“_Qu’étais’je donc? Je n’étais que moi, et moi tel que je suis resté,
libre au milieu des fers, serein dans les plus grands dangers, faisant
tête a tous les orages, menant les affaires d’une main et la guerre de
l’autre, paresseux comme un âne et travaillant toujours, en butte à
mille calomnies, mais, heureux dans mon intérieur, n’ayant jamais été
d’aucune coterie, ni litéraire, ni politique, ni mystique, n’ayant fait
de cour à personne, et partout repoussé de tous.... C’est le mystère de
ma vie, en vain j’essaie de le résoudre._”
Beaumarchais After His Return from Exile—Takes Up All His
Business Activities—Marriage of Eugénie—Her Portrait Drawn by
Julie—Beaumarchais’s Varied Interests—Correspondence with
Bonaparte—Pleads for Lafayette Imprisoned—Death of
Beaumarchais—Conclusion.
“On his return to Paris, July 5th, 1796, Beaumarchais,” says Loménie,
“found himself faced with a fortune ruined, not alone as so many others
had been in the general crisis, but still more, by the confiscation of
his revenues, the disappearance of his papers, and of the debts owing to
him. His beautiful house was going to destruction, his garden torn up.
While on one hand his debtors had disembarrassed themselves of their
obligations by settling with the state in paper money, his creditors
were waiting to seize him by the throat. He had accounts to give to, and
to demand of the State, who, after confiscating his fortune, held still
745,000 francs deposited by him when he undertook the mission to secure
the 60,000 guns....”
Not to go into all the perplexing details of the decisions and counter
decisions rendered by the State, the anxieties, the almost insuperable
difficulties that surrounded him on every side, let it suffice to say
that with old age advancing apace, he still retained almost the same
vigor, the same tenacity of purpose, the same indefatigable energy that
have characterized him through life. Without ceasing, he drew up
memoirs, conferred with the ministers, worked day and night to
re-establish his fortune, so that those dear to him might not be left in
want.
That he eventually succeeded in this may be judged by the fact that his
family continued to inhabit their splendid residence until 1818, when
the French government under the Restoration bought it for purposes of
public utility. Moreover, the report rendered after his death by his
bookkeeper, shows that the fortune which he was able to will his family
rose very near the million mark, and this, not counting the debts owing
him and lawsuits still pending, notably that with the United States.
But at the moment of his return to France it was not simply with his
shattered fortune that Beaumarchais’s mind was occupied. During their
sojourn at Havre in 1792, the wife and daughter of Beaumarchais had made
the acquaintance, says Bonneville, “of a young man of distinguished
family, Louis André Toussaint Delarue, whose sister, a woman of
remarkable intelligence, had married M. Mathias Dumas, a soldier with a
very great future, who, after having taken part brilliantly in the war
of American Independence as aide-de-camp of Rochambeau, was now Adjutant
General of the Army under the orders of Lafayette, and had attached to
him his young brother-in-law as _officier d’ordonnance_.... In 1792
they all found themselves waiting in Havre for an opportunity to escape
into England.”
It was there that M. Delarue met Mlle. Eugénie.... The two young people
coming together under these unusual circumstances soon learned to love
one another. His determination to obtain her hand in marriage was not at
all affected by the fact that at that moment the entire possessions of
her father were lost. Beaumarchais on his return to France, touched by
so much constancy and devotion, hastened to assure the happiness of the
young people. “Five days after my arrival,” he wrote to a friend, “I
made him the beautiful present.... They will at least have bread, but
that is all, unless America discharges her debt to me, after twenty
years of ingratitude.”
They were married June 15th, 1796, Eugénie being nineteen, and her
husband twenty-eight years of age. On the eve of her marriage, the Aunt
Julie sketches for a friend the portrait of the young girl, in which she
shows her as one in every way worthy of her father’s affection—and with
a character which, while indicating many contradictory possibilities,
had, nevertheless, great charm and lovableness as well as intellectual
force. It shows, too, that the terrible experiences through which she
had passed, had left their trace upon her. Time, however, softened this
very complex and somewhat formal young lady. “Dying in 1820 the daughter
of the author of the _Mariage de Figaro_,” says Loménie, “left in the
hearts of all who knew her, the memory of a person of charming vivacity,
of _finesse_ and goodness; loving and cultivating the arts with passion,
an excellent musician, woman of the world, and at the same time an
accomplished mother.”
The young man whom she married proved himself in every way worthy of
her. In 1789 he was aide-de-camp of General Lafayette, and later held
honorable official positions under the empire, the Restoration, and the
government of July. In 1840 he was made _maréchal de camp de la garde
nationiale_, which post he held until 1848 when he resigned, at the age
of eighty-four years. “In 1854,” writes Loménie, “he still lives,
surrounded in his flourishing old age by the respectful affection of all
those who know how to appreciate the noble qualities of his heart and
his character.”
But to return to Beaumarchais; hardly had he found himself reunited to
his family than he wrote to his faithful Gudin, bidding him return. The
Revolution, however, had left this good man so destitute that he was
obliged to request a loan in order to make the journey. This was at once
promised. He wrote, August 26, 1796, “I start as soon as I shall have
received the ten louis.... My whole heart glows at the thought of
finding myself again under the roof with your happy family. And Oh, I
shall see you again! How I regret that aerostatic machines are not
already perfected.... But any conveyance is good, if it only conducts me
to you. Adieu my good friend; keep well. I will write you the moment of
my setting out.”
Of their meeting, he writes later, “I came from the depths of my retreat
to embrace my friend. Meeting after so many years, after so many
atrocious events, was it not to be saved from the dangers of shipwreck
and to find ourselves upon the rocks? It was in a way like escaping from
the tomb, to embrace each other among the dead, after an unhoped for
resurrection.”
Beaumarchais’s activities of this period continued to be the most
varied. He entered with interest into the changing fortunes of the
republic—which he accepted and over whose future he tried at times to
become enthusiastic. In March, 1797, he had written to a friend:
“Yesterday’s dinner, my dear Charles, is one that will long
remain in my memory because of the precious choice of _convives_
which our friend Dumas [General Mathieu-Dumas, brother-in-law of
M. Delarue] had assembled at the house of his brother. On former
occasions when I dined with the great ones of the State, I have
been shocked at the assemblage of so many whose birth alone
allowed them to be admitted. _Des sots de qualité, des imbéciles
en place, des hommes vains de leurs richesses, des jeunes
impudents, des coquettes_, etc. If it was not the ark of Noah, it
was at least the court of the _Roi Petaut_; but yesterday out of
twenty-four persons at table, there was not one whose great
personal merit would not have given him a right to his place. It
was, I might say, an excellent _extrait_ of the French Republic,
and I, who sat silent, regarding them, applied to each the great
merit which distinguished him. Here are their names:” And then,
after making the inventory, he terminates thus:
“The dinner was instructive, in no way noisy, very agreeable, in
a word such as I do not remember to have ever before experienced.
“Caron Beaumarchais.”
“Four months later,” says Loménie, “_un coup d’état_ had proscribed
nearly every one of those twenty-four _convives_.”
“The deputies of the people,” says Gudin, “were taken from their sacred
seats, locked up in portable cages like wild beasts, tossed on board
vessels and transported to Guyan.” This _coup d’état_ cooled very
considerably the republican ardor of Beaumarchais; “He was totally at a
loss,” continues Gudin, “to understand either the men or their doings;
he failed to comprehend anything relative to the forms or the means
employed in those times without rule or principle. He called upon
reason, which had helped him triumph so many times; reason had become a
stranger, she was, if we dare say it, a species of _émigrée_ whose name
rendered suspicious anyone who invoqued her.”
