Loading your reading…

The Correspondence of Madame, Princess Palatine, Mother of the Regent; of Marie-Adélaïde de Savoie, Duchesse de Bourgogne; and of Madame de Maintenon, in Relation to Saint-Cyr — John Shaqi

The Correspondence of Madame, Princess Palatine, Mother of the Regent; of Marie-Adélaïde de Savoie, Duchesse de Bourgogne; and of Madame de Maintenon, in Relation to Saint-CyrOrléans, Charlotte-Elisabeth, duchesse d'

History

The Correspondence of Madame, Princess Palatine, Mother of the Regent; of Marie-Adélaïde de Savoie, Duchesse de Bourgogne; and of Madame de Maintenon, in Relation to Saint-Cyr

Name: The Correspondence of Madame, Princess Palatine, Mother of the Regent; of Marie-Adélaïde de Savoie, Duchesse de Bourgogne; and of Madame de Maintenon, in Relation to Saint-Cyr
Author: Orléans, Charlotte-Elisabeth, duchesse d'

Orléans, Charlotte-Elisabeth, duchesse d'

France -- Court and courtiers; French letters; Maison royale de Saint-Louis (Saint-Cyr l'École, France)

Sainte-Beuve possessed a natural spirit of justice which led him
(though it did not invariably rule him) to satisfy his literary
conscience by returning to the portraits of his personages to correct,
modify, and balance his first impressions. It is in this spirit that
his picture of Mme. de Maintenon and Saint-Cyr, followed by a number
of her own letters and papers on that section of her life, are given
here to succeed the prejudiced statements of her two greatest enemies,
Saint-Simon and Madame. The picture of Saint-Cyr stands apart in Mme.
de Maintenon's career in a frame of its own; it shows her at her very
best and as she herself would fain appear to posterity. It is the
other extreme of the portraiture, and the reader must form his own
judgment as to how the full truth of the nature and conduct of this
remarkable woman can be evolved.




                      CORRESPONDENCE OF MADAME.




                                  I.

                        LETTERS OF 1695-1714.


              _To her sister Louise, Comtesse Palatine._

                                                     VERSAILLES, 1695.

King James of England is not willing that we should wear mourning
for his daughter [Mary]; he has vehemently insisted that nothing of
the kind should be done. He is not at all moved by this death, which
surprises me, for I should think a man could not forget his children,
no matter what wrongs he has against them; blood must surely keep its
strength. From the portrait they made me of Prince [King] William, I
should not have thought he was so much attached to his wife; and I
like him for it.

I am very glad to hear that Charles-Maurice [her half-brother] loves
me, though he has never seen me; that is the effect of blood. It is
not surprising that I love him, for I saw him come into the world;
and besides, I have always retained such respect for his Highness
our father that I love all those who are his children. I wish that
Charles-Maurice may soon be made a colonel. We die when our time
comes; Maurice will not live beyond the period that fate assigns him,
whether he stays at Court or goes to war. He had better follow his
inclination, for all that is done from liking is better done than when
one yields to constraint.

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

The Correspondence of Madame, Princess Palatine, Mother of the Regent; of Marie-Adélaïde de Savoie, Duchesse de Bourgogne; and of Madame de Maintenon, in Relation to Saint-Cyr

No reviews yet