MONTCORNET (Marechal, Comte de), Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor, Commander of Saint-Louis, born in 1774, son of a cabinet-maker in the Faubourg Saint-Antoine, “child of Paris,” mingled in almost all of the wars in the latter part of the eighteenth and beginning of the nineteenth centuries.  He commanded in Spain and in Pomerania, and was colonel of cuirassiers in the Imperial Guard.  He took the place of his friend, Martial de la Roche-Hugon in the affections of Madame de Vaudremont.  The Comte de Montcornet was in intimate relations with Madame or Mademoiselle Fortin, mother of Valerie Crevel.  Towards 1815, Montcornet bought, for about a hundred thousand francs, the Aigues, Sophie Laguerre’s old estate, situated between Conches and Blangy, near Soulanges and Ville-aux-Fayes.  The Restoration allured him.  He wished to have his origin overlooked, to gain position under the new regime, to efface all memory of the expressive nick-name received from the Bourgogne peasantry, who called him the “Upholsterer.”  In the early part of 1819 he married Virginie de Troisville.  His property, increased by an income of sixty thousand francs, allowed him to live in state.  In winter he occupied his beautiful Parisian mansion on rue Neuve-des-Mathurins, now called rue des Mathurins, and visited many places, especially the homes of Raoul Nathan and of Esther Gobseck.  During the summer the count, then mayor of Blangy, lived at Aigues.  His unpopularity and the hatred of the Gaubertins, Rigous, Sibilets, Soudrys, Tonsards, and Fourchons rendered his sojourn there unbearable, and he decided to dispose of the estate.  Montcornet, although of violent disposition and weak character, could not avoid being a subordinate in his own family.  The monarchy of 1830 overwhelmed Montcornet, then lieutenant-general unattached, with gifts, and gave a division of the army into his command.  The count, now become marshal, was a frequent visitor at the Vaudeville.[*] Montcornet died in 1837.  He never acknowledged his daughter, Valerie Crevel, and left her nothing.  He is probably buried in Pere-Lachaise cemetery, where a monument was to be raised for him under W. Steinbock’s supervision.  Marechal de Montcornet’s motto was:  “Sound the Charge.” [Domestic Peace.  Lost Illusions.  A Distinguished Provincial at Paris.  Scenes from a Courtesan’s Life.  The Peasantry.  A Man of Business.  Cousin Betty.]

[*] A Parisian theatre, situated until 1838 on rue de Chartres.  Rue de
    Chartres, which also disappeared, although later, was located
    between the Palais-Royal square and the Place du Carrousel.

MONTCORNET (Comtesse de.) (See Blondet, Madame Emile.)