A King's Favourite 
 
 Madame Du Barry 
 
 AUD SAINT-ANDRE
 
 A 
 
 KING'S 
 
 FAVOURITE
 
 // / / // 
 <7
 
 ::A KING'S:: 
 FAVOURITE 
 
 MADAME DU BARRY 
 
 AND HER TIMES FROM HITHERTO 
 UNPUBLISHED DOCUMENTS BY 
 CLAUD ! SAINT-ANDRE WITH AN 
 INTRODUCTION BY PIERRE DE 
 NOLHAC AND 17 ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 McBRIDE, NAST & COMPANY 
 1915
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 OMANCE is only history in miniature; history is 
 the true romance carried to the highest point of 
 development." To no history is this saying of 
 M. Paul Bourget more applicable than to that 
 of the times of Madame Du Barry. The story of her life, 
 merely the outline of her career her origin, rise to favour, 
 disgrace and death surpasses in interest the whole romantic 
 biography of womanhood ; but to be of full value such an 
 account must above all be truthful and free from the arts 
 of the romancer. 
 
 Until recently the memory of this fair transgressor has 
 been marked chiefly by its lack of truth. Apart from the 
 equal right of all historical personalities to justice of treat- 
 ment, it is a matter of importance to have exact knowledge 
 of their character and the part they played, the more so 
 when the judgment pronounced on them is used to condemn 
 a sovereign, a reign, or even a whole century. 
 
 The celebrated book of the Goncourts, for instance, 
 puerile and false as it is, has long been held authoritative : 
 " The people must lose their faith and their illusions when 
 they hear of the exploits of this girl, as for instance when, 
 excited by champagne, she breaks the windows of the 
 (Eil-de-Boeuf . . . Madame Du Barry is mischievous 
 like the courtesan she is, who pursues her calling and obeys 
 her instincts. . . . Involuntarily by her very nature 
 she brings into discredit all that comes into contact with 
 her. Whether she forces Zamore to stick his fingers in the 
 chancellor's wig, now the home of cockchafers, or whether, 
 clothed in her shift and with bare throat, she makes the 
 nuncio of the Pope present her with her slippers, she always 
 plays her part, that of mocking, debasing and lowering
 
 vi INTRODUCTION 
 
 to her own standard, all institutions, traditions, and persons. 
 . . ." These are but ridiculous anecdotes, the stupidities 
 of pamphleteers, which have no other merit than the 
 literary one of the glowing style of a Michelet. To take 
 them seriously one would have to be ignorant of the whole 
 life of the court in eighteenth century France, and one's 
 judgment could only be at the mercy of rhetorical libellers. 
 
 The obscene legend that has grown up around Madame 
 Du Barry is the combined work of the parliamentary party 
 and Choiseul. It has been further popularised by writers, 
 at all times sure of a public, who, under the hypocritical 
 pretext of vindicating morality, have taken pleasure in 
 scandalmongering. Their tales have been received with 
 an unwholesome eagerness, without much regard for the 
 truth. Nor is it on the ground of morals alone that our 
 century fills its academic text-books with a proper indigna- 
 tion ; the truth has been held back from us by the friends 
 of Choiseul during a great part of the reign of Louis XV. 
 Clever and elegantly malicious, they always held the front 
 of the stage. They have written so much and lied so 
 wittily that we are ready to believe them in all things. 
 Whose judgment has not involuntarily been coloured by 
 their rancour, which of us has not spoken of their adver- 
 saries in the contemptuous tones of Chanteloup ? 
 
 The fairest evidence relating to Madame Du Barry's 
 life is to be got from those who had no reason to be biassed 
 against her, who simply watched the career of one of their 
 contemporaries. This evidence is in every case far from 
 disparaging, and does homage to more than her incontestable 
 beauty. 
 
 S6nac de Meilhan, who witnessed the end of her career, 
 passed a by no means severe judgment on her character : 
 " The most important events which took place during her 
 time of power made no more impression than the images 
 thrown on a screen by a magic lantern. She had taken no 
 part in them, and they left only a confused memory. After 
 the Revolution she distinguished herself by her marked 
 generosity to those in danger of becoming its victims.
 
 Vll 
 
 Finally, this woman, whom nothing had protected from 
 vice in her youth, and who had been led away by poverty 
 and evil counsel, had done no one hi jury when her power of 
 inflicting wrong was unlimited. Such moderation, remark- 
 able in one in her position, gives her the right to lenient 
 treatment from the most severe of judges." 
 
 The Count d'Espinchal, who knew her before her rise 
 to power, and who was later one of her intimate friends, 
 describes in a few words the lady of Louveciennes : " She 
 is good and generous, an agreeable companion, the best of 
 friends, most charitable and always ready to do a kindness. 
 Both at home and in public she bears herself with becoming 
 decency, giving the lie to the gross slanders calumny has 
 delighted in spreading since the growth of her power." 
 The Marquis de Bouill6 adds some further traits to this 
 description : " Her disposition was in no sense common, 
 much less vulgar ; though without pretensions to brilliance, 
 she had more wit than people gave her credit for ; besides, 
 her kindliness no less than her simplicity might have been 
 sufficient compensation." 
 
 The Prince de Ligne, who was a friend of hers from the 
 first, defends Louis XV.'s last weakness : "I have seen him 
 every day with Madame Du Barry during the last year of 
 his hfe. It is astounding that those who were themselves 
 no better should cry out at his wickedness ; that the vile 
 courtiers of Madame de Pompadour, a little nobody who 
 ran away from her husband, should exclaim against the 
 corruption of morals which allowed yet another mistress 
 and that a woman of much better feeling, who did not 
 attempt to settle questions of war and peace." 
 
 Even the malice of the Prince de Talleyrand has spared 
 her, for he put her for style and language above Madame 
 de Pompadour. The latter, he says, " differs in all respects 
 from Madame Du Barry, who, though less wall educated, 
 had attained a certain purity of language. Madame Du 
 Barry's eyes were not so large, but were more expressive, 
 her features were well-cut, her hair of great beauty ; she 
 liked talking, and cpuld tell a story pleasantly enough."
 
 viii INTRODUCTION 
 
 We find, then, in serious contemporary records no foundation 
 for the charge of grossness of language, with which some 
 have attempted to soil her pretty lips. As for her manners, 
 they were perfect from the beginning. " She is very 
 beautiful, especially the lower part of her face," observes 
 the Duke de Croy, " her bearing is very noble, easy, charming 
 and unpretentious, in a word that of a gentlewoman." 
 " I was astonished," says M. de Belleval, " considering 
 that she was not brought up at court, to see how she had 
 acquired the well-bred manners of the ladies there." This 
 " very noble bearing," which enhanced to the end of her life 
 her irreproachable beauty, had already been noticed by 
 M. de Sartine's inspectors when, for the first time, they 
 saw her appear at the Opera, the mistress of Jean Du 
 Barry. 
 
 She was well-informed, and had read much. " Her 
 conversation," according to d'Espinchal, " is interesting, 
 and since her retirement reading has, next to her toilette, 
 been her chief occupation." He adds that she was not 
 endowed with " wit " in the eighteenth century sense of the 
 word, but on the other hand, she had the art of telling a 
 story and, among her intimate friends (for " she knew her 
 world "), even of falling into frivolities seldom heard at 
 Versailles. Her talk, which was so much enjoyed by her 
 friends, was delightful. From the first moment she fasci- 
 nated. " Her wide, blue eyes," relates M. de Belleval, 
 " were fixed with engaging frankness on him to whom she 
 spoke, as if she would read in his face the effect of her words. 
 She had a straight little nose, a very small mouth and a 
 complexion of dazzling purity. In a word, one soon yielded 
 to her charm. . . ." 
 
 Her good-nature was the distinctive feature of her 
 character. " Madame Du Barry," says Belleval, " was 
 kind-hearted, and loved to oblige. She never bore malice, 
 and was the first to laugh at all the rhymes made about 
 her." All the records agree on this point, not to speak 
 of the letters of all her friends, who were enthusiastic 
 admirers of this goodness. 4 You are privileged by nature,"
 
 INTRODUCTION ix 
 
 says one ; " goodness and beauty will be yours all your 
 life long." 
 
 One need see her but once to divine this striking quality 
 which no disillusion could embitter. " When I recalled her 
 sweet and gracious smile," says Brissot, who spoke to her 
 one day in Voltaire's ante-chamber, " I felt more lenient 
 towards the favourite." And this member of the National 
 Convention goes on to tell of a conversation on the mistresses 
 of Louis XV. held between Mirabeau, Laclos, Henriette 
 de Nehra and himself. As was right and proper, these 
 virtuous souls condemned the weakness and infamy of the 
 monarch. " But," adds Brissot, " I laughingly besought 
 some indulgence for the Du Barry, who, though also vile, 
 was to my mind a hundred times less odious than her rivals. 
 After all, she had no more in common with them than 
 an influence which she did not despotically abuse, and 
 morals which I scarcely thought culpable. ' You are right,' 
 said Mirabeau ; . . . ' she never issued lettres de 
 cachets against those who slandered her virtue.' ' And 
 they recognised that " the dishonour of this woman was 
 due to her birth and upbringing, and to those who debased 
 her." 
 
 Laclos and Mirabeau have together published the portrait 
 of Elmire, a portrait of which no single feature, whether 
 moral or physical, told against her, and which extolled 
 her at the expense of Madame de Pompadour. " Nature 
 had endowed Elmire with more various grace than is often 
 united in a single person. . . . The eye, charmed by the 
 expression of her face, found the same attraction in her 
 graceful bearing, her perfect figure, her rounded arms, 
 her beautiful hands. . . . Elmire crossed a gulf when 
 she left her humble roof for the palace of a king, but she 
 filled her new position without effort. . . . [She] was 
 not puffed up with pride, nor did she humble those whom 
 she might have disowned. . . . Elmire, wiser than 
 her predecessor, took no notice of the scandalous biographies 
 and the fictitious or falsified letters, which were so assidu- 
 ously circulated. Malice deceived itself, for Elmire did not 
 
 A
 
 x INTRODUCTION 
 
 lose the heart of her lover or the affection of her friends. 
 . . . Elmire will have no cause to fear the judgment 
 of posterity." 
 
 Thus moralists, courtiers and revolutionaries alike have 
 all given a sympathetic portrait of Madame Du Barry. 
 
 M. Claude Saint-Andr6 has brought before us in this 
 brilliant and valuable book more than the conventional 
 portrait of a courtesan ; he has delineated the character 
 of a woman. For the first time we see Madame Du Barry 
 live, an actual personality of incontestable charm. The 
 author has reconciled seemingly contradictory qualities 
 by his conscientious historical research. Nothing has been 
 hidden : the origin of the royal mistress and the culpable 
 intrigues by which she attained so high a position ; her 
 readiness to accept the low standard of morality so prevalent 
 among many of the women of her time. Yet the part she 
 played is explained without prejudice and with a thorough 
 knowledge of the period. Friend and foe alike have been 
 minutely interrogated, and if one may here and there 
 suspect the young writer of some weakness for his heroine, 
 it is because he has that gift of sympathy without which 
 one may not hope to gain true insight into a man's soul, 
 a precious gift to him who would study the personalities 
 of the past. 
 
 By his skilful exposition of the facts he has verified, 
 and by his attention to the evidence of witnesses, many 
 of whom were unknown or forgotten, he has been able to 
 deal fairly by the base legends that have gathered round 
 Madame Du Barry. On the other hand, he gives with 
 exactness the list of the liaisons of this woman, whom the 
 unfortunate circumstances of her life devoted to a career 
 of pleasure. Despite the elegance with which she sinned, 
 she is to be pitied for having been taught by that terrible 
 master of depravity, the " Roue"." Her d6but at Versailles 
 was a scandal, but it appears to have violated the rules of 
 etiquette rather than those of morality. If there are degrees 
 in vice, Louis XV. had certainly plumbed lower depths, 
 while the adultery was only on one side as the Queen was
 
 INTRODUCTION xi 
 
 dead ; for the matter of that the marriage contract did not 
 count for much. Such history must be lightly dealt with, 
 and though we should be careful not to absolve what ought 
 to be condemned, we must not forget, in the words of 
 Merimee, that " the same actions are differently valued 
 at different times." 
 
 The contemporaries of the King were not as sensitive 
 as we to certain egregious violations of morality on his part. 
 Thus the clerical party, blinded by their hatred of Choiseul, 
 accepted a favourite, " since there had to be one," provided 
 she had no ideas on philosophy. There have been tales 
 of the levity of certain ecclesiastics, on hearing of Madame 
 Du Barry's long-desired presentation, in which they chose 
 to see the triumph of Esther over the persecutor of the 
 Hebrews. At that period, too, a priest of the Cevennes 
 wrote to one of his fellow-clergy : " M. de La Beaumelle 
 enjoys now the protection of the King's mistress ; he is 
 going to Paris . . . and if he can be of any service to us, 
 especially to us priests, he certainly will." 
 
 Seeing that the nominal defenders of public morality 
 were so complaisant, why should it be surprising that the 
 courtesan world censured Louis XV. merely for this further 
 weakness, calculated only to grieve his daughters and fill 
 them with anxiety for his welfare ? The king knew quite 
 well that he would have been forgiven soon enough for a 
 Duchess de Grammont, or some such great lady. He wrote 
 to his minister : " They would all be at her feet if . . ." 
 and his reticence was significant. Again : " Do they want 
 me to take a girl of quality ? " he said. In fact, the severest 
 cannot but recognise that his well-bred depravity, accom- 
 panied as it was by all the graces of the period, was much 
 less repellent than the intemperate life of so many monarchs 
 of the age. 
 
 By all means let us condemn our sovereigns for the follies 
 they have committed ; but do not let us spread further 
 this false image of the French court as one devoid of all 
 dignity and modesty, when on closer observation we may 
 find in it so many examples of virtue, honour and noble
 
 Xll 
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 devotion to duty. As far as possible we must rehabilitate 
 the reign of Louis XV., of which the shortcomings alone 
 have attracted attention. The achievements of the France 
 of that day were not confined to the world of letters. The 
 nation often enjoyed the services of an admirable staff of 
 ministers, generals and provincial governors. The abuses 
 ascribed to this century apply to all periods, and there 
 would be little difficulty in finding them in our own. But 
 this reign was so long that the glories of Fontenoy were 
 dimmed by the miseries of its end, a tragedy which leaves 
 much the deeper impression on the mind. 
 
 In future, Madame Du Barry should be less of a shameful 
 memory to our time. Even if she is to be blamed for much 
 foolish expenditure, we must remember that it encouraged 
 the arts, of which, indeed, she was a noteworthy patron ; 
 many a masterpiece in our possession owes its existence 
 to her commands. By no means one of the lesser merits 
 of this book is the fresh light it throws on her active and 
 well-directed personal interest in art, kept up according 
 to her means even after her disgrace. Indeed, had she 
 been longer at Versailles, the titles so often given to Madame 
 de Pompadour might well have been assigned to her. 
 
 In his study of Madame Du Barry during the Revolution, 
 the young historian has attacked a difficult problem, which 
 none of his predecessors has solved. The Goncourts, whose 
 interest was confined to the woman of pleasure, lost them- 
 selves among papers taken at random from the Archives 
 without discovering those of most importance. The 
 conscientious Vatel, indignant at their levity, corrected 
 many inaccuracies and used a number of original documents, 
 but was himself occasionally liable to mistake. His obvious 
 intention was to prove Madame Du Barry's innocence 
 of all the charges which brought her to the scaffold, and 
 the end of his work, which he was unable to revise, is only a 
 medley of unclassified material. Much elucidation had 
 still to be done, requiring many new sources of information. 
 
 In the first place, the author has established that Madame 
 Du Barry, interested as she was in politics through her
 
 INTRODUCTION xiii 
 
 relations with M. de Brissac, did not remain inactive during 
 the last tragic years of the monarchy. From the beginning 
 of the Revolution she placed her fortune at the disposal 
 of the royal family, and a sale of some of her diamonds, 
 which took place in Holland at the end of 1789, was probably 
 connected with this offer. We cannot doubt her liberality 
 if we read a letter from the Count d'Espinchal, which 
 confirms and particularises the evidence of Senac de Meilhan. 
 Introduced into the nobility of France and enriched by 
 the king to the displeasure of all, the Countess was yet able 
 to fulfil with great generosity those obligations to the 
 descendants of Louis XV., which most others in her place 
 would have neglected. 
 
 Happy in her retirement and her luxury, this still 
 beautiful and beloved woman appears to have sacrificed 
 all to what she considered to be her duty ; urged by events 
 which appealed to her goodness of heart, and guided by 
 partisans who could make use of her good-nature, she and 
 her riches cannot have failed to perform signal service to 
 the counter-revolution. In this respect there was un- 
 doubtedly justification for the denunciations which were 
 poured on her, and for the attacks of her enemy, the citizen 
 Greive ; the Tribune of the Revolution, so blindly prodigal 
 of innocent blood, certainly struck down a genuine con- 
 spirator in Madame Du Barry. 
 
 Too little is known of the secret movements of Nathaniel 
 Parker Forth, the English agent who was involved in our 
 revolutionary troubles, and who was mentioned both in 
 contemporary pamphlets and diplomatic correspondence 
 as being charged with important missions. It was he who 
 by a singular coincidence became the controlling influence 
 of Madame Du Barry's life after the theft of her diamonds 
 at Louveciennes. This theft, committed by English sub- 
 jects on the night of January 10, 1791, and accompanied 
 by suspicious circumstances in the household of the Countess, 
 was thought later by many to have been engineered by Forth 
 himself. The matter can be explained more simply ; but 
 it formed an excellent opportunity for those who had
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 an interest in providing some devoted person with a plausible 
 excuse for leaving France. From this point of view, they 
 could benefit exceedingly by the lawsuit which took place 
 in London, and there is no reason why they should not have 
 played some such game, since it imperilled none but the 
 Countess. 
 
 In order to identify and lay claim to her jewels, and to 
 give evidence in an interminable lawsuit which can scarcely 
 have required her constant presence, Madame Du Barry 
 made four journeys to England, of which the last took place 
 at the most dangerous time of the Revolution, when the 
 severest decrees were issued against the emigres. The 
 need for maintaining her private interests abroad made it 
 possible for her to ask for passports without arousing 
 over-much suspicion, and by this means she was able to do 
 for her friends all kinds of services as the bearer of corre- 
 spondence and money. The evidence brought before the 
 revolutionary jury, and the information added to it by her 
 new historian, show clearly enough how she occupied her 
 visits to London, and whom she saw there. As was natural 
 she renewed her acquaintance with former friends ; but 
 more than that, she threw herself heart and soul into the 
 activities of the emigres among the English aristocracy, 
 which had given her such an unexpectedly warm welcome. 
 In passing it may be mentioned that her conduct was 
 irreproachable, which is more than can be said for all the 
 fair emigrees. Her salon was one of the centres of attrac- 
 tion of that pleasure-loving world, which only such terrible 
 blows as the death of Louis XVI. could awaken from its 
 foolish infatuation. The murder of the Duke de Brissac 
 had made Madame Du Barry one of the earliest sufferers, 
 and gave her from the first a more serious view of the 
 situation, while the evidence of Bouille is sufficient to prove 
 the sincerity of her mourning for the king. 
 
 We shall probably never know whether her opportunities 
 of travel and her position in English society were any help 
 to the princes to whom she was so devoted. But her 
 relations with the members of the English Government,
 
 INTRODUCTION xv 
 
 who were the most hated adversaries of the French revolu- 
 tionaries, are at least evidence of grave indiscretion. The 
 Countess did not realise that she was followed and spied on, 
 and that gatherings, which were without doubt chiefly 
 devoted to worldly pleasures, were destined to form the 
 subjects of an overwhelming and fatal charge against her. 
 The intercourse of Madame Du Barry with the emigres, 
 her " newsbearing," which was then a breach of the law, 
 were so open that it is surprising she could have enjoyed 
 complete immunity for so long. It explains the indignation 
 of such savage accusers as Greive and Blache, who, made 
 keen-eyed by hatred, guessed that the lady of Louveciennes 
 had faithful supporters even in the administration. They 
 knew full well that chateau which figured among the 
 " aristocratic haunts " on the banks of the Seine, and 
 their indignation was excited by the quantity of treasure 
 accumulated there by " the courtesan of despots." It was 
 not merely that she corresponded abroad, that she was 
 the keeper of hidden stores of money, that she cherished 
 the forbidden emblems of royalty and the counter-revolu- 
 tionary publications. More than that, she received a 
 number of " suspects," many of them notorious, and after 
 the beginning of the Terror, " conspiracies " went on daily 
 in her charming retreat ; there all the " ci-devants " were 
 welcomed by their still beautiful hostess, a woman whom 
 one would have thought had no care but to please. If we 
 knew the hidden actions of the Duke de Rohan-Chabot, 
 who was Madame Du Barry's last lover, we should no doubt 
 be able to justify what was the essential point of the trial 
 of Frimaire, year II., namely the speech of Fouquier- 
 Tinville. However that be, it is certain that the Public 
 Prosecutor condemned to death hundreds of women less 
 " guilty " than citizeness Du Barry. 
 
 This book, vividly written yet without extravagance, 
 puts the last and most significant touches to the character 
 it portrays. There will be no further surprise at the " sis- 
 terly " intimacy, to use their own words, between Madame 
 Du Barry and the Duchess de Mortemart, the daughter
 
 xvi INTRODUCTION 
 
 of M. de Brissac. It will be possible to understand how it 
 was that the Countess, for the sake of this new friendship 
 born of a sacred memory, did not hesitate to risk her life 
 by her last return to France ; and it will be vain to seek 
 in the cross-examination at her trial signs of the panic in 
 which she was supposed to have betrayed names and 
 secrets, that according to popular belief brought many 
 victims to the scaffold. Not even the Princess Lubomirska 
 herself was compromised by the accused, who only men- 
 tioned her because a note seized at Louveciennes was signed 
 in full ; besides, how could she imagine that her innocent 
 correspondence would cost the unfortunate Polish Princess 
 her life ? As for the last moments of Madame Du Barry, 
 does not her sacrifice of her life for her beliefs and her 
 friends make pardonable her weakness before the guillotine, 
 a nervous collapse which in another would not have been 
 considered blameworthy. 
 
 The Revolution laid bare the souls of many whose true 
 selves had been hidden by their easy life, and in this time 
 of stress Madame Du Barry showed qualities that are 
 irreconcilable with the supposed degradation of her youth. 
 In her last days Fate brought her into contact with another 
 famous woman, imprisoned at the same time as she at Sainte- 
 Pelagie. But Madame Roland no doubt averted her eyes 
 from her fellow-prisoner, who was no more to her than a 
 vile creature, the dissolute favourite of a detested king. 
 It would have surprised the valiant Girondine if she had been 
 told that this despised courtesan had shown in her time 
 disinterestedness, devotion and self-sacrifice, that she, too, 
 had served her party with courage, and that the friend 
 of Buzot might well look without contempt on the friend 
 of Brissae. 
 
 PIERRE DE NOLHAC. 
 Chateau de Versailles.
 
 PREFACE 
 
 IN this book I have attempted to throw fresh light 
 on the character of Madame Du Barry and the 
 times in which she lived. I must proclaim my 
 indebtedness to the researches of my predecessor, Charles 
 Vatel, which have been of great use to me. He was 
 the first to react against the pamphleteers who had 
 previously formed the historian's only source of inspiration. 
 But the special circumstances under which he completed 
 his work were not favourable to an accurate portrayal of 
 the image of whose true features he had caught a glimpse. 
 Vatel is far from having exhausted the archives from which 
 he has drawn his material, and which still contained many 
 interesting surprises. It has further been found necessary 
 to verify the originals of the extracts printed by his editor, 
 and those which I have reproduced are now given more 
 correctly. Numerous recent publications have given me 
 very useful help. 
 
 The originals of the texts, which I have mentioned or 
 quoted in full in the present work, are to be found among 
 the " National Archives," among those of the Ministry of 
 Foreign Affairs and the De'partement of Seine-et-Oise, and 
 in various private collections. I have made use of the 
 manuscript memoirs of the Count d'Espinchal, and of the 
 letters which have only recently been attributed to him. 
 Numerous extracts of Madame Du Barry's papers may 
 also be found in the Bibliotheque Nationale, to which so far 
 little reference has been made. I mention in the course 
 
 xvii
 
 xviii PREFACE 
 
 of the book those who have been so kind as to give me 
 information on the subject ; but I owe an especial debt of 
 gratitude to M. Pierre de Nolhac, who has allowed me 
 access to the unpublished documents of the Versailles 
 Library, and who has done me the great honour of presenting 
 this book to the public. 
 
 C. S.-A.
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 INTRODUCTION v 
 
 PREFACE xvii 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 JEANNE BlECU-QUANTIGNY 
 
 The Presentation of the Countess Du Barry Her Parentage 
 
 Jeanne Becu-Quantigny At the Convent of Sainte- 
 
 Aure The Hair-dresser Lametz Jeanne as Lady's 
 Companion As Milliner Jean Du Barry and Jeanne 
 de Vaubernier The " Roue " and his Circle Jeanne at 
 Versailles The King's Mistress Her Marriage with 
 Guillaume du Barry ....... i 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 JEANNE AT COURT 
 
 Pamphlets against the New Favourite Hostility of the 
 Choiseuls Animosity of " Mesdames " The " Barriens " 
 The Presentation The Gift of the Chateau of Louve- 
 ciennes The Favourite's increasing Influence The 
 Salon of the Louvre in 1769 The Marriage of the 
 Dauphin ......... 26 
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 THE FAVOURITE AND THE MINISTERS 
 
 The Breton Parliament Madame Du Barry and the Duke 
 d'Aiguillon The Chancellor Maupeou and the Parlia- 
 ments Disgrace of the Duke de Choiseul Gustavus III. 
 The Dauphine and the Favourite Marriage of the 
 Count de Provence The Duke d'Aiguillon appointed 
 to the Ministry The Salon of 1771 Choiseul made 
 to resign his position as Colonel of the Swiss Regiment 
 Generous Intervention of Madame Du Barry . . 71 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 THE ALL-POWERFUL FAVOURITE 
 
 Projected Marriage of the King to the Favourite The Parti- 
 tion of Poland Maria Theresa's Fears Reconciliation 
 
 xix
 
 xx CONTENTS 
 
 PAGB 
 
 of Marie Antoinette and Madame du Barry Gustavus 
 III.'s coup d'Stat Marriages of the Viscount and the 
 Chevalier Du Barry The Salon of 1773 Marriage of 
 the Count d'Artois Final Intrigues Illness and Death 
 of Louis XV 118 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 MADAME DU BARRY AND THE ARTS 
 
 Madame Du Barry as a Patron of the Arts The " Du Barry " 
 Style Her Rooms at Versailles The Furniture 
 How the Favourite passed the Day Her Household 
 Her Luxury Building of the Villa at Louveciennes 
 The Bronzes by Gouthire The Chateau of Louveciennes 
 The Art Collections Purchase of the Binet Villa and 
 the building of an H6tel at Versailles The Favourite 
 and the Administration of the Privy Purse . . .174 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 IN DISGRACE 
 
 Imprisoned in the Abbey of Pont-aux-Dames In Exile at 
 the Chateau of Saint-Vrain Return to Louveciennes 
 Visit of the Emperor Joseph II. The Duke Hercule- 
 Timoleon de Cosse-Brissac Henry Seymour The 
 Queen's Necklace Madame Du Barry and her Friends 
 Madame Le Brun at Louveciennes .... 204 
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 MADAME DU BARRY AND THE REVOLUTION 
 
 Madame du Barry and Politics again Louveciennes at the 
 time of the States-General In October The Theft of the 
 Jewels First Journey to London Connection with the 
 6tnigr6s and English society Second and third Journeys 
 Imprisonment and Death of the Duke de Brissac . . 240 
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 THE LAST DAYS OF A FAIR CONSPIRATOR 
 
 Madame Du Barry's fourth Journey to London Her new Con- 
 nections among the Emigres Her Return to Louveciennes 
 The Duke de Rohan-Chabot's Love The Accusations 
 of Citizen Greive First Arrest of Madame Du Barry 
 Second Arrest The Prison of Sainte-Pelagie " Charges 
 against the Du Barry" The Trial The Sentence The 
 Guillotine ......... 280 
 
 INDEX . 329
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 Madame Du Barry . . Photogravure Frontispiece 
 
 From a hitherto unpublished miniature by N. Laureince. 
 
 FACE PAGE 
 
 Louis XV. ........ 32 
 
 Engraved by Bonnet from a painting by Vanloo. 
 
 Madame Du Barry ...... 54 
 
 From a painting by F. H. Drouais. 
 
 Madame Du Barry ...... 76 
 
 From a bust in biscuit de Sevres by J. B. Lemoyne. 
 
 Gustavus III. of Sweden ..... 92 
 Madame Du Barry ...... 104 
 
 From a miniature by Hall. 
 
 Marie Antoinette . . . . . . .118 
 
 Voltaire 136 
 
 The Count d'Artois ...... 160 
 
 Engraved by P. Audinet from a painting by H. Danloux. 
 
 Madame Du Barry ...... 178 
 
 From a painting by J.-B.-A. Gauthier-Dagoty. 
 
 A Royal Supper Party at Louveciennes . . . 188 
 
 From a drawing by Moreau the younger. 
 
 Madame Du Barry 198 
 
 From a bust in terra-cotta by J. J. Cameri. 
 
 xxi
 
 xxii ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 PACE PAGE 
 
 The Pavilion of Louveciennes .... 222 
 
 From an engraving by Nattes. 
 
 Madame Vige Le Brun ..... 236 
 Madame Du Barry ...... 248 
 
 From a painting by Madame Le Brun. 
 
 Madame Du Barry 266 
 
 From a miniature by Cosway. 
 
 Louis XVI 286 
 
 From a painting by Callet.
 
 A 
 
 KING'S 
 
 FAVOURITE
 
 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 JEANNE BE"CU-QUANTIGNY 
 
 The Presentation of the Countess Du Barry Her Parentage 
 Jeanne Becu-Quantigny At the Convent of Sainte-Aure - 
 The Hairdresser Lametz Jeanne as Lady's Companion As 
 Milliner' Jean Du Barry and Jeanne de Vaubernier The 
 " Roue " and his Circle Jeanne at Versailles The King's 
 Mistress Her Marriage with Guillaume Du Barry. 
 
 ONE evening at Versailles, after the " debotte," Louis 
 XV. was pacing restlessly up and down the King's 
 Chamber among the gorgeous crowd of his retinue, 
 surprised at being kept waiting. His left arm was 
 in a sling, having recently been injured in a fall when 
 riding ; he was pale, and showed a slight tendency to the 
 portly, the result of his years, but a supreme elegance 
 marked him out from among his brilliant courtiers. 
 
 A low murmur rose from the inquisitive crowd that had 
 collected below the windows of the Chateau. It grew late, 
 and Richelieu, the First Lord-in-Waiting, gazed eagerly 
 into the darkness of the Cour de Marbre. Choiseul himself 
 was absent, but his supporters were radiant, feeling sure 
 that Madame Du Barry would not be presented after all. 
 Soon, however, a smart equipage bearing the double escut- 
 cheon of a married woman appeared and stopped at the 
 grand staircase. The usher opened the doors and Richelieu 
 triumphantly announced the favourite, who entered pre- 
 ceded by her sponsor, the Countess de Beam. At the 
 dazzling apparition the King started, his eyes under their 
 heavy eyelids lighting up with joy. The sight of this grace-
 
 2 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 ful woman bending before him seemed to justify his love. 
 When she rose after the three " reverences d'adieu," kicking 
 back her long train with accustomed ease, even her enemies 
 gave way to admiration and did homage to the power of 
 beauty. 
 
 On this occasion, too, she had enhanced her attraction 
 by choosing the most marvellous of costumes. Madame 
 Du Barry loved to set off her fair and slender form with 
 sumptuous white fabrics of diaphanous texture ; on her 
 presentation dress were scattered, in a mad profusion of 
 knots, clusters and garlands, diamonds which the King had 
 sent her the previous evening. More diamonds were on 
 her little high-heeled slippers, and again in the elaborate 
 coiffure whose intricacies had delayed the ceremony. The 
 etiquette of the period had compelled her to powder her 
 lovely golden hair and to rouge her already beautiful com- 
 plexion ; but such artifices served only to deepen the blue 
 of her long, caressing eyes, half closed in lazy coquetry, and 
 to make doubly attractive her delicate features and her 
 mutinous lips, parted in a mocking smile at the envious 
 and malicious. 
 
 She seemed to leave a luminous trail in the salons and 
 staircases where an open-mouthed crowd had come to gaze 
 at her. Serene and proud at having been chosen from 
 among all by His Majesty, she passed on and paid her diffi- 
 cult visit to Mesdames de France and Monseigneur le 
 Dauphin without a hint of awkwardness. The latter was 
 so astounded at her audacity that he wrote in his hunting- 
 diary, in which he noted only the most memorable events : 
 " April 22, 1769. Presentation of Madame Du Barry." 
 
 That night, while messengers were already hastening to 
 the courts of Europe to announce the news of her presenta- 
 tion, worn out with emotion, and happy in having attained 
 at last the glory she so much desired, the favourite fell asleep 
 to dream, perhaps, of her humble childhood, and of the 
 long and difficult path that she had had to traverse to reach 
 the Royal Palace. Had she wished, she could not forget 
 her lowly origin, for the satirists and pamphleteers of the
 
 ANGE 3 
 
 day made it their business to remind her of it. From this 
 her moment of triumph her enemies assailed her with that 
 i8th century weapon, the lampoon, and no one has been 
 the victim of more scurrilous calumnies than she. These took 
 the form of rhymed couplets, sometimes witty, sometimes 
 merely coarse, and were heard everywhere, hi the streets, 
 in the salons of the capital and in the antechambers of 
 Versailles. 
 
 She was born in the little town of Vaucouleurs in the 
 diocese of Toul. Her baptism is registered as follows : 
 
 Jeanne, natural daughter of Anne Becu, surnamed 
 Quantigny, was born on the nineteenth of August, seventeen- 
 hundred-and-forty-three, and was baptised the same day, 
 having for godfather Joseph Demange and for godmother 
 Jeanne Birabin, who have signed with us. 
 
 L. Gabon, curate of Vaucouleurs. 
 
 Joseph Demange, Jeanne Birabin. 1 
 
 According to local tradition the father of the child was 
 no other than a monk of the monastery of the " Picpus," 
 where Anne, the fair sempstress, had work. His name was 
 Jean Baptiste Gomard de Vaubernier, but he was known 
 in the monastery as " frere Ange," and for a long time the 
 little girl who was supposed to be his daughter was called 
 " 1'Ange." Later she became Mademoiselle Lange, then 
 Mademoiselle de Vaubernier, and on the occasion of her 
 marriage with Guillaume Du Barry the monk represented 
 her family. 
 
 But though her origin was so humble, little Jeanne was 
 not forgotten by the good fairy of the fairy-tales, who waved 
 her wand over her cradle and promised her the magic gift 
 of beauty. It was indeed a safe promise, for her grand- 
 father, Fabien Becu, keeper of an eating-house in Paris, 
 was one of the most handsome men of his time, and had 
 seduced and married a Countess de Montdidier, a de Cantigny. 
 This accounts for the noble name of Cantini, taken by 
 
 1 The facsimile of this extract is given by Vatel, Histoire de Madame 
 Du Barry, who took it from the register of births during 1743 in 
 Vaucouleurs. Anne Becu was born at Vaucouleurs in 1713.
 
 4 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 Jeanne's uncle, a footman in the service of Leopold de 
 Lorraine and of Stanislas Leczinski, and also by her aunt, 
 " the beautiful Helene." Her mother, too, was a most 
 attractive woman. 
 
 In 1747, at the age of 34, Anne gave birth to a second 
 child, Claude, a natural son, and she then decided to leave 
 Vaucouleurs, undoubtedly acting on the advice of M. 
 Billard-Dumouceaux, the paymaster of the Hotel de Ville 
 of Paris. As he was also in the Commissariat Department 
 of the Army, his work took him to the garrison town, and 
 he cannot have failed to notice the beautiful sempstress. 
 She found several relations in the capital and even at Ver- 
 sailles, all good people of whom history has nothing to tell 
 but their modest position, whether as priests or shop- 
 keepers, artisans or domestics. In 1749 Anne married in 
 the church of Saint-Eustache a Sieur Nicolas Ranc.on, for 
 whom Dumouceaux obtained from the Farmer-General's 
 Department a sinecure of a post as storekeeper. Though he 
 had already a titled mistress, the famous Francesca, he con- 
 tinued to protect the young couple after the marriage, but 
 such a trifle would not disturb a philosophic husband of the 
 age. Was not gallant Farmer-General Tournehem the best 
 friend of Monsieur Poisson, although he lived openly with 
 Madame de Pompadour's mother ? Principles and preju- 
 dices have changed since then, when an easiness of morals 
 was frankly displayed which offends against modern stand- 
 ards. Yet we must bear in mind that we are comparing 
 our own times with a century that delighted in making the 
 worst of its own vices and foibles. 
 
 The pretty child was for some years the joy of Francesca 
 and Dumouceaux. But her education had to be thought of, 
 and she was sent to a convent, probably on the advice of 
 Canon Becu or of the Abbe Becu, both her relations, or even 
 of Gomard himself, now the priest of Saint-Eustache. 1 
 Throughout her adventurous life she remembered the peace- 
 
 1 The Radons probably numbered several ecclesiastics among 
 their acquaintances. Chamfort relates how " the Abbe Arnaud 
 had held on his knee the little girl who was later to become Madame
 
 CHILDHOOD AT SAINTE-AURE 5 
 
 ful years she spent in the cloister, when she was the little 
 white daughter of the Ladies of Sainte-Aure, worshippers 
 of the Sacred Heart. She had to wear a coarse black veil, 
 a band of cloth around her brow and the plainest of chem- 
 isettes ; her frock was of white serge, and rough yellow shoes 
 completed the uniform of the boarders. The regulations of 
 this pious retreat were exceedingly strict, and no murmurs 
 from outside were allowed to penetrate its walls. Thus it 
 differed widely from the more worldly convents of the tune. 
 Those of Penthemont and la Presentation, for instance, 
 allowed much latitude in the matter of dress, and on certain 
 days their parlours were turned into salons, with all the salon's 
 chatter, vanities and affectations. But although life at 
 Sainte-Aure was severe and monotonous, joyous youth held 
 its own, and Jeanne was even then the laughing child she 
 remained all her life long. 
 
 After eight or nine years our heroine left the convent, 
 her education finished ; she was well grounded in her religion, 
 her writing was elegant and well formed, her spelling 
 quite good, and she had acquired more than the elements 
 of music and drawing. Even if we possessed the papers of 
 the now vanished community we should probably find 
 nothing about little Jeanne Rangon, as she was called. 
 But we know that the results of her excellent education 
 enabled the future favourite to develop, adorn and refine 
 a mind naturally sensitive and attracted by the world of 
 letters and of art. Like Madame de Pompadour, the brilliant 
 pupil of the Ursulmes, Anne's daughter showed from the 
 day she left the convent a grace and charm which captivated 
 all hearts, and she was not long in learning and using her 
 power. The prayers of the good sisters who loved her so 
 well could not save the soul of their pupil from the snare 
 set in the path of her beauty. More often than not she was 
 the victim of circumstances, and of her own lighthearted, 
 impressionable nature, which made her so ready to obey 
 
 Du Barry." (CEuvres de Chamfort, Paris, 1867.) This was the 
 same talented Abbe Arnaud who owed his election to the Academy 
 in part to Madame Du Barry's good favour.
 
 6 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 the call of love and happiness. Yet even in the midst of a 
 whirl of festivities she sometimes remembered and with- 
 drew awhile from the world, and in her time of fear and 
 trouble she used to tell the beads of those jewelled 
 rosaries that were found at Louveciennes with her Manuel 
 de Chretien. 
 
 When she was fifteen Jeanne returned to her family. She 
 was ravishingly beautiful, with her long fair hair, her clear 
 complexion and her convent-bred air of ingenuousness. 
 What could be done with this dainty child, with her refined 
 tastes and love of elegance, who watched with wonder as 
 the great ladies passed in their gilded coaches ? What else 
 but let things take their course ? 
 
 In the house of a friend Anne Ran$on and her daughter 
 made the acquaintance of a young hairdresser of the name 
 of Lametz. He immediately fell in love with the young 
 girl and offered to initiate her in the mysteries of his craft. 
 She accepted, and for five months he came and instructed 
 her in the complicated art of dressing high coiffures, 
 powdered d la marechale, and of arranging feathers, flowers 
 and ribbons with taste and elegance. Later this episode 
 gave rise to many calumnies, which can, however, easily be 
 refuted by referring to a police-court affair connected 
 with it. 
 
 Madame Lametz, a milliner, had no doubt better things 
 in view for her son than a match with the little Ranc,on. 
 So she came to rue Neuve-Saint-tienne, in the parish of 
 Notre-Dame-Bonne-Nouvelle, where Jeanne's relations 
 lived, and overwhelmed them with a storm of insults and 
 accusations, among which that of procuration was one of 
 the least outrageous. Madame and Mademoiselle Ran^on 
 indignantly lodged a complaint at the Chatelet with the 
 police inspector of their quarter. Judgment was in their 
 favour, and Inspector Charpentier concluded his report as 
 follows : "As the honour and reputation of the plaintiffs 
 are liable to suffer from the above attacks made publicly 
 by the said Dame Lametz, which can do them considerable 
 harm, and as they clearly have an interest in obtaining
 
 EARLY LOVERS 7 
 
 formal reparation, the said plaintiffs have been advised to 
 make the present complaint to us." * 
 
 Subsequently her enemies distorted this incident, and it 
 was made the subject of many verses and lampoons. In 
 1771 Madame du Deffand sent the following lines to Walpole 
 as current in the society of Choiseul after his disgrace. 
 
 Je sais qu'autrefois les laquais 
 Ont ffite ses jeunes attraits, 
 Que les cochers, les perruquiers 
 L'aimaient, 1'aimaient d'amour extreme, 
 Mais pas autant que je ne 1'aime ! 
 Avez-vous vu ma Du Barry ? . . . 
 
 Jeanne was nearly sixteen, poor, beautiful, and her 
 future still uncertain, when she became companion to 
 Madame de Delay de la Garde, the widow of a Farmer- 
 General. This old lady had many acquaintances in the 
 opulent world of finance, and very soon the girl's gaiety 
 and pretty chatter won her a court of indiscreet admirers. 
 With her lightheartedness and her love of luxury and pleas- 
 ure, which had been denied throughout her childhood, she 
 could not long be held back by her early scruples. Both 
 the de la Gardes are supposed to have been her lovers. The 
 elder had married a Mademoiselle Duval d'Epinoy, and had 
 taken the name of Saint- Vrain from his wife's estate, one 
 day to be bought by the banished favourite. The other was 
 the husband of the notorious Elizabeth de Ligniville, whom 
 in her widowhood the Chatelet sentenced as insane for the 
 singularity of her morals. 2 
 
 With a character such as Jeanne's the first downward 
 step could not but prove decisive, and she completely under- 
 
 1 Rancpn's complaint of April 18, 1759, is published by Vatel. 
 This Lametz episode proves the exaggeration of the Anecdotes, 
 which always give " for every two lines of truth two pages of lies, 
 or at least of errors." Cf. Vatel on the puerile assertions of the 
 Goncourts and many others. 
 
 1 Madame Du Barry's association with this woman has given rise 
 to much slander. Cf. the shameless misinterpretation of simple 
 facts in Pidansat de Mayrobert's A necdotes sur Madame la Comtesse 
 Du Barri, London, 1777.
 
 8 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 stood its inevitability. In the pride of her splendid youth 
 she dreamt of a wonderful future in store for her, and she 
 took what seemed the shortest way of arriving at it. Her 
 lovers were but the rungs of the ladder that led to fame. 
 She bound herself to none, only laughed and waited for him 
 who would give her at once the luxury and the affection 
 which she most certainly deserved. 
 
 When Madame de la Garde noticed the conduct of her 
 companion she instantly dismissed her. This was in 1760 
 or 1761, when Jeanne was eighteen. She had had enough 
 of strict and careful supervision. Accordingly she became 
 an assistant at the shop of a milliner, Labille, in rue Neuve- 
 des-Petits-Champs. This made it possible for her to keep 
 up appearances, while leaving her free to wear, without 
 exciting remark, the flounced dresses that emphasised the 
 slenderness of her waist, and to have her long hair in ringlets 
 under her black hood. In the luxurious showroom, with 
 its bowls of flowers and decorated windows, she moved 
 behind the counter, a supremely graceful figure, shedding 
 the light of her beauty on the wealthy customers. These 
 were not women only ; among them were red-heeled mar- 
 quises, great financiers, officers of the French Guards and 
 little perfumed abbe's, who helped the merry apprentice 
 to measure out the lace they had just selected. 
 
 Many a billet-doux passed and many an appointment 
 was made though, perhaps, not kept, for the strictness of 
 the master made it difficult to get away. But often, at 
 about five o'clock, Jeanne could slip off to the promenade 
 of the Palais Royal, to watch and laugh at the noisy 
 courtesan, the grisette in her light lawn frock, and the lady 
 of quality, her cheeks as painted as the flowers on her gown. 
 From there off to the Cafe Gaussin, and then home again 
 in a hurry, already fearful of the suspicious Labille and his 
 unsparing reprimands. 
 
 That their staff might be always fresh and bright, the 
 employers had provided them with a dormitory on the pre- 
 mises, where they could sleep peacefully. We can see this 
 little world of young girls in one of Fragonard's exquisite
 
 AT LABILLE'S 9 
 
 sepia sketches, 1 with the charm of sweet-and-twenty in 
 all his beautiful, half-robed figures. What gaiety there is 
 in their careless, happy faces ; we can find Jeanne in every 
 one of these children ; here she lies dreaming on one of the 
 great white beds ; here she is in a passion whipping a little 
 rogue whose frock is all undone ; and here again she is the 
 centre of a group of slender forms delicately silhouetted 
 against the light. And what chatter there is in the dormi- 
 tory. It is like a bird's nest, with some telling stories, and 
 some confiding their hopes and fears in low voices to their 
 bosom friends, or laughing over the day's doings. Youth, 
 indeed, is ever the same, though the fashion of its garments 
 may have changed and changed again. 
 
 But on Sundays all these charming young girls were quite 
 free to amuse themselves. Jeanne went off to see her 
 mother, 2 and she wore her most attractive frocks on these 
 occasions. A spring day would see her in a fine ivory- 
 coloured dress and a wide blue cloak, a gauzy white fichu 
 crossed over her bare throat, and a little flower-trimmed 
 hat perched on the top of her high coiffure, shading her 
 beautiful eyes. For she knew well that she would not be 
 alone where she was going. She and her companion went 
 to the fair at Saint-Germain ; or else to the fte at Saint- 
 Cloud, whose great trees and marbles and bubbling fountains 
 have been made so familiar to us by the paintings of the 
 period. There they listened to the pleasantries of Columbine, 
 or joined the crowd of young women who watched the tricks 
 of the jugglers. They paid a visit to the puppet-show, and 
 while the great ladies drove past in their carriages they 
 were trying their luck at the games of chance, and laughing 
 at the sallies of powdered pierrots. Supper they usually had 
 
 1 A water-colour by Lawreince supplements Fragonard's sketch. 
 In this part of our history the artistic documents of the period have 
 been followed, as they have at least the advantage of a general 
 accuracy. 
 
 * Her brother Claude had, apparently, died, so that she was now 
 her mother's only child. There is no reference to Claude in the life 
 of the future Royal mistress, and if he had lived she would surely 
 have bought him a marquisate as Madame de Pompadour had done 
 lor her " little brother."
 
 io A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 under the great trees by the fountain ; or sometimes they 
 and their friends formed a whole gay party and dined in a 
 lonely pavilion. Then every night in her dreams the little 
 white bed and the bare dormitory would vanish and she 
 would be transported to the midst of rich and luxurious 
 apartments. 
 
 For a long time this life continued, and Jeanne changed 
 nothing but her friends ; she was as inconstant as any 
 grisette, with the carelessness and, at the same time, the 
 shrewdness of a beautiful young girl, who knows her 
 value, and knows, too, how to wait before binding herself 
 permanently. In the meantime her exquisite beauty, her 
 tenderness of heart, her spirit of mischief and of roguery, 
 her strangely mingled levity and prudence won her eager 
 homage. 
 
 In Labille's great establishment, with its harmonies of 
 rich colours, its marvellous laces and delicate fabrics, Jeanne 
 was surrounded by lovely things, and her beauty-loving 
 soul expanded like a flower under their influence. Near by 
 lived her employer's daughter Adelaide, famous later on as 
 Madame Labille-Guiard, the artist. The two girls had in 
 common their blonde beauty and their keen interest in the 
 arts ; even as a child Mademoiselle Labille had had the run of 
 many a studio, enjoying a liberty that never overstepped the 
 limits of perfect decorum. 1 Jeanne may have worked with 
 Adelaide. At any rate the future academician, who early in 
 life began to train pupils, must have noticed the most gifted 
 of her father's employees, especially as Jeanne had learnt 
 drawing at Sainte-Aure. This small talent of hers, and, 
 above all, her beauty, also attracted the attention of the 
 group of artists who frequented the Labille studio. 
 
 At that time too, old La Tour made the fresh little sketch 
 of her, a gentle face with long blue eyes, now in the Museum 
 of Saint-Quentin. Her youthful impressions, deepened 
 
 1 Baron Roger Portalis, Adelaide Labille-Guiard, Paris, 1902. 
 Adelaide Labille, who married in the same year as Madame Du 
 Barry, exhibited for the first time in the Academy of Saint-Luc, in 
 1774-
 
 OUTRAGEOUS CALUMNIES n 
 
 later by the knowledge she acquired from Jean Du Barry, 
 that great connoisseur and collector, account for her intelli- 
 gent patronage of artists when she was the King's favourite, 
 and for the discrimination with which she chose the most 
 perfect works of art for her galleries. 
 
 One day Pajou, who had known her when she was with 
 Labille, and Drouais and many others were to vie with one 
 another in immortalising the image of the Royal mistress. 
 It is surprising that Mme. Labille-Guiard did not follow 
 their example. She might at least have given us the por- 
 trait of the Countess Du Barry after the latter left the 
 Court, at the time when she herself had reached the height 
 of her success. Pride or policy may have kept them apart, 
 for the artist was dependent on the good graces of the 
 Princesses, and a visit to Louveciennes might entail their 
 displeasure and a meeting with her rival, Madame Vigee Le 
 Brun. 
 
 When Jeanne rose to power, street-songs and caricatures 
 were published recalling the years she spent with Labille, 
 and making them the subject of the most outrageous 
 calumnies. But her enemies only went against their own 
 interests by their resort to such low weapons, for in the face 
 of absurd exaggeration and flagrant lies the King was blind 
 to all but the beauty and sweetness of his favourite. The 
 Duke de Choiseul, in his memoirs, and hired pamphleteers 
 have written of the young woman as a "vile courtesan" 
 and a " woman of the streets." There is no longer any 
 question of the long exploded legend placing her among the 
 " marcheuses" of la Gourdan, " that infamous priestess of 
 the pleasures of Paris," l but attempts are still made to 
 brand the Royal favourite as a common prostitute, although 
 since the beginning of the igth century the allegations 
 of the Minister and the libellers are known to be baseless. 
 Restif de la Bretonne, who considered himself a connoisseur 
 on the subject, held them to be falsehoods 2 ; and since then 
 
 1 See the little known book by Sara G. (Goudar), Remarques sur 
 les Anecdotes de Madame la Comtesse Du Barri, London, 1777. 
 Restif de la Bretonne, Annees des Dames nationales.
 
 12 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 Vatel's minute examination of police reports and special 
 registers has led to their final refutation. 1 The young girl's 
 contemporaries would indeed have given evidence of but 
 little taste had they allowed her to sink so low. The imagin- 
 ation refuses to associate the fair, dainty child, so charmingly 
 fastidious in her attire, with the unfortunate women thrown 
 into a waggon, and taken to Salpetriere amid the hooting 
 of fishwives. 
 
 Another witness is the Count d'Espinchal. Of all men 
 of the period he was the most exactly acquainted with 
 its every item of news, and he carefully noted the par- 
 ticulars of Jeanne's first steps in the career which she 
 had chosen. At this time, when eighteen years of age, 
 she was known as Mademoiselle Lange, and, although 
 she bore herself modestly, " her remarkable beauty had 
 already caught the attention of the grands amateurs of the 
 capital. Monsieur de Monville, who then and after saw her 
 frequently, has often told me how at that time she was so 
 pretty and charming that several artists sought to have her 
 for a model." Such a state of affairs is certainly no evidence 
 of virtue, but on the other hand it cannot be regarded as 
 ground for scandalous conj ectures. Had it been so, Monsieur 
 d'Espinchal could not have failed to include them among his 
 indiscreet memories, for his whole object in life " was limited 
 to finding out day by day all that happened in Paris," and 
 he was " even more fully acquainted with thousands of 
 things than the lieutenant of police." 
 
 In her nineteenth year Jeanne left Labille's establishment 
 ior the house in rue Neuve-Saint-Eustache, later rue de la 
 Jussienne, of " a certain Count Du Barry who went by the 
 name of the Roue, a well-known rogue and scoundrel." 
 This Du Barry was a gentleman of Languedoc, of good 
 manners and address, but entirely unscrupulous. He loved 
 women, gaming and the pleasures of the table, and above 
 
 1 The results of Vatel's investigation may be verified by reference 
 to Monsieur Camille Piton's volume, Paris sous Louis XV., rapports 
 des inspecteurs de police au Roi, 1907-8, where there is no mention of 
 Jeanne until she appeared as the mistress of Jean Du Barry.
 
 JEAN DU BARRY 13 
 
 all he had a passion for intrigue. In a letter which he wrote 
 to his relative Monsieur de Malhesherbes about the year 
 1775, after the fall of the favourite, he displays his true 
 character with all its adroitness, subtlety and cleverly 
 assumed sincerity : 
 
 To Monsieur de Malesherbes, 
 
 Minister and Secretary of State. 
 Monsieur, 
 
 . . . I shall hi a few words lay before you the whole 
 truth, and my fate depends on the impression it will make 
 on you. 
 
 I was born a gentleman, and in good circumstances. I 
 lived hi Toulouse until twenty-eight years of age, when love 
 of the Arts and the call of pleasure took me to Paris. Through 
 Madame de Malause I was presented to the Princes and 
 introduced into good society. I spent several years solely 
 in the pursuit of these two objects. Then the desire to 
 improve my position and to increase my means induced me 
 to attempt to enter the Foreign Service. Monsieur Rouille, 
 to whom I had been recommended by the Duke de Duras, 
 sent me to various German courts, and on my return 
 appeared to be fully satisfied with the knowledge I had 
 acquired. Just when he was intending to employ me in 
 some work in Franconia, he was replaced by Monsieur le 
 cardinal de Bernis, who promised me much, but who, 
 replaced in turn by Monsieur de Choiseul, fulfilled nothing. 
 The latter having declared on his accession to the ministry 
 that he had several claims to satisfy prior to mine, and 
 my fortune being much impaired, Monsieur Berryer allowed 
 me to receive under an assumed name the profits accruing 
 from several naval contracts. Further, Monsieur de Belle- 
 Isle permitted me to enjoy the same privilege in his depart- 
 ment ; so that when peace was restored my fortune had 
 attained considerable dimensions, which were maintained 
 and even increased by the interest I had in the Corsican 
 commissariat. 
 
 As at that tune my only care was the supervision of my 
 son's education, and being of uncertain health, I very much 
 limited the circle of my acquaintances ; and I then asked 
 Madame Ran$on and her daughter, Mademoiselle de Vauber- 
 nier, to do the honours of my house and take charge of its-
 
 14 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 management, which they also did for several years with 
 tact and affection. . . . 
 
 All that Jean Du Barry wrote in the above survey of his 
 life was certainly founded on fact, but only in a general way, 
 and without supplying the particulars which would have 
 given it accuracy. It was true that he had been presented 
 to the Princes by Madame de Malause, the descendant of 
 a bastard branch of the Bourbons. The Malauses were 
 connected with the Roue's mother, who bore the same 
 name. That he was well-born is undeniable, and he came 
 of a very old family. The Histoire de Languedoc records 
 that in the year 1400 sire Jean Du Barry, chevalier, swore 
 allegiance to his lord, the King of France, and did homage 
 for his land at Gourville ; several women of the house, 
 too, are mentioned as abbesses in the Gallia Christiana. 
 The father of the Roue", Antoine Du Barry, was captain 
 of the regiment of 1'Ile-de-France, and had been awarded 
 the Cross of Saint Louis. Of his three sons, Elie, the 
 youngest, had entered the Ecole Militaire in 1754, and this 
 he could only have done by proving the purity of his blood 
 through four generations, at least on the side of the father. 
 
 The Du Barrys asserted that they were descended from 
 the Barrymores, who settled in England at the time of the 
 Norman Conquest, and their claim was supported by Hozier. 
 The armorial bearings of the two branches were indeed 
 the same, but the French one had neither coronet, nor 
 wolf, nor motto. However, Jean and his brother, 
 Guillaume, 1 took the title of Count without any kind of 
 authority. They also re-established the following coat-of- 
 arms : Argent, three bars gemelles, gules ; crest : a coronet 
 surmounted by a castle, out of which a wolf's head, sable ; 
 supporters : two wolves, sable, ducally gorged and chained, 
 or ; motto : Boutez en avant \ It is a far cry from this 
 grandeur to the obscurity of the vineyard-keeper's son 
 
 1 There were also three daughters. The eldest, nicknamed Chon, 
 appears again in this history ; Bitschi, the second, lived at Toulouse ; 
 the third, of whom there is little mention, married a gentleman living 
 in Levignac.
 
 AN EVIL RECORD 15 
 
 whom one of the libellers asserted the Roue to be, but his 
 conduct, even in this age of avowed immorality, was little 
 worthy of one who laid claim to the title of a gentleman. 
 Jean Du Barry's life at Paris may well be imagined from the 
 following description of him by one of his contemporaries : 
 
 Left to his own devices at an age when the passions are 
 most powerful, he had recklessly given himself up to their 
 indulgence. Never has a man carried further that base 
 intemperance in debauchery which is the very refuse of 
 love. Nor did he attempt to conceal his depravity, thus 
 rendering it all the more hideous, and this shamelessness 
 earned him the many evil titles that disgraced him hi the 
 eyes of society even more than the vices from which they 
 sprang. Avaricious by temperament and prodigal by choice, 
 all the treasures of the universe would not have been 
 sufficient to satisfy his desires. ... He had a powerful 
 intellect, though endowed with acuteness and subtlety 
 rather than with genius. ... On a day of action or, 
 in other words, of intrigue, it was as if new powers were 
 given him, his spirit rose, and his fertile imagination could 
 discover expedients where others had long since come to 
 the end of their resources. He would make his plans with 
 a complete grasp of all the issues involved, and in working 
 them out would never lose the thread of the most insignifi- 
 cant detail. 1 
 
 Driven from the Foreign Office by ChoiseuTs churlish 
 rebuff, Du Barry turned his attention to the Departments 
 of the Army and the Navy, and succeeded in amassing a 
 fortune through his connection with the commissariats, 
 especially at the time of the Corsican expedition. When 
 engaged in this type of intrigue he did not hesitate to enlist 
 the services of Julie, Madame de Grammont's first lady's 
 maid, to avert the suspicions of Choiseul. Nor was this 
 the only form of speculation in which he indulged ; his 
 activities in other directions were attended by equally 
 lucrative results. When Madame de Pompadour was hi 
 power he tried, though without success, to introduce into 
 the Royal seraglio the beaut iful Dorothy, a Strasburg 
 
 1 Sara Goudar, Remarques sur les Anecdotes.
 
 16 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 water-carrier's daughter, hoping thereby to earn his nomina- 
 tion at Cologne. About the same time he offered Richelieu 
 a certain Demoiselle Martin, whom the Marshal, used to- 
 such affairs, chose to regard as a very shrine of innocence. 
 The character of the Roue appears still more odious in the 
 light of these shameful dealings, and that he actually drove 
 such a traffic has been abundantly proved by serious con- 
 temporary evidence. The Journal of Monsieur de Sartines' 
 Inspectors states that the Roue had seduced many pretty 
 girls, up to the day on which he met Jeanne. 
 
 The Count first came to be acquainted with Rangon and 
 his family through his interest in the Corsican commissariat. 
 He soon had the former sent to Fresnay in the Maine as a 
 collector of taxes, and Jeanne and her mother he took into 
 his house, where they were "to do the honours and take 
 charge of its management." He was deeply enamoured of 
 his new mistress, and surrounded her with the most tender 
 care. She was then known by a name scarcely masking that 
 of her supposed father, Vaubernier. The police inspectors 
 observed on December 14, 1764, the appearance of a " young 
 woman of nineteen years, of noble bearing and the greatest 
 beauty " ; it was " demoiselle Beauvamier, mistress of Du 
 Barry, who brought her to his box at the opera." 
 
 Her " noble bearing," which had been noticed by simple 
 police officers, attracted the attention of more experienced 
 judges. One evening Jeanne appeared at the Opera Ball 
 " unmasked, and dressed all in white," and Monsieur 
 d'Espinchal adds : " In all my life I have never seen any- 
 thing more charming than this divine creature ; she was 
 Hebe ; she was one of the Graces. Voltaire's description 
 of Agnes Sorel would have fitted her to perfection : 
 
 Jamais 1' Amour ne forma rien de tel ; 
 Elle avait tout ; elle aurait dans ses chalnes 
 Mis les heros, les sages et les rois. . . ." 
 
 Which was exactly what she was eager to do, and when 
 she succeeded the philosopher of Ferney could judge her 
 worthy only of the gods. 
 
 At the rue de la Jussienne Jeanne kept open house, had
 
 A LEARNED CIRCLE 17 
 
 a large staff of servants, and gave herself up to the art of 
 pleasing the many agreeable acquaintances Du Barry had 
 introduced to her. His name and fortune opened the doors 
 of the nobility to him, but he preferred the brilliant, though 
 mixed world of letters. Through his friend Favier both he 
 and Jeanne had come to know Mademoiselle Legrand, the 
 most famous blue-stocking of the period, and a woman 
 whom for intellect and caustic wit Du Mouriez in his 
 Memoires compares to Ninon de L'Enclos. At her house 
 they met such men as the younger Crebillon, Colle, and the 
 Count de Guibert, and freedom of manner and thought was 
 the order of the day in this gay world of critics and of 
 savants. Crebillon, with an unexpected air of modesty, 
 would join issue with Colle, readiest and most brilliant of 
 talkers, in as dazzling a display of verbal fencing, with 
 thrust and parry of epigram, witty retort and quick repartee, 
 as a spirit of mockery, that was no respecter of things and 
 persons, could call forth. In his hotel the Roue brought 
 together for his mistress " a little circle of learned men, 
 the Abbe Arnaud, Marin, Turpin, La Morliere and some 
 others, who kept her in touch with the literature of the 
 period, and taught her to trifle with philosophy." Du 
 Barry also received the poets Robbe and Cailhava and old 
 Moncrif . In such surroundings, where the libertinism of the 
 age appeared in its most attractive light, her intercourse 
 with these " intellectuals " gave her refinement and culture, 
 adding to her natural good sense all the elegance of scepti- 
 cism and all the graces of learning. 
 
 Her pliant nature found its chief delight in acquiring the 
 grand manners of the people of quality whom Du Barry 
 entertained in large numbers ; among them were such great 
 noblemen as the Duke de Duras and the Duke de Richelieu, 
 to whom the house offered attractions other than those of 
 its art treasures. They had the opportunity of hearing 
 Robbe tell his licentious tales ; they could witness the 
 representation of the so-called proverbes, then coming 
 into fashion, and in which the marvellous actor Goy ap- 
 peared, who was known as " milord Goy " for his extra-
 
 i8 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 ordinary power of mimicking the English. 1 At the brilliant 
 suppers over which his mistress presided, Du Barry would 
 bring together with men of letters such men as the Marquis 
 d'Arcambal, commanding officer in Corsica, the Count de 
 Thiard, first Lord-in-waiting to the Duke d' Orleans, his 
 brother the Count de Bissy, both Lieutenant-Generals and 
 the latter a Member of the Academy, the Marquis Phillippe 
 de la Tour-du-Pin, and his brother Count Louis, chamberlain 
 to the Duke d' Orleans. In this elegant and distinguished 
 society Jeanne's natural qualities and refinement were 
 developed and soon won recognition. 
 
 Equally select was the society with which she came into 
 contact in the house of the Countess La Rena, who lived at 
 the hotel du Pe*rou, rue Jacob, and with whom she was soon 
 on intimate terms. For seven years the beautiful Italian 
 had been the mistress of William Douglas, third Earl of 
 March, an accomplished gentleman and a leader of London 
 fashion ; his pride of bearing was rivalled only by that of 
 Richelieu, who was at all times le grand seigneur, " even 
 when he most aimed at playing the part." This same Lord 
 March afterwards, when Duke of Queensberry, presented 
 Louis XV.'s former favourite to the King of Englanct, but 
 at the time in question he was completely under the rule 
 of his " genteel passion." " I have for her," he wrote, 
 " the most sincere friendship and affection. I have always 
 given her in the past, and shall always continue to give her 
 my regard and respect. Nothing would induce me to cause 
 her the smallest anxiety, for indeed I love her very dearly." 
 The Countess La Rena was often in Paris, and her intimacy 
 with Mademoiselle de Vaubernier indicates to what light, 
 though polished, society the latter was becoming accustomed. 
 Jeanne in her turn received her friend at the Roue's house, 
 and Madame La Rena wrote in December, 1766, to Lord 
 William, who had remained in London, " Monsieur Du 
 Barry is charming, he has given us balls where we can meet 
 Princesses." 
 
 1 Correspondance littivaive, ed. Tourneux, Vol. IX., p. 262, where 
 he is spoken of as " milor Gor."
 
 MANY ADMIRERS 19 
 
 Neither with Douglas nor with the Duke de Duras did 
 Jeanne deceive the Count. But otherwise she had only to 
 choose, for, in the words of a contemporary account, " this 
 demoiselle is very beautiful, and all our gallants of high 
 rank pay her assiduous court." Among the crowd of 
 admirers the brilliant Count Fitz- James probably caught 
 her fickle fancy ; it is at least certain that Richelieu enjoyed 
 her favour. Later the Marshal undertook to extol her 
 beauty to his monarch, who was hesitating in his choice 
 of a new mistress, and Louis XV. wrote to Choiseul : " Riche- 
 lieu has been her only lover " ; with what sincerity we cannot 
 tell. Public opinion, however, ascribes that position both 
 to the financier Sainte-Foy and the one-armed Viscount 
 de Boisgelin, but how many others have not been included ? 
 The police reports with their usual generosity have swelled 
 the list and stigmatised Du Barry's " infamous " acquies- 
 cence. At all events, Jean was not in the least jealous, 
 and the relations between them remained unchanged. 1 
 
 They were further united by their common interest in the 
 Roue's son, Adolphe, a page in the Royal Household and, at 
 the age of sixteen, an officer in the Guards. He was a gentle, 
 delicate child, and he must certainly have preferred to his 
 strange father the woman who surrounded him with loving 
 care. His charming disposition had won him general 
 esteem at Court, and the tenderness with which the affection- 
 ate Jeanne regarded her young Royal Lieutenant may be 
 imagined. Their little love-story and its tragic end have 
 not been touched by the libellers, except by the author of 
 the Gazetier cuirasse in a page full of obscenities. Yet the 
 Viscount was always at her side, and she used to lean on 
 liim for advice and support, as the following incident seems 
 to indicate. It is taken from the police report : 
 
 On Tuesday, May 12, 1767, at ten o'clock in the evening, 
 there appeared before us, etc., Jeanne Dame de Vaubernier, 
 wife (sic) of messire Jean, Count Du Barry, resident in Paris, 
 
 1 See Piton, Paris sous Louis XV. In December, 1765, and 
 January, 1766, Jeanne is supposed to have left the Roue for some 
 unknown reason, and lived alone at rue Montmartre.
 
 20 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 rue de la Jussienne, who complained to us of the woman 
 Etienne, sempstress, of rue de Clery, and said that about 
 a week ago she had sent some muslin to the said woman 
 Etienne for the purpose of having it made up into gowns 
 and petticoats and other garments, which the said woman 
 Etienne was to have brought back a few days later ; that 
 to-day, being tired of waiting for the clothes which she 
 required in the country, she sent her servants one after the 
 other to the said woman Etienne and, not receiving any 
 satisfactory reply, she finally besought the Count [Viscount] 
 Du Barry, her relative and an officer in the Royal Regiment, 
 to go himself ; that the said woman Etienne abused the 
 said Count Du Barry, and formally refused to give up the 
 said clothes under the pretext that they were not finished ; 
 that the said Count Du Barry offered in vain to pay for the 
 said clothes as if they were finished, provided she gave 
 them up as they were, but the woman continued to refuse 
 with the greatest obstinacy, and she even went so far as to 
 insult the said Count Du Barry in a tone of violence. . . . 
 
 As Monsieur d'Espinchal also bears witness, Jeanne 
 had already taken the title of Countess Du Barry, which 
 was legitimately hers when she came to Versailles after she 
 had married Jean's brother Guillaume. But, although 
 she then severed her connection with the rest of the family, 
 she would not be parted from Adolphe ; he attended all the 
 Royal functions, through her influence he was made His 
 Majesty's chief equerry, and she secured him a dowry 
 on his marriage with Mademoiselle de Tournon. Such, 
 then, were her surroundings before she came to Court. 
 They seemed as if made to refine her to the utmost, and the 
 Roue" was right when he smilingly and shrewdly remarked, 
 " She is fit for a king." 
 
 The Duke de Choiseul himself put the young woman in 
 the way of her fortune. Du Barry had ceded his interest 
 in the Corsican commissariat to Madame Ranc,on and her 
 daughter, and for some time they enjoyed the benefit of it ; 
 but " Monsieur de Choiseul's new regulations being likely 
 to deprive them of it, they went to him to petition for its 
 continuance, and it was on one of the many visits to Versailles
 
 THE ROYAL LIAISON 21 
 
 that this entailed that Mademoiselle de Vaubernier first 
 attracted the attention of Louis XV." 1 
 
 The Palace was always easy of access to visitors, and if 
 oniy one were decently clad it was quite possible to wander 
 through the Royal apartments, and to behold his Majesty and 
 the Royal Family dine in public. Jeanne, on leaving the 
 office of Foulon, the Superintendent of Finance, used to 
 go to the Chateau, and thus found herself, no doubt pur- 
 posely, in the path of her sovereign, who could not fail to 
 notice the dazzling apparition. " Monsieur Lebel," wrote 
 Du Barry to Malesherbes, " was given his orders ; and he, 
 with whom neither she nor I had any connection, carried 
 them out without referring to me at all." In the spring of 
 1768, Jeanne was introduced to the King by his old valet- 
 de-chambre. 
 
 This version of the origin of the Royal liaison agrees in 
 the main with that given by Choiseul in his memoirs. The 
 Duke apologises himself for his embittered pages when he 
 confesses to having written the story of his exile " in the 
 heat of the moment." If his account makes out those 
 directly responsible for his disgrace to be monsters of malice 
 and baseness, it is unlikely that the favourite would escape 
 similar treatment at his hands. 
 
 In 1768, some time before the Court went to Compiegne, 
 one of my friends wrote to beg me to receive a woman in 
 whom several people were interested, and who desired to 
 ask a favour of me. I was in Paris, and said I would see 
 her the following day ; she came and appeared to me only 
 fairly good-looking, while her awkwardness and air of 
 constraint gave me the impression of a woman bred in the 
 country. Nor was this opinion altered by the business 
 on which she came. She told me that she had trusted a 
 certain Nallet with the whole of her somewhat insignificant 
 fortune, and as he had formerly been contractor for the 
 provisions of the seven battalions in Corsica, she besought 
 me to reserve an interest for him in the administration of 
 
 1 The Roue's account has been followed here, as on this occasion 
 he does not seem to have had anything to gain by concealing the 
 truth.
 
 22 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 the supplies for the eighteen battalions now to be sent 
 there. I gently represented to her the impossibility of 
 changing in her favour a general arrangement, and said that 
 Nallet had done very well for those seven battalions, but 
 that I doubted whether he was capable of undertaking a 
 larger work. As she continued to insist in a manner as 
 indecorous as it was stupid I got rid of her by advising her 
 to turn to Monsieur Foulon, who was responsible for these 
 details. 1 
 
 At first Jeanne's relations with Louis XV. were almost 
 unnoticed ; they were discreetly ignored on account of 
 Marie Leczinska's death at Versailles on June 24. After the 
 funeral obsequies the King went to Marly and then to 
 Compidgne. " I happened," wrote Choiseul, " not to be 
 there the first few days. The day after my arrival Monsieur 
 de Saint-Florentin came and told me that there was at 
 Compiegne a Madame Du Barry whom the King visited, 
 with whom he passed the night, and with whom he was said 
 to be deeply in love ; he added that this Madame Du Barry 
 was a girl to whom Du Barry, the Roue, had given his name, 
 a brilliant retinue and powdered lackeys, and that he said 
 he had married her to one of his brothers. . . ." The 
 two ministers discussed the matter, and deplored the choice 
 of their master. " Besides, we thought that such a low 
 intrigue could have no other consequences than those of a 
 momentary fancy ; we hoped between ourselves that the 
 King would behave better in the future, and that this would 
 be the last indulgence of his taste, of which we were aware, 
 for bad company." 
 
 Jeanne did not marry Guillaume Du Barry until September 
 i, though the civil contract was drawn up previously on 
 
 1 According to Talleyrand, the Roue, before he presented his 
 mistress to the King, had thought of marrying her to Nallet (called 
 Nallu by Choiseul's editors), after which Lebel would get Nallet a 
 post as farmer-general. Evidently the Roue had several strings to 
 his bow ; by some means or other he intended to derive benefit from 
 Jeanne's future. We may disregard Choiseul's accusations of 
 " awkwardness " and " stupidity " in the pretty petitioner, as well 
 as the low means of persuasion he alleged she employed. At least 
 he confirms the Roue's account of the fortuitous circumstances 
 which brought Jeanne to the King's notice.
 
 A PARODY OF A CONTRACT 23 
 
 July 23 by Maitre Garnier-Deschnes, a Paris notary 
 The marriage had been arranged by the Roue to give the 
 lady position and title, and Guillaume, an obscure provincial 
 captain, was delighted at the windfall, and hastened to the 
 side of his brother. As the father, Antoine Du Barry, was 
 dead, a power of attorney was obtained from his widow, 
 Dame Catherine de Lacaze, who gave her consent on con- 
 dition that the union was consecrated with canonical rites. 
 This contract exhibits with unequalled audacity the lies 
 and pretensions of Jean Du Barry. Among those who 
 appeared before the notaries of the Chatelet were " Nicolas 
 Ranon, in the service of the government, and Dame Anne 
 Becu his wife . . . the said dame formerly the widow of Jean 
 Jacques Gomard de Vaubernier, in the service of the government, 
 contracting on behalf of Mademoiselle Jeanne Gomard de 
 Vaubernier, a minor, daughter of the said Dame Ran?on 
 and of the said late Gomard de Vaubernier, her first husband. 
 
 The Roue seems to have vented all his malice in this parody 
 of a contract : 
 
 ARTICLE i. There shall be no community of goods 
 between the said Seigneur and the Demoiselle his future 
 wife, herein running counter to the custom of Paris or 
 of any other place. ... on the contrary the said 
 Demoiselle shall alone enjoy and administer the property, 
 rights and shares, movable and immovable, which are hers, 
 and which may become hers under whatsoever title. 
 
 ARTICLE 2. . . . Her movables consist of the sum of 
 30,000 livres, composed of jewels, diamonds, dresses, linen, 
 lace and household goods in her use, the whole derived from 
 her gains and savings, and of which an inventory has been 
 made. . . . 
 
 ARTICLE 5. The said Seigneur and future husband has 
 settled on the Demoiselle and future wife 1,000 livres in 
 yearly income, the capital of which laid out at 4 per cent, 
 interest shall belong to the children to be born of the 
 marriage. . . 
 
 ARTICLE 7. It is agreed that the said Demoiselle and
 
 24 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 future wife shall alone undertake the conduct and expenses 
 of the household, whether of food, rent, wages, table-linen, 
 household utensils, maintenance of equipage, etc., and all 
 other expenses without exception, those for the said Seigneur 
 and future husband as well as those for the children to be 
 born of the marriage, whom she must bring up and educate 
 at her own expense. . . - 1 
 
 As a matter of fact, actual falsification only took place 
 at the religious celebration of the marriage. The bride 
 was made younger by three years, and was asserted to be the 
 issue of the marriage of Anne Becu and Jean- Jacques Go- 
 mard de Vaubernier, an imaginary person supposed to have 
 died in 1749. On September i, 1768, in the church of 
 Saint-Laurent, at five o'clock in the morning, the ceremony 
 took place, at which the former " frere Ange," now invested 
 with the high-sounding title of King's Almoner, alone 
 represented the family of the bride. 
 
 It amused the Roue to complicate matters ; he cheated 
 at the new game for pleasure, sure of impunity, although 
 a severe law was directed against these frauds. There were 
 various precedents to encourage him. Had he not seen, on 
 the occasion of a recent marriage, another bride and Royal 
 mistress, the lovely Morphise, call herself O'Murphy de 
 Ballimore de Boisfailly ? Besides, it was worth taking 
 some trouble to gain the end in view, and though he may 
 have expected rather more from his enterprise, at least he 
 had the satisfaction of having performed his work well. 
 His retinue of scribblers and adventurers were by no means 
 niggardly with their compliments, and even those who most 
 condemned his cynicism were able to write : "If attention 
 is directed to the great changes he has brought about, to 
 the lowly position from which he started, to the wheels he 
 could set in motion and to the means he employed, if the 
 prejudices he has vanquished and the obstacles he has 
 
 1 This contract was first published in 1859 by J.-A. Le Roi, and 
 is to be found in his CuriositSs historiques, Paris, 1864. The inten- 
 tional inexactitudes which give it its fraudulent character have been 
 italicised.
 
 DROPPING THE PILOT 25 
 
 overcome are considered, one cannot deny that he possessed 
 talent of some description." 1 
 
 Madame Du Barry, when once at Court, knew how to get 
 rid of her trying mentor ; clever in her turn she discarded 
 him gracefully. He had helped her to attain her exalted 
 position, but her own personal qualities were enough to make 
 it secure. In the meantime, he took the final arrangements 
 in hand ; he sent the nominal husband back to Languedoc 
 immediately after the ceremony ; he paid for the dresses 
 and jewels, ordered the livery, the coach, and a very beautiful 
 sedan-chair on which he had the arms of the Du Barrys 
 painted, quartering on them those of the Gomards de Vau- 
 bernier, as blazoned by some chance herald he had come 
 across : azure, a chevron or, bearing a jay surmounted by 
 the letter G ; two roses in point, a dexter hand in pale, all 
 argent. 
 
 Thus provided for, and in a position to do her new family 
 credit, the young Countess left for Fontainebleau, where 
 the Court had just arrived. At Compiegne she had resided 
 in a private house, but now the King had her live with him in 
 the Chateau ; and Monsieur de Mercy, Ambassador of the 
 Austrian Empire, in his astonishment at the serious turn 
 events had taken, thought it his duty to write to his Cabinet : 
 " My lady is lodged in the Court known as ' Les Fontaines ' 
 in the apartment next to that which Madame de Pompadour 
 had occupied ; she has numerous servants, her liveries 
 are resplendent, and on Sundays and holidays she may be 
 seen at Mass in one of the chapels of the rez-de-chaussee 
 reserved for the King. Such treatment, so different from 
 that suitable to a simple girl, is daily attracting more 
 attention from the courtiers. . . ." 2 Courtiers and 
 ambassadors were to be still further surprised. 
 
 1 Sara Goudar, Remarques sur les Anecdotes, etc. 
 
 1 Correspondance secrSte du comte de Mercy- AY genteau avec 
 i'empereur Joseph II. et le prince de Kaunitz, Paris, D'Arneth and 
 Flammermont, 1891.
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 JEANNE AT COURT 
 
 Pamphlets against the New Favourite Hostility of the Choiseuls 
 Animosity of " Mesdames " The " Barriens " The Presenta- 
 tion The Gift of the Chateau of Louveciennes The Favourite's 
 increasing Influence The Salon of the Louvre in 1769 The 
 Marriage of the Dauphin. 
 
 THE King had given his favourite a suite of apartments 
 at Fontainebleau, and he could do no less at Ver- 
 sailles. When the Court returned in December, 
 1768, six rooms in the chapel wing of the Chateau 
 were assigned to her, which were temporarily unoccupied 
 owing to the death in August of the old valet Lebel. She 
 rented an hotel in the rue de 1'Orangerie for her suite, 
 where she could also receive visitors, for though Jean Du 
 Barry had disappeared, their former friends still came to 
 see her. The men of letters and the " intellectuals " in 
 particular continued to visit her, and the Prince de Ligne 
 speaks of having heard Robbe recite his wanton verses 
 at her house. " I often met him at supper there, before 
 Madame Du Barry's presentation," he wrote ; " she used 
 to be exceedingly diverted by his folly in believing himself 
 the owner of the smallest foot in France." 1 
 
 Cailhava was another poet whom she certainly received, 
 for he composed in her honour his Etrennes de I' Amour, a 
 ballet which was performed early in 1769 by the Corned ie 
 Italienne. It is a scarcely veiled allegory presenting " the 
 ornament of the Court " hi the guise of a Hebe, fair as one 
 of the Graces. In the copy he gave her he wrote the follow- 
 ing dedication : 
 
 1 Prince de Ligne, Mbnoires et melanges historiques. Paris, 1827-8, 
 Vol. IV., p. 53. 
 
 26
 
 MADEMOISELLE CHON 27 
 
 Transporte par un songe au haut de 1'Empyree, 
 
 J'ai cru voir cette nuit la belle Cytheree, 
 
 L'aimable Hebe, le Dieu qu'invoquent les amants, 
 
 La tendre Volupte, les Graces, les Talents, 
 
 Qui d'un air satisfait parcouraient mon ouvrage. 
 
 Un sourire flatteur m'annoncait leur suffrage ; 
 
 J'ai redoute leur fuite a 1'instant du reveil, 
 
 Mais je les vois encor, ce n'est pas un mensonge, 
 
 Un seul de vos regards realise mon songe, 
 
 Et j'etais moins heureux dans les bras du Sommeil. 
 
 These verses were the first to celebrate the new divinity. 
 It was said that she adopted as her own the witticisms of 
 others. A letter, supposed to be by her hand, appeared in 
 an English journal, but it was in reality written by Claire- 
 Franoise Du Barry, nicknamed " Chon." Marmontel, the 
 editor of the Mercure, printed it in his paper, announcing it 
 as follows : "I hasten to publish this letter as containing 
 a high lesson of virtue, and as a rare piece of eloquence." 
 This was high praise ; for, although Mademoiselle Du Barry 
 was not without certain literary merits, she was more 
 notable for her intelligence than for her talents as a writer. 
 The Countess soon recognised her qualities, and when in 
 any difficulty would turn to her for advice. Mademoiselle 
 Chon generously put at the service of her friends the ascend- 
 ancy she thus obtained over the young favourite. For 
 instance, she brought about the recall of La Beaumelle, 
 who had been exiled from Paris by Madame de Pompadour. 
 She was " if not on the best of terms with him, at least on the 
 next best." In the tender, hurried little notes that she sent 
 him, she recommended him to write the favourite thousands 
 of compliments, which she would undertake to read to her, 
 perhaps even in the presence of the King. And the 
 audacious girl actually carried out her plan one day, when 
 she recited before amused Royalty these verses : 
 
 Amour, lasse d'etre bizarre, 
 Veut reunir enfin, par un coup qui surprend, 
 
 Ce que 1' Europe a de plus rare : 
 Des femmes la plus belle et des rois le plus grand. 
 Son choix est bientdt fait et sa main se depdche, 
 
 Aux yeux des peuples eblouis 
 
 De blesser de la meme flche 
 
 Les coeurs de Jeanne et de Louis.
 
 28 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 The increasing conspicuousness of her position brought the 
 Countess attacks as well as homage, and the former, as the 
 latter, first arose in high places ; but soon, when the amours 
 of the King had become public property, they were sung 
 in every street-corner. Certain pamphlets, passed by the 
 Lieutenant of Police, showed an unheard-of audacity. 
 In January, 1769, for instance, the Brevet d'apprentissage 
 d'une jeune fille de modes appeared, a venomous little poem 
 in which the heroine's aunt is given the name of "La 
 Babille," which bears a sufficient resemblance to Labille. 
 At the same time a wretched novel was printed, the history 
 of a depraved peasant girl, written by herself and entitled 
 Vie de la Bourbonnoise ; in this the authors introduced the 
 apocryphal anecdotes against Madame Du Barry, which 
 were so sedulously repeated by many other libellers. The 
 book, whose title was in itself a direct allusion, had a con- 
 siderable vogue, and was more than once adapted for the 
 stage ; but the songs alone could popularise the malevolent 
 legend, and it was not long before the first couplets of La 
 Bourbonnoise were in general circulation : 
 
 La Bourbonnoise 
 Arrivant a Paris 
 A gagne des louis. 
 La Bourbonnoise 
 A gagne des louis 
 Chez un marquis. 
 
 De paysanne 
 Elle est Dame a present, 
 Mais grosse Dame, 
 Porte des falbalas 
 Du haut en bas. 
 
 Elle est allee 
 
 Se faire voir en Cour ; 
 
 Elle est allee ; 
 
 On dit qu'elle a, ma foi, 
 
 Plu meme au Roi ! . . . 
 
 Several editions of La Bourbonnoise were published " in 
 order to satisfy the public appetite ; this vaudeville soon 
 became as fashionable as the little puppets which every
 
 THE FAVOURITE ATTACKED 29 
 
 woman had to carry in her pocket." l Of the variants 
 known " the most piquant and naive " began as follows : 
 
 Quelle merveille 
 Une fille de rien. 
 
 Quelle merveille 
 Donne au Roi de 1* Amour, 
 
 Est a la Cour. 
 
 The song is frankly obscene, and when it is borne in mind 
 that the most " naive " of these couplets were perhaps 
 composed by very great ladies, the intensity of the anger 
 roused by the presence of the new mistress at Versailles 
 may be more clearly estimated. 
 
 The Apotheose du Roi Petaud, a rhymed tale circulated 
 clandestinely, was aimed directly against the King, but 
 was perhaps of not so low a type of literature : 
 
 II vous souvient encor de cette Tour de Nesle. 
 Tivinmille, Lymal, Rouxchateau, Papomdour ; 
 Mais, dans la foule enfin de pent-Sire cent belles 
 
 Qu'il honora de son amour, 
 Vous distinguez, je crois, celle qu'a notre Cour 
 On soutenait n'avoir jamais etc cruelle. . . . 
 
 Qui dans Paris ne connut ses appas ? 
 De laquais au marquis chacun se souvient d'elle. . .* 
 
 Madame Du Barry had the good taste to pretend that she 
 smiled at all these insults, but Louis XV. suffered in his 
 love, as La his pride. Since she whom he had chosen was 
 shamelessly and remorselessly attacked, he became all the 
 more attached to the heedless child, as much out of defiance 
 and chivalry as out of tenderness. His pretty favourite 
 enchanted him ; she was docile, tender, joyous and indulgent 
 in turn, compliant to his every wish. In her fresh presence, 
 in the atmosphere of her youth and gaiety, the sovereign's 
 melancholy melted away. He meant to have her presented 
 
 1 Sara Goudar, Remarques sur les Anecdotes. The author quotes 
 in connection with these couplets the saying of a courtier : "I 
 thought Choiseul's party would get the upper hand ; but since 
 Madame Du Barry is lampooned in Paris, her position at Versailles 
 is secure." 
 
 * The tale was attributed to Voltaire, some of his lines having 
 been cleverly introduced into it.
 
 30 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 as soon as possible so that she might be beside him in his 
 coach, and always with him at all Court functions. But 
 many difficulties were to arise and oppose his wishes. 
 
 Mesdames de France, the King's daughters, were bitterly 
 opposed to the favourite. Madame Adelaide had indeed 
 declared that it " would be better to support her than to 
 run the risk of having a queen," but she changed her mind 
 on the advice of her counsellors. As the Princesses were 
 not in a position to hear the more shameless of the rhymes 
 about the Countess, others better suited to their ears were 
 composed. These were ascribed to the Duke de Nivernais 
 and the Abbe de Lattaignan, but they were very likely 
 written by Boufflers, an intimate friend of Choiseul : 
 
 Lisette, ta beaute s6duit 
 Et charme tout le monde ; 
 En vain la duchesse en rougit 
 
 Et la princesse en gronde ; 
 Chacun salt que V6nus naquit 
 
 De 1'ecume de 1'onde. 
 
 En vit-elle moins tous les dieux 
 
 Lui rendre un juste hommage, 
 Et Paris, ce berger fameux, 
 
 Lui donner 1'avantage 
 Me"me sur la reine des cieux 
 
 Et Minerve la Sage ? 
 
 Dans le serail du Grand Seigneur 
 
 Quelle est la favourite ? 
 C'est la plus belle au gre du coeur 
 
 Du maitre qui 1'habite ; 
 C'est le seul titre a sa faveur, 
 
 Et c'est le vrai merite. 
 
 The Princesses, having been informed of all the circum- 
 stances of the new liaison, were quite prepared to listen to 
 the interested opinions of the Austrian Ambassador, the 
 Count de Mercy- Argenteau. He hinted at " the importance 
 . . . to the fame of the King of a second marriage, 
 through which he would be led to abandon his disorderly 
 life." The Archduchess Elizabeth, a daughter of Maria 
 Theresa, desired nothing more than to marry him, and such 
 a union had already been proposed at the time of Marie
 
 SEEKING A CHAPERONE 31 
 
 Leczinska's death. But then Monsieur de Choiseul, and 
 above all his sister the Duchess de Grammont, had feared 
 the advent of a queen, " wise and lovable, who would 
 succeed in winning the love of her husband," and who would 
 gain influence over him at their expense. 
 
 Convinced that by no other means could the King be 
 made to give up his evil ways, the Princesses " had been 
 most pressing in their entreaties that he should give them a 
 queen, and that his choice should fall on the Archduchess ; 
 at first the King had answered them with hesitation and 
 some embarrassment ; but then his tone became more 
 affectionate, and he told them that, taking into account his 
 age and his circumstances, a second marriage could not be 
 wholly advantageous ; that he had however considered the 
 matter, and that the ardent desire Mesdames had evinced 
 in this respect had influenced his determination . . . 
 that he would sue for the hand of the Archduchess provided 
 her appearance were not displeasing to him." Mesdames 
 instantly suggested sending an artist to Vienna to paint 
 Elizabeth's portrait, and the King consented to let Ducreux 
 go for that purpose. 1 
 
 But the moment he again saw his mistress he forgot all 
 his promises and his daughters' grief, not to speak of the 
 feelings of the Austrian Cabinet ; one thing only occupied 
 his mind, the presentation of the favourite and the means 
 of bringing it about. The Baroness de Montmorency agreed 
 to chaperone " the creature," as her enemies called her, 
 " requiring in return ready money and many favours " ; 
 but her demands were too high, and her offer was declined. 
 The Duchess d'Aiguillon, in spite of her intimacy with 
 Madame Du Barry, refused to play the part of sponsor, but 
 she induced the Countess de B6arn, an impoverished 
 relative from the provinces, to undertake the task in her 
 place. 
 
 1 Drouais had at first been proposed, but he valued his services 
 too highly. Ducreux arrived in Vienna the following February, 
 and painted the portraits of most of the Imperial family, his real 
 object being to bring back to Versailles the portrait of Marie 
 Antoinette.
 
 32 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 The Princesses, on hearing of these preparations, gave up 
 " in despair " all hope of their father's marriage. Choiseul 
 alone remained confident, and planned to supplant the 
 Countess by throwing into the arms of the monarch a 
 delightful little Madame Millin, " the young and charming 
 wife of a physician," according to a contemporary ; " but 
 although she is very pretty, she is not so beautiful as the 
 favourite ; no one wishes Monsieur de Choiseul success in 
 this affair, for the King is too much in love." 1 
 
 His Majesty announced to his Cabinet that the presenta- 
 tion would take place on January 25. He promised to pay 
 the debts of the Count de Be*arn's widow and to protect her 
 two sons, who were officers, one in the Cavalry, the other 
 in the Navy. Richelieu, who was the First Lord-in- Waiting 
 of that year, ordered her Court-dress ; Marigny, the Director 
 of the Office of Works, gave orders for the repair of the 
 apartments formerly occupied by Madame de Pompadour 
 in the palaces of Marly, Choisy and Bellevue, and for " the 
 re-opening of all communications between them and those 
 of the King." The attractive, intellectual Marquise Du 
 Deffand, who was all for Choiseul, wrote on the 24th to her 
 friend Horace Walpole : " They say that to-morrow is the 
 day when a petticoat will perhaps determine the destinies 
 of Europe. . . . No, no, I cannot believe in all that 
 they foresee ! . . . One may overcome the greatest 
 obstacles and hi the end be held back by shame . . ." 2 
 Shame did in fact hold back Madame de Beam ; on all sides 
 she encountered such black looks that on January 25 she 
 most conveniently sprained her ankle, and was forced to 
 keep her room. 
 
