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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/13044-0.txt b/13044-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..fa741d0 --- /dev/null +++ b/13044-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10540 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13044 *** + +THE IDLER IN FRANCE + +By MARGUERITE GARDINER, THE COUNTESS OF BLESSINGTON + +1841. + + + + + + +CHAPTER I. + + +NISMES. + +I have omitted to notice the route to this place, having formerly +described the greater portion of it. I remarked a considerable +improvement in the different towns we passed through: the people look +cleaner, and an air of business has replaced the stagnation that used +to prevail, except in Marseilles and Toulon, which were always busy +cities. + +Nismes surpasses my expectations, although they had been greatly +excited, and amply repays the long _détour_ we have made to visit it. + +When I look round on the objects of antiquity that meet my eye on every +side, and above all on the Amphitheatre and _Maison Carrée_, I am +forced to admit that Italy has nothing to equal the two last: for if +the Coliseum may be said to surpass the amphitheatre in dimensions, the +wonderful state of preservation of the latter renders it more +interesting; and the _Maison Carrée_, it must be allowed, stands +without a competitor. Well might the Abbé Barthélemy, in his _Voyage +d'Anacharsis_, call it the masterpiece of ancient architecture and the +despair of modern! + +The antiquities of Nismes have another advantage over those of Italy: +they are kept wholly free from the disgusting _entourage_ that impairs +the effect of the latter; and in examining them in the interior or +exterior, no risk is incurred of encountering aught offensive to the +olfactory nerves, or injurious to the _chaussure_. + +We devoted last evening to walking round the town, and so cloudless was +the sky, so genial the air, and so striking the monuments of Roman +splendour, that I could have fancied myself again transported to Italy. + +Our inn, the Hôtel du Midi, is an excellent one; the apartments good, +and the _cuisine soignée_. In this latter point the French hôtels are +far superior to the Italian; but in civility and attention, the hosts +of Italy have the advantage. + +We had no sooner dined than half-a-dozen persons, laden with silk +handkerchiefs and ribands, brocaded with gold and silver, and silk +stockings, and crapes, all the manufacture of Nismes, came to display +their merchandise. The specimens were good, and the prices moderate; so +we bought some of each, much to the satisfaction of the parties +selling, and also of the host, who seemed to take a more than common +interest in the sale, whether wholly from patriotic feelings or not, I +will not pretend to say. + +The _Maison Carrée_, of all the buildings of antiquity I have yet seen, +is the one which has most successfully resisted the numerous assaults +of time, weather, Vandalism, and the not less barbarous attacks of +those into whose merciless hands it has afterwards fallen. In the early +part of the Christian ages it was converted into a church, and +dedicated to St.-Étienne the Martyr; and in the eleventh century it was +used as the Hôtel-de-Ville. It was then given to a certain Pierre Boys, +in exchange for a piece of ground to erect a new hôtel-de-ville; and +he, after having degraded it by using a portion of it as a party-wall +to a mean dwelling he erected adjoining it, disposed of it to a *Sieur +Bruyes, who, still more barbarous than Pierre Boys, converted it into a +stable. In 1670, it was purchased by the Augustin monks from the +descendants of Bruyes, and once more used as a church; and, in 1789, it +was taken from the Augustin monks for the purposes of the +administration of the department. From that period, every thing has +been done for its preservation. Cleared from the mean houses which had +been built around it, and enclosed by an iron palisade, which protects +it from mischievous hands, it now stands isolated in the centre of a +square, or _place_, where it can be seen at every side. Poldo +d'Albenas, a quaint old writer, whose book I glanced over to-day, +attributes the preservation of the _Maison Carrée_ to the fortunate +horoscope of the spot on which it stands. His lamentations for the +insults offered to this building are really passionate. + +The _Maison Carrée_ is not square, though its denomination might lead +one to suppose it to be so, being nearly eighty feet long, and only +thirty-eight feet wide. Elevated on a base of cut stone, it is ascended +by a flight of steps, which extends the length of the base in front. +The walls of the building are of a fine white stone, and are admirably +constructed. + +The edifice has thirty fluted columns, with Corinthian capitals +beautifully sculptured, on which rests the architrave, with frieze and +cornice. This last is ornamented with sculpture; and the frieze, with +foliage finely executed. + +The entrance is by a portico, open on three sides, and supported by two +columns, included in the thirty already named, of which six form the +front, and extend to the fourth, when commences the wall of the +building, in which the other columns are half imbedded, being united in +the building with its architrave. The fronton, which is over the +portico, has no ornament in the centre; neither has the frieze nor +architrave: but some holes mark where the bronze letters of an +inscription were once inserted. + +This inscription has been conjectured, by the ingenious mode of placing +on paper the exact dimensions of the holes which formerly contained the +letters of it, and is now said to be as follows:-- + + C. CÆSARI AUGUSTI. F. COS. L. CÆSARI AUGUSTI F. COS. + DESIGNATO PRINCIPIBUS JUVENTUTES. + +But as more holes are found than would be filled by these letters, the +conclusion does not seem to me to be justified. + +At the far end of the portico is the door of entrance, the only opening +by which light is admitted to the building. It is very lofty, and on +each side is a pilaster; beneath the cornice are two long cut stones, +which advance like a kind of architrave, pierced by a square hole of +above twelve inches, supposed to have been intended to support a bronze +door. + +The original destination of this beautiful edifice still furnishes a +subject for discussion among the antiquaries; some asserting it to have +been erected by the Emperor Adrian in honour of Plotina, while others +maintain it to have been a forum. + +At present, it is used as a museum for the antiquities discovered at +Nismes, and contains some admirable specimens. Among these are a torso +in marble of a Roman knight, in a cuirass, and another colossal torso, +with a charming little draped statue seated in a curule chair, and +holding a cornucopia in the left hand; a cinerary monument, enriched +with bassi-relievi, representing a human sacrifice; a bronze head of +Apollo, much injured; and a Janus. + +A funereal monument found in the neighbourhood of Nismes in 1824, +offers a very interesting object, being in a good state of +preservation. It is richly decorated, and by the inscription is proved +to have been that of Marcus Attius, aged twenty-five years, erected to +him by his mother Coelia, daughter of Sextus Paternus. + +So fine is the proportion, so exquisite is the finish, and so wonderful +is the preservation of the _Maison Carrée_, that I confess I had much +more pleasure in contemplating its exterior, than in examining all that +it contains, though many of these objects are well worth inspection. + +I should like to have a small model of it executed in silver, as an +ornament for the centre of a table; but it would require the hand of a +master to do justice to the olive leaves of the capitals of the +columns; that is, if they were faithfully copied from the original. + +It was, if I remember rightly, Cardinal Alberoni who observed that this +beautiful building ought to be preserved in a golden _étui_, and its +compactness and exquisite finish prove that the implied eulogium was +not unmerited. + +I have nowhere else noticed the introduction of olive leaves in +Corinthian capitals instead of those of the acanthus; the effect of +which is very good. A design was once formed of removing the _Maison +Carrée_ to Versailles. Colbert was the originator of this barbarous +project, which, however, was fortunately abandoned from the fear of +impairing, if not destroying, the beauty of the building. The Emperor +Napoleon is said to have entertained a similar notion, and meant to +grace Paris with this model of architectural perfection; but it was +found to be too solidly built to admit of removal, and he who could +shake empires, could not stir the _Maison Carrée_. + +The transportation of antiquities from their original site can never be +excused, except in cases where it was the only means of insuring their +preservation. All the power of association is lost when they are +transferred to other places; and the view of them ceases to afford that +satisfaction experienced when beheld where they were primarily destined +to stand. I can no more fancy the _Maison Carrée_ appropriately placed +in the bustle and gaiety of Paris, than I could endure to see one of +the temples at Pæstum stuck down at Charing Cross. + +One loves, when contemplating such precious memorials of antiquity, to +look around on the objects in nature, still wearing the same aspect as +when they were reared. The hills and mountains, unlike the productions +of man, change not; and nowhere can the fragments of a bygone age +appear to such advantage as on the spots selected for their erection, +where their vicinity to peculiar scenery had been taken into +consideration. + +We spent a considerable time in examining the Amphitheatre, and so well +is it preserved, that one can hardly bring one's self to believe that +so many centuries have elapsed since it was built; and that generation +after generation has passed away, who have looked on this edifice which +now meets my view, so little changed by the ravages of that ruthless +conqueror Time, or the still more ruthless Visigoths who converted it +into a citadel, flanking the eastern door with two towers. In 737 +Charles Martel besieged the Saracens, and set fire to it, and after +their expulsion it continued to be used as a citadel. + +The form of this fine building is elliptical, and some notion of its +vast extent may be formed, when it is stated to have been capable of +containing above 17,000 spectators. + +Its façade consists of two rows of porticoes, forming two galleries one +over the other, composing sixty arcades, divided by the same number of +Tuscan pilasters in the first range, and of Doric columns in the upper, +and an attic, which crowns all. Four principal doors, fronting the four +cardinal points, open into the amphitheatre, divided at nearly equal +distances one from the other. + +The attic has no arcades, pilasters, or columns; but a narrow ledge +runs along it, which was probably used for the purpose of approaching +the projecting consoles, 120 in number, placed in couples at equal +distances between two columns, and pierced with a large hole, which +corresponds with a similar one in the cornice, evidently meant for +securing the awnings used to prevent the spectators from being +inconvenienced by the rain or sun. + +These awnings did not extend to the arena, which was usually left open, +but were universally adopted in all the Roman amphitheatres, after +their introduction by Q. Catullus. The vast extent and extraordinary +commodiousness of the amphitheatres erected by the Romans, prove not +only the love of the sports exhibited in them entertained by that +people, but the attention paid to their health and comfort by the +architects who planned these buildings. The numerous vomitories were +not amongst the least important of these comforts, securing a safe +retreat from the theatre in all cases of emergency, and precluding +those fearful accidents that in our times have not infrequently +occurred, when an alarm of fire has been given. The mode of +arrangements, too, saved the spectators from all the deleterious +results of impure air, while the velarium preserved them from the sun. +But not only were the spectators screened from too fervid heat, but +they could retreat at pleasure, in case of rain or storm, into the +galleries, where they were sheltered from the rain. Our superior +civilization and refinement have not led to an equal attention to +safety and comfort in the mode of our ingress and egress from theatres, +or to their ventilation; but perhaps this omission may be accounted for +by the difference of our habits from those of the Romans. Public +amusements were deemed as essential to their comfort, as the enjoyment +of home is to ours; and, consequently, while we prefer home--and long +may we continue to do so--our theatres will not be either so vast or so +commodious as in those times and countries, where domestic happiness +was so much less understood or provided for. + +The erection of this magnificent edifice is attributed to Vespasian, +Titus, or Domitian, from a fragment of an inscription discovered here +some fourteen or fifteen years ago, of which the following is a +transcript:-- + + VII. TRI. PO..... + +And as only these three filled the consulate eight times since +Tiberius, in whose age no amphitheatre had been built in the Roman +provinces, to one of them is adjudged its elevation. + +Could I only remember one half the erudition poured forth on my addled +brain by the cicerone, I might fill several pages, and fatigue others +nearly as much as he fatigued me; but I will have pity on my readers, +and spare them the elaborate details, profound speculations, ingenious +hypotheses, and archaiological lore that assailed me, and wish them, +should they ever visit Nismes, that which was denied me--a tranquil and +uninterrupted contemplation of its interesting antiquities, free from +the verbiage of a conscientious cicerone, who thinks himself in duty +bound to relate all that he has ever heard or read relative to the +objects he points out. + +Even now my poor head rings with the names of Caius and Lucius Cæsar, +Tiberius, Trajan, Adrian, Diocletian, and Heaven only knows how many +other Roman worthies, to whom Nismes owes its attractions, not one of +whom did this learned Theban omit to enumerate. + +Many of the antiquities of Nismes, which we went over to-day, might +well command attention, were they not in the vicinity of two such +remarkable and well-preserved monuments as the Amphitheatre and _Maison +Carrée_. + +The Gate of Augustus, which now serves as the entrance to the barracks +of the gendarmerie, is worthy of inspection. It consists of four +arches--two of equal size, for the admittance of chariots and horsemen, +and two less ones for pedestrians. The centres of the two larger arches +are decorated by the head of a bull, in alto-relievo; and above each of +the smaller arches is a niche, evidently meant for the reception of a +statue. + +A Corinthian pilaster divides the larger arches from the less, and a +similar one terminates the building on each side; while the two larger +arches are separated by a small Ionic column, which rests on a +projecting abutment whence the arches spring. The Gate of France has +but one arch, and is said to have been flanked by towers; of which, +however, it has little vestige. + +The inhabitants of Nismes seem very proud of its antiquities, and even +the humbler classes descant with much erudition on the subject. Most, +if not all of them, have studied the guide-books, and like to display +the extent of their _savoir_ on the subject. + +They evince not a little jealousy if any preference seems accorded to +the antiquities of Italy over those of their town; and ask, with an air +of triumph, whether any thing in Italy can be compared with their +_Maison Carrée_, expressing their wonder that so few English come to +look at it. + +La Tour-Magne stands on the highest of the hills, at the base of which +is spread the town. It is precisely in the state most agreeable to +antiquaries, as its extreme dilapidation permits them to indulge those +various conjectures and hypotheses relative to its original +destination, in which they delight. They see in their "mind's eye" all +these interesting works of antiquity, _not_ as they _really_ are, but +as it pleases them to imagine they _once_ were; and, consequently, the +less that actually remains on which to base their suppositions, the +wider field have they for their favourite speculations. + +This tower is said by some to have been intended for a lighthouse; +others assert it to have been a treasury; a third party declares it to +be the remains of a palace; and, last of all, it is assumed to have +been a mausoleum. + +Its form, judging from what remains, must have been pyramidical, +composed of several stages, forming octagons, retreating one above the +other. It suffered much from Charles Martel in 737, who wished to +destroy it, owing to its offering a strong military position to the +Saracens; and still more from the ravages of a certain Francis Trancat, +to whom Henry IV granted permission to make excavations in the interior +of it, on condition that three parts of the product should be given up +to the royal coffer. + +The result did not repay the trouble or expense; and one cannot help +being rejoiced that it did not, as probably, had it been otherwise, the +success would have served as an incentive to destroy other buildings. + +In the vicinity of the Tour-Magne are the fountain, terrace, and +garden, the last of which is well planted, and forms a very agreeable +promenade for the inhabitants of Nismes. The fountain occupies the site +of the ancient baths--many vestiges of which having been discovered +have been employed for this useful, but not tasteful, work. + +It was not until the middle of the eighteenth century, that it was +suspected that the water which served to turn a mill in the immediate +vicinity had been obstructed by the ruins which impeded its course. +This obstruction led to excavations, the result of which was the +discovery of the remains of buildings, columns, statues, inscriptions, +and fragments of rare marbles. + +The obstructions being thus removed, and the town enriched by the +precious objects found, the persons to whom the direction of the +excavation was confided, instead of vigorously pursuing the task, were +content with what they had already discovered, and once more closed up +the grave in which so many treasures of antiquity were still +interred--using many of the materials disinterred for the formation of +the terraces which now cover it. + +The architect selected to execute this work was Philip Maréchal, an +engineer, never previously employed, except in military architecture: a +fact to which may be attributed the peculiar style that he has +exhibited--bastions and trenches being adopted, instead of the usual +and more appropriate forms generally used for terraces and canals. + +To these are subjoined ornaments of the period in which the work was +completed--the fitness of which is not more to HBO commended than that +of the work itself: the whole offering a curious mixture of military +and _rococo_ taste. + +It was in the freshness of early morning that I, yesterday, again +visited the garden of the fountain and its fine chesnut trees and +laurel roses; the latter, growing in great luxuriance, looked +beautiful, the sun having not yet scorched them. The fountain, too, in +its natural bed, which is not less than seventy-two French feet in +diameter, and twenty feet in depth, was pellucid as crystal, and +through it the long leaves that nearly cover the gravel appeared green +as emerald. + +The hill above the fountain has been tastefully planted with evergreen +trees, which shade a delicious walk, formed to its summit. + +This improvement to the appearance, as well as to the _agréments_, of +Nismes, is due to Monsieur d'Haussey[1], prefect, whose popularity is +said to be deservedly acquired, by his unremitting attention to the +interests of the city, and his urbanity to its inhabitants. + +Nismes is a gay town, if I may judge by the groups of well-dressed +women and men we have observed at the promenade. + +It has a considerable garrison, and the officers are occasionally seen +passing and repassing; but not, as I have often remarked in England, +lazily lounging about as if anxious to kill time, but moving briskly as +if on business. + +The various accomplishments acquired by young men in France offer a +great resource in country quarters. Drawing, in which most of them have +attained a facility, if not excellence, enables them to fill albums +with clever sketches; and their love of the fine arts leads them to +devote some hours in most days to their cultivation. + +This is surely preferable to loitering in news-rooms, sauntering in the +shops of pretty milliners, breaking down the fences of farmers, or +riding over young wheat--innocent pastimes, sometimes undertaken by +young officers for mere want of some occupation. + +The Temple of Diana is in the vicinity of the fountain, which has given +rise to the conjecture that it originally constituted a portion of the +ancient baths. Its shape is rectangular, and a large opening in the +centre forms the entrance. + +Twelve niches, five of which open into the partition of the temple, and +two on the right and left of the entrance, are crowned by frontons +alternately circular and triangular, and are said to have contained +statues. This is one of the most picturesque ruins I ever saw. Silence +and solitude reign around it, and wild fig-trees enwreath with their +luxuriant foliage the opening made by Time, and half conceal the wounds +inflicted by barbarian hands. + +I could have spent hours in this desecrated temple, pondering on the +brevity of life, as compared with its age. There is something pure and +calm in such a spot, that influences the feelings of those who pause in +it; and by reminding them of the inevitable lot of all sublunary +things, renders the cares incidental to all who breathe, less acutely +felt for the time. + +Is not every ruin a history of the fate of generations, which century +after century has seen pass away?--generations of mortals like +ourselves, who have been moved by the same passions, and vexed by the +same griefs; like us, who were instinct with life and spirit, yet whose +very dust has disappeared. Nevertheless, we can yield to the futile +pleasures, or to the petty ills of life, as if their duration was to be +of long extent, unmindful that ages hence, others will visit the +objects we now behold, and find them little changed, while we shall +have in our turn passed away, leaving behind no trace of our existence. + +I never see a beautiful landscape, a noble ruin, or a glorious fane, +without wishing that I could bequeath to those who will come to visit +them when I shall be no more, the tender thoughts that filled my soul +when contemplating them; and thus, even in death, create a sympathy. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + +ARLES. + +We stopped but a short time at Beaucaire, where we saw the largo plain +on the banks of the Rhone, on which are erected the wooden houses for +the annual fair which takes place in July, when the scene is said to +present a very striking effect. + +These wooden houses are filled with articles of every description, and +are inhabited by the venders who bring their goods to be disposed of to +the crowds of buyers who flock here from all parts, offering, in the +variety of their costumes and habits, a very animated and showy +picture. + +The public walk, which edges the grassy plain allotted to the fair, is +bordered by large elm-trees, and the vicinity to the river insures that +freshness always so desirable in summer, and more especially in a +climate so warm as this. + +The town of Beaucaire has little worthy of notice, except its +Hòtel-de-Ville and church, both of which are handsome buildings. We +crossed the Rhone over the bridge of boats, from which we had a good +view, and arrived at Tarascon. + +The château called the Castle of King René, but which was erected by +Louis II, count of Provence, is an object of interest to all who love +to ponder on the olden time, when gallant knights and lovely dames +assembled here for those tournaments in which the good René delighted. + +Alas for the change! In those apartments in which the generous monarch +loved to indulge the effusions of his gentle muse, and where fair +ladies smiled, and belted knights quaffed ruby wine to their healths, +now dwell reckless felons and hopeless debtors; for the château is +converted into a prison. + +In the Church of St. Martha we saw a relic of the barbarism of the dark +ages, in the shape of a grotesque representation of a dragon, called +the Tarasque. This image is formed of wood, rudely painted in gandy +colours. + +Twice a-year it is borne through the streets of Tarascon, in +commemoration of the destruction of a fabulous monster that long +frequented the Rhone, and devoured many of the inhabitants of the +surrounding country, but was at length vanquished by St. Martha; who, +having secured it round the neck by her veil, delivered it to the just +vengeance of the Tarascons. This legend is received as truth by common +people, and our guide informed us that they warmly resent any _doubt_ +of its authenticity. + +The monument of St. Martha is shown in the church dedicated to her, and +her memory is held in great reverence at Tarascon. + +The country between this place and Tarascon is fertile and well +cultivated, and the cheerfulness of its aspect presents a striking +contrast to the silence and solitude of the town. The streets, however, +are as clean as those of Holland, and the inhabitants are neat and tidy +in their attire. + +The houses are for the most part old and dilapidated, looking in nearly +as ruined a condition as the fragments of antiquity which date so many +centuries before them. Nevertheless, some of the streets and dwellings +seem to indicate that a spirit of improvement is abroad. + +Our hôtel is a large, crazy, old mansion, reminding me of some of those +at Shrewsbury; and its furniture appears to be coeval with it, as +nothing can be more homely or misshapen. Oak and walnut-tree chairs, +beds, and tables form the chief part, and these are in a very rickety +condition; nevertheless, an air of cleanliness and comfort pervades the +rooms, and with the extreme rusticity of the _ameublement_, give one +the notion of being in some huge old farm-house. + +Nor is the manner of the good hostess calculated to dispel this +illusion. When our three carriages drove to her door, though prepared +for our arrival by the courier, she repeatedly said that her poor house +had no accommodation for such guests, and we had some difficulty in +persuading her that we were easily satisfied. + +She had donned her fête dress for our reception, and presented a very +picturesque appearance, as she stood smiling and bustling about at the +door. She wore a high cap reminding me of those of the women in +Normandy: brown stays; linsey-woolsey, voluminous petticoats; +handkerchief and apron trimmed with rich old-fashioned lace; and long +gold ear-rings, and chain of the same material, twisted at least ten +times round her neck. + +She explained to us, in a _patois_ not easily understood, that her +house was only frequented by the farmers, and their wives and +daughters, who attended the fetes, or occasionally by a stray traveller +who came to explore the antiquities. + +Before I had travelled much on the Continent, I confess that the +appearance of this dwelling would have rather startled me as a _séjour_ +for two days, but now I can relish its rusticity; for cleanliness, that +most indispensable of all requisites to comfort, is not wanting. + +The furniture is scrubbed into brightness, the small diamond-shaped +panes of the old-fashioned casements are clean as hands can make them; +the large antique fireplace is filled with fresh flowers; and the +walnut-tree tables are covered with white napkins. + +No sooner had we performed our ablutions, and changed our travelling +dresses for others, than our good hostess, aided by three active young +country maidens, served up a plentiful dinner, consisting of an +excellent _pot-au-feu_, followed by fish, fowl, and flesh, sufficient +to satisfy the hunger of at least four times the number of our party. + +Having covered the table until it literally "groaned with the weight of +the feast," she seated herself at a little distance from it, and issued +her commands to her hand-maidens what to serve, and when to change a +plate, what wine to offer, and which dish she most recommended, with a +good-humoured attention to our wants, that really anticipated them. + +There was something as novel as patriarchal in her mode of doing the +honours, and it pleased us so much that we invited her to partake of +our repast; but she could not be prevailed on, though she consented to +drink our healths in a glass of her best wine. + +She repeatedly expressed her fears that our dinner was not sufficiently +_recherché_, and hoped we would allow her to prepare a good supper. + +When we were descending the stairs, she met us with several of her +female neighbours _en grande toilette_, whom she had invited to see the +strangers, and who gazed at us with as much surprise as if we were +natives of Otaheite, beheld for the first time. Cordial greetings, +however, atoned for the somewhat too earnest examination to which we +had been subjected; and many civil speeches from our good hostess, who +seemed not a little proud of displaying her foreign guests, rewarded +the patience with which we submitted to the inspection. + +One old lady felt the quality of our robes, another admired our +trinkets, and a third was in raptures with our veils. In short, as a +Frenchwoman would say, we had _un grand succès_; and so, our hostess +assured us. + +We went over the Amphitheatre, the dimensions of which exceed those of +the Amphitheatre at Nismes. Three orders of architecture are also +introduced in it, and it has no less than sixty arcades, with four +large doors; that on the north side has a very imposing effect. The +corridor leading to the arena exhibits all the grandeur peculiar to the +public buildings of the Romans, and is well worthy of attention; but +the portion of the edifice that most interested me was the +subterranean, which a number of workmen were busily employed in +excavating, under the superintendence of the Prefect of Arles, a +gentleman with whose knowledge of the antiquities of his native town, +and urbanity towards the strangers who visit them, we have every reason +to be satisfied. + +Under his guidance, we explored a considerable extent of the recently +excavated subterranean, a task which requires no slight devotion to +antiquities to induce the visitor to persevere, the inequalities of the +ground exposing one continually to the danger of a fall, or to the +still more perilous chance--as occurred to one of our party--of the +head coming in contact with the roof. + +We saw also fragments of a theatre in the garden of the convent of La +Miséricorde, consisting of two large marble columns and two arches. + +In the ancient church of St. Anne, now converted into a museum, are +collected all the fragments of antiquity discovered at Arles, and in +its vicinity; some of them highly interesting, and bearing evidences of +the former splendour of the place. + +An altar dedicated to the Goddess of Good; the celebrated Mithras with +a serpent coiled round him, between the folds of which are sculptured +the signs of the zodiac; Medea and her children; a mile-stone, bearing +the names of the Emperors Theodosius and Valentinian; a basso-relievo +of the Muses; several sarcophagi, votive altars, cornices, pillars, +mutilated statues, and inscriptions, are here carefully preserved: but +nothing in the collection equals the statue known by the title of the +Venus of Arles, found here, and which is so deservedly admired at the +Louvre. + +An obelisk of granite, about sixty feet high, said to be the only +antique one in France, stands on the place of the Hôtel-de-Ville. +Discovered in 1389, it was not disinterred from the earth in which it +was embedded until the reign of Charles IX, and was erected on its +present site in 1676, with a dedication to the then reigning sovereign, +Louis XIV; A globe, ornamented with _fleurs de lis_ placed on its +point, deteriorates, in my opinion, from the beauty of its effect. It +was originally in one block, but it was broken in two by its overturn. + +Many houses in the streets have portions of columns, friezes, and +cornices embedded in their walls; and one of them, occupied by a +barber, had a column in front, to which the insignia of his profession +were attached. Ruins, said to be those of the palace of Constantine, +were pointed out to us, as well as fragments of a forum and baths. + +Arles is certainly one of the most interesting towns I have ever seen, +whether viewed as a place remarkable for the objects of antiquity it +contains, or for the primitive manners of its inhabitants and its +picturesque appearance. + +The quays are spacious and well built, presenting a very different +aspect to the streets; for the former are very populous, being +frequented by the boatmen who ply their busy commerce between Lyons and +Marseilles--dépôts for the merchandise being erected along them, while +the latter are comparatively deserted. + +With this facility of communication with two such flourishing towns, it +is extraordinary that Arles should have so long retained the primitive +simplicity that seems to pervade it, and that a good hotel has not yet +been established here. + +Our good hostess provided nearly as substantial a supper for us last +night as the early dinner served up on our arrival, and again presided +at the repast, pressing us to eat, and recommending, with genuine +kindness, the various specimens of dainties set before us. Our beds, +though homely, were clean; and I have seldom, in the most luxurious +ones, reposed equally soundly. + +When our courier asked for the bill this morning, the landlady declared +she "knew not what to charge, that she never was in the habit of making +out bills, and that we must give her what we thought right." + +The courier urged the necessity of having a regular bill, explaining to +her that he was obliged to file all bills, and produce them every week +for the arrangement of his accounts,--but in vain: she could not, she +declared, make one out; and no one in her house was more expert than +herself. + +She came to us, laughing and protesting, and ended by saying, "Pay what +you like; things are very cheap at Arles. You have eaten very little; +really, it is not worth charging for." But, when we persisted on having +her at least name a sum, to our infinite surprise she asked, if a +couple of louis would be too much?--And this for a party of six, and +six servants, for two days! + +We had some difficulty in inducing her to accept a suitable +indemnification, and parted, leaving her proclaiming what she was +pleased to consider our excessive generosity, and reiterating her good +wishes. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + +ST.-RÉMY. + +The town of St.-Rémy is delightfully situated in a hollow that +resembles the crater of an extinct volcano, and is surrounded by +luxuriant groves of olive. The streets, though generally narrow, are +rendered picturesque by several old houses, the architecture of which +is striking; and the _place_--for even St.-Rémy has its Place Publique +and Hôtel-de-Ville--is not without pretensions to ornament. In the +centre of this _place_ is a pretty fountain, of a pyramidal form. + +The antiquities which attracted us to St.-Rémy are at a short distance +from the town, on an eminence to the south of it, and are approached by +a road worthy the objects to which it conducts. They consist of a +triumphal arch, and a mausoleum, about forty-five feet asunder. + +Of the triumphal arch, all above the archivault has disappeared, +leaving but the portico, the proportions of which are neither lofty nor +wide. On each side of it are two fluted columns, said to have been of +the Corinthian order, but without capitals, and the intercolumniations, +in each of which are figures of male and female captives. + +A tree divides the male from the female; their hands are tied, and +chained to the tree; and a graceful drapery falls from above the heads +down to the consoles on which the figures stand. + +On the eastern side of the arch are also figures, representing two +women, by the side of two men. One of the women has her hand on the arm +of a chained warrior, and the other has at her feet military trophies; +among which bucklers, arms, and trumpets, may be seen. The pilasters +that bound the intercolumniations are of the Doric order, and their +capitals support the arch. + +The cornice and astragals form a frieze, in which military emblems and +symbols of sacrifice are intermingled. The archivault is ornamented on +each side with sculptured wreaths of ivy, pine cones, branches of +grapes and olives, interlaced with ribands. The ceiling of the portico +is divided into hexagons and squares, enriched by various designs in +the shape of eggs and roses, finely executed. + +This interesting monument appears to have been ornamented with equal +care and richness on every side, but its decorations have not enabled +any of the numerous antiquaries who have hitherto examined it to throw +any light on its origin; and the destruction of its architecture must +have caused that of its inscription, if, indeed, it ever bore one. + +The mausoleum is even more curious than the arch, as being the only +building of a similar character of architecture to be seen. + +Placed on a large square pediment, approached by two steps, the edifice +rises with unequalled lightness and beauty against the blue sky, +forming two stages supported by columns and pilasters, united by a +finely sculptured frieze. The first stage retreats from the pediment; +and the second, which is of a round form, and terminated by a +conical-shaped top, is less in advance than the first, giving a +pyramidal effect. + +The four fronts of the pediment are nearly covered by bassi-relievi, +representing battles of infantry; the figures of which are nearly as +large as life, and admirably designed. + +On the north front is a combat of cavalry; on the west, an engagement, +in the midst of which the body of a man is lying on the ground, one +party of soldiers endeavouring to take possession of it, while another +band of soldiers are trying to prevent them. + +The basso-relievo of the south front represents a field of battle, +strewed with the dead and wounded, and mingled with warriors on +horseback and on foot. On one side is seen a wild boar between the legs +of the soldiers; and on the other, a female figure, quite nude, +prostrate on the earth before a rearing horse, which some soldiers are +endeavouring to restrain. + +In the centre of the basso-relievo is an old man expiring, surrounded +by several persons; and at one end a soldier, bearing arms on his +shoulder, has been left unfinished by the sculptor; there not being +sufficient space for the figure, which is partly designed on the +adjoining pilaster. + +On the east front is a winged female bearing the attributes of Victory, +with several women and warriors, and an allegorical personage said to +represent a river, because it holds in one hand a symbol of water. This +last figure, also, is partly sculptured on the contiguous pilaster, as +is the one previously noted, which proves that these ornaments were not +executed at the time of the erection of the edifice. + +The pediment has a simple cornice around it, and the angles are +finished by voluted pilasters without a base, but with Ionic capitals, +which have an extraordinary effect. Above the basso-relievo is a +massive garland, supported by three boys, at equal distances; and +between them are four heads of old men, as hideously grotesque as the +imaginations of the sculptors could render them. + +The first stage of the mausoleum which rises from this pedestal is +pierced by an arch on each side, in the form of a portico, and their +archivaults are ornamented by foliage and scrolls. + +The arches rest on plain pilasters, with capitals more resembling the +Doric than any other order of architecture. On the keystone of each +arch is the mark of a youthful male head, surmounted by two wings. The +four angles of the first stage are finished by a fluted column, with a +capital charmingly executed, like, but not quite, the Corinthian. These +columns sustain an entablature or two, which terminate this stage, and +its frieze is enriched with sculpture representing winged sea-monsters +and sirens with sacrificial instruments. + +Above the first stage rises the second, which is of a round form, with +ten fluted columns, which support its circular entablature; the +capitals of these columns are similar to those of the first stage, and +the frieze is ornamented with foliage delicately sculptured. + +A round cupola terminates this building, through which the light shines +in on every side, although two male statues in togas occupy the centre +of it. + +To view the height at which these figures are placed, one would suppose +they were safe from the attacks of the mischievous or the curious; +nevertheless, they did not escape, for, many years ago, during the +night, their heads were taken off, and those that replaced them reflect +little credit on the taste or skill of the modern sculptor who executed +the task. + +On the architrave of the entablature of the first stage, and on the +north front, is the following inscription:-- + + SEX. L. M. JVLIEI. C.F. PARENTIBUS. SVEIS. + +Various are the opinions given by the writers who have noticed this +monument as to the cause for which, and person, or persons for whom, it +was erected. Some maintain that the triumphal arch from its vicinity +has a relation to the mausoleum, while others assert them to have been +built at different epochs. + +The inscription has only served to base the different hypotheses of +antiquaries, among which that of the Abbé Barthélemy is considered the +most probable; namely, that in the three first words are found two +initials, which he considers may be rendered as follows:-- + + SEXTUS · LUCIVS · MARCVS; + +and the two other initials, C.F., which follow the word JVLIEI, may be +explained in the same manner to signify Caii Filii, and, being joined +to Juliei, which precedes, may be received to mean Julii Caii Filii. + +Mantour's reading of the inscription is, Caius Sextius Lucius, Maritus +JULIÆ Incomparabilis, Curavit Fieri PARENTIBUS SUIS; which he +translates into Caius Sextius Lucius, Husband of Julia, caused this +Monument to be erected to the Memory of his Ancestors, and the +victories achieved by them in Provence, which on different occasions +had been the theatre of war of the Romans. + +Bouche's version of it is,-- + + + {Lucius, } + Sextus {Lælius, } Maritus Juliæ. + {Liberius,} + + Istud Cenotaphium,} + or, } Fecit Parentibus Suis; + Intra Circulum, } + +which he asserts to mean,--Sextus, in honour of his Father and Mother, +buried in this place, and represented by the two statues surrounded by +columns in the upper part of the mausoleum. + +Monsieur P. Malosse, to whose work on the antiquities of St.-Rémy I am +indebted for the superficial knowledge I have attained of these +interesting objects, explains the inscription to mean,-- + + + SEXTVS · LVCIVS · MARCVS · JVLIEI · CVRAV · + ERUNT · FIERE · SUEIS; + +which he translates into Sextus, Lucius, Marcus (all three), of the +race of Julius, elevated this monument to the glory of their relations. + +M. Malosse believes that the mausoleum was erected to Julius, and the +arch to Augustus Cæsar--the first being dead, and the second then +living; and that the statues in the former, in the Roman togas, were +intended to represent the two. + +He imagines that the subjects of the bassi-relievi on the four fronts +of the mausoleum bear out this hypothesis. That of the east, he says, +represents the combat of the Romans with the Germans on the bank of the +Rhine (of which river the one on the basso-relievo is the emblem), and +the triumph of Cæsar over Ariovistus, whoso women were taken prisoners. + +The basso-relievo on the south front represents Cæsar's conquest of the +Allobroges, and the capture of the daughter of Orgetorix, one of the +most powerful men of the country, and instigator of the war. The +basso-relievo on the north front, representing a combat of cavalry, +refers to the victory over the Britons; and that of the west front, to +the battle gained by the Romans over the Gauls, in which the general of +the latter was killed in the midst of his soldiers, who endeavoured to +prevent his being seized by the enemy. + +Passages from the _Commentaries of Cæsar_, favour this ingenious +interpretation of M.P. Malosse; but the abbreviations adopted in the +inscription, while well calculated to give rise to innumerable +hypotheses, will for ever leave in doubt, by whom, and in honour of +whom, these edifices were erected, as well as the epoch at which they +were built. + +Who could look on these monuments without reflecting on the vanity of +mortals in thus offering up testimonials of their respect for persons +of whose very names posterity is ignorant? For the identity of those in +whose honour the Arch of Triumph and Mausoleum of St.-Rémy were raised +puzzles antiquaries as much as does that of the individual for whom the +pyramid of Egypt was built. Vain effort, originating in the weakness of +our nature, to preserve the memory of that which was dear to us, and +which we would fain believe will insure the reverence of ages unborn +for that which we venerated! + + ON THE TRIUMPHAL ARCH AND MAUSOLEUM AT ST.-RÉMY. + +1. + +Yon stately tomb that seeks the sky, + Erected to the glorious dead, +Through whose high arches sweeps, the sigh + The night winds heave when day has fled; + +2. + +How fair its pillared stories rise + 'Gainst yon blue firmament so pure; +Fair as they met admiring eyes, + Long ages past, they still endure. + +3. + +Yes, many a race hath left the earth + Since first this Mausoleum rose; +So many, that the name, or birth, + Of dead, or founder, no one knows. + +4. + +The sculptured pictures, all may see, + Were by a skilful artist wrought; +But, Time! the secret rests with thee, + Which to unravel men have sought. + +5. + +Of whom were they, the honoured dead, + Whose mem'ry Love would here record? +Lift up the veil, so long o'erspread, + And tell whose dust yon fane doth guard. + +6. + +Name those whose love outlived the grave + And sought to give for aye to fame +Mementos of the good and brave, + Of whom thou hast effaced the name. + +7. + +We know but that they lived and died,-- + No more this stately tomb can tell: +Here come and read a lesson, Pride, + This monument can give so well. + +8. + +They lived--they hoped--they suffered--loved-- + As all of Earth have ever done; +Were oft by wild Ambition moved, + And basked, perchance, 'neath glory's Sun. + +9. + +They deemed that they should leave behind + Undying names. Yet, mark this fane, +For whom it rose, by whom designed, + Learned antiquaries search in vain. + +10. + +Still doth it wear the form it wore, + Through the dim lapse of by-gone age; +Triumph of Art in days of yore, + Whose Hist'ry fills the classic page. + +11. + +To honour Victors it is said + 'Twas raised, though none their names can trace; +It stands as monument instead, + Unto each long-forgotten race, + +12. + +Who came, like me, to gaze and brood + Upon it in this lonely spot-- +Their minds with pensive thoughts imbued, + That Heroes could be thus forgot. + +13. + +Yet still the wind a requiem sighs, + And the blue sky above it weeps; +Thu Sun pours down its radiant dyes, + Though none can tell who 'neath it sleeps. + +14. + +And seasons roll, and centuries pass, + And still unchanged thou keep'st thy place; +While we, like shadows in a glass, + Soon glide away, and leave no trace. + +15. + +And yon proud Arch, the Victor's meed, + Is nameless as the neighbouring Tomb: +Victor, and Dead, the Fates decreed + Your memory to oblivion's gloom. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + +LYONS. + +I see little alteration at Lyons since I formerly passed through it. +Its manufactories are, nevertheless, flourishing, though less +improvement than could be expected is visible in the external aspect of +the place. + +This being Sunday, and the _Féte-Dieu_, the garrison, with flags +flying, drums beating, trumpets sounding, and all in gala dress, +marched through the streets to attend Divine worship. The train was +headed by our old acquaintance General Le Paultre de la Motte, (whom we +left at Lyons on our route to Italy), and his staff; wearing all their +military decorations, attended by a vast procession, including the +whole of the clergy in their rich attires and all the different +religious communities in the town. + +The officers were bare-headed--their spurred heels and warlike +demeanour rendering this homage to a sacred ceremony more picturesque. +The gold and silver brocaded vestments and snowy robes of the priests +glittering in the sun, as they marched along to the sound of martial +music, looked very gorgeous; and this mixture of ecclesiastical and +military pomp had an imposing effect. + +The streets through which the procession passed were ornamented with +rich draperies and flowers, reminding me of Italy on similar occasions; +and the intense heat of a sun glowing like a fiery furnace, aided the +recollection. + +Since I have been on the continent, it has often struck me with +surprise, that on solemn occasions like the present, sacred music has +not been performed instead of military. Nay, I have heard quadrilles +and waltzes played, fruitful in festive associations little suited to +the feelings which ought to have been excited by solemn ceremonials. + +Knowing, by experience, the effect produced on the mind by sacred +music, it is much to be wished that so potent an aid to devotional +sentiment should not be omitted, _malgré_ whatever may be said against +any extraneous assistance in offering up those devotions which the +heart should be ever prompt to fulfil without them. + +I leave to casuists to argue whether, or how far, music, sculpture, or +painting, may be employed as excitements to religious fervour: but I +confess, although the acknowledgment may expose me to the censure of +those who differ with me in opinion, that I consider them powerful +adjuncts, and, consequently, not to be resigned because _some_--and +happy, indeed, may they be deemed--stand in no need of such incitements +to devotion. + +Who that has heard the "_Miserere_" in the Sistine chapel at Rome, and +seen, while listening to it, "The Last Judgment," by Michael Angelo, on +its walls, without feeling the powerful influence they exercised on the +feelings? + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + +PARIS. + +_June_, 1828.--A fatiguing journey, over dusty roads, and in intensely +hot weather, has brought us to Paris, with no accident save the failure +of one of the wheels of our large landau--a circumstance that caused +the last day's travelling to be any thing but agreeable; for though our +courier declared the temporary repair it received rendered it perfectly +safe, I was by no means satisfied on the point. + +We have taken up our abode in the Hôtel de la Terrasse, Rue de Rivoli, +are well-lodged, but somewhat incommoded by the loud reverberation of +the pavement, as the various vehicles roll rapidly over it. We were +told that "it would be nothing when we got used to it"--an assertion, +the truth of which, I trust, we shall not remain sufficiently long to +test; for I have a peculiar objection to noise of every kind, and a +long residence in Italy has not conquered it. + +So here we are, once more, at Paris, after six years' absence from it; +and I find all that has hitherto met my eyes in it _in statu quo_. How +many places have I seen during that period; how many associations +formed; how many and what various impressions received; and here is +every thing around looking so precisely as I left them, that I can +hardly bring myself to believe that I have indeed been so many years +absent! + +When we bring back with us the objects most dear, and find those we +left unchanged, we are tempted to doubt the lapse of time; but one link +in the chain of affection broken, and every thing seems altered. + +On entering Paris, I felt my impatience to see our dear friends there +redouble; and, before we had despatched the dinner awaiting our +arrival, the Duc and Duchesse de Guiche, came to us. How warm was our +greeting; how many questions to be asked and answered; how many +congratulations and pleasant plans for the future to be formed; how +many reminiscences of our mutual _séjour_ in dear Italy to be talked +over! + +The Duchesse was radiant in health and beauty, and the Duc looking, as +he always does, more _distingué_, than any one else--the perfect _beau +idéal_ of a nobleman. + +We soon quitted the _salle à manger_; for who could eat during the joy +of a first meeting with those so valued?--Not I, certainly; and all the +rest of our party were as little disposed to do honour to the repast +commanded for us. + +It was a happy evening. Seated in the _salon_, and looking out on the +pleasant gardens of the Tuileries, the perfume of whose orange-trees +was wafted to us by the air as we talked over old times, and indulged +in cheerful anticipations of new ones, and the tones of voices familiar +to the ears thus again restored, were heard with emotion. + +Yes, the meeting of dear friends atones for the regret of separation; +and like it so much enhances affection, that after absence one wonders +how one has been able to stay away from them so long. + +Too excited to sleep, although fatigued, I am writing down my +impressions; yet how tame and colourless they seem on paper when +compared with the emotions that dictate them! How often have I +experienced the impossibility of painting strong feelings during their +reign! + +[_Mem_.