Descendants of the Stuarts

OF THE STTJAETS. 197
rising, which was always about ten, she sat down
to her toilette, thence she passed to her cabinet,
when, after having spent some time in prayer, she
continued writing until the hour of mass. After
mass she wrote until dinner, where she did not
spend much time; she returned to write, and re-
mained thus engaged till ten in the evening. To-
wards nine o'clock she would be seen in her cabinet
seated at a large table surrounded by papers ; near
her was placed an ombre table, where the ladies of
her household were playing, when occasionally she
would look on, and sometimes advise on the game
as she continued writing. At other times she
would converse with the persons who formed her
court. I have seen her go to sleep, and a minute
afterwards awake suddenly and fall to writing
again."*
It was about two years after her marriage that
Madame, to her husband's great joy, presented him
with a son. This heir, so anxiously desired, had
long been denied to the House of Orleans, for
though by his first wife, Henrietta, the duke- had
had a boy, he lived to be only two years of age.
Gaston, of Orleans, his uncle, had vainly sighed
for a male heir, though favoured with no less than
four daughters. The prince, whose advent had been
so fondly anticipated, was destined to frustrate the
expectations raised, as he died at three years of age.
* Introduction to Memoirs of the Duchess of Orleans.