Towards the autumn of 1799 he especially distinguished himself. His attractive appearance, his youth, and a mingled gallantry and authoritativeness, brought him to the notice of Louis XVIII., who appointed him governor of Bretagne, Normandie, Maine and Anjou. Under the name of Gras, having become commander of the Chouans, in September, the marquis conducted them in an attack against the Blues on the plateau of La Pelerine, which extends between Fougeres, Ille-et-Vilaine, and Ernee, Mayenne. Madame du Gua did not leave him even then. Alphonse de Montauran sought the hand of Mademoiselle d'Uxelles, after leaving this, the last mistress of Charette. Nevertheless, he fell in love with Marie de Verneuil, the spy, who had entered Bretagne with the express intention of delivering him to the Blues. He married her in Fougeres, but the Republicans murdered him and his wife a few hours after their marriage. [Cesar Birotteau. The Chouans.]
MONTAURAN (Marquise Alphonse de), wife of the preceding; born Marie-
Nathalie de Verneuil at La Chanterie near Alencon, natural daughter of Mademoiselle Blanche de Casteran, who was abbess of Notre-Dame de Seez at the time of her death, and of Victor-Amedee, Duc de Verneuil, who owned her and left her an inheritance, at the expense of her legitimate brother. A lawsuit between brother and sister resulted.
Marie-Nathalie lived then with her guardian, the Marechal Duc de Lenoncourt, and was supposed to be his mistress. After vainly trying to bring him to the point of marriage she was cast off by him. She passed through divers political and social paths during the Revolutionary period. After having shone in court circles she had Danton for a lover. During the autumn of 1799 Fouche hired Marie de Verneuil to betray Alphonse de Montauran, but the lovely spy and the chief of the Chouans fell in love with each other. They were united in marriage a few hours before their death towards the end of that year, 1799, in which Jacobites and Chouans fought on Bretagne soil. Madame de Montauran was attired in her husband's clothes when a Republican bullet killed her. [The Chouans.]
MONTAURAN (Marquis de), younger brother of Alphonse de Montauran, was in London, in 1799, when he received a letter from Colonel Hulot containing Alphonse's last wishes. Montauran complied with them; returned to France, but did not fight against his country. He kept his wealth through the intervention of Colonel Hulot and finally served the Bourbons in the gendarmerie, where he himself became a colonel.
When Louis Philippe came to the throne, Montauran believed an absolute retirement necessary. Under the name of M. Nicolas, he became one of the Brothers of Consolation, who met in Madame de la Chanterie's home on rue Chanoinesse. He saved M. Auguste de Mergi from being prosecuted. In 1841 Montauran was seen on rue du Montparnasse, where he assisted at the funeral of the elder Hulot. [The Chouans. The Seamy Side of History. Cousin Betty.]
MONTBAURON (Marquise de), Raphael de Valentin's aunt, died on the scaffold during the Revolution. [The Magic Skin.]
MONTCORNET (Marechal, Comte de), Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor, Commander of Saint-Louis, born in 1774, son of a cabinet-maker in the Faubourg Saint-Antoine, "child of Paris," mingled in almost all of the wars in the latter part of the eighteenth and beginning of the nineteenth centuries. He commanded in Spain and in Pomerania, and was colonel of cuirassiers in the Imperial Guard. He took the place of his friend, Martial de la Roche-Hugon in the affections of Madame de Vaudremont. The Comte de Montcornet was in intimate relations with Madame or Mademoiselle Fortin, mother of Valerie Crevel. Towards 1815, Montcornet bought, for about a hundred thousand francs, the Aigues, Sophie Laguerre's old estate, situated between Conches and Blangy, near Soulanges and Ville-aux-Fayes. The Restoration allured him. He wished to have his origin overlooked, to gain position under the new regime, to efface all memory of the expressive nick-name received from the Bourgogne peasantry, who called him the "Upholsterer." In the early part of 1819 he married Virginie de Troisville. His property, increased by an income of sixty thousand francs, allowed him to live in state. In winter he occupied his beautiful Parisian mansion on rue Neuve-des-Mathurins, now called rue des Mathurins, and visited many places, especially the homes of Raoul Nathan and of Esther Gobseck.
During the summer the count, then mayor of Blangy, lived at Aigues.
His unpopularity and the hatred of the Gaubertins, Rigous, Sibilets, Soudrys, Tonsards, and Fourchons rendered his sojourn there unbearable, and he decided to dispose of the estate. Montcornet, although of violent disposition and weak character, could not avoid being a subordinate in his own family. The monarchy of 1830 overwhelmed Montcornet, then lieutenant-general unattached, with gifts, and gave a division of the army into his command. The count, now become marshal, was a frequent visitor at the Vaudeville.[*]
Montcornet died in 1837. He never acknowledged his daughter, Valerie Crevel, and left her nothing. He is probably buried in Pere-Lachaise cemetery, where a monument was to be raised for him under W.
Steinbock's supervision. Marechal de Montcornet's motto was: "Sound the Charge." [Domestic Peace. Lost Illusions. A Distinguished Provincial at Paris. Scenes from a Courtesan's Life. The Peasantry. A Man of Business. Cousin Betty.]
[*] A Parisian theatre, situated until 1838 on rue de Chartres. Rue de Chartres, which also disappeared, although later, was located between the Palais-Royal square and the Place du Carrousel.
MONTCORNET (Comtesse de.) (See Blondet, Madame Emile.)
