to which he had pretended to belong, to ensure the success of his secret diplomatic negotiations. This conjecture is still further confirmed by the testimony of two of his former schoolfellows, who, on hearing a report which they were positive was unfounded, were impelled by curiosity to visit D’Eon. They found him in bed. “What will you have me do?” said he, when they had explained the object of their visit; “they have ordered me to be a woman, and I wear petticoats by command of the King.”’ From this kind of declaration D’Eon never swerved, always maintaining that he was forced to pass for a woman, and it will be remembered that when resisting the pressure put upon him by Beaumarchais, he reminded that unyielding negotiator that it was Louis XV. and the Duke d’Aiguillon, Louis XVI. and the Count de Vergennes, and the de Guerchy family who demanded his metamorphosis. The theory put forward by Gaillardet, that D’Eon himself confirmed the general belief in his being a female, is based upon two passages in letters to Beaumarchais: ‘I admit with pleasure, although with the pain, the shame, and the tears that the avowal and admission of my own weakness have wrung from me,’ and, ‘I have made known to you the mystery of my sex.’ That Beaumarchais seriously believed D’Eon to be a woman is beyond any manner of doubt, but that D’Eon confessed so much to him spontaneously, the idea having emanated from himself, is anything but proved, if proof rests solely on the above two short extracts. Dutens, styled by D’Eon, ‘mon honorable ami,’ and who was well acquainted with Beaumarchais (‘j’ai beaucoup connu Beaumarchais’), was told by the dramatic writer that he was perfectly assured of the sex of the extraordinary woman—but that was all! And he relates, as he had heard it, the cause which led to the Chevalier’s change of sex. The Countess de Guerchy attributed the death of her husband to grief, consequent upon the ridicule with which he had been covered by the Chevalier D’Eon, and she warned the Count de Maurepas that if D’Eon dared to land in France, her son should await him at Calais to fight him, and if her son fell, she had a son-in-law ready to take his place. Greatly amused at hearing this, D’Eon was reported to have said: ‘Very well, I will put an end to all this. I declare I am a woman.’ Unfortunately, Dutens does not give his authority for this story, the latter part of which is entirely inconsistent with the impatience we have seen exhibited by D’Eon to fight young de Guerchy, and to afford him the opportunity for avenging his father.