Mademoiselle de Sens, with her Beauty, is both graceful and modest: She was brought up under her Grandmother the Princess; and after her Decease, the Duchess of Brunswic, her Great Aunt, Mother to the Empress Amelia, who spent her latter Years in France, had the Care of her Education, and form’d her one of the most amiable Princesses upon the Earth.
The Conti Family, which is the third Branch of the Princes of the Blood, consists at this time of two Dowager Ladies, a young Prince, and a Princess, call’d Mademoiselle de la Roche-sur-yon. The Princess of Conti, the first Dowager Lady, is the
legitimated Daughter of King Lewis XIV. by Mademoiselle de la Valiere: This Princess is celebrated for her Beauty, Wit, and noble Air, which she still retains: She happen’d to be a Widow when she was very young. Some say that the King of Morocco demanded her in Marriage, but I have been assur’d by many People, that ’tis a mere Fiction. Be this as it will, such a Match was not practicable; for tho’ Religion had been altogether out of the Question, King Lewis XIV. would never have sacrific’d a Daughter so dear to him, and one who was the Ornament of his Court, to a Marabou[52]. The
Princess of Conti, since the Death of her Brother the Dauphin, has not appear’d in public, and only visits the King and Queen privately in their Majesties Closet. Her Occupations are Works of Piety and Charity, and her Life is an Example of Virtue: She commonly resides in her Hôtel at Paris, which is beautiful and magnificent, and formerly belong’d to the Marshal-Duke de Lorges.
The legitimated Princes, Sons of Lewis XIV. are the Duke de Maine, and the Count de Tholouse. The former is Grand Master of the Ordnance, Colonel-General of the Swiss and Grisons, and Governor of Guienne: He married Louisa-Benedictina of Bourbon-Condé, by whom he has two Sons and a Daughter. The Duke de Maine possesses the Sovereignty of Dombes, which the late Mademoiselle, Daughter of Gaston of France, Son of Henry IV. left him by Will. This Prince signaliz’d his Valour in his Youth: He has the Misfortune to halt, but he has a superior Genius,
and is a Man of true Christian Piety. The late King distinguish’d him above all his Children, of which he gave an illustrious Proof, when he appointed him Superintendant of the Education of Lewis XV. and when he made him a Sharer in the Authority of the Regency, together with the Duke of Orleans, whom he would have been glad to have intirely excluded from it, if his Royal Highness’s Birth had not given him an absolute Title to it. Some Years before this, the said King, by a Declaration the most solemnly register’d that ever any was, had recognis’d the Ability of the Duke de Maine, the Count de Tholouse, and their Posterity, to succeed to the Crown on Failure of Issue by the lawful Princes. The Princes of the Blood, in Complaisance to Lewis XIV. before whom every Knee was bow’d, did not oppose a Declaration so little for their Honour: But in the Beginning of Lewis XVth’s Reign they commenced a Suit upon it against the legitimated Princes. The Arret which call’d them to the Succession of the Crown was revok’d, and the Count de Tholouse was the only one that retain’d for his Life the Honours that were annex’d to the Dignity of Prince of the Blood. The Duke de Maine and his Children were depriv’d of these great Prerogatives, and reduc’d to the Rank of their Peerage. Some Years after, however, it pleas’d the King to restore those Honours to the Duke de Maine, and to his Sons the Prince of Dombes, and the Count d’Eu; but these Princes continue excluded from the Crown.
I have already acquainted you how the Duke of Bourbon depriv’d the Duke de Maine of the Superintendance of Lewis XVth’s Education: But that was not the only Circumstance that mortified him; for at that Juncture the Point that seem’d to be solely in View, was to undo every thing that had
been done by Lewis XIV. And the Duke, together with his Employments and Honours, also lost his Liberty. He was accus’d of holding a Correspondence with the Prince de Cellamare, the Spanish Ambassador, who endeavour’d to excite the French to a Rebellion against the Regent, by promising them Assistance from the King his Master: Hereupon the Duke de Maine was arrested, and committed Prisoner to Dourlens in Picardy, where he was closely confin’d. They who are not the most zealous of this Prince’s Friends, agree that he supported this Reverse of Fortune with an heroic Constancy. I heard it said by the People who were set to watch him, that they never saw him once deviate from that Serenity of Mind, and that good Nature which accompany all his Actions. But the Duchess of Maine did not receive the News of his Disgrace with the same Tranquillity; for being born with all the high Spirit of the Great Conde her Grandfather, she rav’d against the Regent, but especially against her Nephew the Duke, whom she look’d upon as the Author of her Misfortunes. They say moreover, that the Duke de Maine himself was rattled by her before he was confin’d. ’Twas on the Day that Lewis XV. came to the Parlement to hold his first Bed of Justice, when the Duke de Maine was turn’d out of that Share which the late King’s last Will gave him in the Regency. As this Duke came home from the Parlement, he found his Wife in the utmost Impatience to know what had been done; of which when he had given her an exact Account, the Duchess could not bridle her Passion, but looking on her Husband with Indignation, she said, I have nothing left then to possess, but the Shame of having married you! When she received Orders to quit to the Duke of Bourbon that Apartment which she had in the Thuilleries, while the
Duke de Maine was Superintendant of the King’s Education; Yes, said she, I will quit it with a Vengeance, and at the same time order’d it to be stripp’d quite bare of Furniture; and for the more Haste she dash’d the Looking-glasses, China, and all Goods of that Sort in Pieces. Nevertheless, when she was apprehended, and during the Time that she was detain’d, she was not heard to utter a Complaint or a Murmur; but supported her Disgrace with that Magnanimity for which she is admir’d, a Quality which elevates her so far above other Women, and sets her on a Par with the greatest Men.
The Duke and Duchess of Maine are often at Seaux, a fine House but a little Distance from Paris, on the high Road to Orleans, built by John Baptist Colbert. Here they have always a gay Court. This Duchess is so much in Love with the Arts and Sciences, that all Men of Letters look on her as their Patroness; and there are few Poetical Compositions which are not first presented to her. The last Time I paid my Court to her, the following Piece, compos’d of no more than two Rhymes, was read there, and so highly applauded, that I herewith send you a Copy of it[53].