There is no state on earth, madame, that does not have its troubles; your good mind, your courage, and your blood have always diminished yours. Our Maréchal de Villeroy scarcely ever sees me now; but he does me kindnesses every day of his life. He is the refuge of the miserable. You would be satisfied with the public opinion of his merit; I know men who do not like him who, nevertheless, cannot help admitting that he makes a noble personage.
Believe me, madame, that I can never forget the marks of your goodness to me, and that I shall die with the same attachment as ever to you.
[Mme. de Maintenon died at Saint-Cyr, April 15, 1719, in the eighty-fifth year of her age.]
INDEX.
Berry (Charles, Duc de), [62], [210], [314].
Berry (Marie Louise Élisabeth, Duchesse de), [57], [77], [80], [116], [117], [118], [120], [122], [144], [146], [147], [148], [314], [318].
Bissy (Cardinal de), [84].
Bourgogne (Louis, Duc de), [86], [308], [313].
Bourgogne (Marie-Adélaïde de Savoie, Duchesse de), [170], [172];
Sainte-Beuve’s introduction to her letters, [182]-[190];
letter of Louis XIV., describing her, [183], [184];
her appearance, [186];
she came of the race of the great, [186];
her letters, [187];
her levity, [187];
corrects herself, [187], [188];
did she have weaknesses of the heart? [188], [189];
her serious good qualities, [189];
mistaken charge of treachery, [189], [190];
description of her letters, [191];
arrival in France and first letter to her grandmother, [192];
letters from 1696 to 1712, [192]-[214];
her bad writing, [193], [194];
at the camp of Compiègne, [194];
letter to her father, [196];
to her grandmother, [197], [198];
to her mother, [198]-[200];
birth and death of her first child, [201];
grief at war between France and Savoie, [202];
letter to Mme. de Maintenon accepting rebuke, [204];
failing health, [204];
the Meudon cabal, [206];
letter concerning her from Duc de Bourgogne, [206];
letter to her father, [207];
the terrible winter, [208];
anxieties about the war, [209];
birth of the Duc d’Anjou (Louis XV.), [210];
marriage of Duc de Berry, [210];
letter to her father, [211];
disapproval of her father’s course, [212];
hopes of peace, [213];
failing health, [214];
death, [215];
Sainte-Beuve asserts she is only rightly known in the letters of Mme. de Maintenon and the Princesse des Ursins, [234];
her knowledge of all kinds of manual work, [284];
her thoughtlessness, [284];
her sweet docility, [294];
references to her in the letters of Mme. de Maintenon to the Princesse des Ursins, [308]-[320].
Brinon (Mme. de), [235], [238].
Buonaparte (Marie Anne de), [233], [234].
Buonaparte (Napoléon de), [233], [234].
Cellamare (Prince), Spanish ambassador, [136].
Chamilly (Marquis de), [68].
Chelles (Louise-Adélaïde d’Orléans, Abbess of), [131], [148]-[150].
Clérembault (La Maréchale de), [181], [303].
Conti (François-Louis, Prince de), [44].
Conti (Marie-Anne, Princesse de), [46], [47], [94], [314].
Currency, inflation of the, [126].
Dauphine (Marie-Anne-Victoire de Bavière, Mme. la), [95], [96].
Denmark (Frederick IV., King of), [90].
Descartes (René), [164].
Duc (M. le), de Bourbon, [152].
Duchesse (Louise de Bourbon, Mme. la), [82], [83], [94], [152], [170].
England (James II., King of), [39], [50], [66].
England (Marie of Modena, Queen of), [50], [90], [91], [121], [122].
England (William III., King of), [41], [42], [45].
England (George I., King of), [66], [67], [79], [112], [114], [115], [116], [117], [152].
Eugène (François-Eugène de Savoie-Carignan, called Prince), [99], [100].
Fagon (Louis XIV.’s physician), [104], [260].
Fénelon (Archbishop of Cambrai), [68], [223], [232], [320].
Fontaines (Mme. de), [235], [245], [254], [264].
Glapion (Mme. de), [224], [225], [235], [300]-[308], [309].
Gobelin (the Abbé de), [236], [243].
Guise (Élisabeth d’Orléans, Duchesse de), [41].
Hanover (Sophia, Electress of), [62].
La Chaise (Père de), [91].
Law (John), [127], [145], [146], [151], [152], [156], [157], [158], [159].
Leibnitz (Gottfried Wilhelm), [79], [164].
