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MADAME DE MAINTENON
HER LIFE AND TIMES 1635-1719

:: MADAME

MAINTEN

HER LIFE AND TIMES 1635-1719
BY C. C. DYSON & <* j*

WITH A PHOTOGRAVURE PORTRAIT
6f SIXTEEN OTHER ILLUSTRATIONS

. 3V,

'''*

DATE9UL22 1PB7

LONDON: JOHN LANE THE BODLEY HEAD
NEW YORK: JOHN LANE COMPANY MCMX

TurnbuZl 6^ Spears, Printers, Edinburgh

PREFACE

^HEOPHILE GAUTIER said that the " Bio-
graphic Universelle " is more full of romance
and entertainment than any work of fiction,
and that the " Arabian Nights " could not
vie with it in that respect.

Among all the wise, witty, wicked or beautiful women
who lived in France in the seventeenth century, a time
when everything was possible and the strangest adven-
tures were everyday facts, no figure is more striking than
that of Frangoise d'Aubigne, Mdme. de Maintenon, whose
eventful career sounded the whole gamut of fortune ;
who was born in the precincts of a prison and ended her
days as the wife of the proudest king in Europe. Her
life is also an illustration of the fact that virtue and merit
are occasionally crowned even in this world, and that this
road to fortune is less slippery than that of the passions,
and those who travel by it are less liable to reverses ;
also that a truly devout life may be lived in the
midst of the world and in the neighbourhood of a
throne.

When asked to write her experiences, Mdme. de
Maintenon refused, saying : " If I told the whole truth
it would not be believed."

People will never be tired of hearing about her, because
her life l was an enigma, which, in spite of all researches,

1 Comte d'Haussonville.

6 MADAME DE MAINTENON

has not been completely solved, though nearly two
hundred years have elapsed since she died.

About 1750 La Beaumelle obtained from the community
of St Cyr, and from the steward of the Due de Noailles,
numerous documents on which he based his fifteen
volumes of Memoirs. He has been accused of fictitious
interpolations.

In 1848 her descendant, the Due de Noailles, published
his " Life of Mdme. de Maintenon."

But the most important contributions to our know-
ledge of the subject are the numerous works of M. T.
Lavallee, the first of which was published about 1854.
M. Lavallee was a Professor at the Military College of
St Cyr, and he devoted fifteen years to the study of the
immense mass of documents relating to Mdme. de
Maintenon, and the original Institution of St Cyr, which
are preserved in the Library of the Seminary at Versailles,
and in the Archives of the Prefecture. 1

The numerous works which he has published set Mdme.
de Maintenon before the world in a new light and have
completely vindicated her character (on which aspersions
had been cast by the malignity of St Simon and the
scurrility of some other writers), and have cleared up
points on which great uncertainty had previously pre-
vailed.

Voltaire in his " History of the Age of Louis XIV."
had prepared the way for a change in public opinion by
some important and impartial pronouncements as to her
character and career.

1 They consist principally of her own letters, documents relating to
the foundation of St Cyr, and the voluminous "Memoirs of the
Community."

PREFACE 7

This work has been continued by M. Bonhomme, who
obtained some letters written by Mdme. de Maintenon
which were in the possession of a cousin, Sophie de
Villette, Abbess of Sens, who had inherited them from her
mother, Mdlle. de Marsilly, who was educated at St Cyr
under Mdme. de Maintenon's superintendence, and married
the Marquis de Villette, the cousin with whom Mdme. de
Maintenon was most intimate. M. Bonhomme published
these letters in 1863.

Another important work is that of M. Geoffrey :
" Mdme. de Maintenon d'apres sa correspondance
authentique," published 1887.

M. de Lavallee had been preparing other works on the
same subject, but his death prevented their publication.
Subsequently, his heirs and executors handed over these
manuscripts to M. Hanoteaux and Comte d'Haussonville,
Members of the French Academy, who published them
in 1902, under the title of " Souvenirs de Mdme. de
Maintenon." This work contains her last letters and the
last letters of Mdme. de Caylus, as well as the only
authentic copy of the Journal of Mdme. de Maintenon's
secretary, Mdlle. d'Aumale, and other papers left by that
lady.

The editors consider that this work completes the con-
fidences begun by Mdme. de Maintenon to the Ladies at
St Cyr, and that all Mdme. de Maintenon intended the
world to know has now been told, for she carefully de-
stroyed her own papers in 1713. It is supposed that
among them were the proofs of her marriage to Louis XIV.,
of which no documentary evidence has yet been found,
though no one now doubts that such a ceremony took
place.

8 MADAME DE MAINTENON

In 1889 M. Gelin of Niort published, in his " Francoise
d'Aubigne," some new and interesting evidence locating
her birthplace, and giving details of her early life at the
Chateau de Mursay. But the latest and most important
contribution to an accurate knowledge of Mdme. de
Maintenon's career is that of M. A. de Boislisle of the
French Institute, who, in 1904, published his " Paul
Scarron et Frangoise d'Aubigne," a reprint from the
" Revue des questions historiques."

In it he proves with regard to certain leading incidents
in Mdme. de Maintenon's life, such as her sojourn with
her parents in the West Indies and the adventures there
encountered, of which so many romantic tales are told,
the arrangement of her marriage to Scarron, the granting
of the pension on which her connection with Mdme. de
Montespan and introduction at Court were supposed to
hang, and concerning which many effective scenes have
been elaborated by many writers, . . . that the accounts
hitherto accepted are incorrect, and are merely legends,
first evolved from the imagination of the narrators and
then handed down by hearsay till they were finally
accepted as facts.

Innumerable Letters and Memoirs exist written by
persons who lived in the reign of Louis XIV. and his
successor. St Simon's Memoirs alone fill thirty volumes.

Most of these Memoirs are excellent reading, and all
contain many allusions to Mdme. de Maintenon and
accounts of various events of her life, and most diverse
opinions of her character and conduct are to be found in
them.

All histories of that age deal with her more or less at
length.

PREFACE 9

Over four thousand of her own letters have been pre-
served.

For the benefit of those who have neither the money
to buy, nor the time to study such voluminous records
of life at the Court of Louis the Great, the author, having
weighed the evidence for and against disputed points,
has extracted from the mass of superfluous matter the
leading traits of her character and the most interesting
episodes of her life, and put them together in a concise
form, hoping to give a clear conception of Mdme. de
Main tenon and her career to the present generation, who
for the most part have but an indistinct idea of her per-
sonality, and still more so of the scope of her great work,
St Cyr.

LIST OF AUTHORITIES ON WHICH
THIS LIFE IS FOUNDED

Me'moires de Mdlle. Montpensier, petite-fille de Henri IV., 1627-

1688. Ed. A. Cheruel. Paris.

Me'moires du Due de St Simon, 1693-1723. 30 Vols. Paris.
Me'moires de Mdme. de Montespan. 1690. Paris.
Siecle de Louis XIV. Par Voltaire, 1752. Paris.
Lettres et Me'moires pour servir a 1'Histoire de Mdme. de Maintenon.

15 Vols., par M. de la Beaumelle, 1789. Paris.
Les Souvenirs de Mdme. de Caylus. 1789. Paris.

Histoire de Mdme. de Maintenon et la Cour de Louis XIV. Par
M. Lafont d'Aussone, 1814. Paris.

Me'moires secretes de Mdme. de Maintenon. 1827. Paris.
Memoires secretes de la Cour de Louis XIV. D'Apres les lettres de

la Duchesse d'Orl^ans. Pub. 1830. Paris.
Mdme. de Maintenon. Par la Comtesse de Genlis, pub. 1837. Paris.

La Vie de Mdme. de Maintenon. Par le Due de Noailles, 1848.
Paris.

Galerie de Femmes celebres. Par St Beuve, 1859. Paris.
Causeries de Lundi. St Beuve, 1860. Paris.

Lettres historiques et edifiantes de Mdme. de Maintenon. Par T.
Lavallee, 1856. Paris.

Histoire de Mdme. de Maintenon et de la maison royale de St Cyr.
Par T. Lavallee, 1862. Paris.

La Famille d'Aubigne et la jeunesse de Mdme. de Maintenon et les
Me'moires de Languet de Gery, Archeveque de Sens. Par T.
Lavallee, 1863. Paris.

Correspondance gdnerale de Mdme. de Maintenon. Editee par T.
Lavallde, pub. 1865. Paris.

Mdme. de Maintenon et sa famille, d'apres des lettres ine'dites. Pub.
par H. Bonhomme, 1863. Paris.

Le Theatre de St Cyr. Par A. Taphanael, 1876. Paris.
Fragments sur Mdme. de Maintenon. E. Fournier, 1885. Paris.

12 MADAME DE MAINTENON

Mdme. de Maintenon d'apres sa correspondance authentique. Par
A. Geoffrey, 1887. Paris.

Mdme. de Maintenon et la Revocation de PEdit de Nantes. Par
A. Rosset, 1897. Paris.

Frangoise d'Aubigne. Par H. Gdlin, pub. a Niort, 1899.

Souvenirs de Mdme. de Maintenon. Par G. Hanotaux and le Comte
d'Haussonville de PAcademie Frangaise, 1902. Paris.

Paul Scarron et Francoise d'Aubigne, d'apres des documents inedits.
Par A. de Boislisle, Membre de PInstitut Francaise, 1904. Paris.

Mdme. de Maintenon et 1'e'ducation. Par Oct. Gr^ard de PAcademie
Frangaise, 1905. Paris.

CONTENTS

PAGE

PREFACE ..... 5

CHAP.

I. BIRTH AND ANCESTRY . . .19

II. GIRLHOOD . . . . .29

III. MARRIAGE . . . . .39

IV. WIDOWHOOD . . . -53
V. MDME. SCARRON is APPOINTED GOUVER-

NANTE TO THE KING'S CHILDREN . . 67

VI. GOUVERNANTE TO KlNG's CHILDREN

Continued . . . . .76

VII. MDME. SCARRON BECOMES MARQUISE DE

MAINTENON . . . .82

VIII. THE Due DU MAINE'S JOURNEY TO BAREGE 89

IX. MDME. DE MAINTENON'S PROGRESS IN

FAVOUR ..... 102

X. MDME. DE MAINTENON'S POSITION AT

COURT ..... 107

XI. DEATH OF THE QUEEN . . .119

XII. MDME. DE MAINTENON is MARRIED TO Louis

XIV 126

14 MADAME DE MAINTENON

CHAP; P AGK

XIII. PUBLIC OPINION ON THE MARRIAGE . 134

XIV. CHARACTER OF MDME. DE MAINTENON . 144
XV. COURT LIFE FROM THE INSIDE . . 159

XVI. COURT PERSONAGES . . . 173

XVII. MDME. DE MAINTENON'S RELATIONS . 185

XVIII. THE FOUNDATION OF ST CYR . . 200

XIX. ST CYR AND ITS STAFF . . . 209

XX. ST CYR MAXIMS .... 224

XXI. THE INNER CIRCLE OF MDME. DE MAINTENON 232

XXII. THE COURT AND THE WAR . . 245

XXIII. THE DUKE AND DUCHESS OF BURGUNDY . 256

XXIV. LAST YEARS OF THE REIGN OF Louis

XIV. . . . 264

XXV. CHARACTER OF Louis XIV. . . 272

XXVI. MDME. DE MAINTENON RETIRES TO END

HER DAYS AT ST CYR . . . 286

XXVII. SOME ACCOUNT OF WHAT BEFELL THOSE
MEMBERS OF MDME. DE MAINTENON'S

INNER CIRCLE WHO SURVIVED HER . 298

XXVIII. LAST DAYS OF ST CYR . . .305

INDEX .... .313

ILLUSTRATIONS

* FRANCOISE D'AUBIGN (MADAME SCARRON) . Frontispiece

FACING PAGE

CHATEAU DE MURSAY . . . .29

By permission of M. Henri Gelin, Niort, Paris.

*THE ABBE SCARRON . . . .39

* MADAME DE MONTESPAN . . . .67
Louis XIV. AS A YOUNG MAN, BY MIGNARD . 76

By permission of Sir J. Robinson.

* CHATEAU DE MAINTENON (i7TH-i8TH CENTURY) . 82
Louis AUGUSTS DE BOURBON, Due DU MAINE . 98

* Louis XIV. AT TIME OF HIS MARRIAGE TO MADAME

DE MAINTENON ..... 126

MADAME DE MAINTENON, BY MIGNARD . . 134

Reproduced from portrait in Louvre by Clement & Braun.

* MADAME DE MAINTENON IN ROYAL ERMINE . 159

BUILDINGS OF ST CYR, WITH COMMUNITY IN FORE-
GROUND ...... 200

A DAME DE ST Louis AND THREE PUPILS . 224

* MADAME DE MAINTENON IN CHAPEL . . 233
*THE DUKE OF BURGUNDY .... 245

* THE DUCHESS OF BURGUNDY . . . 256

* Louis XIV. IN OLD AGE .... 272

* CHATEAU DE MAINTENON (PRESENT DAY) . . 298

The portraits marked * are all reproduced from prints in British Museum.

MADAME DE MAINTENON

" People want romances. Why not look for them in
History? There one finds the human heart displaying its
most vivid passions in varied and dramatic scenes, and above
all, the supreme charm of reality." GUIZOT.

MADAME DE MAINTENON

CHAPTER I

BIRTH AND ANCESTRY

FRANCHISE D'AUBIGNE was granddaughter
of the great d'Aubigne of the sixteenth century.
The warrior-writer, Calvinist-Frondeur, the bold
and caustic companion of Henri Quatre. Thus
St Beuve sums him up.

To give him his full title : Theodore Agrippa d'Aubigne,
Chevalier; Seigneur de Landes et Guinemer; Baron de
Surineau ; Equerry and first Gentleman of the Chamber
to the King of Navarre ; Vice-Admiral of the West Coast ;
Governor of Rochelle, and the adjacent Isles ; Ambassador
extraordinary to Germany ; author of a history of his own
times that was much esteemed, and which he entitled
" Histoire Universelle." l

He was an ardent Protestant, and enrolled himself under
the standard of the young King of Navarre, afterwards
Henri IV. of France and Navarre.

D'Aubigne became the intimate companion of this king,
and acquired the privilege of speaking plainly to him,
without giving offence. In the Wars of the League,
d'Aubigne commanded the forces and gained many victories

1 So he is described in his marriage contract.

20 MADAME DE MAINTENON

for his king ; but after the assassination of Henri III. he
was recalled to assist at the councils. The League declared
old Cardinal de Bourbon king ; but the King of Navarre had
him arrested and sent in charge of d'Aubigne to Mallezais.

An immense sum of money and the governorship of
Belle Isle was offered to d'Aubigne, if he would connive at
the escape of his prisoner. But he replied to the envoy :
" Belle Isle would suit me well as a place to enjoy the fruits
of treason, were it not that my conscience would accom-
pany me. Go ! and if you had not come here with a safe
conduct, I would have sent you bound hand and foot to
my master."

The strength of his religious principles overpowered
even his great love for his master ; and when Henri IV., in
order to obtain the crown of France, renounced the
Protestant religion d'Aubigne at once quitted his service
and retired to his estates. But after a time his retreat
became insupportable ; he rejoined the army and in the
capacity of Lieutenant-General distinguished himself at
the siege of Rouen.

The King welcomed him warmly and showed him the scar
on his mouth, caused by an attempt to assassinate him (the
King).

" Sire," said d'Aubigne, " hitherto you have only re-
nounced God with your lips, and it has sufficed for Him to
pierce your lips ; but if some day you renounce him in
your heart, he will pierce that heart." These words must
have been remembered when a few years later Henri IV.
was stabbed to death by an assassin.

After the death of the King, d'Aubigne did not join the
party of the Regent, Maria de Medici, but associated him-
self with some other great lords, who were malcontents and

BIRTH AND ANCESTRY 21

did not cease to maintain the privileges of the Reformed
religion, and he finally rendered himself formidable to the
Court.

Later, when the forces of Louis XIII. were successful in
subduing the armies of the Reformers, d'Aubigne retired to
Geneva where he bought land and built a castle that cost
11,000 crowns ; a large sum for those days. At Geneva
he married for the second time, his second wife being a
wealthy young widow, Madame de Barbani, of the noble
family of Burlamacqui. She had no children of her own,
but became tenderly attached to those of her husband by
his first wife, Mdlle. Suzanne de Lezay, daughter of the
most noble and mighty Seigneur Ambrose de Lezay and his
wife Madame Renee de Vivonne.

So she is described in the marriage contract.

By her d'Aubigne had one son and two daughters. One
of the daughters married the Marquis de Villette ; the
other M. de Caumont d'Ade.

The only son, Constantine d'Aubigne (father of our
heroine) , was educated as befitted the brilliant position he
was heir to ; but he early gave proof of having an immoral,
vicious and treacherous disposition. He soon got tired of
studying at the Military Academy of Sedan, and escaped to
Holland, where he attained notoriety by his excesses.

He married (after returning to France) a rich widow, la
Baronne de Chatelaillon, whose reputation was almost as
bad as his own.

One day he surprised her in ftagrante delicto and killed her
and her lover with his own hand. 1

1 These facts rest on the authority of a letter of Theodore Agrippa
d'Aubigne, which was in the possession of his granddaughter (de
Caumont d'Ade) who showed it to Madame de Maintenon.

22 MADAME DE MAINTENON

He fled from the vengeance of her family and took
refuge at Geneva with his father, who procured his son's
pardon and exemption from punishment, on ground of
provocation.

Later on Constantine d' Aubigne went to England, where
he contrived to obtain the confidence of the king, Charles I.,
who empowered him to ask his famous father to undertake
the command of the expedition which the English were
about to send to assist the Protestants of La Rochelle, then
besieged by the army of Louis XIII. Constantine d' Au-
bigne conveyed these proposals to his father, and then be-
trayed the scheme to Cardinal Richelieu, who rewarded him
by confiscating the government of Mallezais and "the
Barony of Surineau, which belonged to Theodore Agrippa
d' Aubigne, and bestowing them on his son. Theodore
Agrippa solemnly disinherited his son and forbade him his
presence.

After obtaining the government of Mallezais, Constantine
d' Aubigne resumed his extravagant habits, and in order to
relieve himself of the difficulties in which his debts involved
him, he resorted to coining false money. Whether it was
for that offence only, or, as some others think, for com-
plicity in the plots of Gaston d' Orleans, which ended in the
submission of the Due d'Orleans, the execution of Mont-
morency, and imprisonment of less important accomplices,
is uncertain, but about 1625 ne was imprisoned at Chateau
Trompette, Bordeaux. He was not kept a strict prisoner,
for documents still extant prove that he was able to
associate with some of the residents of the town, that he
contracted gaming debts, composed verses, and won the
affection of Jeanne de Cardilhac, daughter of the Governor
of the Prison.

BIRTH AND ANCESTRY 23

In spite of his bad disposition Constantine d'Aubigne
possessed the art of pleasing, and was a handsome man
with fascinating manners.

His marriage with Jeanne de Cardilhac took place on
6th December 1627. This date is verified by the Marriage
Contract l drawn up by Justian, Notary of Bordeaux and
was in existence in 1798, when La Beaumelle wrote his
Memoires. Constantine d'Aubigne seems to have been
frequently transferred from one prison to another. From
Bordeaux he was moved to Poitiers, and in 1635 ne was m
the Conciergerie de Niort. During these years his wife
seems to have borne him company, though it is probable
she was not actually living in the prison buildings with him.
Indeed there is a record that while he was imprisoned at
Poitiers, she was lodging near by, at a pastrycook's house.
During these years two sons had been born to them. The
year after her marriage Madame d'Aubigne had obtained
from the tribunal at Niort an act of " separation des biens "
i.e. the right to hold property as her own, distinct from
her husband's. She may have done this in order not to be
liable for her husband's debts.

At Niort, Constantine d'Aubigne was not imprisoned at
the Castle but in the " Conciergerie du Palais de Niort "
that is, in the prisons annexed to the Palais de Justice.

An old document belonging to the Mayor of Niort, dated
1742, states that two hundred years previously the Palais
de Justice and the prisons had been transferred to the
Hotel Chaumont, which had been sold to the authorities

1 This document annihilates the fiction related by Voltaire and
others, that Jeanne de Cardilhac connived at his esape from prison,
and eloped with him, and that he afterwards married her. These
tales were invented in order to tarnish the origin of Madame de
Main tenon.

24 MADAME DE MAINTENON

by the Due de Rochechouart in the sixteenth century to be
used as a palais de justice and prison, and it was used for
those purposes till the middle of the nineteenth century. 1

In a letter referring to her husband's imprisonment at
Niort, Madame d'Aubigne says : " When I was lodging
in one of the houses surrounding the Court of the Palais
de Justice." So, though cicerones of the present day show,
on the second floor of the Castle-keep, a room in which
they say Francoise d'Aubigne was born, they have only
imagined that fact, for it was in the precincts of the
prison 2 adjoining the Palais de Justice that in October
or November 1635 Madame d'Aubigne gave birth to a
daughter, Francoise d'Aubigne, who was destined to
experience between the cradle and the grave all the
vicissitudes of fortune, and to be recognised by posterity
as one of the most remarkable women in French history.
She was baptised on the 28th November 1635. The
act was registered at the Church of Notre Dame de Niort
and deposited in the municipal archives. It is couched
in the following terms :

" On this 28th November 1635 was baptised Frangoise
daughter of Messire Constant d'Aubigne, Seigneur
d'Aubigne et de Surineau, and of Dame Jeanne de
Cardilhac.

" Her godfather was Francois de la Rochefoucault
son of the high and powerful Messire Benjamin de la
Rochefoucault, Seigneur of Estissac and Maigno ; and
her godmother was Suzanne de Beaudean, daughter of

1 See Henri Gelin's " Francoise d'Aubigne," published in" Biblio-
theque de Mercure Poitevin," at Niort, 1899.

* Only part of the Hotel Chaumont at Niort is now existing the
entrance pavilion, consisting of a tower and large hall the workshops
and small houses, probably of prison officials, which in old times
surrounded the Court have now disappeared.

BIRTH AND ANCESTRY 25

the high and powerful Charles de Beaudean, Baron de
Neuilhant * Governor for His Majesty of this town and
Castle."

Then follow the signatures :

SUZANNE DE BEAUDEAN.

FRANCOIS DE LA ROCHEFOUCAULT.
CONSTANT D'AUBIGNE.

A remarkable thing about this baptismal ceremony is
that the sponsors were children, their ages respectively
nine and ten. The godfather was the nephew of the Due
de la Rochefoucault, 2 author of the celebrated " Maxims/'
and the godmother, daughter of Baron de Neuillant, a
relative and old boon companion of Constantine d'Aubigne.
In later life this child married the Due de Navailles and
became a lady-in-waiting to the Queen, Marie Therese.

The baby may have been given the name Frangoise out
of compliment to her godfather, whose name was Francois,
or to Madame de Neuillant, the youthful godmother being
her daughter.

Madame de Neuillant, who was to play such an
important part in deciding the fate of this infant, had been
Mademoiselle Francoise Tiraqueau, and became by
marriage Baronne de Neuillant.

Although generally spoken of as the aunt of Francoise
d'Aubigne, it is rather difficult to make out what the exact
relationship was. T. Lavallee says that Madame de
Neuillant's mother was aunt of Constantine d'Aubigne's
mother, but she is not mentioned in the genealogy ; other
accounts say that Baron de Neuillant's mother was aunt to
Constantine d'Aubigne's mother. Madame de Neuillant

1 The name is generally spelt Neuillant.

8 The name is generally spelt RochefoucauJrf but I have kept to the
text of old document.

26 MADAME DE MAINTENON

certainly had a niece who married into the Laval-Lezay
family whatever the relationship was, it was certainly
acknowledged on both sides. In spite of the adverse
circumstances in which she was born Frangoise d'Aubigne
was from her earliest days associated with persons of noble
birth, though one can well imagine that the relatives of
Constantine d'Aubigne, dreading to have to maintain a
penniless family, did not look upon the birth of this last
addition to the number as a subject of much congratula-
tion.

Theodore Agrippa d'Aubigne was dead. 1 But though
he had disinherited his son Constantine yet in his will he
had left the estates of Landes and Guinemar to his son's
children.

At the time of his little daughter's birth Constantine
begged his sister, Madame Villette,to come to the assistance
of his wife and her infant. She responded to his appeal.
She could not well do otherwise as her family were receiving
revenues from estates that had been willed by Theodore
Agrippa d'Aubigne to her brother's children.

Madame de Villette came to Niort and found her brother
in despair, Madame d'Aubigne suffering from fever, and the
children half famished. She took the two little boys and
the newly-born girl home with her to the Chateau de
Mursay. Frangoise was committed to the care of a foster-
mother who had also been the foster-mother of Madame
de Villette's daughter, who afterwards became Madame
de St Hermine.

The Chateau de Mursay, which was to be the home of
Frangoise d'Aubigne during the greater part of her youth,

1 He died in the year 1630 at Geneva, aged eighty. His epitaph is
still to be seen in the Cloisters of St Peter in that city.

BIRTH AND ANCESTRY 27

was brought into the d'Aubigne family by Suzanne de
Lezay, wife of Theodore Agrippa d'Aubigne, who had left
it to his favourite daughter, Louise, Marquise de Villette.
Theodore Agrippa d'Aubigne enlarged and improved it
and made it as it is to be seen to-day. For it still exists,
though now inhabited by farmers. 1 It was a comfortable
country house without splendour, though Theodore
Agrippa d'Aubigne was honoured by receiving there a
visit from his master, King Henri IV., and it was a favourite
residence of his, and there he wrote his celebrated
" Universal History."

The house is built round a square of which the length
is greater than the breadth the four towers, one at each
corner of the square, are joined on each side by an open
gallery with an iron bulustrade. The building is on a
marsh, round which runs the river Sevre, beyond rise low
hills. At the present day the exterior is disfigured by
whitewash and new red tiles, the garden has run wild and
the chapel in the south-east tower is now used as a place
to keep rabbits in. Inside, mythological paintings are still
to be seen on the walls of the passages. On one step of the
principal staircase is an inscription : "II est difficile de
s'elever." There are large fireplaces in the rooms and on
the chimney-pieces are metal plates engraved with the
three crescents and three roses that were the armorial
bearings of the Villette family. 2

1 The Villette family sold Mursay about 1717 (before the Marquise
de Villette of that day married Bolingbroke). It passed into the hands
of a rich shopkeeper of Niort, named Martin. In 1800 it belonged to
J. A. Martin, a Parisian silk merchant whose grand-daughter married
M. Nicolla, and her daughter, Madame Commailles, was the owner in
1899, when H. Gelin visited it and described it in his important work,
" Fran9oise d'Aubigne," which has been quoted on a previous page.

2 See Henri Gelin's " Francoise d'Aubigne," published Niort, 1899.

28 MADAME DE MAINTENON

Madame de Villette treated Frangoise as one of her own
children, and the years of her childhood must have passed
happily enough. Her aunt always retained an affection
for Constantine d'Aubigne, in spite of all his transgressions,
and she used to take little Frangoise to visit her father in
his prison. It must have been these visits which gave rise
to the story which she related in after years to the pupils at
St Cyr. " I used/' she told them, " to play with the little
daughter of the gaoler, who was about my own age. Her
father was very fond of her and had given her some silver
ornaments of which she was very vain. One day we
quarrelled ; she mocked at my poverty. I replied :
' You are rich, it is true, but you are not a young lady ;
and I am ! ' "

- 2"X

m/* CHAPTER II

* T

GIRLHOOD

DURING the years that Frangoise spent with her
aunt at MursayandConstantine d'Aubigne was
a prisoner, 1 Madame d'Aubigne passed a great
deal of time in Paris endeavouring to obtain
hefhusband's release and the restitution of his property and
the property that was left to her children by their grand-
father, though the revenues were being enjoyed by their
aunts, Mesdames de Villette and Caumont d'Ade. M. de
Caumont d'Ade had taken possession of the lands of Suri-
neau, agreeing to pay the most pressing creditors of Con-
stantine d'Aubigne and to allow him a pension, but did
neither.

It is difficult to disentangle the complications of Madame
d'Aubigne's lawsuits (which lasted for years and ended
disastrously for her), but her mother-in-law, Theodore
Agrippa's widow, as well as Madame de Villette thought
she had right on her side. At the time of her marriage
Jeanne de Cardilhac was twenty-five years old and her
husband double her age, he was fifty-one.

She appears to have been soon disillusioned as to his

1 His imprisonment was not rigorous. In those days prison officials
received no pay, but made a living by supplying food, necessaries and
comforts to prisoners. Many prisoners who could grease the palm of the
gaoler went in and out at their pleasure. Records of the day show that
Constantine d'Aubigne associated with the citizens of Niort, and his
relative, ex-Governor Baron de Neuillant.

30 MADAME DE MAINTENON

character, and though many authors have depicted her as
a loving, submissive wife, sharing her husband's captivity
and utterly devoted to him, her own letters prove that this
was not the case. She looked upon him as the author of
all her woes, and only wrote to him when business made it
necessary ; he, for his part, only wrote to her when he
needed money.

While she was in Paris petitioning for his release, her
husband and his sister blamed her for indifference, because
she was unsuccessful ; and in reply to a letter from Madame
de Villette she wrote as follows :

" MADAME, MY MUCH HONOURED SISTER, I know well
how kind you are to your relations and how charitable
to your neighbours. You prove the first by what you
have written to me about your brother, but if you would
call to mind how much cause for suspicion I have in that
quarter, you would not blame me so much, and would be
forced to acknowledge that my being so easily led and so
trusting has cost me dear.

" I much regret not having succeeded in obtaining
what your brother hoped for from his Eminence. 1 He
must excuse my refusal to press the matter of his transfer;
if it turned out badly, people might say to me : ' We
told you so.' 2 I have experienced which way the official
wind blows. 3 Let your brother, therefore, find someone
else to plead for him. He has been painted in dark
colours to his Eminence.

" (Signed) Your humble and obedient servant,

JEANNE DE CARDILHAC."
Again, in a letter dated 23rd July 1842, Madame d'Au-

1 Cardinal Richelieu.

2 She had been told that if her husband was set at liberty proceedings
would at once be instituted against him for various misdemeanours.

3 The bad opinion entertained of him. Richelieu said to her : " The
greatest kindness I can do you is to keep such a man in prison."

GIRLHOOD 31

bigne wrote as follows to Madame Villette, who had made
known her brother's complaints to his wife :

" I have endured the bad conduct of your brother in
silence, and shall continue to do so as long as it pleases
God thus to try me. But as to what you write me about
altering my decision to go and board at a convent, it is
too late. The reason of this is my extreme poverty,
being as I am without a penny and owing money wher-
ever I have been and a lady having undertaken to pay
for my maintenance there. You call your brother's
transgressions trifling, though they have reduced his
wife and children to the miserable condition we now are
in ! To conclude madame, my sister, it is time that
my trials should make me prudent." l

After the death of Richelieu in 1642 Const antine
d'Aubigne and other political prisoners were set at liberty
by Mazarin. He went first to Geneva to get possession of a
legacy of 1000 florins that had been bequeathed to him by
his stepmother, Theodore Agrippa d'Aubigne's second
wife. It appears that Constantine still had some influence
in high quarters in Paris, for in 1645 the Compagnie-des-
Isles-d'Amerique appointed him governor of one of the
West Indian Islands the Island of Marie-Galante and
thither he went, accompanied by his wife and three children.
Fortune still frowned on this ill-fated family, for on arriving
at Marie-Galante they found it uninhabitable and the
abode of hostile savages ; and they were obliged to
take refuge in Martinique, where Constantine d'Aubigne
obtained some subordinate post.

Much has been said and written about the years passed

1 An autograph letter published by M. Bonhomme in the Bulletin
des Bibliophiles November 1860. In spite of the facts above stated,
her husband began a suit against his wife in the Court of Justice at
Niort, saying that she had obtained money from his estates, and begging
that an order might be given for her to pay him an allowance, 1642.

32 MADAME DE MAINTENON

by Franchise d'Aubigne" in the West Indies, and when she
grew up she was known as " la belle Indienne," and many
romantic stories are current as to her adventures in going
and coming and her life on the island, but as a matter of
fact the residence of the d'Aubigne family in Martinique
lasted rather less than one year. They had left France at
the end of 1646, and they were back again like bad pennies
in the early part of 1647 , 1

There is a letter extant from Madame d'Aubigne to
Madame de Villette, written from Martinique about the
future of her boys, in which she says : " As their father does
not condescend to trouble his head about them, I must
be both father and mother/' 2 Madame d'Aubigne was a
delicate, refined and well-principled woman, but trouble
after trouble had made her somewhat severe and cold in
manner. Her daughter said, in after life, that she could
only remember to have been kissed by her mother twice in
her life, and then on the forehead. Nevertheless Madame
d'Aubigne was anxious to instil right principles into her
children. The boys she had had with her in Paris as long
as she could, and in Martinique she devoted herself to the
children, and taught Frangoise and the younger boy,
Charles, to read out of " Plutarch's Lives," and forbade
them to talk to each other about anything except the
characters therein described.

She used to say to them : " Your grandfather, Theodore
Agrippa, was a good and great man ; who was loved and
esteemed by the greatest of kings. Future generations
will admire the greatness of his intellect as displayed in his

1 See " Paul Scamon et F. d'Aubigne," d'aprds des documents
nouveaux par A. de Boislisle, published " Revue des question
historique," Paris 1894.

See " Henri Bonhomme," Bulletin des Bibliophiles, 1860.

GIRLHOOD 33

writings, his courage, and his devotion to his king and his
God, and in admiring his genius will not fail to praise his
integrity. At his death he left you by his will considerable
property. 1 Injustice and selfishness have deprived you of
it, but by honourable and distinguished conduct you may
perhaps one day recover the position that should be yours."

In after years her daughter related these sayings of her
mother to the inmates of St Cyr, as well as two maxims
that Madame d'Aubigne was never tired of inculcating.
One was : " Never do when alone, what you would not do
in the presence of those you respect." The other : "In
measuring your happiness compare yourself with those
beneath not above you/'

Many previous authors have described the death of
Constantine d'Aubigne in Martinique, but the documents
discovered and published in 1894 by M. de Boislisle prove
that the d'Aubigne family returned to France together in
the beginning of 1647. There are letters from Constantine
d'Aubigne, dated May 1647, from Orange, where he was
living on the charity of the Protestant landowners who
revered his father's memory. He died there in August of
the same year.

His wife could have felt no grief at his death, nor could
his children. As for Francoise she always said she looked
upon M. de Villette as a father. 2

1 On the death of Theodore Agrippa d'Aubigne, his two sons-in-law
took possession of the lands left to Constantine's children as well as
those which had been left to their wives. M. de Caumont d'Ade gave
Surineau to his daughter on her marriage to M. de Sensac, and her
descendants possess it to this day. Madame d'Aubigne's lawsuits did
not succeed in recovering it, nor was M. de Villette willing to give up the
property he had annexed.

* Writing to him after Scarrion's death she says : " Vous etes 1'homme
du monde a qui j'ai le plus d'obligation et qui m'a servi de pe"re en mon
enfance."
B

34 MADAME DE MAINTENON

On their return to France she and her brothers were
received at Mursay, while their mother went to Paris to
prosecute her claims to the family property. Madame de
Villette was a kindhearted, honourable and religious
woman. In her household Francoise received nothing but
kindness and was taught nothing but what was good, she
early learned, by accompanying her aunt on such errands,
the duty of alms-giving and caring for the poor and the
sick. 1 The country nobility kept to rustic habits, the
ladies took part in household work, spun linen, reared
poultry, etc.

Francoise was known by the pet name of " Bignette,"
she spent much time in tending turkeys in company with
her cousin. She used to say to the pupils at St Cyr :
" They made us put masks over our faces to prevent our
getting sunburned ; and used to give us a basket contain-
ing some food and a volume of Pybrac's 2 poetry, with
orders to learn several pages before our return ; and then
sent us out with long sticks in our hands, to spend the day
in preventing the turkeys from going where they ought not
to go."

Madame de Villette was the favourite daughter of
Theodore Agrippa d'Aubigne, and, was attached to his
opinions, those of the Reformed or Protestant religion.
The Protestants of those days were full of erudition and
zeal, and the teaching she received in her aunt's house
made a marked impression on the young mind of Frangoise
d'Aubigne. She must have alluded to it in her letters

1 Fran9oise herself seems not to have had the best of health, for in her
letters her mother speaks of her as " la pauvre galense."

2 S. de Pybrac (Pybrac), King's Councillor. He wrote a book contain-
ing advice on the conduct of life, and another called " The Pleasures of
Country Life," published 1597.

to her mother, for Madame d'Aubigne, a devoted Catholic,
took fright and wished to remove Frangoise from Madame
de Villette's care, and to place her in a convent. Her aunt
refused to give up Francoise, till Madame de Neuillant
(mother of her godmother) interfered and an order was
obtained from the Court to remove the young girl from the
charge of a guardian who was making her a " heretic."

Madame d'Aubigne committed a fatal mistake in
removing Francoise from the care of her aunt, who was the
only one of the numerous relatives, either on paternal or
maternal side, who seemed to have a real affection for her
brother's children. It was probably M. de Villette's fault
that their property was not handed over to them, and
Madame de Villette may have thought she was making the
only amends in her power by bringing up Frangoise as one
of her own children. This state of affairs would probably
have continued and Madame de Villette would have
thought it her duty to provide in due time a sufficient
dowry to make it possible to arrange a suitable marriage
for Francoise, and have thus saved her from the saddest
episode in her life, her first marriage, a lasting reproach to
the guardians who allowed it to take place.

On being removed from Madame de Villette's care
Francoise was handed over to Madame de Neuillant. She
made the journey to Paris in a basket hung on one side of a
mule, being balanced on the other side by a basket of
provisions ; the driver sat in the middle on the back of
the mule, which was harnessed to the litter, in which sat
Madame de Neuillant. 1

Madame de Neuillant, Francoise's new guardian, was

1 Madame de Neuillant possessed a coach and four which she only
used on great occasions.

36 MADAME DE MAINTENON

very different in character to the amiable and affectionate
Madame de Villette. She was neither amiable nor kind-
hearted, and was harsh and severe in manner. She
expected to get much credit at Court for her zeal in
endeavouring to convert this young relative from heresy,
but being of a very avaricious and parsimonious disposition,
her household was not a comfortable one, and in return for
maintenance she exacted from Francoise a great deal of
household drudgery making her keep the key of the
granary, measure out the corn, and see the horses fed. She
was made to wear sabots, and only given shoes to wear
when visitors came to the house.

When, in spite of much instruction and exhortation, it was
found that Frangoise persisted in clinging to the Protestant
religion and refused to abjure it at her bidding, Madame de
Neuillant became thoroughly incensed and sent her to the
convent of the Ursuline's at Niort. Here Franoise was
very happy, and became much attached to a very holy and
learned Mother Celeste, to whom, after she left the convent,
she continued to write weekly, to the end of her life.

Madame de Neuillant refused, however, to pay for
Francoise d'Aubigne's board, and the nuns could not afford
to keep her without payment, so they sent her to her
mother, who placed her in a convent of the same order, in
the Faubourg St Jacques, Paris, where the nuns devoted
themselves to the education of poor girls. Here Francoise
was treated with great severity and was most unhappy.
Driven to desperation she wrote the following letter,
imploring her aunt, Madame de Villette, to take pity on
her:

" MADAME AND AUNT, The remembrance of the
wonderful kindness you used to show to poor, forsaken

GIRLHOOD 37

children, induces me to beseech and implore you to use
your influence to get me out of this place, where my
life is worse than death could be. You cannot imagine
what a place of torment this house, called a Religious
House, is to me ; nor the severity and cruelty of my
custodians. I implore you, my dear aunt, to have pity
on your brother's daughter and your humble servant,
" (Signed) FRANCOISE D'AUBIGNE."

Perhaps this letter never reached Madame de Villette :
at all events she made no sign, and after another year of
exhortations and instructions Francoise d'Aubigne allowed
herself to be converted to Catholicism. 1 Though tradition
has it, that primed with texts from the Bible she worsted
a learned Father of the Church in a controversial discussion,
the religious convictions of this young theologian in her
teens 2 were probably closely connected with her love and
reverence for her Aunt Villette. At all events, at her
conversion she stipulated that she was not to be expected
to believe that this good aunt would be damned because
she was a Protestant !

After having made her first communion Frangoise
was sent away from the convent to live with her
mother. Madame d'Aubigne had a little lodging in
the Rue Tournelles. She had nothing to live on but a
small pension of 200 francs from M. de Sensac, 3 given on
condition of her making no further claim to Surineau, his
wife's property. Fran9oise and her mother supplemented
this pittance by the work of their own hands they were
both skilled in all kinds of needlework. The records of the
movements of the mother and daughter at this time are

1 See T. Lavallee, " Madame de Maintenon et la Maison Royale de St
Cyr," p. ii, published (Paris) 1860.

2 She was just fourteen years old.

3 Son-in-law of M. de Caumont d'Ade.

38 MADAME DE MAINTENON

somewhat uncertain. They appear to have been some-
times in Paris, sometimes at Niort. About the year 1650
Frangoise seems again to have been with Madame de Neuil-
lant, and sharing with the latter's younger daughter,
Angelique, 1 the instructions of a friend of the family, the
celebrated Chevalier de Mere who had a fondness for form-
ing the taste and the manners of charming young ladies
and his verdict on them was sufficient to make or mar
their reputation for grace or charm.

Although she was only fourteen years old the beauty and
intelligence of Frangoise d'Aubigne had already attracted
attention. In company with the de Neuillant family she
appears at this time to have gone backwards and forwards
between Niort and Paris. Her elder brother had been
accidentally drowned at Mursay, the younger, Charles, had
been placed as a page in the household of the Marquis de
Parabere, a relative.

1 Afterwards Comtesse de Froulay.

c A :$i 31 D rr ,

From an engraving in the British Museum

CHAPTER III

MARRIAGE

PAUL SCARRON was the son of a Councillor of
the Grand Chamber of the Parliament of Paris,
who attained some notoriety by contesting pre-
cedence with the archbishops at the funeral
ceremonies of Henri IV. 1

He was a rich man, but had married as a second wife an
avaricious, designing woman, who persuaded him to leave
all his property to her and her children, to the detriment of
his eldest son, for whom he obtained a Canonry, but made
no other provision for him.

Paul Scarron had inherited a small fortune from his
mother, with which he bought an annuity, This annuity,
joined to the revenue of the Canonry, gave him an income
of 600 francs, the equivalent of 24,000 francs at the present
day. He thoroughly enjoyed life. In appearance he was
short, but well made. He had much wit, and was skilled in
all social acquirements : sang well, danced better, played
the lute like an artist, made verses, told amusing stories,
and had such high spirits that he became one of the most
popular personages in Parisian society.

He was only required to reside at his Canonry for a short
time every year ; but during that time he kept the town

1 Parliament claimed the right of following immediately after the
coffin. The archbishops, who were to perform the ceremony, contested
the right. Scarron, resisting, was arrested by the Guards sent to make
way for the ecclesiastics.

40 MADAME DE MAINTENON

and the neighbourhood of Mans alive, and paid no attention
to the remonstrances of those who urged him to remember
what was due to his ecclesiastical position.

One carnival time he took it into his head to provide the
people of Mans with a new diversion. He made his servant
paint his body with honey, and he then rolled in a feather
bed (which he had caused to be unsewn) till he was covered
with feathers and looked like a bird shaped as a man.
Covering his face with a comic mask, he had himself taken
in a sedan chair to the most frequented street corner, and
there carried on a battle of wits with passers by. A great
crowd assembled and at last someone attempted to unmask
him. He fled, and was pursued ; when on the point of
being captured he saw a bridge, and the only way of escape
seemed to be to jump over it into the river. He took the
plunge, disappeared under the water, and afterwards hid
among the reeds on the banks. Fatal folly ! Scarron was
perspiring profusely when he leaped into the river. The
cold water checked and drove the perspiration inward ;
his blood was chilled, and the consequence was rheumatism
of an acute type, which paralysed his limbs, changed his
features, and affected his voice which became cracked and
uncertain. Nothing remained unaffected but his sight,
hearing, and witty tongue, and his inextinguishable flow
of high spirits. 1

1 M. de Boislisle denies the truth of the Mans episode and states that
Scarron's crippled condition was the result of medicine given to him
by his friend, La Mesnardiere, a poet, and also physician to the Marquis
de Sable. Scarron was suffering from rheumatism and fever and con-
sulted La Mesnardiere, who prescribed pills which caused a contraction
of the nerves, and this malady increased gradually till his death. M. de
Boislisle gives as his authority for this statement a medical work, dated
1635, which he found in the Reserve du Bibliothtque Nationale.

See " Paul Scarron et Fran9oise d'Aubigne," by A. de Boislisle,
P- 39. published (Paris) 1894.

MARRIAGE 41

He seldom went to bed, but passed his life in an arm-chair
constructed to suit his infirmities. Sitting in it he ate his
meals and composed his books. Some of the best known
are his " Travesty of Virgil," " Comic Romances/' and
" Burlesque Poems and Comedies."

At night two servants carried him in the chair to his bed-
room, and next morning back again to the reception room,
where he was surrounded daily by the greatest, wittiest and
most polished personages of the city and the Court.

Scarron had two sisters : the eldest, Anne, married the
Sieur de la Borde, the younger one, Francoise, became lady-
in-waiting to the Princess de Conti, and, led away by the
bad example of this profligate lady, she herself became the
acknowledged mistress of the Due de Tresmes.

Franoise Scarron 1 lived a great deal with her brother,
and the Due de Tresmes made one of the elegant, intel-
lectual, but frankly libertine, society of which Scarron's
chair was and remained the centre in the days of the
regency of Anne of Austria. In Paris Scarron moved
from place to place. In 1642 he was living in the Marais, in
1649 ne moved to the Hotel de Troyes, which was in a new
faubourg where few houses had been erected, and was at
the side of the garden of the Palace of the Due d'Orleans.
Scarron had been suspected of lampooning the Court (he was
the author of " La Mazarinade ") so the Queen Regent sup-
pressed his pension, and he was thrust into the arms of the
Opposition, its leaders being Gaston d'Orleans and Conde.
The Hotel de Troyes was nearer to his patrons than the
Marais, and this was a consideration, as he was confined to

1 It is not improbable that the fact of Scarron's wife and sister having
the same name, Fransoise, may have led to a confusion which credited
the wife with the escapades of her sister-in-law, and gave an opportunity,
to those who disliked Madame Scarron, to asperse her reputation.

42 MADAME DE MAINTENON

the house on account of his infirmity. It was also near
the Rue St Jacques, where there were convents in which
great ladies made retreats, and in one of which Frangoise
d'Aubigne had passed some time. The Marquise de Laval
de Lezay, Madame de Neuillant's daughter by her first
marriage, lived in the Rue St Jacques, and her other
daughter, the Duchesse de Navailles,Francoise d'Aubigne's
godmother, lived near by. In the same neighbourhood,
too, lived Madame de Neuillant's cousin or brother (it
seems uncertain which he was) , Pierre Tiraqueau, Baron St
Herman, the King's Maitre d' Hotel. All these people
frequented Scarron's salon.

Frangoise d'Aubigne and her mother were often with
their relatives, and it is said that the young girl's first
introduction to her future husband was brought about
by his having been advised to try a warm climate, and
having heard that two ladies, relatives of Madame de
Neuillant, had returned from the West Indies, and were
residing in the neighbourhood, he sent to ask her to
bring them to see him and to give him information as to
the journey to Martinique and the mode of life there.
Frangoise was certainly too young to be applied to for
such information, but she accompanied her mother when
the visit was paid. The d'Aubignes had thought they
were only' going to see an invalid, and were amazed to find
themselves in the midst of a brilliant company. Francoise
was so mortified at having to appear before such society
in a shabby old gown, which she had outgrown, and felt
to be much too short for her, that she was covered with
blushes, and shed tears of embarrassment. The young
lady's beauty and modesty made a great impression on the
crippled poet, which was increased by Mademoiselle St

MARRIAGE 43

Herman showing him a letter that Franchise wrote to her
from the country, and he was astonished to find what an
amount of wit and intelligence was possessed by the
blushing, shy girl who had been brought to his house some
time previously. Later on, when he heard that she was
staying with Madame de Neuillant, he begged that lady
to bring her again to his house.

Perhaps Madame de Neuillant cherished a hope that the
graceful figure and charming face of her young relative
might win the heart of a good " parti " who could afford
to overlook her want of dowry. She was glad to take
Franchise to the salon of the Abbe Scarron, where she
would be seen by influential people ; and the brilliant and
polished society that assembled there was a good school of
manners.

Scarron himself became deeply interested in the young
girl, and found out that she had a great deal to endure in the
house of Madame de Neuillant, and was far from happy.

One day he said to her : " Mademoiselle, I know how
your protectress takes advantage of your gentleness and
your defenceless position, and yet I tremble to think what
would become of you if this old lady's death should leave
you even more unprotected.

' Your beauty and grace procure you many admirers,
but you are not too young to understand that their admira-
tion for a penniless young lady is not likely to lead to
matrimony. In a situation like yours I see only two
alternatives i.e. to accept a husband or to enter a convent.
If you decide for the convent I will pay your dowry. If
you do not wish to become a nun, and if, in spite of my face,
figure and helplessness, you will consent to marry me, to
be my companion and bear my name, I will do everything

44 MADAME DE MAINTENON

possible to make you happy ; and I guarantee in advance
that if you weep in my house it will only be on the day of
my death/'

Frangoise d'Aubigne, in those days, had no inclination
for the convent, and after all that she had endured at the
hands of relatives, and being bandied about from one to
another, this marriage may have appeared to offer deliver-
ance and peace.

Was she attracted by pity and a woman's instinct of self-
sacrifice, or were she and her relations dazzled by the
apparent brilliance of Scarron's position ? At the theatre
his plays were one success after another and his house was
frequented by all the great people of the day. In rank
there was little discrepancy between them. Frangoise
d'Aubigne was descended from the military nobility,
Scarron from the civil. 1

As to fortune, the tradition is that when the marriage
contract was being drawn up the notary asked Scarron
what dowry he could bestow on his wife, and he replied,
" Immortality." As a matter of fact he was able to assign
to her a few thousand francs secured on his furniture and
-effects.

On her side she brought him, to use his own words, " A
pair of large eyes, a beautiful figure, a fine pair of hands,
and an income of four pounds."

But how dared a helpless cripple of uncertain fortune
aspire to the possession of a girl so remarkably endowed
with grace, beauty and wit as Francoise d'Aubigne, then
in the flower of her youth ? Was he the only one with
whom such charms outweighed the want of fortune ?

1 Noblesse d'epte those who won their titles by military service.
Noblesse de robe those who won their titles by service in civil de-
partments, notably law and judicature.

MARRIAGE 45

One thing is certain, that the marriage, which will
always remain inexplicable and unjustifiable, was not
decided upon hastily, nor must Madame de Neuillant alone
be blamed for it. For many years all biographers stated
that at the time of the marriage Francoise d'Aubigne's
mother was dead and that all Madame de Neuillant cared
for was to get the girl off her hands. 1

This has been proved to be a mistake. Madame
d'Aubigne was still alive, and consented to the alliance.
When the marriage was first proposed Francoise was
thought too young, and was sent into the country, but it
was agreed that the wedding should take place when she
had attained her sixteenth year.

Scarron's house was a large one, and a friend, a certain
M. Cabart de Villermont, son of a parliamentary lawyer,
was lodging there. M. de Villermont had been a great
traveller, and had known the d'Aubignes in Martinique. a
He it was who induced Scarron to take part in the Colonial
speculations which ended so disastrously. He, too, was
the messenger sent by Scarron to Madame d'Aubigne to
demand in due form the hand of her daughter ; and she
(Madame d'Aubigne) appointed him her procurator to
arrange the marriage. In the Act of Procuration 3 Jeanne

1 There had been great uncertainty about the marriage till 1859, when
M. Victor Cousin, published in the Appendix to his " Madame de Sable,"
a document which throws a new light on it. It was reproduced in the
" Intermediare des Chercheurs," 1870, and by M. Morillot, 1888, in a note
to his " Scarron and Le Genre Burlesqne."

2 In after years Madame de Maintenon did him a service. He had
been Governor of Cayenne and Hyere. His right to the titles of Messire-
and Chevalier was challenged and she induced the King to order the
proceedings to stop.

3 This document was copied from the Registers at the Chatelet by
M. Campardon, Head of the Judicial section of the National Archives,
who gave it to M. Boislisle. He has published it in his interesting work
of research " Paul Scarron et F. d'Aubigne," previously referred to.

46 MADAME DE MAINTENON

d'Aubigne (described as widow of the high and powerful
Seigneur C. d'Aubigne, generally living at Niort, but at
the time of the drawing up of this document at the house
of M. Joly, 1 in Bordeaux, he being Chancellor of the
Parliament of Bordeaux) constitutes Esprit Cabart de
Villermont her procurator to arrange the marriage between
her daughter, Francoise d'Aubigne, demoiselle, and M.
Scarron, dated igth February 1652.

Madame d'Aubigne was not present at the marriage
ceremony, and there is no further record of her having
any intercourse with her daughter, or of her own life, and
it is supposed that she died about this time.

The marriage took place on the 4th or 5th April 1642.
The contract was drawn up by Pierre de Riviere (the
Tiraqueau's lawyer) and Councillor Deslandes Payen, a
colleague of Scarron's father and a devoted friend of the
son, and signed at the house of M. St Herman, where
Madame de Neuillant and Frangoise d'Aubigne were
staying. The signatures were as under :

P. SCARRON. CABART.

F. D'AUBIGNE.
TlRAQUEAU DE ST HERMAN.

DE CANDE.
LE BOUCHER. DE RIVIERE.

dated afternoon of 4th April 1652.

There are no records of the marriage either in the
Parish Church, St Come, or on the Parish Register. So it
may have been only a civil ceremony. 2 But tradition has

1 M. Joly was a near relative of Constantine d'Aubigne.

2 A clause in the contract says : " The said Paul Scarron and de-
moiselle Francoise d'Aubigne promise to take each other as husband

MARRIAGE 47

it that the religious ceremony took place in Scarron's
house, in his private oratory, 1 which was draped with
beautiful stuff by his friends, Mesdames Fiesque and
Pomereau, and the service was read by the Almoner of
Councillor Deslandes Pay en.

It has been often stated that the dress Franchise
d'Aubigne wore on her wedding day was lent to her
by a friend, Mademoiselle de Pons, niece of Marechal
d'Albret.

This young lady married the Marquis d'Hudicourt and
retained the friendship of Francoise d'Aubigne all her life
long, although their dispositions were very different and
not apparently congenial.

As to the relations of the newly married pair, the wife in
after life said of this marriage : " In it there was very little
of the heart, and nothing of the body."

And in writing to her brother, Charles d'Aubigne, about
his marriage, she said : " Perhaps you may think it
strange that I who have never been married should offer
you advice on the subject." She, however, saw some good
qualities in Scarron, for she said of him : "He had a good
heart. I cured him of licentious talk. Everyone admired
his wit. Though he was without fortune or other attrac-
tions he drew the best of society to his house. He was not
really vicious, but few gave him credit for his real goodness
of heart."

Underneath his buffoonery, Scarron had a stratum of
generous feeling and genuine affection and admiration for
his young wife. He perfected her education ; with him

and wife according to the marriage law, and to have the marriage
solemnised by our Holy Mother the Church whenever either of them
shall demand this of the other.

1 He often mentions this oratory in his letters.

48 MADAME DE MAINTENON

she studied Latin, Spanish and Italian, so that she could
both read and write those languages.

Soon after his marriage Scarron took his young wife
into the country, to Touraine. He had been carrying on a
lawsuit against his step brothers and sisters to recover
some property left by his father. It was decided in his
favour so far as the small estates of Riviere and Fougerets,
near Amboise, were concerned ; and accompanied by his
wife he went to take possession of them. The Scarrons
remained in the provinces till the beginning of the following
year, 1653, when they returned to Paris and after staying
with his eldest sister, Frangoise, they took the greater part
of a house in the Marais, Rue Neuve St Louis. 1 They
hired it for three years, but eventually they remained there
until Scarron's death, six years later. It was a comfortable
abode of two storeys and necessitated a fair number of
servants. It was well and even luxuriantly furnished. 2 Per-
haps some of the contents were wedding presents we hear
of a suite of furniture with yellow damask, of arm-chairs
and sofas, and tables ; walls hung with tapestry repre-
senting scenes from the Old Testament, some other por-
traits, and a Venetian glass mirror.

Though she found herself in a society of which
Scarron's sister, Frangoise, and Ninon de 1'Enclos
were shining lights, the young wife from the first

1 This little house was in existence in 1904, when M. de Boislisle visited
it, and is quite unchanged, as its various parts answer in every particular
to the description of it in the lease signed by Paul Scarron. It occupies
the east corner of the Rue des Douze Fortes (Villehardouin) and its
frontage is on the Rue St Louis (Tureune) and bears the number 56,
M. Lecoq was the proprietor in 1904.

2 An inventory of the contents taken at the time of Scarron's death
was found by M. de Grouchy during his researches amongst the docu-
ments of the " Ancient Notaires de Paris."

MARRIAGE 49

knew how to take a line of her own, and to make
herself respected. Her attractions made the salon of
their little house in the Rue Marais even more crowded
than formerly with visitors. But in spite of her youth
there was an air of dignity and candour about Madame
Scarron which insensibly affected those who were with her.
The society which assembled round her husband's chair,
seeing her blush when too free expressions were bandied
about, or the conversation took a tone of licence, instinc-
tively restrained themselves, and Scarron cured himself of
his former habit of indecent conversation. The tone of
the salon became that of the harmless liberty of the polite
world. Madame Scarron made for herself a rampart of
prudence and reserve ; she studied to maintain a charm-
ing gravity of demeanour, gracious, yet dignified, which
enabled her to hold her own, and protected her from the
advances of too ardent admirers. " If I had to choose
whether I would displease her or the Queen, it would be
the Queen," said one of the most libertine frequenters of
the house.

The young wife often wrote at her husband's dictation
and substituted another word when one displeased
her taste, and it has been remarked that " Leander
et Hero " and other works published by Scarron after
his marriage are marked by a restraint and moderation
which makes them very different from his earlier writings.

When the celebrated Queen Christina of Sweden came to
Paris, she was anxious to make the acquaintance of all
literary people of note ; she visited Paul Scarron, and on
taking leave said : " I am no longer surprised, sir, that in
spite of your sufferings you are the gayest man in Paris, for
I perceive that you have the most amiable of wives."
c

50 MADAME DE MAINTENON

A contemporary author, Sorbieres, noted for his im-
partiality and uprightness, writing at this epoch, says :

'' The marriage of M. Scarron has not been the most
sombre part of his life. He chose this beautiful and
charming person that he might refresh himself by look-
ing at her, and have a companion for his lonely hours.
The infirmities of her husband, her own youth, wit and
beauty did not make Madame Scarron forget the
principles of virtue, and though those who sought her
favour were among the richest and most highly placed
in the kingdom, her irreproachable conduct merited
the esteem of all the world."

