[Born 1798. Died at Oporto, 1849. Aged 51.]
A man of unstable principles. Inclined to liberal views, but unequal to
the effort of steadily maintaining them. At the time of his birth, seven
male heirs stood between him and the Sardinian throne, but in his
thirty-third year he found himself king. Received his education in
Paris. In 1821, headed a conspiracy in order to force more liberal
measures upon his sovereign; but betrayed the design before it was ripe
for execution. In 1823, entered the French service under the Duc
d’Angoulême, and attached himself to the cause of despotism in France.
From the date of his ascending the throne, 1831, until his death, he
continually vacillated between the extremes of absolutism, and downright
radicalism. In 1848--the year of revolution--he gave his subjects a
constitution, and the eyes of Italy were turned anxiously towards him as
to a deliverer and friend. Discontent rose against Austria, and he
became the champion of Italy against the foreign intruder. Success at
first crowned his arms; but weakness and indecision again visited him at
the crisis of his career, and he suffered defeat at Novara, at the hands
of the Austrian general, Radetzky. Abdicating in favour of his eldest
son, Charles Albert quitted Italy, crossed Spain, and reached Oporto,
where he soon died, a disappointed, vexed, and broken-hearted man.
[By Canigia, a Piedmontese sculptor of the time.]
THE FRENCH PORTRAITS.