Secrets of the Princesse de Cadignan | Page 3

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Etext prepared by John Bickers, [email protected] and
Dagny, [email protected]

THE SECRETS OF THE PRINCESSE DE CADIGNAN
BY
HONORE DE BALZAC

Translated By Katharine Prescott Wormeley

DEDICATION
To Theophile Gautier

THE SECRETS OF THE PRINCESSE DE CADIGNAN


CHAPTER I
THE LAST WORD OF TWO GREAT COQUETTES
After the disasters of the revolution of July, which destroyed so many
aristocratic fortunes dependent on the court, Madame la Princesse de
Cadignan was clever enough to attribute to political events the total
ruin she had caused by her own extravagance. The prince left France
with the royal family, and never returned to it, leaving the princess in
Paris, protected by the fact of his absence; for their debts, which the
sale of all their salable property had not been able to extinguish, could
only be recovered through him. The revenues of the entailed estates had
been seized. In short, the affairs of this great family were in as bad a
state as those of the elder branch of the Bourbons.
This woman, so celebrated under her first name of Duchesse de
Maufrigneuse, very wisely decided to live in retirement, and to make
herself, if possible, forgotten. Paris was then so carried away by the
whirling current of events that the Duchesse de Maufrigneuse, buried in
the Princesse de Cadignan, a change of name unknown to most of the
new actors brought upon the stage of society by the revolution of July,
did really become a stranger in her own city.
In Paris the title of duke ranks all others, even that of prince; though, in
heraldic theory, free of all sophism, titles signify nothing; there is
absolute equality among gentlemen. This fine equality was formerly
maintained by the House of France itself; and in our day it is so still, at
least, nominally; witness the care with which the kings of France give
to their sons the simple title of count. It was in virtue of this system that
Francois I. crushed the splendid titles assumed by the pompous Charles
the Fifth, by signing his answer: "Francois, seigneur de Vanves." Louis
XI. did better still by marrying his daughter to an untitled gentleman,

Pierre de Beaujeu. The feudal system was so thoroughly broken up by
Louis XIV. that the title of duke became, during his reign, the supreme
honor of the aristocracy, and the most coveted.
Nevertheless there are two or three families in France in which the
principality, richly endowed in former times, takes precedence of the
duchy. The house of Cadignan, which possesses the title of Duc de
Maufrigneuse for its eldest sons, is one of these exceptional families.
Like the princes of the house of Rohan in earlier days, the princes of
Cadignan had the right to a throne in their own domain; they could
have pages and gentlemen in their service. This explanation is
necessary, as much to escape foolish critics who know nothing, as to
record the customs of a world which, we are told, is about to disappear,
and which, evidently, so many persons are assisting to push away
without knowing what it is.
The Cadignans bear: or, five lozenges sable appointed, placed fess-
wise, with the word "Memini" for motto, a crown with a cap of
maintenance, no supporters or mantle. In these days the great crowd of
strangers flocking to Paris, and the almost universal ignorance of the
science of heraldry, are beginning to bring the title of prince into
fashion. There are no real princes but those possessed of principalities,
to whom belongs the title of highness. The disdain shown by the
French nobility for the title of prince, and the reasons which caused
Louis XIV. to give supremacy to the title of duke, have prevented
Frenchmen from claiming the appellation of "highness" for the few
princes who exist in France, those of Napoleon excepted. This is why
the princes of Cadignan hold an inferior