his paffions. If on one fide pleafures attract him, on the other remorfe keeps him back. Thofe continual contrafts make him the moft unhappy man of his king dom. Finding that love alone could not introduce a change into the king's temper, I ftrove to fix him by the charms of habit, a fironger tie for men than that of the paffions. Hiftory afforded me an example of it in the perfon of his great-grandfather. Lewis XIV. was fo much accuffomed to Madam de Maintenon, that no other woman was able to make an impreffion on him and, though the court then abounded with celebrated beauties, the widow of the peet Scarron, already of an age ihat cannot well infpire men with paffions, knew fo artfully to fix his affections, by the bonds of habitude, that the enchantment continued to the grave. I formed a chain of pleafures, which, by a confiant fucceflion, weaned Lewis infentibly from his melancholy difpofition, and hindered his meeting with himfelf. I gave him a tafte for mufic, dane ing, comedy, and the petits operas,' in which I fung and reprefented myself. The petits fou pers' finished the decoration of the joyous feene; the king went to bed fatisfied, and rofe content ed. The next day he ran to my apartment (unless there was grand council, or fome other extraordinary ceremony) to take there, if I dare ufe the expreflion, his dofe of good-humour for the whole day. His attachment to me, was by that inftinct which caules us to love that which contributes to our happinefs. All the favourites before me thought only of a making themfelves beloved by the king; not one of them had thought of diverting Lewis. I became neceffary to the monarch: the chains of habit increased daily. I could have wifhed that love alone had formed our union; but with a prince accustomed to change, one goes on may. as ore I lived almoft alone during the first months of my favour; but when by the monarch's order I appeared in the world under the name of la Marquife de Pompadour, and that prince gave me conftantly public proofs of his eftcem, things then affumed another afpect. Two great partics were formed at the court, and in the town: the one was fomented by envy, and the other by ambition; the firit annoyed me by a thoufand invenomed darts, the fecond exalted me by flattering compliments. This acted. by the motive of aggrandizing itfelf, that by its impotence of prefaming in itfelf to become great; yet both parties united in requefiing favours of me. And, indeed, I pleaded to the prince for both. According as I raifed one to a confiderable poft, or heaped wealth upon him, I made an ingrate, and brought upon myself a hundred enemies. At laft the whole kingdom joined in making their court to me; for Lewis XV. continued his affiduitics to me. Thofe who had moft decried my birth, then declared themselves my relations. I fall never forget the letter which I received at Verfailles from a gentleman of one of the most ancient families of Provence, in which be thus expreffed himicif: you till the king had nominated you Marchionefs of Pompadour; then an able genealogift proved to me that your great-grandfather was my grandfather's coufin in the fourth degree. You fee by this, dear coufin, that there is a real confanguinity between us. If it is your pleasure, I will fend you the genealogical tree of our relationship, that you may prefent it to the king. My fon, however, your cousin, who ferved with diftinction for fome years, would be glad to have a regiment; and, as he cannot hope to obtain it by his rank, I pray you to afk it from the king as a favour.' I made him this answer: I fhall embrace the first opportunity of requefting the king to grant your fon the regiment you defire. But I have in my turn a favour to afk of you, which is, to permit me not to have the honour of being your relation. I have family reafons that hinder my believing that my ancestors have been allied with the ancient houfes of the kingdom.' I fhould put the half of France to the blush, if I was to give an account here of all the letters full of abject fubmiffions which I received from the firft families of the kingdom, But envy, that increafed as the king diftinguifhed me om other women of the court, would fain make me responsible for the events of that time. It has been often fince faid in the world, that I was the cause of the misfortunes of France; but that this accufation hould have fome foundation, the monarchy must have been in a flourishing condition at the time the king called me to Verfailles, which was far from being the cafe. The evil came from afar; France, by yielding to her misfortune, did only fulfil her deftiny. We muft confider the adminiftration of this reign as a confequence of the misfortunes produced by the preceding administration. Lewis XIV. at his death, left the kingdom in terrible diforder; the debts of the flate were immenfe, and the national credit entirely ruined; there was therefore then an evil in the ftate which gentle remedies could not cure: Lewis le Grand had given to the throne an air of magnificence which had impoverished the