The Memoirs of Madame de Montespan, vol 6 | Page 4

may wish to sample the author's ideas before making
an entire meal of them. D.W.]

MEMOIRS OF MADAME LA MARQUISE DE MONTESPAN, v6
Written by Herself

Being the Historic Memoirs of the Court of Louis XIV.

BOOK 6.

CHAPTER XIX
.
The Court Travels in Picardy and Flanders.--The Boudoir
Navy.--Madame de Montespan Is Not Invited.--The King Relates to
Her the Delights of the Journey.--Reflections of the Marquise.
The King, consoled as he was for the death of the Duchesse de
Fontanges, did not, on that account, return to that sweet and agreeable
intimacy which had united us for the space of eleven or twelve years.
He approached me as one comes to see a person of one's acquaintance,
and it was more than obvious that his only bond with me was his
children.
Being a man who loved pomp and show, he resolved upon a journey in
Flanders,--a journey destined to furnish him, as well as his Court, with
numerous and agreeable distractions, and to give fresh alarm to his
neighbours.
Those "Chambers of Reunion," as they were called, established at Metz
and at Brisach, competed with each other in despoiling roundly a host
of great proprietors, under the pretext that their possessions had
formerly belonged to Alsace, and that this Alsace had been ceded to us
by the last treaties. The Prince Palatine of the Rhine saw himself
stripped, on this occasion, of the greater part of the land which he had
inherited from his ancestors, and when he would present a memoir on
this subject to the ministers, M. de Croissy-Colbert answered politely
that he was in despair at being unable to decide the matter himself; but
that the Chambers of Metz and Brisach having been instituted to take
cognisance of it, it was before these solemn tribunals that he must
proceed.
The Palatine lost, amongst other things, the entire county of Veldentz,
which was joined to the church of the
Chapter of
Verdun.
The King, followed by the Queen and all his Court,--by Monsieur le

Dauphin, Madame la Dauphine and the legitimate princes, whom their
households accompanied as well,--set out for Flanders in the month of
July. Madame de Maintenon, as lady in waiting, went on this journey;
and of me, superintendent of the Queen's Council, they did not even
speak.
The first town at which this considerable Court stopped was at
Boulogne, in Picardy, the fortifications of which were being repaired.
On the next day the King went on horseback to visit the port of
Ambleteuse; thence he set out for Calais, following the line of the coast,
while the ladies took the same course more rapidly. He inspected the
harbours and diverted himself by taking a sail in a wherry. He then
betook himself to Dunkirk, where the Marquis de Seignelay--son of
Colbert--had made ready a very fine man-of-war with which to regale
their Majesties. The Chevalier de Ury, who commanded her, showed
them all the handling of it, which was for those ladies, and for the
Court, a spectacle as pleasant as it was novel. The whole crew was very
smart, and the vessel magnificently equipped. There was a sham fight,
and then the vessel was boarded. The King took as much pleasure in
this sight as if Fontanges had been the heroine of the fete, and our
ladies, to please him, made their hands sore in applauding. This naval
fight terminated in a great feast, which left nothing to be desired in the
matter of sumptuousness and delicacy.
On the following day, there was a more formal fight between two
frigates, which had also been prepared for this amusement.
The King was in a galley as spectator; the Queen was in another. The
Chevalier de Lery took the helm of that of the King; the Capitaine de
Selingue steered that of the Queen. The sea was calm, and there was
just enough wind to set the two frigates in motion. They cannonaded
one another briskly for an hour, getting the weather gauge in turn; after
this, the combat came to an end, and they returned to the town to the
sound of instruments and the noise of cannon.
The King gave large bounties to the crew, as a token of his satisfaction.
The prince was on board his first vessel, when the Earl of Oxford, and
the Colonel, afterwards the Duke of Marlborough, despatched by the
King of England, came to pay him a visit of compliment on behalf of
that sovereign.
The Duke of Villa-Hermosa, Spanish Governor of the Low Countries,

paid him the same compliment in the name of his master.
Both parties were given audience on this magnificent vessel, where M.
de Seignelay had raised a sort of throne of immense height.
(All this time Mademoiselle de Fontanges lay in her