I shall not presume to say any thing of the August Head of this illustrious Family, since it wou'd require a more delicate Pen than mine to treat so sublime a Subject with suitable Dignity. All that I shall do my self the Honor to Say to you of Lewis XIV. is, that if a good Mien was to be the Merit for the Crown of France, this Great Prince might have put in his Claim for it upon that account, as justly as on the account of his Birth. He was already advanc'd in years in 1712, when I had the Honor to see him; and yet he had a nobler Air than any Man in his Kingdom.
The Duke of Burgundy, who became Dauphin of France, by the Death of his Father, Lewis XIVth's Son, who was the year before carried off in a very few days by the Small-Pox at his Palace of Meudon, was the first Prince in the Kingdom next to the King. His Great Qualities prognosticated that if he liv'd, his Reign wou'd be very happy: Being Devout, without neglecting any of the Duties of a Prince, he had a way of reconciling the Retirement of a Cloyster to the Bustle of a Court; and tho' he had the Great Affair of his Salvation always at heart, yet he thought, and justly too, that his Practice of Piety ought not to exclude his Application to the Affairs of State. He married a Princess, whose great Qualities wou'd have made the French happy, if an untimely Death had not snatch'd her away in the Flower of her Age. Her Name was Mary Adelaide of Savoy. I can assure you, Madame, that I never saw one that had a more Noble and Majestic Presence than this Princess. And several Ladies that had the Honor of being with her in private assur'd me, that none could be more sprightly and gay. Her
Youth made her fond of Pleasures; but yet she never was forgetful of her Duties. She had an extraordinary Respect and Regard for the King. She went every Evening to Madame de Maintenon's Apartment when the King was there, and after the Council was over, she put every thing in practice that her gay Humor cou'd imagine to divert him. The Princess had also a particular Esteem for the Dauphin her Husband, and as this Prince never fail'd of being at Mass, nor at Vespers, or the Evening Prayers, the Dauphiness always went with him, and very readily made her Pleasures give place to her Duties.
I had not been long at the Court of France when this illustrious Couple died within a few days of one another. The first who paid that Tribute to Nature was the Dauphiness. This Princess fell sick at Versailles, soon after which the Purples discover'd themselves; and at length her Distemper appearing desperate, she was admonish'd to prepare for Death: but this was Advice she could not find in her heart to comply with, it being a hard matter to renounce a voluptuous Life; especially when supported with the Hopes of being e'er long possess'd of one of the first Crowns in the World. This Princess died, as it were, in the Arms of the Duchess of Orleans, who by her Desire never left her during all the time of her Illness.
The King, who was very much afflicted for her Death, set out immediately for Marly, whither the Dauphin follow'd him. This Prince knowing the Value of the Jewel he had lost, so indulg'd his Grief that he sicken'd almost as soon as he arriv'd at Marly, of the same Distemper that had just depriv'd him of his Consort. He received the Sentence of his Death with a Resolution
truly Christian; and in the Height of his Distemper was often heard to put up this Petition, My God! save the King and Government. The Night he died he had a very great Desire to hear Mass; and whatever they could say to convince him that the Rules of the Church did not allow it to be celebrated at that Hour, yet he wou'd not take a Denial; so that as soon as the Midnight Bell rung, Mass was said in his Chamber, at an Altar that was put up at his Bed's feet. After the Elevation of the Host, the Dauphin was very much compos'd, and continu'd praying to God till his Strength failing him every Minute more and more, he gave up the Ghost. This happen'd on the 18th of February 1712, six Days after the Death of the Dauphiness.
The King had need of all his Stock of Courage to support so many Shocks one after another. The Royal Family was in the utmost Consternation. Those that were about the King wou'd fain have persuaded him to retire elsewhere a little while for Change of Air; but he answered undauntedly, That he was every where in the Hands of God; and that therefore he would continue where he was. This great Prince had soon after, another Trial of his Patience, by the News he receiv'd of the Death of the Duke of Bretagne, who upon the Decease of his Father had been declar'd the Dauphin. This young Prince died at Versailles the 8th of March 1712, when he was but five Years old. There never was a more sorrowful Scene than to see the Funeral Pomp of this Year, which serv'd at the same time for the Father, Mother and Son.
The only one that remain'd of this August Stock was the Duke of Anjou now Lewis XV.
This Prince too, who was but a Child, was such a poor Weakling all along, that no body thought he would live; and he was at this time in such a bad way, that the very Physicians despair'd of his Recovery. Nevertheless he insensibly gathered Strength, and now the French see their young Monarch in a more vigorous State of Health than they could have hoped for in his Childhood: For this I believe they are oblig'd to the great Care which was taken of this young Prince by the Duchess of Ventadour, who was charg'd with his Education, in which Post she acquitted herself with all the Zeal that a Person could do, who knew the Value of that precious Deposit which was committed to her trust.
The next to the Throne after this young Prince was the Duke of Berry, Brother to the Duke of Burgundy. He was of a fair Complexion, and for his Age a little too corpulent. He spent his time chiefly in Hunting, and when the Chace was over he us'd to go to his Duchess's Apartments to game; for this Princess, after the Death of the Duchess of Burgundy, kept an Assembly.