A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Fougeret, Anna Francesca Dontremont
FOUGERET, ANNA FRANCESCA DONTREMONT,
Was born at Paris in 1745, in a family where, by example and instruction, she was brought up to know and practice the virtues of Christian. Her father was an eminent barrister; and her mother, descended from a very respectable family, was a woman of superior ability, and esteemed for her many virtues. Anna was married when very young to M. de Fougeret, receiver-general of the finance. At the head of an establishment of which she had the management, and living in an extended circle of society, she found time to be the instructress of her children, whom she educated in a most careful manner. Her love for her own infants awakened her sympathy for some unfortunates whom circumstances brought under her notice. Her father, who was a director of the hospitals, often deplored the miserable situation of that of the foundlings, where numbers of babes perished for want of proper nutrition, impossible to be given, and from the bad air of overcrowded rooms. The pictures of this distress deeply moved the heart of Madame de Fougeret; nor was she satisfied with a barren commiseration; she pondered over the subject until she devised the remedy; but her plans required more money than a private purse could supply. True benevolence is invincible. Madame de Fougeret, abdicating all personal merit in this good act, communicated her ideas to the Duchess de Cosse, whose rank and power, united with all benevolence and piety, rendered her the fit person to set on foot this useful establishment Soon all the opulent ladies of Paris became interested, everything was arranged, every obstacle surmounted, and the "Maternal Charity" became an institution. Louis the Sixteenth and Maria Antoinette headed the list of subscribers, and in 1788 the society began their labours. These were crowned with the utmost success until the whirlwind of 1789 came to disperse the founders and patrons. Amidst the trials to which she was exposed, Madame de Fougeret had the opportunity of manifesting the greatness of her mind, and the energy of her character. Her husband expired on the guillotine, and she was left to sustain, encourage, and maintain her children; and, by judicious exertion of her abilities, she rescued from confiscation the patrimony of her family. After the restitution of her property she lived in the country, surrounded by a numerous offspring, to whom she was an object of love and veneration. In 1813, a painful malady terminated a life of virtue and good works.