Chapter XIII: Introduction: By C.-A. Sainte-Beuve (12)

"All this makes me think sometimes when I reflect upon it that my position is so singular it must be God who placed me in it. I behold myself in the midst of them all; this person, this old person of mine, the object of all their attention. It is to me they must address themselves, to me, through whom all passes! God has given me grace never to look at my position on its splendid side. I feel nothing but the pains of it; it seems to me that, thank God! I am not dazzled; He enables me to see it just as it is. I do not allow myself to be blinded by the grandeur and the favour that surround me; I regard myself as an instrument which God is using to do good, and I feel that all the influence He permits me to have should be employed in serving Him, in comforting whom I can, and in uniting these princes with one another, if possible. I think sometimes of the hatred that I have instinctively for the Court; it is nothing new; I have had it always. God, nevertheless, destined me to be there; why, then, has He given me this aversion to it? It must be because He wills that I should live in its midst and find my salvation there. Mme. de Montespan, on the contrary, loved the Court, not only for the ties that held her to it, but because she liked Court life. What does God do? He binds to it the one who hates it, He sends away from it the one who loves it, apparently for the salvation of both. Ah! how good it is to let Him act, to abandon ourselves to Him, to live from day to day doing all the good we can. He knows better what we want than ourselves; and, assuredly, He is an excellent director; we need only to yield ourselves to His guidance. But let us go on.

"When the king returns from hunting he comes to me; then my door is closed and no one enters. Here I am, then, alone with him. I must bear his troubles, if he has any, his sadness, his nervous dejection; sometimes he bursts into tears which he cannot control, or else he complains of illness. He has no conversation. Then a minister comes, who often brings fatal news; the king works. If they wish me to be a third in their consultation, they call me; if they do not want me I retire to a little distance, and it is then that I sometimes make my afternoon prayers; I pray to God for about half an hour. If they wish me to hear what is said I cannot do this; I sit there, and hear perhaps that things are going ill; a courier has arrived with bad news; and all that wrings my heart and prevents me from sleeping at night.

"While the king continues to work I sup; but it is not once in two months that I can do so at my ease. I feel that the king is alone, or I have left him sad, or that M. Chamillart has almost finished with him; sometimes he sends and begs me to make haste. Another day he wants to show me something. So that I am always hurried, and the only thing I can do is to eat very fast. I have my fruit brought with the meat to hasten supper; and all this as fast as I can. I leave Mme. d'Heudicourt and Mme. de Dangeau at table, because they cannot eat as fast as I do, and often I am oppressed by it.

"After this it is, as you may suppose, getting late. I have been about since six in the morning; I have not breathed freely the whole day; I am overcome with weariness and yawning; more than that, I begin to feel what it is that makes old age; I find myself at last so weary that I can no more. Sometimes the king perceives it and says: 'You are very tired, are you not? You ought to go to bed.' So I go to bed; my women come and undress me; but I feel that the king wants to talk to me and is waiting till they go; or some minister still remains and he fears my women will hear what he says. That makes him uneasy, and me too. What can I do? I hurry; I hurry so that I almost faint; and you must know that all my life what I have hated most is to be hurried. At five years of age it had the same effect upon me; I was faint if I ran too fast, for being naturally very quick and consequently inclined to haste, I was also very delicate, so that to run, as I tell you, choked me. Well, at last I am in bed; I send away my women; the king approaches and sits down by my pillow. What can I do then? I am in bed, but I have need of many things; mine is not a glorified body without wants. There is no one there whom I can ask for what I need; not a single woman. It is not because I could not have them, for the king is full of kindness, and if he thought I wanted one woman he would endure ten; but it never comes into his mind that I am constraining myself. As he is master everywhere, and does exactly what he wishes, he cannot imagine that any one should do otherwise; he believes that if I show no wants, I have none. You know that my rule is to take everything on myself and think for others. Great people, as a rule, are not like that; they never constrain themselves, they never think that others are constrained by them, nor do they feel grateful for it, simply because they are so accustomed to see everything done in reference only to themselves that they are no longer struck by it and pay no heed. I have sometimes, during my severe colds, been on the point of choking with a cough I was unable to check. M. de Pontchartrain, who saw me one day all crimson with the effort, said to the king: 'She cannot bear it; some one must be called.'

"The king stays with me till he goes to supper, and about a quarter of an hour before the supper is served M. le Dauphin, M. le Duc and Mme. la Duchesse de Bourgogne come to me. At ten o'clock or a quarter past ten everybody goes away. There is my day. I am now alone, and I take the relief of which I am in need; but often the anxieties and fatigues I have gone through keep me from sleeping."

I expressed to Madame how trying all that seemed to me, and said I should not be surprised if some one should speak of her as the most unhappy person in the world. "And yet," she added, "could they not also say, 'She is the happiest. She is with the king from morning till night?' But they do not remember, in saying that, that kings and princes are men like other men; they have their griefs and troubles which we must share with them. Moreover, there are a thousand things that our princes never think of which fall upon me. For example, Mme. la Princesse des Ursins is about to return to Spain; I must busy myself with her; I must repair as best I can by my attentions the coldness of the Duchesse de Bourgogne, the stiffness of the king, the indifference of others. I go to see her; I give her time with me; I listen to a thousand matters I do not care about; and all that merely that she may go away pleased with others, and say good of them, especially of the Duchesse de Bourgogne. I see they are all too negligent to do this for themselves; I must supply the want; and so with a thousand other things. I have always on my mind Spain nearly lost to us, peace receding farther than ever, miseries that I hear of on all sides, thousands of persons suffering before my very eyes and I not able to help them,--and then, besides these sorrows, the excesses that reign at Court, drunkenness, gluttony, excessive luxury, and, worst of all, the visible dangers to religion."

