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 Another Random Document on
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 The next day they left Zug. M. de Chartres went to Coire, in the
Engadine, where for fifteen months he gave lessons in mathematics
in a college under an assumed name, while Mme. de Genlis and her
two charges took refuge in a convent near the little town of
Bremgarten, where they were admitted through M. de Montesquieu,
another of the radical nobles obliged to flee from the tender mercies
of his radical friends, of whom they had heard through M. de
Montjoye, now living with his relations in Bâle, when he had paid
them a visit.
In the convent they were safe and at peace, except for another
illness of Mademoiselle d’Orléans, which left her so weak that Mme.
de Genlis was afraid to tell her of the execution of her father in the
November of 1794. She persuaded her not to read the French
papers, telling her they were full of blasphemies and indecencies not
fit for her to see. She had already received news of the execution of
her husband, M. de Sillery, by which she was prostrated for a time.
Philippe-Égalité had wearied Robespierre with his petitions to be
released, and that worthy remarked to Fouquier-Tinville—
“It seems that Égalité is tired of the fish of Marseilles that Milon
appreciated so much. He wants to come to Paris.”
“Why prevent his coming back? his affair will be settled all the
sooner,” was the answer. [132]
It was said that a locksmith, who was executed on the same day,
would not get into the same cart with him, fearing that he “might be
thought the accomplice of such a man.”
Mme. de Genlis put Mademoiselle d’Orléans into mourning, telling
her that it was for the Queen, which she must of course wear, and it
was some time before she discovered the truth.
She had written to ask a refuge of her uncle, the Duke of Modena,
who sent her some money, but said political reasons prevented his
receiving her in his duchy. The poor child, naturally merry and high-
spirited, had grown quiet and sad, though she bore without
complaining the hardships of her lot.
At last they heard that the Princesse de Conti was living near
Fribourg, and it was arranged that she should take charge of her
niece. She wrote an affectionate letter, and sent the Comtesse de
Saint-Maurice-de-Pont to Bremgarten to fetch her.
Mme. de Genlis, dreading the parting, shut herself up in her room
on the morning of her departure, leaving a message that she had
gone out for the day to avoid that grief. She had not told her the
night before that the time had come for their separation.
It was a great sorrow to them both, but was inevitable.
Mademoiselle d’Orléans was rightly placed in the care of her own
family, and the wandering, adventurous life led from this time by
Mme. de Genlis was not desirable for the young princess.
 E. H. Bearne
CHILLON

FOOTNOTES:

[129] “Mémoires de Louis XVIII.,” t. v. p. 326.

[130] “Madame de Montesson,” p. 277 (Joseph Turquan).
[131] After the fall of Robespierre and the Convention, the
Duchess was released by the Directory and exiled to Spain.
[132] “Mémoires de Louis XVIII.,” t. v. p. 329.
 CHAPTER IX

A wandering life—“The tyrant is no more”—Marriage of Henriette—Hamburg—

Berlin—Antwerp—Brussels—Returns to France—Terrible changes—Shattered
fortune—Literary success—The Empire—Napoleon—Mme. de Genlis and her
friends—Death of Mme. de Montesson.

