Part 2

Marshal Belleisle was then in high reputation: the court and town were full of his praise. There was not in all France a man who had been at more pains to acquire a superficial knowlege of useless things: he pretended to be acquainted with every subject, and he had the art of making others believe so; hence it was not in the least suspected that he understood the art of war as little as that of negotiation: his manners were mild and engaging, and he had an agreeable fluency of speech; but he was so conceited of his knowlege, that although he affected a certain degree of modesty, still his deportment was sure to betray his pride: in short, I never knew a vainer creature.

The Chevalier Belleisle did not affect to have so much understanding as his brother, which shewed him to have the more; but he had all the excessive ambition of the Marshal, and lost his life in attempting to force an intrenchment, the success of which would have raised him to the same rank.

The Duke de Richelieu was still more idolized than Marshal Belleisle. The King could not be without him. He was sure to be one at the private suppers, and he superintended all the diversions of Versailles. Never was any man like him for striking out a party of pleasure, and enlivening it by little incidents. He made it his business to divert the King, and was very alert in seizing every opportunity conducive to that end: but it was not for the King’s sake that he gave himself all that trouble: his motive of acting was his own aggrandizement; for he is insatiably greedy of rank and distinctions. Though of no genius for war, he had the ambition of being created a Marshal of France; and without any political talents, he was for thrusting himself into the ministry.

Maurice of Saxony was the hero of France: he was esteemed the kingdom’s guardian angel. I shall speak of him when I come to treat of the battle of Fontenoy.

Monsieur d’Estrées had the reputation of an able general: I shall make farther mention of him in the sequel.

The greater part of the other courtiers were subordinate officers: they used to come from the army to Versailles, and then go back from Versailles to the army; all their business at court being about preferments. These were the Dukes of Grammont, Piquigny, Biron, la Valiere, Boufflers, Luxembourg; the Marquisses of Putange, Maubourg, Bregè, Langeron, Armentieres, Creil, Renepont; the Counts Coigny, la Mothe-Houdancourt, Clermont, Estrées, Berenger; Messieurs d’Aumont, Meuse, Ayou, Cibert, Chersey, Buckley, Segur, Fenelon, St. André, Varennes, Montal, Balincourt, la Fare, Clermont-Tonnerre, with many more who were for raising themselves by the sword.

There was, at that time, scarce a woman at court who aspired at the King’s affections. Those of a distinguished rank disdained to be the objects of a transient love; and others, who courted that situation, had neither beauty nor graces sufficient to obtain it; so that it was only Parisian Ladies who entered into any of these intrigues: several were sure to place themselves in sight whenever the King dined in public; and always attended him to the chace: in short, they were ever dangling after his Majesty, which was just the very way to come short of their aim.

My thoughts were employed to secure myself in the station to which fortune had raised me. The King was with me as often as the affairs of the crown would allow; leaving all grandeur behind him, and coming into my apartment without any thing of that state which attends on him at other places: for my part, I closely studied his temper.

Lewis XV. is naturally of a saturnine turn: his soul is shrouded in a thick gloom; so that, with every pleasure at command, he may be said to be unhappy. Sometimes his melancholy throws him into such a languor that nothing affects him, and then he is quite insensible to all entertainment and pleasure. In these intervals, life becomes an insupportable burden to him. The enjoyment of a beautiful woman for a while diverts his uneasiness; but so far is it from being a lasting relief, that his melancholy afterwards returns upon him with redoubled weight.

Another misfortune in this Prince’s life is, the continual conflict between his devotion and his passions; pleasure drawing him on, and remorse with-holding him: under this incessant struggle, he is one of the most unhappy men in his kingdom.

I perceived that the King’s disposition was not to be changed by love only: this put me on engaging him by the charms of conversation; which has a stronger influence with men than the passions themselves. Of this, history furnished me with an instance in the person of his great grandfather. Lewis XIV. had so habituated himself to Madame de Maintenon, that no other woman could make any impression on him; and, tho’ the court at that time was full of celebrated beauties, Scarron’s widow, at an age when female influence over man is generally on the decline, found means so strongly to fix his affection, that her death only put an end to the charm.

I planned a series of diversions, which, following close on one another, got the better of the King’s constitution, and diverted him from himself. I brought him to like music, dancing, plays, and little operas, in which I myself used to perform; and private suppers terminated the festivity. Thus the King lay down and rose in perfect satisfaction and good humour. The next day, unless detained on some great council, or other extraordinary ceremony, he would hasten to my apartment, to take, if I may presume to use the expression, his dose of good humour for the whole day. He grew fond of me from that instinct which makes us love what contributes to our happiness. All the favourites before me had thought only of making themselves loved by the King: it had not come into their heads to divert him.

