wrote to Louis XV: Charavay, La Fayette, 554–55.
February 28, 1762: Table ou abrégé des cent trente-cinq volumes de la Gazette de France, depuis son commencement en 1631 jusqu’à la fin de l’année 1765 (Paris: Imprimerie de la Gazette de France, 1768), vol. 3, supplément 2.
“Although my mother”: “Autobiographie” in Charavay, La Fayette, 533.
His grandmother: Gottschalk, Lafayette Comes to America, 5.
Beast of the Gévaudan: The beast continues to garner popular and scholarly interest, with numerous books, articles, movies, and Internet sites devoted to the subject. The definitive study is Jay M. Smith, Monsters of the Gévaudan: The Making of a Beast (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2011).
“my heart Beat”: LAAR, 1:390.
“the length of a finger”: As translated in Smith, Monsters of the Gévaudan, 91.
“caused some damage”: Mémoires, 1:8.
“I recall nothing”: Ibid., 1:7.
“separated with the utmost chagrin”: “Autobiographie” in Charavay, La Fayette, 534.
“three superb palaces”: Louis, Chevalier de Jaucourt, “Paris,” in Denis Diderot and Jean Le Rond d’Alembert, eds., Encyclopédie, 11:944.
Paris in the mid-1700s: Jaucourt, “Paris,” Encyclopédie, 11:944.
Shop windows: Paris had become the world’s foremost luxury emporium in the late 1600s, as discussed in Joan DeJean, The Essence of Style: How the French Invented High Fashion, Fine Food, Chic Cafés, Style, Sophistication, and Glamour (New York: Free Press, 2005).
“virtue alone”: As translated in Jay M. Smith, Nobility Reimagined: The Patriotic Nation in Eighteenth-Century France (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2005), 50.
France’s humiliation: Jay M. Smith, The Culture of Merit: Nobility, Royal Service, and the Making of Absolute Monarchy in France, 1600–1789 (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1996), 224.
dérogeance: William H. Sewell, Jr., Work and Revolution in France: The Language of Labor from the Old Regime to 1848 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1980), 21.
The school dated back: Jaucourt, “Paris,” Encyclopédie, 11:953.
“disciples”: “Autobiographie” in Charavay, La Fayette, 535.
“I was not as well-supported”: Ibid.
“children sporting épées”: Ibid., 536.
“burning with the desire”: Ibid., 535.
troops of the Maison du Roi: Rafe Blaufarb, The French Army, 1750–1820: Careers, Talent, Merit (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2002), 29. Although the nineteenth-century French novelist Alexandre Dumas immortalized the musketeers in his swashbuckling yarns of Athos, Porthos, Aramis, and d’Artagnan, Dumas was harking back to the company’s earliest days, in the age of Louis XIII, when they were entrusted with protecting the king of France.
“to ride to Versailles”: “Autobiographie” in Charavay, La Fayette, 535.
won the prize for Latin rhetoric: Ibid.
all standard reading: Chantal Grell, Le dix-huitième siècle et l’antiquité en France, 1660–1789 (Oxford: Voltaire Foundation, 1995); vol. 1, table 1, lists the ancient texts read in the University of Paris colleges.
Books by these authors: A 1794 inventory of books from Lafayette’s Paris town house is maintained in the Archives Nationales, series F/17, box 1194, dossier 23. Documentation concerning books Lafayette purchased for, sold from, or maintained at La Grange in the early 1800s is housed in LOC, reel 9, folders 111b and 111b, bis.
“Rome was the first”: Louis-Sébastien Mercier, Tableau de Paris (1783 ; repr., Paris: Mercure de France, 1994), 1:148–51.
due to grief: “Autobiographie” in Charavay, La Fayette, 534.
wealthy orphan: The figures concerning Lafayette’s income are based on the financial records housed in LOC, reel 8, folders 100–102a.
skilled laborer: Peter Jones, “Material and Popular Culture: Introduction,” in The Enlightenment World, ed. Martin Fitzpatrick, et al. (New York: Routledge, 2004), 347.
“the literary celebrities”: Élisabeth Vigée-LeBrun, Souvenirs, ed. Claudine Herrmann, 2 vols. (Paris: Des Femmes, 1984), vol. 1:123.
“Madame l’Étiquette”: Jeanne-Louise-Henriette Campan, Mémoires de Madame Campan, Première femme de chambre de Marie Antoinette, ed. Jean Chalon (Paris: Mercure de France, 1988), 53.
less sanguine: The dispute between the Duc and Duchesse d’Ayen is narrated in Gottschalk, Lafayette Comes to America, 26–30.
