They leave me no peace; visitors at every moment; I am obliged to
get up and make conversation. First came the Comte de Clermont,
third brother of M. le Duc; after him the Duchesse de Ventadour and
her sister the Duchesse de La Ferté; then the Duc de Chartres, his
three sisters and their governess, my two ladies, and Mme. de Ségur,
my son's daughter by the left side and not legitimatized. That made
twelve at table. Then came the Maréchale de Clérembault and Cardinal
de Gèsvres; I had to rise to receive him and talk to him. But all that
is not comparable to what awaited me after dinner from two o'clock to
half-past six. I found in my salon Mme. la Princesse, with our Duchess
of Hanover, the tall Princesse de Conti, and Mlle. de Clermont, with
all their ladies; and when they went away the little Princesse de
Conti came with her daughter; then the Duchesse du Maine, Mme. la
Duchesse and her daughter, and all their ladies. Also a great many
other ladies not of the royal family, such as the Princesse d'Espinoy,
the Duchesse de Valentinois, the Princesse de Montauban, and I don't
know who else, innumerable duchesses, the Maréchales de Noailles and
de Boufflers, the Duchesses de Lesdiguières, de Nevers, d'Humières, de
Grammont, de Roquelaire, de Villars; the Duchesse d'Orléans came too;
as for the ladies who did not sit, they were innumerable, and I am
quite sure I have forgotten some of the _tabouret_ ones. It was so hot
in my room that I should have fainted if I had not gone, now and then,
into my dressing-room to get a breath of air. But what made me suffer
most was my knees; by dint of rising and bowing I really thought I
should faint away.
I have an abbé (whom I often call a scamp) sitting by me now; he is
dinning his chatter into my ears so that I really do not know what I
write; from that, you will know very well that I mean my Abbé de Saint
Albin, who will soon be Bishop of Laon, duke and peer of France. That
will give me great pleasure, because I have felt more attachment for
that poor boy from his earliest childhood than for all his brothers
and sisters; I feel that of all my son's children, legitimate and
illegitimate, he is the one that I love best.
My son cannot and will not believe that the Duc du Maine is the
king's son. That man has always been treacherous; he did ill-turns to
everybody; he was always hated as an arch-spy and informer. His wife,
the little frog, is much more violent than he; for he is cowardly, and
fear restrains him; but the wife mingles the heroic with her capers.
I think myself that the Comte de Toulouse is really the king's son;
but I have always believed that the Duc du Maine was the son of Terme,
who was a treacherous scoundrel and the worst spy at Court. The old
_guenipe_ had persuaded the king that the Duc du Maine was all virtue
and piety; and when he reported harm of any one, she said it was for
that person's good, so that the king might correct him. Thus the king
considered everything that came from du Maine admirable; he regarded
him as a saint. To this that confessor, Père Tellier, contributed much
in order to please the old woman. The late chancellor Voysin also
talked about the duke to the king by order of the Maintenon.