SOME BOOKS OF THE WEEK.
[Notice in this column does not necessarily preclude subsequent review.]
A King's Favourite : a New Life of Madame Da Barry. By C. Saint Andre. (H. Jenkins. 12s. 6d. net.)—A very competent anonymous translator is responsible for this English version of M. Saint Andre's biography, for which H. de Noihac has written an introduction. They claim to produce new information from documents in the library at Versailles, and all that is new is to the credit of their heroine. Probably her immorality was mainly due to her beauty and her upbringing, and it may well be argued that she was a preferable person to Mme. de Pompadour and most Royal mistresses, for women as well as men of intellect were devoted to her. But M. Saint Andre's views are too lenient. While she was living with the Duo de Brissac, after the death of Louis XV., she seems to have had a brief and ardent love affair with a married Englishman, Henry Seymour, and the author tells us that " the prudent and diplomatic Countess manipulated both the Duke and Seymour . . . and she played her difficult double game with delicate tact "—a merciful comment indeed ! The picturesque account of the life with Louis, with its descriptions of dresses, jewels, and palling dissi- pations, is a little tedious, but the story becomes more interesting with the Revolution. Then Mme. Du Barry showed a good deal more character than self-interest,. though the evidence is not conclusive that she actually sacrificed herself for M. de Brissac's daughter. A book that portrays Louis as nothing better or worse than a faithful lover, and Choiseul as nothing but an opponent of Madame, has no pretensions to any historical per- spective. It is illustrated with many portraits.
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