E GENERAL. My friends, my fellow-citizens, we who, after so many
storms have finally reached port, and who, under the shelter of the
throne and the laws, taste that wise and moderate liberty which has
been the object of our desires for forty years; let us guard it well,
it has cost us dear. Always united, let us no longer think of the evil
done, let us see only the good that is, let us put away sad memories,
and let us all say, in the new France, 'Union and forgiveness.'"

Among the spectators more than one could recognize himself in the
personages of the piece. But the allusions were so nicely made that no
one could be offended. Liberals and ultras could, on the contrary,
profit by the excellent counsels given them in the little play of the
Theatre de Madame.

Let us add, moreover, that Scribe never wished to be anything but a man
of letters. There could be applied to him the words said by him of his
confrere, friend, and nephew, Bayard:--

"A stranger to all parties, he speculated on no revolution; he
flattered no one in power, not even those he loved. He solicited no
honors, no places, no pension. He asked nothing of any one but himself.
He owed to his talent and his labor his honor and his independence."

The device chosen by Scribe is a pen, above which is the motto: Inde
fortuna et libertas. The Duchess of Berry knew how to understand and
appreciate this man of wit and good sense. For his part, Scribe avowed
for the Princess a sentiment of gratitude that he never falsified. When
the days of ill fortune came for her, he journeyed to bear his homage
to her upon a foreign soil.

XXVII

DIEPPE

Dieppe has not forgotten the benefits received from the Duchess of
Berry. It was this amiable Princess that made fashionable the pretty
Normandy city and made it the most elegant bathing resort of Europe.
She made five visits there, of several weeks each, in 1824, 1825, 1826,
1827, and 1829.

The Duchess came for the first time to Dieppe some time before the
death of Louis XVIII. She arrived the 29th of July, and left the 23d of
August. She conceived immediately a passion for the picturesque town,
as famous for its fine beach as for its smiling environs. The
enthusiasm manifested for her by the inhabitants touched her. She said
to the mayor: "Henri IV. was right when he called the Dieppois his good
friends. I shall imitate my ancestor in his love for them."

The next year--the year of the coronation--Madame r