 Then what rejoicings among Choiseul's supporters, what 
 consternation among the " Barriens " ! But the game was 
 only drawn, not won. The King, wishing to win back his 
 daughters, sent them Monsieur de La Vauguyon, tutor to 
 the Royal Family and Choiseul's open enemy. He came to 
 
 1 Belleval, Souvenirs d'un chevau-ttger, p. 118. 
 1 Madame Du Defiand's letters to Horace Walpole, ed. Lescure, 
 Vol. I., p. 530. The letter quoted is by mistake dated the i4th.
 
 LOUIS XV 
 Engraved l>y Bonnet from the fainting by I'anloo
 
 AN ANXIOUS TIME 33 
 
 hold forth to them on the respect due to paternal authority, 
 but was very ill received by Madame Adelaide, who turned 
 her back on him and refused to listen. The story of the 
 scene spread through the Court, and details were added to 
 taste. " The cabal of Madame Du Barry has for some time 
 been very obviously under a cloud," wrote Mercy to the 
 Prince de Kaunitz ; " Monsieur de La Vauguyon, who is 
 the head of it, is quite disgraced." 
 
 But as yet the favourite feared nothing ; she trusted in 
 the affection of the King. Whilst Richelieu, La Vauguyon, 
 Saint-Florentin were bestirring themselves, Adolphe Du 
 Barry, more congenial to her light-hearted nature, came 
 every day to amuse her. He felt that he lived only when in 
 her adored presence, and sometimes she was kind to him, 
 and the happiness of former days was his again. Youth 
 triumphs over all, and at twenty love could scarcely make 
 him jealous of the rights of His Majesty ; that he was 
 still allowed the dear joy of her tender mockery was sufficient 
 to inspire him with gratitude to Fate. 
 
 Though the mistress was little troubled by the indignation 
 of the Princesses and the tumult her presence had raised, an 
 accident to the King seriously disturbed her composure. 
 On February 4, when hunting in the forest of Saint-Germain, 
 he fell from his horse and injured his arm so badly that it 
 was feared at first he had broken it. He was carried on a 
 stretcher to his coach, and did not return to Versailles until 
 eight o'clock in the evening. The agitation of the Court 
 may be imagined, the anxiety of the Princesses, the emotion 
 of Madame Du Barry. Se"nac, the physician in ordinary, 
 having bled the invalid, cried from the window to the 
 crowd which had collected that there was no danger. And 
 the good people, remembering that Louis had once been the 
 " Well-Beloved," replied with " Long live the King ! " 
 
 The next day the monarch was present at his council, and 
 on February 8 he received the Ash Wednesday blessing 
 from the hands of the Archbishop of Rheims. But three 
 days later the contusion spread, and he was obliged to keep 
 his room. The favourite saw him no more ; Richelieu
 
 34 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 dared not introduce her, for the Princesses, often accom- 
 panied by " les petites Mesdames," Clotilde and Elizabeth, 
 would not quit the Royal bedside. In this domestic intimacy 
 they regained their ascendancy over their father, and the 
 question of the marriage was once more brought forward. 
 He even spoke of having Madame Adelaide's apartment 
 put in order for the future queen. But none could fathom 
 the inmost thoughts of this timid, fugitive, elusive soul. 
 The moment his convalescence began he hastened to send 
 for Madame Du Barry. 
 
 All the correspondence of the period mentions the two 
 possibilities. They may be followed in the letters, hitherto 
 unpublished, of a sensible, independent woman, who at that 
 moment was deeply concerned to have the exactest informa- 
 tion. Madame Denis, then at Paris, kept her uncle, Voltaire, 
 hi touch with the smallest events at Court. She wrote to 
 him on March 8, 1769 : 
 
 Monsieur de Choiseul is still in the same position ; 
 but he has gained time, and that is much. He has time to 
 change his mind. My lady is not yet presented, and the 
 King has kept back nine or ten other women who are waiting. 
 However, it is generally supposed that she will be. They 
 say she is gay and good-natured ; and if others were not 
 backing her, there would probably be nothing to which to 
 object, but ... I hope that the Duke will make a 
 move towards a reconciliation with her. The King has 
 continual pain in his arm, he cannot raise it, he cannot sign 
 his name, the fall was more serious than any one thought. 
 . . . I have already told you that he had taken Madame' s 
 apartment in order to make his own and that of Madame 
 Du Barry larger. He still loves her with the same passion. 
 
 The mistress lived for some days in terrible anxiety, and 
 as soon as the King returned to her she besought him with 
 every loving protestation to spare her such torments in 
 future, and allow her to be presented. As her lover he con- 
 soled her, and as her sovereign he gave his solemn promise. 
 " I reopen my letter, my dear friend," wrote Madame Denis 
 to Voltaire on March 26, " to tell you that some widow from
 
 THE PRESENTATION 35 
 
 the provinces whose name I cannot in the least remember, 
 will be presented on Palm Sunday, and that she will then 
 present Madame Du Barry on the Sunday after Easter ; 
 she is a second Madame d'Estrade. 1 I am sure of the 
 authenticity of this news." 
 
 The month of March was entirely devoted to the prepara- 
 tions for the marriage of the Duke de Chartres to Mademoi- 
 selle de Penthievre. Nothing further opposed the King's 
 plans, and, having come to an agreement with Richelieu, he 
 announced on the evening of April 21 that the following 
 day one single presentation would take place, that of 
 Madame Du Barry. 
 
 The ceremony roused curiosity not only at Court, but also 
 in the salons of Paris and in diplomatic circles. Louis had 
 made his decision in order to destroy the hopes of the 
 Austrian Cabinet. The Count de Mercy wrote with obvious 
 disappointment to Chancellor Kaunitz : "I find it no less 
 disgraceful that a Marshal de Richelieu, a Tutor and a 
 Governess to the Royal children, should lend themselves 
 to such a base intrigue, and that Madame De Marsan and 
 Monsieur de La Vauguyon, who had made so much show of 
 their piety, should publicly say that God permits an evil in 
 order to prevent a greater one, that greater evil being 
 according to them the existence of their enemy, Monsieur 
 de Choiseul." 
 
 The tense situation had indeed lasted too long. During 
 the months of expectation passions had been roused, and 
 bitter hatreds had sprung up, while the mire of ever-growing 
 scandal had swallowed up yet more of the prestige and 
 authority of royalty. The Gazette de France, the official 
 organ of the Court, recorded the great news : " On the 22nd 
 of this month (April, 1769) the Countess Du Barry had the 
 honour of being presented to the King and the Royal 
 Family by the Countess de Beam." 
 
 Thus was the door opened for Jeanne's entry on to the 
 
 1 Madame d'Estrade had presented Madame de Pompadour under 
 somewhat similar circumstances, better known to Voltaire than to 
 any one.
 
 36 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 stage of History, to play what many called her tragic part. 
 But tragedy suited her ill. Hers was a nature softly 
 feminine, pliant and impressionable ; her mind could never 
 stifle the promptings of her heart, nor could her heart but 
 be the servant of her soul. With her light-hearted, careless 
 grace, the exquisite girl was far more akin to one of the 
 younger Crebillon's heroines then to La Merteuil of the 
 Liaisons, to whom love was but " a string of experiences on 
 which to reflect at leisure." She was, moreover, always 
 herself. Her instincts had grown like the fair flowers of 
 the field, though not unmixed with tares. In spite of the 
 influence of an age when affectation flourished, Rousseau 
 himself could not have dreamt of a Sophie more natural 
 than she. And if she sometimes rouged her cheeks and 
 powdered her hair, at least there was nothing counterfeit 
 about her soul. The court was steeped in artificiality, and 
 into its atmosphere of self-interest, intrigue and lies came 
 frank Jeanne Du Barry, a goddess without shame, no doubt, 
 but above all a goddess of truth. Her engaging simplicity 
 kept her from being dazzled by the amazing good fortune 
 which had made her life a fairy tale. With magnificent 
 serenity she mounted queen-like the grand staircase at 
 Versailles. Her vitality, her vibrant youth were to Louis 
 XV. the sources whence he drew a new delight in life. 
 
 On Sunday, the day after the presentation, Madame Du 
 Barry, in full dress and wearing all the diamonds of the 
 previous evening, attended the King's Mass. She occupied 
 the seat in the chapel which had formerly been Madame de 
 Pompadour's. Louis XV. sat with his eyes fixed on his 
 mistress ; he still carried his arm in a sling and he crossed 
 himself repeatedly with his left hand. Several bishops were 
 observed in His Majesty's suite ; they seemed to have come 
 for the purpose of paying court to the favourite, the irony of 
 fate having decreed that the clerical party should centre 
 their hopes in her. 
 
 After divine service the Countess, now admitted to the 
 table of Mesdames and the Dauphin, solemnly entered on 
 her official duties. If circumstances allowed, she was on
 
 CHOISEUL AND THE FAVOURITE 37 
 
 the way to becoming the first power in the kingdom. An 
 avowed mistress had already intervened in State affairs, 
 created and dismissed ministries, made nominations to the 
 War Office, given orders for the Office of Works and Public 
 Buildings. In Madame de Pompadour's time every petition, 
 every request had to be submitted to her before being 
 presented to the King ; her power to issue lettres-de-cachet 
 was almost unlimited, and only her own creatures were at 
 all in favour. Would the Countess Du Barry acquire the 
 same authority, would she in her turn hold the reins of 
 government ? Such were the questions eagerly discussed 
 among the courtiers, by some with curiosity, with anxiety 
 by others. 
 
 Calmest of all was Monsieur de Choiseul, whose power 
 then knew no bounds. He directed Foreign affairs, and the 
 Army, and, through his cousin Praslin, the Navy too ; he 
 was superintendent of the Post, and Governor of Touraine ; 
 governor also of the hospital of Les Invalides, and colonel of 
 the Swiss and Orison regiments. His work had never been 
 difficult to him, and by its fortunate outcome he had won 
 the confidence of his sovereign. To him in part the kingdom 
 owed the restoration of the Navy, the acquisition of Corsica, 
 and, in spite of the war, the firm position of France after 
 the Treaty of the Quadruple Alliance and the Family Pact, 
 which had at least strengthened the bonds uniting the 
 House of Bourbon. 
 
 Chance had given his genius scope, and, as his enthusi- 
 astic admirers allowed, his faith hi himself had proved a 
 valuable support. But " he was by no means equal to the 
 image of him that one had formed," wrote Senac de Meilhan, 
 " and the memoirs he wrote leave little doubt as to this." 
 The Barriens could indeed accuse him of pettinesses, un- 
 worthy of a man of his powers ; but perhaps these could be 
 traced to the influence exerted over him by his sister Beatrix, 
 Duchess de Grammont, who was for ever fanning his hatred 
 of the new mistress. 
 
 The minister felt that behind the favourite was the 
 Richelieu-La Vauguyon faction, that had sworn his downfall.
 
 38 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 When Madame de Pompadour died, his enemies had sought 
 to further their own ends by giving the King the frivolous 
 d'Esparbes, who had seemed to please his fancy. Even 
 while the Marquise still lived the King had been attracted 
 by the wayward grace of the little Countess. She was a 
 fragile little being, red-haired and azure-eyed, and very 
 short-sighted, but she had the most lovely hands, and when 
 cherries were in season she used to pluck the scarlet fruit 
 for His Majesty with her baby fingers all powdered with 
 sugar. 
 
 One word from Choiseul was enough to put her out of the 
 question, and he thought to get rid of Madame Du Barry 
 with the same ease. The truth of the matter was that the 
 Duchess de Grammont, who had been Madame de Pompa- 
 dour's friend, ardently desired to succeed to her position. 
 Although not beautiful she fascinated by her wit and 
 learning, and her salon was the resort of courtiers, philoso- 
 phers and politicians alike. She was her brother's counsellor 
 and their intimacy had given occasion to much malicious 
 gossip. Of an unfailing courtesy and a sovereign elegance 
 of manner, she held that " morality was only made for the 
 common people." 1 
 
 Such were the powerful and unscrupulous adversaries 
 with whom the favourite had to deal. In spite of the love 
 of Louis she might perhaps have been overcome, had not 
 the malcontents rallied round her, and particularly those 
 who were actuated by their personal hatred of Choiseul. 
 To win friends and to obtain the necessary influential con- 
 nections the Countess gave suppers on the first days after 
 her triumph. But only men responded to her advances. 
 At the first there were present " two Princes of the Blood 
 and three great lords, besides her chief counsellors, the 
 Viscount des Cars and the Count de Bissy." 2 The women 
 
 1 " There was something attractive and yet despotical in Madame 
 de Grammont's ways ; she only allowed one opinion about her ; 
 all who loved Monsieur de Choiseul were welcome ; the rest did not 
 come to see her." Memoires du Prince de Talleyrand, Vol. V., p. 585. 
 
 * Journal inedit du due de Cray, published by the Viscount de 
 Grouchy and Paul Cottin, Paris, 1906, Vol. II., p. 366.
 
 DISDAINFUL BEAUTIES 39 
 
 continued inflexible, and many affected to be filled with 
 the profoundest contempt. The Duchess de Grammont, 
 the Duchess de Choiseul and the Princess de Beauvau made 
 common cause and left Versailles. During the short sojourn 
 at Marly no ladies were found to join the King at cards. 
 They were slow to pardon the intruder, but several of these 
 disdainful beauties were soon to become Madame Du Barry's 
 intimate friends. The King invited eight of them by special 
 command to the supper which took place on March 25 at 
 Bellevue. Among the guests were also the Prince de 
 Soubise, the Duke de Choiseul, the Duke de Gontaut and the 
 Count de Saint-Florentin, " as if," says a witness, " the King 
 particularly delighted in bringing cat and dog together." 
 The sovereign hoped that such an occasion of intimacy 
 would establish more friendly relations between the minister 
 and the favourite. At supper the latter was seated between 
 His Majesty and the Count de la Marche, who " was well 
 disposed towards that lady," according to the King. The 
 company was very gay ; " but the Duke de Choiseul did 
 not exhibit the same serene composure with which he 
 usually bears himself at these entertainments ; the Countess 
 displayed that ease of manner which had been hers ever 
 since her presentation ; she had charmed as much by her 
 wit as by her ethereal grace." Her beauty was even more 
 striking by artificial light, and the blaze of her diamonds 
 was dazzling. After supper, to which the Viscount Adolphe 
 had also been invited, the King announced the game ; he 
 requested " a vingt-un for Madame Du Barry, a game of 
 which she is very fond ; Madame de Flavacourt exclaimed 
 that she would take part, also Monsieur le Marechal de 
 Richelieu, who added that he was quite at Madame Du 
 Barry's service." The following morning the King, together 
 with his First Lord-in-Waiting and the Captain of the 
 Guards, was present at her toilette. The hour they spent 
 by her dressing-table was charming, and it was easy to 
 understand Louis XV. 's affection for the pleasure-loving 
 child, so lovely, witty and graceful was she. 
 
 Some of the women began to desert Choiseul's party. At
 
 40 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 a grand supper to eighteen people which Richelieu gave in 
 honour of his friend, he introduced her to two old ladies of 
 his own time, the Princess de Talmont and the Duchess de 
 Valentinois. The former was somewhat eccentric, but 
 clever, the latter had been indulgent towards all the 
 favourites, and was only too ready to instruct the newcomer 
 in everything pertaining to the Court. But indeed the 
 Countess bore herself with an ease surprising in one to whom 
 so much evil had been ascribed. The verdict of those 
 courtiers who were in a position to compare her with her 
 predecessor, Madame de Pompadour, has thus been summed 
 up by Monsieur de Talleyrand : " Although [Madame de 
 Pompadour] had been brought up and had lived among the 
 financial circles of Paris, which were then quite distinguished, 
 she was not well-mannered, and even Versailles did not cure 
 her vulgarity of language. She differed in all respects from 
 Madame Du Barry, who, though less well educated, had 
 attained a certain purity of language. Madame Du Barry's 
 eyes were not so large, but they were more expressive ; her 
 features were well cut, her hair of great beauty ; she liked 
 talking and could tell a story pleasantly enough." This 
 latter quality was no doubt a further element in her attrac- 
 tion for the King, who was sensitive to elegance and 
 accuracy of expression, and who, whatever may have been 
 said to the contrary, would never have permitted any 
 deviation from such language in his presence. 
 
 Towards the end of May the Court removed to Choisy, 
 and this was the first occasion on which Madame Du Barry 
 accompanied the King in his coach. As if in her honour the 
 performance of plays, suspended since the death of the 
 Dauphin, was resumed. The companies of the Royal 
 theatres, who took it in turns to appear before His Majesty, 
 received their instructions from the First Lord-in- Waiting 
 of the year, but in reality the ordering of the Revels was 
 largely left to the favourite. Naturally, Madame Du Barry 
 has been accused of choosing indecent works to be played 
 before her, but the Journal des spectacles de la Cour com- 
 pletely refutes these charges. Besides the tragedies of
 
 A LESSON IN ASTRONOMY 41 
 
 Corneille, Racine, Voltaire and Crebillon, and the comedies 
 of Moliere, Destouches and Sedaine, the Court witnessed 
 only the most irreproachable plays. 
 
 The first performance to be given at Choisy at the com- 
 mand of the Countess was L'Etourderie, a comedy hi one act 
 by Fagan, as well as a first representation of Alix et Alexis, 
 a three-act play interspersed with songs by Ponsinet, the 
 music by Monsieur de La Borde. Of all sentimental dramas 
 this latter is one of the most proper, and is based on a well- 
 known mediaeval legend. But ignorant scribblers were all 
 the more inclined to believe it licentious because it had never 
 been acted before, except in the theatre of La Guimard, the 
 belle damnee, who with Gardel danced the pas-de-deux in the 
 pastoral scene that evening. 
 
 The gay times before the Court went into mourning 
 seemed to have returned ; Jeanne's smiles dissipated the 
 melancholy of the King, who surrounded her with tender 
 care, to which she responded with loving caresses. One day 
 " His Majesty accidentally let fall a small case, and Madame 
 Du Barry, dropping on one knee, hastened to pick it up " ; 
 he raised her, murmuring gently : " Madame, it is for me 
 to assume such a position, and that for all my life." Her 
 lengthy toilette often delayed the suppers at which she was 
 present, but the vision of her pure beauty, heightened by 
 the charm and fancy of her costume, won the indulgence of 
 all. The King loved to see her in the guise of Flora, and 
 nothing suited the fresh bloom of her youth better than the 
 light silk dress with love-knots of myrtle, the crown of roses 
 on her brow, and the pearls on her delicate arms, in which 
 array the artists so often portrayed her. 
 
 In June the Court came to Saint-Hubert, where they 
 intended to observe the transit of the planet Venus across 
 the disc of the sun. Louis XV. was interested in astronomy 
 as in all subjects bearing on the mysterious and infinite. 
 " The King as a lover of all the arts, and one initiated in 
 the most sublime mysteries, observed at Saint-Hubert the 
 transit of Venus before the sun. Madame la Comtesse Du 
 Barry accompanied His Majesty, and the King deigned to
 
 42 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 instruct her ladyship in the elements of astronomy that she 
 might be in a position to derive interest from the pheno- 
 menon. A courtier wrote the following verses in honour of 
 the occasion : 
 
 Que nous diront ce telescope 
 Cette Venus et ce Soleil ? 
 Aussi sans ce vain appareil 
 Cherchons un plus sur horoscope : 
 En ces delicieux jardins 
 Brillent nos astres veritables ; 
 C'est dans leurs regards adorables 
 Que nous trouverons nos destins ! " 
 
 At about this time the divinity of the hour had in fact 
 the opportunity to influence the fate of a poor girl of twenty 
 years who lived at Liancourt in the French Vexin. She 
 had just given birth to a stillborn child, and as she had not 
 made the declaration of pregnancy required by the law she 
 was accused of infanticide, and condemned to be hanged 
 by decree of the Parliament of Paris. Monsieur de Mande- 
 ville, of the black musketeers, was seized with pity on 
 hearing of this affair, and, determined to plead for the 
 unfortunate girl, came to the Court, which was then at 
 Marly. He did not know Madame Du Barry, but he had 
 heard of her goodness of heart and active pity, and to her 
 he turned. Moved by the story he told her, she at once 
 wrote a letter to Monsieur de Maupeou, chancellor of 
 France, which resulted in the reprieve of the condemned 
 girl: 
 
 Monsieur le Chancelier, 
 
 I understand nothing of your laws ; but they are unjust 
 and barbarous ; they act against all reason, humanity and 
 policy if they sentence to death a poor girl delivered of a 
 stillborn child without having made the necessary declara- 
 tion. According to the enclosed memorandum, such is the 
 case of the petitioner ; it seems that she was condemned for 
 no more than ignorance of the law, or because she refused 
 to conform to it out of a very natural modesty. I rely on 
 your sense of justice in the consideration of this affair, 
 but the unfortunate girl deserves merciful treatment. I 
 ask of you at least to commute her sentence ; the rest I
 
 THE FAVOURITE INTERCEDES 43 
 
 leave to the dictates of your heart. I have the honour 
 to be. . . .* 
 
 Madame Du Barry's petition was well received, and " all 
 Paris could not help applauding her beautiful act." Some 
 days later she again deprived the hangman of one of his 
 victims, and on this occasion political interests were involved. 
 The Count de Louesme and his wife, people of good family 
 but deeply in debt, had been served with a warrant for their 
 arrest, and had twice offered violent resistance to the 
 officers attempting to carry it out. They had entrenched 
 themselves in their chateau of Parc-Vieil on the borders of 
 the Champagne and the Orleanais. There the Countess had 
 stood gun in hand by her husband's side ; a bailiff had been 
 killed, and a mounted officer mortally wounded. They had 
 endured a two days' siege before capitulating, and nine 
 prisoners were taken to Montargis. 
 
 The case was called before the Parliament of Paris, as it 
 constituted a Crown case, and criminal proceedings were 
 taken. A year later judgment was pronounced condemning 
 Louesme and his wife to be beheaded. The affair created 
 great excitement among the nobility, for since Lally, none 
 of their number had been sentenced to death. The Countess 
 de Moyon, the daughter of the culprits, and their daughter- 
 in-law, Baron de Heldorf's widow, went to beg the King 
 for mercy. Their appeals left him unmoved, but by the 
 help of the Countess de Bearn they obtained access to 
 Madame Du Barry instead, with the result that one day the 
 favourite, supplicating the King on bended knees, " de- 
 clared that she would never rise until His Majesty had 
 granted her request." Louis' heart was softened, and he 
 dared refuse no longer. " Madame," he replied, " I am 
 enchanted that the first favour you compel me to grant 
 should be an act of humanity." 2 The letters of reprieve 
 were sent in all haste and were just in time to prevent the 
 
 1 The young girl was named Apolline Gregeois. She was arrested 
 on June 5, and on the 28th the sentence of death was commuted 
 to three years' imprisonment. See Vatel, Vol. I., p. 239. 
 
 'Anecdotes, p. 114, whose accuracy as to this episode has been 
 verified by Vatel, Vol. I., p. 250.
 
 44 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 execution. " This matter," wrote a chronicler, who was 
 little inclined to view the Countess with favour, " does her 
 infinite honour, and has conciliated some of the great 
 families of the kingdom who were concerned." 
 
 The Royal mistress showed by these public actions that 
 she intended to make full use of her powers on behalf of 
 the unfortunate. Many turned to her in their distress and 
 were helped, beside the impecunious crowd of poets and 
 literati who sought her protection. The first to think of 
 soliciting her patronage singularly exposed her to attack. 
 In June, 1769, the Chevalier de La Morliere, a bad character 
 and a worse writer, who was a friend of the Rou6 and the 
 younger Crebillon, thought fit to dedicate a book to this 
 charming representative of the Muses. Incidentally it was 
 by no means one of the impudent productions which had 
 earned him the title of the French Aretino ; it contained 
 but a collection of anecdotes arranged " to show the influence 
 of fate on the human heart," and the author called it Le 
 Fatalisme. The Memoires secrets announced its publication 
 in words whose spirited satire recall Bachaumont : " Since 
 the elevation of Madame la Comtesse Du Barry at Court 
 brought before the public her beauty, talents and virtues, 
 not one of our writers has as yet burnt incense at the shrine 
 of the new divinity, having perhaps refrained through 
 admiration or respect." Further, " the work though worse 
 than mediocre has been bought up at an astonishing rate, 
 everyone being eager to read the dedication. The general 
 opinion is that the author has obtained tacit permission 
 from the lady in question, and that his example will be 
 followed by other panegyrists more worthy of his heroine." 1 
 
 1 Mtonoires secrets pour servir d I'histoire de la Rtpublique des 
 lettres, Vol. IV., p. 250. (June n.) On June 26 the same writer 
 says that " the Chevalier de La Morlidre, author of the dedication 
 to Madame la Comtesse Du Barry, and whose zeal and homage has 
 been published in several foreign papers, has recently had the honour 
 of being invited to supper with his Minerva." He recognised in the 
 latter a taste for letters and " an intention to protect them. So 
 say they who have had intercourse with this gentle lady, whose natural 
 wit is quite capable of appreciating a purer and more delicate incense." 
 The tone of this extract differs materially from that of the first.
 
 CHOISEUL WITHDRAWS 45 
 
 This is the dedication which the favourite had to thank 
 for such ironical compliments : 
 
 To Madame la Comtesse Du Barry. 
 
 To you, Madame, who are the most charming exception 
 to sad fatalism, I dedicate this work that bears, alas ! but 
 too much witness to the influence of that power. Nature has 
 lavished on you her most precious gifts, the most fortunate 
 destiny appears to rule your career, and to this happy 
 combination you add what is of even greater importance, 
 a gracious and charitable disposition. These estimable 
 qualities, Madame, will inspire your judgment ; you will 
 honour the arts and sciences and all that appears to you 
 worthy of special distinction, and you will thus show a 
 discrimination of real merit that is always independent of 
 circumstances and far superior to the superficialities under 
 which false greatness too often thinks to conceal its pettiness. 
 I am, Madame, respectfully, 
 Your most humble and obedient servant, 
 
 Chevalier de La Morliere. 
 
 But Madame Du Barry was superstitious and only saw a 
 disturbing prophecy in all these praises, for the book bore 
 a motto from one of Seneca's tragedies : "No prayers may 
 prevail against the decrees of Fate." 
 
 At the time everything certainly seemed to conspire in her 
 favour. Her position at Court grew daily more secure ; 
 Choiseul even left her in possession for a while, having 
 retired to his estate at Chanteloup after the Bellevue 
 supper. The move was clever and had often been used by 
 Cardinal de Fleury ; it gave Jeanne a respite during which 
 the persecuting epigrams ceased. Everyone submitted to 
 her gentle influence, or perhaps all were at the idol's feet 
 simply because " the wind blew absolutely from that 
 quarter." 
 
 The departure of the Court for Compiegne was effected 
 amid much expenditure on equipment. The Countess had 
 at her disposal three coaches-and-six, and her relays at 
 the post-houses were ordered with those of the King. From 
 far and wide people flocked to catch a glimpse of the
 
 46 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 favourite, who graciously showed herself at the window, 
 but the cries of admiration which so much beauty and 
 luxury aroused were not unmingled with abuse. 
 
 The Sovereign was accompanied by a numerous retinue, of 
 whom many were ladies. When the list of those proposed 
 to form his suite was laid before the King, he had struck off 
 with his own hand the names of the Countess de Brionne, 
 the Countess d'Egmont and the Duchess de Grammont, 
 thus punishing their animosity against his mistress. They 
 revenged themselves for this humiliation by publishing a 
 caricature, Le Combat des Anagrammes, of which they them- 
 selves formed the subject. " They were supposed to be 
 three Graces . . . appearing to flee in disgust at the 
 sight of a beauty of a different type, whose disorderly 
 appearance and lascivious attitudes were characteristic of 
 an anagram of the word grace, a name given only to lost 
 women who have no sense of shame or modesty." 1 The 
 epigram was only circulated privately ; it was attributed 
 " particularly to Madame de Grammont . . . who had 
 most reason to bear a grudge against her rival, for the 
 King had once before mortified her more than she could well 
 bear/' according to one daring chronicler. 2 
 
 While on the way to Compiegne the King bestowed on 
 the Countess a striking favour ; he presented her with a 
 Crown domain for life. Marie Leczinska herself had coveted 
 the little chateau of Louveciennes or Luciennes, close to 
 Marly, for its charming situation near Versailles on a hill 
 commanding a fine view of the neighbourhood. It had only 
 one disadvantage, and that was its nearness to the hydraulic 
 engine at Marly, to whose monotonous noise, however, one 
 gradually became accustomed. 3 The building was very 
 
 1 Metnoires secrets, Vol. IV., p. 266. * Anecdotes, p. 117. 
 
 * Madame Vigee Le Brun, when at Louveciennes, where she was 
 painting the portrait of the favourite, complained of this drawback. 
 " She gave me a room looking out on the engine at Marly, which was 
 then in full activity. This trying noise worried me and disturbed 
 my sleep." But the artist admits that she was sensitive to sounds. 
 Cf. the letter she wrote to a friend, in the Souvenirs de voyage de la 
 princesse Natalie Kourakine, Moscow, 1903.
 
 THE GIFT OF LUCIENNES 47 
 
 pretty but was small and consequently somewhat incon- 
 venient. It had been the property of Mademoiselle de 
 Clermont, and later of the Countess de Toulouse, His 
 Majesty's aunt and confidant. At her death the reversion 
 of the estate had passed to the Duke de PenthiSvre, whose 
 young son, the Prince de Lamballe, died there after terrible 
 suffering. The Duke at once relinquished his life interest 
 in a property bearing for him such melancholy associations, 
 and the King made over the estate to his mistress by a 
 warrant of July 24, 1769. Repairs and extensions had to 
 be undertaken before it was fit to receive the Sovereign. As 
 Madame Du Barry henceforth lived at home, her lawyer 
 and not the Treasury defrayed the expenses of the works 
 which were directed by Gabriel. 1 The Royal Architect 
 pushed on the business at the request of the Countess, and 
 building went on during the whole of 1770. 2 
 
 This was in fact Louis' first gift to the favourite, for as 
 yet she had asked for none. " For fourteen months she 
 received neither pension nor presents from the monarch 
 . . . " wrote a contemporary ; "in the midst of the 
 most brilliant Court in the world she lived at her own 
 expense." 3 The Roue succeeded later, though with 
 difficulty, in obtaining from the Abbe Terray, minister of 
 finance, a reimbursement of the advances he had made to 
 the Countess for the maintenance of her suite at Versailles. 
 He had not been long in seeing that his hopes would be 
 frustrated by the somewhat contemptuous scrupulousness 
 
 1 This has been brought to light by a letter from Gabriel to Monsieur 
 Le Pot d'Auteuil, of October 28, 1770. 
 
 *The extravagant exaggerations of the pamphleteers against 
 Madame Du Barry are exemplified in their allegations at to the 
 expenses incurred by the gift of Louveciennes. The Anecdotes 
 speak of the King squandering a million, grave Dalmas makes it six 
 millions and Prudhomme ten, while modern authors have still 
 further increased the sum. Vatel makes known the exact sum from 
 Gabriel's accounts, which were, as usual, excellently kept ; it 
 amounted to 138,268 livres, 8 sols, n deniers. 
 
 * Sara Goudar, Remarques sur les Anecdotes. Later this was 
 changed, and the minister of finance was accused of endorsing 
 Madame Du Barry's drafts on the exchequer as if they were the 
 King's. The charge is not easy to verify.
 
 48 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 of his sister-in-law. In vain he tried to convert her to more 
 liberal views ; his imprudent persistence only resulted in the 
 withdrawal of her favour. " All their disputes, which ended 
 finally in complete estrangement, were due to this one 
 cause." 1 
 
 Choiseul, whose position was by no means weakened, 
 though he saw the mistress continually gain in power, 
 returned to the attack at the bidding of his vindictive 
 sister. Madame Du Barry replied to the epigrams that he 
 caused to be circulated by a thousand railleries which 
 delighted His Majesty. But though the minister revived 
 the series of lampoons, he had to restrain their audacity 
 now that the King had definitely named the culprits. He 
 threw the whole burden of the conflict on Madame de 
 Grammont and found excuses for her passion, " which was 
 prompted by the feelings of her heart." 
 
 The military ftes, which took place towards the end of 
 July, were destined to aggravate the discord between the 
 two opposing factions. A pleasure camp had been pitched 
 at Compiegne where the Dauphin and his brothers were to 
 be initiated in the arts of war. Mesdames de France were 
 present, but during these three days the centre of attraction 
 was the fair favourite in her sumptuous attire, who was seen 
 everywhere driving her own phaeton. The young officers 
 were blind to all but her, for one and all had been captivated 
 by her charm. There were forty- two battalions of infantry, 
 a regiment of cavalry and artillery with forty guns under 
 the command of the lieutenant-general, Baron de Wurmser. 
 The troops were posted at Verberie, and marched past, 
 saluting the monarch, who was accompanied by the Prin- 
 cesses and his three grandsons. The Countess was similarly 
 honoured by the Beauce regiment, where her brother-in-law, 
 the Chevalier Du Barry, was a captain under the command 
 
 1 Sara Goudar, writing in 1777, insists with reason that Madame 
 Du Barry had not diminished the public resources by alienation of 
 the Royal funds : " If she had been moved by that passion [avarice] 
 she would own to-day immense estates, whereas she now only enjoys 
 a life interest, that at her death will occasion no loss to the Treasury." 
 (Remarques, p. 123.)
 
 AN EMBARRASSING INVITATION 49 
 
 of Colonel de La Tour du Pin, who had known the favourite 
 when she lived with the Roue. She invited the officers of 
 this regiment to dinner, and received an invitation in 
 return, to the indignation of the Minister of War, Monsieur 
 de Choiseul. 
 
 Madame Denis wrote to Voltaire describing in full this 
 episode, which created such commotion : 
 
 I must tell you of the happenings of two days ago, as 
 they will show you very clearly how the land lies. Madame 
 Du Barry has a relative in the regiment of Chevalier de La 
 Tour du Pin, Madame de Saint- Julien's brother. She 
 invited the whole regiment to dinner when in camp at 
 Compiegne. The colonel was very perplexed, and Madame 
 de Saint- Julien went to Monsieur de Choiseul to find out 
 what her brother ought to do. The minister replied angrily : 
 " He may do as he pleases ! " and however much she pressed 
 him he would say no more. The colonel decided to allow 
 his officers to go to Madame Du Barry's dinner, while he 
 himself, his lieutenant-colonel and his major went to dine 
 with Monsieur de Choiseul, having made their excuses to 
 her ladyship. I must explain that when one of these 
 three is not at the head of the regiment it is no longer an 
 official body, but only an assembly of officers in their private 
 capacity. Madame Du Barry pretended not to notice 
 this, and three days later sent word to the regiment that she 
 wished for an invitation to dinner. Madame de Saint- 
 Julien again went to the minister to find out what her 
 brother should do, and as before, he received her with an 
 ill grace, and told her he would have nothing to do with the 
 matter. The regiment decided to invite her to dinner, 
 together with the Marshal de Richelieu, the Count de 
 Maillebois and several others. But Madame de Saint- 
 Julien, who lived with her brother, dared not stay to do 
 the honours of the dinner and left him. 
 
 In spite of all these precautions the minister is furious 
 with the Chevalier de La Tour du Pin for having given a 
 dinner in honour of Madame Du Barry. He accused his 
 regiment of slovenliness, although it was one of the finest, 
 and even spoke of it to the King. He says the most unheard- 
 of things ; nevertheless the Chevalier could not be more
 
 50 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 graciously treated by the King, and is only waiting for the 
 turn of the wheel. But the most amusing part is that the 
 Duke is furious with Madame de Saint- Julien, who never 
 was at the dinner. Perhaps he is disturbed at the desertion 
 of the Count de Maillebois, who used to be on his side. The 
 latter is an extremely clever and talented man, whom he 
 has always feared, and whom he has kept in the shade by 
 never letting him come near the King. 1 
 
 The King, who, according to Madame Denis, " was 
 passionately in love with Madame Du Barry," rejoiced that 
 his favourite should have enjoyed so complete a triumph at 
 these ftes, but was furious that Choiseul, in his exaspera- 
 tion at her success, had intervened, and he wrote his minister 
 an admonitory letter dealing at length with his rights as 
 master : 
 
 I have given you my word to tell you all that I hear about 
 you and that promise I now fulfil. You are said to have 
 reprimanded Wurmser, I do not know why. 
 
 You are said to have reprimanded the Chevalier de La 
 Tour du Pin, because Madame Du Barry had dined at the 
 camp, and because the majority of the officers had dined with 
 her on the day of the review. 
 
 You have also reprimanded Monsieur Foulon on her 
 account. 
 
 You promised me I should hear no more said of you in 
 connection with her. 
 
 I speak to you in confidence and as a friend. The public 
 may inveigh bitterly against you ; such is the fate of minis- 
 ters, especially when they are believed to be opposed to their 
 master's friends ; but nevertheless, the master is well 
 satisfied with their work, and with yours in particular. 
 
 Choiseul' s dissatisfaction appears to have been partly 
 justified in this case. The anger he showed was largely due 
 to the fears which the success of the Countess inspired, for 
 he felt that behind her his adversaries were intriguing 
 
 1 The brief and trustworthy account given by Madame Denis 
 has been followed in preference to the many other contemporary 
 descriptions of this episode. This was the time at which Madame 
 Denis was attempting to bring about the return of Voltaire to Paris, 
 and she intended to enlist the support of Madame Du Barry.
 
 CHOISEUL'S DEFENCE 51 
 
 against him more implacably than ever. He replied to his 
 sovereign's note with submissive humility : 
 
 Sire, 
 
 I am much moved by the kindness and confidence with 
 which you have distinguished me ; I should be unworthy 
 of it did I not feel it from the bottom of my heart, and 
 respond with the sincerity of the devotion I owe you. . . . 
 I cannot fail to believe, when I see those who surround 
 Madame Du Barry, and whom you, Sire, know at the 
 bottom of your soul as well as I do, that they have especially 
 marked me out as the subject of their malicious fictions, and 
 their desire to inflict injury. . . . Were I not also 
 assured, Sire, of your goodness of heart and of your discernment 
 concerning the nature of your Court, I should be horrified 
 at the evil which has been attributed to me, and of which 
 I have been the object. But having confidence in the 
 sentiments which I entertain towards your person, I have 
 despised . . . the slanders, which should, indeed, never 
 be able to affect one honoured with the confidence of so good 
 a king, and if I may say so, Sire, so honourable a man as 
 Your Majesty. ... I have never in my life had high 
 words with Wurmser ... I have not reprimanded him. 
 . . . I have not reprimanded Monsieur le Chevalier de 
 Tour du Pin. . . . The day when Your Majesty 
 saw the manoeuvres of the forty-two battalions, I was told 
 that the Beauce regiment had saluted Madame Du Barry, 
 doing her the same honour as it had done Your Majesty. 
 . . . Next day, when I was watching the manoeuvres 
 of this brigade, I told Monsieur de Rochambeau that I had 
 heard the Beauce regiment had saluted other coaches than 
 those of the Royal Family, while His Majesty was still before 
 the line ; that this was not right, and I charged him to warn 
 Monsieur de La Tour du Pin of the unsuitability of saluting 
 when the King was in camp. . . . After the manoeuvres 
 I told Monsieur de La Tour du Pin that his regiment was 
 fine and well turned out, but that they did not handle their 
 arms well, nor did they manoeuvre with the precise accuracy 
 of the others. ... As for Foulon, I do not remember 
 ver having reprimanded him ; I despise him because I 
 never thought him honest. ... I have only once 
 spoken to him of Madame Du Barry, and that was three
 
 52 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 weeks ago, on account of a certain Nallet, whom Madame 
 Du Barry had recommended to me. I told Foulon very 
 definitely that I wished to help this man as she desired, and 
 that I should blame him if he did not expedite the matter. 
 . . . If he says that I reprimanded him with regard to 
 Madame Du Barry at any time since I have known him, 
 Monsieur Foulon is an impudent liar. . . . You will be 
 told, Sire, that I have faults ; I would willingly correct 
 them, and reproach myself for them as much as ever my 
 enemies could do. ... 7 have but two single aims in 
 life ; to serve you well, and to please you. . . . It is hard 
 to believe, Sire, that you do not know of my wish to please 
 you, */ you will deign to bear in mind that I owe everything to 
 you, that I have been in your service alone and never wish to 
 to be in any other, that in you are united all my sentiments 
 of duty, personal devotion and gratitude, and that I serve you 
 for love and for the most zealous love, which is worth far more 
 than ambition and talent. . . . J 
 
 Choiseul made it fairly clear to the King whom he con- 
 sidered his enemies. Here he referred to Monsieur de 
 Soubise, and particularly to Monsieur de Richelieu. The 
 hero of Port-Mahon, " the Alcibiades of the age," had been 
 made years younger by the new part he was playing. 2 He 
 was even now a handsome man and had by no means given 
 up his claims to admiration. Women still appreciated his 
 sparkling wit, the grand manner that came of his ancient 
 lineage, and they looked on him as "an all-embracing 
 genius . . . vivacious and light, an inconstant lover, a 
 tender and faithful friend, zealous in the service of his 
 friends ... a man of ability and power ... a 
 
 1 This letter, whose essential passages have been quoted, was 
 published by the Duke de Choiseul in the Revue de Paris of 1829, 
 Vol. IV., pp. 50-53. The character of the minister does not appear 
 in a very favourable light when we compare the letter with certain 
 passages in his memoirs, written after his disgrace, and full of 
 outbreaks against a master whom he flattered so long. 
 
 1 " The Marshal de Richelieu has been made years younger by his 
 present position," wrote the physician Tronchin to his daughter on 
 June 28. " He seems to tread on air, which is indeed his element. 
 He thinks no more of his white hair than if it was as black as ebony. 
 These old courtiers at least move one's pity." Henri Tronchin, 
 P- 335. Theodore Tronchin.
 
 CONDE AND THE FAVOURITE 53 
 
 steadfast soul, a passionate heart and an absolute genius 
 for winning love." And this portrait, we should remember, 
 was traced by a woman. 1 Richelieu most certainly 
 possessed qualities of real value to the ambitions of his 
 family, but above all he could play the very highest trump 
 the King's mistress against his adversaries. 
 
 Such was the opinion of the Prince de Conde when he 
 invited His Majesty and the favourite to Chantilly, where 
 the King had only recently been entertained by his magnifi- 
 cent cousin. The Prince displayed great splendour in the 
 fetes galantes he gave, and he did the honours of his estate 
 to Madame Du Barry in every respect. The harmony of 
 the party was complete ; the Marquise de 1'Hopital, who 
 came with her lover, Monsieur de Soubise, was eager to join, 
 and only ladies desirous of paying court to the Countess had 
 been included. 2 The King was solicitous for her wellbeing ; 
 she followed the hunt in a coach, " so that no one could 
 complain of being unable to see her ; the public was also 
 admitted to the suppers and fetes, and His Majesty was 
 observed to show ever greater inclination to pay her 
 attentions . . ." 3 
 
 The return of the Court from Chantilly was the signal for 
 the biennial opening of the Louvre. Two portraits of the 
 favourite were exhibited, which caused such a crush that 
 Horace Walpole complained of not being able to move in 
 the galleries. But when Madame Du Barry went to see the 
 exhibition Monsieur de Saint-Florentin ordered the doors to 
 be closed to the public, and she came accompanied only by 
 the most celebrated artists. 
 
 1 Madame de Monconseil, in the Portraits et Caracteres of Senac 
 de Meilhan, p. 51. 
 
 1 " So far there are only five women willing to see her," wrote 
 Madame Denis on August 10. 
 
 * Cf. this official account with the particulars given in a private 
 correspondence : " Mesdames de Brionne, de Choiseul, de Grammont, 
 de Beauvais, d'Egmont, de Pecquigny and de Segur, had been struck 
 off the list which the Prince de Conde presented. This event is of 
 importance, for it may be taken as the first stroke of the rod, showing 
 that there is still a rod to strike, which one had doubted. People 
 will certainly take up an altogether different attitude." (Letter 
 by Tronchin.)
 
 54 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 F. H. Drouais' two portraits of the favourite were praised 
 to the skies and in turn reviled by his contemporaries. In 
 the first she was represented as the most exquisite of Floras, 
 white and delicate under her roses ; but perhaps it was a 
 little too honeyed, too thin according to the critics of the 
 day. She was given a shallow prettiness by the affected 
 artist, who lavished on his model all the artifices of colouring 
 of his slender brush. The Countess is portrayed in a low- 
 necked, white satin gown, with a string of pearls on the 
 shoulder, and a garland of roses crossing her slight, rounded 
 bosom. Her graciously poised head and heavy ringlets give 
 an ideal impression of youth ; the long, golden curls surround 
 a little face whose mien is at once affected and childlike. 
 Under finely arched and artificially darkened brows her half- 
 closed blue eyes shaded by their long lashes look out on the 
 world with an expression that has been called voluptuous ; 
 yet how caressing, how tenderly malicious it is ! x Her 
 many charms were enhanced by a wonderful complexion of 
 dazzling purity, for the favourite used little rouge, but she 
 had instead four dark moles that, like tantalising patches, 
 served to set off her lovely colouring. These beauty spots, 
 beloved by Louis XV., are clearly visible in Beauvarlet's 
 engraving of the second portrait, whose original has been 
 lost. Here Madame Du Barry is wearing a riding habit 
 with a man's jacket of grey silk over a half-open waistcoat, 
 showing a fichu of Brussels point. The lines of her rounded 
 bust are but slightly defined under the lace, though the fair 
 lady was proud of her charming person and was not in the 
 habit of concealing her beauty. The critics consequently 
 declared they had been robbed, and Diderot speaks con- 
 temptuously of the " thin, spare slenderness " of her figure. 
 But in spite of these adverse views the lovely huntress is not 
 to be denied a very attractive shapeliness of form. These 
 two pictures, the first to perpetuate the beauty of the 
 
 1 Drouais has been criticised for not portraying truthfully the 
 charms of his sitter. " In both cases he gives her a mincing expres- 
 sion, called by young sparks regard en coulisse, and never worn by 
 this lady, who is always so straightforward, frank and open. . . ."
 
 MADAME I)U BARRY 
 From a painting by Dranais, ij(x)
 
 VOLTAIRE'S FRIENDSHIP 55 
 
 favourite, became the talk of Paris. Engravings were 
 bought all over Europe, and several poets hastened to sing 
 the praises of the new divinity : 
 
 SUR LE DOUBLE PORTRAIT DE MADAME Du BARRY. 
 
 Quels yeux ! que d'attraits I qu'elle est belle I 
 
 Est-ce une divinit6 ? 
 
 Non, c'est une simple mortelle 
 
 Qui le dispute a la beaute. 
 
 Entre vous qui decidera, 
 
 Beau cavalier, aimable Flore T 
 
 L'Olympe jaloux se taira 
 
 Et 1'Univers surpris admire et doute encore I 
 
 In the eighteenth century women were of small account 
 who could not boast the fellowship of the literary world. 
 Madame Du Barry's long intercourse with men of letters 
 served her in good stead, and we may imagine with what 
 enthusiasm she took up the idea of winning his friendship, 
 who was the undoubted master of them all. Voltaire had 
 for long been away from Paris and was anxious to return. 
 But even to live one winter in the capital he had to obtain 
 the King's consent and win the favour of Choiseul ; and 
 matters were still further complicated by the recent publica- 
 tion of his daring Histoire des Parlements, even though he 
 disclaimed its authorship. Madame Denis had in great 
 secrecy spoken to Richelieu of the proposed visit to Paris, 
 and he had promised that the favourite would remove all 
 difficulties to be encountered on the part of the King. " I 
 have prevailed upon a man, who at present prefers to be 
 nameless," she wrote to her uncle, " to persuade Madame 
 Du Barry to speak of you to the King, telling him that she 
 is very desirous of seeing you. It remains to be seen what 
 the King will say. Monsieur dc Choiseul must on no account 
 hear of it. I shall have an answer in a week at the latest, 
 and if it is favourable I think we need hesitate no longer, 
 for you will then have on the one side this woman's influence 
 over the King and on the other the friendship of the 
 Choiseuls." 
 
 The Countess was charmed to do the great man such a 
 service, and suggested his return to the King " as if of her
 
 56 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 own accord." He smiled and said, "I shall let you know 
 in ten days what I think of it." Madame Du Barry reported 
 the smile to Richelieu who in turn told Madame Denis, and 
 everyone was full of hope. " Without exactly asking for 
 his recall," Madame Du Barry spoke often of Voltaire to 
 His Majesty and received " gracious and flattering replies." 
 Richelieu, when he left for Fontainebleau, told Madame 
 Denis " to consider the matter settled," and promised to 
 engage the interest of Monsieur de Saint-Florentin. Every- 
 thing was done with the greatest possible secrecy in order 
 to keep Choiseul in ignorance of the intervention of the 
 Countess. But the days went by and autumn drew to its 
 close ; nothing was decided, and the illustrious philosopher 
 began to lose patience. Besides, the idea of the journey 
 attracted him much less than his niece, while the delicate 
 state of his health was a consideration urging him to remain. 
 But from that time on he was full of gratitude to the young 
 favourite who had so eagerly sought to serve him. 
 
 Richelieu had been seeking a favourable opportunity to 
 introduce his nephew, the Duke d'Aiguillon, at Court, and 
 at Fontainebleau decided that the right moment had 
 arrived. The death of the Duke de Chaulnes had created a 
 vacancy in the captaincy of the Royal Bodyguards, and 
 Monsieur de Choiseul intended to buy the commission for 
 his relative, the Viscount of the same name. But he was 
 anticipated by the Marshal, who, thanks to the help of the 
 favourite, obtained it for d'Aiguillon. Choiseul was all the 
 more likely to feel the blow, because it gave his adversary 
 the considerable advantage of a supporter who had direct 
 access to the King under whom he would have to work. 
 For the first time he realised that the Countess "was 
 rapidly acquiring sovereign power," and he determined to 
 ask audience of her. But Richelieu had put her on her 
 guard, and strengthened by his counsels she was able to 
 receive her enemy with confidence. The interview lasted 
 three hours, but though much wit and cleverness was shown 
 on both sides, the situation remained unaltered. Madame 
 Du Deffand wrote to Walpole : " ' Grandpapa ' appears to be
 
 A REBUFF FOR CHOISEUL 57 
 
 very well satisfied, though not altogether free from anxiety ; 
 her ladyship no longer conceals her hatred of him, and the 
 conversation he had with her when you were here was a 
 mistake on his part, since it resulted in nothing. Every 
 day he suffers some small indignity, such as not being invited 
 to Cabinet suppers ; and from her he gets grimaces when he 
 is her partner at whist, and flouting and shrugging of 
 shoulders, little schoolgirl spitefulnesses that do not fail to 
 lose him the respect of certain foolish people ; but this is of 
 small account." 
 
 The Duchess de Grammont had sought in Holland 
 consolation for her disappointments, and must have felt 
 great vexation on hearing of this attempt at reconciliation, 
 which had now become an event of political importance. 
 " The affairs of our all-powerful minister are as easily 
 affected by the smallest trifle as the cheeks of our ladies of 
 fashion by the least change in the weather," wrote Tronchin. 
 " His adversaries are growing in power daily, and although 
 nothing is as yet actually known, the general opinion seems 
 to be that he will not succeed hi overcoming them." Of 
 course the minister was vigorously lampooned : 
 
 Vive le Roi ! Foin de 1'Amour 1 
 Le drdle m'a jou6 un tour 
 Qui peut confondre mon audace. 
 La Du Barry, pour moi de glace, 
 Va, dit-on, changer mes destins ; 
 Jadis je dus ma fortune aux ca . . . 
 Je leur devrai done ma disgrace I 
 
 Choiseul attempted to put a good face on the matter. He 
 Avas often away, he visited the cavalry camp at Metz with 
 a Prince of the Blood, the Duke de Chartres, and at Chante- 
 loup he displayed such magnificence that the newsmongers 
 commented on his " forty waiters at table, two companies 
 of players engaged to amuse the guests, and the rest on the 
 same scale." 
 
 In the meanwhile the King was hunting at Fontainebleau, 
 and on September 28 he shot two stags in the forest of Se"nart. 
 The villagers flocked to gaze at his beautiful mistress, who 
 rode after the hunt in a man's habit. Among the many
 
 58 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 ladies who accompanied her were Madame de Mirepoix, the 
 Duchesses de Montmorency and de Valentinois, and the 
 Marquise de I'Hopital. The brilliant company dined 
 sumptuously at Croix-Fontaine, where the financier Bouret 
 entertained them in his " Pavilion du Roi." Afterwards 
 the gallant farmer-general presented His Majesty with a 
 Venus by Coustou, the head of which had been cleverly 
 altered to reproduce the features of the favourite. 
 
 This signal mark of homage gave rise to a most piquant 
 episode. Monsieur de Lauraguais, a friend of the Choiseuls, 
 conceived the idea of producing a young woman at Fontaine- 
 bleau of great beauty and no character, whom he called the 
 Countess du Tonneau. A caricature was published " repre- 
 senting the favourite in full dress, seated on a barrel." In 
 Madame de Pompadour's time the impudent author of this 
 design would have run the risk of imprisonment in the 
 Bastille, but under the gentle reign of the Countess he was 
 let off with an enforced sojourn in England. 
 
 As a rule Madame Du Barry took no notice of the affronts 
 put upon her, but this one was beyond endurance. She 
 showed that it had really touched her to the quick, and 
 appeared no more in public. She was, moreover, worn out 
 by all the Court festivities, and was glad simply to allow 
 herself to be adored by the King in peaceful privacy at 
 Fontainebleau. The Countess occupied the same suite of 
 apartments on the ground floor below those of the King, 
 that had formerly belonged to Madame de Pompadour. 
 Most often she received His Majesty in the great drawing- 
 room looking out on the groves of the Cour de Diane with 
 their melodious fountains. 
 
 Louis XV. could no longer boast the exquisite grace of 
 his youth when " he rivalled in beauty the god of Love 
 himself," as Rigaud, Van Loo and Nattier have shown ; yet 
 the weary years had not robbed him of his charm. Drouais 
 in 1773 was the last to paint the monarch, and did full 
 justice to his grand manner and to the infinite sadness of 
 his eyes, haunted by mysticism and sensual withal. There 
 had always been a fascination in his countenance, with its
 
 A HARASSED KING 59 
 
 look of royalty, and in his nature, which was in turn so 
 hesitating and so abrupt, so full of contrasts and incon- 
 sistencies. He was still " the elusive," " the indefinable," 
 as Madame de Pompadour had dubbed him, as reserved 
 and silent as his ill-regulated childhood had led one to 
 expect ; and pride in his sovereignty had isolated him still 
 more. 
 
 His quickness of understanding had only accentuated his 
 indecision of character ; he could never choose, and because 
 of this quality of complete detachment his actions were 
 usually governed by his mistresses, his ministers, or the 
 passing influence of his surroundings. His one vivid desire, 
 that of the senses, could never be slaked ; and to this 
 torture of the flesh was added his deep thirst for celestial 
 things, the thirst of a Christian soul trembling on the verge 
 of eternity. The melancholy with which he spoke of suffer- 
 ing and death was never so great as after a night of self- 
 indulgence. 
 
 Always he had kept his troubles to himself, but now with 
 increasing age his spirit failed, and to gentle, compassionate 
 Madame Du Barry he would pour out all his anguish of 
 heart, the cares of his crown, his fear of the morrow at the 
 threats of philosophers and the murmurs of his people. She 
 could console him, and find words to lull his misery ; and 
 succeeded sometimes in restoring him to confidence and 
 serenity. 
 
 Her intimate friends came to pay their court to the 
 favourite in her salon at Fontainebleau, and first among 
 them was the Duke d'Aiguillon, who was drawn to her by 
 love as much as by self-interest, for he had fallen a victim to- 
 the charms of his patroness. She even induced him to give 
 Adolphe Du Barry a supernumerary cornetcy in his regi- 
 ment in the place of the Duke de Pecquigny, who had suc- 
 ceeded to his father's title as Duke de Chaulnes. Adolphe 
 was the only one of her connections of whom Madame Du 
 Barry made a protege. The Roue, for instance, who had 
 dared to beg for the appointment of his friend, Genee de 
 Brocheau, as minister of finance, was advised to travel for
 
 60 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 his health and drink the waters, for which in his imprudent 
 ignorance he imagined he had no use. 
 
 Next to hunting the theatre was the chief amusement of 
 the autumn season. " The first performance was that of 
 Merope and the Sauvages, and was not very entertaining," 
 wrote the Master of the Ceremonies. " The following day 
 Jsabelle et Gertrude and Le Deserteur were acted. The King 
 did not hide that he was extremely bored by the plays, 
 especially on account of their length." But perhaps he 
 missed his favourite who added such lustre to these enter- 
 tainments. After the insult offered her by Lauraguais, she 
 never appeared except hi a private box, and hence His 
 Majesty's display of moodiness. 
 
 One day about this time Monsieur d'Aiguillon introduced 
 to the favourite a young officer of his company who desired 
 to address a petition to her. This was Monsieur de Belleval 
 of the light cavalry, and he came to beg for the life of a 
 deserter. The man Carpentier had enlisted and served with 
 zeal in the Provins regiment, but in an attack of home- 
 sickness had fled, taking with him his horse and his uniform. 
 He was seized, tried and condemned to death. In his 
 distress he turned to Monsieur de Belleval, who applied to 
 d'Aiguillon. ' You cannot obtain what you want through 
 me," said the Duke, " but through Madame Du Barry." 
 The officer was introduced to the favourite and thus relates 
 his introduction : 
 
 I had already seen the Countess several times, but only 
 from afar, so that, though I could appreciate the general 
 effect of her celebrated beauty, I could not observe its 
 details. She was carelessly seated, or rather reclining, in a 
 large easy chair, and she wore a white dress with wreaths 
 of roses that I can still see before me. . . . Madame 
 Du Barry was one of the prettiest women at a Court which 
 could boast so many, and certainly the perfection of her 
 loveliness made her the most fascinating. Her hair, which 
 she often wore unpowdered, was of a beautiful golden 
 colour, and she had so much that she scarcely knew what 
 to do with it all ; her wide blue eyes looked with engaging 
 frankness at him to whom she spoke. She had a straight
 
 THE FAVOURITE'S POPULARITY 61 
 
 little nose, and a complexion of dazzling purity. In a word, 
 one was soon under her charm, as happened to me so soon that 
 I wellnigh forgot my petition in the delight of beholding her. 
 
 The Duke gallantly drew her attention to the young 
 " red-coat's " flattering agitation, but the latter soon re- 
 covered his composure, and urged the confidence placed in 
 her by the whole regiment on behalf of the unfortunate man. 
 " I promise to speak to the King," she replied, " and I hope 
 His Majesty will not deny me this favour. Monsieur le Due 
 is well aware that his friends are mine, and I am grateful 
 to him for not forgetting it." With a few more gracious 
 words she dismissed them ; Monsieur d'Aiguillon kissed her 
 hand, saying : " You grant this to the captain ; have you 
 nothing for the company ? " She smiled, and held out her 
 pretty hand to Belleval. 
 
 On the following day a footman wearing the livery of the 
 Countess brought him the message that he was expected, 
 and at six o'clock he was admitted to the favourite's apart- 
 ment. There were many people present, among them the 
 King leaning against the fireplace. As soon as she saw the 
 young officer, Madame Du Barry exclaimed : " Sire, here 
 is my ' redcoat ' come to thank Your Majesty ! " " You 
 must first thank Madame la Comtesse," replied Louis XV., 
 " and tell your protege that he must blot out the memory 
 of his fault by his zealous attention to duty." The good 
 news was brought to Provins the very same evening, and 
 created much youthful enthusiasm among the officers. 
 
 These evidences of popularity caused Choiseul greater 
 anxiety than he cared to show ; but he was so clever in 
 hiding his feelings that Madame Du Deffand could write to 
 Walpole when informing him of the appointment of the new 
 minister of finance : 
 
 I supped on Tuesday with " grandpapa " ; he was, 
 as usual, extremely gay and cheerful ; he will be like Charles 
 VII., of whom it was said that " never was kingdom more 
 gaily lost." You know that we have a new Minister of 
 Finance, the Abbe Terray ; he is a man of over sixty, who is 
 a King's Councillor, has won a Parliamentary reputation,
 
 62 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 and is at the head of Monsieur le Prince de Conde's council. 
 He has an income of fifty million crowns. Do you think 
 he would have accepted the office if he had not felt certain 
 of his power to acquit himself well ? He owes his nomina- 
 tion to the chancellor. . . . When Monsieur d'Invault 
 sent in his resignation, the King called a committee at the 
 Chancellor's of the four Secretaries of State, Messieurs de 
 Choiseul and de Praslin, Bertin and Saint-Florentin, so that 
 they might discuss whom to choose. Several people were 
 proposed, among others the Archbishop of Toulouse ; 
 very one kept back his opinion so that nothing should 
 prevent him from being the very humble servant of him who 
 was nominated. This committee met on Tuesday the igih, 
 and on Wednesday morning the Abbe Terray was appointed. 
 
 The new minister of finance, being a man of parts, was not 
 slow in showing his devotion to Madame Du Barry. Her 
 position was now secure, and she dealt with Choiseul with 
 ever-growing assurance. On November 16, 1769, she sent 
 him a note, and with playful irony, reminded him of the 
 promise he had made six months ago to her protege Nallet : 
 
 You have been mistaken in your counsellors, Monsieur le 
 Due, or you would not have written to me six months ago 
 that, since the supplies for the Corsican battalions had best 
 be contracted for, you would, as soon as the Sieur Delisle 
 had arrived, engage the Sieur Nallet, with whose services 
 you were quite satisfied. It seems that the former adminis- 
 trator has other plans in view than yours, since he is so slow 
 to obey your orders. You must feel as I do how little his 
 presence here is required for the carrying out of your wishes. 
 Whether he arrives or not you can thus employ the Sieur 
 Nallet, if you insist in believing him capable of satisfactorily 
 performing his duties ; but should you have changed your 
 mind, Monsieur le Due, do not let us refer to the matter 
 again. I shall be none the less assured of your readiness 
 to do anything that may be agreeable to me. 
 
 I have the honour to be with the deepest respect, Monsieur 
 
 le Due 
 
 Your most humble and obedient servant, 
 
 La Comtesse Du Barry. 1 
 
 1 The Revue de Paris for 1829 also published a note from the 
 Countess thanking Monsieur de Choiseul for his kindness in having
 
 A FANTASTIC STORY 63 
 
 This letter with its restrained irony and light touch of 
 impertinence must have given Monsieur de Choiseul food 
 for reflection. 
 
 The writer who has most generously supplied the bio- 
 graphies of Madame Du Barry with anecdotes, invented a 
 very amusing inaugural scene for the year 1770. " On the 
 first day of January, Madame Du Barry entered the King's 
 apartment with great liveliness of manner, and said she had 
 come to ask for her New Year's gift, namely the ' loges de 
 Nantes ' . . . 1 She added that it was for her dear 
 friend, Madame de Mirepoix. The King smiled, and 
 replied : ' Madame, I grieve to say that I cannot grant you 
 this favour, as I have already disposed of the loges.' Pouts 
 from the fair Countess, and the reply : ' Very well, this is 
 the fourth time you have refused me a favour ; deuce take 
 me, if I ever trouble you again.' ' You are quick to pout,' 
 answered His Majesty, ' I can do no more, for the gift is 
 already promised, and to whom do you think, Madame ? 
 To you.' ' 
 
 Pidansat de Mayrobert, the chronicler of this event, was 
 evidently little acquainted with Court etiquette ; custom 
 did not permit one to rush in to the King like that, especially 
 on January i. Besides, the favourite knew Louis XV. too 
 well to dare to make such a demand so directly and in such 
 a manner. Yet it was a fact that she had written some time 
 previously to the sovereign, requesting the concession of 
 the ' loges de Nantes ' to Madame de Mirepoix, and that on 
 December 23, His Majesty signed the letters patent granting 
 the income derived from these shops to Madame Du Barry 
 herself. 
 
 Madame de Mirepoix lost nothing by this decision. The 
 King was grateful to her for having been willing to protect 
 
 allowed " her brother " to keep his company of dragoons. The 
 Goncourts were deceived by the facsimiles submitted to the Revue 
 by Choiseul, and were surprised to see " the unformed letters of a 
 child, who had just begun to write." But the notes were dictated 
 to Chon, and only the signature was written by Madame Du Barry 
 herself. 
 
 1 The revenue derived from certain shops.
 
 64 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 the favourite from the first. She had similarly been 
 intimate with Madame de Pompadour, but then she was on 
 the side of her friends, the Choiseuls, and of her brother, 
 the Prince de Beauvau. Her kindness to Madame Du Barry 
 may be traced to the influence of her enormous debts, which 
 only Louis XV. could reduce. Besides gambling, this great 
 lady, whose beauty was still so youthful, who was always 
 " so gentle and obliging," had one other passion, a sincere 
 love for her husband. Such a state of affairs was rare and 
 even a little ridiculous in the eighteenth century, but the 
 delightful woman had a gifted personality and could save 
 the situation. She seldom left Versailles, and was counted 
 among the favourite's faithful soupeuses. 
 
 After the debotti the company usually repaired to the 
 King's apartment on the first floor for supper and for cards. 
 These rooms had formerly belonged to Madame Adelaide, 
 but she now occupied Madame de Pompadour's last quarters 
 on the ground floor, an arrangement which left free the 
 whole floor of the " Petits Cabinets " for the mistress, as 
 His Majesty had desired. The " Petits Cabinets," where 
 Louis XV. and his guests used formerly to spend the evening, 
 were at the top of the building above the Royal bedchamber 
 and its adjoining rooms, and formed part of the King's suite 
 of apartments. 1 In this silent quarter of Versailles the 
 Sovereign could withdraw from the world of politics and 
 parade, and here he lodged Marie- Josephe de Saxe during 
 her widowhood. Here, too, she died of grief on March 13, 
 1767, and three years later the rooms were assigned to 
 Madame Du Barry. 
 
 Successive occupants have made of the place a delightful 
 dwelling. The narrow, low-ceiled rooms have even now an 
 intimate charm, and the effect of the plain white-and-gold 
 of the decoration is most happy. But they are full of sad 
 memories, fading indeed with the years, though the gold of 
 the mirrors and panels still shines bright. We should have 
 
 J P. de Nolhac, Le Chateau de Versailles sous Louis XV., whose 
 thorough researches have corrected the many inaccuracies of the 
 historians on this point.
 
 AN INFORMAL COURT 65 
 
 seen them when the beautiful mistress was at the height of 
 her glory, when courtiers came to pay her devoted homage, 
 especially when in the evening the lights brought out the 
 rarity of the furniture, the incomparable beauty of the 
 inlaid work, of chased bronzes and of painted porcelain, of 
 the heavy carpets on which trailed the long panier-dresses 
 of the great ladies who formed the court of the favourite, 
 the Duchess de Valentinois, Madame de 1'Hopital, the 
 Princess de Talmont, Mesdames de Montmorency and 
 d'Aiguillon, and many others. 
 
 Mademoiselle Chon Du Barry's apartments adjoined those 
 of her sister-in-law. In the numerous cabinets on the same 
 floor and above it Louis XV. kept his aviary, his store of 
 sweetmeats, his library, which contained numerous geo- 
 graphical charts, and bracketed to a narrow window was 
 his telescope, with which he studied the stars, and with 
 which he could descry from afar the equipages of his 
 courtiers in the Avenue de Paris. 
 
 The Duke de Croy has described in his journal the general 
 feeling at Versailles at this time : "I observed that by 
 degrees people went more and more to see the Countess. 
 She had been given the ' Cabinets ' rooms, which formerly 
 belonged to Madame the late Dauphine. All this gave 
 her the advantage of being treated openly as a lady of the 
 Court ; she was, with everyone else, present at all the enter- 
 tainments, and one became accustomed to it. Thus she 
 gained much, but she appeared to have no aptitude for 
 intrigue ; she loved dress, and to be seen everywhere 
 without showing any desire to intervene in State affairs. 
 . . . Her manner to the other ladies seemed respect- 
 ful, and she never ventured too far. Altogether, I was 
 inclined to believe that people would become accustomed 
 to her, and that perhaps she had no ambition to become 
 other than she was." 
 
 But the Countess was more powerful than the old courtier 
 
 realised. At that time Choiseul himself would have yielded, 
 
 and wished for a reconciliation with the mistress, but the 
 
 latter was no longer prepared to " meet him half way." 
 
 F
 
 66 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 He confided the anxiety this caused him to the Marquise 
 Du Deffand, and one of her friends composed the following 
 lines, whose vivacity masks their serious intent : 
 
 A Madame la Comtesse Du Barry, a 1'occasion de sa division avec 
 
 Monsieur de Choiseul. 
 
 Deesse des plaisirs, tendre mere des Graces, 
 Pourquoi veux-tu meler aux fetes de Paphos 
 Les noirs soup5ons, les honteuses disgraces ? 
 Ah ! pourquoi mediter la perte d'un Heros ? . . . 
 
 Soumets les dieux a ton empire ; 
 Venus sur tous les cceurs regne par sa beaute ; 
 
 Cueilles dans un riant delire 
 
 Les roses de la volupte ; 
 
 Et rends le calme a Neptune agite ! 
 Ulysse, ce mortel aux Troyens formidable 
 
 Que tu poursuis dans ton courroux, 
 
 Pour la beaute n'est redoutable 
 
 Qu'en soupirant a ses genoux. 
 
 The authority of the Abbe Terray, who was himself so 
 unsparingly lampooned, was increasing ; Monsieur d'Aiguil- 
 lon was on the best of terms with the mistress ; on all sides 
 unfavourable signs were accumulating against Monsieur de 
 Choiseul, and Madame Du Deffand, who had for so long 
 trusted in " Grandpapa's " star, wrote to Walpole : 
 
 Until now our friend has kept a good face on the matter, 
 but I doubt whether we shall reach the end of the year with- 
 out some great change in the state of affairs. ... La 
 Du Barry by herself is of no consequence, she is a stick for 
 the support of others. ... It was " Grandpapa's " fault 
 that he did not do as he liked with her ; I cannot believe that 
 his conduct has been right, or that his pride has been 
 well-judged. In my opinion Mesdames de Beauvau and de 
 Grammont have proved unwise counsellors. At present 
 he has another friend who does not agree with these ladies, 
 but who cannot diminish their ascendancy over him ; 
 this lady is Madame De Brionne. ... I think she will 
 cost him a great deal of money. 
 
 With the arrival of the Archduchess Marie Antoinette, 
 the minister's prestige rose again, at least temporarily. 
 The contemplated union between Maria Theresa's daughter 
 and the heir to the throne of France had been the work of
 
 MARIE ANTOINETTE 67 
 
 Choiseul, and the young Dauphine would no doubt prove 
 grateful to him. Madame Du Barry had been inspired with 
 such diffidence by her enemies that she hesitated to appear 
 at the approaching entertainments. " There was much dis- 
 cussion," wrote the Duke de Croy, " whether the favourite 
 was going to the wedding or not. She had ordered 
 several charming costumes, for she loved dress and would 
 have been inconsolable at not being allowed to come." Never- 
 theless, she made all arrangements for leaving the Court 
 until after the marriage celebration, but Richelieu, who was 
 prudent and knew his sovereign, saved her from committing 
 such an irretrievable indiscretion. 
 
 The fair Archduchess came, travelling by short stages, 
 amid the acclamations of the crowds lining the route, who 
 hailed her as a pledge of peace. On the eve of May 14 
 Louis XV. and the Dauphin, together with the Royal 
 Family, arrived at Compiegne, where they intended to 
 receive her. The following day a brilliant cortege was 
 formed which went to meet her in the forest. Mesdames 
 de France and all the ladies were in full dress, the King 
 and the Princes were wearing the decoration of the Holy 
 Ghost. The coaches advanced slowly to the sound of drum 
 and clarion as far as the border of the wood, where Louis 
 descended, for there before them came the graceful young 
 bride of fifteen. She was neither tall nor beautiful, but her 
 figure was lithe and slender, and she had laughing eyes and 
 a dazzling complexion. She jumped from her carriage, and 
 in an instant was at the feet of the King ; he raised her, 
 clasping her in his arms, and then presented her to the 
 Dauphin and Mesdames, who embraced her in turn. The 
 next day Marie Antoinette was taken to the chateau of 
 La Muette, where she was received by her young brothers- 
 in-law, the Count de Provence and the Count d'Artois. In 
 the evening the King supped there " with Monsieur le 
 Dauphin, Madame la Dauphine, the Royal Family, some 
 Princes and Princesses of the Blood, the ladies-in-waiting 
 and several other members of the high nobility. The Coun- 
 tess Du Barry was also present." She was indeed the most
 
 68 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 beautiful of the forty great ladies there. " Her presence at 
 this banquet," said Croy, " led one to believe that she would 
 succeed in crushing the party opposing her." Her name 
 appeared on the list of guests between those of the Duchess 
 de Chevreuse and the Duchess de Mirepoix, a fairly high 
 place. With the other ladies invited she had received the 
 following note from the First Lord-in- Waiting : 
 
 Madame, 
 
 I have the honour to inform you that the King has included 
 jrou in the list of ladies who may come to La Muette the I5th 
 of this month, on the occasion of the arrival of Madame la 
 Dauphine. If for any reason you are unable to be present, 
 I beg you to inform me of it. 
 
 I am with respect, Madame, your most humble and 
 obedient servant, 
 
 Le Due d'Aumont. 
 
 On the following day the marriage service was held in 
 the chapel of Versailles. The gorgeousness displayed on 
 all hands was unprecedented, but the Countess exceeded 
 everyone in the splendour of her attire. The scene was one 
 of marvellous pageantry and surpassed in magnificence the 
 recent weddings of the Princess de Lamballe and the Duchess 
 de Chartres. The spring sun shone ; the sound of the organ 
 mingled harmoniously with the voice of the Archbishop of 
 Rheims ; the King's eyes wandered from the Dauphine, 
 all in white brocade, to his wonderful mistress and her brave 
 show of jewels. 
 
 There followed nine days of festivities, in which Madame 
 Du Barry always took part. The day after the ceremony 
 witnessed the inaugural representation at the Chateau's 
 new Opera-house. The favourite, who was very much in 
 evidence in her box, received nearly all the honours, a cir- 
 cumstance which " Madame la Dauphine did not appear to 
 appreciate," as Papillon de la Ferte wrote in his diary. 
 Unfortunately, Quinault and Lulli's wearisome Persee had 
 been selected for this first performance, but the entertain- 
 ments were often varied, and one evening after the ball the 
 Court went out into the gardens and mixed with the crowd.
 
 THE MARRIAGE FESTIVITIES 69 
 
 The whole park was illuminated ; at the end of a long vista 
 the temple of the Sun was discernible ; shining gondolas 
 glided by on the shimmering Grand Canal, making the 
 smooth surface sparkle with the reflections of the stars. 
 Along the " Tapis Vert " pale statues gleamed in the dark- 
 ness, and the limpid waters of the " Parterre d'Eau " 
 reflected in fantastic lines the image of the Chateau's 
 immense fa?ade and its blazing lights. Neither the King 
 nor the Dauphine had ventured out for fear of the fresh 
 night air. But from the balcony of the " Galerie des Glaces " 
 they could enjoy the witchery of the scene with its twelve 
 flaming groves ; and among the crowd they could distin- 
 guish the favourite on the arm of gallant d'Aiguillon, 
 Madame de Brionne with the Duke de Choiseul, the youth- 
 ful Countess de Polignac, the Princess de Lamballe, the 
 Duchesses de Grammont, de Boufflers, de Fitz- James, the 
 Countesses de Broglie, de Chabrillan, d'Egmont, and many 
 others, the pride and ornament of Versailles. 
 
 In the whirl of festivities all bitterness of heart was for- 
 gotten, but the feud between Madame Du Barry and the 
 minister soon blazed up anew on the subject of two actresses. 
 The Dauphin was an admirer of Racine's tragedies, and 
 especially of Athalie, which he knew by heart, and he wished 
 this masterpiece to be performed. The play was to be pro- 
 duced with great splendour, and was expected to be the 
 most beautiful performance of its kind ever seen. Made- 
 moiselle Clairon, who had left the stage three years before, 
 offered to take the leading part, and was supported by the 
 Duke d'Aumont's daughter, the Duchess de Villeroy, and 
 by Monsieur de Choiseul. The favourite, on the other hand, 
 upheld the claims of Mademoiselle Du Mesnil, whose im- 
 passioned acting appealed to the taste of the age. La 
 Clairon was triumphant, but not without exciting much 
 opposition. " It was a crying shame," wrote Mon- 
 sieur de Croy, " to deprive Mademoiselle Du Mesnil of a 
 part which she played with such distinction." La Clairon's 
 " simple, rational " rendering was not received by the dis- 
 satisfied public with the acclamation of her former successes.
 
 70 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 The blow was great, and in spite of all that had passed, 
 Madame Du Barry " pitied the ancient Melpomene for her 
 humiliation," and presented her with a magnificent costume. 
 On the evening of May 30 the King and the favourite 
 went to Bellevue. From the terrace they watched the dis- 
 play of fireworks given, according to ancient custom, by 
 the town of Paris, in honour of the young bridal pair. It 
 was to be hi the place Louis XV. and Marie Antoinette and 
 Mesdames were driving to the capital in order to be present. 
 They had reached the Cours-la-Reine, where they 
 obtained a full view of the beautiful, illuminated city, when 
 cries of terror were heard, causing them great agitation. 
 An enormous crowd was being crushed and stifled in the 
 rue Royale ; the badly-filled ditches had given way with 
 fatal consequences ; people were trodden under foot and 
 the terrible piles of corpses grew. The Royal carriages 
 returned with the brokenhearted little Dauphine. " Three 
 hundred lives are said to have been lost " wrote Monsieur de 
 Croy. " This tragic festival caused the greatest consterna- 
 tion among the people, an unfavourable omen as regards 
 the purpose of that memorable marriage." 1 
 
 1 The official figure was 132.
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 THE FAVOURITE AND THE MINISTERS 
 
 The Breton Parliament Madame Du Barry and the Duke d'Aiguil- 
 lon The Chancellor Maupeou and the Parliaments Disgrace 
 of the Duke de Choiseul Gustavus III. The Dauphine 
 and the Favourite Marriage of the Count de Provence 
 The Duke d'Aiguillon appointed to the Ministry The Salon 
 of 1771 Choiseul made to resign his position as Colonel of the 
 Swiss Regiment Generous Intervention of Madame Du Barry. 
 
 THE arrival of a Dauphine at Court materially altered 
 the relative positions of the two opposing parties. 
 Here was a new power to be taken into account and 
 Mesdames immediately set themselves to prevail on 
 the young Princess to exert her influence against that of 
 the favourite. Thus Marie Antoinette and Madame Du 
 Barry were to be at variance from the first. The Dauphine 
 despised the woman who was only there " to amuse the 
 master " and she suffered in her pride at seeing another 
 occupy the position that was rightfully hers. On the other 
 hand the Countess feared the charm of the young bride 
 whose ingenuous grace had captivated the King ; she 
 might become a formidable instrument in the hands of the 
 Barriens' opponents, and the mistress consequently re- 
 solved to take a more decided interest in politics. 
 
 Naturally she was on the side of Choiseul's enemy, 
 Richelieu, and supported the interests of the Duke d'Aiguil- 
 lon, his nephew. This was not surprising, for the policy 
 they upheld, that of complete resistance to the demands 
 of the Parliaments, was in accordance with the spirit of Louis' 
 own government. Thus Madame Du Barry espoused the 
 cause of d'Aiguillon in the matter of the Breton Parliament, 
 an affair which also involved the honour of the King. 
 Monsieur d'Aiguillon, " the dark, sombre courtier," was
 
 72 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 undoubtedly in love, at least for the time, with the woman 
 who worked so devotedly for his advancement. Of course, 
 the Duke and her ladyship were said to be on the most 
 intimate terms, just as had formerly been said of Choiseul 
 and Madame de Pompadour. The Duke de Choiseul, whose 
 accusations against his rival can scarcely be allowed great 
 value, wrote later in his memoirs : "He had persuaded the 
 King that he was a martyr to his power and to his devotion 
 to His Majesty's person, nor did he meet with much diffi- 
 culty in winning and sharing with the King the good graces 
 of Madame Du Barry." But more impartial witnesses gave a 
 different explanation of Monsieur d' Aiguillon's influence over 
 the favourite. " The control he exercises is due rather to his 
 deference and his attentions than to any decided ascendancy 
 he may have over her," wrote the Austrian Ambassador to 
 Kaunitz. That for the somewhat faded attractions of this 
 man the Countess should have risked honours, fortune and 
 the affection of a jealous and suspicious sovereign alike, is 
 unthinkable. According to Mercy, " Monsieur d' Aiguillon's 
 very clever and devoted friend " was not the young favour- 
 ite, but rather Mademoiselle Chon Du Barry. The latter 
 had at once realised the value of the support of the able 
 and determined nobleman who had formerly been Chief 
 Commandant of the province of Brittany, and was 
 experienced in the management of men. 
 
 Richelieu's nephew has suffered much detraction, but he 
 possessed nevertheless qualities of intelligence, suppleness 
 and perseverance, and his official position bore sufficient 
 witness to his bravery. He won all his promotions on the 
 field of battle, for he had campaigned in Italy while still 
 Count d'Agenois. Needless to say, he fought there in 
 desperation, for love of the fair La Tournelle, Duchess de 
 Chateauroux, whom the King had just carried off from 
 him. At the attack of the Chateau-Dauphin in Piedmont, 
 he was dangerously wounded ; " the same blow seemed to 
 strike Madame de La Tournelle," wrote Maurepas, " which 
 rather grieved the King." 1 As Duke d'Aiguillon and Com- 
 
 1 Memoives du comte de Maurepas, Vol. IV., p. 114.
 
 A COSTLY EPIGRAM 73 
 
 mandant of Brittany, he repulsed the English during the 
 Seven Years' War, and in September, 1758, won over them 
 the celebrated victory of Saint-Cast. His popularity was 
 then at its height, but it was not to last for long. 
 
 In 1764 the province rose against its governor on account 
 of the imposition of certain taxes which had been rejected 
 by the Parliament of Rennes. The King had reversed 
 their decree, to which the Parliament replied by dissolving, 
 and the magistrates, followed by the armed forces of the 
 whole country, commenced a relentless attack on the Duke 
 d'Aiguillon. The Attorney-General, Monsieur de la Chalo- 
 tais, and his son, who led the revolt, accused the governor 
 of despotism, assailed him with bitter taunts, and even 
 denied him the honour of having won Saint-Cast, saying 
 that at : the mill commanding the field " the Breton troops 
 had been covered with glory, and then* general with flour." 
 According to Choiseul this epigram cost the two magistrates 
 an imprisonment, and with them four other members of the 
 Breton Parliament were arrested. 
 
 In the lawsuit of 1770 against d'Aiguillon he was accused 
 of every conceivable crime, the allegations as often as not 
 being unsupported by evidence. He was re-appointed 
 Commandant by the Duke de Duras, and brought forward 
 in his defence documents which were burnt in public by the 
 hangman at Rennes. But Richelieu contrived interviews 
 for him with the favourite, and thus gave him the oppor- 
 tunity of interesting her in the smallest details of his case. 
 He spoke of the inflammable, independent Bretons, and the 
 difficulties in the way of him who would govern them, 
 many having failed who attempted the task ; he told her 
 of his troubles, of the life darkened by calumny that he was 
 destined to lead did she not come to his help ; and with 
 gentle persuasion he gradually won her over. His mother 
 also pleaded his cause with an impassioned eloquence that 
 succeeded in convincing the Countess. 
 
 Thus for the first time the favourite exercised her influence 
 over the sovereign in a matter of grave political importance. 
 She had first to foil the craftiness of the Chancellor Maupeou,
 
 74 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 who was the real instigator of the Brittany affair, and 
 controlled it, usually to his own advantage. In the Ministry 
 he appeared to have deserted Choiseul and taken d'Aiguil- 
 lon's part ; but, as the result of the judicial debate showed, 
 he served him to such ill purpose that Monsieur Linguet, 
 the Duke's chief advocate, wrote : " What cruel friends 
 you have there, monsieur le due." 
 
 The King ratified the judgment of the Court of Peers, 
 and all kinds of difficulties were brought up hindering the 
 progress of the trial. The demands of the Parliaments 
 knew no bounds, public opinion was hostile to the accused 
 and to the government, and " the most convincing arguments 
 could scarcely have overcome all the prejudice, partiality 
 and intrigue." 1 The Chancellor turned to the ready tact of 
 the Minister of Finance for advice, and was told : " We 
 must extricate ourselves from this affair in the way least 
 compromising to authority." Louis XV. ordered the whole 
 procedure to be annulled, and Maupeou made the following 
 energetic speech before the combined chambers : 
 
 " The King has been surprised that some of the witnesses 
 have deposed to facts alien to the trial, and that they have 
 backed their depositions by council decrees and orders 
 emanating from his supreme authority. Those who are 
 charged with the execution of these orders are responsible 
 to the King alone, and his Majesty would be lacking in due 
 dignity were he to submit the details of the government of 
 his kingdom to a discussion by a merely judicial assembly. 
 He has observed in Monsieur le due d'Aiguillon nothing but 
 the greatest zeal, and is satisfied that he has in no way abused 
 the power confided to him. But if his Majesty considers 
 it his duty to justify the Duke publicly and deny all that 
 may have offended his honour, he also owes it to his own 
 prestige not to allow others to penetrate into the sanctuary 
 of his administration. . . ." 
 
 Indignation was widespread, and in the popular ferment 
 might be read a warning that henceforth absolute monarchy 
 was only to be maintained by coups d'etat. The anger 
 
 1 A private letter of Monsieur d'Aiguillon, of May 4, 1770, quoted 
 by Flammennont in Le chevalier Maupeou et les Parlements, p. 83.
 
 D'AIGUILLON TRIUMPHANT 75 
 
 of the public, as usual, found expression in ballads, and 
 Madame Du Barry's protege was lampooned as follows : 
 
 Oublions jusqu'a la trace 
 
 De mon procds suspendu ; 
 
 Avec des lettres de grace, 
 
 On ne peut etre pendu. 
 
 Je triomphe de Ten vie, 
 
 Je jouis de la faveur ; 
 
 Si j'avais perdu la vie, 
 
 Je n'aurais pas ce bonheur ; 
 
 Mais, grace aux soins de ma mie, 
 
 Je n'ai perdu que 1'honneur ! 
 
 While Messieurs de la Chalotais languished in prison, the 
 Duke d'Aiguillon was feted at Louveciennes, and invited 
 to a dinner over which his Majesty presided. The candles 
 in the golden chandeliers of the Countess' drawing-room 
 shed their soft light on a brilliant company. She herself 
 was pale under her rouge, for she was exhausted by the 
 agitations of the campaign she had conducted on behalf of 
 her protege. Louis could not withdraw his gaze from his 
 mistress, and yet he was still thinking of Elizabeth of 
 Austria, the Archduchess who had sworn she would marry 
 no one else. In his secret correspondence we read how he 
 gave instructions that an agent leaving for Vienna should be 
 careful to examine the Princess " from top to toe, not 
 excepting any part of her that he could possibly see." 1 
 At that time, too, he sent a diplomatic reply to a letter 
 that Choiseul had written in his anxiety at the support 
 given to the Duke d'Aiguillon : 
 
 You will find a letter in this packet, again from Monsieur 
 de Fuentes [the Spanish Ambassador]. His praise of you 
 is very well-judged. 
 
 First about Monsieur d'Aiguillon. How can you imagine 
 that he will take your place ? I like him well enough 
 certainly, since the trick I played on him a long time ago ; 
 but what good could he do seeing that he is so hated ? 
 
 You manage my affairs well, and I am satisfied with you ; 
 but have a care of those in whom you confide and of gratui- 
 tous advice ; I have always hated it, and detest it now more 
 
 1 June 6, 1770. Boutarie, Corr. Secrete de Louis XV.
 
 76 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 than ever before. You know Madame Du Barry ; most 
 certainly I did not become acquainted with her through 
 Monsieur de Richelieu although he knew her, and he dare 
 not see her ; the only time that he has seen her was at my 
 express command, and that was only for a moment. I had 
 thought of making her acquaintance before she married. 
 She is pretty, I am pleased with her, and her, too, I am 
 always advising to have a care of those in whom she confides 
 and of her advisers ; you may be sure she has several. 
 She has no feeling of hatred for you ; she recognises your 
 talent and bears you no grudge. The denunciations of her 
 have been frightful, and for the most part unfounded. 
 They would all be at her feet if . . Such is the 
 world. 
 
 She is very pretty ; she pleases me, and that should be 
 enough. Do they want me to take a girl of quality ? If the 
 Archduchess were agreeable to me I should marry her with 
 pleasure. But I should prefer to see her and know her first. 
 Her brother has been looking for a wife, and has not suc- 
 ceeded. I think I should be able to judge better than he, 
 for this matter must really be brought to an end ; otherwise 
 the fair sex is sure to continue disturbing me, as you may 
 rest assured I do not intend to give you a Damede Maintenon. 
 And that, I think, is sufficient for the present. . . . 
 
 These opinions notwithstanding, his Majesty graciously 
 permitted the Duke d'Aiguillon to join the Court at Marly. 
 The sojourn in that little chateau was expected to establish 
 closer relations between the members of the Royal Family, 
 and Louis XV. felt some anxiety as to how the favourite 
 would be received by the Dauphine and the Princesses. 
 The latter were now elderly women, whose solid maturity 
 bore but little resemblance to the gracefulness of their youth 
 as portrayed by Nattier. When Madame Sophie was at 
 the convent of Fontevrault she had been a fair, shy girl 
 with the delicate charm of youth ; but the years had extin- 
 guished her powers of will, of thought, and of passion, 
 and left her an insipid, colourless woman. Madame Victoire, 
 the lovely brunette of the picture, with the long, disturbing 
 eyes, still boasted the imposing presence of the Bourbons, 
 but her attractions had vanished, and only goodness of
 
 ' 
 
 MADAME I)U BARRY 
 f!nst in biscuit de Sevres by J. B. Laitayne
 
 AN OUTSPOKEN CRITICISM 77 
 
 heart remained. Both were dominated by their haughty 
 sister, Madame Adelaide, whom in her youth the painter 
 drew in the likeness of a fair Diana resting beside a fountain. 
 Since the death of the Infanta and of Madame Henriette, 
 she had been the King's favourite daughter, but even 
 then how little they had in common ! She was always 
 unoccupied, and spent her life in petty machinations, guided 
 in everything by her Mistress of the Robes, the intriguing 
 Madame de Narbonne. 
 
 In the salon on the ground floor of Versailles, with its 
 outlook both on the Parterre d'Eau and the Parterre du 
 Nord, Mesdames de France received their little circle of 
 supporters. The Duke de Choiseul was now among those 
 who came most eagerly to pay their court to the Princesses, 
 although they had formerly always declined to see him, 
 particularly since he drove out the Jesuits. But they 
 had been drawn together by their common animosity 
 against the favourite. 
 
 Madame la Dauphine was thus to live in an atmosphere 
 of violent hostility to the Countess, and the latter, with a 
 presentiment of the antipathy with which she would be 
 regarded by her, prepared to strengthen her hold over the 
 Sovereign. But for the moment she thought only of resting. 
 During the short stay at Marly she might be seen walking 
 in the great park, where the water of the wonderful fountains 
 tinkled melodiously on their marble basins ; and she used 
 to meet the King in " the groves of Luciennes " or on the 
 terraces of the summer-house. She wore full-dress only 
 in the evenings, when she joined the Dauphine at cards. 
 The latter was annoyed at the attentions his Majesty paid 
 to his beautiful mistress, and wrote to her august mother 
 describing the chilly atmosphere of these evening receptions : 
 " Madame, my dearest mother, the King shows me every 
 kindness, and I love him tenderly ; but his weakness for 
 Madame Du Barry is pitiful, for she is the stupidest and 
 most impertinent creature you could imagine. She played 
 cards with us every evening at Marly ; twice she sat beside 
 me, but she never spoke to me, and I made no attempt to
 
 78 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 enter into conversation with her ; though when necessary 
 I have spoken to her." 
 
 At Choisy the number of people in attendance was larger, 
 and the King gave orders for performances at the little 
 theatre of the chateau. One evening Madame Du Barry, 
 Madame de Mirepoix and the Duchess de Valentinois found 
 that their seats in the front row had been taken. The Countess 
 de Grammont, a lady of the bedchamber to the Dauphine, 
 and a sister-in-law of the Duchess Beatrix, on this occasion 
 let fall certain biting expressions aimed at the favourite, 
 and was in consequence punished by being sent into exile. 
 " Her banishment created a tremendous sensation," for 
 she was on the best of terms with the Choiseul family. 
 It showed that her ladyship was becoming a power to be 
 reckoned with, and the young Princess, who saw how a 
 blow had been aimed at one of her own household through 
 that power, could not forgive her. 1 
 
 From Choisy the Court removed to Compiegne, where the 
 days were chiefly spent in hunting. The Countess rode 
 after the hunt wearing the masculine garb of grey silk 
 and lace that she so much affected. But at cards, at suppers 
 and banquets she had an opportunity of displaying the 
 wonderful creations whose good taste and elegance led the 
 fashion at Court. In spite of her fatigue she was still the 
 fairest woman there, and d'Aiguillon was an expert at 
 telling her so in those long interviews, whose wearisome 
 discussion of business he wisely tempered with his gallantry. 
 His affair was by no means over ; the Parliament persisted 
 in their denunciations, wished to continue his trial, and 
 tried to deprive him of his title as a peer of France, saying 
 that he had forfeited it. 2 
 
 The favourite exerted herself to allay the storms of 
 passion which were roused in the King by his feeling of 
 uneasiness at the " republican multitude," whose ideas 
 seemed likely to checkmate his royal authority. Gently, 
 
 1 P. de Nolhac, Marie- Antoinette dauphine, p. 147. 
 On July 2, the Parliament issued a decree excluding d'Aiguillon 
 from the peerage, but Maupeou had it cancelled.
 
