 Section 9 of Princes and Poisoners, Studies of the Court of Louis XIV, this is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Jane Bennett, Melbourne, Australia. Princes and Poisoners, Studies of the Court of Louis XIV, by Franz Funk Prentano, translated by George Maidment. Section 9, The Poison Drama at the Court of Louis, Part 1, The Sorceresses, The Magician Lassage. Lavois-Arne's principal co-editor was the Magician Lassage. He was won by himself in this world of sorceresses, alchemists and magicians. A skeptic among believers, he duped the women with whom he worked, as well as the fashionable ladies who came to avail themselves of his art. Originally from Venoire near Cannes, his real name was Adam Couret. His portrait is sketched by Laviguer. He wore a ruddy wig, was ill-formed, clothed as a ruling grey with a cloak of homespun. He was a wool merchant. Though he had a wife in Lower Normandy, he promised Lavois-Arne that he would marry her if she became a widow. The first alias he chose was Dubois-Saint. In 1667 he was arrested, condemned to the galleys for dealings with the devil, and liberated in 1672 through the kind officers of Lavois-Arne. The galley in which he rode was lying in sight of the port of Genoa, when the pardon reached him. Set at liberty, Couret returned to Paris where he renewed his relations with the witches. His whole art consisted in a remarkable talent for jugglery, by which he deceived the witches themselves, persuading them that he possessed all the science of the cabala. They adopted him as partner in their lucrative operations. The reports of the examination of Lavois-Arne give curious information on this head. Lissage took a live pigeon in the Vale of Misery, on the key of La Megiterie where poultry was sold, and burnt it in a warming pan. Having then sifted its ashes, he put them in his room. It was the beginning of Lent during which he used to recite the passion of our Lord daily, with his feet in water though it was freezing hard. Then he put a white cloth on the table, lit two tapers, and sent for three crystal glasses, with which having performed his mystery, which was Greek to Lavois-Saint, he shut them up in a cupboard with a twig of laurel. And then, though he retained the key, he asked her for the three glasses and the laurel twig, which he had locked in the cupboard. They were not found there, and then he said that he would give her nothing else to keep. And having sent her into the garden, she found them all three in a row in the summer house. And when she asked him how he did that, Lissage said that he was one of the apostles, and of the company of the Sibbles. At other times Lissage celebrated a sort of mass, got up as a priest. At the moment of the offertory, he would break two pieces of ordinary bread, and after having made Lavois-Saint and her husband kneel down, he gave them each a piece of bread, just as if they were at communion, and then made them drink some holy water, which, as he said, he had turned into wine, and it was a liquid of an extremely pleasant taste. A sergeant having come to Lavois-Saint's house to disdain on her at the instance of an upholsterer named Lenoir, Lavois-Saint sent for Lissage, told him that she was ruined, and that there was something in the cupboard which must be taken away, namely a consecrated wafer. And at the same time Lissage sent away the marquise de Lousignan, who happened to be in the house, and told her to go home, and when she got there to put a white napkin on her bed, for something he was going to send her. And in fact the wafer was found by the marquise at her own house, without anyone seeing who had taken it there. The pretended sorceries of Lissage thus consisted simply of clever conjuring tricks. They suffice to amaze his clients. He made them write, for instance, requests to the devil in notes, which he then pretended to throw in the fire, enclosed in balls of wax, and some days after he gave them back to them, saying that the devil, who had received them through the flames, had returned them. Lissage was arrested for the second time on March 17, 1679, and we shall see the importance of the statements he made to the magistrates. End of section 9, The Magician Lissage. Princes and Poisoners Studies of the Court of Louis XIV This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Jane Bennett, Melbourne, Australia. Princes and Poisoners Studies of the Court of Louis XIV By Franz Funk Brentano Translated by George Maidment The Poison Drama at the Court of Louis Part 1 The Sorceresses The Chambreton The consternation of Louis XIV His ministers and the Lieutenant of Police at the discovery of such crimes may be imagined. The terror was all the intenser because chemists and able physicians were then powerless to discover traces of poison in a corpse. The matter was entrusted to a special commission in the hope that by a more expeditious and energetic procedure than that of the ordinary courts, it would succeed in cutting the evil at the root. This was the famous Chambreton. The President was Louis Bouchera, Count de Campin. An amiable man, says Madame de Sévignier, and of much good sense. Later he became Chancellor at France. Louis Bazin, Lord of Bézon, nominated to act as Judge Advocate along with La Rény, was a member of the Academy. The Office of Clerk was filled by Sago, La Rény's confidential secretary and ordinary clerk of the Châtelet. The Commission, writes Raveson, was composed of the elite of the Councillors of State and all these magistrates have left a high reputation. The court was called the Chambreton because in former days tribunals specially constituted to deal with great crimes sat in a chamber hung with black and lit by torches and candles. The court met for the first time on April 10th, 1679 and decided to keep its proceedings secret so as to withhold details of these practices from the knowledge of the public. The magistrates themselves had no doubt of the efficacy of these dealings with the devil nor of the formidable composition of the poisons. The method of procedure was as follows. The individuals regarded as suspicious by La Rény, the examining magistrate, were arrested by royal warrant. That is, by a letre de cache which took the place of the modern magistrate's warrant. The first depositions were submitted to the attorney general and it was only on his requisition that the officials proceeded to the confrontation of the prisoners after which the commissaries submitted a detailed report to the court. The attorney presented to them his general conclusions and the court decided whether the accused person should be recommended. That is, remain a prisoner in virtue of a warrant issued by them. In that case, the investigation followed its course. When this was ended, all the documents concerning the accused were read to the judges. The king's attorney delivered his address in favour of acquittal or condemnation. The accused was heard for the last time and the court pronounced judgment which was without appeal. The chambre à dente sat in the hall of the arsenal. From April 10th, 1679, the day of its first meeting, to July 21st, 1682, when it closed its doors, it held 210 sittings after having been suspended for reasons that will be explained later from October 1st, 1680 to May 19, 1681. The chambre à dente deliberated on the fate of 442 accused persons and ordered the arrest of 367 of these. Of these arrests, 218 were sustained. 36 prisoners were condemned to the extreme penalty, torture ordinary and extraordinary and execution. Two of them died a natural death in jail. Five were condemned to the galleys. Twenty-three were exiled, but the most guilty had accomplices in such high places that their cases were never carried to an end. We must add the prisoners who committed suicide in prison, such as La Dordée, a sorceress aged 35, still very pretty, who was arrested with La Trionneau and cut her throat at Vincent after her first examination. She covered the wound with her chameise in which the greater part of her blood flowed and was found dead when her room was opened in the morning to take her breakfast. Among the many cases which came before this court, one or two will serve as types. Madame de Dre was the wife of a parlement maître des requêtes. She was not yet 30 and was endowed with much grace and beauty, a delicate and dainty beauty with infinite charm and distinction. She was so fond of Monsieur de Richelieu, declared La Jolie, one of the sorceresses tried by the court, that as soon as she knew that Monsieur de Richelieu was even looking at anyone else, she thought of doing away with him. She had further poisoned Monsieur Parger and Monsieur de Varent and many others, and in particular one of her lovers, to avoid, as she said, the bother and annoyance of her rupture. She had also tried to poison her husband and to get rid of Madame de Richelieu by sorcery. All these details were