FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   2220   2221   2222   2223   2224   2225   2226   2227   2228   2229   2230   2231   2232   2233   2234   2235   2236   2237   2238   2239   2240   2241   2242   2243   2244  
2245   2246   2247   2248   2249   2250   2251   2252   2253   2254   2255   2256   2257   2258   2259   2260   2261   2262   2263   2264   2265   2266   2267   2268   2269   >>   >|  
h so unworthy of him that she hoped to induce him to give it up. On returning home she despatched M. Campan to Paris with orders to purchase at the celebrated Germain's the handsomest cane, with a gold enamelled crutch, that he could find, and carry it without delay to Marechal Villars's hotel, and present it to him from her. He was announced accordingly, and fulfilled his commission. The Marshal, in attending him to the door, requested him to express his gratitude to the Queen, and said that he had nothing fit to offer to an officer who had the honour to belong to her Majesty; but he begged him to accept of his old stick, saying that his grandchildren would probably some day be glad to possess the cane with which he had commanded at Marchiennes and Denain. The known frugality of Marechal Villars appears in this anecdote; but he was not mistaken with respect to the estimation in which his stick would be held. It was thenceforth kept with veneration by M. Campan's family. On the 10th of August, 1792, a house which I occupied on the Carrousel, at the entrance of the Court of the Tuileries, was pillaged and nearly burnt down. The cane of Marechal Villars was thrown into the Carrousel as of no value, and picked up by my servant. Had its old master been living at that period we should not have witnessed such a deplorable day. "Before the Revolution there were customs and words in use at Versailles with which few people were acquainted. The King's dinner was called 'The King's meat.' Two of the Body Guard accompanied the attendants who carried the dinner; every one rose as they passed through the halls, saying, 'There is the King's meat.' All precautionary duties were distinguished by the words 'in case.' One of the guards might be heard to say, 'I am in case in the forest of St. Germain.' In the evening they always brought the Queen a large bowl of broth, a cold roast fowl, one bottle of wine, one of orgeat, one of lemonade, and some other articles, which were called the 'in case' for the night. An old medical gentleman, who had been physician in ordinary to Louis XIV., and was still living at the time of the marriage of Louis XV., told M. Campan's father an anecdote which seems too remarkable to have remained unknown; nevertheless he was a man of honour, incapable of inventing this story. His name was Lafosse. He said that Louis XIV. was informed that the officers of his table evinced, in the most disdainful and offensive manner, the mortification they felt
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   2220   2221   2222   2223   2224   2225   2226   2227   2228   2229   2230   2231   2232   2233   2234   2235   2236   2237   2238   2239   2240   2241   2242   2243   2244  
2245   2246   2247   2248   2249   2250   2251   2252   2253   2254   2255   2256   2257   2258   2259   2260   2261   2262   2263   2264   2265   2266   2267   2268   2269   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

Marechal

 

Villars

 
Campan
 

anecdote

 

dinner

 

called

 

living

 

Carrousel

 

honour

 

Germain


officers

 

informed

 

passed

 

precautionary

 

duties

 

guards

 
distinguished
 

Lafosse

 

customs

 

evinced


offensive

 

disdainful

 

Versailles

 

manner

 
people
 

acquainted

 

carried

 
attendants
 

accompanied

 
mortification

forest
 
lemonade
 

father

 

orgeat

 

remarkable

 

articles

 

gentleman

 
physician
 
ordinary
 

medical


marriage

 
remained
 
bottle
 

evening

 

brought

 

unknown

 
incapable
 

inventing

 

Tuileries

 

attending