The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Memoirs of Louis XV. and XVI., Volume 7
by Madame du Hausset, and of an Unknown English Girl and the Princess Lamballe
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Title: The Memoirs of Louis XV. and XVI., Volume 7
Being Secret Memoirs of Madame du Hausset, Lady's Maid to Madame de
Pompadour, and of an Unknown English Girl and The Princess Lamballe
Author: Madame du Hausset, and of an Unknown English Girl and the Princess Lamballe
Release Date: December 3, 2004 [EBook #3882]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LOUIS XV. AND XVI. ***
Produced by David Widger
MEMOIRS OF LOUIS XV. AND XVI.
Being Secret Memoirs of Madame du Hausset,
Lady's Maid to Madame de Pompadour,
and of an unknown English Girl
and the Princess Lamballe
BOOK 7.
SECTION XIII.
Editor in continuation:
I am again, for this and the following chapter, compelled to resume the
pen in my own person, and quit the more agreeable office of a transcriber
for my illustrious patroness.
I have already mentioned that the Princesse de Lamballe, on first
returning from England to France, anticipated great advantages from the
recall of the emigrants. The desertion of France by so many of the
powerful could not but be a deathblow to the prosperity of the monarchy.
There was no reason for these flights at the time they began. The
fugitives only set fire to the four quarters of the globe against their
country. It was natural enough that the servants whom they had left
behind to keep their places should take advantage of their masters'
pusillanimity, and make laws to exclude those who had, uncalled for,
resigned the sway into bolder and more active hands.
I do not mean to impeach the living for the dead; but, when we see those
bearing the lofty titles of Kings and Princesses, escaping with their
wives and families, from an only brother and sister with helpless infant
children, at the hour of danger, we cannot help wishing for a little
plebeian disinterestedness in exalted minds.
I have travelled Europe twice, and I have never seen any woman with that
indescribable charm of person, manner, and chara
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