aul Delaroche and Honore de Balzac -- The Duc de
Nemours' bravery called in question -- The Duc d'Aumale's
exploits in Algeria considered mere skirmishes -- A curious story
of spiritism -- The Duc d'Aumale a greater favourite with the
world than any of the other sons of Louis-Philippe -- His wit --
The Duc d'Orleans also a great favourite -- His visits to
Decamps' studio -- An indifferent classical scholar -- A curious
kind of black-mail -- His indifference to money -- There is no
money in a Republic -- His death -- A witty reply to the
Legitimists.

As will appear by-and-by, I was an eye-witness of a good many incidents
of the Revolution of '48, and a great many more have been related to me
by friends, whose veracity was and still is beyond suspicion. Neither
they nor I have ever been able to establish a sufficiently valid
political cause for that upheaval. Perhaps it was because we were free
from the prejudices engendered by what, for want of a better term, I
must call "dynastic sentiment." We were not blind to the faults of
Louis-Philippe, but we refused to look at them through the spectacles
supplied in turns by the Legitimists, the Imperialists, and Republicans.
How far these spectacles were calculated to improve people's vision, the
following specimen will show.

I have lying before me a few sheets of quarto paper, sewn together in a
primitive way. It is a manuscript skit, in the form of a theatrical
duologue, professing to deal with the king's well-known habit of shaking
hands with every one with whom he came in contact. The _dramatis
personae_ are King Fip I., Roi des Epiciers--read, King of the
Philistines or Shopkeepers, and his son and heir, Grand Poulot (Big
Spooney). The monarch is giving the heir-apparent a lesson in the art of
governing. "Do not be misled," he says, "by a parcel of theorists, who
will tell you that the citizen-monarchy is based upon the sovereign will
of the people, or upon the strict observance of the Charter; this is
merely so much drivel from the political Rights or Lefts. In reality, it
does not signify a jot whether France be free at home and feared and
respected abroad, whether the throne be hedged round with republican
institutions or supported by an hereditary peerage, whether the language
of her statesmen be weighty and the deeds of her soldiers heroic. The
citizen-monarchy and the art of governing consist of but one thing--the
cap