Rue du Houssaye
Chaussié d'Antin
17 Fevrier <1>
Caro mio <2> -
In this season of events I cannot forget that you will want to hear something of that which has most interested us here. He <3> was the most unpopular of Princes & tout le monde contaient Milles traits de son humeur hautaine & tyrannique, <4> but (like many I have heard of) he died better than he had lived. The six hours he lasted, after the wound, were spent in taking leave of his family, blessing his child & forgiving his enemies, & the last words he uttered were to the King <5> "Grace grace pour l'homme qui m'a frappé" <6> The K. did not like to promise this & answered "nous verrons". <7> It was a singular thing & a curious sight all the Royal Family being assembled in the Foyer de l'Opera, <8> surrounding his bed & the Ministers of State mixed with the Surgeons & Priests & weeping Princesses The Duchesse de Berri <9> was much more attached to him than people supposed & in her first despair cut off her belle Chevelure <10> to be deposited in his coffin. The worse effects of all this is the new & severe laws that are going to be passed in consequence, affecting the liberty of the subjects & the liberty of the press, tho' it is rather ridiculous to suppose the latter has anything to do with it car l'assassin ne sait ni lire ni écrire. <11> It has likewise been laid upon L'Enseignement Mutuel, <12> in short there is nothing the ultras wont say. I was rather sorry for the D. of Kent, <13> but he would not have made a good King, he would have been too much a disciplinarian, too military for a free Country. Probably he would never have found a convenient moment to do you justice, he was criblé de dettes <14> which prevents generosity or even honesty. We drank your health on your birthday [missing text]<15> 3 times 3!!!!!!
When do you come? - nothing can equal the firmness & calmness of the assassin, he was confronted with the body but betrayed no emotion, & his pulse was quite composed.
It is lucky for him the old law is abolished, or he would have been tiré à quatre chevaux <16> like Ravaillau. <17> Why dont you write to me? There is no end to the stories & lyes & inventions on this occasion, trying to make out a plot of the Buonapartists
W. H. Fox Talbot Esqr
Trinity College
Cambridge
Notes:
1. 17 February.
2. My dear.
3. Charles Ferdinand Prince of France, Duke of Berry (1788-1820). The son of King Charles X of France, was assassinated in Paris by a fanatic in an attempt to extinguish the Bourbon line.
4. She probably meant 'everyone related a thousand examples of his haughty and tyrannical humour.'
5. Louis XVIII (1755-1824), King of France (1814-1824).
6. Mercy mercy for the man who has struck me down.
7. We shall see.
8. The Prince was assasinated in the Opera House.
9. Marie Caroline de Bourbon-Sicile, Duchesse de Berry (1798-1870), wife of Charles Ferdinand of Artois, Duke of Berry.
10. Beautiful hair.
11. Because the assasin could neither read nor write.
12. An educational system involving monitors, devised in Britain by Joseph Lancaster (1771-1838) and promoted during the Restoration in France from 1814-1830.
13. Edward Augustus, Duke of Kent and Strathearn, and Earl of Dublin (1767-1820).
14. Deeply in debt.
15. Torn away by seal.
16. Drawn and quartered.
17. François Ravaillac (1578-1610), he killed Henry IV of France on 14 May 1610. During his trial he was frequently put to the torture, and eventually was sentenced to death.