 Section 15 of Princes and Poisoners, Studies of the Court of Louis XIV. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org Regarding by Jane Bennett, Melbourne, Australia. Princes and Poisoners, Studies of the Court of Louis XIV by Franz Funk Prentano, translated by George Maidment. Section 15, The Death of Madame. Who has not read Bossaway's funeral oration on Henrietta Anne of England, Duchess of Orléans? Who has not thrilled at the echo of that powerful and poignant apostrophe? Oh woeful night! Oh woeful night! When there rang through the air like a sudden thunderclap, the amazing tidings. Madame is dying. Madame is dead. Madame passed from morn to eve like the grass of the field. In the morning she flourished with what graces you know. In the evening we saw her cut down. What awful speed! In nine hours the work is accomplished. Bossaway's masterpiece has crowned the memory of Madame with an immortal halo in which the charms, the quick and exquisite imagination of the young princess who enchanted her contemporaries, the lady who set the tone for taste and wit in the midst of the wittiest and most brilliant court the world has ever known will shine resplendent through the ages. The circumstances in which this startling death echo it have aroused the attention of historians. Madame has returned from England where she had succeeded in getting the treaty of Dover signed on June 1st 1670 by the ministers of her brother Charles II. The treaty assuring Louis XIV of the Alliance of England against Holland and permitting him to conquer Flanders and Franche Comté for France. Madame remained at Dover from May 24th to June 12th. She then re-embarked for France happy in the successful result of her mission and she arrived at Saint-Germain on the 18th. At the age of 26 says Madame de Lafayette and saw herself the link between the two greatest kings of the century. She had in her hands a treaty on which depended the fate of a part of Europe, the pleasure and the importance given by affairs of moment being joined in her with the attractions bestowed by youth and beauty. There was a grace and a sweetness enveloping her whole person that one for her a kind of homage must have been the more pleasant in that it was rendered rather to her personality than to her rank. Need anything be said of the manners of monsieur? The miracle of firing the heart of this prince, says Madame de Lafayette, was reserved for no woman in the world. And yet his heart was wonderfully tender. Madame had definitively secured the exile of the Chevalier de Lorraine, the infamous friend of her husband. Madame died suddenly at Saint-Clu, a prayer to the most cruel anguish on the night of the 29th of June 1670, about three o'clock in the morning. Rumours of poison were instantly set afloat which were not long in gaining strength and currency. They formed the general opinion at court in Paris, in the whole of France, in England, Holland and Spain, where Madame's daughter became Queen. Charles II refused to receive the letter in which the Duke of Orléans informed him of his sister's death. The Duke of Buckingham, the English ambassador, wrote Colbert de Quasi, is in transports of rage. The people of London were hardly restrained from violent outbursts against the Frenchmen residing there. The streets rang with the cry of, down with the French! The French Embassy had to be protected. Monsieur's second wife, Madame Palatine, was always convinced that Madame had died of poison and everything tends to show that Louis XIV at all events in the first moments, shared these suspicions. In regard to the possible authors of the crime, some accused the Dutch, against whom the Treaty of Dover was directed, others accused Monsieur himself and the Chevalier de Lorraine. In either case, the historical interest of the problem is very great. The popular imagination heightened it through the magnificent commentary with which Bossouet embroidered the death of the beautiful princess, and it has been enhanced by all the efforts made for more than a century past to solve it. For fifty years and more, writes one of the Masters of Modern Era edition, Monsieur Arthur de Bois-Lille, the question has been more closely studied and evidence weighed with more care, at least by impartial and serious writers, familiar with the documents of Louis XIV's reign or with scientific problems. But it happens that some have abstained from giving a decisive verdict, and others have varied between poison, in which Walcenaire, Paul Lacroix and François Raveillon very firmly believed, by accident or disease, accepted by Mignier, Loiseleur and Littré, with the result that the question has become darkened rather than illuminated between conclusions diametrically opposed by coming from men of equal authority. Monsieur de Bois-Lille himself refrains from stating any conclusion, and recently we have Dr Leguay, a specialist in his interesting book, Médicin et empoisonneur, devoting a new study to the question and endeavouring to prove that Madame was poisoned by corrosive sublimate. Thanks to a minute study of the documents guided by the work of Monsieur de Bois-Lille, we have just quoted, thanks above all to the skillful guidance of two Masters of Modern Science, as we'll be seen by and by, at an indisputable solution. One. In accordance with the first principle of historical criticism, it's important at the outset to determine exactly the value of the sources whence we may derive particulars serviceable to our investigation. The sources are divided into three well-marked categories. One, the reports of the physicians and