Memoirs of Madame Du Barry, of the court of Louis XV

Contents

FAGB

Introduction 7

Chapter I

The death of Madame de Pomadour followed by an interregnum — Duel between the Duchesse de Gramont and the Marquise d'Esparbes for possession of the King's heart — Short-lived triumph and exile of the latter — Choiseul and Madame de Seran — Death of the Queen ii

CHAPTER TI

Genealogy of Jeanne Becu — Her mother, Anne Becu, brings her to Paris — M. Billard-Lumouceaux — The Couvent de Sainte-Aure — She enters the service of Madame de la Garde — Her first lovers — "Comte" Jean du Barry, surnamed the ''Roue" — She becomes the fashion 19

CHAPTER m

First meeting between Louis XV. and Jeanne Becu — He desires a husband to be procured for her — Contract of marriage between the "Comte" and Jeanne — The religious ceremony — Madame du Barry at Fontainebleau. ... 38

CHAPTER IV

The Due de Choiseul — His bitter hostility to the new favourite — La Bourhonnaise — Production of La Bourbonnaise a la guinguette — And of Beaunoir's Bourhonnaise — • Indignation of Louis XV. at these 52

CHAPTER V

Installation of Madame du Barry at Versailles — The Due de Richelieu uses his influence in her favour — The Comtesse de Beam consents to act as her sponsor — Intrigues of Mercy-Argenteau and Madame de Durfort — Accident to Louis XV. — Presentation of Madame du Barry. . . , 60

CHAPTER VI

Hostility of the Court to the new favourite — Purchase of the chaperonnage of the Marechale de Mirepoix — The Princesse de Montmorency, the Comtesse de Valentinois and the Marquise de I'Hopital join the favourite's party. 78

Memoirs— 1 3 y^l^ 2

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CHAPTER VII PAGE

Intervention of Madame du Barry on behalf of criminals condemned to death — Reaction in her favour — Louis XV. confers Louveciennes upon the favourite — Madame du Barry and the Regiment de Beauce — Lauzun attempts to reconcile Choiseul with the favourite 87

CHAPTER VIII

The two portraits of Madame du Barry — Choiseul remains irreconcilable — Curious letter of Louis XV. to the Minister — Visit of the King and the favourite to Bouret. . . 103

CHAPTER IX

The Due d'Aiguillon — His enmity to Choiseul — The favourite obtains for him the post of Captain-Lieutenant of the chevau-legers — Chancellor Maupeou — The Abbe Terray. 112

CHAPTER X

Les Loges de Nantes — Alarm of Choiseul — His hopes of ultimate victory based on the anticipated support of Marie Antoinette — Arrival of the Dauphiness — She receives the favourite — Mesdames incite the young princess against the favourite — Exile of the Comtesse de Gramont. . . 126

CHAPTER XI

Trial of the Due d'Aiguillon before the Parliament of Paris — Ccup d'Etat of September 3, 1770 — The Falkland Islands — Obstinacy of Spain, relying on the support of France — Louis XV. resolved to maintain peace — Disgrace of Choiseul^ — Popular sympathy for the Minister. 141

CHAPTER XII

Destruction of the Parliament of Paris and banishment of its members — Reforms of Maupeou — Bed of Justice of April 13. '^77'^ — Reluctance of Louis XV. to appoint d'Aiguillon to the Foreign Office— -D'Aiguillon made Minister of Foreign Affairs — Madame du Barry succeeds in obtaining compensation for Choiseul. «,....... 164

CHAPTER XIII

Madame du Barry, unlike Madame de Pompadour, does not aspire to a political role — Her apartments at Versailles — Moreau le jeune's drawing depicting a fete given by Madame du Barry to Louis XV. at Louveciennes. . . . 189

CONTENTS 5

CHAPTER XIV PAGE

Madame du Barry unable to obtain the almost general recog- ' nition of her position accorded to Madame de Pompadour — Continued hostility of Marie Antoinette — Political importance of the conduct of Marie Antoinette — Reception of Madame du Barry by the Dauphin and Dauphiness on New Year's Day 1773 199

CHAPTER XV

Madame du Barry secures a judicial separation from her husband — Her matrimonial projects in regard to "Vicomte" Adolphe du Barry — His marriage with Mademoiselle de Tournon — Madame du Barry and Voltaire. . 224

