The life of Beaumarchais

Beaumarchais was born in Paris, rue de Saint-Denis, as Pierre-Augustin Caron, son of a watchmaker, on January 24, 1732. Between 1742 and 1745, he studied at the Alfort school to learn his father's trade; then he started working in his father's workplace.

In 1753, he invented a revolutionary new clockwork. He showed it to the watchmaker of the king, Lepaute. Lepaute applied to the Académie des sciences, presenting Caron's work as its own, but Caron sent a report to the Academy with positive proofs it was his invention and not Lepaute's. The Academy recognized his rights. In 1755 he perfected his clockwork. Lepaute, however, did not reconcile himself with the decision of the Academy and enlisted the support of a Swiss watchmaker, whereupon the Academy proposed a compromise: both Lepaute and Caron were the inventors of the new clockwork. For Caron, the dispute was not unfavourable: entire Paris knew his name; the royal palace ordered some clocks and watches and he was presented to the king and the queen in 1754. At the end of the year Caron was offered a job at the court by Franquet, although he had to pay to get it: Contrôleur clerc d'office de la Maison du roi (Clerk at the office of the House of the king). Two months later Franquet, a rich man, died. Caron started an intimate relation with his widow, Madeleine-Catherine Aubertin. She was almost ten years older, but in November 1755 Caron married her; the couple lived in her house in Rue de Braque. Undoubtedly the fact he was a handsome young man helped him, during all his life he was notoriously popular with women.

Beaumarchais

In 1757, Caron's wife inherited a piece of land called Beaumarchais. With his (her) money and social connections, he was able to assume the name Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais. In the same year his wife died, some days before signing the marriage certificate, with the consequence that her properties were bequeathed to her family. He had to remove to Rue Basse du Rempart no. 17, where he lived until 1763. In the same time he made acquaintance with marquise Madame de Pompadour and her husband, the banker Le Normand d'Étiolles. They introduced him at the court. Beaumarchais exhibited a talent not only with mechanical objects, he was talented in the field of music too. In his youth he and his sisters gave family concerts, he played the flute. About 1759 he refined his harp playing, and king Louis XI offered him to teach the harp to his daughters Adélaïde, Victoire, Sophie and Louise. This meant his introduction to the high society of Paris. The four girls were delighted with the lessons of their handsome teacher with his good manners and good taste and persuaded their father to bring a visit to the École militaire which was founded by Le Normand's uncle Pâris-Duverney in 1751. In return Pâris-Duverney, a financial expert and trader in foodstuffs, offered him a partnership (1760), a possibility for Beaumarchais to make a fortune. Pâris-Duverney gave him the money (50.000 pounds, Beaumarchais contributed 5.000 pounds) to buy the office of Conseiller secrétaire du roi (Secret advisor of the king). This demanded a regular and confidential contact with the king, which only suited a nobleman. The solution was to raise Beaumarchais to the peerage, so that from 1761 on he could bear his name de Beaumarchais legally. In these years, the new nobleman discovered he was a gifted with a talent for writing too; he wrote some sketches for his friend Le Normand to be performed at a feast.

In 1763 he left the Rue Basse du Rempart after having bought a house in the more prestigious Rue de Condé, no. 26, where there was room enough for his father and two younger sisters. In the same year he bought the office of Lieutenant général des chasses (Governer of the hunt) under the authority of the count of La Vallière. A travel to Spain (1764-1765) to obtain the right to export food for the Spanish army and to establish a firm for trade with America failed. His artistic career had more success: in 1767 the Comédie-Française put on his play Eugénie, whereas one of his many love affairs led to a mariage, again with a widow of means: Geneviève-Madeleine Wattebled. His second play, Deux Amis, gave him a playwright as a friend (1770): Paul Gudin de La Brenellerie. Beaumarchais won a friend but lost one: Pâris-Duverney, who was an old man. And he lost his second wife, 39 years old; their only son, who had survived for more than a year, died soon after her. She left him an important fortune, but he only acquired the right to a life interest. Also as a businessman he suffered a lot of misfortune: in 1773 he was bankrupt and had to hide for creditors. And what to think about his personal life? The count of de Chaulnes accused him having seduced his mistress, the actress miss Ménard, and after their rather furious altercation both were thrown into jail. As successful as in love he was in writing: he wrote the comedy Le Barbier de Séville, but the censor forbade to print it, because of the anti nobility theme. Beaumarchais's had a lot of enemies, professionally -he was involved in legal matters- and personally -attractive for women, charming, civilized and gifted.  One of his enemies was Goëzman, doing his utmost to beat him; business and personal affairs: Beaumarchais and Goëzman's wife had a relation, were entwined. Beaumarchais attacked him in his witty Mémoires. Paris sniggered, but Goëzman won a lawsuit and four parts of the Mémoires were burnt down (1774).

