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Memoirs of the Court of Louis XIV and the Regency
MEMOIRS OF THE COURT OF LOUIS XIV. AND OF THE REGENCY
Being the Secret Memoirs of the Mother of the Regent, MADAME
ELIZABETH-CHARLOTTE OF BAVARIA, DUCHESSE D'ORLEANS.
Complete
[Illustration: Bookcover]
[Illustration: Titlepage]
BOOK 1.
PREFACE.
The Duchesse d'Orleans, commonly though incorrectly styled the
Princess of Bavaria, was known to have maintained a very extensive
correspondence with her relations and friends in different parts of
Europe. Nearly eight hundred of her letters, written to the Princess
Wilhelmina Charlotte of Wales and the Duke Antoine-Ulric of Brunswick,
were found amongst the papers left by the Duchess Elizabeth of
Brunswick at her death, in 1767. These appeared to be so curious that
the Court of Brunswick ordered De Praun, a Privy Councillor, to make
extracts of such parts as were most interesting. A copy of his
extracts was sent to France, where it remained a long time without
being published. In 1788, however, an edition appeared, but so
mutilated and disfigured, either through the prudence of the editor or
the scissors of the censor, that the more piquant traits of the
correspondence had entirely disappeared. The bold, original
expressions of the German were modified and enfeebled by the timid
translator, and all the names of individuals and families were
suppressed, except when they carried with them no sort of
responsibility. A great many passages of the original correspondence
were omitted, while, to make up for the deficiencies, the editor
inserted a quantity of pedantic and useless notes. In spite of all
these faults and the existence of more faithful editions, this
translation was reprinted in 1807. The existence of any other edition
being unknown to its editor, it differed in nothing from the
preceding, except that the dates of some of the letters were
suppressed, a part of the notes cut out, and some passages added from
the Memoirs of Saint-Simon, together with a life, or rather panegyric,
of the Princess, which bore no slight resemblance to a village homily.
A copy of the extracts made by M. de Praun fell by some chance into
the hands of Count de Veltheim, under whose direction they were
published at Strasburg, in 1789, with no other alterations than the
correction of the obsolete and vicious orthography of the Princess.
In 1789 a work was published at Dantzick, in Germany, entitled,
Confessions of the Princess Elizabeth-Charlotte of Orleans, extracted
from her letters addressed, between the years 1702 and 1722, to her
former governess, Madame de Harling, and her husband. The editor
asserts that this correspondence amounted to nearly four hundred
letters. A great part of these are only repetitions of what she had
before written to the Princess of Wales and the Duke of Brunswick.
Since that period no new collections have appeared, although it is
sufficiently well known that other manuscripts are in existence.
In 1820 M. Schutz published at Leipsig the Life and Character of
Elizabeth-Charlotte, Duchesse d'Orleans, with an Extract of the more
remarkable parts of her Correspondence. This is made up of the two
German editions of 1789 and 1791; but the editor adopted a new
arrangement, and suppressed such of the dates and facts as he
considered useless. His suppressions, however, were not very
judicious; without dates one is at a loss to know to what epoch the
facts related by the Princess ought to be referred, and the French
proper names are as incorrect as in the edition of Strasburg.
Feeling much surprise that in France there should have been no more
authentic edition of the correspondence of the Regent-mother than the
miserable translation of 1788 and 1807, we have set about rendering a
service to the history of French manners by a new and more faithful
edition. The present is a translation of the Strasburg edition,
arranged in a more appropriate order, with the addition of such other
passages as were contained in the German collections. The dates have
been inserted wherever they appeared necessary, and notes have been
added wherever the text required explanation, or where we wished to
compare the assertions of the Princess with other testimonies. The
Princess, in the salons of the Palais Royal, wrote in a style not very
unlike that which might be expected in the present day from the
tenants of its garrets. A more complete biography than any which has
hitherto been drawn up is likewise added to the present edition. In
other respects we have faithfully followed the original Strasburg
edition. The style of the Duchess will be sometimes found a little
singular, and her chit-chat indiscreet and often audacious; but we
cannot refuse our respect to the firmness and propriety with which she
conducted herself in the midst of a hypocritical and corrupt Court.
The reader, however, must form his own judgment on the correspondence
of this extraordinary woman; our business is, not to excite a
prejudice in favour of or against her, but merely to present him with
a faithful copy of her letters.
