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Memoirs of Louis XIV and His Court and of the Regency — Volume 04 by duchesse d' Charlotte-Elisabeth Orleans
page 43 of 72 (59%)
Her husband, Louis-Henri, Chevalier de Soissons, was very ugly, having a
very long hooked nose, and eyes extremely close to it. He was as yellow
as saffron; his mouth was extremely small for a man, and full of bad
teeth of a most villanous odour; his legs were ugly and clumsy; his
knees and feet turned inwards, which made him look when he was walking
like a parrot; and his manner of making a bow was bad. He was rather
short than otherwise; but he had fine hair and a large quantity of it.
He was rather good-looking when a child. I have seen portraits of him
painted at that period. If the Comtesse de Soissons' son had resembled
his mother, he would have been very well, for her features are good, and
nothing could be better than her, eyes, her mouth, and the turn of her
face; only her nose was too large and thick, and her skin was not fine
enough.

Whoever is like the Prince Eugene in person cannot be called a handsome
man; he is shorter than his elder brother, but, with the exception of
Prince Eugene, all the rest of them are good for nothing. The youngest,
Prince Philippe, was a great madman, and died of the small-pox at Paris.
He was of a very fair complexion, had an ungraceful manner, and always
looked distracted. He had a nose like a hawk, a large mouth, thick lips,
and hollow cheeks; in all respects I thought he was like his elder
brother. The third brother, who was called the Chevalier de Savoie, died
in consequence of a fall from his horse. The Prince Eugene was a younger
brother: he had two sisters, who were equally ugly; one of them is dead,
and the other is still living (1717) in a convent in Savoy. The elder
was of a monstrous shape, but a mere dwarf. She led a very irregular
life. She afterwards ran away with a rogue, the Abbe de la Bourlie, whom
she obliged to marry her at Geneva; they used to beat each other. She is
now dead.

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