' I must
confess, however, that these proceedings on the part of madame
de Pompadour were by no means agreeable to me, and I even prefer
your ignorance of politics to her incessant interference with them."
This was said by Louis XV upon the occasion of the approaching
marriage of the comte d'Artois, the object of universal cabal and
court intrigue to all but myself, who preserved perfect tranquillity
amidst the general excitement that prevailed.
Various reasons made the marriage of this prince a matter of
imperative necessity. In the first place, the open gallantry of
the young count had attracted a crowd of disreputable personages
of both sexes to Versailles, and many scandalous adventures
occurred within the chateau itself; secondly, a motive still more
important in the eyes of Louis XV, originated in the circumstance
of neither the marriage of the dauphin nor that of the comte de
Provence having been blest with any offspring. The king began
to despair of seeing any descendants in a direct line, unless
indeed heaven should smile upon the wedded life of the comte
d'Artois. Louis XV disliked the princes of the blood, and the
bare idea that the duc d'Orleans might one day wield his sceptre
would have been worse than death.
Many alliances were proposed for the prince. Marie Josephe,
infanta of Spain, was then in her twentieth year, and consequently
too old. The princess Marie- Francoise-Benedictine-Anne-Elizabeth-
Josephe-Antonine-Laurence-Ignace- Therese -Gertrude-Marguerite-
Rose, etc.
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