Leaves from the Note-Books of Lady Dorothy NevillNevill, Dorothy, Lady
History
Leaves from the Note-Books of Lady Dorothy Nevill
Nevill, Dorothy, Lady
Great Britain -- Social life and customs -- 19th century; Great Britain -- Social life and customs -- 20th century
The Bourbons—Mdlle. Félicie de Fauveau and her vow—Marie
Antoinette at the Petit Trianon—A buried treasure—Madame du
Barry and her bankers—Her lost jewels—A possibility of
existence at some bank—Her destroyers—Zamor and the Englishman
Grieve—Mrs. Atkyns and the Dauphin—Her gallant effort to save
the Queen—Naundorff—An American Dauphin—Eleazar Williams—
Mystery surrounding the death of Louis XVII.
It is curious how, in spite of their manifold follies and
shortcomings—which were sometimes almost criminal—the Bourbons managed
to inspire certain of their adherents with an almost fanatical devotion.
Many and many a brave man sacrificed life and property for the ancient
Royal line of France. Of this stamp were the gallant Vicomte de Frotté,
shot by Napoleon in 1811, and the Marquise de la Rouérie, the organiser
and leader of the Chouan revolt. It is, indeed, almost impossible to
conceive the intense loyalty displayed by those Frenchmen and
Frenchwomen who cherished the traditions of the old régime.
In 1842 I knew at Florence a lady—Mademoiselle Félicie de Fauveau, a
sculptress of some note—who belonged to a noble French family. At that
time somewhat advanced in years, she had been much with the Duchesse de
Berri, and still remained a devoted supporter of the ancient monarchy.
To such an extent indeed was this the case that, inspired by a feeling
of the most ardent loyalty, Mademoiselle de Fauveau had made a vow never
to let her hair grow till the Comte de Chambord should as Henry V.
ascend the throne of France, and this resolution she carried out with an
utter disregard of the graces. The Comte de Chambord never reigned, and
therefore to the end of her life she kept her head closely cropped. I
very well remember seeing him at Vicenza in the same year as I met
Mademoiselle de Fauveau. He was not at all a remarkable-looking man, and
walked with a slight limp, the consequence of an accident which had
occurred to him as a young man, when his horse had fallen upon him. As a
matter of fact the fracture which he had sustained would have left no
traces had the doctors in attendance shown any great surgical capacity.
This, however, they did not do, allowing their patient to travel in a
carriage over bad roads before the fracture had been thoroughly reduced.
Dr. Récamier, it may be added, had especially warned them against
allowing such a thing, but no notice was taken of his letter.
The Comte de Chambord was far more high-minded than most of his line,
and it was always said that had he chosen to abandon some of his
convictions he would certainly have been King of France. His attitude,
however, was always straightforward, and for this reason it is in all
probability that he lies, the last of the Bourbons, uncrowned in his
tomb at Frohsdorf.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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