widely known in Paris, where society, difficult as it is to believe it, was wonderfully amused by them. The husband was riddled with epigrams which Madame de Sévignier declares divinely diverting. Madame de Dre was too pretty, really, and besides, she was a cousin of two of the judges of the chambre à dente. The result was that on April 27, 1680, the judges contented themselves with admonishing her. Monsieur de Dre and her whole family, writes Madame de Sévignier, went to the court to meet her. Set at liberty, the young woman was fated and petted by the whole world of fashion. There was joy and triumph and kisses from all her family and friends. Monsieur de Richelieu did wonders in this business. A fact which will appear incredible is that after she left prison, Madame de Dre returned to the sorceresses, met La Jolie in the Jesuits church, and asked for and obtained from her powders to poison a lady who Monsieur de Richelieu was considering. Truth to tell, La Jolie was arrested while this was going on, and as a result of her revelations, a fresh warrant was issued against Madame de Dre, but she was warned and escaped. She was preceded against for contumacy. Her husband and Monsieur de Richelieu were then seen pleading for her in company. On January 23, 1682, Madame de Dre was condemned to banishment beyond the kingdom, but the king allowed her to remain in France, provided she lived in Paris with her husband. Madame Le Férot, who also belonged to judicial society, was less pleasant in appearance. The daughter of a parliament councillor, her maiden name was Marguerite Gala. Her husband, president of the First Court of Enquête, is represented in the Tableau du Parlement of 1661 as a good judge of solid judgment and firm opinion, never changing except on good grounds, unprejudiced, loving rule and order, a good and disinterested man. He had given proof of independence of character at the time of Fouquet's case by showing clemency to the superintendent. Madame Le Férot found him a bore, avaricious, and further, how come one say it? Insufficient. Yet the fair dame had passed her 50th year, but she was madly smitten with one Monsieur de Prade, who on his side was in love with her money. She asked la voisin for poisons to kill her husband, and de Prade went to her for charms to help him win the heart of his mistress. La voisin gave them all they wanted, files to the lady and to the galant, a mask of virgin wax representing the face of Madame Le Férot. This, enclosed in a zinc box, was to be warmed every now and then, which would warm the heart of the lady. De Prade gave la voisin a note for 20,000 livres, 4,000 pounds today. The files produced their effect and Le Férot died on September 8th, 1669. The waxen mask was equally successful, and Madame Le Férot married de Prade. On February 20th, 1680, as she went to the stake, la voisin said to Sago, clerk to the court, it is quite true that Madame Le Férot came to see me, most joyous at being a widow, and when I asked her if the file of liquid had taken effect, she said, effect or not he is done for, de Prade appeared no less happy. He scoured the city in a brand new carriage with three or four lackeys behind. His joy was short. The lady saw that her new husband thought chiefly of getting donations out of her, and the husband soon saw that his wife was trying to poison him in his turn. He fled to the Turks. On April the 7th, 1680, Madame Le Férot was condemned to banishment beyond the borders of the by-county of Paris, and to a fine of 1,500 livres, though there were, as Le Voix wrote to Louis XIV, 13 or 14 witnesses of her crime. Madame de Dreux and Madame Le Férot owed this remarkable indulgence to Madame de Poulayon, born Marguerite de Géhan of a noble Bordeaux family. She had come to Paris when very young to associate with the alchemists, having a passion for the occult sciences. She had married Alexandre de Poulayon much older than herself, but very rich. Contemporaries are unanimous in praising the pretty face, the delicate and keen intelligence, and the exquisite distinction of the young lady. Unhappily for herself, she met a certain La Rivière, who had a wonderful talent for getting money out of ladies. As we know in the 17th century, a talent of this sort was not the discreditable thing it is today. Her excellent husband, becoming suspicious, drew his purse strings tight and locked his safes. Madame de Poulayon had recourse to various expedience. She sold the house furniture, chairs, sofas, the big gilded bed upholstered in English watered silk, the plate, and even the clothes of her husband. He, in a furious temper, we may suppose so at least, ceased to give his wife even money for her toilet and bought her dresses and ribbons himself. In despair, the young woman opened relations with la vigueur. She required money for her lover and the riddance of her husband. With this intent, she planned the most audacious strokes. Two or three hired bravos would do. While one held Poulayon by the throat in his study, the other would throw bags of money out of the window, and she would open the study door herself. Another time she thought of getting her husband kidnapped alive. She was quite ready herself for the enterprise, but failed to find men to assist her. At last she saw Marie Boss, who from the first appeared to her more plucky. However, Madame de Poulayon displayed so furious a haste to get rid of her old goodman, that Marie Boss, hardened as she was, fairly took fright. She would not give her in one dose the powder necessary for the poisoning, for fear that the lady, by giving it all at once, would create a scandal. The sorceress was prudent enough to begin with the shirt, one of the most horrible of these hags in benches. The shirts of the husband were washed in arsenic. This left no trace. Whoever put them on was before long, attacked by a violent inflammation in the limbs and the lower part of the body, and everyone sympathized with the wife, whose husband was suffering from a disgraceful melody caused by debauchery. Arsenic was also put into the injections, which in those days were in common use. The contents of a file poured into the wine or soup hastened the operation. The negotiations between Madame de Poulayon and Marie Boss were carried on in the Church of the Carmelites. The young woman gave 4,000 livres, 800 pounds, for the file and the preparation for the shirts. Poulayon was warned by an anonymous letter. Moreover, his wife could not obtain the necessary assistance from her servants. Then in her rage, she applied to some soldiers and asked them to wait for her husband at the corner of the road she pointed out to them, where it would be the easiest thing in the world she said to do for him. The soldiers took her money and hastened to inform Poulayon, who now lost all patience, shut his wife up in a convent, and laid an information before the chateau-l'et. It was at this time that the lady had a writ issued against her by the chambre ardente. As soon as he saw the storm-threatening la rivière to whom Madame de Poulayon had sacrificed everything, fled to Burgundy, where he hid behind the skirts of Madame de Colligny, daughter of the famous Bussie-Rapultin and widow of the Marquis de Colligny. She fell in love with la rivière, who, kept informed of the progress of the trial, joked pleasantly with his new flame on the misfortunes of his old mistress. She, though madly in love with the gallant, was shocked. If the misfortune of the lady who has so much merit I hear and who loves you and has loved you so passionately no longer touches you, what reason have I to flatter myself I shall keep you always? This brilliant cavalier, who insisted on being called de Marquis de la Rivière, Lord de Corsi, was really a bastard son of the Abbe de la Rivière, Bishop of Langre. Madame de Poulayon was finally examined on June 5th, 1679. The Attorney-General had demanded the penalty of torture and death on the Place de Grève, but the memory of the edifying and touching end of Madame de Bramvilliers was still strong in the minds of the judges and had almost stricken them with remorse. Madame de Poulayon displayed before her judges even more grace, more submission to the hand of God, more sweet and tranquil resignation. So strongly were these men of law moved that they could not bring themselves to order the severing of that charming head. This lady, who had infinite spirit, notes Sago the clerk, cared little about death and though she did not expect to escape, showed during her whole examination an extraordinary presence of mind, which won the judges' admiration and pity. La Treini writes that the judges were touched by her spirit and by the grace with which at the last she explained her unhappiness and her crime. The commissioners, says Sago, remained in deliberation for four whole hours, all of them, especially those who had some interest in these ladies, being prepared