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23 - Women of Versailles- the Court of Louis XIV by Arthur-Leon Imbert de Saint-Amand · Women of Versailles- the Court of Louis XIV

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  Speaker 1: Section twenty three of Women of Versailles. The Court of
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  Speaker 1: Louis the fourteenth by Artur Leon Ambert de saint Ament,
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  Speaker 1: translated by Elizabeth Gilbert Martin. This librovox recording is in
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  Speaker 1: the public domain. Read by Pamel and Agami conclusion the tombs,
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  Speaker 1: it is the most melancholy of all spectacles to behold
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  Speaker 1: in the trappings of sadness and death, the places which
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  Speaker 1: were once the theater of splendors or effetes. While listening
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  Speaker 1: to the prayers of the dying succeed the flare of
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  Speaker 1: trumpets and joyous orchestral harmonies. One reflects painfully on the
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  Speaker 1: things of earth and comprehends the inanity of glory, riches
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  Speaker 1: and pleasure. The courtiers of Louis the fourteenth had to
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  Speaker 1: endure this impression. When this monarch of happiness, of majesty,
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  Speaker 1: of apotheosis, as Saint Simon says, was about to breathe
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  Speaker 1: his last, the incomparable gallery of mirrors was now merely
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  Speaker 1: the vestibule of a death chamber. The triumphant paintings of
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  Speaker 1: Lebron seemed darkened. The place of transports had changed its aspect.
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  Speaker 1: The modern olympus was vanishing before the great Christian idea,
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  Speaker 1: and this king the terror of his neighbors, the astonishment
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  Speaker 1: of the universe. The father of kings, grander than all
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  Speaker 1: his ancestors, more magnificent than Solomon, seemed to be saying
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  Speaker 1: with the preacher, I have surpassed in glory and in
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  Speaker 1: wisdom all those who have preceded me in Jerusalem. I
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  Speaker 1: have recognized that even in this there was nothing but
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  Speaker 1: vanity and affliction of spirit. During the last illness of
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  Speaker 1: him who had been the Sun King, the court remained
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  Speaker 1: all day long in the gallery of mirrors. No one
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  Speaker 1: stopped in the Eudiputheca except the domestic servants and the physicians.
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  Speaker 1: As to Madame de Mantanon, in spite of her eighty
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  Speaker 1: years and her infirmities, she nursed the august invalid with
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  Speaker 1: great devotion, and often remained beside his bed for fourteen hours. Together.
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  Speaker 1: The king bade me adieu three times, she related afterwards
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  Speaker 1: to the ladies of Saint Cyr. The first time he
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  Speaker 1: said he had no regret but that of leaving me,
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  Speaker 1: but that we should soon see each other again. I
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  Speaker 1: begged him to think no longer of anything but God.
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  Speaker 1: The second he asked me to pardon him for not
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  Speaker 1: having lived well enough with me. He added that he
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  Speaker 1: had not made me happy, but that he had always
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  Speaker 1: loved and esteemed me equally. He was weeping, and he
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  Speaker 1: asked if any one were present. I told him no.
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  Speaker 1: Then he said, even though they should hear me crying
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  Speaker 1: with you, no one would be surprised. I went away
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  Speaker 1: so as not to do him any harm. The third time,
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  Speaker 1: he said to me, what is going to become of you?
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  Speaker 1: For you have nothing. I answered him, I am a nonentity,
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  Speaker 1: do not think of anything but God, And I left him.
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  Speaker 1: Louis the fourteenth deserved the name of great until his
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  Speaker 1: latest breath. He died still better than he had lived.
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  Speaker 1: All that was elevated, majestic, grandiose in this chosen soul
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  Speaker 1: is summed up in the final moment. His death is
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  Speaker 1: that of a king, a hero, and a saint. Like
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  Speaker 1: the first Christians. He made a sort of public confession.
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  Speaker 1: He said August twenty sixth, seventeen fifteen to those who
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  Speaker 1: were admitted to his presence, gentlemen, I ask your pardon
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  Speaker 1: for the bad examples I have given you. I have
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  Speaker 1: to thank you much for the way in which you
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  Speaker 1: have served me, and the attack and fidelity you have
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  Speaker 1: always shown for me. I see that I am affected,
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  Speaker 1: and that I am affecting you also. I beg your
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  Speaker 1: pardon for it. Adieu, gentlemen, I rely upon your remembering
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  Speaker 1: me sometimes. He gave his blessing the same day to
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  Speaker 1: the little Dauphin and addressed him in these beautiful words,
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  Speaker 1: My dear child, you are going to be the greatest
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  Speaker 1: king of the world. Never forget your obligations to God.
