[158] Lett. Mém. &c. i. 124.
[159] De Broglie, ii. 153.
[161] Note remise à Son Excellence Monsieur le Comte de Guerchy, par Monsieur le Chevalier D’Eon (November 30, 1763).
[162] Lines on the Duke de Choiseul, to whom D’Eon was much attached, written after his exile:—
[163] Contre-Note ou Lettre à Monsieur le Marquis L——, à Paris (by M. Goudard, December 1763).
[164] Ch. MSS.
[165] Ch. MSS. 667.
[166] Walpole to the Earl of Hertford, March 27, 1764, and more besides in a letter to Charles Churchill, Esq., March 27, 1764.
[167] D’Eon to the Duke de Nivernois, February 15, 1764, and to the Duke de Choiseul, same date. Gaill. 163.
[169] Colonel Nardin had been employed by Louis XV. to watch over the security of D’Eon and his papers.
[170] According to the terms of the late treaty, the town and port of Dunkirk were to be restored to the state fixed by the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle and other treaties, and particularly the lunette should be destroyed immediately after the exchange of ratifications, as well as the forts and batteries which defended the entrance from the sea. The work proceeded so slowly, that it was considered it would take seven years to complete; eventually all the fortifications were demolished by September 1764.
[171] This offer amounted to 20,000l.
[172] Boutaric, i. 313.
[173] Louis XV. to Tercier, December 30, 1763; March 25, 1764. Boutaric, i. 311, 316.
[174] Louis XV. to Tercier, December 30, 1763. Ibid. 311.
[175] ‘This letter was addressed to the Rev. Father Loris, Rue du Regard, and was sent to me by his Majesty on April 5, 1764.’ Endorsement in the hand of Tercier. Loris was probably a fictitious name. Ibid. 317.
[176] ‘The Sieur de Nort will leave for England as soon as he receives my orders to that effect through the Count de Broglio, and he will strictly comply with the instructions he will receive from him in my name, and in behalf of my service, so that he may be guided in his proceedings, whether as regards the Sieur D’Eon, or the Count de Guerchy, my ambassador. He will also execute whatever he may receive by word of mouth, or in writing, from the Sieur Tercier on this subject, and will preserve the most profound silence on this mission towards everybody, without any exception, but the persons above named.’—Louis XV. to M. de Nort, Versailles, April 9, 1764. Boutaric, i. 319.
[177] In 1769, after the destruction of the Bastille, D’Eon wrote a letter to Lord Stanhope, as President of the Revolution Society, and presented him with a stone from its ruins.
[178] Plans for the invasion of England.
[179] The Marquise de Pompadour died April 15, 1764, ‘d’une maladie de cœur,’ says Guizot.
[180] Mém. de la Chevalière D’Eon, Ministère des affaires étrangères.—De Broglie, ii. 173.
[181] ‘The foreign ministers agreed, as to be sure you have been told, to make Monsieur de Guerchy’s cause commune.’—Walpole to the Earl of Hertford, April 20, 1764. See Pièces Relatives, &c. p. 218.
[182] ‘I do not wish that any steps should be taken to arrest the judicial proceedings commenced.’—Louis XV. to Tercier, May 1, 1764. Boutaric, i. 322.
[183] May 15, 1764. Mém. de la Chevalière D’Eon.—De Broglie, ii. 174.
[184] Examen des Lettres, Mémoires, et Négotiations Particulières du Chevalier D’Eon, Ministre Plénipotentiaire de France auprès du Roi de la Grande Bretagne, dans une Lettre à M. N——, 1764, pp. 52. Goudard received twenty guineas from the ambassador for his work, and was arrested at the instance of Becket, printer, in the Strand, for non-payment of expenses!
[185] Ch. MSS.
[186] Ch. MSS.
[187] De Guerchy’s treatment of D’Eon de Mouloise, lieutenant of cavalry, a cousin of D’Eon, one of the secret agents sent by Louis XV. to watch over the safety of the Chevalier and his papers, was scandalous and cruel.
[188] Lords of the Treasury to Lord Halifax, May, 1, 1764.—France Correspondence, Public Record Office.
[189] Lord Halifax to Lord Hertford, July 5, 1764.—France Correspondence, Public Record Office.
[190] D’Eon to the Count de Broglio, June 8, 1764.—Ministère des affaires étrangères. De Broglie, ii. 175.
