The King and Chamillart.--Tax on Baptisms and Marriages.--Vauban's Patriotism.-- Its Punishment.--My Action with M. de Brissac.-...

A New Visit from Maisons.--His Violent Project.--My Objections.--He Persists.--His Death and That of His Wife. --Death of the Duc de Beauvilliers.--His Character.--Of the Cardin...

Courson in Languedoc.--Complaints of Perigueux.--Deputies to Paris.-- Disunion at the Council.--Intrigues of the Duc de Noailles.--Scene.-- I Support the Perigueux People.--Triu...

Marriage of the Prince of the Asturias.--An Ignorant Cardinal.--I Am Made Grandee of Spain.--The Vidame de Chartres Named Chevalier of the Golden Fleece.--His Reception--My Adie...

Introduction.--Anecdotes of Marguerite's Infancy.--Endeavours Used to Convert Her to the New Religion.--She Is Confirmed in Catholicism.--The Court on a Progress.--A Grand Festi...

The King Unhappy and Ill at Ease.--Court Paid to Him.--A New Scheme to Rule Him.--He Yields.--New Annoyance.--His Will.--Anecdotes Concerning It.--Opinions of the Court.--M. du...

A Hunting Adventure.--Story and Catastrophe of Fargues.--Death and Character of Ninon de l'Enclos.--Odd Adventure of Courtenvaux.--Spies at Court.--New Enlistment.--Wretched Sta...

Precedence at the Communion Table.--The King Offended with Madame de Torcy.--The King's Religion.--Atheists and Jansenists.--Project against Scotland.--Preparations.--Failure.--...

Interview with Dubois.--His Singular Instructions to Ale.--His Insidious Object.--Various Tricks and Manoeuvres.--My Departure for Spain.--Journey by Way of Bordeaux and Bayonne...

Interview in the Hall of Mirrors.--Preliminaries of the Marriages.-- Grimaldo.--How the Question of Precedence Was Settled.--I Ask for an Audience.--Splendid Illuminations.--A B...

Maisons Seeks My Acquaintance.--His Mysterious Manner.--Increase of the Intimacy.--Extraordinary News.--The Bastards Declared Princes of the Blood.--Rage of Maisons and Noailles...

Excessive Politeness.--Influence of the Valets.--How the King Drove Out.--Love of magnificence.--His Buildings. --Versailles.--The Supply of Water.--The King Seeks for Quiet.--C...

Death of Lauzun.--His Extraordinary Adventures.--His Success at Court.-- Appointment to the Artillery.--Counter--worked by Louvois.--Lauzun and Madame de Montespan.--Scene with...

Anecdote of Canaples.--Death of the Duc de Coislin.--Anecdotes of His Unbearable Politeness.--Eccentric Character.--President de Novion.-- Death of M. de Lorges.--Death of the D...

State of the Court at Death of Monseigneur.--Conduct of the Dauphin and the Dauphine.--The Duchesse de Berry.--My Interview with the Dauphin.-- He is Reconciled with M. d'Orleans.

Policy and Schemes of Alberoni.--He is Made a Cardinal.--Other Rewards Bestowed on Him.--Dispute with the Majordomo.--An Irruption into the Royal Apartment.--The Cardinal Thrash...