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  Speaker 1: Do not imitate me in wars. Try always to preserve
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  Speaker 1: peace with your neighbors, and to assist your people as
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  Speaker 1: much as you can, which I have had the misfortune
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  Speaker 1: not to be able to do on account of the
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  Speaker 1: necessities of the state. Always follow wise counsels, and remember
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  Speaker 1: well that it is to God you owe all that
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  Speaker 1: you are. I give you pere LeTellier for confessor. Follow
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  Speaker 1: his advice, and always remember the obligations which you owe
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  Speaker 1: to Madame de Ventadour. During the night of August twenty
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  Speaker 1: seventh to twenty eight, the dying man was seen joining
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  Speaker 1: his hands. At every moment, he said his customary prayers,
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  Speaker 1: and at the confiteor he smote his breast. In the
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  Speaker 1: morning of the twenty eighth, he saw in the mirror
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  Speaker 1: on his chimney piece, two domestics who were shedding tears.
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  Speaker 1: Why are you weeping? He said to them? Did you
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  Speaker 1: think I was immortal? An elixir intended to restore him
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  Speaker 1: to life was handed to him too, life or to death,
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  Speaker 1: he answered, taking in the glass all that pleases God.
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  Speaker 1: His confessor asked him if he suffered much hum No,
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  Speaker 1: he replied, that is what displeases me. I would like
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  Speaker 1: to suffer more in expiation of my sins. In giving
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  Speaker 1: his orders August twenty ninth, he happened to speak of
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  Speaker 1: the Dauphin as the young king, And as he observed
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  Speaker 1: the movement and those around him, huh why, he exclaimed,
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  Speaker 1: that gives me no pain. This is what made Massillon say,
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  Speaker 1: This monarch, environed by such glory, and who saw around
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  Speaker 1: him so many objects capable of arousing his desires or
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  Speaker 1: his tenderness, cast not even one regretful glance on life.
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  Speaker 1: How grand is man? When he is so through faith?
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  Speaker 1: Vanity has never had more than the mask of grandeur.
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  Speaker 1: It is grace which is the reality. During the daytime
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  Speaker 1: of August twenty ninth, the dying man lost consciousness, and
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  Speaker 1: it was thought he had but a few more hours
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  Speaker 1: to live. You are no longer necessary to him, said
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  Speaker 1: his confessor to Madame de Mantinon. You can go away.
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  Speaker 1: Martial de Villroit exhorted her not to remain any longer,
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  Speaker 1: and to go to Saint Cyr, where she could rest.
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  Speaker 1: After so much emotion. He posted the king's guards along
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  Speaker 1: the road and lent her his carriage. Some popular commotion
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  Speaker 1: may be feared, said he, and possibly the road may
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  Speaker 1: not be safe. Madame de Mantanon, enfeebled, disturbed by age
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  Speaker 1: and sorrow, made the mistake of listening to such pusillanimous counsels.
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  Speaker 1: Posterity will always reproach her with a weakness unworthy of
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  Speaker 1: this woman of intelligence and feeling. There are positions which
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  Speaker 1: oblige Madame de Mantinon ought to have closed the eyes
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  Speaker 1: of the great King and prayed beside his corpse. The
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  Speaker 1: courtiers who prescribe the resolution of egoism and fear are
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  Speaker 1: chiefly to be blamed. Ah how they are abandoned the
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  Speaker 1: gods of flesh and blood, the gods of clay and dust.
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  Speaker 1: When they are going down to the grave. A few
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  Speaker 1: domestics alone lament them. The crowd is indifferent, or it rejoices.
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  Speaker 1: The courtiers turned toward the rising sun, alas, what a
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  Speaker 1: contrast between the throne and the coffin the Death of
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  Speaker 1: a man is always a subject for philosophic reflections. What
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  Speaker 1: is it then, when he who dies has called himself
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  Speaker 1: Louis the fourteenth August thirtieth, The dying man returned to
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  Speaker 1: consciousness and asked for Madame Dementinau. She was sent forth
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  Speaker 1: to Saint Cyr. She came back, The King recognized her,
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  Speaker 1: said a few more words, and then drowsed. In the evening,
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  Speaker 1: she descended the marble staircase, which she was never to
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  Speaker 1: ascend again, and went to Saint Cyr to shut herself
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  Speaker 1: up forever. On Saturday, August thirty first, towards eleven o'clock
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  Speaker 1: in the evening, the prayers for the dying were said
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  Speaker 1: for Louis the fourteenth. He recited them himself in a
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  Speaker 1: louder voice than any of the spectators, and seemed still
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  Speaker 1: more majestic on his deathbed than on his throne. When
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  Speaker 1: the prayers were ended, he recognized Cardinal de Rowan, said
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  Speaker 1: to him, These are the last graces of the Church.