for anything which might serve, if not for the discharge of Madame de Poulayon, at any rate for the mitigation of the facts they could not dispute, insofar as that could be done without a manifest miscarriage of justice. Monsieur de Fube was the one who dilated most on this view, employing all the power of his natural eloquence and he it was who saved the life of Madame de Poulayon, having brought round to his way of thinking three of the six judges who had previously decided for death. This was a precedent fortunate for Madame de Dreux and Le Ferron and other prisoners and in fact it was through this that the court lost credit. The great difficulty, adds La Treini, was afterwards to console Madame de Poulayon when she found that she was only condemned to exile instead of the death she had herself pronounced in presence of the judges. After having declared the joy she had in thus expiating her crime and at the same time winning deliverance from all her other woes. On the demand of the young lady herself, her punishment was increased by royal warrant to detention with the penitents at Angers. Meanwhile La Rivière, after making Madame de Colligny a mother, married her without a trace of compunction. True, shortly afterwards, Bussie Raboutin and his daughter, undeceived about the man, endeavoured to dissolve the union, but the gay spark resisted and Madame de La Rivière was forced to penchant him off at a very high figure before he would agree to desert her. The best society applauded the acquittal of Madame de Poulayon while the middle classes murmured. With so much the more reason that soon afterwards a certain widow lady named Brunet was condemned with the greatest harshness, though no more guilty than Madame de Poulayon, de Dreux and Le Ferron. She had been the wife of a wholesale tradesman in the city. Monsieur and Madame Brunet entertained very largely for they provided excellent music. The fashionable flutist, Philippe Rabier, musician to the king, was constantly to be heard there. Brunet worshipped the flutist for his delightful skill and Madame Brunet for his charming person. As the excellent people kept a good table and the wife was charming, the artiste responded with great enthusiasm to this double passion. It was perfect bliss, which might have lasted for a long time to the melodious sounds of the flute. If Brunet, with the idea of permanently attaching to himself so pleasant a musician, had not taken it into his head to offer him his daughter with a handsome dowry, and if Philippe Rabier, delighted with the duckets and the daughter, had not accepted them with alacrity. Madame Brunet uttered a cry of horror. Philippe explained to her that he had consulted apostolic notaries and that for a consideration it would be possible to obtain canonical letters which would set things right. And festivities were got up for the betrothal. In desperation Madame Brunet confided in la voisin. If she had to do penance for ten years it was necessary that God should carry off Brunet, her husband. For she could not abide to see Philippe, whom she loved passionately, in the arms of her daughter. She even took her lover to the sorceress. Philippe deposed at the trial that under pretext of showing him a garden, Madame Brunet took him to see a woman who proceeded to look at his hand. I know not who she is for the woman was so drunk that she couldn't say a word. La voisin, on being questioned, related the proceedings of Madame Brunet, adding, There are other details which I would not tell for anything in the world. I would rather have a dagger thrust into my heart. That is kept for confessors, not for judges. Francois Ravisson, in publishing this dramatic declaration, thus comments on it. These details were imparted by La voisin to La Renée later. They did honour to Philippe's disposition. The details given by the judges brought this flute player into the height of fashion, and ladies of the court and the city scrambled for him when he came out of prison. Meanwhile, Marie Boss undertook the operation for 2000 livre, 400 pounds today. Brunet was poisoned in 1673, and Philippe married the widow. My friends advised me, he declared naively before the judges, to wed the mother rather than the daughter, which I did under the good pleasure of the king who signed the contract. The flute player's wife was condemned on May 15, 1679. She begged in vain to be allowed to see husband and children for the last time. Her hand was cut off while she was still alive, then she was hanged, and her body cast into the fire. Louis XIV, who was fond of his flutist, advised him to leave France if he was conscious of guilt. But Philippe was a man of metal. He went like a gentleman, and gave himself up as a prisoner at Vincent. He was acquitted on April 7, 1680. End of section 10, The Chambre à dente. Princes and Poisoners, study of the court of Louis XIV. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Jane Bennett, Melbourne, Australia. Princes and Poisoners, studies of the court of Louis XIV. By Franz Funk Prentano, translated by George Maidment. The poison drama of the court of Louis Part I. The Sorceresses, Louis XIV, and the Poisoner Fair. Meanwhile, The Chambre à dente was extending its prosecutions over an ever-widening circle and into higher and higher ranks of society. And by degrees, a singular disquietude awoke an astonishing uneasiness. It was no longer the Poisoners whom people dreaded, but the magistrates. People talked about a lady of the highest rank, who was declaring everywhere that the judges and all their proceedings ought to be burned. La Renée asked for the protection of an escort when he went to Vincent, where the principal accused persons were. Madame de Sévignes, speaking of the Great Lieutenant of Police, wrote, His life is a proof that there are no Poisoners now. On February 4th, 1680, Lévoix wrote to the president of the court. His Majesty, having been informed of what was said in Paris in regard to the decrees issued a few days ago by the chamber, has commanded me to acquaint you with His Majesty's desire that you should assure the judges of His protection and let them understand that He expects them to continue dispensing justice with firmness. Lévoix sent for Bouchera, the president, the two examining commissioners, La Renée and Vincent, and the Attorney General. And they went out to Versailles. On rising from dinner, writes La Renée, His Majesty recommended us to do justice and our duty in extremely strong and precise terms, indicating to us that He desired, on behalf of the public wheel, that we should penetrate as deeply as possible into the terrible traffic in Poisons, so as to cut its root if this were possible. He commanded us to do strict justice without distinction of person, rank or sex. And this His Majesty told us in clear and vigorous terms. The determination so vigorously expressed by the king filled La Renée with confidence and zeal. It encouraged him in the accomplishment of the arduous task imposed on him, and such courage was necessary. What frightful revelations he heard! Was it due to these revelations that suddenly the intentions of the court of Versailles underwent modification? Lavoisin had just been condemned to suffer torture. She was subjected to it, but only as a matter of form. Lavoisin was not tortured at all, writes La Renée in indignation. And this means not having been applied has naturally produced no effect. It was feared that the sorceress whose discretion had been so remarkable hitherto might say too much in the agony of torture, and independently of La Renée, the torturers had received their orders. The judges had also received independent orders, and their reluctance to interrogate the accused woman was such that, at the moment of her execution, Lavoisin, struck with remorse, conceived at her duty to confess spontaneously before being handed over to the confessor. She felt obliged to say, to ease her conscience, that a large number of persons of all ranks and conditions had applied to her for means to procure the death of many persons. And that debauchery was the chief motive of all these crimes. But after the execution of Lavoisin, the examinations of her partner Lissage, of her accomplice, the Abbe Jweeborg, and of her daughter, Marguerite Mont-Voisin were preceded with. On August the 2nd, 1680, Louis XIV wrote from Lille to La Renée. Having seen the declaration made on the 12th of last month by Marguerite Mont-Voisin, prisoner at my castle of Vincent, I recue this letter to inform you of my intention that you should devote all possible care to elucidate the facts contained in the said declaration, that you should take care to have written down in separate reports the examinations, confrontations and everything concerning the inquiry that may be made of the said declaration, and that meanwhile you defer reporting to my royal chamber sitting at the arsenal, the depositions of