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I write to M M. de Coigny, de Poix, de Noailles, de Segur, and to Madame d'Ayen.~ If either of these should not receive my letter, be so kind as to mention this circumstance.
I well remember what M. de Fleury said of him to the king in my presence. "Sire," said he, "the thing I most dread in the world next to a bite from M. d'Ayen, is the bite of a mad dog." For my own part, I did not in the end look upon him with less terror, and well he paid me for my fears. Upon one occasion, when the king was speaking of me to him, he said, "I am well aware that I succeed St.
But I will not dwell upon all I suffer from this painful uncertainty. I know that you share all the sorrows of my heart, and I will not afflict you. I wrote by the last opportunity to Madame d'Ayen; since my wound I have written to everybody; but those letters have perhaps been lost.
The marechale de Mirepoix used to say, that a caress from madame d'Aiguillon was not less to be dreaded than the bite of M. d'Ayen. Yet the duchess dowager has obtained a first-rate reputation for goodness; every one styled her the good duchesse d'Aiguillon. And why, do you suppose?
He was the oldest secretary of state, and certainly was the least skilful, least esteemed, least considered. Some time after his death some one said of him in the presence of the duc d'Ayen, that he had been an unfortunate man, for he had been all his life the butt of public hatred and universal contempt.
The company upon this evening was different from that of the former occasion, consisting of the duc de Duras, first gentleman of the bedchamber, and the duc d'Ayen, who had the reputation of being a great wit; however, in my opinion, he was much more deserving the character of a real fiend; his very breath was poisonous, and his touch venomous as the bite of an adder.
The coachman would not go on, and the King would have given him a LOUIS. "The police will hear of it, if you do," said the Duc d'Ayen, "and its spies will make inquiries, which will, perhaps, lead to a discovery." "Guimard," continued the King, "will tell you the names of the father and mother; he will be present at the ceremony, and make the usual presents.
One day, when the conversation turned on the noble military, actions by which the French nobility was distinguished, the Queen said to the Count: 'And your family, M. de Tesse, has been famous, too, in the field. 'Ah, Madame, we have all been killed in our masters' service! 'How rejoiced I am, replied the Queen, 'that you have revived to tell me of it. The son of this worthy M. de Tesse was married to the amiable and highly gifted daughter of the Duc d'Ayen, afterwards Marechale de Noailles.
Many, however, who heard about the project Lafayette entertained felt a new admiration for the spirited boy. One of these smartly said that if Madame de Lafayette's father, the Duc d'Ayen, could have the heart to thwart such a son-in-law, he ought never to hope to marry off his remaining daughters!
This contributed much toward spreading a knowledge of Franklin's principles in France. The King, Louis XV, hearing of these experiments, expressed a wish to be a spectator of them. A course of experiments was given at the seat of the Duc d'Ayen, at St. Germain, by M. de Lor.
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