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MEMOIRS OF
MADAME DU BARRY
Or
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BY H NOEL WILLIAMS
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LOUIS XV
IN llli: DOUDOI,R;OF MADAME VV BARHY
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MEMOIRS OF
MADAME UU BARRY
Of the Court of Louis XV
BY H NOEL WILLIAMS
With a Special Introduction
and Illustrations
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CONTENTS
PACK
Introduction 7
CHAPTER I
. »
The death of Madame de Ponradour followed by an inter-
regnum — Duel between the Duchesse de Gramont and the
Marquise d'Esparbes for possession of the King's heart —
Short-lived triumph and exile of the latter — Choiseul and
Madame de Seran — Death of the Queen II
CHAPTER II
Genealogy of Jeanne Becu — Her mother, Anne Becu, brings
her to Paris — M. Billard-Lumouceaux — The Couveiit de
Sainte-Aure — She enters the service of Madame de la
Garde — Her first lovers — "Comte" Jean du Barry, sur-
named the "Roue" — She becomes the fashion 19
CHAPTER III
First meeting between Louis XV. and Jeanne Becu — He de-
sires a husband to be procured for her — Contract of
marriage between the "Comte" and Jeanne — The religious
ceremony — Madame du Barry at Fontainebleau. ... 38
CHAPTER IV
The Due de Choiseul — His bitter hostility to the new fa-
vourite — La Bourboimaise — Production of La Bourbon-
naise a la guingiiette — And of Beaunoir's Bourbonnaise — ■
Indignation of Louis XV. at these 52
CHAPTER V
Installation of Madame du Barry at Versailles — The Due de
Richelieu uses his influence in her favour — The Comtesse
de Bcarn consents to act as her sponsor — Intrigues of
Mercy-Argenteau and Madame de Durfort — Accident to
Louis XV. — Presentation of Madame du Barry. ... 60
CHAPTER VI
Hostility of the Court to the new favourite — Purchase of
the cliapcroniwrje of the Marechale de Mircpoix — The
Princesse de Montmorency, the Comtesse de Valentinois
and the Marquise de I'Hopital join the favourite's
party 78
Memoirs — 1 5 Vol. 2
4 CONTENTS
CHAPTER VII PAG«
Intervention of Madame du Barry on behalf of criminals
condemned to death — Reaction in her favour — Louis XV.
confers Louveciennes upon the favourite — Madame du
Barry and the Regiment de Beauce — Lauzun attempts to
reconcile Choiseul with the favourite 87
CHAPTER VIII
The two portraits of Madame du Barry — Choiseul remains
irreconcilable — Curious letter of Louis XV. to the Minis-
ter — Visit of the King and the favourite to Bouret. . . 103
CHAPTER IX
The Due d'Aiguillon — His enmity to Choiseul — The favourite
obtains for him the post of Captain-Lieutenant of the
chevaii-legers — Chancellor Maupeou — The Abbe Terray. H2
CHAPTER X
Les Loges de Nantes — Alarm of Choiseul — His hopes of ul-
timate victory based on the anticipated support of Marie
Antoinette — Arrival of the Dauphiness — She receives the
favourite — Mesdames incite the young princess against
the favourite — Exile of the Comtesse de Gramont. . . 126
CHAPTER XI
Trial of the Due d'Aiguillon before the Parliament of Paris
— Coup d'Etaf of September 3, 1770 — The Falkland
Islands — Obstinacy of Spain, relying on the support of
France — Louis XV. resolved to maintain peace — Dis-
grace of Choiseul — Popular sympathy for the Minister, 141
CHAPTER XII
Destruction of the Parliament of Paris and banishment of its
members — Reforms of Maupeou — Bed of Justice of April
13. ^77^ — Reluctance of Louis XV. to appoint d'Aiguil-
lon to the Foreign Office — D'Aiguillon made Minister of
Foreign Affairs — Madame du Barry succeeds in obtain-
ing compensation for Choiseul 164
CHAPTER XIII
Madame du Barry, unlike Madame de Pompadour, does not
aspire to a political role — Her apartments at Versailles —
Moreau le jeune's drawing depicting a fete given by
Madame du Barry to Louis XV. at Louveciennes. . . . 189
CONTENTS 5
CHAPTER XIV PACK
Madame du Barry unable to obtain the almost general recog-
nition of her position accorded to Madame de Pompa-
dour — Continued hostility of Marie Antoinette — Political
importance of the conduct of ]\Iarie Antoinette — Recep-
tion of IMadame du Barry by the Dauphin and Dau-
phiness on New Year's Day 1773 199
CHAPTER XV
Madame du Barry secures a judicial separation from her
husband — Her matrimonial projects in regard to
"Vicomte" Adolphe du Barry — His marriage with Made-
moiselle de Tournon — Madame du Barry and Voltaire. . 224
CHAPTER XVI
Attempts to supplant Madame du Barry in the affections of
Louis XV. — Madame Pater aspires to the role of Ma-
dame de Maintenon — Intrigues of Madame Louise, the
Carmelite, for Louis XV.'s remarriage — Theveneau de
Morande — Le Gazetier ciiirasse — Memoires secrets d'une
fille publique — Beaumarchais sent to suppress the book. . 233
CHAPTER XVII
Louis XV. in failing health — La Martiniere persuades him to
remove to Versailles — The King declared to be suffering
from small-pox — Visit of the archbishop — Diplomacy of
the Grand Almoner, the Cardinal de la Roche-Aymon —
"Madame, we must part" — Madame du Barry is sent to
Rucil — Administration of the yiaticu)n — Death of Louis
XV. — His funeral 243
CHAPTER XVTII
Madame du Barry exiled to the Abbey of Pont-aux-Dames
— The remaining members of the Du Barry family ban-
ished from Court — She purchases the chateau and estate
of Saint Vrain — Publication of the Anecdotes — And of
L'Ombre de Lnuis XV. dcvant le Tribunal de Minos —
The Vicomte de Langle and Madame du Barry. . . . 262
CHAPTER XIX
The Emperor Joseph II. in France — Ilis visit to Madame du
Barry — Voltaire in Paris — Death of Adolphe du Barry
— Henry Seymour — His liaison with Madame du Barry. 278
6 CONTENTS
CHAPTER XX PAGE
Liaison between Madame du Barry and the Due de Brissac —
The countess commutes 50,000 livres per annum settled
on her by Louis XV. for a sum of 1,200,000 livres — Ma-
dame du Barry a witness in the Diamond Necklace affair
— The Comte de Cheverny's impressions 297
CHAPTER XXI
The year 1789 — Attacks upon Madame du Barry — Two thou-
sand louis reward: diamonds and jewels lost — Violent
articles against Madame du Barry — Madame du Barry's
three journeys to England in quest of her stolen jewels. 310
CHAPTER XXH
The Due de Brissac appointed to the command of the Garde
constitutionelle — He is arrested and conducted to Orleans
for trial — His bequest to Madame du Barry — The Cour-
tier franqais announces the arrest of Madame du Barry
— Brissac and the Orleans prisoners are massacred —
Brissac's head brought to Louveciennes 323
CHAPTER XXIII
Madame du Barry makes a fourth journey to England —
George Grieve, agitator, at Louveciennes — He obtains
an order for seals to be placed on her property —
Madame du Barry appeals to the directoire of Versailles,
and the seals are removed — Madame du Barry placed
under arrest, but liberated on a counter-petition from
Louveciennes — Last amour of Madame du Barry. . . 338
CHAPTER XXIV
Petition to the Committee of General Security against Ma-
dame du Barry — Warrant for her arrest issued — Madame
du Barry at Sainte-Pelagie — Suicide of her protector,
Lavallery — Interrogatory of Madame du Barry — She is
transferred to the Conciergerie 352
CHAPTER XXV
Trial of Madame du Barry — Opening speech of Fouquier-
Tinville for the prosecution — Witnesses for the defence
afraid to come forward — Closing speech of Fouquier-
Tinville — Condemnation of the accused — Her execution. 366
INTRODUCTION
A SWEET, ingenuous face, a graceful charm of form,
and a kind heart, united to make Httle Jeanne Becu — a
ailc publiquc of unknown fatherhood — Comtesse Du
Barry and a "left-hand queen of France."
It is a strange tale, but the marvelous freaks of
fortune were never more signally illustrated than in
the historical deeds of Louis XV. of France and the
experiences of this amiable waif, his favorite.
Aladame du Barry is often spoken of as "the profli-
gate mistress of Louis XV." She certainly did dispense
the riches of the King's treasury with lavish hand ; but
H. Noel Williams, in her thorough and conscientious
researches into contemporary sources of information —
r:cmoirs, correspondence, journals, memoranda-— and
especially convinced by some more recent monographs
upon Du Barry, by M, Charles Vatel, and the brothers
De Goncourt — finds much to commend in her career.
Without the wit of De Montespan, she was free also
from the arrogance and superstition of that lady: not
having the refined elegance of De Pompadour, she was
also free from her predecessor's ambition to control
and her vindictive pursuit of those who balked or
offended her. Even the cynical Voltaire conceded that
she was "a good-hearted woman."
It is impossil)lc to l)link the irregularities and sordid-
ness of the girl's early life in Paris. In the midst of it,
she was brought under the notice of Louis XV. by a
scheming friend of her mother's, who managed that
7
8 INTRODUCTION
the King should see her at supper with a gay company.
Soon after, his majesty caused her to be introduced
into the palace as the Comtesse Du Barry. Madame
De Gramont, sister of the powerful Due de Choiseul —
then minister of Foreign Affairs, of the Army and the
Marine, and even considering the assumption of care
of the Finances also — was unappeasably enraged to see
this "little girl of the streets," as she called Du Barry,
quietly pass into the position which she, with all her
aristocratic beauty, influential connections and im-
perious will, had after many efforts failed to gain.
She enlisted the great ascendency of her brother and
his Court faction in an implacable war of sneers> lam-
poons and scandals against the new-comer.
But Du Barry was difficult to wound, because she
was light-heartedly above all this. She bore no malice ;
she spoke unkindly of none, — even protecting from
punishment some of her slanderers ; she cared so little
about politics and governmental intrigues that accusa-
tions of interference with grave affairs dropped, as im-
possible. She readily and easily forgave her opponents,
and even made friendly overtures time and again to
Choiseul. But the minister, urged on by his sister, re-
pulsed all her endeavors for reconciliation, until at last
the long-tried patience gave way, and Du Barry com-
plained of his persistent persecutions to the King. His
majesty wrote to Choiseul a letter, still preserved,
urging him in kindly fashion to treat her courteously.
It was of no avail. The minister continued his course,
until he was removed by the King. Much sympathy
has been expended upon this man for his disgrace at
the hands of a king's mistress ; but it has been shown
that Gioiseul's ambitions had culminated in secret
attempts "to plunge France into what must have been
a disastrous war, for the sole purpose of maintaining
himself in power."
INTRODUCTION 9
The extravagant expenditures of Du Barry's life at
this time were perhaps no greater than might have
been expected in a pleasure-loving woman, suddenly
given free access to a royal treasury. Moreover, she
was by nature recklessly generous, giving on every
hand — to her friends, to her relatives, to every case of
distress or need that reached her knowledge, wherever
she could express sympathy or relieve trouble. That
this was a genuine impulse of heart was evidenced in
her later life, when, no longer a royal pensioner, but
with greatly reduced resources, she was still a Lady
Bountiful to her less fortunate neighbors.
After the death of Louis (May 10, 1774), Madame
Du Barry was exiled from the court, and spent most
of her life at her chateau of Louveciennes. However,
she did not escape the machinations of the professional
friends of "liberty, equality and fraternity" in the
revolutionary upheavals. In 1791 a robbery of jewels
had been perpetrated at Madame Du Barry's chateau,
and was well known throughout France. In 1791 and
1792 she went to England for the purpose of regaining
her lost property. Hereupon, although she had re-
turned to her home, she was denounced as an cinigree
and an aristocrat, by an Englishman, George Grieve,
who had been active in revolutionary France, and
boasted that he had brought seventeen heads to the
guillotine.
Strong friends interceded for her, and she herself
made dignifiecl response to the accusation formulated
by the Committee. But in September, 1793, she was
arrested, taken to Paris, and imprisoned ; on Decem-
Ijcr 7, haled before the Revolutionary Court for the
farce of a predetermined trial; and two days later,
beheaded by the guillotine.
This story, romantic in its vicissitudes of fact be-
yond the imaginings of poet or dramatist, is told by
10 INTRODUCTION
the present writer with kicidity, vivacity, and a con-
vincing control of evidences, that lay strong hold on
the sympathy of the reader. For beneath all the surface
of Dn Barry's career is a refreshing sense of the per-
sistence of native sweet-heartedness and generosity,
whether amid the scenes of a reckless youth, the in-
trigues of a court, the friendly hospitalities of a country
retiracy, or the terrors of an unjust death.
MADAME DU BARRY
CHAPTER I
A FTER the death of Madame de Pompadour,
/\ on April 15, 1764, there was an interregnum
J. M. oi more than four years at Versailles. It must
not be supposed, however, that such a condition of
affairs was in any way due to lack of enterprise on
the part of the ladies of the Court, many of whom
ardently coveted the post vacated by the famous
marchioness ; and, indeed, for some months, Versailles
was a perfect hot-bed of intrigue and conspiracy.
Of the numerous candidates, the chances of two
were, by common consent, acknowledged to be far
superior to those of their competitors, insomuch that,
after a while, the latter decided to stand aside and
leave them in undisputed possession of the arena.
The two ladies in question were the Duchesse de
Gramont,' sister of the all-powerful Minister, the Due
de Choiseul, and the Marquise d'Esparbes, both of
whom had been intimate friends of Madame de Pom-
padour, and. therefore, considered that they had special
claims to succeed her. The duchess was not beautiful
and a little masculine in appearance, proud, overbear-
ing, and "spiteful as the devil," but intelligent, witty,
'Beatrix de Choiseul-Stainville, born at Luneville in 17.30,
guillotincrl in 179,3. In 1759, she had married the Due de
Gramont, hut, three months hiter, unahle to entku'e the " crapu-
lous " life led by her husband, separated from him and went to
live at her brother's house, where scandalous tongues declared
that she occupied a somewhat equivocal position.
II
12 MADAME DU BARRY
and (according to Lauzun) "desirable." The mar-
chioness is described as short and red-haired, "with a
somewhat misshapen nose ;" but these blemishes were
atoned for by a dazzling complexion and shapely white
hands, of which she was so proud that she was in
the habit of having them bled, in order to preserve
their transparency.
Urged on by her brother, and encouraged by his
clients, who saw in her elevation a sure guarantee of
the continuance of their patron's favour, Madame de
Gramont appears to have underrated the difficulties
of her task, and, believing success assured, to have
conducted her wooing in too masterful a manner. The
result was that Louis XV., whose heart always yielded
more readily to a prolonged siege than a direct assault,
became alarmed, was at pains to avoid dangerous tcte-
a-tetes with the lady, and, finally, decided to ensure
his escape by accepting the favours which Madame
d'Esparbes was so anxious to bestow upon him —
favours which, it may be mentioned, had already been
enjoyed by several of his subjects, the aged Richelieu
and the 3^outhful Lauzun among the number.
Matters had actually progressed so far that Madame
d'Esparbes was on the point of being "proclaimed"
at Marly, where a splendid suite of apartments had
been allotted her, wdien Choiseul, who was absolutely
determined, that, if his sister were not to be promoted
to the vacant post, no one else should occupy it, con-
trived to dash the cup of happiness from her lips.
Meeting her one day on the grand staircase, sur-
rounded by a crowd of courtiers, he took her by the
chin, and exclaimed in a patronising tone: "Well,
little one, how are your affairs progressing?"
Poor Madame d'Esparbes, utterly taken aback by
such extraordinary behaviour, was unable to say a
single word by way of retort, and could only look
MADA]\IE DU BARRY 13
supremely foolish; while her enemy walked away,
chuckling over her discomfiture, and related the in-
cident to every one whom he chanced to meet.
"The women who do not love the duke (and they
are many) are disgusted at the cowardice displayed by
IMadame d'Esparbes," writes Prince Xavier of Sax-
ony, "and regard her as a simpleton and a prude, pro-
testing that, in her place, they would have applied two
good blows to the ministerial cheeks, to teach him to
give himself the air of taking ladies by the chin."
This puljlic insult put an end, nevertheless, to the
hopes of ^Madame d'Esparbes. For a grandc mai-
tresse, she was sadly deficient in aplomb ; and this
proved her undoing. Louis disliked scandal and ridi-
cule ; and, finding that he must choose between a woman
w^ho was the laughing-stock of his Court and a Min-
ister whose services he at that time deemed indispen-
sable, did not hesitate to decide in favour of the lat-
ter. And so it.happened that the next communication
which poor Madame d'Esparbes received from her
royal lover was not a poiilet, but a Icttre de cachet,
coldly informing her that it was his Majesty's pleasure
that she should retire to her father-in law's country-
seat, near Montauban.
After the departure of Madame d'Esparbes, the
King appears to have diverted himself with the in-
mates of the Parc-aux-Cerfs,* varied by an intrigue
with a Mademoiselle de Luzy, an actress who excelled
in soubrcttc parts, and what is believed to have been a
liaison of a platonic character with the Comtesse de
Seran.
The Comtesse de Seran, who is described by Mar-
Tor a full account of this nii'sterious establishment, see
Memoires de Madame du Ilasset (edit. 1825), p. 91 et seq.; M.
l.c Roi's Curiositrs liistoriques, p. 230 et seq., and chapter xi. of
the author's "Madame de Pompadour" (London, Harpers;
New York, Scribncr's 1902).
14 MADAME DU BARRY
montel as "beautiful as the goddess of Love, and still
more inttfcsting- by her kindness and native innocence
than by the lustre of her beauty," was a young lady of
twenty married to a very worthy gentleman of ancient
family, but of an ugliness so appalling ("red-haired,
ill-made, with only one eye, and a cataract in that")
that, when he was presented to her as her future hus-
band, "she turned pale with horror, and her heart
revolted against him with disgust and repugnance."
Madame de Seran aspired to be one of the ladies of
the Duchesse de Chartres ; but, as there was some little
difficulty in the way, owing to a doubt as to the exact
length of her pedigree — only those who could trace
their nobility back four hundred years were eligible
for the post — the matter was referred to Louis XV.,
who. "after listening with more attention to the praises
of her beauty than the proofs of her noble blood,"
gave his consent, on condition that, after being pre-
sented, she should come and thank him in person.
We will let Marmontel, the countess's confidant,
relate what followed :
"The rendezvous was in the King's private apart-
ments; the lady went, trembling exceedingly. Her
friends were on the tip-toe of expectation ; the young
countess was to be omnipotent ; the King and the
Court were to be at her feet; while all her friends
would be loaded with favours. The company awaited
the young sovereign ; they counted every minute ; they
died with impatience to see her arrive, and yet they
were glad at her being so long in arriving.
"At last she does arrive, and gives us an account
of all that had passed. A page of the Bedchamber
awaited her at the gate of the chapel, and she ascended
by a secret staircase into the private apartments. She
had not long to wait for the King. He had accosted
her with an agreeable air, had taken her hands, had
MADAME DU BARRY 15
pressed them respectfully, and, observing her ap-
prehension, had encouraged her by gentle words and
looks full of kindness. He then made her sit opposite
to him. congratulated her upon the success of the ap-
pearance she had made, and said that every one was
agreed that no one so handsome had ever been seen
at his Court."
" Then, said she, 'it must be true. Sire, that happi-
ness makes us beautiful, and, in that case, I should be
still happier now.'
" 'Accordingly you are so,' said he, taking my hands
and gently squeezing them in his, which were then
trembling. After a moment's hesitation, in which his
looks alone spoke, he asked me what position I should
be most ambitious to obtain.
"I answered, 'The place of the Princesse d'Armag-
nac' (She was an old friend of the King, who was
lately dead.)
" 'Ah !' said he, 'you are very young to supply the
place of a friend who was present at my birth, who
held me upon her knees, and whom I have loved from
my cradle. Time, Madame, is necessary to obtain my
confidence. I have been so often deceived.'
" 'Oh!' said I, 'I will not deceive you: and if time
only is required to deserve the exalted title of your
friend, I have that to give you.'
"This language from a person only twenty sur-
prised, but did not displease him. Changing the sub-
ject, he inquired if I thought his private apartments
furnished with taste. 'No,' said I, 'T should prefer
them l)kie,' and as bkie is his favorite colour, he was
flattered l)y the reply. I added that in every other
respect tlicy appeared to me charming.
" 'If you like them,' said he, 'I hope you will some-
times be so good as to come, every Sunday, for in-
stance, at the same hour as now.'
i6 MADAME DU BARRY
"I assured him that 1 would avail myself of every
opportunity of paying my court to him, upon which
he left me and went to sup with his children. He
made an appointment for this day week, at the same
hour. I give you all warning, therefore, that I shall be
the King's friend, and that I will never be anything
more."
The expectant friends, we may suppose, did every-
thing possible to turn the lady from her resolution;
but, according to Marmontel, she adhered to it firmly,
and though she paid the King weekly visits, finding on
the first occasion that the salon furniture had been
changed to blue, and corresponded with him in the
intervals between their meetings, the connection never
went beyond the bounds of friendship. "The King
at his age," he writes, "was not sorry to have an
opportunity of tasting the charms of a sentimental
union — the more flattering and agreeable that it waa
new, and that it sensibly affected him without en-
dangering his vanity." The writer adds that he was
"an ocular witness of the purity of this connection,"
as Madame de Seran was in the habit of communicat-
ing to him his Majesty's letters and her replies.
The mystery of the private meetings between the
King and the lady did not escape the watchful eyes of
the Court, which was naturally but little inclined to
share Marmontel's view of the matter. Choiseul was
furious, and, in accordance with his determination to
keep at a distance from the King every woman who
was not devoted to himself, prepared to crush Madame
de Seran, as he had crushed Madame d'Esparbes. The
countess, however, warned of his designs, hastened to
undeceive him. She was acquainted with La Borde,
the Court banker, one of Choiseul's staunchest allies,
and requested him to arrange for her an interview
with the Minister at his house and in his presence.
MADAIME DU BARRY 17
"Monsieur le Due," said she, "I have a favour to
ask of you. You, I understand, speak very slighting-
ly of me; you beheve me to be one of those women
who aim at gaining possession of the King's heart and
acquiring influence over his mind, which gives you
umbrage. I might have punished you for the liberty
you have taken, but I prefer to undeceive you. The
King expressed a desire to see me, which I did not
refuse to gratify; we have had private conversations
and have carried on a constant correspondence. You
are aware of all this; but the letters of the King will
soon inform you of something which you do not know.
Read them; you will find an extreme kindness, but as
much respect as tenderness, and nothing at which I
have cause to blush. I love the King as a father; I
would give my life for him, but. King as he is, he will
never prevail upon me to deceive him, nor to degrade
myself by granting what my heart neither will nor
can bestow."
Thereupon, she handed to the duke his Majesty's
letters, which contained such expressions as ''You are
only too admirable"; ''Permit me to kiss your hands";
"Permit me, in absence at least, to embrace you," and
so forth.
Choiscul read the letters, and, much relieved, "pre-
pared to throw himself at the lady's feet to implore her
forgiveness."
"The King is indeed in the right," said he; "you
are but too admirable. Now tell me what service can
be rendered to you by the new friend you have at-
tached for life?"
The lady accepted an appointment for a M. de la
Bathe, a young officer wlio was about to marry her
sister; but would take nothing herself from the King,
except a little hotel situated at the back of the Oratory.*
* Memoires de Marmontel (edit. 1804), iii. 64, et seq.
1 8 MADAME DU BARRY
About this time, Louis XV. would appear to have
been seized with one of his periodical fits of remorse.
As a rule, these attacks began with Lent, reached their
climax in Holy Week, and ended at Easter; but the
present one was prolonged until after the death of the
Queen in June, 1768. "Advancing in years, worn out
with pleasures," writes Mercy-Argenteau, the Austrian
Ambassador, "he appeared to seek in the bosom of his
family the tranquillity and happiness which disorders
would not permit of; he visited the Queen regularly
every evening, and this princess, who for a long time
had not enjoyed the least credit, obtained then many
things which indicated that she would recover a cer-
tain ascendency over her husband's mind. At the same
time, the King showed on several occasions a desire
to put away from him too near temptations to a licen-
tious life; the number of inmates of the Parc-aux-Cerfs
was reduced to two, one of whom, Mademoiselle
Estain, requested permission to retire, and did, in
point of fact, do so. The illness of the Queen super-
vened, and from the first her state was considered
hopeless.
"Then every one believed that the King, already in-
clining towards a reformation in his morals, would,
perhaps, in the event of widowerhood, think of
espousing a young and amiable wife, who would be
able to assure him repose of conscience and happiness
for the remainder of his days ; and this idea was firmly
established in the public mind."
Vain hope! Scarcely had poor INIaric Leczinska
been laid in her grave than Louis fell again, and this
time lower than he had ever yet descended.
Cheverny savs that the " little hotel " was, in reality, une
belle inaison. and scoffs at the idea that the King got nothing in
return ; hut then Cheverny was a scandal-monger.
* Mercy to Kaunitz, November 9, 1768.
CHAPTER II
A BOUT the middle of the reign of Louis XIV.,
Z\ there Hved in Paris a rotisseiir, or roasting
•*• -^ cook, named Fabien Been. This Becu, who
is said to havc been a singularly handsome man, had
the good fortune to find favour in the eyes of a certain
Dame de Cantigny, or Quantigny, who carried her
infatuation so far as to marry him. Their wedded life,
however, does not seem to have been of long dura-
tion, and. after bearing him a daughter, of whom
nothing is known, the countess died, "leaving her
affairs in great disorder." Fabien had perforce to
return to the kitchen, and entered the service of the
beautiful Madame de Ludres, who, for some months in
the early part of the year 1677, disputed with Madame
de Montespan the possession of the heart of le Grand
Monarqiie. Worsted in the unequal contest, and un-
able to bear the cruel taunts and insults which her
*'thunderous and triumphant" rival heaped upon her.
Madame de Ludres quitted the Court and retired
to her country-seat, the Chateau de Vane, in Lorraine.
Fabien accompanied his mistress, and, in 1693, married
a fellow servant, a girl called Jeanne Husson, by whom
he had seven chiMren. three sons and four daughters.
Of the .sons. Charles, the eldest, became valct-dc-
chambre to Stanislaus Leczinski. ex-King of Poland,
while his two brothers. Jean-Baptiste and Nicolas,
took service with noble families in Paris. Of the
daughters, two, Marie-Anne and Marguerite, married
persons in their own station in life; a tliird, I Iclcnc,
19
20 MADAME DU BARRY
became fcmmc-dc-chauihrc to Madame Bignon, wife
of the librarian of the Bibh'otlicque du Roi ; while the
fourth Anne, who with her sister Helene, inherited
Fabien Becu's good looks, settled at Vaudouleurs,
a small town on the borders of Champagne and Lor-
raine, now in the Department of the Meuse.'
Anne Been was by occupation a sempstress, but in-
asmuch as she lived in a large and comfortable house,
the neighbours entertained a shrewd suspicion that
she had a more lucrative source of revenue than her
needle — a suspicion which was confirmed when, on
August 19, 1743, she gave birth to a natural daughter,
who was baptized the same day, the acte de fiaissance
being as follows :
"Jeanne, natural daughter of Anne Becu, otherwise
known as Ouantigny, was born the nineteenth of
August of the year seventeen hundred and forty-three
and baptized the same day; having for godfather
Joseph Demange, and for godK mother Jeanne Birabin,
who have signed with me.
"Jeanne Birabine. L. Galon,
Vicar of Vaucoideurs.
Joseph Demange."*
Such was the origin of the future Comtesse du
Barry, the last left-hand queen of France.
It will be observed that in the above certificate the
name of the father is omitted, nor has the question of
the child's paternity been settled to this day, not-
withstanding the fact that it has given rise to intermin-
able disputes between historians and a long and costly-
lawsuit.* The majority of encyclopaedias and bio-
* M. Vatel's Histoire de Madame du Barry, i. l, et seq.
* E. and J. de Goncourt's La Du Barry, p. 6.
•See p. 342, infra.
MADAME DU BARRY 21
graphical dictionaries, including even some of com-
paratively recent date, agree in giving the little girl
for father a certain Gomard de Vaubernier, a clerk
in the Excise, an error the origin of which we shall
presently explain; but the theory which finds most
favour with modern writers is that which ascribes tlie
paternity to a Picpus monk,* one Jean Jacques
Gomard, in religion Frere Ange, with whom Jeanne
Becu was on very intimate terms in later years in
Paris, and who is believed to have been at this time an
inmate of a community established at Vaucouleurs, in
the Rue de Chaussee, the remains of whose house may
still be seen.'
Some time between the spring of 1747 and the close
of 1749, Anne Becu, with her little daughter, removed
from Vaucouleurs to Paris, where, as we have men-
tioned, two of her brothers and her sister Helene were
in service. This step was not improbably prompted by
the fact that, in February of the former year, Anne
had become the mother of a second child, a boy, who
was baptized as Claude,* and was beginning to find
herself regarded with disfavour by her neighbours.
Soon after their arrival in the capital, Jeanne, who,
even at this early age, showed promise of quite re-
markable iDeauty, attracted the attention of a M. Bil-
lard-Dumouceaux,' a rich financier and army con-
* The Picjius monks, so called from the site of their chief
monastery at the villape of Picpus, near Paris, were Tertiaries,
or members of the Third Order of St. Francis. They were not,
strictly speaking, monks at all, but non-conventual members, who
continued to live in society without the obligation of celibacy.
* M. Vatel's Ilistoire de Madame dn Barry, i. 5.
* Nothing seems to be known about the subsequent career of
this boy.
' Pidansat de Mairobert and other contemporary biographers of
Madame du Barry assert that this M. Dumnuccaux was Jeanne's
godfather, having been present at Vaucouleurs at the time of
her birth and undertaken the duty at the request of her father,
Vaubernier, the Lxcisc clerk, who was one of his subordinates.
22 MADAME DU BARRY
tractor, and. according to Grosley, "the most amiable
man in Paris." who constituted himself a kind of in-
formal guardian to the child, and took both her and her
mother to reside ^v^th him, the latter, apparently, in
the capacity of cook. M. Dumouceaux was a patron
of the arts, and himself a pastelist of some ability,
which probably accounts for the fact that in the inven-
tory of the Chateau of Louveciennes, the residence
which Louis XIV, gave to the favourite, mention is
made of a portrait of Madame du Barry as a child.
M. Vatel is of opinion that this is a copy of a work
executed for M. Dumouceaux by one of the artists
who frequented his house.
AMien Jeanne was seven years old, through the in-
fluence of M. Dumouceaux or one of his friends, very
possibly the Abbe Arnaud (who used to boast in after
years of having dandled the future favorite of Louis
XV. upon his knee), admission was procured for her
to the Convent de Sainte-Aure, in the Rue Neuve
Sainte-Genevieve. This was a community which had
been founded, about the year 1687, by Pere Gardeau,
cure of Saint-Etienne-du-Mont, "tO' provide an asylum
for young girls of his parish whom poverty had led
into dissipation." But, in 1723, it had been changed
to "an establishment for the education of youth, where
they are instructed in Christian piety and in arts suit-
able for women," and thrown open to "all young
people, born of honest parents, who may find them-
selves in circumstances in which they are in danger
rum.
This is, of course, ridiculous, as we have shown that Joseph
Demange was the parrain of Jeanne Becu and that Vaubernier
was a myth ; and we mention it merely as an instance of the
amount of credence to be placed in the testimony of these
chroniclers.
* Hurtaut's Dictionnaire de la rille de Paris et ses environs
(Pan's, 1777), i. 413. Tableau de I'humanitc et de la bienfaisance,
1769, by Alletz, cited by M. Vatel.
MADAME DU BARRY 23
The nuns, who followed, in a modified form, the
regulations of Saint Augustin, and entitled themselves
"adorafrices du sacre cceur dc Jesus," numbered fifty-
three, of whom ten were lay-sisters ; they provided ac-
commodation for forty pupils, who paid from 250 to
300 livres a year and certain extras, and also admitted.
at an annual charge of 500 livres, ladies who wished
to use the convent as a temporary retreat.
On the whole, the life was not austere, but conven-
tual habits were very strictly observed. The pupils
rose at five ; at seven, they attended mass in a private
chapel built for the use of the convent ; at eleven, they
dined on plain but sufficient food; and at nine, they
retired to their dormitories. The costume was severe
and simple. On the head each little girl wore a black
woolen hood, with a band of coarse cloth bound tightly
across the forehead, a plain frock of white Aumale
serge, an unstarched veil, and shoes of yellow calf
fastened with cords of the same. Playfulness, jesting,
raillery, affectation, and even loud laughter were for-
bidden and punished. The curriculum, besides instruc-
tion in religious duties, included reading, writing,
drawing, needlework, embroidery, and housekeep-
mg.
To this convent, then, Jeanne was sent, "with two
pairs of sheets and six towels," and here she remained
until she was fifteen ; at least we hear no more of
her until the early part of 1759. Of her life there
nothing is known, except that she would appear to
have received a tolerable education. Her spelling and
her grammar are ridiculed by writers like Pidansat de
Mairobert, but, as M. Vatel very justly points out. in
those days few ladies knew how to spell correctly;
and the grnndcs daincs who reproached Richelieu with
* Cnnstilutinu drs rcllr/iruscs de Saintc-Aurc,sui7ant la regie de
Sainl-Auguslin (Taris, 1786), cited by the Goncourts.
24 MADAME DU BARRY
Ills infidelities wrote "Vous nc incnie plu."^° "With
the exception of the letters addressed to Henry Sey-
mour." and which appear to have been dictated by
ardent passion," he says, "her style is dull or, as she
called it. tcrrc-a-terrc. What must be borne in mind
from the letters verified as hers is that she received
and retained a certain amount of intellectual culture,
which could have been acquired only at Sainte-Aure.
We find her expressing an opinion on Nero, whose
cruelties she considered to have been exaggerated; on
Lovelace, &c. She read Cicero and Demosthenes, and
had a great love for Shakespeare, translated, of course,
since she professed herself unacquainted with the
English language. She had learned how to draw, and
founded a prize for the pupils at the School of Draw-
ing opened by M. de Sartines. This little acccmplish-
ment ought also to be placed to the credit of the edu-
cation she received at the convent."^
Nor were the years spent at Sainte-Aure without
their effect upon Jeanne's character. The curriculum,
as we have said, included instruction in household
management ; and. even in the midst of her greatest
prodigality, when she was squandering the public
money with both hands on an army of jewellers,
dressmakers, milliners, and bric-a-brac dealers, she
never forgot the lessons of her childhood. She kept
a daily account of her expenses; she carefully checked
every item in the bills of her tradesmen ; she exercised
as keen a supervision over her household as the wife
of any bourgeois; and when in London, in 1792, we
" Madame de Pompadour, who was one of the most accom-
plished women of her time, never seemed able to distinguish
between the possessive pronoun se and the demonstrative ce, and,
like Louis XV., was in the habit of adding an j' to the third
person plural of verbs; while the orthography of Madame Geof-
frin, who kept a literary salon, was a thing to marvel at.
" See p. 294, et sequ., infra.
^ Histoire de Madame dtt Barry, i. 27.
MADAME DU BARRY 25
find her writing- instructions to her steward to make
jam of all the fruit grown at Louveciennes.
Again, as with IMadame de Montespan, the traces of
her early religious education remained ineffaceable,
and throughout her life she manifested the most pro-
found respect for the forms and ceremonies of the
Church. She built a private chapel in her hotel at Ver-
sailles, another at Saint-Vrain, a third at Louvecien-
nes, where the services were conducted by a Recollect,
who came from Saint-Germain expressly for the pur-
pose. She enriched the Church at Louveciennes by
gifts of candles, pictures, and ornaments of all kinds.
Banished to the Abbey of Pont-aux-Dames after the
death of Louis XV., she speedily conciliated the abbess,
Madame de Fontenille, who had been strongly preju-
diced ag-ainst her, and made so many friends among
the nuns that her enemies accused her of a hypocritical
simulation of devotion. Finally, in 1792, she gave
shelter, at no small risk to herself, to the Abbe de
Jorre, the Abbe de Roche-Fontenille, nephew of the
Abbess of Pont-aux-Dames, and a number of other
persecuted ecclesiastics.
On leaving the convent, Jeanne went to live with
her mother, who had some years previously married a
man named Nicolas Ranqon, described in the marriage
certificate as "a domestic," and now resided in the
Rue Neuve Saint-Etienne. If we are to believe the
Goncourts, the family were in great poverty, and the
little girl was compelled to earn a precarious livelihood
by peddling haberdashery, sham jewellery, and other
trifles "that people buy for the sake of the hcciux
ycnx of the seller," about the streets, and that, while
engaged in this occupation, she fell a victim to the
Comte de Genlis,'V)ne of the most fascinating lil)crtines
of the age," who, in after years, was profoundly aston-
26 MADAME DU BARRY
ished to rccoi^nizc in the mistress of Louis XV. a little
girl of the streets whom his valet-dc-chmnbrc had once
brought him."
. The account, however, which the Goncourts give of
Jeanne's early life is, for the most part, based on very
untrustworthy evidence, and must be regarded with
suspicion, and the earliest authentic information which
we have of the future favourite after her admission
to Sainte-Aure is in the spring of 1759, when she
makes her appearance in a somewhat singular con-
nection.
On April 18, 1759, Anne Becu, or Ran^on, as she
now was, accompanied by her daughter, who, it may
be mentioned, also' called herself Rancon, and gave her
age as fourteen and a half, though she was wnthin
four months of completing her sixteenth year, pre-
sented herself before Charpentier, the commissary of
police for their quarter, to lodge a complaint, and
demand protection, against the widow Lametz. or
Lameth, dressmaker, of the Rue Neuve des Petits-
Champs. It appeared that Madame Rangon and
Jeanne had made the acquaintance of the widow's son,
who was a coiffeur de dames at the house of a Madame
Peugevin, where Helene Becu, Anne's sister, was
employed as fcinme-de-chainbre, and which young
Lametz used to visit in his professional capacity.
Madame Rangon suggested that Lametz should give
a few lessons in his art to her daughter, which, as may
be supposed, he was willing enough to do, and hence-
forth seems to have spent the greater part of his time
at the Rangons' house.
After the lessons had continued for some months,
with great satisfaction to all parties concerned, the
young man's frequent absences from home began to
arouse the suspicions of his mother, who caused in-
•*E. and J. de Goncourt's La Du Barry, p. 12.
MADAAIE DU BARRY 27
quiries to be made, ^v^th the result that one fine day
she called upon ]\Iadame Rangon, overwhelmed her
Avith reproaches and insults, and concluded by threat-
ening to denounce both her and Jeanne to the cure
of the parish for compassing the moral and material
ruin of her son. This was a menace not to be treated
lightly, as in those days the parochial clergy were
invested with considerable powers, and the police were
in the habit of committing persons to prison on their
application," and, consequently, Madame Rangon lost
no time in invoking the protection of the commiaeary
of her quarter.
The affair does not appear to have proceeded any
further, though a lengthy proces-vcrhal was drawn up,
which, in later years, w^as brought to light and fur-
nished the enemies of the future Comtesse du Barry
with one of their favourite weapons.
Shortly after the Lametz episode, Jeanne became
lady's companion, or fcmme-de-cliambre, to the widow
of a farmer-general named La Garde, who resided at
a villa called the Cour-Neuve, in the suburbs of Paris.
Pidansat de Mairobert, the chronicler in whom the
Goncourts repose such misplaced confidence, asserts
that she was indebted for this post to the Picpus monk,
Gomard, whom most writers now believe to be the
father of Jeanne, but whom he metamorphoses into her
paternal uncle. Gomard had now entered the priest-
liood, and, according to Pidansat, had been appointed
])rivate chaplain to Madame de la Garde; but M.
Vatel, who carefully examined the papers of the La
Garde family, declares that he was never in any way
connected with it.
" On the other hand, the police appear to have exercised a
very strict supervision over the conduct of the clergy, both
regular and sfcular, and to have promptly brought any irregular-
ities which they discovered to the notice of the ecclesiastical
authorities.
28 LIADAME DU BARRY
M. Vatel's researches enabled him to demolish an-
other fiction, which had long obtained credence. The
stoiy went that Madame de la Garde had two sons,
both young men, residing with her, that the lads fell
in love with Jeanne and quarrelled violently about her,
and that, in order to restore tranquillity, their mother
was compelled to turn her out of the house.
M. Vatel says that Madame de la Garde certainly
had two sons, Nicolas and Frangois Pierre, but they
were not romantic youths, but middle-aged and
married men, occupying responsible positions, Nicolas
being, like his father before him, a farmer-general,
and Frangois Pierre a maitre des rcquctes. Moreover,
they did not reside with their mother, but had separate
establishments of their own, the elder living in the
Place Louis-le-Grand and the younger in the Rue
Neuve du Luxembourg."*
From demoiselle de cofupagnie Jeanne became
demoiselle de boutique. Towards the close of the year
1760, or at the beginning of 1761, she left Madame de
la Garde, and was apprenticed by her parents — ap-
parently under the name of Mademoiselle Lange, or
I'Ange — to a man-milliner called Labille, in the Rue
Neuve des Petits-Champs." In establishments of this
kind pretty girls were exposed to endless temptations,
and it would have needed one of much more austere
virtue than poor Jeanne to have successfully resisted
the assaults of the gilded youths, who, under the pre-
text of purchasing lace ruffles, cravats, and so forth,
frequented the shop and "ogled the demoiselles from
morn till eve." That she had several lovers at this
" Histoire de Madame du Barry, i. 41, et seq.
"And not in the Rue Saint-Honore, where so many writers
have located it. The account given by the Goncourts of Madame
du Barry passing the shop on her way to the scaffold in 1793,
and gazing pathetically up at the girls crowding to the windows
to catch a glimpse of the ex-milliner, is a myth.
MADAME DU BARRY 29
time is not disputed, though none of them seem to
have been of sufficient social importance to call for the
attention of contemporary writers.
Jeanne does not appear to have remained long at
Labille's shop, and little is known of her life during the
next two or three years, in which some writers assert
that she sank so low as to become a woman of the
town, and even for a time an inmate of an establish-
ment kept by a notorious entremetteiise called I^a
Gourdan. AI. Vatel discusses this very unpleasant
question at considerable length, and his conclusion is
that the charge is devoid of foundation and was a
mere invention of the Choiseul party, about whose
methods of warfare we shall have occasion to speak
hereafter." The register of loose women, he says,
was kept by the police with minute exactitude, but
it contains no name resembling any of those by which
Jeanne Becu was at different periods known. IVTore-
over when in 1776 the woman Gourdan, having been
indiscreet enough to allow the wife of a magistrate
to make assignations at her house, was haled before
the Tournelle, or Criminal Court of the Parliament
of Paris, the ledger containing the names of all her
pensionnaires for many years past was impounded.
M. Vatel is of opinion that if Madame du Barry's
had appeared therein, it would have been made known,
as she was then in disgrace, and no one was interested
in defending her,"*
Upon so very delicate a subject we naturally prefer
" Sara Goudard, in her Reviarqucs stir Ics Anecdotes conccrnant
Madame du Barry, relates that in the early days of Jeanne's
favour, when the Choiseul party were making desperate efforts
to prevent her presentation at Court, a stranger came to La
Gourdan and offered her a large sum of money if she would
publicly attest that the new favourite had been one of her pcn-
sionaires, but that the woman refused, "as she would not con-
sent to publish such a lie."
^* Histoire de Madame du Barry, i. 57, ct seq.
30 MADAME DU BARRY
not to dwell, and will, therefore, merely remark that
M. Vatel, in his zealous championship of Madame du
Barry, appears to entirely ignore the possibility that a
person who is known to have lost at least three aliases
might \ery well have had others which have escaped
the notice of historians.
But if, for lack of evidence, we must acquit Jeanne
Becu of having been a woman of the town, there can be
no possible doubt that during these years she had be-
come one of those who, as M. Vatel delicately ex-
presses it, "ignore the obligations of virtue without
having the excuse of passion" ; in other words, that
she was a fcniine entrctcnue in the very fullest accep-
tation of the term. According to Soulavie — not, how-
ever, a writer in whom much confidence is now re-
posed — a M. Lavauvenardiere was the first amant
en titre of the lady; while other chroniclers mention
an Abbe de Bonnac, a Colonel de Marcieu, and a M.
Duval, a clerk in the Marine, as among her pro-
tectors.
Towards the close of 1763, Jeanne, who now called
herself Mademoiselle Beauvarnier, or Beauvernier,
seems to have been in the habit of frequenting a
gambling-house in the Rue de Bourbon, kept by a
"Marquise" Duquesnoy — gambling-houses were the
favourite haunt of the fillcs galantcs of those days —
and it was here apparently that she encountered Jean
du Barry, the man with whose assistance she was
one day to rise "from the dregs to the zenith of her
profession."
Jean du Barry, who was at this time in his fortieth
vear. was a member of an old family in Languedoc,
which traced its descent back to the beginning of the
fifteenth century. His father, Antoine du Barry, had
been a brave soldier, who had served with distinction
in the War of the Spanish Succession and retired from
MADAME DU BARRY 31
the army with the Cross of Saint-Louis. Married in
1748 to a Mademoiselle de Verongrese, "a handsome
and honest person, who had nothing to say to the
shameful conduct of her husband," Jean speedily
wearied of his wife and the monotony of provincial
life, and, two years later, came to Paris, calling him-
self the Comte du Barry-Ceres, though he had no
claim whatever to any title. Endowed with a hand-
some presence, imperturbable assurance, a ready wit,^'
and an amusing Gascon accent, he succeeded in mak-
ing a favourable impression on the Marquis de
Rouille, then Minister for Foreign Affairs, and was
despatched on secret missions to England. Germany,
and Russia. Rouille, however, resigned office in 1757,
and his successors, Bernis and Choiseul, turned a deaf
ear to Du Barry's applications for further employ-
ment, though, as some compensation for the forced
abandonment of his diplomatic ambitions, he con-
trived to obtain contracts both for the army and navy,
and an interest in the supply of provisions to the
troops of Corsica.
With the profits of his contracts he plunged into
all kinds of debauchery and dissipation, and the in-
famy of his life was such as to astonish even the
depraved society amid which he moved and earn for
him the sobriquet of the "Rone." From the police
reports of the time it would appear that he was in the
liabit of introducing young beauties of humble station
— generally unfortunate girls whom he had himself
seduced and then grown weary of — to the haunts of
" One day at Spa, Jean du Barry was keeping a faro bank and
watching very closely to avoid being cheated. He appeared to
entertain some suspicion of the Elcctress Dowager of Saxony,
who was one of the players, and the princess expressed her
amazement that he should bflieve her capable of any irregularity.
"A thousand pardons, ^f adame," exclaimed Du P.arry. " My
suspicions could not jiossibly refer to you. You royal personages
never cheat for anything but crowns."
32 MADAME DU BARRY
fashionable vice, in the expectation of their attracting-
the attention of some wealthy libertine, in which event
Dti Barry seldom failed to reap a substantial profit
from his speculation. Madame du Hausset tells us that
on one occasion, during the regime of Madame de Pom-
padour, he had aspired to provide Louis XV. with a
mistress, in return for which service he had the imper-
tinence to demand the post of Minister to Cologne.
"I went one day to the comedy at Compiegne," she
says, "and Madame (de Pompadour) having put some
questions to me about the play, inquired if there were
many people present, and whether I had not remarked
a ver\^ pretty young lady. I replied that there was,
in fact, in a box near mine, a young woman who was
surrounded by all the young gentlemen of the Court.
She smiled and said : 'That was Mademoiselle Doro-
thee ; she has been this evening to sup with the King,
and will go to-morrow to the chase. You are aston-
ished to see me so well informed, but I know still
more. She was brought here by a Gascon, whose
name is Du Barre or Du Barry, and who is the greatest
scoundrel in France. He founds his hopes on the
charms of Mademoiselle Dorothee, which he imagines
the King will not be able to resist. She is really very
pretty. I have had an opportunity of seeing her in
' my garden, to which they brought her under pretext
of taking a stroll. She is the daughter of a water-
carrier at Strasburg, and her adorer demands, to begin
with, to be made Minister at Cologne.' ""'
This intrigue was promptly nipped in the bud by
Lebel, the King's confidential valct-de-chmnbre , who
had the management of his royal master's love-affairs,
and had no mind to allow a stranger to usurp his
functions; and M. du Barry and his protegee were
compelled to return to Paris empty-handed.
^Mcmoires de Madame du Hausset (edit. 1891), p. 62.
IMADAME DU BARRY 33
The "Roue," struck by Jeanne's beauty, "invited
her to take charge of his house and do the honours
of it," as he himself euphemistically expresses it.** She,
on her part, we may well believe, was ready enough
to entertain his proposal, as he enjoyed the reputation
of being exceedingly liberal to the ladies whom he
honoured with his attentions, and was said to "cover
them with gold and diamonds" f and Jeanne's partiality
for jewellery amounted to an absolute passion — a
passion which was one day to bring her to the guil-
lotine.
Mademoiselle Beauvarnler and her mother accord-
ingly took up their residence with Du Barry, at his
house in the Rue Neuve Saint-Eustache, whence they
subsequently removed to one in the Rue de Jussieu.
The presence of Madame Rangon was presumably in-
tended to disguise the nature of the relations which
existed between her daughter and the "count," but, if
such were the object in view, it would not appear to
have been attained, as the following entiy in the
Journal de la Police will testify:
"December 14, lyC^Jf. — The Marquis du Barry, who
was responsible for having brought la belle Dorothce^
from Strasburg to Paris, and for having given the
demoiselle Beauvoisin her start in life, exhibited last
Monday, in his box at the Comedie Italienne. the
demoiselle Veauvernier (sic), his mistress. She is a
person nineteen years old, tall, well-made, and of dis-
tinguished appearance, with a very pretty face. No
doubt he intends to dispose of her (brocanfer) advan-
tageously. W'hen he l:)egins to weary of a woman, he
invariably has recourse to this expedient. But. at the
same time, it must be admitted that he is a connoisseur,
and that his merchandise is always salable."
" Letter of Jean du Barry to Malcsherbcs.
"Manuel's La Police divoilce, i. 231, "See p. 24, supra.
34 MADAME DU BARRY
Soon after Jeanne became Du Barry's mistress her
name underwent a third modification. The "Roue"
considered that Beauvarnier was not a sufficiently aris-
tocratic patronymic, so he transformed it into Vau-
bernier, with a territorial prefix, and the young lady
became Mademoiselle de Vaubernier."
Of Jeanne's life with the "Roue" we have few de-
tails. Montigiiy tells us that she never went out on
foot, but drove about in a coach, accompanied by two
children, "who were not her own," but whom all the
tradesmen with whom she dealt declared "qu'elle tenoit
dans la plus grande decence.'"^ From the police reports
we learn that she was on terms of great intimacy with a
certain Comtesse La Rena, described as "a married
woman living apart from her husband, and enjoying
an income of about 25,000 livres, the proceeds of her
galanteries, principally with Milord Marche,""" who had
conceived so violent a passion for her that he had lived
with her seven years in England" f while she also fre-
quented the house of a Mademoiselle Legrand, a
courtesan who affected literary society, and whom
Dumouriez, in his Memoires, compares to Ninon de
" She also appears to have been known as Mademoiselle I'Ange,
"on account of her celestial face," says Lauzun, and, on occa-
sion, to have masqueraded as her protector's wife. Thus, in
May 1767, we find her laying a complaint before a police-com-
missary against a dressmaker named Etienne, who had appro-
priated a piece of Indian muslin which had been sent her to make
into a gown, and used abusive language and threats towards the
"Roue's" son, Adolphe, who had been deputed to remonstrate
with her. In this document we find the lady styling herself
" Dame Jeanne de Vaubernier, spouse of Messire Jean Comte du
Barry."
'*Les Ulustres victimes vengccs.
*° William Douglas, Earl of Marche, afterwards fourth Duke
of Queensberry, the notorious " Old Q."
^ " I have had Lord IMarche and the Rena here for one night,
which does not raise my reputation in the neighbourhood." —
Horace Walpole to Conway, September 9, 1762,
MADAME DU BARRY 35
I'Enclos. Here she was in the habit of meeting a
circle of wits and men of letters : Crebillon fils — the
author of some of the most Hcentious romances ever
penned, one of which, Le SopJia, so shocked Madame
de Pompadour's sense of propriety that she caused
him to be banished from Paris — Colle, Guibert, and
Favier.
'At Du Barry's own house, too, Jeanne became ac-
quainted with several of the most celebrated person-
ages of her time, for the "Roue," consummate scoun-
drel though he was, was, notwithstanding, a man of
considerable attainments and charm of manner, and
an admirable host. Among his visitors were that ever-
green sinner, the Due de Richelieu, the Due de Duras,
his alter ego the Due de Nivernais, whom Lord Ches-
terfield held up as a model for his son to form himself
upon,* and the Prince de Ligne, whose connection
with the lady is interesting, if only for the striking
portrait which he has left us of her :
"She is tall, well-made, ravishingly fair, with an
open forehead, fine eyes, pretty lashes, an oval face
with little moles upon her cheeks, which only serve to
enhance her beauty, an aquiline nose, a laughing
mouth, a clear skin, and a bosom with which most
would be wise to shun comparison."™
Another celebrity whose acquaintance "Mademoi-
selle de Vaubernier" ■^lade at this time was that senti-
""I scnfl you here enclosed a letter of recommendation to the
Duke of Nivernais, the French Ambassador at Rome, who is, in
my opinion, one of the prettiest men I ever knew in my life.
I do not know a better model for you to form yourself upon;
pray observe and frequent him as much as you can. He will
show you what manners and graces are." — Letter of July f<. 1749.
** Mere is another contem()orary portrait of tlie Ind\' : " Madame
du Barry was truly pretty; beautiful head, beautiful eyes, beauti-
ful hair of an ashen grey hue; beautiful, rounded arms and
divine hands; her enchanting smile charmed every one." —
Souvenirs de Jeanne Etienne Despreaux, p. 14.
Memoirs— 2 Vol. 2
36 MADAME DU BARRY
mental libertine, the Due de Laiiztm. Latizun, who
M'as then in quest of consolation for his rejection at
the hands of the beautiful Lady Sarah Bunbury, met
Jeanne at one of the Opera balls and accepted an in-
vitation from the "Roue" to sup at his house, where
his host, who was suffering from inflammation of the
eyes, received him in a superb robe-de-chambrc, with
his hat on his head, to keep in place two baked apples,
which some quack had recommended as a remedy for
his complaint. The house was in good taste, and
among the guests were several very pretty women,
one of whom, a Madame de Fontanelle, "had come
from Lyons with the design of becoming the mistress
of the King, and of the first person who might ask
her in the interim." Mademoiselle de Vaubernier was
very gracious to Lauzun, who expresses his conviction
that she would have been "more than willing" to con-
sider any proposal he might have cared to make.
However, the affair went no further than a flirtation.'"
Scandal, indeed, attributes several lovers to Jeanne
during this period — the Comte de Fitz-James, a M.
d'Arcambal, a rich financier, and Radix de Sainte-Foy,
Treasurer of the Marine,^' are among those upon
whom she is reported to have bestowed her favours;
while Senac de Meilhan says that it soon became quite
le hon air "to have supped at least with her." These
^Memoires du Due de Lauzun (edit. 1858), p. 78.
*^" January 29, 1768.—. . . The demoiselle Beauvarnier, mis-
tress, or rather vache a hit, of the sieur du Barry. It is M. de
Sainte-Foy, Treasurer of the Marine, whom this last-named
person is at present engaged in ' fleecing,' under the good pleasure
of the sieur du Barry." — Etat des femmes et filles galantes, cited
by M. Vatel.
When Madame du Barry became the mistress of Louis XV.,
that monarch is said to have remarked to the Due de Noailles,
" I am told that I have succeeded M. de Sainte-Foy." To virhich
the witty courtier retorted, "Just as your Majesty succeeded
Pharamond," implying that there had been a good many others
in between. — Sismondi's Histoire des Frangais, xxix. 401.
MADAME DU BARRY 37
suppers, with a little game of lansquenet, brelan, or
passe-passe to follow, must, we fear, have proved
somewhat costly experiences for the lady's admirers,
and the "Roue" had, no doubt, good reason to con-
gratulate himself upon his bargain. However, as the
next chapter will show, the time was not far distant
when Jeanne was to establish infinitely greater claims
upon the gratitude of her scoundrelly protector.
CHAPTER III
A GREAT deal of conflicting evidence exists in
regard to the first meeting of Louis XV. and
Jeanne Becu. The general opinion of their
contemporaries appears to have been that the lady's
charms were brought to his Majesty's notice by the
valet-de-chanihre Lebel, the indefatigable purveyor of
the Parc-aux-Cerfs, at the solicitation of the "Roue."
According to one story, Lebel invited Jeanne, Radix
de Sainte-Foy, her lover of the moment, and some
other persons to sup wnth him in his apartments at
Versailles, where the King, who had been an unseen
spectator of the banquet, "through a secret window
made in the dining-room wall," was so enraptured
with her beauty and vivacity that he ordered her to be
brought to him the following day, or, according to
other versions, the same evening/
A more probable solution of the question, however,
which attributes the meeting to accident, is to be found
in a letter written by Jean du Barry, in 1776, to
Malesherbes. then Minister of the Household to Eouis
XVI. The "Roue," who on the death of Louis XV.
had been promptly exiled, was desirous of visiting
Paris, "in order to see his doctor, his oculist, and his
creditors" ; and, in the hope of securing permission to
do so, enters into a sort of justification of his life, in-
cluding an explanation of his share in the introduction
of "Mademoiselle de Vaubernier" to the late King.
Here is what he says on the matter :
^ Dutens's Memoires d'un voyageur qui se repose (edit. 1806),
ii. 36.
MADAME DU BARRY 39
"Having at that time no other care than that of
watching over the education of my son, page to the
King, who possessed but indifferent heaUh, I with-
drew into a very Hmited circle of acquaintances. And
it was then that I begged Madame Rangon and her
daughter, Mademoiselle Vaubernier, to take charge of
my house and do the honours of it, a task which they
performed for several years with kindness and intel-
ligence.
"Moved by gratitude, and with a view to providing
for their future, I then surrendered to them my in-
terest in the provisioning of Corsica, which they en-
joyed for some months.
"The new arrangements made by M. de Choiseul
having deprived them of this, they solicited from him
its continuance; and it was in the course of the dif-
ferent journeys which he required them to make to
Versailles that Mademoiselle Vaubernier attracted the
attention of the late King. M. Lebel received his
orders, and the latter, with whom neither she nor my-
self had any acquaintance, arranged matters with her
alone . . . .'"
Although the above version of the affair is quite in
accordance with the habits of his Most Christian
Majesty, who, d'Argenson tells us, was accustomed
to "throw the handkerchief" to any pretty young girl
or woman he might chance to see at Mass or else-
where,' we should hesitate to accept it, since it was
so obviously to the writer's interest to minimise his
'Revue de Paris, November 1836.
""February 13, 1753. — The King is indulging in passades; he
throws the hanrlkcrchief to young girls and women whom he
perceives at Mass or at the f/raiid coircrt. Bachclior. his old
prime minister (Lchcl's predecessor), brings them to him. A
young beauty of Montpellicr, daughter of the President Nicquet,
with whom I am acquainted, has lately 'taken the leap' (sautce
Ir pas), and is still at Versailles; she expects to become maitresse
dcclarie."
40 ]\L\DAAIE DU BARRY
part in the transaction. But, as it happens, his account
is confirmed by two independent chroniclers, Sara
Goudard and Montigny ; while we learn from the un-
published Memoirs of Choiseul* that Jeanne did
actually visit tlie Minister at Versailles, on two oc-
casions, in reference to the matter mentioned by Du
Barry.
But whether it was accident or design which threw
Jeanne across the path of Louis XV., it is beyond
question that the old King's subjugation was im-
mediate and complete.
The secret of the extraordinary fascination which
she exercised over him, and continued to exercise
to the day of his death, lay not so much in her physical
charms, great as these undoubtedly were, but in
her high spirits, her unfailing good-humour, and,
above all, in her absolute freedom from affectation.
"Instead of imitating the great ladies who bored
the King, she showed herself just as she w'as,
under the aspect of a veritable courtesan, with
all the cynicism, animation, and refinements of her
trade. Louis XV. felt his jaded senses revive as
if by a miracle. He was enchanted by it. The new
favourite seemed to him an exceptional being. He
determined to cover her with a rain of gold and
* These memoirs, which must not be confused with the Me-
inoires de M. le due de Choiseul, ecrits par lui-meme, printed at
Choiseul's private press at Chanteloup in 1773, and published in
1790, are declared by M. Vatel to be " as authentic as important,"
and such would appear to be the opinion of most historians, in-
cluding, among recent writers, M. Pierre de Nolhac. ^ On the
other hand, Ritter von Arneth and M. Flammermont, in a note
to their Correspondance secrete du Comte de Mercy-Argenteau
avec I'Empereur Joseph II. et le Prince von Kaunitz (Paris,
1896), assert that they are spurious. Whether the memoirs are
genuine or not, however, there can be no question that they are
the work of some one intimately acquainted with the Court of
Louis XV., and, if not written by Choiseul, largely inspired by
him.
MADAME DU BARRY 41
jewels, and make her the first fcmme entretenue in
France — in all Europe.'"
It was in the early days of July 1768, that the events
of which we have just spoken occurred, and the Court
was on the point of setting out on its annual visit to
Compiegne. Louis XV. was naturally desirous that
his new conquest should follow him thither. But,
as a demoiselle, particularly one of humble birth,
could not well perform the functions of a royal
mistress without risk of grave scandal — it was a sort
of unwritten law that the favourite must be a married
and titled woman — he decided that a husband with the
necessary qualifications must be found for her with-
out delay, and communicated his wishes to Jeanne du
Barry, through the medium of Lebel."
So lucrative a role as that of honorary consort to
the King's new mistress would have suited the "Roue"
admirably, but, unfortunately, he was debarred from
playing it, his neglected wife being still in the flesh.
However, there was no necessity to let the post pass out
of his sphere of influence, as he had a bachelor brother,
Guillaume by name, a needy officer or ex-officer of
Marines, who lived with his widowed mother and
his two sisters at the family-seat of the Du Barrys, at
Levignac, near Toulouse, and who seemed expressly
made for the occasion.'
* Imbert dc Saint- Amand's Les Feinmcs de Versailles : Les
dernidres annees de Louis XV., p. 23.
•The monarch's infatuation for Mademoiselle de Vaubernier
by no means commended itself to this worthy, to whose interest
it was to keep his royal master supplied with a constant succes-
sion of charmers. So angry was he that he took upon himself to
remonstrate vehemently with his Majesty, who, highly incensed
at his presumption, threatened to strike him with the fire-irons
if he did not at once desist. This threat, we are told, adectcd M.
Lebel so deeply as to bring on an attack of colic, whereof he died
two days later.
'Jeanne du Barry had another brother Nicolas, called Ehe,
42 MADAME DU BARRY
The good folk at Levignac had not seen their rela-
tive for years, and were, in consequence, not a little
astonished when one day he descended upon them,
informed them that he had come to make all their
fortunes, and carried the whole family off to Tou-
louse, where, before a notary named Sens, the old
lady signed a procuration authorising Guillaume du
Barry "to contract a marriage with any person whom
he should judge suitable, on the express understand-
ing that the said dame should not be required to make
any provision for her son on the occasion of the said
marriage."
This formality completed, Jean, the intended bride-
groom, and their two sisters, all set out for Paris,
travelling in such frantic haste as to suggest the
possibility of there being some other candidate for
Mademoiselle de Vaubernier's hand in the field ; and,
on July 23, the day after their arrival in the capital,
the marriage contract was duly executed.*
A more amazing piece of impudence than this con-
tract it would be difficult to conceive.
The future husband, who had been plain Guillaume
du Barry in the procuration signed at Toulouse, be-
comes "high and puissant seigneur, messire Guil-
laume, Comte du Barry, son of the deceased messire
Antoine, Comte du Barry, and of the dame Catherine
Delacaze, his spouse."
The "Roue" arrogates to himself even more impos-
ing qualifications, and is not only a high and puissant
seigneur, but the holder of a presumably important
and a third sister who had married a peasant of Levignac, named
Filieuse. The two sisters who lived with their mother had been
baptized respectively Frangoise and Marthe, but were known by
the sobriquets of " Chon " and " Bitsclii." The elder, " Clwn,"
was a young woman of considerable intelligence, and, according
to Pidansat de Mairobert, contributed to tlie Merctire.
*M. Lenotre's Vieilles maisons, vieux papiers, 197 et seq.
MADAME DU BARRY 43
office under the Crown, Governor of Levignac, to wit.
Levignac, it may be mentioned, was a little village,
which probably did not contain a single house of any
size apart from the chateau of the Du Barrys.
But the most startling transformation is reserved
for the future bride, who not only changes her name
for the fourth time, but invents, or has invented for
her, a father to bear it, and styles herself "the demoi-
selle Jeanne Gomard de Vaubernier, a minor, daughter
of the dame Rangon and of the sicur Jean Jacques
Gomard de Vauhernier, interested in the affairs of the
King, her first husband."
As may be anticipated, the body of this precious
document is in keeping with the preamble.
It provides that there should be no community of
goods between the parties, but that the wife should
charge herself with all the expenses of the menage:
food, rent, table-linen, household utensils, keep of
horses, and so forth, and with the maintenance and
education of the children born of the marriage! In
return for this, the husband was to make her an an-
nual allowance of 6000 livres, payable half-yearly and
in advance, in addition to a sum of 1000 livres per
annum which he is declared to have already settled
upon her.
A paper annexed to the contract reveals the lady's
fondness for jewellery and fine raiment. It states that
she possesses diamonds (collar, aigrette earings, &c.)
to the value of 16,000 livres; English, Brussels, and
Valenciennes lace worth 6000 livres; thirty silk
gowns, two dozen corsets, and other articles of apparel
in propr)rtion. Altogether her property is valued at
30,000 livres, which is declared to be "the result of
her earnings and economies."
In order to sustain the titles and dignities which the
Du Barrys had bestowed upon themselves, a coat-of-
44 MADAME DU BARRY
arms was, of course, required ; but the inventive genius
of the "Roue" was fully equal to the occasion. He
instituted researches into his genealogy, and quickly-
discovered that his family was a branch of the old
Irish house of Barrymore, the arms and motto of
which — Bouten-en-avant — the "Comtesse" du Barry
forthwith assumed and retained for the rest of her
life."
The religious ceremony, indispensable at this period
to the validity of a marriage, was postponed until
September i — M. Vatel thinks on account of the ill-
ness and death of Lebel, who had died on August 17 —
when it took place at the Church of Saint-Laurent, at
five o'clock in the morning, in order to avoid undesir-
able publicity. The mysterious Gomard, the ex-Pic-
pus, the soi-disant uncle and presumed father of
Jeanne,^" appeared to represent the stepfather and
mother of the bride, resplendent in "a frock of maroon
*The family of Barry of Barry's Court, Viscounts Buttevant
and Earls of Barrymore, traced their descent back to one William
de Barri, of Norman origin. William de Barri's eldest son,
Robert, accompanied Robert Fitz-Stephen to Ireland in 1169,
to assist Dermot, King of Leinstcr, to regain his throne, and,
after a series of exploits which earned for him the name of
Barrymore, was slain at Lismore, about the year 1185. He was
succeeded by his brother, Philip de Barry, whose son, David,
became Viscount Buttevant. One of David's lineal descendants,
another David de Barri, was created Earl of Barrymore in 1628,
as a reward for his fidelity to English interests. The title be-
came extinct on the death of the eighth earl without issue in
1824.— Burke's " Dormant and Extinct Pcerag^es," p. 24, et seq.
It is worth noting that the then Earl of Barrymore, Richard
Barrv, the sixth holder of the title, acknowledged Madame du
Barry's claim, but, according to IVTr. J. B. Robinson ("The Last
Earls of Barrymore," p. 146), he was wrong in so doing, though
his supposition that he had collateral relatives in France was
correct. " The French branch," says the author, " is another
family altogether, the present (1894) representative of which is
the Comte Barry de Mervel (Chateau de Mervel, Scme-In-
ferieure), whose ancestor accompanied James II. into exile."
"He seems to have been now known as the Abbe Gomard and
to have been assistant-priest at Saint-Eustache.
MADA^IE DU BARRY 45
hoiiracan with gold buttons, coat, vest, and breeches
of Lille camelot. and a cassock and cloak of Saint-
Maur cloth,'"^ and, not to be outdone by the Du
Barrys, gave a false Christian name — he had lent his
own to the mythical brother, Gomard de Vaubernier
— and had the impudence to style himself "Almoner
to the King."
The marriage contract had been, as we have seen, a
tissue of lies; the documents connected w^ith the re-
ligious ceremony were infinitely worse. Proofs of
Jeanne's claim to be the legitimate daughter of the
aforementioned Gomard de Vaubernier "interested in
the affairs of the King, w^ere, of course, required; and
to furnish these wholesale forgery was resorted to.
Two certificates were produced. The first, w^hich
purported to be signed by the vicar of Vaucouleurs
and witnessed by tlie provost of the town, stated that
Jeanne had been born on August 19, 1746, instead of
1743, from the marriage of Jeanne Becu, otherwise
known as Quantigny, and Jean Jacques Gomard de
Vaubernier. (It is upon this document that the erro-
neous information in regard to Madame du Barry's
origin to be found in so many works of reference is
based.) The second declared that the said Vaubernier
had died in September, 1749, at Vaucouleurs, in the
presence of his "father-in-law," Fabian Becu, who
had, as a matter of fact, died himself four years
earlier.
Falsification of documents in those days was pun-
ished by the galleys, and, in cases where the intention
was to deceive the King, by death. Why then, it
may be asked, were the "Roue" and his accomplices
so ready to brave the terrors of the law, and who was
" Apparently the pift of the hride, as these articles fipure in an
account rcndcrcrl to Madame du Barry about this time by Carlicr,
the tailor who made her servants' liveries.
46 MADAME DU BARRY
the instigator of these shameful frauds? It is, in our
opinion, absurd to ascribe them, as some writers do,
to the impudence of Jean du Barry, who was far too
astute a personage to commit such an act. unless he
were well assured of absolute impunity. The matter,
we fear, must always remain obscure, but there is
grave reason to believe that Louis XV. himself was
an accessory; in other words, that when he had insisted
on his mistress's marriage he had given her to under-
stand that if her friends saw fit to exercise their in-
ventive talents on her behalf it would not be altogether
displeasing to him.
Aladnme du Barry and her dc jure husband parted
at the church door, and do not appear to have ever set
eyes on one another again. The latter, who imme-
diately after the nuptial ceremony had received, as the
price of his complaisance, a brevet conferring a pen-
sion of 5000 livres upon him, did not, as the Gon-
courts. M. Vatel and Mr. Douglas all state, return the
same day to Toulouse. He remained in Paris, in-
stalled himself in a fine apartment in the Rue de
Bourgogne, and proceeded to enjoy life. To console
himself for the loss of his wife, he formed a liaison
with a damsel of nineteen, named Madeleine Lemoine,
who lived on the other side of the street, and is
described by a contemporary as "a piquant brunette,
with magnificent eyes, a pretty mouth, and teeth of
dazzling whiteness."" and who, in the course of
the following year, presented him wnth a son. To
Guillaume's credit it should be added that he seems
to have been genuinely attached to Mademoiselle
Lemoine, as he remained faithful to her for the rest
of his life, and soon after his wife's death, in 1793,
married her, "in order to assure his name to the
" Souvenirs d'nne actricc. Louise Fusil, cited by M. Lenotre in
Vieilles maisons, vicux papiers, p. 205.
MADAME DU BARRY 47
woman to whom he was united by ties of gratitude
and esteem.""
At Compiegne, whither Madame du Barry had
followed the Court after the signing of the marriage
contract, her relations with the King appear to have
been conducted with a certain amount of discretion,
and to have aroused but little comment. But when, at
the beginning of October, the Court migrated, as usual,
tc Fontainebleau, the new favourite was given a suite
of apartments in the chateau itself, and his Majesty's
attentions to her became so very marked that nothing
else was spoken of, and the Austrian Ambassador,
Mercy-Argenteau, deemed it advisable to send the fol-
lowing report of the affair to his Government :
Mercy to Kaunitz.
Fontainebleau, November i, 1768.
"Monseigneur, — I believe I ought to render to your
Hig-hness a full account of certain circumstances
which have arisen at this Court, and which appear to
me likely to effect objects too important not to merit
your attention. A person named Du Barry, Breton*
gentleman, great intriguer, broker of the pleasures of
M. de Richelieu and several others, lived for some
years with a creature whom he delivered over to his
acquaintances for a pecuniary consideration, when
the state of his finances obliged him to have recourse
to such expedients. This Du Barry, at length, after
having married his concubine to one of his brothers,
found means, through the instrumentality of the
first valet-de-chnmhre, named Lebel, to introduce her
to the King shortly before the last visit to Com-
piegne, whither this woman followed the Court, and
"/fcirf. p. 215.
'* Mercy was, of course, misinformed; Jean du Barry was a
Langucdocien.
jfi MADAME DU BARRY
was lodged in a private house. This first appearance
occasioned but httle sensation, but, shortly afterwards,
one saw the new favourite in possession of a very
elegant equipage and a very handsomely furnished
lodging. Then some young gentlemen of the Court
sought to introduce themselves to her, in order to pay
their respects. The Sieur du Barry made, in the mean-
while, researches into his genealogy, and discovered
that he was descended from the ancient Irish family of
Barrymore, whereof he assumed the arms, which one
sees displayed on the carriage of Madame du Barry
and on a very handsome sedan-chair, which she makes
use of in the interior of the chateau. She is lodged
in the court called dcs Fontaines, near the apartment
which Madame de Pompadour used to occupy; she has
a number of servants and brilliant liveries, and on
fete-days and Sundays one sees her at the King's
Mass, in one of the chapels on the rez-de-chaussee,
which is reserved for her.
"A treatment so different to that which would be
accorded a simple girl augmented from day to day
the attention of the courtiers. On my side,^ I took
measures to inform myself of the tone which this
woman adopts among her intimates. I ascertained
that she was beginning to give herself airs of impor-
tance; that she spoke of the Government and the
Ministers, and of the great services which a favourite
rendered the State by enlightening the King in regard
to the vices of the administration. I ascertained fur-
ther that this woman expected to be publicly presented
at Court, and that a subordinate cabal, supported by
some persons of more exalted rank, favoured this
project; that they had even sounded Mesdames de
France^'' and that one of the Mesdames was of opinion
"The four unmarried daughters of Louis XV. Adelaide, Vic-
toria, Sophie, and Louise.
