After having had his game of billiards and left his place for other players, Charles X. took a hand at whist, while the ecarte went on steadily until, toward ten o’clock, the King retired.  He was followed to his sleeping-room, where he gave the watchword to the captain of the body-guards, and indicated the hour of the meet for the next day.

“Sometimes we then returned to the salon,” adds the Count of Puymaigre, who, in virtue of his office as Prefect of the Oise, dined with the King, as well as the Bishop of Beauvais and the general commanding the sub-division.  “M. de Cosse-Brisac, the first steward, had punch served, and we continued the ecarte till midnight or one o’clock, when we could play more liberally, the Dauphiness having limited the stakes to five francs.  The Duchess of Berry was less scrupulous.  After the withdrawal of the princes we were glad to be more at ease; the talk became gay and even licentious, and I will say here that all the men of the court whom I have seen near the King, far from being what could be called devout or hypocritical, as was believed in the provinces, were anything but that; that they no more concealed their indifference in religious matters than they did their diversity of political opinions, royalist doubtless, but of divers grades; that no one was more tolerant than the King; finally, that if an occult power, the existence of which I do not deny, but the force of which has been exaggerated, acted on the mind of the King, it had not its seat in what was called the court.”

Charles X. was deeply religious, a fervent believer, sincerely Christian, and this Prince who but for his great piety might perhaps have given excuse for scandal, led a life without reproach.  But as indulgent for others as he was severe to himself, he forced no one to imitate his virtues, and his palaces were in no way like convents.  As was said by the Duke Ambroise de Doudeauville, for three years the minister of the King’s household, “his religion, despite all the stupid things said of it, was very frank, very real, and very well understood.”

Rarely has a sovereign given such a good example to those about him.  No mistresses, no favorites, no scandal, no ruinous expenditures, no excess of luxury; a gentle piety, extreme affability, perfect courtesy, a constant desire to render France happy and glorious.  The appearance of Charles X. was that of a fine old man, gracious, healthy, amiable, and respected.  Persons of plebeian origin at his court were treated by him with as much politeness and attention as the chiefs of the ancient houses of France.  His manners were essentially aristocratic, but without arrogance or pretension.  Full of goodness toward his courtiers and his servitors, he won the love of all who approached him.  His tastes were simple, and personally he required no luxury.  Habituated during the Emigration to go without many things, he never thought of lavish expenditure, of building palaces or furnishing his residences richly.  “Never did a king so love his people,” says the Duke Ambroise de Doudeauville, “never did a king carry self-abnegation so far.  I urged him one day to allow his sleeping-room to be furnished.  He refused.  I insisted, telling him that it was in a shocking condition of neglect.