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  Speaker 1: Several times he repeated, nunk et enhora mortis now and
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  Speaker 1: at the hour of our death. Then he said, O, God,
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  Speaker 1: come unto mine, aid O Lord, make haste to help me.
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  Speaker 1: These were his last words. The agony was beginning. It
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  Speaker 1: lasted all night, and on Sunday, September one, seventeen fifteen,
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  Speaker 1: at a quarter past eight in the morning, Lewis the fourteenth,
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  Speaker 1: aged seventy seven years, lacking three days during sixty two
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  Speaker 1: of which he had been king, yielded his great soul
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  Speaker 1: to God. One does not terminate the study of a
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  Speaker 1: memorable epoch without a sentiment of regret. After having lived
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  Speaker 1: for some time by the life of a celebrated personage,
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  Speaker 1: one suffers from his death and is affected at his
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  Speaker 1: tomb When reading Sa Simon, does not one seem present
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  Speaker 1: at the death agony of Louis the fourteenth and feel
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  Speaker 1: the tears welling into his eyes as if he were
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  Speaker 1: mingling with the loyal servitors who are weeping for the
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  Speaker 1: best of masters and the greatest of kings. As soon
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  Speaker 1: as the tidings of the death of Louis the fourteenth reached,
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  Speaker 1: Saint Cyr. Mademoiselle d'malles entered Mademoiselle de Mantineau's chamber. Madame
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  Speaker 1: said she the whole house is at prayer in the choir.
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  Speaker 1: Madame de Mantineau understood. She raised her hands to Heaven, weeping,
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  Speaker 1: and then repaired to the church, where she was present
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  Speaker 1: at the office for the dead. Then she dismissed her
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  Speaker 1: servants and got rid of her carriage, unable, as she said,
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  Speaker 1: to reconcile herself to feeding horses while so many young
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  Speaker 1: girls were in need. She lived in her modest apartment
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  Speaker 1: in profound peace. She submitted to the regulations of the
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  Speaker 1: house as far as her age permitted, and never went out,
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  Speaker 1: except to go to the village to visit the sick
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  Speaker 1: and the poor. When Peter the Great went to Saint
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  Speaker 1: Cyr June tenth, seventeen seventeen, the illustrious octogenarian was suffering.
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  Speaker 1: The CSAR sat down beside the bed of this woman,
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  Speaker 1: whose name he had heard so often. He asked her
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  Speaker 1: through an interpreter, if she were ill. She answered yes.
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  Speaker 1: He wanted to know what her malady was. A great
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  Speaker 1: old age, she replied. Madame de Maintenon died at Saint Cyr,
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  Speaker 1: August fifteenth, seventeen nineteen. For two days she remained exposed
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  Speaker 1: on her bed, with an air so sweet and so
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  Speaker 1: devout that one would have said she was praying to God.
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  Speaker 1: She was buried in the choir of the church. A
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  Speaker 1: modest slab of marble indicates the spot where her body reposes.
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  Speaker 1: It was there the napaces went to weep and pray,
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  Speaker 1: before dedicating themselves forever to the Lord. Now that we
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  Speaker 1: have quitted Versailles, let us go down into the cryps
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  Speaker 1: where lie these beautiful heroines, these famous women whose gracious
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  Speaker 1: figures we have endeavored to evoke. Mademoiselle de la Valliere
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  Speaker 1: rests at Paris, and the carmelite church of the Rue
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  Speaker 1: Saint Jacques. Queen Marie theres the two Duchesses of Orleans,
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  Speaker 1: the Bavarian Dauphiness, and the Duchess of Burgundy at San Denis.
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  Speaker 1: There they sleep their slumber in those gloomy abodes, whereas
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  Speaker 1: Bossuet says, the ranks are so crowded, so prompt is
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  Speaker 1: death to fill the places There. One should go to
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  Speaker 1: meditate there, to draw the conclusions from histories which have
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  Speaker 1: their lessons there to listen to the great Christian maxim
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  Speaker 1: momento homo quie polvis s etinpolverem rivertus. Bossuet says, speaking
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  Speaker 1: of the Pharaohs, that they did not even possess their sepulchers.
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  Speaker 1: Such was also the destiny of Louis the fourteenth. This potentate,
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  Speaker 1: who had given laws to Europe, did not even possess
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  Speaker 1: his tomb. The profaners of graves descended into the subterranean
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  Speaker 1: abode of annihilated princes, and in spite of their regard
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  Speaker 1: of eight centuries of kings, as Chateaubrion says, the great
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  Speaker 1: shade of Louis the fourteenth could not defend the majesty
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  Speaker 1: of sepulchers, which all the world had deemed inviolable. During
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  Speaker 1: the session of July twenty first, seventeen ninety four, Bahreer
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  Speaker 1: read to the Convention in the name of the Committee
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  Speaker 1: of Public Safety a long report in which he demanded that,
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  Speaker 1: in order to celebrate the anniversary of August tenth, the
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  Speaker 1: mausoleums of Saint Denis should be destroyed. Under the monarchy,
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  Speaker 1: said he, even tombs had learned to flatter kings. Royal
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  Speaker 1: pomp and pride could not be lessened on this theater
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  Speaker 1: of death, and the scepter bearers, who have caused so
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  Speaker 1: many woes to France and to humanity, seem still, even
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  Speaker 1: in the grave, to pride themselves on a vanished grandeur.
