Behaviour of the Duchesse de Berry.—Her Arrogance Checked by Public
Opinion.—Walls up the Luxembourg Garden.—La Muette.—Her Strange Amour
with Rion.—Extraordinary Details.—The Duchess at the Carmelites.—
Weakness of the Regent.—His Daily Round of Life.—His Suppers.—
How He Squandered His Time.—His Impenetrability.—Scandal of His Life.—
Public Balls at the Opera.
CHAPTER LXXXII
First Appearance of Law.—His Banking Project Supported by the Regent.—
Discussed by the Regent with Me.—Approved by the Council and Registered.
—My Interviews with Law.—His Reasons for Seeking My Friendship.—
Arouet de Voltaire.
CHAPTER LXXXIII
Rise of Alberoni.—Intimacy of France and England.—Gibraltar Proposed to
be Given Up.—Louville the Agent.—His Departure.—Arrives at Madrid.—
Alarm of Alberoni.—His Audacious Intrigues.—Louville in the Bath.—
His Attempts to See the King.—Defeated.—Driven out of Spain.—Impudence
of Alberoni.—Treaty between France and England.—Stipulation with
Reference to the Pretender.
CHAPTER LXXXIV
The Lieutenant of Police.—Jealousy of Parliament.—Arrest of Pomereu
Resolved On.—His Imprisonment and Sudden Release.—Proposed Destruction
of Marly.—How I Prevented It.—Sale of the Furniture.—I Obtain the
‘Grandes Entrees’.—Their Importance and Nature.—Afterwards Lavished
Indiscriminately.—Adventure of the Diamond called “The Regent.”—Bought
for the Crown of France.
CHAPTER LXXXV
Death of the Duchesse de Lesdiguieres.—Cavoye and His Wife.—Peter the
Great.—His Visit to France.—Enmity to England.—Its Cause.—Kourakin,
the Russian Ambassador.—The Czar Studies Rome.—Makes Himself the Head
of Religion.—New Desires for Rome—Ultimately Suppressed.—Preparations
to Receive the Czar at Paris.—His Arrival at Dunkerque.—At Beaumont.—
Dislikes the Fine Quarters Provided for Him.—His Singular Manners, and
Those of His Suite.
CHAPTER LXXXVI