Part 36 (2/2)
He came to see me when he found himself presentable, and, for the first few days, I abstained from all reprisal and any allusion The innumerable labours of his State soon threw him, in spite of himself, into those manifold distractions which, in their nature, despise or absorb the sensibilities of the soul He resumed, little by little, his accustoot over it
”What,” he asked s hich you are busy in Paris, opposite the Ladies of Belle-Chasse? I hear of a convent; is it your intention to retire?”
”It is a 'refuge of foresight,'” I answered him ”Who can count upon the es, we must consider ourselves as persons already nuhed, and soon spoke of so else
I reminded myself that, to speak correctly, I had in Paris no habitation worthy of my children and of my quality That little hotel in the Rue Saint Andre-des-Arcs I could count for no n of a nificent hotel which I had obtained from the famous Blondel I found it without difficulty, with full elevations and sections The artist had adroitly imitated in it the beautiful architecture of the Louvre; this fair palace would suit lance, judged that the construction and cohteen hundred thousand livres This expense being no more than I could afford, I coms and gardens over by Roule and La Pepiniere
Not caring to superintend several undertakings at once, I desired, before everything, thatSaint Ger and the chapel were in a condition to receive the little colony, I dedicated ht” to Saint Joseph, the respectful spouse of the Holy Virgin and foster-father of the Child Jesus This agreeable ret for this, especially for the sake of my inmates; but there was a little open space furnished with vines and fruit-walls, and one of the largest courtyards in the whole of the Faubourg Saint Ger always loved society, I had -rooms and the entrance-hall complete apartments for the lady inmates And a proof that I was neither detested by the world nor unconsidered is that all these apartht after and occupied as soon as the ere put in and the painting done My own apartnity It communicated with the chapel, where my tribune, closed with a handsome as in face of the altar
I decided, once for all, that the Superior should be my nomination whilst God should leave ht should not pass on tofor twenty minutes every time I paid a visit to these ladies; and I only had incense at high nificat, in my quality of foundress
I went from time to time to make retreats, or, to be more accurate, vacations, in my House of Saint Joseph M Bossuet solicited the favour of being allowed to preach there on the day of the soleed him to preserve himself forhe could refuse me
BOOK 6
CHAPTER XIX
The Court Travels in Picardy and Flanders--The Boudoir Navy--Mada Relates to Her the Delights of the Journey--Reflections of the Marquise
The King, consoled as he was for the death of the duchesse de Fontanges, did not, on that account, return to that sweet and agreeable intimacy which had united us for the space of eleven or twelve years He approached me as one comes to see a person of one's acquaintance, and it was more than obvious that his only bond witha man who loved pomp and show, he resolved upon a journey in Flanders,--a journey destined to furnish hireeable distractions, and to give fresh alarhbours
Those ”Chambers of Reunion,” as they were called, established at Metz and at Brisach, coreat proprietors, under the pretext that their possessions had fored to Alsace, and that this Alsace had been ceded to us by the last treaties The Prince Palatine of the Rhine saw hireater part of the land which he had inherited from his ancestors, and when he would present a memoir on this subject to the ministers, M de Croissy-Colbert answered politely that he was in despair at being unable to decide the matter hi been instituted to take cognisance of it, it was before these solemn tribunals that he s, the entire county of Veldentz, which was joined to the church of the Chapter of Verdun
The King, followed by the Queen and all his Court,--by Monsieur le Dauphin, Madaitimate princes, whom their households accompanied as well,--set out for Flanders in the , went on this journey; and of me, superintendent of the Queen's Council, they did not even speak
The first town at which this considerable Court stopped was at Boulogne, in Picardy, the fortifications of which were being repaired On the next day the King went on horseback to visit the port of A the line of the coast, while the ladies took the same course more rapidly He inspected the harbours and diverted hi a sail in a wherry He then betook hinelay--son of Colbert--had ale their Majesties The Chevalier de Ury, who co of it, which was for those ladies, and for the Court, a spectacle as pleasant as it was novel The whole creas very snificently equipped There was a sha took as es had been the heroine of the fete, and our ladies, to please hiht ter to be desired in theday, there was a ates, which had also been prepared for this aalley as spectator; the Queen was in another The Chevalier de Lery took the helue steered that of the Queen The sea was calates in etting the weather gauge in turn; after this, the combat came to an end, and they returned to the town to the sound of instrue bounties to the crew, as a token of his satisfaction
The prince was on board his first vessel, when the Earl of Oxford, and the Colonel, afterwards the Duke of Marlborough, despatched by the King of England, can
The Duke of Villa-Hermosa, Spanish Governor of the Low Countries, paid him the same coiven audience on this nelay had raised a sort of throne of iht