Sara[_4_]
November 7th 07, 06:50 AM
REVOLUTION OF 1830.
Fate seemed at last weary of persecuting the poor Duchess of St. Leu. It
at least accorded her a few peaceful years of repose and comfort; it at
least permitted her to rest from the weariness of the past on the bosom
of Nature, and to forget her disappointments and sorrows. The Canton of
Thurgau had had the courage to extend permission to the duchess to take
up her residence within its borders, at the very moment when the
Grand-duke of Baden, who had been urged to the step by Germany and
France, had peremptorily ordered Hortense to leave Constance and his
grand-duchy without delay.
Hortense had thankfully accepted the offer of the Swiss canton, and had
purchased, on the Swiss side of the Lake of Constance, an estate, whose
beautiful situation on the summit of a mountain, immediately on the
banks of the lake, with its magnificent view of the surrounding country,
and its glittering glaciers on the distant horizon, made it a most
delightful place of sojourn. Hortense now caused the furniture of her
dwelling in Paris, that had been sold, to be sent to her. The sight of
these evidences of her former grandeur awakened sweet and bitter
emotions in her heart, as they were one after another taken out of the
cases in which they had been packed--these sofas, chairs, divans,
carpets, chandeliers, mirrors, and all the other ornaments of the
parlors in which Hortense had been accustomed to receive kings and
emperors, and which were now to adorn the Swiss villa that was outwardly
so beautiful because of the vicinity, and inwardly so plain and simple.
But Hortense knew how to make an elegant and tasteful disposition of all
these articles; she herself arranged every thing in her house, and took
true feminine delight in her task. And when all was at last
arranged--when she walked, with her son at her side, through the suite
of rooms, in which
Fate seemed at last weary of persecuting the poor Duchess of St. Leu. It
at least accorded her a few peaceful years of repose and comfort; it at
least permitted her to rest from the weariness of the past on the bosom
of Nature, and to forget her disappointments and sorrows. The Canton of
Thurgau had had the courage to extend permission to the duchess to take
up her residence within its borders, at the very moment when the
Grand-duke of Baden, who had been urged to the step by Germany and
France, had peremptorily ordered Hortense to leave Constance and his
grand-duchy without delay.
Hortense had thankfully accepted the offer of the Swiss canton, and had
purchased, on the Swiss side of the Lake of Constance, an estate, whose
beautiful situation on the summit of a mountain, immediately on the
banks of the lake, with its magnificent view of the surrounding country,
and its glittering glaciers on the distant horizon, made it a most
delightful place of sojourn. Hortense now caused the furniture of her
dwelling in Paris, that had been sold, to be sent to her. The sight of
these evidences of her former grandeur awakened sweet and bitter
emotions in her heart, as they were one after another taken out of the
cases in which they had been packed--these sofas, chairs, divans,
carpets, chandeliers, mirrors, and all the other ornaments of the
parlors in which Hortense had been accustomed to receive kings and
emperors, and which were now to adorn the Swiss villa that was outwardly
so beautiful because of the vicinity, and inwardly so plain and simple.
But Hortense knew how to make an elegant and tasteful disposition of all
these articles; she herself arranged every thing in her house, and took
true feminine delight in her task. And when all was at last
arranged--when she walked, with her son at her side, through the suite
of rooms, in which