Beaumarchais

For Beaumarchais 1774 was far from a boring year. He met Marie-Thérèse de Willers-Mawlas, with whom he should live together during the rest of his life; only in 1786 they were married. He travelled to Flanders and London on the demand of the king. In Paris a libel against Madame Du Barry, mistress of Louis XV, circulated, and the king asked Beaumarchais to confiscate it. On May 10 Louis XV died. His successor Louis XVI continued to use Beaumarchais' services and sent him to London for a new mission, this time because of a pamphlet against the French royal family; this mission led him to Holland too. For the ministers he wrote a political essay on the function of the parliament (Idées élémentaires sur le rappel des Parlements) (published in 1788). In December he was allowed to have his comedy printed, some months later the Comédie-Française performed it. The play was received with great applaus, Paris admired and loved him, if not all of the nobility.

New travels to Flanders and London for the case of pamphlets against Louis XVI followed in 1775 and 1776. Beaumarchais advised his king to help the Americans in their struggle for freedom against England. Vergennes, minister for Foreign Affairs, with whom he changed letters for many years, gave him one million pounds to finance a secret expedition to support the Americans. As a cover, Beaumarchais founded mercantile house Rodrigue Hortalez and partner; he sent eight ships to America. Publicly he defended the American case in the journal Courrier de l'Europe, a journal that was soon meant "The journal of Beaumarchais". He found time to write a second political work, Mémoire particulier pour les ministres du Roi et manifeste pour l'Etat (1777), about how to rule a country. In the next year he strengthened the ties with playwrights by inviting them home, wrote Le Mariage de Figaro, a second famous play, included in the repertoire of the Académie-Française in 1783 (in 1786 Mozart used it as the script for his opera "Le nozze di Figaro"), conferred with the Académie-Française about the rights of a play (for many years he had a conflict with the management of the theatre: to whom belong the rights of a play, to the author or to the company?; in 1779 the rights of a writer will be laid down), effected a treaty of friendship with the United States, and made a contract with the Americans to deliver them all kinds of articles they needed. From 1773 on he had cases against the count of La Blache, the nephew of his former partner Pâris-Duverney, who had inhereted his properties; Beaumarchais challenged the legitimacy of Pâris-Duverney's last will, claiming that he, Beaumarchais, Pâris-Duverney's business partner, was the owner of these properties. Five years long he lost all his cases, but in 1778, being an influential politician and a popular playwright, he was put in the right. In that year of disaster 1773 Beaumarchais had also lost his function as advisor of the king, but in 1779 the measurement was reversed. Yes, 1778 and 1779 must have been years of glory for Beaumarchais.

Beaumarchais

In 1779 and 1780, Beaumarchais's occupied himself with literary matters. He undertook a great project: the publication of Voltaire's collected works. In the early days of 1781, the subscription was opened. He found time then to return to politics, addressed to Vergennes his Réflexions sur les secours à donner à l'Amérique (Thoughts on the support to America). In 1781 he was involved in a matter which occupied him for eight years. At a dinner with the prince of Nassau he heard about the sad lot of Madam Kornman. She was the mistress of a friend of the count of Nassau. Her husband, a banker, had her put in prison and tried to take control of her dowry. Beaumarchais decided to defend her, but the libels from the side of Kornman's party and his replies only stopped in 1789. The next year, 1782, was a business year: he became director of the Compagnie des eaux (Company for the waterways), verified the accounting of a hospital and started a program to rebuild the French navy, which had been destroyed.

