he Duchesse de G----, and
the remarkable beauty of her face and figure, never appeared more
captivating in my eyes than when I beheld her to-day, evincing such
good nature to the youthful page and his mother and sister; and I saw
by their eyes, when they took leave of her, that she sent away grateful
hearts.

_July_ 1830.--Indisposition has interrupted my journal for several
weeks, and idleness has prolonged the chasm. The noting down the daily
recurrence of uninteresting events is as dull as the endurance of them.

If reports may be credited, we are on the eve of some popular commotion
in France, and the present ministers are said to be either ignorant of
the danger that menaces, or unprepared to meet it. The conquest of
Algiers has produced much less exultation in the people than might have
naturally been expected; and this indifference to an event calculated
to gratify the _amour-propre_ which forms so peculiar a characteristic
of the nation, is considered a bad sign by those who affect to be
acquainted with the people. I have so often heard rumours of discontent
and revolts that I have grown incredulous, and I think and hope the
French are too wise to try any dangerous experiments.

_26th July_.--This morning General E---- came to breakfast with us, and
announced that the ordonnances were yesterday signed in council at St.-
Cloud. This good man and brave soldier expressed the liveliest regret
at this rash measure, and the utmost alarm at the consequences likely
to result from it. Is Charles the Tenth ignorant of the actual state of
things in Paris, and of the power of public opinion? or does he hope to
vanquish the resistance likely to be offered to this act? I hope his
majesty may not acquire this knowledge when it has become too late to
derive advantage from it.

The unpopularity of the present ministry, and above all of its leader,
the Prince Polignac, is surprising, when one considers how estimable
his private character is, and that theirs are irreproachable. They are
rendered responsible for the will of the sovereign, who, if report
speak truth, is very pertinacious in exacting a rigid fulfilment of it
whenever it is exercised.

The present are not times to try experiments how far the will of a
monarch can be pushed; and it is not in France, as in England, where
our law supposes that a king can do no wrong, for the French are prone
to pay no more respect to sovereigns than to their supposed advisers,
and