order to his vicar general, the Abbé Georgel, to destroy his whole correspondence. As this order was executed at once, the contents of the letters that passed between him and Madame de Lamotte are not known; nor does Madame Campan mention the import of the letter to Boehmer, with which the king confounded him at the interview. Madame de Lamotte upon her trial pretended, in reality, to throw the principal share of the fraud upon the Cardinal, acting in conjunction with a strange sort of itinerant mountebank, who called himself Count Cagliostro, and with whom the prelate, much to his honor, was in habits of intimate association. But notwithstanding the doubts, which might reasonably have been entertained at the time, of the honesty of M. de Rohan, it turned out from the more complete examination of the subject, which took place on the trial, that his eminence had been throughout more fool than knave; and that this prince, ambassador, high chaplain, Cardinal, and so forth, had been to an egregious and almost incredible extent the dupe of a couple of young females, one an adventurer of a very dubious sort, and the other a common girl of the town.

The former of these respectable personages was a handsome country girl, the daughter of a common peasant, who succeeded in persuading the Herald's College, that she was descended from an illegitimate branch of the house of Valois, which preceded that of Bourbon on the throne of France; and obtained a regular certificate to this effect, upon the strength of which she took the title of Countess de Lamotte Valois. With this certificate and title she presented herself to the Cardinal de Rohan, and requested his protection, and his good offices with the royal family. The Cardinal, naturally credulous, was immediately interested by the fair peasant's 'historic name,' as well as by her personal attractions, and insinuating manners; and there grew up between them a certain degree of intimacy. He was obliged, however, to inform his client, that it was impossible for him to be of any service to her with the royal family, and he naturally expressed, at the same time, the strong desire he felt to recover the good graces of the queen. Upon this hint the countess founded her projects.

After the delay necessary to give the story a little probability, she informed the Cardinal, that she had obtained by

other means an introduction to the queen, and had even been admitted to a most intimate and confidential intercourse with her majesty; that she had availed herself of this opportunity to remove, in some degree, the queen's unfavorable prejudices against the Cardinal, and had succeeded in persuading her to permit his eminence to send her a written justification of his conduct. The Cardinal caught, without reflection, at this seducing offer; and immediately drew up, with infinite pains, an elaborate apology, which he duly delivered to Madame de Lamotte. Meanwhile, the latter had associated in her plot a person accustomed to counterfeit hand writing, and had procured some of the queen's to serve as a model. At a proper interval after the Cardinal's apology had been presented, a letter from the queen was handed him by Madame de Lamotte, beautifully written upon a little sheet of fine embossed and gilt paper, in which her majesty informed his eminence, that she was perfectly satisfied with his justification, rejoiced to find that he was innocent, could not give him an audience just at present, but would as soon as possible, and strongly recommended the most profound discretion. The Cardinal was now at the height of his wishes, and transported with raptures of gratitude to the queen and the countess. The elements of the plot being thus prepared, the action followed of itself. The queen very naturally had occasion from time to time for a sum of twenty or thirty thousand francs, for contingent expenses; and the readiest method to procure it was, to address another little gilt billet-doux to the delighted Cardinal. In this way the countess obtained from his eminence an amount of about a hundred and twenty thousand francs; but feeling, probably, that this deception could not last forever, she determined to improve it to the utmost, while it was still perfect, and for this purpose cast her eyes upon the famous diamond necklace, then in the jewellers' hands. Her plan was to persuade the Cardinal, that the queen wished him to purchase this costly ornament; and having received it herself in the queen's name, to make her escape with it, and thus bring the comedy to a close.

A letter was accordingly despatched to the Cardinal, then in the country, in which the queen urgently invited him to come directly to town, as she wished to employ him in a private transaction of great importance. The Cardinal arrived New Series, No. 17.

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with all possible speed, and was immediately informed of the intended purchase. Not wishing to proceed in such a business without taking all the necessary precautions, he consulted his friend, and oracle, Cagliostro, who dealt in prophecy, and who gave upon this occasion the most favorable answers, for which he doubtless had his reasons. After obtaining such positive assurances of the safety of the transaction, there could be of course no pretence for hesitation; and the Cardinal proceeded to make the purchase. The jewellers were to receive their money in instalments of three hundred thousand francs, and as the queen was represented as short of cash, the Cardinal consented to provide for the first instalment himself.