[191] When in Paris Walpole saw this beast, which he declared to be a wolf of enormous proportions.
[192] Ch. MSS. 480.
[193] This was a singular case of kidnapping. The Marquis de Fratteau had been carried out of France and imprisoned in Spain on account of some family quarrel, but having made his escape, he fled to England. On March 27, 1752, a marshal’s court officer called at his apartments in London, and presented a writ. Having consulted the French pastor, who recommended him to go quietly, since some mistake had surely been made, he did so. Upon his disappearance becoming known, Justice Fielding granted a warrant on the supposition that the marquis was murdered, and an application was also made to prevent his being carried out of the kingdom. It was all to no purpose, for he was put on board of a small vessel at Gravesend, conveyed to Calais where he was landed during the night of the 29th, and thence sent on to the Bastille.—Scots Magazine, xiv. 212.
[194] The Times, May 26, 1810, and old newspapers.
[195] Ch. MSS.
[196] Gentleman’s Magazine, vol. xxxiv. and old newspapers.
[197] De Guerchy left for France under pretence of reviewing the regiment of which he was colonel.
[198] France Correspondence, Public Record Office.
[199] France Correspondence, Public Record Office.
[200] Scots Magazine, vol. xxvi.; from London papers.
[201] Gentleman’s Magazine, vol. xxxv. It was absurdly reported that D’Eon was to be delivered to France in exchange for Wilkes.
[202] Lettre aux Français, par M. Treyssac de Vergy, en réponse à une Note, Contre-Note, etc., et servant à la justification de M. D’Eon: Londres, 16 Décembre, 1763.
Londres: Se vend chez W. Nicoll, St. Paul’s Churchyard.
[203] Seconde Lettre à Monseigneur le Duc de Choiseul, Ministre et Secrétaire d’Etat en France; par M. Treyssac de Vergy, Avocat au Parlement de Bordeaux. ‘Solventur risu tabulæ, tu missus abibis.’ Hor.—1764, pp. 38. De Vergy was sworn before William Bridgen Major, Lord Mayor of London, by George Schuts, Notary Public, on October 11, 1764, that he was the author of two letters in manuscript addressed to the Duke de Choiseul—which letters, with the attestations of the Lord Mayor and Notary Public, were afterwards published for general circulation.
[204] France Correspondence, Public Record Office.
[205] The interlineations were in sympathetic ink.
[206] The French ambassador had been in France on leave of absence.
[207] Boutaric, i. 322.
[208] France Correspondence, Public Record Office.
[209] France Correspondence, Public Record Office.
[210] Afterwards minister under Louis XVI.
[211] Boutaric, i. 334-337.
[212] Louis XV. to Tercier, January 14 to February 6, 1765. Boutaric, i. 334-339. De Broglie, ii. 188.
[213] Ch. MSS.
[214] Gentleman’s Magazine, vol. XXXV.
[215] David Hume was doing duty as secretary of Embassy in Paris.
[216] The Count de Broglio to Louis XV., March 22, 1765. De Broglie, ii. 194.
[217] This arrangement requires explanation. At the time of the Hugonnet incident, de Broglio, full of concern lest the history of the secret correspondence, in which he was the most prominently concerned, should become generally known, and rather than that any such other accident should occur, expressed to the King his readiness to proceed to London, and to guarantee, by a mortgage on his own estates, the annual pension to D’Eon of 12,000 livres, by way of effectually obtaining from him the desired papers. Louis XV. had the meanness to approve of this security on his royal word, and this proposed settlement being communicated to the Chevalier, he readily acquiesced, save that he required the mortgage to extend to the estates of the countess, which were larger than those of her husband.
[218] D’Eon to the Count de Broglio, April 1, 1765. De Broglie, ii. 194.
[219] The Duke and Duchess of Burgundy, father and mother of Louis XV., died of the measles (?) within six days of each other; it was long believed they had been poisoned.
[220] Preamble to Will. Ch. MSS.
[221] Letter 387, April 22, 1765.
[222] D’Argental’s words to de Vergy as they appear in the brochure, p. 25, are: ‘Je l’ai assuré [de Guerchy] que vous vous prêteriez à ses projets; et que, suivant les circonstances, vous vous serviriez aussi bien de l’épée que de la plume.’
[223] Political Register, September 1767. London Evening Post, and other old newspapers. The Duke de Broglie gives a different account of de Guerchy’s extrication out of his difficulty.