T will not be possible in a biography so short as this, to give a

detailed account of the wandering, adventurous life led by
Mme. de Genlis after the severance of her connection with the
Orléans family.
She had now only her niece, Henriette, with her, and they set out
again upon their travels. M. de Valence, after serving the
revolutionists, had been proscribed by them, and was living in exile
at Utrecht. There, accordingly, they joined him, and set up a joint
ménage, first there, afterwards at Altona and at Hamburg.
It was whilst Mme. de Genlis was in Altona that she heard of the
fall of Robespierre and the deliverance of her daughter. She was
then living in a boarding-house, or inn, kept by a certain Mme.
Plock, where she spent a good deal of time; and about one o’clock
one morning she was sitting up in her room, writing, when she
suddenly heard a violent knocking at her door, and the voice of M.
de Kercy, a peaceable friendly acquaintance of hers, whose room
was close by, called out—
“Open the door! Open the door! I must embrace you.”
Thinking he must have lost his senses she did nothing of the sort,
and again he cried out—
“It is you who will embrace me! Open the door! Open the door!”
At length she did so, and M. de Kercy, flinging himself upon her
neck, exclaimed—
 “The tyrant is no more! Robespierre is dead!”
Mme. de Genlis some time afterwards married her niece, Henriette
de Sercey, to a rich merchant in Hamburg, after which she went to
Berlin, but where she was denounced to the King, accused, without
truth, of receiving the Abbé de Sieyès, then in Berlin, and ordered to
leave the Prussian territory.
Then she went back to Hamburg, where she found her niece
happy and prosperous, and where Lady Edward Fitzgerald, who was
always devoted to her, came to pay her a visit, greatly to her delight.
Next she went to Holstein with M. de Valence who left her in an
old castle, with the owners of which she formed an intimate
friendship, and after staying there some weeks she took rooms in a
farm in the neighbourhood where she lived for a considerable time;
she had with her then as companion a young girl called Jenny, to
whom she was much attached, and who nursed her devotedly
through an illness.
Thus she wandered from place to place during the rest of her nine
years of exile, generally under an assumed name; going now and
then to Berlin, after the King’s death, and to Hamburg, which was
full of emigrés, but where she met M. de Talleyrand and others of
her own friends. Shunned and denounced by many, welcomed by
others, she made many friends of different grades, from the brother
and sister-in-law of the King of Denmark to worthy Mme. Plock,
where she lodged in Altona, and the good farmer in Holstein, in
whose farmhouse she lived. The storms and troubles of her life did
not subdue her spirits; she was always ready for a new friendship,
enjoying society, but able to do without it; taking an interest in
everything, walking about the country in all weathers, playing the
harp, reading, teaching a little boy she had adopted and called
Casimir, and writing books by which she easily supported herself and
increased her literary reputation.
 It was in the year 1801 that she received permission to return to
France.
Taking leave of her friends, who implored her not to leave them,
she started for Brussels, accompanied by her niece Henriette and
Pamela, who went part of the way with her. At Antwerp she met her
son-in-law, M. de Lawoestine, who had been to visit her when she
was living in Holstein. With her two sons-in-law she was always on
the most friendly and affectionate terms.
At Brussels she found her nephew, César Ducrest, and, after nine
years’ separation, was reunited to her daughter, who accompanied
her to Paris.
Mme. de Valence, whatever may have been the follies of her
youth, was a woman generally beloved for her kind, affectionate,
generous disposition, she was devoted to her mother and children,
and Mme. de Genlis in her joy at seeing her and France again, to say
nothing of the other relations and friends whose affection made so
large a part of her happiness, was consoled for the sorrows of her
past life.
But her first impressions were very painful, notwithstanding her
emotion when first she heard the people around her speaking
French, saw the towers of Notre Dame, passed the barrière, and
found herself again driving through the streets of Paris.
It was all so terribly changed, she could hardly believe that this
was indeed the Paris of her youth, the ancient capital of a great
monarchy, the centre of magnificence, elegance, and refinement.
The churches were mostly closed, if not in ruins; the statues of the
saints were replaced by those of infidel philosophers; the names of
the streets were changed into others, often commemorating some
odious individual or theory or deed of the Revolution; as to the
convents the very names of “Jacobin,” “Cordeliers,” and others were
associated with horror and bloodshed. The words palais and hôtel
having been forbidden by the Terrorists, maison ci-devant Conti,
maison ci-devant Bourbon, &c., were written upon the once splendid
dwellings of those who were now murdered, wandering in exile or,
like herself, just returning to their ruined homes, with shattered
fortunes and sorrowful hearts. Everywhere, on walls and buildings
were inscribed the mocking words liberté, égalité, fraternité,
sometimes with the significant addition, ou la mort.
On the other hand things were much better than when, nine years
ago she had driven out of Paris to Raincy on the eve of her long
exile. The powerful arm of Napoleon had swept away the most
horrible government that has ever existed in civilised times or
countries; people now could walk about in safety, and live without
fear.
If religious processions, and splendid carriages with six or eight
horses preceded by piqueurs, were no longer to be seen in the
streets, neither were mobs of drunken, howling, bloodthirsty
ruffians, who would have been made short work of by the great First
Consul who so firmly held the reins which had dropped from the
feeble hands of Louis XVI.
Unscrupulous, heartless, remorseless, yet he was a saint and
angel compared to the frantic, raving, blood-stained miscreants
whom he had displaced, and whose work he was now occupied in
undoing as fast as he could.
It required time and caution, even with him, in the disturbed state
of the country; but already some of the churches were beginning to
open; Madame Buonaparte held something extremely like a court at
the Tuileries, at which any of the returning emigrés who would go
there were welcomed. And they were now returning in crowds, as
fast as they could get themselves rayés. [133]
Mlle. Georgette Ducrest, a cousin of Mme. de Genlis, had
emigrated with her family, who were protected by Mme. de
Montesson and Joséphine, and now applied for radiation.
 M. Ducrest accordingly went with the usual request to Fouché,
then minister of police, who replied—
“Will you give me your certificate of residence? all the emigrants
have them and prove to me every day that they have never left
France.”
“I cannot do that, citoyen ministre, I have no papers to show you
except an old passport under another name, which I bought for
twelve francs at Hamburg. I have been away from France eleven
years.”
“What! You have no means of proving to me that you have been
unjustly placed on the list?”
“Mordieu! no.”
“Well in that case I will have you rayé immediately for I am
persuaded you have never left your country. All those who emigrated
have given me so many proofs to the contrary that I am sure you
