s ill in bed. The King was there; and the Count, who was a welcome
visitor, had been admitted. There were also present, M. de Gontaut,
Madame de Brancas, and the Abbe de Bernis. I remember that the very same
day, after the Count was gone out, the King talked in a style which gave
Madame great pain. Speaking of the King of Prussia, he said, "That is a
madman, who will risk all to gain all, and may, perhaps, win the game,
though he has neither religion, morals, nor principles. He wants to make
a noise in the world, and he will succeed. Julian, the Apostate, did the
same."--"I never saw the King so animated before," observed Madame, when
he was gone out; "and really the comparison with Julian, the Apostate, is
not amiss, considering the irreligion of the King of Prussia. If he gets
out of his perplexities, surrounded as he is by his enemies, he will be
one of the greatest men in history."

M. de Bernis remarked, "Madame is correct in her judgment, for she has no
reason to pronounce his praises; nor have I, though I agree with what she
says." Madame de Pompadour never enjoyed so much influence as at the
time when M. de Choiseul became one of the Ministry. From the time of
the Abbe de Bernis she had afforded him her constant support, and he had
been employed in foreign affairs, of which he was said to know but
little. Madame made the Treaty of Sienna, though the first idea of it
was certainly furnished her by the Abbe. I have been informed by several
persons that the King often talked to Madame upon this subject; for my
own part, I never heard any conversation relative to it, except the high
praises bestowed by her on the Empress and the Prince de Kaunitz, whom
she had known a good deal of. She said that he had a clear head, the
head of a statesman. One day, when she was talking in this strain, some
one tried to cast ridicule upon the Prince on account of the style in
which he wore his hair, and the four valets de chambre, who made the
hair-powder fly in all directions, while Kaunitz ran about that he might
only catch the superfine part of it. "Aye," said Madame, "just as
Alcibiades cut off his dog's tail in order to give the Athenians
something to talk about, and to turn their attention from those things he
wished to conceal."

Never was the public mind so inflamed against Madame de Pompadour as when
news arrived of the battle of Rosbach. Every day she received anonymous
letters, full of the grossest abuse; atrocious verses