Near to Hélène.
[36] It was to this witty Marquise de Coigny that the Prince de Ligne addressed the charming letters written from Tauris.
[37] Familiar nickname of the Princesse Charles.
[38] Madame d’Andlau was daughter of the famous Helvétius and Mademoiselle de Ligneville. She had educated her daughter, Madame de Sabran, very well: Madame d’Andlau in no way shared her father’s opinions.
[39] We read in the Gazette des Pays Bas, dated Thursday, 17th July 1783: “On Monday, H.R.H. the Comte d’Artois, accompanied by their Excellencies the Governors-General, saw all that was remarkable in the vicinity. The next day the Prince, with their Royal Highnesses, left for the Chateau de Marimont, from whence he was going to Bel Œil.”
[40] The Prince de Ligne had a particular affection for Boufflers. It would appear, however, that the Chevalier had a very uneven temper, for Madame de Sabran, in one of the charming letters she wrote him, gives us the following sketch: “It is not your manners, which are those of a savage, your absent and moody appearance, your sharp and genuine wit, your large appetite, and your deep sleep whenever one wishes to converse with you, which made me love you to distraction. It is I know not what: a certain sympathy that makes me think and feel like you, for under that rough exterior you conceal the spirit of an angel and the heart of a woman.”
[41] See his Letters to Eugénie on Theatricals. Paris, 1771.
[42] See the Gazette des Pays Bas, Monday, 5th April 1784, No. xxviii.
VIII
Prince Charles purchases a hotel in Paris—Birth of Sidonie—The insurrection in Flanders—Winter in Vienna—Joseph II. and his Court—First representation of Don Juan—-Haydn and Mozart—The Comtesse de Kinsky—Prince Charles’s affection for her—-Hélène’s departure for Warsaw.