a great many People to Beggary. I saw several Knights of St. Lewis at that very time, waiting with Impatience for the Dusk of the Evening, that they might go out, and beg Alms in the public Places. This extreme Misery was attended, as may be easily imagin'd, by Robberies and Murders; so that all this while Paris had a great Resemblance to a Wood. My Apprehension that I should be a Sharer in the common Desolation, engag'd me to pay my Court to Madame with more Assiduity than ever, and I earnestly intreated her to honor me with her Recommendation to the Regent. The Princess return'd me for Answer, That she was resolv'd not to meddle or make; that however I had no reason to be uneasy; that there was no Necessity for her speaking in my Behalf to the Prince her Son, since he was naturally inclined to serve me; but that for the present he was so over-burdened with Affairs and Sollicitations, that I must have patience for a while longer. I made her Answer, That I was very willing to wait as long as her Royal Highness pleas'd; but that I was sadly afraid I was not in a Situation to stay long. Madame reply'd to me, There is a Remedy for all Things: Be you to-morrow at my Closet as soon as I have din'd. I was there punctually according to her Orders, and found her all alone. As soon as she saw me she said, I am a poor Widow that can't do great Matters for you, but I have a mind to oblige you. She then gave me the Key of her Bureau, and bid me open it, and take a Bag out of one Corner of it, in which there was Gold to the Tune of three thousand Livres. I receiv'd it with all the Gratitude possible; and this fresh Token of her Royal Highness's Goodness attach'd me to her more than ever.
The Dukes and Peers at this very time renew'd a Demand which they had already made in the Parliament, touching the Obeisance they expected to be made to them by the first President when he call'd for their Opinion: They also claim'd several Prerogatives over the[55] Nobility, and wanted to establish themselves as a Middle State between the Princes of the Blood and those call'd Gentlemen. The Regent made them Answer, That for his part he had never acknowledg'd more than three Orders, the Clergy, the Nobility, and the third Estate; and that 'twas their Business to choose which Class they would be of, without aiming at a chimerical Establishment which was intirely unprecedented. The Dukes demanded moreover, to be excus'd from drawing their Swords in any Quarrel with a private Gentleman; but the Duke de la Feuillade refus'd to sign this Petition, because he said, He would not be expos'd to an Affront from any Gentleman, and he restrain'd from resenting it.
The Parliament did not vouchsafe to answer the Memorial of the Dukes, and only confirm'd
what the President de Novion had advanc'd, that it was the King's sole Right to determine Claims of that sort, and that therefore they must wait till his Majesty was of Age. The Nobility did not treat the Demand of the Dukes with the same Indifference as the Parliament, and met to consider how they should behave; but there came an Order forbidding them to continue their Assemblies. Yet for all this Prohibition they drew up a Memorial between themselves, which was presented to the King. This Conduct of theirs so disgusted the Court, that several of the Nobles who were known to have the greatest Hand in the Memorial were taken up and committed to the Bastile. The Dukes met at the same time at the House of the Archbishop of Rheims, who was afterwards the Cardinal de Mailly. In fine, the Result of all these Motions on both sides, was a Declaration issued by his Majesty, requiring that every thing should remain in the same State as in the late King's Life-time, without prejudice to the Rights of either Party. A zealous Parliamentarian, who, 'tis like, could not brook that Pretensions so frivolous as that of the Dukes should remain unanswer'd, publish'd a very long Tract to prove, that several of the Dukes were not Gentlemen; and that the Generality of the Members of Parliament were indisputably of better Extraction than those who were grac'd with the Title of Dukes. I question if Henry IV. who very often did the Nobility the Honor to call himself a Gentleman, would have left the Claim of the Dukes undetermin'd.
At this very time the Princes of the Blood presented a Petition to his Majesty against the Legitimated Princes. The former were uneasy to
see the latter in possession of Rank equal to theirs, and pretending to an equal Share with them in the Right of Succession to the Crown; and therefore demanded that the Legitimated Princes, viz. the Duke du Maine and the Count de Toulouse, and their Descendants, should be declar'd to have forfeited the Rank of Princes of the Blood; and that the Act by which the late King declared those Princes capable of succeeding to the Crown, should be struck out of the Registers of the Parliament.
The Legitimated Princes presented a Memorial to the King on their part, whereby they represented to his Majesty, that the Demand of the Princes of the Blood was contrary to his Authority; that the Sovereigns had always the Liberty of granting such Honors as they thought fit, either to the Court or the Parliament; and that moreover, the late King, when he declar'd them Princes of the Blood, did it in the most authentic Manner, the Declaration which gave them that Dignity, being register'd in Parliament, in the Presence, and even with the Advice of the Princes of the Blood, and of the Dukes and Peers.
Several Writings were publish'd at that time on both sides of the Question, to prove the Justice of the Cause which each maintain'd. The Amount of what the Legitimated Princes pleaded was, That Kings were the absolute Dispensers of Favors; and that the Kings who were Lewis XIVth's Predecessors, formerly granted those very Privileges, which they now aim'd to deprive them of, without Opposition. They quoted for Example the Longueville Family, whose Descendants had always the Rank of Princes of the Blood. They also instanc'd in
several Bastards who had succeeded to the Crown, in the first and second Race of the Kings of France; and observ'd, that the Case would have been the same in the third Race, if the same Fact had happen'd.