The first time I saw this excellent Princess after Madame Louise's departure, I threw myself at her feet, kissed her hand, and asked her, with all the confidence of youth, whether she would quit us as Madame Louise had done.

She raised me, embraced me; and said, pointing to the lounge upon which she was extended, "Make yourself easy, my dear; I shall never have Louise's courage.

I love the conveniences of life too well; this lounge is my destruction." As soon as I obtained permission to do so, I went to St.Denis to see my late mistress; she deigned to receive me with her face uncovered, in her private parlour; she told me she had just left the wash-house, and that it was her turn that day to attend to the linen.

"I much abused your youthful lungs for two years before the execution of my project," added she.

"I knew that here I could read none but books tending to our salvation, and I wished to review all the historians that had interested me." She informed me that the King's consent for her to go to St.Denis had been brought to her while I was reading; she prided herself, and with reason, upon having returned to her closet without the slightest mark of agitation, though she said she felt so keenly that she could scarcely regain her chair.