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  Speaker 1: The powerful hand of the Republic should pitilessly effaced these mausoleums,
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  Speaker 1: which recall the frightful memory of kings. The Convention carried
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  Speaker 1: by acclamation a decree conformable to this report. Considering that
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  Speaker 1: the country was in danger and lacked cannons wherewith to
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  Speaker 1: defend itself, it decided that the tombs of the former
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  Speaker 1: king should be destroyed. On the ensuing tenth of August.
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  Speaker 1: It appointed commissioners in power to go to Sandini for
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  Speaker 1: the purpose of proceeding to the exhuming of the former
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  Speaker 1: kings and queens, princes and princesses, and decreed the breaking
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  Speaker 1: of the coffins in order to melt the lead and
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  Speaker 1: send it to the national foundries. This odious decree was
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  Speaker 1: strictly executed. Kings, queens, princes and princesses were torn from
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  Speaker 1: their sepulchers. The lead was carried as fast as it
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  Speaker 1: was found to a cemetery, in which a foundry had
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  Speaker 1: been established, and the corpses were cast into the common grave.
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  Speaker 1: The vandalism of the revolutionists and the atheists took delight
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  Speaker 1: in this spectacle. Assuredly, as Chateaubriand writes, God, in the
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  Speaker 1: effusion of his wrath, had sworn by himself to punish France.
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  Speaker 1: Seek not on earth the causes of such events, they
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  Speaker 1: are higher than that. A few weeks later came the
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  Speaker 1: turn of Madame de Mantineau's dead body. In January seventeen
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  Speaker 1: ninety four, while the Church of Saint Cyr was being
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  Speaker 1: transformed into hospital wards, the workmen perceived a slab of
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  Speaker 1: black marble amidst the debris of the devastated choir. It
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  Speaker 1: was the tomb of Madame de Mantanon. They broke it,
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  Speaker 1: opened the vault, and, taking out the body, dragged it
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  Speaker 1: into the court with dreadful yells, and threw it, stripped
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  Speaker 1: and mutilated, into a hole in the cemetery. On that day,
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  Speaker 1: the unrecognized spouse of Louis the fourteenth was treated like
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  Speaker 1: a queen. Thus, then these illustrious heroines of Versailles, the
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  Speaker 1: good Marie Therese, the clever Mantanon, the melancholy Bavarian Dauphiness,
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  Speaker 1: the haughty Princess Palatine, the alluring Duchess of Burgundy were
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  Speaker 1: dispossessed of their tombs. Listening to the tale of such
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  Speaker 1: iconoclastic and sacrilegious rage, the heart contracts and feels the
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  Speaker 1: anguish of an inexpressible sadness. The sentiment of holy wrath
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  Speaker 1: against such odious profanations and savage furies blends with profound
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  Speaker 1: reflections on the nothingness of human things are eloquent, more
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  Speaker 1: terrible than any funeral sermon. History assumes a sepulchral tone
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  Speaker 1: and speaks more forcibly than the preachers of the Great century.
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  Speaker 1: The shades of these once flattered women come before us,
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  Speaker 1: one after another, and as they pass, each seems to say,
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  Speaker 1: like Fenelon in his Book of Prayers, what does not
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  Speaker 1: one do to find a false happiness? What rebuffs? What thwartings?
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  Speaker 1: Does not one endure for a phantom of worldly glory?
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  Speaker 1: What pains for wretched pleasures of which nothing is left
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  Speaker 1: but remorse from the depths of the dust of graves
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  Speaker 1: profound The dazzled eye suddenly perceives, arising a pure and
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  Speaker 1: incorruptible radiance, which places in their true light all things
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  Speaker 1: here below, And one recalls the saying of Massion before
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  Speaker 1: the coffin of Louis the fourteenth. God alone is great,
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  Speaker 1: my brethren. End of section twenty three, read by Pamel
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  Speaker 1: and Nagami M. D. In Encino, California, October twenty twenty three.
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  Speaker 1: End of Women of Versailles the Court of Louis the
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  Speaker 1: fourteenth by Artour Leon Ambert de Saint Amo, translated by
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  Speaker 1: Elizabeth Gilbert Martin,