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Alas! long before that, while fhe was in the height of her pro fperity, the found her punishment, even in her pation. She re-. pented more than once of having taken from the King a falutary reftraint: the Prince, who rather esteemed than loved her, being no longer witheld by any fenfe of fhame, gave way to all his pations; and was not fartled at the idea of inceft. The favourite had a filler, Madame de Vintimille, who had been lately married. This lady, as tall as her eldest fifter, had no advantage over her in perfon, except what the derived from her youth; but the had ftill a greater fhare of understanding, which the foon excrcifed in a plan for fupplanting Madame de Mailly, and captivating the Monarch. All the perfons who knew her, foon began to dread her influence. She was proud, forward, envious, revengeful, fond of governing, and of making herfelf feared;-having few friends, and little calculated to acquire any;-thinking of nothing but her intereft, and having no other view but to make the weakness of her flave fubfervient to her own advantage; in which the certainly would have fucceeded, had not death prevented her, in the beginning of her career. She died in child bed, not without fufpicion of being poifoned. Her death, for a few days, drew tears from the King. Her filter, with whom his Majelly had always kept upon good terms, in order to carry on, through her means, their intercourfe, which was flill kept fecret, blended her tears with the Monarch's upon this occafion, and did not lefs regret her rival. Madame de Vintimille left a fon, who is at prefent Count du Luc, the exact picture of his Majetty, for whom the King had always a tender affection, and who was called at Court the half Louis, to perpetuate the memory of this anecdote.

Fortunately the King's fenfibility, a paffion which is generally extreme at his time of life, was already blunted and deftroyed. He felt nothing more than that fenfation of tranfient regret, which we feel at the death of our fellow creatures, by a fecret application we make of it to ourselves, as it reminds us of our own fatal deftiny. Pleasures, interrupted for a time, refumed their ordinary courfe; hunting, and continual journies, which the King always flood in need of for exercife, and which became more neceffary on the prefent occafion, foon effaced the memory of Madame de Vintimille. The former favourite refumed her influence; fhe accompanied the King every where, attended by Mademoiselle de Charolois and the Countefs of Touloufe. Thefe Ladies had contrived thofe delicate fuppers, which were given in delicious retreats, acceffible only to confidential perions, and therefore marked with the appellation of petits apparteanens. Lewis XV. had built fome in his feveral palaces; though they were not entirely feparate from the public apartments, yet there was no other communication between them, but fuch as was abfolutely neceffary for the attendants. A private door, made into his Majesty's bed-chamber, furnished him the opportunity of retiring there, with any of the guests he thought proper. The perfons employed in the conftruction, had exhaulted their art, in the convenience of the arrangements, the elegance of the furniture, and the most studied refinements of luxury and gallantry. In order to give foreigners an dea of them, we thall tranfcribe the following allegorical defcription

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from the Anecdotes of Perfia, and which the hiftorian, to mislead his readers, fays he has copied from fome other work.

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It was a fmall temple, where nocturnal feftivals were frequently "celebrated in honour of Bacchus and Venus. The Sophi was the High Priest, and Retima High Pricefs; the rest of the facred troop was compofed of amiable women and gallant courtiers, wor"thy to be initiated in thefe myfleries. There, by a number of exquifi e libations, and different incantations in honour of Bacchus, they endeavoured to make the Cytherean Goddefs propitious, to "whom some precious offerings were likewife occafionally made. "The libations confifted of the choiceft wines; and the most exqui"fite dainties were the victims. Oftentimes, and that upon the "moft folemn days, thefe dainties were prepared even by the hands "of the High Prieft. Comus was the regulator of thefe feats; Momus prefided: it was not allowed to any flave, to prefume to interrupt these auguft ceremonies, nor to enter the internal part of "the temple, till the Priests and Priefteffes, filled at length with di"vine favours, fell down in an ecftafy, the completenefs of which, "tellified the greatness of their zeal, and announced the prefence of "the deities. Then every thing was accomplished: thefe favour"ites of the Gods were carried away with refpect, and the gates of "the temple were fhut. There were certain days in the year confe"crated entirely to Bacchus, and the honours of which were equally " done by Comus. Thefe, which one might call the petty festivals, were the days upon which the High Prieft admitted Sevagi, Fatima, Zelida, and fome others, before whom, as being profane, only "the lefs myfteries were exhibited. In fact, far from deferving to "be of the number of fortunate perfons, to whom the more import"ant and effential functions of the worship were intrufted, they were "fcarce worthy of the little that was communicated to them "

