Printed byR. & R. Clark,Edinburgh
Printed byR. & R. Clark,Edinburgh
CONTENTSPART THE FIRSTIntroductionixCHAPTER IIgnace Massalski, Prince and Bishop of Wilna—The Radziwill and the Massalski—The feudal lords in Poland—Civil wars in Poland—The Bishop in exile—His arrival in Paris with his niece—Letters from Madame Geoffrin—Answer of the King Stanislaus-Augustus—The Abbaye-aux-BoisPage1CHAPTER IITheMemoirsof Hélène Massalska—Her entry at the Abbaye-aux-Bois—The dormitory—Illness of Hélène—Sister Bichon and Paradise—La Griseand Mother Quatre Temps’s punishments—The order of truth—Wars of the “blues” and the “reds”—The Comte de Beaumanoir’s scullion—Madame de Rochechouart19CHAPTER IIIThe story of the Vicar of Saint Eustache—Hélène in the white class—Death of Mademoiselle de Montmorency56CHAPTER IVMoles and niggers—Mutiny in the Convent—Marriage of Mademoiselle de Bourbonne—The first communion90CHAPTER VThe Convent duties—The Abbess’s department—Balls at the Abbaye-aux-Bois—Madame de Rochechourt and her friends114CHAPTER VIThe record office—Madame de Saint Germain and her rasp—The balletsOrpheusandEurydice—The refectory—The gates and the tower—The community and the cellars—Story of Mademoiselle de Saint Ange—Madame de Sainte Delphine and the library136CHAPTER VIIMademoiselle de Choiseul and her mother—Madame de Stainville’s romantic adventures—Mademoiselle de Choiseul’s wedding—Taking the veil153CHAPTER VIIIMadame d’Orléans, Abbess of Chelles—A visit from the Archbishop—The Jansenist nuns—The dispensary—Madame de Rochechouart’s fête day—Her illness and death182PART THE SECONDCHAPTER IThe Prince-Bishop and Stanislaus-Augustus—The Diet in 1773—Second dismemberment of Poland—Prince Xavier and his tutor217CHAPTER IIHélène’s suitors—The Duc d’Elbœuf and the Prince de Salm—Negotiations of marriage—The Marquis de Mirabeau and the Comtesse de Brionne—Madame de Pailly—The Bishop of Wilna’s refusal—A fresh suitor—The Prince Charles de Ligne230CHAPTER IIIThe de Ligne Family—Prince Charles—War in Bavaria—Engagement at Pösig—The Prince de Ligne’s letter to his son—The Treaty of Teschen256