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PRICE, 25 CENTS. 
 
 TI S STORY OF 
 
 Madam Du Barry. 
 
 Translated from the French by GEORGE MGREHEAD. 
 
 .,..fj.s~^X 
 
 m M 
 
 fWS^^ 
 
 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 
 
 MADAM DU BARRY ON HER WAY TO THE GUILLOTINE. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 
 J. S. OGILVIE PUBLISHING COMPANY, 
 
 57 Rose Street. 
 
tf •«■ 
 
 MADAME DU BARRY, 
 
THE STORY OF ^•^'^ 
 
 MADAM DU BARRY. 
 
 THE MISTRESS OF A KING. 
 
 From the French of 
 
 JEAN DE LA HIRE. 
 
 Translated by George Morehead. 
 
 Copyright, 1901, by J. S. Ogilvie Publishing Company. 
 
 
 New York ; 
 
 J. S. OGILVIE PUBLISHING COMPANY, 
 
 57 Rose Street. 
 
DC/35 
 
 The library of 
 
 0ONGRES3, 
 
 Two Copies Received 
 
 NOV, 23 190f 
 
 Copyright entry 
 CLASS CMCXa No. 
 
 a £? i^ / 
 
 COPY a 
 
 s r e 
 o e f * 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Mrs. Leslie Carter, the favorite Ameri- 
 can actress, having selected Madame du 
 Barry as the central figure of her new play, 
 the story of her life and adventures be- 
 comes a topic of interest to American read- 
 ers. 
 
 Heretofore, no book upon the subject has 
 been available to English readers, and this 
 translation from a recent French work is 
 designed to supply that want. 
 
 The brilliancy, the extravagance and 
 wickedness of the court of Louis XV. have 
 been a matter of wonder to succeeding gen- 
 erations; and the grace and beauty of the 
 ladies, combined with the wit and elegance 
 of the courtiers, constitute excellent ma- 
 
viii INTRODUCTION. 
 
 terial for romantic characterization. The 
 monarch possessed absolute power but a 
 weak and vacillating spirit; consequently, 
 he was ever subject to the wiles and in- 
 trigues of designing courtiers and adven- 
 turous women, who were ambitious for 
 royal favors. To be mistress of the King 
 was a position sought by many women of 
 noble birth as they thereby acquired a con- 
 trolling influence over the royal will, with 
 equal power to reward their friends or 
 crush their enemies. The career of 
 Madame du Barry is a striking example of 
 this extraordinary power. 
 
 The story of her life forms an excellent 
 picture of French society in the eighteenth 
 century, with its pleasures, intrigues, ele- 
 gances, crimes and virtues. It is a life re- 
 plete with adventure and romance. 
 
MADAME DU BARRY. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 From a mass of contradictory evidence, 
 in the face of the evident hostility of the 
 anecdotes and memoirs published a short 
 time after the death of Louis XV., and the 
 disgrace of his last favorite; in the face of 
 the biographers who seek romantic inter- 
 est and aim to give the public only romance 
 and fiction, it is very difficult to discern 
 and establish the real truth relating to the 
 infancy and girlhood of IMadame du Barry. 
 
 We must content ourselves with a com- 
 parative verity; such suffices for similar 
 
10 MADAME DU BARRY a 
 
 biographies and posterity may console it- 
 self in the fact that it does not possess 
 absolute certainty and complete knowledge 
 as to the precise depth of weakness and 
 degradation to which a woman descended 
 who has become an historical personage by 
 accident or inadvertence. 
 
 All the traditions of the eighteenth cen- 
 tury agree on one point, that is, that 
 Madame du Barry's mother was a poor 
 sempstress named Anne Becu, who, at the 
 time of the birth of our heroine, resided at 
 Vaucouleurs, and that the child Jeanne 
 was an illegitimate offspring. Tradition 
 also informs us that the child's father was 
 a certain Gomard de Vaubernier, and its 
 godfather was a banker named Dumon- 
 ceau. However, the only facts really es- 
 tablished are these : that the mother was in 
 
MADAME DU BARRY,, H 
 
 great distress at Vaueouleurs; that the 
 reputed father died shortly after the child^s 
 birth; that the mother was the recipient 
 of certain charity at the hands of Monsieur 
 Dumonceau, one of the parties interested 
 in the supplying of rations to the army; 
 that Anne Becu moved to Paris when the 
 child Jeanne was about five years old. 
 
 The mother of little Jeanne, being with- 
 out means, conceived the idea of going 
 to Paris to better her fortune. After her 
 arrival, her first thought was to visit the 
 wealthy banker who had been so kind and 
 generous to her at Vaueouleurs. Mon- 
 sieur Dumonceau, who had not seen his 
 prot6g6e for several years, was surprised 
 at her pretty face and bright disposition. 
 He gave twelve livres to the mother, to- 
 gether with a promise of the same sum each 
 
12 MADAME DU BARRY.^ 
 
 month to enable her to educate little 
 Jeanne. 
 
 At the end of a few months the good 
 Dumonceau interested himself in the af- 
 fairs of the mother, and, in the naivete of 
 his charity, he placed the mother and child 
 in the keeping of his mistress. Mile. Fr^d- 
 ^ric, a renowned courtesan of that period. 
 The pretty child gave promise of becoming 
 a charming young woman, so when Mile. 
 Frederic, who was a person of good judg- 
 ment, found that the girl was growing 
 quickly, she feared for her future. Ac- 
 cordingly, she prevailed upon M. Dumon- 
 ceau to send little Jeanne to the convent of 
 Sainte-Aure. 
 
 The sisters of Sainte-Aure were a com- 
 munity whose purpose was not to furnish 
 a. retreat for fallen women, but to provide 
 
MADAME DU BARRY.; 13 
 
 against their downfall. It was the inten- 
 tion of the founders of the institution to 
 establish an asylum, at a moderate com- 
 pensation, for young girls who, born of 
 honest parents, '^found themselves in cir- 
 cumstances of temptation and danger." 
 The ten livres were paid for the bed, the 
 little one was provided with two pairs of 
 sheets, and six napkins, and the doors of 
 the convent of the Kue Neuve-Sainte-Gen- 
 evieve closed upon her. 
 
 For a young girl of her position, who 
 knew life only as she had seen it at the es- 
 tablishment of Mile. Fr6d^ric; cradled in 
 a luxurious manner, with head and eyes 
 dazzled by the sight of gay ribbons and ele- 
 gant robes; for a child spoiled by caresses 
 and endearments; already a coquette and 
 already displaying that roguish humor 
 
14 MADAME DU BARRY. i 
 
 that was destined to amaze even Versailles, 
 we can understand that the change was a 
 radical one. 
 
 Adieu to the charming little toilets cut 
 in the decollete fashion of Mile. Frdd^ric! 
 Upon that sprightly head, hehold two black 
 veils of bolting cloth, accompanied by a 
 common wimple. Behold over those blonde 
 curls a band of cheap linen which com- 
 pletely hides them, and covers also more 
 than three-quarters of the fair forehead. 
 Her dress is of common white serge, with- 
 out any attempt at style or ornament, and 
 her little feet are encased in shoes of yellow 
 leather, tied with leather strings. This 
 costume was compulsory and invariable. 
 Did not the archives of the community con- 
 tain as a rule and model a sacred statue 
 thus clothed? 
 
MADAME DU BARRY. [ 15 
 
 Everything around Jeanne in this chaste 
 community — all her surroundings, both 
 material and spiritual — were as cold, se- 
 vere and cheerless as her new costume; 
 there was no silver but the plated ware in 
 the infirmary, no gold but the gilding on 
 the altar. The governing rule was the 
 rigorous vow of poverty, which prohibited 
 to the individual any personal possessions, 
 and completely eliminated the pronouns 
 mine and thine. It was a constant round 
 of unremitting labor, devoid of pleasure or 
 recreation; it was the work of instruction 
 carried on amidst silence that was almost 
 solitude. The rules of the institution pro- 
 scribed and punished the mirthfulness, the 
 delicate little airs, the smiles and laughter, 
 the innocent merry prattle, that are char- 
 acteristic of happy girlhood. 
 
16 MADAME DU BARRY., 
 
 Vain and idle prohibitions! In spite of 
 every rule, little Jeanne soon dispersed 
 throughout this austere house the gayety 
 and mirth that were so natural to her age 
 and disposition. Her conduct is said to 
 have scandalized the good sisters. Books 
 unfit to be placed in the hands of youthful 
 readers were circulated amongst the pu- 
 pils, and this corrupting influence was 
 charged to the perversity of the merry 
 Jeanne. The reproofs and punishments 
 imposed on her by the sisters were una- 
 vailing; they could not curb her youthful 
 spirit; and fearing that her conduct would 
 endanger the discipline of the institution 
 they resolved to dismiss her as an incorrigi- 
 ble. 
 
 Monsieur Dumonceau was informed of 
 the position of affairs, and he came to see 
 
MADAME DU BARRY,, 17 
 
 Jeanne, who persistently denied the charges 
 of misconduct; but her benefactor was 
 obliged to take her from the convent and 
 return her to her mother, that is to say, to 
 the house of Mile. Frederic. 
 
18 MADAME DU BARRYa 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Upon her return, Mile. Frederic dis- 
 covered that Jeanne had grown and de- 
 veloped into a handsome young woman 
 with silky golden hair and soft blue eyes 
 and a clear, delicate complexion; in fact, 
 with such a face and figure, Jeanne was 
 more beautiful and more dangerous than 
 ever. Besides, Mile. Frederic had become 
 weary of the mother, whom she suspected 
 of prying into the secrets of her house; she 
 therefore resolved to get rid of both mother 
 and child and, as an excuse, she raised an 
 objection and based a quarrel over the sus- 
 picious relations that then existed between 
 
MADAME DU BARRY. 19 
 
 Jeanne's mother and a monk named Go- 
 mard. On account of the violent indigna- 
 tion assumed by Mile. Frederic over this 
 alleged scandalous conduct, Monsieur Du- 
 monceau sent Jeanne and her mother from 
 the house and abandoned them to fate. 
 
 By this sudden turn of the wheel of for- 
 tune, we next find Jeanne, as a girl of fif- 
 teen years, without means and a child of 
 chance, wandering the streets of Paris by 
 day and night, often cold and hungry, 
 carrying on her arm a little basket contain- 
 ing a variety of trinkets which she offers 
 for sale from door to door or to the passers- 
 by on the street. Her stock consists of 
 watch-chains, snuff-boxes, false pearls, 
 pins, jewel cases and other small wares that 
 one buys for the sake of the pretty eyes and 
 the coquettish smile of the fair merchant. 
 
20 MADAME DU BARRY.. 
 
 A shop in the open air, a vagrant, danger- 
 ous trade, selling so little that it looks like 
 a pretext, pursuing a doubtful course upon 
 the pavement, exposed to proposals at night 
 and the solicitations of valets who seek new 
 pleasures for their vicious masters. 
 
 Some years later, the Count de Genlis, 
 one of the most charming libertines of the 
 ,' century, related to the Count d'Allonville 
 his great astonishment upon recognizing at 
 Versailles in the woman, who was pre- 
 sented to him as Madame du Barry, a little 
 girl of the streets who had been once 
 brought to him by his valet. 
 
 After a few months of this precarious ex- 
 istence another change occurred in her 
 eventful life. Her uncle^ — or pretended 
 uncle — the monk Gomard, became, by a 
 plurality of offices characteristic of the 
 
MADAME DU BARRY. 21 
 
 period, the almoner of the chapel as well as 
 the prompter in the little theatre attached 
 to the chateau of Cour-Neuve wherein the 
 aged widow of the Seignor Lagarde 
 amused her old age with a society theatre. 
 The monk introduced Jeanne to the notice 
 of the widow Lagarde, who brought the 
 young girl to Cour-Neuve and was at once 
 charmed with her pretty face and sprightly 
 wit; she retained her as a companion and, 
 when necessary, to act as a maid. Unfor- 
 tunately, Madame Lagarde had some sons 
 who had attained the age of manhood and, 
 as might be expected, an intrigue soon ex- 
 isted between one of them and the seductive 
 little maid, which resulted in the mother 
 and her wayward daughter returning once 
 more to the pavements of Paris. There, 
 they had to secure meat and drink. 
 
22 MADAME DU BARRY. 
 
 The mother at this time married an 
 artisan named Eangon, which placed her 
 beyond the reach of want, whilst the daugh- 
 ter entered upon a new career as an ap- 
 prentice to a milliner, a Monsieur Labille, 
 who kept a shop in the Eue Saint-Honord 
 Here, she assumed a new name, that of 
 Mile. Lange, and, although her new sur- 
 roundings were not so coarse and brutal as 
 when she lived on the streets of Paris, she 
 was yet exposed to much temptation and 
 that of the most alluring character. 
 
 The history of a milliner's apprentice in 
 the eighteenth century is neither a long nor 
 a varied one. If she were at all attractive 
 she was soon decoyed from the path of duty 
 to become mistress to one of the elegant 
 young beaux of the period. Imagine the 
 shops, all glass, around which the most 
 
MADAME DU BARRY. 23 
 
 charming idlers, young and handsome 
 noblemen, lounged from morning till night; 
 the latticed shutters seemed to have been 
 made on purpose for the transmission of 
 love letters from the sighing swains to their 
 pretty victims. The result is obvious— a 
 rendezvous, proposals, assignations, with a 
 Monsieur Lavouvenardiere, a Monsieur 
 Duval or some other gallant. Some have 
 wished that the future Madame du Barry 
 had at this time fallen to the lowest depths 
 of debauchery and never risen therefrom; 
 but such was not her destiny. She dis- 
 played so much freedom in her choice of 
 lovers, so much inconstancy, that it is ap- 
 parent her heart was not as yet affected. 
 
 However, she was finally induced to 
 abandon the milliner's shop by a hair- 
 dresser named Lamet, whom she soon 
 
24 MADAME DU BARRY., 
 
 ruined with her extravagant tastes in 
 jewels and furniture. When reduced to 
 his last liyre, he fled to England, and she, 
 at her mother's solicitation, became a fre- 
 quenter of the gambling house of Madame 
 Duquesnoy in the Rue de Bourbon. A gam- 
 bling house ! That means a rendezvous for 
 rich libertines and adventurous women; a 
 meeting of the tiger and her prey. 
 
 It was at Madame Duquesnoy's establish- 
 ment that Jeanne first met the Count du 
 Barry, who afterward became the most 
 famous intermeddler of the century. He 
 was a libertine and gambler^ — vices that 
 were common to all young noblemen of the 
 period — ^but his career of debauchery had 
 been of such a wild and extensive character 
 as to earn for him the nickname of "Roud" 
 
 The count was the proprietor of a gam- 
 
MADAME DU BARRY. 25 
 
 bling house in the Rue du Bac, a resort 
 patronized by all the gay young noblemen 
 of Paris. At that period, gambling was a 
 vice of universal practice and, perhaps, the 
 most innocent and harmless of the many 
 vices that then prevailed in aristocratic 
 society. When the count first met Jeanne, 
 he was attracted to her by her beauty and 
 her wit, and soon afterward he induced her 
 to become an inmate of his establishment. 
 There she filled a double role; she was a 
 mistress to the count and a decoy in his 
 gaming rooms to attract dupes and lure 
 them to their ruin. The arrangement ex- 
 isting between them was not founded on af- 
 fection — it was a scheme to prey on the 
 weaknesses of others. 
 
