Madame was very charitable.  She devoted to the poor an ordinary and an extraordinary budget.  The tenth of her revenue was always applied to the relief of the unfortunate, and was deposited by twelfths, each month, with her First Almoner.  This tithe was distributed with as much method as sagacity.  A valet de chambre, each evening, brought to the Princess the day’s petitions for relief.  Madame classified them with her own hand in alphabetical order, and registered and numbered them.  Whatever the hour, she never adjourned this task to the morrow.  The private secretary then went over these petitions and presented an analysis of them to the Princess, who indicated on the margin what she wished to give.  This was the ordinary budget of the poor, the tenth of Madame’s revenue.  But she had, besides, an extraordinary budget of charity for the unfortunate who were the more to be respected because they concealed themselves in obscurity and awaited instead of seeking help.  It often happened that the Princess borrowed in order to give more.  The total of her revenues amounted to 1,730,000 francs,—­1,500,000 francs from the Treasury, 100,000 francs in Naples funds, coming from her dower, and 130,000 francs from her domain of Rosny.  Madame expended all in alms or in purchases intended to encourage the arts and commerce.

The Duchess of Angouleme and the Duchess of Berry each had in the environs of Paris a pleasure house, which was their Petit Trianon, where they could lead a simpler life, less subject to the laws of etiquette than in the royal Chateaux.  That of the Dauphiness was Villeneuve-l’Etang; and that of Madame, Rosny.  The first had been bought of Marshal Soult by the Duchess of Angouleme in 1821.  When she rode from Paris, this was always her destination.  When she lived at Saint Cloud, she often set out on foot in the early morning alone, and followed across the park a little path known as the “road of the Dauphiness,” to a little gate of the Chateau of Villeneuve-l’Etang, of which she carried the key.

Rosny is a chateau situated in the Department of Seine-et-Oise, seven kilometres from Mantes, where Sully, the famous minister of Henry IV., was born, and which had been bought in 1818 by the Duke of Berry.  It was the favorite resort of Madame.  She went there often and passed a great part of the summer.  There she lived the life of a simple private person, receiving herself those who came to offer homage or request aid.  The village of Rosny profited by the liberality of the Chateau, La Quotidienne said in an article reproduced by the Moniteur:—­

“Since Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Berry has owned the estate of Rosny, her sole occupation has been to secure the happiness of this country.  Every journey she makes is marked by some act of goodness.  Besides the Hospital of Saint-Charles, a monument of her beneficence and piety, which is open to all the sick of the country, she sends out relief to the homes of the needy every day.  The houses that rise in the village replace wretched huts, and give a more agreeable and cheerful aspect to the place.  The children of either sex, the object of her most tender solicitude, are taught at her expense.  At every journey Madame honors them with a visit and encourages them with prizes which she condescends to distribute herself.”