Improbable Patriot
Page 23
10. Kite, Beaumarchais and the War of American Independence, 2:84–85.
11. Ibid., 86–87.
12. Loménie, Beaumarchais and His Times, 279.
13. Ibid., 295.
14. Ibid.
15. Deane to Beaumarchais, July 20, 1776, Wharton, Revolutionary Diplomatic Correspondence, 2:102.
16. Durand, Documents, 97.
17. Deane to Beaumarchais, July 24, 1776, Wharton, Revolutionary Diplomatic Correspondence, 2:105.
18. Wharton, Revolutionary Diplomatic Correspondence, 2:129–31.
19. Ibid., 2:201–2.
20. Beaumarchais to Vergennes, October 14, 1776, Kite, Beaumarchais and the War of American Independence, 2:112–13.
21. Beaumarchais to Vergennes, September 21, 1776, Doniol, Histoire de la participation de la France, 1:519–20.
22. Loménie, Beaumarchais and His Times, 291.
8. Figaro Here, Figaro There …
1. Loménie, Beaumarchais and His Times, 292–93.
2. Beaumarchais to Vergennes, February 3, 1777, Doniol, Histoire de la participation de la France, 2:359–60.
3. Ibid., 293, 293n.
4. Brian N. Morton and Donald C. Spinelli, Beaumarchais and the American Revolution (Lanham, Md.: Lexington Books, 2003), 120.
5. GW to John Augustine Washington, November 6–19, 1776, PGW Rev. 7:102–5.
6. Colonel Joseph Reed to George Washington, December 22, 1776, in ibid., 7:414–17.
7. Wharton, Revolutionary Diplomatic Correspondence, 2:248–51.
8. Kite, Beaumarchais and the War of American Independence, 2:124.
9. Ibid., 111 (citing Correspondence and Public Papers of John Jay, 1890, p. 97).
10. Ibid., 110.
11. Ibid.
12. Lemaitre, Beaumarchais, 230–31.
13. Ibid., 139.
14. Ibid., 140–41.
15. Ibid. 141.
16. Kite, Beaumarchais and the War of American Independence, 2:162.
17. Ibid., 167.
18. Ibid., 147–48.
19. Kite, Beaumarchais and the War of American Independence, 2:156.
20. Ibid., 188–89.
21. Vergennes to the President of Congress, March 25, 1778, Wharton, Revolutionary Diplomatic Correspondence, 2:519.
22. Kite, Beaumarchais and the War of American Independence, 2:191.
23. Ibid., 2:186–93.
24. William Carmichael to Beaumarchais, September 3, 1778, Kite, 2:196–97.
25. Beaumarchais to Francy, December 20, 1777, Loménie, Beaumarchais and His Times, 298–302.
26. Franklin and Deane to Committee of Secret Correspondence, March 12, 1777, Wharton, Revolutionary Diplomatic Correspondence, 2:283–90.
27. Lemaitre, Beaumarchais, 252.
28. John Jay to Beaumarchais, Durand, Documents, 134.
29. Mémoire justificative à la cour de Londres, 1779, in Oeuvres, 582–92.
30. Loménie, Beaumarchais and His Times, 353.
9. Bright People Are So Stupid
1. Kite, Beaumarchais and the War of American Independence, 2:246.
2. Ibid., 203.
3. In 1789, Deane boarded a ship bound for the United States, but died under mysterious circumstances before the ship left port. An 1846 congressional audit of his affairs found him not only innocent of embezzlement but due a considerable sum from the government.
4. Kite, Beaumarchais and the War of American Independence, 2:203.
5. La Folle Journée ou Le Mariage de Figaro, act 1, scene 1, in Oeuvres, 189–90.
6. Lemaitre, Beaumarchais, 274.
7. Ibid., 275.
8. Le Mariage de Figaro, act 5, scene 3, in Oeuvres, 223.
9. Ibid.
10. Le Barbier de Séville, act 1, scene 2, in Oeuvres, 149.
11. Le Mariage de Figaro, act 5, scene 19, in Oeuvres, 230.
12. Loménie, Beaumarchais and His Times, 278.
13. Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790), in The Collected Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke (London: C. Rivington, 1801).
14. Le Mariage de Figaro, act 3, scene 8, in Oeuvres, 210.
15. Loménie, Beaumarchais and His Times, 381.
16. Kite, Beaumarchais and the War of American Independence, 2:220.
17. Ibid., 223.
18. Beaumarchais “aux auteurs du Journal de Paris,” August 12, 1784, in Oeuvres, 770–71.
19. Loménie, Beaumarchais and His Times, 386.
20. Ibid., 387.
21. Ibid., 388.
22. Born in Vienna, Christoph Willibald Gluck (1714–1787) composed more than one hundred operas, eleven symphonies, and other works.