MADAME DU BARRY 49
that, however objectionable so indecent a presentation
might be, it was, nevertheless, better to support it
than to expose themselves to the danger of the King's
re-marriage/*
"The serious turn this affair was taking finally deter-
mined me to speak of it to the Spanish Ambassador,
W'ho was but imperfectly informed in regard to it. We
agreed that he should explain his views to M. de
Choiseul, and he did so forthwith. But, to our pro-
found astonishment, the Minister appeared, or wished
to appear, ignorant of a great part of the circum-
stances of this intrigue, and M. de Fuentes ex-
perienced considerable difficulty in convincing him of
it. He represented to M. de Choiseul how greatly the
person of the King would be degraded by such a
scandal ; he enlarged upon all the grievous conse-
quences which would result from the re-establishment
of a maitresse-en-titre ; finally, he succeeded in fixing
the attention of M. de Choiseul upon this matter, and
they deliberated on the means of averting the danger.
M. de Fuentes proposed to compose a letter, which he
should write to his Court, and which, having been
intercepted, should be brought to the notice of his
Most Christian Majesty. This expedient has been
adopted and will be carried out. Independently of
that, M. de Choiseul is resolved to seize an opportunity
of speaking to the King about his new mistress; to
disclose to Him the true character of this creature ; to
represent to Him how greatly the dignity of the mon-
archy will be injured in the public estimation if He
gives publicity to the favour of a woman who cannot,
or ought not, reasonably to serve any but the most
secret pleasures.
" Mercy was mistaken ; Mesdamcs do not appear to have
learned of their father's intripue till later. Moreover, they op-
posed it strongly as soon as they found that it was something
more than a galanterie. Sec p. 6i, infra.
50 MADAME DU BARRY
"Now, Monseigneiir, you are in possession of this
strange story, which I still flatter myself will prove
but a transient affair. I am endeavouring to utilise it,
through the medium of the Ambassador of Spain, in
order to make M. de Choiseul understand how greatly
it would be to the advantage both of the State and
the King himself that this prince, who still clings
to pleasures of the senses, should procure legitimate
means, and liberate himself by a marriage from all
these disorders, which are such a bad example for the
Royal Family, a source of intrigues so disturbing to
the Ministers, and so injurious to the proper conduct
of affairs. I cannot too highly praise the good will
and zeal with which M. de Fuentes lends himself to
the execution of all the measures which I suggest to
him in regard to this matter, and which would be al-
most impossible, or, at any rate, very dangerous for
me to employ myself.
" Since writing my letter I have had a long con-
ference with M. le Due de Choiseul on the matters of
which my despatches treat to-day, and our conversa-
tion has taken so favourable a turn that I ended by
speaking to him of Madame du Barry, under the
pretext of friendship and attachment to his person. I
repeated to him all that I had ascertained about this
woman, and he professed himself much indebted to
me for this overture. He permitted himself to speak
very freely to me of this intrigue, with which I per-
ceive he is now much occupied, and even begged me to
communicate to him everything that I may learn about
it in the future, though he did not confide to me the
measures which he proposes to take, and which, thanks
to the Spanish Ambassador, I am acquainted with.
I have come to an understanding with the latter that
we should act in concert, without allowing M. de
MADAME DU BARRY 51
Choiseul to become aware of it, and I hope, Mon-
seigneur, that we shall succeed in co-operating in this
way to good purpose. I shall exercise great care to
avoid all imprudence in a matter so delicate.' '
JJ17
" Correspondance secrete du Cotnte de Mercy-Argenteau avec
I'Empereiir Joseph II. et le Prince ron Kauiiitc, par Ic Chevalier
d'Arnett et M. Jules Flammermont (Paris, 1896, ii. 338, et seq.
CHAPTER IV
HISTORY affords us few instances of a states-
man who with the aid of only moderate
abiHties has attained to such a position as
the Due de Choiseul/ From the day on which he
first entered the Council, as the nominee of Madame de
Pompadour, at the close of 1757, his influence, thanks
to his own self-confidence and resolution, the inca-
pacity of his colleagues, and the indolence and apathy
of the King had gone on steadily increasing, until he
had become, to all intents and purposes, master of
France. He combined in his own person the func-
tions of three departments. Foreign Affairs, the Army,
and the Marine,' and even talked of taking charge of
the Finances as well. He held the surintendance des
pastes, an office which placed in his hands great and
much-dreaded powers, as it enabled him to violate at
will the sanctity of private correspondence." He was
colonel-general of the Gardes Suisses, a command
usually reserved for Princes of the Blood, governor of
the Invalides, governor-general of Touraine, and grand
bailli of Hagueneau, and he also held several minor
*We are aware that some French historians regard Choiseul
as a great Minister, and such was undoubtedly the opinion of
many of his contemporaries. But his qualities were more showy
than solid, and, compared with the illustrious statesmen of the
two preceding reigns, his record is poor indeed.
*The Marine was nominally held by Choiseul's cousin, the
Due de Choiseul-Praslin, but he was a nonentity, and historians
invariably speak of it as one of Choiseul's departments.
' See on this subject the Mcmoircs de Madame de Hausset
(edit. 1825), p. 105, and the author's "Madame de Pompadour,"
p. 291, et seq.
52
MADAME DU BARRY 53
posts. His relatives and proteges filled all the most
lucrative positions in the Army, the Diplomatic Ser-
\ice and the Church ; he lived in almost royal state,
and enormous as was his official income,* his house-
hold expenses alone were believed to exceed it.
Moreover, his credit abroad was immense. The
foreign policy of Spain was conducted entirely on his
advice; Turkey looked to him for support against
Russian aggression ; at Vienna he was regarded as the
mainstay of the Franco-Austrian alliance, and he had
but recently concluded the arrangements for a mar-
riage between the Dauphin and the Archduchess
Marie Antionette.
A Minister so circumstanced, one would suppose,
could have afforded to regard the advent of a new mis-
tress with equanimity; but such was very far from be-
ing the case. Whether from genuine concern for the
dignity of the Monarchy, which he believed would be
irremediably degraded by association with a woman
of so humble an origin and so unenviable a reputa-
tion,* or because he was apprehensive that Madame du
Barry might develop a taste for political intrigue to
his own detriment, or merely because his vanity was
wounded by the King's omission to consult him in
the matter, Choiseul from the very first evinced the
bitterest hostility towards the lady.
It may ho. doubted, however, if the Minister would
have carried his enmity to the lengths which he did
li id it not been for the influence of his sister, Madame
de Gramont.
* Scnac flc Mcilhan computes the income which Choiseul rlc-
rivcrl from his various offices at upwards of 700,000 livrcs.
'This was the popular view. "People imaRitvecl that it was on
moral and public prounds that the Due dc Choiseul was opposed
to >.Tadame du liarr}', and owing to this belief, de7'nid of founda-
tion, he became tine idol of the magistrates, their numernns
partisans, and, fmnllv, of the entire public." — Senac dc Meilhan's
Portraits et Caractdres du xviii Sidcle, p. 32.
54 MADAME DU BARRY
This haughty, ambitious, and intriguing woman,
undeterred by Louis XV.'s insensibihty to her charms,
had never ceased to persevere in her efforts to effect
his subjugation, and, aware that the feebleness of the
monarch's character rendered it improbable that he
would be for long able to withstand the resolution and
daring with which she conducted her operations, had
believed herself within measurable distance of success.
Her fury and mortification, therefore, on seeing the
prize for which she had so long striven snatched from
her grasp by "a little girl of the streets," knew no
bounds, and she and all the coterie which followed
her inspirations pronounced against the favourite with
the utmost violence. "She entreated her brother to
show no yielding to the ignominy of this new power,
and she braved the King and his mistress with an as-
sured arrogance which was hardly justified by her
own long-compromised virtue.'" This gentle little
Duchesse de Choiseul, jealous of her sister-in-law and
fearful of being thought less severe or less ardent
against the enemies of her husband, made common
cause with Madame de Gramont, while the haughty
and high-tempered Princesse de Beauvau, "who al-
ways knew how to proportion her efforts to the ob-
stacles which stood in the way of her desires,"
declared that any one who did not openly side with
them would forfeit her regard.'
• M. Gaston Maugras's Le Due et la Duchesse de Choiseul.
'The following anecdote, related by Chamfort, will show the
real motive of the feminine opposition to the new favourite :
" Madame du Barry, being at Luciennes, had a fancy to see
Le Val, the residence of M. de Beauvau. She inquired of the
latter if it would not displease Madame de Beauvau, and Madame
de Beauvau professed that she would be delighted to receive her
and do the honours. There was some talk of events which had
happened in the time of Louis XV., and Madame du Barry com-
plained of various things which seemed to indicate that she had
been the object of hatred. * Not at all,' said Madame de Beau-
MADA^IE DU BARRY 55
Madame dti Barry, conscious of the weakness of
her position, would have been ready to make ahnost
any concession to avoid a struggle with such redoubt-
able antagonists: but Choiseul, urged on by the angr}'
women who surrounded him, would hear of no com-
promise, and the war began, as was the custom in
those days, by a campaign of calumny — a storm of
epigrams, pamphlets, and chansons.
A song called La Bourhonnaisc had at this time a
great vogue both in Paris and the provinces. One of
the scribes employed by Choiseul conceived the idea of
writing a fresh set of verses, describing the career of
Madame du Barry, and the new version, copies of
which were distributed broadcast, soon ousted the old,
and became so popular that, according to Grimm,
there was no street or corner of the city where one did
not hear it sung.
"La Bourbonnaise
Arrivant a Paris,
A gagne des Louis.
La Bourbonnaise
A gagne des Louis.
Chez un marquis.
" Pour apanage
Elle avait la bcaute!
Elle avait la beaute
Pour apanage.
Mais ce petit trcsor
Lui vaut de Tor."
From a peasant she blossoms into a grande danic, who
rides in her coach, and at length, one fine day, finds
herself at Versailles:
"Elle est allec
Se faire voir en cour,
Se faire voir en cour
vnu, 'we only wanted ynur place.'" — Cbanifort's Ma.vinies, pen-
sees, caraclcres, el anecdotes (edit. 1796), p. 179.
56 MADAME DU BARRY
Ellc est allee.
On dit qu'elle a, ma foi,
Plu meme au roi."
Later, some additional verses, by no means conplimen-
tary to the King and his new enchantress, appeared :
" Quelle nouvelle !
Une fille de rien ;
Une fille de rien,
Quelle nouvelle!
Donne au roi de I'amour
Est a la cour.
"Elle est gentille,
Elle a les yeux fripons;
Elle a les yeux fripons,
Elle est gentille.
Elle excite avec art
Un vieux paillard."
The stage likewise lent its aid to the enmity of the
Minister. Plays were written round the adventures of
the new favourite, and performed at the booths and
fairs in and around Paris. On October 30, Gaudon's
troop of actors* gave a representation of a burlesque
called La Bourhomiaise a la giiinguette, the action of
which is supposed to take place at the Cadran bleu, a
well-known tavern in the Faubourg des Porcherons.
The heroine is represented as a course virago, using
the argot of the slums, indulging in scandalous
liaisons, and tossing off bumpers of wine and brandy.
A cook, a coiffeur, a Government clerk, and the
keeper of a gambling-house, characters intended to
represent Anne Becu, Lametz, Saint-Foy, and the
"Roue," were allotted leading parts in this precious
* Founded by an actor named Restier in 1735, under the name
of " la grande troupe etrangcre." It performed at the fairs of
Saint-Laurent and Saint-Germain, and it is probably at the
latter, which was held in October, that the Bourbonnaise a la
guinguette was played.
MADAME DU BARRY 57
production, which was afterwards printed to ensure
g-reater pubHcity.
A few days later, a second Boiirbonnaise, "an
operetta with dialogues in prose," was performed by
Nicolet's troupe/ In this piece, which was the work
of Beaunoir, a playwright of some merit, the satire
is more refined than in La Boiirbonnaise a la gitin-
guette, but it is not less mordant, and "the most
critical period of Madame du Barry's life is laid
bare, with exaggerations no doubt, but with a sub-
stratum' of truth." The operetta turns upon the
Bourbonnaise's relations with a coiffeur de dames
named Retappe, who is, of course, Lametz. The
Bourbonnaise is about to espouse Retappe when a
neighbour interferes and urges her to exploit her
beauty. The maiden and Ratappe take counsel to-
gether ; at first they are inclined to reject such an odious
proposition, but eventually avarice proves stronger
than virtue. The scene thereupon changes to a gam-
bling-house, to which Retappe brings gilded vouths to
pay their court to the Bourbonnaise. She invites them
to join her in a game of cards, with results which may
be anticipated. Then a peddling jeweller arrives, and
the gilded youths expend more of their money in load-
ing their hostess with presents. Further sums are
extracted from them, when the Bourbonnaise's credi-
tors, previously invited by the lady, make a sudden
descent and refuse to leave till their claims are satis-
fied. The play concludes with a duel between two of
the heroine's admirers, the arrival of the watch, and
thf^ hurried break-up of the company."
Tlie movement once launched went merrily on.
Two other plays, one satirizing the favourite and the
■ " This troupe is the only one which has a successful existence
to-rJay (1779)." — Murtaut and Manny's Dictionnaire de la ville de
Paris el scs environs, iv. 705.
"Vatci's Ilisloire de Madame du Barry, i. 144, ct scq.
58 MADAME DU BARRY
other the "Roue," a manuscript pamphlet, called
L'Apprcntissagc d'luic fillc de modes, in which
Madajne du Barry figures under the name of Agnes
Pompon, and a biting satire, L'Apothcosc du Roi
Pctaud, which was attributed, though, it would seem,
w^ithout foundation, to Voltaire, followed one another
in quick succession; and, at the beginning of Decem-
ber, the Austrian Ambassador informs his Govern-
ment that nothing is talked of in the theatres and
the streets but the scandalous conduct of the King,
and that the popular exasperation is becoming so great
that placards are being affixed to the walls, "which,
among expressions of the most terrifying descrip-
tion, prognosticate that France is still able to produce
Ravaillacs and Damiens.""
AI. Vatel, in his Histoirc de Madame du Barry, ex-
presses surprise that Choiseul should have con-
descended to such methods of warfare, since it would
have been easy for him, with the Lieutenant of Police
and his numerous agents under his orders, to have
procured documentary proofs of the new favourite's
humble origin and discreditable past, and also of the
impudent frauds perpetrated on the occasion of her
marriage, and to have laid them before the King.
Had this course been adopted, he argues, all danger of
Madame du Barry becoming maitresse en litre would
have been averted, as, though the monarch's infatua-
tion might have been strong enough to induce him to
overlook her quasi-criminal complicity in the Du
Barrys' forgeries, he would certainly never have dared
to force her upon his Court.
M. Vatel, however, was unacquainted with the cor-
respondence between Mercy and Kaunitz, published
some years ago, from which it appears that Choiseul
had fully intended to take this step, but was dissuaded
"Letter of Mercy to Kaunitz, December 9, 1768.
MADAME DU BARRY 59
therefrom by the representations of the Ambassadors
of Austria and Spain, to both of which Powers it was
a matter of the most vital importance that Choiseul's
credit with his royal master should remain unimpaired.
Mercy and Fuentes pointed out that an open remon-
strance, which could not fail to humiliate the King,
might very well do the Minister irreparable injury,
and should, at all costs, be avoided. The scandal was
a public one; all France deplored it. It would be
wiser to allow the echo of the rumours concerning the
favourite's past to reach the ears of the monarch ; and
a Minister so powerful as Choiseul could easily find
means of ensuring this, without committing himself."
Unfortunately for Choiseul and his advisers, the
campaign of calumny had the very opposite effect to
that which they had anticipated. The pamphleteers
and playwrights whom the Minister employed did their
work but too well. Not content with bringing ac-
cusations against the favourite which had some foun-
dation in fact, their zeal led them to charge her with
vices and faults of which she was wholly guiltless,
such as drunkenness, vulgarity, and ignorance. What
chivalry remained to Louis XV. was aroused by these
shameful attacks upon a defenceless woman. His reply
was to redouble his attentions to his mistress, to load
her with favours, and, finally, to order apartments to
be prepared for her at Versailles.
" Despatch of Mercy to Kaunitz, December 9, 1768.
CHAPTER V
IT would appear to have been in the closing weeks
of 1768 or the first of the following- year that
IMadanie du Barry was installed at Versailles.
The apartments allotted to her were those of the de-
ceased valet-de-chauihre Lebel, situated on the rcc-de-
chaitsscc of the Cour Royale, and here she remained
until the spring of 1770, when she removed to the suite
which had formerly been occupied by the deceased
Dauphiness, Marie Josephe of Saxony, on the second
floor of the chateau, immediately above the King's
private apartments/
A little court soon gathered about her: ambitious
young noblemen, eager to worship at the shrine of the
rising sun; foreigners of rank, like the Prince de
Ligne, who came thither curious to see how the little
courtesan he had known in the Rue de Jussien com-
ported herself amid her new surroundings, and some
of Jeanne's old literary acquaintances, like Robbe de
Beauveset'' and Cailhava/ In the afternoons, a stream
* The Goncourts (who also assert that the new favourite was
installed at Versailles immediately after her marriage), M. Vatel,
and Mr. Douglas all say that the apartments to which Madame
du Barry removed were those of Madame Adelaide, Louis XV.'s
eldest daughter, who was given those of the Dauphiness in ex-
change. This, as M. de Nolhac points out in his interesting
work, Le Chateau de Versailles sous Louis XV., is an error.
* Pierre Honore Robbe de Beauveset (1712-1792), a poet
celebrated, or at least known, for his profane and licentious
verses. Madame du Hausset says: "This same Archbishop of
Paris (Christophe de Beaumont) gave a pension of 1200 livres
to the greatest scoundrel in Paris (Robbe de Beauveset), who
writes abominable verses; this pension being granted on condi-
tion that his poems were never printed. I was informed of this
60
MADAME DU BARRY 6i
of visitors might be seen wending its way towards the
apartments of the new divinity; and Madame de Gra-
mont, whose windows overlooked the Cour Royale,
compelled to witness the triumph of her rival, was
beside herself with mortification and jealousy, and
urged her brother to prosecute the campaign of
slander with renewed vigour.
As soon as ]\Iadame du Barry was installed at Ver-
sailles, the question of her presentation to the King
was raised. The Goncourts assert that Jean du Barry
was the prime mover in this affair, but, in our opinion,
there can be little doubt that the responsibility rests
with the Due de Richelieu, who, on January i, 1769,
had entered upon his term of office as First Gentleman
of the Bedchamber, in which capacity he had charge
of the presentations for the ensuing year.
This hero of gallantry was now in his seventy-
third year, but age had not diminished his predilection
for the fair sex nor his love of intrigue. Bitterly
jealous of Choiseul's ascendency over the King, and
incensed by the Minister's refusal to allow him scope
for the exercise of the meddlesome activity which he
mistook for genius, he had viewed with unalloyed
satisfaction the advent of a rival influence. At first,
having no great confidence in the permanency of the
by M. de Marigny, to whom he recited some of his shocking
versos one evening when he supped with him, in company with
some persons of quahty. He chinked the money in his pocket
and said, laughing: 'This is my good archbishop's; T keep my
word with him ; mj'- poem will never be printed so long as I
live, but I read it. What would the worthy prelate say if he knew
that I had shared my last quarter's allowance with a charming
little dancer from the Opera?*"
•Joan FranQois Cailhava d'Estandoux C1731-1813), author of
a number of comedies, including Le Mariacje impromptu, L'Rgo-
isme, and Le Jounialiste Anglais, in the last of which he re-
venged himself upon La Ilarpc, who had severely criticised his
productions in the Merciire, by making him appear in a most
odious role.
62 MADAME DU BARRY
monarch's latest passion, he had hesitated to commit
himself too deeply; but once assured that the affair
was something more than a caprice, he resolved to
lend his support to Madame du Barry, hoping thereby
to ensure the undoing of his enemy and the realisation
of certain political ambitions of his own, to which his
reputation for levity had hitherto opposed an insur-
mountable barrier.
Richelieu's office of First Gentleman of the Bed-
chamber afforded him ample opportunity for private
conversation with his royal master, and it is probable
that he experienced but little difficulty in inducing the
King to lend a willing ear to his suggestion.
There is, indeed, some reason to suppose that Louis
already entertained the idea of having his mistress
presented, and that the marriage on which he had
insisted had had nO' other object than to pave the
way for this ceremony. The nature of his senile
passion rendered it imperative that its object should be
always near him ; but until the lady had been presented
it was impossible for her to ride in the royal carriages,
to be admitted to his Majesty's pctifs soupcrs, to pay
her court to the Dauphin or the King's daughters
{Mesdanics) , to be present at the ceremonies or fes-
tivities of the Court, to enjoy, in a word, any of those
privileges "without which the mistress was nothing
but a mistress, with which the mistress was the
favourite."* For the King to keep her at Versailles
or in the other royal chateaux without acknowledg-
ing her was to tacitly admit that he was in the wrong,
to recognise limits to his power, and Louis XV. had
always believed, as Choiseul observes, that "the eclat
he threw into his amours was a proof of his
authority."
The presentation was then decided on, but before it
*E. and J. de Goncourt's La Du Barry, p. 45.
MADA:\IE DU BARRY 63
could take place two obstacles had to be surmounted.
The first of these, by a singular coincidence, the King
had himself created. The right of presentation soli-
cited by so many ladies was accorded to comparatively
few. By a decree of April 1760, Louis XV. had very
strictly defined the conditions upon which this favour
was to be accorded. No lady was henceforth to be
eligible who could not satisfy the Court genealogist
that both she and her husband were of noble birth.
To the claim of Madame du Barry's titular husband
no objection was likely to be raised; indeed, it had
already been conceded when his younger brother, Elie
du Barry, had been admitted as a pupil to the Ecole
Militaire, and his nephew Adolphe, the "Roue's" son.
appointed page to the King, for both of which posi-
tions proofs of noble birth were rigorously insisted on.
But the favourite herself was in a very different case.
How was she to get rid of the Becus and find a gene-
alogy for the Vauberniers?
Although Louis XV. firmly believed that his kingly
dignity placed him above all laws, moral and re-
ligious, he shared the general prejudice of his age, and
entertained the deepest veneration for the rules of
etiquette; and the difficulty with which he now found
himself confronted appears to have occasioned him
the keenest embarrassment. According to Belleval,
he approached the Princesse de Tingry, with the idea
of purchasing for Madame du Barry the principality
of Lus in Bigorre," and allowing her to masquerade
as a foreign princess, in which event, of course, no
proofs of nobility would be required. If such were
the case, the negotiations fell through, for when the
'Lus in Bigorre was a little town in Gascony, situated on the
River Gave, in the valley of Bareges, three leagues from the
Spanish frontier. It had been united to the royal domain in the
time of Philippe le Bel, but still enjoyed a nominal independence.
It is now known as Luz-Saint-Sauveur.
64 MADAME DU BARRY
lady was presented it was certainly not as a foreign
princess.* How the difficulty was finally overcome
does not appear to be known. Some writers are of
opinion that the proofs were dispensed with altogether,
while there is a more than remote possibility that
Jean du Barry was again called upon to exercise his
inventive talent.
The second obstacle was less serious, but not less
embarrassing. It was necessary to find a lady who
had already been presented to act as marraine to the
new postulant. This was no easy task. The resent-
ment of the feminine portion of the Court against the
favourite was far from being confined to the coterie
dominated by Madame de Gramont; it was well-nigh
universal. It was felt that for a woman of exalted
position to undertake so unenviable a duty M^ould mean
degradation ; while for one of lower rank to do so
would be to court social ostracism. Every lady who
was applied to indignantly refused, or took refuge in
specious excuses.^ The Baronne de Montmorency,
who it was thought might be willing to play the part
"in return for money and many favours," set so
exorbitant a price upon her services that the King
found it impossible to comply with her demands, and
the friends of Madame du Barry were in despair.
Finally, however, a marraine was found in the person
of the Comtesse de Beam, a lady of very ancient but
impoverished family,* who since the death of her
^ Souvenirs d'lm Chevau-Icger, p. T17.
'One lady did consent, but, finding that the King's daughters
turned their backs upon her next time she went to Court, she
took to her bed and gave out that she was stricken with a mortal
disease.
^Angelique Gabrielle Joumard des Achards, married in 1738
to Frangois Alexandre Galard, Vicomte de Beam, Seigneur d'Ar-
gentines. The Galards of Beam claimed descent from the
Merovingiens, through Eude of Aquitaine. They had enjoyed
at one time a quasi-princely rank.
MADAME DU BARRY 65
husband had resided entirely upon her estates, and
cared httle for the opinion of a Court which she had
ceased to adorn. The countess had come to Paris to
prosecute a lawsuit, in which she herself had been en-
gaged for some years and her family for more than
two centuries. This lawsuit had at length been de-
cided in her favour, but in the interim she had in-
curred large debts, which she was totally unable to
settle. When, therefore, one fine day, Richelieu, who
was a distant connection of her own, waited upon her,
and suggested a way out of the difficulty, she readily
agreed to do what was required of her, and the duke
at once fixed the presentation of Madame du Barry
for January 25.
Meanwhile the war of chansons, pairphlets, and
plays continued with unabated vigour, but whatever
effect it may have produced upon the Court and the
city it had little or none upon the amorous old
monarch, unless to excite his resentment at such un-
warrantable interference in his private affairs. Cha-
grined at his want of success, Choiseul had recourse
to other measures ; he cast about for a rival beauty who
might be capable of weaning the King from Madame
du Barry, and fixed upon the wife of a Paris doctor, a
Madame Millin, "young and charming and devoted to
his interests."
*T have seen her," writes Belleval, "but, though
very pretty, she is not to be compared with the
favourite. No one seems to think that M. de Choiseul
will succeed in this affair, for the King is too in-
fatuated."'
'Souvenirs d'un Chevau-leger, p. Ti8.
WritiiiK under date January 15, Hardy confirms Bcllcvars ac-
count of this incident, and describes Madame Mellin in much
the same terms: "" Youny and pretty, liut less beautiful than
the countess (du Barry)." Some time afterwards, Choiseul put
66 MADAME DU BARRY
Such, indeed, proved to be the case; his Majesty
would have nothing to say to Madame MilHn, and, in
despair, the Minister decided to seek the assistance of
Mcsdamcs.
The four unmarried daughters of Louis XV.,
Mesdames Adelaide, Victoire, Sophie, and Louise,
lived a very retired and uneventful life, and had little
influence or credit ; but the King, in his selfish way,
was much attached to them, and, in accordance with
an old habit, which dated from the time when the
princesses were young and agreeable companions, paid
them daily visits, always at the same hour. The
strict seclusion into which they had withdrawn since
the death of the Queen, and the rigorous discretion
they imposed upon their ladies and little circle of inti-
mates, had hitherto prevented them from learning of
their royal father's latest conquest, and they were
ignorant even of the existence of such a person as
Madame du Barry. Choiseul, however, having de-
cided that the time had come to enlighten them,
adroitly contrived that a copy of the following verses,
which satirised the favourite without overstepping the
bounds of propriety, should be brought under the
notice of the princesses :
" Lisette ta beaute seduit
Et charme tout le monde.
En vain la Duchesse en rougit,
Et la princesse en gronde.
Chacun salt qui Venus naquit
De I'ecume de I'onde.
"En vit-elle moins tous les Dieux
Lui rendre un juste hommage,
Et Paris, ce berger fameux,
Lui donner I'avantage,
Meme sur la reine des Cieux
Et Minerve le Sage.
forward another lady, his cousin, the Vicomte de Choiseul's
wife, a beautiful Creole; but the King was insensible to her
charms.
MADAME DU BARRY (i7
" Dans le Serrail (sic) du Grand Seigneur
Quelle est la Favorite?
C'est la plus belle au gre du cosur
Du Alaitre qui I'habite.
C'est le seul titre en sa faveur
Et c'est le vrai merite." "
After perusing these verses, Mesdames very
naturally asked for an explanation, and were
astonished to find that not only was the King en-
gaged in a fresh liaison, but that it was viewed with
complacence by not a few of their devout friends, who
seemed to regard Madame du Barry as destined to re-
pair the evil which Madame de Pompadour and Choi-
seul had brought upon the Church by their anti-Jesuit
policy. The preceptor of the Dauphin and his broth-
ers, the Duke de La Vauguyon, and Madame de
Marsan, gouvernante of the princesses, did not hesi-
tate to assert their conviction that Providence had
chosen this instrument, all unworthy though it was, to
chasten the haughty Minister and bring about his
fall."
" These pretty verses have been ascribed to several persons : to
the Due de Nivcrnais, the Chevalier de Boufflers, and the Abbe de
Lattaignan, canon of Rheims. At the time when they were
written the duke was generally believed to be the author; but
M. Vatel is inclined to give the credit to the abbe. However
that may be, the Choiscul party appear to have been of opinion
that the irony was a little difFicult to detect, and, accordingly,
employed one of their scribes to parody the first verse:
" De deux Venus on parle dans le monde,
De toutcs deux gouverncr fut le lot.
L'unc naquit de I'ccume de I'onde,
L'autre naquit de I'ecume du pot."
The " scum of the pot " is, of course, an allusion to the occupa-
tion of the favorite's mother, who had at one time been a cook.
" Hardy, in his Journal, relates that on the evening of February
I, 1769, a priest of his acquaintance was dining with a friend.
At dessert, another priest who was present invited the company
to drink to "the presentation." Hardy's friend inquired his
meaning, and was told: "It is that which took place yesterday,
or will take place to-day, the presentation of the new Esther,
Memoirs — 3 Vol. 2
68 IMADAME DU BARRY
Now, Mcsdaiucs detested Choiseul. The eldest,
Madame Adelaide, a haug-hty and vindictive woman,
saw ill him only the ally of Austria and the creature
of Madame de Pompadour; the youngest, Madame
Louise, the most intelligent of the family, could not
pardon his expulsion of the Jesuits and his sympathy
with the philosophers. However, they were too sin-
cere in their desire for their royal father's spiritual
welfare — they had since the Queen's death cherished
the illusion that the King was "sincerely converted
and resolved to live like a good Christian" — to be
deceived by the specious arguments of La Vauguyon
and IMadame de Marsan ; and no sooner had they
made themselves acquainted with the details of the
affair, than they determined to sacrifice their per-
sonal feelings and make common cause with the
Minister.
But, unfortunately for Choiseul, the princesses could
not bring themselves to adopt the course which would,
in all likelihood, have at least prevented the presenta-
tion of Madame du Barry, even if it had had no further
results — that of openly remonstrating with the King.
They preferred to attack the new favourite by indirect
methods, namely, by using their influence to promote
their father's marriage with the Archduchess Eliza-
beth. In this, as the following letter from Mercy to
Kaunitz clearly indicates, they were unconsciously per-
mitting themselves to be made the agents of the
Austrian Ambassador, who, eager to turn the affair
to the advantage of his Court, had contrived to gain
over Madame Victor's dame d'a fours (Mistress of
the Robes) and confidante, the Comtesse de Durfort,
who is to supplant Haman and deliver the Jewish people from
oppression." The new Esther was Madame du Barry, Haman
was Choiseul, and the Jewish people, the clerical party. — Journal
des evenements iels qu'ils parvienncnt a ma connaissance.
(Bibliotheque Nationale.)
MADAME DU BARRY 69
and, through her, was pulling the strings with con-
siderable adroitness :
Mercy to Kaunitz.
"Paris, December 29, 1768.
"Monseigneur, — Some very interesting circum-
stances have lately arisen relative to the matter of
which I had the honour to render an account to your
Highness in my letter of November i. I acquainted
you on that occasion with the first details of the in-
trigue of Madame du Barry, and I added that I was
endeavouring to turn this conjuncture to account — to
make it understood how important it was to the tran-
quillity of the Ministers and the glory of the King
that this prince should extricate himself by means of
a second marriage from the irregularities to which
he does not cease to abandon himself.
"As soon as this could be done without exciting
suspicion, I insinuated my views into every quarter
where I judged them capable of producing some
efifect, and I found occasion to speak of them, amongst
others, to Madame de Durfort, dame d' at ours to
Madame de France (Madame Victor). This lady
spoke to me with considerable frankness about Ma-
dame du Bany; she confided to me that, at the out-
set, Mcsdamcs had not imagined that this adventure
was likely to have serious consequences, but that,
alarmed by the public clamour and by the results
which are only too easy to foresee, they were in de-
spair about it, and were seeking means to put an end
to the intrigue.
"A week after the first overtures of ]\Iadame de
Durfort, she informed me that Mcsdamcs, sLill full of
this project, were at length convinced that there was
no other way to establish tranquillity at Court and
in the Royal Family, and that to effect it they were
70 MADAME DU BARRY
prepared to use every means of persuasion and to en-
deavour that the choice of the King- should fall upon
the Archducliess Elizabeth. Madame de Durfort
added that in supporting this project she had at the
same time suggested the language which Mesdames
should employ towards the monarch, in order to pre-
vail upon him to comply with their wishes.
"In response, I said everything that the circum-
stances required ; I enlarged upon the personal ad-
vantages which Mesdames would derive from securing
in the archduchess a sure friend, who, constantly as-
sociated with them, would be in a position to assure
the happiness of the Royal Family by the natural
influence which she would have over the mind of the
King and over that of the Dauphin and future Dau-
phiness.^* I did not forget to speak of matters likely to
interest Madame de Durfort, and I left her persuaded
to my view of the affair and very pleased with the
conversation which I had had with her ""
Madame de Durfort faithfully carried out her em-
ployer's instructions, and, a few days later, Mesdames,
summoning up their courage, astonished the King by
a request that he should give them a queen, and that
the queen should be the Archduchess Elizabeth of
Austria. The monarch seemed at first much embar-
rassed, affected to believe that his daughters spoke in
jest, and enlarged upon the inconveniences inseparable
from second marriages ; but ended by laughing good-
humouredly and agreeing to give the matter his con-
sideration. Mesdames returned to the charge each
time their father came to visit them, with the result
"Marie Antoinette, the Archduchess Elizabeth's young-er
sister.
^ Correspondance secrete du Comfe de Mercy-Argenteau avec
I'Empereur Joseph II. et le Prince von Kaunitz, par le Chevalier
d'Arneth et M. Jules Flammermont (Paris, 1896), ii. 347.
IMADAME DU BARRY 71
that one day they succeeded in extracting from him
a definite promise to demand the archduchess in mar-
riage, "provided that her person did not displease
him" ; whereupon the princesses, dehghted at the suc-
of their scheme, immediately proposed that an artist
should be sent to Vienna to paint the archduchess.
The King consented, and it was decided to offer the
commission to Drouais.
Things seemed to promise well, though Drouais de-
clined the proffered commission, or rather placed a
prohibitive price on his services," no doubt because,
unknown to Mcsdaincs, he was at that time engaged
on two portraits of the favourite, to which we shall
have occasion to refer later/^ And we are inclined to
think that it is highly probable that Louis would have
kept the promise he had made his daughters, had the
efforts of the latter but been seconded by Choiseul.
This, however, the ^Minister seemed unwilling to do,
though r^Iercy lost no opportunity of "reminding him
of all the reasons which ought to render such a project
(the King's marriage) eminently agreeable and de-
sirable to him."
The truth is that the idea of Louis XV.'s union
with a young princess was very far from commending
itself to the ]\Iinister or his sister, Madame de Gra-
mont. To rid themselves of Madame du Barry by such
means seemed to them as unwise as for a person to
suljmit to a dangerous operation for a disease which
might conceivably never reach an acute stage. "Per-
sons in power," wrote Mercy to Kaunitz, "imagine
that a queen, judicious and amiable, who would suc-
ceed in gaining the affection of her husband, might
open his eyes to the irregularities and the enormous
abuses which exist in all departments here, and cause
much embarrassment to those who direct them. They
"80,000 livrcs. "See]). 103, infra.
72 MADAME DU BARRY
are consequently of opinion that it behoves them to
divert the mind of the King from ideas of marriage ;
and I have very strong proofs that Madame de Gra-
mont, more interested than any one in the maintenance
of the present abuses, has succeeded in persuading
M. de Choiseul to renounce his own predilections in
this affair.""
Thus, blinded by ambition and cupidity, the
Choiseuls prepared tlie way for their own fall, by re-
jecting that which would, in all probability, have
proved tiieir salvation.
Nevertheless, for several weeks the question of the
King's re-marriage continued to be a frequent sub-
ject of conversation between Louis XV. and his
daughters, and Mesdames occupied themselves in
seeking a painter to take the place of Drouais, and
ended by recommending Ducrest. The princesses
entertained no doubt whatever as to their father's
sincerity; but such was not the opinion of the watchful
Mercy, who sorrowfully admits to Kaunitz that the
delay in sending a painter to Vienna "renders the in-
tentions of the King so doubtful that he cannot bring
himself to hope for a favourable issue." He adds
that Choiseul is so much incensed against Madame du
Barry that he and the Spanish Ambassador have ex-
perienced the greatest difficulty in prevailing upon
him to renounce "the rash and violent measures on
which he appeared determined" ; but that, on the other
hand, the Minister still clings to the belief that the
favourite will not, after all, be presented," and, in
"Despatch of November i, 1768.
" Madanre du Deffand was of the same opinion. On January
14 she wrote to Horace Walpole : " I suppose you know all
about the divinity in question (Madame du Barry) ; a nymph
brought out from the most famous retreats of Cythcra and
Paphos. No, no; I cannot believe in all that folks foresee; the
greatest obstacles may be overcome, and one may yet be checked
by shame, by mere decency."
MADAME DU BARRY 73
consequence, cannot be persuaded to urge upon the
King the advisabihty of marrying the Austrian arch-
duchess. From the same letter we learn that his
Most Christian Majesty is passing the greater part of
his time with his new enchantress, that the public is
murmuring and "permitting itself the utmost freedom
of speech," that the revenue for the past year shows
a deficit of 38,000 million livres, that the Comptroller-
General is at his wits' end, and that France seems
bankrupt in both money and morals.'*
Choiseul's belief that the presentation of Madame
du Barry would, after all, be abandoned seemed not
unlikely to be justified, for Januar}'- 25 passed with-
out the dreaded event taking place. Madame de
Beam's courage, it appeared, had failed her at the
last moment; the icy reception she had encountered
on the occasion of a recent visit to Court had given
her a sprained ankle, and she sent word that it was
impossible for her to leave her room.
The enemies of the favourite could hardly restrain
their elation, and, indeed. Fate seemed to be playing
into their hands, for ere Madame de Beam had had
time to regain her courage and the use of her ankle,
another accident — a genuine one this time — intervened
to postpone the evil day a second time.
On February 4, Louis XV., while hunting in the
Forest of Saint-Germain, was thrown from his horse,
falling heavily on his right shoulder. The pain was
so severe that he believed that his arm was broken,
and, according to one account, "behaved with a weak-
ness which would have l)een ridiculous in a little girl
ten years old." A litter was hastily improvised on
which the monarch was conveyed to his carriage, and
orders were given to return to Versailles, where, the
news having preceded his arrival, and a report hav-
" Despatch of January 24, 1769.
74 MADAME DU BARRY
ing spread that the accident was of an alarming char-
acter, the Court was in a ferment of excitement,
every one speculating as to how his or her position
would be affected in the event of the King succumbing
to his supposed injuries.
On reaching the chateau, it was found that Louis's
arm had swollen to such an extent as to render it
necessary to cut away the sleeve of his coat; but an
examination revealed that beyond a slight dislocation
of the shoulder no harm had been done, and the ex-
citement of the selfish courtiers speedily subsided.
However, having regard to the King's age, the acci-
dent was a rather severe one, and obliged him to keep
his apartments for some time, as a result of which
confinement he developed so alarming an attack of
C7i}i2ti that Senac. his first physician, coiifided to
Mercy his fear that if his Majesty were to be much
longer deprived of violent exercise, his mind would
become affected, "a danger with which he had long
been threatened.'"*
Illness invariably had the effect of temporarily de-
taching Louis from his mistresses, and for several
days Madame du Barry did not see the King. On
the other hand, Mesdames were constant in their at-
tendance upon their royal father, while the Dauphin
and his brothers and sisters, by his Majesty's request,
also paid several visits to the sick-room. The im-
pression was general that this return to family life
could hardly fail to make for virtue, or, at least, for
decency; and when it was announced that the King
had given orders for the apartments of Madame
Adelaide, which adjoined his own, to be renovated,
few doubted that the object was to prepare for a
future queen, the Archduchess Elizabeth.
The monarch recovered and resumed his visits tc
"Mercy to Kaunitz, March 14, 1769.
MADAME DU BARRY 75
his new mistress, but the weeks went by and nothing
further was heard of the dreaded presentation. Grad-
ually the opponents of the lady permitted their appre-
hensions to be lulled to rest. The interest of the
Court was transferred to other matters : the marriage
of the Due de Chartres and Mademoiselle de Pen-
thievre, the completion of the grande salle of the Opera
at Versailles, the magnificent fetes which were to cele-
brate the approaching union of the Dauphin and Marie
Antoinette; people ceased to talk of the "Bourbon-
naise."'
The astoni:^hment and indignation, therefore, may
be imagined when towards the middle of April the
announcement was made that on the 22nd of the
month his Majesty would hold a presentation, and that
among the ladies whr were to participate in the
honour would be the Comtesse du Barry.
The long-deferred ceremony duly took place, and
Madame du Barry appears to have acquitted herself
well, and to have shown commendable sang-froid in
what the following account, given by Madame de
Genlis, an eye-witness, will show tnusv have been ex-
ceedingly trying circumstances.
"I went to the presentation of my aunt,*' and was
highly diverted, for it was the very same day on which
Madame du Barry was presented. It was recognised
on all sides that she was splendidly and tastefully
attired. By daylight, her face was passce, and her
complexion spoiled by freckles. Her bearing was re-
voltingly impudent, and her features far from hand-
some, but she had fair hair of a charming colour,
pretty teeth, and a pleasing expression. .She looked
"The Marquise de Montesson. Tlie other ladies presented
with Madame du Barry were the Marquise de Goufficr, the
Comtesse dc Boisgclin, and tlic Comtesse de Lusignan.
70 MADAME DU BARRY
extremely well at night. We reached the card-tables
in the evening a few minutes before her. At her
entrance, all the ladies who were near the door rushed
tumultuously forward in the opposite direction, in
order to avoid being seated near her, so that between
her and the last lady in the room there was an interval
of four or five empty places. She regarded this
marked and singular movement with the utmost cool-
ness; nothing affected her imperturbable effrontery.
When the King appeared at the conclusion of play,
she looked at him and smiled. The King at once cast
his eyes round the room in search of her; he ap-
peared in an ill-humour, and almost instantly retired.
The indignation at Versailles was unbounded;'' for
never had anything so scandalous been seen, not even
the triumphs of Madame de Pompadour. It was
certainly very strange to see at Court Madame la
Marquise de Pompadour, while her husband, M.
Lenormant d'Etioles, was only a farmer-general, but
it was still more odious to see a ftlle publiqiie presented
with pomp to the whole of the Royal Family. This
and many other instances of unparalleled indecency
cruelly degraded royalty, and, consequently, con-
tributed to bring about the Revolution.""
The day following her presentation, which was a
Sunday, Madame du Barry assisted at the King's
**Hardv. who may 'be considered the mouthpiece of Paris,
says : " this event aroused great murmuring both in Paris and
Versailles. Some interested persons rejoiced over it, but the
greater number were in consternation."
^HJemoires de Madame de Genlis (edit. 1825), p. 89. A news-
sheet of the time, which, however, was not improbably mspired
by the " Roue," or some other ally of the favourite, is far more
indulgent in its criticism: "Madame du Barry has been very
well received by Mesdames. and even with marked graciousness.
All the spectators admired the dignity of her bearmg and the
ease of her attitudes. The role of a lady of the Court is not
an easy one to play at first, but Madame du Barry played it as
if she had been long accustomed to it."
MADAME DU BARRY 'j'j
Mass, and occupied in the chapel the place which had
formerly been reser\'ed for Madame de Pompadour.
The attendance of noblemen and ladies of the Court,
it was remarked, was unusually small, but, as a set-off
against this, there were a number of high ecclesiastics
in his Majesty's suite, at the head of whom was the
Archbishop of Rheims. At the conclusion of the
ceremony, Madame du Barry presented herself at the
dinner of Mcsdames and at that of the Dauphin, with
the performance of which duties her installation as
maitresse en tit re may be said to have been accom-
plished.
CHAPTER VI
MADAME DU BARRY had then reahsed her
ambition : the post of maitrcssc en litre, this
"glorious dishonour" so ardently desired by
so many haughty and highborn dames was hers; but
her triumph was not yet absolute. It remained for her
to overcome the hostility of a Court which had taxed
the resources of her brilliant predecessor to the ut-
most before it had allowed itself to be coerced or
cajoled into complacence; and Madame de Pompa-
dour, though at the outset of her career she was even
more friendless than Madame du Barry, had had to
encounter no such powerful Minister as Choiseul, no
such bitter antagonists of her own sex as the Duch-
esses de Gramont and de Choiseul and the Princesse
de Beauvau.
The three ladies in question lost not a moment in
proclaiming, or rather reasserting, their inflexible
hostility to the new regime. Immediately after the
presentation, they intimated to the King that, owing
to the changes that had recently taken place at Court,
they feared that their company was less agreeable to
him than formerly, for which reason they begged to
be excused from attendance at the suppers of the
Petits Cabinets. Thus was dispersed that intimate
society which Madame de Pompadour had so skill-
fully gathered round her, and in which Louis XV.
had lived happily for so many years.
Such an example was not likely to be lost upon the
feminine portion of the Court, and during a visit to
78
MADAME DU BARRY 79
Marly which followed close upon the presentation,
the ladies showed their disapproval of his Majesty's
choice in a manner so unmistakable that a general
feeling of uneasiness and constraint prevailed, the
card-tables — the visits to Marly were noted for the
high play which took place* — were well-nigh deserted,
and every one was relieved when the time came to re-
turn to Versailles.
Shunned and slighted on all sides, Madame du
Barry was forced to take refuge in the society of
Madame de Beam ; but opposition seemed only to
render the passion of Louis XV. the more stubborn.
"He regards resistance to the object of his caprice,"
wrote Choiseul, "as a want of respect to his royal per-
son ; he recognises in this connection neither decency,
nor rank, nor reputation; he believes that every one
ought to bow before his mistress, because he honours
her with his intimacy ; he is bold in setting at defiance
all the rules of decorum, though in nothing else.
Then he imagines that he has shown his power, and
proved to his Court, to his people, to Europe, that he
is in very truth a monarch to inspire respect." This
is, perhaps, the only occasion on which, bearing up
against all difficulties, Louis showed a degree of firm-
ness and perseverance which failed him in matters of
the first imp<3rtancc.
A few days after the return of the Court to Ver-
sailles, Louis XV., "as some consolation to Madame
du Barry, who had made bitter complaints to the
King about the contempt that the ladies of the Court
manifested towards her.'" gave a supper at Bcllcvue,
' And had been so for nearly a century. In 16S6, the Due du
Maine wrote to Madamr de Maintcnon : " As it is impossible
to be at Marly without playing, or to find any one willing to play
for small stakes, I lost yesterflay fifty pistoles to M. de Richelieu
and as much to the Comtc de Grammont."
' Hardy's Journal.
8o MADAME DU BARRY
the beautiful chateau which Madame de Pompadour
had built on the banks of the Seine, between Sevres
and Meudon, in 1750, and sold to the monarch seven
years later. The presence of eight of the haughtiest
dames to be found at Versailles was requested, who, of
course, had no option but to obey, though, as may be
imagined, they did so with the worst possible grace;
while invitations were also sent to a number of noble-
men, amongst whom, to the general astonishment,
Choiseul was included.
"One would imagine," writes Belleval, "that his
Majesty derived amusement from seeing the cat and
dog together;"" but though this view of the matter
is quite in keeping with the singular character of
Louis XV., we are inclined to think that the invitation
was inspired by a very different motive, namely, that
the King desired to show the Minister that he was
firmly resolved to support his new mistress, and to
afford him an opportunity of becoming reconciled to
her. A dinner au grand couvert would not have
suited his purpose so well, while Choiseul would have
declined an invitation to Madame du Barry's apart-
ments. Bellevue, however, was neutral ground, on
which both parties might meet without embarrass-
ment.
If such was the King's intention his scheme came
to nothing. Choiseul accepted the invitation — he
could not well refuse — took his place at table with
Louis and the favourite, and treated the latter with
punctilious courtesy. But, at the same time, he con-
trived to convey the impression that he was doing
violence to his feelings by joining the party, and that
nothing but the respect he owed his sovereign would
have induced him thus to compromise his dignity.
Li pursuance of his resolution to compel the Court
* Souvenirs d'un Chevaii-leger, p. 120.
MADAME DU BARRY 8i
to accept his mistress, Louis now bestirred himself,
with an activity very unusual in one of his indolent
temperament, to rally people to the standard of Ma-
dame du Barry and give her something more than a
nominal footing at Versailles. This, as may be sup-
possed, was no pleasant task. The men were com-
placent enough. The King's personal friends, Riche-
lieu, Soubise, Chauvelin, Villeroi, and others, had no
scruples about paying homage to the new divinity; it
was all in the day's work, so to speak. But, in an
affair of this nature, the masculine attitude was of
very secondary importance indeed ; it was the women
who ruled the Court, and, in the absence of a queen
or a dauphiness, the women followed the lead of
Madame cle Gramont and her coterie and remained
obdurate.
To break through the quarantine to which his mis-
tress was subjected the King perceived that the first
step must be to secure for her the countenance and
support of some great lady — Madame de Beam had
"too much the air of an amit on hire" to command
any following at Court — and, accordingly, turned his
eyes towards the old Marechalc de Mirepoix, whose
necessities, he thought, might incline her to undertake
the role, if it carried with it a sufficiently tempting
emolument. In this he was not mistaken. The
Marechale de Mirepoix, who was the sister of the
Prince de Beauvau, and had been the bosom friend of
Madame de Pompadour, belonged to the Choiseul
party, though her reluctance to compromise herself
with the King liad prevented her from taking an
active part in tlie campaign against Madame du
Barry. She enjoyed a very considerable income, but,
owing to her extravagance and her passion for play,
was continually in pecuniary difficulties, and esti- '
mated that her expenditure exceeded her receipts by
82 MADAME DU BARRY
nearly 20,cx)0 livres, "which occasioned constant dis-
order in her affairs, and subjected her daily to writs,
executions, and all sorts of humiliations." For some
years past, Louis, who was very fond of the old lady
— she was one of the few persons who possessed the
secret of relieving his ennui — had been in the habit of
making her an annual gratification of 12,000 livres, to
enable her to pacify the most importunate of her
creditors; and the promise that this sum should be
materially increased sufficed to secure her chapcron-
nagc for Madame du Barry.
All the partisans of Choiseul were highly indignant
at the defection of Madame de Mirepoix, and were
loud in their denunciation of her conduct, declaring
that it seemed as if she were an appanage of the post
of favourite, to be passed on from one mistress to
another like a piece of furniture. But, though Ma-
dame du Deffand wrote that the marechale appeared
"very sad and troubled, and, for the first time in her
life, unable to disguise her embarrassment," the latter
stood to her guns, and Madame du Barry, either from
inclination or gratitude, soon became so attached to
"la petite maressale," as she called her new ally, that
she could not endure to be separated from her.
The reasons which had prompted "la petite mares-
sale" to cast in her lot with the despised favourite
were too generally understood for her to find many
followers. However, the hope of procuring some ad-
vantage for themselves or their relatives brought,
after a while, several welcome recruits to the Du
Barry party, prominent amongst whom were the
Princesse de Montmorency and the Comtesse de
Valentinois; while the Marquise de I'Hopital was
persuaded by Soubise, whose mistress she was, to
throw what little influence she possessed into the same
scale. Thus Madame du Barry found herself the
IMADA^IE DU BARRY 83
centre of a group of ladies, which, whatever claim it
may have had to consideration, conld at least boast
great names.
One of the attributes of a maitrcsse en titrc was to
receive the homage of men of letters, and, in return,
to bestow upon them her patronage and protection.
This homage freciucntly took the form of flattering,
not to say fulsome, dedications prefaced to their
works. Thus La Fontaine had dedicated the second
collection of his fables to Madame de Montespan,*
Crebillon pcrc his Catilina to Madame de Pompadour,
and Voltaire his Tancrcdc to the same lady. Madame
du Barry had not long to wait for Literature to begin
burning incense at her shrine. A few weeks after her
presentation, a certain Chevalier de la Morliere sent
her a copy of a work entitled, Le Fatalisrnc, on collec-
tion d'anecdotes pour prouver I'lnfljicnce du sort sur
I'histoire du eceur humaiue, preceded by a most com-
plimentary dedication, wherein he assured her that
"Nature had lavished upon her her rarest gifts," that
"kindness, benevolence, and sweetness of disposition"
were hers, and that, "inspired by these estimable quali-
ties," it would be her destiny to honour the arts and
sciences and "all that w^ould appear to her worthy of
marked distinction."
Unfortunately for Madame du Barry, the author of
Le Fafalis-uie was very far from being a Voltaire, a
La Fontaine, or even a Crebillon. Bachaumont dc-
scr'bcs him as "an author better known Ijy his knavery,
impudence, and baseness than by his works," and in-
deerl he appears to have been a most undesirable
protege. A man of some talent, he had commenced
*Two years later. La Fontaine celebrated tlie charms of
Madame de Montespan's youtliful rival, Mademoiselle de Fon-
tanj^cs, whom he apostrophised as " channant objel, dignc
present des cieux."
84 MADAME DU BARRY
his literary career by the production of several ro-
mances, one of which, called Angola, which was pub-
lished anonymously, had so great a vogue that it was
attributed to Crebillon fils.^ The profits of these
works, however, failed to accord with the writer's
expectations, and he therefore sought to augment
them by becoming a "dramatic critic" and levying
blackmail upon the luckless playwrights of his time.
The claque of which he was the head was so numerous
and noisy that it was able to secure the success or
failure of all but the productions of dramatists of
established reputation, and managers trembled at the
chevalier's nod.
Emboldened by his success, he imagined that it
would be an easy matter to secure the triumph of any
work of his own. But in this he was mistaken, as,
though the poor actors did not dare to refuse his
plays, they failed lamentably, notwithstanding the skil-
ful manoeuvres of his friends, "sustained by the zeal-
ous efforts of his creditors." After this his influence
declined rapidly, and he became an object of ridicule
and contempt to those who had formerly solicited his
suffrages. Finding himself compelled to seek a fresh
field for the exercise of his talents, he established a
sort of academy for embryo actresses, and cheated his
pupils so outrageously that his relatives were forced
to shut him up. on the plea of insanity, to save him
from a worse fate. On his release, he resumed his
literary pursuits, and when Madame du Barry rose to
favour, hastened to make a bid for her patronage.
La Morliere's dedication secured him a ready sale
'He was also the author of a work entitled, Les Lanriers ec-
clesiastiques, on campagnes de I'Abbe de T. . . ., which bears
the distinction of being one of the most obscene in the French
language. It was suppressed, and the few copies which escaped
the vigilance of the police now command a very high price, and
are "tres recherches par les libertins."
MADAME DU BARRY 85
for his book and an invitation to sup with the countess,
who accorded him "a gracious reception," and a pres-
ent of one hundred louis. Here, however, his connec-
tion with ^Madame du Barry seems to have ended, very
probably because the lady was annoyed by the ridicule
to which the adulation of a person of such chequered
antecedents exposed her.
Other men of letters followed La Morliere's ex-
ample, and among the volumes in the Versailles Li-
brary bearing the arms and device of Madame du
Barry are four works prefaced by dedications to the
favourite.
The first of these is entitled : Le Royalisme, on
Memoircs de dit Barry de Saint-Aiinet et de Constaiice
de Cecelli, sa fcmnie, anecdotes hcrdiqncs sous Henry
IV., par M. de Liniairac. The author in his dedica-
tion announces that heroism is the heritage of every
Du Barry.
The second is an almanac for the year 1774, called
the Abnanach de Flore, printed in red, with a portrait
of Madame du Barry as a sunflower turned to the sun,
numerous illustrations, horoscopes, and so forth. It
was the work of a certain M. Douin, "captain of
cavalry," assisted by a M. Chevalier, "lieutenant of
infantry," and one Douin, "formerly soldier of in-
fantry."
The remaining works are by writers of considerable
reputation, at least in their own day. One, a trans-
lation from the Idyllen of Salomon Gessner. is from
the pen of Jacques Henri Meister, the friend of
Diderot and Grimm, who addresses the new mistress
of Louis XV. in the following terms :
" De la beaute, les talents et les arts
Chcrissent tous Taimahlc empire.
Que I'eglogue au naif sourire
Arrete un instant vos regards 1
86 MADAME DU BARRY
Comme vous, belle sans parure,
EUe doit tout aux mams de la nature.
Comme vous, elle a quelquefois
Sous I'air d'unc simple bergere,
Charme Ics heros et les rois.
The other, a poetical recucil containing twO' comic
operas, Les Etrcnncs de V Amour, and Le Nouveau
Marie, is by Madame du Barry's friend, Cailhava;
and the favourite finds herself apostrophised on the
first page as "beautiful Cytherea" and "amiable
Hebe.'"
* E. and J. de Goncourt's La Du Barry, p. 6$ note. Querard's
La France litteraire, passim.
CHAPTER VII
THE new favourite was soon afforded an op-
portunity of using her influence in a more
worthy manner than in patronising sycophantic
men of letters.
Although the punishments meted out to evil-doers
in the eighteenth century were still reminiscent of the
dark ages, the right of pardon possessed by the Crown
was very rarely exercised. Louis XV., so indulgent
towards his own follies and vices, was far from being
so towards those of others, and was but little inclined
to interfere with the course of the law, even in cases
where a manifest injustice had been perpetrated; the
Queen never had any influence with her husband or
his Ministers after the first few years of her married
life; Madame de Mailly, charitable and kind-hearted
though she was, could never be persuaded to meddle
with matters which did not immediately concern her;
Madame de Chateauroux's reign was, of course, too
short for her to have much opportunity for deeds of
mercy; while Marlame de Pompadour, who could have
dictated her will to the Chancellor as to the other
Ministers, was far more ready to people the dungeons
than to open them.
The condemned criminal had, therefore, up to the
present, lacked an intercessor, but in Madame du
Barry he was to find a very efficient one. Whatever
may have been the faults of the new mistress — and,
apart from her unchastity, prodigality and love of dis-
play are, after all, the onlv charges which can be truth-
' 87
88 MADAME DU BARRY
fully brought against her — there can be no question
that she was a woman of genuine kindness of disposi-
tion in whose heart the sight of suffering never failed
to awaken a responsive echo; and on several occasions
during her favour we find her intervening with suc-
cess on behalf of those who would otherwise have
suffered the extreme penalty of the law.
Two of these cases occurred in the summer of 1769,
only a few weeks after her recognition as Madame de
Pompadour's successor.
Harsh as was the old French law, it was particularly
so in regard to infanticide. An edict of Henri H.,
bearing date February 1556, prescribed that a woman
convicted of concealing her pregnancy should, in the
event of her child's death, be adjudged guilty of homi-
cide and punished accordingly. This law was still in
force, and in virtue of it, in June 1769, a girl named
Appoline Gregeois, of the parish of Liancourt, in the
Vexin, whose offence had been aggravated by several
petty thefts, committed, apparently, with the view of
providing for her accouchement, was brought to trial
and condemned to death.
The case, in some way, was brought to the notice of
Madame du Bariy, who, touched with compassion, at
once interested herself on the unhappy young woman's
behalf. At her solicitation the pro cur eur- general
granted a respite, and, a week later, she had the satis-
faction of learning that the capital sentence had been
commuted to one of three years' imprisonment.
A fortnight after the favourite's successful interven-
tion on behalf of Appoline Gregeois, her good offices
were again requisitioned, on this occasion to save a
high and puissant seigneur and his lady from the con-
sequences of armed resistance to the officers of the law,
which in those days was construed into rebellion
against the King. As this case, besides being one of
MADAME DU BARRY 89
the most sensational of the reign, contributed not a
httle towards reconcihng the nobihty to the new re-
gime, it is deserving- of something more than passing
mention.
On the borders of Qiampagne and the Orleanais
stood an old, ruinous chateau called Parc-Vieil, the
seat of a certain Comte and Comtesse de Loiiesme.
Like the chateau, the family of Loiiesme had fallen on
evil times; their estates had been sequestrated and
their personal property as well ; but, as they had pro-
claimed their determination of resisting vi et arm is
any attempt to seize the latter, they were, for some
time, left in undisturbed possession of their old home.
As ill-luck would have it, however, in the summer
of 1768, the bailiwick in which the chateau of Parc-
Vieil was situated passed into the hands of a certain
Dorcy, "a. man of resolute character and an astute
practitioner," who had no sooner been informed of the
facts of the case than he determined to bring the Comte
and Comtesse de Loiiesme to reason without a mo-
ment's delay. Accordingly, on July i, between three
and four o'clock in the morning, he arrived at Parc-
Vieil, accompanied by tw^o bailiffs named Jolivet and
Chamon and the marcchaussee, or mounted gendarm-
erie, of Saint-Fargeau and Courtenay.
Although not precisely a stronghold, Parc-Vieil was
far from an easy place to take by storm, as it was
surrounded by a deep moat, the place of the draw-
bridge, which had long since broken dr>wn, being sup-
plied by planks, which were removed at night. Dorcy
summoned the garrison to surrender; the count and
countess appeared on the battlements, and defied him
to do his worst, upon which, perceiving that further
argument would be useless, the besiegers threw a
bridge across the moat and arlvanccd to the assault.
The Comte de Loiicsmc's threats of armed resistance,
90 MADAME DU BARRY
however, had been no idle talk. Hurrying down to
the door, he thrust the barrel of a gun through a loop-
hole, and threatened to fire upon the enemy if they ap-
proached a step nearer. The bailiff Jolivet seized the
gun by the muzzle and attempted to wrest it from
the grasp of the infuriated nobleman, with the result
that it went off, and a general engagement ensued, in
the course of which the Comtesse de Loiiesme, who
had come to her husband's assistance, fired at Jolivet,
wounding him mortally. Another of the attacking
party was also fatally injured, and, in the end, Dorcy
was compelled to raise the siege.
Two days passed, which were utilised by the gar-
rison in strengthening their defences, and by Dorcy in
collecting reinforcements, and. on the night of July 3,
quite an army appeared before the chateau, composed
of the marecJiaussee of Saint-Fargeau, Courtenay, and
Montargis, and a number of armed peasants, who had
been called upon to support the majesty of the law.
A second engagement followed, in which Godard, the
coachman of the Loiiesmes and an old retainer of the
family, was killed, and the countess herself slightly
wounded, whereupon the count yielded to the en-
treaties of his terrified servants and surrendered.
The affair caused an immense sensation, for though
such incidents had been common enough during the
anarchy of the Fronde, they had since been of very rare
occurrence/ As the persons implicated were of high
rank, it was deemed inexpedient to leave the matter
to the jurisdiction of the local courts, and, accordingly,
* There had, however, been a somewhat similar affair fourteen
years earlier, when the Marquis de Pieamartin, a nobleman of
Poitou, for wh-)se arrest a warrant had been issued, not the com-
mander of the marechaussce who had come to arrest him. He
was condemned to be beheaded, but, in order to spare his family
the ignominy of a public execution, he was strangled in prison. —
Journal du Marquis d'Argenson, January 1755, cited by M. VateU
MADAME DU BARRY 91
the King issued letters patent directing that the case
should be tried by the Parliament of Paris. For some
reason, however, the trial was postponed for a year,
and it was not until July 4, 1769, that the count and
countess were arraigned before the Grande Chambre
and Tournelle sitting together.
The prisoners had practically no defence, and the
only plea that their advocate could find to put forward
was that the first execution had been irregular, inas-
much as Dorcy and his followers had commenced hos-
tilities before sunrise. This was promptly overruled,
and five witnesses having deposed that the Comtesse
de Loiiesme had fired the shot which had been re-
sponsible for the death of the unfortunate Jolivet, both
she and her husband were condemned to be beheaded,
the sentence to be carried out on the following day.*
The rank of the condemned, their connection with
several persons high in favour at Court, and particu-
larly the fact that they were related to the Chancellor,
!Maupeou, combined to induce the belief that the capi-
tal sentence would be immediately commuted. The
astonishment, therefore, was profound when it became
known that the Chancellor had refused to take any
steps on their behalf, declaring that the crime was one
which the King's oath forbade him to pardon ; and that
Louis XV., acting doubtless on his Minister's advice,
had turned a deaf ear to the entreaties of the Com-
tesse de Moyon, the daughter of the Loiiesmes, and
replied that the law must take its course.
It was then that a friend of the unhappy pair deter-
mined to address himself to the Comtesse de Beam
and, through her, to Madame du Barry, in the hope
' Occasionally when the sentence was pronounced in the morn-
ing, it was executed the same day. Thus, in Noveniher 1746,
the focureur-ycncral sent a placet ordering the release of one
GuilUiume Cor, to which the reply was: "Remission. Affair
concluded. Guillaunic Cor has been hanged."
92 MADAME DU BARRY
that the latter, whose sympathy had been so readily
aroused by the misfortunes of a poor peasant-girl,
might not be unwilling to interest herself in those of
offenders of a more exalted station.
The favourite at once promised to use her influence
on the side of mercy, and, hastening to the King, threw
herself on her knees before him and announced her
intention of remaining in that position until his
Majesty accorded her prayer. Louis, who had re-
mained unmoved by the tears and supplications of the
Comtesse de Moyon, was not proof against the en-
treaties of his beautiful mistress, and, raising her
up, exclaimed : " Madame, I am enchanted that the
first favour you obtain from me should be an act of
humanity.'*
The sentence on the Comte and Comtesse de
Loiiesme was commuted to imprisonment, and they
were confined in the Chateau of Saumur, their rela-
tives being charged with the expense of their main-
tenance. In 1778, their detention, in its turn, was
commuted to banishment; Louis XV., at the same
time, granting them a small pension.
Not even the bitterest critic of Madame du Barry
has ever ventured to suggest that the countess's con-
duct in this affair was prompted by any other motive
than humanity; nevertheless, it had all the results of a
most skilful political move. Not only did it afford a
striking proof of the lady's influence over the King,
and thus decide many waverers to accord her their sup-
port, but, by inspiring a belief that this influence
would be exercised in no unworthy manner, it con-
ciliated not a few of those who had hitherto opposed
her from disinterested motives. Outside the Court,
too, it produced a strong reaction in her favour; Vol-
taire, in a letter to the Comtesse de Rochefort, ex-
presses his conviction that Madame du Barry was "a
MADAME DU BARRY 93
kind-hearted woman" (tine bonne feninie), and this
opinion appears to have been widespread, "No one,
unless he had personal motives for enmity to the
favourite," writes Pidansat, in one of his rare excur-
sions into the truth, "could fail to like her, and to re-
ject the impressions that prejudiced people and her
enemies had spread abroad about her; she was so
courteous, affable, and gentle. She had the virtue,
rare, especially among her own sex, of never speaking
ill of any one, and never permitting herself complaints
and reproaches against those who envied her and
those who had not only published abroad the not too
creditable stories of her life, but had embroidered
them with infamies and enormities."*
Madame de Montespan had had her Clagny,
Madame de Pompadour her Bellevue, her Crecy, and
her La Celle; it was, therefore, only in accordance
with precedent that Madame du Barry should possess
a country-seat befitting her high position; and on
July 24, a fortnight after the arrival of the Court on
its annual visit to Compiegne, Louis XV. presented his
new favourite with a brevet conferring upon her the
tenancy for life of the beautiful chateau and estate of
Louveciennes, situated a short distance from the left
bank of the Seine and adjoining the park of Marly.*
'Anecdotes, i. 152.
* Here is the brevet :
"Brevet of the gift of the pavilion of Louvetiennes
in favour of madame la comtesse du Barri,
"Of July 24, 1769.
"To-day, twenty- fourth of July, seventeen hundred and sixty-
nine, the King beinp at Compiegne, and being desirous of giving
to the dame comtesse du Barry a mark of tlic consideration with
which his Majesty honours her, has accorded and made to her
a gift of the pavilion of Louvetiennes, its gardens, and depend-
encies, the tnjoyment of which has already been accorded by
his Majesty to the comt'-ssf de Toulouse, and after her to Mgr.
le due de Pcnthicvre, who has surrendered it, in order that the
94 MADAME DU BARRY
The estate of Louveciennes. frequently abbreviated
into Luciennes. originally belonged to a Marquis de
Beringhen. who, in the year 1690, sold it to Louis
XIV., or, to speak more precisely, exchanged it for
another property, that of Chatellenie-de-Tournan, in
Brie. At this period there was no house upon the
estate, but Louis XI V". built one as a residence for
Baron Devillc, the Flemish engineer, who designed the
famous hydraulic machine at Marly. Deville left
France in 1708. whereupon the house was transformed
into a little chateau and presented for life to Mad-
emoiselle de Clermont, daughter of the Prince de
Conde and Mademoiselle de Nantes, upon whose death
in 1 74 1, Louis XV. gave it to the Comtesse de Tou-
louse, in recognition, it is believed, of her services in
the King's amours wath the sisters de Nesle.'' The
countess died in January 17(^6, and was succeeded as
tenant by her only son, the Due de Penthievre. But,
a year later, the duke's heir, the young Prince de
Lamballe, who had recently married Marie Therese
de Savoie, Princesse de Carignan, the beautiful and
unfortunate lady who met so horrible a fate during
the Revolution, died there also, the victim of a pain-
ful disease; and his father, unwilling to reside any
longer in a house which possessed for him such pain-
ful associations, gave the property back to the King."
said dame comtesse du Barry may enjoy during her life the said
pavilion and such dependencies as belong and appertain to it,
in conformity with the plan deposed at the ofifice of Director-
General of his Majesty's Board of Works. . . . And, in assur-
ance of his will, his Majesty has signed with his own hand the
present brevet, and caused it to be countersigned by me, under-
secretary of State and his orders. (Signed) Louis (and, lower
down,) Phely-peaux." — Archives nationales, Registre des Bre-
vets, cited by E. and J. de Goncourt, La Du Barry, p. 64 note.
'The Due de Luynes, who describes the view from Louve-
ciennes as charming and the house as very beautiful, says that
the Queen had asked for it, but had been refused.
' Histoire de Madame du Barry, i. 254.
MADA^IE DU BARRY 95
It is somewhat difficult to understand why Louve-
ciennes should have been chosen as the country-seat of
a royal favourite, as the enjoyment to be derived from
the beautiful view which its windows commanded must
have been largely discounted by the fact that the
hydraulic machine, with its unceasing clang, was
situated immediately below the house ; while the build-
ing itself was far too small to accommodate even
Madame du Barry's retinue of servants, to say noth-
ing of the numerous entourage which etiquette de-
manded should accompany the King whenever he
honoured one of his subjects by a visit.
The hydraulic machine, unfortunately, could not well
be removed even to gratify Madame du Barry, but
everything that money could effect towards remedying
the architectural deficiencies was done, and extensive
additions and alterations were designed by Jacques
Ange Gabriel, first architect to the King, and carried
out by his son, the Comptroller of Buildings at
Marly.
These additions and alterations, which included the
restoration of part of the chateau and the making of
a bath-room and an orangery, were commonly re-
ported to have involved the expenditure of enomious
sums, but, according to a memoir of Gabriel, the total
cost of the work was under 139,000 livres.
"The principal dispositions of the building having
remained unchanged," says M. Vatel, "one is still able
to give a description of this residence. It consisted, on
the ground floor, of an entrance-hall or vestibule 20
feet by 18, the lofty ceiling of which is decorated by a
frie;^e, delicately sculptured, representing children at
y)lav. Then comes the dining-room, adorned with a
beautiful old wainscot, ornamented with all the at-
tributes of the country and the chase. Harvesters'
rakes and hats, hunting horns and cymbals, arrows and
96 MADAME DU BARRY
quivers, all indicate the pleasures of the fields. In the
centre of one side of the room is a magnificent marble
chimney-piece.
"The salon is decorated in the same style. Its
length is 4 toises, its height 2^ toises; it is lighted by
two large windows, and is approached by a glass door
giving on to a flight of steps. The wainscot shows the
same intersections as the dining-room, violins and
shepherds' pipes, bagpipes and guitars, phoenix and
peacock, and all around a frieze representing figures of
women and children.
"Above, on the first floor, was situated the apart-
ment of Madame du Barry, which faced north, while
on the south side was that of the King; later, the
Due de Brissac's.^
"The main building was prolonged by a gallery of
considerable length, which was used as an orangery,
and at the end of this was a chapel.
>)8
The visit of the Court to Compiegne did not termi-
nate without an unpleasant incident, occasioned by
the continued hostility of Choiseul to the new fa-
vourite.
For the purpose of giving the Dauphin and his
brothers some instruction in military matters, a
"pleasure camp" was formed at Verberie, in the plain
of Royal-Lieu, under the command of Baron Wiirm-
ser, Lieutenant-General and Chief-Inspector of the
German infantry regiments in the French service.
The manoeuvres, which lasted three days, were wit-
nessed by Louis XV., his three grandsons, Mesdames
— and Madame du Barry; and Dumouriez, who had
known the lady in the days when she presided over the
^ Louis Hercule Timoleon de Cosse, Due de Brissac (i734-
1792), the penultimate lover of Madame du Barry.
*Histoire de Madame du Barry, i. 264.
IMADAIME DU BARRY 97
menage of the "Roue" and had lately returned from
Germany, was profoundly shocked at "the sight of
the old King- of France degrading himself by stand-
ing with doffed hat beside a magnificent phaeton, in
which the Du Barry was reclining."*
Among the troops assembled at Verberie was the
Regiment de Beauce, in which Elie du Barry, younger
brother of Jean and Guillaume, held a commission.
An exchange of civilities took place between the
favourite and the officers of her brother-in-law's regi-
ment ; the officers invited Madame du Barry to dine in
the camp, and she, in her turn, entertained them to a
magnificent banquet. Indeed, so excellent an under-
standing prevailed that when, on the last day of the
manoeuvres, the favourite's carriage passed down the
line, the Chevalier de la Tour-du-Pin, the colonel of
the Regiment de Beauce, thought that he could do no
less than order his men to present arms, an honour
hitherto expressly reserved on these occasions for the
King and members of the Royal Family.
