In this case Madame Geoffrin showed herself a true prophet; but in the meantime honours and distinctions were being showered on the head of the Prince-Bishop. The Polish Government had lately constituted a body for the general direction of public instruction. This body received the name of Commissioners of National Education, and the Bishop was appointed president. It proceeded to reorganise the studies which had been completely interrupted by the suppression of the Jesuits, who until then had educated the Polish youth. It was decided that the sale of their possessions should furnish the capital necessary for the founding of schools and universities as well as for the purchase and printing of the students’ books.
While the Bishop of Wilna was busied with the education of his countrymen the tutor he had chosen during his stay in Paris for his own nephew, Prince Xavier, was discharging his functions in the worst possible manner. The Bishop had not wished to send the child to college on account of his delicate state of health. He preferred confiding him to some trustworthy man, who would be exclusively attached to his person. Madame Geoffrin consulted her friends on the subject, and Masson de Pezay,[92] a clever intriguer, a colonel and a poet, proposed his uncle, M. Boesnier-Delorme; he was a commissioner of woods and forests, a talented man and accustomed to good society, but his head was turned by the economists, and he was infatuated with their new theories.
Notwithstanding this, as he was warmly recommended both by the Marquis de Mirabeau and the Abbé Baudeau, for whom the Bishop had a great regard, the offer was accepted. A salary of thirty thousand livres[93] per annum was agreed upon for M. Delorme, including an under-tutor, a gentleman, and a lackey, who were more specially assigned to the child’s service. The same amount was offered to Masson de Pezay on signing the agreement, and a further sum of sixty thousand livres was promised besides to M. Delorme when his pupil’s education should be finished.
It would have been difficult to make a worse choice. M. Delorme spent his time travelling for the benefit of his agricultural affairs, and squandered his money in costly experiments on his property near Blois, situated on the banks of the Loire. During the winter he resided chiefly in Paris, where he faithfully attended the receptions of the Baron d’Holbach and Madame Geoffrin, as well as the political dinners given by the Marquis de Mirabeau. As for his pupil, he dragged him about in his summer travels, and during the winter left him at the mercy of underlings without exercising the slightest supervision. The child, barely seven years old, and an orphan from his birth, was puny and delicate, and would have required a mother’s incessant care. Instead of getting stronger, his health deteriorated from bad to worse; either left to himself, or ill-treated by a brutal and ignorant under-tutor, encouraged in low and precocious instincts by a debauched lackey, the unfortunate child contracted bad habits, and when, at the end of the term fixed for his education, the uncle claimed his return to Poland in 1778, M. Delorme brought back a child of fourteen, half crazy, absolutely ignorant, and in a most deplorable state of health. It is easy to understand the indignation of the Bishop, who had been carefully kept in ignorance of his nephew’s condition. M. Delorme did not dare to face an interview. He sent the young Prince to Wilna accompanied by a servant, and prudently remained himself at Warsaw. He had, nevertheless, the audacity to claim the 60,000 livres promised on the completion of Prince Xavier’s education. The Bishop flatly refused it, and only paid the travelling expenses. But by dint of successful scheming in Warsaw Delorme obtained a sum of 20,000 francs from the family council, and returned in haste to Paris. He had received 30,000 livres during six years—that is, 180,000 plus 3600 at the outset, and 20,000 at the end, which made up a total of 230,000 livres,[94] in payment for so successful an education.[95]
The young Prince was settled at Werky, in the magnificent residence of his uncle, at a short distance from Wilna. He was treated with the most tender care, his uncle never let him out of his sight, and took him with him during his frequent visits to Warsaw. A confidential man named Levert was attached to his person; he was sent by the Marquis de Mirabeau, who, indignant at Delorme’s conduct, and most distressed at having recommended him, had remained on the best of terms with the Prince-Bishop. It was precisely at this period that unforeseen circumstances, in which Hélène was concerned, gave rise to a rather curious correspondence between the Bishop and the Marquis.
FOOTNOTES:
[90] See the Journal Encyclopédique, September 1774.
[91] Vide Ferrand’s History of the Dismemberment of Poland.
[92] Alfred-Frédéric-Jacques Masson, called Marquis de Pezay, inspector-general of the sea-coast, born 1741, died 1777.
[93] Twelve hundred pounds sterling.