Madame's account of his eldeft for, the firft Dauphin, is, that he was a prince incapable of friendship, and only liked his acquaintance and attendants for his own pleasures. He was very fond of people talking to him while he was feated on a chaife percée, which was done decently enough, with their backs turned toward him. I have often entertained him, fays Madame, in the fame manner, from the cabinet of the Dauphinefs, with which he was much diverted.-The reciprocal cafe with which the moft ferious business has been long tranfacted in France, is wonderful!!

The Dauphin lived very well with his wife during the firft three years of their marriage, but afterward he had miftreffes without end; and, according to Madame, he used no art, difguife, or hypocrify, to keep his amours a fecret from his wife; they were carried on with drums beating and colours flying. He was naturally gay; but fo indolent that he would not take the trouble to be cheerful. He would have preferred an idle life to all the kingdoms on earth. He refembled the King very much in the face. He had a daughter by the actress, Raifin; but he would never acknowlege her. He had however some excellent principles inftilled into him by his governor the celebrated Boffuet, bishop of Meaux: but he was too much tired in learning them, to bear the additional fatigue of putting them in practice.

He never loved any one fincerely except the Dauphinefs, and never hated any one very violently. When he could oblige or ferve any perfon without trouble, he fet about it with a good grace; and, when he could vex and mortify, be feemed to do it with zeal and fatisfaction. He was, in general, one of those unaccountable characters that are good, and even very good, when they are expected to be bad, and moft mifchievous when they are expected to be good.

He did not like to be treated with too great refpect, perhaps from the trouble it coft him to return it. He feared nothing fo much as being King; at first from tenderness and veneration for his father, and afterward from the fear of trouble. He paffed whole days in bed, or in being drawn in a chaife about the garden, with a cane in his hand, and beating his fhoes, without fpeaking a fingle word.

He never fpoke his fentiments on any fubject, unless about once a year, when, if he chofe to fpeak, he expreffed himself nobly. His religious opinions were often whimfical. The most deadly fin, in his opinion, was eating meat, on a faft day. He fent for the actrefs, Raifin, on one of thefe days of abftinence; and having concealed her in a mill, he allowed her nothing to eat or drink during the whole day. His miftrefs often related the fumptuous manner in which this Prince had treated her.

I

afked

afked him one day,' fays Madame, what was his reafon for condemning her to fuch a regimen? when he told me, that he meant to commit one fin, but not two.'

'If the Dauphin had chofen it, he might have had great influence with the King. His Majefty told him, that if he wished to serve any one, or to perform acts of benevolence, he might draw on the royal treafury for whatever fums he pleafed but he never availed himself of this offer. He faid he should be fo peftered with folicitations.'

How totally unfeeling and deficient in benignity muft that heart be, which can fuffer its poffeffor to affign fo wretched a reafon for refufing to confer benefits without any other labour or expence than the mere act of beftowing, which, to beneficent minds, is the firft of all gratifications!

His indifference concerning the crown, the Dauphinefs, and his friends, was extended to his children; for he lived with them as with utter ftrangers, never entering their apartments; and, when they met, he called them Monfieur le Duc de Bourgogne, Monfieur le Duc d'Anjou, M. le Duc de Berry; and they always called him Monfeigneur.

This Prince died in 1711 of the fmall pox, a disease of which the French were then fo ignorant, that the King reproached Madame during the Dauphin's illness, with having faid that perfons in that disease had always a terrible fever when it was at the height-" why the Dauphin, fays he, is quite eafy; he does not fuffer at all during the fuppuration, and the puftules begin to dry up.-So much the worfe, fays Madame, in a fright, he ought to fuffer extremely.-Oh, you know better, I fuppofe, answered the King, than all the phyficians. I know but too well, fays fhe, by my own experience, what the small pox is; but I hope with all my heart that I am miftaken." The Dauphin died the fame night.