The best company would have crowded Scarron's salon,
but Madame Scarron was exclusive. Her husband, in
writing about his wife to the Due de Vivonne, remarks :
" She says ' not at home ' daily to princes, dukes, and
officers of the crown."

Rank and riches were not sufficient credentials for
admittance, those who were received must also be witty,
amiable, or great in character. The Due de Vivonne, who
was considered the best-read man in Court, and had all the
Mortemart wit in perfection, the great Generals Turenne
and Conde, the Marquis and Marquise de la Sabliere, the
Duchesse de Richelieu, Mignard the painter, and Made-
moiselle de Scudery the authoress, were always welcome.
All talked at their ease, on questions of morality, literature,
philosophy and current events. They passed judgment
on the books of the day because they had read them.

When Madame Scarron did not like the company that
assembled round her husband's chair, she would slip away
and go to visit some of her poor proteges, for though she
had only 500 francs (20) pin money annually, she^managed
to spare something for charity even then.

MARRIAGE 51

Having relinquished his Canonry l on his marriage
Scarron's income was diminished, and he had to depend a
good deal on the revenues of what he called his " Marqui-
sate de Quinet," which were uncertain. Quinet was the
name of his publisher. His plays and books were success-
ful as a rule.

Scarron had established suppers where the guests sent
their own dishes, and the host and hostess only provided
the sauce of witty and entertaining talk. Madame Scarron
had already shown that talent for conversation which
afterwards became so famous.

One evening the servant said to her : " Keep on talking,
madame, this course has failed." And in listening to her
the company forgot all deficiencies.

In studying with her husband she had learned much, but
it was always said of her that she was no pedant, and that
she was as anxious to hide her knowledge as most people
are to display it.

She was most careful to observe all outward religious
observances, fasting and attending Mass with great regu-
larity. In later life she said, when referring to these days :
" I was not then actuated by the love of God. I wished
to be esteemed/'

Her sensitive nature probably feared that the burlesque
reputation of Scarron might extend to her, and she was
exceedingly anxious to acquire a solid reputation ; she
suffered martyrdom in the restraints she imposed on her
youthful inclinations.

When her husband was ill she was his nurse ; when
better, his cheerful companion ; when he felt well, his
secretary. To be all this what immense self-control and

1 He sold the right of succession for a small sum.

52 MADAME DE MAINTENON

self-denial were needed by this lovely young girl in her
teens !

The wife of the great Finance Minister, Fouquet, was
very fond of Madame Scarron, and sometimes took her to
her country seat, Vaux, where she went to refresh herself
after the fatigue of Court life. But Madame Scarron made
no use of this entrance to Fouquet's house to bespeak his
interest for her husband. She was very early imbued with
the truth of a maxim that she often quoted in later life
i.e. that it was well to be with great people as a friend, but
not as a protegee.

M. Scarron died in 1660. He said that his only regret
was the leaving without means a wife whom he had so much
reason to love. For himself he rejoiced, saying : " No
more pain and sleeplessness, no more gout. At last I am
going to be well." All he was able to leave his wife was
permission to marry again.

Madame Scarron was at this time twenty-five years old.
The celebrated authoress, Mademoiselle de Scudery, has
drawn her portrait as follows :

" She was tall, had a beautiful figure and air of dis-
tinction. Her complexion was pure and perfectly white,
her hair of a light chestnut tint. She had a well-shaped
nose, a finely-cut mouth and the most beautiful eyes
conceivable, black, brilliant, expressive, changing from
archness to sweetness with every thought. She spoke
simply and without affectation in a dulcet, fluted
voice, that was one of her greatest charms. Her ex-
pressions were always well turned. She knew the world
and a thousand things of which she did not make a
vain display. She did not pose as a beauty, though
possessed of irresistible attractions ; so joining the
charms of virtue to those of wit and beauty, she merited
the general esteem which she enjoyed."

CHAPTER IV

WIDOWHOOD

SCARRON had earned plenty of money by his
writings, but he was open-hearted, and he lost
a good deal in speculations by which he hoped to
improve his fortune, so that when he died he did
not leave enough money even to pay his funeral expenses.
He was buried on 7th October in the Parish Church, St
Gervas, but the Parish Registers one hundred and ten
years later show that up to that time the expenses of the
burial had not been paid. No monument, tablet, or in
scrip tion now remains to commemorate him.

The condition of his widow at this time may be best
inferred by reading the letter which she wrote to Madame
de Villette :

" I have been quite overwhelmed lately, and the death
of M. Scarron has caused me so much grief and involved
me in so much business that I have not been able to
write to you. I have only time to ask you to send a
copy of my baptismal certificate, which it is necessary
for me to have. Send it as soon as you can, and be
assured, my dear aunt, that whatever my condition may
be, I am your devoted, D'AUBIGNE." * "

M. de Villette then wrote to inquire the exact state

1 This letter is preserved in the Alfred Morrison Collection, London,
with more than three-hundred by the same writer. A fac-simile is given
in the catalogue of the collection. A yellow silk tie is attached to it and
it is sealed with red wax, the seal being the monogram of the husband
and wife.

54 MADAME DE MAINTENON

of affairs, and his niece replied by the following
letter :

" To tell the truth the position in which I find myself
is so deplorable that in order not to distress you I should
have to avoid giving you an exact account. The
property M. Scarron has left is worth 10,000 francs, the
debts amount to 22,000. By my Marriage Contract
23,000 francs are owing to me, but the Contract was so
badly drawn up that though I ought to take precedence
of other creditors, I shall have to take a share equal to
theirs only, and in the end I shall only get four or five
thousand francs. This is the state in which that poor
man has left his affairs. He always had some wild
scheme in his head, and he used all the money that came
into his hands in the hope of discovering the philosopher's
stone, or something equally improbable. I am not
destined to be happy ; but we who are devout look upon
these trials as the visitation of God, and we place them
1 at the foot of the Cross with complete resignation." x

Standing on their rights the creditors left her nothing ;
it was found that even the furniture of the house had been
bought with borrowed money, and there were debts to the
grocer and tailor and all other tradesmen. 2

Many friends offered the young widow a home, but she
preferred to retire to a convent belonging to the Order of
the Hospitalieres, Place Royale, near the Rue St Louis,
where her married life had been passed. In d'Expilly's
Grande Dictionnaire Geographique it is mentioned that this
house is proud to remember that it once sheltered
Frangoise d'Aubigne, Madame de Maintenon.

The convent had rooms for boarders of distinction. One
such belonged to a relative of the late M. Scarron, the

1 This letter was first published by M. Honore de Bonhomme. It is
not in Morrison's Collection with the others acquired from him.

2 When Madame Scarron obtained a pension from the Queen, the first
use she made of it was to pay off the debts by degrees.

WIDOWHOOD 55

Duchesse d'Aumont, who lent it to the young widow, and
supplied her with necessaries, even clothing ; but Madame
d'Aumont made such a great parade of what she was doing,
and talked so much about it, that the widow would rather
have done anything than continue to receive assistance
from her and accepted the hospitality of Ninon de 1'Enclos
for some months, while awaiting the answer to her petition
to the Queen (Anne of Austria) that her husband's pension
might be continued to her. In going to stay with Ninon
she made a mistake which subsequently gave jealousy a
chance to assail her reputation thinking it was a case of
" birds of a feather." But Ninon, who, with all her faults,
has an enduring reputation for sincerity, bore the following
testimony on the subject : " She was virtuous by con-
viction, as well as by temperament. 1 I wished to cure her,
but she had too great a fear of God. We met every day,
but we were not of one mind. Had she followed my advice
she would not have attained the elevation where you now
see her, but she would have been happier."

Ninon de 1'Enclos had been a lifelong friend of Scarron.
His widow was blamed for accepting her hospitality, but
there was no reason why Madame Scarron's reputation
should suffer on this account more than the reputations of
Mesdames de Coulanges and La Fayette, and other ladies
of unquestioned virtue. They appreciated and sought out
Ninon, who was welcomed in ihany of the most exclusive
and aristocratic salons.

There were not wanting those who had long admired
Madame Scarron, and, hearing of the poverty in which she
was placed by her husband's death, thought the moment

1 Another well-known description of her by Ninon was : " Elle f ut trop
gauche pour 1'amour."

56 MADAME DE MAINTENON

favourable for approaching her with professions of ardent
love, accompanied by humiliating proposals. To such her
door was ever thereafter closed. " The greatest gentlemen
of the Court and financial world attacked her," said the
Chevalier de Mere ; " she had but to say the word to leave
poverty and misery behind for ever." But she chose to
bear what Bussy de Rabutin called " her glorious and
irreproachable poverty," rather than yield to the seduc-
tions by which she was beset.

The Chevalier de Mere, who was half a philosopher, half
a courtier, was fond of making protegees of young ladies
and forming their mind and manners. He had taken a
fancy to Franchise d'Aubigne when she was living with
Madame de Neuillant and had spent much time in talking
to and teaching her. When she became Madame Scarron
he sounded her praises as a prodigy of beauty, virtue and
talent ; and his opinion carried weight wherever he went.

When Scarron died, de Mere wished to marry the young
widow, but she refused and went into the country with the
Marquise de Montchevreuil, who remained her most
intimate and valued friend to the end of their lives.

Within a year of Scarron's death, the influence of la
Marechale d'Albret 1 and other of Madame Scarron's
friends induced the Queen to consent to renew his pension
in favour of his widow. It had been only 1500 francs,
but through the good offices of the Marquis d'Alinquin

1 Letter from Madame Scarron to la Marechale d'Albert : " I am
deeply touched by the service you have rendered me, and what charms
me is that you did it without promising to do so. I can now work out my
salvation in peace. I have vowed to give a quarter of my pension to the
poor. The five hundred livres given to me in excess of what was given
to M. Scarron ought to be given to them in all conscience, were it only
to atone for the falsehood told by your friend." See Geoff roy's
" Madame de Maintenon d'apres sa Correspondance authentique."

WIDOWHOOD 57

(Marechal Villeroy) it was augmented by 5000 francs, and
this extra sum Madame Scarron set aside for alms. Now
began one of the happiest and most peaceful times of her
life. She took an apartment at the Ursuline Convent, Rue
St Jacques, where she had been confirmed and received
her first communion.

Here she was waited on by a faithful servant, Nanon, a
woman of respectable parentage, who followed her fortunes,
good and ill, from youth to age.

At this time Madame Scarron read much, and her friends,
the Chevalier de Mere and Madame de Coulanges, chose
the best books for her, and sent her all the new ones that
were worth attention.

It was much the fashion for widows or ladies whose
husbands were at the wars to take lodgings in convents,
for there they obtained protection and yet were free to
visit and be visited by their friends. Madame Scarron
continued to see the best company, and frequented the
Hotels de Richelieu, de Montchevreial and d'Albret, where
all that was best in Paris was to be met.

Mdme. la Marechale d'Albret was Madame de Neuillant's
granddaughter, and she and her husband were both very
fond of their young relative, and their carriage was often
sent to the convent to bring her to the Hotel d'Albret and
take her back in the evening.

The Marechal had been an intimate friend of Scarron's
and was with him in his last hours. He had once been too
ardent an admirer of Madame Scarron, but she knew how
to turn lovers into friends ; and staunch and true friends
Marechal d'Albret and his wife remained for her while life
lasted.

The Marechal found it more agreeable to be the friend of

58 MADAME DE MAINTENON

a strong-minded woman than the lover of a weak one.
Their friendship increased with years and grew more
intimate as he reformed his mode of life. When he died,
in 1676, just about the time that Madame Scarron became
Marquise de Maintenon, he wrote her a most touching
letter of farewell.

La Marechale d'Albret was stupid, but a really good
woman, one of those of whom Madame de Maintenon
said : "I prefer being bored by them to being amused by
others."

Madame d'Albret found the young and beautiful widow
a great attraction to the frequenters of her salon. There
came Madame de Talleyrand-Chalais, afterwards Princesse
des Ursins, and an intimate friend of Madame de Main-
tenon ; Madame de Lafayette, so celebrated for her ro-
mances, and her friendship with the Due de Rochefoucauld,
author of the " Maxims " ; the Sevignes, mother and
daughter, their cousin, Madame de Coulanges ; Madame de
la Sabliere, the patroness of talent ; Mademoiselle de
Scudery, the celebrated authoress ; Ninon de FEnclos ;
the lovely Mademoiselle Pons, afterwards Madame d'Hudi-
court ; and Madame de Montespan, who owed her intro-
duction at Court to the Duchesse de Navailles, Madame
d'Albret's mother. There, too, came la Fontaine, Moliere,
Mignard the painter ; Turenne and the great Conde repre-
senting the army ; Abbes Testu and Flechier and the
renowned Bossuet representing the Church; as well as
most of the fine gentlemen of the day, including the Due
de Vivonne, Madame de Montespan's brother; and the
Marquis de Villarceaux, who conceived an ardent passion
for the young widow which was much talked of in the social
circles she frequented ; but when it was mentioned, the

WIDOWHOOD 59

indifference and reserve of Madame Scarron, which plunged
into sadness a gallant not accustomed to sigh in vain, was
also commented on.

It has been supposed that M. de Villar^eaux was the only
adorer by whom Madame Scarron's heart was really
touched, but the actual facts are as follows :

De Villar^eaux had long in vain besought Madame
Scarron for a rendezvous. At last she feigned consent ;
but on the day appointed he found on his arrival, not
Madame Scarron awaiting him, but his wife and child,
whom he had deserted for a long time. This meeting was
the means of effecting a reconciliation between husband
and wife, which was a great pleasure to Madame Scarron,
who became an intimate friend of the wife, and though it
was some time before the husband forgave her, he even-
tually did so and became a real and attached friend.

Madame Scarron used to stay a good deal with her
friend, Madame de Montchevrueil, whose country place
was near Villargeaux, and on this St Simon, who hated
Madame de Maintenon, founded the calumnies he published
with regard to her friendship with Villargeaux, even going
so far as to state that the Montechevrueils, who were known
to be the most particular and ultra-religious people, con-
nived at illicit relations. Rather important evidence on
this point is found in a letter addressed to Madame de
Brinon, 1 a nun who was staying with Madame de Villar-
geaux : the event that occasioned its being written being
the death of the latter's second son at the siege of Candia.

" Madame de Villargeaux is lucky to have with her a
person of so much intelligence and virtue as yourself. I
should like to be there to help you in the task of softening

1 Afterwards Superior of St Cyr.

60 MADAME DE MAINTENON

her sorrow, but I do not know when I shall be able to go.
Meanwhile give her my kindest regards." *

The tone of this letter of Madame Scarron's is that of
one offering consolation to a friend, not one that could have
been written to an injured wife by the transgressor, how-
ever barefaced. 2

Tallemant des Reaux, who had once suspected her, was
converted. He wrote : " She is a prude, though Villar-
9eaux visits her."

In the salon of the Hotel d'Albret Madame Scarron per-
fected her manners, and enlarged her intelligence by in-
tellectual conversation. She sometimes complained that
the learned and clever men who frequented the salon would
not leave her to amuse herself with the younger ladies, but
took her aside to discuss serious matters. She would have
preferred to be thought less strong-minded and left to the
society suitable to her age. But she exercised self-restraint.
Her love of approbation was very strong. She herself says :
" There was no trouble I would not take in order to be well
spoken of. I did not desire wealth but esteem."

She had read a great deal, and entered into all the
philosophical speculations of the day, but the supreme good
sense, which was in her such a prominent characteristic,
saved her from extravagance. She wrote at this time :
" What am I ? How great is my audacity ! I want to
know God and the Universe and I do not even know myself.
A short time ago I did not exist ; a few years more and I

1 In Geoffrey's " Madame de Maintenon d'apres sa Correspondance
authentique."

2 Her celebrated letter describing the King's entry to Paris with his
bride is also addressed to Madame de Villar9eaux, and it alludes to M.
Villarseaux's fine appearance. Comte d'Hanssonville, "Notice bio-
graphique, published 1902.

WIDOWHOOD 61

shall cease to exist. Has a Being of such limitations the
right to measure the Infinite ? The Creator has endowed
the Creature with intelligence, but requires the creatures
of a moment to feel respect and awe of the Everlasting ;
and if He has not given the eye of man power to gaze with
impunity at the sun, with what still more unapproachable
rays has He not enveloped His own light and His most
mysterious Divinity."

Madame Scarron at this time had for her Confessor the
Abbe Gobelin, a middle-aged man, not eloquent, but with
plenty of knowledge and solid judgment, and inflexible as
to morals. He had been captain of a cavalry regiment, but
becoming devout he forsook the world and entered the
Church.

The Abbe Gobelin thought Madame Scarron a model of
gentleness, purity and virtue. But he told her that if she
had a fault it was that of pride ; pride which desires to
dominate others, or to flaunt superiority, was not the pride
she was guilty of ; but she had a large fund of that self-
respect which is a legitimate pride, and shrinks from
humiliation and degradation. In spite of the Confessor's
censure, she could hardly have had a more valuable quality,
for it was this which carried here safely through the in-
numerable pitfalls which beset the path of a lovely, unpro-
tected young woman in the age and country of seductions.
It was this self-respect which enabled her to win the esteem
of the world, the grand world, and the Court, and to meet
with dignity and candour the gaze of all because she had
no recollections, no revelations to fear. One of her most
cherished maxims was, " Nothing is so clever as to act irre-
proachably always, and with all sorts of persons."

All that she had been through had taught her self-control

62 MADAME DE MAINTENON

and enabled her to subdue a naturally impetuous dis-
position. She was always at the service of her friends ;
her beauty, grace and desire to please made her infinitely
popular.

Many of the frequenters of the Hotel d'Albret became her
lifelong friends, and took pleasure in visiting her in her
modest retreat. Her pension was sufficient for her simple
tastes. She was always nicely dressed, in simple stuffs, and
even had money for charities. She was such a good
manager, and had so much taste that, though she really
spent very little on dress, the Abbe Gobelin thought she
must be extravagant in that respect, for the effect was so
good. When he remonstrated with her, for he was very
anxious to check any tendency to vanity, she replied: "But,
Father, my dresses are only of linen or the simplest stuffs ! "

" Oh, well," he said, " when you come to confession I see
a quantity of material falling in graceful folds around you,
and I thought it must cost a great deal ! "

There was a good deal of worldly wisdom in her choice of
a plain dress. Many years later, when speaking at St Cyr of
her early life, she said : " People were never tired of admir-
ing the courage of a young lady who appeared in society in
a dress made of woollen stuff, when it was not the fashion.
But I preferred a fresh stuff dress to a soiled silk one. I
had not the means to vie with others in magnificence of
dress, so I took refuge in the other extreme. My linen was
fine and white, my dress ample, there was no meanness
about it." 1

The death of the Queen Dowager in 1666 replunged
Madame Scarron into poverty and difficulties, for pensions

1 See " The Papers of Mademoiselle d'Aumale," edited by M.
Hanoteaux, 1902.

WIDOWHOOD 63

cease with the life of the giver. Her friends do not seem
to have been very sympathetic in this new trouble, and
told her that if she was in want, she had only herself to
blame for having refused an advantageous offer of marriage
about this time. She herself alludes to this in a letter to
the Duchesse de Richelieu :

" MADAME ! I swear as in the presence of God, that
even if I had foreseen the death of the Queen Dowager
and the loss of my pension, I would not have accepted
that marriage ; I should still have preferred my liberty.

" My friends are very cruel. They blame me for
having rejected the proposals of a man, rich and of good
position it is true, but without mind or manners.

" If I had accepted him, I should not have had to
regret to-day the loss of the pension on which I subsisted,
but I should have had to regret my solitude, my liberty,
and my repose ; blessings that could not have been
restored to me by God without a miracle. If the re-
fusal had still to be made, I should repeat it. I con-
sidered and weighed all. I am only unfortunate ; and
that is enough."

Happily the apprehensions of Madame Scarron and
her friends that she would lose her pension and be plunged
into poverty again were not justified.

Many stories have been told as to the troubles in which
Madame Scarron was involved by the King's refusal to
renew her pension, and how, after a long delay, in which the
influence of all her important friends was exerted in vain,
it was at last granted owing to the intervention of Madame
de Montespan, to whom the King could refuse nothing,
and effective scenes have been composed describing the
interview in which Madame de Montespan introduced
Madame Scarron to the King and he accorded the pension.

This view has been adopted by Voltaire, Walchenaar,

64 MADAME DE MAINTENON

the Due de Noailles, who copied La Beaumelle, and most
other writers ; but in 1860 Lavallee published the Memoirs
of Languet de Gery, Archbishop of Sens, as an appendix
to his " L'enfance de Madame de Maintenon," and he (the
Archbishop), who was in constant intercourse with Madame
de Maintenon, said that Madame de Maintenon herself had
always stated that M. le Due de Villeroy obtained the
renewal of her pension from the King. The same state-
ment is made by her secretary, Mademoiselle d'Aumale,
in her Memoirs, and by Madame de Caylus, her niece, in
her Souvenirs.

It has been left, however, to M. de Boislisle * as late as
1904, to settle the question finally by pointing out that
Anne of Austria died 2oth January 1866, and that the
brevet of the pension renewed by Louis XIV. is dated
23rd February 1666, so that there was only an interval
of one month between the lapsing of the old and the grant-
ing of the new pension. This brevet is preserved in the
Chateau de Maintenon, and is given by the Due de Noailles
in his " Life of Madame de Maintenon." 2

" Brevet du roi par lequel Sa Majeste desirant gratifier
dame Frangoise d'Aubigne, veuve du Sieur Scarorn, tant
en consideration des services du dit Sieur Scarron que
de ceux que le Sieur d'Aubigne, son aieul, avait rendus
au feu roi, Henri, et aussi en consideration que la
reine-mere avait accorde a ladite Madame Scarron une
pension qu'elle lui avait fait payer jusqu'au son deces,
lui accorde et lui fait don d'une pension de deux milles
sept-cent livres, le dit brevet du 23 Fevrier 1666.

" (Signe) Louis, et plus bas LETELLIER." 3

1 " Paul Scarron et Francoise d'Aubigne d'apres des doucements
nouveaux," par A. de Boislisle, Rtvue des Questions Historique, 1904.
Vol. i. p. 305.
3 The Chancellor.
Royal Patent by which his Majesty, desiring to benefit dame Fran9oise

WIDOWHOOD 65

This recognition of the services of her grandfather was
probably particularly gratifying to Madame Scarron,
who always cherished proofs of her distinguished
ancestors.

At the time that this brevet was given, Madame de
Montespan's liaison with the King had not begun and she
had no special influence over him ; it was not till the middle
of the following year that his attentions to her began to be
noticeable.

I have dwelt at some length on these details because
those who do not like Madame de Maintenon make what
they call her " ingratitude " to Madame de Montespan a
special subject for reproach, and the fact of her owing her
pension to Madame de Montespan's intervention is often
quoted.

Many writers also speak as if Madame de Montespan had
raised her from a very lowly station and introduced her at
Court, while as a fact they were both in the same social
" set," and constantly met at the d'Albrets.

Madame de Maintenon was also in a position to go to
Court, when Madame Scarron, without any special intro-
duction. During her husband's lifetime, Maria Mancini,
beloved of the young King, invited her to stay with her at
Bronage ; and the fact of her being on intimate terms
with this niece of the all-powerful Mazarin proves that

d'Aubigne, widow of M. Paul Scarron, both in recognition of the services
of the said M. Scarron, and of the services rendered by her grandfather,
Sieur d'Aubigne, to the late King Henry IV., and also because the late
Queen-Mother had granted a pension to Madame Scarron, which was
paid till the Queen's death, grants and gives to her a pension of 2700
livres.

The said patent was issued this 23rd February 1666.
(Signed) Louis.

LETELLIER, Chancellor.

66 MADAME DE MAINTENON

Madame Scarron had the entree to Court circles. We hear
also of her being present at the fetes which took place at
the Louvre.

During her widowhood she was invited to the fetes at
Versailles and St Germains.

The Gazette of i8th July 1668 mentions her presence at a
fete at Versailles, sitting between Mademoiselle Scudery
and 5 Madame de Merse, at a table presided over by the
Duchesse de Montausier.

Most authors also speak of her witnessing the entry of
LomVXIV. and his bride, Maria Therese, into Paris in the
company of the Queen of England and some of the greatest
personages of the Court. 1

1 Boislisle denies that she was on the balcony with these great
personages, but does not prove his case.

From an engraving in the British Museum

CHAPTER V

BECOMES GOUVERNANTE TO THE KING'S CHILDREN

ATHENAIS DE MORTEMART,Mademoiselle de
Tonnai Chareute, afterwards Marquise de
Montespan, was considered one of the most
brilliantly beautiful women in France. She
was appointed lady-in-waiting to the young bride of
Louis XIV., and after a time supplanted La Valliere in
his favour and became his acknowledged mistress. Her
husband, the Marquis de Montespan, instituted proceed-
ings for the annulling of his marriage, but without success,
for the Pope feared to offend the King of France. De
Montespan then went into deep mourning, draped his
carriages and horses with black, gave orders for a funeral
service to be held in his parish church, to which he invited
all the neighbourhood, saying that his wife was dead. His
outbursts of wrath only amused the King, who said to
Madame de Montespan : " Now that he has buried you
it is to be hoped that he will let you rest in peace."

When, however, the time for the birth of Madame de
Montespan's first child was approaching, the King heard of
it with anxiety and misgiving, and said that the strictest
secrecy must be observed, and that somebody must be
found who could be relied on to take charge of the infant
and to exercise the discretion and reserve indispensable in
the circumstances under which the King's child was to be
born.

68 MADAME DE MAINTENON

Madame de Montespan probably remembered, and also
knew that the world would not forget, that she had stated
publicly, in reference to La Valliere's connection with the
King : " If I had the misfortune to do as she has done,
and to have caused such sorrow to the Queen, I would
never show myself again all the days of my life, and I
should perish of shame." Perhaps the remembrance of
these words made her particularly anxious to conceal from
the Court the birth of the expected child.

Madame de Montespan was related to the d'Albrets
and a frequenter of their salon. She had often met
Madame Scarron there and had been attracted by her
beauty and charm, and had also noticed how unwearied
and indefatigable she was in obliging friends, and especially
how maternal she was in her care of their children, 1 for
her love of children was always remarkable all her life long.

So at this crisis it occurred to Madame de Montespan
that Madame Scarron was peculiarly fitted to take charge
of the expected child, and she sent her brother, the Due de
Vivonne, to her to broach the subject. He said : " I have
come, madame, to ask you to give up your liberty and to
undertake the important post of bringing up the child of a
great king."

Madame Scarron was agitated and said that, though
sensible of the honour done to her, she had never been a

1 At St Cyr Madame de Maintenon related to the pupils : " When I
stayed with Madame d'Hudicourt, Madame de Montchevrueil, or other
friends, nothing was too much for me to do to please or help them. Six
o'clock never found me in bed, though the mistress of the house might
not come down till twelve if she were not well. I gave orders to the
servants, helped them with my own hands, when necessary, dressed the
children, and combed their hair, did anything that could contribute
to the comfort of the household." See Geoffrey's "Madame de
Maintenon."

GOUVERNANTE TO THE KING'S CHILDREN 69

mother and doubted if she had the necessary knowledge
and capacity, and besides, she had been thinking of leaving
Paris.

About this time Mademoiselle d'Aumale, daughter of
the Due de Nemours, was going to be married to the
King of Portugal, and had invited Madame Scarron to
accompany her to Portugal as secretary and had promised
to make her lady-in-waiting and to arrange a good marriage
for her !

Madame de Montespan in her Memoirs says :

' The Queen of Portugal never forgave me for de-
priving her of her secretary and companion. She wrote
to me and complained of it, saying : ' I shall hate you
all my life.' '

For Madame Scarron was persuaded to give up the idea
of going to Portugal and to enter upon another career. We
do not know the reasons that actuated her at this juncture.
She may have had as great a liking for Paris as the courtiers
of the day, who thought that life was only worth living
within reach of the rays of the sunshine of the King's
presence ; and if they were out of favour, and banished to
their estates, looked upon it as a Russian might do on exile
to Siberia, and only existed to receive the post from Paris
and hear tidings of the paradise from which they were shut
out.

It would appear that the position offered Madame de
Maintenon in Portugal was pleasanter than that in Paris.
At all events she did not at once agree to Madame de
Montespan's request, and indeed refused to do so till she
had received the King's express command.

He had an interview with her in which he explained his
intentions, and said that though secrecy was necessary at

70 MADAME DE MAINTENON

present, the infant would be recognised as his child later on.
Madame Scarron also received permission to communicate
with his Majesty himself as to. all matters relating to the
child's future upbringing, and she was told to apply to
M. Bontems, Keeper of the Privy Purse, for necessary funds.

The child, 1 a girl, was born in 1669. At the time of
Madame de Montespan's accouchement Madame Scarron
was waiting in the next room, and at once carried off the
infant to the house of a nurse who had been selected. She
used to visit the child privately, and attended to its welfare,
but she herself remained in her old quarters and appeared
as usual in society, the better to keep the secret. The
same course was adopted on the birth of a second child,
the Comte de Vexin, and Madame Scarron's existence at
this time must have been most unenviable, going at all
hours from house to house to superintend the nurses and
attend to all that was necessary, 2 besides reporting to the
mother, and appearing amongst her friends.

After the birth of the third child of the King and Madame
de Montespan, the Due du Maine, a house was taken
for the three children, and Madame Scarron went there to
reside with them. It was large and commodious, situated
amongst vast kitchen gardens in a sequestered situation
between Vaugirard and the Luxembourg. It was tho-
roughly well appointed and Madame Scarron's domestics
included two nurses, a waiting-maid, a physician, a courier,
two footmen, a coachman, a postilion and two cooks. She
was also provided with an excellent coach, in which she
took the children to St Germains every week, to be seen by
their parents.

1 This child died when three years old.

2 The children were not in the same house, each had a separate nurse.

GOUVERNANTE TO THE KING'S CHILDREN 71

While their existence had to be concealed, and during the
first years of her guardianship of the children of Madame de
Montespan and the King, Madame Scarron's existence must
have been most unpleasant and full of annoyances, but
there was nothing in the post degrading or hurtful to
delicacy of feeling, according to the ideas of that day. Any
sort of connection with the King was considered enviable.

Madame Colbert, wife of the great minister, had brought
up La Valliere's daughter, and the Marquise de Sabliere
was proposed for her other children.

Madame Scarron's Confessor had told her that it was a
good work, and advised her not to refuse it.

Madame de Montespan retained the affections of the
King for many years, and the birth of the Comte de Vexin,
the title given to the first son, was succeeded by that of
six more children.

Five of these were committed to the care of Madame
Scarron. The two Comtes de Vexin and the Due du
Maine were very delicate children, and she is credited with
lavishing upon them the utmost care and attention. From
the time when as little helpless morsels of humanity they
were first confided to her, her heart melted with pity for
these innocent creatures, and she began to love them.

She herself said :

" I undertook this charge out of respect for the King,
my benefactor, and because my Confessor considered it
a good work. At the commencement I believed that
I should never get to the year's end without disgust.
Little by little I silenced my emotions and regrets. A
life of great activity and occupation, by separating us,
as it were, from ourselves, extinguishes the exacting
niceties of our sensibility and self-conceit. . . .

" I remembered my sufferings, my fears and privations

72 MADAME DE MAINTENON

after the death of that poor man, 1 and since labour is
the yoke imposed by God on every human being, I sub-
mitted, with the best grace I could, to the respectable
labour of education. Few teachers are attached to their
pupils, I attached myself to mine with tenderness and
delight. It is true it has been my good fortune to find
the King's children amiable and pretty as few are."

Madame Scarron has often been accused of hypocrisy,
and it is said, if she was really a religious or high-principled
woman, how could she countenance the connection of
Louis XIV. and Madame de Montespan ?

But Madame Scarron could not have been uninfluenced
by the public opinion of the days in which she lived, when,
by general consent, kings were allowed to be a law unto
themselves, and exempt from the laws of morality by
which ordinary mortals are judged. The highest families
in the land thought it no disgrace for one of their number to
be a king's mistress, and ladies of the highest rank vied
with each other to attract the King's notice, and it was
mainly the unsuccessful who found fault with the success-
ful competitor and professed to be shocked and outraged.
Even la Grande Mademoiselle, herself a woman of blame-
less life, expressed, in the naivest fashion, her astonishment
that the Marquis de Montespan could be so ill-bred as to
make a fuss when the King deprived him of his wife.

The King was never refused the sacraments of the
Church during his long and public connection with Madame
de Montespan and his other liaisons. He said his Confessor
knew how to reconcile religion and nature.

Conjugal fidelity was hardly expected in royal marriages
at that date.

Though the birth of Madame de Montespan's children

1 It was thus she generally spoke of Scarron.

GOUVERNANTE TO THE KING'S CHILDREN 73

was for some years kept secret from the Queen, yet, when
they were subsequently acknowledged, she allowed them to
play with her own children, and showed much liking for
Madame Scarron, complimenting her on the perfect way in
which she had brought up the Due du Maine and his
sisters, contrasting their charming manners with those of
her own children. " Ah ! madame," said the poor Queen,
" you ought to have educated my children." The Dauphin's
manners, we learn, left much to be desired : he laughed in
loud guffaws and raised his voice even in the presence of
his father !

If the birth of Madame de Montespan's children had
been kept a secret from the Queen, yet it was somewhat an
open secret to the rest of the world, and some of her old
friends sought out Madame Scarron, though for some years
her duties were so arduous that she could not mix much in
society.

Madame de Sevigne gives an account of a dinner party
after which the guests escorted Madame Scarron to her
house, and adds :

" She was most agreeable company, beautiful, amiable
and natural, dressed quietly but handsomely, as befitted
one who spends her time with people of quality. We
took leave of her at the gate, no one being allowed to
enter the house, which is a fine one."

Another time, when staying with Madame de Coulanges,
her cousin's wife, Madame de Sevinge writes :

" L'Abbe Testu and Madame Scarron came to supper.
It is a pleasure to hear her talk. These conversations
lead us far, from morality to Christianity or politics or
philosophy. When she left, we amused ourselves by
escorting her to her house at the extreme end of the
Faubourg St Germain, almost in the country."

74 MADAME DE MAINTENON

When Madame Scarron first undertook the charge of the
children she was still of an age when young women like
excitement and admiration, and possessed beauty that
excited remark wherever she appeared, but she lived in
retirement with her charges, only occasionally visiting a
few old friends. She had the gift of communicating what
she knew to others and a taste for doing so. At Madame de
Villette's she taught her attendant to read ; and at the
convent she took great pleasure in presiding over a class of
little ones, making them read and write, and superintending
their games. But it was some years before these abilities
could be brought to bear on Madame de Montespan's
babies. Many mothers soon get tired of the cares and
troubles attached to the tending of very young children.
But Madame Scarron's patience never failed. One day,
when the King came unexpectedly to visit his children, he
found the Gouvernante alone with them. She was holding
the hand of the Due du Maine, who had fever ; with the
other hand she rocked the cradle in which his sister,
Mademoiselle de Nantes, lay ; and on her lap was the second
Comte de Vexin, asleep. The King was touched by this
picture, and told Madame Scarron that he did not know
how to find words strong enough to express his gratitude
for her devotion to his children.

Next day he sent for the Pension List, and seeing oppo-
site the name of Scarron, " 2700 francs," he erased these
words and wrote instead, " 2700 crowns/'

The devoted care shown to these children must have been
all the more striking to the King in contrast to his own
neglected childhood. He was King at three years old,
and in after life he used to say that he remembered his
Gouvernante playing cards all day and leaving him and his

GOUVERNANTE TO THE KING'S CHILDREN 75

brother to the care of a peasant, the waiting-maid. If an
omelette was cooked, they got some scraps of it, which they
ate in a corner. No attempt was made to provide them
with suitable and wholesome food. Their most frequent
companion was a little girl, granddaughter of the woman
who attended on the Queen's waiting-maids. This child's
name was Marie, and they played at her being queen,
Louis taking the part of page.

In reply to a letter of congratulation received from
Madame de Coulanges, Madame Scarron wrote :

" Thank you a thousand times for the gracious things
you say of me in your letter. The money may be more
than I merit, but not more than my cares. I am con-
suming the best part of my life in the service of others.
I am always in a state of alarm and mortal disquietude,
and you would hardly believe how the disagreeables
incident to my position get on my nerves.

" I long for peace and quiet, but live in the midsfof
incessant bustle and movement. I have very few minutes
to give to my friends. The King's bounty cannot make
up to me for all I undergo and all I lose."

CHAPTER VI

GOUVERNANTE TO THE KING'S CHILDREN (continued)

IN 1673 the children were legitimatised and publicly
acknowledged and came with their Gouvernante
to reside at Court with Madame de Montespan.

Madame Scarron was treated with much con-
sideration as Gouvernante of the King's Children and she
relates how on the first day that she was included in the
Royal cortege for the afternoon drive, that Turenne,
Lauzun, and a number of courtiers surrounded the caleche
in which she was sitting with the children, and were
anxious to engage her in conversation.

Madame de Montespan considered that Madame Scarron
filled to perfection the role of Gouvernante to the King's
Children. But the King for a long time felt distaste for
her, 1 so much so that when he came to visit Madame de
Montespan, if he heard that Madame Scarron was with her,
he always withdrew on reaching the vestibule. One day,
however, as he was approaching, he heard peals of laughter
issuing from the room, and, stopping at the door to listen,
was greatly tickled by a funny story that Madame Scarron
was relating about the aberrations of the celebrated
Brancas. At the conclusion of the story the King entered
the room, smiling, and addressing the Gouvernante said :

1 This dislike was founded on a kind of dread of her merit that is,
her reputation for modesty and talent. He imagined her to be a
mixture of Prude and Preciense, says her niece, Madame de Caylus.
76

Mignara.

LOUIS XIV AS A YOUNG MAN
By permission of Sir J. Robinson

GOUVERNANTE TO THE KING'S CHILDREN 77

" Allow me, madame, to compliment you and at the same
time to thank you for the amusement you have afforded
me. I thought you were of a serious, melancholy disposi-
tion, but as I listened to you through the open door I am no
longer surprised that you have such long talks with Mdme.
la Marquise. Will you do me the favour of being as amusing
some other time, if I venture to make one of the party ? "

The Gouvernante, blushing and curtseying, said : "It
was the fear of displeasing you which, despite myself,
caused me to incur your displeasure."

The King replied : " Madame, I am aware of your affec-
tion for my children; that is a great recommendation to me.
Banish all restraint and I shall take great pleasure in your
company."

To be a good conversationalist was, perhaps, the highest
social qualification in France, in those days, where many
people made conversation the sole occupation of their
lives. Carry le speaks of the " everflowing tide of French
talk, ebbing only towards the small hours of the morning."
Many people met at each other's houses nightly for no
other purpose but talk. Ladies gave forth with delightful
confidence their opinion of everything on earth, and with
clever doubt on everything above it ; boudoir Abbes took
pains to prevent the world from supposing that religious
profession implied conviction ; men of fashion told
piquant stories, which might be too broad, but were never
too long. Men of science spoke their best on what they
knew best. There was abundance of sentiment but little
deep feeling. The worst misfortunes of friends were only a
subject of conversation one day and a bore the next. 1

1 Vide Henry Graham in Blackwood's "Foreign Classics for English
readers."

78 MADAME DE MAINTENON

However great their trials and misfortunes, nothing
destroyed the capacity of the French gentleman or lady
for conversation. At a later date we hear of Madame de
Tesse, whose idea of enjoyment was perpetual conversation,
and who carried about the witty and imperturbable old
Marquis de Mun with her wherever she went in order that
she might always have someone at hand to talk to.
Without this, she said, she could not have endured the
solitude and silence of the Swiss mountains, when she was
compelled to emigrate.

Madame de Montespan was celebrated for her wit
(!' esprit Mortemart), yet she herself says :

" I have the reputation of special talent for enlivening
conversation, and certainly I do not think people often
find themselves dull in my company, but in this respect
Madame Scarron is without a rival."

After the little episode just related, the King no longer
avoided Madame Scarron, but took pleasure in drawing
her into conversation.

There is abundant testimony to the impression always
made by Madame Scarron's appearance.

The chief characteristic of her beauty seems to have been
fine eyes, an exquisite complexion of t r ansparent white-
ness, which excitement or emotion suffused with a delicate
pink (the sheen of the lily mingled with that of the rose,
as an admirer expresses it), a most graceful figure, and
elegant but distinguished carriage ; to these charms were
added a remarkably sweet voice and attractive manner of

1 Her complexion excited much comment. A tale was current that
she owed its beauty to a potion given her by a negress in Martinique ;
but Madame de Montespan says : " She is nature unadorned as to her
complexion. During the journeys of the Court she often slept in my
room and her face at washing was the same as at noon or evening."

GOUVERNANTE TO THE KING'S CHILDREN 79

speaking. Under the mask of a very pretty woman she
concealed the knowledge and ability of a statesman, so it is
not surprising that the King began to enjoy conversations
with her.

He had never discussed public affairs with Madame de
Montespan, she never knew what was going on ; but he
gradually fell into the habit of discussing many matters
with the Gouvernante of his children, and was much struck
by the soundness of her opinions and the clever manner in
which she expressed them. She was allowed to write
direct to the King on all matters connected with the
children ; and he often commented on the charm of
her style of writing, and she gradually advanced in
favour.

When the wealthy Abbey of St Germain des Pres fell
vacant, the King bestowed it on the little Comte de Vexin,
who was thus richly provided for. The Benedictine monks
complained that a child barely out of the cradle should be
given them as a chief, but the King sent them word that
his son would be represented by his Vicar-General, till
such time as he became able to assume the governorship
himself. Madame de Montespan had no love for the
Church, and remonstrated with the King for " condemning
her son to be an ecclesiastic."

" Will my son on receiving his Abbey have to wear the
dress of his office ? " she asked.

" Madame," said the King, " if on growing up the Comte
de Vexin should evince a warlike disposition, we can
relieve him of his Abbey, while he will have profited thereby
up to that time. As to the dress, why should you object to
it ? The princes of the German Empire are nearly all
ecclesiastics, and history tells us that some sons of French

8o MADAME DE MAINTENON

Kings have been Bishops and Abbes in almost every
reign."

At this moment Madame Scarron entered, and his
Majesty, addressing her, said :

" Madame, we will make you the arbiter of the question
we are now discussing. Do you think there is any objec-
tion to our giving the dress of an Abbe to little Vexin ? "

" On the contrary, Sire," replied the Gouvernante,
" such a dress will inspire him betimes with reserve and
modesty and strengthen his principles. How can madame,
his mother, object to his wearing what may be called the
livery of the servants of God ? If our religion is a true one,
God Himself is the Head of it, and the sons of Kings may be
honoured in devoting themselves to the service of so
supreme a Chief."

" I am obliged by your opinion, madame," answered the
King, " and I flatter myself that you see things in the same
light as I do."

A few days afterwards Madame Scarron, with smiling
face, presented the little Comte de Vexin, dressed as an
Abbe, to the King, and she was careful to see that the
crozier, mitre and cross were painted on the panels of his
coach. The little Abbe was a gentle and lovable child,
who made such funny speeches that the King was highly
diverted by them and took much notice of him. He,
however, died very young, and the King conferred his title
of Comte de Vexin on his brother, Madame de Montespan's
third son, to whom was also given the Abbey of St Denis.
When after his nomination the monks of St Denis came to
make their obeisance to him, he asked if they were devils,
and covered his face so as not to see them.

The King arrived, and with a few flattering words

GOUVERNANTE TO THE KING'S CHILDREN 81

managed to soothe the priests' outraged dignity, and they
asked their little Abbe if he would honour them by a visit.
He replied, with a sulky smile :

" I'll come and see you, but with my eyes shut."

To make amends for his little son's unfriendliness, his
Majesty himself took them to see his splendid collection of
medals and coins, and sent them back to their Abbey in
Court carriages.

After the children had been acknowledged and
established at Versailles, the King presented Madame
Scarron with a sum of 100,000 francs in recognition of her
services.

Writing to the Abbe" Gobelin, on the i6th September
1674, she said :

" People think I am indebted to Madame de
Montespan for this gift, but I owe it to my little Prince.

" The other day the King was talking and playing
with him and was much pleased with the replies the
child gave to his questions, and told him that he was
very sensible (raisonnable).

" ' How could I be otherwise/ replied the child, ' when
the lady who takes charge of me is Reason itself ? '

" ' Go and tell her,' said the King, ' that you will give
her 100,000 francs this evening for your sweets/ "

CHAPTER VII

MADAME SCARRON BECOMES MARQUISE DE MAINTENON

AFTER coming to reside at Court with her
charges Madame Scarron found her position
much less agreeable than when she was
mistress of the house in Vaugirard.

Madame de Montespan could be most fascinating, but
she was very imperious, and had a violent and uncertain
temper. She received 150,000 francs annually for the
maintenance of her children, but she often spent part of
the money on her own fancies and Madame Scarron could
not always get all she thought necessary for the children.
The mother attempted to interfere in all matters connected
with the management of the children, and her interference
was most injudicious, and would have been injurious to
their welfare, but when the Gouvernante was convinced
that this would be the case she made a stand, and many
unpleasant scenes were the result.

Madame de Montespan was also becoming jealous of
the King's increasing liking for Madame Scarron, and
showed it by endeavouring to treat her as a subordinate
and with scant courtsey, sometimes making use of violent
and abusive language.

Madame Scarron met these attacks with considerable
patience and wisdom, which increased the King's esteem,
advanced her in his good graces, and made known what
was, to him, a novel type of feminine character.

BECOMES MARQUISE DE MAINTENON 83

She was often tempted to retire. But in spite of all
disagreeables she stayed at her post, hoping eventually to
obtain from the King such a recompense for her services
as would assure her independence. This was her heart's
desire.

In a letter to the Abbe Gobelin, October 1674, she
wrote :

" I am still in the same mind. I wish to retire. My
staying here is useless for myself and for others ; the
way in which the children are brought up is very bad for
them. I must leave this place where one has to speak
and act against one's conscience. Pray for me that I
may decide aright. I should retire at once, only the
children are always ill."

In February she wrote again :

" There has been a terrible scene between myself and
Madame de Montespan, the King was present. All this,
and the continued ailments of the children, is more than
I can endure."

With reference to this scene Madame de Caylus says :

" I heard from Madame de Maintenon that one day
while altercation was going on between herself and
Madame de Montespan, in which the latter was expres-
sing herself with much violence, the King came in with-
out their having perceived his approach. He expressed
great surprise and asked what was the matter. Madame
Scarron, as she then was, calmly replied : ' If your
Majesty will do me the favour of coming into the next
room I will explain matters.' " 1

The King complied and Madame de Montespan was left
by herself. When she found herself alone with the King,
Madame Scarron described the difficulties of her posi-
tion in vivid colours. The King had previously gathered

1 Souvenirs, p. 457.

84 MADAME DE MAINTENON

some idea of the state of affairs, and he endeavoured
to put matters on a better footing. He was still much
attached to Madame de Montespan, but he contrasted her
violent temper with the calmness and dignity of Madame
Scarron, who did not lose by comparison.

Her great wish was to acquire some small estate to
which she could retire and live independently.

She had asked an old friend, who was a lawyer, M. Jean
Viette, to look out for a suitable property ; and when in
1674 the estate of Maintenon came into the market, she
obtained from the King l another sum of 100,000 livres 2
which, with some savings she had made, enabled her in
January 1675 to complete the purchase of it for the sum of
250,000 livres. 3 Maintenon was fourteen miles from Paris,
ten from Versailles, and nearer Chartres.

The chateau was in the Gothic style, large and of solid
proportions, built for defence, dating from Philippe Augus-
tus, and added to in the fifteenth century. It had been
the property of Cottereau (Finance Minister to Francois
I.) , who had embellished it. It was surrounded by a moat,
and had extensive gardens bounded by a fine stream of
water ; beyond were broad meadows studded with clumps
of fine trees.

After her first visit Madame Scarron wrote to her great
friend, Madame de Coulanges, on i6th Ferbuary 1675 :

" I am more impatient to tell you about Maintenon
than you can be to hear. I stayed there two days

1 It is said, owing to the representations made to him on her behalf
by the Duchesse de Richelieu, and other influential friends.

2 Livre was the business term for franc in those days.

3 It was a curious coincidence that the vendor, the Marquis de
Maintenon, went to take the post of Governor of the Island of Marie
Galante (where Constantine d'Aubigne had been sent) and died there.

BECOMES MARQUISE DE MAINTENON 85

which seemed only a moment. I am already fond of it.
What do you say to that ? Do you wonder that at my
age (thirty-nine) I should attach myself to a new place
like a child ? It is a fine house a little too big for the
mode of life I intend to inaugurate there. The grounds
are lovely. There are woods in which Madame de
Sevigne * could dream of Madame de Grignan at ease.
I wish I could remain there, but the time for that has not
yet come."

The King had ordered her to sign only " Maintenon," and
this is the first letter thus signed.

The King henceforth always addressed his children's
Gouvernante as Madame de Maintenon, and the rest of the
world followed suit. But although the title went with the
estate it was not formally accorded to her till 1688, when
letters patent were issued conferring that title on her, at
the same time that the King purchased and presented to
her some adjoining lands as compensation for the injury
done to her property by the construction of waterworks
intended to carry water to Versailles.

Although on this occasion the new owner only paid a
flying visit to Maintenon, shortly afterwards Madame de
Montespan expressed a wish to see the place, and the two
ladies went together and were received with much cere-
mony ; indeed this visit seems to have been for Madame de
Maintenon a formal entry into possession of her property.

On her arrival with Madame de Montespan, the six
Canons who officiated in the Collegiate Chapel attached to

1 Madame de Coulanges was wife of Madame de Sevigne's cousin.
She was herself counted a wit and very intimate with the illustrious
letter writer as well as with Madame Scarron, and this friendship did not
diminish when the latter attained a more elevated position. We read
of Madame de Maintenon keeping a special place for Madame de
Coulanges at the great performance of Esther at St Cyr.

86 MADAME DE MAINTENON

the castle met them, approaching in procession and pre-
senting holy water.

The villagers, dressed out in their best, also offered
baskets of fruit and flowers, and afterwards danced in the
courtyard to the sound of hautboy and bagpipes. The
new Madame de Maintenon gave them money, said some-
thing pleasant to everybody, and invited the Canons to
supper.

The town of Maintenon had a College for Canons of the
Second Order. The nominations to the Canonries were in
the hands of Madame de Maintenon, and her letters show
that this gave her a good deal of trouble ; for she was
scrupulously anxious not to present any but exemplary
men.

Madame de Montespan, in giving an account of this visit,
says that Madame de Maintenon was moved to tears by
her reception on this occasion.

It is not surprising. After all the vicissitudes she had
been through, all that she had suffered from being in a
state of dependence, her feelings must have been over-
whelming when at last she found herself in a home of her
own, with an assured income.

It is easy to imagine the sense of peace and security with
which she sank to rest that night under her own roof.

The revenue of the estate of Maintenon was only 10,000
francs, but by good management the new mistress gradually
increased it to 15,000. Her talent for management and
organisation here found full scope.

She did not grind down the farmers, but brought waste
land under cultivation, imported Swiss cattle, and built
fine pigeon-houses.

While improving the position of her tenantry, she only

BECOMES MARQUISE DE MAINTENON 87

made such repairs as were absolutely necessary to the
castle. The drawing-room was immense, and badly fur-
nished ; she had it rehung with light blue damask, and
adorned it with a large chandelier. She placed in it a divan
with eight seats, and also sixty chairs of various kinds.
Over the mantelpiece she hung two large Venetian
mirrors. When the King and Queen came to pay her a
visit they admired her taste.

When she attended service for the first time at the
parish church, all the inhabitants of the town and neigh-
bourhood crowded in to gaze at her. She received holy
water at the door, and on arriving at her seat found a
carpet and her coat-of-arms already placed there. It was
remarked that when the acolyte brought incense to her she
was not pleased, and she afterwards asked the celebrant
not to repeat that mark of respect.

When conversing with the Cure of the parish she said to
him :

" Monsieur, your church is very poor and small and in a
ruinous state. Such a building destined for the service of
God would be a reproach to me in my fine castle. It must
be demolished, and I shall beg the King to erect another."

This promise was fulfilled, and Madame de Maintenon
presented to the new church the lamps, sacred vases, the
linen and vestments, and would not allow her arms to be
engraved on the pyx, or the monstrance.

She watched carefully over the interests of her tenants,
won their admiration and affection, entering into their
joys and sorrows, and doing all she could to improve their
condition. To this end she introduced weavers from Nor-
mandy and lacemakers from Flanders to teach their arts,
and give employment to hands that had hitherto been idle.

88 MADAME DE MAINTENON

As her powers increased, so did the benefits she bestowed
on Main tenon, including a well-equipped hospital and
revenues to keep it up.

Madame de Maintenon's gratitude to the King was in-
tense but the improvement in her position did not spoil her.
She gave herself no airs, no change was perceptible in her
manners and bearing.

One day the King escaped from St Germains and paid a
surprise visit to Maintenon. The chatelaine, in country
attire, was walking in the gardens with the Due du Maine.
On hearing the dinner-bell they returned to the house, and
found the King, who was hungry, and had ordered dinner to
be hastened. The Due du Maine was enchanted to see his
father, for whom he had the greatest affection and admira-
tion.

Madame de Maintenon came and went, giving orders for
a rustic repast, and was able to serve the King with fresh
fish from the river, fresh eggs, and delicious butter, and a
delicate salad flanked by fresh fruit and confectionery ;
and the whole was seasoned by witty conversation.

Afterwards, in high good humour, Louis strolled about the
grounds ; admired improvements, suggested new ones, and
said he would send his own landscape gardener, le Notre, to
carry them out.

CHAPTER VIII

THE DUG DU MAINE'S STATE JOURNEY TO BAREGE

MADAME DE MONTESPAN'S first child, a
girl, died young ; then came Comte Vexin
and the Due du Maine ; then another boy,
for whom the title of Comte de Vexin was
revived, 1 and who also died at an early age ; then two
daughters, Mesdemoiselles de Nantes and de Tours.

The Due du Maine was Madame de Maintenon's favourite
pupil ; she used to call him " my heart's tenderness." He
was a very delicate child, and only the tender care of his
Gouvernante saved his life. He had one leg shorter than
the other : some say he was born so ; others that he
received an injury through being dropped by a careless
nurse. Madame de Maintenon consulted numerous
doctors about him, and took him to Antwerp to see a
celebrated physician. The poor child's sensitive nature
was wounded when he found his defects exposed to the
surgeon's eye, and he said : " Sir ! at least, I was not born
so. Look at mamma, and papa is anything but lame."

The Antwerp treatment was not successful ; and later on
the waters of Barege, in the Pyrenees, were recommended,
and the King asked Madame de Maintenon to accompany
the child. At eight years old, he had passed into the hands
of a tutor, Abbe le Ragois, nephew of Pere Gobelin, Madame
de Maintenon's Confessor. The Due du Maine having been

1 The first Comte de Vexin died young.

8 9

90 MADAME DE MAINTENON

legitimatized, the journey was made in all the state suitable
to his rank as Prince of the Blood. The King with his
own hand had written in advance to the Governors of the
provinces through which his son must pass, announcing
his arrival, and speaking of his Gouvernante, Madame de
Maintenon, as a lady whom he favoured with his highest
esteem and royal consideration.

The Governor, the Commandants, the Parliaments, the
Bishops, the Intendants, saw in the little invalid the
cherished son of Louis the Great and in Madame de
Maintenon the child's guardian angel, whose charm,
talents and virtues were an honour to the nobility of
France. When his health permitted, the boy himself
replied to the addresses ; when he was not well enough
his Gouvernante replied for him. Her dignity and
simplicity and well-chosen words were always admired,
also her taking manners and unassuming demeanour.
The town of Bordeaux distinguished itself by its loyal
demonstrations. When the royal vessel entered the port
all the men-of-war dressed their flags and fired a salute,
the artillery of the Chateau Trompette thundered a
welcome. " The Chateau Trompette is doing its duty in
saluting you," said Marechal d'Albret, who was by her side,
and on passing the place with which she could have but
melancholy associations Madame was overcome by
emotion, and the sense of the contrast between her former
and present position. Her brother, Charles d'Aubigne,
for whom she had obtained the governorship of Cognac,
received them with all honours. He had got together a
regiment of boys dressed as Royal Musketeers, and trained
them to mount guard and attend the young prince, who
was much delighted.

DUG DU MAINE'S JOURNEY TO BAREGE 91

After leaving Cognac Madame de Maintenon wrote to
her brother, giving an account of their progress :

" We are getting through our journey very happily,
my dear brother, and except for a slight attack of fever
that our Prince has had, I have not had one annoyance,
I am more at peace than I have ever been. The weather
is fine and we have every comfort. Everywhere we are
received as if it were the King himself but Guienne has
distinguished itself, and it would have been impossible
to have made greater demonstrations of joy than have
been made here. Madame la Marechale d'Albret
seemed very glad to see us. At Poitiers we were almost
overwhelmed with attentions. M. le Due de St Simon
entertained us magnificently at Braye.

" The magistrate of Bordeaux brought a magnificent
boat for us. We had 40 rowers, and we progressed
easily and smoothly. When we came in sight of the
town, vessels came out to meet us, some carrying violin
players, others trumpeters. But when we drew nearer
nothing could have been more effective than the Cannon
of Chateau Trompette, and of the men-of-war in harbour,
mingling with the music from the boats that followed us,
and the cries of ' Vive le Roi ' from crowds of people on
the banks. M. le Marechal d'Albret went before us as
far as Pons, and conducted the Prince on shore where
he was received by the Municipal Council, who read an
address. Then we got into our coach and were followed
by a hundred others, our progress from the port to the
house prepared for us took more than an hour."

The following letter was written to Madame de
Montespan by Madame de Maintenon on arriving at
Barege.

" Le Mignon [pet name of the Due du Maine] is quite
well. This journey is not one, only an agreeable
promenade. Guienne did wonders, and I promised M.
d'Albret and M. de St Simon to write you an account of
it. The King himself could not have been better

92 MADAME DE MAINTENON

received ; endless honours and acclamations every-
where. You would have been enchanted, Madame, and
you cannot imagine how great is the love of the people
for the King, and all that belongs to him. Le Mignon
replied to the address of the Magistrates of Bordeaux.
His tutor will send you the particulars. In four or five
days we shall begin the baths. People speak of the
prodigies they effect but we must be patient. There
are a great number of visitors here, but we shall be as
free a3 if we were alone ; although we already perceive
that the respect shown for us will cause some con-
straint. I enclose some nonsense the ' Mignon ' has
written."

Letter of the Due du Maine to his mother :

" I am going to send you all the news to divert you,
cher petit cceur ; and I shall write well, as it is to you.
Madame de Maintenon passes the day in knitting and
would knit all night if she could. But she tries to
improve my mind ; and I will do the same, as I have so
great a wish to please you and the King. On the
journey I read the history of Caesar. I am now reading
that of Alexander, and shall soon begin the history of
Pompey. The Almoner's roguery continues, Lutain is
very lazy. Heinault always does what I want but
Nanon does not like lending me Madame de Maintenon's
clothes when I want to dress up as a girl. I was
delighted with the letter you wrote to your little Mignon.
I will do all that you tell me, for I love you in the
superlative degree. I was charmed and am so still,
with the little inclination of the head that the King
made me when I took leave ; but vexed that you did not
seem grieved at my departure. You looked beautiful
as an angel.

