Memoirs of Louis XIV, vol 5 | Page 7

now of something of more moment.
The war, as I have said, still continued, but without bringing us any
advantages. On the contrary, our losses in Germany and Italy by
sickness, rather than by the sword, were so great that it was resolved to
augment each company by five men; and, at the same time, twenty-five
thousand militia were raised, thus causing great ruin and great
desolation in the provinces. The King was rocked into the belief that
the people were all anxious to enter this militia, and, from time to time,
at Marly, specimens of those enlisted were shown to him, and their joy
and eagerness to serve made much of. I have heard this often; while, at
the same time, I knew from my own tenantry, and from everything that
was said, that the raising of this militia carried despair everywhere, and
that many people mutilated themselves in order to exempt themselves
from serving. Nobody at the Court was ignorant of this. People lowered
their eyes when they saw the deceit practised upon the King, and the
credulity he displayed, and afterwards whispered one to another what
they thought of flattery so ruinous. Fresh regiments, too, were raised at
this time, and a crowd of new colonels and staffs created, instead of
giving a new battalion or a squadron additional to regiments already in
existence. I saw quite plainly towards what rock we were drifting. We
had met losses at Hochstedt, Gibraltar, and Barcelona; Catalonia and
the neighbouring countries were in revolt; Italy yielding us nothing but
miserable successes; Spain exhausted; France, failing in men and
money, and with incapable generals, protected by the Court against
their faults. I saw all these things so plainly that I could not avoid
making reflections, or reporting them to my friends in office. I thought

that it was time to finish the war before we sank still lower, and that it
might be finished by giving to the Archduke what we could not defend,
and making a division of the rest. My plan was to leave Philip V.
possession of all Italy, except those parts which belonged to the Grand
Duke, the republics of Venice and Genoa, and the ecclesiastical states
of Naples and Sicily; our King to have Lorraine and some other slight
additions of territory; and to place elsewhere the Dukes of Savoy, of
Lorraine, of Parma, and of Modem. I related this plan to the Chancellor
and to Chamillart, amongst others. The contrast between their replies
was striking. The Chancellor, after having listened to me very
attentively, said, if my plan were adopted, he would most willingly kiss
my toe for joy. Chamillart, with gravity replied, that the King would
not give up a single mill of all the Spanish succession. Then I felt the
blindness which had fallen upon us, and how much the results of it
were to be dreaded.
Nevertheless, the King, as if to mock at misfortune and to show his
enemies the little uneasiness he felt, determined, at the commencement
of the new year, 1706, that the Court should be gayer than ever. He
announced that there would be balls at Marly every time he was there
this winter, and he named those who were to dance there; and said he
should be very glad to see balls given to Madame de Bourgogne at
Versailles. Accordingly, many took place there, and also at Marly, and
from time to time there were masquerades. One day, the King wished
that everybody, even the most aged, who were at Marly, should go to
the ball masked; and, to avoid all distinction, he went there himself
with a gauze robe above his habit; but such a slight disguise was for
himself alone; everybody else was completely disguised. M. and
Madame de Beauvilliers were there perfectly disguised. When I say
they were there, those who knew the Court will admit that I have said
more than enough. I had the pleasure of seeing them, and of quietly
laughing with them. At all these balls the King made people dance who
had long since passed the age for doing so. As for the Comte de
Brionne and the Chevalier de Sully, their dancing was so perfect that
there was no age for them.
CHAPTER XXXIV

In the midst of all this gaiety, that is to say on the 12th of February,
1706, one of our generals, of whom I have often spoken, I mean M. de
Vendome, arrived at Marly. He had not quitted Italy since succeeding
to Marechal de Villeroy, after the affair of Cremona. His battles, such
as they were, the places he had taken, the authority he had assumed, the
reputation he had usurped, his incomprehensible successes with the
King, the certainty of the support he leaned on,--all