Paris, sa grande ville,
Et qu’il me fallût quitter
L’amour de ma mie—
Je dirais au roi Louis:
Reprenez votre Paris,
J’aime mieux ma mie, o gué!
J’aime mieux ma mie.
Whether Monsieur de Brienne said or sang these lines, I know not; but I have heard he had no taste for music, for, being at the Sistine Chapel at Rome in the Holy Week, he had allowed that the singing was very fine; on which a friend said to him, “I see you begin to like music.” He is reported to have answered, “No, I cannot go so far; but I can now comprehend that a person may be fond of music without being either a fool or a madman.” It is a pity he did not write more, for his preface to the “Memoir of Monsieur de Brienne,” who was a page of Louis XIV., is very good, and the style excellent.
He visited his diocese every year, but did not remain long at a time. He was there while we were at Toulouse to receive the Emperor of Germany, Joseph II., who travelled in the most unostentatious manner, under the title of Count Falkenstein. At his departure he thanked the archbishop for his hospitality, but declined his offer of accompanying him to the next place whither he was going, saying, “I cannot think of taking you from a city where your duty requires your presence.”
The emperor knew very well what he was saying, and the archbishop answered with a bow.[[19]]