The Washington herald., 1911-03-04
A WOMAN WHO
EDUCATED A KING

In a debate in the French Parliament
a short time ago on the wisdom OF taxing
titles genealogist impaired the inform
alton that not a member of the once
patrician families remains with unclouded
pedigree; that is to say. many of the
names accepted during the reigns Of
Louis XIV, XVI, XVIII. and Charles x
were only by blood germane" to the
mobiles descended from the families that
once ranked side by side with royalty
The Condos, Contis, Scissors. Montmor-
encis, and scores of the same ilustrious
origin are perpetuated by intruders who
have little or no valid claim to the names
they bear. One reason assigned for this
was the introduction during the reigns of
Lotus XIV and his successors of per-
petual stream of foreign fortune-seekers.
The, most notable sof these was Cardinal
Mazarin, who augmented the ''noblesse"
of France by seven nieces and three
nephews. The boys all took to the bad. ="
The nieces, however, amply made up for
this. They welded either princes of other
states or the most illustrious of the
French barons Every one of the girls
came to immense fortune; every one Of
them led lives that fill pages of the mem
oirs of the time.
The Macinis came 10 France in several
installments. They reached their new
country at a propitious time. Marazin
had crushed the aspirations OF feudal
domination. He was counted king in
everything but name during the regency
of Anne of Austria Hence the Mancini
girls and boys were abashed by a servil-
ity on the part of the court that they had
seen only in the case of the pontn In
Rome. The regent Anne, turned the
girls over to the tutor of her own chill
dren and placed them in the intimacy Of
family connections, so that they who had
lived in obscurity, almost in penury.
found themselves treated with the de-
ference shown princes of the blood.
Memoirs of the time show that it was
recognized that this fascinating tribe, with
it's refinement of corruption, irreligious,
addicted to arts of guile, was going TO
take a sinister predominance in the social
development of the dominating forces.
Ardent and extreme in everything, they
were ahead Of the French in cynicism and
frivolity. 1t was in the second convoy
OF nieces reaching Paris in 1858 that the
prodigy of enchantresses reached the field
OF her astonishing future activity. She
was described as slight in figure, between
fourteen and fifteen years old, but so un-
prepossessing that she gained the nick
name of la Moricaude' Ctan-colored.
There was nothing about the girl that
gave even a slight suggestion of future
beauty or charm.
Among her cousins she seemed a crea-
ture of another species. The mother, in
turning her over to the care of Mazarin,
implored him to keep a diligent watch,
''as the girl naturally was bad" Within a
year the strange ugliness of the .'Mori-
caude" began 10 transform itself into a
piquant originality. the dead black eyes
began to flash fire. that revealed the
swift glow of the South. Marie Mancini
began to prove that environment has
much to do with the personal aspect as
we'll as the mind and manners. Her voice
became a rich melody. delightful to hear,
especially when she was afame with pas
sion.
. The first that was known of her heart
was when, in 1858, the young King Louis
XIV was supposed to be dying, Marie
went about the palace bewailing the sick
youth as if she had been his sister or
sweetheart. The rest of the Mancinis
also betrayed heir Uneasiness, for the
death Of Louis would have meant their
expulsion. Mazarin himself had his treas
ures removed to a place Of safety. When
Louis recovered. everybody hastened to
inform the invalid how Marie nearly had
died crying during the crisis of his illness.
Louis had been in love several times,
though only in his twentieth year, but
Ne had never been loved. The discovery
caught his imagination. He began to look
at Marie more attentively and was sur