--We should be cautious in giving implicit credit to +descriptions written with great power, as I am persuaded they indicate +a too perfect command of the faculties of the head to admit the +possibility of those of the heart having been much excited when they +were written. + +This belief of mine controverts the assertion of the poet-- + + "He best can paint them who has felt them most." + +Except that the poet says who _has_ felt; yes, it is after, and not +when most felt that sentiments can be most powerfully expressed. But to +bed! to bed!] + +I have had a busy day; engaged during the greater portion of it in the +momentous occupation of shopping. Every thing belonging to my toilette +is to be changed, for I have discovered--"tell it not in Gath"--that my +hats, bonnets, robes, mantles, and pelisses, are totally _passée de +mode_, and what the _modistes_ of Italy declared to be _la dernière +mode de Paris_ is so old as to be forgotten here. + +The woman who wishes to be a philosopher must avoid Paris! Yesterday I +entered it, caring or thinking as little of _la mode_ as if there were +no such tyrant; and lo! to-day, I found myself ashamed, as I looked +from the Duchess de Guiche, attired in her becoming and pretty +_peignoir à la neige_ and _chapeau du dernier goût_, to my own dress +and bonnet, which previously I had considered very wearable, if not +very tasteful. + +Our first visit was to Herbault's, the high-priest of the Temple of +Fashion at Paris; and I confess, the look of astonishment which he +bestowed on my bonnet did not help to reassure my confidence as to my +appearance. + +The Duchesse, too quick-sighted not to observe his surprise, explained +that I had been six years absent from Paris, and only arrived the night +before from Italy. I saw the words _à la bonne heure_ hovering on the +lips of Herbault, he was too well-bred to give utterance to them, and +immediately ordered to be brought forth the choicest of his hats, caps, +and turbans. + +Oh, the misery of trying on a new _mode_ for the first time, and before +a stranger! The eye accustomed to see the face to which it appertains +enveloped in a _chapeau_ more or less large or small, is shocked at the +first attempt to wear one of a different size; and turns from the +contemplation of the image presented in the glass with any thing but +self-complacency, listening incredulously to the flattering encomiums +of the not disinterested _marchand de modes_, who avers that "_Ce +chapeau sied parfaitement à Madame la Comtesse, et ce bonnet lui va à +ravir_." + +I must, however, render M. Herbault the justice to say, that he evinced +no ordinary tact in suggesting certain alterations in his _chapeaux_ +and caps, in order to suit my face; and, aided by the inimitable good +taste of the Duchesse, who passes for an oracle in _affaires de modes à +Paris_, a selection was made that enabled me to leave M. Herbault's, +looking a little more like other people. + +From his Temple of Fashion we proceeded to the _lingère à la mode_, +Mdlle. La Touche, where _canezous_ and _robes de matin_ were to be +chosen and ordered; and we returned to the Hôtel de la Terrasse, my +head filled with notions of the importance of dressing _à la mode_, to +which yesterday it was a stranger, and my purse considerably lightened +by the two visits I had paid. + +Englishwomen who have not made their purchases at the houses of the +_marchandes de modes_ considered the most _recherché_ at Paris, have no +idea of the extravagance of the charges. Prices are demanded that +really make a prudent person start; nevertheless, she who wishes to +attain the distinction so generally sought, of being perfectly well +dressed, which means being in the newest fashion, must submit to pay +largely for it. + +Three hundred and twenty francs for a crape hat and feathers, two +hundred for a _chapeau à fleurs_, one hundred for a _chapeau négligé de +matin_, and eighty-five francs for an evening-cap composed of tulle +trimmed with blonde and flowers, are among the prices asked, and, to my +shame be it said, given. + +It is true, hats, caps, and bonnets may be had for very reasonable +prices in the shops in the Rue Vivienne and elsewhere at Paris, as I +and many of my female compatriots found out when I was formerly in this +gay capital; but the bare notion of wearing such would positively shock +a lady of fashion at Paris, as much as it would an English one, to +appear in a hat manufactured in Cranbourn Alley. + +Here Fashion is a despot, and no one dreams of evading its dictates. + +Having noticed the extravagance of the prices, it is but fair to remark +the elegance and good taste of the millinery to be found at Monsieur +Herbault's. His _chapeaux_ look as if made by fairy fingers, so fresh, +so light, do they appear; and his caps seem as if the gentlest sigh of +a summer's zephyr would bear them from sight, so aerial is their +texture, and so delicate are the flowers that adorn them, fresh from +the _ateliers_ of Natier, or Baton. + +Beware, O ye uxorious husbands! how ye bring your youthful brides to +the dangerous atmosphere of Paris, while yet in that paradise of fools +ycleped the honey-moon, ere you have learned to curve your brows into a +frown, or to lengthen your visages at the sight of a long bill. + +In that joyful season, when having pleased your eyes and secured your +hearts, your fair brides, with that amiability which is one of the +peculiar characteristics of their sex, are anxious to please all the +world, and from no other motive than that _your_ choice should be +admired, beware of entering Paris, except _en passant_. Wait until you +have recovered that firmness of character which generally comes back to +a Benedict after the first year of his nuptials, before you let your +wives wander through the tempting mazes of the _magasins de modes_ of +this intoxicating city. + +And you, fair dames, "with stinted sums assigned," in the shape of +pin-money, beware how you indulge that taste for pretty bonnets, hats, +caps, and turbans, with which all bountiful Nature has so liberally +gifted you; for, alas! "beneath the roses fierce Repentance rears her +snaky crest" in form of a bill, the payment of which will "leave you +poor indeed" for many a long day after, unless your liege lord, melted +by the long-drawn sighs heaved when you remark on the wonderfully high +prices of things at Paris, opens his purse-strings, and, with something +between a pshaw and a grunt, makes you an advance of your next +quarter's pin-money; or, better still, a present of one of the hundred +pounds with which he had intended to try his good luck at the club. + +Went yesterday to the Rue d'Anjou, to visit Madame Craufurd. Her hôtel +is a charming one, _entre cour et jardin_; and she is the most +extraordinary person of her age I have ever seen. In her eightieth +year, she does not look to be more than fifty-five; and possesses all +the vivacity and good humour peculiar only to youth. + +Scrupulously exact in her person, and dressed with the utmost care, as +well as good taste, she gives me a notion of the appearance which the +celebrated Ninon de l'Enclos must have presented at the same age, and +has much of the charm of manner said to have belonged to that +remarkable woman. + +It was an interesting sight to see her surrounded by her grand-children +and great-grand-children, all remarkable for their good looks, and +affectionately attached to her, while she appears not a little proud of +them. The children of the Duc de Guiche have lost nothing of their +beauty since their _séjour_ at Pisa, and are as ingenuous and amusing +as formerly. + +I never saw such handsome children before, nor so well brought up. No +trouble or expense is spared in their education; and the Duc and +Duchesse devote a great portion of their time to them. + +All our friends are occupied in looking out for a house for us; and I +have this day been over, at least, ten--only one of which seems likely +to suit. + +I highly approve the mode at Paris of letting unfurnished houses, or +apartments, with mirrors and decorations, as well as all fixtures (with +us, in England, always charged separately) free of any extra expense. +The good taste evinced in the ornaments is in general remarkable, and +far superior to what is to be met with in England; where, if one +engages a new house lately papered or painted, one is compelled to +recolour the rooms before they can be occupied, owing to the gaudy and +ill-assorted patterns originally selected. + +The house of the Maréchal Lobau, forming the corner of the Rue de +Bourbon, is the one I prefer of all those I have yet seen, although it +has many _désagrémens_ for so large an establishment as ours. But I am +called to go to the review in the Champ-de-Mars, so _allons_ for a +_spectacle militaire_, which, I am told, is to be very fine. + +The review was well worth seeing; and the troops performed their +evolutions with great precision. The crowd of spectators was immense; +so much so, that those only who formed part of the royal _cortège_ +could reach the Champ-de-Mars in time to see its commencement. No +carriages, save those of the court, were allowed to enter the file. + +The dust was insupportable; and the pretty dresses of the ladies +suffered from it nearly as much as did the smart uniforms of the +officers. + +The _coup d'oeil_ from the pavilion (where we had, thanks to our +_chaperon_, the Duchesse de Guiche, front seats) was very fine. The +various and splendid uniforms, floating standards, waving plumes, +glittering arms, and prancing steeds, gave to the vast plain over which +the troops were moving a most animated aspect, while the sounds of +martial music exhilarated the spirits. + +Nor was the view presented by the interior of the pavilion without its +charms. A number of ladies, some of them young and handsome, and all +remarkably well-dressed, gave to the benches ranged along it the +appearance of a rich _parterre_, among the flowers of which the +beautiful Duchesse de Guiche shone pre-eminent. + +I was seated next to a lady, with large lustrous eyes and a pale olive +complexion, whose countenance, from its extreme mobility, attracted my +attention; at one moment, lighting up with intelligence, and the next, +softening into pensiveness. + +A remarkably handsome young man stood behind her, holding her shawl, +and lavishing on her those attentions peculiar to young Benedicts. The +lady proved to be the Marchioness de Loulé, sister to the King of +Portugal; and the gentleman turned out to be her husband, for whose +_beaux yeux_ she contracted what is considered a _mésalliance_. + +The simplicity of her dress, and unaffectedness of her manner, invested +her with new attractions in my eyes; which increased when I reflected +on the elevated position she had resigned, to follow the more humble +fortunes of her handsome husband. + +How strange, yet how agreeable too, must the change be, from the most +formal court, over which Etiquette holds a despotic sway, to the +freedom from such disagreeable constraint permitted to those in private +life, and now enjoyed by this Spanish princess! + +She appears to enjoy this newly acquired liberty with a zest in +proportion to her past enthralment, and has proved that the daughter of +a King of Portugal has a heart, though the queens of its neighbour, +Spain, were in former days not supposed to have legs. + +During the evolutions, a general officer was thrown from his horse; and +a universal agitation among a group of ladies evinced that they were in +a panic. Soon the name of the general, Count de Bourmont, was heard +pronounced; and a faint shriek, followed by a half swoon from one of +the fair dames, announced her deep interest in the accident. + +Flacons and vinaigrettes were presented to her on every side, all the +ladies present seeming to have come prepared for some similar +catastrophe; but in a few minutes a messenger, despatched by the +general, assured Madame la Comtesse of his perfect safety; and tears of +joy testified her satisfaction at the news. + +This little episode in the review shewed me the French ladies in a very +amiable point of view. Their sensibility and agitation during the +uncertainty as to the person thrown, vouched for the liveliness of +their conjugal affection; and their sympathy for Madame la Comtesse de +Bourmont when it was ascertained that her husband was the sufferer, +bore evidence to the kindness of their hearts, as well as to their +facility in performing the little services so acceptable in moments +like those I had just witnessed. + +Charles X, the Dauphin and Dauphine, and the Duchesse de Berri, were +present--the two latter in landaus, attended by their ladies. The king +looked well, his grey hair and tall thin figure giving him a very +venerable aspect. + +The Dauphine is much changed since I last saw her, and the care and +sorrow of her childhood have left their traces on her countenance. I +never saw so melancholy a face, and the strength of intellect which +characterises it renders it still more so, by indicating that the marks +of sorrow so visible were not indented on that brow without many an +effort from the strong mind to resist the attacks of grief. + +I remember reading years ago of the melancholy physiognomy of King +Charles I, which when seen in his portrait by a Florentine sculptor, to +whom it was sent in order that a bust should be made from it, drew +forth the observation that the countenance indicated that its owner +would come to a violent death. + +I was reminded of this anecdote by the face of the Duchesse +d'Angoulême; for though I do not pretend to a prescience as to her +future fate, I cannot help arguing from it that, even should a peaceful +reign await her, the fearful trials of her youth have destroyed in her +the power of enjoyment; and that on a throne she can never forget the +father and mother she saw hurried from it, to meet every insult that +malice could invent, or cruelty could devise, before a violent death +freed them from their sufferings. + +Who can look on this heroic woman without astonishment at the power of +endurance that has enabled her to live on under such trials? Martyr is +written in legible characters on that brow, and on those lips; and her +attempt to smile made me more sad than the tears of a mourner would +have done, because it revealed "a grief too deep for tears." + +Must she not tremble for the future, if not for the present, among a +people so versatile as those among whom she is now thrown? And can she +look from the windows of the palace she has been recalled to inhabit, +without seeing the spot where the fearful guillotine was reared that +made her an orphan? + +The very plaudits that now rend the skies for her uncle must remind her +of the shouts that followed her father to the scaffold: no wonder, +then, that she grows pale as she hears them; and that the memory of the +terrible past, written in characters of blood, gives a sombre hue to +the present and to the future. + +The sight of her, too, must awaken disagreeable recollections in those +over whom her husband may be soon called to reign, for the history of +the crimes of the Revolution is stamped on her face, whose pallid lint +and rigid muscles tell of the horror and affliction imprinted on her +youth; the reminiscence of which cannot be pleasant to them. + +The French not only love their country passionately, but are +inordinately proud of it; hence, aught that reminds them of its +sins--and cruelty is one of a deep dye--must be humiliating to them; so +that the presence of the Duchesse d'Angoulême cannot be flattering to +their _amor patriæ_ or _amour propre_. I thought of all this to-day, as +I looked on the face of Madame la Dauphine; and breathed a hope that +the peace of her life's evening may console her for the misfortunes of +its morning and its noon. + +The Duchesse de Berri has an animated and peculiarly good-natured +expression of countenance. Her restored gaiety makes the French forget +why it was long and cruelly overclouded, and aids the many good +qualities which she possesses, in securing the popularity she has so +generally acquired in the country of her adoption. + +House-hunting again, and still unsuited. Dined yesterday at the +Duchesse de Guiche's; a very pleasant party, increased by some +agreeable people in the evening. Our old acquaintance, William Lock, +was among the guests at dinner, and is as good-looking and +light-hearted as ever. + +The Marquis l'Espérance de l'Aigle was also present, and is a perfect +specimen of the fine gentleman of _la Vieille Cour_--a race now nearly +extinct. Possessing all the gaiety and vivacity of youth, with that +attention to the feelings of others peculiar only to maturity and +high-breeding, the Count l'Espérance de l'Aigle is universally beloved. + +He can talk over old times with the grand-mother with all the wit that +we read of, oftener than we meet with; give his opinion of _la dernière +mode_ to the youthful mother, with rare tact and good taste; dance with +the young daughter as actively and gracefully as any _garçon de +dix-huit ans_ in Paris; and gallop through the Bois de Boulogne with +the young men who pride themselves on their riding, without being ever +left behind. I had frequently heard his praises from the Duchesse de +Guiche, and found that her description of him was very accurate. + +The house of the Duc de Guiche is a picture of English comfort and +French elegance united; and that portion of it appropriated to its fair +mistress is fitted up with exquisite taste. Her _salons_ and _boudoir_ +are objects of _vertù, bijouterie_, and vases of old Sèvre, enough to +excite envy in those who can duly appreciate such treasures, and tempt +to the violation of the tenth commandment. Order reigns in the whole +arrangement of the establishment, which, possessing all the luxurious +appliances of a _maison montée_, has all the scrupulous cleanliness of +that of a Quaker. + +Went to the Opera last night, where I saw the _début_ of the new +_danseuse_ Taglioni. Hers is a totally new style of dancing; graceful +beyond all comparison, wonderful lightness, an absence of all violent +effort, or at least of the appearance of it, and a modesty as new as it +is delightful to witness in her art. She seems to float and bound like +a sylph across the stage, never executing those _tours de force_ that +we know to be difficult and wish were impossible, being always +performed at the expense of decorum and grace, and requiring only +activity for their achievement. + +She excited the most rapturous applause, and received it with a "decent +dignity," very unlike the leering smiles with which, in general, a +_danseuse_ thinks it necessary to advance to the front of the +proscenium, shewing all her teeth, as she lowly courtesies to the +audience. + +There is a sentiment in the dancing of this charming votary of +Terpsichore that elevates it far beyond the licentious style generally +adopted by the ladies of her profession, and which bids fair to +accomplish a reformation in it. + +The Duc de Cazes, who came in to the Duchesse de Guiche's box, was +enthusiastic in his praises of Mademoiselle Taglioni, and said hers was +the most poetical style of dancing he had ever seen. Another observed, +that it was indeed the poetry of motion. I would describe it as being +the epic of dancing. + +The Duc de Cazes is a very distinguished looking man, with a fine and +intelligent countenance, and very agreeable manners. + +_À propos_ of manners, I am struck with the great difference between +those of Frenchmen and Englishmen, of the same station in life. The +latter treat women with a politeness that seems the result of habitual +amenity; the former with a homage that appears to be inspired by the +peculiar claims of the sex, particularised in the individual woman, and +is consequently more flattering. + +An Englishman seldom lays himself out to act the agreeable to women; a +Frenchman never omits an opportunity of so doing: hence, the attentions +of the latter are less gratifying than those of the former, because a +woman, however free from vanity, may suppose that when an Englishman +takes the trouble--and it is evidently a trouble, more or less, to all +our islanders to enact the agreeable--she had really inspired him with +the desire to please. + +In France, a woman may forget that she is neither young nor handsome; +for the absence of these claims to attention does not expose her to be +neglected by the male sex. In England, the elderly and the ugly "could +a tale unfold" of the _naïveté_ with which men evince their sense of +the importance of youth and beauty, and their oblivion of the presence +of those who have neither. + +France is the paradise for old women, particularly if they are +_spirituelle_; but England is the purgatory. + +The Comtesses de Bellegarde called on me to-day, and two more +warm-hearted or enthusiastic persons I never saw. Though no longer +young, they possess all the gaiety of youth, without any of its +thoughtlessness, and have an earnestness in their kindness that is very +pleasant. + +Dined yesterday at Madame Craufurd's--a very pleasant party. Met there +the Duc de Gramont, Duc and Duchesse de Guiche, Colonel and lady +Barbara Craufurd, and Count Valeski. + +The Duc de Gramont is a fine old man who has seen much of the world, +without having been soured by its trials. Faithful to his sovereign +during adversity, he is affectionately cherished by the whole of the +present royal family, who respect and love him; and his old age is +cheered by the unceasing devotion of his children, the Duc and Duchesse +de Guiche, who are fondly attached to him. + +He gives up much of his time to the culture of flowers, and is more +interested in the success of his dahlias than in those scenes of +courtly circles in which he is called to fill so distinguished a part. +It pleased me to hear him telling his beautiful daughter-in-law of the +perfection of a flower she had procured him with some trouble; and then +adding: "_À propos_ of flowers, how is our sweet Ida, to-day? There is +no flower in my garden like her!--Ay, she will soon be two years old." + +There is something soothing to the mind in the contemplation of a man +in the evening of life, whose youth was spent in all the splendour of a +court, and whose manhood has been tried by adversity, turning to Nature +for her innocent pleasures, when the discovery of the futility of all +others has been made. This choice vouches for the purity of heart and +goodness of him who has adopted it, and disposes me to give ample +credit to all the commendation the Duchesse de Guiche used to utter of +him in Italy. + +Lady Barbara Craufurd is an excellent specimen of an English woman. +Pretty, without vanity or affectation; gentle, without insipidity; and +simple, yet highly polished, in mariners. She has, too, a low, "sweet +voice, an excellent thing in woman," and, to me, whose ears offer even +a more direct road to the heart than do the eyes, is a peculiar +attraction. + +Colonel Craufurd seems to be the quintessence of good nature and of +good sense. Count Valeski is an intelligent young man, greatly _à la +mode_ at Paris, and wholly unspoilt by this distinction. Handsome, +well-bred, and agreeable, he is very popular, not only among the fine +ladies but fine gentlemen here, and appears worthy of the favour he +enjoys. + +Several people of both sexes came in the evening to Madame Craufurd's, +and we had some excellent music. Madame C. does the honours of her +_salon_ with peculiar grace. She has a bright smile and a kind word for +every guest, without the slightest appearance of effort. + +Still house-hunting; continually tempted by elegantly decorated +_salons_, and as continually checked by the want of room and comfort of +the rest of the apartments. + +We have been compelled to abandon the project of taking the Maréchal +Lobau's house, or at least that portion of it which he wishes to +dispose of, for we found it impossible to lodge so large an +establishment as ours in it; and, though we communicated this fact with +all possible courtesy to the Maréchal, we have received a note in +answer, written in a different style, as he is pleased to think that, +having twice inspected his apartments, we ought to have taken them. + +In England, a person of the Maréchal's rank who had a house to let +would not show it _in propriâ personâ_, but would delegate that task, +as also the terms and negotiations, to some agent; thus avoiding all +personal interference, and, consequently, any chance of offence: but if +people _will_ feel angry without any just cause, it cannot be helped; +and so Monsieur le Maréchal must recover his serenity and acquire a +temper more in analogy with his name; for, though a brave and +distinguished officer, as well as a good man, which he is said to be, +he certainly is _not Bon comme un mouton_, which is his cognomen. + +Paris is now before us,--where to choose is the difficulty. We saw +to-day a house in the Rue St.-Honoré, _entre cour et jardin_, a few +doors from the English embassy. The said garden is the most tempting +part of the affair; for, though the _salons_ and sleeping-rooms are +good, the only entrance, except by a _passage dérobé_ for servants, is +through the _salle à manger_, which is a great objection. + +Many of the houses I have seen here have this defect, which the +Parisians do not seem to consider one, although the odour of dinner +must enter the _salons_, and that in the evening visitors must find +servants occupied in removing the dinner apparatus, should they, as +generally happens, come for the _prima sera_. + +French people, however, remain so short a time at table, and dine so +much earlier than the English people do, that the employment of their +_salle à manger_ as a passage does not annoy them. + +Went to the opera last night, and saw the _Muette de Portici_. It is +admirably got up, and the costumes and scenery, as well as the +_tarantulas_, transported me back to Naples--dear, joyous +Naples--again. Nourrit enacted "Massaniello," and his rich and flexible +voice gave passion and feeling to the music. Noblet was the "Fenella," +and her pantomime and dancing were good; but Taglioni spoils one for +any other dancing. + +The six years that have flown over Noblet since I last saw her have +left little trace of their flight, which is to be marvelled at, when +one considers the violent and constant exercise that the profession of +a _danseuse_ demands. + +When I saw the sylph-like Taglioni floating through the dance, I could +not refrain from sighing at the thought that grace and elegance like +hers should be doomed to know the withering effect of Time; and that +those agile limbs should one day become as stiff and helpless as those +of others. An _old danseuse_ is an anomaly. She is like an old rose, +rendered more displeasing by the recollection of former attractions. +Then to see the figure bounding in air, habit and effort effecting +something like that which the agility peculiar to youth formerly +enabled her to execute almost _con amore_; while the haggard face, and +distorted smile revealing yellow teeth, tell a sad tale of departed +youth. Yes, an old _danseuse_ is a melancholy object; more so, because +less cared for, than the broken-down racer, or worn-out hunter. + +Went to Tivoli last night, and was amused by the scene of gaiety it +presented. How unlike, and how superior to, our Vauxhall! People of all +stations, of all ages, and of both sexes, threading the mazy dance with +a sprightliness that evinced the pleasure it gave them. + +We paused to look at group after group, all equally enjoying +themselves; and the Duchesse de Guiche, from her perfect knowledge of +Paris, was enabled, by a glance, to name the station in life occupied +by each: a somewhat difficult task for a stranger, as the remarkably +good taste of every class of women in Paris in dress, precludes those +striking contrasts between the appearance of a _modiste_ and a +_marquise_, the wife of a _boutiquier_ and a _duchesse_, to be met with +in all other countries. + +But it is not in dress alone that a similarity exists in the exteriors +of Parisian women. The air _comme il faut_, the perfect freedom from +all _gaucherie_, the ease of demeanour, the mode of walking, and, above +all, the decent dignity equally removed from _mauvaise honte_ and +effrontery, appertain nearly alike to all. The class denominated +_grisettes_ alone offered an exception, as their demonstrations of +gaiety, though free from boisterousness, betrayed stronger symptoms of +hilarity than were evinced by women belonging to a more elevated class +in society. + +The dancing, too, surprised as well as pleased me; and in this +accomplishment the French still maintain their long-acknowledged +superiority, for among the many groups I did not see a single bad +dancer. + +Around one quadrille party a more numerous audience was collected than +around the others, and the _entrechats_ of one of the gentlemen were +much applauded. Nods and smiles passing between the dancers and the +Duchesse de Guiche, revealed to me that they were among the circle of +her acquaintance; and, approaching nearer, I recognised in the +gentleman whose _entrechats_ were so much admired, my new acquaintance +the Marquis l'Espérance de l'Aigle, of whose excellence in the mazy +dance I now had an opportunity of seeing that Fame had not said too +much. + +The ladies who formed the quadrille were la Marquise de Marmier, the +Vicomtesse de Noailles, and Madame Standish; all excellent dancers, and +attired in that most becoming of all styles of dress, the +_demi-toilette_, which is peculiar to France, and admits of the +after-dinner promenades or unceremonious visits in which French ladies +indulge. A simple robe of _organdie_, with long sleeves, a _canezou_ of +net, a light scarf, and a pretty _chapeau_ of _paille de riz_, form +this becoming toilette, which is considered a suitable one for all +theatres, except the Opera, where ladies go in a richer dress. + +On our return from Tivoli, we had a small party to drink tea, and +remained chatting till one o'clock--a late hour for Paris. Among the +guests was our old friend Mr. T. Steuart, the nephew of Sir William +Drummond, who continues to be as clever and original as ever. His +lively remarks and brilliant sallies were very amusing. + +Having complained of the want of a comfortable chair last evening, I +found a _chef d'oeuvre_ of Rainguet's in my _salon_ this morning, sent +me by my thoughtful and ever-kind friend the Duc de Guiche. A +connoisseur in chairs and sofas, being unhappily addicted to "taking +mine ease" not only in "mine inn," but wherever I meet these requisites +to it, I am compelled to acknowledge the superiority of Rainguet over +any that I have previously seen; and my only fear is, that this +luxurious chair will seduce me into the still greater indulgence of my +besetting or _besitting_ sin, sedentary habits. + +At length, we have found a house to suit us, and a delightful one it +is; once the property of the Maréchal Ney, but now belonging to the +Marquis de Lillers. It is situated in the Rue de Bourbon, but the +windows of the principal apartments look on the Seine, and command a +delightful view of the Tuilerie Gardens. It is approached by an avenue +bounded by fine trees, and is enclosed on the Rue de Bourbon side by +high walls, a large _porte-cochère_, and a porter's lodge; which give +it all the quiet and security of a country house. + +This hôtel may be viewed as a type of the splendour that marked the +dwellings of the imperial _noblesse_, and some notion of it may be +conceived from the fact that the decorations of its walls alone cost a +million of francs. These decorations are still--thanks to the purity of +the air of Paris--as fresh as if only a year painted, and are of great +beauty; so much so, that it will be not only very expensive but very +difficult to assort the furniture to them; and, unfortunately, there is +not a single _meuble_ in the house. + +The rent is high, but there are so many competitors for the hôtel, +which has only been three days in the market, that we consider +ourselves fortunate in having secured it. + +A small garden, or rather terrace, with some large trees and plenty of +flowers, separates the house from the Quai d'Orsay, and runs back at +its left angle. The avenue terminates in a court, from which, on the +right, a gate opens into the stable offices; and a vestibule, fitted up +as a conservatory, forms an entrance to the house. A flight of marble +steps on each side of the conservatory, leads to a large ante-room, +from which a window of one immense plate of glass, extending from the +ceiling to the floor, divides the centre, permitting the pyramids of +flowers to be seen through it. A glass door on each side opens from the +vestibule to the steps of the conservatory. + +The vestibule, lofty and spacious, is lighted also by two other +windows, beyond the conservatory, and is ornamented with pilasters with +Corinthian capitals. + +On the right hand is the _salle à manger_, a fine room, lighted by +three windows looking into the court-yard, and architecturally arranged +with pilasters, a rich cornice and ceiling: the hall is stuccoed, +painted in imitation of marble, and has so fine a polish as really to +deceive the eye. In the centre of this apartment is a large door +between the pilasters, opening into a drawing-room, and at the opposite +end from the door that opens from the vestibule is that which leads to +the kitchen offices, and by which dinner is served. + +_Vis-à-vis_ to the _salle à manger_, and divided from it by the large +vestibule, is a dressing and bed-chamber with an alcove, both rooms +being ornamented with columns and pilasters, between which are mirrors +of large dimensions inserted in recesses. A corridor and _escalier +dérobé_ at the back of these two apartments admit the attendance of +servants, without their passing through the vestibule. + +In the centre of this last, and opposite to the large plate of glass +that divides it from the conservatory, large folding doors open into +the principal drawing-room, which is lighted by three large and lofty +windows, the centre one exactly facing the folding doors, and, like +them, supported by pilasters. + +This room is of large dimensions, and finely proportioned; the sides +and ends are divided by fluted pilasters with Corinthian capitals +richly gilt. At one extremity is a beautifully sculptured chimney-piece +of Parian marble, over which is a vast mirror, bounded by pilasters, +that separate it from a large panel on each side, in the centre of +which are exquisitely designed allegorical groups. + +At the opposite end, a mirror, of similar dimensions to that over the +chimney-piece, and resting like it on a white marble slab, occupies the +centre, on each side of which are panels with painted groups. Doors at +each end, and exactly facing, lead into other _salons_; opposite to the +two end windows are large mirrors, resting on marble slabs, bounded by +narrow panels with painted figures, and between the windows are also +mirrors to correspond. The pictorial adornments in this _salon_ are +executed by the first artists of the day, and with a total disregard of +expense, so that it is not to be wondered at that they are beautiful. +Military trophies are mingled with the decorations, the whole on a +white ground, and richly ornamented with gilding. The Seine, with its +boats, and the gay scene of the Tuilerie Gardens, are reflected in the +mirrors opposite to the windows, while the groups on the panels are +seen in the others. + +Nothing can exceed the beauty of this room, in which such fine +proportion, architectural decoration, and exquisite finish reign, that +the eye dwells on it with delight, and can trace no defect. + +The door on the right-hand end, on entering, opens to a less richly +ornamented _salon_, inside which are two admirable bed-chambers and +dressing-rooms, communicating by an _escalier dérobé_ with a suite of +servants' apartments. + +The door on the left-hand end of the large _salon_ opens into a +beautiful room, known as the _Salle de la Victoire_, from its being +decorated by paintings allegorical of Victory. This apartment is +lighted by two large windows, and opposite to them is a deep recess, or +alcove. + +A cornice extends around the room, about four feet beneath the ceiling, +and is supported by white columns, projecting into the chamber, on each +of which stands a figure of Victory offering a wreath of laurels. This +cornice divides the room from the recess before mentioned. + +The chimney-piece is in a recess, with columns on each side; and the +large mirror over it, and which is finished by the cornice, is faced by +a similar one, also in a recess, with white columns, standing on a +plinth on each side. The windows are finished by the former cornice, +that extends round the rooms, and have similar columns on each side +with Victories on them, and a mirror between. The room is white and +gold, with delicate arabesques, and medallions exquisitely painted. + +This _salon_ communicates with a corridor behind it, which admits the +attendance of servants without the necessity of their passing through +the other apartments. Inside this _salon_ is a _chambre à coucher_, +that looks as if intended for some youthful queen, so beautiful are its +decorations. A recess, the frieze of which rests on two white columns +with silvered capitals, is meant to receive a bed. + +One side of the room is panelled with mirrors, divided by pilasters +with silver capitals; and on the opposite side, on which is the +chimney, similar panels occupy the same space. The colour of the +apartment is a light blue, with silver mouldings to all the panels, and +delicate arabesques of silver. The chimney-piece and dogs for the wood +have silvered ornaments to correspond. + +Inside this chamber is the dressing-room, which is of an octagon shape, +and panelled likewise with mirrors, in front of each of which are white +marble slabs to correspond with that of the chimney-piece. The +mouldings and architectural decorations are silvered, and arabesques of +flowers are introduced. + +This room opens into a _salle de bain_ of an elliptical form; the bath, +of white marble, is sunk in the pavement, which is tessellated. From +the ceiling immediately over the bath hangs an alabaster lamp, held by +the beak of a dove; the rest of the ceiling being painted with Cupids +throwing flowers. The room is panelled with alternate mirrors and +groups of allegorical subjects finely executed; and is lighted by one +window, composed of a single plate of glass opening into a little spot +of garden secluded from the rest. A small library completes the suite I +have described, all the apartments of which are on the ground floor. +There are several other rooms in a wing in the court-yard, and the +whole are in perfect order. + +I remembered to-day, when standing in the principal drawing-room, the +tragic scene narrated to me by Sir Robert Wilson as having taken place +there, when he had an interview with the Princesse de la Moskowa, after +the condemnation of her brave husband. + +He told me, years ago, how the splendour of the decorations of the +_salon_--decorations meant to commemorate the military glory of the +Maréchal Ney--added to the tragic effect of the scene in which that +noble-minded woman, overwhelmed with horror and grief, turned away with +a shudder from objects that so forcibly reminded her of the brilliant +past, and so fearfully contrasted with the terrible present. + +He described to me the silence, broken only by the sobs that heaved her +agonised bosom; the figures of the few trusted friends permitted to +enter the presence of the distracted wife, moving about with noiseless +steps, as if fearful of disturbing the sacredness of that grief to +offer consolation for which they felt their tongues could form no +words, so deeply did their hearts sympathise with it. + +He told me that the images of these friends in the vast mirrors looked +ghostly in the dim twilight of closed blinds, the very light of day +having become insupportable to the broken-hearted wife, so soon to be +severed for ever, and by a violent death, from the husband she adored. +Ah, if these walls could speak, what agony would they reveal! and if +mirrors could retain the shadows replete with despair they once +reflected, who dare look on them? + +I thought of all this to-day, until the tears came into my eyes, and I +almost determined not to hire the house, so powerfully did the +recollection of the past affect me: but I remembered that such is the +fate of mankind; that there are no houses in which scenes of misery +have not taken place, and in which breaking hearts have not been ready +to prompt the exclamation "There is no sorrow like mine." + +How is the agony of such moments increased by the recollection that in +the same chamber where such bitter grief now reigns, joy and pleasure +once dwelt, and that those who shared it can bless us no more! How like +a cruel mockery, then, appear the splendour and beauty of all that +meets the eye, unchanged as when it was in unison with our feelings, +but which now jars so fearfully with them! + +I wonder not that the bereaved wife fled from this house, where every +object reminded her of a husband so fondly loved, so fearfully lost, to +mourn in some more humble abode over the fate of _him_ who could no +more resist the magical influence of the presence of that glorious +chief, who had so often led him to victory, than the war-horse can +resist being animated by the sound of that trumpet which has often +excited the proud animal into ardour. + +Peace be to thy manes, gallant Ney; and if thy spirit be permitted to +look down on this earth, it will be soothed by the knowledge that the +wife of thy bosom has remained faithful to thy memory; and that thy +sons, worthy of their sire--brave, noble, and generous-hearted--are +devoted to their country, for which thou hadst so often fought and +bled! + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + +To my surprise and pleasure, I find that a usage exists at Paris which +I have nowhere else met with, namely, that of letting out rich and fine +furniture by the quarter, half, or whole year, in any quantity required +for even the largest establishment, and on the shortest notice. + +I feared that we should be compelled to buy furniture, or else to put +up with an inferior sort, little imagining that the most costly can be +procured on hire, and even a large mansion made ready for the reception +of a family in forty-eight hours. This is really like Aladdin's lamp, +and is a usage that merits being adopted in all capitals. + +We have made an arrangement, that if we decide on remaining in Paris +more than a year, and wish to purchase the furniture, the sum agreed to +be paid for the year's hire is to be allowed in the purchase-money, +which is to be named when the inventory is made out. + +We saw the house for the first time yesterday; engaged it to-day for a +year; to-morrow, the upholsterer will commence placing the furniture in +it; and to-morrow night we are to sleep in it. This is surely being +very expeditious, and saves a world of trouble as well as of wailing. + +Spent last evening at Madame Craufurd's. Met there the Prince and +Princesse Castelcicala, with their daughter, who is a very handsome +woman. The Prince was a long time Ambassador from Naples at the Court +of St. James, and he now fills the same station at that of France. + +The Princesse is sister to our friend Prince Ischetella at Naples, and, +like all her country-women, appears sensible and unaffected. She and +Mademoiselle Dorotea speak English perfectly well, and profess a great +liking to England and its inhabitants. The Dowager Lady Hawarden, the +Marquise de Brehan, the Baroness d'Etlingen, Madame d'Ocaris, Lady +Barbara Craufurd, and Lady Combermere, composed the rest of the female +portion of the party. + +Lady Hawarden has been very pretty: what a melancholy phrase is this +same _has been_! The Marquise de Brehan is still a very fine woman; +Lady Combermere is very agreeable, and sings with great expression; and +the rest of the ladies, always excepting Lady Barbara Craufurd, who is +very pretty, were very much like most other ladies of a certain time of +life--addicted to silks and blondes, and well aware of their relative +prices. + +Madame Craufurd is very amusing. With all the _naïveté_ of a child, she +possesses a quick perception of character and a freshness of feeling +rarely found in a person of her advanced age, and her observations are +full of originality. + +The tone of society at Paris is very agreeable. Literature, the fine +arts, and the general occurrences of the day, furnish the topics for +conversation, from which ill-natured remarks are exploded. A +ceremoniousness of manner, reminding one of _la Vieille Cour_, and +probably rendered _à la mode_ by the restoration of the Bourbons, +prevails; as well as a strict observance of deferential respect from +the men towards the women, while these last seem to assume that +superiority accorded to them in manner, if not entertained in fact, by +the sterner sex. + +The attention paid by young men to old women in Parisian society is +very edifying, and any breach of it would be esteemed nothing short of +a crime. This attention is net evinced by any flattery, except the most +delicate--a profound silence when these belles of other days recount +anecdotes of their own times, or comment on the occurrences of ours, or +by an alacrity to perform the little services of picking up a fallen +_mouchoir de poche, bouquet_, or fan, placing a shawl, or handing to a +carriage. + +If flirtations exist at Paris, they certainly are not exhibited in +public; and those between whom they are supposed to be established +observe a ceremonious decorum towards each other, well calculated to +throw discredit on the supposition. This appearance of reserve may be +termed hypocrisy; nevertheless, even the semblance of propriety is +advantageous to the interests of society; and the entire freedom from +those marked attentions, engrossing conversations, and from that +familiarity of manner often permitted in England, without even a +thought of evil on the part of the women who permit these +indiscretions, leaves to Parisian circles an air of greater dignity and +decorum, although I am not disposed to admit that the persons who +compose them really possess more dignity or decorum than my +compatriots. + +Count Charles de Mornay was presented to me to-day. Having heard of him +only as-- + + "The glass of fashion and the mould of form, + The observed of all observers," + +I was agreeably surprised to find him one of the most witty, +well-informed, and agreeable young men I have ever seen. Gay without +levity, well-read without pedantry, and good-looking without vanity. Of +how few young men of fashion could this be said! But I am persuaded +that Count Charles de Mornay is made to be something better than a mere +man of fashion. + +Spent all the morning in the Hôtel Ney, superintending the placing of +the furniture. There is nothing so like the magicians we read of as +Parisian upholsterers; for no sooner have they entered a house, than, +as if touched by the hand of the enchanter, it assumes a totally +different aspect. I could hardly believe my eyes when I entered our new +dwelling, to-day. + +Already were the carpets--and such carpets, too--laid down on the +_salons_; the curtains were hung; _consoles_, sofas, tables, and chairs +placed, and lustres suspended. In short, the rooms looked perfectly +habitable. + +The principal drawing-room has a carpet of dark crimson with a +gold-coloured border, on which is a wreath of flowers that looks as if +newly culled from the garden, so rich, varied, and bright are their +hues. The curtains are of crimson satin, with embossed borders of +gold-colour; and the sofas, _bergères, fauteuils_, and chairs, richly +carved and gilt, are covered with satin to correspond with the +curtains. + +Gilt _consoles_, and _chiffonnières_, with white marble tops, are +placed wherever they could be disposed; and, on the chimney pieces, are +fine _pendules_. + +The next drawing-room, which I have appropriated as my sitting-room, is +furnished with blue satin, with rich white flowers. It has a carpet of +a chocolate-coloured ground with a blue border, round which is a wreath +of bright flowers, and carved and gilt sofas, _bergères_, and +_fauteuils_, covered with blue satin like the curtains. + +The recess we have lined with fluted blue silk, with a large mirror +placed in the centre of it, and five beautiful buhl cabinets around, on +which I intend to dispose all my treasures of old _Sèvre_ china, and +ruby glass. + +I was told by the upholsterer, that he had pledged himself to _milord_ +that _miladi_ was not to see her _chambre à coucher_, or dressing-room, +until they were furnished. This I well knew was some scheme laid by +Lord B. to surprise me, for he delights in such plans. + +He will not tell me what is doing in the rooms, and refuses all my +entreaties to enter them, but shakes his head, and says he _thinks_ I +will be pleased when I see them; and so I think, too, for the only +complaint I ever have to make of his taste is its too great +splendour--a proof of which he gave me when I went to Mountjoy Forest +on my marriage, and found my private sitting-room hung with crimson +Genoa silk velvet, trimmed with gold bullion fringe, and all the +furniture of equal richness--a richness that was only suited to a state +room in a palace. + +We feel like children with a new plaything, in our beautiful house; but +how, after it, shall we ever be able to reconcile ourselves to the +comparatively dingy rooms in St. James's Square, which no furniture or +decoration could render any thing like the Hôtel Ney? + +The Duc and Duchesse de Guiche leave Paris, to my great regret, in a +few days, and will be absent six weeks. He is to command the encampment +at Luneville, and she is to do the honours--giving dinners, balls, +concerts, and soirées, to the ladies who accompany their lords to "the +tented field," and to the numerous visitors who resort to see it. They +have invited us to go to them, but we cannot accept their kindness. +They are + + "On hospitable thoughts intent," + +and will, I doubt not, conciliate the esteem of all with whom they come +in contact. + +He is so well bred, that the men pardon his superiority both of person +and manner; and she is so warm-hearted and amiable, that the women, +with a few exceptions, forgive her rare beauty. How we shall miss them, +and the dear children, too! + +Drove in the Bois de Boulogne yesterday, with the Duchesse de Guiche: +met my old acquaintance, Lord Yarmouth, who is as amusing and original +as ever. + +He has great natural talent and knowledge of the world, but uses both +to little purpose, save to laugh at its slaves. He might be any thing +he chose, but he is too indolent for exertion, and seems to think _le +jeu ne vaut pas la chandelle_. He is one of the many clever people +spoilt by being born to a great fortune and high rank, advantages which +exclude the necessity of exercising the talents he possesses. + +It is, however, no trifling merit, that born to immense wealth and high +station, he should he wholly free from arrogance, or ostentation. + +At length, the secret is out, the doors of my _chambre à coucher_ and +dressing-room are opened, and I am delighted with both. The whole +fitting up is in exquisite taste, and, as usual, when my most gallant +of all gallant husbands that it ever fell to the happy lot of woman to +possess, interferes, no expense has been spared. + +The bed, which is silvered, instead of gilt, rests on the backs of two +large silver swans, so exquisitely sculptured that every feather is in +alto-relievo, and looks nearly as fleecy as those of the living bird. +The recess in which it is placed is lined with white fluted silk, +bordered with blue embossed lace; and from the columns that support the +frieze of the recess, pale blue silk curtains, lined with white, are +hung, which, when drawn, conceal the recess altogether. + +The window curtain is of pale blue silk, with embroidered muslin +curtains, trimmed with lace inside them, and have borders of blue and +white lace to match those of the recess. + +A silvered sofa has been made to fit the side of the room opposite the +fire-place, near to which stands a most inviting _bergère_. An +_ècritoire_ occupies one panel, a bookstand the other, and a rich +coffer for jewels forms a pendant to a similar one for lace, or India +shawls. + +A carpel of uncut pile, of a pale blue, a silver lamp, and a Psyche +glass, the ornaments silvered to correspond with the decorations of the +chamber, complete the furniture. The hangings of the dressing-room are +of blue silk, covered with lace, and trimmed with rich frills of the +same material, as are also the dressing-stools and _chaise longue_, and +the carpet and lamp are similar to those of the bed-room. + +A toilette table stands before the window, and small _jardinières_ are +placed in front of each panel of looking-glass, but so low as not to +impede a full view of the person dressing in this beautiful little +sanctuary. + +The _salle de bain_ is draped with white muslin trimmed with lace, and +the sofa and _bergère_ are covered with the same. The bath is of white +marble, inserted in the floor, with which its surface is level. On the +ceiling over it, is a painting of Flora scattering flowers with one +hand while from the other is suspended an alabaster lamp, in the form +of a lotos. + +A more tasteful or elegant suite of apartments cannot be imagined; and +all this perfection of furniture has been completed in three days! Lord +B. has all the merit of the taste, and the upholsterer that of the +rapidity and excellence of the execution. + +The effect of the whole suite is chastely beautiful; and a queen could +desire nothing better for her own private apartments. Few queens, most +probably, ever had such tasteful ones. + +Our kind friend, Charles Mills, has arrived from Rome,--amiable and +agreeable as ever. He dined with us yesterday, and we talked over the +pleasant days spent in the Vigna Palatina, his beautiful villa. + +Breakfasted to-day in the Rue d'Anjou, a take-leave repast given to the +Duc and Duchesse de Guiche by Madame Craufurd. Lady Barbara and Colonel +Craufurd were of the party, which was the only _triste_ one I have seen +in that house. The Duc de Gramont was there, and joined in the regret +we all felt at seeing our dear friends drive away. + +It was touching to behold Madame Craufurd, kissing again and again her +grandchildren and great-grandchildren, the tears streaming down her +cheeks, and the venerable Duc de Gramont, scarcely less moved, +embracing his son and daughter-in-law, and exhorting the latter to take +care of her health, while the dear little Ida, his granddaughter, not +yet two years old, patted his cheeks, and smiled in his face. + +It is truly delightful to witness the warm affection that subsists +between relatives in France, and the dutiful and respectful attention +paid by children to their parents. In no instance have I seen this more +strongly exemplified than in the Duc and Duchesse de Guiche, whose +unceasing tenderness towards the good Duc de Gramont not only makes his +happiness, but is gratifying to all who behold it, as is also their +conduct to Madame Craufurd. + +I wish the encampment was over, and those dear friends back again. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + +Took possession of our new house to-day, and are delighted with it. Its +repose and quiet are very agreeable, after the noise and bustle of the +Rue de Rivoli. Spent several hours in superintending the arrangement of +my books, china, _bijouterie_, and flowers, and the rooms look as +habitable as if we had lived in them for weeks. How fortunate we are to +have found so charming an abode! + +A chasm here occurs in my journal, occasioned by the arrival of some +dear relatives from England, with whom I was too much occupied to have +time to journalise. What changes five years effect in young people! The +dear girls I left children are now grown into women, but are as artless +and affectionate as in childhood. I could hardly believe my eyes when I +saw them, yet I soon traced the same dear countenances, and marvelled +that though changed from the round, dimpled ones of infancy, to the +more delicate oval of maidenly beauty, the expression of gaiety and +innocence of their faces is still the same. + +A week has passed rapidly by, and now that they have returned to +England, their visit appears like a dream. I wish it had been longer, +for I have seen only enough of them to wish to see a great deal more. + +The good Mrs. W. and her lively, clever, and her pretty daughter, Mrs. +R., dined with us yesterday. They are _en route_ for England, but give +many a sigh to dear Italy. It was pleasant to talk over the happy days +passed there, which we did with that tender regret with which the past +is always referred to by those who have sensibility, and they possess +no ordinary portion of this lovable quality. Les Dames Bellegarde also +dined with us, and they English friends took a mutual fancy to each +other. I like the Bellegardes exceedingly. + +Our old friend, Lord Lilford, is at Paris, and is as amiable and +kind-hearted as ever. He dined with us yesterday, and we talked over +the pleasant days we spent at Florence. Well-educated, and addicted to +neither of the prevalent follies of the day, racing nor gaming, he only +requires a little ambition to prompt him to exertion, in order to +become a useful, as well as an agreeable member of the community, but +with a good fortune and rank, he requires an incentive to action. + +Met last evening at Madame Craufurd's the Marquis and Marquise Zamperi +of Bologna. She is pretty and agreeable, and he is original and +amusing. They were very civil, and expressed regret at not having been +at Bologna when we were there. + +Had a visit from Count Alexandre de Laborde to-day. His conversation is +lively and entertaining. Full of general information and good sense, he +is no niggard in imparting the results of both to those with whom he +comes in contact, and talks fluently, if not always faultlessly, in +Italian and English. + +The Marquis de Mornay and his brother Count Charles de Mornay dined +here yesterday. How many associations of the olden time are recalled by +this ancient and noble name, Mornay du Plessis! + +The Marquis is agreeable, sensible, well-informed, and well-bred. +Though justly proud of his high descent, the consciousness of it is +never rendered visible by any symptom of that arrogance too often met +with in those who have less cause for pride, and can only be traced by +a natural dignity and bearing, worthy a descendant of the noble Sully. + +Count Charles de Mornay is a very remarkable young man. With a +brilliant wit, the sallies of which can "set the table in a roar;" it +is never used at the expense of others, and, when he chooses to be +grave, the quickness and justice of his perception, and the fine tact +and good sense which mark his reflections, betray a mind of no common +order, and give the promise of future distinction. + +Nothing can be more agreeable than the mode in which I pass my time +here. I read from nine until twelve: order the household arrangements, +and inspect the _menu_ at twelve: write letters or journalise from one +until four; drive out till six or half-past; return home, dress, dine, +pay visits, or receive them at home, and get to bed at one o'clock. + +How much preferable is the French system of evening visits, to the +English custom of morning ones, which cut up time so abominably! Few +who have lived much abroad could submit patiently to have their +mornings broken in upon, when evening, which is the most suitable time +for relaxation, can be enlivened by the visits that are irksome at +other hours. + +Paris is now nearly as empty as London is in September; all the _élite_ +of French fashionable society having taken their departure for their +country houses, or for the different baths they frequent. I, who like +not crowds, prefer Paris at this season to any other, and shall be +rather sorry than glad when it fills again. + +Madame Craufurd, Lady Barbara and Colonel Craufurd, the Ducs de +Gramont, Dalberg, and Mouchy, dined with us yesterday. We had music in +the evening, The Duc Dalberg is agreeable and well-bred, and his manner +has that suavity, mingled with reserve, said to be peculiar to those +who have lived much at courts, and filled diplomatic situations. + +The Duc was Minister Plenipotentiary from Baden at Paris, when Napoleon +was First Consul, and escaped not censure on the occasion of the +seizure of the unfortunate Duc d'Enghien; of the intention of which it +was thought he ought to have apprised his court, and so have prevented +an event which has entailed just blame on all concerned in it, as well +as on some who were innocent. + +There is nothing in the character of the Duc Dalberg to warrant a +belief of his being capable of lending himself to aught that was +disloyal, for he is an excellent man in all the relations of life, and +is esteemed and respected by as large a circle of friends as most +persons who have filled high situations can boast of. + +The Duc de Mouchy is a very amiable as well as high-bred man; he has +been in England, and speaks English with fluency. + +Letters from the camp of Luneville, received from our dear friends +to-day, give a very animated description of their doings there. The Duc +de Mouchy told me yesterday that they were winning golden opinions from +all with whom they came in contact there, by their urbanity and +hospitality. He said that people were not prepared to find the +handsomest and most fashionable woman at Paris, "the observed of all +observers," and the brightest ornament of the French court, doing the +honours to the wives of the officers of the camp with an amiability +that has captivated them all. The good Duc de Gramont was delighted at +hearing this account, for never was there a more affectionate father. + +Went with a party yesterday to Montmorency. Madame Craufurd, the +Comtesse de Gand, the Baronne d'Ellingen, Comte F. de Belmont, and our +own circle, formed the party. It was gratifying to witness how much +dear Madame Craufurd enjoyed the excursion; she even rode on a donkey +through the woods, and the youngest person of the party did not enter +into the amusement with more spirit and gaiety. Montmorency is a +charming place, but not so the road to it, which, being paved, is very +tiresome. + +We visited the hermitage where Rousseau wrote so many of his works, but +in which this strange and unhappy man found not that peace so long +sought by him in vain, and to which his own wayward temper and +suspicious nature offered an insurmountable obstacle. + +As I sat in this humble abode, and looked around on the objects once +familiar to his eyes, I could not resist the sentiment of pity that +filled my breast, at the recollection that even in this tranquil +asylum, provided by friendship [2], and removed from the turmoil of the +busy world, so repugnant to his taste, the jealousies, the +heart-burnings, and the suspicions, that empoisoned his existence +followed him, rendering his life not only a source of misery to +himself, but of pain to others; for no one ever conferred kindness on +him without becoming the object of his suspicion, if not of his +aversion. + +The life of Rousseau is one of the most humiliating episodes in the +whole history of literary men, and the most calculated to bring genius +into disrepute: yet the misery he endured more than avenged the wrongs +he inflicted; and, while admiring the productions of a genius, of which +even his enemies could not deny him the possession, we are more than +ever compelled to avow how unavailing is this glorious gift to confer +happiness on its owner, or to secure him respect or esteem, if +unaccompanied by goodness. + +Who can reflect on the life of this man without a sense of the danger +to which Genius exposes its children, and a pity for their sufferings, +though too often self-inflicted? Alas! the sensibility which is one of +the most invariable characteristics of Genius, and by which its most +glorious efforts are achieved, if excited into unhealthy action by +over-exercise, not unseldom renders its possessor unreasonable and +wretched, while his works are benefiting or delighting others, and +while the very persons who most highly appreciate them are often the +least disposed to pardon the errors of their author. + +As the dancer, by the constant practice of her art, soon loses that +roundness of _contour_ which is one of the most beautiful peculiarities +of her sex, the muscles of the legs becoming unnaturally developed at +the expense of the rest of the figure, so does the man of genius, by +the undue exercise of this gift, acquire an irritability that soon +impairs the temper, and renders his excess of sensibility a torment to +himself and to others. + +The solitude necessary to the exercise of Genius is another fruitful +source of evil to its children. Abstracted from the world, they are apt +to form a false estimate of themselves and of it, and to entertain +exaggerated expectations from it. Their morbid feelings are little able +to support the disappointment certain to ensue, and they either rush +into a reprisal of imaginary wrongs, by satire on others, or inflict +torture on themselves by the belief, often erroneous, of the injuries +they have sustained. + +I remembered in this abode a passage in one of the best letters ever +written by Rousseau, and addressed to Voltaire, on the subject of his +poem, entitled _Sur la Loi Naturelle, et sur le Désastre de Lisbonne_; +in which, referring to an assertion of Voltaire's that few persons +would wish to live over again on the condition of enduring the same +trials, and which Rousseau combats by urging that it is only the rich, +fatigued by their pleasures, or literary men, of whom he writes--"_Des +gens de lettres, de tous les ordres d'hommes le plus sédentaire, le +plus malsain, le plus réfléchissant, et, par conséquent, le plus +malheureux_," who would decline to live over again, had they the power. + +This description of men of letters, written by one of themselves, is a +melancholy, but, alas! a true one, and should console the enviers of +genius for the want of a gift that but too often entails such misery on +its possessors. + +The church of Montmorency is a good specimen of Gothic architecture, +and greatly embellishes the little town, which is built on the side of +a hill, and commands a delicious view of the chestnut forest and +valley, clothed with pretty villas, that render it so much and so +justly admired. + +It was amusing to listen to the diversity of opinions entertained by +our party relative to Rousseau, as we wandered through the scenes which +he so often frequented; each individual censuring or defending him, +according to the bias of his or her disposition. On one point all +agreed; which was, that, if judged by his actions, little could be said +in mitigation of the conduct of him who, while writing sentiments +fraught with passion and tenderness, could consign his offspring to a +foundling hospital! + +Having visited every object worthy of attention at Montmorency, we +proceeded to Enghien, to examine the baths established there. The +building is of vast extent, containing no less than forty chambers, +comfortably furnished for the accommodation of bathers; and a good +_restaurateur_ furnishes the repasts. The apartments command a +beautiful view, and the park of St.-Gratien offers a delightful +promenade to the visitors of Enghien. + +Our route back to Paris was rendered very agreeable by the lively and +clever conversation of the Comtesse de Gand. I have rarely met with a +more amusing person. + +With a most retentive memory, she possesses the tact that does not +always accompany this precious gift--that of only repeating what is +perfectly _à propos_ and interesting, with a fund of anecdotes that +might form an inexhaustible capital for a professional diner-out to set +up with; an ill-natured one never escapes her lips, and yet--hear it +all ye who believe, or act as if ye believe, that malice and wit are +inseparable allies!--it would be difficult to find a more entertaining +and lively companion. + +Our old friend, Col. E. Lygon, came to see us to-day, and is as amiable +as ever. He is a specimen of a military man of which England may well +be proud. + +The Ducs de Talleyrand and Dino, the Marquis de Mornay, the Marquis de +Dreux-Brezé, and Count Charles de Mornay, dined here yesterday. The +Marquis de Brezé is a clever man, and his conversation is highly +interesting. Well-informed and sensible, he has directed much of his +attention to politics without being, as is too often the case with +politicians, wholly engrossed by them. He appears to me to be a man +likely to distinguish himself in public life. + +There could not be found two individuals more dissimilar, or more +formed for furnishing specimens of the noblemen of _la Vieille Cour_ +and the present time, than the Duc de Talleyrand and the Marquis de +Dreux-Brezé. The Duc, well-dressed and well-bred, but offering in his +toilette and in his manners irrefragable evidence that both have been +studied, and his conversation bearing that high polish and urbanity +which, if not always characteristics of talent, conceal the absence of +it, represents _l'ancien régime_, when _les grands seigneurs_ were more +desirous to serve _les belles dames_ than their country, and more +anxious to be distinguished in the _salons_ of the Faubourg St.-Germain +than in the _Chambre de Parlement_. + +The Marquis de Dreux-Brezé, well-dressed and well-bred, too, appears +not to have studied either his toilette or his manners; and, though by +no means deficient in polite attention to women, seems to believe that +there are higher and more praiseworthy pursuits than that of thinking +only how to please them, and bestows more thought on the _Chambre des +Pairs_ than on the _salons à la mode_. + +One is a passive and ornamental member of society, the other a useful +and active politician, I have remarked that the Frenchmen of high birth +of the present time all seem disposed to take pains in fitting +themselves for the duties of their station. They read much and with +profit, travel much more than formerly, and are free from the narrow +prejudices against other countries, which, while they prove not a man's +attachment to his own, offer one of the most insurmountable of all +barriers to that good understanding so necessary to be maintained +between nations. + +Dined yesterday at St.-Cloud with the Baron and Baroness de Ruysch; a +very agreeable and intellectual pair, who have made a little paradise +around them in the shape of an English pleasure ground, blooming with +rare shrubs and flowers. + +Our old friend, Mr. Douglas Kinnaird--"the honourable Dug," as poor +Lord Byron used to call him--paid me a visit to-day. I had not seen him +for seven years, and these same years have left their traces on his +brow. He is in delicate health, and is only come over to Paris for a +very few days. + +He has lived in the same scenes and in the same routine that we left +him, wholly engrossed by them, while + + "I've taught me other tongues, and in strange eyes + Have made me not a stranger;" + +and wonder how people can be content to dwell whole years in so +circumscribed, however useful, a circle. + +Those who live much in London seem to me to have tasted the lotus +which, according to the fable of old, induced forgetfulness of the +past, so wholly are they engrossed by the present, and by the vortex in +which they find themselves plunged. + +Much as I like England, and few love it more dearly, I should not like +to pass all the rest of my life in it. _All, all_: it is thus we ever +count on futurity, reckoning as if our lives were certain of being +prolonged, when we know not that the _all_ on which we so boldly +calculate may not be terminated in a day, nay, even in an hour. Who is +there that can boast an English birth, that would not wish to die at +home and rest in an English grave? + +Sir Francis Burdett has arrived, and means to stay some time here. He +called on us yesterday with Colonel Leicester Stanhope, and is as +agreeable and good-natured as ever. He is much _fêted_ at Paris, and +receives great attention from the Duc d'Orléans, who has offered him +his boxes at the theatres, and shews him all manner of civilities. + +Colonel Leicester Stanhope gave me some interesting details of poor +Byron's last days in Greece, and seems to have duly appreciated his +many fine qualities, in spite of the errors that shrouded but could not +eclipse them. The fine temper and good breeding that seem to be +characteristic of the Stanhope family, have not degenerated in this +branch of it; and his manner, as well as his voice and accent, remind +me very forcibly of my dear old friend his father, who is one of the +most amiable, as well as agreeable men I ever knew, and who I look +forward with pleasure to meeting on my return home. + +The Marquise Palavicini from Genoa, her daughter-in-law the Princesse +Doria, sir Francis Burdett, and Colonel Leicester Stanhope, dined with +us yesterday. The marquise Palavicini is a very sensible and agreeable +woman, and the Princesse Doria is very pretty and amiable. Like most of +her countrywomen, this young and attractive person is wholly free from +that affectation which deteriorates from so many of the women of other +countries; and the simplicity of her manner, which is as remote from +_gaucherie_ as it is from affectation, invests her with a peculiar +charm. + +We talked over Genoa, where we have spent so many pleasant days, and +the beautiful gardens of the villa Palavicini, the possession of which +has always tempted me to envy its owner. I have never passed an hour in +the society of Italian women without feeling the peculiar charm of +their manner, and wishing that its ease and simplicity were more +generally adopted. + +The absence of any effort to shine, the gentleness without insipidity, +the liveliness without levity, and above all, the perfect good nature +that precludes aught that could be disagreeable to others, form the +distinguishing characteristics of the manner of Italian women from the +princess to the peasant, and are alike practised by both towards all +with whom they converse. + +Lord Darnley and Lord Charlemont dined here yesterday. It is pleasant +to see old and familiar faces again, even though the traces of Time on +their brows recall to mind the marks which the ruthless tyrant must +have inflicted on our own. We all declared that we saw no change in +each other, but the looks of surprise and disappointment exchanged at +meeting contradicted the assertion. + +Mr. Charles Young, the tragedian, dined here to-day. We were very glad +to see him again, for he is a very estimable as well as agreeable +member of society, and reflects honour on his profession. + +Lord Lansdowne came here with Count Flahault this evening. It is now +seven years since I last saw him, but time has dealt kindly with him +during that period, as it ever does to those who possess equanimity of +mind and health of body. Lord Lansdowne has always appeared to me to be +peculiarly formed for a statesman. + +With a fortune that exempts him from incurring even the suspicion of +mercenary motives for holding office, and a rank which precludes that +of entertaining the ambition of seeking a higher, he is free from the +angry passions that more or loss influence the generality of other men. +To an unprejudiced mind, he joins self-respect without arrogance, +self-possession without effrontery, solid and general information, +considerable power of application to business, a calm and gentlemanly +demeanour, and an urbanity of manner which, while it conciliates good +will, never descends to, or encourages, familiarity. + +A lover and liberal patron of the fine arts, he is an encourager of +literature, and partial to the society of literary men; irreproachable +in private life, and respected in public, what is there wanting to +render him faultless? + +I, who used to enjoy a good deal of his society in England, am of +opinion, that the sole thing wanting is the warmth and cordiality of +manner which beget friends and retain partisans, and without which no +minister can count on constant supporters. + +It is a curious circumstance, that the political party to which Lord +Lansdowne is opposed can boast a man among those most likely to hold +the reins of government, to whom all that I have said of Lord Lansdowne +might, with little modification, be applied. I refer to Sir Robert +Peel, whose acquaintance I enjoyed in England; and who is much younger, +and perhaps bolder, than Lord Lansdowne. + +Happy, in my opinion, is the country which possesses such men; though +the friends and admirers of each would probably feel little disposed to +admit any comparison to be instituted between them, and would deride, +if not assail, any one for making it. + +Sir Francis Burdell dined here yesterday, and we had the Count +Alexandra de Laborde and Count Charles de Mornay, to meet him. Several +people came in the evening. I have lent a pile of books to Sir F. B., +who continues to read as much as formerly, and forgets nothing that he +peruses. His information is, consequently, very extensive, and renders +his conversation very interesting. His thirst for knowledge is +insatiable, and leads him to every scientific resort where it may be +gratified. + +Spent last evening at Madame Craufurd's. Met there, the Princesse +Castelcicala and her daughter, Lady Drummond, Mr. T. Steuart, and +various others--among them, a daughter of the Marquess of Ailesbury, +who has married a French nobleman, and resides in Paris. + +Lady Drummond talked to me a good deal of Sir William, and evinced much +respect for his memory. She is proud, and she may well be so, of having +been the wife of such a man; though there was but little sympathy +between their tastes and pursuits, and his death can produce so little +change in her habits of life, that she can scarcely be said to miss +him. + +He passed his days and the greater portion of his nights in reading or +writing, living in a suite of rooms literally filled with books; the +tables, chairs, sofas, and even the floors, being encumbered with them, +going out only for a short time in a carriage to get a little air, or +occasionally to dine out. + +He seldom saw Lady Drummond, except at dinner, surrounded by a large +party. She passed, as she still passes her time, in the duties of an +elaborate toilette, paying or receiving visits, giving or going to +_fêtes_, and playing with her lap-dog. A strange wife for one of the +most intellectual men of his day! And yet this total dissimilarity +produced no discord between them; for she was proud of his +acquirements, and he was indulgent to her less _spirituelle_ tastes. + +Lady Drummond does much good at Naples; for, while the _beau monde_ of +that gay capital are entertained in a style of profuse hospitality at +her house, the poor find her charity dispensed with a liberal hand in +all their exigencies; so that her vast wealth is a source of comfort to +others as well as to herself. + +I have been reading _Vivian Grey_--a very wild, but very clever +book, full of genius in its unpruned luxuriance; the writer revels +in all the riches of a brilliant imagination, and expends them +prodigally--dazzling, at one moment, by his passionate eloquence, and, +at another, by his touching pathos. + +A pleasant dinner-party, yesterday. The Duc de Mouchy, the Marquis de +Mornay, Count Flahault, the Count Maussion, Mons. de Montrond, and Mr. +Standish, were the guests. Count Flahault is so very agreeable and +gentlemanly a man, that no one can call in question the taste of the +Baroness Keith in selecting him for her husband. + +Mr. Standish has married a French lady, accomplished, clever, and +pretty. Intermarriages between French and English are now not +unfrequent; and it is pleasant to observe the French politeness and +_bon ton_ ingrafted on English sincerity and good sense. Of this, Mr. +Standish offers a very good example; for, while he has acquired all the +Parisian ruse of manner, he has retained all the English good qualities +for which he has always been esteemed. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + +Charles Kemble dined here yesterday, and in the evening read to us his +daughter Fanny's Tragedy of _Francis the First_--a very wonderful +production for so young a girl. There is considerable vigour in many +parts of this work, and several passages in it reminded me of the old +dramatists. The character of "Louisa of Savoy" is forcibly +drawn--wonderfully so, indeed, when considered as the production of so +youthful a person. The constant association with minds deeply imbued +with a love of the old writers, must have greatly influenced the taste +of Miss Kemble. + +_Francis the First_ bears irrefragable evidence that her reading has +lain much among the old poets, and that Shakspeare is one of her most +favourite ones. "Triboulet," the king's jester, may be instanced as an +example of this; and "Margaret of Valois" furnishes another. "Françoise +de Foix" is a more original conception; timid, yet fond, sacrificing +her honour to save her brother's life, but rendered wretched by +remorse; and not able to endure the presence of her affianced husband, +who, believing her pure and sinless as he left her, appeals to her, +when "Gonzales" reveals her shame. + +This same "Gonzales," urged on by vengeance, and ready to do +aught--nay, more than "may become a man,"--to seek its gratification, +is a boldly drawn character. + +The introduction of the poet "Clément Marot" is no less happy than +judicious; and Miss Kemble gives him a very beautiful speech, addressed +to his master "Francis the First," in which the charm that reigns about +the presence of a pure woman is so eloquently described, as to have +reminded me of the exquisite passage in _Comus_, although there is not +any plagiary in Miss Kemble's speech. + +A poetess herself, she has rendered justice to the character of Clement +Marot, whose honest indignation at being employed to bear a letter from +the amorous "Francis" to the sister of "Lautrec," she has very +gracefully painted. + +The "Constable Bourbon" is well drawn, and has some fine speeches +assigned to him; and "Gonzales" gives a spirited description of the +difference between encountering death in the battle-field, surrounded +by all the spirit-stirring "pomp and circumstance of glorious war," and +meeting the grisly tyrant on the scaffold, attended by all the +ignominious accessories of a traitor's doom. + +This Tragedy, when given to the public, will establish Miss Kemble's +claims to distinction in the literary world, and add another laurel to +those acquired by her family. + +There are certain passages in the speeches of "Gonzales," that, in my +opinion, require to be revised, lest they should provoke censures from +the fastidious critics of the present time, who are prone to detect +evil of which the authors, whose works they analyse, are quite +unconscious. Innocence sometimes leads young writers to a freedom of +expression from which experienced ones would shrink back in alarm; and +the perusal of the old dramatists gives a knowledge of passions, and of +sins, known only through their medium, but the skilful developement of +which, subjects a female writer, and more particularly a youthful one, +to ungenerous animadversion. It is to be hoped, that the friends of +this gifted girl will so prune the luxuriance of her pen, as to leave +nothing to detract from a work so creditable to her genius. + +Charles Kemble rendered ample justice to his daughter's Tragedy by his +mode of reading it; and we counted not the hours devoted to the task. +How many reminiscences of the olden time were called up by hearing him! + +I remembered those pleasant evenings when he used to read to us in +London, hour after hour, until the timepiece warned us to give over. I +remembered, too, John Kemble--"the great John Kemble," as Lord +Guildford used to call him--twice or thrice reading to us with Sir T. +Lawrence; and the tones of Charles Kemble's voice, and the expression +of his face, forcibly reminded me of our departed friend. + +I have scarcely met with a more high-bred man, or a more agreeable +companion, than Charles Kemble. Indeed, were I called on to name the +professional men I have known most distinguished for good breeding and +manners, I should name our four tragedians,--the two Kembles, Young, +and Macready. + +Sir Francis Burdett dined here yesterday _en famille_, and we passed +two very pleasant hours. He related to us many amusing and interesting +anecdotes connected with his political life. + +Went to the Opera in the evening, whither he accompanied us. I like my +box very much. It is in the centre of the house, is draped with pale +blue silk, and has very comfortable chairs. The Parisians are, I find, +as addicted to staring as the English; for many were the glasses +levelled last night at Sir Francis Burdett who, totally unconscious of +the attention he excited, was wholly engrossed by the "Count Ory," some +of the choruses in which pleased me very much. + +A visit to-day from our excellent and valued friend, Sir A. Barnard, +who has promised to dine with us to-morrow. Paris is now filling very +fast, which I regret, as I dislike crowds and having my time broken in +upon. + +I become more convinced every day I live, that quiet and repose are the +secrets of happiness, for I never feel so near an approach to this +blessing as when in the possession of them. General society is a heavy +tax on time and patience, and one that I feel every year less +inclination to pay, as I witness the bad effect it produces not only on +the habits but on the mind. + +Oh! the weariness of listening for hours to the repetition of past +gaieties, or the anticipation of future ones, to the commonplace +remarks or stupid conversation of persons whose whole thoughts are +engrossed by the frivolous amusements of Paris, which are all and every +thing to them! + +How delicious is it to shut out all this weariness, and with a book, or +a few rationally minded friends, indulge in an interchange of ideas! +But the too frequent indulgence of this sensible mode of existence +exposes one to the sarcasms of the frivolous who are avoided. + +One is deemed a pedant--a terrible charge at Paris!--or a _bas bleu_, +which is still worse, however free the individual may be from any +pretensions to merit such charges. + +Paid a visit to the justly celebrated Mademoiselle Mars yesterday, at +her beautiful hôtel in the Rue de la Tour des Dames. I have entertained +a wish ever since my return from Italy, to become acquainted with this +remarkable woman; and Mr. Young was the medium of accomplishing it. + +Mademoiselle Mars is even more attractive off the stage than on; for +her countenance beams with intelligence, and her manners are at once so +animated, yet gentle; so kind, yet dignified; and there is such an +inexpressible charm in the tones of her voice, that no one can approach +without being delighted with her. + +Her conversation is highly interesting, marked by a good sense and good +taste that render her knowledge always available, but never obtrusive. +Her features are regular and delicate; her figure, though inclined to +_embonpoint_, is very graceful, and her smile, like the tones of her +voice, is irresistibly sweet, and reveals teeth of rare beauty. +Mademoiselle Mars, off the stage, owes none of her attractions to the +artful aid of ornament; wearing her own dark hair simply arranged, and +her clear brown complexion free from any artificial tinge. In her air +and manner is the rare and happy mixture of _la grande dame et la femme +aimable_, without the slightest shade of affectation. + +Mademoiselle Mars' hôtel is the prettiest imaginable. It stands in a +court yard, wholly shut in from the street; and, though not vast, it +has all the elegance, if not the splendour, of a fine house. Nothing +can evince a purer taste than this dwelling, with its decorations and +furniture. It contains all that elegance and comfort can require, +without any thing meretricious or gaudy, and is a temple worthy of the +goddess to whom it is dedicated. + +It has been well observed, that a just notion of the character of a +person can always be formed by the style of his or her dwelling. Who +can be deceived in the house of a _nouveau riche_? Every piece of +furniture in it vouches, not only for the wealth of its owner, but that +he has not yet got sufficiently habituated to the possession of it, to +be as indifferent to its attributes as are those to whom custom has +rendered splendour no longer a pleasure. + +Every thing in the house of Mademoiselle Mars bespeaks its mistress to +be a woman of highly cultivated mind and of refined habits. + +The boudoir is in the style of Louis XIV, and owes its tasteful +decorations to the pencil of Ciceri. The pictures that ornament it are +by Gérard, and are highly creditable to his reputation. The library +serves also as a picture-gallery; and in it may be seen beautiful +specimens of the talents of the most esteemed French artists, offered +by them as a homage to this celebrated woman. Gérard, Delacroix, +Isabey, Lany, Grévedon, and other distinguished artists, have +contributed to this valuable collection. A fine portrait of Madame +Pasta, and another of Talma, with two exquisite pictures of the mother +of Mademoiselle Mars, not less remarkable for the rare beauty of the +subject than for the merit of the artists, complete it. + +One book-case in the library contains only the presentation copies of +the pieces in which Mademoiselle Mars has performed, magnificently +bound by the authors. + +On a white marble _console_ in this gallery is placed an interesting +memorial of her brilliant theatrical career, presented to her by the +most enthusiastic of its numerous admirers. It consists of a laurel +crown, executed in pure gold; on the leaves of which are engraved on +one side, the name of each piece in which she appeared, and, on the +other, the _rôle_ which she acted in it. A very fine statue of Molière +is placed in this apartment. + +Never did two hours glide more rapidly away than those passed in the +society of this fascinating woman, whose presence I left penetrated +with the conviction that no one can know without admiring her; and that +when she retires from the stage, "we shall not look upon her like +again." + +Passed a very agreeable evening, at Madame Craufurd's, Met there la +Duchesse de la Force, and the usual circle of _habitués_. Talking of +theatres, some of _la Vieille Cour_, who happened to be present, +remarked on the distinction always made between the female performers +of the different ones. Those of the Théâtre Français were styled "_Les +Dames de la Comédie Française_"; "those of the Théâtre Italien," "_Les +Demoiselles du Théâtre Italien_;" and the dancers, "_Les Filles de +l'Opéra_." This last mode of naming _les danseuses_, though in later +times considered as a reproach, was, originally, meant as an honourable +distinction; the king, on establishing the _Académie Royale de +Musique_, having obtained the privilege that the performers attached to +it should be exempt from excommunication. Hence they were named, "_Les +Filles de l'Opéra_," as persons sometimes said "_Les Filles de la +Reine_." + +_À propos_ of the Opera, Madame Grassini, once no less celebrated for +her beauty than for her voice, was of the party last night. She is, and +deservedly, a general favourite in Parisian society, in which her +vivacity, good-nature, and amiability, are duly appreciated. Her lively +sallies and _naïve_ remarks are very amusing; and the frankness and +simplicity she has preserved in a profession and position so calculated +to induce the reverse, add to her attractions and give piquancy to her +conversation. + +There are moments in which Madame Grassini's countenance becomes +lighted up with such animation, that it seems to be invested with a +considerable portion of the rare beauty for which she was so +remarkable. + +Her eyes are still glorious, and, like those only of the sunny South, +can flash with intelligence, or melt with tenderness. It is when +conversing on the grand _rôles_ which she filled as _prima donna_, that +her face lights up as I have noticed,--as the war-horse, when hearing +the sound of the trumpet, remembers the scene of his past glory. + +When in Italy, some years since, Madame Grassini's carriage was stopped +by brigands, who, having compelled her to descend, ransacked it and +took possession of her splendid theatrical wardrobe, and her +magnificent diamonds. + +She witnessed the robbery with calmness, until she saw the brigands +seize the portrait of the Emperor Napoleon, presented to her by his own +hand, and set round with large brilliants, when she appealed to them +with tears streaming down her cheeks to take the settings and all the +diamonds, but not to deprive her of the portrait of her "dear, dear +Emperor!" When this circumstance was referred to she told me the story, +and her eyes glistened with tears while relating it. + +Went to Orsay yesterday, and passed a very agreeable day there. It was +a fortified chateau, and must have been a very fine place before the +Revolution caused, not only its pillage, but nearly total destruction, +for only one wing of it now remains. + +Built in the reign of Charles VII, it was esteemed one of the best +specimens of the feudal _château fort_ of that epoch; and the +subterranean portion of it still attests its former strength and +magnitude. + +It is surrounded by a moat, not of stagnant water, but supplied by the +river Ivette, which flows at the base of the hill on which the château +stands. The water is clear and brisk and the château looks as if it +stood in a pellucid river. The view from the windows is very extensive, +commanding a rich and well-wooded country. + +The chapel escaped not the ravages of the sacrilegious band, who +committed such havoc on the château; for the beautiful altar, and some +very interesting monuments, were barbarously mutilated, and the tomb of +the Princesse de Croy, the mother of General Count d'Orsay, on which a +vast sum had been expended, was nearly razed to the ground. + +If aught was required to increase my horror of revolutions, and of the +baleful consequences to which they lead, the sight of this once +splendid château, and, above all, of its half-ruined chapel, in which +even the honoured dead were insulted, would have accomplished it. + +An heiress of one of the most ancient houses in the _Pays-Bas_, the +Princesse de Croy brought a noble dowry to her husband, himself a man +of princely fortune. Young and beautiful, her munificence soon rendered +her an object of almost, adoration to the dependents of her lord; and +when soon after having given birth to a son and heir, the present +General Comte d'Orsay, she was called to another world, her remains +were followed to her untimely grave by a long train of weeping poor, +whose hearts her bounty had often cheered, and whose descendants were +subsequently horror-struck to see the sanctity of her last earthly +resting-place invaded. + +We passed through the hamlet of Palaiseau, on our return to Paris; and +saw in it the steeple where the magpie concealed the silver spoons he +had stolen, and which occasioned the event from which the drama of _La +Pie Voleuse_, known in so many languages, has had its origin. + +The real story ended not so happily as the opera, for the poor girl was +executed--the spoons not having been discovered until after her death. +This tragedy in humble life has attached great interest to the steeple +at Palaiseau, and has drawn many persons to the secluded hamlet in +which it stands. + +The Duc and Duchesse de Quiche returned from Luneville yesterday; and +we spent last evening with them. The good Duke de Gramont was there, +and was in great joy at their return. They all dine with us to-morrow; +and Madame Craufurd comes to meet them. + +Never have I seen such children as the Duc de Quiche's. Uniting to the +most remarkable personal beauty an intelligence and docility as rare as +they are delightful; and never did I witness any thing like the +unceasing care and attention bestowed on their education by their +parents. + +Those who only know the Duc and Duchesse in the gay circles, in which +they are universally esteemed among the brightest ornaments, can form +little idea of them in the privacy of their domestic one--emulating +each other in their devotion to their children, and giving only the +most judicious proofs of their attachment to them. No wonder that the +worthy Duc de Gramont doats on his grandchildren, and never seems so +happy as with his excellent son and daughter-in-law. + +Went to the Vaudeville Théâtre last evening, to see the new piece by +Scribe, so much talked of, entitled _Avant_, _Pendant, et Aprés_. There +is a fearful _vraisemblance_ in some of the scenes with all that one +has read or pictured to oneself, as daily occurring during the terrible +days of the Revolution; and the tendency of the production is not, in +my opinion, calculated to produce salutary effects. I only wonder it is +permitted to be acted. + +The piece is divided, as the title announces, into three different +epochs. The first represents the frivolity and vices attributed to the +days of _l'ancien régime_, and the _tableau des moeurs_, which is +vividly coloured, leaves no favourable impression in the minds of the +audience of that _noblesse_ whose sufferings subsequently expiated the +errors said to have accelerated, if not to have produced, the +Revolution. + +Nothing is omitted that could cast odium on them, as a preparation for +the Reign of Terror that follows. The anarchy and confusion of the +second epoch--the fear and horror that prevail when the voices and +motions of a sanguinary mob are heard in the streets, and the terrified +inmates of the houses are seen crouching in speechless terror, are +displayed with wonderful truth. + +The lesson is an awful, and I think a dangerous, one, and so seemed to +think many of the upper class among the audience, for I saw some fair +cheeks turn pale, and some furrowed brows look ominous, as the scene +was enacted, while those of the less elevated in rank among the +spectators assumed, or seemed to assume, a certain _fierté_, if not +ferocity, of aspect, at beholding this vivid representation of the +triumph achieved by their order over the _noblesse_. + +It is not wise to exhibit to a people, and above all to so inflammable +a people as the French, what _they_ can effect; and I confess I felt +uneasy when I witnessed the deep interest and satisfaction evinced by +many in the _parterre_ during the representation. + +The _Après_, the third epoch, is even more calculated to encourage +revolutionary principles, for in it was displayed the elevation to the +highest grades in the army and in the state of those who in the _ancien +régime_ would have remained as the Revolution found them, in the most +obscure stations, but who by that event had brilliant opportunities +afforded for distinguishing themselves. + +Heroic courage, boundless generosity, and devoted patriotism, are +liberally bestowed on the actors who figure in this last portion of the +drama; and, as these qualities are known to have appertained to many of +those who really filled the _rôles_ enacted at the period now +represented, the scene had, as might be expected, a powerful effect on +a people so impressible as the French, and so liable to be hurried into +enthusiasm by aught that appeals to their imaginations. + +The applause was deafening; and I venture to say, that those from whom +it proceeded left the theatre with a conviction that a revolution was a +certain means of achieving glory and fortune to those who, with all the +self-imagined qualities to merit both, had not been born to either. + +Every Frenchman in the middle or lower class believes himself capable +of arriving at the highest honours. This belief sometimes half +accomplishes the destiny it imagines; but even when it fails to effect +this, it ever operates in rendering Frenchmen peculiarly liable to rush +into any change or measure likely to lead to even a chance of +distinction. + +As during the performance of _Avant, Pendant et Après_, my eye glanced +on the faces of some of the emigrant _noblesse_, restored to France by +the entry of the Bourbons, I marked the changes produced on their +countenances by it. Anxiety, mingled with dismay, was visible; for the +scenes of the past were vividly recalled, while a vague dread of the +future was instilled. Yes, the representation of this piece is a +dangerous experiment, and so I fear it will turn out. + +I am sometimes amused, but more frequently irritated, by observing the +_moeurs Parisiennes_, particularly in the shop-keepers. The airs of +self-complacency, amounting almost to impertinence, practised by this +class, cannot fail to surprise persons accustomed to the civility and +assiduity of those in London, who, whether the purchases made in their +shops be large or small, evince an equal politeness to the buyers. + +In Paris, the tradesman assumes the right of dictating to the taste of +his customers; in London, he only administers to it. Enter a Parisian +shop, and ask to be shewn velvet, silk, or riband, to assort with a +pattern you have brought of some particular colour or quality, and the +mercer, having glanced at it somewhat contemptuously, places before you +six or eight pieces of a different tint and texture. + +You tell him that they are not similar to the pattern, and he answers, +"That may be; nevertheless, his goods are of the newest fashion, and +infinitely superior to your model." You say, "You prefer the colour of +your pattern, and must match it." He produces half-a-dozen pieces still +more unlike what you require; and to your renewed assertion that no +colour but the one similar to your pattern will suit you, he assures +you, that his goods are superior to all others, and that what you +require is out of fashion, and a very bad article, and, consequently, +that you had much better abandon your taste and adopt his. This counsel +is given without any attempt at concealing the contempt the giver of it +entertains for your opinion, and the perfect satisfaction he indulges +for his own. + +You once more ask, "If he has got nothing to match the colour you +require?" and he shrugs his shoulders and answers, "_Pourtant_, madame, +what I have shewn you is much superior," "Very possible; but no colour +will suit me but this one," holding up the pattern; "for I want to +replace a breadth of a new dress to which an accident has occurred." + +"_Pourtant_, madame, my colours are precisely the same, but the quality +of the materials is infinitely better!" and with this answer, after +having lost half an hour--if not double that time--you are compelled to +be satisfied, and leave the shop, its owner looking as if he considered +you a person of decidedly bad taste, and very troublesome into the +bargain. + +Similar treatment awaits you in every shop; the owners having, as it +appears to me, decided on shewing you only what _they_ approve, and not +what you seek. The women of high rank in France seldom, if ever, enter +any shop except that of Herbault, who is esteemed the _modiste, par +excellence_, of Paris, and it is to this habit, probably, that the want +of _bienséance_ so visible in Parisian _boutiquiers_, is to be +attributed. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + +An agreeable party dined here yesterday--Lord Stuart de Rothesay, our +Ambassador, the Duc and Duchesse de Guiche, the Duc de Mouchy, Sir +Francis Burdett, and Count Charles de Mornay. Lord Stuart de Rothesay +is very popular at Paris, as is also our Ambassadress; a proof that, in +addition to a vast fund of good-nature, no inconsiderable portion of +tact is conjoined--to please English and French too, which they +certainly do, requires no little degree of the rare talent of +_savoir-vivre_. + +To a profound knowledge of French society and its peculiarities, a +knowledge not easily acquired, Lord and Lady Stuart de Rothesay add the +happy art of adopting all that is agreeable in its usages, without +sacrificing any of the stateliness so essential in the representatives +of our more grave and reflecting nation. + +Among the peculiarities that most strike one in French people, are the +good-breeding with which they listen, without even a smile, to the +almost incomprehensible attempts at speaking French made by many +strangers, and the quickness of apprehension with which they seize +their meaning, and assist them in rendering the sense complete. + +I have seen innumerable proofs of this politeness--a politeness so +little understood, or at least so little practised, among the English, +that mistakes perfectly ludicrous, and which could not have failed to +set my compatriots in a titter, if not in a roar, have not produced the +movement of a single risible muscle, and yet the French are more prone +to gaiety than are the English. + +Mr. D---- and Mr. T---- dined here yesterday. The former, mild, +gentlemanlike, and unostentatious, seems to forget what so many would, +if similarly situated, remember with arrogance, namely, that he is +immensely rich; an obliviousness that, in my opinion, greatly enhances +his other merits. + +Mr. T---- is little changed since I last saw him, and is well-informed, +clover, and agreeable,--but his own too-evident consciousness of +possessing these recommendations prevents other people from according +him due merit for them. + +In society, one who believes himself clever must become a hypocrite, +and so conceal all knowledge of his self-complacency, if he wishes to +avoid being unpopular; for woe be to him who lets the world see he +thinks highly of himself, however his abilities may justify his +self-approval! + +The sight of Mr. T---- recalled his amiable and excellent mother to my +memory. I never esteemed any woman more highly, or enjoyed the society +of any other person more than hers. How many pleasant hours have I +passed with her! I so well remember John Kemble fancying that if I went +through a course of reading Shakspeare with his sister Mrs. T----, I +should make, as he said, a fine actress; and we were to get up private +theatricals at Mountjoy Forest. + +In compliance with the request of Lord Blessington, I studied +Shakspeare with this amiable and gifted woman for many months, which +cemented a friendship between us that ended but with her life. Her +method of reading was admirable; for to the grandeur of her sister Mrs. +Siddons, she united a tenderness and softness, in which that great +actress was said to be deficient. I never open any of the plays of +Shakspeare which I studied with her without thinking I hear her voice, +and I like them better for the association. + +To great personal attractions, which even to the last she retained +enough of to give a notion of what her beauty must have been in her +youth, Mrs. T---- added a charm of manners, a cultivation of mind, and +a goodness of heart seldom surpassed; and, in all the relations of +life, her conduct was most praiseworthy. Even now, though six years +have elapsed since her death, the recollection of it brings tears to my +eyes. Good and gentle woman, may your virtues on earth find their +reward in Heaven! + +I passed last evening at Madame Craufurd's, where I met Lady Charlotte +Lindsay and the Misses Berry. How perfectly they answered to the +description given of them by Sir William Gell; who, though exceedingly +attached to all three, has not, as far as one interview permitted me to +judge, overrated their agreeability! Sir William Gell has read me many +letters from these ladies, replete with talent, of which their +conversation reminded me. + +Francis Hare and his wife dined here to-day. They are _en route_ from +Germany--where they have been sojourning since their marriage--for +England, where her _accouchement_ is to take place. Francis Hare has +lived with us so much in Italy, that we almost consider him a member of +the domestic circle; and, on the faith of this, he expressed his desire +that we should receive _madame son épouse_ as if she were an old +acquaintance. + +Mrs. Hare is well-looking, and agreeable, appears amiable, and is a +good musician. I remember seeing her and her sisters with her mother, +Lady Paul, at Florence, when I had little notion that she was to be +Mrs. Hare. I never meet Francis Hare without being surprised by the +versatility of his information; it extends to the fine arts, +literature, rare books, the localities of pictures and statues; in +short, he is a moving library that may always be consulted with profit, +and his memory is as accurate as an index in rendering its precious +stores available. + +It is strange, that the prominent taste of his wife, which is for +music, is the only one denied to him. He afforded an amusing instance +of this fact last night, when Mrs. Hare, having performed several airs +on the piano-forte, he asked her, "Why she played the same tune so +often, for the monotony was tiresome?"