was
impossible to be dull with her for a moment. I observed to him that the
Queen in her conversation frequently indulged in very filthy discussions.
"That is true," replied he, "but she conceals such things in so artful a
manner as to take from them all their disgusting features." She never
could be agreeable to women, for she despised them altogether.

Saint Francois de Sales, who founded the order of the Sisters of Saint
Mary, had in his youth been extremely intimate with the Marechal de
Villeroi, the father of the present Marshal. The old gentleman could
therefore never bring himself to call his old friend a saint. When any
one spoke in his presence of Saint Francois de Sales, he used to say, "I
was delighted when I saw M. de Sales become a saint; he used to delight
in talking indecently, and always cheated at play; but in every other
respect he was one of the best gentlemen in the world, and perhaps one of
the most foolish."

M. de Cosnac, Archbishop of Aix, was at a very advanced age when he
learnt that Saint Francois de Sales had been canonized. "What!"
cried he, "M. de Geneve, my old friend? I am delighted at his good
fortune; he was a gallant man, an amiable man, and an honest man,
too, although he would sometimes cheat at piquet, at which we have
often played together."--"But, sir," said some one present, "is it
possible that a saint could be a sharper at play?"--"No," replied
the Archbishop, "he said, as a reason for it, that he gave all his
winnings to the poor." [Loisirs d'un homme d'etat, et Dictionnaire
Historique, tom. vii. Paris, 1810.]

While Frederick Charles de Wurtemberg, the administrateur of that duchy,
was staying at Paris, the Princesse Marianne de Wurtemberg, Duke Ulric's
daughter, was there also with her mother. Expecting then to marry her
cousin,

[The learned Journal of Gottengin for the year 1789, No. 30,
observes there must be some mistake here, because in 1689, when this
circumstance is supposed to have occurred, the administrateur had
been married seven years, and had children at Stuttgard.]

she had herself painted as Andromeda and her cousin as Perseus as the
latter wore no helmet, everybody could of course recognize him. But when
he went away without having married her, she had a casque painted, which
concealed the face, and said she would not have another face inserted
until she should be married.