Romani and Bertrand. Romani and Bertrand were two prisoners with whom we shall have a good deal to do by and by. Thus Louis XIV gave orders for the declarations of the girl Mont-Voisin, and those of Romani and Bertrand, to be detached from the documents submitted to the court. On the other hand, Louvoir had had the imprudence to promise Lissage his life if he revealed all he knew. Lissage related most horrible things. Word then went round not to listen to any more. He was a liar. But on September 30th and October 1st 1680 these narratives were confirmed in the most precise manner by the sorceress Francoise Villastre while under torture. The declarations of Villastre struck on the ears of Louis XIV like a clap of thunder. In the registers of the Royal Council he had been issued as follows. The King, having had shown to him the official report of the torture of Francoise Villastre being unwilling to permit for good and just considerations important to his service that certain fact should be inserted in the copies made for the convenience of the court of the arsenal. His Majesty in Council has commanded that the minutes and originals of the said proceedings be laid before the Chancellor by the clerk to the commission and that the said clerk draw up in his presence a summary of the said proceedings in which the said facts shall not be inserted. Given by his Majesty in Council held at Versailles May 14 1681 signed the Tellier. Thus the King for the second time intervened and withdrew from the court certain documents containing new declarations. He saw now moreover that these were in accordance with the truth and that if the examinations were continued it would be impossible to prevent them from being divulged. On October 1 1680 the sittings of the court were suspended. The documents which the King had first caused to be separated and the rest were locked and sealed up in a casket which was deposited with Sago the clerk who lived in the Rue Cancampois. When Sago died on October 10 1680 the casket was removed to Rue Saint-Croix de la Bretonnerie to the house of his successor in the clerkship to the Châtelet and the Chambre Ardent Nicolas Gaudion. On July 13 1709 the casket was taken to the King's private room where in the presence of Chancellor Pongchartin Louis XIV burnt the papers in his great. His Majesty in council after having looked through and examined the minutes and proceedings laid before him by the Chancellor and having had them burnt in his presence commanded that Gaudion should then be wholly and formally discharged of the same. Louis XIV had just suffered a cruel blow not only in his deepest affections but in his dignity as sovereign by the declarations of obscure and infamous criminals made before the Chambre Ardent. The very throne of France was befouled by them. Colbert and Louvoir were for a moment in dire alarm. The all-powerful monarch aided by his two great ministers believed that he had buried in unfathomable darkness the terrible story of his shame and grief. But one flame had not been extinguished. It had not been noticed. But it has continued to burn and grown larger and thrown its blaze widely around. It is in the full daylight glare that the facts are about to appear before our eyes. End of Section 11 Louis XIV and the Poisoner Fear Section 12 of Princes and Poisoners Studies of the Court of Louis XIV This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Jane Bennett, Melbourne, Australia Princes and Poisoners Studies of the Court of Louis XIV by Franz Funk Brentano Translated by George Mademond Section 12 of the Poison Drama at the Court of Louis 2. Madame de Montesman Part 1 The Marquis Francois Athene de Montesman was born in 1641 at the castle of Tone Charin the daughter of Gabrielle de Roche Chouard Lord of Vivant and of Diane de Granseigne daughter of Jean de Marciac. She was called Mademoiselle de Tone Charin until her marriage. Her mother, says Madame de Calous was anxious to imbue her with principles of sound piety. The piety of Mademoiselle de Tone Charin was violent and inflammatory. Appointed in 1660 made of honour to the Queen she gave her an extraordinary opinion of her virtue by taking communion every day. In 1679 when she had been for several years the king's mistress she much astonished the process d'accord by sending her on January the 1st as a New Year's gift a hair shirt, a scourge and a prayer book adorned with diamonds. Mademoiselle de Tone Charin married on January 28, 1663 a noble of her own province LH de Padilla Marquis de Montespain who was a year younger than herself. If she ever loved him it was not for long. As a lady in waiting to the queen she was fascinated by the magnificent surrounding Louis de la Vallière the favourite of Louis who had become in spite of her reserve and her timid and gentle bearing the object of intense and widespread jealousy hatred and wrath. Madame de Montespain especially displayed her spiteful envy in malicious jibes and insulting irony. Everybody knows it was not long before she replaced her. Louis de la Vallière had kept in the shade shunning publicity and honours. Madame de Montespain in her pride wished to dazzle all eyes thunderous and triumphant his Madame de Seveniers description of her in her radiant glory at Versailles she draws elsewhere a picture of the court in which the king's favourite shone at three o'clock the king and queen with Monsieur, Madame, Mademoiselle all the princes and princesses Madame de Montespain all the courtiers and ladies in a word all that is known as the court of France were found in these handsome apartments of the king they are divinely furnished everything is magnificent Madame de Montespain was dressed in poire de France her hair done in a thousand curls two hanging from her temples very low upon her cheeks black ribbons on her head with her pearls as Maréchal at the hospital and embellished with earrings and pendants in a word a triumph of beauty that threw the ambassadors into admiring wonder she knew that people were complaining how she prevented all France from seeing the king she has restored him to us as you see and you would not believe what joy it has given everybody and what beauty it has given the court her beauty is marvellous writes Madame de Sevinier on another day and her get-up is as wonderful as her beauty and her gayity as her get-up greater still was the renown of her wit she was always the best of company says Saint-Symour with graces which palliated her high and mighty heirs and were indeed suited to them it was impossible to have more wit, more fine polish more striking expressions eloquence, natural propriety which gave her as it were an individual style of talk but delicious and which by force of habit was so communicable that her nieces and the persons constantly about her women and those who without being her servants had been brought up along with her or caught the style which is recognisable today among this few survivors she surrounded herself with a brilliant luxury here is one of her dresses as described by Madame de Sevinier gold upon gold gold embroideries gold edgings and overall gold crimpings sewed with one sort of gold blended with another sort makes up the definest stuff imaginable it was the fairies who made this masterpiece in secret in her estates at Clarny with their immense park a second Versailles was to be seen alongside Versailles itself the king had first had built there for his mistress a Bijoux residence a country villa she said that might do for an opera girl the house was pulled down and the chateau erected after the plans of Monsard at Versailles the favourite had twenty rooms on the first floor the queen occupied eleven rooms on the second d'en chaud notes that Madame de Montespain's train was born by the Marachal de Noy the queens was carried by a simple page the influence of the young favourites spelled fortune, hope and honour to ministers, courtiers and generals her father became governor of Paris her brother a Marshal of France in her drawing room frequented by all the most distinguished persons in rank and literature a quite unique style of wit came into existence which her contemporaries often refer to a wit at once nice and subtle natural and pleasant it must be added that by a wonderful coincidence her reign which lasted thirteen years exactly corresponded with the zenith of the age of Louis XIV Madame de Montespain used to go about his courted by royal bodyguards as she journeyed throughout the whole length and breadth of France governors and lord-left tenants her their homage in great ceremony and cities sent deputations to her she passed through the provinces in a six horse coach followed by another coach also drawn by six horses in which sat six ladies of her suite and then came the baggage wagons and six mules and a dozen cavaliers it is like a fairy tale from Perrault she had by Louis XIV seven children whom the parliament