Part 9 (1/2)
D'Argental, like La Chalotais, made the law his profession, and, in due time, became one of the councillors of the Parliament of Paris. The gravity expected from one holding such a post, however, in no way interfered with his intimacy with Adrienne, who was in the habit of consulting him on all business matters, and, when dying, appointed him her sole executor.[77]
[Ill.u.s.tration: MAURICE DE SAXE
From an engraving by J. G. WILL, after the painting by HYACINTHE RIGAUD]
Although there can be little doubt that Adrienne was perfectly sincere when she declared her conviction that love was ”nothing but a folly which she detested,” and that she was still mistress of her heart when she resisted the first overtures of poor d'Argental, it is not improbable that at the time she wrote her celebrated letter to Madame de Ferriol, she had already renounced the wise resolutions with which she had come to Paris in favour of one whom she loved to her life's end with a tenderness, a devotion, and a disinterestedness to which even the most rigid of moralists do not fail to pay tribute.
About the middle of the year 1720, there arrived in Paris a young man who was destined to become one of the most remarkable figures of the eighteenth century--Maurice, ”Count of Saxony,” celebrated in later years as Marechal de Saxe. A natural son of Augustus II., Elector of Saxony and King of Poland, and Aurora von Konigsmark, sister of the ill-fated lover of George I.'s uncrowned queen, the future victor of Fontenoy was still at this date only a high-born military adventurer in search of some promising field for the exercise of his talents. From his boyhood Maurice had been a soldier. When only twelve years of age, under the direction of the Count von Schulenburg, one of the ablest generals of the time, he had been present at the sieges of Tournay and Mons and the battle of Malplaquet, carrying a musket, like an ordinary _sous-officier_, in a regiment despatched by Augustus II. to the a.s.sistance of the Emperor. Returning to the camp of the allies in 1710, he a.s.sisted at the sieges of Douai and Bethune, where he displayed such reckless courage as to call forth from Prince Eugene the admonition not to confound rashness with bravery. Two years later, he accompanied his royal father to the siege of Stralsund, and again exhibited the same impetuosity in an attempt to cut his way through the enemy and engage Charles XII. in single combat. Delighted by his courage, Augustus promoted him colonel the following year, and, at the age of seventeen, gave him the command of a regiment of cuira.s.siers. The Countess von Konigsmark, on her side, worked to a.s.sure her son's fortunes by a wealthy marriage, and succeeded in securing for him the hand of the Countess von Loben, the richest heiress in Saxony. This lady's fortune he quickly dissipated, and other and graver causes of complaint against him not being wanting, in 1721 the marriage was annulled. In the meanwhile, Maurice had made a campaign, under Eugene, against the Turks, and had also contrived to irritate his father by breaches of military discipline and other irregularities. In consequence, Augustus II., whose resentment against the young man was artfully fanned by his chief Minister, Count Flemming, who had conceived a strong antipathy to Maurice, advised him to leave Germany and take service with France, and he accordingly set out for Paris. Here he was well received by the Regent, who appointed him _marechal de camp_, his father soon afterwards purchasing for him the command of the Regiment of Greder, one of the foreign corps in the French Service.
From the moment of his arrival in Paris, Maurice de Saxe claimed a large share of the attention of both Court and town. Tall and superbly built, with ”circular black eyebrows, eyes glittering bright, partly with animal vivacity, partly with spiritual,” a high complexion, and a frank, open countenance, he was one of the handsomest men of his time. His physical strength was extraordinary; no amount of exertion seemed able to fatigue him; in war and in the chase he was capable of performing prodigies of endurance; he could break between his fingers crown-pieces and horseshoes. He was seen everywhere. On the parade ground, he brought his regiment to the highest pitch of perfection, invented new formations and tactics, and quickly made himself respected by his superior officers and adored by the soldiers. In the fas.h.i.+onable world, he was equally successful; no _roue_ of the Regent's circle could surpa.s.s him in extravagance, folly, and debauchery; while, despite his brusque manners, which procured him the sobriquet of _sanglier_ (wild boar), he was a welcome guest in many a salon. Soldier, sportsman, athlete, gambler, drinker, and lover, he was all things to all men--and all women.
A great patron of the Comedie-Francaise, it was inevitable that Maurice de Saxe and Adrienne Lecouvreur should meet, and no less inevitable that the count should pay the actress a.s.siduous court, for if Maurice resembled his father, the ”Saxon Man of Sin,” in appearance, vivacity, and physical strength, he did so even more closely in his vices. All poor Adrienne's wise resolutions failed her in the presence of this young hero, ”to whom,” says Des Boulmiers, ”hearts offered no more resistance than towns.” ”From the day that she knew him, she was charmed, subjugated, ravished; it seemed to her that she only then began to live. She surrendered herself as she had never surrendered herself before.”[78]
It is not difficult to understand the attraction which Adrienne possessed for Maurice de Saxe, and which kept him, though very far from faithful, at least attached to her for nearly ten years. Her beauty and grace flattered his senses, while her moral qualities appealed to the better side of his nature, to that instinct of heroism and idealism which lay at the root of his character, and which, though often obscured in the midst of his debaucheries, was never wholly extinguished. Less easy is it to comprehend the absolute devotion which Adrienne cherished for him; a devotion which remained proof against absence, infidelity, ill-humour, and indifference, and which endured till the last hour of her life.