 CHOISEUL DENOUNCED 79 
 
 tenderly the Countess strove to reassure the monarch, 
 laughing at the pretentions of the " bigwigs " and their 
 supporters among the Princes of the Blood, and making 
 excuses for the people who had been deceived as to the 
 intentions of their sovereign. The people held no political 
 opinions, and the only reforms for which they clamoured 
 were such as would relieve their poverty. They were 
 convinced that the magistrates were fighting their cause 
 against the demands of despotism, and placed all their trust 
 in them ; they hated Maupeou, Madame Du Barry, and the 
 whole of that party, and all their sympathies were with 
 Choiseul, who supported the Parliaments. 
 
 While at Compiegne a violent dispute between Richelieu 
 and the minister arose, and in the face of the whole Court 
 the Marshal accused the Duchess de Grammont of travelling 
 in the South of France for the purpose of inciting the 
 Provence and Languedoc Parliaments to rebellion. " I 
 told H.R.H. that it looked extremely like a stratagem of 
 the Duke de Choiseul," wrote Mercy to Maria Theresa ; 
 " The Dauphine seemed to disagree with me, though she 
 did not tell me her reasons for believing the contrary ; she 
 added simply that she would let me know them later when 
 she could speak to me at greater leisure." After this 
 episode Louis XV. began to doubt the fidelity of his minister, 
 for his confidence in him was shaken. He was observed to 
 avoid conversation with him, and perhaps he was already 
 thinking of the lettre-de-cachet which was destined to send 
 him into exile. 
 
 On leaving Compiegne the King, the Dauphine, Mesdames 
 and the favourite broke their journey at Chantilly, where 
 Conde" gave them a magnificent reception. But here 
 Louis XV. was seen to give all his attention to Marie 
 Antoinette, while the Prince devoted himself to the Countess, 
 who could judge at its true value the disinterestedness 
 of his assiduous homage. 
 
 On August 31, the Court returned to Versailles, and great 
 preparations were begun for the move to Fontainebleau. 
 Dressmakers and silk and lace merchants came and went
 
 8o A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 in the apartments of the Countess, who yet found time to 
 listen to d'Aiguillon, receive Maupeou, and speak of serious 
 matters to the King. The interminable Brittany affair 
 continued to threaten the peace of the kingdom, not to speak 
 of that of the sovereign. " Agitation is widespread," wrote 
 Madame Du Deffand ; " the Parliaments all stand by each 
 other. . . . We are smothered in petitions, addresses, 
 proclamations, decrees, letters-patent, etc., etc. . . ." 
 Maupeou persuaded Louis XV. to hold another lit de justice, 
 whereby to confiscate all the documents connected with the 
 trial, and to forbid the Parliament any further attacks on 
 d'Aiguillon. The King gave his Council no warning of 
 his intention until half-past ten o'clock of the evening before 
 the ceremony. Choiseul, who was going to hunt the next 
 day at La Ferte"-Vidame with the banker Laborde, 
 thought he might make his excuses, and the King readily 
 granted him leave with a gracious smile that gave no hint 
 of his secret. 
 
 The third day of September proved a surprise to many 
 people. Madame Du Deffand described to Walpole her 
 agitation on hearing the cannon announcing his Majesty's 
 arrival in Paris : 
 
 This morning at ten o'clock I heard to my great astonish- 
 ment the firing of cannon ; I said to myself, " The King has 
 been at Versailles since Friday, when he returned from 
 Chantilly ; can Madame la Dauphine be coming to Notre- 
 Dame? " I rang for my servants and was told that the 
 " Place Louis XV. was full of musketeers, the King having 
 just come to the Parliament." Promptly I imagined that 
 all was lost, that at least some of the Parliament would be 
 put to the sword, that perhaps ... in short, I was all in a 
 whirl. Where should I send ? To Madame de Mirepoix, 
 with whom, by the way, I am on the best of terms ? My 
 servants went ; she was not awake. I sent to all my 
 acquaintances in the neighbourhood, ending up with the 
 fat Duchess [d'Aiguillon], but all were astonished and knew 
 nothing. I was on the point of getting up, I ordered my 
 carriage, intending to go to Madame de Beauvau, and 
 perhaps immediately after to Gennevilliers [to Madame de
 
 A PARLIAMENT REBUKED 81 
 
 Choiseul]. ... I hope you will be satisfied when you 
 hear that the whole turmoil was for Monsieur d'Aiguillon. 
 The King has reprimanded the Parliament, has confiscated 
 the minutes, the copies and all the documents of the case, 
 has forbidden any further mention of the affair, and has 
 enforced this prohibition by the most severe threats should 
 it be disobeyed. . . . 
 
 Monsieur d'Aiguillon seemed to have won the day ; the 
 story goes that he gave the favourite a superb vis-a-vis as 
 a token of his gratitude. According to the libellers this 
 masterpiece was further said to have cost 52,000 livres, 
 a sum sufficient " to support a whole province for several 
 months " ; and the usual verses followed these hungry 
 reflections : 
 
 Pourquoi ce brillant vis-a-vis ? 
 
 Est-ce le char d'une deesse, 
 
 Ou de quelque jeune princesse ? 
 
 S'ecriait un badaud surpris. 
 
 Non (de la foule curieuse 
 
 Lui repond un caustique), non, 
 
 C'est le char de la blanchisseuse 
 
 De cet infame d'Aiguillon. 
 
 Thus did the mob sum up its judgment of the Brittany 
 affair, and nothing could henceforth shake its opinion. 
 The suspension of the trial proved that the Duke was guilty, 
 and the King had been induced to pardon d'Aiguillon by 
 Madame Du Barry and her partisans. 1 
 
 At Fontainebleau the favourite occupied the same rooms 
 as before, while Madame la Dauphine was given the apart- 
 ments of the late Queen. All the entertainments seemed as 
 much in honour of the mistress as ever, and were often 
 inspired by her. In the world of pleasure she was soon 
 without a rival, and her good taste, her tact and her famili- 
 arity with literature eminently fitted her for the task of 
 
 1 Vatel, who had carefully studied the Memoire pour le due d'Aiguil- 
 lon by the famous lawyer Maltre Linguet, agrees with the latter 
 as to the Duke's innocence. Monsieur Cruppi, writing from an 
 unbiassed standpoint, says that " never have criminal proceedings 
 been based on vaguer presumptions and more untrustworthy 
 accounts. The incredible levity of the Parliaments in criminal 
 matters was displayed here as in the case of La Barre." 
 G
 
 82 A KING'S FAVOURITE' 
 
 choosing the plays to be performed. Together with the 
 First Lord-in-Waiting for the year, the Duke d'Aumont, 
 and his sister, the Duchess de Villeroy, the Countess arranged 
 the repertory of the plays to be acted before the Court. 
 
 " The opening performance on Saturday the I3th 
 (October) at the theatre of Fontainebleau," wrote Papillon 
 de la Pert 6 in his diary, " was that of Arlequin et Scapin 
 rivaux and La Bucheron, followed by a ballet, altogether too 
 long." Two days after that the Trois Cousines, appro- 
 priately followed by the Ecole des Man's, was acted. Some- 
 what later " two comic operas, the only ones the King liked," 
 were played : On ne s'avise jamais de tout and Le Devin du 
 village. All eyes were turned to the favourite's box during 
 these performances ; there she sat, fair and dainty, in her 
 radiant gown of " white satin, wavily striped and pleated 
 with gold," and covered with " garlands of ruby-encrusted 
 knots and spangles." 
 
 She was marvellously dressed, too, when she watched the 
 review of the Royal Regiment, and the young officers 
 swarmed round her phaeton, attracted by her gracious 
 gaiety. With the Duchess de Valentinois and Madame de 
 Montmorency she was invited to the dinner given by the 
 second officer in command, the Count Du Chatelet. She 
 was seated beside the King, taking the place of Madame la 
 Dauphine, who had left with her aunts, the Princesses ; 
 and Monsieur de Choiseul, although Minister of War, had 
 refrained from appearing either at the parade or at the 
 banquet. 
 
 On October 20, Louis XV. and the Royal Family left 
 Fontainebleau and spent three days at Choisy ; on the 
 23rd the Court returned to Versailles. Her ladyship, 
 though absorbed in the numerous details connected with 
 the journey, did not lose touch with politics. She had en- 
 joyed the services of a good teacher in her initiation into 
 its mysteries, and could follow with interest all the phases 
 of the Parliamentary crisis. The edict of December 3 was 
 being prepared, and those who knew of its existence were 
 busy estimating and balancing the forces at issue. Its
 
 A ROYAL EDICT 83 
 
 clauses were discussed not only in Cabinet Councils but also 
 in the favourite's perfumed chamber, whose low ceiling and 
 gilded bed, with its covering of heavy lace, suggested but 
 little the council chamber. 
 
 Maupeou, having come to an agreement with Terray and 
 La Vrilliere, committed the scheme to writing and pre- 
 sented it to the King, while the Chancellor explained it 
 to the Countess. With indefatigable energy he instructed 
 and directed her, for he knew how much the King valued 
 and listened to her counsels. He excited her pity by his 
 account of the interrupted duties of many victims, such as 
 men detained hi preventive prisons, or plaintiffs spending 
 their whole fortunes on suspended lawsuits, and he deplored 
 the sinister example of disobedience set by the Parliaments, 
 that had for so long thrown the country into confusion and 
 was leading to the ruin of the monarchy. And the pretty 
 childish voice of the Countess, that had hitherto only 
 uttered words of love and gaiety, was heard discussing 
 grave and serious matters. She bore a grudge against 
 those philosophers whose books the Parliaments burnt, 
 but whose theories they put into practice. 
 
 The preamble of the memorable edict, through which 
 Madame Du Barry won such valuable insight into politics, 
 was a royal claim to absolute power, and all Louis' pride may 
 be read in its few words : " . . . . We hold our crown 
 from God alone ; the right to make laws for the conduct 
 and governance of our subjects pertains to us only, inde- 
 pendent of all, to be shared by none ; we make over to our 
 courts the right to examine, discuss and execute the laws. 
 . . . Our wish to know of all that may have escaped 
 our vigilance binds us always to maintain their custom of 
 addressing petitions to us. ... This custom, which 
 is the prerogative of a wise government that desires only 
 to reign by the light of reason and justice, should not become 
 in the hands of our officers a right to resistance ; their 
 petitions have a limit and may not touch our authority. 
 . . . ." l There followed three long clauses which 
 1 Flammermont, Le chancelier Maupeou et les Parlements, p. 117.
 
 84 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 were enthusiastically praised by the Dauphin. " They are 
 excellent," he wrote ; " they show wherein lies true public 
 right ; I am delighted with Monsieur le Chancelier." But 
 the magistrates would not submit to the edict, and peti- 
 tions continued to be presented after the King's positive 
 orders until the fall of the Parliaments. 
 
 The favourite turned with relief from these long, weari- 
 some discussions with the Chancellor to an occupation that 
 was much more to her taste, the choosing and making of 
 her dresses. Every day some new frock was worn, necessi- 
 tating many a conference with her dressmaker, Madame 
 Sigly. Her petticoats had to be flounced with the same kind 
 of lace as her skirts, the jewels on her slippers must match 
 those in her attire, and her silk stockings had to be 
 embroidered with gold. Then she was busied with the pur- 
 chase of rare and curious things to stand on her ivory and 
 lacquered etageres, and with ordering furniture for her 
 rooms at Versailles or Louveciennes, such as " the twelve 
 large armchairs upholstered in yellow Indian silk," which 
 she acquired about this time. New Year was at hand, and 
 she chose gifts for her friends, such as snuffboxes with minia- 
 tured lids, cameo rings or " small cases of veined agate." 
 She also bought Sevres ware at the Christmas exhibition 
 of porcelain in the Royal apartments, presents that were a 
 sure indication of her perfect taste and were always 
 appreciated. 
 
 Madame Du Barry was at this time actively engaged in 
 the arrangements for building a villa at Louveciennes where 
 she could receive His Majesty with suitable comfort and 
 luxury. Her only thought was to please the King, who, 
 always difficult to satisfy, was now burdened not only 
 with the cares of government, but also with the melancholy 
 of age ; he depended on the youth and vitality of the 
 affectionate child, to whom fell the heavy task of actually 
 determining his actions as well as of guiding his course. 
 
 In the coming crisis, which was destined to bring about 
 the fall of Choiseul, the Countess by no means confined her 
 activities on behalf of his enemies to raillery, but played an
 
 POLITICAL INTRIGUES 85 
 
 active part, glimpses of the importance of which are afforded 
 by recent researches. From the moment the Duke had 
 violently declared his opposition to the mistress the Roue 
 had conceived the daring notion of achieving his destruction, 
 and had proffered his assistance to the party at Court 
 working for that end. He persuaded them, probably by 
 the help of his sister-in-law, to avail themselves of the ser- 
 vices of one whom she had known when at the rue de la 
 Jussienne. This was Favier, who, as a subordinate agent, 
 had been concerned in certain diplomatic transactions. He 
 was a writer of some distinction, a man of alert and supple 
 temperament, who had become embittered by the small- 
 ness of a position that ill rewarded the various duties he had 
 discharged. Favier was, in consequence, far from reluctant 
 to supply the Baniens with the weapons they needed 
 against a minister who habitually counted on his reputation 
 with the King as an impeccable administrator and states- 
 manlike politician. A secret agent, perhaps the Roue 
 himself, was sent to Brussels in March, 1769, where he wrote 
 to Favier's dictation a very complete summary of facts 
 incriminating Monsieur de Choiseul. 1 This anonymous memo- 
 randum, full as it was of accusations and compromising 
 insinuations, became the arsenal whence the supporters of 
 the Countess drew their ammunition for the fight before 
 them. 2 
 
 1 The text is published in La Revolution Franqaise of 1899, Vol. 
 XXXVI., pp. 415-462, which also contains an article by Flammer- 
 mont on Favier, discussing among other things his relations with 
 Jean Du Barry and his mistress. 
 
 A passage alluding to the amours of the King is worthy of 
 quotation. After having established the Choiseuls' intrigues with 
 the Court of Vienna, Favier adds : " The Court has justified their 
 trust in it and recognised their services. More than once it has 
 taken the trouble to intervene on their behalf, either by openly 
 doing them a service, or by indirect insinuations ; and, further, 
 according to some who are well-informed on the point, it has not 
 feared risking the displeasure of the King by its interference in 
 matters concerning only his household and his private life. This 
 has been done solely at the request of these gentlemen who thought 
 it to their interest to become censors of morality for the first time 
 in their lives."
 
 86 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 The ground having thus been prepared as regards the 
 King, events were precipitated by an imprudence of 
 Choiseul. On the subject of an affair of slight import- 
 ance, a difference between England and Spain as to the 
 Falkland Isles, the minister thought fit to second the 
 Madrid Cabinet in its proposals for war. As France was 
 in duty bound to support her ally on account of the Family 
 Pact, Choiseul saw in the matter an opportunity of making 
 himself indispensable. The affair might, however, assume 
 grave proportions : "I have demonstrated all its conse- 
 quences to the Spanish ambassador," wrote Mercy to Maria 
 Theresa, " and I flatter myself that the two of us together 
 have succeeded in convincing the Duke de Choiseul of the 
 erroneousness of his calculations." But it was rather late 
 to turn back. On the other hand, Louis XV. wished for 
 peace at any price, while the Parliament was openly 
 insubordinate and refused to vote the necessary supplies for 
 the expedition unless their demands were acceded to. 
 Choiseul gave the King to understand that the exile of the 
 Chancellor and of the Minister of Finance would make the 
 Chambers much more manageable ; the monarch, on the 
 contrary, hoped that Maupeou and Terray would rid him 
 of the Parliaments. The Chancellor, again, declared that 
 unless Choiseul were dismissed war was inevitable, and that 
 he himself would rather resign than submit to the will of 
 the magistrates. 1 But Louis XV. was also anxious to fulfil 
 his obligations towards Charles III., and was in consequence 
 much harassed by doubts as to the course of action he should 
 pursue. Madame Du Barry again stepped in, under cir- 
 cumstances that Monsieur de Talleyrand has presented in 
 the most fanciful light. 
 
 The chief clerk in the Foreign Office was an Abbe de La 
 Ville, who cherished the hope of rising to higher things. 
 
 1 Flammermont did not know how far and in what manner 
 Madame Du Barry and the Abbe de La Ville had intervened. He 
 ascribed Choiseul's disgrace chiefly to the animosity of the Prince 
 de Gonde, who desired the Ministry of War for the Marquis de 
 Monteynard. See the Duke de Broglie, Le secret du Rot, Vol. II., 
 pp. 231 et seq.
 
 A SECRET INTERVIEW 87 
 
 Jean Du Barry discovered him, and without much 
 trouble induced him to affirm that the Falkland Isles 
 affair was primarily instigated to further the ministerial 
 interest of the Choiseuls. The Abbe added that as matters 
 now stood there was but one way out : " that the King 
 should take it on himself to write a confidential letter to 
 His Catholic Majesty. The reply would infallibly prove 
 that the latter was inclined to avoid war by giving up the 
 Falkland Isles, the cause of so much confusion." 
 
 Du Barry needed no more, and went immediately to 
 his sister-in-law, whom he instructed in such wise that she 
 was able to put the scheme before the King as if she had 
 invented it herself. . . . She said to him : "I wager 
 that if you have the courage to send for the Abbe de La 
 Ville, and command him to tell you truthfully the prospects 
 of such a direct application to the King of Spain, he will not 
 be able to deny his approval of the step, thereby showing 
 you the real value of the great fidelity with which you 
 imagine you are served by Monsieur de Choiseul." The 
 King was more and more struck with the intelligence of his 
 mistress, and said : " Under what pretext can I send for 
 this Abbe ? The Duke de Choiseul will hear of it." " But 
 how ingenuous you are," she replied, " I do not know him 
 myself, and have never seen him, but I engage to bring him 
 here, and, to put you at your ease, I promise he shall come 
 at dusk, dressed like a layman with bagwig and sword." 
 Amused at this prospect of seeing the most comic elements 
 mixed up in a very grave affair, the King gave his consent. 
 The Abbe was immediately told, and appeared the same 
 evening in a suit of grey at the august and mysterious 
 interview. A few moments later came the King who, after 
 some jests on the subject of his costume, again established 
 the distance between them, though his attitude was still 
 that of a master who confides in his servant. He told the 
 Abbe that he intended to write to the King of Spain, and 
 required of him as his faithful subject a frank opinion on the 
 letter, and on the real sentiments of his Catholic Majesty. 
 The Abbe de La Ville replied without hesitation that if 
 sovereigns were to begin arranging these matters they 
 would soon be settled, and the work of their ministers
 
 88 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 and ambassadors would be rendered almost superfluous. 
 The King was satisfied with his answer, and proceeded 
 to make a few reflections on Monsieur de Choiseul's adminis- 
 tration. The Abbe, with a discretion that showed he was 
 of the same opinion, refrained from speaking against his 
 minister. The King dismissed the Abbe with every mark 
 of goodwill, and he went away with his head full of agreeable 
 illusions. His Majesty was thus determined to write to the 
 King of Spain. As a feeling of pride had prevented him 
 from asking the Abb6 de La Ville to draft the letter, he began 
 to think of suitable forms of expression. The first sentence 
 was slow in coming. " You are doing it all wrong," said 
 Madame Du Barry ; " let me make you a rough copy." He 
 laughingly consented. One of Mademoiselle Chon's couriers 
 was at once sent to fetch Monsieur Du Barry from Luciennes 
 that very night ... to compose this important letter. 
 Du Barry set out at midnight, and as it was very dark and 
 the river had overflowed, his carriage upset, and for a 
 moment he thought he was going to drown in the horse-pond 
 of Marly, but finally he arrived, dried himself, and carried 
 out his little task as well as he could. Madame Du Barry 
 copied his draft of the letter in her own hand ; next morning 
 she made the King transcribe it at her writing-table, and her 
 hairdresser was despatched on this important mission, a 
 duty over which he spent only eighteen days. 1 
 
 The biased judgment of the writer is already shown in 
 this account with its mass of ridiculous and unlikely details. 
 But the intervention of the Abb6 de La Ville is none the 
 less well authenticated and was the immediate cause of 
 the minister's downfall. The King, having sent for Choiseul, 
 demanded an accurate account of the situation. The 
 Duke said that by the end of January the troops would 
 be ready. Pale with anger, the monarch exclaimed : 
 " Monsieur, did I not tell you that I did not want war ; " 
 and on December 23 a messenger bore the following letter 
 from the Most Christian King to His Catholic Majesty : 
 
 Monsieur my brother and cousin, your Majesty is 
 not ignorant how the spirit of independence and fanaticism 
 
 1 Mbnoires du prince de Talleyrand, Vol. V., pp. 561-563.
 
 CHOISEUL'S DISGRACE 89 
 
 has spread in my kingdom. I have so far been patient and 
 gentle, but now I am driven to extremity ; my Parliaments 
 having forgotten themselves so far as to dispute my sovereign 
 authority which I hold from God alone, I have resolved to 
 be obeyed at all costs. War under the present circumstances 
 would be a terrible evil to me and my people. But my great 
 regard for your Majesty would make me forget all else for 
 you. My ministers are no more than my instruments ; 
 should I find cause to change them, be assured there would 
 be no corresponding alterations in the relations between us ; 
 as long as I live we are united. If your Majesty can without 
 detriment to your honour make some sacrifices for the 
 sake of peace, you will do humanity a great service, that, 
 as I am at present placed, will also be one to me in 
 particular. 
 
 The same day the King wrote the lettre-de-cachet apprising 
 the Duke of his disgrace, but he did not decide to send it 
 until December 24, when the Duke de La Vrilliere brought 
 M. de Choiseul the following note sending him into exile : 
 
 Versailles, December 24, 1770. 
 
 I command my cousin, the Duke de Choiseul, to place 
 his resignation of his positions as Secretary of State and as 
 Superintendent of the Post in the hands of the Duke de La 
 Vrilliere, and to retire to Chanteloup until I issue further 
 orders. Louis. 
 
 The minister's downfall may thus be attributed princi- 
 pally to Madame Du Barry. Without her, perhaps neither 
 Maupeou nor anyone else could have succeeded in lowering 
 him so soon in the eyes of his sovereign. Moreover, he 
 accelerated his disgrace by his support of the Parliaments, 
 and by all kinds of indiscretions, " which we have seen him 
 commit, both as minister and as courtier," wrote the un- 
 grateful Kaunitz to Mercy. " Taking that into account 
 I should have been much more surprised if he had been able 
 to keep it up in the long run, than I am now at his disgrace. 
 God grant at least that he may not be succeeded by an even 
 greater marplot than he has been." 
 
 On Christmas Day Monsieur de Choiseul set forth on his
 
 90 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 exile. The intervening twenty-four hours in Paris had been 
 an absolute triumph. Both Court and town called at his 
 house, and a crowd gathered to pay him homage. He was 
 accompanied by the regrets of the populace as the man 
 who had driven away the Jesuits, supported the Parlia- 
 ments and, as it seemed, fought for liberty and the public 
 welfare. All kinds of ballads were written commenting on 
 the event, sometimes openly attacking Louis XV. 
 
 " At last," wrote Talleyrand in his memoirs, " Madame 
 Du Barry began to play the great part of the favourite." 
 Having finally rid herself of her dangerous enemy she could, 
 with mind at ease, take possession of her delightful rooms 
 at Versailles, whose gilded decoration harmonised so well 
 with the clear colours of her furniture and tapestries, and 
 with the blue of her exquisite porcelain. She still had 
 indeed, to talk politics, and her evening audiences must 
 have seemed very fatiguing to others of more delicate 
 health ; but now that she had grasped the complex 
 machinery of State affairs, she listened with interest and 
 gave sage counsel to her sovereign. 
 
 Then she returned to her frills and furbelows, to all her 
 activities as a great lady who was careful of the fair fame 
 of her household. Therein lay her charm, that she could 
 be both grave and frivolous, able to give her attention for 
 hours at a time to questions of high policy, and then to 
 throw herself, wholeheartedly, like a child, into the whims 
 and caprices suggested by her wayward fancy. At this 
 critical time, when absolute monarchy was to conquer or 
 die in its struggle with the " bigwigs," the King drew 
 strength from the soul of his mistress and won composure 
 under her youthful smiles. 
 
 Before strong action could be taken with regard to the 
 Parliament, the new ministry had first to be formed. The 
 difficulties involved were great ; the incorruptible Count de 
 Muy, whom all sides agreed to be the man for the War Office, 
 refused to bend the knee to the popular idol. At length the 
 post was given to the Marquis de Monteynard, a gentleman 
 of the Prince de Conde's household and a protege of H.R.H.
 
 THE NEW MINISTERS 91 
 
 Madame Du Deffand wrote on January 9, 1771 : "So far, 
 only the War Office has been filled, and by a man of whom 
 one hears little good ; he obtained the post through the 
 Prince de Conde. No one doubts that Monsieur d'Aiguillon 
 will be given Foreign Affairs, the general belief being that 
 his nomination only awaits the completion of negotiations. 
 There are those who say that he is not loved by the Prince 
 de Conde. The Abbe Terray is engaged with the Admiralty, 
 but only temporarily. The Parliament affair is being dis- 
 cussed, both sides giving way slightly." One thing was 
 certain, namely, that the mistress wished to fill the Council 
 with her creatures ; the Chancellor put her on her guard 
 as to the secret proceedings of the Prince de Conde, and 
 under the influence of Richelieu and Chon Du Barry she 
 planned to raise to power that victim of recent persecution, 
 the Duke d'Aiguillon. 
 
 In the meantime the Cabinet of Versailles anxiously 
 awaited the King of Spam's letter. At last on January 10, 
 1771, Madame Du Barry learnt that a messenger had arrived 
 from Madrid, and on the following day the Count de Fuentes 
 delivered the letter to Louis XV. ' ' Monsieur 1' Ambassadeur, ' ' 
 said the King, " I expected you yesterday evening." 
 Charles III. wrote : 
 
 Monsieur my brother and cousin, I have always been 
 troubled at seeing the disobedience of the French Parliaments 
 and their attempts to encroach on Royal authority ; I have, 
 therefore, nothing but praise for your Majesty's resolution 
 to maintain your sovereign power and compel obedience. 
 If for such an important purpose, that is of so much concern 
 to your Majesty, help should be needed, all who are dependent 
 on me would be at your service, only too happy to find an 
 opportunity of giving active expression to my sentiments 
 towards your Majesty's person, and of fulfilling the obliga- 
 tions of blood-relationship. For the same reason I shall do 
 all within my power to avoid war. . . . l 
 
 1 The rest of the letter expresses an unconcealed regret at the 
 dismissal of Choiseul, and a fear of the possible evil effects on the 
 Family Pact. These events have been and still are very variously 
 judged by historians.
 
 92 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 No one was grateful to the King for his opportune inter- 
 vention, except in the Petits Cabinets, where a gay and 
 animated company assembled for dinner on the day the 
 happy news was announced. They felt that for once the 
 real interest of the country had been better served there 
 than by Monsieur de Choiseul. 
 
 In greater spirits than ever the Countess made prepara- 
 tion for the celebration of the marriage of the Count de 
 Provence. But money was lacking, Terray was at his wits' 
 end to find it, and the suspended services of the Parliament 
 fettered all activity. In order to break down and put an 
 end to all resistance, Maupeou instigated the unprecedented 
 action taken on January 19-20. Each member of the Parlia- 
 ment was woken that night by two musketeers and ordered 
 to reply by simple yes or no to their question whether he 
 would resume his duties. The majority of them refused, 
 with the result that the Parliament was dissolved by 
 decree of the Grand Council, followed by the exile of the 
 magistrates. Public excitement knew no bounds ; the 
 severe measure, that struck at respected and popular men, 
 roused a violent outcry against the Chancellor. This time 
 the pamphlets scarcely mentioned the favourite; general 
 opinion did not believe that such a revolution, the necessary 
 outcome of the bitter conflict of that period between 
 monarch and Parliament, could be the work of a woman. 
 
 As d'Aiguillon was still kept waiting for his nomination, 
 people began to think that her ladyship's domination was 
 yielding to the influence of a rival, but in February, when 
 the heir to the throne of Sweden arrived in Paris, the extent 
 of her power was made manifest. The future Gustavus III. 
 travelled under the name of the Count de Gothland ; he 
 was enthusiastically received in Parisian salons, on which 
 the recent political events had had a most stimulating effect. 
 Women ardently assumed the task of interpreting the new 
 theories ; their gatherings became miniature States-generals 
 in which the fundamental constitution of the State was 
 discussed, and they showed themselves most eager to 
 establish the principles of popular rights. The new Prince
 
 GDSTAVUS III, KING OK SWEDEN 
 
 Gauchtr sculft.
 
 PRINCE CHARMING 93 
 
 Charming, the philosophical traveller, became the divinity 
 of the hour. 1 
 
 Madame Du Barry shared the infatuation of the fair 
 debaters, but at first when she received the august 
 visitor, she was careful not to talk politics to him. 
 For the first few days she aimed at appearing the 
 prettiest and best-dressed of all, and she charmed the foreign 
 prince by her dainty grace, her ready wit and her gentle 
 simplicity. He saw her everywhere, at supper with the 
 King, out hunting, on the journeys to Marly and Choisy. 
 Sometimes, too, he saw the favourite, a radiant vision in 
 her blaze of jewels, from the box at the Opera where the 
 Countess d'Egmont jealously kept him. 
 
 He was at a performance at the Opera on the evening of 
 March i, when the Ambassador, the Count de Creutz, 
 announced to him the sudden death of his father, Adolphus 
 Frederick. But he did not leave France immediately, for 
 he had only just opened negotiations with the Versailles 
 Cabinet ; over and above this he had fallen under the spell 
 of Paris and magnificent Versailles, he had been bewitched 
 by the galaxy of charming young women who flattered 
 and adored him. On March 6 he was entertained at the 
 Academy of Science by d'Alembert ; on the following day 
 he visited the French Academy, where the same d'Alembert 
 gave a reading of a dialogue between Queen Christina and 
 Descartes, the philosopher whom that young sovereign had 
 so much admired. Madame Du Barry learnt with pleasure 
 that, in spite of his intercourse with the friends of Choiseul, 
 he held himself perfectly at liberty to visit her in the in- 
 timacy he preferred. Madame Du Deffand had nothing but 
 praise for him. She has given an account, spirited and witty 
 as usual, of the supper at his Ambassador's to which he 
 invited her, and where she met Madame d'Aiguillon. " The 
 fat Duchess," she wrote, " began to sing a song I had com- 
 posed on my cask, after telling the King it was written in 
 my style. . . . After supper . . . they made me 
 
 1 See Gefiroy, Gustave III., et la Cour de France, Paris, 1867, Vol. 
 I., p. no.
 
 94 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 sing L'Ambassade, and then Madame d'Aiguillon told the 
 King to ask me for the song Les Philosophes, after which 
 she whispered to him that it was one of my own composi- 
 tions ; and then the King and she and the whole company 
 cried, ' Author, author ! ' as is done at the end of new plays." 
 
 On March 9, the Prince visited Saint-Germain and the 
 engine at Marly ; in the evening he stopped at Rueil, the 
 chateau of the famous cardinal, where he was received by 
 Madame d'Aiguillon, the Duke her son, her daughter-in- 
 law, the Count de Maurepas and the Duke de Nivernais. 
 " Supper was made to look as if the whole entertainment 
 was a happy accident." With ingenious verses invoking the 
 shade of Richelieu, the dowager Duchess bade Gustavus 
 III. welcome in the name of her great ancestor. Such an 
 occasion could not but serve the interests of one whom an 
 ambitious mother dreamt of as destined to the career of a 
 Choiseul. 
 
 In the midst of pleasures and the entertainments given in 
 his honour, Gustavus wisely did not forget the welfare of 
 his country, and he was most assiduous in paying his court 
 to Madame Du Barry. He was invited to supper in her 
 little gabled rooms, 1 and for one whole evening, when alone 
 with her, heaped on her the graceful compliments that won 
 him such appreciation among women. He even presented 
 her with a diamond collar for Mirza, her white greyhound. 
 Many great ladies were jealous of all these attentions, but 
 they tried in vain to estrange him from the Countess. As 
 a token of his continued regard he used to send her every 
 New Year's Day a magnificent little casket containing per- 
 fumed gloves. 
 
 Having won the support of the favourite, Gustavus III. 
 left Paris on March 18, feeling assured of the success of his 
 political arrangements. A week later, when he was crossing 
 
 1 " The King of Sweden," wrote Mercy to Maria Theresa, " has 
 certainly gone rather far in his political attentions to the favourite, 
 and the Baron de Scheffer has complained of it. But the fact is 
 also that he was deceived, and when the King of Sweden supped with 
 the Countess Du Barry, he expected to meet the Most Christian 
 King, who did not come." (Letter of April 16, 1771.)
 
 MAUPEOU AND THE PARLIAMENTS 95 
 
 the frontier, he wrote to Louis XV. the following letter, 
 which was read with much satisfaction in the Petits Cabinets : 
 
 I cannot leave your Majesty's domain without once 
 more expressing my gratitude for every evidence of the 
 friendship with which you have honoured me, and whose 
 value no sovereign knows better than I. If God wills that 
 I reach my kingdom without untoward accident, I shall not 
 relax my efforts to strengthen the bonds between us, that 
 my personal feelings would henceforth have indissoluble. 
 Above all, I shall have great pleasure in cultivating the 
 correspondence with Your Majesty which you have so 
 graciously promised to maintain. . . . 
 
 The atmosphere at Court " seemed calm and brilliant, 
 though excitement was very great. . . . The authority 
 of the Countess rose to such a pitch that nothing like it 
 had ever been seen before." By the help of this authority 
 Maupeou was able to pursue his attack on the magistracy, 
 which was being vigorously transformed in place after place. 
 In a few months, " except in Paris, all these famous Parlia- 
 ments that had been so united and indestructible, were 
 broken up, dissolved and reconstructed or not as the Chan- 
 cellor pleased, an unheard-of state of affairs." The tem- 
 porary Parliament, formed by the Council of State, did not 
 work well ; Maupeou created another Parliament out of 
 the suppressed Court of Aids and the Grand Council, and 
 instituted superior Councils. In carrying out his heavy 
 task he was assisted by Monsieur de Boynes, the best lawyer 
 of the day, whom he rewarded by obtaining his appoint- 
 ment as Minister of the Navy, a post that had been left 
 vacant by the exile of Monsieur de Praslin on the same day 
 as that of the Duke de Choiseul. 
 
 On April 13, the peers and members of the Council 
 assembled in a lit de justice, presided over by the King, in 
 order to ratify the actions of the chief magistrate. The 
 Princes of the Blood showed their disapproval by their 
 absence, only the Count de La Marche, as the friend of the 
 favourite, being there. But his father, the Prince de Conti, 
 headed the Parliamentary opposition together with the
 
 g6 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 Duke d' Orleans and the son of the latter, the Duke de 
 Chartres. Conde", who kept 'in with both parties, was this 
 time on the side of his cousins, especially as the mistress 
 had for some time neglected the ambitions of His Highness. 
 
 The sitting opened at Versailles in the large Salle des 
 Gardes on the morning of April n. The staging of this 
 memorable coup d'&tat was engineered with elaborate 
 ceremonial. Louis XV. presided on a throne of purple 
 velvet, bestrewn with fleurs-de-lys. " A gallery had been 
 erected expressly for Madame Du Barry, who was present 
 at the Assembly, and showed her warm approval of the 
 Chancellor's speech." After the lawyer Seguier had spoken, 
 the King " hi a tone that made one tremble " said : " You 
 have heard my wishes. I command you to conform to them 
 and to resume your duties on Monday. My Chancellor will 
 administer the oath to you to-day. I forbid you to take 
 any further steps in the matter of the former officers of my 
 Parliament. I shall never change." 
 
 On her way back to her apartments the favourite en- 
 countered the gallant Duke de Nivernais. " Did you hear ? " 
 she asked him. " The King said he will never change." 
 " Yes, Madame, but he was looking at you," retorted the 
 witty courtier. 
 
 This supreme effort freed Louis XV. from all manner of 
 care and anxiety, thanks to the perseverance of his mistress 
 and the energy of Maupeou. The Chancellor's enemies 
 themselves were bound to recognise the wideness of his views 
 and his decision of character ; but all the same, seditious 
 handbills and placards of a grossly insulting nature were 
 disseminated. " At Marais, rue de Grand-Chantier," for 
 instance, " a gallows had been painted on the wall, and from 
 the gallows hung a man, under whom the words ' The 
 Chancellor ' were written." But Maupeou was content 
 to be supported by Voltaire, who could not forgive the 
 magistrates for their sentences on Lally, Calas and La Barre. 
 A news- writer remarked on May 15 : " That Monsieur de 
 Voltaire has addressed a letter to Monsieur le Chancelier 
 congratulating him on the success of his plans, appears
 
 THE "RED-HAIRED CHILD" 97 
 
 to be certain. He commends the comprehensive character, 
 the importance and vast combination of these schemes, 
 and praises the eloquence of his speeches. He concludes 
 with the remark that Cardinal de Fleury through a treaty 
 added Lorraine to French territory, that the Duke de 
 Choiseul won us Corsica, but that Monsieur de Maupeou, 
 greater than both these great ministers, has restored to the 
 King the whole of France." Maupeou replied to the 
 illustrious philosopher : "I thank you for the justice you 
 have done my views ; your support encourages me to do still 
 better." 1 
 
 After so much agitation the King longed for peace ; he 
 wished to be free at last to taste the charm of living with his 
 faithfully loved mistress. With increasing age the monarch's 
 evil propensities had abated ; the Parc-aux-Cerfs and its 
 attendant scandals were at an end ; his Majesty had parted 
 with the deserted little house in the rue Saint-Mederic, where 
 the bewitching O'Murphy had formerly lived. 
 
 But, though nothing further overshadowed the favourite's 
 power, her heart was saddened and her pride thwarted by 
 the aversion of the Dauphine. Perhaps, as has been 
 supposed, she excited this hatred in the beginning by her 
 rather disparaging remarks on the negligent attire and 
 irregular features of the " red-haired " child. Maybe also 
 she had allowed her roguish wit to play with too much free- 
 dom on the strange relations between the royal couple, 
 whom no intimacy could unite. If so, the Archduchess 
 assuredly heard of it, and could not forgive the " impertinent 
 creature. ' ' Wounded in her vanity and her mind still further 
 
 1 Shortly after this a rumour was circulated involving the name 
 of the favourite : " Monsieur de Voltaire's followers assert that his 
 return to the capital is certain. They say that Monsieur le Chance- 
 lier has persuaded Madame Du Barry to win from the King this long- 
 desired favour. They add that the chief of the magistracy could 
 not refuse the illustrious exile's petition after the zeal the latter had 
 shown in his cause, and that he took into account . . . his useful- 
 ness in influencing people's minds." This information, with its 
 attempts at irony, only succeeded in emphasising to the public mind 
 how much the Chancellor and his supporter, the favourite, valued 
 the countenance of such a man as Voltaire.
 
 98 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 poisoned by Mesdames, proud Marie Antoinette's animosity 
 towards the triumphant Du Barry may be easily understood. 
 Mercy's clear and detailed letters to his Queen discredit 
 the fantastic stories of the pamphleteers on this subject. 
 Were they true, Her Royal Highness herself would have 
 urged in reply to her mother's remonstrances the insulting 
 remarks the Countess was said to have made with regard 
 to the Empress. 1 
 
 The King suffered even more than the favourite from the 
 awkwardness of the situation. To improve matters and 
 reconcile the adversaries, to break the pride of the stubborn 
 little Archduchess, no less was needed than the politic 
 reprimands of Maria Theresa, the adroit diplomacy of Mercy 
 and the entreaties of Kaunitz, who feared a breach of the 
 Alliance. 
 
 Madame Du Barry counted on the arrival of the Countess 
 de Provence to assist her in winning the favour of the 
 Royal Family. She was charged with the formation of the 
 household of the Princess, and, in order to give posts to all 
 her creatures, she had ordained a service as luxurious and 
 ostentatious as that of the Dauphine herself. " Monsieur 
 le Dauphin has expressed annoyance at this arrangement, 
 which he knows to be due to the designs of partial and 
 intriguing persons," wrote Mercy, and the Ambassador 
 added that the Archduchess " was much more careful in her 
 conversation. For a long time I have not heard that she 
 has said a word on the subject of Madame Du Barry and her 
 advisers." She was, however, very prejudiced against 
 the favourite, unreasonably so in the opinion of her mother. 
 On the subject of her future sister-in-law, she wrote : 
 " I very much fear that if she is at all stupid and not fore- 
 warned, she will be altogether on Madame Du Barry's side. 
 Everything is done to win her over, for her mistress of the 
 robes, who is to be Madame de Valentinois, is of that party." 
 
 1 She was said to have read aloud a letter from the Ambassador, 
 Louis de Rohan, indiscreetly communicated to her by the Duke 
 d'Aiguillon, in which Maria Theresa was grossly insulted. See 
 Boutry, Autour de Marie- Antoinette, Paris, 1906, p. 223.
 
 A CONGENIAL TASK 99 
 
 These and other similar remarks disturbed the Empress, 
 who desired above all that harmony should reign at Ver- 
 sailles. 
 
 The favourite bent all her wits to making the entertain- 
 ments at the forthcoming wedding as sumptuous as possible, 
 to attain which end she worked in concert with the Duke 
 -de Duras, the First Lord-in-waiting for the year, and with 
 La Ferte, the Master of the Ceremonies. Presents were 
 bought, fireworks ordered, plays to be acted chosen, balls, 
 great dinners and receptions organised. " We are over- 
 burdened with work," wrote La Ferte in his diary. " I have 
 arranged all the jewels of the wedding presents, which are 
 very beautiful. The King, to whom I had the honour of 
 showing at the levee the watch, the chatelaine and the 
 snuffbox for Madame la Comtesse de Provence, was pleased 
 with them." The chatelaine was the marvellous handiwork 
 of the jeweller Gaillard ; it was covered with brilliants, 
 and " furnished with knives, scissors, tablets, a pencil-case, 
 a six-inch rule, and other articles." Altogether it was worth 
 28,117 livres, and was the King's present to the bride. 
 
 On May n the Court left for Fontainebleau. " The 
 following day the whole Royal Family travelled at a distance 
 of two leagues in front of Madame la Comtesse de Provence." 1 
 Madame Du Barry followed triumphantly hi the suite 
 accompanied by her faithful friends. On the occasion of 
 this princely wedding she wore her wonderful gold and silver 
 dresses, and everywhere she was seen to take the first place. 
 On leaving the chapel his Majesty received the cortige in 
 his Cabinet. " The sight was most agreeable, and interesting 
 by reason of the evidence it afforded of the good terms 
 on which the King is with his family," wrote the Duke de 
 Croy. " His distinguished appearance, his gaiety and his 
 pleasure in marrying one of his grandchildren, were remark- 
 able ; he certainly did not look his sixty years." Play in 
 the evening was most animated, the company being very 
 numerous, and perhaps a trifle mixed ; 200 louis were stolen 
 from the pocket of Monsieur de Soubise. " The favourite 
 1 Mercy to Maria Theresa, May 22, 1771.
 
 ioo A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 looked like a lady born, and was not in the least embarrassed 
 though of the King's party with all the Royal Family." 
 The happy young bridegroom, who wore the gold-laced coat 
 of his Order, displayed much wit. When the Dauphin was 
 asked to give his opinion of his sister-in-law, he declared 
 without beating about the bush that he " should not at all 
 care to have her for a wife himself." The little Piedmontese 
 was, notwithstanding, very agreeable, though she compared 
 most unfavourably with the Dauphine in gracefulness and 
 with the favourite in beauty. 
 
 Even in the midst of this whirl of festivities, Madame 
 Du Barry did not forget her political enterprises. On 
 June 5, judging the moment favourable, she wrung from the 
 King his consent to the appointment of d'Aiguillon as 
 Minister for Foreign Affairs. Chamfort has described, with 
 greater satire than accuracy, how the event took place : 
 " The fact of the matter is that the King never nominated 
 Monsieur d'Aiguillon as Foreign Secretary, and the friends 
 of the latter know it ; for Madame Du Barry said to him : 
 ' This business must come to an end, and to-morrow morning 
 I want you to go to the King and thank him for having 
 given you the post/ She said to the King : ' Monsieur 
 d'Aiguillon is coming to-morrow to thank you for his 
 nomination as Foreign Secretary.' The King said not a 
 word hi reply. Monsieur d'Aiguillon dared not go ; but 
 finally when commanded by Madame Du Barry, he went. 
 The King said nothing to him, and Monsieur d'Aiguillon took 
 up his duties on the spot." 1 
 
 Chanteloup was indignant, but Choiseul's friends had 
 to put up with the new state of affairs. " Can I possibly 
 have forgotten," wrote Madame Du Deffand to Walpole, 
 " to tell you the news of Monsieur d'Aiguillon's nomination, 
 which took place on the 5th of this month ? He gave his 
 first dinner yesterday, at which there were fifty-five persons ; 
 his mother, Madame d'Aiguillon, and his sister-in-law acted 
 as hostesses. The Diplomatic Coips are all enchanted 
 with our fat Duchess ; she is indeed charming ; her gaiety 
 
 l (Euvres de Chamfort , Paris, 1851, p. 68.
 
 PARENTAL ADVICE 101 
 
 is so natural, so simple, so utterly devoid of pride and vain- 
 glory, and she is so far from presuming that all the different 
 parties are pleased with her, respect and love her, and wish 
 her well." 
 
 Monsieur d'Aiguillon's elevation to power, although 
 expected, enraged his adversaries, as was indicated by the 
 attitude of the Count de Fuentes, the Spanish Ambassador, 
 who wrote to the Court at Madrid asking to be recalled. 1 
 The Duke understood that he needed the support of the 
 Austrian party in order to win prestige and political author- 
 ity. Consequently he fell in with the views of Louis XV. 
 and the favourite, and sought to overcome Marie Antoinette. 
 To attain this object he had to circumvent Mercy, confiden- 
 tial adviser to the Empress. The latter would be all the 
 more likely to countenance the Minister in that she had 
 reason to keep on good terms with the Cabinet at Versailles 
 on account of the proposed Partition of Poland. In her 
 large handwriting she wrote a letter in rough and clumsy 
 French, scolding her froward daughter, who refused to give 
 way before the party of the Barriens : 
 
 " No cringing," said Maria Theresa, " do not flatter 
 or court them, for you are as good as they at Court, but as 
 a child you owe especial deference to his [the King's] wishes 
 without enquiring into their origin and sifting their merits. 
 It must be enough that the King has distinguished such 
 and such a person for you to owe him or her respect, but no 
 cringing. So far your actions have been attributed to the 
 influence of Mesdames, but in the long run the King will be 
 wearied." This severe language from her diplomatic 
 mother is to be ascribed to d'Aiguillon's complaining to 
 Mercy, at the order of Louis XV., of the ever growing hatred 
 of the Dauphine for the mistress and her friends. The 
 Princess " did not confine herself to refusing them the treat- 
 ment due to such as are members of the Court, but in 
 addition she used expressions against them full of satire and 
 hatred, thus inflaming party spirit at Court ; Madame la 
 
 1 See Flammermont, Les correspondances des agents diplomatiques 
 Strangers en France avant la Revolution, p. 458.
 
 102 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 Dauphine's bearing was, moreover, too childish and lively. 
 All these circumstances have resulted in destroying the 
 King's liking and tenderness for her, and some remedy for 
 the awkward situation will have to be found." 1 
 
 Following the entreaties and example of the Countess de 
 Provence, the young Dauphine relented a little ; one 
 June evening at Compiegne, when playing lansquenet at 
 the King's card table, " she spoke to the favourite whenever 
 the exigencies of the game so required, and did so with a 
 good grace." 2 And on the day of the Royal Review she 
 allowed Madame d'Aiguillon, the new minister's wife, to 
 accompany her in her carriage. 
 
 But sudden changes in Madame la Dauphine's temper 
 could always be expected, and the Countess was as yet 
 by no means at ease. She was further subjected to the 
 incessant importunities of the Roue ; he had returned to his 
 life of dissipation, run into debt and published his licentious- 
 ness abroad in every way. He travelled a great deal, 
 visited all the fashionable watering-places, and altogether 
 cut a very fine figure. He spent money like water, and 
 displayed his mistress, Madame de Murat, with pride. 
 As his manners deteriorated he was forsaken by his former 
 friends, and was always to be found at the gaming table. 
 Many anecdotes were current on the subject of his insolence, 
 of which the following is an example : " He was as bare- 
 faced as ever one day when he held the stakes at Spa. 
 He seemed suspicious of the Dowager Electress of Saxony. 
 . . . On the Princess expressing some surprise, the 
 Count exclaimed : ' A thousand pardons, Madame, my 
 suspicions cannot fall on you ; you sovereigns only cheat 
 for crowns.' ' 
 
 Whatever Count Jean's ambitious projects may have 
 been, his sister-in-law utterly refused to further them by 
 exerting her influence over the King. But she had his 
 claims satisfied with regard to the Corsican supplies, for 
 which he had contracted under the name of Nallet ; as 
 
 1 Mercy to Maria Theresa, June 22, 1771. 
 1 Mercy to Maria Theresa, July 24, 1771.
 
 THE FAVOURITE'S ALLOWANCE 103 
 
 indemnity he was given from the Royal Treasury the hand- 
 some sum of 300,000 livres, on which he could live for some 
 time in great style. The life-annuities and the contracts he 
 received from the Abbe Terray as reimbursement for the 
 advances he had made the favourite, he exchanged for the 
 County of L'Isle-Jourdain. Madame Du Barry could at last 
 believe that the moment had come to rid herself of him 
 completely. She gave him to understand that he had 
 received enough ; Jean Du Barry himself described the 
 change in their relations : " This was the time when Madame 
 Du Barry . . . thought herself free from all further 
 obligation towards me, and she stopped coming to see me 
 on her visits to Paris, and excused herself from receiving me 
 when my private affairs took me to Versailles." 1 
 
 In her anxiety not to embarrass the King the favourite 
 never spoke of her mother, as Madame de Pompadour had 
 continually done when she first came to Court. She was, 
 nevertheless, solicitous for her well-being, and Madame 
 Ranon, now Madame de Montrabe, possessed both menser- 
 vants and carriages. Mademoiselle Chon Du Barry continued 
 to live with the young Countess as her chief confidant. On 
 the maintenance of a numerous household, on presents, on 
 pensions, on alms, on orders to artists, and especially on 
 the enormous item of dress, Madame Du Barry expended 
 most of the pension the King had decided to grant her. 
 The amount of this pension was at first 200,000 livres a 
 month, rose to 250,000 in 1771, then to 300,000, and was 
 remitted to her by the Court banker, Monsieur de Beau j on, 
 sometimes in cash, sometimes in the form of acceptances 
 of the drafts with which she satisfied the demands of too 
 pressing creditors. 2 Her fortune was administered and her 
 
 1 The Roue adds in this letter to Malesherbes : " This state of 
 affairs lasted two years. I hoped that the marriage of my son would 
 effect some alteration. I then appeared for the first time before the 
 late King, and in spite of the kindness with which he honoured me, 
 I won not the slightest expression of goodwill from my sister-in-law. 
 Since then I have only seen her once, on the second day of the 
 King's illness." The Roue's letters to Madame Du Barry afford 
 ample proof of the extreme coldness between them. 
 
 8 The monthly accounts of Madame Du Barry's expenditure are
 
 104 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 accounts kept by Maitre Lepot-d'Auteuil, her lawyer. 
 Need one add that, in spite of the enormous income she 
 enjoyed during four years, she was always in arrears and 
 in debt ? 
 
 Madame Du Barry, unlike her predecessor, drew very 
 little on the Royal Treasury on behalf of her friends. All 
 witnesses agree that she showed a restraint in this respect 
 which was not imitated by Marie Antoinette's favourites. 
 The prote'ge' who exacted most of her could plead a superior 
 cause, for he was none other than Gustavus III. himself, 
 the King of Sweden. He needed money for his coup d'etat 
 against the nobility of his country, and he turned to Ver- 
 sailles for help. The demand was heavy on French finance, 
 which was in a difficult position, but the mistress supported 
 the monarch who had made himself so agreeable to her. 
 
 She had not failed to present the King with one of the 
 portraits in which Drouais had delineated her fair and 
 smiling beauty ; that the artist painted her expressly for 
 that purpose is shown by his accounts, though the picture 
 has not been found in any Swedish collection. Hall also 
 drew for his master the lineaments of the favourite's pretty 
 face in one of his charming miniatures. 1 The Countess 
 d'Egmont was greatly distressed at the rumours of the good 
 terms on which her ladyship was with Gustavus. She 
 wrote on June 27, 1771 : "I believe the time has come for 
 me to tell your Majesty of a rumour that has affected me 
 most painfully. You are said to have asked for Madame 
 Du Barry's portrait, and even to have written to her for it. 
 I have roundly denied it, but the truth of the story has 
 been so positively affirmed that I beseech you to authorise 
 me to do so at once." And later : "I beg you to make it 
 possible for me to send you my portrait. I cannot do so 
 without your word of honour that you have not, and never 
 will have, that of Madame Du Barry." 2 
 
 kept in the Bibliotheqiie nationale, the first dated one being for the 
 month of July, 1770. 
 
 1 In the collection of the late Mr. Pierpont Morgan. 
 
 1 The Countess d'Egmont's portrait, which was sent to Gustavus 
 * n J 773 was also one of Hall's miniatures.
 
 MADAME I)U BARRY 
 h'roni a miniature l>y Hall
 
 A TIRING CORRESPONDENCE 105 
 
 Gustavus III. was not able to give his word of honour, 
 and Madame d'Egmont repeated her anxious question in 
 vain. Fairness demands that her spite should not be 
 ascribed only to jealousy, but also to her supreme hatred of 
 the woman who represented the triumphant party at Court. 
 Richelieu's daughter was a Republican, and she loved 
 Gustavus, " the hero of her heart," because, theoretically at 
 least, he appreciated, as she did, the philosophy and the 
 sentimental liberalism of Rousseau. Even in her last illness 
 she used to write to him on political themes, romantically 
 exalted letters, perhaps, but inspired by noble thought. And 
 her Gustavus answered more willingly than any of the other 
 Parisian women with whom he kept up this style of corre- 
 spondence. At length he began to weary of his charming 
 Mentor's serious disquisitions, as he never would have done 
 of the fresh little notes Madame Du Barry might have 
 written to him, had his fair friends not forbidden him to 
 receive them. 
 
 The favourite was continually tossed from one extreme 
 of emotion to the other, at one moment calm and confident, 
 the next fearful and despairing. For the little Countess de 
 Provence, on whom the Barriens had based their hopes, 
 disconcerted them by her circumspection, whilst her clever 
 husband adroitly flattered each of the two parties in turn. 
 Only the support of the Dauphine promised security, and the 
 mistress returned again and again to the task of winning it. 
 
 On Sunday, July 28, the Duchess de Valentinois, Mistress 
 of the Robes to the Countess de Provence, gave a grand 
 supper at Compiegne, to which Madame Du Barry and 
 Mercy were both invited. The Ambassador sent a prompt 
 account of the interview to the Empress : "I arrived there 
 with the Papal Nuntio and the Sardinian Ambassador, who 
 were also invited. 1 We found the company included the 
 Duke and Duchess d'Aiguillon, the Duke de La Vrilliere, 
 a Lady of the Bedchamber, other Ladies-in- Waiting to the 
 
 1 Mercy did not mention that the Spanish Ambassador declined 
 the invitation. A few days later Caracciolo, the Neapolitan Ambassa- 
 dor, made his excuses when invited to a similar supper. See Flam- 
 mermont, op. cit., pp. 419-421.
 
 106 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 Countess de Provence, and the Countess Du Barry. This 
 was the first time I found myself actually in the presence 
 of the woman. The Sardinian Ambassador spoke to her 
 first in the manner of one well acquainted with her, while 
 the Nuntio showed much eagerness to join in the conversa- 
 tion ; I thought it my duty to observe greater discretion, 
 and did not begin to talk at ease with the favourite until 
 she had addressed a few words to me. She treated me with 
 more distinction than she did the others. . . ." Mon- 
 sieur de Mercy often repeated these last words with some 
 self-complacency, but always discreetly, without owning to 
 the charm of " the woman," and even depreciating it to 
 Maria Theresa ; but then his whole attitude towards her 
 was coloured by consciousness of his position as the servant 
 of the Empress. 
 
 At the same supper the Duke d'Aiguillon invited the 
 Count, in the name of the King, to call next day at the 
 favourite's. " You know I am not so placed here that I 
 can see him with ease," said His Majesty, " so ask him to 
 come and see me at Madame Du Barry's." " I could say 
 nothing," said Mercy, " though I was determined not to 
 leave the other Ambassadors in ignorance of the step I 
 intended to take ; but I learnt that the Sardinian Ambas- 
 sador had already expressed to the Duke d'Aiguillon his 
 desire to call on the favourite, while the Ambassadors of 
 England, Venice and Holland had also decided to pay her a 
 visit." Such diplomatic receptions, in fact, merely followed 
 the precedent set by Madame de Pompadour. 
 
 On Tuesday, at her toilette, Marie Antoinette compli- 
 mented Mercy, in a low voice, " on the fine company " he 
 kept. At seven o'clock in the evening he was admitted to 
 the apartments of the Countess, and was most graciously 
 received. His Majesty had not yet arrived, and thus she 
 had time to tell him of her grievances against the Dauphine, 
 assuring him that the present state of affairs was extremely 
 painful to her. The King entered by a secret staircase, and 
 turned to the visitor saying : "So far you have been Am- 
 bassador for the Empress ; I now beg of you to be mine, at
 
 A HUMILIATION 107 
 
 least for the present." And with the embarrassment that 
 he always showed when called on to give a direct explana- 
 tion, he complained of the young Princess, and especially 
 of Mesdames who had proved such misguided counsellors. 
 He requested that she should " grant Madame Du Barry 
 exactly the same treatment as everyone else who had been 
 presented was entitled to expect, assuring him that any 
 other conduct created scenes at Court and excited party 
 spirit and intrigue." 
 
 After this audience Marie Antoinette had to submit to 
 still more pressing admonitions from Mercy. The Dauphin 
 thought she ought to speak to the Countess, and she promised 
 to do so on the first possible occasion. On September n 
 the favourite joined the party of the Dauphine at cards, 
 Mercy also being present. At the end of the evening 
 the Princess took leave of the ladies, addressing a few 
 gracious words to each ; she was moving towards Madame 
 Du Barry when she was interrupted by the imperious voice 
 of Madame Adelaide, who had noticed her intention : 
 " Come, it is time to go ! We shall wait for the King at 
 Madame Victoire's." And the Royal child obediently 
 followed her aunt without saying a word. 
 
 Louis XV., who was to sup with his family after the 
 Council meeting, went first to hear how the favourite had 
 been received, and guessed the humiliation she had suffered 
 from the sadness of her expressive eyes. In order to screen 
 his Archduchess, Mercy explained the scene as well as he 
 could to d'Aiguillon, while the mistress, with forced gaiety, 
 presided over the supper to which she had invited the 
 Ambassadors. When His Majesty returned he took the 
 Austrian envoy aside, saying : " Well, Monsieur de Mercy, 
 did you speak to Madame la Dauphine ? Your counsels do 
 not seem to have resulted in much ; I shall have to come to 
 your help ! ' ' The tone in which he spoke was bitterly ironical, 
 and without awaiting reply the King turned his back. 1 
 
 1 P. de Nolhac, op. cit., pp. 198 et seq., makes full use of Mercy's 
 detailed reports on the situation to the Empress, and more concise 
 letters to Kaunitz.
 
 io8 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 As soon as Maria Theresa heard of what had passed, she 
 wrote from Schonbrunn : 
 
 You only act as your aunts tell you to do. . . . I 
 respect them, I love them, but they have never known how 
 to win love and respect from their family or from the people, 
 and you will follow in their footsteps. What is this fear 
 and embarrassment at speaking to the King, who is the 
 best of fathers, or to those to whom you are advised to 
 speak ? . . . You have allowed yourself to become so 
 enslaved that the voice of reason, of duty even, cannot help 
 you. I can no longer be silent after Mercy's communication. 
 What good reason can you give for not having done as he 
 told you that the King desired, and your duty demanded 
 of you ? None. You should not think of the Barry in 
 any other light than that of a lady who has been admitted 
 to Court, and to the society of the King. You are his chief 
 subject, and owe him obedience and submission ; you ought 
 to set an example to the Court in carrying out the wishes 
 of your master. If any cringing or familiarity were 
 expected of you, not I nor any one would advise it ; but a 
 casual word, not for her ladyship's sake, but for your 
 grandfather, your master, your benefactor ! ... If you 
 give way to this feeling I foresee much unhappiness for you ; 
 your days will be made miserable by petty intrigues and 
 quarrels. . . . 
 
 The young Princess rebelled against such strange pre- 
 cepts, for, though her conduct had been influenced by Mes- 
 dames de France, it was chiefly inspired by her feelings of 
 injured pride and vanity. 
 
 At this time there appeared in England the Gazetier 
 cuirasse, a pamphlet of unbounded licentiousness, whose 
 calumnies, however coarse, are largely responsible for the 
 legends that have grown up around the person of Madame 
 Du Barry. 1 The author, Theveneau de Morande, was a 
 French refugee in London, who attacked the most prom- 
 inent people, unless they paid a ransom to escape his scan- 
 
 1 So says Pidansat de Mayrobert in his Anecdotes. The little 
 pamphlet, which was sold at not less than a guinea, is mentioned 
 in a letter from London of August 7, 1771, in the Memoires secrets, 
 Vol. V., p. 296. See Paul Roubiquet, Theveneau de Morande, p. 33.
 
 A SINISTER OMEN 109 
 
 dalous lies. The book was brought to the favourite's notice, 
 but she thought best to ignore it for fear of rousing the anger 
 of the King. Her silence only induced Morande to renew 
 his libels. 
 
 There was an exquisitely carved but empty frame at the 
 Salon of 1771 that was intended for a portrait of Madame 
 du Barry. This time she was drawn as a muse, but a muse 
 so lightly draped that when the picture arrived there was 
 a general outcry, although the public were accustomed to 
 transgressions of this description. The painting was with- 
 drawn until the artist had replaced by a long robe the veil 
 that revealed rather than concealed his sitter's white love- 
 liness. 1 The smiling goddess was shown resting on her lyre 
 and scattering roses. She was extravagantly tall, measuring, 
 indeed, six feet and a half, majestic as a classic statue 
 of Venus, but losing thereby the womanly charm of her 
 delicate beauty. And nothing in her face " did justice 
 to the attractive play of Madame Du Barry's features." 
 No doubt the first coat of white, with which the painter 
 aimed at achieving uniformity in his colouring, was respon- 
 sible for the dulness of her complexion. The background 
 was well conceived, in spite of its details, which were some- 
 what too elaborate. Diderot, with no thought of its being 
 a sad omen, observed a " line round the neck separating the 
 head from the body." 
 
 Painting, however, was not the only art to celebrate the 
 beauty of the mistress ; Pajou exhibited a bust in terra- 
 cotta, the first step towards the charming marble in the 
 Louvre, which was not completed until 1773. " In the por- 
 trait of Madame la Comtesse Du Barry," wrote the Mercure, 
 " a bust in terra-cotta by Monsieur Pajou, all may see the 
 charm of beauty, while to the pupils of the Ecole des 
 Beaux-Arts it will further recall the countenance of 
 their protector." 2 The bust served as a model for 
 
 1 MSmoires secrets. For this second work, which is mentioned in 
 his account, the artist asked 15,000 livres. 
 
 1 Diderot does not mention the bust in his account of the Salon. 
 In spite of some collectors' belief to the contrary, Pajou's terra-cotta 
 has not yet been found.
 
 no A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 several copies which were made in porcelain by the Sevres 
 factory. 
 
 The Royal Family refused to make peace, for her sisters 
 and nephews all agreed with Madame Adelaide. Time, 
 perhaps, would cool her furious resentment ; was she not 
 known to have been " consumed with hatred of Madame de 
 Pompadour, only to throw herself finally into the arms of 
 the latter, yielding so unrestrainedly that she even went so 
 far as to leave the choice of a confessor in her hands." 
 The condition of affairs roused the King's anger, and he 
 complained to his mistress and spoke, egoist that he was, of 
 the gentleness of the late Queen, who had never opposed 
 his wishes. 
 
 Before leaving for Fontainebleau, in the beginning of 
 October, 1771, Madame Du Barry made another attempt 
 to come to terms with Mercy. She had an interview with 
 him in which she spoke of the difficult situation created by 
 the ill-will of the Dauphine. Her attitude towards him 
 was that of a trustful child, and she thus secured the interest 
 of the Ambassador whom a different demeanour would have 
 alienated. She confessed " that she had thought it her 
 duty to explain the state of affairs to the King, whom she 
 had begged for permission to avoid coming into the presence 
 of Mesdames, whether at Versailles or during any of the 
 shorter sojourns at the other palaces to which the Prin- 
 cesses were allowed to accompany His Majesty." The 
 King, embarrassed as usual by a direct question, had not 
 replied ; following the example of his daughters when 
 making even the smallest of requests, the mistress wrote to 
 him and was answered thus : " You are wrong to think 
 I love you less because I did not answer you ; I love you 
 very much, as always." The clever young woman gave 
 the Ambassador these words to read, and he communicated 
 them to Marie Antoinette. The King then went on to com- 
 plain of his daughters, whom he proposed to exclude from 
 the little journeys, only admitting the Dauphine and the 
 Countess de Provence. This explains why the Court went 
 straight to Fontainebleau that year without stopping at
 
 A BANQUET TO D'AIGUILLON in 
 
 Choisy ; for in the smaller chateaux, where the size of the 
 suite had to be reduced, frequent encounters were unavoid- 
 able, and friction was aggravated. 
 
 Again the favourite gave herself up to the theatre and the 
 chase, to all the excitements of Court life ; and in the 
 intoxication of her triumphs she soon forgot her troubles. 
 Monsieur d'Aiguillon's nomination was celebrated by all the 
 ambassadors, except those of Spain and Naples, 1 by dinners 
 which they gave in turn in honour of the new Secretary of 
 State. On September 30, Madame Du Barry invited 
 him to her new villa at Louveciennes, an architectural gem 
 to which Ledoux had just given the finishing touches. 
 
 At the request of the minister his mother was of the 
 company, 2 with Mesdames de Mirepoix, de Valentinois, 
 de Montmorency and de Choiseul, the latter a relative and 
 enemy of the disgraced Duke. The other guests included 
 the Chancellor, the Ministers, and nearly all the Diplomatic 
 Corps. At Chanteloup the exiles, who kept themselves well 
 in touch with all the happenings at Court, were filled with 
 indignation that the Dowager Duchess d'Aiguillon should 
 have visited the " Sultana." The Duchess de Choiseul, 
 in spite of her gentleness, wrote to Madame Du Deffand 
 as follows, for she loved her fickle husband : " Whatever 
 you say, my dear ' grand-daughter,' Madame d'Aiguillon has 
 defiled herself by her action, and has lowered my respect 
 for her ; neither powerful influence nor consideration 
 should make one excuse an infamy." 
 
 The witty Marquise smiled at this letter, she who had seen 
 so much during the Regency as well as during the present 
 reign, and could remember when that very same little 
 Duchess had been the inseparable friend of Madame de 
 
 1 The new minister's enemies did not, however, fail to do justice 
 to his qualities. Caracciolo, the Neapolitan Ambassador, wrote, for 
 instance, in a confidential letter of September 20 : " The Duke 
 d'Aiguillon is a man of merit, clever and eminently capable." 
 
 1 " The fat Duchess is dining at Luciennes with the Sultana," 
 wrote Madame Du Deffand to Walpole, " the pasha, her son, has 
 demanded this condescension of her ; she refused for a week, but 
 had to give way or quarrel with him." This seems rather exag- 
 gerated.
 
 112 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 Pompadour. She wrote to Walpole : " Our allies [the 
 Choiseuls] are strangely scandalised that the fat Duchess 
 d'Aiguillon should have dined at Luciennes ; ' grand- 
 mama ' [Madame de Choiseul] says she ' has denied herself 
 by her action.' The fear which seems to me to possess her 
 of being outdone in heat and rancour by the powers (as I 
 call Mesdames de Beauvau and de Grammont) leads her into 
 the most absurd and laughable exaggerations." 
 
 Madame Du Barry was the dispenser of honours as 
 well as favours. The Duke de Coss6, who was later to 
 become so dear to the Countess, asked her on behalf of his 
 wife, Diane de Nivernais, for the post of Mistress of the 
 Robes to the Dauphine, which had become vacant on the 
 death of the Duchess de Villars ; and, in spite of Marie 
 Antoinette's fear at having a dependant of the mistress 
 about her person, a fear that in this case was not justified, 
 the favour was granted. 
 
 Another of the favourite's protege's, the Baron de Mont- 
 morency, had applied to her for help in the delicate matter 
 of a difference with Madame Adelaide. He was first 
 gentleman-usher to the Princess, and on his recent appoint- 
 ment as Lieutenant-General of the Aunis, she had uncere- 
 moniously ordered him to leave her household. The Baron 
 excused himself on the plea that only the King could release 
 him from the oath he had taken. Madame Adelaide sent 
 for the Duke de La Vrilliere and enjoined on him to obtain 
 the dismissal of her gentleman-usher. But the mistress 
 intervened, and Montmorency kept his place. " Madame 
 Adelaide," wrote Mercy to his sovereign, " has suffered the 
 mortification of being worsted in a matter that had attracted 
 the attention of the courtiers." 
 
 For November 9 a comedy-ballet, Z entire et Azor, was 
 arranged, the last performance at Fontainebleau. The 
 play was of particular interest to the favourite, for Gretry 
 had dedicated it to her. 
 
 The libretto by Marmontel recalled the old story of Beauty 
 and the Beast, and the naive miracle wrought by love ; 
 Azor, a young Persian Prince and King of Kamir, was given
 
 THEATRICALS AT COURT 113 
 
 unrivalled beauty by his fairy godmother, but because he 
 boasted of this magnificent gift she deprived him of it. 
 He was changed into a monster, but Zemira, the gentle 
 daughter of a merchant of Ormus, loved him and broke the 
 charm. The play with its magical Eastern setting lent itself 
 to the finest effects, and on the night of the performance the 
 favourite in her gold-bespangled brocade and starry diadem 
 seemed, like the princess of a fairy-tale, to be part of the 
 enchanting story. 1 
 
 When the Court returned to Versailles, Madame de Valen- 
 tinois gave an entertainment in honour of the Countess de 
 Provence, who was at La Muette recovering from an attack of 
 smallpox. Madame Du Barry was among the guests, and, 
 though the anecdote writers have denied it, she received 
 " a most distinguished reception from the Countess de 
 Provence hi the inner apartment where the latter appeared 
 before showing herself to the assembled company." A 
 little play was acted full of praises of the Princess. The 
 Chancellor, who was present, was given his share of the songs, 
 which were the picturesque and flattering work of an Acade- 
 mician, the Abbe de Voisenon ; the Sibyl announced to the 
 French the coming of the golden age as follows : 
 
 Malgre Discorde et ses noirs emissaires, 
 De la Justice ardera le flambeau ; 
 A la Chicane on rognera les serres, 
 Et Themis sera sans bandeau. 
 
 But above all the divinity of the hour was praised : 
 
 C'est la beaute 
 Qui nous corrige et nous eclaire, 
 
 C'est la beaut6 
 Qui nous mene a la verite. 1 
 
 1 Mademoiselle de Lespinasse wrote to Condorcet on November 
 15 : " Azor, or Beauty and the Beast, has had the most brilliant 
 success of any play seen at Court. The Count de Creutz says every- 
 one was intoxicated with delight. He himself can think of nothing 
 else and sings it unconsciously." Charles Henry, Lettres inedites 
 de Mademoiselle de Lespinasse, p. 75. 
 
 1 Mercy, who sent the text to Vienna, said that " the two kick- 
 shaws had shocked the public extremely, and displeased the Royal 
 Family."
 
 U4 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 The entertainment was the cause of some excitement. 
 The Duke d'Orleans, who was the Abbess patron, objected 
 to his sycophancy towards Maupeou. Voisenon, in spite of 
 the fact that he had at first accepted the compliments of the 
 Court, put the whole responsibility for the unfortunate lines 
 on Favart ; but, as the news-writers inform us, " the latter, 
 shared everything that he had with the Abbe, even to his 
 wife." 
 
 The noise made by these petty bickerings was swallowed 
 up in the excitement of the great news that the King had 
 discharged the Duke de Choiseul from his post as Colonel- 
 General of the Swiss and Grison regiments. This action, 
 which deprived him of his remaining dignities, was the 
 inevitable result of his continual bravado. The ostenta- 
 tious life led by the " allies," the host of visitors who came 
 to pay their court at his magnificant chateau and the enter- 
 tainments and plays given them, the songs and epigrams 
 attacking His Majesty and the Barriens, all came to the 
 ears of the monarch, who was much displeased with the 
 insolence displayed by his disgraced minister. 
 
 The Abbe Barthelemy's letters to Madame Du Deffand are 
 a proof of the continual coming and going of visitors at 
 Chanteloup. " Here comes Madame la Comtesse de Gram- 
 mont ; to-morrow we shall see Mesdames de Chabannes and 
 d'Ossun, I believe ; then Monsieur le Marquis and Madame la 
 Marquise de Laval. Monsieur le Baron and Madame la 
 Baronne de Talleyrand, Monsieur de Schomberg, and Mon- 
 sieur de Poix are also here ; Mesdames de Brionne, de Ligne 
 and Mademoiselle de Lorraine are leaving on Sunday, 
 I think; and Monsieur de Schomberg in a few days. 
 As you see, a perpetual ebb and flow ; I might imagine 
 myself in the harbour of a port watching a crowd 
 of vessels of all nations continually come and go. . . ." 
 The gentle Duchess de Choiseul complained of all the 
 commotion to the old Marquise, but she nevertheless felt 
 flattered and made the indiscreet agitators very welcome. 
 It became the fashion to pay one of these visits ; " Madame 
 de Luxembourg," wrote Madame Du Deffand, " left last
 
 CHOISEUL'S EXILE 115 
 
 Monday for Chanteloup, where she will stay a week ; nothing 
 can be more comical or stranger than this visit, which she 
 must have undertaken for the sake of recording it in the 
 history of her life ; certainly she was not inspired to make 
 it by a feeling of friendship." 
 
 TTiose who wished to go to Chanteloup had to ask per- 
 mission of the King ; he usually replied : " Do as you 
 please," and they went. " The Duke's friends are very 
 foolish," said Madame Du Barry. Their imprudence 
 sometimes cost them dear ; the Prince de Beauvau, for 
 instance, lost his position as Governor of Languedoc on 
 account of his over-zealous friendship. " He is profoundly 
 miserable," wrote sarcastic Madame Du Deffand, " I think 
 him as unhappy as our first father. Perhaps he is even more 
 miserable ; but most wonderful to relate, he does not in the 
 least repent ; I vow he will always eat every apple that his 
 Eve [Madame de Beauvau] may offer ; there are moments 
 when this grieves me, but I am immediately consoled at the 
 thought of their extreme satisfaction with the glory to 
 which they lay claim. They are stripped nearly bare, they 
 have no refuge, but they are heroes. Their creditors do not 
 share the glory ; every one is mad." 
 
 As a result of all these follies, Monsieur de Choiseul was 
 commanded to resign his commission as Colonel-General of 
 the Swiss Guards to Monsieur Du Chatelet. The Duke had 
 not, indeed, valued the position very highly, and thought, 
 therefore, to draw every possible advantage from his resigna- 
 tion. In a very respectful letter to the King he begged 
 to be recalled from exile, asked for the sum of three millions 
 to be drawn on the Exchequer, for a life interest in the 
 forest of Hagenau, and finally for a pension for the Duchess 
 his wife, having spent, he said, the enormous fortune 
 of the Crozats in honour of the King on his embassies and 
 during his tenure of office. 
 
 The Count Du Chatelet, an ultimate friend of the Choiseuls, 
 was to present the letter to his Majesty, but Louis XV. 
 objected to deal directly with the matter. Monsieur 
 d'Aiguillon refused to see the petitioner, and, strange though
 
 n6 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 it seemed, his only hope lay in Madame Du Barry. The 
 favourite granted the Count an audience, and from the first 
 he was astonished at her frankness, her goodwill, her under- 
 standing of affairs. Her kindness was, in fact, the subtle 
 coquetry of a woman who wished to revenge herself in the 
 most elegant way possible on her implacable enemy. When 
 Monsieur Du Chatelet pleaded she should give ear to the 
 spirit of moderation that harmonised so well with grace and 
 beauty, she replied " that she was by no means bent on 
 injuring " the Duke, " that she would indeed be chaYmed 
 to see him back again." She added " that she had in the 
 beginning done all she could to warn him," that he ought 
 to have felt " the impossibility of matters continuing on 
 the footing of recent times, not on her account, but on the 
 King's, who was perpetually attacked on the subject of his 
 affections." 
 
 The Count pleaded the cause of his friend to the best of 
 his ability. " I blamed her aavisers," he wrote. " She 
 answered me that we should rather speak of yours ; that 
 . . . at the time of the interview she had with you, she 
 told you she had no advisers, and that, in fact, she had at 
 that tune no one of importance about her other than the 
 Marshal de Richelieu." And here the flatterer found 
 occasion to pay her two adversaries charming compliments. 
 
 Monsieur Du Chatelet left the favourite, having won from 
 her a promise that she would obtain an audience of His 
 Majesty ; the Viscount Du Barry would be sent to inform 
 him of the King's decision. At the first words of the 
 Countess Louis XV. was transported with rage, and for two 
 hours and a half she withstood the storm, justifying the 
 Duke's demands point by point. Then she had a violent 
 scene with the Duke d'Aiguillon. Failure now would have 
 struck a blow at her vanity ; she received the Count Du 
 Chatelet three times, spoke again and again to the King, 
 sent for the Minister. " He was with the King at Madame 
 Du Barry's. Those who were there assert that there is 
 some dispute between her and Monsieur d'Aiguillon, that 
 the King had a very short but lively conversation with him.
 
 A GENEROUS ENEMY 117 
 
 and that Madame Du Barry left in a very bad temper." 
 But negotiations progressed, the details were agreed to, 
 and finally on December 14 the Count gave Monsieur de 
 Choiseul the good news. 
 
 The exile sent in his resignation and obtained in exchange 
 the required compensation. Monsieur Du Chatelet had 
 only praise for the young favourite ; public opinion itself 
 had to recognise her generosity. The ballads of Versailles 
 and Paris were this time sung in her honour : 
 
 Ghacun doutait en vous voyant si belle 
 Si vous etiez ou femme ou d6ite ; 
 Mais, c'est trop sur, votre rare bonte 
 N'est pas I'effort d'une simple mortelle. 
 Quoi qu'ait ecrit jadis, en certain lieu, 
 Un roi prophdte en sa sainte demeure, 
 Quoi qu'un poete en ait dit, la vengeance 
 N'est que d'un homme, et le pardon d'un Dieu. 
 
 Yet the Duke wrote in his memoirs : " Neither I nor 
 Madame de Choiseul thanked her for it ; the injustice, and 
 especially the harshness of our treatment exempted us from 
 all gratitude."
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 THE ALL-POWERFUL FAVOURITE 
 
 Projected Marriage of the King to the Favourite The Partition of 
 Poland Maria Theresa's Fears Reconciliation of Marie Antoin- 
 ette and Madame du Barry Gustavus III.'s coup d'&tat Mar- 
 riages of the Viscount and the Chevalier Du Barry The Salon 
 of 1773 Marriage of the Count d'Artois Final Intrigues 
 Illness and Death of Louis XV. 
 
 " flT^HE Countess Du Barry's ascendancy over the King 
 
 wellnigh knows no bounds," wrote Mercy to 
 
 Maria Theresa in December, 1771 ; and, as a 
 
 matter of fact, all Europe was beginning to take 
 
 the favourite's power into account. The Cabinet of Vienna 
 
 treated her with caution ; the Kings of England and Prussia 
 
 made advances to her, and Gustavus III. relied on her for 
 
 protection in his difficulties. Nor were these proud triumphs 
 
 all ; she won gentler victories as well, for the Dauphine 
 
 deigned to speak to her at her visit on New Year's Day. 
 
 Since the marriage of the Count de Provence, Marie 
 Antoinette had occupied the Queen's rooms at Versailles, 
 and she gave her audiences in the vast bedchamber with 
 its canopied bed behind the gilded railing. Thither came 
 Madame Du Barry on January i, 1772, accompanied by 
 Madame de Mirepoix and the Duchess d'Aiguillon. After 
 the customary curtseys the Dauphine looked towards the 
 favourite and said politely : " There are many people at 
 Versailles to-day," l after which the King's circle of friends 
 could talk of nothing but the spirit of the lovable young 
 Princess. But though the dominant party rejoiced, the 
 
 1 In his report of January 23, 1772, Mercy relates how on New 
 Year's Eve he had used every possible argument to induce the 
 Dauphine to be kind to the favourite next day. " I obtained a 
 promise, not without much difficulty. The chief point was that 
 Mesdames were not consulted, and the outcome was most fortunate.'* 
 
 118
 
 MARIE ANTOINETTE 
 
 I
 
 A DUTIFUL DAUGHTER 119 
 
 little Archduchess had to pay dearly for her courage ; 
 Mesdames, her aunts, were furious, and the Countess de 
 Narbonne went so far as to speak of her treachery. Though 
 thus deserted she yet wrote to the Empress : 
 
 My dearest mother, I have no doubt that Mercy has 
 informed you of my conduct on New Year's Day, and I 
 hope that you were satisfied. You may be sure that I shall 
 always sacrifice my every prejudice and aversion as long as 
 I am asked to do nothing contrary to the principles of 
 decency and honour. A breach between my two families 
 would be the misfortune of my life ; my heart would always 
 be on the side of my own, and my duties here would be very 
 difficult to carry out. I tremble at the idea of such a thing, 
 and trust that it may never happen, that at least I may 
 not be the cause. . . . 
 
 The unfortunate, rather than insulting, expression, " con- 
 trary to the principles of honour " drew on her an exasper- 
 ated reply from her august parent. " I have been very 
 mistaken," wrote the Dauphine again, " in what I told you 
 of the Count de Provence ; he has much disgraced himself 
 in the Madame de Brancas affair. His wife follows his 
 example in everything, but only through fear and stupidity, 
 for I believe her to be extremely unhappy." Marie 
 Antoinette's brother-in-law was, in fact, playing a double 
 game, and while keeping in with the opposite party his 
 ambition led him to serve the interests of the Barriens. 
 The Madame de Brancas referred to had recently been dis- 
 missed from the household of the Countess de Provence 
 on account of an impertinence towards the favourite. 
 Apparently, the idol was henceforth to be unassailable. 
 
 Mercy hastened to reap advantage from the gratitude of 
 Madame Du Barry, who was enchanted with the favour 
 won from the Princess. He became a frequent visitor at 
 the Petits Cabinets, and the gift of a valuable box from 
 Kaunitz, which he showed the King, provided him with an 
 opportunity of singing the praises of his chief to the mistress. 
 He wrote to the Minister : "I am in high favour with 
 Madame Du Barry ; she is beginning to listen to me, and
 
 120 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 has not at all exposed me on the subject of certain minor 
 political proposals which I have ventured to put forward 
 with every precaution, solely for the purpose of seeing how 
 the land lay. I hope to make use of this woman, if only 
 Madame la Dauphine will be good enough not to frustrate 
 my schemes by any inconsiderate action." 
 
 The Ambassadors were right to deal cautiously with 
 the Countess, who was now all-powerful at the Court of 
 France. She was the chief supporter in the Versailles 
 Cabinet of the threatened interests of Gustavus III. " In 
 this terrible position," wrote Monsieur de Creutz to his 
 sovereign, " I propose the following course of action to 
 Your Majesty . . . ist, to write a most moving letter 
 to the King, a very flattering one to Madame Du Barry, 
 and one full of trust and friendship to the Duke d'Aiguillon. 
 This is of the greatest importance." The letters were 
 written and worked wonders. Creutz joyfully wrote to 
 Gustavus that " the lady who enjoyed the confidence of 
 the King " took the most lively interest in Swedish affairs. 
 " She is always speaking of them to me," he added, " and has 
 bidden me deliver her good wishes to Your Majesty." 
 
 Madame Du Barry was not satisfied with only assuring 
 the Swedish Ambassador of her goodwill towards the young 
 King. She acted, and informed Count Scheffer of her actions, 
 having become acquainted with him at the time of Gus- 
 tavus' stay in Paris, when she had also invited him to supper 
 together with the Prince. 
 
 I should have written to you yesterday, Monsieur le 
 Comte, as I promised, had not the King's day been so fully 
 occupied that he could not possibly find time to reply to 
 His Swedish Majesty. Pray believe, Monsieur, that I am 
 giving my ceaseless attention to all that may interest your 
 master ; I have been most moved at hearing of his trouble, 
 and I beg of you to assure him of my sympathy. I hope 
 to-morrow the King will give a reply that will satisfy all 
 the wishes of the King of Sweden. I am, Monsieur, 
 
 Your most humble and obedient servant, 
 
 La Comtesse Du Barry.
 
 A FRACTIOUS PATIENT 121 
 
 In supporting the Swedish King, the Countess fell in with 
 Louis' secret wish ; in spite of all, he attached importance 
 to the old European balance of power which Catherine and 
 Frederick sought to destroy in furthering their own ends. 
 He was pleased that Gustavus should master his government, 
 because he wished to see him triumph over his watchful 
 enemies ; and to save him from the hornet's nest, Louis 
 allowed him to draw on the French Treasury. But when 
 once the Cabinet at Versailles had yielded to Madame Du 
 Barry's importunities, the young King had to be asked to 
 hasten the operations which were to foil the covetousness 
 of the Northern League. 
 
 While the King of Sweden was thus contending with his 
 ambitious nobility, Versailles gave itself up to all the joys 
 of the Carnival. The favourite queened it everywhere, and 
 overtaxed her powers to such an extent that she was forced 
 to take to her bed. Madame de Choiseul wrote to Madame 
 Du Deffand that the mistress was feared to be suffering from 
 an attack of measles, and the latter informed Walpole on 
 February 17, 1772, that the Countess was afflicted with a 
 terrible cold. Everyone took the greatest interest in her 
 ladyship's precious health, and the gazetteers embellished 
 their anecdotes with their usual felicity. The story went 
 that the physicians had decided " the invalid should be 
 bled. The latter showed much reluctance in submitting to 
 then* decision, and treated them to all the grimaces in which 
 pretty women indulge. His Majesty, who was present at 
 the discussion, pressed her to give way to necessity, and, 
 as she still objected, he slapped her lightly." 1 
 
 The Countess allowed herself to be tended, glad of the en- 
 forced rest which for a moment interrupted the feverish 
 course of her career. Louis scarcely ever left her, and 
 rejoiced in the charm of increased intimacy with his sweet 
 and loving friend. In her floating white gown, trimmed 
 with silver lace " and little knots of flowers," with her bare 
 feet stuck in satin slippers and her long hair framing 
 
 * " The quarrel only proves the strength of his passion for her," 
 adds the writer of the A necdotes.
 
 122 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 her pale face, she was more beautiful than ever. One of 
 her women read aloud to her, probably from one of the 
 numerous histories which La Beaumelle had just bought 
 her. Among them were such books as the Memoirs of 
 Brantome, Bassompierre or Retz, diaries of the reigns of 
 Henri III. and Henri IV., and chronicles for the years 1768 
 and 1769, all of which dealt with subjects of general interest 
 at a time when Madame de Mesmes could write : " The 
 Chancellor has for six months been making certain people 
 learn the history of France, who might perhaps have died 
 without knowing it." 
 
 But the favourite's library did not consist exclusively of 
 such books as the " Meditations " of Marcus Aurelius or the 
 " Enchiridion " of Epictetus. There were also the extrava- 
 gant Crebillon's " Le Sopha, La Nuit et le Moment," 
 and the courteous Dorat's " Baisers," which the Viscount 
 Adolphe read to her. Mademoiselle Chon used to play her 
 favourite pieces on the harpsichord, or Madame de Mire- 
 poix, who, according to Madame Du Deffand, recited so 
 well, declaimed scenes from Racine and Molire. In the 
 meantime, the favourite's pretty fingers would be busied 
 with thread-picking. " You must know that thread-picking 
 is now most fashionable," wrote Madame Du Deffand to 
 Walpole. " The presents one makes are all of gold thread 
 twisted into every kind of shape : hats, wigs, fruit, mouse- 
 traps, dogs, cats, birds. It is all the rage now, and gives 
 plenty of scope for displaying ostentation and magnificence, 
 since it deprives of all value what once cost us so dear." 
 
 Madame Du Barry soon recovered, but the King's health 
 was a cause for anxiety throughout the winter. As a rule 
 illness drove him to seek the consolations of religion, and the 
 question was discussed whether he intended to sacrifice his 
 mistress so that he might go to confession and receive the 
 sacraments. He had already done such a thing once before, 
 at Metz, when he dismissed the Duchess de Chateauroux, 
 and Madame de Pompadour had often feared similar treat- 
 ment. Only marriage could reconcile the King's weakness 
 with his orthodoxy. The favourite was quite prepared to
 
 MISTRESS OR WIFE 123 
 
 play the part of a Maintenon, and Louis XV., whatever he 
 may have said to the contrary, would then have followed 
 in the footsteps of Louis XIV. The difficulty lay rather 
 in obtaining the Pope's consent to the separation of Guil- 
 laume Du Barry and his wife. 
 
 Madame Louise, the Carmelite, took up the matter, for 
 nothing had grieved her more than her father's latest amour, 
 and she hoped that by legalising the union he would be 
 restored to the arms of the Church. Others were found to 
 support the proposal, especially Messieurs d'Aiguillon and 
 de Maupeou. The Minister and the Chancellor had for some 
 time scarcely been in agreement ; the Duke, as the recog- 
 nised protege of her ladyship, seemed the stronger ; the 
 Chancellor, on the other hand, was upheld by the clerical 
 party, and still showed a brave front to the world. But in 
 spite of their conflicting ambitions, both men bent their 
 wits to the task of annulling the marriage of the Countess. 
 The report of the impending petition to the Pope reached 
 Vienna, and Mercy was interrogated at Maria Theresa's 
 command. " The King and the Duke d'Aiguillon are said 
 to have frequent interviews with Madame Louise, the Car- 
 melite, who is understood to be working strenuously for 
 the consent of the Pope to the dissolution of Madame Du 
 Barry's marriage, that the latter may be in a position to 
 marry the King. The success of the negotiations is a matter 
 of indifference to Her Majesty. She even knows such an 
 event to be the only means of setting the King's conscience 
 at rest. She wishes to know, however, if there is any 
 foundation for the rumour." 
 
 The Ambassador replied to the Empress : " The Chan- 
 cellor, with the help of the Archbishop of Paris, has succeeded 
 in embroiling Madame Louise in intrigues of whose object 
 she has no suspicion." But the negotiations were long- 
 drawn and difficult, and in view of the rigorous laws of the 
 Church, had no serious prospect of succeeding. The Abbe 
 Terray was pleased to prolong them ; " he believed no more 
 than others in the possibility of arriving at the desired end, 
 but he could at least inspire the favourite with false hopes
 
 124 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 for some months," which was all the cunning courtier desired. 1 
 The question was soon discussed on wider grounds, and a 
 famous memorandum, by the Duke d'Aiguillon's lawyer, 
 Linguet, set a current of public opinion in favour of a divorce 
 law, which was destined to be established twenty years 
 later by the Revolution. 2 
 
 The proposed marriage did not fail to give rise to male- 
 volent rumours that resort had been had to prompt and 
 efficacious methods of getting rid of the favourite's hus- 
 band. He was said to be dying of a languishing disease, and 
 base insinuations were made as to its cause. All these 
 calumnies were refuted by the appearance of the " big, fat " 
 Count Guillaume in Paris. He took a house and gave several 
 entertainments, which were much talked about. His wife 
 provided part of the means for defraying his extravagant 
 expenses, but for some time she had complained of his 
 excessive demands. Guillaume only met her refusals with 
 insults and threats. Madame Du Barry and her husband 
 had from the first enjoyed complete independence of 
 property, and now she demanded separation of person and 
 domicile. She won her desire on April 2, 1772, by sentence 
 of the Chatelet, which was later confirmed by a decree of 
 the Parliament. Heavy compensation was granted to the 
 Count, who acquiesced in the decision of the law courts 
 without making further difficulties. 
 