But though Beaumarchais was forced to leave the political revolution to
take its course without attempting to change it, his mind ever alert,
found innumerable points of contact with the age in which he lived.
“Although afflicted with almost complete deafness we see him,” says
Loménie, “rising above his personal preoccupations and the sorrows that
assailed him, to apply his mind with the whole force of his
indefatigable ardor to questions of public utility, to literary affairs,
and a thousand other incidents foreign to his own interests. Now he
points out with indignation, in the journals of the times, the
unbelievable negligence which permits the body of Turenne, rescued from
the vandalism of the Terror, to remain forgotten and exposed among
skeletons of animals in the _Jardin des Plantes_, until he finally
brings about a decree of the Directory which puts an end to this
scandal; again he writes letters and memoirs upon all subjects of public
interest ... now to the government, now to such deputies as Baudin des
Ardennes, who represent ideas of moderation and legality.
“He bestirred himself for the agents of rapid locomotion, aided Mr.
Scott in the development of aerostatic machines; celebrated in verse a
motor called the _velocifère_, talked literature and the theatre with
amiable Collin d’Harleville, or pleaded still with the Minister of the
Interior for the rights of dramatic authors against the actors, ... and
occupied himself at the same time with having his drama _La Mère
Coupable_ brought again before the public.”
This drama which had been written immediately preceding the outbreak of
the Revolution, had been read and accepted by the Théâtre Français in
1791, but following this, Beaumarchais had been chosen by the Assembly
of Dramatic Authors to represent their interests before the _corps
législatif_, which was about to pronounce judgment, and he had acquitted
himself with so much ardor that a rupture had followed between himself
and the Théâtre Français. Another troupe of the neighborhood demanded
the play with so much insistence that he allowed them to produce it upon
their new theatre; here it was performed for the first time in June,
1792. But the piece was so poorly played that its success was
indifferent. During the time of the Revolution its performance was not
to be thought of, but it will not be considered surprising that one of
Beaumarchais’s first concerns, after the settlement of the most pressing
of his family affairs, was to have the piece brought again before the
public and played at the Comédie Française. This was effected in May,
1797. Its complete success brought a great happiness to his declining
years.
The characters of _La Mère Coupable_ are the same as those of _Le
Barbier_, and _Le Mariage de Figaro_—although from a literary
point-of-view it is very far from rivaling the two earlier productions,
“the subject,” says Loménie, “taken in itself, is at the same time, very
dramatic and of an incontestable morality.”
Among the numerous letters, written or received by Beaumarchais in
regard to this drama, is one addressed by him to the widow of the last
of the Stuarts, the Countess of Albany, who happening to be in Paris in
1791 had begged Beaumarchais to give a reading of _La Mère Coupable_, in
her salon. He replied:
“Paris, 5th February, 1791.
“Madame la Comtesse:
“Since you insist absolutely upon hearing my very severe work, I
cannot refuse you. But observe that when I wish to laugh, it is
_aux éclats_; if I must weep, it is _aux sanglots_. I know
nothing between but _l’ennui_. Admit then, anyone you wish
Tuesday, only keep away those whose hearts are hard, whose souls
are dried, and who feel pity for the sorrows that we find so
delicious.... Have a few tender women, some men for whom the
heart is not a chimera, and who are not ashamed to weep. I
promise you that painful pleasure, and am with respect, Madame la
Comtesse, etc.,
“Beaumarchais.”
But from his own interests let us turn with him again to those of
national importance.
“As ardent an imagination as that of Beaumarchais,” says Loménie, “could
not be expected to remain a stranger to the universal enthusiasm which
in 1797 was inspired by the youthful conqueror of Italy.”
Through the intervention of the General Desaix, Beaumarchais who had
celebrated in prose and verse the movements of the young conqueror
across the Alps, was able to address a letter to him directly, to which
he received the following concise reply:
“Paris, the 11 _germinal_ An VI, March, 1798.
“General Desaix has handed me, citizen, your amiable letter of
the 25 _ventose_. I thank you for it. I shall seize with
pleasure, any circumstance which presents itself, to form the
acquaintance of the author of _La Mère Coupable_.
“I salute you,
“Bonaparte.”
“Thus,” says Loménie, “for the General Bonaparte, Beaumarchais is above
all else, the author of _La Mère Coupable_. Can this be an indication of
a literary preference for this drama, or a certain political repugnance
for the _Mariage de Figaro_, or simply the result of the fact that _La
Mère Coupable_ had recently been placed upon the stage? This is a
question that seems difficult to answer.
“I find,” continues Loménie, “among the papers confided to me by the
family of Beaumarchais, another letter of Bonaparte, at that time first
Consul, addressed to Mme. de Beaumarchais after the death of her
husband, which is a reply to a petition. It reads:
“Paris, _vendémiaire_ An IX.
“Madame:
“I have received your letter. I will bring into this matter all
the interest which the memory of a justly celebrated man merits,
and that yourself inspires.
“Bonaparte.”
In one of the _mauvais vers_ (from a literary viewpoint) with which
Beaumarchais in his old age commented upon the career of the great
general, is one which, says Loménie, “honors his sensibility.” It was
written in 1797, and runs thus:
“Young Bonaparte, from victory to victory,
Thou givest us peace, and our hearts are moved;
But dost thou wish to conquer every form of glory?
Then think of our prisoners of l’Olmutz.”
The allusion in the verse was to Lafayette and his fellow-prisoners, who
for five years had been detained, first in a prison in Prussia, and
later in the Austrian fortress of Olmutz. In 1792, Lafayette had been
declared a traitor by the National Assembly after the fateful tenth of
August, and been forced to cross the frontier and give himself up to the
Austrians, who were then fighting against France. He was held as a
prisoner of State. His wife and family, having been unable to secure his
release, were permitted to share his captivity with him. Napoleon, who
never had entertained a very high opinion of the military capacity of
Lafayette, nevertheless stipulated for his release and for that of his
fellow-prisoners in the treaty of Campo Formio, which was signed during
the year 1797.
But to return to the private life of Beaumarchais. Gudin, after visiting
his friend, had not consented to remain under his roof, feeling that now
he would be a burden and so had returned to his country retreat to await
events. It was there that he learned of the joy that was about to crown
the old age of his friend. He wrote to Beaumarchais:
“I remember the songs you made for Eugénie, when you cradled her on your
knees, and it seems to me that I can hear you sing others for her child.
Kiss her for me, my dear friend, compliment her for me, and all of you
rejoice over your domestic happiness; it is the sweetest of all, the
most real perhaps.”
For Beaumarchais, this was indeed the crowning blessing of this life. On
January 5th, 1798, Madame Delarue gave birth to a daughter, Palmyr, as
they called her. This event caused her grandfather to give way to
“transports of joy,” though at first his only thought was “for his
beloved Eugénie.”
With the reëstablishment of Beaumarchais’s fortune, Gudin, who had in
the meantime settled his own affairs, returned to live with his friend.
“I came again,” he says, “to my native city, delighted to see my friend,
and to find his family augmented. We tasted the sweetness of friendship
the most intimate. I saw him abandon himself in our conversations to the
most vivid hope for the prosperity of the state and of our arms.
“Beaumarchais, at this time, was full of force and of health. Never were
his days devoured by so many plans, projects, labors and enterprises....
His age allowed us to hope that we might retain him a long while.
