Chapter XXIII (2)

[98] After he succeeded his brother on the throne, he appeared, on one occasion at a Court ball, his face rouged and powdered, the body of his doublet cut low, like a woman’s, with long sleeves falling to the ground, and a string of pearls round his neck.

“Si qu’au premier abord, chacun étoit en peine
S’il voyoit un roi femme ou bien un homme reine.”

[99] The Duc d’Aumale (“Histoire des Princes de Condé”) asserts that he was also compromised by the confessions of La Môle, but, in justice to that unfortunate gentleman, we must observe that such was not the case. La Môle, though most horribly tortured, exhibited remarkable fortitude, and compromised no one, with the exception of Guillaume de Montmorency, who had already compromised himself by taking to flight.

[100] Catherine de Bourbon, Marquise d’Isles. She died unmarried in 1592.

[101] Daughter of Nicolas, Comte de Vaudémont, and Marguerite d’Egmont.

[102] It was on the occasion of his marriage that his Majesty made another attempt to provide Mlle. de Châteauneuf with a husband. This time, however, he flew at much higher game than a provost of Paris, his vassal, François de Luxembourg, being his quarry. Luxembourg had been a suitor for the hand of Louise de Lorraine, and his addresses had been very favourably received by the lady, until the appearance of the King of France in the field had put an end to his hopes. The prince had attended the _Sacre_ and the marriage, and, a day or two after the latter ceremony, his suzerain drew him aside and said: “Cousin, I have married your mistress; but I desire that, in exchange, you should marry mine.” And he offered him the hand of Mlle. de Châteauneuf. Luxembourg, making, very naturally, a distinction between the two senses attached to the word “mistress,” thanked the King for his thoughtfulness, but begged him to give him time to think the matter over. “I desire,” replied his Majesty, “that you should espouse her immediately.” The unfortunate prince then “begged very humbly that the King would grant him a week’s respite.” To which the King answered that he would give him three days only, at the expiration of which, if he were not prepared to marry the damsel, something exceedingly unpleasant would probably befall him. Before another day had dawned, Luxembourg was riding for the frontier as hard as his horse could gallop.

Soon after this episode, Mlle. de Châteauneuf was expelled both from Catherine’s squadron and the Court, for impertinence towards the young Queen. Having thus fallen into disgrace, she condescended to espouse a Florentine named Antinoti, who was intendant of the galleys at Marseilles. The marriage, however, had a tragic termination, for, “having detected him in a compromising situation with another demoiselle, she stabbed him bravely and manfully with her own hand.” Shortly afterwards, she married another Florentine, Alloviti by name, who called himself the Baron de Castellane; but, a few months later, the baron was killed in a brawl by Henri d’Angoulême, Grand Prior of France, a natural son of Henri II., by Mary Stuart’s governess, Lady Fleming, though not before he had succeeded in mortally wounding his antagonist.

[103] In February, 1576, the King of Navarre also made his escape, and promptly reverted to the Protestant faith, but he took no active part in the remainder of the war.

[104] It was in this engagement that the duke received the wound in the face which earned him, like his celebrated father, the name of “_le Balafré_.”

[105] The young lady, of course, intended to write “Monsieur.”

[106] Published by Édouard Barthélemy, “la Princesse de Condé: Charlotte Catherine de la Trémoille.”

[107] “Véritable discours de la naissance et de la vie de Monseigneur le prince de Condé jusqu’à présent, à lui desdié par le sieur de Fiefbrun,” publié par Eugène Halphen (Paris, 1861).

[108] Fiefbrun.

[109] Édouard de Barthélemy, “la Princesse de Condé: Charlotte Catherine de la Trémoille, d’après les lettres inédites conservées dans les archives de Thouars” (Paris, 1872).

[110] De Thou.

[111] Fiefbrun.

[112] It had had an eventful history during the Hundred Years’ War, when it was more than once taken and re-taken. In 1562, a daring Huguenot adventurer named Romegoux escaladed it, by means of poniards fixed in the interstices of the walls, and for some years used it as a base for his operations against the Catholics of the surrounding country.

[113] “Veritable discours de la naissance et de la vie de Mgr. le prince de Condé.”

[114] So incensed was the poor prince at these pleasantries that when his cousin summoned him to attend a Protestant conference at Bergerac, he declined to obey.

[115] De Thou.

[116] Édouard de Barthélemy, “La Princesse de Condé: Charlotte Catherine de La Trémoille.”