Choiseul, who, in his capacity as Minister of War,
had also attended the manoeuvres, was highly incensed
at the unprecedented marks of distinction accorded to
his enemy, and severely reprimanded all concerned.
His action was duly reported to Louis XV., who there-
upon wrote him the following letter :
Louis XV. to the Due de Choiseul.
"As I have promised to tell you all that occurs to
me concerning you. I now acquit myself of that task.
"It is said that you rated Wiirmser, for what reason
I know not, but that you let fall a good round oath.*'
"It is said that you rated the Chevalier de la Tour-
* La Vie et les mfmoires du GSnSral Dumouries (edit. Berville
anrl P.nrrirrc"), i. 141.
** The word in tlie original is too coarBC for modern print
98 MADAME DU BARRY
du-Pin, because Madame du Barry dined in the camp,
and because the majority of the ofiicers dined with her
on the day of the review.
"You also reprimanded Foulon," in his turn.
"You promised that 1 should hear no more from
you about lier."
"I speak to you in confidence and friendship. You
may be inveighed against in pubhc; it is the fate of
Ministers, especially when they are believed to be
antagonist to the friends of the master; but, for all
that, the master is always very satisfied with their
work, and with yours in particular."
Choiseul replies at great length, endeavouring to
justify his conduct; which, he maintains, has been
grossly, and purposely, misrepresented, and expressly
disclaiming all hostilities to Madame du Barry.
After acknowledging, in suitable terms, the expres-
sions of kindness and confidence which the King's
letter contained, he declares that his Majesty must
know, "in the bottom of his soul," that he (Choiseul)
is the particular object of the hatred of those about
Madame du Barry. These he divides into two classes :
"persons of seventy years of age and upwards"" and
"young persons." His Majesty, he says, will know
how much credit to attach to the statements and
motives of the former ; as for the latter, "who imagine
that they are doing something wonderful in deriding
and braving your Minister," they merely excite
contempt.
" Joseph Francois Foulon de Doue. who said, or was reported
to have said, that if the poor lacked bread, they could eat grass,
and was hanged by the mob of Paris, July 22, 1789. He was at
this time commissaire des guerres.
"From this it would appear that Choiseul had at length at-
tempted some remonstrance with the King in regard to Madame
du Barrv, verv probably after the supper at Bellevue.
" The "Due de Richelieu.
MADA^IE DU BARRY 99
He denies that he rated Baron Wiirmser, for it is
not rating- to say, "My dear Wiirmser, hasten ; the
King has been waiting half an hour." Never had
he used improper language towards any officer.
"W'iirmser is here and can speak the truth."
He continues :
"As regards the Regiment de Beauce, there is no
more truth in that, though there is more appearance
of truth. I never rated the ChevaHer de la Tour-du-
Pin; I never spoke to him about either giving or
accepting a dinner. I am, Sire, a thousand leagues
above such wretched trifles. The day on which your
Majesty witnessed the manoeuvres of the forty-two
battalions, word was brought me that the Regiment
de Beauce, after your Majesty had passed down the
line, had saluted and rendered the same honours to
Madame du Barry as to yourself. I did not say a
word to the person who brought me the information.
In the evening, in my apartments, the same thing was
repeated, but I appeared to pay no attention to it.
The following day, on going to see this brigade ma-
noeuvre, I told M. de Rochambeau that it had been re-
ported to me that the Regiment de Beauce had saluted
other carriages than those of the Royal Family while
his Majesty was in front of the line; that that was
not right ; and I charged him to warn M. de la Tour-
du-Pin that he ought not to salute any one else when
the King was in camp."
The Minister then points out that La Tour-du-Pin
has been promoted to the rank of brigadier, and that
all the requests made by the officers of his regiment
(presumably for leave) have been granted, "which
proves that there is no ill-humour on my part."
As for Foulon, "who is what is called an intriguer,
with bounfllcss ambition," he had not even so much as
s^xAen to him since coming to Compicgne, and if he
iJeuioira — i Vol. 2
loo MADAME DU BARRY
asserted that he had been reprimanded at any time,
"under any circumstances whatever," in reference to
Madame du Barry or anything which could possibly
concern her, then "M. Foulon is an impudent liar."
He concludes :
"These details are a trifle long, Sire, for which I
crave your indulgence; but it behoves me to tell you
the truth in regard to these small matters, in order that
you may be able to appreciate in future the reports
which may reach you. You will be told, Sire, that I
have faults; I earnestly desire to correct myself of
them, and I reproach myself, in private, with them as
bitterly as my enemies can do. They will add that
I have committed mistakes as Minister; that is only
too true; when I have been aware of them I have
avowed them, and I am more sensible than any one can
be of my imperfections and the limitation of my
talents. But, Sire, I beg you to be persuaded that I
fear neither the intriguers nor the results of criticism.
I have two objects only, that of serving you well and of
pleasing you. It is impossible for me not to believe
that I serve your Majesty well, because I serve you to
the best of my endeavour. It is difficult, Sire, for you
to entertain any doubt as to my desire to please you,
if you condescend to reflect that I hold everything
from you; that I neither hold nor have ever desired to
hold anything except from you; that you unite for
me all the sentiments of duty, of personal attachment,
and of gratitude, and that I serve you by affection, and
by affection the most zealous, which is better than am-
bition and talents.""
Although Jean du Barry could not, of course, ap-
pear at Court, he was none the less an important fac-
** Revue de Paris, 1829, vol. iv. p. 49 et seq. The letters were
communicated to this journal by Gabriel, Due de Choiseul, the
Minister's nephew and successor, who possessed the originals.
IMADAME DU BARRY loi
tor in the political situation. He had persuaded the
favourite to obtain for his ugly, but keen-witted,
sister "Chon" apartments in the chateau at Versailles
and, through her, contrived to keep himself in constant
communication with his former mistress, who enter-
tained a high opinion of his astuteness and never
failed to apply to him for advice whenever she found
herself in any difficulty.
In consequence of the incident at the review, the
"Roue" came to Compiegne, charged by Madame du
Barry with a mission of conciliation. Being some-
wdiat doubtful as to the reception which his over-
tures might meet with were he to seek a personal inter-
view with Choiseul, he addressed himself to the
Minister's nephew, the Due de Lauzun," and begged
him to meet him the following morning in the forest,
as he had something of the utmost importance to
communicate. Not a little mystified, Lauzun con-
sented, and found that Du Barry was desirous that he
should take ui)on himself the role of j^eacemaker be-
tween his uncle and the favourite.
"He complained to me," says the duke, "of the
l)itterness which the Due de Choiseul evinced towards
Madame du Barry and himself ; said that she was will-
ing to do justice to so great a Minister and desired
ardently to live on good terms with him, and that he
would not force her to become his enemy ; that she had
more influence with the King than Madame de Pom-
padour had ever had, and that she would be very
grieved if he compelled her to use it to his detriment.
He begged me to relate this conversation to M. de
Choiseul and to convey to him all sorts of protesta-
tions of attachment."
Lauzun good-naturedly promised to do all in his
"Choiseul and Lauzun's father, the Due de Gontaut, had mar-
ried two sisters, the demoiselles Crozat.
TTXTTT T? r> f • T TT I
102 MADAME DU BARRY
power to promote a better understanding; but, alas!
his efforts were vain. When he reached Choiseul's
apartments, he found Madame de Gramont there, con-
certing with her brother new schemes for the discom-
fiture of her hated rival. With the eyes of his vindic-
tive sister upon him, the duke received the favourite's
overtures "with all the haughtiness of a Minister who
is harassed by women and believes that he has nothing
to fear," and declared that there was "war to the
knife" between him and Madame du Barry; while
Madame de Gramont "made some outrageous re-
marks, in which she did not spare even the King.""
In order to show his contempt for the favourite and
her supporters, Choiseul, a few days later, quitted
Compiegne and spent some weeks in visiting his coun-
try-seat at Chanteloup and various military stations
in Lorraine, thus leaving the field clear for his ad-
versaries.
On the return of the Court from Compiegne, to-
wards the end of August, Louis XV. paid a visit to the
Prince de Conde, at Oiantilly, and Madame du Barry
was officially invited to accompany him. The descen-
dant of the hero of Rocroix had long since decided to
bow to the royal will, and had the new mistress been
a foreign princess she could hardly have been received
with greater honours, her host placing his own
caleche at her disposal when she wished to follow the
chase, seating her beside him at table, and "seeming,
in short, to dedicate to her the flowers, the illumina-
tions, and the fanfares of his fetes."
^'^ Memoir es du Due de Lauzun (edit. 1858), p. 95 et seq.
CHAPTER VIII
IN September, the Salon of the Louvre, which at
this period was held every alternate year, opened
its doors. The centre of attraction proved to be
two portraits of the new favourite, both by Drouais,
who had painted the last portrait of Madame de Pom-
padour, now at Hampton Court. "The better to en-
sure success," says Pidansat, "he had conceived the
idea of representing- IMadame du Barry in two styles,
thr.t is to say, in both masculine and feminine attire."
In the first, she is wearing a kind of hunting-coat and
a waistcoat with military facings. "She has a flat
coiffure, and two or three patches i)laced here and there
relieve the mischievousness of this charming auvl saucy
little face."' In the second, she appears "fresh and
laughing, with the innocence of a young Flora," in a
white gown adorned with a wreath of flowers, and
with a string of pearls on her shoulder.
The former portrait, we are told, appealed most to
the ladies, and the latter to the men, which gave rise to
the following verses :
"Quels ycux ! que d'attraits! qu'ellc est belle!
Est-ce une divinite?
Non, c'cst une simple mortclle,
Qui le dispute a la Bcaute.
F.iitrc vous qui decidera.
Beau cavalier, aimable Flore !
L'Olympe jaloux se taira,
Et I'univcrs surpris admire ct doute encore."
Diderot criticises these portraits very severely, ex-
pressing his opinion that the painter had ruined his
' E. anfl J. de Goncourt's La Du Barry, p. 74.
' Mcmoires de Pavrollc, ii. 47.
103
I04 MADAME DU BARRY
work by over-anxiety to do himself justice, and even
going so far as to insinuate that, but for the fact that
the original happened to be the talk of the town, they
would be unworthy even of passing mention ; but the
majority of frequenters of the Salon cared little for
artistic merit, and the crowd which surrounded them
was so great that Horace Walpole, who was then in
Paris, renounced his intention of visiting the exhibi-
tion.
Both portraits have been several times engraved.
The best engraving of Madame du Barry en habit de
chasse is Beauvarlet's ; that of the portrait a la guir-
landc, as it is generally called, by Gaucher.
The homage paid to Madame du Barry by the
Prince de Conde was a happy augury for the future.
When the Court returned to Versailles, it soon became
apparent that the quarantine to which the favourite had
hitherto been subjected was steadily relaxing; scarcely
a day now passed on which some nobleman or grande
dame did not come to the conclusion that the claims of
loyalty, or self-interest, demanded the sacrifice of per-
sonal feelings ; scarcely a day now passed on which
fresh faces did not appear at the new mistress's toilette,
fresh voices whisper compliments in her ear. And
Madame du Barry, even her enemies were compelled to
admit, conducted herself, in these early days of her
reign, with exemplary discretion, and used her newly
acquired power with the strictest moderation. For-
eigners, like Horace Walpole, were surprised to find
in her neither boldness, nor arrogance, nor affecta-
tion.* She seemed to shun publicity, was at pains to
avoid exciting the jealousy of her own sex, and gave
•"Thence to the Chapel, where a first row in the balconies
was kept for us. Madame du Barri arrived over against us be-
low, without rouge, without powder, and indeed sans avoir fait
sa toilette ; an odd appearance, as she was so conspicuous, close
MADAME DU BARRY 105
as yet no indication of the absurd ostentation and wild
extravagance which were to mark the coming years.
But if the growing behef that the King's passion
was a lasting one, and the skilful self-effacement of
the favourite cost the opposition many of its ad-
herents, there was no diminution in the hostility of
those who remained ; indeed, with each fresh desertion
from their cause, Choiseul and his partisans seemed
only to become more rancorous, more resolute than
ever to prosecute the campaign until one or other
party was driven from the field.
Madame du Barry did not seek to play a political
role ; she had not the smallest desire to make and un-
make Ministers, select Ambassadors, appoint generals,
and confer pensions and places, as her predecessor had
done. All she asked was to live in peace and quiet as
the King's mistress, to wear ravishing toilettes and
costly jewels, to take the air in a gilded coach, to have
a retinue of servants at her beck and call, and gener-
ally to enjoy the good things of life. Easy and pacific
by nature, she would never have dreamed of injuring
Choiseul had he not been the first to commence hos-
tiHties. She showed, indeed, as M. Maugras, the
duke's latest biographer freely admits, the most meri-
torious patience and long-suffering under great provo-
cation, and on several occasions made advances which
plainly showed her desire for a better understanding.*
Left to himself, it is probable that Choiseul would
have ended by jjecoming reconciled to the favourite.
to the altar and amidst both Court and people. She is prettj'
when you consider her; yet so little striking, that T should never
have asked who she was. There is nothing bold, assuming, or
affected in her manner. Tier husband's sister was along with her.
In the tribune above, surrounded by prelates, was ihc amorous
and still handsome King. One could not help smiling at the
mixture of piety, pomp, and carnality." — Horace Walpolc to
George Montagu, .September 17. 1769.
* Le Due et la Duchesse de Choiseul.
io6 MADAME DU BARRY
Like most powerful Ministers, he had made many and
bitter enemies, and could hardly fail to perceive the
danger of adding to their number a person whose in-
fluence was increasing daily. Moreover, Madame du
Barry asked nothing which he could not have conceded
without loss of dignity. She did not demand his friend-
ship, much less his homage ; she would have been well
content had he only been willing to remain neutral.
But Madame de Gramont and the Princesse de
Beauvau had committed themselves far too deeply to
draw back now, or allow their relative to do so. Peace
with the favourite, they considered, would have in-
volved a sacrifice of their pride, an intolerable hu-
miliation in the eyes of all the ladies of the Court,
whose leaders they aspired to be, and was not to be
thought of for a moment ; and Choiseul, yielding to the
influence of his entourage, turned a deaf ear to the
counsels of prudence, and marched steadily to his fall.^
In appearance, the relations between the Minister
and the mistress were courteous, as had been the case
between Madame de Pompadour and the most im-
placable of her enemies, the Comte d'Argenson, though
in that instance neither party had had the least desire
for a reconciliation. Madame du Barry wrote fre-
quently to Choiseul, and always in very gracious terms.
There were also several lengthy interviews between
them, one of which lasted for three hours. But noth-
ing could overcome the antipathy of the duke, who
almost invariably refused the requests which the
countess made to him. "A fortnight ago," writes
Walpole, "the mistress sent for him (Choiseul) to
ask a favour for a dependant. He replied that she
might come to him. She insisted, and he went, and
stayed above an hour, and yet did not grant what she
asked." The writer expresses his opinion that ''it was
° Walpole to Mann, October 9, 1769-
MADA]\IE DU BARRY 107
a thousand to one that some eclat would happen"
during the approaching visit to Fontainebleau, when
Madame de Gramont and the Princesse de Beauvau
("the Choiseul-women"), who were then visiting
friends abroad, would have returned.'
Louis XV., who detested changing his Ministers,
and was, besides, genuinely attached to Choiseul, who,
like Maurepas in days gone by, had the gift of render-
ing business ''amusing," made every effort to bring
about a rapprochement between the duke and the
favourite, even going the length of writing the Minis-
ter a curious letter entreating him to abandon his atti-
tude of hostility to Madame du Barry.
Louis XV. to the Due de Choiseul
"... You manage my affairs veiy well, and I am
satisfied with you, but l^e on your guard against those
about you and the givers of advice {donneurs d'avis) ;
that is what I have always hated and what I detest
more than ever. You know Madame du Barry . . .
she is pretty, I am content with her, and I recommend
her every day to beware of those about her and the
givers of advice, for you can well believe that she does
not want for them ; she has no bitter feeling against
you, she appreciates your talents, and wishes you no
evil. The exasperation against her has been fright-
ful, without justification for the most part; they would
be at her feet if . . . that is the way of the world.
She is very pretty, she pleases me. that ought to suf-
fice. Do you want me to take a girl of rank? If the
archduchess were such as I should desire her to be,
I would take her to wife with great pleasure,' for
*Ibid.
'y\t the beginning of June 1770, Louis wrote to the Comtc de
Brnglic, the con'^luctor nf his secret corrcspoiulfnco with fnrciK'i
Courts, instructing him to obtain private information about tin*
io8 MADAME DU BARRY
there must be an end of this, otherwise the beau sexe
will always trouble me, for veiy surely, you will not see
on my part a daine de Maintenon. And that, I think,
is enough for the present. I have no need to recom-
mend secrecy to you about this: my writing is no
better than yours."*
"Does not this billet, which I have seen," observes
Choiseul's friend. Baron de Gleichen, "express the
desire for an arrangement, a prayer to lend himself to
it, and the avowal, strange enough from a King, that
the simple suffrage of his Ministers would do more
than all that lay in his royal power? It is most
astonishing that the sensitive heart of M. de Choiseul
should have resisted so much kindness, the desire to
play a trick on his enemies, and the certainty of reign-
ing more comfortably by the aid of a woman who
would have been entirely at his orders."*
The intervention of the King was of no avail;
Qioiseul, spurred on by Madame de Gramont and her
coterie, remained inflexible, and Madame du Barry,
having exhausted every means of conciliation, re-
signed herself to the struggle.
While awaiting a favourable opportunity of ridding
herself of her adversary, the weapons to which the
lady had recourse were those which Madame de Pom-
padour had employed with success on more than one
occasion, notably against Maurepas ; that is to say, she
tormented her royal adorer with unceasing complaints
about his Minister, until the unfortunate monarch be-
gan to detest the very name of Choiseul. Did she
happen to be in an ill-humour : how could one be other-
Archduchess Eh'zabeth, "her person, from head to foot, her
disposition," and so forth.
^Revtie de Paris, 1829, vol. iv. p. 43. The letter was one of
those which, as already mentioned, were contributed to the
journal by Gabriel, Due de Choiseul, who possessed the originals.
^Souvenirs du Baron de Gleichen, p. 38.
MADAjME DU BARRY 109
wise when M. de Choiseul refused to grant the very-
smallest favour that she asked of him? Were she
pale and tearful : what could his Majesty expect when
M. de Choiseul's friends were permitted to say such
cruel things about her?" Nor did she any longer at-
tempt to disguise her resentment against the Minister,
and the harmony of the royal card and supper-parties
was disturbed, whenever the duke happened to be
present, by the contempt and dislike which the favourite
never failed to exhibit towards him. "The grandpapa
(Choiseul)," writes Madame du Deffand to Horace
Walpole, "appears in very good spirits; nevertheless,
he is not free from uneasiness. The lady does not
conceal her hatred of him any longer. He receives
every day little annoyances, such as not being nomi-
nated or invited to the soiipers des cabinets, and, in her
apartments, grimaces when he happens to be her part-
ner at whist; mockeries, the shrugging of shoulders — •
in a word, all the little spiteful tricks of the school-
girl. . . . Up to the present nothing has happened
to injure his credit so far as regards his ]\Iinistry."^*
Contrary to the confident anticipation of Horace
Walpole, the visit of the Court to Fontainebleau passed
off without any scandal, at least so far as the Choi-
seuls were concerned, though some unpleasantness
arose in another quarter.
The Due de Lauraguais, a nobleman with a predilec-
tion for indifferent verses and practical jokes, brought
a courtesan of the baser sort from Paris, installed her
in a suite of apartments in the town, and introduced her
to all his friends as "Madame la Comtesse de Ton-
neau" — tonnrau being synonymous with haril (cask),
the pronunciation of which is the same as "Barry.""
*'Le Due et la Duchesse de Choiseul.
"Letter of N'ovember 22, 1760.
"An engraving of the time represents Madame du Barry
no MADAME DU BARRY
Had this pleasantry, clumsy though it was, been per-
petrated at the exj^ense of Madame de Pompadour,
the Due de Lauraguais would probably have had cause
to rue it for the rest of his life. But that haughty
dame's successor in the royal affections seems to have
been rather amused than otherwise, and the only pun-
ishment which the duke received was an intimation
that a few months' residence abroad might benefit his
health;" while the King gave orders to the police to
drive all the femmes galantes they could find out of the
town, a step which, Pidansat de Mairobert tells us, oc-
casioned great annoyance and inconvenience to many
gentlemen of the Court.
As compensation for the impertinence of the Due
de Lauraguais, Madame du Barry, while at Fontaine-
bleau, was the recipient of a most charming compli-
ment.
It happened that Louis XV. was in the habit of pay-
ing a visit every autumn to a beautiful pavilion which
the wealthy farmer-general Bouret had erected, at
enormous cost, at Croix-Fontaine, in the forest of
Senart. Bouret would appear to have built this
pavilion, over which he is said to have nearly ruined
himself, as a speculation, with the idea of selling it to
Madame de Pompadour, who had a perfect mania for
acquiring costly country-seats ; but the death of that
lady occurred before his project was realised. His
seated in a cask, as was the custom of the ravaudeiises, mending
stockings and shoes. M. Vatel is of opinion that this caricature
inspired the jest, or possibly the jest the caricature.
" About the same time, Lauraguais's former mistress, the
beautiful and witty actress, Sophie Arnould, with whom the
duke was still on friendly terms, displayed such "unexampled
audacity" and "essential want of respect" towards Madame du
Barry — in what way we are not toid — that the King ordered her
to be incarcerated in the " Hospital " for six months. The fa-
vourite, however, interceded for the popular prima donna and
obtained her pardon. — Mr. R. B. Douglas' " Sophie Arnould,"
p. 102.
MADAME DU BARRY in
hopes of finding a purchaser, however, had revived
with the advent of Madame du Barry, and he, accord-
ingly, resolved to leave no stone unturned to ingratiate
himself with the new divinity.
The royal visit this year was paid on September 28,
Madame du Barry accompanying the monarch dressed
in a Jiabit de chasse similar to the one she had worn in
Drouais's portrait. After the day's hunting, at which
the killing of two stags had put the King into an ex-
cellent humour, Bouret entertained his distinguished
guests to a sumptuous repast, which concluded, he
begged them to step into an adjoining room, where,
he said, he had prepared a surprise for them. It was
a statue of Venus, modelled after that of Guillamne
Coustou fils, which had been sent to Potsdam the
previous June, together with a Mars, commissioned
by Frederick the Great at the same time. But the
head of the goddess had been changed — to an admi-
rable likeness of Madame du Barry.
The favourite was, of course, enraptured, while
Louis XV. was highly flattered at such a delicate
tribute to his taste." Nevertheless, Bouret did not
succeed in inducing Madame du Barry to become the
purchaser of his pavilion, and, some years later, hav-
ing squandered the remainder of his fortune, he was
found dead, under circumstances which pointed to
suicide.
'* Bouret was certainly a born courtier. On another of his
visits, Louis XV. perceived, on a table in the salon, a magnifi-
cently bound folio entitled, Le Vrai Bonhcur. He opened it,
and found on each pape the worrls, " Le Roi est venn ches
Bouret," with the date, by anticipation, up to the year 1800.
CHAPTER IX
SHORTLY after the return of the Court from
Fontainebleau, Madame du Barry was afforded
another opportunity of giving proof of that
kindness of heart and sympathy for misfortune which
goes so far to efface the memory of her faults.
A young man of Aumale, named Charpentier, hav-
ing quarrelled with his relatives, left his native town
and enlisted in the Regiment du Mestre de Camp-
General, a cavalry corps stationed at Provins. Here
his conduct was very satisfactory, until one fine day
he was, according to his own account, seized with
homesickness and deserted, taking with him his horse
and uniform, with tlie intention apparently of return-
ing them when he had gone two or three posts. This,
however, he had no opportunity of doing, as his ab-
sence was discovered almost immediately, and he was
promptly pursued and brought back. A court-martial
followed, and the prisoner's offence being greatly ag-
gravated by the fact of his having carried off his horse
and uniform, the officers who tried him had no option
but to pass sentence of death.
Fortunately for Charpentier, the commander of his
regiment, the Chevalier d'Abense, took compassion
upon the unhappy young man, and not only postponed
the execution of the sentence to the farthest possible
date, but wrote to his friend, the Comte de Belleval,
who held a commission in the Chevau-legers of the
King's Household, explaining the circumstances of
iia
MADAME DU BARRY 113
the case, and begging him to use what influence he
possessed to obtain a pardon from the King.
On receiving the chevalier's letter, Belleval laid the
matter before his commanding officer, the Due d'Aiguil-
lon,' who told him that the surest way of obtaining
the favour he sought would be to endeavour to
interest Madame du Barry in his protege's case, and
promised to take him to the countess's apartments
later in the day. We will follow the example of M.
Vatel and allow Belleval to relate the sequel in his
own words, thereby presenting the reader with prob-
ably the best pen-portrait of Madame du Barry which
we have :
"At the hour appointed, I presented myself at M.
d'Aiguillon's hotel, in full uniform, and he, faithful to
his promise, was waiting for me, and went straight
to the favourite's apartments, like one to whom doors
are always open.
"I had already often seen the countess, but from a
distance ; enough to allow me to judge of her renowned
beauty in the ensemble, but not enough to study its de-
tails. She was carelessly sitting, or rather I should say
reclining, on a large fauteuil, and wore a dress of
white material with garlands of roses, which I see
even now as I write, fifteen years later.
"Madame du Barry was one of the prettiest women
at the Court, where there were so many, and assuredly
the most bewitching, on account of the perfections of
her whole person. Her hair, which she often wore
without powder, was fair and a most beautiful colour,
and she had such a profusion that she was at a loss
to know what to do with it. Her blue eyes, widely
open, had a kind and frank expression, and she fixed
'Armand Vigncrod Duplessis Richelieu (r720-i7(S8), son of
Armand Louis de ViKucrod, Marquis dc Ricliclicu, Due d'Aicruil-
lon, and Anne Charlotte de CrussnI-Florcnsac. Until his father'*
death, in 1750, he bore the title of Due d'Agenois.
114 MADAME DU BARRY
thcni upon those to whom she spoke, and seemed to
follow in their faces the effect of her words. She had
a tiny nose, a very small mouth, and a skin of daz-
zling whiteness. In short, she quickly fascinated
every one, and I well-nigh forgot my petition in the
delight I experienced in gazing at her. I was then
about twenty-five years of age. She readily perceived
my embarrassment, as did the Due d'Aiguillon, who
very adroitly turned it off with one of those compli-
ments which he kner^v so well how to make. I then
presented my petition, adding some explanation and
laying stress on the necessity there was for haste, and
on the hope that we all placed in her for saving the
life of this unhappy Charpentier.
" 'I give you my promise to speak to the King,
Monsieur,' she answered, 'and I trust that his Majesty
will not refuse me this favour. Monsieur le Due
knows well that his friends are mine, and I thank him
for not forgetting it,' she added, turning towards him
with a charming smile. She then questioned me about
my family, and as to how long I had served, and dis-
missed us, telling me that I should soon have news
from her. She gave her hand to the Due d'Aiguillon,
who kissed it, observing: 'This is for the Captain-
Lieutenant; is there nothing for the company?' which
made her laugh ; and she bestowed upon me the same
favour, of which I hastened to take advantage.
"The following day, while I was on guard, a lackey,
in the well-known livery of the countess, who had been
to our hotel to inquire for me, approached and in-
formed me that his mistress expected me at six o'clock.
At the hour appointed, I presented myself at the door
of her apartment and was admitted. There were sev-
eral persons there, and the King was standing with
his back against the chimney-piece. On perceiving
me, Madame du Barry said to his Majesty: 'Sire,
MADAME DU BARRY 115
here is my chevati-leger, who comes to render his
thanks to your Majesty.'
" 'Thank, in the first place, IMadame la Comtesse,'
said Louis XV. to me, 'and tell your protege that, if
I pardon him, he must, by his attention to my service,
cause the fault of which he has been guilty to be
forgotten.'
"I do not very well know what answer I made the
King; but the Due d'Aiguillon, who was present, as-
sured me that I had said all that was necessary, and
that the King had been satisfied with me and pleased
that I had had the tact to choose Madame du Barry
to ask for Charpentier's pardon. The same evening,
the news was despatched to Provins, where the poor
man was expecting nothing but death. He afterwards
made a good soldier, and became an example to his
regiment.
"The story which I told my comrades of the good-
ness of the countess was received with great applause,
and the Vicomte du Barry, our cornet, had nothing
but praises and compliments to report to her. We
always believed that he did so, for on every occasion
she showed a marked preference for the chevmi-lcgcrs
above all the other troops of the King's Household.
For my part, I was always afterwards treated with
kindness, and I often met her at the hotel of the
Duchesse d'Aiguillon, to whom she was much attached
on account of her husband. I never again visited
her apartments, save on two occasions, to seek 1\I.
d'Aiguillon on business connected with our company,
when I had not found him at his hotel and the matter
was urgent. But the place of a simple chcvau-lcgcr
was not in the midst of all the courtiers who thronged
her apartment, to pay their court to her or to meet his
Majesty there. She understood that, and had tlie
delicacy — though she treated me very kindly when I
ii6 MADAME DU BARRY
met her — never to ask why I did not visit her, as
many women would have done. It was a different
matter at the Due d'Aiguillon's, who was our chief,
and where the 'red-coats' often found themselves, or
at the Marechale de Mirqx)ix's, where I also went
frequently. 'Ah! there is my chcvau-leger,' was the
phrase which the countess never failed to employ when
she caught sight of me, and she would inquire if there
was anything she could do for me. As I invariably
replied that there was not, she said, 'He always re-
plies "No," when there are so many who would an-
swer "Yes." My dear duke, are they all like that in
your company?' 'Assuredly not,' answered the Due
d'Aiguillon, and the laughter and gaiety which fol-
lowed seemed as if it would never come to an end."*
The Due d'Aiguillon, who figures in the above inci-
dent, was Choiseul's most bitter enemy. The an-
tagonism between them was something more than the
conflict of personalities; it was one of principles and
ideas. "M. de Choiseul belonged to the Jansenists, to
the Parliamentarians, to the party of reform in
Church and State, to the first awakening of Liberty, to
the conspiracy of the future. M. d'Aiguillon belonged
to the traditions of his family, to the school of his
great-uncle. Cardinal de Richelieu, to the wisdom of
the past ; to the theory of the right of absolute power,
to the party of social discipline, to the doctrine which
makes of monarchical government a good pleasure
tempered by a theocracy. In these two men every-
thing is antagonistic, the internal administration of
the country as well as the plan of her alliances on the
map of Europe, They are the two champions and the
two extremities of their age."*
*fc>'
' Souvenirs d'un Chevau-lcger, p. 128, ct seq.
' E. and J. de Goncourt's La Du Barry, p. 48.
MADAME DU BARRY 117
After having been in disgrace for a number of years,
in consequence of the attachment which had once ex-
isted between himself and the King's mistress, Ma-
dame de Chateauroux, d'Aiguillon was eventually
restored to favour and made Governor of Brittany, in
which capacity he gained the victory of Saint-Cast
over an English force which had landed there with
the intention of ravaging the coast. His internal ad-
ministration of that somewhat unruly province was
less happy, and though M. Vatel, whose predilection
for Madame du Barry appears to extend to her
friends, has attempted his defence, there can be little
doubt that his conduct, which aroused the bitterest
hostility among all classes, was tyrannical and high-
handed to the last degree, if not worse.
The Parliament of Brittany was almost as inde-
pendent as that of Paris, and, in 1764, that court
forbade the collection of a tax which the Governor had
levied without obtaining its consent. The recalcitrant
magistrates were summoned to Versailles, in the hope
that the frown of Majesty might overcome their
resistance, but they declined to yield, whereupon
d'Aiguillon arrested several, including the procurcur-
general. La Chalotais,* on a charge of sending threat-
* D'Aiguillon was particularly bitter against La Chalotais, who
had accused him of personal cowardice at the battle of Saint-
Cast. It appears that, in the course of the conflict, the duke
mounted to the top of a windmill, in order to direct the opera-
tions of his troops. La Chalotais remarked that in the battle
" the troops were covered with glory, and their general with
meal " ; in other words, that the duke had gone into the nn'll to
sreek shelter. The charge, which was not made until eight years
after the event, was, of course, groundless, as all contemporary
accounts of the battle agree in eulogising the conduct of
d'Aiguillon, and, whatever his faults may have been, he was
certainly not lacking in courage, and, when a mere lad, had
been twice severely wounded and mentioned in despatches for
conspicuous bravery. However, the hatred with which the ar-
bitrary governor was regarded was such tliat the slander found
ready credence, and has been repeated by several historians.
ii8 MADAME DU BARRY
ening anonymous letters to the King, exiled others,
and organised a new Parliament. The Bretons, how-
ever, resisted the new tribunal with all their native
stubbornness, and, after a struggle of four years, the
Government gave way, the old judges were restored
to their places, and d'Aiguillon recalled.
The duke returned to Versailles, eager for revenge
upon Choiseul, to whose machinations he attributed
the check which his projects had sustained, and placed
himself at the head of the devout party, the sworn
enemies of the Minister. The position of this party
and of its leader had, however, been much weakened
of late years by the expulsion of the Jesuits and the
successive deaths of the Dauphin — the intimate friend
and protector of the duke — the Dauphiness and the
Queen; and d'Aiguillon's prospects of triumphing
over his enemy seemed small indeed.
Under these circumstances, it was absolutely neces-
sary for d'Aiguillon to seek new allies, and, accord-
ingly, he turned towards Madame du Barry, who, he
judged, would be ready enough to respond to the
advances of one who was not only an important per-
sonage himself, but able to secure for her the counte-
nance and support of some of the greatest names in
France. A consummate courtier, the former lover of
Madame de Chateauroux had no difficulty in gaining
a complete ascendency over the easy-natured favourite,
who soon conceived for him a sincere friendship,
which, if any reliance is to be placed in contemporary
gossip, was not long in de\'eloping into a warmer
feeling.
As an earnest of favours to come, on the death of
the Due de Chaulnes, in the autumn of 1769, Madame
du Barry succeeded in procuring for d'Aiguillon the
post of Captain-Lieutenant of the Chcvau-lcgcrs of
the King's Household. This was not only a lucrative,
MADAME DU BARRY 119
but a \-ery important, jx)sition, as it afforded its pos-
sessor frequent opportunities for private interviews
with the King;^ and Choiseul, anxious that it should
be filled by one of his own party, had endeavoured
to obtain it for his nephew, the Vicomte de Choiseul.
The news that the relative of the Minister had been
passed over in favour of the nominee of the mistress
created general surprise, and plainly indicated that the
influence of the once all-powerful Choiseul was no
longer to be undisputed.
I'lie rapprochement between d'Aiguillon and ]\Ia-
dame du Barry assuring as it did to the former an
advocate with the King, and to the latter the support
of the devout party, greatly strengthened the hands
of both in the struggle against their common enemy.
Nevertheless, it may be doubted whether they would
have ventured so quickly to assume the aggressive had
not circumstances secured them the adhesion of two
allies as ambitious and unscrupulous as d'Aiguillon
himself and far more able, the Chancellor Maupeou
and the Abbe Terray.
Rene Nicolas de Maupeou came of an ancient
Parliamentary family, who more than a century be-
fore had counted fifty kinsfolk by blood and marriage
in the Parliament of Paris alone. His father, Rene
Charles de Maupeou, had successively filled the posts
of First President, garde-des-sceaiix and vice-chancel-
lor, and in September 1768, on the resignation of
Lamoignon, had been appointed Chancellor, a position
which he resigned twenty-four hours later in favour
of his son.
The elder Maupeou, who is described as "of noble
and majestic figure, dignified countenance, and ami-
*The Kinp himself was Captain of tlic Chevau-lcgcrs, and
bofli he and Louis XIV. always wore the uniform of the corps
when with the army in the field.
I20 MADAME DU BARRY
able disposition," seems to have been both popular
and respected ; the younger, in nearly every respect
the exact antithesis of his father, was probably the
best hated man of liis time ; indeed, it would be diffi-
cult to name any Minister who has been to the same
degree the object of public execration. If we are to
credit only half of what we read about him, it would
appear that such a monster of malevolence, ingrati-
tude, avarice, treachery, hypocrisy, and general de-
pravity had never before been seen, while "he bore on
his countenance all the signs of the baseness of his
soul, and his person inspired an instinctive repulsion.'"
However that may be, Maupeou was a man of con-
siderable ability and extraordinary tenacity of pur-
pose, an indefatigable worker — he rose as early as
four o'clock in the morning — a shrewd judge of his
fellows, and gifted with a perfect genius for subter-
ranean intrigue.
Maupeou had owed his appointment to Choiseul,'
and had at first affected for his patron an almost re-
pulsive idolatry. He was wont to declare that nothing
could induce him to change his residence, because
from his windows he could at least perceive the
chimneys of the Hotel de Choiseul; boasted that "he
* Here is his portrait drawn by his biographer, M. Flammer-
mont :
" He was ' a little black man.' He had a low forehead, bushy
and very black eyebrows, keen, cold, piercing eyes, a prominent
nose, a large and disagreeable mouth, a retreating chin, a bilious
complexion, generally white, often yellow, and sometimes green;
at the Court they called him 'la bigarrade (sour orange).' In a
word, he was frankly hideous." — Le Chancelicr Maupeou et Ics
Parlements, p. 7.
' Choiseul was not blind to the dangerous and intriguing char-
acter of Maupeou, but he deemed himself strong enough to be
able to ignore it. When some of his friends protested against the
appointment, he replied : " I am aware that Maupeou is a scoun-
drel, but he is the most capable person for the Chancellorship.
If he misbehaves himself, I shall get rid of him."
IMADAME DU BARRY 121
bore on his heart the Hvery of the Minister," and
never spoke of him but as "our good duke." But
even while thus protesting his unswerving devotion to
his interests, Maupeou was dihgently seeking the
means to effect his ruin.
The Chancellor's desire to secure the fall of Choiseul
was not, as ^\'as the case with d'Aiguillon, prompted
by any personal feeling, but simply by expediency ; the
Minister stood between IMaupeou and the realisation
of a project whereby he hoped to assure for ever his
f>olitical fortunes.
For more than forty years the relations between the
Crown and the Parliaments had been exceedingly
strained. The magistrates, who derived their author-
ity from the King, were no longer satisfied with ex-
ercising their judicial functions; they now sought to
band themselves together and form a new organisa^
tion in the body politic, a tribunal which should be the
organ of the nation, the guardian of its liberties, in-
terests, and rights, the judge between the King and
people, the interpreter of the sovereign's will.
Such pretensions, as may be imagined, were strongly
resented by Louis XV., who entertained as exalted a
conception of the royal prerogative as his predecessor,
and who repeatedly asserted in his solemn declarations,
in his beds of justice, that the will of the sovereign
was paramount and must be obeyed.
The importance of the question at issue can hardly
be overestimated. The Parliaments did not lay claim
to the right of remonstrance — that was not contested ;
they claimed to enjoy the right of refusing to register
the royal edicts; in other words, to impose an ahso-
lute veto on the measures of the King. "If it was
decided in favour of the King," wrote Madame
rl'Kpinav, voicing, in all probability, the opinion of her
friend Rousseau, the consequence would be to render
122 MADAME DU BARRY
him absolutely despotic. If it was decided in favour
of the Parh anient, the King would possess hardly
more authority than the King of England."*
Although the difference between the parties was of
such long standing, a settlement seemed as far off as
ever ; and, in the meanwhile, undignified and vexatious
disputes were of frequent occurrence, which on several
occasions had been carried to such lengths as to throw
the whole judicial machinery of the realm into hope-
less disorder for months together. The King would
submit an edict to the Parliament; the Parliament
would remonstrate; the King would hold a Bed of
Justice and insist on the registration of the edict; the
Parliament would refuse and suspend its functions;
the King would order the recalcitrant judges to re-
sume their duties and exile those who disobeyed, with
the result that all litigation would come to a standstill
and great hardships be inflicted on unfortunate suit-
ors, who were compelled to wait for redress until a
truce had been concluded.
Out of this impasse the keen eye of Maupeou per-
ceived that there were but two ways of escape : the
re-establishment of the States-General, or the over-
throw of the existing Parliamentary institutions and
the creation of new courts, the members of which
should be compelled to confine themselves to their
judicial functions. For the first, the time was not
yet ripe, in addition to which it would not have in any
any way furthered his designs, which were to
strengthen the authority of the Crown, ''en la retiranf
de la poiissiere du grcffe, oil elle etait menacee de
/ensevelir," and by so doing render himself indis-
pensable to the King. But the second might be ac-
complished if Louis XV. could be inspired with the
resolution necessary for a vigorous coup d'etat.
® Cited by M. Vatel in Histoire de Madame du Barry, ii, 15.
MADAME DU BARRY 123
To carry out any measure of this kind, however, so
long as Choiseul retained his credit with the King, was
out of the question, for Choiseul had continued the
policy of his predecessor. Cardinal de Bernis, or
rather that of their common protectress, Madame de
Pompadour, and supported the Parliaments, who
were devoted to him. The first step, therefore,
to the overthrow of the Parhaments must be the
overthrow of Choiseul ; and it was with this ob-
ject in view that the Chancellor determined to
cast in his lot with d'Aiguillon and Madame du
Barry."
The Abbe Terray, who followed the Chancellor into
the camp of the favourite, was, like Maupeou, a mem-
ber of the Parliament; like him, ambitious and
absolutely devoid of principle; and, by a singular
coincidence, like him again, a man of singularly un-
prepossessing appearance. "He was a very extraor-
dinary being, this Abbe Terray, and. happily, of a
very rare species. His exterior was rugged, sinister,
even terrifying: a tall, be^it figure, haggard eyes, a
furtive glance, which conveyed the impression of
falseness and perfidy, uncouth manners, a harsh voice,
a dry conversation, no openness of soul, judging every
human being unfavourably because he judged them
by himself, a laugh rare and caustic." Although he
was harsh to the last degree to those unable to resist
or injure him, he showed himself immoderately com-
plaisant and disgracefully servile towards those whom
lie believcfl io have credit. Never did there exist a
more icy heart or one more inaccessible to affections,
• M. Flammcrmont's Le Chaucclicr Maupeou ct Ics Parlcmcnts,
p. 153. Diographie gcncrale, article Maupeou, by M. Grcgoirc.
"On one occasion, when dining at the house of a friend, who
knew his character intimately, Terray began to laugh, upon
which his host remarked to his neighbour at the table, "See!
the abbe is laughing. Some one must have met with misfortune."
124 MADAME DU BARRY
save that for sensual pleasures, or for money, as a
means of procuring those pleasures.""
Such is the description given of him by one of his
contemporaries.
Terray's intellectual qualities, however, as his critic
readily admits, were vastly superior to his moral, and,
employed for worthier ends, might have atoned for
his vices. Heir to a wealthy uncle enriched by specu-
lations in Mississiupi stock, he had largely increased
his patrimony through his connection with the scan-
dalous Malisset Association, formed to raise the price
of grain, and in which Louis XV. himself was pop-
ularly believed to be interested, and was now a rich
man. In the Parliament of Paris, which he had
entered when very young, he had early gained distinc-
tion and had taken a leading part in the campaign
against the Jesuits, receiving as the reward of his
services the rich a1>bey of Molesmes. At this period
he had been a follower of Choiseul, but chagrin at the
duke's refusal to recognise his claims to advancement
and, more particularly, to the post of Comptroller-
General, when vacated by Laverdi in the autumn of
1768, had decided him to join his fortunes to those
of Maupeou and work with him for the downfall of
the haughty Minister.
The cabal gained its first success in the closing days
of 1769.
Maynon d'Invau, who had replaced Laverdi as
Comptroller-General in the autumn of the previous
year, had found his new post very far from a bed of
roses, for the difificulties which his predecessor had
bequeathed him" were aggravated by the growing an-
" Montyon's Pariicularites et Observations siir les Controleurs-
Generaux des Finances de 1660 a 1791.
'"Laverdi had left the debt 115 millions since the Peace; the
sinking-fund was only a bait, for much more was borrowed than
was extinguished. In January 1769, the revenue had been fore-
MADAME DU BARRY 125
tagonism between Choiseul and Maupeou, and between
the King- and the magistracy. His expedients for
remedying the lamentable condition of the finances
having been rejected by the Parliament of Paris, and
a bed of justice having failed to bring the recalcitrant
judges to reason, he endeavoured to steer a middle
course between the wishes of the Court and the Parlia-
ment ; and in a council held at Versailles, on December
21, laid upon the table a modified form of his original
proposals, containing a scheme for the reduction of
expenses and the abolition of a number of financial
offices, as a concession to the gentlemen of the robe.
Choiseul supported his protege: Maupeou attacked
him vigorously; the King sided with the Chancellor,
broke up the council in a passion, and. retiring to his
cabinet, slammed the door violently behind him. Then
Maupeou was sent for, and remained in conference
with the King for half an hour, as the result of which
it was decided, in anticipation of Maynon d'lnvau's
resignation, which was tendered almost immediately,
to offer the post of Comptroller-General to Terray,
whom the Chancellor declared to be the only man
capable of initiating and carrying through the meas-
ures that were needed.
The fall of Maynon dTnvau and the appointment
of Terray was a severe blow to the prestige of
Choiseul, and though the Minister himself affected
to make light of the matter, its significance was not
lost upon his friends. "I supped on Tuesday with
the grand-papa (Choiseul)." writes Madame du Def-
fand to Walpole; "he is still in the best of spirits; he
will be like Charles VIL, of whom it was said that no
one could lose a kingdom more gaily.'
>>is
stalled to the amount of thirty-two and a half million livres. —
Martin's Histoire de Prance jusqu'cn 1789, xvi. 246,
"Letter of December 26, 17G9.
CHAPTER X
THE year 1770 opened for Madame du Barry
with a fresh proof of the royal favour. On
the counterscarp of the fortifications of Nantes
stood a number of houses, booths, and shops, the
property of the Crown. The rent derived from these
structures, estimated by contemporary writers at
40,000 hvres per annum, had in 1769 been bestowed
b}' Louis XV. on the Duchesse de Lauraguais, who,
however, only lived to enjoy it a few months, and, on
January i, the King, by way of a New Year's gift,
handed his mistress a brevet conferring a life interest
in Lcs Logcs de Nantes upon her.
This present was extremely acceptable to Madame
du Barry, wdio had not yet received any considerable
pecuniary favours, and had, therefore, been able to
indulge in but few of the hundred extravagances for
which her soul yearned. Deeming it inadvisable, until
her position was assured, to make application to the
King, she had been compelled to have recourse to the
''Roue," who, in confident expectation of a bountiful
return, had cast his bread upon the waters freely
enough. However, in the years to come, the countess
was destined to receive ample compensation for these
few months of self-denial, and her astute brother-in-
law to reap a rich reward for having, as he afifirmed,
well-nigh iDCggared himself in assisting the lady to
maintain her new dignity.^
'In his letter to Malesherbes, already cited, the "Roue" says:
"In order to sustain her new position during the first fifteen
months, during which she received no pecuniary favour, I en-
gaged the remainder of my fortune."
126
MADAME DU BARRY 127
Early in the following spring, the favourite removed
from the apartments on the rcj:-de-cliaiisscc of the
Cour Royale. which she had occupied since her in-
stallation at Versailles, to those of the late Dauphiness,
Marie Josephe of Saxony. These apartments, which
had never before been occupied by a mistress, were
situated on the second floor of the chateau, above the
Cabinets of Louis XV., and formed part of what were
known as the Petits Cabinets.' In the interval between
the death of the Dauphiness and the installation of
Madame du Barry they had undergone various modi-
fications, and now comprised an ante-chamber, a din-
ing-room, a cabinet de compagnie, a private cabinet, a
library, an arricre-hihliothcqiic, a wardrobe and a
bath-room ; while a private staircase communicating
with the King's apartments on the floor below enabled
the monarch to visit his mistress at any hour he pleased
without being observed."
Although preparations for Madame du Barry's
occupation of these apartments seem to have been in
progress throughout the previous winter, the lady was
dissatisfied with their condition; and, accordingly,
advantage was taken of the annual visit of the Court
to Fontainebleau in the following autumn to have
' The " Petits Cabinets," sometimes called the " Petits Ap-
partemcnts," were the portion of the King's apartments situated
above his Cabinets, or state rooms, which were on the first floor
of the chateau. Here Louis XV. had his library, kitchens, where
he occasionally amused himself by experiments in cooking, of
which he was almost as fond as his successor of carpentry, distil-
leries, a bath-room and, on one of the upper terraces, his aviaries.
Here also he gave supper-parties to his intimate friends and re-
ceived visits from mattresses de [massage. Without being en-
tirely cut off from the rest of the chateau, the Petits Cabinets
had only just enough communication as was retiuired by the
servants, and no one, not even members of the Royal Family,
ever entered the sacred precincts, except by invitation of the
King.
* Sec the plan in M. do Nolhac's Lc Chateau de l/ersaillcs sous
Louis XV.
128 MADAME DU BARRY
them redecorated and regilded, an army of work-
men being- employed in order to complete the work be-
fore the favourite's return. Two years later, the
countess came to the conclusion that the bath-room was
not quite as commodious as it might be made, and in-
sisted on new baths being constructed; a request, or
command, which was duly complied with, although
at this time the unfortunate Director of the Board
of Works appears to have been in dire straits for
lack of funds, and writes to Terray, the Comptroller-
General :
" Monsieur, — The Royal Family are impatiently
demanding various arrangements which have been sub-
mitted by me to his Majesty and commanded by him.
Madame la Comtesse du Barry has demanded new
baths in her apartment, which his Majesty has like-
wise commanded, and the work will cost 15,000 livres.
I have not a single sol wherewith to carry out his
Majesty's wishes. I again implore you to place me in
a position to do so."
Madame du Barry's installation in these apartments
marks a new step in her triumphant career. So strik-
ing a mark of the royal favour as the conferment of a
lodging in the Petits Cabinets, the very apartments,
too, which had formerly been occupied by the second
lady in the land, was not likely to be ignored, and
many of those who had hitherto held aloof from the
mistress now deemed it incumbent upon them to pay
their court to her. " I remarked," writes the Due de
Croy, " that little by little people went more and more
to visit the countess. She was established in a lodging
in the Cabinets, the same in which Madame la Dau-
phine died. From all this she derived the advantage of
being generally acknowledged as a lady of the Court;
MADAME DU BARRY 129
she went to all the fetes pell-mell with the others; peo-
ple gradually became accustomed to it."*
In the face of these renewed proofs of the King's
infatuation, before the association of d'Aiguillon,
Maupeou and Terray, the defection of men whom he
had always believed devoted to his interests, and of
high-born dames, who, he perceived, were only await-
ing a favourable opportunity to follow the example of
Marechale de Mirepoix and the Comtesse de Valenti-
nois, and openly take part with the favourite, Choiseul
began to be seriously alarmed and to find, as he con-
fided to Dumouriez, that " the jade was occasioning
him considerable embarrassment.'" However, he con-
soled himself with the reflection that with the arrival
of the Dauphiness-elect, the Archduchess Marie Antoi-
nette, everything would be changed. A young prin-
cess, accustomed at her mother's Court to hear the
name of the Due de Choiseul mentioned with esteem
and affection as the firm friend of Austria and the
negotiator of her own marriage, would not hesitate
to accord him all the support in her power. And this
support would be no mean factor in the situation.
Beautiful and fascinating as she was reported to be,
she could hardly fail to obtain influence over a mon-
arch so susceptible to feminine charms as Louis XV.,
■who, for very shame's sake, must hesitate to flaunt
before the eyes of a young girl brought up amid virtu-
ous surrounrlings his low-born mistress. The result
would be that decorum would once more reign at
Court; Madame du Barry would be relegated to the
background ; the cabal which had formed around her
would be powerless to harm him, and he would be
able to crush his enemies at his leisure.
* Mimoires incdits du Due de Croy, Bihliothcque dc I'lnstitut,
cited by M. de Nolhac.
° La Vie et les Memoirss du General Dumouriez (edit. Bervillc
and Barricrc), i. 143.
130 ]\IADAME DU BARRY
Thus Choiseul reasoned, but, unhappily for himself,
he underrated, as he had from the very first, the
strength and permanency of Louis's senile passion, and
failed to perceive that the friendship and support of a
princess who, while able to annoy, might be powerless
to injure, the lady whom the King delighted to honour,
would be a broken reed indeed.
Marie Antoinette arrived at Strasburg on May 7 ; on
the 14th, she was met by Louis XV., the Dauphin,
and Mesdamcs, at the Pont de Berne, in the Forest
of Compiegne, and conducted to Versailles, where the
marriage was immediately celebrated.
On the evening before the ceremony, a supper, at
which the whole of the Royal Family and a few of
the most favoured courtiers were present, was given at
the Chateau of La Muette, where the royal party had
broken their journey, upon which occasion the King
presented the young princess, amongst other jewels,
with the famous pearl necklace threaded on a single
string, which had been brought to France by Anne of
Austria, and bequeathed by her to future queens and
dauphinesses."
Another incident connected with the banquet was of
a less pleasing nature, for Louis XV. had the unpar-
donably bad taste to invite Madame du Barry, although
up to the present he had never yet ventured to introduce
his mistress to the same table as the Royal Family.
The Austrian Ambassador, Mercy-Argenteau, who
had been commissioned by his " Sacred Majesty," as
he styles Maria Theresa, to report to her the minutest
details concerning her daughter, could scarcely believe
'The smallest of the pearls composinp: this necklace was said
to be as large as a filbert. Magnificent though they were, how-
ever, they were surpassed, according to Mademoiselle de Mont-
pensier, by the pearls of the Marechale de I'Hopital, which le
Grand Monarque purchased and presented to Madame de Mon-
tespan.
MADA^IE DU BARRY 131
the evidence of his eyes. " It appears inconceivable,"
he writes, " that the King should choose this moment
to accord to the favourite an honour which has been
refused her up to the present.'"
" What is the Comtesse du Barry's function at
Court?" inquired Marie Antoinette, observing with
surprise the attentions which the infatuated monarch
lavished upon the favourite.
" To amuse the King," was the diplomatic answer
of the courtier addressed.
" Then," rejoined the young girl, with all the can-
dour of her fifteen years, " I intend to be her rival."
" A rivalry indeed ensued," remarks M. de Nolhac,
" very different from the one she imagined, between
innocence and vice, a contest secret at first, but soon
apparent, and affecting the highest political interests.'"
Beautiful, joyous, and affectionate, eager to please,
grateful for every attention, Marie Antoinette speedily
won golden opinions from Louis XV., who, we feel
bound to observe, appears to have treated her with a
kindness which might well have merited more consid-
eration for his domestic tranquillity than the princess
afterwards exhibited. With Madame du Barry, too,
contrary to the general impression which seems to
prevail, nothing occurred during the first few weeks to
presage the storm which was ere long to arise and defy
all the efforts of Louis XV., Mercy, and Maria
Theresa to calm. The Dauphiness, though speedily
made aware of the true nature of the mysterious func-
tion of " amusing " the King, remained for some time
in ignorance of the favourite's humble origin and event-
ful past; and, acting on the advice of the sage Mercy
and her reader, the Abbe de Vermond, made no dis-
tinction between Madame du Barry and other ladies
'' Mercy to Kaunitz, May 17, 1770.
'Marie Antoinette et Madame du Barry, Revue des Deux
Mondcs, May, 1896. v , p
Memoirs — 5
132 MADAME DU BARRY
of the Court; that is to say, she treated her with
courtesy on the occasions on which they happened to
meet at the card-table or elsewhere. The favourite, on
her side, " who knew how to put on decorum with le
grand habit," showed towards the Dauphiness an ex-
treme deference bordering on servility, and was evi-
dently prepared to go to any lengths to propitiate the
new power.
About the middle of June, Madame du Barry sum-
moned up sufficient courage to make advances, and,
accordingly, presented herself before the Dauphiness
at her lever, upon which Mercy reports to Maria
Theresa :
" Madame du Barry believed it incumbent upon her
to pay her court one morning to her Royal Highness ;
that princess received her without affectation ; the latter
conducted herself with dignity and in a manner that
could give offence to no one."*
To be received " without affectation" was, probably,
quite as much as the favourite felt that she had the
right to expect, and in the freedom of her apartments
she lisped to the delighted King, like his mistress
grateful for small mercies, her opinion that '' cette
petite roitsse etait sarmante."
Matters continued thus till the early part of July,
when an unfortunate incident came to mar the har-
mony of Versailles, if harmony could ever be said to
exist in a Court which was without its equal in Europe
as a forcing-house for envy, hatred, malice, and all
uncharitableness.
It happened that the Dauphin had for governor a
certain Due de la Vauguyon, of whom we have had
occasion to speak in an earlier chapter, a despicable old
intriguer, who passed for a devot, and was in the habit
of listening at keyholes and suchlike places, in the hope
* Letter of June 15, 1770.
MADAME DU BARRY 133
of gleaning information which miglit further his de-
signs.'" Through hatred of Choiseul, he had espoused
the cause of Madame du Barry, and, for a similar
reason, had viewed with strong disapprobation the
Austrian marriage, which had been the work of his
enemy. Being powerless to prevent it, he now sought
to render it as unhappy as possible, in order that he
might retain his hitherto unbounded influence over the
mind of his pupil and complete his task of embittering
him against Choiseul."
In pursuance of this amiable resolution, he, through
his son, the Due de Saint-]\Iegrin, persuaded Madame
du Barry to obtain the King's consent to the Dauphin's
inclusion in certain supper-parties which Louis was in
the habit of giving to his intimate friends at Saint-
Hubert, a hunting-lodge situated between the forests
of Rambouillet and Saint-Leger, and at which, says
2vlercy, " decorum was not always scrupulously ob-
served.'"* By this means the duke, apparently, hoped to
bring about a rapprochement between the Dauphin and
Madame du Barry — he had been at great pains to con-
ceal the lady's past from his pupil — and, at the same
time, cause dissension between the young prince and
Marie Antoinette, who, he was aware, had conceived
a strong aversion to the favourite, though she had
hitherto contrived to keep her feelings under control.
"■ " A singular incident happened the other day. I was alone
with my husband when M. de la Vauguyon stealthily approached
the door, in order to listen. A valet-de-chambre , who is either
a fool or a very honest man, opened it, and M. de la Vauguyon,
not having time to withdraw, was found posted there like a
sentinel." — Marie Antoinette to Maria Theresa, July 9, 1770.
" Some writers allege that La Vauguyon went so far as to en-
deavour to persuade the young prince that Choiseul had caused
his father and mother, the late Dauphin and Dauphiness, to be
poisoned, but dull-witted as the future Louis XVI. undoubtedly
was, it is difficult to believe that any one could have supposed
him capable of crediting so monstrous a charge.
" Mercy to Maria Theresa, July 14, 1770.
134 MADAME DU BARRY
The Dauphin attended one of the suppers, where he
was not a httle astonished at the levity which prevailed,
and particularly at the freedom with which Madame du
Barry treated his august grandfather. However, as he
was an exceedingly timid and reserved youth — though
he had been married nearly two months, he had not yet
ventured to claim his conjugal privileges — it is proba-
ble that he would have kept his opinion of such pro-
ceedings to himself, had not Mcsdamcs, alarmed at
the danger which threatened the innocence of their
nephew, taken upon themselves to give him a little his-
tory of the favourite, not forgetting a few of the most
striking episodes in her life; and this information
made such an impression upon the mind of the Dau-
phin that from that moment " he bestowed upon the
Comtesse du Barry frequent marks of his aversion.""
Nor was this all ; for, in a conversation with Marie
Antoinette on July 8, in the course of which he sol-
emnly announced to the blushing princess his intention,
during the approaching visit of the Court to Com-
piegne, to live with her " dans toute I'ctendiic re I' in-
tiniitc qui coniporte leur union,"^* the name of Madame
du Barry happened to be mentioned, upon which the
Dauphin repeated to his wife all that his aunts had told
him concerning that lady.
The day after this conversation we find the Dau-
pliiness writing to Maria Theresa as follows :
" The King has shown me a thousand kindnesses,
" Mercy to jMaria Theresa, July 14, 1770.
" But he did not carry out his resolution. On January 3, 1774
— three and a half years later — Maria Theresa wrote to Mercy:
" The coldness of the Dauphin, a young husband of twenty years
of age, towards a pretty wife, is more than I can conceive. In
spite of all the assertions of the faculty, my suspicions increase
as to the physical constitution of the prince, and I have little to
count upon but the good offices of the Emperor, who, on his
arrival at Versailles, will perhaps find means to compel this in-
dolent husband to acquit himself better of his duty."
MADAME DU BARRY 135
and I love him tenderly ; but it is pitiable to see his in-
fatuation for Madame du Barry, who is the most fool-
ish and impertinent creature imaginable. She played
every evening with us at Marly, and on two or three
occasions found herself at my side; but she did not
address me, neither did I attempt to enter into conver-
sation with her; but, when obliged, I have spoken to
her."
And three days later :
" I have forgotten to tell you that I wrote yesterday
to the King ; I was very frightened, being aware that
Aladame du Barry reads everything. But you may be
persuaded, my dear mother, that I shall commit no
mistake either for or against her."
But the influences at work around her were too
strong to permit of the little Dauphiness carrying out
this diplomatic resolution. Apart from the Dauphin,
who was still only a boy, and too shy and reserved to
invite her confidence, Alarie Antoinette had no one to
whom she could turn for guidance amid the shoals and
quicksands of the Court. Her dame d'honneiir, the
Comtesse de Noailles, possessed the rare merit of not
being an intriguer, but she carried flattery to lengths
which irritated the Dauphiness, and, besides, was but
little qualified to give advice, save on matters of Court *
ceremonial, her devotion to which procured her from
her young mistress the name of "Madame I'Etiqiiette";
while none of the other ladies of her Household ]ws-
sessed any particular attraction for the princess, which
was scarcely surprising, as the majority were indebted
for their positions to La Vauguyon or the favourite.*'
In her isolation, the young girl turned towards her
aunts, the three Mcsdames — the fourth. Madame
Louise, had, a few months before, succeeded in wrest-
ing from Louis XV. a reluctant permission to enter
" .M. do Nolhac's Marie Antoinette, Dauphine, p. 142.
136 MADAME DU BARRY
the Carmelites of Saint-Denis — whose friendship
Maria Theresa, aware of the reputation of these prin-
cesses for piety and virtue, but not, unfortunately, of
their predilection for petty intrigue, had advised her to
cultivate.
Mcsdaoncs were enchanted to find their niece so
ready to seek their society and accept their guidance.
They received her with open arms, gave her the key
to a private door leading to Madame Adelaide's apart-
ments, in which the sisters were in the habit of holding
their little Court, so that she might come thither un-
attended and at any hour she pleased, racked their
brains to devise new means of amusing her, and ca-
ressed and flattered her to the top of her bent. From
thence to obtain influence over her mind, to imbue her
with their own prejudices, to dictate to her the attitude
she should assume towards the different members of
the Court, was but a step. " The insinuations of the
old princesses, falling incessantly on tlie mind of the
young girl," says M. de la Rocheterie, " ended by
making an impression upon it, however strong the
protest of her good sense, as the continual dropping of
water ends by wearing away even the hardest rock.
This deplorable ascendency extended itself over every-
thing, mingled with everything, touched everything.""
Mesdames hated Madame du Barry and all her sup-
porters, though a wholesome dread of their royal
father's anger prevented them from showing their
antipathy in too marked a manner. But the frank,
impetuous little Dauphiness was quite incapable of
dissimulating her dislike, and the princesses meanly "in-
cite4 her to a resentment which they dared not exhibit
themselves." So long, however, as the Court was at
Compiegne occasions of peril were rare ; Marie Antoi-
nette did not see Madame du Barry, except at a dis-
^'^Histoire de Marie Antoinette, i. 91.
MADAME DU BARRY 137
tance, at Mass, the chase, or the grand convert, and
had, therefore, no opportunity of testifying the aver-
sion and contempt which she now entertained for the
favourite. On the other hand, the Due de la Vauguyon
and his confederate, Madame de Marsan, the gouver-
nante of the Dauphin's sisters. Clotilde and Ehsabeth,
who came every day to pay their court to the Dauphin-
ess, found themselves treated with a coldness which
excited general remark and showed the Du Barry party
that they had now to reckon with a new adversary.
Towards the end of July, the Court paid a short visit
to Choisy, and it was while there that a false move on
the part of Madame du Barry, which directly touched
the Dauphiness, greatly accentuated Marie Antoinette's
dislike of the favourite and ruined any slight chance
that might have remained to the latter of eventually
overcoming the hostility of the princess.
To amuse the Dauphiness, the King gave orders for
some comedies to be performed in the theatre of the
chateau. This theatre was a very small one, and could
with difficulty accommodate the various members of
the Royal Family and their respective suites, and one
evening it happened that Madame du Barry, arriving
late with her two inseparables, the Marechale de Mire-
poix and the Comtesse de Valentinois, found all the
front seats occupied by the dames du palais of the
Dauphiness. They requested them to make way, but
the dames declined, and a war of words ensued, where-
in one of Marie Antoinette's ladies, the Comtesse de
Gramont, who is described by Madame du Deffand as
" foolish, impudent, and talkative," greatly distin-
guished herself. Some of the shafts she discharged
would appear to have been very keenly barbed and
to have found their mark; any way, next morning
Madame du Barry, instead of allowing the affair to
rest, as policy should certainly have dictated, having
^38 MADAME DU BARRY
regard to the official position of the dchnquent, com-
plained to the King-, who promptly exiled the Comtesse
de Gramont fifteen leagnes from the Court.
This incident created an immense sensation. The
Comtesse de Gramont was the sister-in-law of the
duchess of that name, and a leading light of the
Choiseul party, which was highly incensed at the exile
of one of its members, and besought the Dauphiness
to intercede for her with the King. This Marie Antoi-
nette, who was herself very indignant, promised to
do; but Mercy intervened, and, on his advice, she con-
fined herself to expressing her regret that punishment
should have been inflicted on one of her ladies without
any official notification having- been made to her, as
etiquette demanded. Louis XV., though perfectly well
aware that it was the punishment, and not the breach
of etiquette, that was being made the subject of pro-
test, w^as much relieved at escaping so easily from an
awkward position, laid the blame on the negligence of
his Commander des Ordrcs, promised that it should
not occur again, and made many affectionate speeches
to the Dauphiness.
Three months later, while the Court was at Fon-
tainebleau, the exiled dame dii palais wrote to her
mistress, informing her that she was ill and urgently
in need of the best medical advice, and begging her to
obtain the King's permission for her to come to Paris.
There was in all probability nothing more serious the
matter with the countess than the malady from which
all ladies excluded for a season from the delights of
Versailles and the capital suffered, to wit, ennui. But
the kind heart of Marie Antoinette was touched, and
after a dinner ati grand convert, at which all the Royal
Family were present, she took the opportunity of solic-
iting the return of the exile " in a manner full of grace
and sweetness."
MADAT^IE DU BARRY 139
The King demurred, and hinted that it would be
as well if j\Iadame du Barry's pardon were obtained.
The Dauphiness exclaimed : " Think what a grief it
would be to me, papa, if a lady attached to my service
were to die in your disgrace!" But she did not act
upon the hint, in consequence of which, according to
Mercy, Madame du Barry " showed at first some in-
clination to oppose the desire of Madame la Dau-
phine." Finally, a courier having been despatched to
obtain a certificate of ill-health from the complaisant
medical adviser of the Comtesse de Gramont, that
lady was permitted to reside in Paris, but no further
concession was made, and the Court remained forbid-
den ground.
Whether the King's refusal to pardon the countess
was due to the influence of Madame du Barry is very
doubtful. Vindictiveness was so entirely alien to the
favourite's character, and it was so obviously to her
interests to endeavour to conciliate the Dauphiness,
that we are inclined to think that she offered no oppo-
sition to the lady's return to Court, and may even, con-
trary to Mercy's assertion, have seconded the solicita-
tions of the princess; but that Louis XV., having de-
termined to make an example, was not to be turned
from his purpose. However that may be, it is certain
that Marie Antoinette, whose pride was deeply wound-
ed by what she chose to regard as a personal affront,
never forgave Madame du Barry her share in the
affair, and henceforth treated her with the utmost dis-
dain, and tacitly encouraged her entourage to do like-
wise, to the intense chagrin of the favourite and the
annoyance of the King.
On the other hand, the Dauphiness lost no opportu-
nity of bestowing marks of her favour upon Choiseul,
his wife and sister. In so doing, of course, she was
only acting in accordance with the instructions of
I40 MADAME DU BARRY
Maria Theresa, who had charged her daughter never
to forget that Choisenl had been the negotiator of her
marriage, and that she owed her proud position entirely
to him. But, as matters stood, the result was most
unfortunate for the duke; for Madame du Barry and
her friends had little difficulty in persuading the King
that the attitude adopted by Marie Antoinette towards
the favourite was directly attributable to the influence
of the Choiseuls; and as the Dauphiness's favour de-
clined, that of the Minister declined also.
CHAPTER XI
BUT, in the meanwhile, events of far more im-
portance than the relations between a Dauphi-
ness and a favourite, at least in the eyes of all
save the most contemptible of palace intriguers, had
arisen to occupy public attention.
The indignation of the Bretons against d'Aiguillon
had been very far from appeased by the restoration of
their Parliament and the recall of the duke. They had
not ceased to demand justice upon their late governor,
whom, besides the grievances relative to his adminis-
tration, they accused of suborning witnesses to assist
in the conviction of La Chalotais and others; and at
length d'Aiguillon found himself compelled to request
the King to allow him to be brought to trial, in order
that he might have an opportunity of refuting the
charges against him. Formal proceedings were ac-
cordingly commenced before the Parliament of Paris
(April 14, 1770), Louis himself presiding at the open-
ing sitting and " comporting himself like a kind father
in the midst of beloved children."* Before, however,
the trial had been in progress very long, it became evi-
dent that the judges were animated by no friendly
feelings towards the duke, and determined to submit
his conduct in Brittany to the most searching investi-
gation. D'Aiguillon began to be seriously alarmed
(" The best reasons," he wrote to his friend, the Chev-
alier de Balleroy, " have difficulty in overcoming preju-
dice, partiality and intrigue"), and to see before him a
' Hardy's Journal des evcnemciits qu'ils parviennent a ma con'
naissance.
141
142 MADAME DU BARRY
humiliating sentence and possibly severe punishment,
for there can be very little doubt that the charges
against him were in the main but too well justified,
though, according to his apologist, M. Marcel Marion,"
many of the witnesses for the prosecution perjured
themselves in the most shameful manner.
It was now that d'Aiguillon reaped the reward of his
foresight in securing the friendship of one who had
the ear of the King. Whether, as contemporary gossip
alleges, Madame du Barry had become the mistress of
the duke is, to say the least, doubtful — it would seem
indeed to rest on no better evidence than the charge
that Madame de Pompadour was the mistress of
Choiseul — but, at the same time, there can be no ques-
tion that the favourite was sincerely attached to
d'Aiguillon, and, as soon as she understood the danger
which threatened him, exerted all her influence to in-
duce the King to put a stop to the trial.
Her task was not a difficult one. The feeling of
absolute authority was, as we have already observed,
as strong in Louis XV. as his predecessor, and he had
from the first regarded with disfavour an investigation
into the conduct of a person who had been the repre-
sentative of royalty in Brittany and might well plead
the orders of the King for many of the acts which
had aroused so much indignation in that province.
Moreover, it is highly probable that Maupeou, who
perceived in an interference with the course of the trial
an excellent opportunity for a great quarrel with the
Parliament, supported by his counsels the solicitations
of Madame du Barry, and thus removed any lingering
scruples which the King might still have entertained
about perpetrating so scandalous an abuse of his power.
Accordingly, on July 27, 1770, a Bed of Justice was
^ La Bretagne et Ic Due d'Aiguillon, i753-i77o. par M. Marcel
Marion (Paris, 1898).
MADAME DU BARRY 143
held at Versailles, and the Parliament informed that a
prosecution which tended to submit to its inspection the
secrecy of the King's administration, the execution of
his orders, and the personal use of his authority, could
not be allowed to continue, declared the conduct both
of d'Aiguillon and of the Breton magistrates whom
he had persecuted " irreproachable," annulled the pro-
ceedings, and imposed the most absolute silence on all
concerned.'
It would have been difficult to show more utter dis-
regard for all judicial forms. " It se-emed," says an
indignant contemporary writer, " that the King had
been induced to give the greatest eclat to this assembly,
merely that it might more absolutely become the object
of the derision of France and of all Europe. He was
perhaps the only person in his kingdom who was not
ashamed of it. That very evening he invited the Due
d'Aiguillon to be of the party to Marly,* and admitted
him to the honour of supping with him."
The Parliament returned from the Bed of Justice
" transported with rage," and, on July 2, threw down
the gauntlet to royal absolutism and fulminated a de-
cree setting forth that the proceedings on which the
King had seen fit to impose his veto contained " the
basis of grave proofs compromising the honour of the
Due d'Aiguillon," whom they, in consequence, declared
incapable of exercising any functions l^elonging to the
'Martin's Histoire de France jusqii'en 1789, xvi. 279.
* Only a small portion of the Court accompanied the Kins on
his visits to Marly, and Louis XV. always nominated those whom
he desired should he of the party.
'Vie priz'ce de Louis XV., vol. iv. p. 141. As we recently saw
this book referred to in an English weekly review as if it were
a mere chroniquc scandalense, we may here remark that such
is very far from being the case. The title is, indeed, somewhat
of a misnomer, as the work is far more concerned with the
public than the private actions of Louis XV., and is of no small
value to the serious historian, if only for the admirable account
it contains of the struggle between the King and the Parliaments.
144 MADAME DU BARRY
peerage until he had purged himself therefrom by due
process of law.
The Council quashed the decree of the Parliament.
The Parliament, after fruitless remonstrances, decreed
anew that the prosecution could not be considered
tenninated by an arbitrary act of absolute authority,
and were, as usual, supported by the provincial courts.
The Parliaments of Rennes and Bordeaux were par-
ticularly violent. The former ordered two memorials
in favour of d'Aiguillon to be burned by the public ex-
ecutioner, refused to register the royal edict of June
2y, and sent energetic remonstrances to the Chancellor.