are imposing upon me in an opposite sense, and that you never left
Paris. You will receive your radiation in two days.”
Even the proscribed arms and liveries were beginning here and
there to appear, and the leader in this revival was Mme. de
Montesson.
Far from being forced, as formerly, to keep in the background her
marriage with the Duke of Orléans, it was for that very reason that
she was high in the favour of the First Consul and the more en
évidence she made it, the better it was for her.
She did not bear the title, which indeed would not then have been
permissible; but the well-known arms and blue liveries of Orléans re-
appeared on her carriages and in her hôtel, the royal arms of
Orléans were embroidered on the fine Saxon linen of her household,
the gold plate and delicate Sèvres china denounced by the Terrorists
was to be seen at the princely entertainments at her hôtel in the rue
de Provence, where everything was done with the stately
magnificence of former days, and whither every one of the old and
new society was eager to be presented.
The First Consul had restored her fortune to her, and treated her
with more deference than he showed to any other woman; she
assumed royal prerogatives, never returning visits or rising to receive
them, in fact she was considered and often called in society, the
Duchess Dowager of Orléans.
Mme. de Genlis went with M. de Valence to see her two days after
her return, and was coldly received, but their relations to each other
quickly returned to their usual terms.
Mme. de Genlis had taken rooms close to the Chaussé d’Antin, and
began to look after her affairs, which were in a most dilapidated
state. Nearly all the property she left at Belle Chasse had been
confiscated, she could not get her jointure paid by the persons who
had got hold of it, and though Sillery had been inherited by Mme. de
Valence, to whom she had given up all her own share in it, Mme. de
Valence had let her spendthrift husband waste the fortune and
afterwards sell the estate to a General who married one of his
daughters, and who partly pulled down the château and spoiled the
place.
She was therefore very badly off, though her writings were always
quite successful enough to provide for her, but she could not be
happy without perpetually adopting children: even now she had not
only Casimir, who was always like a son to her, but an adopted
daughter called Stéphanie Alyon, and another whom she sent back
to Germany.
For more than a year she did not dare to pass the Palais Royal or
to cross the place Louis XV., too many phantoms seemed to haunt
and reproach her for the past.
But time and circumstances were obliterating crimes and injuries
by the side of which her faults were as nothing. Though it is
satisfactory to think that numbers of the Revolutionists received the
punishment due to their deeds, there were others who for some
reason or other managed not only to escape but to prosper; and
with Fouché in a place of power and authority, what, might one ask,
had become of all ideas of justice and retribution?
Mme. de Genlis, finding Paris too dear, moved to Versailles where
she lived for a time, during which she had the grief of losing her
nephew, César Ducrest, a promising young officer, who was killed by
an accident.
She grew tired of Versailles, and returned to Paris, where the First
Consul gave her an apartment at the Arsenal and a pension.
A new era of prosperity, though of quite a different kind from the
luxury, excitement, and splendour of her earlier life, now began for
Mme. de Genlis. She opened a salon which was soon the resort of
most of the interesting and influential people of the day. In the
society of the Consulate and Empire her early opinions and
proceedings were not thought about, and her literary reputation was
now great; and besides countless new acquaintances many of her
old friends were delighted to welcome her again.
With Talleyrand she had always been on friendly terms.
Napoleon had insisted upon his marrying Mme. Grandt, his
mistress, who had always received his guests during the loose
society lately prevalent: people said that since he had done so, his
salon was not nearly so amusing. She was a pretty but extremely
stupid person, always making some mistake. On one occasion the
celebrated traveller, M. Denon, was going to dine with them, and
Talleyrand told her to be sure to talk to him about his travels, adding
—
“You will find his book on the third shelf in the library; look it over.”
Mme. de Talleyrand went to look for the book, but had by this
time forgotten the title. Turning over several she came upon
“Robinson Crusoe,” thought that must be it, and read it eagerly; in
consequence of which, during dinner, she began to ask him about
his shipwreck and the desert island, and to inquire after the faithful
Friday.
M. Denon, who could not imagine what she meant, looked at her
in astonishment, only saying—
“Madame?”—when Talleyrand heard and interposed.
Like all the other emigrées Mme. de Genlis was horrified at the
strange manners and customs of the new society, largely composed
of vulgar, uneducated persons, often enormously rich, exceedingly
pretentious, and with no idea how to conduct themselves.
Many of them occupied the old hôtels of the ruined families of the
ancien régime, in which their rough voices, strange language,
manners and appearance contrasted as much with those of the
former owners, as the new furniture, all gilding, costly stuffs and
objects mixed incongruously together, did with the harmonious
tapestries, ancient heirlooms, and family portraits which they
replaced.
In the streets people recognised their own carriages turned into
hackney coaches; the shops were full of their things; books with
their arms, china, furniture, portraits of their relations, who had
perhaps perished on the scaffold. Walking along the boulevard one
day soon after her return to Paris she stopped at a shop, and on
leaving her address, the lad who was serving her exclaimed—
“Eh! you are at home then!”
It was the hôtel de Genlis, which for fifteen years had been the
residence of her brother-in-law. She did not recognise it, as all the
ground floor was divided and turned into shops!
Another day she received the visit of a woman who got out of a
carriage the door of which was opened and shut by a negro dwarf,
and who was announced as Mme. de Biras.
 Her dress was a caricature of the latest fashion, her manner was
impertinently familiar. She first made a silly exclamation at being
addressed as “madame” instead of “citoyenne,” then she turned over
the books on the table and when at length Mme. de Genlis politely
explained that being very busy she could not have the honour of
detaining her, the strange visitor explained the object of her visit.
Her husband was a miller, who had, apparently by his
manipulation of contracts given him for the army and by various
corrupt practices, made an enormous fortune. He and his wife
wished to enter society, but not having any idea what to do or how
to behave, they wanted Mme. de Genlis to live with them as
chaperon and teach them the usages of the world, offering her
12,000 francs salary and assuring her that she would be very happy
with them as they had a splendid hôtel in the rue St. Dominique,
and had just bought an estate and château in Burgundy. She added
that M. de Biras knew Mme. de Genlis, as he had lived on her
father’s lands. He was their miller! [134]
It was no wonder that Napoleon was anxious to get his court and
society civilised, and the person to whom he chiefly turned for help
and counsel in this matter was Mme. de Montesson, who knew all
about the usages of great society and court etiquette.
