New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1892-10-02
THE DUCHESS OF BERRY.
HER LIFE FROM CHILDHOOD TO THE
DEATH OF FER HUSBAND.

HER LIFE FROM CHILDHOOD TO THE
DEATH OF TER HUSBAND.
TIE DUCHESS OF BERRY AND TIE COURT or
LOUIS XyI Hy mbet DE- sGntA mar, no 1nnt
W. PIP. o0j. Charles scribncrs sons
Marie Caroline Ferdinande Louis dc Bourbon
is ore of the best examples in modern times
of brave, resourceful, practical character, I'M
fortunately placed in the roll Of ages. To be
the mother Of a French king when kings had
become useless 10 France is distinction which
will probably carry her name 70 the very last
pages of human history, but that is. after
all, poor recOmpense to one who. in spite oil
her gayety, her intelligence, her love OF ART,
her power of winning the homage and affection
| of the people, her presence of mind in strange
emergencies, her faithlulncss to her husband and
to her cause, must, in her secret heart, nave
felt herself strangely out Of harmony with the
most potent element in her environment-the Will
of France. When she made her lOrg journey
from Palermo to Paris to be cspouscd TO the
Duke of Berry, her extreme youth and her en-
thusasm in the midst of novelty may have
led her to take the paudits of the people the
index of permanent feeling; but events soon
TO follow must have taught her how tickle pop
ular sentiment is relating to persons, how
stern, how implacable, how irresistible. how I'M
chargeable il is in an instructive. perhaps un-
conscious movement toward the evolution OF
race a nation.
The history Of her early life in the vivid
narrative Of NJ. Saint-Amand and in the lively
translation cited above. reads at times like tale
out of fairy land Nurturcd In that beautiful
island which has been hallowei from Of old
by the woes Of Persephonc. She too, might have
been addressed, by one cognizan. of the future.
with the tender words of the bow-bearing
goddess
Quoe Fortuna supcrnis
Abstult, G. tanto damravt sidia luctu.
Yet from her earliest years she was experienced
in the changes Of fortune She was spectator
Of the arrogance and the misfortunes OF her grand
mother. Queen Marie Caroline who was expelled
from Naples by Napoleon with the ignominious
words, Let her lie off TO London to complete
the number of brgands," but who with her latest
BREATH doubtless wOul have reiterated her be-
lief that Legitimate authority always succeeds
in the end" and we all know how narrow the
Bourbon definition was of the phrase Legitimate
authority" The Duchess of BcrrJ cherished ten
der recollections of her grandmother. and years
afterward wher her Aunt Marie Amelie seemed
unduly ELUSIVE in receiving Lord Bentinck. who
drove the old Queen for the last time from the
throne of Sicily. she angrily left the ROOM and on
being asked for an explanation of her conduct. de-
livcred tho stinsinG rcbuke: g. could not look on
cooly while such cordial welcome was given 10
a maa whom consider your mothers murderer.
Though she lost her mother before she was old
enough TO be conscious of grief. she was happy
in the second mother whom her father chose.
Though she was espoused 10 Ter husband before
she ever saw him. yet her life with him.
NJ San-Armand pictures il. was an idyl OF peace
and Joy Whcr the French Court was the scene
of .bittercst rivalry. of hidden intrigue compli-
Gated and various that none could tell whom 10
trust when the nation itself was torn by factions;
the young Italian wife. either through the admo-
niions Of her husband. from her own instructive
penetration. threaded the social maze without
an error important enough 10 be recorded against
her. In an age Of viruent pamphlets Of heated
newspaper writing, of violent public speech. ana
still more viocat private animosity. she main
tanned gayety, an apparent simpleness of heart
that charmed the rude we'll as the wise.
But while she seemed light-heartod and fond of
nothing but pleasure. her mind of royal
quality She practised riding on horseback. not
without n knowledge how useful the art might
be in time Of danger. Aware that her husband
had sad premonitlOns Of his early and tragic
death she kept her fears. if she had any. hidden
in her own breast and strove daily to vile him
from his melancholy. Don't talk 10 me OF being
widow she would say: it is the current les'.
but find it insupportable. Bereaycd OF her
children almost in the hour Of their birth. dis
appointed and Eeenly alive also 10 her husbands
sorrow when she presented him with daughter
instead of the son on whose advent so much
seemed to depend. she reused herself from the
weakness Of motherhood 70 cXclaim HOPEFULLY
AFTER the girl, the boy" Her prediction came
true, but by that time the soul that would nave
III. - tr,,h bad ii aupT
Her husbands death made plain to the word
tbe courage and the fortitde Of the little Princess
She was the first TO support him after the KNIFE
Of the Assassin had done its work. Force could
not drive her from his side until all was over
In public she gave no sign OF her SORROW, nut
after TIN. fatal night, when she rcgaincd the pri-
vacy Of her own palace. her ternpeet'ous grlci was
such as almost TO cndanger her reason. She WOKE
from uneasy slumbcr, no longer gay child wife,
but a selfrcliant woman and silently permitted
herself to be arraycd in tie robes OF mourning.
Thus at twenty-one she had passed through all the
vicss:udes OF human llfe and had drunk 20
deeply from the cups Of pleasure and misery, that
no later potion could have seemed novel 10 hcr'
save the lctha drink OF all mortality.
With what courage she awaited the birth Of her
boy. with what superhumun precautions she rem
dcred impossible the contemplated accusation that
thc child was supposititous, let NJ. Saint-Armand
tell Her certainty that she was TO have ion
| seemed almost TO warrant the subsequent feeling
Of the Royalists that his birth was miracle
The attempts of some miscreants to terriiy her
were of no avail. Far from allowing herself TO
be inundated by such menaccs, the Duchess OF
Berry felt an intimate conviction that her delivery
would be fortunate, and that the child would be
! a boy She had had dream, an account OF
which she wrote with her hand in the follow
ING lines which she sent 10 the Count Of Brissac,
and which have been preserved by his family
! About the fourth month of my pregnancy, being
| asleep, I saw Saint Louis enter my room just 40
he is painted, his crown on his head, his large
| roval mantle with the lilies and his venerable