“one almost always recognized”: Louis-Philippe de Ségur, Mémoires; ou, Souvenirs et anecdotes (Brussels: 1825), 1:78.
Académie de Versailles: Mémoires, 1:6.
“the same qualities”: David A. Bell, The First Total War: Napoleon’s Europe and the Birth of Warfare as We Know It (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2007), 34. On the significance of physical grace at court see also Bernard Hours, Louis XV et sa cour: Le roi, l’étiquette et le courtisan (Vendôme: Presses Universitaires de France, 2002), 29–30.
CHAPTER 2: THE OUTSIDER
March 26, 1774: Étienne Taillemite, La Fayette (Paris: Fayard, 1989), 18.
denizens of Versailles: This description of a presentation at court is compiled from several accounts, especially the memoirs of Chateaubriand, one of France’s premier Romantic authors, who was presented to King Louis XVI in 1787. François-René de Chateaubriand, Mémoires d’outre-tombe (Paris: Penaud, 1849–50), 1:334–37.
powdered wig: On the significance of wigs for men’s fashion in eighteenth-century France, see Michael Kwass, “Big Hair: A Wig History of Consumption in Eighteenth-Century France,” American Historical Review 111, no. 3 (June 2006): 631–59.
“nobility of old extraction”: Guy Chaussinand-Nogaret, The French Nobility in the Eighteenth Century: From Feudalism to Enlightenment, trans. William Doyle (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985), 47.
“pale, cold and lifeless”: Charavay, La Fayette, 538.
“a cold and serious bearing”: Ségur, Mémoires, 1:122.
“by the gaucheness”: All quotations in this paragraph are from Mémoires, 1:7.
“concealed the most active spirit”: All quotations in this paragraph are from Ségur, Mémoires, 1:123
“to persuade me to fight”: Ibid., 1:107.
“to rouse him”: Ibid.
they amused themselves: The group’s nights out are described in the memoirs of Lafayette and Ségur and summarized in John K. Howat, “ ‘A Young Man Impatient to Distinguish Himself’: The Vicomte de Noailles as Portrayed by Gilbert Stuart,” Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin n.s., 29, no. 7 (March 1971): 327–28.
“bon air”: Adolphe Fourier de Bacourt, ed., Correspondance entre le Comte de Mirabeau et le Comte de La Marck, 2 vols. (Brussels: Meline, Cans, 1851), 1:47. Because Lafayette’s role in the French Revolution was so divisive, it is difficult to find a postrevolutionary memoir that offers an objective account of experiences with Lafayette. However, descriptions of Lafayette’s social awkwardness in the 1770s abound in memoirs of friends and foes alike, and are even discussed by Lafayette himself. Lafayette’s enemies might have particularly enjoyed recounting such tales, but they seem not to have fabricated them.
“to travel the world”: Mémoires, 1:7–8.
the opportunity arose: Ibid., 1:8.
insult his prospective employer: Cloquet, Souvenirs sur la vie privée du Général Lafayette, 105.
April 7, 1773: Gottschalk, Lafayette Comes to America, 32.
“Secret Ministry”: Didier Ozanam and Michel Antoine, eds.,Correspondance secrète du Comte de Broglie avec Louis XV (1756–1774), 2 vols. (Paris: Librairie C. Klincksieck, 1956–61).
Americans’ efforts: See Sudipta Das, De Broglie’s Armada: A Plan for the Invasion of England, 1765–1777 (Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 2009), 14.
eminently replaceable: On the suggestion that Broglie sought to supplant Washington, see Charles J. Stillé, “Comte de Broglie, the Proposed Stadtholder of America,” Pennyslvania Magazine of History an
d Biography 11, no. 4 (1887): 369–405.
“sparkling eyes”: This description of Broglie is based on Mémoires de l’abbé Georgel, 1:283, as quoted in Edgard Paul Boutaric, ed., Correspondance secrète inédite de Louis XV sur la politique étrangère avec le Comte de Broglie, Tercier, etc., 2 vols. (Paris: Plon, 1866), 1:65.
Freemasons: My understanding of French Freemasonry in this period is primarily indebted to Margaret C. Jacob, Living the Enlightenment: Freemasonry and Politics in Eighteenth-Century Europe (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991), and Margaret C. Jacob, The Radical Enlightenment: Pantheists, Freemasons and Republicans, 2nd rev. ed. (Lafayette, LA: Cornerstone Books, 2006).
“stability under a strong”: As the historian Margaret C. Jacob has written, the society “served as a social nexus that promoted … stability under a strong, but constitutional monarchy, social mobility under aristocratic patronage, Baconian experimentalism and … dedication to the cult of the new science.” Jacob, Radical Enlightenment, 80.