“We had spent the day together in the midst of his family, with one of
his oldest friends. He had been very gay and had recalled in the
conversation several events of his youth, which he recounted with a
charming complacency.... I did not leave him until ten o’clock; he
retired at eleven, after embracing his wife. She was slightly
indisposed; he recommended her to take some precautions for her
health,—his own seemed perfect. He went to bed as usual, and wakened
early. He went to sleep again and wakened no more. He was found next
morning in the same attitude in which he placed himself on going to
bed.”
An attack of _apoplexie foudroyante_ had carried him off at the age of
sixty-seven years and three months. This was on the 18th of May, 1799.
The suddenness of the death of Beaumarchais caused, as may be imagined,
the most profound sorrow to his family and friends.
Madame de Beaumarchais wrote a few days after his death:
“Our loss is irreparable. The companion of twenty-five years of my life
has disappeared, leaving me only useless regrets, a frightful solicitude
and memories that nothing can efface.... He forgave easily, he willingly
forgot injuries.... He was a good father, zealous friend, defender of
the absent who were attacked before him. Superior to petty jealousies,
so common among men of letters, he counselled, encouraged all, and aided
them with his purse and his advice.
“To the philosophic eye, his end should be regarded as a favor. He left
this life, or rather, it left him, without struggle, without pain, or
any of those rendings inevitable in the frightful separation from all
those dear to him. He went out of life as unconsciously as he entered
it.”
“The inventory,” says Gudin in his narrative, “which is made at a man’s
death, often reveals the secrets of his life. That of Beaumarchais
showed us that to succor families in distress, artists, men of letters,
men of quality, he had advanced more than 900,000 francs without hope
that these sums ever should be repaid. If one adds to these, sums that
he had lavished without leaving the least trace, one would be convinced
that he had expended more than 2,000,000 in benevolences.”
The mortal remains of Beaumarchais were laid to rest in a sombre avenue
of his garden which he himself had prepared. “In planting his garden,”
says Gudin, “he had consecrated a spot for his eternal rest.... It was
there that we placed him. It was there that his son-in-law, his
relatives, his friends, a few men of letters, paid him their last
respects, and that Colin d’Harleville read a discourse which I had
composed in the overflowing of my sorrow, but which I was not in a
condition to pronounce.”
“A beautiful copy of the Fighting Gladiator,” says Lintilhac, “decorated
the entrance to the ostentatious mansion where camped _la vieillesse
militante_ of Beaumarchais. The posture of the combat, like the face of
the gladiator, betrayed a manly agony. What expressive symbol of his
life and work!”
In pausing now to cast a backward glance over the achievements of this
one man, we scarcely can fail to admit with Lintilhac that Beaumarchais
was not boasting when he wrote toward the end of his life: “I am the
only Frenchman, perhaps, who never has demanded anything of anyone, and
nevertheless, among my great labors, I count with pride, to have
contributed more than any other European towards rendering America
free.”
That he ever looked upon his work in the cause of American Independence,
as his strongest claim to immortality among men, can be judged from his
constant return to the subject and especially from what he says in his
memoir of self-justification delivered before the Commune of Paris in
September, 1789. (Given in Chapter XI.) It may be said that the very
persistence of his reclamations in this regard was responsible for the
indifference with which they were universally received. A man so rich,
so happy, so prosperous, so gay, so universally successful in all his
undertakings, could not expect to be taken seriously when he loudly
decried the universal ingratitude of mankind, even though his
accusations might be just. What Beaumarchais essentially lacked, as La
Harpe has pointed out, was above everything else, _measure_ and _good
taste_. He was too ostentatious, too expansive, talked too much of
himself, pushed himself forward with too much noise, was too brilliant,
too daring, too successful; and yet, as M. de Loménie has said in the
remarkable résumé of the character of Beaumarchais given at the end of
his work: “It does not seem to us possible to contest the fact that
Beaumarchais is one of those men who gains the most by being seen at
close range and that he is worth infinitely more than his reputation.”
And the same author continues:
“Beaumarchais had implacable enemies; but one very important point is to
be noted, namely that all those who attacked him with fury either knew
him very little, or did not know him at all; while those who lived
intimately with him loved him passionately. All the literary men who
knew him in life, and who spoke of him after his death, have spoken
with affection and esteem. Two minds as different as those of La Harpe
and Arnault meet, in regard to him, with the same expressions of
sympathy, and I have not found a trace in all the papers left after his
death of a single man who, after knowing him intimately, became his
enemy. On the contrary, I constantly have found testimonials of
attachment that are far from common. I have found that friendships,
begun in his youth, when he was a simple watchmaker, or _contrôleur_ of
the house of the king, follow him for thirty or forty years without ever
changing or weakening, but on the contrary, redouble in intensity and
manifest themselves in the greatest tenderness, and in the most
disinterested ways....
“The goodness of the author of the _Mariage de Figaro_, extended not
only to those about him. Gudin affirms that M. Goëzman fallen into
misery was succored by him; that Baculard was on his register for 3,600
frs. which were never returned.
“A charming trait of his character often has been remarked, in relation
to the inscription engraved upon the collar of his little dog, which was
as follows:—‘I am Mlle. Follette; Beaumarchais belongs to me. We live on
the Boulevard.’
“We can therefore say with La Harpe and Arnault who knew him, that
although the author of the _Mariage de Figaro_, was followed all his
life by black calumnies, he resembled in nothing the portrait which his
enemies have left us of him. It is true that his good qualities are
often somewhat veiled by _légèreté d’esprit_ and _défaut de tenue_. His
friend d’Atilly painted him to nature, when he said, ‘_he has the heart
of an honest man_, but he often has _the tone of a bohemian_.’ The
frivolity of the century in which he lived had too much colored his
ideas ... and indeed equitably to judge the character of the man in its
entirety, one must not forget either the situation in which he found
himself, or the century in which he lived.”
Louis de Loménie wrote in 1854, more than half a century after the death
of Beaumarchais. Since the appearance of his work, many others have
taken up the pen to discuss the pros and cons of this many-sided
character. The last of these, M. Eugène Lintilhac, calls attention to
the crowd of obliges from the scepter to the shepherd’s crook. “What man
in need,” he says, “great lord or modest author, ever came and knocked
at his door, without carrying away consolation in words and species? To
how many oppressed, mulattos, slaves, Jews, protestants has he not held
the hand?”
Sainte-Beuve says somewhere, that the Society of Dramatic Authors should
never assemble without saluting the bust of Beaumarchais. It can do so
henceforward because they have placed in the hall where their meetings
are held, a marble bust of its founder.
On the one hundredth anniversary of the first production of the _Mariage
de Figaro_, on April 27, 1884, the play was performed again at the
Théâtre Français. At the close of the performance the bust of
Beaumarchais was brought forward, and crowned while Coquelin recited
verses to his praise written for the occasion by M. Paul Delair.
Thus to have survived a veritable death from oblivion, and to have come
after a century of neglect into a resurrection of honor and fame, is
sufficient proof of the real greatness of the literary genius of
Beaumarchais to convince all unbelievers. This has been the act of
reparation accorded him by France. The debt of gratitude owed him by
America is still unpaid. It remains to be seen whether the same
resurrection of honor awaits him among us.
This book is a first attempt to state fully the facts of the life of
Beaumarchais for the American people, so that they may know the man who
was their friend, even before they came into existence as a nation, and
it is put out in the hope that they may share the sentiment renewed in
M. Eugène Lintilhac and so forcibly expressed by Gudin—“I soon found
that I could not love him moderately when I came to know him in his
home.”
And so with this expression of a friend’s esteem, let us leave
Beaumarchais in company with his faithful Gudin, Gudin, “whose great
work,” says Lintilhac, “_the History of France_, still sleeps in the
_Bibliotèque Nationale_, ... but whose author has found a surer path to
glory in taking the first place in the cortège of his illustrious
friend,—Beaumarchais.”