people. The kings, his predeceffors, contented themselves in being the adminiftrators of the general riches, but he made himself the proprie tor of them: the treasure of the nation belonged to him, all the finances were in his hands, and he had increased the revenues of the crown beyond all relative proportion. The Duke of Orleans, who governed the ftate after Lewis XIV. increafed the confufion, inftead of re-establishing order. He imagin ed a fy flem of finances which completed their deftruction. All the riches of the monarchy changed hands. Foreigners had a part of them, and the ufurers of the kingdom concealed the other. This revolution caufed another in all the branches of the general power. Agriculture, commerce, arts, and induftry fuffered, and still suffer by it. Cardinal Fleuri, who came after him, did alone more mifchief to France, France, than all those who before him, were intent upon her ruin. His qualities were order, œconomy, moderation; admirable virtues in a private perfon, but which often become vices in a statesman, He accumulated crown upon crown, and imagined, that when the king would be rich, the ftate would cease to be poor. He increafed the wealth of the crown at the expence of the fubfiftence of the people. He reformed the marine through economy; that is, he cut off from France the only means that remained to her of recovering herself. At Fleuri's death, the adminiftra. tion did not affume a better form. France had no minifter capable of reforming abules. Thofe placed at the head of affairs every where fought after the adminiftration, and could no where find it. Complaints have been alfo made that I was the fource of favours, and that I difpofed of all in the kingdom. I answer this, that it is a neceffary evil to which abfolute governments are always fubject, Sovereigns must have a confident or mistress, and almost always' the favourite man does more injury to the state than the favourite woman. A man moft commonly entertains ambitious defigns which a woman does not. He endeavours to ayail himfelf of the favour of the prince, by all the means that may raile him to the highest fortune. He appropriates to himself the public finances, feizes upon the firft pofis of the ftate, and gives to his relations, or his creatures, thofe which he does not take to himfelf; this caufes a general revolution in the government. He has views of grandeur and elevation which per fons of our fex know not how to have. I have read in the annals of our monarchy, that Richelieu defolated France by his ambition. This favourite of Lewis XIII. facrificed all to the defire of appearing the only great perfon on the theatre of France. He cut through the nerves of the political ftrength of all the powers of the state. deftroyed the prerogatives of the nobleffe, which alone could balance the defpotifm of our kings, and by fo doing did more mifchief to France than any mistress will be ever able to accomplish. He He Mazarin, the fecond favourite, had an army in his pay, and made war in perfon against the state. He imprifoned the princes of the blood, and excited troubles and animofities which overthrew the whole fyftem of that time. feized upon the public treafure; almost all the money of the kingdom was in his coffers. He fold the firft pofts of the crown. When the king wanted money, he was obliged to have recourfe to him. In our days Count Bruhl, the king of Poland's favourite, was obferved fo exceffive in his expences, that they furpaffed thofe of the monarch his matter. There are now the dukes of Richelieu, Mazarin, and Fleuri, in the kingdom, who are a memento to France that her kings have had favourites. Marigni, my brother, has no ranks, diftinétions, or great fortune. At his death, he will leave no mark of the particular fayour Lewis XV. has honoured me with. I have been charged at the fame time of having employed people in the miniftry, whofe lender and fuperficial fuperficial genius was very unfit for tranfacting bufinefs. But where muft others be found in France? One might fay, that the human mind is circumfcribed here within very narrow bounds. The French nobleffe, chiefly interested in the public adminiftration, apply themfelves to nothing, They spend their lives in indolence, foftnefs, and diffipation. Politics are as much unknown to them as finances and œconomy. A gentleman hunts all his life on his eftate, or comes to Paris to ruin himself with an opera girl. Thofe who have ambition enough to push themselves into the miniftry, have no other merit than that of intrigue and caballing. If they are crofled in the way, and others fubfiituted in their place, they regard this adminiftration, as the effect of the prince's prepoffeffion. It feems that the age of able minifters in France is over. In vain I have fought for Colberts and Louvois's in the kingdom, and found only Chamillards and Dubois. All the branches of the administration must be entrusted to financiers by profeffion, people without capacity, and who are verfed but in one thing, which is the Science of plundering the ftate. My enemies