Madame de Pompadour, with the design of still further strengthening her power at court, conceived the idea of calling in the powers of the Church to her aid.  The Prince de Soubise, who was one of her most devoted courtiers, took upon himself the task of procuring an indulgent Jesuit, who would consent to confess and absolve her from all the sins she had committed at court.  Pere de Sacy, the priest alluded to, had, though a Jesuit, preserved in some sort the habits and feelings of a man of the world; he could, when it suited his purpose, be of his century, and would occasionally laugh a little at the severities of his order.  To him, then, the Prince do Soubise proceeded.  At first he showed himself rather restive.

“Recollect,” said the prince to him, “from the confessional of the marchioness to the confessional of the king there is but a step.”

Pere de Sacy could not resist the temptation of such an attractive position; he went to the marchioness.  Madame de Pompadour, proud of having for a confessor a man who had been appointed Procureur-general of the Missions, received him most graciously.  She had other reasons also for seeking to conciliate the Jesuit—­her principal one was this:—­Up to this time the Jesuitical party that had risen against her at Versailles, the queen, the dauphin, Pere Griffet, Cardinal de Luynes, the Bishop of Verdun, and M. de Nicolai, had hoped to drive her from court as a miscreant.  Now, once declared worthy of heaven by a Jesuit of such high standing as Pere de Sacy, would she not become in some sort inviolable and sacred?  With these designs, then, she put in force all her arts of seduction against her confessor; never did she display more grace, wit, or beauty.  Pere de Sacy, who allowed himself to be taken captive unresistingly by the battery of charms thus brought to bear upon him, visited her seven or eight times to speak of confession, without, however, coming to any conclusion upon the subject.  As the good city of Paris had not at the moment any matter of graver importance wherewith to occupy its attention, it began to grow witty on the subject of this confession; a thousand chansons were composed upon the father confessor and his fair penitent.  Piron arrived one evening at the Cafe Procope, exclaiming that he had news from Versailles.

“Well,” inquired some one, “has the marchioness confessed?”

“No,” replied Piron; “Madame de Pompadour cannot agree with Pere de Sacy as to the style of confession.”

The following day there was a great uproar among the Jesuits; the procureur-general of the missions was summoned before their Council of Ten, and was obliged to confess himself.  He received a severe reprimand from the superior of the order, and, as the price of his absolution, was commanded to refuse his counsels to the marchioness, and to excuse himself in the best manner he could for his previous delay.

Pere de Sacy accordingly presented himself for the last time before Madame de Pompadour, and the following conversation took place:—­