[47] In the documents relating to the affair at Strasburg, there is the report to Louis-Philippe by an officer in the 46th regiment of the line, named Pleigné, in which the latter, borrowing the process of Balzac as applied to the French of the Baron de Nucingen, credits Louis-Napoléon with the following phrase: "Fous êtes tecoré de Chuillet; fous tefez être un prafe, che vous técore."—Editor.
[48] The four knights of a Carlovingian legend, who were mounted on one horse named Bayard.—Editor.
[49] During the sacking of the Tuileries, the mob ruthlessly destroyed the busts and pictures of every living son of Louis-Philippe, with the exception of those of the Prince de Joinville.—Editor.
[50] The remark was not original. The Marquise d'Espreménil said it of herself when she saw her son join the Revolution of '89.—Editor.
[51] The peripatetic vendors of songs, dressed as nobles, who up till '60 were frequently singing their compositions in the street.—Editor.
[52] Frédéric Xavier de Mérode was the descendant of an ancient Flemish family, and became an influential member of the Prelatura. He took an active share in the organization of the Papal troops which fought at Mentana. There is a romantic but absolutely true story connected with his military career. He was from his very youth intended for the priesthood, but one day, when he was but nineteen, he had a quarrel with a fellow-student, who gave him a box on the ears. M. de Mérode was too conscientious a Catholic to fight a duel, and still his pride forbade him to remain under the imputation of being a coward. So he enlisted first in a Belgian, subsequently in a foreign regiment, and proved his courage. He was very hot-tempered, and had frequent disagreements with Generals Lamoricière and De Guyon, and even with Pius IX. himself, who, on the occasion of the promulgation of the decree of infallibility, positively forbade him to enter the Vatican again. But he soon afterwards made his peace with the Pontiff. His worst enemies—and he had many—never questioned his sincerity and loyalty.—Editor.
[53] If Comte Walewski ruled Napoléon III., the second Comtesse Walewska, who was an Italian by birth and very handsome, absolutely ruled her husband. The first Comtesse Walewska was Lord Sandwich's daughter.—Editor.
[54] It is equally curious to note, perhaps, that M. Grévy, who occupied the presidential chair of the Third Republic for a longer period than his two predecessors, was in many respects like Louis-Philippe, notably in his love of money.—Editor.
[55] Before that it bore the name of the Rue des Trois-Hautbois, and in the heyday of the Second Empire it was changed into the Rue Eugène-Rouher. But at the fall of Sedan the indignation against the Emperor's powerful minister was so great that his carriages had to be removed from Riom lest they should be burned by the mob, and the street resumed its old appellation. In November, 1887, three years after Rouher's death, I happened to be at Clermont-Ferrand waiting for General Boulanger to go to Paris. I went over to Riom and had a look at the house. It was occupied by a carpenter or joiner, to whose father it had been sold years previously by the express wish of one of Eugène Rouher's daughters. I got into conversation with an intelligent inhabitant of the town, who told me that on the 4th of September, 1870, the feeling against Rouher was much stronger than against Louis-Napoléon himself, yet that feeling was an implied compliment to Rouher. "He was the cleverer of the two," the people shouted; "he ought not to have allowed the Emperor to engage in this war. He could have prevented it with one word." Nevertheless, in a little while it abated, and Rouher was elected a member of the National Assembly.—Editor.
[56] De Morny's prophecy turned out correct. M. Eugène Rouher died a poor man. There is a comic story connected with this poverty. At the beginning of the Republic, and during the presidency of Thiers, Rouher's house was constantly watched by detectives. The weather was abominably bad; it rained constantly. Madame Rouher sent them some cotton umbrellas, excusing herself for not sending silk ones, because she could not afford it.—Editor.