 It was a life that pleased Jeanne. Well 
 clothed, well fed, mingling in the society of 
 
26 MADAME DU BARRY. 
 
 gentlemen of wit and grace, dissipated 
 though they were, she acquired an insight 
 into a higher society than she had been ac- 
 customed to, and her experience was of 
 much service to her in later years. It was 
 another step in the fulfilment of her des- 
 tiny — another stepping stone in the path 
 that led from the gutter to the throne. 
 
MADAME DU BARRY. 27 
 
 CHAPTEK III. 
 
 Count Jean du Barry was a gentleman 
 who had spent the first twenty-eight years 
 of his life at the provincial city of Toulouse, 
 dissipating his youth and squandering a 
 considerable fortune in riotous living. 
 Then he had come to Paris, with ripened 
 passions, with an appetite sated with ex- 
 cesses and desirous of change, with a grasp- 
 ing ambition and little or no conscience. 
 
 He entered and soon established himself 
 in aristocratic circles whose life most 
 nearly resembled his own. At first, he de- 
 sired to enter political life as a foreign min- 
 ister, but the prime minister of the day, 
 
28 MADAME DU BARRY. 
 
 RouilM, finding him inexperienced in di- 
 plomacy, advised him to travel for a time 
 in Germany, and gave him a promise of 
 future service. After Rouille came min- 
 ister Bernis and he also gave du Barry 
 promises — but nothing more. Then came 
 the Duke de Choiseul, who coldly and bru- 
 tally killed all the count's hopes. 
 
 Then du Barry, whose fortune had dwin- 
 dled to a mere competency, was obliged to 
 abandon his dreams of a diplomatic career 
 and turn his attention to something ma- 
 terial. He, therefore, obtained an interest 
 in a contract for furnishing the government 
 with army and navy supplies. He soon re- 
 trieved his lost fortune and became richer 
 than ever; but he became more prodigal, 
 his tastes and his debaucheries became 
 more extravagant, his losses at play more 
 
MADAME DU BARRY. 29 
 
 extensive — in fact, this wild, heedless life 
 soon earned for him the soubriquet of Roue, 
 
 Prompted by the historical events of the 
 century, by the fact that monarchs and 
 their kingdoms had been governed by cour- 
 tesans, and that more than one minister had 
 acquired and maintained his power and be- 
 come the virtual ruler of France through a 
 royal mistress, the Count du Barry con- 
 ceived the idea of presenting Jeanne to 
 King Louis as the successor to Madame de 
 Pompadour. Although the count had no 
 idea of becoming a minister, yet there were 
 many advantages that he would gain 
 through Jeanne's power with the King, if 
 his scheme proved successful. 
 
 It would not be the first attempt on the 
 part of Jean du Barry to palm a mistress 
 onto the King. In the time of Madame de 
 
30 MADAME DU BARRY, 
 
 Pompadour, he had sought to make a cer- 
 tain Mile. Dorothee the mistress of Louis 
 the Fifteenth. This girl, the daughter of 
 a water-carrier of Strasburg, had even been 
 invited to supper with the King, and the 
 Count du Barry, her lover, had demanded 
 in return that he be appointed minister to 
 Cologne. The affair was nipped in the bud 
 by Lebel, who, to acquit his already 
 over-loaded conscience, told the King that 
 the girl was suffering from a disease worse 
 than the scrofula, and so the affair ended — 
 much to the count's discomfiture. 
 
 Absorbed with his new idea, the count 
 was only awaiting a favorable opportunity 
 to set his scheme in action, when Richelieu, 
 who sometimes found himself in such bad 
 company as that of the count, let fall the 
 remark that since the death of Madame de 
 
MADAME DU BARRY. 31 
 
 Pompadour the King had not taken a new 
 favorite, which seemed a strange and un- 
 accountable affair. 
 
 Upon this remark, the imagination of 
 Jean du Barry set to work, and his scheme 
 began to develop. Several times, he took 
 Jeanne to supper with the Duke de Rich- 
 elieu at his pavilion on the boulevard. One 
 day, vaunting the beauties of his mistress, 
 half in joke and half in earnest, he told the 
 duke that he intended her for the King. 
 
 Eichelieu, who had censured the taste of 
 the King in his devotion to Madame de 
 Pompadour because she was not a woman 
 of title, and who wished for the King's mis- 
 tress some lady attached to the court, re- 
 ceived the count's declaration with a deri- 
 sive smile and gave him to understand that 
 if he had no better project whereby to make 
 
32 MADAME DU BARRY. 
 
 a fortune, his chances of acquiring wealth 
 were very doubtful. 
 
 The Roud was not to be daunted by shad- 
 ows or doubts; his supreme confidence in 
 his success was displayed in a thousand fol- 
 lies, a thousand drolleries, the recollection 
 of which amused Eichelieu for a long time. 
 The count asserted that he was able and 
 willing to carry Jeanne to the King's cham- 
 ber himself, if no one else was willing to 
 conduct her. 
 
 "Ah ! well !" said Richelieu, jokingly, "go 
 and see Lebel ; perhaps by his means, your 
 favorite may obtain, for one day, the honors 
 of the Louvre.'' 
 
 But the count felt that he must secure 
 the co-operation of the Duke de Richelieu 
 in order to succeed in his scheme ; therefore, 
 he persistently kept the subject before the 
 
MADAME DU BARRY. 33 
 
 duke until he finally convinced him that the 
 plan was an excellent one and would re- 
 sult in material advantage to both of them. 
 Richelieu had political ambitions to gratify 
 and he w as even willing to gain his end by 
 pandering to the vices of a King. Thus it 
 was arranged that Eichelieu should broach 
 the subject to His Majesty and, if possible, 
 secure a meeting between Jeanne and the 
 King. It was also agreed that she should 
 be introduced to him under the name of 
 Madame du Barry, as it would be a subject 
 of scandal for the King to take as mistress 
 an unmarried woman. Such a proceeding 
 would be contrary to court etiquette. 
 
34 MADAME DU BARRY.: 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Comfortably seated in an armchair, in 
 his private apartment, Louis XV. played 
 mechanically with a paper-knife, of which 
 the ivory handle was incrusted with gold; 
 it was with an air of excessive melancholy 
 that he gazed through the window at the 
 rain, falling in the court of honor of the 
 palace at Versailles. 
 
 His Majesty was a victim of ennui. 
 
 Since the death of Madame de Pompa- 
 dour he had had no favorite mistress, and 
 the orgies of the infamous Parc-aux-Cerfs 
 had ceased to amuse him. Besides, he had 
 lost the services of those gentlemen who 
 had formerly provided him with adventures 
 
MADAME DU BARRY. 35 
 
 that were at once piquant and novel; these 
 parties were his obsequious friends, the 
 famous cardinal-archbishop of Paris, other- 
 wise called Mgr. d'Aigre or the Ahh6 Pom- 
 padour, who was now fattening in the 
 Eternal City in a sinecure at the Vatican; 
 the Marquis de Lugeac, chief steward of 
 the Parc-aux-Cerfs, the gayest man in the 
 kingdom, who had recently been killed in 
 a duel by a sword-thrust at the hand of 
 M. Gaetan de Nerac, a captain of the guard, 
 who was immediately executed. Thus 
 Louis XV. was now deprived of the ser- 
 vices of the three men who had been so 
 industrious and ingenious in providing new 
 and diverting pleasures for the royal enter- 
 tainment. 
 
 Certainly, he was much ennuyee. 
 
 The mourning that he was now wearing 
 
36 MADAME DU BARRY, 
 
 in memory of his late wife, the queen Marie 
 Leekzinska, forbade his giving any f^tes at 
 the court. Consequently, on this particu- 
 lar day, he was more than ever inclined to 
 be melancholy at sight of the rain, to look 
 upon life as dull and insipid, and the role 
 of King of France as a very undesirable 
 part. 
 
 Whilst thus lamenting his kingly fate, he 
 was interrupted by a person who entered 
 unannounced. It was Lebel, his valet de 
 chambre. 
 
 "Well! what do you wish?" asked the 
 King, in a petulant tone. 
 
 "Sire, monsieur the Duke de Eichelieu is 
 without. He wishes an audience with Your 
 Majesty." 
 
 ^What does he want? Faith! the duke 
 is as dull and uninteresting as M. Diderot. 
 
MADAME DU BARRY. 37 
 
 My courtiers have their wits buried in 
 Easter ashes — not one of them can amuse 
 me. Ah! well! let him enter — I suppose I 
 must see him, if he does bore me." 
 
 Lebel disappeared, and in a short time 
 the Duke de Richelieu entered, followed by 
 the valet de chambre. 
 
 The King invited his guest to be seated. 
 
 "What do you wish, my friend?" 
 
 "Sire," said the duke, "the grief and mel- 
 ancholy that oppress Your Majesty have 
 touched the heart of your most faithful and 
 devoted subject " 
 
 "Oh! my lord duke," interrupted the 
 King, "no ceremony, if you please; speak to 
 me as a companion and not as a courtier." 
 
 The duke smiled, and continued: 
 
 "Sire, I have a communication to make, 
 or at least, a suggestion, that I hope will 
 
38 MADAME DU BARRY.: 
 
 receive your favorable consideration. For 
 the past five years, you have had no favor- 
 ite, for the reason, I presume, that you 
 could not find a woman entirely worthy of 
 such an honor. I venture to hope that I 
 have now discovered a woman who will 
 prove, in every respect, a worthy successor 
 to Madame de Pompadour " 
 
 The King roused himself from his idle at- 
 titude and assumed an air of interest. The 
 duke continued: 
 
 "She is the wife of the Count du Barry; 
 her marvellous beauty has revolutionized 
 all Paris; the youthful grace of her eigh- 
 teen years is embellished with all the quali- 
 ties that render a woman worthy of royal 
 favor. I have come to propose to Your 
 Majesty that you see Madame du Barry." 
 
 Louis XY. arose. 
 
MADAME DU BARRY.: 39 
 
 * Where?" he inquired. 
 
 It was Lebel, the valet de chambre who 
 answered. 
 
 "Sire, she is in my apartments. To- 
 morrow evening, I shall give a supper at 
 which there will be present a number of the 
 most popular courtesans, the most beauti- 
 ful women of Paris, and amongst them will 
 be Madame du Barry. Concealed in a 
 chamber adjoining my dining-room, Your 
 Majesty can see, through some holes adroit- 
 ly made in the partition, the only woman 
 in France who merits your attention." 
 
 "I shall be there," said the King. Then 
 turning to Richelieu, he added : 
 
 "As to you, my lord duke, if this Madame 
 du Barry does not please me, I will send 
 you to the Bastille as a punishment for de- 
 ceiving your King with vain hopes." 
 
40 MADAME DU BARRY.X 
 
 The duke smiled, bowed, and, following 
 Lebel, left the apartment. 
 
 On the evening of the following day, ac- 
 companied by the Count d'Espirac, a cap- 
 tain of the guards, and by four lieutenants. 
 His Majesty went to LebePs apartments at 
 the supper hour. The King was conducted 
 to the chamber adjoining the dining-room 
 and, immediately, he placed his eyes at the 
 holes which had been so ingeniously ar- 
 ranged in the wall. He was at once as- 
 tonished and pleased at the spectacle pre- 
 sented to his view. 
 
 In the dining-room, the supper had al- 
 ready commenced. The King recognizied, 
 amongst the guests, Lebel, Eichelieu, M. de 
 Sainte-Foix, Count du Barry, the Prince de 
 Conde; but all the women were strangers 
 to him. Each of them was possessed of 
 
MADAME DU BARRY. 41 
 
 charm and beauty, differing in kind and 
 degree ; but, at first, the King saw none to 
 move his passions or cause his heart to 
 throb. However, one of the ladies, whom 
 he had not at first observed, soon attracted 
 his notice. 
 
 Her hair was blonde, slightly tinged with 
 a golden hue; the locks were gathered to- 
 gether like the hair of a child, which gave 
 to her features the delicate charm and 
 freshness of a young girl. She had brown 
 eyebrows and long brown eyelashes, be- 
 tween which her blue eyes, half-opened, 
 shone with a voluptuous and caressing soft- 
 ness; a delicate, little nose; a rosy, little 
 mouth, curved like Cupid's bow; a com- 
 plexion that the King compared, mentally, 
 to a "rose leaf fallen into milk"; a long 
 neck, round and plump, like that of an an- 
 
42 MADAME DU BARRY,. 
 
 tique statue, set upon exquisitely curved 
 shoulders; hands like a queen of fairies. 
 All these qualities were illuminated by a 
 smile in which there were, at once, the 
 purity of an angel and the voluptuousness 
 of an amorous goddess. 
 
 Louis XV. said to himself, as he gazed 
 on this charming girl: 
 
 "I hope that is Madame du Barry. She 
 is charming, delicious and worth a king's 
 ransom. She shall be mine." 
 
 The King remained motionless, fasci- 
 nated, until the end of the supper. 
 
 He heard her laugh with a melody, crys- 
 talline and pure; he saw her eat, and re- 
 marked her gentle grace; he heard her 
 speak in a soft, vibrating voice that pene^ 
 trated every fibre of his body and filled him 
 with passionate longings. 
 
MADAME DU BARRY.. 43 
 
 As though she knew she was playing for 
 a throne, the young girl was agile, merry, 
 and mischievous, and the impression she 
 made upon the King was as favorable as 
 she could have desired — even though she 
 were acting a part. 
 
 Before leaving, the King gave his orders 
 to the Count d'Espirac, and, an hour later, 
 Madame du Barry entered the chamber 
 where the King awaited her. He was great- 
 ly pleased to recognized in Madame du 
 Barry the young girl he had been admiring 
 all evening. 
 
U MADAME DU BARRY.. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Next morning, Lebel was summoned to 
 the apartment of the King, in advance of 
 the usual hour. The King was, evidently, 
 affected by some deep emotion. Contrary 
 to his usual custom, he asked Lebel to be 
 seated — a circumstance that indicated 
 something unusual had happened or was 
 about to occur. 
 
 His Majesty entered at once into a glow- 
 ing eulogy upon the charms of Madame du 
 Barry, and dwelt, at great length, upon her 
 gracious qualities; the valet de chambre 
 was greatly surprised to find that his mas- 
 ter was so deeply smitten with his new mis- 
 tress, and when Louis XV. expressed his 
 
MADAME DU BARRY. 45 
 
 determination to see, henceforth, no other 
 company than that of Madame du Barry, 
 Lebel exclaimed, with alarm: 
 
 "Sire, she to whom Your Majesty desires 
 to take as the successor of Madame de Pom- 
 padour is not — married." 
 
 The King arose. 
 
