The wife of the Marechal de Villars is running after the Comte de Toulouse.  My son is also in her good graces, and is not a whit more discreet.  Marechal de Villars came one day to see me; and, as he pretends to understand medals, he asked to see mine.  Baudelot, who is a very honest and clever man, and in whose keeping they are, was desired to show them; he is not the most cautious man in the world, and is very little acquainted with what is going on at Court.  He had written a dissertation upon one of my medals, in which he proved, against the opinion of other learned men, that the horned head which it displayed was that of Pan and not of Jupiter Ammon.  Honest Baudelot, to display his erudition, said to the Marshal, “Ah, Monseigneur, this is one of the finest medals that Madame possesses:  it is the triumph of Cornificius; he has, you see, all sorts of horns.  He was like you, sir, a great general; he wears the horns of Juno and Faunus.  Cornificius was, as you probably well know, sir, a very able general.”  Here I interrupted him.  “Let us pass on,” I said, “to the other medal; if you stop in this manner at each, you will not have time to show the whole.”

But he, full of his subject, returned to it.  “Ah, Madame,” he went on, “this is worthy of more attention than perhaps any other; Cornificius is, indeed, one of the most rare medals in the world.  Look at it, Madame; I beg you to observe it narrowly; here, you see, is Juno crowned, and she is also crowning this great general.”  All that I could say to him was not sufficient to prevent Baudelot talking to the Marshal of horns.  “Monseigneur,” he said, “is well versed in all these matters, and I want him to see that I am right in insisting that these horns are those of Faunus, not those of Jupiter Ammon.”

All the people who were in the chamber, with difficulty refrained from bursting into a loud laugh.  If the plan had been laid for the purpose, it could not have succeeded better.  When the Marshal had gone, I, too, indulged myself by joining in the laugh.  It was with great difficulty that I could make Baudelot understand he had done wrong.

The same Baudelot, one day at a masked ball, had been saying a great many civil things to the Dowager Madame, who was there masked, and whom, therefore, he did not know.  When he came and saw that it was Madame, he was terrified with affright:  the Princess laughed beyond measure at it.

Our Princes here have no particular costume.  When they go to the Parliament they wear only a cloak, which, in my opinion, has a very vulgar appearance; and the more so, as they wear the ‘collet’ without a cravat.  Those of the Royal Family have no privileges above the other Dukes, excepting in their seats and the right of crossing over the carpet, which is allowed to none but them.  The President, when he addresses them, is uncovered, but keeps his hat on when he speaks to everybody else.  This is the cause of those great disputes which the Princes of the blood have had with the bastards, as may be seen by their memorial.  The Presidents of the Parliament wear flame-coloured robes trimmed with ermine at the neck and sleeves.