CHAPTER X✦

My Return to Fontainebleau.--A Calumny at Court.--Portrait of M. de La Trappe.--A False Painter.--Fast Living at the “Desert.”--Comte d’Auvergne.--Perfidy of Harlay.--M. de Monaco.--Madame Panache.--The Italian Actor and the “False Prude”.

CHAPTER XI✦

A Scientific Retreat.--The Peace of Ryswick.--Prince of Conti King of Poland.--His Voyage and Reception.--King of England Acknowledged.--Duc de Conde in Burgundy.--Strange Death of Santeuil.--Duties of the Prince of Darmstadt in Spain.--Madame de Maintenon’s Brother.--Extravagant Dresses. Marriage of the Duc de Bourgogne.--The Bedding of the Princesse.--Grand Balls.--A Scandalous Bird.

CHAPTER XII✦

An Odd Marriage.--Black Daughter of the King.--Travels of Peter the Great.--Magnificent English Ambassador.--The Prince of Parma.-- A Dissolute Abbe.--Orondat.--Dispute about Mourning.--M. de Cambrai’s Book Condemned by M. de La Trappe.--Anecdote of the Head of Madame de Montbazon.--Condemnation of Fenelon by the Pope.--His Submission.

CHAPTER XIII✦

Charnace.--An Odd Ejectment.--A Squabble at Cards.--Birth of My Son.-- The Camp at Compiegne.--Splendour of Marechal Boufflers.--Pique of the Ambassadors.--Tesse’s Grey Hat.--A Sham Siege.--A Singular Scene.-- The King and Madame de Maintenon.--An Astonished Officer.-- Breaking-up of the Camp.

CHAPTER XIV✦

Gervaise Monk of La Trappe.----His Disgusting Profligacy.--The Author of the Lord’s Prayer.--A Struggle for Precedence.--Madame de Saint-Simon.-- The End of the Quarrel.--Death of the Chevalier de Coislin.--A Ludicrous Incident.--Death of Racine.--The King and the Poet.--King Pays Debts of Courtiers.--Impudence of M. de Vendome.--A Mysterious Murder.-- Extraordinary Theft.