Neither Napoleon nor any of his family had at all the manners and
customs suitable to the position in which he had placed them, and
he was quite aware of the fact. His mother, as he said, could speak
neither French nor Italian properly, but only a kind of Corsican
patois, which he was ashamed to hear. He did everything he could to
win over the emigrés and those of the old noblesse who had
remained in France; his great wish was to mingle the new noblesse
he soon began to create with the faubourg St. Germain, and his
great disappointment and anger was excited by the non-success of
his attempts. From the time he rose to supreme power he
contemplated a court and a noblesse for the country and a crown for
himself. And that a court formed out of the materials supplied by his
generals and their families would be ridiculous he knew, and meant
to avoid.
“Above everything in France ridicule is to be avoided,” he had
remarked.
Therefore he encouraged and promoted the marriages of his
officers with the penniless daughters of the old families; therefore he
sent the only sister who was young enough to the school of Mme.
Campan, formerly femme de chambre to Marie Antoinette, and gave
that clever, astute woman his support and approbation.
For the same reason he had, at the beginning of his career,
married Joséphine, Vicomtesse de Beauharnais; it was true, as he
afterwards declared that he loved her better than he ever loved any
woman; but all the same he had decided that his wife must be of
good blood, good manners, and good society; and although
Joséphine was by no means a grande dame, she was in a much
better position than himself; and her children’s name, her social
connections, her well-bred son and daughter, the charming manners
and savoir faire of all three were then and for long afterwards both
useful and agreeable to him.
Always eager to marry his officers, he was often very peremptory
about it.
At the time of the expedition to St. Domingo he desired to send
Leclerc, the husband of his second sister, Pauline. Leclerc hesitated,
then said he should be glad to go, but he had a tie which bound him
to France.
“Paulette?” said Napoleon. “But she will follow you. I approve of
her doing so; the air of Paris does not agree with her, it is only fit for
coquettes, a character unbecoming her. She must accompany you,
that is understood.”
It was not Paulette, explained Leclerc, he would be distressed to
leave her, but she would be safe and surrounded by her family. It
was his young sister, now at school at Mme. Campan’s, whom he
could not leave unprotected, perhaps for ever. “I ask you, General,
how can I?”
“Of course,” replied Napoleon, “but you should find a marriage for
her at once; to-morrow; and then go.”
“But I have no fortune, and——”
“What of that? Cannot you depend upon me? I desire you to make
immediate preparations for your sister’s marriage to-morrow. I
cannot say yet to whom, but she shall be married, and well married.”
“But——”
“Have I not spoken plainly? Say no more about it.”
Leclerc withdrew, and a few minutes afterwards Davoust came in
to announce his intended marriage.
“With Mlle. Leclerc? I think it a very suitable match.”
“No, General, with Mme. ——”
“With Mlle. Leclerc! I not only find the marriage suitable, I insist
on its taking place immediately!”
“I have long loved Mme. ——, she is now free; nothing shall make
me give her up.”
“Nothing but my will!” said Napoleon sternly. “You will go at once
to Mme. Campan’s school at Saint-Germain; on your arrival you will
ask for your intended bride, to whom you will be presented by her
brother, General Leclerc, who is now with my wife, and will
accompany you.
“Mlle. Aimée shall come to Paris to-night. Order the wedding
presents, which must be most costly, as I am to act as the young
lady’s father on the occasion. I shall provide the dot and wedding-
dress, and the wedding will take place as soon as the legal
formalities can be arranged. You now know my wishes, and have
only to obey them.”
He rang the bell, and sent for Leclerc.
“Well! Was I wrong? Here is your sister’s husband. Go together to
Saint-Germain, and don’t let me see either of you until everything is
arranged. I hate all talk of money affairs.”
Mute with astonishment they obeyed, and went to Saint-Germain,
where Davoust was presented to Mlle. Leclerc, whom he did not like
at all. The marriage took place a few days afterwards.
It was a change indeed from Louis XVI. Every one trembled before
Napoleon except his brother Lucien; and perhaps his mother, who,
however, never had the slightest influence over him. He required
absolute submission; but if not in opposition to his will, he liked a
high spirit and ready answer in a young man, or woman either, and
detested weakness, cowardice, and indecision.
When he offered posts in the army to two brothers, who belonged
to the old noblesse, and they refused, preferring to accept places at
court, he exclaimed angrily—
“I have been deceived! It is impossible that those gentlemen can
be descended from the brave C——”
Another time a certain M. de Comminges, who had been with him
at the École militaire, in reply to his question—
“What have you been doing during the Revolution? Have you
served?”
“No, Sire.”
“Then you followed the Bourbons into exile?”
“Oh! no, Sire! I stayed at home and cultivated my little estate.”
 “The more fool you, monsieur! In these times of trouble every one
ought to give his personal service one way or the other. What do you
want now?”
“Sire, a modest post in the octroi of my little town would——”
“Very well, you shall have it; and stay there! Is it possible that I
have been the comrade of such a man?”
For the Revolution, the royalists themselves could scarcely have
entertained a deeper hatred and contempt. He would speak with
disgust of its early scenes, of the weakness of the authorities, which
he despised, and of the mob, which he abominated.
Young and unknown, he had been present with Bourrienne on the
20th June, and seen the raving, frantic mob rushing upon the
Tuileries. He followed with Bourrienne in a transport of indignation,
and saw with contempt Louis XVI. at the window with a red cap on.
He exclaimed—
“How could they let that canaille pass in! They should sweep away
four or five hundred with cannon; the rest would run.”
He was then twenty-three.
Mme. de Genlis never went to the Imperial court, but led a quiet
literary life; quiet, that is to say, so far as the word can be applied to
one whose salon was the resort of such numbers of people.
Most of the Imperial Family used to go to her, but her chief friend
among them was Julie, Queen of Spain, wife of Joseph Buonaparte,
Napoleon’s eldest brother. She was also very fond of Julie’s sister,
Désirée, wife of Marshal Bernadotte, afterwards Queen of Sweden.
For Bernadotte she had the greatest admiration, saying that his
appearance and manners were those of the old court.
The Princess de Chimay, once Mme. Tallien, was also received by
her with gratitude and friendship; she never forgot that she had
saved the life of Mme. de Valence, and in fact put an end to the
Terror. [135]
Mme. Le Brun, speaking of Mme. de Genlis, says, “Her slightest
conversation had a charm of which it is difficult to give an idea....
When she had discoursed for half an hour everybody, friends and
enemies, were enchanted with her brilliant conversation.”
Mme. de Montesson died in February, 1806, leaving the whole of
her fortune to M. de Valence, except one or two trifling legacies and
20,000 francs to Mme. de Genlis, and, as her brother was then not
well off, Mme. de Genlis added her 20,000 francs to his.

