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154 MISS CORNELIA KNIGHT.
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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.
* " Her The Tee Journals One Autobiograp...
towns ; but In Paris they were not trusted to walk in the bustle of the streets . " She saw Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI . pass to
their beautiful chapel but one graceful Sunday - and at Versailles gracious . , and At the did door not think talking the to former some
, , one of her acquaintance , stood the ill-fated Princesse de LambaHe . After seeing everything worthy of note in Paris , they posted for
six days till they reached Toulouse , the capital of ancient Languedocwhere they spent the winterwere well-lodged , and had no
, , want of society . " At that time niany of the first families of the province went rarely to Paris . They had large and handsome
houses at Toulouse , where they spent the winter , as the summer , on their estates . There was no Chambres des Pairs , or des Deputes , to
take them to the metropolis ; and unless they had employment at Court , or business to call them thitlier , they preferred remaining
where they were both honored and valued . Toulouse -was an archbishopricand also-at that timethe seat of one of those courts of
, , , justice , now abolished , which were called Parliaments . " It is painfully curious now to reflect how all this healthy old
provincial life is swept away—a life which , as it seems to us , might also have been healthily developed in accordance with the advancing
principles and immense discoveries of modern civilization , had not reckless democracy and blind des _23 otism combined together to
centralize all the influences by which France Is governed , and even to destroy the very name of her ancient counties . The Knights
then w _^ ent to Montpellier , travelling in a large boat on the canal of Languedoc , and sleeping on board , though they halted every night .
They were present at the opening of the Assembly of the States ,, on the 27 th of November 1777 and Miss Knight draws a vivid
pic-, , ture of the wonderful costumes—counts and barons in black velvet mantles lined with gold stuff , hats with long feathers hanging over
them , and their hair dressed with two queues ! The tiers etats , consist-Ing of deputies from the townssat below them . The greffiers and
lawyers were at the table . The , intendant of the province , M . de St . Priestand two treasurers of Francewere in blackwith black caps
surmounted , by a tuft . The Archbishop , of Narbonne , was at the head of his clergy , the bishops in their violet robes covered with fine lace ,
and the grands vicaires in black cassocks . To this imposing assembly , which must have looked exceedingly like one of Charles Kean ' s great
historic spectacles at the Princess ' s Theatre , the Count de Perigoxd , as commandant of the province , and commissioned by the king to
hold the States , made a speech , complimenting everybody all round , particularly the Archbishop of Narbonnewhom he characterized as
, " a prelate who supported the interests of the people at court without flattery and the interests of the court with the people without
ostentation . " To this the archbishop replied in a discourse which must have been very similar to an address by a President of the
Social Economy Department of a certain National Association
known to these isles ! For instance , he dwelt on the utility of cona-
154 Miss Cornelia Knight.
154 MISS CORNELIA KNIGHT .
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Nov. 1, 1861, page 154, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01111861/page/10/
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