Book: The Memoirs of Louis XV. and XVI., Volume 2
U >>
Unknown >> The Memoirs of Louis XV. and XVI., Volume 2
A courier brought Madame de Pompadour a letter, on reading which she
burst into tears. It contained the intelligence of the battle of
Rosbach, which M. de Soubise sent her, with all the details. I heard her
say to the Marechal de Belle-Isle, wiping her eyes, "M. de Soubise is
inconsolable; he does not try to excuse his conduct, he sees nothing but
the disastrous fortune which pursues him."--"M. de Soubise must, however,
have many things to urge in his own behalf," said M. de Belle-Isle, "and
so I told the King."--"It is very noble in you, Marshal, not to suffer an
unfortunate man to be overwhelmed; the public are furious against him,
and what has he done to deserve it?"--"There is not a more honourable nor
a kinder man in the world. I only fulfil my duty in doing justice to the
truth, and to a man for whom I have the most profound esteem. The King
will explain to you, Madame, how M. de Soubise was forced to give battle
by the Prince of Sage-Hildbourgshausen, whose troops fled first, and
carried along the French troops." Madame would have embraced the old
Marshal if she had dared, she was so delighted with him.
M. de Soubise, having gained a battle, was made Marshal of France: Madame
was enchanted with her friend's success. But, either it was unimportant,
or the public were offended at his promotion; nobody talked of it but
Madame's friends. This unpopularity was concealed from her, and she said
to Colin, her steward, at her toilet, "Are you not delighted at the
victory M. de Soubise has gained? What does the public say of it? He
has taken his revenge well." Colin was embarrassed, and knew not what to
answer. As she pressed him further, he replied that he had been ill, and
had seen nobody for a week.
M. de Marigny came to see me one day, very much out of humour. I asked
him the cause. "I have," said he, "just been intreating my sister not to
make M. le Normand-de-Mezi Minister of the Marine. I told her that she
was heaping coals of fire upon her own head. A favourite ought not to
multiply the points of attack upon herself." The Doctor entered. "You,"
said the Doctor, "are worth your weight in gold, for the good sense and
capacity you have shewn in your office, and for your moderation, but you
will never be appreciated as you deserve; your advice is excellent; there
will never be a ship taken but Madame will be held responsible for it to
the public, and you are very wise not to think of being in the Ministry
yourself."
One day, when I was at Paris, I went to dine with the Doctor, who
happened to be there at the same time; there were, contrary to his usual
custom, a good many people, and, among others, a handsome young Master of
the Requests, who took a title from some place, the name of which I have
forgotten, but who was a son of M. Turgot, the 'prevot des marchands'.
They talked a great deal about administration, which was not very amusing
to me; they then fell upon the subject of the love Frenchmen bear to
their Kings. M. Turgot here joined in the conversation, and said, "This
is not a blind attachment; it is a deeply rooted sentiment, arising from
an indistinct recollection of great benefits. The French nation--I may
go farther--Europe, and all mankind, owe to a King of France" (I have
forgotten his name)--[Phillip the Long]--"whatever liberty they enjoy. He
established communes, and conferred on an immense number of men a civil
existence. I am aware that it may be said, with justice, that he served
his own interests by granting these franchises; that the cities paid him
taxes, and that his design was to use them as instruments of weakening
the power of great nobles; but what does that prove, but that this
measure was at once useful, politic, and humane?" From Kings in general
the conversation turned upon Louis XV., and M. Turgot remarked that his
reign would be always celebrated for the advancement of the sciences, the
progress of knowledge, and of philosophy. He added that Louis XV. was
deficient in the quality which Louis XIV. possessed to excess; that is
to say, in a good opinion of himself; that he was well-informed; that
nobody was more perfectly master of the topography of France; that his
opinion in the Council was always the most judicious; and that it was
much to be lamented that he had not more confidence in himself, or that
he did not rely upon some Minister who enjoyed the confidence of the
nation. Everybody agreed with him. I begged M. Quesnay to write down
what young Turgot had said, and showed it to Madame. She praised this
Master of the Requests greatly, and spoke of him to the King. "It is a
good breed," said he.
