"Yes, the stuff is very beautiful, but it is put to an unworthy use."
"That is what everybody says of me," retorted the Duchess.

At Fontainebleau in the Queen's cabinet may be seen the portrait of La
Belle Terronniere, who was so much beloved by Francois I., and who was
the unwitting cause of his death.

I have often walked at night in the gallery at Fontainebleau where the
King's ghost is said to appear, but the good Francois I. never did me
the honour to show himself. Perhaps it was because he thought my prayers
were not efficacious enough to draw him from purgatory, and in this I
think he was quite right.

King James II. died with great firmness and resolution, and without any
bigotry; that is to say, very differently from the manner in which he had
lived. I saw and spoke to him four-and-twenty hours before his death.
"I hope," I said, "soon to hear of your Majesty's getting better." He
smiled and said, "If I should die, shall I not have lived long enough?"

I hardly know how to rejoice at the accession of our Prince George to the
Throne of England, for I have no confidence in the English people. I
remember still too well the fine speeches which were made here not long
ago by Lord Peterborough. I would rather that our Elector was Emperor of
Germany, and I wish that the King who is here (James II.) was again in
possession of England, because the kingdom belongs to him. I fear that
the inconstancy of the English will in the end produce some scheme which
may be injurious to us. Perhaps there was never in any nation a King who
had been crowned with more eclat, or tumultuous joy than James II.; and
yet the same nation since persecuted him in the most pitiless manner, and
has so tormented his innocent son that he can scarcely find an asylum