 The favourite had at this time recourse to the law in 
 another matter that was as close to her heart as her own 
 affair. A nephew of Billard-Dumouceaux, the naval con- 
 tractor who had brought Anne Becu and her little daughter 
 to Paris, had recently been imprisoned for a bankruptcy 
 involving the sum of five million livres. His case was serious 
 and might bring him to the galleys. But he had a powerful 
 protector, who tried by all possible means to obtain a full 
 
 1 He was soon to undertake " imperceptibly to destroy her 
 chimerical hopes of playing the part of a Maintenon or of being 
 Queen of France." (M&moires de VAUbi Terray, Vol. ., p. 157.) 
 
 * The fictitious memorandum is addressed to the Pope, and 
 attempts to reduce indissolubility of marriage to a matter of dis- 
 cipline, which might be modified by the Church.
 
 A FRUITLESS INTERVENTION 125 
 
 pardon for him ; all she succeeded in doing, however, was 
 to reduce his sentence. She besought Maupeou in vain ; 
 for the first time he avoided carrying out her wishes. He 
 gave Louis XV. to understand that Madame Du Barry's 
 goodness of heart was in this case opposed to the principles 
 of justice ; the forger was not worthy of a clemency which 
 would stir up the feelings of the people. The Chancellor's 
 words were heeded. Madame Du Deffand wrote of the 
 culprit : " He stood in the pillory at La Greve for two hours 
 under the inscription : Fraudulent bankrupt, unfaithful 
 steward. He wore silk stockings and a black suit ; his hair 
 was well dressed and powdered ; he wanted to embrace 
 the executioner who fetched him from prison, called him 
 brother, thanked him for opening the gates of heaven, 
 praised God for the disgrace, and recited psalms all the time 
 he was in the pillory." 
 
 That day, too, the young Countess had to be as gay as 
 usual and appear unmoved, showing nothing of her grief ; 
 but on the following day she went to her mother to weep 
 and lament. She could come whenever she chose to the 
 Convent of Sainte-Elisabeth, where Madame Rangon de 
 Montrabe lived. The community was in the exceptional 
 position of being directly responsible to Rome, and Rome 
 had authorised these visits at the special request of Louis XV. 
 to the Mother Superior. Every fortnight the beautiful 
 lady of the Court was made very welcome, as may be ima- 
 gined ; the Abbess even sent her niece, " who sang very 
 well, to amuse the Countess during dinner." 1 
 
 Though Maupeou dared directly to thwart the wishes of 
 the favourite, he must not be supposed to have done so 
 from excessively honest motives. He feared that to yield 
 to her desire would rouse public opinion against him once 
 more. People were becoming accustomed to the new Parlia- 
 ment, but their hatred of the Chancellor was by no means 
 
 1 Madame Ranfon's niece, Betzy, nicknamed Pierrot for her 
 mischievousness, was at that time living with her aunt at the con- 
 vent, and evil tongues spread the report that she was the favourite's 
 daughter. Drouais had just painted her picture on one of the frieze 
 panels over a door at Louveciennes.
 
 126 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 diminished. " Assertions are made," so wrote the gazetteers, 
 " based on his constant disputes with Madame Du Barry and 
 the other ministers of the House of Bourbon, so that every- 
 where hopes are reviving wonderfully, and the following 
 song has been written as a first instalment of what he may 
 
 expect : 
 
 Par ma foi, Ren6 de Maupeou, 
 Vous devriez bien dtre saoul, 
 
 Lon Ian la derirette, 
 De tous les pamphlets d'aujourd'hui, 
 
 Lon Ian la deriri. 
 Votre credit baisse, dit-on, 
 Chacun vous tire au court Mton, Lon. . . 
 L'abbe Terray, le d'Aiguillon. 
 Meditent quelque trahison, Lon. . . 
 Mais votre plus affreux malheur 
 C'est de n'etre plus en faveur. 
 
 Lon Ian la derirette, 
 Avec Mesdames Du Barry, 
 
 Lon Ian la deriri." 
 
 Libels rained on Maupeou from every side, each one more 
 defamatory than its predecessor. But Voltaire continued to 
 defend him in verse and prose and praised his hero, who had 
 saved the Crown and rescued it from " the labyrinth of 
 laws," an exploit worthy to be sung by Homer. 
 
 The Choiseuls with malicious irony made a weathercock 
 of gold thread as a symbol of the great man's sentiments ; 
 but the philosopher was not so changeable as they thought, 
 and his eulogies were sincere, particularly on this occasion. 
 To him Maupeou' s intelligent reforms had the one desirable 
 result of overthrowing the power of the magistrates whose 
 abuse had filled him with so much indignation. Certain 
 prudent spirits drew a lesson from the Chancellor's energetic 
 measures ; the ease with which an ancient institution had 
 been broken down inspired another representative of autho- 
 rity, the Abbe Terray, to deal no less a blow at the adminis- 
 tration by an attack on privilege, that had ever been the 
 enemy of the Treasury. The Minister of Finance had come 
 to the end of his resources, and in consequence he suspended 
 the payment of orders on certain funds, diminished life 
 annuities and delayed the payment of the vingtieme, and
 
 THE FAVOURITE'S FINANCES 127 
 
 though he may have increased the duties on bread, salt and 
 certain other commodities, he also introduced a tax on newly 
 created nobles. The Princes of the Blood had to sell their 
 horses and limit their households. A furious outcry was 
 raised, and thus began the struggle between the Court and 
 the town of Paris. 
 
 Madame Du Barry alone had nothing to fear from these 
 attacks on wealth. The replenished Royal Treasury was 
 open to satisfy her every whim. Terray was asserted to be 
 " so obsequious and devoted in carrying out her wishes that 
 he treated her drafts on the Exchequer as if they were the 
 King's. . . ." Roettiers de la Tour, goldsmith to the 
 King, had at this time just completed for her a hammered 
 service with a design of roses and myrtle. But she desired, 
 above all, the luxury of owning a toilet service entirely of 
 gold. Crowds went to the artist to admire the first article 
 he completed, a mirror surmounted by two Cupids holding 
 a coronet. Nor did they come only to admire ; they also 
 made malicious calculations of its cost, and Roettiers had 
 finally to give up the work " on account of the scandal."' 1 
 
 At Versailles trouble was brewing among the favourite's 
 circle of friends : " They live like cat and dog '' said Madame 
 Du Deffand. The Duchess de Mazarin, a beautiful woman, 
 whom tiny Madame de Choiseul asserted to weigh " between 
 three and four hundred," had deserted the party of " dis- 
 senters " for the Barriens, but the jealous Princess de Mont- 
 morency declared that she would withdraw if the lady were 
 really permitted to join them. On April 3, the favourite 
 brought the newcomer to Choisy, where they spent two days 
 with His Majesty ; the company included some privileged 
 noblemen, Madame de Mirepoix and Madame de 1'Hopital. 
 During their visit the celebrated Audinot, manager of one 
 
 1 " To Roettiers de la Tour, as an indemnity for an incomplete 
 toilet service .... 1,800 livres." The interesting bills of the 
 Roettiers, father and son, for the articles ordered of them by Madame 
 Du Barry since 1769 have been preserved among her accounts in the 
 Bibliotheque nationals. The perfection of their work may be judged 
 from the wealth of detail they give ; the knob of her running foot- 
 man's cane cost 546 livres, 9 sols.
 
 128 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 of the amusements at the fair of Saint-Germain, appeared 
 for the first time before the Court. He brought a troupe of 
 children trained to act some rather daring plays, which were 
 the rage in Paris. The first was a comedy by Nogaret, // n'y 
 a plus d' en f ants, and they finished with a pantomime- 
 ballet of Puss-in-Boots. The entertainment was devised 
 by the Countess, and scandalised the public ; 1 she herself 
 enjoyed it very much, and even the King was seen to " smile 
 occasionally." 
 
 On their return the Countess took advantage of her sover- 
 eign's amiable frame of mind to make him accept the ser- 
 vices of her nephew Adolphe as his chief Equerry. " The 
 Viscount Du Barry will get the post of Chief Equerry to 
 the King," wrote Madame Du Deffand. " He is supposed 
 to have had the commission for a fortnight. De Coigny and 
 de Polignac, who had hoped for the appointment, will 
 instead be given the posts of First Lord-in- Waiting and 
 Chief Equerry, respectively, to the Count d'Artois ; Mon- 
 sieur de Beauvau will also receive some compensation." 
 Whatever the merits of the young man, it was a triumph 
 for the Du Barry household. 
 
 Nor were the great lords and ladies who sought the aid 
 of the favourite ever turned away ; she rendered innumerable 
 services, and was continually being asked to exert her 
 influence over the King in all kinds of difficulties. To her 
 inexhaustible courtesy, belles-lettres owed many a favour. 
 The Academy had, on May 7, elected the Abbe Delille and 
 Suard from among nineteen candidates to the vacancies 
 created by the deaths of Bignon and Duclos. Two days 
 later, " when the Academy was on the point of breaking up, 
 a letter from the Duke de La Vrilliere arrived, announcing 
 not only that the King declined to confirm the two elec- 
 tions of Thursday, but also that he disallowed them alto- 
 gether, as, contrary to the statutes, they had been made at 
 a single sitting. Some say the letter added that he dis- 
 approved of the persons elected . . . ." The fact was 
 
 1 Yet young girls were taken to these plays. Cf. Lucie Achard, 
 Rosalie de Constant, p. 44.
 
 AN ELECTION TO THE ACADEMY 129 
 
 that the Abbe Delille and Suard were intimate with the 
 Encyclopaedists, to whom His Majesty strongly objected. 
 The election had to be repeated, and great excitement pre- 
 vailed among the immortals. On the same evening the 
 Prince de Beauvau, who upheld the claims of Suard, wrote 
 to the Abbe Arnaud : "I have come to the conclusion that 
 your friendship with Madame Du Barry makes you the 
 most suitable person to speak to her. You must do so 
 to-morrow, as early as possible, because the King is leaving 
 at about half-past eleven o'clock for Saint-Hubert, and no 
 time must be lost in obtaining a favourable reply, if it can 
 be done, before the Academy assembles. . . ." 1 
 
 The King refused to listen, and in vain Monsieur de 
 Beauvau ventured to demonstrate to His Majesty the wrong 
 done to the liberties of the Academy by this exclusion. 
 " Fearing to witness the dissolution of their society," the 
 Academicians arranged for the new elections to take place 
 on the following Saturday. As soon as the sitting began, 
 they attacked Richelieu, who presided as Director. " He 
 was told that he might have informed the Academy of His 
 Majesty's wishes." They were given the bantering reply : 
 "I, Messieurs ? The King speaks to me ; I do not speak 
 to the King. I cannot question His Majesty as to his pre- 
 ferences. Ask the Sieur Nestier, who has supplied some- 
 thing like twenty thousand horses to the King. We have 
 yet to find the man who has pleased him more." The peace- 
 loving favourite alone promised to take up the cause of the 
 ill-used candidates. Confidence was restored, for she had 
 already been the means of giving Marmontel his appoint- 
 ment as Royal Historiographer, and had brought the King 
 to approve of D'Alembert as permanent secretary to the 
 Academy. Ten months later the King assured the society, 
 through the Duke de Nivernais, that he no longer opposed 
 the election of Suard and the Abbe Delille. 
 
 The philosophers could thus count on the occasional 
 
 1 Madame Du Deffand speaks of the part played by Monsieur de 
 Beauvau, in ignorance of Madame Du Barry's intervention. The 
 Abbe Arnaud, an old friend of the Countess, had been elected to the 
 Academy in 1771.
 
 130 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 patronage of the favourite, who, indeed, liked them little 
 enough, and they needed it all the more that they had just 
 lost the support at Court of another great lady. The 
 dowager Duchess d'Aiguillon died suddenly in June, on 
 leaving her bath. " She was a talented woman," wrote one 
 of the gazetteers, " well-informed, and much attracted by 
 modern philosophy, that is to say, by atheism and material- 
 ism." But Madame Du Deffand compared the fat Duchess 
 " to a statue that, meant for the vaulted arch of a church, 
 seemed monstrous when seen in the porch." Madame Du 
 Barry wept the loss of her friend, whom she had loved 
 because of the gratitude she had shown for the services the 
 Countess rendered her son. The coffin was carried to the 
 Sorbonne and placed in the tomb of the Richelieus. Un- 
 doubtedly the " two urns of a beautiful blue," which the 
 favourite ordered from Sevres, were intended for the grave 
 of the Duchess. 
 
 While still under the impressive influence of her friend's 
 death, Madame Du Barry determined to make a Christian 
 of Zamore, the Indian slave whom she indulged so fondly, 
 and whom she would thus also set free. She herself was his 
 godmother, and she made a Prince of the Blood stand god- 
 father, the Count de la Marche, son of the Prince de Conti. 
 The catechumen wore at his baptism a ravishing hussar 
 uniform, described by the tailor Carlier in his accounts as 
 follows : " A white silver-laced costume : coat, breeches 
 and buskins of paduasoy : buttons, girdle and sword of 
 silver, plumed cap with a tuft of jasmine." In the register 
 of baptisms in the parish of Notre-Dame we may read : 
 
 In the year seventeen hundred and seventy-two, on July 4, 
 Louis-Benoist Zamore, negro servant of Madame la Com- 
 tesse Du Barry, about ten years of age, was baptised by the 
 undersigned. . . . The godfather was the Most High 
 and Mighty Prince, Monseigneur Louis-Francis- Joseph de 
 Bourbon, Comte de la Marche, represented by Dominique- 
 Benigne Bellot his doorkeeper ; The godmother, High and 
 Mighty Dame-Benedicte de Vaubergny (siq), Comtesse Du 
 Barry, represented by Felicite Cuignet, her chief waiting- 
 woman.
 
 THE POLISH TRAGEDY 131 
 
 The following month witnessed the tragic development 
 of Polish affairs, which were of such deep interest to France. 
 The name of Madame Du Barry has been mixed up in them, 
 though without foundation. She did no more than follow 
 the course of events with concern ; once only she interceded 
 with Louis XV. on behalf of the Confederation of Bar, who 
 had been placed at the mercy of three ambitious sovereigns 
 by the unfortunate, but inevitable, withdrawal of French 
 support. 
 
 When d'Aiguillon rose to power he knew nothing of the 
 inner meaning of the European situation, or of the pro- 
 posals for partition upon which Frederick had already 
 resolved. On learning of the danger that the traditional 
 allies of France ran hi the East, he continued Choiseul's 
 indecisive policy, and negotiated with the Porte for help 
 for Poland. But the King, with a fuller knowledge of the 
 trend of affairs, knew that it was too late for prudent inter- 
 ference in the iniquitous drama being played on the Polish 
 stage. Count Wielhorski, the envoy of the Confederates, 
 and an energetic and sensible man, was then in Paris work- 
 ing for the interests of his country. 1 Frederick's letters to 
 the Count de Solms show that he feared this adversary, 
 and required minute accounts of his proceedings. He wrote 
 on May 17, 1772, that : " After receiving the news brought 
 by a courier that Austrian troops, to the number of 40,000 
 men, were in Poland marching on Cracow, whilst the Russians 
 were advancing from the opposite side with a force of 20,000 
 men, Count Wielhorski immediately left for Versailles in 
 order to acquaint the Duke d'Aiguillon. The latter listened 
 to him with the impatience of one already better informed. 
 But when Count Wielhorski asked him whether France 
 would desert them in their extremity and allow Poland to 
 be divided among the Powers, the Duke answered : ' How 
 can it be helped ? Your weakness is great and our efforts 
 would be useless. This state of affairs is the result of your 
 
 1 There is an interesting essay in French on the constitution of 
 Poland, published in London in 1775 by " the Count de Wielhorski. 
 Steward of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania."
 
 132 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 internal dissensions and the evil intrigues of my prede- 
 cessor.' The Count went his way lamenting." 
 
 This was the only occasion on which Madame Du Barry 
 played an active part, and then only in the sphere of pity. 
 On leaving the Minister, Wielhorski went to the favourite 
 to implore her to plead his cause with Louis XV. He gave 
 her an account of the constitution of his country and of the 
 Confederations which, in reality the defenders of liberty, 
 were misrepresented as forms of anarchy ; he told her of 
 the heroism of his countrymen, and exposed to her the 
 brutality of the Russians, the cynicism of the Prussians and 
 the hypocrisy of the Austrians. She listened with interest, 
 " visibly moved," and exhorted him to have courage. The 
 same day she probably spoke to the King. But the waging 
 of war would require both money and the support of 
 London, and the Treasury was drained, while England 
 had little desire to be involved in the conflict. Yet the 
 favourite, with her childish incapacity for realising all this, 
 imagined that such a sinister development of affairs would 
 follow. 
 
 In the meanwhile d'Aiguillon sent assistance and won the 
 King's consent to a naval demonstration. Maria Theresa 
 thereupon wrote to Mercy the following instructions, 
 indicating her anxiety at Madame Du Barry's possible 
 intentions and actions : 
 
 I have informed my daughter that I have charged you 
 with an important mission, which is near to my heart both 
 as a sovereign and a mother. It is this. Our unfortunate 
 situation, as much with respect to Poland as to the Prus- 
 sians and the Russians, with whom we are forced to keep 
 on good terms in order to avoid a greater evil, can assuredly 
 change nothing of our alliance with France and Spain that 
 is the natural outcome of our united interests and houses. 
 Having laid down which, I do not deny that France has some 
 cause for complaint at the way matters have been managed. 
 That it could not be prevented was due to no lack of good- 
 will ; but, having to deal according to plans laid down 
 some time ago with a much stronger party, to whose activ- 
 ities the absolute inefficiency of the Porte gave free play,
 
 FRANCE AND THE ALLIANCE 133 
 
 we could not, without risking our own existence, refuse the 
 offers made us at the end of February on the express con- 
 dition of communicating them to no one. . . . We are 
 assured that England and the King of Prussia want to win 
 over the Barry, but you should know better than I whether 
 this is so. . . . The King is constant hi friendship, 
 and I dare appeal to his heart ; but he is weak, and his 
 surroundings do not allow him sufficient time to reflect and 
 follow the promptings of his own good feeling. You under- 
 stand how important it is to the preservation of the Alliance 
 that everything should be done at this critical time to pre- 
 vent permanent separation. I shall never desert the system 
 adopted, and I have given convincing proofs of my sentiments. 
 But should France have dealings with Prussia, who would cer- 
 tainly deceive her, I must inform you that such would be 
 the only case in which I could not help altering at once ; I 
 should do so with very great regret, but it would be inevit- 
 able. Every possible means must be taken to prevent 
 these evils and troubles to the monarchy and the family, 
 and only my daughter, the Dauphine, with the help of your 
 counsels and knowledge of the place, can render such a 
 service to her family and her country. Above all, she must 
 win the favour of the King by her attentions and tender- 
 ness ; she should seek to divine his wishes, should offend 
 him in nothing, and must treat the favourite well. I 
 demand of her no close intercourse, much less any meanness, 
 only the attentions she owes for the sake of her grandfather 
 and master, for the sake of the good which may result to 
 us and the two Courts ; perhaps the Alliance depends on 
 her actions. 
 
 Maria Theresa was mistaken in her fears ; Louis XV. had 
 no intention of separating from his old friend. The Alliance 
 had been his own well-thought-out work, and he would not 
 be the first to break it. The country was at last recovering 
 from the effects of the Seven Years' War and, in spite of 
 public agitation, many of the provinces were thriving, the 
 peasants were happier, commerce was developing, all the 
 arts were flourishing, and Europe still recognised the hege- 
 mony of France. The monarch was certainly not going to 
 endanger the prosperity of his country for a chivalrous but
 
 134 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 useless enterprise ; he hardened himself with prudent 
 egoism. 
 
 Mercy, for his part, often went to see the Countess and 
 cultivated her goodwill towards the Austrian party ; "I 
 have commenced to instruct her on the great truths of His- 
 tory," he pompously wrote to the Empress ; " she listens, 
 and understands what I say. I try to guide her by her own 
 personal interests, and since Madame la Dauphine has begun 
 to give some small support to my proceedings, I hope that 
 affairs here will remain on the footing which the service of 
 Your Majesty requires." 
 
 As Mercy said, the young Princess had in fact seconded 
 Maria Theresa's views ; from the moment she felt herself 
 to be the frail link uniting the two sovereign houses, she 
 studied how to serve the cause of the Alliance. She now 
 supported the favourite even against Mesdames. At Com- 
 piegne she sent the Dauphin to the supper-parties at the 
 " Petit Chateau," over which the mistress presided, and 
 when, one Sunday morning, Mesdames Du Barry and 
 d'Aiguillon came to pay their court to her, she received 
 them with smiles, the charming smiles with which she 
 thought to make amends for the desertion of Poland. 1 
 She was no doubt influenced by Mercy, who had redoubled 
 his "pressing representations." He relates how " after 
 the Royal Mass, the favourite arrived with the Duchess 
 d'Aiguillon. Madame la Dauphine at first spoke to 
 the latter, and than, turning towards the favourite, she 
 made some remarks on the weather and the chase in such a 
 way that, without directly addressing the Countess Du 
 Barry, the latter could yet imagine that the remarks were 
 made as much to her as to the Duchess d'Aiguillon. No 
 more was needed to satisfy the favourite. The King was 
 informed of what had passed, and showed his pleasure to 
 Madame la Dauphine by several little attentions at dinner 
 
 1 Mercy adds that on the departure of the two ladies, the Prin- 
 cess made some very well-judged reflections on the subject of the 
 attitude to be taken up towards the favourite, which were approved 
 by the Dauphin, who was present, as also the Count and Countess 
 de Provence.
 
 A SCURRILOUS BOOK 135 
 
 the same evening." The political interest of this day was 
 not lost on the Ambassadors, of whom more than one 
 thought right to give an account of its incidents in his 
 despatches. " Matters must have been serious," wrote one 
 of them, " that Madame la Dauphine should have consented 
 to break with her aunts, work at overcoming the Dauphin's 
 aversion for Madame Du Barry and herself grant the latter 
 that grain of recognition which she had hitherto always 
 denied her." 
 
 The Court left Compiegne on August 27 ; on her return to 
 Versailles the Countess was subjected' to a violently libellous 
 attack. The Lieutenant-general of police displayed great 
 zeal in suppressing the sale of the book, which was printed 
 in England, but some copies were, none the less, put hi 
 circulation. Its title ran : The Authentic Memoirs of the 
 Countess Du Barre (sic), Mistress of Louis XV., King of 
 France. Extracts from a manuscript in the possession of 
 Madame la Duchesse de Villeroy, by the Chevalier Fr. N. 
 Translated from the English. 
 
 The Duchess de Villeroy was most certainly not concerned 
 in its coarse and verbose anecdotes, of which even the 
 Memoir es secrets speak with disgust, unable to find " a 
 single one which may be held to approach the truth." The 
 publication was less a pamphlet than a filthy novel to which 
 a well-known name had been appended. The initials of the 
 title were reluctantly admitted to disclose the authorship 
 of Francois Nogaret, the " French Aristaenetus, a writer 
 of some talent whose style was not unattractive. He was 
 imprisoned hi the Bastille in 1765 for the obscene publica- 
 tion of the Capucinades, and he now revenged himself 
 cruelly on the King's mistress. 
 
 She was saddened by this piece of malice, but soon found 
 consolation hi the arrival of the happiest of news from 
 Sweden. On August 19, Gustavus III. freed himself from 
 his nobility by a Royal Revolution accomplished in the 
 space of a few hours. When on September 17 the Baron de 
 Lieven came to Versailles, with a white handkerchief on 
 his arm, to announce the victory, the Countess was trans-
 
 136 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 ported with joy. She wanted at once to send the young 
 Prince her bust, and also her portrait by Greuze. The Count 
 de Creutz wrote to his sovereign of her desire, begging him 
 to thank the favourite, but at the same time to remember 
 public opinion, for early changes at Court were to be ex- 
 pected. Gustavus followed the advice of his Ambassador, 
 and wrote thus : 
 
 Madame la Comtesse Du Barry, The interest you take 
 in my success makes it all the more agreeable to me. The 
 Baron de Lieven has faithfully reported to me all the kind- 
 ness you have shown him, and I am sincerely grateful to 
 you. I confidently rely on the sentiments you have always 
 expressed for me, and I have no doubt that I shall frequently 
 have occasion to speak of the gratitude with which I am, 
 very truly yours . . . 
 
 The young King ought, indeed, to be full of gratitude to 
 the favourite whose goodwill continued to support his 
 vigorous action against the hostility of foreign Courts. By 
 the success of her protege France won a striking revenge 
 for the spoliation of Poland. The Prussians and the Rus- 
 sians did not conceal their dissatisfaction ; Frederick pre- 
 dicted every kind of misfortune to his nephew for his coup 
 d'etat, and Catherine, assuming an attitude of detachment, 
 showed no less vexation in a letter to Voltaire. She laughed 
 at a nation that had " lost in less than a quart er-of-an-hour 
 its constitution and its liberty," and declared its ruler to be 
 " as despotic as the King of France." 
 
 The triumph, which Gustavus III. owed in part to the 
 Cabinet of Versailles, heightened the prestige of the Duke 
 d'Aiguillon. The Printing Department of the Foreign 
 Office issued a leaflet on " The form of government in Sweden 
 ratified by the King and the Estates of the Realm at 
 Stockholm on August 21, 1772, together with the speeches 
 delivered on the occasion of its closure." Though the 
 extracts were scattered in various gazettes, the Minister 
 had them carefully collected, and distributed them in the 
 above form. Voltaire made use of the revolution in the 
 North to fill his last tragedy, Les Lois de Minos, with allu-
 
 VOLTAIRE 
 Engraved ly Langlois from the painting by De Latour
 
 VOLTAIRE'S LAST TRAGEDY 137 
 
 sions. Certain eulogies at first addressed to the Chancellor 
 Maupeou were now applied to " The young and worthy heir 
 of the great name of Gustavus." 
 
 At the request of the author, Lekain recited Les Lois de 
 Minos before Madame Du Deffand and a gathering of her 
 friends. The illustrious writer would gladly have had the 
 same happen at the favourite's, but the Court persisted 
 more than ever in its golden dreams. Voltaire said on this 
 subject to " his guardian angel," d'Argental : " The Mar- 
 shal has written to me that he will have him [Lekain] 
 imprisoned if he is not in Paris by the 4th [October]. . . . 
 He will bring you Minos' code, which I gave him when he 
 left Ferney. I am sorry that Madame Du Barry has not 
 heard the recital, for I hear she has much natural taste and 
 wit. You ought to know that better than I, you who must 
 needs go to Court." Since it concerned Gustavus, the 
 Countess was eager to read the " Cretan tragedy," much to 
 Voltaire's gratification. 
 
 On September 22 Louis XV. and the favourite went to 
 Neuilly to open the new bridge, which was a magnificent 
 piece of architecture. Monsieur de Trudaine, superintendent 
 of finance, prepared a great reception for them. Everyone 
 thronged to the fte, whose picturesque and animated 
 scene has been preserved in a sketch by Hubert Robert. 
 Versailles and Paris both joined in the rejoicings, which 
 were really in honour of the mistress, and roused dissatis- 
 faction among the Royal Family, who had been carefully 
 excluded. 
 
 But the capital was not the only place to court her. In 
 Bordeaux a ship was built and launched in the month of 
 October, bearing the name of Comtesse Du Barry. There is 
 a drawing signed by the painter Delorge, in a frame sur- 
 mounted by the arms of the favourite, now hi the Ver- 
 sailles Museum. Inscribed on it are the following lines : 
 
 Vaisseau tu peux sans crainte aller braver 1'orage, 
 Ton nom est Du Barry, tu portes son image. 
 De la beaut e Neptune aime a porter les fers ; 
 Ampbitrite moins belle a regne sur les mers.
 
 138 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 The frigate sails on a calm sea, and Minerva, appearing 
 in a cloud, seems anxious to protect her ; Fame is by her 
 side ; above, spirits symbolising the arts, support her lady- 
 ship's escutcheon, and a floating pennant bears the famous 
 word Boutez. Nothing could be more flattering than such 
 an allegory, and one may easily understand why the Coun- 
 tess always kept the picture among her most precious 
 possessions, long after her name had ceased to be wafted 
 over the seas. 
 
 The time for the visit to Fontainebleau was approaching, 
 and the Countess was much busied with milliners and 
 dressmakers, with the choosing of gala frocks and full dress 
 robes. Assisted by Papillon de La Ferte she had selected 
 the repertory of plays for the season. " I was yesterday at 
 Choisy," wrote the latter on October 4. " Madame Du Barry 
 asked me to add Alphee et Arethuse to the Fontainebleau 
 repertory, for the Demoiselle Arnould. Thinking the list 
 finally determined, I left her. But when I came to the King, 
 His Majesty asked me if I had not come to Choisy to effect 
 some alterations in the repertory. I assented. ' Well, as 
 long as you stay you will not be rid of the business,' he did 
 me the honour to say. And, indeed, just as I was leaving, 
 Madame Du Barry sent to tell me that on further reflec- 
 tion she did not want the Cinquantaine. I pleaded in vain 
 with the Duke d'Aiguillon on behalf of Monsieur de La 
 Borde, First Valet of the Bedchamber, who had written 
 the play. She persisted in her decision, saying that how- 
 ever much she liked Monsieur de La Borde, she refused to 
 be bored, or to bore others." * 
 
 This autumn at Fontainebleau opened most favourably. 
 Madame Du Barry was able to discard all thought of politics 
 for the amusements she preferred, and to leave d'Aiguillon 
 and Maupeou " at daggers drawn," as his blind correspon- 
 dent wrote to Walpole. She found that her salon looking 
 
 1 Monsieur de La Borde was angry, and accused La Ferte in some 
 rather heated letters of having made Madame Du Barry dislike his 
 play. The good Master of the Ceremonies defended himself ; " I 
 showed," he said, " the various letters to Madame Du Barry, who- 
 will probably have him written to on the subject."
 
 A MODEST INSPIRATION 139 
 
 out on the Cour de Diane had been enlarged, and ever 
 greater numbers of the faithful crowded there to pay their 
 homage. " Her ladyship is still triumphant," said Madame 
 Du Deffand. " Several ladies have offered themselves 
 who wish to increase her court. They are tried, and most 
 of them are rejected. The Duchess de Mazarin is half- 
 admitted, or in other words, she is rather like the under- 
 study of an actress. The Princess de Kinski has been 
 rejected, and the Princess de Montmorency has withdrawn 
 since Madame de Mazarin was received." 
 
 As soon as she was settled, Madame Du Barry went, with 
 the Duchess d'Aiguillon, to pay her respects to the Dauphine, 
 having previously asked Mercy " to arrange that she 
 should be as well received as possible." The Princess was 
 not favourably inclined, and would have preferred to shut 
 the door unceremoniously in her face. But as ever, she 
 was compelled to submit to the ordeal in the interests of 
 her mother. This time she sought aid from Heaven, and 
 during Mass she prayed : " Oh, Lord, if it be Thy will that 
 I speak, make me speak : I shall do even as Thy goodness 
 may inspire me." And Heaven inspired her with the 
 simple remark, which was, moreover, addressed to Madame 
 d'Aiguillon : " The weather is bad to-day ; one will not be 
 able to go out." It was not much, and once more Monsieur 
 de Kaunitz declared the Archduchess to be " bad at follow- 
 ing a lead." 
 
 The day after the visit the Countess accepted an invita- 
 tion to supper with the Duke de La Vrilliere. Among the 
 others invited were the Duchess de Cosse, Mistress of the 
 Robes to the Dauphine. The proud Duchess refused, for 
 she hated the favourite, whom she thought Monsieur de 
 Cosse admired too much. To shield his wife the latter 
 cleverly put the blame on the Dauphine, but Mercy assured 
 Madame Du Barry that Marie Antoinette had nothing to do 
 with the whims of her Mistress of the Robes, and she willingly 
 believed him. She seemed pleased with Mercy's attentions, 
 and she always admitted him to her evening receptions, 
 which took place when Louis XV. dined with his family.
 
 140 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 The Ambassador boasted of these distinctions in the 
 peevish tone that suited the circumstances. " The woman 
 only receives foreign Ministers on Sunday afternoons ; / 
 am the only one to have access to her daily, even when the King 
 is present. ..." He profited by this privilege to advance 
 the interests of his Queen. He confided to the favourite 
 how much the French Ambassador at Vienna, Cardinal 
 Louis de Rohan, displeased Maria Theresa, if not the fair 
 Austrians. He insinuated in many ways how little suited 
 such a superficial man was to his post, and suggested his 
 recall. Madame Du Barry replied without compromising 
 herself, " that the Duke d'Aiguillon and she thought little 
 of the talents of Prince Louis, whom they knew to be very 
 light-minded ; but that his recall would seem like a dis- 
 grace, which would rouse the antagonism of the Prince de 
 Soubise and the Princess de Marsan, whom they were trying 
 to separate from the Chancellor's party, and therefore did 
 not wish to offend ; and finally, that the Prince de Rohan's 
 embassy would only be of short duration. . . . ," no 
 bad answer for a novice at diplomacy. 
 
 The last performance of the year at Fontainebleau was 
 Tom Jones, followed by a ballet in which the younger 
 Vestris danced for the first time. " The Sieur Larrive and 
 his wife sang the interludes. Everyone agreed that in all 
 Europe it would be difficult to bring together so large a 
 number of such distinguished talents." Thus Monsieur de 
 La Fert. It would probably have been just as difficult to 
 find greater splendour and elegance than that displayed by 
 the company of great ladies who were present at the Royal 
 performance. Among them the favourite, in a gown of 
 " mauve crpon " with gold-bespangled paniers, shone 
 resplendent, in her diadem of amethysts and heavy necklets, 
 which made her seem more like a fragile and magnificent 
 idol than a human being. 
 
 On November 17 the Court returned to Versailles. The 
 gilded rooms of the favourite were exceedingly pleasant in 
 winter. Elsewhere in the vast chambers of the Chateau 
 one froze, but there it was always warm and fragrant.
 
 CONDI? CAPITULATES 141 
 
 They were, however, too small for the entertainments she 
 intended to give, and she bought a house in Versailles in 
 the Avenue de Paris. The celebrated Rene Binet, First 
 Valet-de-chambre to the Dauphin, and a cousin of Madame 
 de Pompadour, had built it in 175 1. 1 It was modest in size, 
 but surrounded by extensive gardens. Madame Du Barry 
 meant to have a large hotel built on the grounds, where she 
 could move all her household, and she had asked the archi- 
 tect Ledoux for plans. 
 
 The Countess was busy with these schemes when an in- 
 cident occurred which, though expected, caused some 
 sensation both at Court and in Paris. The Princes of the 
 Blood who had taken the part of the exiled Parliament 
 capitulated. Conde had sought every possible means of 
 returning to favour since his enforced breach with the King. 
 His opportunity came on the occasion of his asking for the 
 Knighthood of the Holy Ghost for his son. He wrote a very 
 humble letter to the King, and the Count de la Marche, the 
 Prince de Soubise and Monsieur de Maupeou undertook the 
 negotiations. The sovereign was indifferent, and " allowed 
 him to come the following day," as the Dauphine wrote to 
 her mother. " He and his son paid their visit to us all." 
 Nor did the Prince forget to call on the favourite, and 
 although he had neglected her advice hi the matter she 
 received him very kindly. But the ballads took up a 
 different attitude : 
 
 Pour faire une fausse demarche 
 Conde se montre le premier, 
 Crainte que son cousin La Marche 
 Des hommes ne soit le dernier. 
 
 " The Father and the Son have gone to look for the Holy 
 Ghost," said one ; " He went to prove his nobility," said 
 another. 
 
 Through the good offices of Madame Du Barry, the Duke 
 d' Orleans and the Duke de Chartres were reconciled to His 
 
 1 See Chapter V. The sellers were Binet de Boisgiroux and 
 Binet de Marchais, the husband of the witty Madame de Marchais, 
 who as Madame d'Angiviller became, later, the friend of Madame Du 
 Barry.
 
 142 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 Majesty. The Duke d'Orleans was anxious to obtain 
 Louis' consent to his marriage with Madame de Montesson, 
 and hoped the favourite would win it for him. The King 
 hesitated long before giving way ; Madame de Montesson 
 was the bourgeoise widow of a gentleman who, in his old 
 age, had married the young girl of sixteen. She was an 
 agreeable woman, whose purity of morals was unusual in such 
 an age, and her prolonged resistance to his wishes had greatly 
 quickened the Duke's passion. The Countess succeeded 
 in persuading the King to consent to the marriage, but he 
 refused the bride permission to take the name and title of 
 her husband. No doubt the mistress herself would have 
 accepted a morganatic marriage with the King on even 
 lower terms, but such a thing was no longer to be thought 
 of. Much to the favourite's grief, the legal enactment of 
 her divorce was not effected, a circumstance that increased 
 Louis' uneasiness of conscience. 
 
 New Year's Day, 1773, brought a crowd of visitors to 
 Madame Du Barry ; she received them with gracious 
 smiles, conscious that she appeared even more fair in the 
 fascinating dress of gold lace and brocade she had chosen 
 for the occasion. There were Dukes and Duchesses, great 
 lords and ladies, all beautifully dressed ; Ministers, Ambas- 
 sadors and Royal officers, and the eager throng of friends 
 and dependants of the Countess. 
 
 The King had already come at daybreak by the little 
 staircase to wish her the compliments of the season, and the 
 tender gaiety with which she responded may be imagined. 
 But now she threw her silk cloak about her shoulders, put 
 on her hat trimmed with blond-lace and white plumes, and, 
 with her sister-in-law and Mesdames de Maupeou and 
 d'Aiguillon, went in her turn to pay her respects to the 
 Royal Family. His Majesty smiled on the visitors ; the 
 Dauphin received them most kindly and graciously spoke 
 to the favourite, much to her surprise, for, as a rule, he 
 addressed no one. But the reception they were given by 
 the Dauphine was quite different. She did not condescend 
 to notice the presence of the ladies, except by pouting her
 
 A PARENTAL REPROOF 143 
 
 pretty, Austrian lips a little more. She seemed to think 
 she had done enough for the Countess by pleading her cause 
 with the Dauphin. As she explained, in reply to Mercy's 
 diplomatic reprimands, she had passed on to him the duty 
 of an outward show of favour, and indeed her useless hus- 
 band, for once, might do her such a service. 
 
 The favourite was not exactly charmed with her recep- 
 tion. D'Aiguillon undertook to tell the Austrian Ambas- 
 sador that " The Dauphine seemed intentionally to set the 
 King at defiance from the way she treated the people he 
 most favoured." Mercy retorted that the King allowed 
 himself to neglect " his own children every day," making 
 use of the case of Mesdames to excuse his Archduchess. But 
 Maria Theresa, fearing the consequences of her daughter's 
 caprice, wrote to her at once : "I am not satisfied with 
 your behaviour on New Year's Day. . . . Amends 
 must be made at the first opportunity ; the month of 
 February will serve the purpose as well as that of January. 
 I do not think it too much to ask that you should speak to 
 the favourite without affectation four or five times a year, 
 and you cannot abash Monsieur d'Aiguillon better than by 
 not letting him get the advantage of you on this point." 
 All the importance attached to " the woman " only 
 increased the vexation of the Dauphine. " The ill will of 
 the favourite," Mercy said again, " might have most dan- 
 gerous consequences, which should at all costs be avoided, 
 on affairs of the greatest importance." The fact was that 
 the Polish Partition question was still unsettled, and Mon- 
 sieur d'Aiguillon, who played a thankless part in the affair, 
 could not help owing Maria Theresa a grudge. 
 
 At this time the attention of the favourite was distracted 
 from politics by all the Carnival festivities, which reached 
 their highest point of splendour at Versailles. Suppers, 
 balls and plays followed each other in rapid succession. 
 Mademoiselle Raucourt, who had recently enjoyed a success 
 at the Theatre Francois, made her debut before the Court, 
 and all agreed she was the most accomplished actress they 
 had seen. She was only sixteen years and a half, " per-
 
 144 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 fectly made, with the most beautiful, noble, theatrical face, 
 a voice of the most ravishing quality, and a prodigious 
 intellect," according to the raptures of the Memoires secrets. 
 For six months " this tiger of virtue " resisted the most 
 attractive proposals, but then what amends she won ! She 
 played " Dido " before the King, who had fifty louis sent 
 to her, and presented " the Queen of Carthage " to the 
 Dauphine. The favourite shared the general enthusiasm. 
 " The fair Countess asked her which she liked best, three 
 dresses for her own use or a theatrical costume. The actress 
 replied that, since the Countess allowed her to choose, she 
 would prefer the theatrical costume, which would give plea- 
 sure to the public as well." 1 The favourite sent to the young 
 artist a magnificent costume of " a silver material striped 
 with gold, embroidered in green, and covered with spangles 
 and knots of rubies, very costly " ; the price was, in fact, 
 6,600 livres. Other ladies of the Court followed her example ; 
 the Princess de Beauvau, the Duchess de Villeroy and the 
 Princess de Guemenee received the popular actress as the 
 Countess had done, and presented her with " superb cos- 
 tumes." 2 Later she wore the splendid garments in 
 the performances given under the auspices of the Duke 
 d'Aiguillon and Madame Du Barry in turn. 
 
 First of all, the young Viscount invited his pretty aunt 
 to an evening reception in Mademoiselle Chon's rooms. 
 Then there was an entertainment at the Duke's in his hotel 
 at Versailles. None of the diversions devised by the ex- 
 quisite taste of the age were lacking ; ballet, supper-party 
 and masked ball, all displayed a luxury and elegance only 
 known to the latter part of the i8th century. The inter- 
 ludes were dedicated to the favourite, who was present 
 
 1 The writer says later that " Madame Du Barry took sufficient 
 interest in the new actress to exhort her to be prudent." Made- 
 moiselle Raucourt's portrait, drawn by Freudeberg and engraved 
 by Lingee, bears a dedication to Madame Du Barry and her arms. 
 
 1 Grimm could not find words enough to praise " the wise 
 Raucourt." " To see the fair Queen of Carthage who was so imposing 
 on the stage sitting quietly dressed in ordinary attire, shy and 
 embarrassed, in the corner of some great lady's reception room, was 
 most striking."
 
 A REGAL ENTERTAINMENT 145 
 
 with many other ladies, " with all the great people there 
 are." " The black snake " that disturbed the village fes- 
 tival of the play, people chose to consider a personification 
 of Monsieur de Maupeou, for the Chancellor was lampooned 
 just as much at Court as in Paris. The Countess, hi her 
 turn, invited the Duke and Duchess d'Aiguillon to her villa 
 in the Avenue de Paris. Fourteen ladies and fifteen noble- 
 men were asked, and Papillon de La Ferte undertook all 
 the arrangements. " Our men," he wrote on February 15, 
 " are hard at work night and day, hi spite of the bad weather. 
 The Marshal and Madame Du Barry are exceedingly afraid 
 that it will not be ready by the day after to-morrow. I have 
 reassured them. I was yesterday evening at the Hotel des 
 Menus, where I saw the rehearsal by members of the Come- 
 dies Franchise and Italienne and of the Opera. . . . The 
 rehearsal lasted until half-past two in the morning, having 
 begun after the supper, which Madame Du Barry had ordered 
 to be served in the green-room." x A truly regal enter- 
 tainment was in preparation. 
 
 Two days later, at midnight, numbers of carriages stopped 
 at the villa. Madame Du Barry did the honours, assisted 
 by Mademoiselle Chon ; and until daybreak the lights 
 burned in the golden torch-stands that stood amid 
 baskets of flowers. Voisenon and Favart had composed the 
 interludes. A rather affected allegory, La Reveil des Muses, 
 des Talents et des Arts, was performed, whose only merit lay 
 hi allusions ; Love, for instance, said : 
 
 " En ces lieux Du Barry s'avance, 
 Plaisirs, soyez tous ranimes ! 
 Est-il possible, en sa presence, 
 Que des yeux demeurent fermes 1 " 
 
 This insipid stuff laid claim to being at once flattering 
 and mythological, but the attraction lay rather in the 
 acting of Madame La Ruette, Mesdemoiselles Raucourt and 
 
 1 Journal de Papillon de La Ferte, p. 342. Mercy did not hesi- 
 ate to assert that the sumptuous preparations for this entertainment 
 " were carried to such an indecent pitch of costliness as to insult 
 the poverty of the people." 
 
 L
 
 146 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 Dervieux, with Dauberval and Preville, in a setting of 
 dreamlike beauty. The ballet, Endymion, danced by Vestris, 
 was followed by scenes in which topical verses were sung, 
 among them one by " a seller of barometers," beginning as 
 follows : 
 
 Du Barry de ces lieux a chasse la froidure, 
 Son regard forme le printemps. . . . 
 
 Every drawing-room was full of talk of this fete ; x for a 
 month it was the subject of correspondence and the theme 
 on which the papers discoursed, both praise and blame being 
 expressed. Some rejoiced that the King had not appeared 
 at all, " either formally or incognito, which mortified the 
 favourite." Only one Ambassador, the Count de Creutz, 
 was invited. Much comment was made on the presence of 
 a newcomer, another defection from Choiseul's party. 
 This was the Countess de Forcalquier, Madame Du Demand's 
 " Bellissima." 2 Mademoiselle d'Aumont was there, wearing 
 a magnificent dress of white taffetas, the gift of Madame 
 Du Barry ; her sister, the Duchess de Mazarin " retorted 
 with a pair of slippers embroidered with cara," wrote the 
 malicious Marquise, " saying that the feet at which every- 
 one would worship must be adorned." 
 
 The guests at Chanteloup during the Carnival brought 
 
 1 " There has been much talk of the fete given by Madame la 
 Comtesse Du Barry in her villa of the Avenue de Versailles. There 
 were four performances, and about a hundred actors, singers and 
 dancers from the three theatres. All kinds of agreeable surprises 
 were devised to illustrate the greatness of the lady's charm. Among 
 other things they speak of an egg that was found in the middle of 
 one of the rooms. A show was made of fetching the Countess to 
 see the marvel that had so suddenly appeared ; she barely ap- 
 proached when it opened. A fully-armed Cupid sprang out, and 
 people said that a single one of her glances made Love blossom in 
 all hearts. In another interlude Love loosened the bandage from 
 his eyes, thus indicating the monarch's enlightened love for the 
 favourite." Memoires secrets, Vol. xxiv., p. 239. 
 
 Madame de Forcalquier had previously been to Ghoisy, as 
 Madame Du Deffand had described in a long letter of January 26, 
 In another she said : "La Bellissima . . . accepted an invi- 
 tation because it was such that no one would dare refuse it. ... 
 The reason would be valid if she had not added to this compulsory 
 submission an hour's visit which was certainly not so."
 
 THE DANGERS OF LENT 147 
 
 detailed accounts of all this magnificence, which did not, 
 however, diminish the gaiety there in the least. It was 
 even too noisy for the little exiled Duchess, according to 
 her big Abbe. " Oh, Lord, what a number of people, what 
 cries and noise and piercing laughs, what bursting of doors, 
 what barking of dogs, what uproarious conversation and 
 wanton tricks, what voices, arms and feet in constant 
 motion. . . ." Good taste was forgotten, but at Ver- 
 sailles it was jealously adhered to. The Countess de Noailles, 
 " Madame Etiquette," Lady of the Bedchamber to the 
 Dauphine, gave two balls for the young Princesses, and their 
 beauty added brilliancy to the scene. 
 
 Every dissipation ended with Lent, and life became all 
 masses, benedictions and sermons. The Court preacher, 
 the Abbe de Beauvais, displayed an extreme austerity, and 
 filled his eloquent sermons with severe denunciations. 1 The 
 little Dauphine wrote to her mother : " We have a very 
 good preacher this Lent, who gives us sermons three times 
 a week ; he preaches on the morality of the gospels, and 
 tells everyone a number of truths. But I prefer Massillon's 
 Petit Careme, because it is more within my reach." 
 
 The truths of the divine were not outside the favourite's 
 experience, and though she seemed at ease in her crimson 
 velvet chair, she trembled none the less. For if Louis XV. 
 returned to grace, piety supplanting love in his heart, he 
 would dismiss Madame Du Barry. But the King's affection 
 remained constant, and, as a great favour, the Countess 
 was entrusted with the duty of forming the household of the 
 Count d'Artois, although Madame Adelaide had shown a 
 lively desire to be given the charge. 
 
 The Count d'Artois, the only attractive one of the three 
 brothers, married Marie-Therese of Savoy, the sister of 
 Madame de Provence. At the same time the marriage of 
 
 1 " Well, Richelieu," said the King to the companion of his 
 lollies on leaving the Chapel one day ; " the preacher seems to have 
 thrown a good many stones in your garden " (an idiomatic expres- 
 sion for making severe criticisms). " Yes, sire," replied the witty 
 courtier, " and so hard that some of them rebounded into the Park 
 of Versailles."
 
 148 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 the good-hearted Madame Clotilde, " fat Madame," as she 
 was nicknamed, to the Prince of Piedmont was announced. 
 These two further bonds uniting the Royal Families of 
 France and Savoy disturbed the Empress. " The party is 
 becoming very strong," she wrote to her daughter ; and 
 the little Dauphine promised full obedience in order to restore 
 her august mother's tranquillity. 
 
 Madame Du Barry had never been without the support of 
 the world of letters, and in return she bestowed on them 
 her powerful protection. It was a great honour to be allowed 
 to read a manuscript before her. La Harpe, who brought 
 her his tragedy of the Barmecides, could not please her, but 
 Delille was more fortunate. " Monsieur de Beauvau," 
 wrote Madame Du Deffand, " has informed me that Mon- 
 sieur des Cars introduced the Abbe Delille to the Countess. 
 He recited his translation of the fourth book of the ^Eneid 
 before her and all her court, excepting Madame de Mire- 
 poix. The company seemed pleased, which goes far to 
 assure him of a first place in the Academy." Delille was 
 always to be her Ladyship's poet. 
 
 Soon after, a letter from Voltaire confirmed the new 
 divinity's titles to wit and beauty : 
 
 Madame, Monsieur de la Borde tells me that you have 
 commanded him to kiss me on both cheeks on your behalf. 
 
 Quoi ! deux baisers sur la fin de ma vie 1 
 Quel passeport vous daignez m'envoyer 1 
 Deux ! c'est trop d'un, adorable Egerie : 
 Je serais mort de plaisir au premier. 
 
 He has shown me your portrait ; do not be angered, 
 Madame, if I have taken the liberty to return the two kisses 
 to it: 
 
 Vous ne pouvez empe'cher cet hommage, 
 
 Faible tribut de quelconque a des yeux ; 
 
 C'est aux mortels d'adorer votre image ; 
 
 L'original etait fait pour les dieux ! 
 
 I have heard several extracts from Monsieur de La Borde's 
 Pandore, and they seem to me very worthy of your patron- 
 age. Favour bestowed on the genuine arts is the only thing 
 which can augment the splendour that is yours. . . .
 
 A HARMONY OF PRAISE 149 
 
 Deign to accept, Madame, the regard of an old solitary 
 whose heart knows wellnigh only the one sentiment of 
 gratitude. 
 
 Private correspondence and public papers were full of 
 these charming stanzas, which excited Madame de Choiseul's 
 indignation, were admired by Frederick II., and smiled on 
 by Louis XV. 1 To the favourite they were the crowning 
 act of homage. 
 
 She was enjoying one of her rare moments of rest when 
 her pride of power yielded to the sweetness of being admired. 
 Every poet sang her praises. A playwright, Sauvigny, 
 composed some delightful verses in her honour, and, finding 
 he was encouraged, sought her patronage for a large work 
 of ten volumes, entitled Le Parnasse des Dames, in which 
 he intended to " make known the genius of womanhood of 
 all nations throughout the ages." The first volume, as soon 
 as it appeared, was subscribed for in great numbers by the 
 courtiers, who thus contributed to the success Madame Du 
 Barry desired for it. 2 
 
 From Meister, who afterwards came frequently to see 
 her, she received a translation of Gessner's Nouvelles Idylles, 
 with a dedication in verse which the Almanack des Muses 
 hastened to publish : 
 
 Que 1'eglogue au naif sourire 
 Arrete un instant vos regards 1 
 Comme vous belle sans parure, 
 Elle doit tout aux mains de la nature, 
 Comme vous elle a quelquefois, 
 Sous 1'air d'une simple bergere, 
 Charme les heros et les rois. . . . 
 
 Her exasperated adversaries did not fail to add a dis- 
 cordant note to this harmony of praise. They assumed 
 
 1 In her letter of August 18 to Madame Du Deffand the Duchess 
 de Choiseul spoke of Voltaire's note to the favourite : "I see I have 
 spoilt them [the verses] in quoting them to you, for I no longer 
 think them so pretty. Poor Voltaire has debased his pen in his old 
 age ! " 
 
 1 " The lady has subscribed for a prodigious number of copies, 
 and whoever would pay her court must do likewise. . . . It is a 
 very insipid and fulsome rhapsody. . . ." Memoires secrets, 
 Vol. xxiv., p. 256.
 
 150 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 that a most virulent quarrel had taken place between the 
 young Countess and her brother-in-law, and Count Jean 
 was supposed to have put the following abusive lines in 
 circulation : 
 
 Drolesse ! 
 Ou prends-tu done ta fierte ? 
 
 Princesse, 
 
 D'oti te vient ta dignite ? . . . 
 Baisse ta tete altiere 
 Du moins devant mes yeux ! . . . 
 Permets a qui t'aime, qui t'aime, 
 De t'offrir encor des sabots ! 
 
 Drdlesse ! 
 Mon esprit est-il baisse ? 
 
 Princesse ! 
 Te souvient-il du pass6 ? 
 
 Madame Du Deffand sent the ballad to the Choiseuls, 
 thus returning it, doubtless, to the place of its origin. Never- 
 theless, the Duchess replied : "I am madly delighted with 
 drolesse and princesse ; the effect of the two words together 
 is admirable. It is novel, but most suited to the case." 
 
 Certainly the Roue was careful not to attack the Countess, 
 especially at a time when she was looking for a wife for 
 Adolphe Du Barry. It was an arduous undertaking, and 
 the Royal Equerry would decidedly have preferred always 
 to be near his beloved aunt, but the uncertainty of his 
 future had to be guarded against by a good match. Jean 
 Du Barry was full of ambition for his son, and the first 
 whom he thought suitable was Mademoiselle de Saint-Andre, 
 a daughter of Louis XV. and the little O'Murphy, and a 
 pupil at the convent of La Presentation. Madame de Pompa- 
 dour had similarly thought to marry her Alexandrine to the 
 young Count de Luc, a son of the King and Madame de 
 Vintimille, but His Majesty disapproved of such arrange- 
 ments. Mademoiselle de Saint-Andre was very beautiful 
 and astonishingly like her father. In the convent parlour 
 she saw the pale young man of twenty-four, who wore his 
 uniform of a Colonel of Horse with such perfect distinction. 
 He seemed to her the Prince Charming of her dreams, 
 and she fell in love with him, and it was with genuine grief
 
 A MARRIAGE OF CONVENIENCE 151 
 
 that she had to give up the project which had been laid before 
 her. 1 Very soon afterwards she married the Marquis de la 
 Tour de Pin, and the mistress herself was active in the 
 preparations for this wedding too. 2 
 
 Mademoiselle de Saint-Andre or another, all were alike 
 to the young man whose heart was filled with one image that 
 nothing could efface. The Prince de Soubise proposed one 
 of his relatives, a pupil in the convent of 1'Assomption, who 
 though not wealthy, was of the family of Rohan. Helene 
 de Tournon agreed to marry the Viscount for the sake of 
 all the advantages she would gam. The favourite made 
 the pair a present of 200,000 livres, of which she was only 
 to pay the interest. Among her magnificent gifts to the 
 bride were beribboned underwear, embroidered garters, 
 hats trimmed with lace and dresses from which she might 
 choose her wedding gown . Sometimes this was coloured, but 
 this one at least was specially designed, and was " of white 
 and silver trimmed with silver lace and flowers, knots and 
 necklets of silver." Her accounts include also, under 
 Adolphe Du Barry's name, workboxes with his coat-of- 
 arms, jewel boxes, fans and a thousand other little feminine 
 trinkets. 
 
 The contract was signed on July 18, as announced in the 
 Gazette de France. The Roue described himself as " Most 
 high and mighty Seigneur, Monseigneur Jean-Baptiste, 
 
 1 Jean Du Barry was even more loth to give up the project, as 
 is shown by a curious letter which he wrote to his sister-in-law 
 bitterly reproaching her for not having been sufficiently obstinate 
 in the matter : " Mademoiselle de Saint- Andre ... in losing 
 the hope she had entertained of becoming your niece, has given up 
 even the desire to please, and refuses every sort of adornment in the 
 seclusion of her convent. If you only reflected, my dear sister, we 
 should soon agree that the very girl who may now spend her life 
 in obscurity, might with your support have eclipsed in importance 
 all the others we have sought ; and let us agree still further that she 
 would have been the only one to awaken in the Dauphin's heart a 
 feeling of shame, and prevent him from yielding in the future to 
 his impulses of hatred and jealousy towards all that bear our name." 
 Revue de Paris, 1836, Vol. xxxiv., p. 142. 
 
 1 The marriage took place on December 29, 1773, but the young 
 Marquise died childless the following year.
 
 152 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 Comte Du Barry-Ceres, Vidame de Chaalons, Comte de 
 1'Isle-Jourdain, Seigneur de Bellegarde, Bretz, Garbee, 
 Lassre, Seijaundas, Thil, part of Maubec, Gray and other 
 places, Governor of Le"vignac, resident in his hotel, rue 
 Richelieu, parish of Saint-Roch." The Countess could well 
 smile at this array of titles, she knew how ludicrously little 
 they meant, but the high-sounding words looked well on 
 the document which had first been signed by the King 
 and the Dauphin, the Dauphine and all the Royal Family. 
 The order of the signatures in this strangely mixed list of 
 names is worthy of note : " Louis ; Louis- Auguste ; Marie- 
 Antoinette ; Stanislas-Xavier [Count de Provence] ; Charles- 
 Philippe [Count d'Artois] ; Marie- Adelaide, Victoire-Louise, 
 Sophie-Philippe [Mesdames de France] ; Jeanne Gomard 
 Vaubernier, Countess Du Barry ; Count Jean Du Barry ; 
 Jean-Baptiste (Adolphe), Viscount Du Barry ; Franchise Du 
 Barry [Chon] ; the Chevalier Du Barry ; the Count de Tour- 
 non ; Souveraine de Trelemont, Contaice (sic) de Tournon ; 
 Rose-Marie-He"lne de Tournon [the bride] ; Sophie de Tour- 
 non ; Beaujon, etc." 1 On July 19, the day after this pompous 
 performance, the religious ceremony took place in the Chapel 
 of Versailles, and the favourite fastened with her own hand 
 the sword-knot " of green and gold, adorned with gold lace," 
 which she had given the bridegroom. 
 
 The radiant Viscountess was presented at Compiegne on 
 Sunday, August i. She was seventeen, and her beauty 
 recalled that of the Duchess de Chateauroux, a coincidence 
 which allowed the newsmongers to give free play to their 
 fancy and make up the most preposterous stories. The 
 favourite was sponsor to the young bride, and presented her 
 to the King and the Royal Family. Mercy wrote to Maria 
 Theresa on the I4th : '' In the afternoon, when the benedic- 
 tion was over, the Countess Du Barry, accompanied by the 
 Duchess de Laval and a Countess de Montmorency, pre- 
 sented her niece to the King, who said not a word to 
 the ladies. They next proceeded to the Dauphine, who 
 received them similarly. There was such a concourse of 
 1 Vatel, Vol. ii., p. 260.
 
 A FRIGID RECEPTION 153 
 
 people come to see the presentation that it was scarcely 
 possible to pass through the antechambers. The Dauphine 
 received the above ladies without the slightest sign of 
 embarrassment. She saluted the favourite, the young bride 
 and then- companions, but addressed neither of them. The 
 same happened when they came to Mesdames ; only the 
 Count and Countess de Provence spoke at all to the presented 
 lady and her sponsor." 
 
 Nor did Marie Antoinette speak to them in the evening 
 at cards, when etiquette required that the same ladies should 
 be present, and she remained dumb the following day when 
 they returned to pay their court. At least her easy demean- 
 our indicated some goodwill, and she was able to write to 
 the Empress : " My dearest mother, the presentation of 
 young Madame Du Barry went off very well. Just before 
 she came I was told that the King had spoken neither to her 
 nor to her aunt, and I followed his example. Otherwise I 
 can quite assure my dear mamma that I received them 
 most politely. I am sure the King was not displeased, for 
 he has been very kind to us all day." 
 
 There was a coldness between Monsieur d'Aiguillon 
 and the favourite and, what was worse, between him and 
 Mademoiselle Chon, his real protector. To win back then- 
 regard he tried once more to fulfil the wishes of the Countess, 
 and worked to effect a reconciliation between her and 
 the Royal Family. During the stay at Compigne he 
 succeeded in bribing the Countess de Narbonne, Mistress 
 of the Robes to Madame Adelaide, " over whom she had 
 the most undisputed sway." But Mademoiselle Du Barry 
 had lost faith in such risky proceedings, and said as much 
 in an ironical tone to Monsieur de Mercy. The favourite said 
 nothing to him, which surprised and displeased him. As if 
 he had a right to her ladyship's confidence, he wrote every 
 time she shunned him and complained to the Empress. 
 He was neglected thus because the Countess was strong 
 enough to do without his advice, and, as at the moment 
 Madame Adelaide appeared disposed to yield to her wishes, 
 she gave all her attention to the Princess.
 
 154 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 At the dictation of the Countess de Narbonne the King's 
 eldest daughter wrote to him that, having heard " he was 
 somewhat dissatisfied with the conduct of his children, she 
 had at first intended to beg him by word of mouth graciously 
 to let them know his desires, but that she preferred to write 
 to him for this favour." The King, she added, " should not 
 doubt her obedience, or her desire to please him in all ; she 
 was extremely anxious for opportunities of being with 
 him, and should it please him to increase the number of 
 such opportunities, she would enjoy them with as much 
 ardour as pleasure.' ' Louis XV. was grateful to his daughter 
 for her deference, and especially " for having spared him a 
 verbal explanation." He replied that " he was pained to 
 see that the Dauphin showed no taste for society, and 
 exhibited a marked dislike of the fair sex ; " he desired that 
 Madame Adelaide " should persuade him to be more sociable 
 in his conduct, and win his promise to treat the ladies who 
 were in the constant society of the King with politeness ; 
 finally he trusted that Madame would use the influence she 
 could exert on the whole of the family in the furtherance of 
 this object." 1 
 
 Her attempts at influence were attended by pitiful results. 
 Mesdames Victoire and Sophie, and all her little world of 
 nephews and nieces, declared to Madame Adelaide "that it was 
 shameful to believe they wished her conduct to be the price 
 paid for a certain bargain." The Princess was startled at 
 this unanimous revolt, and informed her Mistress of the 
 Robes that she must find some one else to negotiate, for she 
 had presumed too much on her authority. The disappointed 
 d'Aiguillon challenged Madame de Narbonne to keep her 
 promise, and " arrived in a towering rage at Madame Du 
 Barry's, swearing that he was betrayed on all sides." 
 But the favourite too was learning to value men by their 
 successes, and did not deign to reply. " The position of 
 the Duke d'Aiguillon," wrote Mercy, " is considerably worse 
 He is visibly losing ground with the favourite, who is again 
 
 1 The account is Mercy's, the words italicised being those actually- 
 used by the King.
 
 D'AIGUILLON IN DISFAVOUR 155 
 
 receiving all his enemies. The Chancellor and some of the 
 Ministers have joined the Marshal de Soubise, and the 
 Duke d'Aiguillon will infallibly be lost if he does not find 
 some means of restoring his dying favour with Madame Du 
 Barry." 
 
 Though the favourite turned a cold shoulder on Monsieur 
 d'Aiguillon, she did not desert him altogether, as the Count 
 de Mercy feared. The Empress, who had never found reason 
 to be dissatisfied with Choiseul, called the latter a great 
 man because of the advantages she had gained through 
 him ; his successor seemed to her such a nonentity that she 
 hoped to profit just by his insignificance. But if the Duke 
 meant to keep his position he must needs avoid conflict and 
 pursue his negative policy ; in other words, he required 
 tact, intelligence and firmness, qualities which the illustrious 
 exile had never been called upon to display in the winning 
 of his most striking triumphs. Times were difficult, affairs 
 in a perilous state. The favourite, feminine and pliable, 
 was the minister's one frail support against the hatred of 
 his enemies, and the breaking loose, dreaded by Voltaire, of 
 " that enormous monster called the public." In spite of 
 his expected disgrace nothing happened during the stay at 
 Compiegne. Saint Louis' day, August 25, was, as usual, 
 celebrated with great pomp, and on the 3Oth the Court 
 returned to Versailles. 
 
 The Du Barry family, evidently in marrying mood, 
 witnessed yet another union, that of the Chevalier Nicolas- 
 Elie, Jean's third brother, to Michele de Fumel, a rich and 
 noble heiress. The bridegroom, a former pupil of the 
 Ecole Militaire, and a Colonel of the Queen's Regiment, had 
 just been nominated Captain of the Guards to the Count 
 d'Artois. For, short, fat and ungraceful as he was, his 
 good conduct had won him the esteem of all, even of the 
 enemies of the mistress. With the Royal permission he 
 took the title of Marquis, which ran in his wife's family. 
 The Roue, as the head of his family, had the honour of a 
 long audience of Louis XV., which was much remarked on. 
 Perhaps he spoke then to His Majesty of the bold wish he
 
 156 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 cherished of being admitted to the " pious Order " of the 
 Knights of Malta, and dared to beg that he might be author- 
 ised to commence proceedings for that purpose. 1 He was 
 indeed capable of any presumption in attempting to gain 
 his ends, and an audience that appeared to interest the 
 monarch was an exceptional opportunity. Before the 
 departure for Fontainebleau the Countess presented the 
 bride to the Royal Family. Her gift to the bridegroom 
 was a Sevres dinner service, " patterned with small roses," 
 that had been much admired in the exhibition of the 
 factory's products at Versailles. 
 
 This year, for the last time, the Salon of the Louvre 
 boasted representations of the favourite on canvas and in 
 marble. Drouais had made Floras the fashion as Nattier 
 had once made Hebes, and Madame Du Barry did not fail 
 to adopt the allegorical device. Her painter was not so happy 
 as in his earlier works, and produced too drooping a goddess 
 for the taste of the age. He portrayed her in an elegant 
 neglige that left her bosom and pearl-encircled arms bare. 
 On her head, that he made so insipid, was a crown of roses, 
 and she wore an expression of innocence, the " virginal air " 
 of Abb6 Georgel's description. 
 
 But Madame Du Barry was pleased with this Flora, 
 Drouais' fifth portrait of her, and she had several copies 
 made for her friends. The painter's account for the year 
 mentions " a copy of the portrait of the Countess as Flora, 
 retouched from nature, for the Marshal de Soubise." In 
 1774 four others, probably by Madame Drouais, who collab- 
 orated with the artist, were given to Monsieur d'Aiguillon, 
 Mademoiselle Du Barry, the Prince des Deux-Ponts and 
 
 1 They were begun at the end of the year and supported by the 
 Duke d'Aiguillon, who asked de Fleury, the Maltese Ambassador in 
 Paris, to assure the Grand -Master that the King not only did not 
 disapprove of the favour being granted, but that he would even be 
 pleased. De Fleury wrote letters and contradicted them, spun out 
 the delicate transaction and played with the Roue's feverish ambi- 
 tion as well as he could. The death of Louis XV. was just in time 
 to save the Grand-Master the difficulty of refusing. The whole 
 story is told by Monsieur C. Espenan in the Revue de VHistoire de 
 Versailles, Vol. v., pp. 308 et seq.
 
 THE KING'S MELANCHOLY 157 
 
 Madame de Montrabe, and the Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel 
 received a " full-length portrait of the Countess " as a Muse. 
 
 Reproductions of the portraits of the favourite were seen 
 all over the world, but in France the most popular work 
 was Pajou's celebrated bust, also exhibited in this year's 
 Salon. This item in the sculptor's accounts is followed by 
 that of " a medallion of Madame's portrait made for the 
 villa at Louveciennes and placed above a door." Lastly, 
 some German works, established in the Faubourg du 
 Temple, made a life-sized porcelain bust after a model 
 by the same master, and the first copy was given to 
 Mademoiselle Chon. 
 
 During the interval between Compiegne and Fontaine- 
 bleau the King tried to divert his eternal melancholy by 
 several short journeys. He spent a day at Saint-Ouen, a 
 night at Louveciennes ; at Choisy he was present at an 
 entertainment improvised by the Countess, a heroic ballet, 
 Zen-is et Almasie, to which the Duke de Nivernais had com- 
 posed the music, though he denied having done so. The 
 words were attributed to the Duke de la Vrillire, but were 
 acknowledged by Chamfort, " the sham Duke " as Made- 
 moiselle Arnould called him. Besides these noble collabora- 
 tions there were only the Sieur Laval's " plebeian " ballets. 
 The chief actors at the Opera undertook the performance, 
 and the audience was enchanted with the brilliant decora- 
 tions, and " the melodious and lyrical words." The evening 
 had begun by La feinte par amour, a short play by Dorat, who 
 replied with a madrigal to the compliments of Louis XV. 
 and the Dauphine. 
 
 Madame Du Barry being busied with the preparations 
 for the marriage of the Count d'Artois, the task of selecting 
 the repertory for Fontainebleau had been left to the Duke de 
 Richelieu. Papillon de La Ferte was in despair, for all the 
 plans were changed from day to day, there was no gravity 
 in the meetings, no means of coming to any agreement 
 with the actors. " He went to fetch them sweets and oranges 
 which they snatched from one another's hands, " wrote the 
 discouraged Master of the Ceremonies.
 
 158 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 Yet the favourite would not intervene. Her temporary 
 preoccupation was augmented by a very natural fear of 
 future trouble, for the state of the King's health was by no 
 means reassuring. Court gossip no longer interested her, 
 though she protested against the accusation that she was 
 responsible for the prolonged exile of the Countess de Gram- 
 mont. She offered to intercede for the lady's speedy return 
 on condition that the Dauphine would admit the Viscountess 
 Adolphe to her carriage. The latter's kinship with the 
 Prince de Soubise allowed of making such a claim. But 
 matters ended there, for the Dauphine felt humiliated by 
 her small authority and declined the favourite's offer. 
 Nevertheless she took the young Viscountess with her to the 
 subsequent hunts. 
 
 On October 6 the Court came to Fontainebleau. While 
 still preparing for the arrival of Marie-Therese of Savoy, the 
 Countess occupied herself chiefly with plays and with the 
 chase. For the last time this lithe Diana hunted the stag 
 in the Royal forest. Saint Hubert's day that year was 
 remarkable. The Princesses and the favourite rode, while 
 in the coaches that followed were the Marquise and the 
 Viscountess Du Barry, Mesdames de Mirepoix, de Valentinois, 
 and d'Aiguillon, whom the favourite was compelled to 
 acknowledge the tenderest of friends. 
 
 To please the Duchess her ladyship revived her interest 
 in the fate of the minister. The latter had just discovered 
 a strange " conspiracy," which turned out to be no more 
 than " the King's secret " half unravelled. The man at the 
 head of His Majesty's secret diplomacy, the Count de Broglie, 
 was betrayed by one of his adherents. In order to deceive 
 public opinion the King dissimulated and exiled the Count 
 to his estate at Ruffec, while he imprisoned his ordinary 
 agents, Segur, Favier and Du Mouriez, in the Bastille. The 
 Marquis de Monteynard was also compromised, but to the 
 surprise of the Ambassadors, remained in the ministry. 
 Mercy and Maria Theresa, however, were kept informed by 
 disloyal clerks, and knew that the Marquis maintained a 
 correspondence with His Majesty's secret agents. Soon the
 
 A PRINCESS'S CHARMS 159 
 
 mystery was cleared up, and d'Aiguillon was able to turn 
 it to his own advantage in overthrowing Monteynard, whom 
 he succeeded as Minister for War. 
 
 Madame Du Barry would not listen to politics before the 
 wedding of the Count d'Artois. She was busy forming the 
 household of the Princess. Madame de Forcalquier was to 
 be Lady of Honour, Madame de Bairbon-Busset Mistress of 
 the Robes, Monsieur de Chabrillan, the son-in-law of 
 d'Aiguillon, Chief Equerry, Monsieur de Vintimille, Gentle- 
 man Usher, etc. Finally, she sent her brother-in-law, the 
 Marquis Du Barry, to meet the Countess d'Artois, and 
 included the Marquise among the ladies who were to 
 accompany her. The jewels for the wedding presents were 
 provided by Aubert, jeweller to the King, at the instance 
 of the favourite ; l to her, too, the programme of entertain- 
 ments was submitted and she arranged the list of guests. 
 
 " On November 14 the King and the Royal Family met 
 the Countess d'Artois two leagues from Fontainebleau. 
 This first interview passed off in the ordinary way, and was 
 noteworthy only for the Count d'Artois' eager enthusiasm 
 and the satisfaction he at first displayed at the looks of his 
 bride." Mercy described the newcomer to his sovereign in no 
 flattering terms. Yet the young Princess was not without 
 attraction in spite of a nose that was too long and a figure 
 that was too thin. She was fair and had beautiful dark 
 eyes, that now were full of shy hesitation. That she was 
 received by her sister without much enthusiasm before this 
 splendid Court only embarrassed her the more. 
 
 Marie Antoinette took the place of " old mother " at the 
 wedding festivities. On arriving at Versailles the young 
 Princess was first of all taken to her toilette. The Marshal 
 de Richelieu handed her the presents of His Majesty, a 
 watch, a chatelaine and a snuffbox, all set with diamonds. 
 The customary banquet took place after the religious 
 
 1 La Ferte wrote on November 5 : "I have received from 
 Madame Du Barry all the jewels for the wedding presents which 
 she had ordered from the Sieur Aubert. ... I took them to 
 the Marshal who, quite rightly, thought them not at all beautiful. 
 He will speak of it to Madame Du Barry."
 
 160 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 ceremony and the distribution of the gifts. " One felt as if in 
 a fairy palace, such a blaze of diamonds was there, jewels of 
 wellnigh incalculable value. Only the Royal Family and 
 the Princes are admitted to this banquet, as is well-known. 
 The King was in the middle, and opposite His Majesty was 
 Madame Du Barry, radiant like the sun in her five millions 
 worth of gems." All night workmen were busy dismantling 
 the banqueting-hall, and on the Wednesday a performance 
 of the opera Ismenor was given, a play much approved by 
 the Countess, which, " although suitable to the occasion, 
 was not much appreciated." The favourite had thought 
 to pay court to the young pah" by having appropriate 
 touches introduced into this work of Desfontaines, but the 
 most flattering praises left them quite unmoved. Madame 
 Du Barry applauded, which did not prevent the King from 
 saying to the Countess d'Artois at the end of the perform- 
 ance : " My daughter, have you yawned very much ? " 
 
 The State ball was magnificent, having been attended by 
 a numerous and brilliant Court. " Nothing more beautiful 
 could be imagined," wrote Madame Du Deffand to Walpole ; 
 " Madame de Lauzun carried off the prize for gracefulness, 
 for dress and for the minuet, the Viscountess Du Barry that 
 for beauty of face and figure. Her aunt [the favourite] 
 has many staunch admirers, and most men prefer her to the 
 niece." The queen of these ftes was then in the bloom of 
 her thirtieth year, and her blonde loveliness had nothing to 
 fear from the proximity of the youngest beauties. 
 
 The festivities ended with a masked ball, at which the 
 favourite wore a domino of white silk, trimmed with flowers 
 and net. Then followed the usual series of performances. 
 Richelieu maliciously scandalised the Dauphin by his choice 
 of Monsigny's Don Pasquin d'Avalos, a play full of coarse 
 buffoonery. He wished to avenge the sufferings of the 
 audience who had been made to listen to the trivialities of 
 Lulli's Bellerophon as produced by the Sieur Berton, director 
 of the Opera, a revival that cost no less than one hundred 
 thousand ecus. Voltaire's last tragedy, Les Lois de Minos, 
 was not performed, in spite of the author's wishes, nor was
 
 THK COl'NT 1) ARTOIS, AFTERWARDS CHARI.KS X OK FRANCE
 
 A TRAGIC EXPERIENCE 161 
 
 Les Barmecides, at which La Harpe showed even more 
 surprise than anger. 
 
 In the midst of all this merry-making Louis XV. went 
 through the tragic experience of witnessing the death of his 
 most faithful friend, the Marquis de Chauvelin. His 
 Majesty was at Madame Du Barry's for supper, and among 
 the usual gathering of some intimate friends was the Marquis. 
 After his game of whist Chauvelin " had stood leaning over 
 the back of the chair of Madame de Mirepoix, who was play- 
 ing at another table. He joked with the lady, but the 
 King, who was opposite the Marquis, noticed a sudden 
 change in his face, and asked him if he was well. That 
 very moment he fell down dead." The King cried at once 
 for "a priest ! " and " absolution ! " a proof that the 
 thought of religion was ever uppermost in his anxious mind. 
 A priest, sent for in great haste, gave " conditional absolu- 
 tion," and the King was not to be reassured until he heard 
 that the dying man's pulse still beat, and that he had been 
 able to receive the sacrament. 
 
 M. de Chauvelin was fifty-seven at the time of his death. 
 He had used his talents in the service of diplomacy, but for 
 long had been satisfied with the reputation of being the most 
 amiable of courtiers. " Every one regrets his loss," wrote 
 Madame Du Deffand ; "he was undoubtedly the man to 
 pick out as the representative of what we mean by an agree- 
 able Frenchman." The news of his sudden death gave 
 Choiseul " such a violent shock " that the Duchess, his wife, 
 took alarm. That Louis XV. was affected by the event may 
 be imagined, and he would speak of it to his mistress with the 
 peculiar bitterness and the insistence on details which the 
 thought of death always inspired in him. The favourite, 
 too, lamented the loss of Chauvelin, for he had been a loyal 
 supporter among many who were indifferent or inimical to 
 her. 
 
 In spite of the shadow of grief that hovered for a moment 
 over the Court, life there pursued its feverish course. Riche- 
 lieu himself mourned for his beloved daughter, the Countess 
 d'Egmont, and yet did not give up his official duties. In 
 
 M
 
 162 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 such a continual whirl and tumult of pleasures, laughter 
 was so close to tears that it was impossible to retire for 
 meditation. The mockery and wit of Fontainebleau was at 
 this moment being exercised on the astonishing union 
 between the dowager Duchess de Chaulnes, Lady in waiting 
 to the Dauphine, and the young Gyac, 1 superintendent of 
 the Household of the Princess. Of course the libellers 
 drew on the worst scurrilities in their repertory in honour 
 of the occasion, but the old lady, being of the opinion that 
 " to a bourgeois a Duchess was never more than thirty," 
 took very little notice of them. The misalliance, however, 
 displeased the King and annoyed Marie Antoinette extremely, 
 while the favourite was one of the first to cry out on the 
 scandal. 
 
 In the comparative peacefulness of Versailles at the end of 
 the year, Madame Du Barry applied herself to the final 
 organization of her library, and had recourse to expert 
 advice for her purpose. Once when admiring the Duke de 
 la Valliere's beautiful books, she had met his librarian, the 
 Abbe Rive, one of the most learned scholars of the age. 
 She offered him work with her, which he accepted, and the 
 advice he gave her was undoubtedly valuable in developing 
 her collection and directing her reading. The studies that 
 the Abbe" Vermond expected of Marie Antoinette were 
 less interesting, and certainly less seriously pursued than 
 those of the Countess. 
 
 Madame Du Barry did not give all her time to reading, 
 but busied herself in occupations that were no less dear to her 
 heart. New Year was approaching, and with it the time 
 for choosing pretty and appropriate presents. But there 
 was not much fitness, thought some, in the indiscreet attempt 
 of his mistress to suggest to the King his present to Madame 
 la Dauphine. A Paris jeweller was the owner of a pair of 
 
 1 See Mercy's report to Maria Theresa of November 12. At the 
 same time he mentions a further conversation with Madame Du Barry 
 on the subject of the Dauphine, and of the dismissal of Monsieur de 
 Monteynard from the War Office. Although the Anecdotes accuse 
 the favourite of some responsibility for this dismissal, she appears 
 to be entirely innocent of it.
 
 THE FAVOURITE'S INTRUSION 163 
 
 earrings composed of four brilliants of uncommon size, 
 which were valued at 700,000 livres. Marie Antoinette 
 had already begun to exhibit a great taste for jewellery, 
 and the favourite took it into her head to let the Princess 
 understand that, if she so desired, the trinket would be 
 given her by the King. The Count de Noailles undertook the 
 negotiations, but the Dauphine replied that she was satisfied 
 with the jewels she already possessed, a lesson that the 
 favourite took to heart. 1 Marie Antoinette was not ignorant 
 of how much she was indebted to her ladyship for the kind- 
 nesses of His Majesty, but this time her intervention had been 
 too direct. Yet Marie Leczinska had often been known to 
 accept gifts from Louis XV. that were suggested by Madame 
 de Pompadour. 
 
 This time Maria Theresa approved of the conduct of the 
 Dauphine : " My daughter's refusal to accept a gift through 
 the mediation of the favourite is quite as it should be ; 
 the point is one on which I am very particular, and I do not 
 know how to forgive the Empress of Russia for having 
 accepted, and even displayed, her subject Orloff's gift of a 
 superb diamond. . . ." Yet the day was to come when a 
 Queen of France would adorn herself with the white plume 
 of a Lauzun. 
 
 Madame Du Barry consoled herself for the unfortunate 
 outcome of her proposal by spending lavishly on her presents 
 this New Year's Day. Many of her gifts were Sevres ware 
 chosen at the factory or at the Versailles exhibition, such as 
 " a pierced breakfast service," a coffee-pot with a floral 
 Chinese pattern, a " Boucher child," goblets " with por- 
 traits on a gold ground." To His Majesty she gave " a 
 suit of patterned silver, with very costly lilac spangles ; 
 the waistcoat and facings of coloured stuff similarly em- 
 broidered." For Richelieu, d'Aiguillon, the Marquis and 
 the Viscount Du Barry she had swordknots, and to her 
 
 1 Mercy adds the following reflection : "I must observe that 
 the temptation was the Countess Du Barry's own device, for if the 
 proposed step had been more seriously reflected on, or prompted 
 by advice, I should certainly have been one of the first to be 
 consulted." (A letter of January 19, 1774.)
 
 164 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 dearest friend she gave an armchair, with an " embroidered 
 design in silk of birds and a trap." 
 
 The Almanack de Liege began the year 1774 by fore- 
 telling much sorrow " to a great lady in very high favour," 
 who was to " play her part for the last time " in April. 
 The Countess Du Barry was superstitiously startled at the 
 prediction, and seemed to think she could affect her fate 
 by having the almanac withdrawn from circulation. Other- 
 wise the year began auspiciously enough. Wearing a charm- 
 ing gown d. la d'Artois she paid her visit to the King on the 
 morning of January i, " accompanied by her two ladies of 
 honour, exactly as if she were of the Royal Family," wrote 
 the Duke de Croy, " namely, the Duchess d'Aiguillon and 
 the Duchess de Mazarin." The visits to the Royal Family 
 passed off uneventfully and with much serenity on both 
 sides. 
 
 Then in her turn she received her friends, more numerous 
 than ever, and among the strangers of note was young Fersen, 
 who was later so dear to Marie Antoinette. He was sixteen 
 at this time, and scarcely took any notice of the Dauphine, 
 but he wrote in his diary : " On New Year's Day I was told 
 one had to go to Versailles to pay homage to the King, and 
 to be present at the ceremony of the Order of the Holy Ghost. 
 At ten o'clock I was at Versailles. The ceremony was a 
 mass attended by the King and all the Knights in full 
 dress. After having dined I went with the Baron de Creutz 
 to pay my respects to Madame Du Barry ; she spoke to me 
 for the first time." To the sentimental youth she was 
 evidently no more than the woman favoured by Europe's 
 greatest King, the friend of his own sovereign and the beauty 
 whom poets vied in celebrating. 
 
 The literary almanacs of 1774 are full of the name of the 
 Countess. The Almanack des Muses reproduced Meister's 
 dedication to her in his translation of Gessner, published the 
 year before ; and the Almanack des Flores of the Sieur Douin, 
 a Captain of Infantry, was composed entirely in her honour. 
 The latter work consisted of fifty floral designs, together with 
 the most surprising mottoes and horoscopes. The copy
 
 FLATTERY OVERDONE 165 
 
 given to the Countess contained a pen profile of her, 1 and 
 the following rather unsuccessful madrigal : 
 
 A la plus belle. 
 
 Je dormais ; le maitre des Dieux 
 
 Me dit : " Je sais ce que tu veux ; 
 
 Choisis ou deesse ou mortelle, 
 
 Pour lui consacrer tes couplets." 
 
 Quoi ? lui dis-je, une bagatelle ? 
 
 Ne crains rien, je te le permets. 
 
 Je choisirai done la plus belle . . . 
 
 Such lyrical excesses could not but offend the taste of some 
 fastidious people, who replied with the Epitre a Margot, mali- 
 ciously attributed to that most gallant of poets, the honeyed 
 and affected Dorat. The clever little poem was a great 
 success, and every one thought they recognised the favourite 
 in the shepherdess with the pretty eyes : 
 
 Un seul de ses regards vaut mieux 
 
 Que fortune, esprit et naissance . . . 
 
 Pour apprendre qui doit me plaire, 
 
 Irai-je consul ter d'Hozier ? 
 
 Non, 1'aimable enfant de CythSre 
 
 Craint peu de se mesallier . . . 
 
 Bientot peut-etre le destin 
 
 La fera marquise ou comtesse. 
 
 Joli minois, coeur libertin 
 
 Sont bien des titres de noblesse. . . . 
 
 Dorat was disturbed at the trick played on him and 
 vociferously disclaimed all responsibility for these ironical 
 compliments. 2 
 
 1 The portrait was by the Sieur Chevalier, Lieutenant of In- 
 fantry, and formerly an engineer, who had also drawn the fifty floral 
 designs. In the favourite's copy, preserved in the Versailles library, 
 these drawings are coloured. The little volume is a gem of book- 
 binding skill, probably that of Derosme ; it is in red morocco, with 
 gilt edges, and the arms of the Countess and the " boutez " on the 
 cover. 
 
 * " The scandal this trifle caused made him think it necessary 
 to disclaim authorship, so as to escape the anger of the powerful 
 woman whom her enemies recognised in the portrait of Margot." 
 Memoires secrets, Vol. vii., p. 132.
 
 166 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 He replied as follows to the anonymous writer : 
 
 Ta roturiere Deite, 
 
 Malgre tes chants et ton estime, 
 
 Flatte fort peu ma vanite. 
 
 Jouis en paix de ta victoire, 
 
 Heureux amant, garde ton lot, 
 
 De grand creur je te rends ta gloire, 
 
 Tes vers, ta muse et ta Margot. 
 
 Thus he hoped to escape the Bastille, to which mode of 
 repression the favourite might for once 'have resorted. 
 His offence, however, was small it was but the 
 witticism of a man of letters compared with an obscene 
 publication that was just coming out, entitled : The secret 
 Memoirs of a woman of the town, or an Essay on the adven- 
 tures of the Countess Du Barry . . . from her cradle to 
 the bed of honour. The horror was printed in London in 
 four volumes, and the favourite was informed of its 
 publication by the pamphleteer himself, Theveneau de 
 Morande. The author cynically pointed out the means of 
 buying his silence ; he demanded " 5,000 louis in cash, and a 
 4,000 livres pension for himself to revert to his wife and 
 son." 1 Voltaire and Marigny had both recently suffered 
 from his abominable extortion of hush-money. The Count 
 de Lauraguais had got rid of the wretch by giving him " a 
 shower of blows with his cane, by which means he forced 
 from him a receipt." To Madame Du Barry's complaint, 
 which Monsieur d'Aiguillon conveyed to the Ambassador, 
 His Britannic Majesty replied that " no opposition would be 
 made to this monster being removed from the kingdom, 
 drowned in the Thames or smothered . . . provided 
 that everything was carried out with the greatest secrecy." 
 Monsieur de Sartines sent a detachment of his agents to Eng- 
 land, but Morande baffled the French police, and was no less 
 pressing in his demands on the mistress, Monsieur d'Aiguillon 
 and the Chancellor. Six million copies were already said to 
 be printed, and cases ready packed for sending to the Con- 
 tinent. The French Ambassadors at foreign Courts were 
 
 1 Paul Robiquet, Theveneau de Morande, p. 37.
 
 A SUPPRESSED BOOK 167 
 
 given orders to prevent its circulation, but such commands 
 never resulted in much. 
 
 At the same time a discreet and clever man left for London 
 to negotiate the business. This was Beaumarchais, the 
 author of the Barbier de Seville, who was then more famous 
 for his notorious lawsuit against Councillor Goezman, which 
 he had just lost. In London he worked in concert with 
 Louis' secret agent, the mysterious Chevaliere d'Eon, in 
 reality a Chevalier. Morande wanted only to be bribed ; 
 the amount of compensation was reduced as much as 
 possible, 1 and the volumes in existence were burnt in a 
 brick oven in the country. The Duke d'Aiguillon would 
 have liked to learn what people at Court gave the pamphleteer 
 the information through which he was able to collect certain 
 dangerous particulars, but Beaumarchais, in a memorandum 
 addressed to Louis XV., declared that he refused " to play 
 the infamous part of an informer." 
 
 All these proceedings on Madame Du Barry's account 
 were a proof " of her assured position and authority," wrote 
 Mercy to Maria Theresa. But " in spite of the fact that 
 wherever she is concerned the King's blindness seems as 
 unalterable as it is deplorable, the favourite's party is full 
 of doubts and fears that the time may come when the 
 monarch will collect himself and commune with his soul." 
 
 The King was growing old ; his health had for some time 
 been failing ; men of his own age were struck down by death 
 almost under his very eyes ; 2 all causes combined to work on 
 his Bourbon piety. The Carnival came to an end, and the 
 annual agony of Lent began again for the mistress. Candle- 
 mas Day opened with a sermon full of inspired assurance 
 from the Abbe Rousseau. The severity of the new Bishop 
 
 1 The money paid was 20,000 livres in cash, and besides that an 
 interest of 4,000 livres. The book must have been exceptionally 
 dangerous to be considered worth such a compensation ; Theveneau 
 spoke later, in his Ri-plique d Brissot, of the importance he attached 
 to it. 
 
 * After that of Monsieur de Chauvelin occurred the sudden 
 deaths of the Marshal d'Armentieres and of the Abbe de La Ville, 
 who was struck with apoplexy at the King's levee.
 
 168 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 of Senez, the Abbe de Beauvais, was of another order. 
 Already in the previous Lent he had astonished the Court 
 by the vigour of his denunciations. They hoped that a 
 bishopric would make him more reasonable, but not at all ; 
 he inveighed just as harshly against the vices of his hearers. 
 " He preached an extraordinary sermon on Maundy Thurs- 
 day before the King, and thundered with flaming eloquence, 
 speaking truths that only the sacredness of the place could 
 justify and let pass unreprimanded." He even went so 
 . far as to predict the approaching end of the reign ; " Forty 
 days," he cried, " and Nineveh is no more." 
 
 The year before, the King had been satisfied to answer 
 the courtiers who attacked the preacher, that the priest 
 " did his duty," but this time he was deeply agitated, and 
 spoke often of " the fearful account that must one day be 
 made to the Supreme Being of the use made of the life He 
 has granted us on this earth." The Countess felt with 
 anguish that her allies and dependants were ready to betray 
 her at the slightest indication of Fortune turning against 
 her. She was no longer herself ; dissatisfied with her 
 desertion, Mercy wrote to Maria Theresa on March 22 : 
 " I have recently had hints of certain underhand intrigues 
 against the favourite. . . . The Duke d'Aiguillon owes 
 everything to Madame Du Barry, but his demeanour betrays 
 dissatisfaction with her. . . . Besides she is exacting 
 and inconsiderate, and all this may lead to new combinations 
 and issues." 
 
 Tortured at once by religious scruples and the desires of 
 the flesh, Louis XV. would perhaps sacrifice his mistress 
 unless she could protect herself. But, wise in her love, she 
 surrounded the taciturn old man with the tenderest care. 
 She impressed herself on his heart and mind and soul, and 
 made his reliance on her constant love and gentleness a dear 
 and secret habit that he could not renounce. She became 
 his only adviser, and banished from his presence the 
 treachery of ministers, the snares of women. Above all 
 she sought to amuse him. Every week they went to Belle- 
 vue and to Marly ; at Choisy she gave an entertainment,
 
 A RIVAL 169 
 
 and since His Majesty would not leave Versailles, the actors 
 gave their performance in Madame Du Barry's apartments. 
 
 The terrible Easter fortnight was at last over without 
 untoward incident, and Louis had not received the sacra- 
 ment. The favourite's spirits revived, but she did not 
 give up her careful watch on her surroundings. For attempts 
 were being made to give the King a new mistress, and the 
 beautiful Dutchwoman who was being prepared for the 
 part might prove dangerous. 1 A correspondent of the 
 Prince Dmitri Golitzyne, a former Ambassador in Paris, 
 has justified the fears of the Countess in a curious letter 
 describing the last intrigues connected with the Royal 
 alcove : 
 
 The Hague, May 3, 1774. 
 
