PRINCESS BORGHESE.
Reading edition
I was seated at breakfast one bright Roman-winter morning with the Princess Borghese, at her villa Paolina, near the Porta Pia, and within view of the ruins of the Prætorian barracks, when letters from the post were brought in. The Princess turned to the Chevalier ——, her agent and chamberlain, and requested him to read and answer one of them immediately; adding, “You know precisely what I ought to say, and will say it better than I can.”—“The Chevalier,” I said, as he retreated to an adjoining room, “appears to be an excellent person. It must be a great advantage, in your Highness’s present position, to have so tried an adherent of your family, to assist you with his experience and advice.”
“Oui,” she replied, “c’est l’homme du monde le plus respectable. C’étoit le Chancelier pour mon Duché, car mon frère ne m’a pas donné de Royaume.”[9]
What a trait! How super-exquisite; but oh! for the careless nonchalante air with which in the intervals of two sips of chocolate, “my brother did not give me a kingdom,” was uttered!
“Do this, and this, Take in that kingdom, and enfranchize that.”
I give this dialogue, exactly as it was uttered. A veracious recital of the most ordinary conversation, goes beyond the effort of fiction; and there is nothing in the doctrine of possibilities, however extravagant, which is not equalled or surpassed by fact.