journey, she remembered that she had forgotten her parrot in the chapel.  Without regarding the danger to which she exposed her brother, she insisted upon returning to look for her parrot, and did so.  She died in Paris in the beginning of the reign of Louis XV.  She was fond of literary persons, and collected about her some of the best company of that day, among whom her wit and grace enabled her to cut a brilliant figure.  She was the intimate friend of the poet La Faye, whom she advised in his compositions, and whose life she made delightful.  Her fondness for the arts and pleasure procured for her the appellation of ‘Dame de Volupte’, and she wrote this epitaph upon herself: 

                   “Ci git, dans un pais profonde,
                    Cette Dame de Volupte,
                    Qui, pour plus grande surete,
                    Fit son Paradis dans ce monde.”]

SECTION XXXVI.—­THE GRAND DUCHESS, WIFE OF COSMO II.  OF FLORENCE.

The Grand Duchess has declared to me, that, from the day on which she set out for Florence, she thought of nothing but her return, and the means of executing this design as soon as she should be able.

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.