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From the details of this myfterious narrative, where Lewis XV. is marked under the name of Sophi, and the favourite under that of Retima, a narrative, the authenticity of which is attefled by all the noblemen fill living, who have partaken of thefe feats, we fee that the petits appartemens were defigned equally for the pleafures of love, as for thofe of the table. To the first, were only admitted fuch courtiers as were fufficiently corrupt to be the companions of the Monarch's debaucheries, or mean enough to be the mere witneffes of them. The laft included a more extenfive and more decent company. The Count and Countess of Touloufe, with Mademoifelle de Charolois, filed by the hioroglyphic writer, Sevagi, Zelida, and Fatima, were the principal perions who compofed it. Every thing was then carried on with decency; wine was no farther indulged in than the better to encourage bon mots, and the fallies of wit, or to give a freer courfe to thofe malignant farcaims, by which the Tremoilles, the Ayers, the Maurepas, the Coignys, and the Souvres, declared to the King, under the mask of frivolous mirth, ufeful truths, which

* He pretends that this defcription is taken from the History of the different Religions which have been introduced in Perla, fince the Conquest made of that Kingdom by Alexander the Great, to the prefent time, by Kodgia.

were

were unfortunately thrown away. When the Princeffes were withdrawn, or in their abfence, thefe orgies became truly Bacchanalian; the Countess of Mailly, worthy to have been born half a century fooner, who loved champaign, had infpired the King with her taste. The challenges of former drinkers were renewed there: the victory was to him who could fooneft put his antagonist under the table; and, after a long conteft, it was neceffary that fome trufly fervants should enter, to carry off all the guefls, the conquerors as well as the conquered.

• The memory of the Countess deferves reproach, for her having engaged her lover in thefe parties of intoxication, for which we are, however, inclined to think he had no averfion. We are more readily induced to this opinion, from another circumftance in this defcription; which is, that Lewis XV. delighted much in cookery, and in toffing up little ragouts; 2 mean kind of amusement, though not cenfurable in itself, yet at least very unfuitable, inafmuch as it dif covered a mind little accustomed to furnish itself with thofe grand and fublime ideas which fhould be habitual to a fovereign.'

The following particulars caft farther light upon the character of this Prince:

The King's education was neglected: he had fo benumbed the faculties of the young Prince, in the age of activity and energy, that enlightened perfons forefaw, even at that time, with regret, the fatal confequences that would result from thence, during the whole course of his reign. The King gave himself up to the fanguinary exercifes of the chafe, he injured his health by the exceffes of the table, and received libidinous leffons from Madame de Mailly. Not being able, however, to free himself entirely from that law, more or lefs imperious, for all men to be employed about fomething, he attended, as we have feen, to cookery, and was also a turner. Among the newyear's gifts of 1739, he had brought a fort of snuff box into fashion, the model of which came from him. It was a piece of a tree covered with its bark; and hollowed within, which a workman would have been afhamed to fhew. He turned fome of them, which he made a prefent of to his courtiers, who were all defirous of having them. He was alfo conftantly afking a multitude of questions, the indications of mind after inftruction. Unfortunately, these questions were often frivolous, or relative to objects foreign to his fituation as King. He used to talk much about Natural Hiftory, Aftronomy, and Botany. When he was talking with any Prelate or Abbé, his difcourfe was upon Latin, or upon the Liturgy, of which he feemed well informed. This was the confequence of the education given him by his Preceptor, confidering religion as a falutary reftraint for Kings, but agreeably to the principles of his Order; that is to fay, not as the means of oppofing the attempts a Sovereign might make, against the quiet, the property, or the liberty of his fubjects; but of preventing thofe he might make against the pretended rights, privileges, franchifes, and immunities of the church. He had infpired him with many fentiments of this kind, and had attached him more to the letter than to the spirit of religion. And indeed, Lewis XV. always obferved exactly all its customs, and most trifling ceremonies. In the midst of his greatest debaucheries, he

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never failed faying his prayers morning and evening; he heard mafs faid regularly every day; he had a book of prayers from which he never removed his eyes, and the motion of his lips denoted that he articulated every word; he alfo attended at every office of divine worship. Full of veneration for the minilers of religion, he would have them refpected. He abhorred irreligious perfons; and for that reafon, notwithstanding all the adulation lavished upon him by Voltaire, the King could never bear him.

It was undoubtedly this religious turn which induced the young Sovereign to do two remarkable acts of devotion in the period we are fpeaking of. On the 1ft of September 1736, he came to Saint Denis, and affilled at the folemn fervice for Lewis XIV. This is the only time that the King ever paid this pious duty to the memory of his great grandfather; a duty which the legitimate Princes have never neglected. The General of the Benedictines, who pronounced the harangue, did not fail to announce to him, that, according to God's promife, he would be rewarded with long life and a flourishing reign. This prophecy, which has not been more fortunate than that of the Czar, fhews that the Monk did not fee better into futurity than the heretical Prince.