 "I will explain it to Your Majesty," con- 
 tinued Lebel, confusedly, "this woman has 
 been the passing mistress of several of the 
 noblemen of your court; she is of ignoble 
 birth ; her mother is " 
 
 "No matter!" exclaimed the King; "you 
 have deceived me, and now you must repair 
 your fault. I wish Madame du Barry " 
 
 "Sire, the pretended Madame du Barry 
 is the mistress of the Count de Sainte-Foix, 
 and has been used as a bait to lure the 
 dupes of the Count du Barry to his gam- 
 
46 MADAME DU BARRY.. 
 
 ing house. She is not worthy of Your 
 Majesty." 
 
 The King was furious; he paced to and 
 fro the length of the apartment, in great 
 agitation. When Lebel ceased speaking, 
 the King seized the tongs from before the 
 hearth and approached the valet in a 
 threatening manner; pale and trembling, 
 Lebel fell to his knees. Louis, however, re- 
 placed the tongs, and, pointing to the door 
 as a dismissal of Lebel, he said: 
 
 "Within a month, this woman must be 
 the person whom you represented her to be 
 — Madame du Barry. She must be mar- 
 ried. Your own liberty depends on it. 
 Now, go!" 
 
 Overwhelmed, almost in tears, Lebel left 
 the King's apartment and immediately 
 sought the Duke de Eichelieu to whom he 
 
MADAME DU BARRY., 47 
 
 related his disgrace. The duke hastened 
 to summon the Count du Barry. The lat- 
 ter arrived, and upon learning the wish of 
 Louis XV., he executed a pirouette and 
 snapped his fingers joyfully, saying: 
 
 "It shall be done. His Majesty shall be 
 satisfied." 
 
 "But you already have a wife," said Rich- 
 elieu, "so how can this woman become 
 Madame du Barry?" 
 
 "Ah! you do not know that I have a 
 brother living in the South, who is a bach- 
 elor and the possessor of an empty purse 
 and an easy conscience. He is the man we 
 want. My brother Guillaume shall marry 
 my mistress, then he can return to the coun- 
 try and live comfortably on a royal pension, 
 and the King will have his Madame du 
 Barry. Quite simple, is it not?" 
 
48 MADAME DU BARRY. 
 
 Much amused, Kichelieu and Lebel ap- 
 plauded the scheme. 
 
 The Count du Barry immediately pre- 
 pared to carry his scheme into effect. It 
 would be necessary to prove the parentage 
 of his mistress at the time of her marriage. 
 Therefore, in order to conceal her illegiti- 
 mate origin, he forged a baptismal certifi- 
 cate that gave her a respectable ancestry. 
 Even a new name was created for her — 
 that of Marie Jeanne Gomard de Vauber- 
 nier — and a marriage contract was pre- 
 pared and executed with as much care and 
 particularity as though the marriage were 
 a genuine one. 
 
 A month later, Guillaume du Barry ar- 
 rived in Paris and was married to Made- 
 moiselle Gomard de Vaubernier. The cere- 
 mony took place on the first day of Sep- 
 
MADAME DU BARRY. 49 
 
 tember, 1768, in presence of the high and 
 important official, Monsieur Jean du Barry 
 — Cer^s, governor of Levignac, an elder 
 brother of the bridegroom. The ceremony 
 was performed at the church of Saint- 
 Eustache, at the unusually early hour of 
 five o'clock in the morning, in order that 
 the curious public might not have an op- 
 portunity to witness and, perhaps, ridicule 
 this ill-assorted marriage. 
 
 After the ceremony, the bridegroom bade 
 adieu to his bride at the church door. He 
 kissed her on the forehead — nothing more 
 — and left her forever. He returned to his 
 country home to spend his strangely-earned 
 money in riotous living. Shortly after- 
 ward, he was granted a pension from the 
 iroyal treasury as a consolation for the loss 
 of his wife. 
 
50 MADAME DU BARRY,, 
 
 As to Madame du Barry, having now an 
 official name and a genuine marriage rela- 
 tion, she took possession of the apartments 
 of the valet Lebel, who, suffering from he- 
 patic colic, a new attack of which had been 
 provoked by the anger of the King and the 
 fear of his tongs, had retired from service 
 and was residing with an old friend. 
 
 During the autumn of the year 1768, 
 Madame du Barry was the secret mistress 
 of the King. His Majesty was yet in 
 mourning for the queen Marie Leckzinska, 
 and all the ladies of the court, as well as 
 the princesses, would have made loud pro- 
 testations if Louis XV. had publicly recog- 
 nized his mistress at this time. 
 
 However, Madame du Barry gradually 
 acquired the position of a favorite. She 
 quitted the apartments of Lebel for those 
 
MADAME DU BARRY. 51 
 
 formerly occupied by the Princess Adelaide. 
 The Count de Sainte-Foix, the Duke de 
 Richelieu and the Count du Barry were 
 actively engaged in various intrigues to se- 
 cure her official presentation at court, in 
 order that she might pass from the position 
 of secret mistress to the more important 
 rank of recognized favorite. 
 
 Madame du Barry passed her days in 
 laughter and frivolity, and in apparent ig- 
 norance of all court intrigues. By a simu- 
 lated devotion to her royal lover, she rap- 
 idly increased her hold upon the heart of 
 Louis XV., who, in a short time, abandoned 
 himself entirely to the pleasures of her so- 
 ciety. 
 
 During this time, a life of intrigues, ad- 
 ventures and piquant occurrences was in 
 progress at Versailles, and Lebel, the author 
 of many diversions and many orgies, died 
 
52 MADAME DU BARRY.i 
 
 in a manner so sudden that a rumor was 
 current to the effect that he had poisoned 
 himself. But, in truth, the colic, from 
 which he had suffered since the scene with 
 the royal tongs, was the sole cause of his 
 death. 
 
 Thus, everything was changed. The 
 Abbd Pompadour, the Marquis de Lugeac, 
 Gaetan de N6rac, Lebel, the Parc-aux-Cerfs 
 had all disappeared, soon to be forgotten; 
 they gave place to Madame du Barry, to 
 her brother-in-law, Jean the Kou6, to the 
 Duke de Richelieu, to the Count de Sainte- 
 Foix, and to a multitude of new adventures 
 which, as honest and conscientious histo- 
 rians, we will relate without fear, favor or 
 affection, without adding thereto or detract- 
 ing therefrom; truth is mighty and must 
 prevail! Has it not always been repre- 
 sented in a state of nudity? 
 
MADAME DU BARRY. 63 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Whilst Madame du Barry was installed 
 at Versailles, in the apartments of Madame 
 Adelaide, and quite near the apartments of 
 the King, whilst she was surrounded with 
 all the luxury of a princess, her friends were 
 striving to hasten the auspicious moment in 
 which she would be presented to the court 
 and thus become the official favorite of His 
 Majesty. 
 
 The Count Jean du Barry, her brother-in- 
 law, nicknamed the Rou^, sought to create 
 a numerous and powerful coterie that 
 should be devoted to the service of Madame 
 du Barry and should assist in raising her 
 to power. First, he secured the co-opera- 
 
54 MADAME DU BARRY.- 
 
 tion of his sister, Chon, a deformed cripple, 
 but very intelligent. Chon had a certain 
 degree of wit and political wisdom, had liter- 
 ary ability and wrote for La Mercure. She 
 could be very useful to the cause of Madame 
 du Barry. 
 
 Then came the Countess de Beam, busi- 
 ness-like, intriguing and a famous litigant; 
 the Duke de Kichelieu, powerful at court 
 and beloved of the King ; the Duke d'Aiguil- 
 lon, a friend of the Jesuits and an enemy of 
 the Parliament and detested by M. de 
 Choiseul, the prime minister. 
 
 On the other hand, the Duke de CTioiseul, 
 the prime minister, Madame de Choiseul, 
 the Duchess de Grammont, the Count de 
 Noailles and other courtiers formed a fac- 
 tious opposition. The mouth-piece of this 
 party was M. de Voltaire. 
 
MADAME DU BARRY. 55 
 
 When the two factions had established 
 themselves in their respective positions, the 
 battle commenced. 
 
 Acting under instructions from Madame 
 de Grammont, Voltaire wrote the pamphlet 
 entitled Le Roi Petant, whilst the populace 
 of Paris were singing, on every street and 
 square, the couplets of La Bourhonnaise, in 
 which Madame du Barry was ferociously 
 attacked : 
 
 What's in a name? 
 A child of shame 
 A child of shame 
 Becomes the lover of a King — 
 How, who's to hlame. 
 
 The Rou6 responded with Amours du duo 
 de Choiseul avec sa sceur, and if all these 
 poetic fusillades did no great harm, they 
 
56 MADAME DU BARRY. 
 
 certainly did not advance the cause of 
 either party. Some of these couplets pos- 
 sessed a wit and piquancy that was quite 
 entertaining; for instance, the following 
 lines, referring to Madame du Barry: 
 
 THE MODERN VENUS, 
 
 Two Yemises, men say thera he, 
 To govern the world is their lot; 
 
 One was horn of the foain of the se^. 
 And one of the scum of the pot. 
 
 But a man arose, who quickly ended the 
 struggle. He was a Gascon, a captain of 
 the guard, named M. d'Espirac. He was 
 a merry, reckless libertine, but brave and 
 ambitious and resolved to obtain political 
 preferment by any means and at any cost. 
 
 He had remained, for some time, a silent 
 
MADAME DU BARRY. 57 
 
 spectator of the struggle between the du 
 Barry and Choiseul factions; then, one fine 
 morning, he sought an interview with the 
 Kou^. 
 
 "Monsieur," he said to Count Jean, "the 
 Choiseul party has a mouthpiece, a trumpet, 
 which makes, parbleu ! very much noise." 
 
 "Well?" interrogated the count. 
 
 "Is it not possible to cork up the instru- 
 ment and break the teeth of the musician?" 
 
 "I wish it could be done." 
 
 "Well, grant me an interview of one hour 
 with Madame du Barry, and I will close the 
 mouth of M. de Voltaire." 
 
 The Eou^ looked at the Gascon. He ob- 
 served in his eyes both cunning and energy, 
 and in the masculine beauty of the face the 
 courage of the soldier and the diplomacy of 
 the courtier; he understood the man, and 
 
58 MADAME DU BARRY, 
 
 immediately conducted him to the chamber 
 of Madame du Barry. 
 
 An hour later, the Gascon emerged from 
 the chamber of Madame du Barry, left the 
 palace, leaped upon the horse that was 
 awaiting him and proceeded, in all haste, 
 on the way to Paris. 
 
 The captain alighted before the house oc- 
 cupied by M. de Voltaire. He announced 
 himself with all his titles and honors. The 
 poet received him with all the courtesy and 
 etiquette of a nobleman. 
 
 Waiving all ceremonies, M. d'Espirac ap- 
 proached M. de Voltaire, and brusquely de-, 
 manded : 
 
 "You are Monsieur Arouet?" 
 
 "Monsieur!" indignantly exclaimed the 
 writer, wounded in his most cherished 
 vanity. 
 
MADAME DU BARRY, 59 
 
 "Very good !" said the guardsman. "Your 
 ancestry is well known. Your escutcheon 
 should be ^vipers' tongues on a field of 
 red.' " 
 
 M. de Voltaire turned pale. 
 
 "Oh ! have no fear !" said M. d'Espirac, "I 
 shall not strike you. I came to give you a 
 command and a warning. Here is the com- 
 mand: speak not another word, write not 
 another line about Madame du Barry or her 
 friends. As to the warning '' 
 
 The Gascon struck the hilt of his sword 
 significantly and departed. 
 
 From that moment, the presentation of 
 Madame du Barry became a certainty. 
 
 On the twenty-second day of April, 1769, 
 the presentation was to be made. The King 
 informed the court on the preceding even- 
 ing. The announcement caused a commo- 
 
60 MADAME DU BARRY, 
 
 tion and consternation amongst the ladies 
 and gentlemen in waiting ; but there was no 
 escape — the King's will was law. 
 
 At the appointed hour, Louis XV. en- 
 tered the grand salon at Versailles; at his 
 side, were Richelieu and Choiseul ; whilst 
 all the court was assembled, actuated by 
 different feelings, either of curiosity, amuse- 
 ment or rage. 
 
 It was now past the hour and Madame du 
 Barry did not appear. The King was ner- 
 vous, Eichelieu was restless and Choiseul 
 was triumphant. A half hour elapsed, al- 
 most in silence, and yet the favorite had 
 not appeared. Finally, just as the King 
 was about to countermand the presentation, 
 Eichelieu exclaimed : 
 
 "Sire, here is Madame du Barry !" 
 
MADAME DU BARRY. 61 
 
 The royal favorite appeared behind the 
 Countess de B^arn. 
 
 Adorned with all her diamonds; her gol- 
 den hair arranged in an elegant coiffure ; in 
 a magnificent robe that gave her added dig- 
 nity and grace, Madame du Barry was so 
 beautiful that a murmur of astonishment 
 and admiration was heard in all parts of 
 the salon. The appearance of the young 
 woman was a revelation to the court, and 
 Louis, trembling from pride and love, took 
 his mistress by the hand and led her to the 
 centre of the salon — and all the court bowed 
 before her to whom alone belonged the 
 honor of sharing in the love of a King. 
 
62 MADAME DU BARRY, 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Now, the intrigues commenced to in- 
 crease in number around Madame du 
 Barry. Numerous efforts were made to 
 supplant her in the favor of the King by 
 presenting to his notice young women with 
 equal if not greater charms than those pos- 
 sessed by the favorite. But she thwarted 
 all these schemes and held the King's good 
 favor by means of her power of fascination. 
 
 On the tenth of July, 1769, the King left 
 Versailles to visit the camp at Cbmpiegne. 
 Madame du Barry and the entire court ac- 
 companied him. The royal cortege was a 
 magnificent spectacle. Madame du Barry 
 
MADAME DU BARRY. 63 
 
 appeared, for the first time, before the pub- 
 lic in her character of roj^al favorite. Her 
 carriage, bearing her coat-of-arms, was 
 drawn by six superb horses, marvellously 
 caparisoned, and her robe, from the hands 
 of the most skilled workwomen in Paris, 
 was of white satin, ornamented with gar- 
 lands of gold, and bouquets of golden span- 
 gles set with rubies. Madame de Pom- 
 padour, in all her glory, had never attained 
 such a degree of magnificence. 
 
 On the twenty-second of July, on the 
 plain of Koyal-Lieu, the King gave his mis- 
 tress a rare spectacle, in the form of a 
 grand military review. Before the favor- 
 ite, there appeared the Swiss regiments of 
 Boccard, Lachman, Sonnenberg, the Ger- 
 man infantry of Koyal-Baviere, Deux- 
 Ponts, the Esterhazy hussars and numer- 
 
64 MADAME DU BARRY. 
 
 ous other regiments. But we are not here 
 to record military manoeuvres; let us leave 
 that duty to the historian of graver events. 
 After the review, Madame du Barry, ex- 
 hausted by the heat of the day, separated 
 herself from her suite, and sought the shel- 
 ter of some trees in a vast garden, situated 
 near the camp. She was accompanied only 
 by the young Marquise Anne-Marie de Mar- 
 tenon. 
 
 It. 
 