surgeons. Two, the accounts of the persons who were able to approach Madame in her last moments, or were in a position to hear authoritative descriptions. Three, the official correspondence of the courts of London and Paris. The first category presents to us five reports of the post-mortem examination. A, the official report signed by the fifteen physicians and surgeons, French and English, who were present at the autopsy. B, the account of the illness, death and autopsy of Madame, by the Abbe Boudelot physician. Boudelot was one of the French physicians present at the post-mortem. C, the report of Valot, physician to the late Queen Mother. Valot was regarded as one of the most eminent physicians of his time. He was present among the French doctors at the autopsy. His report was officially carried to London by the Marshal de Belfort. D, the memoir of a surgeon of the King of England who was present at the opening of the body. This surgeon's name was Alexander Boucher. D, the account of Hugh Chamberlain, physician in ordinary to the King of England, also present at the operation. This document, like the proceeding, is exceedingly useful for checking the official report and the report of the French physicians. Some writers have believed that Louis XIV, fearing a rupture with England, dictated the opinion the French physicians were to give. Boucher and Chamberlain were absolutely independent representatives of the English government. To these five documents of unquestionable authenticity, may be added the notice inserted in the Gazette of July 5, 1670, which was officially inspired by the court physicians and the opinion of the famous Guy Patin, Dean of the Medical School of Paris, though he was not actually present at the autopsy. In our second category, the narratives of persons who approached Madame in her last moments or who'd authority to do the counts, we must mention prominently the account written by the charming Count Esther Lafayette, the history of Madame Henrietta of England, first wife of Philip of France, Duke of Orléans. The Count Esther Lafayette was attached to the suite of Madame. She never left her during the day on which she died. She has left a simple, precise and sober account of the short illness in which every line bears the stamp of truth. Next to this valuable document must be cited the letter of Bossouet who was present at the final scene and the story of Fouillet Canon of Saint Clue who was with Madame before Bossouet arrived. The third category comprises the correspondence exchanged between the courts of England and France and their representative. These would be documents of the greatest value if their official and diplomatic character had not imposed the greatest reserve on the writers and even dictated their sentiments. There are first of all the letters of Louis XIV and Hugues de Lyon to Charles II and Colbert de Quasi ambassador at London. Then the dispatchers of Louis and of Hugues de Lyon to Monsieur de Pompon ambassador at The Hague. On the English side five letters addressed by Lord Montague ambassador at the French court to Lord Arlington secretary of state Charles II and ministers of Lord Arlington to Sir William Temple. Such are the only documents worthy of credence we have at our disposal for studying the circumstances of the death of Madame. For it is necessary to reject in the most absolute manner the accounts of Saint Simon and of Monsieur's second wife Madame Palatine. C'est Ruel and more especially Monsieur de Bois Lille and probabilities and absurdities of these, and we shall not refer to them again. The work of Monsieur de Bois Lille is particularly interesting in showing that these two famous narratives had a common source. As to the testimony of D'Argançon, Voltaire and others destitute in the nature of the case of any authority comparable to that of the authors we have mentioned above, it is unnecessary in the points where it confirms the others. On the points where it contradicts them it cannot prevail and on the points where it contains new information it is dangerous to follow. For we lack any evidence by which to check it. L'Hitre acted judiciously in neglecting these writers when compiling his study on the death of Madame. And the approach leveled against him by Loise Leur is without justification. On the contrary it is perhaps to this happy stroke of criticism that L'Hitre owed the success of his argument. Two. We proceed to recount in the simplest and most precise manner in our power the circumstances of the death of Madame. And from this narrative alone we shall see emerge one of the facts we intend to establish. And this is certainly that Madame could not have been poisoned. Henrietta of England more comparable to the Jasmine than to the Rose. Very slender, delicate slightly round-shouldered not less pleasing for that. Exhausted, not only by four accouchements in rapid succession but by the fast life then led at court was only kept up says Monsieur de Bois-lis by that sanguine temperament which is the prerogative of high-strung women. In 1664 Guy Patin wrote the Duchess of Orleans was taken ill at Ville Côtre and her physicians have prescribed asses milk. The presumption is then that she suffered from some stomach disorder. The king wrote Hugues de Lyon to Colbert de Quasi tells us that more than three years ago she complained of a pain in the side which compelled her to lie flat for three or four hours without finding ease in any posture. Madame was constantly afflicted with a pain at one fixed spot in the breast. She further used to complain wrote the Abbe Bourdele of a cruel burning