[43] This is a Thing in Question; and the Negative seems to be plainly proved by the Opinions of the Counsellors of the Parlement, all Men of unexceptionable Character, who voted for putting the Reverend Father to Death.
[44] He is now Archbishop of Sens, and very well known for the famous Story of Maria Aliacoque, a celebrated Saint of his own making.
[45] The Count de Gergy died in 1733 in his Embassy, and was succeeded by the Count de Froulay.
[46] As the Parson of St. Sulpice stretches his Invention to the utmost, how to allure the Multitude, in 1734 he out-did all that he had ever done before, so that his Procession was more like the March of an Army than any thing else, because of the many Trumpets, Kettle-drums, Hunting-horns, &c. which made the Air echo with their Flourishes. It may by Degrees come to be like the Processions at Cambray, Antwerp, Brussels, and other Towns of the Netherlands; where, to the Scandal of the Christian Religion, we see the Revival of all the Impertinencies of the Pagan.
[47] The Mode of Bagnolette, i. e. Bathing-tubs, came from this Village, to which the Country-women carry them.
[48] Philippa Elisabeth of Orleans. She died of the Small-pox May 21, 1734. unmarried, and universally lamented.
[49] Louisa Diana of Orleans. She was married in 1732. to Lewis of Bourbon, Prince of Conti, by whom she had a Son, born Sept. 1, 1734. while the Prince was in the King’s Army upon the Rhine.
[50] It should have been observ’d in the Article of Turin, that this Queen died the second of January, 1735, O. S. and the King has since marry’d the eldest Sister of the present Duke of Lorain.
[51] He is married since 1732, to Louisa-Diana of Orleans, youngest Daughter of the late Regent.
[52] The Origin of the Fable is this. Mehemed Ben Aschen, or the Son of Aschen, Admiral of Sale, was deputed from the King of Morocco, but I know not in what Year, to the Court of France. When this Corsair was at Paris, he heard great Talk of the Princess of Conti’s Beauty, and of the particular Affection which the King had for her: In order to ingratiate himself with the French, he gave out, that the Emperor his Master having seen the Picture of that Princess among other Effects which belong’d to a Christian who was taken into Slavery, he thought her the most beautiful of her Sex; and that his Moorish Majesty said, That if he had such a Lady in his Seraglio, he should never desire any other. Mehemed’s Story was presently carried far and near, but it was told quite different from the Truth; for it was reported in a very little time, that he was come to demand the Princess in Marriage for Muley Ismael his Master. As there seem’d to be something mysterious in the Picture, a Messenger was sent in all Haste to the Ambassador’s Lodgings, to know the Name of the Slave from whom it was taken; but his Mahometan Excellency so prevaricated, that his Answer was far from being satisfactory. Nevertheless, his pretended Demand of this Princess was so much the Subject of Conversation among the French for several Months, that according to the Custom of this People, they at length made a Sonnet upon it, which follows.