3719. RB to Thomas Carlyle
As published in The Brownings’ Correspondence, 22, 86–89.
Paris, 3. Rue du Colisée,
Jan. 23. ’56.
My dear Mr Carlyle,
I know well, & too well, how nearly I am at the end of your allowance of six weeks for the verifications. I will try & say a word in excuse presently.
1st The Marquis du Châtelet mentioned in D’Espagnac’s Histoire du Maréchal de Saxe, under date 17th May 1743, was Florent-Claude, M. du Châtelet, chevalier, & Seigneur de Cirey. Born at Namur. Apr. 7. 1695. Entered the 1st compy des Mousquetaires du Roi [1] 1712; made the campaigns of Landau & Fribourg: [2] made Lieutenant dans le Régiment du Roi, 1714—Colonel dans celui de Hainaut, (infanterie) 1718 [3] —at the head of this he made the campaign of 1733—served the next year as Brigadier & at the siege of Philip[p]sburg. [4] In 1738, was made Maréchal de Camp; & having served with much distinction in the auxiliary army sent to Bavaria, [5] was made (in 1743) Grand-Cross, Commander of the Ordre de St Louis: & Lieutenant General des armées du roi [6] in 1744. After his return from Bavaria, he was employed in the army on the Rhine; & having succeeded his father [7] in the employments of Grand-Bailli d’Auxois et de Sar-Louis [8] & in the government of Sémur, he married, June 20th 1725. Gabrielle-Emilie de Breteuil, daughter of Nicolas, Baron de Preuilly, [9] “Introducteur des ambassadeurs et Princes étrangers auprès du Roi” [10] —and of Anne de Froulay, (All this on many authorities, but here extracted from the Dictionnaire de la Noblesse. Vol 4 Paris 1772.) [11] And she, of course, was the Marquise of Voltaire as you surmised, and as I verified in the books about him & her.
2d The “official Marquis de Breteuil” of the “Fastes” [12] was—Francois Victor le Tonnelier de Breteuil, conseiller au parlement et commissaire aux Requêtes du Palais (in 1705)—Maitre des Requêtes, intendant de Limoges (1718)—prévot et maitre des cérémonies des ordres du roi (1721) & secretaire d’état ayant le departement de la guerre 1723– [13] He died 7th Jan. (not 1st) 1743 aged 57. He was only collaterally related to the House of Breteuil-Preuilly aforesaid. (Dictionnaire Généalogique, Héraldique, Chronologique et Historique. Vol. 3. Paris, 1757.) [14]
3d Daniel-Marie-Anne de Talleyrand-Périgord, Marquis de Talleyrand, comte de Grignoles et de Mauriac was born 1706. Blown up by an accident in the trenches at the siege of Tournay, May 9th 1745. (The last Marquis de Biron [15] had passed the night by his side on a bearskin & left him for a few minutes to give orders, when a common soldier, en nettoyant l’amorce de son fusil, [16] blew up a barrel of powder, our Marquis, & eighty others. Marechal Saxe [17] wept at his fate, for a wonder, says the chronicler. He was father, by his second marriage, of Charles-Daniel, born 1734 [18] —whose second son was Charles-Maurice, born 1754, our Talleyrand. This is from the “Histoire généalogique et héraldique des Pairs de France,” &c. Vol 8. Paris, 1827. [19]
And now how I shall be punished for delaying to send this, if you get it too late or have (what is more likely) got it yourself with any trouble! When your letter arrived, we were in miserable lodgings thro’ the blunder of a friend [20] —really to my wife’s danger: that is over now—my friend Milsand helped me to the Library of the Chamber of Peers—where the librarian Miller [21] has been very kind—will you never try me again?
