der. His voice, without being harsh, was not agreeable; if
he grew animated in speaking he often got above his natural pitch, and
became shrill. The Abbe de Radonvilliers, his preceptor, one of the Forty
of the French Academy, a learned and amiable man, had given him and
Monsieur a taste for study. The King had continued to instruct himself;
he knew the English language perfectly; I have often heard him translate
some of the most difficult passages in Milton's poems. He was a skilful
geographer, and was fond of drawing and colouring maps; he was well versed
in history, but had not perhaps sufficiently studied the spirit of it. He
appreciated dramatic beauties, and judged them accurately. At Choisy, one
day, several ladies expressed their dissatisfaction because the French
actors were going to perform one of Moliere's pieces. The King inquired
why they disapproved of the choice. One of them answered that everybody
must admit that Moliere had very bad taste; the King replied that many
things might be found in Moliere contrary to fashion, but that it appeared
to him difficult to point out any in bad taste?

[The King, having purchased the Chateau of Rambouillet from the Duc de
Penthievre, amused himself with embellishing it. I have seen a register
entirely in his own handwriting, which proves that he possessed a great
variety of information on the minutiae of various branches of knowledge.
In his accounts he would not omit an outlay of a franc. His figures and
letters, when he wished to write legibly, were small and very neat, but in
general he wrote very ill. He was so sparing of paper that he divided a
sheet into eight, six, or four pieces, according to the length of what he
had to write. Towards the close of the page he compressed the letters, and
avoided interlineations. The last words were close to the edge of the
paper; he seemed to regret being obliged to begin another page. He was
methodical and analytical; he divided what he wrote into chapters and
sections. He had extracted from the works of Nicole and Fenelon, his
favourite authors, three or four hundred concise and sententious phrases;
these he had classed according to subject, and formed a work of them in
the style of Montesquieu. To this treatise he had given the following
general title: "Of Moderate Monarchy" (De la Monarchie temperee), with
chapters entitled, "Of the Person of the Prince;" "Of the Authority of
Bodies in the State;" "Of the Cha