have alfo alledged that I induced the king to change too often his minifters; but this muft not be attributed to me. Before thefe gentlemen were placed out, nothing was fo fine as their plan of adminiftration: they had ways and means ready for reforming all abufes; they knew where the diftemper was, and were well acquainted with the remedy; but they had no fooner taken into their hands the reins of government, than they fpoiled all by their incapacity. They fcarce thought of the public calamities. The only bufinefs they were intent upon was that of making their own fortune. The military is in the fame dilemma. The French nobility, tho' brave and courageous, have no ge nius for war. The troubles and fatigues infeparably connected with a foldier's life, fill them all at once with difguft, France has no military fchool; [the military fchool was then only beginning]; they become colonels before they are officers, and then generals, without any other difference than time. If two Frenchmen are made choice of to command the armies in Flan ders or in Germany, envy and jealoufy mingle with their councils and operations, and they ruin the ftate by their private piques and animotities. In the mean time the enemies avail themfelves of their divifions, and forward their own military fchemes. The king has been under a neceflity to contide to two ftrangers the fafety of his crown. Were it not for the counts de Saxe and Lowendahl, the enemies of France might have laid fiege to Paris. People muft deceive themfelves in believing that a woman in favour with a prince has an occafion for raw and unexperienced minifters, and bad generals, to fupport her. Incapacity ruins all, and is good for nothing. The faults of the ftate, by tarnishing the glory of the prince, deface the luftre of the favourite. I may well aver, that the greatest part of the uneafinets I had during my abode at court, proceeded from that fource. At every conqueft made by our enemies, the king was always dejected and me lancholy ; lancholy; and, though extremely polite, without the leaft difobliging word ever falling from his mouth, his ill-humour then marred with vexation and bitterness, all the happinefs of my life. I never placed a minifter, or prevailed on the king to give the command of his armies to any perfon, without a certain conviction of his talents, and approved merit. The grandees complimented me, and the king himself, who had placed them, felicitated me upon it: all fuffrages were then united to declare and fet forth their abilities. I must here fpeak of the troubles which agitated the court, when the king gave me an apartment at Verlailles. The events at that time make a part of the plan of thefe memoirs. Without that number of incidents which then happened, and which the king communicated to me, my favour would never perhaps have arrived at the degree it did; for indeed fecond caufes conftantly direct the events of this world. France had been engaged in war fince the year 1741, and battles were fought in Italy, Flanders, and Germany. Charles VI. the laft male of the houfe of Auftria, was infatuated with one of thofe ambitions, which death even fets no bounds to. He would fain furvive himself, and make his power laft beyond the grave. This prince, being poffeffed of great fiates, had them guarantied by the principal powers. The little ftrength that then remained in Europe, had given room to this weaknefs in chriftian princes. Italy was quite exhaufied; all the petty governments of the empire were fettered in political flavery; the great houfes of the north were no longer free. At the death of this prince all began to draw breath, and all put in their claim to what they thought their right. The elector of Bavaria demanded a part of the fucceffion; Auguftus of Poland proved his right; the King of Spain fet forth his preten fions. There were even two prag matics; one that ceded the poflef. fions of the houfe of Auftria to the Archduchefs of Poland, the other that contended they were the pro perty of Mary Therefa, eldest daughter of Charles. So many par ticular divided interefts could not fail lighting up a general war; hut it began in a place which politics never fufpected. The king of Pruffia, almoft the only one in Europe who had no right to any part of the fucceffion of the houfe of Auftria, formed one, Whilft others were writing manifeftoes, he was making conquefts. His troops entered the finest province of the Queen of Hungary's dominions, and feized upon it. The crown was then quite new in the houfe of Brandenburgh. The Emperor Leopold was the first that had conferred on it the title of majefty; but this honour had not much aggrandized it. The King of Pruffia fcarce held any rank in Europe; his pretentions on the territories of the fuccedion of the houfe of Auftria, were thofe of a private perfon. He claimed fome duchies, which his houfe had formerly poffefied in right of purchafe. He feized however upon Silefia as a fovereign. I have heard it faid that Mary Therela was going to fail, when her own enemies upheld her. Thole very |