" (Signed) Louis AUGUSTS DE BOURBON."

Madame de Maintenon wrote once a week to Madame de
Montespan ; but much oftener to the King, the father of
her charge. He was much struck by the cleverness and

DUG DU MAINE'S JOURNEY TO BAREGE 93

charm of these letters * (which enhanced his already high
opinion of Ma dame de Maintenon) , and he preserved them
all in a private casket.

On the return journey Madame de Maintenon revisited
the places where her childhood and early years had been
passed ; and the contrast between then and now must have
been a subject of great thankfulness to her. But she
showed no elation, no airs to those who had formerly
slighted her, and now loaded her with attentions.

Writing to her brother, she says :

" I have much to tell you of Poitou. I lodged at the
Ursuline Convent of Niort, 2 but I had to spend several
days and nights at the Villette's house [her aunt's].
There is no sort of consideration they did not show me.
I spent three days at Surineau, 3 where I had never been
before. M. de Sensac was not there, but M. de Laune
and I got on very well and Mademoiselle de Sensac
devoted herself to me. I was overwhelmed with
visitors and had not a moment to myself.

" At Niort I was loaded with honours. M.
1'Intendant entertained me when we passed through
Poitiers. Madame and Mademoiselle de Ligne came to
see me and I have obtained the History of my Grand-
father that is his Autobiography and several documents
which prove our nobility, if anyone should try to dispute
it. Among these documents are proofs of our right

1 Several thousand of Madame de Maintenon's letters have been pre-
served and published. Napoleon read some of them at St Helena and
said : " The style, the grace, the purity of the language enchant me,
I prefer these letters to those of Madame de Sevigne they tell one more."

The Queen of Spain, writing to Madame de Maintenon, said : " You
excuse yourself for not writing to me by saying you do not know how to
fill your letters, it is enough for you to write or say anything for people
to take pleasure in hearing it for you give a peculiar and pleasing turn
to all your expressions."

8 Where she had been a boarder formerly.

8 Here lived the married daughter of the other aunt, Madame de
Caumont d'Ade.

94 MADAME DE MAINTENON

to Surineau, and we might take proceedings against
the usurpers. If I do not do so, it is not out of pity for
M. de Sensac, who was pitiless to my Mother, but for
the daughters whom I do not wish to ruin."

Artemise de Sensac, who had married M. de Laune de
Sensac, was daughter of Constantine d'Aubigne's second
sister, and was consequently first cousin to Madame de
Maintenon and her brother, who were both fond of her. 1
They were both now well provided for and could afford to
be generous, and took no steps to recover their property
indeed, Madame de Maintenon returned good for evil, for
at a later date she brought the grandchildren of both her
aunts (Mesdames de Villette and de Caumont d'Ade) to
Court, took charge of their education and established them
in life.

The waters of Barege proved a great success. The Due
du Maine gradually recovered the use of his limbs and was
able to accompany Madame de Maintenon on her visits
of charity to the poor of the neighbourhood. She wished
to instil into his mind feelings of sympathy for the poor and
suffering, and the duty of helping them, and he took
pleasure in distributing the alms himself. Wishing to
make a thank offering for his improved health, she decided
to give pensions to some of the most needy, and told them
that they need never fear want again, as the son of King
Louis XIV. would take upon himself their maintenance.

The parliaments of Toulouse and Navarre sent deputa-
tions to salute the prince and accompany him to the limits
of their territories, and he and his suite went home,
travelling by gentle stages through Languedoc, 1'Agenois,
Guienne, Saintonge, Poitou, Touraine, Orleans and ITsle

1 Her descendants are still living at Surineau.

DUG DU MAINE'S JOURNEY TO BAREGE 95

de France. This journey taught the little prince more
geography than he would have learned in a long time from
books, and as they passed old fortresses, monasteries and
castles, celebrated in the history of France, Madame de
Maintenon did not fail to tell him (in the interesting manner
for which she was famous) many attractive tales of the
events of bygone days : the doughty deeds, the crimes,
the misfortunes and the triumph of his ancestors, the
Kings of France.

The travellers returned to Paris a day earlier than they
were expected. When the King saw the Due du Maine
enter his Cabinet and walk firmly towards him, he covered
him with caresses, and turning to Madame de Maintenon,
said, " Ah ! madame ! what a pleasure you have been the
means of giving me."

The King dined that day en famille and by his orders
Madame de Maintenon was placed opposite to him, and
during the repast all his attentions were directed to her.
Madame de Montespan and her sister, the Abbesse de
Fontevrault, had to endure this with as good a grace as they
could. Shortly afterwards the King made Madame de
Maintenon a present of an elegant carriage with a superb
pair of horses.

The courtiers now began to see that Madame de
Maintenon's influence was increasing, and that she was
a person to be taken account of. The great Minister
Louvois, who was not a man to indulge in gratuitous
politeness, and had hitherto hardly deigned to be aware of
her existence, now hearing of the favour shown her by the
King, his praises of her letters and the thanks with which
he had honoured her, hastened to pay his respects to
Madame la Gouvernante ; asked for an account of the

96 MADAME DE MAINTENON

journey, listened with flattering attention, smiled a
hundred times, pronounced her narration " perfect " ;
said the Due du Maine was fortunate in having such a
lady to take care of him, and that he had a most intelligent
countenance and manners worthy of his rank.

" Madame/' said Louvois, " henceforth you must con-
sider me at your orders, it will be a privilege to oblige you.
I know your brother, he is only a simple cavalry captain.
You might well scold me, we must put that right."

A few days afterwards Comte d'Aubigne was gazetted a
colonel, and promoted from the governorship of Amersfort
to that of Belfort in Alsace.

The Due du Maine's delicate health was the cause of a
physical timidity which he never overcame, but he was
full of wit and intelligence, and his bon mots were quoted
by " all Paris."

After the taking of Ghent he wrote to his father :

" SIRE, If your Majesty continues to take cities, it is
decided I must be an ignoramus ; for when the news
arrives my tutor never fails to make me leave my books.
I am only leaving this letter, which I have the honour of
writing to you, to go out and make a bonfire."

Nevertheless at seven years old he was looked upon as a
little prodigy, and his compositions and letters were pub-
lished under the title of " Various Works by a Seven-year-
old Author." Madame de Maintenon loved him tenderly,
and a word or a look from her was enough to obtain instantly
from him an obedience obstinately refused to others. She
said he was such good company that she wanted no other.
They were inseparable. As he grew up he continued to be
studious, and his mind was bright and active.

Madame de Maintenon was entirely successful in imbuing

DUG DU MAINE'S JOURNEY TO BAREGE 97

him with her own religious principles, and all through his
life he was very devout.

In spite of his lack of martial qualities the Due du Maine
was always the favourite son of Louis XIV., and he wished
to provide for him by obtaining for him a portion of the
great wealth of his cousin, Mademoiselle d'Orleans, la
Grande Mademoiselle. 1

Having refused three kings in her youth, this lady, when
over forty years of age, fell in love with, and wished to
marry, the captain of the King's bodyguard, the Marquis
de Lauzun. The King at first granted, and then, at the
last moment, refused his consent, and shut up Lauzun in
a fortress. There he languished for ten years ; but la
Grande Mademoiselle remained faithful and inconsolable.
She had the wisdom not to break with the King.

One day he said to Madame de Montespan : " My cousin
is beginning to look up. I see with pleasure that her com-
plexion is clearing, that she often laughs at my remarks,
and that her good will for me is restored. She is fifty-two
years of age, she is very fond of the Due du Maine, and
might be inclined to make a will in his favour. I am told
that she is occupied in building a house at Choisy. Let us
go to-day and surprise her and see what it is like."

Accordingly they went at an early hour, saw the house
and grounds, with which the King was delighted, the lovely
gardens high above the Seine, the woods intersected
by broad walks, the points of view happily chosen ; the
house, of one storey, raised on steps of sixteen stairs,
appeared elegant from its novelty. They also inspected the
picture gallery where Mademoiselle d'Orleans had collected

1 Daughter of Gaston d'Orleans, brother of Louis XIII. by his first
wife, Mademoiselle de Montpensier, the greatest heiress in France.
F

98 MADAME DE MAINTENON

portraits of all her ancestors and kindred. There, in a
place of honour, was the Due du Maine, as colonel-general
of the Swiss Guard. The King seized the opportunity :
" I have a service to ask of you, ma cousine. I see with
pleasure that you have the portrait of my son, the Due du
Maine, here ; this confirms what I have been told of your
affection for him. He is growing up and I am going to
give him an establishment ; would it be agreeable to you
if I give him your livery ? "

" M. le Due du Maine," replied la Grande Mademoiselle,
" is the type of what is gracious and noble and beautiful,
he can only do honour to my livery. I grant it him with
all my heart, since you do me the favour of desiring it.
Would I were in a position to do more for him ! "

The King perfectly understood these last words, and said
no more. A very pretty collation of confitures and fruits
was served to the visitors, to which, by request of the
King, 1 a roast fowl and a ragout of peas was added, and
then they returned to Paris. Madame de Montespan had,
however, seen, in Mademoiselle d'Orleans private room, the
portrait of Lauzun, and had gathered from her that her
affection for him was undiminished. So she said to the
King : "If you were to show some clemency to M. de
Lauzun, I think Mademoiselle d'Orleans would be more
inclined to meet your wishes with regard to our son."

He shrugged his shoulders, saying : " Is it possible that
at fifty-two years of age she is still so infatuated ? Well,
a captivity of ten years is a rough school for presumption.
Lauzun may have learned wisdom ; it is time, perhaps, to
show a little clemency."

1 We hear often of the immense appetite of the King and the quantities
of food he devoured at one meal.

LOUIS AUGUSTE DE BOURBON, DUG DU MAINE

From the Biblioteque Nationale

DUG DU MAINE'S JOURNEY TO BAREGE 99

Finally it was agreed that Madame de Maintenon should
be sent on an embassy to Choisy, her known attachment
to the Due du Maine making it certain that his interests
could not be in better hands. So she set out, accompanied
by the Due du Maine, who thanked Mademoiselle d' Orleans
for the favours she had done him in granting him per-
mission to assume her colours. They were very cordially
received and the Due du Maine was shown his picture in
the uniform of the Swiss Guard. Mademoiselle d'Orleans
also showed them her own portrait, adorned with a scaled
cuirass and a laurel crown. The Due du Maine praised
the picture, saying, with naivete : " It is good, but you are
better."

This compliment made Mademoiselle shed tears. " You
have brought him up perfectly," she said to Madame de
Maintenon. ' This is how a King's son ought to act and
speak."

She afterwards took Madame de Maintenon to her
bedroom and showed her the portrait of Lauzun.

" Ah, princess, why do you give yourself this torture,
constantly keeping before your eyes this reminder of your
sorrow. Put it away till a happier hour."

" That hour will never come ! " cried Mademoiselle.

" Pardon me," returned Madame de Maintenon, " the
King is never inhuman. Where he punishes it is against
his will, and as soon as he can relent, without danger or
impropriety, he pardons. I am well informed, and I assure
you he would not think you importunate if you made an
attempt to move him to clemency."

" I will do anything he likes," said Mademoiselle. " As
for you, madame, I know the King considers your services
to his children invaluable. Deign to use your influence

zoo MADAME DE MAINTENON

in favour of my unhappy Lauzun and I will make you a
present of one of my estates."

Madame de Maintenon answered that to please the King
such a generous gift should be offered to the Due du Maine,
and that the assuring a part of her inheritance to that young
prince would be a certain method of moving the monarch's
paternal gratitude to favourable concessions.

" Be good enough to inform his Majesty," said
Mademoiselle d'Orleans, " that I offer to give to his dear
and amiable child, at once, the county of Eu and my
sovereignty of Dombes, with their revenues. In return I
only ask that the Marquis de Lauzun be released from
prison." *

This matter was soon arranged, and henceforth the Due
du Maine was looked upon as la Grande Mademoiselle's
adopted son.

Louis XIV., at the death of Henri IV.'s natural son, the
Due de Verneuil, made the Due du Maine Governor of
Languedoc, and he became the most wealthy prince in
France.

He married a Princess of the Blood, daughter of M. le
Prince de Conde.

When he grew up he remained devoted to Madame de
Maintenon. On one occasion, when she had feared he
was acquiring dissipated habits and had expressed her
displeasure to him, he wrote the following letter :

" I am in despair because you have had to blush for
me. From this moment I give up tric-trac ; if you

1 The bad return for her devotion made to Mademoiselle d'Or!6ans by
the worthless Lauzun is well known to the world, and full particulars are
found in her own Memoirs. She is more often called Mademoiselle de
Montpensier, her mother's name.

DUG DU MAINE'S JOURNEY TO BAREGE 101

desire it I will also give up hunting, my chief pleasure.
In fact there is nothing that I will not do to avoid being
on bad terms with you. I am sure your displeasure
cannot last long. I could not endure life if you ceased
to love me, and to take that part in my life which the
affection I feel, and always shall feel for you, deserves.
" (Signed) Louis AUGUSTE DE BOURBON."

CHAPTER IX

MADAME DE MAINTENON'S PROGRESS IN FAVOUR

AFTER the return from Barege the King always
caused Madame de Maintenon to be invited to
his petits-soupers,a.ud showed marked pleasure
in her society. This was far from pleasing to
Madame de Montespan, who united with the Duchesse de
Richelieu in endeavouring to persuade Madame de
Maintenon to listen favourably to the suit of the Due de
Villiers-Brancas, an elderly nobleman who was very
anxious to marry her, and would have taken her away
from Court to reside on his estate. But Frangoise
d'Aubigne had no wish for another marriage of convenience,
nor did she like the Duke ; so she replied that she valued
her liberty, and that the title of Duchesse could not
guarantee her happiness. Nevertheless, owing to the
capricious humour of Madame de Montespan, her position
was a very unpleasant one. Had it not been for her love
for the Due du Maine she would have thrown up her post.
She wrote at this time :

" The Due du Maine is always ill, and I cannot help
suffering. It is terrible to see those we love suffer. It
is a weakness to be so fond of a child of whose future I
cannot dispose ; who if he shows me affection dis-
pleases his mother, and if he turns out badly in after life
will kill me with grief."

She wrote to her friend, Madame de St Geran :

MADAME DE MAINTENON'S PROGRESS 103

" Madame de Montespan can be irresistibly charming
but only by fits and starts, she is never two days in the
same mind. I am quite fatigued with all her scenes,
her fits of anger and reconciliation.

" I envy your tranquillity. You can serve God in
peace. If you were in my place for a fortnight you
would know how to value your own."

The strained relations between Madame de Montespan
and Madame de Maintenon continued till the latter was
made lady-in-waiting to the Dauphiness and ceased to
reside under the same roof as Madame de Montespan.
After that they only met occasionally, or at public
functions, when they greeted each other politely and
exchanged a few words.

Madame de Maintenon had never shrunk from telling
the mother of her pupils that her relations with the King
were sinful. She said : "If ever such a passion were
pardonable, it would be yours for the King, on account of
his merit ; but I shall always say it is not excusable in the
sight of God or even of men."

The Bishop of Condon, Bossuet, had made a great effort
to induce the King to break off his intimacy with Madame
de Montespan, and with this view had caused forty hours'
prayer to be offered in the churches.

The King spoke of this to Madame de Maintenon . ' ' Sire, ' '
she said, " Madame de Montespan is dear to you, and gave
herself to you by excess of love ; but it was a selfish love,
which wounded her husband and your wife, dishonoured
herself and her son, and connected scandal with your name,
to the sorrow of all that is best in France. Your Majesty
must pardon my extreme frankness ; I would shed my
blood to serve you. Before being called to the charge
which you have confided to me, I mixed much in the world,

104 MADAME DE MAINTENON

where opinions are freely expressed, and I know public
opinion. Both high and low cherish your Majesty ; there
is not a Frenchman who does not admire your indefatigable
zeal and your industry in your councils, your heroism in
war, your skill in keeping the balance of power in Europe,
but all regret that a fatal passion has tarnished these
brilliant qualities. Where would society be, where would
be the peace of your kingdom, if everyone gave rein to
their desire, as your Majesty has, alas, given them the
example ; and what would you do to your Captain of the
Guard, if you were told he had taken away another man's
wife ? Would you not dismiss him at once ? "

" Madame," replied Louis, " I never hate the truth ;
from your mouth it is less bitter than it might be from that
of others."

Bossuet obtained from the King a letter to his mistress,
informing her of his decision to break their connection.
So Bossuet thought ; and he himself took the letter to
Madame de Montespan.

The King's letters are always sealed, and this one,
instead of a renunciation, contained the tenderest ex-
pressions.

Madame de Montespan read and reread it, then, con-
cealing her joy, she begged the bishop to wait while she
wrote an answer, and rapidly inscribed a few lines which
breathed all her old passion and devotion to the King.
Sealing her note she gave it to Bossuet, who remitted it to
the King.

For several days Bossnet continued to be the bearer of
missives between the King and his mistress, and soon
learned that his efforts had only reunited the guilty couple.

In the height of her beauty Madame de'Montespan had

MADAME DE MAINTENON'S PROGRESS 105

charms against the magical power of which the eloquence
of Bossnet or Madame de Maintenon were powerless.

The latter writes to the Comtesse de St Geran in
1876 :

" M. de Condon (Bossnet) has in this affair played
the part of a dupe. He is very clever, but not with the
cleverness necessary at a Court.

" He wished to convert them, but has brought them
together again. 1

" All these plans are useless ; only Pere de la Chaise
could accomplish a separation. He has deplored to
me, a thousand times, the irregularities of the King ;
but why does he not absolutely refuse him the
Sacrament ?

" Pere de la Chaise is an honest man, but the air of
the Court spoils the purest virtue, and softens the most
inflexible severity/'

Madame de Montespan's absence from Court was a short
one. About this time Madame de Sevigne wrote to her
daughter, giving an account of a day at Court, and
Montespan's surpassing beauty. She writes :

" I was at Versailles on Saturday, with the Villars.
You know the routine : the Queen's toilet, the Mass,
the dinner. But one is not now suffocated while their
Majesties dine ; for at three o'clock the King, the Queen,
Monsieur, Madame, 2 Mademoiselle, all the Princes%nd
Princesses, Madame de Montespan and all her suite,
all the ladies and courtiers, in fact all that is called the
Court of France, resort to that splendid apartment of
the King, which you know. It is beautifully furnished.
In spite of the numbers of people, one is not too hot,
and can pass from one place to another without pushing.
A game of Reversi was being played. The King was by

1 Louis afterwards made his peace with the bishop and loaded him
with honours.

2 Monsieur and Madame were the King's brother and his wife.
Mademoiselle was Mademoiselle de Montpensier.

106 MADAME DE MAINTENON

Madame de Montespan, who held the cards. Monsieur,
the Queen, Madame de Soubise, Dangeau and Co.
Langlee and Co. were playing. I saluted the King,
and he returned my salutation, as if I were young and
beautiful. The Queen spoke of my late illness ;
Madame de Montespan recommended me the Waters of
Bourbon. Seriously her beauty is something surprising.
She is more slender than she used to be, but her eyes,
her complexion, her lips have not suffered. She was
dressed in point lace ; her hair arranged in a thou-
sand curls, intertwined with pearls and black ribbons.
She wore diamonds and brilliants. In a word : a
triumphant beauty to dazzle ambassadors. She knew
that all France complained that she used to keep the
King from being seen by those who have a right to his
society ; so she has given him back to them, and this
has caused inexpressible pleasure. The Court lasts
from three to six o'clock. If Couriers arrive the King
retires for a few minutes to read despatches, and then
returns. He converses with ladies who are accustomed
to this honour. There is music going on. At six
o'clock the assembly disperses. The King, Madame
de Montespan and her sister, and Monsieur and Madame
in a caleche ; the Queen and Princesses in another ;
the rest of the world as they please. They go on the
canal in painted gondolas. Midnight sounds and the
Court goes to supper." . . ,

CHAPTER X

MADAME DE MAINTENON'S POSITION AT COURT

MADAME DE MAINTENON having ex-
pressed herself so strongly both to the King
and Madame de Montespan on the subject
of their connection, they did not venture to
ask her to take charge of the two children that were
subsequently born Mademoiselle de Blois and the Comte
de Toulouse. The Due du Maine had grown up and the
completion of the education of Mademoiselle de Nantes
was entrusted to the Marquise de Montchevrueil, who
brought her former pupil to visit Madame de Maintenon
frequently, and the King often chose these times as a
plausible pretext for his visits.

He had given Madame de Maintenon a handsome set of
apartments at Versailles close to those of the Queen, 1
and was waiting for an opportunity to confer on her an
appointment that would retain her permanently at Court.
This opportunity was afforded by the marriage of the
Dauphin, who had attained the age of eighteen, to Maria
Christina of Bavaria. Madame de Maintenon was
appointed her lady-in-waiting, 2 the other being the
Marquise de Rochefort, wife of the Marechal.

1 Letter to Madame St Geran at this time : " The King did me the
honour to pay me a visit this morning while I was still at my toilet. I
am getting to look younger my little Prince remarked this to me in a
very agreeable manner.

8 A Dame d'Atours ranked after a maid-of-honour, and before a

107

io8 MADAME DE MAINTENON

Madame de Maintenon would have infinitely preferred
to go and live in independence in her little kingdom at
Maintenon. But then, as ever, the King's will was her
law ; she never thought it possible to consider her pre-
ferences if contrary to his wishes.

" My long services have made me desire retirement,"
she said, " but if the King, to whom I owe everything,
desire me to remain at Court, and undertake the task of
forming our young Bavarian Princess in the manners of
this country, have I the right to refuse ? "

To another person, who ventured, while congratulating
her, to insinuate that she ought to think herself very
highly honoured by her appointment to such a post, she
replied : " My grandfather was first gentleman of the
chamber to the great King Henri IV., why should it be
thought remarkable that his granddaughter should be
given the post of lady-in-waiting to a king's daughter-
in-law ? "

Madame de Maintenon was always proud of her descent.
When she had visited relations on her journey with the
Due du Maine to Barege they had received her with great
cordiality, and though they forbore to restore to her any
part of the d'Aubigne property to which she was entitled,
they made over to her the family pedigree which set forth
her ancestry, and she laughingly said she was more con-
cerned about this than about the property.

According to this pedigree Madame de Maintenon could
count on her father's side seventeen degrees of nobility,
dating from Geoffroi d'Aubigne in 1160 A.D., and the name

Dame du Palais. She had charge of everything connected with the
toilet, and presented the saucer on which the Dauphiness placed her
rings and jewellery before going to bed.

MADAME DE MAINTENON'S POSITION 109

of d'Aubigne as property holders is found in the archives
of the tenth century. These, however, were the d'Aubignes
of Anjou, who had intermarried with the Poitevin family.
The noblest families of France had not more to boast of.

The Dictionnaire Historique et Genealogique des families
de Poitou says that the claims to nobility of the
family of Theodore Agrippa d'Aubigne were not well
founded, 1 and that he himself invented the connection
with the d'Aubignes of Anjou, whose ancient descent was
well authenticated. It is said that Theodore Agrippa
was the son of a judge of bourgeois ancestry. When
Madame de Maintenon's brother Charles was about to be
made a companion of the Order of the St Esprit, it was
necessary for him to prove three degrees of paternal
nobility. Hozier, whose business it was to decide such
matters, refused at first to accept the proofs offered.

Madame de Maintenon, commenting on this, wrote :
" The King cannot understand, any better than I can, how
the proofs can be considered as falsified."

Finally the matter was compromised by putting in, with
regard to Charles d'Aubigne's great grandfather, the
words, " said to be " connected with the d'Aubignes of
Anjou. Perhaps Theodore Agrippa d'Aubigne was his own
ancestor. 2

At a later date, when the subject of the noble descent

1 See A. de Boislisle's, " Paul Scarron and F. d'Aubigne."

2 In a letter to her brother, 28th May 1682, she said : " I have made the
acquaintance of M. le Marquis and M. 1'Abbe d'Aubigne de Tigny, from
Anjou. They have given me information about our family. It is late
to find out who we were, but I could not fail to be pleased at seeing a
genealogy comprising 400 years, also a table of marriages and proof of
the period when our branch separated from the d'Aubigne's of Anjou.''

Years afterwards she learned to think this a very unimportant matter,
and said : " Perhaps the pedigree was only drawn up to give pleasure to a
person in high favour at Court as I was."

no MADAME DE MAINTENON

of their foundress was brought up, the ladies of St Cyr
said : " Merit is personal and one thing is certain that
Theodore Agrippa d'Aubigne was a great gentleman and
honoured by the great King Henri IV."

Madame de Maintenon, and Bossuet, the Grand Almoner,
were sent to meet the bride at Schalestadt. The former's
reputation had spread to foreign Courts and the bride
regarded this celebrated personage with great curiosity.
But though Madame de Maintenon fulfilled the duties
of the position with as much ease and grace as if she had
never done anything else in all her life, she never succeeded
in winning the affection of this Princess, who affected
to think her a nobody, raised from a low station to a
position to which she had no right.

The King often visited his daughter-in-law and treated
her very kindly, but she was not slow to perceive that he
paid more attention to her lady-in-waiting, and took
greater pleasure in talking to her than to herself, which did
not increase her liking for the lady. It must also be
admitted that Madame de Maintenon tried to treat the
Dauphiness too much as a child, and to direct all her
actions ; while the latter wished to assert her independence
as a young married lady and to emancipate herself, and
was very impatient of Madame de Maintenon 's advice and
lectures.

We are inclined to think that Madame de Maintenon's
mania for giving good advice to each and all must have been
somewhat irritating, and the younger generation certainly
found it so ; whereas the King and her contemporaries
could never have enough of it apparently, so skilfully did
she sugar the pill with honied words.

Madame de Maintenon received numerous visits from all

MADAME DE MAINTENON'S POSITION in

sorts and conditions of people connected with the Court,
now that she was a person of importance. Her relatives
thronged her ante-chamber. Some were only country
squires ; others, like the Marquis de Langallerie, and the
Marquis de Villette, a distinguished naval officer, did
credit to her new position.

Madame de Maintenon was scrupulous in her attentions
to the Queen, Marie Therese, who had become very fond
of her, and walked about with her and took her on her
visits to the Religious Communities which seemed as
much a part of the life of a lady of rank in those days as
the hospitals and other charitable institutions which
absorb so much of the time of the great ladies of the
twentieth century.

" The Queen liked my society," she said, " because she
finds in me some facility for the Spanish tongue, which is
the only one she can converse in easily. It amuses her to
catch me up when I go wrong either in pronunciation or
grammar, as she desires to be corrected when she makes
a mistake in our French."

When the Queen died in 1683 she declared that under
God she owed it to Madame de Maintenon that after
twenty years of neglect the King had begun to treat her
with some display of kindness and consideration.

The Dauphiness, who after the death of the Queen should
have been the first lady of the land, had been brought up
at a petty German Court, and was quite at a loss when
brought into the polished circles of the highest French
nobility. On the first occasion when the ladies of the
Court came to pay their respects to her after the death of
the Queen-Mother, when she should have taken her
position as leader of society at the French Court, the King,

H2 MADAME DE MAINTENON

knowing that she had not the qualifications to preside over
a Court circle, where good manners and deportment had
been cultivated to the highest pitch, asked Madame de
Maintenon, the lady-in-waiting, to throw herself into the
breach and make things pass over smoothly.

One who was present remarks : " It must be admitted
she threw her heart into it, she drew out the Dauphiness
as far as possible, inspiring her every moment with amiable
questions and answers, and all this trouble she took at the
King's request, for a young princess who was accustomed
to treat her with scant civility " for though she
succeeded in winning most hearts, she had failed with the
wife of the heir to the throne who perhaps resented the
charm and brilliancy she could not emulate, and felt
herself eclipsed by her lady-in-waiting.

An eye-witness, who disliked Madame de Maintenon,
says : " In her magnificent robe of ceremony, with train
richly embroidered in gold and jewels, Madame de
Maintenon could not fail to eclipse the Dauphiness in
every way. Although forty-seven years of age, she only
appeared thirty, retaining an appearance of youth and
freshness which with her fine figure and ethereal carriage
fascinated all beholders."

About this time Madame de Maintenon brought to Court
to live with her the children of her cousins, M. de Villette
and Madame de Caumont d'Ade, and Madame St Hermine. 1
She seems to have been actuated by two motives, one to

1 It may be remembered that Constantine d'Aubigne's sisters had
married, the one M. de Villette, the other M. de Caumont d'Ade. Of the
children that Madame de Maintenon now took charge of, the Caumont
d' Ades were grandchildren of the latter, while the Mursays were children
of M. de Villette (who had succeeded his father), and the St Hermine's
of his sister (Magdalen de Villette), Fran9oise d'Aubigne's foster-sister,
who had married M. de St Hermine.

MADAME DE MAINTENON'S POSITION 113

provide for their future and another to convert them from
Protestantism to Catholicism. The Villette children a
son and daughter she obtained by a subterfuge, unknown
to their parents, through the intermediary of another
relative and her conduct in this matter has been so often
brought up against her, and is really so inexplicable that
it will be better to quote her own words in defence.

On 23rd December 1680, she wrote to Madame de
Villette, who was a Catholic :

" Though I am persuaded that you would have been
willing to give me your daughter, I feel you need con-
soling for her absence. She shed a few tears when she
found herself alone with me in my coach, but soon
recovered her spirits. When I tell her that she will
soon get to love me, she replies that she does so already.
I have been teaching her to read and embroider, and
have given her a dancing master who assures me she
will dance well. As to your son you will be delighted
to hear of his conversion. He performed his devotions
yesterday, and the Cure 1 of Versailles who instructed
him is well content. I myself see no faults in him,
except that perhaps he is inclined to talk too much. I
shall take as much care of him as if he were my own son.
He seems tired of the Navy. If he is to join the Army k he
must learn to ride, and I shall have him taught to dance.
The King has taken notice of him and will, I hope, give
him a pension. I was obliged to deceive you in carrying
off your daughter as had it been done with your know-
ledge, you being a Catholic, your husband would have
suspected you of being my accomplice ; now he cannot
blame anyone but me. You must at heart be pleased
to see your children on the right road to fortune and
religion."

To M. de Villette she wrote, on 3rd April 1681 :

" I have received your two letters. I knew that
nothing could make you really angry with me. You
1 Parish Priest.

H4 MADAME DE MAINTENON

are too just to doubt my motives. To please God was
the first, but had it been the only one, other souls would
have been as precious to Him as those of your children,
and I could have converted some who would have cost
me less. It is then my lifelong friendship for you which
made me earnestly desire to do something for those
nearest and dearest to you. I carried off your daughter
because I longed to have her with me, and deceived your
wife that you might not be able to blame her. I shall
willingly take charge of your other children if you will
send them to me, and I consider it impossible to give a
greater proof of my love for my aunt than by doing for
her grandchildren what she did for me." 1

Knowing her aunt, the late Madame de Villette's attach-
ment to the Reformed Religion, and to her father's memory,
it is difficult to conceive how Madame de Maintenon could
have thought she honoured her memory in this compulsory
conversion of her grandchildren. It is strange too that
Madame de Maintenon should have forgotten all that she
herself suffered under similar circumstances. Had she
become so bigoted a Catholic as to think there was no
salvation but for members of the Catholic Church ? Or
was she actuated by worldly motives, and the knowledge
that the adoption of the King's religion was a necessity
before advancement of Court favour could be hoped
for?

In the best of lives there are often inconsistencies
and this action of Madame de Maintenon's is one and
one that it is hard to reconcile with her usual uprightness.

Marguerite de Villette, 2 Mademoiselle de Mursay, soon
accommodated herself to her new circumstances. In
after years, when writing her Souvenirs, she said :

1 For both letters see M. Geoffrey's, " Madame de Maintenon d'aprds
sa Correspondance authentique," pp 116, 119, 120.
1 Afterwards Madame de Caylus.

MADAME DE MAINTENON'S POSITION 115

" I cried a little at first, but the day after my arrival
I was present at the King's Mass, and I thought the
ceremony so beautiful that I consented to become a
Catholic on condition that I might attend it daily, and
that they would promise not to whip me. That is all
the controversy there was as to my conversion, and the
only abjuration I made."

At this time Mademoiselle de Mursay was ten years old.
Madame de Maintenon took the greatest pains with her
education. Writing to her mother some time later, she
said :

" Mademoiselle de Mursay is much occupied with her
masters. I do not wish to make her a virtuoso, but she
has to employ herself with them because I cannot
always have her with me and I do not wish her to learn
folly by gossiping with the waiting-maids. The instru-
ment will give her a taste for music, dancing will make
her graceful, and she will speak better French when she
knows the rules of grammar."

Mademoiselle de Mursay was especially under the care
of Nanon, the faithful servant and companion who had
been with Madame de Maintenon since the early days of
her widowhood. She was the daughter of an architect,
a very superior woman, and took an active part in
the organisation of St Cyr. She had great influence with
her mistress, so that in after days it was said that
princesses were glad to embrace her and ministers bowed
low to her.

The other nieces l made some show of opposition as to
embracing Catholicism, but not much was heard of it.
At all events their parents had consented to Madame de
Maintenon taking charge of them, perhaps fearing to

1 Cousin's children were called nieces, a la mode de Bretagne.

n6 MADAME DE MAINTENON

offend so influential a relation, and caring more for worldly
advancement than religious differences. Madame de
Maintenon took great care of them all, and the young
ladies afterwards became pupils at Rueil and St Cyr.
Meantime they served as comrades and playfellows for
the royal children, and when the carriage of Madame de
Maintenon drove into the country this pretty party formed
her train and court.

Madame de Montespan was jealous of the rising favour
of her children's ex-Gouvernante, and made some spiteful
remarks to the King, who replied :

" She has rendered you invaluable services and if you
loved your children you would love her. For myself, as a
father, I shall never forget what I owe her. The place
I have given to her seems less than her merits and my
obligations. She has experienced from the cradle every
possible misfortune, but her virtue and courage have
carried her through. You have on many occasions tried
to humiliate her and treat her as a slave, and the scenes
you have made have deeply grieved me. Her ancestors
shed their blood for mine, her grandfather was the intimate
friend of Henri IV. I admire and esteem her, and the more
jealousy seeks to abase her the more I shall protect her/'

In connection with Madame de Montespan's jealousy the
following letter of Madame de Maintenon to Mademoiselle
de Fontenoy is applicable, though of a later date.

" I know all that has been said about the Due du
Maine, but they will not succeed in making us quarrel.
He wished to give me irrefutable proofs but I refused
them. If he is to blame it is so little that I should do
wrong to be offended. It must have come from a senti-
ment of filial piety ; and how should I condemn him ?
I who did all I could to cultivate his love for his mother ?

MADAME DE MAINTENON'S POSITION 117

I do not doubt that Madame de Montespan would be
pleased at a public rupture, but I shall not give her
that pleasure."

In spite of all mischief makers, Madame de Maintenon
retained the love of her best-beloved pupil to the end.
The following letter was written by him in 1713 :

[Due de Maine to Madame de Maintenon, ist January 1713.]

" It would have been too commonplace to have gone
to your door this morning to make you the conventional
New Year's compliments with a sincerity far from
common. Consider all that I owe you, from the moment
of my birth ; remember all you know of the character
you formed ; say to yourself all that I should like to
say, which is much less than I feel. The more I reflect
on all the marks that you give me of the most delicate
and sincere friendship, the more I see how many reasons
I have to adore you.

" (Signed) Louis AUGUSTE DE BOURBON/'

At this time M. de Barillon, 1 Intendant of Languedoc,
and M. de Guillerague were much enamoured of Madame
de Maintenon, as also was the Cardinal d'Estrees their
many attentions pleased her but did not touch her heart.
Writing at this time to her Confessor, Madame de Maintenon
said :

c< The Dauphiness does not like gaiety and I shall lead
a much more retired life than formerly. I shall always
wear black. I think I have spent too much on dress
because I am naturally neat and particular and not
inclined to economy, I send you a list of my alms and
the people I assist. I pray to God on rising. I attend

1 Later, when Madame de Maintenon had attained a more exalted
position and he saw her pass through the great gallery at Versailles
followed by all the greatest people in France, he said, to a friend standing
near him : " Was I wrong ? "

n8 MADAME DE MAINTENON

two Masses and say my offices every day, and read a
portion of some good book. I pray at bedtime, and if
I wake in the night I say a ' Laudate Dominum ' or
' Pater Noster.' I often turn my thoughts to God
during the day, and pray him to take me away from the
Court, if it is injurious to my salvation. As to sins, they
are not actions I am naturally well disposed, and have
too much desire to be esteemed not to exercise self-
control. But vanity and pride are my faults. Prescribe
the remedies."

In 1682 she writes from Maintenon to the Comtesse de
St Geran :

" The Royal Family are living now in the most edify-
ing union. The King talks for hours with the Queen.
The gift which she has made me of her portrait pleases
me more than anything I have received since I have
been at Court. I consider myself highly honoured by
it. I shall remain here fifteen days longer ; this
solitude refreshes me after the fatigues of the Court. I
see nobody and enjoy my little kingdom alone. On all
sides people tear me to pieces. You tell me nothing new.
Do not defend me, that only embitters people. Indiffer-
ence is the best weapon. Time will bring many things
to light. My life is a tissue of sufferings and annoyances.
People think my position enviable, but I have no greater
pleasure than to get away into solitude. I envy the
fate of my farmers."

CHAPTER XI

DEATH OF THE QUEEN

ON the 30th July 1683 died Queen Marie Therese.
She had been taken ill at Strasburg, whither
the Court had accompanied the King, who
was superintending the siege, and suc-
cumbed shortly after the return to Paris. All the royal
family were present at her deathbed, and it is said that she
drew a splendid ring from her finger and gave it to
Madame de Maintenon, saying : " Adieu, dearest Marquise ;
to you I confide the King."

The King went to St Cloud, his brother's house, and a
letter written to him at this time by Madame de Maintenon
was couched in the following terms :

' The Queen is not to be pitied, she died like a saint
and your Majesty now has a friend in heaven who will
demand of God the pardon of your sins and the grace you
require. Reflect on this, and be, sire, as good a
Christian as you are great as a Prince."

After this Louvois called on her, and said : " The King
has sent me to ask you to follow him to St Cloud." This
she did ; but it was not approved of by the Court,
though " Madame," the King's sister-in-law, his cousin,
Mademoiselle de Monpensier, and Madame de Ventadour
were also there.

At Versailles people had formed so high an idea of the
King's sentiments for Madame de Maintenon that with the

120 MADAME DE MAINTENON

mind's eye they saw her on the throne if she wished it ; and
all the great people wrote her letters of condolence on the
death of the Queen, as if she had been one of the royal
family.

The Queen being dead the King was now at liberty to
legitimatise the position of Madame de Montespan, who had
borne him seven children. He might have married her, as
in the first days of his passion he had promised to do. Her
children were legitimatised and treated as Princes of the
Blood, but she attained no such exalted position.

She had given the best years of her life to the King.
" He treats you/' said her sister, Madame de Thianges, " as
a conquered province upon whom he levies tax after tax."
Seven children born, as she says, " with infinite pain and
anguish." We think her case is a hard one, and Madame
de Maintenon is accused of the basest ingratitude and of
deliberately endeavouring to supplant her.

This is unjust and incorrect.

It was not for Madame de Maintenon that the King de-
serted Madame de Montespan. Her empire over his heart
had long ceased. She had made a fatal mistake in attempt-
ing to rule Louis. On one occasion he said to her : " The
kings of Europe have not attempted to dictate to me in my
kingdom, and you shall not dictate to me in my palace."

On another occasion when, actuated by jealousy, she made
him a scene, he was heard to say : " I have told you before,
madame, that I do not choose to be under any constraint."

Long before the death of the Queen, the King had openly
deserted Madame de Montespan for Mademoiselle de Fon-
tanges, a young provincial beauty who had been introduced
at Court by those who thought that Madame de Monte-
span's reign had lasted long enough. Of her Madame de

DEATH OF THE QUEEN 121

Montespan says : " God has never before made anything
so beautiful."

The King quickly fell a victim to her charms.

To please his new mistress he suddenly rejuvenated his
attire, returned to the flowing plumes of his youth, and
wore the most elegant garments covered with jewels.
Comedies, concerts, hunting and water parties were ordered
for her amusement. With the exception of the routine
duties of the sovereignty, the King neglected everything
for the society of his new flame, and it was the first time in
his life that he had ever been known to subordinate business
to love. Her sudden death and its painful circumstances
moved the King in an unusual degree. It was considered
extraordinary and almost incredible that he was for a whole
week absent from Council.

He shut himself up and refused to be consoled. When
the innumerable cares of State at length obliged him to
appear again, his eyes had shed so manyftears that they
were swollen and unrecognisable. Although after a while
he recovered serenity, he never resumed his intimacy with
Madame de Montespan. She had worn-out his affections
by her exacting and violent temper. After the birth of
Mademoiselle de Blois, in 1677, the King never visited
Madame de Montespan except for a few minutes cere-
moniously.

She relates how, although the King continued at intervals
to pay her duty visits, he, who formerly stayed with her till
the last possible moment, was now constantly looking at
the clock, to see if the time he had allotted was nearly gone,
and could find no subject of conversation to entertain her
with but the praises of Madame de Maintenon. She says :
" He forgot himself so far as to quote to me the delights of

122 MADAME DE MAINTENON

her conversation, the wit and subtlety of her answers, her
fine deportment. She possessed this, that, everything !
and he related the events of a journey which the Court had
lately taken, with as much cordiality as if he expected me
to sympathise with the amusements from which he had
excluded me."

We are not surprised that Madame de Montespan ex-
claims, in continuation : " How is it that a clever man can
forget the proprieties to such a degree, and expose himself
to the secret judgment which must be formed of him though
unuttered."

She thought his indifference an outrage, and lost herself
in believing herself deserted. She received the King with
indifference and hauteur, irritated him with biting epi-
grams ; and on one occasion, losing all self-control, spoke
to him as if he were a man without mind or personal attrac-
tions, whom she had tolerated out of love of grandeur.

These words opened all windows, and love took flight,
never to return. Repentant and aghast at her own
violence, she threw herself at his feet, imploring forgiveness.
He replied coldly : " Rise, madame ! " bowed and took
leave, and never more saw her alone.

Although poor Madame de Montespan knew, as she
herself says, that " to try and resuscitate an attachment
of this sort when once the spell is broken is as if one should
open a grave and try to give life to the dead," yet she could
not make up her mind to retire from Court, and although
she no longer resided at Versailles she appeared at Court
from time to time.

It was after the death of Madame de Fontanges that
Madame de Maintenon's influence over the King
strengthened and increased. The King formed the habit

DEATH OF THE QUEEN 123

of consulting her on all occasions, about affairs of State
as well as the private affairs of the royal family, and
frequently quoted her opinions, praised her appearance,
the grace of her carriage and dignity of her manners.

She believed that it was her mission in life to reform
the King and to convert him from evil ways, and there is
no doubt she succeeded. She lectured him, " in her
dulcet fluted voice," * on the frailties of his past life ; and
his keen remorse for the death of Fontanges in the prime
of her youth, together with Bourdaloue's open remon-
strances as to the scandal and danger of living in open
sin, helped to complete the good work begun by Madame
de Maintenon.

The King caused her to be treated with the greatest
respect. He appointed the Marquis de Chamarande to be
her gentleman-in- waiting, to attend her on all public
occasions.

Madame de Sevigne wrote :

" There never has been anything like the position of
Madame de Maintenon, and never will be again. M. de
Chamarande escorts her to the King's apartments every
evening and brings her back at 10 o'clock in the eyes of
the world."

One thing was certain, that Madame de Maintenon's
society had become indispensable to the King. He was
never satisfied anywhere unless she was present. She
suffered from fever in March 1685, and this only served to
make known the King's feelings, for he visited her three
times a day.

Those who knew her intimately respected her thoroughly,
and all the high-minded characters of the Court were her

1 Mademoiselle de Scudery's description.

124 MADAME DE MAINTENON

friends, but there were many others who, through jealousy
and being incapable of believing in pure friendship between
man and woman, did not hesitate to attack her character
and to speak of her only as another mistress. 1 This
caused her the acutest pain, and after the death of the
Queen she resolved to quit the Court. She felt she must
do this, or lose her character, and hear Europe declare that
she had by her hypocrisy destroyed the empire of
Montespan only to install herself in her place.

The Duchesse de Richelieu died, and the King wished
Madame de Maintenon to replace her as lady-of-honour to
the Dauphiness, and he wished to create her a Duchess.
She refused both honours ; she had had enough experience
of the unpleasantness incurred through the Dauphiness 's
dislike for her, and empty titles and honours were no
temptations to her.

She said to the King : " My title of honour in the eyes
of posterity will be that I have possessed your Majesty's
esteem ; and that is enough for me."

She asked permission to retire to Maintenon.

" I will not prevent you, madame," said the King,
" but think how your absence even for a day would vex
me."

She delayed taking the decisive step. She spent a great
deal of time on works of charity visiting the poor and
sick around Versailles and in Paris and Fontainebleau. She
had always had a compassionate heart. When married

1 In reference to the lampoons current at the expense of Madame de
Maintenon's honour, Barillon, Intendant of Languedoc, remarked :
" Why trouble about these ignorant people's opinions ? I have known
her since the days when she was Madame Scarron, when her very glance
inspired respect. One was constantly amazed that such beauty, charm
and poverty should remain combined with virtue."

DEATH OF THE QUEEN 125

to Scarron she gave to the poor out of her dress allowance.
When the pension she received from the Queen Dowager
was increased by 500 livres, she devoted this amount
to almsgiving. Now her charities were on a larger scale.
She had a plain brown carriage that could not excite
remark, and in this she paid her visits of charity ; some-
times she went on foot, escorted by her old maid, Nanon.
The courtiers knew that the best way of obtaining her
favour was to assist in her beneficient activities. But her
good deeds did not silence the voice of slander anonymous
letters insulted her satires and ribald verses at her
expense were widely circulated. She became daily sadder
and paler.

The King inquired the reason, and promised to
humiliate those who had dared to despise and persecute
the lady he honoured with his esteem.

To this period belongs the only love letter written by
Louis XIV. to Madame de Maintenon which has remained.
She destroyed all private papers before her death, but
this one was overlooked, and was found at St Cyr.

" I take advantage of Montchevrueil's departure to
assure you of a truth that pleases me too much for me
to tire of repeating it. It is that I cherish you always
and consider you to a point that I cannot express and in
short whatever friendship you have for me I have more
for you, being with all my heart entirely yours.

" (Signed) Louis/'

CHAPTER XII

MARRIAGE TO THE KING

King consulted his Confessor, Pere de la
Chaise. ' You know my friendship for
Madame de Maintenon, she is goodness,
sweetness, virtue itself. Her disinterested-
ness, her indefatigable zeal for my soul's welfare and for
my glory are also known to you. Her wise counsels,
given often at the risk of displeasing me and ruining
her position at Court, have helped me to amend my
life. I find an inexpressible charm in her society ; it
has become a habit with me and I cannot do without it.
She is adored by my children, and if I decide to make her
my wife her own reluctance is the greatest obstacle
I fear."

The Confessor knew Madame de Maintenon's good
qualities ; he also knew that the King was not one to live
without women's society, and only wished him to indulge
his taste honourably and without sin.

So he approved of the proposed marriage and undertook
to find out whether Madame de Maintenon would be
humiliated by an offer of his hand, and the honourable
position of wife, without the title of Queen.

Pere de la Chaise made her, in the King's name, an offer
of marriage, and added : " Your good sense, madame, will
understand that reasons of State would oppose such

publicity as would necessitate a coronation, but all the

126

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TratRfChrutiani
Monarchi t'kanno men-tatc il Tttolo di
Secondo di GivSTO.Primo

MARRIAGE TO THE KING 127

formalities demanded by the Church will be observed ; a
regular contract will assure your rights as widow, it will be
signed by you and the King and the Secretary of State.
Your conscience need not be alarmed, it is as a Christian
King that his Majesty wishes to unite himself to you at the
foot of the altar."

Madame de Maintenon was overwhelmed.

" Oh, God ! " she exclaimed, " for what a fate you have
reserved me, what a spectacle shall I provide for the world !
What will France say ! and the royal family ! even my
own friends ! Of what intrigues will they not accuse
me!"

Madame de Maintenon knew the inconstant, voluptuous
nature of the King ; she had seen several notorious liaisons
collapse in succession ; whether she really wished to marry
the King or not is doubtful. 1

She had never been in love with him, as so many women
had ; her feelings were only those of respect and gratitude.
" The advantages of freedom are certain and I know them ;
the troubles of married life are a certainty, and I did not
desire them," she wrote.

She had no illusions on the subject of her marriage.
" He wishes to marry me," she said, " but he will still be
the King, and what can a subject do against a King ? He
loves me now, and has done so for eleven years past, but
he also loved La Valliere, Mademoiselle de Fontanges and
Madame de Montespan with passion. I have arrived at
an age when all personal charms quickly fly, though by a
prodigy I have retained my looks up till now, at any

1 She wrote about this time : "I think I love the King in the same
manner as I love my brother ; I wish to see them both perfect that they
may be blessed by God. The King has done me the honour to write me
two very affectionate letters ; I have replied as a Christian should."

128 MADAME DE MAINTENON

moment they may begin to fade, and I shall quickly
become an object from which all looks involuntarily
turn."

Madame de Maintenon was generally admired for her
equable disposition and for the serenity of her demeanour,
but about this time her friends noticed that she appeared
disturbed in mind and troubled.

Madame de Caylus says, in her Souvenirs :

" During the journey to Fontainebleau which followed
the Queen's death, I noticed so much agitation of mind
in Madame de Maintenon that when thinking of it I have
since decided that she was in great uncertainty as to the
future, and swayed by hopes and fears. In order to
conceal this agitation and offer a reason for the tears,
that we of the household noticed she often shed, she
complained of being unwell and hysterical, and she spent
a great deal of time out of doors, in the forest of Fontaine-
bleau with Madame de Montchevrueil for a companion.
After the return from Fontainebleau she appeared to
have recovered her usual serene frame of mind."

About this time Madame de Maintenon wrote to her
friend, Madame de Brinon :

" I performed my devotions after a disturbed night,
during which I shed many tears. I have never been
more aware that I have deceived myself. I am far from
the detachment to which I aspire. My chains have
never been so strong."

She was divided in her mind whether to retire altogether
from Court, or to accept the position now offered to her.
Perhaps her heart was more inclined to the King than she
allowed herself to admit.

During a long conversation with the Confessor, he
said : "Do not think of your own feelings, madame, think

MARRIAGE TO THE KING 129

of your duty to the King and his happiness ; and of the
great opportunity to which God calls you."

At last Madame de Maintenon said : " He to whom I
owe everything has claims that I cannot ignore, I shall
obey him."

Madame de Maintenon thought it her duty in life to
reform Louis le Grand, and she accepted it. He dispelled
all her scruples, fixed the day, and arranged the marriage
ceremonies.

The King had a great admiration for her person as well
as her talent ; he desired her as a wife, not only as a mentor ;
but she had always inspired him with very real respect for
her, and this made him aware that only by marriage, and on
no other terms, could she become his own.

Louis loved Francoise d'Aubigne, but he idolised the
idea of royalty, did not believe in equality among men, and
considered kings a race of demi-gods. Nothing could be a
greater proof of the sincerity of his affection and the un-
bounded influence she had over him, than his submitting to
this marriage.

In these days the difference between royalty and ordinary
mortals is not felt to be so great as it was then, and it is
now hardly possible to realise the prestige that attached
to the position of kings in the age of Louis XIV.

Since then many a sovereign has made a morganatic
marriage ; but what is very remarkable in this connection
is that Madame de Maintenon's influence continued
unimpaired, increased instead of diminished, for the
next thirty years that is, so long as the King's life
lasted.

On 1 2th January 1684 Madame de Maintenon was
married to Louis XIV. in the Royal Chapel at Versailles, in

130 MADAME DE MAINTENON

the presence of Pere de la Chaise, who performed the cere-
mony ; Harley, Archbishop of Paris, who gave the bene-
diction ; Louvois, 1 the Minister, the Due de Noailles, the
Marquis de Montchevrueil, witnesses ; and M. Bontems, the
King's first valet-de-chambre and Keeper of Privy Purse,
who prepared the altar. Madame de Maintenon's old
maid-servant, Nanon, who had followed her from her
earliest years through all the vicissitudes of her life, was
also present.

This service was performed at midnight, and immediately
afterwards the whole party repaired to Maintenon, where
the Bishop of Chartres (Diocesan) awaited them ; there
the great ceremony, the Mass, and all that is customary in
such cases, was celebrated, and the Cure of Maintenon
served at the altar.

The chapel in which this ceremony took place was still
in existence in 1814 at Maintenon Castle, and the Due de
Noailles, to whose ancestress, her niece, Madame de Main-
tenon bequeathed the estate, has embellished and repaired
the oratory where Louis XIV. was united to Madame de
Maintenon, of whose connection with their family the house
of Noailles is ever proud.

The tradition of the marriage remains one of the most
cherished and undisputed memories of the neighbourhood.
Silence was not prescribed. Let alone the official wit-
nesses, the servants and coachmen of the carriages con-
veying the King, the bride, the Archbishop and Bishop,
and the Secretary of State, arriving at daybreak, would
talked of this event for days.

Years before, when writing to Madame de Villargeaux a

1 Louvois had previously gone on his knees and begged the King not to
marry her.

MARRIAGE TO THE KING 131

description of the King's entry to Paris with his bride,
Madame de Maintenon had said : " The Queen ought to
be very well satisfied with her husband." Did she now
remember this ?

After the return to Versailles Madame de Maintenon took
possession of an extremely sumptuous apartment that had
been carefully prepared for her, near the King's rooms, and
on the next journey to Fontainebleau she sat beside the
King in the carriage, with his two daughters, the Princesse
de Conti and the Duchesse de Bourbon, opposite ; " Mon-
sieur " was also in the carriage.

In her establishment the title of " majesty " was given
to her ; the King, when he had to speak of her, used only
the word " madame." Very little difference was made in
her outward mode of life, excepting that she always used the
King's carriage, not her own, sitting in the Queen's place,
and in the Royal Chapel she used the Queen's praying
desk and seat ; and after her marriage she never rose from
her seat to receive visitors, not even the Queen of England ;
and Louis, who had never previously done so, always re-
mained behind in her apartments when the circle took
leave in the evening.

In all but name she was henceforth Queen of France.
The King's entire confidence in her and rare dependence on
her increased year by year. Ministers, generals, bishops,
all and sundry rendered her the most public and universal
deference. For thirty years her sway was absolute. The
Dauphin, remembering her consideration for his mother,
welcomed her warmly as his father's wife. The Dauphiness
shed tears of spite and said she would never acknowledge
her. On hearing which the King said laconically : " She
will come to it."

132 MADAME DE MAINTENON

The King's attentions to Madame de Maintenon did not
escape the notice of the caricaturists, and a man was sent to
prison for circulating a print in which Madame de Main-
tenon was represented weeping over the sick-bed of M.
Scarron. The dying man was holding an open will in his
hand, in which could be read the words : " I leave you my
permission to marry again, a rich and serious man more so
than I am."

The young people who were at an age when it is not
believable that a woman can be loved if she is more than
twenty-five, and who think those older than themselves
must be at least a hundred years old, and are quite
astonished that there can be any question of their being
admired, ridiculed the King's infatuation for an " elderly
governess."

The seventeenth century seems to have been an epoch
when ladies preserved their charms to an advanced age.
We hear of Madame de Sevigne, when over sixty, receiving
an offer of marriage from a duke ; the Princesse des Ursins,
till close on seventy, was never without an admirer ; and
it is well known that Ninon de 1'Enclos inspired ardent
passion when she was quite old.

At this time Madame de Maintenon was fifty-two years
of age and the King forty-eight. She was still a beautiful
woman, and had always had the grand air. She looked
younger than the King. Her complexion was still of
transparent whiteness ; her figure majestic yet graceful,
her hands and arms a model for sculpture. She always
wore two bracelets, one containing a medallion of the King,
and the other of the Due du Maine. She wore few dia-
monds, her ornaments being generally pearls and emeralds,
her dress rich yet simple.

MARRIAGE TO THE KING 133

A little later Madame de Coulanges wrote to Madame de
Sevigne :

" I have sent the most beautiful thing imaginable, a
portrait of Madame de Maintenon. Mignard has not
given her too great an appearance of youth. He gives
us a countenance inexpressibly attractive speaking
eyes, perfect grace no flummery of accessories. He has
alsofmade a fine portrait of the King. I send some
verses Mademoiselle Bernard has composed about these
portraits.

".' Oui ! Votre art, je 1'avoue est au-dessus du mien
J 'ai loue mille f ois notre invincible maitre,
Mais vous, en deux portraits, vous le fait connaltre,
On vois aisement dans le sien.
Sa valeur, son cceur magnanime
Dans 1'autre on voit son gout a placer son estime.
Ah Mignard ! Que vous louez bien.' "

CHAPTER XIII

PUBLIC OPINION ON THE MARRIAGE

AT the time of the marriage Louis XIV. was at the
zenith of his power. He had conquered Stras-
burg and Luxembourg, bombarded Genoa
and Algiers, and was on the point of annexing
the Low Countries. He was the terror of Europe and the
admiration of his subjects. At this culminating point in
his career, under the influence of Madame de Maintenon, he
changed his whole manner of existence. His private life
was henceforth irreproachable, and in some measure austere.
He observed all fasts and festivals of the Church, attended
Mass and received the Sacrament with genuine fervour and
devotion. "Ah, Father!" he said to the celebrated
preacher, Massillon, " when I have heard other great
preachers, I have felt satisfied with them and nothing more ;
when I listen to you, though I am satisfied with you I
become very dissatisfied with myself."

No wonder that all Europe was talking of the enchantress
who had worked this change.

The Pope wrote to congratulate Madame de Maintenon
on her marriage and to give her his blessing.

This being known, the bishops followed his example.
The Bishop of Chartres wrote :

" Madame, I doubt not that God will sanctify and
sustain you in the difficulties which your zeal for the
King and for religion will bring on you through the spite

134

Mignard

MADAME DE MAINTENON

PUBLIC OPINION ON THE MARRIAGE 135

of the wicked. You will be the King's refuge, and con-
solation, his councillor and guardian angel, whom God
has plainly sent to him for his salvation. Love and obey
him as Sarah loved Abraham, respect and look upon him
as your Lord and Master according to the ordinance of
God. Your position is enigmatical, but God has made it
so. You did not desire or choose it, or even imagine it.
It is the work of God. May the saints pray for you,
who have been placed where you are for the sanctification
of the King, and to be a model of virtue to the Court."