Thus I became necessary to his Majesty; his attachment grew stronger every day. I could have wished that our union had rested on love only; but with a Prince accustomed to change, we must do as well as we can.

After the first moments of surprize, which naturally arises in our minds upon any great change, I, in my turn, gave myself up to uneasy reflections. Amidst all the King’s affection, I feared the return of his inconstancy. I could lay but little stress on my elevation; all bow the knee to the idol whilst the Prince worships it; but on his over-throwing the altar, it is trampled under foot. Some days after I thought I had more reason than ever to fear; for the King, coming to sup with me, seemed more thoughtful than usual. Instead of that gaiety which began to be natural to him, his countenance was quite clouded: all his talk was about politics, the affairs of Europe, and dispatching a courier to the army; thus, after a short conversation, he withdrew. This abruptness filled me with alarms: I had not a wink of sleep; and next morning I sent him an account of my condition in the following note:

“SIRE,

“Your politics have quite broke my heart. I was going to say a thousand pleasant things to you, had not your dispatches interrupted me. I have not closed my eyes during the whole night; for God’s sake, Sire, leave Europe to itself, and allow me to lay open to you the state of my heart, which is on the rack when you deprive me of any opportunity of telling you that I love you with an affection, the end of which will be that of my life.”

The King having read my letter, came in person to my apartment to make me easy; and he was now more gay than usual. I think I never saw him in a better temper. He had already given me some insight into the great events at that time on the carpet, and I was for diving into the truth of these abstruse mysteries; but not a word did I then understand in politics. I have heard that the English ladies have every morning ready laid on their toilet a paper giving them an account of the affairs of Europe, whereas all that we French women find there is our paint-boxes.

I applied to Marshal Belleisle. “My Lord, be so kind as to instruct me in what you call politics, which every body here is continually talking of.” He answered me smiling, “I cannot bring myself, Madam, to instruct you in a science which will prove destructive to many.” Yet the veteran courtier talked to me of systems, and enlarged upon the methods to be used by a state for its aggrandisement.

After listening to him for some time, I concluded, though a novice at court, that this science is not reducible to principles nor general rules, as totally depending on time, place, and circumstances, and these almost ever arising from chance.

In order to get a knowlege of the preceding administrations, I set myself to read the history of our government; but it was not in books that I sought for this knowledge, having always looked on them as the source of public errors. I consulted original manuscripts, which were put into my hands by the King himself. Here I saw all the former mistakes, and the original causes of them.

As it was known both at Paris and Versailles that Lewis XV. was unsettled in his amours, his favourites had no very regular court. It often fell out that a lady whom the King had distinguished, lay down in high favour, and rose in disgrace: for vacant employments and temporary grants the favourites were practised on; but for the great purposes of ambition other springs than mistresses were set to work.

In the first months of my favour scarce any body came near me. The Duke de Richelieu was the only nobleman who visited me in the King’s absence; but when, by the Monarch’s order, I made my appearance as Marchioness de Pompadour, and his Majesty was continually giving me marks of his esteem, the face of things changed. Envy and ambition formed two numerous parties. The former blackened me with the most virulent malice; and the latter as much exceeded in the most fulsome adulation. The motive in one was hope of preferment, the other acted from a despair of ever being preferred: both, however, joined in asking favours of me.

I used my interest with the King in behalf of both. If I raised a person to a considerable post, or procured him a large pension, I surely drew on myself a hundred enemies, besides his ingratitude. At length all the kingdom came to pay their court to me; for the royal favour continued to shine on me as bright as ever. They who had been the most forward in reviling my birth, now claimed kindred with me. I shall never forget a letter I received at Versailles from a gentleman of one of the most ancient families in Provence, in the following terms:

“Dear Cousin,

“I did not know that I was related to you till now that the King has created you Marchioness de Pompadour: a learned genealogist has demonstrated to me, that your great-grandfather was fourth cousin to my grandfather; so you see, dear cousin, our alliance is indisputable. If you desire it, I’ll send you our pedigree, that you may shew it to the King.

“In the mean time, my son, your cousin, who has served with distinction several years, wants a regiment; and as he cannot hope to obtain it by his rank, be so good as to ask the favour from the King.”

I sent him the following answer:

SIR,

“I shall lay hold of the very first opportunity to desire his Majesty to give your son a regiment. But I likewise have a favour to ask of you, which is to dispense me from the honour of being related to you. I have some family reasons which forbid me to think, that my forefathers have ever been allied to any of the ancient houses of this kingdom.”