Some doubts were expressed about the authenticity of the
correspondence when the mutilated edition of 1788 appeared; but these
have long since subsided, and its genuineness is no longer questioned.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
BOOK 1. Preface Elizabeth-Charlotte, Duchesse d'Orleans Louis XIV
Mademoiselle de Fontange Madame de la Valliere Madame de Montespan
Madame de Maintenon The Queen-Consort of Louis XIV.
BOOK 2. Philippe I., Duc d'Orleans Philippe II., Duc d'Orleans, Regent
of France The Affairs of the Regency The Duchesse d'Orleans, Consort
of the Regent The Dauphine, Princess of Bavaria. Adelaide of Savoy,
the Second Dauphine The First Dauphin The Duke of Burgundy, the Second
Dauphin Petite Madame
BOOK 3. Henrietta of England, Monsieur's First Consort The Due de
Berri The Duchesse de Berri Mademoiselle d'Orleans, Louise-Adelaide de
Chartres Mademoiselle de Valois, Consort of the Prince of Modena The
Illegitimate Children of the Regent, Duc d'Orleans The Chevalier de
Lorraine Philip V., King of Spain The Duchess, Consort of the Duc de
Bourbon The Younger Duchess Duc Louis de Bourbon Francois-Louis,
Prince de Conti La Grande Princesse de Conti The Princess Palatine,
Consort of Prince Francois-Louis de Conti The Princesse de Conti,
Louise-Elizabeth, Consort of Louis-Armand Louis-Armand, Prince de
Conti The Abbe Dubois Mr. Law
BOOK 4. Victor Amadeus II. The Grand Duchess, Consort of Cosimo II. of
Florence The Duchesse de Lorraine, Elizabeth-Charlotte d'Orleans The
Duc du Maine The Duchesse du Maine Louvois Louis XV. Anecdotes and
Historical Particulars of Various Persons Explanatory Notes
SECRET COURT MEMOIRS.
MADAME ELIZABETH-CHARLOTTE OF BAVARIA, DUCHESSE D' ORLEANS.
[Illustration: Duchesse d'Orleans and Her Children--116]
SECTION I.
If my father had loved me as well as I loved him he would never have
sent me into a country so dangerous as this, to which I came through
pure obedience and against my own inclination. Here duplicity passes
for wit, and frankness is looked upon as folly. I am neither cunning
nor mysterious. I am often told I lead too monotonous a life, and am
asked why I do not take a part in certain affairs. This is frankly
the reason: I am old; I stand more in need of repose than of
agitation, and I will begin nothing that I cannot, easily finish. I
have never learned to govern; I am not conversant with politics, nor
with state affairs, and I am now too far advanced in years to learn
things so difficult. My son, I thank God, has sense enough, and can
direct these things without me; besides, I should excite too much the
jealousy of his wife--[Marie-Francoise de Bourbon, the legitimate
daughter of Louis XIV. and of Madame de Montespan, Duchesse
d'Orleans.]--and his eldest daughter,--[Marie-Louise-Elizabeth
d'Orleans, married on the 17th of July, 1710, to Charles of France,
Duc de Berri.]--whom he loves better than me; eternal quarrels would
ensue, which would not at all suit my views. I have been tormented
enough, but I have always forborne, and have endeavoured to set a
proper example to my, son's wife and his daughter; for this kingdom
has long had the misfortune to be too much governed by women, young
and old. It is high time that men should now assume the sway, and
this is the reason which has determined me not to intermeddle. In
England, perhaps, women may reign without inconvenience; in France,
men alone should do so, in order that things may go on well. Why
should I torment myself by day and by night? I seek only peace and
repose; all that were mine are dead. For whom should I care? My time
is past. I must try to live smoothly that I may die tranquilly; and
in great public affairs it is difficult, indeed, to preserve one's
conscience spotless.
I was born at Heidelberg (1652), in the seventh month. I am
unquestionably very ugly; I have no features; my eyes are small, my
nose is short and thick, my lips long and flat. These do not
constitute much of a physiognomy. I have great hanging cheeks and a
large face; my stature is short and stout; my body and my thighs, too,
are short, and, upon the whole, I am truly a very ugly little object.
