sent you word that she is still living. Indeed it won't be long before you see her; but it will only be to receive your Dismission, and to give you to understand from her own Lips, that she prefers V——'s Addresses to yours. I have heard all this from one of my Waiting-Women, whose Sister is a Servant to Madame S——. For as to my part, since I am married to M. R——, 'tis not convenient for me to keep her Company. You will do well to renounce her, and need not fear but you may find better than her. As she express'd these Words her Eyes darted in my Face, and at the same instant she blush'd. I was going to make her an Answer, but she left me abruptly, and all the rest of the Evening made it her Business to avoid me, I thought, however, to have an Opportunity of speaking to her when she was going out; but she went away with another Lady, so that 'twas impossible for me to say a Word to her.

I return'd home miserably disturb'd in my Mind. Hatred, Love, Revenge, Contempt; in short, all the Passions of a Lover, slighted on the one hand, and flatter'd on the other, play'd their part to rack my Brain. Guess, Madame, in what a Condition I was, when I had such violent Attacks to struggle with. In fine, Contempt triumph'd over the Passion I had conceiv'd for S——. The charming Eyes of Madame de R—— made me forget the false-hearted Creature on whom I had doated. But in the sequel I was quickly convinc'd that I was no sooner cur'd of one foolish Amour, but I was plung'd into another of the same Nature. The last Words of R—— seem'd to be very engaging; I explain'd them in my own favor, and thought sincerely that she had taken a Fancy to me. I flatter'd

my self again and again with these agreeable Notions, and found an infinite Pleasure in making my own Chain. Nevertheless you will soon see that I was bubbled as much in this Amour as I was in the former. Madame de R—— was one of the finest Women, and without dispute one of the greatest Coquettes in Paris; being whimsical withal, and more self-conceited than Women of that Cast generally are; she did not understand what it was to settle her Heart upon any Man, and yet expected to be doated on herself. I push'd head-long into this new Engagement, and thought my self at one time the happiest Man in the World. My Friends too were as much deceiv'd as I was, and thought me for a long while the only Favorite. I will tell ye hereafter what became of this Amour, and shall for the present break off the Detail of these ridiculous Amusements, to tell you how it far'd with me in the Affair which most demanded my Application.

Soon after my Return to Paris, I went to Versailles, where I had the Honor to pay my Duty to the King and the Princes. Madame receiv'd me so kindly that I thought my self sure of her Protection, and therefore acquainted her of my Intention to beg an Employment of his Majesty, and desir'd her that she would be so good as to recommend me. Madame promis'd me that she would, and was true to her Word; for she not only spoke her self but also made the Duke of Orleans speak for me to M. Voisin, who was at that time Chancellor and Secretary of War. This Gentleman promis'd their Royal Highnesses that he would think of a Place for me; but when I waited upon him, with one of Madame's Officers, who, by her Order introduc'd

me, that Minister receiv'd me with a Countenance as crabbed as ever I saw. His Head was invelop'd in a monstrous large Peruke, that hindered both his Sight and Hearing, which at other times were natural enough to him. However, in Respect to Madame he heard me, and then said, that the King had already made one considerable Reduction in his Troops, and was going to make another; and that therefore he did not see what Hopes I could have of being employ'd. I was very much dissatisfied with this Answer, which was so different from the Promise he had made to Madame and the Duke of Orleans. I made a Report to their Royal Highnesses of what the Minister said to me; upon which the Duke of Orleans told me, This signifies nothing, I will speak to him again, and I hope you will find your Account in it. He spoke accordingly, but Voisin did nothing the more nor the less for it. However, as I had a grateful Heart for the Advances which Madame and the Duke her Son had been so good as to make in my favor, I continu'd to pay my Duty to them; and they both gave me Demonstration that they were not Insensible of my constant Attendance. I was almost every Night at the Duke of Orleans's Couchée. His Court was then but small, and excepting his Domestics I was sometimes all alone with him. I was the more amaz'd at the Carriage of the Courtiers to this Prince, because 'twas natural to think that the Government of the Kingdom would soon fall into his hands. The Duke of Berry was just dead. The King was too old to expect he could live much longer, and the Dauphin too young to take the Management of Affairs upon him for a good while. In short, every thing promis'd this Prince the

Regency of the Kingdom infallibly, yet scarce any body regarded him as the rising Sun. The Courtiers Respect for the King made them all stick to his Majesty, and a Reign so glorious and so long, seem'd to them as if it was never to have End.

I stay'd at Paris the rest of the year 1714, and some Months of the year 1715. This Winter there was one of the noblest Sights in Paris that could be, viz. The Entry of the Persian Ambassador, and especially the Audience he had of his Majesty some days after it. But the Ambassador did not contribute so much to the Lustre of this Shew, as to give us any great Idea of the Persian Magnificence; and indeed, in my whole Life I never saw any thing so pitiful; for all his Equipage being out of Order, his Domestics having scarce Cloaths to their Backs, and almost all of them ill-looking Fellows, formed a very melancholy Scene. Besides, the Presents he brought were really not worthy of the Prince that sent them, or of him that received them. Before this Ambassador made his Entry, he lodg'd at Charenton, to which Place every body went to stare at him as a Prodigy. The Torrent carried me thither among the rest, and a numerous Company there was of us. The Interpreter told us, before we went in, that a Compliment must be made to the Ambassador, and we drew Cuts to determine who should be the Speaker. The Lot fell upon me. I made but a very short Speech to him, wherein after having congratulated him upon his Arrival, I told him, that I hop'd his Stay in Europe, and especially in France, would not be disagreeable to him. He thank'd me by his Interpreter, and bid him tell me, that as he was come to see the greatest King

in the World, next to the Sophy his Master, he should be always satisfy'd, happen what would to him, when once he had appeared before his Majesty. He made us sit down, and we ask'd him several Questions concerning his Voyage, the Court of Persia, and the Sophy; but he told us, that he had never been at Ispahan, and never seen the Sophy. During this Conversation he gave us Coffee and Sweet-meats, and was mighty civil to us.

But upon all Occasions when his Character was to be supported, he was not near so tractable; for he then took upon him too much State, so that when the Marshal de Matignon, who was to come from the King to carry him to the Ambassadors House, was to enter his Chamber, he pretended that he was not obliged to stand up. The Baron de Breteuil, the Introductor of the Ambassadors, represented to him that he could do no less than pay that Deference to M. de Matignon who came from the King; but he might as well have reason'd with a Post; and all that he could get from him, was a Promise, that when the Marshal entered his Chamber he wou'd that Moment rise and go out all at once. There was another Scene to manage when he came down Stairs. They proposed to him to ride in the King's Coach; but he said, he would do no such thing; that it was a Cage; and that he would make his Entry on horseback. The Baron de Breteuil, therefore, in order to make him get into the Coach, was under a Necessity of talking smartly to him; and even to threaten him, that he should make no Entry, nor have any Audience, if he did not subject himself to the Customs establish'd in France. At length the Ambassador capitulated, they split the Difference,

and he consented to ride one half of the way in the Coach, and the other on horseback. I never saw such a Multitude of People as I did at this Entry; the Concourse was really astonishing; for from the first Bar in the Suburb of St. Antoine to the Ambassadors House, there were Scaffolds all along on both sides of the way, full of People. The same Croud of Spectators follow'd him for several days, so that when he went abroad, either to the Bagnio, or to take the Air, he could scarce go along, there were such Throngs of People to gaze at him.