[224] D’Eon to the Duke de Choiseul, July 4, 1767, published with Dernière Lettre du Chevalier D’Eon à M. le Comte de Guerchy, &c.
[225] The seat of Humphrey Cotes, Esq.
[226] Ch. MSS. 695.
[227] Ibid. 298.
[228] July 22, 1765. De Broglie, ii. 198.
[229] Archives des affaires étrangères. Gaill. 182. De Broglie, ii. 204.
[230] These papers were afterwards lodged with Earl Ferrers.
[231] France Correspondence, Public Record Office. John Rice, a London broker, having absconded in December 1762, was arrested at Cambray, and being taken to England was tried for forgery, convicted, and executed at Tyburn the following May.
[232] Ch. MSS. 36.
[234] De Broglie, ii. 199.
[235] Preamble to Will. Ch. MSS. Of de Guerchy’s father D’Eon relates the following anecdote: At Madame de Sévigné’s house in Paris one evening, the guests entertained each other by telling their dreams of the preceding night. ‘I dreamt’, said the old count, who was a very wealthy man, ‘that I was the Golden Calf.’ ‘J’en suis persuadée,’ observed the hostess, ‘il n’y a que la dorure de trop.’
[236] Dernière lettre du Chevalier D’Eon à M. le Comte de Guerchy, en date du 5 Août, 1767, avec l’extrait de la Procédure en bonne forme [qui a été imprimé en un vol. in 4to en 1765, le Comte de Guerchy étant alors Ambassadeur de France à Londres]. Le sacrifice de ma vie a été et sera pour mon roi et ma patrie; celui de mon honneur ne sera pour personne. A Londres, 1767. The words in brackets are in D’Eon’s hand, on the copy consulted by the author.
[237] De Vergy’s body, enclosed in a leaden coffin, was kept at the undertaker’s in Church Street, St. Ann, and not interred at St. Pancras until the following March! He desired that his remains should be removed to the family vault at Bordeaux, but his widow, although in easy circumstances, persisted in refusing to supply the necessary funds.
[238] By the untimely death of this nobleman in the hunting-field, in March 1767, the Chevalier lost a kind and sympathetic supporter. He was the author of the epitaph inscribed on the Marquis’ tomb at Chenies.
[239] Archives des affaires étrangères. Gaill. 388.
[240] October 7-9, 1766.
[241] Paper of October 23-25, 1766.
[242] Dr. Musgrave had practised in Paris, and was known for the publication of some tragedies of Euripides. ‘A weak and credulous man.’ He died in 1780.
[243] Solicitor to her Majesty the Queen, and later, Lord Chief Justice.
[244] Gentleman’s Magazine, vol. xxxix.
[245] The charges were declared in Parliament to be ‘frivolous’; yet Lord Camden was not to be persuaded, even when years had passed, that there had been no foundation whatever for them.
[246] European Magazine, 1791.
[247] Gentleman’s Magazine, vol. xxxix.
[248] B.M. MSS.
[249] An incident in Spanish affairs further explained by D’Eon in his letter to the Count de Broglio of July 7, 1774, which see.
[250] Louis XV. to the Count de Broglio, May 5, 1768. Boutaric, i. 354, 361.
[251] Les Loisirs du Chevalier D’Eon de Beaumont, ancien Ministre Plénipotentiaire de France, sur divers sujets importants d’Administration, &c., 13 vols. 8vo., Amsterdam, 1774.
[252] The Public Advertiser, March 21, 1774.
[253] London Evening Post, July 21-23, 1774.
[254] Records of my Life, i. 338. London, 1832.
[255] The Count de Broglio had been at the head of the Secret Correspondence Department since the death of Tercier in January 1767.
[256] B.M. MSS.
[257] March 25, April 16, May 7, 1771. These letters, all in cypher, were addressed to M. Koppfing, banker, Rue Quincampoix, Paris. Archives des affaires étrangères. Gaill. 190.
[258] Of June 20, 1771.
[259] On June 29, 1771.
[260] London, July 5, 1771. Archives des affaires étrangères. Gaill. 194.
[261] May 11, 1772. Boutaric, i. 430.
[262] European Magazine, vol. xix. The Falkland Islands were taken possession of by Captain Byron in 1765, and garrisoned in the following year. Spain demanded their evacuation in 1769, which, not being complied with, the English in occupation were attacked and made prisoners. War was averted by the King of Spain disowning the acts of his commander.
