Lauzun: courtier and adventurer : the life of a friend of Louis XIV . but when her lover sought for somethingon which to depend, her feelings had changed, andsome newer beau had usurped his place in her heart. The pretext for her presence in Paris was herhusbands desire to claim sovereignty over the seawhich bordered the State of Monaco. On thispoint the Prince was extremely tenacious, havingalready quarrelled with the Grand Duke of Tuscanyabout the taxes he wished to impose on ships drivenby storm on to his territory.^ His talents did not, however, lie in the directionof diplomacy, and he har
Lauzun: courtier and adventurer : the life of a friend of Louis XIV . but when her lover sought for somethingon which to depend, her feelings had changed, andsome newer beau had usurped his place in her heart. The pretext for her presence in Paris was herhusbands desire to claim sovereignty over the seawhich bordered the State of Monaco. On thispoint the Prince was extremely tenacious, havingalready quarrelled with the Grand Duke of Tuscanyabout the taxes he wished to impose on ships drivenby storm on to his territory.^ His talents did not, however, lie in the directionof diplomacy, and he hardly seems, from the descrip-tion given by Saint-Simon, to have possessed thekind of personality likely to be able to exert muchinfluence, or to be expert at gaining what he was a fat young man, as round as a he was very dull; he could not see, to expressthe matter familiarly, beyond the end of his ownnose. He was, besides, extremely vain, fantastic, 1 Letter, October 21, 1673. * Archives de la Bastille, vol. iii. p. 451. prIncesse^be MONACOU-^-. ?yr. ??\- ^ %BkijM&.:.xk.^ From a contemporary picture,CHARLOTTE-CATHERINP: DE GRAMOXT, princess of MONACO. The King and Madame de Monaco 123 and avaricious—in short, the worst person possibleto gain his point with Louis XIV. It is notsurprising that the Monarch turned from him indisgust, and refused to listen to his arguments. At this point it was absolutely necessary for thePrincess to intervene ; and as, in addition to herbeauty, she possessed the fascination peculiar to theGramont family, before many diplomatic interviewshad taken place her charms had made an impressionon the susceptible King. It was clearly a maritalduty for the lady to show herself at her best beforea man from whom she hoped for a favour fromher husband ; but quick-sighted people who werejealous of the influence of La Valliere, began insecret to hope that the Princess might enter thelists and possibly in time supplant her. Madame and the Com
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