122
NOTES AND QUERIES. [11 s. vn. FEB. 15, 1913.
generally known as " L'Ami des Hommes."
Apparently the Marquis, who was then
living in Paris, never occupied the house,
and almost immediately after its purchase
he commissioned his brother, the Bailli
de Mirabeau, who held a high position in
the Order of Malta, to sell or let the property
if he could find an opportunity. It re-
mained, however, for a considerable time
in the Marquis's hands, and there is a tradi-
tion a groundless one, I believe that his
more celebrated son, Honore Riqueti, Comte
de Mirabeau, after his marriage at Aix on
23 June, 1772, with Emilie de Covet de
Marignane, spent there a portion of his
honeymoon. It seems, however, to be an
established fact that, for a short period,
the Marquis had as a tenant Anne Pitt,
the sister of the great Earl of Chatham. In
1775 the house was occupied by the Genevese
savant De Luc, who was one of Queen
Charlotte's readers, and a Fellow of the
Royal Society.
After several changes of ownership the property at last came into the hands of Baron Stulz, who very soon identified himself with the life of the place. His wealth was great, and his liberality was in- exhaustible. Old inhabitants, not so many years ago, recalled how, as he drove across the Esplanade in his magnificent equipage, he used to be acclaimed with the rude patois rime
" Vivo moussu d'Estu Qu'a lou cabrioulet plen' d'escut ! "
Shortly before his death the town of Hyeres, in grateful recognition of his many benefactions, erected a stone obelisk upon the Place des Palmiers, on the base of which the following inscription may still be read :
JL M. LE BARON DE STULZ
LA VILLE D' HYERES RECONNAISSANTE
1832.
Though a strict Protestant, Stulz recog- nized no distinctions of race or creed in his boundless charity. When the Govern- ment, during his residence at Hyeres, pre- sented the town with a fine marble bust of the great orator Massillon, it was the Baron who provided the funds for erecting it on a beautiful stone column, which was placed in the Place de la Republique, opposite the ancient church of the Cordeliers now the Church of St. Louis. This bust and column passed through many vicissitudes. The former lias found a resting - place in the Museum, and the latter forms a portion of the cenotaph which was erected in the ne\v cemetery in memory of the sailors who were drowned when L'Arrogante, a vessel _oi
the French Navy, was wrecked on the coast
of Giens, near Hyeres, in 1879. More
recently a bronze statue of Massillon, who
was born at Hyeres in 1663, has been erected
at the north-east corner of the Place de la
Hade.
Baron Stulz died in his house at Hyeres n 1832, at the age of 70, ajid, as he left no descendants, his property was divided Between his two sisters, who had both married Baden gentlemen. The elder, Bar- Dara, was the wife of John Metzger of Keip- penheim, and the younger, Marie Madeleine, of Andrew Sohn of Heiligenzell. The latter had five daughters, one of whom, Marie Made- eine, married M. Alphonse Denis, an avocat and publicist of Hyeres. A short time previously, on 26 Feb., 1833, by a family irrangement, the Hyeres property had come into the possession of Madame Sohn, and on her death her daughter, Madame Denis r succeeded to it.
The Baron had spent large sums of money^ in improving the old mansion. The decora- tion of the principal salon cost him 50,000fr. It was furnished entirely in the Empire style, and was dominated by an enormous mirror, which was said to have no equal in Provence. This mansion, thenceforward known as the Chateau Denis, became cele- brated for the entertainments given by its- new owners. M. Denis, who was a man of considerable culture and learning, was Mayor of Hyeres and Deputy for the Depart- ment of the Var. He was devoted to archae- ology, and was one of the first to encourage excavations on the site of the old Roman town of Pomponiana. He was also instru- mental in procuring the sanction of the Government to the ancient castle and the Church of St. Louis being classed as public monuments. He is, perhaps, best remem- bered now by his admirable book, ' Hyeres Ancien et Moderne,' which is a storehouse of information on everything connected with this venerable town.
During his occupancy of the house it was occasionally let to some distinguished tenants. Among these were Queen Chris- tina of Spain and her husband, the Duke of Rianzares, and some men distinguished in science and literature Ampere, Philarete Chasles, and Jules Michelet. Michelet was much attached to Hyeres, and wintered there for the last ten j'ears of his life. He died on 9 Feb., 1874, in the house now num- bered 1, Avenue Alphonse Denis, the principal business thoroughfare of the town, which was named by the municipality aft -T its former head.^
