FONTENAY, THERESE DE CABAltRUS, MARQUISE DE, was born in 1773 at Saragossa, in Spain. All that is known of her early youth is, that she was even then admired for her wit, fascinating manners, and remarkable personal beauty, for which she was dis tinguished through life. In 1789, at the age of sixteen, she married M. Devin, marquis of Fonteuay, a councillor of the third Chambre des Enquetes, in the parliament of Paris. The great disparity between her age and that of her husband, and the attentions she received, led to disputes between them, and in 17 93 Madame de Fontenay left Paris with her only child to rejoin her father, in Spain. But on reaching Bordeaux, she was arrested and thrown into prison, because, although provided with a passport, she had not a carte de ailretd,' at that time indispensable. In her distress she wrote to Tallien, who was then on a mission to Bordeaux with two other proconsuls, Yiribeau and Baudot. Her application was successful; she was released, and a connection which lasted nine years thus originated. She soon became the most influential person in that city, and though little reliance can be placed on the accounts which charge her with havinz sold her ransoms like stock, there can be no doubt she opened the prisons to many captives and prevented many heads from falling. Ju 1794 she followed 'raffia') to Paris, and was immediately arrested and sent to prison. Here she first met with Madame Josephine de Beauharnais, afterwards Madame Bonaparte.
Alarmed by the increasing draughts from her own prison during the first three weeks in July, she wrote repeatedly to Tallien, upbraid ing him with his indolence and want of spirit, and conjuring him to make an effort to save her. Stimulated by these letters, as well as by his own sense of danger, the young Dantonist drew together the various members of the Convention, who knew they were threatened, and on the 9th Thermidor Robespierre was overthrown. The prisons
were then opened, and Madame de Fontenay, along with several thousand captives, was set at liberty.
On the 28th December 1794 she married Tallier', her first husbaud being still alive. They continued to live together until 1798, when Tallien accompanied Bonaparte into Egypt. Their harmony however had long been interrupted, and they were legally divorced April 2, 1802. On the 18th July 1805 she contracted a now marriage with the Count Joseph de Caraman, who became Prince de Chimay the same year. Her first and actual husband, the Marquis de Fontenay, was still alive and did not die until 1815. In consequence of this singu larity, the church refused to admit the validity of her last engagement. For ten years she struggled in vain with the feelings of society, con tinued in Paris, and gave dinners, balls, and entertainments. The great families would not attend them, and many of the cards of invitation which she had addressed to them as Princess do Chimay, were returned to her as Madame de Septerabre. This was in allu sion to the massacres of September, in which Tallier' had taken part.
At length she gave up the useless struggle, and retiring to Chimay, in 1816, she began to lead a life of modest tranquillity amidst her own family. In this peaceful retreat she continued until the 15th January 1835, when she died of a disease In the liver, from which she had been a severe sufferer for some years. Although in her sixty Ascend year, traces of that beauty which had once been so remarkable, were still visible.