[1] Of King William IV.

[2] Eridge Castle is in the county of Sussex, and still belongs to the Abergavenny family.

[3] Warsaw, capital of the Duchy of the same name, had been ceded to the Russians in 1815. In November 1830 a terrible insurrection broke out there, which liberated Poland for several months; but, in spite of a glorious campaign against Diebitsch, Warsaw was finally retaken by ParkÉwitch on September 8, 1831.

[4] Stoke is situate in the county of Stafford, and has a great porcelain manufactory founded by Wedgwood.

[5] (1) DoÑa Jennaria, born 1819; (2) DoÑa Paula, born 1823; (3) DoÑa Francisca, born 1824; (4) Dom Pedro, born 1825, who in 1831 became Emperor of Brazil under a regency.

[6] On the occasion of the Revolution in France in 1830, new agitations arose in Switzerland. BÂle divided itself in 1831 into BÂle-Ville and BÂle-Campagne.

[7] Miaulis had retired to Paros, and had put himself at the head of the rebellious Hydriotes.

[8] From March to September 1831 insurrection, or at least agitation and tumult, was almost continual in the streets of Paris.

[9] M. de Courcel.

[10] Leopold I., elected King of the Belgians in 1831, married in 1832 Louise, Princess of OrlÉans, daughter of Louis-Philippe, King of the French.

[11] In 1832 King Ferdinand VII. became so seriously ill that he was thought to be dead. Calomarde then joined the Carlists, and forced the dying monarch to sign a decree cancelling the declaration of 1830 abolishing the Salic Law in Spain.

[12] ValenÇay, where the Duchesse de Dino had just gone, is situate in the Department of the Indre. The chÂteau and the park are magnificent, and the ornamental water is very fine. The house was built in the sixteenth century by the d'Étampes family, from the designs of Philibert Delorme. In 1808 and 1814 it served as the prison of Ferdinand VII. and the Spanish Princes when they were detained by Napoleon I. The Prince de Talleyrand, who had bought the property at the end of the eighteenth century, was very fond of the place and lived there a great deal.

[13] The three great allied powers—Austria, Prussia and Russia—held meetings in three successive years either at TÉplitz or at MÜnchengraetz for joint deliberation on the European situation. There by a new secret compact they guaranteed to each other their respective possessions in Poland, whether against external aggression or internal revolution. They also considered the affairs of France and Italy, and the constant activities of Italian societies and refugees in French territory, which were then causing serious anxiety about the tranquillity of the Peninsula. It was finally decided that the Cabinets of Austria, Prussia and Russia should each send a separate note to the Government of King Louis-Philippe, urging a more careful surveillance of the revolutionary propaganda.

[14] Louis-Antoine, Duc d'AngoulÊme (1773-1844), eldest son of King Charles X., married during the emigration in 1799 his cousin Marie ThÉrÈse Charlotte, daughter of King Louis XVI. and Queen Marie Antoinette, but had no children. After 1830 the Duc d'AngoulÊme ceded his rights to his nephew, the Duc de Bordeaux (Comte de Chambord), and retired into private life.

[15] The little Court of Charles X. was the scene of two factions, one being the partisans of inertia, though not of resignation; the other, being all in favour of action. Mme. de Gontaut fell a victim to the former, a letter in which she expressed disapproval of the situation to her daughter, Mme. de Rohan, having been intercepted. The King, whom she accused of weakness, reproached her violently, and after the interview she finally left Prague and the Court.

[16] A follower of Socinus, who disbelieved in the Trinity and in the Divinity of Christ.

[17] No. 21 Hanover Square, the French Embassy of the period.

[18] Here we have a natural explanation of what astonished readers of the Memoirs of the Prince de Talleyrand, which appeared in 1891 under the supervision of the Duc de Broglie. The controversy which then arose as to whether M. de Bacourt had not cut down the text cannot be more authoritatively set at rest than by this passage from Madame de Dino's journal.

[19] The Duc de Fleury, grand-nephew of the Cardinal.

[20] Almack's was an academy of fashion where all the best society in London collected. The patronesses were six ladies of high rank; every man of the world had to make his dÉbut at Almack's.

[21] Through her mother Lady Jersey was the grand-daughter of Robert Child, the banker.

[22] This house still belongs to the Hope family, and contains a remarkable picture gallery. The park and the Italian garden are among the finest in England.