I asked Madame if she were not sometimes impatient; she answered: "Ah! indeed yes, I am; I am often, as they say, up to my throat in it; but it must be borne; and besides, God has arranged it. When I reflect on my condition, and how burdened I am with cares and griefs, I think: 'How would it be with my soul if this were not so? If, with this magnificence, wealth, and luxury, I had nothing to pain me, would anything on this earth be so likely to ruin me? A grandeur like this, if combined with ease of life, would soon lead me to forget God. I am lodged like the king; my furniture is magnificent; I am in luxury; but God shows his mercy throughout all that by mingling with it pains and distresses which serve as a counterpoise and make me turn to Him.'"

_To M. le Duc de Noailles._

SAINT-CYR, September 5, 1706.

Our dear princess [Duchesse de Bourgogne] is fairly well; she is too anxious about the war for a person of her age. M. le Duc de Bourgogne is always pious, amorous, and scrupulous; but he is becoming every day more reasonable. I have no one to speak with, and I think that spares me many sins; for my confidences would be neither favourable to nor honourable for my neighbours. The men are all on bad terms with me, and the women I pay no heed to. Adieu, my dear duke. It is not necessary to urge you to zeal for the king and State; you act from principles that cannot change; and if you do not meet with all the gratitude you deserve, you will receive a more solid reward hereafter.

_To Mme. la Princesse des Ursins._

SAINT-CYR, October 17, 1706.

I can only add that our princess is taking great care to carry her child to the end. She is fairly well, but extremely sad. She has an affection for her father, but feels a great resentment to him; she loves her mother tenderly, and takes as great an interest in the affairs of Spain as in those of France. She loves the king, and never sees him more serious than usual without the tears coming into her eyes; and with her excessive kindness she interests herself also in my pains and woes. I should like to comfort her, but, on the contrary, I distress her. This is a terrible state for a person of her age, and one who has, I think, without speaking of it, much uneasiness about her approaching confinement, and many fears lest she should have a girl.

_To Mme. de Glapion._

SAINT-CYR, February, 1707.

I have just been witness of a conversation between the king and M. le Dauphin which has caused me great pain. I spend my life in trying to unite them and in warding off everything that is likely to cause misunderstandings between them, and yet here they are on the verge of quarrelling about a trifle. Monseigneur wanted to give a public ball to which society in general should be admitted; he was absolutely determined about it, and with him the Duchesse de Bourgogne. The king, with charming gentleness, opposed it, and told Monseigneur it was not proper, if he wished the Duchesse de Bourgogne to be present, that all sorts of men and women should be present also. The princess, on her side, could see no harm in it, for she is just as ready to dance with a comedian as with a prince of the blood. I cannot tell you how this little squabble has made me suffer, and what a night I have passed. I blame myself for my too great sensibility, and yet, on the other hand, it seems to me I am right to desire peace in the royal family and to dread, between a king of seventy and a dauphin of forty-six, whatever may set them against each other and add to our general war a civil one.

_To Mme. la Princesse des Ursins._

SAINT-CYR, April 10, 1707.

Our king is tranquil, gentle, and equable in temper, such as you left him. His health is very good; his occupations the same as ever; it would really seem as though nothing had happened to give him pain [reference to disasters in war]. This is something surprising, which amazes me constantly.

Our princess makes great efforts to amuse herself, and only succeeds in making herself giddy with fatigue. She went yesterday to dine at Meudon followed by twenty-four ladies; after that they were to go to the fair and see some famous rope-dancers, return to sup at Meudon, and play cards, no doubt, till daybreak. She must have come home this morning,--ill perhaps, certainly serious, for that is the usual result of all her pleasures.

VERSAILLES, later.

Mme. la Duchesse de Bourgogne has a severe headache. M. Fagon has fever and must be bled. Wherever I turn I find subjects for distress and anxiety. How can you, madame, wish for my letters?

_To Mme. la Marquise de Dangeau._

SAINT-CYR, Saturday, July 16, 1707.

It is in order that I may speak to you, madame, of the Duchesse de Bourgogne, that I have asked you to put off your visit to Paris till to-morrow. The king said to me last evening that he had been much surprised to hear of the card-playing at Bretesch [a village between Marly and Versailles]. I saw by that that the Duchesse de Bourgogne had deceived me. She told me that Mme. la Duchesse had invited herself to supper, but I see now it was a prearranged party, for the king tells me that the princess herself invited Mme. la Duchesse, and that M. de Lorges was the first to arrive. I answered that it was quite natural that Mme. la Duchesse should sup at her brother's house, but that as for the cards, I was more sorry than any one.

