Memoirs of Louis XIV, vol 1 | Page 9

Edict.--The Commercial Company.--New Edict.--Rush on the Bank.-- People Stifled in the Crowd.--Excitement against Law.--Money of the Bank.--Exile of the Parliament to Pontoise.--New Operation.--The Place Vendome.--The Marechal de Villeroy.--Marseilles.--Flight of Law.-- Character of Him and His Wife.--Observations on His Schemes.--Decrees of the Finance.
CHAPTER CII
Council on the Finances.--Departure of Law--A Strange Dialogue.--M. le Duc and the Regent.--Crimes Imputed to Law during His Absence.--Schemes Proposed.--End, of the Council.
CHAPTER CIII
Character of Alberoni.--His Grand Projects.--Plots against Him.--The Queen's Nurse.--The Scheme against the Cardinal.--His Fall.--Theft of a Will.--Reception in Italy.--His Adventures There.
CHAPTER CIV
Meetings of the Council.--A Kitten.--The Archbishopric of Cambrai.-- Scandalous Conduct of Dubois.--The Consecration.--I Persuade the Regent Not to Go.--He Promises Not.--Breaks His Word.--Madame de Parabere.--The Ceremony.--Story of the Comte de Horn.

VOLUME 14
CHAPTER CV
Quarrel of the King of England with His Son.--Schemes of Dubois.-- Marriage of Brissac.--His Death.--Birth of the Young Pretender.-- Cardinalate of Dubois.--Illness of the King.--His Convalescence.-- A Wonderful Lesson.--Prudence of the Regent.--Insinuations against Him.
CHAPTER CVI
Projected Marriages of the King and of the Daughter of the Duc d'Orleans_ --How It Was Communicated to Me.--I Ask for the Embassy to Spain.--It Is Granted to Me.--Jealousy of Dubois.--His Petty Interference.-- Announcement of the Marriages.
CHAPTER CVII
Interview with Dubois.--His Singular Instructions to Ale.--His Insidious Object.--Various Tricks and Manoeuvres.--My Departure for Spain.--Journey by Way of Bordeaux and Bayonne.--Reception in Spain.--Arrival at Madrid.
CHAPTER CVIII
Interview in the Hall of Mirrors.--Preliminaries of the Marriages.-- Grimaldo.--How the Question of Precedence Was Settled.--I Ask for an Audience.--Splendid Illuminations.--A Ball.--I Am Forced to Dance.
CHAPTER CIX
Mademoiselle de Montpensier Sets out for Spain.--I Carry the News to the King.--Set out for Lerma.--Stay at the Escurial.--Take the Small--pox.-- Convalescence.
CHAPTER CX
Mode of Life of Their Catholic Majesties.--Their Night.--Morning.-- Toilette.--Character of Philippe V.--And of His Queen.--How She Governed Him.
CHAPTER CXI
The King's Taste for Hunting.--Preparations for a Battue.--Dull Work.-- My Plans to Obtain the Grandesse.--Treachery of Dubois.--Friendship of Grimaldo.--My Success.
CHAPTER CXII
Marriage of the Prince of the Asturias.--An Ignorant Cardinal.--I Am Made Grandee of Spain.--The Vidame de Chartres Named Chevalier of the Golden Fleece.--His Reception--My Adieux.--A Belching Princess.-- Return to France.

VOLUME 15.
CHAPTER CXIII
Attempted Reconciliation between Dubois and Villeroy.--Violent Scene.-- Trap Laid for the Marechal.--Its Success.--His Arrest.
CHAPTER CXIV
I Am Sent for by Cardinal Dubois.--Flight of Frejus.--He Is Sought and Found.--Behaviour of Villeroy in His Exile at Lyons.--His Rage and Reproaches against Frejus.--Rise of the Latter in the King's Confidence.
CHAPTER CXV
I Retire from Public Life.--Illness and Death of Dubois. --Account of His Riches.--His Wife.--His Character.--Anecdotes.--Madame de Conflans.-- Relief of the Regent and the King.
CHAPTER CXVI
Death of Lauzun.--His Extraordinary Adventures.--His Success at Court.-- Appointment to the Artillery.--Counter--worked by Louvois.--Lauzun and Madame de Montespan.--Scene with the King.--Mademoiselle and Madame de Monaco.
CHAPTER CXVII
Lauzun's Magnificence.--Louvois Conspires against Him.--He Is Imprisoned.--His Adventures at Pignerol.--On What Terms He Is Released.-- His Life Afterwards.--Return to Court.
CHAPTER CXVIII
Lauzun Regrets His Former Favour.--Means Taken to Recover It.--Failure.-- Anecdotes.--Biting Sayings.--My Intimacy with Lauzun.--His Illness, Death, and Character.
CHAPTER CXIX
Ill-Health of the Regent.--My Fears.--He Desires a Sudden Death.-- Apoplectic Fit.--Death.--His Successor as Prime Minister.--The Duc de Chartres.--End of the Memoirs.

INTRODUCTION
No library of Court documents could pretend to be representative which ignored the famous "Memoirs" of the Duc de Saint-Simon. They stand, by universal consent, at the head of French historical papers, and are the one great source from which all historians derive their insight into the closing years of the reign of the "Grand Monarch," Louis XIV: whom the author shows to be anything but grand--and of the Regency. The opinion of the French critic, Sainte-Beuve, is fairly typical. "With the Memoirs of De Retz, it seemed that perfection had been attained, in interest, in movement, in moral analysis, in pictorial vivacity, and that there was no reason for expecting they could be surpassed. But the 'Memoirs' of Saint-Simon came; and they offer merits . . . which make them the most precious body of Memoirs that as yet exist."
Villemain declared their author to be "the most original of geniuses in French literature, the foremost of prose satirists; inexhaustible in details of manners and customs, a word-painter like Tacitus; the author of a language of his own, lacking in accuracy, system, and art, yet an admirable writer." Leon Vallee reinforces this by saying: "Saint-Simon can not be compared to any of his contemporaries. He has an individuality, a style, and a language solely his own.... Language he treated like an abject slave. When he had gone to its farthest limit, when it failed to express his ideas or feelings, he forced it--the result was a new term, or a change in the ordinary meaning of words sprang forth from has pen. With this was joined a vigour and breadth of style, very pronounced, which makes up the originality of the works of Saint-Simon and contributes toward placing their author in the foremost rank of French writers."
Louis de Rouvroy, who later became the Duc de Saint-Simon, was born in Paris, January 16, 1675. He claimed descent