His eldest fon, the Duke of Burgundy, by fome called the fecond Dauphin, feems to have dwindled into greater imbecility both of mind and body than his father. He was extremely deformed in his perfon, and a bigot in religion and though he had the excellent Fenelon for his preceptor, he feems never to have difcovered any tafte for literature or fcience. But how unsuccessful have ever been the labours of the most able preceptors, when they have neither had a good head nor a good heart to work on! Great expectations were formed of the Duke of Burgundy, from the virtue and abilities of his Governor the Duke de Bouvilliers, and of his preceptor, the admirable Archbishop of Çambray. But all they could do with this Prince, who was naturally proud and paffionate, was to foften him down into bigotry and inactivity; he loft all energy of character, and beCame what Madame has defcribed him. He was married to a

Princess

Princess of the houfe of Savoy, who had not only a very gay and fprightly difpofition, but was pretty, and extremely agreeable whenever the pleased.

This Prince (fays Madame), like most hump-backed men, had an exceffive paffion for the fair fex; and his devotion not fuffering him to touch any other woman than his wife, he became extremely uxorious. He was fo fearful of pleafing any other female, that when a lady told him one day that he had very fine eyes, he immediately began to fquint: but this good prince might have spared himself thefe precautions. This Princefs had her fortune told before he left Italy, when it was predicted that he would die before fhe was twenty-seven, which he never forgot. One day fhe told her hufband, that her time for quitting the world being nearly expired, as fhe knew he could not live without a wife, as well on account of his rank, as his religious principles, fhe wished to know whom he intended to marry: he told her that he hoped God would never punish him fo feverely as to take her from him; but if that fhould happen, he never would think of marrying again, but would follow her in lefs than eight days; and he kept his word, dying of grief in 1712, the feventh day after his wife expired.'

Though this ftory affords no proof of the truth of fuch predictions, it is a notable inftance of the force of imagination; and it must be a ftrong mind indeed, which, after liftening to fuch terrific divination, can wholly forget or defpife it and its operations on the health, happiness, and life of perfons who are at all tinctured with credulity and fuperftition, are often fo fatal, that whoever wifhes not to fhorten exiftence by fuch means, fhould never confult fuch oracles.

The Duke of Anjou, King of Spain, the Dauphin's fecond fon, fays Madame, is a good Prince, who fpeaks but little, loves his wife exceffively, leaves the management of the state to others, and has an utter averfion to all kinds of bufinefs. He is decidedly hump-backed; however, he is taller than his brothers, and has a more agreeable countenance. It is very extraordinary, but he has fair hair and black eyes.-He is extremely devout, and his piety is one of the motives for his prodigious attachment to his wife; for he believes he fhall be d-d if he loves any other woman. His good nature renders him fo facile, that his wife never trufts him out of her fight, for fear he should comply with improper requests. The Queen of Spain has a neverfailing power over the King. Knowing his fondness for the fex, the has had cafters put to his part of the fynonime or double bed; and when he is intractable about ftate affairs, the pufhes his bed further off; but when her propofition is admitted, the draws it nearer, and admits him into her own.

The Dauphin's third fon, the Duke of Berry, fays Madame, killed himself at eight-and-twenty by mere eating and drinking. When a child, he promised more than he afterward performed. He was very badly brought up among his mother's female attend

ants,

ants, who made him the common drudge and fag of their apartments; and it was Berry here, Berry there, and Berry every where, on all occafions. At length he fell in love with one of the waiting-women, whofe work he had fo long been performing. After this, he was married to a daughter of the Regent, of whom he was likewife very fond, at least three months, when he was fmitten with a fwarthy chamber-maid. The Duchefs of Berry, who was very cunning, foon difcovered this amour, and told him plainly, that if he continued to treat her with the fame external regard and attention as at their first marriage, she would overlook his infidelities; but if he was wanting in the refpe&t to which he was entitled, fhe would complain to the King, and have his dowdy fent where he would never hear of her again. From this time they lived very well together; he treated her with respect, and the let him do what he pleafed.

