Madame de Montesson

me to accompany him to prison

where we remained three days we suffered this sort of punishment several times but with less severity in seventeen eighty three the duke of orleans and madame de montesson visited brienne and for upwards of a month the magnificent chateau of the comte de brienne was a versailles in miniature the series of brilliant entertainments which were given to the august travellers made them almost forget the royal magnificence they had left behind them the prince and madame de montesson expressed a wish to preside at the distribution of the prizes of our college bonaparte and i won the prizes in the class of mathematics which as i have already observed was the branch of study to which he confined his attention and in which he excelled when i was called up for the seventh time madame de montesson said to my mother who had come from seine to be present at the distribution pray madame crown your son this time my hands are aweary there was an inspector of the military schools whose business it was to make an annual report on each pupil whether educated at the public expense or paid for by his family i copied from the report of seventeen eighty four a note which was probably obtained surreptitiously from the war office i wanted to purchase the manuscript but louis bonaparte bought it i did not make a copy of the note which related to myself because i should naturally have felt diffident in making any use of it it would however have served to show how time and circumstances frequently reversed the distinctions which arise at school or college judging from the reports of the inspector of military schools young bonaparte was not of all the pupils at brienne in seventeen eighty four the one most calculated to excite prognostics of future greatness and glory the note to which i have

just alluded

and which was written by m de corelio then inspector of the military schools describes bonaparte in the following terms inspection of military schools seventeen eighty four report made for his majesty by m de corelio m de buonaparte napoleon born fifteenth august seventeen sixty nine height four feet ten inches ten lines is in the fourth class has a good constitution excellent health character obedient upright grateful conduct very regular has been always distinguished by his application to mathematics he knows history and geography very passably he is not well up in ornamental studies or in latin in which he is only in the fourth class he will be an excellent sailor he deserves to be passed on to the military school of paris father bertrand however opposed bonaparte's removal to paris because he had not passed through the fourth latin class and the regulations required that he should be in the third i was informed by the vice-principal that a report relative to napoleon was sent from the college of brienne to that of paris in which he was described as being domineering imperious and obstinate note napoleon remained upwards of five years at brienne from april seventeen seventy nine till the latter end of seventeen eighty four in seventeen eighty three the chevalier carelio sub-inspector of the military schools selected him to pass the year following to the military school at paris to which three of the best scholars were annually sent from each of the twelve provincial military schools of france it is curious as well as satisfactory to know the opinion at this time entertained of him by those who were the best qualified to judge his old master le guille professor of history at paris boasted that in a list of the different scholars he had predicted his pupil's subsequent career in fact to the name of bonaparte the following note is added a corsican by birth and character he will do something great if circumstances favor him mensch was his instructor in geometry who also entertained a high opinion of him m bauer his german master was the only one who saw nothing in him and was surprised at being told he was undergoing his examination for the artillery hazlitt i knew bonaparte well and i think m de corelio's report of him was exceedingly just except perhaps that he might have said he was very well as to his progress in history and geography and very backward in latin but certainly nothing indicated the probability of his being an excellent seaman he himself had no thought of the navy note brienne is certainly wrong as to bonaparte having no thought of the navy in a letter of seventeen eighty four to the minister of war his father says of napoleon that following the advice of the comte de mabeuf he has turned his studies towards the navy and so well has he succeeded that he was intended by m de corelio for the school of paris and afterwards for the department of toulon the retirement of the former professor corelio has changed the fate of my son it was only on the failure of his intention to get into the navy that his father on fifteenth july seventeen eighty four applied for permission for him to enter the artillery napoleon having a horror of the infantry where he said they did nothing it was on the success of this application that he was allowed to enter the school of paris yung to one pages ninety one to a hundred and three oddly enough in later years on thirtieth august seventeen ninety two having just succeeded in getting himself reinstated as captain after his absence overstaying leave he applied to pass into the artillery de la marine the application was judged to be simply absurd and was filed with this note s r sa réponse y to two page two hundred one end of note in consequence of m de corelio's report bonaparte was transferred to the military college of paris along with m monteby de dompierre the castre de commanges and m de laugier de bellecourte who were all like him educated at the public expense and all at least as favorably reported what could have induced sir walter scott to say that bonaparte was the pride of the college that our mathematical master was exceedingly fond of him and that the other professors in the different sciences had equal reason to be satisfied with him what i have above stated together with the report of m de corelio bear evidence of his backwardness in almost every branch of education except mathematics neither was it as sir walter affirms his precocious progress in mathematics that occasioned him to be removed to paris he had attained the proper age and the report of him was favorable therefore he was very naturally included among the number of the five who were chosen in seventeen eighty four in a biographical account of bonaparte i have read the following anecdote when he was fourteen years of age he happened to be at a party where some one pronounced a high eulogism on turenne and a lady in the company observed that he certainly was a great man and that she should like him better if he had not burned the palatinate what signifies that replied bonaparte if it was necessary to the object he had in view This is either an anachronism or a mere fabrication.

