Charlotte-Jeanne Beraud de la haie - Revision history

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{{Infobox Siefar
| image =
| fr = Charlotte-Jeanne Béraud de La Haie
| title(s)= Marquise de Montesson
| spouses = Jean-Baptiste, marquis de Montesson
| also known as =
| birth date = 1737
| death = 1806
| briquet = yes
| online =
}}
== Entry by [[Marie-Emmanuelle Plagnol-Diéval]], Date ==

Gentry through her parents, Charlotte Jeanne Beraud de la Haie de Riou, born in 1737, acquired a title, a fortune and aristocratic connections through marriage in 1757 to the old Duke of Montesson (who left her widow at 32 without children). Thus she had herself introduced to the Prince de Conti, at the Temple, and then at his Château in L'Isle-Adam, where she performed plays. In her own theater, she also refined her skills as harpist, singer and dramatist. The Duke of Orleans invited her to his summer residence of Villers-Cotterêts after the death of the Duchess, when he had as his mistress Mlle Le Marquis, herself a former actress. To eliminate her rival, she became a writer, acted in her own plays, and sang in musical plays and organized grandiose parties for her lover. Florian dedicated his fable of ‘The Eagle and the Dove’ to her. Her morganatic marriage to the Duke of Orléans (23 August 1773) transformed the salon o her new town-house La Chaussée d'Antin into a political and literary base (thanks to Loménie de Brienne and Choiseul). She shared, along with the Countess de la Marck and Madame de Genlis, daughter to the latter’s half-sister, the roles of both romantic starlets and coquettes. As in his first plays, the Duke of Orleans impersonated peasants and financiers. Mlle. Drouin of the Comédie Française led the troupe.
Mme de Montesson regularly produced plays from 1776 to 1784: Marianne (5 February 1776), L’Heureux échange (March 1777), Roberts Sciarts (February 1777), L’Amant romanesque (March 1778), La Marquise de Sainville (1778 ), L’Aventurier (January 1779), L’Héritier généreux (1780), La Fausse Vertu (1781), L’Homme impassible (1781), La Comtesse de Bar (4 May 1783) and Agnès de Méranie (January or February 1784), let alone several famous contemporary pieces. Keen to receive literary recognition, she invited prominent figures as Madame du Deffand, Mlle de Lespinasse, and Grimm who discussed all the ‘premieres’ in his Correspondence. The highlight of her career as a playwight and as a salonnière was when Voltaire returned to Paris in 1778, and she invited him to the presentation of two new plays written that year, L’Amant romanesque and La Marquise de Sainville. However, she only attempted a public performance of La Comtesse de Chazelles once on 6 May 1785: This was a complete failure. Withdrawn to her mansion after the death of the Duke of Orléans in 1785, then imprisoned during the Terror in 1793, she was released after the 9 Thermidor. Friend to Josephine de Beauharnais, she enjoyed the sympathy of Napoleon, who restored her dowry to her and ordered her to open her salon in 1801. She retired at the end of her life to Romainville, where she died on 6 February 1806. Her funeral was celebrated at Saint-Roch on the orders of the Emperor.

As an actress and author, Mme de Montesson made a success of her social ascension and made her salon and theatre unmissable venues of refined sociability, as was shown in the visit of future Tsar Paul I and his wife. Her theatre of the Rue de la Chaussée d'Antin was considered the first of its kind in Paris, and won its respectability unlike the libertine theatres of the Duke of Orléans. Indeed, Mme de Montesson fashioned characters in sharp contrast to each other, taking after those in educational theatre, and in moralizing genres. She employed dramaturgical techniques (expositary scenes, asides, letters, coups de théâtre, misunderstandings, and unexpected entrances) to prepare for anagnorises and scenes of tenderness. Through her praise of education, charity and true virtues, as well as through her mild criticism of convents, she expressed on stage ideas that pertained to a wide range of philosophical precepts. Her interest in theatre also led her to buy Antoine Fériol’s personal drama collection - the future Soleinne Collection whose inventory was compiled by P. Lacroix in the nineteenth century.

Mme de Montesson has long been of little interest to critics, who have focused on biographical studies, sometimes indirectly (through the testimony of Colle, Grimm and Madame de Genlis), reducing her to a schemer, and to a woman of letters without talent. Even today, the recognition of her works is nearly nonexistent, except in recent literature, dedicated to late eighteenth-century salon theatres. As a result, her literary and social role, as well as the image she gave of a certain feminine culture and of a perfect sociability in the Ancien Régime, have been forgotten.