The great Arnauld of Port Royal wrote of the marriage
in the following terms to Madame de Duvancel :

" The directors of the King's conscience cannot be
accused of a crime. There is no scandal, since all who
see that there is more than friendship between them,
know at the same time that they are married. If the
Confessor knew that the King could not do without a
female companion, was it not his duty to advise him to
have a lawful one rather than to offend God by illegi-
timate amours ? I cannot see what fault there is to be
found with this marriage contracted according to the
laws of the Church. It is a mistake only in the eyes of
those who regard it as a weakness to have married one
so far beneach him in rank, instead of considering that he
has done an action pleasing to God, even if he regards the
union only as a remedy for the weakness of his nature,
and a preventive against falling into illicit intimacies.
This marriage unites him to one for whose mind and
virtues he has a solid esteem, whose society will console
him in all the cares of State. Would to God the directors
of his conscience had never given him worse advice ! "

Extract of Letter to the King on the Peace and his wife,
from the Bishop of Chart res.

This letter was published in the Mercury of Paris by
permission of Louis XIV. Original is at St Cyr.

" It is plain, Sire, that God wishes to save you. Alas
for Princes who in their youth give the rein to their

136 MADAME DE MAINTENON

passions. It is the salvation of Kings to live to a riper
age, when delivered from the idolatry of voluptuousness,
God inspires them with humility and fear of his judge-
ments. This is what God has done for you, Sire. You
have an excellent companion full of the Spirit of God and
of discernment, whose tenderness and fidelity to you are
unequalled. In the midst of the crowds of false and in-
terested people who surround Kings, God has given you
a stay, a wife who resembles the pattern wife of Scripture
who thinks only of the glory and the salvation of her
husband, and of all sorts of good works.

" It seems to me, Sir, that God is with her in all she
does. If I am too bold or too tedious I beg your Majesty
to pardon me."

To Madame de Maintenon herself the Bishop wrote on
another occasion :

" The King treats you not only as wife and friend but
as confidante. God has placed his salvation and the
welfare of the Church in your hands. For these great
works He will give you special powers."

The Abbe Gobelin, who had been Madame de Maintenon's
Confessor for many years, was embarrassed to know how he
ought to address her after her elevation, and in his con-
fusion entangled himself in his soutane and nearly fell, in
his effort to convey profound reverence in his first salutation.
She was much amused, and soon set him at ease.

" I did not desire or solicit the arduous rank I occupy,"
she said, " and I need courage and resignation to support
its burdens. Many people think that I attained the posi-
tion I occupy by following out a premeditated design !
This is not the case, I did not place myself where I am.
It is God's doing. I neither could or would have done it."

The King's sister-in-law, widow of his brother, Philippe
d'Orleans, was always proof against Madame de Main-

PUBLIC OPINION ON THE MARRIAGE 137

tenon's charms, and openly detested her, always speaking
of her as " old Maintenon " or " the old Sorceress/' When
the murmurs of some of the Princes reached the King's ears,
he told them it was their duty to think all that he did
right.

By degrees they learned to value her.

When the King wished to remonstrate with his daughters
or the princes he u f .ed to commission Madame de Maintenon
to convey his wishes. She used to speak out boldly ; at
first they were displeased, but when they gradually found
out that instead of making mischief her one wish was to
keep them on good terms with the King they began to
value her, consulted her on all points, chose her for the
arbiters of their quarrels.

One day she said : " I have come from an interview with
four Princes, it was worse than being dragged apart by
four horses."

The Princes were the Dauphin (the King's son by the
Queen), the Dauphin's sons, the Dukes of Burgundy and
Berri, and also the Prince de Conti and the Due de Bourbon
whose wives were the King's daughters by Mesdames
la Valliere and de Montespan.

Madame de Maintenon was less successful with these
Princesses, for though they took advantage of her good
offices, they resented her influence. The confidence and
consideration that she generally enjoyed was all the more
flattering that it was personal and not due to their assuming
the position of Queen.

She did not expect gratitude ; speaking of some request
made to her, she said of the petitioners : "I shall serve
them though certain of being rewarded by their ingrati-
tude."

138 MADAME DE MAINTENON

Madame de Montespan must have been a generous-
minded woman, for in her Memoirs, written after her retire-
ment, she is unsparing in her admiration of her rival's
beauty and talent. She writes : " I always liked her, and
see no reason to alter my opinion now.'* She relates a
very extraordinary scene, when she went after the marriage
to pay her respects to Madame de Maintenon. The King
was present what the feelings of all three must have been
it is not difficult to conjecture. One would have thought
it was a meeting to be avoided at all costs. But so
extraordinary was the prestige of kings two centuries
ago, that even an outraged and deserted woman
seems scarcely to feel her own right to resentment.
She writes :

" Since the King's affection for me no longer existed
and he had resumed with me that distance which his rank
authorises, I on my side, after the first transports of
anguish and indignation had subsided, submitted to see
in him only my King.

" After the marriage all my relatives, counts, mar-
quises, barons, prelates, duchesses, besides the Ministers,
came to attack me in my retreat at Petit Bourg and to
represent to me that since Madame de Maintenon was
the chosen wife of the monarch, I owed her my re-
spectful compliments, and that my resistance would
compromise my family and incur the King's displeasure.
Not desiring to harm my family, and wishing to re-instate
myself somewhat in the King's opinion, I prepared for this
distressing journey. I appeared in a long robe of gold
and silver before the Monarch and his new spouse. The
King who was seated at table rose for a moment and en-
couraged me by his greeting. I made the three pauses
and the three reverences as I gradually approached
Madame de Maintenon, who occupied a large and rich
arm-chair of brocade. She did not rise, her complexion
generally pale, with a very slight tone of pink, now

PUBLIC OPINION ON THE MARRIAGE 139

took all the colours of the rose. She made me a sign
to seat myself on a tabouret, and it seemed to me that
her looks apologised to me. She spoke of my country
seat and of my children, and said smiling kindly : ' I
am going to confide in you. M. de Conde has already
asked for the hand of Mademoiselle de Nantes for his
grandson and his Highness promises us his grand-
daughter for our Due du Maine. Two or three years
more and we shall see all this/

" After half-an-hour, I rose from my uncomfortable
tabouret and made my farewell reverences.

" Madame de Maintenon rose five or six inches in her
chair and said : ' Do not let us cease to love one another,
I implore you.' '

She was asking a great deal of the woman whose
children and their father she had appropriated.

But how extraordinary must have been the influence she
exercised over all with whom she came in contact ! for
even Madame de Montespan appears to have felt little
bitterness towards her.

Yet intercourse between the two ladies could never have
been really free from embarrassment, and in reference to
this Madame de Montespan wrote, in 1698, the following
remarkable letter, the moderation of which does her much
credit. In it she says :

" Madame de Maintenon shows plainly that she does
not wish for intercourse with me, though she has no ill
feeling towards me. I quite understand this, it is
natural ; it is all that was necessary to prevent my
troubling myself about a person who has played too
great a part in my life not to have left a mark on my
heart and memory."

Madame de Maintenon's letters show that the fact of
having supplanted Madame de Montespan was not a

140 MADAME DE MAINTENON

pleasant recollection, though, as she truly said, " Even if
I had not been in existence, the King would never have
married her."

In a letter to Madame Montespan's sister, the Abbess
of Fontevrault, Madame de Maintenon said : "I can
never fail to be interested in all that concerns Madame de
Montespan, great or small."

And again, when Mademoiselle de Noailles married
Madame de Montespan's grandson, the Due d'Antin, and
the appointment of Dame du Palais, hitherto filled by the
Duchesse de Noailles, was given to her, Madame de
Maintenon wrote, in reference to this : " What would I
not do to facilitate a marriage that gives pleasure to
Madame de Montespan/'

The King seems never to have entirely broken with
Madame de Montespan. In 1684 he took away her
apartments (they were near his) and gave her some in
another part of the palace.

But though he never went to her apartments she used
to go, in company with her sons and some of the Court
ladies, to his apartment. In 1685, we read of her enter-
taining him at a Fete of Marionettes and Fancy Fair, where
his daughters, Mesdemoiselles de Nantes and de Blois,
acted as stallkeepers and were greatly admired.

About this time we hear of Madame de Montespan
sending the King, as a New Year's Gift, a splendid book
filled with pictures of all the towns he had conquered in
Holland in 1672. Under the pictures were commentaries
by Boileau and Racine.

In November, 1686 when the King underwent an opera-
tion, Madame de Montespan wished to visit him, but was
refused admittance. (When some of the royal family

PUBLIC OPINION ON THE MARRIAGE 141

were admitted Madame de Maintenon was sitting by the
King's bedside.)

Madame de Montespan took this greatly to heart, and
retired to Fontevrault, of which convent her sister was
Abbess.

In a letter dated 3rd January 1687, Madame de
Maintenon addressed her as follows :

" The King has commanded me to tell you that he
would like you to return. If your absence is the result
of the displeasure you felt at being refused admittance
during the King's illness let me assure you that his
Majesty's reason for not allowing you to enter was that
he feared emotion that might have done him harm. He
was touched by your grief and embraced our young
Princes most tenderly. The Due du Maine has under-
taken to present my compliments to you. Pray
believe, Madame, that whatever he may say in my name,
will be less than my affection and gratitude/'

After her return Madame de Montespan was admitted
to the King's apartment, during his convalescence to
listen to the readings of the "History of Louis XI V.", which
Boileau and Racine were composing, and parts of which
they read aloud to the King as they were completed.

Madame de Montespan passed much time at St Joseph's,
a convent of which she was protectress and where she
kept an apartment for her own use.

In the Journal of the Marquis de Dangeau there is an
entry, 20th December 1690, as follows :

' The King goes to see Madame de Montespan at St
Joseph's every day after Mass he only stays a few
minutes."

In the following year Madame de Montespan was deeply
wounded by the King depriving her of her apartment at

142 MADAME DE MAINTENON

Versailles and allotting it to the Due du Maine, whose
apartment was given to his sister, Mademoiselle de Blois,
she having been removed from her mother's custody and
placed in the charge of Madame de Montchevrueil.

After this took place Madame de Montespan decided to
retire altogether from Court, and sent Bossuet, Bishop of
Meaux, to acquaint the King with her decision. Bossuet
must have been pleased to convey this message, for years
previously he had used every effort to separate them, and
his efforts had been unsuccessful and placed him in a
somewhat ludicrous position. 1

This time her retirement actually took place. The King
approved her decision, though he had not had the heart to
command it. She never again appeared at Court except
on the occasions of the marriage of the Due du Maine to
the daughter of the Prince de Cond and that of
Mademoiselle de Nantes to the Due de Bourbon. Madame
de Montespan on both occasions showed great liberality,
and presented to the Due du Maine's bride a bed of which
the gold and pearl embroidery cost more than a million
sterling, as well as a casket of jewels estimated to be worth
two millions. To the bridegroom she presented a splendid
gold dinner service. Madame de Montespan's gifts to her
daughter, Mademoiselle de Nantes, on the occasion of her
marriage to the Due de Bourbon, were also very splendid ;
she wished by her magnificence to. show herself worthy to
be the mother of the King's children.

He had given her great wealth, and she also received a
handsome pension.

For a time she lived in great state at Paris and Clagny,
the magnificent house which the King had given her, and

1 See Chapter ix.

PUBLIC OPINION ON THE MARRIAGE 143

was visited by her children and " all France " (to use St
Simon's expression).

By degrees, however, she retired more and more from the
world, passing her time between St Joseph's and
Fontevrault. She became a true penitent (she even
humbled herself so far as to ask the forgiveness of her
husband, de Montespan but he took no notice of her
letter), though she always refused to perform the penances
her Confessor wished to impose on her. She said : " The
good I do to others will be more pleasing to God than any
harm I could do myself, and that I maintain." She spent
her great wealth in works of charity, giving time and
personal services to the poor inmates of the hospital or
home which she had founded at Oiron.

Madame de Montespan died on 27th May 1707, at
Bourbon, where she went annually to take the waters.
She was sixty-six years of age.

Madame de Maintenon alluded to the death of Madame
de Montespan in a letter to the Princesse des Ursins as
follows :

" I was much affected by the news of the death of a
person about whom I could never think with indiffer-
ence, now or at any time in my life."

CHAPTER XIV

CHARACTER OF MADAME DE MAINTENON

AT St Cyr Madame de Maintenon was looked
upon as a saint, at the Court she was con-
sidered by many a hypocrite, at Paris a
person of wit, in the rest of Europe an
immoral woman.

She herself said : " I will not write my life, I cannot tell the
whole, if I did it would not be believed." But an immense
number of her letters have been preserved by her intimate
friends, especially the Ladies of St Cyr, and they show us
her heart, and let us know her as she really was.

If in youth she had followed the path of virtue and been
scrupulous as to religious observances in order to obtain
the esteem of the world, yet there is no doubt that in later
life the love of God was the mainspring of her existence.

She wrote to Madame de Glapion, the Superior of St
Cyr, of whom she was very fond :

" The feeling I excited was more admiration and
esteem than love. I did not desire the love of individuals,
but I wished my name to be pronounced with admira-
tion, and respect, to be a personage, and to be approved
by people of worth.

" Reputation, that was my God. There was nothing
I would not endure, no restraint I would not put upon
myself for this purpose. Riches I did not want.
I wanted honour and this raised me far above self-
interested motives.

" But how far this self-esteem was from real piety ! "

CHARACTER OF MADAME DE MAINTENON 145

Madame de Maintenon never attempted, in the days of
her greatness, to draw a veil over the trials and humiliations
of her early years. She had none of the false pride that
might have led her to do so, and was rather fond of quoting
her earlier experiences and relating anecdotes of those
times, especially to the pupils of St Cyr. As soon as her
fortunes begun to mend, and her resources admitted of it,
she adopted a poor relative of M. Scarron, an old maid,
Mademoiselle Hurteloir, who was to be found at Rueil,
and then at St Cyr, as a sort of privileged person, enjoying
the advantages of the establishment. Madame de
Maintenon returned good for evil to those relatives who
had usurped her property, and could never do enough for
the descendants of her dearly loved aunt, de Villette.
Though Louvois had opposed her marriage to the King she
never let him know, by any alteration in her treatment,
that she was aware of it, nor did she try to influence the
King against him.

At the Tuileries she would be only served by those who
had always served her, Bontemps, Nanon, Manseau, who
had been her attendant at Madame de Villette's, and her
son, Delile, and she continued to write twice a week to
Mother Celeste, at her old convent, as if there had been no
change in her life, and she supported both the convents of
which she had been formerly an inmate. And to those
who had slighted her in the days of her poverty she always
returned good for evil.

Madame de Maintenon's character will always remain
something of an enigma. There was an atmosphere of
detachment about her ; though among them, she never
seemed to be quite one of them, at Court. She loved a life
of quiet and retirement, and would often say how she

146 MADAME DE MAINTENON

wished she could be watching the nectarines ripen on her
wall at Maintenon instead of taking part in some brilliant
Court pageant. Yet her enemies incessantly accue her
of ambition and hypocrisy. " Cold-hearted " is another
epithet very generally applied to her.

A cold-hearted woman could not have watched and
tended the children confided to her care so devotedly, nor
have won their affection as she undoubtedly did. The
mutual affection between Madame de Maintenon and the
Due du Maine lasted as long as her life.

At all times of her life her fondness for children was
quite remarkable. Wherever she was she always had
some child about her whom she was bringing up. One of
these, Jeannette de Pincre (daughter of a poor lady of
Brittany who brought her to Madame de Maintenon, im-
ploring her to take charge of her), who afterwards became
Madame d'Axy, was a very prominent personage in the
royal circle.

A few months before Madame de Maintenon's death she
wrote inviting a little Villette to stay with her, and said to
the child's mother : " Children are never a trouble to me."

To the last she devoted special attention to a child whom
she had adopted from among the pupils at St Cyr, and on
her deathbed some of her last words were that she feared
the little ones must be feeling very cold and she wished
she could have a few brought into her room to get warm.

When there was a famine and great distress she could
think of nothing but the sufferings of the people.

D61ile Manseau was Madame de Maintenon's agent or
steward. Speaking of her to a friend one day, he said : "Of
what innumerable good works I could tell the tale, if she had
not given orders that they were to be kept secret. How

CHARACTER OF MADAME DE MAINTENON 147

many children, widows and families were succoured by her !
How many girls reclaimed from vice ! How many officers
helped, in order to make up for the refusal of ministers. If
I was permitted to tell all I know I should never finish.
But if it pleases God all this will not be lost to public
edification ; history will detail at least a part of the virtues
of this inimitable lady, who only approached the King
with requests when the unfortunate needed help. She
never thought of herself, her desire was that the glory of
Louis the Great should be daily augmented."

Here we have a lady who was a heroine in her servant's
eyes !

It is inconceivable that a woman so full of feeling for
others should be accused of instigating the persecutions
that followed the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes.

Waiting on the subject (6th October 1686), she said :

' The King is taking measures for converting all
heretics. He has many conferences about it with M. le
Tellier and M. de Chateauneuf.

" M. le Tellier was on the point of death, but is better
since affixing his seal to the Edict of Revocation. The
King is pleased with the idea of putting the finishing
touch to the work of restoring heretics to the Church,
Pere de la Chaise has promised that it will not cost one
drop of blood, Louvois says the same."

Having heard that her brother in his government had
shown persecuting zeal against the Huguenots, Madame de
Maintenon wrote as follows :

I hear of you what does not do you honour, you
maltreat the Huguenots and go out of your way to find
means and occasions to do so : that is not like a man of
quality. Have pity on people who are more un-
fortunate than guilty. We were once in the same errors

148 MADAME DE MAINTENON

as theirs and violence would never have converted us.
Henry IV. and many great Princes professed the same
religion. Men must be drawn by gentleness and love,
that is the King's wish, and Jesus Christ gave us the
example. It is the business of the Bishops and Cures
to make conversions. Neither God or the King has
given you charge of souls."

The horrors inflicted on the Huguenots were committed
in distant provinces, where they less easily came to the
King's ears and it is certain that neither he nor Madame
de Maintenon knew the full extent of them. She often
remarks in her letters on the difficulty of anyone in her
position arriving at a correct idea of affairs at a distance,
because interested persons preferred only to let the King
know what suited them, or what they thought he would
like. At this time the Due de Noailles wrote :

" The Huguenots are converted so quickly that all
my soldiers have to do is to stop one night in a
place."

Comte de Tesse wrote :

" All has been effected quietly and without violence."

Madame de Maintenon was certainly not the instigator
of the Revocation of the Edict, or of the cruelties that
followed, but abusive and virrulent pamphlets were
circulated accusing her, and the Press of England, and
Holland gave her no quarter.

She has, however, been unjustly blamed on this account.
In the first place her influence in affairs of State was not
sufficient to have enabled her to effect the passing of so
momentous a law. She herself says : " The King never
allows anyone but his Ministers to advise him on affairs of

CHARACTER OF MADAME DE MAINTENON 149

State. I can only exert an indirect influence and I am
obliged to keep my feelings to myself." l

Voltaire says with reference to this matter :

" She had no share in the Revocation, that is certain.
She tolerated it, because she never dared oppose
Louis XIV."

Spannheim, the envoy from Brandenburg, himself a
descendant of Huguenots, says the same in his " History
of the Times."

Such cruelties and extreme measures were altogether
out of keeping with her character. Like all Catholic
France, she desired that measures should be taken to
convert the Huguenots, but she wrote :

" We cannot urge undue haste in such matters, we
must convert not persecute. For fifteen years I have
counselled moderation, and the King has often re-
proached me for it. When I suggested to him that far
from bringing about conversion, persecution would only
inflame the Protestants against the Catholics, he replied :
' I fear, Madame, that the mildness with which you desire
the Huguenots to be treated, arises from some remaining
sympathy with the religion of your ancestors/ '

For the same reason i.e. that all considerations must
give way to the will of the King, to the maintenance of his
supremacy, when there was a question of allowing the
Huguenots who had taken refuge abroad to return to
France, Madame de Maintenon did not encourage it, be-
cause she thought to retract the Revocation and recall
fugitives would lower the King's prestige and be a menace
to his authority.

1 See her letter written in 1697, given by Languet de Gery in his
Memoirs.

ISO MADAME DE MAINTENON

Before arriving at this decision there must have been a
struggle between her natural benevolence and her desire to
see the Church triumphant and the King supreme.

No one is faultless, and we cannot approve of the course
she took in connection with the Revocation, nor of her
failure to stand by Cardinal Noailles and Racine 1 when
they incurred the King's displeasure.

1 With regard to Racine, Madame de Maintenon only temporised,
waiting for the King's displeasure to blow over. The story told of Racine
being banished from Court, and consequently dying of grief, because the
King was displeased at a pamphlet he wrote at Madame de Maintenon's
request, depicting the misery of the people during the war, is incorrect,
though it is very often quoted by Madame de Maintenon's enemies.
Racine did incur the displeasure of the King, who refused to remit some
taxes which were a great burden to him.

St Simon says that the King's displeasure was excited by some mal A
propos remarks on the worthlessness of Scarron's works, which covered
Madame de Maintenon with confusion. Others say that Racine's
adherence to the Jansenists brought him into disfavour. The most
generally accepted idea is that the King came one day into Madame de
Maintenon's room and found her reading the before-mentioned
pamphlet. When the King asked the author's name Madame de Main-
tenon at first withheld it, but was at last obliged to give Racine's name.
The King was annoyed, and said : " Because he can write good verses,
does he think he knows everything ? Because he is a poet, does he
wish to be a Minister of State ? ' '

That he was dismissed from Court, and that Madame de Maintenon
had a secret interview with him in thejgrounds of St Cyr, and told him to
hide when the King was seen approaching, is a fable resting on the
authority of some Memoirs written by Racine's son, who was six years old
when his father died.

Racine may have kept away from the Court for a time by Madame
de Maintenon's advice, but he was not long out of favour, for the King
subsequently gave him a fine set of apartments at Versailles, in which
he passed the last two years of his life. He was always invited to ac-
company the Court to Marly, which was a mark of favour.

When Racine died the King expressed great regret and spoke of him
and his works in such eulogistic terms that Boileau remarked : " Many
of the courtiers would have been glad to die for the sake of bein# spoken
of in such a manner by their King."

1 See Due de Noailles, " Vie de Madame de Maintenon," vol. ii.

CHARACTER OF MADAME DE MAINTENON 151

To displease the King was the one thing she dreaded.
The celebrated Jean Paul Maraune, after speaking of the
most prominent ladies of the Court of France, says :

" All are eclipsed by Madame de Maintenon, who has
known how to become the delight of the King by virtues
as pure as they are rare, and by an extreme uprightness
of soul. She is absolutely without inclination to harm
anyone, and she desires to do good to all, when she can
do so without importuning the King. Her first thought
is not to displease the King who reveres and cherishes
her."

Madame de Maintenon was not a passionate or sensual
woman, otherwise she could hardly have stood upright and
maintained an unsullied reputation in the dissolute circle
which frequented her husband, M. Scarron's house many
of whom would doubtless have been glad to console the
lovely young wife for the infirmities of the deformed and
aged husband.

It is possible that she inherited a strain of puritanism
from her ancestors, the Reformers. She herself says :
" Men followed me because I had youth and beauty but
I excited feelings of friendship rather than of passion."
There are many people who cannot believe that a woman
can lead by preference a chaste life, or understand any
other link between men and women than that of sexual
attraction. To such people, a woman who was chaste
as ice and pure as snow would only appear sly and hypo-
critical. But those who have studied the question of the
aspersions cast by some people on her character, princi-
pally in connection with her staying in the house of Ninon
de TEnclos, and her supposed intimacy with Villarceaux,
have decided that such aspersions are without foundation.

152 MADAME DE MAINTENON

M. Geoffrey, writing in 1887, says : At this date it is
superfluous to refute them."

No one was more intimate with Madame de Maintenon
than Madame de Montespan, and in the latter's Memoirs
we find oft-repeated expressions of unstinted admiration
for the former's person and talents and respect for her
character, in spite of their quarrels.

As there are many people who think all pure women
" hypocrites," so there are just as many who class all pro-
fession of religion as " hypocrisy." But to many people
with whom religion is the mainspring of life, it is a sort of
sixth sense.

A great French statesman wrote of himself : "I was
created religious, as the air is created transparent. My
soul was not separable from the sentiment of God."

But to those who are born without this sixth sense, it is
so incomprehensible that they can only characterise it as
"hypocrisy" i.e. a sentiment falsely assumed for some
purpose. There is nothing that Madame de Maintenon is
more often accused of than religious hypocrisy. But we fail
to see what she had to gain by an assumption of religion.
It required a good deal of moral courage to profess and act
up to religious principles in the society in which she moved ;
and nothing but genuine religious convictions could have
enabled her to lead a blameless life at one of the most
corrupt Courts the world has ever seen, and to effect
by her influence a complete and lasting change in the life
and character of Louis XIV.

Her position occasionally forced her into inconsistencies,
but the ruling principles of her life were : moderation, dis-
interestedness, compassion and the fear of God.

In later life she accused herself of ambition as a sin.

CHARACTER OF MADAME DE MAINTENON 153

Fenelon, in his letters of advice, charges her with " the
ambition to be thought perfect by the great and so to
obtain power."

She herself says : " My ambition was to have my name
pronounced with admiration and respect " Not the vulgar
desire of obtaining wealth to display in ostentatious splen-
dour, but the subtler ambition of proving herself above
this. To attain this aim what marvellous powers of self-
restraint and self-command were necessary ! One cannot
imagine Madame de Maintenon ever " letting herself go "
and having a really good time of careless enjoyment.

We hear much of her marvellous " tact/' From what
qualities does " tact " proceed ? From a kind heart full of
consideration for others and smypathy with and insight
into their feelings. In fact, from unselfishness. It was said
of her that even when relating the witty stories for which
she was famous she was careful not to irritate the pride or
wound the feelings of the most sensitive.

One day, when she had been much provoked she said to
Mademoiselle d'Aumale : " Leave the room ! for I am
afraid of succumbing to my desire to talk to you, and if I
do, I shall be wanting in charity. I refuse to allow myself
the consolation of speaking about certain people it would
be a relief, but charity forbids it."

She herself writes :

" Women liked me because I thought more of them
than of myself, and took as much pains to amuse them,
as I should have done to please a Court gallant."

One of the maxims that she most often inculcated at St
Cyr was : "To please others one must forget oneself."
After years of self-repression it is no wonder that she

154 MADAME DE MAINTENON

came to look upon solitude as her greatest treat, and a rest
and relaxation after the endless fatigue of always setting
aside her own inclinations and pleasing others. If she was
ambitious she suffered the penalty.

r< Who knows," she wrote, " whether Providence is not
saying to me : ' You have desired honour and glory, you
shall have them to satiety/

!< The wildest imagination could not have dreamed
I should attain this height of fortune. I have been loved
by all ; I was young and pretty and excited admiration ;
later I enjoyed intellectual companionship, I protest to
you that all this leaves only a terrible void only the
love and service of God gives peace."

Voltaire remarks that if anything could disillusion or
dissuade the ambitious, this letter would do so.

Madame de Maintenon spoke of her dissatisfaction with
greatness partly to encourage Madame de Glapion who,
though full of good qualities, was not without struggles of
mind, and occasionally cast a longing thought on the flesh-
pots of Egypt i.e. the pleasures of the world which she had
renounced, having really adopted the life at St Cyr more
through love of Madame de Maintenon and pleasure in
the dignified position of the Ladies of St Louis than by
real vocation for the religious life.

Madame de Maintenon, generally so reserved and self-
contained, showed herself as she really was to Madame de
Glapion ; to her she opened her heart and spoke of all her
troubles at Court. To the pen of this nun we owe the por-
trait of Madame de Maintenon en deshabille, as one may
say. 1

1 Madame de Glapion used to write down her conversations with
Madame de Maintenon, and these as well as the letters were preserved
at St Cyr.

CHARACTER OF MADAME DE MAINTENON 1 5 5

To her Madame de Maintenon said : "I was at first
much offended and out of humour if the King did not
listen to my advice or grant my requests. Then I decided
that these were not my affairs, that God had not appointed
me to govern the State or distribute its benefits and, by
the grace of God, for many years, I have never shown
temper if my wishes were not attended to. The King saw
me always serene and cheerful. If he had not found
pleasure in my society, he would have sought it else-
where."

The following is a beautiful letter of advice to the
Duchesse de Ventadour, Charlotte de Mothe-Houdancourt,
daughter of the Due de Cardonne and Madame de Prie,
Governess of the Children of France in the reign of Louis
XIII. ; Madame de Ventadour succeeded her mother in
the post in 1704.

" iSth March 1700. Understand my dear Duchess,
that there is no peace for those who resist God. If there
is any joy in the world it is reserved for those who have
a pure conscience ; a bad conscience would turn the
pleasantest place into a hell. The peace of God is very
different to the false joys of the world. How is it to be
acquired ? By a good confession, followed by a regular
use of the Sacraments, and a veritable aversion for evil.
In such a state of piety one often has troubles, but God
only makes us feel our weakness in order to give new
strength. The essential thing is never to act contrary
to the inward light, and to follow God wherever He leads
us. What rebuffs you is that you only see what religion
demands of you, not what it gives. You shudder when
you think what it makes necessary for us to do, you
would be delighted if you realised what it makes one
love ! No Yoke is so light as that of the Saviour ;
those who are His are always content. Cowardly souls
vho wish to compromise between God and the World
low no peace. It is not necessary to leave the world,

156 MADAME DE MAINTENON

but to renounce its spirit. Religion is not hard : it
asks nothing without giving the power to execute it.
Receive my advice as proof of the interest I take in
you."

Madame de Maintenon's over scrupulous, self-torment-
ing temperament prevented her ever really enjoying life,
though doubtless her virtues and devotion enabled her to
obtain peace and bliss in heaven.

She writes to a friend soon after her marriage to the
King :

" I am astonished that the Abbe Gobelin who up to the
present time has been my Confessor and treated me quite
severely, has now become quite useless to me on account
of the excessive respect he feels for me ; the constraint
he is under makes him afraid to find fault or give me
sincere advice in spite of all I say to him. Consequently
I have been obliged to replace him by the Bishop of
Chartres, who is a Saint and quite uninfluenced by
worldly dignities."

This Bishop said to her : " You love one whom you
ought to love and he will often prove your roughest Cross,
for your opinions differ. You are at an age which desires
repose but you have to be always on the alert, in spite of
being delicate and often indisposed. You have enough
to bear without mortifying the flesh by self-imposed
austerities. Your duty is to keep in good health. The
right way to obtain blessings for the State and the King is
not by outcry, or fatiguing him by complaints ; it is to be
done by edifying him by disinterestedness, and by opening
his heart through sincere and patient friendship with
cheerfulness ; but to talk with heat and bitterness and
return again and again to the charge is doing evil that good
may come."

CHARACTER OF MADAME DEMAINTENON 157

Madame de Maintenon, on being reproached for not
exerting enough influence on public affairs, wrote :

" I conjure you to look upon me as a woman incapable
of managing affairs, and who has heard them talked of
too late in life to possess any talent in such matters, but
above all as one who hates them still more on account of
her ignorance."

The Confessor replied :

" You are more enlightened and capable of managing
public affairs than you think, and it is your duty to
inform yourself thoroughly of what is going on, so that
if an opportunity occurs of influencing the King for
good, you may not fail to take advantage of it."

Although so many important affairs were forced on her
notice, Madame de Maintenon excelled in the occupations
of her own sex. She imitated the wise woman of Holy
Writ " who seeketh wool and flax and worketh diligently
with her hands." Madame de Maintenon spun or
worked at tapestry while dictating letters, as well as
when alone with the King and even in the King's
coach.

Among the Crown furniture a magnificent state-bed
was preserved (up to the period of the Revolution), it had
hangings embroidered in silk and gold, and pearls and
small diamonds, which Madame de Maintenon had worked
for Louis XIV.

We think that the prominent characteristic of Madame
de Maintenon was what may be called " sanctified common-
sense," which is the prevailing tone of her letters of advice,
and it enabled her to steer her way through the difficulties
which beset her path.

The cynical Bussy de Rabutin wrote of her :

158 MADAME DE MAINTENON

" No one was more generally beloved than Madame
de Maintenon, and she must possess as much goodness
of heart as other good qualities because generally
merit only excites envy but, barring a few individuals,
everyone is delighted at her prosperity. The truth
must be told. To whatever fortune she attains it will
be less than her merit."

From an engraving in the British Museum

CHAPTER XV

COURT LIFE FROM THE INSIDE

IT is admitted that after the marriage Mdme. de
Maintenon gave herself no airs. She passed
most of the day in her room at Versailles, en-
shrined in what she called her " niche/' a three-
cornered sofa of red damask, and here she received her
visitors.

Her apartment x consisted of three rooms of moderate
size opposite to the King's with only the passage
between them.

In the principal room was a bureau at which the King
sat ; his armchair was against the wall, and near it was a
seat for the Minister in attendance.

Her " niche " was on the other side of the room, and
beyond that was an alcove with her bed in it.

Occasionally, when the King had no work with his
Ministers, select dinners, followed by music or theatricals,
took place in her apartments ; but ordinarily the
Ministers would bring their portfolios after dinner, while
Mdme. de Maintenon sat at her embroidery listening to
the discussion, but never volunteering her advice. " Que
pense, t'en, Votre Solidite ? " Louis would often ask.
She would smile, pretend ignorance, talk of something
else, but eventually lead the conversation back to the

1 The apartment now forms part of the Musee de Versailles, and in it
are the battle-pieces of the campaigns of 1793.

160 MADAME DE MAINTENON

point she wished to carry, or to the name of the person
she wished to favour. But it had to be done very care-
fully. There was nothing that Louis would have re-
sented more than the idea that he was being " managed."
His Ministers knew that out of several measures that
they might lay before him, he would invariably refuse one,
in order to show his power.

It has been said that the Ministers of State were " under
Mdme. de Maintenon's heel " ; that affairs of Church and
State, Patronage, Justice, all were in her hands. This is
a great exaggeration. The King did not always require
her to remain while he was at work with Ministers, and
she would then go to her oratory, or into the adjoining
room to keep company with the Princesses, who were wait-
ing till the King's work was over to talk with and amuse
him. She never attended Councils (though it has been
said she did), but Ministers liked to have audiences with
her and to acquaint her with affairs, and they endeavoured
to imbue her with their ideas, thinking her influence
with the King to be greater than it was. She herself
said that she could only exercise an indirect influence,
endeavouring in private conversations with the King to
put certain points of view in a favourable light ; and she
often said, how at first she was amazed and very angry
that even the favours she asked for, which had no con-
nection with State affairs, were not granted.

Mdme. de Caylus, her neice, who was most intimate
with her, and her Secretary, Mdlle. d'Aumale, who was a
daily witness of all that went on in the inner circle at
Court, both say that Mdme. de Maintenon did not inter-
fere in State affairs. The King was jealous of his authority
and would have resented it. Her interference in public

COURT LIFE FROM THE INSIDE 161

matters was much less than is generally supposed. She
was not one of those intriguers of whom Cardinal Mazarin
spoke so caustically.

" We have here in France/' he said, " a set of political
women who want to meddle in everything ; to see all, hear
all, know all, and, worst of all, to tangle all. I believe they
would refuse to sleep with their husbands or lovers at
night, unless they, during the day, told them all the affairs
of State. Among others we have three, Mesdames de
Longueville and de Chevreuse and the Princess Palatine,
who put us every day into a worse confusion than ever
there was at Babel."

Such a woman Mdme. de Maintenon emphatically was
not.

She was much more occupied in pleasing him who
governed, than in attempting herself to govern ; and she
husbanded her influence to make it more effectual, using
it with great circumspection. She only really cared for
matters connected with religion or philanthropy, and
scrupulously avoided participation in intrigues or cabals
of any sort. However importunate the petitioner for
her influence might be, she could never be induced to
bring to the King's notice anything that she thought
might be disagreeable to him.

She was thoroughly disinterested ; sought nothing for
herself, neither wealth nor outward grandeur of any kind.
She refused all the King's offers to enrich her ; her in-
come as the Monarch's wife being only eighty thousand
francs yearly ; though Mdme. de Montespan's pension
after her retirement was two thousand louis per month.

Mdme. de Maintenon's devotion to the King was
unbounded. Her secretary, Mdlle. d'Aumale, says :

162 MADAME DE MAINTENON

" She never allowed him to see her with any other
than a serene and satisfied mien. I have seen her
sometimes weary, full of vexation, worried and ill, put
on the most smiling air when the King entered ; she
would divert him in a hundred ways, and entertain
him by her conversation for four hours at a time,
without talking scandal, and without yawning or re-
peating herself. At night when he had retired and
her bed curtains were drawn, she would say to me :
* I have only the strength to tell you that I cannot say
another word/

" She was often almost overwhelmed by the cares
incident to her position and would say, ' God permits
me to suffer all this, in order to detach me from the
world. He has punished me for ambition by fulfilling
my wishes/ '

The Due de Noailles, in his " Life of Mdme. de Main-
tenon," says that in the reign of Louis XIV. French society
was at its apogee, and that to it Europe owes the politeness
and social graces that spread through all its kingdoms
and revolutionized manners. The upper classes were
remarkable for dignity, decorum, noble manners, wit,
urbanity and exterior magnificence, and there had never
been an epoch when there were more minds of the first
order.

Balzac, Chapelain, Voiture, , Segrais, the Scuderys and
the great Corneille were followed by Moliere, Racine, and
Boileau. At this time the French language was developed
and consolidated, and acquired the precision and clear-
ness that has made it the intellectual language of Europe.
In effecting this Mdme. de Maintenon had no small part.
St Beuve speaks of the excellent language of the eighteenth
century, which he says Mdme. de Maintenon brought to
perfection, and that it was first spoken by her pupils at
St Cyr. " The language of St Cyr," he continues, " forms

COURT LIFE FROM THE INSIDE 163

a distinct era in the evolution of the French language in
the reign of Louis XIV. It is the diction of Racine and
Masillon, but more concise and sober ; a distinct school,
pure, clear, and precise. It was used to perfection by
the first pupils of St Cyr." l

It was not alone in this way that Mdme. de
Maintenon rendered services to French literature, for
" Esther " and " Athalie/' the masterpieces of Racine,
owed their existence to her.

Although it is often said that a period of decadence
began with her marriage to the King, yet an era which
saw Racine, Moliere, La Fontaine, and Bruyere at their
zenith, when Feneleon wrote " Telemaque," Boileau and
Bossuet history, and Arnauld and Pascal theology, cannot
be correctly called decadent.

Nor were astronomers and scientists idle the King
encouraged and supported them all, and admitted some
among them to his intimacy.

Mdme. de Maintenon's influence did not diminish
intellectual progress, while it elevated the morality of
plays and novels, and if these can be trusted as a picture
of the age, the morals also of society in general. If there
was hypocrisy it was not a new growth, for Tartuffe had
been depicted before Mdme. de Maintenon came to
Versailles.

Of the circle by whom she was more immediately
surrounded the principal personages were : The Due
d'Orleans, called " Monsieur " brother of the King,
and his w?fe Charlotte Elizabeth of Bavaria, daughter
of the Elector of the Rhine Palatinate. She was called
" Madame/' Their children were : The Due de Chartres
1 See his " Galerie des Femmes celebres."

1 64 MADAME DE MAINTENON

(afterwards the Regent d'Orleans) and a daughter, married
to the Prince of Lorraine.

The King's eldest son the Dauphin, called
" Monseigneur," and his wife the Dauphiness, daughter
of the Elector of Bavaria. Their three sons were the
Dukes of Burgundy, Anjou, and of Berry.

The great Conde, brother of the King of Navarre.
The eldest son of this house had the title of M. le Due ;
he married the Princess Anne of Bavaria ; their grandson
was the Due de Bourbon, who married Mdme. de Monte-
span's daughter, Mdlle. de Nantes.

Then there were the Princes of Conti, nephews of the
great Conde, and the two Vendomes, grandsons of
Henri IV. and Gabrielle d'Estrees.

" La Grande Mademoiselle," the King's cousin, daughter
of Gaston d'Orleans, brother of Louis XIII. 1

Besides these there were the King's children by Mdme.
de Montespan, and his daughter by la Valliere, married
to the Prince de Conti, and her brother Count Vermandois.

The Due du Maine was the King's favourite son, and
his marriage to Mdlle. de Bourbon-Conde was one of the
grand functions which took place at this time.

Writing to Mdme. de Brinon, March 17, 1692, Mdme.
de Maintenon refers to it as follows :

" The King is very pleased with the Duchesse du
Maine. I hear she is to pass Holy Week at Maubisson,
take care that she has plenty of rest. She is being
killed here by the constraint and fatigues of Court
Life ; she is weighed down by gold and jewels. Her
head-dress weighs more than her whole person. 2 All

1 See page 97.

* The Duchesse du Maine and all the Prince de Conde's daughters
were unusually small and short.

COURT LIFE FROM THE INSIDE 165

this prevents her growing and having good health.
She never eats or sleeps. I am afraid she has
been married too young. 1 She looks much prettier
without all this fine dress. I should like her to be
playing about at St Cyr. There are no austerities in a
convent comparable to those which Court etiquette
imposes on people in high positions."

Another letter, August 27, 1693 :

' You deceived me about the most essential thing
in Mdme. du Maine, she is without any religion. I do
not wish to make her a nun, but I should wish her to
please M. du Maine, who is sensible enough to wish his
wife to be wiser than some others. I confess I should
wish to be able to love the Duchesse more than anyone
else, she being what she is to one who is the object of
my warmest affection. She is in love with her husband,
and he loves her to distraction."

Another letter, October 14, 1693 :

" I am very pleased with the Duchesse du Maine ;
if she carries out all she proposes, her little perse n will
be worth more than all the others put together."

Mdme. de Maintenon was, however, doomed to be
disappointed in the Duchesse du Maine, who, as she grew
older, gave proof of a very imperious and independent
disposition. She hated the restraints of Versailles, and
set up a little Court of her own at Sceaux, where she
surrounded herself by literary men and people of cultured
tastes, and occupied herself with theatrical performances,
which the Court of Versailles never failed to attend. She
was a very energetic little person and worked day and
night at her amusements but she did not make her
husband very happy. She looked down on him on account

1 Her age was fourteen.

1 66 MADAME DE MAINTENON

of his birth (it had been thought a great honour for him
to obtain a bride of the old blood Royal), and her ambition
eventually had most disastrous results. 1

The little Duchesse appears to have had a warm corner
in her heart for Mdme. de Maintenon, to whom she once
wrote :

" I beg you to be convinced that I shall always re-
gard you as a mother and that it is not possible for any-
one to have more esteem, affection and gratitude than
I feel for you. L. BENEDICITE DE BOURBON."

As for the Due du Maine he wrote :

" Our mutual affection has been tried and not found
wanting nor will it ever be, as you yourself have often
said. Louis AUGUSTE DE BOURBON."

The King's attachment to Mdme. de Maintenon seemed
to become more profound instead of lessening as the years
passed. In public he always treated her with the greatest
deference, and with far more empressement and gallantry
than he had ever shown the Queen. St Simon gives the
following description of a scene that excited much com-
ment, and which occurred ten years after the marriage.
The occasion was a great Review that took place at
Compiegne in 1698. After describing the Review, when
sixty thousand men manoeuvred and went through all
the details of a regular campaign, St Simon continues :

" But a spectacle of another sort was that which the
King, from the summit of the rampart, presented to all
his army and to the innumerable crowd of spectators
of all kinds in the plain below. Mdme. de Maintenon
sat alone in her sedan chair, facing the plain and the

1 The details will be given later on ; see Conspiracy of Cellamare in
the twenty-seventh chapter.

COURT LIFE FROM THE INSIDE 167

troops, its three windows drawn up, her porters having
retired to a distance. On the left pole of the chair in
front sat the Duchess of Burgundy, and on the same
side, were standing in a semi-circle Mdme. la Duchesse
de Conde, the Princess de Conti, and all the ladies, and
behind them again were some men. At the right
window was the King, standing, and a little in the rear
a semi-circle of the most distinguished men in France.
The King was nearly always uncovered, and every now
and then stooped to speak to Mdme. de Maintenon,
and explain to her what she saw, and the reason of
each movement of the troops. Each time that he did
so she was obliging enough to open the window four or
five inches, but never half-way. Sometimes she opened
the glasses of her own accord to ask questions of him,
but generally it was he, who without waiting for her,
stooped down to explain to her what was passing ;
and sometimes if she did not notice him, he tapped at
the glass to make her open it. He never spoke, save
to her, except to give a few brief orders, or just answered
the Duchess of Burgundy, who wanted to make him
speak to her, and with whom Mdme. de Maintenon
carried on a conversation by signs, without opening the
front window, through which the young Princess
screamed a few words at her now and then. The faces
of the bystanders showed embarrassed surprise, they
watched this scene more than what was going on in
the army. The King often put his hat on the top of
the chair in order to get his head in to speak. About
the time when the town capitulated Mdme. de Maintenon
apparently asked permission to go away, for the King
called out : ' The chairmen of Madame ! ' They came
and took her away ; in less than a quarter of an hour
afterwards the King retired also. Many spoke with
their eyes or nudged one another or whispered to-
gether. Everybody was full of what had taken place
on the ramparts between the King and Mdme. de
Maintenon. Even the soldiers asked the meaning of
that sedan chair and of the King's every moment
stooping to put his head inside it. What effect this
had on foreigners who were present may be imagined.

1 68 MADAME DE MAINTENON

All over Europe it was as much talked of as the pomp
and prodigious splendour of the camp of Compiegne."

That Mdme. de Main tenon loved Louis we do not think.
To her he was always " The King," to whom absolute de-
votion was due and was given. She was probably flattered
by his preference, and grateful for the elevation to which
he had raised her, but she could not have genuinely loved
him, or she would not have complained so frequently
of the monotony and burden of her life at his side. 1 Her
letters are full of such complaints, and one day she said
to her brother : "I cannot stand it any longer ; I would
rather be dead."

Comte d'Aubigne replied : " Vous avez done parole
d'epouser Dieu le pere ? "

One day, looking at some goldfish that were restless
and ill at ease in their marble tank, she said : " They are
like me, longing to get back to their mud."

In a remarkable letter to Mdme. de Glapion she describes
her long weary days at Versailles :

" I am obliged to take for prayers and the Mass the
time when other people are still asleep. For when my
door is once opened I have not an instant to myself.

" M. Marechal, First Physician to the King, arrives
at 7.30, then M. Fagon (another medical attendant)
or someone else, to inquire how I am. Afterwards
comes M. de Chamillard (War Minister) or some other
Minister ; the Archbishop ; a Marshal of France to take
leave ; a relation, a quantity of other people who come
in a string and who never leave till someone of higher
rank arrives. At last comes the King. They are all
obliged to go out, and he stays with me till it is time
for Mass. Remark that my hair is not yet dressed.

1 She said that after the marriage her happiness only lasted three
weeks.

COURT LIFE FROM THE INSIDE 169

For if that had been done I should have had no time
for prayer. The King returns after having heard
Mass ; then come the Duchess of Burgundy and her
ladies. They remain while I dine. I am not without
anxiety as to whether the Duchess will not say some-
thing out of place. I must not fail to address a few
obliging words to all present. As I undertook to bring
up the Duchess I feel responsible for all she does
wrong, and for all the good she does not do. If
an indiscretion escapes her, I share the pain of those
whose feelings she has wounded. In fact, my mind is
at an extreme tension. The circle of visitors surrounds
me, and I cannot even ask a servant for something to
drink : I sometimes say : * You do me much honour, 1
but I should prefer the services of a lacquey.' There-
upon each one hastens to serve me, and those who are
refused are vexed. This is another sort of torment
for me. At last they all depart to dine, and I should
be free at that time were it not that Monseigneur 2
generally then comes to visit me ; for he often dines
earlier than the others in order to go out hunting. He
is very difficult to entertain, being easily bored and
saying very little himself, so I have to bear the brunt
of the conversation and talk for two.

" As soim as the King's dinner is over he comes into
my roorrj with the whole Royal Family, Princes and
Princesses, and amuses himself there for half an hour.
Then he leaves, alone ; the rest remain, and I have to
take part in trifling conversation while my mind is full
of anxiety as to what is going on in the army where so
many of my friends and those who are attached to the
King are endangering their lives. Add to this a
quantity of bad news, which is a heavy burden on my
mind. My eyes must be serene while they are ready
to fill with tears. When this assembly separates, some
lady or other has always something private to say, and
follows me into my little room to pour out her troubles.
They expect me to take as much interest in them as in

1 The young Princesses and the Court ladies vied with each other in
waiting on Mdme. de Maintenon, handing dishes, etc.

2 The Dauphin.

170 MADAME DE MAINTENON

the affairs of State. Those who do not like me make
me their confidante as well as those who like me. They
want me to do them some service, and to speak of their
private affairs to a King who is almost overwhelmed
with the affairs of State. The whole Court resort to
this old lady ! When I think of my position it is not
what is brilliant but what is painful that presents itself.
Instead of being dazzled I only think of myself as an
instrument of which God deigns to make use to do some
good, to unite our Princes, to succour the afflicted, to
refresh the King after the cares of the State.

" But to return to our day. When the King comes
back from hunting, he comes to me. The door is shut,
and no one is allowed to enter, I then have to share his
private sorrows and troubles which are not few.

" Later a Minister arrives hastening to impart news
which is often bad. The King listens attentively and
then sets to work. If my presence is not required
(which does not often happen), I retire and write or
pray. While I sup the King is still at work, I am dis-
quieted whether he is alone or not. I have been under
constraint from six in the morning, and am very tired,
sometimes the King perceives this and says : ' You
cannot stay up any longer Madame, is it not so ? Go
to bed/

" My women come, but I feel they annoy the King
who wants to talk to me, but will not talk in their
presence. So I undress hastily, often to my incon-
venience, and at last, behold me in bed ! I send away
my maids. The King approaches and sits by my
pillow till he goes to supper. But a quarter of an hour
before supper the Dauphin and the Duke and Duchess
of Burgundy enter. About a quarter-past ten every-
one goes out. Then I am alone and at ease, but often
too tired to sleep. Now tell me if the lot of a peasant's
wife is not preferable to mine ? I have to attend to
many things which our Princes neglect. For example,
the Princesse des Ursins is about to return to Spain ;
if I don't occupy myself with her and make up to her
by my attentions for the coldness of the Duchess of
Burgundy, the indifference of the King, and the dry-

COURT LIFE FROM THE INSIDE 171

ness of the other Princes, she will leave disgusted with
our Court ; and it is desirable that she should speak
well of us in Spain. The Duchess of Burgundy brings
me all her troubles. She came last night just as I was
going to bed worn out with fatigue. She threw herself
upon me, and kept me a long time listening to her
troubles. I had to remain half undressed to listen to
her, because if I had gone to bed she could not have
spoken freely, the table at which the King works being
close to my bed. She said she hoped she was not in-
conveniencing me but though she always asks me to
treat her as a mother would her child, I cannot forget
what is due to her and send her away unceremoniously,
so you see my life is no bed of roses."

Mdme. de Main tenon is not the only person who com-
plains of the weariness of Court Life. A young lady at the
English Court who had been a great favourite, was asked
why the King no longer took notice of her, replied :
" I am no longer amusing, the deadly monotony of Court
Life has flattened me out."

At a later date we hear the same strain from the
Duchesse de Montpensier, Louis Philippe's daughter-in-
law. When the Revolution compelled the French Royal
Family to fly in different directions, the Duchess, escorted
by General Thierry and M. Estancelein set out for
Brussels. On reaching Abbeville they were told the
carriage would be stopped if they tried to pass through
the town, so it was decided that M. de Estancelein should
get fresh horses and bring the carriage to the outskirts
of the city on the road to Brussels, while the Duchess
and General Thierry should go on foot by a circuitous
road to meet him. It was pitch dark, sleet was falling,
the Princess's shoe stuck in the mud and she had to go
on without it. While sitting on a plank near some un-

MADAME DE MAINTENON

finished buildings waiting for the carriage to rejoin them,
the General condoled with the Duchesse de Montpensier
who was in delicate health over the discomforts she was
undergoing. This young Princess replied : "I like these
adventures better than the monotony of sitting doing
embroidery at the round table, in the sumptuous apart-
ments at the Tuileries."

Mdme. de Main tenon never scrupled to speak of what
she considered the boredom of Court Life, and delighted
to escape from it whenever she could. The following
letter addressed to Mdme. de Glapion at St Cyr, shows
that she found the company of peasants refreshing by
contrast. It is dated Fontainebleau, September 10,
1711 :

" I have just returned from Avon, an adjoining
village. I intended to spend an hour there, but spent
three. Since I came to Court I have never had such
delicious company as these peasants ; their simplicity
and shrewdness is a feast. I went from house to house.
Mathieu Roche, the schoolmaster, cannot accustom
himself to my ignorance, and I cannot accustom myself
to his knowledge. I cannot do without the villagers
of Avon. I find among them honesty, good sense,
truth, and honour. They do not talk as well as we do,
but we do not act as well as they do. I could tell you
some fine instances, but perhaps they would bore you.
Yesterday I received a letter from one of my farmers,
saying he had fears for my health and that of the King,
on account of the prevalent mortality among beasts ! "
(cattle).

CHAPTER XVI

COURT PERSONAGES

ST SIMON describes a day in the King's life, and
a courtier's life was a faint reflection of the
King's. From the moment he opened his eyes
in the morning the King was always on parade.
His toilet took place in the presence of a large audience.
One favoured courtier would hold the candlestick, another
the towel, while to hand the shirt was a privilege reserved
for Princes of the Blood. This took place at eight o'clock ;
at a quarter-past the Grand Chamberlain, and those
gentlemen who had the privilege of first entry, came in
and remained a few minutes ; then those of the second
entry presented themselves, and a few minutes later the
rest of the courtiers. As soon as the King was dressed,
he said his prayers kneeling at his bedside and then
went to his private room to issue the orders of the day,
and give short private audiences. Then the Captain of
the Guard threw open the folding doors and Louis walked
along the gallery that led to the chapel, bowing right
and left to the double line of courtiers through the midst
of whom he passed. Mass was then celebrated. When
it was over the King returned to his private room, and
the Ministers followed with their portfolios. On four
mornings a week he held a Cabinet Council. Dinner was
served at one o'clock. Except when he was with the
army, no man under the rank of a Prince of the Blood

173

174 MADAME DE MAINTENON

ever dined with the King. When he dined the courtiers
remained standing behind his chair and even his brother
was only occasionally honoured with a seat at table.
When dinner was over the King re-entered his Cabinet,
fed his dogs, changed his dress (again in public), and then
went down by the private stairs to the Marble Court
where his coach was waiting. He would drive a four-in-
hand through the forest at Fontainbleau hunt or shoot
in the park. As he grew older his exercises generally
took the form of a promenade round the gardens, where
he would feed the carp, watch the fountains play, or
chat with his gardener Le Notre, and his courtiers had to
follow him, often for four or five hours, hat in hand, up
and down the long terraces.

After taking exercise the King would retire to Mdme.
de Maintenon's apartments. At a quarter-past ten he
had supper with the Princes and Princesses, and then
spent an hour in his room with his children. In the
evenings the King often played cards or listened to music.
One long gallery and adjoining magnificent suite of rooms
was lighted up with countless chandeliers. The laced
ruffles, silken coats and gold embroidery worn by courtiers,
and the ladies' dresses sparkling with pearls and jewels,
and adorned with flowers, formed a coup d'ceil of unsur-
passed splendour. Sometimes the King supped with
Mdme. de Maintenon, and then the young Princesses
would wait upon her, handing the dishes and changing
the plates.

In the KingV younger days, balls and masquerades and
ballets had been frequent, but after his marriage to
Mdme. de Maintenon, the King did not often appear at
them.

COURT PERSONAGES 175

Human nature needs relief from constraint and we hear
of many practical jokes, of a very rough nature, taking
place among the courtiers, and of the Princesses borrowing
pipes and tobacco from the Swiss Guard and holding a
sort of orgie, after the King had retired for the night.

Mdme. de Maintenon found the manners of the rising
generation little to her taste. She comments on them
much as an early Victorian great lady might comment on
the doings of the smart set at the end of the nineteenth
century. Writing to the Princesse des Ursins, who was
absent in Spain, she says :

" I own to you, Madame, that the women of these
days are intolerable to me ; their senseless and im-
modest clothing, their tobacco, their wine, their gluttony,
their laziness, and coarse conversation, all that is so
opposed to my taste, I cannot endure it."

In Mdme. de Maintenon's time Louis' habit was to go
every week to Marly arriving there on Wednesday,
leaving it on Saturday, and spending Sunday at Versailles.
Versailles cost about 24,000,000 francs, and could accom-
modate ten thousand persons. Immense sums were also
spent between 1679 and 1690 on Marly.

1 The very extensive garden rose by an imperceptible
ascent up to the Pavilion of the Sun, which was occupied
only by the King and his family, the pavilions of the
twelve zodiacal signs bounded the two sides of the lawns.
They were connected by elegant bowers impervious to the
rays of the sun. The pavilions nearest to the Pavilion
of the Sun were reserved for the Princes of the Blood and
the Ministers, the rest were occupied by persons holding
superior offices at Court, or by invited visitors. Each
1 This description is given in Mdme. Campan's " Memoirs."

176 MADAME DE MAINTENON

pavilion was named after fresco paintings, which covered
its walls and which were executed by the most celebrated
artists of the age of Louis XIV. Upon a line with the
upper pavilion was the chapel, on the right a long suite
of offices containing a hundred rooms for persons belonging
to the service of the household and kitchen, and spacious
dining-rooms where thirty tables were splendidly laid out.
All the lady guests found in their apartments a complete
toilette, designed by the King, and called " Costume de
Marly." Every visitor could give repasts in their apart-
ments, being served with the same delicacies as the
master. No luxury or convenience was wanting. At
Marly the ladies of the Court always had supper at the
Royal table. Invitations to " the Marlys " were as much
prized as an invitation to a " week-end " at Sandringham
may be at the present day.

After the marriage of Mdlle. de Nantes with M. le Due
de Bourbon, the King entertained the Court with great
magnificence. Four stalls representing the four seasons
were erected in the Salon at Marly, and fitted with the
richest and choicest specimens of the industry of Parisian
artificers, and the guests drew lots for these articles. Thus
all the Court received munificent presents from the King.
Mdme. de Maintenon and the Due du Maine presided at
one stall, Mdme. la Duchesse (the bride) at another, with
Mdme. de Chevreuse. Monseigneur had one with the
bride's aunt, Mdme. de Thianges, and the bridegroom
another lady (some accounts say Mdme. de Montespan).

Amongst Court ladies Louise-Frangoise de Bourbon,
known as Mdlle. de Nantes, Mdme. de Maintenon's old
pupil, sister to the Duchesse d'Orleans, was an important
personage. Her father's favourite, she was married at the

COURT PERSONAGES 177

age of seventeen to a Prince of the Blood, Louis, third
Duke of Bourbon-Conde*. She is described l as " a Queen
of pleasure and delight ; with a figure formed for the
tenderest loves ; with all the charms and all the dangers
of the Sirens of the poets. Known to love no one, yet
irresistible even to those who hated her ; with all her
attractions cruel and heartless, a faithless friend, and a
relentless enemy/' Such was " Mdme. la Duchesse,"
as she was always called, the lady who domineered over
" Monseigneur," the Dauphin, and reigned over the
society at Meudon, and who inspired a lifelong and hopeless
passion in the breast of her husband's cousin, the cele-
brated Prince de Conti.