The king said, "Is not a dinner, a cavalcade, a hunt, a collation enough for one day?" Then he added after a while, "I should do well to tell those gentlemen they are not paying their court well in gambling with the Duchesse de Bourgogne." I said that _lansquenet_ had always troubled me, for fear she might make some trip that would do her harm and put her on a bad footing. We talked of other things and then the king returned to the subject and said to me, "Should I not do better to speak to those gentlemen?" I replied that I thought that manner of acting might be injurious to the Duchesse de Bourgogne, and that he had better speak to her herself, so that the matter might remain secret. He said he should do so to-day; and I have begged you to remain in order that you may warn her. We have now come sooner than I expected to the alienation I have all along apprehended. The king will think he has vexed her by stopping her _lansquenet_ and will be more stiff with her; she will certainly be vexed and be cold with him; I shall feel the same and return to the formal respect I owe to her; but I am not yet detached enough from the esteem of the world to consent to let it think I approve such conduct. [We know already how the sweet temper of the princess took these rebukes and turned away wrath.]

The Duchesse de Bourgogne will be compassionated by Mme. la Duchesse; which makes me remember the traps that her mother [Mme. de Montespan] used to lay for the queen and Mme. de la Vallière, in order to make the king notice later what their behaviour had been. If after speaking to the princess you could come out to Saint-Cyr I should be glad; but I doubt whether, after so painful a conversation, you will be in a state to appear. If you find it possible to approach the Duchesse de Bourgogne you might give her this letter to prepare her for answering the king, and then you can speak to her in the evening more at length. You can imagine, madame, what a night I have passed. Let us pray God for our princess, who is drowning herself in a glass of water.

_To Mme. la Princesse des Ursins._

FONTAINEBLEAU, July 23, 1708.

You know now, madame, that our happiness has not lasted long. The reduction of Ghent to the power of his Catholic Majesty had placed us in a situation of great advantage, which ought to have been maintained through the rest of the campaign; the enemy were on the retreat and quite disheartened. M. de Vendôme, who believes what he wishes, chose to give battle and lost it [Oudenarde], and we are worse off now than we were before, as much from fear of consequences and the air of superiority assumed by the enemy as from the loss of our troops.

In this condition we have felt the joy of the taking of Tortosa much less [taken by the Duc d'Orléans, July 11], though we see all the value of it. Madame is delighted, and with good reason; she sees M. le Duc d'Orléans covered with glory, and out of the danger to which he was exposed.

You know, madame, the levity of Frenchmen, and it seems to me that their talk is reaching you. Ghent, they are now saying, put us in a condition to make peace on any terms we chose; now all is lost, and we have to ask it with a cord round our necks. And yet, madame, neither statement is true. The enemy had great resources though we had Ghent; we should have had more if M. de Vendôme had chosen to act with more precaution. Our army is still very fine and very good, the troops have done their duty, they are in nowise discouraged, and are now asking only to redeem themselves; but that they must not be allowed to attempt except with the order and caution to be observed on such occasions. The Duc de Bourgogne has held the wisest opinions, but he was ordered to yield to M. de Vendôme as being more experienced. Our princes have been in a position to be captured; imagine, madame, where we should then have been. That is a comfort I try to give to the Duchesse de Bourgogne in the extreme distress she feels. She shows throughout these sad events the feelings of a true Frenchwoman, such as I have always known her to feel; but I own I did not think that she loved M. le Duc de Bourgogne to the point we now see. Her tenderness goes even to delicate sentiment; she keenly feels that his first battle has proved disastrous; she would like him to have been as much exposed as a grenadier, and then to have come back to her without a scratch. She feels, too, _his_ pain for the troubles that have happened; she shares the uneasiness that his present position must give him; she would like a battle, in order to have him win, and yet she fears it. Nothing escapes her; she is worse than I. This affliction which, in one aspect, gives me some pleasure because it proves her merit, gives me also great uneasiness about her health, which seems to have changed. Milk had done her some good and her fine colour was returning; but all these troubles distress her; and she is capable of prolonged grief; we saw after the death of Monsieur how long she felt it; and she is still feeling it.

_To M. le Duc de Noailles._

SAINT-CYR, June 13, 1710.

We are awaiting the dispensation from Rome to marry the Duc de Berry; there would be many things to write you about that if prudence did not restrain me; but it is time to have a little of that virtue. There will be no fêtes, rejoicings, or expense; all will be done with regard to the present condition of affairs....

Our tall Princesse de Conti is greatly afflicted by the death of the Duchesse de la Vallière. She is hurt that the king has not been to see her; but he thought he ought not to renew a matter of which he repents daily. The princess no longer conceals her piety, and she sets a great example to the Court with much sense and courage. We shall go to Marly immediately after the wedding; I have some impatience to see two little rooms next the chapel, which the king has given me that I may go and rest sometimes, and get away from the annoyance of visitors in the morning.

The Duchesse de Bourgogne becomes more sensible every day. She is to be trusted with the feeding and education of the Duchesse de Berry, who for some time to come is not to have an establishment of her own. People are beginning to say, however, that a contract of marriage cannot be made without giving an appanage; and the king may give them that which Mme. de Guise once had. No one has ever seen a better household than that of the Duc and Duchesse d'Orléans; they are never apart, and they take all their pleasures together. It is thought that Mme. de Saint-Simon will be lady of honour.

The whole talk now is of the new chapel [the present chapel at Versailles]; every one is rushing from all parts to see it; it is magnificent; I have not enough good taste to judge as to the rest.