If I had not a good heart, no one could endure me. To know whether my
eyes give tokens of my possessing wit, they must be examined with a
microscope, or it will be difficult to judge. Hands more ugly than
mine are not perhaps to be found on the whole globe. The King has
often told me so, and has made me laugh at it heartily; for, not being
able to flatter even myself that I possessed any one thing which could
be called pretty, I resolved to be the first to laugh at my own
ugliness; this has succeeded as well as I could have wished, and I
must confess that I have seldom been at a loss for something to laugh
at. I am naturally somewhat melancholy; when anything happens to
afflict me, my left side swells up as if it were filled with water. I
am not good at lying in bed; as soon as I awake I must get up. I
seldom breakfast, and then only on bread and butter. I take neither
chocolate, nor coffee, nor tea, not being able to endure those foreign
drugs. I am German in all my habits, and like nothing in eating or
drinking which is not conformable to our old customs. I eat no soup
but such as I can take with milk, wine, or beer. I cannot bear broth;
whenever I eat anything of which it forms a part, I fall sick
instantly, my body swells, and I am tormented with colics. When I
take broth alone, I am compelled to vomit, even to blood, and nothing
can restore the tone to my stomach but ham and sausages.
I never had anything like French manners, and I never could assume
them, because I always considered it an honour to be born a German,
and always cherished the maxims of my own country, which are seldom in
favor here. In my youth I loved swords and guns much better than toys.
I wished to be a boy, and this desire nearly cost me my life; for,
having heard that Marie Germain had become a boy by dint of jumping, I
took such terrible jumps that it is a miracle I did not, on a hundred
occasions, break my neck. I was very gay in my youth, for which
reason I was called, in German, Rauschenplatten-gnecht. The Dauphins
of Bavaria used to say, "My poor dear mamma" (so she used always to
address me), "where do you pick up all the funny things you know?"
I remember the birth of the King of England
[George Louis, Duke of Brunswick Hanover, born the 28th of May, 1660;
proclaimed King of England the 12th of August, 1714, by the title of
George I.]
as well as if it were only yesterday (1720). I was curious and
mischievous. They had put a doll in a rosemary bush for the purpose
of making me believe it was the child of which my aunt
[Sophia of Bavaria, married, in 1658, to the Elector of Hanover, was
the paternal aunt of Madame. She was the granddaughter of James I,
and was thus declared the first in succession to the crown of England,
by Act of Parliament, 23rd March, 1707.]
had just lain in; at the same moment I heard the cries of the
Electress, who was then in the pains of childbirth. This did not
agree with the story which I had been told of the baby in the rosemary
bush; I pretended, however, to believe it, but crept to my aunt's
chamber as if I was playing at hide-and-seek with little Bulau and
Haxthausen, and concealed myself behind a screen which was placed
before the door and near the chimney. When the newly born infant was
brought to the fire I issued from my hiding-place. I deserved to be
flogged, but in honour of the happy event I got quit for a scolding.
The monks of the Convent of Ibourg, to revenge themselves for my
having unintentionally betrayed them by telling their Abbot that they
had been fishing in a pond under my window, a thing expressly
forbidden by the Abbot, once poured out white wine for me instead of
water. I said, "I do not know what is the matter with this water; the
more of it I put into my wine the stronger it becomes." The monks
replied that it was very good wine. When I got up from the table to
go into the garden, I should have fallen into the pond if I had not
been held up; I threw myself upon the ground and fell fast asleep
immediately. I was then carried into my chamber and put to bed. I
did not awake until nine o'clock in the evening, when I remembered all
that had passed. It was on a Holy Thursday; I complained to the Abbot
of the trick which had been played me by the monks, and they were put
into prison. I have often been laughed at about this Holy Thursday.
My aunt, our dear Electress (of Hanover), being at the Hague, did not
visit the Princess Royal;
[Maria-Henrietta Stuart, daughter of Charles I. of England, and of
Henriette-Marie of France, married, in 1660, to William of Nassau,
Prince of Orange; she lost her husband in 1660, and was left pregnant
with William-Henry of Nassau, Prince of Orange, and afterwards, by the
Revolution of 1688, King of England. This Princess was then
preceptress of her son, the Stadtholder of Holland.]
but the Queen of Bohemia
[Elizabeth Stuart, daughter of James I. of England, widow of Frederic
V., Duke of Bavaria, Count Palatine of the Rhine, King of Bohemia
until the year 1621, mother of the Duchess of Hanover.]
did, and took me with her. Before I set out, my aunt said to me,
"Lizette, now take care not to behave as you do in general, and do not
wander away so that you cannot be found; follow the Queen step by
step, so that she may not have to wait for you."