[23] Denbies now belongs to Mr. G. Cubitt; it is situated in the county of Surrey, near Dorking.

[24] The following was the composition of Lord Grey's Cabinet: First Lord of the Treasury, Earl Grey; Lord Chancellor, Lord Brougham; Lord President of the Council, the Marquess of Lansdowne; Lord Privy Seal, the Earl of Durham; Chancellor of the Exchequer, Lord Althorp; Home Secretary, Viscount Melbourne; Foreign Secretary, Viscount Palmerston; Colonial Secretary, Viscount Goderich; President of the Board of Trade, Lord Auckland; First Lord of the Admiralty, Sir James Graham; Postmaster-General, the Duke of Richmond; Chief Secretary for Ireland, Mr. Stanley; Paymaster-General, Lord John Russell; President of the Board of Control, Mr. Charles Grant; Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Lord Holland.

[25] The new Cabinet was constituted as follows: First Lord of the Treasury, Lord Melbourne; Chancellor, Lord Brougham; Lord President of the Council, the Marquess of Lansdowne; Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Viscount Palmerston; Secretary of State for the Colonies, Mr. Spring Rice; Chancellor of the Exchequer, Lord Althorp; First Lord of the Admiralty, Lord Auckland; Postmaster-General, Marquess of Conyngham; Paymaster-General of the Forces, Lord John Russell; Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Mr. Littelton. Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Lord Holland; Home Secretary, Viscount Duncannon; President of the Board of Control, Mr. Charles Grant; President of the Board of Trade, Mr. Poulett Thomson; Secretary of State for War, Mr. Ellice; Lord Privy Seal, Lord Mulgrave. Most of these Ministers had been members of the previous Cabinet.

[26] Marshal Soult had been President of the Council since 1832. He resigned that office in July 1834.

[27] Kew is situated on the right bank of the Thames. The palace was for some time the residence of the Duke and Duchess of Cumberland before their accession to the Throne of Hanover. There are an Observatory and a Botanical Garden at Kew, which were founded by George III.

[28] Myrza-Rhyza-Kan, Envoy Extraordinary of Seth-Ali, Shah of Persia, to Napoleon I, at Warsaw, in March 1807.

[29] Eminin-Effendi, accredited by the Sultan Mustapha IV. to the Emperor Napoleon at Warsaw in March 1807.

[30] Lagrange-Chancel was concerned in the conspiracy of Cellamare, and launched against Philippe d'OrlÉans three virulent pamphlets in verse, which were soon followed by two others. (Philippiques, 1720.)

[31] Rochecotte is a chÂteau built at the end of the eighteenth century which the Duchesse de Dino bought in 1825, and afterwards improved and greatly extended. In 1847 she presented it to her daughter the Marquise de Castellane. Rochecotte is charmingly situated on the slope of the Loire Valley, commanding the village of Saint Patrice, in the Department of Indre et Loire.

[32] Langeais is a large town rather more than two leagues from Rochecotte. It is situate on the right bank of the Loire, and is dominated by a castle built in 992, and reconstructed in the thirteenth century by Pierre de la Brosse. In 1491 the marriage of King Charles VIII. and Anne de Bretagne was solemnised there.

[33] Mlle. Henriette Larcher, governess to Mlle. Pauline de PÉrigord.

[34] This letter has already been published in the little book by the Countess de Mirabeau entitled, Le Prince de Talleyrand et la Maison d'OrlÉans, which appeared in 1890.

[35] See the London Chronicle for August 6, 1834.

[36] The Porter at ValenÇay.

[37] In 1793 Montrond had fled to England, and there had placed himself under M. de Talleyrand's protection. This was the beginning of their long friendship.

[38] Madame AdÉlaÏde had caused her hand to be offered to the Baron de Montmorency, but on condition that she should not be required to change her name—a condition which the Baron declined to accept.

[39] Veuil commands the valley of Nahon, and was joined to the Seigneurie of ValenÇay in 1787 by M. de LuÇay, who was then the owner. The castle, which must have been very fine, is now a ruin, of which only a fragment is inhabited by a farmer.

[40] The Duchesse de Dino never revisited England in spite of her happy memories of that country.

