How to Ruin a Queen: Marie Antoinette and the Diamond Necklace Affair (53 page)
Read How to Ruin a Queen: Marie Antoinette and the Diamond Necklace Affair Online
Authors: Jonathan Beckman
191
‘tide you over’
: op. cit., p.276.
191
‘made to offer them’
: op. cit., p.279.
191
‘Is it not true’ . . . ‘horrific’
: op. cit., pp. 277–8.
192
‘I did not know’
: op. cit., p.283.
192
‘What you suggest is fantasy’ . . . ‘with so many lies and horrors’
: op. cit., p.289.
193
‘boor of a Frenchman’
: quoted in ‘Vraisemblance et Motivation’ in
Figures II
by Gérard Genette, p.73. The discussion here draws on
Genette’s essay and ‘Prose Fiction: France’ by English Showalter in
The Cambridge History of Literary Criticism: Volume IV – The Eighteenth Century
, edited by H. B. Nisbet and Claude Rawson.
193
‘a privilege of reality’
: quoted in
Figures II
, Genette, p.74.
193
‘fawned upon, rewarded’
: quoted in ‘Prose Fiction: France’, Showalter, p.225.
194
‘most stringent safeguards’
: ‘Interrogation with Jeanne de La Motte’, Campardon, p.304.
194
‘madder and madder’
: op. cit., p.292.
194
‘of not recognising the queen’
: op. cit., p.290.
194
‘reality effect’
: see ‘The Reality Effect’ in
The Rustle of Language
by Roland Barthes, pp. 141–8.
195
‘was very dirty’
: ‘Interrogation with Jeanne de La Motte’, Campardon, p.288.
195
‘I’m very sorry’ . . . ‘such affairs’
: op. cit., p.296.
195
‘You are being’ . . . ‘could go awry’
: op. cit., p.301.
195
‘I am an old man’
: op. cit., p.321.
196
‘utterly extraordinary man’
: op. cit., p.313.
196
‘a meeting with the queen’
: op. cit., p.280.
196
‘Marie Antoinette de France’
: op. cit., p.302.
196
‘what they are worth’
: op. cit., p.307.
196
Loth, her traitorous . . . 50,000 écus cash
: op. cit., pp. 285–6; op. cit., p.321.
196
‘extraordinary’ . . . ‘exact truth’
: op. cit., p.318.
197–8
‘It was the second of August’ . . . ‘deny it’
: op. cit., pp. 326–7.
199
‘normal for a prince’s house’
: ‘Interrogation with Cagliostro’, Campardon, p.344.
200
‘fruit of her intrigues’
: ‘Interrogation with Rohan’, Campardon, p.270.
19. Cheek to Cheek, Toe to Toe
201
before an ecclesiastical court
: AAE CP Rome 902/104.
201
‘competent tribunal’
: Compte Rendu, p.52ff. The Compte Rendu, though clearly favourable to Rohan, gives an exhaustive account of the judges’ deliberations.
202
‘in his favour’
: BHVP MS691/134.
202
‘my good sense’
: BHVP MS691/192.
202
‘needs to employ’
: BHVP MS691/125–6.
202
‘proactive answers’
: ibid.
202
‘catechism’ . . . ‘led by impulse’
: ibid.
203
Montagne-au-Perche in Normandy
: on Georgel’s exile see Georgel, vol. 2, p.189ff and Hardy, 13 March 1786.
203
‘of me his prisoner’
: King James Bible, 2 Timothy, 1:8.
203
‘king in his own chapel’
: BHVP MS691/125–6.
203
‘my modest courage’
: BHVP MS691/201.
203–4
‘I ask you’ . . . ‘very weak head’
: AN X2B/1417/8/Bassenge.
204
‘them to declare’
: Georgel, vol. 2, p.67.
204
The confrontations were
: the account of the confrontations derives in the main from the transcripts in the trial dossier in the Archives nationales. Jeanne’s confrontations with the witnesses are in X2B/1417/10 and with the accused in X2B/1417/86. Rohan’s confrontations with the witnesses are X2B/1417/84 and with Jeanne in X2B/1417/17.
205
handed over to Dupuis
:
Mémoires Secrets
, 20 March 1786.
205
‘hide her troubles’
: BHVP MS691/230.
205
‘of an innocent soul’
: Georgel, vol. 2, p.186.
205
of Nicolas’s valet
: Mémoire Rohan, p.50.
205
She harangued . . . dress her forcibly
: Georgel, vol. 2, p.186ff;
Gazette de Leyde
, 14 April 1786; Hardy, 26 March 1786.
205
tears out of d’Oliva
: Georgel, vol. 2, p.187.
205–6
‘an honest woman’ . . . ‘of your intrigues’
: MGO II, p.15.
206
to her objections
: AN X2B/1417/10/Jeanne’s confrontation with Rosalie Brissault.
206
‘would be refuted’
: AN X2B/1417/17/44.
206
‘respond to his desires’
: AN X2B/1417/10/Jeanne’s confrontation with the baron de Planta.
206
‘absolutely false’
: ibid.
206
‘hidden behind smiles’
: Georgel, vol. 2, p.188.
206
in ailing health
: Bastille: MS12457/67–8.
206
‘for my correspondence’
: BHVP MS691/26.
207
‘falsehood of my adversaries’
: BHVP MS691/221–4.