She did not like her old gouvernante, and always spoke
of her as " Queen Maintenon."

Mdme. de Montespan's sons by the King, the Due du
Maine, and Comte de Toulouse are acknowledged to have
been men of more talent and capacity than Louis XIV.'s
legitimate descendants. The Comte de Toulouse became
an Admiral of France, and did good service at the time
of the Spanish War. The Regent d'Orleans had a very
high opinion of him.

When the Due du Maine was a child, Mdme. de Maintenon
reproached him for giving himself haughty airs, and said :
" Look at the King. He is affable and polite to all."

" That is very easy for him," replied the child ; " he is
sure of his rank, but I am ignorant of mine." Sensitive
and precocious he had already reflected on the ambiguous
position to which his birth relegated him ; though in after
life his father loaded him with honours, there always
remained a strain of melancholy and detachment in his

1 By St Simon.
L

178 MADAME DE MAINTENON

character, which the overbearing, self-asserting dis-
position of his wife, Mdlle. de Conde, did nothing to modify.

The world said : " The Due du Maine hides great
abilities and many fine qualities under an air of detach-
ment and indifference."

Mdme. de Maintenon said : " He is too virtuous to
become famous/*

The half-brother of the Due du Maine and of the Comte
de Toulouse, the Marquis d'Antin, Mdme. de Montespan's
only child by her husband, was considered the most
perfect specimen of a courtier. Gifted with a fine presence
and charming manners, possessed of learning, talent and
wit, he was a great favourite with the King, and acceptable
to all parties at Court ; above all, he had the greatest of
social virtues : " never did he by any chance speak evil
of anyone." Although his mother had been supplanted
by Mdme. de Maintenon he bore the latter no grudge,
but took great trouble to ingratiate himself with her.
When she and the King visited him at Petit-Bourg, she
found her boudoir arranged as an exact duplicate, of her
own room at Versailles ; the same pictures, the same
flowers, and even the same books.

D'Antin was almost unknown to his father, the
Marquis de Montespan. But when a mistaken re-
port of the death of his father reached Paris, Mdme.
de Montespan and D'Antin put on mourning and
had a solemn funeral ceremony performed. After the
mistake was known, the King told D'Antin to go to
Montespan and explain matters. D'Antin found out
how to please his father, and gave such an amusing
account of the funeral catafalque, placing the matter in
such a ludicrous light that M. de Montespan was com-

COURT PERSONAGES 179

pletely disarmed, and consented to alter his will, which
referred to the King and Mdme. de Montespan in objec-
tionable terms, and the premature publication of which
had originated the report of his death.

It seems that there were some very ugly people at
Court. The Duke of Burgundy is described as of small
stature and sickly appearance, with an ill-looking mouth
and a humped back.

Of the Duke of Bourbon it was said :

" It is impossible that he can inspire any woman with
affection ; he is thin as a lathe with legs like a crane ;
his body is bent and short ; his eyes are so red that it is
impossible to distinguish the good from the bad one
which was accidentally struck out ; his chin is so large
that one would not suppose it belonged to his face ;
his lips are uncommonly thick."

The Comte de Soissons had a long hooked nose, and eyes
close to it. He was as yellow as saffron. His mouth was
very small and full of decayed teeth ; his feet turned in-
ward, which made him look like a parrot when walking.
The Dowager-Duchesse d'Orleans, describing the lover of
her granddaughter the Duchesse de Berri, says :

" I cannot conceive what there is to love in him.
He looks with his yellow-green complexion like a*
water-fiend ; his mouth, eyes and nose are like those of
a Chinaman ; he is in short a very ugly rogue."

The Due de Vendome was very slovenly. He married
in 1710. Tales were told of his immense astonishment
at having to put on two clean shirts in one day, and his
embarrassment at finding lace on the one given him to
wear at night.

Absent-mindedness was also a peculiarity from which

i8o MADAME DE MAINTENON

many courtiers appeared to suffer. M. de Brancas, the
Queen's Lord-in- Waiting, one day at church forgot that
the Queen was kneeling before him ; her head could
hardly be seen when she was kneeling down for she was
round-shouldered. He took her for a prie-dieu, and knelt
down, putting his elbows on her shoulders. This same
gentleman forgot in the evening that he had been married
in the morning, and went out to sleep, forgetting his
bride.

The Due de Grammont, while listening to a sermon of
Bourdaloue's in the Chapel Royal, forgot where he was,
and cried out : " S'death, he has the best of it ! "

Madame laughed, the preacher stopped, no one knew
what would happen next.

The Duchesse d'Orleans relates the following anecdote
of her Lady-in- Waiting :

" When I wanted my head-dress to go to Court in,
she took off her gloves and threw them in my face, at
the same time gravely putting my head-dress on her
own head/'

The three Countesses, as Mdme. de Caylus, de Mailly
and de Mornay were called, were very prominent person-
ages.

Mdme. de Mailly had been Mdlle. de St Hermine,
daughter of Magdalen de Villette. Her husband, the
Comte de Mailly, was a " Menin " x of the Dauphin, and
she herself was Lady-in-Waiting to the Duchess of Bur-
gundy and afterwards to Queen Marie Leczinska, wife of
Louis XV., but she never made her fortune and died
poor.

1 Menin means favourite or companion. It was the title by which
young gentlemen attached to the Dauphin's household were known.

COURT PERSONAGES 181

Mdme. de Mornay was Franchise de Coetquen Combourg.
Her husband was aide-de-camp to the Dauphin and was
killed at the siege of Mannheim, 1688.

Mdme. de Maintenon, having observed that these
ladies sent their lackeys when it was raining hard to the
outskirts of Versailles, and on their return at once sent
them off again, having forgotten to give all the commissions
at one time, wrote the following lines at their expense :

" Malheureux sont les lacquais
De nos trois jeunes Comtesses ;
Heureux qui ne sert jamais
De si facheuses maitresses."

All the Royal Family eventually acknowledged Mdme.
de Maintenon to be a true friend.

The following letter was written by " Monseigneur " (the
Dauphin) to her from the camp at Ruenne, i6th September
1690 :

" This morning the King showed me that part of
your letter which refers to him. I should be very
sorry for you to put yourself out on my account. I
beg you to consider me one of your most attached
friends. Your letter gave me great pleasure because
it shows that the King is pleased with me. If I do
anything that may displease him, you would do me a
kindness by warning me frankly, in order that I may
try to avoid it. Nothing can change the sentiments
which you know I entertain for you.

" (Signed) Louis."

Even " Madame " (the Dowager-Duchesse d'Orieans)
was brought round. Some letters in which she had used
offensive epithets concerning Mdme. de Maintenon fell
into her hands, and the King gave her a severe reprimand.
When she denied having written them, Mdme. de Maintenon

1 82 MADAME DE MAINTENON

produced the letters, which were undeniably hers.
" Madame " was covered with confusion, and for a long
time the King treated her with great coldness, but even-
tually was persuaded by Mdme. de Maintenon to forget it.
After this the Dowager-Duchesse d'Orleans, who in
her correspondence with relatives speaks of Mdme. de
Maintenon with many opprobrious epithets, wrote to her
as follows :

' The Queen Dowager of Spain is the cause of my
being obliged to trouble you again in asking the King
to read my letter to see if His Majesty approves of my
reply. Pray have the kindness to let me know if the
King thinks I ought to omit or add anything. I must
also tell you, Madame, how delighted I am with an-
other favour done me by the King in allowing me to see
him in his private apartments before supper yesterday,
and the day before. I owe all this to you, who have
put me on good terms with the King, and as gratitude
to yourself increases with every act of kindness he
shows me, I assure you, Madame, that my affection
for you will soon equal the esteem which is your due.
" (Signed) ELIZABETH CHARLOTTE/'

On another occasion she wrote :

" To obtain what I want I always address myself
to you, Madame, and I find this succeeds so well that
I intend always to pursue the same course. I reserve
to myself the pleasure of telling you in person how
deeply touched I am by the proofs of your goodwill
towards me, and no one desires more than I do to
merit them. (Signed) ELIZABETH CHARLOTTE."

Mdme. de Maintenon had used her influence to avert
the King's displeasure when the Due d'Orleans l lost the
battle of Turin. He wrote her the following letter :

1 " Madame's " son, and afterwards Regent.

COURT PERSONAGES 183

' There is no grief that could not be lessened by your
condolences. After the kindness shown me by the King
and the assurances you give me that feelings of friend-
ship as well as compassion actuated him, I should be
foolish if I were still dispirited. Your letter makes
known to me in a most charming manner all that I owe
to the King ; and though you try to conceal it, I per-
ceive how much I owe to yourself, and particularly
when you recall to my recollection the Will that
governs the Universe, and tell me to descry in great
events the over-ruling of Providence. When I can tell
you without hypocrisy that I am devout, I shall joyfully
acquaint you with the fact. Those who are truly
devout are so sincere and so generous that a man of
honour is more disposed than others to become so.

" Continue to be a friend to me. Madame, I am
deeply touched by your kindness, and think myself
fortunate to participate in it, and there is nothing that
I would not do to preserve it.

" (Signed) PHILLIPPE D'ORLEANS."

Mdme. de Sevigne gives an amusing account of a great
Court ceremony at Versailles an Investiture of Blue
Ribbons :

:t They began on the Friday : the first took their
oaths with Court dresses and collars on. Two Marshals
of France stayed over for Saturday. Marshal de Belle-
fonds was perfectly ridiculous, partly from modesty,
partly from indifference. He had neglected to put
bows at the knees of his page's costume, so that it had
an air of veritable bareness. The whole troop were
magnificent, M. de la Trousse among the best ; but
there was a tangle in his wig which obliged him to push
what ought to have been at the side, far away behind,
so that his cheek was all uncovered. He was always
pulling at that which embarrassed him, and which would
not come, and this caused him no little vexation. But
along the same line, M. de Montchevreuil and M. de
Villars became hopelessly entangled their swords,
ribbons, laces, tinsel trimmings were all mixed, con-

1 84 MADAME DE MAINTENON

fused, jumbled ; all the little crooked atoms so perfectly
interlaced, that no human hand could separate them ;
the more people tried, the more they seemed to en-
tangle them. At last the whole ceremony, all their
salutations, and the whole performance coming to a
standstill, it was necessary to separate the two by main
force, and the stronger carried the day. But that
which entirely disconcerted the gravity of the ceremony
was good M. d'Hocquincourt's negligence. He is so
accustomed to be dressed like the Provencals that his
page's breeches being less commodious than those he
is accustomed to wear, his shirt would not remain in
place, however much he wished it to do so. Knowing
his condition, he tried constantly to put order in it,
but always in vain, so that Mdme. la Dauphine could
no longer repress her laughter. It was deplorable !
The Majesty of the King itself was nearly shaken, and
never in the previous history of the Order had such a
scene been heard of."

CHAPTER XVII

MDME. DE MAINTENON'S RELATIONS

N speaking of Court life, Mdme. de Maintenon
said :

"I am like one who is behind the scenes at a
theatre, seeing only the machinery and all that
is disagreeable. People who see the Court from
the outside are enchanted. Underneath the outside
brilliance I see passions of all sorts, hatred, mean-
nesses, unreasonable ambitions, envy, treachery, all for
trifles and smoke."

She was surrounded by a crowd of beggars. The
Courtiers, Dukes, Duchesses, Counts and Countesses,
Marshals, Generals, Bishops, all had an axe to grind.
It was one long cry of give, give, give, either places or
money. In those days people of good birth who were
impoverished could not dig, but to beg they were not
ashamed. All appealed to Mdme. de Maintenon.

In the voluminous correspondence that remains, the
letters addressed to Mdme. de Maintenon all con-
tain some request, and her replies are always on this
subject. No clergyman's wife or district visitor could
ever be more harassed to obtain money for charities than
her letters show her to have been only the recipients
were mostly people of title, instead of the class known as
" the poor." Everyone, from the Princes downwards,
applied to Mdme. de Maintenon.

185

1 86 MADAME DE MAINTENON

The King told her she would make a good Grand-
Almoner. She gave away quite three parts of her income
in pensions to distressed persons.

Her letters show that she did all she could to help
those who begged for her assistance, and how anxious
she was to stretch the funds at her disposal to the utmost
limits, to do the utmost good possible, and help the most
deserving of the innumerable petitioners. How she was
rewarded some passages of her letters show.

To the Superior of Gomerfontain she writes, 1707 :

" No happiness for you if you expect gratitude from
mankind ; you will not get it, and God destines another
sort of reward for you. When you complain of the in-
gratitude of your pupils, is it because you work only
for them ? Work for God, and you will become in-
different to the opinion of your protegees. Who is
there who is not the subject of calumny ? Have you
never heard the King or Minister blamed ? If I could
show you all that people write to me about myself !

" You will never be either holy or happy if you
depend on mankind. They will always fail you ; and
if they do not you will have had your reward in this
world. Alas ! One is daily deceived in friends of
twenty years' standing."

The only beggars that Madme. de Main tenon ever
refused were some very importunate distant relatives
of her own. To one such she writes :

" I have done all that I reasonably could to put my
relatives in comfortable and decent positions, or given
them the opportunity of attaining such a condition,
and thought to be rid of their requests. But now I
find it necessary to declare that I will ask for nothing
for any of them. Let them do as they will have to
when I am dead ; let them address themselves to

MDME. DE MAINTENON'S RELATIONS 187

Ministers, or use the influence of other friends. I have
many connections who think I ought to marry all their
daughters, find employment for the sons ; and the
gentlemen apply for every vacant post.

" Consider for a moment what would be my position
if I asked the King every day for benefits for my
relatives. If he granted my requests he would have
nothing left for anyone else ; if he refused he would
grieve me, and to do this would vex him. I should
become the annoyance of his life instead of its pleasure.
I have told you my final decision and request you to
make it known to all our relatives. I shall have greater
pleasure in meeting you all, if I have not in future to
dread your petitions."

Mdme. de Maintenon's brother, the Comte d'Aubigne
resembled his sister in having a fine face and figure. He
also had wit, but his mind was ill-regulated. His tastes
were superficial, and he unfortunately inherited his
father's love of luxury, his extravagance, ostentation,
and fondness for gambling.

The King took his measure, liked, but did not esteem
him, though he bestowed on him, unasked, a Governorship
and a pension of ninety-six thousand francs. Had it not
been for his love of play and ostentation, d'Aubigne
would have been well off. His sister refused to ask for
him what she had always avoided asking for herself,
and could not be induced to use her influence to obtain
honours for him.

He had the Blue Ribbon to which he was entitled by
birth ; but he wanted to be a Duke and a Marshal. Mdme.
de Maintenon wrote :

" Why do you persecute a sister who loves you ?
I could not make you Constable if I would ; and if I
could I would not. You have had all that is reasonable,
and I will ask nothing from him to whom we owe all.

1 88 MADAME DE MAINTENON

You will complain perhaps of these sentiments ; with-
out them I should probably not be where I am."

Writing from Paris, 3rd January 1664, she says :

" I much regret, my dear brother, that this year I
have nothing to give you but good wishes. I have
not yet paid off my own debts, which is the first use I
ought to make of my pension ; and you would hate a
New Year's gift made at the expense of my creditors.
With a little economy you would be able to live at your
ease. Your dissipation grieves me. Abandon pleasures
which cost a hundred times more than the necessaries
of life. Be careful in the choice of your friends. Your
fortune and your salvation equally depend on the first
steps you take in the world. Attend to your duties.
Love God. Be an honest man. Have patience and
you will want for nothing. Adieu, my dear brother.
I shall not be happy unless you are ; and you will
not be happy unless you are prudent."

Other letters are in the same tone.

"It is our own fault if we are unhappy. This will
always be my text, and my reply to your lamentations.
Remember the misfortunes of our childhood and youth,
and you will bless Providence instead of murmuring.
Ten years ago our condition was very different to what
it is now. We had so little hope of good fortune that
we limited our wishes to an income of three thousand
francs. At present we have four times as much, and
are not satisfied ! If prosperity comes to us, let us
receive it from the hands of God ; but do not let us
have too extensive views. We have all that is necessary
for comfort, to desire more would be cupidity. All
these desires of grandeur come from the emptiness of a
restless heart. All your debts are paid, and you can live
pleasantly without contracting more. Read the life of
St Louis ; you will see that all the splendours of this
world cannot satisfy the heart of men. It is only God
that can do so. Your ambitious projects will cost you
the loss of your peace of mind and your health. You

MDME. DE MAINTENON'S RELATIONS 189

will not think well, unless you feel well ; when the body
is feeble, the mind is without vigour. You ought to
take care of your health, if it is only because I love
you."

28th February 1678.

" Regulate your expenses. It is our vanity that
increases our wants. Nature only gives us such as are
easy to satisfy. A good bed, a plentiful table, an
equipage. What do you want more ! You have
already excited the murmurs of the envious. Put
them in the wrong by renouncing the expenses that
have made you so few friends and the grand airs that
have drawn down ridicule on us both. Who have
made most jests at your expense ? Those to whom
you have given the most magnificent repasts ? "

All Mdme. de Maintenon's advice did not succeed in
curing her brother of his follies, his bourgeois magnificence,
his affectation of the airs of a man of importance. He
would play away in one night a year's income. One
evening when he was playing at faro, and staking pieces
of gold without counting them, the Marechal Vivonne,
Mdme. de Montespan's brother, entered. He remarked :
" Only d'Aubigne can afford such high stakes."

" Because I have had my baton in money," * replied
d'Aubigne.

La Bruye"re describes Comte d'Aubigne* :

" His coat was richly embroidered with gold, his
sword hilt was of onyx ; on his finger he wore a ring
with a large diamond that dazzled the eyes ; he was
not wanting in any of those curious trifles that people
wear through custom or vanity. One might say :

1 Intimating that the Due de Vivonne owed his baton to his sister's,
Mdme. de Montespan's favour, which was not the case. Baton :
Marechal's staff.

190 MADAME DE MAINTENON

' Give me the clothes and the jewels, the wearer does
not matter/

" At Court he arrives with ostentation, scatters the
bystanders, makes everyone give place, has himself
announced. One breathes again ! He has to wait and
enter with the crowd. One pities him ! "

The debts and indiscretions of her brother were a
constant annoyance to Mdme. de Maintenon. If she
happened to make a confidential remark to him, his
voluble tongue repeated it in twenty houses, and she was
at last reduced to having no direct communication with
him, and to have him kept at a distance from Paris, and
a priest was appointed to be a sort of companion and to
keep him in order. Under the influence of this good and
clever man, d'Aubigne sobered down, lived more quietly
in his latter years, and died what was called " a good
death." When this news was brought to Mdme. de
Maintenon, she said, " I always loved my brother, but
this is, alas ! the first time I have ever heard anything
about him that has given me satisfaction."

Mdme. de Maintenon had several times tried to arrange
a marriage for her brother ; but he shilly-shallied to such
an extent that on each occasion the negotiations fell
through, and finally he married suddenly, without in-
forming his sister of his intentions, a Mdlle. Pietre,
daughter of the Procureur du Roi, who had neither
birth, beauty, nor wit to compensate for her lack of
fortune.

Mdme. de Maintenon treated her with the greatest
kindness, and presented her at Court, where she was
overcome with bashfulness, and her gaucherie caused
Mdme. de Maintenon some annoyance. She also had
her head turned by the connection, and Mdme. de Main-

MDME. DE MAINTENON'S RELATIONS 191

tenon soon remarked on her extravagant tastes. She
writes to her brother :

" I send you a memorandum of all that I have spent
on behalf of Mdme. d'Aubigne in fifteen months, not
in order that you may feel obliged to repay me, but to
show you that two thousand crowns soon went. She
is well dressed. I have never had, nor ever shall have,
such fine clothes, although I live at the Court. As to
your cravats, which you ask me to order for you, the
King has none with such costly lace as you desire.
Give your wife a yearly sum for her dress, it is the only
way to prevent extravagance. I should say a thousand
francs would suffice, had it not been that I have seen
her spend that amount in four days. When I advised
her to get plain robes-de-chambre for the summer, she
said, ' What ! no gold or silver on them ! ' Who
would believe that she had not always been covered
with it and yesterday she had never even seen such
robes ! She would need a longer stay here to fit her
for good society. She speaks through her nose, laughs
without reason, and puts on affected airs that are very
ill-bred. She appears gentle, her faults are only those
of education. Take advantage of her being removed
from her family to improve her manners. I write this
because I love you, and have your interests at heart.
I must now conclude. There are twenty people, three
children, and ten dogs in my room."

To her sister-in-law she wrote at a later date, 3rd
January 1681.

" I pray to God every day to guide you into His holy
paths. I make these prayers while living at Court,
where it is only necessary to be in order to hate the
world and its pleasures. Here I have learned by ex-
perience that God alone can satisfy the soul of man.
Believe me, my dear child, the things you imagine
delightful, and which perhaps you envy me, are only
vanity and affliction of spirit. The Court is like one

192 MADAME DE MAINTENON

of those views that should be seen at a distance.
I cannot place you there, and if I could, I would
not. Love your husband and God, and you will be
happy."

The following letter was written to Comte d'Aubigne
on the birth of his only child, 5th May 1684 :

" I congratulate you on the happy accouchement of
my sister-in-law. I already feel a tenderness for my
niece. Tell the nurse to take great care of my heiress.
We are getting old : let us think of death. Is it a
misfortune when one is a Christian ? "

To this child the name of Amable was given. When
old enough her aunt placed her at St Cyr, and one letter
is extant in which Amable d'Aubigne is censured for the
airs she gave herself on account of the relationship.
Mdme. de Maintenon writes :

" Chantilly, nth May 1693.

" I should be much to blame if I did not speak as
plainly to you as to the other pupils at St Cyr. You
will be insupportable if you do not become humble.
Do you think yourself a person of importance because
you are brought up in a house which the King visits
daily ? The day after his death neither his successor
nor those who now pet you will trouble their heads
about you or St Cyr. If the King dies before you are
married, your husband will probably be a country
gentleman of small property. If during my life you
marry a nobleman, when I am gone he will only esteem
you if you please him ; and this you will not do without
gentleness ; and at present you are neither gentle nor
amiable. Remember that it is only your aunt's
fortune that has raised you and brought you into notice.
You do not like to be told this. I was shocked at the
way you talked the other day. Do not flatter yourself.

MDME. DE MAINTENON'S RELATIONS 193

I am not much and you are nothing. You have sense,
endeavour therefore to rid yourself of this presumption
which is ridiculous in the eyes of men, and culpable in
the eyes of God. Let me find you on my return modest,
gentle and docile. You know how I love you and how
much I dislike scolding you/'

It is satisfactory to note that Mdlle. d'Aubigne profited
by her aunt's plain speaking, and won her approbation.
She was sought in marriage by the Dues de Guise, d'Estrees,
and de la Rochefoucauld, but Mdme. de Maintenon
decided in favour of another suitor, and bestowed her
niece's hand on Adrian Maurice, Comte d'Ayen, eldest
son of the Due de Noailles. The father had rendered
great services to the Crown and stood high in the King's
favour. The son was destined to render even more
important services. His uncle, Cardinal de Noailles,
Archbishop of Paris, was as distinguished for piety and
virtue as the great Fenelon. In the year of famine he
sold everything he possessed, even to his library, to
obtain means to relieve his flock. Wealth, politeness,
talents, and honour had always distinguished the ancient
house of Noailles.

The following letter to the Comtesse de St Geran from
Mdme. de Maintenon relates to this marriage :

" VersaiUes, qth March 1698.

" I am establishing my niece ; the matter is settled :
so make haste ; I must have your congratulations.
The marriage will cost my brother a hundred thousand
francs, me my estate, the King eight hundred thousand
francs. The Due de Noailles is to give his son an
income of twenty thousand francs and to assure him
double that amount at his death. The King, who
never does things by halves, has promised M. d'Ayen

194 MADAME DE MAINTENON

the succession to his father's offices and government.
Behold ! a fine alliance. M. de Noailles is ready to
die with joy : his son is clever and sensible, he loves
the King and is beloved by him ; he fears God and will
obtain His blessings ; he has a fine regiment, loves his
profession, and will distinguish himself in it. Indeed,
I am very pleased at this affair. When Mdlle.
d'Aubigne was born, I did not foresee such good fortune
for her. She has been well brought up, she has more
prudence than is usual at her age ; she is pious ; she
is rich ; do you think M. de Noailles is making
a bad bargain ? I think both parties are well
content/'

Mdme. de Main tenon wrote the following letter
to the Cardinal de Noailles, uncle of her niece's
husband :

" Our young people will have eighty thousand francs
of income. I hope they will make good use of it.
Remember your share in determining my choice, and
use your influence that some of this money be given
to the poor and to good works. I am enchanted to
see you pleased with my niece, whom you must call
your's. She is truly modest ; she fears God and respects
his Ministers. I hope you will assist in preventing her
being spoilt by too many caresses and pleasures, too
much consideration and magnificence ; there is danger
of that."

The Comte d'Ayen, gentle, agreeable, and intellectual,
also a brave and talented soldier, as he proved in the
Spanish War, was dearly loved by Mdme. de Maintenon ;
he reciprocated her affection, and looked upon her as a
second mother, while honouring her as the wife of his
sovereign.

She gave this nephew her entire confidence. Their
correspondence, still in existence, proves the happy

MDME. DE MAINTENON'S RELATIONS 195

unanimity of these two hearts, and no son could have been
a greater source of happiness to Mdme. de Maintenon.
The King gave Amable d'Aubigne" on her marriage a
dowry of eight hundred thousand francs, some magnificent
jewellery, the post of Dame du Palais, and a pension of
six thousand francs for herself. A pension of the same
amount was bestowed on her husband, whose father also
gave him a good income. Mdme. de Maintenon at her
death left her estate of Maintenon to this niece.

The children of this marriage were great pets of Mdme.
de Maintenon and of the Royal Family. In one letter
she thus refers to them :

" Last evening nothing was talked of at Court but
the Mdlles. de Noailles ; the eldest had been to dinner
at Meudon with the Duchess of Burgundy ; M. le
Dauphin was full of her praises. Mdlle. d'Ayen was
pleased to visit the Due de Bretagne. 1 He took her
fan and tore it to pieces ; Mdlle. d'Ayen on seeing this
struck him a blow with all her might ; the Prince
retaliated by kicking her. Mdme. de Ventadour
(governess to the Duchess of Burgundy's children)
separated them, and gave Mdlle. d'Ayen another fan.
Thus ended the combat."

Mdme. de Maintenon wrote the following letter to her
niece's husband, Comte d'Ayen, afterwards Due de
Noailles :

"A Marly, nth September 1703.

" Madame la Comtesse d'Ayen bid us good-bye yester-
day. She is delighted to rejoin you. She deserves
that you should turn her into a sensible woman. She is
on the right path, but has still something to attain.
I am delighted to see her worthy of you."

1 The Duchess of Burgundy's little son.

196 MADAME DE MAINTENON

She wrote the following letter when he had become
Due de Noailles and was in command of the French
troops in Spain, i6th July 1707 :

' The Duchesse de Noailles passes her days with me
and her evenings with her father-in-law. She was very
well received by the King and the Duchess of Burgundy
at Marly. She passed most of the day playing at tric-
trac in my room in preference to going into the salon.
Madame, your mother, has told me several times that
she is much pleased with her."

At another date, September 1709, she writes :

" The Duchesse de Noailles leads the most innocent
life possible ; she passes her time in her rooms, or at
St Cyr ; she works and sings, and seems to prefer being
alone to being in company."

To the Cardinal de Noailles, Mdme. de Main tenon
wrote in 1708 :

" I love my niece enough to desire only her salvation :
but I love her husband much more ; and everything
must be done to preserve her for him. I proposed
her staying at the Carmelite Convent during her
husband's absence, for fear of her committing some
imprudence, and I cannot always have her with
me."

In after years she wrote : "I love the Duchesse
de Noailles more than I have ever done, or hoped
to do."

The Duchesse de Noailles seems to have been worthy of
the family she entered. For some years she was a dis-
tinguished ornament of the Court, and then at an age
when she might still have expected admiration and a life
of worldly success, she retired to her husband's estate

MDME. DE MAINTENON'S RELATIONS 197

and devoted herself to religious duties and works of
charity.

The descendants of Mdme. de Maintenon J s niece and
her husband showed the greatest heroism at the time of
the Revolution.

The old Marechal and Marechale Mouchy de Noailles
were guillotined on the same day. The old Marshal said
when somebody offered to help him up the steps to the
scaffold : "At seventeen I sprang to the saddle for the
King, and seventy I can ascend the scaffold for my
God."

A little later three generations of de Noailles perished
by the guillotine the same day. The old Duchesse de
Noailles, her daughter, the Duchesse d'Ayen, and her
grand-daughter the Viscomtesse Noailles, whose saintly
conduct in the prison and fearless bearing on the scaffold
won the admiration even of the degraded beings who
surrounded her. Others of the family, Mdme. de
Lafayette and her sister Mdme. de Montague (who before
her marriage was called Mdlle. de Maintenon), were cele-
brated for their heroism and charity in those terrible
times.

The Marquis de Villette, son of the aunt who had
protected Mdme. de Maintenon in childhood, was a dis-
tinguished naval officer. Great efforts were made to
induce him to renounce Protestantism, but he made a
stout resistance, though he knew that this would be a bar
to Court favour or to promotion in his profession ; and
in fact he was sent off on a long voyage, during which
he seems to have devoted much time to a study of the
question. He finally convinced himself that schism was
a sin, placed his abjuration in the hands of his Confessor,

MADAME DE MAINTENON

and with eight hundred others, received the rite of Con-
firmation from the Archbishop of Bethlehem at St Cyr.

When the King expressed his pleasure at the conversion,
M. de Villette replied that this was the first time in his
life that in an action of importance he had not been
actuated by a wish to please His Majesty.

While a widower, M. de Villette fell in love with Mdlle.
de Marsilly (who was less than half his age), when he saw
her performing in " Esther " at St Cyr, and married her.
She had beauty and wit, and played a conspicuous part
in the society of the eighteenth century. She did not
scruple to reproach Mdme. de Maintenon in unreserved
terms for refusing to use her interest to obtain riches
and favour from the King for her and her husband.
After the Marquis de Villette's death, his widow became
the second wife of the famous Lord Bolingbroke of
Queen Anne's reign.

So much for Mdme. de Maintenon's relatives. Among
her most valued friends was Queen Mary of Modena,
widow of James II. of England, and was very fond of the
son and daughter, and describes in a letter the anxiety
she felt when the Prince and Princess fell ill of smallpox,
and how, when doctors' remedies failed, the patients
cured themselves by drinking beer and eating bread and
cheese ! This Princess, Henrietta Stuart, was beautiful
and spirited and of a noble character ; it is said that had
she, not her brother, been the heir to the English Crown,
the fate of the Stuart Dynasty would have been a different
one.

Mdme. de Maintenon was so much attached to the
Stuarts that, in old age, when their restoration depended
upon the success of the French army, then opposed by

MDME. DE MAINTENON'S RELATIONS 199

the Prince of Orange and Marlborough's forces, she
writes in 1713 with reference to the Prince of Wales : 1
" I know nothing but his restoration that would give me
an inclination to live till it takes place."

1 So the Pretender was called in France.

CHAPTER XVIII

FOUNDATION OF ST CYR

CHOUGH Mdme. de Maintenon scrupulously
avoided seeking advantages or riches for
herself or her relatives, yet soon after her
marriage she obtained from the King large
revenues, to enable her to carry out a scheme which she
had long had at heart : the foundation of an institution
to provide for and educate the orphan daughters of the
poor nobility and of military officers who had lost their
property through the exigences of military service, or
otherwise. Having herself experienced the trials of
well-born poverty, Mdme. de Maintenon could sym-
pathize with those in like circumstances, and she had
already gathered together at Rueil, near her Chateau of
Maintenon, a few well born but poor girls, to whom she
was giving a good education under the superintendence
of two Canonesses, Mesdames de Brinon and de Basque.

So many candidates solicited admission that Mdme.
de Maintenon felt an establishment on a much larger scale
was needed ; and she propounded her scheme to the
King.

At first he was rather taken aback on hearing her ex-
tensive views and the wide scope of the proposed founda-
tion, and said : "No Queen of France has ever thought
of anything like this."

But Mdme. de Maintenon persevered, and reminded the

FOUNDATION OF ST CYR 201

King that he had resolved to reform not only himself,
but his whole kingdom ; that the education in religious
and moral principles of the future wives and mothers of
the rising generation would do much to influence the whole
of France.

The King consulted his Minister Louvois as to the
amount of money that would be necessary for the main-
tenance of the establishment. It was decided to receive
two hundred and fifty young girls, not under seven or
over eleven years old ; they were to remain till the age
of twenty, and on leaving to receive one million crowns,
as dowry if they married, and if they did not marry to
help to maintain them in their homes. No pupil was to be
admitted who could not prove four degrees of nobility
on the paternal side. The King assigned a yearly revenue
of three hundred thousand livres to the establishment,
and the revenues of the Abbey of St Denis, which had
hitherto generally been bestowed on a Royal Prince, were
also diverted for these purposes. No sooner was the
scheme decided on than the King showed the greatest
interest in it. He bought at the entrance of the village
of St Cyr, close to Versailles, a large chateau belonging
to M. Montbrisson, pulled it down, and on its site speedily
erected the Royal House of St Cyr, 1 whose benefits re-
ceived the profound recognition of the French nobility,
and which became celebrated throughout Europe.

A year after the marriage of Louis XIV. and Mdme.
de Maintenon, St Cyr was ready for occupation, and a
grand opening ceremony was held at which two hundred

1 Mansard was the architect, 2500 workmen were employed almost
night and day. The construction cost 1,077,000 livres. The domain
had been bought for 131,000 livres.

202 MADAME DE MAINTENON

and fifty-six young ladies sang an ode in praise of their
benefactor, and all the great people in France were present.
The King by Letters Patent, conferred on Mdme. de
Maintenon the rights, distinctions, and prerogatives of a
Foundress, and the title of Perpetual Superior ; there
was also a clause which provided that whenever Mdme.
de Maintenon wished to retire there, she and her house-
hold were to be entertained or maintained at the charges
of the establishment.

The King had always been fond of children, and liked
to assist at their performances and recreation. 1 He had
a magnificent pavilion erected for himself in the central
court of St Cyr, and there still exist some notes, which
he made with his own hand, with reference to the char-
acter of the management of the establishment. Mdme.
de Maintenon herself exercised a strict supervision over
the lives of the pupils, and all details of management,
and with the King's assistance revised all regulations.
Her happiest hours were passed at St Cyr. She wrote :

" Nothing is dearer to me than my children at St Cyr.
I love the whole place, even the dust beneath their
feet."

The King did not wish St Cyr to be in the hands of nuns.
" I have plenty of convents in my kingdom," he said,
" and do not intend to establish another. Nuns, being
so much occupied with the recital of offices, have not
enough time to give to their pupils ; besides, ladies with
a knowledge of the world are, I venture to think, better
qualified to bring up young ladies destined for the world."

1 The King took particular notice of the daughters of officers who had
been killed in the wars, and used to speak personally to them and try
to consol them by promises of his protection.

FOUNDATION OF ST CYR 203

An imposing costume, with a long Court mantle, to be
worn on days of ceremony, and a golden cross (such as
Bishops wear) , was approved by the King for the Ladies
of St Cyr, as Mdme. de Brinon, the Directress and her
assistants were called.

When Mdme. de Maintenon was deciding on the costume
to be worn by the young ladies of St Cyr, she dressed up
Nanon in the style proposed, and brought her in to the
King that he might express his opinion. He approved
of all except the head-dress. " Quel diable de petit
bonnet et ce la ? " he said.

A few days later Nanon appeared in another cap, which
met with the King's approval, and was adopted.

The regime was ordered with the view of fitting the
pupils to become useful members of society. No luxury
was allowed, but all privations were forbidden. The beds
were hard ; cold water was used at all seasons for the
toilet, except for the very small girls ; fires were only
allowed when the need was great ; no expensive dishes
were given, but plenty of good food, and the elder girls
might have as much as they pleased ; no pears cut into
quarters, or hash, warmed up several times, appeared at
the dinner table of St Cyr. Above all, plenty of physical
exercise, to make the body strong and active, was in-
sisted on ; as to dress, the under petticoats might be
patched, but the over dress was always good and
warm.

With the intention of fitting them to be good mothers
and good mistresses of households, the elder girls had to
bathe, dress, and do the hair of the little ones, and each
had an allotted task either at the infirmary or dispensary,
the linen cupboard, dormitories, or refectory ; they made

204 MADAME DE MAINTENON

the beds, swept and dusted rooms, and the younger ones
were employed in picking fruit, peeling potatoes, shelling
peas, etc. To work with hands and arms was the common
obligation, and woe betide anyone who complained of
any task, or of being too hot or too cold, of wind or dust,
or any other inevitable discomfort. They were taught
all kinds of needlework, to cut out and make clothing,
to darn, knit, and embroider ; but elaborate fancy work
was not allowed, the only exception being the em-
broidery required for altar cloths and Church linen.
With regard to the instruction given, the pupils were
separated, according to their ages, in four classes, dis-
tinguished by the colours of the ribbons attached to their
uniform, which was black.

The Red Class consisted of fifty-six girls above ten
years old ; the Green Class of fifty-six girls aged from
eleven to thirteen years ; the Yellow Class sixty-five
girls from fourteen to sixteen years old ; the Blue Class
seventy-three girls from seventeen to twenty years old.
They were known as the Reds or the Blues, etc. Each
class was divided into five or six bands, or families, of
eight or ten pupils, grouped according to their progress in
study, and at the head of each family was one designated
the " Mother," assisted by a helper or understudy. The
Yellows and Blues furnished ten monitors for the Junior
Classes, and their insignia was a flame-coloured ribbon.
Twenty others acted as Monitors for all classes, and wore
a black ribbon.

The curriculum of instruction, though very deficient
in the eyes of the twentieth century, was a great advance
on the education generally given to young ladies in the
seventeenth century, when it was thought sufficient for

FOUNDATION OF ST CYR 205

them to know the Catechism, and to be able to read and
write and keep the household accounts.

At St Cyr the principles of religion were considered of
the first importance then came domestic economy
then followed the three R's besides which the following
subjects were taught Greek and Roman history, " that
they might learn from example the virtues of disinterested-
ness and patriotism " ; the history of France, the elements
of law and custom ; geography and dancing ; and for
the elders, drawing, 1 music and poetry were added. They
were also taught the art of conversation, in order that
they might not be at a loss when they went into the
world. Mdme. de Maintenon and the class mistresses
used to hold conversation classes ; a subject was chosen
and each pupil was required to express her opinion or to
ask questions about it, so that they might acquire the
habit of expressing themselves easily.

A good deal of attention was given to letter writing.
" The art consists of expressing briefly and clearly what
you have in your mind," was Mdme. de Maintenon's
advice.

The daily routine and annual programme of studies
was regulated with great precision. The inmates rose
at six o'clock ; were occupied in household work till
eight ; then heard Mass, and afterwards studied till
twelve o'clock, at which hour dinner was served ; after
dinner recreation till two o'clock ; two till six studies ;
then recreation, supper, and to bed at ten o'clock.

Mdme. de Maintenon kept them well supplied with

1 Madame de Maintenon had no taste for music, but the King was
devoted to it, and never passed a day without hearing some perform-
ance and by his orders special attention was given to it at St Cyr.

206 MADAME DE MAINTENON

games, and said : " Nowhere do I see more gaiety or merrier
children than at St Cyr." She cultivated public spirit
among them, and wished them to know of and take an
interest in all great events. During the wars of the
Spanish Succession, she sent them bulletins of the doings
of the army ; prayers were offered after defeats and
victories won were celebrated in a festive manner at
St Cyr.

The King said : " I like the Ladies of St Cyr ; they hate
the World, but love the State ; they are good French-
women."

The pupils were not destined for the Conventual
Life ; in ninety years only three hundred and ninety-
eight became nuns, out of one thousand one hundred and
twenty-one pupils. " There are plenty of nuns in France/'
said Pere de la Chaise, " but not enough good mothers/'
Religion was of the first importance, but the religious
principles to be instilled were such as would lead them
to do their duty in whatever state of life they might be
called to. They were not to attend too many, or too long,
Church services, or to fast or practise austerities. Mdme.
de Maintenon was the moving spirit at St Cyr, and she
said :

" We wish to inspire them with a piety that is simple,
solid, cheerful, and free. When a girl will miss vespers
to visit a sick person, and when she says : ' It is more
pleasing to God that a young mother should attend to
her children or keep her household in order, than to
spend the morning in the Oratory/ people will respect
her. No hair shirt is so valuable an aid to piety as a
duty well fulfilled. Refraining from silly or cutting
remarks is better than fasting ; a medicine given in
the dispensary at the hour of duty will do more for
the soul than prayers, if the duty has been neglected

FOUNDATION OF ST CYR 207

to pass the time in prayer. The Inner Life (life of the
soul) does not consist only in prayer, but rather in ful-
filling the duties of our station as a work pleasing to
God. We can find God everywhere."

In short, the watchword of St Cyr was " Duty."

Desiring that the religion imbibed there should be practi-
cal, and free from the spiritual abstractions which charac-
terized the piety of so many women of the nineteenth
century, Mdme. de Maintenon chose as Confessors the
Priests of St Lazaire, founded by St Vincent de Paul men
of humble birth and rustic manners, learned only in the
things of the Gospel. Simple men, modest and retiring,
who far from desiring Court connections refused to under-
take the work until the King expressed his wish that they
should do so.

When the revenues of the Abbaye of St Denis were
allotted to the Institute of St Cyr, Pope Innocent
XI. demanded the sum of one hundred and eighty
thousand livres which it was the custom to pay to him
when a benefice fell vacant, and was transferred. Louis
XIV. refused to pay this, and the matter remained in
dispute till Alexander VIII. became Pope. He yielded
the exemption demanded by Louis on account of the
benefits conferred on the country by St Cyr.

The Pope notified his concession in a Brief addressed
to Mdme. de Maintenon in which he said he made this
concession as much out of consideration for her, and on
account of the esteem he had for her, as out of a wish
to contribute to the great benefit which the piety and
liberality of the King had conferred on the kingdom of
France by the establishment of St Cyr. The Pope also
added :

208 MADAME DE MAINTENON

" We depend on you to make use of the favour you
deservedly enjoy in all ranks of the State on account
of your rare virtue and great merits, for the welfare
of our Holy Religion, and to show your attachment
to the Papal Chair on all occasions that may present
themselves/'

The King came in person to communicate this news to
the Dames de St Louis.

Boileau said after visiting St Cyr :

" If any gentleman should venture to speak with
detraction of Madame de Maintenon, his name ought to
be erased from the Roll of the Nobility, so base would
be his ingratitude after the great benefits her foundation
has conferred on his class."

CHAPTER XIX

ST CYR AND ITS STAFF

IT had always been the custom in French convents
and colleges for the pupils to take part in theatrical
performances. Madame de Maintenon approved
of this custom, as she thought it improved the
memories of the young people, gave them ease of manner,
and filled their minds with elevated thought. She there-
fore asked Racine 1 to write, on some pious or moral subject,
a species of poem where singing could alternate with
recitation, and both be united to acting, that would
make the piece lively and interesting.

After much thought and consultation, Racine chose
" Esther" for his subject. His habit was to write out
the plan of the piece in prose. He read out each scene
as he wrote it to Madame de Maintenon, and when he
brought her the first act completed she was delighted. In
the story she may perhaps have seen a flattering parallel
to her own position. The King was generally present at
these readings and made suggestions which Racine some-
times adopted.

Nothing was talked of at Court but the coming pro-
duction, its progress was discussed like that of a campaign ;
there was a general desire to be present at the performance,

1 Racine had written nothing for the theatre during the previous
twelve years, and Madame de Maintenon rendered a great service to
French literature in persuading him to take up his pen again.

N 2 9

210 MADAME DE MAINTENON

and great anxiety to know who were to be favoured with an
invitation. Madame de Maintenon went to great expense
for the costumes, which cost 14,000 francs, though the
King had given the jewellery from the costumes he had
worn in his youth, when he used to take part in plays and
ballets. No expense was spared either for scenery or
properties, which included a throne for Ahasuerus.

The vestibule and dormitories at St Cyr were divided
into two parts : one to serve as a stage, the other to seat
spectators. Four rows of seats were constructed, one
above another along the walls, like an amphitheatre, for
the girls. The Reds, the youngest, were on the top row ;
then came the Greens, underneath them ; then the
Yellows ; and the Blues were on the lowest row. Silk
sashes, neck ribbons, shoulder-knots and bows for the
hair of the colour of each class had been lavishly
distributed to them, and they made a gay and pretty
appearance.

A smaller amphitheatre was arranged for the ladies of
St Louis, quite near the stage, and between the two
amphitheatres there was a space with an arm-chair for the
King and seats for the Princes, Princesses and such
courtiers as were honoured with invitations.

The St Cyr organist, Nivers, accompanied the singers
on the clavecin and the King's private band formed the
orchestra. The assemblage was lighted by glass
chandeliers, and the vestibule, grand hall and staircase
were also well lighted by candles.

The performance began at three o'clock in the afternoon.
The King was accompanied by the Bishops of Beauvais,
Meaux and Chalons, MM. de Beauvilliers,de Noailles and de
Brionne, de Louvois and de Chevreuse, and attended by

ST CYR AND ITS STAFF 211

the Marquis de Dangeau and the Marquis de Montchevrueil.
Other courtiers and Court ladies were also present.

A list of the invited guests had been given to the portress,
and when the King arrived he placed himself at the door
inside, 1 and held up his cane till all had entered ; then he
ordered the door to be closed.

On this occasion Mademoiselle de Veilhant played the
part of Esther ; Mademoiselle de Maisonfort, Elizabeth ;
Mademoiselle de Lastic, who was very tall, was Ahasuerus ;
Mademoiselle de Glapion was Mordecai.

The performance was a great success. Racine expressed
especial admiration for the performance of Mademoiselle
de Glapion, whose voice, he said, touched all hearts.
Mademoiselle de Mursay (Madame de Caylus) recited the
prologue so well that she was said to eclipse the celebrated
Champmesle. M. le Prince was moved to tears and the
King applauded frequently and talked of nothing else at
supper. It was agreed that Esther was Racine's master-
piece.

" Monsieur " and all the princes greatly desired to see
the piece, and the King took them to St Cyr for the second
performance, when the title role was played by
Mademoiselle de Mursay. 2

An invitation to be present at a performance at
St Cyr was considered the greatest of favours, and
Ministers of State left the most important business to
be present. 3

One of the most brilliant performances was the fourth,
which took place on 5th February 1689, when the exiled

1 The ladies of St Cyr record that he did this on every occasion when he
was present at the performances.

2 Better known by her married name, Madame de Caylus.
8 Madame la Fayette see her Memoirs.

212 MADAME DE MAINTENON

King and Queen of England were present. 1 The King of
France received them with much ceremony, showed them
over the buildings, and explained the object of the institu-
tion, and then escorted them to take their places to witness
the play. Three arm-chairs had been placed in the centre,
and the Queen of England sat in the middle one, with
her husband on her right hand, and Louis XIV. on her
left.

Madame de Maintenon was seated on a stool just behind
the King, it is said in order to be able to give conveniently
any explanations that might be desired. Almost all the
Royal Princes and Princesses were also present, besides a
fine army of courtiers and Court ladies. Madame de
Sevigne had to wait a long time for an invitation. Writing
to her daughter, she said :

" L'Abbe Testu has mentioned my name to Madame
de Maintenon for an invitation to see Esther. She
responded most graciously I am to go on Friday or
Saturday and Madame de Chaulnes has promised to
lend me her coach."

It was on Saturday the igth February that Madame
de Sevigne went, and she wrote the following account of
this great occasion to her daughter :

" Madame de Coulanges, Madame de Bagnol and
1'Abbe Testu accompanied me. An officer told Madame
de Coulanges that for her Madame de Maintenon had
reserved a seat near her own. * You, Madame/ he said
to me, ' may choose your seat.' So I placed myself
with Madame de Bagnol in the second row, behind the
Duchesses. Le Marechal de Belief onds came and sat
beside me. We listened to the performance with the
deepest attention. The play is not an easy one to

1 James II. and Mary of Modena.

ST CYR AND ITS STAFF 213

represent, but the performance left nothing to be desired.
It is sublime and touching, simple and innocent. The
young ladies who played the parts of the King and other
male personages seemed to have been created expressly
for such parts. When the play was over M. de
Bellefonds went to tell the King how delighted we both
were, and the King came to my seat and said : ' I am
sure, Madame, that you have been pleased.'

' Sire/ I replied, ' I have been inexpressibly
delighted.'

" The King then said : ' Racine is very clever.'
" I replied : ' He is indeed, Sire, but so are the young
ladies ; they enter into their parts as if they had never
done anything but act.'

' Yes, that is true,' said the King, and he then turned
away, leaving me an object of envy.

" M. le Prince and Madame la Princesse came and
said a few words to me ; Madame de Maintenon bestowed
a glance on me as she went off with the King and I was
in luck altogether. We returned by torchlight, I had
supper at Madame de Coulanges, and in the evening
saw the Chevalier de Grignan to whom I recounted my
small prosperities."

On returning to Versailles the same evening the King
heard of the death of his niece, the young Queen of Spain,
daughter of " Monsieur," and the Court went into mourn-
ing. The representations of Esther were discontinued
and not resumed later, for it was found that they had a bad
effect on the performers. The applause of the Court
turned their heads, they became vain and worldly, assum-
ing very undesirable airs and graces, and this spirit
infected the other pupils of St Cyr.

The bishops and ecclesiastics who attended the perform-
ances, as well as some of the most sensible of Madame de
Maintenon's friends, thoroughly disapproved of such
publicity for the young ladies. Madame de Maintenon

214 MADAME DE MAINTENON

herself was aghast at the state of affairs, and, with her usual
good sense, hastened to put an end to it.

The first directress of St Cyr, Madame de Brinon, though
a Canoness, could not cease to be a great lady ; she loved
fame, fetes, publicity, and was more fitted to turn out
Court ladies than young women most of whom were
destined for provincial life on small means.

Her assistant, Madame de la Maison Forte, thought it a
good work, to fill the pupils' minds with mythology, fables
and philosophical ideas. The girls had been too much
petted and spoilt by praise and indulgence. Madame de
Maintenon said to the Superior : " You are too much
inclined to admire, praise and reward them for simply
doing their duty. It is enough to say : ' That is well
done, I am satisfied/ They are beginning to think you
under an obligation for anything they do."

Madame de Maintenon's desire was to avoid extremes,
so to treat the girls that those who went back to a life of
poverty might not find too great a contrast, and those
who were in easy circumstances would be none the worse
for being brought up plainly.

Madame de Brinon could not give the desired tone, and
her assistants did not persevere in their duties, and got
tired of the restraints of the life, and a frequent change of
staff was found very detrimental to the interests of the
institution ; so both the King and Madame de Maintenon
felt it necessary to consent to the desire of the Bishop
of Chartres, that the ladies of St Cyr should be formed into
a Community, taking perpetual vows and giving themselves
up to the work of education. Madame de Brinon and
those who did not wish to take perpetual vows retired,
and the Ladies of St Cyr became the Community of St

ST CYR AND ITS STAFF 215

Louis. They took the usual three vows of poverty,
chastity and obedience, and added to it a fourth : to
devote themselves to education.

The Community of St Louis consisted of eight persons,
of whom forty ladies, professed or novices, were chosen
among the old pupils. The King reserved to himself the
right to nominate these, and their places, when vacant,
were to be filled up from pupils of St Cyr.

The forty ladies divided the charges among them ; the
charges were subdivided into twenty-five Great and
fifteen Little Charges. Those who undertook the Great
Charges were called officers and councillors, and formed
the Interior Council. They were the Superior, Assistant
Superior, Novice Mistress, Mistress General of Classes,
Bursar and Intendante-Generale.

Among the smaller offices were the Class Mistress,
Choir Mistress, Secretary, General Work Mistress, Linen
Mistress, Mistress of Infirmary, and the Librarian. The
Great Officers were elected by private ballot, and held
their posts for three years, subject to re-election at the end
of that period.

The Superior nominated to the Small Offices, after
taking the advice of the Interior Council.

The Superior was placed under the superintendence of
the Bishop of Chartres for spiritual matters, and a
Councillor of State nominated by the King for temporal
matters. They were called the External Council.

Des Marets, Bishop of Chartres (through whose influence
the Dames de St Louis were changed into an Augustine
Community taking perpetual vows), was a man of grand
character, wise, learned, just and practical, knowing how
to conduct himself and be at his ease in the great world,

216 MADAME DE MAINTENON

without assimilating himself to it. His personal life was
austere and immaculate. When some great persons went
to visit him, they found him in a room containing only a
bed, a rickety chair, and a table on which was the Bible,
and a map of Jerusalem.

The first Superior elected after the foundation of the
Community of St Louis was Madame de Loubert. She
was only twenty-two years of age and had been brought
up in Madame de Maintenon's establishment at Noisy.
Her installation was conducted with great pomp, on
igth May 1689 the King was present, and gave to the
community Ferdinand's celebrated picture of Madame de
Maintenon. 1

During the period of transition Madame de Maintenon
had spent all her time at St Cyr, excepting the hours
that the King was accustomed to come to her room at
Versailles. She would arrive at 6 A.M., help dress the little
ones, and go through the whole routine of the day; one day
with one class, next day with another, to see for herself
what was wanting and what was satisfactory.

She would talk to the girls individually and collectively,
rebuking some, encouraging others, giving advice as needed.
All this she did with the grace that was instinctive in her
every word and action.

After Madame de Loubert's period of holding office as
Superior expired, Madame de Fontaine was elected she
was remarkably beautiful but quite unconscious of it.
Then came Madame de Pron, who was re-elected eight
times.

Madame de la Maison Forte, who was a great favourite
of Madame de Maintenon, wavered for a long time before

1 This picture still exists and is in the Musee de Versailles, No. 2114.

ST CYR AND ITS STAFF 217

she could make her choice for God or the world. Madame
de Maintenon wished to retain her for St Cyr and to protect
her from the dangers that her character made her par-
ticularly open to in the world and wrote her the remarkable
letter which Voltaire quoted against ambition :

" You will never be content, my dear daughter, till you
love God with all your heart. I do not say this in re-
ference only to your profession. Solomon long ago told
us that all is vanity except the love and service of God.
Nothing in the world gives complete satisfaction peace
comes only when we have given ourselves up to God
heart and soul. Then we feel that there is nothing else to
be sought for, having attained the only good thing there
is on earth. We have troubles, but also solid consola-
tion, and peace in the heart in the midst of great
afflictions."

Madame de la Maison Forte left the decision of her
destiny to her directors, among whom was Fenelon. These
gentlemen deliberated on the vocation of the lady while
she went to pray in chapel. The council were unanimous
in calling on her to take the vows. On hearing this, she
gave a great cry and became unconscious. She was
carried to her room, passed the night in prayer, and in the
morning said calmly that she was prepared to consecrate
her life to God. In after years she was elected Superior.

Other favourites were Madame de Berval, who had
literary abilities, and wrote down Madame de Maintenon's
conversations and preserved her letters ; Madame de
Montalambert, always seeking perfection but prone J to
exaggeration. If she received a note from Madame de
Maintenon she would only open it before the Blessed
Sacrament, and after having evoked the Holy Spirit to
give her grace to profit by its contents. To cure her of

218 MADAME DE MAINTENON

this, Madame de Maintenon, who detested exaggeration,
one day sent her a large packet, which when opened was
found to contain only these words : "I hope your cold is
better. I am quite well."

Madame de Maintenon's ideal of what a nun should be
was a very high one. She tried to eradicate all wordliness
from her friends in the Community of St Cyr. She wrote
to one :

" I wish you not to have a worldly spirit not to desire
to mix with the world, not to feel ashamed if a relative
comes to visit you on foot, and delighted if they come in
a carriage.

" So many nuns are just as eager as other people in the
world about rank, wealth and favour, and care more
that their Abbess should be a person of quality, than one
who can lead them to God.

" All their conduct shows that they esteem riches and
grandeur more than the poverty and obedience to which
they are vowed, and are not imbued with the Spirit of
the Gospel. Please God this worldliness shall not creep
into St Cyr."

To the Abbess of Gomerfontaine, who had been a pupil
of St Cyr, and was straitened for funds for the establish-
ment of her new convent in the provinces, she wrote :

" I send twenty pounds for your more pressing needs
I feel the greatest sympathy for your difficulties."

Three days later, I7th October 1705 :

" I have obtained, and without difficulty, two hundred
francs from Cardinal de Noailles, two hundred from M. le
Marshal, two hundred from M. le Due, two hundred from
Madame la Duchesse de Bourgogne and four hundred
from the King, altogether fifteen hundred francs, you
must be sparing in the use of it, as it is the last you can

ST CYR AND ITS STAFF 219

hope for in these quarters. If I could have done more
for you I would, my dear child.

" You must employ your household in making wax-
candles, and weaving their clothing ; you cannot give
them too much to do so that they may have their minds
occupied in the work of the household, and have little
time for gossip in the parlour, which is the scandal of
some convents. I am always glad when I hear the Ladies
of St Louis say they wish the day were two hours longer.
When you lie down to rest at night how pleasant it is
to remember that you have not had an idle hour
all day.

"If you think the candidates I sent you have no real
vocation do not hesitate to send them back. You have
to answer to God for their souls, and it will be no excuse
to say you wished to please Madame de Maintenon ! I
can understand that the girls are fond of you, but it
would be wrong for them to become nuns on that
account. God alone is worthy of such a sacrifice, and God
alone can make up for it. Piety is only an hypocrisy if it
is merely external and not of the soul. The real piety of
the soul consists of being occupied with God, single-
minded in all we do, and of living as in His presence."

At the time of Madame de Maintenon's retirement to St
Cyr, after the King's death, Madame de Glapion was
Superior. She has been called the Pearl of St Cyr. 1 Her
defects would have been the virtues of another ; she joined
to tenderness of soul an extensive knowledge, having
studied medicine, chemistry, botany, and surgery with
profit, and without becoming self - conceited. She was
very witty and intellectual, but served four years in the
infirmary in order to mortify her senses ; she became a
nurse who was loved by her patients, a spirited and original
class mistress. In her hands Madame de Maintenon left

1 She had been a pupil at St Cyr and excited great admiration by her
performance in Esther. At her own desire she became a nun and
entered the novitiate when eighteen years of age.

220 MADAME DE MAINTENON

her beloved St Cyr with the utmost confidence, saying she
was the only one who had never disappointed her ; and
people saw in Madame de Glapion a living reproduction of
Madame de Maintenon, so thoroughly had she assimilated
her ideas.

