Journey to Choisy--The comtesse du Barry and Louis XV--The king of Denmark--
The czar Peter--Frederick II--The abbe de la Chapelle-- An experiment--New
intrigues--Secret agents-The comtesse and Louis XV--Of the presentation--Letter
of the comtesse to the duc d'Aiguillon--Reply--Prince de Soubise
Up to this period I had resided constantly at Versailles or Paris, according to the
pleasure of the king, but had never followed his majesty in any of his journeys.
He wished to pass some days at his delightful chateau at Choisy, situated on the
banks of the Seine. It was decided that I should be of the party, taking the name
of the baroness de Pamklek, a German lady, as that would save me from the
embarrassment in which I should be placed with the king in consequence of my
non-presentation. The prince de Soubise, the ducs de la Trimoulle, d'Ayen,
d'Aiguillon, and the marquis de Chauvelin, were also to attend the king. The king
remained nearly the whole time with me, and the entree to my apartment became
a favor not accorded to every body. A small committee met there, and talked of
every thing except what is rational; and I can assure you that with such
conversation time passes very quickly.
One day the king entered my apartment holding in his hand a letter.
"I am about to receive," said he, "a visit that will not give me much pleasure. My
brother of Denmark is traversing Europe, and is about to come to France. Mon
Dieu! what inconvenient persons are your travelling kings! Why do they leave
their kingdoms? I think they are very well at home."
"Yes, sire, but there is an excuse for them: they are weary of admiring your
majesty at a distance, and wish for the happiness of knowing you."
At this compliment the king rubbed his hands with a smile, which he always did
when he was satisfied, and then said,
"There is not in the hearts of foreign potentates the same affection towards my
person as you feel. It is not me but France they wish to see. I remember that
when very young I received a visit from the czar Peter the Great, Peter the First I
mean to say. He was not deficient in sense, but yet behaved like a boor: he
passed his time in running over the academies, libraries, and manufactories: I
never saw such an ill-bred man. Imagine him embracing me at our first interview,
and carrying me in his arms as one of my valets would have done. He was dirty,
coarse, and ill-dressed. Well, all the Frenchmen ran after him; one would have
supposed by their eagerness that they had never seen a regal countenance."
"Yet there was no occasion to run very far to see the handsome face of a king."
"Hold your tongue, madame la baronne de Pamklek, you are a flatterer. There is
a crowned head which for thirty years has desired to visit France, but I have
always turned a deaf ear, and will resist it as long as possible."
"Who, sire, is the king so unfortunate as to banished by you from your majesty's
presence?"
"Who? The king of philosophers, the rival of Voltaire, my brother of Prussia. Ah,
my dear baronne, he is a bad fellow; he detests me, and I have no love for him. A
king does wisely, certainly, to submit his works to the judgment of a Freron! It
