ACTRESS' LOVE LETTERS

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 224, 21 September 1929, Page 10 (Supplement)

ACTRESS' LOVE LETTERS

: ■ AFFECTION FOR FAMOUS" GENERAL INTRIGUES OF MARSHAL SAXE SOLDIER, COURTIER AND RAKE. A hitherto , unpublished collection of love letters written by Adrienne Lecouvreua, that great queen of the French theatre and - contemporary of Mrs. Siddons, has been issued. All these languishing epistles of the tragedienne are addressed to that handsome, reckless adventurer, hero of a thousand tales of love and intrigue, Maurice, Count de Saxe, one-time marshal of the armies of France. Saxe's interest in Adrienne Lecouvreur was short-lived. She occupied his fancy during one of his early visits to Paris; but she retained an affection for him until her dying day. In one of the letters written while he was away fighting for a crown and kingdom there is a pleading tone. "The little house at Dammartin," she says, "is more beautiful than all the courts in the world in my eyes. There we are alone, free and happy; no quarrels disturb us, your dogs are your only courtiers, and love is our sole occupation. Is tfiere anything in life more

agreeable? And is not life too short to neglect its greatest good? Ask this question of any king, though you must know the answer better than all since none has been loved as you have been loved." In other letters Adrienne remonstrates with her lover because of rumours that had reached her concerning his intended marriage to a widow of property. But Adrienne might have saved ink and paper, for Saxe had no notion of marrying. An oft-repeated phrase of his was: ' "A wife is not a convenient article of j furniture for a soldier." Saxe inherited the fickle traits of his character from his reprobate father, Augustus, the Strong, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland. He was one of the many children born to that monarch. His mother was the attractive Countess Aurora of Konigsmark. In 1711, when 15 years old, Saxe received formal recognition of relationship from his father. He had then served three years in the army and had distinguished himself for valour. Maurice was his father's favourite child, probably because the king saw in the young one a strong resemblance to himself. Both were tall and sturdily built. Both were courageous and daring to the extreme. Then there were their frank, open expressions and the engaging smiles that few men, and no women, could resist. He was tutored in the art of war by Marlborough and Prince Eugene. How thorough his early training was may be deduced from a tribute paid him late in life by Frederick the Great: "I have seen this hero of France. I have derived instruction from his conversation, not in the French language, but in the art of war. This marshal might be the professor of all the generals of Europe.