No one could approve of her deserting her husband, and the more particularly as she speaks very well of him, and describes the manner of living at Florence as like a terrestrial paradise.

She does not think herself unfortunate for having travelled, and looks upon all the grandeur she enjoyed at Florence as not to be compared with the unrestrained way of living in which she indulges here.  She is very amusing when she relates her own history, in the course of which she by no means flatters herself.

“Indeed, cousin,” I say to her often, “you do not flatter yourself, but you really tell things which make against you.”

“Ah, no matter,” she replies, “I care not, provided I never see the Grand Duke again.”

She cannot be accused of any amorous intrigue.

Her husband furnishes her with very little money; and at this moment (April, 1718) he owes her fifteen months of her pension.  She is now really in want of money to enable her to take the waters of Bourbon.  The Grand Duke, who is very avaricious, thinks she will die soon, and therefore holds back the payments that he may take advantage of that event when it shall happen.

SECTION XXXVII.—­THE DUCHESSE DE LORRAINE, ELIZABETH-CHARLOTTE PHILIPPINE D’ORLEANS, CONSORT OF LEOPOLD JOSEPH-CHARLES DE LORRAINE.

My daughter is ugly; even more so than she was, for the fine complexion which she once had has become sun-burnt.  This makes a great difference in the appearance, and causes a person to look old.  She has an ugly round nose, and her eyes are sunken; but her shape is preserved, and, as she dances well, and her manners are easy and polished, any one may see that she is a person of breeding.  I know many people who pique themselves upon their good manners, and who still have not so much reason as she has.  At all events I am content with my child as she is; and I would rather see her ugly and virtuous than pretty and profligate like the rest.

Whenever the time of her accouchement approaches, she never fails to bid her friends adieu, in the notion that she will die.  Fortunately she has hitherto always escaped well.

When jealousy is once suffered to take root, it is impossible to extirpate it—­therefore it is better not to let it gain ground.  My daughter pretends not to be affected by hers, but she often suffers great affliction from it.  This is not astonishing, because she is very fond of her children; and the woman with whom the Duke is infatuated, together with her husband, do not leave him a farthing; they completely ruin his household.  Craon is an accursed cuckold and a treacherous man.  The Duc de Lorraine knows that my daughter is acquainted with everything, and I believe he likes her the better that she does not remonstrate with him, but endures all patiently.  He is occasionally kind to her, and, provided that he only says tender things to her, she is content and cheerful.