Part 50 (1/2)
Sydney, this valet de chah excessive brandy, as the Dauphin's people spread abroad, but fro would have dissipated at once
All the soldiers wept for this young Prince, whose generous affability had charmed them Sydney had just accompanied his body to Arras, where, by royal command, it had been laid in a vault of the cathedral I opened his pretty casket of citron wood, with locks of steel and silver The first object whichportrait of Madareat tragedy, and that upset ain Five or six tales of M la Fontaine had been i Prince himself, and to these rather frivolous verses he had joined soals All these little relics of a youth so eager to live betokened a reeable, and not libertine In any case the sacrifice was accomplished; reflections were in vain I burned these papers, and all those which see interest That was not the case with a correspondence, full of wit, tenderness, and fire, of whose origin the good Sydney pretended ignorance, but which two or three anecdotes that were related sufficiently revealed to me The handsome Comte de Vermandois, barely seventeen years old, had won the heart of a fair lady, of about his own age, who expressed her passion for hiy, a delicacy, and a talent far beyond all that we ad loved her Her husband, a uished field-officer, cherished her and believed her to be faithful I burned this dangerous correspondence, for M de Vermandois, barely adolescent, was already a father, and histhis casket, in which she saw once more the portraits of her mother, her brother, and her husband, Madame la Princesse de Conti felt the most sorrowful emotion I told her that I had acquitted myself, out of kindness and respect, of a coed her never to , who, perhaps, would have liked to see and judge himself all that I had destroyed
M le Coh Ad hi round his neck a fine chain of coral mixed with pearls, to which a dianity of High Adood,his voice, which had groeak; ”be happier than your predecessor, and never givefor my son, who looked at his decoration of brilliants and did not feel its importance I hope that he will feel that later, and prove himself worthy of it
CHAPTER XLVI
The House of Saint Cyr--Petition of the Monks of Saint Denis to the King, against the Plan of Madame de Maintenon--Madame de Maintenon Summons Them and Sends Them Aith Small Consolation
At the time when I founded my little community of Saint Joseph, Madame de Maintenon had already collected near her chateau at Rueil a certain nuiving a good education, proportioned to their present condition and their birth She had charged herself with the maintenance of two former nuns, noble and well educated, who, at the fall of their community, had been recommended, or had procured a recommendation, to her Mesdarant nuns Madame de Maintenon, instinctively attracted to this sort of persons, welcomed and protected the soon become known, several families who had fallen into distress or difficulty solicited the kindness of the directress towards their daughters, and Madame de Maintenon admitted more inmates than the space allowed A ht nearer Versailles, which was still only te been taken into confidence with regard to these little girls, who ed that the e educational establishht, at the entrance to the village of Saint Cyr, in close proxiuier; and on the site of this chateau, which he pulled down, the royal house of Saint Cyr was speedily erected I will not go into the nature and aih the whole of Europe I will contentthat if Madareat benefactions of the nition of the nobility which have given stability and renown to this house
Madame de Maintenon received much praise and incense as the foundress of this community It has been quite easy for her to found so vast an establishment with the treasures of France, since she herself had remained poor, by her own confession, and had neither to sell nor encu my community of Saint Joseph, I was neither seconded nor aided by anybody Saint Joseph springs entirely froood intentions, without noise or display Saint Joseph is one of reat noise in the world, I would rather have founded it than Saint Cyr, where the most exalted houses procure admission for their children with false certificates of poverty
The buildings of Saint Cyr, in spite of all the surandeur The foundress put upon it the seal of her parsieneral tireat things for little ets what she has just said, that Saint-Cyr cost ”immense sums,”--an ordinary effect of passion--ED NOTE]
The only beauty about the house is in the laundry and gardens All the rest reminds you of a convent of Capuchins The chapel has not even necessary and indispensable dignity; it is a long, narrow barn, without arches, pillars, or decorations The King, having wished to know beforehand what revenue would be needed for a community of four hundred persons, consulted M de Louvois That minister, accustomed to calculate open-handedly, put in an estimate of five hundred thousand livres a year
The foundress presented hers, which came to no more than twenty-five thousand crowns His Majesty adopted a ned a revenue of three hundred thousand livres to his Royal House of Saint Cyr
The foundress, foreseeing the financial embarrassments which have supervened later, conceived the idea of y (who are childless) support the education of these three hundred and fifty young ladies In consequence, she cast her eyes upon the rich abbey of Saint Denis, then vacant, and suggested it to the King, as being almost sufficient to provide for the new establishment
This idea astonished the prince He found it, at first, audacious, not to say perilous; but, on further reflection, considering that the monks of Saint Denis live under the rule of a prior, and never see their abbot, who is alreat noble and a man of the world, his Majesty consented to suppress the said abbey in order to provide for the children
The monks of Saint Denis, alarmed at such an innovation (which did not, however, affect their own goods and revenues), composed a petition in the form of the factum that our advocates draw up in a suit They exclaimed in this docu upon their ancient, respectable, and illustrious co the title of Abbot of Saint Denis,” they said further, ”your Majesty, in reality, suppresses our abbey; and if our abbey is reduced to nothing, our basilica, where the Kings, your ancestors, lie, will be no more than a royal church, and will cease to be abbatial”
Further on, this petition said: ”Sire, may it please your Majesty, whose eyes can see so far, to appreciate this innovation in all its terrible consequences By striking to-day dissolution and death into the first abbey of your kingdoreat and sinister precedent?What Louis the Great has looked upon as possible will seehteous and necessary to your successors; and it will happen, , that the thirst for conquests and the needs of the State (those constant and familiar pretexts of ministers) will authorise some political Attila to extend your work, and wreak destruction upon the tabernacle by depriving it of the splendour which is its due, and which sustains it”
Madame de Maintenon, to whom this affair was entrusted, summoned the administrative monks of Saint Denis to Versailles She received the on her dulcet and fluted voice, said to them that their alarm ithout foundation; that his Majesty did not suppress their abbey; that he siive it to the fenities of the Church nor her revenues
”The King leaves you,” she added, ”those iious treasures of Saint Denis, more ancient, perhaps, than the Oriflamme That is your finest property, your true and illustrious glory In general, your abbots have been, to this very day, unknown to you Do you find, gentleion was more honoured and respected when men of battle, covered with murders and other criovern such nominations would never have affected the Church; and after the present M le Chevalier de Lorraine, we shall hear noan abbot-coirls are cherubily with the praise of the Lord I recommend them to your holy prayers, and you can count on theirs”
With this compliment she dismissed the monks, and what she had resolved on was carried out
The King, who all his life had loved children greatly, did not take long to contract an affection for this budding colony He liked to assist soh Versailles had been at the other end of the world, he had a nificent apartment built at Saint Cyr This fine ar court in the centre The ; the royal crown surmounts them