Duc de Chartres; and, on his side, he, of all the princes, displayed the most ill-humour, and retained it the longest, in consequence of the unfortunate circumstance which I have just related. He was observed from this time eagerly to seize every opportunity to blame the Queen's proceedings, and to ridicule her for her intimacy with the Polignac society, as well as the members of it themselves. He was not more sparing to the King; for instance, he knew very well that Louis the Sixteenth disliked English customs and fashions exceedingly, this was sufficient to make him adopt them; and whenever he had to make his appearance before the King he took care to carry his adoption of them to the greatest

extreme.

"It was generally considered etiquette that those who hunted with the King should drive in French carriages, but this custom was not respected by the Duke of Orleans, for he did not hesitate to show himself in an English equipage at these hunting parties. The great good nature of the King, and, perhaps, also a little weakness on his part, made him pass over this breach of etiquette as well as many other marks of disrespect, though he was frequently much vexed with the Prince.

Such want of deference would not have been endured by Louis the Fourteenth, nor even by Louis the Fifteenth. However, it is a wellestablished fact, that almost from the commencement of Louis the Sixteenth's reign, the Duke of Orleans began to annoy the court by continual cavilling about trifles, or by placing himself in opposition to the government. I cannot resist giving an example of this Much ado about Nothing.' His father, the big Duke of Orleans, was the first Prince of the blood-royal, and, in right of this dignity, he had in his establishment a great many servants who were paid by the King. At his death, the Duc de Chartres would succeed him, but would be deprived of the privileges and advantages of his father's rank, for with them, the Duc d'Angoulême, the eldest son of the Comte d'Artois, would be invested. However, a few days before the death of his father, the Duke of Orleans said confidentially to me, that he had been informed most decidedly, though in an indirect way, that he had only to ask the King's permission to preserve the rank of first prince of the blood royal, and that it would be immediately granted him. I hastened to offer him my congratulations on the subject, when, to my great astonishment, he remarked, You are quite mistaken, I shall never make the request, and I don't care for the favour which is offered me.'-' But what then?'-' You don't perceive, then,' observed he, that they only wish me to be first prince of the blood royal, because the Queen wishes the children of M. le Comte d'Artois to bear the title of Fils de France.'-' Well,' exclaimed I, 'what on earth has that to do with you?—at any rate, accept the advantages which fall to your lot.'-' No, I will not be their dupe, I will not be first prince of the blood-royal; M. le Duc d'Angoulême ought to enjoy that rank, and consequently cannot be Fils de France. Thus, by vexing and wearying the Queen, he prevented himself from enjoying a certain advantage, and did lasting harm to himself. Things happened just as I expected; he was not made first prince of the blood-royal, and the two sons of M. le Comte d'Artois had bestowed on them the rank of Fils de France.

"Two circumstances of a graver nature contributed materially to increase the discontent of the Duke of Orleans against the court and government; the one was the mortification with which he met at the engagement which took place at Ouessant, and the other was the refusal

of the post of high-admiral, which he had solicited from the King. With regard to the first point, it has been since clearly proved that public opinion was altogether wrong, and that the prince had distinguished himself by extraordinary bravery during the whole of the time that the engagement of Ouessant lasted. The Duke of Orleans was not, however, the less exasperated at this false accusation which was brought against his courage; and when, at a later period he was refused the post of high-admiral, he was doubly irritated. From this tangled and fatal chain of petty cavilling between the court and the Duke of Orleans, and from a few other faults of a more or less grave nature, sprang up the unfortunate Prince's hatred, which drove him to such lengths at the commencement of the revolution.

"Justice and impartiality make it my duty, before I finish this slight sketch of the Duke of Orleans, to mention some of the good qualities which I noticed in him. He was in one particular very different to most princes, he always feared to throw constraint over those persons, to whatever rank or position they might belong, whom he entertained himself, or whom he met in society; on the contrary, he took great pains to put them thoroughly at their ease; for this he found necessary to his own comfort, as he could not bear to be under any restraint; and nothing embarrassed him more than to meet with people who were themselves much embarrassed. He allowed his wit and gaiety full play, but no malice was ever mixed up with it.

"He possessed also many qualities which in general are only to be found in those who have good hearts. I once witnessed a circumstance which showed that he was not without considerable feeling. He was passionately fond of shooting, and in fact was a very first-rate shot. One day in 1782 he happened to be shooting in a vineyard, which was loaded with grapes, but he had expressly forbidden those who accompanied him to touch these grapes. He very soon started a partridge, and immediately discharged his shot to bring it down, for he did not perceive anybody in his way, but, at the very moment at which he fired off his gun his coureur, whose name was Joseph, had crouched himself on the ground, in order to eat some grapes, and the balls entered his shoulder and his throat, at which he sprang up immediately. The wound was a very serious one, though not mortal. The duke darted forward to his attendant's assistance, and displayed the utmost dismay and grief at the accident; he solely occupied himself anxiously in endeavouring to take care of him, and conveying him from the spot, and every day till he was completely cured he made a point of visiting him. He assured to him a very comfortable lot, and exempted him from all attendance upon himself.

