Memoirs of Louis XIV, vol 11 | Page 9

were not received with all
honours. Nothing could compare with the politeness of the King for
this Court, or with the air of gallantry and of majesty with which he
received it at any time. Birth days, or the fete days of the King and his

family, so observed in the courts of Europe, were always unknown in
that of the King; so that there never was the slightest mention of them,
or any difference made on their account.
The King was but little regretted. His valets and a few other people felt
his loss, scarcely anybody else. His successor was not yet old enough to
feel anything. Madame entertained for him only fear and considerate
respect. Madame la Duchesse de Berry did not like him, and counted
now upon reigning undisturbed. M. le Duc d'Orleans could scarcely be
expected to feel much grief for him. And those who may have been
expected did not consider it necessary to do their duty. Madame de
Maintenon was wearied with him ever since the death of the Dauphine;
she knew not what to do, or with what to amuse him; her constraint was
tripled because he was much more with her than before. She had often,
too, experienced much ill-humour from him. She had attained all she
wished, so whatever she might lose in losing him, she felt herself
relieved, and was capable of no other sentiment at first. The ennui and
emptiness of her life afterwards made her feel regret. As for M. du
Maine, the barbarous indecency of his joy need not be dwelt upon. The
icy tranquillity of his brother, the Comte de Toulouse, neither increased
nor diminished. Madame la Duchesse d'Orleans surprised me. I had
expected some grief, I perceived only a few tears, which upon all
occasions flowed very readily from her eyes, and which were soon
dried up. Her bed, which she was very fond of, supplied what was
wanting during several days, amidst obscurity which she by no means
disliked.
But the window curtains were soon withdrawn and grief disappeared.
As for the Court, it was divided into two grand parties, the men hoping
to figure, to obtain employ, to introduce themselves: and they were
ravished to see the end of a reign under which they had nothing to hope
for; the others; fatigued with a heavy yoke, always overwhelming, and
of the ministers much more than of the King, were charmed to find
themselves at liberty. Thus all, generally speaking, were glad to be
delivered from continual restraint, and were eager for change.
Paris, tired of a dependence which had enslaved everything, breathed

again in the hope of liberty, and with joy at seeing at an end the
authority of so many people who abused it. The provinces in despair at
their ruin and their annihilation breathed again and leaped for joy; and
the Parliament and the robe destroyed by edicts and by revolutions,
flattered themselves the first that they should figure, the other that they
should find themselves free. The people ruined, overwhelmed,
desperate, gave thanks to God, with a scandalous eclat, for a
deliverance, their most ardent desires had not anticipated.
Foreigners delighted to be at last, after so many years, quit of a
monarch who had so long imposed his law upon them, and who had
escaped from them by a species of miracle at the very moment in which
they counted upon having subjugated him, contained themselves with
much more decency than the French. The marvels of the first three
quarters of this reign of more than seventy years, and the personal
magnanimity of this King until then so successful, and so abandoned
afterwards by fortune during the last quarter of his reign--had justly
dazzled them. They made it a point of honour to render to him after his
death what they had constantly refused him during life. No foreign
Court exulted: all plumed themselves upon praising and honouring his
memory. The Emperor wore mourning as for a father, and although
four or five months elapsed between the death of the King and the
Carnival, all kinds of amusements were prohibited at Vienna during the
Carnival, and the prohibition was strictly observed. A monstrous fact
was, that towards the end of this period there was a single ball and a
kind of fete that the Comte du Luc our own ambassador, was not
ashamed to give to the ladies, who seduced him by the ennui of so dull
a Carnival. This complaisance did not raise him in estimation at Vienna
or elsewhere. In France people were contented with ignoring it.
As for our ministry and the intendants of the provinces, the financiers
and what may be called the canaille, they felt all the extent of their loss.
We shall see if the