Madame de Maintenon's supervision of St Cyr was not
perfunctory or merely formal. 1 No details were too small
for her, and as years passed she spent more and more of her
time there, coming at all sorts of unexpected hours, and
taking part in whatever might be the occupation of the
moment. She had personal knowledge of most of the
elder girls, the Blues and Blacks studied their characters
and was never tired of advising and helping them. Even
on her journeys with the Court she would take with her a
bundle of the letters she encouraged these girls to write to
her, and sitting in the King's coach would read them,
correct any mistakes in spelling, and return them to the
writers with comments.

St Cyr was the apple of her eye; all her intellectual
powers, her gift for organisation, all her past experience,
all her most generous sentiments, her affections were
turned to the account of St Cyr and lavished on its
inmates. The following letter, addressed to one of the
community, well expresses her feelings on the subject :

" I feel a great joy when the door closes behind me
after entering your house, which I always leave with
reluctance. Often on returning to the Castle I say to
myself : ' Behold, a part of the world for which, according
to appearances, Jesus Christ has not prayed. The King is

1 One day, after having been in the kitchen at St Cyr, Madame de
Maintenon had to attend a Court function, and a lay sister said to her :
" Madame, you will take with you the aroma of the kitchen, the smell
of fat." " Yes," she replied, " but no one will think it comes from me."

ST CYR AND ITS STAFF 221

at the head, which redoubles my grief. There are some
fine souls at the Court and virtue has its elect everywhere
but it is there that what is called ' the world ' is con-
centrated there passions are all alive, self-interest,
ambition, hatred, envy, to this world I go. I confess these
sentiments fill me with horror and sadness at the sight
of Versailles. When I am here I can forget that there is
a Court, and it is a relief to have a respite from troubles,
when one has no hope of seeing them end. I often reflect
on my involuntary hatred of the Court and I see that
God has destined me for it and wishes to sanctify me by
giving me a duty that goes contrary to my taste and my
self-love."

Racine puts into Esther's mouth words recognised as
referring to Madame de Maintenon at St Cyr :

"C'est la que fuyant 1'orgueil du diadSme
Lasse des vains honneurs, et cherchant moi-meme
Aux pieds de 1'Eternel je viens m'humilier
Et gouter le plaisir de me faire oublier"

Several of Madame de Maintenon's nieces (or cousins'
children 1 ) were educated at St Cyr and special orders
were given that not the slightest difference should be made
between their treatment and that of the other pupils.
Madame de Maintenon thought it beneficial for the young
Duchess of Burgundy to share the education of St Cyr,
and while that lasted Madame de Maintenon was generally
to be found there, so the King, having finished his day's
work with Ministers, used to go to St Cyr to pick up
Madame de Maintenon and take her for a drive. He
sometimes attended Vespers in the chapel. The ladies
of St Cyr preserved some of the notes that the King used
to send Madame de Maintenon about the day's arrange-
ments.

1 Ni&ces a la mode de Bretagne.

222 MADAME DE MAINTENON

Here are one or two of them :

" I think I shall be able to come to Compline at St
Cyr, and return with you driving. In case you approve
this plan, select some ladies to accompany us, and send
me a note saying you agree, in order that I may arrange
accordingly " (2nd February 1698).

In another he says :

" I have changed my plans for the day the fine
weather prevents my going to St Germains. I shall
put that off till to-morrow. To-day I shall hunt, and
afterwards come to the gate of St Cyr, the Park side,
where my coach will be waiting. I hope you will join
me there with such companions as you please, and we
will take a drive in the Park. To-morrow on returning
from St Germains, being decently dressed, 1 I shall
attend service in the Chapel and we will return together.
Send word whether you will join me at the Park gate or
whether you wish my coach to come for you into the
Courtyard 2 of St Cyr " (May 1703).

Another time, when important news came and the King
wanted her advice, he writes :

" I have just heard from Calais, by a courier, of the
death of the Prince of Orange [26th March 1702]. I beg
you to return to Versailles without delay."

During the wars the King always hastened to give
Madame de Maintenon the latest news, without waiting
for her return to the palace.

On loth December 1710 he writes :

" The enemy has retired and the King of Spain is
master of Madrid. I thought you would not be sorry
to get this news at the earliest possible moment/'

1 The King greatly disapproved of people attending the services of
the Church carelessly dressed.

8 The coach never entered the cloister, the King and Madame de
Maintenon after service went on foot to Park gate. Louis showed his
respect by not thinking it suitable to attend chapel in his hunting dress.

ST CYR AND ITS STAFF 223

Another time Madame de Maintenon writes :

" I was at St Cyr when the King's equerry came to
tell me of the Victory of Villaviciosa. Our three
hundred girls went at once to the Chapel for a Thanks-
giving Service, and had a holiday in honour of the
event."

CHAPTER XX

ST CYR MAXIMS

ADAME DE BERNEVAL has described
the impression made at St Cyr by Madame
de Maintenon's appearance soon after her
marriage :

" The first impression she made was imposing, but
her air of severity vanished when she spoke and
smiled. Her voice was most agreeable, her manner
winning, she had a bright and open forehead, eyes full
of fire, and the carriage of her figure was so graceful
and supple that it eclipsed the best at Court." L

This same member of the Community of St Louis
(Madame de Berneval) has recorded the conversations of
their benefactress with the nuns and pupils, and also
collected the maxims which she most frequently enunciated
and endeavoured to impress on all. From them we learn
to understand what Madame de Maintenon really was,
what were the guiding principles of her own life, what her
most sincere and profound convictions.

One of her maxims all teachers would do well to lay to
heart. It is as follows : " Care must be taken to avoid
telling children as facts, stories, which they afterwards
come to know are fictitious ; always give them truth as
truth, and fable as fable."

1 Madame de Maintenon never tried to appear young. At the time
of her marriage her dress would have suited a person of more advanced
years.
934

ST. CYR. A DAMK DK ST. LOUIS AND THREE PUPILS

ST CYR MAXIMS 225

Another was : " Children instinctively dislike we grown-
up people lowering ourselves to their level by using infantile
language, and puerile manners ; one influences them best,
by raising them to our level by means of their reason."

It appears that such an institution as St Cyr was really
needed to improve the manners and morals of French-
women of the rising generation.

Writing at Rotterdam, 2ist October 1696, Bayle says :

" The books that come from France give an extra-
ordinary idea of Frenchwomen. They have become
great drinkers of brandy and takers of snuff, and are
accused of tyranising over husbands, of pride, coquetry,
unchastity and_*slanderous tongues. . . ."

Madame de Maintenon seems to have been of the same
opinion, for she wrote to a pupil who was about to leave
St Cyr :

" Do not remain en deshabille in the house, and
only dress neatly when going out. Avoid the excesses
of which even girls are now guilty, eating too much,
taking snuff, and too much wine. We have so many
real needs, that it is not wise to invent others."

Her admirable advice to pupils relating to their lives
when they left St Cyr, is equally suitable and useful for
the young ladies of the present day, who would do well to
turn their attention to it.

She endeavoured to make them understand the trials
that probably awaited them. She said :

' You are born ladies, but poor ladies. You must
not think that to obtain new dresses when yours are
shabby, you will only need to take some measurements
and purchase some material at a shop ; you will have
to consider where the money to pay for them is to

226 MADAME DE MAINTENON

come from. When you rejoin your family, what will
you find ? Probably an old, infirm father or mother,
a number of children to be fed, and you will add to the
number. You will have to wait on your parents, teach
your little brothers and sisters perhaps, do the cooking
and marketing. The war has spared nobody, you will
find your parents with half their former income.

" If your parents are dead, you may have to take a
position in some lady's house and there you will have
to consider the difference between true and false pride.
Proper pride is to be unwilling to do anything for which
we shall afterwards have to reproach ourselves ; to avoid
all base actions ; to prefer to endure privations rather
than live at the expense of others.

"It is false pride to boast of one's birth ; to think
it a disgrace not to be richly dressed ; to be punctilious
as to precedence, ' o think enough respect is not shown
to us, not to condescend to thank those who serve us ;
not to recognise an old friend or relation because they
are poor or badly dressed. It is proper pride that leads
us to prefer to be poorly dressed rather than go into
debt for fine clothes.

" Some people think it a disgrace to work for a liveli-
hood, but all who have good sense see that it is generous,
brave and honourable to work, rather than depend on
other people's charity.

" Beggars on horseback disdain to touch work with
the tips of their fingers not so the really noble. No
kind of useful work is degrading.

" When I was with the princes and had to change
house, to ensure privacy, I did not allow strange work-
men to be employed, and I used to mount a ladder to
nail up tapestries and curtains. When I went to visit
the Duchesse de Montchevrueil and found her maid ill,
I swept and dusted the rooms, dressed the children and
did everything to make her comfortable.

" Madame la Dauphine's maid was awkward and could
not comb her thick hair without hurting her ; I had been
used to comb my mother's hair and did not think it
beneath me to do Madame la Dauphine's for her daily,
while I was her lady-in-waiting."

ST CYR MAXIMS 227

Some of the nuns thought it improper to speak of
marriage to the pupils. But Madame de Main tenon said
to them :

" Marriage is a Sacrament instituted by the Church,
which Christ sanctioned by His presence, and a state
that St Paul called honourable. How are girls, most of
whom will be married, to learn to fulfil the duties which
it brings, if they are never advised on the subject and see
that their teachers avoid speaking of it ?

' You cannot inculcate too frequently the duty of a
wife to be entirely devoted to her husband and his
interests, and to his spiritual as well as temporal benefit ;
also to set him an example of patience under difficulties,
and scrupulous fulfilment of religious duties. Impress
on the pupils the duty of caring for their children them-
selves, not leaving them to servants.

" Besides the care and education of children they will
have to superintend servants, and attend to the proper
management of all household matters and the expendi-
ture of funds. A good wife and mother will not find life
a fete, as so many girls hope and expect to do when they
are married.

" Impress these ideas on their minds and do not be dis-
suaded by false modesty."

Madame de Maintenon noticed that most of the girls
laughed and blushed when the word " marriage " was used. 1
and she said one day, to a group gathered around
her:

' There is nothing to laugh about in marriage ; there
is no state of life in which more trouble and trials are to
be met with. You think that nuns have to endure hard-
ships, but what they have to bear is nothing compared to
what has to be endured in the world. Here you are
sheltered from all troubles and have all your wants pro-

1 Madame de Maintenon also laughed at the false modesty of one of
the little ones, who was scandalised because her father, when visiting
in the parlour, happened to mention the word " trousers."

228 MADAME DE MAINTENON

vided for, and you do not know what trouble is. You do
not like to have to obey rules, and to do what is ordered
instead of what you fancy ; but rules have to be obeyed
everywhere, and there is no place where people can do as
they please less than at Court. Though I have the
honour to live at Court, I cannot follow my own wishes.
If asked whether I shall come to St Cyr to-morrow, I
cannot say nor at what time I shall dine, or go to bed
probably not till after midnight. I should like to go
earlier, but cannot please myself. Nothing equals the
restraints that courtiers and Court ladies have to endure.
They have to go out walking in a horrible wind, out of
respect to the King, when they have no wish to ; they
come back very tired, and the ladies say : ' Oh ! how
tired I am ! This place will kill me ! ' Another says :
' I cannot stand it any longer : if even I could walk with
someone I like it would not be so bad, but no ! I am tied
up to someone who bores me to death/

" At Court people cannot choose their own companions
any more than they can at St Cyr.

" The King himself cannot do what he likes always.
Sometimes he is the whole day in his Cabinet attending
to accounts. I have seen him, with a splitting headache,
making references, beginning again and never leaving off
till he has finished the work in hand. He holds several
councils daily, where serious affairs, very often grievous
and annoying, are treated of. The great Ministers of
State have to work from morning till night. There is no
question for them of leisure or recreation. It is only
the young ladies of St Cyr who do not want trouble or
unpleasantness. Do not think that obedience to orders is
necessary only in convents and for the young. I can
assure you it is for all states and ages. I cannot tell you
too often to accustom yourself to give up your own
will. A well-bred person is one who is ready to do any-
thing that may be reasonably asked of her. If your
fortune obliges you to take a post in the house of a lady
of quality, you will have to obey and to give up your
own will ten times a day and to be ready for anything.
If you marry you will have to think of your husband's
wishes, not your own. Those who do not live at the

ST CYR MAXIMS 229

Court may find less restraints in country life, but in all
families and all conditions troubles are inevitable."

Madame de Maintenon wished to inspire the pupils of St
Cyr with the spirit of compassion and sympathy for the
sufferings of others, and encouraged them to visit the poor
and sick in the neighbourhood, and to make the bed of one,
some soup for another, etc.

When asked as to the duty of almsgiving, she said : "In
giving you must first think of your own poor relations,
their needs must come first, then how much you can afford.
You may deny yourselves any personal gratification in
order to give money to the poor; but you must not, through
an impulse of pity, give away money which is required for
necessary household expenses, and go in debt for them ;
nor must you even borrow to give alms. God only requires
of us according to our means, and those who have little
money will often be able to show charity by small personal
services."

Some of Madame de Maintenon's most oft repeated
maxims were :

" The greatest pleasure is to give pleasure."
" To be agreeable to others one must forget oneself."
" The only real misfortune is to have done wrong."
" Riches consist in wanting little, not having much."
" Do not complain of ill-fortune, but try and make your-
self worthy of better."

" Never forget God ; if you have not time to pray to
Him, think of Him."

Madame de Maintenon generally had one of the pupils
who had finished their education at St Cyr acting as her
secretary. One who was a great favourite was Mademoi-
selle de Casteja. She accompanied Madame de Maintenon

230 MADAME DE MAINTENON

to the siege of Namur. Mademoiselle de Casteja, who was
extremely beautiful, married M. de Lalande, Gentleman of
the Chamber to the Due du Maine, and afterwards became
Sub-Governess to the Children of France (the King's
grandchildren). Soon after the marriage Madame de
Maintenon wrote her a charming letter, and sent with it a
lovely fan on which was painted Madame de Main tenon's
sitting-room, with the King writing at a table, Madame de
Maintenon sitting near him, netting; the Duchess of
Burgundy at play, and Mademoiselle d'Aubigne" having a
collation. The letter said :

" I cannot come to you, and you cannot come to me,
though you wish to see me, so I send you my room."

Another St Cyrite who was so devoted to Madame de
Maintenon that she gave up a marriage, rather than leave
her, was Mademoiselle d'Aumale. She was Madame de
Maintenon's trusted friend and secretary for many years
and up to the time of Madame de Maintenon's death.

Finally, as if to show that her interest in St Cyr would not
end even with her life, Madame de Maintenon one day said
laughingly, to a class whom she was addressing very
earnestly :

"If it happens that you act contrary to the spirit
of my instructions, I shall after my death come back
from the other world, and make a dreadful noise to
frighten you."

" When you go out into the world you will not find
every-one acting up to the high principles you have been
taught here ; but that is no reason why you yourselves
should depart from them, nor a reason for being unable
to live with those who have not been so well taught as
yourself. Nor must you say : ' They do not do so at

ST CYR MAXIMS 231

St Cyr/ That would be the way to make yourself
hated everywhere. But what you have learned here
ought to teach you to bear with patience the failings
of others, and the contradictions to be met with every-
where in life."

Those who wish for fuller details of the system of St Cyr should
read: "Madame de Maintenon sur 1'Education," by Oct, Grearde, de
1' Academic Francaise. Pub. Hachette. Paris, 1905, popular edition.

CHAPTER XXI

THE INNER CIRCLE OF MADAME DE MAINTENON

AN English lady of rank, who visited Paris
about 1694, wishing to see Madame de
Maintenon, was taken to watch her start
with the King for Marly, and wrote the
following description :

" Madame de Maintenon appeared without attendants,
her dress was of some brown stuff, and she wore a very
striking head-dress. She had no ornaments except a
small diamond cross suspended from the neck. She
placed herself beside the King in the coach and bowed
with dignity, smiling pleasantly when she perceived an
English lady among the spectators. Her eyes were very
fine, and there was about her whole person that inde-
finable charm which age cannot destroy. She seemed
entirely occupied in seeing if the King were comfortably
seated. A servant brought her needlework ; she then

put up the glass of the window, put on her spectacles, and
began working as the

coach started."

Although Madame de Maintenon comported herself with
great dignity when with the courtiers in general, she
relaxed when among her intimate friends, who found an
inexpressible charm in her society and her conversation,
which was full of wit and T grace. |

There were certain ladies who were constantly with her
at all her entertainments and played cards with the King.
They were known as the " Cabal."

o& Q^Atainfetvm.

From an engraving in the British Museum

INNER CIRCLE OF MME. DE MAINTENON 233

In 1642 Madame de Main tenon wrote to Madame de
Caylus :

" My little finger tells me that the news from England
is good. This must console me for the little contradic-
tions to be met with in daily life. I intended to dine with
my * Cabal/ the King has prevented it. He is to come
to my room at two o'clock, perhaps he will not come
so soon. He is to go out at four o'clock, perhaps he will
not go out at all.

" He proposes a game of cards for this evening,
perhaps we shall not even see him. I have not the least
idea what I shall do to-morrow."

The " Cabal " consisted of the Marquise de Levis, nee de
Luynes ; the Marquise d'O, nee de Guilleragues, who was
the Duchess of Burgundy's Dame du Palais ; Marquise
d'Hudicourt, nee Pons ; her daughter, Madame de
Montgon ; the Marquise de Dangeau ; Madame de St
Geran ; and Madame de Main tenon's two nieces, the
Duchesse de Noailles, nee d'Aubigne, and Madame de
Caylus, nee Villette.

Of these ladies two of the best known were the
Marquise de Dangeau and the Marquise d'Hudicourt,
who had been Barbe de Pons, Marshal d'Albret's niece
she had lent the wedding dress worn by Fra^ois d'Aubigne
when she became Madame Scarron. Madame de Main-
tenon assisted at the wedding of Mademoiselle Pons, and
wrote to her brother, Charles d'Aubigne, January 1766,
Saturday, midnight :

" It is true that Mademoiselle de Pons is to be married
and I have the joy of knowing that I helped to make the
marriage I am going to escort her to Hudicourt."

Madame d'Hudicourt's daughter, Madame de Montgon,
lived with Madame de Maintenon when she first took

234 MADAME DE MAINTENON

charge of the King's children and shared the cares bestowed
on them.

Madame de Maintenon never forgot an old friend, and
though Madame d'Hudicourt's eccentric disposition was
very different from her own, she always treated her with
great indulgence, but said : " Though I always laugh at
Madame d'Hudicourt's sallies I never remember to have
heard her say anything that I myself should wish to have
said." !

The Marquise de Dangeau, nee Mademoiselle de
Lowenstein of Bavaria, was of the Palatine family,
but one of her ancestors having espoused a lady not
of royal birth, the descendants could not take rank as
royalties.

Mademoiselle de Lowenstein's mother was sister to
Cardinal Prince Furstenberg. He was imprisoned on
account of having taken the side of France in the war,
and on being released came to France, bringing with him
his youngest niece, whose beauty, joined to the figure of
a nymph as well as a flame-coloured ribbon which she
wore attracted great attention. She wore this ribbon
as Canoness of the Chapter of Thurm, which dignity
entitled her to be addressed as Madame.

She was married in 1686 to the Marquis de Dangeau,
Governor of Touraine, Councillor of State and Gentleman-
in- Waiting to the Duchess of Burgundy.

Her prudence and virtue were as admirable as her
beauty. The reputation of Madame de Dangeau was
never attacked though she had beauty and charm and
enjoyed Court favour to a degree that usually excites envy
and malice. There was a certain spirituality and air of

1 In " Collection des Dames de St Cyr."

INNER CIRCLE OF MME. DE MAINTENON 235

detachment about her that seemed to place her above
detraction.

She remained an intimate friend of Madame de
Maintenon up to the time of her death, and was one of the
few admitted to visit Madame de Maintenon after her
retirement to St Cyr.

Many charming letters have been preserved addressed
to her by Madame de Maintenon. The following are
specimens :

" If you are quite well, if you have not made arrange-
ments for your day, if the Duchess of Burgundy does not
need you, if you do not dislike singing, if it does not rain,
if you would like to pray in the open air, to take a turn
in the gardens, if you still like St Cyr, if you are not
tired of making the delight of my life, if to value you
rightly gives a right to enjoy your company, you will
come in my coach which is taking Madame Petit back to
Versailles."

After the death of Louis XIV. the Marquis de Dangeau
retired from Court. His wife wished to turn him into a
hermit, and herself into a nun, and was troubled by her
want of success. Madame de Maintenon's sound sense
disapproved of this, and she wrote to Madame de
Dangeau :

" As long as M. de Dangeau lives you cannot change
your mode of life. It is well that your life is not to
your mind that is the state God wishes us to be in.
You would like to lead a regular life, like a Trappist, but
it is the Will of God that you should live in comfortable
circumstances but at the same time suffer the annoy-
ances that are inevitable in the best of families. You
would like to be teaching the catechism at Avon, but
God wishes you to practise the Christian virtues yourself,
instead of teaching them to others. He wishes you to

236 MADAME DE MAINTENON

amuse an infirm husband, and to influence your
children to keep to the right path, and you ought to
work peacefully and tranquilly at the task He gives to
you."

M. de Dangeau occupied himself with writing Memoirs
of the Court of Louis XIV. They are some of the most
reliable that have been composed, being written in the
lifetime of Madame de Maintenon, who read them while
they were in course of composition, criticised any state-
ments she considered inaccurate, and furnished him with
information on points over which he was doubtful.

The Duchesse de Noailles has been fully treated of in
the chapter headed " Madame de Maintenon's Relations."
Of her other niece, Madame de Caylus, a somewhat detailed
account must be given, for she was such a very prominent
figure in Madame de Maintenon's circle from the early
days at Versailles to the days of her retirement at St Cyr,
and indeed till death.

Marthe, Marguerite, Hippolite de Valois de Villette,
Mademoiselle de Mursay, was the daughter of the Marquis
de Villette, who was the son of Madame de Villette, sister
of Madame de Maintenon's father. She was born at
Mursay, and baptised at Niort, i4th April 1671. She was
always called Madame de Maintenon's niece, for the
children of cousins were reckoned as nieces a la mode de
Bretagne. In a previous chapter the circumstances under
which Madame de Maintenon practically adopted her have
been told, and in educating her nothing was omitted that
could form her judgment and cultivate her mind. She
was very pretty and charming, and her aunt had many
applications for her hand, but refused several splendid
marriages on the ground that they were above her pre-

INNER CIRCLE OF MME. DE MAINTENON 237

tentions, 3 and then most unaccountably chose for her a
most undesirable husband, Jean Aime de Tubieres, Comte
de Caylus. He was of an ancient family, but had nothing
to recommend him, neither wealth nor character. He was
much older than his bride, and turned out to be a drunkard,
blase, and of a violent temper that caused his wife much
unhappiness.

The marriage took place in the chapel at Versailles and
the King gave the bride a handsome dowry.

Madame de Maintenon tried to reform the Comte de
Calyus, but persuasion having failed, stronger measures
were necessary, for he spent everything and left his wife
without money or clothes. He was sent to rejoin his
regiment and ordered to remain with the army and never to
approach his wife, who took up her residence at Court, under
her aunt's protection. But as she was only twenty years
old she needed more chaperonage than Madame de Main-
tenon had time to give, and the task was relegated to
Madame de Maintenon's great friend, Madame de Mont-
chevrueil. She has been described as " one of those
persons whom the devil sends into the world to disgust
people with virtue/' 2 She had a most repellant appear-
ance and even Madame de Maintenon reproached her with
being devout in a manner that made others disinclined to
religion.

Madame de Montchevrueil's task as Superintendent of
the Maids-of-Honour of the Dauphiness was easy compared
to that of taking care of Madame de Caylus, whose beauty,
charm and wit made her greatly sought after.

1 This was an inconsistency for Madame de Maintenon did not
refuse a great marriage for her other niece, Mademoiselle d'Aubigne,
who became Duchesse de Noailles.

2 Vide St Simon's Memoirs.

238 MADAME DE MAINTENON

" There was never a more seductive creature/' says St
Simon. " Such a spiritual face, so expressive, so touching,
such freshness, grace, gaiety, and wit as she possessed
were unique." She had also a most delicious voice, her
acting at St Cyr was pronounced " too good," " too
touching."

Madame de Caylus was the most brilliant ornament of
the Court from 1689 t 1696, when she fell into disgrace.

In her Souvenirs she says that some letters addressed
to her, ridiculing Madame de Montchevrueil and others of
Madame de Maintenon's immediate circle, fell into the
King's hands and were the cause of her disgrace ; but the
real reason was that she carried too far, or carried on too
openly, a liaison with the Due de Villeroy, son of Marechal
Villeroy.

The Due de Villeroy had married a daughter of Louvois.
He was implicated in the disgrace which fell on some young
noblemen with whom he went to fight against the Turks in
Hungary. They sent to the companions left behind in
France letters speaking in disrespectful terms of the King
and Madame de Maintenon, and the letters fell into the
King's hands by mistake. Villeroy's letters, fortunately
for him, were some of the least offensive and though not
allowed to appear at Court for some time, he was at length
forgiven for his father's sake.

Madame de Caylus seems to have got into a dissipated
set, and after some escapades, which made a noise at Court,
but the details of which are uncertain, she was dismissed
from Versailles. She took up her abode in a house in the
Rue Vaugirard, where she had passed the early days of her
married life. Here she entertained a great deal, gave
suppers and card parties, at which Villeroy was generally

INNER CIRCLE OF MME. DE MAINTENON 239

to be seen. She was always surrounded by friends and
admirers, one of whom said : "It was difficult to be in
her company without becoming either her friend or her
lover."

Another said : " She was the perfection of what is meant
by the word ' urbanity/

But one who had been brought up by Madame de Main-
tenon, and breathed the air of St Cyr, could not live such
a life without qualms of conscience.

It was the age of the great Directors of Souls, 1 and
Madame de Caylus came under the influence of one of them,
Father de la Tour, a man of good family who understood
the world to which Madame de Caylus belonged, and by
degrees he persuaded her to give up play, the pleasures of
the table to which she was addicted, the company of un-
principled acquaintances, and, what must have been more
difficult, that of Villeroy.

Her conversion was sincere and lasting.

In 1699 permission to return to Court was given to her,
but she refused to avail herself of it.

In 1705 the King raised her pension from 6000 to 10,000
francs. This favour was Conferred on condition that she
should give up her confessor, who was suspected of Jan-
senism, a creed abhorred at Court, and take a more ortho-
dox one.

She did so with his consent and acquiescence.

It was not, however, till the death of Comte de Caylus,
which occurred at Brussels, 1704 2 an event which St

1 Father Confessors.

2 It was somewhat peculiar that it fell to the lot of the Due de Villeroy
and his father, the Marechal, who was commanding the army in Flanders,
to be present at his deathbed and to do for him all that could be done
for a dying man, and they attended his funeral.

240 MADAME DE MAINTENON

Simon said caused universal delight that the aunt and
niece resumed intimate relations.

Madame de Maintenon wrote her letters containing good
advice, advised her not to remarry but to devote herself to
her children. She also gave her commissions to execute at
shops. Madame de Caylus did not reappear at Court till
her time of mourning was over, 1707.

Madame de Maintenon, after some demur and acting on
the advice of the Princesse de Ursins, again obtained for her
an apartment at Versailles.

Madame de Caylus felt uncertain how she would be re-
ceived, but the King greeted her affably and one day took
her in his carriage to Trianon and did the honours himself,
escorting her around the grounds. This was enough to re-
establish her position at Court completely.

At this time she was thirty-six years of age. Her face
was still beautiful, but she had lost her figure and become
stout. She assumed the airs of a person older than she
really was, but her wit and charm were unimpaired. She
was a great favourite with the King, and her relations with
her aunt became even more intimate and affectionate, and
sometimes Madame de Maintenon took refuge in her niece's
room, and "let herself go" when Court restraint had
become unbearable.

The palace of Versailles was a little town and as the
King and his Ministers were often in Madame de Main-
tenon's room, her niece could not always be admitted and
a correspondence was carried on of which many letters have
been preserved and let us see these ladies as they really
were.

Madame de Caylus's sons were causing her anxiety and
she wished to have them with her more than was possible

INNER CIRCLE OF MME. DE MAINTENON 241

at Court, so a year before the King's death the Duchesse de
Berry gave her an apartment in the Luxembourg, of which
she sent the following description to her aunt :

" My abode is convenient, pretty and isolated, so that
I am never conscious of having neighbours.

" In the early morning I hear the crowing of cocks and
the bells of the little convents calling the faithful to
prayer. It is a pleasure to get up. I look out of the
window and survey my domains and my subjects, twelve
hens, one cock, eight newly-hatched chickens and a cow
all these I am proud to see under my rule.

" I rise at eight o'clock I say prayers in bed read
and breakfast, when I am well enough I go to Mass and
when I return I write and attend to my affairs. I dine
or sup alone or with my son. After dinner we play tric-
trac or I talk with him, or sew while he reads aloud. At
four or five o'clock visitors arrive sometimes too many.
By eight o'clock they are all gone and I am alone."

Of her two sons, the eldest, spoken of as the " Philo-
sopher," had been in the army, but got tired of it and
resigned his commission. He became a collector of
antiquities and a member of the Academy of Inscriptions,
and was somewhat eccentric in dress.

The other one, Brindi, was a naval officer. He was
always called " the Chevalier." He was " wild " and gave
trouble, but always a favourite with Madame de Maintenon,
who, in a letter to his mother, says :

' You know I have always had a liking for ' the Cheva-
lier.' I am never angry with scapegraces unless they go
so far as real vice, or dishonourable conduct."

Brindi never went that far, but had to be sent back to
his post in the navy.

An even more important member of Madame de
Maintenon's inner circle, who saw more of the private life

242 MADAME DE MAINTENON

and intimate relationship of Louis XIV. and Madame de
Maintenon than any one else, was her secretary, Mademoiselle
d'Aumale. After her marriage Madame de Maintenon
always had one of the young ladies who had been educated
at St Cyr to reside with her and act as secretary. It was a
post much sought after, as Madame de Maintenon generally
contrived a good marriage for the young ladies who filled it.

As no one was admitted as a pupil at St Cyr unless she
could prove four generations of nobility, it is needless to
say that Mademoiselle d'Aumale was well born.

Marie Jeanne d'Aumale was the sixth child of Jacques
d'Aumale, Seigneur of Mareuil in Piccardy. She was born
at Vergie, 1683. She was so much esteemed at St Cyr that
when she attained the age of twenty, and the time had come
for her to leave, the Bishop of Chartres consented to accede
to the request of the ladies of the community that she
might stay on " to help with the classes."

It was in 1705 that, having married Mademoiselle
d' Osmond (the young lady who had recently filled the post)
to the Marquis d'Havrincourt, Madame de Maintenon
was in want of a secretary x and chose Mademoiselle
d'Aumale, who became not only a secretary but a general
factotum, as well as trusted friend.

Writing to one of the ladies of St Cyr, she herself said,
as an excuse for a short letter :

" The occupations of an embroideress, an actress, a
secretary, a farm-mistress, a superintendent of schools
and an almoner leave me little time to write."

Mademoiselle d'Aumale was not pretty, but Madame de

1 Her correspondence was enormous. Four thousand of her letters
have been given to the world, and there are still a great many that have
not been published.

INNER CIRCLE OF MME. DE MAINTENON 243

Maintenon said of her : " She is very intelligent and as
capable of intellectual work as of attending to household
matters. I had her taught cooking and she succeeded as
well in boiling rice as in playing the piano."

She had musical talent and a fine voice.

Having reformed Louis XIV. it was very necessary to
keep him interested and amused for Madame de
Maintenon said : " If he is bored in my society he will go
elsewhere. Her Majesty the late Queen would never have
lost her hold on his affections had not a misdirected zeal
often led her to occupy herself in performing her devotions
in chapel when the King wished for her society/'

Louis XIV. was devoted to music and took pains to
bring his private band to perfection. At the age of sixty
he took part in a chorus for though Madame de Maintenon
herself was not musical she got up concerts in her apart-
ments for his benefit, and at these Mademoiselle d' Aumale's
talents were turned to good account. The King liked also
to listen to her singing when there was no company, and
she would sometimes sing to him for an hour or two at a
time. Her choice of songs is rather remarkable. Drink-
ing songs seem to have been the King's favourites. One,
beginning :

" Vive Bacchus ! Vive Gregoire !

A tous les deux honneur sans fin,
Vive Gregoire ! pour nous verser aboire,"

is mentioned as being frequently called for.

When one conjures up the scene, the staid and dignified
Madame de Maintenon sitting knitting in her " niche,"
the King in the arm-chair opposite, the convent-bred
secretary at the clavecin, the idea of these bacchanalian

244 MADAME DE MAINTENON

strains resounding through the room presents itself in a
somewhat comical light.

However, at other times we hear of Mademoiselle
d'Aumale chanting Vespers, according to the fashion of St
Cyr, and the King chanting the alternate verses : a per-
formance somewhat more in keeping with the atmosphere
that generally surrounded Madame de Maintenon.

Mademoiselle d'Aumale lived at Court for ten years
highly esteemed by the King and all who came in contact
with her. She was safe and discreet, always at her post
taking no part in intrigues, and making no effort to appear
a Court lady or to share in amusements which were not
suitable to her position. She refused several marriages
that could have been arranged for her, not wishing to
leave Madame de Maintenon, with reference to whom she
wrote :

" My attachment to Madame increases daily. I
amuse her when I can, I know neither joy nor sadness
but hers."

From an engraving in the British Museum

CHAPTER XXII

THE COURT AND THE WAR

WHEN Louis XIV. started on the campaign in
Flanders, A.D. 1691 1 Madame de Maintenon
did not accompany him, but retired to
St Cyr.

The King, on the point of departure, came there to wish
her good-bye, and stayed two hours, talking with her.
He then went into the church, where the Community had
assembled.

" Mesdames," he said, addressing them, " I commend
myself to your prayers. To be a King is to be in a position
that exposes one to the dangers of falling into many sins.
Madame remains with you, and in leaving her, I leave with
you what is dearest to me on earth," he concluded in tones
of emotion and with tears in his eyes.

" Sire," replied the Superior, " we shall redouble our
prayers that the Most High may give you the victory."

" Not so much victory as peace is what we need. We
must try to make our enemies demand it," said the
King.

Madame de Maintenon's Confessor, the Abbe Gobelin,
wrote as follows :

' There has never been a more legitimate grief than
yours, Madame. All Paris, which has its eyes on you,

1 France was in the field against the Germanic States, England and
Holland.

*4S

246 MADAME DE MAINTENON

is the more edified because people are persuaded
that it only rested with you to save yourself from
it." x

Couriers from the seat of war reached Madame de
Maintenon daily, and she did not fail to communicate to
the exiled King of England, 2 the tidings they brought.
He frequently visited her. His chance of regaining his
kingdom depended on the issue of the war.

Louis XIV. exposed his life at the siege of Mons, which
capitulated after fifteen days. On his return the
princesses and Madame de Maintenon went as far as
Compiegne to meet him.

In the spring of 1692 A.D. the King, wishing to anticipate
the Prince of Orange, decided to undertake the siege of
Namur in person. The Court accompanied him. His
daughters, the Princesse de Conti and the Duchesse de
Bourbon-Conde, and also the Princesse d'Harcourt,
travelled in the King's coach. Madame de Maintenon,
accompanied only by Mademoiselle de Casteja, went in the
King's hunting caleche. On account of the poverty of the
kingdom, the usual magnificent retinue was absent on this
occasion. The royal party dined in the carriages with
only a board covered with a white cloth as dinner table.
The example of the King made the officers afraid to display
the luxury of former campaigns, and hindered the nobility
from ruining themselves by the magnificence of their
equipment.

Madame de Maintenon wrote as follows to Madame de
Fontaines, Superior of St Cyr :

1 The King would not have joined the campaign against her
wishes.

2 James II.

THE COURT AND THE WAR 247

Mauberge, 24th May 1692.

" The King has ordered us to remain here two days,
in order to give everybody time to make their Easter
devotions ; he thinks of everything as you see, for he
sent this order from the Camp. He understands how to
be at the same time a hero and a Christian. Please tell
Madame de Veilhant that the Seige of Namur is more
important than that of Mons. The King is making the
attack with between Forty and Fifty thousand men ; M.
de Luxembourg has 80,000 to oppose the Prince of
Orange's force, if he attempts to interfere with the King's
plans. Tell her I have seen all these men with my own
eyes, and that her spirit is not more warlike than theirs.
On leaving this place we shall go to Phillipsburg, which
will be only six leagues from where the King is : he is
in perfect health and the whole army is enchanted with
his kindness, affability and accessibility, and with his
continuous application to business."

To Madame de Veilhant, May 1692.

" Imagine, Madame, that yesterday, after having
travelled six hours on a fairly good road, we saw a
Castle, built on a rock, where it was thought we might
get a lodging. No road to it was discernible, then we
descried in an abyss at the foot of the rock, the roofs of
a number of little houses, that looked like dolls' houses.
It was necessary to descend by a horrible road, and the
coaches bounded about enough to break all the springs ;
the ladies held on to anything they could. After a quarter
of an hour's terror we came suddenly upon the village of
Dinant, composed of one street, called La Grande,
though two coaches could not pass one another in it. The
water is bad, wine rare, and the bakers have orders to
supply the army only, and let everyone else starve. They
welcomed us with some very bad music and so much in-
cense, that we were nearly blinded. The Siege of Namur
goes on very well, few lives have been lost on our side at
present. I am not sorry that the King is kept in his
tent by an attack of gout. We hear the cannons roar
and fear that each shot will carry off some of our friends.

248 MADAME DE MAINTENON

Except for that, I am well satisfied, being one of the best
lodged and well served. If I could conscientiously wish
a nun to be anywhere but in her convent I should like
you to see all I am seeing, and if one could exchange
dispositions,! should wish tochangemine for yours, which
makes you like guns and gunpowder. You would be
delighted to smell nothing but tobacco, to hear nothing
but drums, to eat nothing but cheese, to see nothing but
bastions and fortifications, to touch nothing that is with-
out that roughness or dirtiness which is so repugnant to
the sensitiveness which your courage and strength of
mind enables you to overcome. For myself, who am,
alas ! very feminine in my taste, I would gladly give you
my place, and take yours and sit and work with the dear
ladies of St Cyr. I hope this pleasure will not be long
deferred and that Namur will capitulate without waiting
to be utterly ruined."

The princesses and their suites were left at Dinant, but
Madame de Maintenon went on with the King to the camp,
and visited the officers in their tents. They received her
with every mark of respect, and by the King's desire she
gave her hand to be kissed in Royal fashion. 1

The King sent refreshments to the Dauphin's regiment
which had gained the Fort of la Cassote, sword in hand.
Madame de Maintenon arriving with her suite saw with
what appetite the men were enjoying this good meal. She
visited all the tents and invited the inmates to a collation
next day at the King's quarters.

Everyone responded and on arrival received a card on
which was written : "A 1'Abbaye de Salsins." This was a
convent for ladies of noble birth ; it was not far off. As a
rule no man, even the greatest, was allowed to enter, but
Madame de Maintenon had obtained permission to prepare

1 This is mentioned by her cousin, the Marquis de Langalerie, in his
Memoirs. He was present.

THE COURT AND THE WAR 249

a collation for the soldiers, and the Court ladies waited on
the guests at table. On arriving each invite went to
make his bow to Madame de Maintenon, and kissed her
hand. Full justice was done to the good fare provided,
especially a delicious liqueur called " Ratafia de Salsins,"
prepared by the nuns.

The King and Monseigneur looked in on the entertain-
ment and both were much pleased at Madame de Main-
tenon's care of the troops.

Some of the ladies of the province had taken refuge
in Namur, but, wishing to retreat before the siege began,
they came out on foot, accompanied only by their
children and a few women servants. They demanded
safe conduct from Louis XIV. He took pity on them
and sent them to Dinant under escort. Madame de
Maintenon was much touched by their distress. She talked
to and tried to comfort them, and collected a sum of money
among the Court and officers to alleviate their wants.

After the successful termination of the siege of Namur the
royal party returned to Versailles ; the King having de-
monstrated to his detractors that he was not merely a
" tinsel king," nor " a carpet Knight," as some of the
younger nobles had described him, in letters that fell into
his hands.

The following year, 1693, he was present at the siege of
Liege, and that was the last time he ever went to the
front.

During the war of the Spanish Succession, 1 from 1701
to 1713, the fortunes of France reached their lowest ebb.

1 The King of Spain made a will leaving his possessions to his
cousin, the Duke of Anjou, grandson of Louis XIV., who supported his
pretensions. Austria laid claim to the inheritance and was supported
by England and Holland.

250 MADAME DE MAINTENON

The renowned French generals, Conde, Luxembourg,
and Turenne, were dead. When Turenne died it was
thought necessary to appoint eight generals in his place,
and they were known as " Change for M. de Turenne."

The following is Madame de Maintenon's letter to
Madame des Ursins, 8th May 1707, on a victory gained by
the French troops in Spain :

" It is very right to thank the God of battles for that
which He has enabled us to gain and you have so well
understood the joy of the King and all the Royal
Family that I cannot refrain from communicating the
particulars to you.

' You know Marly and my apartment ; the King was
alone in my little room, and I was sitting down to table in
my closet, through which it was necessary to pass ; an
officer of the guards cried out at the door, ' Here is
M. deChamillard.' 1

' The King answered, ' What ! he himself ? '

" I threw down my napkin much excited. M. de
Chamillard entered immediately, followed by M. de
Silly ; you may well imagine that I also went in. I then
heard of the defeat of the enemy's army, and returned to
sup in very good humour. The Dauphin, who was
playing billiards in the salon, soon joined the King, and
the Duke of Burgundy entered with a billiard mace in
his hand. Madame, to whom a message had been
despatched with the news that the Due d'Orleans'
army had gained a battle, soon arrived. I told her
he was not present at the battle, at which she was very
angry and said : ' I shall soon hear that my son has
hanged himself.' ..."

The Princesse des Ursins was lady-in-waiting to the
Queen of Spain, wife of Louis XIV.'s grandson, and was
practically the agent for French interests at the Court of
Spain, having gained unlimited influence over the young

1 War Minister.

THE COURT AND THE WAR 251

King, Philip IV., and the Queen, who was sister to the
Duchess of Burgundy. She replied as follows to the
above letter :

" All that you describe to me, from the moment when
the Officer announced M. de Chamillard, seems so natural
that I imagined seeing you throw down your napkin, and
hasten to hear the great news : Madame de Dangeau
posting off to write to her husband ; Madame de Hudi-
court walking about as if she had good legs, scarcely
knowing what she was doing ; M. de Marsan jumping on
a chair, to show his agility in spite of the gout. As for the
Duke of Burgundy, who is I believe occasionally absent-
minded, I am astonished that he did not in the first
moments of his joy take some lady for a billiard ball and
hit her with the queue which he had in his hand. In
short I have no difficulty in believing that all France
was delighted with such an advantageous victory for our
two Kings, which consolidates the throne of his Catholic
Majesty."

Madame de Maintenon to Madame de Caylus, 1706 :

" You are playing the part of the devil in tempting me
with such exquisite stuffs for a dress. The misery I
know of makes me parsimonious. But the battle gained
in Italy determines me to put on my fine dress ; if
Barcelona is taken I shall wear green ; and rose colour if
the Arch-Duke is taken prisoner."

Of the generals engaged in Spanish War when Louis XIV.
sent his armies to support his grandson's claim to the
throne, Vendome was perhaps the greatest soldier ; of his
military talents and heroic bravery there is no question,
and he was adored by his men. But he was hampered by a
divided command (the Duke of Burgundy was his colleague)
and by impossible instructions from the Court. He and
the other French generals, Boufflers, Villars and Villeroi,

252 MADAME DE MAINTENON

had to lead their troops against the greatest generals of the
age, Eugene of Savoy and Marlborough. Calamity after
calamity, disaster upon disaster befell the armies of France,
culminating in their signal defeat at Ramilies and Blen-
heim, by the allied forces under Marlborough's command.
The names of these battlefields and of Malplaquet and
Oudenarde have become household words.

In 1708 the strongest fortress in France, Lille, succumbed
to Prince Eugene after a heroic defence.

Eugene, son of Mazarin's niece, the Comtesse de Soissons,
had petitioned Louis XIV. for a colonelship in his army.
Louis refused, remarking that he did not care to have " a
little deformed man " in his army.

This remark came to Eugene's ears ; he left France,
swearing that he would make the King shed tears of blood
in revenge for this affront. Probably after Lille he was
satisfied that he had accomplished his'toath.

In addition to the expenses of a prolonged war, the
severe winters, especially that of 1708, when the sea was
frozen round the coasts and all crops destroyed, brought
famine, distress and insurrection. People clamoured for
bread under the very windows of the King. The hospitals
were overflowing, corpses of peasants who had died of
hunger were frequently found on the roads or in the woods.
At this crisis Madame de Maintenon sold her six horses,
her plate and jewellery, and made every effort possible
to help the needy. She gave subsidies to six provincial
convents, and day after day personally carried help to the
poor and sick at Versailles.

Her secretary, Mademoiselle d'Aumale, wrote : " She
thought day and night about the miseries of the people."

Yet she had the pain of hearing that the populace of

THE COURT AND THE WAR 253

Paris accused her of being the cause of the clearness of
bread, of buying up corn, and speculating in order to enrich
herself ! She received threatening and insulting letters,
and her name was universally execrated by the ignorant.
No wonder she said in after years : " The efforts of those
in high positions to do good are seldom appreciated. Do
what they may, they are always judged perversely and
arbitrarily, and generally misunderstood/'

In order to get money to carry on the war, the King
sent his gold plate to be melted ; most of the courtiers
imitated their master, and those who had no money to
give, gave themselves. French patriotism was aroused ;
gentlemen, farmers and mechanics flocked to the ranks to
swell the forces being raised to repel the enemy now on the
frontiers.

The Minister of Finance, as a means of raising money,
persuaded the King to allow every dignity and office of the
State, from a magistracy to a captaincy, to be sold, and
even to create new dignities and put them up to auction,
saying : " When your Majesty creates a new office, God
always creates a fool to buy it."

At Court there was scarcely a family that had not its
tale of dead and wounded, or who had not either a husband,
son or brother risking his life at the front.

When a battle was known to be imminent the agitation
at Court was extreme. Everyone was uneasy, thinking of
little except the arrival of couriers. Games and even
conversation ceased. If a horse passed quickly, people
rushed to the windows without knowing why 1 The War
Minister, Chamillard's rooms were crowded even up to the
street door, for everyone wished to be informed without
an instant's delay as soon as news arrived.

254 MADAME DE MAINTENON

The Duchess of Burgundy passed the night in chapel,
and so did most of the ladies who had husbands in the
army.

And this state of suspense was only broken by news of a
decisive battle, which often confirmed the worst anticipa-
tions of disaster. During the war Madame de Maintenon,
against her will, was obliged to take some part in politics,
and hold conferences with Ministers. Her intense
solicitude for the King, and her desire to spare him annoy-
ance, led her to hide from him many grievous events.

She has related how, when news of fresh disasters
from the seat of war, or harrowing accounts of distress
in the provinces arrived, the King would come to her room,
and lock the door, and give vent to the grief he wished to
hide from the public eyes, sometimes shedding bitter
tears.

She writes :

" Presently there will be knocking at the door, and
a Minister announced, generally with bad news. If my
presence is required, I am called, if not I retire to some
corner to pray. Sometimes I hear that all has gone
wrong ; then my heart beats and I get no sleep at night.
The designs of God are incomprehensible. Three
Christian Kings appear to be abandoned and heresy
and injustice triumph.

" Let us hope it will not be for long. Fortune never
remains the same for any length of time, that is the only
consolation in times of trouble. It is no use to struggle
against God, who evidently wishes to chastise France
for pride, undue arrogance and aggression/'

It seems never to have occurred to Madame de Maintenon
that the terrible persecution and sufferings inflicted on
so called " heretics," who were God-fearing and worthy

THE COURT AND THE WAR 255

people, might have brought down the anger of the God of
Love on the perpetrators. 1

The lamentable state of France made the King anxious
to obtain peace at any price, and by making great con-
cessions he succeeded.

The Treaty of Utrecht was signed in 1713. The grand-
son of Louis retained Spain, but lost Naples, Sicily and
Netherlands, half his dominions, and France had to
relinquish her border fortresses.

After the Peace of Utrecht, the nobility returned from
the wars, and for a short time the old splendours were
revived at Court. The winter balls and ftes at Marly
were on a scale of greater magnificence than ever, but the
poverty and misery of the people increased.

1 The Revocation of Edict of Nantes and consequent persecutions
are an indelible stain on the reign. That Madame de Maintenon did
not make a firmer stand against this policy is inconsistent with her
compassionate disposition. This, however, is dealt with in Chapter XIV.

CHAPTER XXIII

THE DUKE AND DUCHESS OF BURGUNDY

LOUIS XIV. 's only son by the Queen, Monseigneur
the Dauphin, the heir to the throne, was very
unlike his father. He had the fine features of
the Bourbons, but bloated by excess. He is
described as " drowned in his own fat." His tastes were
coarse ; he was incapable of acquiring knowledge ;
phenomenally ignorant, even for a Bourbon ; unable to
speak on any subject but cooking or hunting; obstinate and
excessively mean. He rarely went to Versailles, living at
his country house of Meudon, the resort of all who rebelled
against the restraint of the Court. He never ventured
to open his mouth in the presence of his father, whose
manner towards him was that of king rather than parent.
No regret was felt at his death, which took place suddenly
of smallpox, in 1711.

His son, the Duke of Burgundy, now became heir to the
throne, and of him the highest hopes were entertained.
As a boy he had been passionate and wayward ; furious
with the weather when it rained ; breaking the clocks that
struck the hours for his lessons. His pride was such that
he seemed to look down from the heights of heaven on
ordinary men as mere atoms to whom he bore no re-
semblance, and he scarcely even acknowledged the
princes, his brothers, as intermediate links between himself
and the human race. But under the influence of Fenelon,

From an engraving in the British Museum

THE DUKE AND DUCHESS OF BURGUNDY 257

to whom his education had been entrusted, his character
changed. God, who is the Master of hearts, and whose
Divine Spirit breathes where He wills, made of this prince a
noble being. He became affable, studious, modest and
austere. He endeavoured to fit himself for the task of
ruling France by reading the " Blue Books " of his day,
and long treatises on finance and the internal administra-
tion of the country, prepared for him by practical states-
men. He grieved deeply over the miseries of the country,
and actually dared to say that : " Kings must exist for
the good of the people, not the people for the King." x

He was most self-denying. We hear that he even
denied himself a bureau that he much wanted and had
ordered. He afterwards countermanded it, saying : " The
times are too bad, I had better give the money to the poor.
I must wait till money is more plentiful." No amount of
ridicule could induce him to give up his religious practices.

He esteemed Madame de Maintenon highly, and
especially valued her sincerity. Summing her up, he
said : "In one word, she is so true."

On the death of his father he was urged to leave his
books and fit himself for the succession to the throne,
which must soon fall to him, by mixing with the world
and acquiring that knowledge of mankind on which the
science of government depends, and which books alone
cannot give.

The young Duchess of Burgundy, his wife, Mary Adelaide
of Savoy, daughter of the first King of Sardinia, came to
Versailles when only twelve years old. Madame de Main-
tenon undertook her education, and she was constantly

1 This theory acted on by a less able man, Louis XVI., brought him
to the block, and cost him his head.

258 MADAME DE MAINTENON

with her and the old King, 1 who doted on her, and was
never happy when she was out of his sight. She would
amuse him with her lively stories and Italian "slang,"
caress him, pinch him, read his letters and interrupt the
gravest conversation with some gay remark.

One day Louis was talking to Madame de Maintenon of
the chancess of peace at the accession of Queen Anne.
"Aunt," said the Dauphiness, " you must allow that the
queens govern better than the kings in England ; and do
you know why, aunt ? " Then skipping about the room,
she went on : " Because under kings it is the women who
govern, and the men under the queens."

Both the King and Madame de Maintenon laughed
heartily and said she was quite right.

As she grew up the Duchess of Burgundy had a charming
figure and sweet expression, and a most graceful carriage.
" Her walk," says St Simon, " was that of a goddess over
clouds." Her freshness and brightness lightened the dull-
ness and sadness of Versailles, which was then but a gloomy
place, for what with war and famine, France had fallen on
evil days.

Madame de Maintenon's affection for the Duchess of
Burgundy was unfailing, though at one time the young
Duchess caused her no little anxiety. In her early married
life she gave way to frivolity and a passion for gambling,
and the following letters will show how Madame de Main-
tenon acted.

Letter of Duchess of Burgundy to Madame de Main-
tenon :

" Friday, midnight. I am in despair because I am so
often guilty of follies which give you cause to complain

1 Louis XIV. was in his seventy-third year.

THE DUKE AND DUCHESS OF BURGUNDY 259

of me. I am firmly resolved never again to take part in
this play, which only injures my reputation and di-
minishes your affection which is of all things the most
precious to me. I am overwhermed by your kindness in
sending me the money to pay my gambling debts. I
hope by God's help to cure myself of my failings and to
be worthy of your affection. 1

The Duchess of Burgundy did correct herself of her faults
and filled with dignity her position as the first lady in
France. Madame de Maintenon's counsels to her with
regard to her relations to God, to her husband, and to the
world, are very fine. They were perhaps given first in con-
versation, but she had them written out by her secretary,
Mademosielle d'Aumale, and gave the MS. to the Duchess,
who preserved it carefully ; at her death this book was
found in her desk and the King ordered it to be kept as a
valuable heritage for her descendants.

The following is a passage from this collection :

" Letter of Advice to Duchess of Burgundy :

" You love joy, repose, pleasure : believe me, I have
tasted all, there is no joy, repose or pleasure except in
serving God. Do not expect perfect happiness, it is not to
be found on earth. Let the Duke of Burgundy be your
best friend and confidant. Do not expect your union to
give you perfect peace of mind : the best marriages are
those when husband and wife bear and forbear with
gentleness and patience. Strive not to be jealous ; do
not hope to win back a husband by complaints, ill-
temper and reproaches ; the only means are patience and
gentleness.

" Speak, write, act and think as if you always had a
thousand witnesses, sooner or later all is known. Love
your servants, lead them to God, make their fortune but
not a great fortune ; do not satisfy their vanity or

1 The original of this letter is preserved in the Chateau de Mouchy.

260 MADAME DE MAINTENON

avarice, endeavour to inculcate moderation in their
desires.

" Sympathise with the unfortunate, God has placed
you in your high position to do good. The power of
doing services to others and making people happy is
the true compensation for the fatigues, disagreeables and
constraints of your position."

" Who indeed that knew her could help loving her ? "
wrote Madame de Maintenon after the death of the Duchess
of Burgundy. For all the hopes that were centred on this
young couple were soon to be shattered. A year after the
death of his father, the new Dauphin (better known as
Duke of Burgundy) and his wife and their eldest son died of
a malignant fever. It first attacked the Dauphiness.
After the first, for fear of infection, the Duke was not
allowed to remain with his wife but spent the time in
prayer. When they came to announce her death, he said,
" Domine salvum fac regem."

He himself was sickening of the same disease ; when his
strength gave way he was carried to the King's apartment.
Louis embraced his grandson tenderly, long and may times,
their words being choked by tears and sobs. After this
interview the Dauphin was carried to his bed and lingered
four days in agony, till death released him. St Simon,
describing the scene says :

" He threw on me a look that pierced me to the heart.
I never saw him again. May it please God in His mercy
that I may see him eternally where his goodness has
doubtless placed him."

Scarcely a month later the Dauphin's two children took
measles ; one died, the other lived to become Louis XV.
The Dauphin's brother, the Duke de Berry, died two years
later.

THE DUKE AND DUCHESS OF BURGUNDY 261

The terrible desolation of the King made a profound
impression on all hearts in so short a time deprived of
son and grandsons, and left with only one child's frail life
to perpetuate his dynasty.

The Due d' Orleans was accused of having poisoned the
Dauphin and Dauphiness, in order to clear his own way to
the throne, and he was almost torn in pieces by the mob
when his face was seen through the window of his glass
coach in the funeral cortege which escorted them to their
last resting place at St Denis. After the ceremony St
Simon said : " We have buried the fortunes of France."

Philippe, Due d'Orleans, had married Mademoiselle de
Blois, the youngest daughter of Louis XIV. by Madame de
Montespan. She was not pretty, but simple and virtuous.
D'Orleans was an extraordinary mixture of all the vices
and some good qualities ; he was brave and generous and
had talent. His taste for science and chemistry was
mixed with a foolish superstitious belief in magic and
sorcery. He spent hours in his laboratory ; but his great
desire was " to raise the devil and make him speak " ; for
this purpose he would pass whole nights in the quarries of
Vaugirard uttering spells and incantations. These prac-
tices, together with his notorious impiety and scandalous
life, made the credulous public believe the worst of him.
But with all his faults he was not a murderer, and he was
much attached to the Dauphin and Dauphiness ; nor had
he ambition as an incentive, he was far too indolent to
wish to rule. He indignantly demanded a public trial and
to be confronted with his accusers. But the King, who
was both uncle and father-in-law, said : " The only accusers
you have with me are your own immorality and frightful
laxity of principle."

262 MADAME DE MAINTENON

After the death of Louis XIV. d'Orleans became
Regent, and he always treated the little Louis XV. with a
chivalrous affection that was hardly to be expected from
a man of his character.

The following letter was written to Madame de
Maintenon by the Duchesse du Maine, after the death of
the Duke and Duchess of Burgundy :

" What a misfortune, Madame ! What a grief for
the King ! What a loss for France ! I feel it in the
depths of my heart. But I protest that the thought of
you redoubles my grief. My heart is penetrated with
the thought of all the sorrows that overwhelm you.
A sudden death deprives you of the work of your hands *
just as the kingdom was about to enjoy the fruit of all
your cares and you were beginning to perceive the
success of an education that cost you so much care and
watchfulness. Behold, Madame, a terrible lesson to
Princes ! God help us to profit by it ! And while I
shall implore Him to send you the consolations you so
much need, obtain for me of His mercy that this awful
example of the nothingness of earthly splendour may
make me think seriously of those that never perish.
" (Signed) LOUISE BENEDICTS DE BOURBON."

After the graves had closed over the Duke and Duchess
of Burgundy, the King retired to St Cyr. Up till then no
murmur had escaped his lips, but, shut up with Madame de
Maintenon in her private room, he gave way to his grief.
Here, free from the prying eyes of courtiers, they wept
together and consoled each other.

Relieved by giving way to nature, and strengthened by
prayer, Louis recovered his strength to face the future.

" Henceforth," said Madame de Maintenon, " France

1 The Duchess of Burgundy, whom Madame de Maintenon had
educated and formed.

THE DUKE AND DUCHESS OF BURGUNDY 263

alone will be his family, and not less dear than those he has
lost."