 The two young women, enjoying in si- 
 lence the grateful shade of the trees, the 
 perfume of the flowers and the solitude of 
 the forest, arrived at the border of a small 
 lake, in which some white swans were idly 
 floating, impelled by a gentle breeze. 
 
 "Ah! what a charming spot!" exclaimed 
 Madame du Barry, and, careless of her 
 beautiful dress, she allowed herself to fall 
 
MADAME DU BARRY. 65 
 
 on the soft grass. Mile. Anne-Marie fol- 
 lowed her example, and they remained for 
 several minutes in silent meditation. 
 
 "My dear," said Madame du Barry, at 
 last, "do you not think that a bath in this 
 pond would be delightful?" 
 
 "Ah, madame," replied the young girl, "I 
 dared not speak of it, but the thought of it 
 made my mouth water." 
 
 "Well," said Madame du Barry, "there 
 is no person in the wood — why not have a 
 bath?" 
 
 They looked around in every direction. 
 
 "The wood is deserted," said Mile. Anne- 
 Marie, "all the people are watching the sol- 
 diers." 
 
 And, after a glance rapidly exchanged, 
 they commenced to disrobe. Quickly, silks, 
 laces and petticoats fell upon the green 
 
66 MADAME DU BARRY. 
 
 grass; silk stockings and high-heeled slip- 
 pers were hidden in the bushes; and two 
 nymphs, deliciously pink and white, ap- 
 peared in the semi-obscurity of the wood. 
 
 Then, like two antique dryads, with arms 
 interlaced, they entered the water. Ah! 
 how we envy the gentle waves that had the 
 exquisite pleasure of touching that tender 
 flesh. The majestic swans approached the 
 two bathers, and perhaps we should have 
 seen a repetition of the adventure of Leda, 
 if the sound of a trumpet near at hand had 
 not broken the silence. 
 
 The King's mistress uttered a cry and 
 ran toward the bank, followed by Mile. 
 Anne-Marie, whilst the swans, also fright- 
 ened, flapped their great wings and flew 
 away. But, in their terror and confusion, 
 the two nymphs were scarcely able to 
 
MADAME DU BARRY. 67 
 
 clothe themselves, and in fact before they 
 had succeeded in getting more than one 
 garment on, four hussars came galloping 
 toward them. 
 
 The soldiers were as much astonished as 
 the nymphs — but, perhaps, not as much 
 frightened. Madame du Barry, seeing that 
 escape was impossible, leaned against a 
 tree, and looked at the soldiers whilst the 
 little marquise crouched at her feet. 
 
 An officer now arrived who recognized 
 the King's mistress. The Colonel-Count 
 Esterhazy, who had been a short distance 
 away, had been informed of the adventure. 
 Gallantly, he saluted the nymphs with his 
 sword, formed the hussars into marching 
 order, and the troop, after saluting the 
 ladies, disappeared at a gallop. 
 
 An hour later, Madame du Barry and her 
 
68 MADAME DU BARRY.. 
 
 little friend entered her carriage, at the 
 edge of the camp of Compiegne. The regi- 
 ment of Beance passed by, having at the 
 head of it Colonel de la Tour du Pin. The 
 regiment of Beauce rendered to the car- 
 riage of Madame dn Barry the same honors 
 that are rendered to the carriages of the 
 royal family, and the same that the Ester- 
 hazy hussars had rendered to the nymphs 
 at the lake. 
 
 Thus, Madame du Barry had triumphed 
 twice in one day — by her beauty and by her 
 prestige. 
 
 When Choiseul and his coterie heard of 
 these incidents, they were wild with rage. 
 The minister reprimanded M. de la Tour 
 du Pin; but he received, the same evening, 
 a letter from Louis XV., saying: 
 
MADAME DU BARRY, 69 
 
 "I hear that you have reprimanded the 
 Chevalier de la Tour du Pin on account of 
 Madame du Barry, because she received, at 
 the camp, the honors of the regiment of 
 Beauce, 
 
 "You promised me that you would never 
 give me occasion to speak to you again on 
 her account " 
 
 The minister was reduced to silence. 
 
70 MADAME DU BARRY., 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 One fine day, shortly after the events re- 
 lated, in our last chapter, the Count Jean 
 du Barry, His Majesty Louis XV., and 
 Madame du Barry were supping with a 
 young nobleman, whom the valets an- 
 nounced under the name of the Marquis de 
 Sade. 
 
 Now, the Marquis de Sade had nothing 
 in his personal appearance to signify that 
 he was a man of vicious habits; nothing 
 about him would indicate that he was a 
 demon, a monster or a sanguinary vampire. 
 But he was a man of the world, gay and 
 
LOUIS XV. AND MADAME DU BARRY. 
 
 (71) 
 
MADAME DU BARRY.: 73 
 
 reckless, endowed with all the elegances 
 and graces of a veritable courtier, and pos- 
 sessed of a figure that would seem to have 
 been modelled after Apollo. Add to thes-e, 
 two large eyes, of velvety blackness; red 
 lips exquisitely formed; beautiful teeth of 
 dazzling whiteness, a graceful carriage, 
 easy gestures and a proud and noble bear- 
 ing. 
 
 Everything about the marquis indicated 
 high birth and good fortune ; he had a taste 
 for literature, and enough science to appre- 
 ciate and enjoy the discussions of the en- 
 cyclopedists and poets. In short, the mar- 
 quis was regarded by his friends as a per- 
 fect man. 
 
 On the evening of his presentation to 
 Madame du Barry, who welcomed him with 
 her most gracious smile, the Marquis de 
 
74 MADAME DU BARRY. 
 
 Sade was invited to a supper at which His 
 Majesty the King was to assist, with Ma- 
 dame du Barry, Madame de Grecourt, the 
 little Marquise Anne-Marie de Martinon; 
 and several actresses, including Mile. Ar- 
 nould, for whom the Count de Lauraguais 
 committed a thousand follies. Mile. Eau- 
 court of the Comedie-Frangaise, and Mile, 
 de Pric^ of the opera, who was as yet a 
 debutante and had no titled lover. The 
 Prince de Conde, the Due de Fronsac, the 
 Count d'Espirac, the Count du Barry and 
 the Duke d'Aiguillon represented the mas- 
 culine sex, under the leadership of Louis 
 XV., for the initiation of the Marquis de 
 Sade to the pleasures of the court. 
 
 The supper was one of unrivalled magni- 
 ficence, and the guests were soon in merry 
 mood. At dessert, the gentlemen were nar- 
 
MADAME DU BARRY. 75 
 
 rating their various gallant adventures, 
 when the Marquis de Sade exclaimed: 
 
 "Certainly, at the present time, all Paris 
 is talking of the adventures of M. de Fron- 
 sae and M. de Lauraguais, but very soon 
 someone will eclipse them." 
 
 "And who w^ill do it, my dear marquis?" 
 
 "I will, my dear count." 
 
 "Ah! ah!" cried the Duke de Fronsac, 
 "our good city of Paris is not dead yet. It 
 has many lively days before it in which we 
 can live and enjoy ourselves ere the advent 
 of the cataclysm predicted by the encyclo- 
 pedists." 
 
 "The encyclopedists," said the Duke 
 d'Aiguillon, "are like the members of Par- 
 liament; they have never taken the waters 
 of Cythera " 
 
 "They are stupid," said Louis XV. 
 
76 MADAME DU BARRY. 
 
 "Worse than that — eunuchs!" said the 
 Duke de Fronsac. 
 
 The waiters refilled the glasses with a 
 certain wine of Bordeaux which sparkled 
 like rubies. 
 
 Gradually the supper assumed the fea- 
 tures of a drunken revelry, followed by 
 complete intoxication and unconscious- 
 ness; and when the first rays of the rising 
 sun entered through the windows of the 
 salon, they discovered the royal head lying, 
 inert, in the lap of Madame du Barry. 
 
 On the evening of that day, the court was 
 thrown into a great commotion by the oc- 
 currence of three extraordinary events. 
 
 At or about noon, Madame du Barry had 
 entered the chamber of Anne-Marie de 
 Martinon and there found the little mar- 
 quise lying on her bed, naked, her breast 
 
MADAME DU BARRY. 77 
 
 pierced with a long golden pin ; a smile was 
 discernible on her face, but it was the face 
 of the dead. 
 
 Wishing to consult his daughter-in-law 
 on some family affair, the Duke d'Estr^es 
 entered the chamber of Madame de Gr6- 
 court, about the same hour, and was as- 
 tonished to find the young woman lying, 
 naked, upon her bed, her breast pierced 
 with a long golden pin — dead, with a smile 
 upon her lips. 
 
 And the aunt of Mile, de Pric^, aston- 
 ished that her niece had not risen to attend 
 the afternoon rehearsal at the opera, went 
 to awaken her, and found, to her surprise, 
 that the actress was lying on her bed, nude, 
 with a long golden pin piercing her breast, 
 the mouth half opened in a smile of pleas- 
 ure — but quite dead. 
 
78 MADAME DU BARRY. 
 
 It was a terrible scandal. The ladies of 
 the court trembled Ydtli terror; the noble- 
 men discussed the affair anxiously^ and the 
 Duke de Eichelieu sought an audience with 
 the King. 
 
 His Majesty was engaged in a serious 
 consultation with his physician; for the 
 King felt that he was quickly declining in 
 strength and vigor. 
 
 "So, monsieur/' said Louis to his physi- 
 cian, "you think I am travelling too fast 
 — that I must take in some of m.y canvas." 
 
 "No, Sire," replied the physician, grave- 
 ly ; "to shorten sail would not be sufacient ; 
 you must heave to and drop your anchor." 
 
 At this moment, the Duke de Eichelieu 
 was announced. Louis XV. made a ges- 
 ture that he should be admitted. After re- 
 spectfully saluting the King, Eichelieu re- 
 
MADAME DU BARRY. 79 
 
 lated the particulars of the three tragic in- 
 cidents. 
 
 "Parbleu!" exclaimed the King, "the 
 idea is novel and the method unique. 
 Who is the man with the golden pins?" 
 
 "Sire, no one knows." 
 
 Then the King became pensive, and Rich- 
 elieu and the doctor were silent. Sudden- 
 ly, the King raised his head, and said in a 
 calm voice: 
 
 "Monsieur, the lieutenant of police will 
 be instructed to investigate it. Let us 
 speak of something else, duke. Are you 
 acquainted with monsieur the Marquis de 
 Sade?" 
 
 "Sire, he was introduced to me yester- 
 day." 
 
 "You will bring him this evening to 
 Madame du Barry's soirfe" 
 
80 MADAME DU BARRY., 
 
 "As Your Majesty wishes." 
 
 Kichelieu departed. But the liaison 
 that the King conceived in his mind and 
 kept silent, Eichelieu proclaimed every- 
 where. Three hours later, the Marquis de 
 Sade, on returning to his apartments, 
 found there twenty-four letters, in which, 
 in the most seductive terms, fifteen ladies 
 of the court, five bourgeoises and four act- 
 resses entreated the marquis to grant them 
 a rendezvous. 
 
 Such was the amorous folly that per- 
 vaded the feverish pulses of Parisian wo- 
 men, who simply regarded the three mur- 
 ders, with the golden pins, as an incident 
 of refined voluptuousness. 
 
 Slowly, cautiously, officially, monsieur 
 the lieutenant of police was investigating 
 the affair. 
 
MADAME DU BARRY. 81 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 At the soiree of Madame du Barry — the 
 evening after the three crimes — the Mar- 
 quis de Sade appeared, elegantly dressed, 
 painted and powdered, handsome as Apollo 
 and proud as a prince of the blood. The 
 ladies courted him, the gentlemen envied 
 him, and the mystery that surrounded him 
 — for the accusations were, as yet, mere 
 suspicions — rendered him more interesting 
 than a mere man of the world. 
 
 However, one of the three victims of the 
 assassin was Mile. Anne-Marie de Marti- 
 non, an intimate friend and companion of 
 Madame du Barry. 
 
 When the King's mistress entered the 
 
83 MADAME DU BARRY. 
 
 salon, her frowning face indicated her dis- 
 pleasure. She seated herself before the 
 gaming-table. At the same moment, the 
 King was announced, and he took his place 
 at the same table, opposite his mistress. 
 
 "Sire," said Madame du Barry, in a loud 
 voice, "last night, some person assassinated 
 my dear friend Mile. Anne-Marie de Mar- 
 tinon. Do you'^know who is the guilty per- 
 son?" 
 
 Throughout the salon, there was a pro- 
 found silence; no one spoke, no one stirred. 
 It was known that Madame du Barry was 
 capricious and that her lover was submis- 
 sive to her will. The name of the Marquis 
 de Sade was upon every lip ; but the King, 
 who had found the story of the three crimes 
 a curious and diverting one, would not pro- 
 nounce the name. 
 
MADAME DU BARRY. 83 
 
 "Madame," he replied, "I have heard the 
 death of your friend mentioned, but I do 
 not know the name of the assassin. Who 
 is the suspected person?" 
 
 Immediately, Madame du Barry arose 
 and, amidst the tremulous suspense of the 
 assembled guests, she called out in a loud 
 voice : 
 
 "Monsieur the Marquis de Sade!" 
 
 Calm and smiling, with his hand resting 
 nonchalantly on the hilt of his court sword, 
 the marquis advanced. 
 
 "Madame," he said, bowing, "you were 
 pleased to call me — ^here I am !" 
 
 The King's mistress had not that gift of 
 dissimulation so necessary at court. The 
 cool attitude of the marquis imposed on her, 
 and it was in a much less confident voice 
 
84 MADAME DU BARRY. 
 
 that she replied — pointing a finger at the 
 marquis : 
 
 "Sire, here is the assassin!" 
 
 The King, who was well aware that his 
 mistress spoke truly, turned, smiling, to the 
 marquis, and the latter, in reply to this 
 mute interrogation, said: 
 
 "Yes, Sire, I humbly confess to Your 
 Majesty that it was I who killed not only 
 Mile. Anne-Marie de Martinon, but like- 
 wise Madame de Gr^court, the daughter-in- 
 law of the Duke d'Estr^es, and Mile, de 
 Pried, of the opera." 
 
 At this avowal, made with such engaging 
 cynicism, a murmur spread through the as- 
 sembly; but the marquis, in nowise discon- 
 certed, drew a paper from his pocket, un- 
 folded it and handed it to the King. 
 
 After the King had read it, he looked at 
 
MADAME DU BARRY. 85 
 
 his mistress, then at the marquis, and burst 
 into laughter. Eegardless of the rojal dig- 
 nity, Madame du Barry seized the paper 
 from the hands of the King, read it quickly, 
 and, to the great astonishment of every one, 
 gave the marquis her hand to kiss. 
 
 Then, in response to the general curi- 
 osity, the Duke de Kichelieu advanced to- 
 ward His Majesty, and, after a reverence, 
 said: 
 
 "Sire, no doubt the conduct of the Mar- 
 quis de Sade was influenced by some im- 
 portant affair of state and that he acted 
 for the welfare of the nation, as he appears 
 to stand justified in your eyes — but, if the 
 affair is not a secret, would Your Majesty 
 deign to honor your most faithful servants 
 with your confidence?" 
 
