Bulwer's New Play (review) [pp. 90-95]

SOUTHERN LITERARY MAESSENGER.
gance and extravagant absurdity, (for which last, note
the words in italics) thle very conception of which bespeaks a mind comabustihle as tinder, is uttered in the
old baronial castle, to her mother, on the eve of her
departure for court. ViWiiat wonder then, that when
she sees the incarnation of this beau ideal of her dreams,
in the person of the king, her passion bursts into flame.
ULnconscious of the nature of her feelings, she does not
attempt to conceal them, but prattles to the ladies of
the court ofher high reaching passion, in a strain, which
the writer would have us take as a proof of purity unsuspecting its own weakness.
By a most clumsy contrivance, the'ling, is made to
overhear this lanLguage of passionate admiration; and,
on this hint, he speaks." Suddenly the lady fireezes,
and assumes a coy and shrinking reserve, which only
rendiers her more attractive.
The affair now goes on with due despatch and due
decorum, vlwhen Birg,elone suddenly makes his appearaice at court. First he meets with the Duc de Lauzun, of whom he asks the o,, dits of the day, in regard
to this amour; and requites his intelligence by playing
the bragart, in a style of ruffiain magnanimity, which
puts to sihame all the artificial rules of those who quarrel
by the book. They fight; the duke is disarmed, and
spared; and the lover goes raging in quest of his mistress. Her he finds, loads her with billingsgate in
blank verse, and scolds her into a consent to steal
away firom court under his protection.
He leaves her in a convent, from which, "nothing
loathli," she is taken by the king,, returns to Fontainebleau, and, oni due terms, becomes Madamie la Duchesse
de la Valliere.
In this elevation she is not happy. The idea of
having dishonored her father's name, and broken the
heart of her mothler, is quite disagreeable; and she sins
with so bad a grace, that her lover becomes excessively
eno.nuyc. This alternation of crime and repentance is,
no doubt, consoling to ladies, who can thus persuade
themselves that guilt has not yet reached the heart;
and a gallant lover should not deny tlhemr the comfort
of filling up the pauses of passion with luxurious tears.
The king, however, is at a loss to understand, how
any woman can reproach herself for yielding to the
fascinations of his person, his crown, and his glory,
and is quite vexed that the lady cannot be brought to
see the matter in the samne light; but, overlooking the
two latter, and loving himt only for himself, considers
her case as that of
"Sonie poor village Phcebe,
Whom her false Lubin has betrayed."
"I w ould not have it so,"bh adds. "Mly fame, nay glory,
The purple and the orb arie part of me;
And thou shouldst love tihem for my sake, and feel
I were not Louis, were I less the king."
There is no disputing withi tastes, and least of all
with royal tastes. But nature is nature in kings as in
other men; and such a taste as is here attributed to
Louis, has never before been predicated by truth or
fiction for human nature, under any circumstances.
But we must take Mr. Bulwer's account of the matter,
for on this strange taste is founded the plot of his
drama.
But the capital error of Madame de la Valliere is,
that she is, in other things, quite too conscientious for
her situation; and, instead of makingl herself the mediumn through which the favor of tlhe king may be
obtained, she provokes the malice as well as the envy
of his courtiers, by making herself the judge of the
reasonableness of the suits she is reoquested to prefer.
This was carrying the matter too far. If she chose to
compound for her indulgence in one darling sin, by a
rigid observance of all the forms of devotion-and to
dress herselfin sackclotll, when her lover wished to see
her fluttering iii brocade, that was her affair and his.
But that the partnei of the rionarchl's lawless love
should make herself the keeper of his conscience, to the
prejudice of all vices but her own, was not to be en.
dured. The aim therefore of the whole court was to
suplp)lant her, and accordingly the Duc de Lauzun, a
profligate minion, contrives to introduce and to palm
upon the king, his own mistress, the Marchioness de
Montespan.
It so happens, that, about this time, news arrives of
the death of Bragclone, and the king, in speaking of it
to his mistress, discovers tihe secret of her friendship
for himi, and their ear.ly betrothal. The thought, that
she perhaps had oeice loved another, and that he was not
the first who ever had a place in her heart, strikes with
horror the refined and fastidious voluptuary, and disposes him to seek consolation in the arms of one, who
was already the wife of one man, and the mistress of
another. With the philosophy of this we have nothing
to do, and here again allow Mr. Bulwer to arrange his
catenation of cause and consequence to his own mind.
It results accordingly, that, within twelve hours after the
conversation about Bragelone, the king falls in love with
Madame de Montespan, whom he had never thought of
before, aml that she is instantly and openly installed
before thle whole court in the place of Madame de la
Valliere, who is dismissed.
Bragelone all this time is not dead, but has retired
from the world, and taken the habit of a Franciscan
monk. In this character hle visits Madame de la Valliere in her retirement, and passing himself upon her as
the brother of her lover, they talk quite pathetically of
his sorrows and death, and those of the lady's mother,
until she, too, determines to take the veil. Within the
hour, here comes the king upon some unimaginable
fool's-errand,and, entering the chateau unattended, blunders through the ante-chamber, until hlie stumbles on
Bragelone. Then ensues quite a scene between the holy
father and the royal sinner, in which the latter is, of
course, overwhelmed, and struck dumb by the eloquent
reproaches of the other.
About this time it occurs to Lautzun, that the rich
provision on w-hich Madame de Ia Valliere had retired,
may mend his shattered fortune; and as he had handed
over his mistress to the king, he probably thought a fair
exchange the fairest of all possible things. He prefers
his suit to the lady, and is, of course, rejected. The
story gets to the ears of Madame de Montespan, whose
resentment is aroused against Lauzun (whom alone she
had ever loved), and she announces to him her determination to ruin him. lie gets the start of Iher, and ruins
her. How, is not told, but she is dismissed, and the king
is left without a mistress.
Norv, as the king is capable of living' without a mistress about as long as a courtier can live out of favor, a
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