He carried about with him a French cook,
who could not make him eat; a doctor, who could not make him well; a
mistress, of whom he was heartily sick after two days; a priest, who
had been a favourite of the exemplary Dubois, and by turns used to
tickle him by the imposition of penance, or by the repetition of a
tale from the recueil of Noce, or La Fare. All his appetites were
wasted and worn; only some monstrosity would galvanise them into
momentary action. He was in that effete state to which many
noblemen of his time had arrived; who were ready to believe in
ghost-raising or in gold-making, or to retire into monasteries and
wear hair-shirts, or to dabble in conspiracies, or to die in love
with little cook-maids of fifteen, or to pine for the smiles or at
the frowns of a prince of the blood, or to go mad at the refusal of
a chamberlain's key. The last gratification he remembered to have
enjoyed was that of riding bareheaded in a soaking rain for three
hours by the side of his Grand Duke's mistress's coach; taking the
pas of Count Krahwinkel, who challenged him, and was run through the
body for this very dispute. Galgenstein gained a rheumatic gout by
it, which put him to tortures for many months; and was further
gratified with the post of English Envoy.
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