Produced by David Widger
Being Secret Memoirs of Madame du Hausset,Lady's Maid to Madame de Pompadour,and of an unknown English Girland the Princess Lamballe
Madame sent for me yesterday evening, at seven o'clock, to read somethingto her; the ladies who were intimate with her were at Paris, and M. deGontaut ill. "The King," said she, "will stay late at the Council thisevening; they are occupied with the affairs of the Parliament again." Shebade me leave off reading, and I was going to quit the room, but shecalled out, "Stop." She rose; a letter was brought in for her, and shetook it with an air of impatience and ill-humour. After a considerabletime she began to talk openly, which only happened when she was extremelyvexed; and, as none of her confidential friends were at hand, she said tome, "This is from my brother. It is what he would not have dared to sayto me, so he writes. I had arranged a marriage for him with the daughterof a man of title; he appeared to be well inclined to it, and I,therefore, pledged my word. He now tells me that he has made inquiries;that the parents are people of insupportable hauteur; that the daughteris very badly educated; and that he knows, from authority not to bedoubted, that when she heard this marriage discussed, she spoke of theconnection with the most supreme contempt; that he is certain of thisfact; and that I was still more contemptuously spoken of than himself. Ina word, he begs me to break off the treaty. But he has let me go toofar; and now he will make these people my irreconcilable enemies. Thishas been put in his head by some of his flatterers; they do not wish himto change his way of living; and very few of them would be received byhis wife." I tried to soften Madame, and, though I did not venture totell her so, I thought her brother right. She persisted in saying thesewere lies, and, on the following Sunday, treated her brother very coldly.He said nothing to me at that time; if he had, he would have embarrassedme greatly. Madame atoned for everything by procuring favours, whichwere the means of facilitating the young lady's marriage with a gentlemanof the Court. Her conduct, two months after marriage, compelled Madameto confess that her brother had been perfectly right.
I saw my friend, Madame du Chiron. "Why," said she, "is the Marquise soviolent an enemy to the Jesuits? I assure you she is wrong. Allpowerful as she is, she may find herself the worse for their enmity." Ireplied that I knew nothing about the matter. "It is, however,unquestionably a fact; and she does not feel that a word more or lessmight decide her fate."—"How do you mean?" said I. "Well, I willexplain myself fully," said she. "You know what took place at the timethe King was stabbed: an attempt was made to get her out of the Castleinstantly. The Jesuits have no other object than the salvation of theirpenitents; but they are men, and hatred may, without their being aware ofit, influence their minds, and inspire them with a greater degree ofseverity than circumstances absolutely demand. Favour and partialitymay, on the other hand, induce the confessor to make great concessions;and the shortest interval may suffice to save a favourite, especially ifany decent pretext can be found for prolonging her stay at Court." Iagreed with her in all she said, but I told her that I dared not touchthat string. On reflecting on this conversation afterwards, I wasforcibly struck with this fresh proof of the intrigues of the Jesuits,which, indeed, I knew well already. I thought that, in spite of what Ihad replied to Madame du Chiron, I ought to communicate this to Mad