Chapter I: Front Matter

THE BOYS' LIFE OF LAFAYETTE

From an engraving by Jones]

The Boys' Life of LAFAYETTE

by

Helen Nicolay

Illustrated

Harper & Brothers Publishers

New York and London

CONTENTS

CHAP. PAGE

Preface............................... ix
I. Warriors and Wild Beasts.............. 1
II. Educating a Marquis................... 9
III. A New King............................ 19
IV. An Unruly Courtier.................... 29
V. Leading a Double Life................. 39
VI. A Sea-turn............................ 48
VII. An American Pilgrimage................ 57
VIII. An Astonishing Reception.............. 64
IX. Proving Himself a Soldier............. 72
X. Letters............................... 81
XI. A Fool's Errand....................... 91
XII. Farce and Treachery................... 104
XIII. A Liaison Officer..................... 113
XIV. Near-mutiny and near-imprisonment..... 122
XV. Help--and Disappointment.............. 129
XVI. Black Treachery....................... 139
XVII. Preparing for the Last Act............ 149
XVIII. Yorktown.............................. 158
XIX. "The Wine of Honor"................... 168
XX. The Passing of Old France............. 180
XXI. The Tricolor.......................... 191
XXII. The Sans-culottes..................... 200
XXIII. Popularity and Prison................. 208
XXIV. South Carolina to the Rescue!......... 221
XXV. Volunteers in Misfortune.............. 235
XXVI. Exiles................................ 246
XXVII. A Grateful Republic................... 258
XXVIII. Leave-takings......................... 269
XXIX. President--or King-maker.............. 276
XXX. Seventy-six Years Young............... 289
Index................................. 301

ILLUSTRATIONS

MARQUIS DE LAFAYETTE................ _Frontispiece_ THE MANOR-HOUSE OF CHAVANIAC........ _Facing p._ 6 FRANKLIN AT THE FRENCH COURT........ " 42 WASHINGTON AND THE COMMITTEE OF CONGRESS AT VALLEY FORGE.................. " 94 VALLEY FORGE—WASHINGTON AND LAFAYETTE " 94 THE BATTLE OF MONMOUTH............... " 110 THE BASTILLE......................... " 194 SIEGE OF THE BASTILLE................ " 194 MARQUIS DE LAFAYETTE................. " 262 MADAME DE LAFAYETTE.................. " 262 MARQUIS DE LAFAYETTE AND LOUIS-PHILIPPE " 286

[Pg ix]PREFACE

This is no work of fiction. It is sober history; yet if the bare facts it tells were set forth without the connecting links, its preface might be made to look like the plot of a dime novel.

It is the story of a poor boy who inherited great wealth; who ran away from home to fight for liberty and glory; who became a major-general before he was twenty years old; who knew every nook and corner of the palace at Versailles, yet was the blood-brother of American Indians; who tried vainly to save the lives of his king and queen; who was in favor of law, yet remained a rebel to the end of his days; who suffered an unjust imprisonment which has well been called "a night five years long"; who was twice practically Dictator of France; and who, in his old age, was called upon to make a great decision.

But it is no work of fiction. It is only the biography of a French gentleman named Lafayette.

[Pg 1]THE BOYS' LIFE OF LAFAYETTE