One day, I went out to walk, and saw, on my return, a great many people
going and coming, and speaking to each other privately: it was evident
that something extraordinary had happened. I asked a person of my
acquaintance what was the matter. "Alas!" said he, with tears in his
eyes, "some assassins, who had formed the project of murdering the King,
have inflicted several wounds on a garde-du-corps, who overheard them in
a dark corridor; he is carried to the hospital: and as he has described
the colour of these men's coats, the Police are in quest of them in all
directions, and some people, dressed in clothes of that colour, are
already arrested." I saw Madame with M. de Gontaut, and I hastened home.
She found her door besieged by a multitude of people, and was alarmed:
when she got in, she found the Comte de Noailles. "What is all this,
Count?" said she. He said he was come expressly to speak to her, and
they retired to her closet together. The conference was not long. I had
remained in the drawing-room, with Madame's equerry, the Chevalier de
Solent, Gourbillon, her valet de chambre, and some strangers. A great
many details were related; but, the wounds being little more than
scratches, and the garde-du-corps having let fall some contradictions, it
was thought that he was an impostor, who had invented all this story to
bring himself into favour. Before the night was over, this was proved to
be the fact, and, I believe, from his own confession. The King came,
that evening, to see Madame de Pompadour; he spoke of this occurrence
with great sang froid, and said, "The gentleman who wanted to kill me was
a wicked madman; this is a low scoundrel."
When he spoke of Damiens, which was only while his trial lasted, he never
called him anything but that gentleman.
I have heard it said that he proposed having him shut up in a dungeon for
life; but that the horrible nature of the crime made the judges insist
upon his suffering all the tortures inflicted upon like occasions. Great
numbers, many of them women, had a barbarous curiosity to witness the
execution; amongst others, Madame de P------, a very beautiful woman, and
the wife of a Farmer General. She hired two places at a window for
twelve Louis, and played a game of cards in the room whilst waiting for
the execution to begin. On this being told to the King, he covered his
eyes with his hands and exclaimed, "Fi, la Vilaine!" I have been told
that she, and others, thought to pay their court in this way, and
signalise their attachment to the King's person.
Two things were related to me by M. Duclos at the time of the attempt on
the King's life.
The first, relative to the Comte de Sponheim, who was the Duc de
Deux-Ponts, and next in succession to the Palatinate and Electorate of
Bavaria. He was thought to be a great friend to the King, and had made
several long sojourns in France. He came frequently to see Madame. M.
Duclos told us that the Duc de Deux-Ponts, having learned, at Deux-Ponts,
the attempt on the King's life, immediately set out in a carriage for
Versailles: "But remark," said he, "the spirit of 'courtisanerie' of a
Prince, who may be Elector of Bavaria and the Palatinate tomorrow. This
was not enough. When he arrived within ten leagues of Paris, he put on
an enormous pair of jack-boots, mounted a post-horse, and arrived in the
court of the palace cracking his whip. If this had been real impatience,
and not charlatanism, he would have taken horse twenty leagues from
Paris."--"I don't agree with you," said a gentleman whom I did not know;
"impatience sometimes seizes one towards the end of an undertaking, and
one employs the readiest means then in one's power. Besides, the Duc de
Deux-Ponts might wish, by showing himself thus on horseback, to serve the
King, to whom he is attached, by proving to Frenchmen how greatly he is
beloved and honoured in other countries." Duclos resumed: "Well," said
he, "do you know the story of M. de C-----? The first day the King saw
company, after the attempt of Damiens, M. de C----- pushed so vigorously
through the crowd that he was one of the first to come into the King's
presence, but he had on so shabby a black coat that it caught the King's
attention, who burst out laughing, and said, 'Look at C-----, he has had
the skirt of his coat torn off.' M. de C----- looked as if he was only
then first conscious of his loss, and said, 'Sire, there is such a
multitude hurrying to see Your Majesty, that I was obliged to fight my
way through them, and, in the effort, my coat has been
torn.'--'Fortunately it was not worth much,' said the Marquis de Souvre,
'and you could not have chosen a worse one to sacrifice on the
occasion.'"
Madame de Pompadour had been very judiciously advised to get her husband,
M. le Normand, sent to Constantinople, as Ambassador. This would have a
little diminished the scandal caused by seeing Madame de Pompadour, with
the title of Marquise, at Court, and her husband Farmer General at Paris.
But he was so attached to a Paris life, and to his opera habits, that he
could not be prevailed upon to go. Madame employed a certain M.
d'Arboulin, with whom she had been acquainted before she was at Court, to
negotiate this affair. He applied to a Mademoiselle Rem, who had been an
opera-dancer, and who was M. le Normand's mistress. She made him very
fine promises; but she was like him, and preferred a Paris life. She
would do nothing in it.