was to legitimise and declare royal children of France the oldest the Duke de Man received the principality of Dom and the county of Eau in 1675 when five years old he was appointed to the infantry regiment of Marshal Turent in 1682 the king gave him the governorship of Languedoc on September 15 1688 the office of general of the galleys and the lieutenant general of the Le Bon the elder of the daughters mademoiselle de Nantes married the Duke de Bourbon the second mademoiselle de Blois made a still more brilliant match the king says Saint Simon determined to pay mademoiselle de Blois to the Duke de Châtres this was the king's only nephew and far higher than the princes of the blood Madame Palatine said of the Marquis de Montespain she is more ambitious than dissipated there is justice in the saying she had an immeasurable pride mademoiselle de la Thalie loved the king as a mistress Madame de Mentonot as a governess Madame de Montespain as a tyrant it was in 1666 that historians note the first signs of Madame de Montespain's ambition she was then aspiring to the king's love and it is precisely at this time that la reine in commenting on the proceedings of the chambre adult places her first visits to the sorceresses margaret mon voisin la voisin's daughter spoke thus before the judges every time that anything fresh happened to Madame de Montespain or she feared any diminution in the favour of the king she told my mother so that she might provide a remedy and my mother at once had recourse to priests and she got to say masses and gave my mother's powders to be given to the king la voisin's daughter explained that these powders were for love composed now in one way now in another according to the various formulae of witchcraft among the ingredients were cantherides, the dust of dried moles, blood of bats and other vile substances of these a paste was made which was placed under the chalice during the sacrifice of the mass and blessed by the priests at the moment of the offertory Louis XIV swallowed this compound mixed with his food my mother said the girl several times took to Madame de Montespain at Saint-Germain Versailles and Clarny these love powders to give to the king some which had passed under the chalice and others which had not my mother sent some to Madame de Montespain by the hand of the demoiselle Desouille one of her waiting-maids and I myself gave her some in the church of the petty pair and another time on the road to Saint-Germain the depositions of Marguerite Mont-Voissin are important she had never been mixed up with her mother's sorceries and had known about them La Rénie observes that her declarations exhibit a certain air of ingenuineness or else if they are false everyone is mightily deceived he adds that she mentions so many circumstances and so many different transactions which are not self-contradictory that it is morally impossible for them to have been invented in addition to which she is not clever enough to invent and to follow up what she has invented several of these facts are proved genuine she mentions living people the examining judge says further that the very denials of the sorceresses accused by Marguerite of complicity with Madame de Montespain their embarrassment their contradictions their refusal to answer when they were conscious of being hard-pressed confirm her testimony when Marguerite Montvoison made her depositions her mother had been dead for several months in the examination of July 12, 1680 we read why did you not sooner give information of these evil designs against the person of the king I could not tell what I had heard without ruining my mother I did not believe myself obliged to tell I asked advice of no one and have declared all I know on the matter did you not know you were bound to tell on that it would be a great crime to hide anything concerning this matter I knew well enough the importance of the things I have stated I knew it before I told them and was sure of it after I had done so and I knew there was nothing of great importance did you know it would be a great crime to make the slightest addition to the facts which you have declared yes and those of whom I have spoken can tell you a good deal I think I have diminished rather than increased I had no other idea but to state the truth having nothing more to fear in regard to my mother if I remember any other circumstances or if any I call to my memory I will confess the truth several writers have thought that the sorceresses compromised the greatest names in France before the judges in the hope of saving their lives by connecting themselves with personages so high in station that no one would dare to lift a hand against them quite the contrary we see Lavoisin concealing up to the very moment of her execution her relations with the king's mistress for her greatest fear was that the horrible punishment meted out to regicides might be applied to her in an expansive moment she said to her guards at Valsean I fear more than anything else that I am asked about a certain journey to court we shall have much to do presently with this journey the sorceress made to court on behalf of Madame de Montespain it was at the last moment after hearing her death sentence against which there was no appeal the Francoise Philastre made her startling depositions of September 30 and October 1 1680 as the result of which Louis XIV in terror caused the sittings of the chambre à dente to be suspended the statements of Marguerite Mont-Voisin were confirmed in detail by those of the abeige we bought with whom she had no means of communicating after her arrest thus as La Rénie says they were proved according to the rules of justice today history furnishes still further proofs we have just heard the daughter of La Voisin every time something fresh happened to Madame Montespain or she feared some diminution in the favour of the king she told my mother now if we follow in the correspondence of Madame de Sevinier and the court chronicles the chequered story of the relations between Madame de Montespain and the king from 1667 to 1680 and compare it further with the depositions made before the chambre à dente we find a precise confirmation of the declarations of Marguerite Mont-Voisin it was several times observed by La Rénie that the time mentioned by the accuser is of consequence to Madame de Montespain how and by whom was the haughty favourite led to the haunts of the witches historians have put forth many hypotheses on this subject they were not acquainted with the declaration of La Chaboisier the valet at Venant whom we have already mentioned that the Chevalier de Venant deserved to be drawn and quartered for the council he had given to Madame de Montespain La Chaboisier had scarcely let this confession escape him then he wished in great agitation to retract it and begged that the words might not be written down in the report of his examination La Rénie disentangled this confession from the chaos of official documents and sharply underlined it as the starting point of the drama the relations between the favourite and the sorceresses began then at a time when her dawning love for the king was noticed in 1667 we find her in Rue de la Tannery in the company of the magician Lissage and the Abbe Mariette priest of Saint Severin the latter belonged to a good Parisian family he was tall and well made with a very pale complexion and black hair she was in the royal room and altar was erected Mariette in sacerdotal vestments uttered incantations Lissage sang the Venicreator then Mariette read a gospel on the head of Madame de Montespain who knelt before him and recited exorcisms against Louise de la Vallière she added the very words are found in one of Lissage's declarations I ask for the affection of the king and of the dofer that it may be continued that the queen may be barren that the king leave her bed and table for me that I obtain from him all that I ask for myself and my relatives that my servants and domestics may be pleasing to him that beloved and respected by great nobles I may be called to the councils of the king and to know what passes there and that this affection being redoubled on what has existed in the past the king may leave la Vallière and look no more upon her and that the queen being repudiated I may espouse the king on another occasion in the church of Saint Savara the Abbe Mariette in the presence of Madame de Montespapre recited charms over the hearts of two pigeons which had been consecrated in the names of Louis the 14 and Louise de la Vallière during the sacrifice of the mass early in the year 1668 Mariette and Lissage had the audacity to proceed to Saint-Germain the headquarters of the court and in the very chateau itself in the portion occupied by Madame de Théange Madame de Montespapre's sister they resumed their sorceries aromatic fumigations filled the room with bluish vapor with which was mingled the