In addition to my other woes I have a toothache, which does not make me gay. Let us all take courage and hope in the vicissitudes of this world. Adieu, Monsieur le Duc.

_To Mme. la Princesse des Ursins._

VERSAILLES, December 15, 1710.

I consulted M. Fagon this morning to know if he approved of your taking back with you to Madrid the waters of Barège; he tells me that he has written in favour of it to your physicians, and told them of the experiments made by Gervais in that matter.

Though I know that your queen is above all other women, I cannot help feeling for what disfigures her. [The Queen of Spain, Louise de Savoie, had glandular swellings, which increased terribly and finally killed her February, 1714, just two years after her sister's death.] I entreat you, madame, to send me news of her condition.

You must allow me, madame, to pour out to you my feelings about the Duchesse de Bourgogne. After having borne with much discussion as to the bad system I had pursued in her education; after being blamed by all the world for the liberties she has taken in running about from morning till night; after seeing her hated by some for never saying a word, and accused of horrible dissimulation in the attachment she has shown to the king and the goodness with which she honoured me, I see her to-day with all the world chanting her praises, believing in her good heart, also in her great mind, and agreeing that she knows well how to hold a large Court to respect; I see her adored by the Duc de Bourgogne, tenderly beloved by the king, who has just placed her household in her own hands to manage as she likes, saying publicly that she is capable of governing much greater things. I tell you of my joy about all this, madame, convinced that you will be glad of it, for you were the first to discover, sooner than others, the merits of our princess.

Mme. la Duchesse de Berry is still a child; her husband loves her passionately. M. le Dauphin said last night that he himself was the man in the world who had made the most good husbands. May God preserve them all.

_To Mme. la Princesse des Ursins._

SAINT-CYR, November 30, 1711.

We have no courier to-day, madame; perhaps he is delayed by the floods that surround us on all sides. For a month it has rained every day and all night too; but no matter, we are soon apparently to have peace. The passports have been sent; the Dutch are beginning to change their ideas; Philippe V. and his amiable descendants will reign securely on the throne of Spain; I have always hoped for a miracle in his favour: and _we_ shall profit by what is now to happen to him--which he has deserved far more than we. I still hope, old as I am, to see the King of England return to his kingdom.

What glory for our king, madame, to have sustained a ten years' war against all Europe, endured the misfortunes which arose, experienced famine and a species of pestilence that carried off millions of souls, and now to see it end in a peace which places the monarchy of Spain in his family, and re-establishes a Catholic king in his kingdom--for I will not doubt that that will follow upon peace. The king is blest with a health which makes me hope he will long enjoy the rest he is now to have. I think you sufficiently a Frenchwoman (in spite of all my insults) to rejoice with us.

Mme. la Dauphine takes eagerly to this subject of joy; she revels in it to its fullest extent; she imagines the happiness of her mother, and often talks to me of that of your queen. She intends to do something on the day peace is concluded that she has never done before in her life and never will do again; but she has not yet found out what it shall be. Meantime she is going to the Te Deum at Notre-Dame, to dinner with the Duchesse du Lude in a beautiful new house, after that to the opera, and to sup with the Prince de Rohan in that magnificent hôtel de Guise, then cards and a ball all night, and as the hour of her return will be that of my waking, she will probably come and ask me for some breakfast on arriving. I think, madame, that you would find such a day rather long in spite of its pleasures.

M. le Comte de Toulouse was extremely well until the twenty-first day after the operation, when the king went to see him, and the whole Court, with French indiscretion, went also, which threw him into a fever.

_To Mme. la Princesse des Ursins._

VERSAILLES, January 11, 1712.

I do not know, madame, if the courier of to-day will bring me letters from you; but I have one by M. de Torcy's courier and another by the last courier to answer.

It is true, madame, that Madame la Dauphine does greatly regret her youth; there is, however, ground to hope that she will always amuse herself, for she has within her a fund of inexhaustible joy; and if we are fortunate enough to have peace, it is probable that she will always be very happy. Her great gayety does not prevent great sympathy in trouble; she has keenly felt the uncertainty which the King and Queen of Spain have borne; she suffers much on account of her father; but there is no Frenchwoman more attached to the welfare of this country than she; so that I think she never can be held in when all these subjects of distress are lifted from her. She has reason to be happy; she is well married, much beloved by the king and dauphin, and she truly makes the enjoyment of the whole Court. There are days when she has attacks of fever, and then the courtiers are in consternation, and cry out about the irreparable loss she would be to them. The people love her much because she lets herself be seen very readily; she has the most pleasing children she could possibly desire, less handsome than yours, but very vigorous, and perfect pictures,--graceful like herself, and showing already much intelligence.

If we may judge of the king's life by the present state of his health we may hope that it will last as long as that of the Marquis de Mancera, for their _régime_ is about the same; there is no retrenchment in the meals that you know of; no diminution in the fine appearance, the habit of walking, in fact the whole figure, which you know, madame, is superior to that of all others. M. le Grand, who eats as much as the king and is much younger, is broken down with rheumatism, and can hardly drag himself about. M. de Villeroy always looks finely, but his sobriety does not save him from gout; M. le Duc de Grammont never has a day's health. These are the contemporaries and the strongest men of his time.