--an observation that set us all +laughing. + +Took Mrs. Hare out shopping--saw piles of lace, heaps of silk, pyramids +of riband, and all other female gear. What a multiplicity of pretty +things we women require to render us what we consider presentable! And +how few of us, however good-looking we may chance to be, would agree +with the poet, that "loveliness needs not the foreign aid of ornament, +but is, when unadorned, adorned the most." + +Even the fairest of the sex like to enhance the charms of nature by the +aid of dress; and the plainest hope to become less so by its +assistance. Men are never sufficiently sensible of our humility, in +considering it so necessary to increase our attractions in order to +please them, nor grateful enough for the pains we bestow in the +attempts. + +Husbands and fathers are particularly insensible to this amiable desire +on the parts of their wives and daughters; and, when asked to pay the +heavy bills incurred in consequence of this praiseworthy humility and +desire to please, evince any feeling rather than that of satisfaction. + +It is only admirers not called on to pay these said bills who duly +appreciate the cause and effect, and who can hear of women passing +whole hours in tempting shops, without that elongation of countenance +peculiar to husbands and fathers. + +I could not help thinking with the philosopher, how many things I saw +to-day that could be done without. If women could be made to understand +that costliness of attire seldom adds to beauty, and often deteriorates +it, a great amelioration in expense could be accomplished. + +Transparent muslin, the cheapest of all materials, is one of the +prettiest, too, for summer's wear, and with the addition of some bows +of delicate-coloured riband, or a _bouquet_ of fresh flowers, forms a +most becoming dress. The lowness of the price of such a robe enables +the purchaser to have so frequent a change of it, that even those who +are far from rich may have half-a-dozen, while one single robe of a +more expensive material will cost more; and having done so, the owner +will think it right to wear it more frequently than is consistent with +the freshness and purity that should ever be the distinguishing +characteristics in female dress, in order to indemnify herself for the +expense. + +I was never more struck with this fact, than a short time ago, when I +saw two ladies seated next each other, both young and handsome; but +one, owing to the freshness of her robe, which was of simple +_organdie_, looked infinitely better than the other, who was quite as +pretty, but who, wearing a robe of expensive lace, whose whiteness had +fallen into "the sere and yellow leaf," appeared faded and _passée_. + +Be wise, then, ye young and fair; and if, as I suspect, your object be +to please the Lords of the Creation, let your dress, in summer, be +snowy-white muslin, never worn after its pristine purity becomes +problematical; and in winter, let some half-dozen plain and simple silk +gowns be purchased, instead of the two or three expensive ones that +generally form the wardrobe, and which, consequently, soon not only +lose their lustre but give the wearer the appearance of having suffered +the same fate! + +And you, O husbands and fathers, present and future, be ye duly +impressed with a sense of your manifold obligations to me for thus +opening the eyes of your wives and daughters how to please without +draining your purses; and when the maledictions of lace, velvet, and +satin-sellers full on my hapless head, for counsel so injurious to +their interests, remember they were incurred for yours! + +Mr. and Mrs. Hare dined here yesterday. They brought with them Madame +de la H----, who came up from near Chantilly to see them. She is as +pretty as I remember her at Florence, when Mademoiselle D----, and is +_piquante_ and _spirituelle_. Counts Charles de Mornay and Valeski +formed the party, and Count Maussion and some others came in the +evening. + +I observe that few English shine in conversation with the French. There +is a lightness and brilliancy, a sort of touch and go, if I may say so, +in the latter, seldom, if ever, to be acquired by strangers. Never +dwelling long on any subject, and rarely entering profoundly into it, +they sparkle on the surface with great dexterity, bringing wit, gaiety, +and tact, into play. + +Like summer lightning, French wit flashes frequently, brightly and +innocuously, leaving nothing disagreeable to remind one of its having +appeared. Conversation is, with the French, the aim and object of +society. All enter it prepared to take a part, and he best enacts it +who displays just enough knowledge to show that much remains behind. +Such is the tact of the Parisians, that even the ignorant conceal the +poverty of their minds, and might, to casual observers, pass as being +in no way deficient, owing to the address with which they glide in an +_à propos oui, ou non_, and an appropriate shake of the head, nod of +assent, or dissent. + +The constitutional vivacity of the French depending much on their +mercurial temperaments, greatly aids them in conversation. A light and +playful sally acquires additional merit when uttered with gaiety; and +should a _bon mot_ even contain something calculated to pique any one +present, or reflect on the absent, the mode in which it is uttered +takes off from the force of the matter; whereas, on the contrary, the +more grave and sententious manner peculiar to the English adds pungency +to their satire. Our old and valued friend, Mr. J. Strangways, has +arrived at Paris, and very glad were we to see him once more. He passed +through a severe trial since last we parted; and his conduct under it +towards his poor friend, Mr. Anson, does him credit. + +The two companions--one the brother of the Earl of Ilchester, and the +other of Lord Anson--were travelling in Syria together. They had passed +through Aleppo, where the plague had then appeared, and were at the +distance of several days' journey from it, congratulating themselves on +their safety, when, owing to some error on the part of those who +examined their firman, they were compelled to retrace their steps to +Aleppo, where, condemned to become the inhabitants of a lazaretto until +the imagined mistake could be corrected, they found themselves +_tête-à-tête_. + +The first two or three days passed without any thing to alarm the +friends. Engaged in drawing maps for their intended route, and plans +for the future, the hours glided away even cheerfully. + +But this cheerfulness was not long to continue; for Mr. Anson, having +one morning asked Mr. Strangways to hold the end of his shawl while he +twisted it round his head as a turban, the latter observed, with a +degree of horror and dismay more easily to be imagined than described, +the fatal plague-spot clearly defined on the back of the neck of his +unfortunate friend. + +He concealed his emotion, well knowing that a suspicion of its cause +would add to the danger of Mr. Anson, who, as yet, was unconscious of +the fearful malady that had already assailed him. Totally alone, +without aid, save that contained in their own very limited resources, +what must have been the feelings of Mr. Strangways, as he contemplated +his luckless companion? + +He dreaded to hear the announcement of physical suffering, though he +well knew it must soon come, and marked with indescribable anguish the +change that rapidly began to be manifested in his friend. But even this +most terrible of all maladies was influenced by the gallant spirit of +him on whom it was now preying; for not a complaint, not a murmur, +broke from his lips: and it was not until Mr. Strangways had repeatedly +urged the most affectionate inquiries that he admitted he was not quite +well. + +Delirium quickly followed; but even then this noble-minded young man +bore up against the fearful assaults of disease, and thought and spoke +only of those dear and absent friends he was doomed never again to +behold. It was a dreadful trial to Mr. Strangways to sit by the bed of +death, far, far away from home and friends, endeavouring to cool the +burning brow and to refresh the parched lips of him so fondly loved in +that distant land of which he raved. + +He spoke of his home, of those who made it so dear to him, and even the +songs of infancy were again murmured by the dying lips. His friend +quitted him not for a minute until all was over; and _he_ was left +indeed alone to watch, over the corpse of him whom he had tried in vain +to save. + +That Mr. Strangways should have escaped the contagion, seems little +less than miraculous. I, who have known him so long and so well, +attribute it to the state of his mind, which was so wholly occupied by +anxiety for his friend as to leave no room for any thought of self. + +Made no entry in my journal for two days, owing to a slight +indisposition, which furnished an excuse for laziness. + +Dined at Lointier's yesterday--a splendid repast given by Count A. de +Maussion, in consequence of a wager, lost on a subject connected with +the line arts. The party consisted of all those present at our house +when the wager was made. The Duc and Duchesse de Guiche, Mr. and Mrs. +Francis Hare, the Duc de Talleyrand, Duc de Dino, Count Valeski, Mr. J. +Strangways, and our own large family circle. + +The dinner was the most _recherché_ that could be furnished: "all the +delicacies of the season," as a London paper would term it, were +provided; and an epicure, however fastidious, would have been satisfied +with the choice and variety of the _plats_; while a _gourmand_ would +have luxuriated in the quantity. + +Nothing in the style of the apartments, or the service of the dinner, +bore the least indication that we were in the house of a _restaurant_. + +A large and richly furnished _salon_, well lighted, received the +company before dinner; and in a _salle à manger_ of equal dimensions, +and equally well arranged, the dinner was served on a very fine service +of old plate. + +Count de Maussion did the honours of the dinner _à merveille_, and it +passed off very gaily. It had been previously agreed that the whole +party were to adjourn to the Porte St. Martin, at which Count de +Maussion had engaged three large private boxes; and the ladies, +consequently, with one exception, came _en demi-toilette_. + +The exception was Mrs. Hare, who, not aware that at Paris people never +go _en grande toilette_ to the theatres, came so smartly dressed, that, +seeing our simple toilettes, she was afraid of incurring observation if +she presented herself in a rich dress with short sleeves, a gold tissue +turban with a bird-of-paradise plume, and an _aigrette_ of coloured +stones; so she went to our house, with a few of the party, while I +accompanied the rest to the theatre. + +The piece was _Faust_, adapted from Goethe, and was admirably +performed, more especially the parts of "Mephistopheles" and +"Margaret," in which Madame Dorval acts inimitably. This actress has +great merit; and the earnestness of her manner, and the touching tones +of her voice, give a great air of truth to her performances. The +prison-scene was powerfully acted; and the madness of "Margaret" when +stretched on her bed of straw, resisting the vain efforts of her lover +to rescue her, had a fearful reality. + +The character of "Margaret" is a fine conception, and Goethe has +wrought it out beautifully. The simplicity, gentleness, and warm +feelings of the village maiden, excite a strong interest for her, even +when worked upon by Vanity; that alloy which, alas for Woman's virtue +and happiness! is too frequently found mixed up in the pure ore of her +nature. + +The childish delight with which poor "Margaret" contemplates the +trinkets presented by her lover; the baleful ascendency acquired over +her by her female companion; and her rapid descent in the path of evil +when, as is ever the case, the commission of one sin entails so many, +render this drama a very effective moral lesson. + +Of all Goethe's works, _Faust_ is the one I most like; and, of all his +female characters, "Margaret" is that which I prefer. A fine vein of +philosophy runs through the whole of this production, in which the +vanity of human knowledge without goodness was never more powerfully +exemplified. + +"Faust," tempted by the desire of acquiring forbidden knowledge, yields +up his soul to the evil one; yet still retains enough of the humanity +of his nature to render him wretched, when her he loves, and has drawn +ruin on, suffers the penalty of his crime and of her love. + +Exquisitely has Goethe wrought out the effects of the all-engrossing +passion of the poor "Margaret"--a passion that even in madness, still +clings to its object with all woman's tenderness and devotion, +investing even insanity with the touching charm of love. How perfect is +the part when, endeavouring to pray, the hapless "Margaret" fancies +that she hears the gibbering of evil spirits interrupting her +supplications, so that even the consolation of addressing the Divinity +is denied her! + +But the last scene--that in the prison--is the most powerful of all. +Never was madness more touchingly delineated, or woman's nature more +truly developed;--that nature so little understood by those who are so +prone to pervert it, and whose triumphs over its virtues are always +achieved by means of the excess of that propensity to love, and to +believe in the truth of the object beloved, which is one of the most +beautiful characteristics in woman; though, wo to her! it is but too +often used to her undoing. + +The feelings of poor "Margaret" are those of all her sex, ere vice has +sullied the nature it never can wholly subdue. + +Mr. and Mrs. Hare left Paris to-day. I regret their departure; for she +is lively and agreeable, and I have known him so long, and like him so +well, that their society afforded me pleasure. + +A large party at dinner, yesterday; among whom, was Mr. M----, who has +acquired a certain celebrity for his _bons mots_. He is said to be +decidedly clever, and to know the world thoroughly: appreciating it at +its just value, and using it as if formed for his peculiar profit and +pleasure. He is lately returned from England, where he has been +received with that hospitality that characterises the English, and has +gone a round of visits to many of the best houses. + +He spoke in high terms of the hospitality he had experienced, but +agreed in the opinion I have often heard Lord Byron give, that the +society in English country-houses is any thing but agreeable. + +I had heard so much of Mr. M----, that I listened to his conversation +with more interest than I might have done, had not so many reports of +his shrewdness and wit reached me. Neither seem to have been overrated; +for nothing escapes his quick perception; and his caustic wit is +unsparingly and fearlessly applied to all subjects and persons that +excite it into action. + +He appears to be a privileged person--an anomaly seldom innoxiously +permitted in society: for those who may say _all they_ please, rarely +abstain from saying much that may displease others; and, though a laugh +may he often excited by their wit, some one of the circle is sure to be +wounded by it. + +Great wit is not often allied to good-nature, for the indulgence of the +first is destructive to the existence of the second, except where the +wit is tempered by a more than ordinary share of sensibility and +refinement, directing its exercise towards works of imagination, +instead of playing it off, as is too frequently the case, against those +with whom its owner may come in contact. + +Byron, had he not been a poet, would have become a wit in society; and, +instead of delighting his readers, would have wounded his associates. +Luckily for others, as well as for his own fame, he devoted to +literature that ready and brilliant wit which sparkles in so many of +his pages, instead of condescending to expend it in _bons mots_, or +_réparties_, that might have set the table on a roar, and have been +afterwards, as often occurs, mutilated in being repeated by, others. + +The quickness of apprehension peculiar to the French, joined to the +excessive _amour propre_, which is one of the most striking of their +characteristics, render them exceedingly susceptible to the arrows of +wit; which, when barbed by ridicule, inflict wounds on their vanity +difficult to be healed, and which they are ever ready to avenge. + +But this very acuteness of apprehension induces a caution in not +resenting the assaults of wit, unless the wounded can retort with +success by a similar weapon, or that the attack has been so obvious +that he is justified in resenting it by a less poetical one. Hence +arises a difficult position for him on whom a wit is pleased to +exercise his talent; and this is one of the many reasons why privileged +persons seldom add much to the harmony of society. + +Went last night to the Porte St. Martin, and saw _Sept Heures_ +represented. This piece has excited a considerable sensation at Paris; +and the part of the heroine, "Charlotte Corday," being enacted by +Madame Dorval, a very clever actress, it is very popular. + +"Charlotte Corday" is represented in the piece, not as a heroine +actuated purely by patriotic motives in seeking the destruction of a +tyrant who inflicted such wounds on her country, but by the less +sublime one of avenging the death of her lover. This, in my opinion, +lessens the interest of the drama, and atones not for the horror always +inspired by a woman's arming herself for a scene of blood. + +The taste of the Parisians has, I think, greatly degenerated, both in +their light literature and their dramas. The desire for excitement, and +not a decrease of talent, is the cause; and this morbid craving for it +will, I fear, lead to injurious consequences, not only in literature, +but in other and graver things. + +The schoolmaster is, indeed, abroad in France, and has in all parts of +it found apt scholars--perhaps, too apt; and, like all such, the +digestion of what is acquired does not equal the appetite for +acquisition: consequently, the knowledge gained is as yet somewhat +crude and unavailable. Nevertheless, the people are making rapid +strides in improvement; and ignorance will soon be more rare than +knowledge formerly was. + +At present, their minds are somewhat unsettled by the recentness of +their progress; and in the exuberance consequent on such a state, some +danger is to be apprehended. + +Like a room from which light has been long excluded, and in which a +large window is opened, all the disagreeable objects in it so long +shrouded in darkness are so fully revealed, that the owner, becoming +impatient to remove them and substitute others in their place, often +does so at the expense of appropriateness, and crowds the chamber with +a heterogeneous _mélange_ of furniture, which, however useful in +separate parts, are too incongruous to produce a good effect. So the +minds of the French people are now too enlightened any longer to suffer +the prejudices that formerly filled them to remain, and have, in their +impatience, stored them with new ideas and opinions--many of them good +and useful, but too hastily adopted, and not in harmony with each other +to be productive of a good result, until time has enabled their owners +to class and arrange them. + +I am every day more forcibly struck with the natural quickness and +intelligence of the people here: but this very quickness is a cause +that may tend to retard their progress in knowledge, by inducing them +to jump at conclusions, instead of marching slowly but steadily to +them; and conclusions so rapidly made are apt to be as hastily acted +upon, and, consequently, occasion errors that take some time to be +discovered, and still more to be corrected, before the truth is +attained. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + + +Made the acquaintance of the celebrated Dr. P----, today, at Madame +C----'s. He is a very interesting old man; and, though infirm in body, +his mind is as fresh, and his vivacity as unimpaired, as if he had not +numbered forty instead of eighty summers. + +I am partial to the society of clever medical men, for the +opportunities afforded them of becoming acquainted with human nature, +by studying it under all the phases of illness, convalescence, and on +the bed of death, when the real character is exposed unveiled from the +motives that so often shadow, if not give it a false character, in the +days of health, render their conversation very interesting. + +I have observed, too, that the knowledge of human nature thus attained +neither hardens the heart nor blunts the sensibility, for some of the +most kind-natured men I ever knew were also the most skilful physicians +and admirable, surgeons. Among these is Mr. Guthrie, of London, whose +rare dexterity in his art I have often thought may be in a great degree +attributed to this very kindness of nature, which has induced him to +bestow a more than usual attention to acquiring it, in order to abridge +the sufferings of his patients. + +In operations on the eye, in which he has gained such a justly merited +celebrity, I have been told by those from whose eyes he had removed +cataracts, that his precision and celerity are so extraordinary as to +appear to them little short of miraculous. + +Talking on this subject with Dr. P---- to-day, he observed, that he +considered strength of mind and kindness of heart indispensable +requisites to form a surgeon; and that it was a mistake to suppose that +these qualities had any other than a salutary influence over the nerves +of a surgeon. + +"It braces them, Madame," said he; "for pity towards the patient +induces an operator to perform his difficult task _con amore_, in order +to relieve him." + +Dr. P---- has nearly lost his voice, and speaks in a low but distinct +whisper. Tall and thin, with a face pale as marble, but full of +intelligence, he looks, when bending on his gold-headed cane, the very +_beau idéal_ of a physician of _la Vieille Cour_, and he still retains +the costume of that epoch. His manner, half jest and half earnest, +gives an idea of what that of the Philosopher of Ferney must have been +when in a good humour, and adds piquancy to his narrations. Madame +C----, who is an especial favourite of his, and who can draw him out in +conversation better than any one else, in paying him a delicate and +well-timed compliment on his celebrity, added, that few had ever so +well merited it. + +"Ah! Madame, celebrity is not always accorded to real merit," said he, +smiling. "I have before told Madame that mine--if I may be permitted to +recur to it--was gained by an artifice I had recourse to, and without +which, I firmly believe I should have remained unknown." + +"No, no! my dear doctor," replied Madame C----; "your merit must have, +in time, acquired you the great fame you enjoy." The Doctor laughed +heartily, but persisted in denying this; and the lady urged him to +relate to me the plan he had so successfully pursued in abridging his +road to Fortune. He seemed flattered by her request, and by my desire +for his compliance with it, and commenced as follows:-- + + "I came from the country, Mesdames, with no inconsiderable + claims to distinction in my profession. I had studied it _con + amore_, and, urged by the desire that continually haunted me + of becoming a benefactor to mankind--ay! ladies, and still + more anxious to relieve your fair and gentle sex from those + ills to which the delicacy of your frames and the sensibility + of your minds so peculiarly expose you--I came to Paris with + little money and few friends, and those few possessed no + power to forward my interest. + + "It is true they recommended me to such of their acquaintance + as needed advice; but whether, owing to the season being a + peculiarly healthy one, or that the acquaintances of my + friends enjoyed an unusual portion of good health, I was + seldom called on to attend them; and, when I was, the + remuneration offered was proportioned, not to the relief + afforded, but to the want of fame of him who lent it. + + "My purse diminished even more rapidly than my hopes, though + they, too, began to fade; and it was with a heavy heart that + I look my pen to write home to those dear friends who + believed that Paris was a second _El Dorado_, where all who + sought--must find--Fortune. + + "At length, when one night stretched on my humble bed, and + sleepless from the cares that pressed heavily on my mind, it + occurred to me that I must put some plan into action for + getting myself known; and one suggested itself, which I next + day adopted. + + "I changed one of the few remaining _louis d'or_ in my purse, + and, sallying forth into one of the most popular streets, I + wrote down the addresses of some of the most + respectable-looking houses, and going up to a porter, desired + him to knock at the doors named, and inquire if the + celebrated Doctor P---- was there, as his presence was + immediately required at the hôtel of the Duc de ----. + + "I despatched no less than twenty messengers through the + different streets on the same errand, and having succeeded in + persuading each that it was of the utmost importance that the + celebrated Doctor P---- should be found, they persuaded the + owners of the houses of the same necessity. + + "I persevered in this system for a few days, and then tried + its efficacy at night, thinking that, when knocked up from + their beds, people would be sure to be more impressed with + the importance of a doctor in such general request. + + "My scheme succeeded. In a few days, I was repeatedly called + in by various patients, and liberal fees poured into the + purse of the celebrated Dr. P----. Unfortunately my practice, + although every day multiplying even beyond my most sanguine + hopes, was entirely confined to the _bourgeoisie_; and though + they paid well, my ambition pointed to higher game, and I + longed to feel the pulses of _la haute noblesse_, and to + ascertain if the fine porcelain of which I had heard they + were formed was indeed as much superior to the delf of which + the _bourgeoisie_ are said to be manufactured, as I was led + to believe. + + "Luckily for me, the _femme de chambre_ of a grand lady + fancied herself ill, mentioned the fancy to her friend, who + was one of my patients, and who instantly advised her to + consult the _celebrated_ Dr. P----, adding a lively account + of the extent of my practice and the great request I was in. + + "The _femme de chambre_ consulted me, described symptoms + enough to baffle all the schools of medicine in France, so + various and contradictory were they, and I, discovering that + she really had nothing the matter with her, advised what I + knew would be very palatable to her,--namely, a very + nutritious _régime_, as much air and amusement as was + possible in her position, and gave her a prescription for + some gentle medicine, to prevent any evil effect from the + luxurious fare I had recommended. + + "I was half tempted to refuse the fee she slipped into my + hand, but I recollected that people never value what they get + for nothing, and so I pocketed it. + + "In a few days, I was sent for to the Hôtel--to attend the + Duchesse de ---- the mistress of the said _femme de chambre_. + This was an event beyond my hopes, and I determined to profit + by it. I found the Duchesse suffering under a malady--if + malady it could be called--to which I have since discovered + grand ladies are peculiarly subject; namely, a superfluity of + _embonpoint_, occasioned by luxurious habits and the want of + exercise. + + "'I am very much indisposed, Doctor,' lisped the lady, 'and + your prescription has done my _femme de chambre_ so much + good, that I determined to send for you. I am so very ill, + that I am fast losing my shape; my face, too, is no longer + the same; and my feet and hands are not to be recognised.' + + "I drew out my watch, felt her pulse, looked grave, + inquired--though it was useless, her _embonpoint_ having + revealed it--what were her general habits and _régime_; and + then, having written a prescription, urged the necessity of + her abandoning _café au lait_, rich _consommés_, and + high-seasoned _entrées_; recommended early rising and + constant exercise; and promised that a strict attention to my + advice would soon restore her health, and with it her shape. + + "I was told to call every day until further orders; and I, + pleading the excess of occupation which would render my daily + visits to her so difficult, consented to make them, only on + condition that my fair patient was to walk with me every day + six times around the garden of her hôtel; for I guessed she + was too indolent to persevere in taking exercise if left to + herself. + + "The system I pursued with her succeeded perfectly. I was + then a very active man, and I walked so fast that I left the + Duchesse every day when our promenade ended bathed in a + copious perspiration; which, aided by the medicine and + sparing _régime_, soon restored her figure to its former + symmetry. + + "At her hôtel, I daily met ladies of the highest rank and + distinction, many of whom were suffering from a similar + cause, the same annoyance for which the Duchesse consulted + me; and I then discovered that there is no malady, however + grave, so distressing to your sex, ladies, or for the cure of + which they are so willing to submit to the most disagreeable + _régime_, as for aught that impairs their personal beauty. + + "When her female friends saw the improvement effected in the + appearance of the Duchesse by my treatment, I was consulted + by them all, and my fame and fortune rapidly increased. I was + proclaimed to be the most wonderful physician, and to have + effected the most extraordinary cures; when, in truth, I but + consulted Nature, and aided her efforts. + + "Shortly after this period, a grand lady, an acquaintance of + one of my many patients among the _noblesse_, consulted me; + and here the case was wholly different to that of the + Duchesse, for this lady had grown so thin, that + wrinkles--those most frightful of all symptoms of decaying + beauty--had made their appearance. My new patient told me + that, hearing that hitherto my great celebrity had been + acquired by the cure of obesity, she feared it was useless to + consult me for a disease of so opposite a nature, but even + still more distressing. + + "I inquired into her habits and _régime_. Found that she took + violent exercise; was abstemious at table; drank strong green + tea, and coffee without cream or milk; disliked nutritious + food; and, though she sat up late, was an early riser. I + ordered her the frequent use of warm baths, and to take all + that I had prohibited the Duchesse; permitted only gentle + exercise in a carriage; and, in short, soon succeeded in + rendering the thin lady plump and rosy, to the great joy of + herself, and the wonder of her friends. + + "This treatment, which was only what any one possessed of + common sense would have prescribed in such a case, extended + my fame far and wide. Fat and thin ladies flocked to me for + advice, and not only liberally rewarded the success of my + system, but sounded my praises in all quarters. + + "I became the doctor _à la mode_, soon amassed an + independence, and, though not without a confidence in my own + skill--for I have never lost any opportunity of improvement + in my profession--I must confess that I still retain the + conviction that the celebrated Doctor P---- would have had + little chance, at least for many years, of acquiring either + fame or wealth, had he not employed the means I have + confessed to you, ladies." + +I cannot do justice to this _spirituel_ old man's mode of telling the +story, or describe the finesse of his arch smile while recounting it. + +Mr. P.C. Scarlett, a son of our excellent and valued friend Sir James +Scarlett[3], dined here yesterday. He is a fine young man, clever, +well-informed, and amiable, with the same benignant countenance and +urbanity of manner that are so remarkable in his father. + +I remember how much struck I was with Sir James Scarlett's countenance +when he was first presented to me. It has in it such a happy mixture of +sparkling intelligence and good-nature that I was immediately pleased +with him, even before I had an opportunity of knowing the rare and +excellent qualities for which he is distinguished, and the treasures of +knowledge with which his mind is stored. + +I have seldom met any man so well versed in literature as Sir James +Scarlett, or with a more refined taste for it; and when one reflects on +the arduous duties of his profession--duties which he has ever +fulfilled with such credit to himself and advantage to others--it seems +little short of miraculous how he could have found time to have made +himself so intimately acquainted, not only with the classics, but with +all the elegant literature of England and France. + +How many pleasant days have I passed in the society of Lord Erskine and +Sir James Scarlett! Poor Lord Erskine! never more shall I hear your +eloquent tongue utter _bons mots_ in which wit sparkled, but ill-nature +never appeared; nor see your luminous eyes flashing with joyousness, as +when, surrounded by friends at the festive board, you rendered the +banquet indeed "the feast of reason and the flow of soul!" + +Mr. H---- B---- dined here yesterday, and he talked over the pleasant +days we had passed in Italy. He is an excellent specimen of the young +men of the present day. Well-informed, and with a mind highly +cultivated, he has travelled much in other countries, without losing +any of the good qualities and habits peculiar to his own. + +Went to the Théàtre Italien, last night, and heard Madame Malibran sing +for the first time. Her personation of "Desdemona" is exquisite, and +the thrilling tones of her voice were in perfect harmony with the deep +sensibility she evinced in every look and movement. + +I have heard no singer to please me comparable to Malibran: there is +something positively electrical in the effect she produces on my +feelings. Her acting is as original as it is effective; Passion and +Nature are her guides, and she abandons herself to them _con amore_. + +The only defect I can discover in her singing is an excess of +_fiorituri_, that sometimes destroys the _vraisemblance_ of the _rôle_ +she is enacting, and makes one think more of the wonderful singer than +of "Desdemona." This defect, however, is atoned for by the bursts of +passion into which her powerful voice breaks when some deep emotion is +to be expressed, and the accomplished singer is forgotten in the +impassioned "Desdemona." + +Spent last evening at Madame C----'s, and met there la Duchcsse de la +Force, la Marquise de Bréhan, and the usual _habitués de la maison_. La +Duchesse is one of _l'ancien régime_, though less ceremonious than they +are in general said to be, and appears to be as good-natured as she is +good-humoured. + +The Marquise de B---- told me some amusing anecdotes of the Imperial +Court, and of the gaiety and love of dress of the beautiful Princesse +Pauline Borghese, to whom she was much attached. + +The whole of the Buonaparte family seem to have possessed, in an +eminent degree, the happy art of conciliating good-will in those around +them--an art necessary in all persons filling elevated positions, but +doubly so in those who have achieved their own elevation. The family of +the Emperor Napoleon were remarkable for the kindness and consideration +they invariably evinced for those who in any way depended on them, yet +a natural dignity of manner precluded the possibility of familiarity. + +The Marquise de B---- having mentioned the Duchesse d'Abrantes, Madame +C---- inquired kindly for her, and the Marquise told her that she had +been only a few days before to pay her a visit. + +Anxious to learn something of a woman who filled so distinguished a +position during the imperial dynasty, I questioned Madame de B----, and +learned that the Duchesse d'Abrantes, who for many years lived in a +style of splendour that, even in the palmy days of her husband's +prosperity, when, governor of Paris, he supported almost a regal +establishment, excited the surprise, if not envy, of his +contemporaries, is now reduced to so limited an income that many of the +comforts, if not the necessaries of life, are denied her. + +"She supports her privations cheerfully," added the Marquise; "her +conversation abounds in anecdotes of remarkable people, and she relates +them with a vivacity and piquancy peculiar to her, which render her +society very amusing and interesting. The humanity, if not the policy, +of the Bourbons may be questioned in their leaving the widow of a brave +general in a state of poverty that must remind her, with bitterness, of +the altered fortunes entailed on her and many others by their +restoration." + +When indemnities were granted to those whom the Revolution, which drove +the royal family from France, nearly beggared, it would have been well +if a modest competency had been assigned to those whose sons and +husbands shed their blood for their country, and helped to achieve for +it that military glory which none can deny it. + +Went over the Luxembourg Palace and Gardens to-day. The only change in +the former since I last saw it, is that some pictures, painted by +French artists at Rome, and very creditable to them, have been added to +its collection. + +I like these old gardens, with their formal walks and prim _parterres_; +I like also the company by which they are chiefly frequented, +consisting of old people and young children. + +Along the walk exposed to the southern aspect, several groups of old +men were sauntering, conversing with an animation seldom seen in +sexagenarians, except in France; old women, too, many of them holding +lapdogs by a riband, and attended by a female servant, were taking +their daily walk; while, occasionally, might be seen an elderly couple +exhibiting towards each other an assiduity pleasant to behold, +displayed by the husband's arranging the shawl or cloak of his wife, or +the wife gently brushing away with her glove the silken threads left on +his sleeve by its contact with hers. + +No little portion of the love that united them in youth may still be +witnessed in these old couples. Each has lost every trace of the +comeliness that first attracted them to each other; but they remember +what they were, and memory, gilding the past, shews each to the other, +not as they actually are, but as they were many a long year ago. No +face, however fair,--not even the blooming one of their favourite +granddaughter, seems so lovely to the uxorious old husband as the one +he remembers to have been so proud of forty years ago, and which still +beams on him with an expression of tenderness that reminds him of its +former beauty. And she, too, with what complacency does she listen to +his oft-repealed reminiscences of her youthful attractions, and how +dear is the bond that still unites them! + +Plain and uninteresting in the eyes of others, they present only the +aspect of age; alas! never lovely: but in them at least other gleams of +past good looks recall the past, when each considered the other +peerless, though now they alone remember that "such things were, and +were most sweet." + +Their youth and their maturity have been passed together; their joys +and their sorrows have been shared, and they are advancing hand in hand +towards that rapid descent in the mountain of life, at whose base is +the grave, hoping that in death they may not be divided. + +Who can look at those old couples, and not feel impressed with the +sanctity and blessedness of marriage, which, binding two destinies in +one, giving the same interests and the same objects of affection to +both, secures for each a companionship and a consolation for those days +which must come to all, when, fallen into the sere and yellow leaf, the +society of the young and gay can no longer charm them, and the present +requires the recollections of the past to render it less cheerless; +recollections only to be found in those who have grown old together? + +Yonder old man, leaning on the arm of a middle-aged woman, who seems +less like his housekeeper than his domestic tyrant, offers an example +of the fate of those who have lived in what is commonly called a state +of single blessedness. A youth and maturity of pleasure have been +followed by an old age of infirmity. + +He had a thousand pleasantries ready to utter on the subject of +marriage whenever it was mentioned; could cite endless examples of +unhappy couples (forgetting to name a single one of the happy); and +laughed and shook his head as he declared that _he_ never would be +caught. + +As long as health remained, and that he could pass his evenings in gay +society, or at the theatres, he felt not the want of that greatest of +all comforts, _home_; a comfort inseparable from a wife to share, as +well as to make it. But the first attack of illness that confined him +to his room, with no tender hand to smooth his pillow, no gentle voice +to inquire into his wants, or to minister to them; no one to anticipate +his wishes almost before he had framed them; no loving face to look +fondly and anxiously on him; made him feel sensible, that though a +bachelor's life of pleasure may pass agreeably enough during the season +of health, it is a most cheerless and dreary state of existence when +deprived of it. + +The discovery is, alas! made too late. All that he had ever heard or +urged against matrimony applies tenfold to cases where it is contracted +in old age. He can still admire youth and beauty, but he knows that +with such there can never exist any reciprocity with his own feelings. + +The young beauty who would barter her charms for his wealth, would be, +he knows, no suitable companion for his fire-side; and to wed some +staid dame whose youth has been passed with some dear, kind, first +husband--of whom, if not often speaking, she might in all human +probability be sometimes thinking--has something too repugnant to his +feelings to be thought of. + +An elderly maiden with a lap-dog, or a parrot, would be even more +insupportable; for how could one who has never had to consult the +pleasure or wishes of aught save self be able to study his? No! it is +now too late to think of marriage, and what, therefore, is to be done? +In this emergency, a severe attack of rheumatism confines him to his +chamber for many days. His valet is found out to be clumsy and awkward +in assisting him to put on his flannel gloves; the housekeeper, who is +called up to receive instructions about some particular broth that he +requires, is asked to officiate, and suggests so many little comforts, +and evinces so much sympathy for his sufferings, that she is soon +installed as nurse. + +By administering to his wants, and still more by flattery and +obsequiousness, she soon renders herself indispensable to the invalid. +She is proclaimed to be a treasure, and her accounts, which hitherto +had been sharply scrutinised and severely censured, are henceforth +allowed to pass unblamed, and, consequently, soon amount to double the +sum which had formerly, and with reason, been found fault with. The +slightest symptom of illness is magnified into a serious attack by the +supposed affectionate and assiduous nurse, until her master, in +compliance with her advice, becomes a confirmed hypochondriac, whom she +governs despotically under a show of devoted attachment. + +She has, by slow but sure degrees, alienated him from all his +relatives, and banished from his house the few friends whom she +believed possessed any influence over him. Having rendered herself +essential to his comfort, she menaces him continually with the threat +of leaving his service; and is only induced to remain by a considerable +increase to her salary, though not, as she asserts, by any interested +motive. + +She lately informed her master, that she was "very sorry--very sorry, +indeed--but it was time for her to secure her future comfort; and M. +----, the rich grocer, had proposed marriage to her, and offered a good +settlement. It would be a great grief to her to leave so kind a master, +especially as she knew no one to whom she could confide the care of +him; but a settlement of 4000 francs a-year was not to be refused, and +she might never again receive so good an offer." + +The proposal of the rich grocer, which never existed but in her own +fertile brain, is rejected, and her continuance as housekeeper and +nurse secured by a settlement of a similar sum made on her by her +master; who congratulates himself on having accomplished so +advantageous a bargain, while she is laughing with the valet at his +credulity. + +This same valet, finding her influence to be omnipotent with his +master, determines on marrying her secretly, that they may join in +plundering the valetudinarian, whose infirmities furnish a perpetual +subject for the coarse pleasantries of both these ungrateful menials. + +She is now giving him his daily walk on the sunny side of the +Luxembourg Gardens. See how she turns abruptly down an alley, in +despite of his request to continue where he was: but the truth is, her +Argus eyes have discovered his niece and her beautiful children walking +at a distance; and, as she has not only prevented their admission to +his house, but concealed their visits, intercepted their letters, +making him believe they are absent from Paris and have forgotten him, +she now precludes their meeting; while to his querulous murmurs at +being hurried along, she answers that the alley she has taken him to is +more sheltered. + +It is true the invalid sometimes half suspects, not only that he is +governed, but somewhat despotically, too, by the worthy and +affectionate creature, whose sole study it is to take care of his +health. He considers it hard to be debarred from sending for one of his +old friends to play a party at picquet, or a game at chess with him, +during the long winter evenings; and he thinks it would be pleasanter +to have some of his female relatives occasionally to dinner: but as the +least hint on these subjects never fails to produce ill-humour on the +part of the "good Jeanette," who declares that such unreasonable +indulgence would inevitably destroy the precious health of Monsieur, he +submits to her will; and while wholly governed by an ignorant and +artful servant, can still smile that he is free from being henpecked by +a wife. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + + +In no part of Paris are so many children to be seen us in the gardens +of the Luxembourg. At every step may be encountered groups of playful +creatures of every age, from the infant slumbering in its nurse's arms, +to the healthful girl holding her little brother or sister by the hand +as her little charge toddles along; or the manly boy, who gives his arm +to his younger sister with all the air of protection of manhood. + +What joyous sounds of mirth come from each group--the clear voices +ringing pleasantly on the ear, from creatures fair and blooming as the +flowers of the rich _parterres_ among which they wander! How each group +examines the other--half-disposed to join in each other's sports, but +withheld by a vague fear of making the first advances--a fear which +indicates that even already civilisation and the artificial habits it +engenders, have taught them the restraint it imposes! + +The nurses, too, scrutinise each other, and their little masters and +misses, as they meet. They take in at a glance the toilettes of each, +and judge with an extraordinary accuracy the station of life to which +they appertain. + +The child of noble birth is known by the simplicity of its dress and +the good manners of its _bonne_; while that of _the parvenu_ is at once +recognised by the showiness and expensiveness of its clothes, and the +superciliousness of its nurse, who, accustomed to the purse-proud +pretensions of her employers, values nothing so much as all the +attributes that indicate the possession of wealth. + +The little children look wistfully at each other every time they meet; +then begin to smile, and at length approach, and join, half-timidly, +half-laughingly, in each other's sports. The nurses, too, draw near, +enter into a conversation, in which each endeavours to insinuate the +importance of her young charge, and consequently her own; while the +children have already contracted an intimacy, which is exemplified by +running hand-in-hand together, their clear jocund voices being mingled. + +It is a beautiful sight to behold these gay creatures, who have little +more than passed the first two or three years of life, with the roses +of health glowing on their dimpled cheeks, and the joyousness of +infancy sparkling in their eyes. + +They know nought of existence but its smiles; and, caressed by doating +parents, have not a want unsatisfied. Entering life all hope and +gaiety, what a contrast do they offer to the groups of old men who must +so soon leave it, who are basking in the sunshine so near them! Yet +they, too, have had their hours of joyous infancy; and, old and faded +as they are, they have been doated on, as they gambolled like the happy +little beings they now pause to contemplate. + +There was something touching in the contrast of youth and age brought +thus together, and I thought that more than one of the old men seemed +to feel it as they looked on the happy children. + +I met my new acquaintance, Dr. P----, who was walking with two or three +_savans_; and, having spoken to him, he joined us in our promenade, and +greatly added to its pleasure by his sensible remarks and by his +cheerful tone of mind. He told me that the sight of the fine children +daily to be met in the Luxembourg Gardens, was as exhilarating to his +spirits as the gay flowers in the _parterre_ and that he had frequently +prescribed a walk here to those whose minds stood in need of such a +stimulant. + +The General and Countess d'Orsay arrived yesterday from their +_château_, in Franche-Comté. A long correspondence had taught me to +appreciate the gifted mind of Madame, who, to solid attainments, joins +a sparkling wit and vivacity that render her conversation delightful. + +The Countess d'Orsay has been a celebrated beauty; and, though a +grandmother, still retains considerable traces of it. Her countenance +is so _spirituelle_ and piquant, that it gives additional point to the +clever things she perpetually utters; and what greatly enhances her +attractions is the perfect freedom from any of the airs of a _bel +esprit_, and the total exemption from affectation that distinguishes +her. + +General d'Orsay, known from his youth as Le Beau d'Orsay, still +justifies the appellation, for he is the handsomest man of his age that +I have ever beheld. It is said that when the Emperor Napoleon first saw +him, he observed that he would make an admirable model for a Jupiter, +so noble and commanding was the character of his beauty. + +Like most people remarkable for good looks, General d'Orsay is reported +to have been wholly free from vanity; to which, perhaps, may be +attributed the general assent accorded to his personal attractions +which, while universally admitted, excited none of the envy and +ill-will which such advantages but too often draw on their possessor. +There is a calm and dignified simplicity in the manners of General +d'Orsay, that harmonises well with his lofty bearing. + +It is very gratifying to witness the affection and good intelligence +that reign in the domestic circles in France. Grandfathers and +grandmothers here meet with an attention from their children and +grandchildren, the demonstrations of which are very touching; and I +often see gay and brilliant parties abandoned by some of those with +whom I am in the habit of daily intercourse, in order that they may +pass the evenings with their aged relatives. + +Frequently do I see the beautiful Duchesse de Guiche enter the _salon_ +of her grandmother, sparkling in diamonds, after having hurried away +from some splendid _fête_, of which she was the brightest ornament, to +spend an hour with her before she retired to rest; and the Countess +d'Orsay is so devoted to her mother, that nearly her whole time is +passed with her. + +It is pleasant to see the mother and grandmother inspecting and +commenting on the toilette of the lovely daughter, of whom they are so +justly proud, while she is wholly occupied in inquiring about the +health of each, or answering their questions relative to that of her +children. + +The good and venerable Duc de Gramont examines his daughter-in-law +through his eyeglass, and, with an air of paternal affection, observes +to General d'Orsay, "How well our daughter looks to-night!" + +Madame Craufurd, referring to her great age last evening, said to me, +and a tear stole down her cheek while she spoke: + + "Ah, my dear friend! how can I think that I must soon leave + all those who love me so much, and whom I so dote on, without + bitter regret? Yes, I am too happy here to be as resigned as + I ought to be to meet death." + +Saw Potier in the _Ci-devant Jeune Homme_ last night. It is an +excellent piece of acting, from the first scene where he appears in all +the infirmity of age, in his night-cap and flannel dressing-gown, to +the last, in which he portrays tho would-be young man. His face, his +figure, his cough, are inimitable; and when he recounts to his servant +the gaieties of the previous night, the hollow cheek, sunken eye, and +hurried breathing of the "Ci-devant Jeune Homme" render the scene most +impressive. + +Nothing could be more comic than the metamorphose effected in his +appearance by dress, except it were his endeavours to assume an air and +countenance suitable to the juvenility of his toilette; while, at +intervals, some irrepressible symptom of infirmity reminded the +audience of the pangs the effort to appear young inflicted on him. +Potier is a finished actor, and leaves nothing to be wished, except +that he may long continue to perform and delight his audience as last +night. + +Dined yesterday at the Countess d'Orsay's, with a large family party. +The only stranger was Sir Francis Burdett. A most agreeable dinner, +followed by a very pleasant evening. I have seldom seen any Englishman +enjoy French society as much as the worthy baronet does. He speaks the +language with great facility, is well acquainted with its literature, +and has none of the prejudices which militate so much against acquiring +a perfect knowledge of the manners and customs of a foreign country. + +French society has decidedly one great superiority over English, and +that is its freedom from those topics which too often engross so +considerable a portion of male conversation, even in the presence of +ladies, in England. I have often passed the evening previously and +subsequently to a race, in which many of the men present took a lively +interest, without ever hearing it made the subject of conversation. +Could this be said of a party in England, on a similar occasion? + +Nor do the men here talk of their shooting or hunting before women, as +with us. This is a great relief, for in England many a woman is doomed +to listen to interminable tales of slaughtered grouse, partridges, and +pheasants; of hair breadth "'scapes by flood and field," and venturous +leaps, the descriptions of which leave one in doubt whether the +narrator or his horse be the greater animal of the two, and render the +poor listener more fatigued by the recital than either was by the +longest chase. + +A dissertation on the comparative merits of Manton's, Lancaster's, and +Moore's guns, and the advantage of percussion locks, it is true, +generally diversifies the conversation. + +Then how edifying it is to hear the pedigrees of horses--the odds for +and against the favourite winning such or such a race--the good or bad +books of the talkers--the hedging or backing of the betters! Yet all +this are women condemned to hear on the eve of a race, or during the +shooting or hunting season, should their evil stars bring them into the +society of any of the Nimrods or sportsmen of the day, who think it not +only allowable to devote nearly all their time to such pursuits, but to +talk of little else. + +The woman who aims at being popular in her county, must not only listen +patiently, but evince a lively interest in these _intellectual_ +occupations; while, if the truth was confessed, she is thoroughly +_ennuyée_ by these details of them: or if not, it must be inferred that +she has lost much of the refinement of mind and taste peculiar to the +well-educated portion of her sex. + +I do not object to men liking racing, hunting, and shooting. The first +preserves the breed of horses, for which England is so justly +celebrated, and hunting keeps up the skill in horsemanship in which our +men excel. What I do object to is their making these pursuits the +constant topics of conversation before women, instead of selecting +those more suitable to the tastes and habits of the latter. + +There is none of the affectation of avoiding subjects supposed to be +uninteresting to women visible in the men here. They do not utter with +a smile--half pity, half condescension,--"we must not talk politics +before the ladies;" they merely avoid entering into discussions, or +exhibiting party spirit, and shew their deference for female society by +speaking on literature, on which they politely seem to take for granted +that women are well informed. + +Perhaps this deferential treatment of the gentler sex may not be wholly +caused by the good breeding of the men in France; for I strongly +suspect that the women here would be very little disposed to submit to +the _nonchalance_ that prompts the conduct I have referred to in +England, and that any man who would make his horses or his field-sports +the topic of discourse in their presence, would soon find himself +expelled from their society. + +Frenchwomen still think, and with reason, that they govern the tone of +the circles in which they move, and look with jealousy on any +infringement of the respectful attention they consider to be their due. + +A few nights ago I saw the Duchesse de Guiche, on her return from a +reception at court, sparkling in diamonds, and looking so beautiful +that she reminded me of Burke's description of the lovely and +unfortunate Marie-Antoinette. To-day I thought her still more +attractive, when, wearing only a simple white _peignoir_, and her +matchless hair bound tightly round her classically shaped head, I saw +her enacting the part of _garde-malade_ to her children, who have +caught the measles. + +With a large, and well-chosen nursery-establishment, she would confide +her precious charge to no care but her own, and moved from each little +white bed to the other with noiseless step and anxious glance, bringing +comfort to the dear little invalid in each. No wonder that her children +adore her, for never was there so devoted a mother. + +In the meridian of youth and beauty, and filling so brilliant a +position in France, it is touching to witness how wholly engrossed this +amiable young woman's thoughts are by her domestic duties. She incites, +by sharing, the studies of her boys; and already is her little girl, +owing to her mother's judicious system, cited as a model. + +It was pleasant to see the Duc, when released from his attendance at +court, hurrying into the sick chamber of his children, and their +languid eyes, lighting up with a momentary animation, and their +feverish lips relaxing into a smile, at the sound of his well-known +voice. And this is the couple considered to be "the glass of fashion +and the mould of form," the observed of all observers, of the courtly +circle at Paris! + +Who could behold them as I have done, in that sick room, without +acknowledging that, despite of all that has been said of the +deleterious influence of courts on the feelings of those who live much +in them, the truly good pass unharmed through the dangerous ordeal? + +Went to the Théâtre des Nouveautés last night, where I saw _La Maison +du Rempart_. The Parisians seem to have decided taste for bringing +scenes of riot and disorder on the stage; and the tendency of such +exhibitions is any thing but salutary with so inflammable a people, and +in times like the present. + +One of the scenes of _La Maison du Rempart_ represents an armed mob +demolishing the house of a citizen--an act of violence that seemed to +afford great satisfaction to the majority of the audience; and, though +the period represented is that of the _Fronde_, the acts of the rabble +strongly assimilated with those of the same class in later times, when +the revolution let loose on hapless France the worst of all tyrants--a +reckless and sanguinary mob. I cannot help feeling alarmed at the +consequences likely to result from such performances. Sparks of fire +flung among gunpowder are not more dangerous. Shewing a populace what +they can effect by brutal force is a dangerous experiment; it is like +letting a tame lion see how easily he could overpower his keepers. + +Mr. Cuthbert and M. Charles Laffitte dined here yesterday. Both are +excellent specimens of their countries; the former being well-informed +and agreeable, and the latter possessing all the good sense we believe +to be peculiar to an Englishman, with the high breeding that appertains +to a thoroughly well-educated Frenchman. + +The advance of civilization was evident in both these gentlemen--the +Englishman speaking French with purity and fluency, and the Frenchman +speaking English like a born Briton. Twenty years ago, this would have +been considered a very rare occurrence, while now it excites little +remark. But it is not alone the languages of the different countries +that Mr. Cuthbert and M. Charles Laffitte have acquired, for both are +well acquainted with the literature of each, which renders their +society very agreeable. + +Spent last evening in the Rue d'Anjou, where I met Lady Combermere, the +Dowager Lady Hawarden, and Mrs. Masters. Lady Combermere is lively and +agreeable, _un peu romanesque_, which gives great originality to her +conversation, and sings Mrs. Arkwright's beautiful ballads with great +feeling. + +Mr. Charles Grant[4] dined here yesterday. He is a very sensible man, +possessing a vast fund of general information, with gentle and +highly-polished manners. What a charm there is in agreeable manners, +and how soon one feels at ease with those who possess them! + +Spent, or mis-spent, a great portion of the day in visiting the +curiosity shops on the _Quai Voltaire_, and came away from them with a +lighter purse than I entered. There is no resisting, at least I find it +so, the exquisite _porcelaine de Sèvres_, off which the dainty dames of +the reign of Louis the Fourteenth feasted, or which held their +_bouquets_, or _pot pourri_. An _étui of_ gold set with oriental agates +and brilliants, and a _flacon_ of rock crystal, both of which once +appertained to Madame de Sévigné, vanquished my prudence. + +Would that with the possession of these articles, often used by her, I +could also inherit the matchless grace with which her pen could invest +every subject it touched! But, alas! it is easier to acquire the +beautiful _bijouterie_, rendered still more valuable by having belonged +to celebrated people, than the talent that gained their celebrity; and +so I must be content with inhaling _esprit de rose_ from the _flacon_ +of Madame de Sévigné, without aspiring to any portion of the _esprit_ +for which she was so distinguished. + +I am now rich in the possession of objects once belonging to remarkable +women, and I am not a little content with my acquisitions. I can boast +the gold and enamelled pincushion of Madame de Maintenon, heart-shaped, +and stuck as full of pins as the hearts of the French Protestants were +with thorns by the revocation of the Edict of Nantes; to which she is +said to have so greatly contributed by her counsel to her infatuated +lover, Louis the Fourteenth. I can indulge in a pinch of snuff from the +_tabatière_ of the Marquise de Rambouillet, hold my court-plaster in +the _boîte à mouches_ of Ninon de l'Enclos, and cut ribands with the +scissors of Madame de Deffand. + +This desire of obtaining objects that have belonged to celebrated +people may be, and often is, considered puerile; but confess to the +weakness, and the contemplation of the little memorials I have named +awakens recollections in my mind fraught with interest. + +I can fancy Madame de Sévigné, who was as amiable as she was clever, +and whose tenderness towards her daughter is demonstrated so naturally +and touchingly in the letters she addressed to her, holding the +_flacon_ now mine to the nostrils of Madame de Grignan, in whose health +she was always so much more interested than in her own. + +I can see in my mind's eye the precise and demure Madame de Maintenon +taking a pin from the very pincushion now before me, to prevent the +opening of her kerchief, and so conceal even her throat from the prying +eyes of the aged voluptuary, whose passions the wily prude is said to +have excited by a concealment of a portion of her person that had, in +all probability, ceased to possess charms enough to produce this +effect, if revealed. + +This extreme reserve on the part of the mature coquette evinced a +profound knowledge of mankind, and, above all, of him on whom she +practised her arts. The profuse display of the bust and shoulders in +those days, when the ladies of the court left so little to the +imagination of the amorous monarch on whose heart so many of them had +designs, must have impaired the effect meant to have been achieved by +the indelicate exposure; for--hear it ye fair dames, with whose snowy +busts and dimpled shoulders the eyes of your male acquaintance are as +familiar as with your faces!