pungent scent of incense Madame de Montespapre formulated the incantation this declared Lissage was to obtain the favour of the king and to cause Madame was held de la Vallière's death Mariette said it was merely to get her scent away now it happened that not long after these proceedings in the very years 1668 Madame de Montespapre realised her dream and was taken to the king's heart the star of la Vallière rapidly paled in 1669 Madame de Montespapre was brought to bed of the first of the seven children she gave to Louis if she had ever doubted the efficacy of these dealings with the devil confidence would have dated from that day an incident which might have had terrible consequences ruffled this happiness so long desired Mariette and Lissage owed to la Vallière the lucrative connection with Madame de Montespapre but they showed base in gratitude and proceeded to perform incantations for the Marquis no longer with the assistance of Lavoisin but with that of a rival sorceress La Duverchée Lavoisin was indignant and as la Rénie says made her to do about it the matter became known and the king having learnt that these people were accustomed to perform empires and sacrilegious rites ordered the arrest of Mariette and Du Poisson the name taken by Lissage at this period and they were sent to the Bastille in March 1668 from the Bastille they were brought before the Châtelet on the charge of sorcery the court chroniclers though ignorant of her reasons for so doing note that Madame de Montespapre suddenly left Paris but Mariette and Lissage had too much interest in holding their tongues to inform against her besides writes La Rénie the first judge who heard the case being a cousin Germaine of Mariette through his wife Lavoisin being at large on the credit of interested persons with whom she had dealings and these wretched practises being then unknown investigation was not carried very far it was solely a question of seeing how the matter could be dealt with in such a way as to save Mariette on account of his family the little that could not be concealed brought Lissage condemnation to the galleys and Mariette banishment the king increased the sentence of the latter to imprisonment but the prisoner escaped from Saint Lazar where he had been confined as to Lissage Lavoisin thanks to her connections was not long in getting him set at liberty in a memorandum addressed to Leuvoir La Rénie exhibits the conclusions to be drawn from the trial of 1668 after very appositely calling attention to the fact that the statements of the accuser were the less suspicious because dating from a period when as yet there could be no question of the scarcely dawning relations between Louis and Madame de Montespan the lieutenant of police says that Mariette and Lissage could only have known of those relations through Madame de Montespan himself and adds it appears from the trial of Lissage and Mariette in 1668 that Madame de Montespan had been dealing with Lavoisin at any rate since 1667 and that about the time she was by her introduced to Lissage and Mariette that Mariette in his room and in the presence of Lissage used to read the Gospels over the head of Madame de Montespan so early as that then a scheme was on foot when I questioned the two surviving accomplices on the matter they said separately that this scheme was to secure the favour of the king that for that purpose Lavoisin then gave some powders which were placed under the chalice given to Madame de Montespan and that she recited an incantation in which her own name and the kings occurred that she performed other ceremonies at Saint-Germain that she had masses said on the hearts of pigeons and other empires and sacrilegious rites performed in Mariette's room for this purpose and as the one says to slay the other merely to get rid of Madame de la Vallée these enchantments to procure the death of Madame de la Vallée were made upon human bones Lissage and Mariette said nothing about it until the former urged by explicit commands to tell the truth and Mariette impelled by the fact themselves to reveal them both separately established these facts Lavénie observes further that Lissage and Mariette mentioned certain details afterwards proved to be accurate of which they could have got information from Madame de Montespan alone we have already mentioned the reasons why the declarations of Mariette Mont-voisain inspired confidence the corresponding depositions of Lissage deserve equal attention on October 8 1679 Louvoir wrote to Louis XIV Monsieur de la Vallée showed me his conviction that if I spoke to Lissage he would in the end make up his mind to tell me all he knew and he believed this to be the more important because this man has not up to the present been convicted himself of poisoning anyone but has a perfect knowledge of all the poisonings affected in Paris for the last seven or eight years I went yesterday to Vincent and spoke to him in the way Monsieur de la Vallée desired giving him to hope that your Majesty would pardon him provided he made the declarations necessary for bringing to the knowledge of justice all that has happened in regard to the poisons he promised to do so and told me that he was much surprised at my urging him to tell all he knew in a letter of October 11 1679 Louvoir renewed his pressure on Lissage to induce him to speak fully and in entire frankness the magician hesitated tried to dissimulate it repeating to all who urged him how vastly he was astonished at their persistence but this reluctance only stimulated the ardour of La Réunion he returned to the charge like Louvoir he gave hints of a royal pardon at last Lissage spoke his principal declarations were written among the papers that had burnt in the fireplace of his study as we have said hence we no longer possess them in their entirety but from the notes left by La Réunion as well as from the fragments of the magisterial examination which were preserved and will be in part reproduced below we know that the revelations of Lissage entirely confirmed those of Marguerite Moirvoisin the scandal of the amours of Louis XIV was only the more intense because the young Marquis de Montesmar was by no means a complacent husband a singular fact at that period and in that society he was an extravagant an extraordinary man says mademoiselle de Montpensier who complained to everybody of the friendship of the king for his wife there were scenes between the spouses and he struck her he provoked scenes with the king where Montesmar went to Saint-Germain sermonizing thus Madame de Montesmar was in despair he used to come to see me very often says mademoiselle de Montpensier he's a relative of mine and I scolded him he came one evening and repeated to me and her anger delivered to the king in which he quoted innumerable passages of scripture about David for instance and finally used strong terms to induce him to give back his wife and fear the judgment of God I said to him you are mad I was at Saint-Germain the next day and said to Madame de Montesmar I have seen your husband in Paris and he is madder than ever I sharply scolded him and told him that if he didn't hold his tongue he would deserve to be locked up she said to me he is here telling his tales at court I am ashamed to see that my parrot and he are amusing the mob Louis XIV was naturally irritated by the attitude of this surprising husband almighty as he was he resorted to the tricks and subterfuges of a vulgar lover his anxiety was redoubled when his mistress became a mother the king was very fond of his children particularly those he had by Madame de Montesmar in the eyes of the law these children belonged to the husband and Louis trembled with fear less Montesmar out of vengeance or irony should come and take from him his son and daughter Montesmar found a supporter in his uncle the Archbishop of Saint when the king's passion was known says the Abbe Boileau brother of the poet the Archbishop sentenced to public penance a woman of the town who lived as the Marchionesse his niece was living in open concubinage and he caused the publication in his diocese of the old cannons against the violation of the religious law the diocese of Saint included Fontaine Bleu where the court was then held Madame de Montesmar was compelled to take her departure in confusion she felt that it was she who was being pointed at she dared not return into the jurisdiction of the Archbishop until after the prelate's death in 1674 when the Marquis understood that his efforts were vain and that from the height of his throne Louis would reply only with Lettre de Cache he put on mourning clothed all his household in black and drove to the court in a coach draped in black to take leave in great ceremony of his relatives friends and acquaintances on that day the husband in his costume of black was not the butt of ridicule jests were silenced and the king on the throne was scorned and despised