[117] The Marquis de Conti had gone to Strasbourg to take the nominal command of the Germans.

[118] The Duc d’Aumale (“Histoire des Princes de Condé”) says that the princess remained at Saint-Jean-d’Angely, but this is incorrect.

[119] Duc d’Aumale, “Histoire des Princes de Condé.”

[120] “Rapport des médecins et chirurgiens sur la mort de Monseigneur le Prince de Condé,” published by Édouard Barthélemy, “La Princesse de Condé: Charlotte Catherine de la Trémoille.”

[121] She was three months pregnant.

[122] “Rapport des médecins et chirurgiens sur la mort de Monseigneur le Prince de Condé.”

[123] “Lettres missives de Henri IV.”

[124] The King of Navarre to M. de Scorbiac, 11 March, 1588.

[125] He was a lad of about sixteen, a Périgourdin.

[126] His name was Antoine Corbais, and he was a native of La Fère.

[127] They could not, of course, arrest the man within the town, since it was in the hands of the Catholics.

[128] “Lettres missives de Henri IV.”

[129] Published by the Duc d’Aumale, “Histoire des Princes de Condé.”

[130] Presumably, the Cardinals de Bourbon and de Guise.

[131] “Bibliothèque Nationale,” Brienne Collection, published by Eugène Halphen in his introduction to Fiefbrun.

[132] Memoir published by Édouard de Barthélemy, “la Princesse de Condé: Charlotte Catherine de la Trémoille.”

[133] Édouard de Barthélemy, “Charlotte Catherine de la Trémoille, Princesse de Condé.”

[134] E. Halphen, “Introduction to Fiefbrun.”

[135] Until the death of his eldest brother François, Maréchal Duc de Montmorency, in 1577, Henri de Montmorency had borne the title of Baron de Damville, which was now assumed by the third of the Montmorency brothers, until then known as the Seigneur de Méru.

[136] Natural daughter of Henri II. by Filippa le Duc, a Piedmontese girl of humble origin, and not of Diane de Poitiers, as several historians have wrongly stated. She married, first, Orazio Farnese, Duke of Castro, and, _en secondes noces_, François de Montmorency, elder brother of the Constable.

[137] Afterwards Duc d’Angoulême. He was a natural son of Charles IX. by Marie Touché, and had married Charlotte de Montmorency, daughter of the Connétable Henri de Montmorency.

[138] Désormeaux.

[139] He was a Portuguese Dominican monk, who settled in France, and became Almoner to Henri IV. and confessor to the Dowager-Princesse de Condé.

[140] “Rerum ab Henrici Borbonis Franciae protoprincipis majoribus gestarum Epitome.”

[141] “Recueil de l’Academie des inscriptions et belles-lettres.” Halphen.

[142] Letter of Pisani to Villeroy, 5 March, 1598, cited by the Duc d’Aumale.

[143] The Abbey of Saint-Maur-des-Fossés, situated a little beyond the Bois de Vincennes, had been secularized in 1533, and afterwards sold to Catherine de’ Medici, from whose executors the Dowager-Princesse de Condé had recently purchased it. It afterwards became one of the favourite country-seats of the Condés.

[144] Cardinal Bentiviglio, “Relazioni.”

[145] By his second wife, Louise de Budos, a woman of middling birth, but of such extraordinary beauty that some persons attributed it to supernatural agency.

[146] “Relazioni.”

[147] Maréchal de Bassompierre, “Mémoires.”

[148] The Dowager-Princesse de Condé was, through her mother, a niece of the Constable.

[149] L’Estoile.

[150] “Mon ami--_M. le Prince_ (Condé) est icy qui faict le diable; vous seriez en colère et auriez honte des choses qu’il dit de moi; enfin, la patience m’échappera et je me resous de bien parler à lui” (Henri IV. to Sully, 9 June, 1609).

[151] André Chénier, “les Poésies de Malherbe.”

[152] Henrard, “Henri IV. et la Princesse de Condé.”

[153] Tallemant des Réaux, “Historiettes.”

[154] Cited by the Duc d’Aumale, “Histoire des Princes de Condé.”

[155] Claude Enoch Virey (1566–1636). He was a Doctor of Laws, had fought as a Catholic volunteer in Henri IV.’s army at the battles of Arques and Ivry and at the sieges of Paris and Rouen, and was a poet of some distinction. The Président de Harlay, whose life he had saved on the Day of the Barricades, procured him a post on the educational staff of the young Condé, and he was subsequently appointed his private secretary.