--the charms of nature, however beautiful, +fall short of the ideal perfection accorded to them by the imagination, +when unseen. The clever Maintenon, aware of this fact, of which the +less wise of her sex are ignorant or forgetful, afforded a striking +contrast in her dress to the women around her, and piquing first the +curiosity, and then the passions, of the old libertine, acquired an +influence over him when she had long passed the meridian of her +personal attractions, which youthful beauties, who left him no room to +doubt their charms, or to exaggerate them as imagination is prone to +do, could never accomplish. + +This very pincushion, with its red velvet heart stuck with pins, was +probably a gift from the enamoured Louis, and meant to be symbolical of +the state of his own; which, in hardness, it might be truly said to +resemble. It may have often been placed on her table when Maintenon was +paying the penalty of her hard-earned greatness by the painful task of +endeavouring--as she acknowledged--to amuse a man who was no longer +amusable. + +Could it speak, it might relate the wearisome hours passed in a palace +(for the demon _Ennui_ cannot be expelled even from the most brilliant; +nay, prefers, it is said, to select them for his abode), and we should +learn, that while an object of envy to thousands, the mistress, or +unacknowledged wife of _le Grand Monarque_, was but little more happy +than the widow of Scarron when steeped in poverty. + +Madame de Maintenon discovered what hundreds before and since have +done--that splendour and greatness cannot confer happiness; and, while +trying to amuse a man who, though possessed of sovereign power, has +lost all sense of enjoyment, must have reverted, perhaps with a sigh, +to the little chamber in which she so long soothed the sick bed of the +witty octogenarian, Scarron; who, gay and cheerful to the last, could +make her smile by his sprightly and _spirituelles_ sallies, which +neither the evils of poverty nor pain could subdue. + +Perhaps this pincushion has lain on her table when Madame de Maintenon +listened to the animating conversation of Racine, or heard him read +aloud, with that spirit and deep pathos for which his reading was so +remarkable, his _Esther_ and _Alhalie_, previously to their performance +at St.-Cyr. + +That she did not make his peace with the king, when he offended him by +writing an essay to prove that long wars, however likely to reflect +glory on a sovereign, were sure to entail misery on his subjects, shews +that either her influence over the mind of Louis was much less powerful +than has been believed, or that she was deficient in the feelings that +must have prompted her to exert it by pleading for him. + +The ungenerous conduct of the king in banishing from his court a man +whose genius shed a purer lustre over it than all the battles Boileau +has sung, and for a cause that merited praise instead of displeasure, +has always appeared to me to be indicative of great meanness as well as +hardness of heart; and while lamenting the weakness of Racine, +originating in a morbid sensibility that rendered his disgrace at court +so painful and humiliating to the poet as to cause his death, I am +still less disposed to pardon the sovereign that could thus excite into +undue action a sensibility, the effects of which led its victim to the +grave. + +The diamond-mounted _tabatière_ now on my table once occupied a place +on that of the Marquise de Rambouillet, in that hôtel so celebrated, +not only for the efforts made by its coterie towards refining the +manners and morals of her day, but the language also, until the +affectation to which its members carried their notions of purity, +exposed them to a ridicule that tended to subvert the influence they +had previously exercised over society. + +Molière--the inimitable Molière--may have been permitted the high +distinction of taking a pinch of snuff from it, while planning his +_Précieuses Ridicules_, which, _malgré_ his disingenuous disavowal of +the satire being aimed at the Hôtel Rambouillet, evidently found its +subject there. I cannot look at the snuff-box without being reminded of +the brilliant circle which its former mistress assembled around her, +and among which Molière had such excellent opportunities of studying +the peculiarities of the class he subsequently painted. + +Little did its members imagine, when he was admitted to it, the use he +would make of the privilege; and great must have been their surprise +and mortification, though not avowed, at the first representation of +the _Précieuses Ridicules_, in which many of them must have discovered +the resemblance to themselves, though the clever author professed only +to ridicule their imitators. _Les Femmes Savantes_, though produced +many years subsequently, also found the originals of its characters in +the same source whence Molière painted _Les Précieuses Ridicules_. + +I can fancy him slily listening to the theme proposed to the assembly +by Mademoiselle Scudéry--the _Sarraïdes_, as she was styled--"Whether a +lover jealous, a lover despised, a lover separated from the object of +his tenderness, or him who has lost her by death, was to be esteemed +the most unhappy." + +At a later period of his life, Molière might have solved the question +from bitter personal experience, for few ever suffered more from the +pangs of jealousy, and assuredly no one has painted with such +vigour--though the comic often prevails over the serious in his +delineations--the effects of a passion any thing but comic to him. +Strange power of genius, to make others laugh at incidents which had +often tormented himself, and to be able to give humour to characters in +various comedies, actuated by the feelings to which he had so +frequently been a victim! + +I can picture to myself the fair _Julie d'Angennes_, who bestowed not +her hand on the _Duc de Montausier_ until he had served as many years +in seeking it as Jacob had served to gain that of Rachel, and until she +had passed her thirtieth year (in order that his passion should become +as purified from all grossness, as was the language spoken among the +circle in which she lived), receiving with dignified reserve the finely +painted flowers and poems to illustrate them, which formed the +celebrated _Guirlande de Julie_, presented to her by her courtly +admirer. + +I see pass before me the fair and elegant dames of that galaxy of wit +and beauty, Mesdames de Longueville, Lafayette, and de Sévigné, +fluttering their fans as they listened and replied to the gallant +compliments of Voiture, Ménage, Chapelain, Desmarets, or De Réaux, or +to the _spirituelle causerie_ of Chamfort. + +What a pity that a society, no less useful than brilliant at its +commencement, should have degenerated into a coterie, remarkable at +last but for its fantastic and false notions of refinement, exhibited +in a manner that deserved the ridicule it called down! + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + + +Spent last evening in the Rue d'Anjou: met there la Marquise de +Pouleprie, and the usual _habitués_. She is a delightful person; for +age has neither chilled the warmth of her heart, nor impaired the +vivacity of her manners. I had heard much of her; for she is greatly +beloved by the Duchesse de Guiche and all the De Gramont family; and +she, knowing their partiality to me, treated me rather as an old than +as a new acquaintance. + +Talking of old times, to which the Duc de Gramont reverted, the +Marquise mentioned having seen the celebrated Madame du Barry in the +garden at Versailles, when she (the Marquise) was a very young girl. +She described her as having a most animated and pleasant countenance, +_un petit nez retroussé_, brilliant eyes, full red lips, and as being +altogether a very attractive person. + +The Marquise de Pouleprie accompanied the French royal family to +England, and remained with them there during the emigration. She told +me that once going through the streets of London in a carriage, with +the French king, during an election at Westminster, the mob, ignorant +of his rank, insisted that he and his servants should take off their +hats, and cry out "Long live Sir Francis Burdett!" which his majesty +did with great good humour, and laughed heartily after. + +Went last night to see Mademoiselle Mars, in "Valérie." It was a +finished performance, and worthy of her high reputation. Never was +there so musical a voice as hers! Every tone of it goes direct to the +heart, and its intonations soothe and charm the ear. Her countenance, +too, is peculiarly expressive. Even when her eyes, in the _rôle_ she +enacted last night, were fixed, and supposed to be sightless, her +countenance was still beautiful. There is a harmony in its various +expressions that accords perfectly with her clear, soft, and liquid +voice; and the united effect of both these attractions renders her +irresistible. + +Never did Art so strongly resemble Nature as in the acting of this +admirable _artiste_. She identifies herself so completely with the part +she performs, that she not only believes herself for the time being the +heroine she represents, but makes others do so too. There was not a dry +eye in the whole of the female part of the audience last night--a +homage to her power that no other actress on the French stage could now +command. + +The style, too, of Mademoiselle Mars' acting is the most difficult of +all; because there is no exaggeration, no violence in it. The same +difference exists between it and that of other actresses, as between a +highly finished portrait and a glaringly coloured transparency. The +feminine, the graceful, and the natural, are never lost sight of for a +moment. + +The French are admirable critics of acting, and are keenly alive to the +beauties of a chaste and finished style, like that of Mademoiselle +Mars. In Paris there is no playing to the galleries, and for a simple +reason:--the occupants of the galleries here are as fastidious as those +of the boxes, and any thing like outraging nature would be censured by +them: whereas, in other countries, the broad and the exaggerated almost +invariably find favour with the gods. + +The same pure and refined taste that characterises the acting of +Mademoiselle Mars presides also over her toilette, which is always +appropriate and becoming. + +Accustomed to the agreeable mixture of literary men in London society, +I observe, with regret, their absence in that of Paris. I have +repeatedly questioned people why this is, but have never been able to +obtain a satisfactory answer. It tells much against the good taste of +those who can give the tone to society here, that literary men should +be left out of it; and if the latter _will_ not mingle with the +aristocratic circles they are to blame, for the union of both is +advantageous to the interests of each. + +Parisian society is very exclusive, and is divided into small coteries, +into which a stranger finds it difficult to become initiated. Large +routes are rare, and not at all suited to the tastes of the French +people; who comment with merriment, if not with ridicule, on the +evening parties in London, where the rooms being too small to contain +half the guests invited, the stairs and ante-rooms are filled by a +crowd, in which not only the power of conversing, but almost of +respiring is impeded. + +The French ladies attribute the want of freshness so remarkable in the +toilettes of Englishwomen, to their crowded routes, and the knowledge +of its being impossible for a robe, or at least of a greater portion of +one than covers a bust, to be seen; which induces the fair wearers to +economise, by rarely indulging in new dresses. + +At Paris certain ladies of distinction open their _salons_, on one +evening of each week, to a circle of their acquaintances, not too +numerous to banish that ease and confidence which form the delight of +society. Each lady takes an evening for her receptions, and no one +interferes with her arrangements by giving a party on the same night. +The individuals of each circle are thus in the habit of being +continually in each other's society; consequently the etiquette and +formality, so _gênant_ among acquaintances who seldom meet, are +banished. + +To preserve the charm of these unceremonious _réunions_, strangers are +seldom admitted to them, but are invited to the balls, dinners, or +large parties, where they see French people _en grande lenue_, both in +dress and manner, instead of penetrating into the more agreeable +parties to which I have referred, where the graceful _négligé_ of a +_demi-toilette_ prevails, and the lively _causerie_ of the _habitués de +la maison_ supersedes the constraint of ceremony. + +Such a society is precisely the sort of one that literary men would, I +should suppose, like to mingle in, to unbend their minds from graver +studies, and yet not pass their time unprofitably; for in it, politics, +literature, and the fine arts, generally furnish the topics of +conversation: from which, however, the warmth of discussion, which too +frequently renders politics a prohibited subject, is excluded, or the +pedantry that sometimes spoils literary _causerie_ is banished. + +French people, male and female, talk well; give their opinions with +readiness and vivacity; often striking out ideas as original as they +are brilliant; highly suggestive to more profound thinkers, but which +they dispense with as much prodigality as a spendthrift throws away his +small coin, conscious of having more at his disposal. Quick of +perception, they jump, rather than march, to a conclusion, at which an +Englishman or a German would arrive leisurely, enabled to tell all the +particulars of the route, but which the Frenchman would know little of +from having arrived by some shorter road. This quickness of perception +exempts them from the necessity of devoting much of the time and study +which the English or Germans employ in forming opinions, but it also +precludes their being able to reason as justly or as gravely on those +they form. + +Walked in the gardens of the Tuileries to-day. What a contrast their +frequenters offer to those of the Luxembourg! In the Tuileries, the +promenaders look as if they only walked there to display their tasteful +dresses and pretty persons. + +The women eye each other as they pass, and can tell at a glance whether +their respective _chapeaux_ have come from the _atelier_ of Herbault, +or the less _rechercé magasin de modes_ of some more humble _modiste_. +How rapidly can they see whether the Cashmere shawl of some passing +dame owes its rich but sober tints to an Indian loom, or to the fabric +of M. Ternaux, who so skilfully imitates the exotic luxury; and what a +difference does the circumstance make in their estimation of the +wearer! The beauty of a woman, however great it may be, excites less +envy in the minds of her own sex in France, than does the possession of +a fine Cashmere, or a _garniture_ of real Russian sable--objects of +general desire to every Parisian _belle_. + +I met few handsome women to-day, but these few were remarkably +striking. In Kensington Gardens I should have encountered thrice as +many; but there I should also have seen more plain ones than here. Not +that Englishwomen _en masse_ are not better-looking than the French, +but that these last are so skilful in concealing defects, and revealing +beauties by the appropriateness and good taste in their choice of +dress, that even the plain cease to appear so; and many a woman looks +piquant, if not pretty, at Paris, thanks to her _modiste_, her +_couturière_, and her _cordonnier_, who, without their "artful aid," +would be plain indeed. + +It is pleasant to behold groups of well-dressed women walking, as only +French women ever do walk, nimbly moving their little feet _bien +chaussé_, and with an air half timid, half _espiègle_, that elicits the +admiration they affect to avoid. The rich and varied material of their +robes, the pretty _chapeaux_, from which peep forth such coquettish +glances, the modest assurance--for their self-possession amounts +precisely to that--and the ease and elegance of their carriage, give +them attractions we might seek for in vain in the women of other +countries, however superior these last may be in beauty of complexion +or roundness of _contour_, for which French women in general are not +remarkable. + +The men who frequent the gardens of the Tuileries are of a different +order to those met with in the Luxembourg. They consist chiefly of +military men and young fashionables, who go to admire the pretty women, +and elderly and middle-aged ones, who meet in knots and talk politics +with all the animation peculiar to their nation. Children do not abound +in the walks here, as in the Luxembourg; and those to be seen are +evidently brought by some fond mother, proud of exhibiting her boys and +girls in their smart dresses. + +The Tuileries Gardens, so beautiful in summer, are not without their +attractions in winter. The trees, though leafless, look well, rearing +their tall branches towards the clear sky, and the statues and vases +seen through vistas of evergreen shrubs, with the gilded railing which +gives back the rays of the bright, though cold sun, and the rich +velvets of every hue in which the women are enveloped, giving them the +appearance of moving _parterres_ of dahlias, all render the scene a +very exhilarating one to the spirits. + +I observe a difference in the usages _de moeurs_ at Paris, and in those +of London, of which an ignorance might lead to give offence. In +England, a lady is expected to bow to a gentleman before he presumes to +do so to her, thus leaving her the choice of acknowledging his +acquaintance, or not; but in France it is otherwise, for a man takes +off his hat to every woman whom he has ever met in society, although he +does not address her, unless she encourages him to do so. + +In Paris, if two men are walking or riding together, and one of them +bows to a lady of his acquaintance, the other also takes off his hat, +as a mark of respect to the lady known to his friend, although he is +not acquainted with her. The mode of salutation is also much more +deferential towards women in France than in England. The hat is held a +second longer off the head, the bow is lower, and the smile of +recognition is more _amiable_, by which, I mean, that it is meant to +display the pleasure experienced by the meeting. + +It is true that the really well-bred Englishmen are not to be surpassed +in politeness and good manners by those of any other country, but all +are not such; and I have seen instances of men in London acknowledging +the presence of ladies, by merely touching, instead of taking off, +their hats when bowing to them; and though I accounted for this +solecism in good breeding by the belief that it proceeded from the +persons practising it wearing wigs, I discovered that there was not +even so good an excuse as the fear of deranging them, and that their +incivility proceeded from ignorance, or _nonchalance_, while the glum +countenance of him who bowed betrayed rather a regret for the necessity +of touching his beaver, than a pleasure at meeting her for whom the +salute was intended. + +Time flies away rapidly here, and its flight seems to me to mark two +distinct states of existence. My mornings are devoted wholly to reading +history, poetry, or _belles lettres_, which abstract me so completely +from the actual present to the past, that the hours so disposed of +appear to be the actual life, and those given up to society the shadowy +and unreal. + +This forcible contrast between the two portions of the same day, gives +charms to both, though I confess the hours passed in my library are +those which leave behind them the pleasantest reflections. I +experienced this sentiment when in the hey-day of youth, and surrounded +by some of the most gifted persons in England; but now, as age +advances, the love of solitude and repose increases, and a life spent +in study appears to me to be the one of all others the most desirable, +as the enjoyment of the best thoughts of the best authors is preferable +even to their conversation, could it be had, and, consequently to that +of the cleverest men to be met with in society. + +Some pleasant people dined here yesterday. Among them was Colonel +Caradoc, the son of our old friend Lord Howden. He possesses great and +versatile information, is good-looking, well-bred, and has superior +abilities; in short, he has all the means, and appliances to boot, to +make a distinguished figure, in life, if he lacks not the ambition and +energy to use them; but, born to station and fortune, he may want the +incitement which the absence of these advantages furnishes, and be +content to enjoy the good he already has, instead of seeking greater +distinction. + +Colonel Caradoc's conversation is brilliant and epigrammatic; and if +occasionally a too evident consciousness of his own powers is suffered +to be revealed in it, those who know it to be well-founded will pardon +his self-complacency, and not join with the persons, and they are not +few, whose _amour-propre_ is wounded by the display of his, and who +question, what really is not questionable, the foundation on which his +pretensions are based. + +The clever, like the handsome, to be pardoned for being so, should +affect a humility they are but too seldom in the habit of feeling; and +to acquire popularity must appear unconscious of meriting it. This is +one of the many penalties entailed on the gifted in mind or person. + +_January 1st_, 1829.--There is always something grave, if not awful, in +the opening of a new year; for who knows what may occur to render it +memorable for ever! If the bygone one has been marked by aught sad, the +arrival of the new reminds one of the lapse of time; and though the +destroyer brings patience, we sigh to think that we may have new +occasions for its difficult exercise. Who can forbear from trembling +lest the opening year may find us at its close with a lessened circle. +Some, now dear and confided in, may become estranged, or one dearer +than life may be snatched away whose place never can be supplied! The +thought is too painful to be borne, and makes one look around with +increased affection on those dear to us. + +The custom prevalent at Paris of offering an exchange of gifts on the +first day of the new year was, perhaps, originally intended to banish +the melancholy reflections such an epoch is calculated to awaken. + +My tables are so crowded with gifts that I might set up a _petit +Dunkerque_ of my own, for not a single friend has omitted to send me a +present. These gifts are to be acknowledged by ones of similar value, +and I must go and put my taste to the test in selecting _cadeaux_ to +send in return. + +Spent several hours yesterday in the gallery of the Louvre. The +collection of antiquities, though a very rich, one, dwindles into +insignificance when compared with that of the Vatican, and the halls in +which it is arranged appear mean in the eyes of those accustomed to see +the numerous and splendid ones of the Roman edifice. Nevertheless, I +felt much satisfaction in lounging through groups of statues, and busts +of the remarkable men and women of antiquity, with the countenances of +many of whom I had made myself familiar in the Vatican, the Musée of +the Capitol, or in the collection at Naples, where facsimiles of +several of them are to be found. + +Nor had I less pleasure in contemplating the personifications of the +_beau idéal_ of the ancient sculptors, exhibited in their gods and +goddesses, in whose faultless faces the expression of all passion seems +to have been carefully avoided. Whether this peculiarity is to be +accounted for by the desire of the artist to signify the superiority of +the Pagan divinities over mortals, by this absence of any trace of +earthly feelings, or whether it was thought that any decided expression +might deteriorate from the character of repose and beauty that marks +the works of the great sculptors of antiquity, I know not, but the +effect produced on my mind by the contemplation of these calm and +beautiful faces, has something so soothing in it, that I can well +imagine with what pleasure those engaged in the turmoils of war, or the +scarcely less exciting arena of politics, in former ages, must have +turned from their mundane cares to look on these personations of their +fabled deities, whose tranquil beauty forms so soothing a contrast to +mortal toils. + +I have observed this calmness of expression in the faces of many of the +most celebrated statues of antiquity, in the Aristides at Naples, I +remember being struck with it, and noticing that he who was banished +through the envy excited by his being styled the Just, was represented +as unmoved as if the injustice of his countrymen no more affected the +even tenour of his mind, than the passions of mortals disturb those of +the mythological divinities of the ancients. + +A long residence in Italy, and a habit of frequenting the galleries +containing the finest works of art there, engender a love of sculpture +and painting, that renders it not only a luxury but almost a necessary +of life to pass some hours occasionally among the all but breathing +marbles and glorious pictures bequeathed to posterity by the mighty +artists of old. I love to pass such hours alone, or in the society of +some one as partial, but more skilled in such studies than myself; and +such a companion I have found in the Baron de Cailleux, an old +acquaintance, and now Under-Director of the Musée, whose knowledge of +the fine arts equals his love for them. + +The contemplation of the _chefs-d'uvre_ of the old masters begets a +tender melancholy in the mind, that is not without a charm for those +addicted to it. These stand the results of long lives devoted to the +developement of the genius that embodied these inspirations, and left +to the world the fruit of hours of toil and seclusion,--hours snatched +from the tempting pleasures that cease not to court the senses, but +which they who laboured for posterity resisted. The long vigils, the +solitary days, the hopes and fears, the fears more frequent than the +hopes, the depression of spirits, and the injustice or the indifference +of contemporaries, endured by all who have ever devoted their lives to +art, are present to my mind when I behold the great works of other +times. + +What cheered these men of genius during their toils and enabled them to +finish their glorious works? Was it not the hope that from posterity +they would meet with the admiration, the sympathy, denied them by their +contemporaries?--as the prisoner in his gloomy dungeon, refused all +pity, seeks consolation by tracing a few lines on its dreary walls, in +appeal to the sympathy of some future inhabitant who may be doomed to +take his place. + +I seem to be paying a portion of the debt due by posterity to those who +laboured long and painfully for it, when I stand rapt in admiration +before the works of the great masters of the olden time, my heart +touched with a lively sympathy for their destinies; nor can I look on +the glorious faces or glowing landscapes that remain to us, evincing +the triumph of genius over even time itself, by preserving on canvass +the semblance of all that charmed in nature, without experiencing the +sentiment so naturally and beautifully expressed in the celebrated +picture, by Nicolas Poussin, of a touching scene in Arcadia, in which +is a tomb near to which two shepherds are reading the inscription. "I, +too, was an Arcadian." + +Yes, that which delighted the artists of old, they have transmitted to +us with a tender confidence that when contemplating these bequests we +would remember with sympathy that they, like us, had felt the charms +they delineated. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + + +Went to see the Hôtel d'Orsay, to-day. Even in its ruin it still +retains many of the vestiges of its former splendour. The _salle à +manger_, for the decoration of which its owner bought, and had conveyed +from Rome, the columns of the Temple of Nero, is now--hear it, ye who +have taste!--converted into a stable; the _salons_, once filled with +the most precious works of art, are now crumbled to decay, and the vast +garden where bloomed the rarest exotics, and in which were several of +the statues that are now in the gardens of the Tuileries, is now turned +into paddocks for horses. + +It made me sad to look at this scene of devastation, the result of a +revolution which plunged so many noble families from almost boundless +wealth into comparative poverty, and scattered collections of the works +of art that whole lives were passed in forming. I remember Mr. +Millingen, the antiquary, telling me in Italy that when yet little more +than a boy he was taken to view the Hôtel d'Orsay, then one of the most +magnificent houses in Paris, and containing the finest collection of +pictures and statues, and that its splendour made such an impression on +his mind that he had never forgotten it. + +With an admirable taste and a princely fortune, Count d'Orsay spared +neither trouble nor expense to render his house the focus of all that +was rich and rare; and, with a spirit that does not always animate the +possessor of rare works of art, he opened it to the young artists of +the day, who were permitted to study in its gallery and _salons_. + +In the slate drawing-rooms a fanciful notion of the Count's was carried +into effect and was greatly admired, though, I believe, owing to the +great expense, the mode was not adopted in other houses, namely, on the +folding-doors of the suite being thrown open to admit company, certain +pedals connected with them were put in motion, and a strain of music +was produced, which announced the presence of guests, and the doors of +each of the drawing-rooms when opened took up the air, and continued it +until closed. + +Many of the old _noblesse_ have been describing the splendour of the +Hôtel d'Orsay to me since I have been at Paris, and the Duc de +Talleyrand said it almost realised the notion of a fairy palace. Could +the owner who expended such vast sums on its decoration, behold it in +its present ruin, he could never recognise it; but such would be the +case with many a one whose stately palaces became the prey of a furious +rabble, let loose to pillage by a revolution--that most fearful of all +calamities, pestilence only excepted, that can befall a country. + +General Ornano, his stepson Count Waleski, M. Achille La Marre, General +d'Orsay, and Mr. Francis Baring dined here yesterday. General Ornano is +agreeable and well-mannered. We had music in the evening, and the +lively and pretty Madame la H---- came. She is greatly admired, and no +wonder; for she is not only handsome, but clever and piquant. Hers does +not appear to be a well-assorted marriage, for M. la H---- is grave, if +not austere, in his manners, while she is full of gaiety and vivacity, +the demonstrations of which seem to give him any thing but pleasure. + +I know not which is most to be pitied, a saturnine husband whose +gravity is only increased by the gaiety of his wife, or the gay wife +whose exuberance of spirits finds no sympathy in the Mentor-like +husband. Half, if not all, the unhappy marriages, accounted for by +incompatibility of humour, might with more correctness be attributed to +a total misunderstanding of each other's characters and dispositions in +the parties who drag a heavy and galling chain through life, the links +of which might be rendered light and easy to be borne, if the wearers +took but half the pains to comprehend each other's peculiarities that +they in general do to reproach or to resent the annoyance these +peculiarities occasion them. + +An austere man would learn that the gaiety of his wife was as natural +and excusable a peculiarity in her, as was his gravity in him, and +consequently would not resent it; and the lively wife would view the +saturnine humour of her husband as a malady demanding forbearance and +kindness. + +The indissolubility of marriage, so often urged as an additional cause +for aggravating the sense of annoyance experienced by those wedded but +unsuited to each other, is, in my opinion, one of the strongest motives +for using every endeavour to render the union supportable, if not +agreeable. If a dwelling known to be unalienable has some defect which +makes it unsuited to the taste of its owner, he either ameliorates it, +or, if that be impracticable, he adopts the resolution of supporting +its inconvenience with patience; so should a philosophical mind bear +all that displeases in a union in which even the most fortunate find +"something to pity or forgive." It is unfortunate that this same +philosophy, considered so excellent a panacea for enabling us to bear +ills, should be so rarely used that people can seldom judge of its +efficacy when required! + +Saw _la Gazza Ladra_ last night, in which Malibran enacted "Ninetta," +and added new laurels to the wreath accorded her by public opinion. Her +singing in the duo, in the prison scene, was one of the most touching +performances I ever heard; and her acting gave a fearful reality to the +picture. + +I have been reading the _Calamities of Authors_ all the morning, and +find I like the book even better on a second perusal--no mean praise, +for the first greatly pleased me. So it is with all the works of Mr. +D'Israeli, who writes _con amore_; and not only with a profound +knowledge of his subjects, but with a deep sympathy, which peeps forth +at every line, for the literary men whose troubles or peculiarities he +describes. + +His must be a fine nature--a contemplative mind imbued with a true love +of literature, and a kindness of heart that melts and makes those of +others melt, for the evils to which its votaries are exposed. + +How much are those who like reading, but are too idle for research, +indebted to Mr. D'Israeli, who has given them the precious result of a +long life of study, so admirably digested and beautifully conveyed that +in a few volumes are condensed a mass of the most valuable information! +I never peruse a production of his without longing to be personally +acquainted with him; and, though we never met, I entertain a regard and +respect for him, induced by the many pleasant hours his works have +afforded me. + +Met the Princesse de Talleyrand last night at Madame C----'s. I felt +curious to see this lady, of whom I had heard such various reports; +and, as usual, found her very different to the descriptions I had +received. + +She came _en princesse_, attended by two _dames de compagnie_, and a +gentleman who acted as _chambellan_. Though her _embonpoint_ has not +only destroyed her shape but has also deteriorated her face, the small +features of which seem imbued in a mask much too fleshy for their +proportions, it is easy to see that in her youth she must have been +handsome. Her complexion is fair; her hair, judging from the eye-brows +and eye-lashes, must have been very light; her eyes are blue; her nose, +_retroussé_; her mouth small, with full lips; and the expression of her +countenance is agreeable, though not intellectual. + +In her demeanour there is an evident assumption of dignity, which, +falling short of the aim, gives an ungraceful stiffness to her +appearance. Her dress was rich but suited to her age, which I should +pronounce to be about sixty. Her manner has the formality peculiar to +those conscious of occupying a higher station than their birth or +education entitles them to hold; and this consciousness gives an air of +constraint and reserve that curiously contrasts with the natural +good-humour and _naïveté_ that are frequently perceptible in her. + +If ignorant--as is asserted--there is no symptom of it in her language. +To be sure, she says little; but that little is expressed with +propriety: and if reserved, she is scrupulously polite. Her _dames de +compagnie_ and _chambellan_ treat her with profound respect, and she +acknowledges their attentions with civility. To sum up all, the +impression made upon me by the Princesse Talleyrand was, that she +differed in no way from any other princess I had ever met, except by a +greater degree of reserve and formality than were in general evinced by +them. + +I could not help smiling inwardly when looking at her, as I remembered +Baron Denon's amusing story of the mistake she once made. When the +Baron's work on Egypt was the topic of general conversation, and the +hôtel of the Prince Talleyrand was the rendezvous of the most +distinguished persons of both sexes at Paris, Denon being engaged to +dine there one day, the Prince wished the Princesse to read a few pages +of the book, in order that she might be enabled to say something +complimentary on it to the author. He consequently ordered his +librarian to send the work to her apartment on the morning of the day +of the dinner; but, unfortunately, at the same time also commanded that +a copy of _Robinson Crusoe_ should be sent to a young lady, a +_protégée_ of hers, who resided in the hôtel. The Baron Denon's work, +through mistake, was given to Mademoiselle, and _Robinson Crusoe_ was +delivered to the Princesse, who rapidly looked through its pages. + +The seat of honour at table being assigned to the Baron, the Princesse, +mindful of her husband's wishes, had no sooner eaten her soup than, +smiling graciously, she thanked Denon for the pleasure which the +perusal of his work had afforded her. The author was pleased, and told +her how much he felt honoured; but judge of his astonishment, and the +dismay of the Prince Talleyrand, when the Princesse exclaimed. "Yes, +Monsieur le Baron, your work has delighted me; but I am longing to know +what has become of your poor man Friday, about whom I feel such an +interest?" + +Denon used to recount this anecdote with great spirit, confessing at +the same time that his _amour propre_ as an author had been for a +moment flattered by the commendation, even of a person universally +known to be incompetent to pronounce on the merit of his book. The +Emperor Napoleon heard this story, and made Baron Denon repeat it to +him, laughing immoderately all the time, and frequently after he would, +when he saw Denon, inquire "how was poor Friday?" + +When the second restoration of the Bourbons took place, the Prince +Talleyrand, anxious to separate from the Princesse, and to get her out +of his house, induced her, under the pretence that a change of air was +absolutely necessary for her health, to go to England for some months. +She had only been there a few weeks when a confidential friend at Paris +wrote to inform her that from certain rumours afloat it was quite clear +the Prince did not intend her to take up her abode again in his house, +and advised her to return without delay. The Princesse instantly +adopted this counsel, and arrived most unexpectedly in the Rue +St.-Florentin, to the alarm and astonishment of the whole establishment +there, who had been taught not to look for her entering the hôtel any +more; and to the utter dismay of the Prince, who, however anxious to be +separated from her, dreaded a scene of violence still more than he +wished to be released from his conjugal chains. + +She forced her admission to his presence, overwhelmed him with +reproaches, and it required the exercise of all his diplomatic skill to +allay the storm he had raised. The affair became the general topic of +conversation at Paris; and when, the day after the event, the Prince +waited on Louis the Eighteenth on affairs of state, the King, who loved +a joke, congratulated him on the unexpected arrival of Madame la +Princesse. + +Prince Talleyrand felt the sarcasm, and noticed it by one of those +smiles so peculiar to him--a shake of the head and shrug of the +shoulders, while he uttered "_Que voulez-vous, Sire, chacun a son vingt +Mars_?" referring to the unexpected arrival of the Emperor Napoleon. + +I have been reading _Yes and No_, a very clever and, interesting novel +from the pen of Lord Normanby. His writings evince great knowledge of +the world, the work-o'-day world, as well as the _beau monde_; yet +there is no bitterness in his satire, which is always just and happily +pointed. His style, too, is easy, fluent, and polished, without being +disfigured by the slightest affectation or pedantry. + +Had a long visit to-day from Dr. P----, who has lent me the works of +Bichat and Broussais, which he recommends me to read. He is a most +agreeable companion, and as vivacious as if he was only twenty. He +reminds me sometimes of my old friend Lady Dysart, whose juvenility of +mind and manner always pleased as much as it surprised me. + +Old people like these appear to forget, as they are forgotten by, time; +and, like trees marked to be cut down, but which escape the memory of +the marker, they continue to flourish though the lines traced for their +destruction are visible. + +The more I see of Count Waleski the more I am pleased with him. He has +an acute mind, great quickness of perception, and exceedingly good +manners. I always consider it a good sign of a young man to be partial +to the society of the old, and I observe that Count Waleski evinces a +preference for that of men old enough to be his father. People are not +generally aware of the advantages which agreeable manners confer, and +the influence they exercise over society. I have seen great abilities +fail in producing the effect accomplished by prepossessing manners, +which are even more serviceable to their owner than is a fine +countenance, that best of all letters of recommendation. + +Half the unpopularity of people proceeds from a disagreeable manner; +and though we may be aware of the good qualities of persons who have +this defect, we cannot conceal from ourselves that it must always +originate in a want of the desire to please--a want, the evidence of +which cannot fail to wound the self-love of those who detect, and +indispose them towards those who betray it. By a disagreeable manner I +do not mean the awkwardness often arising from timidity, or the too +great familiarity originating in untutored good nature: but I refer to +a superciliousness, or coldness, that marks a sense of superiority; or +to a habit of contradiction, that renders society what it should never +be--an arena of debate. + +How injudicious are those who defend their absent friends, when accused +of having disagreeable manners, by saying, as I have often heard +persons say--"I assure you that he or she can be very agreeable with +those he or she likes:" an assertion which, by implying that the person +accused did not like those who complained of the bad manner, converts +them from simple disapprovers into something approaching to enemies. + +I had once occasion to notice the fine tact of a friend of mine, who, +hearing a person he greatly esteemed censured for his disagreeable +manner, answered, + + "Yes, it is very true: with a thousand good qualities his + manner is very objectionable, even with those he likes best: + it is his misfortune, and he cannot help it; but those who + know him well will pardon it." + +This candid admission of what could not be refuted, checked all further +censure at the moment, whereas an injudicious defence would have +lengthened it; and I heard some of the individuals then present assert, +a few days subsequently, that Lord ---- was not, after all, by any +means to be disliked: for that his manners were equally objectionable +even with his most esteemed friends, and consequently meant nothing +uncivil to strangers. + +I tried this soothing system the other day in defence of ----, when a +whole circle were attacking him for his rude habit of contradicting, by +asserting, with a grave face, that he only contradicted those whose +talents he suspected, in order that he might draw them out in +discussion. + +---- came in soon after, and it was positively amusing to observe how +much better people bore his contradiction. Madame ---- only smiled +when, having asserted that it was a remarkably fine day, he declared it +to be abominable. The Duc de ---- looked gracious when, having repeated +some political news, ---- said he could prove the contrary to be the +fact; and the Comtesse de ---- looked archly round when, having +extravagantly praised a new novel, he pronounced that it was the worst +of all the bad ones of the author. + +---- will become a popular man, and have to thank me for it. How angry +would he be if he knew the service I have rendered him, and how quickly +would he contradict all I said in his favour! ---- reminds me of the +Englishman of whom it was said, that so great was his love of +contradiction, that when the hour of the night and state of the weather +were announced by the watchman beneath his window, he used to get out +of bed and raise both his casement and his voice to protest against the +accuracy of the statement. + +Read _Pelham_; commenced it yesterday, and concluded it to-day. It is a +new style of novel, and, like all that is very clever, will lead to +many copyists. The writer possesses a felicitous fluency of language, +profound and just thoughts, and a knowledge of the world rarely +acquired at his age, for I am told he is a very young man. + +This work combines pointed and pungent satire on the follies of +society, a deep vein of elevated sentiment, and a train of +philosophical thinking, seldom, if ever, allied to the tenderness which +pierces through the sentimental part. The opening reminded me of that +of _Anastatius_, without being in the slightest degree an imitation; +and many of the passages recalled Voltaire, by their wit and terseness. + +I, who don't like reading novels, heard so much in favour of this +one--for all Paris talk of it--that I broke through a resolution formed +since I read the dull book of ----, to read no more; and I am glad I +did so, for this clever book has greatly interested me. + +Oh, the misery of having stupid books presented to one by the author! +----, who is experienced in such matters, told me that the best plan in +such cases was, to acknowledge the receipt of the book the same day it +arrived, and civilly express the pleasure anticipated from its perusal, +by which means the necessity of praising a bad book was avoided. This +system has, however, been so generally adopted of late, that authors +are dissatisfied with it; and, consequently, a good-natured person +often feels compelled to write commendations of books which he or she +is far from approving; and which, though it costs an effort to write, +are far from satisfying the _exigeant amour propre_ peculiar to +authors. + +I remember once being present when the merits of a book were canvassed. +One person declared it to be insufferably dull, when another, who had +published some novel, observed, with rather a supercilious air, "You +know not how difficult it is to write a good book!" + +"I suppose it must be very difficult," was the answer, "seeing how long +and how often you have attempted, without succeeding." + +How these letters of commendations of bad books, extorted from those to +whom the authors present them, will rise up in judgment against the +writers, when they are "gone to that bourne whence no traveller +returns!" I tremble to think of it! What severe animadversions on the +bad taste, or the want of candour of the writers, and all because they +were too good-natured to give pain to the authors! + +Went to the Théâtre Italien last night, and saw Malibran in _la +Cenerentola_, in which her acting was no less admirable than her +singing. She sang "Non più Mesta" better than I ever heard it before, +and astonished as well as delighted the audience. She has a soul and +spirit in her style that carries away her hearers, as no other singer +does, and excites an enthusiasm seldom, if ever, equalled. Malibran +seems to be as little mistress of her own emotions when singing, as +those are whom her thrilling voice melts into softness, or wakes into +passion. Every tone is pregnant with feeling, and every glance and +attitude instinct with truthful emotion. + +A custom prevails in France, which is not practised in Italy, or in +England, namely, _les lettres de faire part_, sent to announce deaths, +marriages, and births, to the circle of acquaintances of the parties. +This formality is never omitted, and these printed letters are sent out +to all on the visiting lists, except relations, or very intimate +friends, to whom autograph letters are addressed. + +Another custom also prevails, which is that of sending _bonbons_ to the +friends and acquaintance of the _accouchée_. These sweet proofs +_d'amitié_ come pouring in frequently, and I confess I do not dislike +the usage. + +The godfather always sends the _bonbons_ and a trinket to the mother of +the child, and also presents the godmother with a _corbeille_, in which +are some dozens of gloves, two or three handsome fans, embroidered +purses, a smelling-bottle, and a _vinaigrette_; and she offers him, _en +revanche_, a cane, buttons, or a pin--in short, some present. The +_corbeilles_ given to godmothers are often very expensive, being suited +to the rank of the parties; so that in Paris the compliment of being +selected as a godfather entails no trifling expense on the chosen. The +great prices given for wedding _trousseaux_ in France, even by those +who are not rich, surprise me, I confess. + +They contain a superabundance of every article supposed to be necessary +for the toilette of a _nouvelle mariée_, from the rich robes of velvet +down to the simple _peignoir de matin_. Dresses of every description +and material, and for all seasons, are found in it. Cloaks, furs, +Cashmere shawls, and all that is required for night or day use, are +liberally supplied; indeed, so much so, that to see one of these +_trousseaux_, one might imagine the person for whom it was intended was +going to pass her life in some far-distant clime, where there would be +no hope of finding similar articles, if ever wanted. + +Then comes the _corbeille de mariage_, well stored with the finest +laces, the most delicately embroidered pocket handkerchiefs, veils, +_fichus, chemisettes_ and _canezous_, trinkets, smelling-bottles, fans, +_vinaigrettes_, gloves, garters; and though last, not least, a purse +well filled to meet the wants or wishes of the bride,--a judicious +attention never omitted. + +These _trousseaux_ and _corbeilles_ are placed in a _salon_, and are +exhibited to the friends the two or three days previously to the +wedding; and the view of them often sends young maidens--ay, and +elderly ones, too--away with an anxious desire to enter that holy state +which ensures so many treasures. It is not fair to hold out such +temptations to the unmarried, and may be the cause why they are +generally so desirous to quit the pale of single blessedness. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + + +Count Charles de Mornay dined here yesterday, _en famille_. How clever +and amusing he is! Even in his liveliest sallies there is the evidence +of a mind that can reflect deeply, as well as clothe its thoughts in +the happiest language. To be witty, yet thoroughly good-natured as he +is, never exercising his wit at the expense of others, indicates no +less kindness of heart than talent. + +I know few things more agreeable than to hear him and his cousin open +the armoury of their wit, which, like summer lightning, flashes rapidly +and brightly, but never wounds. In England, we are apt to consider wit +and satire as nearly synonymous; for we hear of the clever sayings of +our reputed wits, in nine cases out of ten, allied to some ill-natured +_bon mot_, or pointed epigram. In France this is not the case, for some +of the most witty men, and women too, whom I ever knew, are as +remarkable for their good nature as for their cleverness. That wit +which needs not the spur of malice is certainly the best, and is most +frequently met with at Paris. + +Went last evening to see Mademoiselle Marsin _Henri III_. Her acting +was, as usual, inimitable. I was disappointed in the piece, of which I +had heard much praise. It is what the French call _décousue_, but is +interesting as a picture of the manners of the times which it +represents. There is no want of action or bustle in it; on the +contrary, it abounds in incidents: but they are, for the most part, +puerile. As in our own _Othello_, a pocket handkerchief leads to the +_dénouement_, reminding one of the truth of the verse,-- + + "What great events from trivial causes spring!" + +The whole court of Henry the Third are brought on the scene, and with +an attention to costume to be found only in a Parisian theatre. The +strict attention to costume, and to all the other accessories +appertaining to the epoch, _mise en scène_, is very advantageous to the +pieces brought out here; but, even should they fail to give or preserve +an illusion, it is always highly interesting as offering a _tableau du +costume, et des moeurs des siècles passés_. The crowd brought on the +stage in _Henri III_, though it adds to the splendour of the scenic +effect, produces a confusion in the plot; as does also the vast number +of names and titles introduced during the scenes, which fatigue the +attention and defy the memory of the spectators. + +The fierce "Duc de Guise," the slave at once of two passions, generally +considered to be the most incompatible, Love and Ambition, is made to +commit strange inconsistencies. "Saïnt-Mégrin" excites less interest +than he ought; but the "Duchesse de Guise," whose beautiful arm plays a +_grand rôle_, must, as played by Mademoiselle Mars, have conquered all +hearts _vi et armis_. + +_Henri III_ has the most brilliant success, and, in despite of some +faults, is full of genius, and the language is vigorous. Perhaps its +very faults are to be attributed to an excess, rather than to a want, +of power, and to a mind overflowing with a knowledge of the times he +wished to represent; which led to a dilution of the strength of his +scenes, by crowding into them too much extraneous matter. + +A curious incident occurred during the representation. Two +ladies--_gentlewomen_ they could not be correctly styled--being seated +in the _balcon_, were brought in closer contact, whether by the crowd, +or otherwise, than was agreeable to them. From remonstrances they +proceeded to murmurs, not only "loud, but deep," and from +murmurs--"tell it not in Ascalon, publish it not in Gath"--to violent +pushing, and, at length, to blows. The audience were, as well they +might be, shocked; the _Gendarmes_ interfered, and order was soon +restored. The extreme propriety of conduct that invariably prevails in +a Parisian audience, and more especially in the female portion of it, +renders the circumstance I have narrated remarkable. + +Met Lady G., Lady H., and the usual circle of _habitués_ last night at +Madame C----'s. The first-mentioned lady surprises me every time I meet +her, by the exaggeration of her sentiment and the romantic notions she +entertains. Love, eternal love, is her favourite topic of conversation; +a topic unsuited to discussion at her age and in her position. + +To hear a woman, no longer young, talking passionately of love, has +something so absurd in it, that I am pained for Lady C., who is really +a kind-hearted and amiable woman. Her definitions of the passion, and +descriptions of its effects, remind me of the themes furnished by +Scudéry, and are as tiresome as the tales of a traveller recounted some +fifty years after he has made his voyage. Lady H., who is older than +Lady G., opens wide her round eyes, laughs, and exclaims, "Oh, +dear!