Bernard-René Jourdan de Launay permanently stationed in Paris except in time of war. In 1776 de Launay succeeded M. de Jumilhac as Governor of the Bastille. As was the custom with many senior positions under the Ancien Régime, the marquis purchased the office of governor from his predecessor as a form of investment. The thirteen years that he spent in this position were uneventful, though on 19 December 1778 he reportedly made the mistake of failing to fire the cannon of the Bastille as a salute on the birth of a daughter (Madame Royale) to King Louis XVI. In August 1785 he was given
Marguerite de Launay, baronne de Staal of the kind has ever been. "Dans cet art enjoué de raconter", says Sainte-Beuve, "Madame de Staal est classique". Besides her "Mémoires" Mme de Staal left two excellent short comedies, performed at the court of Sceaux, and some letters, the answers to which are in some cases extant, and show, as well as the references of contemporaries, that the writer did not exaggerate her own charm. Her "Mémoires" were translated by Selina Bathurst (1877) and by Cora H. Bell (1892). See the edition (1877) of her "Mémoires" by M. de Lescure. Marguerite de Launay, baronne de Staal Marguerite Jeanne Cordier