Review of "Secret Memoirs of Madame la Marquise de Montespan"

 

Madame de Montespan: "What would be the use of memoirs from which sincerity were absent? Whom could they inspire with a desire of reading them?"

This is an episodic account by the marquise. As she points out about a third of the way through, she recalls events as they occur to her, rather than setting matters down in chronological order. Many chapters focus on her contemporaries whilst Madame remains in the background. In some cases she doesn't appear at all. She writes several engaging anecdotes that I didn't know about. The chapters where Madame is more involved are my favourites.

Certain sections are too focused on political events for my tastes, while I found other passages a bit confusing, owing to me not being familiar with what Madame is recollecting.

Everything else, though, ranges from mildly interesting to highly entertaining. I only knew a little about Madame de Montespan, and the image I had of her was deceptive, ruthless, etc. To some extent she does come across that way, but she strikes me as a much better woman than I originally believed her to be. Beforehand, I didn't expect to feel sympathy for her when Louis XIV "tired" of her, but I did.

I like that she didn’t worry about offending anyone, such as the time she gave Madame de Richelieu her opinion of the Princess of Bavaria:

“She is an aggressive personage, whom her hideous face makes one associate naturally with mastiffs; she is surly, like them, and, like them, she exposes herself to the blows of a stick. It makes very little difference to me if she hears from you the portrait I have just made of her; you can tell her, and I shall certainly not give you the lie.”

According to Madame, Louis XIV made this prophetic statement about 100 years before the French Revolution:

“Before men we are seemingly extraordinary beings, greater, more refined, more perfect. The day that people, abandoning this respect and veneration which is the support and mainstay of monarchies—the day that they regard us as their equals—all the prestige of our position will be destroyed.”

In all, these memoirs proved to be a very good read.

Below are three more of Madame de Montespan's quotes that stood out to me: 

“I admire great souls as much as I loathe ingratitude and villainy.”

“The false scruples of hypocrites and libertines will never receive from me aught but disdain and contempt.”

“I really cannot see why the King should have taken such a fancy to this old monk, who was minded to murder a couple of generals in his convent because, forsooth, Judith once slew Holofernes! Judith might have been tempted to do that sort of thing; she was a Jewess. But a Christian monk! I cannot get over it!”