daughter.  He never liked or hated any Minister.  He laughed often and heartily.  He was a very obedient son, and never opposed the King’s will in any way, and was more submissive to Maintenon than any other person.  Those who say that he would have retired, if the King had declared his marriage with that old woman, did not know him; had he not an old mistress of his own, to whom he was believed to be privately married?  What prevented Maintenon from being declared Queen was the wise reasons which the Archbishop of Cambray, M. de Fenelon, urged to the King, and for which she persecuted that worthy man to the day of his death.

If the Dauphin had chosen, he might have enjoyed greater credit with his father.  The King had offered him permission to go to the Royal Treasury to bestow what favours he chose upon the persons of his own Court; and at the Treasury orders were given that he should have whatever he asked for.  The Dauphin replied that it would give him so much trouble.  He would never know anything about State affairs lest he should be obliged to attend the Privy Councils, and have no more time to hunt.  Some persons thought he did this from motives of policy and to make the King believe he had no ambition; but I am persuaded it was from nothing but indolence and laziness; he loved to live a slothful life, and to interfere with nothing.

At the King of Spain’s departure our King wept a good deal; the Dauphin also wept much, although he had never before manifested the least affection for his children.  They were never seen in his apartment morning and evening.  When he was not at the chase the Dauphin passed his time with the great Princesse de Conti, and latterly with the Duchess.  One must have guessed that the children belonged to him, for he lived like a stranger among them.  He never called them his sons, but the Duke of Burgundy, the Duc d’Anjou, the Duc de Berri; and they, in turn, always called him Monseigneur.

I lived upon a very good understanding with him for more than twenty years, and he had great confidence in me until the Duchess got possession of him; then everything with regard to me was changed:  and as, after my husband’s death, I never went to the chase with the Dauphin, I had no further relation with him, and he behaved as if he had never seen or known me.  If he had been wise he would have preferred the society of the Princesse de Conti to that of the Duchess, because the first, having a good heart, loved him for himself; while the other loved nothing in the world, and listened to nothing but her taste for pleasure, her interest, and her ambition.  So that, provided she attained her ends, she cared little for the Dauphin, who by his condescension for this Princess gave a great proof of weakness.

In general, his heart was not correct enough to discern what real friendship was; he loved only those who afforded him amusement, and despised all others.  The Duchess was very agreeable and had some pleasant notions; she was fond of eating, which was the very thing for the Dauphin, because he found a good breakfast at her house every morning and a collation in the afternoon.  The Duchess’s daughters were of the same character as their mother; so that the Dauphin might be all the day in the company of gay people.