ly at Versailles until the
death of the King, and obtained the most intimate acquaintance with
what he terms the mechanics of the court. He had many grievances
against Louis XIV., chief among them the insult shown to the nobility
in the King's legitimatising his natural offspring; and he justly
regarded Madame de Maintenon as his enemy.

The death of the Duc de Bourgogne, to whose party he belonged, was
a blow to Saint-Simon's hopes; but the Regent remained his friend.
He helped, on a diplomatic mission to Spain, to negotiate the marriage
of Louis XV.; yet still was on fire with indignation caused by the
wrongs of the dukes and peers, whom he regarded as entitled on
historical grounds to form the great council of the monarchy, and
almost as rightful partners in the supreme power. His political life
closed in 1723 with the death of the Regent. He lived in retirement
at his chateau of La Ferte-Vidame, sorrowfully surviving his wife
and his sons. In Paris, at the age of eighty (1755), Saint-Simon died.

When nineteen years old, reading Bassompierre's _Memoires_ in a
soldier's hour of leisure, he conceived the idea of recording his
own experiences, and the _Memoires_ of Saint-Simon were begun. During
later years, in the camp or at the court, notes accumulated in his
hands, but the definitive form which they took was not determined
until, in his retirement at La Ferte-Vidame, the _Journal_ of Dangeau
came into his hands. Dangeau's _Journal_ is dry, colourless,
passionless, without insight and without art; but it is a
well-informed and an exact chronicle, extending over the years from
1684 to 1720. Saint-Simon found it "d'une fadeur a faire vomir"; its
servility towards the King and Madame de Maintenon enraged him; but
it exhibited facts in an orderly sequence; it might serve as a guide
and a clue among his own reminiscences; on the basis of Dangeau's
literal transcript of occurrences he might weave his own brilliant
recitals and passionate presentations of character. Thus
Saint-Simon's _Memoires_ came to be written.

He himself saw much, and his eye had a demonic power of observation;
nothing escaped his vision, and his passions enabled him to penetrate
through what he saw to its secret meanings. He had gathered
information from those who knew the mysteries of the palace and the
court; great persons, court ladies, even valets and waiting-women,
had been sought and searched to satisfy his insatiable curiosity.
It is true