You will probably hear of a little scene with the Duchesse de Berry, who gives much anxiety to Madame, and to the Duchesse d'Orléans. We must hope for some change in a young person only sixteen years old. Why, madame, do you speak to me of respectful attachment? Are you not, as it were, making game of me? You owe me, madame, merely a little friendship in return for the sentiments I have for you. I beg you to place me at the feet of the king and queen; and to believe that I shall esteem and love you all my life; I do not think that in saying that I am wanting in respect.

_To Mme. la Princesse des Ursins._

February 7, 1712.

I do not know, madame, how I shall have strength to write you of the horrors that surround us. Measles are making great ravages in Paris. M. de Gondrin was buried yesterday; his wife has measles and continued fever with a dead child in her body; she wants to rise at every moment and go to her husband, who they dare not tell her is dead. Mme. la Dauphine has an inflammation in the head, which gives her a fixed pain between the ear and the upper end of the jaw; the place of the pain is so small that it could be covered by a thumb-nail. She has convulsions and screams like a woman in childbirth, and with the same intervals. She was bled twice yesterday and has taken opium three times, and seems a little more quiet at this moment. I am now going to her; and will close this at the last moment to give you the latest news.

Seven o'clock at night.

Mme. la Dauphine, having taken a fourth dose of opium and chewed and smoked tobacco, feels a little easier. They have just come to tell me that she has slept an hour, and hopes to sleep a long time.

[The dauphine died February 12, the dauphin February 18; and their eldest son, the Duc de Bretagne, March 8, leaving the infant Duc d'Anjou (Louis XV.) as the sole direct descendant of Louis XIV.]

_To Mme. la Princesse des Ursins._

VERSAILLES, February 22, 1712.

You will have heard the unhappy news; it is such that I cannot tell it to you in detail. The grief of the king is too great. All France is in consternation. My own state must not hinder me from thinking often of their Catholic Majesties; I beg you, madame, to assure them of this. The King of Spain loses a saint in losing his brother; the queen is fortunate in never having known our dauphine [she was a little child when Marie-Adélaïde left Savoie]. Adieu, madame; I am quite unable to write you any details.

_To M. le Duc de Beauvilliers._

SAINT-CYR, March 15, 1712.

To put your mind at ease, monsieur, I have taken copies of all your writings [found among the dauphin's papers], and I send them all to you, without exception. Secrecy would have been kept, but circumstances might arise to reveal everything. We have just passed through a sad experience. I should have liked to return to you all the letters from yourself, and from M. de Cambrai [Fénelon], but the king desired to burn them himself. I own to you that I regret this much, for nothing was ever written so beautiful and so good. If the prince we mourn had a few defects it was not because the counsel given him was too timid, nor yet that he was too much flattered. It may be said that those who walk straight can never be confounded.

_To Mme. la Princesse des Ursins._

SAINT-CYR, September 11, 1715.

You are very good, madame, to think of me in the great event that has just happened [death of Louis XIV., September 1, 1715]. We can but bow our heads beneath the hand that strikes us.

I would with all my heart, madame, that your condition were as happy as mine. I have seen the king die like a saint and a hero; I am in the most pleasing retreat I could desire; and wherever I am, madame, I shall be, all my life, your very humble and very obedient servant.

_To Mme. la Princesse des Ursins._

SAINT-CYR, December 27, 1715.

It is true, madame, that I have withdrawn from the world as much as possible, and that if my friends were a little less kind to me, I should henceforth see no one. But it is true also that I do not forget those I have esteemed, loved, and honoured, and that I think very often of you, wishing for you that which I believe to be the best of all things. I supposed, madame, that you would go to Rome, and I am very glad that you have done so for the sake of your eyes. Mine have had a different fate. I have left off the spectacles I began thirty-five years ago to wear, and I now work tapestry day and night--for I sleep but little. My retreat is peaceful and most complete. As for society, one can have none with persons who have no knowledge of all that I have seen and who have been brought up in this house and know absolutely nothing but its rules.

There is no state on earth, madame, that does not have its troubles; your good mind, your courage, and your blood have always diminished yours. Our Maréchal de Villeroy scarcely ever sees me now; but he does me kindnesses every day of his life. He is the refuge of the miserable. You would be satisfied with the public opinion of his merit; I know men who do not like him who, nevertheless, cannot help admitting that he makes a noble personage.

Believe me, madame, that I can never forget the marks of your goodness to me, and that I shall die with the same attachment as ever to you.

* * * * *

[Mme. de Maintenon died at Saint-Cyr, April 15, 1719, in the eighty-fifth year of her age.]

INDEX.

BERRY (Charles, Duc de), 62, 210, 314.

BERRY (Marie Louise Élisabeth, Duchesse de), 57, 77, 80, 116, 117,
118, 120, 122, 144, 146, 147, 148, 314, 318.

BISSY (Cardinal de), 84.

BOURGOGNE (Louis, Duc de), 86, 308, 313.

