Thereupon the king exclaimed:--'Great master, come and let me
embrace you, for I love you as you deserve: I feel so comfortable
here that I shall sup and stay the night.' Evidently Sully was
more a courtier than usual on this occasion--as no doubt the
whole affair was by the king's order, with which he complied
reluctantly; but he made the king play with his own money only.
The Duc de Lerme, when entertaining Monsieur the brother of Louis
XIII. at his quarters near Maestricht, had the boldness to bring
in, at the end of the repast, two bags of 1000 pistoles each,
declaring that he gave them up to the players without any
condition except to return them when they pleased.[26]
[26] Mem. de Jeu M. le Duc d'Orleans.
This Duc de Lerme was at least a great lord, and the army which
he commanded may have warranted his extravagance; but what are we
to think when we find the base and mean-spirited Fouquet giving
himself the same princely airs? During certain festivities
prepared for Louis XIV., Fouquet placed in the room of every
courtier of the king's suite, a purse of gold for gambling, in
case any of them should be short of money. Well might Duclos
remark that 'Nobody was shocked at this MAGNIFICENT SCANDAL![27]
[27] Consideration sur les Moeeurs,
They tell of a certain lordly gamester who looked upon any money
that fell from his hands as lost, and would never stoop to pick
it up! This reminds us of the freedman Pallas mentioned by
Tacitus, who wrote down what he had to say to his slaves, lest he
should degrade his voice to their level--ne vocem
consociaret![28]
[28] Ann.
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