The little Dauphin (only surviving child of the Duke and
Duchess of Burgundy) was often brought to take the air in
the gardens of St Cyr, and one can imagine with what de-
light the community welcomed the child of their beloved
princess. When he passed out of the hands of his Gouver-
nante, the Duchesse de Ventadour, into the hands of a
governor and tutor, she sent his last child's dress to be
consecrated for the ornamentation of the Virgin's shrine.

It is sad that the child of so many hopes and prayers
should have lived to become infamous in history as
Louis XV.

CHAPTER XXIV

LAST YEARS OF THE REIGN OF LOUIS XIV

MADAME DE MAINTENON was quite
broken-hearted through the troubles that
overwhelmed the King and country in the
latter years of the reign ; more particularly
she felt deeply that his improved life should have been
coincident with all the misfortunes of his reign. She had
always to appear cheerful and serene before the King and
Court, and her only comfort was when she could get away
to St Cyr and unburden herself to Madame de Glapion, her
chief confidante.

" One of my greatest troubles is," she said, " that when
the King comes to me for rest and recreation, I am often
obliged to occupy the time by speaking of unpleasant
things : to tell him the truth, that people are deceiving
him, or giving him bad advice. How wretched I am to be
obliged to sadden one whom I love, and to displease one
whom everybody else tries to please/'

To her niece, Madame de Caylus, she writes :

" MARLY, 1701. We lead a singular life here. The
young generation would like to have wit, gallantry, and
originality, but are without it. They play, yawn and
are bored, caress each other, and tear each other to
pieces."

Madame de Maintenon disliked new customs, as the

following letter to the Princesse des Ursins shows :
264

LAST YEARS OF REIGN OF LOUIS XIV 265

" FONTAINEBLEAU, Sept. ^Qth, 1714. The Elector of
Bavaria has departed, after being amused day and night
by the Princesses and card-players. He has taken away
nearly all his money, upon which they had formed great
projects. M. d'Antin lost two hundred thousand francs.
The Court has had more brilliant ladies than it has at
present, but it has not been more crowded, peace having
restored to us all the men, and we have also many
foreigners. On Wednesday there was some music on
the canal. The Elector was in a boat with the Duchess
of Burgundy, the King on shore in his caleche, with all
the nobility on horseback, and a great number of ladies
in small caleches, a little too low, but very pretty, and
filled with youth and beauty ; for the elderly no longer
mix with the young ; ladies of honour, mothers and
gouvernantes must now form parties of their own.

" The departure of the Elector of Bavaria was
succeeded by the arrival of the Electoral Prince of
Saxony. He hunted on Saturday with the Duke's
hounds, out of compliment the King joined in the chase
and killed two stags, one not being enough for him. He
hunted seven hours and returned to the musical party
in my room fresher and gayer than if he had done
nothing. He usually attends a stag-hunt twice a week
and on other days he shoots or takes a walk ; attends
four musical parties in my apartments, or hears some of
Moliere's best plays read. He holds more councils than
ever and gives a number of audiences to courtiers and
foreigners. He enters into and attends to business
assiduously and really his life is a continuous miracle. 1

' The alterations he has made at Fontainebleau have
made it much more agreeable.

' The marriage of the Prince de Soubise was cele-
brated at Versailles with all the pomp, politeness and
propriety of the two families who are certainly the
least spoiled of all we see around us. I do not think
the young bride will appear in public without a suite
so soon as all here are in the habit of doing. I speak
not only of Marly where it is now usual to do so, and
to walk in the gardens exposed to the gaze of everybody ;

1 He was seventy-five.

266 MADAME DE MAINTENON

but it is the same at Versailles and Paris. My imagina-
tion does not extend so far as to see you in the streets
lolling in an open caleche with four young lacqueys
behind for it is thus our greatest young ladies now
appear. This does not resemble the house at Versailles
where I had the honour to visit you, and of passing
through one antechamber full of servants in livery,
another in which were the gentlemen and your ladies,
and you, Madame, in your own room (which had no
back door), where one was sure to find you/'

An amusing marriage ceremony is described in a letter
to the Princesse des Ursins, 3rd June 1708 :

" We have had a grand scene at Marly. Madame de
Roquelaure sent to beg I would allow her to enter my
apartment by a back door ; I found her in the greatest
affliction ; she said she came to ask justice from the
King for the abduction of her daughter by the Prince
de Leon. The circumstances are as follows : The
parents wished to marry the Prince to Mademoiselle
Roquelaure, and after a long treaty on the subject, it
was broken off because the Due de Rohan would not
give money enough to his son. Meanwhile the two
parties immediately interested promised to marry each
other. The young lady was in the Convent of La
Croix, Faubourg St Antoine, with her governess. The
Prince de Leon sent a coach to the Convent with a
message requesting that Mademoiselle de Roquelaure
should go and see her mother who was at the house of
Madame de Viefille. The Prince had the arms and
livery of this lady painted on the coach. The young
lady got into the coach with her governess, who per-
ceiving that the coach did not take the right road,
wished to call for help, but her mouth was stopped with a
handkerchief : having met the Prince de Leon, they
proceeded to a small country house belonging to the Due
de Lorges. Here a priest said Mass and married them.

" After remaining a few hours the bride returned to
the Convent with her governess. The Prince has
written as follows to the Due d'Aumont : ' I entreat

LAST YEARS OF REIGN OF LOUIS XIV 267

ou to tell Madame de Roquelaure, that I have married
er daughter ; that I have brought back the Princesse
de Leon to her Convent where I hope she will not remain
long/

' The lady is nearly twenty-five, and tired to death of
the Convent ; she is said to be highly accomplished and
amiable, but not handsome. The King has terminated
the affair, but as the marriage will take place without
a reconciliation between them, all the parties are to
enter the church by different doors ; they will meet at
the foot of the altar ; the ceremony will be performed
and all will return without speaking to each other. The
new married couple will be allowed twelve thousand
francs per annum."

In 1708 Madame de Maintenon writes to the Due de
Noailles :

" All in this world is trouble, vanity and vexation.
Troubles among men, among women, the great, the
small, in society and in families. You know how often
people have offered their plate to augment war funds.
Now they begin to murmur and say the King should
set the example of retrenching. All his expenses are
complained of. The journeys to Marly ruin the
kingdom. They wish to deprive him of his dogs, horses,
valets, even his furniture.

Where are these murmurs heard ?

' At the King's door.

' By whom are they uttered ?

' By people who owe all they possess to him.

' He has diminished the Marly parties, sent his plate
to the Mint and his jewellery to be mortgaged.

" But people only wish to notice what is not done.
I tell you such dispositions make the blood freeze in my
veins."

To the Comte d'Harcourt she wrote :

" Is it possible that knowing the state of the country
you think the King is treating for peace too soon ! Do

268 MADAME DE MAINTENON

you think he ought to stand out for one or two cities
more or less when the people of France are at the last
extremity, and the nobility even more so, when all
commerce has ceased, and we have not a ship on the sea
and do not know where to turn for money ? Many
people who helped the poor last year, are now obliged
to accept alms secretly to keep themselves alive/'

The revenues secured to it by Louis XIV. saved St Cyr
from these troubles, and the Community imposed every
possible privation on themselves in order to increase the
number of destitute people they were thus enabled to
succour. The pupils deprived themselves of their ribbons,
ate only ryebread, and gave up their playtime to make
clothes for the needy.

When Madame de Maintenon went in her carriage from
Versailles to St Cyr, she was surrounded by such a mob of
beggars that the carriage could not move. They uttered
yells and shrieks of despair, and at last she felt that her life
was not safe. She said, " The people are in such a state of
desperation that it is impossible to reason with them, and
one cannot go out in safety."

Though Madame de Maintenon's carriage was filled with
food and clothing which, as well as money, she distributed
as she went along, it was only a drop in the ocean of misery
that surged around her progress.

Louis XIV. showed real grandeur of character in the
way he bore up under the repeated buffets of fortune.
Talking to Marechal Villars of the prospects of the war, he
said : " If you are beaten I shall come myself to your aid
or die with you. I have the honour to be the oldest
soldier in my kingdom."

At the time of her marriage to the King, Madame de
Maintenon appeared the younger of the two, but as the

LAST YEARS OF REIGN OF LOUIS XIV 269

years passed she fell a victim to the infirmities of age
sooner than he did.

While she was losing teeth, sight and hearing, Louis still
had a good appetite, worked daily with Ministers, hunted
frequently, and had lost little of his majestic appearance.
Madame de Maintenon was very sensitive about her bodily
infirmities, and liked to hide herself from the public eye.
She said she was ashamed to have lived so long. She
could not believe that her company was still a pleasure to
her friends, but imagined that their visits were made out of
compassion. A remnant of pride made her shrink from
asking for their society or for those little cares and atten-
tions which age had made necessary. Every year she re-
tired more and more from general society. At the age of
seventy-five she wrote : " The King is a great deal with me,
and I like to be alone when I am at my own disposal/'

The last years of the reign of " le Grand Monarque "
make melancholy reading. One does not like to hear of
the magnificent Louis being wheeled about in a chair, 1 and
the enchantress, Madame de Maintenon, becoming deaf
and nearly blind.

We feel, as Louis himself felt, that he had lived too long ;
that it would have been preferable to have died at the
height of his glory and prosperity than to have lived to see
his armies defeated, his country impoverished by war and
famine, the great names that made his reign famous dis-
appear, and three generations of his family go down into
the grave before him.

His latter years were troubled by religious controversies.
A few bishops and recluses 2 quarrelled over five or six

1 This was the case before the end came.
* The Port Royalists.

2/o MADAME DE MAINTENON

sentences in a book 1 and the whole of France was con-
vulsed by this senseless war of opinion, which prevented
the King from dying in peace.

Louis still gave audience to ambassadors and presided at
councils, but in August 1715 his health began to decline
rapidly. At this time, in Madame de Maintenon's company,
he looked through the contents of his private desk, and
burned such papers as he did not wish to meet the eyes of
others after his death. In this desk was a rosary, which he
gave to Madame de Maintenon, telling her to wear it
always, not as a relic, but in memory of him.

On the 24th August he dined in public for the last time.
The drums and hautboys played under his window, as was
usual on the feast of St Louis. In the evening he was
seized with a fit, and the doctors thought his state so
critical that Pere le Tellier and Cardinal de Rohan were
summoned to his bedroom and he made his last confession
and received the last Sacrament.

His dignity and self-control never left him though he
suffered greatly.

" Why do you weep ? " he said to the princesses. "Did
you believe me immortal ? Must I not pay to God the
tribute of my life, which is his due ? "

Louis had a last interview with the Due d'Orleans, who
was to be Regent, and asked him to take care of Madame
de Maintenon, for whom (at her own request) no provision
had been made.

He then sent for the gentlemen of his household, thanked
them for their long and faithful service, and expressed the
hope that they would be equally dutiful to the young King.
Seeing them shed tears, he said : " Adieu, gentlemen, it is

1 Jansenist heresy.

LAST YEARS OF REIGN OF LOUIS XIV 271

time for us to part. I trust you will think of me some-
times."

The little Dauphin was then sent for. The King em-
braced him, gave him his blessing, and some pathetic words
of advice, which show that he (the King) was very sensible
of his own shortcomings.

" My child," he said, " you are going to be a great King.
Do not imitate me in the taste I had for magnificent build-
ings and war ; strive on the contrary to be at peace with
your neighbours. Render to God what is His due, and
cause your subjects to honour Him. Try to be a comfort
to your people, which I unfortunately have not been."

When the child, who was scarcely five years old, had been
carried away, weeping, Louis turned to Madame de Main-
tenon, and pressing her hand, said : " What consoles me
most of all is that we may soon meet again."

All that night he lingered in agony and was heard re-
peating to himself : " Have pity on me, O God, come to
my aid."

These were his last audible words.

At eight o'clock in the morning his Confessor, Le Tellier,
who had never left the bedside, placed the crucifix on the
dead King's breast ; an officer stopped the palace clock ; a
herald threw open the windows, stepped out on the balcony,
and, in accordance with immemorial custom, thrice pro-
claimed : " Le Roi est mort, Vive le Roi ! "

Thus, after the longest and most eventful reign in French
history, Louis XIV. disappeared from the scene where he
had experienced much glory and no little obloquy.

CHAPTER XXV

CHARACTER OF LOUIS XIV.

LOUIS is described as having been very handsome
in his youth. His eyes were blue, his nose long
well formed. His abundant hair was allowed
to fall over his shoulders, and in the flowing
plumes and picturesque dress of the period his appearance
was most fascinating. Though slightly below middle
height, all agree that in majestic, dignified bearing and
impressive manners he was unrivalled, and Bolingbroke
says : " If he was not the greatest king, he was the best
actor of majesty that ever filled a throne."

He was skilled in all social acquirements, danced, rode
and drove to perfection, and excelled in all athletic exer-
cises. His education was deficient. During his minority
Cardinal Mazarin was supreme, and did not wish Louis to
develop abilities or acquire knowledge that would lead him
to interfere early in State affairs, so the tutors and
governors had their instructions.

Mazarin had judged his character, and said he had enough
stuff in him to make three kings and one honest man.
Although his intellectual development never proceeded
far, he became proficient in after years in all that in those
times it was necessary for a king to know, and his judgment
of men was sound.

As soon as Mazarin was dead Louis began to show that
the k former was mistaken in his estimate of the young
272

.V ; l'i\ . 5 u n ' i ( . *i&nce el > r I laudii \-^

from an engraving in the British -\Iuseuin

CHARACTER OF LOUIS XIV 273

King's character. He took the reins of government into
his own hands, fixed the limit of each minister's powers,
causing them to render to him, at regular hours, an account
of all they were doing, and watching carefully to see that
they did not abuse or exceed their powers. This manner of
ruling continued till the end of his life, and whatever else
might be put aside he never failed to work five hours
daily at affairs of State, and never allowed amusements or
love affairs to interfere with his hours of business.

He soon began to fortify and embellish his kingdom.
The seaports formerly deserted were surrounded by de-
fences and covered with ships. He sent out his subjects
to plant his flag and form colonies in America, East Indies
and Africa, while in France immense edifices gave occupa-
tions to millions of men, and the interior of his Court and
capital gave to France pleasures and glory of which,
hitherto, there had been no conception. His designs
were magnificent, and under him France attained a position
of incontestable preponderance in Europe, and his Court
became the most stately Court of history.

Although his life was lived in public from the time that,
in the midst of a large assembly, a Prince of the Blood
handed him his shirt, when he got up in the morning, till
the last thing at night, yet those who lived in closest inti-
macy with him found him equally impressive.

Louis XIV. never relaxed his dignity, but his successor,
Louis XV. considered himself as two individuals, and had
separate business and monetary accounts and pleasures, in
one of which he figured as Louis Bourbon, and in the other
as King. Louis Bourbon was fond of orgies in low company
but even there, if the license exceeded the bounds of even
his toleration, he would (as he well could) suddenly assume

274 MADAME DE MAINTENON

a regal air, and, rapping on the table, would say in a loud
voice : r< The King is here," and effectually stop what
offended him.

Louis XIV. never appeared in any other character than
that of " le Grand Monarque," even on his deathbed.

He himself said once :

" Princes have no right to be careless, since general
consent has made us Highnesses, we must know how
to carry our burden, and to lay it down at no time and
in no place. In the sight of God we are not so, but in
the eyes of our fellowmen we are great and extra-
ordinary beings. The day that people abandon this
veneration, which is the mainstay of thrones, the day
they regard us as equals, the prestige of our position
will be destroyed, the laws will be only so many black
lines on white paper."

Louis made this speech to his brother, on the occasion of
the latter endeavouring to obtain the right of a seat in the
Royal Presence for his wife, and he continued :

" Your tabouret and my fauteuil l will be pieces of
furniture of the same importance. I regret being un-
able to accede to your request, but it is necessary by
these distinctions to safeguard the dignity of the Crown.
Etiquette is with me only a matter of policy, personally
I care nothing for these distinctions. . . ."

St Simon says :

" Never did anyone give such distinction to his words,
his smiles, his very looks. He made everything precious
by making it choice and majestic, and to this the rarity

1 The " Fauteuil " was the kind of arm-chair in which the kings and
queens sat.

The " tabouret " was a stool without arms or back on which Royal
princes, and such of the highest nobility as possessed the right of
sitting in the presence of royalty, were seated.

CHARACTER OF LOUIS XIV 275

of his words contributed not a little. If he addressed
anyone a question, it might be, or a commonplace
remark it was an honour about which one talked.
It was the same with all his attentions and distinctions,
and with the preference so exactly proportioned to each
person's merits.

"Never did anyone give with a better grace, and
thereby enhance the value of the gifts."

Le Grande Monarque was not one to whom could be
applied the saying, " No man is a hero to his valet." He
was kind to his servants, but the moment he assumed his
royal deportment, they were as much intimidated as if
they were appearing in his presence for the first time.

Some of the members of his household claimed preroga-
tives, the exercise of which was disputed with them by the
municipal body of St Germains, where they resided in con-
siderable numbers. They obtained permission to send a
delegation to the King, and two of his Majesty's valets-de-
chambre, named Bazire and Toulaigre, were chosen to re-
present them. The King's levee being over, the deputation
from St Germains was called in. They entered with con-
fidence, the King assumed his imposing official attitude.
Bazire was about to speak, but Louis the Great was looking
at him. He no longer saw the prince he was accustomed
to attend to ; he was intimidated, and could not find words.
He stammered and began, " Sire," but could not recollect a
word of what he had come to say, so, after repeating " Sire "
several times, he concluded with, " Sire, here is Toulaigre."
Toulaigre expected to acquit himself better, but he also
became embarrassed when he found the King's eyes on
him, and after repeating " Sire " several times, his con-
fusion equalled that of his colleague, and he could only add,
" Sire, here is Bazire."

276 MADAME DE MAINTENON

The King, highly amused, said: "Gentlemen, I have been
informed of the business about which you have been
deputed to wait on me, and I will have the matter attended
to," and they retired.

Not only his servants but his children stood in awe of
him, and even when his son the Dauphin had attained
manhood, he was always so overwhelmed when his father
addressed him, that he could seldom do anything but
stammer and fidget with his hat.

It is not probable that Louis ever had time to repair the
deficiences of his early education as far as literature was
concerned, but he desired to be known as a patron of the
arts and sciences, and his ministers were commanded to
seek out, not only in his own kingdom, but in all the coun-
tries of Europe, such men as were distinguishing themselves
by talents and discoveries and inform them that, though
not their king, he hoped to be allowed to be their bene-
factor, and to bestow on them bonuses and pensions of
considerable amount.

The moving principle of Louis XIV. 's whole life was the
idea, with which he was so intensely imbued, of the " Divine
Right of Kings," that he was answerable to God only, as
God's lieutenant, and that he was beyond and above criti-
cism of his subjects or fellowmen. In this view he was
supported by the ecclesiastics of the time. We remember
Bossuet's celebrated declaration, that kings are gods, and
on another occasion, when Louis doubted as to the wisdom
of burdening his subjects with the " King's Tithe," his Con-
fessor told him that all the Doctors of the Sorbonne agreed
that the property of the people was really the property of
the King, and that if he confiscated it he was only taking
back his own.

CHARACTER OF LOUIS XIV 277

This theory, together with the possession of unlimited
power and the atmosphere of adulation in which Louis
lived, fostered his self-love, which gradually developed into
what Saint Beuve designates as " his immense and hideous
selfishness."

A courtier says of him in later life : "I noticed that as
soon as the conversation turned on anything but himself he
began to yawn."

This selfishness was displayed most conspicuously in all
his dealings with women. From a very early age he was
extremely susceptible to their charms, but fickle and heart-
less to the last degree in his relations with them. Not the
most lovely and loving woman in the world could hold him
long, unless besides beauty she had the wit to amuse him.
The Queen, Marie Therese of Spain, was a very pretty young
girl at the time of her marriage, and deeply enamoured of
her handsome and magnificent young husband, but, as she
was not clever or amusing, he very soon tired of her and
never spared her feelings, going off (when fetes were in
progress) in a carriage with Madame de Montespan, or
whoever was the reigning favourite of the moment, and
leaving the Queen and her ladies to follow behind. He
even made Madame de Montespan Superintendent of the
Queen's Household, which entailed her being constantly in
the Queen's company and in a certain degree in authority
over her ; for the privileges of the Lady Superintendent
were so extensive that they were at least a restraint on
the Queen. They included a right to nominate to employ-
ment, settle differences between holders of offices, dismiss
or suspend servants.

Although it was not till after the birth of Madame de
Montespan's third child by the King that the Queen realised

278 MADAME DE MAINTENON

and could be made to believe in the extent of their intimacy,
her grief and anger were then unbounded, but more directed
against Madame de Montespan than against the King, to
whom she continued to show the greatest affection, wishing
him to think of her as his best friend, and she never re-
proached him with his infidelities. On her deathbed he
said to her, when weeping by her side : " Dear friend, this
is the first grief you have caused me in twenty years."
Yet he did not scruple to go out hunting while her funeral
ceremonies were taking place.

As he had not scrupled to wound the Queen's feelings,
neither did he hesitate to throw aside the devoted la Val-
liere when his fancy turned to Madame de Montespan ; so
with Madamejde Montespan he was equally unscrupulous
and unfeeling when, after she had borne him seven children,
he tired of her.

Later on, when the Minister Louvois was telling her that
the King wished her to retire from Court, he said : " You
know he always carries out his wishes, whatever anyone
may say or do, and generally makes it the worse for
anyone who opposes him."

In justice to Louis it must be said that he had made
Madame de Montespan immensely wealthy, and she lived
after her retirement from Court in great splendour.

She retained her beauty to the last in spite of what
Madame de^Maintenon calls " the austerities " of Court life.

" There arej no austerities compared with those of
society," she writes, and indeed a Court lady required a
constitution of iron. A Court favourite was bound to be
always pleased by what pleased the King. She must be
hungry or thirsty, warm or cold according to his Majesty's
pleasure.

CHARACTER OF LOUIS XIV 279

111 or well she must be superbly dressed, low-necked,
bare-headed ; she must travel in this guise, and endure,
smilingly, sun, wind and dust ; she must dance, sit up late,
sup with hearty appetite, be gay and look in good health
on the days and hours prescribed by the King. The
journeys were the greatest trials of all. In his youth
Louis loved to fill his immense carriage with ladies in fine
clothes. No matter what the weather might be, all the
windows must be open because he liked fresh air.
Quantities of provisions were stowed away. Scarcely
started, the ladies were forced to eat until they nearly
exploded, for the King had a royal appetite, and expected
the ladies to keep him company. 1 Some of the ladies
came near dying on the road, several fainted, and thereby
incurred lasting disgrace it was an unpardonable offence. 2

In later life, when Madame de Maintenon became
indispensable to the King, he showed her no more con-
sideration. Whatever her state might be, the King would
come to her room at the usual hour, attended by his suite,
without thought or care as to whether it might be agreeable
to her. Even if she had a severe cold, he would order all
the windows to be opened, if he found them shut. If he
required cards or music, her headache or any other infirmity
was no hindrance. She must endure it all without com-
plaint, with a hundred candles flaring in her eyes says
St Simon.

Yet so great was the desire to become one of the Court
circle, that ladies of high birth, rich and independent, were
willing to undergo such slavery, and even to pay large

1 St Simon describes the enormous quantity of food the King would
take at one repast.

2 Vide Arvede Barine's " Princesses and Court Ladies."

280 MADAME DE MAINTENON

sums of money for the post of Lady of Honour in the
Royal Household.

There is no doubt that, after middle age, Louis became
sincerely religious, as religion was understood in those
days. He brought his life into strict conformity with the
moral law and was strict in all the outward observances of
religion. But there is no touch of greatness in his religious
policy.

One of the greatest mistakes of his reign, and indeed it
may well be called a crime, was the Revocation of the
Edict of Nantes, by which King Henri IV., in 1598, had
given to the Huguenots (as the Protestants of France were
generally called) liberty to practise the tenets of their
faith, and to worship according to its rights, unmolested
and had declared them eligible for all the offices and
dignities of State.

When in 1685 Louis XIV. revoked this Edict, the result
was that hundreds of innocent people lost their lives or
endured incredible sufferings, and 300,000 men and
women of the most respectable classes left the kingdom.
They carried into other countries the arts and manu-
factures in which they were skilled ; thus France was
impoverished and other countries, notably England,
Holland and Germany, profited. Among the emigrants
were 600 officers and 12,000 seasoned soldiers lost to
France at a time when they were most needed to turn the
tide of Louis's ill-success in the European wars in which he
was then engaged.

Louis was instigated to the measure by the Jesuits,
who influenced him through his Confessor (who was of
their Order) by the continual remonstrances of Catholic
bishops and archbishops, and by his great Minister,

CHARACTER OF LOUIS XIV 281

Louvois, and the Chancellor le Tellier. The latter sang
Nunc Dimittis after signing the Revocation.

Perhaps it was owing to Madame de Maintenon's
influence that persuasive measures were tried first. The
King assigned to his agents, Pelisson and the Bishop of
Grenoble, large revenues for the benefit of those who were
willing to conform. When these measures proved un-
successful, four marshals of France, with their forces, were
sent in succession to subdue the " rebels," as they were
termed, and atrocious cruelties and persecutions were set
on foot by Louvois.

It was said that Louis wished to atone for the sins and
irregularities of his youth by this effort to bring about
religious unity in France, and establish everywhere what
Churchmen called " Our Holy Religion " but it is
probable that he was greatly influenced by the idea that
his absolute supremacy, which he wished to enforce in
Church, as well as State, was menaced by the privileges
of the Huguenots. 1 He thought they aimed at freedom
of the Church from State control and were rebels against
his cherished dogma of absolute authority.

It was carrying too far the idea that prevailed at Court,
that men's consciences, and everybody and everything
must yield to the name of Louis.

The barbarities inflicted do not seem to have offended
public opinion.

Madame de Sevigne, who was esteemed one of the most
charming and lovable women of the day, writes :

" We are not dull here. Hanging is our amusement
just now. To-day they have taken twenty or thirty

1 For privileges accorded to Huguenots by Henry IV., and account of
persecution that followed the Revocation, see Voltaire's " SiScle de
Louis XIV.," chap, xxxvi.

282 MADAME DE MAINTENON

of these Huguenots and are going to throw them off.
My brother-in-law has just returned from a fatiguing
journey to pursue and punish these wretched fellows.
They come forth from their holes and vanish like
ghosts to avoid extermination."

Thank God that a callous indifference to human suffering
has passed away with " the good old times."

The spirit of compassion is abroad in the world, and
in these days no forlorn hope, no cause of the oppressed
or suffering, however obscure and humble, need be long
without its champion.

Whatever his motives for the Revocation of the Edict
of Nantes, the praises of Louis resounded in the pulpits of
the churches. On the Sunday following, the celebrated
Bossnet said, in referring to it : "In this event we see the
noblest exercise of authority, and the merits of the
sovereign are recognised and revered. Let our hearts
overflow with joy at the piety of Louis let us raise our
acclamations to the skies."

Whatever the shortcomings of Christian professors in
this our twentieth century, we may be thankful that it is
no longer thought possible to please God by persecuting
and torturing our fellow-creatures for differences of opinion
as to the manner in which our Common Father is to be
worshipped, or on mysteries that He has willed should
remain unknowable in this our present state of existence.

We are a little nearer the Light than in those days, we
have groped our way a few steps farther back towards the
true spirit of the Founder of Christianity none is in peril
of his life should he dare to refuse to be bound by the
doctrines of those who try to force on others the dogmas
of men as the ordinances of God, under the haughty

CHARACTER OF LOUIS XIV 283

pretext that they only are enlightened and sincere and can
explain what God has not made clear.

In later life Louis fell'much under the influence of his
Jesuit Confessor. The Keeper of the King's Conscience
was a very important personage almost a Minister of
State.

Pere de la Chaise, who rilled the position for many years'
was a kindly, wide-minded man. Of him it was said,
" He was a happy combination of several men he was by
turns, as might be needful, a man indulgent or severe in
preaching ; a man of abstinence or an epicure ; a man of
the world, or of his breviary."

When he grew old and his health was enfeebled, on hear-
ing that there were no terraces or gardens at the Jesuit
Monastrey of the Rue St Antoine, the King made a present
to his Confessor of a house with a charming garden in the
suburb of Belle Ville and sent thither rare shrubs and
flowers from Versailles. There Pere de la Chaise had daily
a numerous Court of young abbes, old priests, barons,
countesses, marquises, magistrates, who came to inquire
for his health, and to ask for themselves or friends a
bishopric, a cardinal's hat, a Priory, or a Canonry, as
the case might be.

We hear of an amusing scene when, in crossing the ante-
chamber, he dropped his handkerchief and three portly
bishops at once flung themselves on it, vying with each
other as to who should be the one to hand it back to
him.

All his influence seems to have been exercised for good
on his deathbed he asked the King as a special favour to
choose his successor from among the Jesuits.

Madame de Maintenon hated the Jesuits. She writes :

284 MADAME DE MAINTENON

" The name of Christ is always in their mouths, but
they do not copy His candour and humility. They wish
to rule everywhere. They want to get me under their
yoke, but God forbid/'

Unfortunately the successor to Pere de la Chaise was his
very opposite in character.

The choice fell on Pere le Tellier, 1 a man of whom
Voltaire says, " He did all the harm that it was possible
for a man in that position to do."

Pere le Tellier seems indeed to have been almost the
ideal Jesuit of fiction harsh, laborious, fanatical, bigoted,
false and unscrupulous, with no God but the interests of
his Order a man who, bound by the vows of his Order,
could hope for nothing for himself not an apple or a
glass of water more than his brethren, postponing every
other consideration to that of power.

The Jesuits seem to have been responsible for much of
the inconsistency between profession and practice which
was a marked feature of the age. With a Jesuit at hand
the most profligate had no occasion to despair. Pardon
could be obtained, and indulgence bought, if recourse was
had to a Jesuit Confessor.

Masters of most of the Courts of Europe through their
position as Confessors to the Sovereign ; masters of almost
every state through their instruction of youth exercising
authority by their multifarious knowledge ; winning men's
affections by every art, formidable from their power and
wealth and subordinating all other considerations to the
welfare of their Order, such were the Jesuits in the
seventeenth century.

1 Not to be confounded with the Chancellor le Tellier, to whom he
was not related.

CHARACTER OF LOUIS XIV 285

Under the influence of Pere le Tellier, Louis sanctioned the
system of religious intolerance which led to the persecution
of the Jansenists and Quietists, the destruction of the Port
Royal, and the enforced acceptance of the Bull Unigenitus
and this system of religious intolerance contributed, as
much as the derangement of finance, brought about by
the expenses of unsuccessful wars, and the bad seasons,
which caused famine and the misery of the people, to
obliterate in the minds of Louis the XIV.'s subjects all
that he had previously accomplished that was great and
memorable.

CHAPTER XXVI

MADAME DE MAINTENON RETIRES TO END HER DAYS

AT ST CYR

GREAT doubt was felt as to what course would be
taken subsequent to the King's death by
the Regent, d'Orleans.
There were those who thought he might
owe Madame de Maintenon a grudge on account of the
King's will, 1 and might attempt to humiliate her and
interfere with her liberty.

When the King became unconscious Marechal Villeroi
and the Due de Noailles urged Madame de Maintenon's
immediate retreat to St Cyr.

Her departure before the King had actually breathed his
last being one of the actions of Madame de Maintenon that
has been the most adversely criticised, it is necessary to
give a detailed account of her conduct during these last
days.

Mademoiselle d'Aumale was in the King's room with
Madame de Maintenon most of the time, and we take her
account as correct.

When he gave Madame de Maintenon the chaplet, he
gave Mademoiselle d'Aumale the bon-bon box which he
used daily, a little round box made of mother-of-pearl

1 Which gave the custody of the little Louis XV. to the Due du
Maine, not to the Regent, and otherwise diminished the latter's
powers.

ENDS HER DAYS AT ST CYR 287

with a gold rim which her descendants possess at the
present day.

During his illness Madame de Maintenon remained with
the King day and night, only leaving the room occasionally
to hide her tears. He bade her good-bye three times, on
three successive days. On the first day he said the only
thing that made him regret that he was dying was that he
must be parted from her. On the second he expressed
regret that he had not made her happy, and he shed
tears.

On the third day he said : " What will become of you ?
You have nothing."

She replied, " I am nothing. Think of God only."

She then left him, but on returning asked him to bespeak
the protection of the Due d' Orleans for her.

Louis also said, " You must have great courage to
watch such a sight. Do not stay here ; I hope the end will
soon come."

On the evening of the 28th the King being unconscious,
she went to St Cyr to perform her devotions, but the
medicine of a quack, which had been tried as a last
resource, revived the King, and on hearing this Madame de
Maintenon returned to the palace and stayed with him the
whole of the 2Qth and 3oth. On the evening of the 3oth,
as he had been unconscious all day, and she was told
he would not recover consciousness, 1 she went finally to St
Cyr.

She entered Marechal Villeroy's coach and proceeded
thither, escorted by his guards and accompanied by her
secretary, Mademoiselle d'Aumale She said, " I have

1 The Dowager Duchesse d'Orleans wrote : " Everyone thought the
King was dead when Madame de Maintenon left."

288 MADAME DE MAINTENON

seen a great King die like a saint and a hero, and now I
have nothing to think of but my own salvation and works
of charity."

Next morning news that the King had passed away
reached St Cyr, and as a means of making it known to her,
Mademoiselle d'Aumale announced that the whole Com-
munity were awaiting her in the chapel.

Madame de Maintenon understood. She at once took
her place in the choir to assist at the offices for the dead,
and next day was present at the Requiem.

For thirty years she had shared the King's life and his
cares ; now the strain was over and there was a sense of
relief.

She felt no vivid regret for him, she was thankful that
she had accomplished her task of bringing him to God, and
she certainly acted up to her own words i.e. that she
wished only to be forgotten.

Her bitterest enemies are obliged to acknowledge that
she took part in no intrigues, even during all the troubles
that befell her beloved Due du Maine, after the setting
aside of the King's will ; and she could never be induced
even to make a remark or give an opinion on public matters,
except occasionally in commenting to Madame de Caylus
on her letters.

Two days after the King's death, Madame de Maintenon
wrote as follows to Madame de Villette :

" What a loss has befallen us ! The King has died
the death of the righteous and in the fulness of his years,
as the Wise Man said.

" I shall not survive him long. What happiness can
there be for me henceforth in the world ? I long to
rejoin in heaven the pure and noble soul with which my
mind and heart have so long been filled and occupied ;

ENDS HER DAYS AT ST CYR 289

for it would be a crime to doubt for one instant that God
has pardoned him. Let us think how best to follow
him ; we shall do well if we go through the dread
passage from this world to the next with even a part of
his fortitude/'

Louis XIV. died in August. In September the Regent,
the Due d' Orleans, accompanied by the great Officers of
the Court, in deep mourning, came to St Cyr, to pay
Madame de Maintenon a state visit of condolence. The
Regent entered alone.

" I come/' he said, " to assure you of my sympathy in
your grief, and that I wish to secure for you all the con-
sideration that you may desire/ 1

Madame de Maintenon replied : " I feel pleasure in the
mark of respect to the late King that you show by this
visit."

The Regent continued : " That reason would not
permit me to neglect this duty certainly, but my personal
esteem for yourself is an equally strong motive, and I
should be glad to show it by giving greater proofs than I
have already done in assuring you, as desired, the con-
tinuance of the small revenue that you received from the
late King's Privy Purse." *

" A thousand thanks, your Royal Highness," replied
Madame de Maintenon. " Knowing the state of the public
finances, I desire nothing more. What I receive will be
employed in relieving some poor people whom I do not
wish to desert. I shall pray God to support you in the
burden of the Government you have already assumed."

" I already begin to feel its weight," said the Regent.

Madame de Maintenon finished by begging him not to

1 Her pension of 80,000 francs.
S

290 MADAME DE MAINTENON

believe any reports that might reach his ears to the effect
that she was intriguing against him in the interests of the
Due du Maine.

" I know," said she, " the malice of mankind ; you also
know it. My age, my inclinations, all impose silence on
me. I have no desire but to live in absolute seclusion,
forgotten by the world."

" And I protest to you, Madame," replied the Regent,
" that in me you shall always find a friend and St Cyr a
protector. I shall always be ready to serve you, and you
should address yourself only to me."

On leaving Madame de Maintenon's apartment the
Regent remarked to the Superior of St Cyr, that he was
surprised to find their distinguished inmate in so small a
room. The Superior informed him that Madame de
Maintenon had given up the fine apartment assigned to her
by the late King, to be used as an infirmary.

The Regent was not without generosity and good feeling,
and on the return journey, when one of the roues who
formed his Court ventured to make some mocking re-
marks at the expense of Madame de Maintenon, he
stopped him, saying :

" What harm has she done you ? She has done good to
a great many people, and injured no one."

After the sum entered on the Pension List as pay-
able to Madame de Maintenon, the Regent inserted
the words : " which her disinterestedness has rendered
necessary."

All the other members of the royal family sent to ask
permission to pay her their respects ; but she begged them
to spare themselves the trouble, saying that henceforth
she desired nothing but solitude and quiet.

ENDS HER DAYS AT ST CYR 291

Only the Due du Maine x was admitted, and the Queen
of England (widow of James II.), with whom Madame de
Maintenon had always lived on terms of affectionate
intimacy.

All the ministers wrote to offer their condolences to
Madame de Maintenon, and many great people presented
themselves at her door, which, however, was opened only
to her cousin, M. d'Aubigne, Archbishop of Rouen (who up
to the last was most faithful in his attentions), Marechal
Villeroy and the Marquise de Dangeau, and her own three
nieces.

She summoned those who had been in her service at
Court, thanked them for their attachment, and gave to
each a sum sufficient to establish them in life. She sold
her possessions and made a present of her coach to her
niece, Madame de Caylus, who was afraid to use it, and
left it as an heirloom to her son.

At the time of Madame de Maintenon's retirement to
St Cyr, Madame de Glapion, a lady after her own heart, was
Superior. Madame de Maintenon would not take ad-
vantage of the clause in the royal letters patent relating
to the foundation of St Cyr, which provided that she and
her household were to be entertained at the charges of the
institution. She insisted on paying the sum of 4000
livres a year for the expenses of herself and her servant,
Nanon.

At Versailles her supper consisted of a cup of chocolate.
At St Cyr, though served in her own rooms, she had the
same fare as the nuns, but partook only of one dish and
the dessert.

1 He afterwards continued to visit her and used to bring his children
to see her, and taught them to treat her as a grandmother.

292 MADAME DE MAINTENON

She received numerous letters, and answered many of
them herself ; she passed her time in reading, writing, and
attending Mass, and also occupied herself with the affairs
of the inmates of St Cyr.

St Simon said :

" No Abbess, nor Daughter of France, was so punctu-
ally obeyed, so feared and respected and at the same
time loved, as Madame de Maintenon was at St Cyr/*

After her retirement to St Cyr, Madame de Maintenon
and Madame de Caylus kept up a regular correspondence
they did not trust to the post, fearing their letters might be
opened, but an old servant of Madame de Maintenon,
Etienne, went backwards and forwards between them,
Madame de Caylus giving her the news of the day.

In a letter dated January 1716, Madame de Maintenon
wrote :

" Your letters are the only amusement of my sad life.
I await them with impatience. Indeed, having been
accustomed to hear so much of affairs of State, I can
never become indifferent to them, though Marechal
Villeroy always accused me of being ill-informed."

Every day she tried to diminish her personal expenses
in order to have more to give to the poor. She had
always loved perfumes; now she gave up the use of
them, saying:

" He for whose sake I allowed myself to use them is
no longer here.

" I do not weep for the King, who is now at rest ;
but it is hard to know of so much suffering, and to have
so little power to relieve it."

Mademoisells d'Aumale writes :

ENDS HER DAYS AT ST CYR 293

" I kept an account of her expenses for 1717-1718.
The first year they amounted to seventy thousand nine
hundred and forty livres, and the second year to sixty-
eight thousand, five hundred and forty-five, out of which
she had only spent on herself the price of a few scarves
and robes de chambre. The rest all went in alms ;
she often gave considerable sums under an assumed
name."

The Czar, Peter the Great, visited Paris in 1717. He
expressed a great desire to see Madame de Maintenon,
on hearing which she took refuge in bed. But even there
she was not safe. The Czar came to St Cyr, entered her
room, drew back the bed curtains, and asked what her
sickness was. She replied, " Une grande vieillesse," then,
after a prolonged stare, the Czar withdrew without another
word. 1

Madame de Maintenon was not spared a last proof of
the instability of all worldly greatness, exemplified in the
misfortunes that overtook her dearly-loved Due du
Maine.

By his will Louis XIV. had decreed that the Due du
Maine should become Governor and Tutor to the young
King, and, in the event of the child's death, should himself
succeed to the throne, to the exclusion of the Orleans
branch. Hardly was the breath out of the late King's
body than the Regent and Parliament set aside the will,
stripped the Due du Maine of all authority and privileges,
and even deprived him and his brother, the Comte de
Toulouse, of their rank as Princes of the Blood, reducing
them to the status of simple dukes, at the bottom of the
list. 2

1 This story is well authenticated, though it seems incredible that such
an intrusion should have been allowed.

2 Before her death worse befell. The Due du Maine and his wife

294 MADAME DE MAINTENON

The winter of 1719 was long and severe. Madame de
Maintenon grew gradually weaker, and felt her end
approaching. At the beginning of April she said to
Mademoiselle d'Aumale : " While my head is clear and I
am alone with you, let us do business once more. Send my
poor people their pensions in advance. I wish to do them
a little good once more before I die."

On the I4th April she became worse. Extreme Unction
was administered, and the Confessor begged her to give
her blessing to the Community.

She replied, " I am not worthy/' but the Confessor
insisting, she complied.

The Due de Noailles was kneeling at her bedside. To him
she said : " Adieu, my dear Duke. A few hours hence I
shall understand many things." She died listening to the
hymns sung by the pupils of St Cyr.

Madame de Maintenon was eighty-three years old when
she breathed her last on I5th April 1719 at 5 P.M. Her
corpse, dressed in a long mourning robe, was embalmed,
and with uncovered face lay in state.

The ladies of St Louis, each conducting a class, passed
in procession before the bier and sprinkled it with holy
water ; many approached to kiss the hands of their late
benefactress, or the funeral draperies that covered
her.

Next day the coffin was transferred to the choir of the
church, and her nephew, the Due de Noailles, caused a
grave to be excavated near the entrance to the sanctuary,
and a large slab of black marble marked the spot.

were imprisoned on the charge of conspiring against the Regent, and
her agitation on hearing this is supposed to have accelerated Madame
de Maintenon's death. Particulars in Chapter XXVIII.

ENDS HER DAYS AT ST CYR 295

The Abbe Vitor composed an epitaph, which was en-
graved upon it :

" Here rests Madame Frangoise d'Aubigne

Marquise de Maintenon.
An illustrious, truly Christian woman.
Her birth was noble ; her wit, virtue, prudence

and modesty were early recognised.
In all the vicissitudes of life she was the same.
Tranquil amid the agitations of a Court,
Simple in the midst of grandeur, poor amid riches,
Humble at the summit of honour.
Revered by Louis the Great, and enveloped in his

glory

She only used her influence for good.
She was the Mother of the Poor, and the shelter

of the unfortunate."

The two abbes, Tiberge and Brisacier, Superiors of the
Seminaires des Missions etrangeres, who filled the office of
Confessors at St Cyr, writing to condole with the ladies of
St Cyr on the death of Madame de Maintenon, paid this
remarkable testimony to her worth :

" You have lost one who, after God, must have been
the most precious to you. Sorrow not without hope.
For whom could there be the expectation of a happy
eternity if not for her, who has laid at the feet of the
Supreme Judge immense treasures of merit and virtues ;
alms innumerable, long and frequent prayers, help, of
all kinds to all sorts of people, secret mortifications, and
humiliations humbly received while in a glorious position,
work and effort unrelaxed, unlimited patience, this you
have witnessed for thirty years while besides what you
have seen, she performed at Court a thousand actions of
heroic generosity, gave salutary advice, and forgave
injuries a<nd calumnies without being deceived by the
authors. Although it would have been easy to revenge
herself on her enemies she never did so.

' This heroic woman was capable of taking part in the

296 MADAME DE MAINTENON

most important affairs, but condescended to the smallest.
Her whole life has been a wonderful example for the
world. Her early days were a succession of trials ; her
virtue and purity in the midst of the world and at the
height of favour, a miracle of grace ; her retreat and her
death most holy, and the degree of glory in which there
is reason to hope she will reappear at the day of judg-
ment, will astonish those, who through ignorance or
malignity have misjudged her. May her spirit live
eternally among you/'

Madame de Maintenon's memory was cherished at St
Cyr so long as the institution existed. Her thoughts and
writings, her sayings and opinions, were always quoted.
Everything that belonged to her was considered a sacred
relic. Her room remained untouched and was used only
as a Council Chamber, and in it were placed (beside her
portrait and that of Louis XIV.) the portraits of the suc-
ceeding Queens of France, and of those of the royal family
to whom St Cyr owed special respect and gratitude.

Madame de Maintenon had said to the Superior of St
Cyr : " Your house shall never fail you as long as there is
a King of France/'

This held good till the Revolution broke out in 1793,
when the inmates were dispersed, the buildings partially
demolished, and the body of the foundress torn from its
grave.

In 1794 the Revolutionary Government wished to turn
the chapel into a hospital. The tomb of Madame de
Maintenon was opened and the body (which was in a
state of perfect preservation) taken out and thrown into a
hastily dug hole in the garden.

In 1802 St Cyr, which had been used as a home for
wounded soldiers, was turned into a college, and the

ENDS HER DAYS AT ST CYR 297

principal, Citizen Crouzot, had the body of Madame de
Maintenon exhumed and placed with some ceremony in a
tomb in the courtyard, into which the windows of her
apartments had looked. An iron railing was placed
round this tomb and some willow trees overshadowed it.
However, it was not allowed to remain long undisturbed.

In 1805 St Cyr became a military school, and the
commandant, General Dutheil, detesting the memory of
Madame de Maintenon, whom he blamed for the persecu-
tion of the Huguenots, had the tomb opened and the re-
mains cast into a wooden packing-case, which was placed
in a barn.

Finally, in 1836, Colonel Baraguey-d'Hilliers was
appointed Governor of the Military College of St Cyr, which
had been established on the site of the original building,
part of which remained and had been restored and added
to. The Governor occupied the rooms which had been
Madame de Maintenon's, and was much affected on finding
that her remains had been relegated to an outhouse.

He obtained permission from the Government to restore
them to the chapel. A slab of black marble let into the
wall above the place of burial may still be seen.

On it is the simple inscription :

"Cy git Madame de Maintenon
1635-1719. 1836 "

This is the only existing memorial of her whom friends
and foes alike acknowledge to have been one of the most
remarkable women who ever played a part in the history of
France.

CHAPTER XXVII

SOME ACCOUNT OF WHAT BEFELL THOSE MEMBERS OF
MADAME DE MAINTENON's INNER CIRCLE WHO SUR-
VIVED HER

money deft by Madame de Maintenon
amounted only to 32,000 francs. Her
willjwas as follows :

" I wish to be interred with the Ladies of
Saint-Louis.

' I give them to say masses for me, 1000 livres.

' To the poor of my estate, 2000 livres.

' To Launay, my valet-de-chambre, 3000 livres.

' To Mademoiselle de Saignemontes, sister of la petite
de la Tour, 3000 livres, if she does not make her profession
at Saint-Cyr ; and if she does, these 3000 livres will be
placed in the fund there established for the pupils.

r ' To Mademoiselle de la Clavieres, sister to Mademois-
elle de la Tour, the same sum of 3000 livres on the same
conditions.

" To the Benedictines of Moret, 2000 livres.

" Any money that may remain after these distribu-
tions, I desire may be divided between Madame de Mailly
and Madame de Cay his.

" My plate and my principal furniture to be divided
between Madame de Cay his and Mademoiselle d'Aumale.
The articles are all marked.

" I give to the Duchesse de Noailles the diamond that
I always wear.

" I give to the Bishop of Chartres the gold and black
table crucifix.
" I give to the Archbishop of Rouen 1 a crucifix on

1 He was her cousin, a d'Aubigne of the Anjou line. Madame de
298

SURVIVORS OF THE INNER CIRCLE 299

black velvet, which is at the head of my bed, with the
small portrait of the King which is beneath, requesting
that it may always be kept by those of my name, who
will regard it with the veneration and gratitude that it
deserves.

' To my women I give my linen.

" I desire that all my little private books be placed
in the hands of Madame du Peron. 1 And I beg the
Bishop of Chartres to allow her to keep them all her
life : she will see in them the instructions of her
predecessor."

She left in small pensions noo livres to various persons
whom she had protected.

At the back of the will was written, " I recommend la
petite de la Tour to the Superior, and to all the Com-
munity."

To this will, as we have before stated, was added the
account of the Regent's visit to her at St Cyr. " This,"
says Mademoiselle d'Aumale, " was not without design."

Nothing was said about the marquisate of Maintenon,
for that had been already bestowed as a dowry on her niece,
the Duchesse de Noailles.

The " Petite de la Tour," in whom Madame de Main-
tenon had taken so much interest, was one of a family

Maintenon valued this relationship and also esteemed the man for his
sterling qualities.

1 M. Bonhomme, editor of Madame de Maintenon's " Authentic Corre-
spondence," obtained one of these little books. It contains 180 pages,
three parts of which are in her own handwriting, the rest is written by
Mademoiselle D'Aumale and Nanon. In it is the quintessence of the
spiritual instruction received from her Father Confessors. When a
precept struck her she copied it into this little volume and it (the
precept) became part of her rule of life.

It was the vade mecum of Madame de Maintenon the book she kept
on her pillow.

It has a brown cover and seems impregnated with the perfume of
the great century.

300 MADAME DE MAINTENON

of twenty, belonging to a gentleman of good condition
but poor circumstances in Auvergne.

A few words must be said of those who had been most
intimately connected with the life of Madame de Maintenon.

Madame de Caylus survived her aunt ten years, during
which the Due de Villeroy visited her daily until her death,
which nearly caused his ; for though they sometimes bored
each other, their companionship had been such a habit that
the cessation must have left a terrible blank in the life of
the survivor.

She dictated her Souvenirs to her son, in her latter
years.

Mademoiselle d'Aumale enjoyed a pension bestowed on
her by Louis XIV. and went to live with her mother in
Piccardy, but paid visits to St Cyr, and also to Madame
d'Havrincourt, who had been a fellow-pupil at St Cyr, and
had preceded her as Madame de Maintenon's secretary.
She occupied herself in writing her reminiscences. During
the reign of Louis XV. she occasionally went to Court,
and was always well received, but was looked upon rather
as an " antiquity," a relic of the old Court.

In her last letter she wrote : " The Holy Virgin, the King,
Madame de Maintenon, and then St Cyr, have been the
objects of my devoted affection/'

She was building a house which she intended to bequeath
to her nephews and nieces and she had the following lines
inscribed on the foundation stone :

" Built in the name of the Father, the Son, and the
Holy Ghost and under the protection of the Virgin Mary
by Marie- Jeanne d'Aumale, who was brought up from
the age of seven till she was twenty in the Royal House of
St Cyr. On leaving that house she went to live with
Madame de Maintenon and was honoured by her favour

SURVIVORS OF THE INNER CIRCLE 301

and that of the late King which has enabled her to build
this house for her family, whom she prays that God will
preserve united under the Pontificate of Innocent
XIII."

Mademoiselle d'Aumale died at Soissons, 1756, being
seventy- three years old.

Madame de Maintenon's cousin, the Archbishop of Rouen,
survived her. The world in general, though admitting him
to be a good man, had not so high an opinion of this d'Au-
bigne as Madame de Maintenon had. His death was
announced in the Gazette de le Regence as follows :

" L'Archveque d'Aubigne est mort samedi, sans avoir
rendu 1'esprit, parcequ'il n'en avait pas. Cetaitun
Constitutionnaire. II etait pour les cent et une pro-
positions, 1 et n'en entendit pas une."

Misfortune overtook the Due du Maine in his latter
days through the instrumentality of his wife. When the
decree of 1717 had deprived him and his brother of the
right of succession to the throne, and their rank as Princes
of the Blood, his wife could not believe that he would sub-
mit without a struggle, and though he did so, and bore his
misfortunes with dignity and resignation, she was deter-
mined to leave no stone unturned in the effort to obtain the
restitution of the privileges conferred by Louis XIV.

At this time Cardinal Alberoni, the Spanish Prime
Minister, was working to excite dissensions in France for
the benefit of his master, the King of Spain, for whom he
wished to obtain the throne of France, if the young King
Louis XV., a frail child, should die.

Cellamare was the Spanish Ambassador at Paris. The

1 Bull Unigenitus.

302 MADAME DE MAINTENON

Duchesse du Maine had been intriguing with him in a most
incautious way, and took such extraordinary methods to
ensure the secrecy of her plot that the police soon got wind
of it. She hired a house in the Rue St Honore and used to
go there at midnight, driven by a nobleman disguised as a
coachman, to meet her fellow-conspirators, Malezien, ex-
tutor to the Due du Maine, and Cardinal Polignac, whom
she had induced to join her. Others in the plot were the
Abbe Brigault, Comte Laval, and the Marquis de Pom-
padour ; they held their meetings at Port Royal, and were
presided over by Madame de Staal Delaunay, lady-in-
waiting to the Duchesse du Maine.

The Duchesse du Maine used to receive crowds of ad-
venturers, who brought plans and offered advice. Among
them were two spies of Cardinal Dubois the Regent's
Minister. At the meetings all sorts of documents were com-
posed, such as " A Manifesto from the King of Spain to
France," and " A Petition from the French People to the
King of Spain."

Cellamare entrusted to the Abbe Porto-Carrero the task
of taking some of these to Spain, together with a list of
officers who were said to be ready to serve Spain. Cardinal
Dubois thought it a good time to stop the conspiracy and
had Porto-Carrero followed and arrested at Poitiers.

The Abbe Brigault was also arrested ; he confessed
everything and gave the names of the conspirators. The
house of the Spanish Ambassador was surrounded and the
house in Rue St Honore, where the Duchesse du Maine had
carried on her plots.

The Due du Maine was at Sceaux. He was taken to the
fortress of Douilens in Picardy, and when under examina-
tion proclaimed his innocence, and declared that he was in

SURVIVORS OF THE INNER CIRCLE 303

complete ignorance as to the plot, and he never uttered a
word that could compromise others. Meantime the
Duchesse du Maine had been conveyed to the citadel of
Dijon and there incarcerated. But the easy-going Regent
soon allowed her to have a comfortable establishment, to
communicate with the outside world, to receive visits, and
to go out driving. After a year had elapsed, he promised
free pardon to all who would confess, and all concerned did
confess except Madame de Staal de Launay.

When the confessions of the Duchesse were shown to the
Due du Maine he became furious. " What a misfortune,"
he said, "to have such a wife." " Everything had been con-
cealed from him, because the plotters well knew that had
he been aware of what was going on he would have stopped
it." He remained unshaken in this position. He certainly
took no active part in the affair, but was always in such
dread of his wife that, even if he had had suspicions, he
would have been afraid to interfere.

In her confession his wife quite exonerated him, saying
that she had taken great pains to hide what she was doing
from him. All the prisoners were released, but the Due du
Maine refused to see his wife and retired to Clagny.
However, in six months' time she managed to effect a re-
conciliation and he went to live with her at Sceaux. He
died of cancer in the face, 1736.

The Duchesse du Maine lived on for seventeen years
longer, and continued to work hard, day and night, to
divert herself. She gave entertainments at which come-
dies, tragedies, and operas were performed, to which the
Court flocked, and she surrounded herself with a literary
society, among whom Voltaire and Descartes were shining
lights, for she studied philosophy, physics, and astronomy

304 MADAME DE MAINTENON

as well as lighter subjects. She died in 1753, at the age of
seventy-eight. She left two sons, the Prince de Dombes
and Comte d'Eu, who made little noise in the world.
Sceaux was confiscated by the Convention, and demolished,,
the grounds are turned into fields for agriculture only the
pavilion in the garden is left, and is used as a public resort
and dancing-hall by Parisian workpeople.

CHAPTER XXVIII

LAST DAYS OF ST CYR

f - "^ HE child King was often brought to play in the

| grounds of St Cyr and was the object of the

adoration of those who remembered his mother,

but St Cyr languished during the Regency, and

until Louis XV. married Marie Leczinska. She came in

state to visit the Community and promised to be their

second Superior and to endeavour to replace Madame de

Maintenon, This Queen often made retreats there and

attended a service every Sunday afternoon. She obtained

the right to nominate pupils and persuaded Cardinal Fleury

to re-establish the fund for dowries for pupils of an age to

leave, and gave the veil to novices when they made their

profession.

In 1731, after she had been six years Queen of France,
Marie Leczinska attended a performance of Esther. Some
of the ladies of the community, Mesdames de Veilhant,
Champigny and Beaulieu, who had taken part in the first
representation in the previous reign, were still living, and
were delighted to teach the pupils the parts they themselves
had played.

In 1745 the Dauphin, son of Louis XV., brought his
bride to hear a performance of M. Roy's Idyll of St Cyr, for
which Clairambault had composed the music.

In 1750 Madame de Pompadour came to hear the same
piece performed. We do not know, but may guess, what
T 305

306 MADAME DE MAINTENON

the ladies of the Community thought when the Due de
Noailles announced her intention.

After the daughters of Louis XV. returned to the Court
from Fontevrault, where they had been educated, they
often went to St Cyr and, with the Dauphin and
Dauphiness, were present at a performance of Esther, for
which Louis Racine, son of the late author, had coached
the performers. Madame Louise, who became a Carmelite
Nun, used to make retreats there.

That prince of letter writers, Horace Walpole, paid a
visit to St Cyr in 1719, and wrote the following account of
it:

' The first thing that I desired to see was the apart-
ment of Madame de Maintenon. It was composed of
two small rooms on the ground-floor, a library, and a
very small sleeping apartment, the same in which the
Czar saw her, and in which she died ; the bed is taken
away and the room is now hung with badly-painted
portraits of the Royal Family. One cannot help being
struck with the simplicity of the furniture, and neatness
that is everywhere apparent. A large room above,
consisting of five divisions, which was intended by
Louis XIV. for Madame de Maintenon, is now used as an
Infirmary. There are very neat white curtains, and the
rooms have passages from the Sacred Writings, which
prove that the foundress was a Queen. . . . The hour
for Vespers having come, we were conducted to the
chapel, and I was placed in Madame de Maintenon's
seat ; the boarders, each class of whom is headed by a
lady, entered by two's, took their places and chanted
the service. The young girls numbered two hundred
and fifty. Their hair is frizzed and powdered. Their
coiffure is a kind of round cap with white bows and large
collars, their costume is, in short, very elegant. The
* religious ' are all dressed in black, with hanging veils
of crape, handkerchiefs of white stuff, bands and dresses
with trains. The chapel is simple, but very pretty :

LAST DAYS OF ST CYR 307

in the middle of the choir, under a small canopy, reposes
the foundress. . . . Madame de Cambis, one of the
' religious ' who are in number about forty, is as beautiful
as a Madonna. The abbess has only a larger and
handsomer gold cross to distinguish her from the rest ;
her apartment consists of two very small rooms. We
saw there twenty portraits of Madame de Maintenon.
The full-length one in royal robes, of which I possess a
copy, is the one most frequently repeated ; * but there
is another in which she is represented in black, with a
head-dress of lace, and a trained skirt. She is seated in
a chair of crimson velvet, her niece, Madame de Noailles,
still a mere child, is on her knees ; whilst in the distance
is a view of St Cyr. We were shown some rich relics,
after which we were taken to the class rooms. In the
first the young girls, who were playing chess, were
desired to sing to us the choruses in Athalie ; in the
second they were told to execute some minuets and
country dances ; whilst another ' religious ' a little less
skilled than Saint Cecilia, performed on the violin. In
the others they repeated dialogues that had been written
for them by Madame de Maintenon. After this we were
present at the supper. At last we were taken to the
archives, where we saw also volumes of Madame de
Maintenon's letters ; one of the ' religious ' gave me a
small piece of paper with three words in her own hand-
writing. Our visit ended with the garden, which had a
very imposing appearance ; there the pupils played
many of their games before us ; and thus we took leave
of St Cyr.

