precifion. A French gentleman of distinction, who knew her perfonally, though unwilling to expofe the weakness of his late fovereign, has fuffered the love of juftice to prevail, and communicated the only anecdotes concerning Madam de Barré, which can be properly authenticated, or merit attention. She was fund of being thought defcended from an ancient, noble family in Ireland, fome of whom fied to France during the troubles in that ifland, and this report was induftriously propagated by her creatures; but the truth is, her defcent, and even her birth, are too obfcure to be traced with any certainty. It is notorious, that from the earliest age of womanhood, which is attained very young in France, fhe was known at Paris under the denomination of une fille de joi," a girl of the town; and from the following Bon Mot of the duke d'Enguin, it may be fuppofed in a very humble fituation. Soon after her advancement at court, that nobleman was asked if he knew her. "Oui, fays he, je l'ai connue a un ecu, a prefent eft a un Louis." I have known her at a crown, now she is at a louis. In the early part of her youth fhe was efteemed uncommonly beautiful; but, at the period when he was pitched upon to fafcinate the voluptuous monarch of France, the charms of her perfon had greatly fuffered by the depredations of time, and the course of life to which the had been accustomed from fourteen to thirty years of age. The lillies and rofes, implanted by the benevolent hand of nature on her lovely features, had faded long before under the breathof pollution, and art now fupplied the defect from the repofitories of the

perfumer. The remaining luftre of a fine eye, joined to exact fymmetry of shape, and an inexpreffibly engaging air of addrefs, were, however, fufficient external graces to engage the king's attention at the firft interview, placed, as the purpofely was, in a fituation where the could not fail of attracting his notice, and thoroughly inftructed in the part fhe was to act, if his majefty accosted her.

It was customary with the king, in his hunting parties, to feparate from the court, and, attended only by one or two noblemen, to ride about the parks to view the company gathered upon thefe occafions. Madam Barré took her ftation in a private recefs, where there was no danger of interruption, and the Duke d'Aguillon, who had concerted the whole fcheme, conducted the king to the fpot: the interview produced an affignation, and, at a private petit fouper, the conqueft was completed by the vivacity of her converfation, the apparent amiablenefs of her temper, and elegancy of taste which the king difcovered in her, from which he promifed himself a revival of that variety of enchanting amufements, contrived by his former miftrefs la Pompadour, to banish the melancholly horrors to which he was frequently fubject.

A treaty was foon fet on foot, which ended in her establishment at Verfailles on her own terms; one of them was a title, and the king granted it, notwithstanding the ftrong reprefentations of de Choifeul against this imprudent ftep. Hav. ing gained this point, the Countefs de Barré kept no bounds, but, with unexampled 'arrogance, expected to be vifited by the dauphin and

dauphi

dauphinefs, now king and queen of France. The dauphin, after fome warm altercations with the king, was obliged to fubmit; but the dauphinefs, with a noble greatnefs of foul, addreffed the king, upon this occafion, nearly in the following terms: "Sire: if I had been born your fubject, I must have obeyed; but, as the daughter and the fifter of an emperor, your majefty will excufe me." The ladies of the court, however, could not obtain any indulgence; they were obliged to fhew every mark of refpect to the new favourite, and oneexample of refiftance frightened them into constrained compliance.

The duchefs de Gramont, firft lady of honour to the late queen, being in a box at the opera, the countefs de Barré came in, and attempted to place herself by the duchefs; upon which, confulting her own dignity, and her veneration for the memory of her late royal miftrefs, now openly infulted in the eyes of the fpectators, fhe defired the countess to retire, and, on her refufal, the duchefs, politely curtefying to the people, who expreffed univerfal applaufe, left the box, and went into another. For this offence, she received a letter de cachet, banishing her to her country feat, at a great distance from Paris, during the king's pleasure. But how will the world be aftonished to hear, that Barré, in the first years of her promotion, enjoyed a plenitude of power, unknown to Pompadour, and which, with all her talents, the never durft attempt! Strange to relate, fhe folicited and obtained a power to draw on the Treasury under her own fignature. As foon as the news of this extraordinary