CHAPTER XVI

Attempts to supplant Madame du Barry in the affections of Louis XV. — Madame Pater aspires to the role of Madame de Maintenon — Intrigues of Madame Louise, the Carmelite, for Louis XV.'s remarriage — Theveneau de Morande — Le Gazetier cuirasse — Memoires secrets d'une fille publique — Beaumarchais sent to suppress the book. . 233

CHAPTER XVII

Louis XV. in failing health — La Martiniere persuades him to remove to Versailles — The King declared to be suffering from small-pox — Visit of the archbishop — Diplomacy of the Grand Almoner, the Cardinal de la Roche-Aymon — "Madame, we must part" — Madame du Barry is sent to Rueil — Administration of the Viaticum — Death of Louis XV. — His funeral. 243

CHAPTER XVIII

Madame du Barry exiled to the Abbey of Pont-aux-Dames — The remaining members of the Du Barry family banished from Court — She purchases the chateau and estate of Saint Vrain — Publication of the Anecdotes — And of L'Omhre de Louis XV. devant le Tribunal de Minos — The Vicomte de Langle and Madame du Barry. . . . 262

CHAPTER XIX

The Emperor Joseph II. in France — His visit to Madame du Barry — Voltaire in Paris — Death of Adolphe du Barry — Henry Seymour — His liaison with Madame du Barry. 278

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CHAPTER XX PAGE

Liaison between Madame du Barry and the Due de Brissac — The countess commutes 50,000 livres per annum settled on her by Louis XV. for a sum of 1,200,000 livres — Madame du Barry a witness in the Diamond Necklace affair — The Comte de Cheverny's impressions . 297

CHAPTER XXI

The year 1789 — Attacks upon Madame du Barry — Two thousand louts reward: diamonds and jewels lost — Violent articles against Madame du Barry — Madame du Barry's three journeys to England in quest of her stolen jewels. 310

CHAPTER XXn

The Due de Brissae appointed to the command of the Garde constitutionelle — He is arrested and conducted to Orleans for trial — His bequest to Madame du Barry — The Courrier frangais announces the arrest of Madame du Barry — Brissac and the Orleans prisoners are massacred — Brissac's head brought to Louveciennes 323

CHAPTER XXni

Madame du Barry makes a fourth journey to England — George Grfeve, agitator, at Louveciennes — He obtains an order for seals to be placed on her property — Madame du Barry appeals to the directoire of Versailles, and the seals are removed — Madame du Barry placed under arrest, but liberated on a counter-petition from Louveciennes — Last amour of Madame du Barry. . . 338

CHAPTER XXIV

Petition to the Committee of General Security against Madame du Barry — Warrant for her arrest issued — Madame du Barry at Sainte-Pelagie — Suicide of her protector, Lavallery — Interrogatory of Madame du Barry — She is transferred to the Conciergerie 352

CHAPTER XXV

Trial of Madame du Barry — Opening sp'eech of Fouquier- Tinville for the prosecution — Witnesses for the defence afraid to come forward — Closing speech of Fouquier- Tinville — Condemnation of the accused — Her 'execution. 366

Introduction

A SWEET, ingenuous face, a graceful charm of form,, and a kind heart, united to make httle Jeanne Becu — a aile publique of unknown fatherhood — Comtesse Du Barry and a '^left-hand queen of France."

It is a strange tale, but the marvelous freaks of fortune were never more signally illustrated than in the historical deeds of Louis XV. of France and the experiences of this amiable waif, his favorite.

Madame du Barry is often spoken of as ''the profligate mistress of Louis XV." She certainly did dispense the riches of the King's treasury with lavish hand ; but H. Noel Williams, in her thorough and conscientious researches into contemporary sources of information — n:cmoirs, correspondence, journals, memoranda— and especially convinced by some more recent monographs upon Du Barry, by M. Charles Vatel, and the brothers De Goncourt — finds much to commend in her career. Without the wit of De Montespan, she w^as free also from the arrogance and superstition of that lady : not having the refined elegance of De Pompadour, she was also free from her predecessor's ambition to control and her vindictive pursuit of those who balked or offended her. Even the cynical Voltaire conceded that she was "a good-hearted woman."