Although America has been slow to recognize the claims of Beaumarchais
to her gratitude, yet Time, the great leveler, is restoring all things
to their place; and to-day, if our “friend” is cognizant of what history
is doing, he realizes that this same United States, which his services
did so much to found, is repaying this debt with interest so far as
money goes, but still more with warm affection and heartiest friendship
cemented by the life blood of both nations—and to-day he repeats what he
wrote in December, 1779—
“As for me, whose interests lose themselves before such grand
interests; I, private individual, but good Frenchman, and sincere
friend of the brave people who have just conquered their liberty;
if one is astonished that my feeble voice should have mingled
with the mouths of thunder which plead this great cause, I will
reply that one is always strong enough when one has right on his
side....
“I have had great losses. They have rendered my labors less
fruitful than I hoped for my independent friends, but as it is
less by my success than by my efforts that I should be judged, I
still dare to pretend to the noble reward which I promised
myself; the esteem of three great nations; France, America, and
even England.
“Caron de Beaumarchais.”
BIBLIOGRAPHY
_Beaumarchais et son Temps par Louis de Loménie_, Paris, 1850.
Translated by H. S. Edwards. N. Y. 1857
_Histoire de Beaumarchais, Gudin de la Brenellerie._ Edited by
Maurice Tourneux, 1888
_Œuvres Complètes, précédées d’une notice sur sa vie et ses
ouvrages par Saint Marc Gerardin_, 1828, 6 tomes
_Nouvelle Edition Augmentée de quatre pièces de Théâtre et des
documents divers inédits avec une introduction par M. E.
Fournier, ornée de vingt portraits, etc._ 1876
H. Doniol—_Histoire de la Participation de la France dans
l’établissement des Etats-Unis_, 5 tomes. Paris, 1886-1892
E. Lintilhac—_Beaumarchais et ses œuvres; précis de sa vie et
histoire de son esprit, etc._ Paris, 1887
_Beaumarchais the Merchant._ Hon. John Bigelow in _Hours at
Home_, June 1870
_Marie Thérèse Amélie Caron de Beaumarchais d’après sa
correspondence inédite par Bonneville de Marsangy_, 1890
_Bibliographic des œuvres de Beaumarchais._ H. Cordier, 1883
_Beaumarchais: eine Biographie._ A. Bettleheim, 1886
_Mémoires sur le Chevalier d’Eon, suivis de douze lettres
inédites de Beaumarchais._ F. Gaillardet, 1866
_New Material for the History of the American Revolution._ J.
Durand, 1889
_Diplomatic Correspondence._ Francis Wharton
_Diplomatic Correspondence of the American Revolution._ J.
Sparks, 1829-1830
_Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin._ James Parton, 1864
_Deane Papers_, (6 vols.). 1887
_A Vindication of Arthur Lee, designed as a refutation of the
charges found in the writings of Benjamin Franklin, as exhibited
by Jared Sparks_, etc. 1894
_Beaumarchais: étude par P. Bonnefon_, 1887
_Beaumarchais and Sonnenfels._ A. von Arnett
_Mémoires de Beaumarchais. Nouveile édition, précédée d’une
appréciation tirée des Causeries du Lundi par M. Sainte-Beuve_,
1878
_Cours de Littérature ancienne et moderne par La Harpe_,
1799-1803
_A History of England, in the 18th Century._ By W. E. H. Lecky (4
Vols.) 1887
_Correspondence and Public Papers of John Jay_, 1890-93
_Judgement—qu’approuve le nouvel échappement de montres du Sieur
Caron_, 1754
_Claims of the Heirs of Beaumarchais Against the United States._
House Documents
_Report of the Committee of Claims on the Petition of the Heirs
of Beaumarchais._ 1812-1817
_Le Barbier de Séville._ 1902. 20th Century Text-Books
_Life of F. W. von Steuben_, with an Introduction by George
Bancroft, 1859, by F. Kapp
_Beaumarchais._ Vortrag von Dr. S. Born, 1881
_Beaumarchais._ A. Hallays, 1897
_La Fin de l’ancien Régime._ 1879. Imbert de St. Amand.
_Les Femmes de la cour de Louis XV._ 1876. Imbert de St. Amand
_Les beaux jours de Marie Antoinette_, Imbert de St. Amand
_The Lost Million._ Charles J. Stillé
_Silas Deane._ Paper read before the American Historical
Association of Boston and Cambridge, 1887, by Charles Islam
_The Marquis de La Fayette in the American Revolution._
Charlemagne Tower, 1895
_The American Revolution._ 2 vols. John Fiske, 1891
_House Documents_, Vol. 9. Report 111. Fifteenth Congress, First
Session.
INDEX
Aix,
Beaumarchais doubles fine imposed on him at, ii. 174
lawsuit in progress at, ii. 173
recommendations for, ii. 65
Alfort,
professional school at, i. 45
Alliance,
open, between America and France, ii. 153
Ambassador,
English, complains to Vergennes, ii. 120
first French, sent to America, ii. 190, 193
America,
Cause of, aided by Beaumarchais’s financial training
under Du Verney, ii. 78
love of, by French, ii. 35
wild sweet charm of, for Frenchmen, ii. 35
Americans,
addressed by Beaumarchais from Hamburg, ii. 263
distrusted motives of French, ii. 34
eulogized by Beaumarchais, ii. 43
looked on French as natural enemies, ii. 34
America’s,
“friend,” final word of, ii. 288, 289
Ammunition,
from France, i. 31
Amphitrite,
again sets sail, ii. 131
cargo of, taken by Beaumarchais, ii. 172
errors found in bills of lading of, ii. 155
indiscretion of officers, ii. 136
put in command of Captain, ii. 120
returns to port, ii. 119
sets sail, ii. 116
the vessel of Beaumarchais, ii. 107
Angellucci, Guillaume,
author of libel, gives written agreement, i. 258
Archbishop of Lyon,
adopts idea of Beaumarchais, ii. 227
Archives, Secret,
edited by H. Doniol, i. 36
Armament,
goes out to America, ii. 192
Arnault, M.,
Memoirs of, ii. 230, 241
Arnold, Benedict, i. 32
gave costly dinners, ii. 194
put in command at Phila, ii. 194
Tory principles fixed, ii. 194
Artois, Comte d’,
comes to Grennevillier, ii. 216
takes part of Figaro, i. 284
August 10th,
mob enters house of Beaumarchais, ii. 255
Austria, Empress of,
sends diamond ring to Beaumarchais, i. 266
Beaumarchais demands audience with, i. 262
_Barbier de Séville, Le_,
author of, demands settlement, i. 282
brilliant preface to, i. 275
first performance a failure, i. 273
first prohibition to produce, i. 272
last play staged at Le Petit-Trianon, i. 285
permission granted to perform, i. 273
second performance of, great success, i. 274
story of, i. 276
Baron von Steuben,
at Valley Forge, i. 32
invoked by Beaumarchais, ii. 247
Barry, Mme. du, i. 249
libel against, destroyed, i. 253
sustains Maupeou, i. 175
Bastille, ii. 214
opposite house of Beaumarchais, ii. 241
Beaumarchais, Caron de, i. 35
activity of, i. 287
addresses daring memoir to King, ii. 46ff.
addresses President of Congress, ii. 203
again faces bankruptcy, ii. 239
anxiety for health of father, i. 99
appeals to La Borde, i. 243
appeals to ministers, ii. 258
arrives in Paris, ii. 77
arrives in Vienna, i. 262
attempts to buy guns, ii. 254
avenges his sister, i. 88ff.
