The Memoirs of François René Vicomte de Chateaubriand sometime Ambassador to England, Volume 2 (of 6): Mémoires d'outre-tombe, volume 2Chateaubriand, François-René, vicomte de
History
The Memoirs of François René Vicomte de Chateaubriand sometime Ambassador to England, Volume 2 (of 6): Mémoires d'outre-tombe, volume 2
Chateaubriand, François-René, vicomte de
Chateaubriand, François-René, vicomte de, 1768-1848
Qu'à Chantilly Condé vous lise quelquefois;
Qu'Enghien en soit touché[648]!
Obscure men that we are, what are we beside those famous men? We shall
disappear never to return; you, sweet William, who lie upon my table
beside this paper, whose belated little flower I have gathered among
the heather will blossom again; but we, we shall not come to life again
with the perfumed solitary which has diverted my thoughts.
[594] This book was written at Chantilly in November 1838.--T.
[595] Blanche of Castile, Queen of France (1187-1252), daughter of
Alphonsus IX. King of Castile, wife of Louis VIII. King of France, and
mother of St. Louis IX. A hunting-lodge, at Chantilly, stands on the
site of the old Castle of Queen Blanche, near the Commelle Ponds.--T.
[596] Charles IV. King of Spain (1748-1819). On the 18th of March
1808, forced by the revolt of Aranjuez, he abdicated in favour of his
son Ferdinand. Napoleon compelled him to withdraw this abdication and
to make a fresh one in favour of himself (5 May 1808), after which
Napoleon's brother Joseph was placed on the throne of Spain. Charles
IV. was sent to Compiègne and Marseilles, and died in Rome in 1819. On
the fall of Joseph, in 1813, Charles's son Ferdinand VII. ascended the
throne.--T.
[597] Gustavus IV. (1778-1837) was the last Legitimist King of Sweden.
A revolt of the nobles in 1809 compelled him to abdicate, and his
uncle, the Duke of Sudermania, was proclaimed King with the title of
Charles XIII., ultimately adopting General Bernadotte as his heir.
Gustavus spent the remaining years of his life in Germany, Holland, and
Switzerland, under the names of Count of Holstein-Gottorp and Colonel
Gustawson. He died at Saint-Gall in 1837.--T.
[598] Frederic William III. King of Prussia (1770-1840), son of
Frederic William II. and grand-nephew to Frederic the Great. He
was married to the beautiful Queen Louisa, daughter of the Duke of
Mecklenburg-Strelitz.--T.
[599] Bonaparte had the Black Eagle.--_Authors Note._
[600] Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus Nero, later Nero Claudius Cæsar
Drusus Germanicus, Roman Emperor (37-68), son of Domitius Ahenobarbus
and Agrippina, by whose uncle and third husband, the Emperor Claudius,
he was adopted, succeeding him, to the exclusion of the natural heir,
Britannicus, in 54.--T.
[601] Lucius Annæus Seneca (3-65), the Stoic philosopher, was Nero's
tutor and principal minister. He is accused, not only of writing the
apology for the murder of Agrippina, but of approving the poisoning of
Britannicus in 55.--T.
[602] Julia Agrippina (_circa_ 15-59 or 60), daughter of the Emperor
Germanicus and of Agrippina, grand-daughter of Augustus. She poisoned
Claudius to secure the Empire for Nero, her son by her first husband,
and was herself murdered by Nero's orders in 59.--T.
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