Secret Memoirs of the Courts of Louis XV and XVI

Of all the published memoirs relative to the reign of Louis XV, the Memoirs of Madame du Hausset (Ladies' Maid to Madame de Pompadour) are the only perfectly sincere ones. Sometimes, Madame du Hausset mistakes, through ignorance, but never does she willfully mislead; nor is she ever betrayed by her vanity to invent. Madame du Hausset was often separated from the little and obscure chamber in the Palace of Versailles, where resided the supreme power, only by a slight door or curtain, which permitted her to hear all that was said there. She had for a cher ami the greatest practical philosopher of that period, Dr. Quesnay, the founder of political economy. He was physician to Madame de Pompadour, and one of the sincerest and most single-hearted of men probably in Paris at the time. He explained to Madame du Hausset many things that, but for his assistance, she would have witnessed without understanding.