Of one thing I am convinced, and that is, that no
sovereign, whatever may be his merits, can long remain
popular in France; and that no prosperity, however
brilliant, can prevent the people from those emeutes
into which their excitable temperaments, rather than
any real cause for discontent, hurry them. These
emeutes, too, are less dangerous than we are
led to think. They are safety-valves by which
the exuberant spirits of the French people escape;
and their national vanity, being satisfied with the
display of their force, soon subside into tranquillity,
if not aroused into protracted violence by unwise
demonstrations of coercion.
The two eldest sons of the Duc and Duchesse de Guiche
have entered the College of Ste.-Barbe.
This is a great trial to their mother, from whom they
had never previously been separated a single day.
Well might she be proud of them, on hearing the just
eulogiums pronounced on the progress in their studies
while under the paternal roof; for never did parents
devote themselves more to the improvement of their
children than the Duc and Duchesse de Guiche have
done, and never did children offer a fairer prospect
of rewarding their parents than do theirs.
It would have furnished a fine subject for a painter
to see this beautiful woman, still in the zenith of
her youth and charms, walking between these two noble
boys, whose personal beauty is as remarkable as that
of their parents, as she accompanied them to the college.
The group reminded me of Cornelia and her sons, for
there was the same classic tournure of heads
and profiles, and the same elevated character of spirituelle
beauty, that painters and sculptors always bestow
on the young Roman matron and the Gracchi.
The Duc seemed impressed with a sentiment almost amounting
to solemnity as he conducted his sons to Ste.-Barbe.
He thought, probably, of the difference between their
boyhood and his own, passed in a foreign land and
in exile; while they, brought up in the bosom of a
happy home, have now left it for the first time.
Well has he taught them to love the land of their
birth, for even now their youthful hearts are filled
with patriotic and chivalrous feelings!
It would be fortunate, indeed, for the King of France
if he had many such men as the Duc de Guiche around
him—men with enlightened minds, who have
profited by the lessons of adversity, and kept pace
with the rapidly advancing knowledge of the times
to which they belong.
Painful, indeed, would be the position of this excellent
man should any circumstances occur that would place
the royal family in jeopardy, for he is too sensible
not to be aware of the errors that might lead to such
a crisis, and too loyal not to share the perils he
could not ward off; though he will never be among
those who would incur them, for no one is more impressed
with the necessity of justice and impartiality than
he is.
CHAPTER XVI.
Copyrights
The Idler in France from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.