 "I understand, duke, that you wish to 
 
86 MADAME DU BARRY. 
 
 read the letter. Very well, here it is ; read 
 it aloud." 
 
 Thereupon the duke read the following 
 letter in a voice audible to the entire assem- 
 bly: 
 
 ^^To Mgr. the Duke de Choiseul, Prime Min- 
 ister: 
 
 "MoNSEiGNEUR : — I have the honor to ad- 
 vise you that the friends of Madame de 
 Grecourt intend to abduct Madame du 
 Barry to-morrow, whilst she is taking her 
 promenade in the gardens, and carry her to 
 Belgium. At the same moment, and one 
 after the other, Mile, de Martinon, Madame 
 de Grecourt and Mile, de Price will be pre- 
 sented to the King and endeavor to displace 
 Madame du Barry in his affections. 
 
 "Therefore, monseigneur, all your orders 
 are executed." 
 
 "The letter is not signed," said the duke, 
 
MADAME DU BARRY, 87 
 
 "but its authenticity is established by the 
 fact that M. de Choiseul has placed his seal 
 in one corner, with this word ^agreed.' " 
 
 The Marquis de Sade was immediately 
 surrounded by the gentlemen and ladies, 
 who congratulated him on having saved 
 Madame du Barry from a horrible con- 
 spiracy and on having averted the guilty 
 project of M. de Choiseul by killing his ac- 
 complices. He was praised, also, for hav- 
 ing despatched them in such a gallant man- 
 ner. Then, the King,' addressing Madame 
 du Barry, said: 
 
 "Well, madame, what do you think of 
 it?" 
 
 "Sire, I thing the Duke de Choiseul 
 should be punished and the Marquis de 
 Sade recompensed." 
 
 "I will take charge of the punishment," 
 
88 MADAME DU BARRY, 
 
 replied the King; "you attend to the recom- 
 pense." 
 
 The King then departed. The same 
 evening, the Duke de Choiseul was notified 
 of his disgrace ; the punishment was not de- 
 layed — nor was the recompense. Madame 
 du Barry had nothing to present to the 
 Marquis more precious than herself. 
 
 Next day, when the King asked her what 
 recompense she had given the Marquis de 
 Sade, she replied: 
 
 "Sire, I gave him a diamond out of your 
 crown." 
 
 "That is well," said Louis. He did not 
 inquire what the diamond was ; he was con- 
 vinced that the recompense was worthy of 
 'the action. 
 
MADAME DU BARRY, 89 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 The news of the dismissal of the Duke de 
 Choiseul astonished the court at Versailles, 
 and astounded the good citizens of Paris. 
 The parliament regarded him as a firm 
 friend and knew that his successor would 
 be selected from the du Barry party and 
 therefore be an enemy. The nobility were 
 attached to Choiseul as being one of their 
 own class. 
 
 He may not have been a statesman of the 
 first class, but, compared with the other 
 members of the court, he was a superior 
 man and devoted to the duties of his office. 
 
90 MADAME DU BARRY. ' 
 
 The mistakes he made were attributable to 
 the head rather than the heart. He was 
 usually actuated by patriotic motives in all 
 affairs of state. Consequently, his down- 
 fall was received with feelings of regret by 
 the people, who were almost terrified at the 
 prospect of falling into the impure hands 
 of the favorite — "less respectable than a 
 collier's wife/' as Bauveau said of her. 
 
 The result was that his downfall in- 
 creased his popularity, and all Paris turned 
 out to bid him farewell as he departed for 
 his country home at Chanteloup. The 
 poorer classes turned out on foot, and the 
 nobility accompanied him a short distance 
 in their carriages; he was greeted on all 
 sides by mournful sighs and expressions of 
 sympathy. 
 
 However, no sooner had Choiseul passed 
 
MADAME DU BARRY. 91 
 
 th,e gates of Paris on his pilgrimage of exile 
 before the same people who had bid him a 
 sad farewell were on their way to Luciennes 
 to congratulate Madame du Barry on her 
 victory over the prime minister. Amongst 
 them was the Duke d'Aiguillon, who was 
 an aspirant for the vacant oflSce, and being 
 a favorite of the King's favorite he stood 
 an excellent chance of becoming ChoiseuFs 
 successor. 
 
 When next the King visited Madame du 
 Barry at Luciennes, the first topic of con- 
 versation was the dismissal of Choiseul. 
 Louis was in a good humor and the moment 
 seemed to be propitious; consequently, 
 Madame du Barry lost no time in broach- 
 ing the subject. 
 
 "Well, Sire," she said, "I am happy to- 
 day. I have lost my greatest enemy." 
 
92 MADAME DU BARRY. 
 
 "Yes," said Louis, "and I am miserable 
 because I have lost a good minister." 
 
 "I understood, Sire, that you had already 
 secured a successor, and an able one, too." 
 
 "Not yet. I wish I could." 
 
 "I have one ready-made; a man of spirit, 
 brave and zealous in his defence of the 
 royal prerogatives — a model peer." 
 
 "Who is it?" 
 
 "The Duke d'Aiguillon." 
 
 "What, Countess! Is it possible you 
 recommend such a man; a firebrand who 
 has the parliament against him, and all 
 France demands his exile. I admit his de- 
 votion to the monarchy, but he lacks dis- 
 cretion and makes many enemies." 
 
 "That is because he is young and inex- 
 perienced, but he will quickly improve. 
 You must appoint him." 
 
MADAME DU BARRY,, 93 
 
 "Why so?" 
 
 "To please me, Sire, You sent Choiseul 
 away at my request, therefore I should se- 
 cure you a successor, and I have done so. 
 The matter is settled and we will say no 
 more about it." 
 
 And Madame Du Barry smothered the 
 King with caresses and kisses to avoid 
 further argument, and the result was that 
 she had her own way. 
 
 On the following week, the court cele- 
 brated the nomination of the Duke d'Aiguil- 
 lon as minister of foreign affairs. The 
 supper took place at the hotel of the Duke 
 de la Vrilliere. The King appeared there 
 in a radiant mood. All the foreign min- 
 isters were present, as well as the most 
 prominent members of the court of France. 
 No one knew of the nomination in advance 
 
94 MADAME DU BARRY. 
 
 and when the King announced it, it was a 
 complete surprise. The guests were so 
 amazed and astounded at the unexpected 
 news, that the Duke received no compli- 
 ments or congratulations, and throughout 
 the supper the most majestic silence was 
 maintained. Evidently, the announcement 
 was pleasing only to the King and his mis- 
 tress. 
 
 Henceforth, during the remainder of his 
 reign, Madame du Barry maintained the 
 most absolute control over her royal lover. 
 The King remarked, one day, that she was 
 the only woman in France who knew the 
 secret of making him forget that he was a 
 sexagenarian. 
 
 She shared her powers with d'Aiguillon, 
 and together they were the virtual rulers 
 
MADAME DU BARRY, 95 
 
 of France. Louis the Fifteenth desired 
 nothing more than a life of ease and luxury, 
 free from political cares. To him, a throne 
 was not so desirable as a realm of "wine 
 and women." 
 
96 MADAME DU BARRY., 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 The numerous f6tes that Madame du 
 Barry gave to the court during the year 
 1774 did not prevent the King from declin- 
 ing in health and strength. His Majesty 
 was now in his sixty- fourth year; with a 
 constitution weakened by debauchery, his 
 system could not withstand the ravages of 
 an acute disease or even the frequent bleed- 
 ings that physicians of that day resorted to 
 in every illness. 
 
 At Trianon, on the 27th of April, Louis 
 the Fifteenth was struck down with a sud- 
 den illness. He was about to engage in a 
 hunting expedition, but did not feel equal 
 
MADAME DU BARRY. 97 
 
 to the exertion; he retired to the apart- 
 ments of Madame du Barry for rest and a 
 stimulant. He complained of a severe 
 headache and attributed it to indigestion. 
 
 During the night, he became much worse ; 
 he was seized with a violent fever and, at 
 times, he was delirious. The royal physi- 
 cians, Lemonnier and La Martinier, to- 
 gether with M. Bordeu, who was Madame 
 du Barry's physician, were summoned and, 
 after a consultation, they decided to bleed 
 the patient. At that period, the letting of 
 blood was considered a panacea for all the 
 ills that flesh is heir to. Whilst these 
 learned persons were gravely proceeding 
 with this operation — a remedy more terri- 
 ble than the disease — the members of the 
 court as well as the citizens were in a state 
 of anxiety. Ambition and hatred were 
 
98 MADAME DU BARRY. 
 
 aroused, and both parties — that of Madame 
 du Barry and that of Choiseul — showed 
 their teeth and openly defied each other. 
 
 The Duke de Kichelieu and the Duke de 
 Fronsae established themselves permanent- 
 ly in the ante-chamber to the King's apart- 
 ment for the express purpose of excluding 
 the clergy and the friends of Choiseul from 
 the King's presence. 
 
 On the following day, Saturday, 30th of 
 April, the learned physicians held another 
 grave consultation and decided, with much 
 reluctance, that their royal patient was 
 suffering from smallpox. This time they 
 were right. One of the physicians ventured 
 the opinion that the disease might not take 
 a serious turn, but M. Bordeu exclaimed : 
 
 "What, not serious! The smallpox at 
 sixty-four years, and with such a debilitated 
 
MADAME DU BARRY^ 99 
 
 constitution as that of the King! Why, it 
 is terrible!" 
 
 On Sunday, May 1st, the Archbishop of 
 Paris called to pay his official visit. When, 
 at eleven o^clock, tlie distinguished prelate 
 presented himself at the door of the King's 
 ante-chamber, the Duke de Richelieu has- 
 tened to meet him and, after a most respect- 
 ful salutation, enquired: 
 
 "Monseigneur, how can I serve your emi- 
 nence?" 
 
 "Ah! Monsieur the duke, I wish to see 
 His Majesty — I have come to confess him." 
 
 "To confess his Majesty ! Morbleu ! Mon- 
 seigneur, do you think then that the King 
 is ready to die — " 
 
 "I cannot tell, duke." 
 
 "Then," replied the duke, "we cannot 
 run the risk of killing him with your theo- 
 
100 MADAME DU BARRYj, 
 
 logical worries. What sins will he confess 
 to you? Would you not prefer to listen to 
 mine? They would be much more interest- 
 ing. Will your eminence be pleased to re- 
 ceive my confession? My sins are pretty, 
 dainty, gay, novel, witty — I swear to your 
 eminence that no archbishop ever heard the 
 like!" 
 
 "Nevertheless, duke," stammered the pre- 
 late, half -laughing, half indignant 
 
 But Eichelieu conducted the archbishop 
 to the embrasure of a window and, assum- 
 ing a serious tone, said : 
 
 "I do not suppose, monseigneur, that you 
 wish to injure or even annoy Madame du 
 Barry, who is our friend. To confess the 
 King would lead him to think that he is 
 about to die, and would result in his send- 
 ing away Madame du Barry, his greatest 
 
MADAME DU BARRY. 101 
 
 sin; besides, it would prepare the triumph 
 of M. de Choiseul, your enemy and the 
 friend of the parliament " 
 
 Then, lowering his voice, he added: 
 
 "Do you know the words of Madame du 
 Barry, monseigneur? She said: 'Let the 
 archbishop leave us alone, and he shall have 
 a cardinaPs cap — I promise it.' " 
 
 The two men remained silent for a mo- 
 ment; their eyes met, their hands were 
 joined in a significant pressure and, a quar- 
 ter of an hour later, the archbishop left the 
 King's chamber without having spoken of 
 a confession. 
 
 But the Choiseul party was not to be so 
 easily vanquished. The Cardinal de la 
 Roche- Aymon and the Bishop of Carcasonne 
 were induced to present themselves and 
 offer to confess the King. Richelieu and 
 
102 MADAME DU BARRYj 
 
 Fronsac were watchful and doughty senti- 
 nels; they threatened to throw the Curd of 
 Versailles through the window if he ven- 
 tured to speak to the King about a confes- 
 sion. 
 
 "If I am not killed/' replied the curd, 
 "I will return through the door; it is my 
 right and duty." 
 
 Whilst these controversies were in prog- 
 ress, the King was dying. 
 
 At this time the austere countenance of 
 Madame Louise of France, the religious 
 princess, appeared at Versailles. She was 
 the King's eldest daughter, and her devout 
 nature had been so shocked by the immoral 
 conduct of the King and his court that she 
 had sought refuge in a convent at the time 
 of Madame du Barry's presentation at 
 court. Learning of her father's severe ill- 
 
MADAME DU BARRY. 103 
 
 ness, she had left the cloister to see that his 
 spiritual wants were administered to, that 
 he might die in a manner befitting a Chris- 
 tian monarch. 
 
 The arrival of the princess in the King's 
 ante-chamber caused great consternation 
 amongst the courtiers, who immediately 
 slunk away. Madame du Barry was at the 
 King's bedside when Madame Louise en- 
 tered the chamber, but she also silently 
 stole away, after having made a respectful 
 obeisance to the princess. 
 
 "My daughter!" murmured the King, 
 opening his eyes, heavy with pain and fe- 
 ver. 
 
 "Yes, Sire," said the princess, "your 
 
 daughter." 
 
 "And you have come " 
 
 "To remind you of the God you have 
 
104 MADAME DU BARRY. 
 
 neglected and forgotten. It is time you 
 recalled Him to your thoughts, and cast 
 away your sins." 
 
 "My daughter ! I hope I am not so near 
 death as to require any such change. My 
 illness is trifling — I shall soon be better." 
 
 "Never, Sire!" said the princess, solemn- 
 ly, "your illness is a fatal one. When a 
 member of the royal family is laid low with 
 malignant smallpox it is time to summon 
 the prelates of the Church." 
 
 "Madame!" exclaimed the King, in great 
 agitation, "it is not smallpox. Ask my 
 physicians. Bordeu! is it smallpox? . . . 
 speak ! I command you I" 
 
 The physicians remained silent. 
 
 "You see, Sire, that I am right. Your 
 physicians dare not tell you, but I am not 
 afraid to speak the truth. Summon a pre- 
 
MADAME DU BARRY. 105 
 
 late to confess you, and make your peace 
 with Heaven." 
 
 The knowledge that he had smallpox 
 came upon the King like a thunderbolt, and 
 he suffered a momentary collapse. 
 
 "Madame," said the physician, Bordeu, 
 "you are killing the King." 
 
 The princess relented at her own harsh- 
 ness as she looked at the helpless monarch. 
 She approached him, and covered his hand 
 with kisses. 
 
 "Forgive me, Sire, but I feel it is my re- 
 ligious duty to warn you of your danger, and 
 advise you of your obligations to your God. 
 Heed my words, and allow the archbishop 
 to confess you and administer the last rites 
 of our Holy Church. Promise me that, and 
 I can then depart in peace." 
 
 The King gave her the desired promise. 
 
106 MADAME DU BARRY.^ 
 
 and she at once gave directions to the phy- 
 sicians to allow the Archbishop of Paris to 
 see the King; he came the same day and 
 remained about twenty minutes, during 
 which time the King confessed and received 
 the sacrament. 
 
