No society in Europe was more agreeable and brilliant than that of the
Duchess of Berry. The fetes given by the Princess in the salons of the
Pavilion de Marsan at the Tuileries were marked by exceptional elegance
and good taste; the Petit Chateau, as her vivacious social staff was
called at that time, had an extraordinary brightness and animation. At
the carnival of 1829 Madame organized a costume ball, which, for its
brilliancy, was the talk of the court and the city. All the costumes
were those of one period,--that at which the dowager queen of Scotland,
Marie of Lorraine, widow of James V., came to France to visit her
daughter, Mary Stuart, wife of the King, Francis II. It was decided
that Mary Stuart should be represented by the Duchess of Berry, and the
King, Francis II., by the oldest of the sons of the Duke of Orleans,
the Duke of Chartres, who was then eighteen and one-half years old, and
who was, the next year, to take the title of Duke of Orleans, on the
accession of his father to the throne. The apartments of the Children
of France in the Pavilion de Marsan were chosen for the ball, and the
date was fixed at Monday, March 2, 1829.
The King, the Dauphin and Dauphiness, the Duke and Duchess of Orleans,
appeared at the fete, but not in costume. Charles X. came after the
hour of giving out the general orders. The Dauphin, the Dauphiness, and
the Duke of Orleans arrived at 8 P.M. The entry of the four queens,
Mary Stuart, Marie of Lorraine, Catharine de' Medici, Jeanne d'Albret,
was announced by the band of the bodyguards which preceded them. The
cortege was magnificent, the costumes of the princes and their ladies
resplendent. To increase its richness, the Dauphiness had lent not only
her own jewels, but a part of those of the crown. The invited guests
not taking part in the cortege occupied places already assigned them.
They wore a uniform costume of silver gauze and white satin. This
coolness of tone produced a charming effect when at the arrival of the
cortege all rose. In the ball-room a platform had been prepared with a
throne for Mary Stuart. The Duchess of Berry, as the famous queen, wore
with great grace a dazzling toilet--crown of diamonds, high collar,
blue velvet robe with wide sleeves, front of white satin bordered with
ermine. The Duke of Chartres, a handsome boy and brilliant cavalier, as
King Francis II., wore a cap with white plumes, and a dark blue velvet
doublet with ornaments of gold. His brother, the Duke of Nemours,
fourteen years old, was in the character of a page to the King, with a
white satin doublet, and recalled in his features the youth of Henry
IV. The Duchess of Berry, playing to perfection her role of queen,
advanced to the throne. The Duke of Chartres gave her his hand to
ascend the steps. Then she made a sign to be seated; but the young
Prince remained standing. Placing himself behind the throne, and
removing his cap with white plumes, he bowed low and said: "Madame, I
know my place." The Duchess of Gontaut spoke to the Duchess of Orleans,
and asked her if she had remarked the tact of her son the Prince. "I
remarked it," replied the Princess, "and I approve of it."
The ball commenced. There was present a great Scotch lord, the Marquis
of Huntley, who belonged to a very illustrious Jacobite house. In his
youth he had been what was then called a beau danseur, and had had the
honor of opening a fancy dress ball at the Chateau of Versailles with
the Queen Marie Antoinette. Charles X. remembered it and wished that
the Marquis, then nearly eighty, should open the ball with little
Mademoiselle, who was but nine. Still a beau danseur, the old
Englishman had not forgotten the pirouettes of Versailles; all the
court admired, and the young princes were greatly amused.
The ball was a marvellous success. It was a revival of the beautiful
fetes of the Renaissance. The sixteenth century, so elegant, so
picturesque, lived anew. A painter, who was then but twenty-nine, and
who had already a great vogue, M. Eugene Lamy, perpetuated its memory
in a series of twenty-six watercolors, which have been lithographed,
and form a curious album. (A copy of this album is in the National
Library, in the Cabinet of Engravings.) It contains, besides, four
water-colors, representing one, the ascent of the stairway of the
Pavilion de Marsan by the guests; another, Mary Stuart seated on the
throne; a third, one of the dances of the ball; a fourth, the entrance
of the Dowager Queen of Scotland twenty-two reproductions of the
principal personages at the fete. At the left are the arms of the
historic personages represented, and at the right those of the
representative. Then above the portrait of the Duchess of Berry there
are at the left the arms of Scotland and France, and at the right those
of France and the Two Sicilies, and above the portrait of the Duke of
Chartres at the left the arms of France, at the right the ducal blazon
of Orleans.
Here are the names of the twenty-two persons who figure in the album of
M. Eugene Lamy, with the personages represented:--