He
remained to the end the most amiable prince in Europe, but he was
also the severest. A surprising thing in a convert, his religion
was always full of true charity for others. He excused those who
neglected their Christian duties, remembering his delay in
practising his own, without ever compromising his own beliefs. He
sincerely respected the good faith of those who did not share
them. This faith, this piety--a legacy from love--which he guarded
so faithfully, was the consolation of his long misfortunes and the
principle of his unchanging serenity. It banished even the idea of
hatred from his heart. Never did any one forgive as he did."
It must not be forgotten that the pamphleteers and song-writers of
the Restoration, violent, unjust, and even cruel as they were
toward Charles X., never breathed an insinuation against the
purity of his morals. His life was not less exemplary than that of
his son, the Dauphin, or of his niece and daughter-in-law, the
Orphan of the Temple. Despite the great piety of the sovereign,
the court was not melancholy or morose. Charles X. had a
foundation of benevolence and gaiety to his character. He was not
surprised to see committed about him the gentle trespasses of
love, of which he had been himself guilty in youth, and he had
become--the very ideal of wisdom--severe for himself, indulgent
for others.
XVIII
THE DUCHESS OP GONTAUT
The Governess of the Children of France was the Viscountess of
Gontaut, who, as a recompense for the manner in which she had
accomplished her task, was made Duchess by Charles X.
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