nor could any thing oblige him either to abate or conceal his flame, so that the king was forced to accustom himself to bear it with patience. This opposition of his to his father's will, withdrew his affections from him more and more, and transferred them to his third son, the duke of Orleans, who was a prince of a fine person full of fire and ambition, and of a youthful heat which wanted to be moderated; however, he would have made a very great prince, had he arrived to a more ripened age.
The rank of eldest, which the dauphin held, and the king's favour which the duke of Orleans was possessed of, created between them a sort of emulation, that grew by degrees to hatred. This emulation began from their infancy, and was still kept up in its height.
The discord between the two brothers put madam d'Etampes upon the thought of strengthening herself with the duke of Orleans, in order to support her power with the king against the duchess of Valentinois; accordingly she succeeded in it, and that young prince, though he felt no emotions of love for her, entered no less into her interest, than the dauphin was in that of madam de Valentinois. Hence rose two factions at court, of such a nature as you may imagine, but the intrigues of them were not confined to the quarrels of women.
Some time after the duke of Orleans died at Farmontiers of a kind of contagious distemper: he was in love with one of the finest women of the court, and was beloved by her. I will not mention her name, because she has since lived with so much discretion, and has so carefully concealed the passion she had for that prince, that one ought to be tender of her reputation. It happened she received the news of her husband's death, at the same time as she heard of the duke's, so that she had that pretext to enable her to conceal her real sorrow, without being at the trouble of putting any constraint upon herself.
The
