| Citation |
EG.771.021
9-16 Jul 1771:2021 (3/155)
London, April 30. Extract of a letter from Paris, March 22.
As I know your curiosity with respect to every thing that
relates to Madame du Barre, the following chit-chat of this
metropolis may not be disagreeable to you. This lady, since
her elevation to power and influence at the Court of
Versailles, is haughty and insolent even to her royal
benefactor, of which she has given a recent instance. One
evening this lent she had assisted at a Concert-Spiritual,
and on her return to the petit-jouper in her apartment,
found that her paramour had made pretty free with la soupe
Angloise (Anglice rum punch) when he said to her, with a
hiccough, Madame, etes vous grise?* (Madam, are you grey?)
To which she replied, Non, Monsieur, je suis brune, a l'
ordinaire, mais je vous etes grise d' band en has. (No,
Monsieur, I am brown as usual, but I see you are grey from
head to foot.) The sequel to this ill-timed repartee, it is
assured, has been fatal to the haughty beauty. The King,
piqued at her insolence, retired to rest alone that night:
. . . [17 lines follow on the King's search for another
mistress.]
* A word used equivocally, either signifying the colour
grey, or being drunk.
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