It is impossible to blink the irregularities and sordidness of the girl's early life in Paris. In the midst of it, she was brought under the notice of Louis XV. by a scheming friend of her mother's, who managed that

8 INTRODUCTION

the King should see her at supper with a gay company. Soon after, his majesty caused her to be introduced into the palace as the Comtesse Du Barry. Madame De Gramont, sister of the powerful Due de Choiseul — then minister of Foreign Affairs, of the Army and the Marine, and even considering the assumption of care of the Finances also — was unappeasably enraged to see this "little girl of the streets," as she called Du Barry, quietly pass into the position which she, with all her aristocratic beauty, influential connections and imperious will^ had after many efforts failed to gain. She enlisted the great ascendency of her brother and his Court faction in an implacable war of sneers, lampoons and scandals against the new-comer.

But Du Barry was difficult to wound, because she was light-heartedly above all this. She bore no malice ; she spoke unkindly of none, — even protecting from punishment some of her slanderers; she cared so little about politics and governmental intrigues that accusations of interference with grave affairs dropped, as impossible. She readily and easily forgave her opponents, and even made friendly overtures time and again to Choiseul. But the minister, urged on by his sister, repulsed all her endeavors for reconciliation, until at last the long-tried patience gave way, and Du Barry complained of his persistent persecutions to the King. His majesty wrote to Choiseul a letter, still preserved, urging him in kindly fashion to treat her courteously. It was .of no avail. The minister continued his course, until he was removed by the King. Much sympathy has been expended upon this man for his disgrace at the hands of a king's mistress ; but it has been shown that Choiseul's ambitions had culminated in secret attempts "to plunge France into what must have been a disastrous war, for the sole purpose of. maintaining himself in power."

INTRODUCTION 9

The extravagant expenditures of Du Barry's life at this time were perhaps no greater than might have been expected in a pleasure-loving woman, suddenly given free access to a royal treasury. Moreover, she was by nature recklessly generous, giving on every hand — to her friends^ to her relatives, to every case of distress or need that reached her knowledge, wherever she could express sympathy or relieve trouble. That this was a genuine impulse of heart was evidenced in her later life, when, no longer a royal pensioner, but with greatly reduced resources, she was still a Lady Bountiful to her less fortunate neighbors.

After the death of Louis (May 10, 1774), Madame Du Barry was exiled from the court, and spent most of her life at her chateau of Louveciennes. However, she did not escape the machinations of the professional friends of "liberty, equality and fraternity" in the revolutionary upheavals. In 1791 a robbery of jewels had been perpetrated at Madame Du Barry's chateau, and was well known throughout France. In 1791 and 1792 she went to England for the purpose of regaining her lost property. Hereupon, although she had returned to her home, she was denounced as an emigree and an aristocrat, by an Englishman, George Grieve, who had been active in revolutionary France, and boasted that he had brought seventeen heads to the guillotine.

Strong friends interceded for her, and she herself made dignified response to the accusation formulated by the Conjmittee. But in September, 1793, she was arrested, taken to Paris, and imprisoned; on December 7, haled before the Revolutionary Court for the farce of a predetermined trial; and two days later, beheaded by the guillotine.

This story, romantic in its vicissitudes of fact beyond the imaginings of poet or dramatist, is told by lo INTRODUCTION

the present writer with lucidity, vivacity, and a convincing control of evidences, that lay strong hold on the sympathy of the reader. For beneath all the surface of Du Barry's career is a refreshing sense of the persistence of native sweet-heartedness and generosity, whether amid the scenes of a reckless youth, the intrigues of a court, the friendly hospitalities of a country retiracy, or the terrors of an unjust death.

CHAPTER I

FTER the death of Madame de Pompadour, on April 15, 1764, there was an interregnum of more than four years at Versailles. It must not be supposed, however, that such a condition of affairs was in any way due to lack of enterprise on the part of the ladies of the Court, many of whom ardently coveted the post vacated by the famous marchioness ; and, indeed, for some months, Versailles was a perfect hot-bed of intrigue and conspiracy.

Of the numerous candidates, the chances of two were, by common consent, acknowledged tO' be far superior to those of their competitors, insomuch that, after a while, the latter decided to stand aside and leave them in undisputed possession of the arena.

The two ladies in question were the Duchesse de Gramont,"" sister of the all-powerful Minister, the Due de Choiseul, and the Marquise d'Esparbes, both of whom had been intimate friends of Madame de Pompadour, and, therefore, considered that they had special claims tO' succeed her. The duchess was not beautiful and a little masculine in appearance, proud, overbearing, and "spiteful as the devil," but intelligent, witty,

* Beatrix de Choiseul-Stainville, born at Luneville in 1730, guillotined in 1793. In 1759, she had married the Due de Gramont, but, three months later, unable to endure the " crapulous" life led by her husband, separated from him and went to live at her brother's house, where scandalous tongues declared that she occupied a somewhat equivocal position.

