, obeying the voice of honor and
acting like a king and a Christian. Any other policy than his own would
have seemed to him foolish and cowardly. To hear his courtiers, one
would have said that the age of gold had returned in France; the
felicitations offered him took an idyllic tone. The Count of Chabrol,
Prefect of the Seine, said to him, January 1, 1825, at the grand
reception at the Tuileries:--

"At your accession, Sire, a prestige of grace and power calmed, in the
depths of all hearts, the last murmur of the storm, and the peace that
we enjoy to-day is embellished by a charm that is yours alone."

The same day the Drapeau Blanc said:--

"Why is there an unusual crowd passing about the palace of the
cherished monarch and princes? It is watching with affection for a
glance or smile from Charles! These are the new-year gifts for the
people moved by love for the noble race of its kings. This glance,
expressing only goodness, this smile so full of grace, they long for
everywhere and always before their eyes. His classic and cherished
features are reproduced in every form; every public place has its bust,
every hut its image; they are the domestic gods of a worship that is
pure and without superstition, brought to our families by peace and
happiness." The aurora of Charles X.'s reign was like that of his
brother Louis XVI. The two brothers resembled travellers who, deceived
by the early morning sun and the limpid purity of the sky, set forth
full of joy and confidence, and are suddenly surprised by a frightful
tempest. The new James II. imagined that his royalty had brought his
trials to an end. It was, on the contrary, only a halt in the journey
of misfortune and exile. He believed the Revolution finished, and it
had but begun.

VI

THE DAUPHIN AND DAUPHINESS

At the accession of Charles X., the royal family, properly speaking,
consisted of six persons only,--the King, the Duke and Duchess of
Angouleme, the Duchess of Berry and her two children (the Duke of
Bordeaux and Mademoiselle). By the traditions of the monarchy, the Duke
of Angouleme, as son and heir of the King, took the title of Dauphin,
and his wife that of Dauphiness. The Duchess of Berry, who, under the
reign of Louis XVIII. was called Madame the Duchess of Berry, was by
right, henceforward, called simply Madame, a privilege that belonged to
the Duchess of Angouleme before she was Dauphiness. That is why the
Gymnase, the theatre under the sp