In 1738, which was the hundredth year fince the vow of Lewis XIII. to which vow that Monarch thought he owed the birth of Lewis XIV. the great grandson of the latter ordered, that the annual proceffion inftituted at Paris, in the church of Notre Dame, on the day of Affumption, should be celebrated with more folemnity than usual, and by a greater concourfe of the three fuperior Courts, of the Cler gy, and of the Council.

The fuperftitious Monarch flattered himself, that he should thus appeafe Heaven, and atone, by acts of outward devotion, for his adulteries and incefts.

After the death of the Count of Toulouse, Lewis XV. fond of adhering to his old customs, continued to go to Rambouillet for two years; and perhaps, he would have continued for a longer time, if the Abbé de Saluberri, the chief adviser of the Countess of Toulouse, who guided her, and was abfolute mafter of the house, had not by his parfimonies towards his Majefty's attendants, difgufted the principal officers, who imperceptibly weaned the King from the houfe. Befides, he bought the Château de Choify from the Duke de la Valliere, which became a favourite place, and he beltowed every attention upon it to make it fit for his reception.

Lewis XV. began by enlarging the building, which was not fufficiently roomy. Among other things worthy of admiration, there foon appeared a little apartment built underneath the King's, with which it communicated by a private flair-cafe. This was the apartment of the favourite. "The fimplicity of it was heightened by "beautiful sculpture, ornaments of gold and azure, furniture nicely "adapted, and a multitude of brilliant mirrors advantageoufly dif "pofed; all which contributed to give it a delightful and striking "appearance. Art had exhausted itself there in conveniences, refined "talte, and gallantry." Thefe are the expreffions of a cotemporary writer, whom we have faithfully copied, in order to enable the

• See The Anecdotes of Perfia.

reader,

reader, by comparifon, to appreciate the progrefs of luxury in a few years. If the waiter, who is fuppofed to have been one of the moft ingenious and mott refined Courtiers attached to Lewis XV. was then feized with fuch a degree of aftonishment, how much more surprised mut he have been fince, at the fight of thofe matter-pieces of voluptuoufnefs devifed by our modern Circes, Pompadour and Dubarri!

However this may be, fuch was the palace defined to screen the Monarch from the malignant curiofity of the Courtiers, and especially from the dangerous defigns, or the indifcreet complaints of the people. It was in this place, that his fecret parties with his mistress and his favourites were made. He therefore gave up the direction of it to one of thefe, the fon of the Marthal Duke of Coigny; he went there frequently, and neglected the petits appartemens of Versailles, which were too much expofed to the eyes of curiofity. Bendes, the fituation of Choify was infinitely agreeable. Placed upon the banks of the Seine, and having a forett in front, the rural folitude which one might always enjoy there, every thing, in a word, conspired to flatter the talle and pleafures of Lewis XV. who was never tired of, but on the contrary, was indefatigable in embellishing of it. He built what is called le petit château, the moll fecret fanctuary of his orgies, where we fee that table, a prodigy of mechanifin, though fince improved by the famous Loriot, and which is the model of all thofe ince known under the title of confidentes: a table which defcends, and rifes again, covered with fresh provifions: and where we fee likewife thofe officious fervantes as they are called, which were perpetually bringing up the most exquifite wines, that were drunk there in prodigious quantities. So that, while a tedious luxury was banishing from our fettivals the joy and liberty of our ancestors, by furrounding us with a multitude of fervants, who are our natural fpies, the fashion of getting rid of the fe perpetual overlookers, by waiting upon one's felf. was introducing itfelf at Court.'

The imbecility of mind which the King difcovered in his illnefs, and the extravagant folly of the French nation in both the exceffes of grief and joy, are ftrongly painted in what follows:

The Monarch arrived on the 4th of August at Metz, gave audience there to Baron Schmettau, Plenipotentiary from the King of Pruffia, who came to announce to him the entrance of this new ally into Bohemia. The couriers from Italy brought the most favourable intelligence, and hope feemed to be reviving on all fides, when a misfortune of a more dreadful nature fpread conflernation from one end of the kingdom to the other.

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The King, whofe conflitution was ftrengthened by exercise, apparently enjoyed the moft perfect health; but in perfons of the strongeft habit, changes fometimes happen, which from that circumstance

*The Anecdotes of Perfia have been attributed to the Duke of Nivernois, but he has always denied them.

† A kind of fmall tables, which the guests have by the side of them, at different distances, upon which provifions and liquors are placed. A pencil with fome cards is placed upon them, in order to write for what one wants.

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