Louis XIV and La Grande Mademoiselle, 1652-1693

132

Journal d'Olivier Lefèvre d'Ormesson.

133

Mémoires de Bussy-Rabutin.

134

À nos Seigneurs de Parlement.– Archives of the Château of Eu. Mgr. le Duc d'Orléans has thrown open to me the Archives of Eu with a liberality for which I here heartily express my gratitude.

135

Déclaration par le Menu du Comté d'Eu (May 8, 1660), and Inventoire général du Comté d'Eu (July 1, 1663).

136

The Norman acre contains 81 acres and 71 centiares.

137

Her request to the King was dated February 9, 1661 (Archives of Eu).

138

The debts amounted exactly to 2,700,718 frs. 18 sols. (Liste des Créanciers in Archives of the Château of Eu). It will be remembered that Mademoiselle paid for Eu 2,550,000 frs.

139

The account of the entry of Mademoiselle is in the Archives of the Château of Eu.

140

Motteville.

141

Histoire de France, by Leopold Ranke.

142

Numéro of September 14, 1663.

143

The marriage took place on January 28th.

144

Philippe IV. died September 17, 1665.

145

Cf. La Relation des Divertissements que le Roi a donnés aux Reines, etc., by Marigny (June, 1664).

146

Number of July, 21, 1663, and passim.

147

Louis XIV. had bought Dunkerque from the King of England. The city was delivered November 27, 1662. For account of the entrance of the King, see the Gazette.

148

Louis XIV. was installed at Versailles, as a residence, May 6, 1682.

149

Letter to the Queen of Poland, Marie de Gonzague (Archives of Chantilly). The Duc d'Enghien had married, December 11, 1663, Anne de Barière, daughter of the Princess Palatine and niece of Marie de Gonzague.

150

Journal d'Olivier d'Ormesson.

151

Letter of October 31st to the Queen of Poland (Archives of Chantilly).

152

Cf. De La Vallière à Montespan, by Jean Lemoine and André Lichtenberger.

153

Letter dated December 28, 1663, to the Queen of Poland (Archives of Chantilly).

154

See the Molière of the Grands Écrivains, v., iv.

155

See the contemporary engravings. Some reproductions will be found in the beautiful work of M. de Nolhac, La Création de Versailles.

156

See the Youth of La Grande Mademoiselle.

157

From the 7th to the 11th of May, the first two days and the last two not counted.

158

Number of February 3, 1663, apropos of a ball given at the Louvre by the King on January 31st.

159

For this portion, see the Gazette of May 17th, the letters from Loret of the 10th and 17th, various Relations du temps, the Molière of the Grands Écrivains, etc.

160

Louise de La Vallière, by J. Lair.

161

See La Cabale des Dévots, by M. Raoul Allier.

162

A doubtful phrase.

163

The Mlles. de Nemours were daughters of Elisabeth de Vendôme, sister of the Duc de Beaufort, and of Henri de Savoie, Duc de Nemours, who was killed in a duel by his brother-in-law (July 30, 1652). The younger sister married Alphonse VI. June 28, 1666.

164

Claude Le Pelletier, then President of Inquests. After, he was Minister of State and Controller-General of Finances.

165

Mlle. d'Alençon, the second of the half-sisters of Mademoiselle.

166

Archives de Chantilly.

167

Œuvres de Louis XIV. Lettres particulières, Paris, 1806.

168

L'ambassadeur de la Fuente au roi d'Espagne; Paris, January 27, 1664. (Archives de la Bastile.) The Princesse de Savoie refused by Louis XIV; had decided to marry the Duc de Parma.

169

Mémoires de Mme. de Motteville.

170

The Archbishop of Embrun to Father Brienne; Turin Aug. 1, 1659.

171

La Fontaine: La Fille, fable, published for the first time in the edition 1679.

172

Marie-Jeanne-Baptiste de Nemours married Charles Emmanuel II., May 11, 1665.

173

And not Madame Henriette, as has been said in error.

174

Bethléem was a suburb of Clamecy.

175

Mme. de La Fayette, Histoire de Madame Henriette.

176

Mémoires de Mme. de Motteville.

177

See Raoul Allier, La Cabale des Dévots.

178

Lenten sermons for the year 1662.

179

Letter of March 29, 1680.

180

Archives de la Bastille, by François Ravaisson, vols. iv., v., and vi., passim.

