dmitted to this
intimacy became so many jealous and vindictive enemies.

It was necessary to make a suitable provision for the Countess. The place
of first equerry, in reversion after the Comte de Tesse, given to Comte
Jules unknown to the titular holder, displeased the family of Noailles.
This family had just sustained another mortification, the appointment of
the Princesse de Lamballe having in some degree rendered necessary the
resignation of the Comtesse de Noailles, whose husband was thereupon made
a marshal of France. The Princesse de Lamballe, although she did not
quarrel with the Queen, was alarmed at the establishment of the Comtesse
Jules at Court, and did not form, as her Majesty had hoped, a part of that
intimate society, which was in turn composed of Mesdames Jules and Diane
de Polignac, d'Andlau and de Chalon, and Messieurs de Guignes, de Coigny,
d'Adhemar, de Besenval, lieutenant-colonel of the Swiss, de Polignac, de
Vaudreuil, and de Guiche; the Prince de Ligne and the Duke of Dorset, the
English ambassador, were also admitted.

It was a long time before the Comtesse Jules maintained any great state at
Court. The Queen contented herself with giving her very fine apartments
at the top of the marble staircase. The salary of first equerry, the
trifling emoluments derived from M. de Polignac's regiment, added to their
slender patrimony, and perhaps some small pension, at that time formed the
whole fortune of the favourite. I never saw the Queen make her a present
of value; I was even astonished one day at hearing her Majesty mention,
with pleasure, that the Countess had gained ten thousand francs in the
lottery. "She was in great want of it," added the Queen.

Thus the Polignacs were not settled at Court in any degree of splendour
which could justify complaints from others, and the substantial favours
bestowed upon that family were less envied than the intimacy between them
and their proteges and the Queen. Those who had no hope of entering the
circle of the Comtesse Jules were made jealous by the opportunities of
advancement it afforded.

However, at the time I speak of, the society around the Comtesse Jules was
fully engaged in gratifying the young Queen. Of this the Marquis de
Vaudreuil was a conspicuous member; he was a brilliant man, the friend and
protector of men of letters and celebrated artists.

The Baron de Besenval added to the bluntness of the Swiss all the
adroitness of a French cou