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 ftronger tie for men than that of the paffions. History afforded me an example of it in the perfon of his great-grandfather. Lewis XIV. was fo much accustomed 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 poet Scarron, already of an age that 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 conftant fucceffion, weaned Lewis infenfibly from his melancholy difpofition, and hindered his meeting with himself. I gave him a tafte for mufic, dancing, comedy, and the petits operas,' in which I fung and reprefented myself. The petits foupers' finished the decoration of the joyous fcene; the king went to bed fatisfied, and rofe contented. The next day he ran to my apartment (unless there was a grand council, or fome other extraordinary ceremony) to take there, if I dare ufe the expreffion, his dofe of good humour for the whole day. His attachment to me was by that instinct which caufes us to love that which contributes to our happiness. All the favourites before me thought only of

making themselves beloved by the king; not one of them had thought of diverting Lewis.

I became neceffary to the monarch: the chains of habit increafed daily. I could have wished that love alone had formed our union; but with a prince accuftomed to change, one goes on as one may.

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 esteem, things then affumed another aspect. Two great parties were formed at the court, and in the town: the one was fomented by envy, and the other by ambition; the first annoyed me by a thousand invenomed darts, the second exalted me by flattering compliments. This acted by the motive of aggrandizing itfelf, that by its impotence of prefuming in itself to become great; yet both parties united in requefting favours of me.

And, indeed, I. pleaded to the prince for both. According as I raised one to a confiderable poft, or heaped wealth upon him, I made an ingrate, and brought upon myfelf a hundred enemies. At laft the whole kingdom joined in making their court to me; for Lewis XV. continued his affiduities to me. Those who had most decried my birth, then declared themselves my relations. I fhall never forget the letter which I received at Versailles from a gentleman of one of the moft ancient families of Provence, in which he thus expreffed himself:

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 coufin, 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 ask it from the king as a favour.'

I made him this answer:

< Sir,

I shall embrace the first opportunity of requesting the king to grant your fon the regiment you defire. But I have in my turn a favour to ask 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 houses 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 first families of the kingdom.

But envy, that increased as the king diftinguished me from 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 fhould have fome foundation, the

monarchy must have been in a flourishing condition at the time the king called me to Versailles, which was far from being the cafe. The evil came from afar; France, by yielding to her misfortunes, did only fulfil her destiny. We must confider the administration of this reign as a consequence of the misfortunes produced by the preceding administration.

Lewis XIV. at his death, left the kingdom in terrible diforder; the debts of the ftate were immenfe, and the national credit entirely ruined: there was therefore then an evil in the state 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 administrators of the general riches, but he made himself the proprietor 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. increased the confufion, instead of re-establishing order. He imagined a fyftem of finances which completed their destruction. 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 mischief 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 state would ceafe to be poor. He increased the wealth of the crown at the expence of the fubfiftence of the people. He reformed the marine through œconomy; that is, he cut off from France the only means that remained to her of recovering herself.

At Fleuri's death, the adminiftration did not affume a better form. France had no minifter ca. pable of reforming abuses. Those placed at the head of affairs every where fought after the administration, 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 necessary 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 most commonly entertains ambitious defigns which a woman does not. He endeavours to avail himself of the favour of the prince, by all the means that may raise him to the highest fortune. He appropriates to himfelf the public finances, feizes upon the firft pofts of the ftate, and gives to his relations, or his creatures, those which he does not take to himself; this caufes a general revolution in the government. He has views of grandeur and eleva

tion, which perfons 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. He deftroyed the prerogatives of the nobleffe which alone could balance the defpotifm of our kings, and by fo doing did more mischief to France than any mistress will be ever able to accomplish.

Mazarin, the fecond favourite, had an army in his pay, and made war in perfon against the ftate. He imprisoned the princes of the blood, and excited troubles and animofities which overthrew the whole fyftem of that time. He feized upon the public treasure ; 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 observed fo exceffive in his expences, that they furpaffed those of the monarch

his master.

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 favour Lewis XV. has honoured me with.

I have been charged at the fame time of having employed people in the miniftry, whofe flender and fuperficial

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 coufin, 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 ask it from the king as a favour.'

I made him this answer:

I fhall embrace the first opportunity of requesting the king to grant your fon the regiment you defire. But I have in my turn a favour to ask 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 houses of the kingdom.'

I fhould put the half of France to the blufh, if I was to give an account here of all the letters full of abject fubmiffions which I received from the first families of the kingdom.

But envy, that increased as the king diftinguished me from 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 should have fome foundation, the

monarchy must have been in a flourishing condition at the time the king called me to Versailles, which was far from being the case. The evil came from afar; France, by yielding to her misfortunes, did only fulfil her deftiny. We muft confider the administration of this reign as a confequence of the misfortunes produced by the preceding adminiftration.

Lewis XIV. at his death, left the kingdom in terrible disorder; the debts of the ftate 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 proprietor 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 state after Lewis XIV. increased the confufion, instead of re-establishing order. He imagined a fyftem of finances which completed their destruction. 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 ftill fuffer by it.

Cardinal Fleuri, who came after him, did alone more mischief to France,

France, than all thofe who before him were intent upon her ruin. His qualities were order, œconomy, moderation; admirable virtues in a private person, but which often become vices in a statesman. He accumulated crown upon crown, and imagined that when the king would be rich, the state would ceafe to be poor. He increased 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 adminiftration did not affume a better form. France had no minifter ca. pable of reforming abuses. Those placed at the head of affairs every where fought after the administration, 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 most commonly entertains ambitious defigns which a woman does not. He endeavours to avail himself of the favour of the prince, by all the means that may raise him to the higheft fortune. He appropriates to himfelf the public finances, feizes upon the firft pofts of the ftate, and gives to his relations, or his creatures, thofe which he does not take to himself; this caufes a general revolution in the government. He has views of grandeur and eleva

tion, which perfons 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 ftate. He deftroyed the prerogatives of the nobleffe which alone could balance the defpotism of our kings, and by fo doing did more mischief to France than any miftrefs will be ever able to accomplish.

Mazarin, the fecond favourite, had an army in his pay, and made war in perfon against the ftate. He imprisoned the princes of the blood, and excited troubles and animofities which overthrew the whole fyftem of that time. He feized upon the public treasure; almost all the money of the kingdom was in his coffers. 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 observed fo exceffive in his expences, that they furpaffed those of the monarch his mafter.

He fold

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, diftinctions, or great fortune. At his death, he will leave no mark of the particular favour Lewis XV. has honoured me with.

I have been charged at the fame time of having employed people in the miniftry, whofe flender and fuperficial