ANOTHER CHAPTER ON THE " RIGHTS OF WOMAN." 273 



ing to the pressing importunity of Dortan that he would mention his name, 

 he said, almost mechanically, ' Madame, here is Mr. Charles de Dortan/ 



" ' I have not the honour of his acquaintance,' replied the princess, 

 coolly. Dortan pressed forward, and gazed steadily at her. 



"' Back, Sir!' she exclaimed: 'it is not respectful to stare at a lady 

 after that fashion/ 



" Dortan became pale as death, and remained transfixed in his position. 

 The carriage started. ' That fellow must be either an idiot or a madman,' 

 thought Julien, as the quiet self-possession of the princess began to exer- 

 cise its counteracting influence over his mind/' 



During the entire journey into Italy, the manners and conversa- 

 tion of the princess wrought more powerfully on the feelings of St. 

 Julien, and he was bewildered at the grasp of her intelligence, and 

 the soundness and firmness of her judgment. All her opinions 

 revealed a strong understanding, an inflexible fixedness of purpose, 

 and a close and condensed logic. She was wholly occupied with 

 philanthropic theories, and expressed her indignation at beholding so 

 much misery along the route. She would then devise expedients for 

 remedying it, and express her astonishment at its not being taken 

 into consideration. 



" ' But' said she, angrily, ' those contemptible bastards who govern the 

 world with the title of kings, have something else to do than to succour the 

 distressed. Solely occupied with their miserable pleasures, they are 

 amusing themselves puerilely and wickedly, until the voices of their people 

 shall shake the foundations of those thrones so long deaf to all suppli- 

 cation/ 



She would then descant upon the difficulty of maintaining a good un- 

 derstanding between the governors and the governed. She did not think 

 the difficulty insurmountable. 



"'But what,' added she, ' can be done by these crowned idiots?' And 

 after a luminous examination and criticism of the systems of all the 

 cabinets of Europe, the secrets of which seemed bared before her pene- 

 trating eye, she would construct her system of absolute government on 

 philosophic cases. 



" ' Great kings make great people/ she continued ; ' all is reducible to 

 that trite system ; but as yet we have not seen any great kings upon 

 earth; great captains there have been, the heroes of ambition, of intelli- 

 gence, and bravery ; but not a single prince at once bold, loyal, enligh- 

 tened, cool, and persevering. In all the biographies of illustrious men, 

 infirmity is perpetually vindicating her share. Yet are we not for that to 

 abandon the work, and to despair of the futurity of the world. The human 

 mind has not as yet reached the limits at which it should stop : all that is 

 fairly conceivable is performable/ 



" After having spoken in this way, she would fall into deep reveries ; 

 her eyebrows became gently contracted, her dark eyes seemed to withdraw 

 within their sockets, her burning brow became expanded by ambition. 

 She might have been taken for the daughter of Napoleon. 



'' At these moments St. Julien felt a secret awe creep over his spirits. 

 'What is charity ? what is love ?' said he to himself; ' what are all the 

 wishes and all the illusions of poetry, and all pious and tender sentiments, 

 to a soul consumed by such immense ambitions ?' 



"But when again he beheld her fling to the poor her gold, and even some 

 portions of her garments ; when he heard her in a friendly, and almost fa- 

 miliar tone, make enquiries of the sick and console the distressed, he was more 



M.M. No. 3. N 