She may have had romantic relationships with some of them, but like so many other details about her life, it's all pretty vague.

De Gouges was also friends with Madame de Montesson, wife of Louis Philippe I d'Orléans.

That's the Duke of Orléans.

And at one point, she was rumored to be having an affair with the Duke's son, who was later known as Philippe Égalité.

Old Captain de Renard had served before the revolution in the infantry regiment of Monsieur the Duke of Orleans, and was admitted to the prince's salons when he went to Paris.

He had seen Madame de Montesson, the famous Madame de Genlis, Monsieur Ducrais, the inventor of the Palais Royal.

These personages would crop up only too frequently in Monsieur de Renard's anecdotes.

He found it, however, more and more of a strain to remember stories which required such delicacy in the telling, and for some time past it had only been on great occasions that he would trot out his anecdotes concerning the House of Orleans.

The Tyro lays claim to some excellent makers of bow instruments, the chief of whom is Jakob Stehner, who was born about sixteen twenty at absom a village near innsbruck this celebrated maker at three different periods changed his make firstly while pupil of the amate of cremona the violins of this period are admirably finished and are extremely scarce the belly is more raised than in the amate the scrolls longer and wider in the lower part all the labels of these violins are written and signed in his own handwriting one of these magnificent instruments dated sixteen forty four was the property of gaudel ballet-master of the opera at paris who performed upon it successfully in the ballet of la danse somnie secondly when established at epsom after having married he produced an immense number of instruments carelessly finished from sixteen fifty to sixteen sixty seven however after having led a life of poverty for several years obliged to hawk his own violins which he sold for six florins each he received orders from some noblemen which improved his position his genius from this period took a new flight and he produced some splendid instruments which are recognized by scrolls that represent heads of animals by the close veining of the bellies by the close and even small ribs and by the varnish resembling red mahogany faded by time into a brown color steyner was assisted at this time by his brother marcus who later in life entered the order of the brother hermits by the three brothers klotz matthias georg and sebastian and by albani all of whom were his pupils the reproach attached to steyner's instruments of possessing a nasal tone applies only to this period the labels of which are printed there are however some admirable instruments of this time which were in the possession of the violinist ropiquet of the marquis de la rosse et grandi of spain of the count de mappes a parisian amateur and of frey an artist of the opera and publisher of music there is an excellent tenor of this period formerly the property of m matreau de prville governor of the port of lorient the third period of steyner's career commences from his retiring into a convent after the death of his wife in the tranquillity of the cloister he determined to close his artistic life by the production of chef d'oeuvre having obtained some wood of the first quality through the medium of his superior he made sixteen violins models combining every perfection sent one to each of the twelve chiefs of electorates of the empire and presented the remaining four to the emperor since then these instruments are known under the name of steyner lecteurs their tone is pure metallic and aerial like the beautiful voice of a woman they are graceful and elegant in form exquisitely finished in all the details and have a transparent varnish of a gold color such are the qualities which distinguish these productions of the third and last period of steyner's talent the labels are in the handwriting of this celebrated maker Three of these rare instruments only now are to be met with.

