"Il vient d'y avoir un grand changement entre plusieurs nobles dames et messieurs, tant de la ville que de la cour.... Madame d'Argenson, vacante par la mort du chevalier d'Oppède, a choisi pour consolation le marquis d'Alleurs, jeune homme d'une discrétion au-dessus de son âge" (December 27, 1717). As we have seen, her husband did not go comfortless. See p.16.
[52] Journal (Rathery), I. p. 15.
[53] A number of d'Argenson's early drawings are preserved in the Library of the Arsenal (MS. 6164). They are distinguished chiefly by care of execution, and a natural loyalty to the ancestral domain. They consist principally of views of the family seats in Touraine.
[54] Journal (Rathery), I. p. 16.
[55] Ibid., I. p. 17.
[56] Émond, "Histoire du Collège Louis-le-Grand."
[57] "Des gens du monde à bonnes fortunes" (Journal, Rathery, I. p. 17).
[58] Ibid., I. p. 17.
[59] Ibid., I. p. 17. The metaphor is of d'Argenson's compounding.