A thunder of plaudits and
cheers greeted his arrival on the ground. At one moment, when he
found himself, so to speak, tangled in the midst of the crowd,
several lancers of his guard sought to break the circle formed
about him by pushing back the curious with the handles of their
lances. "My friends, no halberds!" the King called to them. This
happy phrase, repeated from group to group, carried the general
satisfaction to a climax. A witness of this military ceremony, the
Count of Puymaigre, at that time Prefect of the Oise, says in his
curious Souvenirs:--
"Charles X. appeared to have dissipated all the dangers that for
ten years had menaced his august predecessor.
"On all sides there rose only acclamations of delight in favor of
the new King, who showed himself so popular, and whose gracious
countenance could express only benevolent intentions. I was
present, mingling with the crowd, at the first review by Charles
X. on the Champ-de-Mars, and the remarks were so frankly royalist,
that any one would have been roughly treated by the crowd had he
shown other sentiments."
The Duchess of Berry was full of joy. She quivered with pleasure.
Very popular in the army and among the people, as at court and in
the city, she was proud to show her fine child, who already wore
the uniform, to the officers and soldiers. She appeared to all
eyes the symbol of maternal love, and the mothers gazed upon her
boy as if he had been their own.
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