We are inclined, however, to think with M. Paleologue--whose study of the actress from the psychological point of view is as admirable as M.
Larroumet's from the dramatic--that apart from ”that species of fascination and magnetism which the libertine, when he is not of vulgar race, exercises over the feminine mind,” Adrienne had very early discovered the really great qualities of Maurice, and that the prospect of developing them, and of generally exercising a beneficent influence over such a man, was a temptation which an imagination so generous as hers found it impossible to resist.
The results of this influence are well summarised by Lemontey in the _eloge_ of the actress which he read at a _seance_ of the Academy in 1823:--
”She was then thirty, an age favourable to experience and pa.s.sion, which renders a woman as skilful to please as prompt to love. As in the time of chivalry, her cares, her tenderness, her wise counsels, initiated her friend into the amiable accomplishments, the benevolent virtues, the polished manners which, in the sequel, made him as much a Frenchman as his victories. Under her sweet tuition, the Achilles of Homer became the Achilles of Racine. She adorned his mind without enervating it, and modified what seemed extraordinary and singular in the turn of his ideas. She taught him our language, our literature, and inspired him with the taste for poetry, for music, for all the arts, and with that pa.s.sion for the theatre which followed him even into the camp. One might say of the victor of Fontenoy and his beautiful preceptress that he learned from her everything save war, which he knew better than any one, and orthography, which he never knew at all.”[79]
For four years--that is to say, from 1721 to 1725--the _liaison_ between Adrienne and Maurice de Saxe continued without any particular incident; Maurice pursuing his military studies, making journeys to Dresden and Warsaw to visit his father, on whose behalf he seems to have acted as a sort of unofficial amba.s.sador in France, and indulging in a good many _pa.s.sades_; Adrienne, though she must have very speedily awakened to the fact that what was the all-absorbing interest in her life was but a mere episode in her hero's, loving him none the less devotedly, and deriving consolation from the thought that, if others disputed with her the possession of his heart, she alone possessed his confidence. Then came a long separation. The Duchy of Courland, which for nearly two centuries had been under the protection of Poland, fell vacant through the death of Duke Ferdinand, who ruled in the name of his niece, Anne Ivanovna, afterwards Czarina of Russia, a childless widow. Several candidates for the ducal crown presented themselves, and the unprepossessing d.u.c.h.ess found herself beset with suitors, eager to strengthen their claims by securing her hand. Augustus II., however, decided to put forward his son, and Anne, having been approached on the matter, expressed herself favourably disposed towards a marriage with the young man.
The prospect of conquering a kingdom for himself with his sword, as, even should the Diet elect him and Anne accept him as her husband, his rivals were not likely to abandon their claims without a struggle, appealed strongly to the adventurous Maurice, and he set out for Courland. Everything augured well for his success, when, one day in May 1726, he received, to his astonishment and disgust, orders from his father to renounce his candidature. Diplomatic complications obliged Augustus to discourage his son's ambition.
Maurice ignored the paternal commands, and some days later found him at Mitau, paying court to the d.u.c.h.ess. But, at the same time, in order to leave nothing to chance, he carried on, through the medium of the Saxon amba.s.sador at St. Petersburg, a second matrimonial negotiation, without prejudice to the first, with the Grand d.u.c.h.ess Elizabeth Petrovna, to wit. The amba.s.sador sent to Dresden for a portrait of the count, and showed it to the princess, who was so charmed with the counterfeit presentment that she straightway declared her willingness to espouse the original. Both Anne and Elizabeth, it is hardly necessary to observe, were in blissful ignorance of the double game played by Maurice, who pursued his negotiations with much address, wooing the one lady in person and the other by proxy. Once more matters looked hopeful for the young adventurer, save that now that his father had abandoned him he was in sore straits for money. His mother sent him all she could, but the sums he received from her were very far from being sufficient for his needs, and he accordingly appealed to the generosity of his friends in France. Adrienne was the first to respond. Though, of course, well aware that, in the event of Maurice's success, she would lose him for ever, the devoted woman never hesitated a moment, but sold or pledged her jewellery and plate, and sent the proceeds--some 40,000 livres[80]--to her lover.