begs M. de Sartine to intercede,
begs to read his play to Mesdames, i. 151
buried in garden, ii. 284
bust of, crowned, ii. 287
buys titles of nobility, i. 71
carried in triumph, ii. 101
charity of, arouses enmity, ii. 228
claims of the heirs of, i. 40
commissioned to settle affairs of D’Eon, ii. 18
compared to Grandison, i. 143
compared with Figaro, i. 270
composes popular song, i. 267
composes song on return from Vienna, i. 268
confers with ministers on problems of finance, ii. 111
confined in l’Abbaye, ii. 257
consulted by ministers, i. 254
dares accuse King of false sensibility, ii. 49
death of, ii. 283
déblâmé, ii. 100
defends ancestors, i. 237
defends himself, i. 221
demands account from actors, i. 282
demands aid for America, ii. 58
demands a new censor of his M. de F., ii. 218
demands return of thirty-five louis, i. 75
demands settlement, i. 293
destroys libel against Mme. du Barry, i. 253
destroys libel directed against Queen, i. 256
determines to visit Empress of Austria, i. 260
difficulties of his position, i. 66
directs ministers in regard to recall of Deane, ii. 187f.
disavows du Coudray, ii. 120
discloses plans of secret aid to Lee, ii. 57
distaste for gambling, i. 74
dog, little, of, ii. 286
duel forced upon him, i. 63
enters Secret Service, i. 249
excuses violence of D’Eon, ii. 26
faces bankruptcy, ii. 137
faces ruin, ii. 151ff.
fantastic letter of, to Congress, ii. 92ff.
freed by Manuel, ii. 257
gains lawsuit at Aix, ii. 174
gay life at Madrid, i. 100ff.
generosity of, i. 81, ii. 284
gives Comedians lesson in accounts, i. 295
goes to Spain, i. 84
home life of, recounted by Gudin, i. 72
honorable position at court, i. 105
honored by invitation to Petit-Trianon theatricals, i. 283, ii. 232
humbles himself, i. 199
impatient at delays, ii. 112
imprisoned at St. Lazare, ii. 229
indiscretion of, ii. 115
induces Steuben to go to America, ii. 140, 141
infatuated with Lee, ii. 57
inflamed for cause of liberty, ii. 22
initiated into finance, i. 71
invites authors to dinner, i. 299
jealousies aroused against, i. 304ff.
judged by parliament Maupeou, ii. 100
lawsuit with Comte de le Blache, i. 167
learns he is set aside in aiding America, ii. 149
letter to de Francy, ii. 159ff.
letter to Dubourg, ii. 86
life of, by E. Lintilhac, i. 126
loudly reclaims the fifteen louis, i. 208
made gifts of first two dramas, i. 292
meets Gudin, i. 170
meets her who becomes his third wife, i. 245
meets Madame Lévêque, i. 156
meets Pauline, i. 108
memoirs of, criticised by Lintilhac, i. 215ff.
memoirs to King regarding America, ii. 38
merchant, the, i. 36
more attractive than other men, i. 179
music master to Mesdames, i. 59
nephew of, recommended to care of Congress, ii. 110
objection to card playing, i. 100
pays tuition of pupil, ii. 248
plans to go himself to Santo Domingo, i. 115
plays _comédie_ on stage of life, i. 260
plea of self justification, ii. 243ff.
pleads for Lafayette imprisoned, ii. 281
preparations for voyage to Spain, i. 85ff.
prepares to leave London, ii. 73
private character, i. 172
private life, ii. 240ff.
proudly reclaims rights, i. 200
reads _Le Barbier_ to friends, i. 189
receives written order from King, i. 257
recommends Deane be escorted by fleet, ii. 188
replies to Mlle. Ninon, ii. 181
replies to Lord Rochford, ii. 63, 64
reposes full confidence in Deane, ii. 89
restored to his rights as Citizen, ii. 100
retires to Flanders, i. 243
returns from exile, ii. 273
returns from Spain, i. 103
saved by Mesdames, i. 64
saved by Vergennes, ii. 152
second wife dies, i. 162
secret missions of, i. 249
seeks safety from mob, ii. 254
sends in his _règlement de comptes_ with Pauline, i. 137
sends “ostensible” letter to Vergennes, ii. 41
sends uncle to Santo Domingo, i. 109
sent to For-l’Evêque, i. 191
serious side of education of, i. 144
serves himself through the Ministers, ii. 98, 99
starts for London, i. 252, ii. 44
still pleads for aid to be sent to America, ii. 67
still used by Ministers, ii. 143ff.
stops at Nuremberg, i. 260
tact of, with royal pupils, i. 60
takes Gudin from Temple, ii. 178
thrown into prison, i. 264
touched by child’s letter, answers, i. 202
unites family, i. 83
unable to obtain explanation, ii. 202
uncle dies at Santo Domingo, i. 114
uses attitude of English Lord to gain end, i. 257
victimized by widow of father, i. 247
warns ministers of English spies, ii. 132
writes angry letter to Janot de Miron, i. 117, 118
writes de Francy, ii. 157
writes for the _Morning Chronicle_, ii. 73
writes to Vergennes regarding America, ii. 31
Beaumarchais, Julie de,
accuses brother of levity, i. 121
after the terror, ii. 265ff.
as authoress, i. 79
attacked by Goëzman, i. 236
describes family love making, i. 115
literary aptitudes of, i. 236
maliciousness of, i. 131
writes tenderly to brother, i. 128
Beaumarchais, Madame de, i. 36, ii. 240
beauty of, ii. 247
imprisoned at Port-Royal, ii. 262
protests decree of Revolutionary Tribunal, ii. 258
Bertrand, le grand, i. 236
attacks Beaumarchais, i. 227
Bigelow, Hon. John, i. 36
comments on letter of de Francy, ii. 168
defends memory of Beaumarchais, ii. 138
Blache, Comte de la, i. 165
appeals to the parliament Maupeou, i. 177
brought Beaumarchais before tribunal at Aix, ii. 173
contests settlement, i. 167
lawsuit of, ii. 101
Boisgarnier, Jeanne Marguerite de, i. 79
courted by Janot de Miron, i. 116
death of, i. 235
marries J. de M., i. 124
plays charades of her brother, i. 142
Bon Secours,
Mlle. Eugénie attends convent of, ii. 248
Bonvouloir,
instructions to, i. 30, ii. 37
Brenellerie, Gudin de la,
_Historie de Beaumarchais_, i. 36
Breteuil, M. de,
memoirs to, ii. 218
Buchot,
gives out receipt of Beaumarchais for 1,000,000 livres, ii. 204
Burgoyne,
entrapped at Saratoga, i. 32
news of surrender of, reaches England, ii. 147
surrender of, ii. 145
Caillard,
invents calumnies against Beaumarchais, i. 167
supports the parliament Maupeou, i. 176
Calumny,
as described by Basil, i. 278
Campo Formio,
treaty of, ii. 282
Canada,
“_le point jaloux_,” ii. 37
Cape Henry,
Battle of, i. 33
Carmichaël, Wm., ii. 161
returns to America, ii. 196
writes to Beaumarchais, ii. 196
Caron, André-Charles, i. 45
Caron, le père,
courts Madame Henry, i. 122, 123
death of, i. 247
devotion to son, i. 82
letter of, i. 46ff.