[156] Duc d’Aumale, “Histoire des Princes de Condé.”

[157] In May, 1598, Philip II. had ceded the Netherlands, the Franche-Comté, and the Charolais to his daughter Isabelle. The Archduke Albert, brother of the Emperor Rudolph, at that time governor of the Netherlands, renounced Holy Orders in order to marry the princess; and the pair had since exercised a sort of vice-regal authority, with very extensive powers. Their contemporaries always called them “the Archdukes.”

[158] Éléonore de Bourbon had married Philip William, of Nassau, Prince of Orange, eldest son of William the Silent, in 1606.

[159] Spinola, who had come to the Netherlands in 1602, at the head of a force maintained, like the old _condottieri_, at his own expense, had, after the reduction of Ostend, been given the command of all the Spanish and Italian troops in Flanders.

[160] Simancas Collection, cited by the Duc d’Aumale, “Histoire des Princes de Condé.”

[161] Cardinal Bentivoglio, “Relazioni.”

[162] Letter of Jehan Simon, secretary to the Flemish Ambassador in Paris, to Pretorius, Secretary of State at Brussels, cited by Henrard, “Henri IV. et la Princesse de Condé.”

[163] Duc d’Aumale, “Histoire des Princes de Condé.” Cardinal Bentivoglio, “Relazioni.”

[164] “Henry of Navarre and the Huguenots in France.”

[165] Pecquius to the Archduke Albert, 28 April, 1610. It appears to have been on this occasion that Père Cotton begged the Flemish Ambassador to intimate to the Archdukes that, though the solemn promise which they had given Condé might prevent them from surrendering his wife, they might, without any undue strain to their consciences, connive at her escape, since it was undoubtedly their duty to do everything in their power to avert so terrible a calamity as war. But this insidious suggestion their Highnesses very honourably declined to entertain.

[166] “L’Estoile.”

[167] The regency in France belonged, in theory, to the first Prince of the Blood. As, however, Catherine de’ Medici had created a precedent in the Queen-Mother’s favour, and, as Henri IV. had as good as named her Regent, Marie de’ Medici had seized the office immediately on the late King’s death. But for the circumstance that Condé was in exile at the time, it is open to question whether she would have been permitted to do this.

[168] “Journal historique et anecdote de la Cour et de Paris,” MSS. of Conrart, cited by Victor Cousin, “la Jeunesse de Madame de Longueville.” The chronicler speaks frequently of the prince’s ill-treatment of his wife, for which he appears to think there was no justification.

[169] “Journal historique et anecdote de la Cour et de Paris.”

[170] In the preamble of this document, Louis XIII. strove to throw the responsibility for his cousin’s long detention upon Marie de’ Medici and her adherents, although the real cause seems to have been the fears of Luynes lest Condé should attempt to dispute his ascendency over the young King. “Being informed,” said his Majesty, “of the reasons by which his detention has been excused, I have found that there was no cause save the machinations and evil designs of his enemies.”

[171] Enghien is the modern spelling; in the seventeenth century it was written Anguien.

[172] Lenet, “Mémoires.”

[173] Madame de Motteville, “Mémoires.”

[174] By a will made shortly before his death, the Duc de Montmorency, who left no children, had designated as heir to the greater part of his immense estates the little François de Montmorency-Boutteville, afterwards the celebrated Maréchal de Luxembourg, the posthumous son of the Comte de Montmorency-Boutteville, executed for duelling in 1627. But the duke’s condemnation rendered this document of no effect, and the whole of his property reverted to the Crown. Louis XIII., however, contented himself with retaining possession of Chantilly and Dammartin, for the sake of the hunting, without, however, uniting them to his demesne, and caused the rest of the property to be divided between the Princesse de Condé and her two sisters, Richelieu, we may presume, not being minded to set up another great feudal noble in the place of the deceased duke.

[175] Lenet, “Mémoires.”

[176] Mlle. de Montpensier, “Mémoires.”

[177] According to Tallemant des Réaux, at one time, the poor woman imagined that she was made of glass, and never sat down except with infinite precautions; at another, she thought that her hands and feet had turned to ice, and was continually warming them, even in the hottest weather.

[178] Duc d’Aumale, “Histoire des Princes de Condé.”

[179] Letter of Henri Arnauld to Barillon, April 11, 1640, cited by Homberg and Jousselin, “la Femme du Grand Condé.”

[180] Mademoiselle de Montpensier, “Mémoires.”