 My Prince, As changes in the French Ministry occur at 
 fairly regular intervals (each one being given a reign of six 
 months on an average, I believe), and there have been no 
 signs of such a thing for some months, those who know 
 think that this unnatural peace is only apparent, and that 
 the ashes are still glowing. In a word, some friends have 
 warned me that an event may quite well take place very 
 soon, which will surprise a good many people. This is no 
 less than the dismissal of Madame Du Barry on physician's 
 orders. You may think all this a joke, my Prince, but I 
 assure you nothing could be more true. The Royal Physician 
 . . . . has declared that Madame Du Barry is too 
 young for His Most Christian Majesty. She will therefore 
 take the waters at Spa this summer, and since a post as 
 important as hers could not possibly be left vacant for a 
 moment, it will be given to a somewhat older lady (always 
 in accordance with medical orders, of course), this lady 
 being Madame Neuwerkerke, who was so famous as Madame 
 Pater. She is an intimate friend of the Duke de Choiseul, 
 who, one therefore concludes, will soon reappear on the 
 scenes, while the Duke d'Aiguillon will be dismissed ; 
 indeed, he has so far only been supported by Madame Du 
 Barry. All that I have seen here during the last few days 
 
 1 This Madame de Neuwerkerke (formerly Madame Pater) is 
 referred to in the Anecdotes, where she is said to have demanded a 
 secret marriage with the King ; but who can know exactly what 
 happened in these affairs ?
 
 170 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 confirms me in believing in the likelihood of this happening. 
 Madame Pater is a Dutchwoman whose fortune was dis- 
 sipated by her husband. Through the Duke de Choiseul 
 she enjoyed a considerable pension in France, all of which 
 she lost when he fell, and last year I saw her in very reduced 
 circumstances. But for about a month she has been spend- 
 ing a considerable sum of money here, and has arranged 
 through Monsieur de Noailles, the French Ambassador, for 
 the payment of some of the debts of her husband, who was 
 going to be imprisoned, and for the departure of the 
 husband for India. 
 
 Spring came, and the King went to spend a few informal 
 days at his delightful new Trianon before undertaking the 
 more important journeys. As usual, the favourite accom- 
 panied him. On the morning of April 27 he felt unwell, 
 but nevertheless followed the hunt in his coach in the 
 evening. On his return he shut himself up with Madame 
 Du Barry, who tended him as well as she could, reassuring 
 him all the while. But the pain did not cease. During 
 the night His Majesty sent for Lemonnier, his Physician 
 in ordinary, and asked that the Countess should be called. 
 " But as yet there seemed no foundation for the King's 
 anxiety, and Lemonnier, who was acquainted with his 
 natural tendency to be alarmed at nothing, held this anxiety 
 to be the effect of such a tendency rather than the precursor 
 of a disease." Madame Du Barry kept the King by her 
 until three o'clock in the afternoon, no one else besides 
 his valet-de-chambre and Lemonnier coming near him. 
 Monsieur d'Aiguillon was of the opinion that he should stay 
 at Trianon until the illness passed off, but on the other hand 
 the Royal Family was becoming anxious, and La Martiniere, 
 Surgeon in ordinary to the King, ordered that he should 
 return to Versailles. 
 
 The malady grew worse. On the 2Qth His Majesty was 
 bled by Lemonnier, who called in three Paris physicians 
 for consultation : Lassonne, the doctor of the Dauphine, 
 Bordeu, who was the favourite's, and Lorry, the Duke 
 d'Aiguillon' s. The courtiers came in crowds, and the 
 Officers of the Guard received their orders by the bedside
 
 "IT IS SMALLPOX!" 171 
 
 of the King, who spoke in a hoarse voice. In the evening 
 he sent La Borde, his valet-de-chambre, for Madame Du 
 Barry ; all others went, leaving him alone with the physicians 
 and the mistress. Some hours later smallpox declared 
 itself. 
 
 Although public malice had put into circulation the most 
 obnoxious anecdotes about the sovereign's illness, and had 
 let it be known in various ways " that there is nothing small 
 about the great," His Majesty was dying of confluent small- 
 pox. Fearless of contagion and with admirable devotion, 
 Mesdames watched by the bedside of their father during 
 the daytime, and at night the Countess, no less courageous, 
 took their place. 
 
 The nature of his illness was concealed from the King for 
 fear that the shock of knowing would kill him, but at the 
 same time there was much concern for the welfare of his 
 soul. The Archbishop of Paris was already in attendance, 
 having been sent for by Mesdames. Richelieu had kept 
 him away from the King, whose very bedchamber was 
 filled with the disputes and cries of the two parties. The 
 Duke de Liancourt has described the state of affairs in a 
 few embittered lines, poisoned by his hatred of Louis XV., 
 the mistress and her supporters. The one side insisted on 
 confession, which was feared by the other, for on it depended 
 the dismissal of the favourite. Lonely and suffering, the 
 latter sometimes exclaimed : " I displease the whole family ; 
 may I not go ! " And at other times she contended " that 
 the King's custom of seeing her made her feel sure she was 
 useful." 
 
 On the afternoon of May 4, Louis XV., examining his 
 hands, exclaimed: " It is smallpox ! it is smallpox ! " and 
 no one had the courage to reply. In the evening at about 
 a quarter to twelve, the Countess was stroking the patient's 
 wasted brow as he had asked, when he said : " Now that I 
 know my condition, I cannot allow a repetition of the Metz 
 scandal. If I had known what I know, you should not 
 have been permitted to come. I owe myself to God and 
 my people. So to-morrow you must withdraw. Tell
 
 172 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 d'Aiguillon to come to me to-morrow at ten o'clock." She 
 made no murmur and rose to go, but on the threshold of 
 the room she fainted. All night she cried in agony. On 
 the following day the Duke received orders from the King 
 to make arrangements for the departure of the favourite. 
 The carriage left at four o'clock in the afternoon, taking 
 her with her sisters-in-law and the Duchess d'Aiguillon to 
 Rueil, close to Louveciennes. 
 
 At about six o'clock, the King said : " Fetch La Borde ! " 
 Then, as usual, he said : " Go and find Madame Du Barry ! " 
 La Borde answered, " Sire, she is gone ! " " Where is she 
 gone ! " " To Rueil, Sire ! " " Ah ! already ! " After 
 a while the Duke d'Aiguillon, who had taken all the arrange- 
 ments on himself with the Marshal de Richelieu, entered, 
 apparently from the interior of the apartment, and the King 
 said : " Have you been to your chateau ? " He was 
 thinking, therefore, only of his mistress, and said nothing 
 of preparing to die. At Rueil the Countess received a crowd 
 of visitors, who came to reassure her as to the condition of 
 the invalid. 
 
 Only on May 7, the eighth day of his illness, did he confess 
 to the Abbe Maudoux, who had not quitted his bedside. 
 Two days later he received extreme unction. He was laid 
 on a camp-bed in the middle of the room, with the curtains 
 drawn back, and the light of a number of candles held by 
 priests kneeling round the bed, shone on him. The King 
 " was motionless, his mouth open, his face neither deformed 
 nor showing any signs of agitation, but towards the end 
 swollen and copper-coloured like a Moor or negro." The 
 Bishop of Senlis, standing upright, said prayers in a loud 
 voice, and the chaplain held before the eyes of the dying 
 man a large crucifix, which from time to time he lowered 
 for him to kiss. All present showed deep dejection, more 
 from etiquette than from feeling. In the other room the 
 ministers were disputing. 
 
 Forty hours'' prayers were offered up in all the churches. 
 The people gathered below the windows of the Chateau, 
 waiting for the proclamation of death. But not until the
 
 DEATH OF LOUIS XV 173 
 
 following day did the agony begin, at eleven o'clock in the 
 morning of Tuesday, May 10. He was completely conscious 
 until the last moment. " At one o'clock, in the death- 
 rattle, he still heard me," wrote the Abbe Maudoux ; " the 
 physicians thought he had lost consciousness ; I rose to 
 make sure, and said to him : ' Sire, does Your Majesty 
 suffer much ? ' The rattle was interrupted, and he said : 
 ' Ah ! ah ! ah ! terribly ! ' As long as I live I shall never 
 forget those three Ahs ! I pray to God that I may die as 
 he did." " At a quarter past three Louis XV. was no more. 
 The doors were flung open, and the Duke de Bouillon, the 
 Lord Chamberlain, advanced to the railing that partitioned 
 the (Eil-de-Boeuf , and said : ' Messieurs, the King is dead.' ' 
 Away at Rueil, Madame Du Barry wept ; the Duchess 
 d'Aiguillon, who was compelled to leave her in order to be 
 present at a dinner given by the Minister to the Ambassadors, 
 sobbed all the evening. 
 
 The nature of the King's illness had made very prompt 
 funeral obsequies necessary, and they took place without 
 any ceremony, in conformity with his formally expressed 
 desire. On May 12, at ten o'clock in the evening, the hearse 
 left Versailles for Saint-Denis, escorted by fifty Life Guards, 
 and by pages, altogether three hundred horsemen, bearing 
 torches and riding at a trot. The procession was received 
 on its arrival at the Royal vault by a hooting mob. Those 
 who had once given Louis XV. the name of " The Well- 
 beloved " now shouted before his tomb : " Look at the 
 ladies' delight ! look at their delight ! " For, as the Duke 
 de Liancourt wrote, " the philosophy of the people had mfde 
 great progress during the interval." 
 
 The same evening, Madame Du Barry, on the 
 of a lettre de cachet, left Rueil in her carriage to 
 up as a prisoner of State at the Abbey of
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 MADAME DU BARRY AND THE ARTS 
 
 Madame Du Barry as a Patron of the Arts The " Du Barry " Style 
 Her Rooms at Versailles The Furniture How the Favourite 
 passed the Day Her Household Her Luxury Building 
 of the Villa at Louveciennes The Bronzes by Gouthiere 
 The Chateau of Louveciennes The Art Collections Purchase 
 of the Binet Villa and the building of an H6tel at Versailles The 
 Favourite and the Administration of the Privy Purse. 
 
 LOUIS XV. deserved better than the insults that 
 followed his mortal remains to the grave. Men 
 forgot his days of glory and Maurice de Saxe, his 
 diplomatic triumphs and the Duke de Choiseul, and 
 his last reforms inspired by Maupeou, which to some extent 
 anticipated those of 1848. The despotism of which he was 
 so ferociously accused was, besides, " tempered by ballads." 
 He was subjected to the most lively attacks both in his 
 capacity as head of the State, and as a private individual. 
 No doubt the life of this victim of lust lent itself to scandal ; 
 for long he thought of nothing but the satisfaction of his 
 insatiable desires, but even in his debauchery he preserved 
 the elegance of a Frenchman and a Bourbon. 
 
 When the sufferings of Marie Leczinska, " the good 
 Queen," ended with her death, Madame Du Barry appeared, 
 closed the Parc-aux-Cerfs, and for five years her beauty 
 and affection were enough for the Well-Beloved, who felt 
 himself growing old. That was the time of his life when 
 history and libel have scourged him most. Yet his conduct 
 compares favourably with the moral excesses of other 
 sovereigns of the age, of the cynical and hateful Frederick, 
 or of the madman, Ferdinand VI., or of great Catherine, 
 debauchee and regicide. Moreover, whatever Louis' 
 personal failings and the vices of his reign may have been,
 
 PATRONS OF THE ARTS 175 
 
 France still retained her moral influence over Europe and 
 her great position among the nations, while in the world 
 of art she was unrivalled. 
 
 Whatever criticism is allowed of the influence of favourites 
 on politics and its importance is usually exaggerated at 
 least their influence on art may be forgiven, since it never 
 was other than beneficial. Not that they gave a particular 
 direction to the aesthetic tendencies of their day, nor that 
 their advice had any real effect on true genius, but they 
 stimulated competition and encouraged talent by their 
 luxurious fancies, by their demand for elaboration and 
 taste for beautiful things, that a monarch's lavishness 
 permitted them to gratify. 
 
 A whole world of great artists came into being through 
 the work distributed by the little hands of the Queens, the 
 Royal mistresses and the great ladies of Paris and 
 Versailles ; and behind the bright constellations of masters 
 shone the more modest lights of numbers of craftsmen, 
 children of that vital French spirit which needs no more 
 than happy environment to call forth its genius. With 
 architects, sculptors and painters worked goldsmiths, 
 jewellers, cabinet-makers, decorators, all who finished and 
 perfected the dwelling of woman, the harmonious setting 
 of her precious beauty. 
 
 The great lady carried refinement to an extreme, especially 
 in the everyday articles of her toilette. Powder-horns, 
 patchboxes, rouge-pots, flasks, glove-cases, ball-programmes, 
 fans, sweet-dishes, all were of the most exquisite workman- 
 ship, in which the light and colour of gems played on surfaces 
 of chased gold, on jasper, ivory or enamel, works of art 
 indeed, if art is a question of proportion. 
 
 Moreover the divinities of these " enchanted Edens " 
 were marvellously dressed : panier-dresses shot with gold, 
 heavy diamond necklaces, aigrettes, wreaths, lace, all 
 meant a world of work undertaken for each woman. 
 If they exacted homage and tribute from genius, in return 
 they dispensed honour and fortune. Queens and favourites 
 were always powerful protectors, especially the latter.
 
 176 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 Madame de Pompadour became famous for it, and Madame 
 Du Barry too, with as much right, perhaps, but less pre- 
 tentiousness. Besides, she enjoyed only five years of 
 power, while for twenty years the Marquise influenced the 
 proceedings of the Office of Works through her uncle, 
 Tournehem, and her brother, Marigny. 
 
 With the coming of Madame de Pompadour the " rococo " 
 style, wrongly described as pompadour, died out. A reaction 
 towards purer line and the rediscovered beauty of the antique 
 was beginning, and the change was completed during 
 Madame Du Barry's time of favour. Architects showed 
 the way to decorators, who were always slower to adopt 
 new theories, and the excavations at Herculaneum seconded 
 their efforts. " There is a very variable Louis XV. style," 
 writes an art historian, " and by analogy a Louis XVI., 
 and even a Marie Antoinette, style has been created. One 
 is too liable to forget that from this point of view the term 
 a ' Du Barry style ' would be far more appropriate." 1 
 
 Delightful Petit-Trianon, the model of Louis XVI. art, 
 was of Madame de Pompadour's time ; at least the plans 
 were submitted to her in 1762 by Gabriel, though it was 
 opened by Madame Du Barry in 1769. The square chateau, 
 with its terraced roof in Roman style, is of a stern purity 
 of design that sets off its graceful Corinthian pillars. The 
 interior decoration is all on large "classical" lines, while 
 the gay French spirit has scattered on the narrow panels 
 a profusion of crowns, fleurs-de-lys and pyramids of fruit, 
 and wreaths of roses, poppies and ranunculus. The King's 
 chamber looked out on the Botanic Garden of Grand-Trianon, 
 where Claude Richard cultivated his rare flowers, and Ber- 
 nard de Jussieu his exotic plants. Louis XV. was fond of 
 gardening, and from his strawberry-beds came the beautiful 
 fruit that was served at the little supper-parties in cups of 
 Sevres on tall silver-gilt feet. It was the very place for 
 spring-time when one would fain live amid fragrant breezes 
 
 1 Emile Molinier, Le Mobilier au XV He et XV I He sticles, p. 169. 
 Molinier here makes use of the theory supported by Monsieur Pierre 
 de Nolhac against the Goncourts.
 
 THE PALACE OF VERSAILLES 177 
 
 and glowing colours. Summer was spent in the various 
 Royal Palaces, and winter at Versailles, the most exquisite 
 corner of whose Chateau was Madame Du Barry's little 
 gabled rooms. 
 
 With the growth of new customs requiring less formality 
 and of the desire for more comfort and intimacy, many 
 changes were effected in Louis XV.'s palace. Considerable 
 repairs were undertaken on the coming of Marie Leczinska, 
 who found the vast halls of stucco-work and marble too cold 
 and lofty. This was the time when Verbeckt decorated the 
 Petits Cabinets of the King, the gallery and rooms that were 
 to become the home of the last mistress. The sculptor 
 carved the rounded panels with curving scrolls, while J. 
 Caffieri chased the gilt bronze of frames and brackets. 
 
 When the charming rooms passed into Madame Du Barry's 
 hands, she asked for certain general alterations and for further 
 decorations. This work was directed by the Marquis de 
 Marigny, who had so often performed similar services for his 
 sister, Madame de Pompadour. Soon the colouring of the 
 old wainscotting was gilded over, except in the dining- 
 room, whose delicate cream and pale green made a break 
 in the monotony of the many narrow rooms. The bed- 
 chamber was exactly above that ol Louis XV. Here, 
 on each side of the white marble fireplace, was a rounded 
 panel, one of which concealed a secret passage to the Royal 
 Library. In the suite of salons the deep embrasures of the 
 windows facing the Cour de Marbre were flooded with 
 gilding. The dining-room looked out on the Cour des 
 Cerfs, as also the antechamber, the bathroom, the wardrobe 
 and several of the servants' offices. Adjoining the apart- 
 ments of the Countess was the library that had once been 
 Madame Adelaide's. 1 
 
 On her return from Fontainebleau in 1770, the favourite 
 was able to take possession of her fascinating abode, to 
 which a new bathroom had been added, decorated with 
 bronzes by Gobert and carvings by Rousseau. In the suite 
 
 1 See P. de Nolhac, Le Chateau de Versailles sous Louis XV. , 
 which contains an unpublished plan of Madame Du Barry's rooms. 
 
 N
 
 178 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 of rooms the new furniture harmonised well enough with the 
 older panels, whose " rococo " style was not too riotous. 
 
 In the bedchamber, whose every detail was of an extra- 
 ordinary elaboration, was a bed with four pillars, like the 
 alcove which the favourite had desired, only the work had 
 been too complicated to carry out. It seemed entirely made 
 of precious metal, so well had the delicately-moulded wood- 
 work been covered with gilt. The sculptor and Madame 
 Du Barry herself had designed its straight lines ; it was 
 carved by Lanoix and gilded by Cagny. The little fluted 
 columns reaching up to the canopy were wreathed with 
 garlands of myrtle and laurel, and at the top festooned with 
 roses ; their pearl-encircled capitals were formed of acanthus 
 leaves. On the surfaces of the two head-boards " two 
 birds billing together " among flowers were represented. 
 Around the canopy and entwining medallions ran wreaths of 
 myrtle and roses, the " device " of the Countess found on 
 all her artistic possessions. On the step was thrown a white 
 carpet of figured Chinese silk, and a " white silk stuff," 
 embroidered with roses, was used to drape the canopy, to 
 curtain the windows and to cover the bed and the thirteen 
 chairs, of which " one large one was for the King." 
 
 The chest-of-drawers of white satinwood was ornamented 
 with five pictures in porcelain, three scenes after Watteau, 
 and Comedy and Tragedy after Vanloo, all " most richly 
 adorned with very finely finished bronze, and gilded with 
 dull gold." Upon it stood a large blue bowl with gold rock- 
 work " and miniature figures by Teniers, as well as two 
 smaller ones similarly decorated." The writing-table, 
 again, was a triumph of French porcelain with its " flowers 
 on a green ground." On the mantelpiece a gold clock by 
 Germain represented the three Graces supporting a vase, 
 on which turned a dial, while a Cupid's arrow, the symbol of 
 the period, indicated that in these rooms it was always time 
 to love. 
 
 As a rule Madame Du Barry's day did not begin until nine 
 o'clock, when the gilded shutters were thrown open, waking 
 the fair sleeper surrounded by the lace of her sheets and
 
 MADAME DL" BAKRV 
 From a painting by Gauthicr-Dagotv
 
 MY LADY'S TOILET 179 
 
 pillows. Her women then entered and wrapped her in her 
 dressing-gown to conduct her to her bath. While in the 
 perfumed water she would listen to her morning's post of 
 petitions, notes from tradesmen, entreaties for help, business 
 communications, letters from friends, and so forth. Back in 
 her room, she put on her silk petticoats, and a morning-gown 
 of Brussels lace, open at the neck and generously trimmed 
 with ribbons, and Zamore served her with coffee in a silver 
 cup. 
 
 Very soon after, with her hair still in a knot on the nape 
 of her neck, she seated herself before the toilet-table, which 
 the chambermaids had drawn forward so as to be in full 
 daylight. The table itself was draped in white muslin ; 
 the golden mirror, chased by Roettiers de la Tour, was 
 ornamented by an earl's coronet with two doves perched on 
 sprays of myrtle and roses. Then began the procession of 
 dealers, who had been waiting in the antechambers. Every 
 day they brought some novelty, in which the imagination of 
 their artistic craftsmen sought to surpass its previous achieve- 
 ment. 
 
 First of all came the Crown jewellers. The favourite was 
 passionately fond of pearls, brilliants and gems of all kinds, 
 with which she loved to adorn herself, but which she also 
 collected in her caskets, that were marvels in themselves. 
 Boehmer, 1 who was later involved in the intrigue of the 
 Queen's necklace ; Rouen, who was one of the witnesses in the 
 case of the theft of Madame Du Barry's diamonds ; Lecomte, 
 Aubert, 2 Demay, Leblanc, Straz, all brought emerald neck- 
 laces, pearl bracelets, sets of rubies, magnificent diamonds, 
 innumerable rings, engraved stones, cameos and intaglios, 
 pendants, clusters of diamonds, pearl-embroidered slippers. 
 To read the list of gems this woman owned is as dazzling as 
 it is fatiguing. 
 
 Next to jewels, the greatest expenditure of the Countess was 
 on dresses, hoop petticoats, full dress costumes, cloaks, gowns 
 
 x The account of "Bohmer of Paris, dealer in diamonds," 
 amounted to 888,632 livres for the period from October 8, 1770, up 
 to and including February 9, 1772. 
 
 * Aubert's account for two years amounted to 544,949 livres.
 
 i8o A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 of velvet or cloth-of-gold, and the like. Mesdames Sigly 
 and Pagelle were her dressmakers before the celebrated 
 Bertin appeared. Buffault and Le Normand provided the 
 materials, Gruel and Vanot brought blond lace, braid and 
 pompoms, while she obtained Valenciennes and Venetian 
 lace and embroidery from Davaux and Tripperet. Several 
 workshops were employed in making her skirts, her mantles, 
 her fine linen and muslin wear. 
 
 In the art of dress above all, Madame Du Barry gave 
 supreme expression to her taste, to every ingenuity that her 
 coquetry could devise. She inspired fashion, and imposed on 
 it all her delightful whims. The doll that was sent every 
 month to initiate Europe in Parisian modes always wore 
 Madame Du Barry's latest creation. No one had ever 
 dressed so well before, and she excelled all who came after 
 her. At the wedding of the Count d'Artois, for instance, she 
 wore a beautiful dress, whose every detail she had thought 
 out herself. It was of " white satin shot with silver, over 
 which was silver net, embroidered with rose and green 
 spangles " ; on the flounces were knots of myrtle, the corsage 
 was embroidered with little roses, as also all the trimmings. 1 
 This marvellous creation was enhanced by the splendour of 
 jewellery, from the diadem of opals on her head to the little 
 gold slippers starred with diamonds on her feet. 
 
 For great occasions Nokelle was the favourite's hair- 
 dresser, but on ordinary days Berline came with the 
 perfumer, Vigier. As time went on, courtiers arrived and 
 gathered around the be-ribboned table, from which nimble 
 waiting-women had removed the ewer and basin of gold- 
 
 1 From the innumerable descriptions of garments to be found in 
 her accounts or the merchants' bills, we quote the following : 
 
 (1772) " A complete dress with white satin corsage on which a 
 design of rose-wreaths, gold-spangled ribbons tying blue bouquets, 
 all embroidered in silk, worked in pleats." A hoop-petticoat, 
 " . . . silver foundation with a broad gold stripe, embroidered 
 in fine gold thread, wreaths of flowers and carnations, little ribbons 
 with shaded gold spangles, very rich." (1773) " A full dress costume 
 of white velvet, the corsage embroidered with large and small spangles, 
 shaded in various colours ; further a very fine trimming for the edge 
 of the skirt and train, all to match and very rich."
 
 NATURE AND ART 181 
 
 mounted crystal. The Countess replied to compliments and 
 jokes, listened to stories, laughed her pretty childish laugh, 
 and powdered her face all the while her beautiful hah- was 
 being piled high on her dainty head. Then with a little 
 golden knife she carefully removed the powder ; with the 
 tip of her finger she took pomade from a china pot and 
 " daubed " her face, and her cheeks grew pink and animated 
 from the contents of six other little pots before her. 1 Small 
 gold cases, snapped to with a diamond, contained blue for 
 her veins, black for eyebrows and lashes, carmine for her 
 lips and rose-pink for her nails. When the King entered, the 
 atmosphere was laden with the mingled perfumes of opened 
 flasks. Gradually the courtiers withdrew ; the first waiting- 
 woman dressed her Ladyship in a robe sur la consideration, 
 for after dinner she often went for a drive or paid her visits. 
 
 The household of the Countess was very large ; the full 
 dress livery was scarlet and gold, with knee-breeches and 
 gold garters, the undress livery chamois and silver with 
 silver garters. The two coachmen, the outriders, the three 
 postilions, and the running footman wore a uniform of sky- 
 blue cloth with silver braid. 2 The bearers of her beautiful 
 sedan chairs wore scarlet and silver ; a blue and silver livery 
 was worn by the grooms, the stewards, the butler, the cooks, 
 the night attendants, the porter and the gardeners. When 
 Madame Du Barry stepped out of her chair to walk in the 
 park, Zamore lifted the train of her dress and handed her an 
 open parasol. The black child, of whom she was so fond, 
 usually wore his hussar costume of " fluted rose-colour 
 trimmed with silver," or the one of " flesh-coloured " silk, 
 or white taffetas ; in his gold-embroidered girdle was stuck 
 
 1 See Fersen's diary in Le comte de Fersen et la Cour de France, by 
 Baron Klinckowstrom, Vol. i., p. xv. 
 
 1 Mademoiselle de Constant, when visiting Versailles in February, 
 1773, saw Madame Du Barry's carriage in the Place d'Armes, and 
 described it in a letter : " She is extremely pretty ; she wore a 
 riding-habit open in front. Her coach is most elegant, blue with 
 silver mouldings and fine paintings. Her lackeys wear blue, braided 
 with silver. Her six horses were lively and full of mettle ; they 
 were bays, and the bridles, harness, etc., blue and silver." Lucie 
 Achard, Rosalie de Constant, sa famille et ses amis, p. 61.
 
 182 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 a little sword with a carved hilt. Sometimes she dressed 
 him up so that he seemed all ribbons, spangles, pearls and 
 lace ; she covered him with jewels, earrings, bracelets and 
 necklaces, as if he were an idol. 
 
 At first Madame Du Barry's stables were at the hotel 
 de Luynes, where she also housed her domestics. The out- 
 riders Delorme and Duplessis bought her horses in London. 
 La Vallee painted her coaches and sedan chairs, covering their 
 decorative narrow panels with pastoral landscapes or scenes 
 galantes. Among her carriages there was a vis-A-vis of such 
 perfection that the favourite seldom used it ; she kept it as 
 a precious work of art. It may be that the King, being 
 jealous of this gift of d'Aiguillon, had forbidden her to use it, 
 but it is not certain that it really was a present from the 
 Duke. The masterpiece was in such accordance with her 
 taste that it seems probable she herself invented every minute 
 detail. Of the four gilded panels, two were painted with 
 crowns of roses, over " two doves billing together." The 
 others each bore a heart pierced by an arrow, above a quiver 
 and torches. " These emblems were surmounted by a 
 wreath of budding flowers, the most beautiful thing imagin- 
 able. . . . The coachman's seat, the lackeys' stand 
 behind, the wheels, the stocks, the steps, were all of such 
 finished refinement in every detail that one could not tire of 
 admiring it. . . ." 1 Below the coats-of-arms, the Boutez 
 was inscribed. 
 
 The Countess used to return soon from her outings, for 
 in her absence the King wearied. She changed her attire, 
 to receive her circle of friends in the salon, whose two large 
 sofas, eighteen chairs and one for the King, had been designed 
 by Guichard and gilded by Cagny. The back and the arms 
 were carved with trophies of love and with attributes of the 
 chase, of fishing and of music, all entwined in jasmine and 
 roses knotted with ribbons, while on the pale silk stuff were 
 embroidered in more vivid colours a whole mass of " shaded" 
 coronets. 
 
 1 The writer of the Memoires secrets seems to have inspected the 
 carriage very thoroughly.
 
 LEARNING IN LUXURY 183 
 
 The favourite loved music ; Clicot had built for her an 
 English pianoforte, with flutes and galoubet, a movement 
 for the lute, and two for cymbals : the case which was made 
 to contain the pipes and bellows was " of rosewood, inlaid 
 with blue and white mosaic, and very richly ornamented 
 with dull gilt bronze." Sometimes a narrow harpsichord 
 was drawn into the salon, but the favourite instrument of 
 the Countess was the harp, and she took diligent lessons of 
 the master harpist, Hochbrucker. 
 
 Against one wall of this salon stood " a superb chest-of- 
 drawers of the finest quality of old lacquerwork, a relief of 
 richly-dressed monkeys on the middle panel, the friezes 
 plated with ebony, the ornaments of chased bronze gilded 
 with dull gold, the top of white marble. By the opposite 
 wall was another chest-of-drawers ornamented with six plates 
 of Sevres porcelain of a flower and gold thread pattern." 
 On the chests stood two bronze groups, The Abduction of 
 Helen, and a Bacchanalian set of figures, by Sarrazin. 
 
 Below the large rock-crystal lustre in the middle of the 
 room was a round table entirely covered with Sevres porce- 
 lain, the centre picture of which represented a miniature by 
 Leprince. This table, which still exists, is " the boldest 
 and most perfect work of art ever produced" in porcelain. 
 Pictures beloved by the age, adorned the walls, in beautifully 
 carved frames. Rosy mountains, blue landscapes and my- 
 thological portraits were repeated in the large mirrors, then 
 newly introduced, that replaced the former thick and heavy 
 pier-glasses. 
 
 Tea was served on pedestals of silver and bronze with 
 porcelain tops, and in the meanwhile conversations were 
 carried on, that touched lightly and gaily on all subjects, 
 even the driest. Scientific discussions were the fashion, 
 and one day when there was some question as to the medical 
 effects of mercury, the Countess showed great eagerness to 
 learn. " What a good thing she has her mercurial inno- 
 cence ! " was the biting remark of Madame de Luxembourg, 
 who heard of everything. 
 
 When the King left for the Council meeting, Madame Du
 
 184 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 Barry gave her private audiences. Then she spent much 
 time on her evening toilet, and if after supper no play was 
 being performed, Louis XV. often came to her rooms for his 
 game of cards. They usually played in a second salon, 
 whose furnishing was even more in harmony with the new 
 style. On the mantelpiece was " a bronze ormolu clock in 
 the form of a vase and a serpent, with a turning dial, the foot 
 ornamented with three plates of porcelain on which were 
 painted children on a blue ground, the forked tongue of the 
 serpent being of marcassite." The tiers of one small table 
 were inlaid with Sevres, " a floral design on a green ground," 
 on which were placed gold-mounted writing requisites. 
 On the etageres were valuable caskets ; a little chest of old 
 lacquerwork with gold and venturine reliefs of " landscapes 
 and monkeys " on a black ground ; a box of sandalwood, 
 containing the tea-set of crystal and gold, bought at Madame 
 de Lauraguais' sale. Especially noteworthy were " a 
 barometer and thermometer by Passemant, very richly 
 mounted in bronze ormolu, ornamented with three tiles of 
 Sevres, painted with miniature groups of children." 
 
 An ivory backgammon board was " mounted on an 
 inlaid rosewood table, ornamented with gilt bronze." The 
 large card-box, lined with gold-laced blue taffetas, contained 
 " four ivory quadrille boxes with the hearts, diamonds, 
 clubs and spades inlaid in gold on each of the said boxes, 
 and surrounded by a wreath with a knot of ribbons, also 
 inlaid in gold ; the twenty-four markers and the twenty 
 counters marked also in gold with the hearts, diamonds, 
 clubs and spades." The tables were of rosewood, covered 
 with green velvet, " one for vingt-un with five sides, an- 
 other for tri, four for piquet, and one long one of walnut- 
 wood covered with green cloth, with a rosewood set." 
 
 The Royal card-parties at the favourite's usually included 
 the Dukes de Duras, de La Valliere, de Laval and de Coss6, 
 the Princes d'He"nin and de Soubise, the Count de Broglie, 
 the Marquis d'Entragues ; and among the women there 
 were Madame de Mirepoix, that inveterate gambler, and 
 Mesdames de Talmont, de Valentinois, d'Aiguillon and de
 
 A WELL-CHOSEN LIBRARY 185 
 
 Montmorency. Madame Du Barry's gaming debts are 
 entered in her accounts, and give some idea of the high play 
 indulged in ; but she lived at a time when cards and counters 
 were all the rage. 
 
 In spite of her numerous activities, the favourite yet 
 found time to keep in touch with literary matters. She 
 was fond of reading, much more so than those indifferent 
 book-lovers, Mesdames de France and Marie Antoinette. 
 Her elegantly bound volumes were collected behind the 
 glass doors of the bookcases in the library. This room was 
 furnished with six gilded oval armchairs carved with myrtle 
 and roses, and in a recess was a couch above which a long 
 looking-glass was let into the woodwork. 
 
 Among the many volumes that have been preserved, 1 
 a certain number, bound in red morocco and with gilt 
 edges, have the arms and motto of the Du Barrys on the 
 cover ; some are calf with the arms stamped on the back ; 
 others again are in green morocco and more delicately 
 tooled, but none so beautifully as the marvellous Chanson- 
 nier with its lace-like gilding. The Countess used to devote 
 her more peaceful days to the study of history, on which 
 subject she possessed many books. She also owned copies 
 of the Iliad, the Metamorphoses and the Golden Ass, the 
 works of Marot, Villon and Montaigne, the Pensees of Pascal, 
 not to speak of editions of the minor poets of the eighteenth 
 century, illustrated by Eisen, Gravelot or the younger 
 Moreau. Then there were the works of Montesquieu, Vol- 
 taire and Rousseau. Novels with licentious engravings 
 and Locke's Essay on the Human Understanding stood side 
 by side, and a little further along the row could be read the 
 title : Vegetable rouge for the use of ladies. 
 
 Such was the favourite's abode in pompous Versailles, 
 where some ceremony was assigned to every hour. But 
 Madame Du Barry wanted a dwelling after her own fancy, 
 which she herself would design, whose details she would 
 
 1 The Versailles Library owns 349 books that belonged to Madame 
 Du Barry ; others are in the Petit-Palais Museum, in the library of 
 the Ecole Saint-Cyr, and in private collections.
 
 186 'A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 conceive and inspire, a " folly " whose creation would give 
 full scope to the exercise of her imagination and her 
 capricious originality. And when Louis XV. gave her for 
 life the little chateau of Louveciennes, she at once had the 
 white villa built in its gardens. 
 
 Its harmonious classical lines, like those of a Roman 
 temple, rose above the terrace looking out on the Seine. 
 The architect Ledoux had been entrusted with the delicate 
 work. The villa, which was square and of a height of twenty- 
 five feet, had five windows in front and three on either side. 
 The ground-floor was constructed ol Saint-Leu stone, above 
 which was a terrace surrounded by a balustrade. Eight 
 steps led up to a portico supported by four fluted Ionic 
 pillars, of which two were set in the wall. The peristyle 
 was covered by a cupola, very finely worked inside. An 
 admirable bas-relief by Lecomte ornamented the pediment, 
 representing a paganly graceful Bacchanalian scene of a 
 semi-circular group of children, playing with a goat amidst 
 showers of roses. 
 
 Building was begun in December, 1770, and the villa was 
 completed by January, 1772. The interior was divided into 
 three salons and a vestibule attached to the dining-room. 
 Every room of the little villa was decorated with the inter- 
 twining laurel, myrtle and roses of the chaser, Jacques 
 Gouthiere's bronzes. Their elegant affectation afforded an 
 example of the high-water mark reached by the decorative 
 arts of the age ; from the lock of a door to the jamb of a 
 mantelpiece, all was a marvel of taste, of exquisite design 
 and of perfect execution. 1 
 
 The walls of the dining-room were faced with Lesbian 
 
 1 Most of the Louveciennes bronzes were destroyed during the 
 Revolution, but Gouthiere's account gives a minutely detailed 
 description of all the decoration. After having worked for the 
 Countess the artist was employed by the Duke d'Aumont, and many 
 of the things he made are now in public or private collections. 
 In the Louvre there is " a set of fire-irons in gilt bronze, stag, boar 
 and attributes of chase," and another in the shape of " a perfuming- 
 pot and a pineapple," said to have belonged to Madame Du Barry. 
 The Musee des Arts owns a door-knob with the monogram of the 
 Countess.
 
 LOUVECIENNES 187 
 
 marble. Large mirrors were framed by pilasters, whose 
 bronze and gold Corinthian capitals broke the frieze of play- 
 ing children that surrounded a ceiling by Boucher. 1 In the 
 gilded caissons were the united arms of the Du Barrys and 
 Jeanne de Vaubernier, while over the door was the portrait 
 of Louis XV., wearing the ribbon of the Holy Ghost. 
 
 On the subject of the border for this portrait, which the 
 King gave his mistress, Monsieur de Marigny, knowing her 
 exacting demands, wrote to Pierre : "I am delighted that 
 the Sieur Buteux has had the courage to execute the border 
 for Madame Du Barry's portrait of His Majesty. As for the 
 inscription, I hardly think it could be other than this : 
 ' Given by His Majesty to Madame la Comtesse Du Barry 
 in 1770.' But if Madame Du Barry should demand some 
 slight change in the form of this inscription, Buteux would 
 have to take her orders, and act accordingly." And the 
 Sieur Buteux repented many a time of his courage. 
 
 The character of the style known as Louis XVI. is summed 
 up in the work of Gouthiere, who conceived his most perfect 
 masterpieces for the favourite. 2 He showed his designs to 
 the Countess, who enjoyed going over them and afterwards 
 criticising the various wax models and sand or plaster moulds. 
 The artist's bills tell of fire-irons in the vestibule that 
 matched the frieze running round the walls, of myrtle 
 designs in the corners of the door, and of four small lustres 
 of crystal and bronze placed before the mirrors. Golden 
 torches held by four female figures, by Pajou and Lecomte, 
 also illuminated the room. 
 
 There is a water-colour in the Louvre, by the younger 
 Moreau, depicting with sparkling cleverness a supper-party 
 at Louveciennes. The composition of this delightful sketch 
 
 1 This Boucher ceiling has recently been placed in the Louvre. 
 
 1 Madame Vigee Le Brun bears witness to the destruction of 
 these marvellous works of art. " On coming to Louveciennes [in 
 1814] I hastened to visit the villa, which I had seen in all its beauty 
 in September, 1789. All the furniture was gone and every one of 
 the decorations of Madame Du Barry's time. Not only statues and 
 busts had been taken, but also the bronzes of the mantelpieces, and the 
 locks that were like goldsmith's work. In a word, the Revolution had 
 ravaged here as everywhere else." Souvenirs, vol. hi., p. 298.
 
 i88 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 may strike one as cold, so minute are its details from the 
 squared marble of the floor to the gilded galleries for the 
 musicians, which this evening were occupied by some of the 
 guests of the Countess. Court etiquette was strictly fol- 
 lowed in the serving of supper. Louis XV. presided, and 
 the artist has cleverly caught the expression of haughty 
 melancholy in his handsome Bourbon face. ... To 
 his right sits Madame Du Barry, in a very low-necked gown 
 of white satin, with pearls about her throat, and her little 
 head thrown proudly back, a pose that does not in the least 
 detract from her charm and sweetness. Around the table 
 great ladies are seated, and men glittering with orders ; 
 Richelieu, the brilliant wit ; courteous, reserved d'Aiguillon ; 
 caustic Maupeou ; gentle and lovable Chauvelin ; and 
 among many others the young Viscount Du Barry, blind as 
 ever to the radiant galaxy of women, to all but the favourite, 
 his faithfully beloved aunt. 
 
 The footmen move with difficulty among the curious 
 crowd. Madame Du Barry's servants, in full dress livery of 
 red velvet trimmed with gold lace, are aided in their duties 
 by the Swiss Guards in blue uniform with white facings and 
 edgings, three-cornered hats on their heads and swords by 
 their side. Morin, the factotum, supervises their move- 
 ments ; Zamore is also there, a little black page in a pink 
 costume, and Mirza, the white greyhound, that the Abb6 
 Delille had given the Countess. A flowery epergne adorns 
 the centre of the table, and gold candelabra are placed 
 among the piled dishes, masterpieces by Salanave, the 
 favourite's chief cook. Gold plate, chased by Roettiers de 
 la Tour, 1 alternates with Sevres ware, patterned with tiny 
 flowers encircling the monogram of the Countess, a design 
 by Saint- Aubin. 2 
 
 1 See Madame Du Barry's accounts. The Roettiers, father and 
 son, had begun supplying the Countess in November, 1770 ; already 
 by October 8, 1771, they had received the enormous sum of 227,328 
 livres. 
 
 * This service was replaced in 1773 by one composed of plates 
 patterned with " Chinese pictures and miniatures." The artist's 
 name is given in the accounts, year 1774, March 31 : " Payed Saint-
 
 A ROYAL SUPPER TARTY AT LOUVECIKNXKS 
 
 Fivnt a drawing by Morcau t lie younger, 777.?
 
 A MARVEL OF DECORATION 189 
 
 Thanks to its marvellous decoration, the square salon 
 could easily be turned into a miniature theatre. Gouthiere 
 had made the bronze flowerwork over the mantelpiece and 
 in the fire-irons, the garlands of the sconces and window 
 embrasures, the bouquets of the sash-fastenings, locks and 
 door-knobs. Over the two fireplaces trailed a frieze of 
 entwined vine-leaves, and a similar pattern ornamented the 
 panels and brackets. The fire-irons were embossed in gold ; 
 on the locks, pierced with a design of hearts, was the mono- 
 gram of the Countess.surrounded by an arabesque. Vines 
 were wreathed round the window fastenings, whose handles 
 were lyre-shaped and worked with flowers. The knobs, 
 supports and hinges of the lattices were chased, gilded and 
 double-gilded, and finally, the general scheme of decoration 
 was repeated in the foliage of the sconces and candelabra. 
 
 Cagny had supplied the white and the gilded chairs, as 
 also the twelve large armchairs, upholstered in yellow Indian 
 silk, and embroidered by the Sieur Tripperet, embroiderer 
 to the King, of Paris, rue Sainte-Anne, near the Nouvelles- 
 Catholiques. The ottoman represented " landscapes with 
 reapers '* in six large medallions, and the two panels of 
 the fire-screen were worked in the same style. And above 
 the doors were paintings by Fragonard. 
 
 Three pieces of tapestry were ordered from the Gobelin 
 Manufactory in November, 1772, for decorating the panels 
 of the salon, but were not ready until 1775. They repre- 
 sented Venus and Vulcan after Boucher, Pluto and Proser- 
 pina after Vien, and the Abduction of Europa after a drawing 
 by Pierre, principal painter to the King. All, and especially 
 the first, were overladen with figures, which " made the 
 expenses for working and material very costly owing to the 
 variety of colours," wrote Cozette, the manager of the Royal 
 
 Aubin, designer, for designing plates 126 livres." The gold plate 
 bears festoons of roses and the arms in relief. " Two dishes with 
 platters and spoons for two services, platters and forks being very 
 rich, ornamented with children holding garlands ; on the four 
 covers four different subjects. The crest embossed in bas-relief, 
 the feet ornamented with rams' heads, trophies of flowers, and 
 quivers, all finished with the greatest care . . . 24,000 livres."
 
 igo A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 Manufactory. At the end of his account, he had " the 
 honour to represent that for similar pieces the late Madame 
 de Pompadour gave him, in 1752, fifty louis for each piece, 
 as a reward and honorarium." Before the fourth panel 
 stood an altar in the classical style, of white marble, gold and 
 silver, chased by Gouthiere, and carved with figures by 
 Feuillet and Metivier. On it was the white image of the 
 favourite, the marble bust of her made by Pajou in 1773, 
 that is now in the Louvre. 
 
 Louis XV. sometimes rested in this square salon after 
 hunting at Marly. From the large open bay-windows the 
 hill of Saint-Germain could be seen silhouetted in the 
 dusk against the evening sky ; the last, melancholy sound- 
 ings of the horn added to the indecisive charm of the hour, 
 loved by the King for its poetry, its deep silence. Some 
 years later, the Countess was to hear in this same room, not 
 the bugles of the Royal Chase, but the sound of the cannon- 
 ades from Paris. 
 
 Of the two smaller salons, the one on the right had a fire- 
 place formed of little bronze and golden pillars wreathed in 
 branches of myrtle, with roses on the frieze and cross-pieces ; 
 there was more myrtle decoration on the doors and windows, 
 whose fastenings and locks bore Madame Du Barry's mono- 
 gram in a coronet of roses. Two statuettes, carved by 
 Vass6, stood on pedestals, one an Amor, the other a Thalia 
 holding her mask. Above the doors Drouais had painted 
 four children, which Diderot much admired. " He has given 
 such vivacity and clearness to their eyes," he wrote, " that 
 they seem to look and smile at you, even from quite close." 
 
 Vien painted four pictures for this salon, though Madame 
 Du Barry had at first given Fragonard the task of decorating 
 it ; in 1771 she asked the latter for the paintings, whose 
 subject she herself devised. They represented the purest 
 and sweetest of idylls played in a setting of blue-tinted parks, 
 among rosebushes : The rendezvous, The courtship, The 
 love-letters, and The lover crowned. The composition is 
 tinged with melancholy, but such a feeling vanishes on see- 
 ing, on a little pedestal, winged Eros, sceptical and mocking,
 
 A CRITICAL PATRON 191 
 
 the very incarnation of the age. The series is Fragonard's 
 masterpiece, and is undoubtedly the finest example of this 
 kind of eighteenth century decorative art. 1 " The exquisite 
 pictures, though so suitable to Louveciennes, the home of 
 art, did not adorn the white villa of the gardens. Certainly 
 not because they did not please the Countess ; her sure taste 
 
 . . . made her too good a judge of the value of paint- 
 ings for that ; but her mania for criticising and minutely 
 instructing the artists who worked for her, must have 
 wearied Fragonard." 2 The latter therefore kept his pic- 
 tures, and received eighteen thousand livres from the favour- 
 ite. Vien, " the disciple of the Greeks," was given the work 
 instead, and on the same subject as Fragonard, namely, 
 on The progress of love in the hearts of young girls. But 
 the grace, the luminous quality were gone, and his cold classic 
 figures, conventionally nude, already foreshadowed the 
 school of David. 
 
 The third salon was all mirrors, with a ceiling by Briard 
 on the subject of Rural pastimes, and the motto Ruris amor. 
 Often the long, glass panels reflected in contrast the affected 
 scenes of Court-life ; great ladies seated in armchairs, and 
 courtiers gallantly bending over them ; pretty coquetry and 
 fan-concealed smiles ; while the black page and Mirza, the 
 greyhound, played among the trains of brocaded gowns. 
 
 While the villa was being completed in the gardens, the 
 chateau was being altered to suit the wishes of the Countess. 
 From the end of her exile, after the death of Louis XV., until 
 the day of her sentence, Madame Du Barry lived nowhere 
 else. The building dates from the time of Louis XIV., who 
 had it erected for the Baron de Ville, a gentleman of Liege 
 and the constructor of the engine at Marly. The Duke de 
 Luynes speaks in his memoirs of the entertainments given 
 at Louveciennes in 1737, when it belonged to Mademoiselle 
 de Clermont, the legitimised daughter of Mademoiselle de 
 Nantes and the Great King. " Life there is charming," he 
 wrote, " and the house is very pretty." There the Duke de 
 
 1 The four pictures belonged to the late Mr. Pierpont Morgan. 
 P. de Nolhac, J.-H. Fragonard, p. 64.
 
 I 9 2 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 Penthievre, the heir to the Countess de Toulouse, witnessed 
 the death, in 1768, of the Prince de Lamballe, the last of his 
 five sons. He parted with his life-interest in the estate, and 
 Louis XV. granted it to his mistress on July 26, 1769. 
 
 The little chateau was in such a bad condition that the 
 favourite asked for repairs to be executed, and also for addi- 
 tions, such as halls for the menservants, rooms for the women, 
 baths, offices and an orangery. As a Crown domain was in 
 question, the work was carried out under the supervision of 
 Gabriel, superintendent of the Office of Works. 
 
 The ceiling of the vestibule was ornamented with a frieze 
 of playing children. The dining-room was panelled with 
 woodwork, carved with attributes of the chase and rural 
 trophies, which was continued on the walls of the salon. 
 The favourite's own apartment was on the first floor, as 
 also that of the King, which was later occupied by the Duke 
 de Cosse-Brissac. Adjoining the orangery was the white 
 and gold chapel, where the marriages of the domestics and 
 the baptisms of their children were celebrated. A friar of 
 Saint-Germain officiated every Sunday. There is in Madame 
 Du Barry's accounts a list of golden monstrances, chalices 
 and vases to be used for divine service. 
 
 On the death of Louis XV., Montvallier, steward to the 
 Countess, had all the furniture and precious articles of her 
 rooms at Versailles moved to Louveciennes, 1 whose artistic 
 treasures increased from year to year. Not that the chateau 
 was filled with the indiscriminate profusion of a financier's 
 galleries ; everything was choice, perfect, rare. The art 
 of the period was summed up in the harmonious whole, 
 in which each thing stood out and received its proper value. 
 Among the rich and glorious harvest of the age, there were 
 works whose delicate grace and moving truth appealed 
 especially to the soul of their sensitive young owner. Her 
 time of favour was one of the most charming periods of 
 painting in the i8th century, that knew so many charming 
 
 1 On February 17, 1777, some of Madame Du Barry's pictures 
 were sold by auction, among them the Prayer to Love, by Greuze. 
 See Goncourt, La, Du Barry, p. 205.
 
 THE BROKEN PITCHER 193 
 
 periods. From Watteau to Fragonard many masters had 
 flourished, and their canvases, though less appreciated, 
 were still sometimes to be seen, framed in gold ; but in general 
 the young generation of painters triumphed by reason of 
 their talent and vigour. 
 
 In the chateau of Louveciennes we again find Fragonard, 
 in the four pictures over the doors of the dining-room ; 
 The Graces, Love setting the world on fire, Venus and Love, 
 and finally Night. He was, no doubt, her favourite, this 
 artist who added Watteau's dreaminess, Chardin's intimacy 
 and Boucher's sensuousness, to all the wit and voluptuousness 
 of his time. The new ideals of a return to nature prevailed 
 in the decoration of her walls. There was the picture of a 
 ruin by Hubert Robert, a seascape by Vernet. Greuze 
 in sentimental mood was represented by The Broken 
 Pitcher, " a symbol," wrote a critic, " of the far more 
 precious possession the girl has lost. The flowers she holds 
 in her apron express with no less ingenuity the trifling, 
 worthless compensation she has received. Her face is 
 full of the naive grief that this first blow inspires in every 
 virtuous person. As for the execution, it is excellent ; 
 the flesh tones have the firmness of a robust peasant girl, 
 in whose plump arms the quick blood flows." 
 
 Framed in trophies, wreathed in myrtle and roses, the 
 image of the Countess smiled from the walls, whether as 
 the Flora, Muse or elegant cavalier of Drouais' portraits, 
 or as represented later in the series by Madame Vigee Le Brun. 
 The painter whom the favourite usually commissioned for this 
 work is much rather the follower of Nattier than of Latour, 
 but the superficial graces of his brush, his delicate colouring 
 and refined affectation pleased Madame Du Barry. As we 
 have seen, he exhibited every year a portrait of her in the 
 Salon of the Louvre. His wife and pupils assisted him in 
 making the numerous copies she required. 
 
 One of the most engaging representations of the favourite 
 was painted in 1771 by J.-B.-A. Gauthier-Dagoty, the elder 
 son, who afterwards engraved it both in black-and-white 
 and in colour. He shows us the young woman seated in
 
 194 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 front of her toilet table, while Zamore is handing her coffee. 1 
 She is very fair in her large white morning-gown, that is 
 open to show her rose petticoat. But how she has rouged, 
 she who as a rule used so little ! There are lace ruffles on 
 her wrists, and in her hands she holds a silver cup affectedly 
 poised. Her hair is dressed in curls, and falls in three 
 heavy ringlets, that by some astonishing optical prodigy 
 are reflected in the glass on the draped table. In her large 
 blue eyes, shaded by long, fringed lashes, is an expression 
 of gentle melancholy, but her mouth is as childishly mis- 
 chievous as ever. 
 
 Greuze, too, painted the favourite, but as a Bacchante. 
 The Anecdotes relate how, being dissatisfied with her 
 portrait as a Muse, " she wished the Sieur Greuze to under- 
 take a work in the same style." Monseigneur de Grimaldi, 
 the Bishop of Noyons, wrote to his friend Desfriches on 
 April 6, 1772 : "I have been to Greuze, who, after having 
 shown me an oval portrait of Madame Du Barry, which 
 those who know the original assure me is exactly like, 
 described all its beauties to me in detail, and I have indeed 
 found it very fine." This is, no doubt, the unfinished 
 picture, which passed into the possession of the State 
 according to the sale inventory made at Louveciennes in 
 1793. It is now only known in an indifferent contemporary 
 engraving. The favourite's bosom is uncovered and sup- 
 ported by a corselet of tigerskin ; she is crowned with vine- 
 leaves, and her hair floats in wild disorder over her shoulders ; 
 in her hand she holds the thyrsis, and her leering expression 
 is one that Greuze could never have given her. 
 
 Drouais also painted for the Countess her beloved niece 
 Betzy, embracing a cat ; Betzy playing on the triangle ; 
 Mademoiselle Luxembourg crowning the greyhound Mirza ; 
 Zamore and a little son of the porter at Louveciennes ; 
 and she further owned a portrait of Marie Antoinette by the 
 
 1 This picture was long thought to be a copy of a Drouais, by De 
 Creuse. In Louis Philippe's time it was enlarged by the latter 
 painter, and the figure of Zamore was completed. It is in the Ver- 
 sailles Museum.
 
 "A FAMILY PORTRAIT" 195 
 
 same artist. Once the Office of Works happened to have to 
 refer to this original in order to enable Duplessis to make 
 more pictures of the Princess. In November, 1771, Monsieur 
 de Marigny was made aware of the fact that " Monsieur 
 Jeaurat had no portrait of the Dauphine. Of the two which 
 existed one belonged to Madame Du Barry, the other was in 
 Vienna. . . . Madame Du Barry's picture would have 
 to be borrowed, which could be arranged by Monsieur 
 Pierre, if the Director-General thought suitable." 
 
 Madame Du Barry's picture gallery included many other 
 works, which she had commissioned or which had been 
 bought in her name. De La Borde brought her paintings 
 from Italy ; the Marquis d'Arcambal acquired for her on 
 one single occasion several valuable pictures, and she pro- 
 cured some beautiful ones at the Choiseul sale. She paid 
 twenty thousand livres for the famous Charles I. of Van 
 Dyck, said to have belonged to Crozat de Thiers. " A 
 family portrait," she modestly called it ; and, indeed, the 
 Du Barrys were connected with the Stuarts through the 
 Barry mores. 1 
 
 However sure she felt of her artistic knowledge, she yet 
 thought right to engage an expert, Monsieur Boileau, to 
 examine her acquisitions. She used to make fun of amateurs 
 who allowed themselves to be duped by dealers ; for instance, 
 she wrote to " her poet," the Abb Delille, in 1782 : " You 
 must be perfectly acquainted with the pictures of Albane, 
 
 1 This is the Van Dyck at the Louvre. The libellers have re- 
 lated how the Countess bought the picture at the Crozat sale, in 
 order to display it in her rooms at Versailles, and how she afterwards 
 showed it every day to the King, threatening him with the fate of 
 King Charles should he give way to the Parliaments. This story 
 shows complete ignorance of the despotic and haughty character 
 of Louis XV. Besides, the sale of the Crozat collection did not take 
 place until the end of 1771, after the Parliaments had fallen. Miche- 
 let, who used the anecdote with such telling harshness, cannot have 
 known this detail. Another fact against the plausibility of the story 
 is that the picture is too large ever to have been brought into the 
 favourite's low-ceiled, gabled rooms. Nor is it catalogued in the 
 collection of the Baron de Thiers, and no doubt never belonged to 
 to him. Where Madame Du Barry acquired it is not known, and 
 she sold it during the reign of Louis XVI.
 
 196 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 since you use his colours in your charming works ; but the 
 Duke asserts that you have laughingly imagined an associa- 
 tion of the name of Poussin with the picture you were so 
 proud of having acquired so cheaply, which is just as if 
 one were to inscribe the name of Delille on the gardens of 
 Le Notre in order to double their price." x 
 
 The inventories of the Revolutionary period point to the 
 existence of a large number of pictures at Louveciennes. 
 Vien is mentioned as the painter not only of the four panels 
 in the villa, but also of four genre pictures : The woman selling 
 loves, commissioned for the Countess by the Duke de Cosse- 
 Brissac, Love escapes, a pendant to the former, and two 
 nymphs, one gathering roses, the other plucking the strings 
 of a lyre. She had a pastoral scene by Boucher, a bacchanal 
 by Pierre, a rural scene by Cassanova, a seascape by Vernet, 
 " ruins, among which sacrifice is made to Venus " by Hubert 
 Robert. The Dutch and Flemish schools were represented 
 by an interior by Van Ostade, a tavern by Teniers, a land- 
 scape by Jan Wynants, and a nude woman by Cornelis van 
 Poelenbourg, modestly concealed under " a curtain of green 
 taffetas." 
 
 Of historical pictures she owned four large compositions 
 that the King had given her, having taken them from the 
 old gallery at Choisy. Such representations were again 
 coming into fashion, and their subjects seem very 
 severe, namely : Augustus closing the Temple of Janus, 
 by Carle Vanloo, The Emperor Trajan receiving a woman's 
 petition, by Halle, Marcus Aurelius having food distributed 
 to the people, by Vien. . . . How far they are from the 
 licentious paintings attributed to her collection ! 
 
 The Countess had collected numerous engravings and 
 drawings ; among them she especially prized the drawing 
 of the Bordeaux ship that bore her name, and Moreau's 
 water-colour of the supper-party at Louveciennes, as 
 remembrances of the past. Then there were miniatures, 
 which at that time were so much sought after for the lids 
 of caskets and snuffboxes, but which were sometimes 
 1 Delille's poem, Les Jardins, had just been published.
 
 MINIATURES 197 
 
 complete in themselves, framed in a circle of gems or chased 
 gold. The favourite possessed a portrait of Louis XIV. 
 by Petitot, " another of the late Monsieur de France, both 
 in enamel, as also a portrait of a woman, again by Petitot ; " 
 " a Louis XV. painted by Masse, surrounded by a gold 
 laurel-leaf border ; another Louis XV. by the same painter, 
 but smaller, in a gold medallion ; a Louis XV. as a Car- 
 melite ; a Louis XV. in a laboratory ; " and two gold- 
 mounted tortoiseshell boxes with the portraits of Marie 
 Antoinette and a nun, no doubt the Abbess of Pont-aux- 
 Dames. 
 
 Later the Countess owned portraits in enamel of de Brissac, 
 his grandmother, daughter and grandson. 1 Of special note 
 among these dainty masterpieces was a miniature of herself 
 by Lawreince, delicately drawn, and coloured in finely 
 blended mauves and greys. Her youthful beauty glows 
 vividly in the setting of the jewelled frame ; she wears her 
 heavy locks powdered white and confined with a lilac ribbon, 
 a straw hat and grey feather, and a simple unadorned 
 corsage, following the lines of her slender form. The work 
 is happier in its treatment than that of Hall executed in 
 1773. The Swedish miniature painter had portrayed 
 Madame Du Barry for Gustavus III., who already possessed 
 one of Drouais' portraits. 
 
 The painting of the period was repeated in Sdvres ware of 
 every shape, such as large urns, vases and flower-stands, 
 in Royal blue, turquoise blue or pale blue, which last colour 
 the Countess preferred. 2 The furniture was medallioned 
 
 1 See the declaration made by Madame Du Barry on the day of 
 her execution, a document published by Vatel, from which it may 
 be seen that she still possessed innumerable engraved stones set in 
 rings ; "a gold-mounted tortoiseshell box with a very beautiful 
 white stone finely engraved with the portraits of Brissac and the 
 declarer " ; gold medals struck on the occasions of various events, 
 among them some " commemorating the marriages of the ci-devant 
 Princes." 
 
 1 In accordance with the preferences of her day, Madame Du 
 Barry also possessed Chinese, Japanese and Persian vases, inkhorns or 
 grotesques. Every year during her favour, her numerous purchases 
 of SSvres were included in the Exhibition of porcelain in the King's
 
 ig8 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 in the same ware, 1 matching the clear porcelain of all these 
 precious things. 
 
 The sculptors of France, even more than her painters, are 
 the glory of the eighteenth century, and are as precious 
 witnesses to its traditions. Contemporary sculpture was 
 brilliantly represented at Louveciennes, while some master- 
 pieces of the past also revealed the spirit and delicately 
 toned grace, so peculiar to the age. 
 
 Before the Countess was admitted to the Court in the early 
 days of 1769, Lemoine carved the bust of the favourite in 
 marble, a bust of seductive charm, that was reproduced 
 by Se\res, and of which only one copy is known to "Us. It 
 seems to have inspired Pajou in his marvellous work of 
 1773 representing the favourite, which she placed in her 
 villa in the gardens of Louveciennes. J.-J. Caffieri, with 
 as much genius, and more sprightly vivacity, also made an 
 image of her ladyship, a terracotta that we have discovered. 2 
 Yet another bust, smaller than lifesize and of supreme 
 perfection, attributed to Houdon, represents the Countess, 
 this time wearing a wreath of roses. 
 
 Besides the four groups of women by Lecomte and Pajou, 
 the two statuettes by Vien and the busts of its mistress 
 already referred to, Louveciennes boasted other sculptures. 
 A gallery full of precious things, that Madame Le Brun was 
 one day to admire, was no doubt the home of the porphyry 
 
 salon. In her gardens and peristyles were vases of marble and por- 
 phyry which were kept by the State, when the inventory of the 
 Chateau of Louveciennes was made. 
 
 1 When the Countess was exiled from Versailles her furniture 
 was moved to Louveciennes. The little Chateau already included 
 among its possessions two inlaid chests-of-drawers, by J.-F. Leleu, 
 with lozenges inlaid with fleur-de-lys, one of which is now at the 
 Petit Trianon. There was also an inlaid and painted writing-table 
 signed Pasquin. 
 
 * The Goncourts are strangely mistaken hi asserting Madame 
 Du Barry to be the original of the young " dancer " of the Versailles 
 Library, in whose sly face there is not one of the favourite's features. 
 Moreover, she is quite a young girl, while at the date on the pedestal 
 the favourite was twenty-eight years old. We think we have found 
 Caffieri's bust in the Brussels Museum, in a terracotta falsely attri- 
 buted to Pajou.
 
 MADAME 1)1' BARRY 
 Rust in terra cotta l>y J . J . Caffirri
 
 A FORMAL GARDEN 199 
 
 vases, bought by de Brissac, then Duke de Cosse, for his 
 friend. In the living-rooms the image of the King was to 
 be seen in a marble by Pajou, in a bronze bust by Lemoine, 
 and again in a bronze group, by the same artist, of Louis 
 XV. carried aloft by three warriors. On pedestals stood 
 statuettes copied from the antique ; an Apollo Belvedere 
 and a Venus Callipyge, brought from Rome at great expense ; 
 an Abduction of Helen, a Vestal nursing the sacred fire and 
 attended by two children ; further there were two little 
 pieces by Boizot, a nymph fleeing from the darts of Love 
 and Love preparing to let fly an arrow at her, the original 
 of Falconet's masterpiece, the Woman Bathing, and the 
 group of Love and Friendship, thought to be by Lemoine, 
 which in reality the Countess commissioned Cafne'ri to 
 make. 1 
 
 There was statuary in the park, too, gleaming white 
 through the foliage of its arbours, or reflected in the waters 
 of its fountains. The lines of the little chateau were con- 
 tinued in the symmetrical arrangement of the garden, which 
 was laid out in the French style, with level lawns, triangles 
 of rose-beds, wheels of myrtle, and solid rectangular groves 
 of laurel, the whole forming one of those series of geometrical 
 problems in proportion solved in diagrams made of flowers, 
 that Horace Walpole made such fun of, never having under- 
 stood them. By the threshold of the little villa were two 
 statues of women bathing by Allegrain, so " soft in execu- 
 tion " and " so ingenious in attitude," that one could not 
 but admire them. The Venus was to have been placed 
 at Choisy, but Louis XV. presented it to his mistress. 
 Monsieur de Marigny wrote on April 12, 1772 : " Monsieur 
 
 1 " We all four assembled on Saturday, the agth July last, at 
 seven o'clock in the evening, in M. Caffieri's studio, and there, after 
 having minutely examined his work, a group of Love and Friendship, 
 and taking into account the expense to which he has been put 
 . we have valued the above work at a sum of three thousand 
 six hundred livres, for which sum the Sieur Cameri is bound to 
 deliver the said model in plaster to Madame la Comtesse. . . . 
 Lemoine, G. Coustou, A. Pajou, Pigalle." The four sculptors also 
 examined the block of marble bought by Cafneri for the model. 
 But neither plaster nor marble group has been found.
 
 200 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 Pierre is to tell Monsieur Allegrain, sculptor to the King, 
 to deliver to Madame Du Barry, for her gardens at Louve- 
 ciennes, the figure of Venus in marble, which he has executed 
 for the King, and which was committed to his keeping." 
 The companion figure of Diana surprised by Actaeon was 
 only delivered in 1775. The artist was criticised for having 
 given the huntress the disturbing beauty of Cytherea, but 
 the charming statue aimed at reproducing the features and 
 the divine fascination of the favourite. Further off, near 
 a rose-bed, were three figures by Vasse ; another Venus, 
 a Cupid and a " seated Minerva, leaning on her shield." * 
 Beyond the arbour could be seen the gracious form of a 
 nymph by Coysevox, and looking towards the woods of 
 Marly was a sphinx in terracotta. Large marble vases orna- 
 mented the approach to the chateau and the peristyle of the 
 villa, or were outlined in their graceful curves against a 
 background of dark woods. 
 
 The admirable arrangement of the gardens of Louveciennes 
 in the French style was to yield by degrees to the growing 
 taste for English ways. Increased sensibility induced 
 people to dream only of a return to nature, of free and 
 picturesque landscapes ; and, as if by accident, Dutch 
 windmills, Chinese pagodas and Gothic ruins were found 
 at the bends of the winding alleys. But Madame Du Barry 
 was satisfied with less, though after 1781 she altered the 
 arrangement of her lower gardens on the recommendation 
 of Monsieur d'Angiviller, and " upset " them altogether in 
 order to have them laid out in the English style. 
 
 When the new buildings at Louveciennes were finished, 
 the Countess bought in 1772 the Binet villa situated in the 
 Avenue de Paris at Versailles. A balustrade ran round the 
 flat Roman roof, which was ornamented with statues and 
 terracotta vases. In front of the house stretched a long 
 avenue of limes. She had a building erected for her house- 
 hold and her stables on some ground adjacent to the estate. 
 She commissioned Ledoux with the design, but only the 
 
 1 Vass6's group, Venus teaching Love how to draw his Bow, was 
 valued at 14,000 livres.
 
 A VERSATILE FAVOURITE 201 
 
 monumental entrance is of interest. On the stone pediment 
 were two female figures by Lecomte, supporting the arms 
 of the Countess. 1 One was a Flora, half nude and possibly 
 a likeness of Madame Du Barry, the other a Minerva robed in 
 the classical style. 
 
 This was the villa where she gave her entertainments 
 in honour of the Duke d'Aiguillon in 1773. All the actors, 
 musicians and dancers were proud to appear at the reception, 
 and indeed she was their sovereign dictator to whom they 
 brought all their petitions, who supported their interests, 
 paid their debts and settled their disputes. 
 
 In the Royal Household, the administration of the Privy 
 Purse and of the Lord Chamberlain's and Lord Steward's 
 Departments was attached to the Office of Works. The 
 Privy Purse was controlled by the four First Lords in Wait- 
 ing, who served in rotation, each for one year ; above them 
 was the favourite, below them the Master of the Ceremonies, 
 on whom, of course, fell all the work and responsibility. 
 
 From the very beginning of her power the Countess gave 
 her attention to the finances of the Privy Purse, which were 
 in a deplorable condition. " She understood very well all 
 that I told her," wrote Papillon de La Ferte in his diary, 
 " and has promised me to speak to the Minister." She 
 tried first of all to do away with the tax on the poor, although 
 the budget was still further burdened with the enormous 
 sums of money laid out on the weddings of the Dauphin, 
 the Count de Provence and the Count d'Artois. 
 
 During these five years she also decided on the plays 
 to be acted at Versailles and Fontainebleau ; and whatever 
 may have been said to the contrary, her choice was always 
 guided by good taste and a knowledge of the theatre. 
 Whether " on duty " or not, the Marshal de Richelieu and 
 the Duke de Duras retained their positions as directors of 
 the Comedie Italienne and the Comedie Fran$aise respective- 
 ly, but understood very little of their difficult duties. When 
 
 1 On the disgrace of the favourite, her arms were replaced by 
 those of the Count de Provence ; in 1793, the fleur-de-lys were 
 destroyed. The gateway now forms the entrance to barracks.
 
 202 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 La Ferte wished to restore peace he turned to Madame Du 
 Barry for help. " These gentlemen," he wrote, " never 
 want to get to the bottom of things, but allow themselves 
 to be guided by intriguers, especially women." Richelieu's 
 protege was Mademoiselle Dubois, and Duras' was Madame 
 Vestris, and only these two ladies were at all in favour. 
 But at least the Marshal took care of the debutantes, particu- 
 larly when they were pretty, like the Demoiselle Colombe, 
 whom painters and sculptors so often represented caressing 
 the gentle birds whose name she so appropriately bore. 
 " To conciliate all these gentlemen and all these ladies is 
 indeed work for a diplomat," complained La Ferte. " I 
 went to the Marshal to give him an account of all the diffi- 
 culties, and found him with the Demoiselle Colombe, a 
 debutante at the Italienne. He is so overcome by her 
 supposed talent that he even went so far as to ask her, 
 before me, to rehearse one of her parts to him. Is it aston- 
 ishing that a Master of the Ceremonies should be able to do 
 so little for the success of the plays, when a great lord, and one 
 of Monsieur de Richelieu's age too, descends to having a debu- 
 tante rehearse her parts before him ? " Only the Countess 
 could induce her old friend to see reason, and she, too, had 
 favourites herself in Mademoiselle Dumesnil and the young 
 Raucourt, who astounded Paris by her six months of virtue. 
 Lekain, the tragedian whom Voltaire admired, enjoyed the 
 patronage of the mistress, from whom he received some 
 beautiful theatrical costumes in " the Greek and Roman 
 styles." The comedians Mole" and Preville also shared her 
 bounty. 
 
 In spite of the number of dramatic authors in France, 
 from great lords such as the Duke de Nivernais and the Duke 
 de La Valliere down to professional writers, such as La 
 Borde and Marmontel, the drama was passing through a 
 literary crisis. Moreover, the Opera Comique, after it left 
 the booths of the fair and joined the Comedie Italienne, 
 monopolised public favour with inimitable Caillot, with 
 Clairval and Laruette, with Mesdames Dugazon and Colombe, 
 the celebrated interpreters of eighteenth century music.
 
 THE COMDIE FRAN^AISE 203 
 
 The Comedie Fran9aise was jealous of their success, and 
 reasonably so, for their company was unrivalled in all Europe. 
 They still played at the Tuileries, while the new theatre was 
 being built, to whose construction Madame Du Barry, the 
 Lords in Waiting, and the Royal Architects gave their 
 united attention. The favourite received builders and 
 read through memoranda, which were discussed in many a 
 conference held in her rooms. She wanted the building to 
 add to the beauty of Paris if the expense were not too great. 
 When the plans were first projected in December, 1771, she 
 feared the choice would fall on an inefficient architect, and 
 demanded that all those interested should assemble in her 
 rooms. " The Duke de Duras went to Madame Du Barry's," 
 wrote Papillon de La Ferte, " as well as myself and the 
 company of the Comedie Francaise. The plans brought 
 by the Sieur Peyre were lengthily examined and discussed." 
 De Wailly and Peyre finally won the day over their com- 
 petitors, and the Comedie Fran9aise was built on the site 
 of the present Odeon, though it was not finished until 1782. 
 The chief debt of the company to the favourite was their 
 school of Drama, which was created under her auspices, 
 and became later the Conservatoire. Sophie Arnould, the 
 well-known actress, did not know how truly she spoke, 
 when she ironically said on the death of Louis XV. and the 
 exile of his mistress : " We have lost both father and 
 mother ! "
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 IN DISGRACE 
 
 Imprisoned in the Abbey of Pont-aux-Dames In Exile at the 
 Chateau of Saint- Vrain Return to Louveciennes Visit of 
 the Emperor Joseph II. The Duke Hercule-Timoleon de Cosse- 
 Brissac Henry Seymour The Queen's Necklace Madame Du 
 Barry and her Friends Madame Le Brun at Louveciennes. 
 
 LOUIS was dead, and to Madame Du Barry fell the 
 lot of the exile ; well-guarded, she was taken from 
 Rueil at dusk in order to avoid scandal, and after 
 travelling twenty leagues, arrived at the Abbey 
 of Pont-aux-Dames in the district of Brie. The Abbey was 
 not a convent pure and simple, a shelter open to all, but a 
 State prison under the jurisdiction of the Lieutenant of 
 Police, where the King sent such women as were struck like 
 the Countess by a lettre de cachet. All the way she wept 
 with the despair and abandonment of a child, bemoaning 
 her heavy burden of grief. As she crossed the threshold 
 of the ruined monastery and saw its dark high walls, she 
 exclaimed : " Oh, how gloomy ! and they have sent me 
 here ! " 
 
 The stern and haughty Abbess, Madame de la Roche- 
 Fontenilles, awaited the prisoner in her parlour, surrounded 
 by her nuns. At first the latter dared not look the Countess 
 in the face. They examined her in a mirror, and were 
 astonished to see, not the " demon features " they had 
 feared, but a most beautiful woman bathed in tears. 1 There 
 were thirty nuns and twenty lay-sisters, all of whom wore 
 the^white robe and wimple of the Bernardines that had once 
 been the attire of the former pupil at Sainte-Aure. 
 
 1 These traditions were handed down by Mademoiselle de la 
 Neuville, Madame Du Barry's niece ; they are quoted by Vatel. 
 
 204
 
 THE FALL OF THE FAVOURITE 205 
 
 The Countess was taken to the most secluded part of the 
 convent and kept there in absolute secrecy. On the pretext 
 of political necessity, her confinement was for some time of 
 the strictest. Marie Antoinette wrote to her mother : 
 " The creature has been taken to a convent, and all who bear 
 her scandalous name have been driven from Court." The 
 Empress thought these expressions rather too violent, and 
 felt it her duty to remind the young Queen of the need for 
 Christian charity. " I hope nothing further will be said of the 
 unfortunate Barry, for whom I have never pleaded except in 
 so far as respect towards your sovereign and father required. 
 I hope to hear her name only once more, when I learn that 
 the King has treated her with generosity, confining her and 
 her husband at a distance from Court, and softening her fate 
 in accordance with the dictates of humanity as far as circum- 
 stances allow." 1 But during these first few days no one 
 besides Maria Theresa felt any pity for " the poor Barry." 
 
 The exile of the favourite had moreover been decreed by 
 Louis XV. himself on his deathbed, at the instance of the 
 Cardinal de la Roche-Aymon. That he did so has been 
 verified from the register of the King's commands, which bore 
 the following for the date of May 9, 1774 : 
 
 Note by the Minister. 
 
 The Count Du Barry to be conducted to the chateau of 
 Vincennes. 
 
 The Countess Du Barry to be conducted to the Abbey of 
 Pont-aux-Dames. 2 
 
 At the first alarm the Roue fled to Holland. The Countess 
 might have taken refuge with the Prince des Deux-Ponts, 
 
 1 Maria Theresa wrote on the same day to Mercy : "I have 
 thought necessary to write something about the poor Barry. She 
 wrote to me about her on the 7th, with vehemence, speaking of her 
 as the creature. The unfortunate woman is more to be pitied than 
 we ; she has lost all, and has no consolation, nor can she seek it in 
 religion, the one efficacious cure for such troubles." 
 
 This register was lost on the occasion of the fire at the Pre- 
 fecture of Police in 1871, but not before Vatel had found and verified 
 the above note.
 
 206 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 who made her an offer of protection, which she however 
 declined. Mademoiselle Chon left for Toulouse after her 
 brother's disappearance. " The coopers are at their wits' 
 ends, for all the barrels are running," wrote some wit. Two 
 lettres de cachets issued on May 12 by the Duke de la Vril- 
 liere, forbade the Viscount and the Viscountess Du Barry to 
 appear at Court, but the young Viscountess was allowed to 
 visit her aunt at Pont-aux-Dames. 1 The Marquis Du 
 Barry and his wife, on the other hand, escaped disgrace by 
 asking for and obtaining permission by letters patent of 
 July 26, 1774, to assume the name and arms of Conty 
 d'Hargicourt, an uncle of the Marquise. 
 
 Meanwhile the Countess in her convent attracted the 
 sisters more and more by her gentle charm, and she thus 
 became the friend of Henriette-Catherine de Courcelles, 
 Marguerite Chouard de Cornillon, Louise du Bois de Villar- 
 ceaux, of the prioress, sister Therese Esprit, and of Gabrielle 
 de la Roche-Fontenilles herself, the austere mother superior 
 of the Royal Abbey. The life of prayer that Madame 
 Du Barry led amid these calm, affectionate surroundings 
 softened her regrets and soothed her sorrow. The mis- 
 fortunes that befell her family, now scattered far and wide, 
 were not the only ones of which she heard. Many others 
 also suffered, and one after the other d'Aiguillon, Terray and 
 Maupeou were disgraced. 
 
 But the Duke's successor in the Ministry turned out to be 
 his uncle, witty Maurepas, whom " the little bourgeoise " 
 had banished, and who was now recalled after long years of 
 
 1 By some singular confusion the Goncourts have published 
 Vrilliere's letter to the Viscountess Du Barry as though it were the 
 one the Countess had received. The document itself is sufficient to 
 prove to the reader the mistake they have made : 
 " Madame la Vicomtesse Du Barry, 
 
 I hope, Madame, you will not doubt my grief at having to inform 
 you that you are forbidden to appear at Court ; but I am obliged to 
 carry out the King's orders. 
 
 At the same time His Majesty is quite willing to allow you to 
 visit your aunt at the Abbey of Pont-aux-Dames, and I shall there- 
 fore write to the Abbess in order that you may experience no diffi- 
 culty in doing so. . . ."
 
 A FAITHFUL FRIEND 207 
 
 exile. At Versailles he occupied a part of the favourite's 
 former apartments, the suite of little gilded rooms under the 
 gables. From him no doubt help would come. Madame 
 Du Barry had for a moment feared the return of Choiseul 
 to power, but Marie Antoinette was not able to overcome 
 the aversion of Louis XVI. for the ex-minister. While yet 
 a child he had been told (perhaps by La Vauguyon) that 
 the Duke had prematurely ended the life of the Dauphin, his 
 father, by means of poison, and the impression this made on 
 his mind was never obliterated. Thus the Countess had 
 some reason to hope she would soon be set free, for her still 
 faithful friends kept her informed of the prospects of libera- 
 tion. As always, the most devoted of her supporters were 
 to be found among the humblest. An honest fellow called 
 Desfontaines, 1 whom she had engaged as librarian, wrote to 
 the prisoner ten days after her arrest : 
 
 I have been to pay my respects to your mother, whom I 
 found very sad, and who begs you to let her have news of 
 you as often as possible. She is very anxious to go to 
 Pont-aux-Dames. ... I spent an hour with Monsieur 
 de La Borde, whose grief has by no means lessened his 
 devotion to you. He assured me he would give proofs of 
 it as soon as he is in a position to do so, and from what he 
 said to me, I believe he will succeed. . . . He begs 
 Madame to be so kind as to keep entirely to herself the 
 letters he has had the honour of addressing her. . . . 
 
 As soon as Madame has decided with Monsieur d'Auteuil 
 as to our stay at Rueil, I shall go to Louveciennes and make 
 an inventory of the books, which will spoil if left shut up 
 as they are now. ... I shall add to them two or 
 three hundred volumes, which are hi the Viscount's care, 
 after which I await Madame's further orders as to the things 
 she desires me to do ; I am ready to go anywhere she 
 wishes, and shall be happy wherever I may be of use to her. 
 . . . I have sufficient experience of all the branches of 
 my work to undertake any you may think necessary, and 
 my desire to be of use to you will make me capable of doing 
 all. 
 
 1 According to Vatel this Desfontaines may have been the author 
 of the Cinquantaine, the Fete de Village, Ismtnor, etc.
 
 208 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 The first to receive permission to visit Madame Du Barry 
 was her lawyer, Maitre Le Pot d'Autueil. Her creditors 
 had hastened to present their bills as soon as they heard of 
 the death of Louis XV., and she had to think of some means 
 of paying off her debts, as well as of paying the wages of her 
 servants, whom she wished to retain. As she did not know 
 whether she would be able to count on the income she had 
 hitherto enjoyed, whether she would be allowed to keep 
 Louveciennes, the revenue from the Nantes shops and from 
 the Hotel de Ville, all of which the late King had given her, 
 she decided to sell some of her jewels, pictures and furniture. 
 
 Very soon three others were allowed to enter the Abbey 
 in order to deal with Madame Du Barry's affairs. They 
 were Montvallier, her steward, and Paymaster of Paris, 
 Buffault, formerly a merchant, now a money-lender, and 
 finally Aubert, the Crown jeweller. The latter was given orders 
 to sell some of her finest sets of jewels to the best advantage. 
 
 Pont-aux-Dames, September 22, 1774. 
 
 I approve and authorise the Sieur Aubert, whom I have 
 empowered so to do, to conclude the sale of my set of finely 
 mounted diamonds, composed of the corsage, the shoulder- 
 knots, etc., for the sum of 450,000 livres, payable at the 
 rate of 50,000 every six months. 
 
 I further authorise and empower him as above to conclude 
 the sale of my set of rubies and diamonds . . . the said 
 set for the sum of 150,000 livres. ... I do not doubt 
 the Sieur Aubert will do his best in my interests, and obtain 
 the greatest profit possible on the articles that I have 
 entrusted to him. 1 
 
 But her interests were not looked after, for her presence 
 at the sales would have been necessary. She tried to recover 
 her independence on the pretext of ill-health, and wrote 
 to the Duke de La Vrilliere, who adroitly put off her request 
 by a courteous note. 2 The Abbess in her turn wrote on 
 
 1 Aubert sold the diamond set for 390,000 livres, and began the 
 payments of 50,000 livres from January i, 1775. 
 
 1 This note is of August 6, 1774. The Minister assures Madame 
 Du Barry of his real interest " at all times," and the correspondence 
 quoted by the Marquis of Segur proves he was sincere in his desire 
 to serve her.
 
 LIFE AT THE ABBEY 209 
 
 behalf of the captive, and this time the letter reached 
 Louis XVI., through the support of the faithful Duchess 
 d'Aiguillon. " My sister (Madame de Maurepas), " La 
 Vrilliere wrote to her, " sent me the letter of the Abbess of 
 Pont-aux-Dames, and as I had nothing of greater importance 
 to do this morning, I took it to the King. He read it, and 
 after having listened to all I said to persuade him to restore 
 her liberty to Madame Du Barry, he gave me back the 
 letter of the Abbess. ... Be assured that I shall do 
 all in my power to obtain what you desire." Somewhat 
 later the King replied to a direct request from Monsieur 
 de Maurepas with " a very dry wo," and the right to enter 
 the convent continued to be forbidden to every unauthorised 
 visitor. 
 
 Such a vigorous prohibition leaves no shadow of founda- 
 tion for the pamphleteers' stories of Madame Du Barry's 
 gay and even libertine existence in her saintly retreat. 
 Everything points to her having conducted herself irre- 
 proachably at Pont-aux-Dames. Indeed it is impossible 
 to believe that Madame de la Roche-Fontenilles should 
 have taken her under her protection and loved her sincerely 
 for twenty years, if she had not inspired some respect by 
 her modest demeanour and attention to monastic regula- 
 tions. She never left the Abbey, but used to walk in its 
 large park, or sit and read, or dream, or sometimes weep, 
 by the fountain which bears her name, and was probably 
 built for her. 1 She joined the nuns at mass and divine 
 service ; she liked the little choir-boy, " who had a pretty 
 face," and enjoyed showing him kindness. 
 
 The sisters surrounded her with tender care, and after- 
 wards, when she was free once more, she came more than 
 once to rest in their pious retreat. For a long time the 
 Countess was remembered in the neighbourhood for her 
 generosity and " her very lovable smile." A letter from 
 the Duke de Brissac was one day to speak of her friends at 
 Pont. " They love you for yourself," he gallantly wrote, 
 
 1 There is no reason to believe, as the Goncourts have stated, 
 that she had a wing added to the Abbey by her architect Ledoux. 
 
 p
 
 210 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 " because they know you well, and those who do so can with 
 difficulty deny the tribute due to the goodness of heart, 
 beauty, sweetness and lovable and perfectly equable temper, 
 that constitute the charm of close companionship." 
 
 In the little vaulted chapel of the Abbey, during the 
 early days of her imprisonment, she took part in the mass 
 that was celebrated in all the churches of France for the 
 repose of the soul of the dead King. As she stood there, 
 dressed in deep mourning, listening to the benediction 
 pronounced on Louis the Well Beloved by the almoner of 
 the Abbey, the sisters saw with profound emotion that the 
 tears were streaming down her face. 
 
 But the days began to weigh heavily on her volatile 
 spirit ; she was not made to bear long-drawn pain, and easily 
 resigned after her hard trials, she forgot as such women do 
 forget. She dreamt of a new life, of other loves, in a word, 
 of happiness again. The Prince de Ligne, who was still 
 her friend, is supposed to have ventured to lay in the hands 
 of Marie Antoinette herself a letter from the captive, " asking 
 him to arrange her affairs, which her thoughtless disin- 
 terestedness had brought to a very bad state after the 
 King's death." l Nor was the intervention of the Prince 
 said to have been ineffectual in advancing the cause of the 
 prisoner. As, further, she did not offend in any way, the 
 restrictions on her movements gradually became less severe. 
 On May 24, 1775, a gazette stated that " Madame Du Barry 
 has been given permission to leave the Abbey ; she goes 
 for walks in the neighbourhood, but returns to the convent 
 at night. Rumour says she is buying an estate." z Thus 
 was her early liberation announced. 
 
 1 The Prince relates in his memoirs that Louis XVI. said to him, 
 on the subject of this letter : " What a fine mission you have under- 
 taken ! " to which " I replied that no one else would have dared to 
 do it." The newsmongers have told how the Prince was said to have 
 climbed the convent walls in order to console the Countess. 
 
 * A letter from Monsieur de La Vrilliere to Madame d'Aiguillon, 
 quoted by Monsieur de Segur, shows the general feeling of the Court 
 at her liberation. " Madame Adelaide, to whom I spoke of it, said 
 she would not interfere, but that if the King referred to it, she would 
 say he had done well in setting her free. Everyone else thinks so too."
 
 AT LIBERTY AGAIN 211 
 
 In the following month she regained her liberty, but was 
 compelled to keep at a distance of not less than ten leagues 
 from the Court and the capital. The estate of Saint-Vrain, 
 which she knew as having belonged to the second son of 
 Madame de la Garde, complied with these conditions, and 
 she bought it. The chateau was situated near Corbeil and 
 Arpajon in the Hurepoix plain. It was surrounded by a 
 moat with a drawbridge, and in the large park was a fine 
 stretch of ornamental water. The deed of purchase was 
 signed at Pont-aux-Dames on April 9, 1775. The proprietor, 
 Jacques Sauvage, Secretary to the King, asked two hundred 
 thousand livres in cash, which were advanced by the Duke 
 d'Aiguillon, and fifteen thousand livres for the furniture. 
 
 Madame Du Barry summoned her former household 
 to Saint-Vrain, and she was soon joined by her nieces and 
 sister-in-law. She made up for the privations she had 
 endured in exile by inviting the neighbouring families to 
 one entertainment after another, which are still remembered 
 in the district. Nor is her charity forgotten ; " she had 
 bread and meat and wood distributed ; she succoured all 
 who were in distress, or rather she saw to it that there were 
 no longer any people in distress. Often she allowed the 
 villagers to dance in her park." 1 
 
 Had it not been for the visits of a few beloved friends, 
 however, the Countess would sometimes have felt life very 
 dreary in her vast domain. The Duke de Cosse-Brissac, 
 whom she had known intimately at Versailles, was still her 
 faithful and tender admirer. So too Monsieur d'Aiguillon, 
 who remained at Court on the strength of his position as 
 Captain of the Guards, which he had retained on handing 
 in his ministerial resignation. Before the Reviews he used 
 to receive his orders from the Queen, the young Queen who 
 would fain be the only woman worshipped, and bore the 
 exile ill-will for having stolen the hearts of some. One day 
 she said to the Duke in an incensed tone of voice which 
 intensified the haughtiness of her demeanour, " that he had 
 better go to Saint-Vrain for Madame Du Barry's orders, 
 1 See Vatel, Vol. ii., p. 380.
 
 212 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 than come to Versailles for hers." l Which did not in the 
 least prevent the Duchess d'Aiguillon from inviting the 
 ex-favourite to stay with her for some time on her estate in 
 Languedoc. 
 
 Besides the relatives of the Countess, the usual guests at 
 Saint- Vrain were Joseph-Honore* de Vares, Marquis de 
 Fauga and a friend of Chon Du Barry, and the Viscount 
 Adolphe, who was ready enough to forego the pleasure of 
 his wife's society, but could not do without that of his aunt. 
 Then there was another enthusiastic admirer of her lady- 
 ship, Major the Viscount de Langle, who was more famous 
 for his marvellous exploits in love and war than for his 
 many literary productions. He was fifty-nine and ugly, 
 but his wit and gaiety made amends. Whether he was in 
 love with the lady of the house or not, he assisted her in 
 restoring her affairs to some sort of order. " Walking, and 
 play for very low stakes were our chief occupation at Saint- 
 Vrain," he wrote ; " . . . . she often lost, and one 
 evening, being more unfortunate than usual, doubled her 
 loss by trying to clear it all at once, and ended by owing 
 me 1,500,000 livres. She was the only one to feel any 
 anxiety ; the spectators were as sure as I myself that I 
 should continue to play until we were quits." Lesser 
 excitements were provided when the children of her women 
 were christened ; she herself stood godmother, while the young 
 Viscount, the Marquis or the Major was godfather, as may 
 still be seen from the registers of the parish of Saint-Vrain. 
 
 Madame Rancon de Montrab6 had left the convent of 
 Sainte-Elisabeth when Louis XV. died, and lived for some 
 time in Paris with her husband. In September, 1775, she 
 moved to be near her daughter, who had bought for her, 
 from her friend, Buffault, the " Maison Rouge " close by 
 Villiers-sur-Orge. The chateau was complete in every way, 
 with outhouses, stables, chapel, dovecote and greenhouse ; 
 the park and gardens were surrounded by high walls, as 
 were the vineyards and arable land of the " Maison Blanche." 
 The estate and the furniture together were worth 53,000 
 1 Belleval, Souvenirs d'un chevau-ltger, p. 120.
 
 A SCURRILOUS PAMPHLET 213 
 
 livres, and to pay for this gift to her mother, Madame Du 
 Barry sold her hotel in the Avenue de Paris to the Count 
 de Provence, who had not deserted her in her misfortune. 
 Her arms above the great gateway were replaced by the 
 escutcheon of France, one day to be torn down by the 
 revolutionaries. The deed of purchase was signed on 
 October 23 at Louveciennes, where the Countess had been 
 allowed to return, the Court being at Fontainebleau. 
 
 This permission augured well for her being permitted 
 to enjoy more permanent possession of her beloved estate, 
 and she would have been perfectly happy, but for the further 
 troubles coming upon her. A pamphlet had just been 
 published in London, entitled Les Anecdotes sur Madame 
 la Comtesse Du Barry. The work was " so scandalously 
 spicy in its tone that, in spite of there being no restrictions 
 on the book-trade, it was only sold surreptitiously." x 
 In daring to issue such a book the author, Pidansat de 
 Mayrobert, took advantage of his victim's disgrace, but 
 the Minister in Attendance wrote to the Lieutenant of 
 Police : " Monsieur, I have already for some time known 
 of the very evil book on Madame Du Barry, and it is really 
 important that it should not obtain notoriety. You cannot 
 use too great precautions to prevent this happening." 
 Nevertheless many copies were put in circulation. The 
 preface announces that the " author has found a subject, 
 which to the interest of history adds all the delights of a 
 romance," a statement meaning no more than that he has 
 interspersed his pitiful inventions with a few authenticated 
 facts in order to give them a firmer foundation. Others 
 were tempted by his success, and contributed still further 
 to the mass of audacious calumnies and incredible slanders 
 spread abroad by this petty secretary to the Duke de 
 Chartres, a man who frequented the society of Bachaumont, 
 and who, though well known in antechambers, was com- 
 pletely ignorant of Court life. 
 