I replied, "Oh, aunt, you shall hear how well I will behave myself."
When we arrived at the Princess Royal's, whom I did not know, I saw
her son, whom I had often played with; after having gazed for a long
time at his mother without knowing who she was, I went back to see if
I could find any one to tell me what was this lady's name. Seeing
only the Prince of Orange, I accosted him thus,--
"Pray, tell me who is that woman with so tremendous a nose?"
He laughed and answered, "That is the Princess Royal, my mother."
I was quite stupefied. That I might compose myself, Mademoiselle
Heyde took me with the Prince into the Princess's bedchamber, where we
played at all sorts of games. I had told them to call me when the
Queen should be ready to go, and we were rolling upon a Turkey carpet
when I was summoned; I arose in great haste and ran into the hall; the
Queen was already in the antechamber. Without losing a moment, I
seized the robe of the Princess Royal, and, making her a low curtsey,
at the same moment I placed myself directly before her, and followed
the Queen step by step to her carriage; everybody was laughing, but I
had no notion of what it was at. When we returned home, the Queen
went to find my aunt, and, seating herself upon the bed, burst into a
loud laugh.
"Lizette," said she, "has made a delightful visit." And then she told
all that I had done, which made the Electress laugh even more than the
Queen. She called me to her and said,--
"Lizette, you have done right; you have revenged us well for the
haughtiness of the Princess."
My brother would have had me marry the Margrave of Dourlach, but I had
no inclination towards him because he was affected, which I never
could bear. He knew very well that I was not compelled to refuse him,
for he was married long before they thought of marrying me to
Monsieur. Still he thought fit to send to me a Doctor of Dourlach,
for the purpose of asking me whether he ought to obey his father and
marry the Princess of Holstein. I replied that he could not do better
than to obey his father; that he had promised me nothing, nor had I
pledged myself to him; but that, nevertheless, I was obliged to him
for the conduct he had thought fit to adopt. This is all that passed
between us.
Once they wanted to give me to the Duke of Courlande; it was my aunt
d'Hervod who wished to make that match. He was in love with Marianne,
the daughter of Duke Ulric of Wurtemberg; but his father and mother
would not allow him to marry her because they had fixed their eyes on
me. When, however, he came back from France on his way home, I made
such an impression on him that he would not hear of marriage, and
requested permission to join the army.
I once received a very sharp scolding in a short journey from Mannheim
to Heidelberg. I was in the carriage with my late father, who had
with him an envoy, from the Emperor, the Count of Konigseck. At this
time I was as thin and light as I am now fat and heavy. The jolting
of the carriage threw me from my seat, and I fell upon the Count; it
was not my fault, but I was nevertheless severely rebuked for it, for
my father was not a man to be trifled with, and it was always
necessary to be very circumspect in his presence.
When I think of conflagrations I am seized with a shivering fit, for I
remember how the Palatinate was ravaged for more than three months.
Whenever I went to sleep I used to think I saw Heidelberg all in
flames; then I used to wake with a start, and I very narrowly escaped
an illness in consequence of those outrages.
[The burning of the Palatinate in 1674--a horrible devastation
commanded by Louis, and executed by Turenne.]
Upon my arrival in France I was made to hold a conference with three
bishops. They all differed in their creeds, and so, taking the
quintessence of their opinions, I formed a religion of my own.
It was purely from the affection I bore to her that I refused to take
precedence of our late Electress; but making always a wide distinction
between her aid and the Duchess of Mecklenbourg, as well as our
Electress of Hanover, I did not hesitate to do so with respect to both
the latter. I also would not take precedence of my mother. In my
childhood I wished to bear her train, but she would never permit me.
I have been treated ill ever since my marriage this is in some degree
the fault of the Princess Palatine,--[Anne de Gonzague, Princess
Palatine, who took so active a part in the troubles of the
Fronde.]--who prepared my marriage contract; and it is by the contract
that the inheritance is governed. All persons bearing the title of
Madame have pensions from the King; but as they have been of the same
amount for a great many years past they are no longer sufficient.