a man of genius lent the monarch his aid Malier wrote his Amphitrion the play was represented in this year 1668 and the moccas resumed their places in the royal camp un partage avec Jupiter n'a rien de tout qu'il détonnerait five counts and marquises on gilded benches applauded the taunt and punctuated the cruel raileries with bursts of laughter yet the king was injured especially in the opinion of the Parisian middle class he was conscious of it and one day said himself to his mistress that if she had left house, children and husband to follow him he had neglected the care of his reputation which was much blighted through his having loved a woman whom he had such good reasons for not regarding as he had done Montespan set out for his country seat some men of the company he commanded fell a quarrelling with the underbelly of Perpignol the fact was of no importance but it came to the knowledge of the ministers and Louvoir wrote at once to the Lord Lieutenant September 21st 1669 I cannot express my surprise that a thing of the nature of that which Monsieur de Montespan has done should have passed without my learning of it I send you a dispatch from the king for the supreme council of Rousseau in which his majesty commands the council to hold an inquiry in whatever manner you may employ it it must not be forgotten whether in the information of the sub-belly of Perpignol or in that about the disorders that occurred at in to implicate the commander of the company Montespan and the largest possible number of Cavaliers so that they may take fright and the majority desert especially the commander after which it would not be a difficult matter to bring about the ruin of the company if you have the names of the Cavaliers who insulted the sub-belly they must be arrested at once to make an example of them and so that you may have from the depositions at the time of their execution more proof against the captain to try in some way or other to implicate him in the informacion so that he may be cashiered with an appearance of justice if you could manage that he is accused sufficiently for the supreme council to have grounds for pronouncing some condemnation on him it would be a very good thing you will guess the reasons well enough however little you may be informed of what is going on in this part of the world the cynicism of Louis and his minister passes all bounds Montespan had to flee for refuge to Spain but from that day Louis's position in regard to the injured husband so far from improving became sensibly worse abroad Montespan could more boldly and independently press his claims on the children of the king and provoke a scandal in the eyes of all Europe Louis got a demand for separation the judges the matter remained in suspense the judges could not bring themselves to commit the inequity demanded of them they gave way at last partly under pressure from the first president de Noviant who had been won by a promise of the great seal the separation was declared on July 7 1674 by procurre General Achilde Eilet assisted by six judges the judgment adduced the wasting of the property of the commonality by the Marquis de Montespan the domestic discord between the Marquis and his wife and the ill treatment of which the Marchioness complained on the part of her husband this decree pronounced against Montespan was a monstrous proceeding after having dishonoured his crown Louis dishonoured justice but there was a higher justice which as we shall see he was not to escape the decree of July 7 1674 did not assure the king piece of mind in 1678 Montespan had to return for a short time to Paris on account of a lawsuit Louis XIV wrote to Colbert June 15 I understand that Montespan is indulging in indiscreet talk he is a madman whom you will do me the pleasure to have closely watched and so that he may have no pretext for remaining in Paris see Noviant so that the parliament may hurry I know that Montespan has threatened to see his wife and that he is capable of it and that the consequences might be formidable the question of the children again I rely on you to prevent him speaking do not forget the details of this matter and especially see to it that he leaves Paris at the earliest moment such were the jobs to which the coal bears and the louvoir had to stoop but such also were the annoyances and troubles beneath which Louis bent his brow a brow already reddened with shame and soon to be furrowed with grief Louis XIV loved his mistresses not for their own sakes but for his the new passion lasted three years perhaps someone will say that is a good while in 1672 Jealousy which perpetually ravaged the proud soul of Madame de Montespan burst out in storms of which Madame de Sevigny speaks thus she is in inexpressible rages she has seen no one for a fortnight from morning till night and when she goes to bed tears it all up her state makes me quite sorry no one pities her though she has done good turns to many people Madame de Montespan returned to la voisin and it is not without emotion that we see this wonderful woman with her matchless grace and her superior intelligence after having stepped into crime sinking into it lower and lower from the hands of the abeille mariette who recited the gospels over her head and made incantations on the hearts of pigeons she comes into those of the abeille jweeble who said the black mass jweeble claimed to be an illegitimate member of the family of Montmorency he was 70 years old his complexion was that of a confirmed topper he had a horrible squint in these monstrous ceremonies he cut the throats of his own children by his mistress a fat ruddy wench named char franc to obtain the desired result from the black mass it was necessary that it should be celebrated three times in succession the three masses were said in 1673 at intervals of a fortnight or three weeks the first in the chapel of the château of Villeboisin in the village of Ménille near Montlary Maremoiselle de Zouillet the maid of Madame de Montespain was intimately connected with the Roy governor of the pages of the petit d'écurie who owned a house at Ménille Zouillebois had lived in the château as almanor of the Mont-Gomeries it has been described by M. J. Léa a building of the 14th century and well chosen for sinister incantations the château, situated half a league from the road from Paris to all Aire was surrounded by deep moats filled with running water the Roy betook himself in Digny where he saw the Abbey Jouy book he promised 50 pistolets that is about 20 pounds and a living worth 2,000 livres at the day fixed they met at Villeboisin Madame de Montespain the Abbey Jouy Bois the Roy a tall person who was certainly Mademoiselle de Zouillet and a person of name unknown said to have been a retainer of the Archbishop of Saint in the chapel of the château the priest said Mass on the bare body of the favorite as she lay across the altar at the consecration he recited his incantation the words of which he gave later to the commissaries of the Chambre à dents Ashtaroth Asmodeus Princes of Affection I conjure you to accept the sacrifice I present to you of this child for the things I ask of you which are that the affection of the king and my lord the dophan for me may be continued and that honored by the princes and princesses of the court nothing be denied me of all that I shall ask the king as well for my relatives as my servitors Shweebel had bought for a crown twelve and sixpence today the child who was sacrificed at this mass rides la reine and who was offered to him by a fine girl and having drawn blood from the child whom he stabbed in the throat with a pen knife he poured it into the chalice after which the child was taken away and carried to another place the details of the mass that may need were revealed by Shweebel and further confirmed by the deposition of L'Archand-Fran his mistress the second mass on the body of Madame de Montespain took place a fortnight or three weeks after the first at Saint-Denis in a tumble down hut the third took place in a house at Paris where the Shweebel was conducted blindfold and from which he was brought back in the same way as far as the arcade of the Hotel de Vie at this time the journal at the health of the king drawn up by d'Aquan, the chief physician states that Louis suffered from violent headaches towards the end of this year, 1673 he was attacked by dizziness of such a kind that at times his sight became clouded and he felt on the point of collapse Is it rash, observes M. Loise Leur very justly, to see in these headaches and faintnesses the effect of powders provided by Lavoisin the hypothesis of M. Loise Leur will be sustained in detail by a declaration of the magician-lissage which will be found below. It remains to inquire how Madame de Montespain contrived to get the powers prepared by the sorceress into the food of the king surrounded as he was by officers of the buttery two