rignano, who,
alone of his house, came to terms with Napoleon, who promised him a
pension, which was not paid. His mother, a Saxon Princess, paraded the
streets of Turin, dressed in the last republican fashion, with her
infant son in her arms. Afterwards, she gave him a miscellaneous
education, that included a large dose of Rousseau from a Swiss
professor. The boy was shifted from place to place, happier when his
mother forgot him, than when, in temporary recollection of his
existence, she called him to her. Once when he was travelling with the
Princess and her second husband, M. de Montleart, Charles Albert was
made to sit on the box of the carriage, in a temperature many degrees
below zero.

His uncles (as the King and Charles Felix called themselves, though
they were his cousins) heard with natural horror of the vagaries of
the Princess of Carignano, and they extended their antipathy from the
mother to the son, even when he was a child. In Victor Emmanuel, this
antipathy was moderated by the easy good-nature of his character; in
Charles Felix, it degenerated into an intense hatred.

It is a singular thing that Prince Metternich, from the very first,
had an instinctive feeling that the unfortunate boy, who seemed the
most hopeless and helpless of human creatures, would prove the evil
genius of the Austrian power. He therefore set to work to deprive him
of his eventual rights. He was confident of success, as fortune had
arranged matters in a manner that offered a ready-made plan for
carrying out the design. Victor Emmanuel had four daughters, precluded
from reigning by the Salic law, which was in force in Piedmont. His
wife, the Queen Maria Teresa, a woman of great beauty and insatiable
ambition, was sister to the Austrian Archduke Francis d'Este, Duke of
Modena. Francis had never married, having been robbed of his intended
bride, the Archduchess Marie-Louise, by her betrothal to Napoleon.
What simpler than to marry the eldest of the Sardinian princesses to
her uncle, abrogate the Salic law, and calmly await the desired
consummation of an Austrian prince, by right of his wife, occupying
the Sardinian throne?

The first step was soon taken; princesses came into the world to be
sacrificed. The plot ran on for some time, the Queen, who was in the
habit of calling Charles Albert 'that little vagrant,' giving it her
indefatigable support. Victor Emmanuel was weak, and stood in
considerable awe of his wife, who had obtai