had kept beneath the first frosts of age the freshness,
the stature, the suppleness, and beauty of youth." His health was
excellent, and but for the color of his hair--almost white--he would
hardly have been given more than fifty years. As alert as his
predecessor was immobile, an untiring hunter, a bold rider, sitting his
horse with the grace of a young man, a kindly talker, an affable
sovereign, this survivor of the court of Versailles, this familiar of
the Petit-Trianon, this friend of Marie Antoinette, of the Princess of
Lamballe, of the Duchess of Polignac, of the Duke of Lauzun, of the
Prince de Ligne, preserved, despite his devotedness, a great social
prestige. He perpetuated the traditions of the elegance of the old
regime. Having lived much in the society of women, his politeness
toward them was exquisite. This former voluptuary preserved only the
good side of gallantry.

The Count d'Haussonville writes in his book entitled Ma Jeunesse:--

"I have often seen Charles X. on horseback reviewing troops or
following the chase; I have heard him, seated on his throne, and
surrounded with all the pomp of an official cortege, pronounce the
opening discourse of the session; I have many times been near him at
the little select fetes that the Duchess of Berry used to give, of a
morning, in the Pavilion de Marsan, to amuse the Children of France, as
they were then called, and to extend their acquaintance with the young
people of their own age. One day when I was visiting with my parents
some exposition of objects of art or flowers in one of the lower halls
of the Louvre, I saw him approach my mother--whom he had known in
England--with a familiarity at once respectful and charming. He plainly
wished to please those whom he addressed, and he had the gift of doing
so. In that kind of success he was rarely wanting, especially with
women. His physiognomy as well as his manner helped. It was open and
benevolent, always animated by an easy, perhaps a slightly commonplace
smile, that of a man conscious that he was irresistible, and that he
could, with a few amiable words, overcome all obstacles."

The fiercest adversaries of Charles X. never denied the attraction
emanating from his whole personality, the chief secret of which was
kindliness. In his constant desire to charm every one that approached
him, he had a certain something like feminine coquetry. The Count of
Puymaigre, who, being the Prefect of the Oise, saw him often at