changing serenity. It banished
even the idea of hatred from his heart. Never did any one forgive as he
did."

It must not be forgotten that the pamphleteers and song-writers of the
Restoration, violent, unjust, and even cruel as they were toward
Charles X., never breathed an insinuation against the purity of his
morals. His life was not less exemplary than that of his son, the
Dauphin, or of his niece and daughter-in-law, the Orphan of the Temple.
Despite the great piety of the sovereign, the court was not melancholy
or morose. Charles X. had a foundation of benevolence and gaiety to his
character. He was not surprised to see committed about him the gentle
trespasses of love, of which he had been himself guilty in youth, and
he had become--the very ideal of wisdom--severe for himself, indulgent
for others.

XVIII

THE DUCHESS OP GONTAUT

The Governess of the Children of France was the Viscountess of Gontaut,
who, as a recompense for the manner in which she had accomplished her
task, was made Duchess by Charles X. in 1826. Here is the opening of
her unpublished Memoirs:--

"January, 1853. To Madame the Countess and Monsieur the Count Georges
Esterhazy. My dear children, you have shown a desire to know the events
of my long life. Wishing to teach them to your children, I yield to
this amiable and tender purpose, promising myself, meanwhile, to resist
the too common charm of talking pitilessly about myself. I shall search
my memory for souvenirs of the revolutions I have often witnessed to
give interest to my tales. One writes but ill at eighty, but one may
claim indulgence from hearts to which one is devoted."

The amiable and intelligent octogenarian had no need of indulgence. Her
Memoirs possess irresistible attraction, grace, exquisite naturalness,
and we are convinced that when they are published--as they must be
sooner or later--they will excite universal interest.

Born at Paris in 1773, the Duchess of Gontaut was the daughter of Count
Montault-Navailles and of the Countess, NEE Coulommiers. All her
memories of childhood and early youth were connected with the old
court. She had seen Marie Antoinette in all her splendor, Versailles
when it was most dazzling, and she was, formed in the elegant manners
of that charm ing world whose social prestige was so great. At seven
she was held at the baptismal font by the Count of Provence (the future
Louis XVIII.) and by the wife of this Prince.

"I had for t