Diamond Necklace

The Affair of the, in French history, a celebrated episode at court. The famous necklace was made by the court jeweler, either by order of Louis XV for his mistress, Madame Du Barry, or with the expectation that it would be purchased for her by Louis XV. Louis' death, 1774, and the banishment of Du Barry left the necklace without a purchaser. It was a magnificent ornament, containing about 500 diamonds, and was valued at $400,000. The Prince-Cardinal de Rohan several years later became infatuated with the charms of Queen Marie Antoinette, who, however, was entirely indifferent to him. The cardinal was led to believe, by an adventuress calling herself Countess Jeanne de Lamotte, that the queen looked upon him with some degree of favor. By skillful maneuvering, including the forgeries of the queen's signature, Lamotte, as this woman is usually called, persuaded the cardinal that the queen was anxious to purchase the diamond necklace, and that if he would aid her to do so, she would show him favor. A clever plan was laid by Lamotte to get possession of the necklace. At her suggestion the cardinal purchased the necklace in the queen's name and became responsible for a series of payments. The necklace was conveyed to the cardinal, whence it was taken by a person in the uniform and with the manner of a court valet, who procured it "in the name of the queen." When the day of the first payment arrived, and no money was received, the jeweler went to court and started an investigation. This was the first the queen had heard of the purchase. Lamotte had disappeared, but she was found; and it was discovered that she, her husband, and the "valet" had separated the diamond necklace into sections which they were selling. The imposter, Count Cagliostro, had become involved in the affair also. He had been consulted by the cardinal on account of his professed power to read the future, and had prophesied that the correspondence with the queen would end happily. Doubtless Cagliostro received his share of the profits. All-the tricksters and the tricked-cardinal, Cagliostro, Lamotte, and the "valet"-were arrested and confined in the Bastille. When the matter came to trial, Cagliostro was released, but ordered to leave France. Lamotte was branded with a hot iron on either shoulder, to mark her "thief," and was imprisoned for life. The cardinal was shown to have committed an act of folly, but nothing worse, and was therefore released.

The saddest part of the whole affair was that the scandal increased popular feeling against the queen, who had been entirely blameless, and, in fact, ignorant of it all. The populace of Paris, in that state of excitement and rage which terminated in the Reign of Terror, could not be convinced of this; and, even at the last, the cursing mob which surrounded the cart that bore the unfortunate Marie Antoinette to the guillotine, cast slurs upon her on account of this diamond necklace affair. The necklace itself had disappeared forever. Alexander Dumas has made use of this story in a novel entitled The Queen's Necklace.