FOOTNOTES:

[133] Struck off the proscribed list.

[134] “Salons de Paris,” t. iv. p. 85 (ed. Gamin), Duchesse
d’Abrantès.
[135] She said the Princess was still beautiful, extremely
interesting, told thrilling stories of what she had seen in her strange
life, but never spoke against any one.
 CHAPTER X

Interesting society—Anecdotes of the past Terror—Casimir—The Restoration—

Madame Royale—Louis XVIII.—The coiffeur of Marie Antoinette—The regicide—
Return of the Orléans family—An astrologer—A faithful servant—Society of the
Restoration—Isabey—Meyerbeer—Conclusion.

LL the great artists, musicians, actors, and literary people who

had returned to Paris after the Terror came to the salon of
Mme. de Genlis; and many were the strange and terrible stories they
had to tell of their escapes and adventures.
Talma had, in the kindness of his heart, concealed in his house for
a long time two proscribed men. One was a democrat and terrorist,
who had denounced him and his wife as Girondins. For after the fall
of Robespierre the revolutionary government, forced by the people
to leave off arresting women and children, let the royalists alone and
turned their fury against each other. Besides this democrat who was
hidden in the garret, he had a royalist concealed in the cellar. They
did not know of each other’s presence, and Talma had them to
supper on alternate nights after the house was shut up. At last, as
the terrorist seemed quite softened and touched and polite, Talma
and his wife thought they would venture to have them together. At
first all went well, then after a time they found out who each other
were; and on some discussion arising, their fury broke forth—
“Only a royalist would say that!”
“Only a terrorist could speak so!”
“You speak like a villain!”
“You think like a scoundrel!”
“If ever we get the upper hand!”
“If ever we get our revenge!”
 They both sprang up, declaring it was better to die than to stay
with such a monster, and left the room.
After this Talma kept them separate; they were in the house
several weeks unknown to each other until it was safe for them to
be let out. [136]
Even among the revolutionists there was sometimes a strange
mixture of good and evil. The Auvergnat deputy Soubrany was
proscribed by his friends, and met Fréron in the street, who said—
“What are you doing here? We have just proscribed you!”
“Proscribed me?”
“Yes. Save yourself; come to my house, you can hide safely; they
won’t look for you there. Only make haste.”
“I can’t. I must go home.”
“Why? It will be putting your head in the wolf’s mouth.”
“I must go back to my house. An emigré is hidden there. I alone
know the secret of his hiding-place; if I do not let him out he will be
starved to death.”