23. Born in Verona, Antonio Salieri (1750–1825) composed forty operas.
24. Loménie, Beaumarchais and His Times, 408.
25. Ibid., 407.
26. James Anderson, The Harper Dictionary of Opera and Operetta (New York: HarperCollins, 1989), 561.
27. Tarare, act 4, scene 10, in Oeuvres, 264.
28. Loménie, Beaumarchais and His Times, 408.
29. Joseph Vernet (1714–1789) admired the works of Poussin and Lorraine and produced a variety of paintings that include sweeping landscapes with equally sweeping views of Rome and Naples.
30. Jefferson to Jay, September 23, 1789, in Unger, Lafayette, 248.
31. Kite, Beaumarchais and the War of American Independence, 2:243–45.
32. Beatrix Cary Davenport, ed., A Diary of the French Revolution by Gouverneur Morris (1752–1816), Minister to France during the Terror, 2 vols. (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1939), 1:158–59.
33. Brand Whitlock, La Fayette (New York: D. Appleton, 1929, 2 vols.), 1:329.
10. What Did You Do to Earn So Many Rewards?
1. Le Mariage de Figaro, act 5, scene 3, in Oeuvres, 223.
2. Figaro, Le Mariage de Figaro, act 5, scene 19, in Oeuvres, 230.
3. Loménie, Beaumarchais and His Times, 414.
4. Kite, 2:248–49.
5. Ibid., 240–41.
6. Ibid., 250.
7. Ibid., 251.
8. Davenport, 1:252.
9. Kite, Beaumarchais and the War of American Independence, 2:252.
10. Loménie, Beaumarchais and His Times, 422.
11. Harlow G. Unger, Lafayette (Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley & Sons, 2002), 293.
12. Loménie, Beaumarchais and His Times, 417–18.
13. Kite, Beaumarchais and the War of American Independence, 2:255–56.
14. Le Mariage de Figaro, act 5, scene 3, in Oeuvres, 224.
15. Kite, Beaumarchais and the War of American Independence, 2:256–57. (Sans culottes: French Revolution radicals, noted for wearing long pants of coarse homespun instead of the knee-breeches and hose that aristocrats and their servants wore.)
16. Ibid., 2:257.
17. Arguably, the lyrics can be translated as follows: “All will be well when we hang the ‘aristos’ [slang for ‘aristocrats’] from the lampposts; all will be well when we hang them all.” A street singer is said to have written the words to Ça ira in the spring of 1790 to the music of a then popular dance. Originally meant as a patriotic tribute to constitutional rule, revolutionaries perverted it into a terrifying chant that became more popular than La Marseillaise and, in fact, was played before the curtains rose in all theaters until Napoleon came to power.
18. Kite, Beaumarchais and the War of American Independence, 2:264.
11. Tout finit par des chansons / Everything Ends in Song
1. Lemaitre, Beaumarchais, 331–32.
2. Ibid., 205.
3. Kite, Beaumarchais and the War of American Independence, 2:263.
4. Loménie, Beaumarchais and His Times, 441.
5. Le Mariage de Figaro, act 3, scene 4, in Oeuvres, 208.
6. Loménie, Beaumarchais and His Times, 448.
12. All of Which Proves That a Son of a
Clod Can Be Worth His Weight in Gold
1. Loménie, Beaumarchais and His Times, 456�
��57.
