Unpublished letter of Voltaire to madame du Barry--Reply of the
countess--The maréchale de Mirepoix--Her first interview with madame du
Barry--Anecdote of the diamonds of madame de Mirepoix--The king pays
for them--Singular gratitude of the maréchale--The portfolio, and an
unpublished letter of the marquise de Pompadour
By the way in which the king continued to speak to me of M. de Voltaire,
I clearly saw how right the duke was in advising me to read the letter
myself before I showed it to my august protector. I could not read it
until the next day, and found it conceived in the following terms:--
"MADAME LA COMTESSE:--I feel myself urged by an extreme desire to have
an explanation with you, after the receipt of a letter which M. the duc
d'Aiguillon wrote to me last year. This nobleman, nephew of a gentleman,
as celebrated for the name he bears as by his own reputation, and who
has been my friend for more than sixty years, has communicated to me
the pain which had been caused you by a certain piece of poetry, of
my writing as was stated, and in which my style was recognised. Alas!
madame, ever since the most foolish desire in the world has excited me
to commit a great deal of idle trash to paper, not a month, a week, nay,
even a day passes in which I am not accused and convicted of some
great enormity; that is to say, the malicious author of all sorts of
turpitudes and extravagancies. Eh! _mon Dieu_, the entire life-time of
ten men would not be sufficient to write all with which I am charged,
to my unutterable despair in this world, and to my eternal damnation in
that which is to come.
"It is no doubt, much to die in final impenitence; altho' hell may
contain all the honest men of antiquity and a great portion of those of
our times; and paradise would not be much to hope for if we must find
ourselves face to face with messieurs Fréron, Nonatte, Patouillet,
Abraham Chauneix, and other saints cut out of the same cloth. But how
much more severe would it be to sustain your anger! The hatred of the
Graces brings down misfortune on men of letters; and when he embroils
himself with Venus and the Muses he is a lost being; as, for instance,
M. Dorat, who incessantly slanders his mistresses, and writes nothing
but puerilities.
"I have been very cautious, in my long career, how I committed such a
fault. If perchance I have lightly assailed the common cry of scribblers
or pendants who were worthless, I have never ceased to burn incense on
the altars of the ladies; them I have always sung when I--could not do
otherwise. Independently, madame, of the profound respect I bear all
your sex I profess a particular regard towards all those who approach
our sovereign, and whom he invests with his confidence: in this I
prove myself no less a faithful subject than a gallant Frenchman; and
I venerate the God I serve in his constant friendships as I would do in
his caprices. Thus I was far from outraging and insulting you still
more grievously by composing a hateful work which I detest with my whole
heart, and which makes me shed tears of blood when I think that people
did not blush to attribute it to me.
"Believe in my respectful attachment, madame, no less than in my cruel
destiny, which renders me odious to those by whom I would be loved. My
enemies, a portion of whom are amongst yours, certainly succeed each
other with frightful eagerness to try my wind. Now they have just
published under my name some attacks on the poor president Henault, whom
I love with sincere affection. What have they not attributed to me to
inculpate me with my friends, with my illustrious protectors, M. le
maréchal duc de Richelieu and their majesties the king of Prussia and
the czarina of Russia!
"I could excuse them for making war upon strangers in my name, altho'
that would be a pirate's method; but to attack, under my banner, my
master, my sovereign lord, this I can never pardon, and I will raise
against them even a dying voice; particularly when they strike you with
the same blows; you, who love literature; you, who do me the honor
to charge your memory with my feeble productions. It is an infamy to
pretend that I fire on my own troops.
"Under any circumstances, madame, I am before you in a very delicate
situation. There is in Versailles a family which overwhelms me with
marks of their friendship. Mine ought to appertain to it to perpetuity;
yet I learn that it is so unfortunate as to have no conception of your
merit, and that envious talebearers place themselves between you and it.
I am told that there is a kind of declared war; it is added, that I have
furnished supplies to this camp, the chiefs of which I love and esteem.
More wise, more submissive, I keep myself out of the way of blows; and
my reverence for the supreme master is such, that I turn away my very
eyes that they may not be spectators of the fight.
"Do not then, madame, think that any sentiment of affection has
compelled, or can compel me to take arms against you. I would refuse
any proposition which should rank me as hostile to you, if the natural
generosity of your enemies could so far forget it. In reality they are
as incapable of ordering a bad action as I am of listening to those who
should show themselves so devoid of sense as to propose such a thing to
me.