Whenever a foreign princess married into the French
royal family, she was taken to St Cyr. The Comte de
Provence (afterwards Louis XVIII.) brought his bride
there in 1771, accompanied by Marie Antoinette, herself
not long married. The girls welcomed the bride by singing
a song in her praise. This reception cost the community
1 1 60 francs for dresses, music and festivity.

1 Painted by Mignard in 1694.

308 MADAME DE MAINTENON

The reception of the Comte d'Artois and his bride in
1773 cost double. Both brides were daughters of the King
of Sardinia.

From her earliest days Madame Elizabeth, sister of
Louis XVI. came to St Cyr every week with her attendants.
The King and Marie Antoinette took the greatest interest
in the institution, and employed the community to
distribute their alms.

In 1791 the Duchesse d'Orleans visited St Cyr, ac-
companied by the Marechal Boufflers. In writing an
account of the visit, he said :

" I was here forty-seven years ago in Madame de
Maintenon's lifetime. Nothing is changed except the
faces. It is impossible not to be touched, edified and
filled with respect by the tone of the place. The
schoolgirls are not schoolgirls, the nuns are not nuns.
The first are well-bred young ladies, the second sensible
women."

He then described the evolutions of the pupils on enter-
ing and taking their places in chapel.

" The Superior took her place in the choir, a small
hammer in her hand ; by giving taps with it, she
conveyed directions to stop, form in double file, treble
file, kneel, prostrate themselves, rise ; the girls all the
while chanting ' Salve fac Regem.' They sang in parts,
very correctly, and in such a touching manner that
tears came to our eyes."

The pupils did not know they were to be sent away, the
nuns did.

The Community gave employment to 700 persons,
and distributed 15,000 francs yearly, supporting schools
and contributing to the erection of churches in surrounding
villages where they had property.

LAST DAYS OF ST CYR 309

In the village of St Cyr a hundred loaves of bread were
distributed weekly but the villagers were the first to begin
the work of destruction and spoliation when the Revolu-
tion gave them the opportunity.

On the 8th August 1792 Louis signed an order for the
admission of a young lady. On the i6th August the
National Assembly issued a decree that all pupils were to
be sent to their homes. Domiciliary visits, confiscation
and spoliation followed.

The list of pupils was burned, other registers were
removed to the Municipal Offices at Versailles ; the
cemetery was desecrated, and the tombstones sold.

The theatrical properties, including Esther's throne, the
religious ornaments, cooking utensils and furniture, as well
as the material of the buildings which had been demolished,
were sold by public auction and fetched but a small price.

Of the ladies of the Community some settled in parties
of five or six together in different parts of Versailles, sub-
sisting on pensions allowed by the Government others
retired into the provinces, presumably to live with
relations. Some of them, with Madame des Essarts at their
head, started a school at Orleans in 1795, to which the old
nobility were glad to send their daughters.

Louis XVI. had decreed that the daughters of the
ruined noble families of Corsica were to be eligible for
admission to St Cyr, and Marianna-Eliza Buonaparte
(generally called Eliza and afterwards married to Prince
Baciocchi) who was born in Ajaccio, 3rd January 1777,
had been admitted in June 1784.

The Duchesse d'Abrantes relates that Napoleon
Buonaparte went with her mother, Madame Permon, to
visit his sister at St Cyr.

3io MADAME DE MAINTENON

On this occasion Eliza appeared very melancholy and out
of spirits. Her brother inquired the reason, and she said
that one of the pupils was about to leave and an entertain-
ment in her honour was being prepared by her class-mates,
of whom Eliza was one. All were asked to contribute to
the expenses, but Eliza had nothing to give, and felt
humiliated.

On hearing this Napoleon's first impulse was to put his
hand in his pocket but remembering that it was empty
he stopped short, coloured up and stamped his foot.
Madame Pernon gave Eliza the sum she desired, but while
driving back to Paris Napoleon inveighed against a system
which allowed a few rich girls to set the fashion in an
expenditure impossible for the greater number of pupils
who, like his sister, were State-Pensioners, and were thus
made to feel the difference of their positions in a painful
way.

Eliza Buonaparte remained at St Cyr till 1792, when,
on loth August, a Decree of the Revolutionary Govern-
ment abolished the institution, on hearing which her
brother Napoleon, at that time a young officer in the
artillery, went to St Cyr on the ist September, and
obtained leave from the Mayor of the Commune to take
away his sister the same day, in order to send her to
rejoin his family. His next visit to St Cyr was on the 28th
June 1805 when he had converted it into a Military
Academy, and he himself was Emperor and Master of
France.

He, however, held the famous institution where his
sister had been educated in high esteem, and he founded
one on similar lines at Ecouen, to provide a free education
for the daughters of those who had won the distinction of

LAST DAYS OF ST CYR 311

the Legion of Honour, and placed it under the super-
intendence of Madame Campan.

She had been a lady-in-waiting to Marie Antoinette and
escaped the guillotine by the death of Robespierre. She
was penniless and set up a school at St Germains to which
the nouveaux riches and mushroom nobility of the Empire
were glad to send their daughters, knowing that Madame
Campan would be able to impart to her pupils the tone
and manners of good society. Napoleon's stepdaughter,
Hortense Beauharnais, as well as his sister Caroline, were
among her pupils, and the success of her school induced
him to place her at the head of his new institution at
Ecouen.

When he visited it and wished to praise, he always said,
" It is as good as St Cyr."

In connection with St Cyr, a reminiscence that is of
interest to English people is the fact that we owe to it our
National Anthem.

On the first occasion that Louis XIV. visited St Cyr
the pupils sang a chorus, the words of which were com-
posed by Madame de Brinon, the first Superior, and the
music by Lulli, Master of the King's Music.

It begins : " Grand Dieu ! Sauvez le Roi ! " and was
sung whenever royalty visited St Cyr during a hundred
years.

In 1721 Handel visited St Cyr, and was much impressed
by this composition and annexed it.

After translating the words, he had it performed before
King George I. in London, and since then, as " God save
the King ! " it has become part of our national life.

THE END

INDEX

D'ABRANTES, Duchesse, 309
Alberoni, Cardinal, 301
d'Albret, Marechal, 47, 57, 91

Marechale, 56, 57, 58, 62, 68, 91

H6tel, 60

Anne of Austria, 41, 55, 56, 62, 64
d'Anjou, Due, 164, 249
d'Antin, Marquis, 140, 178, 265
Arnauld d'Audilly, 155
d'Artois, Comte, 308
d'Aubigne", Amable, 192, 195

Archbishop, 109, 291, 298, 301

Charles, 32, 38, 47, 90, 168, 187,

189, 190
Constantine, 21, 22, 23, 24, 29,

3i> 33
Fran9oise, 19, 24, 26, 32-8, 42,

44-7

Mdme Charles, 190-2

Mdme Jeanne, 23, 26, 29, 32, 33,

35. 37, 4S> 46
Theodore Agrippa, 19, 20, 26,

31, 32, 34, 93, 108, 109, 1 10
d'Aumale, Mdlle, 64, 160, 230, 242,

244, 286, 287, 288, 292, 294, 300
d'Aumont, Duchesse de, 55
Avon, 172, 235
d'Axy, Mdme, 146
d'Ayen, Comte, 193, 194, 195

Comtesse, 195

Duchesse, 197

BARBANI, Mdme de, 21

Barege, 89

Barillon, M. de, 124, 177

Basque, Mdme de, 200

Bavaria, Elector of, 163, 265

Bazire, 275

Beaudean, Susanne de, 25

Beauharnais, Hortense, 311

Beauvilliers, Due de, 210

Belfort, 96

Bellefonds, Marechal, 183, 212 '

Belle-Isle, 20

Benedictines, Convent of, 298

Berneval, Mdme de, 217, 225
Berri, Due de, 137, 187

Duchesse de, 179, 241

Blois, Mdlle de, 107, no, 121, 140,

142, 261

Boileau, 140, 163, 208
Boislisle, 64
Bolingbroke, 27, 272
Bonaparte, Caroline, 311

Eliza, 309

Napoleon, 310

Bontemps, 70, 130, 145

Bossuet, 58, 103, 105, 142, 163, 282

Boucher, le, 46

Boufflers, Marechal, 251, 308

Bourbon, Due de, 137, 142, 176, 177,

179

Brancas, Due de, 76, 180
Brigault, Abbe, 302
Brisacier, Abbe, 295
Bruyere, 163

Burgundy, Duchess of, 169, 170, 221,
254, 257

Duke of, 137, 179, 250-6, 263

Bussy Rabutin, 56, 167

CABART DE VILLERMONT, 45, 46
Cambis, Mdme de, 307
Campan, Mdme, 311
Casteja, Mdlle de, 230, 246
Caumont d'Ade, 21, 29, 33, 112
Caylus, Comtesse de, 211, 236-41,

288, 292, 298, 300
Cellamare, 301, 302
Celeste, Mother, 36, 145
Chaise, Pere de la, 72, 126, 130, 206,
." 283

Chamarande, Marquis de, 173
Chamillard, M. de, 168, 250, 253, 255
Champmesle, 21 1
Chartres, Bishop of, 130, 133, 156,

215

Chatelaillon, Baronne de, 21
Chaulnes, Duchesse de, 212
Chevreuse, Duchesse de, 161, 176

313

MADAME DE MAINTENON

Christina, Queen, 49

Clagny, 133, 142

Clairambault, 303

Colbert, 71

Compiegne, 166, 246

Conde, Prince de, 30, 100, 139, 164,

167, 246
Conti, Prince de, 137, 164, 167, 177,

246

Princesse de, 131, 167

Cottereau, 84

Coulanges, Mdme de, 37, 58, 73, 75,

85, 133, 212

DANGEAU, Marquis de, 141, 234,

235, 236

Marquise de, 233, 234, 235, 291

Dauphin, Monseigneur le, 73, 107,

131, 137, 164, 169, 170, 177, 256
Dauphiness, 108, 112, 117, 124, 164,

226

Descartes, 303
Deslandes Payen, 47
Dinant, 247
Dombes, Comte, 100

Prince de, 304

Douiliens, 302
Dubois, Cardinal, 302

ECOUEN, 310

Elizabeth, Mdme, 308

1'Enclos, Ninon de, 48, 55, 58, 132,

I5 2

des Essarts, Mdme de, 309
d'Estrees, Cardinal, 117

Due, 193

Esther, 163, 193, 303, 309
Eugene, Prince, 252
d'Eu, Comte, 304

FAGON, le Medecin du Roi, 168
Fayette, la, Mdme de, 55, 58
Fenelon, 153, 163, 193, 217, 257
Ferdinand, 216
Fiesque, Mdme de, 47
Fleury, Cardinal, 305
Fontaine, la, 58, 163

Mdme de, 216, 246

Fontainebleau, 124, 128, 131, 172,

174,265
Fontanges, Mdlle de, 120, 122, 123,

127
Fontevrault, Abbess of, 95, 141, 143,

306
Fouquet, 52

Francis I., 84

Froulay, Comtesse de, 38

GENEVA, 21, 26

Genoa, 134

Ghent, 96

Glapion, Mdme de, 144, 154, 219,

291
Gobelin, Abbe, 61, 62, 71, 81, 89,

156

Gomerfontaine, Abbess of. 218
Grammont, Due de, 180
Grignan, Chevalier de, 213

Mdme de, 85

Grouchy, M. de, 49

HANDEL, 311
d'Harcourt, Comte, 267

Princesse, 246

Harley, Archbishop of Paris, 130
Henri IV., 20, 27, 148, 281
d'Hocquincourt, M., 184
Hospitalieres Couvent, 54
d'Hudicourt, Mdme, 68, 233
Huguenots, 147, 149, 280

JANSENISM, 239, 285
James II., 198, 212, 240
Jesuits, 283, 284
Joly, M., 46

LANGALERIE, Marquis de, 249
Lauzun, 76, 97, 100
Laval, Comte, 302

de Lezay, Mdlle, 27, 42

Leczinstra, Queen Marie, 180, 365

Leon, Prince de, 267

Le Tellier, Chancellor, 64, 147, 281

Levis, Marquise de, 233

Liege, siege of, 249

Lille, siege of, 242

Longueville, Mdme de, 161

Loubert, Mdme de, 216

Louis XIV., children, 71, 137

death, 270

first marriage, 66

marries Madame de Maintenon,

127

reign and character, 272

XV., 263, 273, 300, 305, 306

XVI., 308, 309

XVIII., 307

Louvois, M. de, 95, 119, 130, 145,

147, 278, 281
Lulli, 311

INDEX

315

Luxembourg, siege of, 34

Marechal, 250

MAILLY, Comtesse de, 180
Maine, Due du, 70, 71, 81, 89-101,
177, 291, 293, 301, 303

Duchesse du, 164, 166, 301-4

Maintenon, Chateau de, 64, 84, 88,

130, 298

Marquisate, 85

Maisonforte, Mdme de, 217
Malezien, M. de, 302
Malplaquet, 252

Mans, 140

Mansard, 201

Manseau, 145, 146

Marais, le, 48

Marie Antoinette, 307, 308, 311

Mancini, 65

Therese, Queen, 66, 68, 73,

in, 118, 277

Marlborough, Duke of, 252
Marly, 150, 175, 176, 250, 255, 267
Marsilly, Mdlle de, 198
Martinique, 31, 32, 42, 78
Masillon, 134, 163
Mazarin, Cardinal, 31, 41, 161, 252,

272

Mere, Chevalier de, 38, 51, 57
Meudon, Chateau de, 177, 195, 247
Mignard, 58, 133
Modena, Queen Mary of, 198
Moliere, 58, 162, 163, 265
Mons, 246-247
Montalambert, 217
Montbrisson, 201
Montchevrueil, 59, 68, 107, 128, 130,

237
Montespan, Mdme de, 64, 65, 67-74,

78, 81, 83, 95, 97, 103, 105, 116,

120-2, 138, 143, 278
Montespan, Marquis de, 67, 178
Montgon, Mdme de, 198
Montpensier, Mdlle de, 100, 171
Mornay, Comtesse de, 181
Mortemarte, 50, 61, 78
Mun, Marquis de, 78
Mursay, Chateau de, 27

Mdlle de, 115, 21 1, 237

NAMUR, siege of, 246, 247, 249
Nantes, Edict of, 147, 149, 255, 280

Mdlle de, 74, 87, 107, 142,

164, 176

Nanon, 57, 115, 125, 130, 145, 203

Navailles, Duchesse de, 25, 42, 58
Neuillant, Baron de, 25, 29

Mdme de, 25, 35, 36, 43, 46, 57

Niort, city of, 23, 24, 26, 36, 38, 93,

298
Noailles, Cardinal, 150, 193

Due de, 64, 130, 193, 195, 286,

294

Duchesse de, 196, 197, 233

Marechal, 197

D'O, MARQUISE, 333
Orange, city, 33

Prince of, 199, 222, 246, 247

d'Orleans, Duchesse ("Madame"),

137, 163, 181, 250
Gaston, 22, 41, 97

Mdlle, 72, 97, 100, 164

Philippe, Due, 105, 136, 163

the Regent, 164, 171, 182, 261,

270, 289

d'Osmond, Mademoiselle, 242
Oudenarde, battle of, 252

PALATINE, Princess, 161
Parabere, Marquis de, 38
Pascal, 163

Peron, Mdme de, 216, 299
Peter the Great, 293
Poitiers, 23
Poitou, 93, 94, 109
Polignac, Cardinal, 302
Pomereau, Mdme de, 47
Pompadour, Marquis, 302

Marquise, 303

Pons, Mdlle de, 58, 91, 233
Pope Alexander VIII., 207

Innocent II., 207

Porto Carrero, Abbe, 302
Portugal, Queen of, 69
Pybrac, S. de, 34

QUIETISTS, 285

Quinet, Marquisate de, 51

RACINE, 150, 163, 209

Louis, 306

Ragois, Abbe, 89

Ramilies, 252

Richelieu, Cardinal, 22, 30, 31

Due de, 57

Duchesse de, 50, 63, 124

^ Hotel de, 57

Riviere, 46, 48
Rochefort, 106

MADAME DE MAINTENON

Rochefoucauld, Due de, 25, 58, 193
Rochelle, 22
Rohan, Cardinal, 270

Due de, 260

Roquelaure, Mdlle de, 266
Rouen, Archbishop, 301
Rue, Douze Fortes, 48

Marais, 41, 49

Neuve St Louis, 48, 54

St Antoine, 266, 283

St Honore, 302

St Jacques, 42, 57

Tournelles, 37

Rueil, 116, 145, 200

SABLIERE, Marquise de, 50, 71
St Cyr, 201-31, 286, 297, 306-11

Denis, 80, 81, 201, 207, 261

Geran, 193, 233

Germains, 70, 79, 222, 275

Herman, 42, 43, 46

Hermione, 112

Joseph, 144

Louis, Dames de, 203, 208, 210,

215

Simon, 59, 91, 166, 173, 261

Salsins, Abbaye de, 248
Saxony, Elector of, 265
Scarron, Madame, 49-66, 81-83

Mdlle Anne, 41

Mdlle Fran5oise, 41

Paul, 39-53

Sceaux, 165, 303, 304
Scudery, 52, 58
Sens, Archbishop of, 64
Sensac, Artemise de, 94

M. de, 93

Se"vigne, Mdme de, 58, 73, 85, 93,

123, 132, 183, 212, 28l

Soissons, Comte de, 179

Comtesse de, 252

Soubise, Prince de, 265
Spain, King of, 249, 171

Queen of, 213, 251

Spannheim, 149

Staal Delaunay, Mdme de, 302, 303

Stuart, Henrietta, 199

Pretender, 199

Surineau, 19, 22, 24, 37, 93

TALLEMANT DES REAUX, 60

Tellier, Pere le, 270, 271, 284
Tesse", Marquise de, 78
Testu, Abbe, 58, 73, 212
Tiberge, Abbe, 295
Tiraqueau, Baron, 42, 46

Mdlle, 25

Toulaigre, 275

Toulouse, Comte de, 105, 177, 293

Touraine, 48

Tour, Mdlle de la, 299

Pere de la, 239

Tresmes, Due de, 41
Trompette, Chateau, 22, 91
Trousse, M. de la, 183
Troyes, H&tel, 41
Turenne, Marechal, 58, 76, 250

URSINS, Princesse des, 58, 240,

250

Ursulines, Convent, 36
Utrecht, Peace of, 255

VALLIERE, la, 67, 68, 127, 137, 278

Vaugirard, 70, 261

Veilhant, Mdme de, 211, 247, 304

Vend6me, Due de, 179, 251

Ventadour, Duchesse de, 113, 153

Verneuil, Due de, 100

Versailles, 81, 159, 168, 175, 236,

240

Vexin, Comte de, 70, 71, 74, 79, 80
Villar9eaux, M. de, 58, 59, 60, 151
Villars, Marechal, 183, 251
Villaviciosa, 223
Villeroy, Due de, 238, 239, 300

Marechal, 57, 64, 239, 251,

286, 291

Villette, Marquis de, 113, 197, 198,

230
Marquise de, 21, 26, 29, 31, 34,

35. 37, U4
Vitor, Abbe, 295
Vivonne, Due de, 58, 68, 189
Renee de, 21

WALPOLE, Horace, 249

War in Netherlands, 134, 140, 245

of Spanish Succession, 245,

249

of the League, 19

West Indies, 31, 32

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THE WORKS OF
ANATOLE FRANCE

1 has long been a reproach to
England that only one volume
by ANATOLE FRANCE
has been adequately rendered
into English ; yet outside this
country he shares with
TOLSTOI the distinction
of being the greatest and most daring
student of humanity living.

^ There have been many difficulties to
encounter in completing arrangements for a
uniform edition, though perhaps the chief bar-
rier to publication here has been the fact that
his writings are not for babes but for men
and the mothers of men. Indeed, some of his
Eastern romances are written with biblical can-
dour. u I have sought truth strenuously," he
tells us, " I have met her boldly. I have never
turned from her even when she wore an

THE WORKS OF ANATOLE FRANCE

unexpected aspect." Still, it is believed that the day has
come for giving English versions of all his imaginative
works, as well as of his monumental study JOAN OF
ARC, which is undoubtedly the most discussed book in the
world of letters to-day.

H MR. JOHN LANE has pleasure in announcing that
the following volumes are either already published or are
passing through the press.

THE RED LILY

MOTHER OF PEARL

THE GARDEN OF EPICURUS

THE CRIME OF SYLVESTRE BONNARD

BALTHASAR

THE WELL OF ST. CLARE

THAIS

THE WHITE STONE

PENGUIN ISLAND

THE MERRIE TALES OF JACQUES TOURNE-

BROCHE

JOCASTA AND THE FAMISHED CAT
THE ELM TREE ON THE MALL
THE WICKER-WORK WOMAN
AT THE SIGN OF THE QUEEN PEDAUQUE
THE OPINIONS OF JEROME COIGNARD
MY FRIEND'S BOOK
THE ASPIRATIONS OF JEAN SERVIEN
JOAN OF ARC (2 vols.)

1T All the books will be published at 6/- each with the
exception of JOAN OF ARC, which will be 25/- net
the two volumes, with eight Illustrations.

11 The format of the volumes leaves little to be desired.
The size is Demy 8vo (9 x 5}), and they are printed from
Caslon type upon a paper light in weight and strong of
texture, with a cover design in crimson and gold, a gilt top,
end-papers from designs by Aubrey Beardsley and initials by
Henry Ospovat. In short, these are volumes for the biblio-
phile as well as the lover of fiction, and form perhaps the
cheapest library edition of copyright novels ever published,
for the price is only that of an ordinary novel,

U The translation of these books has been entrusted to
such competent French scholars as MR. ALFRED ALLINSON,

MR. FREDERIC CHAPMAN. MR. ROBERT B. DOUGLAS,

THE WORKS OF ANATOLE FRANCE

MR. A. W. EVANS, MRS. FARLEY, MR. LAFCADIO HEARN,
MRS. W. S. JACKSON, MRS. JOHN LANE, MRS. NEWMARCH,
MR. C. E. ROCHE, MISS WINIFRED STEPHENS, and MISS
M. P. WILLCOCKS.

f As Anatole Thibault, dit Anatole France, is to most
English readers merely a name, it will be well to state that
he was born in 1844 in the picturesque and inspiring
surroundings of an old bookshop on the Quai Voltaire,
Paris, kept by his father, Monsieur Thibault, an authority on
eighteenth-century history, from whom the boy caught the
passion for the principles of the Revolution, while from his
mother he was learning to love the ascetic ideals chronicled
in the Lives of the Saints. He was schooled with the lovers
of old books, missals and manuscripts ; he matriculated on the
Quais with the old Jewish dealers of curios and objets (fart ;
he graduated in the great university of life and experience.
It will be recognised that all his work is permeated by his
youthful impressions ; he is, in fact, a virtuoso at large.

1T He has written about thirty volumes of fiction. His
first novel was JOCASTA y THE FAMISHED CAT
(1879). THE CRIME OF SYLVESTRE BONNARD
appeared in 1881, and had the distinction of being crowned
by the French Academy, into which he was received in 1896.

f His work is illuminated with style, scholarship, and
psychology ; but its outstanding features are the lambent wit,
the gay mockery, the genial irony with which he touches every
subject he treats. But the wit is never malicious, the mockery
never derisive, the irony never barbed. To quote from his own
GARDEN OF EPICURUS : " Irony and Pity are both of
good counsel ; the first with her smiles makes life agreeable,
the other sanctifies it to us with her tears. The Irony I
invoke is no cruel deity. She mocks neither love nor
beauty. She is gentle and kindly disposed. Her mirth
disarms anger and it is she teaches us to laugh at rogues and
fools whom but for her we might be so weak as to hate."

H Often he shows how divine humanity triumphs over
mere asceticism, and with entire reverence ; indeed, he
might be described as an ascetic overflowing with humanity,
just as he has been termed a " pagan, but a pagan
constantly haunted by the pre-occupation of Christ."
He is in turn like his own Choulette in THE RED
LILY saintly and Rabelaisian, yet without incongruity.

THE WORKS OF ANATOLE FRANCE

At all times he is the unrelenting foe of superstition and
hypocrisy. Of himself he once modestly said : " You will find
in my writings perfect sincerity (lying demands a talent I do
not possess), much indulgence, and some natural affection for
the beautiful and good."

fl The mere extent of an author's popularity is perhaps a
poor argument, yet it is significant that two books by this
author are in their HUNDRED AND TENTH THOU-
SAND,and numbersof them well intotheir SEVENTIETH
THOUSAND, whilst the one which a Frenchman recently
described as " Monsieur France's most arid book" is in its
FIFTY-EIGHTH THOUSAND.

f Inasmuch as M. FRANCE'S ONLY contribution to
an English periodical appeared in THE YELLOW BOOK,
voL v., April 1895, together with the first important English
appreciation of his work from the pen of the Hon. Maurice
Baring, it is peculiarly appropriate that the English edition
of his works should be issued from the Bodley Head.

ORDER FORM

1 90

To Mr

Bookseller

Please send me the following works of Anatole France :

THE RED LILY
MOTHER OF PEARL
THE GARDEN OF EPICURUS
THE CRIME OF SYLVESTRE BONNARD
BALTHASAR

THE WELL OF ST. CLARE
THAIS

THE WHITE STONE
PENGUIN ISLAND

THE MERRIE TALES OF JACQUES TOURNE-
BROCHE

for which I enclose

Name

A ddress ~ ~ - . - -

JOHN LANE,PUBLISHER,THE BODLEY HEAD,VIGO ST. LONDON, W.

WP TICE

Tibose who possess old letters, documents, corre-
spondence ', MSS., scraps of autobiography, and also
miniatures and portraits, relating to persons and
matters historical, literary, political and social, should
communicate with ^Mr. John Lane, T^he Bodley
Head, Vigo Street, London, W., who will at all
times be pleased to give his advice and assistance,
either as to their preservation or publication.

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PETRE. With 1 6 Full-page Illustrations, Maps, and Plans. New
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Army and Navy Chronicle. " We welcome a second edition of this valuable work. . . .
Mr. Loraine Petre is an authority on the wars of the great Napoleon, and has brought
the greatest care and energy into his studies of the subject."

NAPOLEON AND THE ARCHDUKE

CHARLES. A History of the Franco- Austrian Campaign in
the Valley of the Danube in 1809. By F. LORAINE PETRE.
With 8 Illustrations and 6 sheets of Maps and Plans. Demy 8vo
(9 x 5f inches). I ^s. 6d. net.

RALPH HEATHCOTE. Letters of a Diplomatist

During the Time of Napoleon, Giving an Account of the Dispute
between the Emperor and the Elector of Hesse. By COUNTESS
GUNTHER GROBEN. With Numerous Illustrations. Demy 8vo
(9 x 5 f inches). 12s. 6d. net.

*#* Ralph Heathcote, the son of an English father and an Alsatian mother, was for
some time in the English diplomatic service as first secretary to Mr. Brook Taylor, minister
at the Court of Hesse, and on one occasion found himself very near to making history.
Napoleon became persuaded that Taylor was implicated in a plot to procure his assassina-
tion, and insisted on his dismissal from the Hessian Court. As Taylor refused to be
dismissed, the incident at one time seemed likely to result to the Elector in the loss of his
throne. Heathcote came into contact with a number of notable people, including the Miss
Berrys, with whom he assures his mother he is not in love. On the whole, there is much
interesting material for lovers of old letters and journals.

MEMOIRS, BIOGRAPHIES, ETC. 5
MEMOIRS OF THE COUNT DE CARTRIE.

A record of the extraordinary events in the life of a French
Royalist during the war in La Vendee, and of his flight to South-
ampton, where he followed the humble occupation of gardener.
With an introduction by FREDERIC MASSON, Appendices and Notes
by PIERRE AMEDEE PICHOT, and other hands, and numerous Illustra-
tions, including a Photogravure Portrait of the Author. Demy 8vo.
125. 6d. net.

Daily News. "We have seldom met with a human document which has interested us so

much."

THE JOURNAL OF JOHN MAYNE DURING

A TOUR ON THE CONTINENT UPON ITS RE-
OPENING AFTER THE FALL OF NAPOLEON, 1814.
Edited by his Grandson, JOHN MAYNE COLLES. With 16
Illustrations. Demy 8vo (9 x 5| inches), iz/. 6d. net.

WOMEN OF THE SECOND EMPIRE.

Chronicles of the Court of Napoleon III. By FREDERIC LOLIEE.
With an introduction by RICHARD WHITEING and 53 full-page
Illustrations, 3 in Photogravure. Demy 8vo. 2 is. net.

Standard. "M. Frederic Loliee has written a remarkable book, vivid and pitiless in its
description of the intrigue and dare-devil spirit which flourished unchecked at the French
Court. . . . Mr. Richard Whiteing's introduction is written with restraint and dignity."

LOUIS NAPOLEON AND THE GENESIS OF

THE SECOND EMPIRE. By F. H. CHEETHAM. With
Numerous Illustrations. Demy 8vo (9x5! inches). i6s. net.

MEMOIRS OF MADEMOISELLE DES

ECHEROLLES. Translated from the French by MARIE
CLOTHILDE BALFOUR. With an Introduction by G. K. FORTESCUE,
Portraits, etc. 5^. net.

Liverpool Mercury. ". . . this absorbing book. . . . The work has a very decided
historical value. The translation is excellent, and quite notable in the preservation of
idiom."

JANE AUSTEN'S SAILOR BROTHERS. Being

the life and Adventures of Sir Francis Austen, G.C.B., Admiral of
the Fleet, and Rear-Admiral Charles Austen. By J. H. and E. C.
HUBBACK. With numerous Illustrations. Demy 8vo. 1 2s. 6d. net.

Morning- Post. ". . . May be welcomed as an important addition to Austeniana . . .;
it is besides valuable for its glimpses of life in the Navy, its illustrations of the feelings
and sentiments of naval officers during the period that preceded and that which
followed the great battle of just one century ago, the battle which won so much but
which cost us Nelson."

A CATALOGUE OF

SOME WOMEN LOVING AND LUCKLESS.

By TEODOR DE WYZEWA. Translated from the French by C. H.
JEFFRESON, M.A. With Numerous Illustrations. Demy 8vo
(9 x 5 J inches). *js. 6d. net.

POETRY AND PROGRESS IN RUSSIA. By

ROSA NEWMARCH. With 6 full-page Portraits. Demy 8vo.
7/. 6d. net.

Standard. " Distinctly a book that should be read . . . pleasantly written and well
informed."

GIOVANNI BOCCACCIO : A BIOGRAPHICAL

STUDY. By EDWARD HUTTON. With a Photogravure Frontis-
piece and numerous other Illustrations. Demy 8vo (9 x 5^
inches). i6/. net.

THE LIFE OF PETER ILICH TCHAIKOVSKY

(1840-1893). By his Brother, MODESTE TCHAIKOVSKY. Edited
and abridged from the Russian and German Editions by ROSA
NEWMARCH. With Numerous Illustrations and Facsimiles and an
Introduction by the Editor. Demy 8vo. js. 6d. net. Second
edition.

The Times. "A most illuminating commentary on Tchaikovsky's music."

World. " One of the most fascinating self-revelations by an artist which has been given to

the world. The translation is excellent, and worth reading for its own sake."
Contemporary Review." The book's appeal is, of course, primarily to the music-lover ; but
there is so much of human and literary interest in it, such intimate revelation of a
singularly interesting personality, that many who have never come under the spell of
the Pathetic Symphony will be strongly attracted by what is virtually the spiritual
autobiography of its composer. High praise is due to the translator and editor for the
literary skill with which she has prepared the English version of this fascinating work . . .
There have been few collections of letters published within recent years that give so
vivid a portrait of the writer as that presented to us in these pages."

COKE OF NORFOLK AND HIS FRIENDS:

The Life of Thomas William Coke, First Earl of Leicester of
the second creation, containing an account of his Ancestry,
Surroundings, Public Services, and Private Friendships, and
including many Unpublished Letters from Noted Men of his day,
English and American. By A. M. W. STIRLING. With 20
Photogravure and upwards of 40 other Illustrations reproduced
from Contemporary Portraits, Prints, etc. Demy 8vo. 2 vols.
32/. net.

The Times. 11 We thank Mr. Stirling for one of the most interesting memoirs of recent

Daily Telegraph." A very remarkable literary performance. Mrs. Stirling has achieved
a resurrection. She has fashioned a picture of a dead and forgotten past and brought
before our eyes with the vividness of breathing existence the life of our English ancestors
of the eighteenth century."

Pall Mall Gazette. " A work of no common interest ; in fact, a work which may almost be
called unique."

Evening Standard. " One of the most interesting biographies we have read for years.

MEMOIRS, BIOGRAPHIES, ETC. 7
THE LIFE OF SIR HALLIDAY MACART-

NEY, K.C.M.G., Commander of Li Hung Chang's trained
force in the Taeping Rebellion, founder of the first Chinese
Arsenal, Secretary to the first Chinese Embassy to Europe.
Secretary and Councillor to the Chinese Legation in London for
thirty years. By DEMETRIUS C. BOULGER, Author of the
" History of China," the " Life of Gordon," etc. With Illus-
trations. Demy 8vo. Price2U.net.

Daily Graphic. " It is safe to say that few readers will be able to put down the book with-
out feeling the better for having read it ... not only full of personal interest, but
tells us much that we never knew before on some not unimportant details."

DEVONSHIRE CHARACTERS AND STRANGE

EVENTS. By S. BARING-GOULD, M.A., Author of " Yorkshire
Oddities," etc. With 58 Illustrations. Demy 8vo. 2U.net.

Daily News. " A fascinating series . . . the whole book is rich in human interest. It is
by personal touches, drawn from traditions and memories, that the dead men surrounded
by the curious panoply of their time, are made to live again in Mr. Baring-Gould's pages. "

CORNISH CHARACTERS AND STRANGE

EVENTS. By S. BARING-GOULD. Demy 8vo. zis. net.

THE HEART OF GAMBETTA. Translated

from the French of FRANCIS LAUR by VIOLETTE MONTAGU.
With an Introduction by JOHN MACDONALD, Portraits and other
Illustrations. Demy 8vo. js. 6d. net.

Daily Telegraph. " It is Gambetta pouring 'out his soul to Leonie Leon, the strange,
passionate, masterful demagogue, who wielded the most persuasive oratory of modern
times, acknowledging his idol, his inspiration, his Egeria."

THE MEMOIRS OF ANN, LADY FANSHAWE.

Written by Lady Fanshawe. With Extracts from the Correspon-
dence of Sir Richard Fanshawe. Edited by H. C. FANSHAWE.
With 38 Full-page Illustrations, including four in Photogravure
and one in Colour. Demy 8vo. i6s. net.

*#* This Edition has been printed direct from the original manuscript in the possession
of the Fanshawe Family, and Mr. H. C. Fanshawe contributes numerous notes which
form a running commentary on the text. Many famous pictures are reproduced, includ-
ing paintings by Velazquez and Van Dyck.

8 A CATALOGUE OF

THE LIFE OF JOAN OF ARC. By ANATOLE

FRANCE. A Translation by WINIFRED STEPHENS. With 8 Illus-
trations. Demy 8vo (9 x 5^ inches). 2 vols. Price 251. net.

THE DAUGHTER OF LOUIS XVI. Marie-

Therese-Charlotte of France, Duchesse D'Angouleme. By. G.
LENOTRE. With 13 Full-page Illustrations. Demy 8vo. Price
los. 6d. net.

WITS, BEAUX, AND BEAUTIES OF THE

GEORGIAN ERA. By JOHN FYVIE, author of" Some Famous
Women of Wit and Beauty," " Comedy Queens of the Georgian
Era," etc. With a Photogravure Portrait and numerous other
Illustrations. Demy 8vo (9 x 5f inches), izs. 6d. net.

LADIES FAIR AND FRAIL. Sketches of the

Demi-monde during the Eighteenth Century. By HORACE
BLEACKLEY, author of "The Story of a Beautiful Duchess."
With I Photogravure and 15 other Portraits reproduced from
contemporary sources. Demy 8vo (9 x 5^ inches), izs. 6d. net.

MADAME DE MAINTENON : Her Life and

Times, 1635-1719. By C. C. DYSON. With I Photogravure
Plate and 16 other Illustrations. Demy 8vo (9 x $f inches).
i2s. 6d. net.

DR. JOHNSON AND MRS. THRALE. By

A. M. BROADLEY. With an Introductory Chapter by THOMAS
SECCOMBE. With 24 Illustrations from rare originals, including
a reproduction in colours of the Fellowes Miniature of Mrs.
Piozzi by Roche, and a Photogravure of Harding's sepia drawing
of Dr. Johnson. Demy 8vo (9 x 5f inches). 1 2s. 6d. net.

THE DAYS OF THE DIRECTOIRE. By

ALFRED ALLINSON, M.A. With 48 Full-page Illustrations,
including many illustrating the dress of the time. Demy 8vo
(9 x 5f inches). i6/. net.

MEMOIRS, BIOGRAPHIES, ETC. 9
HUBERT AND JOHN VAN EYCK : Their Life

and Work. By W. H. JAMES WEALE. With 41 Photogravure
and 95 Black and White Reproductions. Royal 410. ^5 $s. net.

SIR MARTIN CONWAY'S NOTE.

Nearly half a century has passed since Mr. W. H. James Weale, then resident at
Bruges, began that long series of patient investigations into the history of Netherlandish
art which "was destined to earn so rich a harvest. IVJien he began work Memlinc was
still called Hemling, and was fabled to have arrived at Bruges as a wounded soldier.
The van Eycks were little more than legendary heroes. Roger Van der Weyden was little
more than a name. Most of the other great Netherlandish artists were either wholly
forgotten or named only in connection with paintings with which they had nothing to do.
Mr. Weale discovered Gerard David, and disentangled his principal works from Mem-
line's, with which they were then confused.

VINCENZO FOPPA OF BRESCIA, FOUNDER OF

THE LOMBARD SCHOOL, His LIFE AND WORK. By CONSTANCE
JOCELYN FFOULKES and MONSIGNOR RODOLFO MAJOCCHI, D.D.,
Rector of the Collegio Borromeo, Pavia. Based on research in the
Archives of Milan, Pavia, Brescia, and Genoa, and on the study
of all his known works. With over 100 Illustrations, many in
Photogravure, and 100 Documents. Royal 410. ^3. nj. 6d. net.

*** No complete Life of Vincenzo Foppa has ever been "written: an omission which
seems almost inexplicable in these days of over-production in the matter of bio-
graphies of painters, and of subjects relating to the art of Italy. The object of the
authors of this book has been to present a true picture of the master s life based
upon the testimony of records in Italian archives. The authors have unearthed a large

eral pictures by Foppa hitherto unknown in the history ofc

MEMOIRS OF THE DUKES OF URBINO.

Illustrating the Arms, Art and Literature of Italy from 1440 to
1630. By JAMES DENNISTOUN of Dennistoun. A New Edition
edited by EDWARD HUTTON, with upwards of 100 Illustrations.
Demy 8vo. 3 vols. ^s. net.

*** For many years this great book has been out of print, although it still remains the
chief authority upon the Duchy of Urbino from the beginning of the fifteenth century.
Mr. Hutton has carefully edited the whole work, leaving the text substantially the same,
but adding a large number of new notes, comments and references. Wherever possible
the reader is directed to original sources. Every sort of work has been laid under
contribution to illustrate the text, and bibliographies have been supplied on many subjects.
Besides these notes the book acquires a new value on account of the mass of illustrations
which it now contains, thus adding a pictorial comment to an historical and critical one.

THE PHILOSOPHY OF LONG LIFE. By

JEAN FINOT. A Translation by HARRY ROBERTS. Demy 8vo.
(9x5! inches), js. 6d. net.

*** This is a translation of a book which has attained to the position of a classic. It
has already been translated into almost every language, and has, in France, gone into four-
teen editions in the course of a few years. The book is an exhaustive one, and although
based on science and philosophy it is in no sense abstruse or remote from general interest.
It deals with life as embodied not only in man and in the animal and vegetable worlds, but
in all that great world of (as the author holds) misnamed " inanimate " nature as well.
For M. Finot argues that all things have life and consciousness, and that a solidarity
exists which brings together all beings and so-called things. He sets himself to work to
show that life, in its philosophic conception, is an elemental force, and durable as nature
herself.

io A CATALOGUE OF

THE DIARY OF A LADY-IN-WAITING. By

LADY CHARLOTTE BURY. Being the Diary Illustrative of the
Times of George the Fourth. Interspersed with original Letters
from the late Queen Caroline and from various other distinguished
persons. New edition. Edited, with an Introduction, by A.
FRANCIS STEUART. With numerous portraits. Two Vols.
Demy 8vo. 2is. net.

THE LAST JOURNALS OF HORACE WAL-

POLE. During the Reign of George III from 1771 to 1783.
With Notes by DR. DORAN. Edited with an Introduction by
A. FRANCIS STEUART, and containing numerous Portraits (2 in
Photogravure) reproduced from contemporary Pictures, Engravings,
etc. 2 vols. Uniform with "The Diary of a Lady-in- Waiting."
Demy 8vo (9 x 5f inches). 25*. net.

JUNIPER HALL: Rendezvous of certain illus-
trious Personages during the French Revolution, including Alex-
ander D'Arblay and Fanny Burney. Compiled by CONSTANCE
HILL. With numerous Illustrations by ELLEN G. HILL, and repro-
ductions from various Contemporary Portraits. Crown 8 vo. 5J.net.

JANE AUSTEN : Her Homes and Her Friends.

By CONSTANCE HILL. Numerous Illustrations by ELLEN G. HILL,
together with Reproductions from Old Portraits, etc. Cr. 8vo. 5 /.net.

THE HOUSE IN ST. MARTIN'S STREET.

Being Chronicles of the Burney Family. By CONSTANCE HILL,
Author of " Jane Austen, Her Home, and Her Friends," " Juniper
Hall," etc. With numerous Illustrations by ELLEN G. HILL, and
reproductions of Contemporary Portraits, etc. Demy 8vo. 2is.net.

STORY OF THE PRINCESS DES URSINS IN

SPAIN (Camarera-Mayor). By CONSTANCE HILL. With 12
Illustrations and a Photogravure Frontispiece. New Edition.
Crown 8vo. $s. net.

MARIA EDGEWORTH AND HER CIRCLE
IN THE DAYS OF BONAPARTE AND BOURBON.

By CONSTANCE HILL. Author of " Jane Austen : Her Homes
and Her Friends," "Juniper Hall," "The House in St. Martin's
Street," etc. With numerous Illustrations by ELLEN G. HILL
and Reproductions of Contemporary Portraits, etc. Demy 8vo
(9 x 5^ inches), zis. net.

MEMOIRS, BIOGRAPHIES, ETC, n
NEW LETTERS OF THOMAS CARLYLE.

Edited and Annotated by ALEXANDER CARLYLE, with Notes and
an Introduction and numerous Illustrations. In Two Volumes.
Demy 8vo. 25*. net.

Pall Mall Gazette." 1 To the portrait of the man, Thomas, these letters do really add

value ; we can learn to respect and to like him the more for the genuine goodness of his

personality."
Literary World. " It is then Carlyle, the nobly filial son, we see in these letters ; Carlyle,

the generous and affectionate brother, the loyal and warm-hearted friend, . . . and

above all, Carlyle as the tender and faithful lover of his wife."
Daily Telegraph. " The letters are characteristic enough of the Carlyle we know : very

picturesque and entertaining, full of extravagant emphasis, written, as a rule, at fever

heat, eloquently rabid and emotional."

NEW LETTERS AND MEMORIALS OF JANE

WELSH CARLYLE. A Collection of hitherto Unpublished
Letters. Annotated by THOMAS CARLYLE, and Edited by
ALEXANDER CARLYLE, with an Introduction by Sir JAMES CRICHTON
BROWNE, M.D., LL.D., F.R.S., numerous Illustrations drawn in Litho-
graphy by T. R. WAY, and Photogravure Portraits from hitherto
unreproduced Originals. In Two Volumes. Demy 8vo. 2$s. net.

Westminster Gazette. " Few letters in the language have in such perfection the qualities
which good letters should possess. Frank, gay, brilliant, indiscreet, immensely clever,
whimsical, and audacious, they reveal a character which, with whatever alloy of human
infirmity, must endear itself to any reader of understanding."

World. " Throws a deal of new light on the domestic relations of the Sage of Chelsea.
They also contain the full text of Mrs. Carlyle's fascinating journal, and her own
' humorous and quaintly candid ' narrative of her first love-affair."

THE LOVE LETTERS OF THOMAS CAR-
LYLE AND JANE WELSH. Edited by ALEXANDER CARLYLE,
Nephew of THOMAS CARLYLE, editor of "New Letters and
Memorials of Jane Welsh Carlyle," " New Letters of Thomas
Carlyle," etc. With 2 Portraits in colour and numerous other
Illustrations. Demy 8vo (9 x 5 J inches). 2 vols. 25^. net.

CARLYLE'S FIRST LOVE. Margaret Gordon

Lady Bannerman. An account of her Life, Ancestry and
Homes ; her Family and Friends. By R. C. ARCHIBALD. With
20 Portraits and Illustrations, including a Frontispiece in Colour.
Demy 8vo (9 x 5! inches). IDS. 6d. net.

EMILE ZOLA : NOVELIST AND REFORMER. An

Account of his Life, Work, and Influence. By E. A. VIZETELLY.
With numerous Illustrations, Portraits, etc. Demy 8vo. 2. is. net.

Morning Post. " Mr. Ernest Vizetelly has given ... a very true insight into the aims,

character, and life of the novelist."
Athenceum. ". . . Exhaustive and interesting."
M.A.P. ". . . will stand as the classic biography of Zola."

12 A CATALOGUE OF

MEMOIRS OF THE MARTYR KING : being a

detailed record of the last two years of the Reign of His Most
Sacred Majesty King Charles the First, 1646-1648-9. Com-
piled by ALLAN FEA. With upwards of 100 Photogravure
Portraits and other Illustrations, including relics. Royal 4to.
io5-f. net.

Mr. M. H. SPIELMANN in The Academy, "The volume is a triumph for the printer and

publisher, and a solid contribution to Carolinian literature."

Pall Mall Gazette. " The present sumptuous volume, a storehouse of eloquent associations
. . conies as near to outward perfection as anything we could desire."

MEMOIRS OF A VANISHED GENERATION

1813-1855. Edited by MRS. WARRENNE BLAKE. With numerous
Illustrations. Demy 8vo. \6s. net.

*** This 'work is compiled from diaries and letters dating from the time of the Regency
to the middle of the nineteenth century. The value of the work lies in its natural un~
embellished picture of the life of a cultured and well-born family in a foreign environment
at a period so close to our own that it is far less familiar than periods much more remote.
There is an atmosphere of J ane Austen s novels about the lives of Admiral Knox and his
f amily> and a large number of well-known contemporaries are introduced into Mrs. Blake's
Pages.

CESAR FRANCK : A Study. Translated from the

French of Vincent d'Indy, with an Introduction by ROSA NEW-
MARCH. Demy 8vo. js. 64. net.

*V* There is no purer influence in modern music than that of Cesar Franck, for many
years ignored in every capacity save that of organist of Sainte-Clotiide, in Paris, but now
recognised as the legitimate successor of Bach and Beethoven. His inspiration ' ' rooted in
love and faith " has contributed in a remarkable degree to the regeneration of the musical
art in France and elsewhere. The now famous " Schola Cantorum" founded in Paris in
1896, by A. Guilmant, Charles Bordes and Vincent d?Indy, is the direct outcome of his
influence. Among the artists who were in some sort his disciples were Paul Dukas,
Chabrier, Gabriel Faure and the great violinist Ysdye. His pupils include such gifted
composers as Benoit, Augusta Holmes , Chausson, Ropartz, and d? Indy, This book,
written with the devotion of^ a disciple and the authority of a master, leaves us with
a vivid and touching impression of the saint-like composer of " The Beatitudes."

FRENCH NOVELISTS OF TO-DAY : Maurice

Barres, Rene Bazin, Paul Bourget, Pierre de Coulevain, Anatole
France, Pierre Loti, Marcel Prevost, and Edouard Rod. Bio-
graphical, Descriptive, and Critical. By WINIFRED STEPHENS.
With Portraits and Bibliographies. Crown 8vo. 5^. net.

*** The writer, who has lived much in France, is thoroughly acquainted with French
life and with the principal currents of French thought^. The book is intended to be a
guide to English readers desirous to keep in touch with the best present-day French
fiction. Special attention is given to the ecclesiastical, social, and intellectual problems
of contemporary France and their influence upon the works of French novelists of to-day.

THE KING'S GENERAL IN THE WEST,

being the Life of Sir Richard Granville, Baronet (1600-1659).
By ROGER GRANVILLE, M.A., Sub-Dean of Exeter Cathedral.
With Illustrations. Demy 8vo. los. 64. net.

Westminster Gazette. " A distinctly interesting work; it will be highly appreciated by
historical students as well as by ordinary readers."

MEMOIRS, BIOGRAPHIES, ETC. 13
THE SOUL OF A TURK. By MRS. DE BUNSEN.

With 8 Full-page Illustrations. Demy 8vo. los. 6d. net.

*** We hear of Moslem "fanaticism " and Christian " superstition," but it is not easy
to find a book which goes to the heart of the matter. " The Soul of a Turk" is the
outcome of several journeys in Asiatic and European Turkey, notably one through the
A rmenian provinces, down the Tigris on a raft to Baghdad and across the Syrian Desert
to Damascus. Mrs. de Bunsen made a special study of the -various forms of religion
existing in those countries. Here, side by side with the formal ceremonial of the -village
mosque and the Christian Church, is the resort to Magic and Mystery.

THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF ROBERT

STEPHEN HAWKER, sometime Vicar of Morwenstow in Cornwall.
By C. E. BYLES. With numerous Illustrations by J. LEY
PETHYBRIDGE and others. Demy Svo. js. 6d. net.

Daily Telegraph. " ... As soon as the volume is opened one finds oneself in the presence
of a real original, a man of ability, genius and eccentricity, of whom one cannot know
too much . . . No one will read this fascinating and charmingly produced book without
thanks to Mr. Byles and a desire to visit or revisit Morwenstow."

THE LIFE OF WILLIAM BLAKE. By ALEXANDER

GILCHRIST. Edited with an Introduction by W.GRAHAM ROBERTSON.
Numerous Reproductions from Blake's most characteristic and
remarkable designs. Demy Svo. los. 6d. net. New Edition.

Birmingham Post. "Nothing seems at all likely ever to supplant the Gilchrist biography.
Mr. Swinburne praised it magnificently in his own eloquent essay on Blake, and there
should be no need now to point out its entire sanity, understanding keenness of critical
insight, and masterly literary style. Dealing with one of the most difficult of subjects,
it ranks among the finest things of its kind that we possess."

GEORGE MEREDITH : Some Characteristics.

By RICHARD LE GALLIENNE. With a Bibliography (much en-
larged) by JOHN LANE. Portrait, etc. Crown Svo. 51. net. Fifth

Edition. Revised.

Punch. "All Meredithians must possess 'George Meredith; Some Characteristics,' by
Richard Le Gallienne. This book is a complete and excellent guide to the novelist and
the novels, a sort of Meredithian Bradshaw, with pictures of the traffic superintendent
and the head office at Boxhill. Even Philistines may be won over by the blandishments
of Mr. Le Gallienne."

LIFE OF LORD CHESTERFIELD. An account

of the Ancestry, Personal Character, and Public Services of the
Fourth Earl of Chesterfield. By W. H. CRAIG, M.A. Numerous
Illustrations. Demy Svo. 1 zs. 6d. net.

Times. " It is the chief point of Mr. Craig's book to show the sterling qualities which
Chesterfield was at too much pains in concealing, to reject the perishable trivialities of
his character, and to exhibit him as a philosophic statesman, not inferior to any of his
contemporaries, except Walpole at one end of his life, and Chatham at the other."

14 A CATALOGUE OF

A QUEEN OF INDISCRETIONS. The Tragedy

of Caroline of Brunswick, Queen of England. From the Italian
of G. P. CLERICI. Translated by FREDERIC CHAPMAN. With
numerous Illustrations reproduced from contemporary Portraits and
Prints. Demy 8vo. 2 is. net.

The Daily Telegraph. "It could scarcely be done more thoroughly or, on the whole, in
better taste than is here displayed by Professor Clerici. Mr. Frederic Chapman himself
contributes an uncommonly interesting and well-informed introduction."

LETTERS AND JOURNALS OF SAMUEL

GRIDLEY HOWE. Edited by his Daughter LAURA E.
RICHARDS. With Notes and a Preface by F. B. SANBORN, an
Introduction by Mrs. JOHN LANE, and a Portrait. Demy 8vo
(9x5! inches). i6s. net.

Outlook. "This deeply interesting record of experience. The volume is worthily produced
and contains a striking portrait of Howe."

GRIEG AND HIS MUSIC. By H. T. FINCK,

Author of " Wagner and his Works," etc. With Illustrations.
Crown 8vo. js. 6d. net.

EDWARD A. MACDOWELL : a Biography. By

LAWRENCE OILMAN, Author of " Phases of Modern Music,"
" Straus's ' Salome,' " " The Music of To-morrow and Other
Studies," " Edward Macdowell," etc. Profusely illustrated.
Crown 8vo. 5*. net.

THE LIFE OF ST. MARY MAGDALEN.

Translated from the Italian of an Unknown Fourteenth-Century
Writer by VALENTINA HAWTREY. With an Introductory Note by
VERNON LEE, and 14 Full-page Reproductions from the Old Masters.
Crown 8vo. 5*. net.

Daily News. "Miss Valentina Hawtrey has given a most excellent English version of this
pleasant work."

MEN AND LETTERS. By HERBERT PAUL, M.P.

Fourth Edition. Crown 8vo. $s. net.

Daily News. " Mr. Herbert Paul has done scholars and the reading world in general a high
service in publishing this collection of his essays."

ROBERT BROWNING: Essays and Thoughts.

By J. T. NETTLESHIP. With Portrait. Crown 8vo. 5-r. 6d. net.
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MEMOIRS, BIOGRAPHIES, ETC. 15
WILLIAM MAKEPEACE THACKERAY. A

Biography by LEWIS MELVILLE. With 2 Photogravures and
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*** In compiling this biography of Thackeray Mr. Lewis Melville, who is admittedly
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come to hand since the publication of " The Life of Thackeray." Now that everything
about the novelist is known, it seems that an appropriate moment has arrived for a new
biography. Mr. Melville has also compiled a bibliography of Thackeray that runs to
upwards 1,300 items, by many Jiundreds more than contained in any hitherto issued.
This section will be invaluable to the collector. Thackeray's speeches, including several
never before republished, have also been collected. There is a list of portraits of the
novelist, and a separate index to the Bibliography.

A LATER PEPYS. The Correspondence of Sir

William Weller Pepys, Bart., Master in Chancery, 1758-1825,
with Mrs. Chapone, Mrs. Hartley, Mrs. Montague, Hannah More,
William Franks, Sir James Macdonald, Major Rennell, Sir
Nathaniel Wraxall, and others. Edited, with an Introduction and
Notes, by ALICE C. C. GAUSSEN. With numerous Illustrations.
Demy 8vo. In Two Volumes. 321. net.

DOUGLAS SLADEN in the Queen. "This is indisputably a most valuable contribution to the
literature of the eighteenth century. It is a veritable storehouse of society gossip, the
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ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON, AN ELEGY;

AND OTHER POEMS, MAINLY PERSONAL. By

RICHARD LE GALLIENNE. Crown 8vo. 4^. 6d. net.

Globe. "The opening Elegy on R. L. Stevenson includes some tender and touching
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RUDYARD KIPLING : a Criticism. By RICHARD

LE GALLIENNE. With a Bibliography by JOHN LANE. Crown
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Scotsman " It shows a keen insight into the essential qualities of literature, and analyses
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APOLOGIA DIFFIDENTIS. By W. COMPTON

LEITH. Demy 8vo. js. 6d. net.

*** The book, which is largely autobiographical, describes the effect of diffidence upon
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Daily Mail."' Mr. Leith has written a very beautiful book, and perhaps the publisher's
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16 MEMOIRS, BIOGRAPHIES, ETC.
THE TRUE STORY OF MY LIFE : an Auto-

biography by ALICE M. DIEHL, Novelist, Writer, and Musician.
Demy 8vo. los. 6d. net.

THE LIFE OF W. J. FOX, Public Teacher and

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*** W. J. Fox was a prominent figure in public life from 1820 to 1860. From a
weavers boy he became M.P. for Oldham (1847-1862), and he will always be remembered
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preacher and popular orator brought him in contact with an advanced circle of thoughtful
people. He was the discoverer of the youthful Robert Browning and Harriet Martineau,
and the friend of J. S. Mill, Home, John Forster, Macready, etc. As an Anti-Corn
Law orator, he swayed, by the power of his eloquence, enthusiastic audiences. As a
politician, he was the unswerving champion of social reform and the cause of oppressed
nationalities, his most celebrated speech being in support of his Bill for National Educa-
tion, 18^0, a Bill which anticipated many of the features of the Education Bill of our
own tittie. He died in 1863. The present Life has been compiled from manuscript
material entrusted to Dr. Garnet t by Mrs. Bridell Fox.

OTIA : Essays. By ARMINE THOMAS KENT. Crown

8vo. 5-r. net.

TERRORS OF THE LAW : being the Portraits

of Three Lawyers the original Weir of Hermiston, " Bloody
Jeffreys," and " Bluidy Advocate Mackenzie." By FRANCIS
WATT. With 3 Photogravure Portraits. Fcap. 8vo. 41. 6d. net.

The Literary World. "The book is altogether entertaining; it is brisk, lively, and
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CHAMPIONS OF THE FLEET. Captains and

Men-of-War in the Days that Helped to make the Empire. By
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THE LONDONS OF THE BRITISH FLEET :

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