died in 1854. After the death of the Marshal, the son by his first wife laid claim to a portion of what fortune he left, but the Court decided against him as illegitimate. As we were about to leave, a peasant woman with a pleasant open face came to see my mother, bringing her little son with her. She was most anxious that we should take the lad with us as page. According to her assurance, he would look well in livery, "like a veritable angel." Moreover he was docile, good-tempered, obliging, and—he had been taught a little English.
"English! where did he learn it?"
"In the streets, Madame; he can say Godam."
Is it not strange that Froissart, in the fourteenth century, should state that it was by this name that the English soldiers were distinguished from the French. At Pau, and at many other places, the street urchins would shout, as we passed: "Voici les petits Godams."
The poor woman burst into tears when it was explained to her that this was a profane oath. She had to retire disappointed, on the assurance that our travelling carriage was so packed that it could not receive her "petit bon homme."
On February 24th, 1848, broke out the Revolution that drove the incapable Louis Philippe from the throne. People of all classes had become weary of his undignified reign. He in no way appealed to the imagination of such a nation as the French.
An event of a tragic nature that occurred in Paris on the night of August 17-18, 1847, and its consequences, had stirred the passions of the Parisians to their depths.
The Duke of Choiseul-Praslin was the head of the third ducal branch of the ancient House of Choiseul. He had been one of the aristocratical supporters of the Orleans family on the Throne. Louis Philippe esteemed him highly, not perhaps personally, but for his influence, and urged his frequent attendance at Court. He was married to the daughter of Marshal Sebastiani, who had given him ten children. On the aforesaid night, the Duke murdered his wife. They had quarrelled over the education of their children, and in a fit of passion provoked by her unreasonable opposition to his measures for their good he dealt her more than one death-blow. It was generally thought that there existed a criminal intrigue between the Duke and the governess of his