"I am persuaded that you have understood me, and I am fully cleared
in your eyes. It would be delightful to me to ascertain this with
certainty. I charge M. le maréchal duc de Richelieu to explain to you my
disquietude on this head, and the favor I seek at your hands, from you
who command France, whilst I, I ought to die in peace, not to displease
any person, and live wisely with all. I conclude, madame la comtesse,
this long and stupid epistle, which is, in fact, less a letter than
a real case for consideration, by begging you to believe me, etc.,
"VOLTAIRE
"_Ferney_, April 28, 1769. Gentleman in ordinary to the king.
"P. S. My enemies say everywhere that I am not a Christian. I have
just given them the lie direct, by performing my Easter devotions (_mes
paques_) publicly; thus proving to all my lively desire to terminate my
long career in the religion in which I was born; and I have fulfilled
this important act after a dozen consecutive attacks of fever, which
made me fear I should die before I could assure you of my respect and my
devotion."
This apology gave me real pleasure. I pretended to believe the
sincerity of him who addressed me, altho' he had not convinced me of his
innocence; and I wrote the following reply to M. de Voltaire, which a
silly pride dictates to me to communicate to you, in conjunction with
the letter of the philosopher:
"MONSIEUR:--Even were you culpable from too much friendship towards
those you cherish, I would pardon you as a recompense for the letter
you address to me. This ought the more to charm me, as it gives me the
certainty that you had been unworthily calumniated. Could you have said,
under the veil of secrecy, things disagreeable to a great king, for
whom, in common with all France, you profess sincere love? It is
impossible. Could you, with gaiety of heart, wound a female who never
did you harm, and who admires your splendid genius? In fact, could
those you call your friends have stooped so low as not to have feared
to compromise you, by making you play a part unworthy of your elevated
reputation? All these suppositions were unreasonable: I could not for a
moment admit them, and your two letters have entirely justified you. I
can now give myself up without regret to my enthusiasm for you and your
works. It would have been too cruel for me to have learnt with certainty
that he whom I regarded as the first writer of the age had become my
detractor without motive, without provocation. That it is not so I give
thanks to Providence.
"M. the duc d'Aiguillon did not deceive you when he told you that I fed
on your sublime poetry. I am in literature a perfect novice, and yet
am sensible of the true beauties which abound in your works. I am to be
included amongst the stones which were animated by Amphion: this is one
of your triumphs; but to this you must be accustomed.
"Believe also that all your friends are not in the enemy's camp.
There are those about me who love you sincerely, M. de Chauvelin, for
instance, MM. de Richelieu and d'Aiguillon: this latter eulogizes you
incessantly; and if all the world thought as he does, you would be here
in your place. But there are terrible prejudices which my candor will
not allow me to dissemble, which you have to overcome. There is _one_
who complains of you, and this one must be won over to your interests.
He wishes you to testify more veneration for what he venerates himself;
that your attacks should not be so vehement nor so constant. Is it then
impossible for you to comply his wishes in this particular? Be sure that
you only, in setting no bounds in your attacks on religion, do yourself
a vast mischief with the person in question.
"It will appear strange that I should hold such language to you: I only
do it to serve you: do not take my statements unkindly. I have now a
favor to ask of you; which is, to include me in the list of those to
whom you send the first fruits of the brilliant productions of your
pen. There is none who is more devoted to you, and who has a more ardent
desire to convince you of this.
"I am, _monsieur le gentilhomme ordinaire_, with real attachment, etc."
I showed this letter to M. de Richelieu.
"Why," he inquired, "have you not assured him as to your indiscretion,
which he fears?"
"Because his fear seemed to me unjust, and I leave you to represent me
to him as I am; and now," I added, "it does not appear to me necessary
for the king to know anything of this."
"You think wisely, madame; what most displeased him was to see madame de
Pompadour in regular correspondence with M. de Voltaire."
I have related to you this episode of my history, that it may recompense
you for the tiresome details of my presentation. I resume my recital. I
told you that M. de Maupeou had told me that he would endeavor to bring
madame la maréchale de Mirepoix, and introduce her to me, trusting to
the friendship she had evinced for madame de Pompadour during the whole
time of the favor and life of her who preceded me in the affections of
Louis XV. I found, to my surprise, that he said nothing to me concerning
it for several days, when suddenly madame la maréchale de Mirepoix was
announced.
At this name and this title I rose quite in a fluster, without clearly
knowing what could be the object of this visit, for which I was
unprepared. The maréchale, who followed closely on the valet's heels,
did not give me time for much reflection. She took me really _a
l'improviste_, and I had not time to go and meet her.
"Madame la maréchale," said I, accosting her, "what lucky chance brings
you to a place where the desire to have your society is so great?"
