LA POMPADOUR

Otago Witness, Issue 3882, 7 August 1928, Page 77

LA POMPADOUR

“ It s hard work to be a king’s mistress,” said the Marquise de Pompadour in one of her moments of depression, and went on to describe her life as “ like that of a Christian, a perpetual combat.’ 5 Madame de Pompadour was no ordinary king’s mistress. She was “ a great political force; she made and unmade Ministers, she selected ambassadors, she appointed generals, she confirmed pensions and places.” It is to her that France owes the famous manufactory of Sevres, as well as the establishment of the Ecole Militaire, where so many brilliant French officers received their training. Moreover, she was, a great patron of arts and letters. Voltaire and Montesquieu owed much to her interest; she assisted Diderot and d’Alembert, and made the fame of Marmontel. She interested the king in the artists and sculptors of the day—drawing his attention to the works of Boucher and making him buy the celebrated pictures by this artist, the “ Lever du Soleil ” ami the “ Coucher du Soleil ” (now in the Wallace collection). This remarkable Heine de la main was born of middle-class parents. Her father was coarse, loud-voiced, and an habitual drunkard who falsified the accounts of his firm and had to fly the country. Her mother was a woman of considerable personal attractions, unlimited ambition, and medium virtue. Both parents were entirely untrammelled by any scruple of morality. Their daughter, Jeanne Antoinette, was born on December 29, 1721, and it is typical of the mother that “ she took the child, when nine years of age, to a fortune-teller, who predicted that Antoinette would one day become the mistress of a king. The woman’s words made an . enormous impression on the child, which her mother took good care should never be effaced.” 1 rom then on her whole education was a preparation for this future. She had singing, music, and. dancing masters—the best procurable—and at 18 years of age was one of the loveliest and most accomplished young women of her period. “ She was,” writes Georges Le Roy' rather above middle height, slender, supple, and graceful. Her hair was luxuriant, of a light chestnut shade—and the eyebrows which crowned her magnificent eyes were the same. She had a perfectly-formed nose, a charming mouth, lovely teeth, and a ravishing smile, while the most exquisite skin one could wish to behold put the finishing touch to all her beauty.” She was married in her twentieth year to M. Lenormant d’Etioles, a rather plain young man with a great deal of money, who was very much in love. He surrounded his young wife with everv luxury. She had a town house and a country house, horses and jewels, as well as a theatre built for her amusement, where she sang and acted those comedies with which Ir.ter she charmed her roval lover. Madame d’Etioles entertained lavishly and went into society a great deal, attracting the notice of the king once or twice, but it was not till the festivities following the marriage of the Dauphin Hiat she actually met the king and the intrigues for and against her began. Those were conducted with great diplomacy and scrupulous care, and included the formal separation from her husband, the gift of a title and estate, and finally Madame d’Etioles . was installed as Madame la Marquise de Pompadour, Maitresse-en-Litre to Louis XV, and was formally presented at Court. France had become accustomed to “ left-handed queens,” but so far the sovereign had always selected this favourite from a daughter of the noblesse, and when a woman of the middle classes was raised to this position the whole country was up in arms. Not only the Court, but the city, and in particular the Church, were most bitter, and a flood of lampoons and- ribald songs were launched against lier. But Madame de Pompadour was as elever as she was beautiful. With remarkable tact she succeeded in gaining the favour of the Queen, and gradually secured to herself various valuable friends, including those famous financiers, the brothers Paris, who used their enormous influence on her behalf in return for certa’n concessions she got for them. In studying the life of this extraordinary woman one is struck by her brilliant mind far more than her lovelv face. She spared herself no pains to attach to herself every important person in the kingdom, and she was inspired by the gods in her treatment of the king. He never saw her anything but gay, charming, and amusing. Louis XV suffered from ennui—that fatal malady of kings—but Madame de Pompadour was untiring in her schemes for his amusement. She gave her celebrated petits soupers to entertain him She scoured the country for artistes and musicians to interest him. She built a little “ Theatre des Petits Appartements,” where, assisted by a brilliant company, she acted and sang to him. She did not even hesitate to upset the whole machinery of State when it bored him, and she would interrupt and bring to a close the most important audiences and councils if she saw he was becoming ■weary. Needless to say, in a very short time she had made herself completely indispensable to him. As her position became a little mbre secure she indulged her own mania for building—buying one estate after an* other, relaying the grounds, and, in many eases, pulling down and rebuilding. It is said that the eurtaina in the grand

salon of her house in the Faubourg St. Honore cost between 5000 and 6000 livres apiece. This house is now the residence of the French presidents. “ How long will it last ? ” was the question she constantly asked herself, and no one knew the answer better — “Just as long as she was able to please the. king! ” She redoubled her efforts to interest and amuse him, even countenancing the scandalous Parc-aux-Cerfs, and shutting her eyes to the amourettes with which the weary Louis sought to combat his ennui.

There were times when her downfall seemed most certain. One of the most dangerous of these was at the time of Damien’s attempt on the king’s life—and the* political, Court, and ecclesiastical intrigues against her were never ending. Perhaps her most brilliant victory was scored against the Jesuits — who hated her, “ partly because of her sympathy with the philosophers, and partly because they were aware that as long as she remained the king’s mistress so long would their chance of obtaining influence over the superstitious Louis be hopeless.” It was mainly owing to her that the Jesuits were expelled from France in 1764.

She finally determined that her relations with the king should be platonic. She had the passage between her apartments and his, at Versailles, blocked up. She fasted—getting up in the middle of the night to perform her devotions, and, strange to say, this actually increased her influence over Louis—for she had captivated his mind rather than his senses.

Her reputation has suffered more from her connection with the Seven Years’ War than from anything else, for it was undoubtedly due to her influence that France entered into that disastrous struggle.

She died at the age of 42 in her apartments in the Chateau of Versailles. She knew she was dying, and, like the brave woman she was, made a brave end She had already accepted the consolations of religion, and the cure of La Madeleine spent much time with her. On the morning of her death (April 15, 1764) she read her will carefully over, charged her steward to recompense all who had attended her during her illness, and to give all the money in her desk to the poor. She then ordered her women to dress her and put some colour on her pale cheeks. She gave an audience to Janette, Intendant of the Post Office, reading and criticising the papers he submitted to her with her usual interest. The cure then spent some time with her, and when he was about to take his leave the marquise smiled and asked him to remain, saying: “ One moment, Monsieur le Cure, we will take our departure together.”

A few moments later she died. —John o’ London’s Weekly.