The Prince de Conti, who died lately (in 1709), had good sense, courage, and so many agreeable qualities as to make himself generally beloved.  But he had also some bad points in his character, for he was false, and loved no person but himself.

It is said that he caused his own death by taking stimulating medicines, which destroyed a constitution naturally feeble.  There had been some talk of making him King of Poland.—­[In 1696, after the death of John Sobiesky.]

SECTION XXIX.—­THE GREAT PRINCESSE DE CONTI, DAUGHTER OF LA VALLIERE.

This is of all the King’s illegitimate daughters the one he most loves.  She is by far the most polite and well-bred, but she is now totally absorbed by devotion.

SECTION XXX.—­THE PRINCESS PALATINE, MARIE-THERESE DE BOURBON, WIFE OF FRANCOIS-LOUIS, PRINCE DE CONTI.

This Princess is the only one of the House of Conde who is good for anything.  I think she must have some German blood in her veins.  She is little, and somewhat on one side, but she is not hunchbacked.  She has fine eyes, like her father; with this exception, she has no pretensions to beauty, but she is virtuous and pious.  What she has suffered on account of her husband has excited general compassion; he was as jealous as a fiend, though without the slightest cause.  She never knew where she was to pass the night.  When she had made arrangements to sleep at Versailles, he would take her from Paris to Chantilly, where she supposed she was going to stay; then she was obliged to set out for Versailles.  He tormented her incessantly in all possible ways, and he looked, moreover, like a little ape.  The late Queen had two paroquets, one of which was the very picture of the Prince, while the other was as much like the Marechal de Luxembourg as one drop of water is like another.

Notwithstanding all that the Princess has suffered, she daily regrets the loss of her husband.  I am often quite angry to see her bewailing her widowhood instead of enjoying the repose which it affords her; she wishes that her husband were alive again, even although he should torment her again as much as before.

She was desirous that Mademoiselle de Conde should marry the late Margrave; this lady was incomparably more handsome than her sister; but I think he had a greater inclination for Mademoiselle de Vendome, because she seemed to be more modest and quiet.

The Princess, who has been born and educated here, had not the same dislike that I felt to her son’s marrying an illegitimate child, and yet she has repented it no less.  She is exceedingly unhappy with respect to her children.  The Princesse de Conti, mother of the Prince de Conti, who is rather virtuous than otherwise, is nevertheless a little simpleton, and is something like the Comtesse Pimbeche Orbeche, for she is always wishing to be engaged in lawsuits against