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, one of the most rare medals in the world. Look at it, Madame;
I beg you to observe it narrowly; here, you see, is Juno crowned, and she
is also crowning this great general." All that I could say to him was
not sufficient to prevent Baudelot talking to the Marshal of horns.
"Monseigneur," he said, "is well versed in all these matters, and I want
him to see that I am right in insisting that these horns are those of
Faunus, not those of Jupiter Ammon."

All the people who were in the chamber, with difficulty refrained from
bursting into a loud laugh. If the plan had been laid for the purpose,
it could not have succeeded better. When the Marshal had gone, I, too,
indulged myself by joining in the laugh. It was with great difficulty
that I could make Baudelot understand he had done wrong.

The same Baudelot, one day at a masked ball, had been saying a great many
civil things to the Dowager Madame, who was there masked, and whom,
therefore, he did not know. When he came and saw that it was Madame, he
was terrified with affright: the Princess laughed beyond measure at it.

Our Princes here have no particular costume. When they go to the
Parliament they wear only a cloak, which, in my opinion, has a very
vulgar appearance; and the more so, as they wear the 'collet' without a
cravat. Those of the Royal Family have no privileges above the other
Dukes, excepting in their seats and the right of