did for his
faithful servitor what had never before been done; he created for
him a fifth company of the King's body-guards. "My dear Riviere,"
he said, "I have done my best for you, but we shall both lose by
it; you used to guard me all the time, now you can guard me but
three months in the year." The 30th of May, 1825, the morrow of
the coronation and the day of the reception of the Knights of the
Holy Spirit, Charles X. conferred the title of duke on his devoted
friend. "By the way, Riviere, I have made you a duke." It recalled
the words of Henry IV. to Sully in like circumstances.
When he chose the Duke de Riviere as governor of the Duke of
Bordeaux, the King said to Madame de Gontaut: "In naming Riviere,
I have followed, I confess, the inclinations of my heart; I am
under obligations to him; he has incessantly exposed himself for
our cause; he has borne captivity, poverty; I love him, and I am
used to him."
The new governor, who was very modest, was frightened at the task
confided to him.
"You congratulate me," he wrote to a friend; "console me, rather,
pity me. An employment so grave must be a heavy burden. I am easy
about the instruction my royal pupil will receive; the wise
prelate named by the King as his preceptor will be a powerful
auxiliary for me. But my share is still too great. It requires
something more than fidelity for such a place,--firmness without
roughness, unlimited patience, address, intelligence.
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