62 lodges: Jacob, Living the Enlightenment, 205.
many Founding Fathers: On the crucial role of Freemasonry in the American Revolution, see Steven C. Bullock, Revolutionary Brotherhood: Freemasonry and the Transformation of the American Social Order, 1730–1840 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1996), 109–33.
Prince William Henry: see J. H. Plumb, “The Impact of the American Revolution on Great Britain,” in The Impact of the American Revolution Abroad (Washington, DC: Library of Congress, 1976), 64–66.
“listened with ardent curiosity”: Sparks as cited in Mémoires, 1:9–10, note 1.
“he had conceived of the idea”: Mémoires, 1:7–8.
once responded to a schoolmaster’s: Ibid., 1:1.
“pernicious distinction”: Claude Louis, Comte de Saint Germain, Mémoires de M. le Comte de St. Germain (Amsterdam, 1779), 45–46.
out of active duty: Gottschalk, Lafayette Comes to America, 157–58.
“father of a wonderfully loving family”: Undated letter from Lafayette to Adrienne as quoted and translated in André Maurois, Adrienne: The Life of the Marquise de La Fayette, trans. Gerard Hopkins (London: Jonathan Cape, 1961), 54.
CHAPTER 3: Les Insurgents
On a dark December night: Members of the Committee of Congress for Secret Correspondence met with the French emissary three times in December 1775. This summary is based on: “Rapport de Bonvouloir au Comte de Guines, December 28, 1775”; Henri Doniol, Histoire de la participation de la France à l’établissement des États-Unis d’Amérique. Correspondance diplomatique et documents (Paris: Imprimerie Nationale, 1888), 1:287–92.; and The Life of John Jay: With Selections from his Correspondence and Miscellaneous Papers, ed. William Jay, 2 vols. (New York: J. & J. Harper, 1833), 1:39–41.
to assess the likelihood: See Doniol, Histoire, 1:153–59.
mutual suspicions: Although most Frenchmen of the elite classes were only nominally Catholic (Frenchwomen were generally more so), France had a bloody history of religious intolerance, and in the 1770s, Protestants were still barred from practicing their religion openly.
Silas Deane arrived: “Narrative of Edward Bancroft,” August 14, 1777, The Deane Papers, 5 vols. (New York: New-York Historical Society, 1886–90), 1:179.
“engaged in the business”: Secret Committee of Congress to Silas Deane, March 3, 1776, The Deane Papers, 1:123.
Le Boston: Dictionnaire de la conversation et de la lecture: inventaire raisonné des notions générales les plus indispensables à tous, par une société de savants et de gens de lettres, ed. William Duckett, 16 vols. (Paris: Michel Lévy Frères, 1852–60), 3:484.
ditty celebrating Washington: Louis Petit de Bachaumont, Mémoires secrets, March 17, 1777, vol. 10, pp. 68–70.
“continent”: A slang word for female genitalia, con is used in French as an all-purpose term of abuse and disapprobation.
Narragansett horses: Schiff, Great Improvisation, 9.
“some wise contemporaries of Plato”: Ségur, Mémoires, 1:117.
“opinions from every quarter”: Ibid., 1:165.
“republican maxims”: Ibid., 1:152–53.
“I have a levee”: Silas Deane to John Jay, December 2, 1776, quoted in LAAR, 1:13–14, note 14.
“Baron” Johann de Kalb: Johann de Kalb’s peasant origins were first discussed by Friedrich Kapp, The Life of John Kalb, Major-General in the Revolutionary Army (New York: Henry Holt, 1884), 1, 265–67. On his wife’s fortune, see this page.
“several young gentlemen”: Silas Deane to the Secret Committee of Congress, August 18, 1776, The Deane Papers, 1:213.
“I am well nigh harrassed”: Silas Deane to the Secret Committee of Congress, November 28, 1776, The Deane Papers, 1:375.
“Had I ten ships”: Silas Deane to John Jay, December 3, 1776, The Deane Papers, 1:397.
“we were afraid to visit”: LAAR, 1:390.
“the desire to right the wrongs”: Ségur, Mémoires, 1:117–18.
“circumstances … ”: LAAR, 1:390.
meeting regularly: Johann Kalb to Monsieur de Saint Paul, November 7, 1777, “Letter of Major-General Johann Kalb,” American Historical Review 15, no. 3 (April 1910): 562–67.
“more of my zeal”: LAAR, 1:391.
publicity, a valuable skill: See Jeremy D. Popkin and Bernadette Fort, eds., The “Mémoires Secrets” and the Culture of Publicity in Eighteenth-Century France (Oxford: Voltaire Foundation, 1998), 7–8.
