Figaro Society Notes

   Society and Town: Salons: Dinner, the evening before last, at the home of Mme Maurice Dollfus, rue Alfred-de-Vigny. Among the guests: Duc and Duchesse d'Elchingen, Marquis and Marquise d'Albufera, Baron and Baronne Robert de Rothschild, Comte and Comtesse de Coulombiers, M. and Mme Grimprel, M. and Mme Auguste Chanu, Comte Louis-René de Gramont, etc.

   Her Royal Highness Princesse Murat will be hosting, on Saturday 30 May, a grand dinner in honour of the Grand-duc and Grande-duchesse Cyrille and their sister-in-law and sister Princesse Béatrice de Saxe-Cobourg and Gotha.
   The dinner will be followed by a select reception and a turn of waltzing. No further guests will be present other than those persons already presented to the imperial hosts.
   The presence is anticipated of the Grande-duchesse Vladimir and her daughter Princesse Nicolas of Greece, who are expected today in Paris.

Le Figaro, 22 May 1908.
Letter to Louis d'Albufera, 21 or 22 May 1908: "Many thanks from the bottom of my heart for the society accounts you had the goodness to send me. Goodness that is all the greater because it is so tiresome for you. I thank you once again and with all my heart. I don't know, not having received your letter until the evening of the 21st, if the account will be included but I think so." See Correspondance VIII, p.125 and n1 & 2.

   Society and Town: Salons: A very elegant dinner, Monday the day before yesterday, at the home of Mme Comtesse Pillet-Will, in her charming town house on rue Pauquet. Among the guests:
   Duc and Duchesse de La Rochefoucauld, Prince and Princesse Amédée de Broglie, Vicomte and Vicomtesse de Breteuil, Marquis d'Avaray, Comte Boni de Castellane, Vicomte Henri de Vogüé, Comte and Comtesse Frisch de Fels, Comte de Rohan Chabot, Comte de Laborde.

Le Figaro, 27 May 1908.
Letter to Louis d'Albufera, 26 May 1908: "When I received your charming communication I was just going to write to say that I was not duped by your charming expression 'that you are not doing me any great service by doing all this'. [...] As for the Murat things, if I have them the same evening or even the next day if the next day's Gaulois and New-York haven't put anything in, that would be just as useful for me. I'm in no position to know whether the Murats have communicated anything from their side. I excluded your name from the list of guests. I noticed the name of the Marquis d'Avaray in it."
See Correspondance VIII, p.126 and n2 & 4.

    Society and Town: Salons: Dinner, the day before yesterday, at the home of Baron and Baronne André de Neuflize. Among the number of guests:
   Prince and Princesse Pierre d'Arenberg, Marquis and Marquise d'Albufera, Comte and Comtesse de Viel-Castel, Marquise de Loys-Chandieu, Baron and baronne de Waldner,Comte and Comtesse Bertrand d'Aramon, Vicomte François de Pâris, Comte de Palikao, M. Barclay etc.

Le Figaro, 28 May 1908.
Letter to Louis d'Albufera, 27 May 1908: "I have hardly thanked you for one act of kindness and here's another. You have sent me a new list. Thank you with all my heart."
Letter to Louis d'Albufera, 28 May 1908: "Don't be cross if you haven't been put in the order you said (Neuflize) it wasn't my note that appeared but another, sent by I don't know who (the masters of the house perhaps). So there is a M. Barclay who wasn't in your note and M. Palikao who was in your note but I seem to remember that I forgot it when copying it out. I'm telling you this so that you don't think I'm altering anything, I leave everything in the order you give me, if you put yourself last I put you last."
See Correspondance VIII, p.128-129 and n2.

   Society and Town: Salons: Grand dinner, the day before yesterday, at the home of M. and Mme Pierre Lebaudy; among the guests:
   Comte and Comtesse de Francqueville, Comte and Comtesse de Viel-Castel, Marquis and Marquise de Ganay, Prince and Princesse Murat, Marquis and Marquise d'Albufera, etc. etc.

Le Figaro, 29 May 1908.

   Society and Town: Salons:Intimate dinner yesterday at the home of M. and Mme Léon Fould, in their Cours-la-Reine mansion. Among the guests:
   Comte, Comtesse and Mlle de Bryas; Marquis and Marquise d'Albufera, Comte and Comtesse Bertrand d'Aramon, M. and Mme Eugène Fould, M. Maurice Darlu, etc.

   White and pink cotillon of a rare elegance, the day before yesterday, at the home of Comtesse de La Riboisière, in her splendid mansion on avenue Montaigne. Among the persons present:
   Their Royal Highnesses Prince and Princesse Murat with their daughter Princesse Marguerite, Their Royal Highnesses Prince and Princesse d'Isenburg-Burstein, Duchesse de Broglie, née d'Armaillé, and Mlle de Broglie, Duc and Mlle Decazes, Prince and Princesse D. Radziwill with their daughter Isabelle, the Ambassador of the United States and Mlle White, Marquise and Mlle d'Harcourt, Duchesse and Mlle d'Albufera, Comte and Mlle d'Alsace, Comtesse and Mle de La Rochefoucauld, Duc, Duchesse and Mlle de Morny, Comte and Mlle H. de Montesquiou-Fezensac, Comtesse and Mlle de Maillé, Marquise and Mlle de Saporta, Baronne and Mlle de Fleury, Duc and Duchesse d'Audiffret-Pasquier, Prince de La Tour d'Auvergne, Comtes and Comtesses Ch. de Caraman, de Noailles, Hélie de Durfort, de Massa, du Bourg de Bozas, de Saint-Sauveur, Princesses Guy and Gérard de Faucigny-Lucinge, Marquis and Marquise d'Abufera, Marquise de Talleyrand-Périgord, Barons and Baronnes de Waldner and Ed. de Barante, Vicomte and Vicomtesse de Kersaint etc.
   Their Royal Highnesses Princes Louis and Antoine d'Orléans and Bragance, Princes de Ligne, Alexandre de Wagram, Philippe de Caraman-Chimay, Michel de Géorgie, Duc d'Elchingen, Comtes B. de Durfort, Gérard de Ganay, Schoenborn, Louis and Pierre de La Rochefoucauld, F. de Merode, Louis-René de Gramont, d'Oultremont, H. de Portes, Alexandre de Talleyrand-Périgord, A. d'Andlau, Em. de Lambertye, Pierre de Béarn, Marquis de Mailly-Nesle, de Pleumartin, d'Argenson, MM. Louis Decazes, Adelin and Aymar de Liedekerke, Vicomte de Pâris, etc.
   The ravishing cotillon was conducted in the American style by MM. Jean de La Riboisière and André de Fouquières.