 The body of the King was covered with 
 pustules and leprosy. He was decompos- 
 ing even before death. 
 
 Knowing that he was soon to die, Louis 
 wished to see once more and for the last 
 time the woman he loved, and, at the same 
 time, send her away in order that he might 
 merit the absolution of all his sins. He re- 
 quested the Duke d^4.iguillon to call Mad- 
 ame du Barry and did so in language so 
 tender and loving that she anticipated a 
 final triumph over her enemies. She en- 
 
MADAME DU BARRY.: 107 
 
 tered, radiant, more beautiful, more seduc- 
 tive, more lovable than ever. 
 
 Alas! the illusion was of short duration. 
 The King motioned her to approach his bed, 
 and said to her in a low voice : 
 
 "Madame, I am very ill and I know what 
 I should do. We must separate. You go 
 to Euel, to M. d'Aiguillon's chateau; be as- 
 sured of my continued friendship r.nd most 
 tender affection." 
 
 It was disgrace in extremis. Over- 
 whelmed by her grief, and choking with 
 sobs, Madame du Barry was quite uncon- 
 scious of the parting caresses of her royal 
 lover; she left the chamber without a word. 
 
 Immediately after her departure, Louis 
 asked for her again, and stammered, in a 
 trembling voice, in the first stages of delir- 
 ium: 
 
108 MADAME DU BARRY, 
 
 "Ah! she has gone — and now I must go 
 also. How does one pray to St. Gene- 
 vieve ^^ 
 
 Death soon came to his relief. 
 
 Some hours later, the door of the grand 
 salon, wherein were assembled the highest 
 members of the French nobility, was opened 
 and a gentleman-in- waiting announced in a 
 loud voice: 
 
 "Gentlemen, the King is dead — from 
 smallpox." 
 
 Every head was bowed, and amidst the 
 rustling of the garments which rubbed one 
 against the other, a voice was heard to ex- 
 claim : 
 
 "Gentlemen, it could not be smallpox — 
 everything is grand with the King!" 
 
 Such was the manner in which His Maj- 
 esty Louis the Fifteenth, the well-beloved, 
 made his exit from this world. 
 
MADAME DU BARRY. 109 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Pursuant to the injunction of the dying 
 monarch, Madame du Barry left Versailles 
 on Monday, the fifth day of May, and went 
 directly to d'Aiguillon's chateau at Ruel, 
 at which place, five days later, she received 
 the news of the King's death. It was a sad 
 blow, from which she had not recovered 
 when she received the following letter : 
 
 "Versailles, May 12, 1774. 
 "I trust, madame, that you will under- 
 stand the pain I experience in being com- 
 pelled to advise you that you are prohibited 
 from again appearing at court. But I am 
 obliged to execute the orders of the King, 
 who charges me to notify you not to come 
 to court again without his permission. His 
 
110 'MADAME DU BARRY. 
 
 Majesty also expresses a desire that you 
 should at once visit Madame the Abbess of 
 the convent Pont-aux-Dames, and I shall 
 write to-day to the abbess that she may ex- 
 pect you, and prepare to receive you. You 
 will please send me an acknowledgment of 
 your receipt of this letter, that I may satis- 
 fy His Majesty that I have executed his 
 orders. 
 
 "I have the honor, madame, to be your 
 very humble and very obedient servant. 
 
 "De Lavrillere." 
 
 It was a letter of banishment, couched in 
 very mild terms; but Madame du Barry 
 cared not for the language — it was ban- 
 ishment all the same. At first, she suc- 
 cumbed to grief, but soon rallied and, in a 
 transport of rage, she threw the letter at 
 the courier who had brought it. 
 
 "A noble King, indeed," she exclaimed, 
 
MADAME DU BARRY. HI 
 
 "who commences his reign with a letter oil 
 banishment !" 
 
 Nevertheless she must obey it. The 
 fallen favorite prepared for the journey to 
 the convent of Pont-aux-Dames, of which 
 Madame Quantity, the sister of Madame du 
 Barry's mother, was the abbess. She made 
 the journey in a carriage drawn by six 
 horses, and accompanied by one maid; a 
 carriage followed behind in which were 
 two people, one of whom was an agent of 
 police. 
 
 The members of Madame du Barry's 
 court were immediately dispersed, followed 
 by the jeers, songs and puns of the entire 
 nation. 
 
 The Count Jean du Barry, the Rou^, 
 abandoned his mistress, his flatterers and 
 his dupes, and retired to Lausanne. 
 
112 MADAME DU BARRY. 
 
 At Pont-aux-Dames, the seclusion of the 
 ex-mistress of the King was at first com- 
 plete. She could see only her jeweller, the 
 abbess and the good sisters, who could not 
 repress exclamations of astonishment at 
 sight of her who had lived at court and 
 had been almost a queen. 
 
 Madame du Barry soon became accus- 
 tomed to the solitude, the silence and sleepy 
 tranquillity of the cloister. She charmed 
 everyone in the convent by her politeness, 
 her gentleness, her generosity, and very soon 
 her friends came to see her. Mile, du Barry, 
 Mile, de Tournon visited her. Her servants 
 were allowed to continue in her service ; and 
 Ledoux, the architect of Luciennes, added 
 a wing to the abbey for the private use of 
 the exile. 
 
 She passed her days in promenading be- 
 
MADAME DU BARRY. 113 
 
 neath the arches of the cloister, gentle but 
 melancholy, and was becoming quite at- 
 tached to the convent and reconciled to her 
 solitary life, when, one day, she received 
 the King's permission to leave it — but not 
 to return to the court. 
 
 She now purchased a small estate known 
 as Saint- Vrain, near Arpajon, and invited 
 the Duke d'Aiguillon and his wife to visit 
 her there. The nobility of that neighbor- 
 hood also visited with her, and she enjoyed 
 all the amusements the country afforded; 
 yet she suffered from ennui and continued 
 to regret the loss of her old home at 
 Luciennes. 
 
 She was much annoyed by the pressing 
 demands of her creditors, and her sole di- 
 version was in playing cards, at which she 
 often lost enormous sums which her friends 
 
114 MADAME DU BARRY.) 
 
 did not venture to claim from her. One 
 evening, in a spirit of desperation, she lost 
 at a sitting the sum of ninety thousand 
 livres to the Chevalier de Langles. 
 
 But, on the following day, she received 
 unexpected news that filled her heart with 
 joy ; Maurepas had obtained for her permis- 
 sion to return to and occupy her chateau 
 at Luciennes which Louis XV. had given 
 her. 
 
 Madame du Barry was happy. 
 
 The chateau at Luciennes was a temple 
 of love and beauty. Gold, bronze, wood- 
 carving, the paintings of great masters, the 
 most brilliant jewels, the richest tapestries, 
 all the refinements of taste and luxury 
 were gathered there in bewildering abun- 
 dance. 
 
 Luciennes was a square pavilion, with five 
 
MADAME DU BARRY. 115 
 
 windows on each side, which opened on a 
 peristyle of four columns, the front of 
 which displayed a childish revel cut in bas- 
 relief by Lecomte. 
 
 Paintings by Watteau, Boucher, Fragon- 
 ard ; marble statues by Pajou, Lecomte and 
 Moineau adorned the dining hall, the salon 
 and bed-chamber — her bed alone had cost 
 for gilding, the sum of five thousand nine 
 hundred livres. The bronzes were from the 
 studio of Gouthiere, whose work rivalled, 
 in skill and finish, the specimens of antique 
 art which are preserved in the museum at 
 Naples. The ceilings were painted to re- 
 semble a slightly clouded sky through which 
 cupids were flying with messages of love. 
 
 Luciennes! the palace of a merry sover- 
 eign, gay, beautiful and artistic, the re- 
 fined expression of the art and pleasures 
 
116 MADAME DU BARRY. 
 
 of the eighteenth century. Lueiennes, in 
 which nothing but Love could exist! 
 
 After a very hasty preparation, she set 
 out for Lueiennes and entered her old home 
 with feelings of joy and satisfaction. It 
 was the only home she had ever had, and the 
 happiest years of her life had been spent 
 there. All she wished now was that she 
 might have the privilege of spending the re- 
 maining years of her life at Lueiennes in 
 peaceful retirement. 
 
MADAME DU BARRY., 117 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Shortly after her return to Luciennes, a 
 change occurred in the life of Madame du 
 Barry. Hitherto, the various amours, that 
 formed the greater part of her existence, 
 had been but passing incidents in her ac- 
 tive life — formed to-day, dissolved to-mor- 
 row, and had made no impression on her 
 capricious nature. Her heart had remained 
 untouched. Now, however, she sacrificed 
 herself to Venus — probably in an effort to 
 console herself for the loss of her former 
 grandeur. She became the lover of Lord 
 Seymour. 
 
 In the calm solitude of Luciennes a new 
 
118 MADAME DU BARRY., 
 
 Madame du Barry was born and developed. 
 The courtesan, the royal favorite of the 
 kingdom of France, the woman of the pam- 
 phlets, of the romances, and songs, has en- 
 tirely disappeared, and, in her place, has 
 arisen the woman who loves. 
 
 The manner in which Madame du Barry 
 first acquired a friendship with Lord Sey- 
 mour, the English ambassador to the Court 
 of France, was not at all romantic, and did 
 not foreshadow the approaching passion. 
 
 Lord Seymour had a sick daughter in 
 whom Madame du Barry became interested, 
 and she wrote several letters to the noble 
 father expressing her hope and solicitude for 
 the recovery of the child. Gradually the 
 letters became more intimate. Madame du 
 Barry entered, by degrees, and perhaps un- 
 consciously, those fairy regions of the King- 
 
MADAME DU BARRY. 119 
 
 dom of Love which inspired the paintings of 
 Boucher, Watteau and Lancret; a new and 
 charming existence opened before her, into 
 which she entered with joyful anticipation. 
 
 Lord Seymour visited her at Luciennes. 
 He was a man of imposing appearance, half 
 English and half French, a nobleman and 
 a gallant in every sense of the word. He 
 paid court to the ex-favorite, and Madame 
 du Barry, who was favorably predisposed 
 toward him, very soon abandoned herself 
 entirely to this new passion, which was, 
 undoubtedly, her first excursion into the 
 realms of genuine love. 
 
 One day, seated idly in an easy chair, 
 alone in her dainty boudoir at Luciennes, 
 she had abandoned herself to reverie and 
 melancholy. In imagination, the handsome 
 Englishman was before her eyes; she read 
 
120 MADAME DU BARRY.' 
 
 again some of his letters, which were 
 couched in language which breathed a ten- 
 der and respectful attachment, though dis- 
 playing at times a trace of the frivolous gal- 
 antries of a courtier of the period. Then, 
 actuated by the passions evoked by the let- 
 ters, she seated herself at her writing table 
 and wrote the following letter to her lover : 
 
 "Thursday, two o'clock. 
 "The assurances of your love, my dearest 
 friend, constitute my only happiness in life. 
 My heart finds these two days very long, and 
 is filled with regret that it cannot shorten 
 the hours or quicken their passage. I trust 
 that I will see you on Saturday, and until 
 then I await you with all the impatience 
 of a soul that is entirely devoted to you. 
 Can you ask or desire anything more? 
 
 "Adieu." 
 
MADAME DU BARRY. 121 
 
 Madame du Barry rang a bell, and her 
 black page, Zamore, who still served her in 
 her exile, showed through the half-opened 
 door, a chubby black face in which his thick 
 red lips formed a heavy arch. 
 
 "Here," she said, "this letter is to be sent 
 to Lord Seymour at once." 
 
 Zamore took the letter and disappeared. 
 
 Now, that she had definitely given her- 
 self to her lover, Madame du Barry felt 
 more contented, and the next two days 
 passed in comparative tranquillity. Satur- 
 day forenoon, she wandered for several 
 hours through the gardens of Luciennes, im- 
 patient, with tears in her eyes, fearful that 
 some accident might detain her noble lover. 
 
 Finally, the sound of carriage wheels 
 rolling over the gravel drives of the park 
 reached the ears of Madame du Barry. 
 
122 MADAME DU BARRY., 
 
 Seized with a sudden modesty, she retired 
 to her chamber. When Lord Seymour en- 
 tered, the poor woman remained upon the 
 sofa., with lowered head, blushing and con- 
 fused, whilst two tears coursed down her 
 cheeks. 
 
 "Ah! this is strange!" said the lord, 
 "when I arrive madame weeps." 
 
 "Oh ! my dear friend " 
 
 Then, rising from the sofa, she allowed 
 herself to fall into the arms of the ambassa- 
 dor. For the first time in her life, Madame 
 du Barry had, this day, given herself 
 through feelings of love, and no longer 
 through vice, ambition, or fear. To her, 
 this was the beginning of a new life — a life 
 of greater purity and joy than she had be- 
 fore experienced. 
 
 Three times a week, Lord Seymour visited 
 
MADAME DU BARRY. 123 
 
 Luciennes, and each time he found his lover 
 younger, fresher, prettier than before. A 
 new woman had arisen from the ashes of 
 the royal favorite, with all the delicate ten- 
 derness, the coy modesty and the charming 
 naivete of innocent girlhood. 
 
 To be sure, Madame du Barry was yet 
 quite young, and her soul recovered that 
 youthful freshness which it had lost very 
 early in life; consequently. Lord Seymour, 
 who had known Madame du Barry as the 
 favorite at Versailles, was astonished and 
 delighted to discover in her the tender pas- 
 sion of a young girl. 
 
 Nevertheless, he soon wearied of her 
 charms, and confessed to himself that his 
 heart was no longer at Luciennes. The 
 reason for this change he did not know, 
 nor did he seek to discover it. His visits 
 
124 MADAME DU BARRY. 
 
 to Luciennes became less frequent, and his 
 letters shorter and less affectionate. 
 
 After having experienced the joys of re- 
 ciprocated affection, Madame du Barry suf- 
 fered greatly when she first discovered the 
 increasing apathy of her lover, and his ap- 
 parent neglect of her. It was the first time 
 she had suffered the pangs of despised love. 
 
 But she had a generous nature, full of 
 tenderness and sympathy. She wrote to her 
 errant lover this admirable letter which, 
 by its noble tenderness and resigned abne- 
 gation almost redeemed a life of debauchery 
 and frivolity: 
 
 "Wednesday, midnight. 
 
 "It is useless to tell you of my affection 
 
 and my sympathy — you know of it. But 
 
 what you do not know is the depth of my 
 
 sorrow; you have not deigned to comfort 
 
MADAME DU BARRY. 125 
 
 and assure me in respect to that which af- 
 fects my soul. Thus, I believe that my 
 peace and happiness affect you very little; 
 it is with feelings of regret that I speak of 
 it, but it is for the last time. My mind is 
 tranquil ; my heart suffers. But with cour- 
 age and lapse of time, I will survive the 
 wound. Adieu; believe me that you alone 
 will occupy my heart." 
 
