Unpublished letter of Louis XV--Madame du Barry's cousin, M. de Maupeou--The
comtesse du Barry saves the life of a young girl seduced by the arts of the cure
of her village--She obtains pardon of the comte and comtesse de Louerne--The
king presents her with Lucienne--A second meeting with the youthful prophet--
His further predictions--He is sought for--His mysterious letter to the countess
"How does my sweet friend contrive to bear our tedious separation? is she happy
and amused? In that case I can say, she has greatly the advantage over him who
now addresses her. No, my lovely countess, I am dragging on a tedious and
uninteresting existence, spite of the great and earnest endeavors of my good
cousin and host to provide for my enjoying the gaiety by which I am surrounded;
but, alas! amidst the many faces with which his mansion is thronged, that one
which is dearest to me is wanting, and all becomes a blank in my eyes; and I
yawn with irrepressible weariness in the midst of the glittering pageants given to
honor my arrival; and you may rest assured that I shall hail with delight the
termination of a visit, which seems already to have swelled the period of our
separation into ages. I will not attempt to conceal from you, that those who have
good cause to envy your supreme dominion over my heart, have set every
scheme in action to lead me even into a temporary oblivion of you, but their
attempts are as vain as their impotent rivalry, and need cause no uneasiness to
you, my beloved friend. I frequently smile at the vast pains and precautions of
which my 'sacred person' is the object; and I am continually encountering 'by
chance' some of those fair ladies who would fain usurp your place, sometimes
bedecked with jewels rare, and sometimes, as Racine says,
"------ dans le simple appareil
D'une beaute, qu'on vient d'arracher au sommeil."
"Madame de Grammont, for instance, takes an infinity of trouble respecting my
choice of your successor, which she is resolved shall be either herself or one of
her choosing. I protest to you that I find all these plots and counterplots very
amusing; and can only say, that my daughters, who are completely duped by
those practising them, must be more completely deceived than I had imagined
possible. Nor can I quite deny that I feel a half mischievous delight in reducing to
despair,
"-------ce peuple de rivales
Qui toutes, disputant, d'un si grand interet,
Des yeux d'Assuerus attendent leur arret."
"Assuerus (which, of course, means me) keeps one perpetual reply to all their
high-sounding praises and eulogiums of such or such a lady. 'She is well enough,
certainly; but the comtesse du Barry excels her a hundredfold': then follow such
shrugs, such contortions of countenance, and such vain efforts to repress the
rage of disappointed vanity and ambition, that I am nearly ready to die with
laughter.
"Apropos of dying; I inquired the number of deaths which took place at Chantilly
last week; only four, they say! Now I think that number quite sufficient for the size
of the place. I walked as far as the village cemetery, which is large and
