4892. LUZERNE (Marquis de la), Secret marriage.—
The Marquis de la Luzerne
had been for many years married to his brother's
wife's sister, secretly. She was ugly and
deformed, but sensible, amiable, and rather rich.
When he was named ambassador to London,
with ten thousand guineas a year, the marriage
was avowed, and he relinquished his cross of
Malta, from which he derived a handsome
revenue for life, and which was very open to
advancement. She stayed here [Paris] and
not long after died. His real affection for her,
which was great and unfeigned, and perhaps
the loss of his order for so short-lived a satisfaction,
has thrown him almost into a state
of despondency.—
To James Madison. Washington ed. ii, 445.
Ford ed., v, 44.
(P.
1788)
