The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1867-05-28

the Young King was in every respect cor OF
rect in behavior; but it soon pecamo tne
object of the brilliant Court "hicn SUI
rounded him to corrupt MN, anu pl'ns
about the licentious reyels oil the hegenoy
Tho King was sedhced to take mistress
and the principal agent was the young Du'
de Richelieu. lie is thus descrioea:
The Duc de Richelicu was in every re-
snect the spoiled child of the monarchg
md If the Court. When he was oaptised
at three wears of age he was held at 'he
Gnunt nv iouis XIV. and the pious prih'
cass the Duchess de Bourgogne: nc was
,ha l;ttIo favorite of the Great King anu
Madame do Maintenon in those days OF
ans,ere nietv. Under the Regency
however. he began to appear IN ms
true character, and his frivolity, tas.e
for intrigue, INSCRIPTIONS galiah..ys
and immortality, without shame ana
p;.bout remorse, were such as 10 us
orst even the Regent. He was reckless
both nc a gambler and a duelllst, anu was
once RIM through the body. lie was Sc
| duction personified, and it became iasnion
among the ladies of the Court TO treat MN
,s irresistible. Princesses oil the oioou
contended for his good graces; ana When'
!, consequence of an audacious intrigue,
he was committed to the Bastile for four
teen months, Mademolselle &c Valois' .le
daughter of the Regent, ana MaoeihoiSclis
de Charolas suppressed their !eaiousy, anu
,ra;tad on him by turns in disguise.
WademoiSelle dc yalois consented even to
accent a marriage she detested and to
loxile herself from France to secure his
liberation. While he was IN the BaStlie
the ladies of the Court would collect in
crowds on the glaciS to have the opportunity
Of seeing Richcleu take his daily walk
with his cane on the ramparts, magnificent
IL attired, curled, ruilled, and beribboned.
| After his release, two great ladies', Mes
danes de Nesle and dc Polignac, fought a
duel for him in the Bots dc Boulogne,
after which he was again sent to the Bas-
tile. To add to the singularity of his
character, when employed in diplomacy or
in war, he Away. disappointed his enemies
by coming out Of his difficulties with sue
cess. Madame de POmpadour had the com
mand of the expedition to Minorca entrust
ed to him, hoping that ill-succeSs would
be his ruin, but he took the island. His
embassy to Vienna ruined his private but
retrieved his public fortune. He married
| a second time princess of the House OF
Lorraine. His pernicious libertinc inilu-
ence was powerful with Louis during the
whole of his reign, and he was present at
his death-bed making game of the last
rites of religion, asking the Archbishop OF
Paris not to kill the King with theologi;
cal proposition, and offering to confess in
the Kings stead many jolt petit p5chE
nignon which would be equally enter
tanning.
THE KINGS MISTRESS.
The King at first had taste for APP
pointing his mistresSes from the same
la1ily-the noble one of Nesles-and any
of the sisters were proud OF the honor
Three of them swayed the King in success
sion, But the most celebrated of the trail-
ties upon whom the King leaned was
Madame de Pompadour, who for many
wears governed France. We copy the fol-
lowing sketch:
| When Madame dc Mailly became the
Kings mistress, the Journalist Barber de-
clared there was nothing TO be said against
| il. as the Nesles were one OF the first
names of the monarchy, but the smallest
| JO,wgeOiS in Paris felt IL national dlSho-
nor to have a Mademoiselle Poisson raised
10 such a VIGOROUSLY bad eminenCe. But
no woman other than one of the new mis-
tresss birth and education could have filed
the place she did for twenty years. Louis
Ky. was the most complete representative
of the time in all its weaknesses: neither
as man nor as king had he any notion OF
duty. The Able Gallant said Of him,
"quH fuiSdt ie Plus utitan METER, te mfti~
/ du rOi le plus 4 C0ntre CGW possible" The
duties of king were to him something in
comprehensive and insupportablc, and
the common duties of man still more So.
He was afflicted with the great malady OF
the age, e1ltti, to an incalculable degree :;
his heart and soul were eaten up and de-
voured by it, and the history OF his amourS
is in fact the history OF his eanW. The ia
lent of Madame dc PompadOur consisted
in observing this, and to the unwcaried
skill which she displayed in alternating the
moral malady which devoured all the en-
ergies of the royal egotiSt was due the Sc
cure dominion which she exercised for so
many wears over the Kings mind. Every
device the wit of a schcmng woman could
invent was employed by turns to lessen
the weight OF apathy and gloom which lay
heavy on the monarch'S mind. She sang,
she played the harpschord, and like new
Schcherezade, she invented or discovered
a thousand and one stories to diSsipate the
royal listlcssness. Every amusement, pub
lie and private, which she could imagine,
followed one after another in brilliant sue
cesson; and she kept him in constant
movement from fGtcS at Paris to fetes at
Fontainebleau, from tetes at Belle Nue to
fctes at La Celle, and from tetes at La
Ccle to tttes at Compile. The skill for
which she had been celebrated in private
theatrcals here stood her in good stead.
She began by turning the holy week into
series of operate performances, in
which she took a leading part. Then the
Due de Richelieu, who had seen her act be-
fore her appearance at Versailles, whlS-
pered to the King what fund OF amuSe-
ment Law buried in the talents of his mis-
tress. \ royal theatre was organized ;
she assumed the principal part in hun
dred different plays, supported by Court
seiqaeurs and their ladies in subordinate
characters; she appeared by turns as
Venus, as Hero, as the Herminia OF TaSSo,
as the shepherdess Eglt, or Galathea, or as
Urania in dress spangled with stars. Her
fine voice, her grace and affected SIM
plicity, and the brilliant series of costumes
in which she appeared night after night,
renewed continually the charms of her first
impression in the royal eyes. The balets
were especially magnificent, and the cos
tunes were of the richest and most fairy
like character To obtain An entrance in q