of my good people,—­of joy because I well know that I shall employ and consecrate all my days to the very last, to assure and consolidate their happiness.”  Accompanied by the princes and princesses of his family and by a magnificent staff, the sovereign descended the Champs-Elysees to the Avenue of Marigny, followed that avenue, and entered the Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honore, before the Palace of the Elysee.  At this moment, the weather, which had been cold and sombre, brightened, and the rain, which had been falling for a long time, ceased.  The King heard two child-voices crying joyously, “Bon-papa.”  It was the little Duke of Bordeaux and his sister at a window of an entresol of the Elysee which looked out upon the street.  On perceiving his two grandchildren, Charles X. could not resist the impulse to approach them.  He left the ranks of the cortege, to the despair of the grand-master of ceremonies.  The horse reared.  A sergeant-de-ville seized him by the bit.  Listen to Madame de Gontaut:  “I was frightened, and cried out.  The King scolded me for it afterward.  I confessed my weakness; to fall at the first step in Paris would have seemed an ill omen.  The King subdued his fretful horse, said a few tender words to the children, raised his hat gracefully to the ladies surrounding us.  A thousand voices shouted:  Vive le Roi!  The grand-master was reassured, the horse was quieted, and the King resumed his place.  The carriage of the princes and princesses passing at that moment, the little princes saw them—­it was an added joy.”

The cortege followed this route:  the Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honore, the boulevards to the Rue Saint-Denis, the Rue Saint-Denis, the Place du Chatelet, the Pont au Change, the Rue de la Bailer, the Marche-Neuf, the Rue Neuve-Notre-Dame, the Parvis.  At every moment the King reined in his superb Arab horse to regard more at ease the delighted crowd.  He smiled and saluted with an air of kindness and a grace that produced the best impression.  Charles X. was an excellent horseman; he presented the figure and air of a young man.  The contrast naturally fixed in all minds, between his vigorous attitude and that of his predecessor, an infirm and feeble old man, added to the general satisfaction.  The houses were decorated with white flags spangled with fleurs-de-lis.  Triumphal arches were erected along the route of the sovereign.  The streets and boulevards were strewn with flowers.  At the sight of the monarch the happy people redoubled their acclamations.  Benjamin Constant shouted:  “Vive le roi!”—­“Ah, I have captured you at last,” smilingly remarked Charles X.