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.

The Comtesse de Soissons, Angelique Cunegonde, the daughter of Francois-Henri de Luxembourg, has, it must be confessed, a considerable share of virtue and of wit; but she has also her faults, like the rest of the world.  It may be said of her that she is truly a poor Princess.  Her husband, Louis-Henri, Chevalier de Soissons, was very ugly, having a very long hooked nose, and eyes extremely close to it.  He was as yellow as saffron; his mouth was extremely small for a man, and full of bad teeth of a most villanous odour; his legs were ugly and clumsy; his knees and feet turned inwards, which made him look when he was walking like a parrot; and his manner of making a bow was bad.  He was rather short than otherwise; but he had fine hair and a large quantity of it.  He was rather good-looking when a child.  I have seen portraits of him painted at that period.  If the Comtesse de Soissons’ son had resembled his mother, he would have been very well, for her features are good, and nothing could be better than her, eyes, her mouth, and the turn of her face; only her nose was too large and thick, and her skin was not fine enough.

Whoever is like the Prince Eugene in person cannot be called a handsome man; he is shorter than his elder brother, but, with the exception of Prince Eugene, all the rest of them are good for nothing.  The youngest, Prince Philippe, was a great madman, and died of the small-pox at Paris.  He was of a very fair complexion, had an ungraceful manner, and always looked distracted.  He had a nose like a hawk, a large mouth, thick lips, and hollow cheeks; in all