His chief friends and allies at this period were all men considerably older than himself--the two inseparables, the Duc de Beauvillier and the Duc de Chevreuse, who had both married daughters of Colbert, the Maréchal de Boufflers, the Chancellor Pontchartrain, and Chamillart, the Secretary of State for War. It was through the good offices of Chamillart and Maréchal, the King’s surgeon, that “he became reconciled,” as he characteristically expresses it, with Louis XIV. But he had his enemies as well as his friends, and chief among them were the members of the _coterie_ which, as so often happens towards the end of a long reign, the common hope of favours to come had attracted round the heir to the throne. An important member of this “Cabale de Meudon,” as Saint-Simon calls it, was the Duc de Vendôme, and when in 1708 Louis XIV made the mistake of associating his grandson, the Duc de Bourgogne, with him in the command of the army of Flanders, and dissensions arose between the two commanders, the Cabal warmly espoused Vendôme’s cause. Their unscrupulous intrigues against the Duc de Bourgogne roused the wrath of Saint-Simon, who as the ally of M. de Beauvillier, the young Prince’s former governor, was well disposed in his favour. Throughout the years 1708 and 1709 he threw himself into the contest with his accustomed vigour, and in the following year he helped to achieve a notable victory over the hated Cabal in another field, that of the marriage of the Duc de Berry, Monseigneur’s youngest son. The candidate of Monseigneur’s party was Mlle de Bourbon, while the Duchesse de Bourgogne, well served by Saint-Simon and his friends, favoured the daughter of the Duc d’Orléans. Saint-Simon’s organisation of the “Cabale de Mademoiselle” was a masterpiece of skilful intrigue, and he conducted the campaign with a passionate energy which is faithfully reflected in his narrative. When, however, the coarse and depraved character of the new Duchess revealed itself he bitterly regretted his success.