Chapter XI

Royal Mistresses

In the study of the royal mistresses of the eighteenth century, we encounter two in particular,—­Mme. de Pompadour and Mme. du Barry,—­who, though totally different types of women, both reflect the gradual decline of ideals and morals in the first and last years of the reign of Louis XV.  The former dominated the king by means of her intelligence, but the latter swayed the sovereign, already consumed by his sensual excesses, through her peculiarly seductive sensuality.

During the first years of the reign of Louis XV., one of the most influential women was Mme. de Prie, who brought about the marriage of the king to Marie Leczinska, the daughter of the King of Poland, by which manoeuvre she made herself Dame de Palais de la Reine.  The queen naturally took her and her husband into favor, regarding them as her and her father’s benefactors and as entitled to her warmest gratitude.  Mme. de Prie succeeded in winning the queen’s affection and confidence; however, these were of little value, inasmuch as the queen’s influence upon society and morals was not felt, for she led a life of seclusion, shut up in her oratory and constantly on her prie-dieu, and was an object of pity and ridicule.

Mme. de Prie and M. le Duc, having planned to deprive M. Fleury, the minister, of his power,—­he had been the king’s preceptor,—­suddenly had the tables turned against them.  Both were exiled, and a new coterie of ladies came into power; the Duchesse d’Alincourt replaced Mme. de Prie, and the king and M. Fleury themselves took up the affairs of state.

M. Fleury, now cardinal, perceiving that a mistress was inevitable, consented to the choice by the dissolute men and women of court of Mme. de Mailly,—­or Mlle. de Nesle,—­who was supposed to be a disinterested person.  The king, who had no love for her, accepted her as he would have accepted anything put before him by the court.  The queen was incapable of exerting any beneficial influence upon him; in fact, the more he became alienated from her, the more humble and timid did she appear when in his presence.  The reign of Mlle. de Nesle had lasted less than a year, when the beautiful Mme. de La Tournelle, created Duchesse de Chateauroux, replaced her; the latter lived but a short time, being the second mistress of Louis XV. to die within a year.  After her death the king raised the beautiful Mme. d’Etioles to the honor of maitresse-en-titre; she, as Mme. de Pompadour, was, without doubt, the most prominent, possibly the most intelligent and intellectual, certainly the most powerful, of all French mistresses.  It was the first time that a bourgeoise of the financier class had usurped the position of mistress—­that honor having belonged exclusively to the nobility.