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The Best of the World's Classics, Restricted to Prose, Vol. VII (of X)—Continental Europe I

History

The Best of the World's Classics, Restricted to Prose, Vol. VII (of X)—Continental Europe I

Authors -- Biography; Literature -- Collections

Here my patron left off to wait for my answer, which was an echo of
his speech, and a promise of obeying him in all things. From that
moment there were no secrets from me; I became the prime favorite. All
the household, except Melchior de la Ronda, looked at me with an eye
of envy. It was curious to observe the manner in which the whole
establishment, from the highest to the lowest, thought it necessary to
demean themselves toward his Grace's confidential secretary; there was
no meanness to which they would not stoop to curry favor with me: I
could scarcely believe they were Spaniards. I left no stone unturned
to be of service to them, without being taken in by their interested
assiduities.




DUC DE SAINT-SIMON

     Born in France in 1675, died in 1755; served in the army in
     the time of Louis XIV; member of the Council of Regency in
     the reign of Louis XV; ambassador to Spain to 1721; his
     "Memoirs," first published in twenty volumes it 1829-30; not
     to be confounded with the Count of Saint-Simon, the
     philosopher and socialist, the memoir writer being a duke.




I

THE DEATH OF THE DAUPHIN[34]


Monseigneur le Dauphin, ill and agitated by the most bitter grief,
kept his chamber; but on Saturday morning of the 13th, being prest to
go to Marly to avoid the horror of the noise where the Dauphine was
lying dead, he set out for that place at seven o'clock in the morning.
Shortly after arriving he heard mass in the chapel, and thence was
carried in a chair to the window of one of his rooms. Madame de
Maintenon came to see him there afterward. The anguish of the
interview was speedily too much for her, and she went away. Early in
the morning I went uninvited to see M. le Dauphin. He showed me that
he perceived this with an air of gentleness and of affection which
penetrated me. But I was terrified with his looks, constrained, fixt
and with something wild about them; with the change of his looks and
with the marks there, livid rather than red, that I observed in good
number and large; marks observed by the others also.

[Footnote 34: From the "Memoirs on the Reign of Louis XIV and the
Regency." Translated by Bayle St. John, traveler and Author, his
"Village Life Egypt" appearing in 1852.]

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Opening the text

History

The Best of the World's Classics, Restricted to Prose, Vol. VII (of X)—Continental Europe I

Authors -- Biography; Literature -- Collections

Here my patron left off to wait for my answer, which was an echo of
his speech, and a promise of obeying him in all things. From that
moment there were no secrets from me; I became the prime favorite. All
the household, except Melchior de la Ronda, looked at me with an eye
of envy. It was curious to observe the manner in which the whole
establishment, from the highest to the lowest, thought it necessary to
demean themselves toward his Grace's confidential secretary; there was
no meanness to which they would not stoop to curry favor with me: I
could scarcely believe they were Spaniards. I left no stone unturned
to be of service to them, without being taken in by their interested
assiduities.




DUC DE SAINT-SIMON

     Born in France in 1675, died in 1755; served in the army in
     the time of Louis XIV; member of the Council of Regency in
     the reign of Louis XV; ambassador to Spain to 1721; his
     "Memoirs," first published in twenty volumes it 1829-30; not
     to be confounded with the Count of Saint-Simon, the
     philosopher and socialist, the memoir writer being a duke.




I

THE DEATH OF THE DAUPHIN[34]


Monseigneur le Dauphin, ill and agitated by the most bitter grief,
kept his chamber; but on Saturday morning of the 13th, being prest to
go to Marly to avoid the horror of the noise where the Dauphine was
lying dead, he set out for that place at seven o'clock in the morning.
Shortly after arriving he heard mass in the chapel, and thence was
carried in a chair to the window of one of his rooms. Madame de
Maintenon came to see him there afterward. The anguish of the
interview was speedily too much for her, and she went away. Early in
the morning I went uninvited to see M. le Dauphin. He showed me that
he perceived this with an air of gentleness and of affection which
penetrated me. But I was terrified with his looks, constrained, fixt
and with something wild about them; with the change of his looks and
with the marks there, livid rather than red, that I observed in good
number and large; marks observed by the others also.

[Footnote 34: From the "Memoirs on the Reign of Louis XIV and the
Regency." Translated by Bayle St. John, traveler and Author, his
"Village Life Egypt" appearing in 1852.]

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

The Best of the World's Classics, Restricted to Prose, Vol. VII (of X)—Continental Europe I

The Best of the World's Classics, Restricted to Prose, Vol. VII (of X)—Continental Europe I

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