“Memoirs of Madame du Barri” by Baron de Etienne-Léon Lamothe-Langon – Ch. 10
Commonplace Book – Pages 120-121
“Memoirs of Madame du Barri” – Chapter 10: Strange Stories
- Madame du Barri, Prince de Soubise take up a cause against the Duc de Richelieu after he forbids Mademoiselle Guimard and the French comedians from appearing elsewhere than on the boards of their own theatre.
- She holds a fete and several pieces are played, from Pandora, an “opera” the words of which were written by Voltaire; then a ballet.
- du Barri promises Mademoiselle Guimard “that his majesty will bear her in mind. M. Buimard thus contracts fresh debts, but the King only gives her an annuity of 1,500 livres, so Barri gives her a pearl necklace and 10,000 livres.
- Comte Jean du Barri wants to marry off his nephew, Vicomte Aldolphe du Barri, to one of the King’s daughters, Mademoiselle de Saint Andre.
- The King’s illegitimate children were fixed a sum of 500,000 livres at birth, and the interest would accumulate until they came of age.
- M. Yon: Guardian of Mademoiselle de Saint Andre; grave; formal; proud of his job
- Yon tells the King that he cannot support the marriage, and reminds him that she ahs already been promised to the M. de la Tour du Pin la Choise.
-Mademoiselle de Tournon: “most beautiful and nobly-born”; “one of the very poorest”; allied to nearly all the Court; related to the Prince de Soubise; incalculable advantage; also related to the Prince de Conde; 17 yrs old
- The Prince de Conde, for his consent, demands liquidation of his debts (a sum of 1,500,000 livres), the purchase price of his palace in Paris and admission into the council as a minister of State.
- The King and the Prince de Conde come to an agreement, but 100,000 “shall be divided between” the Marechale de Mirepoix and the Princesse de Monaco. The marriage was celebrated at St. Roch.
- Du Barri then receives a note from a mysterious lady, saying for her personal safety, she should come to the Baths of Apollo at one o’clock.
- The woman tells her of a plot between the Jesuits and Parliamentarians to kill her and the King. Du Barri “will receive four bottles of orange-flower water, bearing the usual appearances of having come from your perfumer…but it is mingled with a deadly poison.”
- The woman demands 2000 crowns, which will be divided between her and her supporter and the “day after tomorrow” she asks for 100,000 francs.
- The Duc d’Aiguillon is notified and so is M. de Saint Florentin, M. Quesnay (first physician), Messrs Thiebault and Varennes (visiting physicians), M. de la Mortiniere (surgeon), and Messrs Ducor and Prost (apothecaries)
- The woman’s name is Lorimer, she was a widow. Her informant is a Swiss named Calbert (30 yrs). Calbert is arrested, but says he has been the “victim of an enraged woman.” Three days after his admission into the Bastille, he died of violent convulsions. Lorimer is than too arrested, but “at the end of a fortnight” she dies by poison. They cannot find any suspicion or proof against the Jesuits, Father Corbin, Berthier, and Cerutti, or the Parliamentarians. The 100,000 livres promised to Lorimer were never given and had been forgotten in M. de Sartine’s drawer.