181

See the review of the play in Molière of the Grands Écrivains de la France (Hachette).

182

Allusion to certain talismans.

183

Archives de la Bastille: Rapport de la Reynie, lieutenant-general of police, à Louvois (1680, no other date).

184

La Magie dans l'Inde antique, by Victor Henry.

185

Interrogatory of June 30, 1668. Mme. de Bougy was the widow of the Marquis of this name, lieutenant-general. La Duverger was occupied with magic. The Marquis de Ravetot had married Catherine de Grammont, daughter of the Marshal.

186

Another name for Lesage.

187

Histoire de l'Opéra en Europe, by M. Romain Rolland. Cf. Histoire de la Musique dramatique en France, by Chouquet, Les Origines de l'Opéra français, by Nuitter and Thoinan.

188

The first opera worthy of the name was Pomone, by Cambert. It will be learned in special works how French opera differed from Italian and through what a chain of circumstances it occurred that a Florentine, Baptiste Lulli, was the true founder.

189

See above.

190

A selection of the operas of Lulli, for piano and voice, has appeared in the Collection Michaelis.

191

Letter dated December 1, 1673.

192

Introduction par M. le Comte d' Haussonville, aux Souvenirs sur Mme. de Maintenon.

193

Kant als Mensch, by Erich Adickes.

194

Romain Rolland.

195

Mémoires of Mademoiselle.

196

Œuvres galantes en vers et en prose, by M. Cotin.

197

For this see Les Ennemis de Racine, by F. Deltour; Les Époques du Théâtre français, and Les Études critiques sur l'Histoire de la Littérature française by M. F. Brunetière; the memoirs and correspondence of the times; the collection of Mercure galant; les préfaces de Racine, etc.

198

Criticism by Boursault.

199

Deltour, Les Ennemies de Racine.

200

Gazette de Loret, January 13, 1663.

201

Mémoires sur la vie et les ouvrages de Jean Racine, by Louis Racine.

202

See the volume by MM. Jean Lemoine and André Lichtenberger, De La Vallière à Montespan.

203

Souvenirs sur Mme. de Maintenon.—Les Cahiers de Mlle. d'Aumale, with an Introduction by M. G. Hanotaux.

204

May 27, to M. de Montchevreuil.

205

"Frappez" would have been misunderstood.

206

Remerciement au Roi (1663).

207

The Convent of Saint-Joseph, rue Saint Dominique; Mme. de Montespan had constructed in it an apartment for herself.

208

The Comte de Vexin, who died young. – Mme. de Sévigné, letter dated June 14, 1675.

209

The Grande Equerry, Louis de Lorraine, Comte d' Armagnac.

210

The Marquis de Puyguilhem (written Péguilin) had taken the name of Comte de Lauzun the following January. The latter title will be used in this volume.

211

See the portrait of Straton in the chapter entitled "De la Cour."

212

Saint-Simon, Écrits inédits.

213

Lauzun became Captain of the Body Guard in July, 1669.

214

Letter to Mme. de Sévigné, dated February 2, 1669.

215

Mémoires et Réflexions of the Marquis de la Fare.

216

The sister of the Grand Condé. Upon her part in the Fronde, see The Youth of La Grande Mademoiselle.

217

M. de Saint-Paul began toward this time to bear the name of de Longueville.

218

This conversation, which gives the key to the conduct of Lauzun, is reported in Le Perroquet or Les amours de Mademoiselle, an anonymous recital printed by M. Livet following the Histoire amoureuse des Gaules (Paris, Jannet, 1857); and in the Histoire de Mademoiselle et du Comte de Losun (Bibl. Saint-Geneviève MS. 3208), not always sources to be relied on, but to be trusted here.

219

War between relatives for the succession.

220

Lettres historiques. Pellison accompanied the Court as historiographer.

221

Plaques: pieces of embossed silver, at the lower part of which was placed a chandelier.

222

Mémoires of Mademoiselle.

223

De La Vallière à Montespan, by Jean Lemoine and André Lichtenberger.

224

Emmanuel II. de Crussol, Duc d'Uzès. He married the daughter of the Duc de Montausier and of Julie d'Angennes.

225

Probably the uncle by marriage of Bussy-Rabutin.

226

Romecourt was Lieutenant of the King's Guards.

227

It is evident that these last were carried in the private carriages, ready for any accident.

