e
had known in the whole course of her life, which the others could not.
She used frequently to talk German with me, which she knew very well; and
she told me all her adventures. I asked her how she could accustom
herself to the monastic life. She laughed and said, "I never speak to
the nuns but to give orders." She had a deaf nun with her in her own
chamber, that she might not feel any desire to speak. She told me that
she had always been fond of a country life, and that she still could
fancy herself a country girl. "But," I asked her, "how do you like
getting up and going to church in the middle of the night?" She replied
that she did as the painters do, who increase the splendour of their
light by the introduction of deep shadows. She had in general the
faculty of giving to all things a turn which deprived them of their
absurdity.

I have often heard M. Bernstorff spoken of by a person who was formerly
very agreeable to him; I mean the Duchess of Mecklenbourg, the Duc de
Luxembourg's sister. She praised his talents very highly, and assured me
that it was she who gave him to the Duke George William.

The wife of the Marechal de Villars is running after the Comte de
Toulouse. My son is also in her good graces, and is not a whit more
discreet. Marechal de Villars came one day to see me; and, as he
pretends to understand medals, he asked to see mine. Baudelot, who is a
very honest and clever man, and in whose keeping they are, was desired to
show them; he is not the most cautious man in the world, and is very
little acquainted with what is going on at Court. He had written a
dissertation upon one of my medals, in which he proved, against the
opinion of other learned men, that the horned head which it displayed was
that of Pan and not of Jupiter Ammon. Honest Baudelot, to display his
erudition, said to the Marshal, "Ah, Monseigneur, this is one of the
finest medals that Madame possesses: it is the triumph of Cornificius; he
has, you see, all sorts of horns. He was like you, sir, a great general;
he wears the horns of Juno and Faunus. Cornificius was, as you probably
well know, sir, a very able general." Here I interrupted him. "Let us
pass on," I said, "to the other medal; if you stop in this manner at
each, you will not have time to show the whole."

But he, full of his subject, returned to it. "Ah, Madame," he went on,
"this is worthy of more attention than perhaps any other; Cornificius is,
indeed,