Finally, in 1783, the censor approved Beaumarchais' Mariage de Figaro, but just before the start the king banned the performance. After Beaumarchais' plea and the support of queen Marie-Antoinette it was played in 1784; the performance became a triumph. Never in its history the Comédie-Française had a greater success: in four years the piece was performed more than hundred times. One year later le Journal de Paris included a letter from Beaumarchais, in which he alluded to the lions and tigers he had to shoot before his piece could be played. The king considered it an attack and had Beaumarchais jailed for some days. Released, the writer addressed a plea to the kings of France and Sweden to defend his play. There were also difficulties with the edition of Voltaire's papers: in 1784 the king prohibited selling the work, 30 volumes then. The actions of the court were not meant for Beaumarchais personally, for in 1784 the opera Le Barbier de Séville (1782) by Paisiello was sung at Versailles (in 1816, Rossini used the libretto for his opera "Il barbiere di Siviglia"), in 1785 the royal court played Le Barbier de Séville with Marie-Antoinette as Rosine, and Beaumarchais was compensated by the king with 570.000 pounds because the ocean had engulfed some ships on their way to America. Despite this money Beaumarchais' American deal was a heavy financial blow, for he was never paid for the goods he delivered. (After many more appeals, and long after Beaumarchais' death, the American Congress acknowledged its debt. In 1835 Congress paid 800,000 French francs to Beaumarchais' heirs). When minister Vergennes died, in 1787, Beaumarchais lost a real supporter at the court. But some months later Beaumarchais was invited to attend a second performance of his Le Barbier de Séville by the fashionable residents of Versailles, where he was fêted for his masterpiece.

Beaumarchais

In 1786 or 1787, Beaumarchais wrote a new play: Tarare; in 1787 it was performed. In this year he bought a substantial piece of land near the Bastille to have a luxurious house built. Paris was no longer a peaceful town at this time: he found inflammatory placards at his doors, valuable bas-reliefs on his walls broken. In those days, he had a liaison with Amélie Houret de La Marinaie. Beaumarchais himself was far from peaceful: with twenty four armed men he broke into the Bastille in 1789, symbol of the power of king, Church and nobility. He was held responsible, lost his place in the Assembly of Paris, but after his Requête à MM. les Représentants de la commune de Paris, he regained his seat. In spite of the disturbances of the Revolution, he found time to write: La Mère Coupable (The guilty mother). The Comédie-française accepted his play. All his life, however, Beaumarchais, the playwright, was at odds with the performers, the Comédie, about the question who had the rights of a play. In 1791 he wrote his such-and-such report, supported by his colleague playwrights, titled Rapport fait aux auteurs dramatiques, followed by a petition against "The theft of the properties of writers by the directors of the theatres" and the withdrawal of his play. In 1791 the last volume of the collected works of Voltaire was published, volume no. 66. This project was a financial fiasco, with only 2500 subscribers.

During the years 1791 and 1792, Beaumarchais dedicated himself for the sake of buying arms for the country. Minister de Grave gave his permission to buy rifles in Holland (April 1792). Two months later ministers of another faction took office. This faction distrusted Beaumarchais' intentions: Beaumarchais, the nobleman, tried to find support in England for a combat against the people of France!, and had his house searched; in spite of the fact nothing suspicious was found Beaumarchais was arrested. Some weeks later, however, he received a passport, so that he could travel to Holland to buy weapons. Many French noblemen took refuge abroad. Beaumarchais was a nobleman and had left France, was he a refugee or not? A tricky problem. In a first session, Robespierre's Comité de salut public (Committee for the public welfare) decided he could not be a refugee because he travelled to serve France, but in a second session the majority of the members doubted his real intentions and put his name on the list of "emigrants" (March 1794). Beaumarchais' wife, daughter and sister (Julie) were cast into prison (July 1794), in anticipation of their irrevocable conviction: being enemies of the people a ride to the Place de la Révolution with its guillotine. Robespierre's fall saved them, they were released. Like every wife of a refugee Madam Beaumarchais divorced, forced by the law (August 1794). Her husband fled from Holland to Germany. His mission failed: the guns he bought in Holland were intercepted by the English.

In 1795 and a part of 1796 Beamarchais lived in Hamburg. In Paris, his wife succeeded in striking his name on the list of emigrants; in July he returned to Paris, in 1797 they remarried. The Comédie-Française performed his play La mère coupable, the author was cheered. He wrote a letter to the Minister of the Interior, to demand attention for the bad position of playwrights, and started an amorous correspondence (1798, with Amélie Houret de La Marinaie, his former mistress). His financial position was bad: he begged the Americans to provide his daughter a dowry. Beaumarchais life resumed its normal course. He asked a passport for America (which was refused). The question of the Dutch rifles never came to an end. A fact-finding committee concluded that Beaumarchais must be compensated for his financial losses by the government, but in spite of the mediation of the Minister of Finance the two parties could not agree about the amount. He never received his money: in the night of May 17 and 18 1799 he suffered a fatal stroke during his sleep. Much later Paris honoured him with a statue (crossing of Rue de Tournelles and Rue de Saint-Antoine, 1897).

