LOUIS XVIII. AT HARTWELL. 105 



ing themselves. About the year 1808 the\^ took up 

 their residence at Hartwell, and the resources of the 

 little village were strained to their utmost to accom- 

 modate the Court. Every lodge, even the gardeners' 

 and gamekeepers' cottages, were occupied by Royalties 

 or important people attendant on the King. In one 

 small cottage in the wood was housed the Duchesse 

 d'Angouleme ; the Due de Berri in one of the lodges, in 

 another the Due de Blacas ; w^iilst the King and his 

 amiable consort, with the Prince de Conde, and their 

 personal retinue, occupied the mansion, one of the rooms 

 of w^hich was fitted up as a chapel with confessional, 

 and other rooms for the abbe attendant on his Majesty. 

 The French nobility, with their families, were to be seen 

 visiting the primitive inhabitants of this Buckingham- 

 shire village, and often extended their walks to attend 

 the market at the town of Aylesbury, w^hich stands 

 about two miles distant. 



In that town my father had come to reside, when about 

 twenty-one years of age (in 181 2), and, w^onderful to 

 relate, had already acquired, at Berkhampstead Grammar 

 School, a good knowledge of the French language — a 

 rare accomplishment in those days, when the Continent 

 was practically closed against all but the w^ealthiest 

 Englishmen — and he was almost the only man in the 

 neighbourhood of Aylesbury who could converse with 

 the Royal Family and their retinue. Tl:e King often 

 sent for him on matters of business, and I have heard 

 him tell many anecdotes of the residents of the house, 

 and of the habits there of the French Court. Generally 

 the King, with a certain amount of royal state, dined in 



