Miraheau an Opponent of Absolutism 11 



ending in a personal encounter with a nobleman who had 

 insulted his sister, brought forth another lettre de cachet and 

 Mirabeau became an inmate of the fortress of If, off the harbor 

 of Marseilles. Here again the surveillance was not sufficiently 

 close to suit the Marquis and he procured a fourth lettre de 

 cachet by means of which the much imprisoned young man was 

 domiciled in the fortress of Joux on the eastern frontier of 

 France. As in all previous cases, here also Mirabeau won the 

 good will of the commandant and was soon free to go and come 

 as he pleased. Although nominally a prisoner, he took up his 

 residence in Pontarlier, a town situated at the foot of the hill 

 on which the fortress stood. 



He had the entree of the best society of the place and was 

 especially welcome at the home of M. de Monnier, whose young 

 wife found him extremely fascinating. Mirabeau's wife was 

 no longer with him, having practically deserted him at Manos- 

 que. He pleaded with her to return, but in vain.^ The last 

 restraint upon his actions was removed. 



It is needless to deal at length with the Monnier affair. It 

 ended in an elopement and "Sophie and Gabriel" began life 

 in Amsterdam, siipporting themselves at first with the gold 

 taken from the till of M. de Monnier and later by the money 

 won by Mirabeau's pen. The "Essai sur le despotism" had 

 been printed in 1775 at Neufchatel^ and Mirabeau found 

 enough literary work of various kinds to enable him to make 

 both ends meet. But their happiness was not of long dura- 

 tion. Police officers in the employ of the Marquis and of the 

 relatives of Mme. de Monnier hunted them down and bore 



1 "'Je regus quelques lignes glagees, on Ton m'insinuait avec douceur 

 que j'etais/oit."' Lettres de Mirabeau, II, 200. 



2 The preface to the third edition states, "que I'edition (the second), 

 d'apres la quelle celle-ci est imprimee, a paru en 177G." Lomenie (V 45?^) 

 gives 1775 for the first edition, the same date is given by Montigny (Mem- 

 oires de Mirabeau, IV. 4, note). Decrue gives 1776 as the first date of 

 publication (Revue historique, XXI, 278). See Stern, I., 91, note. 



55 



