New-York tribune., 1908-05-23
W4D4ME DE BOIGNE
Last SouUenirs of Her Malice and
Her Memory.

memoirs of the Comtesse de Bosne has inst
been published here. Not for a long time has
so much sensation been caused, in France and
abroad. by the publication of any collection of
autooiosraphical souvenirs. These posthumous
revelations by old lady who was in the
secrets Of three French reigns, and whose love
of scandal was only equalled by the tenacitv
of her memory, have provoked the l;yeliest
discussions. At first the public. to whom her
name was no longer familiar, was disposed to
accept the writer Of these piquant notes at her
own valuation. Little by little however the
fact has been made evident that the Comtesse
de Boigne was not above satisfying private
pique by retailing true a quantity of stories
and rumors discreditable to those whom she
disliked which will not bear the test of i'm
partial historical investigation. The Duchesse
de Dino, Talleyrand's niece, described this lady
as hfe petite pesfe. Now that her last volume
is available the reader may form a clear pict-
of the brilliant comtesse herself In
the vast gallery of portraits which she has be-
queathed to posterity her own is certainly not
the least interesting.
The descendants of some of her victims have
protested against certain of her more malicious
passages. Her husband. for instance. whom
she described the most "insupportable of
men," only pleased when he could cause dis
have been sort of saint, quxotc soldier of
fortune, adoring his clever wife and spending
a large portion of his immense wealth in works
of charity at Chambery, his native town, where
his memory is still cherished by the orphans
and the poor people who benefit from his phil
anthropic institutions. Chateaubriand, whom
the Comtesse de Boigne evidently disliked-
perhaps because he did not pay her the same
attention to Madame Recamier-is the con-
slant recipient Of her pin -priclks. but he
certainly something than the hysterical
mountebank which she makes him out to be.
Madame de Boigne though she had no patience
with the solemn pomposity of the Legitimist
party whose King Charles the Tenth, and
whose blind clinging to all old traditions, how
ever antiquated and offensive, the chief
cause Of their ruin, was nevertheless full of the
class prejudices Of the dncien regime. When
Louis XIV's palace at Versailles opened
museum to the public, at a grand royal
ceremony to which she invited, cold
shiver went down her back at the sight of
number of journalists who We're also included
among Louis Philippes guests. She comments
on their staggering attitude showing that she
enraged to be forced TO recognize that
their presence there was more official than
her
She had healthy hatred of a mob, although
politically her sympathes were with the bour-
geoise King Louis Philippe. She deplored the
excessive tenderness shown to little children,
which she said displayed hypocritically by
the Liberals Of her later days sign of ad-
vanced civilization Eccentricity, morbidness
and what we should call neurasthenia were all
classed by her under the definition of the "ar-
tistic spirit which she evidently considered to
be one Of the real plaques Of modern times.
Mime de Boigne was proud, selfish. heartless
Ia L.,
great affection to have been for Louis
Philippe's Chancellor, the Due de Pasquier.
These defects do not detract from the real value
of her work, however but rather tend to give il
a livelier human interest Her book closes pa
upon the death of the Chancellor, in
1862 at the age of ninety-six-'her best friend"
and three months later she loses her only
brother. the Marquis d'Osmond. Life was no
longer worth living and the Comtesse de Boigne
is henceforward too disinterested in what goes
on in the world to have anything more to re-
late"
One of the most striking chapters of her con-
rludinR volume deals with the cholera cpl
1enic in 1882. her description of which is worthy
IN rank with Fyelyn's or Defoe's story of the
great outbreak Of the plague in London in the
seventeenth century 1t is curious how many Of
he details coincide with those Of the earlier
epidemic In dealing with plague, science had
not apparently made a single step forward DUR
ng this lapse of two hundred years. After the
irst manic was over during which four wretched |
md perfectly innocent persons were massacred |
~ the maddened populace in the belief that |
hey had poisoned the Paris water. strange IN |
Inference a kind of lethargic courage, was dis |
,laved by all classes Although it was gener- |
,lIv believed that the cholera was an infectious
~ at least contagious disease, not one cholera |
Mme de ROPne. inspired
,eipbbor with terror attention TO the sick |
rms refused on account of fear. A certain re- |
,uIsion however was felt for the task of burying |
he dead An association was formed OF young |
nen including some of the nobiest names OF |
france who had already been acting as nurses
md they went from garnet TO garret 10 carry |
tyay the dead, whose appearance was particu-
arlv horrifying and loathsone only one DOC
or fed from the scene, and his colleagues sent
i'm TO Coventry for the rest Of his professional
oreer The priests confessed the dying, en-
-eloninp themselves under the same mantle to
ecure secrecy. hundreds of handsome private
.ousee were converted into extemporized hos
,tals Hearses were stationed like cabs at all
orners of the streets to pick up the dead ana
urrv them away 10 the mortuaries. Ihese
we're soon found to be insufficient ana hao 10
,e supplemented by large vans The deaths not
nfreuuently rose to seventeen hundred III t"eh-
flour hours In one night ana IN one street.
he Rue de Ia Mortellere, thirty-two families
ost both father and mother. He or she is
AIKEN" was the special formula employed.
The cholera stultiied all the scientific theories
s TO its causes and method of progress ii
pared the quarters which were generally sup
osed TO be the least healthy and It's most terri
lie rayages were in the splendid mansions or
he Faubours Saint-German, with few inhabi-
ants and surrounded by gardens. re- |