My father was born in 1753. He had received an excellent education and was a thoroughly cultivated man, loving study, literature, and art. Naturally hot-tempered, he had acquired self-control from the ways of the society in which he lived; and, being extremely kind-hearted, he would always do his best to efface the impression of any hasty word which in the first impulse of anger might have escaped him. He was a splendid man--very tall and strongly built; of dark complexion, with severe but handsome and regular features. His mother died when he was a lad; my grandfather was old and infirm, and nearly blind from the effects of a flash of lightning, and the management of the household was left to an elderly cousin, Mlle. Oudinet de Beaulieu. Thus my father on his first entry into active life found himself practically his own master. The only use, however, which he made of his liberty was to accept the offer made to him by his neighbour and friend, Colonel the Marquis d'Estresse, of a sub-lieutenant's commission in the body-guard of Louis XV. From this he passed in 1781 to General Count de Schonberg's regiment of dragoons with the rank of captain, and in the following year became aide-de-camp to the general.

Some years before this my grandfather had died, and my father, in 1776, had married the daughter of M. de Certain, a gentleman of small means but old family living within a few miles of our home at the chateau of Laval de Cère. Mme. de Certain belonged to the family of Verdal, which claims kindred with St. Roch 1--a Verdal having, it is said, married a sister of the saint at Montpellier. I cannot vouch for the truth of the story, but I know that before the Revolution there existed at the château of Gouveau, still in the possession of the Verdal family, a stone bench, held in great veneration by the mountain-folk of the country, because St. Roch, when visiting his sister, was fond of sitting on it. It commands a better view of the country than can be had from the château, one of the most gloomy of fortresses.

M. and Mme. de Certain had three sons and a daughter. Each of these, according to the old custom, bore the title of one of the family estates. Thus the eldest son, who was at this time a captain in the Penthièvre regiment of foot, had the surname of Canrobert, which his son, my cousin, has since rendered illustrious; the second son, lieutenant in the same regiment, was called De l'Isle; the third, a comrade of my father's in the body-guard, La Coste. The daughter, my mother, was known as Mlle. du Puy.

At that time the public coaches were few, dirty, and uncomfortable, and no man of fashion would ever travel in one. Elderly persons and invalids travelled in post-chaises, young gentlemen and officers in the saddle. Among the body-guard a custom which to us seems quaint enough had sprung up. Each was only on duty for three months in every year, and they were thus divided into four groups: those whose homes were in districts possessing a good breed of horses--such as Brittany, Auvergne, the Limousin--were expected to buy them, at prices not exceeding 100 francs, saddle and bridle included. When the day for returning to duty arrived, all those belonging to the same province met at some appointed rendezvous and rode, a merry caravan, to Versailles, stopping at regular stations, where good quarters and a good supper at a moderate price, agreed on beforehand, were ready for them. As they rode along, laughing, singing, chatting, telling stories (of which each was bound to produce a supply when his turn came), their numbers were constantly swelled by the arrival of comrades from the districts they traversed. Finally, they got to Versailles as another detachment was ready to start on its leave. The outgoing party bought the nags of the incomers at the established price of 100 francs, rode them to the paternal mansion, and then turned them out to grass for nine months. On their return to duty they disposed of them as they had acquired them; and in this way the horses with one master after another went about to every province of France.

In these journeys and during their turn of duty my father became very intimate with M. Certain de la Coste and, through him, with the rest of the family, and ultimately married Mlle. du Puy. They had four children--all sons. The eldest, Adolphe, is now major-general; I was the second; Theodore, the third; Felix, the youngest. We were born at intervals of about two years.]

I was of strong constitution, and never had an illness save the small-pox; but my life was nearly cut short by an accident which happened when I was three years old. By reason of my snub nose and round face my father called me 'the kitten.' That was quite inducement enough to set me imitating a kitten, and I used to delight in going about on all-fours mewing. Every day I used to go upstairs in this way to the second floor, to be with my father in his library, where he used to pass the hottest part of the day. When he heard his 'kitten' mew he would open the door and give me a volume of Buffon, that I might look at the pictures while he was reading. This I thought excellent fun; but one day I was not received with the usual welcome. My father, probably intent on more serious matters, did not open to his 'kitten.' Vainly I mewed more and more, in my most insinuating tones; the door remained closed. Then I noticed, on a level with the 'door, a hole, which in all the country-houses in the South of France is made at the bottom of the door to allow the cat to get into the rooms, known as the 'cat-hole.' This was obviously my way, and I gently slipped my head through. But my body would not follow, nor could I draw my head back: it was caught. Though I was beginning to be strangled, I had so completely identified myself with my part of kitten, that, instead of speaking to let my father know of my unpleasant situation, I mewed with all my might, like a cat undergoing strangulation. It seems I did it so well that my father, thinking it part of the joke, was seized with a fit of helpless laughter. Suddenly, however, the mewing grew faint; my face turned blue; I swooned away. I imagine my father's alarm when he perceived the truth. With some difficulty he lifted the door from its hinges, released me, and carried me, still unconscious, to my mother. She, thinking me dead, was seized with violent hysterics. When I came to, a doctor was in the act of bleeding me. The sight of my own blood, and the anxiety of the whole household crowding round my mother and myself, made so vivid an impression on my childish imagination that the whole affair has remained deeply graven on my memory.