[181] Earl Stanhope, “Life of Louis, Prince de Condé, surnamed the Great.”

[182] “Archives de Chantilly,” cited by the Duc d’Aumale.

[183] Mademoiselle de Montpensier, “Mémoires.”

[184] “La Femme du Grand Condé.”

[185] Letter of Henri Arnauld to the President Barillon, cited by MM. Homberg and Jousselin, “la Femme du Grand Condé.”

[186] Letter of 30 July, 1643, published by the Duc d’Aumale.

[187] According to some chroniclers, such was his emotion at parting from his inamorata, that he fell down in a swoon at her feet.

[188] There were two convents of Carmelite nuns in Paris at this period, one in the Faubourg Saint-Jacques, the other in the Rue Chapon. The first, which was the parent-house of the order in France, was known as the “_Grandes Carmélites_.”

[189] Published by MM. Homberg et Jousselin, “la Femme du Grand Condé.”

[190] Letter of Mère Agnes de Jésus, Prioress of the Carmelites of the Faubourg Saint-Jacques, to Mlle. d’Épernon, cited by Victor Cousin, “la Jeunesse de Madame de Longueville.”

[191] Voiture.

[192] Lenet, “Mémoires.”

[193] Marie de Bretagne, daughter of the Comte de Vertus, and wife of Hercule de Rohan, Duc de Montbazon.

[194] Madame de Motteville, “Mémoires.”

[195] Letter of 18 August, 1646, Archives de Chantilly, cited by MM. Homberg and Jousselin, “la Femme du Grand Condé.”

[196] Madame de Motteville, “Mémoires.”

[197] “Histoire des Princes de Condé.”

[198] It must be admitted that she had some excuse for her conduct, as the deceased duke had been far from a faithful husband, and had gone into his last fight with a garter of his lady-love, Mlle. de Guerchy, bound round his arm.

[199] Duchesse de Nemours, “Mémoires.”

[200] On his father becoming Prince de Condé, the little Duc d’Albret had assumed the title of Duc d’Enghien.

[201] La Rochefoucauld, “Mémoires.”

[202] In his negotiations with the Court, Madame de Châtillon had persuaded Condé to stipulate that her services in the cause of peace and concord should be recognized by a _gratification_ of 100,000 écus.

[203] In the night of 19–20 September, 1652, the Princesse de Condé gave birth to a son. The little prince, who was baptized Louis de Bordeaux and received the title of Duc de Bourbon, only lived a few weeks.

[204] Lenet, “Mémoires.”

[205] Archives de Chantilly, cited by the Duc d’Aumale.

[206] “Gazette de France,” January, 1660.

[207]

“J’ai vu le temps de la bonne régence,
Temps où régnait une heureuse abondance,
Temps où la ville aussi bien que la cour
Ne respirait que les jeux et l’amour.”
Saint-Évremond, “Stances à Ninon.”

[208] Louise Marie de Gonzague. She had married in 1645 Ladislas IV. King of Poland, and, after his death, she became wife of his brother, John Casimir.

[209] Letters of 28 September, 7 and 8 October, published by the Duc d’Aumale.

[210] “Gazette de France,” 17 January, 1671.

[211] By a separate deed, the princess was permitted to dispose as she wished of her jewels and plate.

[212] Roger de Rabutin, Comte de Bussy (1618–1693), the celebrated letter-writer and author of the scandalous “Histoire amoureuse des Gaules,” which procured him a year in the Bastille and a sixteen years’ exile from the Court.

[213] Letter of 23 January, 1671.

[214] The best informed of all, the Duc d’Aumale, adopts a neutral attitude, being of opinion that there is not sufficient evidence to condemn either Condé or his wife.

[215] “Life of Louis, Prince of Condé, surnamed the Great.” It should be mentioned that the distinguished historian declines to believe that the princess had as yet exhibited any signs of insanity, but in this he is quite mistaken.

[216] The seigneurie of Châteauroux was in 1497 erected into a county in favour of André de Chauvigny. In 1613 it was acquired by Henri II., Prince de Condé, who, three years later, obtained letters-patent evicting it into a duchy-peerage.

[217] “Père Tixier,” by MM. Lemoine and Lichtenberger, “Revue de Paris,” 15 November, 1903.

[218] Bishop Burnet, “History of his own Time.”

[219] Saint-Évremond, “Stances irrégulières.”

[220] Bossuet, “Oraison funèbre du Grand Condé.”

