DU BARRY, MARIE JEAlsTNE GOMARD DE VAITBERNIER, COMIOSSO, favorite of Louis XV., was b. Aug. 19, 1746, at Vaucouleurs. Her mother was a dressmaker, and her father, or rather her reputed father, was an exciseman named Vaubernier. the death of her father, she stayed for some time at a convent, but left it when fifteen years of age; went to Paris, and assuming the name of Mademoiselle Lange, succeeded in obtaining employment in the establishment of a fashionable milliner; but in a short time renounced all honest occupation, and forming a connection with a disreputable house, met there the comte Jean Du Barry, one of the most noted roues of his day, who made her his mistress. This person afterwards introduced her to Lehel, valet-de chambre of Louis XV., who presented her to his royal master, then nearly 60 years of age. She was at this time remarkably handsome, to some extent witty, and had a frankness, or it might be, a vulgarity of manner that amused the doting monarch.
Desirous that la petite Lange should obtain a title, and be introduced to court, Louis prevailed upon comte Guillaume Du Barry, brother of the comte already mentioned, to marry, and thereby confer his title upon, the favorite. Accordingly, in 1769, she was pre sented to court as the conitesse Du Barry. After this period, many of the most power ful courtiers abased themselves before her.- D'Aiguillon became her confidant, and in concert with her, ruled the doting king; the chancellor Maupeou claimed a remote rela tionship with her, and by her influence succeeded in dismissing and exiling the parlia ment in 1771; the abbe Terray, comptroller-general of finance, was suave to her, though insolent to all the rest of France. At no period, perhaps, was the court of France more
openly and outrageously immoral than during the supremacy of this strumpet. On the death of Louis, however, in 1774, Du B. was dismissed from court, and sent to live in a convent near Meaux. She was afterwards removed to her residence of Luciennes, and while living there was allowed a pension by Louis XVI. Some time after the out break of the revolution, she went to London to dispose of her jewels. On her return, Robespierre caused her to be arrested, July, 1793. In Nov., she was tried before the revolutionary tribunal, and accused of " having wasted the treasures of the state, of conspiracy against the republic, and of having, in London, worn mourning for the late king." She was condemned to death, and was sent to the guillotine 7th Dec., 1793. Of all the women who mounted the scaffold during the revolution, Du B. exhibited the least courage. She implored the " good people" to deliver her, and Monsieur the executioner to prolong her miserable life for one moment only. The single good thing that history records of her, is her patronage of various artists and men of letters, but there is little reason to believe that it originated in anything higher than her dread of epigram and caricature. She had neither taste nor knowledge, and cared only for sensual gratifications and excitement. It is estimated that she cost France 35,000,000 francs. The Memoirs published under her name (6 vols., Par. 1829-30) are not reliable. The only work, it seems, which can be consulted with confidence isLacretelle's Ilistoire France pendant le Siècle