The latter forbade the inhabitants of the duchy of
Aiguillon to bring their appeals before it, thus con-
firming the decree of the Parliament of Paris depriv-
ing the duke of his privileges. The King replied by
compelling the Parliament of Rennes to register the
obnoxious edict by force, caused two of its members,
both noblemen, to be arrested and imprisoned at Com-
piegne, and threw Dupaty, the attorney-general of the
Parliament of Bordeaux, into a gloomy dungeon in the
Chateau of Pierre-Encise, at the gates of Lyons, from
which, however, he was presently released, through the
mediation of Madame du Barry.*
Urged on by Maupeou, who had persuaded him to
regard the union between the Parliaments as a criminal
confederation directed against his royal authority, and
by the favourite, " who felt herself personally affected"
by the decree which pronounced the honour of her
protege compromised, Louis XV. now determined on
a coup d'Etat to bring the insolent judges to reason.
At a meeting of the Council on the evening of Septem-
ber 2, he announced his intention of holding a Bed of
'Martin's Histoire de France jusqii'en 1789, xvi. 280. Vatel's
Histoire de Madame du Barry, i. 424. Flammermont's Le Chan-
celier Maupeou et les Parlements, p. 87, et seq.
MADAME DU BARRY 145
Justice on the following day, not at Versailles, but in
Paris, at the Palais de Justice; and early next morn-
ing the Parisians were astonished to hear the sound of
cannon and to see the King, who seldom visited his
capital, drive into the Place Louis XV., escorted by
four companies of musketeers, and enter the Palais,
accompanied by the Chancellor in his robes of office/
The monarch entered the Salle des Seances, where
the members of the Parliament were assembled, took his
seat, and having, through the mouth of Maupeou, up-
braided them with their insubordinate conduct in the
most unmeasured terms, caused all the documents con-
nected with the prosecution of d'Aiguillon to be handed
over to him, ordered the decrees and resolutions
against the duke to be effaced from the registers, and
forbade the Parliament ever to reopen the affair on
any pretext whatsoever.
The magistrates appear to have been too thunder-
struck by this unwonted display of energy, on the part
of a sovereign whose feebleness had become a byword,
to have taken any steps for three days, when they met
and passed a resolution accusng the King of " a pre-
meditated plan to change the form of government, and
to substitute for the equable force of laws the irregular
concussions of arbitrary power" ; after which they
adjourned for the autumn vacation, and for three
months there was peace.
When, on September 2, Louis XV. had announced
to the Council his intention to hold a bed of justice on
the following day, Choiseul, shrewdly suspecting what
was in the air, had begged the King to excuse him
from attending, on the plea that he had arranged to
start that evening for La Fertc-Vidame, to pay a
'Letter of Madame du DefTand to Horace Walpole, September
3. 1770.
146 MADAME DU BARRY
long--promisecl visit to La Borde, the Court banker;
indeed, from the very commencement of the prosecu-
tion of d'Aiguillon the Minister had maintained an at-
titude of the strictest neutrahty. There can be no
question that his sympathies were entirely with the
Parhaments, and almost equally certain that he had
encouraged the Breton magistrates at first to resist
and afterwards to attack the duke. But he was too
keen-sighted to imagine that there was much hope of
the Parliaments compelling the King to yield, spurred
on as Louis was by the favourite, incited, in her turn,
by her reputed lover, d'Aiguillon.
Madame du Barry and her allies, however, were
determined to prevent their adversary from deriving
any advantage from this policy of self-effacement, and
did not scruple to charge him with concealing his hand
and secretly sustaining the magistrates in their resist-
ance; and, unfortunately for the Minster, an act of ex-
traordinary indiscretion on the part of his evil genius,
Madame de Gramont, lent but too much colour to these
accusations.
On August 20, Mercy reports to Maria Theresa that
" the Due de Choiseul had had a violent altercation
with the Due de Richelieu, owing to the latter having
declared that the Duchesse de Gramont, while passing
through Provence and Languedoc, on her way to the
waters of Bareges, had sought to stir up the Parlia-
ments of those provinces against the decisions of the
Court in the affair of the Due d'Aiguillon."
It is probable, as M. Flammermont observes, that
this was a calumny, and that Madame de Gramont had
confined herself to stating her own opinions on the
matter which the whole kingdom was discussing. The
duchess was not the woman to mince her words where
her successful rival and her brother's most bitter enemy
were concerned, but that did not prove that she was
MADAME DU BARRY 147
the mouthpiece of a conspirac}^ organised by Choiseul."
Nevertheless, the incident was not without its effect
upon the King, who from that moment treated the
Minister with marked coldness, and, though he con-
tinued to transact business with him and invite him to
his supper-parties, did not honour him with a single
word of kindness or confidence/
In point of fact, Choiseul at this period had far too
much on his hands to spend his time in encouraging
the Parliaments to resist the King by decrees and
remonstrances. He was meditating a stroke whereby
he intended to rid himself of his enemies and render
his services indispensable to his royal master.
In 1766, a small English settlement, which received
the name of Port Egmont, after the Earl of Egmont,
First Lord of the Admiralty, had been established on
one of the Falkland Islands, a group the importance of
which was then greatly overestimated. It was far from
a valuable possession, but Spain, which still asserted a
nominal supremacy over a large portion of the South
Seas, took umbrage, and, without making any formal
complaint to the English Government, in June 1770
the Governor of Buenos Ay res, Don Francesco Buc-
carelli, despatched an armament, which compelled the
little garrison to surrender and carried them away
prisoners.
When the news of this high-handed proceeding
reached London, the English Government sent orders
to its representative at Madrid to demand in peremp-
tory terms the restitution of the Falkland Islands and
the disavowrd of P.uccarelli's action, and, in view of a
possible refusal, active preparations were made for
10
war.
* M. Flammcrmont's Le ChanccUer Maupeou ct les Parlcmcnts,
p. lor. "I'ie frircc dc I.nuisXV.. iv. 146.
"* Stanhope's " History of England from the Peace of Utrecht,"
V. 416, et scq.
148 MADAME DU BARRY
Spain was in no condition to go to war, and, unsup-
ported, would probably have shrunk from so unequal a
struggle. But, by the terms of the Family Compact of
1 76 1, France was bound to come to her aid, with men
and ships, against any Power with which she might be-
come involved in hostilities; and, relying on the sup-
port of his ally, Carlos III. declined to grant the full
measure of reparation that England claimed, and inti-
mated very plainly that he was prepared to abide by
the consequences.
Everything now depended upon France, for Gri-
maldi, the Spanish Prime Minister, who governed his
master, was devoted to French interests, and might be
relied upon to act in accordance with the wishes of the
Cabinet of Versailles.'^ If France were unwilling to
go to war and advised conciliation, Spain would un-
doubtedly comply with England's demands; if, on the
other hand, she counselled resistance, hostilities must
as certainly follow.
The conduct of Choiseul at this juncture has been
the subject of much discussion, and with good reason,
since it varied with the changes in the political situation
in France. M. Gaston Maugras, his latest biographer,
asserts that the Minister's despatches prove beyond
a doubt that he was sincerely desirous of preserving
the peace." This may be true in regard to the later
despatches, though even in some of these there is a
ring of insincerity; but the earlier ones, and particu-
larly those written in the summer of 1770, are distinctly
belligerent in tone and, in our judgment, there can be
""His (Grimaldi's) doctrine is absolutely French; guided in
everything by the French closet, he ever has the French interest
in view, and considers Spain in a secondary light. I do not
accuse him of being a false servant, as I really think he con-
siders such a system most salutary for the master he serves ; at
least he has caused him to adopt it." — " Diaries and Correspond-
ence of James Harris, first Farl of Malmesbury," i. 56.
" Le Due et la Duchesse de Choiseul.
MADAME DU BARRY 149
no question that Choiseul both desired war and did his
utmost to bring it about.
That such should have been the case is scarcely a
matter for surprise, when we consider that however
disastrous such a conflict might have been to France, it
would undoubtedly have been to the personal advan-
tage of the Minister. D'Aiguillon, Maupeou, and Ter-
ray, aided by IMadame du Barry, were working assid-
uously to effect his downfall and, he had grave reason
to believe, were already within measurable distance of
attaining their object. But, in the event of war, their
machinations would be completely checkmated; nay
more, they would recoil upon their own heads, for then
Choiseul, who was familiar with the condition and
needs of both army and navy, who possessed the con-
fidence of the Courts of Madrid and Vienna, and could
count upon the support of the magistracy, would be-
come an indispensable man ; while his rivals, whose in-
trigues had exasperated the Parliament and enhanced
the difficultv of obtaining its consent to the fresh taxa- .
tion which hostilities would render necessary, would be
sent about their business." " I have no reason to
doubt," wrote Mercy, " that the Due de Choiseul be-
lieved that war would strengthen his position and ren-
der his services necessary.""
But if Choiseul desired war, it was far otherwise
with his master. Whatever his faults have been, Louis
XV. was not lacking in intelligence, and to enter upon
another conflict while France was still suffering from
the exhaustion produced by the last, over a mere ques-
tion of etiquette in which she had not the smallest inter- '
est, appeared to him, as indeed it was, the height of
insanity. Moreover, war would mean the triumph of
the Parliament and the sacrifice of the Chancellor and
"Mr. J. v.. T'crkins" "France- iin.Kr Louis XV.," ii. 247.
"Mercy to Maria Theresa, September 19, 1770.
I50 MADAME DU BARRY
the Comptroller-General, and probably d'Aigtiillon as
well, to its resentment, for the Parliament would then
be in a position to dictate terms to the King, and there
could be little doubt what those terms would be.
Nothing, Louis determined, should induce him to sub-
mit to so great a humiliation, and he intimated his
wishes to Choiseul in unmistakable terms.
Choiseul had, of course, no option but to obey, and,
accordingly, made some attempts to quench the flame
which he had been so industriously fanning. But the
belligerent tone of his earlier despatches had done their
work but too well; Spain, in the belief that France
would support her, had been actively engaged in pre-
paring for hostilities, the people were clamouring for
war, and Grimaldi replied that, if he advised Carlos III.
to accede to the English demands, he would be stoned
by the populace. Little hope of a settlement now re-
mained, and in October Choiseul asked the Council for
8,000,000 livres wherewith to prepare for the coming
struggle."
Some further weeks were wasted in fruitless nego-
tiations, and, on December 3, Frances, the French
Ambassador at St. James's, informed Choiseul that the
English Government were at the end of their patience
and that war was inevitable. The Minister thereupon
adopted a course which, we venture to think, must en-
tirely destroy any claim which he might otherwise have
upon our sympathy. He took upon himself to send
Prince Masserano, the Spanish Ambassador in Lon-
don, contrary instructions to those given him by the
King of Spam, and to beg him to present to the Eng-
lish Government sub spe rati a plan of accommoda-
tion.'" At the same time, however, he wrote to Gri-
"Mr. J. B. Perkins' "France under Louis XV.," ii. 249.
"Masserano did not dare to present this plan himself to the
English Government, but requested the French Ambassador to
MADAME DU BARRY 151
maldi at Madrid informing him of what he had done,
and explaining that his object was " to silence the
lying tongues that represent to the King that I am
stirring up war through personal ambition."
'* It is obvious," observes that well-informed and
impartial historian, M. Flammermont, " that Choiseul
had presented this plan because he was almost certain
that it would not be ratified by Spain, and that war was
inevitable. He desired to prove his good-will and to
show that he was devoted to the cause of peace in order
to silence his enemies, but at the bottom of his heart
he desired war and was secretly prepared for it."''
Choiseul's enemies, indeed, were fully alive to the
gravity of the situation as regarded themselves, and
were putting forth every effort to crush the Minister
ere he could contrive to involve the country in war
in order to crush them. Their designs were facil-
itated by the fact that the quarrel between the King
and the Parliament of Paris had now reached an acute
stage. At the opening of the winter session on Decem-
ber 3, an edict had been issued interdicting all joint
action between the Parliament of Paris and the provin-
lay it before Lord North. Frances complied and writes to
Choiseul :
" MoNSF.iCNEUR, — The Prime Minister (Lord North) granted
me a rendezvous on Thursday, to give me an answer in regard
to the new plan. He had given a dinner to the lord Sandwich
(sic) ; the repast lasted a long time, and the guests were intoxi-
cated with wine. At length, at nine o'clock in the evening, I
found my lord North, who was as drunk as a hackney-coachman,
while all the members of the British Council were as mellow
(bicn conditionncs) as their chief. The circumstance, in a little
affair affecting the fate of three crowns, is not without interest."
The Ambassador adds that Lord North, although so drunk,
seemed to grasp every point that was put before him as easily
as if he had been perfectly sober, "car ccs vicssieiirs conscrvcnt
viacliiiialcDicut dc la loyiquc ct dii raissoticinrut dans I'ivrogttcrie
par I'liabitudc qu'ils en ont conlractce."
" M. Flammermont's Lc Chancclicr Maupcou ct ks Parle
vients, p. 175, et seq.
152 MADAME DU BARRY
cial Parliaments, and all opposition to the enforcement
of royal edicts, under pain of deprivation of office.
This edict the judges indignantly refused to register;
indeed, to have done so would have been to admit
themselves wholly in the wrong, and there can be no
doubt that it had been framed by Maupeou with the
deliberate intention of bringing matters to a crisis.
After a bed of justice had been held at Versailles,
where the angiy magistrates were further exasperated
by the sight of their enemy, d'Aigtiillon, whom they
had decreed suspended from the privileges of his rank,
seated among the peers, and various futile remon-
strances had been addressed to the King, the Parlia-
ment declared that " their profound affliction did not
leave their minds sufficiently free to decide upon the
fortunes, lives, and honour of the King's subjects,'*
and closed the Law Courts."
The cabal was not slow to profit by the turn which
events had taken. Maupeou entreated the King to
dismiss Choiseul, declaring that the disgrace of the
duke would have the immediate effect of assuring
peace abroad, by compelling Spain to accede to Eng-
land's demands, and at home, by demonstrating to the
Parliament that it could no longer reckon on the
support of a powerful Minister, and on the embarrass-
ments that a great war would occasion the Govern-
ment. His arguments were supported by Terray, who
felt that he would certainly be disgraced if Choiseul
were not, by d'Aiguillon, who feared that the Parlia-
ment would resume its proceedings against him if
Maupeou and Terray were exiled, and, finally by
Madame du Barry, "who loved the Due d'Aiguillon
too tenderly to abandon him on this occasion."
Choiseul, on his side, defended himself vigorously, and
" Vie privee de Louis XV., iv. 146. Martin's Histoire de
France jusqu'en 1789, xv. 282.
MADAME DU BARRY 153
did not hesitate to carry the war into the enemy's
camp, assuring the King- that the wisest course to
adopt in regard to the ParHament would be to con-
ciliate it by the dismissal of the Chancellor and the
Comptroller-General, in which event the judges would
doubtless accept the recent edict, with certain indis-
pensable modifications, and lend themselves to any
fresh taxation which circumstances might render
necessary.
Louis XV. was at a loss what to do. On the one
hand, he felt that Choiseul was the best of his Minis-
ters, and that he would cover himself with odium by
sacrificing to a low-born favourite and an unworthy
cabal the man who had consolidated the Austrian
alliance, negotiated the Famih^ Compact, annexed
Corsica to France, and reestablished his armies and
his fleet ; added to which he was ashamed to abandon
his cousin, the King of Spain, at the moment when
his concurrence was absolutely necessary. But he
feared and hated the Parliament, from which he hoped
Maupeou and Terray were about to deliver him, and,
above all, he desired to have peace and quiet in his
private life, and to put an end to the incessant com-
plaints and solicitations of his mistress."
While the King hesitated, events abroad were has-
tening to a crisis. Wearying of the obstinacy of
Spain, the English Government sent orders to Harris*
to leave Madrid, and if Choiseul had remained in
office there can be little doubt that hostilities would
have been commenced by England, and that France
" M. Flammermont's Le Chancelier Maupeou et les Parle-
nients, p. 170.
^'J.'imcs Harris, afterwards first Earl of Malmesbury. lie
was at this time only twcnty-foiir, but had already given promise
of those great abilities which were to cause Talleyrand to ob-
serve : "Je crois que Lord Mahnesbury clait le plus habile Min-
istre que 7'nus avte:: dc son tcvtps; c'ctait inutile de le dcvanccr;
il falloit dc suivre de pics."
154 MADAME DU BARRY
would have come to the assistance of her ally, under
the terms of the Family Compact.
The intervention of the Prince de Conde deter-
mined Louis to follow the counsels of the favourite
and her supporters and dismiss Choiseul. During the
visit to Compiegne, in the preceding summer, the
cabal, apprehensive that its attacks upon the chief
Minister might be attributed by the King to motives
of personal enmity and private ambition, had deemed
it prudent to seek some ally whose high position placed
him above such suspicions and who enjoyed the con-
fidence of the monarch. They found these qualifica-
tions in Conde, who was badly disposed towards
Choiseul, to whose influence he ascribed the fact that
the hand of the Avealthy Mademoiselle de Penthievre
had been bestowed upon the Due de Chartres, instead
of upon his own son, the Due de Bourbon, and, more-
over, aspired to the command of the army, an aspira-
tion which the Minister had not seen fit to encourage.
Proposals of alliance were accordingly made to the
prince, some writers say by Terray, who was chief of
his council, others through the Princesse de Monaco,
his mistress, who had been gained over to the interests
of the cabal by Cromot, chief clerk of the Exchequer,
a bitter enemy of Choiseul ; and Conde accepted the
role that was offered him on three conditions : first,
that the appointment of Choiseul's successor at the
Ministry of War should rest with him ; secondly, that
he should have the command of the army in the event
of war; and thirdly, that the post of Grand Master
of the Artillery should be revived in his favour.
The prince conducted his manoeuvres with so much
skill that up to the last moment Choiseul was unaware
who was the principal agent of his ruin. On Decem-
ber 19, Conde came over from Chantilly and had an
audience of the King, and as soon as he had sue-
MADAME DU BARRY 155
ceeded in triumphing over the irresolution of the
monarch and had obtained his promise that Choiseul
should be dismissed, returned home.
However, Louis still hesitated. To a person of his
vacillating temperament, to make a resolution is one
thing, to give effect to it is quite another, and though
that same evening he wrote the Icttre-de-cachet an-
nouncing his disgrace to Choiseul, he could not make
up his mind to send it, and for three days carried it
about in his pocket."
The cabal was in the utmost alarm, for any day now
might bring the news that England had declared war,
in which event all its fine schemes would collapse like
a house of cards. Then Maupeou burned his boats.
Requesting an audience of the King, he reiterated his
conviction that Choiseul was deceiving him and
secretly doing his utmost to plunge the country into
war, which would necessitate the abandonment of the
campaign against the Parliament and the sacrifice of
himself and Terray to the resentment of the judges;
and begged his Majesty's leave to retire from office,
instead of waiting to be dismissed." At the same time,
Madame du Barry, prompted by d'Aiguillon, sug-
gested to the King that he should send for and ques-
tion the Abbe de la Ville, chief clerk of the Foreign
Office, from whom he would be able to acertain what
were the real intentions of the Minister regarding the
Anglo-Spanish quarrel.
This Abbe de la Ville had begun life as a Jesuit,
and, though he had long since abandoned that Order,
"According to the Vie privee dc Louis XV., the king had one
tvening, some little time before this, " when inflamed with love
and heated with wine," written a lettrc-de-cachct at the instance
of the favourite; hut, on coming to his senses the following
morning, had promptly destroyed it.
" M. Flammermont's Lc Chaitcelier Maupeou et les Parlemcnts,
p. 182.
156 MADAME DU BARRY
had not failed to profit by the lessons he had learned
in his youth. He had a grudge against Choiseul,
"who despised his advice, his experience, and his per-
son," and was only too ready to betray him to any one
who was in a position to remunerate his treachery.
According to Besenval, when questioned by Louis
XV. the abbe replied that, as it was his chief's in-
variable practice to write even the most unimportant
despatches with his ow^n hand, he was unable to en-
lighten him as to the Minister's real intentions. But
it would be very easy for his Majesty to ascertain.
Let him send for M. de Choiseul and order him to
draft a letter to the King of Spain which should de-
clare to that prince that his Majesty was absolutely
determined to maintain peace, and that no considera-
tion would induce him to involve his kingdom in war.
If, said he, the Minister obeyed without hesitation, it
would be a proof that he was sincerely desirous for
peace ; if, on the contrary, he raised objections, no one
could doubt that he was working for war.
"The plot," remarks the chronicler, "was adroitly
woven, and could not fail to attain its object; for it
was easy to calculate that M. de Choiseul, who had
just despatched a courier to Spain with proposals of
accommodation, would reply to the King that, before
writing to that Court, it was necessary to await the
answer to the last plan that he had sent to it; that
if it were accepted, the letter would be unneces-
sary; if it were rejected, there would be still time to
write.
This incident, as related by Besenval, which is to be
found in the works of the Goncourts, Carlyle, and
other writers of authority, has been generally accepted,
but it is doubtful whether the baron's version is the
"Memoires du Baron de Besenval (edit. Berville and Barriere),
i. 267 et seq.
MADAME DU BARRY 157
correct one. Recent research has revealed that many
of the despatches of Choiseul preserved in tlie Span-
ish Archives are not in the handwriting of the Min-
ister himself, but are only signed by him," and we
are, therefore, of opinion that the Abbe de la Ville
was cognisant of Choiseul's negotiations, and that
what he really did was to communicate to Louis XV.
the contents of his chief's last despatch to Grimaldi,
written on December 19, in which, while mildly ad-
vising peace, Choiseul added these words :
"If you do not adopt this course {i.e., come to
terms with England), it will be necessary to begin war
at the same time, that is to say, tow^ards the end of
January ; and, in that event, you must advise me of
the day on which you propose to seize the English
vessels in your ports. '"^
However that may be, Louis XV. determined to
have a final explanation with Choiseul ; and at a meet-
ing of the Council held on December 23, the King,
"with a certain quivering of the chin, which was al-
ways the indication of a troubled mind," insisted on
the latter informing him at once what was the exact
situation of affairs, and obtained the Minister's con-
fession that war was inevitable, and that it was
necessary to prepare for it. Then the monarch cried
furiously, "Monsieur, je vous avais dit que je ne
voiilais point la guerre," and he ordered Choiseul to
enjoin immediately upon the Marquis d'Ossun, the
French Ambassador at Madrid, to make the greatest
efforts to induce Carlos IIL to subscribe to the En-
glish conditions.
" M. Vatel, to whom the credit of this discovery belongs, takes
advantage of it to endeavour to discredit the whole story about
the Abbe de la Ville, in the interests of Madame du Barry, but
there can be no doubt that Besenval was well informed in regard
to the main facts. . ..
"Cited by Mr. J. B. Perkins in " France under Louis \V., n.
249,
158 MADAME DU BARRY
The same day a courier carried to Spain the last
despatcli of Choisenl, and another, sent by a different
route, a letter from Louis XV. to his cousin, imploring
him to make some sacrifice for the sake of peace, and
a note announcing to d'Ossun the disgrace of his chief
Minister.
In the same Council, Choiseul, though unaware of
the despatch of the second courier, comprehended that
his dismissal had been decided upon. As he offered
the pen to the King to sign the marriage contract of
the Due de la Rochefoucauld, Louis, with frowning
brow, snatched it out of his hand, and, after using it,
flung it angrily on the table, instead of returning it
to the duke.'"
The following morning, the 24th, Choiseul's ante-
chamber was, as usual, crowded with suitors. The
Due de la Vrilliere," C ommandeur des Ordres to the
King {"le grand congcdiciir ordinaire"), entered, re-
quested an immediate audience of the Minister, and,
with some hypocritical words of condolence — he was
one of Madame du Barry's henchmen, and, like Riche-
lieu, an uncle of d'Aiguillon — handed him the lettre-
de-cachct which Louis had written three days before.
"I order my cousin to deliver his resignation of his
offices of Secretary of State and Siirintcndant des
^'^Memoires du Baron de Bcsenval (edit. Berville and Barriere),
i. 270. Le ChanceU'er Maupeou et les Parleuients, 182 ct scq.
^ Louis Phelypeaux, better known under his former title of
Comte de Saint-Florentin. He had been created a duke the
previous year. The three names by which he was known at
different periods of his life, Phelypeaux, Saint-Florentin, and La
Vrilliere, procured him the following mordant epitaph :
" Ci-git, malgre son rang, un homme fort commun,
Ayant porte trois nonis et n'en laissant aucun." —
M. Maugras's La Disgrace du Due et de la Duchessc de Choi-
seul, p. i.
MADAME DU BARRY 159
Pastes into the hands of the Due de la Vrilliere and
to retire to Chanteloiip until further orders from me.
"Louis.""
Such were the terms in which Louis XV. dismissed
the Minister to whom had been confided for twelve
years the destinies of France.
Choiseul was required to leave Versailles within two
hours, while only twenty-four were allowed him in
which to make his preparations for quitting the capital.
He started at once for Paris, where he found the
duchess about to sit down to dinner.
"You have the appearance of an exiled man," said
she, laughing. "But sit down, your dinner will not
taste the worse for that." And they dined with ex-
cellent appetites.**
That Choiseul deserved his fate there can, we think,
be little doubt. No condemnation indeed can well be
too strong for a Minister who, for the sake of out-
witting his private enemies and preserving his own
ascendency, is prepared to plunge his country into all
the horrors of war. Nevertheless, the Parisians, who
^^ Revue de Paris, 1829, vol. iv. 62; communicated by Gabriel,
Due dc Choiseul, who possessed the original letter.
The instructions to La Vrilliere, also in the King's handwriting,
show to w^hat a point he had carried his irritation against the
disgraced Minister: "The Due de La Vrilliere will deliver the
accompanying orders to MM. de Choiseul (Choiseul and his
cousin, the Due de Choiseul-Praslin, Minister of the Marine),
and will bring me their resignations. Were it not on account
of Madame de Choiseul, I would have exiled her husband else-
where, as his estate is situated in his government (Touraine) ;
but he will conduct himself as if he were not residing there, and
will see no one, except his family and those to whom I may
give permission to visit him."
The Icttrc-dc-cachct exiling the Due dc Praslin contained only
two lines: "I have no further need of your services, and I exile
you to Praslin, whither you will betake yourself within twenty-
four hours."
" M. Maugras's La Disgrace du Due et la Duchesse de Choi-
seul, p. 3.
i6o MADAME DU BARRY
did not know what we know to-day, and who saw in
him only an able and patriotic statesman sacrificed to
the machinations of an nnpopnlar cabal, chose to make
of him a kind of hero. As soon as the news of his
disgrace reached the capital, the whole city was in a
ferment of excitement. Expressions of regret and
indignation were heard on every side, and all classes
united in manifestations of sympathy. Although he
had been forbidden to receive visits from any but mem-
bers of his own family during the short time he was
permitted to remain in Paris, and two exempts had
been stationed by the Lieutenant of Police at his door
to ensure that this order was observed, his numerous
friends, headed by the Due de Chartres, famous in
after years under the name of Philippe Egalite. forced
their way into the house to offer him their condolences
and bid him farewell. All the streets leading to the
Rue de Richelieu, in which the Hotel de Choiseul was
situated, were so blocked with the carriages of people
who came to inscribe their names in his visitors' book,
as a last token of esteem and affection "for the great
Minister whom France had lost," that for some hours
ordinary traffic was entirely suspended. As, in spite
of the large emoluments of his different offices and his
wife's wealth, he was known to have contracted im-
mense debts and to be embarrassed for money, his
friends hastened to place their credit at his disposal,
and within a few hours these offers amounted to no
less a sum than four million livres.'"
The exiled Minister's departure on the morrow par-
took of the nature of a veritable triumph. An enor-
mous crowd lined the streets from his hotel to the
Barriere d'Enfer, while the windows and even the
roofs of the houses were thronged with spectators;
** M. Flammermont's Le Chancelier Maupeou et les Parlements,
p. i86. Belleval's Souvenirs d'un Chevau-leger, p. 143.
MADA^IE DU BARRY i6i
and when the coach containing the duke and duchess
appeared, followed by a long cortege of their friends'
carriages, the multitude broke forth into loud and con-
tinued acclamations. "Never has disgrace been ac-
companied by so much glory," wrote Madame du
Deffand. "There is no such example in histories
ancient or modern."
The popular excitement continued long after the
departure of Choiseul and showed itself in a hundred
different ways. Portraits and busts of the duke were
seen everywhere ; medals were struck to perpetuate the
memor)^ of the event ; snuff-boxes bearing on one side
the head of Choiseul and on the other that of Sully,
the great Minister of Henri IV., were sold in the
streets;" and Moreau painted a charming picture rep-
resenting Choiseul supporting France, Glory in the
act of depositing a crown of laurel on the duke's head,
while people prostrated themselves at his feet, and
Envy, in a corner, turned away her head in anger.
Verses in praise of the fallen Minister and satirising
his enemies and the King circulated everywhere, and
the following song obtained a great vogue :
"Le Bien-Aime de I'Almanach
N'est pas le Bien-Aime de France.
II fait tout ab hoc et ab hac
Le Bien-Aime de I'Almanach.
"II met tout dans le meme sac
Et la Justice et la Finance;
Le Bien-Aime de I'Almanach
N'est pas le Bien-Aime de France."^
Until now Ministers in exile had received few
marks of sympathy or attachment, even from their
"" Ticns! " cried the witty actress, Sophie Arnould, on being
shown one of these. " They have put the receipts and the ex-
penses together."
"Cited in Anecdotes sur Madame la Comtesse du Barry, p. 193,
i62 MADAME DU BARRY
relatives and dearest friends. Maurepas at Bourges,
Machaiilt at Arnouville, d'Argenson at Ormes. and
Bernis at Soissons had lived in the most complete isola-
tion; people dared not mention their names at Court,
much less openly brave the royal displeasure by visiting
them. But times had changed. The age and feeble-
ness of the King and the disunion in the Royal Family
had permeated the whole Court with a spirit of in-
dependence and insubordination hitherto unknown,
and which, in the ensuing reign, was to assume alarm-
ing proportions. The Dauphiness and the Due de
Chartres did not attempt to conceal the regret with
which the exile of Choiseul inspired them, and the
frequency of the requests made to him for permission
to visit the disgraced Minister compelled Louis to give
a sort of qualified consent, and he, accordingly, replied
to all applicants, " I neither permit nor forbid you.'"'
Thenceforth a continuous stream of prominent per-
sons repaired to Chanteloup, where Choiseul, notwith-
standing his enormous debts, lived in almost regal
state and dispensed the most magnificent hospitality.
*' During the four years that the exile of the Minister
lasted," says Dutens, " there was scarcely a day on
which some person from the Court did not arrive at
or leave Chanteloup, and the King was surprised to
learn that its salons were frequently more brilliant
than those of Versailles. The secrets of the Cabinet
were as well known there as at Versailles, and the er-
^' M. Maugras's La Disgrace du Due et de la Duchesse de
Choiseul, p. 78.
The ex-Comptroller-General, Maynon d'Invau, having re-
quested permission, La Vrilliere wrote: "I have submitted to the
King the letter wherein you ask permission to go to Chanteloup,
and his Majesty has done me the honour to reply that he has
never accorded any one permission to go there, but that he has
not refused, and that he has left those who have asked the
liberty of themselves deciding what they will do." — E. and J. de
Goncourt's La Du Barry, p. 118.
MADAME DU BARRY 163
rors of the new IMinistry were so strictly examined
that the company of Chanteloup was dreaded as a
tribunal. Even the King became curious to learn its
decisions, and he frequently asked those who returned
thence, '\\'hat do they say at Chanteloup ?'
5> }}3i
'^Meiiioircs d'un voyageur qui se repose, ii. 86. The memoirs
of the time contain some interesting particulars about this mag-
nificent chateau and the splendour which Choiseul maintained
there. Cheverny says that those who drove up at night fancied
they were entering Versailles, owing to the immense extent of
the buildings and the lavish manner in which they were lighted
up, both within and without ; and that he occupied twenty min-
utes in passing along the corridors of the chateau from the
apartments allotted to him to those of a fellow-guest. Dutens
describes it as " a delightful place, where the most complete
and the most magnificent establishment was kept up that I have
seen at the house of any great nobleman in Europe " ; and tells
us that, on the occasion when he visited it. there were four
hundred persons living in the house, including those in the
service of the duke, fifty- four of whom were in livery, and that
the account for bread alone amounted to three hundred livres a
day. Small wonder that Choiseul's friends had to come to his
assistance !
Muiiiolrb — U Vol. 2
CHAPTER XII
CHOISEUL disgraced, Spain, as had been fore-
seen, hastened to comply with the Enghsh de-
mands, and Louis XV. and Maupeou found
their hands free to deal with the Parliament, which,
it will be remembered, had closed the courts as a pro-
test against the edict of December 3.
This was a step to which the Parliament had had
recourse before on several occasions, and generally
with some degree of success. Closing the courts often
brought temporary exile and other annoyances to the
judges, but the vexation to the Government and in-
convenience to the community at large caused by the
suspension of justice had ended in the magistracy ob-
taining concessions.
The present rupture, however, was destined to have
a very different termination. In lettres de jussion,
five times repeated, the King ordered the Parliament
to resume its functions, and the members as often re-
fused to obey. On the night of January 19-20, each
judge was roused from his slumbers by two Mus-
keteers, who presented him with an order from the
King to resume his duties, to which he was to answer
a simple yes or no in writing, and that immediately
and without taking counsel with any one. A few,
alarmed by this nocturnal summons, were afraid to
signify a formal disobedience to the royal commands,
but the majority stood firm; and when, on the follow-
ing morning, the Parliament was hurriedly convened
to discuss the situation, the weaker members repudi-
ated the promise which fear had extorted from them,
164
MADAME DU BARRY 165
and the whole body reiterated its defiance of the
King.
Maupeou had long since determined to be content
with no half-measures; if the members of the Par-
liament declined to exercise the duties of judges, they
should cease to be judges, and give place to those who
would know better than to oppose the King's edicts.
Moreover, quite apart from all considerations of the
royal authority, a refonn in the judicial system was
urgently needed, and Despotism masquerading in the
garb of Progress was a spectacle which appealed irre-
sistibly to his cynical mind. He, accordingly, resolved
to strike a final and decisive blow without delay.
That night, the unfortunate judges were again
awakened, on this occasion by an officer of the
Council, who notified to them a decree of that body
declaring their offices confiscated, and forbidding
them for the future to exercise any of their func-
tions or even to assume the title of members of the
Parliament. To this officer succeeded Musketeers,
bearing lettres-de-cachet, which exiled them to dis-
tant provinces.*
These measures created the most unbounded amaze-
ment and indignation, even among those who had
hitherto had but little sympathy with the Parliament,
for not only had an institution which had been power-
ful in the days of Saint-Louis and Philippe le Bel
been swept away at a single stroke, but an outrageous
attack had been made on the sanctity of vested inter-
ests. Judicial dignities could only be acquired by in-
heritance or purchase; some had been handed down
from father to son through many generations; others
had re]>catcdly changed hands for very large sums of
money, and all had until that moment been regarded
as sound a form of investment as Innd or houses. It
• Vie privie de Louis XV., iv. 153, et seq.
1 66 MADAME DU BARRY
is true that the cHspossessed magistrates were sub-
sequently permitted to demand comi>ensation ; but the
price fixed was veiy far below the value of their
offices, and the knowledge that the Government did not
hesitate to invade the rights of property aroused a
feeling of uneasiness throughout the entire commu-
nity.*
In Paris, the popular indignation assumed its usual
form, and a storm of chansons, pamphlets, and epi-
grams, some of them couched in the most threatening
language, rained upon Maupeou.' But, undeterred by
the public clamour and the violent remonstrances of
the provincial Parliaments,* the Chancellor steadily
pursued the course he had marked out for himself.
On January 23, the members of the Council of State
were provisionally commissioned to render justice at
the Palais, and were installed with great pomp, amid
the hooting of the populace. A month later, an edict
established six superior councils at Arras, Blois, Cha-
lons, Clermont-Ferrand, Lyons, and Poitiers, all of
which towns had hitherto been included within the
* Mr. J. B. Perkins's " France under Louis XV.," ii. 271.
' Here is an extract from a pamphlet cited in Les Pastes de
Louis XV.:
" Maupeou is the most abominable monster that hell has ever
vomited forth to distress the kingdom, the most damnable hypo-
crite, the most determined villain that has ever been seen on
earth. The Jacques Clements, Ravaillacs and Darniens may yield
him the first place in their parricidal gang. Th'e Sicilian Vespers,
the Saint-Bartholomew, the defeats of Poitiers, Azincpurt, and
Malplaquet were lucky days for the nation in comparison with
that on which this traitor was born, for they only destroyed
some Frenchmen, whereas this impious wretch would wipe out
the very name. What good citizen, if any such are still left us,
would not solicit the honour to load, charge, and fire the weapon
which should revenge the nation and deliver it for ever from
the villain who has ruined it? "
* The provincial Parliaments met with substantially the same
fate as the Parliament of Paris; the unruly members being de-
prived of their offices and their places filled by men more amen-
able to the royal will.
MADAME DU BARRY 167
jurisdiction of the Parliament of Paris, to the great
loss and inconvenience of Htigants residing tisercin,
who had been compelled to carry their appeals to the
capital. The members of these new courts were
strictly forbidden to receive any term-fees, judges'
fees, or other perquisites over and above their salaries.
On April 9, the Cour des Aides was swept away, and
its members and its jurisdiction divided between the
new Parliament and the superior councils. Finally,
on the 13th of the same month, a Bed of Justice was
held in which were read three edicts : the first, abolish-
ing the old Parliament; the second, abolishing the
Cour des Aides ; the third, transforming the old Grand
Council into the new Parliament.
After the edicts had been read, Louis XV. rose and
terminated the sitting with these words : " You have
heard my will ; I desire that you will conform to it.
I order you to commence your functions on Monday;
my Chancellor will install you. I forbid any delibera-
tions contrary to my edicts and all representations in
favour of my former Parliament, for I will never
change."
Madame du Barry assisted at this ceremony, " hid-
den behind a gauze curtain." As she was leaving the
Palais, she encountered the Due de Nivernais, who,
with ten other peers, had given his opinion against the
registration of the edicts.'
" I hope, Monsieur le Due," said she, " that you will
cease to oppose the King's wishes, for, as you have
heard his Majesty say, he will never change."
'The Princes of the Blood (with the single exception of the
Comte de la Marchc), headed by the Due d'Orlcans and the
Prince de Condc, had refused to attend the bed of justice, and
sent a vigorous protest to the King, " couched in harsh and bar-
baric language." Louis seized the protest and threw it into the
fire, and forbade the princes to appear in his presence or in that
of the Dauphin and Dauphiness.
1 68 MADAME DU BARRY
"True, Madame," rq)lied the g-allant duke; "but
when he said that he was looking at you."
It has frequently been asserted that, but for the as-
sistance he derived from the caquctage of Madame du
Barry, Maupeou would never have succeeded in induc-
ing Louis XV. to sanction the destruction of the Par-
liaments. Historians like Michelet and Henri Martin
have given the weight of their authority to this charge,
which, however, appears to rest on no better founda-
tion than an anecdote related by the Noiivcllcs a la
main." Writing under date March 25, 1771, Bachau-
mont says :
" The Empress of Russia has carried off the picture-
gallery of the Comte de Thiers, a distinguished ama-
teur, who had a very fine collection. M. Marigny
(Director-General of the Board of Works, an office
which included the supervision of the art-collections
of France) has had the mortification of seeing these
treasures go to a foreign country, for lack of funds to
purchase them for the King. Among the pictures
was a full-length portrait of Charles I., King of Eng-
land, by Van Dyck. This is the only one which has
remained in France. The Comtesse du Barry, who
displays more and more taste for the arts, gave orders
for it to be bought. She paid 24,000 livres for it, and
when she was reproved for having selected this picture
among so many which would have been more suitable,
'^Nouvelles a la main was the name given in the seventeenth
century to clandestinely printed gazettes, which contained news
of the Court and the town, generally in a highly piquant form.
They were prohibited by the Parliament of Paris in 1620, and in
1666 and 1670 the penalty of whipping and the galleys was de-
creed against the vendors. They still continued to be circulated
however, and it was not until some years later that La Reynie,
the Lieutenant of Police, contrived to suppress them. They re-
appeared under the Regency, when Madame Doublet published
a weekly journal, entitled Nouvelles a la main, which was con-
tinued by Bachaumont, and, after his death, by Pidansat de
Mairobert.
MADAAIE DU BARRY 169
pretended that she was recovering- a family portrait.
In fact, the Du Barrys claim to be related to the House
of Stuart."
On October 22. the Nouvelles, which was now edited
by the ingenious Pidansat de Mairobert, Bachaumont
having died in the preceding April, returns to the sub-
ject of Charles I.'s portrait :
" People are talking much of the full-length portrait
of Charles I., purchased for 20,000 livres by Madame
du Barry. This lady has placed it in her apartments,
together with that of the King, and, it appears, not
without design. It is asserted that she shows it to the
King, whenever his Majesty, relapsing into his normal
kindness of disposition, seems to weary of violence and
inclines towards clemency. She tells him that perhaps
his Parliament would have made some attempt similar
to that of England, if the Chancellor had not foreseen
their insane and criminal designs and checked them
before they had reached the degree of baseness and
wickedness required to put them into execution.^
However absurd and atrocious such an imputation
may be, it reinflames the prince for the moment, and
it is from the foot of this picture that proceed the
destroying thunderbolts that smite the magistrates
and pulverise them in the remotest corners of the
realm.
" One is well assured that a calumny so atrocious
and so deliberate cannot proceed from the tender and
ingenuous heart of Madame la Comtesse du Barry,
and that the alarms with which she inspires the King
are instigated by advisers whose policy is as clever as it
is infernal."
^"Behold that unfortunate monarcli," said she to him. "Your
Parliament would perhaps have ended by treating you as he was
treated by the Parliament of England, if you had not had a
Minister to oppose their designs and set their menaces at de-
fiance." — Vie privie de Louis XV., iv. 160.
I70 MADAME DU BARRY
" This anecdote, justified by events, is attested by
courtiers whose testimony carries great weight."
The portrait referred to by the Noiivcllcs is the
beautiful painting, now in the Louvre, representing
the King followed by a squire leading his horse, which
the famous engraving of Le Strange has helped to
popularise. Considerable doubt exists as to whether
this portrait ever belonged to Baron de Thiers, but,
contrary to the opinion expressed by Mr. R, B. Doug-
las, in his '* Life and Times of Madame du Barry,"
there is none whatever that it was at one time the
property of the favourite. Here, however, is what M.
Jules Guiffrey, the great French authority on Van
Dyck and his works, has to say on the subject :
" The Louvre Catalogue states that the portrait
comes from the collection of Louis XV. and that it
had belonged to Baron de Thiers, who, as is known,
sold his fine collection bodily to the Empress of Russia.
Here there is a twofold error. It is, to say the least,
very doubtful if the portrait of Charles L ever formed
part of Baron de Thiers's collection. It is also related
that the picture figured at the beginning of the eight-
eenth century in the collection of the Comtesse de Ver-
rue, who gave it to the Marquis de Lassay. Neverthe-
less, it is not mentioned in the catalogue of the
countess's pictures, published for the first time by M.
Charles Blanc in the Trcsor de la Curiosite. The col-
lection of the Marquis de Lassay fell partly, as is
known to the Comte de la Quiche; in the latter's lot
was Charles I. The collection of the Comte de la
Guiche was sold by auction in 1770; but the famous
picture found no purchasers, and the heirs withdrew it
at 17,000 livres. It was, no doubt, in consequence of
this fruitless effort to sell the picture that the Comtesse
du Barry, in quest of distinguished ancestors, to atone
for the lowliness of her extraction, made direct offers
MADAME DU BARRY 171
to the owners. A bargain was struck, and the favourite
became the possessor of the picture. She bought it for
herself, and not for the King, as has often been as-
serted. Only at the commencement of the succeeding
reign did she consent to surrender it and sell it to
King Louis XVI., as will be gathered from the cor-
respondence which we shall now cite.
" After the death of Louis XV., the Comtesse du
Barry, pressed by her numerous creditors, was reduced
to parting with a portion of the riches of every kind
which royal liberality had showered upon her. The
Charles I. included in this enforced liquidation was
offered to M. d'Angiviller, Director-General of the
Board of Works. The architect Le Doux, who had
done much work for Madame du Barry, undertook the
negotiations. We have not been able to find his letter,
but the three following notes render that document un-
necessary and all comment superfluous :
" 'Letter of AL d'Angiviller to M. Le Doux.
" ' I have received. Monsieur, the letter wherein you
acquaint me with Madame du Barry's fixed intention
to sell the portrait of Charles L and of the offer which
has been made to her. I will not let the opportunity
of acquiring this valuable work escape. I therefore
secure it on behalf of the King for the price of 24,000
livres (1000 louis) which has been offered for it. and
this sum will be paid down on delivery of the picture.
" ' I am. Monsieur, &c.' '"
The remaining two letters mentioned by M. Guiff-
rey merely refer to arrangements for the removal of
the picture from L<juvcciennes and the payment of
the purchase-money.
•M. Guiffrcy's Antoinc Van Dyck, sa vie ct son ocuvre (Paris,
1882), p. 180 ct scq.
172 MADAME DU BARRY
Tliiis it will be seen that the portrait of Qiarles I.
did belong- to Madame du Barry, and that she sold it
to Louis XVL for the exact sum which the Nouvellcs
state that she had paid for it. What amount of truth
there was in the story of the use the lady made of her
purchase it is very difficult to say. As Sheridan re-
marked of Dundas, the writers of the Noitvelles were
no doubt largely indebted to their imagination for their
facts; but, on the other hand, they were frequently
well-informed, and hardly deserve the scorn which
Madame du Barry's two champions, M. Vatel and
Mr. Douglas, so unsparingly mete out to them. These
writers ridicule the story on the ground that the sale of
the Thiers collection took place at a later date than
that stated by the Noiivelles, in fact some months
after the old Parliament of Paris had been sent about
its business, so that the portrait of Charles I.' could
not have been in Madame du Barry's possession early
enough to be used as a bogey to frighten the King.
But, from the passage from M. Guiffrey's work which
we have just cited, it would appear that the portrait
was acquired, not at the sale of Baron de Thiers's
pictures in the autumn of 1771, but from the heirs of
the Comte de la Guiche some time in 1770, that is to
say, before the suppression of the Parliament, which
entirely refutes their arguments and strengthens the
case against the favourite.
However, if for lack of trustworthy evidence,
Madame du Barry must be acquitted of the Machiavel-
ian conduct attributed to her, for we should hesitate
to condemn any one on the testimony of Bachaumont
and his confreres, though, as we have observed, they
were not nearly so black as M. Vatel and Mr. Douglas
appear to imagine, she was unquestionably, in some
•Van Dyck valued this picture at £200, but was persuaded to
reduce his charge to half that amount.
MADAME DU BARRY 173
degree, responsible for the quashing of the proceedings
against dAiguillon, and cannot, therefore, be held al-
together blameless for the later developments of the
quarrel between the King and the magistracy.
While Maupeou was waging war on the Parlia-
ments, dAiguillon was engaged in the congenial task
of inciting Madame du Barry to persecute the friends
of Choiseul. Jarente, Bishop of Orleans, who had
persuaded Madame Adelaide to intercede with the
King for the recall of Choiseul, was deprived of the
distribution of benefices; d'Usson was recalled from
Stockholm ; the appointment of the Baron de Breteuil
as Ambassador at the Austrian Court was revoked,
just as he was on the point of starting for Vienna;
Rulhiere was deprived of his pension and his place in
the Foreign Office; the unfortunate Prince de Beau-
vau, whose imperious wife had taken so prominent a
part in the attacks upon the favourite, lost his post of
Governor of Languedoc, though he was over a million
livres in debt ; and lettres-dc-cachet were suspended
over the heads of the Archbishop of Toulouse, Male-
sherbes, the Due de Duras, and even Sartine, the
Lieutenant of Police. D'Aiguillon and the favourite
dealt blows on everj^ side, and as they could not strike
their feminine adversaries directly, they struck at
them through their husbands, their lovers, or their
brothers.
Desolation and alarm reigned in the salons whence
had proceeded the quips and gibes and epigrams
against Madame du Barry and her reputed lover,
for no one knew upon whom the next blow might
fall.
" The lady is more supreme than her predecessor or
even Cardinal fie Flcurv," wrote Madame du Deffand
to Horace Walix)lc; "she is exasperated to the last
174 MADAME DU BARRY
degree. We are passing through a terrible time here ;
it is impossible to foresee where it will end.'""
But great as was the inlluencc of Madame dii Barry-
over her royal adorer, she was for some months unable
to overcome the reluctance of the King to promote
d'Aiguillon to the Foreign Office, which was the goal
of that intriguing nobleman's ambition. Louis had
always disliked d'Aiguillon — he had never been able
to pardon him for having been, for a time, his success-
ful rival in the affections of Madame de Chateauroux
— and to make a Foreign Minister of a man who was
but yesterday an accused person was to defy public
opinion to an extent from which a far bolder monarch
than himself might well recoil. Moreover, the duke's
pretensions encountered serious obstacles in the oppo-
sition of the Prince de Conde, who, until he fell into
disgrace on account of his sympathy with the Parlia-
ment, exercised considerable influence, and at the be-
ginning of January succeeded in thrusting one of his
proteges, the Marquis de Monteynard, into the Min-
istry of War ; and from a rival candidate, whose quali-
fications for the post w^ere far superior to his own.
This was the Comte de Broglie, surnamed " the little
intriguer," who had formerly been French Ambassador
at Warsaw, and, in 1767, had succeeded Tercier as
conductor of the secret diplomatic correspondence of
Louis XV. Broglie had nothing to aid him on the
side of Conde, who had a long-standing grievance
against the count's elder brother, the Marechal de
Broglie, dating back to the time of the Seven Years'
War :" but he had public opinion on his side, especially
*" Letter of March 26, 177 1.
" This resentment was so bitter that it survived the fall of the
Monarchy, and twenty years later, during the emigration, the
prince and the old marshal, commanding the same troops and
involved in the same disasters, could hardly bring themselves
MADAiME DU BARRY 175
among the representatives of foreign Courts, and had
the support of the IMarechale de Mirepoix and Mad-
emoiselle " Chon " du Barry, the sister-in-law of the
favourite.
For five months the post of Minister for Foreign
Affairs remained vacant ; while clouds were gathering
upon the horizon, the French agents abroad and the
Ambassadors in Paris were complaining every day of
the absolute ignorance in which they were left, and
foreign princes waited about at Versailles until a suc-
cessor to Choiseul should be appointed." D'Aiguillon
intrigued against Broglie, Broglie intrigued against
d'Aiguillon," and Conde intrigued against both.
Madame du Barry supported her protege; Montey-
nard, the new Minister for War, Maupeou, and Terray
to speak to one another. — The Due de Broglie's Lc Secret du
Rot, ii. 339-
•= Ibid. 352.
" Broglie bombarded Louis XV. with ktters, in which he car-
ried flattery and servility to their utmost limits. In one written
on January 14, 1771, he says: " The knowledge that, under the
sole direction of your Majesty, the King of Spain has been com-
pelled to accept the conditions imposed by England has occa-
sioned the greatest joy. The value of this most fortunate peace
is infinitely augmented in the eyes of your subjects by the knowl-
edge that they owe it to your paternal care, and everybody ex-
claims with enthusiasm and regret, ' Why does not the King do
everything and decide upon everything, himself? nothing would
then be wanting to our happiness and his glory.'" And this at
a time when the most distinguished persons in France were
flocking to Chanteloup, and "Le Bien Aime de rAlmanach " was
being sung at every street corner !
In another letter, the count informs the King: that "he should
indeed be flattered if Madame du Rarry entertained a sufficiently
good opinion of him to lead her to desire that the Ministry of
Foreign Afi^airs should be conferred upon him." — Le Secret du
Roi. ii. 343,..3.S2.
The servility of Rroglie, however, must not blind us to the
fact that he was by far the most suitable candidate for the post
to which he aspired, lie was the first French statesman to fore-
see the designs of the Eastern Powers upon Poland, and had
he been appointed to the Foreign Office, would have undoul)tedly
striven his utmost to checkmate them.
176 MADAME DU BARRY
sided with Conde; while the Marechale de Mirepoix
and Alademoiselle " Chon " espoused the cause of the
diplomatist, who also had the assistance of a certain
fascinating Chevalier de Jaucourt, called by his friends
" Clair-de-lune" owing to his talent for relating ghost-
stories, who endeavoured to frustrate d'Aiguillon's
ambitions by supplanting him in the affections of the
favourite.
" It is almost impossible that your Majesty should
form a correct idea of the horrible confusion which
reigns here," wrote Mercy to Maria Theresa. " The
throne is disgraced by the extensive and indecent in-
fluence of the favourite and her partisans. The nation
shows its feeling by seditious remarks and disloyal
pamphlets, in which the person of the sovereign is
not spared." Versailles is the abode of treachery,
spite, and hatred; everything is done through motives
of personal interest, and all honourable feeling dis-
carded.'"^
At length, in June, Conde having in the meantime
fallen into disgrace, Louis XV. grew weary of the im-
portunities of his mistress, and allowed a reluctant
consent to be wrung from him that the Foreign Office
should be given to d'Aiguillon, to the indignation of
Broglie, the disgust of the whole nation, and the
amazement of Europe.**
The nomination of her protege was celebrated by
" One morning, a placard bearing the following^ words was
found affixed to the King's statue by Bouchardon, in the Place
Louis XV. : " By order of the Mint. A Louis badly struck must
be struck again." This, of course, referred to the attempted
assassination of the King by Damiens, on January 5, 1757, and
was nothing less than a thinly veiled incitement to regicide.
"Letter of April 16, 1771.
"The Marine, which had likewise been a bone of contention,
had been filled in the previous April by the appointment of
Boynes, a creature of d'Aiguillon. Until then its duties had been
discharged by Terray.
MADAME DU BARRY 177
Madame du Barry, in the following September, by a
grand dinner at Louveciennes, at which were present
the wife of the new Minister, the dowager Duchesse
d'Aiguillon — " la grosse duchesse," as Madame du
Deffand styles her — the Marechale de Mirepoix, the
Princesse de Montmorency, the Comtesse de Valen-
tinois, the Chancellor and all the Ministers of State,
and the whole of the Corps Diplomatique, with the
exception of the Ambassadors of Spain and Naples."
These Ministers, acting presumably on instructions
from their Courts, had declined to visit the favourite,
and Fuentes, the Spanish Ambassador, went so far as
to refuse invitations to functions at which the lady
was to be present. The representative of Great
Britain, on the other hand, showed most gratifying
complacence, and, in February 1772, gave a dinner-
party exclusively to the d'Aiguillon and Du Barry
faction.
At the Salon of 1771 Madame du Barry was again
in evidence. Two important works were consecrated
to the favourite — one, a bust in terra-cotta, by Pajou;
the other, a full-length portrait, by Drouais, in which
the lady was represented as one of the Muses."
The bust in terra-cotta by Pajou, the marble repro-
duction of which, exhibited at the Salon of 1773, and
now in the Louvre, is by many considered that
sculptor's chef-d'cciivre, was generally admired and
"Madame du DcfTand to Horace Walpole, September 25, 1771.
" Piere is a contemporary description of the portrait: "The
Comtesse du Barry is painted as a Muse. She is seated, and is
partly veiled by light and transparent draperies, which are gath-
ered up below the left breast, leaving the legs uncovered to the
knees, and revealing the outline of the rest of her figure. In
her right hand she holds a harp and a crown of Mowers; in the
left she carries other flowers. The foreground of the picture is
filled by books, painl-brushrs, and various attributes of the
arts." — Cited by M. Vatcl in Ilisloire de Madame du Barry, ii. 83.
178 MADAME DU BARRY
warmly praised by the Mcrcurc. But the picture was
not so fortunate, as the devout, " who only care to
see women veiled from head to foot," were shocked
at the mythological nudity of the figure ; and Madame
du Barry, hearing of this, ordered it to be at once re-
moved from the walls of the Salon.
In February 1771. the Prince Royal of Sweden, the
future Gustavus III., arrived in Paris, accompanied
by his younger brother, Frederick. The ostensible
object of his visit was to improve his mind by a course
of foreign travel, and he took up his quarters at the
Swedish Legation, Rue de Crenelle Saint-Germain,
under the name of the Graf von Gothland. But, in
point of fact, he had been sent by his mother, Queen
Ulrica, sister of Frederick the Great, on the invitation
of Choiseul, to solicit French assistance in the difficult
enterprise which was to end in his coup d'Etat of
August 19, 1772.
When Choiseul's invitation was sent the duke was,
of course, still in office; but the young prince reached
Paris to find his hoped-for ally exiled and his enemies
w^rangling over his departments; and was, in con-
sequence, placed in a somewhat embarrassing position.
Acting, however, on the advice of Creutz," the saga-
cious and popular Swedish Ambassador, he resolved to
pay court to all parties, and won golden opinions from
all. One day, he sent his compliments to Chanteloup
through Madame du Deffand, and the next he supped
at Rueil with the d'Aiguillons, Richelieu, and Mau-
peou. On another, he showed himself in the salon of
the Comtesse d'Egmont'" in the Rue Louis-le-Grand,
"Gustaf Philip Creutz (i 729-1 785), the most celebrated
Swedish poet of the eighteenth century, author of the beautiful
idyll Atis och Camilla, and the exquisite pastoral Daphne.
"" Sophie Jeanne Armande Elisabeth Septimainie de Vignerod
du Plessis de Richelieu, daughter of the notorious Due de Riche-
MADAME DU BARRY 179
and on a fourth went to the Palais-Bourbon to visit
the Prince de Conde. Nor did he neglect to render
homage to the reigning sultana, whose heart he quite
won by presenting a rich collar, some writers say of
gold, others of diamonds, to her favourite lapdog.
" On raconte ici (Vienna) des bassesses du Roi de
Suede" vis-a-7/is cette femme," writes Maria Theresa.
''Quelle honte!"^
On November 13, Madame du Deffand informs her
friend at Strawberry Hill: "The Idol (Madame du
Barry) is at the height of her glory; she has written to
the King of Sweden; her letter did not reach the
King; but, as it was announced to him, he has fore-
stalled her and written to her des choses charmantes
et admirahles."
At this time a rumour was afloat that " the Idol "
had sent, or was about to send, her portrait to Gus-
tavus, and poor Madame d'Egmont, who had promised
hers to the monarch, was in despair and addressed the
most pathetic letters to Stockholm.
" Place me then in a position to send you my por-
trait," she writes. " I cannot do so without a positive
lieu, by his second marriage with Elisabeth Sophie de Lorraine,
and wife of Casimir, Marquis de Pignatelli, Due de Bisaccia,
Comte d'Egmont. At her husband's hotel, and also at that of
her father, she kept a brilliant salon, which was frequented by
diplomatists, like Mercy, Lord Stormont. Creutz, Glcichen, and
Fucntes; painters and sculptors, like Roslin, Le Moyne, Chardin,
and Hall; and men of letters, like Jean Jacques Rousseau and
Ruhiiere. Ilcr salon was at this time a centre of resistance to
Maupeou, whose reforms Madame d'Egmont and her friend, the
Comtesse de Rrionnc, opposed with great energy. Brought into
connection with Gustavus III. by Creutz, the countess encour-
aged and aided him in his efforts to obtain the support of
France for the projects he meditated in Sweden. An affection
"trds vive et qui parait avoir ct6 pure." sprung up between the
two, and they corresponded regularly until the lady's untimely
death in October 1773.
"Gustavus had received the news of the death of his father
and his succession to the throne of Sweden on Mardi i.
"Letter to Mercy-Argentcau, April i, 1771.
i8o MADAME DU BARRY
assurance that 3011 have not nor will have that of
IMadame du Barry." She returns to the charge in
another letter : " Sire, it is said that you have asked
for the portrait of Madame du Barry ; they go even so
far as to assert that you have written to her. I have
denied it at all costs, but it has been persisted in in so
positive a manner that I implore you to authorise me
to contradict it. No, it cannot be." Finally, in a
third letter, she says : " I ask again for an answer
concerning the portrait of Madame du Barry. Deign
then to give me your word of honour that you neither
have nor ever intend to have it."^
At the beginning of January 1772, a difficulty arose
about the payment of the subsidies which had been,
promised by France to Gustavus to assist him in the
execution of the projects he was meditating in
Sweden, d'Aiguillon declaring that it was absolutely
impossible to obtain the money. The poet-ambassador
in the Rue Crenelle Saint-Germain, however, knew his
Versailles as intimately as did Mercy himself, and
forthwith wrote to his master :
" In this terrible situation, here are the expedients
that I propose to your Majesty : ( i ) To write a very
touching letter to the King, a very flattering one to
Madame du Barry, and one full of confidence and
friendship to the Due d'Aiguillon. This is of the most
vital importance . . . ."
Gustavus lost not a moment in despatching the
touching, flattering, and friendly epistles to their re-
spective destinations, and on the i6th of the same
month the delighted Creutz sends a courier to announce
that his Majesty's letters have produced the desired
effect : " The lady who enjoys the confidence of the
King takes the most lively interest in all that concerns
the King of Sweden. She speaks to me continually,
" Geffrey's Gustave III. et la Cour de France, i. 242.
MADAME DU BARRY i8i
and charges me to convey her good wishes to your
Majesty.'"*
And so it came about that, through the intercession
of the flattered favourite, the empty French Treasury-
was compelled to disgorge the needed subsidies, and
the King of Sweden enabled to pave the way for the
revolution which was to bring his haughty nobility into
subjection to the Crown.
The rumour of the previous autumn that Madame
du Barry intended to bestow her portrait on Gustavus
would appear to have been well grounded, for shortly
after the Baron de Lieven had brought to Versailles
the official announcement of the coup d'Etat of August
19, 1772, on which occasion the favourite had joined
her felicitations to those of Louis XV., we find Creutz
writing to his sovereign as follows:
" Madame du Barry was wishful to send to your
Majesty her bust (by Pajou) and the portrait of her-
self by Greuze;'' but this would oblige your Majesty
to send her your portrait and to write to her; and I,
accordingly, allowed the matter to drop. It is, how-
ever, very essential to spare the feelings of Madame
du Barry, and I implore your Majesty to place me
in a position to say some flattering things to her. I am
high in her favour, but I am embarrassed what an-
swer to make to her should she come again to propose
to me to send her portrait. The King is extremely
sensitive in regard to everything which concerns her,
and he neither pardons nor forgets the slightest thing
that may wound her.'
>)29
** CcfFroy's Custavc III. el la Cour de France, i. 14S.
"This portrait figures among the objects chosen by the com-
mission of arts at Louvecicnncs, after the execution of the
countess in 1793. It is described in the catalogue as "an un-
finished picture representing the Dubarry as a Bacchante." — E.
and J. de Goncourl's La Du fUiny, p. 75, note.
"Geflroy's Gustaie III. el la Cour de France, i. 2I2.
1 82 MADAME DU BARRY
Gustavus replied very graciously to Madame du
Barry's felicitations," but he did not mention the por-
trait, and nothing more was heard about it. Almost
at the same time, he gave to Madame d'Egmont the
solemn promise that she had demanded that he would
never accept any portrait of the favourite; and, in
August 1773, two months before her untimely death,
that lady sent him a charming miniature of herself
by the Swedish painter Hall, which is now in the
National Museum in Stockholm.^
Never had favourite worked for the fall of a Min-
ister with less personal animosity than Madame du
Barry for that of Choiseul. But for the continual
promptings of the ignoble triumvirate whose tool she
had had the misfortune to become, and particularly of
d'Aiguillon, wdio had striven to inspire her with some-
thing of his own hatred of Choiseul, it is doubtful
whether she would ever have embarked upon the
struggle with the Minister, much less have carried it
through to the bitter end. What resentment she had
entertained for her adversary disappeared with his de-
parture from the Court, and gave place to a feeling
of sympathy and regret, of which an incident which
occurred twelve months later affords us a striking
proof.
When he had received the King's orders to retire
to Chanteloup, Choiseul had been deprived of all his
*^ Here is the King's letter :
" The interest that you take in my success renders it the more
agreeable to me. Baron dc Lievcn has given me a faithful ac-
count of the good will that you have shown for me, and I thank
you for it sincerely. I reckon with confidence on the sentiments
that you have always manifested for me, and I do not doubt
that I shall often have occasion to speak to you of the gratitude
with which I am very truly, Madame la comtesse du Barry. . . ."
^The Comtesse d'Armaille's La Comtesse d'Egmont d'apres
les lettr&s inedites a Gnstave III., p. 275.
MADAME DU BARRY 183
offices, with one exception, which, from a pecuniary
point of view, was the most important. This was the
post of Colonel-General of the Swiss troops in the
French service, carrying with it a salary of 100,000
livres.
An impression appears to have prevailed that the
office in question once conferred could not be taken
away, and Louis XV., in bestowing it upon the duke
in 1762, had assured him that he should hold it for
Hfe.
Moreover, the King, at the instance of Carlos
III., had given his word that no further steps should
be taken against the fallen Minister; and as the months
went by and the salary continued to be paid to him,
Choiseul became convinced that he would be allowed
to retain his command. His astonishment and indig-
nation, therefore, may be imagined when, on the night
of December 6, 1771, a courier from the Court ar-
rived at Chanteloup, bearing a letter from d'Aiguillon
to Choiseul's friend, the Due de Chatelet,*" who was
on a visit there, in which the duke was requested to in-
form his host that the King, having discovered that the
post of Colonel-General of the Swiss was one which
cr)uld only be held during his good pleasure, had de-
cided that the welfare of his service would not permit
him to leave it any longer in the hands of M. de
Choiseul, who must, accordingly, send in his resigna-
tion forthwith. His Majesty would then be willing
to consider the question of compensation, although he
did nf)t recognise that M. de Choiseul had any claim
to be indemnified. The letter concluded with an in-
timation that the King's decision was irrevocable, and
'"Louis Marie Francois flu Chatclct d'TTarancourt, son of Vol-
taire's "divine iMnilie," and believed to be "one of the works of
the philosopher." He had been French Ambas.sador at St.
James's and Vienna, and was Colonel of the Regiment du Roi.
i84 MADAME DU BARRY
the words. "Cc que dcsstis est ma fagon de vouloir'*
in Louis' own hand.*"
Du Chatelet duly communicated the contents of this
very unwelcome epistle to Choiseul, who thereupon
addressed to the King, not the resignation demanded,
but a long- letter, wherein, after protesting against the
manner in which he was being treated, he demanded as
compensation for the loss of his post (i) liberty to
visit any part of France, Paris and the Court excepted ;
(2) settlement of all the debts he had contracted while
in office, including three or four million livres which
he had borrowed from his wife, and two million due
to creditors;" (3) a revenue of 40.000 livres on the
forest of Haguenau, of which he had been grand hailli,
and forest rights worth about 800,000 livres; (4) a
pension of 50,000 livres, with reversion to the duchess.
These modest demands were carried to Versailles
by Du Chatelet, who was charged to deliver the letter
into his Majesty's own hand, and not to intercede in
his favour with either Ministers or mistress, " whose
marks of interest would humiliate him."
However, Du Chatelet took upon himself to ignore
these instructions and went to d'Aiguillon, whom he
had known since boyhood. His reception in this
quarter was far from encouraging. The Minister ap-
peared surprised and " shocked " at the demands of
M. de Choiseul, as well he might be, and though he
*°M. Maugras's La Disgrace du Due et de la Duchesse de
Choiseul, p. 149. Madame du Deffand to Horace Walpole, Jan-
uary 6, 1772.
'^A few da5'S after his dismissal from office, Choiseul had
asked the King for three million livres to pay his debts. Louis
assented and signed an order on the Treasury for that amount,
but omitted to add the words, "Bon pour trois millions," an
omission which the Minister did not discover until some hours
later. He had intended to ask the King to rectify the error at
the next meeting of the Council, but, unfortunately for him, that
meeting happened to be the one in which the King decided on
his disgrace.
MADAME DU BARRY 185
promised to procure an audience of the King for Du
Qiatelet, did so with such very bad grace that his
visitor had a shrewd suspicion that it was to his machi-
nations that Choiseul owed the loss of his post, which,
indeed, was the case," and that he would use his in-
fluence to hinder Louis from granting the compensa-
tion asked for.
Much perturbed by the turn that events were taking,
Du Chatelet decided to have recourse to Madame du
Barry, and, having obtained an interview with the
lady, " exposed to her with warmth the enormity of
the injustice done to M. de Choiseul and the harshness
and bad faith of his enemies."
The favourite received him very kindly, informed
him that as " there was not a crown in the Treasury ""
there might be some difficulty in complying with M.
de Choiseul's demands, and that the question of liberty
to leave Chanteloup had better not be raised for the
present, but readily promised to do all in her power
to further his efforts on his friend's behalf. "I was
satisfied with her replies," writes Du Chatelet to
Choiseul. " She told me that she entertained no ill-
feeling towards you; that she would be charmed to
avail herself of the present occasion to prove it; that
what had happened in the past was entirely your fault ;
that, at the beginning, she had done everything she
could to prevent it ; but that you must feel that matters
could not be again on the same footing as they once
were, not as regarded herself, for she was a mere no-
*' D'Aiguillon appears to have instipatcd the Dauphin's brother,
the Comtc dc Provence, to ask for Choiseul's post. The count,
however, did not obtain it, as the Dauphin was so angry when
he heard what Provence had done that he protested against his
appointment ; and the command of the Swiss was, in conse-
quence, given to the youngest of the three brothers, the Comte
d'Artois, a boy of sixteen.
■" Relleval tells us that such was the penury of the Treasury
at this period that the pay of the troops was in arrears.
i86 MADAME DU BARRY
body, but in regard to the King, whom you continually
offended in the object of his affections."
Du Chatelet obtained the desired audience of the
King, but it availed him little.
" Is that the resignation that you have there ? "
asked Louis, perceiving the letter in the duke's
hand.
" No. Sire, but the proposals that M. de Choiseul
has the honour to make to your Majesty."
" I do not wish to hear his proposals — I want his
resignation," rejoined the King. And he declined to
receive the letter, and referred Du Chatelet back to
d'Aiguillon."
Here, as may be supposed, he received scant con-
solation, so he despatched a courier to Chanteloup
with a letter conjuring Choiseul " in the name of God
to yield to force," lest worse evils should befall him,
after which he rushed off to Madame du Barry, whom
he informed that he was in despair, that his friend's
interests were his own, that his honour was compro-
mised, and so forth.
Madame du Barry appeared " touched " and " even
terrified " by his agitation, declared that she was sin-
cere in her desire to help him, and said that, although
she knew nothing about finance, she would endeavour
to obtain for Choiseul a pension of 100,000 livres.
" She concluded," whites Du Chatelet to Choiseul,
" by assuring me that d'Aiguillon had no power over
her ; that she gave audience to all who came to her, and
did as she wished. She promised to let me know on
the morrow how she had succeeded."
Next day, the favourite sought out the King, and
remained closeted with him for two hours and a half,
pleading the cause of the man who had persecuted her
so cruelly. " So long an interview augured well for
** Madame du Deffand to Horace Walpolc, January 6, 1772.
MADAME DU BARRY 187
me," writes Du Chatelet, " and I flattered myself some-
what on my success.''^
The King was very angry with Madame du Barry
for interfering, as was d' Aiguillon also ; but at the
next meeting of the Council the matter was discussed,
and Du Chatelet informed that his Majesty was will-
ing to accord Choiseul a pension of 50,000 livres, with
reversion to the duchess, and 200,000 livres in cash.
In the meantime, Choiseul had sent in an uncon-
ditional resignation of his post, a judicious step, which
so delighted poor Du Chatelet, who was becoming
quite ill with anxiety, that, " in a transport of joy, he
twice kissed the courier who brought the letter."
However, if we are to believe Besenval, who was then
staying at Chanteloup, the good effect produced by
the resignation must have been largely discounted by a
letter which Choiseul sent through the post, " in-
tended to be brought to the notice of the King and
calculated to exasperate him."
In great alarm, Du Chatelet followed the Court to
Choisy to entreat Madame du Barry to continue her
exertions on his friend's behalf, and found her with
the King and d'iViguillon in the salon. After listening
to what he had to say, she turned to d'Aiguillon and
said, " It must be so." Then she engaged the King
and Minister in conversation, with the result that, as
the former took his place at the card-table, he ex-
claimed, " A pension of 60,000 livres and 100,000
ecus (300,000 livres) in cash."*"
And so, thanks to the efforts of the faithful Du
Chatelet and the good offices of the kind-hearted
favourite — who certainly on this occasion gave an ex-
ample of Christian charity which Alcsdamcs and some
* Mcmoires de M. Ic Due de Choiseul, ecrits par hd-mcme, ii. i.
ct seq.
^ Mimoires du Baron dc Besenval, i. 290.
1 88 MADAIME DU BARRY
of their devout friends would have done well to imi-
tate — Choiseul received very handsome compensation
for the loss of his command, and was enabled to pay
his bread bill, thouj^h apparently not much besides, as
when he died, on May 8, 1785, he was several million
livres in debt
It would be pleasing could we record that Madame
du Barry's services met with some recognition from
her former adversary. Such, unfortunately, was very
far from being the case. Not only did she never re-
ceive a single word of thanks, but in the duke's un-
published Memoirs we find her described more than
once by an exceedingly unpleasant term ; and we can-
not, therefore, subscribe to the opinion of Choiseul's
enthusiastic biographer, M. Maugras, that it would
have been impossible for any one to have shown in
misfortune " ttne dme phis forte et phis elevee/"''
" La disgrace du Due et de la Duchesse de Choiseul, p. 168.
CHAPTER XIII
THE position of Madame du Barry after the dis-
grace of Choiseul recalls that of Madame de
Pompadour after the dismissal of her impla-
cable enemy, the Comte d'Argenson, in February 1757.
So long as the two Ministers in question retained
their credit, neither lady could feel absolutely secure;
the moment they had contrived their ruin, all restraints
were removed, all fears banished, and they began to
reign in real earnest.
But there the comparison ends. " The life, the
whole life, of Madame de Pompadour belongs to
history. It is a life of affairs, of intrigues, of nego-
tiations, the maintenance of a political role, a public
exercise of power, a commerce at all hours with Min-
isters, with Secretaries of State, with men of the
sword, with men of money, with men of the robe, a
control of the interests of the nation, and of the will
of the King, an influence on the destinies of France
and of Europe.'"
Madame du Barry, as we have observed elsewhere,
cared for none of these things.* Her adversary,
Choiseul, overthrown, her protege, d'Aiguillon. pro-
moted, she hastened to resign the uncongenial part
which circumstances had, for a few months, forced
her to play, and became again merely " la miciix entre-
tenue du royaiime."
* E. and J. de Goncourt's La Du Barry, p. 122.
