and I verily believe, asked himself several times whether he dared
appear before his prince with one whom he was falsely asserting
to be his sister-in-law. However these thoughts might or might
not have disturbed him, we proceeded onwards till we reached the
apartment where our invited friends were expecting us; and here
I will, with the reader's permission, digress awhile, in order to
say a few introductory words respecting the four personages with
whom I had the honor of supping.

And first, Louis XVth, king of France (or as he was upon the
present occasion styled the baron de Gonesse), was one of those
sentimental egotists who believed he loved the whole world, his
subjects, and his family; while in reality, the sole engrossing
object was . Gifted with many personal and intellectual
endowments, which might have disputed the palm with the most
lively and engaging personages of the court, he was yet devoured
by ennui, and of this he was well aware, but his mind was made up
to meet this ennui, as one of the necessary accompaniments of
royalty. Devoid of taste in literary matters, he despised all
connected with the , and esteemed men only in
proportion to the number and richness of their armorial bearings.
M. de Voltaire ranked him beneath the lowest country-squire; and
the very mention of a man of letters was terrifying to his
imagination from its disturbing the current of his own ideas; he
revelled in the plenitude of power, yet felt dissatisfied with the
mere title of king. He ardently desired to signalize himself as
the first general of the age, and prevented from obtaining this (in
his opinion) highest of honors, entertained the utmost jealousy of
Frederick II, and spoke with undisguised spleen and ill-humor of
the exploits of his brother of Prussia.