utionary France.

XVII

THE JUBILEE OF 1826

The dominant quality of Charles X., his piety, was the one that was to
be most used against him. There was in this piety nothing morose,
hypocritical, fanatical, and not an idea of intolerance or persecution
mingled with it. Conviction and feeling united in the heart of the King
to inspire him with profound faith. In 1803, before the death-bed of a
beloved woman, he had sworn to renounce earthly for divine love, and
from that time he had kept his vow. The woman by whom this conversion
was made was the sister-in-law of the Duchess of Polignac, Louise
d'Esparbes, Viscountess of Polastron. The Duchess of Gontaut recounts
in her unpublished Memoirs the touching and pathetic scene of the
supreme adieu of this charming woman and of Charles X., then Count
d'Artois. It was in England during the Emigration. The Viscountess of
Polastron was dying with consumption, and the approach of the end
reawakened in her all the piety of her childhood. A holy priest, the
Abbe de Latil, demanded the departure of the Prince. "I implore
Monseigneur," he said, "to go into the country; you shall see the poor
penitent again; she herself desires it, having one word to say to you,
one favor to ask, but it cannot be until at the moment of death."

The Prince, who, even at the time of his greatest errors, had never
ceased to love and honor religion, obeyed the command of the priest. He
awaited in cruel anguish the hour when he should be permitted to
return. It was authorized only when death was very near. The Duchess of
Gontaut says:--

"The doors of the salon were opened. Monsieur dared not approach; I was
near the dying woman and held her hand; it was trembling. She perceived
Monsieur. He was about to rush toward her. 'Come no nearer,' said the
Abbe, in a firm voice. Monsieur did not venture to cross the threshold.
The agitation redoubled; the agony increased. She raised her hands to
heaven, and said:--

"'One favor, Monseigneur, one favor--live for God, all for God.'

"He fell upon his knees, and said: 'I swear it, God!' She said again,
'All for God!' Her head fell on my shoulder; this last word was her
last breath: she was no more. Monsieur raised his arms to heaven,
uttered a horrible cry: the door was closed."

The Count d'Artois was then but forty-five, but from that day he never
gave occasion for the least scandal, and led an exemplary life. As
Louis XIV. had held in profound estee