“high Birth, his Alliances”: Agreement with Silas Deane, December 7, 1776, LAAR, 1:17. As translated by Congress upon Lafayette’s arrival in Philadelphia.
“hitherto”: LAAR, 1:391.
La Victoire: On Lafayette’s purchase of the ship, see Gottschalk, Lafayette Comes to America, 87–88.
“the secrecy”: LAAR, 1:391.
de Kalb insisted: Kalb, “Letter of Major-General Johann Kalb,” 564.
thirteen of the fourteen men: This figure comes from a letter written by the fourteenth man. The letter was apparently intercepted by Stormont, who reported it to Lord Weymouth. LAAR, 1:44.
“too cruelly punished”: Lafayette to Adrienne, March 16, 1777, LAAR, 1:411.
“I have found a unique opportunity”: Lafayette to d’Ayen, March 9, 1777, LAAR, 1:410.
d’Ayen was outraged: The feints and rumors that marked Lafayette’s departure for America are narrated in Gottschalk, Lafayette Comes to America, 97–104.
“Relations seem to be much displeased”: Lord Stormont to Lord Weymouth, April 2, 1777, LAAR, 1:42.
CHAPTER 4: FIRST IMPRESSIONS
“had heard so much of the French officers”: Charles Biddle, Autobiography of Charles Biddle, Vice-President of the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania, 1745–1831 (Philadelphia: 1883), 148.
“quite ill”: LAAR, 1:417. All quotes in this paragraph are from the same page.
Vicomte de Mauroy: Charles Louis, Vicomte de Mauroy, “Mémoire du vicomte de Mauroy sur ses services en Amérique et sur la guerre de l’Indépendance,” A.N. K1364, as summarized in “Descriptive List of French Manuscripts Copied for New York State Library from National Archives and National Library at Paris 1888,” New York State Library Bulletin 57, History 5 (1903): 362.
letter of appointment: Collections of the New-York Historical Society for the Year 1886 (New York: New-York Historical Society, 1886), 359–60.
“I wanted by my objections”: Quotes from Mauroy are found in LAAR, 1:415–16.
“The manners”: Lafayette to Adrienne, June 15, [1777], LAAR, 1:419.
“the simplicity”: Lafayette to Adrienne, June 19, [1777], LAAR, 1:420.
“new products”: LAAR, 1:393.
completely at home: Lafayette to Adrienne, February 28, 1777, LAAR, 1:408.
“I believe I’ll bury”: De Kalb to Mme de Kalb, July 23, 1777, as translated from German to French in Doniol, Histoire, 3:214.
In a lengthy memoir: Memoir by the Chevalier Dubuysson, LAAR, 1:427–34.
“burning sand”:
Ibid., 1:427.
a great deal like “beggars”: Ibid., 1:427–28.
“ruined by debt”: Ibid., 1:428.
“Volunteers and French Officers”: “Charles-Town, S.C. June 16,” Independent Chronicle and the Universal Advertiser [Boston, MA] 9, no. 466 (July 31, 1777), p. 2.
The identities are garbled: LAAR, 1:405–6, lists the officers who traveled with Lafayette.
American audience: This is the first mention I have found of Lafayette’s name in an American paper. However, earlier versions of this article might well have appeared in newspapers published between South Carolina and Boston, as was customary in the period.
“I started out brilliantly”: Lafayette to Adrienne, July 17, 1777, LAAR, 1:423.
“harder than this voyage”: Dubuysson, LAAR, 1:429.
“speaks French very well”: Ibid., 1:429–30.
“ended his harangue”: Ibid., 1:430.
“terms are very high”: John Adams to James Warren, June 19, 1777, Papers of John Adams, ed. Robert J. Taylor (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2006), 5:226.
“very bad”: Philippe Charles Tronson du Coudray, “Du Coudray’s ‘Observations on the Forts Intended for the Defense of the Two Passages of the River Delaware,’ July, 1777,” The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 24, no. 3 (1900): 343.
“badly situated”: Ibid., 344.
“a hundred times more enthusiasm”: Duportail to Vergennes, November 12, 1777, as translated in Paul K. Walker, Engineers of Independence: A Documentary History of the Army Engineers in the American Revolution, 1775–1783 (1981; repr., Honolulu: University Press of the Pacific, 2002), 177.
“the rank and commission”: Resolution of Congress, July 31, 1777, LAAR, 1:88.
“zeal, illustrious family”: Resolution of Congress, July 31, 1777, LAAR, 1:88.
“have a Short Campaign”: Henry Laurens to John Gervais, August 8, 1777, LAAR, 1:88.
“that great man”: Mémoires, 1:19.
“the majesty of his figure”: Ibid., 1:20.
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