pain not in the abdomen but in the chest. She was always wanting to vomit. Most often she could take only milk for food and remained in bed for days together. These facts indicate as Dr. Legendre tells us that Madame suffered from a chronic inflammation of the stomach a form of gastritis. The reports of the autopsy show further that Madame was afflicted with pulmonary tuberculosis and it is not rare for these two morbid conditions to coexist. During the journey she made in Flanders with the king and monsieur before her departure for England the appearance of the young princess caused much alarm. She was reduced to living on milk writes Madame de Lafayette and retired to her own room as soon as she got out of the coach with the rules she went to bed. One day when the talk fell on astrology Monsieur said that it had been foretold that he would have several wives and judging from the state Madame was in he was beginning to believe it. Madame returned from England on June 18th her condition had become very much worse. Next day she kept her bed she went into the queen's room wrote mademoiselle de Montpensier like a dressed up corpse with rouge on its cheeks and when she went out everybody including the queen said that she had death written on her face. On June 24th 1670 writes Madame de Lafayette a week after her return from England Monsieur and she went to Saint-Clue the first day she went there she complained of pains in the side and abdomen to which she was subject. Nevertheless as it was extremely hot she desired to bathe in the river. Monsieur Evelyn her chief physician did all he could to prevent her but in spite of all he said she bathed on Friday the 27th and on Saturday she was so ill that she did not bathe. I arrived at Saint-Clue on Saturday at six o'clock in the evening I found her in the gardens she told me that I should think her looking cross and that she was not at all well she had sucked as usual and she walked in the moonlight till midnight. The preceding lines every detail of which is of great importance have been neglected by the historians and I have concluded she was poisoned. On Sunday the 29th at dinner madame ate as usual and after dinner she lay down on some cushions as she often did when she was at liberty she had made me place myself near her says madame de la fayette so that her head was almost on me an English painter was painting monsieur's portrait we were talking about all sorts of things and meanwhile she fell asleep during her nap she changed so considerably that after watching her for a long time I was surprised at it and thought that her spirit must do a great deal towards adorning her countenance since it was so pleasant when she was awake and so little attractive when she was asleep but I was wrong in this reflection for I had several times seen her sleeping and had never yet seen her less lovely when she awoke she arose from the place where she had been lying but with so haggard a face that monsieur was surprised and called my attention to it she then went away into the drawing room where she walked up and down for some time with bois franc monsieur's treasurer and while talking to him complained several times of the pain at her side we are coming to the moment when any poisoning must have taken place we see already that the mischief was done monsieur went downstairs to return to Paris he found madame de meckelburg on the steps and came up again with her madame left bois franc and came to madame de meckelburg as she was speaking to her madame de gamache brought to her as well as to me a glass of chicory water that she had asked for some time before madame de goudon her tired woman gave it to her she drank it and then replacing the cup on the salver with one hand she pressed her side with the other saying in a tone that betokened severe pain oh what a dreadful twinge oh what a pain I can bear it no longer she reddened in uttering these words and the next moment turned a livid pallor which surprised us all she continued to cry out and told us to take her away as she could no longer stand we took her in our arms she tottered along half doubled up I held her while someone unlaced her she moaned all the time and I noticed that she had tears in her eyes I was amazed and affected by it for I knew that she was the most patient creature in the world kissing the arms I was holding I said that she was evidently in great pain and she told me I could not imagine how great she was put to bed and as soon as she was there she cried out more loudly than she had yet done and threw herself from one side to the other like a person in infinite agony someone went off to find her chief physician Mr. S. B. he came said it was colic and prescribed the ordinary remedies for such ailments all the time the pain was dreadful madam said that it was much worse than we thought and that she was dying and begged someone to go in search of a confessor for her the young princess believed that she was poisoned a sort of antidote was brought her in the shape of oil and powdered adder which made her vomit after some hours of frightful agony Henrietta of England expired while Bossouet was reciting the last exhortations face to face with death madam displayed a greatness of soul to which all who approached her have borne touching testimony madam was gentle towards death said Bossouet as she had been with all the world her great heart was neither embittered nor wrathful against the dread foe nor did she face him with proud disdain but was content to look him in the face without emotion and to welcome him without distress three this bear