tioned as
belonging to the eighteenth century, are those of Mademoiselle Delaunay,
afterwards Madame de Staal. Mademoiselle Delaunay was attached to the
household of the Duchess du Maine, the beautiful, impetuous, and
highborn wife of one of the stupidest and least interesting of men, who
happened also to be the illegitimate son of Louis XIV. The Duke du
Maine, or rather his wife, for he himself was nearly as destitute of
ambition as of ability, was at the head of the party opposed to that of
which the Duke of Orleans (the Regent) was the natural chief, and Saint
Simon the ablest partisan. The 'party of the bastards' failed, but the
duchess kept up a vigorous literary and political agitation against the
Regent. The court (as it may be called) of this opposition was held at
Sceaux, and of the doings of this court Madame de Staal has left a very
vivid account. The Marquis d'Argenson, a statesman and a man of great
intelligence, concealed under a rough and clumsy exterior, has left
memoirs which are valuable for the early and middle part of the reign of
Louis XV. The memoirs, properly so called, of Duclos are of small
extent, but he has left impersonal memoirs of the later reign of Louis
XIV. and the beginning of that of his great-grandson, which are among
the best historical work of the time. His account of the famous 'system'
of Law is one of the principal sources of information on its subject, as
is his handling of the Cellamare conspiracy and other affairs of the
regency. Duclos was a man not only of considerable literary talent, but
of wide historical reading, which appears amply in his work. The
gossiping memoirs, attributed to Madame du Hausset, bedchamber-woman to
Madame de Pompadour, give many curious details of the middle period of
Louis XV.'s reign; and in the vast collection of tittle-tattle, often
scandalous enough, called the _Memoires de Bachaumont_, much matter of
interest, and some that is of value, may be found. Among the most
valuable memoirs of this kind are those of Colle, which have been only
recently edited in full. Colle, who, though a time-server and an
ill-natured man, had much literary talent, was an acute observer, and
enjoyed great opportunities, has left important materials for the middle
of the century. The Baron de Besenval, half a Savoyard and half a Pole,
who played an important part in the early days of the Revolution, and
who had previously encouraged Marie Antoinette in the levities, harm