Lorraine (Duc de), [113], [114].
Lorraine (Élisabeth-Charlotte, Duchesse de), [42], [45], [113], [114], [115], [117], [119], [120], [180].
Lorraine (The Chevalier de), [85].
Longueville (Mme. de), [125], [126].
Louis XIV., [46], [49], [51], [54], [57], [58], [65], [70]-[72], [73], [74], [75], [76], [81], [83], [88], [91], [92], [103], [107], [110], [124], [153], [154], [160], [161], [162], [183]-[185], [217], [218], [221], [230], [231], [237], [238], [239], [267], [284], [285], [286], [290], [291], [298], [299], [301]-[308], [309], [320].
Louis XV., [73], [74], [82], [100], [103], [180], [210].
Louvois (François-Michel le Tellier, Marquis de), [165], [282].
Madame (Élisabeth-Charlotte, Princess Palatine and Duchesse d’Orléans), too old on coming to France to change her character, [41];
accident in hunting, [43];
sentiments on marriage, [43], [44];
why she lived a solitary life, [45];
prophesies the war of the Spanish succession, [46];
letter to Mme. de Maintenon, [47];
Monsieur’s death, [48], [49];
her views of the Bible, [50], [51];
of Christianity, [52], [53];
the poverty of the people, [56], [58];
allusion to deaths of Duc and Duchesse de Bourgogne, [61];
her daily routine of life, [64], [65];
her portrait by Rigaud, [70];
collection of coins and medals, [55], [70];
grief at illness and death of Louis XIV., [70]-[72];
dislike to Paris, [72], [73], [74];
judgment on the king, [74];
determined not to meddle in affairs of State, [75];
the king’s death, [75], [76];
his will, [76];
no longer at Court, [77];
had won her husband’s regard, [85];
horror at her son’s marriage, [85];
“sister-pacificator,” [89];
her medals, [98]-[100];
her French spelling, [101];
why she would not interfere in State affairs, [106];
a German woman, [107];
prays for her son, [109];
asserts her ugliness, [118];
hatred of tobacco, [118], [119];
how she brought up her daughter, [120];
love for Saint-Cloud, [125];
anxiety about the regent, [131];
deplorable condition of the country, [133], [134];
recounts the distinguished talent she has known in France, [134];
her title of Madame, [143];
goes to installation of Abbess of Chelles, [148]-[150];
love for her illegitimate grandson, [151];
her roguishness as a child, [152];
rebuke to the Abbé Dubois, [154];
no state at Court, [156], [157];
her illness, [159];
her course of life after Monsieur’s death, [160];
reconciled by the king with Mme. de Maintenon, [161];
regard and interest for Louise de La Vallière, [162], [163];
nothing so wearisome as a sermon, [163];
her Bibles, [164];
her novel-reading, [165];
her failing health, [172], [173];
horror at the depravity of Paris, [174], [175];
increasing illness, [179];
goes to the coronation of Louis XV., [180];
her last letter, and death, [181].
Madame (Henrietta of England), [165], [166], [167].
Maine (Louis-Auguste, Duc de), [90], [100], [103], [126], [129], [133], [134], [138], [139], [177], [178], [268], [269], [274].
Maine (Anne-Louise-Benedicité de Bourbon-Condé, Duchesse de), [127], [130], [132], [133], [135], [138], [139], [177].
Maintenon (Françoise d’Aubigné, Mme. de), [47], [48], [57], [59], [70], [71], [72], [74], [75], [78], [82], [83], [87], [91], [103], [104], [105], [122], [124], [132], [133], [140], [182], [186], [192], [204];
Sainte-Beuve’s essay on her and on Saint-Cyr, [216]-[234];
portrait of her by a Dame de Saint-Cyr, [218];
her art of government, [219];
her ideal in Saint-Cyr, [226];
her precepts, [227]-[230];
happy only at Saint-Cyr, [231], [232];
her unconscious prediction verified, [233];
treated as a queen at last, [234];
letters to the Dames de Saint-Cyr and others, [236]-[267];
conversations and instructions addressed to the mistresses and pupils of Saint-Cyr, [268]-[299];
herself and Mme. de Montespan, [276];
and Mlle. de Fontanges, [277];
her description of her life at Court, [300]-[308];
letters to the Duc de Noailles, [308];
to the Princesse des Ursins, [308]-[310], [321];
to Mme. de Glapion, [309];
to Mme. de Dangeau, [310];
to the Duc de Beauvilliers, [320];
death of Louis XIV., [320];
her death, [321].
