Mme. Le Brun found society at the Russian capital extremely amusing, and was, if possible, received with even more enthusiasm than in the other countries in which she had sojourned. She went to balls, dinners, suppers, or theatricals every night, and when she could manage to spare the time from the numerous portraits she painted, she went to stay in the country houses and palaces near, where in addition to other festivities they had ftes on the Neva by night, in gorgeously fitted up boats with crimson and gold curtains, accompanied by musicians.
ONE:With Talleyrand she had always been on friendly terms.[58]
TWO:
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ONE:[364]
TWO:Si ses sujets sont ses enfants,
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ONE:In EnglandSheridanStrange adventureRaincyFarewell to Philippe-galitProscribedTournayPamelaDeath of the King.From the horrors of the Revolution she had fled in time; with the Empire and its worshippers she had never had any sympathy; the episode of the Hundred Days was a new calamity, but when it was past and the King again restored her joy was complete.
TWO:So she took rooms in the Piazza di Spagna, which is, of course, one of the most convenient and animated situations in Rome; but the noise, which never seems to inconvenience Italians, was insupportable to her. Carriages and carts, groups of people singing choruses, lovely in themselves, but distracting when they went on all night, made sleep impossible, and drove her to another dwelling, a small house in a quiet street which took her fancy. The whole house was so charming that, with her usual carelessness about money, she hastened to pay [94] the ten or twelve louis for the months rent, and took possession. She went to bed rejoicing in the silence, only broken by the splash of a fountain in the little courtyard; but in the middle of the night a horrible noise began which woke them all up and prevented any more sleep till the morning, when the landlady explained that there was a pump fastened to the wall outside, which was constantly being used by the washerwomen, who, as it was too hot to work in the day, began the washing at two oclock in the morning. Accordingly Mme. Le Brun removed into a small palace, which she found damp and cold, as it had been uninhabited for nine years; it was also infested by armies of rats. She stayed there six weeks and then moved, this time on condition of sleeping one night in the house before paying the rent; but the beams of the ceilings were full of little worms, which gnawed all night long and made such a noise that she declared she could not sleep, and left the next day.
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TWO:TWO years and a half had passed and Mme. Le Brun had no desire to leave Vienna, when the Russian Ambassador and several of his compatriots urged her strongly to go to St. Petersburg, where they said the Empress Catherine II. would be extremely pleased to have her.The abolition of lettres de cachet, liberty of the press, the strict administration of justice, the equalisation of taxation, the abolition of the oppressive privileges of the nobles; all these and others of the kind were hailed with acclamations by the generous, enthusiastic young nobles who imagined that they could regenerate and elevate to their lofty ideals the fierce, ignorant, unruly populace who were thirsting, not for reform and good government, but for plunder and bloodshed.
FORE:She had another daughter a year or two later that only lived a short time.
FORE:Alexander, afterwards Alexander I., resembled his mother in beauty and charm of character; but Constantine was like his father, whose eccentric, gloomy disposition seemed to foreshadow the fate which lay before him. His strange, unbalanced nature alternated between good and evil; capricious and violent, he was yet capable of kindness and generosity.
FORE:The Duc de Montpensier came to Tournay to see his brother and sister and then left for Nice.As she left Belgium, Mme. Genlis who, with her faults had also many good qualities, began, she says, to reflect upon the horror of her position.
FORE:[213]Well, Monsieur, I am waiting for your criticism.
FORE:
FORE:
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FORE:For no one knew better than he did the histories and genealogies of his noblesse, and that he did not hesitate to explain them even when to his own disadvantage, the following anecdote shows:
TWO:There had been no disunion or quarrel between her and the Comte de Genlis; they had always been attached to one another, and no break occurred between them; she continued to be devotedly loved by Mme. de Puisieux, whose death she now had to lament.It was in the days when the Queen was giving ftes at Trianon, when the court quarrelled about the music of Gluck and Piccini, and listened to the marvels related by the Comte de Saint-Germain, when every one talked about nature, and philosophy, and virtue, and the rights of man, while swiftly and surely the Revolution was drawing near.
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TWO:For Gods sake, hold your tongue and let me pass, said the Chevalier in a low voice. My life depends upon it. Do you hear? do you understand? I have just escaped from prison; I am condemned to death. If you hold your tongue and let me pass I am saved, but if you keep me and call out my name you will kill me.
TWO:M. de Montagu returns to ParisM. de BeauneRichmondDeath of NomiAix-la-ChapelleEscape of the Duc dAyen and Vicomte de NoaillesLa Fayette arrested in AustriaThe HagueCrossing the MeuseMargateRichmondHardships of povertyBrusselsLetter from Mme. de TessJoins her in SwitzerlandMurder of M. and Mme. de MouchyGoes to meet the Duc dAyenHe tells her of the murder of her grandmother, Mme. de Noailles, her mother, the Duchesse dAyen, and her eldest sister, the Vicomtesse de NoaillesMme. de la Fayette still in prison.
CHAPTER IICHAPTER VIIf Trzia had been in immediate danger she would have been sent to the Conciergerie, which was looked upon as the gate of the guillotine; and she knew that the important thing was to gain time. Many had thus been saved; amongst others Mlle. de Montansier, formerly directress of a theatre. She was imprisoned in the Abbaye, and was condemned with a number of others to be guillotined on the following day.I inquired in what manner the letter had arrived there, but all those in my service declared they knew nothing about it.She must come too, was the answer, she is on the list; I will go and tell her to come down.
TWO:
