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THE MEMOIRS OF MARIE ANTOINETTE - V2
THE MEMOIRS OF MARIE ANTOINETTE - V2 MADAME CAMPAN [NOTE: There is a short list of bookmarks or pointers at the end of the
file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an
entire meal of them. D.W.]
MEMOIRS OF THE COURT OF MARIE ANTOINETTE QUEEN OF FRANCE
Being the Historic Memoirs of Madam Campan
First Lady in Waiting to the Queen
BOOK 2.
CHAPTER I.
I was fifteen years of age when I was appointed reader to Mesdames.
I will begin by describing the Court at that period.
Maria Leczinska was just dead; the death of the Dauphin had preceded hers
by three years; the Jesuits were suppressed and piety was to be found at
Court only in the apartments of Mesdames. The Duc de Choiseuil ruled.
Etiquette still existed at Court with all the forms it had acquired under
Louis XIV.; dignity alone was wanting. As to gaiety there was none.
Versailles was not the place at which to seek for assemblies where French
spirit and grace were displayed. The focus of wit and intelligence was
Paris.
The King thought of nothing but the pleasures of the chase: it might have
been imagined that the courtiers indulged themselves in making epigrams
by hearing them say seriously on those days when the King did not hunt
"The King does nothing to-day."--[In sporting usance (see SOULAIRE p.
316).]
The arrangement beforehand of his movements was also a matter of great
importance with Louis XV. On the first day of the year he noted down in
his almanac the days of departure for Compiegne Fontainebleau Choisy
etc. The weightiest matters the most serious events never deranged
this distribution of his time.
Since the death of the Marquise de Pompadour the King had no titled
mistress; he contented himself with his seraglio in the Parc-aux-Cerfs.
It is well known that the monarch found the separation of Louis de
Bourbon from the King of France the most animating feature of his royal
existence. "They would have it so; they thought it for the best" was
his way of expressing himself when the measures of his ministers were
unsuccessful. The King delighted to manage the most disgraceful points
of his private expenses himself; he one day sold to a head clerk in the
War Department a house in which one of his mistresses had lodged; the
contract ran in the name of Louis de Bourbon and the purchaser himself
took in a bag the price of the house in gold to the King in his private
closet.
[Until recently little was known about the Parc-aux-Cerfs and it
was believed that a great number of young women had been maintained
there at enormous expense. The investigations of M. J. A. Le Roi
given in his interesting work "Curiosites Historiques sur Louis
XIII. Louis XIV. Louis XV." etc. Paris Plon 1864 have thrown
fresh light upon the matter. The result he arrives at (see page 229
of his work) is that the house in question (No. 4 Rue St. Mederic
on the site of the Pare-aux-Cerfs or breeding-place for deer of
Louis XIII) was very small and could have held only one girl the
woman in charge of her and a servant. Most of the girls left it
only when about to be confined and it sometimes stood vacant for
five or six months. It may have been rented before the date of
purchase and other houses seem sometimes to have been used also;
but in any case it is evident that both the number of girls and the
expense incurred have been absurdly exaggerated. The system
flourished under Madame de Pompadour but ceased as soon as Madame
du Barry obtained full power over the King and the house was then
sold to M. J. B. Sevin for 16000 livres on 27th May 1771 Louis
not acting under the name of Louis de Bourbon but as King--"Vente
par le Roi notre Sire." In 1755 he had also been declared its
purchaser in a similar manner. Thus Madame Campan is in error in
saying that the King made the contract as Louis de Bourbon.]--[And
it also possible that Madam Campan was correct and that the house
she refers to as sold for a "bag of gold" was another of the several
of the seraglio establishments of Louis XV. D.W.]
Louis XV. saw very little of his family. He came every morning by a
private staircase into the apartment of Madame Adelaide.
[Louis XV. seemed to feel for Madame Adelaide the tenderness he had
had for the Duchesse de Bourgogne his mother who perished so
suddenly under the eyes and almost in the arms of Louis XIV. The
birth of Madame Adelaide 23d March 1732 was followed by that of
Madame Victoire Louise Marie Therese on the 11th May 1733. Louis
had besides six daughters: Mesdames Sophie and Louise who are
mentioned in this chapter; the Princesses Marie and Felicite who
died young; Madame Henriette died at Versailles in 1752 aged
twenty-four; and finally Madame the Duchess of Parma who also died
at the Court.]
He often brought and drank there coffee that he had made himself. Madame
Adelaide pulled a bell which apprised Madame Victoire of the King's
visit; Madame Victoire on rising to go to her sister's apartment rang
for Madame Sophie who in her turn rang for Madame Louise. The
apartments of Mesdames were of very large dimensions. Madame Louise
occupied the farthest room. This latter lady was deformed and very
short; the poor Princess used to run with all her might to join the daily
meeting but having a number of rooms to cross she frequently in spite
of her haste had only just time to embrace her father before he set out
for the chase.
Every evening at six Mesdames interrupted my reading to them to
accompany the princes to Louis XV.; this visit was called the King's
'debotter'--[Debotter meaning the time of unbooting.]-- and was marked
by a kind of etiquette. Mesdames put on an enormous hoop which set out
a petticoat ornamented with gold or embroidery; they fastened a long
train round their waists and concealed the undress of the rest of their
clothing by a long cloak of black taffety which enveloped them up to the
chin. The chevaliers d'honneur the ladies in waiting the pages the
equerries and the ushers bearing large flambeaux accompanied them to
the King. In a moment the whole palace generally so still was in
motion; the King kissed each Princess on the forehead and the visit was
so short that the reading which it interrupted was frequently resumed at
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