Maisonfort (Mme. de La), [223], [224].
Marie-Thérèse (The Infanta), wife of Louis XIV., [154]-[156].
Mazarin (Cardinal de), [78].
Monseigneur (Louis, Dauphin), [59]-[61], [94], [95], [183], [302].
Monsieur (Philippe, Duc d’Orléans), [47], [48], [57], [81], [82], [85], [89], [90], [97], [98], [160], [166], [167], [183].
Montespan (Mme. de), [124], [276].
Montpensier (Louise-Élisabeth d’Orléans, Mlle. de), Queen of Spain, [176], [178].
Nangis (Général de), [87].
Nassau (Comte de), [40].
Noailles (Cardinal de), [83], [84].
Noailles (Duc de), [308].
Orléans (Philippe Duc d’), Regent, [49], [54], [55], [60], [61], [68], [70], [72], [73], [74], [76], [76]-[81], [82], [87], [88], [89], [101], [102], [103], [108], [109], [110], [125], [126], [128], [131], [135], [137], [140], [147], [148], [154]-[157], [170], [173], [180], [312].
Orléans (Françoise de Bourbon, Duchesse d’), [79], [80], [86], [88], [119], [120], [134], [135], [140], [154], [156].
Palatinate (The), [40], [41].
Pérou (Mme. du), mistress at Saint-Cyr, [235], [242], [253], [256], [257], [261], [263].
Peterborough (Charles Mordaunt, Earl of), [65], [66], [169].
Polignac (Cardinal de), [84], [139].
Portsmouth (Duchess of), [69].
Pretender (The), James, “Chevalier de St. George,” [78], [79], [90].
Racine (Jean), [222], [223], [224], [232].
Regent (see Orléans, Philippe, Duc d’).
Retz (Jean-Francois Paul de Gondi, Cardinal de), [165].
Richelieu (Armand Jean Duplessis, Cardinal de), [87].
Richelieu (Louis-François-Armand Duplessis, Duc de), [141], [142], [144], [145].
Russia (Peter the Great, Czar of), [104], [130], [131].
Saint-Albin (The Abbé de), [150], [151], [177].
Sainte-Beuve (Charles-Augustin), his introduction to Madame’s correspondence, [1]-[33];
to the Duchesse de Bourgogne’s letters, [182]-[190];
essay on Mme. de Maintenon at Saint-Cyr, [216]-[234].
Saint-Cyr (The Institution of), Sainte-Beuve’s essay on it, [216]-[234];
its completed idea, [217], [218];
its foundation, [221];
first and tentative years, [222];
changes and permanent establishment, [224]-[230];
its existence after Mme. de Maintenon’s death and its final destruction, [233], [234];
Saint-Cyr, an episode in Mme. de Maintenon’s life, [234];
system and arrangement of classes, [235];
letters, conversations, and instructions of Mme. de Maintenon relating to it, [236]-[299].
Saint-François de Sales, [174].
Saint-Simon (Louis de Rouvroy, Duc de), [116], [173], [185], [186].
Savoie (Vittorio Amadeo, Duc de), [182], [190], [191], [196], [197], [202], [207].
Savoie (Anne-Marie d’Orléans, Duchesse de), [191], [198]-[200].
Savoie (Jeanne de Nemours, Duchesse de), [192]-[196].
Siam (The King of), [55].
Soissons (The Comtesse de), [99], [118].
Spain (Marie-Louise d’Orléans, Queen of), [40], [41], [46], [178].
Spain (Marie-Louise de Savoie, Queen of), [49], [82], [170].
Stair (Earl of), [79], [132], [133].
Sweden (Christina, Queen of), [110], [111].
Torcy (J. B. Colbert, Marquis de), [92], [102], [175].
Translator’s Note, [35]-[38].
Ursins (Anne de la Trémouille, Princesse des), [67], [68], [69], [70], [134], [136], [310]-[321].
Vallière (Louise, Marquise de La), [162], [163], [314].
Valois (Charlotte-Aglaé d’Orléans, Mlle. de), [131].
Villars (Maréchal de), [98], [99].
Villeroy (Maréchal de), [321].
Wales (The Prince of), son of George I., [112], [113], [117].
Wales (Wilhelmina-Charlotte, Princess of), [67], [108], [112], [113], [115], [123].