Montpensier, Anne-Marie-Louise d'Orléans, duchesse de, 1627-1693
A journey through France, which she made in 1637, "put balm on the
wounds of her pride." They chanted the _Te Deum_, the Army Corps
saluted her, a city was illuminated, and the nobility offered her
fêtes. She "swam in joy"; for thus she had always thought that the
appearance of a person of her quality should be hailed. She ended her
tour in Blois where Monsieur, the ever good father, desired that he,
in person, should be the one to initiate his child in the morality
of princes, which virtue in those aristocratic times had nothing in
common with the bourgeois's morality. For the moment he was possessed
of an insignificant mistress, a young girl of Tours called "Louison."
Monsieur took his daughter to Tours so that he might present his
mistress to her. Mademoiselle declared herself satisfied with her
father's choice. She thought that Louison had "a very agreeable face,
and a great deal of wit for a girl of that quality who had never been
to Court." But Mme. de Saint Georges saw the new relations with an
anxious eye; she submitted her scruples to Monsieur:
Madame de Saint Georges ... asked him if the girl was good,
because, otherwise, though she had been honoured by his good
graces, she should be glad if she would not come to my house.
Monsieur gave her every assurance and told her that he would not
have wished for the girl himself without that condition. In those
days I had such a horror of vice that I said to her: "Maman (I
called her thus), if Louison is not virtuous, even though my Papa
loves her I will not see her at all; or if he wishes me to see her
I will not receive her well." She answered that she was really
a very good girl, and I was very glad of it, for she pleased me
much--so I saw her often.
Mademoiselle did not suspect that there was anything comical in this
passage; had she done so she would not have written it, because she was
not one of those who admit that it is sometimes permissible to smile at
the great.
On her return from her journey she resumed her ordinary life.
I passed the winter in Paris as I had passed my other winters.
Twice a week I went to the assemblies given by Mme. the Countess
de Soissons at the Hôtel de Brissac. At these assemblies the usual
diversions were comedies [plays] and dancing. I was very fond of
dancing and, for love of me, they danced there very often....
There were also assemblies with comedies at the Queen's, at
Richelieu's, and at a number of personages', and Mademoiselle herself
received at the Tuileries.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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