Produced by David Widger
Being the Historic Memoirs of Madam Campan,
First Lady in Waiting to the Queen
I was fifteen years of age when I was appointed reader to Mesdames. I willbegin by describing the Court at that period.
Maria Leczinska was just dead; the death of the Dauphin had preceded hersby three years; the Jesuits were suppressed, and piety was to be found atCourt only in the apartments of Mesdames. The Duc de Choiseuil ruled.
Etiquette still existed at Court with all the forms it had acquired under
Louis XIV.; dignity alone was wanting. As to gaiety, there was none.
Versailles was not the place at which to seek for assemblies where French
spirit and grace were displayed. The focus of wit and intelligence was
Paris.
The King thought of nothing but the pleasures of the chase: it might havebeen imagined that the courtiers indulged themselves in making epigrams byhearing them say seriously, on those days when the King did not hunt, "TheKing does nothing to-day."—[In sporting usance (see SOULAIRE, p. 316).]
The arrangement beforehand of his movements was also a matter of greatimportance with Louis XV. On the first day of the year he noted down inhis almanac the days of departure for Compiegne, Fontainebleau, Choisy,etc. The weightiest matters, the most serious events, never deranged thisdistribution of his time.
Since the death of the Marquise de Pompadour, the King had no titledmistress; he contented himself with his seraglio in the Parc-aux-Cerfs. Itis well known that the monarch found the separation of Louis de Bourbonfrom the King of France the most animating feature of his royal existence."They would have it so; they thought it for the best," was his way ofexpressing himself when the measures of his ministers were unsuccessful.The King delighted to manage the most disgraceful points of his privateexpenses himself; he one day sold to a head clerk in the War Department ahouse in which one of his mistresses had lodged; the contract ran in thename of Louis de Bourbon, and the purchaser himself took in a bag theprice of the house in gold to the King in his private closet.
[Until recently little was known about the Parc-aux-Cerfs, and it wasbelieved that a great number of young women had been maintained there atenormous expense. The investigations of M. J. A. Le Roi, given in hisinteresting work, "Curiosites Historiques sur Louis XIII., Louis XIV.,Louis XV.," etc., Paris, Plon, 1864, have thrown fresh light upon thematter. The result he arrives at (see page 229 of his work) is that thehouse in question (No. 4 Rue St. Mederic, on the site of theParc-aux-Cerfs, or breeding-place for deer, of Louis XIII) was very small,and could have held only one girl, the woman in charge of her, and aservant. Most of the girls left it only when about to be confined, and itsometimes stood vacant for five or six months. It may have been rentedbefore the date of purchase, and other houses seem sometimes to have beenused also; but in any case, it is evident that both the number of girlsand the expense incurred have been absurdly exaggerated. The systemflourished under Madame de Pompadour, but ceased as soon as Madame duBarry obtained full power over the King, and the house was then sold to M.J. B. Sevin for 16,000 livres, on 27th May, 1771, Louis not acting underthe name of Louis de Bourbon, but as King,—"Vente par le Roi, notreSire." In 1755 he had also been declared its purchaser in a similar