BOURGOGNE (Marie-Adélaïde de Savoie, Duchesse de), 170, 172;
Sainte-Beuve's introduction to her letters, 182-190;
letter of Louis XIV., describing her, 183, 184;
her appearance, 186;
she came of the race of the great, 186;
her letters, 187;
her levity, 187;
corrects herself, 187, 188;
did she have weaknesses of the heart? 188, 189;
her serious good qualities, 189;
mistaken charge of treachery, 189, 190;
description of her letters, 191;
arrival in France and first letter to her grandmother, 192;
letters from 1696 to 1712, 192-214;
her bad writing, 193, 194;
at the camp of Compiègne, 194;
letter to her father, 196;
to her grandmother, 197, 198;
to her mother, 198-200;
birth and death of her first child, 201;
grief at war between France and Savoie, 202;
letter to Mme. de Maintenon accepting rebuke, 204;
failing health, 204;
the Meudon cabal, 206;
letter concerning her from Duc de Bourgogne, 206;
letter to her father, 207;
the terrible winter, 208;
anxieties about the war, 209;
birth of the Duc d'Anjou (Louis XV.), 210;
marriage of Duc de Berry, 210;
letter to her father, 211;
disapproval of her father's course, 212;
hopes of peace, 213;
failing health, 214;
death, 215;
Sainte-Beuve asserts she is only rightly known in the letters of
Mme. de Maintenon and the Princesse des Ursins, 234;
her knowledge of all kinds of manual work, 284;
her thoughtlessness, 284;
her sweet docility, 294;
references to her in the letters of Mme. de Maintenon to the
Princesse des Ursins, 308-320.

BRINON (Mme. de), 235, 238.

BUONAPARTE (Marie Anne de), 233, 234.

BUONAPARTE (Napoléon de), 233, 234.

CELLAMARE (Prince), Spanish ambassador, 136.

CHAMILLY (Marquis de), 68.

CHELLES (Louise-Adélaïde d'Orléans, Abbess of), 131, 148-150.

CLÉREMBAULT (La Maréchale de), 181, 303.

CONTI (François-Louis, Prince de), 44.

CONTI (Marie-Anne, Princesse de), 46, 47, 94, 314.

CURRENCY, inflation of the, 126.

DAUPHINE (Marie-Anne-Victoire de Bavière, Mme. la), 95, 96.

DENMARK (Frederick IV., King of), 90.

DESCARTES (René), 164.

DUC (M. le), de Bourbon, 152.

DUCHESSE (Louise de Bourbon, Mme. la), 82, 83, 94, 152, 170.

ENGLAND (James II., King of), 39, 50, 66.

ENGLAND (Marie of Modena, Queen of), 50, 90, 91, 121, 122.

ENGLAND (William III., King of), 41, 42, 45.

ENGLAND (George I., King of), 66, 67, 79, 112, 114, 115, 116, 117,
152.

EUGÈNE (François-Eugène de Savoie-Carignan, called Prince), 99,
100.

FAGON (Louis XIV.'s physician), 104, 260.

FÉNELON (Archbishop of Cambrai), 68, 223, 232, 320.

FONTAINES (Mme. de), 235, 245, 254, 264.

GLAPION (Mme. de), 224, 225, 235, 300-308, 309.

GOBELIN (the Abbé de), 236, 243.

GUISE (Élisabeth d'Orléans, Duchesse de), 41.

HANOVER (Sophia, Electress of), 62.

LA CHAISE (Père de), 91.

LAW (John), 127, 145, 146, 151, 152, 156, 157, 158, 159.

LEIBNITZ (Gottfried Wilhelm), 79, 164.

LORRAINE (Duc de), 113, 114.

LORRAINE (Élisabeth-Charlotte, Duchesse de), 42, 45, 113, 114, 115,
117, 119, 120, 180.

LORRAINE (The Chevalier de), 85.

LONGUEVILLE (Mme. de), 125, 126.

LOUIS XIV., 46, 49, 51, 54, 57, 58, 65, 70-72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 81, 83, 88, 91, 92, 103, 107, 110, 124, 153, 154, 160, 161, 162, 183-185, 217, 218, 221, 230, 231, 237, 238, 239, 267, 284, 285, 286, 290, 291, 298, 299, 301-308, 309, 320.

LOUIS XV., 73, 74, 82, 100, 103, 180, 210.

LOUVOIS (François-Michel le Tellier, Marquis de), 165, 282.

MADAME (Élisabeth-Charlotte, Princess Palatine and Duchesse
d'Orléans), too old on coming to France to change her character, 41;
accident in hunting, 43;
sentiments on marriage, 43, 44;
why she lived a solitary life, 45;
prophesies the war of the Spanish succession, 46;
letter to Mme. de Maintenon, 47;
Monsieur's death, 48, 49;
her views of the Bible, 50, 51;
of Christianity, 52, 53;
the poverty of the people, 56, 58;
allusion to deaths of Duc and Duchesse de Bourgogne, 61;
her daily routine of life, 64, 65;
her portrait by Rigaud, 70;
collection of coins and medals, 55, 70;
grief at illness and death of Louis XIV., 70-72;
dislike to Paris, 72, 73, 74;
judgment on the king, 74;
determined not to meddle in affairs of State, 75;
the king's death, 75, 76;
his will, 76;
no longer at Court, 77;
had won her husband's regard, 85;
horror at her son's marriage, 85;
"sister-pacificator," 89;
her medals, 98-100;
her French spelling, 101;
why she would not interfere in State affairs, 106;
a German woman, 107;
prays for her son, 109;
asserts her ugliness, 118;
hatred of tobacco, 118, 119;
how she brought up her daughter, 120;
love for Saint-Cloud, 125;
anxiety about the regent, 131;
deplorable condition of the country, 133, 134;
recounts the distinguished talent she has known in France, 134;
her title of Madame, 143;
goes to installation of Abbess of Chelles, 148-150;
love for her illegitimate grandson, 151;
her roguishness as a child, 152;
rebuke to the Abbé Dubois, 154;
no state at Court, 156, 157;
her illness, 159;
her course of life after Monsieur's death, 160;
reconciled by the king with Mme. de Maintenon, 161;
regard and interest for Louise de La Vallière, 162, 163;
nothing so wearisome as a sermon, 163;
her Bibles, 164;
her novel-reading, 165;
her failing health, 172, 173;
horror at the depravity of Paris, 174, 175;
increasing illness, 179;
goes to the coronation of Louis XV., 180;
her last letter, and death, 181.