He returned in time to save the emigré, but not himself. [137]

Mme. de Genlis was very happy at the Arsenal with Casimir and a
little boy named Alfred, whom she had adopted.
Casimir was already seventeen, a great comfort, and very popular.
He had been on a visit to London, when, as he returned with Prince
Esterhazy, who had a boat of his own, he had a message at Dover
from Pamela begging him to go to her. Since the arrest and death of
Lord Edward Fitzgerald, she had married Mr. Pitcairn, American
Consul at Hamburg, but was overwhelmed with debts, and for some
reason insisted on coming to Paris. She was hiding from her
creditors, and appealed to Casimir, who gave her fifty louis and hid
her on board the boat. She had with her her daughter by Lord
Edward Fitzgerald, and stayed some time at Paris, in spite of the
representations of Mme. de Genlis that she ought to go back to her
husband at Hamburg.
For nine years Mme. de Genlis lived at the Arsenal, and then
moved to another apartment, but was always surrounded with
friends and consideration. Except amongst her immediate relations
and adopted children, she was not so deeply loved as Mme. Le Brun,
or even the eccentric Mme. de Stael, but her acquaintance and
friendship was sought by numbers of persons, French and others,
who were attracted by her books, conversation, musical, and other
talents.
With the fall of the Empire departed her pension and all assistance
from the Government.
She had long renounced and repented of her proceedings of
former days, and was now extremely royalist, but the daughter of
Marie Antoinette was not likely to receive one who had been, if not
implicated, at any rate hand-and-glove with the enemies of her
mother.
With the deepest reluctance Louis XVIII. yielded to what he was
assured to be an absolute necessity and allowed, as Napoleon had
found it necessary to allow, more than one even of the regicides,
who had survived and were powerful, to hold office during his reign.
Their powerful support was declared to be indispensable to the
safety of the monarchy, and the union of parties which he hoped to
achieve.
But, except in cases of absolute political necessity and at the
entreaty of him, who was now not only her uncle and adopted
father, but her king, the Duchesse d’Angoulême would receive no
one who had in any way injured her mother. She would have nothing
to do with Mme. de Stael, and would not even receive Mme.
Campan, because she did not believe she had been always
thoroughly loyal to her; though in that many people said she was
mistaken. Mme. Campan, in her memoirs, professes the greatest
affection and respect for her royal mistress, and during the Empire,
she always kept in her room a bust of the Queen.
On the other hand, any one who had been faithful and loyal to her
parents, now met with their reward.
There was at Versailles a certain Laboullé, coiffeur to Louis XV.,
and to Marie Antoinette when the Dauphine. He invented a perfume
which he called eau Antoinette, and which was so much in vogue
that he opened a perfume shop at Versailles, which was patronised
by Louis XVI. and Marie Antoinette when they came to the throne.
He married, and the Queen was very kind to his wife, whom she
used to employ in her various charities; and was devoted to her.
It is satisfactory to know that the brutal, dastardly conduct of the
Versailles populace was at any rate punished, in a way they probably
had not thought of. The departure of the King and court ruined the
place, before so prosperous. The population shrunk to a third of its
former numbers.
The Laboullé moved to Paris, and opened a shop at 83, rue de la
Roi, afterwards rue Richelieu, which soon became the centre of
Royalist plots.
During the captivity of the Queen, Mme. Laboullé was always
trying to get to her and very often succeeded; when she always took
her some of the perfume. These excellent people saved the lives of
numbers of royalists, and how they themselves escaped the
guillotine, only Providence can tell. When the surviving members of
the royal family returned, the Duchesse d’Angoulême sent for her,
expressed her deep gratitude, and always loved and protected her.
The saintly character of the Duchess, however, made her forgive
and even help those who repented and suffered, even though they
had been the bitterest enemies of her family. [138]
 During her exile in England, she was in the habit of visiting and
helping the French who were poor or sick, and one day being in a
hospital, and seeing a French soldier evidently very ill, she spoke to
him with compassion and offered him money, which he refused, with
a strange exclamation, apparently of horror.
“Take it, mon ami,” she said, “I am your country-woman, you need
not be ashamed to receive a little help from me.”
“I know you are French, Madame,” he muttered with
embarrassment.
“You know me, then?”
“Yes, Madame.”
“Well, then, that is all the more reason why you should not refuse
what I offer you.”
“On the contrary, Madame——” he stammered.
“Comment! on the contrary? What do you mean? Tell me.”
“I cannot explain,” said the man uneasily.
“I entreat you to tell me; have you anything against me?”
The soldier burst into tears.
“You are suffering,” said the Duchess; “come confide in me, we
are both French in a foreign land, and ought to help and comfort
each other.” [139]
“Alas! Madame, the sight of you recalls to me a recollection so
fearful, that I would give my life to blot it out of my memory. I was
one of those who beat the drums in the place de la Révolution on
the 27th January.”
The Princess turned pale, trembled, and held out the gold, saying
—
 “In the name of him who is gone, I bring you this help; he loved
all Frenchmen.”
And she turned away, leaving the soldier in tears.
When Madame Royale was at last released from prison, she did
not know the fate of her brother and her aunt, Madame Elizabeth.
On hearing that they were dead, she declared that she did not wish
to live herself; but her heart soon turned to her French relations,
and her one wish was to get to them.
 Madame Vigée Le
Brun
MADAME ROYALE

