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ANECDOTES OF EMINENT PERSONS. 
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Additional ANECDOTES of PHILIP EGa- 
Lire’ late DUKE of ORLEANS, by one 
who knew him intimately. 
HIS extraordinary and daring per- 
fonage prefented,in his rapid defcent 
from rank and fortune to the platform: of 
a guillotine, perhaps the moft fingular 
compound of ambition and degradation, 
vanity and folly, courage and audacity, 
that ever marked the tablet of a checquered 
fortune. Early in life, wich all the fubtlety 
of acourtier,and all the graces of a polifhed 
gentleman, he ftarted forward en the cire- 
ling luftre of the Frengh throne, with ade- 
gree of fplendour that dazzled every con- 
temporary. Philip was a man of much 
fhrewdnefs, with a fpecies of effrontery 
which has frequently been known to fup- 
ply every defect of mind and education. 
He was, however, deficient in neither the 
one nor the other. His intelle&ts were vie 
vid, his propenfities ardent, and_ his 
thinking faculties peculiarly marked with 
penetration while, under the fpecious 
femblance of a gay and fafcinating ex- 
terior, he concealed an imagination at 
once bold, fertile, and ambitious. 
His Rusti was ealy and graceful, his 
voice pleating, and his countenance al- 
’ ways exhibited a {mile of apparent fatis- 
faction. In his converfation, he was pe- 
culiarly entertaining, and his wit, at all 
times, Kept pace with his vivacity. 
During the early years of the reign of 
Louis XVI. Philip (then Duc de Char- 
tres) was confidered as a brilliant orna- 
ment to the French court; he was the 
con{tant attendant at all the private par- 
ties of the lovely, but unfortunate, An- 
toinette ; and every mark of high diftinc- 
tion was heaped upon the friend and kinf- 
man of her illuitrious confort. This par- 
taality continued with undiminifhed warmth 
till the myfterious affair of the diamond 
preg) Upon this myfterious tranf- 
tion, the Duc de Char tres fpoke more 
freely than was confiftent with courtly po- 
litenefs, or even fafe under the reftrictions 
efa defpotic government. The doldnefs 
of the opinions which he ventured to pro- 
mulgate, both at Verfailles and Paris, 
was little calculated to ftrengthen a domel- . 
tic chain, or to gratify the ambitious ipi- 
rit of his powerful fovereign. 
The Queen, from that period, bean to 
look cool upon her coufin of Chartres ; 
while he, in his turn, indulged his tal ent 
for fative with an unreftrained feries of do- 
meftic and political farcafms. Antoinette, 
who had never been accuftomed to any 
looks but thofe of admiration, to any 
founds but founds of praife, repelled the 
attacks of Philip with contempt and {corn, 
until the concealed refentment of both par- 
ties broke forth, overturned all the bar~- 
riers of politenets, and finally deftroyed 
all the bonds of confanguinity. 
It was now that De Chartres avowed 
his abhorrence of her whom he always 
farcattically termed ma belle coufine; it 
was his pleafure and his labour to ridicule 
even her moft pardonable follies, fuch as 
the gaieté de ceur of a lovely woman, and 
that woman the idol of the moft galiant 
court in Evrope, authorifed. Every thing 
was now f{wayed by ftronge party fpirit: 
the Palais Royal, the refidence of Philip, 
and the palace of Verfailles, were the 
fcenes of political cabal. Lampoons, 
farcafms, caricatures, bov-mots and petites 
chanfons, were handed about in derifion ; 
while the court-party, by hourly eng 
menting hoftilities, hoped to hurable the 
vanity, and tarnifh the popularity, both of 
the Queen and the Duc de Chartres. 
As Philip funk in the brilliant hemi- 
{phere, the PoLiGnacs rofe into unbounc - 
ed fplendour. Theducheffe was a woman 
of infinite feffe ; the knew that the foul 
of Antoinette was devoted to pleature, 
and, fhe was the prieftefs of that temple 
which the idol then inhabited. DeChartres 
-aimed his arrows of fatire at the rifling 
favourite ; they were repelled, and again 
returned with newly acquired powers to 
- wound the Queen’s tranquillity. 
Philip foon after made a vifit to Eng- 
land. He was received with open arms in 
the very higheit circles. He was the éo6z 
vivant, the- princely companion ; aided 
by all the powers of fortune, and gifted 
with a mind that could fo regulate his 
actions as to make bim all things to ail, 
people. He had, during feveral years, 
been the friend (inthe warmett acceptation 
of the word) ot the them celebrated Mrs. 
Elliott ; he bad furnifhed his saifon de 
campoene in the Englifh fafhion ; his do- 
mettics, his drefs, his borfes, were all En- 
glifh; and every thing he either faid or 
did feemed in oppofition to the court of 
VYerfailles. 
Thus he continued to pigue ard te 
laugh at the power of Antoinette, till the 
period of his building the Place de Palas 
Royal. ‘The ground marked out for this 
: fuperb 
