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"But now, Monsieur Devereux, turn your eyes to that hideous old woman." "What! the Duchesse d'Orleans?" "The same. She is in full dress to-night; but in the daytime you generally see her in a riding habit and a man's wig; she is " "Hist!" interrupted Hamilton; "do you not tremble to think what she would do if she overheard you? she is such a terrible creature at fighting!
The story had gone forth that Mademoiselle Lecouvreur's illness had come from poison administered by the Duchesse de Bouillon, out of jealousy of Count Saxe.
We passed there the rest of this summer, and several other summers afterwards. It is a charming place for rides or drives. We counted upon seeing only our friends there, but the proximity to Paris overwhelmed us with people, so that all the new chateau was sometimes completely filled, without reckoning the people of passage. I have little need to say anything more of Madame la Duchesse de Berry.
The leading causes of the clamour against her have been, if you must know, Nature; her beauty; her power of pleasing; her birth; her rank; her marriage; the King himself; her mother; her imperfect education; and, above all, her unfortunate partialities for the Abbe Vermond; for the Duchesse de Polignac; for myself, perhaps; and last, but not least, the thorough, unsuspecting goodness of her heart!
My son, instead of being cautious, goes about the town at night in strange carriages, sometimes supping with one or another of his people, none of whom are worthy of being trusted, and who, excepting their wit, have not one good quality. Different reports respecting the Duchesse du Maine are abroad; some say she has beaten her husband and broken the glasses and everything brittle in her room.
Some doubts were expressed about the authenticity of the correspondence when the mutilated edition of 1788 appeared; but these have long since subsided, and its genuineness is no longer questioned. Preface Elizabeth-Charlotte, Duchesse d'Orleans Louis XIV Mademoiselle de Fontange Madame de la Valliere Madame de Montespan Madame de Maintenon The Queen-Consort of Louis XIV.
This poor Comte de Vermandois, about a year before the death of the Queen, had a great and famous dispute with Monsieur le Dauphin, a jealous prince, which brought him his first troubles, and deprived him suddenly of the protecting favour of the Infanta-queen. At a ball, at the Duchesse de Villeroi's, all the Princes of the Blood appeared.
Besides, which vexes me more, I heard the damned Duchesse again say to twenty gentlemen publiquely in the room, that she would have Montagu sent once more to sea, before he goes his Embassy, that we may see whether he will make amends for his cowardice, and repeated the answer she did give the other day in my hearing to Sir G. Downing, wishing her Lord had been a coward, for then perhaps he might have been made an Embassador, and not been sent now to sea.
André is no woman if she does not try to retaliate for that retort of yours." After stopping in the rue Dauphine for the billets, which Madame de Tessé had again been able to obtain for Mr. Morris through the interest of the Duchesse d'Orléans, the three gentlemen drove straight to the Salle des Menus Plaisirs, and, by nine o'clock, were seated in the great gallery reserved for visitors.
At this moment the windows were open, the fragrance from the garden scented the room, the flower-basket in the centre displayed its pyramid of flowers. The Duchess, seated on a sofa in the corner, was talking to the Duchesse de Chaulieu.
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