At the time that plays were acted in the little apartments, I obtained a
lieutenancy for one of my relations, by a singular means, which proves
the value the greatest people set upon the slightest access to the Court.
Madame did not like to ask anything of M. d'Argenson, and, being pressed
by my family, who could not imagine that, situated as I was, it could be
difficult for me to obtain a command for a good soldier, I determined to
go and ask the Comte d'Argenson. I made my request, and presented my
memorial. He received me coldly, and gave me vague answers. I went out,
and the Marquis de V-----, who was in his closet, followed me. "You wish
to obtain a command," said he; "there is one vacant, which is promised me
for one of my proteges; but if you will do me a favour in return, or
obtain one for me, I will give it to you. I want to be a police officer,
and you have it in your power to get me a place." I told him I did not
understand the purport of his jest. "I will tell you," said he;
"Tartuffe is going to be acted in the cabinets, and there is the part of
a police officer, which only consists of a few lines. Prevail upon
Madame de Pompadour to assign me that part, and the command is yours." I
promised nothing, but I related the history to Madame, who said she would
arrange it for me. The thing was done, and I obtained the command, and
the Marquis de V----- thanked Madame as if she had made him a Duke.
The King was often annoyed by the Parliaments, and said a very remarkable
thing concerning them, which M. de Gontaut repeated to Doctor Quesnay in
my presence. "Yesterday," said he, "the King walked up and down the room
with an anxious air. Madame de Pompadour asked him if he was uneasy
about his health, as he had been, for some time, rather unwell. 'No,'
replied he; 'but I am greatly annoyed by all these remonstrances.'--'What
can come of them,' said she, 'that need seriously disquiet Your Majesty?
Are you not master of the Parliaments, as well as of all the rest of the
kingdom?'--'That is true,' said the King; 'but, if it had not been for
these counsellors and presidents, I should never have been stabbed by
that gentleman' (he always called Damiens so). 'Ah! Sire,' cried Madame
de Pompadour. 'Read the trial,' said he. 'It was the language of those
gentlemen he names which turned his head.'--'But,' said Madame, 'I have
often thought that, if the Archbishop--[M. de Beaumont]--could be sent to
Rome--'--'Find anybody who will accomplish that business, and I will give
him whatever he pleases.'" Quesnay said the King was right in all he had
uttered. The Archbishop was exiled shortly after, and the King was
seriously afflicted at being driven to take such a step. "What a pity,"
he often said, "that so excellent a man should be so obstinate."--"And so
shallow," said somebody, one day. "Hold your tongue," replied the King,
somewhat sternly. The Archbishop was very charitable, and liberal to
excess, but he often granted pensions without discernment.
[The following is a specimen of the advantages taken of his natural
kindness. Madame la Caille, who acted the Duennas at the Opera Comique,
was recommended to him as the mother of a family, who deserved his
protection, The worthy prelate asked what he could do for her.
Monseigneur," said the actress, "two words from your hand to the Duc de
Richelieu would induce him to grant me a demi-part." M. de Beaumont, who
was very little acquainted with the language of the theatre, thought that
a demi-part meant a more liberal portion of the Marshal's alms, and the
note was written in the most pressing manner. The Marshal answered, that
he thanked the Archbishop for the interest he took in the Theatre
Italien, and in Madame la Caille, who was a very useful person at that
theatre; that, nevertheless, she had a bad voice; but that the
recommendation of the Archbishop was to be preferred to the greatest
talents, and that the demi-part was granted."]
He granted one of an hundred louis to a pretty woman, who was very poor,
and who assumed an illustrious name, to which she had no right. The fear
lest she should be plunged into vice led him to bestow such excessive
bounty upon her; and the woman was an admirable dissembler. She went to
the Archbishop's, covered with a great hood, and, when she left him, she
amused herself with a variety of lovers.
Great people have the bad habit of talking very indiscreetly before their
servants. M. de Gontaut once said these words, covertly, as he thought,
to the Duc de ------, "That measures had been taken which would,
probably, have the effect of determining the Archbishop to go to Rome,
with a Cardinal's hat; and that, if he desired it, he was to have a
coadjutor."
