[78] "Vie privée de Louis XV." London, 1781.
[79] "Mémoires de M. le Baron de Bezenval," vol. i. p. 204.
[80] Although Carlyle has recently thrown a doubt on this anecdote, it is too well established as an historical fact for even that writer absolutely to demolish it.
[81] The sources whence I have drawn the above hasty sketch of Paris in the eighteenth century are—Duclos, Mémoires Secrets—Marmontel, Mémoires—Soulavie, Mémoires de Richelieu—Soulavie, Décadence de la Monarchie Française—Madame du Hausset, Mémoires—Madame de Campan, Mémoires—Bezenval, Mémoires—Dumouriez, Mémoires—Casanova, Mémoires—Vie privée de Louis XV.—Les fastes de Louis XV.—Voltaire, Siècle de Louis XV.—Mémoires Historiques et Anecdotales de la Cour de France—Chesterfield's Letters—Mercier, Tableau de Paris—Lacretelle, Histoire de la France pendant le XVIII. Siècle—Barbier, Journal du Règne de Louis XV.
[82] "Denkwürdigkeiten des Barons von Gleichen," p. 49.
[83] "Annual Register, 1768."
[84] "Memoirs of an Unfortunate Queen."
[85] An amusing counterpart to this had occurred during Christian's stay in London. One day, when his coach drove up to the door of his residence, a fine-looking girl burst through the double line of attendants, caught the King of Denmark in her arms, and, kissing him heartily, said, "Now kill me if you please, I can die contented, since I have kissed the prettiest fellow in the world." The king, far from being offended, gently liberated himself from her embrace, and ran, laughing and skipping, up-stairs.
[86] Written by l'Abbé de Beau de Voisenon, and to be found in the "Almanach des Muses" for 1769.
[87] "Authentische Aufklärungen," pp. 25, 26.