228

Gazette de Renaudot.

229

Captain of the Body Guard. Afterward, Duc de Noailles, and Marshal of France.

230

First physician to the King.

231

Histoire de Madame Henriette d'Angleterre.

232

Mme. de Sévigné to Bussy-Rabutin. Letter of July 6, 1670.

233

Mme. de Sévigné to Bussy-Rabutin (letter dated January 15, 1687), speaking of Condé's death.

234

Charles d'Harcourt, chevalier, afterward Comte de Beuvron, was one of those whom rumour accused of having contributed to the death of Madame.

235

Monsieur had two daughters by his first marriage; Marie-Louise d'Orléans, who married, in 1679, Charles II. of Spain, and Anne-Marie de Valois, married, in 1684, to Victor-Amédée II., Duc de Savoie.

236

Cf. Mémoires de Louis XIV. "for the year 1666." Edited by Charles Dreyss.

237

Cf. Segraisiana.

238

Mémoires de l'Abbé de Choisy.

239

Don Miguel de Iturrieta to Don Diego de la Torre. Archives de la Bastille.

240

Mme. de Montespan et Louis XIV., by P. Clément.

241

Histoire etc. (Bibl. Sainte-Geneviève, MS. 3208). The same version is found with slight variations in Le Perroquet, etc.

242

Mémoires de la Fare.

243

Letter dated January 26, 1680.

244

Second son of Louis XIV. He died young.

245

Cf. for this chapter, the Mélanges of Philibert Delamare (Bibl. Nationale, French MS. 23,251), the Journal of d'Ormesson, and generally the memoirs, correspondences, pamphlets, and songs of the period.

246

Philibert Delamare, loc. cit.

247

Journal of Olivier d'Ormesson.

248

Letter to Coulanges, December 31st. The letter announcing the marriage, too well known to quote, is dated the 15th.

249

Mémoires de la Fare.

250

Ancient Governor of the King, who had kept a strong affection for his pupil.

251

Philibert Delamare, loc. cit.

252

Mme. de Maintenon, Lettres historiques et édifiantes; cf. Mémoire de Mlle. d'Aumale, published by M. le Comte d'Haussonville.

253

The Abbé de Choisy relates the same scene, but attributes it to the Princesse de Carignan (Marie de Bourbon-Soissons, 1666-1692).

254

The French Chargé d'Affaires in Sweden and Germany, Archives de la Bastille.

255

Philibert Delamare, loc. cit.

256

This exclusion probably refers to the Prince de Condé, with whom an alliance would have been considered a danger to the peace of France.

257

La Correspondance de Pomponne (Bibl. de l'Arsenal, 4712, 1598, 11. F.), fol. 373. M. Chéruel in the appendix to volume iv. of the Mémoires de Mademoiselle, and M. Livet in l'Histoire amoureuse des Gaules, have published this letter after an inexact copy.

258

Letter dated December 24, 1670.

259

Letter dated December 31, – .

260

Souvenirs et Correspondance.

261

Philibert Delamare, loc. cit.

262

Letter dated December 24, 1670.

263

Correspondance de Bussy-Rabutin, published by Ludovic Lalanne.

264

M. du Honsett, Ancient Intendant of Finance. He had just purchased the office of Chancellor of Monsieur.

265

Letter dated April 1, 1671.

266

Letter dated January 13, 1672.

267

Mémoires de La Fare. Cf. the Mémoires de Choisy, Segraisiana, etc.

268

Louvois had visited Pignerol the preceding year.

269

The authorities quoted in this and the following chapter, upon the captivity of Lauzun, are in part unpublished and drawn from the Archives of the Minister of War, in part borrowed from the Archives de la Bastille, by M. Ravaisson. See also a collection of historic documents of 1829: Histoire de la Détention des Philosophes, by J. Delort.

270

Mme. de Montespan and Mlle. de La Vallière were designated briefly "les Dames."

271

This letter has been lost or destroyed.

272

Louvois to Saint-Mars, March 2, 1676.

273

The letter from Saint-Mars (March 23, 1680) giving an account of the communications between the dungeons has never been found, any more than that telling of the flight of Lauzun.

274

Louvois to Saint-Mars, November 28, 1679.

275

Leopold von Ranke, Histoire de France.

276

Journal d'Olivier Lefèvre d'Ormesson.