narrative of the facts would be sufficient to weaken the opinion of those who believe that the princess Henrietta died of poison the following observations will continue to deprive it of all credit writers are unanimously agreed about the fact that madam could only have been poisoned by the glass of chicory water given her by madame de gamache now as soon as suspicions awoke in the mind of madame and her circle that is to say the moment after the drink had been taken monsieur ordered some of the water to be given to a dog madame de bourre the princess is made who was heartily devoted to her told her that she had made the drink and had herself drunk some of it and madame de meckelborg also drank some we are thus bound to acknowledge that the famous chicory water could not have been poisoned monsieur Jay Lair with his clear and vigorous mind has well analysed the scene the decoction of which so many persons had drunk was harmless it was the cup that ought to have been examined the details given by madame de lafayette and others writes monsieur de boalil exclude the idea of poison poured into the glass itself and indeed madame palatine says that what was poisoned was not the water itself nor the vessel in which it was made but the cup was reserved for the princess and which no one else would have dared to use it is a fact that the 17th century poisoners sought to prepare goblets and silver cups in such a way as to poison the persons who were afterwards to use them among the constant friends of la voisin, la boss, la chéron and la vigueur the most renowned sorceresses of the period we find a certain françois bello one of the king's bodyguard making a specialty of this and deriving a comfortable income from it until the day when this trade led him to the plaster grave where he was broken on the wheel on June 10th 1679 his method of procedure was as follows he crammed a toad with arsenic placed it in a silver goblet and then pricking its head made it urinate and finally crushed it in the goblet during this pleasant operation he mumbled his wicked charms I know a secret said bello such that in doctoring a cup with a toad and what I put into it if 50 persons chance to drink from it afterwards even if it were washed and rinsed they would all be done for and the cup could only be disinfected by throwing it into a hot fire after having thus poisoned the cup I should not try it upon a human being but upon a dog and I should entrust the cup to nobody but it happened that a client of bello's being somewhat skeptical got a dog to drink out of the doctored cup and found that the animal was not harmed in the least he even picked a violin to quarrel with the magician about the matter taunting him with the worthlessness of his wares bello's spoke frankly to the commissioners of the chan bra dot I know that the toad cannot do anybody any harm what I did with the silver cups and trenches was done solely to get hold of such cups and trenches his skill nevertheless enjoyed a very substantial reputation at the same date the magician blessy was believed to know how to manipulate mirrors in such a way that anyone who looked in them received his death blow these facts seem me a childish folly under scientific investigation the knowledge people had of poisons in the 18th century was limited to arsenic antimony and sublimate it did not enable them so to poison a cup as to cause sudden death to the person using it without his being aware of the poison at the moment of drinking it the opinion of professor bro are del on this point is explicit and doctor leg a convinced as he is of the poisoning of madame admits that the story of the cup can only make any well informed man smile the conclusion is that as madame could not have been poisoned by the water she drank or by the cup containing the water she could not have been poisoned at all for her body was opened writes bossue among a large concourse of physicians and surgeons and all sorts of people because having begun to feel extreme pain when drinking three mouthfuls of chicory water given to her by the dearest and most intimate of her women she said at once that she was poisoned it was with the same idea that the English ambassador attended the operation along with an English physician and surgeon after having shown that madame could not have been poisoned it remains to settle what disease it was of which she died a task is simplified by the marvellous study in which litre proved that she succumbed to an acute peritonitis the immediate and inevitable result of the perforation of the stomach by an ulcer this study doctor paul tells us is the finest extant example of a retrospective medical demonstration we have it now under our eyes but we find it condensed by the pen of the most elegant writer of our time monsieur Anatole france who will allow us to borrow this quotation litre an expert in medical observation does not hesitate to diagnose a simple ulceration of the stomach which professor cruvelier was the first to describe and which madame's physicians could not recognize because they knew nothing about it it is unquestionable that for some time madame had been suffering from abdominal pains after her meals the liquid she took on June 29 brought about the perforation of the ulcerated wall and this caused the terrible pain in her side and the peritonitis which we have mentioned the physicians who opened the body found indeed that the stomach was pierced with a little hole but as they could not account for the pathological origin of this hole they fancied after the event that it had been made inadvertently during the