BOOK REVIEW

by Verne Bullough

Many readers of Chevalier will be interested to know that the brief auto-biographical account by the Abbé de Choisy of his life in skirts has been reprinted in France. Long out print, the memoirs appropriately entitled Memoires de l'abbé de Choisy habillé en femme (Memoirs of the Abbé de Choisy Dressed as a Woman) were reprinted as part of a French series of 17th and 18th century source material. This particular reprint, published in 1966 by Mercure de France in Paris, was edited by Georges Mongrédien. Included with the brief autobiographical account is the more important (historically) Mémoires pour servir a'l'histoire de Louis XIV

According to his story Choisy's widowed mother, ambitious for his advancement, had brought up Francois-Timoléon as a girl in order that he might be the close companion of the young Prince Philippe d'Orleans, the younger brother of Louis XIV. Historians are not sure of the reason for Philippe's cross dressing, but some feel it might have been done in order that he might not offer competition to his brother, Louis. Philippe grew up to become a sort of drag queen and a well-known homosexual. Choisy, however, remained heterosexual and his greatest joy was in acting the part of a woman. He loved the feel of brocades, satins, and laces, and was so accustomed to wearing corsets that he developed a sort of feminine bust. For a brief time he acted the part of a woman on the stage in Bordeaux. After the death of his mother when he was about eighteen, he determined to dress as a man, but soon found he missed his skirts. He then began living as a woman under the name of Mademoiselle de'Sancy, but for this he was reprimanded (he was already a cleric) and reverted to male dress. He still wanted to dress as a woman, however, and so he sold his house in Paris, dismissed his servants, and hired himself a new set, including a new lady's maid who did not know his true sex. He then