Translated by Julie Robertson

== Works ==

- 1767 : ''Le Ministre de Wakefield, histoire supposée écrite par lui-même'', 1re éd. de la traduction française de ''The Vicar of Wakefield'' d’Olivier Goldsmith, trad. par Chalotte-Jeanne Béraud de la Haie de Riou, marquise de Montesson, Londres/Paris, Pisso/Desaint (traduction également attribuée à Rose Jean-Baptiste et Charlos).

- 1772 : ''Marianne ou L'Orpheline'' (comédie en 5 actes, en prose), ''sl'', ''sn''

- 1777 : ''L'Heureux échange'' (comédie en 3 actes, en prose), ''sl'', ''sn'' (le sujet est tiré du ''Spectateur'').

- 1777 : ''La Marquise de Sainville'' ''ou la femme sincère'', ''sl'', ''sn''.

- 1777 : ''Roberts Sciarts'' (comédie en 5 actes, en prose), ''sl'', ''sn''.

- 1782-1785 : ''OEuvres anonymes'', Paris, Didot l'aîné (t.1: ''Marianne ou L'Orpheline'', ''La Marquise de Sainville''; t.2: ''Roberts Sciarts'', ''L'Heureux échange''; t.3: ''L'Amant romanesque'', ''L'Aventurier''; t.4: ''L'Homme impassible'', ''L'Héritier généreux''; t.5: ''La Fausse vertu'', ''Le Sourd volontaire''; t.6: ''L'Amant mari'', ''La Comtesse de Bar''; t.7: ''La Comtesse de Chazelles'', ''Agnès de Méranie''; t.8: ''Mélanges'' [une nouvelle: ''Pauline'', des poèmes: «Contes allégoriques», «Lettres de Saint-Preux à Mylord Édouard», «Les Dix-huit portes», «Rosamonde»]).

- 1785? : ''La Comtesse de Chazelles'' (comédie en 5 actes, en vers), ''sl'', ''sn'', ''sd''.

== Selected bibliography ==
- Chaponnière, P., «Mme de Montesson et ses oeuvres anonymes», ''Revue des livres anciens'', 1914, t.II.

- Olah, Liliane, ''Une Grande dame auteur dramatique et poète au XVIIIe siècle, Mme de Montesson'', Paris, H. Champion, 1928.

- Plagnol-Diéval, Marie-Emmanuelle, «Réécriture romanesque sur les scènes privées: l'exemple de la ''Marianne'' de Mme de Montesson», dans ''Réécritures 1700-1820'', Actes du colloque international d'Exeter de septembre 2000, dir. Malcolm Cook et Marie-Emmanuelle Plagnol-Diéval, New York, Peter Lang, 2002, p.209-221.

- Plagnol-Diéval, Marie-Emmanuelle,''Le Théâtre de société: un autre théâtre?'', Paris, Honoré Champion, «Les Dix-huitièmes siècles», 2003.

- Turquan, J., ''Madame de Montesson, douairière d'Orléans (1738-1806)'', Paris, J.Tallandier, 1904.

== Selected bibliography of images ==

- v. 1779 : Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun, ''Madame de Montesson'' [en habit de cour], coll. part.

- v. 1780 : Carmontelle, ''La Société du Palais royal'' (aquarelle, gouache, mine de plomb et sanguine, 31 x 41 cm), coll. part. -- ''Les Quatre saisons de Carmontelle. Divertissement et illusions au siècle des Lumières,''catalogue d’exposition, Paris/Sceaux, Somogy/Musée de l’Ile-de-France, 2008, p.8, 185-187.

== weblinks ==

- CESAR, Calendrier Electronique des Spectacles sous l'Ancien Régime et sous la Révolution
[http://cesar.org.uk/cesar2/]

- Théâtres de société
[http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/%7Etrott/societe/societe.htm]

== Reception ==
- «Le petit théâtre de Madame de Montesson n'a pas été moins brillant cet hiver que les années précédentes. [...] Ce spectacle a toujours attiré l'assemblée la plus brillante. Monsieur de Voltaire, qui l'a vu deux fois, y a reçu presque autant d'hommages et d'applaudissements qu'à la Comédie Française. Madame de Montesson a été le recevoir dans sa loge avec Monsieur le duc d'Orléans. L'illustre vieillard s'est mis à genoux, elle l'a relevé en l'embrassant, l'a comblé de caresses et lui a dit avec beaucoup d'attendrissement: “Voilà le plus beau jour de mon heureuse vie.”» (F.M. Grimm ''et al''., ''Correspondance de Grimm, Diderot, Raynal, Meister, etc.''[avril 1778], éd. Maurice Tourneux, édition Kraus reprint, 1968 [Paris, Garnier frères, 1880-1882], t.XII, p.90-91)