II and (according to- Lauzun) "desirable." The marchioness is described as short and red-haired, "with a somewhat misshapen nose;" but these blemishes were atoned for by a dazzling complexion and shapely white hands, of which she was sO' proud that she was in the habit of having them bled, in order to preserve their transparency.

Urged on by her brpther, and encouraged by his clients, who saw in her elevation a sure guarantee of the continuance of their patron's favour, Madame de Gramont appears to have underrated the difficulties of her task, and, believing success assured, to have conducted her wooing in too masterful a manner. The result was that Louis XV., whose heart always yielded more readily to^ a prolonged siege than a direct assault, became alarmed, was at pains to avoid dangerous tetea-tetes with the lady, and, finally, decided to- ensure his escape by accepting the favours which Madame d'Esparbes was so anxious to bestow upon him — favours which, it may be mentioned, had already been enjoyed by several of his subjects, the aged Richelieu and the youthful Lauzun among the number.

Matters had actually progressed. so far that Madame d'Esparbes was on the point of being "proclaimed" at Marly, where a splendid suite of apartments had been allotted her, when Choiseul, who' was absolutely determined, that, if his sister were not to be promoted to the vacant post, no one else should occupy it, contrived to dash Ihe cup of happiness from her lips.

Meeting her one day on the grand staircase, surrounded by .a crowd of courtiers, he took her by the chin, and exclaimed in a patronising tone: "Well, little one, how are your affairs progressing?"

Poor Madame d'Esparbes, utterly taken aback by such extraordinary behaviour, was unable to say a single word by way of retort, and could only look supremely foolish; while her enemy walked away, chuckling over her discomfiture, and related the incident to every one whom he chanced to meet.

"The women who do. not love the duke (and they are many) are disgusted at the cowardice displayed by Madame d'Esparbes," writes Prince Xavier of Saxony, ''and regard her as a simpleton and a prude, protesting that, in her place, they would have applied two good blows to the ministerial cheeks, to teach him to give himself the air of taking ladies by the chin."

This public insult put an end, nevertheless, to the hopes of Madame d'Esparbes. For a grande maitresse, she was sadly deficient in aplomb; and this proved her undoing. Louis disliked scandal and ridicule ; and, finding that he must choose between a woman who was the laughing-stock of his Court and a Minister whose services he at that time deemed indispensable, did not hesitate to decide in favour of the latter. And so it^happened that the next communication which poor Madame d'Esparbes received from her royal lover was not a poulet, hut a lettre de cachet, coldly informing her that it was his Majesty's pleasure that she should retire to her father-in law's country-seat, near Montauban.

After the departure of Madame d'Esparbes, the King appears to have diverted himself with the inmates of the Parc-aux-Cerfs,^ varied by an intrigue with a Mademoiselle de Luzy, an actress who excelled in soiihrette parts, and what is believed tO' have been a liaison of a platonic character with the Comtesse de Seran.

The Comtesse de Seran, who is described by Mar-

.^For a full account of this mysterious establishment, see Memoir es de Madame du Hassef (edit. 1825), p. 91 ef seq.; M. Le Roi's Curiosites historiques, p. 230 et seq., and chapter xi. of the author's " Madame de Pompadour " (London, Harpers ; New York, Scribner's 1902).

montel as "beautiful as the goddess of Love, and still more interesting by. her kindness and native innocence than by the lustre of her beauty," was a young lady of twenty married to a very worthy gentleman of ancient family, but of an ugliness so appalling ("red-haired, ill-made, with only one eye, and a cataract in that") that, when he was presented to her as her future husband, "she turned pale with horror, and her heart revolted against him with disgust and repugnance."

Madame de Seran aspired tO' be one of the ladies of the Duchesse de Chartres ; but, as there was some little difficulty in the way, owing to a doubt as to the exact length of her pedigree — only those who could trace their nobility back four hundred years were eligible for the post — the matter was referred to Louis XV., who, "after listening with more attention to the praises of her beauty than the proofs of her noble blood," gave his consent, on condition that, after being presented, she should come and thank him in person.