inftance of royal imbecility reached the ears of the duke de Choiseul, it is faid, he paffionately exclaimed, "C'en eft fait de moi," all is over with me. But that his adverfaries might not have an easy victory to boast of, notwithstanding this prefage of his difgrace, he put every ftratagem in force to ruin their protectrix; and, amongst the reft, he attempted to fupplant the countess by introducing a rival. This was the widow of an officer, who brought a petition to the minifter, but, finding her very handsome and sprightly, de Choifeul referred her to the king, and gave her an opportunity of presenting her perfon and her petition; but the former produced only a flight, if any effect; and the plan totally miscarried, but not without being made known to the countefs, who now entered more deeply than ever into the politics of the times, with a determined refolution to remove the two de Choifeuls; and in this fhe fucceeded, to the great difhonour of the king, and to the regret of all the true friends of France. In the year 1771, while the neceffary preparations were making in England to repel force by force, in cafe a negociation for fatisfaction fhould prove unfuccefsful, it is confidently afferted, that the court of Spain actually intended to break with England, if France had been ready to fecond her; and that the Spanish miniftry applied to the court of Versailles to know her intentions; to which de Choifeul returned for anfwer, without the king's knowledge, "That the king, his mafter, would be always ready to fupport the honour of the Houfe of Bourbon, and to fulfil the folemn engagements he had entered into by the Family Compact." A dif

patch

patch to this purport, which had been forwarded to the French ambaffador at Madrid, was copied by a fecretary in the intereft of the Duke d'Aguillon, and tranfmitted home; this epistle was, by the chancellor, put into the hands of the countefs de Barré, with inftructions to fhew it to the king in one of his gloomy hours, and to paint to him, in the irongest colours, all the horrors of war, to be commenced at a time when the finances were in great diforder, the whole kingdom in a ferment concerningthe parliaments, and the poor almoft starved for want of bread.

At the fame time the duke d'Aguillon circulated a general rumour without doors, that de Choifeul was going to involve the nation in a war with England, on account of a miferable inland (Falkland's) in South America. The people caught the alarm, and, to testify their inclination to peace, the general cry at Paris was Point de guerre! point de Choifeul!' no war! no Choi

feul!

The difmiffion of the minifter was foon after refolved upon by the king, and took place the beginning of January 1771. His majefly in the letter de cachet, (which ordered him to refign his employinents, and to retire to his feat at Chanteloux) expreffed in frong terms his difapprobation of his conduct latterly; but he was fcarce gone into exile, when the eyes of all Paris were opened, and it was now plainly discovered, that he was facrificed to the refentment of the countefs, to the ambition of the duke d'Aguillon, and to the deep laid fcheme of the chancellor, to fubvert the ancient conftitution of the kingdom. It was publicly known likewife, that the

dispatch which had raised fuch a clamour against him contained inftructions to the French ambassador, to diffuade the court of Madrid from breaking with England; though it was added, that France was bound in honour to support the interests of every branch of the houfe of Bourbon; but the former part of the letter was artfully fuppreffed.

The difmiflion of de Choifeul was followed by a revival of most arbi. trary proceedings againft the parliament of Paris, who continued their deputations, and defired the king either to withdraw his edict, and permit the law to take its courfe with the duke d'Aguillon, or to accept their employments and their lives, which they were willing to facrifice to the prefervation of the constitution.

The affair ended in the members being banished, by the influence of the countefs, to different villages; and a new tribunal was conftituted, velted with the fame powers as the late parliament, though the princes of the blood, and feveral other peers of France, protefted against thofe anticonftitutional proceedings. The king foon after made the duke d'Aguillon prime minifter, who conducted himself with great inveteracy against all who had made complaints of him and the countels.