She was, however, first sent to her mother’s family in Austria,

where she was received, of course, with great affection, but kept as
much as possible from seeing even the French emigrés, of whom
there were so many in Austria. The Austrian plan was to marry her
to one of the archdukes, her cousins, and then claim for her the
succession to Burgundy, Franche Comté, and Bretagne; to all of
which she would, in fact, have had a strong claim if France could
have been dismembered; as these provinces all went in the female
line, and had thus been united to the kingdom of France.
Of course the plan was visionary, and the provinces had been so
long incorporated into France, that even if the allies had consented
to the dismemberment, the nation would never have submitted to it.
It would have perhaps been no wonder if, after all she had
suffered in France, she had identified herself with her mother’s
family, and in another home and country forgotten as far as she
could the land which must always have such fearful associations for
her. But it was not so. Her father had told her that she was to marry
no one but her cousin, the Duc d’Angoulême, who, failing her
brother, would succeed to the crown; and had written to the same
effect to his brother the Comte de Provence.
The Princess had therefore, as soon as she could get away from
Austria, joined her uncles and aunts and married the Duc
d’Angoulême, concentrating all her affection upon those remaining
members of her family, who received her with the deepest joy and
tenderness.
Louis XVIII. says of her—
“Madame Royale united all the virtues of her own sex with the
energy of ours. She alone would have been able to reconquer our
sceptre if, like her grandmother, Marie Thérèse, she had had the
command of an army....”
Of their entry into Paris, he says—

“I was in an open carriage with Madame Royale by my side, [140]