We will let Marmontel, the countess's confidant, relate what followed :

"The rendezvous was in the King's private apartments; the lady went, trembling exceedingly. Her friends were on the tip-toe of expectation; the young countess was to be omnipotent; the King and the Court were to be at her feet; while all her friends would be loaded with favours. The company awaited the young sovereign ; they counted every minute ; they died with impatience to see her arrive, and yet they were glad at her being so long in arriving.

"At last she does arrive, and gives us an account of all that had passed. A page of the Bedchamber awaited her at the gate of the chapel, and she ascended by a secret staircase into the private apartments. She had not long to wait for the King. He had accosted her with an agreeable air, had taken her hands, had pressed them respectfully, and, observing her apprehension, had encouraged her by gentle words and looks full of kindness. He then made her sit opposite to him, congratulated her upon the success of the appearance she had made, and said that every one was agreed that no one so handsome had ever been seen at his Court."

" 'Then, said she, *it must be true, Sire, that happiness makes us beautiful, and, in that case, I should be still happier now.'

*' 'Accordingly you art so,' said he, taking my hands and gently squeezing them in his, which were then trembling. After a moment's hesitation, in which his looks alone spoke, he asked me what position I should be most ambitious to obtain.

"I answered, 'The place of the Princesse d'Armagnac' (She was an old friend of the King, who was lately dead.)

" 'Ah !' said he, 'you are very young to supply the place of a friend who was present at my birth, who held me upon her knees, and whom I have loved from my cradle. Time, Madame, is necessary to obtain my confidence. I have been so often deceived.'

" 'Oh!' said I, 'I will not deceive you; and if time only is required to deserve the exalted title of your friend, I have that to give you.'

"This language from a person only twenty surprised, but did not displease him. Changing the subject, he inquired if I thought his private apartments furnished with taste. 'No,' said I, 'I should prefer them blue,' and as blue is his favorite colour, he was flattered by the reply. I added that in every other respect they appeared to me charming.

" 'If you like them,' said he, 'I hope you will sometimes be so good as to come, every Sunday, for instance, at the same hour as now.'

"I assured him that 1 would avail myself of every opportunity of paying- my court to him, upon which he left me and went to sup with his children. He made an appointment for this day week, at the same hour. I give you all warning, therefore, that I shall be the King's friend, and that I will never be anything" more."

The expectant friends, we may suppose, did everything possible to turn the lady from her resolution; but, according to Marmontel, she adhered to it firmly, and though she paid the King weekly visits, finding on the first occasion that the salon furniture had been changed to blue, and corresponded with him in the intervals between their meetings, the connection never went beyond the bounds of friendship. "The King at his age," he writes, "was not sorry to have an opportunity of tasting the charms of a sentimental union — the more flattering and agreeable that it was new, and that it sensibly affected him without endangering his vanity." The writer adds that he was "an ocular witness of the purity of this connection," as Madame de Seran was in the habit of communicating to him his Majesty's letters and her replies.

The mystery of the private meetings between the King and the lady did not escape the watchful eyes of the Court, which was naturally but little inclined to share Marmontefs view of the matter. Choiseul was furious, and, in accordance with his determination to keep at a distance from the King every woman who was not devoted to himself, prepared to crush Madame de Seran, as he had crushed Madame d'Esparbes. The countess, however, warned of his designs, hastened to undeceive him. She was acquainted with La Borde, the Court banker, one of Choiseul's staunchest allies, and requested him to arrange for her an interview with the Minister at his house and in his presence.

"Monsieur le Due," said she, "I have a favour to ask of you. You, I understand, speak very sHghtingly of me; you believe me to be one of those women who aim at gaining possession of the King's heart and acquiring influence over his mind, which gives you umbrage. I might have punished you for the liberty you have taken, but I prefer to undeceive you. The King expressed a desire to see me, which I did not refuse to gratify; we have had private conversations and have carried on a constant correspondence. You are aware of all this ; but the letters of the King will soon inform you of something which you do not know. Read them; you will find an extreme kindness, but as much respect as tenderness, and nothing at which I have cause to blush. I love the King as a father; I would give my life for him, but. King as he is, he will never prevail upon me to deceive him, nor to degrade myself by granting what my heart neither will nor can bestow."

Thereupon, she handed to the duke his Majesty's letters, which contained such expressions as *'You are only too admirable"; "Permit me to kiss your hands"; *Termit me, in absence at least, to embrace you," and so forth.

