MEMOIRS OF THE Princesse de Ligne EDITED BY LUCIEN PEREY TRANSLATED BY LAURA ENSOR IN TWO VOLUMES.--VOL. I. [Illustration] LONDON RICHARD BENTLEY & SON Publishers in Ordinary to Her Majesty the Queen 1887 _Printed by_ R. & R. CLARK, _Edinburgh_ CONTENTS PART THE FIRST INTRODUCTION ix CHAPTER I Ignace Massalski, Prince and Bishop of Wilna--The Radziwill and the Massalski--The feudal lords in Poland--Civil wars in Poland--The Bishop in exile--His arrival in Paris with his niece--Letters from Madame Geoffrin--Answer of the King Stanislaus-Augustus--The Abbaye-aux-Bois Page 1 CHAPTER II The _Memoirs_ of Hélène Massalska--Her entry at the Abbaye-aux-Bois--The dormitory--Illness of Hélène--Sister Bichon and Paradise--_La Grise_ and Mother Quatre Temps’s punishments--The order of truth--Wars of the “blues” and the “reds”--The Comte de Beaumanoir’s scullion--Madame de Rochechouart 19 CHAPTER III The story of the Vicar of Saint Eustache--Hélène in the white class--Death of Mademoiselle de Montmorency 56 CHAPTER IV Moles and niggers--Mutiny in the Convent--Marriage of Mademoiselle de Bourbonne--The first communion 90 CHAPTER V The Convent duties--The Abbess’s department--Balls at the Abbaye-aux-Bois--Madame de Rochechourt and her friends 114 CHAPTER VI The record office--Madame de Saint Germain and her rasp--The ballets _Orpheus_ and _Eurydice_--The refectory--The gates and the tower--The community and the cellars--Story of Mademoiselle de Saint Ange--Madame de Sainte Delphine and the library 136 CHAPTER VII Mademoiselle de Choiseul and her mother--Madame de Stainville’s romantic adventures--Mademoiselle de Choiseul’s wedding--Taking the veil 153 CHAPTER VIII Madame d’Orléans, Abbess of Chelles--A visit from the Archbishop--The Jansenist nuns--The dispensary--Madame de Rochechouart’s fête day--Her illness and death 182 PART THE SECOND CHAPTER I The Prince-Bishop and Stanislaus-Augustus--The Diet in 1773--Second dismemberment of Poland--Prince Xavier and his tutor 217 CHAPTER II