They bundled me into a wretched cabriolet with my
preceptor, and sent me to finish my education at Versailles, and
to learn to ride at the riding-school of the pages."
We must note that the marriage thus begun was afterwards a very
happy union, and that there was never a pair more virtuous and
more attached to each other than the Duke and Duchess of
Doudeauville.
In 1789, the Duke was major of the Second Regiment of Chasseurs.
He emigrated, though the Emigration was not at all to his liking.
"This measure," he said, "appeared to me in every way
unreasonable, and yet, to my great chagrin, I was forced to submit
to it. The person of the King was menaced, right-thinking people
compromised, the tranquillity and prosperity of France lost; they
were arming abroad, it was said, to provide a remedy for these
evils. The nobles hastened hither. Distaffs were sent to all who
refused to rally on the banks of the Rhine. How, at twenty-five,
could one resist this tide of opinion?" When he perceived, in the
foreign powers, the design of profiting by the discords in France
instead of putting an end to them, he laid aside his arms, and
never resumed them during the eight years of the Emigration. "This
resolve," he said, "was consistent with my principles. Always a
good Frenchman, I desired only the good of my country, the
happiness of my fellow-countrymen; my whole life, I hope, has been
a proof of this view.
Pages:
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122