The Ambassador was splendidly entertained by the Duke of Orleans
at St. Cloud, and by the Dauphin at Meudon. A Marshal of France
was charged to do the honours of Marli; and Lewis graciously
expressed his concern that the frosts of an ungenial spring
prevented the fountains and flower beds from appearing to
advantage. On one occasion Portland was distinguished, not only
by being selected to hold the waxlight in the royal bedroom, but
by being invited to go within the balustrade which surrounded the
couch, a magic circle which the most illustrious foreigners had
hitherto found impassable. The Secretary shared largely in the
attentions which were paid to his chief. The Prince of Conde took
pleasure in talking with him on literary subjects. The courtesy
of the aged Bossuet, the glory of the Church of Rome, was long
gratefully remembered by the young heretic. Boileau had the good
sense and good feeling to exchange a friendly greeting with the
aspiring novice who had administered to him a discipline as
severe as he had administered to Quinault. The great King himself
warmly praised Prior's manners and conversation, a circumstance
which will be thought remarkable when it is remembered that His
Majesty was an excellent model and an excellent judge of
gentlemanlike deportment, and that Prior had passed his boyhood
in drawing corks at a tavern, and his early manhood in the
seclusion of a college. The Secretary did not however carry his
politeness so far as to refrain from asserting, on proper
occasions, the dignity of his country and of his master. He
looked coldly on the twenty-one celebrated pictures in which Le
Brun had represented on the coifing of the gallery of Versailles
the exploits of Lewis. When he was sneeringly asked whether
Kensington Palace could boast of such decorations, he answered,