250 MEMOIRS OF THE DUKE OF SAINT-SIMON.

selves and answer their ends, showed to what extent they were
roasters of these arts. A new and assuredly a very original
History of France, in three large folio volumes, appeared under
the name of Father Daniel, who lived at Paris in the establish-
ment of the Jesuits. The paper and the printing of the work
were excellent; the style was admirable. Never was French
so clear, so pure, so flowing, with such happy transitions; in a
word, everything to charm and entice the reader; admirable
preface, magnificent promises, short, learned dissertations, a
pomp, an authority of *the most seductive kind. As for the
history, there was much romance in the first race, much in the
second, and much mistiness in the early times of the third. In
a word, all the work evidently appeared composed in order to
persuade people—under the simple air of a man who set aside
prejudices with discernment, and who on]y seeks the truth—
that the majority of the Kings of the first race, several of the
second, some, even of the third, were bastards, whom this defect
did not exclude from the throne, or affect in any way.

I say bluntly here what was very delicately veiled in the
work, and yet plainly seen. The effect of the book was great;
its vogue such, that everybody, even women, asked for it. The
King spoke of it to several of his Court, asked if they had read
it* the most sagacious early saw how much it was protected;
it was the sole historical book the King and Madame de
Maintenon had ever spoken of. Thus the work appeared at
Versailles upon every table, no tiling else was talked about,
marvellous eulogies were lavished upon it, which were some-
times comical in the mouths of persons either very ignorant, or
who, incapable of reading, pretended to read and relish this
book.

But this surprising success did not last. People perceived
that this history, which so cleverly unravelled the remote part,
gave but a meagre account of modern days, except in so far as
their military operations were concerned, of which even the
minutest details were recorded. Of negotiations, cabals, Court
intrigues, portraits, elevations, falls, and the main springs of
events, there was not a word in all the work, except briefly,