|
DIAMONDS IN FASHION: I
it would have placed him in greater jeopardy with the Crown than ever before.
But
Bohmer, the jeweler, became impatient. He could not find Mme de la
Motte and he could obtain no satisfaction from the prince cardinal.
Whether or not he became convinced that Marie Antoinette was a part of
the plot to deprive him of his rightful payment, it is only known that
he went to the king himself. The fraud once discovered, the prince
cardinal was arrested and sent to the Bastille. He suffered only a
short imprisonment, was tried by a court of justice and acquitted of
criminal offense. But he was sent in further disgrace to reside at an
abbey of his in Auvergne.
If
Mme de la Motte's no-account "count" of a husband escaped punishment
because he was safe in London, she did not fare so easily. She was
sentenced to be branded on the shoulders and whipped in public and was
then condemned to life imprisonment. Two-thirds of the terrifying
sentence was carried out, but later, after less than a year in prison,
she escaped and joined her husband in London. There she had published a
pamphlet bitterly exposing the whole episode as well as the vices and
intrigues of the French court and the foibles of the queen. It raised a
scandal that eventually heaped upon the French royalty the scorn and
contempt of the French people and the suspicion of the world. And, in
the end, Marie Antoinette also paid with her life.
After
that came the Directory, so called because of the body of five men
appointed to hold executive power under the constitution of 1795 in the
First Republic. It was a fashionable period, in spite of the times and
circumstances, and gave rise to the popular term "Directoire style."
This was characterized by extremes and exaggeration of fashionable
trends. Outstanding then were Mme Tallien and
(177)
|
||
|
|
||