- «Madame de Montesson quoique un peu gênée par son embonpoint, qui l'oblige à se serrer trop la taille, continue de rendre les rôles de jeune amoureuse avec une intelligence, une grâce et une noblesse infinies. [...] Nous croyons cependant que des ouvrages de ce genre ne sont pas susceptibles d'une analyse détaillée, et ce serait leur faire tort sans doute que d'oser l'entreprendre.» (F.M. Grimm ''et al.'', ''Correspondance de Grimm...''[avril 1780], voir ''supra'', t. XII, p.387-388)

- «Quant à Madame de Montesson, si on la compare à Madame de Maintenon, même infériorité dans l'esprit, dans la beauté, et jusque dans la taille. Elle aurait eu plutôt quelque ressemblance de caractère avec cette femme qui gouverna la France sous Louis XV, la marquise de Pompadour. Toutes deux avaient de la douceur et de la grâce, de la bonté, un jugement assez sain, l'amour des lettres et des arts, mais des vues courtes, et un esprit rétréci par l'habitude du manège et de l'intrigue.» (P.-M.-G., duc de Lévis,''Souvenirs et portraits,'' ''1780-1789'', nouvelle éd. augmentée, Paris, L. Beaupré, 1815, p.254)

- «Elle n'aurait pas fait ses tragédies, toutes mauvaises qu'elles furent, sans le secours de M. Lefebvre.» (Mme de Genlis, ''Mémoires inédits de madame la comtesse de Genlis sur le dix-huitième siècle et la Révolution française depuis 1756 jusqu'à nos jours'', Paris, Ladvocat, 1825, t. I, p.366)

- «On exécutait souvent des ouvrages de sa façon sur ce théâtre. Monseigneur aimait lui-même à faire valoir les rôles qu'elle lui destinait; toutes ses pièces avaient du succès, cela va sans dire; mais il est juste aussi d'ajouter qu'il s'y trouvait parfois de bonnes choses, et dans ses vers (quand les pièces étaient en vers) des vers à retenir.» (''Mémoires'' ''de Fleury de la Comédie française, 1757-1820'', précédé d'une introduction par J.-B.-P. Lafitte, Paris, Dupont, 1836-1838, t.III, p.128-129)

- «Ceux qui ont lu dans Jean-Jacques [''Confessions''] la description de la première symphonie de son cru qu'il fit exécuter, auront une idée de l'effet produit par ''La Comtesse de Chazelles''. Je n'ai vu de ma vie une représentation semblable à celle-là!» (''Mémoires'' ''de Fleury...'', voir ''supra'', t.III, p.133)

- «M. le duc d'Orléans, lui-même, m'a dit avec une espèce d'enthousiasme que cette femme jouait aussi excellemment dans le sérieux que dans le comique, qu'elle était étonnante dans les pièces à ariettes; bonne musicienne, belle voix; son goût de chant était encore au-dessus.» (Ch. Collé, ''Journal'', éd. H. Bonhomme, Paris, Didot, 1868, t.3, p.110)