the fate of the others remains unknown the first was given by the empress maria theresa to kennis a belgian violinist from liege after whose death it was taken to england and became the property of sir richard bettenson baronet another steiner elekteur was purchased in germany in seventeen seventy one by the duke of orleans grandfather of king louis philippe for the sum of three thousand five hundred florins afterwards this prince having discontinued playing the violin gave it to the younger navoyeur in token of the pleasure he experienced in hearing him accompany madame de montesson this precious violin became the property of the violinist cartier in eighteen seventeen it was in the hands of this artist when i heard and saw it the third violin elector was in the possession of the king of prussia frederick william the second after leaving stehner the klotz family copied his models of the second period and these instruments are not unfrequently mistaken for those of the master they are however readily distinguished by the varnish that of klotz instead of a deep red has a black ground shaded with yellow the tone of matthias klotz instruments is silvery but of little power these artists produced many pupils in the tyrol who imitated the cremona models but these imitations are easily discoverable by the inferior quality of the wood the varnish which is very dark and the tone which is deficient in every quality the ancient manufacture of musical instruments in france incontestably inferior to that of italy is represented during the reigns of henry the fourth and louis the thirteenth by jacques bouquet born in lyons who settled in paris piret his townsmen who produce more instruments but of inferior finish antoine d'espon and adrian veron these makers generally copied amati the violins of the successor of bouquet gerson his pupil are of small pattern and finely finished they have become extremely rare it is supposed that there are not more than twenty which can be considered as his own make these are varnished in oil the others were made in his workshop by his pupils they are of inferior quality and varnished in spirits of wine the contemporaries of guesson at paris were castanieri and st paul whose violins were formerly esteemed for accompaniment after these came salomon whose instruments rivalled those of guessant towards the end of the reign of louis the fourteenth la ghetto enjoyed a certain reputation as regards the ancient manufacture in the provinces of france there is nothing which raises above mediocrity with the exception of medard a contemporary of geronimo amate whose models he copied he lived at nancy at the commencement of the seventeenth century lambert surnamed charpentier de la lutherie lived a century later in the same town he produced nothing of any note saunier his pupils surpassed his master in finnish but in general lorraine was the country of industry not art in the modern manufacture of instruments at paris finth is especially distinguished he was a german who worked about seventeen seventy and follow the proportions of stradiuari all his violins varnished in oil are finished with care they are greatly sought after in the first instance but a change of taste followed and opinion fell into a contrary excess after finth came picti a pupil of saunier whose violins were given as prizes to the pupils of the conservatory of paris at the beginning of the present century they have been esteemed of little value not so with lupot who came from orleans to settle in paris in seventeen ninety four he studied with great perseverance the proportions of stragiari incontestably the best and selected the finest wood that could be obtained lupot made the manufacture of violins his great study and their finish a work of love they are highly esteemed and stand next in value with artists to good cremona instruments thus far we have only seen the manufacture of bow instruments cultivated by inspiration or by imitation science was not brought to bear as an element in the construction of these instruments but we have arrived at a period of transition in this respect less perhaps from the results obtained than from the foundations which have been laid and i will first advert to the several essays which have been made with the view of dispensing with certain portions of the instrument considered as obstacles to the free production of vibration the first essay of this kind was made in eighteen sixteen by franois chanon the son of an instrument maker of miracours afterwards an engineer in the navy convinced that the best means of producing vibration in all the various parts of the violin was to preserve as far as it was practicable the fibres of the wood lengthways he concluded that the shoulders of the ordinary violin with their angles were insuperable obstacles to a free and powerful quality of tone he believed also that the hollowing out of the belly to give it the vaulted form was contrary to theoretical principles and consequently a radical error he was persuaded moreover that short fibres favored the production of acute tones and long fibres grave ones upon these principles he constructed a violin the belly of which was only slightly raised the sound holes nearly straight and in place of sloping the instrument after the ordinary form he depressed the sides gradually similar to the body of a guitar with a view of favoring as much as possible the vibration of the belly he attached the strings to the lower part of it instead of to the ordinary tailpiece this done channeau submitted his violin to the academies of science and fine arts of the french institute and a favorable