marries second time, i. 124
marries third time, i. 246
meets the Princesses, i. 61
retires from business, i. 78
Caron, Marie Louise,
settles in Spain, i. 80
Caron, Pierre-August,
assumes name of Beaumarchais, i. 59
becomes inmate of palace of Versailles, i. 58
born, i. 43
_contrôleur clerc d’office_, i. 57
devotes himself to study, i. 57
escapades of i. 45
_horloger du roi_, i. 53
invention crowned by Academy, i. 52
marries widow, i. 58
“_Maudite musique_” denounced by father, i. 48
petitions Royal Academy of Sciences, i. 51
wife of, dies, i. 58
writes _Le Mercure_, i. 49
Chamfort,
accepts invitation of Beaumarchais, i. 303
Charles I. of England,
judicial murder of, i. 161
Chartres, duc de,
honors Beaumarchais, i. 242
Chaulnes, duc de,
determines to kill Beaumarchais, i. 183
goes to Louvre to find Beaumarchais, i. 185
sent to Vincennes prison, i. 190
strange character of, i. 179
Chevalier du S., i. 115, 129
carries off Pauline, i. 136
Chenu, the commissioner,
arrests the duc de Chaulnes, i. 188
carries out order of King, ii. 230
Chevalier D’Eon,
abuses Beaumarchais, ii. 26
agent of Louis XV., ii. 14
declares himself a woman, ii. 19
disguised as woman in St. Petersburg, ii. 15
exiled to London, ii. 14
reasons for change of sex of, ii. 19
Chinon,
The forest of, i. 159
Clavico, Joseph, i. 217
adventures with, i. 91ff.
immolated by Goethe, i. 96
signs declaration, i. 93
successes of i. 96
Clôture, compliment de, i. 279ff.
Colin d’Harleville,
reads discourse over grave of Beaumarchais, ii. 284
Collé,
replies to Beaumarchais, i. 301, 302
Colonists,
forbidden to extend settlements, i. 27
had no sympathy with the French, i. 29
turn to France, i. 29
Comédie des Italiens,
refuses the _Barbier_, i. 173
Comédie française,
refused to permit singing, i. 279
Comedy,
morality of, i. 146
the serious, i. 145
_Compte rendu_,
of Beaumarchais, i. 292
Condé, Prince of,
dispute with Beaumarchais, i. 107
Congress,
Continental, devoid of power, i. 28
debt of, to Beaumarchais fixed by Deane, ii. 199
disavows all commissions of Deane, ii. 135
draws up contract with agent of Beaumarchais, ii. 163ff.
holds aloft famous receipt, ii. 205
ignores letter of Deane, ii. 193
parties of, reversed, ii. 236
petitioned again and again by French Government, ii. 205
sent Barclay to revise account of Beaumarchais, ii. 200
strange silence of, ii. 202
urged to admit claim, ii. 208
Constant, _le petit_,
writes to Beaumarchais in prison, i. 201
Conti, Prince de,
honors Beaumarchais, i. 242
Cordilières,
convent of, i. 192
Cornwallis,
defeat of, i. 33
Cotignac,
amusing story of, i. 65
Coudray, Tronson du,
at Metz, ii. 106
fascinates Deane and Beaumarchais, ii. 107
gives pretext of bad weather, ii. 119
good officer, ii. 121
issues pamphlet against Deane and Beaumarchais, ii. 122
openly thwarts plans of Deane and Beaumarchais, ii. 115
placed in command of Amphitrite, ii. 115
unworthy of confidence, ii. 107
Counter order revoked, ii. 119
Dauphin, i. 60
Deane, Silas, i. 37
accompanied by first French Ambassador to America, ii. 190
addresses Beaumarchais, ii. 191
addresses letter to Congress, ii. 193
associated with Arnold, ii. 194
changes date of contract with Lafayette, ii. 134
commended by King, ii. 190
commended by Vergennes, ii. 190
communicates fears to Beaumarchais, ii. 187
compact between Beaumarchais and, ii. 90, 91
defended by Franklin, ii. 186
defended by John Jay, ii. 186
difficult situation of, ii. 171
embarrassing position of, ii. 118
given portrait of King, ii. 189
guest of French Admiral, ii. 193
insists on meeting French Minister, ii. 84
a loyal patriot, ii. 195
manly firmness of, ii. 132
meets Beaumarchais, ii. 87
meets Lafayette with Von Kalb, ii. 134
no traitor, ii. 195
papers of, ii. 187
receives news of his recall, ii. 187
reluctantly signs recommendation of Du Coudray, ii. 121
returns to France, ii. 199
sent by Franklin to Dubourg, ii. 83
sent to Paris, i. 31
signs contract with Lafayette and Von Kalb, ii. 134
starts for France, ii. 69
writes to Congress, ii. 92
Delarue, Louis-André-Toussaint,
meets family of Beaumarchais, ii, 274
Delarue, Mme.
gives birth to daughter, ii. 282
Des Epinières,
Beaumarchais demands he return to post, ii. 131
commended by Gen. Sullivan, ii. 197
nephew of Beaumarchais, i. 80
nephew of Beaumarchais goes to America with Steuben, ii. 142
writes to uncle, ii, 142
Diderot,
founder of new literary School, i. 148
replies to Beaumarchais, i. 302, 303
Doligny, Mlle.,
created rôle of Rosine, i. 279
letter of, i. 290
Doniol, II.
monumental work of, ii. 32
Dorat, M., i. 299
Dramatic authors,
rights of, i. 288
rights of, recognized by Napoleon, i. 307
Dubourg, Barbeu,
discredits Beaumarchais with Franklin, ii. 85
friend of Franklin, ii. 83
greets Franklin, ii. 117
officious zeal of, ii. 105
tries to discredit Beaumarchais with Vergennes, ii. 84
Duras, M. le Maréchal de,
confers with Beaumarchais, i. 298
Du Verney, Paris,
dies, i. 163
tutelage of Beaumarchais under, of use in cause of America, ii. 78
England,
difficulties of recruiting in, ii. 38
parties in, ii. 33
Estaing, Admiral D’,
commandeers _Le Fier Roderigue_, ii. 234
writes to Beaumarchais, ii. 235
_Eugénie_,
_La vertue malheureuse_, i. 149ff.
success in England, i. 149
Eugénie, Mlle.,
daughter of Beaumarchais, i. 246
marries M. Delarue, ii. 275
returns home, ii. 249
sent to convent school, ii. 248
suitors of, ii. 250
writes to her father, ii. 262
Ferrers, Lord,
friend of Chev. D’Eon, ii. 25
Figaro,
creation of, i. 147, 269
creation of, ranks Beaumarchais with Molière, ii. 223
first conception of, i. 271
Flanders,
Beaumarchais retires to, i. 243
Follette, Mlle.,
little dog of B., ii. 286
For-l’Evêque,
Beaumarchais sent to, i. 191
France,
aid to America openly avowed, i. 33
attitude of, towards America, ii. 35
betrayed, i. 29
disclaims Canada, ii. 37
important rôle played by, i. 33
no intention of claiming part of New World, i. 30
still demurs, ii. 45
Francis, Cape,
base of mercantile operations with America, ii. 80
Francy, Theveneau de,
gives impressions, ii. 167ff.