277

Two years after this warning Louis XIV. gave at Versailles, in honour of Mme. de Montespan, a fête for which special buildings were created. The ballroom, only used one night, was marble and porphyry; the rest in accordance.

278

A loss of more than 100,000 crowns was not rare at the gaming table of the King. March 6, 1670, Mme. de Montespan lost 400,000 pistoles in one night; at eight in the morning she regained 500,000. The pistole is worth about ten francs. In 1682, three years after her disgrace, she lost at one time 700,000 crowns which she did not regain. The King paid her debts.

279

Letter of Mme. de Châtrier, attached to the House of Condé; De La Vallière à Montespan, by Jean Lemoine and André Lichtenberger.

280

Letter from Colbert to the Intendant de Rochefort (April 16, 1678).

281

Mémoires de la Fare.

282

Mémoires de Mlle. de Montpensier.

283

Mémoires de l'Abbé de Choisy.

284

Souvenirs sur Mme. de Maintenon.—Les Cahiers de Mlle. d'Aumale, with an introduction by M. G. Hanotaux.

285

Ibid.

286

Letter to the Marquis de Trichateau.

287

Note by La Reynie (December 27, 1679). The documents of the Affaire des poisons form more than 1300 pages of the Archives de la Bastille, and they are not complete. Certain especial depositions, particularly compromising for Mme. de Montespan, are lacking, and were probably burned by order of Louis XIV.

288

Louvois to Boucherat, President of the Chambre, February 4, 1680.

289

It included the Comtesse de Soissons, the Marquise d'Alluye (the King saved both), the Duc de Luxembourg (victim of an error), the Vicomtesse de Polignac, the Marquis de Feuquières, the Princesse de Tingry, the Maréchale de la Ferté, the Duchesse de Bouillon, etc.

290

Cf. Archives de la Bastille, the "Note autographe" of La Reynie, dated September 17, 1679. Was this the first time that these names had appeared? The destruction of portions of the testimony through the orders of the King does not permit the real truth to be disclosed.

291

Louvois to M. Robert, January 15, 1680.

292

She died there September 8, 1686. Cato seems to have been dismissed, although she had been placed with Mme. de Montespan by La Voisin.

293

Marie-Anne-Christine de Bavière, coming to marry the Grand Dauphin.

294

Cf. Les souvenirs de Mme. de Caylus and – among others – the letter of Mme. de Sévigné dated July 17, 1680.

295

Mme. de Montespan et Louis XIV.

296

Louis XIV., sa Cour et le Régent, by Anquetil (Paris, 1789).

297

The gift to be enjoyed only after the death of Mademoiselle.

298

Mémoires de Saint-Simon.

299

Saint-Simon, Écrits inédits.

300

At Chalon-sur-Saône.

301

Exactly, according to the official figures, 284,940 francs.

302

The coat called a brevet, because it could only be worn with a brevet from the King, was changed every year. It was thus very out of fashion at the end of twelve years. Lauzun had worn a wig at Pignerol, to protect his head against the dampness of his dungeon.

303

Écrits inédits, Saint-Simon.

304

Saint-Simon, Mémoires. Saint-Simon takes his details from an eye-witness.

305

Saint-Simon, Écrits inédits.

306

Sévigné.

307

Mémoires de la Cour de France, by Mme. de La Fayette.

308

Sévigné, January 6, 1689.

309

Letter of M. d'Amfreville, general-officer of the marine to Seignelay, in the Histoire de Louvois, by Camille Rousset.

310

Saint-Simon, Écrits inédits.

311

Œuvres completes, of Bernardin de Saint-Pierre (Paris, 1830), vol. i.; Essai sur la Vie by Aimé-Martin.

312

Cf. the Gazette for 1693, and the series of the Mercure Galant monthly periodical, founded in 1672 by Donneau de Visé.

313

Saint-Simon, Mémoires.

314

Saint-Simon says fifteen. He is mistaken; the act of marriage says fourteen.

315

Mémoires, Saint-Simon.

316

Saint-Simon, Mémoires.

317

The royal ordinance is dated July 7, 1668. Louis XIV. was ever ignorant of the fact that the councillors of the Hôtel de Ville had passed nights in copying what was to be burned, so that the documents supposed to be destroyed still exist.

318

From La Rivière to Bussy-Rabutin.

319

Relation de la Cour de France, by Ézéchiel Spanheim, envoy extraordinary from Brandenbourg.