"She did, however, out of curiosity, attend one meeting of the
Council, at which she sat upon the arm of the King's chair and
played many " petitcs singcrics enfantincs."
189
I90 MADAME DU BARRY
Nevertheless, she did not fail to appreciate the
victory she had won, the sense of increased security,
the knowledge that no longer need she be on her guard
lest some trifling indiscretion should be seized upon
and converted by a powerful and unscrupulous foe
into a formidable weapon against her; and, after her
own fashion, she enjoyed its fruits as fully as ever had
Madame de Pompadour. For the first two years of her
reign there had been some bounds to her extravagance ;
now there were none, even as there seemed no limits to
the infatuation of the old King and the shameful com-
plaisance of the Comptroller-General, who not only
persuaded Louis XV. to double her monthly pension
of 30,000 livres, but instructed Beaujon, the banker
of the Court, that the drafts of Madame du Barry were
to be accepted as " orders of the King," with the re-
sult that in four years the lady drew upon the Treas-
ury for no less a sum than 6,427,803 livres !*
And so the coffers of the State became the cash-box
of the favourite, and the money wrung from the
pockets of the luckless taxpayers by the adventurous
Terray was poured out in a ceaseless flood on a host of
modistes and milliners, goldsmiths and jewellers,
furniture dealers and bric-a-brac merchants; on silks
and laces, on pendants, and earrings, and bracelets, on
superb toilette-sets* and costly porcelain, and, what is
perhaps less reprehensible, on pictures and statuary,
='In addition to all this, on the death of the Comte de Cler-
mont, in 1772, she was accorded one-third of his pension of
300,000 livres, and she is also believed to have received immense
sums from the sale of monopolies, offices, commissions in the
army and so forth.
* Jacques Roettiers, the famous goldsmith, received orders from
the King for a "toilette tout en or" for Madame du Barry, but
tlie cost prevented its completion. The accounts sent in by Roet-
tiers pere et fils to the favourite were as follows: January 1770,
34,795 livres; August 1771, 156,028 livres; May 1772, 56,657 livres;
November 1773, 93,606 livres.
MADAME DU BARRY 191
and even books — books gorgeously bound in red
morocco and stamped with the Du Barry arms and
device. Her toilettes and jewels and equipages were
the admiration and despair of all the ladies of the
Court. Pagelle, the renowned modiste of the Trois
Gallants in the Rue Saint-Honore, provided her with
"' nil grand habit dc satin blanc chine en argent, brode
en paUlons verts et roses," &c., &c. — the full description
of the garment would occupy the better part of a page
— at a cost of 10,500 livres; Vanot, of the Rue Saint-
Denis, with " nne tres-bellc toilette de point d'Argcntan
et son surtont," and " tine parnrc de deshabille," which
cost respectively 9000, and 7000 livres; while gowns
at 2000, 3000 and 4000 livres figure in her accounts
with almost monotonous regularity. She had a pariire
of diamonds valued at 450,000 livres, a dinner-service
of Sevres porcelain for which she paid 21,438 livres,
and a magnificent z'is-a-z'is, the panels of which were
decorated with her arms and "the famous battle-cry,
' Boutez-en-avant,' " encircled by doves, pierced hearts,
quivers, torches — " in short, all the attributes of the
god of Paphos." This resplendent equipage, which
w^as the gift of the grateful d'/\iguillon, was reported
to have cost 52,000 livres.
The apartments of the favourite at Versailles formed
a series of boudoirs, each of which seemed to those
who entered for the first time more elegant than an-
other. The chimney-piece in the salon was adorned
with a magnificent clock, " around which a world of
porcelain figures disported themselves." In the same
room were two commodes of priceless lacquer, one re-
lieved by figures in gold, the other decorated with fine
porcelain plaques, which, we are told, had not their
equals in Europe. Erom the ceiling hung a lustre of
rock-crystal, which had cost 16,000 livres, and in a
corner stood a beautiful piano, the work of the famous
192 MADAME DU BARRY
CUcot, the case of which was of rosewood, exquisitely
inlaid and lavishly gilded. The cabinet contained a
writing-table plated with porcelain, and an inkstand
which was a masterpiece of the goldsmith's art ; while
in the bedroom was a wonderful clock, which rep-
resented " the Three Graces supporting the vase of
Time," and Love indicating the hour with his arrow.
" The most exquisite objects of art, marvels of up-
holstery, bronzes, marbles, statuettes, abounded in this
asylum of voluptuous pleasure. It was the last word
of luxury.'"
A whole regiment of servants was employed to do
the bidding of the mistress of all these treasures :
eight valets-de-cliambre and a like number of foot-
men, two coachmen, three postilions, three running-
footmen, two sedan-chairmen, five grooms, a maitre
d' hot el, a clerk to keep the household accounts, two
valets de garde-robe, a Swiss and two gardeners.
Never had such gorgeous menials been seen before.
On ordinary occasions, the valets-de-chambre and
footmen contented themselves with " coats of chamois
cloth gallooned with silver, waistcoats and breeches
of chamois silk, with buttons, garters, and buckles of
silver." But on occasions of ceremony, as, for instance,
when the Kingdined or supped with their mistress, they
appeared arrayed in " coats of scarlet cloth gallooned
with gold and with basques of white Naples silk, scar-
let silk waistcoats and breeches, with gold buttons,
garters, and buckles." The coachmen were attired in
sky-blue cloth, and chamois waistcoats with silver but-
tons; the running-footmen, postilions — the lady was
never drawn by less than four horses — and grooms, in
blue and silver; the sedan-chairmen in scarlet and
• E. and J. de Goncourt's La Du Barry, p. 34 et seq. Imbert de
Saint Armand's Les Femmes de Versailles: Les Dernieres Annees
de Louis XV 142 et seq.
MADAME DU BARRY 193
silver; while the rest of the household wore a blue
livery g-allooned with silver.
Until the close of the year 1772 Madame du Barry
had no residence at Versailles, save her apartments in
the chateau ; the majority of her servants being lodged
at the Hotel de Luynes, as it was impossible for their
mistress to accommodate more than a few of them.
This arrangement was not without its inconveniences,
so, in December 1772, the favourite purchased from
Binet, first valet-dc-chamhre to the Dauphin, for 80,-
000 livres, an hotel, or rather pavilion, situated at the
corner of the Avenue de Paris and the Rue de
Montboron. Her new acquisition, however, proved
to be far too small for the lady's requirements, and
she, accordingly, bought some four acres of land be-
tween the pavilion and the Rue de Montboron, and
instructed the arcliitect Ledoux to build her an hotel
here. For some reason, which, curiously enough, is
not stated, the erection of this hotel, the chief feature
of which was a splendid porch, appears to have given
umbrage to the Dauphin, but, according to M. Le Roi,
the more he objected, the more ostentatiously was the
work pressed on.
About the middle of December 1770, Madame du
Barry, finding that, notwithstanding the alterations
and additions designed by Gabriel, her chateau of
Louveciennes was still too small to permit of her
entertaining on the scale she desired, had commis-
sioned the architect Ledoux to construct a pavilion
beside it; and at the beginning of January 1772 the
building was completed.*
This beautiful pavilion, about which so much has
been written, consisted of a simple rcz-dc-cJiaussee
'Some writers have stated that the pavilion vi'as completed in
three months, and that Ledoux owed his place in the Academy of
Architecture to the amazinp celerity with which he carried out
the work; but this was nut the case.
194 MADAME DU BARRY
built of Saint-Leu stone, surmounted by a belvedere.
It was about twenty to twenty-five feet in height and
the same in breadth, with five windows on each side.
A fligln of seven or eight steps led up to a peristyle
of four Ionic columns, the pediment of which was
adorned by a Bacchanalian dance of children in low-
relief, the work of Lecomte.
The vestibule, which served on great occasions as
a dining-room, was built of grey marble with four
Corinthian pilasters. Between the pilasters, the capi-
tals of which were lavishly gilded, were placed four
groups of women holding horns of plenty, beautifully
executed by Lecomte and Pajou. At either end of
the vestibule were tribunes for the accommodation of
musicians, and over the door leading into the main
salon was the portrait of a person decorated with the
cordon bleu, probably the King. Around the room ran
a frieze of Cupids, amidst which were placed the
united arms of Madame du Barry and her husband."
Behind the vestibule was the main salon, on either
side of which were two smaller salons. The main
salon contained dessus-de-portcs by PYagonard,* some
'And not, says M. Vatel, those of Madame du Barry and
Louis XV., as the Goncourts state, which may be seen by exam-
ining the beautiful water-colour by Moreau le jeune, now in the
Louvre, of which we shall presently speak. The arms which
Madame du Barry had invented for the mythical Vaubernier
were a chevron, a hand, and two roses.
^ Fragonard was also commissioned to paint four panels for
this room, but they did not take their place upon the walls for
which they were destined, the reason being, according to the
writer of an interesting article in the "New York Critic" (No-
vember 1901), that the artist had been a shade too explicit in
the matter of portraiture. " Louis XV. resented being painted
even as a young and fanciful shepherd in company with the
favourite. The royal sybarite refused to sanction any record of
his profligacy, and Fragonard's idyl, which traced in such per-
suasive accents the love of King and courtesan, was supplanted
by decorations in no way comparable to this dream of youthful
tenderness." These panels are now in the possession of Mr.
Pierpont Morgan.
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MADA^^IE DU BARRY 195
beautiful arabesques, delicately carved by Metivier and
Feuillet, and a console in which the celebrated Gou-
thiere had surpassed himself. But, according to
Madame Vigee Lebrun, the finest ornament of the
room was the superb view which its windows com-
manded, embracing as it did Saint-Germain, Le Vesi-
net, Saint-Denis, the Seine in all its windings, and, in
the misty distance, Paris.
Of the two smaller salons, that on the right, the
ceiling, of which had been painted by Restout and the
dessiis-dc-portes by Drouais, contained four magnifi-
cent pictures by Vien, symbolical of "the progress of
love in the heart of young girls," and two little marble
figures from the chisel of Vasse, one an Amour, the
other representing Folly with a mask in his hand; that
on the left was adorned with mirrors, which reflected
a superb mantelpiece of lapis lazuli. On the ceiling
Briard had painted an allegory of love in the country."
"Nothing could be more rich, nothing more gor-
geous, than the furniture and decorations of the in-
terior," says a contemporary writer; "the tables, the
chimney-pieces, the locks, the window-fastenings, &c.,
all are of exquisite finish and excessive delicacy." The
chronicler, however, blames this excess of richness and
elegance as being in bad taste. "It is neither richness
nor delicate workmanship which constitute beauty; it
is the art of giving to each object the character which
belongs to it."'"
Outside the pavilion were two marble figures, the
work of the sculptor Allegrain; one representing
Diana pursued by Actcxon, the other a bather — a
woman — emerging from the water. The head of
"Dulaure's Nouvclle Description des environs dc Paris (Paris,
1786), ii. 17, et seq. E. and J. rle Concourfs La Du Barry, p. 130.
y aid's Histoire de Madatne du Barry, ii. ii6, et seq.
" Dulaure's Nouvclle Description des environs dc Paris (Paris,
1786), ii. 19.
Memolrrt— 7 Vol. 2
196 MADAME DU BARRY
Diana reproduced very plainly the features of Ma-
dame du Barry.
The Louvre possesses a beautiful water-colour by
Moreau le jeunc, representing a fete given by Madame
du Barry to Louis XV. at Louveciennes, on December
27, 1 77 1, probably for the inauguration of the new
pavilion. The drawing is thus admirably described by
M. Vatel:
"We are in the grand dining-room of the pavilion,
recognisable by its tribunes and the four groups of
women by Lecomte and Pajou, only one sees that the
horns of plenty that they hold are utilised to serve as
torches. Above is an Olympian ceiling, which recalls
to mind the Salon d'Hercule at Versailles; below a
square porch in black and white marble. A dazzling
clearness, rendered by the painter with consummate
art, pervades the whole room. The lustres of Gou-
thiere blaze like the lights in a picture of Schalken;
ever}'thing breathes a festal air.
"The King sits by Madame du Barry's side, a score
of persons are at the supper-table; great ladies and
beribboned noblemen.
"About the table move a crowd of lackeys, carrying
dishes or waiting upon the guests ; some of them with
their three-cornered hats on their heads, their swords
by their sides, their red coats and blue facings, would
appear to be Gardes Suisses.
"The King seems to have his own private servants,
attentive behind his chair. He is speaking to no one,
and is isolated and grave in the midst of this joyous
atmosphere; his hand rests nonchalantly on the table
near his plate; his glance is mournful; his expression-
less face is that of a bored man.
"On his right is Madame du Barry, perfectly recog-
nisable. One would say that Moreau had copied or
recalled the bust of Pajou. She wears a white or
MADAME DU BARRY 197
rose-coloured gown. We can distinguish her diamond
earrings and the necklace which descends to her bare
and opulent bosom.
"Next her, some little distance away, is a great
nobleman wearing the cordon bleu. We seem to
recognise in him the Marechal de Richelieu, to judge
by his statuette in the Louvre and the portrait in the
Bibliotheque de 1' Arsenal. His neighbour might be,
according to a pure supposition on our part, the
Marechale de Mirepoix; she is turning round and
placing something, probably sweetmeats, in the hand
of Zamor." The latter is recognisable by his tawny
complexion, his size, and his costume. On his head
is a white cap adorned with a plume, and he wears
a rose-coloured coat and high black boots. Another
personage, w^ho is dressed in Madame du Barry's
livery, attracts attention by the air of importance with
which he carries in his arms a little greyhound, proba-
bly that of the mistress of the house.
" We observe one of her servants approach the
favourite with an appearance of eagerness, a dish in
" Zamor was Madame du Barry's Indian page. Many writers
call him a negro; but this is incorrect, as he was a native of
Bengal, who had been brought to France by the captain of an
English ship. He was about seven years old when the countess
took him into her service — a step which, as we shall see here-
after, she had bitter reason to regret. His mistress had him
taught to read and write, and, on July 4, 1772, he was baptized
at the Church of Notre Dame at Versailles, the sponsors being
"the High and Puissant Prince Louis Franqois Joseph de Bour-
bon, Comte de la Marche, represented by his concierge, and the
High and Puissant Dame Bcnedicte de Vaubergny {sic) Com-
tesse du Barry, represented by her feiiiiiic-de-chambrc." Zamor
was a great favourite with Madame du Barry and also with the
old King, to whom his impish pranks caused great amusement
According to the Anecdotes, Louis rewarded his antics by ap-
pointing him Governor of the Chateau and Pavilion of Louve-
cicnnes, with a salary of 600 livres, and ordered Maupcou to
draw up the brevet of the appointment anrl alTix thereto the great
seal; but this, like the stf)ry of Zamor collecting cockchafers and
putting them into the Chancellor's wig, is probably a myth.
198 MADAME DU BARRY
one hand, his serviette in tlie other; he seems to be
whispering in her ear, and to be informing her of
some imjxDrtant incident connected with his duties.
Madame du Barry hstens attentively, and her eyes
appear to be in search of something.
"The elaborate supper is not an orgy; it is a Court
banquet, ceremoniously served, in accordance with all
the rules of etiquette. The morganatic couple permit
themselves in public a familiarity which gives us an
excellent idea of the position of a inaitresse declaree."^
" Vatel's Histoire de Madame du Barry, ii. 123, et seq.
CHAPTER XIV
A LTHOUGH Madame du Barry's influence over
l\ Louis XV. was, in all probability, greater
**• -^ than that of her predecessor in the King's af-
fections, her hopes of obtaining the almost general
recognition of her position which had been accorded
to Madame de Pompadour, during the latter part of
her reign, were fated never to be realised. For this
there were several reasons. One lay, of course, in the
difference between the personalities of the two favour-
ites. The life of Madame de Pompadour previous to
her " elevation" had been irreproachable, while she
was one of the most accomplished women of her time
— a woman, indeed, who, had she but been born to
the purple, any nation might have been proud to wel-
come as its queen. The early career of Madame du
Barry, as we have seen, was not one which would
bear investigation, and, beyond her gaiety and good
nature, she had no qualities which might serve to
reconcile the Court to her sway. Another reason was
the resentment aroused by the dismissal of Choiseul.
Madame de Pompadour, it is true, had been directly
responsible for the dismissal of half a dozen Min-
isters; but neither Orry, Maurepas. the two d'Argen-
sons, Machault, nor Bernis had had any very consid-
erable following, and their misfortunes had been, in
consequence, received with comparative indifference,
whereas Choiseul's partisans comprised the most in-
tellectual portion of the nation, and his fall was re-
garded as a public calamity. A third cause was to
199
200 MADAME DU BARRY
be found in the fact that, even in the few years that
had elapsed since the death of Madame de Pompa-
dour, tlie doctrines which were steadily undennining
the whole social fabric had made material progress;
new ideas, new conceptions of monarchy and its duties,
were spreading fast among all classes; people were
no longer inclined to regard with complacence the
spectacle of a royal mistress squandering the public
money upon a hundred whims and caprices.
But it would appear to have been to a different
cause to which Madame du Barry attributed her fail-
ure to overcome the hostility of an influential section
of the Court, and to remove which all her efforts were
now directed. This was the attitude persisted in by
the young Dauphiness, who, in spite of the represen-
tations of Mercy, could not be prevailed upon to ac-
cord " the most foolish and impertinent creature imag-
inable" the slightest mark of recognition, and treated
her and her partisans with the utmost disdain.
Towards the end of June 1771, d'Aiguillon, who
had met with a very icy reception from Marie Antoi-
nette on the occasion of his presentation to her as
Minister of Foreign Affairs, had an interview with
Mercy, in which, after eulogising the beauty, grace,
intelligence, and so forth of the Dauphiness, he in-
formed the Ambassador that he had been commanded
by the King to intimate to him that his Majesty had
observed with annoyance " signs of an aversion too
strongly marked towards the persons who composed
the intimate society of the King"; that not only did
the princess refuse them the recognition due to mem-
bers of the Court, but added " words of satire and
hatred"; that this was creating much ill-feeling, and
destroying the tenderness of the King towards her,
and that it was very essential that it should cease.
Mercy hastened to express his regret and his convic-
MADAME DU BARRY 201
tion that the blame for the unfortunate state of affairs
of which d'Aiguillon had spoken rested not with the
princess herself, but with those who had dared to
speak to her " of things she ought never to know or
to see" ; hinted at the " pernicious counsels " of
Mesdanies, and assured the Minister that " the least
tender and affectionate insinuations coming from the
King" could not fail to produce their effect, and that
he would do everything in his power to further his
Majesty's wishes. *' It is clear," he writes to IMaria
Theresa, " that the proceeding of the Due d'Aiguillon
had been planned on the advice of Madame du Barry,
with the intention of gradually inducing Madame la
Dauphine to treat the favourite better."
The Empress, who had been much alarmed by the
evidence of Madame du Barry's influence afforded by
the fall of Choiseul, and was veiy dubious as to the
attitude of d'Aiguillon towards the Franco-Austrian
alliance, and still more so with regard to the reception
her designs upon Poland were likely to meet with at
Versailles, lost no time in despatching a letter of re-
monstrance to her daughter. She informs her that she
has been told that her reception of d'Aiguillon had left
much to be desired; that she held herself aloof from
all his party; that they were of the King's Court as
well as herself; and that she should submit to his
Majesty's will " with the respect and obedience of a
child." " It ought to suffice for your favour that the
King distinguishes such or such an one, without ex-
amining their merits."
She concludes by warning her against Mcsdamcs,
who, " filled with virtue and possessing real merit,
have never learned how to make themselves loved
or respected either by their father or the public.
Everything which is said or done in their circle
is common knowledge, and, in the end, all will
202 MADAME DU BARRY
be laid at your door, and you alone will bear the
blame."'
Her words, joined to the representations of Mercy,
were not without effect. On July 24, the Ambassador
writes from Compiegne that, on receipt of the Em-
press's letter, the princess had become very grave and
thoughtful ; that the same evening, while playing lans-
quenet with the King and the Royal Family, she had
found herself seated next to IMadame du Barry, and
had shown how highly she valued the Imperial advice
by displaying " neither disgust nor temper," but, on
the contrary, speaking to the favourite, whenever the
incidents of the game required that she should do so,
"gracefully and without affectation, saying neither too
much nor too little." Nor was this all, for next day the
Due d'Aiguillon, happening to present himself while the
princess was at play, met with an extremely gracious
reception, "the Dauphiness speaking to him frequently
with a charming air of gaiety"; which condescension
appears to have so astonished the new Minister that,
consummate courtier though he was, he could only
reply in monosyllables.
Maria Theresa expresses her satisfaction at the
good news in her next letter to Mercy :
"I am very pleased that my daughter has begun to
treat the Due d'Aiguillon better. Without entering
into their personalities, she ought to be the same to all
the members of the dominant party, even to the Com-
tesse du Barry, and speak to her on any unimportant
matter as she would to every other lady whom the
King admits to his Court ; she should even distinguish
her. She ought to ignore what this woman is and
treat her well, without condescending to anything un-
worthy.'"
And to Marie Antoinette she writes :
'Letter of July 9, 1771. * Letter of August 10, 1771.
MADAME DU BARRY 203
" Mercy informs me that you have, on his advice,
begun to treat the ruHng party with courtesy, and have
even addressed a few vague remarks in that direction,
which have had a marvellous effect. I do not enlarge
upon this matter; Mercy is charged to speak to you
freely; I am only delighted that you lend 3'ourself so
promptly to his counsel.'"'
^Madame du Barry, however, was not satisfied with
"a few vague remarks" ; she desired a more formal
recognition of her position from the first lady in the
land, and had made up her mind to obtain it; and,
accordingly, gave the King no rest until he had prom-
ised that he would himself interview Mercy, with a
view to putting an end to the cruel humiliations which,
she declared, v.ere rendering her life miserable.
" I was invited to sup with the Comtesse de Valen-
tinois," writes the Ambassador, " and repaired thither
with the Nuncio and the Sardinian Ambassador. \Ye
found there the Due and Duchesse d'Aguillon, the Due
de la Vrilliere, a dame du palais, some other ladies in
the service of the Comtesse de Provence,* and the
Comtesse du Barry. It was the first time that I had
found myself in the company of this woman. The
Sardinian Ambassador spoke to her first as to a person
with whom he was well acquainted ; the Nuncio showed
himself very anxious to join in the conversation. I
thought it incumbent upon me to show more reserve,
and it was not until the favourite had addressed me
that I allowed myself to converse freely with her. I
received, on her side, a more gracious reception than
the others were accorded. I did not sit down to table,
and the Comtesse du Barry, giving as her reason that
she was compelled to return to her apartments before
'Letter of August 17, 177T.
'Louis Marie Josephine of Savoy, dauglitcr of Victor Amadciis
III., Kinp of Sarrlinia. She had been married to the Comtc de
Provence, June 14, T771.
204 MADAME DU BARRY
eleven o'clock, did not sup either. The conversation
was interrupted by the Due d'Aignillon, who, taking-
me aside, informed me that the King" desired to speak
to me in private, and that he had charged him to pro-
pose that, the following day, on his return from the
chase, I should repair to tlie Comtesse du Barry's
apartments, where his Majesty would see me. I replied
without hesitation that I would go wherever the King"
required me."
The following" morning, the Dauphiness received the
Ambassadors, and, approaching" Mercy, said in a low
voice : " I felicitate you on the good company in which
you supped on Sunday."
" ]\ladame," replied Mercy, " an event much more
remarkable is going" to happen to-day, and to-morrow I
shall have the honour of rendering an account of it to
your Royal Highness."
Tliat evening, at seven o'clock, the Ambassador pre-
sented himself at the favourite's apartments in the
chateau. D'Aiguillon came to meet him, and informed
him that the King had just returned from hunting
and was dressing, after which he carried ofif two or
three persons who were present into an adjoining
room, under the pretence of looking at a picture, leav-
ing Mercy alone with Madame du Barry.
The favourite seized the opportunity to tell the Am-
bassador how delighted she was that the King's idea
of giving him audience in her apartments had afforded
her an opportunity of making his acquaintance, and
that she wished to take advantage of it to speak to him
of a painful subject which affected her deeply. She
was not ignorant, she said, that, for a long time past,
people had been engaged in endeavours to ruin her
with the Dauphiness, and that, to effect their object,
" they had had recourse to the most atrocious calum-
nies" in daring to attribute to her disrespectful words
MADAAIE DU BARRY 205
concerning her Royal Highness. So far from having
to reproach herself with a crime so terrible, she had
always been numbered among those who "justly ex-
tolled the charms of the archduchess." Although the
princess had constantly treated her with severity and
a kind of contempt, she had never indulged in any com-
plaints against her Royal Highness, but only against
those who inspired her to these marks of dislike, and
that whenever a question had arisen of granting some
request made by the Dauphiness, she had used her in-
fluence with the King in the princess's favour.
Alercy assured the favourite that she was under a
complete misapprehension in supposing the Dauphi-
ness capable of sentiments so contrary to her charac-
ter, and, we may suppose, paid the lady many pretty
compliments, which pleased her so much that she be-
came quite familiar, confided to her guest some inter-
esting details about her life, her plans for amusing the
King, her opinion of certain personages of the Court,
and so forth.
The confidences were interrupted by the arrival of
Louis XV., who entered by the private staircase be-
tween his apartments and those of his mistress.
" Must I retire, Monsieur f'^ inquired Aladame du
Barry.
Mercy's astonishment at hearing the most Christian
King addressed by such an appellation was so pro-
found that he would appear to have had some difficulty
in persuading himself that he was not dreaming.* But
his Majesty seemed to take it quite as a matter of
'"Although I pass my life here in witnessing extraordinary
thinps. I am not often able to rcRard them as dreams. I have seen
the King in company with Madame du Barry; she calls him
' Monsieur,* and treats him as an equal. lie takes it in very
good part, and even in my presence, did not appear annoyed at
his favourite behaving thus." — Letter of Mercy to Kaunitz, Sep-
tember 2, 1771.
2o6 MADAME DU BARRY
course, and smilingly intimated to the favourite that
he Avished to be alone with the Ambassador, upon
which the lady withdrew, and the King, turning to
Mercy, said : "Up to the present you have been the
Ambassador of the Empress; now I beg you to be
my Ambassador, at least for a time." Then, with
much embarrassment, he began to speak of Marie
Antoinette, declaring that he loved the princess with all
his heart, that he found her charming, but that she was
young and impressionable, and, since her husband was
not in a position to advise her, it was impossible that
she should escape the snares that intrigue laid for her ;
that he had remarked with displeasure that she had
conceived certain prejudices and dislikes, obviously
the result of the evil counsels of those by whom she
was surrounded, and that she was treating very badly
certain persons whom he had admitted to his private
circle of friends. "See Madame la Dauphine fre-
quently," he concluded. "I authorise you to say to her,
on my behalf, whatever 3'ou think necessary; she is
being given bad advice, and must not be allowed to
follow it. You see wdiat confidence I have in you,
since I tell you what is in my mind in regard to the
private life of my family."
Mercy endeavoured to make the King comprehend
that it would be far better, as the matter under dis-
cussion was of so very delicate a nature, if his Majesty
would take u]X)n himself the task of remonstrating
with the Dauphiness. But Louis, as is well known, had
an invincible repugnance to personal explanations with
members of the Royal Family, and on the rare occa-
sions on which he contrived to summon up sufficient
courage to reprimand tliem, invariably had recourse
to writing; and the Ambassador, finding his represen-
tations useless, consented to accept the commission
offered him, and left the chateau, not altogether dis-
IMADA^IE DU BARRY 207
pleased at finding that he had become, in the short
space of two days, the friend of the favourite and the
confidant of the King.
In accordance with his promise to Louis XV., Mercy
lost no time in seeking an interview with Marie An-
toinette, and pointing out to her the inconsistency of
her attitude towards the mistress. If, said he, you
wish to show by your behaviour that you are aware of
the role that Madame du Barr}^ plays at Court, your
dignity requires that you should request the King to
forbid this woman to appear henceforth in your pres-
ence; if, on the contrary, you wish to appear ignorant
of the true position of the favourite, you ought to treat
her as you would any other lady of the Court, and,
when occasion offers, speak to her, were it only once,
'' which would put an end to all specious pretext for
recriminations." Then he advised her to have a few
minutes' conversation with the King on the matter, and
persuaded the Abl^e de Vermond to urge the same
course upon the princess. But whatever effect their
representations had was quickly undone by Mcsdamcs;
Marie Antoinette declared that " her courasre failed
her," and all that she could be prevailed upon to prom-
ise was to speak once to the favourite.
The Ambassador at once communicated this wel-
come intelligence to Madame du Barry, upon which
that lady announced her intention of joining the circle
of the Dauphiness on the following Sunday, and giv-
ing the princess an opportunity of redeeming her prom-
ise. Mercy hurried off to warn Marie Antoinette, who
answered that she was prepared to keep her word, but
insisted that he should be present. It was then ar-
ranged that on Sunday, at the close of the c\-cning's
card-playing, Mercy was to approach the favourite and
engage her in conversation, and that the Dauphiness, in
passing round the room, should stop and speak to him,
2o8 MADAME DU BARRY
and then, as if taking" an opportunity, address a few
words to ^ladame du Barry. Marie Antoinette de-
clared that this was the only way in which she could
bring herself to do what he wished, as she felt so
afraid, and IMercy implored her to be firm, and strictly
enjoined upon her to say nothing" about their plan to
her aunts. This the Dauphiness promised readily
enough, but broke her word, with what result we shall
now see.
" In the evening," says Mercy, " I went to the
assembly ; the Comtesse du Barry was present with her
friends. Madame la Dauphine called me aside, and
told me that she was frightened, but that her intentions
remained unchanged. The game being at an end, her
Royal Highness sent me to place myself beside the
favourite, whom I engaged in conversation. In a mo-
ment all eyes were turned upon us. Madame la Dau-
phine began to speak to the ladies present ; she reached
my side, and was not two paces away, when Madame
Adelaide, who had not lost sight of her for a moment,
raised her voice and exclaimed: 'Let us go; it is
time to await the King at my sister Victoire's.' At
these words Madame la Dauphine turned away, and
the whole scheme came to nothing."
That same evening, presumably in anticipation of
victory, all the Ambassadors, including the Papal
Nuncio — who seems to have been one of the most as-
siduous of the favourite's courtiers, though the story
of his having put on the lady's slippers one morning
at her toilette is probably a myth — had been invited to
supper by Madame du Barry. Mercy was one of those
present, and was agreeably surprised to find that, " in,
spite of the little humiliation which she had just ex-
perienced at the hands of Madame la Dauphine," his
fair hostess treated him with the utmost graciousness.
He explained to d'Aiguillon, who was among the
MADAME DU BARRY 209
guests, what had passed that evening, and flattered
himself tliat he had succeeded in throwing all the
blame on the shoulders of Mesdames.
Presently, the King, on his way from the Council to
sup, with the Royal Family, came in for a moment,
impatient to learn the result of the Ambassador's little
scheme, and, later in the evening returned, and, " hav-
ing as it were pushed me into a corner," said, in a very
confused manner : " Ah well ! M. de Mercy, you have
seen the Dauphiness? Your advice bears but little
fruit; I shall have to come to your help"; and then
turned away without giving the Ambassador time to
reply.
To any one unacquainted with Louis XV.'s char-
acter those words might have been understood to im-
ply that he meditated a personal remonstrance with
the Dauphiness or Mesdames. But Mercy knew that
it was perfectly hopeless to expect anything of the
kind, and that the monarch would probably confine the
marks of his displeasure to " sulks and silence" when-
ever the offending parties happened to approach him,
and he, accordingl}'-, sent an exhaustive account of the
whole affair to Vienna and made strong representa-
tions to Marie Antoinette, warning her that compari-
sons were being made between her conduct and that of
the Comtesse de Provence — who had lately made
Madame du Barry supremely happy by speaking to
her " without affectation," — and very much to the dis-
advantage of the Dauphiness. The princess expressed
due contrition, and pleaded in extenuation her fear of
her aunts!
Mercy's "humble report" to Vienna brought a strong
letter of remonstrance from Maria Theresa to her
daughter, so strong indeed that the Empress judged
it advisable to ask the Ambassador to read it before
handing it to the Dauphiness, and to return it, if he
210 MADAME DU BARRY
considered that the strictures it contained were too
severe.
Maria Theresa to Marie Antoinette.
''Schonbrunn, September 30, 1771.
..." Marsy" has confirmed what all my letters tell
me, namely, that you only act as your aunts direct. I
esteem them, I love them, although they have never
known how to make themselves either esteemed or
loved by their own family or the public; and you wish
to follow the same road. This fear and embarrassment
of speaking to the King, the best of fathers! That of
speaking to people to whom you are advised to speak !
Confess this embarrassment, this fear of saying a sim-
ple 'Good-morning'; a word about a dress or some
other trifle costs you so many grimaces! Actually
grimaces, or worse! You have allowed yourself to
be dragged into such bondage that your reason and
even your duty are no longer able to guide you. I
can no longer keep silent. After the conversation with
Mercy and all that he impressed upon you that the
King desired, that your duty demanded, that you
should have dared to fail him ! What good reason can
you allege? None. You ought neither to know nor
see the Barry in any other light than as a lady admit-
ted to the Court and the society of the King. You are
his first subject, you owe him obedience and submis-
sion; you owe an example to the courtiers, who ex-
ecute the will of your master. If anything degrading,
any familiarities were required of you, neither I nor
any one else would counsel them, but an indifferent
word, certain attitudes, not for the sake of the lady,
but for your grandfather, your master, your benefac-
tor! And you fail him so conspicuously on the first
' The Abbe de Marsy, a Lorrainer in the Austrian service, who
had lately been on a visit to France.
MADAME DU BARRY 211
occasion on which you could oblige him, and show
him your attachment! Let us see now for what rea-
son? A shameful complaisance for people who have
reduced you to dependence, by treating you as a child,
procuring you rides on horseback, on donkeys, amuse-
ments with children, with dogs. See the great reasons
for your preference for them over your master, and
which will render you ultimately ridiculous, unloved
and unesteemed. You began so well; your judgment
W'hen not directed by others is always true and just.
Let yourself be guided by ]\Iercy; what happiness
could either he or I have except your own happiness
and the good of the State? Free yourself from these
false ideas; it is for you, after the King, to lead, and
not to be led away like a child when you wish to speak.
You are afraid to speak to the King, but you are not
afraid to disobey and disoblige him. I fear that, for a
short time, I must permit you to avoid verbal explana-
tions with him; but I insist that you convince him by
all your actions of your respect and affection. ... I
have detained the courier until the first day of the
month, and I cannot conceal from you that I was so
overwhelmed by the news that he brought me that I
needed time to recover. I do not demand that you
should break with the company that you frequent ;
God forbid! But I wish you to take counsel of Mercy
in preference to them, to see him more frequently, to
speak to him of everything, and to communicate
nothing that he says to you to others. Too much com-
plaisance savours of degradation and weakness; you
must know how to play your own part if you wish to
be esteemed. If you suffer yourself to be discouraged,
I foresee great troubles for you, nothing but mis-
chief-making and petty intrigues, which will render
your life miserable. I desire to warn you of this; I
conjure you to believe the advice of a mother who
212 MADAME DU BARRY
knows the world and idolises her children, and desires
only to pass her last sad days in being of use to them.
I embrace you tenderly ; do not think me offended, but
touched and occupied with your welfare."
The vigorous language in which Maria Theresa
addresses her daughter in the aforegoing letter was
dictated by more weighty consideration than the young
princess's personal welfare. The seizure of Zips by
Austrian troops the previous year had been followed by
further aggressions in Poland, and Kaunitz was now
actively negotiating with Frederick the Great and the
Czarina Catherine for a share of that unhappy country.
Sorely against her will had the Empress-Queen been
brought to acquiesce in the participation of Austria in
this iniquitous deed," but having once consented, her
scruples were laid aside, and all her energies hence-
forth devoted to making the best possible bargain with
her fellow robbers and overcoming the opposition of
the French Court.
That exhausted and ill-governed France would at-
tempt armed intervention between the Eastern Powers
and their prey was, of course, out of the question ; but,
on the other hand, there was every likelihood that she
might take serious umbrage at the policy pursued by
Austria, with the result that the alliance to which
' " When all my lands were invaded, and I knew not where in
the world I should find a place to be brought to bed in, I relied
on my good right and the help of God. But in this thing, where
not only public law cries to Heaven against us, but also natural
justice and sound reason, I must confess never in my life to
have been in such trouble, and am ashamed to show my face.
Let the Prince (Kaunitz) consider what an example we are
giving to all the world, if, for a miserable piece of Poland, or
Moldavia, or Wallachia, we throw our honour and reputation
to the winds. I see well that I am alone, and no more in
vigour; therefore I must, though to my very great sorrow, let
things take their course."— Letter of Maria Theresa to KaunitS
(undated), cited in Carlyle's "Frederick the Great," x. 34.
MADAME DU BARRY 213
Maria Theresa looked for support against the steadily
increasing power of Prussia might be strained to
breaking point. Hence it was, above all things, neces-
sary to maintain the best possible personal relations
with Louis XV. ; hence her indignation and alarm at
the impolitic conduct of her daughter.
Marie Antoinette's repugnance to make even the
smallest concession to the feelings of Madame du
Barry was not lessened by the persistent attempts of the
favourite's partisans to control the appointments in the
princess's Household. In the autumn of that year the
Dauphiness's danic d'atoitrs, the Duchesse de Villars,
fell dangerously ill, the doctors who attended her pro-
nounced her recovery hopeless, and the question of her
successor at once began to agitate the minds of the in-
triguers of the Court. Such an opportunity of estab-
lishing a spy of his own about the person of the princess
seemed too good to be lost, and the Due de la Vauguy-
on forthwith determined to secure the post for his
daughter-in-law, Madame de Saint-Megrin. Prompted
by him, the poor Duchesse de Villars thereupon wrote
a letter to the Dauphin reminding him that the sur-
vivorship to the office in question had been promised
to Madame de Saint-Mcgrin by the late Dauphiness,
and begging him to use his influence with the King to
secure the nomination of that lady. The Dauphin had
by this time contrived to overcome the awe with which
he had once regarded the Due de la Vauguyon, and was
no longer submissive to his will. But he had an in-
tense veneration for his mother's memory, and accord-
ingly, without saying a word to Marie Antoinette,
wrote to the King, soliciting the coveted appointment
for Madame de Saint-Megrin. Almost at the same
moment, Louis received a letter from the Dauphiness
protesting against the proposed nomination, a rumor
214 MADAME DU BARRY
of which had just reached her, and asking that the
place might be given to one of her own ladies. The
King, anxious to keep the peace, refused both requests,
representing that Madame de Saint-Megrin was too
young for so important a charge, and that the Dauphin-
ess was herself too young to be permitted to choose
her dame d'atours.
]\Iadame de Villars died, and the Dauphiness, in ter-
ror lest the Comtesse de Valentinois, Madame de Mont-
morency, or some other intimate of the favourite
should be appointed, renewed her request that the
duchess's successor should be chosen from her own
Household. The King curtly refused, and expressed
a hope that " his dear daughter" would receive whom-
ever he might select for her with respect and submis-
sion.
Finally, it was announced that the Duchesse de
Cosse had been appointed.
The Duchesse de Cosse was not one of the Du Barry
clique, and she was a young woman of irreproachable
virtue ; but her husband, of whom we shall have a good
deal to say hereafter, was one of the favourite's most
intimate friends, and it w^as he who had solicited the
appointment and obliged his w'ife, wdio cared little for
Court life and passed most of her time in Paris, to
accept it. When Marie Antoinette received the King's
letter informing her of his choice, she "wept with
rage," and her aversion to Madame du Barry became,
if it w^ere possible, greater than ever.
But the exigencies of the political situation were too
strong to permit the Dauphiness to indulge her preju-
dices much longer; Maria Theresa wrote to Mercy
imploring him to induce her daughter " to place her-
self on a footing more in conformity with the situation
of affairs and my interests," and at length Marie An-
toinette consented to speak to the favourite.
MADAME DU BARRY 215
On New Year's Day it was the custom for all ladies
who had been presented to pay their respects to the
Royal Family. " I was informed that Madame du
Bai-rv had decided to perform that duty," writes
Mercy, " and on New Year's Eve had an interview
with Madame la Dauphine, and persuaded her Royal
Highness, by every means in my power, not to treat
the favourite badly. It was with great difficulty that
I obtained a promise to this effect. The essential point
was that Mcsdamcs should not be informed, and this,
happily, was attained." On the following morning,
Madame du Barry presented herself before the Dau-
phiness, accompanied by the Duchesse d'Aiguillon and
the Marechale de ]\Iirepoix. ]\Iarie Antoinette spoke
first to the duchess, then, passing before Madame du
Barry, " and regarding her without constraint or affec-
tation." she said to her : " There are a great number
of people at'Versailles to-day."
At these simple words the Court was in a ferment of
excitement. In the evening, the King embraced the
Dauphiness tenderly and overwhelmed her with dem--
onstrations of affection ; the partisans of the favourite
vied with one another in extolling the charms and vir-
tues of the princess, while, on the other hand,
Mcsdamcs could not contain their indignation, and
went so far as to accuse their hitherto docile pupil of
treason.
Under the frowns and spiteful remarks of her
aunts, poor Marie Antoinette began to repent of the
step she had taken. " T went to the dinner of
Madame I'Archiduchesse," writes Mercy. " When she
rose from table, she said : * I have followed your
advice; here is the Dauphin, who will Ix^ar witness to
my conduct.' The prince smiled, but said nothing.
Then Madame I'Archiduchesse related to me what
had passed, and concluded by saying, * I have spoken
2i6 MADAME DU BARRY
this once, but I am quite decided to stop there; that
woman shall never hear my voice again.' '"
However, a great point had been gained; Marie
Antoinette had succeeded, temporarily at least, in shak-
ing off the yoke of Mesdames, and, for some time, she
continued to follow the counsels of her mother and
Mercy, and threw no more obstacles in the path of
their diplomacy. And so, for the sake of a few in-
different words from the Dauphiness to the mistress
of the King, the old clients of France were abandoned
to their fate, and Austria permitted to grab her share
of poor distracted Poland without the smallest remon-
strance from Versailles. " We must not speak of
Polish affairs before you," said Louis XV., smiling,
to his grand-daughter one day, " because your relatives
are not of the same opinion as ourselves." That was
the only hint of disapproval that was ever known to
escape him.
That Maria Theresa was well aware that her large
share of the " gateau des Rois " depended upon the
attitude of her daughter towards " the lady who en-
joys the confidence of the King " — as the Swedish Am-
bassador styles the favourite — is clearly shown by her
letters to Mercy. " To ward off these evils " (the pos-
sible rupture of the Franco-Austrian alliance) " from
the monarchy and the family," she writes, " we must
employ every means possible; and there is only my
daughter, the Dauphiness, aided by your counsels and
acquaintance with your surroundings, who can render
this service to her family and her country. Above
all, it is necessary that she should cultivate, by constant
attentions and affection, the good will of the King,
that she should strive to divine his wishes, that she
should do nothing to offend him, that she should treat
the favourite ivell. I do not require of her anything
^ Mercy to Maria Theresa, January 2^, 1772.
MADAME DU BARRY 217
degrading, still less intimacy, but attentions due in
consideration of her grandfather and her master, in
consideration of the advantage which will redound to
us and to the two Courts. It may be that the alliance
depends upon it!"
The Court was at Compiegne when the ^ mbassador
received this letter, and he immediately laid it before
the Dauphiness. at the same time expatiating upon the
influence which the all-powerful favourite might be
able to exercise upon the policy of France, and the
imperative necessity of conciliating both her and
d'Aiguillon, not forgetting to impress upon the prin-
cess a due sense of the honour which the Empress was
doing her in selecting one so young and inexperienced
to co-operate in the union between the two kingdoms.
This lesson, which lasted three-quarters of an hour,
was not lost upon IMarie Antoinette, who writes to her
mother :
" Mercy has shown me your letter, which has much
affected me and given me cause for thought. I will
do my utmost to contribute to the preservation of the
alliance. Where should I be if a rupture occurred be-
tween my two families ? I trust that le hon Dieii will
preserve me from this misfortune, and inspire me with
what I ought to do; I have prayed to Him earnestly."
That visit to Compiegne was in marked contrast to
the one of the preceding year. The Dauphiness was
graciousness itself to d'Aiguillon, actually going out of
her way to address him, and, on more than one occasion,
holding- him in conversation for some minutes; and the
duke, who w-as just then feeling very uneasy, owing to
the coldness of the King, who had not yet succeeded in
overcoming his old dislike of his one-time rival, and
his suspicions that Maupeou was engaged in intrigu-
ing against him, began to flatter himself that he had
found a new means of consolidating his position.
2i8 MADAME DU BARRY
What was of a goo<l deal more importance was that
Madame du Barry also had no cause to complain of
the princess's treatment of her. She was made happy
by some remarks about the state of the weather, which
the Dauphiness let fall one day when the favourite
joined her circle. It is true that these precious words
might very well have been addressed to the Duchesse
d'Aiguillon, who accompanied her friend; but Madame
du Barry chose to believe that they were intended for
her, and retired enchanted to sing the praises of
Madame la Daupin'ne in the ears of the gratified King.
Her joy was augmented by finding that Marie Antoi-
nette, importuned by Mercy, had begged the Dauphin
to reappear at the supper-parties at the pavilion of the
Petit Chateau, where the favourite did the honours;
in consequence of which the prince had for some time
refused to attend them, much to the annoyance of the
King. And what great results followed from these
trifles, which seem to the historian unworthy even of
passing mention : these conversations with d'Aiguillon,
these few remarks about the weather, the presence of
the greedy Dauphin at a supper, from which he very
probably returned w^ith a bad attack of indigestion!
The Du Barry party, which cared nothing for inter-
national politics, except so far as they might subserve
its own interests, had no longer anything to gain by
combating the Dauphiness, and, on the other hand,
much to lose by disobliging the Empress-Queen. The
concessions wrung from Marie Antoinette removed
the last obstacles in the way of the partition of Poland ;
Austria signed the Treaties of St. Petersburg, and
Versailles remained silent."
But as the difficulties in Eastern Europe disappear-
® But Paris did not; pamphlets and satirical prints were to be
seen everywhere, and public opinion severely blamed the apathy
of the Government.
MADAME DU BARRY 219
ed, Marie Antoinette, doubtless being- of opinion that
the obHgation to do violence to her feelings in the in-
terests of the Court of Vienna was no longer so im-
perative, began to exhibit signs of restiveness which
filled ]\Iercy with alarm. Towards the end of October,
the Court being now at Fontainebleau, the Ambas-
sador went to visit Madame du Barry, who informed
him that she proposed to pay her respects to the Dau-
phiness on the following- day, and that she looked to
him to ensure her a favourable reception. Mercy inti-
mated that it would be hardly correct for him to open
such negotiations, and that, as the countess had been
satisfied with the manner in which she had been re-
ceived at Compiegne, they were clearly superfluous.
Nevertheless, the moment he quitted the apartments
of the favourite he did not fail to hasten to Marie
Antoinette, to prepare the princess for the ordeal be-
fore her.
Now, it happened that, a few days earlier, the Dau-
phiness had complained bitterly to Mercy of what she
considered a piece of intolerable impertinence 011 the
part of Madame du Barry. The favourite, it appear-
ed, had seized upon a piece of the chateau garden run-
ning level with the apartments of Mesdamcs, and
caused a new pavilion to be built there, the windows of
which commanded a part of the grounds reserved as
a private promenade for the Royal Family. The con-
sequence was that the flame of the princess's dislike to
the mistress was at this particular moment burning
with exceptional vigour, and the Ambassador observ-
ed with trc])idation "a sort of indecision" in the tone
in which she assured liim that all would be well.
He, accordingly, determined to be present at the
reception of the favourite, and to put in an early
appearance in order to speak a word in season before
the crucial moment arrived; and when the Dauphin-
220 MADA]\IE DU BARRY
ess returned from Mass the following- morning, she
found her mentor awaiting her, " I have been praying
earnestly," said she. "I prayed, * Oh, God! if thou
wishest me to speak, make me speak. I will act as
Thou deignest to inspire me.' "
" I replied to Madame rArchiduchesse," writes
Mercy, " that the voice of her august mother was the
only one capable of interpreting the will of God as
regarded her conduct, and that, therefore, she was
already inspired about what to do for the best."
Madame du Barry duly arrived, supported by the
Duchesse d'Aiguillon. Marie Antoinette spoke first to
the duchess, as etiquette prescribed ; then looked in the
direction of the countess and observed that " the
weather had been so bad that she had been unable to
go out that day."
" This remark," says Mercy, " was not addressed
very directly to any one, and either owing to the tone
of voice, or the manner which accompanied it, the re-
ception was not one of the best. Happily, M. le Dauphin
was present, and I attributed to this circumstance
Madame I'Archiduchesse's air of coldness and embar-
rassment. I repeated to the favourite what I had told
her the previous evening, that chance and various in-
cidents determined, to a greater or less extent, her re-
ception; and, finally, I succeeded in persuading her
that in reality she had been well received. She con-
fessed to me tliat she believed that she had remarked a
kindly intention on the part of Madame la Dauphine,
and that, in fact, she imagined that the presence of M.
le Dauphine had been the obstacle to a more favourable
demonstration. In short, up to the present, this occa-
sion has passed off without comments or discontent,
and that is a great deal more than the actual facts per-
mitted me to hope for.""*
" Mercy to Maria Theresa, November 14, 1772.
MADAME DU BARRY 221
For the following New Year's Day, Mercy sum-
moned to his aid all the resources of his diplomacy to
ensure a favourable reception for Madame du Barry.
Not only did he extract a solemn promise from Marie
Antoinette to speak directly to the lady, but he per-
suaded her to exhort the Dauphin, " who never spoke
to any one," to do likewise.
The first part of the programme exceeded the Am-
bassador's fondest expectations. The Dauphin receiv-
ed the favourite most graciously, bowed, smiled, and
mumbled something which was understood to be a
compliment, to the amazement of the courtiers and the
unconcealed delight of the recipient. But alas ! her joy
and the satisfaction of Mercy were but short-lived for
the Dauphiness, evidently thinking that she had done
her duty by persuading her husband to civility, de-
clined to even open her lips, and included in this frigid
reception the favourite's friends, the Duchesse d'Ai-
guillon and the Marechale de Mirepoix.
All Mercy's work seemed again undone; but he rose
to the occasion like a man. and argued that Marie An-
toinette, in inducing the Dauphin, who feared women
as he feared the small-pox, not only to smile upon,
but even to speak to Madame du Barry, she had in
reality done far more than if she had reserved her
efforts for her own reception. His task was rendered
the more difficult inasmuch as the favourite's chief
adviser, Mademoiselle "Chon" du Barry, had already
persuaded her sister-in-law that she had grave cause
for complaint against the Dauphiness. However,
eventually his diplomacy prevailed, and he left the lady
under the impression that she had been rather well
treated than otherwise."
The visit of the Court to Compicgnc in the following
" Mercy to Maria TTieresa, January i6, 1773,
222 MADAME DU BARRY
July was made the occasion of a very pretty little in-
trigue. Madame Adelaide, although she governed her
sisters, was. in her turn, governed by her dame
d'atoitrs, the Comtesse de Narbonne, between whom
and d'Aiguillon the bitterest enmity had hitherto ex-
isted. D'Aiguillon, however, in the hope of strength-
ening his own position by reconciling Madame du
Barry with the Royal Family, succeeded in persuading
the countess that it might be to their common advantage
to make peace and enter into an alliance. The countess
consented, and a treaty was concluded, the terms of
which were as follows : Madame de Narbonne's son
was to receive the mayoralty of Bordeaux, and she
herself was to be given an interest in the approaching
renewal of certain monopolies. In return for these
advantages, Madame de Narbonne was to secure better
treatment of the favourite by Madame Adelaide, and
induce that princess to use her influence with the Dau-
phin, the Dauphiness, and the rest of the Royal Family
to persuade them to follow her example.
The first part of the scheme succeeded admirably;
Madame Adelaide was easily won over by her dame
d'atours, in whose counsels she reposed the most im-
plicit confidence, promised that her own treatment of
the favourite should henceforth leave nothing to be
desired, and wrote a letter to the King, expressing her
desire to oblige him in everything. His Majesty,
highly gratified, replied with a very affectionate letter,
in which he intimated that the best way in which his
daughter could oblige him would be by bringing the
Dauphin, "who displayed a marked aversion for the
fair sex," to show more courtesy towards certain
ladies whom the King honoured with his friendship.
Unfortunately, Madame Adelaide had overrated the
prestige which she enjoyed with her relatives; more-
over, it was quickly discovered who was responsible
MADAINIE DU BARRY 223
for the amazing volte-face committed by the princess.
The whole Royal Family were furious at the idea of
one of its meml^ers lending- herself to the sordid in-
trigues of her attendants, and its indignation so fright-
ened poor Madame Adelaide that she retracted every-
thing, and forbade Madame de Narbonne ever to men-
tion the subject to her again.
CHAPTER XV
THE hostility of Marie Antoinette was not the
only annoyance which Madame du Barry had
to endure. The "Roue," as we have said else-
where, had assisted his former mistress during the
early days of her favour, when she had prudently kept
her extravagance within limits, in confident anticipa-
tion of reaping a rich harvest at a later date. In this
he was not disappointed. What was the actual amount
which he succeeded in extorting from Madame du
Barry at various times it is impossible to say, but, to
judge from his manner of living, it must have been
something enormous.* He kept a Parc-aux-Cerfs of
his own; he married the sultana of his seraglio to a
chevalier of Saint-Louis and settled 2000 ecus a year
upon her; he gambled as if he had the coffers of the
State behind him, losing on one occasion 7000 louis
at a single sitting and, on another, when condoled with
on his ill-luck, remarking nonchalantly : " Do not
distress yourselves, my friends; it is you" (meaning
the public treasury) " who will pay for all this."
Nor did he confine his importunities to appeals for
financial assistance. He harassed his hapless sister-in-
law incessantly with advice, warnings, and plans of
*Tn December 1769 Madame du Bariy asked Louis XV. for
600,000 livres for her brother-in-law, without, however, disclos-
ing for whom the money was intended. The infatuated monarch
promised that she should have it and applied to the Comptroller-
General for the amount. Choiseul, however, got to hear of the
matter, and sent the King proofs that the money was to go to
the creditors of the Comte Jean, who, of course, remained un-
paid.
224
MADAME DU BARRY 225
campaign, and intrigued to get confederates of his
own appointed to important posts in the pubhc service,
once actually endeavouring to secure that of Comp-
troller-General for a certain Guenee de Brochau;
which, of course, would have meant the hand of M.
du Barry in the Treasury.
At length his conduct became so intolerable that he
was recommended to pass a few months on an estate
at risle-Jourdain, which was among the gifts he had
received from his grateful country, and departed
thither in a very bad humour, after two or three angry
scenes with his sister-in-law, which gave rise to the
belief that he had composed or inspired the following
chanson against the favourite, which had at this time
a considerable vogue :
" Drolesse !
Ou prends-tu done ta fierte?
Princesse !
D'ou te vient ta dignite?
Si jamais ton teint se fane ou se pele,
Au train
De catin
Le cri du public te rappelle.
Drolesse, &c.
Lorsque tu vivais de la Messe
Du moine, ton pere Gomard,
Que la Rangon vendoit sa graisse
Pour joindre a ton morceau de lard;
Tu n'etois pas si fiere
Et n'en valois que mieux,
Baisse ta tete altiere,
Du moins devant mes yeux :
Ecoute-moi rentre en toi-meme,
Pour eviter de plus grands maux:
Permets a qui t'aime, qui t'aime,
De t'offrir encore des sabots.
Drolesse !
Mon esprit est-i! baisse?
Princesse !
Te souvient-il du passe?"*
'Madame du DffTand s'cnt a copy of these verses to the
Duchesse de Choiseul, who wrote back that she found them
charming and " de trds bon goiit."
226 MADAME DU BARRY
The titular husband of the favourite, the Comte
Guillaume, followed his brother's example, and ad-
dressed to his wife threatening letters demanding
money. In July 1770. Madame du Barry settled upon
him an annuity of 5000 livrcs; but this seemed to
Guillaume a beggarly pittance indeed for the consort
of an uncrowned queen, and he renewed his impor-
tunities and threats, and became, in fact, so great a
nuisance that the lady decided to apply for a separation
dc corps ct dliabitation. The case was tried before the
Chatelet on February 24, 1772, the countess's plea
being the abusive and threatening character of the
epistles with which her lord was in the habit of favour-
ing her, three of which were laid before the sympa-
thetic judges. Guillaume did not oppose the applica-
tion, his silence having apparently been secured by the
promise of a further annuity of 16,600 livres, and the
separation was duly granted. Madame du Barry
seems, however, to have been apprehensive that the
insatiable Guillaume might l^e tempted to appeal
against the sentence of the Chatelet, and, accordingly,
she applied to the Parliament of Paris to confirm the
decision pronounced in her favour, which was done
by a decree of April 31, 1772.^
Like her predecessor in the post of mmtresse en
titre, Madame du Barry was one of the kindest of rel-
atives, and seems to have lost no opportunity of push-
ing the fortunes of her family. She gave her mother,
the old sempstress, who had blossomed into the dame
de Monvabe, an apartment in the Convent de Sainte-
Elisabeth, a carriage, a maison de plaisancc, and a
little farm at Villiers-sur-Orge and was in the habit
of spending a day with her every fortnight. On Anne
Becu's death in October 1788, she bestowed a pension
of 2000 livres on her husband, Rangon, "to recom-
'Vatel's Histoire de Madame du Barry, ii. 139.
MADAME DU BARRY 227
pense his good conduct towards his spouse." She also
pensioned her aunt Helene, who called herself Madame
de Quantigny, and provided for her four children.*
Nor did the exactions of the "Roue" and her titular
husband prevent her from endeavouring to promote
the interests of the former's son Adolphe, and her
brother-in-law Elie, the youngest of the Du Barry
brothers.
Adolphe du Barry, who had assumed the title of
viscount, although, of course, he had no more right to
the appellation than his father and uncle Guillaume
had to that of count, or the still more aspiring Elie to
that of marquis/ had begun life as page to the King,
and later had received a commission in the Regiment
du Roi, from which, through his aunt's good offices,
he was transferred to the Chevau-legers of the Guard,
with the rank of mcstrc dc camp of cavalry. There
was also some talk of appointing him first equerry to
the King, but this was prevented by the opposition
of the Dauphin, who, on hearing of what was in-
tended, exclaimed, in the midst of a throng of courtiers,
"If he receives that post, I will give him my boot in
the face at the first dehotte."
Several attempts were made by Madame du Barry
to arrange a grand marriage for the "viscount."
First, she proposed Mademoiselle de Bethune, a
descendant of Sully, the celebrated Minister of Henri
IV., but the King pointed out to her the absurdity of
such pretensions. Then she cast her eyes upon Made-
* Madame du Rarry also placed with Madame dc Quantipny a
little girl, whom she brought up with her own children. This
little girl, who afterwards married the Marquis de Roissaison,
was, according to d'Allonville, a daughter of the favourite "by
a father, unknown," but the statement lacks confirmation.
* The number of pseudo-noblemen at this neriod was enor-
mous. The genealogist Maugard declared in 1788 that there were
in France at least Rooo marquises, counts, and barons, of whom
only some 2000 had any legal right to the titles which they bore.
Memoirs — 8 Vol. 2
228 MADAME DU BARRY
moiselle de Saint-Andre, a natural daughter of Louis by
Mademoiselle Murphy, of the Parc-aux-Cerfs, who was
being educated at the Couvent de la Presentation, in
the Rue des Postes. Mademoiselle de Saint-Andre's
guardian, however, opposed the aHiance, on the ground
that the fruit of his Majesty's amours had the right
to look much higher than a "Vicomte" du Barry ; and
this appeal to Louis's vanity was successful, greatly to
the vexation of the "Roue," who had suggested the
match to his sister-in-law for reasons of high policy,
his idea being that, in the event of the old King's
death, the fact that the Du Barrys had allied them-
selves with the Royal Family would hinder his suc-
cessor from "yielding to the impulses of hatred.'"
At length, however, a wife was found for Adolphe
in the person of a very lovely young girl, named Made-
moiselle de Tournon, a member of a very ancient
family of Auvergne and a connection of the Rohans,
and on July 19, 1773, the marriage was celebrated at
Saint-Roch.
The contract, in which the favourite promised the
happy pair a donation of 200,000 livres/ is of great
interest, owing to the signatures ; indeed it is probably
one of the most valuable collections of autographs
ever got together on a single document. They in-
cluded those of Louis XV., the Dauphin and Marie
Antoinette, the Comte and Comtesse de Provence, and
the three Mcsdames: beneath which appear the signa-
tures of Madame du Barry, the "Rone,"^ Mademoiselle
"Chon" du Barry, and the bride and bridegroom.
•Letter of Jean du Barry published in the Revue de Paris,
i8'?6. vol. XXXV.
*The principal w^as never paid, probably owing to the death
of Louis XV. in the followin,;? year and the consequent change
in the favourite's fortunes, but Madame du Barry continued to
pay the interest until November 1791.
^Jean du Barry figures in the document under the most high-
sounding titles; not only is he Comte du Barry-Ceres and Gov-
]\IADAME DU BARRY 229
It is somewhat surprising to find the signatures of
Marie Antoinette and the Dauphin appended to the
marriage contract of one of the hated Du Barrys, and
all the more so in veiw of the chilling reception which
the new "viscountess" received on the occasion of her
presentation to them at Compiegne, a few days later.
The favourite, accompanied by the Duchess de Laval
and the Comtesse de Montmorency, presented her niece
to the King, after which, followed by an immense
crowd, the ladies proceeded to the apartments of the
Dauphin. At the moment of their entry, the prince
h^as standing in the embrasure of a window, talking
It) one of his suite and drumming with his fingers on
the glass. When the usher announced the approach
of the ladies, the Dauphin turned his head, pretended
not to see the unfortunate presentee or her sponsor,
and resumed his conversation and his drumming on
the window-pane. As for Marie Antoinette, she coldly
returned the ladies' reverences, but did not speak to
either of them.
It was the same in the evening at the Dauphiness's
card-table, and at her toilette the next morning, at
which etiquette required that newly-presented ladies
should make their appearance ; on neither occasion did
the princess address a single word to the viscountess.
Not content witli these tokens of her displeasure, she
refused to allow her to accompany her to the chase in
the Royal carriages, and gave strict injunctions to her
dame d'honmur, the Comtesse de Noailles, that she
was not to be invited to her balls.
Marie Antoinette's cruel treatment of this innocent
girl, whose only fault was her connection with the
favourite, seems to have been the outcome of a ma-
crnor of Lovignac as in 1769, but in tlic intcrv.-il he lias become
Viflame f!c Chaaloiis, Comic dc I'lsle-Jourdain, Scipncur dc Bcllc-
garde, Brctz and half a dozen other manors, and so forth.
230 MADAME DU BARRY
licious slander. It was reported to the princess that
Madame du Barry, fearing that the King's affection
for her was on the wane, intended to exploit the beauty
of her niece, in order to retain the royal favour in the
family. There does not appear to have been the
slightest ground for this accusation beyond the fact
that the young lady bore some resemblance to Madame
de Chateauroux; but it served its purpose, and the
poor Vicomtesse Adolphe had to submit all day to the
covert sneers and ironical smiles of the women of the
Court, few of whom could compare with her in grace
or beauty, and on that account were the more pitiless.
Having secured a wife for her nephew, Madame du
Barry turned her attention to her brother-in-law, tJie
"Marquis" Elie, for whom, in the following October,
she arranged a marriage with a Mademoiselle de
Fumel, daughter of the Marquis de Fumel, obtaining
for the bridegroom the colonelcy of the Regiment de
la Reine, and for the bride the post of dame de
compagnie to the Comtesse d'Artois.'
There were now three ladies of the name of Du
Barry at Court — the marchioness, the countess, and the
viscountess — which resulted in considerable confusion,
and contemporary chroniclers not infrequently mis-
take one Madame du Barry for another.
The new member of the favourite's family met with
much the same reception from the Dauphiness as the
wife of Adolphe had been accorded, in consequence of
which half the Court affected to ignore her existence,
and she was plunged in the depths of despair. After
a while, however, Marie Antoinette, touched with com-
passion for the unhappy lady, yielded to the entreaties
of Mercy, and, notwithstanding the fierce opposition of
Mesdames, "showed one day that she perceived the
" Marie Therese of Savoy, younger sister of the Comtesse
de Provence, married to the Comte d'Artois, November 1773.
AIADAME DU BARRY 231
marchioness's presence" ; but towards the poor Vi-
comtesse Adolphe she remained implacable.
In the autumn of 1773. Madame du Barry received
a compliment which must have gone far to console her
for the mordant verses which so delighted Madame de
Choiseul. The financier La Borde, first Groom of the
Chamber to the King, having occasion to visit Geneva,
was commissioned by the favourite to call upon Vol-
taire at Ferney, and bestow upon the philosopher, on
her behalf, a kiss on either cheek. The commission
was duly executed, and appears to have greatly de-
lighted the recipient of the kisses, ever susceptible to
flattery, no matter from what source it came, who
hastened to express his gratification in the following
letter :
"Madam«e, — M. de la Borde informs me that you
have instructed him to kiss me on both cheeks, on your
behalf.
" Quoi ! deux baisers sur la fin de ma vie !
Quelle passeport vous daignez m'envoyer!
Dieux ! e'en est trop, adorable Egerie :
Je serais mort de plaisir au premier.
"He has shown me your portrait. Do not be
offended, Madame, if I take the liberty of bestowing
upon it the two kisses :
" Vous ne pouvcz empecher cet hommag'e,
Faible tribut de quiconque a des yeux :
C'cst aux morteis d'adorer votre image;
L'original etait fait pour les Dieux.
"I have heard several selections from Pandorc, from
jM. de la Borde ;'" they appear to me worthy of your
protection. The favour shown to real talent is the
only thing that can augment the eclat with which you
" La Borde had composed the music to Voltaire's opera of
Pandore.
22,2 MADAME DU BARRY
shine. Deig-n. IMadame, to accept the homag-e of an
old hermit, whose heart knows hardly any other senti-
ment than that of gratitude."
Voltaire's charming- verses soon became public prop-
erty, as it is highly probable that the poet intended they
should be, and are to be found in the Almanack dcs
Muses for 1774, the ''Correspondence" of Grimm, and
the works of several contemporary chroniclers. Ma-
dame de Choiseul duly received a version of them
from Madame du Deffand, but, needless to observe,
did not find them "dc frh ban ^ont," and replied that
"Voltaire had sullied his pen in his old age."
CHAPTER XVI
THE heart of Louis XV., though not difficult to
subjugate, was for the same reason, far from
easy to retain; and Madame du Barry, Hke her
predecessors in her exalted office, was called upon to
exercise unceasing vigilance in order to safeguard her
conquest.
In 1 77 1, Hardy speaks of an intrigue designed to
supplant the countess by the Princesse de Monaco, the
mistress of the Prince de Conde, or, in default of her,
by an English lady, a Miss Smith, and also of a third
candidate whose name had not been disclosed. A little
later, it appears that a Madame Beche, the wife of one
of the royal musicians, aroused momentary alarm in
the camp of the favourite, and to her succeeded Ma-
dame d'Amerval, a natural daughter of the Abbe
Terray. The King is also said to have cast a favour-
able eye upon several queens of comedy, among them
Mademoiselle Raucourt and the mother of ]\Iade-
moiselle Mars; but this charge rests upon very untrust-
worthy evidence.
The only one of the aspirants to the royal heart,
however, about whom we possess any details is a
Madame Pater, a Dutch lady of good family,* who had
married a wealthv East Indian merchant.
^
Madame Pater first visited Paris in 1763, where, we
are told, her beauty, joined to a lively wit,' excited so
much admiration that, on the days on which she re-
' She was the eldest of the six daughters of Baron de New-
kcrkc of Nyvcnhcim.
* One evening, Madame Pater was playing whist, when two
ladies, both of whom were bitterly jealous of her charms, estab-
233
234 MADAME DU BARRY
ceived, a veritable procession of adorers, "ranging-
from tlie Prince de Conde to the most insignificant
gentleman of the Court," might be seen wending its
\\ay towards her house, in the Faubourg Saint-Honore.
The lady, however, had the misfortune to be afflicted
with an exceedingly jealous husband, who had the bad
taste to take umbrage at the universal tribute accorded
to Madame's charms. For a while he nursed his
wTath in silence, but at length he could contain his
feelings no longer. Accordingly, one day when the
Prince de Conde and several other distinguished ad-
mirers were taking their leave, he accompanied them
to the door and observed : "I am very sensible. Mes-
sieurs, of the honour that you do me in visiting my
house : though I do not believe that you can find much
diversion here; jc suis toute la jonrnee avec Madame
Pater, et la nviit je couche avec elle."
After this very plain hint the Prince de Conde, who
preferred easier conquests, retired from the field, and
the stream of callers sensibly diminished ; but by this
time the fame of the lady's beauty had reached the ears
of the King, who sent the Prince de Soubise to invite
Madame Pater to sup with his Majesty at Versailles.
The invitation would, no doubt, have been accepted,
had the decision rested with the lady, in which case it
it not improbable that Jeanne Becu would never have
attained the "sunlit heights." But Monsieur Pater,
learning what was in the wind, took alarm, and
straightway carried off his wife to Holland, much to
the chagrin of the King.'
lished themselves behind her chair, and proceeded to dissect h'er
character in stage whispers. Madame Pater pretended not to
hear, until presently her partner inquired if she had any
" honours," upon which she glanced round at her rivals and
replied : " I do not know whether these ladies have left me any."
' Comte Fleury's Louis XV. intime: Les petites mattresses, p.
297, et seq. Manuel's La Police de Paris devoilee, ii. passim.
MADAME DU BARRY 235
Ten years elapsed ere Madame Pater returned to
the scene of her triumphs. In the interval, she had
contrived to secure a separation from the jealous hus-
band, and had taken the name of Baronne de New-
kerke. On this occasion she aspired to an important
role. Encouraged by the Due de Duras, who is said
to have been acting under instructions from the exile
of Chanteloup, she laid determined siege to the heart
of the King; but her ambition soared much higher
than the post of mmtrcssc en litre: she had determined
to follow in the footsteps of Madame de Maintenon.
Madame Pater's dream of greatness was fated never
to be realised, but the conduct of the King must cer-
tainly have afforded her good reason to hope for suc-
cess. He paid her the most marked attention, gave
her a handsome pension, and installed her in a suite
of apartments on the re::-de-chaussee of the Chateau of
Meudon, where she appears to have divided her time
between ghostly conferences with a fashionable abbe
— she had abjured the Protestant faith and been re-
ceived into the Catholic Church, by the cure of Saint-
Eustache, in order to further her designs — and taking
lessons in dancing and deportment from Despreaux,
of the Opera.
The latter, who declares that she was the most beau-
tiful woman that he had ever seen, has left us some
interesting details about Madame Pater's life at Meu-
don. He says that every Sunday she dined in the
grand vestibule, and afterwards held a sort of Court,
which was attended by the governor and all the officials
of the chateau, who treated her with the most pro-
found respect ; that occasionally, wearing a mask and
leaning on the actor's arm, she condescended to take
a promenade in Meudon, "in the midst of a great
crowd"; and that the Prince de Lambesc, son of the
Conite de Brionne, grand ceiiyer de France, "loved her
2^6 MADAME DU BARRY
to madness and offered her his hand and heart"; but
that all she would accept from him was a carriage and
six horses from the royal stables.*
When Louis XV. was seized with his last illness,
Madame Pater hastened to Versailles and remained
there until the death of the King, apparently in antici-
pation that, in the event of his recovery, he would fall
an easy victim to her persuasions.
After the fatal termination of the King's illness had
destroyed her hopes, she consoled herself by marrying
the ]\Iarquis de Champcenetz, Governor of the Tuile-
ries, and became one of the leaders of the fashionable
world. At the beginning of the Revolution she emi-
grated, but returned during the Directory, and, for
some time, appears to have taken an active share in
Royalist intrigues. In one of these she was eventually
detected, and exiled by Bonaparte. She died in Hol-
land in 1806.
At the time that Madame Pater was indulging in her
fond dreams at Meudon, a general impression appears
to have prevailed in well-informed circles that Louis
XV. would sooner or later seek repose of conscience —
to borrow Mercy's phrase — by a second marriage.
This belief was due, in a great measure, to the sur-
prising influence which Madame Louise, the Carmelite,
had lately acquired over her royal father. By a singu-
lar paradox, the princess in question, who, so long as
she was at Court, had enjoyed not the least credit, had,
since her retirement from the world, become a force to
be reckoned with. The King paid her frequent visits,
and was reported to be deeply moved by her exhorta-
tions to repentance.
Urged on by Chistophe de Beaumont, the Archbishop
of Paris, and the Qiancellor, who believed that he de-
* Souvenirs de Jeanne Etienne Desprcatix, p. 10, et seq.
MADAME DU BARRY 237
tected in the King signs of remorse, and had decided
that it might be more advisable for him to be on the
side of the confessor than on that of the mistress, Ma-
dame Louise returned to the project of Louis's mar-
riage with the Archduchess Ehzabeth of Austria, which
had never been wholly abandoned, and when her father
demurred to this, suggested that perhaps the widowed
Princesse de Lamballe might serve equally well.
Madame du Barry became seriously alarmed, and
one day, when the King was on the point of starting
for Saint-Denis to visit his daughter, threw herself at
his feet, told him that she knew that her disgrace was
decided upon, and that she would prefer to receive her
dismissal from his own lips than to suffer the humilia-
tion of receiving it from the base cabal which was
conspiring to ruin her.*
The project of the King's remarriage came to noth-
ing, but the influence of the royal Carmelite over her
father seemed to increase as Louis grew older, and
towards the end of the year 1773 rumours of the
favourite's approaching fall were rife. They were,
however, without foundation, and the King, learning
"If we are to believe that amusing work, Les Pastes de Louis
XV., Madame du Barry's friends advised her to persuade the
Pope to annul her marriage with Guillaume du Barry, in order
that she might herself be in a position to marry the King, and
Terray drew up for her a petition to the Vatican, which, briefly
put, was as follows:
" Madame du Barry represents to his Holiness that, having but
little knowledge of canonical rules, she was unaware at the time
of the celebration of her marriage with the Comtc Guillaume du
Barry that it was not permissible to espouse the brother of a
man with whom one had lived. She avows, with all the grief
of a repentant soul, that she had had a weakness for the Comte
Jean du Barry, her husband's brother ; that she had been, bai)pily,
warned in time of the incest she was about to connnit, and that
her enlightened conscience did not permit her to live with her
new husband; that thus the crime had not yet been connnitted;
and she implores his Holiness to consent to free her from an
alliance so scandalous."
