s unfortunate
Princess is sufficiently well known, and so is the devotion to which
she fell a victim. For in 1793, when she was at Turin, entirely out of
harm's way, she returned to France upon learning that the Queen was in
danger.

CHAPTER III

WORK AND PLEASURE

IMPRESSIONS OF FLANDERS -- THE AUTHORESS'S ELECTION TO THE FRENCH
ROYAL ACADEMY OF PAINTING -- HER DEVOTION TO WORK -- SOCIAL
PLEASURES -- A TALE OF AN ARTIST'S EXTRAVAGANCE -- CALONNE AND
CALUMNY -- M. LEBRUN ALLOWS HIS WIFE NOUGHT PER CENT. OF HER
EARNINGS -- A DRAMATIC CONSTELLATION -- THE INCOMPARABLE MME.
DUGAZON.

In 1782 M. Lebrun took me to Flanders, whither he was called by
affairs of business. A sale was then being held in Brussels of a
splendid collection of pictures belonging to Prince Charles, and we
went to view it. I found there several ladies of the court who met me
with great kindness, among them the Princess d'Aremberg, whom I had
frequently seen in Paris. But the acquaintance upon which I
congratulated myself most was that of the Prince de Ligne, whom I had
not known before, and who has left an historic reputation for wit and
hospitality. He invited us to visit his gallery, where I admired
various masterpieces, especially portraits by Van Dyck and heads by
Rubens, for he owned but few Italian pictures. He was also good enough
to receive us at his magnificent house at Bel-Oeil. I remember that he
made us ascend to an outlook, built on the top of a hill commanding
the whole of his estate and the whole of the country round about. The
perfect air we breathed up there, together with the delightful view,
was something enchanting. What was best of all in this lovely place
was the greetings of the master of the house, who for his graceful
mind and manners never had an equal.

[Illustration: THE DAUPHIN

Son of Louis XVI. and Marie Antoinette.]

The town of Brussels seemed to me prosperous and lively. In high
society, for instance, people were so wrapped up in pleasure-seeking
that several friends of the Prince de Ligne sometimes left Brussels at
noon, arriving at the opera in Paris just in time to see the curtain
go up, and when the performance was over returned to Brussels,
travelling all night. That is what I call being fond of the opera!

We quitted Brussels to go to Holland. I was very much pleased with
Saardam and Maestricht; these two little towns are so clean and so
very well kept that one en