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"
It was,
nous>, the black spot in the reign of Louis XV, and will cost me
much pain to describe.
The vices of Louis XV were the result of bad education. When an
infant, they gave him for governor the vainest, most coxcombical,
stupidest of men--the duc de Villeroi, who had so well served the
king (),*
* The countess alludes to the written, after his
famous defeat, "."
(Ed.) i.e., author
Never had courtier so much courtiership as he. He saw the
young prince from morning till night, and. from morning till
night he was incessantly repeating in his ears that his future
subjects were born for him, and that they were all dependent on
his good and gracious pleasure. Such lessons daily repeated,
necessarily destroyed the wise instructions of Massillon. When
grown up, Louis XV saw the libertinism of cardinal Dubois and
the orgies of the regency: madame de Maillis' shameless conduct
was before his eyes and Richelieu's also. Louis XV could not
conduct himself differently from his ministers and his family. His
timid character was formed upon the example of others. At first
he selected his own mistresses, but afterwards he chose some one
who took that trouble off his hands. Lebel became purveyor in
chief to his pleasures; and controlled in Versailles the house
known as the .
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