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Robert Rowe, Charles Franks and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.
THE DUCHESS OF BERRY AND THE COURT OF CHARLES X
BY IMBERT DE SAINT-AMAND
CONTENTS
I. THE ACCESSION OF CHARLES X
II. THE ENTRY INTO PARIS
III. THE TOMBS OF SAINT-DENIS
IV. THE FUNERAL OF LOUIS XVIII
V. THE KING
VI. THE DAUPHIN AND DAUPHINESS
VII. MADAME
VIII. THE ORLEANS FAMILY
IX. THE PRINCE OF CONDE
X. THE COURT
XI. THE DUKE OF DOUDEAUVILLE
XII. THE HOUSEHOLD OF THE DUCHESS OF BERRY
XIII. THE PREPARATIONS FOR THE CORONATION
XIV. THE CORONATION
XV. CLOSE OF THE SOJOURN AT RHEIMS
XVI. THE RE-ENTRANCE INTO PARIS
XVII. THE JUBILEE OF 1826
XVIII. THE DUCHESS OF GONTAUT
XIX. THE THREE GOVERNORS
XX. THE REVIEW OF THE NATIONAL GUARD
XXI. THE FIRST DISQUIETUDE
XXII. THE MARTIGNAC MINISTRY
XXIII. THE JOURNEY IN THE WEST
XXIV. THE MARY STUART BALL
XXV. THE FINE ARTS
XXVI. THE THEATRE OF MADAME
XXVII. DIEPPE
XXVIII. THE PRINCE DE POLIGNAC
XXIX. GENERAL DE BOURMONT
XXX. THE JOURNEY IN THE SOUTH
THE DUCHESS OF BERRY AND THE COURT OF CHARLES X
I
THE ACCESSION OF CHARLES X
Thursday, the 16th of September, 1824, at the moment when Louis
XVIII. was breathing his last in his chamber of the Chateau des
Tuileries, the courtiers were gathered in the Gallery of Diana. It
was four o'clock in the morning. The Duke and the Duchess of
Angouleme, the Duchess of Berry, the Duke and the Duchess of
Orleans, the Bishop of Hermopolis, and the physicians were in the
chamber of the dying man. When the King had given up the ghost,
the Duke of Angouleme, who became Dauphin, threw himself at the
feet of his father, who became King, and kissed his hand with
respectful tenderness. The princes and princesses followed this
example, and he who bore thenceforward the title of Charles X.,
sobbing, embraced them all. They knelt about the bed. The De
Profundis was recited. Then the new King sprinkled holy water on
the body of his brother and kissed the icy hand. An instant later
M. de Blacas, opening the door of the Gallery of Diana, called
out: "Gentlemen, the King!" And Charles X. appeared.
Let us listen to the Duchess of Orleans. "At these words, in the
twinkling of an eye, all the crowd of courtiers deserted the
Gallery to surround and follow the new King. It was like a
torrent. We were borne along by it, and only at the door of the
Hall of the Throne, my husband bethought himself that we no longer
had aught to do there. We returned home, reflecting much on the
feebleness of our poor humanity, and the nothingness of the things
of this world."
Marshal Marmont, who was in the Gallery of Diana at the moment of
the King's death, was much struck by the two phrases pronounced at
an instant's interval by M. de Damas: "Gentlemen, the King is
dead! The King, gentlemen!"
He wrote in his Memoirs: "It is difficult to describe the
sensation produced by this double announcement in so brief a time.
The new sovereign was surrounded by his officers, and everything
except the person of the King was in the accustomed order.
Beautiful and great thought, this uninterrupted life of the
depository of the sovereign power! By this fiction there is no
break in this protecting force, so necessary to the preservation
of society." The Marshal adds: "The government had been in fact
for a year and more in the hands of Monsieur. Thus the same order
of things was to continue; nevertheless, there was emotion
perceptible on the faces of those present; one might see hopes
spring up and existences wither. Every one accompanied the new
King to his Pavilion of Marsan. He announced to his ministers that
he confirmed them in their functions. Then every one withdrew."
While the Duchess of Berry was present at the death of Louis
XVIII., the Duke of Bordeaux and his sister, Mademoiselle, then,
the one four, the other five years of age, remained at the Chateau
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