A Popular History of France from the Earliest Times | Page 9

daylight. She promoted it dexterously by
her extreme anxiety to please him, as well as by her natural and sincere
attachment to the children whom she had brought up, and who had a
place near the heart of Louis XIV. Already the young Duke of Maine
had been sent to the army at the dauphin's side; the king was about to
have him married [August 29, 1692] to Mdlle. de Charolais; carefully
seeking for his natural children alliances amongst the princes of his
blood, he had recently given Mdlle. de Nantes, daughter of Madame de
Montespan, to the duke, grandson of the great Conde. "For a long time
past," says St. Simon, "Madame de Maintenon, even more than the king,
had been thinking of marrying Mdlle. de Blois, Madame de
Montespan's second daughter, to the Duke of Chartres; he was the

king's own and only nephew, and the first moves towards this marriage
were the more difficult in that Monsieur was immensely attached to all
that appertained to his greatness, and Madame was of a nation which
abhorred misalliances, and of a character which gave no promise of
ever making this marriage agreeable to her." The king considered
himself sure of his brother; he had set his favorites to work, and
employed underhand intrigues. "He sent for the young Duke of
Chartres, paid him attention, told him he wanted to have him settled in
life, that the war which was kindled on all sides put out of his reach the
princesses who might have suited him, that there were no princesses of
the blood of his own age, that he could not better testify his affection
towards him than by offering him his daughter whose two sisters had
married princes of the blood; but that, however eager he might be for
this marriage, he did not want to put any constraint upon him, and
would leave him full liberty in the matter. This language, addressed
with the awful majesty so natural to the king to a prince who was timid,
and had not a word to say for himself, put him at his wits' end." He fell
back upon the wishes of his father and mother. "That is very proper in
you," replied the king; "but, as you consent, your father and mother will
make no objection;" and, turning to Monsieur, who was present, "Is it
not so, brother?" he asked. Monsieur had promised; a messenger was
sent for Madame, who cast two furious glances at her husband and her
son, saying that, as they were quite willing, she had nothing to say,
made a curt obeisance, and went her way home. Thither the court
thronged next day; the marriage was announced. "Madame was
walking in the gallery with her favorite, Mdlle. de Chateau-Thiers,
taking long steps, handkerchief in hand, weeping unrestrainedly,
speaking somewhat loud,, gesticulating and making a good picture of
Ceres after the rape of her daughter Proserpine, seeking her in a frenzy,
and demanding her back from Jupiter. Everybody saluted, and stood
aside out of respect. Monsieur had taken refuge in lansquenet; never
was anything so shamefaced as his look or so disconcerted as his whole
appearance, and this first condition lasted more than a month with him.
The Duke of Chartres came into the gallery, going up to his mother, as
he did every day, to kiss her hand. At that moment, Madame gave him
a box of the ear so loud that it was heard some paces off, and given as it
was before the whole court, covered the poor prince with confusion,

and overwhelmed the countless spectators with prodigious
astonishment." That did not prevent or hamper the marriage, which
took place with great pomp at Versailles on the 18th of February, 1692.
The king was, and continued to the last, the absolute and dread master
of all his family, to its remotest branches.
He lost through this obedience a great deal that is charming and sweet
in daily intercourse. For him and for Madame de Maintenon the great
and inexhaustible attraction of the Duchess of Burgundy was her
gayety and unconstrained ease, tempered by the most delicate respect,
which this young princess, on coming as quite a child to France from
the court of Savoy, had tact enough to introduce, and always maintain,
amidst the most intimate familiarity. "In public, demure, respectful with
the king, and on terms of timid propriety with Madame de Maintenon,
whom she never called anything but aunt, thus prettily blending rank
and affection. In private, chattering, frisking, fluttering around them, at
one time perched on the arm of one or the other's chair, at another
playfully sitting on their knee, she would throw herself upon their
necks, embrace them, kiss them, fondle them, pull them to pieces,
chuck them under the