It is very true that for some time
the comte de la Marche had been out of favor with the public, by
reason of his over complaisance towards the ministers of the king's
pleasure; but he was not the less a prince of the blood, and at
Versailles this rank compensated for almost every fault. He was
a lively man, moreover, his society was agreeable, and the title
he bore reflected his distinction amongst a crowd of courtiers.
I felt, therefore, that I ought to consider myself as very fortunate
that he deigned to visit me, and accordingly received him with
all the civility I could display; and the welcome reception which
he always experienced drew him frequently to my abode.
The friendship with which he honored me was not agreeable to my
enemies; and they tried by every possible means to seduce him
from me. They got his near relations to talk to him about it; his
intimate friends to reason with him; the females whom he most
admired to dissuade him from it. There was not one of these
latter who did not essay to injure me in his estimation, by saying
that he dishonored himself by an acquaintance with me. There was
amongst others a marquise de Beauvoir, the issue of a petty
nobility, whom he paid with sums of gold, altho' she was not his
mistress by title. Gained over by the Choiseuls, she made proposals
concerning me to the prince of so ridiculous a nature, that he said
to her impatiently: "I' faith, my dear, as in the eyes of the world
every woman who lives with a man who is not her husband is a ------,
so I think a man is wise to choose the loveliest he can find; and
in this way the king is at this moment much better off than any
of his subjects.
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