[40] Ch. MSS. In his _Mémoires Secrets_, &c. (London, 1781), Petit de Bachaumont states that D’Eon was sent as fencing-master to the Grand-Duke Peter, who had wished for one; a piece of information he obtained in all probability from the Count de Guerchy, who told George III. a similar story. He adds that D’Eon was at the same time entrusted to arrange with the grand-duke for the reception of a French ambassador at St. Petersburg; as manifest an absurdity, there being at the Russian Court no person more hostile to French interests than Peter. [41] La Messalière, 77. [42] _Lett. Mém._ &c. iii. 14. [43] Gaill. 74. [44] _Lett. Mém._ &c. iii. 15. [45] An English version of portions of this work appeared in the _Political Register_ for 1766, &c. [46] Vandal, 348 _et seq._ [47] Duke de Choiseul to Count Bernstorff, July 29, 1759. ‘Si j’étais maître,’ de Choiseul used to say, ‘nous serions vis-à-vis de l’Angleterre comme l’Espagne vis-à-vis des Maures; si l’on prenait ce parti, l’Angleterre serait détruite d’ici à trente ans.’ Louis XV. thought differently. [48] Private, from the Duke de Choiseul to the Marquis de l’Hôpital, October 2, 1759. Vandal, 360. [49] D’Eon to Louis XVI.: Ch. MSS. 861. [50] D’Eon to Beaumarchais, January 7, 1776. Gaill. 406. [51] Secret instructions to the Baron de Breteuil, April 1, 1760. _Affaires étrangères_, Vandal, 373. [52] Ch. MSS. [53] Vandal, 265 _et seq._ [54] Flassan, vi. 289. [55] Flassan, vi. 190. [56] A distinguished physician at the French Court, sent by Louis XV. to attend upon the Empress, who had complained to the King of her physical sufferings. [57] _Lett. Mém._ &c. iii. 17. [58] _Lett. Mém._ &c. iii. 19-20. [59] De la Fortelle, 40. Writing under the persuasion that D’Eon was of the female sex, Flassan, vi. 110, says:—‘Woronzoff and D’Eon were the intermediaries in the correspondence between Louis XV. and Elizabeth.’ Capefigue, _Louis XV. et la Société du XVIIIᵐᵉ Siècle_, Paris, 1842, says, iv. 32: ‘By means of his renown, D’Eon was enabled to accomplish the most delicate and most difficult missions ... his correspondence with Louis XV. is eminently remarkable ... he was chiefly instrumental in arranging the treaty of alliance between France and Russia.’ [60] French ambassador at Vienna, afterwards created Duke de Praslin. [61] _Lett. Mém._ &c. iii. 24. [62] Louis XV. to the Count de Broglio, May 31, 1761. Boutaric, i. 265. [63] De Broglie, i. 384. [64] See _Scots Mag._ vol. xxiii. for Marshal de Broglio’s account of this action. [65] _Lett. Mém._ &c. i. 145. [66] D’Eon to the Duke de Choiseul, January 12, 1764, and MS. notes. _Lett. Mém._ &c. i. 145. [67] Louis XV. to Marshal de Broglio. De Broglie, i. 438.