[61] James Nompar of Caument, Duke de la Force, an assiduous humble Servant of Mr. Law, and who, by his Management, during the Missisippi Scheme, drew a great many Pasquinades upon himself, of which this is not the severest.
[62] The Abbé Terrasson, who wrote in Favour of the Scheme.
[63] Law had three Cocks for his Arms.
[64] As these Lines will not admit of a Version to the Satisfaction of an English Reader, ’tis sufficient to acquaint him, that they are a Satire upon the Humour which prevail’d at that Time, among People of all Ranks, from the Duke to his Scullion, to be Adventurers in Mr. Law’s Scheme; a Madness which was contemporary, and equally mischievous with the Delusion that was so predominant in our own Country, in that fatal Year of 1720, when so many People were, as we may term it, cast away in the South-Sea, and the lesser Whirlpools, call’d Bubbles, of which there was almost an infinite Number.
[65] This, with the Calculation annexed to it, is an Addition by the Editor, to the second Edition, which was not in the first Edition of these Memoirs.
[66] There was a Label affixed to the Gate of the Palais Royal, with these Words, Esurientes implevit bonis, & Divites dimisit inanes, i. e. The Hungry he hath fill’d with good Things, but the Rich he hath sent empty away.
[67] He was of the Lorain Family, and was succeeded in his Office of Master of the Horse by his Son Prince Charles.
[68] The King of France having declar’d War against the Emperor in 1733, in Conjunction with the Kings of Spain and Sardinia, his Majesty gave the Marshal de Villars the Command of his Army in Italy; to which Country he repair’d after the Conquest of the Milanese had been very far advanc’d. He took Pizzighitone; but the Imperial Army being at length form’d, the Count de Merci, who commanded it, having taken the Field with it on a sudden, by passing the Po, made so many Motions, that the old Marshal, being forc’d to be every-where, according to his old Phrase, fell sick upon it, and was oblig’d to leave the Army. Some do not stick to say, that he had Orders for it from Court, where his Conduct was not approv’d: Be this as it will, his Distemper growing worse upon his Arrival at Turin, he died there the 17th of June 1734, in the 84th Year of his Age, in the same Room, as ’tis said, where he was born, his Father the Marquis de Villars being then there by Order of the King. In 1702 he married Joanna-Angelica Roque de Varengeville, whose Father was the King’s Ambassador at Venice. The Family of Villars is originally of Lyons, and first began to be distinguish’d in the Person of Claude de Villars, Lord of Chapelle, and Masclas, second Son to Francis de Villars, born about Ann. 1516. The Marshal was to the last a Man of uncommon Gaiety and Gallantry; for whether Fighting or Dancing, he appear’d with the same Vivacity and good Humour, and seem’d an Enemy to none except the Jesuits. What did not consist with such a Temper, was his Love of Money; and he inrich’d himself too much by the Spoils of War, and the Contributions he used to raise for Safe-guards, &c. But as for his Soldier-like Character, this one Story of him may suffice; In 1702 the Marshal order’d his Army to pass the Rhine at Haguenau, the same Night that he invited several Gentlemen and ladies to a Ball, where he danc’d till two o’Clock in the Morning, and then mounted his Horse unobserv’d, and follow’d his Army; with which he surprised the Prince of Baden, and fought a Battle by the Time the Ball was broke up; for which Action the King gave him the Marshal’s Batoon. The Conquests of Milan and other Places in Italy, which he made in 1733, were accompany’d also with Dancing and Balls; but Age and Infirmities, at last, made a Conquest of him. His Memory and his Judgment so fail’d him, that he became troublesome to the Army; but his fighting Humour still prevail’d, and he would have endanger’d all, had not the King of Sardinia prevail’d on the King of France to recall him. However, the King of Sardinia took Leave of him in the Field with great Civility, and at his Arrival at Turin, where he fell ill of a Dysentery, accompany’d with a Fever, of which he died, he was receiv’d very graciously by the late Queen, who presented him with a Diamond Sword, valued at 300 Pistoles.
The following Sonnet was presented to the Marshal, when he set out for Italy.
Villars, tes grands Exploits qui sauverent la France,
Dans les Siecles futurs t’immortaliseront.
La Paix fut le doux fruit de ta haute prudence;
Mais de nouveaux Lauriers doivent ceindre ton front.