I promised to tell you about my journey to Chelles [to witness the
installation of her grand-daughter as abbess of the convent of
Chelles]. I started Thursday at seven o'clock, with the Duchesse de
Brancas, Mme. de Châteauthiers, and Mme. de Rathsamhausen; we arrived
at half-past ten. My grandson, the Duc de Chartres, had already
arrived; my son came a few minutes later; then Mlle. de Valois. Mme.
d'Orléans had herself bled expressly to be unable to come. She and the
abbess are not very good friends; and besides, her extreme laziness
would prevent her from getting up so early.
We went to the church. The _prie-dieu_ of the abbess was placed in the
nun's choir; it was violet velvet covered with gold _fleur-de-lis_; my
_prie-dieu_ was against the balustrade; my son and his daughter were
behind my chair, because the princes of the blood cannot kneel upon my
carpet; that is a right reserved to the grandsons of France. The whole
of the king's band was in the loft. Cardinal de Noailles said mass.
The altar is a very fine one of black and white marble with four thick
columns of black marble; there are four beautiful statues of sainted
abbesses, one so like our own abbess you might think it was her
portrait; it was, however, carved before my grand-daughter was born,
for she is only twenty-one years old.
Twelve monks of her Order, robed in splendid chasubles, came to
serve the mass. After the cardinal had read the epistle, the master
of ceremonies entered the nun's choir and brought out the abbess;
she came with a very good air, followed by two abbesses, and half a
dozen nuns of her own convent. She made a deep curtsey to the altar,
then to me, and knelt down before the cardinal, who was seated in a
great armchair before the altar. They brought in state the confession
of faith, which she read, and after the cardinal had recited many
prayers, he gave her a book containing the rules of the convent. She
then returned to her place; and after the _Credo_ and the offertory
had been read, she came forward again, accompanied by an abbess and
her nuns. Two great wax tapers and two loaves of bread, one gilt, the
other silvered, were brought, with which she made her offering. After
the cardinal had taken the communion, she again knelt before him and
he gave her the crozier. Then he took her to her seat, not at her
_prie-dieu_, but to her seat as abbess, a sort of throne surmounted
by the dais of a princess of the blood with the _fleurs-de-lis_. As
soon as she was seated the trumpets and the hautboys sounded, and the
cardinal, followed by all his priests, placed himself near the altar
on the left side, crozier in hand, and they chanted the Te Deum. Next,
all the nuns of the convent came forward, two and two, to testify
their submission to their new abbess, making her a deep obeisance.
That reminded me of the honours they pay Athys when they make him high
priest of Cybele in the opera, and I almost thought they were going to
sing, "Before thee all bow down and tremble," etc.
After the Te Deum, we entered the convent about half-past twelve and
sat down to table, my son and I, my grandson, the Duc de Chartres,
the Princesse Victoire de Soissons, the young Demoiselle d'Auvergne,
daughter of Duc d'Albret, and my three ladies. The abbess went to
a table in her refectory with her sister, Mlle. de Valois, the two
ladies who accompanied her, twelve abbesses, and all the nuns of the
convent. It was droll to see so many black robes round a table. My
son's people served a very fine repast; and after dinner was over they
let the people come in and pillage the dessert and confectionery. At a
quarter to five my carriage came, and I returned to Saint-Cloud.
You ask me if my Abbé de Saint-Albin and his brother the Chevalier
d'Orléans have the same mother; no. The chevalier is legitimatized,
but the poor abbé has not been so at all. He has the family look, and
strongly resembles the late Monsieur; he is something like his father
and is very like Mlle. de Valois. He is some years older than the
chevalier and is very grieved to see his younger brother so much above
him. The chevalier, who for some time past has been the grand-prior of
France in the Order of Malta, is the son of Mlle. de Séry, formerly my
maid-of-honour; she now calls herself Mme. d'Argenton. The mother of
the abbé is an opera-dancer named Florence. My son has also a daughter
by the left hand, whom he does not recognize; he has married her to a
Marquis de Ségur; her mother was Desmares, one of the best actresses
in the king's troupe. I love the Abbé de Saint-Albin, and he deserves
it. In the first place, he loves me sincerely, and in the next he
conducts himself extremely well. He has intellect; he is reasonable,
and there is no canting bigotry about him. He is not in as much favour
with my son as he deserves, but he is the best young man in the world;
well brought-up, pious, and virtuous; he is well educated but has no
conceit. He is more like the late Monsieur than he is like his father;
but it is plain where he comes from; my son cannot deny him; and it is
a great pity that he is not my son's legitimate child.
The enormous wealth that is now in France is inconceivable. All the
talk is in millions. I cannot understand it; but I see plainly that
the God Mammon reigns in Paris absolutely. The late king would gladly
have employed M. Law in the finances; but as he was not a Catholic the
king said he could not trust him. Nothing is now thought of but Law's
bank; a hundred tales are told of it. A lady gave her coachman an
order to upset her in front of it, and when M. Law ran out, supposing
from the cries that she had broken her neck or legs, she hastened to
acknowledge it was only a stratagem to get speech with him. It is
certainly a droll thing to see how everybody runs after that man,
jostling each other merely to see him or his son.
M. le Duc and his mother have made, they say, two hundred and fifty
millions; the Prince de Conti rather less, though people declare his
gains amount to many millions; the two cousins never budge from the
rue Quincampoix. But the one who has gained the most money is d'Antin,
who is terribly grasping.
M. Law has abjured at Melun; he has become a Catholic, and so have his
children; his wife is in despair. He is not avaricious; he does much
in charity, without letting it be known, and gives away great sums; he
helps large numbers of poor people.