Le Figaro, 31 May 1908.
Letter to Louis d'Albufera, 29 May 1908: "I have just now received your note and I thank you for that. But I have never had a M. de Durtal at my apartment. Perhaps I shan't send in your last note, for a particular reason that I'll tell you all about. Maybe I'll do it. I need to consider what is best."
See Correspondance VIII, p.130-131 and n7.

   

Society and Town: Salons: Very fine dinner, the day before yesterday, in the rue de Monceau at the home of Prince and Princesse Murat.
   Among the guests:
   The Ambassador of Spain and the Marquise del Muni, Comte and Comtesse de Mun, Comte and Comtesse de Triquerville, Marquis and Marquise d'Albufera, Prince and Princesse de La Tour-d'Auvergne, Baron and Baronne Robert de Rothschild, Baron and Baronne de Waldner, Mme Edouard André, Baron Lejeune, Baron Hubert Lejeune, M. Raiberti, etc.

   The ball given the day before yesterday by Mme Pierre Lebaudy at her town house on rue François-1er was one of the most elegant of the season. Among the guests:
   Princes Louis and Antoine d'Orléans and Bragance, Prince and Princesse d'Isenburg-Birnstein, Princes and Princesses Murat, Guy and Rogatien de Faucigny-Lusange, Marquis and Marquises d'Albufera, de Brantes, Comtesses François de Franqueville, Chandon de Briailles, E. de Fitz-James, Vicomte and Vicomtesse Léon de Janzé, Duc and Duchesse de Morny, Marquise de Saint-Saveur, Comtes and Comtesses de Vallombrosa, Jean de Segonzac, de Viel-Castel, de Castéjà, M. and Mme de Fouquières, Duc d'Elchingen, Princes Louis Murat, Ph. de Caraman-Chimay, Marquis de Nédonchel and de Massa, Comte de Hohenthal, etc.

Le Figaro, 4 June 1908.
Letter to Louis d'Albufera, 3 June 1908: "Thank you for your note but I don't want to prolong this torture for you any longer. Every time I receive a note from you it is with such a feeling of remorse thinking about the nuisance all of this is for you, which ends up making it painful for me. C[almette]'s wishes are all very well but since this is all going on for longer than I expected I think I will ask from another quarter, and, thanking you from the bottom of my heart for all your goodness, I beg you not to send me any more."
See Correspondance VIII, p.132-133 and n2.
Letter to Louis d'Albufera, 4 June 1908 (Beaussant Lefèvre 10 July 2019, Lot 45): "It is precisely because I understand the efforts involved in your kindness that it has become painful to me. And so that you can see that I am serious about this I haven't sent in the note about Robert de Rothschild and I won't send any more. So please don't send me anything else. Of course if it ever gives you pleasure, to annoy somebody for example by not mentioning their name, or for any other reason, I am completely at your service. But don't send me any more just to please me because they are causing me pain, and I can't understand how I could have been so selfish, or rather between giving pleasure to C[almette] and saving you from annoyance I didn't choose the second."

Proust, Ronald Hayman, p.283: "For the moment he was contributing to the social column of Le Figaro, but, unable to go out much, he depended on information Albu supplied, listing the most distinguished guests at the parties he attended."
Letter to Louis d'Albufera, 13 or 14 May 1908: "In confidentiality you would be doing me a great service, and allowing me to perform one for somebody else, if for a short time, a few weeks at least, you could send me a note when you dine in town or attend a soirée. And besides, if you prefer it not to be known that you attended the dinner you have only to exclude your name, there is no way it could be known that it came from you. But it could give a hint if your name was seen to be systematically suppressed. In this regard will you allow me to say that in the notices where the name of your wife was included and yours wasn't, it could give a very bad impression."
 The above extracts are those suggested by Philip Kolb as having possible involvement from Proust.
Letter to Emmanuel Bibesco, about November 1908: "I think it is enough if I ask you that a letter is totally confidential so as not to fear, even if you reject my proposition, your divulging it. So without waiting for a reply from you promising secrecy, here it is: You would be doing me a great service, or rather give me great pleasure by allowing me to do a great service for somebody else, if for two or three weeks you could send me every day the names of guests at dinners and even soirées that you attend. They will appear in the Figaro with or without your name, but I think that to suppress your name would have the disadvantage of making it appear that it came from you and that it would be better to leave it in, in any case nobody would ever know. I know that it would be tiresome for you and I daren't hope that you will agree but it would be doing me a great service." Bibesco refused.

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Created 10.09.19