Beaumarchais' statue

Beaumarchais' last evening

In his memoirs, published on the occasion of his hundredth birthday, the Parisian printer Martin Bossange (1766-1865) described Beaumarchais as a draughts fanatic. One may wonder why a nobleman cheapened himself by playing a game of draughts against a printer. However, Beaumarchais was not high-born, was critical of the 18th c. French nobility, and was a businessman, like Bossange. Besides, Bossange was in charge of a concern. Born in Bordeaux, he set up a practice in Paris in 1785. Soon he built up a chain; he opened establishments in among other towns London, Montréal, Mexico, Rio de Janeiro, Madrid, Naples and Leipzig [Institut canadien de microréproductions historiques, Ottowa (Can)]. The two entrepreneurs often met to play a game of draughts. After 65 years, Bossange looked back to his last visit to Beaumarchais, on May 17, 1799.

Beaumarchais, said Bossange, liked playing against me, because he always won. Oh well, Bossange added, why would not I grant him that pleasure? Beaumarchais had ordered his valet Antoine to get his bed ready at ten o'clock, for the next morning he had an arrangement at the Directoire, the ministry, concerning the payment of the guns he had supplied for the fight of America: Beaumarchais sold everything. Us usual he had won the first game and he was in a good temper. At the moment we started  the second game (it was ten o'clock), Antoine knocked to prepare his master for the night. Beaumarchais grumbled, but the old servant, using the authority he had obtained by his long service, silently took away the board; my opponent had him his way, pouting like a child. His servant undressed him and laid him down on his right side, because of his heart disease. Often Beaumarchais, the happy one who destiny had overloaded with fortune and regard, had confided me: "Really, I should be happy when I should not awake next morning!" Far too soon this sad wish was complied. Next morning at six o' clock Antoine knocked at his door, as settled. He did not get response and entered the room. He found his master in the position in which he had left him the last evening and thought he was sleeping. But Beaumarchais was dead.

Beaumarchais

This story is based on Bossange's text of 1865, reproduced by Lucien Lebourg in the French draughts journal “L’Effort” no. 315-6:16. Nine years after the publication of Bossange's Memoirs, Charles Joliet accounted Bossange's memory in the chess journal “La Stratégie” (April 15, 1874), adding some facts to give his anecdote a literary glow.

In his last days Beaumarchais felt the need to see his next of kin and best friends, as if he sensed his death. He had a valet, Antoine, who was devoted to him. Antoine had a long record of service and usurped rights, like many a servant serving a master for a long time. By order of his doctor, Beaumarchais every evening must go to bed at ten, enough for Antoine to bring him to his bedroom at ten o'clock punctually. Beaumarchais was a fervent lover of draughts, a game he considered less complicated, more mathematical and more logical than chess. One evening Beaumarchais was absorbed in his draughts, in the mid of family and friends, when Antoine entered. He hemmed and said: "Sir, it is ten o'clock". "All right, Antoine, but after I have finished my game". "If your are not going to sleep, you will be tired tomorrow morning. And if you are tired, you don't want to get up". "No Antoine, I'll get up". With tenacity Antoine repeated: "You will not want to get up!" In this way the discussion continued for a while, until Beaumarchais said: "Please, let me quietly finish my game. After all, you know the clock is fast". Antoine: "Your are wrong, the clock is exactly on time". "By any means, it is fast, and I have been the king's clockmaker". "I read out the hour from the stars", Antoine said. "And besides, it will cost you some time to finish your game". "You don't know nothing of draughts!" "I just look at the number of pieces on the board". And in this way the two squabbled further, until Antoine got enough of it. He gave the draughts board such a push that it fell on the floor, the pieces rolled across the room. Beaumarchais was on the verge of bursting into rage, but a tantrum held off because of Antoine's calm. Beaumarchais started laughing, wished the company good night and followed Antoine to the bedroom. The next morning Beaumarchais was found in his bed, dead... As usual he lay on his right side, the arm bended and the head resting in his hand. He slept, it seemed. He always rested in this position, his sleep was so quiet that most of the mornings he awoke in this position. And in this position he had passed away, without having moved. The draughts board with pieces, the last thing with which his active mind had occupied, was kept by his friends as a treasure.

[In 1996 a movie was made about his life: "Beaumarchais, l'insolent", directed by Edouard Molinaro. In 1784, Beaumarchais lived in Rue Vieille-du-Temple, no. 47. It is a hotel now, that tries to call up the ambience of the 18th c.].