2. Kite, Beaumarchais and the War of American Independence, 2:246.
3. American Heritage, May–June 2000.
4. Durand, Documents, 267–72.
5. Figaro, Le Mariage de Figaro, act 5, scene 19, in Oeuvres, 230.
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INDEX
Académie Française, 152–53
Adams, John, 1, 49, 114
Adams, Samuel, 49, 95
Adelaide, Princess (Bourbon), 31, 32, 37, 44
Age of Enlightenment, 171
Alembert, Jean Le Rond d’, 64
Alexander, William, 114
Almaviva, comte de. See Barbier de Séville, Le
American Revolution: battle of Lexington, 88, 89; battle of New York, 5; Boston Massacre, 49–50, 50; Boston Tea Party, 66, 71; battles of Breed’s Hill and Bunker Hill, 90; early military action, 1–5, 90; peace talks, 2–3; Beaumarchais as forgotten hero of, 211
American War of Independence, 97, 106, 111, 114, 133–34, 137–39, 159
Amphitrite, 129, 132, 134
Angelucci, Guillaume, 76–79
Arnold, Benedict, 1, 106
Artois, comte d’, 65, 81, 165, 166, 170, 201
Atkinson, William. See Angelucci, Guillaume
Barber of Seville, The. See Barbier de
Séville, Le Barbier de Séville, Le, 50–54, 64, 80–84, 88, 128, 160, 207–8, 213
Barbiere di Siviglia, Il, 208
Bartolo (Doctor). See Barbier de Séville, Le
Bastille, 92, 165, 174, 175, 176, 179–80, 183–84
Beaumarchais, Eugénie (daughter), 129, 172, 185–86, 198, 203–4, 211
Beaumarchais, Madame de (wife). See Willermaulaz, Marie-Thérèse de
Beaumarchais, Pierre-Augustin Caron de, 1; childhood, 19–22; as poet, songster, and musical prodigy, 20; as watchmaker, 22–26; as Clockmaker to the King, 25, 27; as palace official, 26–28; marries Madeleine-Catherine Franquet de Boismarché, 26–28; assumes her noble name, 27; and wife’s death, 28; and conflicts with aristocracy, 29, 32–35; slays nobleman in duel, 33–34; reinvents harp, 29–30; writes first plays and songs, 30; as music-master and confidant to king’s daughters, 30–33; enters financial world, 36–38; buys Versailles sinecure, 39; buys judgeship in Paris, 39, 44; buys mansion near Luxem
bourg Gardens, 39–40; travels to Spain to avenge sister’s honor, 40; befriends Spanish King Carlos III, 41, 42–43; social success of, in Madrid, 41–42; wins import-export contracts for Louisiana Territory, 42–43; gains renown as song writer, 43; writes parades (one-act plays) and first full-length play (Eugénie), 44–45; marries second wife (Geneviève-Madeleine Watebled Lévêque), 46; and birth of first son, 46; opens lumber camp for French navy, 46–47; writes second play, Les Deuz Amis, 47; and deaths of wife and son, 48; and death of Pâris-Duverney, 48; and lawsuit by Pâris-Duverney nephew La Blache, 48; invents Figaro, 49; writes Le Barbier de Seville, 50–54; attacked by duc de Chaulnes, 55–56; goes to jail, 54–56; assets seized by court order, 61; on trial, publishes mémoires (pamphlets) exposing court corruption, 62–64; hailed throughout Europe, 65; goes into exile, apologizes to king for attacking courts, 66–67; returns to Paris, plans third marriage to Marie-Thérèse de Willermaulaz, 68; undertakes secret mission for Louis XV and Madame du Barry, 68–73; and hunt for Angelucci, 68–73; encounter with Empress Marie Thérese, 77–78; opening of Barber of Seville, 80–82; dispute over royalties, 83–84; founds Société des Auteurs et Compositeurs Dramatiques, 84; and Chevalier/Chevalière d’Eon, 84–88, 91–94; and Arthur Lee’s request for French aid, 95–97; “Peace or War” proposal to Louis XVI, 97–100, 105; scheme to save America, 107–9; forms Roderigue Hortalez et Cie. with king’s funds, 112–13; felonies annulled by king, 113–14; prepares to arm America, 115–17; espouses revolutionary ideals, 123–24; buys ships to carry arms and war matériel, 125–26; recruits officers, 126; and sailing of first ship to America, 129; and birth of daughter, Eugénie, 129; builds fleet to twelve, 134; and ships returned empty by Congress, 135; and arrival of arms at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, ensuring American victories at Bennington, Vermont, and Saratoga, New York, 137–39; doubles size of fleet and ships more than $20 million in arms to America, where Lee and Franklin prevent payments by Congress, 139–42; arms his fleet, 147; and capture of British Marlborough, 149; fleet sunk by British, 151; and Congress’s recognition of debt, but refusal of payments, 151; undertakes publication of collected works of Voltaire, 152–55; serves as consultant to government, 156–58, 161; restores Bibliothèque du Roi, 157; is dismissed after calling for social reform, 157–59; dissolves Roderigue Hortalez et Cie., 159; and congressional debt to him, which reaches more than $210 million, 159; resumes writing poetry and plays, 160; writes Le Mariage de Figaro, 160–69; and banning of Mariage by king, 163; and censors, 166–67; ban lifted by king, 167; and unprecedented success of Mariage, 167–69; in a prison for adolescents, 169–70; receives royal apologies and recompense, 170–71; writes third play in Figaro trilogy, La Mère Coupable, 172; marries Marie-Thérèse, 172; writes first opera, Tarare, 172–75; builds fantasy home and gardens, 175–77, 176; espouses French Revolution, 178; superintends Bastille demolition, 183; transfers funds to Switzerland, 183; elected neighborhood councilman, 184; sends wife and daughter to safety in Le Havre, 188; and Terweren guns plot, 188–200; home invaded by mob, 192–93; denounced, tried, and jailed, 194; released thanks to Amélie Houret, 194; temporary insanity, 194–95; arrested and jailed in London, 196; family arrested in France, 198; spends two years in exile, 201; and Congress’s rejection of claims for arms payments, 201–2; mansion destroyed by revolutionaries, 202–3, 203; and marriage of daughter, 203–4; rebuilds mansion, 204; compensated by Directory for Terweren guns plot, 204; sees Figaro returned to stage, 205; writes own epitaph, then dies in sleep (May 17, 1799), 205–7; buried in his garden, then transferred to Père Lachaise Cemetery, 207; mansion and gardens razed for road construction, 207; grandchildren of, 207