 Love purifies and sorrow ennobles. Mad- 
 ame du Barry was at once purified and en- 
 nobled. Lord Seymour had gone forever; 
 henceforth, she passed her days, more deso- 
 late, more gentle, more melancholy than 
 ever. She amused herself at times by wear- 
 ing the dresses and jewels in which her 
 lover had seen her, and, sometimes, on ris- 
 ing in the morning, she looked at herself 
 in the glass, pleased to see the form and 
 features that he had loved. 
 
126 MADAME DU BARRY. 
 
 When the autumn leaves fell from the 
 trees in the park at Luciennes and were 
 scattered by the winds, the love of Madame 
 du Barry gradually melted from her heart. 
 Very soon, it was no more than a tender 
 memory. Yet a wonderful charm still 
 clung to that beautiful woman who wan- 
 dered through the deserted pathways of the 
 park, alone and melancholy; that woman 
 who had known the splendor of a throne, 
 the couch of a King and, at last, the love 
 of a man. 
 
MADAME DU BARRY. 127 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 It is not necessary to relate in detail the 
 other amours of the capricious Madame 
 du Barry. Suffice it to say that, having 
 once tasted the joys and delights of genu- 
 ine, disinterested love, she never afterward 
 bestowed her favors upon a man who did 
 not first acquire some share in her affec- 
 tions. At the time of her return to Lu- 
 ciennes she was still a young woman of 
 thirty years, as beautiful, witty and affec- 
 tionate as ever. It is not surprising, there- 
 fore, that she had many visitors and ad- 
 mirers who followed her to her charming 
 retreat to tender her their sympathy and 
 love. 
 
 Consequently, she found, in the latter 
 years of her life a peace and happiness 
 amongst friends who sought her society be- 
 
128 MADAME DU BARRY, 
 
 cause they entertained for her a certain de- 
 gree of affection, unmixed with political in- 
 trigue. Some months after Lord Seymour 
 had deserted her, she bestowed her affec- 
 tions on the Duke de Coss^-Brissac, one of 
 the greatest noblemen in the Kingdom ; and, 
 after his love began to wane, she received 
 the attentions of the Marquis de Rohan- 
 Chabot. 
 
 Whilst these noblemen were paying hom- 
 age to Madame du Barry at Luciennes and 
 reciting to her madrigals of the ancient 
 regime, the Revolution was brewing at Paris 
 and Versailles. The people had already 
 taken the Bastille, the King was tottering 
 on his throne, and the guillotine had become 
 the daily amusement of the rabble who de- 
 lighted in its cruel horrors. It is not the 
 purpose of this work to dwell upon the 
 atrocities of the Revolution, except in so far 
 as they have a direct bearing and a per- 
 
MADAME DU BARRY. 129 
 
 sonal connection with the heroine of these 
 chronicles. The wave of terror swept over 
 Luciennes and carried away the Duke de 
 Cosse-Brissac, who met his fate on the 
 scaffold. Thenceforth, all sorts of misfor- 
 tunes overwhelmed Madame du Barry, who 
 compromised herself by her association with 
 aristocrats and was soon classed amongst 
 the suspects herself. 
 
 Her jewels were stolen from her, and the 
 voyages she made to England in an effort 
 to recover them were regarded by the revo- 
 lutionists as overt acts of high treason. 
 Whilst she was in London, Louis the Six- 
 teenth was put to death at the guillotine, 
 and because Madame du Barry chanced to 
 be wearing a black dress at the time, she 
 was afterward accused of wearing mourn- 
 ing for the King, which was another trea- 
 sonable act in the eyes of the new tyrants 
 of Franca 
 
130 MADAME DU BARRY. 
 
 Her servants were bribed and hired to be- 
 tray her. Her friends were condemned to 
 the guillotine, and she was finally cited to 
 appear before the revolutionary tribunal. 
 That was the beginning of the end ; the first 
 act of the tragedy. It occurred on the 
 twenty-second day of September, 1793. 
 
 On that day, a. man named Greive, an un- 
 scrupulous adventurer, a disappointed man 
 of letters, a brutal sans-culotte, a debauchee, 
 and one of the most vindictive factionists, 
 visited Luciennes accompanied by two gen- 
 darmes and several municipal officers of 
 Luciennes. He asked for Madame du Barry, 
 and when she appeared, pale and trembling, 
 he exhibited to her the order of arrest, 
 placed seals on her apartments, and forced 
 the poor woman to get into a small, incom- 
 modious vehicle that already contained two 
 gendarmes. 
 
 On the way to Paris, they met the cabrio- 
 
MADAME DU BARRY. 131 
 
 let of the Chevalier d'Escourt. Greive made 
 him deliver up his cabriolet to the uses of 
 the state, and, leaving the two gendarmes 
 in the other carriage, he caused Madame du 
 Barry to enter the cabriolet into which he 
 followed her and took a seat at her side. 
 
 Then, this noble defender of his country, 
 this destroyer of tyrants, tried to smile and 
 display an affable disposition whilst he un- 
 folded to Madame du Barry a means of es- 
 cape from the guillotine. He based her 
 safety upon a condition that he thought 
 would not be revolting to one who had been 
 a mistress to a King. Her only reply was 
 to give him a slap in the face, and when he 
 continued his insulting advances, she made 
 violent outcries, which were heard by the 
 gendarmes, who immediately ran to the 
 cabriolet to ascertain their cause. Greive 
 informed the gendarmes that the prisoner 
 was making efforts to escape, and instructed 
 
132 MADAME DU BARRY.\ 
 
 them to watch her closely. He then re- 
 turned to the other carriage in a furious 
 temper, and firmly resolved to send Madame 
 du Barry to the scaffold. 
 
 The prisoner and her captors continued 
 on their way to Paris, and stopped on the 
 bank of the Seine in front of the sullen-look- 
 ing prison called the Conciergerie. The 
 gendarmes knocked at the entrance with the 
 handles of their swords, the gate opened, 
 the carriages entered the court and Madame 
 du Barry was in her last earthly home. As 
 she stepped from the cabriolet and gazed 
 upon the dark grey walls and small iron- 
 grated windows, her heart sank within her ; 
 it was surely the Hold of Death. Exhausted 
 by her wearisome journey, and overcome by 
 despair, she was so weak that the gendarmes 
 had to support her on her way to the office 
 of the concierge. 
 
 This official, citizen Richard, was a man 
 
MADAME DU BARRY, 133 
 
 of compassionate nature, who entertained 
 a feeling of sympathy for the unfortunate 
 females who were placed in his charge. He 
 mitigated, so far as lay in his power, the 
 hardships of their prison life. Conse- 
 quently, when Madame du Barry appeared 
 before him in such a helpless condition, he 
 regarded her with amazement and sym- 
 pathy. The concierge was brought to a 
 sense of his duty by Greive, who said 
 roughly : 
 
 "Come, Citizen Richard, get your book 
 and write quickly. We are pressed for time 
 and lots of work to do." 
 
 The concierge opened a large register and, 
 with pen in hand, asked the prisoner : 
 
 "Your name and surname, citoyenne?" 
 
 "Jeanne Gomard de Vaubernier, the 
 Countess du Barry,'' she replied, repeating 
 her title with an assumption of pride. 
 
134 MADAME DU BARRY., 
 
 "Add to that, the title of 'ex-mistress to 
 Louis the Fifteenth,' " said Greiva 
 
 "Your age?'' continued the concierge. 
 
 "Forty-seven," was the reply. 
 
 Kichard wrote this down, then the de- 
 scription, and finished with the usual notes 
 and remarks. "That is all," he said. 
 
 The prisoner was thereupon conducted to 
 her cell. 
 
 From that hour, this unfortunate woman 
 was at the mercy of the revolutionists, who 
 treated her with dastardly infamy. Her 
 only crime was in the fact that she had once 
 been loved by a King. 
 
 Her chateau at Luciennes was pillaged 
 from cellar to attic, and its famous paint- 
 ings and artistic decorations destroyed. 
 The vindictive Greive, together with Sale- 
 nave, a former servant who had been dis- 
 charged from Luciennes on account of his 
 thefts and misconduct, perused the private 
 
MADAME DV BARRY. 135 
 
 correspondence of the prisoner. They ap- 
 propriated her jewels, and carried away and 
 bestowed on their own mistresses the ele- 
 gant robes, hats, laces and undergarments 
 of the former concubine of the tyrant Louis 
 the Fifteenth. 
 
 When they had thoroughly robbed Ma- 
 dame du Barry of her earthly possessions, 
 including the confiscation of the chateau it- 
 self, nothing remained but to assassinate 
 her. That task would devolve upon the revo- 
 lutionary tribunal and the public execu- 
 tioner. 
 
 It was a strange coincidence that the cell 
 occupied by Madame du Barry in the con- 
 ciergerie was the one formerly occupied by 
 the ill-fated Marie-Antoinette. It seemed 
 as if it were her destiny to usurp until 
 death the place and the bed of a queen. 
 
136 MADAME DU BARRY, 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 TWO months after her arrest, Madame du 
 Barry was subjected to the preliminary in- 
 quisition. She defended herself courageous- 
 ly against the ignoble and ridiculous accu- 
 sations that Greive and Salenave had gath- 
 ered against her into a voluminous indict- 
 ment. 
 
 On December 6, at nine o'clock in the 
 morning, she was ordered to appear before 
 the tribunal. Madame du Barry entered 
 the audience hall as proud and dignified as 
 a queen. 
 
 Although nearly fifty years of age, she 
 was still very beautiful, with that youthful 
 girl-like beauty so well expressed by Cos- 
 way in the portrait he made of the countess 
 when she was in England in search of her 
 
MADAME DU BARRY. 137 
 
 stolen jewels. She always retained that 
 charming oval face that the succeeding 
 years only rendered more full and perfect; 
 but her complexion had suffered from her 
 long sojourn in the prison, and the blue 
 dress of coarse wool that she now wore was 
 not made to embellish a delicate skin that 
 was accustomed to disport itself in clouds 
 of rich laces, and vieing in beauty with the 
 sparkling jewels and rare silks of the fair 
 mistress. 
 
 However, the gentle beauty of the pris- 
 oner did not touch the hearts of the judges. 
 Several years of harsh injustice had ren- 
 dered them indifferent to every feeling of 
 compassion. They were not appointed to 
 administer justice or dispense sympathy; 
 they were nominated to condemn unfortu- 
 nate prisoners to execution. To do aught 
 else would be a dereliction of duty. 
 
 The president of the revolutionary tri- 
 
138 MADAME DU BARRY. 
 
 bunal, which contributed to the legal as- 
 sassination of a woman, was citizen K6n^- 
 Frangois Dumas ; associated with him were 
 three other judges. The principal witnesses 
 were Charles Greive, Frangois Salenave, 
 Louis Zamore and other servants formerly 
 employed by Madame du Barry. 
 
 When the tribunal had convened, the 
 president addressed the accused as follows : 
 
 "Prisoner, what is your name and age?" 
 
 "Jeanne Vaubernier, aged forty-seven 
 years." 
 
 "State the place of your birth, and your 
 last place of residence." 
 
 "I was born at Vaucouleurs — and last re- 
 sided at Luciennes." 
 
 "Are you not the wife of the former Count 
 du Barry?" 
 
 "No — we are separated by law." 
 
 Then the formidable list of charges or ac- 
 cusations that had been made against her 
 
MADAME DU BARRY. 13d 
 
 was read, and she was asked if they were 
 true. 
 
 "No, they are false in every particular," 
 was her reply. 
 
 Then the witnesses were called. First 
 came FranQois Salenave, who testified that 
 he was thirty-eight years of age, that he 
 was formerly employed by the accused at 
 Luciennes and had seen many aristocrats 
 visit her house ; that in his character of pa- 
 triot he had been watched and betrayed by 
 other domestics of the house, who had preju- 
 diced the mind of the accused against him, 
 and for that reason he had been discharged. 
 
 In answer to his testimony Madame du 
 Barry said it was false; that she had re- 
 ceived aristocrats ; and that the witness had 
 been discharged from her service for thefts 
 of porcelain and other misdemeanors. 
 
 Louis Zamore, the famous black slave of 
 Madame du Barry, was the next witness. 
 
140 MADAME DU BARRY. 
 
 He testified that he was born in Bengal, In- 
 dia; was thirty-one years of age; had lived 
 with the accused since he was ten years of 
 age; that, seeing the patriotic papers speak 
 of her so often in a bold and suspicious tone, 
 he had advised her to sacrifice a portion of 
 her fortune and give it to the nation, in 
 order that she might retain the balance. 
 That the accused, in spite of his advice, con- 
 tinued to receive and entertain aristocrats 
 who applauded the defeats of the republican 
 army; that he spoke to the accused about 
 it, but she paid no attention to his warn- 
 ings; on the contrary, she ordered him to 
 leave her house within three days. 
 
 In answer to this witness, the accused 
 said: "It is not true that I received aristo- 
 crats in my house; as to the notice the 
 witness says he gave me, I never received 
 it ; as to his discharge from my service, that 
 is the reason he comes here to testify against 
 me.'' 
 
MADAME DU BARRY, 141 
 
 Such was the general character of the evi- 
 dence given by the various witnesses, all of 
 whom were apparently actuated by spite 
 and ill-will toward the accused. At the 
 close of the testimony the questions were 
 brusquely explained to the jury, who, af- 
 ter a few moments^ absence, returned a ver- 
 dict of guilty against the accused. The 
 president promptly read the decree of death, 
 which declared that the execution should 
 take place within twenty-four hours. 
 
 Although she had maintained a firm 
 bearing during the progress of the trial, 
 Madame du Barry could not withstand the 
 shock of the terrible sentence. 
 
 When she realized that the trial was 
 ended, that death stared her in the face, so 
 near, in fact, that she could already feel the 
 cold breath of the tomb ; that Luciennes and 
 the wealth and luxury that had been her 
 joy and pride were now lost to her forever; 
 
142 MADAUn DU BARRV.^ 
 
 that for her there were no more songs, no 
 more laughter, no more love; then, she al- 
 lowed herself to succumb to the most pro- 
 found despair, and, being attacked by a sud- 
 den feebleness, she fell, in a fainting condi- 
 tion, into the arms of the gendarmes, who 
 carried her outside the dreadful audience 
 hall. 
 
 The spectators of this sad spectacle were 
 unmoved. They had seen the same scene 
 enacted so often that they had become hard- 
 ened to the misfortune and grief of a fellow- 
 being. One man was observed to rub his 
 hands together in a manner that indicated 
 joy and satisfaction, whilst that renowned 
 patriot, Greive, burst into laughter, believ- 
 ing perhaps that he had saved France, but 
 more especially satisfied that he had been 
 able to assist at the condemnation of an 
 unfortunate woman who had resisted his 
 embraces. 
 
MADAME DU BARRY. 143 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 Immediately after her conaemnation, 
 Madame du Barry was returned to her cell. 
 She did not touch the meagre dinner that 
 was brought to her. Weeping and lament- 
 ing, with dishevelled hair and disordered 
 dress, she sat on the side of her miserable 
 bed. She was the embodiment of despair 
 and misfortune. 
 
