But Versailles was an unhoped-for shore to such a girl as this,
a girl known to all Paris. Would the King care to be the lover of
one who had ruled all his courtesans? Who could say? The King
often wearied of what he had. Had not a poet already been found
who compared her to Venus:

O Jeanne, thy beauty seduces
And charms the whole world;
In vain does the duchess redden
And the princess growl;
They know that Venus rides proudly
The foam of the wave.

The poet, while not Voltaire, was no less a man than Bouffiers.

While the King was seeking a mistress--a nocturnal reverse of
Diogenes, fleeing from the lanterns of the wise--he found Jeanne
Vaubernier. He thought he could love her for one evening. "Not
enough," said she, "you must love me until broad daylight." So
he loved her for a whole day. What should one eat in order to be
loved by royalty? Was it necessary to have a coat of arms? She
had them in number, because she had been loved by all the great
names in the book of heraldry. And so she begged the Viscount
Jean du Barry to give her the title of viscountess. "Better still,"
exclaimed Jean, "I will give you the title of countess. My brother
will marry you; he is a male scamp, and you are the female. What
a beautiful marriage!"

So they were united. The newly made countess was solemnly
presented at court by a countess of an ancient date, namely, the