There was in her nothing to abash, and by
her gracious aspect, her extreme affability, she knew how to put
those with whom she talked at their ease, while wholly preserving
her own rank. She was not only polite, she was engaging, always
seeking to say something flattering or kindly to those who had the
honor to approach her. If she visited a studio, she congratulated
the artist; in a shop she made many purchases and talked with the
merchants with a grace more charming to them, perhaps, than even
her extreme liberality. If she went to a theatre, she enjoyed
herself like a child. The select little fetes given by her always
had a character of special originality and gaiety.
The Dauphiness had a higher rank at court than Madame, because she
was married to the heir of the throne. But as she took much less
interest in social matters, she did not shine with so much eclat.
The Duchess of Berry was the queen of elegance. In all questions
of adornment, toilet, furniture, she set the fashion. A commission
as "tradesman of Madame" was the dream of all the merchants.
Sometimes, on New Year's Day, her purchases at the chief shops
were announced in the Moniteur. There were hardly any chroniques
in the journals under the Restoration. A simple "item" sufficed
for an account of the most dazzling fetes. If the customs of the
newspapers had been under the reign of Charles X.
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