autopsy upon which says the surgeon of the king of england I was the only one to insist the incident is reported as follows by the abbey it happened by misadventure during the dissection that the point of the scalpel made an opening at the top of the ventricle and many of the gentlemen asked how it came about the surgeon said that he had done it by accident and monsieur ballo said that he had seen when the cut was made litre objects with reason that it is difficult to make inadvertently an incision with the point of a pair of scissors there's no question of a scalpel in a tough and distended membrane like the stomach during an autopsy the illusion of the physicians present at the operation is the more easily explained because in that lesion as it is now known the edges of the opening are perfectly clean and sharp very regular so that the hole seems to have been made artificially jaku points out the very sharp delimitation of the ulcer the absence of inflammation and of peripheral separation the section of the tissues writes monsieur bouvre is so clean that to adopt a classical comparison the ulcer appears as though cut out with a punch it varies in dimensions from the size of a lentil to that of a 5 franc piece monsieur Anatole France admirably explains the state of mind of the physicians who drew up the report of the autopsy the French physicians were afraid of finding in the viscera of the princess indications of a crime which might throw suspicion on the royal family they dreaded even everything which lent itself to doubt and thereby to malevolence knowing that the least uncertainty as to the cause of death or the condition of the corpse would be interpreted by the public in a sense that would ruin them they had reasons of self-interest and the zeal of fear to urge them to explain everything now in their inability to connect with a normal pathological type a lesion unknown to them all and perhaps suspicious to some it was much to their advantage to explain this enigmatic wound as an accident during the autopsy and we can understand their believing what they wish to believe the English surgeons as ignorant as they accepted their conclusion in default of a better the fact is says Latre in conclusion that they were bound to find a hole and they did find it all dispute was silenced in the presence of three things the sudden attack the peritonitis and the presence of oil and a bile adds Dr. Lejean which the reports of the autopsy show to have been in the lower bowel in the lower bowel was found indeed a substance which the reports of the French physicians describe as fat like oil it was in fact oil the oil which Madame had drunk as an antidote and which had been discharged from the stomach further even supposing against all probability that the hole had actually been made accidentally by young Felix who was the operator all the details of Madame's health known before death and the details revealed by the autopsy are so conclusive in favour of the diagnosis of a simple ulcer ending in perforation that we should be led to the admission that the must have existed in another part of the wall of the stomach another small hole which escaped the notice of the physicians and surgeons present at the autopsy there would have been nothing surprising in this for their attention was not directed to this point it might even be supposed that the scissors of Felix if they had really cut the wall of the stomach by inadvertence only increased the size of the natural perforation already existing allowance must indeed be made for the state of putrid softening in which the organs are bound to have been the corpse having remained exposed all through a day of intense heat to sum up before June 29th there were gastric pains caused by ulceration on the 29th bursting of the ulcer and acute peritonitis peritonitis is distinctly indicated by the reports such are the conclusions of litre Dr. Paul LeGentra a most competent authority unhesitatingly confirms them as also does Professor Bruadel who writes as follows admitting ulceration of the stomach all the phenomena superveen with classic exactitude if we refer to the works of the celebrated crewveille who was the first to describe simple ulcers we find by an interesting coincidence in the very case he presents as a type the closest correspondence with the illness of madame and a fresh proof of the soundness of letre's opinion now since the complications following perforation of the stomach and rapidly causing death writes crewveille superveen suddenly and sometimes directly after taking food or drink the question of poison has been raised pretty often I have never seen a more remarkable case in this respect than that of a Coleman aged 23 and of an athletic vigour who carrying a sack of coal stopped at an inn and drank a glass of wine he went on his way but a few minutes afterwards was seized with horrible pains was attended first at his own house then carried dying to the hospital of the full book Saint Denis his case showed every indication of peritonitis through perforation and he died 3 hours after his admission to the hospital in full consciousness I was able to get from his own lips the valuable information that he had been suffering from his stomach for several months and that digesting his food was always painful the Coal Dealers Society convinced that their comrade was the victim of poison and that the agent of the poisoning was the glass of wine taken immediately before he was attacked by these symptoms decided to bring an indictment against the wine merchant and with this end required the autopsy to be made