"It is the feeling of real sympathy," she replied, with a gracious
smile; "for I also have longed for a considerable time to visit you,
and have yielded to my wishes as soon as I was certain that my advances
would not be repulsed."
"Ah, madame.," said I, "had you seriously any such fear? That tells me
much less of the mistrust you had of yourself than of the bad opinion
you had conceived of me. The honor of your visits--"
"The honor of my visits! That's admirable! I wish to obtain a portion of
your friendship, and to testify to the king that I am sincerely attached
to him."
"You overwhelm me, madame," cried I, much delighted, "and I beg you to
give me your confidence."
"Well, now, all is arranged between us: I suit you and you please me. It
is long since I was desirous of coming to you, but we are all under the
yoke of the must absurd tyranny: soon we shall have no permission to
go, to come, to speak, to hold our tongues, without first obtaining the
consent of a certain family. This yoke has wearied me; and on the first
word of the chancellor of France I hastened to you."
"I had begged him, madame, to express to you how much I should be
charmed to have you when the king graced me with his presence. He likes
you, he is accustomed to the delights of your society; and I should
have been deeply chagrined had I come here only to deprive him of that
pleasure."
"He is a good master," said the maréchale, "he is worthy of all our
love. I have had opportunities of knowing him thoroughly, for I was most
intimate with madame de Pompadour; and I believe that my advice will not
be useless to you."
"I ask it of you, madame la maréchale, for it will be precious to me."
"Since we are friends, madame," said she, seating herself in a chair,
"do not think ill of me if I establish myself at my ease, and take my
station as in the days of yore. The king loves you: so much the better.
You will have a double empire over him. He did not love the marquise,
and allowed himself to be governed by her; for with him--I ask pardon
of your excessive beauty--custom does all. It is necessary, my dear
countess, to use the double lever you have, of your own charms and his
constant custom to do to-morrow what he does to-day because he did it
yesterday, and for this you lack neither grace nor wit."
I had heard a great deal concerning madame de Mirepoix; but I own to
you, that before I heard her speak I had no idea what sort of a person
she would prove. She had an air of so much frankness and truth, that it
was impossible not to be charmed by it. The greater part of the time I
did not know how to defend myself from her--at once so natural and so
perfidious; and occasionally I allowed myself to love her with all my
heart, so much did she seem to cherish me with all enthusiasm. She had
depth of wit, a piquancy of expression, and knew how to disguise those
interested adulations with turns so noble and beautiful that I have
never met, neither before nor since, any woman worthy of being compared
with her. She was, in her single self, a whole society; and certainly
there was no possibility of being wearied when she was there. Her temper
was most equable, a qualification rarely obtained without a loss of
warmth of feeling. She always pleased because her business was to
please and not to love; and it always sufficed her to render others
enthusiastic and ardent. Except this tendency to egotism, she was
the charm of society, the life of the party whom she enlivened by her
presence. She knew precisely when to mourn with the afflicted, and joke
with the merry-hearted. The king had much pleasure in her company: he
knew that she only thought how to amuse him; and, moreover, as he had
seen her from morning till evening with the marquise de Pompadour, her
absence from my parties was insupportable to him, and almost contrary to
the rules of etiquette at the château.
I cannot tell you how great was his satisfaction, when, at the first
supper which followed our intimacy, he saw her enter. He ran to meet her
like a child, and gave a cry of joy, which must have been very pleasing
to the maréchale.
"You are a dear woman," he said to her, with an air which accorded with
his words, "I always find you when I want you; and you can nowhere be
more in place than here. I ask your friendship for our dear countess."
"She has it already, sire, from the moment I saw her; and I consider my
intimacy with her as one of the happiest chances of my life."
The king showed the utmost good humor in the world during the rest
of the evening. He scolded me, however, for the mystery I had made in
concealing from him the agreeable visit of the maréchale. I justified
myself easily by the pleasure which this surprise caused him; and, on my
side, gave my sincere thanks to the chancellor.
"You owe me none," said he; "the good maréchale felt herself somewhat
ill at ease not to be on close terms with her who possesses the
affections of the king. It is an indispensable necessity that she should
play a part in the lesser apartments; and as the principal character no
longer suits her, she is contented to perform that of confidante, and
ran here on my first intimation."
"Never mind the motive that brought her," I said; "she is a companion
for me much more desirable than madame de Bearn."
"First from her rank," said the chancellor, smiling maliciously, "and
then by virtue of her cousinship with the Holy Virgin."