 1 Memoires secrets, vol. viii., pp. 198 and 220. The writer remarks 
 that " there is no reason to believe it to be the Sieur Morande's 
 pamphlet, since Beaumarchais bought up the manuscript."
 
 214 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 In October, 1776, the Count de Maurepas at last obtained 
 full liberty for his protege, whose sentence had lasted two 
 years and a half. Her perfect submission won from Louis 
 XVI. the decision that besides her personal property, 
 valued at nearly two millions in gold and jewels, Madame 
 Du Barry should be allowed to retain her 40,000 livres 
 income from the Nantes shops, her life-annuity of 105,000 
 livres from the Hotel de Ville, and finally her use of Louve- 
 ciennes and its artistic treasures. The Countess left Saint- 
 Vrain without regret, especially as it bore the unpleasant 
 memory of three unknown men, who had tried to assassinate 
 her in her own room in broad daylight. 1 
 
 Before definitely settling at Louveciennes, she spent some 
 time in Paris with Adolphe Du Barry, 2 and then at last 
 took possession of her little chateau, from which she was 
 destined to be so forcibly parted in 1793 by the revolution- 
 aries. Always tactful and prudent, she tried not to attract 
 attention, and the entertainments she began giving were 
 very discreet in tone, for Versailles was near, and she had 
 no desire of their being heard of there. 
 
 Chon Du Barry accompanied the Countess, to whom she 
 was indispensable in the supervision of her household. 
 Among the friends who gathered round her the Viscount 
 de Langle was still to be counted, although the cordiality 
 between them had lessened. The Major had wanted the 
 lady of the house to engage as companion a young girl, 
 whom he stated to be his daughter, and she had refused. 
 He could not understand her scruples, grew cold towards 
 her and gradually broke off the acquaintance. But he was 
 still sufficiently often at the chateau to be able to tell who- 
 ever cared to ask, all sorts of particulars. " One day when 
 I was at Limours," he wrote, " I met Monsieur de Choiseul. 
 ' You are often at Madame Du Barry's ? ' he asked me. I 
 
 1 Le Pot d'Auteuil sold the estate most profitably to a Monsieur 
 de Gourlade, and Langle affirms that the lawyer himself made 
 195,000 livres by the transaction. 
 
 1 That the Countess did so may be gathered from a remark of 
 Langle on her fondness for play, having met her at Adolphe Du 
 Barry's playing trente-et-quarante.
 
 BACK AT LOUVECIENNES 215 
 
 assented. ' She still sees much company ? ' ' Yes, monsieur 
 le Due.' ' Do her servants still act ? ' ' Yes, monsieur 
 le Due.' ' But has she a large enough income to pay for 
 all these expenses ? ' 'I believe so, monsieur le Due.' " 
 
 The Duke de Choiseul had hoped more from the new 
 reign, as the Duchess, his wife, made very plain in the biting 
 expressions she aimed at Louis XVI. The latter was 
 coming more and more under the domination of Marie 
 Antoinette, his fascinating Queen, who was so full of vivacity, 
 caprice and charm. At Court much was altered ; the 
 new Court was even less wise than the old, but full of youth 
 and laughter, in spite of the three cross-grained old aunts, 
 who now were jealous of the triumphant Queen. The 
 Count d'Artois thought only of women, racing and plays, 
 and only incidentally provided the first scions of the Royal 
 House. The serious and intelligent Count de Provence was 
 secretly opposed to the Queen, and was seconded by Madame. 
 The Duchess de Valentinois, who was so devoted to the 
 favourite, had recently died ; Madame de Forcalquier had 
 thought it wisest to retire ; Madame de Mirepoix scarcely 
 ever left Paris, nor did the Duchess de Mazarin and many 
 others. Their place had been taken by the friends of Marie 
 Antoinette, and the libellers altered their tactics, and 
 already began to attack the young Queen. 
 
 Meanwhile the Countess Du Barry received illustrious 
 visitors in her charming retreat. In May, I777,*the Emperor, 
 under the name of the Count de Falkenstein, had at last 
 undertaken his long-planned journey to France. The 
 Queen was as anxious as she was delighted, for the Austrian 
 Court had other and severer traditions than the French ; 
 her big brother always spoke unreservedly, and he would 
 find much to criticise. He was liked, however, in spite 
 of his affectation of simplicity, and of his sarcasms on the 
 subject of fan* ladies' extravagant fashions, their too generous 
 use of paint, or their towering coiffures. Marie Antoinette 
 had often reason to be offended with her brother, and 
 particularly so on one occasion, when he seriously grieved 
 her by an excursion to Marly. " The Count de Falkenstein,"
 
 216 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 wrote a gazetteer, " being curious to see the Countess Du 
 Barry, but anxious to do so without formality, attained his 
 object under the pretext of visiting her villa at Luciennes 
 one day when he knew she would be there. He stayed 
 with her, alone, for two hours, and has since said that she 
 pleased him very much, but that he had thought she would 
 be better-looking." 1 
 
 Yet the Countess, now thirty-four years of age, was still 
 very pretty, a little pale and worn perhaps after the suffering 
 she had gone through and the tediousness of her exile, but 
 with a refined beauty that would not appeal to the Teutonic 
 taste of Joseph II. But like everyone else he could not 
 resist her graceful charm, and for two whole hours he was 
 under her spell. " As they proposed to walk and examine 
 the external beauties of the villa of Louveciennes, the 
 Prince offered his arm to the Countess, who seemed ashamed 
 of so much honour, and vowed she was not worthy of it. 
 ' Do not be troubled,' said the Emperor, ' beauty is ever 
 a queen.' ' This visit from the foreign Prince greatly 
 honoured Madame Du Barry, for he was so much sought 
 after that Madame Geoffrin said " she would die of grief " 
 if he did not come to see her, while the Marquise Du Deffand 
 has gloried before all posterity because she won a word from 
 Joseph II. 
 
 Mercy was astounded at the event, and could do no more 
 than give an account of it to Maria Theresa, ascribing it 
 
 1 Memoires secrets, Vol. x., p. 139. A more circumstantial account 
 insists that the meeting was accidental. " [The Queen] is once more 
 offended and this is the cause. The Emperor went alone on foot to 
 see the engine at Marly ; he saw a fine house close by, and asked 
 whose it was. He was told it was the villa of Louveciennes, and on 
 his expressing a wish to see it, he was informed that he was quite 
 free to do so. The Prince went through the apartments and came 
 into the garden, where he saw a beautiful lady walking alone. He 
 asked who she was, and was told that she was Madame Du Barry, 
 the mistress of the charming dwelling. The Emperor immediately 
 went up to her, complimented her, and walked and talked with her 
 for a long time. He returned to Versailles very pleased at this 
 happy accident, on which he made several jokes, even paying some 
 tribute of praise to the fair recluse." Correspondence secrete sur Louis 
 XVI.. Vol. i., p. 61.
 
 CHOISEUL DISAPPOINTED 217 
 
 entirely to accident. " The Emperor met Madame Du Barry 
 in the gardens, and conversed with her a few minutes." 
 But the Empress severely censured her son. 1 
 
 The Choiseuls hoped to revenge themselves by the mag- 
 nificent reception they were preparing for Joseph II. On 
 leaving Paris the illustrious traveller was to go by the Loire, 
 and would not pass far from Chanteloup. He was said to 
 be going to break his journey there but he did nothing of 
 the kind. The Duke's many guests were as disappointed 
 as their host. The minister who had contrived the Alliance 
 could not have expected such neglect, and Madame Du 
 Barry's triumph must have wounded his vanity still more. 2 
 
 In the very natural pride due to such a marked distinction, 
 the Countess could afford to read with contempt The 
 English Spy, a new publication of which a highly-seasoned 
 page had been devoted to her. Besides she was at this 
 time more concerned at an important case that was one 
 day to inspire the heroine of the affair of the Queen's neck- 
 lace. The Countess was fairly intimate with a Dame 
 Cahiiet de Villers, a lady well-born, beautiful and distin- 
 guished, an artist and " a very devil for intrigue." A 
 chronicler relates how " this woman had become intimately 
 acquainted with Madame Du Barry, had since the death 
 of the King won the favour of the Count de Maurepas' 
 friends, and had gained some authority over the young 
 Queen, who even confided to her various secret affairs of 
 minor importance." She was a great flirt, and very extrava- 
 gant. Her husband, who was Paymaster of the King's 
 Household, could not satisfy her demands, although he was 
 
 1 Cf. Boutry, Autour de Marie- Antoinette, p. 362. The Emperor 
 did not stop at Ferney, where he was expected by Voltaire, for Maria 
 Theresa had made him promise not to visit the philosopher. She 
 wrote to Mercy : " I shall not conceal from you that I should much 
 rather the Emperor had been to Chanteloup, if only for one or two 
 hours, without necessarily dining or staying the night there. I 
 should have been pleased if he had abstained from seeing the des- 
 picable Du Barry, and I rejoice with all my heart that in passing 
 Geneva he avoided meeting the unfortunate Voltaire." 
 
 1 Choiseul only met Joseph II. once, and then at a public audience 
 which he held in Paris.
 
 2i8 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 helped in the task by her lover, Monsieur de Saint-Charles, 
 the Intendant of Her Majesty's finances. Madame de 
 Cahiiet went to see him every Saturday at Versailles, and 
 stayed in his rooms in the Chateau. Thus she easily obtained 
 access to orders and warrants signed by Marie Antoinette. 
 She copied the Queen's handwriting, and wrote herself 
 letters " of the tenderest description," which she said 
 were from Her Majesty. These she read to a few people, 
 whom she told she had been entrusted with various purchases, 
 and even with important loans, by the Queen. She made 
 many dupes. 
 
 Her doings became known, and naturally the Queen and 
 her supporters were indignant. Mercy drew up a complaint, 
 and demanded her arrest, but the case was kept secret in 
 order to avoid scandal. " The full investigation of this 
 woman's activities," wrote the Ambassador, " would com- 
 promise the names of several well-known people, if the final 
 sentence were to be pronounced by an ordinary tribunal." 1 
 Cahiiet de Villers was arrested with his wife on March 18, 
 1777, but he was speedily released, his innocence having 
 been proved. On August 5 the culprit was transferred 
 from the Bastille to the convent of La Croix under the name 
 of Madame de Noyan. Although Madame Du Barry had 
 not been concerned in the least in the intrigues of the 
 adventuress, she felt some anxiety on account of the rela- 
 tions that had existed between them, and certainly she 
 would have been exposed to malevolent attacks if the case 
 had been made public. 
 
 The liaison of the Countess with Louis-Hercule-Timoleon 
 de Brissac, Duke de Cosse", was no secret, but until their 
 almost married life together, they showed some discretion 
 in concealing their love. Monsieur de Cosse, Lieutenant- 
 
 1 Mercy asserted that " this de Villers had been largely instru- 
 mental in the elevation of Madame Du Barry," but no confirmation 
 of his statement can be found. Madame Campan, on the other 
 hand, said that even before Louis XV. died, she had swindled many 
 by passing herself off as the King's mistress, whom the fear of 
 angering Madame Du Barry " prevented from openly enjoying the 
 title."
 
 DE BRISSAC'S FRIENDSHIP 219 
 
 colonel of the Swiss Guards and Governor of Paris, was the 
 son of the brave Marshal Jean-Paul-Timoleon, Duke de 
 Brissac and Peer of France. The latter was seventy-six 
 at the time of Louis XV. 's death, and only by some strange 
 confusion can he have been thought to be the lover of 
 Madame Du Barry. 1 
 
 In 1760 Louis-Hercule-Timoleon had married Diane, the 
 second daughter of the Duke de Nivernais. He was an 
 accomplished gentleman with an affable nobility of 
 demeanour, in appearance tall and fair with fine blue eyes, 
 as described by Saint- Just in his erotic poem Organt. He 
 had for long been counted among the former favourite's 
 intimate friends, having ever since 1770 occupied at Ver- 
 sailles a suite of apartments adjoining hers. Louis XVI. 
 kept him rather at a distance " for not having deserted 
 Madame Du Barry hi her disgrace, after having courted her 
 in her greatness." 
 
 He was very susceptible to the charm of women, even 
 after the beauty of the Countess had fixed his wandering 
 affections. An eye-witness at the funeral obsequies of the 
 Marshal de Brissac relates how the son of the deceased 
 scandalised a number of people by appearing " bare-headed 
 and well-powdered, without hat or crape, and ogling with 
 most unseasonable affectation the members of the fair 
 sex whom he passed." For all his excessive gallantry he 
 was a brave soldier and possessed many admirable qualities. 
 He strove to make life as agreeable as possible for his 
 mistress, and the large fortune at his disposal crowned his 
 efforts with success. Her personal luxury became as 
 splendid as heretofore, and although she lived quietly in 
 retirement, " she kept up a large establishment, though 
 seeing but few people," said the Duke de Croy, who visited 
 her in 1778. " I found her still in good health, and as 
 
 1 This confusion is the work of the Goncourts. Their description 
 of the fine, old man, " whose soul like his attire was of the days of 
 Louis XIV." should be compared with the Souvenirs de Madame 
 Vigie Le Brun. Louis-Hercule-Timoleon was forty-six years of 
 age in 1780, when he took the title of Duke de Brissac on the death 
 of his father.
 
 220 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 always affecting a higher mode of life than was to be expected. 
 She was so accustomed to expenditure that it seemed quite 
 natural to her. For a long while we stood together on the 
 balcony conversing about the late King, and I was most 
 surprised to find myself there, who had never taken any 
 notice of her in her ascendancy. She talked very well, 
 and one would never have suspected what she once was." 
 Nor was she as " forsaken " as the good Duke imagined, 
 for Monsieur de Cosse sometimes took her to Paris, where 
 she paid visits to various fashionable drawing-rooms ; she 
 had a box at the Opera, and was present during the Carnival 
 festivities. 
 
 When Voltaire came to Paris in February, 1778, she was 
 one of his first visitors. The interview caused some surprise, 
 for many were ignorant of Madame Du Barry's relations 
 with the great man. Not only was she a friend of the 
 philosopher of Ferney, but she was a customer at his watch 
 factory as well. " On Friday," wrote the gazetteers, 
 " Monsieur de Voltaire worked so long that his secretary 
 had no time to dress. The Countess Du Barry presented 
 herself after dinner, being desirous of visiting him. The 
 aged invalid was with difficulty persuaded to see her, for 
 to appear in undress and without preparation wounded his 
 vanity. He at last gave way to her entreaties, and made 
 amends for any shortcomings in his outward elegance by 
 the graces of his conversation." 
 
 As was to be expected, there was a crowd in the illustrious 
 philosopher's antechamber after his twenty years' absence 
 from Paris. A few timid spirits hesitated at the door, 
 among whom was a future member of the National Con- 
 vention. Young Brissot wanted to dedicate to Voltaire 
 his Theorie des lots criminelles, or at least to be sure of a 
 letter from him on the subject. In his memoirs he writes : 
 
 I had hardly reached the antechamber, where there were 
 quite as many people as the day before ; I heard a noise 
 from inside, and the door was half opened. 
 
 Seized with my stupid shyness, I hurriedly rushed down- 
 stairs again, but being ashamed of myself retraced my steps.
 
 A NOCTURNAL ESCAPADE 221 
 
 A woman, whom the master of the house had just politely 
 conducted to the door, stood at the foot of the stairs. She 
 was beautiful and had an agreeable countenance. I did not 
 hesitate to address her, asking her if she thought I could 
 be introduced to Voltaire, and ingenuously telling her the 
 reason for my visit. " Monsieur de Voltaire has scarcely 
 received anyone to-day," she replied kindly, " but I have 
 just been granted that favour, monsieur, and I have no 
 doubt you too will receive it." And as if she divined my 
 shyness from my embarrassed air, she herself called the 
 master of the house, who had not yet closed the door on her. 
 I was caught. She left me, after having replied to my pro- 
 found salutations with a most kindly and encouraging 
 smile. ... It was Madame Du Barry. When I 
 recalled her sweet and gracious smile, I felt more lenient 
 towards the favourite. 
 
 Madame Du Barry's curiosity in another matter was 
 satisfied in a way that Madame Campan found most improper. 
 This summer of 1778 was the time when the Queen began 
 the much talked of evening walks in the gardens of Versailles, 
 which were imprudently left open to the public. The 
 Countess wanted to see for herself what these " scandalous 
 nocturnal outings," described by the pamphleteers, could 
 be. She therefore appeared one evening, accompanied 
 by one of her women and a footman, in the park that had 
 beheld her in her glory, and whither she now came closely 
 veiled and in secret. She faced it out, however, and even 
 sat down on the very bench where the Queen was resting : 
 but her tall footman, being well known at the Chateau, 
 betrayed her presence. The incident was in no way 
 responsible for the measures taken the following year to 
 keep the crowd away from the Princess. 1 
 
 The hot days passed without inconvenience to the 
 Countess, and the fine autumn brought her friends to the 
 shady groves of Louveciennes, and even some former 
 enemies of the late King's court. Her gentleness and 
 discretion had won over all who had formerly raged against 
 
 1 Madame Campan states that she recognised the ex-favourite's 
 sister-in-law in the veiled woman who accompanied her.
 
 222 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 her. " Madame d'Ossun, daughter of the Countess de 
 Grammont who was exiled, was there," wrote the Count 
 d'Espinchal. Monsieur and Madame de Beauvau, too, 
 were on intimate terms with her ladyship, as is seen in the 
 following note from the Prince de Beauvau, from which 
 it would also appear that Madame de Mirepoix and the 
 Countess were drifting apart : 
 
 How does Madame la Comtesse feel after her fatigue ? 
 Is she still troubled by the odour from the river ? I should 
 be very grieved were she not to enjoy all the charms of 
 Louveciennes, the neighbourhood of which is such a pleasure 
 to me. 
 
 If we should have the honour of seeing you here, how 
 pleased Madame de Beauvau would be ; but it were better 
 you did not come this week, when Madame de Mirepoix 
 will be with us. 
 
 Pray accept, Madame, my devoted homage. 
 
 In the little chateau, and still more often in the white 
 villa overlooking the Seine, Madame Du Barry entertained 
 her guests with supper-parties, card-parties or plays. Made- 
 moiselle Chon and her kinswomen assisted her in receiving 
 them, but no longer was the young Adolphe Du Barry to 
 be seen among her devoted relatives. He had left for Spa 
 with his wife, and Sophie de Tournon, his sister-in-law. 
 Their departure in the beginning of winter just when the 
 season at the watering-place was coming to an end, caused 
 some surprise. What motive could he have for leaving 
 Paris so suddenly ? Was he at last tired of his enslave- 
 ment, weary of unrequited love, jealous of Brissac and the 
 other adorers of the Countess ? On the Ridotto, where he 
 spent all his time, he made the acquaintance of an Irish 
 nobleman, named Rice, who was like himself passionately 
 devoted to cards, and, unlike him, very soon became equally 
 so to the Viscountess Du Barry. They left Spa for Bath, 
 where they stayed in the Royal Crescent with all their 
 servants. Adolphe drowned his griefs in festivities and 
 supper-parties. One day he decided that the attentions 
 of Rice to his wife were unseemly, and after a violent quarrel
 
 A CRUEL LOSS 223 
 
 they determined to fight a duel. On November 18, at one 
 o'clock in the morning, they met on the downs of Claverton 
 and waited for the dawn before they began. Rice was the 
 first to be wounded, but killed his adversary by a shot in 
 the breast. Only after twenty-four hours did the lovely 
 widow think of removing the body of her husband, who was 
 buried at Bathampton. 
 
 Madame Du Barry's grief was great, and this time she 
 received sympathy from all. The Duke d'Aiguillon, who 
 had known of his former cornet's attachment to her, wrote 
 to his friend from his lonely place of exile : 
 
 Aiguillon, December 16, 1778. 
 
 I am certain, Madame la Comtesse, that you have been 
 painfully moved by the cruel loss you have suffered, and I 
 do not wish to add to the grief you must feel, the impor- 
 tunity of my compliments. I have begged Mademoiselle 
 Du Barry to be so kind as to take my place, and once more 
 assure you on this sad occasion of my sincerest participation 
 in all that concerns you. I flatter myself that you can have 
 no doubt as to my feelings, and that I have no need to 
 repeat my profession of faith in this respect, for you must 
 long since have been convinced of its truth. The Viscountess 
 Du Barry is indeed much to be pitied at this time, but I 
 know your affection for her too well not to be persuaded 
 that you will do all in your power to soften her misfortune, 
 and that she will obtain from you the help and considera- 
 tion she needs. Such a friend as you makes amends for all. 
 I hope that the sadness she will bring you and the cares 
 with which you will surround her may not affect your 
 health, and that she may always be as kind and brilliant 
 as I am told she is now. 
 
 Remember me always with kindness, Madame la Comtesse, 
 and never doubt my gratitude, attachment and respect. 
 
 The Duke d'Aiguillon. 
 
 Madame d'Aiguillon begs me to assure you of her 
 sympathy. 
 
 But the young Viscountess had no need of consolation. 
 She was rid of a tiresome husband, and she intended to 
 draw all the advantage she could from her annoying first
 
 224 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 marriage. On coming to Paris she proceeded, in a way not 
 very flattering to the family, to ask for letters-patent, by 
 which to change her married name for her own of de Tournon. 
 Her request was granted and on February 13, 1780, she 
 reappeared at Court. The Roue, who had loved his son, 
 replied to the insult. The memorandum he printed, con- 
 testing the advantages conferred on his daughter-in-law 
 by her marriage contract, was much admired even outside 
 the Court. It was written with bitter eloquence in the 
 Count's customary elevated style. 1 
 
 Madame Du Barry's grief was mitigated by Brissac's 
 constant affection, and by the love of a newcomer in her 
 life, Henry Seymour. 2 He was not, as has been stated by 
 the Goncourts, the English Ambassador in France, but a 
 member of the illustrious house of Somerset, and possessed 
 of considerable property in the West of England. In 
 October, 1775, he had taken a second wife, the Countess 
 Louise de Ponthon, from Normandy, and had settled 
 between Pont-Marly and Louveciennes in the little chateau 
 of Prunay which he had bought. The gallant Englishman 
 and his fair neighbour soon became acquainted, love sprang 
 up in their hearts, and Madame Du Barry's letters to the 
 Count relate the history of the episode. 3 
 
 The first note is of slight interest, and only shows on what 
 good terms she was with the owners of Prunay. The 
 second is full of coquetry, and already hints at her feelings. 
 " It has long been held that little attentions keep friendship 
 alive, and Monsieur Seymour may rest assured that at 
 Louveciennes his pleasure is always thought of. He seemed 
 very eager to possess a coin that was foolishly thrown away 
 on a little game of loto. It dates from Louis XIV.'s time, 
 
 1 Two years later the young widow married one of her kinsmen, 
 Marc-Antoine de Tournon, Marquis de Claveyron, and died child- 
 less, three years afterwards. 
 
 1 Henry Seymour (1729-1805), nephew of the eighth Duke of 
 Somerset ; groom of the bedchamber ; M.P., Totnes, 1763 ; Hunting- 
 don, 1768-74; Evesham, 1774-80. 
 
 * Vatel carefully verified the accuracy of this episode, which 
 had already been told by the Goncourts, and he added another 
 unpublished letter to theirs.
 
 A COMPLETE DEVOTION 225 
 
 an age which Monsieur Seymour greatly admires, and of 
 whose wealth of wonders the ladies of Louveciennes send 
 him this little specimen. . . . There is no news here, 
 except that the little dog is well." 
 
 Soon Seymour declared his passion, and her ladyship 
 responded heart and soul. " The certainty of your affection, 
 my beloved friend, is the happiness of my life. Believe 
 that to my heart these two days are long indeed, and had it 
 the power to shorten them I should suffer no more. I 
 expect you on Saturday with the impatience of one who is 
 all yours, and I hope you will want for nothing. Farewell ! 
 I am yours." 
 
 Then followed the usual fluctuations between uncertainty 
 and hope. Seymour often complained, for she was still 
 divinely fair, and Brissac claimed sole right over her coveted 
 beauty. How tender her love-letters are, and what passion- 
 ate eloquence they breathe, the eloquence of a woman who 
 for the first time loves with depth and ardour ! She 
 surrenders herself completely and avows it with beautiful 
 sincerity. " . . . My heart is all yours and only yours, 
 and if I have in any way failed to fulfil my promise, my 
 fingers alone are at fault. I have been very indisposed 
 since you left me, and I assure you I have been too weak to 
 think of anything but you. Farewell, my beloved friend, 
 I love you and again I love you, and think myself happy. 
 I embrace you a thousand times, and am always yours. 
 Come soon." 
 
 But between them was jealous Brissac whom they gently 
 tried to keep at a distance. The prudent and diplomatic 
 Countess manipulated both the Duke and Seymour, her 
 friend and her adored, and she played her difficult double 
 game with delicate tact. Each of the two men, however, 
 hated the other, and kept close watch on his actions. " I 
 only send you one word," she wrote to Seymour, " and that 
 would be reproachful had I the heart to make it so. I am 
 so tired from writing four long letters, that I have only the 
 strength to tell you I love you. To-morrow I shall let you 
 know what has prevented me from giving you my news, 
 G
 
 226 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 but be sure that whatever you may say, you are my heart's 
 one thought. Farewell, I am too weak to say more." 
 
 After Seymour and his reproaches came Brissac with his 
 suspicions. " I am not going to Paris to-day," wrote the 
 lady of Louveciennes to Prunay, " because the person whom 
 I intended to see, came here on Tuesday just after you had 
 left. His visit has greatly distressed me, for I believe you 
 were its object. Farewell, I expect you with the impatience 
 of a heart that is all yours, and that in spite of your injustice, 
 knows too well that it can never be another's. I think of 
 you, and tell you so, and tell you again, and only regret that 
 I may not tell you so for ever." 
 
 Henry Seymour would not brook even the thought of 
 sharing her favour, and broke off their short liaison, regard- 
 less of the tears he made her weep. Madame Du Barry 
 wrote him her last letter in despair. " There is no use in 
 writing of my tenderness and affection for you, which you 
 know. But what you do not know is my suffering. You 
 have not deigned to reassure me on that which so closely 
 concerns my soul, and I must then believe that my peace 
 and happiness are of little moment to you. I speak of it 
 with regret, but it is the last time. What good is it that my 
 head is well when I am sick at heart ? Yet with earnestness 
 and courage I shall succeed in mastering my pain, though 
 to do so is a hard and woeful task. But it is necessary, 
 and is the one remaining sacrifice I must make. My 
 heart has made all the rest ; this is for my reason to under- 
 take. Farewell, and believe that you alone will always fill 
 my heart." 
 
 Time brought oblivion to her mobile nature and gently 
 healed her wound. The Duke took her to his estate in 
 Normandy in order to separate her from his rival. She 
 came to Bayeux, where the Conde Regiment, commanded by 
 her brother-in-law, Du Barry d'Hargicourt, was garrisoned, 
 and grand military entertainments were held in her honour. 
 The sham fight organised in the neighbourhood attracted 
 a considerable crowd ; a magnificent ball was given by the 
 officers of the regiment, at which every one of note in the
 
 A GENEROUS TREASURY 227 
 
 country round was present, unafflicted by scruples as to 
 welcoming the former mistress of Louis XV. 
 
 Madame Du Barry retained, it is clear, some of her 
 prestige as well as all her charm. Adolphe's friend, Monsieur 
 de Belle val, visited her at Louveciennes in 1783, and said 
 she was as beautiful as she had been in 1769. " I had not 
 seen her for eight years, but I had only to mention my 
 name, and she exclaimed, as she used, ' Ah ! my redcoat.' 
 But instead of bursting into the happy peal of laughter of 
 former days, the tears came to her eyes ; I reminded her of 
 the past and all that she had lost." 
 
 Yet, were it not for her love-tragedy, Madame Du Barry 
 had every reason to be happy. Her friends surrounded 
 her with affectionate care, Brissac was more and more 
 deeply in love, and only thought of satisfying the extrava- 
 gant desires of his beloved. Moreover she was profiting 
 by an excessive liberality on the part of the State. The 
 pension of fifty thousand livres, that she enjoyed by a decree 
 of December 31, 1769, was returned to the King, who 
 allowed her hi exchange a capital of one million two hundred 
 and fifty thousand livres. The transaction was highly 
 disadvantageous to the Treasury, but its possibility is 
 explained by the date (April 23, 1784) of the deed ; Necker 
 would certainly have refused the Countess such a favour, but 
 his successor, Calonne, was the most wasteful of ministers, 
 and had been devoted to Madame Du Barry ever since they 
 had fought the Breton Parliament together on d'Aiguillon's 
 behalf. | 
 
 At this time, too, Marie Antoinette was beginning to lose 
 her prejudice against the Countess, and with a greater 
 experience of life was able to judge her more leniently. 
 " Her good behaviour," wrote one of Madame Du Barry's 
 friends, " had inspired the Queen with the desire to meet 
 her. The Opera Ball was a convenient opportunity for 
 gratifying this wish. The Duke de Choiseul was there, and 
 the fact that they were masked enabled these three people 
 to converse in one of the boxes for several hours. The 
 Queen was very pleased with Madame Du Barry's explana-
 
 228 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 tions, and showed such satisfaction with her good conduct 
 that, on leaving, Her Majesty gave her permission to turn 
 to her on every occasion and at any time when she could 
 be useful to her, of which favour the Countess has since 
 successfully availed herself. As I witnessed the whole 
 proceeding at the Opera Ball, I spent the next day at 
 Luciennes and the Countess told me all these particulars." * 
 This interview, through which the Court became recon- 
 ciled with Madame Du Barry, probably took place after the 
 purchase of Saint-Cloud. The ex-favourite was instru- 
 mental in satisfying the Queen's desire to possess the 
 chateau, as has been related by the Marquis de Bouille in 
 his memoirs. " When the Queen wanted the King to give 
 her Saint-Cloud, the Duke d'Orleans, to whom the Chateau 
 belonged, asked a price (ten millions, I believe), that Louis 
 XVI. considered exorbitant ; and in spite of his wish to 
 gratify the Queen's fancy, he refused to make such a sacrifice. 
 The Baron de Breteuil, then Minister of the King's House- 
 hold, was devoted to the Queen's interests, and tried in 
 vain every means of making the Duke lessen his demands. 
 At last he thought of applying to Madame Du Barry and 
 charging her with the negotiation of the business through 
 the Duke de Brissac, over whom she exercised great sway, 
 and who in turn had much influence over Madame de 
 Montesson, the unacknowledged wife of the Prince. Madame 
 Du Barry was eager to do all in her power to satisfy the 
 Queen's wishes, and induced Monsieur de Brissac to win the 
 interest of Madame de Montesson by flattering promises 
 from the Court. The latter persuaded the Duke to lower 
 his price by two or three millions, and the Chateau of Saint- 
 Cloud became the property of the Queen." 2 
 
 1 This account is by the Count d'Espinchal. He adds that 
 " after this event, several women at Court, among them some who 
 had hitherto opposed her . . . visited Madame Du Barry at 
 Louveciennes, and were pleased with her good taste, manners and 
 demeanour." 
 
 * Souvenirs du Marquis de Bouille, Vol. II., p. 112. The diffi- 
 culties of acquiring Saint-Cloud were described by the Queen's 
 Secretary, who did not seem to have heard of Madame Du Barry's 
 intervention. Memoires secrets de J.-M. Augeard, pp._i34-i4O.
 
 A NEW FRIEND 
 
 229 
 
 Madame Du Barry's intervention in this delicate trans- 
 action won her another friend and protector in Monsieur 
 de Breteuil, who had staked his pride on succeeding. The 
 Queen, too, did not hesitate to give her personal support to 
 the Countess, when the latter was driven by her brother-in- 
 law's pressing demands for help to make further applica- 
 tions to the Treasury. 1 Calonne himself pointed out to her 
 the means of attaining her ends. " If you believe," he 
 wrote to her, " that Monsieur de Breteuil is willing to under- 
 take to lay before the Queen a petition from you, far be it 
 from me to disapprove of your trying this method, which 
 alone can put me in a position to give the King another 
 account of your situation." De Breteuil also did Madame 
 Du Barry the service of ridding her of the Roue for a while 
 by a severe reprimand which made the importunate man 
 see reason, at least temporarily. 
 
 The Baron de Breteuil became a regular visitor at Lou- 
 veciennes and among the papers of the Countess may be found 
 some charming notes from the minister. For instance, on 
 September 18, 1785, he wrote to her : 
 
 In spite of my lively impatience to come and see you, 
 Madame la Comtesse, I am compelled to be satisfied with 
 asking for news of you. The circumstance has provoked 
 me, and I trust that you will share my feeling, for my 
 sentiments towards you assure me of yours for me. You 
 know that on the 28th I have the honour of receiving the 
 King and Queen. I am anxious that fair weather should 
 favour my little entertainment, but fear the time of year ; 
 as always, there is something to disturb the most agreeable 
 expectations. I am surer now, after a week, than ever, that 
 the pleasure of spending a few hours with you is balanced 
 by the pain of not having repeated that happiness. My 
 sincere devotion must persuade you of the truth of my 
 feeling. 
 
 1 The Roue had married again and returned to Paris. The 
 Correspondence secrete gives an account of how he succeeded in 
 obtaining from the Minister of Finance the sum of three hundred 
 thousand livres said to be due to his sister-in-law, and how he then 
 compelled her by threats to lend him 20,000.
 
 230 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 As she kept open house, and her friends were always 
 welcome, Monsieur de Breteuil invited himself to her with 
 charming familiarity. " I am sending, Madame la Comtesse, 
 to find out if you will let me come to dinner to-day. I shall 
 have as much pleasure in spending the day with you as I have 
 in assuring you of my sincere friendship." * Such was the 
 note struck in all the correspondence between the courtiers 
 and this woman of perfect distinction. Some idea of the 
 delightful intercourse at Louveciennes is given by the 
 following lines from the Marquis d'Armaille, who wanted 
 to prolong the intimate and at the same time affected 
 conversation of the previous day : 
 
 Paris, June 12, 1786. 
 
 If you have any need of a cavalier, Madame la Comtesse, 
 I am at your service. Until yesterday I was acquainted 
 with some only of your charming qualities ; since then you 
 have taught me what pleasure you take in conferring 
 favours. It is a great thing, Madame la Comtesse, to be 
 beautiful, charming and essential, yes, essential. I have no 
 need to tell you that I never leave Luciennes without 
 regret ; how can I control the inclinations of my heart ? 
 I was anxious about my invalid, whom I have not found at 
 all well. You remember that in winter, when the weather 
 is not so fine, I left later, or not at all. 
 
 Here, Madame la Comtesse, is a sketch of the affair about 
 which I spoke to you yesterday, when you showed such 
 charming readiness to oblige. I shall certainly come as 
 soon as I can, to talk more of it and thank you again. 
 
 I have prayed that the King in his own interests will not 
 take Monsieur de Calonne with him to Cherbourg. I shall 
 surely have the pleasure of seeing you soon, for had I no 
 more than four free hours a day, I should spend one of them 
 with you. One would gladly spend all one's life with you, 
 Madame la Comtesse, even at the risk of that which I 
 mentioned yesterday. You are the exception to the rule ; 
 to know you and to be devoted to you are synonymous 
 terms. 
 
 1 A third note shows that Monsieur de Breteuil had the happiness 
 of in turn receiving his fair neighbour of Louveciennes in his house 
 at Saint-Cloud.
 
 A SPARTAN REGIME 231 
 
 Be pleased to accept, Madame la Comtesse, the assurance 
 of my gratitude and attachment. 
 
 Le Marquis d'Armaille. 
 
 Madame Du Barry did more than receive visitors in her 
 delightful chateau, where people so gladly lingered. She 
 herself was much sought after on every side. Those who 
 knew her wanted her for the charm of her society, while 
 many strangers of note or people from the provinces staying 
 in Paris, were curious to see what she was like. " We were 
 dying to know the famous Madame Du Barry," wrote 
 Dufort de Cheverny, a former protege of Madame de Pompa- 
 dour, and a friend of the Choiseuls. The Count and Countess 
 de Cheverny were then staying in Paris as the guests of 
 Don Olavides, Count de Pilos, who had made his escape 
 from the dungeons of the Inquisition where he had suffered 
 three years' imprisonment, a circumstance that apparently 
 won him genuine respect from the compassionate Madame 
 Du Barry. The Count de Cheverny continued : 
 
 So we fixed on a date, and the Count undertook to ask 
 her if she would dine wkh him that day. She was living 
 in the charming house of Luciennes that Louis XV. had 
 given her, and Louis XVI. had allowed her to keep. We 
 joined the small company on the appointed day, which was 
 bitterly cold. The Countess arrived in a coach-and-six, 
 and entered, bearing herself with ease and dignity. She was 
 tall, had a beautiful figure, and was hi every respect a very 
 pretty woman. At the end of a quarter of an hour she was 
 as much at her ease with us as we were at ours with her. 
 My wife was the only other woman present, and all Madame 
 Du Barry's attentions were for her and the master of the 
 house. Her manner towards everyone was kindliness and 
 affability itself. The President de Salaberry and his nephew, 
 the Chevalier de Pontgibaud, were there, as well as several 
 others. She led the conversation, and spoke first of 
 Luciennes. We knew that it was a charming place, as luxu- 
 rious and magnificent as it was tastefully arranged. . . . 
 Her pretty face was slightly flushed ; she told us that she 
 took a cold bath every day. She showed us that under her 
 long cloak she only wore a shift and a very light evening-
 
 232 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 gown. Everything she had on was made with the magni- 
 ficent costliness to which her former splendour had accus- 
 tomed her, and I have never seen such beautiful cambric. 
 . . . The dinner-party was delightful, and she carried 
 all before her. . . . 
 
 Conversation after dinner was more serious ; I brought up 
 several subjects that concerned her particularly, and her 
 candour was most attractive. With regard to the Duke 
 de Choiseul, she expressed regret at not having enjoyed his 
 friendship. She told us of all the trouble she had been put 
 to in attempting to win it, and said that, but for his sister, 
 the Duchess de Grammont, she would have succeeded. 
 She complained of no one, and said nothing spiteful. . . . 
 
 At six o'clock she left us ... leaving behind her 
 the impression that, with unexampled good-nature, she 
 had had the sense to return to a less pretentious station 
 in life, and that she must have been an altogether delightful 
 mistress. We were no longer surprised at the part she had 
 played in the life of a man of sixty-four years, who was 
 weary of every pleasure. Her conversation left no 
 disagreeable after-taste. We dined a second time in her 
 company in the house of the Count de Pilos. 1 
 
 Far from rousing prejudice against her, the liaison of the 
 Countess with the Duke de Brissac was an effective means 
 of preventing adverse public opinion. Such arrangements 
 were in the fashion, and all that was asked was that the 
 parties to them should exercise discretion ; nor had the 
 Duke and the ex-favourite any inclination to offend against 
 outward propriety. 2 She used to come in the evenings to 
 
 1 Mtmoires du Dufort, Comte de Cheverny, Introducteuv des arnbassa- 
 deurs, Paris, 1886. Vol. II., p. 22. 
 
 1 De Brissac lived on perfectly good terms with his wife, whose 
 letters to him show that she was not in the least disturbed at his 
 liaison with Madame Du Barry. His daughter, the Duchess de 
 Mortemart, was as certainly a friend of the Countess, as may be seen 
 from the two following notes. They probably date from 1788, 
 as indeed Madame de Mortemart herself indicated in a letter of 
 1791. 
 
 " Madame de Mortemart has the honour to present Madame la 
 Comtesse Du Barry a thousand compliments, and begs her to be so 
 kind as to give her news of Monsieur her father ; she would have sent 
 before to Luciennes, had she not feared to trouble Madame la
 
 A SERIOUS AFFAIR 233 
 
 the fine hotel de Brissac in the rue de Grenelle-Saint- 
 Germain, where she had her suite of rooms next to those 
 of the owner. The Duke was a lover of art, and one of its 
 most ardent patrons ; he owned an extremely fine collection 
 of treasures, that wealth and good taste had enabled him 
 to acquire. In the house of her friend Madame Du Barry 
 found many a thing to please her esthetic fancy ; it reminded 
 her of her own Louveciennes, though extended and ampli- 
 fied. The picture gallery boasted several representatives 
 of the Italian and* Dutch schools, and among the many 
 portraits adorning the walls of the large salons was more 
 than one depicting the fair lineaments of his beloved. On 
 pieces of furniture by Boule, enriched with gilt bronze, stood 
 old Chinese and Japanese porcelain,and sea-green pedestals 
 or porphyry columns supported bronze and marble statu- 
 ary. 1 The books in the library were stamped with his 
 arms ; sable, three bars or, indented on the lower side. 
 The Duke, who was a great reader and very well-informed, 
 took the part of the philosophers, and supported their novel 
 ideas. He initiated his mistress in the new tendencies of 
 thought, thus preparing her for a second political career, 
 and she showed herself an apt and serious pupil. " Since 
 her retirement," wrote the Count d'Espinchal, " reading has 
 next to her toilette been her chief occupation." 
 
 The affair of the Queen's necklace interrupted the even 
 tenour of Madame Du Barry's existence. She was indeed 
 only indirectly concerned in the matter, even though the 
 famous necklace, which Rohan bought as he supposed at 
 the Queen's desire, was originally intended by the jeweller 
 Boehmer for the Countess. But much might be feared 
 
 Comtesse Du Barry, and begs her to accept the assurance of her 
 derotion." 
 
 " Pray accept, Madame, all my thanks for your kindness, and my 
 regret at having to deny myself the pleasure of seeing you before 
 my departure. I am deeply grieved at the thought of not seeing 
 my father for so long a time, and at not being permitted to embrace 
 him outside Paris before I leave him. But we must be resigned, 
 since nothing else remains to us." 
 
 1 The inventory of the Duke de Brissac's collection has been 
 published by Vatel.
 
 234 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 from the chief culprit, Madame de la Motte de Valois, who 
 in her attacks implicated not only her dupe the Cardinal 
 Prince Louis, but also all who were in the least connected 
 with this grievous affair. 
 
 On December 12, 1785, Madame Du Barry was summoned 
 to appear before the examining chamber, sitting at the 
 Bastille, which was then transformed into a judiciary prison. 
 She declared that she " had no knowledge of the circum- 
 stances enumerated, other than of the fact that about three 
 years ago, Madame de la Motte came to beg for her favour 
 and protection. She wished for her help in laying before 
 the King a petition in which she besought His Majesty to 
 allow her to resume possession of estates, that had formerly 
 belonged to her family, but had returned to the Crown. 
 . . ." The suppliant " wearied the Countess with her 
 tears," and the latter finally took the document, " and put 
 it on the mantelpiece with the fixed intention of leaving the 
 matter at that." In fact she burnt it. But when she heard 
 that the accused signed her letters " Marie-Antoinette de 
 France," she thought she remembered that the petition 
 left on her hands bore the same signature. If this were 
 so, the accusation of attempted forgery would fall to the 
 ground. " The witness made these remarks before several 
 people, without thinking that any conclusions might be 
 drawn from them." 1 
 
 They could, in fact, almost have acquitted the accused, 
 had she not refused to make use of them. She replied 
 insolently, denying the existence of the petition, and asserted 
 that she had only left a genealogical document with the 
 Countess. The gazetteers dilated, as usual, upon the theme 
 of the evidence of the former favourite, who was once more 
 unsparingly libelled. Madame de la Motte felt humiliated 
 at evidence which pictured her, the proud descendant of 
 the Valois, as a suppliant before a Du Barry. In her 
 memoirs, which were published in London after her escape 
 from the Salpe'triere, she distorted the facts as follows : 
 
 1 See Vatel, Vol. III., p. 412. M. Funck-Brentano in his L'affaire- 
 du Collier (Paris, 1901), has not mentioned the Du Barry episode.
 
 THE MONARCHY IN DANGER 235 
 
 " I cannot resist the temptation to say a few words on the 
 part the Dowager Queen was made to play, the immaculate 
 Du Barry of conventual memory. This woman's evidence 
 affirmed that I had come to ask for her protection, and that 
 I had left with her a petition, signed Marie- Antoinette de 
 France. The truth is that I only went to see her out of 
 curiosity, in a good coach-and-four. When we met she 
 thought fit to take up an attitude of haughty impudence, 
 but I soon put her in her place by making her feel the distance 
 between her birth and mine. . . ." 
 
 Madame Du Barry followed with emotion every detail 
 of the lawsuit, that was, in spite of all, destined to stain the 
 fair fame of the Queen of France, and violently to shake the 
 serenity of the throne, just at the time when monarchy was 
 approaching a crisis. Women, and among them the Countess, 
 secretly sympathised with the handsome Cardinal, Louis 
 de Rohan, who was deeply in love with Her Majesty. But 
 Madame Du Barry was troubled at her name being mixed 
 up in the notorious affair, for above all she feared to become 
 an object of public attention, and she jealously guarded her 
 peaceful retirement. Madame Le Bran, who made her first 
 stay at Louveciennes in 1786, has described the daily life 
 of its mistress : 
 
 Both by word and deed she showed her goodness of 
 heart, and she did much good at Louveciennes, where she 
 succoured all the poor. We often visited some unfor- 
 tunate person together, and I still remember her righteous 
 indignation one day when, seeing a poor woman in child- 
 bed who lacked every necessity, " What," asked Madame 
 Du Barry, " you have no linen, nor wine, nor soup ? " 
 " Alas, nothing, Madame." We immediately returned to 
 the chateau, and she sent for the housekeeper and the other 
 servants who had not carried out her orders. I cannot 
 describe the passion with which she reprimanded them, all 
 the while making them put together a bundle of the neces- 
 sary linen, which they had to take at once to the poor 
 invalid, as well as some soup and claret. 
 
 Every day after dinner coffee was served in the villa that 
 was so celebrated for the taste and magnificence of its
 
 236 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 decorations. The first time Madame Du Barry showed it 
 me, she said : "In this room Louis XV. did me the honour 
 of dining. . . . The drawing-room was enchanting ; 
 it had the finest possible view, and the mantelpieces and 
 doors were most beautifully worked ; the locks might be 
 taken for masterpieces of goldsmiths' work, and the 
 richness and the elegance of the furniture surpassed 
 description. 
 
 Brissac, who was sometimes present at the sittings, was 
 to own the portrait the artist was painting of her ladyship, 
 " a small three-quarter length, in a morning-gown and a 
 straw hat." By a coquettish whim of her sitter, the costume 
 and arrangement were copied from the most precious 
 miniature of her youth, that of Lawreince, thus inviting 
 a comparison from which the second portrait scarcely 
 suffered at all. She was " tall, but not too much so ; 
 her proportions were generous, and her figure perhaps 
 too full, but very beautiful. Her face was still charming, 
 her features graceful and regular ; her grey hair curled 
 like a child's ; only her complexion was beginning to 
 spoil." 
 
 Madame Le Brun returned two years later to make a 
 second portrait of the lady of Louveciennes. This time the 
 Countess wore white satin, and was depicted holding a 
 coronet and supporting her arm on a pedestal. Madame 
 Le Brun was again given the rooms with the outlook on the 
 Marly engine, whose " trying noise " disturbed her so much. 
 But she admired the quantity of precious things collected 
 in a gallery close by. " One could have imagined it to be 
 a room belonging to the mistress of many monarchs, who had 
 all enriched her with their gifts." 
 
 The artist loved animation and company, and did not 
 find enough of either at Louveciennes. The society of 
 Brissac was not sufficient, to her mind, nor was that of 
 Monsieur de Monville, " an agreeable and most elegant 
 man," who came occasionally to visit his friend of twenty 
 years' standing. The attractive Countess de Souza, wife 
 of the Portuguese Ambassador, and the Marquise de Brunoy
 
 MADAME VICEE LE BRUN 
 From an engraving
 
 TIPPOO'S EMBASSY 237 
 
 were the only women on intimate terms with the mistress 
 of the chateau. 1 But in spite of this quiet mode of life, 
 Louveciennes was the scene of a most original reception 
 at which Madame Le Brun was present. The envoys of 
 Tippoo Sahib, Sultan of Mysore, who had been sent to 
 petition France for help against England, had thought it 
 their duty to lay the gifts of their sovereign with great 
 ceremony at the feet of the ex-favourite. The fame of the 
 beautiful mistress had crossed the seas and reached as far 
 as India, and no doubt they still believed she possessed 
 some influence. 2 They spread before her oriental treasures 
 that were worthy of her beauty, and among them were some 
 marvellous muslins. She hastened to offer Madame Le 
 Brun a roll of the precious stuff, " embroidered with large 
 detached flowers in perfectly shaded colours and gold." 
 Years later, under the Consulate, the artist was unexpectedly 
 invited to a large ball, and she made a dress of the Eastern 
 material that reminded her of the gracious hospitality she 
 had enjoyed in the past. 
 
 About this time Madame Du Barry lost two dear friends, 
 Richelieu and his nephew, d'Aiguillon. The Marshal died 
 in August, 1788, at the age of ninety-four, having been three 
 times married : first under Louis XIV., at the age of fifteen, 
 then under Louis XV., and lastly under Louis XVI., when 
 eighty years of age. To the very end of his life he had filled 
 the annals of his day with all kinds of amorous adventures. 
 But old age and different customs had made his last days 
 lonely, and Madame Du Barry was almost the only one to 
 
 1 Madame de Souza, n&e Canillac, was a Frenchwoman, whom the 
 Portuguese Ambassador, Don Vincent de Souza Coutinho, had 
 married for love in 1773. She died in January, 1792. Her husband 
 has often been confused with the Souza, also an Ambassador, who 
 married Madame de Flahaut. 
 
 1 A letter from the Marquise de Boisseson, Madame Du Barry's 
 niece, written at Metz on August 24, 1788, refers to this event: 
 
 " Tippoo Sahib's Ambassadors will thus take back to India, 
 Madame, the idea for a new marvel, your villa on the hill ; the news 
 of the charming way in which you have received them has reached 
 me here. I should have liked to see you do the honours of your 
 villa."
 
 238 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 mourn his loss. September i of the following year witnessed 
 the death of " the most high and mighty Seigneur, Em- 
 manuel-Armand-Duplessis de Richelieu, Duke d'Aiguillon, 
 Peer of France, Count d'Agenois, etc.," in his hotel in the 
 rue de 1'Universite. Again the vault at the Sorbonne was 
 opened, and again the Countess came to pray at the grave 
 of the Richelieus. 
 
 Soon she suffered a more cruel loss, for on October 20, 
 1788, her mother died. Madame Ran$on left all her property 
 to her niece Betzy, the daughter of Jean Becu, and now 
 Marquise de Boisseson, and as executor she appointed 
 Monsieur de Boisseson, Lieutenant-colonel of the Cond6 
 Dragoon regiment. Madame Du Barry, as a natural child, 
 had no claim to the inheritance, but the husband of the 
 deceased ought not to have been forgotten. To make 
 amends, the Countess gave him an annuity of 2,000 livres, 
 her liberality having " for object to convince the Sieur 
 Nicolas Rancon de Montrabe", formerly in Government 
 service, of her gratefulness for his constant kindness to 
 Dame Anne Becu, his wife, ... as well as to the said 
 Dame Du Barry, on various occasions, when she had 
 reason to recognise the good qualities of the said Sieur 
 de Montrabe", as well as his absolute integrity." The 
 gift and all the praise appeased the good man, whose 
 care of his step-daughter in her youth might have been 
 better. 
 
 Political troubles began to afflict the Countess. She was 
 devoted to de Brissac, and made his life her own. The 
 Duke, who, ever since 1787, had been interested as to what 
 matters should be submitted to the Notables, was displeased 
 at having been excluded from the Assembly of his province. 
 " Do you know," he wrote to Madame Du Barry from 
 Vendome, " that I am rather provoked at not having been 
 nominated President of the provincial Assembly of Anjou ? 
 Of course I had not asked for it, but whose fault is it that 
 I have been forgotten and passed over ? It is beyond me 
 to say, and I should be grieved, were it not for this consoling 
 indolence. . . . But, dear friend, I must be off to see
 
 DE BRISSAC IGNORED 239 
 
 the troops and must leave you with the assurance that I 
 love you. . . ." In the second Assembly of the Notables, 
 that met in 1788, Brissac was again forgotten and he com- 
 plained bitterly, for he had faith in measures that would 
 have prevented a bloody revolution.
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 MADAME DD BARRY AND THE REVOLUTION 
 
 Madame du Barry and % Politics again Louveciennes at the time of 
 the States-General In October The Theft of the Jewels 
 First Journey to London Connection with the emigres and 
 English Society^ Second and third Journeys' Imprisonment 
 and Death of the Duke de Brissac. 
 
 MADAME DU BARRY, formerly an ardent 
 royalist by position as well as by nature, was 
 now less attracted to the absolutist doctrine. 
 With so many of the nobility both at Court and 
 especially at Paris, she joined Necker's party, the party of the 
 philosophers and the economists. For the changes in her 
 condition and surroundings had prepared her for new ideas, 
 she had been initiated by Brissac in the theories of Rousseau, 
 and her woman's heart delighted in the beautiful illusions 
 of justice and liberty. 
 
 She became closely acquainted with Monsieur and Madame 
 Necker, the Marquis de Jaucourt, Choderlos de Laclos, and 
 the Chevalier de Chastellux ; she received the Abb Beliardi, 
 the learned economist, who was later to become one of her 
 intimate friends. At Louveciennes, in her box at the 
 Opera, in the salons of her friends, moral and political 
 questions were discussed with all the wit and good-nature 
 in the world ; these elegant gatherings were so well-meaning 
 in their clamour for reform ; little did they dream they were 
 on the eve of revolution. Yet the times were serious ; 
 financial disaster threatened the country, while the fever 
 of ideas spread and prepared the way for the social crisis 
 that was so soon to extend even beyond the frontiers. 
 Necker having induced the King to convoke the States- 
 
 240
 
 A COURTIER IN THE COUNTRY 241 
 
 General, the edict of January 24, 1789, decreeing the elec- 
 tions, was issued. 
 
 During the interval which preceded them, Madame Du 
 Barry received from Clermont a letter that was very 
 significant of the times. The Count d'Espinchal, a fervent 
 admirer of the monarchy, had known her ladyship before 
 her rise to favour. Since then circumstances had often 
 brought them together, for Adolphe Du Barry, also of 
 the light cavalry, had married his cousin of Tournon, and 
 another of his relatives, Madame de Souza, the Portuguese 
 Ambassador's wife, was still the " beloved friend " of the 
 ex-favourite. The page of history sent by the noble Auverg- 
 nat to the lady of Louveciennes is written in the light and 
 charming style of a courtier of Versailles : 
 
 Clermont, March 6, 1789. 
 
 I can no longer disguise from you, Madame la Comtesse, 
 that one of the greatest of my griefs at my departure from 
 the capital was that of leaving without the pleasure of seeing 
 you. For you must know that to meet you is true happiness 
 to me ; of this you may be sure, think on it how you please. 
 It cannot anger you, this sentiment which you inspire, I 
 know not why. You know of my regard for you, and I 
 speak no more of it, having no need continually to assure 
 you of its strength. 
 
 Whilst you were enjoying the pleasures of the Carnival, 
 whilst at the Opera Ball you were listening to tales in which, 
 unhappily, I bore no part, I was sadly taking my way along 
 the high road, meditating on the evils of the State, and seek- 
 ing to discover their remedy in a superb document of griev- 
 ances, to be produced by my parish. Full of this beautiful 
 thought I arrive ; but, alas ! I learn that naught remains 
 to be done ; that our illustrious clergy, our scientific parsons 
 have but just made alliance with the eminent town members 
 of the Third Estate ; that they intend to prevail upon our 
 simple-minded country folk to the end that when the despic- 
 able nobility, the ignorant upper clergy, speak, they may 
 not gain a hearing. After that you would think these two 
 thousand citizens, deeply stained as they must feel by their 
 ancient privileges, would abandon, cede them all, the more
 
 242 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 so because of their absurdity as part and parcel of the mon- 
 archy. By no means ; our noble Auvergnats turn a deaf 
 ear to such arguments. They wish to remain noble, and 
 are ready to condemn their colleagues who would preach 
 them the new doctrine, which is so widespread in Paris, but 
 so little known in the provinces. 
 
 That is how matters stand. Though all may turn 
 out for the best, I, for my part, suffer some inconvenience 
 from all these innovations. Last year I had opportunities 
 for intrigues with the good wives of the Third Estate, which, 
 however, proved ephemeral. Now how changed are the 
 times : the Third Estate are on their guard, the nobles 
 take care of themselves, the low clergy, by means of their 
 alliance with the Third Estate, protect their housekeepers, 
 and in the meantime we die of hunger. It is very hard. In 
 Paris, life is still possible ; one plays the hypocrite ; but 
 here all are bare-faced. Out on the wickedness of your 
 Genevese ! truly, he will make us pay dearly for his plans 
 of a Republic. 
 
 Now I have acquainted you fully with what happens in 
 Auvergne. As yet, however, all is quiet enough here. The 
 minds of the people are all in a ferment, but will, I believe, 
 soon calm down. Besides, it seems to me that, should there 
 be an explosion, it would affect each order equally. There 
 is no tendency to confusion. For my part, I only wish to 
 hear of it when there is some question of discussing schemes 
 concerning population, but in all other cases, they will 
 deliberate separately, and thereon I build my hopes. 
 
 The bell rings, and I must leave you for an ill-cooked 
 dinner, which must, however, be eaten. 
 
 I have returned, Madame la Comtesse, my fears, alas ! 
 realised. Though in the country, I am not at my own home, 
 but staying with an aunt who loves me with all her heart. 
 Yet, hi spite of her friendship, she chatters all day long on 
 political affairs, and is, hi consequence, ever on the point 
 of scratching my eyes out, so much does she suspect the 
 tainted air of Paris of turning me somewhat from the true 
 interests of our class. She is so furious at the malcontents 
 that, had she the power, I verily believe she would take it 
 upon herself to destroy them utterly and annihilate their 
 posterity. Oh ! she is a grand woman ! Not even the 
 snows around us and you must know we have had the
 
 GRAVE FOREBODINGS 243 
 
 most terrible weather for a week have cooled her hot- 
 headedness. 
 
 Next week I join the throng of my illustrious colleagues. 
 What fine things we shall have to say ! We shall be at least 
 a thousand nobles at Riom, and we have agreed, in the 
 event of arming, to take kettles for drums, that being the 
 implement of war of the Auvergnats. Better to laugh 
 beforehand, for perhaps in a fortnight we shall not be so 
 gay. God grant that all may pass peacefully, without 
 trouble and discord ; though, indeed, that would rather 
 disconcert those interested in disorder. Let them beware 
 of our arrival in Paris. In spite of my patriotism and zeal, 
 I long to return there, and assuredly you count for something 
 in these wishes of mine. Soften then my hardships, and 
 give me news of you ; you cannot imagine the pleasure it 
 will give me. For old acquaintance' sake, I may be permitted 
 to demand a little friendship, and you owe it me in return 
 for that I have vowed you. 
 
 How kind it would be of you, Madame la Comtesse, if 
 you were to get from Monsieur le Prevot a short account of 
 the nominations in Paris (not his writing, I beg of you), as 
 if it were for yourself, and of what is happening. You 
 should send it me at Clermont, Auvergne. 
 
 You can tell my dear uncle the news of my part of the 
 world, which I believe I have given you fully enough. A 
 thousand compliments to your niece [the Marquise de 
 Boisseson]. I sympathise with her grief at being parted 
 from her husband, for she will now be able to pity me for 
 being a hundred leagues from my dear friend. Nor do I 
 wish to be forgotten by Madame La Neuville, and I beg her 
 to tell her daughter that I have seen no one in my province 
 as pretty as she. Should you see the Baron d'Escars, a 
 word for me ; may he pray for my return ! And my cousin 
 the Ambassadress [the Countess de Souza] who has a grudge 
 against me for not having been able to see her before I went. 
 Make my peace for me ; my mind is at ease if you take the 
 matter in hand. 
 
 Farewell, Madame la Comtesse; how it grieves me to 
 leave you. In paying you my respects, permit me to kiss 
 the thumb of your left hand ; I have thought it charming. 
 How disagreeable it is to be far from those by whose side 
 one would be, and to be forced to put an end to a conversa-
 
 244 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 tion. With these sentiments, I have the honour to be, etc., 
 etc., etc. I should never finish if I told you all I thought. 1 
 
 On May 4, 1789, the eve of the opening of the States- 
 General, Madame Du Barry probably witnessed from a 
 window at Versailles the imposing procession of the Deputies 
 of the three Estates. But the understanding between the 
 King and the people could not last long, and events were 
 precipitated, as is only too well known ; June 20 was the 
 day of the Tennis-court oath, the 23rd that of the lit-de- 
 justice, when the sovereignty of the nation rose threaten- 
 ingly before the power of the monarch. The arrival of the 
 troops at Versailles and the dismissal of Necker exasperated 
 public opinion, and on the morning of the I4th the people 
 stormed the Bastille. Brissac had not in the least foreseen 
 such violence; and no doubt he said, with Madame Du 
 Barry : "If Louis XV. were alive all this would surely not 
 have happened." 2 
 
 France was thrown into disorder, filled with a stream of 
 follies, seized with a fury of reprisals ; archives were burnt 
 in the towns, chateaus in the country, aristocrats were slain 
 everywhere. After July 14 the Duke de Brissac hastened 
 to his province, which was all afire ; he was arrested, and 
 escaped death by a miracle. " Monsieur de Brissac, Governor 
 of Paris, after passing the town of Mans, has been recognised 
 and arrested at Durtal near La Fleche, whence a courier has 
 been dispatched to the capital to discover whether he is 
 guilty, and if he should be beheaded or removed to Paris." 3 
 
 Political confusion did not, however, interrupt the course 
 of fashionable life. The Countess went as usual to the 
 theatre, called on her friends, entertained at Louveciennes. 
 One of Madame d'Angiviller's charming letters takes us 
 there : 
 
 Friday, June 12, 1789. 
 
 How much we must thank you, Madame la Comtesse, 
 for your kindly recollection of us. The fine weather reminds 
 
 1 The letter was among the documents seized at Louveciennes. 
 1 See the Souvenirs de Madame Vigee Le Brun, Vol. I., p. 168. 
 * A letter of July 26, 1789, on the happenings in the Maine, 
 quoted by Vatel, Vol. III., p. 123.
 
 "A FAIR ENCHANTRESS" 245 
 
 us of the charm of your beautiful groves, and of the enjoy- 
 ment of walking in them with you. But we are indeed 
 grieved that we already have an engagement for a dinner 
 that takes place every Saturday, and which we cannot miss 
 without failing in due respect to Messieurs les Deputes. Pray 
 accept our regrets, dear Madame, and convey them to the 
 fair enchantress [Madame Vigee Le Brun], who has no need 
 of her art in making her picture of you full of charm. 1 Should 
 it suit both of you, we shall recompense ourselves for our 
 loss on Saturday by coming next Tuesday at about three 
 o'clock to enjoy that perfection of both art and nature 
 which is to be found at Louveciennes. Be so kind as to let 
 me know if this is possible ; for then we shall have an oppor- 
 tunity of making amends for our omissions, though, indeed, 
 they are quite unintentional. I have the honour to assure 
 you of it, as well as of our eagerness to pay you our sincere 
 and tender respect, Madame la Comtesse. 
 
 Pardon all the spots of water on the paper ; by them you 
 may know that I am in my bath, and that the desire to 
 answer you as soon as possible kept me from waiting until 
 I came out of this humid dwelling where I spend my days. 2 
 
 Madame Du Barry could not be so light of heart as her 
 friend, for she had been too close a spectator of the manage- 
 ment of the affairs of the kingdom not to be passionately 
 interested in the political questions of the day. Her state 
 of mind may be realised from that of de Brissac. The Duke 
 was no less a friend of liberty for being by temperament a 
 strong supporter of the monarchy. The letters he sent his 
 mistress from Anjou were very confident in tone. 
 
 " There are here," he wrote after the incident of his arrest, 
 " three or four people who disturb the peace that otherwise 
 reigns over this neighbourhood. The calamitous fact of 
 their existence has to be borne with patience, for liberty is 
 too precious a thing to be sacrificed for the sake of a little 
 ease. Whether we shall be any the better for it, is perhaps 
 doubtful. But happier we should be. Equality, modera- 
 tion and simplicity conduce to the growth of a tranquillity 
 
 1 Madame Vigee Le Brun was then staying at Louveciennes. 
 1 The letter is now in the National Archives.
 
 246 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 that ought to promote humane and polished feeling. . . . 
 Yesterday my birthday was celebrated with much noise 
 and martial display. I felt that my fellow-citizens put their 
 heart into their demonstration of devotion. That the feudal 
 system has been destroyed does not necessarily deprive us 
 of respect and love, a fact that is both good and true." 
 
 Madame Du Barry replied in the same manner, and 
 discoursed at large on the humanitarian theories that 
 appealed to her goodness of heart. The Duke again wrote 
 to her : 
 
 Angers, Saturday, Augitst 29. 
 
 I have not yet heard the ministerial news and am 
 expecting it most impatiently. From Versailles I have heard 
 that the letter was waiting to be signed, in which case I 
 shall have it this evening or on Monday. 
 
 How learned and philosophical your letter of the 22nd is, 
 Madame la Comtesse ! Indeed, one has need of philosophy 
 and hope, not to speak of patience, when so far away from 
 you, and when the States-General are so slow in their work 
 on the points of real importance, which are expected by 
 the whole of France, and which ought to calm her. She is 
 beginning to be resigned, at least the nobility are. The 
 nation ought to be satisfied with them, and not at all 
 troubled on their account, considering they are without 
 either arms, defence or plans. They say that Paris is not 
 at peace, that, like you, she lacks the means of subsistence. 
 How I wish I could share with you the fine fruit that the 
 beautiful Angevin Ceres has given us this year, but it would 
 be both imprudent and difficult to try and send you them ; 
 the municipalities, too, fear people who are dissatisfied 
 with the necessaries, and want to share the superfluities, of 
 life. But farewell, farewell, Madame la Comtesse ; it is nearly 
 noon, and I am to dine at Brissac. I tender my respect 
 and thanks for the news you send me ; my happiness lies 
 in hearing of you, and in thinking of you and of my sincere 
 and eternal devotion to you. I might have heard from you 
 yesterday, but I did not. 
 
 The National Assembly set to work on " the points of 
 real importance," as Brissac desired. After the Declaration 
 oi Rights of August 26, they at last turned to the question
 
 A DISCOURAGING PROSPECT 247 
 
 of finance ; from the night of the 4th onwards no revenue 
 had been received, as the tax-payers thought the taxes had 
 been abolished. In the meanwhile the Assembly was torn 
 by conflict ; the sovereignty of the nation could not be 
 brought to harmonise with that of the monarch, and the 
 parties that were formed began to question the very prin- 
 ciples of government. 
 
 Brissac, in his peaceful estate far away from the tumult, 
 felt perhaps a little displeased at not having been elected. 
 The letters of his mistress and his friends kept him informed 
 of all that happened. His replies to the Countess were 
 written in the obscure and inaccurate style that was so 
 significant of the metaphysical tendencies of his time, and so 
 different from the lucid perspicacity of Mirabeau, who made 
 such excellent fun of these tendencies. But in spite of the 
 difficulty of his language, his faith in human nature is made 
 plain, and especially his faith in the love of the woman he 
 adored and had made wholly his. 
 
 Brissac, Saturday, September 5, 1789. 
 The posts are truly much too infrequent, Madame la Com- 
 tesse, for this letter, which leaves to-morrow by Le Mans, 
 will arrive just as soon as yesterday's, that went by the mail. 
 But the pleasure of holding converse with you is an oppor- 
 tunity not to be lost. Yes, the future is as disheartening as 
 the present. As long as reason, which is man's fairest herit- 
 age, does not yield the place to wit, ambition or vanity, 
 what man does not desire happiness for himself and others, 
 unless he is a madman, of whom I fear there are too many ! 
 But of people who work for the majority of the nation 
 . . . that unfortunately neither knows nor has the means 
 of enjoying the charm of true happiness ... of such 
 men as have enough frank loyalty to agree to arrangements 
 that are to the advantage of all, how many have we ? Very 
 few, or else they are not heard, or they do not speak, or they 
 do not exist. What melancholy feelings do these reflections 
 arouse ! 
 
 The Duke quickly turned to less serious matters. As 
 Madame Du Barry had told him of the opening of the Salon, 
 he was reminded of their old friend, Vien, who was exhibiting
 
 248 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 his Love fleeing from slavery. The rather old-fashioned 
 allegory represented Cupid flying from a cage, which had 
 been imprudently opened by a woman : 
 
 Love departing and fleeing from his slavery is not my 
 emblem, Madame la Comtesse, though it may well be suited 
 to my age. . . . By the way, I have heard that the 
 picture is unfavourably criticised, and that it is cold and 
 correct, but not very attractive. I agree, to some extent, 
 with the critic, but the detail and finish of the picture, as 
 well as its colouring, are good, and will always ensure it 
 having charm. No woman will apply to herself the insults 
 offered the sex by Love, or rather by the painter, who, con- 
 sidering his age and his works, has every right to be cold. I 
 suppose there were very few portraits, especially by Madame 
 Le Brun, who painted the one of Madame la Duchesse 
 d' Orleans. She is made for the love and esteem of all, and 
 can appear in public at any time. Is the Salon beautiful ? 
 I do not think many country people have been there. 
 Besides, for a long time it has not been worth the trouble 
 of moving. 
 
 After alluding to a visit of the Countess to her dear friends, 
 the nuns of Pont-aux-Dames, de Brissac concludes his 
 letter as he began it, with a mixture of affection and politics. 
 
 Unlike the " country people," Madame Du Barry had not 
 failed to visit the Exhibition at the Louvre, for in spite of 
 the anxious times she was still deeply interested in art. 
 No longer was the charming image of the Countess to be 
 seen on the walls of the Salon, but this same month she had 
 a portrait painted for the Duke, the third that Madame 
 Vig6e Le Brun made of her. " I began it about the middle 
 of September, 1789," said the artist. " From Louveciennes 
 we heard the cannonade in the distance. I had painted the 
 head and outlined the bust and arms, when I was obliged to 
 make an expedition to Paris. I hoped to be able to return 
 to Louveciennes in order to finish my work ; but . . . 
 my terror had become excessive, and I thought only of 
 leaving France." 
 
 The picture, which was completed later, represents 
 Madame Du Barry seated at the foot of a tree, with an open
 
 MADAME I)1 T BARRY 
 From a painting by Madame I 'igie Lc Brun, 1789
 
 DE BRISSAC THREATENED 249 
 
 book in her lap. She is very simply dressed in a green frock, 
 whose high waist already foreshadowed the coming fashion. 
 The cut of the bodice allows a glimpse of her full figure ; 
 the sleeves of the little embroidered vest cover her beauti- 
 fully rounded arms to the elbows. She was then forty- 
 six, and still very fair under her white veil, and very 
 attractive, retaining all her youthful charm, though she had 
 lost something of her slenderness and her fresh complexion. 1 
 Her expressive face is still alive to every emotion, but though 
 her half-closed eyes are as mockingly tender as ever, the 
 delicate lips betray a gentle sadness, so nearly breaking into 
 a smile that one cannot but be softened. The picture is 
 not in Madame Le Brun's most brilliant style ; it lacks her 
 characteristic ruffled silks and falling lace, and the clear 
 colours delicately manipulated to the verge of affectation. 
 But though the lady in green is painted without frippery, 
 the artist, with the wisdom that comes with years, has at 
 least endeavoured to portray a soul. 
 
 The soul was that of a woman who at this time trembled 
 for the life of him she loved. The great name of de Brissac 
 had marked out the Duke as an object of popular hatred, 
 and already the revolutionary papers were urging his death. 
 Nor did his mistress escape attack from the very first. 
 The obscene Petit Journal du Palais Royal printed the 
 following on September 15, 1789 : 
 
 SALE OF HORSES AND CARRIAGES. 
 
 The Countess Du Barry, widow of the King Louis XV. 
 
 This infamous Messalina wishes to sell half-a-dozen old 
 horses, for the sake of getting a young colt, which the Prince 
 de Beauvau has procured for her. 
 
 Necker's return to power seemed for a moment to have 
 restored to the monarchy some of its authority, but the 
 King was influenced by the serried ranks of privilege about 
 
 1 " She had become somewhat stout," wrote the Count d'Espin- 
 chal, " and her face was a little pitted, but she was still most 
 .attractive when I last saw her in 1789. She owes her charm largely 
 to the most scrupulous attention to cleanliness, and to her habit of 
 taking a daily cold bath, whatever the season and the weather."
 
 250 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 the throne, and continued to refuse his sanction of the 
 decrees of August 4 and 26. Reactionary feeling ( was 
 manifested in the recall of the Flanders Regiment, and in 
 the military banquet given in honour of the Body-Guards, 
 and these two circumstances were directly responsible for 
 the tragic events of October. At the very time v/hen the 
 Royal Family was being brought back to Paris by the mob, 
 two of the Guards, Marion de Barghon-Monteil and Lefebvre 
 de Lukerque, who had escaped the massacre, but not with- 
 out being wounded, dragged themselves from Versailles to 
 Louveciennes in the hope of finding a refuge and the care 
 they needed with its mistress. 1 Lafont d'Aussonne has 
 told how the Queen " sent some gentlemen in her confidence 
 to Louveciennes with her warmest thanks. The Countess 
 Du Barry immediately had the honour of replying to the 
 Queen in words which I shall quote, having heard them from 
 one of her relatives : 
 
 Madame, The two wounded youths only regret they did 
 not die with their comrades for a Princess as perfect and 
 worthy of all honour as Your Majesty. . . . Luciennes 
 is yours, Madame, for do I not owe my renewed possession 
 of it to your goodwill and kindness ? . . . Influenced 
 by some sort of presentiment, the late King compelled me 
 to accept thousands of precious things before sending me 
 away from him. I had the honour of offering you this 
 treasure at the time of the Notables, and I do so again, 
 Madame . . . ; allow me, I implore you, to render 
 unto Caesar that which is Caesar's. 
 
 I am, Your Majesty's most faithful servant and subject, 
 
 La Comtesse Du Barry." * 
 
 1 There is a tradition in the Lukerque family to the effect that 
 the Chevalier de Lukerque owed his safety to a woman, who was 
 evidently Madame du Barry. 
 
 * Memoirs secrets et universels des malheurs et de la mart de la 
 Reine de France, Paris, 1824. The wording of the letter is certainly 
 garbled, but the anecdote is based on fact. This was the time 
 when Madame Du Barry tried to sell some of her diamonds at 
 Amste rdam, as may be seen from a detailed receipt from the bankers, 
 Vandenyver, dated November 21, 1789; the sale realised 133,000 
 livres. Her generous intentions, at least, have been confirmed by 
 the Count d'Espinchal.
 
 DE BRISSAC'S LOYALTY 251 
 
 What remained of the Court had left for Paris in order 
 to be near the Royal Family. De Brissac, as Pantler to 
 His Majesty, resided in the Tuileries, but nevertheless went 
 nearly every day to Louveciennes to see his friend. He 
 wrote one evening when he had not been able to pay his 
 visit : 
 
 The Tuileries, Wednesday, November n, 1789. 
 
 I am going to bed, dear heart, so that to-morrow I may 
 have less of a cold than I have now, and so that I may be 
 better company for you than if I were to come with as 
 much of a cold as I have now. The cold is humoursome, 
 and due to the stagnation of too long a stay in Paris, to 
 which I am far from accustomed ; if I cannot move soon, 
 it will end by killing me or driving me to despair. But I 
 hope for a return, and only do not mention it to you for fear 
 an anticipation of my joy would delay it. Farewell, dear 
 friend, I love you and kiss you a thousand times with the 
 deepest affection of our hearts my heart, I should say, 
 but shall not cross out what my pen has written, for I love 
 to think that our hearts are for ever one. Farewell till 
 to-morrow. I shall try to sweat and spit, a pleasant pros- 
 pect, indeed ! The occupation will be less disagreeable, as 
 things are at present, than if the weather were calm and 
 consequently fine. All that happens is nothing but mystery 
 and folly, and the wisest thing we can do is to be together. 
 Farewell, sweet friend, farewell, dear heart. I love you and 
 kiss you. 
 
 At Louveciennes the year 1790 passed uneventfully. 
 The life of its mistress was still devoted to her " immense 
 charity throughout the district." She entertained quietly 
 and only a select circle of friends, on account of the troublous 
 ' times. Madame de Souza and Madame d'Angiviller were 
 often with her, and spent " delightful hours " in her com- 
 pany. Letters from their friends among the Emigres were 
 read with curiosity, and a long epistle from Naples, which 
 came that autumn, afforded them an agreeable surprise : 
 " Madame la Comtesse, I have for ages been wanting to 
 recall myself to your recollection and favour. I assure 
 you, I have not forgotten, but I have so little time to
 
 252 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 myself. Monsieur Robert must have told you how much 
 I think of you, Madame la Comtesse, and I have often begged 
 him to give me news of you. I am really at Naples, which is 
 a charming place ; Nature has rejoiced in beautifying the 
 lovely climate ; the skies are pure . . . " In this 
 way Madame Vigee Le Brun filled four pages, describing 
 the scenery and buildings, or telling of her work, in more 
 than doubtful French. " Tell me of Monsieur de Brissac," 
 she added ; " does he remember me ? If you should see 
 Madame 1'Ambassadrice of Portugal, and the Countess de 
 Brunoy, remember me to them, I beg of you, and assure 
 them of my respectful service." * 
 
 The news Madame Du Barry received from her brother- 
 in-law was less agreeable. He complained bitterly of her, 
 and importuned her for money, with evidently exaggerated 
 accounts of his poverty. He reminded the Countess of 
 promises made by her steward : "I invoke the word of 
 that honest man, but what use is it to me if your heart is 
 silent. I must then seek to move that, and Monsieur 
 Buffault's reply will tell me if it still speaks for me." This, 
 the Roue's last appeal, was probably left unanswered, for 
 Madame Du Barry's fortune, like that of many others, 
 must have suffered from the course of events, though it was 
 still considerable. For instance, she applied to the Departe- 
 ment of Seine-et-Oise for some slight reduction of taxation. 
 But perhaps the real reason for her economising was the 
 fact that she had already begun to send money abroad for 
 the emigres. 
 
 Though the Duke de Brissac was looked on coldly by the 
 Royal Family as well as by the Assembly, he was quite 
 prepared to sacrifice himself for what he believed to be his 
 honour and his duty. Madame Du Barry followed him in 
 his path of self-denial ; suffering always touched her heart, 
 and with compassionate kindliness she pitied and relieved 
 the miseries of the people, as they well knew. But now she 
 was wanted elsewhere to help in another way. She was 
 
 1 Monsieur de Nolhac has given a facsimile of this letter in his 
 book Madame Vigte le Brun.
 
 ROYALIST CONSPIRATORS 253 
 
 prudent only for others, with the unconscious, heedless 
 courage that refuses to look at danger. Soon she learnt 
 how to circumvent the police and, without exciting sus- 
 picion, used to hold meetings of the Royalist conspirators 
 in her three Parisian pieds-A-terre, whose existence was one 
 day to be revealed before the Revolutionary Tribunal. 
 She was already in constant communication with the 
 emigres, and the last three years of her life she dedicated to 
 her friends, carrying her devotion even to the point of dying 
 for them. 
 
 The aristocrats continued to leave the country, and at 
 first the chief centre of emigration was Turin. There the 
 Count d'Artois with difficulty maintained a suite of eighty- 
 two persons, for he was nearly penniless. His dream was 
 to induce Europe to arm against France, and he redoubled 
 his importunate requests to the various sovereigns. His 
 negotiations were beset with further difficulties owing to 
 the disagreement at the Tuileries, where the King and Queen 
 rightly feared the blundering politics of their younger 
 brother. News was always impatiently expected at Turin. 
 In August there arrived Monsieur Prioreau, who was attached 
 to the household of the Count d'Artois. He brought 
 accounts of Madame Du Barry's movements that Monsieur 
 d'Espinchal immediately noted down in his diary : 
 
 I cannot pass over in silence what Monsieur Prioreau 
 has told us of the Countess Du Barry. The lady, who lives 
 in retirement at Luciennes, has, ever since the beginning 
 of the Revolution, given expression to very Royalist senti- 
 ments, and it is known for a fact that she has turned some 
 precious possessions into money, which sum of 500,000 
 livres is to be used in the service of the King and Queen 
 should they ever have need of it. This action should lead 
 to a better knowledge and a more lenient judgment of one 
 whom calumny has so cruelly attacked. 
 
 The Count d'Artois had just left Turin for Venice, to 
 the great joy of his father-in-law, Amadeus of Savoy, when 
 the Countess received an unsigned letter from her friend 
 d'Espinchal. The postmark was from Turin ; the black
 
 254 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 seal was two doves with the motto : Vivons unis. These 
 lines from an emigre, though written with careful restraint, 
 show, as nothing else can, how great from the first was the 
 ex-favourite's compassion for those whom misfortune had 
 exiled. The esteem and even admiration which she won 
 from the Count prove with what ardour she espoused their 
 cause, and how she taxed her ingenuity in their service. 
 
 Turin, in Piedmont, January 18, 1791. 
 
 After eighteen months absence and silence can you permit 
 an exile, Madame la Comtesse, to remind you of his exist- 
 ence ? Nothing has lessened my devotion to you, but much 
 has happened to increase my respect. I need scarcely tell 
 you that, although I may not have written to you, I have, 
 nevertheless, thought very much of you ; and always, when 
 I have asked for news of you, I have heard of actions on your 
 part of which all who were acquainted with you knew you were 
 capable, but which are in these times none the less to be admired. 
 But I shall spare your modesty and stop. Let me only tell 
 you that your grandson x has been informed of all, as well 
 as those who share his fate, and whom I have so far accom- 
 panied. 
 
 Since my departure in July, 1789, my wife has sometimes 
 had the pleasure of seeing you with her friend from Poland. 2 
 While I was crossing Germany and Switzerland in good 
 company, she was preparing to leave for my estate with 
 our children ; she promised to write to you, but has not done 
 so, for which she is sorry. In my chateau she had to put 
 up with so much vexation that she left during February 
 for Turin, and there awaited my return from Italy, where 
 I had been travelling since November, 1789, after having 
 left everyone else settled for the winter, for I foresaw what 
 an inactive life they would be compelled to lead. And after 
 having seen Genoa, Florence, Rome, Naples, Tintoretto's 
 Ascension at Venice, and Milan, I rejoined my wife on 
 July i. Since then I have not left this place, where I con- 
 tinually meet a great number of my countrymen, whose 
 inconsiderate zeal will no doubt cost us dear, its effects, so 
 far, having been anything but happy. Moreover, your 
 
 1 The " grandson " so discreetly alluded to is no other than the 
 Count d'Artois. 
 
 1 The Princess Alexandra Lubomirska.
 
 A CHEERFUL EXILE 255 
 
 grandson has gone, leaving his wife and children 1 in the care 
 of his father-in-law. The boys are delightful, their good- 
 nature leaves nothing to be desired, and their feeling and 
 intelligence are all that could be wished, especially the 
 younger one's, who, by the way, has scarcely grown at all, 
 while the elder is much taller. I hope you will soon have 
 particulars about all this, through some honest man whom 
 we may see. 
 
 Your grandson has thus decided to make this journey 
 and fulfil the obligations he has for long owed to both love 
 and friendship. He is at present in Venice ; and where he 
 intends to go afterwards I do not know. His cousin 2 left 
 this week with his children by a very different route, and they 
 will be in Berne from the I5th to the i8th. I do not know 
 if they will be satisfied with dreaming of Switzerland. I 
 trust they conduct themselves prudently and do not com- 
 promise their affairs. As for us, we do not think the season 
 suitable for crossing the Alps. As I, moreover, fear finding 
 myself face to face on the way with that villain Necker, who 
 is intriguing in Geneva, I have decided to stay and pay court 
 to the fair Piedmontese, of whom a considerable number in 
 all classes are pretty. As usual, I know everyone and should 
 spend a very pleasant winter, were it not for hearing of 
 misfortunes that affect us ourselves, or afflict our friends, 
 news that would continually disturb the moments of 
 peace and pleasure one hoped to enjoy. Such a moment, 
 and a very sweet one, you would give me, if you would answer 
 my letter and give me news of your health, as to which we 
 have suffered some anxiety. 
 
 Be careful to have your letter franked, and send it to 
 Turin in my name, which I think you will guess without 
 much trouble. Having worn the same uniform as Lolo, you 
 have known me for a long time, and if, as is my way, I keep 
 away from people in their time of glory, my desire to 
 give expression to my esteem for them, my consideration 
 and devotion, is all the greater at times when these senti- 
 ments are a homage that is their due. Farewell then, 
 Madame la Comtesse. I await news of you, and any mission 
 with which you may charge me, I shall zealously carry out. 3 
 
 1 The Duke d'Angouleme and the Duke de Berry. 
 
 1 The Prince de Conde. 
 
 3 The letter is followed by a postcript that refers to M. Pelletier's
 
 256 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 In the night of January n Madame Du Barry was robbed 
 of her wonderful caskets. On that night Monsieur de 
 Brissac gave a great entertainment at his hotel in Paris. 
 His mistress was present and stayed with the Duke until 
 the next day. The thieves took advantage of her absence, 
 and broke into the house through the bedroom window, 
 which they reached by means of two ladders. They broke 
 a chest of drawers and a writing-table, and seized several 
 other things of value besides the jewel-box. 1 
 
 The theft, or at least the story of it that was told the day 
 after, was extraordinary. The valet, whose duty it was to 
 guard the treasure, was said to have slept away from the 
 house, and the young soldier, who should have watched in 
 the gardens, to have deserted his post. The latter, a Swiss 
 Guard, of the detachment garrisoned at Courbevoie, was 
 accused of having followed some unknown men to an inn, 
 where he had been left by them in a drunken condition. 
 As a matter of fact, the whistling of one of the accomplices 
 had alarmed him and taken him away from the chateau. 
 Next morning the servants noticed the injuries to the furni- 
 ture and the disappearance of the casket. Madame Du 
 Barry was speedily informed and returned at once. 
 
 On January n an official report of the crime was drawn 
 up and a judicial enquiry opened. 2 The Countess called 
 her principal jeweller, the Sieur Rouen, who gave a full 
 
 arrival at Chambery, and adds that " the State of Naples refused 
 permission to enter for fear of the new French evil ; while all Italy 
 was full of distinguished strangers, especially Rome, Venice, Genoa, 
 and Florence. There were 200 at Chambery." 
 
 1 See Couard, Le vol des diamante de Madame Du Barry, Vol. I., 
 p. 37, and M. Henri Welschinger's Les bijoux de Madame Du Barry, 
 which latter was unknown to both Vatel and Couard. Monsieur 
 Paul Fromageot has made a complete study of the theft, which he 
 communicated in 1908 to the Society of Moral Sciences of Seine- 
 et-Oise (Revue de I'Histoire de Versailles, Vol. x, pp. 257-285). 
 
 * All the documents have been preserved in the Archives of Seine- 
 et-Oise. The young Swiss was accused of complicity and imprisoned 
 at Rueil. His case at once excited the interested pity of the journal- 
 ist Prudhomme, who in his Revolutions de Paris, gave a malicious 
 account of the theft at Louveciennes, and used the opportunity to 
 attack the Countess.
 
 THE JEWEL ROBBERY 257 
 
 account of the stolen things, and also wrote the leaflet 
 describing them, of which a large number was printed. 
 
 " Two thousand louis to be won, and a reasonable reward 
 according to the value of the things returned. 
 
 " Madame Du Barry has been robbed of the diamonds 
 and jewels described below, at the chateau of Louveciennes 
 called Luciennes, near Marly, on the night of January 10 : 
 ' . . . A ring set with an oblong white brilliant weighing 
 about 35 grains . . . ; a green box for rings in the shape 
 of a rosette, containing twenty to twenty-five rings, of which 
 one set with a large emerald . . . ; one with an onyx repre- 
 senting a portrait of Louis XIII., whose hair and moustaches 
 are of sardonyx ; one of a Caesar in two colours, surrounded 
 with brilliants . . . one of a Bacchus engraved in relief on 
 a cornelian ; one of a yellow sardonyx, engraved by Barrier, 
 representing Louis XIV., and surrounded by some worth- 
 less Dutch diamonds ; one of a large heart-shaped sapphire, 
 surrounded by diamonds with which half the ring is also 
 set. . . . This box also contains an antique lucky 
 charm, engraved on an onyx ; two very fine brilliants 
 for earrings . . . ; a finely mounted rose-shaped cluster 
 of 258 white brilliants, of which a large one hi the middle 
 weighing about twenty-four grains . . . ; a pair of 
 shoe-buckles of eighty-four brilliants ; two fine sets of large 
 brilliants valued at 120,000 livres . . . ; a double rope 
 of pearls with pendant, consisting of about two hundred 
 pearls each weighing about four or five grains ; a large 
 brilliant at the top of the pendant weighing twenty-five to 
 twenty-six grains, and at the bottom a fringed tassel and a 
 knot all set with finely mounted brilliants ; a pair of brace- 
 lets of six rows of pearls . . . ; the clasp of the bracelet is 
 an emerald surmounted by a monogram in diamonds of 
 two L's in the first, and a D and a B in the second, and two 
 padlocks of four brilliants ; a rope of one hundred and four 
 pearls . . . ; a portrait of Louis XV. painted by Masse, 
 surrounded by a frame of laurel leaves ; the said portrait 
 from five to six inches high ; another portrait of Louis XV. 
 painted by the same . . .
 
 258 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 " Two gold chandeliers, in the shape of torches mounted 
 on two golden shafts, enamelled with lapis lazuli, and 
 surmounted by two silver turtledoves, and by quivers and 
 arrows, made by Durand ; a gold case enamelled in green, 
 at the end of which is a little watch made by Romilly, 
 surrounded by four rows of diamonds, and on the back a 
 coat of arms ; sixty-four bezils in a single thread forming a 
 collar, of finely mounted diamonds, each weighing eight, nine 
 or ten grains . . . ; a portrait of Louis XIV. by Petitot ; 
 . . . a writing-case of superb old lacquer work, enriched with 
 gold, and containing gold writing requisites . . . ; two little 
 silver toilette candlesticks, with pearls and a crest ; a 
 box of rock crystal contained in another pierced box ; 
 Portuguese gold coins ; Spanish guineas and half guineas ; 
 a medal of the Noailles ; others of Louis XV., in each corner 
 of which are fleurs de lys ; others by Monsieur Bignon, by 
 Monsieur de la Michodiere, and by Monsieur Caumartin 
 with the arms of Paris ; one of the Regency . . . Two lorg- 
 nettes, one enamelled in blue, the other in red with the 
 portrait of the late King, both gold-mounted. A reliquary of 
 about an inch, of very pure gold, enamelled in black and 
 white, and set with a little cross . . ." 
 
 This list is but a portion of the dazzling mass of things 
 stolen from the Countess ; her caskets enshrined the 
 exquisite art of eighteenth century jewellery, with its 
 splendour of diamonds and purity of pearls. 
 
 The notice caused a great sensation, but many refused to 
 believe in the folly of making a display at this time, when the 
 wisest thing the nobility could do was to seek to be forgotten. 
 Madame Du Barry should have done so more than all, 
 because the people's accumulated hatred of abuses had 
 added much to the legend that had grown about her, and 
 Marat himself, their oracle, undertook to instruct the readers 
 of the Ami du peuple on the subject. 1 
 
 1 " Know that what the National Assembly costs the State during 
 a whole year, is not a quarter of what one of his favourite hussies 
 cost that old sinner, Louis XV. Look how he knuckled under to 
 Julienne (sic), the Du Barry who used to walk in the mud of the 
 streets. Ah 1 if you had seen her twenty years ago, covered with
 
 SUSPICIOUS NEIGHBOURS 259 
 
 The diamond robbery was followed by an outbreak of 
 threats directed against her ; she was denounced for her 
 great riches, " which we know well how she acquired," as 
 the journal, Les Revolutions de Paris wrote ; the author 
 continued with a remark, summing up the rumours current 
 in Louveciennes and Marly, that gave some rise to anxiety 
 in more than one quarter. " One need not hesitate to cast 
 some doubt on the truth of the theft ; owing to the threat 
 of a considerable reduction of her income, the said lady is 
 supposed to have been inspired with the notion of making 
 herself interesting by letting herself be thought to be the 
 victim of an afflicting mishap, thus securing for herself a claim 
 to the indulgence of the inexorable National Assembly." 
 From the beginning, therefore, Madame Du Barry's neigh- 
 bours were suspicious of the incident. Many were of the 
 opinion that the theft was an invention, among whom were 
 Zamore and Salanave ; and later these two servants of the 
 Countess gave evidence to that effect before the Revolu- 
 tionary Tribunal. 
 
