FOOTNOTES:
[64] The Marquis de Lévis, her father, lieutenant-general in the king’s army, had married Mademoiselle de la Reynière, daughter of the rich fermier général and of Mademoiselle de Jarente de la Brière.
[65] Jacques de Choiseul, Comte de Stainville, youngest brother of the Duc de Choiseul. He became a Marshal of France, and died in 1789.
[66] Beatrix de Choiseul-Stainville, born at Lunéville in 1730. She was Canoness of Remiremont, and had no other income but that derived from her prebendary. She was ambitious, and united to a stern and hard character a masculine intellect, capable of grappling with affairs and intrigues. She soon formed the project of ruling her brother, but for this purpose a great name and a large fortune were indispensable; moreover the man who would bring her these advantages was bound to be a mere cipher, in order not to overshadow the Duc de Choiseul. She found all these requisites united in the person of the Duc de Gramont, whom she married the 16th of August 1759. The Duchesse de Gramont’s influence over her brother became absolute, to the great despair of the Duchesse de Choiseul, who was devoted to her husband, and found herself supplanted by her domineering sister-in-law.
[67] Thérèse Félicité de Choiseul-Stainville, born in 1767, married in 1782 the Prince Grimaldi-Monaco. From contemporary accounts she appears to have been pretty, and endowed with a captivating personality. She was guillotined in 1793.
[68] The 3d April 1761.
[69] She had left the Choiseul family mansion, and was living at No. 7 Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré.
[70] The 31st January 1767.
[71] The time came, however, when, thanks to the efforts of the Duchesse de Choiseul, Madame de Stainville’s home was again opened to her; but she refused to return, and died in the Convent, in great piety.
[72] M. Durfort de Cheverny, in his Memoirs, says that the Duc de Choiseul having severely reprimanded his sister-in-law on account of her intimacy with Clairval, the Countess had solemnly declared that the child she had just given birth to was a legitimate daughter of the Count. (See the Memoirs of the Comte Durfort de Cheverny. Paris, 1886.)
[73] The family mansion of the Choiseuls was at No. 3 Rue de la Grange Batelière, and occupied the site of the former Opera House. The gardens and outer buildings extended as far as the Rue Neuve Saint Augustin; the Opera Comique (burnt down in May 1887) was built on land belonging to the Duc de Choiseul. We can hardly realise at present the size and importance of the hôtels of the eighteenth century, many of which were regular palaces. The little hôtel of Madame de Gramont was next to her brother’s.
[74] Claude-Antoine-Gabriel de Choiseul-La-Baume, born on the 24th August 1760, was a son of the Marquis de Choiseul-Beaupré and Diane-Gabrielle de la Baume de Montrevel. He was brought up at Chanteloup, under the personal supervision of the Duc de Choiseul, his education having been begun by the Abbé Barthélemy. After the death of the Duc de Choiseul, who left no children, he inherited the title and peerage of that minister, in consequence of his marriage with his niece. The young Duke later on became governor of the Palace of the Louvre. He took an active share in the King’s flight to Varennes, and died in 1838.
[75] The ceremony took place on the 10th October 1778. The young Duchesse de Choiseul had two children: Etienne de Choiseul, a very distinguished young man, aide-de-camp to General Berthier, who was killed in the campaign in 1807, and a daughter, who married the Duc de Marmier, a peer of France.
[76] One hundred and sixty pounds.