Roche, who, springing from her bed
to obey that order, made the drums beat to arms and secured the barrier;
and fitly, amid adventurous days like these, opened the career of
Mademoiselle.
II.
THE FIRST CAMPAIGN.
Grandchild of Henri Quatre, niece of Louis XIII., cousin of Louis XIV.,
first princess of the blood, and with the largest income in the nation,
(500,000 livres,) to support these dignities, Mademoiselle was certainly
born in the purple. Her autobiography admits us to very gorgeous company;
the stream of her personal recollections is a perfect Pactolus. There is
almost a surfeit of royalty in it; every card is a court-card, and all her
counters are counts. "I wore at this festival all the crown-jewels of
France, and also those of the Queen of England." "A far greater
establishment was assigned to me than any _fille de France_ had ever had,
not excepting any of my aunts, the Queens of England and of Spain, and the
Duchess of Savoy." "The Queen, my grandmother, gave me as a governess the
same lady who had been governess to the late King." Pageant or funeral, it
is the same thing. "In the midst of these festivities we heard of the
death of the King of Spain; whereat the Queens were greatly afflicted, and
we all went into mourning." Thus, throughout, her Memoirs glitter like the
coat with which the splendid Buckingham astonished the cheaper chivalry of
France: they drop diamonds.
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