“The prince was often annoyed by the extent to which she carried this _culte_, but, _en homme d’esprit_, he generally succeeded in throwing back the ridicule, which he felt was likely to attach to him, upon herself, and scrupled not to enliven the dulness of the evening circle by drawing her out; while she, poor soul, too happy to occupy his attention even for an instant, consented willingly to become his butt; and thus it often happened that the Princess T——, daughter, widow, and sister of princes and heroes, was employed to divert the _ennui_ of many a little _gentilhomme campagnard_, or _hobereau de province_, who might, as matter of form and neighbourly feeling, chance to be invited to dine at the château. But, as I tell you, although perfectly aware of this—for she was by no means wanting in penetration—she cared not so that ‘_ce cher prince_’ found amusement; indeed, I think she even felt honoured by the preference accorded to her above the other guests. “However, she failed not upon other occasions to avenge herself upon these witnesses of her discomfiture, and in her turn crushed without pity every one around her who was not the ‘prince,’ or allied in some way with him, or one whom he delighted to honour. With others, never was there a more _rogue et fière Allemande_, and in spite of her good nature and generosity, she had more enemies than many who sought less applause. “She was the most eccentric person I ever met with; the last of a race of which it will be impossible, from the change in human ideas, ever to behold another specimen. In her youth she had been most beautiful, and still retained, saving the loss of an eye, traces of loveliness even in advanced age. She could not be called either clever or witty, but was the cause of such interminable wit in others, of such endless good sayings on the part of the prince, that Valençay, to those who were accustomed to her society, seemed dull _à périr_ when she was not there. She had the greatest fund of originality and natural vivacity that could be possessed by any human being. Her ideas could not be made, by any force of reasoning or persuasion, to follow the tide of improvement of the times, and she could never be taught to believe that the revolution had wrought any change in the relative positions of the aristocracy and the people, but continued, to the latest period of her life, to treat all plebeians and _roturiers_ as though they had still been serfs and vassals, subject at her will and pleasure to _détresse_ and _corvée_. She was an invaluable specimen of the old insolent noblesse; and after a day spent in her company, you might retire to rest, no longer wondering at the horrors of the great revolution, nor yet at the hatred by which they had been instigated.