While my childhood was passing peacefully great events were preparing. The storm of revolution was already grumbling, and it was not long before it burst; 1789 had come. The first effect which the assembling of the States-General produced upon provincial tranquillity was discord in nearly every family. Ours did not escape: for my father, who had long been accustomed to censure the abuses under which France laboured, acquiesced in principle in the proposed reforms, without any notion of the atrocities which would follow in the train of the changes. His three brothers-in-law, on the other hand, and his friends rejected all alterations of the established state of things. Hence arose debates, of which I understood nothing, but was none the less distressed at seeing my mother endeavouring with tears to keep the peace between brothers and husband. Meanwhile, without knowing why, I was on the side of the moderate democrats, who had chosen my father, as unquestionably the ablest man of the neighbourhood, for their leader.

The Constituent Assembly abolished feudal quit-rents. 2 My father, as a man of noble family, possessed sundry such, which his father had bought, and was the first to accept the law. The peasants, waiting to follow his lead, as soon as they found that he ceased to collect his rents, ceased to pay theirs. Then came the division of France into departments. My father was appointed administrator of Corrèze, and, soon after, member of the Legislative Assembly.

My three uncles and nearly all the nobility of the district had gone abroad at once; and war seemed imminent. With the view of inducing all citizens to arm, and perhaps, too, of judging how far it could reckon on the energy of the people at large, the Government spread a report simultaneously in every parish that brigands under the leadership of the émigrés were coming to put down the new constitutions. The tocsin was rung in every church. Each man took up what arms he could; the national guards were organised, and the country with a warlike air awaited the alleged brigands, who were generally said to be in the next parish. None appeared, but the effect was produced; France had found herself in arms, and had shown that she was ready to defend herself. We were in the country alone with my mother, when this alarm, known as the Day of Fear, occurred. I was surprised, and should no doubt have been frightened had I not seen my mother pretty calm. I have always believed that my father, knowing her discretion, had given her a hint of what was to happen.

At the beginning there were no excesses on the part of the peasantry. They had always in our district preserved a great respect for the old families. But when the town demagogues got at them attacks began on the houses of the gentry, nominally to search for concealed émigrés, really for plunder. My mother's anxiety was heightened when her mother arrived, driven from her own house, which on the flight of her sons had been declared national property. Even my father's known patriotism, and the fact that he was then serving in the Army of the Pyrenees as captain of chasseurs, was insufficient to prevent the confiscation of a house which he had bought ten years ago at Saint-Céré. It was declared national property on the ground that it had passed by private contract, and that the vendor had left the country without ratifying the sale before a notary. It was sold by auction, and bought by the president of the district, at whose instance the proceedings had taken place. Finally, our own house was visited. They behaved politely to my mother, but said that they must burn the title-deeds of the feudal rents, and ascertain that her brothers were not concealed about the place. My mother gave them the deeds, and pointed out that her brothers, being, as they were aware, no fools, were not likely to have gone abroad in order to come back to France and hide in her house. They admitted the force of the argument, had a meal, burnt the deeds in the middle of the courtyard, and retired without doing any damage, shouting, 'Hurrah for the nation and citizen Marbot!' bidding my mother write and tell him that they loved him much, and that his family was quite safe with them.

Before long, however, my mother, not feeling sure that her position as sister to three émigrés was sufficiently balanced by that of wife to one of the country's defenders to ensure her against inconvenience, decided to leave home for a time. Like many others, as she has since told me, she was convinced that a few months would see the end of the disturbances. She determined to go to Rennes. One of her uncles, who had formerly served in the Penthièvre regiment of foot, had on leaving the service married the widow of a member of the parliament of that city. With her my mother proposed to stay, taking me with her; but at the moment of starting I was attached with painful boils, which made me too ill to travel so far. I was therefore left in charge of a friend--Mlle. Mongalvi, the mistress of a small girls' school at Turenne, where my mother had been one of the first pupils. 'A boy in a girls' school?' you say. Well, yes; but you must observe that I was a very quiet and obedient child, and only eight years old. The young ladies, who were mostly between sixteen and twenty, petted me to their hearts' content; and my only regret was that my stay among them would, as I imagined, be but of short duration. As it turned out, I remained there for four years. My mother reached her uncle's house at Rennes with the intention of staying two or three months. Public events followed with rapidity. The Terror bathed France in blood, and civil war broke out in Brittany and Vendée. Traveling in those parts became impossible. My father was still with the army in the Pyrenees and in Spain, having been promoted to the rank of general of division. The end of it was that my mother remained at Rennes for several years also.

Long afterwards, when I read how 'Vert-Vert' lived among the Visitandines of Nevers, I said, 'That is myself in the ladies' school at Turenne.' Like the parrot, I was spoilt by mistresses and scholars as much as any child could be. I had only to wish in order to get; nothing was good enough for me. I became perfectly healthy; my complexion was clear and fresh; and the young ladies contended for the privilege of kissing me and tending me. When we played prisoner's base I was allowed always to catch, never to be caught; they read me stories, they sang to me. One reminiscence connected with this time is that when the news of the king's execution arrived Mlle. Mongalvi caused the whole school to kneel and say prayers for the repose of his soul. An indiscretion on the part of any one of them might have brought her into serious trouble. But the pupils were old enough to understand the state of affairs, and I perceived that the matter should not be talked about; so it was never known beyond the house.