"The Emperor, who continued to have a great friendship for the Duke of
Orleans, had offered several times to make over to him the Duchy of
Milan. In the propositions which were since made for the peace, he
gave hopes of assigning him the seventeen provinces, with his daughter
in marriage. The Dauphin neither approved of the peace or the
marriage, and in order to defeat both he made use of the Constable, for
whom he always had an affection, to remonstrate to the King of what
importance it was not to give his successor a brother so powerful as
the Duke of Orleans would be with the alliance of the Emperor and those
countries; the Constable came the more easily into the Dauphin's
sentiments, as they were opposite to those of Madam d'Etampes, who was
his declared enemy, and who vehemently wished for the promotion of the
Duke of Orleans.
"The Dauphin commanded at that time the King's Army in Champaign, and
had reduced that of the Emperor to such extremities, that it must have
entirely perished, had not the Duchess d'Etampes, for fear too great
successes should make us refuse peace, and the Emperor's alliance in
favour of the Duke of Orleans, secretly advised the enemy to surprise
Espemai and Cheteau-Thieni, in which places were great magazines of
provisions; they succeeded in the attempt, and by that means saved
their whole army.
"This Duchess did not long enjoy the success of her treason. A little
after the Duke of Orleans died at Farmontiers of a kind of contagious
distemper: he was in love with one of the finest women of the Court,
and was beloved by her. I will not mention her name, because she has
since lived with so much discretion, and has so carefully concealed the
passion she had for that Prince, that one ought to be tender of her
reputation. It happened she received the news of her husband's death
at the same time as she heard of the Duke's, so that she had that
pretext to enable her to conceal her real sorrow, without being at the
trouble of putting any constraint upon herself.
"The King did not long survive the Prince his son; he died two years
after; he recommended to the Dauphin to make use of the Cardinal de
Tournon and the Admiral d'Annebault, but said nothing at all of the
Constable, who was then in banishment at Chantilli. Nevertheless the
first thing the King his son did was to recall him, and make him his
Prime Minister.
"Madam d'Etampes was discarded, and received all the ill treatment she
could possibly expect from an enemy so very powerful; the Duchess of
Valentinois amply revenged herself both of that lady, and all those who
had disobliged her; she seemed to reign more absolute in the King's
heart than she did even when he was Dauphin. During the twelve years'
reign of this Prince she has been absolute in everything; she disposes
of all governments and offices of trust and power; she has disgraced
the Cardinal de Tournon, the Chancellor, and Villeroy; those who have
endeavoured to open the King's mind with respect to her conduct, have
been undone in the attempt; the Count de Taix, great Master of the
Ordnance, who had no kindness for her, could not forbear speaking of
her gallantries, and particularly of that with the Count de Brissac, of
whom the King was already very jealous. Nevertheless she contrived
things so well, that the Count de Taix was disgraced, and his
employment taken from him; and what is almost incredible, she procured
it to be given to the Count de Brissac, and afterwards made him a
Mareschal of France. Notwithstanding, the King's jealousy increased to
such a height, that lie could no longer suffer him to continue at
Court: this passion of jealousy, which is fierce and violent in other
men, is gentle and moderate in him through the great respect he has for
his mistress, and therefore he did not go about to remove his rival,
but under the pretext of giving him the Government of Piemont. He has
lived there several years; last winter he returned to Paris, under
pretence of demanding troops and other necessaries for the Army he
commands; the desire of seeing the Duchess of Valentinois again, and
the fear of being forgotten by her, was perhaps the principal motive of
this journey.