INFLUENCE OP THE CABAL. 193

do Bourgogne was equally assiduous in augmenting the in-
fluence of the Due de Berry, whose wife had at once been
admitted without having asked into the sanctuary of the
Parvxdo. The object was to disunite the two brothers and
excite jealousy between them. In this they did not succeed
oven, in the slightest degree. But they found a formidable ally
in. the Duchesse de Berry, who proved as full of wickedness and
ambition as any among them. The Due d'Orldans often called
his Duchesso Madame Lucifer, at which she used to smile with
complacency. He was right, for she would have been a prodigy
of pride had she not had a daughter who far surpassed her.
Tli is is not yet the time to paint their portraits; but I must
give a word or two of explanation on the Duchesse de Berry.

That princess was a marvel of wit, of pride, of ingratitude
and folly—nay, of debauchery and obstinacy. Scarcely had she
Leon married a week when she began to exhibit herself in all
these lights,—not too manifestly it is true, for one of the qualities
of which she was most vain was her falsity and power of con-
cealment, but sufficient to make an impression on those around
her. People soon perceived how annoyed she was to be the
daughter of an illegitimate mother, and to have lived under her
restraint however mild; how she despised the weakness of her
father, the Due d'0rl£ans, and how confident she was of her in-
fluence over him; and how she had hated all who had inter-
fered in her marriage—merely because-she could not bear to be
•under obligations to any one—a reason she was absurd enough.
publicly to avow and boast of. Her conduct was now based
on those motives. This is an example of how in this world
people work with their heads in a sack, and how human pru-
dence and wisdom are sometimes confounded by successes
which have been reasonably desired and which turn out to be
detestable! "We had brought about this marriage to avoid a
marriage with Mademoiselle de Bourbon and to cement the
•union of the two brothers. We now discovered that there was
little danger of Mademoiselle de Bourbon, and then instead of.
her we had a Fury who had no thought but how to ruin, those
who had established her, to injure her benefactors, to make her

VOL. It. 13