Chapter I: Front Matter

THE MEMOIRS OF MARIA STELLA

(LADY NEWBOROUGH)

_From a picture at Glynllifon_]

THE MEMOIRS OF
MARIA STELLA

(LADY NEWBOROUGH)

BY
HERSELF

_Translated from the original French by M. Harriet M. Capes
and with an introduction by B. D’Agen_

LONDON
EVELEIGH NASH
1914

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

_To face page_

* MARIA STELLA, LADY NEWBOROUGH, AS A GYPSY
(_From a picture at Glynllifon_) _Frontispiece_

* LORD NEWBOROUGH 76
(_From a picture at Glynllifon_)

* GLYNLLIFON 88
(_From a drawing by the late Sir John Ardagh_)

* MARIA STELLA, LADY NEWBOROUGH 104
(_From a bust at Glynllifon_)

THE DUKE OF ORLEANS (PHILIPPE-ÉGALITÉ) 152

MME. DE GENLIS 198
(_Photo, Braun Clement et Cie_)

MARIA STELLA, LADY NEWBOROUGH, BARONNE DE STERNBERG 228

THE DUCHESS OF ORLEANS (LOUISE MARIE ADÉLAÏDE DE
BOURBON-PENTHIÈVRE) WIFE OF PHILIPPE-ÉGALITÉ 244

LOUIS-PHILIPPE, KING OF FRANCE 280

* The thanks of the publisher are due to the Hon. F. G. Wynn for permission to reproduce these pictures, and to Sir Ralph Payne-Gallwey, Bart. (author of _The Mystery of Maria Stella, Lady Newborough_: Edward Arnold), for the use of his copyright photographs of the same.

THE ORLEANS-CHIAPPINI CASE

NEWBOROUGH _v._ JOINVILLE

_Whereas the plaintiff has claimed that the rectification of her certificate of baptism should be properly carried out, etc. That Lorenzo Chiappini, being near his death, wrote a letter to the plaintiff, in which, to ease his conscience, he declared that she was not his daughter._

_That the words of a dying man must bear the impress of truth._

_That, according to the evidence of the witnesses Bandini, it is absolutely proved that Count Louis Joinville exchanged his daughter for a boy of Lorenzo Chiappini’s, and that the Demoiselle de Joinville was baptized under the name of Maria Stella, falsely described as the daughter of Chiappini and his wife._

_That the Lady Maria Stella therefore justly claims the rectification of her birth-certificate._

_Moreover, that the evidence of the aforesaid witnesses is supported by public notoriety and the difficulties the Comte de Joinville experienced._

_Finally, that the legitimacy of the claim is proved by the careful education given to the plaintiff—an education unsuitable to the daughter of a jailer, as well as by the improvement in the fortunes of Chiappini which ensued._

_For these reasons, which will be established both in fact and law by the proofs put in, and for all others resulting from the proceedings, it is held that the plaintiff’s request should be granted, etc._

THE ORLEANS-CHIAPPINI CASE

JOINVILLE _v._ NEWBOROUGH

_Whereas the plaintiff, in both her birth and baptismal certificates, is described as the daughter of Lorenzo Chiappini, who brought her up as such, and that so she acknowledged herself for nearly fifty years, etc._

_That this plainly establishes the fact of her birth and consequent rights, etc._

_That the proofs brought forward by the plaintiff amount to no more than the depositions of a few witnesses, whereas the proof should be in writing, etc._

_That failing the necessary proofs of affiliation and paternity, the law holds good that given in the birth-certificate, etc._

_That, even if the proofs given in evidence were alone sufficient, the witnesses produced by the plaintiff do not plainly report the fact of the substitution, etc._

_Moreover, doubt is not dispelled by Chiappini’s declaration, because it is not expressed in authentic or documentary terms, etc._

_Finally, that to claim to be the daughter of a certain person not that named in the certificate of birth or shown as in possession, it is necessary to prove that such person has really existed, etc._

_For these reasons, it must be held that the claims of the plaintiff be refused, and that she be condemned in all the costs of the trial, etc._

THE MEMOIRS OF MARIA STELLA