<000005>The lad understood, blushed crimson, and retired, profoundly grateful for being let off so easily. Neither was the lesson lost upon him; after this he played no more.
THREE:Jembrasse la gracieuse souveraine,[65] la sainte Henriette, la ridicule Adla?de la belle Victoire.One of Davids most rising pupils before the Revolution was young Isabey, son of a peasant of Franche Comt, who had made money and was rich.
THREE:Poinsinet, the author, was a man of very different calibre. That he had plenty of ability was proved by the fact that on the same evening he obtained three dramatic successes, i.e., Ernelinde at the Opera, Le Cercle at the Fran?ais, and Tom Jones at the Opra-Comique. But his absurd credulity made him the object of continual practical jokes, or mystifications as they were called.But as the Noailles were known to have possessed the estate and castle bearing their name in the twelfth century, and that in 1593 the Seigneur de Noailles was also Comte dAyen, and of much more consequence than the Montmorin, this spiteful fabrication fell to the ground.
The whole affair was an exact specimen of the mingled extravagance, folly, vice, and weakness which were leading to the terrible retribution so swiftly approaching.The history of Mme. de Genlis in the emigration differs from the other two, for having contrived to make herself obnoxious both to royalists and republicans her position was far worse than theirs.But the stories against Mme. de Genlis have never been cleared up. Much that was said about her was undoubtedly false, but there remain serious accusations which can neither be proved nor disproved; and that a long, intimate friendship between a prince of the character of Philippe-galit and a young, attractive woman who was governess to his children should have been no more than a platonic one, passes the bounds of credibility.
