"La Fille Capitaine" incident.

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Timeframe: Apr 30, 1702

Mme. Auroy, the bookseller, complains to Rene d'Argenson, the 2nd Lieutenant-General of Police, that chevalier de Mailley, having been commissioned to spice up the biographical novel "La Fille Capitaine", went extremely overboard, defaming the woman with sordid tales including the burning of the convent. d'Argenson runs de Mailly out of the country. When he returns 9 years later he spends a month in jail and retires to the country. Less than a year after this event, Mme Auroy  publishesd a rather risque version (though not as scandalous as de Mailly's work was said to be) of the biography of Genevieve Premoy, aka chevalier Baltazar, an actual captain in the dragoons.

It has long been assumed that the the book involved in the incident was a biography of la Maupin because of the convent story. Pierre Louÿs in a 1904 article makes the case that it was chevalier Baltazar instead. I find his reasoning persuasive.

Sources:
ID Author Title Year
src-23 Marc René de Voyer d' Argenson Notes de René d'Argenson 1866
src-8 Gabriel Letainturier-Fradin La Maupin (1670-1707): sa vie, se... 1904
src-24 Pierre Louÿs "Un livre et une héroïne retrou... 1904
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