y ever
more than two at once, and often only one. When they married, they
received some jewels, and four thousand louis. The Parc-aux-cerfs
was sometimes vacant for five or six months. I was surprised,
some time after, at seeing the Duchesse de Luynes, Lady of Honour
to the Queen, come privately to see Madame de Pompadour. She
afterwards came openly. One evening, after Madame was in bed, she
called me, and said, "My dear, you will be delighted; the Queen
has given me the place of Lady of the Palace; tomorrow I am to be
presented to her: you must make me look well." I knew that the
King was not so well pleased at this as she was; he was afraid
that it would give rise to scandal, and that it might be thought
he had forced this nomination upon the Queen. He had, however,
done no such thing. It had been represented to the Queen that
it was an act of heroism on her part to forget the past; that
all scandal would be obliterated when Madame de Pompadour was
seen to belong to the Court in an honourable manner; and that
it would be the best proof that nothing more than friendship now
subsisted between the King and the favourite. The Queen received
her very graciously. The devotees flattered themselves they should
be protected by Madame, and, for some time, were full of her
praises. Several of the Dauphin's friends came in private to see
her, and some obtained promotion. The Chevalier du Muy, however,
refused to come. The King had the greatest possible contempt for
them, and granted them nothing with a good grace. He, one day,
said of a man of great family, who wished to be made Captain
of the Guards, "He is a double spy, who wants to be paid on both
sides." This was the moment at which Madame de Pompadour seemed
to me to enjoy the most complete satisfaction. The devotees came
to visit her without scruple, and did not forget to make use
of every opportunity of serving themselves. Madame de Lu----
had set them the example. The Doctor laughed at this change in
affairs, and was very merry at the expense of the saints. "You
must allow, however, that they are consistent," said I, "and
may be sincere." "Yes," said he; "but then they should not ask
for anything."

One day, I was at Doctor Quesnay's, whilst Madame de Pompadour
was at the theatre. The Marquis de Mirabeau came in, and the
conversation was, for some time, extremely tedious to me, running
entirely on _net produce_; at length, they talked of other things.

Mirabeau said,