Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1899-09-25

walls in France, but little notice mas
been taken of the passing away or Wnat
NAV be termed a grand old historical
institution. in the person of the Mar
quis de Casteja, says Rome COTE
spondent.
This remnant Of another time died
on August II, at the age of "a, in his
hotel in the Rue d'Anjou, at Paris.
His special claim to renown, If such
should ever come to his memory
arises from the fact that he was the
last survivor of the court pages OF
King Louis XVIII.
Feathers and gold lace and Velvet
and silk. with ceremonies and orders
and dignities and precedence and all
the proprieties of etiquette formed the
thoughts and occupations of his early
life.
This French institution OF court
nages. like so many of the ancient
modes and manners of aristocratic life,
disappeared during the Revolution. 1t
was, however, restored to lie
again under Napoleon l., whose de-
light if was to surround his new-bullt
throne with a newly created arlstoc-
racy and with all the ornaments and
attractions of court.
This institution of pages, which was
reorganized by the restoration, dlsap-
peared definitely in 1880.
It was in reality school OF cadets,
says a writer in the Paris Figaro, the
pupils of which gave special service
in court ceremonies.
The father of the Marquis de CasteJa
served Louis XVI, and his mother De-
longed to the family of Rennepont
The boy entered the school of pages
at Versailles under the restoration, and
when he left it he had the grade OF
sublieutenant in the royal guard.
In his quality of first page he ac-
-companied the royal carriage of Louis
XVIII.
When Charles x. was about to de-
part for England after his abd1catlon
in 1880 Lieutenant de Casteja formed
part of the escort which accompanied
the king to Rambouillet, where the
royal guard was disbanded
The active life Of the Marquis de
luton of February he was made COM
mandant of a battalion of the national
guard. and when France suffered de-
feat at the hands of the Germans the
ex-page of a king rendered effective
service to his country.
His marriage, too, was a fortunate
one, his wife being the second daugh-
ter of Sir Thomas Windsor Hunloke
baronet. AS she was Protestant the
marriage was blessed by an Anglican
bishop who was then in Paris and was
celebrated in the chapel of the Eng
Iish embassy in presence of the am
oassador, Lord Granville.
Unlike his predecessors. who, in
heir character of pages, necessarily
saw much of what happened behind
The scenes of court life, and wrote of
it, the Marquis de Casteja would not
pen his experiences. He was willing
enough to talk of them.
He had most interesting anecdotes
to relate of the century that is dy-
lng and through nearly all of which
he had lived He had known nearly
all the great actors on the worlds
stage-Napoleon l., Louis XVIII,
Charles X, Louis Philippe, Napoleon
III, and many other celebrated per-
sOnages.
He would not, however, write of
them. ''No," he would say to those
who begged him to chronicle his remi-
niscences in a book, 81 will he happy
to die in peace with all the world.
Why do you want me to make enc
mics after my death?"
In this he was very unlike the run
of pages.
A peculiar side of royal life in
France is enshrined in The Recollec-
tions of a Page at the Court of Louis
XVI, written by Felix, Count de
France d Hezecques, and it's author is
sues it because "the lively interest of
the public in the events Of the later
DAVIS of the ancient monarchy is evil
IDENTIFY shown in the number of success
full works bearing on that period
lately published.
what I saw I painted" is his mot
20, and he adds that he does not write
4 history, but a simple record OF some
Isages and some anecdotes of the court
Of Louis XVI.
The tragic ending of this monarch
and the members of his family rem
Ter The Recollections of Page most
absorbing reading, even though they
are tinctured with excessive loyalty
md devotion to the king.
Some years ago another of these in
eresting and romantic beings, Emile
Marco de Saint Hilaire, died in Paris,
t the age of "a. He was in the habit
# saying that on one occasion he had
erved as page to Napoleon the great
himself. 1t is to his pen the world
half century ago was indebted for
he Memoirs of a Page Of the Imperial
curt.
His mother was lady-in-waiting to
lortense Beauharnais, daughter of the
Impress Josephine by her first hus-