Produced by David Widger
Written by Herself
Being the Historic Memoirs of the Court of Louis XIV.
The Court Travels in Picardy and Flanders.—The Boudoir Navy.—Madame de
Montespan Is Not Invited.—The King Relates to Her the Delights of the
Journey.—Reflections of the Marquise.
The King, consoled as he was for the death of the Duchesse de Fontanges,did not, on that account, return to that sweet and agreeable intimacywhich had united us for the space of eleven or twelve years. Heapproached me as one comes to see a person of one's acquaintance, and itwas more than obvious that his only bond with me was his children.
Being a man who loved pomp and show, he resolved upon a journey inFlanders,—a journey destined to furnish him, as well as his Court, withnumerous and agreeable distractions, and to give fresh alarm to hisneighbours.
Those "Chambers of Reunion," as they were called, established at Metz andat Brisach, competed with each other in despoiling roundly a host ofgreat proprietors, under the pretext that their possessions had formerlybelonged to Alsace, and that this Alsace had been ceded to us by the lasttreaties. The Prince Palatine of the Rhine saw himself stripped, on thisoccasion, of the greater part of the land which he had inherited from hisancestors, and when he would present a memoir on this subject to theministers, M. de Croissy-Colbert answered politely that he was in despairat being unable to decide the matter himself; but that the Chambers ofMetz and Brisach having been instituted to take cognisance of it, it wasbefore these solemn tribunals that he must proceed.
The Palatine lost, amongst other things, the entire county of Veldentz,which was joined to the church of the Chapter of Verdun.
The King, followed by the Queen and all his Court,—by Monsieur leDauphin, Madame la Dauphine and the legitimate princes, whom theirhouseholds accompanied as well,—set out for Flanders in the month ofJuly. Madame de Maintenon, as lady in waiting, went on this journey; andof me, superintendent of the Queen's Council, they did not even speak.
The first town at which this considerable Court stopped was at Boulogne,in Picardy, the fortifications of which were being repaired. On the nextday the King went on horseback to visit the port of Ambleteuse; thence heset out for Calais, following the line of the coast, while the ladiestook the same course more rapidly. He inspected the harbours anddiverted himself by taking a sail in a wherry. He then betook himself toDunkirk, where the Marquis de Seignelay—son of Colbert—had made ready avery fine man-of-war with which to regale their Majesties. The Chevalierde Ury, who commanded her, showed them all the handling of it, which wasfor those ladies, and for the Court, a spectacle as pleasant as it wasnovel. The whole crew was very smart, and the vessel magnificentlyequipped. There was a sham fight, and then the vessel was boarded. TheKing took as much pleasure in this sight as if Fontanges had been theheroine of the fete, and our ladies, to please him, made their hands sorein applauding. This naval fight terminated in a great feast, which leftnothing to be desired in the matter of sumptuousness and delicacy.
On the following day, there was a more formal fight between two frigates,which had also been prepared for this amusement.
The King was in a galley as spectator; the Queen