A very plausible pretext had been found for making this proposition, and
for rendering it flattering to the Archbishop, and agreeable to his
sentiments. The affair had been very adroitly begun, and success
appeared certain. The King had the air, towards the Archbishop, of
entire unconsciousness of what was going on. The negotiator acted as if
he were only following the suggestions of his own mind, for the general
good. He was a friend of the Archbishop, and was very sure of a liberal
reward. A valet of the Duc de Gontaut, a very handsome young fellow, had
perfectly caught the sense of what was spoken in a mysterious manner. He
was one of the lovers of the lady of the hundred Louis a year, and had
heard her talk of the Archbishop, whose relation she pretended to be. He
thought he should secure her good graces by informing her that great
efforts were being made to induce her patron to reside at Rome, with a
view to get him away from Paris. The lady instantly told the Archbishop,
as she was afraid of losing her pension if he went. The information
squared so well with the negotiation then on foot, that the Archbishop
had no doubt of its truth. He cooled, by degrees, in his conversations
with the negotiator, whom he regarded as a traitor, and ended by breaking
with him. These details were not known till long afterwards. The lover
of the lady having been sent to the Bicetre, some letters were found
among his papers, which gave a scent of the affair, and he was made to
confess the rest.
In order not to compromise the Duc de Gontaut, the King was told that the
valet had come to a knowledge of the business from a letter which he had
found in his master's clothes. The King took his revenge by humiliating
the Archbishop, which he was enabled to do by means of the information he
had obtained concerning the conduct of the lady, his protege. She was
found guilty of swindling, in concert with her beloved valet; but, before
her punishment was inflicted, the Lieutenant of Police was ordered to lay
before Monseigneur a full account of the conduct of his relation and
pensioner. The Archbishop had nothing to object to in the proofs which
were submitted to him; he said, with perfect calmness, that she was not
his relation; and, raising his hands to heaven, "She is an unhappy
wretch," said he, "who has robbed me of the money which was destined for
the poor. But God knows that, in giving her so large a pension, I did
not act lightly. I had, at that time, before my eyes the example of a
young woman who once asked me to grant her seventy louis a year,
promising me that she would always live very virtuously, as she had
hitherto done. I refused her, and she said, on leaving me, 'I must turn
to the left, Monseigneur, since the way on the right is closed against
me: The unhappy creature has kept her word but too well. She found means
of establishing a faro-table at her house, which is tolerated; and she
joins to the most profligate conduct in her own person the infamous trade
of a corrupter of youth; her house is the abode of every vice. Think,
sir, after that, whether it was not an act of prudence, on my part, to
grant the woman in question a pension, suitable to the rank in which I
thought her born, to prevent her abusing the gifts of youth, beauty, and
talents, which she possessed, to her own perdition, and the destruction
of others." The Lieutenant of Police told the King that he was touched
with the candour and the noble simplicity of the prelate. "I never
doubted his virtues," replied the King, "but I wish he would be quiet."
This same Archbishop gave a pension of fifty louis a year to the greatest
scoundrel in Paris. He is a poet, who writes abominable verses; this
pension is granted on condition that his poems are never printed. I
learned this fact from M. de Marigny, to whom he recited some of his
horrible verses one evening, when he supped with him, in company with
some people of quality. He chinked the money in his pocket. "This is my
good Archbishop's," said he, laughing; "I keep my word with him: my poem
will not be printed during my life, but I read it. What would the good
prelate say if he knew that I shared my last quarter's allowance with a
charming little opera-dancer? 'It is the Archbishop, then, who keeps
me,' said she to me; 'Oh, la! how droll that is!'" The King heard this,
and was much scandalised at it. "How difficult it is to do good!" said
he.
The King came into Madame de Pompadour's room, one day, as she was
finishing dressing. "I have just had a strange adventure," said he:
"would you believe that, in going out of my wardroom into my bedroom, I
met a gentleman face to face?"--"My God! Sire," cried Madame, terrified.
"It was nothing," replied he; "but I confess I was greatly surprised: the
man appeared speechless with consternation. 'What do you do here?' said
I, civilly. He threw himself on his knees, saying, 'Pardon me, Sire;
and, above all, have me searched: He instantly emptied his pockets
himself; he pulled off his coat in the greatest agitation and terror: at
last he told me that he was cook to -----, and a friend of Beccari, whom
he came to visit; that he had mistaken the staircase, and, finding all
the doors open, he had wandered into the room in which I found him, and
which he would have instantly left: I rang; Guimard came, and was
astonished enough at finding me tete-a-tete with a man in his shirt. He
begged Guimard to go with him into another room, and to search his whole
person. After this, the poor devil returned, and put on his coat.