--how very strange!--well, that is so funny!" until Lady C. draws +up with all the dignity of a heroine of romance, and asserts that "few, +very few, are capable of either feeling or comprehending the passion." +A fortunate state for those who are no longer able to inspire it! + +To grow old gracefully, proves no ordinary powers of mind, more +especially in one who has been (oh, what an odious phrase that same +_has been_ is!) a beauty. Well has it been observed by a French writer, +that women no longer young and handsome should forget that they ever +were so. + +I have been reading Wordsworth's poems again, and I verily believe for +the fiftieth time. They contain a mine of lofty, beautiful, and natural +thoughts. I never peruse them without feeling proud that England has +such a poet, and without finding a love for the pure and the noble +increased in my mind. Talk of the ideal in poetry? what is it in +comparison with the positive and the natural, of which he gives such +exquisite delineations, lifting his readers from Nature up to Nature's +God? How eloquently does he portray the feelings awakened by fine +scenery, and the thoughts to which it gives birth! + +Wordsworth is, _par excellence_, the Poet of Religion, for his +productions fill the mind with pure and holy aspirations. Fortunate is +the poet who has quaffed inspiration in the purest of all its sources, +Nature; and fortunate is the land that claims him for her own. + +The influence exercised by courts over the habits of subjects, though +carried to a less extent in our days than in past times, is still +obvious at Paris in the display of religion assumed by the upper class. +Coroneted carriages are to be seen every day at the doors of certain +churches, which it is not very uncharitable to suppose might be less +frequently beheld there if the King, Madame la Dauphine, and the +Dauphin were less religious; and hands that have wielded a sword in +many a well-fought battle-field, and hold the _bâton de maréchal_ as a +reward, may now be seen bearing a lighted _cierge_ in some pious +procession,--the military air of the intrepid warrior lost in the +humility of the devotee. + +This general assumption of religion on the part of the courtiers +reminds me forcibly of a passage in a poetical epistle, written, too, +by a sovereign, who, unlike many monarchs, seemed to have had a due +appreciation of the proneness of subjects to adopt the opinions of +their rulers. + + "L'exemple d'un monarque ordonne et se fait suivre: + Quand Auguste buvait, la Pologne était ivre; + Et quand Louis le Grand brûlait d'un tendre amour, + Paris devint Cythère, et tout suivait sa cour; + Lorsqu'il devint dévot, ardent à la prière, + Ses lâches courtisans marmottaient leur bréviaire." + +Should the Duc de Bordeaux arrive at the throne while yet in the +hey-day of youth, and with the gaiety that generally accompanies that +period of life, it will be amusing to witness the metamorphosis that +will be effected in these same courtiers. There are doubtless many, and +I am acquainted with some persons here, whose religion is as sincere +and as fervent as is that of the royal personages of the court they +frequent; but I confess that I doubt whether the general mass of the +upper class would _afficher_ their piety as much as they now do if +their regular attendance at divine worship was less likely to be known +at the Tuileries. The influence of a pious sovereign over the religious +feelings of his people must be highly beneficial when they feel, +instead of affecting to do so, the sanctity they profess. + +When those in the possession of supreme power, and all the advantages +it is supposed to confer, turn from the enjoyment of them to seek +support from Heaven to meet the doom allotted to kings as well as +subjects, the example is most salutary; for the piety of the rich and +great is even more edifying than that of the poor and lowly, who are +supposed to seek consolation which the prosperous are imagined not to +require. + +The Duchesse de Berri is very popular at Paris, and deservedly so. Her +natural gaiety harmonises With that of this lively people; and her love +of the fine arts, and the liberal patronage she extends to them, +gratify the Parisians. + +I heard an anecdote of her to-day from an authority which leaves no +doubt of its truth. Having commanded a brilliant _fête_, a heavy fall +of snow drew from one of her courtiers a remark that the extreme cold +would impede the pleasure of the guests, who would suffer from it in +coming and departing, "True," replied the Duchesse; "but if they in +comfortable carriages, and enveloped in furs and cashmeres, can suffer +from the severity of the weather, what must the poor endure?" And she +instantly ordered a large sum of money to be forthwith distributed, to +supply fuel to the indigent, saying--"While I dance, I shall have the +pleasure of thinking the poor are not without the means of warmth." + +Received a long and delightful letter from Walter Savage Landor. His is +one of the most original minds I have ever encountered, and is joined +to one of the finest natures. Living in the delightful solitude he has +chosen near Florence, his time is passed in reading, reflecting, and +writing; a life so blameless and so happy, that the philosophers of +old, with whose thoughts his mind is so richly imbued, might, if envy +could enter into such hearts, entertain it towards him. + +Landor is a happy example of the effect of retirement on a great mind. +Free from the interruptions which, if they harass not, at least impede +the continuous flow of thought in those who live much in society, his +mind has developed itself boldly, and acquired a vigour at which, +perhaps, it might never have arrived, had he been compelled to live in +a crowded city, chafed by the contact with minds of an inferior +calibre. + +_The Imaginary Conversations_ could never have been written amid the +vexatious interruptions incidental to one mingling much in the scenes +of busy life; for the voices of the sages of old with whom, beneath his +own vines, Landor loves to commune, would have been inaudible in the +turmoil of a populous town, and their secrets would not have been +revealed to him. The friction of society may animate the man of talent +into its exercise, but I am persuaded that solitude is essential to the +perfect developement of genius. + +A letter from Sir William Gell, and, like all his letters, very +amusing. Yet how different from Landor's! Both written beneath the +sunny sky of Italy, both scholars, and nearly of the same age, +nevertheless, how widely different are their letters! + +Gell's filled with lively and comic details of persons, seldom fail to +make me laugh; Landor's, wholly devoted to literary subjects, set me +thinking. Cell would die of _ennui_ in the solitude Landor has +selected; Landor would be chafed into irritation in the constant +routine of visiting and dining-out in which Gell finds amusement. But +here am I attempting to draw a parallel where none can be established, +for Landor is a man of genius, Gell a man of talent. + +Was at the Opera last night, and saw the Duc d'Orléans there with his +family. They are a fine-looking flock, male and female, and looked as +happy as they are said to be. + +I know no position more enviable than that of the Duc d'Orléans. +Blessed with health, a princely revenue, an admirable wife, fine +children, and many friends, he can have nothing to desire but a +continuance of these blessings. Having experienced adversity, and nobly +endured the ordeal, he must feel with an increased zest the happiness +now accorded to him,--a happiness that seems so full and complete, that +I can fancy no addition possible to it. + +His vast wealth may enable him to exercise a generosity that even +sovereigns can rarely practise; his exalted rank, while it places him +near a throne, precludes him from the eating cares that never fail to +attend even the most solidly established one, and leaves him free to +enjoy the happiness of domestic life in a family circle said to contain +every ingredient for creating it. + +The fondest husband, father, and brother, he is fortunate beyond most +men in his domestic relations, and furnishes to France a bright example +of irreproachable conduct and well-merited felicity in them all. In the +possession of so many blessings, I should, were I in his position (and +he probably does, or he is not the sensible man I take him to be), +tremble at the possibility of any event that could call him from the +calm enjoyment of them to the giddy height and uneasy seat of a throne. + +The present king is in the vale of years, the Dauphin not young, and +the Duc de Bordeaux is but a child. Should any thing occur to this +child, then would the Duc d'Orléans stand in direct line after the +Dauphin. I thought of this contingency last night as I looked on the +happy family, and felt assured that were the Duc d'Orléans called to +reign in France, these same faces would look less cloudless than they +did then, for I am one of those who believe that "uneasy lies the head +that wears a crown." + +With a good sense that characterises the Duc d'Orléans, he has sent his +sons to public schools--a measure well calculated not only to give them +a just knowledge of the world, so often denied to princes, but to +render them popular. The Duc de Chartres is an exceedingly handsome +young man, and his brothers are fine youths. The Princesses are brought +up immediately under the eye of their mother, who is allowed by every +one to be a faultless model for her sex. + +The Duc d'Orléans is said to be wholly engrossed in the future +prospects of his children, and in insuring, as far as human foresight +can insure, their prosperity. + +I have been reading Shelley's works, in which I have found many +beautiful thoughts. This man of genius--for decidedly such he was--has +not yet been rendered justice to; the errors that shroud his poetry, as +vapours rising from too rich a soil spread a mist that obstructs our +view of the flowers that also spring from the same bed, have hindered +us from appreciating the many beauties that abound in Shelley's +writings. Alarmed by the poison that lurks in some of his wild +speculations, we have slighted the antidote to be found in many others +of them, and heaped obloquy on the fame of a poet whose genius and +kindness of heart should have insured our pity for the errors of his +creed. + +He who was all charity has found none in the judgment pronounced on him +by his contemporaries; but posterity will be more just. The wild +theories and fanciful opinions of Shelley, on subjects too sacred to be +approached lightly, carry with them their own condemnation; and so +preclude the evil which pernicious doctrines, more logically reasoned, +might produce on weak minds. His theories are vague, dreamy, always +erroneous, and often absurd: but the imagination of the poet, and the +tenderness of heart of the man, plead for pardon for the false +doctrines of the would-be philosopher; and those who most admire his +poetry will be the least disposed to tolerate his anti-religious +principles. As a proof that his life was far from being in accordance +with his false creed, he enjoyed, up to his death, the friendship of +some of the most excellent men, who deplored his errors but who loved +and valued him. + +William Spencer, the poet, dined here yesterday. Alas! he has "fallen +into the sere and yellow leaf," for though sometimes uttering brilliant +thoughts, they are "like angel visits, few and far between;" and total +silence, or half-incoherent rhapsodies, mark the intervals. + +This melancholy change is accounted for by the effects of an indulgence +in wine, had recourse to in consequence of depression of spirits. Nor +is this pernicious indulgence confined to the evening, for at a +_déjeûner à la fourchette_ at two o'clock, enough wine is drunk to dull +his faculties for the rest of the day. What an unpoetical close to a +life once so brilliant! + +Alas, alas, for poor human nature! when, even though illumined by the +ethereal spark, it can thus sully its higher destiny. I thought of the +many fanciful and graceful poems so often perused with pleasure, +written by Mr. Spencer amid the brilliant _fêtes_ in which he formerly +passed his nights, and where he often found his inspirations. His was +ever a courtly Muse, but without the hoop and train--a ball-room +_belle_, with alternate smiles and sentimentality, and witty withal. No +out-bursting of passion, or touch of deep pathos, interrupted the +equanimity of feeling of those who perused Spencer's verses; yet was +their absence unmissed, for the fancy, wit, and sentiment that marked +them all, and the graceful ease of the versification, rendered them +precisely what they were intended for,--_les vers de société_, the +fitting volume elegantly bound to be placed in the _boudoir_. + +And there sat the pet poet of gilded _salons_, whose sparkling sallies +could once delight the fastidious circles in which he moved. His once +bright eyes, glazed and lustreless, his cheeks sunken and pale, seeming +only conscious of the presence of those around him when offered +champagne, the excitement of which for a few brief moments produced +some flashing _bon mot à propos de rien_ passing at the time, after +which his spirits subsided even more rapidly than did the bubbles of +the wine that had given them their short excitement. + +It made me sad to contemplate this wreck; but most of those around him +appeared unconscious of there being any thing remarkable in his +demeanour. They had not known him in his better days. + +I am often amused, and sometimes half-vexed by witnessing the +prejudices that still exist in France with regard to the English. These +prejudices prevail in all ranks, and are, I am disposed to think, +incurable. + +They extend to trivial, as well as to more grave matters, and influence +the opinions pronounced on all subjects. An example of this prejudice +occurred a few weeks ago, when one of our most admired _belles_ from +London having arrived at Paris, her personal appearance was much +canvassed. One person found her too tall, another discovered that she +had too much _embonpoint_, and a third said her feet were much too +large. A Frenchman, when appealed to for his opinion, declared "_Elle +est très-bien pour une Anglaise_." I ought to add, that there was no +English person present when he made this ungallant speech, which was +repeated to me by a French lady, who laughed heartily at his notion. + +If an Englishwoman enters a glover's, or shoemaker's shop, these +worthies will only shew her the largest gloves or shoes they have in +their _magasins_, so persuaded are they that she cannot have a small +hand or foot; and when they find their wares too large, and are +compelled to search for the smallest size, they seem discomposed as +well as surprised, and inform the lady that they had no notion "_une +dame anglaise_ could want small gloves or shoes." + +That an Englishwoman can be witty, or brilliant in conversation, the +French either doubt or profess to doubt; but if convinced against their +will they exclaim, "_C'est drôle, mais madame a l'esprit éminemment +français_." Now this no Englishwoman has, or, in my opinion, can have; +for it is peculiar, half-natural and half-acquired. + +Conversation, in France, is an art successfully studied; to excel in +which, not only much natural talent is required, but great fluency and +a happy choice of words are indispensable. No one in Parisian society +speaks ill, and many possess a readiness of wit, and a facility of +turning it to account, that I have never seen exemplified in women of +other countries. + +A Frenchwoman talks well on every subject, from those of the most grave +political importance, to the _dernière mode_. Her talent in this art is +daily exercised, and consequently becomes perfected; while an +Englishwoman, with more various and solid attainments, rarely if ever, +arrives at the ease and self-confidence which would enable her to bring +the treasures with which her mind is stored into play. So generally is +the art of conversation cultivated in France, that even those with +abilities that rise not beyond mediocrity can take their parts in it, +not only without exposing the poverty of their intellects, but with +even a show of talent that often imposes on strangers. + +An Englishwoman, more concentrated in her feelings as well as in her +pursuits, seldom devotes the time given by Frenchwomen to the +superficial acquisition of a versatility of knowledge, which, though it +enables _them_ to converse fluently on various subjects, _she_ would +dread entering on, unless well versed in. My fair compatriots have +consequently fewer topics, even if they had equal talent, to converse +on; so that the _esprit_ styled, _par excellence, l'esprit éminemment +français_, is precisely that to which we can urge the fewest +pretensions. + +This does not, however, dispose me to depreciate a talent, or art, for +art it may be called, that renders society in France not only so +brilliant but so agreeable, and which is attended with the salutary +effect of banishing the ill-natured observations and personal remarks +which too often supply the place of more harmless topics with us. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + + +Much as I deplore some of the consequences of the Revolution in France, +and the atrocities by which it was stained, it is impossible not to +admit the great and salutary change effected in the habits and feelings +of the people since that event. Who can live on terms of intimacy with +the French, without being struck by the difference between those of our +time, and those of whom we read previously to that epoch? The system of +education is totally different. The habits of domestic life are wholly +changed. The relations between husband and wife, and parents and +children, have assumed another character, by which the bonds of +affection and mutual dependances are drawn more closely together; and +_home_, sweet _home_, the focus of domestic love, said to have been +once an unknown blessing, at least among the _haute noblesse_, is now +endeared by the discharge of reciprocal duties and warm sympathies. + +It is impossible to doubt but that the Revolution of 1789, and the +terrible scenes in the reign of terror which followed it, operated in +producing the change to which I have referred. It found the greater +portion of the _noblesse_ luxuriating in pleasure, and thinking only of +selfish, if not of criminal indulgence, in pursuits equally marked by +puerility and vice. + +The corruption of the regency planted the seeds of vice in French +morals, and they yielded a plentiful harvest. How well has St.-Évremond +described that epoch in his playful, but sarcastic verses!-- + + "Une politique indulgente, + De notre nature innocente, + Favorisait tous les désirs; + Tout goût paraissait légitime, + La douce erreur ne s'appelait point crime, + Les vices délicats se nommalent des plaisirs." + +But it was reserved for the reign of Louis the Fifteenth to develope +still more extensively the corruption planted by his predecessor. The +influence exercised on society by the baleful example of his court had +not yet ceased, and time had not been allowed for the reign of the mild +monarch who succeeded that gross voluptuary to work the reform in +manners, if not in morals, which his own personal habits were so well +calculated to produce. It required the terrible lesson given by the +Revolution to awaken the natural feelings of affection that had so long +slumbered supinely in the enervated hearts of the higher classes in +France, corrupted by long habits of indulgence in selfish +gratifications. The lesson at once awoke even the most callous; while +those, and there were many such, who required it not, furnished the +noblest examples of high courage and self-devotion to the objects dear +to them. + +In exile and in poverty, when all extraneous sources of consolation +were denied them, those who if still plunged in pleasure and splendour +might have remained insensible to the blessings of family ties, now +turned to them with the yearning fondness with which a last comfort is +clasped, and became sensible how little they had hitherto estimated +them. + +Once awakened from their too long and torpid slumber, the hearts +purified by affliction learned to appreciate the blessings still left +them, and from the fearful epoch of the Revolution a gradual change may +be traced in the habits and feelings of the French people. Terrible has +been the expiation of their former errors, but admirable has been the +result; for nowhere can be now found more devoted parents, more dutiful +children, or more attached relatives, than among the French _noblesse_. + +If the lesson afforded by the Revolution to the upper class has been +attended with a salutary effect, it has been scarcely less advantageous +to the middle and lower; for it has taught them the dangers to be +apprehended from the state of anarchy that ever follows on the heels of +popular convulsions, exposing even those who participated in them to +infinitely worse evils than those from which they hoped to escape by a +subversion of the legitimate government. + +These reflections have been suggested by a description given to me, by +one who mixed much in Parisian society previously to the Revolution, of +the habits, modes, and usages of the _haute noblesse_ of that period, +and who is deeply sensible of the present regeneration. This person, +than whom a more impartial recorder of the events of that epoch cannot +be found, assured me that the accounts given in the memoirs and +publications of the state of society at that epoch were by no means +exaggerated, and that the domestic habits and affections at present so +universally cultivated in France were, if not unknown, at least +neglected. + +Married people looked not to each other for happiness, and sought the +aggrandizement, and not the felicity, of their children. The +acquisition of wealth and splendour and the enjoyment of pleasure +occupied their thoughts, and those parents who secured these advantages +for their offspring, however they might have neglected to instil +sentiments of morality and religion into their minds, believed that +they had fully discharged their duty towards them. It was the want of +natural affection between parents and children that led to the cynical +observation uttered by a French philosopher of that day, who explained +the partiality of grandfathers and grandmothers towards their +grandchildren, by saying these last were the enemies of their +enemies,--a reflection founded on the grossest selfishness. + +The habit of judging persons and things superficially, is one of the +defects that most frequently strike me in the Parisians. This defect +arises not from a want of quickness of apprehension, but has its source +in the vivacity peculiar to them, which precludes their bestowing +sufficient time to form an accurate opinion on what they pronounce. +Prone to judge from the exterior, rather than to study the interior +qualifications of those with whom they come in contact, the person who +is perfectly well-dressed and well-mannered will be better received +than he who, however highly recommended for mental superiority or fine +qualities, happens to be ill-dressed, or troubled with _mauvaise +honte_. + +A woman, if ever so handsome, who is not dressed _à la mode_, will be +pronounced plain in a Parisian _salon_; while a really plain woman +wearing a robe made by Victorine and a cap by Herbault, will be +considered _très-bien, ou au moins bien gentille_. The person who can +converse fluently on all the ordinary topics, though never uttering a +single sentiment or opinion worth remembering, will be more highly +thought of than the one who, with a mind abounding with knowledge, only +speaks to elicit or convey information. Talent, to be appreciated in +France, must be--like the wares in its shops--fully displayed; the +French give no credit for what is kept in reserve. + +I have been reading _Devereux_, and like it infinitely,--even more than +_Pelham_, which I estimated very highly. There is more thought and +reflection in it, and the sentiments bear the stamp of a profound and +elevated mind. The novels of this writer produce a totally different +effect on me to that exercised by the works of other authors; they +amuse less than they make me think. Other novels banish thought, and +interest me only in the fate of the actors; but these awaken a train of +reflection that often withdraws me from the story, leaving me deeply +impressed with the truth, beauty, and originality of the thoughts with +which every page is pregnant. + +All in Paris are talking of the _esclandre_ of the late trial in +London; and the comments made on it by the French prove how different +are the views of morality taken by them and us. + +Conversing with some ladies on this subject last night, they asserted +that the infrequency of elopements in France proved the superiority of +morals of the French, and that few examples ever occurred of a woman +being so lost to virtue as to desert her children and abandon her home. +"But if she should have rendered herself unworthy of any longer being +the companion of her children, the partner of her home," asked one of +the circle, "would it be more moral to remain under the roof she had +dishonoured, and with the husband she had betrayed, than to fly, and so +incur the penalty she had drawn on her head?" They were of opinion that +the elopement was the most criminal part of the affair, and that Lady +---- was less culpable than many other ladies, because she had not +fled; and, consequently, that elopements proved a greater +demoralisation than the sinful _liaisons_ carried on without them. + +Lady C---- endeavoured to prove that the flight frequently originated +in a latent sense of honour and shame, which rendered the presence of +the deceived husband and innocent children insufferable to her whose +indulgence of a guilty passion had caused her to forfeit her right to +the conjugal home; but they could not comprehend this, and persisted in +thinking the woman who fled with her lover more guilty than her who +remained under the roof of the husband she deceived. + +One thing is quite clear, which is, that the woman who feels she dare +not meet her wronged husband and children, if she dishonours them, will +be more deterred from sin by the consciousness of the necessity of +flight, which it imposes, than will be the one who sees no such +necessity, and who dreads not the penalty she may be tempted to incur. + +Lady C---- maintained that elopements are not a fair criterion for +judging of the morality of a country; for that she who sins and flies +is less hardened in guilt than she who remains and deceives: and the +example is also less pernicious, as the one who has forfeited her place +in society serves as a beacon to warn others; while she whose errors +are known, yet still retains hers, is a dangerous instance of the +indulgence afforded to hardened duplicity. It is not the horror of +guilt, but the dread of its exposure, that operates on the generality +of minds; and this is not always sufficient to deter from sin. + +Les Dames de B---- dined with us yesterday. They are very clever and +amusing, and, what is better, are excellent women. Their attachment to +each other, and devotion to their nephew, are edifying; and he appears +worthy of it. Left an orphan when yet an infant, these sisters adopted +their nephew, and for his sake have refused many advantageous offers of +marriage, devoting themselves to forwarding his interests and insuring +him their inheritance. They have shared his studies, taken part in his +success, and entered into his pains and pleasures, made his friends +theirs, and theirs his; no wonder, then, that he loves them so fondly, +and is never happier than with them, taking a lively interest in all +their pursuits. + +These good and warm-hearted women are accused of being enthusiasts, and +romantic. People say that at their age it is odd, if not absurd, to +indulge in such exaggerated notions of attachment; nay more, to give +such disinterested proofs of it. They may well smile at such remarks, +while conscious that their devotion to their nephew has not only +secured his happiness, but constitutes their own; and that the warmth +of affection for which they are censured, cheers the winter of their +lives and diffuses a comfort over their existence unknown to the +selfish mortals who live only for self. + +They talked to me last night of the happiness they anticipated in +seeing their nephew married. "He is so good, so excellent, that the +person he selects cannot fail to love him fondly," said La Chanoinesse; +"and we will love her so dearly for ensuring his happiness," added the +other sister. + +Who could know these two estimable women, without acknowledging how +harsh and unjust are often the sweeping censures pronounced on those +who are termed old maids?--a class in whose breasts the affections +instinct in woman, not being exercised by conjugal or maternal ties, +expand into some other channel; and, if denied some dear object on +which to place them, expends them on the domestic animals with which, +in default of more rational favourites, they surround themselves. + +Les Dames de B----, happier than many of the spinsters of their age, +have an estimable object to bestow their affections on; but those who +are less fortunate should rather excite our pity than ridicule, for +many and severe must have been the trials of that heart which turns at +last, _dans le besoin d'aimer_, to the bird, dog, or cat, that renders +solitude less lonely. + +The difference between servitude in England and in France often strikes +me, and more especially when I hear the frequent complaints made by +English people of the insolence and familiarity of French servants. +Unaccustomed to hear a servant reply to any censure passed on him, the +English are apt to consider his doing so as a want of respect or +subordination, though a French servant does not even dream that he is +guilty of either when, according to the general habit of his class and +country, he attempts an exculpation not always satisfactory to his +employer, however it may be to himself. + +A French master listens to the explanation patiently, or at least +without any demonstration of anger, unless he finds it is not based on +truth, when he reprehends the servant in a manner that satisfies the +latter that all future attempts to avoid blame by misrepresentation +will be unavailing. French servants imagine that they have the right to +explain, and their employers do not deny it; consequently, when they +change a French for an English master, they continue the same tone and +manner to which they have been used, and are not a little surprised to +find themselves considered guilty of impertinence. + +A French master and mistress issue their orders to their domestics with +much more familiarity than the English do; take a lively interest in +their welfare and happiness; advise them about their private concerns; +inquire into the cause of any depression of spirits, or symptom of ill +health they may observe, and make themselves acquainted with the +circumstances of those in their establishment. + +This system lessens the distance maintained between masters and +servants, but does not really diminish the respect entertained by the +latter towards their employers, who generally find around them humble +friends, instead of, as with us, cold and calculating dependents, who +repay our _hauteur_ by a total indifference to our interests, and, +while evincing all the external appearance of profound respect, +entertain little of the true feeling of it to their masters. + +Treating our servants as if they were automatons created solely for our +use, and who, being paid a certain remuneration for their services, +have no claim on us for kindness or sympathy, is a system very +injurious to their morals and our own interests, and requires an +amelioration. But while I deprecate the tone of familiarity that so +frequently shocks the untravelled English in the treatment of French +employers to their servants, I should like to see more kindness of +manner shewn by the English to theirs. Nowhere are servants so well +paid, clothed, fed, and lodged, as with us, and nowhere are they said +to feel so little attachment to their masters; which can only be +accounted for by the erroneous system to which I have referred. + +---- came to see me to-day. He talked politics, and I am afraid went +away shocked at perceiving how little interest I took in them. I like +not political subjects in England, and avoid them whenever I can; but +here I feel very much about them, as the Irishman is said to have felt +when told that the house he was living in was on fire, and he answered +"Sure, what's that to me!--I am only a lodger!" + +---- told me that France is in a very dangerous state; the people +discontented, etc. etc. So I have heard every time I have visited Paris +for the last ten years; and as to the people being discontented, when +were they otherwise I should like to know? Never, at least since I have +been acquainted with them; and it will require a sovereign such as +France has not yet known to satisfy a people so versatile and +excitable. Charles the Tenth is not popular. His religious turn, far +from conciliating the respect or confidence of his subjects, tends only +to awaken their suspicions of his being influenced by the Jesuits--a +suspicion fraught with evil, if not danger, to him. + +Strange to say, all admit that France has not been so prosperous for +years as at present. Its people are rapidly acquiring a love of +commerce, and the wealth that springs from it, which induces me to +imagine that they would not be disposed to risk the advantages they +possess by any measure likely to subvert the present state of things. +Nevertheless, more than one alarmist like ---- shake their heads and +look solemn, foretelling that affairs cannot long go on as they are. + +Of one thing I am convinced, and that is, that no sovereign, whatever +may be his merits, can long remain popular in France; and that no +prosperity, however brilliant, can prevent the people from those +_émeutes_ into which their excitable temperaments, rather than any real +cause for discontent, hurry them. These _émeutes_, too, are less +dangerous than we are led to think. They are safety-valves by which the +exuberant spirits of the French people escape; and their national +vanity, being satisfied with the display of their force, soon subside +into tranquillity, if not aroused into protracted violence by unwise +demonstrations of coercion. + +The two eldest sons of the Duc and Duchesse de Guiche have entered the +College of Ste.-Barbe. This is a great trial to their mother, from whom +they had never previously been separated a single day. Well might she +be proud of them, on hearing the just eulogiums pronounced on the +progress in their studies while under the paternal roof; for never did +parents devote themselves more to the improvement of their children +than the Duc and Duchesse de Guiche have done, and never did children +offer a fairer prospect of rewarding their parents than do theirs. + +It would have furnished a fine subject for a painter to see this +beautiful woman, still in the zenith of her youth and charms, walking +between these two noble boys, whose personal beauty is as remarkable as +that of their parents, as she accompanied them to the college. The +group reminded me of Cornelia and her sons, for there was the same +classic _tournure_ of heads and profiles, and the same elevated +character of _spirituelle_ beauty, that painters and sculptors always +bestow on the young Roman matron and the Gracchi. + +The Duc seemed impressed with a sentiment almost amounting to solemnity +as he conducted his sons to Ste.-Barbe. He thought, probably, of the +difference between their boyhood and his own, passed in a foreign land +and in exile; while they, brought up in the bosom of a happy home, have +now left it for the first time. Well has he taught them to love the +land of their birth, for even now their youthful hearts are filled with +patriotic and chivalrous feelings! + +It would be fortunate, indeed, for the King of France if he had many +such men as the Duc de Guiche around him--men with enlightened minds, +who have profited by the lessons of adversity, and kept pace with the +rapidly advancing knowledge of the times to which they belong. + +Painful, indeed, would be the position of this excellent man should any +circumstances occur that would place the royal family in jeopardy, for +he is too sensible not to be aware of the errors that might lead to +such a crisis, and too loyal not to share the perils he could not ward +off; though he will never be among those who would incur them, for no +one is more impressed with the necessity of justice and impartiality +than he is. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + + +The approach of spring is already visible here, and right glad am I to +welcome its genial influence; for a Paris winter possesses in my +opinion no superiority over a London one,--nay, though it would be +deemed by the French little less than a heresy to say so, is even more +damp and disagreeable. + +The Seine has her fogs, as dense, raw, and chilling, as those of old +Father Thames himself; and the river approximating closer to "the gay +resorts" of the _beau monde_, they are more felt. The want of draining, +and the vapours that stagnate over the turbid waters of the _ruisseaux_ +that intersect the streets at Paris, add to the humidity of the +atmosphere; while the sewers in London convey away unseen and unfelt, +if not always unsmelt, the rain which purifies, while it deluges, our +streets. Heaven defend me, however, from uttering this disadvantageous +comparison to Parisian cars, for the French are too fond of Paris not +to be proud even of its _ruisseaux_, and incredulous of its fogs, and +any censure on either would be ill received. + +The gay butterflies when they first expand their varicoloured wings and +float in air, seem not more joyous than the Parisians have been during +the last two days of sunshine. The Jardins des Tuileries are crowded +with well-dressed groups; the budding leaves have burst forth with that +delicate green peculiar to early spring; and the chirping of +innumerable birds, as they flit from tree to tree, announces the +approach of the vernal season. + +Paris is at no time so attractive, in my opinion, as in spring; and the +verdure of the foliage during its infancy is so tender, yet bright, +that it looks far more beautiful than with us in our London squares or +parks, where no sooner do the leaves open into life, than they become +stained by the impurity of the atmosphere, which soon deposes its dingy +particles on them, "making the green one"--black. + +The Boulevards were well stocked with flowers to-day, the +_bouquetières_ having resumed their stalls; and many a pedestrian might +be seen bargaining for these fair and frail harbingers of rosy spring. + +How exhilarating are the effects of this season on the spirits +depressed by the long and gloomy winter, and the frame rendered languid +by the same cause! The heart begins to beat with more energetic +movement, the blood flows more briskly through the veins, and the +spirit of hope is revivified in the human heart. This sympathy between +awakening nature, on the earth, and on man, renders us more, that at +any other period, fond of the country; for this is the season of +promise; and we know that each coming day, for a certain time, will +bestow some new beauty on all that is now budding forth, until glowing, +laughing summer has replaced the fitful smiles and tears of spring. + +And there are persons who tell me they experience nought of this +elasticity of spirits at the approach of spring! How are such mortals +to be pitied! Yet, perhaps, they are less so than we imagine, for the +same insensibility that prevents their being exhilarated, may preclude +them from the depression so peculiar to all who have lively feelings. + +"I see nothing so very delightful in spring," said ---- to me, +yesterday. "_Au contraire_, I think it rather disagreeable, for the +sunshine cheats one into the belief of warmth, and we go forth less +warmly clad in consequence, so return home chilled by the sharp cold +air which always prevails at this season, and find, as never fails to +be the case, that our stupid servants have let out the fires, because, +truly, the sun was shining in the cold blue sky." ---- reminds me of +the man mentioned in Sterne's works, who, when his friend looking on a +beautiful prospect, compared a green field with a flock of +snowy-fleeced sheep on it, to a vast emerald studded with pearls, +answered that _he_ could see nothing in it but grass and mutton. + +Lord B---- set out for London to-day, to vote on the Catholic question, +which is to come on immediately. His going at this moment, when he is +far from well, is no little sacrifice of personal comfort; but never +did he consider self when a duty was to be performed. I wish the +question was carried, and he safely back again. What would our +political friends say if they knew how strongly I urged him not to go, +but to send his proxy to Lord Rosslyn? I would not have consented to +his departure, were it not that the Duke of Wellington takes such an +interest in the measure. + +How times are changed! and how much is due to those statesmen who yield +up their own convictions for the general good! There is no action in +the whole life of the Duke more glorious than his self-abnegation on +this occasion, nor is that of the Tory leader of the House of Commons +less praiseworthy; yet how many attacks will both incur by this +sacrifice of their opinions to expediency! for when were the actions of +public men judged free from the prejudices that discolour and distort +all viewed through their medium? That which originates in the purest +patriotism, will be termed an unworthy tergiversation; but the reward +of these great and good men will be found in their own breasts. I am +_triste_ and unsettled, so will try the effect of a drive in the Bois +de Boulogne. + +I was forcibly reminded yesterday of the truth of an observation of a +clever French writer, who says, that to judge the real merit of a cook, +one should sit down to table without the least feeling of appetite, as +the triumph of the culinary art was not to satisfy hunger but to excite +it. Our new cook achieved this triumph yesterday, for he is so +inimitable an artist, that the flavour of his _plats_ made even me, +albeit unused to the sensation of hunger, feel disposed to render +justice to them. Monsieur Louis--for so he is named--has a great +reputation in his art; and it is evident, even from the proof furnished +of his _savoir-faire_ yesterday, that he merits it. + +It is those only who have delicate appetites that can truly appreciate +the talent of a cook; for they who devour soon lose the power of +tasting. No symptom of that terrible malady, well named by the +ingenious Grimod de la Reynière _remords d'estomac_, but vulgarly +called indigestion, follows my unusual indulgence in _entrées_ and +_entremets_, another delightful proof of the admirable skill of +Monsieur Louis. + +The English are apt to spoil French cooks by neglecting the _entrées_ +for the _pièce de résistance_, and, when the cook discovers this, which +he is soon enabled to do by the slight breaches made in the first, and +the large one in the second, his _amour-propre_ becomes wounded, and he +begins to neglect his _entrées_. Be warned, then, by me, all ye who +wish your cooks to retain their skill, and however your native tastes +for that English favourite dish denominated "a plain joint" may +prevail, never fail to taste the _entrée_. + +_À propos_ of cooks, an amusing instance of the _amour-propre_ of a +Parisian cook was related to me by the gourmand Lord ----, the last +time we dined at his house. Wishing to have a particular sauce made +which he had tasted in London, and for which he got the receipt, he +explained to his cook, an artist of great celebrity, how the component +parts were to be amalgamated. + +"How, mylord!" exclaimed _Monsieur le cuisinier_; "an English sauce! Is +it possible your lordsip can taste any thing so barbarous? Why, years +ago, my lord, a profound French philosopher described the English as a +people who had a hundred religions, but only one sauce." + +More anxious to get the desired sauce than to defend the taste of his +country, or correct the impertinence of his cook, Lord ---- immediately +said, "On recollection, I find I made a mistake; the sauce I mean is _à +la Hollandaise_, and not _à l'Anglaise_." + +_A la bonne heure_, my lord, _c'est autre chose_; and the sauce was +forthwith made, and was served at table the day we dined with Lord +----. + +An anecdote is told of this same cook, which Lord ---- relates with +great good humour. The cook of another English nobleman conversing with +him, said, "My master is like yours--a great _gourmand_." + +"Pardon me," replied the other; "there is a vast difference between our +masters. Yours is simply a _gourmand_, mine is an epicure as well." + +The Duc de Talleyrand, dining with us a few days ago, observed that to +give a perfect dinner, the Amphitryon should have a French cook for +soups, _entrées_ and _entremets_; an English _rôtisseur_, and an +Italian _confiseur_, as without these, a dinner could not be faultless. +"But, alas!" said he--and he sighed while he spoke it--"the Revolution +has destroyed our means of keeping these artists; and we eat now to +support nature, instead of, as formerly, when we ate because it was a +pleasure to eat." The good-natured Duc nevertheless seemed to eat his +dinner as if he still continued to take a pleasure in the operation, +and did ample justice to a certain _plat de cailles farcies_ which he +pronounced to be perfect. + +Our landlord, le Marquis de L----, has sent to offer us the refusal of +our beautiful abode. The Duc de N---- has proposed to take it for +fourteen on twenty-one years, at the same rent we pay (an extravagant +one, by the bye), and as we only took it for a year, we must eithor +leave or hire it for fourteen or twenty-one years, which is out of the +question. + +Nothing can be more fair or honourable than the conduct of the Marquis +de L----, for he laid before us the offer of the Duc de N----; but as +we do not intend to remain more than two or three years more in Paris, +we must leave this charming house, to our infinite regret, when the +year for which we have hired it expires. Gladly would we have engaged +it for two, or even three years more, but this is now impossible; and +we shall have the trouble of again going the round of house-hunting. + +When I look on the suite of rooms in which I have passed such pleasant +days, I am filled with regret at the prospect of leaving them, but it +cannot be helped, so it is useless to repine. We have two months to +look about us, and many friends who are occupied in assisting us in the +search. + +A letter from Lord B----; better, but still ailing. He presided at the +Covent Garden Theatrical Fund Dinner, at the request of the Duke of +Clarence. He writes me that he met there Lord F. Leveson Gower[5], who +was introduced to him by Mr. Charles Greville, and of whom he has +conceived a very high opinion. Lord B---- partakes my belief in +physiognomy, but in this instance the impression formed from the +countenance is justified by the reputation of the individual, who is +universally esteemed and respected. + +Went again to see the Hôtel Monaco, which Lord B---- writes me to close +for; but its gloomy and uncomfortable bed-rooms discourage me, _malgré_ +the splendour of the _salons_, which are decidedly the finest I have +seen at Paris, I will decide on nothing until Lord B----'s return. + +Went to the College of Ste.-Barbe to-day, with the Duchesse de Guiche, +to see her sons. Great was their delight at the meeting. I thought they +would never have done embracing her; and I, too, was warmly welcomed by +these dear and affectionate boys, who kissed me again and again. They +have already won golden opinions at the college, by their rare aptitude +in acquiring all that is taught them, and by their docility and manly +characters. + +The masters paid the Duchesse the highest compliments on the progress +her sons had made previously to their entrance at Ste.-Barbe, and +declared that they had never met any children so far advanced for their +age. I shared the triumph of this admirable mother, whose fair cheeks +glowed, and whose beautiful eyes sparkled, on hearing the eulogiums +pronounced on her boys. Her observation to me was, "How pleased their +father will be!" + +Ste.-Barbe is a little world in itself, and a very different world to +any I had previously seen. In it every thing smacks of learning, and +every body seems wholly engrossed by study. + +The spirit of emulation animates all, and excites the youths into an +application so intense as to be often found injurious to health. The +ambition of surpassing all competitors in their studies operates so +powerfully on the generality of the _élèves_, that the masters +frequently find it more necessary to moderate, than to urge the ardour +of the pupils. A boy's reputation for abilities soon gets known, but he +must possess no ordinary ones to be able to distinguish himself in a +college where every victory in erudition is sure to be achieved by a +well-contested battle. + +We passed through the quarter of Paris known as the Pays Latin, the +aspect of which is singular, and is said to have been little changed +during the last century. The houses, chiefly occupied by literary men, +look quaint and picturesque. Every man one sees passing has the air of +an author, not as authors now are, or at least as popular ones are, +well-clothed and prosperous-looking, but as authors were when genius +could not always command a good wardrobe, and walked forth in +habiliments more derogatory to the age in which it was neglected, than +to the individual whose poverty compelled such attire. + +Men in rusty threadbare black, with books under the arm, and some with +spectacles on nose, reading while they walked along, might be +encountered at every step. + +The women, too, in the Pays Latin, have a totally different aspect to +those of every other part of Paris. The desire to please, inherent in +the female breast, seems to have expired in them, for their dress +betrays a total neglect, and its fashion is that of some forty years +ago. Even the youthful are equally negligent, which indicates their +conviction that the men they meet seldom notice them, proving the truth +of the old saying, that women dress to please men. + +The old, with locks of snow, who had grown into senility in this +erudite quarter, still paced the same promenade which they had trodden +for many a year, habit having fixed them where hope once led their +steps. The middle-aged, too, might be seen with hair beginning to +blanch from long hours devoted to the midnight lamp, and faces marked +with "the pale cast of thought." Hope, though less sanguine in her +promises, still lures them on, and they pass the venerable old, +unconscious that they themselves are succeeding them in the same life +of study, to be followed by the same results, privation, and solitude, +until death closes the scene. And yet a life of study is, perhaps, the +one in which the privations compelled by poverty are the least felt to +be a hardship. + +Study, like virtue, is its own exceeding great reward, for it engrosses +as well as elevates the mind above the sense of the wants so acutely +felt by those who have no intellectual pursuits; and many a student has +forgotten his own privations when reading the history of the great and +good who have been exposed to even still more trying ones. Days pass +uncounted in such occupations. Youth fleets away, if not happily, at +least tranquilly, while thus employed; and maturity glides into age, +and age drops into the grave, scarcely conscious of the gradations of +each, owing to the mind having been filled with a continuous train of +thought, engendered by study. + +I have been reading some French poems by Madame Amabel Tastu; and very +beautiful they are. A sweet and healthy tone of mind breathes through +them, and the pensiveness that characterises many of them, marks a +reflecting spirit imbued with tenderness. There is great harmony, too, +in the versification, as well as purity and elegance in the diction. +How much some works make us wish to know their authors, and _vice +versâ_! I feel, while reading her poems, that I should like Madame +Amabel Tastu; while other books, whose cleverness I admit, convince me +I should not like the writers. + +A book must always resemble, more or less, its author. It is the mind, +or at least a portion of it, of the individual; and, however +circumstances may operate on it, the natural quality must always +prevail and peep forth in spite of every effort to conceal it. + +Living much in society seldom fails to deteriorate the force and +originality of superior minds; because, though unconsciously, the +persons who possess them are prone to fall into the habits of thought +of those with whom they pass a considerable portion of their time, and +suffer themselves to degenerate into taking an interest in puerilities +on which, in the privacy of their study, they would not bestow a single +thought. Hence, we are sometimes shocked at observing glaring +inconsistencies in the works of writers, and find it difficult to +imagine that the grave reflection which pervades some of the pages can +emanate from the same mind that dictated the puerilities abounding in +others. The author's profound thoughts were his own, the puerilities +were the result of the friction of his mind with inferior ones: at +least this is my theory, and, as it is a charitable one, I like to +indulge it. + +A pleasant party at dinner yesterday. Mr. W. Spencer, the poet, was +among the guests, He was much more like the William Spencer of former +days than when he dined here before, and was occasionally brilliant, +though at intervals he relapsed into moodiness. He told some good +stories of John Kemble, and told them well; but it seemed an effort to +him; and, while the listeners were still smiling at his excellent +imitation of the great tragedian, he sank back in his chair with an air +of utter abstraction. + +I looked at him, and almost shuddered at marking the "change that had +come o'er the spirit of his dream;" for whether the story touched a +chord that awakened some painful reflection in his memory, or that the +telling it had exhausted him, I know not, but his countenance for some +minutes assumed a careworn and haggard expression, and he then glanced +around at the guests with an air of surprise, like one awakened from +slumber. + +It is astonishing how little people observe each other in society! This +inattention, originating in a good breeding that proscribes personal +observation, has degenerated into something that approaches very nearly +to total indifference, and I am persuaded that a man might die at table +seated between two others without their being aware of it, until he +dropped from his chair. + +Civilization has its disadvantages as well as its advantages, and I +think the consciousness that one might expire between one's neighbours +at table without their noticing it, is hardly atoned for by knowing +that they will not stare one out of countenance. I often think, as I +look around at a large dinner-party, how few present have the slightest +knowledge of what is passing in the minds of the others. The smile worn +on many a face may be assumed to conceal a sadness which those who feel +it are but too well aware would meet with little sympathy, for one of +the effects of modern civilization is the disregard for the cares of +others, which it engenders. + +Madame de ---- once said to me, "I never invite Monsieur de ----, +because he looks unhappy, and as if he expected to be questioned as to +the cause." This _naïve_ confession of Madame de ---- is what few would +make, but the selfishness that dictated it is what society, _en masse_, +feels and acts up to. + +Monsieur de ----, talking of London last evening, told the Count ---- +to be on his guard not to be too civil to people when he got there. The +Count ---- looked astonished, and inquired the reason for the advice. +"Merely to prevent your being suspected of having designs on the hearts +of the women, or the purses of the men," replied Monsieur de ----; "for +no one can evince in London society the _empressement_ peculiar to +well-bred Frenchmen without being accused of some unworthy motive for +it." + +I defended my countrymen against the sweeping censure of the cynical +Monsieur de ----, who shook his head and declared that he spoke from +observation. He added, that persons more than usually polite are always +supposed to be poor in London, and that as this supposition was the +most injurious to their reception in good society, he always counselled +his friends, when about to visit it, to assume a _brusquerie_ of +manner, and a stinginess with regard to money, by which means they were +sure to escape the suspicion of poverty; as in England a parsimonious +expenditure and bluntness are supposed to imply the possession of +wealth. + +I ventured to say that I could now understand why it was that he passed +for being so rich in England--a _coup de patte_ that turned the laugh +against him. + +Mr. de ---- is a perfect cynic, and piques himself on saying what he +thinks,--a habit more frequently adopted by those who think +disagreeable, than agreeable things. + +Dined yesterday at Madame C----'s, and being Friday, had a _dîner +maigre_, than which I know no dinner more luxurious, provided that the +cook is a perfect artist, and that the Amphitryon, as was the case in +this instance, objects not to expense. + +The _soupes_ and _entrées_ left no room to regret the absence of flesh +or poultry from their component parts, and the _relevés_, in the shape +of a _brochet rôti_, and a _turbot à la hollandaise_ supplied the place +of the usual _pièces de résistance_. But not only was the flavour of +the _entrées_ quite as good as if they were composed of meat or +poultry, but the appearance offered the same variety, and the +_côtelettes de poisson_ and _fricandeau d'esturgeon_ might have +deceived all but the profoundly learned in gastronomy,--they looked so +exactly like lamb and veal. + +The second course offered equally delicate substitutes for the usual +dainties, and the most fastidious epicure might have been more than +satisfied with the _entremets_. + +The bishops in France are said to have had the most luxurious dinners +imaginable on what were erroneously styled fast-days; and their cooks +had such a reputation for their skill, that the having served _à +Monseigneur d'Église_ was a passport to the kitchens of all lovers of +good eating. There are people so profane as to insinuate that the +excellence at which the cooks arrived in dressing _les dîners maigres_ +is one of the causes why Catholicism has continued to flourish; but +this, of course, must be looked on as a malicious hint of the enemies +to that faith which thus proves itself less addicted to indulgence in +the flesh than are its decryers. