Memoirs of Louis XIV and His Court and of the Regency — Volume 12 eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 109 pages of information about Memoirs of Louis XIV and His Court and of the Regency — Volume 12.

Memoirs of Louis XIV and His Court and of the Regency — Volume 12 eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 109 pages of information about Memoirs of Louis XIV and His Court and of the Regency — Volume 12.
glued to my chair, all my body fixed, penetrated with the most acute and most sensible pleasure that joy could impart, with the most charming anxiety, with an enjoyment, so perseveringly and so immoderately hoped for, I sweated with agony at the captivity of my transport, and this agony was of a voluptuousness such as I had never felt before, such as I have never felt since.  How inferior are the pleasures of the senses to those of the mind! and how true it is that the balance-weight of misfortunes, is the good fortune that finishes them!

A moment after the Regent had ceased speaking, he told the Keeper of the Seals to read the declaration.  During the reading, which was more than music to my ears, my attention was again fixed on the company.  I saw by the alteration of the faces what an immense effect this document, which embodied the resolutions I have already explained, produced upon some of our friends.  The whole of the reading was listened to with the utmost attention, and the utmost emotion.

When it was finished, M. le Duc d’Orleans said he was very sorry for this necessity, but that justice must be done to the peers as well as to the princes of the blood:  then turning to the Keeper of the Seals asked him for his opinion.

This latter spoke briefly and well; but was like a dog running over hot ashes.  He declared for the declaration.  His Royal Highness then called upon M. le Duc for his opinion.  It was short, but nervous, and polite to the peers.  M. le Prince de Conti the same.  Then the Regent asked me my opinion.  I made, contrary to my custom, a profound inclination, but without rising, and said, that having the honour to find myself the eldest of the peers of the Council, I offered to his Royal Highness my very humble thanks and those of all the peers of France, for the justice so ardently desired, and touching so closely our dignity and our persons, that he had resolved to render us; that I begged him to be persuaded of our gratitude, and to count upon our utmost attachment to his person for an act of equity so longed for, and so complete; that in this sincere expression of our sentiments consisted all our opinion, because, being pleaders, we could not be judges also.  I terminated these few words with a profound inclination, without rising, imitated by the Duc de la Force at the same moment; all the rest of the Council briefly gave their opinions, approving what the majority of them evidently did not approve at all.

I had tried to modulate my voice, so that it should be just heard and no more, preferring to be indistinct rather than speak too loudly; and confined all my person to express as much as possible, gravity, modesty, and simple gratitude.  M. le Duc maliciously made signs to me in smiling, that I had spoken well.  But I kept my seriousness, and turned round to examine all the rest.

It would be impossible to describe the aspect of the company.  Nothing was seen but people, oppressed with surprise that overwhelmed them, meditative, agitated, some irritated, some but ill at ease, like La Force and Guiche, who freely admitted so to me.

Copyrights
Project Gutenberg
Memoirs of Louis XIV and His Court and of the Regency — Volume 12 from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.