 It is strange that Parker Forth, the English agent, should 
 have been concerned in the affair from the outset. He kept 
 up a close correspondence with Madame Du Barry, and paid 
 her frequent visits, once even staying the night with her. 
 His appearance on the scene complicates the story still 
 more, for at this time he was playing a most perplexing 
 part in France. England was by no means ignorant or 
 innocent of the first revolutionary outbreaks. Among the 
 crowd of agents, said to be in the pay of Pitt and sent by 
 him to stir up the people of Paris, Forth was from the earliest 
 thought to be the most formidable. On June 8, 1789, a 
 secretary of the Marquis de la Luzerne, Louis XVI. 's Am- 
 bassador in London, wrote to warn his government against 
 the actions of this dangerous spy : 
 
 The recent tumults in France are looked on with approval 
 
 diamonds ! Marry ! you should have seen her in the chateau of 
 Versailles, or pouring out the golden louis of the nation by basket- 
 fuls into the hands of her thieving relatives. . . ." (L'Ami du 
 Peuple, No. 277, November n, 1790, Discours aux infortunts.)
 
 260 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 here [in London], and further insurrection is hoped for. 
 The Sieur Forth, who has already been in France, at the 
 opening of the States-General, and who spent a fortnight 
 in London, disappeared a few days ago, and is said to be in 
 the country. England does not set much store by a few 
 thousand pounds sterling for bribing an incendiary or so, 
 by indirect means. If there are any people of that descrip- 
 tion in France and Monsieur Forth is there too, he is certainly 
 concerned in the intrigue. He always takes these subord- 
 inate parts, and is all the more to be feared because he does 
 not lack ability. 1 
 
 Such was the man who directed all Madame Du Barry's 
 movements, and who placed himself at her disposal both 
 in London and Paris in such a way that it is difficult to tell 
 when he was acting for her and when fulfilling his role as 
 secret agent. Naturally he was soon accused of having 
 engineered the Louveciennes robbery himself. 2 " Whatever 
 the trouble may be," said Greive, the implacable accuser 
 of the Countess, " this mysterious robbery has given her 
 an excuse for making several journeys to London, of which 
 the two Courts have apparently taken advantage to send 
 each other information, etc., without committing the crime 
 of emigration. . . . Such art and foresight are indeed 
 worthy of one schooled by that profound master of Machi- 
 avellism, Forth." 
 
 The judicial proceedings against the unknown thieves 
 were continued at Versailles as in Paris. All the Jewish 
 receivers of stolen goods were worried. But the Countess 
 
 1 Perth's political rdle both before and during the emigration 
 should be studied. The papers preserved by his family prove that 
 he lent the Princes sums of money which they never repaid. 
 
 1 One of Perth's letters is annotated by Greive as follows, in 
 Madame Du Barry's dossier : " Proof of her intrigues with Forth, 
 the famous English spy, who has intrigued against France ever since 
 1777, when Franklin was here, but especially since the Revolution. 
 . . . This is the Forth who presumably planned with her the 
 ham theft of diamonds at Louveciennes, to give her an excuse for 
 her journeys to London. Never was plot more deeply contrived. 
 Read Brissac's instructions to her, [?] and note the people she saw in 
 London." Perth's papers, as well as those of her trial, are sufficient 
 to render the theory of a previously planned theft untenable.
 
 THE ARREST OF THE THIEVES 261 
 
 remained outwardly calm and continued to live her life as 
 before. Brissac wrote her the following affectionate little 
 letter alluding to her misadventure : 
 
 Wednesday, February 2, 1791. 
 
 Come, dear heart, and take every precaution for the 
 safety of your plate and other precious things, if you have 
 any left. Yes, with you and your beauty, your kindness 
 and your magnanimity, I am quite unnerved, and feel 
 weaker even than you. And why should I not be so, when 
 I feel so lively an interest ? Farewell, and come soon. Is your 
 arrival known ? Did you not tell me that you would have 
 a supper-party this evening for ten or twelve people ? Give 
 me your commands quickly by the messenger, who will at 
 once return. Everything will be ready so that your orders 
 may be carried out. Farewell, I love you and embrace 
 you with all my heart. Till to-night. 
 
 Forth had the thieves arrested in London, and Madame 
 Du Barry heard the news on February 15 ; they were three 
 foreign Jews and one Frenchman, who wore the uniform of 
 the National Guard and said he was a broker. 1 They 
 maintained that they had bought the diamonds in Paris, but 
 found no means of proving their statement. The lawsuit 
 began, but was full of delays and complications and dragged 
 out for an interminable length of time. Madame Du Barry's 
 heirs tried later, but in vain, to regain possession of the 
 " diamonds, pearls and jewels " 2 in London, that had been 
 enumerated by her jeweller Rouen, the chief witness in the 
 case, who had accompanied her on her journeys. 
 
 Forth informed the Countess that her presence in England 
 was necessary for the identification of the stolen goods. 
 She immediately left France, accompanied by the aged 
 
 1 Archives of Seine-et-Oise. Besides the informer J. B. Level, 
 the thieves were one Harris, called Abraham, Simon Joseph, Jacob 
 Moses, and Joseph Abraham. They were accused by the great 
 London diamond-merchant Leon, called Simon, who saw Forth 
 on February 10. 
 
 ' " Supposed to be stolen," said Rouen, as if he doubted the 
 reality of the theft in his declaration on " the gth day of the 2nd 
 decade of year 2 of the Republic."
 
 262 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 Chevalier d'Escourre, the Duke de Brissac's aide-de-camp, 1 
 a waiting-woman, two footmen, one valet, and the jeweller 
 Rouen. At Calais she was joined by Forth, and on February 
 19 they left Boulogne. 2 She stayed in London in an hotel 
 in Jermyn Street, kept by Grenier, the Duke d'Orleans' 
 former cook. 
 
 " Madame du Barry is come over to recover her jewels, of 
 which she has been robbed," wrote Horace Walpole to Miss 
 Berry on February 26, 1791, " not by the National Assembly, 
 but by four Jews who have been seized here and committed 
 to Newgate." And he added : " Though the late Lord 
 Barrymore acknowledged her husband to be of his noble 
 blood, will she own the present Earl for a relation, when she 
 finds him turned strolling player ? " 
 
 The Countess saw very few people during this first stay 
 in London ; but Madame de Calonne and Forth scarcely 
 ever left her, according to Blache, a French spy, who kept 
 careful watch on her movements, much to her future harm. 
 She was summoned to appear before the Lord Mayor, and 
 affirmed on oath that the diamonds were hers. Boydell, 
 the Lord Mayor, Walpole wrote, was " a little better bred 
 than Monsieur Bailly," and " made excuses for being 
 obliged to administer the oath chez lui, but begged she 
 would name her hour ; and, when she did so, he fetched her 
 himself in his state-coach, and had a Mayoroyal banquet 
 ready for her." 3 
 
 1 The Chevalier d'Escourre lost his life because of this journey, 
 and the ones after it, for he was executed as Madame Du Barry's 
 accomplice. 
 
 1 An autograph note by Madame Du Barry on her journeys to 
 England, quoted by Vatel. Forth kept a diary which is in the pos- 
 session of his family. We have kindly been allowed to make extracts 
 relevant to the affair of the theft : " February n, long letter to 
 Mr. Rouen, giving a circumstantial account of the recovery of 
 Madame Du Barry's Diamonds. 15. Confession of Harris. 16. 
 Set off to Dover. 17. Arrive Boulogne at 9, Madame Du Barry at 
 10 night. 18. Letter to Rouen. 19. Cross to Dover. 21. Dine 
 Du Barry, Consultation at Baldwins. 22. Meeting at Ham. Dine 
 D. B. 24. Examination of prisoners." 
 
 * Some days later Walpole corrected his information ; the Lord 
 Mayor had not fetched the Countess in his coach, but only kept her 
 to dinner.
 
 THE VISIT TO ENGLAND 263 
 
 The Countess left London with Forth on March i, her 
 lawsuit not even opened, and on the 4th she was back at 
 Louveciennes. 1 Had she already some commission to carry 
 out, and if so for which party ? The policy of the Count 
 d'Artois now deviated from that of the Tuileries, for the 
 Queen was strongly opposed to the proceedings of her 
 brother-in-law's counsellors, Conde and Calonne. Was 
 Madame Du Barry given instructions by the wife of the 
 latter ? Was she the bearer of information for the Royal 
 Family, who had been contemplating flight ever since the 
 civil Constitution of the Clergy ? It is impossible to suggest 
 any kind of answer to these questions. On April 4, a month 
 after her return, Madame Du Barry again left for England, 
 with a passport which she obtained from the minister 
 Montmorin. 
 
 She said that she went to unravel a difficulty that had 
 arisen in her lawsuit. What is certain is that she was 
 provided by the counter-revolutionary bankers Vandenyver,* 
 of Paris, with an unlimited letter of credit on Messrs. P. 
 Simon and J. Hankey of London. Her presence did not 
 prevent the release of the thieves, while her jewels were 
 sealed up and deposited in a bank. 3 
 
 On the other hand, her intercourse with Forth and the 
 emigres was closer than ever. That she was the bearer of 
 correspondence is shown by the following unsigned letter, 
 which escaped her destruction of the papers that might 
 compromise her. She received it, on the eve of her departure, 
 from Monsieur d'Angiviller, who still officiated as Director 
 of the Office of Works, but who was arranging to leave France 
 in consequence of threatened danger : 
 
 1 The dates noted by the Countess may be verified by refer- 
 ence to Forth's journal: "March i. Set off Dover at 9 with 
 Madame Du Barry, arrive at 7. 4. Arrive at Paris, Hotel Brissac, 
 at 10." 
 
 * The bankers had dealt with the Countess since 1789, contrary 
 to the declaration made by the elder Vandenyver, in his evidence, 
 on the nth Brumaire, Year II. 
 
 The bank was that of Messrs. Ransom, Morland and Hammers, 
 Pall Mall.
 
 264 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 April 13. 
 
 I am in despair at not being able to wait on Madame la 
 Comtesse for her commands. But I am expected elsewhere, 
 and it is quite impossible for me to have the honour of seeing 
 her. My wife's prayers and mine follow her on her path and 
 accompany her return. Will she be so kind as to take 
 charge of this letter ? There is no address, but Madame la 
 Countess knows to whom it should be delivered. 
 
 I beg her to accept my most sincere and devoted homage. 1 
 
 The secret letter confided to her care was for Madame de 
 Calonne. During this second stay, which was very short, 
 she lived in Margaret Street, near Oxford Circus. She was 
 made very welcome, and in the drawing-rooms of the exiles 
 joined gatherings that were a France in miniature, with all 
 the graceful elegance of that country. Vandenyver's letter 
 of credit made it possible for her to buy two English horses, 
 as well as to exercise liberality on many occasions which 
 find no mention in her accounts. She returned to France 
 on the 2ist, only to leave for England again two days later ; 
 an express which she received on the very night of her 
 arrival forced her immediately to retrace her steps. 
 
 Though the Countess may have meddled with politics 
 when abroad, her amusements were not allowed to suffer ; 
 but for a few days after her arrival she was compelled to 
 keep her room owing to the effects of the crossing. Her 
 indisposition is referred to in a note to Mrs. Boydell, the 
 Lady Mayoress. 
 
 Monday, April 25. 
 
 The Countess Du Barry has the honour to send the Lady 
 Mayoress her compliments, and to express her regret at not 
 being able to be present at her dinner-party, which she would 
 have much enjoyed. The Countess Du Barry has waited 
 until now in the hope that the pain in her throat, from which 
 she suffers, would be gone ; but she sees with concern that 
 
 1 Madame Du Barry's examination makes it possible to identify 
 this letter. Monsieur d'Angiviller was attacked on the subject of his 
 administration, honest though it was, and left France during the 
 following month. He went to Italy and ended his life in Hamburg ; 
 his wife could not decide to follow him, and stayed at Versailles, 
 where she died in 1808.
 
 FRIENDS IN LONDON 265 
 
 she must abstain from the pleasure of seeing the Lady 
 Mayoress to-day. The Countess Du Barry begs My Lady to 
 remember her to the Lord Mayor. 
 
 The Countess turned to various people for help in her 
 affairs. She obtained a recommendation to the Lord 
 Chancellor ; she wrote to Lord Hawkesbury, who obligingly 
 placed himself at her service, but did not conceal from her 
 that the laws of his country " forbade any judge, even the 
 Chancellor himself, to interfere with the actual course of a 
 trial." Otherwise she did not permit her troubles to disturb 
 the agreeable life she chose to lead. It was not long before 
 she took part in all entertainments and receptions. She 
 saw the Tower and Westminster, attended divine services 
 in St. Paul's Cathedral, danced at Vauxhall, and was seen 
 at Ranelagh, which was " among the most striking gardens 
 to be seen in Europe." 
 
 She entertained several Englishmen and emigres at 
 dinner and card-parties. She was on the best of terms with 
 Mrs. Hobart, who was soon to become Countess of Bucking- 
 hamshire ; she visited Sans-souci, the country house of this 
 fair lady, who was said to have made " as many conquests 
 as the King of Prussia." She became an intimate friend 
 of Mrs. Sturt, to whom she sent later the most delightful 
 letters, full of sweet memories, that led to charming answers 
 telling her how much London had appreciated her " wit and 
 good-humour." 
 
 Towards the end of June, Madame Du Barry witnessed 
 the arrival of her friend Calonne, whom the Count de 
 Provence had sent from Coblenz, to ask Pitt for help or at 
 least for his neutrality. This was after the flight to Varennes, 
 and the King's brothers, being again united, dreamt only 
 of seeing France invaded by confederated Europe ; there 
 was little to be won from England, who would have nothing 
 to do with the struggle unless she could thereby further her 
 own interests. But the affair in which Madame Du Barry 
 intervened was of less importance than the Revolutionary 
 Tribunal thought, even though she probably placed her 
 improvised salon and her English connections at the
 
 266 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 service of Monsieur de Calonne while he was carrying out 
 his task. 
 
 Madame Du Barry stayed on in London after his departure, 
 and during this time Cosway, the great miniature-painter, 
 made the last known portrait of her. She looks small and 
 dainty in spite of her age, because of the heavy ringlets 
 framing her face ; the expression of her long blue eyes is 
 caressing, the lips are pouted for a kiss. She is wearing a 
 white dress, which is only sketched in, and has a collar of 
 rose pearls about her neck. How little does her face show 
 of the torment she had endured ! Indeed she lived only 
 for the moment ; the past weighed lightly on her, and the 
 future gave her no anxiety, for she had the serenity and the 
 calmness of those who are always adored. 
 
 In Paris, meanwhile, Monsieur de Brissac longed for her, 
 and perhaps trembled for the life of his love ; she too dreamt 
 of her dear home, and her eagerness to return may be 
 divined from the pressing commands she gave her servants. 1 
 At last she arrived, on August 25, 1791, escorted, as ever, 
 by Forth, 2 whom, imprudent that she was, she had no fear 
 
 1 These letters of the month of July, quoted by the Goncourts and 
 Vatel, are full of instructions to Morin, and the other servants. 
 " I am miserable enough in being far from my home and my friends 
 in a country which, whatever one may say, does not equal what 
 France was before the disturbances that trouble her. I approve 
 of Morin's plan to put my things in safety ; he should ask the Duke's 
 advice, but carefully so that no one may suspect. . . . Morin 
 must tell Mademoiselle Roussel to put all my lace, which is in the 
 cupboard in the chapel, in a trunk together with all that can be 
 stolen or burnt, so that they may be safe from all kinds of attack. 
 . . . I hope we shall not be reduced to such extremity, but we 
 must be prepared for all. With extreme grief I realise that I must 
 stay here until August 14, because my rascal thieves will not be 
 judged until the end of the month. . . ." She thought of all 
 the minute affairs of Louveciennes, of all the little debts to be dealt 
 with by Morin, concerning which she wrote that " the Duke had 
 sent him the money for paying them off." She asked that Madame 
 de Vougny, for whom Brissac was to procure a passport, should be 
 given bottles of essence of vulnerary, of orange-flowers, of cherry- 
 blossom, and " some of my pots of preserves, made last year, if 
 there are any left. . . ."to bring her in England. 
 
 * Madame Du Barry admitted her return with Forth, in her 
 examination. In Forth's diary may be read : " August 25. Arrive
 
 MADAME I>T HARRY 
 from a miniature by CoSTvay
 
 A DANGEROUS UNDERTAKING 267 
 
 of allowing to stay with her. But what changes had Paris 
 known since her departure ! what tide of mad happenings 
 that nothing now could stem ! Brisssac had lost all illusion 
 and in his heart already mourned the end of royalty. 
 
 Madame Du Barry rejoiced to find herself once more 
 " on the hill " of her long-deserted Louveciennes. And 
 visitors came from every quarter for news of relatives 
 and friends, whom they had thought would be not long 
 away, but whom they now feared that they would not see 
 again until the disturbances were over. The Countess was 
 beloved by all for showing such courage and kindness ; 
 they knew she was once more going to undertake the perilous 
 journey to comfort the exiles and bring them financial help. 
 
 In the meanwhile her home was held to be the safest 
 place for their gatherings ; select little dinner-parties were 
 very frequent. The Countess ordered at this time a large 
 marble group of Beauty disarming Love for her gardens, 
 and the following note from Monsieur de Brissac written 
 one day after the King had been hunting, is sufficient proof 
 that life at Louveciennes had, in spite of the political ac- 
 tivities of its mistress, resumed its peaceful course : 
 
 Monday, October 3, 1791. 
 
 My little dauphin has gone ; I have no spectacles, so I 
 only write you a single word, which includes all : I love 
 you for ever, in spite of the envious old people. To-morrow 
 I dine with you, and I shall bring Madame de Banville, the 
 Abbe Billiardy and Monsieur Le Goust. We rode eight 
 leagues, and the King shot three pheasants ; my breakfast 
 had to serve for dinner too. I love you and embrace you 
 with all my heart. I have just made a blot, for which I beg 
 your pardon. There is no news. 
 
 Monsieur Bertrand, formerly Lord-Lieutenant of Rennes, 
 has been appointed Secretary of State for the Navy. 
 
 at Paris at 10. 26. See Duke of Brissac. Arrive at Luciennes 
 at 9. 27. See Luciennes. D. Brissac and others dine. 28. id., 
 id. 29. Come to Paris." Forth spent September in Paris, in 
 October he went to Versailles to give evidence in the robbery trial ; 
 on November 3 he wrote : " Adieu, D. B. and D. de Brissac, d* 
 Armaille, etc."
 
 268 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 But circumstances kept Madame Du Barry in France for 
 many long months, months of anguish and torment, during 
 which she had heart to think of none but Brissac, whose 
 days were thenceforth numbered. The arrest of the King 
 at Varennes signalised the defeat of the monarchy. The 
 Assembly completed its Constitution and made changes 
 in all administrative and judicial institutions, but allowed 
 the Royal Army to remain in its entirety. Only the 
 military households of the King and Princes were dis- 
 banded and were replaced by a Constitutional Guard, inde- 
 pendently of the Guard of Honour. This Guard numbered 
 at the most twelve hundred infantry, and six hundred 
 cavalry to be chosen by the King and paid out of the funds 
 of the Civil List. 
 
 As the head of this body Louis XVI. appointed the Duke 
 de Brissac, on whose fidelity and bravery he could rely, but 
 to whom the honour was to prove fatal. The Constitu- 
 tional Guard was suspected from the first of being too 
 devoted to the King. It consisted only of nobles and counter- 
 revolutionaries, who were said to be ready to turn traitor 
 the moment their chief gave the signal. " The Du Barry 
 was given the task of sounding the opinions of those who 
 sought admission to its ranks," * said the persecutors of 
 the Countess, later on. One of them declared before the 
 Revolutionary Tribunal that he had read in a letter that 
 " the new bodyguards were introduced to the Du Barry, so 
 that they might give expression to their devotion to the 
 person of the King." 2 
 
 No doubt some of the officers, who wanted to serve under 
 the Duke of Brissac, made application to his mistress. A 
 letter found among her papers shows that she was not 
 thought to be without influence. 
 
 Versailles, the 28th. 
 
 We have been playing a game of hide-and-seek, Madame 
 la Comtesse ; I went to Marly partly for the honour of seeing 
 you, and you were away from Luciennes ; I went to Paris 
 
 1 Fouquier-Tinville's notes. Vatel, Vol. Ill, p. 262. 
 Evidence of Blache. Vatel, Vol. III., p. 278.
 
 DE BRISSAC'S ARREST 269 
 
 and sent to the hotel de Brissac, but you had just started 
 back for Luciennes. I hope you will be so kind as to give 
 me an interview before you leave for England, so that I 
 may for a moment enjoy the pleasure of seeing and hearing 
 you. In the meantime, I should like to give you an oppor- 
 tunity of satisfying your love of doing good by recommend- 
 ing to your notice a man, who has no fortune and a charming 
 wife. The Revolution has made him leave his regiment. 
 His petition will inform you of his desires. I beseech you to 
 be so kind as to use your influence with the Duke de Brissac 
 on his behalf. I shall be infinitely obliged to you. 
 
 I have the honour to be, Madame la Comtesse, your most 
 humble and devoted servant, 
 
 Du Bourdic, nee Baronne De 1'Estang. 
 
 Some dissatisfied members of the regiment soon informed 
 the Legislative Assembly of the Royalist spirit among them, 
 and the number of both signed and anonymous denuncia- 
 tions greatly increased. Suspicion was rife, moreover, for 
 the cause of Louis XVI. had become that of every King, 
 and foreign troops were invading the frontiers. During the 
 sitting of May 29, 1792, the Assembly heard a report by 
 Basire, and declared in consequence that there were 
 grounds of complaint against the Commander-in-Chief of 
 the Constitutional Guard. The corps was forthwith dis- 
 banded. 
 
 The warrant was issued on the 3ist at one o'clock in the 
 morning ; the Duke de Brissac was accused of treason and 
 summoned to appear before the High Court sitting at 
 Orleans. " I hastened to inform the King and Queen, who 
 were in bed," wrote the Duke de Choiseul afterwards ; 
 " they sent me to Monsieur de Brissac's rooms to propose 
 to him means of flight, and to give him certain confidential 
 advice. He was in bed ; I gave him my message, and 
 warned him that he would perhaps be notified of the warrant 
 within two hours, and begged him to take advantage of the 
 time left him. His age and his confidence in his innocence 
 prevented him from accepting ; and I must say that the 
 only thing he did was to write a long letter to Madame Du 
 Barry, which he sent to Luciennes by his aide-de-camp,
 
 270 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 young Maussabre". His only thought, his only care, were 
 for Madame Du Barry." 
 
 We have a relic of these tragic moments in a note, written 
 by Madame Du Barry in passionate haste, before she knew 
 the decision of the Assembly, for the letter was never sent 
 and was found among her papers : 
 
 Wednesday, n o'clock. 
 
 I was seized with mortal terror, Monsieur le Due, when 
 Monsieur de Maussabre was announced ; he assured me 
 that you were well, and were calm with the tranquillity that 
 comes of a good conscience. But that cannot satisfy me ; 
 I am far from you, and do not know what you intend to do ; 
 you will say you do not know yourself. I shall send the 
 Abbe to find out what happens and what you are doing ; 
 why am I not near you ? I should endeavour to console 
 you with my faithful, tender love. I know you have 
 nothing to fear, if only the assembly is governed by reason 
 and good faith. Farewell, I have no time to write more. 
 The Abb6 has come to my room and I want to send him off 
 with all speed. I cannot be calm until I hear what becomes 
 of you. I am certain you have not transgressed in any way 
 in forming the King's Guard, so that I fear nothing for you 
 from that side. Your conduct has been so blameless at the 
 Tuileries that you can be accused of nothing. Indeed, your 
 patriotic actions have been so many that I cannot see what 
 they can find to attack. Farewell. Let me hear from you, 
 and have no doubts as to my feelings. 1 
 
 On the morning after his arrest, the Countess read the 
 long farewell love-letter that Brissac wrote to her during 
 the night. Her despair may be imagined. At that very 
 hour the Duke was being transferred to Orleans. For 
 two days she anxiously waited for news, and at last on 
 June 2, a letter came from Monsieur de Maussabr that 
 allayed her terrible misgivings : 
 
 1 Madame Du Barry, when questioned as to this letter during her 
 trial, said she had not sent it, because one of the Duke's men had 
 brought her news of him. The Abbe of whom she spoke was their 
 friend the Abbe Beliardi (often called Billiardi), formerly a clerk in 
 the Foreign Office.
 
 AN ANXIOUS DAUGHTER 271 
 
 Paris, June 2. 
 Madame la Comtesse, 
 
 I hasten to send you a letter from Monsieur de 
 Brissac, which will inform you that he arrived at his des- 
 tination without suffering the slightest accident. I should 
 have brought it you myself, if I had not had several import- 
 ant commissions to carry out ; as soon as I have finished 
 them, I shall set out for Luciennes to tell you of several 
 important details which you ought to know. Until then, 
 permit me, Madame la Comtesse, to have the honour of 
 offering you my respects, with which I have the honour 
 to be 
 
 Your most humble and obedient servant, 
 
 Maussabre. 
 
 There was another woman who lived in mortal anxiety 
 for the life of the Duke de Brissac, and that was his daughter, 
 the Duchess de Mortemart, who had heard only of his 
 arrest. She was ill, and far from France, for she had followed 
 her husband when he emigrated, and her separation from her 
 father but aggravated her fears. From Spa, where she was 
 taking the waters, she wrote to Madame Du Barry, whom 
 she already believed to be in Orleans, having perfect faith 
 in her devotion : 
 
 June 5. 
 
 Do you recognise my writing, Madame, which you have 
 not seen for three years ? That was a sad time when you 
 last saw it, and now the time is even sadder to your friend- 
 ship and my feelings. Ah ! how I have suffered these last 
 two days ! His courage and firmness, the praise with which 
 he is loaded, the concern he rouses in all, his innocence, 
 nothing can calm my terrified imagination. Monsieur de 
 
 and I wanted to leave the day before yesterday, but 
 
 several people of weight have prevented us. They thought 
 such a step dangerous to my husband, and of no use to 
 my father ; they said that as an emigre he might even influ- 
 ence people against him. But I, Madame, could not I be 
 of some service to him ? Can I not hope to see him ? How 
 can they make a crime of a sick woman taking the waters, 
 a crime reflecting on her father ? I do not believe they can, 
 and what else have I to fear ? If you think I can help him in
 
 272 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 any way, whether in Paris or at Orleans, be so kind as to 
 tell me, and I fly there. Are there any means of hearing of 
 him, of communicating with him ? Tell me, I beseech you, 
 and I will hasten to employ them. A man, whom perhaps 
 you do not know, informs me you have left for Orleans. 1 
 Do not take it ill if I say that such a sign of devotion to one 
 so dear to me has given you an eternal claim on my heart, 
 and I beg you to accept the assurance of my lifelong regard 
 for you. 
 
 I trust that you will excuse my cutting short the compli- 
 ments that end a letter, and I pray you to grant me the same 
 mark of friendship. I send this letter to some safe person in 
 Paris, who I hope will have it delivered to you without 
 accident. Pardon my scrawl. 
 
 Monsieur de Brissac was destined never to see his beloved 
 daughter again. Madame Du Barry replied to her touching 
 letter with the advice not to attempt crossing the frontier. 
 In the meantime the prisoner was kept in solitary confine- 
 ment until June 14, when the deed of accusation reached the 
 High Court. After that his mistress was allowed to visit 
 him. Every day she sent him a letter by the hands of her 
 coachman, Augustin, and received long replies in return. 
 
 The Duke was confined in the old convent of Minimes, 
 rue Illiers, and occupied cell no. 8, Monsieur de Lessart, the 
 ex-Minister for Foreign Affairs, having given it up to him 
 as the most healthy. He was allowed one single servant. 
 " Prisoners are only allowed to receive those who have 
 obtained permission to enter, in their respective rooms," 
 ran one of the prison regulations. There for the last time 
 the Duke de Brissac had the joy of seeing the Countess, 
 for she availed herself more than once of the facilities for 
 travel and permissions to enter that were granted her. 
 
 Mesdames de Mortemart and Du Barry felt less anxiety 
 as to the fate of the prisoner, after the King's exhibition 
 of firmness on June 20, 1792. The Royalists seemed to 
 have won certain advantages, and the Duke's beloved 
 daughter wrote to the Countess in more hopeful terms : 
 
 1 The name is obliterated. The dash a little higher up is used 
 instead of M. de Mortemart.
 
 DE BRISSAC'S EQUANIMITY 273 
 
 June 23. 
 
 I am infinitely grateful to you, Madame, for the news you 
 have been so kind as to give me. As your letter was de- 
 layed, I only got it at the same time as one from my father 
 himself, which gave me great joy. I have since learnt that 
 he has been examined, and is no longer kept in solitary 
 confinement, which is as satisfactory as a prisoner may ex- 
 pect. In spite of his acknowledged innocence, I fear the 
 proceedings will take a long time, and I should indeed be 
 happy if I could be of some use or comfort to him during his 
 captivity. For some days we have been anxious about 
 Paris ; people seem to fear further trouble. The Duke of 
 Brunswick's arrival at Coblenz and the money are expected 
 with the same impatience. They said this evening that the 
 French were beaten at Menin, but I refuse to believe it. 
 Several small detachments are marching there to surround 
 them and cut off then- return to France, but they will surely 
 extricate themselves from their position successfully. After 
 your advice and that of several others, I shall continue with 
 my waters, which are most malodorous, and cause both 
 fever and scurvy ; one can but piously believe that they are 
 all for the best, like the foul weather we have had for two 
 months. Above all one must have patience, which is a 
 great remedy. Farewell, Madame, and pardon my scrawls ; 
 be assured of my sincere and life-long devotion. 
 
 At Minimes Monsieur de Brissac took an interest in his 
 fellow-captives ; he had the ruined refectory of the old 
 convent fitted up for games of shuttlecock for the amuse- 
 ment of the prisoners. He himself studied geography and 
 had maps bound together for him ; Madame Du Barry sent 
 him books and all that he wished for, by a daily messenger. 
 
 At the frontiers the situation was becoming serious, and 
 the Brunswick manifesto violently excited the feelings of 
 the people of Paris. The mob guessed at Louis XVI. 's 
 complicity and bore him even more ill-will than they did the 
 enemy. On August 10 Brissac learnt of the Tuileries 
 massacre and the incarceration of the Royal Family in the 
 Temple ; the news foreshadowed his own early death, and 
 the very same day he made his will. He made Madame de 
 Mortemart sole legatee, and after having set forth his last
 
 274 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 wishes as head of the family, he added : "I also earnestly 
 recommend to her a person who is very dear to me, and whom 
 these unfortunate times may place in the greatest distress. 
 I send my daughter a codicil which will inform her of my 
 wishes in the matter." The codicil arranged for all with 
 intuitive foresight : 
 
 I give and bequeath to Madame Du Barry, of Louveciennes, 
 hi addition to what I owe her, an annual income for life of 
 24,000 livres, clear and exempt from all charges, or else 
 the revenue and use during her life of my estates of La 
 Rambaudiere and Le Gramniere in Poitou, with the furnish- 
 ing thereof, or else the sum of 300,000 livres paid at once in 
 cash, whichever she may prefer. ... I beg her to 
 accept this small token of my gratitude and affection, which 
 I owe her all the more because I was the unintentional 
 cause of her losing her diamonds. ... I beg my 
 daughter to make her accept them . . . , my wish being 
 that all my other legacies should wait until this one has been 
 fulfilled. 
 
 Written and signed by my own hand, at Orleans, this 
 nth day of August, 1792. 
 
 Louis-Hercule-Timoleon De Cosse-Brissac. 1 
 
 At the same time the Duke wrote the following note to 
 the Countess, who, he knew, would be in despair : 
 
 Orleans, Saturday, August n. 
 
 I received this morning a most charming letter, and one 
 that has pleased me more than any I have had for a long 
 time. I thank you for it. I kiss you a thousand and a 
 thousand times ; you will indeed be my last thought. We 
 know nothing of the details. I groan, I shudder. Ah ! 
 dear heart ! why am I not alone with you in a desert ? 
 But as I can only be at Orleans, a very wearisome place, I 
 kiss you a thousand and a thousand times. Farewell, dear 
 heart. So far the town is quiet. 2 
 
 1 This codicil was brought up later on the occasion of the lawsuit 
 between Madame Du Barry's heirs and those of Cosse-Brissac. 
 
 * Greive, who made notes on this letter as on most of the others, 
 underlined Brissac's last phrase, and remarked : "So he was hoping 
 for a disturbance."
 
 A TERRIBLE DEATH 275 
 
 The Countess wept at Louveciennes, as did Madame de 
 Mortemart at Spa. Danger seemed imminent ; pamphlets 
 were putting a price on the head of Brissac, " formerly 
 Governor of Paris, formerly Commander-in-Chief of the 
 Du Barry's amusements and of the Royal Guard, and 
 traitor to the nation. ... A fine windfall indeed for 
 the National High Court ! A reward of 12,000 livres to 
 him who can forestall an accident and make another Saint 
 Denis of Monsieur Timoleon Cosse-Brissac." l 
 
 The juxtaposition of their names cast more than suspicion 
 on Madame Du Barry ; she suffered still more from the 
 effects of a search made at Louveciennes by a detachment 
 of the National Guard, who were scouring the environs of 
 Paris for conspirators. 2 She was just then sheltering 
 Monsieur de Maussabre, who had taken part in the defence 
 of the Tuileries on August 10, and who in his illness and 
 trouble was being cared for by the Countess. When the 
 Guards came she maintained that no one besides her own 
 household was there. But soon they found the young 
 aide-de-camp hidden behind a bed. In vain she sought 
 to deprive them of their prey, but her sobs and cries 
 were of no avail against the drunken fury of the sans- 
 culottes. 3 
 
 Monsieur de Maussabre was confined in the Abbaye, where 
 he met with a terrible death some days later, during the 
 September massacres. In terror of the mob who streamed 
 into the prison he had sought refuge in a chimney ; " straw 
 was burnt under him to suffocate him and make him come 
 down ; it made him fall and he was shot without being 
 
 1 Tetes d prix, a pamphlet quoted by Vatel, Vol. III., p. 169. 
 
 1 See Xavier Audouin's evidence (Vatel, Vol. III., p. 261) ; he 
 said that at this time " the house at Luciennes was full of the former 
 noblemen of the Court." 
 
 1 " They found an unfortunate youth of eighteen years lying ill in 
 bed, handsome, brave, zealous and sensitive, young Maussabre, 
 who was related to many a great French family, and M. de Brissac's 
 former aide-de-camp. . . . They seized him, for this was their last 
 day of marauding, and they wanted at least one prisoner. . . ." 
 (J. Peltier, Recit historique de la Revolution du 10 aout, London, 1793. 
 Vol. II., p. 209.)
 
 276 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 heard." Madame Du Barry was told the dreadful story by 
 Monsieur d'Escourre. 
 
 But at the time she was trembling for a life more dear to 
 her. In view of the need for recalling to Paris the National 
 Guards garrisoned at Orleans, the Assembly decreed on 
 September 2, 1792, that the prisoners of the High Court 
 should be transferred to the chateau of Saumur. Eighteen 
 hundred men were sent as their escort and guard under the 
 command of Fournier, the American. This sinister creature 
 began by allowing his men to plunder the possessions of his 
 charges, and then, in defiance of his orders, he set out, not 
 for Saumur, but for Paris. The fifty-three prisoners were 
 conveyed in ten carts, with only straw on which to sit. 
 They left Orleans on September 3, to cries of : " Down with 
 the conspirators ! Down with the traitors ! " On the 
 6th, they halted for the day at Etampes ; at Arpajon they 
 stayed a night. As they came nearer to Versailles, the 
 hostility of the people became more and more threatening. 
 " Death to the nobles ! " was cried on every side, and calm, 
 handsome Brissac, distinguished from his companions for 
 his height, was attacked more than all. He was in the third 
 cart, and wore a blue suit with gold buttons, and riding boots. 
 
 The faithful Escourre was the first to give the Countess 
 news of this journey : 
 
 Paris, September 6, 1792. 
 
 The Orleans prisoners will be at Versailles to-morrow. 
 Two men have been sent by the Commune to meet them, and 
 to tell the National Guard bringing them that it has already 
 broken the law and must be responsible for what may happen 
 to the prisoners, who ought to be judged legally. We must 
 hope that they will arrive safe and sound, and that by gaining 
 time their lives will be saved. Moreover, the Assembly is 
 weary of bloodshed, and is suggesting an amnesty ; the 
 sacrifice would not be very great, considering that no one is 
 guilty. . . . 
 
 I have received ten letters from Orleans for the deputies, 
 begging them to prevent the dangers that threaten the 
 unfortunate Orleans prisoners, who, they say, will be mur- 
 dered on their arrival. I delivered them at once. When
 
 MURDER OF DE BRISSAC 277 
 
 Madame de Maurepas heard of the transference of the Duke 
 she wished at once to go to the Assembly, but she was 
 prevented. She has written to Danton and to the Abb6 
 Fauchet. Madame de Flamarens and I took the letters, 
 which have roused the lively interest of the Abbe Fauchet. 
 . . . I am depressed, body and soul, and shall have no 
 peace until I know that the Duke is at Versailles, if one can 
 get there ; I shall send there if I cannot go. You should send 
 too, but above all be careful to avoid any action that may 
 become public and prejudice people against you. 1 
 
 At about one o'clock in the afternoon the procession 
 reached the gates of Versailles. The mob pressed forward 
 threateningly to meet the prisoners, for then- hatred had 
 been stirred up still more by the long delay. " They entered 
 the town by Petit-Montreuil, crossed the Place d'Armes, 
 went down the rue de la Surintendance, seeming to be 
 going in the direction of the rue de I'Orangerie." The 
 Council of the Commune had, as a matter of fact, decided 
 to shut them up in the cages of the old menagerie in the 
 Park, a proceeding " which would have the advantage of 
 satisfying popular censure, as well as of weakening the mob's 
 feelings of hatred, by replacing them with those of con- 
 tempt." 
 
 But the furious crowd shouted, " Give us at least Brissac 
 and Lessart ! " One of them closed the gates of the town. 
 The unfortunate prisoners had to turn back, and by the 
 fountain of Quatre-Bornes they encountered the savage 
 mob. The troops withdrew, and they were attacked with 
 swords and pikes and bayonets. Brissac defended himself 
 with a knife, and then with a cudgel ; he received terrible 
 wounds in the face, "on nose and mouth and forehead," 
 but he fought to the very end. 
 
 At Louveciennes Madame Du Barry anxiously watched 
 at her windows for the return of her messengers. Every 
 hour that passed added to her anguish ; evening came and 
 
 1 It would be surprising that the Duchess de Brissac made no use, 
 in her account of the Duke's last days, of a letter so important as 
 this, if the same omission had not been made of all papers relating 
 to his liaison with Madame du Barry.
 
 278 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 she scarcely dared imagine the terrible truth, when the 
 ira announced the arrival of a strange procession to 
 the village. Ragged men came, bearing a blood-stained 
 trophy at the point of a pike ; it was the head of Brissac, 
 and they hurled it with insults into the poor woman's 
 salon. 1 
 
 " Since that day, Monsieur," she said to a friend some 
 time afterwards, " I have been in misery, as you may well 
 imagine. Thus was that terrible crime consummated, 
 which has made me so unhappy and filled my life with 
 eternal grief ! In the midst of the horrible happenings 
 around me I retain my health. One does not die of grief. 
 I am deeply moved, Monsieur, by your interest, which 
 would soften my misery, if I did not feel it every moment. 
 I heard news of your wife to-day, and suppose she will 
 soon come to see me. I expect her with impatience ; there 
 is consolation in meeting with people who share our senti- 
 ments, and I regret every moment I spend away from 
 them." 2 
 
 Madame Du Barry wrote also to another woman who had 
 been dear to the murdered man. Brissac's exiled daughter 
 could not be reconciled to his fate ; his horrible end had 
 inflicted lasting injury on her soul : 
 
 No one can feel more than I, Madame, the extent of the 
 loss you have sustained. I flatter myself that you do not 
 mistake the motive which has withheld me from writing to 
 you before and mingling my tears with yours. The fear of 
 increasing your grief prevented me from speaking of it. 
 Mine is at its height ; a career that should have been [so] 
 fine, so glorious ! And what an end ! Great God ! The 
 last wish of your most unfortunate father, Madame, was 
 that I should cherish you like a sister ; the wish is too much 
 in accordance with my feelings for me not to carry it out. 
 
 1 The Courrier Franqais of September 15, 1792, wrote : " They 
 say that Monsieur de Brissac's head was carried to Luciennes and 
 left in Madame du Barry's salon." Vatel, after quoting the words, 
 adds simply that " some years ago a skull was found in the gardens, 
 which had been buried near the road leading to Prunay." 
 
 * This letter was perhaps written to Monsieur de Neuville, a 
 relative of the Countess.
 
 A BROKEN HEART 279 
 
 Rest assured thereof and do not doubt my life-long devotion 
 and attachment. 1 
 
 Madame de Mortemart replied with the same expressions 
 of grief : 
 
 September 30. 
 
 This morning, Madame, I received your letter of September 
 22. I must thank you for the good it did me, for it has 
 lessened the misery of my heart, and given me the relief of 
 tears. A score of times have I sat pen in hand, to write to 
 you of my grief, to tell you of my bruised, my broken heart, 
 to say how, since the fatal day when he left Paris, I have 
 suffered, and still suffer more than I can express. But I 
 thought wisest to delay writing to you until I could restrain 
 some of the feelings of my heart, a heart that would fain pour 
 out its misery to you, who share my unhappiness. 
 
 The last wish of him whom I love and regret for ever, is 
 also my own heart's wish ; I shall love you like a sister, 
 and my devotion will be life-long. His least desire is to 
 me a sacred command, and I trust to be able to carry out all 
 that he expressed, or would have expressed, hi his last 
 moments, and shall spare nothing in so doing. 
 
 Pardon my scrawl ; I have such pain in my head that 
 my sight suffers. 
 
 Pray accept, Madame, the assurance of my sincere and 
 eternal friendship. 
 
 1 In the National Archives; the rough copy of the letter was 
 pinned to the original of the reply by Madame du Barry herself.
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 THE LAST DAYS OF A FAIR CONSPIRATOR 
 
 Madame Du Barry's fourth Journey to London Her new Connect- 
 ions among the Emigres Her Return to Louveciennes The 
 Duke de Rohan-Chabot's Love The Accusations of Citizen 
 Greive First Arrest of Madame Du Barry Second Arrest 
 The Prison of Sainte-Pelagie " Charges against the Du Barry " 
 The Trial The Sentence The Guillotine. 
 
 ONE month after her friend's tragic end, Madame Du 
 Barry left for England. The principal reason for 
 her visit was, as before, the diamond robbery, but 
 she had many others as well. Chief among them 
 were the longing to escape for a moment from a scene full 
 of such terrible associations, and the wish to bring news and 
 help from France to the expectant emigres. For a whole 
 year they had been without their faithful messenger, the 
 kind-hearted Countess, and now she returned to them, 
 herself in affliction, and all the more compassionate for 
 having wept and suffered at the hands of those who had 
 made them suffer too. 
 
 Was she a secret agent of the Emigration as her enemies 
 then formally accused her of being ? Had she " conspired " ? 
 Her journeys made it easy for her to serve the ends of a 
 party and to place her wit and intelligence at the disposal 
 of the counter-revolutionary plotters. Her well-known 
 political sympathies, her connection with so many aristocrats 
 and her tenderness of heart are evidence enough of her 
 complicity, even if the documents produced at her trial 
 had given convincing proof to the contrary. 
 
 This fourth journey was undertaken at a much more 
 dangerous time than the previous ones. The monarchy 
 had been destroyed and the decrees issued against the 
 emigres were becoming extremely rigorous. As an already 
 
 280
 
 A JOURNEY TO LONDON 281 
 
 suspected person, the Countess took every precaution to 
 secure a peaceful journey, by application to the authorities. 
 Her passport was signed by Lebrun, the Minister for Foreign 
 Affairs, whom she had known, and perhaps even protected, 
 when he was one of the Chancellor Maupeou's secretaries. 
 On the very day that the Convention solemnly abolished 
 the monarchy, he sent her the following note that still 
 breathes the courtesy of the old regime : 
 
 Paris, September 21, 1792, the IVth year of 
 
 Liberty and Equality. 
 
 I have the honour to inform you, Madame, that your 
 passports have at last returned to me from the local authori- 
 ties, examined and quite in order. I beg you to be so kind as 
 to send a trustworthy person to fetch them. I believe such 
 a precaution necessary to prevent them falling into the 
 wrong hands. I am very sorry for the delays you have 
 suffered, but assure you they are not of my doing. 
 
 Lebrun, 
 Minister for Foreign Affairs. 
 
 These precautions notwithstanding, Madame Du Barry 
 was afraid of being accused of emigrating, and, to make still 
 more sure, she wrote to the Minister, on the advice of such 
 friends as d'Escourre and de Juilhac : 
 
 Louveciennes, October 2. 
 
 I have received, Monsieur, the letter you honoured me 
 by writing, as well as the passports ; and I am touched at 
 the trouble you have taken to have them examined. But 
 as there is reference neither in your letter nor in the 
 passport to my journey to London, where my presence is 
 required for my unfortunate lawsuit, I fear to meet with 
 difficulties when crossing ; and besides, if my local authorities 
 think I am not authorised to make a journey abroad, they 
 may look on me as having emigrated, and consequently 
 affix their seal to my possessions. May I venture to hope, 
 Monsieur, that your kindness and the wish you have ex- 
 pressed of being of service to me, will induce you to enlighten 
 me on the matter? I believe one word from you would 
 dispose of all difficulties, and would obviate any discomfort 
 I might otherwise meet with.
 
 282 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 I beg you to be persuaded, Monsieur, of the lively 
 gratitude with which I have the honour to be 
 
 Your most humble and obedient servant, 
 
 Du Barry. 
 
 In spite of the indiscretion of her urgent request, Lebrun 
 hastened to obey. The Revolutionary Tribunal did not 
 fail to animadvert upon the Minister's weakness for the 
 woman who had formerly treated him with kindness, and 
 whom he now dared not repulse. 
 
 Paris, October 2, 1792. Year I. of the French 
 
 Republic. 
 
 As it is certain, Madame, that you only go to England to 
 be present at the trial of those who stole your jewels, I do 
 not think your local authorities can regard you as an emigrte, 
 nor that they will go so far as to treat you as such, by affix- 
 ing their seal on your possessions during your absence. But 
 in order to avoid every mistake and reassure yourself on 
 this point, you would do well to go in person and renew 
 your declaration on the registers of the municipality of 
 Louveciennes ; you should ask for a copy of the declaration, 
 which you should keep by you in case of need. 
 
 Lebrun, 
 Minister for Foreign Affairs. 
 
 The local authorities, whom the lady of Louveciennes 
 informed of her departure, were honest men who were still 
 well disposed towards her. " I formally bind myself to 
 return to France as soon as my lawsuit is at an end," she 
 said, and she alluded to her generous response to patriotic 
 taxation, and to the proofs she had given of her " civism," 
 and her " respect for the law." She wrote also to the 
 President of the Convention, and on October 14 she left, 
 travelling modestly by stage-coach as far as Calais. With 
 her she brought the Duchess de Brancas, whose passport 
 was quite in order, and the Duchess d'Aiguillon, who was 
 emigrating and went as her waiting- woman. 1 This time 
 
 1 Evidence of Blache at Madame Du Barry's trial. " Who is the 
 Dame Brancas, whom you mention in your invitations to the Duke 
 of Qtrinsburi [sic] ? She is the Dame Brancas who accompanied me 
 on my last journey to London. She was on her way to Holland to
 
 THE PLIGHT OF THE ROYALISTS 283 
 
 the travellers were accompanied by the Chevalier de La 
 Bondie, d'Escourre's nephew. 
 
 The Countess met in London the same elegant world 
 of emigres who had received her with such cordiality before. 
 But this visit was not an occasion for entertainments and 
 amusements. She was in deep mourning, and of all that 
 sorrowful circle she bore the heaviest burden of grief. Bad 
 news came from the Continent ; the allies were beaten on 
 every side by the Republican armies ; the French Princes 
 were in flight with creditors on their track ; and their 
 companions in exile were enduring all the terrors of poverty. 
 
 In England the assistance they received was better 
 distributed ; the money came straight from France in the 
 hands of new exiles or secret agents. Among the latter was 
 Madame Du Barry. She gave, and gave lavishly ; but 
 the sufferings of all could not be alleviated. Day by day 
 they grew. The young Rene de Chateaubriand was dying 
 of starvation in the streets of London. The priests, 
 especially, succumbed in thousands to the privations which 
 a generous reception could but slightly moderate. Madame 
 Du Barry did her share of the work undertaken by the pre- 
 lates who had found a refuge in London, Monsieur Blot de 
 Chavigny, Bishop of Lombez, and Monsieur de La Marche, 
 Bishop of Saint-Pol-de-Leon, who organised collections 
 and subscriptions. When the venerable Cardinal de la 
 Rochefoucauld, Archbishop of Rouen, arrived, she placed 
 at his disposal the sum of two hundred thousand livres. 
 
 The Countess and the Duchess de Brancas took a furnished 
 house in Bruton Street, Berkeley Square, which Madame 
 de la Suze gave up for them. 1 She sent for the Duchess de 
 Mortemart, and the " sisterly friendship " between them, 
 
 claim her inheritance, her father having recently died there. She 
 had obtained a passport, not from the Minister Lebrun, but from 
 another who preceded him in the Ministry." Madame de Brancas 
 intended to meet several friends in London, notably the Marquis de 
 Bouille, as may be seen from his son's memoirs. 
 
 1 Danloux's information as to where she lived is more reliable than 
 that of Blache. In the examination of La Bondie, Mesdames de la 
 Suze and de Gaucourt [Jaucourt] were mentioned as among her 
 earliest visitors.
 
 284 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 that Monsieur de Brissac had wished for, was begun. The 
 Princess d'Henin also came to live in Bruton Street, as 
 well as the Abbe de Saint-Phar, Monsieur de Breteuil, 
 and another of Louis XVI. 's Ministers, Bertrand de 
 Moleville. 
 
 Thus Madame Du Barry associated constantly with the 
 group of Constitutionalists ; she also used to see the Abbe" 
 Sabatier de Castres and Monsieur de Curt, a member of 
 the Constituent Assembly. Then she also visited Monsieur 
 de Narbonne, in whose salon she was observed by a spy, 
 together with Monsieur de Talleyrand and several " former 
 Bishops and noblemen." l She was on good terms with all 
 parties ; when the Bouilles arrived, she welcomed them as 
 cordially as she did the La Tour du Pins ; her salon was 
 open without distinction to the spokesmen of the most 
 varied opinions, for all were drawn together by the common 
 lot of exile. Every one liked her, and did justice to her 
 good qualities ; but she seems to have acted with great 
 imprudence, and by taking intimate part in the life of the 
 emigres, to have wished to share the furious hatred they had 
 roused. 
 
 As a rule the card-parties in the house in Bruton Street 
 were given by Madame Du Barry. The painter Danloux, 
 the self-constituted and indiscreet chronicler of the 
 doings of the society that he frequented, who dealt so 
 unsparingly with feminine reputations among the emigres, 
 had nothing on which to remark in the conduct of the 
 Countess. The most that he could do was to reflect 
 on the high play that sometimes took place at her house. 
 " Monsieur d'Attilly, a former officer in the Royal Guards, 
 asked Monsieur de La Charce [de la Tour du Pin] if he had 
 stayed late at Madame Du Barry's yesterday. ' I stayed 
 until midnight,' he replied ; ' I played and lost, but not 
 much, only twenty-eight shillings.' ' That's nothing, papa,' 
 
 1 Declaration by Viard, made at the sitting of the Convention of 
 December 7, 1792. Madame Du Barry admitted having seen 
 Monsieur de Cruesol, Monsieur de Poix, Monsieur de Cahouet, and 
 once only Monsieur de Colonne, and Monsieur d'Aiguillon.
 
 ENEMIES OF FRANCE 285 
 
 said his son, ' compared to the other day.' . . ." "I 
 addressed myself to Monsieur de la Charce," added the 
 painter, "for I thought that, as I gave drawing-lessons to 
 his son, he might be ready to be of service to me if occasion 
 arose. I told him that, as he often went to see Madame Du 
 Barry, who knew several Englishmen, I should be very 
 pleased if he would persuade her to come and see my 
 pictures. . . ." 1 
 
 English society, which only welcomed the emigres of 
 note, received Madame Du Barry with great cordiality. 
 At Windsor she was presented to George III. by the Duke of 
 Queensbeny, whom in her youth she had met as William 
 Douglas hi Paris. In a delightfully intimate note inviting 
 Queensbeny to dinner, she mentioned that she would bring 
 the Duchess de Brancas. Through the Duke she was able 
 to make the acquaintance of the English aristocracy, whose 
 curiosity had been roused by her celebrity, and who were 
 captivated by her distinction and charm. Her conversa- 
 tion with Pitt, who had already decided on war, touched on 
 serious matters, and her communications with certain people 
 were one day to be used against her with the most damaging 
 effect. A note from Lord Hawkesbury, for instance, that 
 was found among her papers, made it possible for her 
 persecutors to establish her guilty connection with the 
 enemies of France. 2 
 
 The Marquis de Bouille described, hi his memoirs, his 
 first meeting with the former favourite. 
 
 At the time when I supped with the mistress of the Prince 
 of Wales, I often met in London a woman, who had been 
 similarly honoured with Royal favour, but whose position 
 was of more importance and gave rise to more scandal, and 
 whose fame excited my curiosity and even my interest to a 
 
 1 Unpublished memoirs of Danloux (communicated by the Baron 
 R. Portalis). 
 
 Greive annotated Lord Hawkesbury's note as follows : "A 
 letter, proving her intrigues with George III.'s courtiers. This 
 Lord H. is the secret adviser of the tyrant, who rules Pitt himself 
 and has for twenty years in reality held the reins of government in 
 his hands. ."
 
 286 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 much greater degree. This was the too famous Madame 
 Du Barry. She had come to London on account of a law- 
 suit that had been going on for some years in connection 
 with the theft of her diamonds, and in order to escape from 
 the scenes of savagery to which her lover, the Duke de 
 Brissac, had some months before fallen a victim, almost 
 before her very eyes, and whither she had the imprudence 
 and misfortune to return soon after, only to meet with as 
 cruel a fate. She lived with the Duchess de Mortemart, 
 Monsieur de Brissac's daughter, her fatal devotion to whose 
 interests was the cause of her return to France, 1 and with 
 the Duchess de Brancas. The intimate relations between the 
 latter and my father opened the doors of their house to me, 
 and we spent nearly all our evenings there. 
 
 . . . Madame Du Barry was then about forty-seven, 
 and it was rather late to make the acquaintance of a woman 
 whose beauty had been her merit, her fortune, and her 
 renown. But although the freshness and first splendour of 
 her charms had long since vanished, the traces that remained 
 were sufficient to give some idea of the effect they must have 
 had. Her eyes were still large and blue, and with the 
 sweetest expression imaginable ; there were still the beautiful 
 fair, chestnut hair, the lovely mouth, the rounded oval of her 
 face, whose heightened colour did not detract from its 
 charm ; her noble, elegant figure still retained some of its 
 supple grace, in spite of a slight tendency to portliness ; 
 and finally there were the voluptuous curves of her figure, 
 that her attire, especially in the morning, scarcely concealed. 
 Her disposition was in no sense common, much less vulgar ; 
 though without pretensions to brilliance, she had more 
 wit than people gave her credit for ; besides, her goodness of 
 heart, no less than her simplicity, should have been sufficient 
 compensation. ... I did not gain so much from my 
 conversations with her as I might have done at another 
 time ; we were too absorbed by the tragic situation of the 
 King and Queen. And I was as much struck as I was 
 moved by the fact that this woman, whom they had both 
 treated so harshly on their accession to the throne, could not 
 
 1 The Count d'Espinchal, in his Liste des principales victimes de 
 la Revolution, gives a similar explanation of Madame Du Barry's 
 return to France.
 
 LOUIS XVI 
 From the painting by Calif t
 
 EXECUTION OF LOUIS XVI. 287 
 
 cease thinking of their misfortunes, and wept for them 
 tears that were as sincere as they were frequent. 1 
 
 Madame Du Barry and her friends rightly feared the 
 worst ; for on January 21, 1793, Louis XVI. went to the 
 scaffold. Outside France the terrible scene aroused violent 
 indignation. The news came to London in the evening, and 
 the theatres were closed at once, the audiences leaving to 
 the strains of God Save the King. Madame Du Barry did not 
 hide her grief ; she went into mourning and took part in 
 all the services held in the chapels of the Catholic Embassy 
 for the soul of the " martyr " King ; affectionate remem- 
 brance and pity inspired her with a courage that made her 
 indifferent whether or no she were being observed by 
 revolutionary spies. 
 
 The day after the death of Louis XVI. all Europe rose up in 
 arms. The Convention took the offensive, and on February 
 i declared war on England. Pitt formed the first coalition 
 against France, while the Royalist insurrection in the West 
 spread and rapidly covered all that part of France, the 
 troops of the Vendee acting in the name of Louis XVII. 
 as " the great Catholic army." Such supporters of the 
 monarchy as still remained in France became leaders of 
 rebellion, whether openly or in secret. Madame Du Barry, 
 whose capital was invested abroad, was in a position to do 
 the conspirators invaluable service. In January, 1793, she 
 made the Duke de Rohan-Chabot a loan from London of two 
 hundred thousand livres, paid by the bankers Vandenyver, 2 
 as well as other loans unknown to the Committee of 
 Public Safety. The transfer of these enormous sums at 
 such a time would seem to point to the Duke's complicity in 
 the rising of the Western provinces, and to the fact that the 
 Countess provided him with the needful funds. 3 
 
 1 Souvenirs du Marquis de Bouille, Vol. II., p. 1 10. 
 
 * The MSS. in the Versailles Library include numerous documents 
 connected with a lawsuit between Madame Du Barry's heirs and 
 those of Rohan-Chabot. 
 
 * The explanations given by Madame Du Barry and her bankers 
 to the Revolutionary Tribunal, prove that they acted in concert. 
 The documents seem perfectly in order, and innocent of illegal inten-
 
 288 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 The last of the many lawsuits that had their origin in 
 the diamond affair was one in which Madame Du Barry was 
 sued by the Jew, Simon. He claimed that he had assisted 
 Forth in arresting the robbers of Louveciennes, and 
 demanded the promised reward. Forth held that the Jew's 
 claims were too high, and the case was brought before a 
 London court. Rouen, her ladyship's jeweller, was once 
 more to appear as witness, but Forth did not trust him, and 
 wrote to the Countess : 
 
 Sunday, February 3. 
 
 Madame, 
 
 Monsieur Sleigh has convinced me still further that 
 Rouen's appearance in the witness-box can only injure us, 
 and we shall therefore not call him, especially as Sleigh has 
 had a letter from Monsieur Trochereau, giving good reasons 
 for Rouen's having told him several times he could not go to 
 London. If Rouen comes, make some excuse for not seeing 
 him and send him to me (at the same time being careful not 
 to offend him) ; I undertake to speak to him, for from what 
 Monsieur Trochereau tells me, he is capable of anything. 
 
 At all times and on all occasions, Madame, I beg you to 
 count on the zeal and devotion of 
 
 Your faithful servant, 
 
 N. Parker Forth. 
 
 Nevertheless, Rouen crossed the Channel, but, as he 
 " followed Forth' s instructions in everything," Madame 
 Du Barry's interests were safeguarded. 1 She used the 
 verdict as an excuse for returning to France, for the local 
 authorities of Louveciennes had after all, on February 16, 
 affixed their seal on her possessions. Pitt was said to have 
 tried to persuade her to remain, saying that she was going 
 to certain death ; but she pleaded the necessity for fulfilling 
 certain obligations of honour, and, in fear and trembling, 
 went to meet what proved to be her fate. As the passports 
 she possessed for herself and her servants had limited the 
 
 tions ; but the dates are incriminating, for the loans coincide with the 
 insurrection. 
 
 1 Forth's diary mentions the verdict on February 28, and Madame 
 Du Barry's departure on March 5.
 
 A BOLD PROTEST 289 
 
 length of her stay in London to six weeks, she was com- 
 pelled to stop in Calais, in order to set matters right. There 
 she saw the Duchess de Mortemart, who had for some time 
 been there in hiding under the name of Mortimer. 1 Having 
 taken the necessary steps for obtaining new passports from 
 the executive authority, 2 the Countess received them on 
 March 17, and left on the following day. Her end was 
 drawing near. 
 
 The first thing she did on getting home was to write to the 
 governors of the district, and, putting a bold face on the 
 matter, she expostulated with them for the severe measures 
 they had taken during her absence : 
 
 Louveciennes, March 27, 1793. 
 Citizen Governors, 
 
 Citizeness de Vaubernier Du Barry is most surprised 
 that, after all the proofs she gave you of the reasons compel- 
 ling her to leave for England, you have yet treated her as an 
 tmigrie. Before her departure she informed you of the 
 declaration she had made before her local authorities, and 
 you placed it on your register. . . . All France knows 
 of the robbery at her house, which took place on the night 
 of January 10, 1791. . . The final verdict was not 
 pronounced until February 28 last, as the enclosed certificate 
 will testify. 
 
 The Countess once more took possession of her property, 
 to the great annoyance of the patriotic members of the 
 parish, of whom indeed there were but few, and whose 
 failing ardour had to be quickened by the Englishman 
 Greive, who had recently taken lodgings in an inn. The 
 strange career of this enigmatical person is interesting. As 
 a " citizen of the United States " he boasted of his supposed 
 
 1 " Madame de Mortemart lived with her at Calais on her return from 
 London." (A note made by the juryman Topino-Lebrun, Vatel. 
 Vol. III., p. 280.) Madame de Mortemart's stay at Calais was con- 
 firmed by Madame Du Barry herself during her examination at Sainte 
 Pelagic. 
 
 1 A letter written from " Calais, Thursday at noon," which has 
 been published by Vatel, Vol. II., p. 429, seems to refer to this 
 incident. A pass made out by the local authorities of Calais contains 
 a complete description of Madame Du Barry, who gave her age as 
 " forty years." 
 u
 
 290 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 services to Washington and Franklin. Whatever these may 
 have been he was a fanatical revolutionary, intoxicated with 
 his own importance, and, like his friend Marat, a man of 
 letters. Louveciennes became the centre of his operations ; 
 for in that flower of luxury and refinement, the ex-favourite, 
 he saw the representative of the elegant depravity of a 
 detested government, and in her chateau, a nest of aristo- 
 crats, a Royalist rendezvous, and a refuge of emigrants. 
 
 Madame Du Barry suspected little at first. She found 
 her Louveciennes very lonely without her former friend. 
 Mademoiselle Chon, too, was away, having withdrawn to 
 Toulouse, and no one could take her place, neither the 
 young Marquise de Boisseson, nor Mesdames Graillet and de 
 La Neuville, her relatives who came to live with her. Her 
 devoted servant, Morin, had cared for the house during her 
 absence, and nothing had changed in the beautiful dwelling 
 but the soul of its mistress. All her desire was to return to 
 London and she used every possible means of obtaining a new 
 passport. Everywhere she produced her certificate, testify- 
 ing to the continuation of her trial, signed by Queensberry 
 and Whitshed Keene, " two of the basest of George III.'s 
 flunkeys, and the most rabid enemies of the Revolution," 
 according to Greive. But her influence was at an end. 
 
 In order to distract her mind she kept open house and 
 entertained all the neighbouring nobility that was left. 
 " There is a chain of aristocrats of both sexes," wrote 
 Greive, " along the Seine, extending from Mantes to Rueil." 
 Madame Du Barry brought together as her guests very 
 different kinds of people ; there were an abbess, Madame 
 de La Porte, the Abbe de Fontenilles, nephew to the Abbess 
 of Pont-aux-Dames, the pretty Princess Lubomirska, the 
 Chevalier d'Escourre, her cousin Juilhac, the Abbe Beliardi, 
 Colonel Morgan, 1 the Marquis de Donnissan, 2 the Prince 
 
 1 " The infamous traitor Morgan," whom Marat had so often 
 denounced, and whose activities, according to Greive, were so 
 dangerous. 
 
 1 The father of the Marquise de Lescure, whose husband led the 
 revolt of the Vendee, and who became later Marquise de la Roche- 
 jacquelin.
 
 NEW FRIENDS 291 
 
 Charles de Rohan, and finally the Duke de Rohan-Chabot l 
 The Princess de Rohan-Rochefort had become the intimate 
 friend and confidant of the Countess. They were neigh- 
 bours, and used to lend each other their friends, whose 
 numbers the emigration had so sadly diminished. The 
 Princess wrote to Madame Du Barry : 
 
 Versailles, May 13, 1793. 
 
 I am sending for news of my charming neighbour, and to 
 beg her to let me know if she will be at home in the afternoon. 
 If so I inform her beforehand that I shall come, and bring 
 with me my budding coadjutor, 2 who has lost some of his 
 illusions, at least, they have been lost for him by the nation, 
 which unriches us, as Clementine says, using a word that is 
 quite new to our language, but that might very well be 
 included in the dictionary for its expressiveness, even though 
 the Academy should reject it. Truth, they say, comes from 
 the mouth of children. The boy I bring is gentle and good, 
 tender and loving ; he has nothing to reform, but much 
 to learn, among other things, the happiness of pleasing you. 
 If the desire to do so constitutes any claim to success, I will 
 go bail that he may expect it. He is as quiet and restrained 
 as his elder brother is wild. I dare not speak of Cain and 
 Abel, but the resemblance is very close. But I drop the 
 subject, for it is one that pains me greatly, I assure you. 
 So does the absence of the other two, of whom one is, 
 both morally and physically, a most delightful girl. Little 
 Henri will be the image of Jules, as all reports give me to 
 hope, and that is all I wish for. But thanks to his father's 
 stupid obstinacy, the unfortunate child will be thought an 
 emigre, and will run great risks, which I could have avoided 
 
 1 Louis Antoine Auguste de Rohan-Chabot, Count and later Duke 
 de Chabot, after the death of his cousin, the Duke de Rohan, in 
 November, 1791, had settled in Brussels with his daughter-in-law, 
 then Princess de Leon, in 1790 ; in 1792 he had returned to France. 
 He had been a widower since 1786, and died in 1807 at the age of 
 seventy-five. (Notice hisiorique et gen&alogique sur la maison de 
 Chabot, Paris, 1834.) 
 
 * During her trial, Madame Du Barry was questioned at some 
 length on the subject of this letter. She replied that the Princess 
 de Rohan's "budding coadjutor" was "her son Jules, who was 
 then, or intended to become, a coadjutor in Strasburg. Did you see 
 him ? Yes."
 
 292 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 for him. I have done my very best with the father, but he 
 and the uncle have made my efforts useless, which fills me 
 with despair, for I fear and dread further evils. Misfor- 
 tunes surround us on all hands, and have become our only 
 food. I can only wish with all my heart for their end. You 
 may find it hard to believe that I can still hope for happiness, 
 who have reached the end of my autumn and am approaching 
 that sad winter of life they call old age. But nothing could 
 be more true. I only speak of all my misfortunes to you, 
 because you know their bitterness better than others. I 
 dare to hope that your tender interest will share my 
 misery and thereby soften my grief. 
 
 I ask permission to send you my doctor by-and-by, on 
 rising from table. He is very eager to see your charming 
 villa ; so is Monsieur de la Tour, who is Secretary to the 
 Swedish Embassy here under the Baron de Staal (sic). 
 He used to be reader and librarian to the late King, who 
 valued and loved him very much. At last I leave you, for 
 a walk in my future garden, where I hope one day to be 
 able to ask you to tea. Unless, alas ! this hateful stay at 
 Versailles has driven you away for ever. Until this after- 
 noon, fair lady ; I shall greet you, as ever, with delight. 
 
 R. R. R. 
 [Rohan-Rohan-Rochef ort .] 
 
 I am expecting Monsieur de la Bondy (sic) to dinner. 
 Would it be indiscreet to ask if you would send us your 
 carriage ? It suited me so well the other day, that I dread 
 all the more the terrible jolting of our public vehicles, which 
 are fatal to one who often suffers from attacks of haemor- 
 rhoids. 
 
 I have given Monsieur de la Vallerie (sic) the little note 
 for the butler in whom you are interested. I hope they will 
 at once satisfy his claims. La Vallerie assured me that 
 yours would be attended to this week, and as it is under his 
 jurisdiction I quite believe it. 1 
 
 1 The latter bears the following comment by Greive : " From the 
 aristocrat, formerly Princess de Rohan-Rochefort, a woman whose 
 sinfulness was greater than her folly, and who enjoyed a certain 
 favour with several governors of Versailles." The Princess is men- 
 tioned by Madame Vigee le Brun in the beginning of her Souvenirs ; 
 she was about the same age as Madame Du Barry.
 
 MADAME DU BARRY DENOUNCED 293 
 
 The Princess, who had already been imprisoned as a 
 suspicious character, and was to be so once more, certainly 
 had good reason to think the times full of horror. 1 The 
 recent reverses suffered by the Republican armies meant 
 increased danger for the nobles who had remained in France. 
 Even the village of Louveciennes felt the disturbing after- 
 effects of these events. Greive was the leader of its inhabit- 
 ants, and was supported by Blache, the spy who had 
 watched Madame Du Barry's movements in London. Her 
 cook Salanave had induced Zamore to join this Republican 
 club with him. Thenceforth she won no pity from her 
 enemies, and the days of anarchy, that followed the fall of 
 the Girondins, only facilitated the task that hatred had set 
 itself to perform. 
 
 Greive took advantage of the repressive laws to present, 
 on June 26, 1793, an address signed by thirty-six of the 
 villagers, " which had for object to draw the paternal atten- 
 tion of the administration to the dangers to which the 
 country was exposed, and to the measures that ought to be 
 taken." Blache also wrote that " this woman's house was 
 the refuge and rendezvous of all the villains who conspired 
 against our unhappy country." He gave a list of the aristo- 
 crats of Louveciennes, which included the names of Madame 
 Du Barry and three of her servants, and the very same 
 evening they were all arrested. The servants were removed 
 to the prison at Versailles, but she and her relatives stayed 
 in the chateau under the guard of a gendarme, whom she had 
 to pay. At first her detention in her home did not seem to 
 alarm her friends, and the Princess Lubomirska proposed 
 coming to join her in her imprisonment. 
 
 Chaillot, July 6. 
 
 I have only just heard, Madame, of your return to 
 Luciennes, and of the unjust persecution to which you have 
 been subjected. The former would make me fly to you on 
 
 1 On the trials undergone by the Princess de Rohan-Rochefort 
 and her family during the Revolution, see Jacques de la Faye's 
 book, La Princesse Charlotte de Rohan et le Due d'Enghien, Paris. 
 1906.
 
 2 9 4 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 the wings of friendship, while the latter, Madame, gives me 
 a right to ask as a favour if I can be of some use to you. If 
 my zeal is unsuccessful in obtaining this satisfaction, at 
 least allow me to share your solitude and prove to you that 
 those, whom you have been kind enough to distinguish, do 
 not easily forget it. Farewell, Madame ; I expect, with an 
 impatience that is worthy of the interest you inspire, the 
 reply that you will grant my desire to come to you at once. 
 
 Alex., Princess Lubomirska. 
 
 The charming Polishwoman, who professed " a cult " 
 for Madame Du Barry, had no idea of the danger she ran by 
 writing such a letter of friendship. 1 
 
 But Greive saw that the local authorities were not hostile 
 to Madame Du Barry, and that he would have to attack 
 her before a higher court. On July 3 he was permitted to 
 read before the Convention an address in the name of the 
 sans-culottes of Louveciennes : 
 
 True to the dear principles of Equality, in which lies the 
 happiness of life ... we have commenced operations 
 by the arrest of a woman who has figured but too largely in 
 the annals of our monarchical history. In spite of her 
 notoriously unpatriotic connections . . . she has, until 
 to-day, by the use of her wealth and of caresses, whose 
 value she learnt at the court of a weak and crapulous tyrant, 
 been able to abate the vigilance of certain good men, who 
 are not accustomed to this type of intrigue, and to evade the 
 
 1 In a second note she gave Madame Du Barry news of the Queen 
 at the beginning of her trial : " The Queen is still at the Conciergerie, 
 and it is not true that she was going to be taken back to the Temple. 
 However, I am not disturbed as to her fate ; our rulers are tired 
 of glory, and, I suppose, want to rest on their laurels." The ironical 
 phrase, and the friendly letters to Madame Du Barry, were enough 
 to lead to the arrest of the unfortunate stranger, and bring her later 
 to the scaffold. 
 
 It would be unjust to accuse Madame Du Barry of making impru- 
 dent revelations about the Princess Lubomirska, as Monsieur Casimir 
 Stryienski has done in his interesting memoir on the Princess (Deux 
 victimes de la Terreur, Paris, 1899). The signature of one of the two 
 letters taken must have been enough to identify the writer, and 
 Madame Du Barry could not lie in the face of such evidence, nor 
 could she have imagined that correspondence, which she knew to be 
 innocent, would injure her friend.
 
 IMMINENT DANGER 295 
 
 spirit of the Declaration of the Rights of Man, which says 
 " that the law shall be the same for all, whether it punishes 
 or protects." In her chateau (for such there still are) did 
 Brissac begin and carry on his liberticidal scheming in favour 
 of the tyrant and against Paris. There, too, aristocratic 
 conventicles were held at different periods of the Revolu- 
 tion ; thence departed those daily couriers to Brissac during 
 his detention at Orleans. . . . With this dangerous 
 instrument, however small the importance of such a 
 creature may seem, with her did all aristocrats, great and 
 small, of all kinds and all shades of opinion, feel sure of 
 obtaining a favourable reception, a protection and certain 
 favour, that prove her liberticidal sentiments and wishes. 
 . . . It was she who was on the closest and most constant 
 terms of intimacy with Forth, the famous English spy. 
 . . . It was she who, intoxicated with her title of 
 Countess, complacently received homage as such, and, in 
 defiance of the decrees, gave those of Prince, Count, Baron, 
 Marquis and the rest to those who frequented her chateau. 
 Finally, it was she who, displaying a luxury worthy of a 
 monarch's former mistress and surrounded by a numerous 
 household composed almost wholly of insolent calumniators 
 of the Revolution, .... insulted by this luxury the 
 sufferings of the unfortunate beings whose husbands, 
 fathers, brothers, and children had shed their blood in our 
 armies for the sake of Equality. . . - 1 
 
 At the end of the address, Thuriot, the President of the 
 Convention, replied : " The deeds you have been denouncing 
 are grave ; rest assured that if they are proved against her, 
 her head will fall on the scaffold." 
 
 Danger seemed imminent, and the faithful friends of the 
 Countess became anxious. The Rohans, La Bondie, Juilhac 
 and Escourre redoubled their applications to the Directory 
 and to the authorities of the district of Seine-et-Oise ; 
 Madame Du Barry used every means of protest 2 ; an " oblig- 
 
 1 The text of the address was given by Greive himself in the 
 pamphlet he had printed on July 31, entitled : Sham Equality, or 
 a short History of the Protection of the Du Barry, Louis XV.'s Former 
 Mistress, containing Documents connected with her Arrest. . . . 
 
 1 She even had herself taken to Versailles, escorted by the Council 
 of Louveciennes and several inhabitants, in order to lodge her protest.
 
 296 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 ing advocate " entered a clever protest in her name against 
 the " defamatory libel " read before the Convention 1 ; 
 a petition was sent on July 7 to the Committee of Public 
 Safety, signed by some sixty inhabitants of Louveciennes, 
 who bore witness that citizeness Du Barry was the bene- 
 factress of the parish. A counter-enquiry on the subject of 
 her patriotism was conducted with marked good will, and at 
 last, on August 13, a resolution was passed restoring to 
 liberty the accused and her servants. 2 
 
 Perhaps the liberation of the Countess was due to Greive's 
 influence being less than that of La Vallery, a member of the 
 Directory, who had already done her service and who took 
 up her defence with remarkable ardour. " Rest assured," 
 he wrote to her, " that if there are any occasions when I hold 
 my work to be of worth, you have the right to call upon me. 
 Your sex entitles you to seek peace and seclusion, your 
 charm ... A thousand pardons, citizeness ; a republi- 
 can and a stranger should only speak in terms of business. 
 Pray accept the assurance of my respect, and of all the 
 interest you have the right to inspire." 
 
 " Citizeness Du Barry's " fascination seems thus to 
 have been still all-powerful. Greive himself was said to 
 have fallen under the spell of her attraction, his growing 
 hatred being only the result of unhappy love. To be sure, 
 his conduct is quite adequately explained by a solely political 
 passion aggravated to fury, but she whom he called " the 
 rose-and-ivy-crowned Bacchante," was soon to accuse him 
 of worse audacities ; "he began by taking possession of the 
 petitioner's person," she wrote ; " words cannot describe the 
 horrible outrages of which he was guilty." 
 
 If this is true, how indignantly she must have repulsed 
 
 1 This lawyer Delainville, did not hesitate to write : " Citizeness 
 Dubarry has always manifested unequivocal patriotism since the 
 beginning of the Revolution. . . . She has broken off all her 
 former connections, and has always lived alone in her house at Louve- 
 ciennes." But such an audacious line of defence could not be main- 
 tained for long. 
 
 2 All the documents of the case are to be found in Vatel, Vol. III., 
 pp. 436-448-
 
 HER LAST AMOUR 297 
 
 the sinister wretch, how gratefully accepted the loyal 
 protection of another ! Terrified at the ferocity with which 
 she was attacked, threatened with loss of liberty and even of 
 life, and still trembling from the remembrance of Brissac's 
 agony, she surrendered herself to the love of the proud and 
 tender Rohan-Chabot. Her last amour would have re- 
 mained a secret, but for a letter lost from Madame Du Barry's 
 papers. It was unsigned, but Greive had examined it, and, 
 with the intuition of hatred, or of love, had known what 
 name should have been placed at the end of the lines. 1 
 The brown seal bore a flaming heart and the inscription : 
 Yours for ever. The letter was probably sent together with 
 a portrait of Brissac ; the Duke wrote to the Countess as 
 follows : 
 
 September 7, 1793. 
 
 I send you, my dear, sweet friend, the picture you wished 
 for ; a sad and gloomy present, but one that I feel with 
 you was what you should desire. In a position like ours, 
 with so much cause for pain and unhappiness, we seek food 
 for our melancholy, as above all beseems us. 
 
 I sent for the three portraits of you, which he owned 
 [Brissac], they are here now, and I have kept one of the 
 small ones, the original of the one in which you wear a 
 white shift or dressing gown, and a plumed hat. 2 The 
 second is a copy of the one of which the head is finished, but 
 the dress only sketched in. Neither of them is framed. The 
 large one by Madame le Bran is delightful, a fascinating and 
 speaking likeness, of infinite charm ; but, indeed, I should 
 have thought it indiscreet to choose it, and the one I have 
 kept is so charming, so like and so winning, that I am well 
 satisfied with it, and transported with joy at possessing it. 
 
 The one begun by Letellier is only outlined, and the head 
 is no more than a sketch that may become a good likeness. 
 I have had it taken back to the painter. 3 
 
 1 " This letter is undoubtedly from Rohan-Chabot." The Gon- 
 courts have attributed it to the " Prince de Rohan-Rochefort " (sic). 
 
 1 It is still in the possession of the Rohan family. Another one 
 by Madame le Brun belonged to Hubert Robert, and was included in 
 the catalogue of his sale. 
 
 3 Letellier's work is unknown to us ; a painter named Tellier 
 exhibited in the Salon of 1793.
 
 298 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 With regard to the large portrait and the copy of the 
 one I keep, tell me, dear friend, if you want me to send them 
 to you, or if I should have them sent back where they were, 
 or what you intend to do with them. I have no other wish 
 than to have one which I can carry on me, and which should 
 never leave me. 
 
 Do come, dear love, and spend two days here ; come and 
 dine with me, and with any one else you may like. Give 
 me a few moments of happiness, which I only enjoy when 
 with you. Answer all my questions ; and come for at 
 least a moment to see him who loves you beyond and above 
 all, to the very end of his life. A thousand times I kiss 
 the most charming woman in the world, whose noble, tender 
 heart is worthy of eternal devotion. 
 
 This love letter from the time of the Terror is all the more 
 moving, because the position of the two lovers was hourly 
 becoming more perilous. On September 17 the " suspect " 
 law was issued against " those who, whether by their conduct, 
 or their connections, or their words and writings, have shown 
 themselves to be partisans of tyranny or of federalism, and 
 enemies of liberty." The duty of applying this indeter- 
 minate definition was entrusted to the members of the 
 Revolutionary Committees ; in all the municipalities they 
 drew up lists of " suspects " whom they proceeded to arrest. 
 The Committee of Public Safety was reorganised, and their 
 inquisitorial powers were thenceforth unlimited. Greive 
 began his final attacks on his victim. 
 
 Ever since the Countess had regained her liberty, he had 
 secretly been working to stir up the village against her, and 
 in order to justify his ferocious persecution he printed a 
 pamphlet appealing to the basest passions of the mob : 
 
 In kindly consideration of the tender consciences of those 
 who adore great names the sans-culottes of Louveciennes 
 declare that the only object of the step they took [at the 
 Convention] was to promote the safety of their country. . . 
 Far from abusing or bearing ill-will to the former dispenser 
 of Court favour, they have looked on her in the same light 
 as her waiting woman, except for the difference of her 
 fifty thousand ecus income ; they have exhibited the
 
 MADAME DU BARRY ARRESTED 299 
 
 same Republican firmness in enforcing the law against 
 Gouy, her porter, Pretry, her adviser, Morin, the political 
 intermediary between her and constituted authority . . . 
 
 That authority being corrupted and favourable to her, he 
 denounced them with anger, and ended up with the furious 
 cry : " Death to the courtesan of Louveciennes, to the rose- 
 and-ivy-crowned Bacchante ! " 
 
 The country folk abused her when she passed, women 
 insulted her at her very doors ; and in terror she addressed 
 a petition to the governors of the department, who were 
 not unfavourably disposed towards her. " The malevolence 
 of my accusers has reached such a point that I fear every 
 thing from them. ... I am therefore compelled to 
 entreat you to act with promptitude, and I venture to add, 
 citizens, that you owe it to humanity." But her complaints 
 were too late ; Greive and Blache had won the hearing of 
 the Committee of Public Safety by a second denunciation, 
 and her arrest was decided at the sitting of September 21 : 
 
 The Committee decrees that the woman called Du Barry, 
 resident at Louveciennes, shall be arrested and conveyed 
 to Sainte Pelagie in Paris, where she is to be detained in 
 the interests of the public safety, as suspected of unpatriotic 
 and aristocratic sentiments. Her possessions are to be 
 confiscated, her papers examined ; any that are of a 
 suspicious character are to be brought to the Committee 
 of Public Safety. The execution of the arrest is committed 
 to the charge of Citizen Greive, who is authorised to call 
 on any civil or legal official he may happen to need 
 in carrying out his duty, as well as on military force, if 
 required. Further, citizen Greive is to arrest and have 
 conveyed to Paris, where they are to be confined in the 
 prison of La Force in the interests of public safety, all those 
 who are at Luciennes with the said Du Barry, on the occasion 
 of the execution of the aforesaid arrest. 
 
 Boucher-Saint-Sauveur, 
 
 Amar, 
 
 Vadier, 
 
 Panis.
 
 300 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 The Committee placed three thousand livres at Greive's 
 disposal, to defray the necessary expenses of carrying out 
 their commands. On September 22 he appeared suddenly 
 at Louveciennes, accompanied by the Mayor, other municipal 
 officials and two gendarmes, who came to affix their seal 
 to the property of Louveciennes. The poor woman at once 
 rushed to her room to try to destroy the papers in her 
 possession. Greive, being suspicious, followed her, and 
 seized the correspondence and printed matter lying on the 
 table. A struggle ensued, in which she snatched the letters 
 from him, seeking above all to obtain the signatures. But 
 he soon overpowered her weak resistance and dragged her 
 away. She was forced into the public conveyance, and 
 taken towards Paris. 
 
 At the foot of the " Bougival hill " the little procession 
 met Escourre in a chaise. Greive ordered him to get down 
 and take his place beside the prisoner. Everything points 
 to his having then offered to save her life on certain con- 
 ditions ; but rather than strike such a bargain, she chose 
 to have her name entered in the register of prisoners at 
 Sainte-Pelagie that very evening. 
 
 " The part of the building provided for the women," 
 wrote Madame Roland, " is divided by very long and narrow 
 corridors, along one side of which are small cells. . . . 
 Each little cell is closed by means of a large bolt and lock, 
 which a man comes and opens every morning ; after that 
 the inhabitants gather in the corridors, on the staircases, 
 in a little court or in a damp and noisome hall . . ." 1 
 Besides Madame Roland, the Countess met among the 
 prisoners Mesdames de Gouy and de Crequy-Montmorency, 
 Mademoiselle de Moncrif, the wives of Brissot and Petion, 
 and the nine actresses of the Comedie Francaise, who had 
 been there since September 3 ; among the latter was Made- 
 moiselle Raucourt, whose brilliant debut at Versailles as 
 
 1 M&moires, Paris, 1864, p. 288. Madame Roland speaks of the 
 horror with which the unhappy " suspects " were filled at coming 
 into contact with fallen women and the " scum of the earth," and 
 at the obscene language they heard.
 
 STILL HOPEFUL 301 
 
 Queen Dido she had witnessed. Madame Roland, who 
 despised her without knowing her, did not deign to notice 
 Madame Du Barry among her fellow captives. The day 
 after her imprisonment the newcomer dictated a letter, 
 which showed that she was still calm and courageous, to 
 Henriette Couture, one of her women, who was free : 
 
 To citizeness Henriette, at Luciennes. 
 
 I send Henriette news of myself ; I am well, and find 
 everything I need here, as well as an agreeable woman with 
 whom to sleep. Let me know of those who are left, if they 
 have confiscated my things, and if the villagers have 
 petitioned for my freedom. Send me a lawn cap, and also my 
 shifts with the little coloured stripes, and the white ones ; 
 send me shifts, handkerchiefs, and fichus, and all that can 
 be sent. Tell the housekeeper to send me a dozen table- 
 napkins, also towels and sheets. 
 
 Henriette is to go and see the justice of the peace at 
 Marly to ask him to make out my certificate of residence. 
 It must be sent to me to be signed, and I shall then send it 
 back to be signed in the presence of nine witnesses. If there 
 is no time to get ready a white cap, send me a coloured one ; 
 send also news of what happens in the house, and if it is 
 well watched. 
 
 Speak to the villagers who are interested in me, and tell 
 them that I am well. 
 
 Madame Roussel and her companions in misfortune are 
 still at La Force. I have not yet seen any one to defend us. 1 
 
 Madame Du Barry was thus still hopeful of regaining her 
 liberty ; she would not have been so calm if she had known 
 that the Vandenyvers, father and sons, had likewise been 
 arrested, and their papers seized. Another supporter was 
 
 1 This note was published in the Annales rfvolutionnaires, 1908. 
 Only the last four lines are in Madame Du Barry's own hand, as 
 was remarked by Greive, who wrote on the document : " This letter 
 is from the Du Barry written the day after her imprisonment. The 
 loth, nth, 1 2th and isth lines are in her writing. It shows that 
 the woman Couture was the Du Barry's confidant, and we now have 
 every reason to believe that the weakness of which this cunning 
 woman complained, was only a sham to move the feelings of the 
 agent, so that she could be allowed to remain at Louveciennes as 
 correspondent and spy."
 
 302 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 also lost to her in La Vallery, the obliging governor of 
 Seine-et-Oise, who had committed suicide. Denounced 
 by Greive as the henchman of the former Countess, accused 
 by the Convention on some matter connected with taxation 
 and certain what fate awaited him, he threw himself into 
 the Seine near the bridge of La Rapee. 1 
 
 The prisoner knew nothing of these happenings, and 
 trusting in the devotion of her Versailles friends, she sent 
 the following protest to the authorities of the department. 
 It is much more of an accusation than of a defence, and the 
 brave words she wrote from prison reveal more strikingly 
 than^all else her energy and resourcefulness. 
 
 Citizeness Du Barry to the citizen-governors of the 
 
 department. 
 Saint-Pelagie, October 2, 1793. Year II. of the 
 
 French Republic. 
 Citizens, 
 
 You will remember that by the decree which was 
 communicated to you, the Committee of Public Safety has 
 placed my person and possessions under the protection of the 
 department and of the local authorities of Louveciennes. 
 The integrity of the Committee has been outraged, and that 
 of the new members of the Committee will be so likewise. 
 Its commands, which were only based on measures taken to 
 ensure public safety, are being plainly transgressed, for it 
 can never have intended to place all my goods and furniture 
 at the mercy of my enemy, who has been so vociferous in 
 his declarations. Never can the Committee have intended 
 to let him usurp my place and position, disposing absolutely 
 of my house and my goods ; they have always been under 
 your guard and protection, under the aegis of the law, the 
 duty of enforcing which has been placed in your hands by the 
 whole area of our department. 
 
 I dare thus to invoke the supervision, the paternal care, 
 that all whom you govern have always experienced from you. 
 Let citizen Greive carry out the law and the orders he has 
 
 1 See Vatel, Vol. Ill, p. 210. The accusatory decree against La 
 Vallery and two of his colleagues was issued on September 15. 
 There is no ground for believing in the existence of romantic relations 
 between him and the Countess.
 
 AN ELOQUENT APPEAL 303 
 
 received, but do not let him go beyond his instruction. 
 See to it that my house and goods be spared further pillage ! 
 He is responsible to you for the execution of the commands 
 enjoined on him in your district. 
 
 Of what do they accuse me ? My unpatriotic sentiments 
 and my fortune ! But my fortune and my goods are in 
 themselves proof of my devotion to my country. In view of 
 the several opportunities that I had of going to England, if 
 I had not loved my country, should I not also have been 
 able to send most of my fortune there, thus deserting the 
 soil of France ? I therefore owe the persecution I have 
 suffered only to my love for my country. You will think 
 favourably, citizen governors, of all that I have done in the 
 cause of the Revolution ; you cannot allow me to be 
 oppressed any longer, for I have faith in your justice and 
 humanity. 
 
 Citizeness Du Barry. 1 
 
 In the meantime Greive and Salanave obtained the 
 necessary powers from the Committee of Public Safety to 
 break the seals at Louveciennes, of whose treasures they 
 made the inventory : they then confided them to the care 
 of Zamore and the National Guards. Greive took posses- 
 sion of the papers that had escaped destruction and were 
 found in the furniture or in drawers. He made abstracts 
 of them, annotated and compared them, and thus put to- 
 gether the most weighty collection of incriminating evidence. 
 Never was trial better prepared or more ardently prose- 
 cuted ! The man knew everything about the Countess, 
 initiated as he was by the treachery of her servants into 
 each intimate particular of her life, to which knowledge he 
 could further add that derived from the espionage practised 
 on her in London. 
 
 The letters taken are full of marginal comments hi the 
 minute writing of her accuser, and sometimes notes com- 
 pleting the information are pinned on. The accusations 
 are very precise and well supported by facts. Among the 
 
 1 This document is all in Madame Du Barry's writing. It was 
 communicated to the Committee of Public Safety, and bore the 
 tragic inscription : " Nothing to be done."
 
 304 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 many wrongs complained of, some seem ridiculously puerile, 
 but several others are important and may well have excited 
 the passions of that time. They constitute the history of 
 a counter-revolutionary, of a conspirator whose devotion 
 to her friends was carried to foolhardiness, and even to 
 the point of death. Greive next summed up the poor 
 woman's culpability in a few pages, and with infernal skill 
 prepared the way for the examining magistrates. An 
 unbiassed reading of his work, together with the authentic 
 documents he used, compel belief in the evidence he pro- 
 duced. Madame Du Barry violated the Revolutionary law, 
 and betrayed the Republic to the best of her ability. 
 
 Charges against the Du Barry. 1 
 
 1. She enjoyed the favour of the Crown of France, even 
 after her so-called disgrace, and until the date of the Revolu- 
 tion she has been connected with those who are now our 
 most cruel enemies. 
 
 Proofs. The letters of Calonne, of Villedeuil, of Durvey, 
 Court banker and Beaujon's successor, etc. 
 
 2. She kept up relations with them after the Revolution. 
 Proofs. In her correspondence and intimacy with Brissac, 
 
 with his daughter, formerly Duchess de Mortemart, . . . 
 as is shown as much by her correspondence with them as by 
 the notes and letters referring to the connection, and by the 
 evidence of citizen Blache and other eye-witnesses ; by her 
 intimacy with the former Chevalier de Coigny, to whose 
 dealings with foreign powers on behalf of the tyrant refer- 
 ence is made ; ... by her intimacy with the former 
 Duke de Coigny, his father, an imigri ; with the woman 
 Brunoy, an emigree ; with the wife of the Portuguese Am- 
 bassador, a relative of Lafayette, one of our most violent 
 
 1 But that it would take too long, it would be possible to annotate 
 this extract, referring each point to the original documents of Madame 
 Du Barry's dossier, several of which have been quoted in the course 
 of the book. The accounts have obviously been exaggerated, but 
 on the whole Greive's chief deductions were justified in view of the 
 facts that he collated. Vatel's neglect of this document, that was 
 given incorrectly but in its entirety by Dauban, is inexplicable. But 
 Vatel's one object is to prove Madame Du Barry's innocence, even 
 in the face of all evidence.
 