Choiseul read the letters, and, much relieved, "prepared to throw himself at the lady's feet to implore her forgiveness."

"The King is indeed in the right," said he; "you are but too admirable. Now tell me what service can be rendered to you by the new friend you have attached for life?"

The lady accepted an appointment for a M. de la

Bathe, a young officer who was about to marry her

sister ; but would take nothing herself from the King,

except a little hotel situated at the back of the Oratory,^

*Memoires de Marmontel (edit. 1804), Hi. 64, et seq.

About this time, Louis XV. would appear to have been seized with one of his periodical fits of remorse. As a rule, these attacks began with Lent, reached their climax in Holy Week, and ended at Easter; but the present one was prolonged until after the death of the Queen in June, 1768. ''Advancing in years, worn out with pleasures," writes Mercy-Argenteau, the Austrian Ambassador, "he appeared to seek in the bosom of his family the tranquillity and happiness which disorders would not permit of; he visited the Queen regularly every evening, and this princess, who for a long time had not enjoyed the least credit, obtained then many things which indicated that she would recover a certain ascendency over her husband's mind. At the same time, the King showed on several occasions a desire to put away from him too near temptations to a licentious life; the number of inmates of the Parc-aux-Cerfs was reduced to two, one of whom, Mademoiselle Estain, requested permission to retire, and did, in point of fact, do so. The illness of the Queen supervened, and from the first her state was considered hopeless.

"Then every one believed that the King, already inclining towards a reformation in his morals, would, perhaps, in the event of widowerhood, think of espousing a young and amiable wife, who would be able to assure him repose of conscience and happiness for the remainder of his days ; and this idea was firmly established in the public mind/'*

Vain hope! Scarcely had poor Marie Leczinska been laid in her grave than Louis fell again, and this time lower than he had ever yet descended.

Cheverny says that the "little hotel" was, in reality, une belle maison, and scoffs at the idea that the King got nothing in return; but then Cheverny was a scandal-monger.

* Mercy to Kaunltz, November 9, 1768.

Chapter II

A BOUT the middle of the reign of Louis XIV., Z\ there Hved in Paris a rotisseur, or roasting •^ -^ cook, named Fabien Becu. This Becu, who is said to havc been a singularly handsome man, had the good fortune to find favour in the eyes of a certain Dame de Cantigny, or Quantigny, who carried her infatuation so far as to marry him. Their wedded life, however, does not seem to have been of long duration, and, after bearing him a daughter, of whom nothing is known," the countess died, "leaving her afifairs in great disorder." Fabien had perforce to return to the kitchen, and entered the service of the beautiful Madame de Ludres, who, for some months in the early part of the year 1677, disputed with Madame de Montespan the possession of the heart of le Grand Monarque. Worsted in the unequal contest, and unable to bear the cruel taunts and insults which her ^'thunderous and triumphant" rival heaped upon her, Madame de Ludres quitted the Court and retired tO' her country-seat, the Chateau de Vane, in Lorraine. Fabien accompanied his mistress, and, in 1693, married a fellow servant, a girl called Jeanne Husson, by whom he had seven children, three sons and four daughters. Of the sons, Charles, the eldest, became vdet-dechambre to Stanislaus Leczinski, ex-King of Poland, while his two brothers, Jean-Baptiste and Nicolas, took service with noble families in Paris. Of the daughters, two, Marie-Anne and Marguerite, married persons in their own station in life; a third, Helene, became femme-de-chamhre to Madame Bignon, wife of the librarian of the Bibliotheque du Roi ; while the fourth Anne, who with her sister Helene, inherited Fabien Becu's good looks, settled at Vaudouleurs, a small town on the borders of Champagne and Lorraine, now in the Department of the Meuse/

Anne Becu was by occupation a sempstress, but inasmuch as she lived in a large and comfortable house, the neighbours entertained a shrewd suspicion that she had a more lucrative source of revenue than her needle — a suspicion which was confirmed when, on x\ugust 19, 1743, she gave birth to a natural daughter, who was baptized the same day, the acte de naissance being as follows :

"Jeanne, natural daughter of Anne Becu, otherwise known as Quantigny, was born the nineteenth of August of the year seventeen hundred and forty-three and baptized the same day; having for godfather Joseph Demange, and for godn.iother Jeanne Birabin, who have signed with me.