in presence of a deputation from their body it was a case of spontaneous perforation through a simple ulcer in the stomach the estimate of litre to use the phrase he himself uses to describe his work is thus confirmed in every way Lois Allure thought fit to object the rarity of the case that is no argument the case may be rare and yet have been that of madame and besides Lois Allure makes too much of its rarity Brenton estimates that perforation of the stomach in cases of simple ulcer occurs in 13% and that it is most common in women under 30 madame was 26 Lois Allure admits peritonitis but thinks it was inflammation supervening on a chill why he writes does litre pass by in absolute silence the last words in the statement of madame de la faillette quite as grave and significant as the first as it was extremely warm she wished to bathe in the river monsieur Evelyn her chief physician did all he could to prevent her but in spite of all he said she bathed on Friday and on Saturday was so ill that she did not bathe and further on she walked in the moonlight until midnight there is only one drawback to monsieur Lois Allure's theory but that is a serious one peritonitis as an original melody and especially peritonitis through chill which Lois Allure wishes to substitute for the disease diagnosed by Cruvelier and Litre is no longer recognised by modern science the last cases which were thought to be of this kind says Dr Paul Jean were perforations of the appendix let us come lastly to the work of Dr Leguet made a sense the most important part of which is occupied with a minute study of the circumstances surrounding the death of madame monsieur Leguet's conclusion is poisoning by sublimate poured into the theme as chicory water his study is interesting like the whole book but his conclusions crumble away under the following considerations one professor Brouadier writes if the chicory water had contained the smallest dose of sublimate madame would have pushed the glass from her after the first sip sublimate has a revolting taste in the medicinal dose one gram to a litre the taste is atrocious madame had been taking chicory water for several days in the evening and this evening she drank it as usual two to kill a person adds professor Brouadier at least 10 or 15 centigrams are necessary this dose corresponds to a quantity of solution representing about 200 grams of liquid it seems impossible for anyone to imbibe that without being stopped by its horrid taste madame certainly did not drink 200 grams of her chicory water she took a few sips only three poisoning by sublimate writes the professor produces lesions of the abdominal mucus membrane which could not have escaped the notice of the physicians autopsy we have five accounts of the autopsy which are unanimous in stating that the stomach except for the little hole of which we have spoken was in a good condition four the facts on which Dr. Legey relies for his diagnosis of poison by sublimate and which he borrows from the account of the abbey Boudelot occurred not after the drinking of the cup of chicory water but before in transcribing the account in question, Monsieur Legey has inadvertently admitted the passage there is indication of the bile having been accumulating for a long time where it may be clearly seen from the following lines that the author is speaking of a state long before the fatal attack thus Monsieur Legey's argument is in no way sustained the historian may remark finally that Madame's daughter Marie-Louise the young Queen of Spain died in 1689 almost at the same age as her mother after drinking a glass of iced milk and on this occasion also rumours of poison spread abroad when Charles II Madame's brother died somewhat suddenly there was more talk of poison and when the granddaughter of Madame the young and charming Duchess of Burgundy was stricken with the disease which carried her off people believed that she too had been poisoned in earlier days when Madame's mother Henrietta Maria at France widow of Charles I died on September the 10th 1669 at her country house of Cologne her physician Valio had been accused of accidentally poisoning her by giving her pills chiefly composed of opium thanks to the assistance of eminent masters like Professor Bruadel and Dr Paul Lejean and armed historically with the learned investigations of Monsieur Arthur de Boilier we have been fortunate in resuscitating the admirable study of Le Tre in all its striking accuracy the great writer concludes with an eloquent page a hymn of triumph in honour of modern science which might perhaps have kept Madame in that great place she filled so well we will end with the same observation that we placed at the end of our study of the iron mask in which we showed how the solution was indicated at least a century ago and remarked that in these very problems which are regarded as insoluble history handled with rigor and precision gives conclusions as certain as those of the exact sciences end of section 15 the death of Madame section 16 of princes and poisoners studies of the court of Louis the 14th this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Jane Bennett Melbourne, Australia princes and poisoners studies of the court of Louis the 14th by Franz Funk Berentano translated by George Maidment section 16 Racine and the Poisons Question Monsieur Laromé's book on Racine in the grand Zéclivin français series is a charming little work in the first part he studies the poet's life and shows very accurately the influence exercised on his art by the milieu in which he lived in the second part he studies