"It will require time," she says, in this same letter, "kindness, and
tenderness to gain the confidence of Monseigneur. His features show his
soul; he talks little of what he undergoes; he has much sensibility,
but a power over himself remarkable at his age; I have seen him suffer
without complaint. The efforts that he has made to overcome a timidity
that I have tried hard to conquer, have been noteworthy. I have been
able to make him understand the necessity, for a prince, of addressing
strangers in a noble, gracious, and intelligible fashion. I have always
sought to remove all means and all pretext for concealing his faults;
bashfulness leads imperceptibly to dissimulation and falsehood. I am
happy in affirming that Monseigneur is scrupulously truthful. I have
believed it requisite, by reason of the vivacity of his disposition,
and the high destiny awaiting him, to constrain him to reflect before
acting. The word JUSTICE has a real charm for him; I have never seen a
heart more loyal."
The woman who wrote these lines so firm and honest, so sensible and
forcible, was no ordinary woman. In contrast with so many emigres who
had learned nothing and forgotten nothing, she had learned much and
retained it. The difficulties and bitternesses of exile were an
excellent school for her. She remained French always,--in ideas,
tastes, feelings. Sincerely royalist, but with no exaggeration, she
took account perfectly of the requirements of modern society. Very
devoted to her princes, she knew how to tell them the truth. She spoke
frankly to Charles X., whom she had known from an early day, and had
seen in such diverse situations.
It is to be regretted that the King did not consult her oftener. She
would have saved him from many errors, notably from the fatal
ordinances which she disapproved. She was a woman not merely of heart,
but of head. Her Memoirs are the more interesting, that not the least
literary pretension mingles with their sincerity. They have a character
of intimacy that doubles their charm. This talk of a venerable
grandmother with her grandchildren is not only solid and instructive,
it is agreeable and gracious, tender and touching.