Note 293 — APRIL.

This must have been an unusual experience for the head of a family that considered itself to be the oldest in Christendom. Their château contained, it was said, two pictures: one of the Deluge, in which Noah is represented going into the Ark, carrying under his arm a small trunk, on which was written "Papiers de la maison de Lévis;" the other a portrait of the founder of the house bowing reverently to the Virgin, who is made to say, "Couvrez-vous, mon cousin."—See Walpole's Letters. The book referred to by Sir Walter is The Carbonaro: a Piedmontese Tale, by the Duke de Lévis. 2 vols. London, 1829.