A FRIEND OF
MARIE-ANTOINETTE
(LADY ATKYNS)
Madame Charlotte Atkyns.
(After a miniature in the possession of Count Lair.)
[Frontispiece.
A FRIEND OF
MARIE-ANTOINETTE
(LADY ATKYNS)
TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH
OF
FRÉDÉRIC BARBEY
WITH A PREFACE
BY
VICTORIEN SARDOU
OF THE FRENCH ACADEMY
LONDON
CHAPMAN & HALL, Ltd.
1906
[Pg v]
PREFACE
When I brought out at the Vaudeville in 1896 myplay, entitled Paméla, Marchande de Frivolités, in whichI had grouped together dramatically, with what verisimilitudeI could, all the various Royalist attempts atrescuing the son of Louis XVI., the Dauphin, fromthe prison of the Temple, there were certain scholarswho found fault with me for representing an Englishwoman,Lady Atkyns, as the protagonist, or at leastthe prime mover in the matter of his escape. Some ofthem went so far as to accuse me of having inventedthis character for the purpose of my piece.
Lady Atkyns, certainly, has left but few traces of herexistence; she was a Drury Lane actress, pretty, witty,impressionable, and good—it seems there were manysuch among the English actresses of the time. Married(we shall see presently how it came about) to a peer,who gave her wealth at least, if not happiness, and whodoes not appear to have counted for much in her life,Lady Atkyns became a passionate admirer of Marie-Antoinette;she was presented to the Queen at Versailles,and when the latter was taken to the Temple,[Pg vi]the responsive Englishwoman made every effort to findher way into the prison. She succeeded by the use ofguineas, which, in spite of the hatred professed for Pittand Coburg, were more to the taste of certain patriotsthan the paper-money of the Republic.
Lady Atkyns suggested that the Queen shouldescape dressed in her costume, but the Royal prisonerwould not forsake her children. There is a traditionthat in refusing the offer of her enthusiastic friend,Marie-Antoinette besought her good offices for theyoung Dauphin, while putting her on her guard againstthe intrigues of the Comte de Provence and the Comted’Artois. However, most of these facts were still indoubt, resting only on somewhat vague statements,elliptical allusions, and intangible bits of gossip, pickedup here and there, when, one day, my friend Lenôtre,who is great at ferreting out old papers, came to me,all excitement, with a document which he had comeupon the evening before in a portfolio among theArchives of the Police.
It was a letter, dated May, 1821, and addressed tothe Minister by the director of the penitential establishmentof Gaillon. This official