Part 29 (1/2)

For fourin a furnace What consoles me is that the statue of the future will issue from it It required such a brazier to melt such a bronze

VI CHATEAUBRIAND

July 5, 1848

Chateaubriand is dead One of the splendours of this century has passed away

He was seventy-nine years old according to his own reckoning; according to the calculation of his old friend M Bertin, senior, he was eighty years of age But he had a weakness, said M Bertin, and that was that he insisted that he was born not in 1768, but in 1769, because that was the year of Napoleon's birth

He died yesterday, July 4, at 8 o'clock in thefrom paralysis which had almost destroyed his brain, and for five days fros, which abruptly snuffed out his life

M Ampere announced the news to the Academy, which thereupon decided to adjourn

I quitted the National asserier, as killed in June, was being nominated, and went to M de Chateaubriand's house, No 110, Rue du Bac

I was received by M de Preuille, son-in-law of his nephew I entered Chateaubriand's cha upon his bed, a little iron bedstead hite curtains round it and sur of somewhat doubtful taste The face was uncovered; the brow, the nose, the closed eyes, bore that expression of nobleness which had rave majesty of death The mouth and chin were hidden by a cahtcap which, however, allowed the grey hair on his temples to be seen A white cravat rose to his ears His tawny visage appeared more severe amid all this whiteness Beneath the sheet his narrow, hollow chest and his thin legs could be discerned

The shutters of the s giving on to the garden were closed A little daylight entered through the half-opened door of the salon The chamber and the face were illumined by four tapers which burned at the corners of a table placed near the bed On this table were a silver crucifix, a vase filled with holy water, and an aspergillu

Behind the priest a large brown-coloured screen hid the fireplace, above which the s of churches and cathedrals were visible

At Chateaubriand's feet, in the angle formed by the bed and the wall of the rooest I was told contained the coht copybooks Towards the last there had been such disorder in the house that one of the copybooks had been found that veryby M de Preuille in a dark and dirty closet where the lamps were cleaned

A few tables, a wardrobe, and a few blue and green armchairs in disorder encu salon, the furniture of which was hidden under unbleached covers, contained nothing th statuette of Chateaubriand, which were on the mantelpiece, and on each side of aplaster busts of Mme de Berri and her infant child

Towards the close of his life Chateaubriand was almost in his second childhood His mind was only lucid for about two or three hours a day, at least so M Pilorge, his former secretary, told me

When in February he was apprised of the proclamation of the Republic he merely remarked: ”Will you be any the happier for it?”

When his wife died he attended the funeral service and returned laughing heartily--which, said Pilorge, was a proof that he was of weak ht mind!” affirmed Edouard Bertin

Mme de Chateaubriand's benevolence was official, which did not prevent her fro a shrew at home She founded a hospice--the Marie Therese Infirmary--visited the poor, succoured the sick, superintended creches, gave alms and prayed; at the same time she was harsh towards her husband, her relatives, her friends, and her servants, and was sour-teh will take these things into account

She was ugly, pitted with snificant in appearance, and acted the _grande dareat hter of a shi+p-owner of Saint Malo M de Chateaubriand feared, detested, and cajoled her

She took advantage of this to s I have never known anybody less approachable or whose reception of callers wasI was a youth when I went to M de Chateaubriand's She received me very badly, or rather she did not receive me at all I entered and bowed, but Mme de Chateaubriand did not see me I was scared out of my wits These terrors hthts in advance Mme de Chateaubriand hated whoever visited her husband except through the doors that she opened She had not presented me to him, therefore she hated me I was perfectly odious to her, and she showed it