revelations both made of November 8, 1680 the first by Le Maire locked up at Vincent with the Abbey-Jouie Bourg the second by Lissage who he desired. We read in the notes La Rainie took for his personal guidance by way of Memorandre November 8, 1680 Le Maire asked to speak to me told me that being in the same room with Chouis Bourg and another man Chouis Bourg told them such strange things especially in regard to Madame de Montespain that he does not know what to make of it and that if there was any sorceress who ought to be suspected it would be Duchenne the butler that Duchenne was a footman in the house of Madame Dobré that he has since served Monsieur Bantan and then Madame de Montespain who was very kind to him and made him officer of the buttery and that he is always at Madame de Montespain's service Further from the last examinations that of November 8 particularly it appears that Gilles also an officer of the buttery was involved in the empires trade in 1668 and that he sought the serge's assistance for the designs of Madame de Montespain The crisis of the year 1675 was more serious Louis XIV suddenly had great fits of devotion People with their eyes open saw that he was tiring of his mistress Madame de Montespain on the Thursday in Holy Week had been refused absolution by a priest of her parish Much put out she hastened to the curee Versailles and spoke to him hotly but the curee approved of his subordinate's action and the great voice of Bossouet which had consistently been upraised against the double adultery resounded with a new force When we were at Versailles one fast day about Easter Madame de Montespain went away writes mademoiselle de Montpensier Everyone was vastly astonished at this retreat I went to Paris and saw her in the house where her children were Madame de Montenot was with her She saw nobody As everybody was on the alert about her return although nobody seemed to pay any attention to it it was known that monsieur Bossouet then tutor to the Dauphin and a present bishop of Moll went there every day muffled in a grey cloak We have other information from Bossouet's private secretary the Abbe Le Dier Louis XIV ordered his mistress to retire When Bossouet went to see the exiled lady she loaded him with reproaches She told him that his pride had urged him to get her driven away that he wanted to make himself sole master of the king's mind Then when she understood that her wrath smote in vain against the serene firmness of the prelate she sought to win him by flatteries and promises She dangled before his eyes the chief dignities in church and state This exile lasted from April 14th to May 11th On the other hand the Magician Lassage in an examination held on November 16, 1680 declared that if he were in the last torments he could tell nothing except that in 1675 at the beginning of summer the exact date when Madame de Montesmar was trying to maintain her position Lavoisin and La Desouille worked or pretended to work for her but in reality powerless to keep for her the love of the king They merely gave her powders which taken in certain doses and acted as poison So Lassage said and the declarations of the girl Montesmar summoned up by La Reignée are identical The powders her mother sent to Madame de Montesmar were love powders to be given to the king Once when her mother took some powders to Clarnier she was accompanied by the Magician La Tour her eldest brother named Marie since dead and Fernand a good friend of La Tour and La Vautier but these did not enter Clarnier She could not say if La Tour went in with her mother but they all came back together and had lunch at the sign of the orm near the Bois de Boulogne with violins They made some noise among them Her brother who told her about it told her that her mother brought back 50 Louis D'Or Her mother besides the powders she gave to Madame de Montesmar did not send any except by mademoiselle de Zouillet who was the go-between for that purpose As to the powders which had passed beneath the shallows they came from a priest called the prier the abbey Zouibou As to the others of the chalice her mother kept them in the drawer of a cabinet of which she had the key there were black ones white and grey which she mixed in the presence of de Zouillet Her father once wanted to break the cabinet where the powders were kept saying that some harm would come of it and the results of these practices was once more of such a nature as to give confidence in the power of sorcery Madame de Montesmar regained her position with the king It is true that Madame de Richelieu said, I am always there as a third party In spite of this third party Madame de Montesmar became the mother of the comp de Toulouse and mademoiselle de Blois Madame de Sévigny writes to her daughter on June 28 1675 Your idea about Quantova Madame de Montesmar is very good if she cannot recover the old ground she will push her authority and her greatness beyond the clouds but she must make sure of being loved all the year round without scruple Meanwhile her house is filled with the whole court and her consideration is unbounded On July 31 Madame de Sévigny writes again The attachment for Quantova is always extreme It is pretty much in order to vex the curé and everybody else In 1675 Madame de Montesmar had been dismissed from religious scruples In 1676 she was to be sent away for reasons which furnished her with quite another ground for irritation The king was then suddenly seized with a terrible hunger for a multiplicity of amours Soon over sudden and varied Madame de Sévigny characterises this strange condition in a picturesque phrase There is a scent of new game in the land of Quanto At short intervals the princess de Soubise Madame de Louvigny Madameoiselle de Rocheforte Madame de Loutre and no doubt others succeeded one another in the affections and the bed of the king Madame de Soubise makes an amusing appearance in the gallery of royal mistresses She loved Louis out of love for her husband After collecting for him all the honours and dignities the officers and the hard cash that he desired struck her tense and retired in good order She had made the least possible stir and went back to her husband who was enchanted with the adventure The prince of Soubise thought with the poet that a share with Jupiter had no dishonour so long as Jupiter could pay a good price These intrigues find a double echo in the writings of Madame de Sévigny and in the records of the chambre à dents On September 2 1676 Madame de Sévigny writes The vision of Madame de Soubise has passed quicker than a lightning flash They have made it up again Quanto the other day at cards had her head resting familiarly on her friend's shoulder and we fancied that piece of affectation meant I am better than ever but on September 11 the position has changed Everybody believes that the star of Madame de Montespagne is pailing There are tears, unfeigned disappointments affected cheerfulness sulks at last my dear it is all over Some tremble others rejoice Some wish for immutability the majority for a dramatic change In a word we are all eyes and ears for what the most clear sight would say Everyone thinks that the king loves her no longer we read in a letter of September 30 and that Madame de Montespagne is embarrassed between the consequences which would follow the return of his pavers and the danger of no longer enjoying them the fear that they are being sought elsewhere apart from that she has not very nicely accepted the position of friend so much beauty as she still has and so much pride find it difficult to come down to second place Jealousy's are keen Have they ever stopped anything? Again on October 15 1676 If Quanto had packed up her traps at Easter the year she returned to Paris she would not have been in her present distress it would have been sensible to adopt that cause but human weakness is great one wishes to make most of the remains of one's beauty and this economy brings ruin rather than riches Madame de Ludre had just succeeded Madame de Soubis The anxieties of Madame de Montespain were further enhanced by the brilliance increasing every day of a new star in the sky of Versailles At its rising it had shed a pale, discreet modest light but a light which twinkled with little mocking scintillations the widow Scaron now become Madame de Mentonot had been chosen as governess of the children of the king and Madame de Montespain What strides the governess's fortune had taken in a few years but let us speak of the friend Madame de Mentonot writes Madame de Sévigny on May 6, 1676 she is still more triumphant than the Montespain everything is submitted to the Union all the chamber women of her neighbour are hers one hands her the rouge pot on her knees another brings her her gloves a third puts her to sleep she salutes no one and I fancy really she laughs in her sleep at this servitude End of section 12 Madame de Montespain Part 1