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
Orléans, Charlotte-Elisabeth, duchesse d'
France -- Court and courtiers; French letters; Maison royale de Saint-Louis (Saint-Cyr l'École, France)
I think that many people will declare themselves against King George,
for the Chevalier de Saint-George has gone to Scotland. They told me
to-night the details of his departure. He was at Commercy with the
Prince de Vaudemont and was hunting a stag. After the hunt they sat at
supper till midnight. On retiring to his chamber he said he was tired,
and told his servants to let him sleep till he called them. Two hours
after noon, as he gave no sign of life, his servants were frightened;
entering his apartment and not finding him in his bed, they ran in
terror with the news to the Prince de Vaudemont. The latter behaved as
if he knew nothing, and said that a search must be made immediately.
At the end of an hour the prince ordered all the portcullises
raised, so that no one was able to leave the château for three days.
During this time the chevalier reached Bretagne, and jumped into a
fishing-boat which took him out to a Scotch vessel in which there were
several lords, with whom he went to Scotland. If to-morrow I hear
anything new about this, and do not die in the course of the night, I
will tell you more.
No one knows what will be the result of the affair, but I am pained
for both rivals. King George is the son of my dear aunt, the
electress, which makes him as dear to me as if he were my own child.
On the other hand the Pretender is also my relation; he is the best
man in the world; on all occasions he and the queen, his mother, have
shown me the greatest friendship. I cannot wish harm to either the one
or the other.
I ought to tell you that it would be sovereignly unjust on the part
of Lord Stair to accuse my son of conniving in the flight of the
Chevalier. How could he know what happened at Commercy, or guess that
the Pretender was going incognito to Bretagne? My son did not know
it for a week; when he heard it the affair was over. The Chevalier
de Saint-George is the best and most polite man in the world. He
asked Lord Douglas: "What can I do to win the sympathy of my people?"
Douglas answered: "Embark, take a dozen Jesuits with you, and as soon
as you arrive, hang them publicly; nothing will please the people like
that."
M. Leibnitz, to whom I sometimes write, assures me that I do not write
German badly; this has given me great pleasure, for I should not like
to forget my mother tongue.
The third daughter of Mme. d'Orléans, Louise-Adélaïde, is well
brought up and is not ugly. She firmly persists in being a nun; but I
think she has no vocation for it. I do my best to turn her from the
notion; but she has always had this folly in her head. She has very
pretty hands and a skin that is naturally white and pink.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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