 A LONG INDICTMENT 305 
 
 enemies ; with the former Duchess de Brancas, . . . 
 with the former Marquis de Nesle, an emigre, with the former 
 Countess de Laigle ; with the former Chevalier de Durfort 
 . . . . with La Bourdic, as may be seen from the annexed 
 documents in which the latter, when arrested at Versailles, 
 recommends a young man to her notice ; with La Vougny, 
 an emigree, for whom, according to the documents, both she 
 and Brissac worked in London and in Paris to procure her 
 passports ; with Breteuil ; with the man named Laroche, 
 ex-curate of Agen, Abbe of Fontenilles or Laigle, who 
 was guillotined a month ago hi the Place de la Revolution ; 1 
 with de Boisseson, an emigre, who married her niece, formerly 
 major in the Conde Dragoons, of which Jaucourt was 
 Lieutenant-Colonel (see a letter from Boisseson to Brissac 
 . . . where he speaks of his principles, etc.) ; with le 
 Graillet, an imigri, formerly Guard of Artois, the man whose 
 titles to nobility, warrants, etc., were found buried in the 
 garden of Louveciennes. . . . (Graillet's daughter 
 always stayed with the Du Barry ; her mother is detained at 
 Versailles as the result of the recent denunciation of a 
 section) ; with the woman d'Harvelay, now Calonne, as 
 appears from notes of her journey to London, for instance, as 
 to a ring given to the woman Calonne ... by money 
 given to her coachman ; by her connection with the wife of 
 Le Brun, the painter, a friend of Calonne, whom he employed 
 in foreign courts, for it is well-known that the woman Le 
 Brun travelled all over Europe after the Revolution (see, 
 besides, how she ridicules the Revolution in a few words in 
 the only letter from her we have found dated from Naples) 2 ; 
 with d'Aiguillon, mother and son (Blache will prove it) 
 . . . ; with Narbonne . . . ; with the former Princess 
 d'Henin (Blache will prove it) ; with Forth, the famous 
 English spy, who skilf ully took advantage of her diamond 
 robbery, whether real or imaginary, to make her a tool hi 
 promoting the plots of the Courts of the Tuileries and London 
 (see her letters, Brissac's instructions, the frequent journeys 
 
 1 The Abbe de la Roche-Fontenilles. In the margin ; " Salanave 
 will prove that this Abbe dined with her on the day Maussabre, 
 Brissac's page, and a conspirator of August 10, was taken." 
 
 * The unsigned letter from the innocent artist bears the following 
 remark : " Letter from the woman Le Brun, painter, and mistress of 
 Calonne." 
 w
 
 306 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 of her courier and her valet-de-chambre, Peuchet, from 
 London to Paris, and from Paris to London, a letter from 
 Forth . . . from which she tore off the signature, be- 
 cause August 10, or at least the struggle between liberty and 
 royalty, was approaching ; and the villain B6thune-Charost 
 has admitted to me that Forth was in Paris at this time in 
 order to help the Court ; the use she made at this time of 
 d'Angremont, who has since been executed for having 
 recruited for the Court, and who ranged Paris in the Du 
 Barry's carriage and used her horses) ; by her connections 
 with this same d'Angremont, as appears from the accompany- 
 ing document, which shows that she obtained eight guns 
 from the poUce-administration of Paris on the strength of an 
 order signed Perron, under the pretext of a non-existent 
 demand from the local authorities of Louveciennes, a fact 
 to which the inhabitants can bear witness (she therefore did 
 it to arm her chateau ; and note the period, which was the 
 beginning of the year 1790, when all the former noblemen 
 tried to arm themselves while spewing forth infamies about 
 the National Guard) ; by her connection with Earthier, 
 formerly Lord Lieutenant of Paris, who took refuge with 
 her . . . ; with the former Chevalier d'Escourre, Bris- 
 sac's equerry, imprisoned at La Force . . . who acted 
 as intermediary in the making of the loans to the Bishop of 
 Rouen, the Cardinal de La Rochefoucauld, son of the former 
 Duchess de Danville, Condorcet's friend, and to Rohan- 
 Chabot, son-in-law to the same Duchess de Danville (be- 
 sides the Du Barry's loans to the Bishop of Rouen, it would 
 seem from Vandenyver's accounts, that these two gentle- 
 men, as also the Viscount de Juilhac, formerly a cavalry 
 officer, all received considerable sums from the Du Barry 
 at this period) ; with the former Princess de Rohan- Roche- 
 fort, a woman whose wickedness was greater than her folly ; 
 with the villainous suicide La Vallery, governor of Seine-et- 
 Oise ; with the former Viscount De Pont (Donnissant and De 
 Pont dined with the Du Barry on the Tuesday after Whit- 
 sunday this year ; which just shows how she had broken off 
 all her counter-revolutionary connections !). . . . 
 
 3. She kept up a correspondence with the emigres. 
 
 Proofs. Various letters found in her house, her corres- 
 pondence and communications with La Mortemart . . . 
 the fact that she spent the night after Brissac's death in
 
 FINANCING THE ROYALISTS 307 
 
 burning letters (we have witnesses of this deed at Louve- 
 ciennes) ; a register, found there, of forces intended for the 
 Netherlands, dated from Luxembourg, as if coming from 
 Vienna. See the documents you have, and particularly 
 a short letter dated from Brussels, the envelope of which you 
 will find among the documents I send you to-day, and the 
 ducal arms on which seem to be those of the former Prince de 
 Ligne. . . . 
 
 4. She supplied the counter-revolution with money. 
 Proofs. The order on her banker in 1793 (in the month of 
 
 January) to pay the Bishop of Rouen the sum of 200,000 
 livres within a week ; the order was made in London, at the 
 time when Pitt was stirring up war, civil and international, 
 against us ; that, in spite of her assumed devotion to France, 
 she lived on the most intimate terms with the Duke of 
 Queensberry, Lord Hawkesbury, Lord Loughborough, the 
 Chancellor, Lord Thurlow, the ex-Chancellor of England, 
 Lord Pembroke, who is now commanding the English cavalry 
 against us in the Netherlands, Whitshed Keene, first Lord- 
 in-Waiting and favourite of George III., with all the most 
 violent enemies of France, all in London ! All the documents 
 we found prove it, as well as the testimony of Blache and 
 others, and I shall myself prove it from the documents 
 transferred to you. . . . The loan of 20,000 livres made 
 in the same month to Rohan-Chabot. . . . The one 
 made in the month of January to the Bishop of Rouen, of a 
 similar sum, by an order on her banker in London. 
 
 5. She always built upon the counter-revolution. 
 Proofs. Her silver plate hidden in a secret place in her 
 
 cellar, her diamonds, gold and precious stones buried in her 
 garden. . . . Why did she have them hidden, instead of 
 giving or selling them to the Republic ? The reply is 
 obvious. . . . 
 
 6. She has made counter-revolutionary remarks against 
 the Revolution and against Paris. . . . 
 
 7. She wore mourning for the tyrant in London, where 
 she only visited the emigres and the enemies of France. 
 
 8. She always detested the Revolution, instigated counter- 
 revolutionary feeling, encouraged detractors of the Revolu- 
 tion, and protected the royalists. 
 
 Proofs. The innumerable counter-revolutionary writings, 
 pamphlets and prints found in her house, not one single
 
 308 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 one of which is patriotic ; her subscription to all the aristo- 
 cratic journals, having, after every change we have under- 
 gone, taken those which corresponded most nearly with her 
 own ways of thinking, beginning with the Actes des Apotres 
 and the Gazette de Paris, and down by degrees to the Gazette 
 universelle, the political correspondence of Du Pont, and the 
 counter-revolutionary writings of the Federalists ; the proof 
 lies in the documents, and in the medal of Pitt found hidden 
 in the room of her favourite and confidant, La Roussel. 
 
 9. She has always favoured the counter-revolutionists, 
 and prosecuted the patriots. . . . 
 
 10. She has favoured our foreign enemies. 
 
 Proofs. In her frequent journeys to London at the 
 most noteworthy periods of our Revolution ; in Brissac's 
 instructions to her ; in the favour she enjoyed at the Court 
 of London, at the very time when this same Court drove all 
 the patriotic Frenchmen out of England in the most atrocious 
 manner, for she stayed there until the middle of the month 
 of March, although war was declared at the beginning of 
 February ; far from being driven out of London, she only 
 returned when she heard of the confiscation of her property 
 at Louveciennes, and she asked to return to London a 
 week after she came home, as is proved by her diary of her 
 travels, by her applications to Lebrun, and by the documents 
 certifying the supposed necessity for her presenting herself in 
 London on April 14 (she had come home on March 23), a 
 certificate signed by the most contemptible courtiers of the 
 tyrant George . . ., by the medal of Pitt, by the writings 
 from Coblenz, Rome, London, etc., etc. 
 
 11. She has squandered the resources of the State. 
 Proofs. . . . 
 
 12. She tried to dispose of her treasures when she saw 
 that her scandalous activity and her counter-revolutionary 
 conduct had attracted attention. 
 
 Proofs. That, in spite of her assurances to the district 
 of Versailles that she had " very little silver-plate " left, 
 she dug up an enormous quantity that she had hidden in a 
 wall . . . , part of which she sent to Paris, a little at a 
 time. . . . She sold a strong-box by the help of an 
 abb6. . . . She had already tried to sell her diamonds in 
 Holland in 1790 (see Vandenyver's letters) and when they 
 came back, a real or feigned theft (there are two articles of
 
 IN THE TOILS 309 
 
 gold-mounted diamonds found buried in her garden, which are 
 described among the articles supposed to be lost) led to their 
 being taken ... to England, where they now are, 
 acknowledged as belonging to her though no thief has suffered 
 by as much as a scratch for having stolen them . . . 
 
 13. Whatever the truth may be, this mysterious robbery 
 has given her an excuse for making several journeys to 
 London, of which the two courts have apparently taken 
 advantage to send each other information, etc., without 
 committing the crime of emigration ; see also how artfully 
 she worked in concert with Lebrun, with Vandenyver, with 
 acknowledged double-dealers among the governors of Ver- 
 sailles, 1 and with the weak or corrupted municipal authori- 
 ties of Louveciennes, in order to avoid being classed among 
 the Emigres. Such art and foresight are indeed worthy of 
 one schooled by that profound master of MachiavelHsm, 
 Forth. 
 
 Moral proofs arising out of the documents, the periods 
 and the probabilities in question. 
 
 14. She has been considered an bnigree by the district. 
 Note that she has always been protected, in the most scanda- 
 lous manner, by several governors of the district ; she still 
 is ! ! ! . . . 
 
 She ought in fact to be considered an frnigree. 
 
 Proofs. She can only produce passports for six weeks, 
 . . . and she was away for nearly six months without 
 having them renewed. . . . Why should the Du 
 Barry enjoy the privilege of breaking the law with im- 
 punity ? . . . 2 
 
 Under the reign of the Terror, when those on whom 
 suspicion but glanced were liable to suffer the death penalty, 
 Madame Du Barry could scarcely hope to escape. Once 
 arrested, her condemnation was certain ; a single accusation 
 proved against her would have been enough, and Greive had 
 
 1 In the margin : " Fournier, the justice of the peace at Marly, 
 is prepared to prove that her steward, Morin, admitted to him that 
 he feared nothing for his mistress, because he was sure of La Vallery 
 and the other governors of Seine-et-Oise." 
 
 1 A fifteenth charge refers to Madame Du Barry's untruthful 
 allegations as to her fortune. Greive also drew up a list of witnesses 
 to be heard, indicating in each case what was the most damaging 
 evidence.
 
 310 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 collected so many, all supported by facts and witnesses 
 The guillotine had become an institution in Paris and the 
 provinces. On October 16, Marie-Antoinette greeted death 
 as a deliverer ; on the 3ist the Girondins went to the scaffold, 
 on November 8 Madame Roland, on the I2th Bailly. The 
 mob demanded famous heads ; and the " aristocrat " of 
 Louveciennes could not be forgotten for long. 
 
 Deserted and alone at Sainte-Pelagie, Madame Du Barry 
 yet had the energy to make an appeal to the pity of the 
 Committee of Public Safety ; and indeed if intelligence 
 and will alone could have saved her life, she would have 
 succeeded in doing so by herself. Her gentle, indulgent 
 soul was for once touched by the passion of hatred, and in 
 a few contemptuous lines she accused Greive, the man who 
 had bound her hands and was dragging her to her death. 
 Then, with gentle words she supplicated the harsh Tribunal : 
 
 For the second time citizeness Du Barry, a victim of 
 denunciation, appears before the Committee of Public Safe- 
 ty. The members of the Committee are no longer the same, 
 but the principles by which they are guided are the same ; 
 they are all equally inspired by the same principles of equity 
 and impartiality, and thus, with the most complete confi- 
 dence, she can submit her conduct to the scrutiny of those 
 to whom circumstances have made these principles a law. 
 
 The first thing of importance to be done, is to make known 
 the accuser. He has given his name himself. After having 
 tried to ruin the petitioner's reputation by a defamatory 
 libel, Citizen Greive has made vain attempts to outrage the 
 integrity of the Committee ; innocence triumphed, but the 
 accuser would take no rebuff ; he dared to write it, and 
 finally, when the Committee of Public Safety was renewed, he 
 renewed his denunciation. 
 
 It is horrible to think that the same Greive was entrusted 
 with carrying out the orders of the Committee ; the manner 
 in which he acquitted himself of his duty betrays the 
 violence of his animosity against the petitioner, and the fatal 
 consequences that might ensue if the wisdom of the Com- 
 mittee were not a protection, placing her above all fear. 
 
 Every formality was violated ; the very orders of the 
 Committee did not curb him, for he plainly transgressed them.
 
 A VAIN DEFENCE 311 
 
 He began by taking possession of the petitioner's person. 
 Words cannot describe the horrible outrages of which he was 
 guilty. . . . He set about opening, and even breaking 
 in, the doors, and lastly examining papers. 
 
 The law, which is the protection of all, justice and the 
 very orders of the Committee demand that this examination 
 should have been made in the petitioner's presence. What 
 refuge is there for her, if the malice of her enemies succeeds 
 in charging her with the possession of suspicious papers ? 
 What redress can she win ? Against whom should she use 
 this redress, if they succeed in depriving her of some of her 
 property ? Citizen Greive is an undomiciled stranger, since 
 he is now in Paris, now at Luciennes, staying with citizens 
 to whom he is a stranger, and without any known means of 
 subsistence. 
 
 To his arbitrary and law-breaking deeds citizen Greive has 
 added the inhumanity of depriving the petitioner of her 
 assignats, of refusing her the use of her linen and the fruits 
 of her garden, in that he has driven her out of her house in 
 order to take possession of it and put himself in her place 
 and position. After this exposure can the Committee judge 
 him worthy of their confidence ? 
 
 The petitioner makes no complaint of the hard measures 
 taken against her. As long as these measures are in the 
 cause of public safety and dictated by justice, she can sub- 
 mit to them with patience, and bear her fate without com- 
 plaint. . . . But she trusts the members of the Com- 
 mittee will be so kind as to examine her conduct as soon as 
 possible, in order that they may determine upon her case, 
 with full knowledge. ... In a word, of what is she 
 accused ? 
 
 Her journeys to England ? Their purpose is known, 
 as she avowed to the constituted authorities in order to 
 prevent even the breath of suspicion falling upon her 
 devotion to the cause of the Revolution. She returned to 
 France before the termination of the affair which took her 
 to London, relating to her stolen property, which she has 
 not yet regained ; since then she has had no correspondence 
 abroad. 
 
 Is she blamed for not being patriotic ? But she has 
 always given evidence of strong feelings of patriotism. The 
 local authorities and the inhabitants of Louveciennes have
 
 312 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 testified to it ; all the examinations made by the Depart- 
 ment of Seine-at-Oise resulted in depositions highly in her 
 favour ; all the documents were laid before the former 
 Committee ; will the present members not have them 
 brought before them, too ? 
 
 Strong in the assurance of her innocence and good con- 
 duct, the petitioner awaits with confidence the decision that 
 will restore her liberty. 
 
 The whole line of defence taken up by the accused is 
 indicated in the above appeal, and she was to abide by it 
 bravely in her coming trial. Greive delivered his report 
 to the Committee of Public Safety, and two members, 
 Voulland and Jagot, came to the prison on October 30 and 
 began the first examination of " the woman called Du 
 Barry." With a presence of mind that she retained to the 
 end, she tried to justify herself without betraying any one, 
 as the documents preserved have proved. 
 
 National Convention. Committee of Public Safety. 
 
 (On the gth of the 2nd month of year II. of the Republic 
 one and indivisible.) 
 
 Q. What is your name ? 
 
 A. Jeanne Vaubernier Du Barry, aged 42 years (sic), 
 usually resident at Luciennes in a house that is as much 
 mine as the Nation's. 
 
 Q. Did you make various journeys to London ? 
 
 A . I made four. 
 
 Q. What was the purpose of these different journeys 
 and when were they made ? 
 
 A. They were on account of the theft of diamonds and 
 other goods which I suffered during the night of January 
 10, 1791 
 
 Q. Was there not a limit put in your passport to the 
 time you were allowed to spend in London ? 
 
 A The time was not limited, and could not reasonably 
 have been so, seeing that a lawsuit was in question. 
 
 Q. While you were in London the National Convention 
 issued several edicts compelling all Frenchmen who had left 
 the Republic after a certain date to return, under penalty 
 of being considered tmigrts, and treated as such if they did 
 not. Did you know of them ?
 
 A SEARCHING EXAMINATION 313 
 
 A. I knew of those edicts, but could not believe they 
 applied to me, as the reason why I left was known and I 
 had a passport. 
 
 Q. People who took an interest in you wrote to persuade 
 you to return to France. . . . Why did you neglect 
 this advice ? 
 
 A. I do not remember having received a letter con- 
 taining such advice. If I had, I should have followed it. 
 
 We at once produced a letter in which citizen Vandenyver 
 wrote on November 19, 1792^0 the respondent, warning her 
 that " the edicts of the National Convention fulminated " 
 against those he called " absent subjects, who are all con- 
 sidered as emigres." The respondent, while recognising the 
 letter, alleged an exception in the following phrase : " How- 
 ever, I do not think you can be regarded as such, considering 
 the passports with which you are provided, and the notoriety 
 of the purpose of your journey, namely, your lawsuit, which 
 is generally known." The respondent stated that this 
 phrase was the determining motive for her continued stay in 
 London. . . . We then marked the said letter and the 
 respondent added her signature to ours. 
 
 The examination was continued on the subject of the 
 loans, which were incontestably the gravest charge against 
 her. Madame Du Barry admitted having lent Rohan Chabot 
 two hundred thousand livres, but she denied all the rest. 
 
 Q. At the same time did you not lend the Bishop of 
 Rouen a sum of 200,000 livres, through Vandenyver ? 
 
 A. No, that can only be the sum lent to Rohan-Chabot, 
 and I persist in saying that he is the only person to whom I 
 lent 200,000 livres. 
 
 We immediately laid before the respondent a letter, 
 written to her by Vandenyver during her stay in London, 
 and dated January 7, 1793, where the following might be 
 read : " Under such circumstances a citizen came to tell 
 us that you intended he should be provided with the sum 
 of 200,000 livres to be lent to the Bishop of Rouen, by a 
 mortgage on landed property, and that it was to be paid 
 this week." 
 
 The accused had no better defence as regards the two 
 letters from de Custine, which she said she had taken by
 
 314 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 mistake from the hotel de Brissac, " when writing there one 
 day at a bureau." 1 She was questioned with the same 
 minuteness on all the correspondence seized in her house. 
 She replied simply, always ready with an explanation, and 
 without attempting to conceal circumstances that the seizure 
 of her papers had made evident, but rather doing her best 
 to show that they had arisen quite naturally. Thus she made 
 clear her position with regard to the Princess de Rohan- 
 Rochefort, the Princess Lubomirska, the Marquise and the 
 Duchess de Mortemart, letting slip no word of imprudence, 
 but counting on the good faith of her judges. The latter 
 recurred several times to the subject of the money lent to 
 the emigres, who had taken refuge in London. 
 
 Q. Explain to us an account you kept, according to which 
 you distributed several guineas to various people in London, 
 such as those named Pauline, Henriette, Fortune., Monsieur 
 Melino, and Frondeville ? 
 
 A, The woman named Pauline is Madame de Morte- 
 mart, the one named Henriette is my waiting-woman, the 
 man named Fortune is English, Monsieur Melino is English, 
 Frondeville is President of the Parliament of Rouen. The 
 sums that I gave to Madame de Mortemart were for things 
 I required ; those distributed to Henriette, my waiting- 
 woman, were for the same purpose ; Melino was entrusted 
 with the management of my lawsuit, and had made ad- 
 vances which I had to repay ; Fortune and Frondeville were 
 commissioned to play on my account. 
 
 Other questions followed, on the correctness of the list 
 of stolen jewels, and on the cash the Countess had kept by 
 her, which action constituted a grave offence. Finally 
 she signed the official report with Jagot and Voulland. 
 
 Two days later, on the nth Brumaire, year II., the same 
 two representatives of the people went to the prison of La 
 Force in order to examine Vandenyver senior. When 
 questioned on the negotiations of the Countess, the banker, 
 
 1 The General de Custine had been guillotined on the previous 
 August 28 ; his trial had roused popular fury to the utmost, and the 
 smallest connection with the " traitor " was enough to compromise 
 any accused person.
 
 A NOBLE SELF-SACRIFICE 315 
 
 notwithstanding his extreme prudence, could not entirely 
 conceal certain suspicious monetary transactions, nor the 
 scandal of an immense fortune having been placed at the 
 disposal of the enemies of the State. 
 
 For two months the poor woman was kept in the prison 
 hi solitary confinement. But after that she probably 
 received a visit from one of the brave priests who used to 
 penetrate into the dungeons in order to administer the 
 consolations of religion to the unfortunate captives. One 
 would like to believe in the authenticity of an anecdote, 
 dating probably from the time of her detention in Sainte- 
 Pelagie ; at least it is quite in agreement with Madame Du 
 Barry's character. 
 
 " A little before the Countess Du Barry was guillotined, 
 on December 8, 1793, an Irish priest succeeded in gaining 
 access to her, in the prison of La Conciergerie (sic), and 
 offered to save her, if she could provide him with the neces- 
 sary money for bribing the gaolers and paying for the 
 journey. She asked him if he could not save two people ; 
 he replied that his project only permitted of one being 
 saved. ' In that case,' said Madame Du Barry, ' I shall 
 certainly give you an order on my banker for the necessary 
 sum, but I should much rather that the Duchess de Morte- 
 mart escaped death than I. She is in hiding in the loft of 
 such and such a house at Calais ; here is a draft on my 
 banker, now fly to her aid.' After having attempted to 
 persuade her to allow him to get her out of prison, the 
 priest, being at last convinced that she put the Duchess 
 first, took the draft, obtained the money, went to Calais, 
 brought the Duchess de Mortemart out of her hiding-place, 
 disguised her as a woman of the people and, taking her 
 under his care, made her travel on foot with him, saying 
 that he was a good constitutional priest, married to the 
 woman ; people answered bravo and let them pass. He 
 thus succeeded hi passing the French troops and came to 
 Ostend, whence he embarked for England with Madame de 
 Mortemart, whom I have since seen in London." l 
 
 1 Mf moires d'un voyageur qui se repose, Paris, 1806. Dutens is
 
 316 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 Whatever the actual service that Madame Du Barry 
 rendered to the Duke de Brissac's daughter may have been, 
 it is at least certain that she thought much of her when in 
 prison. Her return to France had been inspired by the 
 hope of making herself useful to her ; she had seen the 
 Duchess in Calais the last time she passed through that 
 town ; and among the emigres it was a well-known fact 
 that she had sacrificed herself in the cause of her affection. 1 
 
 After the examinations and the production of the docu- 
 ments, the decision reached by the Committee of Public 
 Safety was inevitable. By an order of the 2gth Brumaire, 
 Madame Du Barry was arraigned before the Revolutionary 
 Tribunal for " emigrating, and for having, while in London 
 ^, . . given the emigres pecuniary aid . . . and 
 maintained suspicious relations with them." On the 2nd 
 Frimaire (November 22) the prisoner was taken to the 
 Palais, and appeared before Rene Francois Dumas, vice- 
 president of the Revolutionary Tribunal, who examined her 
 for the second time, in the presence of the Public Prosecutor, 
 Fouquier-Tinville. She replied fearlessly, bravely recog- 
 nising the responsibilities of her life as a favourite, upon 
 which the magistrate maliciously dwelt, and repelling with 
 energy the serious accusations levelled against her. Dumas 
 kept her before him for a whole hour ; when back in her 
 prison, she wrote to Fouquier, appealing only to his sense 
 
 reputed truthful in his anecdotes, and his account seems to be 
 confirmed by the fact that the Duchess de Mortemart, after having 
 stayed in London at the same time as Madame Du Barry, spent some 
 time in Calais in 1793, where the Countess was said to have seen her, 
 on the occasion of her last return to France. 
 
 1 Such was the opinion of the two best-informed men of the 
 period, the Marquis de Bouille and the Count d'Espinchal. The 
 testimony of the former has already been quoted on p. 286 ; that 
 of the latter, who was far from England, is less confirmatory 
 and introduces a particular that it is impossible to verify. "The 
 motive, that induced her to return, is said to be the knowledge which 
 she alone possessed, of a million which had belonged to the Duke de 
 Brissac, and which she hoped to assist in restoring to the Duchess 
 Pauline de Mortemart, his only daughter." Though not necessarily 
 adopting this view, the number of indications of the bonds of affec- 
 tion uniting Madame Du Barry and the Duchess de Mortemart 
 should be noted.
 
 AN APPEAL TO FOUQUIER 317 
 
 of justice, in an attempt to soften the heart of the man, 
 whom she yet felt to be implacable. 
 
 Citizen Public Prosecutor, 
 
 In your impartial examination of the unfortunate action 
 that Greive and his associates have raised against me before 
 the Tribunal, I hope you will only see in me the victim of 
 an intrigue aimed at my destruction. 
 
 I never emigrated ; I never even intended doing so. 
 
 The use I made of the two hundred thousand livres, which 
 Escourre delivered to citizen Rohan on my behalf, should 
 be conclusive proof of that, even to the most prejudiced 
 person. 
 
 I never provided the emigres with money, I never kept up 
 criminal correspondence with them ; and if I was compelled 
 by circumstances, both in London and hi France, to see 
 persons of the Court, or persons who were perhaps not in 
 complete agreement with the proceedings of the Revolution, 
 yet I sincerely hope, citizen Public Prosecutor, that you will, 
 in the justice and equity of your heart, estimate aright both 
 the circumstances in which I have always found myself, 
 and my relations, which are well-known and were forced upon 
 me, with citizen Brissac, whose correspondence is before you. 
 
 I trust in your sense of justice ; you may count on the 
 eternal gratitude of your fellow-citizeness 
 
 Vaubernier Du Barry. 
 
 If Fouquier Tinville deigned to glance at this letter, his 
 only reply, on the I3th Frimaire, was to draw up the prose- 
 cution, and to demand the immediate removal of the 
 accused and her accomplices to the Conciergerie. The next 
 day their names were entered on the register of that prison 
 from which few who entered ever came forth, except to 
 meet their death. 
 
 At nine o'clock on the morning of the i6th Frimaire 
 (December 6) , Madame Du Barry and the three Vandenyvers 
 appeared before the terrible Tribunal, officially defended by 
 Chauveau-Legarde and Lafleuterie. Dumas, the vice- 
 president, presided over the court ; Fouquier-Tinville 
 made sure that " trusty " jurors, such as Prieur and Trin- 
 chard, were present. The accused, whose manner was self-
 
 3 i8 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 possessed, took their seats. In spite of her privations, her 
 sleepless nights, her tears, Madame Du Barry was still 
 strong, and could view without trembling the host of wit- 
 nesses prepared to give evidence against her to the utmost 
 of their capacity ; among them were Zamore, whom she had 
 brought up, Salanave, who for twenty years had been her 
 cook, her servants, and inhabitants of Louveciennes, to 
 whom she had shown nothing but kindness, and whose 
 ingratitude now cloaked itself under the name of patriotism. 
 With what thoughts did she look on Greive, who sat in the 
 chief place, brooding over his prey ? Was the contempt of 
 the disdainful beauty great enough to make her once more 
 choose death rather than him ? 
 
 There was a crowd of spectators in the great hall of 
 Liberty, 1 for the chief defendant was a celebrated woman, 
 and the drama to be played out was exciting, as well as 
 obscure and complicated. All that remains to us now are 
 the notes taken by Fouquier-Tinville and the juror Topino- 
 Lebrun on the replies made to President Dumas. 2 
 
 First of all the Countess was examined. In deep silence 
 her gentle voice was heard declaring her name, her birth- 
 place, and her age, which a last coquettish instinct made her 
 give as forty-two ; and, indeed, she was still pretty enough 
 to be believed, as the eyes of the men, no doubt, told her. 
 Fouquier wrote as follows : " i. Jeanne Vaubernier, wife of 
 Du Barry, legally separated, forty-two years, born at Vau- 
 couleurs, in Lorraine, resident at Louveciennes ; 2. Jean- 
 Baptiste Vandenyver, 66 years, Dutch banker, born in 
 Amsterdam, resident rue Vivienne ; 3. Edme-Jean-Baptiste 
 Vandenyver, 32 years, banker, born in Paris ; 4. Antoine- 
 Augustin Vandenyver, 29 years, banker, born in Paris." 
 Wolf, the Master of the Rolls, read the deed of prosecution, 
 the witnesses took the oath, and Greive was called. Fouquier- 
 
 1 Formerly the great hall of the Parliament; now the chief hall 
 of the Court of Appeal. 
 
 1 Favrolle (Madame Guenard) was the first to know of Fouquier's 
 notes, and the other documents. Vatel added Topino's notes, and 
 published the whole, without taking the trouble to correct the 
 numerous inaccuracies, which may easily mislead the reader.
 
 GREIVE'S EVIDENCE 319 
 
 Tinville, whose place was on the first step of the tribunal, 
 took down the evidence with his swift pen " that seemed 
 to follow every word " : 
 
 George Greive, born in England, and deputy of the United 
 States of America : The Du Barry hindered recruiting 
 at Luciennes. In the night of September 22 last, the day of 
 her arrest, a quantity of silver plate was found in a receptacle 
 used for keeping gardening-tools . . . also the famous 
 gold service and precious stones and emeralds ; in another 
 place gold corns, pieces of six livres, were found buried in the 
 ground, as also bronzes and a bust of Louis XV. . . 
 Further, in the woman Roussel's room, the medal of 
 Pitt hidden under bran. Further, a large number of 
 articles said to have been stolen, pencil-cases, a golden 
 lorgnette. . . . 
 
 Forth, the English spy, came to Paris in 1777. This 
 Forth was rewarded with a considerable pension, and made 
 several journeys from Paris to London, and vice-versa from 
 London to Paris. A letter found among the Dubarry's 
 papers shows the erased signature of Forth, and of Bethune- 
 Charost, who was closely connected with this Forth. 
 
 [To a question from the President, the accused] replied 
 that she did not know whose was the portrait of a woman 
 found hidden in a dunghill. The portrait was found 
 together with one of Louis XV. dressed as a Carmelite. 
 
 The Du Barry had various lodgings hi Paris, where she 
 held meetings of a crowd of emigres or of their relatives. 
 On the Du Barry's return, witness was presented on March 
 26, 1793, with an English certificate signed by the Duke of 
 Queensberry, a great enemy of the Revolution. On the 
 strength of this certificate she made all her requests for 
 passports. . . . Witness has seen Forth with, and 
 visiting the Du Barry. The general opinion of the neigh- 
 bourhood is that the theft was a feint, and that, further, 
 the theft, whether real or not, was used as an excuse by 
 Forth. Another fact is that the diamonds were sent to 
 Holland in November, 1790, and came back in January, 
 1791. The Du Barry received Forth in July, 1792. Several 
 letters from Forth were found in her house, one of which was 
 defaced. She declared in her examination that her law- 
 suit was over, after her return in March, 1793. Why then
 
 320 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 did the certificate say she was compelled to return to 
 England ? 
 
 Here the accused protested. " The Du Barry," wrote 
 Fouquier-Tinville, " said it was for receiving her diamonds 
 and paying expenses." 
 
 After Greive, his colleague, Xavier Audoin, was called to 
 give evidence on the search carried out at Louveciennes 
 after August 10 : " The house was full of the former noble- 
 men of the Court ; one called Maussabre was seized in one 
 of the accused's rooms. . . ." Next, Blache, the man 
 who spied on her in London, came forward : 
 
 Saw some of the diamonds in England. Saw Forth, the 
 English spy, and the woman Calonne get out of a carriage 
 . . . and the man named Pont, whom he heard was an 
 ex-Constitutional ; they went into the Du Barry's house, and 
 a moment afterwards all four came out and got into Calonne's 
 carriage. During her second stay in London she lived at 
 Westminster, in a house hired by the Abbe Saint-Phar for 
 Bouille, the Princess d'He'nin, Bertrand de Molleville, the 
 Minister for the Navy, the Duchess de Mortemart, Breteuil 
 and other tmigris. In January, 1793, they heard of Louis 
 Capet's death ; French patriots were molested, insulted and 
 driven away. The Du Barry, while in London, went into 
 mourning when the death of the former King became known. 
 Shortly after, Brissot declared war on England. On one of 
 her journeys, made the wife of the former Duke d'Aiguillon 
 emigrate with her. 
 
 Blache brought together numerous petty details, spoke 
 of his visits to Louveciennes, his suppers with Salanave and 
 Fremont, the gardener, whom the accused had dismissed as 
 a patriot, of the favours the accused was said to have 
 obtained from La Vallery, of the counter-revolutionary 
 activities of Morin. . . . How often the poor woman 
 must have wanted to interrupt to defend herself and con- 
 found her accusers ! Then she was questioned by Dumas. 
 Though agitated at being taken unawares, she soon regained 
 her composure and, after her first reply, showed as much 
 cunning and intelligence as the President himself. But 
 the evidence was against her.
 
 AN UNFORTUNATE WITNESS 321 
 
 Silence reigned among the interested spectators. Among 
 their crowded ranks, perhaps, there was one who would take 
 to the unhappy Rohan-Chabot the last words of his mistress ; 
 perhaps the Countess knew, and was thereby inspired with 
 the courage that she needed to keep her from giving way. 
 
 Meanwhile Fouquier-Tinville continued to take his notes : 
 
 The Du Barry asserts that her third journey was under- 
 taken in order to set Forth at liberty, he having been ar- 
 rested in consequence of an action brought against him by 
 the thieves. The Du Barry saw the woman Calonne in 
 London. She admits it, but denies having kept up corres- 
 pondence with others, except the woman Mortemart, with 
 whom the correspondence was merely that of friendship. 
 The Du Barry admits having worn black for the tyrant, 
 but asserts that she never wore anything else. The Du 
 Barry admits having petitioned on behalf of La Bondie 
 who was arrested at her house as a suspect. The Du Barry 
 asserts that she obtained certificates of residence, as she 
 had always resided in France. The Du Barry asserts that 
 she received some petitions connected with the formation 
 of the last guard of the former King, but that she had not 
 in any way influenced the nominations. . . . 
 
 Escourre, who was imprisoned in La Force, was called 
 to give evidence on the subject of the loans which he had 
 negotiated. But he was confused in his explanations, 
 faltered, and contradicted himself, and, in spite of his 
 devotion to the Countess, did her nothing but injury. 
 Fouquier rose, demanded an official report of the tergiversa- 
 tions of the witness, and ordered that he should be forth- 
 with conducted to La Conciergerie, " as charged with perjury 
 and complicity hi a criminal and counter-revolutionary 
 intercourse." It was equivalent to his death-sentence. 1 
 
 After this incident, unfavourable to the accused, the pro- 
 cession of witnesses was continued. First came Salanave, 
 who declared that he had always been looked on unfavour- 
 
 1 D'Escourre was condemned on the 2ist Frimaire (December 
 ii, 1793), and executed the same day. The documents connected 
 with his trial are analysed by Vatel ; they refer to a letter to Rohan- 
 Chabot, of which the original has been preserved in Madame Du 
 Barry's dossier. 
 
 x
 
 322 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 ably in the house of the accused, where all the other servants 
 were " aristocrats " ; he gave a list of those who were 
 frequent visitors at Louveciennes : La Vaupaliere, Brissac, 
 La Bondie, Escourre, " a former Marquis Donnissan, a 
 former Viscount De Pont, the woman Bandeville, the woman 
 Brunoy, formerly Marquise ; the former Duchess Brancas, 
 the former Chevalier MaussabreV' 
 
 A discussion took place on De Pont, whom the accused 
 denied having seen in England : " Blache insisted that she 
 had, and stated that De Pont was the man who provided 
 Burke, the author of the diatribe against the Constitution of 
 1791, with information." Zamore was called ; Greive had 
 mentioned him as one of the chief witnesses. 1 He only gave 
 evidence on matters that were already known ; in particu- 
 lar he wanted to establish the improbability of the diamond 
 robbery : 
 
 Witness considers the diamond robbery an invention. 
 The diamonds were kept in a cabinet that served as a vestibule 
 to a room (sic). It was announced that the thieves entered 
 from the garden by means of a broken window, and no other 
 damage had been observed except for some rails that had 
 been wrenched. Knows that the most valuable things were 
 kept in the Du Barry's room. Witness believes that the 
 theft was not real. . . . 
 
 Henriette Couture, the young waiting-woman, was in 
 mortal fear of being compromised ; she falteringly admitted 
 
 1 Zamore's treachery did not prevent his being suspected and im- 
 prisoned in his turn. Greive intervened by means of a letter to 
 Fouquier-Tinville, asking for the release of " our virtuous Zamore, 
 that child of Nature, that apostle of Liberty, that worthy pupil of 
 the immortal Jean- Jacques, who has been torn from his duties as 
 Secretary to the Revolutionary Committee of Versailles, where he 
 had found a refuge from the Du Barry's atrocious persecution of 
 him on account of his patriotism." " You have seen him," wrote 
 Greive, referring to the trial of Frimaire, " you have heard this 
 interesting person who, torn from the bosom of his family at the age 
 of four, and brought to Europe to become the toy of a crapulous 
 tyrant's vile mistress, was yet able ... to escape all the cor- 
 ruption of an infamous Court, and show himself the ardent supporter 
 of the Republic, even as early as 1789 ! . . . Oh 1 if you only 
 knew our good Zamore I Ask what the patriots of the Caf6 Procope 
 think of him, where he is respected by all who are worthy of respect."
 
 FOUQUIER'S SPEECH 323 
 
 that accused had spent the night after Brissac's arrest in 
 burning papers. 
 
 Another of her women, Henriette Roussel (" a medium 
 figure, pock-marked," wrote Fouquier), said that Forth 
 " returned on the second journey " ; she affirmed that her 
 mistress always took black dresses to London, " and a few 
 white ones." Devray, the surgeon, confirmed the destruc- 
 tion of papers ; Founder, justice of the peace for the district 
 of Marly, gave evidence on the articles found in Madame Du 
 Barry's house, and " recognised a portion of those announced 
 as stolen and described in the printed list." The accused 
 insisted that these articles had been returned to Monsieur de 
 Brissac, who gave a reward of a hundred louis. When again 
 questioned on some points, she " could not say how much 
 
 money she had spent in London and supplied to the emigres 
 
 
 The president proceeded next to examine the Vandeny- 
 vers ; they had to answer as to Madame Du Barry's affairs, 
 the letters of credit they had given her, the loans she had 
 made through their instrumentality, and as to their personal 
 relations with Calonne and the Tuileries. Interest in the 
 examination was at an end, for the bankers were sure to 
 share the fate of their customer. 
 
 Fouquier-Tinville rose to make the judicial address. In 
 order that it should be worthy of the trial of the " infamous 
 conspirator " he had prepared his exordium and peroration 
 with care. The rough drafts, which are full of erasures, 
 have been kept in the dossier, and the revolutionary orator 
 may easily be recognised in its turgid phrases and its flood 
 of hyperboles : 
 
 Exordium. 
 
 Citizen Jurymen, 
 
 You have pronounced judgment on the plots of the 
 wife of the last tyrant who ruled the French ; you are now 
 asked to pronounce judgment on the conspiracies of the 
 courtesan of his infamous predecessor. You see before you 
 this Lais, so celebrated for her dissolute morals, for the 
 publicity and parade of her debauchery, whose licentiousness 
 alone empowered her to share the life of a despot, who
 
 324 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 sacrificed the wealth and blood of his people to the satisfac- 
 tion of his shameful pleasures. The scandal, the ignominy 
 of her elevation to power, are not what should engage your 
 attention, nor the turpitude and shame of her infamous 
 prostitution. You are here to decide whether this Messalina, 
 born of the people, enriched and covered with the spoils of 
 the people, who paid for the indignity of her looseness of 
 morals, and deprived by the death of the tyrant of the rank 
 which crime alone had given her, whether she conspired 
 against the liberty and sovereignty of the people ; whether, 
 after being the accomplice and instrument of the licentious- 
 ness of kings, she has become the tool of tyrants, nobles and 
 priests in their conspiracies against the Revolution. Citizen 
 jurymen, the examining of the witnesses has already thrown 
 the clearest light on these conspiracies. From the evidence 
 and documents produced you must have realised some of 
 the extent of this vast plot, these execrable machinations, 
 hitherto unexampled in the annals of the people. Never, 
 indeed, has a more important case been submitted to you 
 for decision, since to a certain degree it gives you the clue to 
 the intrigues of Pitt and all his accomplices against France. 
 You are asked to bear in mind all the details of this plot, 
 and of the part the courtesan of despots and her accomplices 
 have taken in it. 
 
 Peroration. 
 
 Such, citizen jurymen, are the results of the examinations 
 that have taken place. It is for you to weigh them, in your 
 wisdom. You see that Royalists and Federalists and all 
 these factions, though apparently divided among themselves, 
 have yet the same head, the same purpose, the same end in 
 view. The war against other nations, the rising in the 
 Vendee, the disturbances in the South, the insurrection of 
 Calvados, all are inspired by the same principle, and have 
 the same chiefs, d'Artois and Pethion ; all are directed by 
 Pitt, and if, hitherto, we have, so to speak, only raised the 
 veil cloaking so much villainy, we can say to-day that it 
 has been completely torn asunder, and naught remains 
 to the conspirators but shame and the punishment of their 
 infamous plots. Yea, Frenchmen, we swear it, the traitors 
 shall perish, and liberty alone be upheld. She has resisted, 
 and will ever resist all attempts of the united despots, of 
 heir slaves, their priests, their infamous courtesans. The
 
 SENTENCED TO DEATH 325 
 
 people will fell to the ground all her enemies, all this horde 
 of brigands leagued against her. With the riches she 
 acquired by her debauchery, the infamous conspirator 
 before you could live in the heart of a country that appeared 
 to have buried with the tyrant, whose worthy companion 
 she was, every memory of her prostitution and of the scandal 
 of her elevation to power. But the liberty of the people 
 was a crime hi her eyes ; she wanted them enslaved and 
 cringing under masters, she wanted the best part of their 
 substance to be devoted to the payment of her pleasures. 
 She is an example, which goes with many others to prove 
 more and more conclusively that licentiousness and loose- 
 ness of morals are the greatest enemies of the liberty and 
 happiness of the people. In striking with the sword of 
 justice a Messalina, guilty of conspiring against her country, 
 you will not only avenge the Republic for her outrages 
 against the law, but you will destroy a public scandal, and 
 strengthen the empire of morality, which is the chief founda- 
 tion of the empire of the people. 
 
 The envenomed verbiage of the Public Prosecutor added 
 nothing to the conviction of the jury that they had already 
 formed on the evidence ; nor was it shaken by the defending 
 advocates, whose speeches followed. Madame Du Barry 
 was defended by Chauveau-Lagarde, who had done the 
 same for Marie Antoinette. Dumas summed up the case ; 
 the jury went out, and returned with a reply in the 
 affirmative to all the questions. It was eleven o'clock 
 at night when the accused were brought back to hear their 
 sentence : 
 
 In view of the certainty of the fact that machinations 
 have been practised and communications maintained with 
 the enemies of the State and their agents to induce them to 
 engage in hostilities, to point out and support the means of 
 undertaking these hostilities and directing them against 
 France, notably by making several journeys abroad on 
 carefully prepared pretexts, in order to concert these hostile 
 schemes with their enemies, by providing them or their 
 agents with pecuniary aid ; 
 
 Jeanne Vaubernier, wife of Du Barry, resident at Luciennes, 
 formerly a courtesan, is convicted of being one of the
 
 326 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 authors or accomplices of the said machinations and com- 
 munications ; 
 
 Jean-Baptiste Vandenyver, Dutch banker, domiciled in 
 Paris, Edme- Jean-Baptiste Vandenyver, banker in Paris, 
 and Antoine-Augustin Vandenyver, banker in Paris, are 
 convicted of being accomplices to the said machinations 
 and communications ; 
 
 Having heard the Public Prosecutor's conclusions as to 
 the application of the law : 
 
 The said Jeanne Vaubernier, wife of Du Barry, the said 
 J. B. Vandenyver, E.-J.-B. Vandenyver and A.-A. Vandeny- 
 ver are condemned to suffer the penalty of death. 1 
 
 The unhappy woman, whose spirit was already broken by 
 the long days of suspense through which she had passed, 
 fainted away. The gendarmes took her back to her dungeon, 
 and the night of misery that followed may be imagined. In 
 the morning her hair was cut short, and she was dressed in 
 the robe of the condemned. She asked to be heard once more, 
 no doubt in order to gain time and make another attempt 
 to buy her life. 2 Placed between two gratings in the Con- 
 ciergerie, she declared she had buried in her garden or handed 
 to her servants a gold service, jewel-boxes, diamond chains, 
 rings, portraits of Louis XV., miniatures of a woman, 
 crested plate, " two Turkish daggers set with rubies and 
 other precious stones. . . ." 3 
 
 1 As soon as the decree was issued, on the ijth Frimaire, Fouquier 
 gave his orders to the commanding officer of the Parisian armed 
 forces with regard to the execution, which was fixed for " eleven 
 o'clock in the morning " of the following day in the Place de la 
 Revolution. 
 
 * Lafont d'Aussonne has told that she received promises of pardon 
 if she would point out where her treasures were hidden, a story that 
 does not seem unlikely. Thence her resistance and cries at the 
 end ; she must have believed that she was being taken to the scaffold 
 " in haste and by mistake." Prudhomme almost admits that this 
 was the case. " As long as the woman hoped to buy her life by 
 restoring her property to the Nation, her manner was quite composed 
 and strong." She had therefore been allowed to cherish such a 
 hope. 
 
 * She mentioned, as having been hidden in Morin's garden, 
 " eleven bags of twelve hundred livres, forty double louis brought 
 back from London on her last journey, a gold -mounted tortoiseshell
 
 THE JOURNEY TO THE SCAFFOLD 327 
 
 In enumerating this hidden treasure, her memory, under 
 the influence of the excitement of the moment, was marvel- 
 lously sure ; but it is not true that in order to save her own 
 life, she sold those of others. 1 No document gives evidence 
 of such a deed. If she mentioned the woman Deliant and 
 Denis Morin as those entrusted with the treasure, on the 
 other hand she took all responsibility for their actions 
 upon herself. Morin said so himself when he made his own 
 declaration as to the things confided to his care : "I only 
 acted on Madame's orders." 2 
 
 These revelations by Madame Du Barry postponed the 
 execution. Not till half-past four in the afternoon was she 
 placed in the tumbril with the three Vandenyvers. It was 
 the i8th day of Frimaire in the year II. (December 8, 
 1793), and night was falling. The convoy passed fairly 
 quickly through the badly-lighted streets of old Paris ; 
 it was bitterly cold, and this prevented a crowd from 
 gathering. Thus it is scarcely probable that the poor 
 woman's pallor could have been distinguished, or the encour- 
 aging words of the elder Vandenyver have been heard. She 
 was prostrate on the bench, completely broken down, as 
 were so many others when taken to the guillotine. 3 Though 
 
 box set with a portrait of Marie Antoinette by Sauvage. . . ." 
 She finally offered to write to London for the objects of the famous 
 robbery, " if such were the pleasure of the Tribunal." The long 
 declaration was received in proper order by the Judge Denizot and 
 the Public Prosecutor's deputy, and taken down by the clerk 
 Tavernier, who was said to have spent no less than three hours 
 on the task. The original was found by Vatel in Denis Morin's 
 dossier, where it had been put by Fouquier-Tinville. 
 
 1 Louis Blanc puts the number of the victims of Madame Du 
 Barry's supposed denunciations as high as two hundred and forty ! 
 
 1 Madame Du Barry's declaration scarcely added to the grave 
 charges already levelled against Morin. He was arrested during the 
 hearing of Escourre's trial, sentenced on December 23, at the same 
 time as La Bondie, and executed with him on the same day. 
 
 * " She went to her execution already half -dead," wrote Prudhomme 
 " so much did the thought of death alarm her." The evidence col- 
 lected by Vatel shows that such a state of weakness was frequent 
 in those condemned. As an instance, take the very impartial ob- 
 servation of Restif de la Bretonne : "I have constantly remarked 
 that, with the exception of Marianne-Charlotte, all thinking beings
 
 328 A KING'S FAVOURITE 
 
 the majority died bravely, some were betrayed by weakness 
 and broke down utterly at the foot of the scaffold. 
 
 In order to make her get down, the assistant executioner 
 had to take her in his arms and carry her to the guillotine. 1 
 Then at last she was roused from her torpor, and " uttered a 
 terrible cry," a long, inhuman shriek, the outpouring of her 
 agony and terror. Reflections have been cast on her for 
 this passionate revolt, this anguish of spirit, yet her death 
 seems a sacrifice. Though her frail, womanly nerves could 
 not bear the sight of the instruments of death, yet may not 
 a little pity be granted to her tortured body, a gentle word 
 to her memory ? 
 
 " Elmire will have no cause to fear the judgment of 
 posterity," wrote Choderlos de Laclos in the graceful portrait 
 that he drew of Madame Du Barry ; and no doubt he 
 wrote thus because he recognised in her besides the attraction 
 of mind and heart, all the charm of beauty. " From her 
 magnificent hair with its beautiful colour, down to her feet 
 that were as if modelled by the hands of the Graces, she 
 seemed the very personification of that beautiful ideal which 
 the Greeks have preserved in their immortal works." If 
 she " was not a Vestal," said Mirabeau one day, 
 
 " The fault was the gods', who made her so fair." 
 
 who go to meet their death are already half-dead." That there 
 were other illustrious exceptions is well known. 
 
 1 See the Count d'Espinchal's account, published in the Revue 
 retrospective for 1887, Vol. VI., p. 205. Details as to her cries 
 were given by the paper, Le Glaive Vengeur, which contrasted them 
 with the courage of the Vandenyvers. The Revolutions de Paris 
 gloated at length on the agony of the " Prostitute," and recalled, in 
 the coarse language of the day, the notorious anecdotes about " the 
 last but one of our tyrants." The next day one of the most infam- 
 ous pamphlets of the period appeared : The Descent of the Dubarry 
 to the infernal regions; her reception at the Court of Pluto by the 
 woman Capet . . . cackling of the two strumpets. The pamphlet 
 was the last to insult the memory of Marie-Antoinette.
 
 INDEX 
 
 ADELAIDE, MADAME, sister of Louis 
 XV., 2, 30, 48, 67, 76, 77, 101, 
 107, no, 119, 123, 154, 171 
 
 Adolphus Frederick of Sweden, 
 death of, 93 
 
 Aiguillon, Duchess d', 31, 65, 80, 
 94, 102, 105, in, 130, 134, 139, 
 142, 145, 164, 173, 184, 209, 211, 
 212, 282 
 
 Aiguillon, Duke d', 56, 59, 60, 66, 
 
 69, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 7^, 
 80, 81, 91, 92, 93, 100, 101, 105, 
 106, in, 115, 116, 117, 123, 131, 
 !33, 134, 138, 140, 143, 144, 145, 
 153, 155, 163, 167, 168, 169, 
 172, 188, 206, 211, 223, 237, 305, 
 320 
 
 Albane, 195 
 
 Alembert, d', 129 
 
 Allegrain, 199, 200 
 
 Almanach des Flores, 164 
 
 de Liege, 164 
 
 des Muses, 164 
 
 Amar, 299 
 
 Angiviller, Madame d', 244, 251 
 Angiviller, Mons. d', 200, 262, 263 
 Angremont, d', 306 
 Arcambal, Marquis d', 18, 195 
 Argental, d', 137 
 Armaille, Marquis d', 230 
 Arnaud, Abbe, 17, 129 
 Arnould, Sophie, 138, 203 
 Artois, Count d', 67, 128, 147, 157, 
 
 159, 201, 215, 253, 263, 324 
 Artois, Countess d', 159 
 Attilly, Mons. d', 284 
 Aubert, 159, 208 
 Audinot, 127, 128 
 Audoin, Xavier, 320 
 Augustin, Coachman to Mdme. Du 
 
 Barry, 272 
 
 Aumont, Le Due d', 68, 69, 82 
 Aumont, Mdlle. d', 146 
 Aussonne, Lafont d', 250 
 Auteuil, Maltre Le Pot d', 207, 208 
 
 BACH AUMONT, 213 
 
 Bailly, Mons., 262 
 Bairbon-Busset, Madame, 159 
 Barghon-Monteil, Marion de, 250 
 Banville, Madame de, 267 
 Barre, La, 96 
 
 Barry, Adolphe (Viscount) Du, 
 33, 48, 59, 122, 128, 150, 151, 
 
 163, 206, 214, 222, 223 
 
 Barry, Antoine, Du, 14, 23 
 Barry, Chevalier Nicholas Elie, 
 
 Du, 155 
 Barry, Mdlle. Claire-Fran9oise Du, 
 
 ("Chon"), 27, 65, 72, 88, 91, 
 
 102, 122, 144, 145, 157, 2O6, 214, 
 222, 290 
 
 Barry, Guillaume, Count Du, 3, 
 
 14, 23, 123, 124, 205 
 Barry, Helene, (Viscountess), DUJ 
 
 151, 152, 206, 222, 223, 224 
 Barry, Jean, Count Du (The 
 
 Roue), 11-26, 44, 59, 85, 87, 102, 
 
 103, 151, 152, 205, 224, 252 
 Barry, Jeanne Vaubernier, Madame 
 
 Du, Presentation, 1-3 
 
 her birth and parentage, 3, 4 
 
 at convent school, 5 
 
 as lady's companion, 7 
 
 as milliner, 8 
 
 at Versailles, the King's mis- 
 tress, 21 
 
 her marriage, 23-25 
 
 at court, 26 
 
 pamphlets against her, 28 
 
 hostility of the Choiseuls, 30 
 
 animosity of " Mesdames," 30 
 
 the " Barriens," 32 
 
 Court presentation, 35 
 
 accompanies the King to 
 
 Choisy, 40 
 
 performance of dramas, 41 
 
 her toilette, 41 
 
 instructed by the King in 
 
 astronomy, 42 
 
 secures reprieve for peasant 
 
 girl, 4 2 
 
 and Count LouSsme and wife, 
 
 43 
 
 329
 
 330 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Barry, Madame Du, continued acts 
 of humanity, 44 
 
 Court at Compiegne, 45 
 
 Court ladies' animosity, 46 
 
 gift of the Chateau of Louve- 
 
 ciennes, 46 
 
 vindictive epigrams and lam- 
 poons, 48 
 
 at Chantilly, 53 
 
 Drouais, two portraits at the 
 
 Louvre, 53 
 
 seeks for Voltaire's recall, 56 
 
 at Fontainbleau, 58 
 
 insult by Lauraguais, 58, 60 
 
 gains reprieve for deserter, 61 
 
 " loges de Nantes " anecdote, 
 
 63 
 
 arrival of Archduchess Marie 
 
 Antoinette, 67, 69 
 
 Racine's Athalie, 69 
 
 fireworks tragedy, 70 
 
 the Breton Parliament, 71 
 
 the Duke d'Aiguillon, 71-73 
 
 Chancellor Maupeou, 73 
 
 the King's letter to Choiseul, 
 
 75 
 
 the Court at Marly, 76, 77 
 
 the Dauphine's hostility, 77-78 
 
 at Choisy, 78 
 
 banishment of Duchess de 
 
 Gramont, 78 
 
 Richelieu and Choiseul dis- 
 pute, 79 
 
 agitation in Brittany, 80 
 
 Maupeou and the Parlia- 
 ments, 80 
 
 at Fontainebleau, 81 
 
 interest in politics, 82 
 
 new frocks, 84 
 
 supporters overthrow Choiseul, 
 
 84-88 
 
 his banishment, 89, 90 
 
 wish to fill the Council, 91 
 
 Count de Gothland, 92 
 
 Gustavus III., 93, 95 
 
 Versailles coup d'ttat, 96 
 
 aversion to the Dauphine, 97, 
 
 98 
 
 marriage of Count de Prov- 
 ence, 99 
 
 d'Aiguillon's elevation, 101 
 
 the Roue's importunities, 102, 
 
 i3 
 
 return of Gustavus III., 104 
 
 grievances against the Dau- 
 phine; 106 
 
 at cards with her, 107 
 
 Barry, Madame Du, Maria Theresa's 
 letter to the Dauphine, 108 
 
 empty frame at the Salon, 109 
 
 Royal family refuse peace, 
 
 no, 112 
 
 Choiseul further disgraced, 
 
 114 
 
 generous intervention, 115, 
 
 116, 117 
 
 ascendancy over the king, 
 
 118, 119, 120, 121 
 
 the King's health, 122 
 
 petition to the Pope to annul 
 
 marriage, 123 
 
 increased taxes, 127 
 
 death of Duchess d'Aiguillon, 
 
 130 
 
 tragic development of Polish 
 affairs, 131-134 
 
 The Authentic Memoirs, 135 
 
 ffrte in her honour, 137 
 performance of Tom Jones, 
 
 140 
 
 143 
 
 the Dauphine's cold reception, 
 
 Mdlle. Rancourt, 144 
 
 carnival at Versailles, 144-147 
 
 Sauvigny's La Parnasse dn 
 
 Dames, 149 
 
 gifts to Adolphe Du Barry, 
 
 plays at Fontainebleau, 157, 
 158, 159 
 
 - prediction of the Almanach 
 de Liege, 164 
 
 blackmailed by Thevenau de 
 Morande, 166 
 
 the King ill with smallpox, 
 
 171 
 
 his death, 173 
 
 her patronage of the Arts, 
 
 I75;i?7 
 
 jewels, 179 
 
 dress, 180-184 
 
 literature, 185 
 
 Chateau of Louveciennes 
 affords scope to her originality, 
 185-6 
 
 paintings, etc., 187-200 
 
 attempt to abolish the tax on 
 the poor, 201 
 
 the stage, 202, 203 
 
 imprisoned at Pont-aux- 
 Dames, 204 
 
 her creditors, 208 
 
 she regains her liberty, 211 
 
 at Saint- Vrain, 212
 
 INDEX 
 
 331 
 
 Barry, Madame Du, Mayrobert's 
 scandalous pamphlet, 213 
 
 her liberty obtained, at- 
 tempted assassination, returns 
 to Louveciennes, 214-216 
 
 visit of the Emperor of Austria 
 
 (The Count de Falkenstein), 
 216 
 
 The English Spy, a " highly- 
 seasoned " page, 217 
 
 visit to Voltaire, 220, 221 
 
 Henry Seymour, 224-226 
 
 Saint Cloud purchased for 
 
 the Queen, 228 
 
 the Queen's necklace, 233 
 
 visit of Tippoo Sahib's envoys, 
 
 237 
 
 death of her mother, 238 
 
 eve of the Revolution, 240 
 
 offer of Louveciennes to the 
 
 Queen, 250 
 
 robbed of her jewels, 256 
 
 visits London, 262-266 
 
 at Louveciennes, 267 
 
 arrest of the King, 268 
 
 of Brissac, 269 
 
 Royal family imprisoned, 273 
 
 Brissac's bequest, 274 
 
 his death, 278 
 
 her fourth journey to London, 
 
 280 
 
 sufferings of emigrees, 283 
 
 execution of Louis XVI., 287 
 
 persuaded by Pitt to remain 
 
 in England, 288 
 
 prisoner at Louveciennes, 293 
 
 Greive's address to the Con- 
 vention, 295 
 
 liberation, 296 
 
 arrested, 300 
 
 charges against, 304-309 
 
 defence, 310 
 
 the Irish Priest's offer to 
 
 rescue, 315 
 
 condemnation, 323 
 
 execution, 327, 328 
 
 Barry, Marquis Du, Conty d' 
 
 Hargicourt, 206, 226 
 Barry more, Lord, 262 
 Barth61emy, Abbe, 114 
 Earthier, 306 
 Basire, 269 
 
 Beam, Countess de, i, 31, 32, 43 
 Beaujon, Mons., 103, 304 
 Beaumarchais, 167 
 Beaumelle, La, 27, 122 
 Beauvais, Abbe de, 147, 168 
 
 Beauvau, Prince de, 64, 115, 128, 
 129, 148, 249 
 
 Beauvau, Princess de, 39, 66, 80, 
 144, 222 
 
 Becu, Abbe, 4 
 
 Becu, Anne (see Madame Rancon) 
 
 Becu, Canon, 4 
 
 Becu, Fabien, 3 
 
 Beliardi, Abbe, 240, 290 
 
 Belleval, Mons., de, 60, 227 
 
 Bellot, Dominique-Benigne, 130 
 
 Berline, 180 
 
 Berry, Miss, 262 
 
 Bertin, 62, 180 
 
 Berton, Sieur, 160 
 
 Bertrand, Monsieur, 267 
 
 Betzy, niece to the Countess Du 
 Barry, afterwards Marquise de 
 Boisseson, 194, 238, 290 
 
 Bignon, 128, 258 
 
 Billard-Dumouceaux, M., 4, 124, 125 
 
 Billiardy, Abbe, 267 
 
 Binet, Rene, 141 
 
 Birabin, Jeanne, godmother to 
 Madame Du Barry, 3 
 
 Bissy, Count de, 18, 38 
 
 Boileau, Mons., 195 
 
 Blache, 262, 293, 299, 304, 305, 
 307, 320, 322 
 
 Blackmail extortion by Thevanau 
 de Morande, 166 
 
 Boehmar, 233 
 
 Boisgelin, Viscount de, 19 
 Boisseson, Marquis de, 238, 305 
 Boisseson, Marquise de (see Betzy) 
 Bondie, Chev. de la, 283, 292, 321, 
 
 322 
 Borde, de La, 41, 138, 148, 171, 
 
 172, 195, 202, 207 
 Bordeu, 170 
 
 Boucher, 187, 189, 193, 196 
 Boucher-Saint-Sauveur, 299 
 Boufflers, 30 
 
 Bouille, Marquis de, 228, 284, 320 
 Bouillon, Duke de, 173 
 Bourdic, Du, 269, 305 
 Bouret, 58 
 
 Boydell, Lord Mayor of London, 262 
 Boynes, Mons. de, 95 
 Brancas, Duchess de, 119, 282, 284- 
 
 285, 305 
 Breteuil, Baron de, 228-230, 284, 
 
 305, 320 
 
 Breton Parliament, The, 71 
 Bretonne, Restif, de la, n 
 Briard, 191 
 Brionne, Countess de, 46, 66, 69
 
 332 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Brissac, Duchess de Coss6, 139 
 Brissac, Marshal, Jean-Paul-Timo- 
 
 leon, Duke de, 219 
 
 Brissac, Louis-Hercule - Timoleon 
 
 de Coss6, Duke de, 225, 226, 
 
 228, 232, 236, 238, 240, 244, 252, 
 
 261, 266-278, 304, 305, 306, 322 
 
 Brissot, " Thedrie des lois cvimi- 
 
 nflles," 220, 300, 320 
 Brochau, Genee de, 59 
 Broglie, Count de, 158, 184 
 Broglie, Countess de, 69 
 Brunoy, Marquise de, 236, 252, 304 
 Brunswick, Duke of, 272 
 Buffault, 180, 208, 212, 252 
 Burke, Edmund (" Diatribe against 
 
 the Constitution "), 322 
 Buteux, Sieur, 187 
 
 CAFFrfiRI, J. J., 198, 199 
 
 Cagny, 178, 189 
 
 Cahiiet de Villers, Mme., 218 
 
 Cailhava, 17, 26 
 
 Caillot, 202 
 
 Calas, 96 
 
 Calonne, 227, 229, 230, 262, 263, 265, 
 
 266, 304-305, 320, 321, 323 
 Campan, Madame, 220 
 Cantigny de (Cantini), 3 
 Capet, Louis, 320 
 Cars, Viscount des, 38, 148 
 Cassanova, 196 
 
 Castres, Abbe Sabatier de, 284 
 Catherine of Russia, 136, 163, 174 
 Caumartin, 258 
 Chabrillan, Countess de, 69 
 Chabrillan, Mons. de, 159 
 Charpentier, 6 
 
 Chalotais, Mons. de la, 73, 75 
 Chamfort, 100, 157 
 Chanteloup (see Choiseul, Duke de) 
 Charce, Mons. de La (de la Tour 
 
 du Pin), 284 
 Chardin, 193 
 Charles III., 86, 91 
 Charost, Bethune, 306, 319 
 Chartres, Duchess de, 68 
 Chartres, Duke de, 35, 57, 96, 141, 
 
 213 
 
 Chastellux, Chevalier du, 240 
 Chateaubriand, Rene de, 283 
 Chfiteauroux, Duchess de (Madame 
 
 de La Tournelle), 72, 122, 152 
 Chatelet, Count Du, 82, 115, 116 
 Chaulnes, Duchess de, 162 
 Chaulnes, Duke de, 56 
 Chauvelin, Marquis de, 161, 188 
 
 Chaveau-Legarde, 317, 325 
 Chavigny, Mons. Blot de, Bishop 
 
 of Lomberz, 283 
 Cheverny, 230 
 Chevreuse, Duchess de, 68 
 Choiseul, Duchess de, 39, 48, 8l, 
 
 III, 112, 114, 121, 149, 215 
 
 Choiseul, Duke de, i, u, 15, 20, 
 
 3 1 , 35, 37, 3 8 39, 45, 4 8 , 49, 5<>> 
 51, 52, 56, 61, 62, 63, 65, 67, 
 69, 72, 78, 79, 80, 82, 83, 84, 85, 
 86, 87, 88, 89, 92, 97, 100, 114, 
 115, 116, 126, 131, 150, 155, 161, 
 169, 207, 214, 215, 217, 227, 232, 
 269 
 
 Chon, Mdlle. (see Claire Fran9oise 
 Du Barry) 
 
 Clairon, Mdlle., 69 
 
 Clairval, 202 
 
 Clermont, Mdlle., 47 
 
 Clicot, 183 
 
 Clotilde, Madame, 148 
 
 Coigny, De, 128, 304 
 
 Colle, 17 
 
 Colombe, 202 
 
 Conde, Prince de, 53, 62, 79, 90, 
 91, 96, 141, 263 
 
 Conti, Prince de, 95 
 
 Cornillon, Marguerite Chouard de, 
 206 
 
 Cosse, Duke de (see Brissac) 
 
 Cosse, Duchess de (see Brissac) 
 
 Cosway's miniature, 266 
 
 Courcelles, Henriette-Catherine de, 
 206 
 
 Couture, Henriette, 301, 314, 322 
 
 Coysevox, 200 
 
 Cozette, 189 
 
 Crebillon, 17 
 
 Crequay-Montmorency, Madame de, 
 300 
 
 Creutz, Count de, 93, 120, 136, 
 146 
 
 Croy, Duke de, 65, 67, 68, 69, 99, 
 164, 219, 220 
 
 Cuignet, Felicite, 130 
 
 Curt, Mons. de, 284 
 
 Custine, de, 313 
 
 DANTON, 277 
 
 Danville, Duchess de, 306 
 
 Dauberval, 146 
 
 Dauphin, The, 2, 48, 67, 98, too, 
 
 142, 201 
 
 Dauphine (see Marie Antoinette) 
 Davaux, 180 
 David, 191
 
 INDEX 
 
 333 
 
 Deffand, Marquise du, 7, 32, 56 
 66, 80, gi, 93, 100, in, 112, 114 
 121, 122, 125, 127, 128, 130, 137 
 139, 148, 150, 160, 161, 216 
 
 Delay de la Garde, Madame, 7, 8 
 
 Deliant, 327 
 
 Delille, Abbe, 128, 129, 148, 188 
 
 195 
 
 Delorge, 137 
 Delorrae, 182 
 Demange, Joseph, godfather to 
 
 Madame du Barry, 3 
 Denis, Madame, 34, 49 
 Dervieux, 146 
 Desfontaines, 207 
 Desf riches, 194 
 Deux-Ponts, Prince des, 156 
 Devray, 323 
 Diderot, 54, 109, 190 
 Donnissan, Marquis de, 290, 306, 322 
 Dorat, 157, 165, 166 
 Douin, Sieur, 164 
 Drouais, F. H., n, 54, 58, 104, 156, 
 
 190, 193, 194 
 Drouais, Madame, 156 
 Dubois, Mdlle., 202 
 Duclos, 128 
 Ducreux, 31 
 Dugazon, Madame, 202 
 Dumas, Rene Francois, 316-18, 
 
 3 2 . 325 
 
 Dumesnil, Mdlle., 202 
 Du Mouriez, 17, 158 
 Duplessis, 182, 195 
 Duras, Duke de, 17, 19, 99, 184, 
 
 201, 202, 203 
 Durfort, Chev. de, 305 
 Durvey, 304 
 Duval d Epinoy, Mile., 7 
 
 EGMONT, COUNTESS D', 46, 69, 93, 
 
 104, 105, 161 
 Eisen, 185 
 Elizabeth, Archduchess of Austria, 
 
 30, 75 
 
 " Emigres," sufferings of, 283 
 " English, Spy, The," 217 
 Entragues, Marquis d', 184 
 Eon, Chevaliere d', 167 
 Escars, Baron d', 243 
 Escourre, Chevalier d', 262, 276, 
 
 281, 290, 300, 306, 321, 322 
 Esparbes, Countess d', 38 
 Espinchal, Count d', 12, 16, 20, 
 
 222, 233, 241-243, 253-255 
 
 Esprit, Therese, 206 
 Estrade, Madame d', 35 
 
 FALKENSTEIN, COUNT DE (see Joseph 
 
 II. of Austria) 
 
 Falkland Islands, difference between 
 England and Spain, Choiseul's 
 downfall, 86, 87 
 Fauchet, Abbe, 278 
 Fauga, Marquis de, 212 
 Favart, 114, 145 
 Favier, 17, 85, 158 
 Ferdinand VI., 174 
 Ferte, Papillon de la, 68, 99, 138, 
 
 140, 145, 157, 201, 202, 203 
 Feuillet, 190 
 Fitz- James, Count, 19 
 Flamarens, Madame de, 277 
 Flavacourt, Madame de, 39 
 Fleury, Cardinal de, 45, 97 
 Fontanilles, Abbe de, 290 
 Forcalquier, Countess de, 146, 
 
 159, 215 
 
 Forth, Parker, the English agent, 
 259, 260, 261, 262, 266, 288, 305, 
 306, 319, 321, 323 
 Foulon, 21, 50, 51 
 Fournier, the American, 276 
 Fouquier-Tinville, 316-321,7323-326 
 Fortune, 314 
 Fragonard, 189, 190, 193 
 Francesca, 4 
 Frederick of Prussia, 131, 136, 
 
 r 49, 174 
 Fremont, 320 
 
 French Princes in flight, 283 
 Freville, 202 
 Fronde ville, 314 
 Fuentes, Mons., 75, 91, 101 
 Fumel, Michele de, 155 
 
 GABRIEL, 47, 176, 192 
 Gabon, L., 3 
 Gaillard, 99 
 
 Garde, Madame de la, 211 
 Garnier-DeschSnes, 23 
 Gauthier-Dagoty, J. B. A., 193 
 " Gazetier cuirassb," 108 
 Geoffrin, Madame, 216 
 George III., 284 
 Georgel, Abbe, 156 
 Gessner, 149 
 Girondins, 293 
 
 death of, 310 
 Gobert, 177 
 
 Goezman, Councillor, 167 
 Golitzyne, Prince Dmitri, 169 
 Gomard de Vaubernier, Jean Bap- 
 
 tiste, 3, 4 
 Gontaut, Duke de, 39
 
 334 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Goust, Le, 267 
 
 Gouthiere's Bronzes, 186, 187, 189, 
 
 190 
 Gouy, Mme. Du Barry's porter, 
 
 299 
 
 Gouy, Madame de, 300 
 Goy, 17 
 Graillet, Madame la, 290 
 
 Mons. le, 305 
 
 Grammont, Beatrix, Duchess de, 
 
 15, 3i, 37, 38, 39, 46 
 
 vindictive epigrams and lam- 
 poons, 48, 57, 66, 69 
 
 banishment, 78, 112, 158, 232 
 
 Gravelot, 185 
 
 Greive, George, 289, 290, 293-300, 
 
 302, 303-310, 318, 319, 320 
 Grenier, 262, 
 Greuze, 136, 193, 194 
 Grimaldi, Monseigneur de, Bishop 
 
 of Lyons, 194 
 Gruel, 1 80 
 
 Guemenee, Princess de, 144 
 Guibert, Count de, 17 
 Gustavus III. of Sweden, 92, 93, 
 
 94, 95, 104, 118, 120, 121, 135, 
 
 136, 13? 
 Gyac, 162 
 
 HALL, 104, 197 
 
 Halle, 196 
 
 Hargicourt, Conty d' (see Marquis 
 
 du Barry) 
 Harpe, La, 148 
 Harvelay, Madame d', 305 
 Hawkesbury, Lord, 265, 285, 307 
 Henin, Prince d', 184 
 H6nin, Princess d', 284, 305, 320 
 Hesse-Cassel, Landgrave of, 157 
 Hobart, Mrs., 265 
 Hochbrucker, 183 
 Hdpital, Marquise de 1', 53, 58, 65, 
 
 127 
 
 INVAULT, MONS. D', 62 
 
 JAGOT, 312, 314 
 
 Jaucourt, Marquis de, 240, 505 
 
 Jeaurat, Mons., 195 
 
 Jewels, theft of, 256, 262 
 
 Joseph II., of Austria, as Count de 
 
 Falkenstein, visits France, 215, 
 
 216, 217 
 
 Juilhac de, 281, 290, 306 
 Jussieu, Bernard de, 176 
 
 Kaunitz, Prince de, 33, 35, 89, 
 H9, 139 
 
 LABILLE, 8, 10, n, 12 
 Labille-Guiard, Madame Adelaide, 
 
 10, ii 
 
 Laborde, 80 
 
 Lacaze, Catherine de, 23 
 Laclos, Choderlos de, 240, 328 
 Lafayette, 304 
 I^afleuterie, 317 
 Laigle, Countess de, 305 
 Lally, 43, 96 
 
 Lamballe, Prince de, 47, 192 
 Lamballe, Princess de, 68, 69 
 Lametz, 6 
 
 Lametz, Madame, 6 
 Lanoix, 178 
 
 Langle, Viscount de, 212, 214 
 Laroche, 305 
 Laruette, 202 
 Lassonne, 170 
 Latour, 193 
 
 Lattaignan, Abbe de, 30 
 Lauraquais, Mons, de, insult to 
 
 Madame Du Barry, 58, 60, 184 
 Laval, Sieur, 157 
 Lawreince, 197, 236 
 Lazun, Madame de, 160 
 Lebel, Mons., 21 
 Lebrun, Minister of Foreign Affairs, 
 
 281, 282, 308, 309 
 Le Brun, Vigee (see Vigee Le 
 
 Brun) 
 
 Lebrun, Topino, 318 
 Lecomte, 187, 201 
 Leczinska, Marie, 22, 46, 163, 174, 
 
 177 
 
 Leczinski, Stanislaus, 4 
 Ledoux, in, 141, 186, 200 
 Legarde, Chauveau, 317, 325 
 Legrand, Mdlle., 17 
 Lekain, 137, 202 
 Lemoine, 198, 199 
 Lemonnier, 170 
 Lepot-d'Auteuil, Maltre, 104 
 Lessart, Mons. de, 272 
 Liancourt, Duke de, 171, 173 
 Lieven, Baron de, 135, 136 
 Ligne, Prince de, 26, 210, 307 
 Ligniville, Elizabeth de, 7 
 Linguet, 124 
 Lorraine, Leopold de, 4 
 Lorry, 170 
 
 Louesme, Count de, 43 
 Loughborough, Lord, 307 
 Louis XIV., 123
 
 INDEX 
 
 335 
 
 Lonis XV., at Versailles, i 
 
 at Court, 26 
 
 at Choisy, 40 
 
 at Saint-Hubert, 41 
 
 at Marly, 42 
 
 at Compiegne, 46 
 
 letter of admonition 
 
 to 
 
 Choiseul, 50 
 
 reply, 51 
 
 at Chantilly, 53 
 
 at Fontainebleau, 56 
 
 letter to Choiseul, 75 
 
 at Choisy, 77 
 
 at Compiegne, 78 
 Choiseul's fidelity doubted, 79 
 surprise visit to Parliament, 
 
 80 
 
 Choiseul banished, 89 
 
 Charles III., his letter, 91 
 
 Cabinet at Versailles, 92 
 
 Gustavus III., his letter, 95 
 
 d'Aiguillon's elevation, 101 
 
 Choiseul's further disgrace, 
 114 
 
 the favourite's generous inter- 
 vention, 115, 116 
 
 Mme. Du Barry's ascendancy 
 over the King, 118, 119, 120, 121 
 
 at Neuilly, 137 
 
 his melancholy, 157 
 
 his illness, 171 
 
 death, 173 
 
 exile of Madame Du Barry 
 
 decreed on his deathbed, 205 
 Louis XVI., Aversion to Choiseul, 
 207, 209 
 
 liberty granted to Madame 
 
 Du Barry, 214 
 
 dominated by his Queen, 215 
 
 arrest of, 268 
 
 complicity in Brunswick mani- 
 festo, 273 
 
 execution, 287 
 
 Louis XVII., 287 
 Louveciennes, the Chateau of, 46 
 the White Villa of the Gar- 
 dens, 185-203 
 
 Lubomirska, Princess, 290, 293, 314 
 Luc, Count de, 150 
 Lukerque, Lefebvre de, 250 
 Luxemburg, Madame de, 114, 183 
 Luynes, Duke de, 191 
 Luzerne, Marquis de la, 259 
 
 MAINTENON DE, 76, 123 
 Malause, 14 
 Malesherbes, Mons de, 13 
 
 Mandeville, Mons. de, 42 
 
 Marat, 258, 290 
 
 March, William Douglas, 3rd Earl 
 of, afterwards Duke of Queens- 
 berry, 1 8, 19, 285, 290, 307 
 
 Marche, Count de la, 39, 95, 130, 141 
 
 Marche, Mons. de la, Bishop of St.- 
 Pol-de-Leon, 283 
 
 Maria Theresa, 30, 79, 86, 98, 99, 
 101, 106, 107, 108, 118, 119, 132, 
 
 133. i34 I 4 M3, i4 8 i I 52, 163, 
 205, 216 
 
 Marie Antoinette, Archduchess, 
 Dauphine, 66, 67, 76, 77, 78, 79, 
 81, 97, 98, 100, 101, 102, 104- 
 108, no, 118, 120, 133, 134, 135, 
 
 139, 141, 142, 143, 148, 152, 153, 
 
 159, 162, 163, 164, 205, 207, 211, 
 
 215, 227, 228, 310 
 Marie-Therese of Savoy, 147, 158 
 Marigny, 32, 176, 187, 194 
 Marin, 17 
 
 Marmontel, 112, 129, 202 
 Marot, 185 
 
 Marsan, Madame de, 35, 140 
 Martiniere, La, 170 
 Masse, Portraits by, 196, 257 
 Maudoux, Abbe, 172, 173 
 Maupeou, Chancellor, 73, 79, 80, 
 
 83, 84, 86, 89, 92, 95, 96, 97, 
 
 114, 123, 125, 126, 137, 138, 141, 
 
 145, 188, 206, 281 
 Maupeou, Madame, 142 
 Maurepas, Count de, 72, 94, 206, 
 
 209, 214 
 
 Maurepas, Countess de, 277 
 Maussabre, 270, 275, 320 
 Mayrobert, Pidansat de, " loges 
 
 de Nantes " anecdote, 63 
 " Les Anecdotes sur Madame 
 
 la Comtesse Du Barry," 213 
 Mazarin, Duchess de, 127, 139, 164, 
 
 215 
 
 Meilhan, Senac de, 33, 37 
 
 Meister, 149, 164 
 
 Melino, 314 
 
 Mercy- Argenteau, Count de, 25, 
 3. 35, 79, 86, 89, 98, 101, 105- 
 108, no, 113, 118, 119, 120, 132, 
 
 134, !39, 14, !43, 152, 154, 159, 
 167, 168, 216 
 
 Mesdames de France (see Madame 
 Adelaide, Madame Sophie and 
 Madame Victoire) 
 
 Mesmes, Madame, 122 
 
 Mesnil, Mdlle Du, 69 
 
 Mativien, 190
 
 336 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Michodiere, Mons de la, 258 
 
 Millin, Madame, 32 
 
 Mirabeau, 247, 328 
 
 Mirepoix, Madame de, 58, 63, 68, 
 
 78, 80, in, 117, 122, 127, 148, 
 
 161, 184, 215, 222 
 Mirza the white greyhound, 188 
 Mole, 202 
 
 Moleville, Bertrand de, 284, 380 
 Moncrif, 17, 300 
 Montaigne, 185 
 Montdidier, Countess de, 3 
 Montesson, Madame de, 142, 228 
 Monteynard, Marquis de, 90, 158 
 Montmorency, Baron de, 112 
 Montmorency, Baroness de, 31, 58, 
 
 65, 82, in, 127, 139, 184 
 Montmorin, 263 
 Montrabe, Madame (see Madame 
 
 Ran9on de Montrabe) 
 Montvallier, 192, 208 
 Monville, Mons. de, 12, 236 
 Morande, Thevenau de, 108, 109, 
 
 166 
 Moreau, the Younger, the water 
 
 colour in the Louvre, 187, 188 
 Morgan, Colonel, 290 
 Morin, Denis, 188, 290, 299, 320, 327 
 Morliere, Chevalier de la, 17, 44 
 Morphise (see O'Murphy de Balli- 
 
 more), 24, 97 
 Montemart, Duchess de, 271-273, 
 
 279, 289, 304, 314, 315, 316, 320, 
 
 321 
 
 Moyon, Countess de, 43 
 Murat, Madame du, 102 
 Muy, Count de, 90 
 
 NALLET, 21, 62, 102 
 
 Narbonne, Madame de, 77, 119, 
 
 153, 154 
 
 Narbonne, Mons. de, 284, 305 
 Nattier, 76, 156, 193 
 Necker, 227, 240, 244, 249 
 Nesle, Marquis de, 305 
 Nestier, Sieur, 129 
 Neuvilla, Madame de, 243, 290 
 Nieuwerkerke, Madame (Madame 
 
 Pater), 169, 170 
 Nivernais, Diane de, 112 
 Nivemais, Duke de, 94, 96, 129, 
 
 157, 202 
 
 Noailles, Count de, 163, 170 
 Noailles, Countess de, 147 
 Nogaret, Fran9ois, 128, 135 
 Nokelle, 180 
 Normand, Le, 180 
 
 O'MURPHY DE BALLIMORE]DE Bois- 
 
 FAILLY, 24, 97, 150 
 Orleans, Duke d', 18, 96, 114, 141, 
 
 142, 228 
 
 Ossun, Madame d', 222 
 Ostade, Van, 196 
 
 PAGELLE, 180 
 
 Pajou, ii, 109, 157, 187, 190, 
 
 198 
 
 Panis, 299 
 
 Papal Nuntio, 105, 106 
 Paris, Archbishop of, 171 
 Pascal, 185 
 
 Pater, Madame (see Nieuwerkerke) 
 Paulina, Madame de Mortemart, 
 
 3M 
 
 Pembroke, Lord, 307 
 
 Penthievre, Duke de, 47, 192 
 
 Penthievre, Mdlle.- de, 35 
 
 Perron, 306 
 
 Pethion, 324 
 
 Petion, 300 
 
 Petitot, portraits by, 197, 258 
 
 Peuchet, 306 
 
 Peyre, 203 
 
 Piedmont, Prince of, 148 
 
 Pierre, Mons., 195, 196, 200 
 
 Pilos, Count de, 231, 232 
 
 Pitt, 259, 265, 285, 287-8, 307-8, 
 319, 324 
 
 Plays at Court, 40, 41, 50, 68, 69, 
 82, 112, 113, 128, 138, 140, 144, 
 145, 146, 157, 158, 160, 161 
 
 Poelenbourg, Cornells Van, 196 
 
 Poisson, M., 4 
 
 Polignac, Count de, 128 
 
 Polignac, Countess de, 69 
 
 Pompadour, Madame de, 15, 37, 
 40, 72, 103, no, 122, 150, 163, 
 176, 190 
 
 Ponsinet, 41 
 
 Pont, Viscount de, 306, 308, 320, 
 322 
 
 Pontgibaud, 231 
 
 Ponthon, Louise, Countess de, 224 
 
 Pope, the, 123 
 
 Porte, Madame de la, 290 
 
 Poussin, 196 
 
 Praslin, 37, 62, 95 
 
 Preville, 146 
 
 Pratry, Mme. Du Barry's adviser, 
 298 
 
 Prieur, 317 
 
 Prioreau, Mons., 253 
 
 Prisoners conveyance of to Ver- 
 sailles, 276-7
 
 INDEX 
 
 337 
 
 Provence, Comtesse de, 99, 105, 
 
 106, no, 113 
 Provence, Count de, 67, 119, 201, 
 
 213, 215, 265 
 
 QUEENSBERRY, Duke of (see March, 
 
 Earl of) 
 Queen's Necklace, The, 233, 234, 
 
 235 
 
 oNTRABi (AnneBecu), 
 
 4, I0 3 , I0 4 , I2 4 , 125, 157, 212, 
 
 238 
 
 Rancon, Sieur Nicolas de Montrabe, 
 4, 7, 16, 238 
 
 Rancourt, Mdlle.-, 143, 144, 145, 
 202, 300 
 
 Rena, Countess La, 18 
 
 Rheims, Archbishop of, 68 
 
 Rice, 222 
 
 Richard, Claude, 176 
 
 Richelieu, Duke de, i, 16, 17, 19, 
 32, 33. 35, 39, 52, 55, 67, 73, 79, 
 92, 105, 129, 130, 157, 159, 160, 
 161, 163, 171, 172, 188, 201, 202, 
 
 237 
 
 Robbe, 17, 26 
 
 Robert, Hubert, 137, 193, 196, 252 
 Roche-Aymon, Cardinal de la, 205 
 Roche-Fontenilles, Gabrielle de la 
 
 (Abbess of Pont-aux-Dames), 
 
 196, 204, 209 
 Rochefoucauld, Cardinal de la, 
 
 283, 306 
 
 Rohan, Prince Charles, 291 
 Rohan, Cardinal Prince Louis de, 
 
 140, 233, 234, 235 
 Rohan-Chabot, Duke de, 287, 291, 
 
 297, 37> 3*3, 321 
 Rohan-Rochefort, Princess, 291, 
 
 306, 314 
 
 Roland, Madame, 300, 301 
 - death of, 310 
 Romilly, 258 
 Roue, The (see Count Jean Du 
 
 Barry) 
 
 Rouen, Bishop of, 306, 307, 313 
 Rouen, Sieur, 256, 261, 288 
 Roussel, Madame, 301, 308, 319, 
 
 323 
 
 Rousseau, Abbe, 167 
 Rousseau, Jacques, carvings by, 177 
 Rousseau, Jean Jacques, 105, 240 
 Ruette, Madame La, 145 
 
 SAINT-ANDRE, 150, 151 
 Saiut-Aubin, 188 
 
 Sainte-Foy, 19 
 
 Saint-Florentin, Count de, 22, 33, 
 
 39, 53, 62 
 
 Sainte-Phar, Abb6 de, 284, 320 
 Salaberry de, 231 
 Salanave, the favourite's cook, 188, 
 
 259, 293, 303, 318, 321 
 Sardinian Ambassador, 105, 106 
 Sarrazin, 1 83 
 Sauvage, Jacques, 211 
 Sauvigny, 149 
 Saxe, Maria Josephe de, 64 
 Saxe, Maurice de, 174 
 Saxony, Dowager Electress of, 102 
 Scheffer, Count, 120 
 " Secret Memoirs of a Woman of the 
 
 Town," 166 
 Seguier, 96 
 Segur, 158 
 
 Senlis, Bishop of, 172 
 Seymour, Henry, 224, 225, 226 
 Sigly, Madame, 84, 180 
 Simon and Hankey, Messrs., 263 
 Simon, The Jew, 288 
 Sleigh, Mons., 288 
 Solms, Count de, 131 
 Sophie, Madame, sister of Louis 
 
 XV., 2, 30, 48, 67, 76, 77, 101, 
 
 107, no, 119, 123, 154, 171 
 Soubise, Prince de, 39, 52, 99, 140, 
 
 141, 150, 155, 156, 184 
 Souza, Countess de, 236, 251 
 Staal, Baron de, 292 
 Stuart, the, connection through 
 
 the Barrymores, 195 
 Sturt, Mrs., 265 
 Suard, 129 
 
 TALLEYRAND, MONS. DE, 40, 86, 
 
 90, 284 
 
 Talmont, Princess de, 40, 65, 184 
 
 Teniers, 196 
 
 Terray, Abbe, 47, 61, 66, 83, 86, 
 
 91, 92, 103, 123, 126, 127, 206 
 Thiard, Count de, 18 
 Thuriot, 295 
 
 Thurlow, Lord, 307 
 
 Tippoo Sahib, 237 
 
 Tonneau, Countess du, 58 
 
 Toulouse, Archbishop of, 62 
 
 Toulouse, Countess de, 47 
 
 Tour, Mons. de la, 292 
 
 Tour, Roettiers de la, 10, 127, 179, 
 
 1 88 
 
 Tour-du-Pin, Chevalier de la, 49 
 Tour-du-Pin, Count Louis de la, 
 
 18
 
 INDEX 
 
 Tour-du-Pin, Marquis Philippe de 
 
 la, 18, 151 
 Tournehem, 4, 176 
 Tournon, Helene de, Viscountess 
 
 Adolphe Du Barry (see Du Barry) 
 Tournon, Sophie de, 20, 206, 222 
 Trinchard, 317 
 Tripperat, 180, 189 
 Trochereau, Mons., 288 
 Tronchin, 57 
 Trudaine, Mons. de, 137 
 Turpin, 17 
 
 VADIAR, 299 
 
 Valentinois, Duchess de, 40, 58, 
 
 65, 78, 82, 98, 105, in, 113, 
 
 184, 215 
 
 Vallee, La, 182 
 Vallery, La, 206, 292, 302, 306, 
 
 320 
 
 Valliere, Duke de la, 202 
 Valois, Madame de la Motte, de 
 
 234 
 Van Dyck, portrait of Charles I., 
 
 195 
 
 Vanloo, Carle, 196 
 Vandenyver, 263, 264, 287, 301, 
 
 306, 314-318, 326, 327 
 Vanot, 1 80 
 
 Vares, Joseph-Honor6 de, 212 
 Vasse, 190, 200 
 Vatel, 12 
 Vauguyon, Mons. de la, 32, 35, 
 
 207 
 
 Vaupaliere, La, 322 
 Verbeckt, 177 
 Vernet, 193, 196 
 Vestris, 146, 202 
 
 Vestris, the younger, 140 
 Victoire, Madame, 2, 30, 48, 67, 
 76, 77, 101, 107, no, 119, 123, 
 
 i54 i?i 
 
 Vien, 190, 191, 196, 198, 247 
 Vigee Le Brun, Madame, n, 193, 
 
 235-7. 248-9, 251-2, 305 
 Vigier, 180 
 
 Villarceaux, Louis du Bois de, 206 
 Villars, Duchess de, 112 
 Ville, Abbe de la, 86, 87, 88 
 Ville, Baron de, 191 
 Villedeuil, 304 
 Villeroy, Duchess de, 69, 82, 135, 
 
 144 
 
 Villers, Madame Cahiiet de, 217-219 
 Villon, 185 
 
 Vintimille, Madame de, 150, 159 
 Voisenon, Abbe de, 113, 114, 145 
 Voltaire, 34, 49, 55, 96, 97, 126, 
 
 136, 137, 148, 220, 221 
 
 Vougny, La, 305 
 Voulland, 312, 314 
 Vrilliere, Duke de la, 83, 89, 105, 
 I39> 157. l8 4 2o6 . 209 
 
 WAILLY, DE, 203 
 
 Walpole, Horace, 7, 32, 53, 66, 
 
 80, 100, 112, 121, 138, 199, 262 
 Watteau, 193 
 Whitshed-Keene, Colonel James, 
 
 29, 37 
 
 Wielhorski, Count, 131, 132 
 Wurmser, Baron de, 48 
 Wynants, Jan, 196 
 
 ZAMORE, Louis BENOIST, 130, 179, 
 181, 182, 260, 293, 303, 318, 322 
 
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