 For several hours she remained in that 
 position, whilst her whole body was agi- 
 tated by violent sobs. Finally, fatigue, de- 
 spair, and the horror of death overcame her, 
 and it was almost eleven o'clock at night 
 when Madame du Barry extended herself 
 on the bed and went to sleep. 
 
 Then, almost noiselessly, the cell-door, 
 which had been oiled in the afternoon, was 
 
144 MADAME DU BARRY. 
 
 opened wide. A man entered and closed 
 the door behind him. He carried in his left 
 hand a small lantern. A naked sabre was 
 passed through his belt, and a Phrygian bon- 
 net, ornamented with a tricolor cockade, 
 covered the top of his head. A sardonic 
 smile wandered over his thick, sensual lips, 
 and his white teeth shone in the darkness 
 like those of a wolf. He entered like a 
 beast of prey about to pounce on his 
 quarry. 
 
 He placed the lantern upon a small table, 
 placed the sabre beside the lantern, and, 
 quietly, advanced toward Madame du Bar- 
 ry. 
 
 The slumber of the unfortunate woman 
 was too much disturbed by hideous night- 
 mares for her to sleep soundly; therefore, 
 in spite of the precautions he had taken and 
 the very slight noise he had made, Madame 
 du Barry was awakened by his entrance. 
 
MADAME DU BARRY. 145 
 
 She suddenly opened her eyes, and uttering 
 a cry of terror, raised herself to a sitting 
 posture. Then, by the dim light afforded by 
 the lantern, she recognized her old servant, 
 and exclaimed: 
 
 "Salenave!" 
 
 "Yes, it is I, citoyenne ; it is your old serv- 
 ant. I am pleased to find that you recog- 
 nize me, madame '' 
 
 Then, as she extended her hands in a ges- 
 ture of fear and disgust, he knelt before 
 her and continued, in a humble voice : 
 
 "Madame, you need have no fear. I do 
 not come to do you any harm, but on the 
 contrary, I wish to save you, to give you 
 liberty and life. Madame, during tlie three 
 years I have spent in your house, almost in 
 your chamber, then I heard your T^^arblings 
 of love and your merry laughter, now I hear 
 your sobs of grief and despair ; during those 
 years I have learned to love you " 
 
146 MADAME DU BARRY., 
 
 "Oh!" 
 
 "I am well aware that you despise me, and 
 now I horrify you. Nevertheless, I am just 
 as good as that puppet Lord Seymour, that 
 imbecile Coss6 Brissac, that coward Kohan- 
 Chabot, or that rascal the Chevalier d'Es- 
 court, all of whom you have accepted as lov- 
 ers, whilst you despised me. I am as good 
 or, perhaps, a little better than those peo- 
 ple, brutalized, as they are, by twenty years 
 of lust and debauchery, and twenty years 
 of base servility to an ignoble King. But 
 you have not noticed my looks of devotion 
 or my sighs of despair; on the contrary, you 
 turned me from your door like you would 
 a mangy cur. You were the mistress — I 
 had to obey. Now it is I who am the mas- 
 ter; I can command, if I so choose, but I 
 prefer to obtain you willingly. Madame, I 
 love you and can save you in spite of every- 
 one." 
 
MADAME DU BARRY. 147 
 
 Whilst speaking, Salenave had gradually 
 crawled closer and closer to Madame du 
 Barry. He endeavored to place his arms 
 about her waist, but she fought him, slapped 
 his face, and furrowed his neck with her 
 finger-nails. But, without a word, he con- 
 tinued to press closer to her; then, she felt 
 constrained to cry out: 
 
 "Go away, monster — fiend — leave me! I 
 would rather die — oh! oh! — Help!" 
 
 "I love you, I love you," he said; "I 
 love you and can save you. Listen! I am 
 rich; Luciennes now belongs to me — all 
 mine. I can return you everything, all your 
 wealth, and we can go far away, to the new 
 world. You will be happy — you will live!" 
 
 At these words "you will live," Madame 
 du Barry had a sudden vision. 
 
 Oh! to live, to live! That was to enjoy 
 the sunshine, the gentle winds, the spring 
 flowers and the autumn twilights. Oh! to 
 
148 MADAME DU BARRY. 
 
 live — to live! whilst she thought herself ir- 
 revocably consigned to death, to the infa- 
 mous guillotine. What joy! What deliv- 
 erance! And the prison cell suddenly 
 glowed with all the glorious light of a stim- 
 mer sun, birds sang, flowers bloomed and 
 perfumed the air with their fragrance, green 
 valleys appeared in the distance under a 
 sky of pure blue. 
 
 "I love you — ^you will live!" repeated 
 Salenave. 
 
 The sound of his voice dispelled the vis- 
 ion under which she had labored for a brief 
 moment. Salenave, the detested ^ servant, 
 was at her side, urging upon her his ob- 
 noxious attentions. Then, realizing the hor- 
 ror of her situation, she rose to her feet and, 
 with a strength born of despair, she seized 
 Salenave and thrust him from her — with 
 such force that be measured his length on 
 
MADAME DU BARRY. 149 
 
 She renewed her cries for help with such 
 noise and vehemence that Salenave became 
 alarmed that her cries would be heard and 
 answered, and that he might be discovered 
 in a place he had no right or authority to be. 
 Scrambling to his feet, he uttered some 
 oaths, grasped his sword and lantern from 
 the table and hurriedly quit the cell, fu- 
 rious at the failure of his villainous scheme. 
 
 After his departure, Madame du Barry 
 fell upon her cot and, throughout the night, 
 the guard who patrolled the adjoining cor- 
 ridor heard the prisoner uttering long- 
 drawn sighs and heart-rending sobs, like a 
 child who had been abandoned on a deserted 
 road, on a dark night, after being punished. 
 
150 MADAME DU BARRY. 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 Toward the close of the year 1793, when 
 Madame du Barry was to be offered as a 
 sacrifice to Saint Guillotine to satisfy the 
 vengeance of a frenzied populace, Paris had 
 already grown weary of the horrors of the 
 Revolution; the odor of blood had driven 
 away the residents from the houses adja- 
 cent to the Place de la Revolution; a new 
 guillotine had been erected upon the Place 
 du Trone. Along the route usually taken 
 by the death-carts shops were closed and 
 passers-by endeavored to avoid meeting the 
 procession. It had become necessary to 
 limit the number of executions to sixty a 
 day. 
 
 In the evening, under the windows of each 
 
MADAME DU BARRY. 151 
 
 prison, the list of the victims was shouted 
 out — "These are they who have gained prizes 
 in the lottery of Saint Guillotine." The un- 
 fortunates who crowded to the windows 
 thus learned of the tidings of the execution 
 of those they loved. Madame du Barry's 
 name will soon be added to the list of prize 
 winners. 
 
 After a night of fitful slumber, peopled 
 with horrible nightmares, Madame du Barry 
 shuddered with terror as she beheld the first 
 streaks of light of the coming day — to her, 
 the last day on earth. The dreadful thought 
 utterly prostrated her, and she did not stir, 
 or show the slightest sign of life until she 
 was aroused by the grating noise caused by 
 the drawing of the bolts on the door of her 
 cell. 
 
 The executioner entered, followed by 
 Judge Denisot and Claude Roger, who rep- 
 resented the public accuser. 
 
15% MADAME DU BARRY. 
 
 Madame du Barry regarded these men 
 with an affrighted air. It was the duty of 
 the executioner to cut her hair, and she 
 humbly submitted to the operation, without 
 a word of protest or an indignant look. 
 When informed that she must leave the cell 
 and follow them, she walked with the air 
 of a somnambulist. 
 
 "Two months ago," said a jailer, "it was 
 the Austrian woman who went out of that 
 cell — never to return; to-day, it is the for- 
 mer sultana of the former tyrant. The two 
 heads will go into the same basket." 
 
 Overhearing these words, Madame du 
 Barry recalled that yesterday she had been 
 condemned to death. Thereupon, she ut- 
 tered a wild cry of despair. Between two 
 wickets of the Conciergerie she stopped the 
 guards who were conducting her, and seized 
 the arm of Judge Denisot; her face was 
 bathed in tears, her breast heaved with con- 
 
MADAME DU BARRY. 163 
 
 vulsive sobs, whilst she made this last at- 
 tempt to save the life she held so dear. 
 
 "Do not kill me! Do not kill me!" she 
 cried; "I will give you all — everything I 
 have in the world. They have not found one- 
 quarter of my possessions. I have hidden 
 treasures — vast sums — they are all yours if 
 you will save me." 
 
 The judge recoiled a step, and for reply, 
 made a sign to Claude Roger, who prepared 
 to take down in writing what the unfortu- 
 nate woman had to say. 
 
 "Listen! I have a beautiful gold work- 
 box and a basket full of diamonds hidden 
 in the garden ; with Deliant, at Luciennes, I 
 have a number of gold watches, set mth dia- 
 monds, also a package of diamonds. Every- 
 where, in my chamber, in the dining-room, 
 under the staircase, I have hidden enormous 
 wealth. You may have it all if you will 
 save me. I do not want to die !" 
 
154 MADAME DU BARRY, 
 
 She swooned and fell into the arms of a 
 guard. They revived her by the aid of a 
 cordial, and, very gently, the judge induced 
 her to give detailed particulars of her hid- 
 den treasure, that it might be readily found. 
 In this gentleness she saw a gleam of hope. 
 She confessed everything, compromising her 
 friends, not knowing, poor unfortunate, that 
 her cowardly despair was enriching the revo- 
 lutionists, condemning her friends to the 
 guillotine, and serving her no good pur- 
 pose. 
 
 So soon as her statement was finished, the 
 judge made a signal, in response to which 
 the guards opened a door and Madame du 
 Barry saw before her one of the carts used 
 for the conveyance of victims from the Con- 
 ciergerie to the scaffold. She understood 
 then that all was over, that she must die, 
 and, before this inexorable destiny, she be- 
 came resigned. 
 

 ii'i:;:^:-';' 
 
 
 
 MADAME DU BARRY ON HER WAY TO THE GUILLOTINl. 
 
 (155) 
 
MADAME DU BARRY. 157 
 
 As white as the dress in which she had 
 had been clothed for the execution, she 
 mounted the cart. The sun — a mild winter 
 sun — shone in the blue sky, accompanied 
 by a few fleecy white clouds. A perfect 
 day for a long journey. An immense crowd 
 of people, dressed as for a holiday, struggled 
 against each other in the streets and 
 squares, in the windows and even upon the 
 roofs, to obtain a last look at the beautiful 
 mistress of the former tyrant. The horses 
 walked so slowly, the distance seemed in- 
 terminable to the fair victim. 
 
 Madame du Barry did not hear the clam- 
 ors of the infamous and cruel populace; 
 she did not see the insulting laughter and 
 obscene gestures of the spectators. She cov- 
 ered her face with her hands and wept. 
 
 Near the Palais-Koyal, she suddenly 
 raised her head and saw before her the mil- 
 linery shop in which she had worked as a 
 
158 MADAME DU BARRY,. 
 
 young girl, so many years ago. Then, her 
 past life glided before her eyes like a pano- 
 'rama. Once more she saw the King, the 
 court, the f^tes, Versailles, Luciennes, the 
 Duke de Cossd-Brissac, the Marquis de 
 Rohan- Chabot. She saw all her past hap- 
 piness as well as the horror of the present 
 moment. 
 
 Then, twisting her arms, she uttered 
 piercing shrieks, inhuman cries, terrifying 
 and heart-rending, that could be heard from 
 one end to the other of the Eue Saint- 
 Honor6. 
 
 Before this unmerited anguish, the spec- 
 tators ceased their insults. Human hearts 
 beat within the breasts of some of those 
 slaves of vengeance and injustice. Even a 
 few words of pity were uttered. 
 
 With haggard eyes and distorted mouth, 
 the poor woman cried : 
 
 "My friends — save me. I have not done 
 
MADAME DU BARRY. 159 
 
 any wrong to you. In the name of Heaven, 
 save me!" 
 
 Madame du Barry did not possess, as a 
 basis for courage, either the piety of Queen 
 Marie-Antoinette, the virile faith of Ma- 
 dame Koland, the pride of Madame Eliza- 
 beth, or the scorn and contempt of the 
 Princess de Lamballe. She was simply a 
 woman who had loved life; had enjoyed it, 
 and wished to enjoy it longer ; who believed 
 only in this life and the pleasures that it 
 afforded. And, shaken by sobs, she re- 
 peated : 
 
 "My life! leave me my life! I will give 
 all my property to the nation!" 
 
 "Your property!" said someone in a loud 
 voice, "you cannot give to the nation that 
 which already belongs to it." 
 
 A coal-porter, standing in front of the 
 insulter, turned quickly and dealt him a 
 blow. Some murmurs of pity arose from the 
 
160 MADAME DU BARRY. 
 
 crowd, but the officer who rode near the 
 cart whipped up the horses to end the spec- 
 tacle. At half-past four in the afternoon 
 the cart arrived at the place of the execu- 
 tion. 
 
 Greive, who was standing near the scaf- 
 fold, applauded. The Chevalier d'Escourt, 
 who was standing near him, drew his sword 
 and was about to transpierce the sans-cu- 
 lotte, when some guards seized the chevalier 
 and drew him away, whilst he cried, "Assas- 
 sins! Assassins!" 
 
 Frightened and despairing, wild from an- 
 guish and terror, Madame du Barry wept 
 and shrieked whilst the guard helped her 
 from the cart and made her ascend the steps 
 of the scaffold. As she did so, the wild mob 
 surrounding the scaffold burst into a sol- 
 emn and terrible chorus, and the words of 
 the "Marseill?Li^§" drowned tb§ mm Qt tb§ 
 
MADAME DU BARRY. 161 
 
 ^^ AllonSy enfants de la patrie; 
 Le jour de gloire est arrive; 
 Contre nous, de la tyrannies 
 Le couteau sanglant est leve. 
 
 }> 
 
 "One minute more — only one minute!" 
 pleaded the unfortunate. 
 
 The excutioner brutally placed her on 
 the plank. The mob was now silent. The 
 guillotine, with its forbidding black frame, 
 was outlined against the blue sky, and its 
 triangular knife shone and glistened in the 
 sunshine. The crowd maintained a breath- 
 less silence. A clicking sound was heard. 
 "Pity on me! Pity! Oh!" 
 
 The knife descended noiselessly, with 
 lightning speed, a spurt of blood and all was 
 over. The executioner, taking the head by 
 the hair, so short that his hand was covered 
 with blood; showed it to the people, who 
 
 KOV 29 IDOl 
 
NOV 23 1901 
 
 162 MADAME DU BARRY. 
 
 thereupon shouted, "Vive la republique! 
 Down with tyrants! Vive la liberty." 
 
 The crime was consummated. The Ter- 
 ror had assassinated one woman more. The 
 crowd dispersed slowly, satisfied with their 
 day's amusement. Greive, rubbing his 
 hands, expressed the sentiments of the rab- 
 ble who then governed France, when he 
 said : 
 
 "I have never laughed so much as I did 
 to-day, on seeing the faces that La du Barry 
 made when she come to die !" 
 
 This event occurred 8th Deceniber, 1793. 
 
 THE END. 
 
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