238 MADAME DU BARRY
what was reported, took an early opportunity of dis-
proving it. On November 16, the marriage of the
Comte d'Artois to Maria Theresa of Savoy, younger
sister of tlie Comtesse de Provence, was celebrated.
The ceremony was preceded by a banquet, which was
understood to be confined to the Royal Family and
Princes and Princesses of the Blood. To the general
astonishment, however, IMadame du Barry appeared,
"radiant as the sun, and wearing five million livres
worth of jewels on her person." A place was reserved
for her immediately opposite the King, and it was re-
marked that throughout the repast she seemed to have
eyes for no one but his Majesty, who, in return, bent
upon her many affectionate glances, "ct lui faisoit des
mines rcmarquahlcs." "It is believed," continues the
chronicler, "that his Majesty was very pleased to
thus give a denial to the rumours concerning the
disgrace of this lady which were going about, while
she evinced no less plainly her gratitude and profound
respect.""
At the beginning of the year 1774, the last of her
favour. IMadame du Barry, encouraged by the fact that
Marie Antoinette had of late "abstained from morti-
fying remarks" in reference to the countess, made
another attempt to overcome the hostility of the Dau-
phiness. A jeweller in Paris was offering for sale a
pair of magnificent earrings, "formed of four dia-
monds of extraordinary size and beauty," and valued
at 700.000 livres. Aware of the princess's passion for
jewellery, the favourite persuaded the Comte de
Noailles to bring these earrings to the notice of Marie
Antoinette and to say that "if her Royal Highness
found them to her taste, she need not trouble herself
about the price or the payment, as means would be
' Nouvelles a la main dc la maison d'Harcourt, cited by M.
Vatel.
^lADAME DU BARRY 239
found to persuade the King to make her a present of
them."
In vain was the net spread ; Marie Antoinette re-
plied simply that she had enough diamonds, and had
no desire to increase her collection.
Madame du Barry, unlike IMadame de Pompadour,
was not thin-skinned, and cared little or nothing for
the libels and lampoons wherewith her enemies assailed
her. The story goes that on one occasion the Lieuten-
ant of Police came to her and said : "Madame, we have
just caught a rascal who has composed a scandalous
song about you. What are we to do with him?"
"Make him sing it, and then give him something to
eat," answered the good-natured favourite, laughing.
However, there is a limit even to the patience of the
saintliest monk, as the long-suffering Major of the
Bastille observed when he had that egregious impostor,
M. Latude, under his care; and, in the case of Madame
du Barry, this was reached in the early weeks of 1774.
There happened to be living in London at this time
an adventurer from Burgundy named Theveneau de
Morande, who, having got into trouble in his own
country, had taken refuge in England. Here he found
himself entirely without resources, but, being possessed
of a lively imagination, a facile pen, and boundless
impudence, soon hit upon a highly remtmerative mode
of earning a liveliiiood. This was to compose gross
and scandalous libels about persons of exalted station,
which were printed in England and Holland, and in-
troduccfl clandestinely intf) France. Among other
works, he had published, under the title of Lc Gaaeticr
cuirassc fThe Journalist in Armour), on Anecdotes
scandalcuscs dc la Conr dc France, a collection of the
most atrocious stories, which inspired such consterna-
tion amotig his victims that many, including the Mar-
240 MADAME DU BARRY
qiiis de Marigny, Madame de Pompadour's brother,
hastened to send money across the Channel, in order
to secure immunity from further attacks.
Encouraged by his success, M. de Morande deter-
mined to fly at still higher game. Accordingly, he
wrote to Madame du Barry, enclosing the prospectus
of a forthcoming work, in four octavo volumes,
founded upon her life, and bearing the piquant title
of Memoires secrets d'une femme ptihliqiie, ou Essai
siir les avcntiires de madaine la comtesse Dub'^^*
dcpids son berccaii jusqu'aii lit d'hoiuiciir. The author
intimated that if the subject of his biography preferred
that the work should not appear, he would be willing
to enter into negotiations for the sale of the copyright.
The unfortunate favourite, who had already been
outrageously libelled in Le Gazctier cnirasse, wherein
it was asserted, among other charges, that she had
founded a new Order at Court, to which only those
women were to be admitted who had bestowed their
favours on at least ten different men, was greatly
alarmed, and hurried off to consult the King and
d'Aiguillon, who applied to the English Govern-
ment for Morande's extradition.
The English Government answered that it was im-
possible for them to comply with such a demand, as
Morande's offence was not one which came within the
scope of the extradition treaty; but, inasmuch as the
person in question was *'a pest to society and a plague
to mankind," they would offer not the slightest ob-
jection to his seizure and removal to France, provided
that it could be done secretly and in such a way as not
to wound the susceptibilities of the English public.
The French Ministry thereupon sent a brigade of
police-agents to London, with orders to capture Mo-
rande and restore him to his native land, where the
darkest cell and the heaviest irons to be found in Gal-
MADAIME DU BARRY 241
banon awaited him. But Morande was prepared for
them. He had received timely warning of the expe-
dition against him from a confederate in Paris, and
had denounced it in the London journals, at the same
time giving himself out as a political exile, whom his
persecutors dared to follow even on to the sacred soil
of liberty, thus violating the generous hospitality which
the English people never failed to extend to the un-
fortunate of all nationalities.
This ingenious appeal for public sympathy was not
made in vain; and when the French police-agents ar-
rived in London, they had no need to search for their
prey; for he was waiting to receive them, at the head
of an infuriated mob, which fell upon them and would
have thrown them into the Thames, had they not pru-
dently sought safety in flight.
After this fiasco, the French Government had re-
course to negotiations, and sent over two ambassadors,
named Bellanger and Preaudeau de Chenilly, to treat
with Morande. The latter, however, refused to re-
ceive them, posed before the English people in the
character of an avenger of public morality, and has-
tened on the publication of his work.
Three thousand copies of the book had been printed
and were on the point of being despatched to Ilolland
and Germany, to be afterwards circulated throughout
France, and Madame du Barry and Louis XV. were in
despair, when La Borde^ the King's valct-dc-chouihre,
suggested to his master to send over Beaumarchais,
whose masterly conduct of his lawsuit against Goez-
man had excited general admiration, though it had
ruined him in fortune and credit.
The famous dramatist was ready enough to cm-
brace such an opportunity of reinstating himself in
the good graces of the King, and in March set out for
London, under the name of Ronac, an anagram of
242 MADAME DU BARRY
his patronymic of Caron. to treat with the "Journahst
in Armour'' for the sale and suppression of the Me-
mo! res secrets.
More fortunate than MM. Bellanger and de Che-
nilly, he succeeded in obtaining an interview with
I^Iorande, who gave him a copy of his book and the
manuscript of another hbel, with which he intended to
follow it up, and promised to suspend publication while
Beaumarchais returned to Versailles to lay his demands
before the King.
After a good deal of haggling a bargain was struck,
whereby M. Morande was to suppress his work and
abstain from further attacks upon the reputation of
Madame du Barry, and the French Government was
to pay him 20,000 livres in cash and a pension of 4000
h'vres, half of which sum was to revert to his wife —
"a respectable Englishwoman, whom he treated abom-
inably" — in the event of his death/
The manuscript and the 3000 copies of the Me-
moires secrets were then burned by Beaumarchais and
]\Iorande in an oven in the suburbs of London, and the
dramatist returned to France to receive the reward of
his successful diplomacy. But alas! there was no re-
ward forthcoming, not even poor Beaumarchais's ex-
penses ; for when he reached Versailles, Louis XV. lay
on his death-bed.'
' Some writers assert that the pension was revoked in the suc-
ceeding reign, Louis XVI. refusing to be bound by the acts of
his grandfather. This, however, is an error. Morande's pension
was an annuity duly secured, and all that the French Government
did was to commute a portion of it at the recipient's own request.
'Lomenie's Beaumarchais et son ieint>s, i. 2>7^, et seq. Dutens'
Memolres d'lin voyageut qui se repose, ii. 39.
CHAPTER XVII
10UIS XV. was growing old; slowly but surely
J his constitution, undermined by long years of
debauchery, was breaking up. He had become
obese and unwieldy; to get him on to his horse or
into his carriage was now "quite an affair of State" ;
his digestive organs were impaired ; he was compelled
to dilute his wine with Vichy water, and his pctits
soiipcrs had become Barmecide feasts, so far as he
himself was concerned. "I see that I am no longer
young, and that I must put on the drag," said he one
day to La Martiniere, his First Surgeon. "Sire," was
the answer, "it would be wiser for you to unharness
the horses."
And with the decline of his physical powers, the
King's mental faculties were failing too. His fits of
ennui — a malady from which nearly all the Bourbons
suffered to a greater or less degree — were becoming
more frequent and more prolonged, and taxing all the
ingenuity of Madame du Barry to combat successfully.
In his correspondence with Maria Theresa, Mercy
frequently refers to this incurable melancholy of Louis
XV.: "The King is growing old, and from time to
time seems to have regrets. He finds himself isolated,
without aid or consolation from his children, without
zeal, attachment, or fidelity from the bizarre assem-
blage composing his Ministry, his society, his surround-
ings."* And again: "From time to time the King
begins to make remarks concerning his age, his health,
'Letter of August 14, 1773.
243
244 MADAME DU BARRY
and tlie frightful account that must one day be ren-
dered to the Supreme Being for our employment of
tlie hfe He has accorded to us in this world. These
reflections, occasioned by the death of some persons of
his own age, who died ahnost before his eyes,' have
greatly alarmed those who retain the monarch in his
present errors, and from that moment everybody has
thought it his duty to conceal such events so far as
possible."*
The King's conscience, in short, was beginning to
awaken ; Holy Week, a period always dreaded by his
mistresses, was becoming each year more dangerous,
and those of 1773 ^"^ ^774 had reduced the super-
stitious monarch to the most abject terror. Corrupt
and sycophantic as so many of the Court clergy were,
there had, happily, never been wanting honest and
courageous ministers of the Gospel amongst them.
The celebrated Jesuit preacher, Bourdaloue, had not
hesitated to denounce the profligacy of le Grande
Monarqne in the most scathing terms; and now
Bourdaloue had found two worthy successors in the
persons of the Abbe de Beauvais and the Abbe
Rousseau. "Yet forty days and Nineveh shall be de-
stroyed !" was the text of one of the former's sermons
in April 1774; and Louis applied the threat of the
prophet to himself and trembled.*
'In November 1773, at one of the petiis soupers, the Marquis
de Chauvelin fell dead actually at Louis' feet; shortly after-
wards, the Abbe de la Ville, to whom the King was giving audi-
ence, was seized with a fatal attack of apoplexy; and the
Genoese Ambassador, Sorba, also died in a terribly sudden
manner.
^Letter of February ig, 1774.
* Tn Holy Week of the previous year, the Abbe de Beauvais
had preached a sermon in which the following passage is said
to have occurred: " Solomon, satiated with voluptuousness, tired
of having extinguished, in the endeavour to revive his withered
senses, every sort of pleasure that surrounded the throne, ended
by seeking one of a new kind in the vile dregs of public corrup'
MADAME DU BARRY 245
Madame du Barry, on her side, was scarcely less
uneasy. The Ahnanuch de Liege for that year had
contained among its predictions one which announced
that, in the month of April, "a great lady playing an
important role at a foreign Court would cease to fill
it," and, in dire alarm, she racked her brains to find
means to divert the mind of her royal lover from-
thoughts of death and judgment.
On Tuesday, April 26, Louis XV. left Versailles to
spend a few days at the Little Trianon, the pavilion
recently constructed by the architect Gabriel. The fol-
lowing morning, on rising, he felt unwell, complaining
of pains in the head, shivering-fits, and giddiness. He
refused, however, to countermand the hunt arranged
for that day, and, in the hope that exercise might
prove beneficial, decided to take part in the sport as
usual. His caleche was accordingly ordered, and he
set out for the meet, but, on arriving there, felt too
ill to mount his horse, and followed the chase in his
carriage, returning to Trianon about half-past five.
During the day the headache from which Louis had
suffered in the morning had become much worse, and
Madame du Barry advised that one of his physicians
should be summoned. To this, however, he refused
to consent, declaring that it was merely a passing in-
disposition, which a little medicine and a night's rest
would cure, and spent the evening in the favourite's
apartments, where he took some simple remedy.
But the King passed a restless night, and in the
morning was so much worse that Lemonnier, his First
Physician, was sent for.
iion." M. Vatcl, who discusses this question at some Icrij^th, with
the view, apparently, of vindicatinpf the character of the Jewish
monarch, is of ojjinion that the Abbe tic Bcauvais never used the
words imi)Uted to him, as they arc not to be found in his col-
lected sermons. Pcrhai)s, however, as Mr. Douglas suggests,
they were omitted by a timid editor.
246 MADAME DU BARRY
Lemonnier found liis royal patient in a fever, but
did not appear to think that there was any cause for
alarm; and Madame du Barry, much reassured, de-
cided, after a consultation with the Due d'Aumont,
the First Gentleman of the Bedchamber in attendance
on his Majesty, to keep the King at Trianon until he
recovered, and to allow no hint of his illness to reach
the Royal Family, who had remained at Versailles.
Now it is probable that the favourite and d'Aumont,
who was devoted to her interests, acted merely from
selfish motives, knowing full well that even the slightest
indisposition was enough to arouse qualms of consci-
ence in the superstitious monarch. Nevertheless it is
now generally admitted that, had they been allowed
to carry out their plan, the life of Louis XV. might
have been saved, for, in his light and airy apartments
at Trianon, with every one but Lemonnier, Madame
du Barry, and his valet-de-chambrc excluded from his
sick-room, he would have had an infinitely better chance
of recovery than at Versailles, where unbending eti-
quette demanded that not only his whole staff of medi-
cal advisers, but every one who had the entree, should
be admitted to the royal bedchamber, even though its
unfortunate occupant were in extremist
However, ill news flies apace, and, in spite of the
precautions of Madame du Barry and the duke, the
state of the King was soon known at Versailles. The
Royal Family did not dare to go to Trianon without
a summons from his Majesty; but the Dauphin de-
spatched La Martiniere, who had great influence over
Louis and was permitted to speak his mind freely.
La Martiniere did not love Madame du Barry, and
was, therefore, unlike Lemonnier, but little inclined to
forego what he conceived to be his duty out of def-
erence to that lady's wishes. He was an honest man,
"Vatel's Histoire de Madame du Barry, ii. 320.
MADAME DU BARRY 247
brusque but firm, and he resolved to persuade Louis to
return to Versailles.
Early in the afternoon of the 28th, he reached
Trianon, saw the King at once, and represented to him
that it was absolutely without precedent for a King of
France to allow himself to be nursed anywhere save
in his principal residence and with the whole Faculty
standing round his bed ; and, in spite of the entreaties
of the favourite, poor Louis, ever a slave to etiquette,
yielded, and told La Martiniere to order his carriage
to be got ready. The King entered it in his rohe-dc-
chainbre, and, on arriving at the chateau, waited in
Madame Adelaide's apartments while his bed was
being prepared. When, a little later, Marie Antoinette
and the princesses presented themselves at the door of
the royal bedchamber, his Majesty intimated that he
desired to be alone, and they withdrew, leaving the
invalid to the care of Madame du Barry, who entered
by the private staircase ; and took her place by his side.
The fever and the pains in the bead increased in se-
verity during the night; the King could not sleep,
and at times his mind wandered. In the morning,
Friday, April 29, Lemonnier and La Martiniere held
a consultation, and decided that his Majesty must be
bled. They asked that other doctors should be called
in, and Louis, prompted by Madame du Barry, named
Lorry and Bordeu, the physicians of the favourite and
d'Aiguillon, while, at Lemonnier's request. Lassonnc,
the Dauphiness's physician, was also summoned.
The bleeding did not produce the effect hoped for;
the fever continued to increase, and there could no
longer be any doubt that the King was seriously ill.
The doctors wlio had l)cen sent for arrived about noon,
and were followed into the sick-room by all his Maj-
esty's medical advisers — physicians, surgeons, and
apothecaries — and also by a number of people who had
248 MADAME DU BARRY
the entree, and whom Madame du Barry and d'Aiguil-
lon had up till then contrived to exclude.
The King- called upon each doctor in turn to come
and feel his pulse, described his symptoms, and de-
manded to know what was the nature of his illness; a
point upon which none of the learned gentlemen were
able to satisfy him. They all looked exceedingly sol-
emn, conferred together in whispers, shook their heads
repeatedly, and, finally, decided that his Majesty must
be bled again in the course of the afternoon, and a
third time at night or the following morning, if the
second bleeding failed to give him relief.
This announcement alarmed the King. *'I am then
seriously ill," he exclaimed. "A third bleeding will
leave me very weak. Can it not be avoided ?"
The Court was in a ferment of excitement when the
decision of the doctors became known, and the enemies
of the favourite and d'Aiguillon could not conceal their
elation. A third bleeding meant the Sacraments and,
with the Sacraments, confession and the solemn re-
nunciation by the King of his mistress, as had been
the case with Madame de Chateauroux at IMetz, in
1744.' It is true that on that occasion, so soon as the
monarch recovered, Madame de Chateauroux was
taken back into favour; but it was deemed very im-
probable that, if Madame du Barry were once dis-
missed, Louis would have the courage to break his
word again. At sixty-four a man is less ready to incur
the wrath of Heaven than when in the prime of life.
On their side, the Du Barrj^ party, alive to the
danger which threatened them, used every effort to
prevail upon the doctors to abandon the idea of a
third bleeding. They succeeded, but only in a measure,
•For a full account of Louis XV.'s illness at Metz, and the
dismissal of Madame de Chateauroux, see the author's "Madame
de Pompadour," pp. 11-19.
MADA^^IE DU BARRY 249
as the Faculty, to satisfy its conscience, made the
second bleeding unusually copious, and reduced the
wretched King to the last stage of prostration. Nev-
ertheless, the fever continued, and Bordeu went up to
the apartments of the favourite, who had retired from
the sick-room before the entry of the crowd of doctors
and courtiers at midday, and told her that he feared
the King was threatened with a long and dangerous
illness.
Towards five o'clock, Louis sent for his children
and kept them for half an hour round his bed, during
which time, however, he never once addressed them.
In the evening the Due d'Aumont wished to introduce
Madame du Barry, but the doctors and the grand offi-
cers of the Household opposed it energetically, and he
was compelled to give way.
The Faculty was composed of fourteen persons — six
physicians, five surgeons, and three apothecaries; but
the King seemed to derive comfort from their number,
and whenever he happened to observe that one of the
doctors had left the room, requested that he should be
brought back, "as if he imagined that, surrounded by
so many satellites, no harm could happen to his
Majesty."
That evening the sick man was moved from his
great State bed into a smaller one, for the sake of
convenience. All at once, some one happening to ap-
proach him with a light, observed red specks upon his
forehead and cheeks. The doctors looked at one an-
other in amazement; not one among them appears to
have entertained the least suspicion that the King's
illness could be small-pox, for Louis had hnd the dis-
ease already in 1728, and it was believed that he was
proof against further attacks.^
'Louis was commonly bclicvofl to have contraclcd tlic disease
from a young girl of the neighbourhood, with whom he had had
250 MADAME DU BARRY
However, after they had recovered from their aston-
ishment, the doctors seemed much reheved to find that
all uncertainty was at an end, and assured the Royal
Family that there was no cause for alarm, citing- in-
stances of persons of the King's age who had recov-
ered from the disease. The Dauphin, the Comte de
Provence, the Comte d'Artois, and their wives, on the
advice of the doctors, decided to keep away from the
sick-room; but Mesdames, although none of them had
had small-pox. declared that their place was by their
father's side, and that they intended to remain with
him ; a resolution which does them much honour. The
Court seemed to share the opinion of the Faculty that
the chances were greatly in favour of the King's rei^
covery, and retired to rest, "convinced that it was an
affair of eight or nine days and of a little patience.'"
Bordeu, however, thought otherwise, and when the
Due de Liancourt reported to him the optimistic feeling
which prevailed, shook his head and remarked that
small-pox to a man of Louis's age and constitution was
a terrible disease.
The event justified his previsions. Next day, it be-
came evident that the disease was developing in its
most virulent form, and the doctors could not conceal
their apprehensions. After much discussion, it had
been decided not to inform the King of the nature of
his illness, and he was accordingly told that he was
suffering from a miliary fever. But, with his knowl-
a " passade " : " une petite vachcre," according to the Abbe Bau-
deau ; the daughter of the gardener of Louveciennes (Anec-
dotes) ; the daughter of Montvallier, Madame du Barry's steward
(Metra) ; "the once so buxom daughter of the gatekeeper"
(Carlyle), and so forth; for the shapes of the damsel are pro-
tean. There is, however, not a shred of evidence to support this
story, and we prefer to believe Voltaire, who says that there was
an epidemic of small-pox in the environs of Versailles, and the
King fell a victim to the scourge in the ordinary way,
^ Memoires du Baron de Besenval, i. 300.
MADAME DU BARRY 251
edge of diseases, of which he had all his life taken a
morbid pleasure in talking-, the symptoms surprised
him. "Were it not that I have had the small-pox." he
exclaimed, "I should believe that I was about to
have it."
Mcsdames passed the day in the sick-room or in one
of the adjoining cabinets, and assisted at Mass, which
was said at noon, on a portable altar placed before the
King's bed. They, with the Due de Noailles, the faith-
ful Prince de Soubise. and the banker valet-de-chambrc
La Borde, were probably the only persons in the room
who cared for Louis for his own sake ; the rest, con-
sumed with hatred and jealousy of one another, thought
only of the political changes for which the administra-
tion of the Sacraments would be the signal. Decency,
of course, compelled them to dissimulate their feelings ;
and many of those who appeared most affected by the
condition of their sovereign were secretly rejoicing at
the prospect of the fulfilment of their hopes.
In Paris, where the affection of the people, so strik-
ingly manifested during Louis's illness at Metz, had
long since changed to hatred and contempt, there was
not even a pretence of sorrow.* Public prayers for
the King's recovery were, of course, ordered; but the
churches and chapels were deserted. The shrine of
Sainte-Genevieve was solemnly opened ; but hardly a
knee was l^ent before it." If people were observed to
'A striking instance of the steady decline of Louis XV.'s
popularity is afforded by comparing the number of Masses said
on his behalf at Notre Dame, at the expense of private indi-
viduals, during his three illnesses in 1744, 1757, and 1774. On
the first occasion, no less than 6000 were said; on the second,
the number had fallen to 600; while in 1774 only three persons
were found willing to pay for a Mass! — Bingham's "Marriages
of the Bourbons," ii. 421.
"After the death of Louis XV., the Abbe de Sainte-Genevieve
was rallied by some friends, who said that his saint had lost all
her power. lie replied: "Well. Messieurs, what reproach have
you to address to her? Is he not dead?"
252 IMADAME DU BARRY
whisper anxiously together, if apprehension were re-
marked on any face, its cause was not the gravity of
their sovereign's condition, but lest Death should, after
all, be deprived of his prey. Louis le Bicn-aime, as
he himself had once bitterly remarked, had become
Louis le Bicn-hdi, and all hearts waited impatiently
for the event which was to open that new regime on
which so many hopes were founded.
In the evening, La Borde, having on some pretext
contrived to get every one out of the room, brought in
Madame du Barry and conducted her to the King's
bedside ; but Louis was in too much pain to show any
pleasure at the sight of his mistress, and, after re-
maining for a short while, she withdrew."^
On the Sunday, May i, the King, who had passed
a terrible night, was so weak that it was the general
impression that he could not survive more than a
couple of days, and the battle between the " Barriens "
and "Anti-Barriens " over the question of the Sacra-
ments began in earnest. By a singular inversion of the
usual order of things, it was the patrons of the philos-
ophers who cried out against the scandal of allowing
the King to remain longer in a state of sin, while the
devots declared that confession and absolution would
effectually destroy any chance of recovery his Majesty
might have, as everything depended on concealing his
true condition from him.
In the midst of this unseemly wrangle, the news ar-
rived that Christophe de Beaumont, the Archbishop of
Paris, had announced his intention of visiting the
King on the following day. No one doubted that the
object of the prelate's visit was to exhort his Majesty
to repentance and confession, and the Du Barry party,
in great alarm, held a council of war, which was at-
" Memoires du Baron de Bcscnval (edit. Bcrville and Bar-
riere), i. 303.
MADAME DU BARRY 253
tended by the favourite, d'Aiguillon, Richelieu, and his
son, the Due de Fronsac. After some discussion, it
was decided that, as it was impossible to keep the arch-
bishop away from the King, the only course to adopt
was to ensure tliat the Due d'Orleans, first prince of the
blood, should be in the room all the time; that the
visit should be one of courtesy only, and that no men-
tion should be made of the Sacraments. Madame
Adelaide, whom the doctors of the favourite's faction
had solemnly assured that the question of Eternity was
premature, and that it would be her father's death-
blow, joined the conspiracy.
At eleven o'clock the next morning, the archbishop,
in his violet robes, presented himself at the door of
the King's ante-chamber, where he was met by Riche-
lieu, who led him into the Cabinet du Conseil, made
him sit down by his side, and spoke to him "with
great vehemence and animated gestures."
Now, the archbishop was an honest and pious, if
narrow-minded man, who had suffered exile and per-
secution for the truth's sake, or rather for that of the
Bull Unigcmtus. He deplored the irregularities of the
King, but he was well aware of the services which
Madame du Barry had rendered to the party of which
he was the ecclesiastical head by the overthrow of Choi-
seul, the elevation of d'Aiguillon, and the destruction
of the Parliaments. He had come to insist on the dis-
missal of the favourite, as a preliminary to confession
and the Sacraments, to the saving of the King's soul ;
but when Richelieu, with brutal frankness, pointed out
to him that the saving of the King's soul meant the
return of Choiseul and the old Parliament, the triumph,
in fact, of the enemies of the Church, the archbishop
began to wonder whether his Most Christian Majesty's
salvation was indeed worth so great a sacrifice.
While he hesitated "between his zeal and his con-
254 MADAME DU BARRY
science," the Due d'Aumont came to announce that the
King awaited him. The prelate rose and made his way
into the sick-room, where the first object his eyes rested
upon was a lady perched on the royal bed. The lady
was, of course. Madame du Barry, who, however, fled
at his approach, leaving him alone with the King and
the Due d'Orleans, charged by Madame Adelaide to
take care that M. de Beaumont did not say anything
which might alarm her father.
The audience, as might be expected, had no result ;
the archbishop remained a few minutes, condoling with
his Majesty on the unfortunate event which had tem-
porarily deprived his loving subjects of the joy of
seeing him amongst them, and then went back to Paris,
without saying a single word about confession -^ while
the King, inferring from the prelate's avoidance of
this unpleasant subject, that the doctors could not con-
sider him in any danger, sent at once for Madame du
Barry, "wept with joy, and covered her hands with
kisses."
The "Anti-Barriens," highly indignant at the weak-
ness of the archbishop, now fell back upon the Grand
Almoner, the Cardinal de la Roche-Aymon. Incited
by them, the Bishop of Carcassonne, an honest man,
who sincerely desired his sovereign's salvation, brand-
ishing his pectoral cross before the eyes of the cardinal,
summoned him, in the name of that cross, to do his
duty and proiX)se the Sacraments to the King.
The Cardinal de la Roche-Aymon, who was an ex-
ceedingly supple and cautious ecclesiastic, felt himself
placed in a most embarrassing position. If he declined
to exhort the King to repentance, and Louis were to
die without having received absolution, he would be
ruined. On the other hand, if he did his duty, and the
"The archbishop returned the next day, and again saw the
King, but whether he spoke of confession is uncertain.
MADAME DU BARRY 255
King were to recover, his disgrace would be equally
certain. He, therefore, determined to steer a middle
course, and replied that, as the doctors were opposed
to anything which might tend to alarm the King, he
could not propose to administer the Sacraments openly.
but that he would avail himself of the first opportunity
of putting his Majesty in the right way. He then went
to visit the King, but conversed with him in so low
a tone that no one else could hear what was said. In
this way, the astute cardinal was able to give his own
version of what passed between Louis and himself.
That day a slight improvement was observed in the
royal patient's condition, in consequence of which a
number of courtiers who, in the belief that his Majesty
was doomed, had for the last day or two abstained
from visiting the favourite, hastened to atone for their
neglect. But during the night the disease took an
alarming turn, and the following morning the doctors,
who had hitherto issued relatively satisfactory reports,
published a bulletin announcing that the King had been
delirious. D'Aiguillon, in a violent passion, rushed
into the ante-chamber and began to upbraid the doctors
with their indiscretion in so loud a tone that Louis
sent to learn what was the matter. When the Minister
went to visit him soon afterwards, he inquired very
tenderly after Madame du Barrv', and expressed a de-
sire to see her; and it was arranged that La Borde
should bring the countess to the sick-room in the
evening.
But before the time for the favourite's visit arrived,
an event of great importance had taken place : the
King had ascertained the disease from which he was
suffering. He had. it appeared, (jucstioned La Mar-
ti niere, and the latter, disgusted with the conduct of
his colleagues, had confirmed his suspicions.
In an agony of terror, the conscience-stricken King
2s6 MADAME DU BARRY
at once resolved to purchase absolution by the dis-
missal, or rather the apparent dismissal, of his mis-
tress ; and when, according to arrangement, La Borde
brought in the favourite, he called her to his bedside
and said: "Madame, I am very ill; I know what I
must do; I do not wish to have a repetition of the
scandal that took place at Metz. We must part. Go
to Rueil, to the Due d'Aigiiillon's chateau; await my
orders there, and be assured that I shall always enter-
tain for you the most tender affection.'"'
Madame du Barry, who had expected a very dif-
ferent reception, left the room dissolved in tears, con-
soling herself, however, with the reflection that Rueil
was but two leagues from Versailles, and that such a
very modified form of exile probably implied a speedy
recall in the event of the King's recovery.
At four o'clock the following afternoon, Tuesday,
May 5, a carriage stopped under the northern arcade
of the chateau. Madame du Barry entered it, ac-
companied by her sister-in-law, Mademoiselle "Chon,"
and the Duchesse d'Aiguillon, and departed from the
scene of her triumphs, which she was fated never to
revisit.
There was, of course, great excitement at Court
when it became known that the favourite had left Ver-
sailles ; but the joy of the "Anti-Barriens" was some-
what marred by the knowledge that, if the King hap-
pened to change his mind, a courier and a pair of fast
horses could bring her back within an hour.
It was believed that the Sacraments would be ad-
ministered that same evening, but the enemies of the
favourite were doomed to disappointment. Towards
six o'clock, the King called La Borde and bade him
fetch Madame du Barry.
"There are several versions of Louis's farewell speech to
Madame du Barry; we have followed Besenval.
MADAME DU BARRY 257
"Sire, she has gone," answered the valet-de-
chamhre.
"Whither has she gone?"
"To Rueil. Sire."
"Ah ! already !" And the sick man seemed distressed
at finding that he had been so quickly taken at his
word.
Shortly afterwards he summoned d'Aiguillon, and
inquired if he had been to Rueil; all of which showed
plainly that his thoughts were occupied far more by
his mistress than by his confessor; that the lady's de-
parture was merely a precautionary measure, and that
she would be recalled the moment the illness of her
royal lover took a decided turn for the better."
Later in the evening there was a disgraceful scene
in the ante-chamber. The cure of Versailles announced
his intention of entering the sick-room to exhort the
King to place himself in a state of grace without
further delay, upon which the Due de Fronsac threat-
ened to throw him out of the window if he dared even
to mention the word "confession" in his Majesty's
hearing. "If I am not killed, I shall return by the
door," replied the priest, "for it is my duty." How-
ever, the attitude of the duke was so threatening that
the cure eventually decided to remain silent.
There was no change in Louis' condition the follow-
ing day, but during the night of the 6th to 7th he had
a relapse, and ordered the Due de Duras to summon
his confessor, the Abbe Maudoux, an honest man, who
was also the dircctciir of Marie Antoinette. The duke,
a bitter enemy of d'Aiguillon, obeyed the order with
alacrity, and soon returned with the abbe, who re-
mained with the King a quarter of an hour.
When the confessor left, Louis declared his inten-
'* Mcmoircs incdits du Due de Croy, cited by M. dc Nolhac in
Marie- Antoinette Daupliine, p. 2^3.
258 MADAME DU BARRY
tion of receiving the Sacrament on the morrow. Then
he sent for d'Aigiiillon, to whom he confided that the
abbe had refused to give him absokition so long as
Madame du Barry was anywhere in the neighbour-
hood ; that he had, therefore, decided to send her to
Richelieu's chateau at Chinon in Touraine, and desired
that he would convey his commands to the countess.
D'Aiguillon, who, on the principle that while there is
life there is ho])e, was determined not to abandon the
struggle, assured the King that there must be some
mistake, and, instead of sending Madame du Barry to
Chinon, hurried off to the Cardinal de la Roche-Ay-
mon and the Abbe Maudoux, to endeavour to persuade
them to administer the Sacraments unconditionally.
He met, as might be expected, with a good deal of op-
position from the latter; but the cardinal was com-
placent enough, and, in the end, matters were settled as
the Minister desired.
At six o'clock the next morning, preceded by the
clergy of the parish and the chapel, surrounded by
bishops and followed by the Dauphin and his brothers,
the Princes and Princesses of the Blood, the grand
officers of the Crown, the Ministers and Secretaries of
State, and nearly the whole of the Court, all with
lighted tapers in their hands, the Holy Sacrament is
brought in solemn state to the apartments of the dying
King. The clergy, with Mesdanies and the princes,
enter the royal bedchamber, the rest of the cortege re-
mains in the adjoining cabinets. The Cardinal de la
Roche- Aymon delivers a short exhortation to the King,
which is quite inaudible, and then administers the
Sacrament.
But the ceremony is not yet over. As the cardinal
turns away, the Abbe Maudoux, "with anxious, acid-
ulent face," plucks him by the sleeve and whispers in
his ear ; upon which the prelate comes to the door, and
MADAME DU BARRY 259
there repeats the formula of repentance drawn up by
the Archbishop of Paris, the bishops, and the con-
fessor :
"Messieurs, the King charges me to inform you
that he asks pardon of God for having offended Him
and for the scandal he has given his people; that if
God restores him to health, he will occupy himself with
the maintenance of religion and the welfare of his
people."
Two voices break the silence which follows : one is
old Richelieu's, growling out some uncomplimentary
reference to the Grand Almoner, which Besenval, who
records the incident, is too modest to repeat ; the other
is that of the King, who has listened attentively to the
declaration of his penitence, and now murmurs : "I
should have wished for sufficient strength to say it
myself."
From that moment the intrigues ceased ; and all,
save those whose duties compelled them to remain, fled
from the sick-room, the infection from which was so
terrible that over fifty persons in the chateau are said
to have contracted the disease and ten to have died.
Hour by hour the King grew worse. On May 9, two
days after the first religious ceremony, the second,
the administration of Extreme Unction, took place,
and on the following afternoon, at a quarter-past
three, the Due de Bouillon, the Grand Chamberlain,
appeared at the door of the CEil-de-Boeuf and made
the announcement which had not been heard for fifty-
nine years, and was not to be heard again until the
death of Louis XYHL, half a century later:
"Messieurs, Ic Roi est mort. Vive le Roi!"
Tlie body of the King, which had been hastily en-
closed in two leaden coffins, remained in the ciiambcr
Memoirs — 9 V'ol. '2
560 MADAME DU BARRY
of death, guarded only by a few priests, until the eve-
ning of the 1 2th, when it was conveyed to Saint-
Denis, "the funeral resembling rather the removal of a
load one is anxious to get rid of than the last duties
rendered to a monarch." The coffin was placed in a
large carriage covered with a pall of black velvet, em-
bossed with gold ; another carriage contained the Dues
d'Aumont and d'Ayen; a third, the Grand Almoner
and the cure of Versailles. All three carriages were
those which the King had used to take him to the chase,
and it had not been deemed necessary to drape them,
according to custom, nor even to caparison the horses
in black. The cortege was very simple, consisting
merely of a score of mounted pages and fifty Gardes-
du-Corps." The faithful Soubise also followed the
remains of the man from whom he had received so
many favours, and was the only genuine mourner
present.
The funeral procession left Versailles, at a trot, at
half-past seven, and arrived at Saint-Denis soon after
eleven. Among his subjects all feeling of respect
and affection for the King had long ceased, and coarse
laughter and ribald jests greeted the cortege as it
passed by. In the streets of Versailles, the people
cried, "Tdiaut! Ta'iaut!" imitating the tone in which
the King had been accustomed to pronounce the word,
while at Saint-Denis there were shouts of ''Voila le
plaisir des dmnes! Voila le plaisir!"^^
^It is not generally known that by his will, bearing date
January 6, 1770, Louis XV. had forbidden all great ceremonies
at his funeral, and directed that his body might be conveyed to
Saint-Denis " in the most simple manner that may be." It is
doubtful, however, if, under ordinary circumstances, his wishes
would have been so literally observed.
" Chronigtie de I' Abbe Bandeau, Revue retrospective, 1834, vol.
iii. p. 42. Too much significance ought not, perhaps, to be at-
tached to these demonstrations, for much the same had been wit-
nessed at the funeral of le Grand Monarque. It was the oppres-
MADA:\IE DU BARRY 261
The body of the King was received by the Bene-
dictines, accompanied by the clergy of the parish. At
the door of the abbey, the Bishop of SenHs presented
the body to the prior and pronounced some words in
eulogy of the deceased monarch. The prior replied in
a similar strain; then the coffin was lowered into the
vaults, and the fifteenth Louis was left to sleep with his
fathers — until the Revolution.
sive taxation, not the King's moral character, that his subjects
resented.
CHAPTER XVIII
UNDER date May 13, 1774, Hardy writes in his
Journal: "I am informed that the Comtesse du
Barry left the village of Rueil last evening,
in virtue of a Icttrc-dc-cachct, for the Abbey of Pont-
aux-Dames . . . under the strictest prohibition either
to see or to write to any one. She was seen in a coach
drawn by six horses, followed by a second carriage
containing two persons, one of whom was an exempt
(inspector of police)."
The leftre-de-cachet mentioned by Hardy, banishing
Madame du Barry to the Abbey of Pont-aux-Dames,
in Brie, has been generally attributed to Louis XVI.,
spurred on by Marie Antoinette; and M. Paul Gaulot,
in his interesting work, "Love and Lovers of the Past,"
severely criticises the conduct of the new King, and
declares that it was nothing less than an insult to the
memory of his grandfather.
The indefatigable M. Vatel, however, in the course
of his researches, had occasion to examine the Registre
des Ordres du Roi, then preserved in the Archives of
the Prefecture of Police, and found there the following
entries :
The 9th of the month of May 1774.
Note of the Minister.
The sieur Comte du Barry
The dame Comtesse du Barry
To be taken to the Chateau of
Vincennes.
To be taken to the Abbey of
Pont-aux-Dames.
Now, on May 9, Louis XV. was still alive — he did not
die till the afternoon of the loth — and there is no rea-
262
MADAME DU BARRY 263
son to believe that the official who made the entries
committed an error in transcribing the date, as the
register was made up each day, and the entries in
question were preceded and followed by other entries
also dated the 9th. Nor is it at all probable that the
then Dauphin, foreseeing the death of his grandfatlier,
should have taken upon himself to order the arrest and
banishment of the favourite, as, on the advice of Marie
Antoinette, he had declined to receive the Ministers or
give any orders whatever during Louis XV.'s illness/
It follows, then, tliat the order must have come from
the late King, and this is M. Vatel's explanation :
On the 8th, the day after he had received the
ViaticKDi, there was a slight improvement in the King's
condition ; but on the 9th he was much worse, and
Extreme Unction was administered. It was then that
he resolved on the complete sacrifice of his mistress,
and also of the chief participator in the scandal, "in
the belief, perhaps, that he would thereby disann the
wrath of Heaven and escape the death which threatened
h»i2
im.
M. Vatel's explanation is quite consistent with the
singular religion of the monarch, who had the most im-
plicit l:>elief in the efficacy of certain devotional prac-
tices, prayers of forty hours, the opening of the shrine
of Sainte-Genevieve, and so forth, who was accustomed
to rise from the side of Madame de Mailly in order to
perform his orisons, and who, if Besenval is to be be-
lieved, used even to pray with his victims of the Parc-
aux-Cerfs that they might preserve their orthodoxy;
and the fact that, on the day before his death, Louis
had an interview with d'Aiguillon and gave him certain
instructions in a low voice removes, we think, all doubt
about the matter.
' M. de Nolhac's Martc-Anto'mctte Dauphuie, p. 315.
* Histnire dc Madame du Barry, ii. 334, et seq.
264 MADAME DU BARRY
The name of Jean du Barry did not go to swell the
roll of distinguished ])ersons who had been incarcerated
in the Chateau of Vincennes." No sooner did that
crafty adventurer learn that his "frerot" (little
brother), as he had the impertinence to style Louis
XV., was in extremis, than he went to a friend named
Goys, a famous wit, and asked what he advised him to
do. " Valuables and post-horses," was the laconic re-
ply; and when the "Roue" inquired if he had no bet-
ter counsel to give him than that, answered that per-
haps it would be wiser to make sure of the post-horses
before troubling about the valuables.
The "count'' followed his friend's advice, and when
the officers of the law came to his house to apprehend
him. he was well on his way to the Swiss frontier,
leaving his mistresses and his numerous creditors to
bewail his departure.
The new King lost no time in sending the other
members of the Du Barry family after their chief.
**The creature has been placed in a convent," writes
Marie Antoinette to her mother on May 14, "and all
who bear this scandalous name have been driven from
the Court." Such, indeed, had been the case. On
May 12, the "Vicomte" Adolphe and his wife each re-
ceived a lettre-de-cachet, informing them that the
Court was henceforth forbidden ground. The order
sent to the viscountess was couched in the following
terms :
"Versailles, 12th of May, 1774.
** I trust, Madame, that you will not doubt all the
reluctance that I feel in being obliged to announce to
you a prohibition to appear at Court ; but I am obliged
to execute the orders of the King, who charges me to
inform you that his intention is that you do not present
yourself there until a fresh order from him. His
Majesty, at the same time, is willing to permit you to
MADAME DU BARRY 265
visit your aunt at the Abbey of Pont-aux-Dames, and
I am, in consequence, writing to the abbess, in order
that you may experience no difficulty. You will be
kind enough to acknowledge the receipt of this letter
by the bearer thereof, so that I may be able to justify
to his Alajesty the execution of his orders.
"I have the honour to be, with respect, Madame,
your very humble and very obedient servant,
"The Due DE Lavrilliere."*
The so-called Marquis du Barry and his consort
shared the fate of the viscount and viscountess, the
marchioness being likewise accorded permission to
visit the favourite at Pont-aux-Dames, though neither
of the ladies would appear to have availed themselves
of the privilege. Elie and his wife, indeed, were anx-
ious to dissociate themselves from the odium attaching
to all who bore the "scandalous name," and, three
months later, solicited and obtained permission to drop
it and assume that of Conty d'Hargicourt, the uncle of
the marchioness.
*We give this letter in full, as it has been the subject of a
singular misconception. Many years after it was written it fell
into the hands of a collector of autographs, a certain ]\I. Leber,
who, in his catalogue, described it as " A rare and curious
document, being the original lettre-de-cachet sent to Madame du
Barry," and added the interesting information, culled from the
anecdotists, that, on receiving it, the fallen favourite exclaimed,
"in the way that was usual with her," "A fine reign that
commences with a lettre-dc-cachct! " In course of time, M.
Leber's collection passed into the possession of the IMunicipal
Library of Rouen, where the letter was seen by the brothers De
Goncourt. These distinguished writers did not, apparently, make
the least attempt to verify M. Leber's statement; and, in con-
sequence, we find it repeated in their Les Maitresses de Louis
XV., and again in their La Du Barry, wherein they also assert
that the aunt of Madame du Barry mentioned in the letter as
living in retirement at Pont-aux-i)amos " was without doubt
Madame de Quantigny, her mother's sister."
Now, as M. Vatel and Mr. Douglas point out, if the Goncourts
had exercised any care in reading the letter, they could hardly
266 MADAMR DU BARRY
The Abbey of Pont-aux-Dames, for which the fallen
favourite was now compelled to exchange the gilded
salons of Versailles, was a convent of the Benedictine
Order, situated some two leagues to the south-west of
Meaux. It was a very ancient house, having been
founded by Hughes de Chatillon, son of a Comte de
Saint-Pol, in the year 1225, and had been famous for
a long line of illustrious abbesses. At one time a very
wealthy community, it had now fallen on somewhat
evil days, and the vast buildings were in a sadly dilapi-
dated state.
The nuns numbered fifty, and wore the costume of
the Bernardines — white woolen wimple and gown,
black veil, and long scapulary of the same colour de-
scending to the feet. The regulations, though not aus-
tere, were strict, and none of the laxity of morals
which prevailed in so many convents at this period was
to be found at Pont-aux-Dames ; for which reason it
was occasionally used as a kind of prison for ladies
who had been so unfortunate as to incur the royal dis-
pleasure.
We may here remark that there was nothing shame-
ful or humiliating in a detention of this kind. For a
woman, confinement in a convent was very much the
same thing as imprisonment in the towers of the Bas-
tille or Vincennes for one of the opposite sex, and
have failed to notice three clear proofs that this lettre-de-cachet
could not have been the one sent to the favourite : in the first
place, it is addressed to the viscountess and not to the countess;
in the second, there is no evidence that Madame de Quantigny,
or any aunt of Madame du Barry, was ever at Pont-aux-Dames;
and in the third, the lady's difficulty was not to get to Pont-aux-
Dames, but to get away from there.
The error into which the Goncourts fell, however, singular as
it is, is not nearly so extraordinary as their confusion of
Madame du Barry's lover, the Due de Cosse-Brissac, with his
■father, the Marechal de Cosse-Brissac, an old gentleman of some
four-score summers, to which we shall have occasion to refer
presently.
MADAME DU BARRY 267
many of the greatest ladies in the land had at different
times suffered the same fate as Madame du Barry.
We can imagine the impression which the first sight
of this grim old convent, with its crunibling walls,
must have made upon the ex-favourite accustomed to
the splendours of Versailles. "Oh, how triste!" she
cried, bursting into tears. " And it is to a place like
this that thev send me!"
It is related that on her arrival she was conducted to
the refectory, to wait whilst her room was being pre-
pared ; and that the good sisters, impelled by a kind of
morbid fascination, came one by one to peep at her.
They did not dare to look directly upon the face of so
terrible a sinner, but regarded its reflection in a mirror
which was opposite to her, "expecting to see appear
therein the features of a demon." What was their
astonishment, however, to perceive a sweet-faced
young woman, who might well have stood to one of
the great painters of old time as the model for a saint,
and whose woebegone expression and tearful blue
eyes touched every heart with compassion !
The Abbey of Point-aux-Dames was razed to the
ground during the Revolution, and there is not even
a plan of it in existence; but M. Vatel, who visited
the spot some thirty years ago and questioned the vil-
lagers, learned that several of them had heard their
grandparents speak of Madame du Barry, who, it
would appear, was lodged in the inner quadrangle of
the building, in a bare room with whitewashed walls.
At first, the lady's confinement was somewhat rig-
orous; but her early experiences of conventual life at
Saintc-Aure stood her in good stead, and she soon be-
came reconciled to an existence with which she was
already familiar, and won golden opinions not only
from the abbess, Madame de la Roche-I*>)ntcnillc. who
had been by no means prcdisix)sed in her favour, hut
268 MADAME DU BARRY
from the whole community. "La Du Barry is very
contented in her convent," writes the Abbe Bandeau
on May 25 ; "the nuns are enchanted with her ; she
loads them with little presents and will, perhaps, end
by making them very sprightly."* Nor was she alto-
gether out of touch with the outside world, for she
was permitted to receive letters on business matters;
and Desfontaines,^ her steward Montvallier's secretary,
took advantage of this concession to write long and
frequent letters, giving her an account of everything
that was likely to interest her.
The contagious nature of the disease to which Louis
XV. had fallen a victim had prevented the usual me-
morial services being held at the time of his death. His
successor, however, had no intention of allowing them
to be abandoned, and, in due course, every church and
chapel from Dunkerque to the Pyrenees resounded
with eulogies of the deceased monarch." The Abbey
of Pont-aux-Dames conformed to the general practice,
and Madame du Barry had, no doubt, the satisfaction
of hearing some glib ecclesiastic deliver an eloquent
appreciation of the virtues of the Well-beloved in the
chapel of the convent. "Strange contrast!" remarks
M. Vatel. "Louis XV. elevated to the Pantheon of re-
ligion and history, while Jeanne Vaubernier, his last
* Chronique de I'Ahhe Baudeau: Revue retrospective, 1834, vol.
iii. p. 56.
"Francois Guillaume Fougues-Deshayes (17.33-1825), better
known under the name of Desfontaincs de la Vallee. In later
years, he became a prolific dramatist, author of La Bergere des
Alpcs and other plays.
'The higher clergy vied with one another in adulation and
baseness. To read their sermons one would imagine Louis XV.
to have been an all-conquering monarch, of unblemished virtue,
who had died at the height of his glory. " I will not talk," said
the Bishop of Arras in his funeral oration, "of the great achieve-
ments of this mighty King, his glory, his successes, his victories.
A prince so dear to human hearts must have been according to
MADAME DU BARRY 269
mistress, was undergoing, for the same deeds, the
pubHc penance of confinement in a cloister!"
Gradually, the restrictions imposed upon Madame
du Barry were relaxed ; she was allowed to take walks
in the neighbourhood ; to send for her clief and several
of her servants;' and her steward, her banker, and Au-
bert, the Court jeweller, obtained permission to visit
her. Now that the lady no longer had the Treasury
to draw upon, her creditors were becoming clamorous,
and we, accordingly, find her instructing Aubert to
sell her faritrc of diamonds, composed of "a. stomacher,
epaulettes, four rows for the waist, and a knot to
loop up the skirt," and another pariirc of rubies and
diamonds : collar, pendant, and earrings. The reserve
price placed upon the first was 450,000 livres, and on
the second 150,000, and the money was to be devoted
to the payment of her debts.
The ex-favourite's financial embarrassments were,
indeed, at this period, a constant source of annoyance
to her, and she was, moreover, apprehensive that Louis
XVI., entirely dominated as he was by Marie Antoi-
nette and Mesdames, might take into his head to con-
fiscate the gifts she had received from the late King
and reduce her to poverty. She was, therefore, nat-
urally anxious to recover her liberty, "pour soUicitcr
scs affaires," according to the phrase then in vogue,
God's heart." There were, however, a few honourable excep-
tions, and the sale of the Bishop of Alais's sermon, wherein he
had spoken of the evil example which the late King had set his
people and had besought his successor to regard the laws of
God, was forbidden by the Government.
^ Mardy says that Madame du Barry had twenty servants with
her at Pont-aux-Dames, but this is, no doubt, an exaggeration.
The same chronicler also reports that her architect, Ledoux, had
built for her a new wing to the abbey, " where she might lodge
more commodiously." Another absurd rumour credited the
Prince dc Ligne with having scaled the walls of the convent in
order to visit the fair prisoner.
270 MADAME DU BARRY
and. in August, wrote to La Vrilliere, pleading the
convent life was nnsuited to her constitution.
La Vrilhere returned a courteous answer, express-
ing his profound regret at learning that her health was
not all that could be desired, and informing her that
the King had the matter under his consideration, which
was equivalent to a refusal ; and a similar fate awaited
an application from, the Abbess of Pont-aux-Dames,
on her charge's behalf, some three months later.
However, the countess's detention was now drawing
to a close, and, on March 24, 1775, the Nouvelles a la
iiiahi announce : "Madame du Barry has permission to
leave the Convent of Pont-aux-Dames. She takes
walks in the environs, but returns to the abbey to sleep.
There is a rumor that she is about to purchase an
estate."
The announcement was correct. Permission to leave
Pont-aux-Dames had been accorded the ex-favourite
on condition that she did not take up her residence
within ten leagues of the Court of Paris; and, on April
9, she purchased, from a certain Sieur Sauvage, the
chateau and estate of Saint-Vrain. situated in what is
now the Department of Seine-et-Oise, two leagues
from Arpajon, and about twice that distance from
Corbeil.
This property had formerly belonged to Frangois
Pierre de la Garde, younger son of the old lady with
whom its new owner had lived for a short time as
demoiselle de compagme, or rather to his wife, a
Mademoiselle Duval de Lepinay, and it is probable
that the countess had visited it some seventeen years
previously. The chateau was in the style of Henry
IV. or Louis XHL, with a turret at each corner, and
was surrounded by a moat. The estate comprised
about one hundred and fifty acres. The price paid by
Madame du Barry was 200,000 livres, and she gave a
MADAAIE DU BARRY 271
further 15,000 livres for the furniture of the chateau.
The whole of the countess's immense staff of servants,
not one of whom had been discharged, in spite of their
mistress's fallen fortunes, was brought to Saint-Vrain ;
Mademoiselle "Chon" du Barry and her sister fol-
lowed.
An old inhabitant of Saint-Vrain, interviewed by
M. Vatel, gave him some interesting details about
Madame du Barr^^'s life there, which, it appears, he
had heard from his mother :
"There was a great deal of entertaining at the
chateau ; they gave balls, receptions, and evening
parties.
"At the same time, Madame du Barry made distri-
butions of bread, meat, and wood to the poor; all the
unfortunate received assistance, or rather there were
no longer any fortunate. To one she sent something
for the pot; to another, if it was a woman lying-in, for
example, soup, linen, caps for the child, and so forth.
Her waiting-women brought to Saint-Vrain her cast-
off clothing, in which she dressed up all the little girls.
Often she made the people of the village dance in her
park.
"She was much regretted.
"As to her appearance, I can tell you nothing.
Every one knows that she was a beautiful woman. I
only remember one thing that my mother told me. She
had a black paroquet, which always cried out when he
caught sight of her: 'La voila la belle conitcssd' '"
In the following September, Madame du Barry pur-
chased for Madame Ranc^on, who had left the Convent
de Sainte-Elizabcth about the same time as her
daughter was exiled to Pont-aux-Dames, the little
country-house at Villiers-sur-Orge, to which reference
has already been made, liaving previously rescued her
•Cited in Valcl's Histoire de Madame du Barry, ii. 380.
2/2 MADAME DU BARRY
and her husband from a usurer into whose clutches
they had fallen. This generosity, combined with the
purchase of Saint-Vrain, had apparently made rather
severe calls upon the countess's resources, for, six
months later, we find her selling her hotel in the Ave-
nue de Paris at Versailles to Monsieur (the Comte de
Provence). The Court was then at Fontainebleau,
and, in order to facilitate the transfer of the property,
Madame du Barry was allowed to revisit Louveciennes
and to remain there some days.
On October 28, Malesherbes wrote to the Lieuten-
ant of Police, informing him of the approaching pub-
lication of "a very scandalous book about Madame
la Comtesse du Barry," and charging him to take
every possible precaution to prevent its circulation
in France.
This book was the famous Anecdotes, the appear-
ance of which must have considerably damped Madame
du Barry's pleasure at escaping from her convent. The
author was that mendacious scribe, Pidansat de Mairo-
bert, of whose inventive talent we have already had
occasion to speak. It was printed in London, and cop-
ies were imported into France by way of Holland, the
usual channel for such publications.
Acting on the instructions of Malesherbes which
were, no doubt, dictated by regard for the memory of
the late King rather than for the reputation of his
mistress, the police made heroic efforts to cope with
the invasion; but, though a number of copies were
seized and destroyed, many more escaped their vigi-
lance, and the book, adroitly "puffed" by piquant criti-
cisms in various journals, probably written by the au-
thor himself, soon became the talk of Paris.
Although this atrocious libel was probably rated at
its true value by the majority of its victim's contem-
MADAME DU BARRY 273
poraries, that larg-e class of French historians who pre-
fer piquancy to probability have chosen to ignore the
character of its author — who, it may be mentioned,
committed suicide two years later — and to regard it as
an authoritative work, with the result that among
those unacquainted with the works of the Goncourts,
Vatel, and Mr. Douglas the name of Madame du
Barry is still regarded "as a S}Tionym for all the de-
pravity, profligacy, and vice of which a woman is
capable."
About the same time as the Anecdotes were pub-
lished, a "satirical brochure," entitled L'Omhre de
Louis XV. devant le tribunal de Minos, appeared at
Bordeaux. The police, however, were on the alert, and
not only seized some two thousand copies, but arrested
a number of persons suspected of being "aiders, abet-
tors, accomplices, and adherents" of the crime of le.se-
niajestc. Although published at Bordeaux, the print-
ing of the libel was traced to Cahors, which led to an
acrimonious dispute on the question of jurisdiction
between the Parliament of the former city and that of
Toulouse. Finally, the matter was referred to the
King, who decided in favour of the Parliament of
Toulouse, by which time, we may suppose, "the aiders,
abettors, accomplices, and adherents" had had enough
experience of prison life to last them for the remainder
of their days.
The winter of 1775- 1776 was an exceptionally
severe one ; indeed such terrible weather had hardly
been known since the never-to-be-forgotten winter of
1709; and Madame du Barry, snowed up at Saint-
Vrain, was a prey to the direst ennui. She seems,
however, to have had company. The inevitable "Chon"
was of course there, anrl with her a M, Fauga, who
passed for the lover of that somewhat mature spin-
274 MADAME DU BARRY
ster, and also a third person, whose relations with his
fair hostess are decidedly amusing.
This was a certain Vicomte de Langle, a veteran of
the Seven Years' War, "fort connu par l' eclat dc scs
desordres, de scs services luilitaircs, et de ses ou-
zrages."" In appearance, we are told, he bore a striking
resemblance to Mirabeau, and, like that remarkable
character, had spent a great part of his youth in vari-
ous fortresses, where he had been incarcerated by his
family to keep him out of mischief. Mr. Douglas at-
tributes to the viscount matrimonial designs upon
Madame du Barry, who was still a rich woman ;" but
inasmuch as Comte Guillaume was still in the flesh,
the designs, if there were any, must have been of a
less legitimate character. However that may be, M.
de Langle's presence at Saint-Vrain appears to have
afforded material for much illnatured gossip, and in
the Archives Nationales is preserved a curious docu-
ment, entitled Mcinoircs du chevalier de Langles {sic)
pour se justificr d' avoir gagnc an jeu 90,000 livres a
Madame dit Barry, et d'avoir cherche a la raccommo-
der avec le due de Choiseul.
In this memoir, the viscount states that three charges
have been brought against him in regard to his conduct
at Saint-Vrain. The first is that he had demanded
from Madame du Barry 90,000 livres which he had
won off her at play; the second, that he had been in
love with the lady and jealous of her; and the third,
that, in order to revenge himself upon her for having
^ Le voyage de Figaro en Espagne is his best known — or least
forgotten — work.
"In addition to her life-tenancy of Louveciennes and Les
Loges de Nantes, worth 40,000 livres per annum, the ex-favourite
had an income of 105,000 livres derived from rentes on the
Hotel de Ville, which had been given her by Louis XV., while
her jewellery and art treasures were worth a considerable
fortune.
MADAME DU BARRY 275
rejected his addresses, he had given an account of her
conduct to the Due de Choiseul, who was ahvays anx-
ious to hear anything to the discredit of his old enemy.
All three charges, he declares, are utterly false. He
says that on the night before Madame du Barry left
Saint-Vrain for Louveciennes, "in a moment of
ennui/' she made a bet of twelve sols that she would
"hole" nine balls out of the nineteen at the first throw
at Trou-Madamc/'^ and went on increasing the stakes
till she owed him 90,000 livres; but that of this large
sum he refused to accept more than fifty louis, for
the benefit of a young woman, a protegee of his, who
was about to enter the countess's service.
On another occasion, the viscount, according to his
own showing, was still more generous. This time, his
fair hostess, forgetting for the moment apparently that
she no longer had the Treasury at her back, staked on
the martingale system, with the result that, at one
period of the game she was in his debt to the extent
of 1,500,000 livres. "But," he adds, "she was the
onl}' one who was alarmed. The bystanders were as
convinced as I myself was that I should continue play-
ing until she had recovered her losses; and, in fact,
that was exactly what happened."
The other charges, namely, that he made love to the
lady and was repulsed, and that, out of spite, he be-
trayed the secrets of her household to M. de Choiseul,
are equally without foundation. It is a fact that M.
de Choiseul attempted to "draw" him on the subject,
but he got nothing for his pains. One day the duke
and the viscount met, when the following conversation
took place :
"You are a frequent visitor at Madame du l)arry's?"
n -/
Irou-Madaiiic wns a K'lfiic sonuwliat similar to liaj^atcllc;
Ijut the balls were tlirowii uitli the haiul, not imslird by a cue,
and the pockets were numbered both for gain ami loss.
276 MADAME DU BARRY
The viscount admitted that he did occasionally pay his
court to the countess. "She has kept all her servants?"
"Yes, M. le Due." "Her servants perform comedies?"
"Yes. M. le Due." "But she must have a considerable
fortune to support all this expense?" "I believe so,
M. le Due." "Adieu, M. de Langle." "Your servant,
M. le Due."
The viscount takes great credit to himself for hav-
ing so skilfully baflied the ex-Minister's curiosity; but,
as a matter of fact, there was very little to relate, as
life in "cette abominable campagne," as the author of
the above amusing memoir designates Saint-Vrain,
was singularly uneventful. However, the countess
only remained there eighteen months, for, on Novem-
ber 15, 1776, the NoiiveUcs a la main announce that
"Madame du Barry comes and goes freely between
Paris and Louveciennes." The writer adds that this
concession was due to the Comte d'Artois, who was
desirous of succeeding his departed grandfather in the
good graces of the lady, and had had a tender inter-
view with her at Radix de Sainte-Foy's house at
Neuilly; M. de Sainte-Foy receiving, as the price of
his complaisance, the post of surintendant of his Royal
Highness's finances.
The latter part of this paragraph was a gross libel
upon the persons mentioned, as Radix de Sainte-Foy
had held the post of surintendant des finances to the
Comte d'Artois for some considerable time; while the
prince in question was so hostile to Madame du Barry
that, during the last months of the lady's favour, he
had forbidden his wife to speak to her. But the first
statement was correct : principally, it would appear,
through the good offices of Maurepas, d'Aiguillon's
uncle, now first Minister to Louis XVI.," the decree of
" Vatel's Histoire de Madame du Barry, ii. 399, et seq.
" D'Aiguillon had been replaced by Vergennes, Terray by Tur-
MADAME DU BARRY 277
exile pronounced against the ex-favourite, except so
far as regarded her appearing at Court, had been can-
celled, and she had been permitted to return to Louve-
ciennes.
got, and Alaupeou by Miromesnil, and all three had been exiled
to their estates, though the fall of the duke had been broken by a
gratification of 500,000 livres. Maurepas, though first Minister,
had no portfolio. Paris went wild with joy over the dismissal
of Maupeou and Terray; the former was burned and the latter
hanged in effigy, and the riots of triumph continued for a whole
week. Terray was indeed regarded as the very incarnation of
evil. One day, being ill, he sent for Bouvard, the celebrated
doctor, and told him he was suffering " comnie un damne."
"What? already, Monsieur!" was the repl}^ which aptly ex-
pressed the popular feeling in regard to the Comptroller-Gen-
eral.
rr
CHAPTER XIX
HE beautiful little chateau of Louveciennes,
I with its almost priceless art treasures, had up
-*• to that time seen but little of its mistress.
Obliged to remain the greater part of the year at Ver-
sailles, and to follow the Court in its journeys from
one royal residence to another, a few days at consider-
able intervals had been all that Madame du Barry had
been able to spend in her "palace-boudoir." Hence-
forth, however, she was to reside here continuously,
until the doors of Sainte-Pelagie closed upon her, and
Her name was to become as indissolubly connected with
Louveciennes as Madame de Montespan's with Clagny,
or Madame de Maintenon's with the old chateau from
which she took her title.
It was, perhaps, fortunate for the ex-favourite that
residence at Louveciennes had still for her the charm
of novelty, for, during the first year or two, she ap-
pears to have led a very quiet life. The memory of
courtiers is proverbially short, and few indeed of the
many friends she had made in the days of her splen-
dour cared to brave the displeasure of the King and
Queen by visiting the fallen sultana.
One visitor, however, she had, who could afford to
ignore the opinion of Louis XVI. and Marie Antoi-
nette, and whose arrival must have gone far to con-
sole the mistress of Louveciennes for the neglect of
those who had once been so loud in their expressions
of attachment.
In April 1777, the Emperor Joseph II. arrived in
France, on a visit to his sister, travelling under the
278
MADAME DU BARRY 279
name of the Comte de Falckenstein. The bluff, out-
spoken monarch spent some weeks in the capital, and
appears to have greatly pleased the Parisians by the
interest he took in all that he saw around him; but
the impression which he created at Court, where he
took upon himself to animadvert in the strongest terms
on the shameful extravagance which prevailed, and the
indecorous behaviour of the Queen and her unworthy
favourites, was by no means so favourable ; and Marie
Antoinette must have been unfeignedly glad when tht
time came for him to return to Vienna.
About a month after his arrival in France, his Im-
perial Majesty announced that he had a great desire to
inspect the celebrated hydraulic machine at Marly,
which, as we have mentioned, was close to Louvecien-
nes. He had previously, it appears, caused inquiries
to be made in order to ascertain if Madame du Barry
was likely to be at home that day; and the lady in
question happened to be taking an unpremeditated
walk in the direction of the machine at the very mo-
ment when the Emperor arrived there. His Majesty
requested that the countess might be presented to him,
expressed great admriation for the pavilion which he
saw in the distance, begged that he might be permit-
ted to examine it more closely, and remained in conver-
sation with the fair chatelaine for the space of two
hours.
After Joseph H. had duly admired the Fragonards,
Drouais, and other treasures, he remarked upon the
beauty of the gardens. The countess proposed to
show them to him; the Emperor accepted, and offered
his arm; the ladv modestlv declined : "Oh, Sire! I am
unworthy of such an honour." To which the monarch
rc|)lied gallantly (he was very far from gallant, it
may be remarked, where the Polignacs, Gurmenees,
and other harpies whom his foolish sister had gathered
28o MADAME DU BARRY
round her were concerned) : "Raise no objection on
that score. Beauty is ahvays Queen."'
Joseph afterwards expressed the opinion that the
countess was not so beautiful as he had expected to
find, but that he was very glad to have seen her.
Marie Antoinette was greatly annoyed on learning
of her brother's escapade, and her indignation was in-
tensified by the Emperor's refusal to visit the Choi-
seuls. The ex-Minister's hopes of a speedy return to
place and power on the death of Louis XV. had not
been realised, for the new King had learned the lessons
which La Vauguyon had taught him but too well ; and
though that intriguing old gentleman had died some
years before, his teaching had not been effaced from
his former pupil's mind. Choiseul had counted much
on the Emperor's visit ; but Joseph did not share Marie
Antoinette's admiration of the duke, and one day re-
marked to Louis XVL that it was fortunate that he
had a judicious and even-tempered Minister at the be-
ginning of his reign, adding: "If the Due de Choiseul
had been in office, his restless and turbulent spirit
would have plunged the Kingdom into great difficul-
ties."
On February lo, 1778, Voltaire returned to Paris,
after an absence of eight-and-twenty years, and was
received with the utmost enthusiasm by the Academy,
by Society, and by all the more important foreign vis-
itors. He received all Paris in his bedroom at the house
of the Marquis and Marquise de la Villette, in the Rue
* Memoir es secrets, May, 2t, 1777. Mercy, in a letter to Maria
Theresa, says that Joseph met the lady in the garden, tones
down the two hours' conversation to one of " a few moments,"
and states that his Imperial Majesty " found the said countess
such as I have depicted her." The Empress replies: "I should
have been better pleased if the Emperor had refrained from
visiting that despicable Du Barry."
MADAME DU BARRY 281
de Beamie. There was an ante-chamber, which from
seven o'clock in the morning until half-past ten at
night was thronged with worshippers. They were in-
troduced one by one to the Patriarch, whom they found
enveloped in an enormous velvet pelisse lined with
ermine and braided with gold, and with a nightcap on
his head, ostentatiously correcting the proofs of his
tragedy of Irene. Madame du Barry came to pay her
court among the rest, but had considerable difficulty
in obtaining an audience. We read in the Memoires
secrets, under date February 21 :
"Friday. — Voltaire has worked so hard, that he has
not allowed his secretary time to dress himself.
Madame la Comtesse du Barry presented herself after
dinner; but they had great difficulty in persuading
the old invalid to see her. His amour-propre would
not permit him to appear before this beauty with-
out having made his toilette. He yielded at length
to her importunity, and repaired by the graces of
his mind what he lacked in the matter of outward
elegance.'"
Madame du Barry's visit was marked by an inter-
esting episode. Brissot, the future leader of the Giron-
dins, relates in his Memoires that he was very anxious
to submit to Voltaire the first part of his Theorie des
Lois criminellcs. He made his way to the Rue de
Beaune, but, on arriving there, his courage failed him,
* In reference to this visit, Lebrun wrote to Buffon : "The
tears rolled from his (Voltaire's) eyes when speaking of his
Belle et Bonne Madame dc Villette), as he calls her, and com-
paring her simple grace to Madame du Barry, who had just left
him." Five years before, when Louis XV. was still alive, and
Madame du Barry all-powerful, the Patriarch had, as we have
Sfcn, formed a much higher opinion of the lady's charms. But
times had changed, and she could no longer be of any assistance
in procuring for him the honours of the Court, which were
needed, he thought, to put the comblc upon his glory. So goes
the world I
282 MADAME DU BARRY
and he left without attempting to obtain an interview
with the great man. On the following day, however,
he returned to the charge.
"I had almost reached the ante-chamber," he says,
"where there seemed that day less commotion than on
the previous evening, when I heard a noise within, and
the door opened. Assailed by my foolish timidity, I
quickly redescended the stairs, but, ashamed of myself,
I retraced my steps. A woman, whom the master of
the house had just shown out, was at the foot of the
staircase. This woman was beautiful and had a kind
face. I did not hesitate to address myself to her, and
inquired if she thought that it was possible for me to
be introduced to M. de Voltaire, telling her frankly the
object of my visit. 'M. de Voltaire has received
scarcely any one to-day,' she answered kindly. 'How-
ever, it is a favour, Monsieur, which I have just ob-
tained, and I do not doubt that you will obtain it also.'
And as if, through my embarrassed air, she had di-
vined my timidity, she herself called the master of the
house, who had not yet closed the door upon her, and
I was admitted. She left me, after having responded
to my profound salutations by a smile full of kindness
and which seemed to recommend me.
"... I ought to mention the name of this amiable
woman, whom I met at Voltaire's door; it was
Madame du Barry. In recalling to myself her smile
so full of sweetness and kindness, I became more in-
dulgent towards the favourite; but I leave to others
the task of excusing the weakness and infamy of Louis
XV. . . ."
Brissot goes on to tell us that in a conversation with
Mirabeau he happened to remark that, bad as Madame
du Barry was, she compared very favourably with the
Maintenons and Pompadours, since she, at any rate,
had never made a despotic use of her power; to which
MADAAIE DU BARRY 283
Mirabeau replied : "Voiis avez raison; si ce ne jut pas
une Vcstalc,
" 'La faiite en est aux dieux qui la fircnt si belle.' "
Towards the close of that same year, a great sorrow
befell Madame du Barry : her nephew, the so-called
Vicomte du Barry, to whom she was much attached,
met his death under tragic circumstances.
After their banishment from Court in 1774, Adolphe
du Barr}^ and his young wife seemed to have led a
wandering existence, patronising in turn various
health-resorts, where the viscountess might have her
fill of balls and routs, and the viscount, who, like the
majority of fine gentlemen of the time, was an in-
veterate gamester, indulge his fondness for faro and
kindred pursuits. In the latter summer or early au-
tumn of 1778, they were at Spa, and here they met a
young Irish adventurer, who called himself Count
Rice, a cousin a la mode de Bretagnc of Marshal Lacy.
The Irishman, who is described as "tin tres beau
gargon, d'une education parfaite" and the viscountess
soon became on very friendly terms, and whenever the
fascinations of the green tables at the Ridotto claimed
the viscount's attention, Mr. Rice seems to have been
in the habit of keeping the lady company.
From Spa the Du Barrys went to Bath, accompanied
by Rice and a compatriot of his named Toole; where,
thanks to the good offices of Mrs. Darner, who took a
great fancy to the viscountess, they penetrated into
the most exclusive circles, and, with the aid of a faro
bank, which, in defiance of the law, they kept at their
house in Royal Crescent, seem to have had a very
profitable time.
One day, however, Du Barry and Rice had a violent
quarrel. They were alone at the time, and its origin
was never discovered, but the most probably explana-
284 MADAME DU BARRY
tion is that Du Barry was jealous of the Irishman's at-
tentions to his wife. Any way, they were exasperated
against eacli other to the last deg-ree, for not only was
it determined that they should fight a duel, but that it
should continue till one of them was killed.
Two nights later, Du Barry having spent the inter-
val in arranging his affairs, they were seen to leave
the house together, followed by the viscountess — who
had discovered their intention — uttering frantic cries.
They managed to elude her, however, hired a coach,
and accompanied by Toole, another friend named Rog-
ers, and a surgeon, drove out to Claverton Down, a
spot much favoured by gentlemen of the neighbour-
hood who had differences to settle. Here they waited
till daybreak, when Du Barry sprang out of the coach
and insisted on an immediate commencement. The
conditions were that each should be armed with a
brace of pistols and a sword; that they should fire
from a distance of twenty-five paces, and then engage
with the steel, and that the conqueror might despatch
his antagonist, even if he lay helpless on the ground.
Du Barry fired first and lodged a ball in Rice's thigh.
The Irishman, however, contrived to keep his feet and
fire both his pistols, the second shot piercing his ad-
versary's breast; and then advanced upon him sword
in hand. Du Barry asked for quarter, which Rice at
once granted; but, almost at the same moment, the
Frenchman fell to the ground and expired.
The body of the unfortunate young man was buried
in Bathampton Cemetery, and a stone placed over his
grave bearing the inscription :
Here rest the remains of
John Baptist, Viscount du Barry
Obiit 1 8 November 1778.
'This is the conclusion arrived at by M. Marius Tallon, who,
some years ago, published an interesting monograph on the
Vicomtesse du Barry.