Racine's poetics and art ingenuity the very style of Monsieur Laromé eminently refined and sober we might call it pearl grey in tone with little flaws here and there which to our mind enhance its frequency is perfectly adapted to the author he is analysing we get a clear picture of what manner of man Racine was sensitive and refined like a sea and decorum Monsieur Laromé it is well known excels in bringing vividly before us the dwellings and the furniture of our great writers according to inventories made after their deceased in the case of Racine he achieves another success in the happiest manner his picture of the famous Poets family life after he had renounced the stage is delightful this family which reproduced in charming variety the trays of its own sensitive and restless nature Racine practised all the virtues of a good father he became a child again with his baby, Franchon, Madeleine Nanette and Leonville the two eldest alone boy and girl did not bear these diminutives out of respect for the rights of seniority and preferred the happiness springing from their society to courting the great one day he had returned from Versailles where he had gone to pay his respects when a squire of the Dukes brought him an invitation to dinner for the same evening I shall not have the honour of dining with him he said I have not seen my wife and children for more than a week and they are looking forward to a treat they find carp with me today I cannot give up my dinner with them and he had the carp brought up adding decide yourself if I can help dining today with these poor children who have made up their minds to regale me today and will have no more pleasure if they ate this dish without me I beg you to plead this reason forcibly with his serene Highness Racine, as we know after giving up writing for the theatre subsided into the most remarkable piety but here again is a charming tray I remember says Louis Racine processions in which my sisters were the clergy I was the rector and the author of Athali, singing with us carried the cross and the inseparable figure of the excellent Boileau who had then become as deaf as opposed to appear as close by Monsieur Des Preos writes Racine to his son Jean Baptiste entertained us in the best of fashions then he took Lyon Val and Madeleine to the Bois de Boulogne joking with them and telling them that he meant to lose them he did not hear a word of what the poor children said to him but before becoming this model peter-familias this pattern of piety and virtue Racine had spent an eminently brilliant and passionate youth everybody knows that Dupar and Jean-Mais Lé were not content with merely playing in his pieces the amours of Racine and Mademoiselle Dupar had a terrible development in 1679 which was one of the reasons if not the principle and the determining reason of the resolution then taken by the poet to abandon the career of dramatic author Monsieur Larumé recalls this page in his life in the following terms the mysterious poison affair was being unraveled before the Chambre Ardont on November 21st 1679 with the prisoners Lavoisin brought Racine into the case she declared that Racine having secretly espoused Dupar was jealous of everybody and particularly of her Lavoisin with whom he was much offended and that he had made away with her by poison on account of his extreme jealousy and that during Dupar's illness Racine never left her bedside that he drew a valuable diamond from her finger and had also stolen the jewels and principle effects of Dupar which were worth a great deal of money this is assuredly nothing but the abominable invention of a ruined woman adds Monsieur Larumé one of those calamities which malice, corruption and greed give rise to in the entourage of women of gallantry Racine had been compelled to forbid his mistress to receive Lavoisin from this arose her furious wrath and eleven years afterwards she tried to avenge herself by implicating the poet in a formidable accusation Proust she gave none and the proceedings of the affair published in the archives de la bestie contain no trace of any however a letter written on January 11, 1680 by Louvoir de Bazin de Bazin ends thus the orders of the king necessary for the arrest of Racine will be sent to you whenever you ask for them it is impossible to doubt that the Racine in question was the poet but no arrest was made Racine had been able to clear himself in the eyes of Louvoir and the king this episode in the life of the great poet is worthy of arresting our attention so much the more because it was perhaps the course of his abandonment to be forever regretted of a career on which he had thrown the brightest luster it was neither Louvoir nor Louis XIV who suppressed the leth de cache with which the deposition of Lavoisin had threatened Racine Bazin de Bazin a commissioner of the chambre d'or to a member of the academy determined to spear his colleague the affront of an arrest in such circumstances and thought he might well wait until the denunciations of Lavoisin were confirmed from another source Racine as a matter of fact had beaten the lover of Dupac whose maiden name was Marguerite Thérèse de Gaulle daughter of a surgeon of Lyon Lavoisin knew her very intimately and called her her gossip here follows word for word the part of the celebrated examination of Lavoisin on November the 21st 1679 so far as it relates to Racine who made her acquainted with Dupac comedian she had known her for 14 years they were very good friends together and she knew all her affairs during that time she had for some time had the intention of declaring to us