@@ Line 14: / Line 14: @@
 Gentry through her parents, Charlotte Jeanne Beraud de la Haie de Riou, born in 1737, acquired a title, a fortune and aristocratic connections through marriage in 1757 to the old Duke of Montesson (who left her widow at 32 without children). Thus  she had herself introduced to the Prince de Conti, at the Temple, and then at his Château in L'Isle-Adam, where she performed plays. In her own theater,  she also refined her skills as harpist, singer and dramatist. The Duke of Orleans invited her to his summer residence of Villers-Cotterêts after the death of the Duchess, when he had as his mistress Mlle Le Marquis, herself a former actress. To eliminate her rival, she became a writer, acted in her own plays, and sang in musical plays and organized grandiose parties for her lover. Florian dedicated his fable of ‘The Eagle and the Dove’ to her. Her morganatic marriage to the Duke of Orléans (23 August 1773) transformed the salon of her new town-house La Chaussée d'Antin into a political and literary base (thanks to Loménie de Brienne and Choiseul). She shared, along with the Countess de la Marck and Madame de Genlis, daughter to the latter’s half-sister, the roles of both romantic starlets and coquettes. As in his first plays, the Duke of Orleans impersonated peasants and financiers. Mlle. Drouin of the Comédie Française led the troupe.
-Mme de Montesson regularly produced plays from 1776 to 1784: Marianne (5 February 1776), L’Heureux échange (March 1777), Roberts Sciarts (February 1777), L’Amant romanesque (March 1778), La Marquise de Sainville (1778 ), L’Aventurier (January 1779), L’Héritier généreux (1780), La Fausse Vertu (1781), L’Homme impassible (1781), La Comtesse de Bar (4 May 1783) and Agnès de Méranie (January or February 1784), let alone several famous contemporary pieces. Keen to receive literary recognition, she invited prominent figures as Madame du Deffand, Mlle de Lespinasse, and Grimm who discussed all the ‘premieres’ in his Correspondence. The highlight of her career as a playwight and as a salonnière was when Voltaire returned to Paris in 1778, and she invited him to the presentation of two new plays written that year, L’Amant romanesque and La Marquise de Sainville. However, she only attempted a public performance of La Comtesse de Chazelles once on 6 May 1785: This was a complete failure. Withdrawn to her mansion after the death of the Duke of Orléans in 1785, then imprisoned during the Terror in 1793, she was released after the 9 Thermidor. Friend to Josephine de Beauharnais, she enjoyed the sympathy of Napoleon, who restored her dowry to her and ordered her to open her salon in 1801. She retired at the end of her life to Romainville, where she died on 6 February 1806. Her funeral was celebrated at Saint-Roch on the orders of the Emperor.
+Mme de Montesson regularly produced plays from 1776 to 1784: ''Marianne'' (5 February 1776), ''L’Heureux échange'' (March 1777), ''Roberts Sciarts'' (February 1777), ''L’Amant romanesque'' (March 1778), La Marquise de Sainville (1778 ), L’Aventurier (January 1779), L’Héritier généreux (1780), ''La Fausse Vertu'' (1781), ''L’Homme impassible'' (1781), ''La Comtesse de Bar'' (4 May 1783) and'' Agnès de Méranie'' (January or February 1784), let alone several famous contemporary pieces. Keen to receive literary recognition, she invited prominent figures as Madame du Deffand, Mlle de Lespinasse, and Grimm who discussed all the ‘premieres’ in his Correspondence. The highlight of her career as a playwight and as a salonnière was when Voltaire returned to Paris in 1778, and she invited him to the presentation of two new plays written that year, ''L’Amant romanesque'' and ''La Marquise de Sainville''. However, she only attempted a public performance of ''La Comtesse de Chazelles'' once on 6 May 1785: This was a complete failure. Withdrawn to her mansion after the death of the Duke of Orléans in 1785, then imprisoned during the Terror in 1793, she was released after the 9 Thermidor. Friend to Josephine de Beauharnais, she enjoyed the sympathy of Napoleon, who restored her dowry to her and ordered her to open her salon in 1801. She retired at the end of her life to Romainville, where she died on 6 February 1806. Her funeral was celebrated at Saint-Roch on the orders of the Emperor.
 As an actress and author, Mme de Montesson made a success of  her social ascension and made her salon and theatre unmissable venues of refined sociability, as  was shown in the visit of future Tsar Paul I and his wife. Her theatre of the Rue de la Chaussée d'Antin was considered the first of its kind in Paris, and won its respectability unlike the libertine theatres  of the Duke of Orléans. Indeed, Mme de Montesson fashioned characters in sharp contrast to each other, taking after those in educational theatre, and in moralizing genres. She employed dramaturgical techniques (expositary scenes, asides, letters, coups de théâtre, misunderstandings, and unexpected entrances) to prepare for anagnorises and scenes of tenderness. Through her praise of education, charity and true virtues, as well as through her mild criticism of convents, she expressed on stage ideas that pertained to a wide range of philosophical precepts. Her interest in theatre also led her to buy Antoine Fériol’s personal drama collection - the future Soleinne Collection whose inventory was compiled by P. Lacroix in the nineteenth century.