[221] Charles François Frédéric de Montmorency-Boutteville.

[222] Marie de Clérambault.

[223] Madame de Caylus.

[224] Saint-Simon.

[225] Philippi Mancini. Mazarin had bequeathed to him the duchy-peerage of Nivernois and Donzois, which he had purchased from the Duke of Mantua, in 1659.

[226] See the author’s “The Fascinating Duc de Richelieu” (London, Methuen; New York, Scribner, 1910).

[227] The Duc de Nevers had inherited under his uncle’s will the Palazzo Mazarini, at the foot of the Quirinal, and frequently spent the winter there.

[228] This episode occurred in 1688, nearly two years after the death of the Great Condé, when _Monsieur le Duc_ had become _Monsieur le Prince_.

[229] The Grand Dauphin, only son of Louis XIV.

[230] Marie Charlotte de la Meilleraye-Mazarin. She was a daughter of Armand de la Porte-Meilleraye-Mazarin, Duc de Mazarin, and the beautiful Hortense Mancini, Mazarin’s favourite niece. On his marriage, the former added the cardinal’s name to his patronymic, and was created Duc de Mazarin.

[231] Madame de Richelieu was, of course, an Italian on her mother’s side.

[232] 1. Marie Thérèse de Bourbon, born 1 February, 1666; married in 1688 Louis François, Prince de Conti; died in 1732.

2. Louis de Bourbon, born 11 October, 1668; became Louis III., Prince de Condé in 1709; died the following year.

3. Anne Marie Victoire de Bourbon, Mlle. de Condé, born 11 August, 1675; died unmarried 23 October, 1700.

4. Anne Louise Bénédicte de Bourbon, Mlle. de Charolais, born 8 November, 1676; married in 1692 the Duc de Maine, son of Louis XIV. and Madame de Montespan.

5. Marie Anne de Bourbon, called Mlle. de Montmorency, and later Mlle. d’Enghien, born 24 February, 1678; married in 1710 the Duc de Vendôme; died in 1718.

[233] Jean Auguste Deschamps, Sieur de Cotecoste.

[234] Duc d’Aumale, “Histoire des Princes de Condé.”

[235] Louis Armand de Bourbon (1661–1685). He must not be confused with his younger, and far more celebrated brother, François Louis de Bourbon (1664–1709) who succeeded him in the title, up to which time he was known as the Prince de la Roche-sur-Yon.

[236] “I will tell you a great piece of news; it is that _Monsieur le Prince_ was shaved yesterday. This is no mere rumour or gossip; it is a fact; all the Court witnessed it; and Madame de Langeron, choosing the time when he had his paws folded like a lion, made him put on a _justaucorps_ with diamond buttons. A _valet de chambre_ also, taking advantage of his patience, curled his hair, powdered it, and at last reduced him into being only the best-looking man at Court, and with a head of hair that puts all wigs out of competition. This was the prodigy of the wedding.”--Letter of 17 January, 1680.

[237] The Great Condé, who was tall, used to say, laughing, that, if his race thus continued to dwindle, it would at last come to nothing.

[238] “Souvenirs et Correspondance de Madame de Caylus.”

[239] “Souvenirs et Correspondance de Madame de Caylus.”

[240] Louis Joseph de Bourbon, Prince de Condé, “Histoire de la Maison de Bourbon.”

[241] Mademoiselle de Montpensier, “Mémoires.”

[242] MM. Homberg & Jousselin, “la Femme du Grand Condé.” During the Revolution, some ruffians forced open the chapel in which was the tomb of the unfortunate princess, carried off the leaden coffin and scattered its contents.

[243] Désormeaux, “Histoire de la Maison de Bourbon”; Stanhope, “Life of Louis, Prince de Condé, surnamed the Great.”

[244] “Histoire de Madame de Muci,” par Mlle. B---- (Valdory), Amsterdam, 1731; “le Nouveau Siècle de Louis XIV.”; Desnoiresterres, “les Cours galantes.”

[245] “Mémoires du Comte de Maurepas.”

[246] Her chief pleasure appears to have been gambling, which is scarcely surprising, when we consider that she was the daughter of a woman who had been accustomed to win and lose several hundred thousand francs at a single sitting, and had on one memorable occasion lost over two million. In May, 1700, Dangeau informs us that _Madame la Duchesse_ wrote to Madame de Maintenon to tell her that she had lost “from 10,000 to 12,000 pistoles [from 100,000 to 120,000 livres], which it was impossible for her to pay just then.” Madame de Maintenon showed the letter to the King and begged him to come to his daughter’s assistance. His Majesty consented, and, after requesting that a detailed statement of the whole of the lady’s liabilities should be drawn up and submitted to him, paid them in full, without saying a word to her husband, which was distinctly kind of him.

