



Produced by David Widger





          MEMOIRS OF LOUIS XIV AND HIS COURT AND OF THE REGENCY

                        BY THE DUKE OF SAINT-SIMON



VOLUME 14




CHAPTER CV

For a long time a species of war had been declared between the King of
England and his son, the Prince of Wales, which had caused much scandal;
and which had enlisted the Court on one side, and made much stir in the
Parliament.  George had more than once broken out with indecency against
his son; he had long since driven him from the palace, and would not see
him.  He had so cut down his income that he could scarcely subsist.  The
father never could endure this son, because he did not believe him to be
his own.  He had more than suspected the Duchess, his wife, to be in
relations with Count Konigsmarck.  He surprised him one morning leaving
her chamber; threw him into a hot oven, and shut up his wife in a chateau
for the rest of her days.  The Prince of Wales, who found himself ill-
treated for a cause of which he was personally innocent, had always borne
with impatience the presence of his mother and the aversion of his
father.  The Princess of Wales, who had much sense, intelligence, grace,
and art, had softened things as much as possible; and the King was unable
to refuse her his esteem, or avoid loving her.  She had conciliated all
England; and her Court, always large, boasted of the presence of the most
accredited and the most distinguished persons.  The Prince of Wales
feeling his strength, no longer studied his father, and blamed the
ministers with words that at least alarmed them.  They feared the credit
of the Princess of Wales; feared lest they should be attacked by the
Parliament, which often indulges in this pleasure.  These considerations
became more and more pressing as they discovered what was brewing against
them; plans such as would necessarily have rebounded upon the King.  They
communicated their fears to him, and indeed tried to make it up with his
son, on certain conditions, through the medium of the Princess of Wales,
who, on her side, felt all the consciousness of sustaining a party
against the King, and who always had sincerely desired peace in the royal
family.  She profited by this conjuncture; made use of the ascendency she
had over her husband, and the reconciliation was concluded.  The King
gave a large sum to the Prince of Wales, and consented to see him.  The
ministers were saved, and all appeared forgotten.

The excess to which things had been carried between father and son had
not only kept the entire nation attentive to the intestine disorders
ready to arise, but had made a great stir all over Europe; each power
tried to blow this fire into a blaze, or to stifle it according as
interest suggested.  The Archbishop of Cambrai, whom I shall continue to
call the Abbe Dubois, was just then very anxiously looking out for his
cardinal's hat, which he was to obtain through the favour of England,
acting upon that of the Emperor with the Court of Rome.  Dubois,
overjoyed at the reconciliation which had taken place, wished to show
this in a striking manner, in order to pay his court to the King of
England.  He named, therefore, the Duc de la Force to go to England, and
compliment King George on the happy event that had occurred.

The demonstration of joy that had been resolved on in France was soon
known in England.  George, annoyed by the stir that his domestic
squabbles had made throughout all Europe, did not wish to see it
prolonged by the sensation that this solemn envoy would cause.  He begged
the Regent, therefore, not to send him one.  As the scheme had been
determined on only order to please him, the journey of the Duc de la
Force was abandoned almost as soon as declared.  Dubois had the double
credit, with the King of England, of having arranged this demonstration
of joy, and of giving it up; in both cases solely for the purpose of
pleasing his Britannic Majesty.

Towards the end of this year, 1720, the Duc de Brissac married Mlle.
Pecoil, a very rich heiress, whose father was a'maitre des requetes',
and whose mother was daughter of Le Gendre, a very wealthy merchant of
Rouen.  The father of Mlle. Pecoil was a citizen of Lyons, a wholesale
dealer, and extremely avaricious.  He had a large iron safe, or strong-
box, filled with money, in a cellar, shut in by an iron door, with a
secret lock, and to arrive at which other doors had to be passed through.
He disappeared so long one day, that his wife and two or three valets or
servants that he had sought him everywhere.  They well knew that he had a
hiding-place, because they had sometimes seen him descending into his
cellar, flat-candlestick in hand, but no one had ever dared to follow
him.

Wondering what had become of him, they descended to the cellar, broke
open the doors, and found at last the iron one.  They were obliged to
send for workmen to break it open, by attacking the wall in which it was
fixed.  After much labour they entered, and found the old miser dead in
his strong-box, the secret spring of which he had apparently not been
able to find, after having locked himself in; a horrible end in every
respect.

The Brissacs have not been very particular in their alliances for some
time, and yet appear no richer.  The gold flies away; the dross remains.

I had almost forgotten to say that in the last day of this year, 1720, a
Prince of Wales was born at Rome.

The Prince was immediately baptised by the Bishop; of Montefiascone, and
named Charles.  The event caused a great stir in the Holy City.  The Pope
sent his compliments to their Britannic Majesties, and forwarded to the
King of England (the Pretender) 10,000 Roman crowns, gave him, for his
life, a country house at Albano, which until then, he had only lent him,
and 2000 crowns to furnish it.  A Te Deum was sung in the chapel of the
Pope, in his presence, and there were rejoicings at Rome.  When the Queen
of England was able to see company, Cardinal Tanora came in state, as
representative of the Sacred College, to congratulate her.

The birth of the Prince also made much stir at the Court of England, and
among the priests and Jacobites of that country.  For very different
reasons, not only the Catholics and Protestants, enemies of the
government, were ravished at it, but nearly all the three realms showed
as much joy as they dared; not from any attachment to the dethroned
house, but for the satisfaction of seeing a line continue with which they
could always menace and oppose their kings and the royal family.


[Illustration: Jacobites Drinking To The Pretender--Painted by F. Willems--1208]


In France we were afraid to show any public feeling upon the event.  We
were too much in the hands of England; the Regent and Dubois too much the
humble servants of the house of Hanover; Dubois especially, waiting, as
he was, so anxiously for his cardinal's hat.  He did not, as will be
seen, have to wait much longer.

The new Pope had given, in writing, a promise to Dubois, that if elected
to the chair of St. Peter he would make him cardinal.  Time had flown,
and the promise was not yet