been in no way deceived; she had a mind to be
the King's mistress, she has her wish. He passes almost every evening in
her company, in presence of the whole Court. She has a child which has
just been acknowledged, and on whom two duchies have been bestowed. She
amasses wealth, and makes herself feared and respected wherever she can;
but she could not foresee finding a young actress in her path by whom
the King is bewitched.... He shares his attentions, his time, and his
health between them both. The actress is quite as proud as the Duchess
of Portsmouth: she spites her, makes wry faces at her, assails her, and
often carries the King off from her. She boasts of those points in which
she is preferable--that she is young, silly, bold, debauched, and
agreeable; that she can sing, dance, and play the part _de bonne foi_.
She has a son by the King, and is determined that he shall be
acknowledged. Here are her reasons:--'This Duchess,' she says, 'acts
the person of quality; she pretends that she is related to everybody in
France. No sooner does any grandee die, than she puts on mourning. Ah
well! if she is such a great lady, why did she condescend to become a
_catin_? She ought to expire with shame: for myself, it is my
profession; I don't pique myself on anything else. The King keeps me; I
am at present his solely. I have brought him a son, whom I intend he
shall acknowledge, and I am assured that he will, for he loves me quite
as well as he does his Portsmouth.' This creature takes the top of the
walk, and embarrasses and puts the Duchess out of countenance in a most
extraordinary manner."

In Mrs. Nelly, with all her good qualities, Charles had not found
exactly a rose without thorns to stick in his button-hole. In her too
wild fun, or spirit of mockery, she was apt, as most others, to give
demonstration of all the variety of her woman's nature and her woman's
wit, and to make her baffled and humbled sovereign wish in his inmost
heart that he had never had anything to do with her.

Such were the annoyances--doubtless unforeseen by Mademoiselle
Querouaille on quitting France, and to which La Valliere and Montespan
were not exposed in the Court of the _Grand Monarque_, where vice itself
put on airs of grandeur and majesty. It must be owned, however, that
Madame de Sevigne exaggerates when she pretends to establish a sort of
equilibrium between the position of the actress and that of the Duchess.
The triumphs of Nell Gwynne