[247] In the _chansons_ attributed to her, some of which are undeniably clever, she exercised her satirical wit at the expense of the Duc and Duchesse de Bourgogne, Madame de Maintenon, her husband, and even her royal father.

[248] Saint-Simon.

[249] Saint-Simon.

[250] Ibid.

[251] But, if we are to believe Saint-Simon, her heart was partially occupied by the Comte de Léon, a son of the amorous Lassay by his first marriage, who, “although he had the face of a monkey, was perfectly well-made.”

[252] Here is the list:

1. Marie Gabrielle Éléonore (1690–1760), Abbess of
Saint-Antoine-lez-Paris.
2. Louis Henri, Duc de Bourbon, Prince de Condé (1692–1740).
3. Louise Elisabeth, Mlle. de Bourbon (1693–1775).
4. Louise Anne, Mlle. de Charolais (1697–1741).
5. Marie Anne, Mlle. de Clermont (1697–1741).
6. Charles, Comte de Charolais (1700–1760).
7. Henriette Louise Marie Françoise Gabrielle, Mlle. de
Vermandois (born in 1703).
8. Elisabeth Alexandre, Mlle. de Sens (1705–1765).
9. Louis, Comte de Clermont (1709–1771).

[253] Saint-Simon.

[254] Saint-Simon.

[255] “Madame de Prie (1698–1727),” Paris, 1905.

[256] “Correspondance complète de Madame, duchesse d’Orléans,” Letter of 27 Septembre, 1720.

[257] H. Thirion, “Madame de Prie.”

[258] Henri Martin, “Histoire de France jusqu’en 1789.”

[259] Saint-Simon.

[260] Gérard Michel, Seigneur de la Jonchère.

[261] The Emergency War Fund had been instituted by Louis XIV.’s celebrated War Minister, Louvois, who wished to have large sums of money always at hand for his great projects, without being obliged to take the Minister of Finance into his confidence, and was maintained, in time of war, by contributions levied on conquered territory, and, in time of peace, by a variety of means. The treasurers were not bound to render accounts annually, as in other Government offices, but were permitted to retain the money and employ it in their own affairs. This system had its advantages, but, on the other hand, it lent itself readily to malversation on the part of those who had the management of the Fund.

[262] In 1717, he had been summoned before the tribunal appointed to investigate the accounts of the commissaries and revenue-farmers, and ordered to make restitution to the amount of 600,000 livres to the State.

[263] The letter in which Breteuil received his nomination stated that Le Blanc had begged the King to permit him to retire. This was to soften his disgrace, which was none the less real.

[264] “Journal de Barbier,” December, 1723.

[265] Louis XV.’s love of play first revealed itself towards the end of 1722. In July, 1724, Marais writes that “the King is a terrible gambler.”

[266] The total amount of the defalcations was estimated at 12,000,000 livres at the very least.

[267] See his “Histoire de la Régence,” and the author’s “The Fascinating Duc de Richelieu” (London, Methuen: New York, Scribner, 1910).

[268] The Tournelle was the court of criminal jurisdiction of the Parlement.

[269] Président Hénault, “Mémoires.” But, according to Coxe (“History of the House of Austria”), Isabella Farnese was anything but composed: “In the first paroxysms of rage, the Queen tore off a bracelet ornamented with a portrait of the King of France and trampled it under her foot; and Philip declared that Spain could never shed enough blood to avenge the indignity offered to his family.”

[270] This letter has been published in full by M. Thirion, in his interesting monograph on Madame de Prie.

[271] Maréchal de Villars, “Mémoires.” These orders were not to receive _Monsieur le Duc_, in case he should present himself at her apartments, and, on no consideration, to make any allusion in the presence of the King to that prince, Madame de Prie, or Pâris-Duverney.

[272] See page 280, supra.

[273] “MS. of the Bastille,” published in “la Nouvelle Revue rétrospective.”

Transcriber’s Notes:

1. Obvious printers’, punctuation and spelling errors have been corrected silently.

2. Where hyphenation is in doubt, it has been retained as in the original.

3. Some hyphenated and non-hyphenated versions of the same words have been retained as in the original.

4. Italics are shown as _xxx_.