The Duke de Bourbon, who is certainly the richest Prince in Europe, that is not a Sovereign, lives very much at Chantilly, since he is no longer in the Ministry. There is always a very numerous Court, and he lives there more like a King, than a Prince of the Blood.
After having walked sufficiently about Chantilly, I went and lay at Senlis, and next Day arrived in good Time at Cambray, a City famous upon several Accounts; but its Beauty does not answer its Reputation. Cambray, the Capital of the Cambresis, was formerly an Imperial City, and its Archbishop was a Sovereign and Prince of the Empire. France having seized Cambray, there remains nothing more to the Archbishop, of so many fine Prerogatives, but the empty Title of a Prince of the Empire; which he still retains, tho’ he has no Vote nor Session at the Diet. Since 1712, that I came for the first Time into France, the Church of Cambray has had four Archbishops. I then found the See possessed by the Illustrious Francis de Salignac de la Mothe Fenelon, Preceptor of the late Duke of Burgundy, Father of Lewis XV. He had for his Successor John d’Estrées; but the latter died before he had taken Possession of the Archbishoprick. The celebrated Cardinal Dubois succeeded to him; but he did not enjoy that Dignity long, for he died at Versailles the 10th of August 1723. The Abbé de S. Albin, the natural Son of the Duke of Orleans, the Regent, was appointed Archbishop of Cambray at an Age when he had need of Dispensations from Rome, to qualify himself for that Dignity.
I think ’twill not be impertinent to make some little mention of the Cardinal Dubois, and, perhaps, you will not be sorry to hear a few Particulars of him. In the first Place, these were his Titles; William Cardinal Dubois, Priest Archbisho
p and Duke of Cambray, Prince of the Holy Empire, Count of the Cambresis, Abbat of St. Just de Nogent under Couffy, of Bourgueil, Airvaux, Cercamps, St. Winoxberg, and St. Bertin of St. Omer; Principal and Prime Minister, and Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs; Great Master and Superintendant General of the Couriers, Posts and Relays of France; one of the forty Members of the French Academy and that of the Belles Lettres: And chose by the Prelates and other Deputies at the General Assembly of the Clergy of France, to be their first President.
The Cardinal Dubois was not of extraordinary Extraction, but was born with great Talents, and an uncommon Genius. He was Preceptor to the Duke of Orleans, afterwards Regent of the Kingdom; which was the Reason that the Prince and he were so well acquainted with each other’s Thoughts, that the least Sign given by the One, was understood by the other. The Abbat Dubois was employed in the Negociations of Peace in England, and at Utrecht. When the Duke of Orleans came to be Regent, he sent him to take care of the King’s Interests at the Court of King George I. of Great Britain; with whom he concluded the famous Treaty of the Quadruple Alliance. When the King came of Age, the Regent being desirous to have a first Minister that he could confide in, chose the Abbat Dubois, whom he first made an Archbishop, and then obtain’d a Cardinal’s Hat for him. ’Tis said, that the Cardinal was beginning to forget his Obligations to his Benefactor, and thinking to shake off all Submission to him, when he died at Versailles, after having enjoyed his splendid Fortune but a few Years. His Illness was of no long Continuance, but very painful. La Peyrome, the King’s chief Surgeon, made an Operation upon him for a Disorder
which the Cardinal’s Enemies ascribe to his Incontinence, before he was Archbishop. He dreaded the Operation very much, and was loth to undergo it, tho’ the Surgeons assured him, that nothing else could save his Life. The Duke of Orleans, to whom the Minister’s Life was dear, made use of his Authority, and obliged the Cardinal to submit to the Operation, which did not answer his Royal Highness’s Hopes; for in a few Days after it, his Favourite died. The Eagerness with which the Duke of Orleans seized the Ministry, confirmed the Public in their Opinion, that the Cardinal had entertained a Thought of asserting his own Independency.
The Cardinal was not much lamented; for he was blunt, violent and outrageous; which was not the Way to acquire the Good-will of a Nation, which loves that Decency and Politeness should be kept up in every Thing. Satire, or, if you please, Calumny, gave it out, that the Cardinal was married at Tours, when he was made Archbishop, and that his Wife liv’d in that City; that he gave it in Charge to M. de Breteuil, the Intendant of Tours, to prevail upon her, if possible, not to discover that she was his Wife; but that she refused to relinquish the Advantage; that thereupon M. de Breteuil sent for the Parish Register where the Marriage was solemnized, and tore out the Leaf in which their Names were entered; and that the Woman was going to make a great Noise, but was threatened with Confinement, and by that Means obliged to be silent.
I will not engage for the Truth of all, or any Part of this Story; but ’tis what the scandalous Chronicle has given out, and what has reach’d even to Rome; so that when it was told to the late Pope, with a great many other Passages concerning the Cardinal, he was heartily vexed, that he
had advanced him to the Purple; and I have been assured, that it was such a Grief to the Holy Father, that it help’d to shorten his Days.
The Duchess de F—— was with the Cardinal one Day, when being in one of his sullen Moods, his Eminency, in plain Terms, bade her go and pick Violets. The Lady complaining of him to the Duke of Orleans, the Regent, the Prince made Answer, You are much in the right, Madame; the Cardinal Dubois is a Brute, but, nevertheless, he has a good Head-piece.