Part 18 (1/2)
As soon as a reply comes, I will show my brother a portrait of some sort; it will be all the same to hie took place Charlotte Elizabeth of Bavaria, though aware of the sort of death that her predecessor died, agreed to rand liness would assuredly have doomed her to celibacy, even in Bavaria and in Germany It is surely not allowable to come into the world with such a face and form, such a voice, such eyes, such hands, and such feet, as this singular princess displayed The Court, still land, could not conteust the fearful caricature I have just described Young pregnant women--after the Queen's unfortunate experience--were afraid to look at the Princess Palatine, and wished to be confined before they reappeared at Court
As for herself, armed with robust, philosophical notions, and a complete set of Northern nerves, she was in no way disconcerted at the effect her presence produced She even had the good sense to appear indifferent to all the raillery she provoked, and said to the King:
”Sire, to my mind you are one of the handsomest men in the world, and with few exceptions, your Court appears to me perfectly fitted for you I have coe Fortunately, I am neither jealous nor a coquette, and I shall win pardon forthe first to make merry at it”
”You put us co, who had not even the courage to be gallant ”I must thank you on behalf of these ladies for your candour and wit” Ten or twelve of us began to titter at this speech of hers The Robust Lady never forgave those who laughed
Directly she arrived, she singled me out as the object of her ponderous Palatine sarcaserated ht toherself to be followed, even into the King's presence-chae turnspit, which in
When I had had my hair dressed, ornamented with quantities of little curls, diamonds, and jewelled pins, she had the irotesque travesty of 's apart to salute Madame, or even to look at her
I had also been told that, in society, she referred to me as ”the Montespan woood ed to give up your religion in order to ht just as well have left behind your gross Palatine vulgarity also I have the honour to inform you that, in the exalted society to which you have been admitted, one can no more say 'the Montespan woman,' than one can say 'the Orleans woree, and I fail to see why I should have been chosen as the favoured object of your vulgar insults”
She blushed, and ventured to infor herself was a turn of speech taken fro ”the,” as a matter of course ”Marquise” was understood
”No,irritated; ”in Paris, such an excuse as that is quite inadmissible, and since you associate with turnspits, pray ask your cooks, and they will tell you”
Fearing to quarrel with the King, she was obliged to be e one's disposition is impossible, and she has loathed and insulted ht her to do so, one day tried to ies for what he ruefully termed her reprehensible conduct ”There, there, it doesn't matter,” I said to him; ”it is easier to offend me than to deceive me Allow me to quote to you the speech of Made and acco poisoned, and then we should not have had this hag at Court'”
CHAPTER XLII
Madame de Montespan's Father-confessor--He Alters His Opinion--Maday--A Country Priest--The Marquise Postpones Her Repentance and Her Absolution
My father-confessor, who since my arrival at Court had never vexed or thwarted me, suddenly altered his whole manner towards ot hold of hi, kindly nature, never spoke to ht to inducethere and then, and retire to so, and had, so to speak, taken up his position, like a woman of experience I took up mine as well, and politely dismissed hiion, Madas, was my usual o to confession again for ever so long She was shocked at e ht way
She forever kept repeating her favourite arguracious! suppose you should die in that state!”
I replied that it was not my fault, as I had never ceased to obey the precepts of the Holy Church ”It was my old father-confessor,” said I, ”the Canon of Saint Thomas du Louvre, who had harshly refused to confess me”
”What he does,” replied she, ”is solely for your own good”
”But if he has onlyin view,” I quickly retorted, ”why did not he think of this at first? It would have been far better to have stoppedthe Queen's orders, or else those of that Abbe Bossuet de Mauleon, who no longer dares attack me to my face”
As we thus talked, the Duc de Vivonne ca the topic of our discussion, he spoke as follows: ”I should not be general of the King's Galleys and a soldier at heart and by profession if my opinion in this matter were other than it is I have attentively read controversies on this point, and have seen it conclusively proved that our kings never kept a confessor at Court As, too, there were most holy, most saintly people, and--”
”Then, what do you conclude from that, Duke?” asked Madame de Maintenon
”Why, that Mada as her father-confessor”
”Oh, Duke, you shock overness