Lamothe-Langon, Etienne Leon, baron de, 1786-1864
"Memoirs of the Comtesse Du Barry; with intimate details of her entire career as favorite of Louis XV"
Eh!
, the entire
life-time of ten men would not be sufficient to write all with
which I am charged, to my unutterable despair in this world, and
to my eternal damnation in that which is to come.
"It is no doubt, much to die in final impenitence; altho' hell may
contain all the honest men of antiquity and a great portion of those
of our times; and paradise would not be much to hope for if we
must find ourselves face to face with messieurs Freron, Nonatte,
Patouillet, Abraham Chauneix, and other saints cut out of the same
cloth. But how much more severe would it be to sustain your
anger! The hatred of the Graces brings down misfortune on men
of letters; and when he embroils himself with Venus and the Muses
he is a lost being; as, for instance, M. Dorat, who incessantly
slanders his mistresses, and writes nothing but puerilities.
"I have been very cautious, in my long career, how I committed
such a fault. If perchance I have lightly assailed the common cry
of scribblers or pendants who were worthless, I have never ceased
to burn incense on the altars of the ladies; them I have always sung
when I--could not do otherwise. Independently, madame, of the
profound respect I bear all your sex I profess a particular regard
towards all those who approach our sovereign, and whom he
invests with his confidence: in this I prove myself no less a
faithful subject than a gallant Frenchman; and I venerate the God
I serve in his constant friendships as I would do in his caprices.
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