Her generosity, however, was of no avail. In spite of his courage and energy, and the a.s.sistance of his friends in France, Maurice failed. On June 28, 1726, he was elected Duke of Courland; ”but the problem was to fall in love with the Dowager Anne Ivanovna, a big, brazen Russian woman--(such a cheek the pictures give her, in size and somewhat in expression like a Westphalia ham)--and this, with all his adventurous audacity, Count Maurice could not do.”[81] The result was that, after maintaining his authority for about a year and performing prodigies of reckless valour, the new duke, attacked by Russia, proscribed by Poland, abandoned by his partisans, disavowed by his father, renounced by Anne (”who had discovered that he did not like Westphalia hams in that particular form, that he only pretended to like them”), and by the Grand d.u.c.h.ess, who had fathomed his little scheme, was compelled to surrender his dukedom and shake the dust of Courland off his feet.
That during this long separation Maurice remained faithful to his absent mistress is very improbable. From the diplomatic correspondence of the time, it would appear that the handsome adventurer had aroused among the fair s.e.x of Saxony, Poland, and Courland a veritable enthusiasm. All the great ladies of Dresden, Warsaw, Mitau, and Riga had espoused his cause, and compelled their husbands to do likewise. ”Count Poicey (Grand Marshal of Lithuania),” wrote one of the ministers of Augustus II., ”has gone into this affair, like Adam into sin, seduced by his wife.” When the Diet of Mitau elected Maurice duke, the delight of his fair partisans knew no bounds. ”The women cannot sleep for joy,” wrote the Saxon amba.s.sador at St. Petersburg. ”As many thousand crowns as our hero has just made Actaeons would be very welcome to me.”
Nevertheless, in spite of his military and political occupations and his presumed _bonnes fortunes_, Maurice found time to think of Adrienne, to write to her ”twice a week regularly,” and to ”testify towards her more affection and confidence than ever.” Adrienne, in her turn, pa.s.ses on the news to one of her friends in an interesting letter, in which she shows herself thoroughly conversant with the somewhat complicated state of affairs in Poland. She deplores the ”disgraceful weakness” of Augustus II., who ”allowed himself to be governed by the most cruel enemy of his glory (his Minister Flemming), and the most bitter enemy of the son of whom he was unworthy”; severely censures the conduct of the English Government, ”which had promised a.s.sistance which it had now no intention of rendering,” and declares that she was ”dying of fear” and ”tormented to an extent which she could not describe.”
On October 23, 1728, Maurice returned to Paris, and the lovers were united once more. ”A person expected for a very long time arrives this evening,” writes Adrienne to a friend, ”apparently in moderately good health. A courier has come on in advance, because the berlin in which they were travelling broke down thirty leagues from here. They have started in a post-chaise, and this evening they will be here.” The _liaison_ was resumed, but it seems to have been troubled by frequent storms. Maurice returned a disappointed man; the future seemed dark, his star was temporarily hidden; a life of inaction, always trying to one of his restless, ambitious temperament, was well-nigh intolerable after the adventurous years he had spent in Courland. He sought relief in pleasure--the chase, high play, and gallantry; wearied of that, and endeavoured to kill time by the study of mathematics and the art of war and the composition of his curious _Reveries_. Wearied of that also, turned to Adrienne for consolation, and vented his ill-humour upon her.
Claiming the utmost liberty for himself, he was, nevertheless, indisposed to concede even a small measure of it to his mistress. He grew jealous and suspicious of her friends, and even believed, or professed to believe, that her relations with one of them were exceeding the limits of friends.h.i.+p; for we find Adrienne writing to a confidant as follows:--
”I am worn out with anger and grief; I have been dissolved in tears this livelong night. Perhaps it is unreasonable of me, since I have nothing wherewith to reproach myself; but I cannot endure severity so little deserved. They suspect me; they do more, they accuse me; they do worse still, they wish to convict me, and that without giving me an opportunity of defending myself, in such a way that, if chance does not enable me to ascertain what is happening, I shall be covered with the most horrible calumny possible to conceive, by a man who has borne the name of my friend for ten years. They do not wish me to tell you this. I esteem and love tenderly him who forbids me, but I know not how to keep it to myself; I am too affected, too wounded, and too alarmed for the future not to reveal it, at any rate, to you. I need advice. A man capable of this calumny may very well imagine others; and that which distresses me the more is the necessity for dissimulation. To exclaim against deceit is natural, and I would prefer to pardon it rather than to be compelled to restrain both my grief and my feelings. I have been told that it is his way of thinking, that he does not intend to do me any wrong in confounding me with the generality of women. I cannot entertain this idea. That is not the language he has held to me for ten years, and ought not to be the reward of my attention to please him and to make him esteem me, at least, according to my deserts. What can one do to me, after all, save wound me in the place where I am the most sensitive? I could destroy in an instant the error in question; but how am I to console myself for the intention of this calumny? This is not a chance suspicion; it is a confidence made to a man who has no feeling for me, save friends.h.i.+p, but whose friends.h.i.+p is worth more than all the pa.s.sions in the world, whose esteem is more precious to me than life, and whose companions.h.i.+p is more necessary for me than all the fortunes in the universe. It is before him that I am made to appear false and contemptible. Whatever he says, they attest my supposed crime. _O mon Dieu!_ What are we to do?”