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106 THE PORTBAIT.
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
_.. I Need Not Linger Over The Early Daw...
than an easy compliance with , niy new mode of living * , and I enjoyed the pleasures thrown in niy wayon the plea that as I had been
sent "to see the world / ' I ought , to look at it froin every possible point of view .
Change of scene must have had a miraculous effect on Mrs . Bethunefor no trace of indisposition was visible ; and except a fit of
low spirits , at intervals , her health was excellent . Beyond driving or riding in the parks , going to or giving fetes , patronizing bazaars
or special concerts in aid of some favorite musician , Mrs . Bethune , with one exceptionhad no occupation . The exception was in favor
of art , and almost rose , to the dignity of a pursuit , from the intense love and interest exhibited in the copying of pictures in the manner
of the old masters . I was delighted , as from a child , drawing had engaged my profound attention ; to become an artist , had been my
dream by night , my thought by day , and now an O _23 portunity for study was within my reach . Mrs . Bethune became my teacher ,
and very speedily I was absorbed in a painting mania . Time went on , and amidst its whirling we were carried across
the Channel to Calais , and from Calais—with its pharos , its long pier , its singular iC _cour-gang" and sturdy inhabitants- —we were
slowly and joltingly driven on to Paris . My anticipations of leasure were unbounded ; for had not Paris the " Louvre" ? When
p however I found myself really within the magic city my first feeling ¦ was that of sadness . The sight of the Tuilleries suggested a series
of fearful pictures . The wild horrors of the Heign of Terror took hold of my imaginationand I could only think of the unfortunate
Louis and his beautiful , Queen , first in their days of splendor and ' then in those dark hours of their degradation and wretchedness .
The spirit of unrest and of the past took possession of me . I got out of bedthrew on my dressing-gown and a large cloakand stepped
on to the , balcony to convince myself that the palace was , safe ; that no haggard savage mob with scowls and execrations threatened its
royal inmates with destruction . The pale lamps were still gleaming in the darknesswhile ghost-like sentinels with measured tread
alone broke the , silence of night . I paced up and down , the short distance permitted me by the length of the balcony , marvelling how
or whether the Orleans Bourbon who but lately had _accej ) ted the crown , could find repose beneath that roof where royalty had been
so fiercely outraged . Did the pale shades of the murdered Antoinettethe saintly Madame Elizabethand the slaughtered Kingnot
haunt , his pillow ? Did not the spectral , forms of the devoted Swiss , and faithful Heiducks still wander in those galleries and staircases ?
Were there not handwritings on the walls , and blood on the floors , warnings and omens of evil import ? Did not the vision of a roused
and maddened people trampling to death their rulers scare and startle him ? Silence and darkness gave no answer . But doubtless
if those sad tragedies were not then remembered by the monarch ,
vivid as lightning flashes ,, their memory must have come with the
106 The Portbait.
106 THE PORTBAIT .
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), April 1, 1861, page 106, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01041861/page/34/
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