that Dupac must have been poisoned and that Jean Racine was suspected the rumour was strong what more especially gave Raes to the presumption that Racine had always prevented her who was the good friend of Dupac from seeing her during the whole course of the illness of which she died although Dupac constantly asked for her but on those she went to see her they had never been willing to let her in and this was by order of Racine as she learnt from the stepmother of Dupac whose name was Mademoiselle de Gaulle and from Dupac's daughters who are at the Hotel de Soisson and informed her that Racine was the cause of their misfortune asked if he had ever proposed to her to do away with Dupac by poison the proposal would have been well received asked if she was not aware that application had been made to Delegage for the same purpose she knew nothing about that asked if she did not ask if she did not know a lame actor yes Béjar, whom she had only seen twice asked if Béjar had not some spite against Dupac no and what she knew about Racine she obtained first from Mamoiselle de Gaulle asked what de Gaulle said to her and strictly cross-examined de Gaulle told her that Racine having secretly espoused Dupac here follows a repetition of the statement already made that she Dupac had not even been allowed to speak to Manon her maid who is a midwife though she had asked for Manon and got someone to write asking her to come to Paris to see her as well as La Boise herself asked if de Gaulle told her the manner in which the reasoning had been carried out and who had been made use of in the matter no such were the declarations of La Boise before the commissioners of the Chambre d'Ont she repeated them exactly in her final examination before the judges she had known Mademoiselle Dupac the actress had been a friend of hers for 14 years Dupac had told her that Racine had poisoned her and she only knew of Dupac's death when she saw the body at the door on the way to burial finally in the anguish of torture La Boise maintained her declarations asked if she knew nothing more concerning what she had said at the trial about the poisoning of Dupac she had told the truth in all that she had said on the subject Monsieur Larimer gaily and gracefully flings these declarations overboard as an abominable invention of a ruined woman we know La Boise from what has already been said about her above it is inconceivable that such a creature should have nursed a grievance against Racine for not having allowed her to reach his sick mistress to such an extent as to fabricate against him 11 years later so monstrous an accusation this hypothesis is so much the more unlikely in that, if La Boise had wanted to ruin Racine by her charges she would have formulated precise and direct complaints against him while she, it's a matter of fact only repeated gossip she had heard then too Dupac's daughters were still alive and it would have been easy to confront them with the sorceress the examinations to which La Boise was subjected were very numerous they brought out innumerable details on a multitude of crimes in which a very large number of people was implicated there were many confrontations the declarations of the terrible sorceress were submitted to careful investigation by examining magistrates like Nicolas de la Rény all her declarations were found to be accurate we have seen that far from inventing imaginary charges for the purpose of implicating in her own case people of high position and so saving herself as some historians have insinuated La Boise endeavoured to keep silence about the crimes of her clients a curious piece of professional discretion and we venture to say that if she had declared before the judges that she had given Racine poison to get rid of Dupac we should have unhesitatingly believed her but she did not say anything of the kind she declared simply that in Dupac's immediate circle it was the conviction that the actress had been poisoned by her lover and that throughout her illness he had prevented La Boise from approaching the bid as well as Manon, her maid who was a midwife it is further important to note and this observation has not been made by any historian that the belief in Racine's having poisoned Dupac was shared by more than one prisoner before the Chambre d'Ont La Boise was not the only one to make the accusation before the judges as the following question put by one of the magistrate clearly shows asked if she was not aware that application had been made to Dela Grange a sorceress and poisoner like herself for the same purpose the poisoning of Dupac by Racine a great part of the records of the Chambre d'Ont having been destroyed as we have shown we have no trace of the examination to which the magistrate here alluded nevertheless it is testimony which cannot be gained said such are the only documents in the great poison case in which what Racine is mentioned is it possible to derive any positive conclusions from them the circumstances surrounding the death certainly appeared suspicious to the family of the actress and Racine was pointed at the poet had stationed himself at the bedside as a custodian rather than a nurse he prevented La Boise the sorceress midwife and procurer of abortion from approaching and likewise Manon also a midwife and this in defiance of the desire formally expressed by Dupac why did the poet contrary to the wishes of the sick woman prevent these women from attending her Dupac was his mistress Dr. Lagay quotes the testimony of Boileau who was closely connected with Dupac stating that she died as a result of childbirth the chronic