Guimard said to me, 'He is certainly an honest man, and tells the truth;
this may, besides, be easily ascertained.' Another of the servants of
the palace came in, and happened to know him. 'I will answer for this
good man,' said, he, 'who, moreover, makes the best 'boeuf a carlate' in
the world.' As I saw the man was so agitated that he could not stand
steady, I took fifty louis out of my bureau, and said, Here, sir, are
fifty Louis, to quiet your alarms: He went out, after throwing himself at
my feet." Madame exclaimed on the impropriety of having the King's
bedroom thus accessible to everybody. He talked with great calmness of
this strange apparition, but it was evident that he controlled himself,
and that he had, in fact, been much frightened, as, indeed, he had reason
to be. Madame highly approved of the gift; and she was the more right in
applauding it, as it was by no means in the King's usual manner. M. de
Marigny said, when I told him of this adventure, that he would have
wagered a thousand louis against the King's making a present of fifty, if
anybody but I had told him of the circumstance. "It is a singular fact,"
continued he, "that all of the race of Valois have been liberal to
excess; this is not precisely the case with the Bourbons, who are rather
reproached with avarice. Henri IV. was said to be avaricious. He gave
to his mistresses, because he could refuse them nothing; but he played
with the eagerness of a man whose whole fortune depends on the game.
Louis XIV. gave through ostentation. It is most astonishing," added he,
"to reflect on what might have happened. The King might actually have
been assassinated in his chamber, without anybody knowing anything of the
matter and without a possibility of discovering the murderer." For more
than a fortnight Madame could not get over this incident.
About that time she had a quarrel with her brother, and both were in the
right. Proposals were made to him to marry the daughter of one of the
greatest noblemen of the Court, and the King consented to create him a
Duke, and even to make the title hereditary. Madame was right in wishing
to aggrandise her brother, but he declared that he valued his liberty
above all things, and that he would not sacrifice it except for a person
he really loved. He was a true Epicurean philosopher, and a man of great
capacity, according to the report of those who knew him well, and judged
him impartially. It was entirely at his option to have had the reversion
of M. de St. Florentin's place, and the place of Minister of Marine, when
M. de Machault retired; he said to his sister, at the time, "I spare you
many vexations, by depriving you of a slight satisfaction. The people
would be unjust to me, however well I might fulfil the duties of my
office. As to M. de St. Florentin's place, he may live five-and-twenty
years, so that I should not be the better for it. Kings' mistresses are
hated enough on their own account; they need not also draw upon,
themselves the hatred which is directed against Ministers." M. Quesnay
repeated this conversation to me.
The King had another mistress, who gave Madame de Pompadour some
uneasiness. She was a woman of quality, and the wife of one of the most
assiduous courtiers.
A man in immediate attendance on the King's person, and who had the care
of his clothes, came to me one day, and told me that, as he was very much
attached to Madame, because she was good and useful to the King, he
wished to inform me that, a letter having fallen out of the pocket of a
coat which His Majesty had taken off, he had had the curiosity to read
it, and found it to be from the Comtesse de ----- who had already yielded
to the King's desires. In this letter, she required the King to give her
fifty thousand crowns in money, a regiment for one of her relations, and
a bishopric for another, and to dismiss Madame in the space of fifteen
days, etc. I acquainted Madame with what this man told me, and she acted
with singular greatness of mind. She said to me, "I ought to inform the
King of this breach of trust of his servant, who may, by the same means,
come to the knowledge of, and make a bad use of, important secrets; but I
feel a repugnance to ruin the man: however, I cannot permit him to remain
near the King's person, and here is what I shall do: Tell him that there
is a place of ten thousand francs a year vacant in one of the provinces;
let him solicit the Minister of Finance for it, and it shall be granted
to him; but, if he should ever disclose through what interest he has
obtained it, the King shall be made acquainted with his conduct. By this
means, I think I shall have done all that my attachment and duty
prescribe. I rid the King of a faithless domestic, without ruining the
individual." I did as Madame ordered me: her delicacy and address
inspired me with admiration. She was not alarmed on account of the lady,
seeing what her pretentions were. "She drives too quick," remarked
Madame, "and will certainly be overturned on the road." The lady died.