eman; he was heir to the immense fortune of the
farmer-general, at least, according to law. Jeanne, on her
side, had some claim to a share of this fortune. It was a very
simple way of making all agreed, by marrying the young people.
Jeanne, as we have seen, was already in love with the king; she
married D'Etioles without shifting her point in view:
Versailles, Versailles, that was her only horizon. Her young
husband became desperately enamored of her; but this passion of
his, which amounted almost to madness, she never felt in the
least. She received it with resignation, as a misfortune that
could not last long.
"The hotel of the newly-married couple,
_Rue-Croix-des-Petits-Champs_, was established on a lordly
footing; the best company in Paris left the fashionable
_salons_ for that of Madame D'Etioles until that time, there
had never been such a gorgeous display of luxury in France. The
young bride hoped by this means to make something of a noise at
court, and thus excite the curiosity of the king. Day after day
passed away in feasts and brilliant entertainments. Celebrated
actors, poets, artists, and foreigners, all made their
rendezvous at this hotel, the mistress of which was its life
and ornament; all the world went there, in one word, except the
king."
The painters are among the pleasantest personages of Mr. Houssaye's
book, as they generally are in whatever society or whatever time we find
them, all the world over. Watteau is familiar to us all, if not from his
works, at second-hand in engravings, or those dainty little china
shepherdesses and shepherds which we have seen on our grandmothers'
mantel-pieces, and which are again emerging from the glass corner
cupboard to the rosewood and mirrored etagere. The following passages
descriptive of his early life, are full of animation:
"He was born in 1684, at the time the king of France was
bombarding Luxembourg. His family was poor, as a matter of
course. He was put to school just long enough not to learn any
thing. He was never able to read and write without great
difficulty, but it was not in that his strength lay. He learned
early to discover genius in a picture, to copy with a happy
touch the gay face of Nature. There had been painters in his
family, among others, a great uncle, who had died at Antwerp,
w
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