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + + +The more I observe Lady C---- the more surprised I am at the romantic +feelings she still indulges, and the illusions under which she +labours;--yes _labours_ is the suitable word, for it can be nothing +short of laborious, at her age, to work oneself into the belief that +love is an indispensable requisite for life. Not the affection into +which the love of one's youth subsides, but the wild, the ungovernable +passion peculiar to the heroes and heroines of novels, and young ladies +and gentlemen recently emancipated from boarding-schools and colleges. + +Poor Lady C----, with so many estimable qualities, what a pity it is +she should have this weakness! She maintained in our conversation +yesterday that true love could never be extinguished in the heart, and +that even in age it burnt with the same fire as when first kindled. I +quoted to her a passage from Le Brun, who says--"L'amour peut +s'éteindre sans doute dans le coeur d'un galant homme; mais combien de +dédommagements n'a-t-il pas alors à offrir! L'estime, l'amitié, la +confiance, ne suffisent-elles pas aux glaces de la vieillesse?" Lady +C---- thinks not. + +Talking last night of ----, some one observed that "it was disagreeable +to have such a neighbour, as he did nothing but watch and interfere in +the concerns of others." + +"Give me in preference such a man as le Comte ----," said Monsieur +----, slily, "who never bestows a thought but on self, and is too much +occupied with that interesting subject to have time to meddle with the +affairs of other people." + +"You are right," observed Madame ----, gravely, believing him to be +serious; "it is much preferable." + +"But surely," said I, determined to continue the mystification, "you +are unjustly severe in your animadversions on poor Monsieur ----. Does +he not prove himself a true philanthropist in devoting the time to the +affairs of others that might be usefully occupied in attending to his +own?" + +"You are quite right," said Mrs. ----; "I never viewed his conduct in +this light before; and now that I understand it I really begin to like +him,--a thing I thought quite impossible before you convinced me of the +goodness of his motives." + +How many Mrs. ----'s there are in the world, with minds ductile as wax, +ready to receive any impression one wishes to give them! Yet I +reproached myself for assisting to hoax her, when I saw the smiles +excited by her credulity. + +Mademoiselle Delphine Gay[6] is one of the agreeable proofs that genius +is hereditary. I have been reading some productions of hers that +greatly pleased me. Her poetry is graceful, the thoughts are natural, +and the versification is polished. She is a very youthful authoress, +and a beauty as well as a _bel esprit_. Her mother's novels have +beguiled many an hour of mine that might otherwise have been weary, for +they have the rare advantage of displaying an equal knowledge of the +world with a lively sensibility. + +All Frenchwomen write well. They possess the art of giving interest +even to trifles, and have a natural eloquence _de plume_, as well as +_de langue_, that renders the task an easy one. It is the custom in +England to decry French novels, because the English unreasonably expect +that the literature of other countries should be judged by the same +criterion by which they examine their own, without making sufficient +allowance for the different manners and habits of the nations. Without +arrogating to myself the pretension of a critic, I should be unjust if +I did not acknowledge that I have perused many a French novel by modern +authors, from which I have derived interest and pleasure. + +The French critics are not loath to display their acumen in reviewing +the works of their compatriots, for they not only analyze the demerits +with pungent causticity, but apply to them the severest of all tests, +that of ridicule; in the use of which dangerous weapon they excel. + +House-hunting the greater part of the day. Oh the weariness of such an +occupation, and, above all, after having lived in so delightful a house +as the one we inhabit! Many of our French friends have come and told us +that they had found hôtels exactly to suit us: and we have driven next +day to see them, when lo and behold! these eligible mansions were +either situated in some disagreeable _quartier_, or consisted of three +fine _salons de réception_, with some half-dozen miserable dormitories, +and a passage-room by way of _salle à manger_. + +Though Paris abounds with fine _hôtels entre cour et jardin_, they are +seldom to be let; and those to be disposed of are generally divided +into suites of apartments, appropriated to different persons. One of +the hôtels recommended by a friend was on the Boulevards, with the +principal rooms commanding a full view of that populous and noisy +quarter of Paris. I should have gone mad in such a dwelling, for the +possibility of reading, or almost of thinking, amidst such an +ever-moving scene of bustle and din, would be out of the question. + +The modern French do not seem to appreciate the comfort of quiet and +seclusion in the position of their abodes, for they talk of the +enlivening influence of a vicinity to these same Boulevards from which +I shrink with alarm. It was not so in former days; witness the +delightful hôtels before alluded to, _entre cour et jardin_, in which +the inhabitants, although in the centre of Paris, might enjoy all the +repose peculiar to a house in the country. There is something, I am +inclined to think, in the nature of the Parisians that enables them to +support noise better than we can,--nay, not only to support, but even +to like it. + +I received an edition of the works of L.E.L. yesterday from London. She +is a charming poetess, full of imagination and fancy, dazzling one +moment by the brilliancy of her flights, and the next touching the +heart by some stroke of pathos. How Byron would have admired her +genius, for it bears the stamp of being influenced no less by a +graceful and fertile fancy than by a deep sensibility, and the union of +the two gives a peculiar charm to her poems. + +Drove to the Bois de Boulogne to-day, with the Comtesse d'O----, I know +no such brilliant talker as she is. No matter what may be the subject +of conversation, her wit flashes brightly on all, and without the +slightest appearance of effort or pretension. She speaks from a mind +overflowing with general information, made available by a retentive +memory, a ready wit, and in exhaustible good spirits. + +Letters from dear Italy. Shall I ever see that delightful land again? A +letter, too, from Mrs. Francis Hare, asking me to be civil to some +English friends of hers, who are come to Paris, which I shall certainly +be for her sake. + +_À propos_ of the English, it is amusing to witness the avidity with +which many of them not only accept but court civilities abroad, and the +_sang-froid_ with which they seem to forget them when they return home. +I have as yet had no opportunity of judging personally on this point, +but I hear such tales on the subject as would justify caution, if one +was disposed to extend hospitality with any prospective view to +gratitude for it, which we never have done, and never will do. + +Mine is the philosophy of ----, who, when his extreme hospitality to +his countrymen was remarked on, answered, "I can't eat all my good +dinners alone, and if I am lucky enough to find now and then a pleasant +guest, it repays me for the many dull ones invited." I expect no +gratitude for our hospitality to our compatriots, and "Blessed are they +who expect not, for they will not be disappointed." + +Longchamps has not equalled my expectations. It is a dull affair after +all, resembling the drive in Hyde Park on a Sunday in May, the +promenade in the Cacina at Florence, in the Corso at Rome, or the +Chaija at Naples, in all save the elegance of the dresses of the women, +in which Longchamps has an immeasurable superiority. + +It is at Longchamps that the Parisian spring fashions are first +exhibited, and busy are the _modistes_ for many weeks previously in +putting their powers of invention to the test, in order to bring out +novelties, facsimiles of which are, the ensuing week, forwarded to +England, Italy, Germany, Holland, and Russia. The coachmakers, +saddlers, and horse-dealers, are also put in requisition for this +epoch; and, though the exhibition is no longer comparable to what it +was in former times, when a luxurious extravagance not only in dress, +but in equipages, was displayed, some handsome and well-appointed +carriages are still to be seen. Among the most remarkable for good +taste, were those of the Princess Bagration, and Monsieur Schikler, +whose very handsome wife attracted more admiration than the elegant +vehicle in which she was seated, or the fine steeds that drew it. + +Those who are disposed to question the beauty of French women, should +have been at Longchamps to-day, when their scepticism would certainly +have been vanquished, for I saw several women there whose beauty could +admit of no doubt even by the most fastidious critic of female charms. +The Duchesse de Guiche, however, bore off the bell from all +competitors, and so the spectators who crowded the Champs-Elysées +seemed to think. Of her may be said what Choissy stated of la Duchesse +de la Vallière, she has "_La grace plus belle encore que la beauté_." +The handsome Duchesse d'Istrie and countless other _beautés à la mode_ +were present, and well sustained the reputation for beauty of the +Parisian ladies. + +The men _caracoled_ between the carriages on their proud and prancing +steeds, followed by grooms, _à l'Anglaise_, in smart liveries, and the +people crowded the footpaths on each side of the drive, commenting +aloud on the equipages and their owners that passed before them. + +The promenade at Longchamps, which takes place in the Holy Week, is +said to owe its origin to a religious procession that went annually to +a church so called, whence it by degrees changed its character, and +became a scene of gaiety, in which the most extravagant exhibitions of +luxury were displayed. + +One example, out of many, of this extravagance, is furnished by a +publication of the epoch at which Longchamps was in its most palmy +state, when a certain Mademoiselle Duthé, whose means of indulging in +inordinate expense were not solely derived from her ostensible +profession as one of the performers attached to the Opera, figured in +the promenade in a carriage of the most sumptuous kind, drawn by no +less than six thorough-bred horses, the harness of which was of blue +morocco, studded with polished steel ornaments, which produced the most +dazzling effect. + +That our times are improved in respect, at least, to appearances, may +be fairly concluded from the fact that no example of a similar +ostentatious display of luxury is ever now exhibited by persons in the +same position as Mademoiselle Duthé; and that if the same folly that +enabled her to indulge in such extravagance still prevails, a sense of +decency prevents all public display of wealth so acquired. Modern +morals censure not people so much for their vices as for the display of +them, as Aleibiades was blamed not for loving Nemea, but for allowing +himself to be painted reposing on her lap. + +Finished the perusal of _Cinq Mars_, by Count Alfred de Vigny. It is an +admirable production, and deeply interested me. The sentiments noble +and elevated, without ever degenerating into aught approaching to +bombast, and the pathos such as a manly heart might feel, without +incurring the accusation of weakness. The author must be a man of fine +feelings, as well as of genius,--but were they ever distinct? I like to +think they cannot be, for my theory is, that the feelings are to genius +what the chords are to a musical instrument--they must be touched to +produce effect. + +The style of Count Alfred de Vigny merits the eulogium passed by Lord +Shaftesbury on that of an author in his time, of which he wrote, "It is +free from that affected obscurity and laboured pomp of language aiming +at a false sublime, with crowded simile and mixed metaphor (the +hobby-horse and rattle of the Muses.") + +---- dined with us yesterday, and, clever as I admit him to be, he +often displeases me by his severe strictures on mankind. I told him +that he exposed himself to the suspicion of censuring it only because +he had studied a bad specimen of it (self) more attentively than the +good that fell in his way: a reproof that turned the current of his +conversation into a more agreeable channel, though he did not seem to +like the hint. + +It is the fashion for people now-a-days to affect this cynicism, and to +expend their wit at the expense of poor human nature, which is abused +_en masse_ for the sins of those who abuse it from judging of all +others by self. How different is ----, who thinks so well of his +species, that, like our English laws, he disbelieves the existence of +guilt until it is absolutely proved,--a charity originating in a +superior nature, and a judgment formed from an involuntary +consciousness of it! + +---- suspects evil on all sides, and passes his time in guarding +against it. He dares not indulge friendship, because he doubts the +possibility of its being disinterested, and feels no little +self-complacency when the conduct of those with whom he comes in +contact justifies his suspicions. ----, on the contrary, if sometimes +deceived, feels no bitterness, because he believes that the instance +may be a solitary one, and finds consolation in those whose truth he +has yet had no room to question. His is the best philosophy, for though +it cannot preclude occasional disappointment, it ensures much +happiness, as the indulgence of good feelings invariably does, and he +often creates the good qualities he gives credit for, as few persons +are so bad as not to wish to justify the favourable opinion entertained +of them, as few are so good as to resist the demoralising influence of +unfounded suspicions. + +A letter from Lord B----, announcing a majority of 105 on the bill of +the Catholic question. Lord Grey made an admirable speech, with a happy +allusion to the fact of Lord Howard of Effingham, who commanded the +English fleet in the reign of Elizabeth, having, though a Roman +Catholic, destroyed the Armada under the anointed banner of the Pope. +What a triumphant refutation of the notion that Roman Catholics dared +not oppose the Pope! Lord B---- writes, that the brilliant and justly +merited eulogium pronounced by Lord Grey on the Duke of Wellington was +rapturously received by the House. How honourable to both was the +praise! I feel delighted that Lord Grey should have distinguished +himself on this occasion, for he is one of the friends in England whom +I most esteem. + +---- dined here to-day. He reminds me of the larva, which is the first +state of animal existence in the caterpillar, for his appetite is +voracious, and, as a French naturalist states in describing that +insect, "Tout est estomac dans un larve." ---- is of the opinion of +Aretæus, that the stomach is the great source of pleasurable +affections, and that as Nature "abhors a vacuum," the more filled it is +the better. + +Dining is a serious affair with ----. Soup, fish, flesh, and fowl, +disappear from his plate with a rapidity that is really surprising; and +while they are vanishing, not "into empty air," but into the yawning +abyss of his ravenous jaws, his eyes wander around, seeking what next +those same ravenous jaws may devour. + +On beholding a person indulge in such gluttony, I feel a distaste to +eating, as a certain double-refined lady of my acquaintance declared +that witnessing the demonstrations of love between two persons of low +and vulgar habits so disgusted her with the tender passion, that she +was sure she never could experience it herself. + +I have been reading _la Chronique du Temps de Charles IX_, by Prosper +Mérimée, and a most interesting and admirably written book it is. Full +of stirring scenes and incidents, it contains the most graphic pictures +of the manners of the time in which the story is placed, and the +interest progresses, never flagging from the commencement to the end. +This book will be greatly admired in England, where the romances of our +great Northern Wizard have taught us to appreciate the peculiar merit +in which this abounds. Sir Walter Scott will be one of the first to +admire and render justice to this excellent book, and to welcome into +the field of literature this highly gifted brother of the craft. + +The French writers deserve justice from the English, for they +invariably treat the works of the latter with indulgence. Scott is not +more read or esteemed in his own country than here; and even the +productions of our young writers are more kindly treated than those of +their own youthful aspirants for fame. + +French critics have much merit for this amenity, because the greater +number of them possess a peculiar talent, for the exercise of their +critical acumen, which renders the indulgence of it, like that of the +power of ridicule, very tempting. Among the most remarkable critics of +the day Jules Janin, who though yet little more than a youth, evinces +such talent as a reviewer as to be the terror of mediocrity. His style +is pungent and vigorous, his satire searching and biting, and his tact +in pointing ridicule unfailing. He bids fair to take a most +distinguished place in his profession. + +Spent last evening in the Rue d'Anjou, where I met the usual circle and +----. He bepraised every one that was named during the evening, and so +injudiciously, that it was palpable he knew little of those upon whom +he expended his eulogiums; nay, he lauded some whom he acknowledged he +had never seen, on the same principle that actuated the Romans of old +who, having deified every body they knew, erected at last an altar to +the unknown Gods, lest any should by chance be omitted. + +This habit of indiscriminate praise is almost as faulty as that of +general censure, and is, in my opinion, more injurious to the praised +than the censure is to the abused, because people are prone to indulge +a greater degree of sympathy towards those attacked than towards those +who are commended. No one said "Amen" to the praises heaped on some +really deserving people by ----, but several put in a palliating +"_pourtant_" to the ill-natured remarks made by ----, whose habit of +abusing all who chance to be named is quite as remarkable as the +other's habit of praising. I would prefer being attacked by ---- to +being lauded by ----, for the extravagance of the eulogiums of the +latter would excite more ill-will towards me than the censures of the +other, as the self-love of the listeners disposes them to feel more +kindly to the one they can pity, than to the person they are disposed +to envy. + +I never look at dear, good Madame C---, without thinking how soon we +may,--nay, we must lose her. At her very advanced age we cannot hope +that she will be long spared to us; yet her freshness of heart and +wonderful vivacity of mind would almost cheat one into a hope of her +long continuing amongst us. + +She drove out with me yesterday to the Bois de Boulogne, and, when +remarking how verdant and beautiful all around was looking, exclaimed, +"Ah! why is no second spring allowed to us? I hear," continued she, +"people say they would not like to renew their youth, but I cannot +believe them. There are times--would you believe it?--that I forget my +age, and feel so young in imagination that I can scarcely bring myself +to think this heart, which is still so youthful, can appertain to the +same frame to which is attached this faded and wrinkled face," and she +raised her hand to her cheek. "Ah! my dear friend, it is a sad, sad +thing to mark this fearful change, and I never look in my mirror +without being shocked. The feelings ought to change with the person, +and the heart should become as insensible as the face becomes +withered." + +"The change in the face is so gradual, too," continued Madame C----. +"We see ourselves after thirty-five, each day looking a little less +well (we are loath to think it ugly), and we attribute it not to the +true cause, the approach of that enemy to beauty--age,--but to some +temporary indisposition, a bad night's rest, or an unbecoming cap. We +thus go on cheating ourselves, but not cheating others, until some day +when the light falls more clearly on our faces, and the fearful truth +stands revealed. Wrinkles have usurped the place of dimples; horrid +lines, traced by Time, have encircled the eyelids; the eyes, too, no +longer bright and pellucid, become dim; the lips dry and colourless, +the teeth yellow, and the cheeks pale and faded, as a dried rose-leaf +long pressed in a _hortus siccus_." + +"Alas, alas! who can help thinking of all this when one sees the trees +opening into their rich foliage, the earth putting forth its bright +verdure, and the flowers budding into bloom, while we resemble the hoar +and dreary winter, and scarcely retain a trace of the genial summer we +once knew." + +This conversation suggested the following lines, which I wish I could +translate into French verse to give to Madame C----: + + GRAY HAIRS. + + Snowy blossoms of the grave + That now o'er care-worn temples wave, + Oh! what change hath pass'd since ye + O'er youthful brows fell carelessly! + In silken curls of ebon hue + That with such wild luxuriance grew, + The raven's dark and glossy wing + A richer shadow scarce could fling. + The brow that tells a tale of Care + That Sorrow's pen hath written there, + In characters too deeply traced + Ever on earth to be effaced, + Was then a page of spotless white, + Where Love himself might wish to write. + The jetty arches that did rise, + As if to guard the brilliant eyes, + Have lost their smoothness;--and no more + The eyes can sparkle as of yore: + They look like fountains form'd by tears, + Where perish'd Hope in by-gone years. + The nose that served as bridge between + The brow and mouth--for Love, I ween, + To pass--hath lost its sculptured air. + For Time, the spoiler, hath been there. + The mouth--ah! where's the crimson dye + That youth and health did erst supply? + Are these pale lips that seldom smile, + The same that laugh'd, devoid of guile. + Shewing within their coral cell + The shining pearls that there did dwell, + But dwell no more? The pearls are fled, + And homely teeth are in their stead. + The cheeks have lost the blushing rose + That once their surface could disclose; + A dull, pale tint has spread around, + Where rose and lily erst were found. + The throat, and bust--but, ah! forbear, + Let's draw a veil for ever there; + Too fearful is 't to put in rhyme + The changes wrought by cruel Time, + The faithful mirror well reveals + The truth that flattery conceals; + The charms once boasted, now are flown, + But mind and heart are still thine own; + And thou canst see the wreck of years, + And ghost of beauty, without tears. + No outward change thy soul shouldst wring, + Oh! mourn but for the change within; + Grieve over bright illusions fled, + O'er fondly cherish'd hope, now dead, + O'er errors of the days of youth, + Ere wisdom taught the path of truth. + Then hail, ye blossoms of the grave, + That o'er the care-worn temples wave-- + Sent to remind us of "that bourn, + Whence traveller can ne'er return;" + The harbingers of peace and rest, + Where only mortals can be blest. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + + +Read Victor Hugo's _Dernier Jour d'un Condamné!_ It is powerfully +written, and the author identifies his feelings so strongly with the +condemned, that he must, while writing the book, have experienced +similar emotions to those which a person in the same terrible position +would have felt. Wonderful power of genius, that can thus excite +sympathy for the erring and the wretched, and awaken attention to a +subject but too little thought of in our selfish times, namely, the +expediency of the abolition of capital punishment! A perusal of Victor +Hugo's graphic book will do more to lead men's minds to reflect on this +point than all the dull essays; or as dull speeches, that may be +written or made on it. + +Talking of ---- to-day with ---- ----, she remarked that he had every +sense but common sense, and made light of this deficiency. How +frequently do we hear people do this, as if the possession of talents +or various fine qualities can atone for its absence! Common sense is +not only positively necessary to render talent available by directing +its proper application, but is indispensable as a monitor to warn men +against error. Without this guide the passions and feelings will be +ever leading men astray, and even those with the best natural +dispositions will fall into error. + +Common sense is to the individual what the compass is to the +mariner--it enables him to steer safely through the rocks, shoals, and +whirlpools that intersect his way. Were the lives of criminals +accurately known, I am persuaded that it would be found that from a +want of common sense had proceeded their guilt; for a clear perception +of crime would do more to check its perpetration, than the goodness of +heart which is so frequently urged as a preventive against it. + +Conscience is the only substitute for common sense, but even this will +not supply its place in all cases. Conscience will lead a man to repent +or atone for crime, but common sense will preclude his committing it by +enabling him to judge of the result. I frequently hear people say, "So +and so are very clever," or "very cunning, and are well calculated to +make their way in the world." This opinion seems to me to be a severe +satire on the world, for as cunning can only appertain to a mean +intellect, to which it serves as a poor substitute for sense, it argues +ill for the world to suppose it can be taken in by it. + +I never knew a sensible, or a good person, who was cunning; and I have +known so many weak and wicked ones who possessed this despicable +quality, that I hold it in abhorrence, except in very young children, +to whom Providence gives it before they arrive at good sense. + +Went a round of the curiosity shops on the Quai d'Orsay, and bought an +amber vase of rare beauty, said to have once belonged to the Empress +Josephine. When I see the beautiful objects collected together in these +shops, I often think of their probable histories, and of those to whom +they once belonged. Each seems to identify itself with the former +owner, and conjures up in my mind a little romance. + +A vase of rock crystal, set in precious stones, seen today, could never +have belonged to aught but some beauty, for whom it was selected by an +adoring lover or husband, ere yet the honeymoon had passed. A chased +gold _étui_, enriched with oriental agates and brilliants, must have +appertained to some _grande dame_, on whose table it rested in a +richly-decorated _salon_; and could it speak, what piquant disclosures +might it not make! + +The fine old watch, around the dial of which sparkle diamonds, and on +the back the motto, executed in the same precious stones, "_Vous me +faites oublier les heures_," once adorned the slender waist of some +dainty dame,--a nuptial gift. The silvery sound of its bell often +reminded her of the flight of Time, and her _caro sposo_ of the effects +of it on his inconstant heart, long before her mirror told her of the +ravages of the tyrant. The _flacon_ so tastefully ornamented, has been +held to delicate nostrils when the megrim--that malady peculiar to +refined organisations and susceptible nerves--has assailed its fair +owner; and the heart-shaped pincushion of crimson velvet, inclosed in +its golden case and stuck with pins, has been likened by the giver to +his own heart, pierced by the darts of Love--a simile that probably +displeased not the fair creature to whom it was addressed. + +Here are the expensive and tasteful gifts, the _gages d'amour_, not +often disinterested, as bright and beautiful as when they left the +hands of the jeweller; but the givers and the receivers where are they? +Mouldered in the grave long, long years ago! Through how many hands may +these objects not have passed since Death snatched away the persons for +whom they were originally designed! And here they are in the ignoble +custody of some avaricious vender, who having obtained them at the sale +of some departed amateur for less than half their first cost, now +expects to extort more than double. + +He takes them up in his unwashed fingers, turns them--oh, +profanation!--round and round, in order to display their various +merits, descants on the delicacy of the workmanship, the sharpness of +the chiseling, the pure water of the brilliants, and the fine taste +displayed in the form; tells a hundred lies about the sum he gave for +them, the offers he has refused, the persons to whom they once +belonged, and those who wish to purchase them! + +The _flacon_ of some defunct prude is placed side by side with the +_vinaigrette_ of some _jolie danseuse_ who was any thing but prudish. +How shocked would the original owner of the _flacon_ feel at the +friction! The fan of some _grande dame de la cour_ touches the +diamond-mounted _étui_ of the wife of some _financier_, who would have +given half her diamonds to enter the circle in which she who once owned +this fan found more _ennui_ than amusement. The cane of a deceased +philosopher is in close contact with the golden-hilted sword of a +_petit maître de l'ancien régime_, and the sparkling _tabatière_ of a +_Marquis Musqué_, the partaker if not the cause of half his _succès +dans le monde_, is placed by the _chapelet_ of a _religieuse de haute +naissance_, who often perhaps dropped a tear on the beads as she +counted them in saying her Ave Marias, when some unbidden thought of +the world she had resigned usurped the place of her aspirations for a +brighter and more enduring world. + +"And so 't will be when I am gone," as Moore's beautiful song says; the +rare and beautiful _bijouterie_ which I have collected with such pains, +and looked on with such pleasure, will probably be scattered abroad, +and find their resting places not in gilded _salons_, but in the dingy +coffers of the wily _brocanteur_, whose exorbitant demands will +preclude their finding purchasers. Even these inanimate and puerile +objects have their moral, if people would but seek it; but what has +not, to a reflecting mind?--complained bitterly to-day, of having been +attacked by an anonymous scribbler. I was surprised to see a man +accounted clever and sensible, so much annoyed by what I consider so +wholly beneath his notice. It requires only a knowledge of the world +and a self-respect to enable one to treat such attacks with the +contempt they merit; and those who allow themselves to be mortified by +them must be deficient in these necessary qualifications for passing +smoothly through life. + +It seems to me to indicate great weakness of mind, when a person +permits his peace to be at the mercy of every anonymous scribbler who, +actuated by envy or hatred (the invariable causes of such attacks), +writes a libel on him. If a person so attacked would but reflect that +few, if any, who have acquired celebrity, or have been favoured by +fortune, have ever escaped similar assaults, he would be disposed to +consider them as the certain proofs of a merit, the general +acknowledgment of which has excited the ire of the envious, thus +displayed by the only mean within their reach--anonymous abuse. +Anonymous assailants may be likened to the cuttle-fish, which employs +the inky secretions it forms as a means of tormenting its enemy and +baffling pursuit. + +I have been reading the poems of Mrs. Hemans, and exquisite they are. +They affect me like sacred music, and never fail to excite religious +sentiments. England only could have produced this poetess, and peculiar +circumstances were necessary to the developement of her genius. The +music of the versification harmonises well with the elevated character +of the thoughts, which inspire the reader (at least such is their +effect on me) with a pensive sentiment of resignation that is not +without a deep charm to a mind that loves to withdraw itself from the +turmoil and bustle incidental to a life passed in a gay and brilliant +capital. + +The mind of this charming poetess must be like an Æolian harp, that +every sighing wind awakes to music, but to grave and chastened melody, +the full charm of which can only be truly appreciated by those who have +sorrowed, and who look beyond this earth for repose. Well might Goëthe +write, + + "Wo du das Genie erblickst + Erblickst du auch zugleich die martkrone"[7] + +for where is Genius to be found that has not been tried by suffering? + +Moore has beautifully said, + + "The hearths that are soonest awake to the flowers, + Are always the first to be pierced by the thorns;" + +and so it is with poets: they feel intensely before they can make +others feel even superficially. + +And there are those who can talk lightly and irreverently of the +sufferings from which spring such exquisite, such glorious music, +unconscious that the fine organization and delicate susceptibility of +the minds of Genius which give such precious gifts to delight others, +receive deep wounds from weapons that could not make an incision on +impenetrable hearts like their own. Yes, the hearts of people of genius +may be said to resemble the American maple-trees, which must be pierced +ere they yield their honied treasures. + +If Mrs. Hemans had been as happy as she deserved to be, it is probable +that she would never have written the exquisite poems I have been +reading; for the fulness of content leaves no room for the sweet and +bitter fancies engendered by an imagination that finds its Hippocrene +in the fountain of Sorrow, whose source is in the heart, and can only +flow when touched by the hand of Care. + +Well may England be proud of such poetesses as she can now boast! +Johanna Baillie, the noble-minded and elevated; Miss Bowles, the pure, +the true; Miss Mitford, the gifted and the natural; and Mrs. Hemans and +Miss Landon, though last not least in the galaxy of Genius, with +imaginations as brilliant as their hearts are generous and tender. Who +can read the productions of these gifted women, without feeling a +lively interest in their welfare, and a pride in belonging to the +country that has given them birth? + +Lord B---- arrived yesterday, and, Heaven be thanked! is in better +health. He says the spring is three weeks more advanced at Paris than +in London. He is delighted at the Catholic Question having been +carried; and trusts, as I do, that Ireland will derive the greatest +benefit from the measure. How few, with estates in a province where so +strong a prejudice is entertained against Roman Catholics as exists in +the north of Ireland, would have voted as Lord B---- has done; but, +like his father, Lord B---- never allows personal interest to interfere +in the discharge of a duty! If there were many such landlords in +Ireland, prejudices, the bane of that country, would soon subside. Lord +B---- came back laden with presents for me. Some of them are quite +beautiful, and would excite the envy of half my sex. + +Received letters from good, dear Sir William Gell, and the no less dear +and good Archbishop of Tarentum, both urging us to return to Italy to +see them, as they say, once more before they die. Receiving letters +from absent friends who are dear to us, has almost as much of sadness +as of pleasure in it; for although it is consolatory to know that they +are in life, and are not unmindful of us, still a closely written sheet +of paper is but a poor substitute for the animated conversation, the +cordial grasp of the hand, and the kind glance of the eye; and we +become more sensible of the distance that divides us when letters +written many days ago arrive, and we remember with dread that, since +these very epistles were indited, the hands that traced them may be +chilled by death. This fear, which recurs so often to the mind in all +cases of absence from those dear to us, becomes still more vivid where +infirmity of health and advanced age render the probability of the loss +of friends the greater. + +Italy--dear, beautiful Italy--with all its sunshine and attractions, +would not be the same delightful residence to me if I no longer found +there the friends who made my _séjour_ there so pleasant; and among +these the Archbishop and Sir William Gell stand prominent. + +Gell writes me that some new and interesting discoveries have been made +at Pompeii. Would that I could be transported there for a few days to +see them with him, as I have beheld so many before when we were present +at several excavations together, and saw exposed to the light of day +objects that had been for two thousand years buried in darkness! There +was a thrilling feeling of interest awakened in the breast by the first +view of these so-long-interred articles of use or ornament of a bygone +generation, and on the spot where their owners perished. It was as +though the secrets of the grave were revealed; and that, to convince us +of the perishable coil of which mortals are formed, it is given us to +behold how much more durable are the commonest utensils of daily use +than the frames of those who boast themselves lords of the creation. +But here am I moralizing, when I ought to be taking advantage of this +glorious day by a promenade in the Bois de Boulogne, where I promised +to conduct Madame d'O----; so _allons en voiture_. + +Read the _Disowned_, and like it exceedingly. It is full of beautiful +thoughts, sparkling with wit, teeming with sentiment, and each and all +of them based on immutable truths. The more I read of the works of this +highly gifted writer, the more am I delighted with them; for his +philosophy passes through the alembic of a mind glowing with noble and +generous sentiments, of which it imbibes the hues. + +The generality of readers pause not to reflect on the truth and beauty +of the sentiments to be found in novels. They hurry on to the +_dénoûment_; and a stirring incident, skilfully managed, which serves +to develope the plot, finds more admirers than the noblest thoughts, or +most witty maxims. Yet as people who read nothing else, will read +novels, authors like Mr. Bulwer, whose minds are overflowing with +genius, are compelled to make fiction the vehicle for giving to the +public thoughts and opinions that are deserving of a higher grade of +literature. + +The greater portion of novel readers, liking not to be detained from +the interest of the story by any extraneous matter, however admirable +it may be, skip over the passages that most delight those who read to +reflect, and not for mere amusement. + +I find myself continually pausing over the admirable and profound +reflections of Mr. Bulwer, and almost regret that his writings do not +meet the public as the papers of the _Spectator_ did, when a single one +of them was deemed as essential to the breakfast-table of all lovers of +literature as a morning journal is now to the lovers of news. The merit +of the thoughts would be then duly appreciated, instead of being +hastily passed over in the excitement of the story which they +intersect. + +A long visit from ----, and, as usual, politics furnished the topic. +How I wish people would never talk politics to me! I have no vocation +for that abstruse science,--a science in which even those who devote +all their time and talents to it, but rarely arrive at a proficiency. +In vain do I profess my ignorance and inability; people will not +believe me, and think it necessary to enter into political discussions +that _ennuient_ me beyond expression. + +If ---- is to be credited, Charles the Tenth and his government are so +unpopular that his reign will not pass without some violent commotion. +A fatality appears to attend this family, which, like the house of +Stuart, seems doomed never to conciliate the affections of the people. +And yet, Charles the Tenth is said not to be disposed to tyrannical +measures, neither is he without many good qualities. But the last of +the Stuart sovereigns also was naturally a humane and good man, yet he +was driven from his kingdom and his throne,--a proof that weakness of +mind is, perhaps, of all faults in a monarch, the one most likely to +compromise the security of his dynasty. + +The restoration of the Stuarts after Cromwell, was hailed with much +more enthusiasm in England than that of Louis the Eighteenth, after the +abdication of the Emperor Napoleon. Yet that enthusiasm was no pledge +that the people would bear from the descendants of the ill-fated +Charles the First--that most perfect of all gentlemen and meekest of +Christians--what they deprived him of not only his kingdom but his life +for attempting. + +The house of Bourbon, like that of Stuart, has had its tragedy, +offering a fearful lesson to sovereigns and a terrific example to +subjects. It has had, also, its restoration; and, if report may be +credited, the parallel will not rest here: for there are those who +assert that as James was supplanted on the throne of England by a +relative while yet the legitimate and unoffending heir lived, so will +also the place of Charles the Tenth be filled by one between whom and +the crown stand two legitimate barriers. Time will tell how far the +predictions of ---- are just; but, _en attendant_, I never can believe +that ambition can so blind _one_ who possesses all that can render life +a scene of happiness to himself and of usefulness to others, to throw +away a positive good for the uncertain and unquiet possession of a +crown, bestowed by hands that to confer the dangerous gift must have +subverted a monarchy. + +Pandora's box contained not more evils than the crown of France would +inflict on him on whose brow a revolution would place it. From that +hour let him bid adieu to peaceful slumber, to domestic happiness, to +well-merited confidence and esteem, all of which are now his own. +Popularity, never a stable possession in any country, is infinitely +less so in France, where the vivacity of perception of the people leads +them to discover grave faults where only slight errors exist, and where +a natural inconstancy, love of change, and a reckless impatience under +aught that offends them, prompt them to hurl down from the pedestal the +idol of yesterday to replace it by the idol of to-day. + +I hear so much good of the Duc and Duchesse d'O---- that I feel a +lively interest in them, and heartily wish they may never be elevated +(unless by the natural demise of the legitimate heirs) to the dangerous +height to which ---- and others assert they will ultimately ascend. +Even in the contingency of a legitimate inheritance of the crown, the +Tuileries would offer a less peaceful couch to them than they find in +the blissful domestic circle at N----. + +A long visit from the Duc de T----. I never meet him without being +reminded of the truth of an observation of a French writer, who +says--"_On a vu des gens se passer d'esprit en sachant mêler la +politesse avec des manières nobles et élégantes_." The Duc de T---- +passes off perfectly well without _esprit_, the absence of which his +noble manners perfectly conceal; while ----, who is so very clever, +makes one continually conscious of his want of good breeding and _bon +ton_. + +Finished reading _Sayings and Doings_, by Mr. Theodore Hook. Every page +teems with wit, humour, or pathos, and reveals a knowledge of the world +under all the various phases of the ever-moving scene that gives a +lively interest to all he writes. This profound acquaintance with human +life, which stamps the impress of truth on every character portrayed by +his graphic pen, has not soured his feelings or produced that cynical +disposition so frequently engendered by it. + +Mr. Hook is no misanthrope, and while he exposes the ridiculous with a +rare wit and humour he evinces a natural and warm sympathy with the +good. He is a very original thinker and writer, hits off characters +with a facility and felicity that few authors possess, and makes them +invariably act in accordance with the peculiar characteristics with +which he has endowed them. The _vraisemblance_ is never for a moment +violated, which makes the reader imagine he is perusing a true +narration instead of a fiction. + +House-hunting to-day. Went again over the Hôtel Monaco, but its +dilapidated state somewhat alarms us. The suite of reception rooms are +magnificent, but the garden into which they open pleases me still more, +for it is vast and umbrageous. The line old hôtels in the Faubourg +St.-Germain, and this is one of the finest, give one a good idea of the +splendour of the _noblesse de l'ancien régime_. The number and +spaciousness of the apartments, the richness of the decorations, though +no longer retaining their pristine beauty, and above all, the terraces +and gardens, have a grand effect. