Ah! you, too, call me mad. It is an insult!His life at Vienna was that of a grand seigneur of the most illustrious order, and on New Years day and on his fte, the crowd that flocked to his house to congratulate him was so enormous that he might have been supposed to be the Emperor himself.
Adrienne had brought Pauline a copy of their mothers will, and, not being an emigre, had taken possession of the castle and estate of Lagrange, left to herself. She only spent a short time at Altona, and started for Austria.As Mme. Le Brun had not many servants, he had found nobody to announce him, but entered without the least shyness, and walking up to M. de Rivarol, said that he wanted to speak to him about a pamphlet of his, now being printed at the establishment in which he was employed. There was a passage in it which they could not read or did not understand, and M. de Rivarols servant having told him where his master was to be found, he had come after him.I was in an open carriage with Madame Royale by my side, [140] MM. de Cond were opposite; my brother and the Duc de Berri rode by us ... the Duc dAngoulme was still in the south.... I saw nothing but rejoicing and goodwill on all sides; they cried Vive le Roi! as if any other cry were impossible.... The more I entreated Madame Royale to control her emotion, for we were approaching the Tuileries, the more difficult [474] it was for her to restrain it. It took all her courage not to faint or burst into tears in the presence of all these witnesses.... I myself was deeply agitated, the deplorable past rising before me.... I remembered leaving this town twenty-three years ago, about the same time of year at which I now returned, a King.... I felt as if I should have fallen when I saw the Tuileries. I kept my eyes away from Madame Royale for fear of calling forth an alarming scene. I trembled lest her firmness should give way at this critical moment. But arming herself with resignation against all that must overwhelm her, she entered almost smiling the palace of bitter recollections. When she could be alone the long repressed feelings overflowed, and it was with sobs and a deluge of tears that she took possession of the inheritance, which in the natural course of events must be her own.Amongst the philosophic set, the encyclop?dists, so-called from the encyclop?dia which had been started by Diderot, and to which Grimm, dAlembert, Buffon, Marmontel, and many other well-known men were contributors, there was a spirit of passionate revolt against the cruelties and abuses of the time, an ardent thirst for liberty, [11] much generous sympathy with the poor and oppressed, and desire to alleviate the sufferings of humanity.
