But to return to the peace.  The renunciations were ready, towards the middle of March, and were agreed upon.  The King was invited to sign them by his own most pressing interest; and the Court of England, to which we owed all, was not less interested in consummating this grand work, so as to enjoy, with the glory of having imposed it upon all the powers, that domestic repose which was unceasingly disturbed by the party opposed to the government, which party, excited by the enemies of peace abroad, could not cease to cause disquiet to the Queen’s minister, while, by delay in signing, vain hopes of disturbing the peace or hindering its ratification existed in people’s minds.  The King of Spain had made his renunciations with all the solidity and solemnity which could be desired from the laws, customs, and usages of Spain.  It only remained for France to imitate him.

For the ceremony that was to take place, all that could be obtained in order to render it more solemn was the presence of the peers.  But the King was so jealous of his authority, and so little inclined to pay attention to that of others, that he wished to content himself with merely saying in a general way that he hoped to find all the peers at the Parliament when the renunciations were made.  I told M. d’Orleans that if the King thought such an announcement as this was enough he might rely upon finding not a single peer at the Parliament.  I added, that if the King did not himself invite each peer, the master of the ceremonies ought to do so for him, according to the custom always followed.  This warning had its effect.  We all received written invitations, immediately.  Wednesday, the 18th of May, was fixed for the ceremony.

At six o’clock on the morning of that day I went to the apartments of M. le Duc de Berry, in parliamentary dress, and shortly afterwards M. d’Orleans came there also, with a grand suite.  It had been arranged that the ceremony was to commence by a compliment from the Chief-President de Mesmes to M. le Duc de Berry, who was to reply to it.  He was much troubled at this.  Madame de Saint-Simon, to whom he unbosomed himself; found means, through a subaltern, to obtain the discourse of the Chief-President, and gave it to M. le Duc de Berry, to regulate his reply by.  This, however, seemed too much for him; he admitted so to Madame de Saint-Simon, and that he knew not what to do.  She proposed that I should take the work off his hands; and he was delighted with the expedient.  I wrote, therefore, a page and a half full of common-sized paper in an ordinary handwriting.  M. le Duc de Berry liked it, but thought it too long to be learnt.  I abridged it; he wished it to be still shorter, so that at last there was not more than three-quarters of a page.  He had learned it by heart, and repeated it in his cabinet the night before the ceremony to Madame de Saint-Simon, who encouraged him as much as she could.