It was impossible, however, while this business was in progress, to avoid the occasional recurrence of some suspicious circumstances, which would have undeceived any other man, and which seemed to distress the Cardinal. His eminence was more especially uneasy at the queen's long delay in granting him the promised interview. In order to remove all these doubts, and to keep his faith firm, and lively, at this last critical moment, (for the necklace had not yet been delivered,) it was concluded, that the queen should give him a meeting in the garden of the palace at Versailles. For this purpose, the countess employed the agency of one of the frail fair ones of the Palais Royal, whom she had noticed in her walks, as remarkable for a strong personal resemblance to the queen. This young lady was invited to represent the queen in a very innocent joke, which was to be played off, at her majesty's desire, upon one of her courtiers; and being naturally fond of sport, and well paid besides, she consented with great readiness. The meeting was accordingly arranged, all due precaution being taken to make the deception as complete as possible. The pretended queen received his eminence in the evening, and in a dark alley of the garden, gave him her hand to kiss, assured him that he should soon be restored to public favor, and then, after a moment's conversation, retired abruptly at a concerted signal, telling the Cardinal, that Madame and the Count d'Artois, were approaching, and that they should be discovered. The Cardinal rejoined his companion, quite charmed with the queen's affability, and quite in despair at the unlucky interruption of so agreeable

an interview. To make a long story short, the delusion was kept up by these, and other means, until the necklace was finally delivered, and indeed for a long time after. Had the parties to the fraud been a little more circumspect, they might all have placed themselves, without difficulty, beyond the reach of punishment. But what with their negligence, and what with the vigilance of the French police, then under the administration of the celebrated M. de Santines, they were all apprehended, and brought with the Cardinal to a format trial before the parliament of Paris.

We have not room to enter at length into the details of this curious process. The parliament seems to have done substantial justice to the parties, who were all acquitted excepting the pretended countess, and her immediate accomplices in counterfeiting the queen's hand, and concealing the diamonds. The Cardinal, in particular, was fully exonerated of any criminal intention; but such was the hatred of the queen for this unfortunate prelate, that she could not be made to feel the justice of the sentence; or to abandon her persuasion, that the whole proceeding was a plot arranged by the Cardinal, in order to avenge himself upon her, for her neglect of him, by exposing her to the suspicion of being herself a party to this disgraceful transaction. No sooner was his eminence released from the Bastille, than he was exiled by a lettre de cachet to his estates, where he staid till the revolution came on, and induced him to emigrate with the others.

The heiress of Valois was sentenced to be branded on the shoulder, and confined for life in the house of correction. When she was brought before the judges,' says a writer quoted in the work before us, ' and informed of the fate that awaited her, she was seized with such a paroxysm of rage that she fell into violent convulsions. She rolled upon the floor shrieking most fearfully; and it was with difficulty that she could be transported to the court yard to undergo her punishment. When she saw the executioner make ready the machine for branding, she caught hold of his collar, and bit his hands with such force, that she took a piece out. then fell again into still more violent convulsions than before, and it was no easy matter to fix the hot iron upon her shoulders. Her shrieks and curses continued till she was lodged in the house of correction. She staid here about nine months.

She

and then made her escape, either by connivance of the government, or by gaining one of the keepers. It was thought at the time that she took the latter course; and it was reported in Paris, that the goaler, when he opened the door to let her out, said to her, with more wit than generally belongs to that class of persons-" Farewell, Madame, whereever you go I have no doubt you will be re-marked."

Thus ended the famous tragi-comedy of the diamond necklace. The only serious thing about it was the injurious effect upon the queen's reputation of her connexion, however involuntary and substantially innocent, with so unfortunate a business; and especially of the infamous libels upon her, which Madame de Lamotte published in England, after her escape from the house of correction.

Having had occasion to mention the Cardinal de Rohan, and his friend the Abbé Georgel, we shall add here an extract from the Abbé's Memoirs, in which he describes a very singular occurrence, that happened to him, during the residence of the Cardinal as French ambassador at the court of Vienna, where he was employed at the time himself as secretary of the embassy.

'Some time before the ambassador's departure, a singular incident happened, which led to the most important discoveries, and furnished us with the opportunity of rendering some very considerable services to the government.

، Upon my return home one night, the porter handed me a sealed note, with my address upon it, containing the following words; "Meet me to night at a certain place (naming it) on the rampart, and you will hear something of great consequence." The mysterious manner in which this invitation was conveyed, and the time and place of the proposed meeting, made it appear somewhat hazardous. But knowing that I had no enemies, and not wishing to let slip an opportunity of aiding in the public service, I made no scruple of repairing to the appointed spot, having, however, taken the precaution to station two trusty attendants in the neighborhood, who were to come to my assistance, at a concerted signal. I found at the rendezvous a man disguised in a cloak and mask. He gave me some papers, and said with a counterfeited voice, " You have gained my confidence, and I wish to be of use to the embassy. These papers will shew you what I can do for you. If you intend to avail yourself of my services, meet me tomorrow night at the same hour, and at another place, (naming it,) and bring me a thougand ducats."?