MADAME (Henrietta of England), 165, 166, 167.

MAINE (Louis-Auguste, Duc de), 90, 100, 103, 126, 129, 133, 134, 138,
139, 177, 178, 268, 269, 274.

MAINE (Anne-Louise-Benedicité de Bourbon-Condé, Duchesse de), 127,
130, 132, 133, 135, 138, 139, 177.

MAINTENON (Françoise d'Aubigné, Mme. de), 47, 48, 57, 59, 70, 71,
72, 74, 75, 78, 82, 83, 87, 91, 103, 104, 105, 122, 124, 132, 133, 140,
182, 186, 192, 204;
Sainte-Beuve's essay on her and on Saint-Cyr, 216-234;
portrait of her by a Dame de Saint-Cyr, 218;
her art of government, 219;
her ideal in Saint-Cyr, 226;
her precepts, 227-230;
happy only at Saint-Cyr, 231, 232;
her unconscious prediction verified, 233;
treated as a queen at last, 234;
letters to the Dames de Saint-Cyr and others, 236-267;
conversations and instructions addressed to the mistresses and
pupils of Saint-Cyr, 268-299;
herself and Mme. de Montespan, 276;
and Mlle. de Fontanges, 277;
her description of her life at Court, 300-308;
letters to the Duc de Noailles, 308;
to the Princesse des Ursins, 308-310, 321;
to Mme. de Glapion, 309;
to Mme. de Dangeau, 310;
to the Duc de Beauvilliers, 320;
death of Louis XIV., 320;
her death, 321.

MAISONFORT (Mme. de La), 223, 224.

MARIE-THÉRÈSE (The Infanta), wife of Louis XIV., 154-156.

MAZARIN (Cardinal de), 78.

MONSEIGNEUR (Louis, Dauphin), 59-61, 94, 95, 183, 302.

MONSIEUR (Philippe, Duc d'Orléans), 47, 48, 57, 81, 82, 85, 89, 90,
97, 98, 160, 166, 167, 183.

MONTESPAN (Mme. de), 124, 276.

MONTPENSIER (Louise-Élisabeth d'Orléans, Mlle. de), Queen of Spain,
176, 178.

NANGIS (Général de), 87.

NASSAU (Comte de), 40.

NOAILLES (Cardinal de), 83, 84.

NOAILLES (Duc de), 308.

ORLÉANS (Philippe Duc d'), Regent, 49, 54, 55, 60, 61, 68, 70, 72, 73, 74, 76, 76-81, 82, 87, 88, 89, 101, 102, 103, 108, 109, 110, 125, 126, 128, 131, 135, 137, 140, 147, 148, 154-157, 170, 173, 180, 312.

ORLÉANS (Françoise de Bourbon, Duchesse d'), 79, 80, 86, 88, 119,
120, 134, 135, 140, 154, 156.

PALATINATE (The), 40, 41.

PÉROU (Mme. du), mistress at Saint-Cyr, 235, 242, 253, 256, 257, 261,
263.

PETERBOROUGH (Charles Mordaunt, Earl of), 65, 66, 169.

POLIGNAC (Cardinal de), 84, 139.

PORTSMOUTH (Duchess of), 69.

PRETENDER (The), James, "Chevalier de St. George," 78, 79, 90.

RACINE (Jean), 222, 223, 224, 232.

REGENT (see Orléans, Philippe, Duc d').

RETZ (Jean-Francois Paul de Gondi, Cardinal de), 165.

RICHELIEU (Armand Jean Duplessis, Cardinal de), 87.

RICHELIEU (Louis-François-Armand Duplessis, Duc de), 141, 142, 144,
145.

RUSSIA (Peter the Great, Czar of), 104, 130, 131.

SAINT-ALBIN (The Abbé de), 150, 151, 177.

SAINTE-BEUVE (Charles-Augustin), his introduction to Madame's
correspondence, 1-33;
to the Duchesse de Bourgogne's letters, 182-190;
essay on Mme. de Maintenon at Saint-Cyr, 216-234.

SAINT-CYR (The Institution of), Sainte-Beuve's essay on it, 216-234;
its completed idea, 217, 218;
its foundation, 221;
first and tentative years, 222;
changes and permanent establishment, 224-230;
its existence after Mme. de Maintenon's death and its final
destruction, 233, 234;
Saint-Cyr, an episode in Mme. de Maintenon's life, 234;
system and arrangement of classes, 235;
letters, conversations, and instructions of Mme. de Maintenon
relating to it, 236-299.