"After this accident the Duke of Orleans entirely gave up shooting, He has told me many times since, that whenever he took a gun in his hand he was seized with a fit of nervous shivering, and that he could always fancy he saw a man standing at the point of his gun.

"The Duke of Orleans was most scrupulously exact in keeping his word; he considered that his honour was engaged in fulfilling anything approaching to a promise, in however imprudent a moment it might chance to have been uttered. He was retiring and rather nervous, and felt readily embarrassed when he was called upon to alter his usual habits. This perhaps is a defect in a prince; but it is a defect which in men is generally united to amiability and goodness of heart.

The

Duke of Orleans could never entirely succeed in overcoming this sense of timidity. He could never manage to speak in public. Upon one occasion of the meeting of Parliament he was anxious to oppose the king's views, and a few words had been prepared, and written down for him, which he was expected to recite; but just as he was going to read them he felt himself perplexed, and stammered so much that he could scarcely be heard. The same thing happened at the meeting of the States-General. He had promised some friends to speak in the Chambre de la Noblesse in order to persuade the minority to pass over to the Chambre du Tiers. This time also a few lines were put on paper for him, but when he was on the point of beginning to read he fainted away, and it was necessary to open the windows to restore his consciousness. Alas! alas is it possible to imagine that a character of this stamp could, during the revolution, be led to commit horror on horror, and at last consent to vote for the death of the head of his house? It is unfortunately, however, in this very weakness and timidity that we must seek for the explanation of his conduct. He was surrounded, and dragged forward by bad men, who held him completely in their power, and he was urged on from one step to another till he found it impossible to draw back."

:

At this point the Count de la Marck's observations upon the persons whose portraits he wished to sketch break off suddenly. He has said enough, however, to prove the impartiality of his opinion with regard to them this he formed from facts which passed under his own eyes; and from the manner in which these facts are related, there cannot be the least doubt respecting the scrupulous exactness of the narrator. I shall now, by the aid of similar, though far more detached remarks, endeavour to place before the reader the precise nature of the relations which existed between the Count de la Marck and Mirabeau, before they became so intimately connected. The Count de la Marck, who was a sensible man, and endowed with a spirit of observation, took singular pleasure in making the acquaintance, and in studying the character, of remarkable men, even out of that range of society in which his duties, his rank, and his family connections placed him. In this society, as he declares himself, men were not much appreciated for their mind or their talents; personal good conduct, and submission to the regulations and habits of the court were sure to meet with a far speedier, and more certain reward than qualities of a more brilliant nature; therefore preference was frequently shown to mediocrity. It will be readily understood that it was not in society like this that the Count de la Marck was likely to meet Mirabeau, who was already becoming celebrated on account of various works which he had published, and in consequence of a law-suit which had been carried on against him, as well as from the persecution with which he met from his father.

M. Sénac de Meilhan, who has already been mentioned, was the first person, in 1788, who invited the Count de la Marck to make the acquaintance of Mirabeau. The idea was eagerly embraced by the Count, and it was agreed that M. de Meilhan should get the Count de Mirabeau to go with him to dine at the Prince de Poix, the governor of Versailles. On this occasion there were assembled, besides the Princess de Poix, the Count and Countess de Tessé, M. de Mun, and the Viscount de Noailles who were all equally anxious and curious to see Mirabeau. When M. de la Marck saw Mirabeau enter the room he was exceedingly struck by his appearance. He was very tall, and his figure was square and thickly set; his head, which was by nature larger than most persons, looked

still more so on account of the huge quantity of powdered hair which he wore. He was dressed in a commonly cut coat, which had buttons of coloured stone, of an outrageous size; his shoe buckles were equally enormous. The features of his face were much disfigured by marks of the small pox, the expression of his countenance could not easily be read, but his eyes were full of fire. In wishing to be polite he made the most exaggerated bows, and the first words which he uttered were some laboured compliments, which were undoubtedly excessively vulgar. In short he possessed neither the language, manners, nor habits of the society in which he was thrown; and though, owing to his birth, he always consorted with those kind of persons who now entertained him, one could easily perceive that he lacked that ease of deportment which is to be observed in persons who mix in the great world.

