"Nay, I think not; she is a cold friend, and never asks favours of Louis
for any of her family. A bold game might be played by attaching
yourself to the Duchesse d'Orleans (the Duke's mother). She is at
daggers-drawn with Maintenon, it is true, and she is a violent, haughty,
and coarse woman; but she has wit, talent, strength of mind, and will
zealously serve any person of high birth who pays her respect. But she
can do nothing for you till the king's death, and then only on the
chance of her son's power. But--let me see--you say Fleuri, the Bishop
of Frejus, is to introduce you to Madame de Maintenon?"

"Yes; and has appointed the day after to-morrow for that purpose."

"Well, then, make close friends with him: you will not find it
difficult; he has a delightful address, and if you get hold of his weak
points you may win his confidence. Mark me: Fleuri has no
/faux-brillant/, no genius, indeed, of very prominent order; but he is
one of those soft and smooth minds which, in a crisis like the present,
when parties are contending and princes wrangling, always slip silently
and unobtrusively into one of the best places. Keep in with Frejus: you
cannot do wrong by it; although you must remember that at present he is
in ill odour with the king, and you need not go with /him twice/ to
Versailles. But, above all, when you are introduced to Louis, do not
forget that you cannot please him better than by appearing
awe-stricken."

Such was Bolingbroke's parting advice. The Bishop of Frejus carried me
with him (on the morning we had appointed) to Versailles. What a
magnificent work of royal imagination is that palace! I know not in any
epic a grander idea than terming the avenues which lead to it the roads