letter to, ii, 132
reports on conditions in America, ii. 156
sets out for America, ii. 154
writes Beaumarchais of Deane’s recall, ii. 156
Franklin, Benjamin,
arrives in France, i. 116
at Versailles, i. 32
defends Deane in letter to Congress, ii. 186
idol of Paris, ii. 119
intentionally arouses suspicions of French Government, ii. 133
overlooks a million, ii. 201
won over by du Coudray, ii. 121
steadily refuses to treat with Beaumarchais, ii. 142
writes Dubourg, ii. 117
French,
generosity of, ii. 35
loved America, ii. 35
motives of, distrusted by Americans, ii. 34
Fronsac, duc de,
wishes to hear _Le Mariage de Figaro_, ii. 216
Gaillardet,
life of Chev. D’Eon, ii. 16
Garrick,
adapts _Eugénie_ to English audience, i. 149
Gates, Horatio, i. 32
Congress in favor of, to replace Washington, ii. 193
George III.,
appealed to by Louis XV., i. 251
Gérard, de Rayneval,
accompanies Deane, ii. 190
First French Ambassador to America, ii. 195
Goethe,
reads memoirs of Beaumarchais, i. 231
writes drama _Clavico_, i. 231
Goëzman, Counsellor,
accuses Beaumarchais of attempt at corruption, i. 209
aided by Beaumarchais, ii. 286
attacks Julie, i. 236
presided over the parliament Maupeou, i. 177
Goëzman, Madame,
confrontation of, with Beaumarchais, i. 223ff.
demands two hundred louis, i. 204
demands fifteen louis for the secretary, i. 206
memoir of, i. 222
refuses to return the fifteen louis, i. 207
Government,
English, redoubles watchfulness, ii. 117
of France, embarrassed by presence
of Franklin, ii. 116
of France, slow to move, ii. 36
Grand, M.,
Banker in Paris, ii. 146
Grasse, Comte de,
off Cape Henry, i. 33
Grennevilliers,
festival of, ii. 216
Gudin de la Brenellerie,
accused of writing memoirs of Beaumarchais, i. 219
alone in house of Beaumarchais, ii. 257
gives account of triumph of Beaumarchais, ii. 174
goes to live with Beaumarchais, ii. 241
meets Beaumarchais, i. 170
returns to join friend, ii. 276
seeks refuge in _le Temple_, ii. 176
seized by the duc de Chaulnes, i. 184
Guerchy, Comte de,
quarrel with D’Eon, ii. 14, 23
Guilbert, Marie-Joseph,
settles in Spain, i. 80
Hamburg,
Beaumarchais at, ii. 260
Hamilton, Alex.,
revises account of Beaumarchais with Congress, ii. 204
Havre,
Beaumarchais goes to, ii. 115
family seeks safety at, ii. 251
Heirs of Beaumarchais,
claims of, settled, ii. 211
Héloise, La Nouvelle, ii. 179
Hessians,
hired to fight Americans, ii. 38
start for America, ii. 64
Hinterland, i. 27
Holland,
engaged by Beaumarchais to unite with Spain and France, ii. 32
Independence,
American, Beaumarchais intervenes in cause of, i. 250
declared by Congress, ii. 126
war of America, important rôle of Beaumarchais in, i. 267
_Institut de bienfaisance_, ii. 227
Institute for Nursing Mothers, ii. 228
Jay, John,
correspondence of, ii. 111
defends Deane, ii. 186
writes Beaumarchais, ii. 236
Jefferson,
sends letter to Beaumarchais, ii. 245
Kaunitz, Chancellor, i. 264
suspicions of, i. 266
La Borde,
aids Beaumarchais, i. 243
Lafayette, Marquis de, i. 37
about to sail on Beaumarchais’s vessel, ii. 134
dinner at Metz, ii. 133
forced to borrow from Beaumarchais, ii. 162
pleads for Beaumarchais imprisoned, ii. 229
returns borrowed money with interest, ii. 247
sets sail for America, ii. 134
La Harpe,
comments on du Verney, i. 69
defends character of Beaumarchais, i. 219
eulogizes Beaumarchais, i. 213
eulogizes memoirs of Beaumarchais, i. 238
final characterization of Beaumarchais, ii. 285
invitation of Beaumarchais accepted by, i. 301
refuses invitation to dine with authors, i. 299
Lamballe, Princess de,
invites Beaumarchais, ii. 214
_La Mère Coupable_,
first played, ii. 278
Lawsuit,
against Comedians, i. 287
of the fifteen louis, a master stroke, i. 214
Lee, Arthur,
added to commission in France, ii. 117
comes to Paris, ii. 89
condemned at bar of history, ii. 195
connections with Beaumarchais broken, ii. 88
denounces Deane and Beaumarchais to Congress, ii. 88
distrusted by Vergennes, ii. 185
effects of letter of, to Congress, ii. 108
enraged against Deane and Beaumarchais, ii. 88
in London, ii. 57
jealous of Deane, ii. 185
meets Beaumarchais, ii. 56
not permitted to come to France, ii. 66
poisoned Congress against Deane, ii. 186
revises account of Beaumarchais, ii. 203
summoned to join Deane and Franklin, ii. 117
Vergennes refuses to see, ii. 89
writes to Congress, misrepresenting action of French
Government, ii. 68
Lebrun,
gives passport to Beaumarchais, ii. 258
_Le Mariage de Figaro_, i. 39
Lepaute,
plagiarism of, detected, i. 52
watchmaker to the Luxembourg, i. 51
Lepin, Françoise,
sister of Beaumarchais, i. 180
Lenormant d’Etioles,
festival given by, i. 268
gives festival, i. 142
second marriage of, i. 201
_Les deux Amis_, i. 157
_Le Temple_,
chosen as refuge by Gudin, ii. 177
prison of, ii. 232
_Lettres de Cachet_,
Beaumarchais a victim of, i. 190
Libel,
against Mme. du Barry destroyed, i. 253
against Queen destroyed, i. 256
Lindet, Robert,
makes appeal for Beaumarchais, ii. 270
Lintilhac, Eugène,
_Beaumarchais et ses œuvres_, i. 36
Living,
high cost of, after the terror, ii. 266ff.
Loménie, Louis de,
_Life and Times of Beaumarchais_, i. 36
Louis XV., i. 56, ii. 14
death of, i. 253
dies, i. 242
_le grand projet de_, ii. 18
occult diplomacy of, i. 249
parliament of, destroyed by fifteen louis, i. 231
Louis XVI.,
ascends throne, i. 254
hesitates, ii. 32
inflicts outrage without motive on Beaumarchais, ii. 230
refuses to commit himself regarding aid to America, ii. 53
replies in own hand writing to questions of Beaumarchais, ii. 52f.
seeks to undo wrong done Beaumarchais, ii. 231
won over to American cause, ii. 70
_Mariage de Figaro, Le_, i. 39
Beaumarchais composes, ii. 212
Monologue of, ii. 223
permission given to play, ii. 215
permission revoked, ii. 215
proceeds go to charity, ii. 226
returns from, ii. 226
story of, ii. 221
Marie-Antoinette,
attacked in libel, i. 256
in the Temple, ii. 232
protectress of Beaumarchais, i. 267
takes the part of Rosine, i. 283
Marie-Thérèse, Empress of Austria,
receives Beaumarchais, i. 263
Marmontel, i. 173
Maupeou,
Chancellor, dissolves parliaments, i. 174
the parliament, i. 174
the parliament, abolished, i. 254
the parliament, Beaumarchais called before, i. 177
the parliament, judges Beaumarchais, i. 240
the parliament, sentence of, annulled, ii. 100
the parliament, supported by Voltaire, i. 219
Maurepas, le Comte de,
Beaumarchais works for, ii. 113
Beaumarchais addresses memoir to, ii. 127ff.
promises letters-patent, ii. 96
uses Beaumarchais as political agent, ii. 111
Meinières, Madame de,
enchanted by memoirs of Beaumarchais, i. 232f.
compares Beaumarchais to Demosthenes, Cicero, etc., i. 233
Memoir,
Beaumarchais addresses new, to King, ii. 42ff.
