That girl had wit, education and talent-everything, in fact, that is needful to succeed in the profession she had adopted.  During the supper Patu told me in Italian that he was on the point of taking her at the very moment I chose her, and the next morning he informed me that he had slept quietly all night.  The Saint Hilaire was highly pleased with me, and she boasted of it before her companions.  She was the cause of my paying several visits to the Hotel du Roule, and all for her; she was very proud of my constancy.

Those visits very naturally cooled my ardour for Coraline.  A singer from Venice, called Guadani, handsome, a thorough musician, and very witty, contrived to captivate her affections three weeks after my quarrel with her.  The handsome fellow, who was a man only in appearance, inflamed her with curiosity if not with love, and caused a rupture with the prince, who caught her in the very act.  But Coraline managed to coax him back, and, a short time after, a reconciliation took place between them, and such a good one, that a babe was the consequence of it; a girl, whom the prince named Adelaide, and to whom he gave a dowry.  After the death of his father, the Duke of Valentinois, the prince left her altogether and married Mlle. de Brignole, from Genoa.  Coraline became the mistress of Count de la Marche, now Prince de Conti.  Coraline is now dead, as well as a son whom she had by the count, and whom his father named Count de Monreal.

Madame la Dauphine was delivered of a princess, who received the title of Madame de France.

In the month of August the Royal Academy had an exhibition at the Louvre, and as there was not a single battle piece I conceived the idea of summoning my brother to Paris.  He was then in Venice, and he had great talent in that particular style.  Passorelli, the only painter of battles known in France, was dead, and I thought that Francois might succeed and make a fortune.  I therefore wrote to M. Grimani and to my brother; I persuaded them both, but Francois did not come to Paris till the beginning of the following year.

Louis XV., who was passionately fond of hunting, was in the habit of spending six weeks every year at the Chateau of Fontainebleau.  He always returned to Versailles towards the middle of November.  That trip cost him, or rather cost France, five millions of francs.  He always took with him all that could contribute to the amusement of the foreign ambassadors and of his numerous court.  He was followed by the French and the Italian comedians, and by the actors and actresses of the opera.

During those six weeks Fontainebleau was more brilliant than Versailles; nevertheless, the artists attached to the theatres were so numerous that the Opera, the French and Italian Comedies, remained open in Paris.

Baletti’s father, who had recovered his health, was to go to Fontainebleau with Silvia and all his family.  They invited me to accompany them, and to accept a lodging in a house hired by them.