When the king was feized with his last fick nefs, the brother of de Barré had obtained a confiderable poit in the army; but refigned it as foon as the monarch's death was known, and just before that period the unhappy woman, who had loft him in the esteem of his fubjects, was removed from the palace, and took refuge in a convent near Paris. She has fince, without being perfccuted by the new king, never ap;

peared

Genuine Account of Omiah, a Native of Otaheite, a new difcovered Ifland in the South-Seas, lately brought over to England by Capt. Fourneaux. SIR,

Shall take the liberty of ac

fembles that of an European accuftomed to hot climates; his features are regular, and agreeable by a fmile, which the pleafures he enjoys feem to produce. His hair is jet black, fhining and ftrong, and clubbed behind, fince he came over; he was dreffed in a reddish-brown coat and breeches, with a white waistcoat, made in the English tafte, in which he appeared perfectly easy. His hands are tataored, according to the mode in his native country. It is ufual there to mark the right hand in a particular manner, upon occafion of taking a wife: and Omiah, whom I imagine to be about 18+ years old, has been honoured with eight or ten fets of these marks, having already had as many wives. He is alfo marked, or taaowed, in fome other parts; but they are hidden by his clothes.

I faw him at Baron Dimsdale's, at whole houfe I had the pleasure of dining with him, he being then at Hertford, under preparation previous innoculation for the fmall

a vifit I paid to a friend of mine at Hertford, at whofe houfe I dined in company with Omiah.

I am five feet ten inches and a half high, and the first time I was introduced into Omiah's company, by his interpreter, Mr. Andrews, I took an opportunity of measuring in height with this polite stranger. This freedom pleafed Omiah much, as does every circumstance, in which he can engage with a perfon either in converfation or in action. He is about half an inch under my fize, but rather lufty, and ftrong made, though not in the least heavy. His complexion much re

paffed through.

In company he is eafy and polite, and behaves fo at table, handles his knife and fork well, and conducts himself in every refpect with great decency, cleanlinefs, and void of any awkardness. As he was confined to a certain regimen, he eat only of pudding, potatoes, and other vegetables, though he is fond of meat, and particularly of ham; but, with regard to quantity, he is very abftemious.

Ómiah is fo far from fhewing fuch marks of fimplicity and ignorance, as have been mentioned in the different accounts of him,

(published

(published in the news-papers) that his deportment is genteel, and refembles fo much that of well-bred people here, as to make it appear very extraordinary to those who know how little a time it is fince he left the South-fea iflands, where the manners are fo totally different from thofe of the polished people in Europe.

A few common expreffions he pronounces with fluency, fuch as "How do you do?" &c. As the whole language of an Otaheitan, which is the fame as that of the natives of Ulateiah, does not exceed a thousand words, he is extremely at a lofs for terms to exprefs the new ideas he has acquired, and objects he has feen in this country. As thefe fouthern people have only three quadrupeds, the dog, the rat, and the hogt, he has no term of defcribing a horse, but by that of "a great hog that carries people;" or a cow, by that of "a great hog that gives milk,” &c.

The fruits in thefe fouthern islands are almost equally limited in number; and nothing affords Omiah more amufement than a garden, and the fruit on the trees againft the walls. The plants and fhrubbery for ornament, he fays, he would take away, and replace them with others that bear fomething to eat.

When he first faw a house, it was matter of astonishment, as it must naturally prove to a perfon, who had never feen any thing but sheds, and low covered rooms: carriages drawn by horfes were also wonderful to him once; but now he fees

them without any marks of furprife.

In the fouthern ifles abovementioned, no perfon is buried, but laid to rot above ground in a morai. The other day Omiah was at a funeral at Hertford; but he was incapable of feeing it finished: he wept upon the occafion, and went from fo painful a fcene. When he firft faw the church-yard at Hertford, and was told that people were buried in it, he asked if all the people buried there had died by inoculation.

He evidently has an affable, as well as a tender difpofition; he poffeffes likewife much difcernment and quickness. A mark of fenfibility he fhewed very lately. He was obferving fome anglers fishing near Hertford, and was pleafed to learn in what manner they were employed; but when he faw the hooks baited with a live worm, he turned away to avoid a fight so difagreeable, and declared his antipathy to eat any fifh taken by fo cruel a method. An inftance of his difcernment and quickness he exhibited when he was introduced to the duchess of Gloucefter, previous to his going to Hertford. The duchefs not being prepared with a prefent proper for Omiah, it occurred to her, that a pocket handkerchief, embellished with her coronet, might be acceptable to him: it was prefented to him. Omiah immediately kiffed the coronet, and made a moft complaifant bow to the duchefs. As this mark of his attention, politeness, and quickness,

was