MM. de Condé were opposite; my brother and the Duc de Berri rode
by us ... the Duc d’Angoulême was still in the south.... I saw nothing
but rejoicing and goodwill on all sides; they cried ‘Vive le Roi!’ as if
any other cry were impossible.... The more I entreated Madame
Royale to control her emotion, for we were approaching the
Tuileries, the more difficult it was for her to restrain it. It took all her
courage not to faint or burst into tears in the presence of all these
witnesses.... I myself was deeply agitated, the deplorable past rising
before me.... I remembered leaving this town twenty-three years
ago, about the same time of year at which I now returned, a King....
I felt as if I should have fallen when I saw the Tuileries. I kept my
eyes away from Madame Royale for fear of calling forth an alarming
scene. I trembled lest her firmness should give way at this critical
moment. But arming herself with resignation against all that must
overwhelm her, she entered almost smiling the palace of bitter
recollections. When she could be alone the long repressed feelings
overflowed, and it was with sobs and a deluge of tears that she took
possession of the inheritance, which in the natural course of events
must be her own.
“How thankful I was to find myself alone in the room occupied
first by my brother, then by Buonaparte, to which I came back after
so long an absence: absolute solitude was a necessity to my mind. I
prayed and groaned without interruption, which relieved me; then I
resolved irrevocably to act in such a manner as never to expose
France or my family to the Revolution which had just ended.... I lay
down in the bed of Buonaparte, it had also been that of the martyr
king, and at first I could not sleep ... like Richard III. I saw in a
vision those I had lost, and in the distance enveloped in a
sanguinary cloud I seemed to see menacing phantoms.” [141]
With the King returned those that were left of the Orléans family.
The best of the sons of Égalité, the Comte de Beaujolais had died in
exile, so also had the Duc de Montpensier. The Duchess Dowager,
saintly and good as ever, Mademoiselle d’Orléans and the Duc de
Chartres remained. Both the latter had made their submission and
expressed their repentance to the King, who in accepting the
excuses of the Duc de Chartres said—
“Monsieur, you have much to do to repair the crimes of your
father. I have doubtless forgotten them, but my family, but France,
but Europe will find it difficult not to remember them.... In accepting
the name of Égalité you left the family of Bourbon, nevertheless I
consent to recall you into it.... Duc d’Orléans, it is finished, from to-
day alone we will begin to know each other.”
The Duke wished to make his excuses to Madame Royale, but she
said it would be long before she could bear to see him. [142]
Mme. de Genlis was received with affection by her old pupils, and
had a pension from them during the rest of her life.
The Duc d’Orléans, leaving the room when she came to see them,
returned, bringing his young wife, who said graciously, “Madame, I
have always longed to know you, for there are two things I love
passionately, your pupils and your books.”
Mme. de Genlis, though she did not go much into society, being
now exceedingly royalist, was presented at court, and must have
recalled those far off days when she drove down to Versailles with
Mme. de Puisieux to be presented to the magnificent Louis XV.
A curious story is told, that at the time when Louis XIV. was
building the palace of Versailles, his then all-powerful mistress, Mme.
de la Vallière, said to him that he must, according to the custom,
have the horoscope cast of the palace. He laughed at her
superstition, but told her he would leave the matter to her. She
accordingly consulted an astrologer, who said, “After a hundred
years the kings of France will leave Versailles.”
“Will they ever return?” she asked, to which he replied—
“No; the people will not allow it.”
Louis XIV., to whom the idea of the people “allowing” the King to
do anything he chose must have appeared ludicrous, replied that
their love for their King would, indeed, be excessive if they would
not bear him out of their sight, and ended by saying—
“I envy my successors!”
 The tone of society was entirely different during the Restoration
from that of the Empire. The lavish expenditure in entertainments,
dress, and daily life was no longer the fashion. An expensive toilette
at any but a very great festivity was no longer correct, and even at
court the extravagant splendour of the costumes of the Imperial
court was not encouraged. The principal people were no longer
those who possessed enormous fortunes which they were eager to
spend; the nobles and gentlemen whose names were the most
distinguished at the court of Louis XVIII. being most of them nearly
if not quite ruined.
Their property had been confiscated, their estates seized, and
their hôtels and châteaux either burnt or sold.
In some cases it was possible to recover part, though often only a
fragment of their possessions; in other cases not: it depended to a
great extent what or who the forfeited estates belonged to.
Sometimes, as in the case of the Duchess d’Ayen, people who had
not emigrated, were allowed, even if they were murdered, to leave
their estates to their families; but the whole state of things seemed
an inextricable confusion impossible to explain; especially in a work
of this kind.
Many cases there were of romantic devotion and loyalty, by which
the property of a family had been partly saved for the owners by
their faithful servants. Such was the story of the Marquis de ——,
whose castle was burnt, and who with his wife perished in the
flames. Their two boys managed to escape, but not together. One
took refuge in England; the other in Germany, neither of them
knowing of the existence of the other.
When the Revolution was over, they both came back to France
and strange to say, met and recognised each other at the ruins of
their own château. While they stood mournfully gazing at them, a
regiment of cavalry passed by. The eyes of the commander fell upon
them, and suddenly he ordered the regiment to halt, and calling the
two young men, said—
 “Are you not the MM. ——?”
On hearing that they were, he remarked—
“I am afraid, Messieurs, that you are very badly off.”
They could not deny this; and to their astonishment the officer,
hurriedly saying that he was born on their estate, pressed a purse of
gold into the hand of one and marched off. The country was still in a
state of anarchy and they never could discover who their benefactor
was.
They stood in astonishment looking after the soldiers, and then
turning, walked sorrowfully back to the ruins, where a decently
dressed working man who had been observing them, came up and
again asked them the same question.
“Are you not the MM. de ——?”
“Yes, we are,” replied the brothers.
“Well, I am ——. I was head-gardener at the château in the old
time, and now, Messieurs, if you will honour me by coming to my
house and accepting some refreshment, I will show you something
that will surprise you.”
The young men gladly went in, and after giving them an excellent
déjeuner, their host lighted a candle, took a spade, and told them to
follow him. He led them into the garden, cleared away some earth
with his spade, and uncovered a stone. This he lifted up, disclosing
an underground passage through which he led the way. It ended in
a cavern in which lay the whole of their family plate and valuables
which this excellent man had saved and concealed during all these
years.
“Here is the family plate which I was able to secure for you,” said
he. “I always kept it in hope of your return.”
 Overcome with joy and gratitude the eldest brother, to whom
according to the custom of their family it all belonged, divided the
property, which was immensely valuable, into three portions, giving
one to his brother, one to the faithful gardener, and keeping one
himself, with the proceeds of which they each bought an estate. The
sons of the gardener, who were educated with their own, became,
one a successful merchant, the other an officer in the French Navy.
[143]

There was, of course, a great mixture of new and old, many

quarrels and much ill-feeling: increased by the extreme animosity
and pretensions on both sides.
The emigrés were not likely to forget the murder of those dear to
them, their long years of poverty and exile, and to see with patience
their homes and possessions in the hands of strangers.
The newly risen were uneasy and jealous of the emigrés, and not
unnaturally irritated at the provocation they often gave them and the
scorn with which they were not seldom treated.
Louis XVIII. had enough to do to hold the balance between those
who wanted everything put back exactly as it was before ‘89, and
those who were in continued fear of the revival of the old state of
things. However, he managed to do so, and kept his crown, which
unfortunately his successor could not.
It is a singular thing that all the three races, Capétien, Valois, and
Bourbon should have ended with three brothers.
The Marquis de Boissy, a devoted Royalist with a long pedigree,
went to one of the court balls in the dress of a Marquis of the court
of Louis XV. On one of the princes of the blood observing to him—
“That is a curious dress of yours, Monsieur,” he replied, looking
round the ball room:
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