MADA^IE DU BARRY 285
Rice, who recovered from his wound, was tried for
homicide at Taunton Assizes in the following April,
and acquitted. He lived for many years, and was even-
tually killed in the Peninsular War.*
The widowed viscountess returned to France, and
retired for a few months to a convent. On quitting it,
she caused the arms of her husband to be removed
from her carriages, changed her servants' liveries, and
finally, having succeeded in obtaining permission to
return to Court, reappeared there under the title of the
Comtesse de Toumon. These insults to the memory
of his son, to whom, to do him justice, he seems to
have been genuinely attached, greatly exasperated the
"Roue," and when, to crown all, the lady petitioned
to have the estates she had inherited from her husband
formed into a "county of Tournon," he opposed the
application. A long and acrimonious lawsuit follow-
ed, in which the "Comtesse de Tournon," although she
had the best of the compromise eventually arrived at,
was made to cut a very sorry figure. In 1782, she
married again, her second husband being a relative, the
Marquis de Claveyron, but died three years later.
For some years after the death of Louis XV.
Madaifie du Barry appears to have led an exemplary
life. We cannot, however, agree with Mr. Douglas
that this was attributable to the fact that the image of
the late King had not yet been effaced from her heart;
it is more likely to have been due to accident, or to
the fear that a resumption of her irregularities would
have been promptly visiterl with another and longer
period of cloistral seclusion. Towards the year 1780,
however, the restraining influence, if one there was,
*Dutcns's Monoircs d'lin voyagcur qui sc repose (edit. 1806),
ii. 125, et seq. M. Marius Tallon's La Vicomtesse dc Tournon et
les Du Barry, passim.
286 MADAME DU BARRY
had evidently been removed, for we find her indulging
in a gnnidc passion.
About half a league from Louveciennes, and clearly-
visible from the terrace adjoining the pavilion of
Madame du Barry, there stands a villa called Prunay,
built or restored by a Madame Le Neveu at the begin-
ning of the eighteenth century, and occupied at the
time of which we are writing by a middle-aged Eng-
lishman named Henry Seymour.
A good deal of misconception exists among both
French and English writers in regard to the identity
of this Henry Seymour. The Goncourts refer to him
as Lord Sejinour, and state that he was English Am-
bassador at the French Court ; to M. Vatel he is "un
assez grand persojinage," and "though neither lord,
ambassador, or even barronet {sic), a count"; while
the late Captain Bingham, in his delightful work. "The
Marriages of the Bourbons," calls him Lord Henry
Seymour.
As a matter of fact, Henry Seymour had no title at
all, though M. Vatel is correct in supposing him to be
"un asses grand personnage." He was the son of
Francis Seymour, of Sherborne, Dorset, M. P. for
Great Bedwyn, 1732- 1734, and for Marlborough,
1734-1741, by Elizabeth, daughter of Alexander Pop-
ham of Littlecot, Wiltshire, and widow of Viscount
Hinchingbrook. His uncle was Sir Edward Seymour,
who, on the death of Algernon, seventh Duke of Som-
erset, in 1750, succeeded in establishing his claim to
the dukedom.
Henry Seymour was born in London in 1729, and
educated at New College, Oxford. At the age of
twenty-four, he married Lady Caroline Cowper, only
daughter of the second Earl Cowper, and during the
absence of his brother-in-law, the third earl, at Flor-
ence, where he resided for some years, seems to have
MADAME DU BARRY 287
occupied the family seat, Panshanger, near Hertford.
He was himself, however, a considerable landowner.
From his father, who died in 1762, he inherited Sher-
borne; from his uncle, William Se>Tnour, the estate
of Knoyle, in Wiltshire; while he also owned North-
brook Lodge, Devon, Redland Court, Bristol, and a
property at Norton, near Evesham. His town house
was in Charles Street, Berkeley Square.
Following the example of his father and his uncle,
the duke, he entered political life, was appointed
Groom of the Bedchamber, and successively represent-
ed in Parliament the boroughs of Totnes (1763-
1768), Huntingdon (1768- 1774), and Evesham
(1 774- 1 780). He only addressed the House upon
one occasion, however, which was on February 29,
1776, in support of Fox's motion for an inquiry into
the mismanagement of the American War.
Lady Caroline Cowper died in 1771, after bearing
her husband two daughters, Caroline, who married
William Danby, of Swinton, Yorkshire, and Georgina,
who became the wife of Comte Louis de Durfort,
sometime French Ambassador at Venice ; and, four
years later, Seymour married Anne Louise Therese,
Comtesse de Panthou, a young widow, twelve years
his junior, by whom he had a son, Henry, born in
1776.
In 1778, for reasons which are uncertain, though
Mr. J. G. Alger — to w-hose interesting article in the
Westminster Rcznciv (January 1897) we are indebted
for most of our information about Madame Du Bar-
ry's English lover — seems to think it was for the sake
of economising, Seymour settled in France, rented a
house in Paris, Rue de la Planchc, Faubourg Saint-
Germain, and applied for legal domicile, to protect his
property from forfeiture to the Cnnvn as aubaiiic, in
the event of iiis death. About the same time he pur-
288 MADAME DU BARRY
chased Pninay, and appears to have spent a consider-
able sum on improving the house and grounds.
The only evidence of Seymour's connection with the
ex-favourite, apart from a passing reference in the
Mcinoircs of the Abbe Georgel, are the lady's letters
to her lover, a number of which, together with a lock
of her hair tied with blue ribbon, were sold by auction
in Paris in 1892.
Only a few of these letters, however, have been pub-
lished, and it is uncertain into whose possession the
remainder have passed. As none of the published
letters bear any date, except the day of the week, it
is impossible to say when the liaison began. Ac-
cording to the Abbe Georgel, the attachment was
formed shortly after Madame du Barry's return to
Louveciennes, that is to say, in the early part of the
year 1777; but M. Vatel thinks it was not until 1779
or 1780, as in one of the countess's letters, written
while they were still only friends, she speaks of a little
girl called Cornichon, "who talks of you constantly."
This little girl, says M. Vatel, who was the daughter
of the gardener at Louveciennes, and a great pet of the
mistress of the chateau, was not born until 1775, and,
therefore, must have been at that time three or four
years of age at least.
The liaison between Henry Seymour and Madame
du Barry does not appear to have been exempt from
storms, nor was it of long duration. However, while
it lasted, it was undoubtedly a genuine passion, and
the lady's letters to her lover bear the unmistakable
stamp of sincerity. "What an unlooked-for tone in
this correspondence! How different a du Barry is
revealed to you in the shadow, behind the popular du
Barry of pamphlets and romances ! It is no longer the
courtesan, no longer the favourite ; it is a woman who
MADAME DU BARRY 289
loves."* "What a romantic passion, what sensibility,
what transport ! It was a real love drama, with elegies,
pastorals, and eclogues to satisfy the least sentimental
man in the world.""
In the first letter, we find Madame du Barry inquir-
ing anxiously after the health of Seymour's younger
daughter, who is ill, and assuring him of tlie deep
sympathy she feels for him in his trouble :
"I am greatly touched, jMonsieur, by the cause which
deprives me of the pleasure of seeing you at my house,
and I most sincerely pity your daughter in the illness
from which she is suffering. I imagine that your heart
is undergoing quite as much pain as hers, and I share
your sensibility. I can only exhort you to take cour-
age, since the doctor assures you there is no danger.
If the interest that I take (ji prans!) were able to be
of some consolation to you, you would be less agitated.
"Mademoiselle du Barry ('Chon') is as sensible as
I am to all that concerns you and begs me to assure
you of it.
"Our journey has been very fortunate; Cornichon
does not forget you and talks of you constantly. I am
delighted that tlie little dog affords your daughter a
moment's diversion.
"Accept, Monsieur, the assurance of the sentiments
that I have for you.
" Louveciennes, Saturday, 6 o'clock."
In the next, they are still only friends, but the lady
is evidently glad to avail herself of any excuse for
writing to him:
"It has long been remarked that little attentions pre-
serve friendship, and Monsieur Seymour ought to be
•E. and J. de Goncourt's La Du Barry, p. 211.
• Nouvelles d la main sur Madame du Barry, a pretended
manuscript j)iiblishcd by Emile Cantril in 1761.
^ See p. 288, supra.
290 MADAME DU BARRY
well persuaded of the extent to which Louveciennes is
interested in all that can please or satisfy him. He ap-
pears to be very anxious to possess a coin squandered
very unsuitably in the little game of loto ;' it is of the
time of Louis XIV. Monsieur Seymour is a great ad-
mirer of that age, so fertile (fegont!) in marvels. Here
is a miniature of it, which the Louveciennes ladies
send you. They part with it with pleasure, because
they know that Monsieur Seymour will appreciate the
sacrifice, and will be well assured that the ladies will
find more essential occasions of proving their friend-
ship for him.
"We have no news here, except of the little dog,
which is well and drinks of its own accord."*
In the third letter, friendship has developed into
love — into passion. He has become necessary to her
happiness : she desires to be constantly with him :
"Now that I am deprived of the satisfaction of see-
ing you, I have a thousand things to tell you, a thou-
sand things to communicate to you. , . . Never have
I felt so much as at this moment how necessary you
are to me. Rest assured that it would be a happiness
to be constantly with you. . . . Adieu, my friend.
What an age between now and Saturday !"
The next letter was, apparently, written later in the
same week. She is all impatience for Saturday to ar-
rive:
"The assurance of your affection, my affectionate
friend, is the happiness of my life. Believe that my
® She probably means that the coin had been used as a counter
at loto.
* Apparently a puppy which Seymour had given her, in return
for the little dog she had sent his daughter.
n
St
MADAME DU BARRY 291
heart finds these two days very long and that were it in
my power to curtail them, it would have no more un-
easiness. I await you on Saturday with all the im-
patience of a soul entirely yours, and I hope that you
will desire nothing (sic). I mean to l3e rid of all my
ailments by Saturday, and to feel alone the pleasure of
proving to you how dear you are to me. Adieu, I
am yours.
" Thursday, 2 o'clock."
The letter which follows is in an equally passionate
strain :
"My heart is undividedly yours, and, if I have failed
to keep my promise, my fingers alone are to blame. I
have been very unwell since you left me, and I assure
you that I have only strength to think of you. Adieu,
my affectionate friend ; I love you — I repeat it, and I
believe myself happy. I embrace you a thousand times,
and am yours. Come early.
>>10
From the next it would appear that a little cloud had
arisen upon the lover's horizon; Seymour had evi-
dently a suspicion that the lady's heart was no longer
undividedly his :
"You will only have a single word, and it would be
a reproach if my heart could make you one. I am so
tired after four long letters which I have just written
that I have only strength to tell that I love you. To-
morrow I will tell you what has prevented me giving
you tidings of myself, but l)ch"eA'c me that, ivhatn'cr
yon say, you will l^e the only friend of my heart.
" Friday, 2 o'clock."
" Printed in thf cataloRUe at a sal':' of autographs in Fcliruary
1755, and published by the Goncourts.
Memoirs— 10 Vol. 2
292 MADAIME DU BARRY
The tone of its successor, however, must have been
calculated to reassure him :
*'Mon Dieii! my affectionate friend, how melancholy
are the days which follow those that I have had the
pleasure of sj^ending- with you, and with what joy I
see the moment arrive which is to bring you to me !"
But at the time the next was written the cloud had
become larger:
*'I shall not go to Paris to-day, because the person I
was to go and see came on Tuesday just after you left.
His (or her) visit greatly embarrassed me, for I be-
lieve that you were the object of it. Adieu; I await
you with the impatience of a heart entirely yours and
which, in spite of your injustice, feels that it cannot
be another's. I think of you ; I tell you so and repeat
it, and have no other regret than tliat of not being able
to tell you so every moment.
" Louveciennes, noon."
The ambiguities of the French language, as Mr.
Alger points out, prevent us from knowing whether
la personne and sa visite mentioned in the aforegoing
letter refer to a man or woman. "Was it Mrs. Seymour
suspicious of her husband's intimacy with Madame du
Barry, or was it the Due de Brissac, already hovering
round his future mistress ?" Both he and M. Vatel in-
cline to the opinion that it was the latter ; and the lady's
complaint of Seymour's "injustice," presumably un-
just suspicions, certainly strengthens this supposition.
However, all doubt on the matter is set at rest by the
next letter, which, together with the four which follow
it, is not given in the works of the Goncourts or Vatel,
but was published, we believe, for the first time by Mr.
Alger:
MADAME DU BARRY 293
"I am as much surprised as you, my affectionate
friend, at the visit. I assure you that it gave me no
pleasure. I am so absorbed with you that I could not
be diverted by anything that v^^as not you. How un-
just and cruel you are! What pleasure do you take
in tormenting a heart which cannot and will not be
anybody's but yours !
"Adieu; do not forget line amic who loves you. I
have no strength to tell you more. I would fain, but
cannot, flee from you."
But if Seymour was jealous of Brissac, Madame du
Barrv^ was jealous of Mrs. Seymour :
"I wish it were possible for you to live for me alone,
just as I would live only for you ; but your ties are an
invincible obstacle, and every moment of my life, even
those I pass with you, is embittered by this cruel idea."
From another letter it would appear that Seymour
had proposed to visit Madame du Barry, but that she
had had a prior engagement, possibly with his rival :
"I am vexed at having an engagement to-day. I am
not much in Society, but as we cannot pass our lives in
a tetc-a-tcte, you will understand that I require a few
diversions."
The next shows that relations between them were
becoming very strained, and that Seymour had re-
proached her bitterly, and threatened to break off the
connection :
"I feel the value of such a friend as you, Monsieur.
I form empty plans, which I should not have the
strength to carry out. Your letter has rent my soul ;
294 MADAME DU BARRY
the idea of seeing you no more adds to all my suffer-
ings. Come, my friend, strengthen my still wavering
heart. Your tender and persuasive friendship can
alone assuage the throbbing wound of my soul. Come
back, my affectionate friend ; I cannot be happy with-
out you."
She will not, cannot, give him up; he has become
necessary to her very existence:
"Understand my heart and my weakness, my friend.
I would fain renounce and shun you, but I am so ill
that I believe it would be impossible to live without
seeing you."
But the rupture comes none the less, and it is her
own hand which severs the chain :
"It is needless to speak to you of my affection and
sensibility ; you know it ; but what you do not know are
my sufferings. You have not condescended to reassure
me as to what disturbs my mind. Therefore I think
that my tranquillity and happiness are immaterial to
you. It is with regret that I speak to you of this, but
it is for the last time. My head is well, my heart is
what suffers; but with much resolution and courage I
shall succeed in subduing it. The task is hard and
grievous, but it is necessary. It is the last sacrifice
that remains for me to make. My heart has made all
the others; it is for my reason to make this. Adieu;
be assured that you alone fill my heart.
" Wednesday, midnight."
Seymour does not appear to have been altogether an
amiable person. He had an illegitimate son, with
whom his relations were strained, and he was on very
MADA:^IE DU BARRY 295
bad terms witli his wife. In January 1781 they
separated, having for some months previously com-
municated only in writing, though living in the same
house; but, according to Mr. Alger, it is doubtful
whether the husband's attentions to Madame du Barry
were responsible for their disagreement."
Seymour continued to reside at Prunay down to
August 1792, when, alarmed at the progress of the
Revolution, he fled to England, leaving all his papers
behind him. He was registered as an emigre, and his
property appears to have been confiscated and sold.
"Madame du Barry's letters," says Mr. Alger, "must
have been included in the seizure, and Seymour's pres-
ervation of them, coupled with his continued residence
at Prunay, seems to show that, parting in sorrow not
in anger, they remained acquaintances, if not friends;
but the letters either never reached the Archives or
were abstracted. They are said to have been purchased
by Barriere, the editor of "Memoirs of the Eighteenth
Century and of the Revolution," at a sale of auto-
graphs in 1837, perhaps the Baillot sale of October 25,
1837. But Barriere, who was a clerk at the Prefecture
of Police, may have found them there, or have come
by them in some clandestine way. We know what
collectors are capable of, and Barriere appears to have
made a mystery of them. In 1838 he communicated
six of them to the brothers Goncourt for publication
in their Portraits Intimcs, and, twenty years, later he
produced a seventh, which appeared in their Moitrcsscs
de Louis XV. He evidently gave them the impression
that he had no others, but Vatel, Madame du Barry's
latest biographer, was presented by him with an eighth,
which he bequeathed to a Versailles publisher. Yet
" See Mr. Alger's article on Henry Seymour in the West-
minster Review, January 1897, in which he gives some interest-
ing details about Mrs. Seymour.
296 MADA:ME DU BARRY
Barricre was all along in possession of thirty others,
which, together with the lock of hair, were not dis-
posed of till 1892. Though the whole collection is
doubtless in safe keeping, I have been unable to ascer-
tain its whereabouts.""
Seymour spent the rest of his life at his Wiltshire
seat, Knoyle, where he died in 1805. His heirs after
Waterloo claimed £8000 out of the compensation paid
by France for losses of British subjects, and Mr. Alger
thinks that the claim was allowed. His son, Henry,
who lived till the age of seventy-three, also resided at
Knoyle, and was High Sheriff of Wiltshire in 1835.
He married a Miss Hopkinson, of Bath, but his mar-
riage vows, like those of his father, seem to have been
but lightly regarded, for after Waterloo he revisited
France, and formed a connection with a lady of the
Bourbon-Conti family. Of this intrigue a daughter
was born, who married Sir James Tichborne, and be-
came the mother of the young man personated by "the
Claimant."
" Westminster Review, January 1897.
CHAPTER XX
MADAAIE du Barry would not appear to have
experienced much difficuhy in finding con-
solation for the loss of her English lover, for
not long afterwards she formed what the Goncourts
call "wie liaison tendrement maritale" with the Due
de Brissac/ whose attentions to her, if M. Vatel's and
Mr. Alger's suppositions are correct, had been re-
sponsible for her breach with the jealous Seymour.
The Due de Brissac/ who until the death of his
father, the Marechal Due de Brissac, in December
1 780, was known as the Due de Cosse, was a very great
personage indeed. He was Governor of Paris, Captain
of the Hundred Swiss, and Grand Pantler,' and was. in
addition, a man of considerable wealth. His friend-
ship with Madame du Barry was of many years stand-
'The Goncourts confound the Due de Brissac with his father,
the Marechal de Brissac, who died in December 1780: "Enfant
gatee de I'amour, die (^ladame du Barry) finit par I'adoration
d'un chevaHer, du dernier preux de France ! . . . Ce heros d'un
autre temps, dont Tame est, comme I'habit, a la mode de Louis
XIV., I'heriticr des males vertus de la vieille France; ce beau
vieillard, le dernier courtisan des femmes, eleve dans le monde
et presque dans la langue des grands sentiments et des raffine-
mcnts de tendresso dc Clt'lie ct de I'Astrec," &c. &c. The ab-
surdity of this error will be appreciated when we mention that
at the time of Louis XV.'s death the Marechal de Brissac was
already seventy-six and had been paralysed for more than
twenty years !
' He was the eighth holder nf the title, the dukcdum dating
from 1620. The family of Cosse-Brissac came originally from
Anjou, and had had several distinguished members, including
four Marcclnils dc Prance.
* This office appears to have been hereditary in the family.
297
298 MADAME DU BARRY
ing, a^d it will be remembered that on the death of the
Duchesse de Villars, in 1772, the then favourite had
succeeded in procuring for the duke's wife the post of
da))ic d'afours to Marie Antoinette.*
At what date the friendship between Brissac and
Madame du Barry developed into intimacy is uncer-
tain. Some writers place it as early as 1780; but in
December of that year Hardy speaks of the duke at-
tending his father's funeral at Saint-Sulpice, and
"ogling with misplaced affectation every member of the
sex who crossed his path," conduct which greatly
scandalised the worthy bookseller, and which M. Vatel
considers entirely inconsistent with the possession of a
grande passion. On the other hand, in the summer of
1783, the Memoircs secrets give publicity to an un-
founded rumour that the quondam favourite had had
a child by Brissac ;' while Hardy reports that Madame
du Barry was fast ruining her noble lover,' and both
express their belief that the affair would end in the lady
being relegated a second time to Pont-aux-Dames.
From this it would appear that the liaison was not a
new one, and the probability is that it began about
1782.
However that may be, by the middle of the follow-
ing year, as we have seen, the connection between the
two was a matter of common knowledge. The duke
passed a great part of his time at Louveciennes, while
Madame du Barry often came to Paris, "enveloped in
■* The duchess did not share her husband', admiration for
Madame du Barry. In the autumn of 1772 she declined to attend
a supper given by the Due de La Vrilliere to the favourite, and
when Brissac wrote her a harsh letter, demanding that she should
show her regard for the Comtesse du Barry and never refuse
to do anything that might please her, replied that " she would
rather resign her post than do anything which might expose her
to being put on a level with the favourite."
^ Memoires secrets, June 5, 1783.
* Journal, July 13, 1783.
MADAME DU BARRY 299
the strictest incognito," to spend a day or two with
her lover at his hotel in the Rue de Crenelle Saint-
Germain, and even had letters addressed to her there.
What the poor, neglected Duchesse de Brissac, who,
Creutz tells us. was "beloved and revered for her
virtues and her charm of mind," had to say to these
arrangements history does not record ; presumably she
accepted the situation, as the majority of wives simi-
larly circumstanced did in those days.
The affair seems to have been regarded with an in-
dulgence remarkable even in that age of easy morality.
"The love for M. de Brissac," writes d'Allonville, as a
rule, by no means inclined to be over-tender towards
the ex-favourite, "did Madame du Barry the greatest
honour. It would have been equivalent to the purifica-
tion of her past life, had it not been illegitimate and
doubly adulterous from a moral point of view,"^ and
this was the general opinion of their contemporaries.
The duke wrote a number of love-letters to his mis-
tress, some of which have fortunately been preserved,
and "show the depth, and. if we may be excused the
expression, the purity of his affection.
>'»
The Due de Briss.\c to Madame du Barry.
" Sunday, 2.0 P. M.
*A thousand loves, a thousand thanks, dear heart.
This evening I shall be with you. Yes, I find my hap-
piness in being loved by you. I have this evening, at
eight o'clock, an appointment with Madame Lascases.
I do not know what she wants with me. I shall go to
her house, as I will not give her the trouble to come
to mine, although no one can touch my heart but you.
"Adieu ; I love you and for ever. I am wafting for
my visitors, who, I think, will be many."
' MSmoircs, i. 154.
* Bingham's " Marriages of the PiOurbons," ii. 438.
300 MADAME DU BARRY
The Due de Brissac to Madame du Barry.
"La Fldchc, August 26, 1786, 10 a.m.
"I arrived here yesterday at one o'clock, and all the
people who were to travel by post passed before me,
so that, dear heart, I am waiting here for horses. I
shall have to take a cross road, along which one can
only go at a walking pace, and shall thus be delayed
one day. I am none the less impatient to join you.
Yes, dear heart, the moment for our reunion, not in
spirit— for my thoughts are ever with you — but bodily,
is a violent desire that nothing can appease. . . . Adieu,
dear heart; I kiss you thousands and thousands of
times with all my heart. Expect me Tuesday or Wed-
nesday early."
The Due de Brissac to Madame du Barry.
" Vensdosme (sic), August 16, 1789.
"I should have wished, dear heart, that you could
have informed me of your complete recovery, and that
you had recovered your plumpness; but you say
nothing about either. Nevertheless, dear heart, I must
rejoice at your new fit of laziness, which is a strange
thing for you, since it makes me hope that you will not
be so much away from me. . . . Dear friend, I must
now go and inspect my troops and leave you. I must
tell you that I love you and how happy I shall be to
see you again in as good health as I wish you to be."
The Due de Brissac to Madame du Barry.
"Angers, August 29, Noon.
"... What a wise and philosophic letter is yours
of the 22nd, Madame la Comtesse ! yes, indeed, it is
necessary to speak of hope and philosophy and of
patience also when far from you, and when the States-
General work so slowly on the truly important matters
MADAME DU BARRY 301
which all France awaits, and which ought to tranquil-
lise her . . .
"I wish I could share with you the splendid crop of
fruit that the beautiful Angevin Ceres has procured
us this year ; but it would be neither wise nor possible
to attempt to send you any, for the municipalities are
afraid of the people, who, not content with the neces-
saries of life, wish to appropriate the luxuries.
"But adieu, adieu, Madame la Comtesse; it is nearly
noon, and I intend going to dine at Brissac. I offer
you my respects, and my thanks for the punctuality
with which you write to me. My only joys are the
reception of your letters, the thought of you, and the
everlasting affection I have for you, and which I offer
you with my whole heart.
"I might have received a letter from you yesterday,
but I did not."
The Due de Brissac to INIadame du Barry.
"The Tuileries, Wednesday, November ii, 1789.
"I am going to remain in bed, dear heart, so that my
cold may be better to-morrow, and that I may be a
more pleasant companion for you than I should be if I
were as ill as I am now. This cold is the consequence
of biliousness, which comes from the stagnation of a
too long stay in Paris, to which I am unaccustomed,
and will end in killing me or sending me mad, if I am
not soon allowed to change my residence. I hope that
I shall; but I do not speak to you of it for fear that
premature rejoicing may retard it.
"Adieu, dear friend. I love you and kiss you a
thousand times from the heart which is the most tender,
of our two — I mean mine — but I will not erase what
my pen has written, for I love to think that our hearts
are one for ever. Adieu till to-morrow. F.verytliing
that happens appears to mc mysterious and foolish,
302 MADAME DU BARRY
and the only wisdom is for us to be together. Adieu,
affectionate friend; adieu, dear heart. I love you and
kiss you.""
The affection of the devoted Brissac does not appear
to have altogether consoled Madame du Barry for all
that she had lost by the death of Louis XV. In 1783,
Belleval, "her chcvan-leger," paid her a visit at Louve-
ciennes, and found her as beautiful as ever; "indeed
her beauty seemed more remarkable and more per-
fect." On the other hand, she gave him the impression
of being sad and lonely. "Instead of the laughter of
former days, the tears welled from her eyes. She
harped always on the past, in which I saw, with pity,
she took refuge as much as possible, for it was worth
more to her than the present. When I left her, she
gave me her hand and said adieu to me in a voice full
of feeling.""
In the spring of that same year, Madame du Barry
commuted 50,000 livres per annum which had been
secured to her by Louis XV. on the rentes of the Hotel
de Ville for a sum of 1,200,000 livres. Even that
zealous champion of the lady, M. Vatel, feels bound
to protest against this "senseless munificence" on the
part of the Government, and declares that she received
at least half a million francs more than her claim was
worth. If such were the case, however, her good
fortune could not have benefited her very much, as the
news that she was in possession of a large sum of
money brought down upon her a whole horde of
clamorous creditors. Amongst others, the Marciuis
de Claveyron, the second husband of Sophie de Tour-
non, poor Adolphe du Barry's widow, put in a claim
for his wife's dot, and compelled the countess to give
"Vatel's Hisfoire de Madame du Barry, iii. passim.
^"Souvenirs d'lin Chevau-lcgcr, p. 136.
MADAME DU BARRY 303
security for the payment of the interest thereon. This
demand must have been particularly annoying to
INIadame du Barry, for not only does the interest in
question appear to have been regularly paid up to that
date, but one of the reasons given by her niece for
dropping her first husband's name in 1780 had been the
desire to dissociate herself from a family which had
caused so much scandal. She had been, she declared,
at the time of her marriage to the "viscount" in entire
ignorance of the position of the Comtesse du Barry;
but. having ascertained the truth, her virVi^ would no
longer permit her to bear the same name! She was
ready enough, it appeared, to acknowledge the re-
lationship when there was anything to be gained by so
doing.
One day in the year 1782 a very pretty young
woman had called at Louveciennes, informed Madame
du Barry that she was a descendant of an illegitimate
branch of the House of Valois, and, apparently un-
aware that the lady before her was no longer a persona
grata at Court, had begged her to present a petition
on her behalf to Louis XVI., begging for the restora-
tion of certain estates which had been granted to her
family by Henri I., but had subsequently reverted to
the Crown. This young woman was none other than
the notorious Comtesse de la Motte, the adventuress
whose machinations got the ijoor Cardinal de Rohan
into such terrible hot water; and when the famous
Diamond Necklace affair came on for trial, in 1786,
before the Parliament of Paris, the ex- favourite was
one of the witnesses examined.
Marlame du Barry's evidence docs not appear to
have been of much importance, and the only interesting
part of it was her statement that on hearing that the
order sent by La Motte to the jeweller P)()hmer was
signed "Marie Antoinette dc France," she had ex-
304 MADA^IE DU BARRY
claimed, "Why, there is no forgery there; that is her
signature!" as she had remembered that the petition
wliich she had been requested to present to the
King bore the signature, "Marie Antoinette de France,
de Saint-Remy de Valois." However, the evidence
against the adventuress was too overwhehning for this
testimony in her favour to carry any weight."
In her Memoircs jiistiUcatifs, pubhshed in London
shortly before her death. La Motte violently attacked
Madame du Barry and asserted that the forged letters
had been fabricated at the ex-favourite's house ; but the
statements of so worthless a woman are, of course,
utterly undeserving of credence.
Apart from the above-mentioned incidents, and a
visit which she received from the ambassadors whom
Tippoo Sahib sent to France in 1788 to seek assistance
against the English, and who came to Louveciennes to
pay their court to its fair owner, in the belief that she
was the mistress of the reigning and not of the late
King, there is little in Madame du Barr3r's life to call
for remark until the Revolution. She lived entirely
at Louveciennes, visited occasionally by some stranger
of distinction, "who came to see her as the most curi-
ous relic of the last reign," and by a few intimate
friends. The Marquise de Brunoy, wife of the spend-
thrift son of the famous financier, Paris de Mont-
martel, Madame de Souza, the Portuguese Ambassa-
dress, and Madame Vigee Lebrun, the painter, were al-
most the only friends of her own sex whom she saw;
and these, with the Due de Brissac and a M. Monville,
"an amiable and very elegant person," who lived in a
chateau modelled on a Oiinese padoga in the midst
of an estate which he called "The Desert," seem to
have formed her circle.
In the Souvenirs of Madame Lebrun we find some
"Vatel's Histoire de Madame du Barry, iii. 70.
MADAME DU BARRY 305
interesting' information about life at Louveciennes
during these years. The magnificence of the httle
chateau, the writer tells us, which, with its busts, vases,
columns, rare marbles, and other precious objects,
"gave you the impression that you were in the house
of the mistress of several sovereigns, who had all en-
riched her with their gifts," contrasted oddly with the
simplicity observed by the countess both in her toilette
and manner of living. Both in summer and winter
Madame du Barry wore only white muslin or cot-
ton-cambric peignoirs, and every day, no matter
how severe the weather, she walked in the park and
sometimes beyond it, "without feeling any ill
effects, so much strengthened was she by her country
life."
In the evenings, when Madame Lebrun and her
hostess were alone, they would sit by the fire, and the
latter would occasionally speak of Louis XV. and his
Court, "always with the greatest respect for the one
and very cautiously about the other." But, as she
avoided all details, and it was evident that she pre-
ferred not to mention the subject, her conversation
struck the disappointed auditor as rather uninteresting.
Madame Lebnm expresses her conviction that
Madame du Barry was "a good woman both in words
and actions," and says that she was most benevolent
and assisted all the poor people at Louveciennes. On
one occasion, they went to visit a woman in the village
who had just given birth to a child and was in great
want. " 'What !' cried Madame du Barry, 'you have
had neither linen, wine, nor soup?' 'Alas! neither,
madame.' As soon as she returned to the chateau,
Madame du Barry sent for her housekeeper and the
other sen'ants who had not executed her orders. I
cannot descril>e to you the indignation she was in, and
she ordered them to make up a parcel of linen in her
3o6 MADAME DU BARRY
presence and take it at once to the poor woman, with
soup and Bordeaux wine."
Every day after dinner they adjourned to tlie
famous pavilion for coffee. The first time Madame
Lebrun entered it, the ex-favourite said : "It was in
this room that Louis XV. did me the honour to dine
with me. There was a tribune above for the musicians
who played during the meal." When the Due de Bris-
sac happened to be at Louveciennes, which appears
to have been pretty frequently, he accompanied them ;
but it was his haJDit, as soon as he had finished his
coffee, to throw himself on one of the luxurious
couches in the salon and indulge in a siesta, leaving the
ladies to stroll about the grounds. Madame Lebrun,
however, is careful to tell us that "nothing either in
his manner or in that of Madame du Barry would have
caused any one to suppose that he was anything more
than a friend of the mistress of the chateau.""
The favourable opinion which Madame Lebrun
formed of Madame du Barry was shared by another
person who saw her for the first time about the same
period, and whose impressions of the lady are of con-
siderable interest, as from 1751-1764 he had oc-
cupied the post of "introductcur des amhassadcurs ,"
and w^ould, therefore, hardly have failed to remark
upon the fact, had he observed in the ex-favourite any
of that vulgarity and bad taste with which so many
historians have charged her.
This was the Comte Dufort de Cheverny, who met
Madame du Barry, in 1785, at the house of a certain
Don Olivadez de Pilos, a wealthy Spanish gentleman,
who had fled to France to escape the vengeance of the
Inquisition," and had settled in Paris, where, according
" Souvenirs de Madame Vigee Lebrun, i. 109, et seq.
" Don Olavidez had been condemned as a heretic to the follow-
]\IADAME DU BARRY 307
to Grimm, he speedily forgot his misfortunes "amidst
our theatres, our philosophers, our Aspasias, and some-
times our Phr}-nes." Madame du Barry, Cheverny
tells us, had "a marked veneration" for this victim of
priestly intolerance, and was "so to speak at his or-
ders," and when, therefore, Don Olivadez informed
her that he had some friends who were extremely anx-
ious to be presented to her, she readily agreed to
gratify their desire.
"It was freezing hard enough to freeze a stone,"
the chronicler continues. "She arrived alone in a car-
riage drawn by six horses. She was tall, extremely
well made, and, in short, a very pretty woman in every
respect. At the end of a quarter of an hour she was as
much at her ease with us as we were with her. My
wife was the only other lady present. Madame du
Barry paid marked attention to my wife and the master
of the house, but was pleasant and amiable to all.
President de Salaberry" and his nephew, the Chevalier
de Pontgibault," were there, and several others. She
bore the brunt of the conversation, spoke of Louve-
ciennes, and invited us to come and see it and dine with
ing penalties: (i) To make a public recantation of his errors,
" without prejudice to the confiscation of all his goods." (2)
To be confined eight years in a monastery and subjected to the
most rigorous discipline. (3) To be afterwards exiled twenty
leagues from any royal palace or important town. (4) Never
to ride on horseback or in a coach. (5) Never to hold any office
or enjoy any title. (6) Never to wear cloth, silk, or velvet,
but to dress always in yellow serge.
"Charles Victor Francois d'Irumberry de Salaberry, President
of the Chambre dcs Coinplcs. He perished on the scaffold in
1794. He was the father of Charles Maurice d'Irumberry, Comtc
de Salaberry, who fought in the wars in La Vendee and took a
prominent part in politics after the Restoration, in which he
distinguished himself by his reactionary tendencies.
"The Chevalier de Pontgibault, or Pontgibaud, as the name is
commonly spelt, had accompanied La Fayette to America. His
Mcmnircs, wherein he relates his experiences during the War of
Independence, arc of considerable interest
3o8 MADAME DU BARRY '
lier. We accepted the invitation, but without naming
any particular day.
"Her prett)'- face was sh'g-htly flushed; she told us
that she took a cold bath every day. She showed
us that under her long- furred pelisse she had only
her chemise and a very thin manteau dc lit. Every-
thing she wore was of such costly material, relics
of her former splendour, that I have never seen
finer batiste. She insisted that we should feel her
petticoats, to prove to us how little she cared for
the cold.
"The dinner was delightful ; she told us a hundred
anecdotes about Versailles, all in her own style, and
she was very interesting to listen to. Seeing that Pont-
gibault wore the Cross of Cincinnatus, she related to
us the following story : 'When I was at Versailles my
name made a great impression, and I had six lackeys
called footmen, the finest men that could be found;
but they were the noisiest and most unruly rascals in
all the world. The ringleader of them gave me so
much trouble that he saw plainly that I should be
obliged to dismiss him. It was at the beginning of the
war in America, and he came to me and asked for
letters of recommendation. I gave them to him, and
he left me with a well-filled purse, and I was only too
glad to get rid of him. A year ago he came to see me,
and he was wearing the Cross of Cincinnatus.' We
all laughed at the story, except the Chevalier de Pont-
gibault.
"The conversation after dinner took a more serious
turn. She spoke with a charming frankness about the
Due de Choiseul, and expressed regret for not having
been on friendly terms with him ; she told us of all the
trouble she had taken to bring about a better under-
standing, and said that, had it not been for his sister,
the Duchesse de Gramont, she would have succeeded
MADAME DU BARRY 309
in the end ; she did not complain of any one and said
nothing spiteful."
Cheverny happening to mention that once, during
her favour, he had made an unsuccessful atempt to
obtain a post at Court for one of his friends, Madame
du Barry exclaimed: "Why did you not come to me?
I wanted to oblige everybody. Ah! if M. de Choiseul
had but known me, instead of yielding to the counsels
of interested persons, he would have kept his place and
have given me some good advice, instead of which I
was forced to fall into the hands of people whose in-
terest is ^vas to ruin us, and the King was no better
off."
\\'hen she had gone, Cheverny and his friends were
unanimous in praise of the good humour with which
she accepted her changed fortunes, and all agreed that
they no longer felt any surprise at the influence she had
exercised over a hlase old man of sixty-four, "as she
must have been a charming mistress.""
^'Mcmoires de Cheverny, ii. 22, et seq.
CHAPTER XXI
THE year 1789 arrived. Posing for her portrait
to Madame Lebrun in the gardens of Louve-
ciennes. Madame du Barry was startled by the
distant boom of the cannon which announced the
taking of the Bastille and the end of the old regime,
and which so frightened poor Madame Lebrun that she
rushed off home the same day and never returned to
finish the picture.'
However, the former favourite continued to live
quietly at Louveciennes, and except that she was made
the heroine of a satirical and somewhat licentious
poem by Saint-Just, the future colleague of Robes-
pierre, and was attacked in an obscure newspaper
called Le Petit Journal du Palais-Royal, on AMches,
Annonces, et Avis divers, which only survived for six
numbers, no notice appears to have been taken of her
during the first year of the Revolution.*
' The head, however, had already been painted and the bust
and arms traced out, and some years after the death of Madame
du Barry the artist completed it. Madame Lebrun tells us that
she painted two other portraits of her friend — the first, at half-
length, "in a peignoir and straw hat"; the other, representing
the countess " robed in white satin, with a wreath in one hand,
and one of her arms resting on a pedestal." Both of these
pictures had been commissioned by Brissac.
^ Organt, poeme en vingt chants, au Vatican, 1789, was the title
of Saint-Just's production. Madame du Barry, who figures un-
der the name of Adelinde, is thus described:
" Ces yeux errants sous leur paupicre brune,
Ces bras d'ivoire etcndus mollement,
Ce sein de lait que le soupir agite
Et sur lequel deux fraises surnageaient,
Et cette bouche et vermeille et petite,
Oi\ le corail et les perles brillaient,
Au dieu d'amour les baisers demandaient."
310
MADAME DU BARRY 311
Her lover, the Due de Brissac, in spite of the fact
that he \vas, to a certain extent, in sympathy with the
new ideas, was not so fortunate. A fortnight after
the fall of the Bastille, while on his way to visit his
estates in Anjou, he was arrested at Durtal, near La
Fleche, and a courier despatched, by the local author-
ities, to Paris to ascertain if his "patriotism" was under
suspicion, and whether he was to be imprisoned there
or sent back to the capital. After a short detention,
he was released, or contrived to effect his escape, and
no further attempt was made to molest him for some
time; but the incident foreshadowed the terrible fate
which awaited him three years later.
In the Notices historiqiics appended to his Memoires
de la Reine de France, by Laffont d'Aussonne, the fol-
lowing passage occurs :
"When the Revolution broke out, the house of
Madame du Barry became the rendezvous of all the
friends of Louis XVL and the Queen. The Gardes-
du-corps who escaped the massacre of October 6
dragged themselves from Versailles to Louveciennes,
and the countess nursed them in her chateau as their
own relatives would have done. The Queen, informed
at Paris of this amiable and generous conduct on the
part of the countess, charged some nobles in her con-
fidence to go to Louveciennes and carry thither her
sincere thanks. Upon this, Madame du Barry had the
honour to address to the Queen the words T am about
to transcribe. T had them from one of her relatives:
" 'M.\D,\ME. — The young men who were wounded
only regret that they did not die along with their com-
rades for a princess so perfect and so worthv of all
rcsj)ect as Your Majesty assuredly is. What I am do-
ing for these brave soldiers is much less than they
312 MADAME DU BARRY
deserve. Had I had no waiting-women or other serv-
ants, I would have attended to your guards myself.
I console, I honour them for the wounds they have re-
ceived, when I reflect that, but for their devotion and
their wounds. Your Majesty might be no longer alive,
" 'Luciennes is at your disposal, Madame, Is it not
to your favour and kindness that I owe it?* All that I
possess is derived from the Royal Family, and I have
too much good feeling and gratitude ever to forget
that. The late King, by a sort of presentiment, made
me accept a number of valuable presents before send-
ing me away from his person, I had the honour to
offer you this treasure at the time of the meeting of
the Notables.* I offer it you again, Madame, with
eagerness and in all sincerity; you have so many ex-
penses to bear and benefits without number to bestow.
Permit me, I beg, to render unto Caesar the things that
are Caesar's.
" 'Your Majesty's most faithful subject and servant,
" 'COMTESSE DU BaRRY,' "
Laffont d'Aussonne is not a chronicler in whom
very much confidence is reposed, and this, combined
with the fact that the style and orthography of the
above letter are much superior to those of Madame du
Barry's which we possess, has caused its authenticity
to be doubted, M. Vatel, however, discovered that
two of the wounded Gardes-du-corps did take refuge
* She means that it was due to the magnanimity of the King
and Queen that she had been allowed to retain Louveciennes
after the death of Louis XV.
*In February 1787, Calonne, the Comptroller-General, called
together an extraordinary council or assembly of notables,
norninated by the King, and proposed to them the reform of the
entire system of administration and taxation. This assembly,
however, composed almost entirely of privileged persons, was
unfavourable to the proposed reforms, and Calonne soon after-
wards resigned.
MADAME DU BARRY 313
at Louveciennes after the events of October 6, and that
their names were Marion de Barghon-Monteil and
Lefebvre de Lnbersac, and his conclusion is that the
circumstances as stated by LafTont d'Aussonne are cor-
rect, though the letter is probably a paraphrase of the
one written by the ex- favourite. There was certainly
nothing surprising in Marie Antoinette sending to
thank ^Madame du Barry for her care of the soldiers
wounded by her defence, while it was but natural that
the favourite should acknowledge the Queen's con-
descension.
With regard to the offer made at the time of the
meeting of the Notables, M. Vatel professes himself
unable to discover any proof of this "in spite of per-
severing researches" ; but it is certain that the King
received a number of ofifers of this kind, both from
private individuals and corporations."
Every day the situation became more serious ; every
day it became more and more apparent that for the
despotism of the Crown France was substituting the
infinitely worse despotism of the mob. Most of the
great nobles followed the example of the Comte
d'Artois and took refuge across the frontier; but Bris-
sac, though well aware of the fate which awaited him
were the enemies of the Monarchy to triumph, coura-
geously refused to desert his sovereign and remained
at his post.
And Madame du Barry remained too. Love, and
possibly also the knowledge that her departure would
almost inevitably entail the confiscation of her property,
kept her at Louveciennes — that beautiful spot from
whose terrace she could perceive the spires of the great
city so soon to run red with blood. Nor at first did
she have any reason to regret her decision, for the
year 1790, so fruitful in great events, was for her as
* Vatcl's Histoire de Madame du Barry, iii. 132.
314 MADAME DU BARRY
uneventful as had been its predecessor;' and it is quite
possible that the storms of the Revolution might have
passed her by unscathed had it not been for an un-
fortunate incident, which served to draw public atten-
tion to her ill-gotten wealth, and was ultimately the
means of bringing her to the scaffold.
On January lO, 1791, Madame du Barry attended a
fete given by the Due de Brissac at his hotel in the
Rue de Crenelle Saint-Germain. The countess had, it
appears, intended to return to Louveciennes that eve-
ning, but, at the duke's suggestion, changed her mind
and slept at the Hotel de Brissac, where a suite of
rooms was always resented for her use. Well indeed
would it have been for her had she carried out her
original intention, as, early on the morrow, a mes-
senger arrived in hot haste from Louveci'ennes with the
news that the previous night a gang of burglars had
broken into the chateau and made off with the greater
part of the countess's jewellery.^
In great agitation, Madame du Barry at once re-
turned home, gave information of the robbery to the
local authorities, and then sent for her jeweller, Rouen,
to consult him as to the best means of recovering her
stolen treasures.
' She was, however, the object of an attack in Marat's journal,
L'Ami du Peuple, which, in its issue of Thursday, November ii,
1790, informed its readers that the National Assembly cost only
a quarter of the money which " that old sinner," Louis XV., had
squandered on his favourite wanton, and added that the writer
of the article had seen the Du Barry, twenty years before,
" covered with diamonds and giving away the louis d'or of the
nation by the basketful to her thieves of relations."
'Madame du Barry's jewel-cases were kept in the ante-
chamber leading to her bedroom. A soldier belonging to the
Siiisses rouges, quartered at Courbevoie, was on guard outside
the chateau during the night; and, before leaving home, the
countess had given orders that, in the event of her not returning
till the morrow, the gardener was to sleep in the ante-chamber.
As, however, it was not easy to put up a bed in this room,
MADAME DU BARRY 315
Now, Rouen was a very capable craftsman and an
honest man; but he appears to have been singularly
wanting in discretion ; for no sooner was he acquainted
with the extent of the disaster than he hastened back
to Paris, and. without giving a thought to the delicate
position occupied by his patroness in the face of the
Revolution, caused a handbill to be circulated through
the city bearing this sensational title :
"Tii'o Thousand Louis Reward."
"Diamonds and Jewels lost."
Then follows a portentously long list of the stolen
treasures : diamonds, rubies, sapphires, and emeralds
in every shape and form; rings, pendants, earrings,
watches, and bracelets; "a pair of shoe-buckles com-
posed of eighty-four brilliants, weighing seventy-seven
carats and a quarter"; "a cross of sixteen brilliants,
weighing eight to ten grains each" ; "a beautiful pair
of sprigs composed of large brilliants, valued at
120,000 livres" ; "a string of four hundred i:)earls,
weighing four to five grains each" ; "a pair of sleeve-
buttons consisting of an emerald, a sapphire, a yellow
diamond, and a ruby, the whole encircled by rose
diamonds, weighing thirty-six to forty grains"; a pair
of bracelets of six rows of pearls weighing four to five
grains each ; at the bottom of the bracelet is an emerald
surmounted by a cipher in diamonds, an L on one and
a D and B on the other, and two padlocks of four bril-
Morin, her head valet-de-chambre, had taken upon himself to
dispense with the attendance of the gardener; while the rol)I)ers
had taken the precaution to entertain the Swiss at a neighbour-
ing cabaret, with the result that he became temporarily unfit for
duty. Then, with the aid of a ladder which had been left near
the house, they mounted to the window of the ante-chaml)er,
broke the outside shutters, cut out a pane of glass, opened the
window, and ransacked the room at their leisure.
3i6 MADAME DU BARRY
Hants, weighing eight to ten grains." It was a veritable
inventory of Golconda.*
The effect of this ill-judged production on the minds
of the exited, half-starved "patriots" who perused it
can well be imagined. Instantly, the revolutionary
Press, ever on the alert to fan the flame of popular re-
sentment, rang with denunciations of the ex-mistress.
Prudhomme's journal, Les Revolutions de Paris, led
the way and published an article in which it accused
Madame du Barry of inventing the robljery : "It is
thought that the lady, fearing that her income would
be cut short, wanted to excite pity by representing
herself as the victim of a regrettable incident and
gaining thereby the indulgence of the inflexible Na-
tional Assembly."
Elsewhere the same journal made a violent attack on
the countess, who, it is alleged, had, on discovering the
robbery, driven off to Courbevoie in a coach and four,
and obtained from the commanding officer of the
Gardes Suisses a body of fifty men to arrest the
drunken sentry, "a young man eighteen years of age,
of an amiable appearance and very honest." "The
theft of all the diamonds of Golconda," continued the
indignant writer, "would not justify such a violation
of the rights of man and of the citizen, and, moreover,
is it a sufficiently grave offence to deserve the punish-
ment of being placed in irons, on the simple suspicion
of a woman, still proud of having been for a moment
the first courtesan of the empire?"
Madame du Barry appears to have l>cen too much
occupied in endeavouring to trace her lost property to
pay much attention to the attacks of Prudhomme and
his confreres, which, however, were to bear fruit in due
*See the list of the stolen jewellery published by the Gob-
courts in La Du Barry, p. 273' et seq.
MADAME DU BARRY 317
season. But, though she engaged the services of Bar-
thelemy Piles, one of the most skilful police-agents of
the day, nothing was heard of the stolen jewels for up-
wards of a month, when a courier arrived from Eng-
land, with the information that the thieves had been
arrested in London. The gang consisted of five per-
sons : three German Jews, a Frenchman, who called
himself a broker and wore the uniform of the National
Guard, and an Englishman named Harris, who actet'
as interpreter, and who, according to the Public Ad-
vertiser (February 17, 1791), had already undergone
a term of penal servitude.
On arriving in London, they had gone to an inn and
engaged a single room, from which it is to be presumed
that the old proverb which tells us that there is honour
among thieves did not hold good in their case, and that
each of them was fearful of letting his confederates
out of his sight. They had no money, but quieted the
landlord's objections by telling him that by the morrow
they would be in possession of a considerable sum.
They then went out and called upon a rich jeweller,
named Simon, to whom they offered a portion of their
booty at about one-sixth of its value. Simon paid
them £1,500, and then inquired if they had any more
to sell. They replied in the affirmative, whereupon, his
suspicions aroused, the jeweller laid information
against them before the Lord Mayor, who immediately
issued a warrant for their arrest.
The day after receiving the news of the apprehen-
sion of the burglars, Madame du Barry set out for
England, accompanicrl by one of Brissac's aides-de-
camp, the Chevalier d'Escourre. the jeweller Rouen, a
waiting-woman, and two menservants, and arrived in
London on February 20. "Madame du Barry," writes
Horace Walpole to the Berrys on Fc1)runry 26. "is
come over to recover her jewels, of which she has been
3i8 MADAME DU BARRY
robbed — not by the National Assembly, but by four
Jews, who have been seized here and committed to
Newgate. Though the late Lord Barrymore acknowl-
edged her husband to be of his noble blood, will she
own the present Earl as a relation when she finds him
turned strolling player?' If she regains her diamonds,
perhaps Mrs. Hastings may carry her to Court.""
Two days later he returns to the subject :
"Madaiiie du Barry was to go and swear to her
jewels ' efore the Lord Mayor. Boydell, who is a little
better bred than Monsieur Bailly," made excuses for
being obliged to administer the oath ches hii, but
begged she would name her hour, and when she did, he
fetched her himself in the state-coach and had a Mayor-
Royal banquet ready for her. She has got most of her
jewels again. I want the King to send her four Jews
to the National Assembly and tell them it is the change
or la monnaie of Lord George Gordon, the Israelite.'"*
In a subsequent letter (March 5) Walpole writes:
"I have not a tittle to add — but that the Lord Mayor
did not fetch Madame du Barry in the City-Royal
coach, but kept her to dinner. She is gone, but re-
turns in April."
The lady had, in fact, left England on March i.
During her stay she had been confronted with the
thieves, but had stated that she had never seen any of
them before. On the other hand, Rouen had identified
' For an account of the theatrical undertakings of Richard,
Earl of Barrymore, see Mr. J. B. Robinson's interesting work,
" The last Earls of Barr3'more."
""Mrs. Hastings was supposed, by the party violence of the
day, to have received immense bribes of diamonds." — Note of
Wright.
" Jean Sylvain Bailly, Mayor of Paris, the celebrated astron-
omer.
*^ Lord George Gordon, who was then undergoing a sentence
of five years' imprisonment for libel, had appealed to the Na-
tional Assembly to intercede for his release.
MADAME DU BARRY 319
the jewels, in spite of the fact that several of them had
been defaced, and had declared them to be "the result
of his laborious toil."
The expenses of this first journey, which the Due
de Brissac. who looked upon himself as the involuntary-
cause of tlie robbery, had insisted on defraying,
amounted to 6193 livres.
At the end of a month, Madame du Barry was
obliged to return to London, where a serious legal
difficulty had arisen. As the robbery had been com-
mitted in a foreign country, the delinquents could not
be brought to trial in England, nor, unless a special
application was made for the purpose by the French
Government, could they l^e even detained in custody
or sent to France for trial. The utmost satisfaction
that Madame du Barry could obtain would be to have
her property restored to her, but before she could hope
for this, many legal formalities must be complied
with."
The countess left Louveciennes on April 4 and ar-
rived in London five days later. She was again accom-
panied by d'Escourre and Rouen, and was furnished
by her bankers, the Vandengyers, with a letter of
credit on Simmonds and Hankey, of London. She
had also taken the precaution — a very necessary one at
a time when everybody leaving France ran the risk of
being promptly registered as an emigre and having
their property confiscated — of procuring a passport
from the Minister Montmorin."
"5"/. James's Chronicle, February 24. 1791.
" Here is the passport :
"Dc Par Lc Rov,
" A lous officiers civils et mxlitaircs charges de surveillcr ct
maintcnir I'ordrc public dans Ics diflfcrcns di'-partemcns du ro-
yaume et a tous autrcs qu'il apparlieiidra ; salut. Nous vous
mandons et ordonnons que vous ayiez a laisser passer libremt-iit
la dame du Barry allanl a Londres avec le S. d'Escours, chevalier
320 MADAME DU BARRY
We have very little information about Madame du
Barry's movements during this visit, the expenses of
whicii amounted to over 15,000 livres, inclusive of the
purchase of two English horses. She appears, how-
ever, to have found a welcome in very exclusive circles
indeed, for, on April 17, Walpole writes to Miss Berry
that the previous day the countess had dined with the
Duke of Oueensberry, and that among the guests was
the Prince^of Wales. It would be interesting to know
what th3 First Gentleman in Europe and she who, for
a brief period, had been the first lady in France thought
of one another; but, unfortunately, Walpole does not
tell us.
Madame du Barry reached Louceviennes on Satur-
day, May 21, but during the night of the 23rd a courier
arrived to inform her that her presence in London was
indispensable, and, on the following day, she set out
for England for the third time. In spite, however,
of the powerful influences that she was able to enlist
in her favour and the expenditure of a great deal of
money, the affair dragged on — it seems to have been
begun in a very careless manner and to have been
conducted still more carelessly — and it was not until
towards the end of August that it was finally decided
that, as the robbery had not taken place within English
jurisdiction, the burglars must be acquitted, and that
]\Iadame du Barry must obtain from the French courts
a condemnation of the culprits and a declaration that
the property wras really hers. Pending the proof of
her claim to their possession, the jewels were placed
de S. Louis, le S. Rouen, Jouaillier, deux femmes et un valet de
chambre et deux couriers.
" Sans hd donner ni souffrir qu'il lui soit donne aucun em-
pechement; le present passe-port valable pour trots semames
seulement.
"Donne a Paris, le 3 Avril 1791.
P^'- Le Roy ., Louis."
MADAAIE DU BARRY 321
in a sealed box and deposited with Messrs. Ransom,
^lorley, and Hammersley, bankers, of Pall Mall.
During this, her third visit to England, Madame du
Barry rented a house in Bruton Street, Berkeley
Square, and, notwithstanding her anxiety to regain
possession of her beloved diamonds, seems to have had
a very pleasant time. She mixed freely in English
society, and we hear of her at several celebrated houses,
notably at the Duke of Queensberry's, where Horace
Walpole made her acquaintance and "had a good deal
of frank conversation with her about IMonsieur de
Choiseul."** She also visited some of the French
emigres who had found refuge in London — a very
unwise proceeding, as it subsequently proved — went to
St. Paul's, the Tower, and Ranelagh, gave away a con-
siderable sum in charity, and made numerous pur-
chases : a portrait of the Prince of Wales and another
of the Duchess of Rutland, "two English books," for
the Prince de Beauvau, with whom she was now on
very friendly terms, and Thomas Paine's "Rights of
Man," and a Shakespeare in parts, for herself.
Perhaps, however, the most interesting incident of
her stay was her visit to the studio of the celebrated
painter Cosway, to whom she sat for the charming
miniature portrait which Conde's fine engraving has
perpetuated for us, and which is certainly the most
pleasing of all the portraits of Madame du Barry.
The former favourite is represented in a white gown
•with a high waist, a toilette which seems to anticipate
the fashion of the Directory, Her head is turned
slightly aside, a string of pearls encircles her throat,
her hair is loose and falls in luxuriant curls over her
shoulders, her eyes sparkle with merriment through
their half-closed lids, a half-smile plays round her
mouth. It is indeed hard to l)clieve that this exquisite
"Letter to the Bcrrys, August 23. 1791.
322 MADAME DU BARRY
miniature, "in which one seems to see the portrait of
the Voluptuousness of the eighteenth century : a Bac-
chante of Greuze,"" is that of a woman in her forty-
eighth year.
Madame du Barry landed in France on August 25,
1 791, and proceeded to Louveciennes, where she re-
mained until October 14, 1792, that is to say, for more
than thirteen months.
"E. and J. de Goncourt's La Du Barry, p. 215.
CHAPTER XXII
DURING Madame du Barry's absence in Eng-
land, important changes had taken place in
France. Since the flight to Varennes, in the
previous June, it was impossible for the country to
have any further confidence in its King, and although
the unhappy monarch continued to reign, his authority
v^as reduced to the merest shadow. He was still, how-
ever, pemiitted to retain most of the outward and vis-
ible signs of sovereignty ; and one of the first acts of
the Legislative Assembly, when it met on October i,
1 79 1, was to appoint a Garde constitutionelle, to take
the place of his disbanded bodyguard.
This Garde constitutionelle, which consisted of 600
cavalry and 1,200 infantry chosen from the troops
of the line or the National Guards, was recruited very
differently from the old Maison du Roi, and no one
was allowed to be enrolled unless he had given "proofs
of citizenship." The choice, however, of its com-
mander and one-third of the officers was left to the
King; and Louis, in spite of the remonstrances of
Marie Antoinette, who still regarded with disfavour
all who continued on terms of intimacy with Madame
du Barry, offered the command to Brissac,^ trusting,
in his secret heart, that the latter would give a very
' Accorriing to Gabriel, Due dc Choiseul, when the flight of
the Royal Family was first contemplated, Brissac was siigK<-'Sted
as the man best qualified to carry out the scheme; but the pro-
posal was rejected, as it was feared that he might confide the
secret to Madame du Barry, and that she might reveal it.
Memoira — 11 323 Vol. 2
324 MADAME DU BARRY
liberal interpretation to the intentions of the Assembly
witli regard to the proofs of citizenship.
The duke accepted the appointment, though with
many misgivings, for the dangers attending his new
office were obvious. Nor were his fears groundless,
as, before many weeks had passed, hostile criticisms
of the manner in which he was discharging his
duties began to appear in the Press. These soon
changed to violent denunciations, and, finally, the Leg-
islative Assembly intervened, and on the nights of May
30-31, 1792, after a lengthy and acrimonious debate,
that body decreed that the Garde constitiition^lle
should be disbanded, and its commander be forthwith
arrested and arraigned on a charge of treason before
the High Court, then sitting at Orleans.
It was one o'clock on the morning of the 31st when
the decree was passed, and Gabriel de Choiseul, who
was present, hurried to the Tuileries to inform the
King and Queen. Louis at once sent a message to
Brissac's apartments in the palace, urging him to make
his escape without a moment's delay. Brissac, how-
ever, was not the man to desert his post, and answered
that he would remain and abide by the consequences.
He then rose, and spent the rest of the night in writing
a long letter to his mistress, which he despatched to
Louveciennes by Mussabre, one of his aides-de-camp.
It would appear to have been on the previous even-
ing, while the de])ate in the Assembly was proceeding,
that Madame du Barry wrote to the duke as follows :
Madame Du Barry to the Due de Brissac,
" Wednesday, 11 o'clock.*
"I was seized with a mortal fear. M. le Due, when
M. de Maussabre was announced. He assured me that
'M. Vatel is of opinion that this letter was written on July 6,
that is to say, some days after the arrest of the duke and his
MADAAIE DU BARRY 325
you were in good health, and that you had the tran-
quilhty of a good conscience. But this is not enough
for my interest in you ; I am far from you ; I know not
what you intend to do. Of course you will answer
that you yourself do not know, and I am sending the
abbe^ to find out what is happening and what you are
doing. Oh ! why am I not near you ? You would
receive the consolation of tender and faithful friend-
ship. I know that you would have nothing to fear did
reason and honesty reign in the Assembly.
"Adieu! I have no time to say more. The abbe is in
my room, and I want to send him off as quickly as
possible. I shall not rest until I know what has become
of you. I am well assured that you have done your
duty with regard to the formation of the King's Guard,
and on this point I have no fear for you. Your con-
duct has been so open ever since you have resided at
the Tuileries that they will find no charge against you.
Your 'patriotic actions' have been so numerous that in-
deed I wonder what they can impute to you.
"Adieu. Let me hear from you, and never doubt my
aflfection for you.'
»>4
At six o'clock that morning Brissac was arrested and
conducted the same day to Orleans. The popular exas-
peration against him was such that special precautions
had to be taken to guard him against attack; but the
departure for Orleans, which took place on May 31. But, in her
examination on the 9th Brumaire (October 19, 1793), Madame
du Barry, when questioned as to the date, answered that she
wrote the letter "on the same day that he (Brissac) started for
Orleans, or the evening before." She adcKd that it was never
sent, "as she had news of him from one of his people."
*The Abbe Biiiiardi, of the Foreign Office, a great friend of
the lovers.
* Tribunaux rdvolutionnaires, dossier de Madame du Barry,
Archives nalionales. E. and J. dc Goncourt's La du Barry, p.
225.
2,26 MADAME DU BARRY
journey was uneventful, and, a few days later, Madame
du Barry received, though Maussabre, a letter from the
duke announcing his safe arrival. Although Brissac
would not appear to have shown much anxiety at his
position, probably from a desire not to alarm his
friends, the latter were fully alive to the grave dangers
which threatened him ; and his daughter, the Duchesse
de Mortemart, who had emigrated, with her husband,
at the beginning of the Revolution and was now at
Aix-la-Chapelle, wrote to Madame du Barry begging
for information concerning her father.
The Duchesse de Mortemart to Madame du
Barry.
"June 5.
"Will you recognise my handwriting, Madame? It
is three years since you saw it, and at a sad moment.
This is sadder still for your afifection and mine. Ah!
how I have suffered for the last two days ! His cour-
age, his firmness, the praises which are showered upon
him, the regrets which are expressed, his innocence,
nothing can quiet my agitated mind. M. de . . ." and
myself washed to start the day before yesterday; but
several powerful persons dissuaded us from doing so,
pointing out that it would be dangerous for my hus-
band and be of no advantage to my father, and adding
'On leaving France, in 1789, Madame de Mortemart had
written to Madame du Barry : " Madame,— I beg that you will
accept my best thanks for the kindness you have always shown
me, and believe that I deeply regret not being able to see you
b'efore leaving. I feel very sad at the thought that I shall be so
long without seeing my father, and that I cannot even take
leave of him before I set out. But there is nothing left for me,
except to submit to my fate. I beg that you will kindly accept
the assurance of my affection for you."
From the above letter it would appear that the duchess re-
garded her father's passion for Madame du Barry with com-
placence, and was on very friendly terms with the latter.
'Mortemart, without doubt.
MADA^IE DU BARRY 327
that the fact of his being an emigre would injure him.
But I, Madame, could not I be of some service to him ?
might it not be possible for me to see him ? Can it be
imputed as a crime to a woman in delicate health to
have gone to take the waters, and must it be visited on
my father? I cannot believe it, and it is the only
thing of which I am afraid. If you think that I could
be of any use to him either at Paris or Orleans, have
the kindness to let me know, and I will fly thither. Is
there any means of hearing from him or communicat-
ing with him? Send me word, I entreat you, and I
will hasten to take advantage of it. I learned, through
a man who is, perhaps, unknown to you" (the name,
written between parentheses, is erased) "that you had
gone to Orleans. Let me tell you that such token of
attachment for one who is dear to me gives you an
eternal claim on my gratitude. Accept, I beg of you,
the assurance of the affection which I have for you
for life.
"Allow me to curtail the usual compliments at the
end of letters, and give me the same mark of friend-
ship. I send this letter through a reliable person at
Paris, who, I trust, will be able to forward it to you
without inconvenience. Pardon my scribble.'"
Whether Madame du Barry went to Orleans, as the
duchess's inforinant stated, is doubtful. According to
one writer, she not only did so, but took with her a
considerable sum of money, in the hope of bribing
Brissac's gaolers to connive at his escai)e. But it
.seems very difficult to believe that the duke, who, as
we have seen, had made no attempt to escape on the
night when his arrest was decreed by the Legislative
Assembly, when he could have done so with the cer-
tainty of success, would have consented to a plan
' Cited in Vatcl's Ilistoire dc Madame du Barry, iii. 163.
328 MADAME DU BARRY
which must have presented many obstacles, and which,
in case of failure, must have gravely compromised his
mistress : while, on the other hand, the ex-favourite's
presence in Orleans, by awakening- memories of the
scandalous past, would have undoubtedly injured the
prisoner.
Brissac was incarcerated in an old convent in the
Rue Illiers. He was examined on June 15, but hardly
attempted to justify himself. When charged with
admitting royalists into the Garde constitutionelle, he
merely denied it: "I have admitted into the King's
Guard no one but citizens who fulfilled all the condi-
tions contained in the decree of formation."
He was taken back to prison, but does not seem
to have been kept in very close custody, and was per-
mitted to communicate with his friends; for on June
20 Madame de Mortemart informs Madame du Barry
that she had had a letter from her father.
TheDuchesse de Mortemart /o Madame du Barry.
"JuTie 20.
*'A million thanks, Madame, for the news which you
have so kindly sent me. Your letter has been delayed,
and I only received it together with one from my
father, which has afforded me great pleasure. Since
then I have heard that he has been examined, and is no
longer in close confinement. He is now as comfortable
as a prisoner can be. Although he is known to be
innocent, I fear that the proceedings will last a long
M^hile. I should have rejoiced had I been able to have
been of any use to him or given him any pleasure in
his confinement. Adieu, Madame. Pardon my scrib-
ble. Be assured of my love for life."'
But neither daughter nor mistress were ever to be-
* Cited in Vatel's Histoire de Madame du Barry, iii. 167.
MADAIME DU BARRY 329
hold the prisoner at Orleans again. The ill-advised
manifesto of the Duke of Brunswick, the declaration
that the country was in danger, the arrival in Paris of
the Marseillais and thousands of enthusiastic volun-
teers on their wav to the frontier, roused the excited
populace to madness ; and a few weeks after Madame
de IMortemart's letter was written, the storm which
had so long been gathering burst in all its fury.
After the storming of the Tuileries and the mas-
sacres which followed, Brissac and his fellow prison-
ers could no longer disguise from themselves the ter-
rible danger which menaced them; and on the very
day on which the news of the events of August 10
reached him, the duke asked for writing materials,
and, with his own hand, drew up his will.
Having appointed the Duchesse de Mortemart his
residuary legatee and made provision for various rela-
tives and dependents, the testator recommended very
earnestly to his daughter "a lady who was very dear
to him, and whom the evils of the time might plunge
into the greatest distress," and then added the follow-
ing codicil :
"I give and bequeath to Madame du Barry, of Lou-
veciennes, above and beyond what I owe her, a yearly
income for life of 24,000 livres, free from all condi-
tions; or, again, the use and enjoyment for life of my
estate of la Ranil)audicre and la Graffiniere, in Poitou,
and the movables l)clonging to it; or, yet again, a
lump sum of 300,000 livres payable in cash ; whichever
she may prefer. When once she has accepted either
of the three legacies mentioned, the other two will l)e-
come voifl. T l>eg her to accept this small token of
my gratitude. T l)eing so much the more her debtor in
that / was the ini'ohintary cause of the loss of her dia-
monds, and that if ever she succeeds in regaining them
330 MADAME DU BARRY
from England, those which will bo lost, added to the
expenses incurred in the various journeys which their
recovery has rendered necessary, will amount to a total
equivalent to the value of this legacy. I request my
daughter to prevail upon her to accept it. My knowl-
edge of her (his daughter's) heart assures me that
she will punctually disburse whatever sums she may
be caljed upon to pay in order to fulfil my will and
codicil. My wish is that none of the other legacies be
paid over until this one has been discharged in full.
"Written and signed with my own hand at Orleans,
this August II, 1792.
"Louis-Hercule-Timoleon de Cosse-Brissac.'"
The same day, the duke wrote the following letter
to Madame du Barry, the only one, unfortunately, of
those sent from Orleans which has been preserved:
The Due de Brissac to Madame du Barry.
"Saturday, August 11, Orleans, 6 p. m.
"I received this morning the most amiable of let-
ters, and one which has gladdened my heart more than
any which I have received for a long while. I kiss
you thousands and thousands of times; yes, you will
be my last thought.
"We are in ignorance of all particulars" (of the
events of August 10); *T groan and shudder. Ah!
dear heart, would that I could be with you in a wilder-
ness rather than in Orleans, which is a very wearisome
place to be in.'""
"Le Roi's Curtosites historiques, p. 287. The legacy of the
duke to Madame du Barry was almost entirely absorbed by the
creditors of the lady, and by a lawsuit between the Becus and the
Gomards — both of which families claimed to be her heirs—
which lasted from 1814 to 1830.
'* Tribunaux revolutionnaires, dossier de Madame du Barry,
Archives nationales. On this letter is written : " Un mois avant
sa mort."
MADAME DU BARRY 331
"Vou will be my last thought." These words must
have seemed to j\Iadame du Barry a presentiment of
approaching disaster, and an event which occurred a
few days after she received her lover's letter increased
her fears for his safety.
The duke's aide-de-camp, Maussabre, happened to
be at the Tuileries when the palace was attacked by
the mob on the morning of August 10, and had taken
part in its defence. He was wounded, and, like the
Gardes-dii-Corps three years earlier, took refuge at
Louveciennes, where Madame du Barry concealed him
in a room in the pavilion. He imagined himself in
safety, but his hopes were vain, for a band of local
Jacobins, eager to emulate the deeds of their Paris
brethren, came to search the house, and the wretched
lad — he was but eighteen — was torn from his hiding-
place and dragged away to Paris, prison, and death."
The invasion of her house showed but too plainly
that the unpopularity of Brissac was gradually envel-
oping his mistress, and that she was regarded as his
accomplice ; and the Courrwr franqais, in its issue of
Septeml)er 2, announced the countess's arrest, no doubt
with the intention of still further inflaming public
opinion against her:
"Madame du Barry has been arrested at Louvecien-
nes, and has been brought to Paris. It was ascer-
tained that the old heroine of the late Government was
constantly sending emissaries to Orleans. M. de Bris-
sac's aide-de-camp had l)een arrested at her house. It
was thought — and there was good reason for doing
so — that these frequent messages had some other pur-
pose than love, which Madame du Barry must now
forget. As the mistress and confidential friend of the
Due de Brissac. she shared his wealth and his pleas-
" He was murdered during the September massacres: sec p.
345. infra.
2,2,2 MADAME DU BARRY
ures; who knows if she does not, at the same time,
share his anti-revohitionary ambition?
"It will be piquant reading" for our descendants
when they learn that Madame du Barry was arrested
almost simultaneously with the pulling down of the
statue of the Maid of Orleans. She was arrested dur-
ing the night of the 30th-3ist, about 2 a.m."
On tlie same day on which this article appeared
began the frightful massacres which deluged the pris-
ons with blood ; and while these atrocities still con-
tinued. Madame du Barry received intelligence that
Brissac and the rest of the Orleans prisoners were to
be transferred to Paris. It appeared that several of
those confined in the convent in the Rue Illiers had
contrived to effect their escape, while four others, who
had been tried by the High Court, had been acquitted.
The fear that yet more of their destined victims might
succeed in evading their doom roused the indignation
of the more sanguinary of the Paris revolutionists, and
petitions from the sections and the clubs demanding
that the remaining prisoners should be immediately
brought to Paris for trial poured in upon the Assem-
bly." The Assembly, dismayed at the scenes of blood-
shed which were being enacted around it, and well
aware what would be the result of compliance with
such a demand, could not bring itself to consent, until
its hand was forced by a body of volunteers from Mar-
seilles, who set out for Orleans, with the intention of
bringing back the prisoners; whereupon Fournier" was
"At the same time, a pamphlet, 'entitled Tetes a prix, was
heing circulated in Paris, the writer of which offered 12,000
livres — he did not say by whom the money was to be paid — to
the man who should " make a little Saint-Denis of M. Timoleon
Cosse-Brissac."
" Surnamed I'AmSricain, as he had spent some years of his life
in San Domingo. He was one of the most violent of Jacobins,
and had taken a prominent part in the attack on the Bastille, the
affair in the Champ de Mars, and the events of August 10.
MADA^IE DU BARRY 333
despatched at the head of 1800 of the National Guard,
with instructions to conduct the prisoners not to the
capital but to the Chateau of Saumur, Fournier, how-
ever, misunderstood, or, more probably, deliberately-
disobeyed, his orders, and, when Brissac and his com-
panions had been handed over to him, took the road to
Paris.
Madame du Barry learned of the duke's removal
from Orleans from a letter which is supposed to have
been written by the Chevalier d'Escourre, the tone of
which was far from calculated to reassure her:
The Chevalier d'Escourre ( ?) to Madame du
Barry.
"Paris, September 6.
"The Orleans prisoners are to arrive to-morrow at
Versailles. It is to be hoped that they will arrive safe
and sound, and that, by gaining time, their lives will
be saved. Besides, the Assembly is tired of so much
bloodshed and proposes to grant an amnesty. The
sacrifice is not a very great one, seeing that none of
them are guilty.
"I have l)ecn to see the editor of the Coiirricr frmv-
gais, who will to-morrow retract the false article about
you. I promised him a reward, if the article was sat-
isfactory.
