a cold
face, and a timid heart; devoured by ambition, which was eternally
combated by the weakness of his character, which always drew him back
where he should advance; of high birth, as his name indicated, very
learned for a cardinal, and very well informed for a nobleman.

Monsieur de Pompadour was a man of from forty-five to fifty, who had
been a minion of the dauphin's, the son of Louis XIV., and who had so
great a love for his whole family, that, seeing with grief that the
regent was going to declare war against Philip V., he had thrown
himself, body and soul, into the Duc de Maine's party. Proud and
disinterested, he had given a rare example of loyalty, in sending back
to the regent the brevet of his pensions and those of his wife, and in
refusing for himself and the Marquis de Courcillon, his son-in-law,
every place offered to them.

Monsieur de Malezieux was a man of from sixty to sixty-five, Chancellor
of Dombes and Lord of Chatenay: he owed this double title to the
gratitude of M. de Maine, whose education he had conducted. A poet, a
musician, an author of small comedies, which he played himself with
infinite spirit; born for an idle and intellectual life; always occupied
in procuring pleasure for others, and above all for Madame de Maine,
whom he adored, he was a type of the Sybarite of the eighteenth century,
but, like the Sybarites who, drawn by the aspect of beauty, followed
Cleopatra to Actium, and were killed around her, he would have followed
his dear Benedicte through fire and water, and, at a word from her,
would, without hesitation, and almost without regret, have thrown
himself from the towers of Notre-Dame.

The Abbe Brigaud was the son of a Lyons merchant. His father, who was
commercially related with the court of Spain, was charged to make
overtures, as if on his own account, for the marriage of the young Louis
XIV. with the young Maria Theresa of Austria. If these overtures had
been badly received, the ministers of France would have disavowed them;
but they were well received, and they supported them.

The marriage took place; and, as the little Brigaud was born about the
same time as the dauphin, he asked, in recompense, that the king's son
should stand godfather to his child, which was granted to him. He then
made acquaintance with the Marquis de Pompadour, who, as we have said,
was one of the pages of honor. When he was of an age to decide on his
profession, he joined the Fathers of the