By this time, however, she had made up her mind to marry an homme de qualit, who belonged to the court. What she then wished was to marry a certain M. de la Popelinire, whom she thought combined the advantages she desired, though he was nothing more illustrious than a fermier gnral, besides being an old man. However, her admiration [360] was not sufficiently returned for him to be of the same opinion.
IN 1779 Mme. Le Brun painted for the first time the portrait of the Queen, then in the splendour of her youth and beauty.M. de Montagu returns to ParisM. de BeauneRichmondDeath of NomiAix-la-ChapelleEscape of the Duc dAyen and Vicomte de NoaillesLa Fayette arrested in AustriaThe HagueCrossing the MeuseMargateRichmondHardships of povertyBrusselsLetter from Mme. de TessJoins her in SwitzerlandMurder of M. and Mme. de MouchyGoes to meet the Duc dAyenHe tells her of the murder of her grandmother, Mme. de Noailles, her mother, the Duchesse dAyen, and her eldest sister, the Vicomtesse de NoaillesMme. de la Fayette still in prison.
FORE:The career of Jeanne Vaubernier, Comtesse Du Barry, was a most extraordinary one. Her father was a workman, and she, after being a milliners apprentice for some years, lived under the name of Mlle. Lange, in a house of bad fame, where she became the mistress of Count Jean Du Barry, who in 1769 presented her to Louis XV., who was deeply fascinated by her wonderful beauty, and over whom, after having gone through the form of marriage with the brother of Jean Du Barry, she reigned supreme during the remainder of his life. But her day of power and splendour was only a short one, for the King died five years afterwards (1774), when she was, of course, immediately obliged to leave the court and live in retirement; probably much sooner than she expected, for Louis XV. was only sixty-three when he fell a victim to small-pox. The twelve years had been spent in her chateau, where the Duc de Brissac took the place of his royal predecessor.CHAPTER IV
FORE:The year after the marriage Louis XV. died, but Louis XVI. would not depart from the attitude his grandfather had assumed, with regard to the morganatic marriage of the Duc dOrlans.
ONE:When the twin daughters of the Duc de Chartres were five years old, one of them caught the measles, got a chill and died, to the great grief of the Duchess and the remaining twin, Madame Adla?de dOrlans. One day the Duc de Chartres came to consult Flicit, as he was in the habit of doing on all occasions; and on this one he confided to her that he could not find a tutor he liked for his boys, that they were learning to speak like shop boys, and that he wished she would undertake their education as well as that of their sister; to which she agreed. It was arranged that the Duke should buy a country house at Belle Chasse, where they should spend eight months of the year; the Duchesse agreed to the plan, all was settled, and Mme. de Genlis embarked on the career of education, [402] which had always been a passion with her, and which she could now pursue with every advantage.
TWO:
THREE:Quite another sort of woman was the Duchesse de Fleury, with whom Lisette formed an intimate friendship. The Duchess, ne Aime de Coigny, was a true type of the women of a certain set at the old French court, and her history was one [98] only possible just at the time in which it took place.
FORE:With Talleyrand she had always been on friendly terms.
In all those terrible days she was the only woman whose courage failed at the last. She cried and entreated for help from the crowd around the scaffold, and that crowd began to be so moved by her terror and despair that the execution was hurried on lest they should interfere to prevent it.Her mother, brother, and sister-in-law, to all of whom she was strongly attached, were in France, and she was anxious to see them; so, with deep regret and many tears, she left Rome and turned her steps northward, of course with her child and governess.David, Chardin, the celebrated genre painter, Van Loo, Grard, La Tour, Joseph Vernet, and many others were flourishing. Louis Vige was also an artist. He painted portraits in pastel, of which his daughter says that they were extremely good, many of them worthy of the famous La Tour; also charming scenes after the style of Watteau, in oil.
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