There was a precious word in your letter about one of my own things that went to my heart. [22] Now, have you understood me in another point? I was without the courage to send you the book—fearing the fate of Talleyrand’s grandfather. I hold so to what kind feeling for me you express, and which I cannot have a right to doubt, therefore,—that it seemed foolish to hazard this by sending you poems to read you might like me none the better or somewhat the less for. But that fear seems stupid on reflection—for you have written, beside the word now, many words once on a time—the best I ever got for my pains. If you do really care to give me so much honor & pleasure, you will ask Chapman for the book & take it with many fears (more than hopes) but much gratitude. So that is said to your understanding–
We are well now, in a warm & snug little place, just turning out of the Champs-Elysées: my wife, who had been grievously affected by the abominable quarters our poor friend had insisted on our bearing with (only, we could not)—she, is better again. Many interesting people are here & a few old acquaintance[s], Dickens, for one– We were rejoicing the other evening over Forster’s good fortune, [23] —from him, I have not heard. Shall I really hear from you, a sincere word such as you helped me with fifteen years ago & more? [24] There are one or two misprints—easy to rectify, however. As I believe no man a real poet or genius of any sort who does not go on improving till eighty & over, I shall begin again & again as often as you set me right. Kindest remembrances to Mrs Carlyle from us both,—will you please give them? My wife’s affectionate duty going to you, as it does, with that of
Yours ever faithfully,
Robert Browning.
Address: Angleterre / Thomas Carlyle Esq– / Cheyné Row, Chelsea, / London.
Publication: LRB, pp. 43–45.
Manuscript: Armstrong Browning Library.
1. “1st company of the King’s Musketeers.”
2. The French capture of these fortified towns—Landau, Bavaria, on 22 July 1713 and Freiburg, Baden-Württemberg, on 21 November 1713—proved decisive in ending the War of the Spanish Succession (1701–14).
3. “Lieutenant in the King’s Regiment, 1714—Colonel in that of Hainaut, (infantry) 1718.”
4. Town and fortress on the Rhine besieged by French forces under the Duke de Berwick during the War of the Polish Succession (1733–35). “The campaign of 1733” probably refers to the French crossing of the Rhine in October of that year, also under Berwick, and the siege of Fort Kehl, opposite Strasbourg (see Annals of the Wars of the Eighteenth Century, comp. Edward Cust, 3rd ed., 1862, I, 195 and 197).
5. In the War of the Austrian Succession (1740–48).
6. “Of the King’s armies.”
7. Florent du Châtelet (1652–1732), Comte de Lomont.
8. High-Bailiff of Auxois and of Sar-Louis (now Saarlouis).
9. Louis Nicolas Le Tonnelier de Breteuil (1648–1728), Baron de Preuilly. He married Gabrielle-Anne de Froulay (d. 1740, aged 70) in 1697.
10. “Introducer of ambassadors and foreign princes to the King.”
11. By François-Alexandre Aubert de La Chesnaye Des Bois, in 12 volumes, 1770–78.
13. “Counsellor to Parliament and Palace Commissioner of Petitions (in 1705)—Master of Petitions, and steward [or quartermaster] of Limoges (1718)—Provost and Master of Ceremonies of the King’s Orders (1721) & Secretary of State for the Department of War 1723.”
14. By François-Alexandre Aubert de La Chesnaye Des Bois, in 7 volumes, 1757–65.
15. Louis Antoine de Gontaut-Biron (1701–88), fourth son of the 2nd Duc de Biron, contributed greatly to the French victory at Fontenoy (near Tournai in present day Belgium) on 11 May 1745.
16. “In cleaning the cap of his gun.”
17. Maurice, Comte de Saxe (1696–1750), illegitimate son of Augustus II of Saxony, is considered one of the great generals of his time. He commanded the French forces at the siege of Tournai and led them to victory at the battle of Fontenoy. He was made Marshal General of France in 1747, one of only seven men ever to be so honored. Through an illegitimate daughter, he was George Sand’s great-grandfather.
18. Charles Daniel de Talleyrand-Périgord (1734–88), Comte de Talleyrand, was the second son of the “blown up” Marquis de Talleyrand.
19. Compiled by Jullien, Chevalier de Courcelles, in 12 volumes, 1822–33.
20. Louisa Corkran.
21. Emmanuel Miller (1812–86) had been the librarian at the Chamber of Deputies in Paris since 1850. He was later (1876) a professor of modern Greek at L’École Speciale des Langues Orientales.
22. ”How it Strikes a Contemporary” (1855); see the end of letter 3686.
23. In December 1855, John Forster was appointed secretary to the Lunacy Commission at a salary of £800 per annum.
___________________
