For months , I nurtured the idea of telling stories of lesser known French 18th Century characters and facts: I thought it could be a lively way to shed some light on everyday life in those days.

Alas, I had not realised what a time-consuming task it was: documenting, building a synopsis, and writing it in English, which is not so natural to me, as you'll soon discover ( please purists, accept my apologies!).

So I had nearly abandoned this too heavy project( I'm busy most of the time, and lazy for the rest...). Then I read here the excellent portrayals of Royal Court Personalities by Melle de Milneaux, and she gave me the start and courage to go back to my desk.

So let me dedicate this first story of a series to Marie- Therese de Milneaux.

The first story you will be able to read here very soon, will be titled:

"LATUDE, or 35 years in jail without a trial, and seven escapes"

It will be followed next month by the story of an even more fascinating character!