THE PATRIZI MEMOIRS

CHAPTER I

ON January 3, 1796, the Palazzo della Consulta on the Quirinal hill was the scene of a very brilliant assembly gathered to celebrate the betrothal of Marchese Giovanni Naro Patrizi to the Princess Cunegonda of Saxony. The host was Cardinal Braschi, the nephew of the reigning Pope, and some of the greatest names in Europe were included in the list of his guests, among whom was Prince Augustus of England. But the interest of all was centred on the bride, her father, Prince Xavier of Saxony, and her brother, Prince Joseph. Of the three, perhaps Prince Joseph excited the most curiosity, not only because he had not been seen in Rome before, but on account of an adventure of his at the Court of Russia two years earlier. The connection with Russian affairs was of long standing, for Prince Xavier, the father of Joseph and Cunegonda, was the second son of Frederic Augustus II of Poland, and for several years regent for his young nephew, Frederic Augustus III, who became the first King of Saxony. The young Prince Joseph

had been taken into great affection by the Empress Catharine, a favour which had apparently excited jealousy in her Court, for he was drawn into a violent quarrel with a Russian nobleman who instantly challenged him to fight a duel. Before the affair could come off the Empress was informed of what had taken place, and her fury knew no bounds on hearing that Joseph's adversary had dared to challenge a Prince of the Blood. She punished her subject's audacity by condemning him to Siberia for eight years. Two of these were over when the Prince assisted at his sister's betrothal. Six years afterwards Count -, having worked out the term of his imprisonment, was set at liberty, and his first act was to call out Prince Joseph again. The duel, postponed for eight years, was fought to a finish this time; the Russian's eye and hand, as also his vindictiveness, had not weakened in captivity, and he killed his man.

Although the bride was called Cunegonda of Saxony, she was really half Italian-a fact which accounts in part for her complete mastery of the language, and perhaps also for the readiness with which she adapted herself to the Roman modes of life, at that time rather different from those of the French Court, where her childhood was passed. Her father, the brother of the "Grande Dauphine," the mother of Louis XVI, had departed from the traditions of his class and married for love. While he was acting as Regent for his nephew, he was constantly obliged to confer with the boy's mother, and

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thus made the acquaintance of her lady-in-waiting, a beautiful Italian girl, the Contessina Chiara Spinelli of Fermo.

We first hear of the young lady as having been introduced, with her uncle and her brother, at the Court of Vienna by the poet Metastasio. The reasons for their visit are not explained, but we gather that they were cordially welcomed, and, when they wished to travel further, warmly recommended to the mother of the King of Saxony, for not only was Chiara at once attached to the royal lady's household, but honourable employments were found for her father and her brother as well.

Prince Xavier fell madly in love with her, and a secret marriage took place. But it was not possible to keep the secret long. The Prince, learning that his relations with the maid of honour had become the subject, first of gossip and then of scandal, at once declared the fact of his marriage, and turned all his energies to obtaining the recognition of his beautiful young wife as a Princess of the Blood. He met, naturally, with violent opposition from all the related royalties, but such was his determination and persistence that he succeeded in the end, and all the privileges of his own rank were formally granted to his wife. This victory of affection was only gained when they had been married for twelve years, and in the meanwhile, the young King having come of age, Prince Xavier wisely changed his residence and took up his abode

in France, where, as the uncle of the reigning monarch, he was made exceedingly welcome.

He had great wealth, and, having bought the château of Pont-sur-Seine from the Rohans, he fitted it up very magnificently and made it, as he fondly believed, his home and that of his children after him. Here most of them were born, two sons and five daughters, of whom Gondina, as she was usually called, was the youngest but one. Although the château was at some distance from Paris, there seems to have been much pleasant coming and going between it and Versailles, for the Saxon Princesses were constantly with the children of France, and there is in Palazzo Patrizi a delightful little old album, in which Gondina tried her small hand at drawing. There are sketches of flowers and scenery, and portraits, childish but quite recognisable, of Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette, and the Dauphin. Also a distinctly malicious sketch of a prim, elderly woman with a most disagreeable expression, a governess she-dragon of some kind, who was evidently not popular in the royal nurseries.

The relics of Gondina's happy childhood have an almost tragic charm, for the clouds of the Revolution were already heavy on the horizon when she wrote her careful exercises in history and poetry in those yellow old copy-books, she and all around her in the hot-house of the Court so utterly unconscious of the impending cataclysm. Among her things is a tiny