the chapel, for half an hour in my parlour, and I ascended into my
carriage, almost in his presence, without deigning either to see or
salute him.

The mother of four legitimised princes was not made to support such
outrages, nor to have interviews with their insolent authors.

Alarms, anxieties of consciences, weak but virtuous, have always found me
gentle, and almost resigned; the false scruples of hypocrites and
libertines will never receive from me aught but disdain and contempt.




CHAPTER XLII.

The Verse of Berenice.--Praises of Boileau.--The King's Aversion to
Satirical Writers.--The Painter Le Brun.--His Bacchus.--The
Waterbottle.--The Pyramid of Jean Chatel Injurious to the Jesuits.--They
Solicit Its Demolition.--Madame de Maintenon's Opposition.--Political
Views of Henri IV. on This Matter.--The Jesuits of Paris Proclaim the
Dedication of Their College to Louis the Great.--The Gold Pieces.


Whatever be the issue of a liaison which cannot probably be eternal, I
have too much judgment and equity to deny the King the great talents
which are his by nature, or to dispute the surname of Great which has
been given him in his lifetime, and which the ages to come must surely
preserve. But here I am writing secret Memoirs, where I set down, as in
a mirror, the most minute traits of the personages whom I bring on the