[41] When you entered this shop, then very celebrated in France, you used to see models of the legs of all M. de Talleyrand's lady friends, duly labelled, which had been made for the guidance of the ValenÇay tradesman.

[43] It ended in a criminal trial, which attracted much attention. Emile de la RonciÈre was tried by Jury at Angers in 1835, and, in spite of the ability of his counsel, MaÎtre Chaix-d'Est-Ange, he was condemned to ten years' penal servitude. In 1843 King Louis-Philippe remitted the two years he had still to serve.

[44] This letter, of which only a part is quoted here, was given entire by the Comtesse de Mirabeau in her book Le Prince de Talleyrand et la Maison d'OrlÉans, and may also be found in Volume V. of the MÉmoires du Prince de Talleyrand, which were published in 1892.

[45] Here is the full text of M. de Talleyrand's letter of resignation, which I give though it has already appeared in the MÉmoires:

This letter was published in the Moniteur Universel of January 7, 1835.

[46] The Whig Cabinet of Lord Melbourne fell on November 15, and was replaced by a Tory Ministry which was not destined to last more than three months. The Premier was Sir Robert Peel, and the Duke of Wellington replaced Lord Palmerston at the Foreign Office.

[47] Of Armand Carrel, of the National.

[48] This letter, of which only the beginning is given here, is dated November 25, and is quoted in full in Le Prince de Talleyrand et la Maison d'OrlÉans, and also in Volume V. of the Prince's MÉmoires.

[49] A Royal decree had charged the Court of Peers with the duty of trying the authors of the Republican insurrection which occurred from April 7 to April 13, 1834, in several provincial towns and in Paris. The sentences were not passed till December 1835 and January 1836.

[50] The crime of Fieschi who tried to assassinate King Louis-Philippe.

[51] The Abbaye-aux-Bois was a religious community of women; it was situated in Paris at the corner of the Rue de SÈvres and the Rue de la Chaise. During the Revolution it was used as a place of detention. Later it reverted to its former character, and, besides the convent occupied solely by the nuns, it afforded a peaceable refuge to ladies of great fashion. Madame RÉcamier settled there.

[52] Fieschi's attempt on the King's life.

[53] The burial of General Lamarque, who died of cholera on June 2, 1832, took place on June 5, and was the occasion of a revolt which continued all day on the 6th.

[54] A castle belonging to the Duc de Montmorency.

[55] An allusion to the request made to the King by M. de Talleyrand that M. de Bacourt should be appointed to Carlsruhe.

[56] In 1789 the Cours PrÉvÔtales were tribunals empowered to punish summarily and without appeal certain crimes and offences defined by an Ordinance of 1731. Under the Consulate and the Empire exceptional jurisdictions were established under the same name to deal with desertions, mutiny, political offences and smuggling. The Cours PrÉvÔtales of the Restoration were composed of Judges of Courts of first instance, and were directed by a PrÉvÔt, a superior officer of the army. These Courts from 1815 to 1817 took cognisance of offences against the public safety and acted retrospectively; they were an instrument of Reaction and Political vengeance.

[57] September 22 is the day of Saint Maurice, the patron Saint of M. de Talleyrand.

[58] This speech is given at the end of this volume. I shall quote only the phrase here referred to. "England, like France, repudiates in her foreign relations the principle of interfering in the affairs of her neighbours, and the ambassador of a monarchy established by the unanimous votes of a great people feels himself at ease in a land of liberty, in the presence of a scion of the illustrious House of Brunswick."

[59] In 1830 the signatories of the celebrated decrees which led to the fall of Charles X., MM. de Polignac, de Peyronnet, Guernon de Ranville, and Chantelauze, were prosecuted before the House of Peers, deprived of their titles, and condemned to perpetual imprisonment. They were then confined at Ham.

[60] The speech here mentioned was made on October 10, 1835, at Warsaw by the Emperor Nicolas, in the presence of the Corporation of that City, whom he was addressing. The Imperial words were filled with threats and reproaches to the Poles, formulated in terms so violent that they astonished Europe, where their authenticity was largely doubted. The allusions to clandestine relations maintained by the Polish rebels with foreign Powers, embarrassed more than one diplomatist, and more than one Government. This speech was published by the Journal des DÉbats of November 11, 1835, and will be found in the Appendix to this volume.

[61] This speech first appeared in the National. The Moniteur reproduced it some days later.