[54] It was, in fact, the fashion at Versailles and at Saint-Cloud. The most brilliant of all the lotteries was that offered by Monsieur (the king’s brother), on the 9th August 1689, on the occasion of the reception of the Venetian ambassador. The Court ladies had some most magnificent presents.
[55] In a memoir, written twenty-six years previously, i.e., in 1788, the Prince de Ligne had weighed with great sagacity the questions which were from that moment inseparable from the fate of Poland. The preamble describes in delightful and rare terms the Polish character, and conveys a lofty idea of the author’s charm of expression in dealing with his brilliant pictures. ‘Who,’ he exclaims, ‘can fail to love Poland, the Poles, and, above all, Polish women, the mental qualities and courage of the men, the grace and beauty of their fair companions?‘—Author’s note.
[56] M. Edmond Taigny, Isabey’s nephew, published in the Revue Européenne in 1858 some interesting particulars of the early life of the great artist, from the latter’s manuscript notes. The period dealing with Isabey’s sojourn at Vienna during the Congress contains several references to the present work.
[57] Hélène Massalska, whose interesting correspondence was published by M. Lucien Perey under the title of Histoire d’une Grande Dame au XVIIIe Siècle (Lévy, 2 vols.).
[58] Les Mémoires de Casanova de Seingalt, edited by Henri Beyle, were published at Leipsig in 1826, and in Paris in 1843 (5 vols.). Some years ago, Flammarion brought out a new edition.
[59] Son of the Marquise de Bombelles, née Mackau, the friend of Madame Élisabeth and of the marquis who was ambassador at Venice at the outbreak of the Revolution. He had his children educated in Austria, and took holy orders after the death of his wife. He became Bishop of Amiens. The Bombelles have remained Austrian. The brother of the Comte de Bombelles in question was the third husband of Marie-Louise.
[60] Princess Charlotte, daughter of the Prince Regent, died a twelve-month after her marriage, 1817. Princesse Louise d’Orléans, died in 1850. Leopold I., King of the Belgians, died 1865.
[61] The forty townships are an exaggeration, but the head of the Esterhazy had twenty manorial lordships, sixty burghs with market places and four hundred and fourteen villages.
[62] The Prince Nicolas Esterhazy (1765–1833) was an enlightened patron of art, and founded the picture-gallery of the Garten-Palace at Vienna. It was he who offered Haydn the hospitality of his estate at Eisenstadt. In 1809, he refused the crown of Hungary, offered to him by Napoleon.
[63] Prince Paul-Antoine Esterhazy (1786–1866) was ambassador in Dresden and in London.