[10] Arneth, i., p.9-16
CHAPTER IV.
[1] Dates 9th and 12th., Arneth, i., pp. 16, 18.
[2] Marly was a palace belonging to the king, but little inferior in splendor to Versailles itself, and a favorite residence of Louis XV., because a less strict etiquette had been established there. Choisy and Bellevue, which will often be mentioned in the course of this narrative, were two others of the royal palaces on a somewhat smaller scale. They have both been destroyed. Marly, Choisy, and Bellevue were all between Versailles and Paris.
[3] Mém. de Goncourt, quoting a MS. diary of Hardy, p. 35.
[4] De Vermond, who had accompanied her from Vienna as her reader.
[5] See St. Simon's account of Dangeau, i., p. 392.
[6] The Duc de Noailles, brother-in-law of the countess, "l'homme de France qui a peut-être le plus d'esprit et qui connait le mieux son souverain et la cour," told Mercy in August that "jugeant d'après son expérience et d'après les qualités qu'il voyait dans cette princesse, il était persuadé qu'elle gouvernerait un jour l'esprit du roi."—ARNETH, i., p. 34.
[7] La petite rousse.
[8] "De monter à cheval gâte le teint, et votre taille à la longue s'en ressentira."—Marie-Thérèse à Marie-Antoinette, Arneth, i., p. 104.