@@ Line 10: / Line 10: @@
 | online =
 }}
-== Entry by [[Marie-Emmanuelle Plagnol-Diéval]],2008 ==
+== Entry by [[Marie-Emmanuelle Plagnol-Diéval]], 2008 ==
 Gentry through her parents, Charlotte Jeanne Beraud de la Haie de Riou, born in 1737, acquired a title, a fortune and aristocratic connections through marriage in 1757 to the old Duke of Montesson (who left her widow at 32 without children). Thus  she had herself introduced to the Prince de Conti, at the Temple, and then at his Château in L'Isle-Adam, where she performed plays. In her own theater,  she also refined her skills as harpist, singer and dramatist. The Duke of Orleans invited her to his summer residence of Villers-Cotterêts after the death of the Duchess, when he had as his mistress Mlle Le Marquis, herself a former actress. To eliminate her rival, she became a writer, acted in her own plays, and sang in musical plays and organized grandiose parties for her lover. Florian dedicated his fable of ‘The Eagle and the Dove’ to her. Her morganatic marriage to the Duke of Orléans (23 August 1773) transformed the salon of her new town-house La Chaussée d'Antin into a political and literary base (thanks to Loménie de Brienne and Choiseul). She shared, along with the Countess de la Marck and Madame de Genlis, daughter to the latter’s half-sister, the roles of both romantic starlets and coquettes. As in his first plays, the Duke of Orleans impersonated peasants and financiers. Mlle. Drouin of the Comédie Française led the troupe.

@@ Line 12: / Line 12: @@
 == Entry by [[Marie-Emmanuelle Plagnol-Diéval]],2008 ==
-Gentry through her parents, Charlotte Jeanne Beraud de la Haie de Riou, born in 1737, acquired a title, a fortune and aristocratic connections through marriage in 1757 to the old Duke of Montesson (who left her widow at 32 without children). Thus  she had herself introduced to the Prince de Conti, at the Temple, and then at his Château in L'Isle-Adam, where she performed plays. In her own theater,  she also refined her skills as harpist, singer and dramatist. The Duke of Orleans invited her to his summer residence of Villers-Cotterêts after the death of the Duchess, when he had as his mistress Mlle Le Marquis, herself a former actress. To eliminate her rival, she became a writer, acted in her own plays, and sang in musical plays and organized grandiose parties for her lover. Florian dedicated his fable of ‘The Eagle and the Dove’ to her. Her morganatic marriage to the Duke of Orléans (23 August 1773) transformed the salon o her new town-house La Chaussée d'Antin into a political and literary base (thanks to Loménie de Brienne and Choiseul). She shared, along with the Countess de la Marck and Madame de Genlis, daughter to the latter’s half-sister, the roles of both romantic starlets and coquettes. As in his first plays, the Duke of Orleans impersonated peasants and financiers. Mlle. Drouin of the Comédie Française led the troupe.
+Gentry through her parents, Charlotte Jeanne Beraud de la Haie de Riou, born in 1737, acquired a title, a fortune and aristocratic connections through marriage in 1757 to the old Duke of Montesson (who left her widow at 32 without children). Thus  she had herself introduced to the Prince de Conti, at the Temple, and then at his Château in L'Isle-Adam, where she performed plays. In her own theater,  she also refined her skills as harpist, singer and dramatist. The Duke of Orleans invited her to his summer residence of Villers-Cotterêts after the death of the Duchess, when he had as his mistress Mlle Le Marquis, herself a former actress. To eliminate her rival, she became a writer, acted in her own plays, and sang in musical plays and organized grandiose parties for her lover. Florian dedicated his fable of ‘The Eagle and the Dove’ to her. Her morganatic marriage to the Duke of Orléans (23 August 1773) transformed the salon of her new town-house La Chaussée d'Antin into a political and literary base (thanks to Loménie de Brienne and Choiseul). She shared, along with the Countess de la Marck and Madame de Genlis, daughter to the latter’s half-sister, the roles of both romantic starlets and coquettes. As in his first plays, the Duke of Orleans impersonated peasants and financiers. Mlle. Drouin of the Comédie Française led the troupe.
 Mme de Montesson regularly produced plays from 1776 to 1784: Marianne (5 February 1776), L’Heureux échange (March 1777), Roberts Sciarts (February 1777), L’Amant romanesque (March 1778), La Marquise de Sainville (1778 ), L’Aventurier (January 1779), L’Héritier généreux (1780), La Fausse Vertu (1781), L’Homme impassible (1781), La Comtesse de Bar (4 May 1783) and Agnès de Méranie (January or February 1784), let alone several famous contemporary pieces. Keen to receive literary recognition, she invited prominent figures as Madame du Deffand, Mlle de Lespinasse, and Grimm who discussed all the ‘premieres’ in his Correspondence. The highlight of her career as a playwight and as a salonnière was when Voltaire returned to Paris in 1778, and she invited him to the presentation of two new plays written that year, L’Amant romanesque and La Marquise de Sainville. However, she only attempted a public performance of La Comtesse de Chazelles once on 6 May 1785: This was a complete failure. Withdrawn to her mansion after the death of the Duke of Orléans in 1785, then imprisoned during the Terror in 1793, she was released after the 9 Thermidor. Friend to Josephine de Beauharnais, she enjoyed the sympathy of Napoleon, who restored her dowry to her and ordered her to open her salon in 1801. She retired at the end of her life to Romainville, where she died on 6 February 1806. Her funeral was celebrated at Saint-Roch on the orders of the Emperor.

