[84] The real obstacle was probably an Opera girl named Cartou, of whom Maurice was desperately enamoured. According to Grimm, this young lady followed her lover to the famous Camp of Mühlberg, in Saxony, where she had the honour of supping with two kings, Augustus II. of Poland and Frederick William of Prussia, and two future kings, Augustus III. and Frederick the Great.
[85] His name was Bouret, and he was the son of a government official at Metz. He was at this time nineteen years of age, and had come to Paris, some months before, to study painting.
[86] The Duchesse and her stepson's wife, the Princesse de Bouillon (Marie Charlotte Sobieska), wife of Charles Godefroi de la Tour d'Auvergne, Prince de Bouillon, whom she married in 1724. Several writers have confounded the two ladies, and Scribe and Legouvé, in their tragedy, Adrienne Lecouvreur, make the princess, and not the duchess, the rival and murderess of the heroine.
[87] Lettres de Mademoiselle d' Aïssé à Madame Calandrini (edit. 1846), p. 230 et seq.
[88] The points in which Mlle. Aïssé's story and Bouret's evidence differ are as follows:—
(1) Bouret was acquainted with the Duchesse de Bouillon prior to his adventure, having been employed by her to paint her portrait. (2) He had not one, but several interviews with her two emissaries, who, he stated, wore masks. (3) He received the suspicious lozenges after, and not before, warning Adrienne. (4) It was not the Lieutenant of Police, Hérault, but the Chemist Geoffroy, of the Académie des Sciences, who made the experiment on the dog. He reported that some of the lozenges appeared suspicious, but that their number was insufficient to permit of his conducting experiments and forming a definite opinion. This, as M. Larroumet remarks, is the language of a man who is unwilling to compromise himself.
[89] Scribe and Legouvé make this incident one of the principal scenes of their tragedy.
[90] Lettres d'Adrienne Lecouvreur, p. 51.
[91] Cited M. Georges Monval, Lettres d'Adrienne Lecouvreur, p. 57.
[92] Marie-Anne Mancini, Racine's enemy.