Half France would hide themselves for shame, were I to give a detail of all the mean, fawning letters sent to me by persons of the first families in the kingdom. A Princess could write to me in this manner:

“My dear Friend,

“I beg you would ask the King for a grant of farmer-general for Mr. Armand M----, a superannuated clerk, whose fortune I would gladly make. For this favour I shall hold myself obliged to you as long as I live.

I am, my dear,

With all possible regard,

Your most humble servant.”

The public envy, however, increasing with the marks of royal favour, the world, at any rate, would make me answerable for the events of the times. It has been in every body’s mouth, that all the misfortunes of France were owing to me. If there were any grounds for such a charge, the kingdom must have been in a prosperous and flourishing state when his Majesty called me to Versailles; whereas it was very far from being so. The cause of the evil lay deep; so that France, under all its pressures, was only fulfilling its destiny. The misfortunes of the administration in this reign are to be considered as flowing from the former administration.

At the time of the demise of Lewis XIV. the kingdom was in a dreadful disorder; the debts of the nation were immense, and the public credit totally ruined; so that the state then laboured under an evil, which was not to be cured by temporary remedies. Lewis the Great, by his excessive fondness for splendor, had impoverished the people. The preceding Kings were contented with being the stewards or managers of the general wealth, but he made himself the proprietor of it: he became master of the nation’s treasure, all the finances were in his hands: he had augmented the crown revenues beyond all relative proportion: in the course of three years the whole species of France came into his coffers: besides, his magnificence had set his subjects the pernicious example of impoverishing themselves by profuse expences.

The duke of Orleans, who was at the head of the state after Lewis XIV. so far from restoring order, increased the confusion. He promoted a system of finances, which proved their utter ruin. All the riches of the monarchy changed hands. No such thing as money was to be seen; foreigners ran away with one part, and domestic stock-jobbers secreted the other; no plan of administration could be contrived, capable of putting a stop to evils, unprecedented from the very foundation of the monarchy. This revolution greatly affected the several branches of the national strength. Agriculture, trade, arts, and ingenuity, were sufferers by it, and still suffer: for I have heard very knowing persons say, that the grand system had given birth to many detrimental systems in the state.

Cardinal Fleury succeeded him; and things went still worse: he alone did more harm to France than all those before him, who had like to have ruined this realm. His particular qualities were order, oeconomy, and moderation; virtues excellent in a private person, but in a statesman often very great vices. All his view was, to fill the treasury, fancying that if the King were but rich, the state would no longer be poor. Thus he went on increasing the opulence of the crown, from the people’s subsistence. Intent upon saving, he let the navy run to ruin, that is, he deprived France of the only way left for retrieving itself.

Fleury died; but this produced no amendment in the administration. France had not a minister capable of setting things to rights. They who were put at the head of affairs, were very busy, but without any knowledge. I have been told by a very experienced person, who used to come and see me at Versailles, that if at the Cardinal’s death the ministry had been put into the hands of an angel, he could not have done the crown much good. He added, that all the most able minister could do, was to prepare materials for a better administration. The government, said he, has six capital imperfections, and these are not to be amended, but by casting the constitution in a new mould.

Another outcry was my being the source of favours, and that I disposed of every thing in the kingdom; with this addition, that I had brought the King to such a custom of visiting me, as had made it a kind of law to him, never to refuse me any thing. To this I answer, that it is an evil both necessary and natural to absolute government. Sovereigns must either have a confident or a mistress; and of the two the state generally suffers most by the former. Men in general have ambitious views, which a women does not trouble herself about. The confident studies to avail himself of the prince’s favour in all the means of raising himself to the highest fortune; he gets the sole management of the public finances; he engrosses the most lucrative posts, and distributes among his relations and creatures, those which he does not take for himself: the consequence of this is a general revolution in the government. In short, he has schemes of grandeur and elevation quite foreign to our sex.

I have read in the annals of our monarchy that Richelieu’s ambition brought a thousand mischiefs on France: that favourite of Lewis XIII. sacrificed every thing to a giddy desire of appearing to be the only person of consequence in the kingdom. He cut the very sinews of the political power of all other bodies. He annulled the privileges of the nobility, which alone could make any stand against the despotism of our Kings; and therein he did more harm to France, than ever it has to fear from any mistresses.

Mazarine, the second favourite, had an army in pay, and personally made war on the state. He imprisoned the princes of the blood, and raised such animosities and disturbances as in a manner subverted all government. He got the public treasure into his possession; almost all the money of the kingdom was in his coffers. He used to sell the principal state employments: when the King wanted money he was obliged to apply to him. And our times have seen Count Bruhl, the King of Poland’s favourite exceed his master, in extravagance.

