ro and shoe-buckles. The old gentleman was breathless and
bewildered in following her through all her vagaries. He was of old
France, she of new. What did he know of the Ecole Romantique, and these
jeunes gens with their Marie Tudors and Tours de Nesle, and sanguineous
histories of queens who sewed their lovers into sacks, emperors who
had interviews with robber captains in Charlemagne's tomb, Buridans and
Hernanis, and stuff? Monsieur le Vicomte de Chateaubriand was a man of
genius as a writer, certainly immortal; and M. de Lamartine was a young
man extremely bien pensant, but, ma foi, give him Crebillon fils, or a
bonne farce of M. Vade to make laugh; for the great sentiments, for the
beautiful style, give him M. de Lormian (although Bonapartist) or the
Abbe de Lille. And for the new school! bah! these little Dumass, and
Hugos, and Mussets, what is all that? "M. de Lormian shall be immortal,
monsieur," he would say, "when all these freluquets are forgotten."
After his marriage he frequented the coulisses of the opera no more; but
he was a pretty constant attendant at the Theatre Francais, where you
might hear him snoring over the chefs-d'oeuvres of French tragedy.

For some little time after 1830, the Duchesse was as great a Carlist as
her husband could wish; and they conspired together very comfortably
at first. Of an adventurous turn, eager for excitement of all kinds,
nothing would have better pleased the Duchesse than to follow MADAME in
her adventurous courses in La Vendee, disguised as a boy above all. She
was persuaded to stay at home, however, and aid the good cause at Paris;
while Monsieur le Duc went off to Brittany to offer his old sword to the
mother of his king. But MADAME was discovered up the chimney at Rennes,
and all sorts of things were discovered afterwards. The world said that
our silly little Duchess of Paris was partly the cause of the discovery.
Spies were put upon her, and to some people she would tell anything. M.
le Duc, on paying his annual visit to august exiles at Goritz, was very
badly received: Madame la Dauphine gave him a sermon. He had an awful
quarrel with Madame la Duchesse on returning to Paris. He provoked
Monsieur le Comte Tiercelin, le beau Tiercelin, an officer of ordonnance
of the Duke of Orleans, into a duel, a propos of a cup of coffee in a
salon; he actually wounded the beau Tiercelin--he sixty-five years
of age! his nephew, M. de Florac, was loud in praise of his kinsman's