from the works of Racine to the vaudeville of "Rose et Colas."

The Comte d'Artoisi had an agreeable countenance, was well made, skilful
in bodily exercises, lively, impetuous, fond of pleasure, and very
particular in his dress. Some happy observations made by him were
repeated with approval, and gave a favourable idea of his heart. The
Parisians liked the open and frank character of this Prince, which they
considered national, and showed real affection for him.

The dominion that the Queen gained over the King's mind, the charms of a
society in which Monsieur displayed his wit, and to which the Comte
d'Artois--[Afterwards Charles X.]--gave life by the vivacity of youth,
gradually softened that ruggedness of manner in Louis XVI. which a
better-conducted education might have prevented. Still, this defect often
showed itself, and, in spite of his extreme simplicity, the King inspired
those who had occasion to speak to him with diffidence. Courtiers,
submissive in the presence of their sovereign, are only the more ready to
caricature him; with little good breeding, they called those answers they
so much dreaded, Les coups de boutoir du Roi.--[The literal meaning of the
phrase "coup de boutoir," is a thrust from the snout of a boar.]

Methodical in all his habits, the King always went to bed at eleven
precisely. One evening the Queen was going with her usual circle to a
party, either at the Duc de Duras's or the Princesse de Glumenee's. The
hand of the clock was slily put forward to hasten the King's departure by
a few minutes; he thought bed-time was come, retired, and found none of
his attendants ready to wait on him. This joke became known in all the
drawing-rooms of Versailles, and was disapproved of there. Kings have no
privacy. Queens have no boudoirs. If those who are in immediate
attendance upon sovereigns be not themselves disposed to transmit their