During our sojourn at the Baths we made a delightful excursion to the town of Lucca, and here we became acquainted with the reigning Duke and Duchess. They were reckoned the handsomest couple in Europe. The Duchess was a daughter of the King of Sardinia, and as good as she was beautiful; the description of her would pass for that of many an Italian beauty, but I have seldom seen her equal. She was tall and majestic, with a noble presence and lustrous eyes, but she had the saddest expression I almost ever beheld, and so I observed to one of her ladies, who became a great friend of mine, and she told me that it was not without cause. Almost the same description might be given of the Duke’s personal appearance, with the exception of the sad expression, for there was no melancholy in the beaming, smiling countenance of Charles de Bourbon. He had a sweet voice and a winning tongue, was a graceful dancer, and the admired of all who saw him; but he was unworthy the love of so noble a woman, and was vain and inconstant by nature. It was told of him that one day a friend presumed to ask him how it was possible he could treat his beautiful wife with so little consideration.
“Tiens, tiens,” he said, “elle est très bonne, elle est très belle, mais elle ne me contrarie jamais. C’est si fade.”
I mention this circumstance as a warning to wives who are too forgiving and forbearing.
About this time there took place a great religious festival in Lucca. According to a legend, one day in far distant times a ship came to—I forget what part of the coast, or what harbour—bearing a sacred image of our Lord, which was at once appropriated by the Luccees.[[32]] As far as I can remember, it was a rough, ill-modelled effigy, with a black face, but it was held in high veneration by the citizens, and on one night in every year it was carried through the town in a long procession, consisting of the Court, the nobles, the Guilds, and principal burghers of the place. I can recall the scene as the moonlight streamed down on the Duke and Duchess and their attendants, the Duke in full uniform, the Duchess a perfect dream of beauty in soft pale blue, crowned with a heavy tiara of diamonds, and with diamonds studding her whole dress, and glittering and sparkling in the moonlight with a softer brilliancy than can ever be seen in the interior of a room. The ladies and gentlemen of the retinue alike in full dress, and the priests bearing candles and chanting as they went, made a sight never to be forgotten.
[32]. According to the tradition, the Volto Santo was carried by Nicodemus, who, after the Crucifixion, was bidden by an angel to make an image of our Lord; but leaving it unfinished, he found the Face had been miraculously completed. It is said to have found its way to the coast of Italy in an open boat, and to have been brought to Lucca in 782.
DUKE AND DUCHESS DE BOURBON
One morning, after a ball at the ducal palace, the lady in waiting, to whom I have already referred, told me that the Duchess was suffering from a violent headache, arising from the weight of the diadem, which she had not worn for some time. This struck me as a symbol, and the next morning I wrote the following lines, which I gave to the Marchesa:—
“Once more, oh joy! once more alone,
The pageant’s at an end
And all the crowded train are gone,