One day, when he was told that the sick man had passed a bad night, he said to his sister:  “Let’s play plays that don’t amuse us to-day.”

Another day, when it was reported that his governor was a little better:  “In that case,” he cried, “general illumination,” and he went in broad day, and lighted all the candles in the salon.  The Duke de Riviere died the 21st of April, 1828; by order of the King, his son lived from that time with the Duke of Bordeaux, and received lessons from the preceptors of the young Prince.

The Liberals wished the successor of the Duke to be one of their choice.  They maintained that the son of France belonged to the nation, and that it had too much interest in his education to permit the parents alone to dispose of it, as in ordinary families.  The ministry wished to be consulted.  Charles X. replied that he took counsel with his ministers in all that concerned the public administration, but that he should maintain his liberty as father of a family in the choice of masters for his grandson.

The King named the Lieutenant-General Baron de Damas (born in 1785, died in 1858).  He was a brave soldier and a good Christian.  M. de Lamartine said that he had “integrity, obstinate industry, virtue incorruptible by the air of couits, patriotic purpose, cool impartiality, but no presence and no brilliancy,” and that “his piety was as loyal and disinterested as his heart.”  He had been Minister of War, and of Foreign Affairs, and distinguished himself under the Duke of Angouleme, during the Spanish Expedition.  But under the Revolution and the Empire, he had served in the Russian army, and this did not render him popular.  The Abbe Vedrenne, in his vie de Charles X., wrote:—­

“To watch over the person of the son of France, not quitting him night or day; to make sure that the rules of his education are followed in the employment of his time, in the routine of his lessons; to let no one save persons worthy of confidence come near him; to ward off all dangers, and notify the King of the least indisposition,—­such is the duty of the governor.  It requires more prudence than learning, more probity than genius.  M. de Damas was a royalist too tried, too fervent a Christian, for his nomination not to provoke many murmurs.  His place, moreover, had been desired by so many people, that there was no lack of those who were displeased and jealous.  There was a general outcry over his incapacity and ignorance.  One would have thought that he was to perform the task of a Bossuet and a Fenelon, while in reality he filled the place of a Montausier or a Beauvilliers.  Had he not their virtues, and especially their devotion?”