There are some Houses however, where this Passion for Gaming is not quite so prevalent; ’tis said too, that the Lawyers Houses are not so liable to the Contagion; but I own, I am not conversant enough with them to know the Difference. ’Tis certain, that at Court they play deeper than any-where, and very many of the Nobility have impair’d their Fortunes, for the sake of having the Honour to be one of a Party with the King. His Majesty commonly plays at Lansquenet; the Party consists of twelve Cutters, who set a Lewis d’Or upon the Card. The King, and the principal Gamesters, as the Count de Tholouse, the Duke d’Antin, the Duke de Grammont, and the like, set two, and sometimes four Lewis d’Ors upon a Stake. The King is reckon’d to have the best Luck of all that play in the Queen’s Apartment: Any body that is well dress’d is admitted to make one of the Company, which forms a great Court, tho’ a mix’d Assembly. All the Ladies sit round the Gaming-table, and the Men stand. The French say, that Gaming sets every body upon a Level. There’s one S. Remi, who had been a Lacquey first to the Marshal d’Estrée’s Lady, and then to the Duke of Bourbon, who preferr’d him to be his Valet de Chambre, and at the Queen’s Arrival gave him a Post in her Majesty’s Houshold, which he held at the same time that he officiated as the Duke’s Valet de Chambre: I have seen this Man raise or fall the Mirth of the King’s Company at Pleasure; ’tis true, he does not cut; but he is at every Card, and makes very good Pastime. At Fontainebleau, I heard him one Day bet the King twenty Lewis
d’Ors, upon his own Card against his Majesty’s. The King answer’d coolly, No, Marquis; which is a Nickname that his Majefty has given him, and may nevertheless be transmitted to the Posterity of this S. Remi, who is moreover Fop enough to be a Marquis.
This Medley of People at Play has been the Custom in France at all times. I remember to have heard the late Mother of the Regent say, That when she went upon a time from Versailles, where she resided with the King, to see her Husband, Lewis XIV’s Brother, who was gone to spend a few Days at St. Cloud, she found him playing at Lansquenet with a dozen Cutters, of whom she knew but two; and when the Game was out, she ask’d her Husband, who the People were that he had been playing with: They are very honest Fellows, reply’d the Prince, good substantial Tradesmen of Paris, who play well, and for a great deal of Money. The old Lady gave us moreover to understand, that she had not been at that time long in France, and that she was so vex’d to find her Husband in such Company, that she cou’d not forbear to upbraid him for it; but her Husband turn’d it all off with a Laugh, and made her Answer, That she had still a Spice of the German Haughtiness, but that it would wear off in Time.
’Tis certain however, that this Liberty, with which all Sorts of People are indulg’d, of coming in for a Game and away, renders them fawcy. That noted Comedian Baron, the greatest Coxcomb of all Men living before the Quinaults, was one Day at the House of the Prince de Conti, the same that had been chose King of Poland, where they were playing at Lansquenet. Baron, pulling his Purse out with a careless Air, said to the Prince, Ten Lewis D’Ors upon the Knave, M. de Conti. Done, Britannicus, said the Prince de Conti, who knew that
Baron had been just acting that Part in a Play. It is certain, that at many of the Womens Houses, the Gamesters are as much pamper’d as a Father Confessor is by his Female Votary. A greet many Houses subsist here by the Emoluments of Gaming, where, were it not for the Money arising from their Cards, their Suppers would be very light, and many that now ride wou’d go on Foot. The Duke de Gevres, Governor of Paris, and the Prince de Carignan, who have a Grant for licensing all manner of Gaming, have farm’d it out, and get 120,000 Livres a-piece by it clear Money; which one shall hardly find in any City in the World.
This Gaming puts me in mind of a Lottery they have here every Month, which is a Sort of Game too, where the Banker is the greatest Gainer. These Lotteries have been set on foot by the Parson of the Parish of St. Sulpice, to help build his Church, and twenty Sols is the Price of each Ticket; but they prove the utter Undoing of many a Lacquey and Maid-Servant; which made a Friend of mine say, that the Parson of St. Sulpice, out of Gratitude to the poor Devils, for burying their Wages in his Lottery, could do no less, when they die, than bury their Carcases for nothing. This Lottery is worth to the Parson about 20,000 Livres a Month, besides the Sums he gets from the pious Contributions of several Persons zealous for the House of God: Nevertheless these Works go on so slowly, that the Parson’s Trowel is not like to be laid aside yet-a-while, tho’, if his Church be ever finished, ’twill be the greatest and the finest in the Kingdom; for all the new Works are design’d by Giles Maria Oppenord, the Duke of Orleans’s chief Architect, and one of the most skilful of his Profession in France.
The Parsonage of St. Sulpice is the most considerable, not only of Paris, but perhaps of Europe;
for it brings in the Parson as much as some good Dioceses do their Bishops. The Right of Presentation to it is in the Abbat and Friers of the Abbey of St. Germain. The present Incumbent is M. Languet de Gergy, who has one Brother that is Bishop of Soissons[44], and another now an Ambassador at Venice[45]. The Vigilance both of the Pastor, and of the Priests whom he employs for administring the Sacraments, cannot but be commended: The latter form a numerous Society, attend their Function with Application, and Divine Service is perform’d in the Church with very great Edification. The Society, and several Seminaries join’d to it, form together the most numerous Body of Clergy in all the Kingdom. The Seminary of St. Sulpice is one of the most frequented, because the Ecclesiastical Discipline is there taught and practis’d with Care; perhaps too, because Subjects are often taken from thence for the chief Dignities of the Church. Nothing is more edifying than to see the Procession of this Parish upon the Day of Corpus Christi, when there’s a numerous Appearance of the Clergy in magnificent Copes: The Canopy, under which the Holy Sacrament is carry’d, is extraordinary rich. Twenty-four young Clergymen go before the Holy Sacrament, and twelve always walk backward, perfuming the Host, as they go, with Censers of Silver. There is not a Procession in the Kingdom that is made with more Dignity and Order[46]. With your Favour, I will conclude this
Letter with the bare Mention of this Sacred Ceremony. As I propose to go to-morrow to Versailles, I shall send you what Observations I make there. I am, &c.