There are, at this time, several Dukes in the kingdom[1] who give France cause to remember that its Kings have had favourites; whereas what great fortune, what titles or distinctions has my brother Marigni? Die when he will, he will leave no monuments of the particular favour with which Lewis the XVth honoured me.

I have been likewise accused of introducing into the ministry persons of no turn for business, ignorant, shallow, and superficial fellows: but where shall I find any other in France? The human mind seems to have been degenerated among us.

The French nobility, though most concerned in the public administration, give no attention to business; their life is a round of indolence, luxury, and dissipation. They know as little of politics as of finances and œconomy. A gentleman either spends his life at his seat in rural sports, or comes to Paris to ruin himself with an opera girl. They who have an ambition to figure in the ministry, have no other merit than intrigue and cabal. If they are traversed in their views, or afterwards superseded, such measure is with them an effect of the prince’s prejudice.

The age of able ministers in France seems past. After all my inquiries for a Colbert and Louvois, I could only meet with Chamillards and Dubois’s; so that I was forced to commit all the branches of government to financiers by profession; a set of people void of capacity, and only skilful in one thing, which is pillaging the state.

My enemies have farther affirmed, that I put the King on too frequent a change of his ministers; but that is an invention, which, in no wise, belongs to me. Before ever I knew the court, placemen were not more settled in their posts than since. Every day saw such creations and institutions; and this, perhaps, may still be a necessary evil in France. Before those gentlemen are in place, nothing can come up to their plan of government; they have effectual ways and means for reforming every thing that is amiss; they know the seat of the disease, and what will remove it: but no sooner have they got the reins of government in their hands than their incapacity throws every thing into confusion. On the public misfortunes they scarce bestow a thought; all they mind is their own personal interest. The ambition of being prime minister soon gets footing in them; and its continual agitation leaves no room in their mind for any attention to the kingdom. Ten years of administration in France make a minister so absolute, that he grows a mere Pacha; any intimation of his is a peremptory order: the Grand Signior is not more despotic at Constantinople than a French Secretary of State, after spending ten years at Versailles.

It is the same with military affairs: however brave and courageous the French nobility may be, they have little or no genius for war: the hardship of a campaign immediately puts them out of conceit. France has no military school[2]. A young nobleman is made a Colonel before he is an officer, and then steps into the general command, without any experience. If two Frenchmen are appointed to command the armies in Flanders or Germany, immediately the spirit of envy kindles among them, and they will gratify their private piques and quarrels, whatever becomes of the state. In the mean time, the enemies profit by these divisions, and forward their schemes. In the late war, the King was obliged to commit the safety of his crown to two foreigners: had it not been for the Counts Saxe and Lowendahl, the enemies of France might have been at the gates of Paris.

It is a mistake to think that a woman, who is in distinguished favour with a Prince, stands in need of weak ministers and bad generals to support her: incapacity spoils all and answers no purpose. Political mistakes, at the same time that they throw a shade on the Prince’s glory, utterly efface the lustre of his favourite. I can truly say, that most of the vexations I have gone through, since my residence at court, proceeded from hence. On every advantage gained by our enemies the king used to be melancholy and full of thought; and though this Prince be extremely polite, and not one disobliging word came from his mouth, yet his discomposure, at that time, embittered every other enjoyment of my life.

I never made a minister, I never advised the King to confer the command of an army on any person, of whose abilities I was not certainly convinced, and whose merit was not universally confessed. The great used to compliment me on it, and the King himself congratulated me on my good judgment of men; their fitness was proclaimed by the universal voice.

I must here mention the troubles the court laboured under, when the King gave me an apartment at Versailles; the occurrences of those times belonging to the plan of these Memoirs. Without that crowd of incidents which then fell out, and which the King used to communicate to me, my favour perhaps had never risen to such a height; for the events of this world are always directed by second causes.

Ever since the year 1741, France had continued to wage war in Italy, in Flanders, and in Germany. Charles the VIth, the last male descendant of the house of Austria by the male side, had an ambition, which was not to be limited even by death; he was for surviving himself, and transmitting his power beyond the grave.

This Prince, after acquiring a very large extent of dominions, had procured them to be guarantied by the chief powers of Christendom. The small military force at that time on foot in Europe, had induced the Christian Princes, to such a weak compliance. Italy was quite spent; all the petty governments of the empire were under a political slavery; and the great houses of the North were little better. On the decease of that Prince all began to breathe, and every one claimed their respective right.