Diary of Marie Bashkirtseff
CZENUKFR

Tuesday, 17 August 1875

# Mardi 17 août 1875

I dreamed of the Fronde.1 I had just entered the service of Anne of Austria! She mistrusted me, but I led her into the midst of the rebellious people, crying "Long live the Queen!" and the people cried after me "Long live the Queen!" We return to the palace and by a ladder placed at the window all the people begin to climb; one fears the palace will fall; and at that moment I see a golden carriage harnessed to magnificent horses, and they say that all of it is nothing but a play, and the carriage and the horses are from the theatre. Then I am on the stage, a ballet is being danced.

J'ai rêvé de la Fronde. Je venais d'entrer au service d'Anne d'Autriche ! elle se défiait de moi mais je la conduisis au milieu du peuple mutiné en criant "Vive la Reine" et le peuple cria après moi "Vive la Reine". Nous rentrons au palais et par une échelle placée à la fenêtre tout le peuple commence à monter, on craint que le palais ne tombe et en ce moment je vois un carrosse doré attelé de magnifiques chevaux, et on dit que tout cela n'est qu'une comédie et la voiture et les chevaux sont du théâtre. Puis je suis sur la scène, on danse un ballet.

And finally I see Girofla's face quite clearly, and to finish Fiouloulou passes and greets me with his usual smile.

Et enfin je vois la figure de Girofla tout à fait clairement, et pour finir Fiouloulou passe et me salue avec son sourire habituel.

These baths at twenty-four degrees Réaumur1 are too hot for me. I shall take them no more. It is so hot here, especially today.

Ces bains de vingt-quatre degrés Réaumur sont trop chauds pour moi. Je ne les prendrai plus. Il fait si chaud ici, surtout aujourd'hui.

I am bored and grumbling. Towards five o'clock I go for a walk with Machenka, but in these lovely paths one encounters only two and a half German women.

Je m'ennuie et me plains. Vers cinq heures, je vais me promener avec Machenka, mais dans ces belles allées on ne rencontre que deux Allemandes et demie.

If one could form a proper crowd,1 one could live quite calmly here — but alone!

Si on pouvait former un bataclan, on pourrait vivre assez calmement ici, mais seuls !

Maman has had another attack, caused by a letter from Russia. Paul is going to enlist as a soldier — voluntarily. The Zankovskys are pushing him into it; he has become infatuated with the younger daughter, who behaves badly. The mother, a thoroughly depraved person, wins at cards — she always wins — and the daughter procures young men for her to fleece. Before Paul, they had one of our neighbours, a Monsieur Doublansky.

Maman avait de nouveau un accès, causé par une lettre de Russie. Paul va se faire volontairement soldat. Les Zankovsky le poussent à cela, il s'est amouraché de la fille cadette qui se conduit mal. La mère, une personne très dépravée, gagne aux cartes, elle gagne toujours, et la fille lui procure des jeunes garçons à dépouiller. Avant Paul, elles avaient un de nos voisins, un M. Doublansky.

The beauty's brother is a dreadful scoundrel. This whole gang has seized hold of the unfortunate Bashkirtseff, who — in order to be in the same regiment as the brother of his beloved — is making himself a soldier.

Le frère de la belle est un atroce garnement. Toute cette clique s'et emparée du malheureux Bashkirseff qui pour être dans le même régiment que le frère de sa beauté se fait militaire.

But Alexandre intends to prevent all of this.

Mais Alexandre veut empêcher tout cela.

Notes

The Fronde (1648–1653) was a series of French civil wars during the minority of Louis XIV, when Anne of Austria (1601–1666) served as Queen Regent. The conflict pitted the royal government against the Parlement of Paris and powerful nobles. Marie likely encountered this history through Alexandre Dumas's Musketeers novels, which are set partly in this period. ↩
The Réaumur scale (water freezes at 0°, boils at 80°) was still in common use at German spas in the 1870s. Twenty-four degrees Réaumur equals 30°C (86°F). ↩
Bataclan is Marie's characteristic word for the lively social circle she requires. She uses it throughout the diary from 1873 onwards; it means roughly a fashionable entourage or animated social group. ↩