Recollections of a Great Lady; Being More Memoirs of the Comtesse de Boigne (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1912 Excerpt: ...that seem too narrow-minded, and affections that seem too feeble. It is, in short, an aspiration towards the infinite, a desire for the fruit of the tree of knowledge, which has been recently entitled the artistic temperament for want of some better term, and which should be dealt with as soon as it appears. Princess Marie was seriously stricken with this malady. No one recognised it; it grew up with her, and she succumbed to it. The desire of the Duc d'Orleans for popularity was ' The Duc de Chartres was bom in 1810; Princess Louise in 1812; Princess Marie in 1813; the Duc de Nemours in 1814. Then came Princess Clementine, born in 1817; the Prince de Joinville in 1818; the Duc d'Aumale in 1822; and the Duc de Montpensier in 1824. perceptible in the education given to his children. Not only were his sons sent to college, but their instructors were so chosen that every one about the young Princes spoke the liberal jargon of the age; instead of discoursing to them upon the duties which their high rank involved, attempts were made to degrade this rank in their eyes as a worn-out chimera which all distinguished men would spurn. Princess Marie soon regarded the ties of rank as nothing more than so many fetters upon the wishes of her heart and the superiority of her intellect. Long before any one suspected it, she felt profoundly grieved that she had been born a Princess and was restricted to what she called a life of deception, as if any social position did not require the sacrifices of some tastes. She had instinctively discovered the disagreement which had divided the Tuileries and the Palais Royal. While Princess Louise readily submitted to the affectionate caresses of Madame la Dauphine, Princess Marie coldly drew away from marks ...