"I have received from Orleans ten letters for the
deputies, imploring them to avert the terrible fate
which awaits the prisoners. At Orleans, it is ])clieved
that as soon as they arrive, they will be murdered.
"I harl the letters delivered at once. Madame de
Maurcpas, when .she heard of the duke's transfer,
wishcfl to go at once to the Assembly, but was dis-
suaded from rlojngso. Slir then wn»tc to Danlon and
the Abbe Fauchet. Madame dc I'lammarens and I
334 MADAME DU BARRY
took the letters, and the Abbe Fauchet was much in-
terested in them.
"Poor Maiissabre would have 1>een spared, had he
not lost his head. He tried to hide in a chimney ; they
lighted straw to stifle him and force him to come
down; he fell, and they shot him without listening to
his appeals for mercy.
"I am cast down body and soul; I shall only be
at rest when I know the duke is at Versailles. If it
is possible to get through, I will send some one, if I
cannot go myself. Do you also send some one,
but above all be careful and avoid taking any steps
which might be made public and be injurious to
you both."^*
Brissac and his fellow captives, to the number of
fifty-three, left Orleans on September 3, in tumbrils
supplied by a force of artillery stationed in the neigh-
bourhood, escorted by the National Guards and the
Marseillais. The authorities saw them depart with
considerable misgivings, though Fournier swore that
he would sacrifice "even his life" in their defence, and
the force under his command was certainly strong
enough to overawe any number of fanatical sans-
culottes. On the 6th they reached Etampes, half-way
between Orleans and Paris, and halted there till the
following day, the prisoners taking advantage of the
delay to write letters to their friends, which they
handed to Fournier for transmission, and which that
worthy subsequently sent to the Convention.
The terrible scenes which were taking place in Paris
had thrown the whole of the surrounding country into
a ferment of excitement, and as the cortege neared
Versailles, the cries of "A bas les seigneurs! a has les
seigneurs!" grew more frequent and more threatening,
" Cited in Vatel's Histoire de Madame du Barry, iii. 177.
MADAME DU BARRY 335
Erissac being in particular the object of hostile dem-
onstrations.
The general council of the Commune of Versailles,
fearing that an attack would be made upon the pris-
oners, had sent orders that they should not be con-
ducted through the more populous part of the town,
and should be confined for the night in the cages of
the Menagerie, "which would have the advantage of
satisfying the popular resentment and lessening the
sentiment of hatred, by giving rise to feelings of con-
tempt."" This precaution, however, was quite useless;
the rabble of Versailles was determined to follow in
the footsteps of the murderers of the Faubourg Saint-
Antoine, and was not to be baulked of its prey.
On Sunday, the 9th, about one o'clock in the after-
noon, the cortege entered the town by the Petit-Mon-
treuil Gate, passed along the Rue de la Surintendance
(now the Rue de la Bibliotheque) and the Place
d'Armes, and began to descend the Rue de TOrajigerie.
Up to that moment, the people who lined the way had
contented themselves with shouting "Vive la Natio)i!"
and hooting the prisoners ; but opposite the Ministry of
War the procession was stopped by a raging mob
armed with spikes, sabres, and other weapons. The
Mayor of Versailles endeavoured to pacify them, but
to no purpose, although the leaders announced that if
Brissac and Lessart. the former Minister for Foreign
Affairs, were given up. the others would be spared.
Meanwhile, the Orangery Gate, for which the tumbrils
were making, had l>een shut, and the escape of the
prisoners cut off.
As to remain stationary was to court certain disas-
ter, orders were given to turn back and ascend the
street. The mob allowed the procession to get as far
as the corner of the Rue Satory, and then, sweeping
"Vatcl's Ilistoire de Madame du Barry, iii. 175.
S3^ MADAME DU BARRY
the escort, which made not the sHghtcst attempt at
resistance," aside, cut the traces of the horses, and fell
savag-ely upon the hapless prisoners."
Snatching a knife from one of his assailants, Brissac
defended himself bravely, but he was soon overpow-
ered by numbers, dragged from his tumbril, and des-
patched. His body was horribly mutilated, and his
head, having been cut off, was fixed upon a pike, with
a label bearing his name on the forehead, and carried
through the streets in triumph. Later in the day, it
was taken to Louveciennes and thrown into the gar-
den, or, according to one account, into the salon of
JMadame du Barry."
The grief and horror which the terrible death of
her lover occasioned Madame du Barry may be judged
from the following letter which the countess wrote, a
few days after the tragic event, to Madame de Morte-
mart:
Madame du Barry to the Duchesse de Morte-
MART.
"No one has felt more than myself, Madame, the
extent of the loss which you have just sustained, and
I trust that you will not be under a misapprehension
as to the motive which has prevented me from paying
you the sad compliment of mingling my tears with
yours before this. The fear of augmenting your justi-
"Fournier afterwards declared that he was himself attacked
and dragged from his horse, and would have been killed, had
it not been for the intervention of his men. But there can be
no possible doubt that he was in collusion with the assassins.
" Statements of Antoine and Pierre Baudin made before a
notary in Paris, September 12, 1792, cited by Vatel.
** " We are assured that the head of M. de Brissac was taken
to Louveciennes and left in the salon of Madame du Barry."—
Courrier frangais, September 15, 1792.
MADAAIE DU BARRY 337
fiable grief prevents me from speaking to you of it.
Mine is complete; a life which ought to have been so
great, so glorious! What an end! Grand Dieu!
"The last wish of your unhappy father, Madame,
was that I should love you as a sister. This wish is too
much in conformity with my heart for me not to ful-
fil it. Accept the assurance of it, and never doubt the
affection which attaches me to you for the rest of my
life."
To which the duchess replied :
The Duchesse de Mortemart to Madame du
Barry.
"September 30.
"I received your letter this morning. Accept my
thanks for the good you have done me. You have
lessened my anguish and brought tears to my eyes.
!Many times I have been ready to write to you and
speak of my grief; my heart is rent, broken. Ever
since the fatal day on which my father left Paris I
have suffered, and I still suffer more than I can ex-
press. But J judged it wiser to wait until I could
contain some of my feelings. I must open my heart
to you, who alone are able to realise my grief.
"I am eager to fulfil the last wish of him whose
memory I cherish, and whom I shall mourn for ever;
I will indeed love you as a sister, and my attachment
to you will end only with my life. The least of my
father's wishes is a command sacred to me. If I could
only obey every one of the desires he had. or must have
had, in his last moments, I would spare nothing to do so.
"Pardon my scribble. My head aches so that I
cannot see. Deign to accept. Madame, the expression
of my everlasting affection.""*
'" Tribuitiiux ri'i'olntiouiuiircs, dossier dc Madame du Dar'y,
Archives nationales. E. and J. de Goncourt's La Du Barry, p.
230.
CHAPTER XXIII
EA.RLY in the following- mcjnth Madame du
Barry prepared for a fourth journey to Eng-
land. On February 6, 1792, the French courts
had duly condemned the authors of the rob1>ery at
Louveciennes, and declared the jewels found in their
possession to be the property of the mistress of the
chateau ; but since then a fresh difficulty had arisen.
The unfortunate handbill in which Rouen had
advertised the loss of the jewels had been framed in
very ambiguous terms. It had offered two thousand
louis reward, "and a fair and proportionate reward
for the objects which might be recovered." Madame
du Barry maintained that the payment of the two
thousand louis ought to be accepted in full satisfaction
of all claims against her, and such, without doubt, had
been Rouen's intention when he drew up the bill. But
Simon, the London jeweller whose information had
led to the apprehension of the thieves, protested that
he was entitled not only to the above-mentioned sum,
but to a commission on the value of the property recov-
ered, and brought an action to enforce his claim, which
necessitated the lady's return to England.
Aware that she was now an object of suspicion and
dislike to the more violent partisans of the Revolution,
Madame du Barry, ere leaving France, took every pos-
sible precaution to guard against the risk of being"
denounced as an emigree during her absence. She
applied to Lebrun, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, for
a passport; and when he advised her to procure one
from the municipality of Louveciennes, was careful to
338
MADA^IE DU BARRY 339
have it z-ise both by the dircctoirc of Versailles and the
administration of her department (Seine-et-Oise).
Not content with this, she gave a formal undertaking-
to the municipal authorities that she would return to
France as soon as her lawsuit should be concluded, and
wrote to Thuriot, the President of the Convention, to
the same effect :
Madame du Barry to the President of the
Convention.
"Monsieur le President, — A robbery which de-
prived me, twenty-one months since, of the most valu-
able portion of my property and the only security that
my creditors possess, necessitated a lawsuit in England.
on account of which I have already been obliged to
make two' very expensive journeys. I am advised
that the suit will be definitely decided this month, and
that it is absolutely necessary for me to go to London.
on pain of l>eing condemned in default and losing the
considerable exj^enses to which I have already been
put. I have the honour to assure you. Monsieur le
President, that I have not the least intention of desert-
ing my countr}', where I am leaving all the remainder
of my property, but that, on the contrary, I am enter-
ing into a most solemn engagement to return to my
residence of Louveciennes as soon as my suit is de-
cided. I am placing an undertaking to that effect in
the hands of my niunicij)ality. from which T am well
assured that I have nothing but favourable testimony
to expect.
"I am, with respect. . . "'
Thus protected at all points, as she fondly imagined,
' She had, of course, made three journeys.
* Dossier dc Madame du Barry, Archives nalionales. E. and J.
de Goncourt's La Du Barry, p. 248.
340 MADAME DU BARRY
Madame dti Barry set out for England on October 14,
accompanied by a M. Labondie, a nephew of the Chev-
alier d'Escourre. Her case, however, so far from
being concluded in a few weeks, dragged on for more
than four months, and it was not until February 27
that the court gave a verdict in Simon's favour for
one thousand louis, and decided that the jewels were
to be handed over to the countess on her paying that
' sum and the costs of the proceedings. What these
amounted to we are not told, but they would appear
to have been very considerable, as, when Madame du
Barry was arrested in the following September, the
jewels were still lying in Ransom's Bank, waiting for
their owner to redeem them.
Owing, no doubt, to her grief at the tragic death of
poor Brissac, Madame du Barry seems to have gone
but little into English society during this visit, and we
find no mention of her movements in Walpole's letters.
She dined, however, on one occasion at the house of
Thellusson, the banker, and there met the young Due
de Choiseul, her old enemy's nephew and successor.
"I was placed next to her at table." says the duke, "and
during dinner, at which she endeavoured to be very
amiable, she spoke to me much about my uncle, de-
plored the counsels which she had followed, and gave
me to understand that she had had for him a coquet-
terie reele, but that she had found him cold and re-
served.'"
The news of the execution of Louis XVI. on Janu-
ary 21, 1793, created a profound impression in Eng-
land. Court mourning was ordered and worn by per-
sons of all ranks in the metropolis, and Requiem
Masses were said in all the Catholic churches. Ma-
dame du Barry not only wore mourning, but attended
the service in the chapel of the Spanish Embassy; in-
^ Revue de Paris, 1829, vol. iv. p. 48.
MADA^IE DU BARRY 341
discretions which, together with several visit? which
she paid to the houses of the Comte de Narbonne,
Calonne, Talleyrand, and other emigres, were duly-
noted by the spies of the Republic with whom London
swarmed, and were not forgotten when the poor
woman appeared before the Revolutionary Tribunal.
The countess left for France on March i,* but as
war had broken out between England and France a
month previously, she was compelled to remain some
time at Calais before she could procure a passport.'
At length, on the 17th, she was permitted to set out for
Louveciennes, where a most unpleasant surprise
awaited her.
Soon after Madame du Barry quitted Louveciennes
on her last journey to England, a person named
*Very much against the advice of her friends, who implored
her to remain. According to Madame Guenard, shortly before
her departure Madame du Barry had an interview with Pitt, who
presented her with a medal bearing his portrait, and warned
her that if she returned to France she would meet the fate of
Regulus. This story is probably apocryphal; but Madame du
Barry does seem to have been acquainted with Pitt, and also
possessed a medal of the kind described ; for " living habitually
with Pitt and wearing a medal bearing the effigy of the monster"
was one of the charges against her at her trial.
'Here is the passport: ^
Republiquc Frangaise
Au nom de la loi
Departement du Pas-de-Calais, district et municipalite de Calais
No. 4829
Laissez passer la citoyenne Devaubcrgnicr Dubarri, FranQaise,
domicile 4 Louveciennes, municipalite de Louveciennes, district
de Versailles, departement de Seine-et-Oise
Agte de quarante ans ( !)
Taillc de cinq pieds un pouce
Chcvcux blond (sic)
Sourcils chatain
Ycux bleux (sic)
Nez bien fait
Bouche moyennc
M(.'ntf)n rond
Visage ovale et plcin
Et pretcz-lui aide et assistance, &c
342 MADAME DU BARRY
George Grieve, or Greive, as he wrote his name in later
years, came to the village and took up his quarters at
the inn. This Grieve was an Englishman, a member
of a respectable family at Alnwick, in Northumber-
land. His father, Richard Grieve, was an attorney,
and his brother, Richardson David Grieve, had been
high-sheriff of Northumberland in 1788. The Grieves,
however, had always been ardent politicians, and of a
particularly turbulent kind. Both the grandfather,
Ralph Grieve, and Richard Grieve had been expelled
from the Common Council at Alnwick for riotous con-
duct during elections, and George seems to have in-
herited the family weakness in a very marked degree.
In 1774, he took an active part in defeating the Duke
of Northumberland's attempt to nominate both mem-
bers for the county, and, four years later, headed a
mob which levelled the fences of a part of the moor
wrongly presented by the corporation to the duke's
agent. About 1780, having got into pecuniary dif-
ficulties, Grieve left England and went to America,
where he became acquainted with Washington and
other founders of the Republic, and appears to have
supported himself by his pen. From America he pro-
ceeded to Holland, it is said, on some political mission,
and about 1783 took up his abode in Paris.*
Until the arrival of Grieve in their midst, the inhabi-
tants of Louveciennes had been, comparatively speak-
ing, unaffected by the disturbances which were going
on around them ; but Grieve, who had acquired a thor-
ough mastery of the French language, and seems to
Delivre en la maison commune de Calais, le 17 mars 1793
L'An II. de la Republique et ont signes (sic) Reisenthal, officier
municipal; Tellier ; Roullier secretaire commis greffier, qui a
signe pour le present et Devaubergnier Dubarri. — Vatel's Histoire
de Madame du Barry, iii. 189.
' Mr. J. G. Alger's " Englishmen in the French Revolution,"
p. 187, et seq.
MADAME DU BARRY 343
have been a fluent and persuasive speaker, soon suc-
ceeded in working a complete transformation in that
peaceful spot ; and by the time IMadame du Barry re-
turned it would have been difificult to find a nest of
more rabid Jacobins in all France.
But it was against the mistress of the chateau her-
self that the agitator's machinations were mainly di-
rected, though what motive he could have had for the
implacable hatred he evinced towards her has never
been satisfactorily explained, and must, we fear,
always remain a matter of conjecture. Some writers
think that he was prompted by Marat, with whom he
was on intimate terms, and who, as we have seen, had
already attacked Madame du Barry in his journal;
others, that he intended to terrify her into purchasing
his silence; while others, again, incline to the belief
that he was enamoured of the lady and persecuted her
either out of revenge for her having rejected his ad-
dresses or in the hope of compelling her to accept
tliem. The most probable solution of the mystery,
however, is that he was merely a fanatic possessed with
a mania for delation' — he subsequently boasted of hav-
ing brought no less than seventeen persons to the guil-
lotine — and imagined that the ruin of so prominent a
representative of the old rri^imc as the former mistress
of Louis XV. would add lustre to his sanguinary
reputation.
However that may be, r.ricve appears to have left
no stone unturned to comi)ass the destruction of the
unhappy lady. Bv bribes or threats, he won over two
of her servants, Salanave and the Hindoo, Zanior;
wormed all their mistress's secrets out of them ; organ-
ised a club, which had the imi)udence to meet in her
salon and pass resolutions against her; contrived to
''He dcnnunccfl one iinfnrtunntc person merely because he had
obeerved him "look furious" when visiting Marat.
344 MADAME DU BARRY
persuade the authorities at Versailles that the
countess's prolonged absence meant that she had be-
come an emigree; and, finally, on February i6, ob-
tained an order for seals to be placed on her property.
When Madame du Barry returned and found what
had been done, she was highly indignant and addressed
a vigorous remonstrance to the administrators of her
district :
Madame du Barry to the Directory of the
District of Versailles.
"Citizen Administrators, — The Citoyenne de
Vaubernier du Barry is very astonished that after all
the reasons for her being compelled to visit England
Vv'ith which she has furnished you, you have treated her
as an emigree. Before her departure, she communi-
cated to you the declaration that she had made to her
municipality; you have registered it at your offices,
and you are aware that this is the fourth journey that
she has been obliged to undertake, always for the
same object. She hopes that you will be willing to re-
move the seals which have been imposed at her house,
against all justice, since the law has never prohibited
those persons whom private and urgent affairs call to
foreign countries leaving the realm. All France is
aware of the robbery which took place on the night
of January lo-ii; that the robbers were apprehended
in London, and that a trial followed, in which the final
decision was not arrived at until February 28 last, as
the enclosed certificate bears witness.*
" Louveciennes, March 27, 1793."
This remonstrance had the desired effect, and the
seals were promptly removed ; but Grieve was not dis-
® Cited by the Goncourts, La Du Barry, p. 251.
MADAIME DU BARRY 345
courag'ed. and. after spending some three montlis in
maturing his plans, in company with Salanave" and a
spy named Blache, who had had ^Madame du Barry
under observation during her stay in England, where
he had been masquerading as a teacher of French,
returned to the attack. Profiting by the terrible de-
cree of June 2. 1793, which directed the authorities
throughout the Republic to seize and place under arrest
all persons "notoiremcnt suspcctcs d' aristocratic et
d'incivisme," he drew up an address to the authorities
of the Department of Seine-et-Oise. signed by thirty-
six of the inhabitants of Louveciennes, complaining
of the presence in their midst of many aristocrats and
suspected i:>ersons of both sexes, and demanding the
publication of the decree of June 2. This request hav-
ing been granted, Grieve at once made out a list of
"suspects," placed the name of Aladame du Barry at
the head of it, and proceeded to the chateau to arrest
her. However, the countess had been advised of his
proceedings, and had sent her valet-dc-chamhre,
Morin, and Labondie, to plead her cause with the
members of the superior administrations; and just as
Grieve and the officials of the municipality reached
the house, Boilcau. memljer for the district, arrived
on the scene, reprimanded them for making improper
use of a law which was only intended to be used with
great caution, and suspended the arrest.
Nothing daunted. Grieve lost no time in drawing up
another address, and, on July 3. presented himself at
the bar of the Convention, accompanied by some of
"the brave saus-culotfcs of Louveciennes" ; and there
proceeded to read his petition, which contained a ve-
hement denunciation of Madame du Barry, "who had
made her chateau the centre of liberticide i>rnjccts,
"Salanavr linrl l)rcn flcfcctcfl l)y Ma<lriinc fhi Rnrry, soon after
her return, stealing her porcelain, and had been dismissed.
34^ MADAME DU BARRY
commenced by Brissac and continued by the aristocrats
of every shade with whom she was in constant cor-
respondence; who insulted by her kixury the suffer-
ings of the unfortunate people whose husbands,
fathers, brothers, and children were shedding their
blood for the cause of equality in our armies, and
whose arrest was indispensable in order to destroy the
vestiges of a false grandeur, which dazzled the eyes
of the good and simple inhabitants of the surrounding
country, and put into practice the misunderstood prin-
ciples of equality.""*
To this the President of the Convention replied :
"The National Convention applauds the new proofs
which the commune of Louveciennes has just given of
its patriotism, recognised from the commencement of
the Revolution, and which it manifests at the present
moment by putting into execution the law of June 2
against a woman too long celebrated for the misfor-
tune of France. The facts that you have just alleged
against her are very grave; be assured that, if they are
proved, her head shall fall on the scaffold."
He then gave orders that Madame du Barry was to
be placed under arrest in her own house, guarded by a
gendarme, to be kept there at the lady's expense, and
sent the petition to the Committee of General Security,"^
which body ordered the Department of Seine-et-Oise
to hold an inquiry into the alleged "incivism" of the
Citoyenne du Barry.
^^ L'Egalite controuvce, ou Petite Histoire de la Protection,
contenant les pieces relatives a la arrestation de la du Barry.
(Paris: I793-) ^^ Ibid.
"The Committee of General Security must not be confounded
with the Committee of Public Safety. On special occasions they
consulted together, but the former always occupied a subordinate
position. The Committee of General Security superintended the
measures taken for the detection of political crime. Originally
the Girondists possessed a majority in it, but it was now com-
posed of twelve Montagnards.
MADAIME DU BARRY 347
The inquiry was held a few days later, and tlus
signatories of Grieve's petition were called upon to
make good their allegations. This they entirely failed
to do; some, whom Grieve had probably intimidated
into signing the address, declared that they had done
so under a misapprehension as to its contents, while
the rest could only adduce rambling statements and
vague rumours, which even a revolutionar}- court was
reluctant to admit as evidence. On the other hand, a
number of the inhabitants of Louveciennes who looked
with disapproval on Grieve's proceedings, and had de-
clined to join the club which he had organised, drew
up a counter-petition, in which they spoke in high
terms of the Citoyenne du Barrs', declaring that she
was the benefactress of the village ; that they had seen
her in all weathers taking food and money to the sick
and poor; that she readily paid all taxes that were
levied, and had proven her patriotism by lending a
room in her house for a meeting of the local commit-
tee. The address concluded with a complaint of the
conduct of certain persons (Grieve and his friends)
who had recently established themselves in their midst
and set themselves to disturb the hannony and good-
feeling which had hitherto existed.
This petition they sent to the Committee of General
Security, who, after having deliberated upon it, de-
cided that there was no evidence to convict the Cito-
yenne du Barry, and directed the authorities of Seine-
et-Oise to set her at lil:>erty.
Thus the countess was saved a second time, and a
severe rebuff administered to the malignant Grieve;
but the latter was not the man to allow his victim to
escape him. On July 31 he published and circulated a
violent pamphlet, under the title of "Sham Kfjuality
(L'Egalitc coiiiroinrc) ; or Short Account of the Pro-
tection (i.e., that given by Boilcau and the authorities
348 MADAME DU BARRY
of Seine-et-Oise to the ex- favourite), containing the
documents relating- to the arrest of the Du Barry,
former mistress of Louis XV., to serve as an example
to .those over-zealous patriots who wish to save the
Republic and those moderates who understand marvel-
lously well how to ruin it." The author signed him-
self ''Grieve, dcfenscur oHficieiix of the brave sans-
culottes of Louveciennes, friend of Franklin and Ma-
rat, factious {factieiix) and anarchist of the first water,
and disorganiser of despotism for twenty years in both
hemispheres," denounced the interference of depart-
ments and committees with the course of justice, and
called loudly for the death of "the courtesan of Louve-
ciennes, the Bacchante crowned with ivy and roses.""
This pamphlet was, in due course, brought to the
notice of Madame du Barry, who was astonished to
find that it contained a number of intimate details re-
garding her private life, which could only have been
furnished the writer by a member of her household.
Her suspicions fell upon Zamor, who had been the only
one of her servants who had not been placed under
arrest after Grieve's petition to the Convention, and
she promptly ordered the treacherous and ungrateful
Hindoo to leave the house. She doubtless imagined
that she had got rid of him for good and all ; but she
was mistaken: for Zamor was to reappear to give
evidence against his benefactress before the Revolu-
tionary Tribunal.
As the days went by the attitude of Grieve and his
confederates towards the mistress of the chateau be-
came more and more menacing, and at length Madame
du Barry was forced to appeal for protection to the
administration of the department.
The administrators of Seine-et-Oise were favour-
^ A copy of this pamphlet, now very rare, is in the possession
of the British Museum.
MADAME DU BARRY 349
ably disposed towards the ex-favourite; indeed, one
of their number, named Lavallery, is commonly be-
lieved to have been in love with her; and, in answer to
her appeal, Lavallery came to Louveciennes and urged
her to remove to Versailles and place herself under the
protection of himself and his colleagues. Madame du
Barry, however, explained to him that all her jewellery
which the burglars had overlooked, her plate, and a
very large sum in cash were concealed in various parts
of the house and grounds; that the traitors Salanave
and Zamor were acquainted with her arrangements,
and that her departure would probably be the signal
for a raid, which might deprive her of a great part of
her fortune.
The visit of Lavallery to Louveciennes did not pass
unnoticed by the w-atchful Grieve, who, the very next
day. called a meeting of his club and decided to send a
deputation to Versailles, to denounce Madame du
Barry to the revolutionary committee of the commune
of the town, and to draw up, in concert with that body,
a petition to the Committee of General Security, de-
manding the arrest of her protector and two of his
colleagues."
Solicitude for the safety of her hidden treasures was
not the only reason which made Madame du Barr)'^
reluctant to quit Louveciennes at that moment ; fnwi
the following letter, which was among the papers
seized at her house, at the time of her arrest, it would
appear that she had given, or was about to give, a
third successor to Louis XV. :
"Saturday, September 7, 1793.
"I send you, my dear and affectionate friend, the
picture that you wished for, .sad and funereal present,"
'* E. .tikI J. (Ic Goncourt's La Du Harry, p. 261.
"Without doubt a portrait of Brissac.
350 MADAME DU BARRY
but I feel as much as you yourself that you ought to
desire it. In such a situation as ours, with so many
subjects of pain and grief, it is food for our melan-
choly that we seek and which becomes us beyond
everything.
"1 have sent to fetch the three portraits of you which
were at his house; they are here. I have kept one of
the small ones ; it is the original of that in which you
are wearing a chemise or white peignoir and a hat with
a plume.'" The second is a copy of that in which the
head is finished, but where the attire is only traced out ;"
neither of them are framed. The large one, by
Madame Lebrun, is delicious and a ravishing likeness :
it is a speaking portrait and infinitely pleasing ; but in-
deed I should have thought myself too indiscreet in
selecting it, and the one I am keeping is so pleasing,
so excellent a likeness, and so piquant, that I am ex-
tremely content with it and transported with happiness
at possessing it. The one begun by Letellier is only
sketched out, and the head is scarcely anything but a
rough draft, which may become a good likeness. I
have had it sent back to the painter.
"With regard to your large portrait and the one
which I am keeping, tell me, dear friend, if you wish
me to send them to you or if I ought to have them
taken back to where they came from ; in short, what
destination you intend for them. I desire nothing
more than to have one which I may carry with me and
which may never leave me. Come then, dear love, to
pass sweet days here; come and dine with me, wath
whomever you may choose; come and procure me a
few moments of happiness ; I have none save with you ;
let me have an answer to all my questions; come to
see a mortal who loves you beyond all and above all
" See p. 320 note supra.
"Ibid.
MADA:ME DU BARRY 351
until the last moment of his life. I kiss a thousand
times the portrait of the most charming woman in the
world, and whose heart, so good and so noble, merits
an eternal devotion."
This letter, now in the National Archives, is un-
signed, and there is considerable doubt as to the iden-
tity of its writer. M. Vatel is of opinion that it was ,
penned by the Due de Rohan-Chabot, a young man
some twenty years Madame du Barry's junior, to
whom the ex- favourite had, a few months previously,
advanced a large sum of money, an act which, as we
shall presently see, both she and her unfortunate bank-
ers, the Vandenyvers, who had negotiated the trans-
action, were to have good cause to rue. But the noble-
man in question was certainly not in a position to in-
vite the lady to dine with him just then, or even to
spend "a few moments of happiness" with her, as he
appears to have taken up arms against the Republic,
and had he ventured within a dozen leagues of Paris,
would most certainly have paid for his rashness with
his head. We are. therefore, inclined to think that the
Goncourts, who attribute the letter to another meml^er
of the Rohan family, the Prince de Rohan-Rochcfort.
may be nearer the mark, as the princess of that name
was an intimate friend of Madame du Barry. How-
ever, as they do not give us any reason for the con-
clusion at which they have arrived, it is probably
merely a supposition on their part.
CHAPTER XXIV
IN THE second week in September 1793, several
members of the Committee of General Security
retired, and were replaced by some of the most
fanatical and sanguinary members of the "Mountain" :
Vadier, "that odious mixture of pride, barbarity, and
cowardice," as Louis Blanc designates him ; Amar,
who had voted for the execution of Louis XVL ''sans
appel ni sursis"; and Panis, Santerre's brother-in-law.
The implacable Grieve was not slow to perceive his
opportunity, and hardly had the new members taken
their seats when he presented himself before them
with a new petition against Madame du Barry, signed
by the revolutionary committee of the commune of
Versailles.
On this occasion, his efforts were crowned with suc-
cess, and, on September 21, the Committee of General
Security issued the following decree :
"WARRANT FOR ARREST.
" Committee of General Security,
"Sitting September 21, 1793.
"The Committee decrees that the woman named
Dubarry, residing at Louveciennes, shall be arrested
and conducted to the prison of Sainte-Pelagie, to be
there detained, as a measure of general security, as a
person suspected of incivism and aristocracy. The
seals shall be placed on her effects, and perquisition
made of her papers. Those which appear suspicious
shall be brought to the Committee of General Security.
The Committee delegates the Citizen Grieve to execute
352
MADA:\IE DU BARRY 353
the present decree, and authorises him to requisition
such civil officers of justice as he may find ; armed force
if need be. Moreover, the Citizen Grieve will cause
to be arrested and conducted to Paris, to be confined
as a measure of general security in the prison of La
Force, all persons found at the house of the said Du-
barry at Louveciennes at the moment of the execution
of the present decree.
''Signed : Boucher-Saint-Sauveur,
"Amar, Vadier, Panis'"
The following day, accompanied by the mayor — •
who, poor man! must have been shaking in his shoes,
as he was one of those who had signed the pro-Du
Barry petition of the previous summer — the jiige de
paix of Marly, several officers of the municipality, and
two gendarmes. Grieve proceeded to Louveciennes, ex-
hibited his warrant to the ill-fated mistress of the
chateau, directed the juge de paix to place the seals on
the doors of the house, ordered the lady to enter a car-
riage in company with the gendarmes, and set out for
Paris.
As they were passing the hydraulic machine at Marly,
they percei\cd a cabriolet approaching, in which sat
the Chevalier d'Escourre, who was on his way to
pay Madame du Barry a visit. Although Grieve had
no authority to apprehend any one save the ex-favour-
ite and those found on her premises, he \vas not the
man to stick at trifles, and immediately ordered the
gendarmes to arrest the chevalier, whom he subse-
quently declared to have Ix^en "at the du Barry's
door,* at the moment when her arrest took place. He
* Cited in Vatcl's Hisiolre de Madame du Barry, iii. 451,
■" D'Estcourt had already arrived in a cahriolct, with a servant,
at the Dul)arry'3 door, the day of her arrest; hut having learned
what was passing in the house, fled at full speed. Our brave
sans-culottcs pursued him, and, with difficulty, caught him at the
354 MADAME DU BARRY
then removed the lady to the cabriolet, took the reins
himself, and drove lier the rest of the way to the
city.
It would indeed be interesting to know what passed
between the Englishman and the woman whose fate he
held in his hands during that drive. Did he offer her
life? as several writers seem to suppose. If he did, the
price was one which she declined to pay, for Grieve
never turned aside for a moment from his fell purpose
until the guillotine had claimed its victim.
is'
At Sainte-Pelagie, Madame du Barry found herself
in the company of many of her own sex : the celebrated
Madame Roland, who had been shut up there since
September 2 ; the wives of two other Girondin leaders,
Mesdames Brissot and Petion ; Mesdames de Crequy-
Montmorency and de Gouy; the Mesdemoiselles de
Moncrif and several actresses of the Frangais, now the
Theatre de la Nation, among them Mademoiselle Rau-
court, to whom, in the days of her favour, the coun-
tess had presented a magnificent dress.
Madame du Barry was very far from being disposed
to follow the example of calm fortitude which the
Girondin ladies set her, and on October 2 she wrote
a letter to the Administration of Seine-et-Oise, com-
plaining of the treatment she had received at the hands
of the Committee of General Security, who, after de-
claring her innocent of the charges brought against
her, had, only a few weeks later, decreed her arrest.
She pointed out that, had she desired, she could easily
have removed the most valuable part of her property
to England during her several journeys thither, and
that the fact that she had not done so was a convinc-
foot of the mountain of Bougival." — Note in Grieve's handwrit-
ing on the back of d'Escourre's acte d'accusation, cited by the
Goncourts.
MADAAIE DU BARRY 355
ing proof of her attachment to her country; and she
begged the Administration to prevent Grieve from
pUmdering her house.
The letter was without effect, for her enemy, antici-
pating her appeal to the departmental authorities, had,
a few days before obtaining the warrant for the ex-
favourite's arrest, denounced Lavallery and his two
brother-administrators to the committee of General
Security, who had ordered their apprehension ; and, on
the very day on which ]\ladame du Barry's letter was
written, the body of her protector was found floating
in the Seine above Paris. Some writers have asserted
that he was so madly enamoured of Madame du Barry
that he drowned himself on learning of her arrest; but
it would appear more probable that his death was due
to a desire to escape the ignominy of a public execu-
tion, as the warrant for his own arrest had been issued
before any steps had been taken against the lady.
However, there can be little doubt that his admiration
for the mistress of Louveciennes cost him his life.
Finding that she had nothing to hope for from the
Department, Madame du Barry appealed directly to the
Committee of General Security, to whom her friends
at Louveciennes now addressed a second petition, pray-
ing for the release of their benefactress. This seems
to have alarmed Grieve, who thereupon went to
Heron, a memljer of the Committee, who had a long-
standing feud with the Vandenyvers, Madame du Bar-
ry's bankers, and urged him to denounce them to his
colleagues as accomplices of the e.v-favourilc in her
dealings with aristocrats and emigres, by which move,
he perceived, the case against the poor woman would
be greatly strengthened. Heron needed very little per-
suasion to induce him to undertake so congenial a task;
and the unfortunate bankers were arrested and re-
moved to Saintc-Pclagie.
Memoiru — 12 \ nl. J
356 MADAME DU BARRY
\^^^ile Heron was drawing up his report against the
Vandenyvers, Grieve had received j^erniission to make
investigations at Louveciennes, where he busied him-
self in going through all the letters and papers he
could find in the chni-eau and affixing to them annota-
tions for the guidance of the prosecution. Although
the majority of these letters are of the most trivial
nature, and many anterior to the Revolution, there is
hardly one from which the malice of the scoundrel
does not succeed in extracting something to compro-
mise his victim.
Thus, on a note in which mention is made of the
Ablje Billiardi, he writes: "This Abbe Billiardi zvas
one of her most frequent visitors since the Revolution,
as zvas also the Abbe de Foyvtenille, ex-vicar of Agen,
guillotined the other day in Paris. Billiardi is dead.
These abbes were inseparable friends, and Billiardi
zi>as also an anti-revolutionist. Behold the friends of
the Diibarry!" On a letter from Madame Vigee Le-
brun, dated from Naples, in which she begs to be re-
membered to Brissac, Madame de Souza, the Portu-
guese Ambassadress, and the Marquise de Brunoi :
"Letter of the zvoman Lebrim, painter and mistress of
Calomie."
On a letter from Thellusson, the banker: "One of
the greatest London bankers, nephezv of Thellusson,
former partner of Necker and great enemy of the
Tievolution."
On a letter from Forth, a London dectective whom
Madame du Barry had employed for the recovery of
her jewels : "Proof of her connection zvith Forth, the
f anions English spy, zvho has not ceased to intrigue
against France since 1777, and particularly since the
time of Franklin. It is he and Bethune Charost zi'ho
have been the most active emissaries of the Courts of
London, Berlin, and the Hague, and it is this Forth
i^iada:\ie du barry 357
who, one may presume, has plotted zinth her at Louve-
cienncs the pretended robbery of her diamonds."
On a letter from Lord Hawkesbury,* who presents
his compliments to jMadame du Barry and will be
charmed to render her any service in his power in re-
gard to her lawsuit: "Letter zuhich proves her in-
trigues zi'ith the courtiers of George III. Lord
Hazvkesbury is the privy councillor of the tyrant, zvho
governs Pitt himself and zi'ho, for twenty years, has
really held the reins of government, although now and
again apparently in disgrace; his son is to-day the
great political courier between London and the allied
Powers in the Netherlands."
"He forces the letters to say what they do not
say, he connects certain passages with events with
which they have no connection. He imagines, he
supposes, he lies, he tortures, in short, phrases and
words to extract from them a culpability neces-
sar}' for the furtherance of his schemes and his
hatred."
On a letter from the Due de Rohan-Chabot refer-
ring to the loan of 200,000 livres which Madame du
Barry had made him, he suggests that the money was
to be used to subsidise the insurgents in La Vendee,
where the duke's estates were. A memorandum of
the expenses incurred by the countess during her stay
in London in November 1792 is endorsed with an in-
quiry if the money were not given to emigres. And a
letter from an old lady to Madame du Barry, dated T^
Meilleraic, April 9, 1793, bears the annotation:
"Remark the time what this letter zvas zirrittcn; it is
that of the treason of Dumouriec."
He details the "liberticide" books, journals, pam-
* Charles Jcnkinson, afterwards first Earl of Liverpool. He
had been created Uaron Ilawkcsliury in I78<t.
* Robert Banks Jciikiiibon, afterwards second Earl of Liverpool
358 MADAME DU BARRY
phlets, engravings, and so forth, which he has found,
amonsf which he cites the Histoirc dcs caricatures dc la
rcvoltc dcs Frangais of Boyer de Nismes ; twelve copies
of Peltier's Dernier Tableau de Paris; a translation of
Burke's work on Marie Antoinette; Epitaphe du
Variconrt, tiic a la portc de la Rcinc, which he declares
to have been written by the Abbe Dellile, "poet-in-or-
dinary of the Dubarry," and a portrait of the Comte
d'Artois/ Assisted by Salanave and Zamor, he also
collected all the jewellery, cash, and securities he could
discover, and made an exact inventory of them ; after
W'hich he drew up a list of twenty-seven witnesses, with
himself at their head, and forwarded this, together
WMth a long memorandum of the various facts to which
they were prepared to depose, to Fouquier-Tinville, the
Public Prosecutor.
On October 30 the Committee of General Security
deputed two of their number, Voulland and Jagot, to
proceed to Sainte-Pelagie and interrogate the Citoy-
enne du Barry. This interrogatory, a verbatim ac-
count of which will be found in M. Vatel's interesting
work, was a very lengthy one, but we shall confine our-
selves to the more important points of the examina-
tion.
Q. From whom did you receive while in London the
money you required for your expenses and the con-
duct of your lawsuit ?
A. From the Citizen Vandenyver, banker of Paris,
Rue Vivienne, who gave me a letter of credit on Thel-
lusson ; it was during my last journey that I rnade use
of that.
Q. Is your lawsuit concluded?
' Tribunaux rcvolutionnaires, dossier de la nominee Jeanne
Vaubernier du Barry . . . et des Vendenyver, prevenus d'intel-
Ugences et correspondances contre-rcvohitionnaires aves Ics emi-
gres: Archives nationales. E. and J. de Goncourt's La Du Barry,
pp. 273-278.
MADAME DU BARRY 359
A. ]My lawsuit was concluded on February 27, the
last day of term.
Q. \\''as not the time you were to spend in London
specified in your passport ?
A. No date was specified, and could not reasonably
be, as a lawsuit had to be concluded.
Q. During the time you were in London, decrees
were issued by the National Convention ordering all
French who had left the Republic within a certain
time to return, under pain of being regarded as
emigres and treated as such. Were you aware of
this?
A. I was aware of these decrees, but did not con-
sider that they concerned me, as I had left for a definite
reason and was provided with a passport.
Q. During your stay in London, war was declared
between the French Republic and the King of Great
Britain. Why. under these circumstances, did you not
quit the enemy's territory?
A. War was declared such a short time before my
departure,' and my case was on the point of being de-
cided. I therefore prolonged my stay, in order to
avoid a fresh journey.
She was then questioned about her loan of 200,(X)0
livres to the Due de Rohan-Chabot, which she admit-
ted, but stoutly denied that she had advanced a similar
sum to the Bishop of Rouen, and persisted in denying
all knowledge of such a transaction, though shown a
letter from the Vandenyvers referring to a proposed
loan to that prelate."
•Exactly a month. VV.ir was declared on February i. I793.
and Madame du Harry I<ft r.n«Iand on .March i.
'This was an important point, as Cardinal de la Rochefoucauld,
Bishop of Rouen, was a bitter opponent of the Revolution. He
had siRned the protest of September 21. 1791. against the in-
novations in religion made by the National Assembly, incited
his cU-TKY to resistance, and, after the events of August 10, had
tmigratcd.
J
60 MADAME DU BARRY
The letters seized at Lonveciennes and annotated by
Grieve were next produced, and the prisoner taken
throng-h them, with a twofold purpose : to make her
incriminate herself, and to ascertain particulars about
her correspondents which might be used against them
hereafter. In the latter object the questioners were
but too successful, as Madame du Bariy admitted that
the writer of a letter which contained an innocent re-
mark about Marie Antoinette was the Princess Lubo-
mirska, a member of an old Polish family, who had
come to Paris the previous year with her little
daughter; and the unhappy lady was arrested on a
charge of "conspiring to effect the escape of the widow
Capet," condemned, and executed. It also transpired
that the detective Forth — Grieve's "famous English
spy" — who had been employed by Madame du Barry
to recover her diamonds, had, before the outbreak of
war, been in the habit of conveying letters from
emigres in London to their friends in France, and that
the lady, in her turn, had been requested by a gentle-
man who had since lost his head to take charge of a
letter for Madame Calonne, which, however, she de-
clared she had not delivered.
The commissioners then proceeded to interrogate
her in regard to her relations with emigres while in
England. She admitted that she had received visits
from a few whom she had known previously, "as it
was difficult for her to close her doors to them," and
had visited them, but denied having given them money,
except small sums in two instances, and only as loans.
Shown a memorandum of her expenses during her
last visit to London and asked to explain, amongst
others, payments made to Frondeville, ex-President of
the Parliament of Rouen, and a person named Fortune,
she answered that the money had been given them "to
gamble for her," and had been repaid.
MADA]\IE DU BARRY 361
The jewel robbery at Louveciennes was the next
point raised.
Q. Was the hst of the diamonds which you had
printed correct? Did it not contain a description of
other stones besides those stolen?
A. The description was perfectly correct, with the
exception of a chain of emeralds and diamonds, which
was stolen, and which was brought to M. de Brissac
during my third visit to England. M. de Brissac gave
a hundred louis to the person who brought it to him.
Q. Did you ever entertain the idea of selling- your
diamonds, and did you not take steps for that purpose
and send them abroad? If so. when?
A. In 1789 or 1790. I applied to Vandenyver, who
sent part of them to Holland : but the price offered not
being sufficient, I withdrew the jewels from Vande-
nyver and gave him a receipt cancelling the one he
had given me.
After some further questions she was asked what
money she had in her house, and replied that she had
given instructions to her servants to conceal "eleven
bags, each containing 1200 livres, 1531 louis d'or
(which she had borrowed from the Due de Brissac to
pay the reward for her diamonds). 40 double louis,
and some English half-guineas. She was. however,
in ignorance where her people had hidden the money.
The last question put to her was in reference to the
shelter she had given to the Abbe de la Roche-Fonten-
ille, nephew of the Abbess of Pont-aux-Dames. She
admitted that she had given the al)lje a room at Louve-
ciennes, "as a return for the kindness which his .-unit
had shown her," but she had not seen him since Sep-
tember F792, and did not know what had become of
him.
At this the inquisitors must have smiled grimly, for
the poor Abbe de la I\ochc-l''ontcnille had been dcs-
Z62 MADAIVIE DU BARRY
patched to another world, by way of the Place de la
Revolution, three days previously.
Two days later (Brumaire ii), the elder Vande-
nyver was examined, and questioned very closely as to
the money he had furnished to Madame du Barry
while in England, and particularly in regard to the
supposed loan of 200,000 livres to the Bishop of
Rouen. He admitted paying tlie sum in question, on
his client's instructions, to a person who had called at
the bank for the money, but declared that he had never
seen the man before, and could not say "positively" if
it was intended for the bishop.^
On Brumaire 29 (November 19) the Committee of
General Security issued the following decree:
*' 29 Brumaire Year II. of the French Republic one and
indivisible.
"The Committee of General Security having taken
cognisance of the various documents found at the
house of the Du Barry, placed under arrest as a meas-
ure of general security as a suspected person, by the
terms of the decree of September 17 last," and being
of opinion that the said documents show that the
woman Du Barry has been guilty of emigration and of
having, during the sojourn which she made in London
from the month of October 1792 to the month of
March last, furnished to emigres who have sought
refuge there pecuniary assistance, and carried on with
them a suspicious correspondence, decrees that the said
Du Barry shall be transferred to the Revolutionary
Court, to be there prosecuted and judged by the Pub-
lic Prosecutor.'""
* Vatel's Histoire de Madame du Barry, iii. 221, et seq.
^ Evidently an error. The warrant for her arrest was issued
September 21.
^"Dossier du Barry: Archives nationales. E. and J. de Gon-
court's La Du Barry, p. 280.
MADAME DU BARRY 363
Three davs later, Madame du Barrv was broue:ht
from Sainte-Pelag-ie. where she had already spent two
weary months, to the Palais de Justice, and interro-
gated by Robespierre's henchman, the brutal Dumas,
vice-president of the Revolutionary Court, in the pres-
ence of the Public Prosecutor and the clerk to the
court. Dumns asked her a great many questions al.)out
the sums she had squandered during her favour, the
extent of her influence over Louis X\'., the gratifica-
tions and pensions she had obtained for her friends,
and so forth. PTe then declared his belief that the
jewel robbery and the lawsuit were only pretexts to
conceal a political secret, and that she had "conspired
against the Republic."" Madame du Barry contented
herself with a siiriple denial, and was then taken back
to Sainte-Pelagie. whence she addressed the following
letter to the Public Prosecutor :
Madame du Barry to Fouquier-Tinville.
"Citizen Public Prosecutor, — I hope that thou,
in the impartial examination of this unhappy affair
that Grieve and his confederates have brought against
me. wilt see that I am the victim of a plot to ruin
me.
"I never emigrated, and T never intended to.
"The use that I made of the two hundred thousand
livres that d'Kscourre placed for me with the Citizen
Rohan" should prove this to the most prejudiced
eyes.
"f never furnished money to the rmigrcs. and T
never carried on any criminal correspondence with
them; and if circumstances compelled me to see. either
in London r)r in I'Vance. coiu'ticrs or persons who were
" Vatd's Ilistnirc dc Madame du Barry, iii. 241.
"The Due dc Rolian-CIiabot.
364 MADAME DU BARRY
not in sympathy with the Revohition, I hope, Citizen
Pubhc Prosecutor, that thou wilt, in the justice and
equity of thine heart, take into consideration the cir-
cumstances in which I found myself, and my known
and forced liaison with the Citizen Brissac," whose
correspondence is before thine eyes.
"I rely on thy justice : thou canst rely on the eternal
gratitude of thy consitoyenne (sic)."^
The estimable Fouquier was not quite so well known
at this period as he became in the following spring,
when the star of Robespierre was in the ascendant and
the guillotine was mowing down Royalists and Hebert-
ists and Dantonists at the rate of a hundred a week, or
poor Madame du Barry would have been aware that
she had no mercy to expect at his hands. He threw
her appeal unread into a portfolio in which he kept
the letters and papers he did not wish to attend to, and,
harassed as he was by the importunities of Grieve,
hurried on the trial. On December 4, the ex-favourite
" It is not clear what Madame du Barry meant by her forced
liaison with Brissac, and M. Vatel is of opinion that, in her hurry
and agitation, she must have omitted several words.
" Cited in Memoir es de Favrolle, iv. 122.
" In his Memoires, Dutens relates the following anecdote, h
propos of Madame du Barry's imprisonment at the Concier-
gerie :
" Shortly before the Comtesse du Barry was guillotined, on
December 8, 1793, an Irish priest found means to visit her at the
Conciergerie and offered to save her, provided she could give
him the amount which would be required for bribing the gaolers
and paying the expenses connected with the journey. She in-
quired if he could save two persons; but he replied that his plan
would only permit him to save one. ' In that case,' said Madame
du Barry, ' I am willing to give you an order on my banker
which will enable you to obtain the necessary amount ; but I pre-
fer you to save the Duchesse de Mortemart rather than myself.
She is hidden in a garret of such and such a house in Calais;
here is an order on my banker; fly to her help.' The priest en-
treated her to allow him to rescue her from the prison ; but, on
perceiving that she was resolved to save the duchess, took the
order, obtained the money, went to Calais, and brought the
MADAI^IE DU BARRY 365
was transferred from Sainte-Pelaofie to the Concier-
g-erie, "the threshold of the scaffold." the walls of
which were still stained with the blood of the victims
of the September Massacres " and, at nine o'clock on
the morning of the 6th, she and the three \'ande-
nyvers were brought before the Revolutionary Court.
duchess out of her hiding place. Then, having disguised her as
a common woman, he gave her his arm, and travelled with
her on foot, saying that he was a good constitutional priest
and married to this woman. Every one cried ' Bravo,' and al-
lowed him to pass. He then crossed the French lines at Ostcnd,
and embarked for Enq:land with Madame de Alortemart, whom
I have since seen in London." — Memoires d'un voyagcur qui se
repose, iii. 115.
M. Forneron, in his Hisfoire gfnfrale des Emigres, and the
Goncourts, in their La Dti Barry, accept this story; but M. Vatcl,
in spite of his strong predilection for Madame du Barry, declines
to place any faith in it. at least in its original form. In the first
place, he points out, the lady's banker was, like herself, under
lock and key, and, in the second, escape from the Conciergerie
was absolutely impossible. On the other hand, a Madame de
Mortemart — not the duchess, but her sister-in-law — does appear to
have been in hiding at Calais at this time, and he therefore thinks
that what really happened was that the priest in question having,
like a gallant Irishman, offered to attempt the impossililc on
behalf of the poor ladv, she replied: "You cannot save me; try
to save Madame de Mortemart." Even in this modified form,
however, the anecdote still reflects credit on Madame du Barry.
CHAPTER XXV
THE Revolutionary Court, which had been
created in the previous March, in spite of the
strenuous opposition of the Girondins, to judge
without appeal conspirators against the State, still re-
tained all the forms of justice — it was not until June
1794 that the hearing of counsel and calling of wit-
nesses were dispensed with — but its proceedings were,
in the great majority of cases, a hollow farce. The
judges were appointed from the ranks of the most
ruthless Terrorists, the jurymen, nominated by the
Convention, were all "gens d' expedition," while, as to
give evidence on behalf of an accused person was to
incur the danger of sharing his fate, witnesses for the
defence could with difficulty be induced to come for-
ward. Appalling indeed is the record of the Revolu-
tionary Court. From the time of its institution in
March 1793 to its reorganisation on June 10 of the
following year it condemned to death 1259 persons,
and after June 18. 1794, in seven weeks it sent 1368
persons to the guillotine.^
Such was the tribunal before which Madame du
Barry and the Vandenyvers appeared that dark Decem-
ber morning. Dumas occupied the president's seat,,
assisted in his deliberations by three other judges,
David, Denisot, and Bravet; the infamous Fouquier,
of course, prosecuted; while upon the jury were
Topino-Lebrun, the painter, Robespierre's satellite,
* For a full account of this famous — or rather infamous — court,
see M. Henri Wallon's fine work, Histoire du Tribunal rcvolu-
tionnaire (Paris: 1880-1882, 6 volumes).
366
MADAME DU BARRY 367
Payan, and Sambat and Trinchard, \vho had been
members of the jury which had condemned Marie An-
toinette. Chauveau-Lagarde.who had defended Brissot,
Charlotte Corday, and the Queen, represented the
Vandenyvers ; Lafleuterie, Madame du Barry.
The Bulletin du Tribunal rcvolutioiiuairc contains
no account of the trial, but we have, in its place, a
document of incontestable value in the shape of the
notes taken by Fouquier-Tinville, who wrote with ex-
traordinary rapidity, and jotted down all the answers
given — he did not trouble to transcribe the questions — •
and has also left us a verbatim copy of his own
speeches for the prosecution.
The jury having been sworn, the president turned to
the accused and demanded their names, ages, profes-
sions, and places of birth and residence, to which they
gave the following answers :
"Jeanne Vaubernier, separated wife of Du Barry,
aged forty-two years,' born at Vaucouleurs, residing
at Louveciennes."
"Jean Baptiste Vandenyver, aged sixty-six. banker,
born at Amsterdam, residing at Paris, Rue Vivicnne."
"Edme Jean Baptiste Vandenyver, aged twenty-nine,
banker, born at Paris, residing in the same street."
"Antoine Auguste Vandenyver, aged thirty-two,
banker, born at Paris, residing here, also in the Rue
Vivicnne."
The grcfticr then read the indictment, and Fouquier
rose to open the attack.
After detailing the various steps which had been
taken against the accused, the seizure of their papers,
their interrogatories, and so forth, anrl a piquant ac-
count of the career of Madame du Barry at the Court
of Louis XV.. the prosecutor declared that the exami-
nation of the documents found at Louveciennes proved
•She was, of course, fifty, having been born August 29, 1743.
368 MADAME DU BARRY
that "tlie Aspasia of the French Sardanapalus" had
been the instrument and accompHce of emigres, and
the support and protector of those aristocrats who had
remained in France; and he mentioned the unfortu-
nate Abbe de la Roche-Fontenille as having found an
asylum with her. He declared that, in her desire to
render assistance to the emigres, she had invented a
robbery of diamonds in the night of January lo-ii,
1791 ;' that this pretended robbery was a pretext con-
cocted with Forth, an English agent, to place her in
communication with all the anti-Revolutionary agents
in London ; that during her four visits to London she
had lived only with emigres and English aristocrats
hostile to the Revolution, particularly with "the in-
famous Pitt, that implacable enemy of the human
race," and that she had brought back with her "a
medal bearing the effigy of the monster." He declared
that her purse was at the disposal of all the rebels in
France ; that she had advanced a sum of 200,000 livres
to Rohan-Chabot, possessor of large estates in La
Vendee, "the present centre of rebellion"; 200,000
livres to La Rochefoucauld, former Bishop of Rouen,
and large amounts to the Chevalier d'Escourre, his
nephew, Labondie, and other disaffected persons. He
declared that it had been her intention to make her
house into "a little stronghold," which was proved by
the fact that several guns had been found upon the
premises. Fie spoke of the treasures which she had
concealed and of the collection of anti-revolutionary
pamphlets and engravings discovered at Louveciennes ;
declared that she had worn mourning in London for
'When Fouquier said this, he lied deliberately, as he had before
him all the proofs of the robbery, and, in particular, a deposition
of the spy Blache, admitting that he had seen the stolen jewels
at the Lord Mayor's Court in London, no doubt when the jew-
eller Rouen was identifying them. This fact, needless to say,
v/as not disclosed at the trial.
MADAME DU BARRY 369
the late King, and had carried on a constant corre-
spondence with the most bitter enemies of the Repub-
lic: Calonne, Brissac, Maussabre, Mortemart, Nar-
bonne, and many others.
Passing to the Vandenyvers. he described them as
the intermediaries between the Du Barry and the
emigres. He accused them of having sent the dia-
monds of the Du Barry to Holland; of having pro-
vided her during her visits to England with several let-
ters of credit, one for £50,000 and another "for an
unlimited amount" ; of having advanced the loans for
Rohan-Chabot and La Rochefoucauld, and all the
money wherewith their client had provided the emigres.
He declared that they had been "at all times the ene-
mies of France," and in 1782 had been concerned in
a vast plot to ruin the credit of the country and "per-
petuate the slavery of the French," and ended by ac-
cusing them of being "chcvalxcrs du poignard," and
of having co-operated "in the massacre of the people."*
He then proceeded to call his witnesses, beginning
with Grieve, who deposed that he had found, hidden in
various parts of the chateau and grounds at Lx)uve-
ciennes, a quantity of precious stones, gold and silver,
portraits of Louis XV. (as a Carmelite friar), Anne
of Austria, and the Regent d'Orleans, and a medal
bearing the likeness of Pitt. He added that an En-
glish spy, named Forth, made frequent journeys be-
tween London and Louveciennes, previous to the out-
break of war; that the general opinion in the village
was that the robbery had never taken place ; and that
the accused had obtained her passports under false
pretences, as so far from her jewels being the only
* Apparently, the only founflatinn for this last charge was a
statement of Iltroii that the ciflcr VainUiiyx rr had (iri-d at him
with a gun during the disturhanccs which followed the storming
of the Tuilcrics on August lO, 1792.
370 MADAME DU BARRY
security of her creditors, as she had stated in her let-
ter to the President of the Convention/ she was pos-
sessed of ''immense treasures, valued at ten to twelve
million livres," lived in most luxurious style, and kept
forty servants. He also stated that she had placed
obstacles in the way of recruiting at Louveciennes,
and gave evidence concerning the papers found at her
house.
Xavier Audouin, attached to the Ministry of War,
deposed that some days after the events of August lo,
1792, while patrolling with an armed force the en-
virons of Saint-Germain-en-Laye, information was
brought him that the Chateau de Louveciennes was
"full of ci-dezwit noblemen of the Court" ; that he had
repaired thither and questioned the mistress of the
house, who offered him refreshments and denied that
there was any person concealed on her premises ; that,
her manner appearing to him suspicious, he had broken
into a room, which she had assured him was a linen-
closet, and found there Maussabre, Brissac's aide-de-
camp, whom he arrested and removed to prison.
Jean Baptiste Blache, commissary of the Committee
of General Security, stated that he formerly resided in
London, where he had seen the accused in the com-
pany of various emigres and the supposed English spy,
Forth. After the death of "Capet," the Du Barry
wore mourning, "avec le pins grand faste anglais,"
and attended all the memorial services.
Dumas, vice-president: "What answer have you to
make to the evidence of this witness?"
Madame du Barry: "I wish to say that I certainly
saw in London Mesdames de Calonne and Mortemart,
but that our relations were merely those of friendship."
Dumas: "Did you wear mourning in London for
Capet?"
* See p. 339, supra.
MADAAIE DU BARRY 371
Madame dii Barry: "I wore a black dress, because
I had brought dresses of no other colour with
me.'"
The next witness was a friend, the Chevalier
d'Escourre. who was brought up from La Force, and
courageously endeavoured to take upon himself the
responsibility of the loan to Rohan-Chabot, stating
that, being aware that Madame du Barry was desirous
of finding an investment for the money, he had sug-
gested the mortgage in question.'
When the chevalier had concluded his evidence,
Fouquier-Tinville rose and demanded that the witness
should be at once removed from La Force to the Con-
ciergerie and brought to trial. His request was grant-
ed, and poor d'Escourre, condemned for "practising
machinations against the Republic," was executed on
December it.
Then commenced the evidence of the treacherous
servants and the other witnesses whom Grieve had
recommended.
The thievish Salanave. now a member of the revolu-
tionary committee of \^crsaillc?, spoke to the visits of
Brissac, Lal>ondie, d'Escourre, the ]\Iarquise de Bru-
noy, and other aristocrats to Louveciennes. and added
that, "in his quality of patriot," he had l:)€en badly
treated by his fellow servants, and, finally, dismissed
by his mistress.
Madame clu Barry, when asked if she had anything
to say to the evidence just given, informed the court
that the dismissal of Salanave was due. not to his
political opinions, Init to his unfortunate weakness for
her porcelain, "which disappeared daily."
•This was no doubt true, as she was in mourninp for P.rissac.
'It should he mentioned that the loan to Rohan-CIialiot was a
duly executed mort^ajs'e on the duke's estates in P.rittany, hear-
ing interest at four and a half per cent., and that the court had
the deed in its possession.
Z72 MADAME DU BARRY
Louis-Benolt Zamor, native of Bengal, stated that he
had been brought up by the accused since the age of
eleven ; that her house was frequented by aristocrats,
who rejoiced openly over the checks which the armies
of the Republic sustained; that he had remonstrated
with the accused on the folly and wickedness of her
conduct ; but that, so far from following his sage coun-
sels, she had, on learning of his connection with Grieve,
Blache, and other patriots, "informed him, in an im-
perious tone, that she gave him three days to leave
her house."*
Jean Thenot, schoolmaster at Louveciennes, formerly
in the service of Madame du Barry, deposed that, in
1789, at the time of the murder of Foulon, he had
heard the accused declare that the people were "a pack
of wretches and villains."
The Accused, interrupting the ivitness: "Where did
you hear me make such a remark?"
The Witness: "It was while going to your melon-
house."
The Accused: The charge is false ; it is an atrocious
lie."
Two of Madame du Barry's femmes-de-chamhre
were the next witnesses, one of whom stated that she
had accompanied her mistress on her visits to London,
and that while there she was frequently visited by
French emigres; while the other declared that the
night after the arrest of Brissac was spent by the ac-
cused in burning papers.
Madame du Barry gave a flat denial to this last
allegation, after which the court adjourned till the fol-
lowing day.
'Zamor's treachery did not benefit him much. Soon after the
trial he was arrested as an accomplice of the woman he had
denounced, and, though released, appears to have led a wretched
existence. He died in great poverty in 1820.
MADAME DU BARRY 373
On December 7 (Frimaire 17), further witnesses
for the prosecution were called, the most important of
whom was one Nicholas Fournier, surveyor of build-
ings, and formerly juge dc paix for the canton of
Marly, who deposed that he had examined the articles
found by Grieve in various parts of the grounds of
the accused, and that amongst them were a watch-
chain, an opera-glass, and a pencil-case, all of which
objects had been advertised as forming part of the
property stolen on the night of January 10. 1791.
This evidence, of course, went to strengthen the con-
tention of the prosecution that the robbery had never
taken place; but Madame du Barry explained to the
court that the objects in question had been sold by the
thieves ere leaving France, and subsequently restored
to her.
Of evidence for the defence there was none. Two
important witnesses had been summoned : Boilcau,
who had suspended IMadame du Barry's arrest in the
previous June, and Chaillau, a member of the admin-
istration of Versailles; but both, by a curious coinci-
dence, were confined to their beds by severe illness,
and sent certificates of their inability to attend, much,
we may presume, to the chagrin of the amiable Fou-
quier, who had no doubt hoped to make them incrim-
inate themselves.* Lafleutcrie for Madame du Barry,
and Chauveau-Lagarde for the Vandenyvers'" "com-
bated vigorously" (according to the latter advocate's
account) the charges against their clients, and then
Fouquier rose to reply, and in the grotescjue jargon
• E. and J. de Goncourt's La Du Barry, p. 309.
" In the course of some questions put to the elder Vandcnyver
by Dumas, it transpired tliat the letter of credit " for an unlim-
ited amount " mentioned by Fouquier in his opening speech, was
a request to Thcllusson to furnish Madame du Barry with "any
small sums" which she might happen to require. The letter of
credit ff>r £5o.rx)0 had no existence, save in the imagination of
the Public rrosccutor.
374 MADAME DU BARRY
Avhicli at this period passed for eloquence proceeded to
harangue the admiring jury as follows :
"Citizen Jurors, — You have passed sentence on the
wife of the last tyrant of the French; you have now to
pass sentence on the courtesan of his infamous prede-
cessor. You see before you this Lais celebrated by the
deprivation of her morals, the publicity and the scan-
dal of her debaucheries, whom libertinage alone en-
abled to share the destinies of the despot who sacrificed
the blood and treasure of his people to his shameful
pleasures. The scandal and opprobrium of her eleva-
tion, the turpitude and disgrace of her infamous pros-
titution, are not, however, matters to which you must
now give your attention. You have to decide if this
Messalina," born among the people, enriched by the
spoils of the people, who paid for the opprobrium of
her morals, fallen by the death of the tyrant from the
position in which crime alone had placed her, has con-
spired against the liberty and the sovereignty of the
people ; if, after being the accomplice and the instru-
ment of the libertinage of kings, she has become the
agent of tyrants, nobles, and priests against the French
Republic. The trial, citizen jurors, has already thrown
the clearest light on this conspiracy. You know what
revelations the depositions of the witnesses and the
documents have furnished concerning this execrable
conspiracy, to which the annals of nations can afford
no parallel ; and assuredly never has an affair of more
importance been presented for your decision, since it
offers you, in a fashion, the principal link in the plots
of Pitt and his accomplices against France.
"... Such, citizen jurors, is the result of the trial
w'hich has taken place. It is for you, in your wisdom,
"Fouquier had at first written "fcmme"; but he struck it out
and substituted the name of the Roman Empress. He had al-
ready compared Madame du Barry to both Aspasia and Lais !
MADA^IE DU BARRY 375
to weigh the evidence. You see that royahsts, feder-
ahsts, all the factions, though divided among them-
selves in appearance, have all the same centre, the
same object, the same end. The war abroad, that in
La Vendee, the troubles in the South, the insurrection
in the Department of Calvados, all have the same prin-
ciple and the same head ... all march under the
orders of Pitt. But the veil which covered so many
iniquities has been, in some degree, lifted — one may
say to-day that it has been rent asunder — and nothing
remains for the conspirators, save disgrace and the
punishment of their infamous plots. Yes, Frenchmen,
we swear it ; the traitors shall perish, and liberty alone
survive. She has resisted and will resist all the efforts
of the allied despots, their slaves, their priests, and
their infamous courtesans. . . . The vile conspirafrice
who stands before you was able to live in the lap of
luxury, acquired by her shameful debauchery, i^i the
midst of a country which appeared to have buried,
with the tyrant whose companion she had been, the
remembrance of her prostitution and the scandal of
her elevation. But the liberty of the people was a
crime in her eyes; she required it to be enslaved, to
cringe to its masters, and the best of the substance of
the people was consecrated to her pleasures. This
example, joined to many others, proves more and
more that lil)crtinage and evil morals are the greatest
enemies of liberty and the happiness of peoples. In
striking with the sword of the Law a Mcssalina
guilty of a cons])iracy against the country, not only
will you avenge the Republic for licr outrages upon
it. but you will uproot a public scandal and strengthen
the empire of that morality which is the chief founda-
tion of the liberty of peoples."
I'^oufiuicr, unfortunately, did not lliiiik- it wortli
while to take down Dumas's summing-up; but, from
3/6 MADAME DU BARRY
a memorandum left by Chauveau-Lagarde, we learn
that the charges against Madame du Barry which the
jury were called upon to consider, were as follows:
"Accused of conspiring against the French Republic
and having favoured the success of the arms of the
enemies in its territory by procuring for them ex-
orbitant sums in her journeys to England, where she
herself emigrated.
"W^earing, in London, mourning for the late
King.
"Living habitually with Pitt, whose effigy she wore
on a silver medal.
"Having caused to be burled at Louveciennes the
letters of nobility of an emigre and also the busts of
the former Court.
"And, finally, having wasted the treasures of the
State by the unbridled extravagance in which she had
indulged before the Revolution, during her commerce
with Louis XV."
The Vandenyvers were charged with being "the ac-
complices of her machinations."
It was a quarter to ten at night when the jury re-
tired to consider their verdict.
They were absent from court an hour and a quarter
— fifteen minutes longer than they had required to de-
cide upon the fate of Marie Antoinette — and, on their
re-entry, returned "an affirmative answer" on all
counts of the indictment against the former favourite,
and the same in regard to the charge against the
bankers.
Fouquier at once demanded the full penalty of the
law ; and "the court condemned Jeanne Vaubernier,
wife of Du Barry, ci-dcvant courtesan ; Jean Baptiste
Vandenyver, Edme Jean Baptiste Vandenyver, and
Antoine Auguste Vandenyver to the penalty of death,
and ordered that the present sentence should be exe-
MADAME DU BARRY m
cuted within twenty-four hours on the Place de la
Revolution of this town.""
The wretched woman heard the terrible sentence
with cries of despair, and was carried back to the
Conciergerie in a half-conscious condition. It has
been stated that, in the hope of obtaining a respite,
perhaps even a commutation of her sentence, she de-
nounced at random a great number of persons; and
Louis Blanc, in his Histoire de la Revolution frangaise,
has gone so far as to give us the exact total of her vic-
tims, which he places at two hundred and forty T
Such an assertion, we need hardly observe, is a mere
fable, and quite unworthy to find a place in an authori-
tative work. What poor Madame du Barry actually
did was to purchase a few short hours of life by re-
vealing to Denisot and Claude Roger, the deputy-
Public Prosecutor, the whereabouts of a considerable
quantity of gold and silver plate and jewellery, which
she had concealed in her garden, and which had hither-
to escaped the prying eyes of Grieve" and his confed-
erates. In so doing, she, unfortunately, admitted that
in concealing certain articles she had been assisted by
her faithful valet-de-chainhre, Morin, and a woman
called Deliant; and the former was subsequently
"Of the judicial murderers of Madame du Barry, four per-
ished by the guillotine within eighteen months, Dumas and Payan
sharing the fate of Robespierre, in the folowing July, while tire
Public Prosecutor and another member of the jury, named
Vilate, followed them to the scaffold in May 1795. Topino-
Lebrun, who took notes of the evidence which are preserved in
the Archives, was involved in a conspiracy against the life of
Napoleon, and executed on January 7, i8or.
" Vol. X. p. 236.
"This miscreant appears to have continued his denunciations
until some months after the fall of Robespierre, when he was
arrested at Amiens and twenty-two depositions taken against him.
He was, however, acquitted, and in 1796 returned to y\incrica,
where he published a translation of the Marquis fie Cbatelhix's
Travels. Eventually, he settled in Brussels, and died in that
city on February 22, 1809.
3;8 MADAME DU BARRY
broug-ht to trial and executed, while the latter, whose
husband, arrested with her, had died in prison, com-
mitted suicide. Morin, however, was already in cus-
tody, and would, very probably, have shared his un-
happy mistress's fate in any case.
For three hours a clerk was occupied in taking down
the inventory of the hidden treasure, for every word
she spoke added a second to her life; and the declara-
tion terminated with an offer to write to London for
her jewels, if such were the desire of the Court, "as
she could without difficulty recover the property of
which she had been robbed, on payment of the costs
of the action."'^
But those men, "drunk with the blood of a King,"
were pitiless; she who had been so merciful to others
could obtain none herself — in this world at least — and
scarcely had the poor lady, with trembling fingers,
affixed her signature to the declaration than a gaoler
entered to cut her hair and inform her that the tumbril
— "the bier of the living," as Barrere cynically called it
— was at the door.
On the way to the scaffold, whither she was accom-
panied by the Vandenyvers and Jean Noel, the brave
and upright deputy for the Vosges, whose opposition
to the Terrorists had cost him his life," Madame du
Barry displayed, we are told, great cowardice, though
authorities differ as to the form which this cowardice
took. Accordinp^ to the sensational account given by
" Madame du Barry's jewels remained in Ransom's bank until
the end of the following year, when they were sold by order of
the Court of Chancery. The proceeds of the sale, which realised
13,300 guineas, appear to have been paid over to her niece,
Madame de Boissaisson, and some of the countess's creditors.
" It was Jean Noel who declined to vote at the trial of Louis
XVI., on the ground that, as his son had fallen in a war for
which he regarded the King as being directly responsible, he
could not hope to be an impartial judge.
MADAME DU BARRY 379
the Goncourts. which is based on some Souvenirs of
the Revolution pubhshed in La Nouvclle Mincrz'a, she
uttered heartrending cries, offered to give all her
Avealth to the nation in return for her life — it had al-
ready been confiscated by decree of the Revolutionary
Court — implored the bystanders to save her, and strug-
gled so violently that the executioner and his two as-
sistants had the greatest difficulty in preventing her
springing from the cart. On the other hand, the
account given in The Gentlcvian's Magazine for 1793
represents her as having been in a state of such pros-
tration that "the executioner was under the necessity
of supporting her in his arms the whole way;" while
it is to be remarked that the Terrorist journals. Le
Glaive vengeur, Les Revolutions de Paris, and the rest,
though ever ready to gloat over the sufferings of the
condemned, make no mention of any such scene as the
one described by the Goncourts.
Alx)ut her behaviour when actually upon the scaffold
there is more unanimity of opinion. Then she is de-
scribed as resisting the executioners with all her feeble
strength, and when overcome and forced on to the
plank, entreating them not to hurt her, and begging
fcr "one moment more." "
*'' Here is an account of the trapcdy, which, though second-
hand evidence, bears the unmistakaljle stamp of truth:
" I was well acquainted with a French gentleman, recently dead,
who was an involuntary witness of the execution [of ^ladame
du Barry], and who has often given me details of it. He
was then a lad of about seventeen, and had been riding with
a friend of his in the environs of Paris. On their return through
the Champs Elysees, they found themselves in the Place Louis
XV. [Place de la Revolution, ct-dcvanf T.ouis XV.] surrounded
by a dense mob and the guillotine in full operation. His first
impulse was to spur his horse and avoid the Imrrid siRht, but
ho was checked by his friend, who was more prudent and alive
to the danger, for the crowd had alrcarly br^un to tjrunible and
to cry 'Garc aux aristocrats! ' So they were fnrcrd to pull up
their horses and remain silent si)ectators of the horrid tragedy,
lie saifl her shrieks were dreadful to bear; she strut'i;led with
3So MADAME DU BARRY
But the fall of the fatal knife put an end to her
anguish, and to the long line of left-hand queens of
France."
the executioners, and they were near enough to hear her ex-
claim, 'Ah, Monsieur, tie faites pas du mat,' or ' Vous allez me
faire du mal' — he was not sure which. The scene over, they
were forced to take off their hats and shout with the rest, ' Vive
la Rcpublique!' It was not without difficulty that they got safe
to their homes. He soon afterwards entered the army and so
escaped ; he told me he had often since dreamt of the cries. He
had no vivid recollection of her person." — Manuscript of John
Riddell, cited by Cunningham in his edition of Horace Walpole's
Letters.
*® About five weeks after Madame du Barry had been guillo-
tined in Paris, the "iRouS" was executed at Toulouse. After his
f^isrht from Paris, in May 1774, Jean du Barry had resided at
Toulouse, where Arthur Young, the celebrated traveller, found
him living in opulence, and was so charmed with a portrait of
his sister-in-law which he saw at his house that he felt he could
pardon Louis XV. his infatuation for such a beauty. When the
Revolution came, the "RouS" embraced the new ideas and raised
and equipped an armed force, of which he was appointed second
colonel. Having got into debt, however, he was obliged to hide
from his creditors, and was denounced as an intended emigre. At
his trial, he refused to plead, remarking that the few years left
him to live — ^he was then about seventy — ^were not worth arguing
about He died with courage and resignation.
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