Later Queens of the French StageWilliams, H. Noel (Hugh Noel)
History
Later Queens of the French Stage
Williams, H. Noel (Hugh Noel)
Actresses -- France -- Biography
Finally, the unfortunate administration, for the sake of peace and
tranquillity, agreed that the lady should not be required to sing more
than once a week, that is to say on Fridays, the fashionable night at
the Opera.
In March 1790, the Comte d’Antraigues openly accused of apostacy,
denounced by the revolutionary Press to public vengeance, and the
recipient, every day, of violent anonymous letters threatening
assassination, deemed it prudent to quit France. On April 3, Madame
Saint-Huberty obtained a passport to Geneva and, accompanied by her
_femme de chambre_ and two men-servants, set out for Switzerland, where
she joined the count in the environs of Lausanne.
The two lovers remained for nearly three months at Lausanne, and then
removed to a château, near Mindrisio, belonging to the Count Turconi,
and here, on December 29, they were secretly married in the neighbouring
church of Saint-Eusèbe.
For grave reasons known to himself, the Bishop of Como, in whose diocese
the marriage took place, had granted to the officiating priest
permission to perform the ceremony without inquiries or proofs, at
whatever date, hour, or place the parties might select.
The day after the marriage, the count addressed to his wife the
following letter:
“I may die, my dear wife, and cannot acquit myself too soon of the most
sacred of duties.
“It is possible that there may be wanting to our union some of the
formalities, which, according to the law of France, are required for the
legalisation of marriages, and imperious circumstances may prevent me
from fulfilling them for some time to come.
“If I happen to die before that time, I wish you to render to my memory
the honour which you owe it, by rendering to yourself that which is due
to you.
“I declare then that, after seven years of mutual confidence, I have
united by marriage to my destiny the woman who has had the courage to
wish to share my misfortunes; that, on December 29, 1790, after having
obtained from the Bishop of Como a dispensation for the publication of
banns, and permission for us to marry at any time and place that might
please us, I married you in the Château of Castel San-Pietro, in the
presence of two priests as witnesses.
“With several reasons for keeping this marriage secret, I did not
conceal from you the most imperative of all: the grief it would cause my
worthy and venerable mother. But I knew her; if she had only tears to
give to my memory, she would forgive our secret union, and would see
only the wife of her son in the woman who watched over his destinies,
who softened their rigour, and who received the last sighs of his
heart.”
* * * * *
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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