The Duke of Burgundy's only remaining fon, afterward Lewis XV. had the fingle merit of being handfome. He had certainly a moft noble countenance, de beaux regards; but though the flatterers of Lewis XIV. gave him the title of Louis le Grand, and those of his great-grandfon qualified him with that of Louis le Bien-aimé, pofterity has adopted neither of thefe cognomens. The amiable weaknesses which, according to Mr. Wraxall, diftinguished the house of Valois, feem transferred to the house of Bourbon; whofe gallantry and unbridled paffion for the fair-fex have been continued uninterruptedly from the time of Henry IV. to his prefent Majefty, who feems the most moderate monarch, in illicit pleafures, of the whole Bourbon race.

Monfieur, the brother of Lewis XIV. and husband of the Princefs, from whofe letters thefe fragments have been extracted, feems to have been a downright fribble. Madame, who, after thirty years ftruggle, had accommodated herself to his humours, tells us, that there never were two brothers who differed from each other, both in perfon and inclination, more than the King and Monfieur. The King was rather large and robuft, had a noble carriage, with hair of a bright chefnut colour. Monfieur had certainly not a noble air, and was very thin; his hair, eye-brows, and eye-lafhes, were as black as jet, with large bazle eyes, a long and narrow vifage, a large nofe, a small mouth, and bad teeth.

'He had many female inclinations. He neither loved horfes nor hunting, but was fond of play, converfation, good eating, dancing, dress, and in fhort every thing that is pleafing to women. The King loved hunting, mufic, and theatrical exhibitions; my husband only liked private affemblies and mafquerades. The King was remarkably fond of the ladies; my husband never loved any one during his whole life.

Though I fuffered a great deal with him, I had a regard for him, and during the last three years of his life I had entirely gained

his confidence. I had even made him confefs to me his weaknesses, and prevailed on him to join with me in laughing at them.'

Cardinal Mazarin obferving that the King had lefs vivacity than Monfieur, defired his preceptor to ftop his ftudies entirely. "Why (fays he to La Motte le Vayer) fhould you make the King's brother a wife man? If he becomes more learned than the King, he will not know how to obey."

My late husband (fays Madame) made my children afraid of me, by always threatening to tell me of their faults. But, fays I, are they not your children as well as mine? why don't you correct them yourself? I don't know how to fcold, faid he; befide, they don't mind me, they are only afraid of you. He had a violent averfion to field fports, and, except in time of war, never mounted a horfe. He wrote fo bad a hand, that he was frequently unable to read his own letters, and brought them to me to decypher: faying, pray, read me this letter, that I may know what I have written; you are used to my hand-at which we have often laughed very heartily.

He was fo fond of bells, that he made it a rule to be in Paris every night of All-faints, when they were inceffantly ringing. He loved no other mufic. He was always devout; and as to his bravery, the foldiers used to fay, that he was more afraid of being fun-burnt than of powder and ball.

Monfieur once pretended, for the joke's fake, to be in love with the Marischale de **, the filliest woman in the world. But if she had never had any other lover than him, her reputation would not have fuffered. It is certain, that nothing serious ever paffed between them. He always took care never to be alone with her, and whenever it happened accidentally, he was always in a great fright, and faid he was ill.-I have often heard him reproached on this account, and we have laughed at it heartily, when alone. He fometimes pretended to look at a woman with a kind of liking, to please the King; but this was foon over. Madame de Fiéne often told him that he dishonoured no female by his vifits; but fuch vifits difgraced himself. He was fometimes upbraided with having been ravished by Madame de M

According to Madame, her husband only spoke to people to prevent them from complaining of being unnoticed by him. The late King was often pleasant on the subject. My brother's nonfenfe, fays he, makes me afhamed of fpeaking to people.' Here her Serene Highness relates a converfation between her husband and a gentleman at court, very fimilar to that of the late Duke of N— in Foote's Mayor of Garrat. When the gentleman was prefented to Monfieur, he faid, "You come from the army, Sir?-No, Sir, faid the ftranger, I never was in the army.-You come then from your house in the country? fays Monfieur.-No, Sir, answered the gentleman, I have no houfe in the country.-Ah! fays Monfieur, you live then at Paris with your wife and children?-No, Sir, fays the gentleman, I have never been married.-Here every

one