During dinner, conversation chiefly fell upon common-place subjects. This did not, however, prevent Mirabeau from making, occasionally, some extremely witty and sparkling remarks, but, unfortunately, spoilt all by his ceremonious and laboured politeness. His want of ease and refinement was particularly striking when he addressed ladies. But when, after dinner, M. de Meilhan brought the conversation round to politics and the administration, all that appeared ridiculous in the deportment of Mirabeau immediately vanished. Then those who were present confined themselves in wondering at the extraordinary fluency of thought which Mirabeau possessed, and at the clear-sightedness of his views, and everybody was completely carried away by his brilliant and energetic way of expressing himself. M. de la Marck contrived to seize an opportunity of chatting aside with Mirabeau about Germany. A few of his works on this country had already appeared, and M. de la Marck observed that he even spoke better on the subject than he had written. He was, on the whole, so pleased with his conversation, that he resolved to see him again. Mirabeau seemed, curiously enough, to meet his wishes, for he asked him to visit him. This invitation was accepted with such eagerness, that Mirabeau was at once convinced of the extreme interest with which he had inspired the Count de la Marck, and a mutual promise was made to meet very shortly. The Count de la Marck relates an anecdote in connection with this dinner which is rather amusing. M. Necker was almost an object of worship to most of the persons who were present on this occasion. Mirabeau attacked, with great warmth, the general policy and the administrative talent of the contrôleur-général. The Prince de Poix, who read very little, and was much au courant de jour in public affairs, did not catch the sense of Mirabeau's observations. M. de Meilhan, as far as he could, endeavoured to change the conversation whenever the name of M. Necker was mentioned; but, just as Mirabeau was preparing to take his departure, M. de Poix being fully persuaded that everybody shared his opinion with regard to M. Necker, and his admiration of him, detained him, and said

"One moment more. We have not yet spoken of M. Necker. Ah, that is an extraordinary man!"

The Count de Mirabeau, who was much surprised at this apostrophe, seemed for an instant quite embarrassed; then, suddenly retiring a step or two, he made a profound bow to the Prince de Poix, and said

Ah, true, he is an excellent juggler!"

The prince did not know how to reply to this extraordinary speech, so they both bowed and moved away.

THE DREAM-LADDER.*

Ir was already past midnight when the magistrate turned his head round to the other side, so as to see the moon better through the leaves of the arbour where he sat. The flowers smelt fresh in the warm night air, and the whole garden swam in almost magic light, for the full moon was high in the sky, and only darkened by a little transparent cloud passing over it. It was heavenly in the arbour. The magistrate had already sat there many hours gazing on the clear starry night. He was scarcely conscious how happy he was. Nature lay around him as a vast unrevealed mystery, and he reposed in the midst of all her wonders like a child!

The moon had always loved this good magistrate. When he was a little boy he often had stood for hours at the window of his room gazing at the clouds, and watching the wonderful rings that encircled the moon.

As he sat now, on this very night, looking at the moon, admiring the beautiful halo and the prismatic colours around her, the wonders of a summer's night seemed all at once to be revealed to him. He beheld a light shining ladder descend, as it were, plainly and slowly from the moon, sinking lower and lower until the last step touched the honeysuckle bower where he sat. By degrees the ladder appeared to become stronger, firmer, and still more visible. There was also a great agitation and movement going forward on it-up and down, in and out, like the falling snow-flakes. He heard clear silver voices singing in the very arbour close to his ear, and the whole garden seemed to have become animated. The tops of the trees murmured softly to each other, and the young boughs rustled lustily, as they never were heard to do in the day.

Soft arms raised him from his seat. How it happened he did not know he could not imagine how it came about-but he did find himself on the lowest step of the ladder, and in another moment actually ascending, without fear or giddiness, in the clear night sky. Immediately the garden became melodious, and sang forth in a chorus of joy beneath him. As he mounted higher, he thought he heard the very earth turning and creaking as it revolved on its axis. What had appeared to him, however, as he sat in the honeysuckle bower like rising and falling snow-flakes, were, in reality, little fairies hastening on diverse messages from earth to heaven.

At length the magistrate reached the moon. He was not astonished at finding everything there quite different from what he had read in the books of astronomy. A silver palace, with thousands and thousands of towers, galleries, arcades-domes, spires, and colonnades of silver shone brightly before him. But he was not dazzled. No mortal ever behield such a splendid sight as was now revealed to him.

At the edge, where the ladder touched the moon, an old man met him offering his hand to assist him. This was the Man in the Moon," of whom we have all heard so much, but he had no bundle of sticks or dog with him, so that the magistrate did not know him at first. Indeed,

* The readers of Andreas will recognise his story as forming the groundwork of the following fairy tale.