report of the essay was published in the moniteur universal on the twenty second of august the judgment pronounced by these institutions has not been confirmed by the opinion of artists it is to be remarked that what chanot conceived to be a discovery was simply returning to the form of viols of the middle ages that the form had been adopted by able makers and that there is still extant a bass viol of gaspard de the angles of which are removed at the possession of m fazini at milan that another bass of the same form constructed by pietro guarnieri belongs to m capi at mantua and that m de rabetta of bergamo possesses an old violin of the same form the artists who made these essays discovered that the results did not answer their expectations a retired officer of the italian army m galbussara reproduced the pretended invention of chanot in a violin which he exhibited in the palace of brera at milan in eighteen thirty two monsieur antolini of that city a distinguished artist criticized in a small pamphlet the false principle which led to this return to primitive forms some years after chanot's violin had been consigned to the department of the museum specially devoted to this object felix savette a physicist of eminent rank struck with the discoveries of clagny on the communication of vibrations and regularity of sonorous waves devoted himself with great ardour to the application of these discoveries in the construction of bow instruments and after several experiments made with great sagacity he arrived at the following deduction first when two or a larger number of bodies whatever they may be come into immediate contact and one is directly put into motion they all produce the same number of vibrations at the same time second all these vibrations follow parallel directions third the increase of the sound of any kind of body for example of a string depends upon the simultaneity of the vibrations of the bodies with which this string is in contact and this increase is carried to its highest point when the bodies put into motion by communication are in such conditions that if they were directly put into motion they would produce the same number of vibrations as the body acted upon in the first instance the chief consequences of these principles are that the vibrations produced by the strings of the violin are communicated to the belly by the bridge from the belly to the back by the sounding-post and that the oscillations in equal number of all these bodies cause equal vibration and by similar numbers of oscillations to the mass of air held in suspension within the body of the instrument hence it follows that the object in the construction of this sonorous box is to favor as much as possible the communication of the sound waves and to bring them into harmony in seeking the application of this theory to the manufacture of bow instruments savart fell into error in the first pamphlet he wrote upon this subject when he expressed the opinion that the curves the angles and the raised belly adopted by the old manufacturers could only have proceeded from the prejudices of routine but he discovered this error while prosecuting the continuation of his studies and he ultimately extolled the proportions of stradiuari which he first believed to be only favourable to good effects from considerations which the celebrated maker had not perceived a manufacturer of the greatest intelligence m vouillon seigneur born at mirecourt and settled in paris devoted himself to the principles of constructing bow instruments at the very time sabat was occupied in endeavouring to discover them these two ingenious men in constant communication with each other on this subject reciprocally aided each other the artist brought to the man of science the tribute of his experience and the man of science to the artist the result of his meditations voyome had been for a lengthened period engaged in experiments on the density homogeneity and the elasticity of various woods convinced of the importance of this matter for the solution of most of the problems of acoustics relative to the sonorous quality of instruments he was thus enabled to discover the most suitable wood to be used in the repairing of ancient instruments as regards their quality or their defects and the most signal success crowned his researches many instruments of great price after having been deteriorated by unskilful hands recovered their former value through the ability of this distinguished maker what he acquired in this respect he applied to all instruments of his own manufacture and his deep study of the proportions of the best ancient instruments joined to his knowledge of the special nature of woods and the laws of vibration, has enabled him to produce a multitude of very superior instruments which require only time to be stamped with excellence.

It will be seen from what has been said that the art of constructing bow instruments has departed from the prejudices of routine, working in the dark, and by imitation to pursue the wake of science of observation and of calculation there can be no doubt that this is a real progress but to shield this progress from all contestation the effect of time is requisite to bring a good instrument to that state of equilibrium which will make its qualities manifest on the one hand it is necessary that the materials employed in its construction should for a lengthened period be submitted to the action of the various states of temperature and atmosphere and on the other that the elasticity of its various parts should have been put for a long time into action to acquire all its development

Hi, Uncle Lazer here.