I confess that I was ignorant of this incident in the house of Levi; and
I laughed heartily at the description of the picture, in which one of
the lords of this house is represented on his knees before the mother of
God, who says to him, "_Rise, cousin_"; to which he replies, "_I know my
duty too well, cousin._" I took care, however, how I joked on this point
with the maréchale, who listened to nothing that touched on the nobility
of the ancestors of her husband or on those of her own family.
Great had been the outcry in the palace against the duc de la Vauguyon
and madame de Bearn, but how much louder did it become on the defection
of the marquise de Mirepoix. The cabal was destroyed; for a woman of
rank and birth like the maréchale was to me a conquest of the utmost
importance. The princesse de Guémenée and the duchesse de Grammont were
wofully enraged. This they manifested by satirical sneers, epigrams,
and verses, which were put forth in abundance. All these inflictions
disturbed her but little; the main point in her eyes was to possess the
favor of the master; and she had it, for he felt that he was bound to
her by her complaisance.
He was not long in giving her an unequivocal proof of his regard. The
duc de Duras asked her, in presence of the king and myself, why she did
not wear her diamonds as usual.
"They are my representatives," was her reply.
"What do you mean by representatives?" said I.
"Why, my dear countess, they are with a Jew instead of my sign-manual.
The rogue had no respect for the word of a relation of the Holy Virgin
and the daughter of the Beauvau. I was in want of thirty thousand
francs; and to procure it I have given up my ornaments, not wishing to
send to the Jew the old plate of my family, altho' the hunks wanted it."
We all laughed at her frankness, and the gaiety with which she gave this
statement, but we went no further; to her great regret, no doubt, for
I believe that the scene had been prepared between her and M. de Duras,
either to let her profit in time of need, or else that she wished to
pluck a feather from our wing. When I was alone with the king, he said,
"The poor maréchale pains me; I should like to oblige her and think I
will give her five hundred louis."
"What will such a petty sum avail her? You know what she wants; either
send her the whole or none. A king should do nothing by halves."
Louis XV answered me nothing; he only made a face, and began to walk
up and down the room. "Ah," said I, "this excellent woman loves your
majesty so much, that you ought to show your gratitude to her, were it
only to recompense her for her intimacy with me."
"Well, you shall carry her the sum yourself, which Lebel shall bring
you from me. But thirty thousand francs, that makes a large pile of
crown-pieces."
"Then I must take it in gold."
"No, but in good notes. We must not, even by a look, intimate that she
has _sold_ her visits to us. There are such creatures in the world!"
The next morning Lebel brought me a very handsome rose-colored
portfolio, embroidered with silver and auburn hair: it contained the
thirty thousand francs in notes. I hastened to the maréchale. We were
then at Marly.
"What good wind blows you hither?" said madame de Mirepoix.
"A royal gallantry," I replied; "you appeared unhappy, and our excellent
prince sends you the money necessary to redeem your jewels."
The eyes of the lady became animated, and she embraced me heartily. "It
is to you that I owe this bounty of the king."
"Yes, partly, to make the present entire; he would only have given you
half the sum."
"I recognize him well in that he does not like to empty his casket.
He would draw on the public treasury without hesitation for double the
revenue of France, and would not make a division of a single crown of
his own private _peculium_."
I give this speech _verbatim_; and this was all the gratitude which
madame de Mirepoix manifested towards Louis XV. I was pained at it, but
made no remark. She took up the portfolio, examined it carefully, and,
bursting into a fit of laughter, said, while she flung herself into an
arm-chair,
"Ah! ah! ah! this is an unexpected rencontre! Look at this portfolio, my
dear friend: do you see the locks with which it is decorated? Well, they
once adorned the head of madame de Pompadour. She herself used them to
embroider this garland of silver thread; she gave it to the king on his
birthday. Louis XV swore never to separate from it, and here it is in my
hands."
Then, opening the portfolio, and rummaging it over, she found in a
secret pocket a paper, which she opened, saying, "I knew he had left
it."
It was a letter of madame de Pompadour, which I wished to have, and the
maréchale gave me it instantly; the notes remained with her. I copy the
note, to give you an idea of the sensibility of the king.
"SIRE,--I am ill; dangerously so, perhaps. In the melancholy feeling
which preys upon me, I have formed a desire to leave you a souvenir,
which will always make me present to your memory. I have embroidered
this portfolio with my own hair; accept it; never part with it. Enclose
in it your most important papers, and let its contents prove your
estimation of it. Will you not accord my prayer? Sign it, I beseech you;
it is the caprice, the wish of a dying woman."
Beneath it was written,
"This token of love shall never quit me. Louis."