SAINT-FRANÇOIS DE SALES, 174.

SAINT-SIMON (Louis de Rouvroy, Duc de), 116, 173, 185, 186.

SAVOIE (Vittorio Amadeo, Duc de), 182, 190, 191, 196, 197, 202, 207.

SAVOIE (Anne-Marie d'Orléans, Duchesse de), 191, 198-200.

SAVOIE (Jeanne de Nemours, Duchesse de), 192-196.

SIAM (The King of), 55.

SOISSONS (The Comtesse de), 99, 118.

SPAIN (Marie-Louise d'Orléans, Queen of), 40, 41, 46, 178.

SPAIN (Marie-Louise de Savoie, Queen of), 49, 82, 170.

STAIR (Earl of), 79, 132, 133.

SWEDEN (Christina, Queen of), 110, 111.

TORCY (J. B. Colbert, Marquis de), 92, 102, 175.

TRANSLATOR'S NOTE, 34-38.

URSINS (Anne de la Trémouille, Princesse des), 67, 68, 69, 70, 134,
136, 310-321.

VALLIÈRE (Louise, Marquise de La), 162, 163, 314.

VALOIS (Charlotte-Aglaé d'Orléans, Mlle. de), 131.

VILLARS (Maréchal de), 98, 99.

VILLEROY (Maréchal de), 321.

WALES (The Prince of), son of George I., 112, 113, 117.

WALES (Wilhelmina-Charlotte, Princess of), 67, 108, 112, 113, 115,
123.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] This portrait is the frontispiece of the present translated edition.--TR.

[2] Correspondance Complète de Madame la Duchesse d'Orléans, née Princesse Palatine, Mère du Régent; traduction entièrement nouvelle, par M. G. Brunet. Paris: Charpentier, 1891.

[3] Madame's own spelling could hardly be worse; she always spells Saint-Cloud "_Saint-Clou_."--TR.

[4] Monsieur had died on the 9th of June, and the scene between Madame and Mme. de Maintenon had taken place in the interim.--TR.

[5] Curious details as to these satirical medals will be found in a work by Klotz: _Historia numorum Contumeliosorum_, Attenbury, 1765. (French editor.)

[6] Madame here refers to the Lorraines, whose scandalous relations to Monsieur are matters of history.--TR.

[7] We remember Saint-Simon's account of Madame who "arrived howling, in full-dress." Madame will tell us herself that she never owned a dressing-gown; and as she had nothing but "full-dress" or a riding habit, her costume on this occasion seems the best she could choose.--TR.

[8] This appears to be the only letter contemporaneous with the deaths of the Duc and Duchesse de Bourgogne (to which it alludes) that has been preserved.--TR.

[9] As to this tale see the "Memoirs of the Duc de Saint-Simon, which gives Mme des Ursins own account of the affair."--TR.

[10] She was married in 1722 to Luis, Prince of the Asturias. See the "Memoirs of the Duc de Saint-Simon."--TR.

[11] So-called from her height; she was his half-sister, the daughter of Mme. de la Vallière. Mme. la Duchesse was the daughter of Mme. de Montespan.--TR.

[12] Charles-Louis Baudelot de Dairval devoted his life to the study of antiquity; was a member of the Académie des Inscriptions, and wrote a book on "The Utility of Travelling." (French editor.)

[13] _Boudins_. Littré defines them as guts filled with blood and pork fat.--TR.

[14] Louise-Élisabeth, born 1709, married January 20, 1722, to Louis, Prince of the Asturias; see Saint-Simon's account of the marriage, and her behaviour. Philippe V. abdicated in favour of Louis in 1724, but the latter dying within six months, Philippe resumed the crown. The young queen then returned to France, where she lived unnoticed and died in 1742. In Spain she had shown "the sulky, sullen temper of a dull and silly child," and continued to do so after her return to Paris.--TR.

[15] Daughter of Philippe V., brought to France to be educated and married to Louis XV.; see "Saint-Simon." The marriage never took place, and the infanta was sent back to Spain, April 5, 1725, when the treaty of alliance between Spain and Austria was signed, and France, England, and Prussia formed a counter treaty.--TR.

[16] Sainte-Beuve does not mention that this letter was written by Mme. de Maintenon to the Comte d'Ayen to soothe him for the part of Josabeth being taken from his wife. Mme. de Maintenon's diplomacy is visible.--TR.

[17] Sainte-Beuve has selected the harshest terms in which Madame has mentioned the dauphine's change of conduct. The reader will have read, earlier in this volume, Madame's other and much fuller comments, which are kind and evidently just.--TR.

[18] Saturday, September 13th, was the day of the assault of the town and of the singular scene with Mme. de Maintenon, described by Saint-Simon. See vol. i. of translated edition.--TR.

[19] This was the miscarriage which caused the memorable scene at the carp basin.--TR.

[20] "Esther," and "Athalie," of Racine; "Absalon" and "Jonathas," by Duché; "Jephté," by the Abbé Boyer.

[21] This is a confidence made at Saint-Cyr to Mme. de Glapion, one of the Dames de Saint-Cyr, whose zeal, modesty, tenderness of soul, intelligence and devotion to duty had won for her the friendship of the foundress. She narrates the conversation. (French editor.)