Source note

LA BAUDRAYE (Madame Polydore Milaud de), wife of the preceding, born Dinah Piedefer in 1807 or 1808 in Berry; daughter of the Calvinist, Moise Piedefer; niece of Silas Piedefer, from whom she inherited a fortune. She was brilliantly educated at Bourges, in the Chamarolles boarding-school, with Anna de Fontaine, born Grosstete—1819. Five years later, through personal ambition, she gave up Protestantism, that she might gain the protection of the Cardinal-Archbishop of Bourges, and a short time after her conversion she was married, about 1823. For thirteen consecutive years, at least, Madame de la Baudraye reigned in the city of Sancerre and in her country-house, Chateau d'Anzy, at Saint-Satur near by. Her court was composed of a strange mixture of people: the Abbe Duret and Messieurs Clagny, Gravier, Gatien Boirouge. At first, only Clagny and Duret know of the literary attempts of Jan Diaz, pseudonym of Madame de la Baudraye, who had just bought the artistic furniture of the Rougets of Issoudun, and who invited and received two "Parisiens de Sancerre," Horace Bianchon and Etienne Lousteau, in September 1836. A liaison followed with Etienne Lousteau, with whom Madame de la Baudraye lived on rue des Martyrs in Paris from 1837 to 1839. As a result of this union she had two sons, recognized later by M. de la Baudraye. Madame de la Baudraye now putting into use the talent, neglected during her love affair, became a writer. She wrote "A Prince of Bohemia," founded on an anecodote related to her by Raoul Nathan, and probably published this novel. The fear of endless scandal, the entreaties of husband and mother, and the unworthiness of Lousteau, finally led Dinah de la Baudraye to rejoin her husband, who owned an elegant mansion on rue de l'Arcade. This return, which took place in May, 1842, surprised Madame d'Espard, a woman who was not easily astonished. Paris of the reign of Louis Philippe often quoted Dinah de la Baudraye and paid considerable attention to her. During this same year, 1842, she assisted in the first presentation of Leon Gozlan's drama, "The Right Hand and the Left Hand," given at the Odeon. [The Muse of the Department. A Prince of Bohemia. Cousin Betty.]