207
‘Were the letters’ . . . ‘believe they were’
: AN X2B/1417/84/Rohan’s confrontation with d’Oliva.
207
‘maintain what I said’
: AN X2B/1417/84/Rohan’s confrontation with Sainte-James.
207
‘make it fail’
: quoted in
The Diamond Necklace
, Funck-Brentano, pp. 337–8.
207
‘he will not be stubborn’
: BHVP MS691/197.
208
‘similar to Villette’s handwriting’
: AN X2B/1417/84/Rohan’s confrontation with Loth.
20. An Extraordinary Rendition
209
Geneva, a warm evening
: the account of Villette’s arrest derives from the ambassadorial reports in AAE CP Genève/95.
209
‘acts of libertinage’
: AAE CP Genève/95/394.
209
‘incapable of resting’ . . . ‘a lost man’
: AAE CP Genève/95/408.
210
‘establish trust’
: AAE CP Genève/95/405.
210
choked up confessions
: see AN X2B/1417/68/Quidor.
210
through the city
: Hardy, 3 April 1786.
210
as a witness
: see AN X2B/1417/68/Villette.
210
interrogation by Titon
: AN X2B/1417/20; BN JdF 2089/13.
210–11
‘Do you know’ . . . ‘moment of madness’
: ‘Interrogation with Villette’, Campardon, p.363.
211–12
‘Do you recognise’ . . . ‘profit from it’
: op. cit., pp. 368–9.
212
the matter was possible
: AN X2B/1417/9/Recollement of Villette.
212
‘Did the cardinal’ . . . ‘in his position’
: ‘Interrogation with Villette’, Campardon, p.375.
212
‘travelling to Italy’
: op. cit., p.380.
212
‘an opportunist’ . . . ‘compromise him’
: AN X2B/1417/14/ Confrontation between Cagliostro and Jeanne.
213
her own eye
: MJ II, p.87.
213
‘make things plausible’
: AN X2B/1417/86/8.
213
‘did so much good’
: AN X2B/1417/86/9.
213
‘one must speak the truth’
: BHVP MS691/265.
214
‘Maurepas and my family’
: quoted in
L’affaire du collier
by Evelyne Lever, p.246.
214
‘will be false again’
: AN X2B/1417/17/5.
214
‘on the spot’
: AN X2B/1417/86/35.
214
‘my only wrong’
: AN X2B/1417/17/5.
214
‘harmed her irreparably’
: AN X2B/1417/86/40.
215
‘It’s not’ . . . ‘is a falsehood’
: AN X2B/1417/86/25.
215
‘sale of the diamonds’
: quoted in
L’affaire du collier
, Lever, p.243.
215
‘the most cruel’ . . . ‘in my defence’
: AN X2B/1417/86/32.
215
‘cabal of the cardinal’ . . . ‘blacker crimes’
: AN X2B/1417/86/15.
216
‘absolve her husband’
: BHVP MS691/236.
216
‘You are right’ . . . ‘contempt for you’
: AN X2B/1417/86/46.
216
mask his handwriting
: AN X2B/1417/93.
216
‘and the signature’
: AN X2B/1417/92.
216
naked and drooling
: see
Despatches from Paris, 1784–1790
, edited by Oscar Browning, vol. 1, p.107.
216
‘and consulting him’
: AN X2B/1417/18/4.
217
‘I am obliged’ . . . ‘misunderstood’ . . . ‘I did not’ . . . ‘against me’
: AN X2B/1417/86/49.
217
‘me from telling’
: ibid.
217
‘to say that I was there’
: AN X2B/1417/18/3.
218
‘a married couple’
: AN X2B/1417/17/9.
218
‘their affairs’
: AN X2B/1417/17/23.
218
‘infernal audacity’
: AN X2B/1417/97/2.
218
‘whitened your face’
: AN X2B/1417/17/16.
218
‘with the queen’
: AN X2B/1417/17/11.
218
‘It is unbelievable’ . . . ‘lover of success’
: AN X2B/1417/17/13.
218–19
‘author of it’ . . . ‘was tricked’
: ibid.
219
‘to be found’
: AN X2B/1417/17/25.
219
‘In all of your testimony’ . . . ‘plan in motion’
: AN X2B/1417/97/4.
219–20
‘duty of man’ . . . ‘celestial discourse’
: BHVP MS691/240.
21. The Truth Will Out
221
‘that they met’
: AN X2B/1417/17/36.
221
‘such a meeting’
: AN X2B/1417/17/37.
221
‘misdeeds of Rohan’
: AN X2B/1417/17/38.
221
‘she has said’
: AN X2B/1417/17/36.
222
‘sustain her case’
: AN X2B/1417/17/42.
222
‘in this state’
: BHVP MS691/235.
222
‘and the signature’
: AN X2B/1417/17/56.
222
‘than for myself’
: AN X2B/1417/17/64.
223
‘its own neck’
: BHVP MS691/228.
223
‘certain details’
: Compte Rendu, p.101.
223
‘cause of his blindness’ . . . ‘legally established’
: ‘Interrogation with Villette’, Campardon, pp. 383–8.
223
‘has been demonstrated’
: AN X2B/1417/86/55.
224
‘compromise the queen’
: AN X2B/1417/86/53.
224
‘you understand’ . . . ‘diminish them’
: AN X2B/1417/86/52.