[264] De Broglie, ii. 556, note.
[265] Angelo, ii. 53.
[266] This letter, dated September 24, 1773, was signed William Wolff. Gaill. 197. Boutaric, ii. 442.
[267] Ch. MSS. 734.
[268] Louis XV. died May 10, 1774. His three daughters were more familiarly known as nicknamed by their father, Loque, Chiffe, and Graille, interpreted into English, as Rag, Tag, and Bobtail.
[269] Hist. des Français, xxix. 507. Dutens, ii. 55. Vie privée de Louis XV. &c. iv. 195.
[270] Ch. MSS. 117, 961, 975, 948.
[271] May 23, 1774. This letter is not in Boutaric. It was found amongst the count’s papers by the Duke de Broglie. De Broglie, ii. 525.
[273] The Count de Broglio to Louis XVI., May 30, 1774. Boutaric, ii. 392.
[274] De Broglie, ii. 533.
[275] This minister was admitted to the secret correspondence of Louis XV. in 1755, on appointment as ambassador at Constantinople.
[276] Spanish ambassador in London.
[277] Louis XV.
[279] July 7, 1774. Boutaric, ii. 434.
[280] This was the largest pension about to be conferred upon any of the secret agents, with one exception, that of General Mokronosky, ‘a Polish patriot,’ who was awarded twenty thousand livres a year.
[281] La Chalotais, procureur-général of the Parliament of Brittany, arrested on a charge of having written seditious letters to the King. Although falsely accused, he was exiled by Louis XV., but recalled and reinstated by Louis XVI.
[282] Ch. MSS. 859.
[283] London Evening Post, April 18-20, 1775.
[284] Containing a detailed statement of his claims.
[285] Boutaric, ii. 444-445.
[286] ‘The Campaigns of the Sieur Caron de Beaumarchais in England during the years 1774, 1775 and 1776; or, a Summary of what preceded and followed the singular proceedings of M. Caron de Beaumarchais during his pretended Negotiations in London with the pretended Chevalier D’Eon de Beaumont.’—Mém. de la Chevalière D’Eon, ii. 179. Archives des affaires étrangères. Gaill. 218.
[287] Madame Dubarry became the favourite of Louis XV. in 1769, five years after the death of de Pompadour. According to Boutaric the title of the pamphlet was: Secret Memoirs of a Courtesan.
[288] The King’s head valet enjoyed the privilege of being in constant communication with the sovereign, frequently playing the part of a spy at Court. The coveted office was held in the preceding reign by the Marquis de Termes, who was in great favour with Louis XIV.
[289] Morande gave up six thousand impressions of this pamphlet, the whole of which, with one exception, were destroyed in a glass-house at Marybone. The one copy preserved was cut into two parts, one part being kept by Beaumarchais, the other by Morande, for the purpose of verifying other editions should the issue of them be attempted. Had any appeared, Morande would have forfeited his pension.
[290] Beaumarchais et son temps, i. 416.
[291] June 21, 1775. Loménie, i. 419.
[292] Archives des affaires étrangères. Gaill. 214.
[293] Morande.
[294] Beaumarchais to the Count de Vergennes, July 14, 1775. Gaill. 231.
[295] August 26, 1775. Loménie, i. 421.
[296] Beaumarchais to the Count de Vergennes, October 7, 1775. Loménie, i. 422.
[297] Note by D’Eon, written in 1776(?).
[298] ‘Dictated by M. de Beaumarchais, then corrected by him and the Chevalier D’Eon.’—Note by D’Eon.
[299] ‘Father and uncle.’
[300] ‘Seeing that his/her (son sexe) sex has been proved by witnesses, physicians, surgeons, matrons and legal documents.’—Inserted in the margin by D’Eon and cancelled by Beaumarchais.
[301] Tardy admission of the justice of D’Eon’s claims against the State, vainly urged during many years.
[302] ‘That I have already worn upon several occasions known to his Majesty.’—Inserted by D’Eon and cancelled by Beaumarchais.
[304] ‘This Covenant was not actually signed until November 4, after the return of Beaumarchais, who had brought from Paris the instruments of his authority. But M. D’Eon having been born on October 5, 1728, and as the said Covenant endowed him with an existence conformable to his sex, M. de Beaumarchais wished to pay Mademoiselle D’Eon the compliment of dating this document, which was to her a sort of new baptismal certificate, with the same date as that of her birth.’—Note by D’Eon.