Memoirs of Beaumarchais
praised by Mme. de Meinières, i. 232f.
read by Goethe, i. 230
read by Voltaire, i. 219
read in Philadelphia, i. 231
_Mémoire justicative de Beaumarchais_, ii. 237f.
Ménard, Mlle, de,
_femme d’esprit_, i. 173
painted by Greuze, i. 179
takes refuge in convent, i. 191
Mercantile project outlined to King by Beaumarchais, ii. 78ff.
Mesdames, i. 59ff., 84, 151
Metz,
famous dinner at, i. 35
Meudon, i. 63
Miron, Janot de,
aids in writing memoirs, i. 236
marries Mlle. Boisgarnier, i. 120
writes Beaumarchais, i. 116
Morande, Theveneau de, French libelist, i. 251
Morris, Robert, i. 39
Napoleon,
characterizes house of Beaumarchais, ii. 241
recognizes rights of dramatic authors, i. 307
writes Beaumarchais, ii. 280
New York,
fall of, effect in Paris, ii. 113
Nivernais, duc de,
suggests change in _Eugénie_, i. 152
Nuremberg, i. 260
Burgomaster of, i. 261
Opposition, The,
in England, favors Insurgents, ii. 34
Paris du Verney,
early life, i. 69
founds Ecole Militaire, i. 67
notices Beaumarchais, i. 68
Parliaments,
reëstablished, i. 242
Passy,
deputies at, thwart Beaumarchais, ii. 157
deputies at, uncomfortable position of, ii. 158
Franklin takes up quarters at, ii. 118
Pauline,
charming Creole, i. 108
fortune of, i. 109
marries the Chevalier du S., i. 140
People,
English, respect of, for law, i. 252
of France, enthusiastically greet Franklin, ii. 116
the, of France, support Beaumarchais, i. 214
Philadelphia,
evacuated by British, ii. 193
Philadelphian,
reads memoirs of Beaumarchais, i. 231
Poland,
division of, declared iniquitous by Beaumarchais, ii. 49
Polignac, Mme. la duchesse de,
hears _Le Mariage de Figaro_, ii. 216
Pompadour, Madame de, i. 53
Port-Libre,
family of Beaumarchais imprisoned at, ii. 262
Receipt, Famous,
for “lost million,” ii. 82
Rochambeau, Comte de,
at Yorktown, i. 33
Rochford, Lord,
aids Beaumarchais to gain ends, i. 257
complains to Beaumarchais, ii. 62
friendship for Beaumarchais, i. 101
intimate with Beaumarchais, ii. 56
King bids Beaumarchais encourage friendship of, ii. 66
Roderigue Hortalès et Cie,
assumed name, ii. 79
commercial house of, ii. 77
_Roderigue, Le Fier_,
takes part in Battle of Granada, ii, 234
vessel of Beaumarchais, ii. 161
Ronac,
assumed name of Beaumarchais, i. 261
“_Ronde_,”
of Beaumarchais, ii. 250
Roosevelt, Theodore,
erects Statue to Rochambeau, i. 34
Rousseau, J. J.,
effect of teaching of, shown in letter, ii. 179
reads the memoirs of Beaumarchais, i. 219
Russia,
Crown Prince of, supporter of _Le Mariage de Figaro_, ii. 215
Saint-Amand, Imbert de,
account of _Le Mariage de Figaro_ given by, ii. 224ff.
_Le Barbier de Séville_ given at Le Petit-Trianon, i. 285
Recounts reception of Franklin, ii. 118f.
St. Antoine,
hotel Boulevard, i. 240
Sainte-Beuve, M. de,
eulogizes Beaumarchais, i. 230
invocation of Beaumarchais, i. 229
gives honor to memory of Beaumarchais, i. 289
St. Petersburg, ii. 15
50 representations given in, of _Barbier de Séville_, i. 275
Saratoga,
Arnold wounded at, ii. 194
mock hero of, i. 32
victory of, news of, reaches Paris, ii. 145
victory of, turning point of war, i. 31
Sartine, M. de,
appealed to by Beaumarchais, i. 255
explains imprisonment, i. 266
friendly to Beaumarchais, i. 197
grants permission to play _Le Barbier_, i. 272
intercedes for Beaumarchais i. 211
Lieutenant General of police, i. 177
secures written order for Beaumarchais from King, i. 257
Sauvigny, M., i. 299
School for Rakes,
adapted from _Eugénie_ of Beaumarchais, i. 149
Seals,
placed on house of Beaumarchais, ii. 258
Secret aid,
impossible to avow, ii. 201
Sedaine, i. 173
correspondence with Beaumarchais, i. 305, 306
Shippen, Miss Margaret,
belle of Philadelphia, ii. 194
Spain, i. 80, 84
Beaumarchais’s intimacy at Court of, aids in affairs
with America, ii. 78
engaged by Beaumarchais to aid America, ii. 32
preparing to aid America, ii. 109
urged to join France in war on England, ii. 137
Steuben, Baron von, i. 38
called on by Beaumarchais, ii. 247
life of, by Kaft, ii. 139
sees deputies at Passy, ii. 140
takes des Epinières to America as aid, ii. 142
urged to lend services to America, ii. 137, 138
visits Paris, ii. 139
Sully,
Beaumarchais recommends prudent measures of, ii. 127, 128
Terror,
Reign of, i. 246
Théâtre Français,
Comedians of, refuse account, i. 293
Toryism,
rampant in Philadelphia, ii. 193
Tourneux, Maurice,
Edits life of Beaumarchais by Gudin, i. 36
Trianon, _Le Petit_, i. 283
Tucker, Mr.,
of Virginia, address of, in favor of Beaumarchais, ii. 209
Valley Forge,
Winter at, i. 32
Vallière, duc de la, i. 105, 200
Vaudreuil, M. de,
at Grennevilliers, ii. 218
thanks Beaumarchais, ii. 219
Venice,
enthusiasm for _Eugénie_, i. 150
Vergennes, Comte de,
addresses Beaumarchais like an Ambassador, ii. 65
aids Beaumarchais, ii. 125
approves change of costume of D’Eon, ii. 23
augments credits of Beaumarchais, ii. 85
Chevalier D’Eon demands ransom from, ii. 17
discountenances Dubourg, ii. 84
finally overcomes scruples of King, ii. 54
praises Beaumarchais, ii. 29
replies to Beaumarchais, ii. 124
speaks at last, ii. 69
Versailles,
Beaumarchais reappears at, i. 252
court of, i. 32
_Victoire, La_,
vessel bought by Lafayette, ii. 134
Voltaire,
eulogizes the memoirs of Beaumarchais, i. 215
Vrillière, duc de la,
keeps Beaumarchais in prison, i. 197
releases Beaumarchais, i. 212
War declared on England, ii. 233
Washington, George,
at Valley Forge, i. 32
Wilkes, Lord Mayor,
insolence of, ii. 38
members of opposition, meet at home of, ii. 56
STUDIES IN AMERICAN HISTORY
BEAUMARCHAIS, AND THE WAR OF AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE. Two volumes.
Illustrated. _By Elizabeth S. Kite._
THE POLITICAL HISTORY OF THE PUBLIC LANDS, FROM 1840 TO 1862.
FROM PRE-EMPTION TO HOMESTEAD. _By George M. Stephenson._
GEORGIA AS A PROPRIETARY PROVINCE—THE EXECUTION OF A TRUST. _By
James Ross McCain._
LINCOLN, THE POLITICIAN. _By T. Aaron Levy._
THE AGRICULTURAL PAPERS OF GEORGE WASHINGTON. _Edited by Walter
Edwin Brooke, Ph.B._
RICHARD G. BADGER, PUBLISHER, BOSTON