A Residence in France | Page 8

kind, and, I think, intelligent
countenance. She has the Bourbon rather than the Austrian outline of
face. She seemed anxious to please, and in her general air and carriage
has some resemblance to the Duchess of St. Leu.[3] She has the
reputation of being an excellent wife and mother, and, really, not to fall
too precipitately into the vice of a courtier, she appears as if she may
well deserve it. She is thin, but graceful, and I can well imagine that
she has been more than pretty in her youth.
[Footnote 3: Hortense.]
I do not remember a more frank, intelligent, and winning countenance
than that of Madame Adelaide, who is the King's sister. She has little
beauty left, except that of expression; but this must have made her
handsome once, as it renders her singularly attractive now. Her manner
was less nervous than that of the Queen, and I should think her mind

had more influence over her exterior.
The Princess Louise (the Queen of Belgium) and the Princess Marie are
pretty, with the quiet subdued manner of well-bred young persons. The
first is pale, has a strikingly Bourbon face, resembling the profiles on
the French coins; while the latter has an Italian and classical outline of
features, with a fine colour.
They were all dressed with great simplicity; scarcely in high dinner
dress; the Queen and Madame Adelaide wearing evening hats. The
Princesses, as is uniformly the case with unmarried French girls of rank,
were without any ornaments, wearing their hair in the usual manner.
After the ceremonies of being presented were gone through, I amused
myself with examining the company. This was a levee, not a
drawing-room, and there were no women among the visitors. The men,
who did not appear in uniform, were in common evening dress, which
has degenerated of late into black stocks and trousers.
Accident brought me next to an old man, who had exactly that
revolutionary air which has become so familiar to us by the engravings
of Bonaparte and his generals that were made shortly after the Italian
campaign. The face was nearly buried in neckcloth, the hair was long
and wild, and the coat was glittering, but ill-fitting and stiff. It was,
however, the coat of a _maréchal_; and, what rendered it still more
singular, it was entirely without orders. I was curious to know who this
relic of 1797 might be; for, apart from his rank, which was betrayed by
his coat, he was so singularly ugly as scarcely to appear human. On
inquiry it proved to be Marshal Jourdan.
There was some amusement in watching the different individuals who
came to pay their court to the new dynasty. Many were personally and
familiarly known to me as very loyal subjects of the last reign; soldiers
who would not have hesitated to put Louis-Philippe _au fil de l'épée_,
three months before, at the command of Charles X. But times were
changed. They now came to show themselves to the new sovereign;
most of them to manifest their disposition to be put in the way of
preferment, some to reconnoitre, others to conceal their disaffection,

and all to subserve their own interests. It was laughably easy to discern
who were confident of their reception by being of the ruling party, who
distrusted, and who were indifferent. The last class was small. A
general officer, whom I personally knew, looked like one who had
found his way into a wrong house by mistake. He was a Bonapartist by
his antecedents, and in his true way of thinking; but accident had
thrown him into the hands of the Bourbons, and he had now come to
see what might be gleaned from the House of Orleans. His reception
was not flattering, and I could only compare the indecision and
wavering of his manner to that of a regiment that falters before an
unexpected volley.
After amusing ourselves some time in the great throng, which was
densest near the King, we went towards a secondary circle that had
formed in another part of the room, where the Duke of Orleans had
appeared. He was conversing with Lafayette, who immediately
presented us all in succession. The Prince is a genteel, handsome young
man, with a face much more Austrian than that of any of his family, so
far as one can judge of what his younger brothers are likely to be
hereafter. In form, stature, and movements, he singularly resembles
W----, and there is also a good deal of likeness in the face, though in
this particular the latter has the advantage. He was often taken for the
Duc de Chartres during our former residence at Paris. Our reception
was gracious, the heir to the throne appearing anxious to please every
one.
The amusing part of