@@ Line 10: / Line 10: @@
 | online =
 }}
-== Entry by [[Marie-Emmanuelle Plagnol-Diéval]], Date ==
+== Entry by [[Marie-Emmanuelle Plagnol-Diéval]],2008 ==
 Gentry through her parents, Charlotte Jeanne Beraud de la Haie de Riou, born in 1737, acquired a title, a fortune and aristocratic connections through marriage in 1757 to the old Duke of Montesson (who left her widow at 32 without children). Thus  she had herself introduced to the Prince de Conti, at the Temple, and then at his Château in L'Isle-Adam, where she performed plays. In her own theater,  she also refined her skills as harpist, singer and dramatist. The Duke of Orleans invited her to his summer residence of Villers-Cotterêts after the death of the Duchess, when he had as his mistress Mlle Le Marquis, herself a former actress. To eliminate her rival, she became a writer, acted in her own plays, and sang in musical plays and organized grandiose parties for her lover. Florian dedicated his fable of ‘The Eagle and the Dove’ to her. Her morganatic marriage to the Duke of Orléans (23 August 1773) transformed the salon o her new town-house La Chaussée d'Antin into a political and literary base (thanks to Loménie de Brienne and Choiseul). She shared, along with the Countess de la Marck and Madame de Genlis, daughter to the latter’s half-sister, the roles of both romantic starlets and coquettes. As in his first plays, the Duke of Orleans impersonated peasants and financiers. Mlle. Drouin of the Comédie Française led the troupe.
 Mme de Montesson regularly produced plays from 1776 to 1784: Marianne (5 February 1776), L’Heureux échange (March 1777), Roberts Sciarts (February 1777), L’Amant romanesque (March 1778), La Marquise de Sainville (1778 ), L’Aventurier (January 1779), L’Héritier généreux (1780), La Fausse Vertu (1781), L’Homme impassible (1781), La Comtesse de Bar (4 May 1783) and Agnès de Méranie (January or February 1784), let alone several famous contemporary pieces. Keen to receive literary recognition, she invited prominent figures as Madame du Deffand, Mlle de Lespinasse, and Grimm who discussed all the ‘premieres’ in his Correspondence. The highlight of her career as a playwight and as a salonnière was when Voltaire returned to Paris in 1778, and she invited him to the presentation of two new plays written that year, L’Amant romanesque and La Marquise de Sainville. However, she only attempted a public performance of La Comtesse de Chazelles once on 6 May 1785: This was a complete failure. Withdrawn to her mansion after the death of the Duke of Orléans in 1785, then imprisoned during the Terror in 1793, she was released after the 9 Thermidor. Friend to Josephine de Beauharnais, she enjoyed the sympathy of Napoleon, who restored her dowry to her and ordered her to open her salon in 1801. She retired at the end of her life to Romainville, where she died on 6 February 1806. Her funeral was celebrated at Saint-Roch on the orders of the Emperor.
@@ Line 19: / Line 20: @@
 Mme de Montesson has long been of little interest to critics, who have focused on biographical studies, sometimes indirectly (through the testimony of Colle, Grimm and Madame de Genlis), reducing her to a schemer, and to a woman of letters without talent. Even today, the recognition of her works is nearly nonexistent, except in recent literature, dedicated to late eighteenth-century salon theatres. As a result, her literary and social role, as well as the image she gave of a certain feminine culture and of a perfect sociability in the Ancien Régime, have been forgotten.
-Translated by Julie Robertson
+Translated by [[Julie Robertson]]
@@ Line 40: / Line 41: @@
 == Selected bibliography ==
 - Chaponnière, P., «Mme de Montesson et ses oeuvres anonymes», ''Revue des livres anciens'', 1914, t.II.