Page:Coubertin - France since 1814, 1900.djvu/80

 had sown. They had also forgotten that the new sovereign had some advantages which his brother had not, advantages to which France is peculiarly sensitive. He was amiable, he was cheerful, his manner was a happy mixture of personal charm and kingly majesty. He was never at a loss for the apt or witty word which is a sure passport to popular favour. In spite of his age, he had preserved the light build and the activity of youth, and when he showed himself on horseback at the head of his troops, surrounded by a staff no less brilliant than himself, Charles X. was greeted with enthusiastic acclamations. He had longed for them, and he was immensely pleased when they came. His brief day of popularity in 1814 had left behind it an inextinguishably delightful memory; but his thirst for admiration was honest, and it served the interests of the country. It would give the French people a hold on their King, and enable them to undo the effects of his terrible obstinacy.

That obstinacy was engaged from 1824 to 1828 in supporting the Villèle Ministry, which Ministry he abandoned when he perceived that it was endangering his popularity,