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + + +House-hunting all the day with Lord B----. Went again over the Hôtel +Monaco, and abandoned the project of hiring it. Saw one house newly +built and freshly and beautifully decorated, which I like, but Lord +B---- does not think good enough. It is in the Rue de Matignon. It is +so desirable to get into a mansion where every thing is new and in good +taste, which is the case with the one in question, that I hope Lord +B---- will be satisfied with this. + +Sat an hour with General d'O---- who has been unwell. Never was there +such a nurse as his wife, and so he said. Illness almost loses its +irksomeness when the sick chamber is cheered by one who is as kind as +she is clever. Madame d'O---- is glad we have not taken the Hôtel +Monaco, for she resided in it a long time when it was occupied by her +mother, and she thinks the sleeping-rooms are confined and gloomy. + +"After serious consideration and mature deliberation," we have finally +decided on taking the house in the Rue de Matignon. It will be +beautiful when completed, but nevertheless not to be compared to the +Hôtel Ney. The _salons de réception_, are very good, and the +decorations are rich and handsome. + +The large _salon_ is separated from the lesser by an immense plate of +unsilvered glass, which admits of the fireplaces in each room (they are +_vis-à-vis_) being seen, and has a very good effect. A door on each +side this large plate of glass opens into the smaller _salon_. The +portion of the house allotted to me will, when completed, be like fairy +land. A _salon_, destined to contain my buhl cabinets, _porcelaine de +Sèvres_, and rare _bijouterie_, opens into a library by two +glass-doors, and in the pier which divides them is a large mirror +filling up the entire space. + +In the library, that opens on a terrace, which is to be covered with a +_berceau_, and converted into a garden, are two mirrors, _vis-à-vis_ to +the two glass doors that communicate from the _salon_; so that on +entering this last, the effect produced is exceedingly pretty. Another +large mirror is placed at the end of the library, and reflects the +terrace. + +When my books and various treasures are arranged in this suite I shall +be very comfortably lodged. My _chambre à coucher_, dressing-room, and +boudoir, are spacious, and beautifully decorated. All this sounds well +and looks well, too, yet we shall leave the Rue de Bourbon with regret, +and Lord B---- now laments that we did not secure it for a long term. + +Drove in the Bois de Boulogne. A lovely day, which produced a very +exhilarating effect on my spirits. I know not whether others experience +the same pleasurable sensations that I do on a fine day in spring, when +all nature is bursting into life, and the air and earth look joyous. My +feelings become more buoyant, my step more elastic, and all that I love +seem dearer than before. I remember that even in childhood I was +peculiarly sensible to atmospheric influence, and I find that as I grow +old this susceptibility does not diminish. + +We dined at the Rocher de Cancale yesterday; and Counts Septeuil and +Valeski composed our party. The Rocher de Cancale is the Greenwich of +Paris; the oysters and various other kinds of fish served up _con +gusto_, attracting people to it, as the white bait draw visitors to +Greenwich. Our dinner was excellent, and our party very agreeable. + +A _dîner de restaurant_ is pleasant from its novelty. The guests seem +less ceremonious and more gay; the absence of the elegance that marks +the dinner-table appointments in a _maison bien montée_, gives a +homeliness and heartiness to the repast; and even the attendance of two +or three ill-dressed _garçons_ hurrying about, instead of half-a-dozen +sedate servants in rich liveries, marshalled by a solemn-looking +_maître-d'hôtel_ and groom of the chambers, gives a zest to the dinner +often wanted in more luxurious feasts. + +The Bois de Boulogne yesterday presented one of the gayest sights +imaginable as we drove through it, for, being Sunday, all the +_bourgeoisie_ of Paris were promenading there, and in their holyday +dresses. And very pretty and becoming were the said dresses, from those +of the _femmes de négociants_, composed of rich and tasteful materials, +down to those of the humble _grisettes_, who, with jaunty air and +roguish eyes, walked briskly along, casting glances at every smart +toilette they encountered, more intent on examining the dresses than +the wearers. + +A good taste in dress seems innate in Frenchwomen of every class, and a +confidence in their own attractions precludes the air of _mauvaise +honte_ and _gaucherie_ so continually observable in the women of other +countries, while it is so distinct from boldness that it never offends. +It was pretty to see the gay dresses of varied colours fluttering +beneath the delicate green foliage, like rich flowers agitated by a +more than usually brisk summer's wind, while the foliage and the +dresses are still in their pristine purity. + +The _beau monde_ occupied the drive in the centre, their vehicles of +every description attracting the admiration of the pedestrians, who +glanced from the well-appointed carriages, whose owners reclined +negligently back as if unwilling to be seen, to the smart young +equestrians on prancing steeds, who caracoled past with the air half +dandy and half _militaire_ that characterises every young Frenchman. + +I am always struck in a crowd in Paris with the soldier-like air of its +male population; and this air does not seem to be the result of study, +but sits as naturally on them as does the look, half fierce, half +mocking, that accompanies it. There is something in the nature of a +Frenchman that enables him to become a soldier in less time than is +usually necessary to render the natives of other countries _au fait_ in +the routine of duty, just as he learns to dance well in a quarter of +the time required to teach them to go through a simple measure. + +The Emperor Napoleon quickly observed this peculiar predisposition to a +military life in his subjects, and took advantage of it to fool them to +the top of their bent. The victories achieved beneath his banner +reflect scarcely less honour on them than on him, and the memory of +them associates his name in their hearts by the strongest bonds of +sympathy that can bind a Frenchman--the love of glory. A sense of duty, +high discipline, and true courage, influence our soldiers in the +discharge of their calling. They are proud of their country and of +their regiment, for the honour of which they are ready to fight unto +the death; but a Frenchman, though proud of his country and his +regiment, is still more proud of his individual self, and, believing +that all eyes are upon _him_ acts as if his single arm could accomplish +that which only soldiers _en masse_ can achieve. + +A pleasant party at dinner at home yesterday. The Marquis de Mornay, +Count Valeski, and General Ornano, were among the number. Laughed +immoderately at the _naïveté_ of ----, who is irresistibly ludicrous. + +Madame ---- came in the evening and sang "God save the King." Time was +that her singing this national anthem would have electrified the +hearers, but now--. Alas! alas! that voices, like faces, should lose +their delicate flexibility and freshness, and seem but like the faint +echo of their former brilliant tones! + +Does the ear of a singer, like the eye of some _has-been_ beauty, lose +its fine perception and become accustomed to the change in the voice, +as does the eye to that in the face, to which it appertains, from being +daily in the habit of seeing the said face! Merciful dispensation of +Providence, which thus saves us from the horror and dismay we must +experience could we but behold ourselves as others see us, after a +lapse of years without having met; while we, unconscious of the sad +change in ourselves, are perfectly sensible of it in them. Oh, the +misery of the _mezzo termine_ in the journey of life, when time robs +the eyes of their lustre, the cheeks of their roses, the mouth of its +pearls, and the heart of its gaiety, and writes harsh sentences on +brows once smooth and polished as marble! + + Well a-day! ah, well a-day! + Why fleets youth so fast away, + Taking beauty in its train, + Never to return again? + + Well a-day! ah, well a-day! + Why will health no longer stay? + After youth 't will not remain, + Chased away by care and pain. + + Well a-day! ah, well a-day! + Youth, health, beauty, gone for aye, + Life itself must quickly wane + With its thoughts and wishes vain. + + Well a-day! ah, well a-day! + Frail and perishable clay + That to earth our wishes chain, + Well it is that brief's thy reign. + +I have been reading Captain Marryat's _Naval Officer_, and think it +exceedingly clever and amusing. It is like himself, full of talent, +originality, and humour. He is an accurate observer of life; nothing +escapes him; yet there is no bitterness in his satire and no +exaggeration in his comic vein. He is never obliged to explain to his +readers _why_ the characters he introduces act in such or such a +manner. + +They always bear out the parts he wishes them to enact, and the whole +story goes on so naturally that one feels as if reading a narrative of +facts, instead of a work of fiction. + +I have known Captain Marryat many years, and liked him from the first; +but this circumstance, far from rendering me more indulgent to his +novel, makes me more fastidious; for I find myself at all times more +disposed to criticise the writings of persons whom I know and like than +those of strangers: perhaps because I expect more from them, if, as in +the present case, I know them to be very clever. + +Dined yesterday at the Cadran Bleu, and went in the evening to see _La +Tour d'Auvergne_, a piece founded on the life, and taking its name from +a soldier of the time of the Republic. A nobler character than that of +La Tour d'Auvergne could not be selected for a dramatic hero, and +ancient times furnish posterity with no brighter example. A letter from +Carnot, then Minister of War, addressed to this distinguished soldier +and admirable man, has pleased me so much that I give its substance: + + "On fixing my attention on the men who reflect honour on the + army, I have remarked you, citizen, and I said to the First + Consul--'La Tour d'Auvergne Corret, descendant of the family + of Turenne, has inherited its bravery and its virtues. One of + the oldest officers in the army, he counts the greatest + number of brilliant actions, and all the brave name him to be + the most brave. As modest as he is intrepid, he has shewn + himself anxious for glory alone, and has refused all the + grades offered to him. At the eastern Pyrénées the General + assembled all the companies of the grenadiers, and during the + remainder of the campaign gave them no chief. The oldest + captain was to command them, and he was Latour d'Auvergne. He + obeyed, and the corps was soon named by the enemy the + Infernal Column. + + "'One of his friends had an only son, whose labour was + necessary for the support of his father, and this young man + was included in the conscription. Latour d'Auvergne, broken + down by fatigue, could not labour, but he could still fight. + He hastened to the army of the Rhine; replaced the son of his + friend; and, during two campaigns, with his knapsack on his + hack and always in the foremost rank, he was in every + engagement, animating the grenadiers by his discourse and by + his example. Poor, but proud, he has refused the gift of an + estate offered to him by the head of his family. Simple in + his manners, and temperate in his habits, he lives on the + limited pay of a captain. Highly informed, and speaking + several languages, his erudition equals his courage. We are + indebted to his pen for the interesting work entitled _Les + Origines Gauloises_. Such rare talents and virtues appertain + to the page of history, but to the First Consul belongs the + right to anticipate its award.' + + "The First Consul, citizen, heard this recital with the same + emotions that I experienced. He named you instantly first + grenadier of the Republic, and decreed you this sword of + honour. _Salut et fraternité_." + +The distinction accorded so readily to Latour d'Auvergne by the First +Consul, himself a hero, who could better than any other contemporary +among his countrymen appreciate the glory he was called on by Carnot to +reward, was refused by the gallant veteran. + +"Among us soldiers," said he, "there is neither first nor last." He +demanded, as the sole recompense of his services, to be sent to join +his old brothers-in-arms, to fight once more with them, not as the +_first_, but as the _oldest_, soldier of the Republic. + +His death was like his life, glorious; for he fell on the field of +battle at Neubourg, in 1800, mourned by the whole army, who devoted a +day's pay to the purchase of an urn to preserve his heart, for a niche +in the Pantheon. + +Another distinction, not less touching, was accorded to his memory by +the regiment in which he served. The sergeant, in calling his names in +the muster of his company, always called Latour d'Auvergne, and the +corporal answered--"_Mort au champ d'honneur_." If the history of this +hero excited the warm admiration of those opposed to him in arms, the +effect of its representation on his compatriots may be more easily +imagined than described. Nothing could exceed the enthusiasm it excited +in their minds. Men, women, and children, seemed electrified by it. + +There is a chord in the hearts of the French that responds +instantaneously, and with vivid emotion, to any appeal made to their +national glory; and this susceptibility constitutes the germ so easily +fructified by those who know how to cultivate it. + +Enthusiasm, if it sometimes leads to error, or commits its votaries +into the ridiculous, also prompts and accomplishes the most glorious +achievements; and it is impossible not to feel a sympathy with its +unsophisticated demonstrations thus evinced _en masse_. Civilization, +more than aught else, tends to discourage enthusiasm; and where it is +pushed to the utmost degree of perfection, there will this prompter of +great deeds, this darer of impossibilities and instigator of heroic +actions, be most rarely found. + +Drove yesterday to see the villa of the Duchesse de Montmorency, which +is to be let. The grounds are very pretty, and a portion of them opens +by iron rails to the Bois de Boulogne, which is a great advantage. But +neither the villa nor the grounds are to be compared to the beautiful +ones in the neighbourhood of London, where, as an old French gentleman +once observed to me, "the trees seem to take a peculiar pride and +pleasure in growing." + +I have seen nothing to be compared with the tasteful villas on green +velvet lawns sloping down to the limpid Thames, near Richmond, with +umbrageous trees bending their leafy branches to the earth and water; +or to the colonnaded mansions peeping forth from the well-wooded +grounds of Roehampton and its vicinage. + +I can remember as distinctly as if beheld yesterday, the various +tempting residences that meet the eye in a morning drive, or in a row +on the silvery Thames, compelling the violation of the tenth +commandment, by looking so beautiful that one imagines how happily a +life might glide away in such abodes, forgetful that in no earthly +abode can existence be passed free from the cares meant to remind us +that this is not our abiding-place. + +Went to see Bagatelle yesterday with the Duchesse de G----. Here the +Duc de Bordeaux and Mademoiselle, his sister, pass much of their time. +It is a very pleasant villa, and contains many proofs of the taste and +industry of these very interesting children, who are greatly beloved by +those who have access to them. Various stories were related to us +illustrative of their goodness of heart and considerate kindness for +those around them; and, making all due allowance for the partiality of +the narrators, they went far to prove that these scions of royalty are +more amiable and unspoilt than are most children of their age, and of +even far less elevated rank. "Born in sorrow, and nursed in tears," the +Duc de Bordeaux's early infancy has not passed under bright auspices; +and those are not wanting who prophesy that he may hereafter look back +to the days passed at Bagatelle as the happiest of his life. + +It requires little of the prescience of a soothsayer to make this +prediction, when we reflect that the lives of even the most popular of +those born to the dangerous inheritance of a crown must ever be more +exposed to the cares that weigh so heavily, and the responsibility that +presses so continually on them, than are those who, exempt from the +splendour of sovereignty, escape also its toils. "Oh happy they, the +happiest of their kind," who enjoy, in the peace and repose of a +private station, a competency, good health, a love of, and power of +indulging in, study; an unreproaching conscience, and a cheerful mind! +With such blessings they may contemplate, without a feeling of envy, +the more brilliant but less fortunate lots of those great ones of the +earth, whose elevation but too often serves to render them the target +at which Fortune loves aim her most envenomed darts. + +Passed the greater part of the morning in the house in the Rue de +Matignon, superintending the alterations and improvements to be carried +into execution there. It has been found necessary to build an +additional room, which the proprietor pledges himself can be ready for +occupation in six weeks, and already have its walls reached nearly to +their intended height. The builders seem to be as expeditious as the +upholsterers at Paris, and adding a room or two to a mansion appears to +be as easily accomplished as adding some extra furniture. + +One is made to pay dearly, however, for this facility and expedition; +for rents are extravagantly high at Paris, as are also the prices of +furniture. + +Already does the terrace begin to assume the appearance of a garden. +Deep beds of earth inclosed in green cases line the sides, and an +abundance of orange-trees, flowering shrubs, plants, and flowers, are +placed in them. + +At the end of the terrace, the wall which bounds it has been painted in +fresco, with a view of Italian scenery; and this wall forms the back of +an aviary, with a fountain that plays in the centre. A smaller aviary, +constructed of glass, is erected on the end of the terrace, close to my +library, from the window of which I can feed my favourite birds; and +this aviary, as well as the library, is warmed by means of a stove +beneath the latter. The terrace is covered by a lattice-work, formed +into arched windows at the side next the court: over the sides and roof +there are trailing parasitical plants. Nothing in the new residence +pleases me so much as this suite, and the terrace attached to it. + +Already do we begin to feel the unsettled state peculiar to an intended +change of abode, and the prospect of entering a new one disturbs the +sense of enjoyment of the old. Gladly would we remain where we are, for +we prefer this hôtel to any other at Paris; but the days we have to +sojourn in it are numbered, and our regret is unavailing. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + + +September, 1829.--A chasm of many months in my journal. When last I +closed it, little could I have foreseen the terrible blow that awaited +me. Well may I exclaim with the French writer whose works I have been +just reading, "_Nous, qui sommes bornés en tout, comment le sommes-nous +si peu quand il s'agit de souffrir_." How slowly has time passed since! +Every hour counted, and each coloured by care, the past turned to with +the vain hope of forgetting the present, and the future no longer +offering the bright prospect it once unfolded! + +How is my destiny changed since I last opened this book! My hopes have +faded and vanished like the leaves whose opening into life I hailed +with joy six months ago, little dreaming that before the first cold +breath of autumn had tinted them with brown, _he_ who saw them expand +with me would have passed from the earth! + +_October_.--Ill, and confined to my chamber for several days, my +physician prescribes society to relieve low spirits; but in the present +state of mine, the remedy seems worse than the disease. + +My old friends Mr. and Mrs. Mathews, and their clever son, have arrived +at Paris and dined here yesterday. Mr. Matthews is as entertaining as +ever, and his wife as amiable and _spirituelle_. They are excellent as +well as clever people, and their society is very agreeable. Charles +Mathews, the son, is full of talent, possesses all his father's powers +of imitation, and sings comic songs of his own composition that James +Smith himself might be proud to have written. + +The Duc and Duchesse de Guiche, the Marquise de Poulpry, Lady +Combermere, Madame Craufurd, and Count Valeski, came in the evening, +and were all highly gratified with some recitations and songs given us +by Mr. Mathews and his son. They were not less pleased with Mrs. +Mathews, whose manners and conversation are peculiarly fascinating, and +whose good looks and youthfulness of appearance made them almost +disbelieve that she could be the mother of a grown-up son. + +How forcibly did the recitations and songs bring back former times to +my memory, when in St. James's Square, or in his own beautiful cottage +at Highgate, I have so frequently been delighted by the performances of +this clever and worthy man! The recollection of the past occupied me +more last night than did the actual present, and caused me to return +but a faint echo to the reiterated applause which every new effort of +his drew forth from the party. There are moments when the present +appears like a dream, and that we think the past, which is gone for +ever, has more of reality in it! + +I took Mr. and Mrs. Mathews to the Jardin des Plantes to-day, and was +much amused by an incident that occurred there. A pretty child, with +her _bonne_, were seated on a bench near to which we placed ourselves. +She was asking questions relative to the animals she had seen, and Mr. +Mathews having turned his head away from her, gave some admirable +imitations of the sounds peculiar to the beasts of which she was +speaking, and also of the voice and speeches of the person who had +exhibited them. + +Never did he exert himself more to please a crowded and admiring +audience than to amuse this child, who, maintaining an immovable +gravity during the imitations, quietly observed to her nurse, "_Ma +bonne, ce Monsieur est bien drôle_." + +The mortification of Mr. Mathews on this occasion was very diverting. +"How!" exclaimed he, "is it possible that all my efforts to amuse that +child have so wholly failed? She never moved a muscle! I suppose the +French children are not so easily pleased as our English men and women +are?" + +He reverted to this disappointment more than once during our drive +back, and seemed dispirited by it. Nevertheless, he gave us some most +humorous imitations of the lower orders of the French talking loudly +together, in which he spoke in so many different voices that one could +have imagined that no less than half-a-dozen people, at least, were +engaged in the conversation. + +I think so highly of the intellectual powers of Mr. Mathews, and find +his conversation so interesting that, admirable as are his imitations, +I prefer the former. He has seen so much of the world in all its +phases, that he has a piquant anecdote or a clever story to relate +touching every place and almost every person mentioned. Yet, with all +this intuitive and acquired knowledge of the world, he possesses all +the simplicity of a child, and a good nature that never can resist an +appeal to it. + +Spent all yesterday in reading, and writing letters on business. I +begin to experience the _ennui_ of having affairs to attend to, and +groan in spirit, if not aloud, at having to read and write dry details +on the subject. To unbend my mind from its painful thoughts and +tension, I devoted the evening to reading, which affords me the surest +relief, by transporting my thoughts from the cares that oppress me. + +Had a long visit from my old acquaintance the Count de Montalembert, +to-day. He is in very low spirits, occasioned by the recent death of an +only and charming daughter, and could not restrain his deep emotion, +when recounting to me the particulars of her latter days. His grief was +contagious, and found a chord in my heart that responded to it. When we +last met, it was in a gay and brilliant party, each of us in high +spirits; and now, though but a few more years have passed over our +heads, how changed are our feelings! We meet, not to amuse and to be +amused, but to talk of those we have lost, and whose loss has darkened +our lives. He spoke of his son, who already gives the promise of +distinguishing himself, and of reflecting credit on his family. + +How little do we know people whom we meet only in general society, in +which every one assumes a similar tone and manner, reserving for home +the peculiarities that distinguish each from the other, and suppressing +all demonstration of the feelings indulged only in the privacy of the +domestic circle! + +I have been many years acquainted with the Count de Montalembert, yet +never really appreciated him until today. Had I been asked to describe +him yesterday, I should have spoken of him as a _spirituel_, lively, +and amusing man, with remarkably good manners, a great knowledge of the +world, and possessing in an eminent degree the tact and talent _de +société_. Had any one mentioned that he was a man of deep feeling, I +should have been disposed to question the discernment of the person who +asserted it: yet now I am as perfectly convinced of the fact as it is +possible to be, and had he paid this visit before affliction had +assailed me, he would not, I am convinced, have revealed his own grief. +Yes, affliction is like the divinatory wand, whose touch discovers +deep-buried springs the existence of which was previously unknown. + +---- called on me to-day, and talked a good deal of ----. I endeavoured +to excite sympathy for the unhappy person, but failed in the attempt. +The unfortunate generally meet with more blame than pity; for as the +latter is a painful emotion, people endeavour to exonerate themselves +from its indulgence, by trying to discover some error which may have +led to the misfortune they are too selfish to commiserate. Alas! there +are but few friends who, like ivy, cling to ruin, and ---- is not one +of these. + +The Prince and Princesse Soutzo dined with us yesterday. They are as +amiable and agreeable as ever, and I felt great gratification in +meeting them again. We talked over the many pleasant days we passed +together at Pisa. Alas! how changed is my domestic circle since then! +They missed _one_ who would have joined me in welcoming them to Paris, +and whose unvaried kindness they have not forgotten! + +The "decent dignity" with which this interesting couple support their +altered fortunes, won my esteem on our first acquaintance. Prince +Soutzo was Hospodar, or reigning Prince of Moldavia, and married the +eldest daughter of Prince Carraga, Hospodar of Walachia. He maintained +the state attendant on his high rank, beloved and respected by those he +governed, until the patriotic sentiments inseparable from a great mind +induced him to sacrifice rank, fortune, and power, to the cause of +Greece, his native land. He only saved his life by flight; for the +angry Sultan with whom he had previously been a great favourite, had +already sent an order for his decapitation! Never was a reverse of +fortune borne with greater equanimity than by this charming family, +whose virtues, endowments, and acquirements, fit them for the most +elevated station. + +My old acquaintances, Mr. Rogers the poet, and Mr. Luttrell, called on +me to-day. Of how many pleasant days in St. James's Square did the +sight of both remind me! Such days I shall pass there no more: but I +must not give way to reflections that are, alas! as unavailing as they +are painful. Both of these my old friends are unchanged. Time has dealt +gently by them during the seven years that have elapsed since we last +met: the restless tyrant has been less merciful to me. We may, however, +bear with equanimity the ravages of Time, if we meet the destroyer side +by side with those dear to us, those who have witnessed our youth and +maturity, and who have advanced with us into the autumn of life; but, +when they are lost to us, how dreary becomes the prospect! + +How difficult it is to prevent the mind from dwelling on thoughts +fraught with sadness, when once the chord of memory vibrates to the +touch of grief! + +Mr. Rogers talked of Byron, and evinced a deep feeling of regard for +his memory, He little knows the manner in which he is treated in a +certain poem, written by him in one of his angry moods, and which I +urged him, but in vain, to commit to the flames. The knowledge of it, +however, would, I am convinced, excite no wrath in the heart of Rogers, +who would feel more sorrow than anger that one he believed his friend +could have written so bitter a diatribe against him. And, truth to say, +the poem in question is more injurious to the memory of Byron than it +could be painful to him who is the subject of it; but I hope that it +may never be published, and I think no one who had delicacy or feeling +would bring it to light. + +Byron read this lampoon to us one day at Genoa, and enjoyed our dismay +at it like a froward boy who has achieved what he considers some +mischievous prank. He offered us a copy, but we declined to accept it; +for, being in the habit of seeing Mr. Rogers frequently beneath our +roof, we thought it would be treacherous to him. Byron, however, found +others less scrupulous, and three or four copies of it have been given +away. + +The love of mischief was strong in the heart of Byron even to the last, +but, while recklessly indulging it in trifles, he was capable of giving +proofs of exalted friendship to those against whom he practised it; +and, had Rogers stood in need of kindness, he would have found no lack +of it in his brother poet, even in the very hour he had penned the +malicious lampoon in question against him. + +Comte d'Orsay, with his frank _naÏveté_, observed, "I thought you were +one of Mr. Rogers's most intimate friends, and so all the world had +reason to think, after reading your dedication of the _Giaour_ to him." + +"Yes," answered Byron, laughing, "and it is our friendship that gives +me the privilege of taking a liberty with him." + +"If it is thus you evince your friendship," replied Comte d'Orsay, "I +should be disposed to prefer your enmity." + +"You," said Byron, "could never excite this last sentiment in my +breast, for you neither say nor do spiteful things." + +Brief as was the period Byron had lived in what is termed fashionable +society in London, it was long enough to have engendered in him a habit +of _persiflage_, and a love of uttering sarcasms, (more from a desire +of displaying wit than from malice,) peculiar to that circle in which, +if every man's hand is not against his associates, every man's tongue +is. He drew no line of demarcation between _uttering_ and _writing_ +satirical things; and the first being, if not sanctioned, at least +permitted in the society in which he had lived in London, he considered +himself not more culpable in inditing his satires than the others were +in speaking them. He would have laughed at being censured for putting +on paper the epigrammatic malice that his former associates would +delight in uttering before all except the person at whom it was aimed; +yet the world see the matter in another point of view, and many of +those who _speak_ as much evil of their _soi-disant_ friends, would +declare, if not feel, themselves shocked at Byron's writing it. + +I know no more agreeable member of society than Mr. Luttrell. His +conversation, like a limpid stream, flows smoothly and brightly along, +revealing the depths beneath its current, now sparkling over the +objects it discloses or reflecting those by which it glides. He never +talks for talking's sake; but his mind is so well filled that, like a +fountain which when stirred sends up from its bosom sparkling showers, +his mind, when excited, sends forth thoughts no less bright than +profound, revealing the treasures with which it is so richly stored. +The conversation of Mr. Luttrell makes me think, while that of many +others only amuses me. + +Lord John Russell has arrived at Paris, and sat with me a considerable +time to-day. How very agreeable he can be when his reserve wears off, +and what a pity it is he should ever allow it to veil the many fine +qualities he possesses! Few men have a finer taste in literature, or a +more highly cultivated mind. It seizes with rapidity whatever is +brought before it; and being wholly free from passion or egotism, the +views he takes on all subjects are just and unprejudiced. He has a +quick perception of the ridiculous, and possesses a fund of dry caustic +humour that might render him a very dangerous opponent in a debate, +were it not governed by a good breeding and a calmness that never +forsake him. + +Lord John Russell is precisely the person calculated to fill a high +official situation. Well informed on all subjects, with an ardent love +of his country, and an anxious desire to serve it, he has a sobriety of +judgment and a strictness of principle that will for ever place him +beyond the reach of suspicion, even to the most prejudiced of his +political adversaries. The reserve complained of by those who are only +superficially acquainted with him, would be highly advantageous to a +minister; for it would not only preserve him from the approaches to +familiarity, so injurious to men in power, but would discourage the +hopes founded on the facility of manner of those whose very smiles and +simple acts of politeness are by the many looked on as an encouragement +to form the most unreasonable ones, and as an excuse for the indulgence +of angry feelings when those unreasonable hopes are frustrated. + +Lord John Russell, Mr. Rogers, Mr. Luttrell, Monsieur Thiers, Monsieur +Mignet, and Mr. Poulett Thomson, dined here yesterday. The party was an +agreeable one, and the guests seemed mutually pleased with each other. + +Monsieur Thiers is a very remarkable person--quick, animated, and +observant: nothing escapes him, and his remarks are indicative of a +mind of great power. I enjoy listening to his conversation, which is at +once full of originality, yet free from the slightest shade of +eccentricity. + +Monsieur Mignet, who is the inseparable friend of Monsieur Thiers, +reminds me every time I see him of Byron, for there is a striking +likeness in the countenance. With great abilities, Monsieur Mignet +gives me the notion of being more fitted to a life of philosophical +research and contemplation than of action, while Monsieur Thiers +impresses me with the conviction of his being formed to fill a busy and +conspicuous part in the drama of life. + +He is a sort of modern Prometheus, capable of creating and of vivifying +with the electric spark of mind; but, whether he would steal the fire +from Heaven, or a less elevated region, I am not prepared to say. He +has called into life a body--and a vast one--by his vigorous writings, +and has infused into it a spirit that will not be soon or easily +quelled. Whether that spirit will tend to the advancement of his +country or not, time will prove; but, _en attendant_, its ebullitions +may occasion as much trouble to the _powers that be_ as did the spirit +engendered by Mirabeau in a former reign. + +The countenance of Monsieur Thiers is remarkable. The eyes, even +through his spectacles, flash with intelligence, and the expression of +his face varies with every sentiment he utters. Thiers is a man to +effect a revolution, and Mignet would be the historian to narrate it. + +There is something very interesting in the unbroken friendship of these +two men of genius, and its constancy elevates both in my estimation. +They are not more unlike than are their respective works, both of +which, though so dissimilar, are admirable in their way. The mobility +and extreme excitability of the French, render such men as Monsieur +Thiers extremely dangerous to monarchical power. His genius, his +eloquence, and his boldness, furnish him with the means of exciting the +enthusiasm of his countrymen as surely as a torch applied to gunpowder +produces an explosion. In England these qualities, however elevated, +would fail to produce similar results; for enthusiasm is there little +known, and, when it comes forth, satisfies itself with a brief +manifestation, and swiftly resigns itself to the prudent jurisdiction +of reason. Napoleon himself, with all the glory associated with his +name--a glory that intoxicated the French--would have failed to +inebriate the sober-minded English. + +Through my acquaintance with the Baron de Cailleux, who is at the head +of the Musée, I obtained permission to take Lord John Russell, Mr. +Rogers, and Mr. Luttrell, to the galleries of the Louvre yesterday, it +being a day on which the public are excluded. The Baron received us, +did the honours of the Musée with all the intelligence and urbanity +that distinguish him, and made as favourable an impression on my +countrymen as they seemed to have produced on him. + +Rogers has a pure taste in the fine arts, and has cultivated it _con +amore_; Luttrell brings to the study a practised eye and a matured +judgment; but Lord John, nurtured from infancy in dwellings, the walls +of which glow with the _chefs-d'oeuvre_ of the old masters and the best +works of the modern ones, possesses an exquisite tact in recognizing at +a glance the finest points in a picture, and reasons on them with all +the _savoir_ of a connoisseur and the feeling of an amateur. + +It is a pleasant thing to view collections of art with those fully +capable of appreciating them, and I enjoyed this satisfaction +yesterday. The Baron de Cailleux evinced no little pleasure in +conducting my companions from one masterpiece to another, and two or +three hours passed away rapidly in the interesting study. + +The Marquis and Marquise de B----, Comte V----, and some others, dined +here yesterday. The Marquise de B---- is very clever, has agreeable +manners, knows the world thoroughly, and neither under nor overvalues +it. A constant friction with society, while it smoothes down asperities +and polishes manners, is apt to impair if not destroy much of the +originality and raciness peculiar to clever people. To suit themselves +to the ordinary level of society, they become either insipid or +satirical; they mix too much water, or apply cayenne pepper to the wine +of their conversation: hence that mind which, apart from the artificial +atmosphere of the busy world, might have grown into strength and +beauty, becomes like some poor child nurtured in the unhealthy +precincts of a dense and crowded city,--diseased, stunted, rickety, and +incapable of distinguishing itself from its fellows. + +As clever people cannot elevate the mass with which they herd to their +own level, they are apt to sink to theirs; and persons with talents +that might have served for nobler purposes are suffered to degenerate +into _diseurs de bons mots_ and _raconteurs de société_, content with +the paltry distinction of being considered amusing. How many such have +I encountered, satisfied with being pigmies, who might have grown to be +giants, but who were consoled by the reflection that in that world in +which their sole aim is to shine, pigmies are more tolerated than +giants, as people prefer looking down to looking up! + +Lord Allen and Sir Andrew Barnard dined here yesterday. They appear to +enter into the gaiety of Paris with great zest, go the round of the +theatres, dine at all the celebrated _restaurateurs_, mix enough in the +_beau monde_ to be enabled to observe the difference between the +Parisian and London one, and will, at the expiration of the term +assigned to their _séjour_ here, return to England well satisfied with +their trip and with themselves. + +Lord A---- has tasted all the _nouveaux plats à la mode_, for at Paris +new dishes are as frequently invented as new bonnets or caps; and the +proficiency in the culinary art which he has acquired will render him +an oracle at his clubs, until the more recent arrival of some other +epicurean from the French capital deposes his brief sovereignty. + +But it is not in the culinary art alone that Lord Allen evinces his +good taste, for no one is a better judge of all that constitutes the +_agrémens_ of life, or more _au fait_ of the [* omitted word?] of +contributing to them. + +Sir A. B----, as devoted as ever to music, has heard all the new, and +finds that the old, like old friends, loses nothing by comparison. It +is pleasant to see that the advance of years impairs not the taste for +a refined and innocent pleasure. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + + +Mr. Rogers and Mr. Luttrell spent last evening here. The minds of both +teem with reflection, and their conversation is a high intellectual +treat to me. There is a repose in the society of clever and refined +Englishmen to be met with in no other: the absence of all attempts to +shine, or at least of the evidence of such attempts; the mildness of +the manners; the low voices, the freedom from any flattery, except the +most delicate and acceptable of all to a fastidious person, namely, +that implied by the subjects of conversation chosen, and the interest +yielded to them;--yes, these peculiarities have a great charm for me, +and Mr. Rogers and Mr. Luttrell possess them in an eminent degree. + +The mercurial temperaments of the French preclude them from this +calmness of manner and mildness of speech. More obsequiously polite and +attentive to women, the exuberance of their animal spirits often +hurries them into a gaiety evinced by brilliant sallies and clever +observations. They shine, but they let the desire to do so be too +evident to admit of that quietude that forms one of the most agreeable, +as well as distinguishing, attributes of the conversation of a refined +and highly-intellectual Englishman. + +---- and ---- spent last evening here. Two more opposite characters +could not easily have encountered. One influenced wholly by his +feelings, the other by his reason, each seemed to form a low estimate +of the other; and this, _malgré_ all the restraint imposed by good +breeding, was but too visible. Neither has any cause to be vain, for he +becomes a dupe who judges with his heart instead of his head, and an +egotist who permits not his heart to be touched by the toleration of +his head. ---- is often duped, but sometimes liked for his good nature; +while ----, if never duped, is never liked. + +I took Lord John Russell, Mr. Rogers, and Mr. Luttrell yesterday to La +Muette to see M. Erard's fine collection of pictures, with which they +were very much pleased. Our drive to the Bois de Boulogne was a very +agreeable one, and was rendered so by their pleasant conversation. + +I have presented Mr. Rogers with some acquisitions for his cabinet of +antique _bijouterie_, with which he appears delighted. I outbid M. +Millingen, who was bargaining at Naples for these little treasures, and +secured a diminutive Cupid, a Bacchus, and a small bunch of grapes of +pure gold, and of exquisite workmanship, which will now be transferred +to the museum of my friend, Mr. Rogers. He will not, I dare say, be +more grateful for the gift of my Cupid than his sex generally are when +ladies no longer young bestow their love on them, and so I hinted when +giving him the little winged god; but, _n'importe_, the gift may +please, though the giver be forgotten. + +Lord Pembroke dined here yesterday, he is peculiarly well-bred and +gentlemanlike, and looks a nobleman from top to toe. He has acquired +all the polish and _savoir-vivre_ of the best foreign society without +having lost any of the more solid and fine qualities peculiar to the +most distinguished portion of his countrymen. Lord Pembroke maintains +the reputation of English taste in equipages by sporting horses and +carriages that excite the admiration, if not the envy, of the +Parisians, among whom he is, and deserves to be, very popular. + +The Duke of Hamilton paid me a long visit to-day. We talked over old +times, and our mutual friend Dr. Parr, in whose society we formerly +passed such agreeable hours in St. James's Square. The Duke is a very +well-informed man, has read much, and remembers what he has read; and +the ceremoniousness of his manners, with which some people find fault, +I have got used to, and rather like than otherwise. The mixture of +chivalric sentiments, Scotch philosophy, and high breeding of the old +French school which meet in the Duke, render his conversation very +piquant. + +He has, indeed, the dignity of his three dukedoms; the _fierté_ of that +of Chatelherault, the reserve of that of England, and the spirit of +that of Scotland: witness his dignified reproof to the Duc de Blacas at +Rome, when that very unpopular personage, then Ambassador from the +court of France, presumed to comment on the frequency of the Duke of +Hamilton's visits to the Princess Pauline Borghese, who, being a +Buonaparte, was looked on with a jealous eye by Blacas. + +Monsieur Mignet spent last evening here. The more I see of him the more +I am pleased with his society. To a mind stored with knowledge he joins +a happy facility of bringing forth its treasures, never as if +ostentatious of his wealth, but in illustration of any topic that is +discussed, on which he brings it to bear most aptly and appropriately. +His countenance lights up with expression when he converses, and adds +force to an eloquence always interesting and often instructive. + +Though Monsieur Mignet shines in monologue more than in dialogue, there +is nothing either dictatorial or pedantic in his manner, he utters +opinions new and original, which it is evident he has deeply reflected +on, and elucidates them to the comprehension of his auditors with great +felicity. I like listening to the conversation of such a man; and +clever people, when they find an attentive listener, are incited to +talk well. + +In general society, in which many persons of totally opposite tastes, +pursuits, and opinions, are thrown together, a clever man has seldom an +opportunity of bringing forth the treasures of his mind. He can only +dispense the small coin, which is easily changed with those he comes in +contact with; but the weighty and valuable, metal is not brought into +use, because he knows the greater number of those, around him could +give him no equivalent in exchange. + +----, conversing with Lady ---- to-day, she observed that in early life +conscience has less influence than in advanced life, and accounted for +it by the nearer approach to death rendering people more alarmed, and +consequently more disposed to listen to it. Some persons attribute all +good impulses to fear, as if mortals were more governed by its +influence than by that of love and gratitude. + +If conscience is less frequently heard in youth, it is that the +tumultuous throbbing of the heart, and the wild suggestions of the +passions, prevent its "still small voice" from being audible; but in +the decline of life, when the heart beats languidly and the passions +slumber, it makes itself heard, and on its whispers depends our +happiness or misery. + +My old acquaintance, Lord Palmerston, has arrived at Paris, and dined +here yesterday, to meet the Duc and Duchesse de Guiche, Count Valeski, +and Mr. Poulett Thomson. Seven years have produced no change in Lord +Palmerston. He is the same intelligent, sensible, and agreeable person +that I remember him to have been for many years. + +Lord Palmerston has much more ability than people are disposed to give +him credit for. He is, or used to be, when I lived in England, +considered a good man of business, acute in the details, and quick in +the comprehension of complicated questions. Even this is no mean +praise, but I think him entitled to more; for, though constantly and +busily occupied with official duties, he has contrived to find time to +read every thing worth reading, and to make himself acquainted with the +politics of other countries. + +Lively, well-bred, and unaffected, Lord Palmerston is a man that is so +well acquainted with the routine of official duties, performs them so +readily and pleasantly, and is so free from the assumption of +self-importance that too frequently appertains to adepts in them, that, +whether Whig or Tory government has the ascendant in England, his +services will be always considered a desideratum to be secured if +possible. + +Lord Castlereagh, Mr. Cutlar Fergusson, and Count Valeski dined here +yesterday. Lord C. has just arrived from England, and is a good +specimen of the young men of the present day. He reminds me of his +uncle, the late Marquess of Londonderry, one of the most amiable and +well-bred men I ever knew. Lord C---- is very animated and piquant in +conversation, thinks for himself, and says what he thinks with a +frankness not often met with in our times. Yet there is no _brusquerie_ +in his manners; _au contraire_, they are soft and very pleasing; and +this contrast between the originality and fearlessness of his opinions, +and the perfect good-breeding with which they are expressed, lend a +peculiar attraction to his manner. If Lord C---- were not a man of +fashion he would become something vastly better, for he has much of the +chivalrous spirit of his father and the tact of his uncle. Fashion is +the gulf in whose vortex so many fine natures are wrecked in England; +what a pity it is that they cannot be rescued from its dangers! + +Mr. Cutlar Fergusson is a clever and amiable man, mild, well-informed, +and agreeable. + +The Baron and Baroness de Ruysch spent yesterday with us. They are an +estimable couple, and very pleasant withal. His philosophy, which has +nothing of the ascetic in it, harmonises very well with her vivacity, +and her sprightliness never degenerates into levity. It is the gaiety +of a mind at ease, pleased with others, and content with self. How +unlike the exuberant spirits of ----, which always depress mine more +than a day's _tête-à-tête_ with the moodiest hypochondriac could do! + +Nothing can be more dreary and cheerless than the weather; and a second +winter's residence at Paris has convinced me that London is infinitely +preferable at this season, except to those who consider gaiety an +equivalent for comfort. The negligence and bad management of the +persons whose duty it is to remove the snow or mud from the streets, +render them not only nearly impassable for pedestrians but exceedingly +disagreeable to those who have carriages. + +Previously to the heavy fall of snow that occurred a week ago, and +which still encumbers the streets, a succession of wet days occasioned +an accumulation of mud that gave forth most unsavoury odours, and lent +a damp chilliness to the atmosphere which sent home to their sick +chambers, assailed by sore throats and all the other miseries peculiar +to colds, many of those who were so imprudent as to venture abroad. The +snow, instead of being swept away, is piled up on each side of the +streets, forming a wall that increases the gloom and chilliness that +reigns around. The fogs, too, rise from the Seine, and hover over the +Champs-Elysées and streets adjacent to it, rendering a passage through +them a service of danger. + +Lord Castlereagh and Madame Grassini dined here last evening. He was +much amused with the raciness and originality of her remarks; and she +was greatly gratified by the polite attention with which he listened to +them. At one moment, she pronounced him to be "_la vraie image de ce +cher et bon Lord Castlereagh_," whom she had so much liked; and the +next she declared him to be exactly like "_ce preux chevalier, son +père_," who was so irresistible that no female heart, or, as she said, +at least no Italian female heart, could resist him. + +Then she spoke of "_ce cher et excellent Duc de Wellington_," who had +been so kind to her, asked a thousand questions about him, the tears +starting into her brilliant eyes as she dwelt on the reminiscences of +those days when, considered the finest singer and most beautiful woman +of her time, she received a homage accorded to her beauty and talent +never since so universally decreed to any other _prima donna_. The +Grassini cannot be known without being liked, she is so warm-hearted, +unaffected, and sincere. + +The prettiest sight imaginable was a party of our friends in sledges, +who yesterday passed through the streets. This was the first time I had +ever seen this mode of conveyance, and nothing can be more picturesque. +The sledge of the Duc de Guiche, in which reclined the Duchesse, the +Duc seated behind her and holding, at each side of her, the reins of +the horse, presented the form of a swan, the feathers beautifully +sculptured. The back of this colossal swan being hollowed out, admitted +a seat, which, with the whole of the interior, was covered with fine +fur. The harness and trappings of the superb horse that drew it were +richly decorated, and innumerable silver bells were attached to it, the +sound of which was pleasant to the ear. + +The Duchesse, wrapped in a pelisse of the finest Russian sable, never +looked handsomer than in her sledge, her fair cheeks tinged with a +bright pink by the cold air, and her luxuriant silken curls falling on +the dark fur that encircled her throat. + +Count A. d'Orsay's sledge presented the form of a dragon, and the +accoutrements and horse were beautiful; the harness was of red morocco, +embroidered with gold. The Prince Poniatowski and Comte Valeski +followed in sledges of the ordinary Russian shape, and the whole +cavalcade had a most picturesque effect. The Parisians appeared to be +highly delighted with the sight, and, above all, with the beautiful +Duchesse borne along through the snow in her swan. + +My medical adviser pressed me so much to accede to the wishes of my +friends and try the salutary effect of a drive in a sledge, that I +yesterday accompanied them to St.-Cloud, where we dined, and returned +at night by torch-light. Picturesque as is the appearance of the +sledges by day-light, it is infinitely more so by night, particularly +of those that have the form of animals or birds. + +The swan of the Duchesse de Guiche had bright lamps in its eyes, which +sent forth a clear light that was reflected in prismatic colours on the +drifted snow, and ice-gemmed branches of the trees, as we drove through +the Bois de Boulogne. Grooms, bearing lighted torches, preceded each +sledge; and the sound of the bells in the Bois, silent and deserted at +that hour, made one fancy one's self transported to some far northern +region. + +The dragon of Comte A. d'Orsay looked strangely fantastic at night. In +the mouth, as well as the eyes, was a brilliant red light; and to a +tiger-skin covering, that nearly concealed the cream-coloured horse, +revealing only the white mane and tail, was attached a double line of +silver gilt bells, the jingle of which was very musical and cheerful. + +The shadows of the tall trees falling on an immense plain of snow, the +light flashing in fitful gleams from the torches and lamps as we were +hurried rapidly along, looked strange and unearthly, and reminded me of +some of the scenes described in those northern fictions perused in the +happy days of childhood. + +This excursion and exposure to the wintry air procured me a good +night's sleep,--the first enjoyed since the severity of the weather has +deprived me of my usual exercise. This revival of an old fashion (for +in former days sledges were considered as indispensable in the winter +_remise_ of a grand seigneur in France as cabriolets or britchkas are +in the summer) has greatly pleased the Parisian world, and crowds flock +to see them as they pass along. The velocity of the movement, the +gaiety of the sound of the bells, and the cold bracing air, have a very +exhilarating effect on the spirits. + +Met the Prince Polignac at the Duchesse de G----'s today. His +countenance is remarkably good, his air and manner _très-distingué_, +and his conversation precisely what might be expected from an English +gentleman--mild, reasonable, and unaffected. If I had not previously +known him to be one or the most amiable men in the world, I should have +soon formed this judgment of him, for every expression of his +countenance, and every word he utters, give this impression. + +The Prince Polignac has lived much in England, and seems to me to be +formed to live there, for his tastes are decidedly English. Twice +married, both his wives were English; so that it is no wonder that he +has adopted much of our modes of thinking. Highly as I am disposed to +estimate him, I do not think that he is precisely the person calculated +to cope with the difficulties that must beset a minister, and, above +all, a minister in France, in times like the present. + +The very qualities that render him so beloved in private life, and +which make his domestic circle one of the happiest in the world, are +perhaps those which unfit him for so trying a post as the one he is now +called on to hold--a post requiring abilities so various, and +qualifications so manifold, that few, if any, could be found to possess +the rare union. + +A spirit is rife in France that renders the position of _premier_ in it +almost untenable; and he must unite the firmness of a stoic, the +knowledge of a Machiavelli, and the boldness of a Napoleon, who could +hope to stem the tide that menaces to set in and sweep away the present +institutions. If honesty of intention, loyalty to his sovereign, +personal courage, attachment to his country, and perfect +disinterestedness could secure success, then might Prince Polignac +expect it. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + + +May.--Some months have elapsed since I noted down a line in this book. +Indisposition and its usual attendants, languor and lassitude, have +caused me to throw it by. Time that once rolled as pleasantly as +rapidly along, seems now to pace as slowly as sadly; and even the +approach of spring, that joyous season never before unwelcomed, now +awakens only painful recollections. Who can see the trees putting forth +their leaves without a dread that, ere they have yet expanded into +their full growth, some one may be snatched away who with us hailed +their first opening verdure? + +When once Death has invaded our hearths and torn from us some dear +object on whose existence our happiness depended, we lose all the +confidence previously fondly and foolishly experienced in the stability +of the blessings we enjoy, and not only deeply mourn those lost, but +tremble for those yet spared to us. I once thought that I could never +behold this genial season without pleasure; alas! it now occasions only +gloom. + +Captain William Anson, the brother of Lord Anson, dined here yesterday. +He is a very remarkable young man; highly distinguished in his +profession, being considered one of the best officers in the navy, and +possessing all the accomplishments of a finished gentleman. His reading +has been extensive, and his memory is very retentive. He has been in +most quarters of the globe, and has missed no opportunity of +cultivating his mind and of increasing his stock of knowledge. He is, +indeed, a worthy descendant of his great ancestor, who might well be +proud of such a scion to the ancient stock. Devoted to the arduous +duties of his profession, he studies every amelioration in it _con +amore_; and, if a long life be granted to him, will prove one of its +brightest ornaments. + +The Marquis and Marquise de B---- spent last evening here, and several +people dropped in. Among them was the pretty Madame de la H----, as +piquant and lively as ever, as content with herself (and she has reason +to be so, being very good-looking and amusing) and as careless of the +suffrages of others. I like the young and the gay of my own sex, though +I am no longer either. + +Prince Paul Lieven and Captain Cadogan[8] dined here yesterday. The +first is as _spirituel_ and clever as formerly, and the second is as +frank, high-spirited, and well-bred--the very _beau idéal_ of a son of +the sea, possessing all the attributes of that generous race, joined to +all those said to be peculiar to the high-born and well-educated. + +I like the conversation of such men--men who, nursed in the lap of +luxury, are sent from the noble dwellings of their sires to be +"cabined, cribbed, confined," in (to my thinking) the most unbearable +of all prisons--a ship; pass months and years exposed to hardships, +privations, and dangers, from the endurance of which even the poor and +lowly born often shrink, and bring back to society the high breeding +and urbanity not to be surpassed in those whose lots have been exempt +from such trials; and, what is still more precious, the experience and +reflection acquired in their perilous profession, and in the many hours +of solitude and anxiety that appertain to it. + +Sat a considerable time with the Duchesse de Guiche today. How amiable +and kind-hearted she is, and how unspoilt by all the brilliancy of her +position! While I was there the mother and son of a young page, for +whom the Duc and Duchesse have obtained that office at court, came to +thank her. The boy is a very fine youth, and the mother and sister seem +to dote on him. They reminded me of the mother and sister that a +sentimental writer would have created for the occasion, being +exceedingly interesting in their appearance and manner. The boy was +evidently as fond and proud of them as they were of him, and the group +formed a charming picture. + +The warmth and gentleness of the manners of the Duchesse de G----, and +the remarkable beauty of her face and figure, never appeared more +captivating in my eyes than when I beheld her to-day, evincing such +good nature to the youthful page and his mother and sister; and I saw +by their eyes, when they took leave of her, that she sent away grateful +hearts. + +_July_ 1830.--Indisposition has interrupted my journal for several +weeks, and idleness has prolonged the chasm. The noting down the daily +recurrence of uninteresting events is as dull as the endurance of them. + +If reports may be credited, we are on the eve of some popular commotion +in France, and the present ministers are said to be either ignorant of +the danger that menaces, or unprepared to meet it. The conquest of +Algiers has produced much less exultation in the people than might have +naturally been expected; and this indifference to an event calculated +to gratify the _amour-propre_ which forms so peculiar a characteristic +of the nation, is considered a bad sign by those who affect to be +acquainted with the people. I have so often heard rumours of discontent +and revolts that I have grown incredulous, and I think and hope the +French are too wise to try any dangerous experiments. + +_26th July_.--This morning General E---- came to breakfast with us, and +announced that the ordonnances were yesterday signed in council at St.- +Cloud. This good man and brave soldier expressed the liveliest regret +at this rash measure, and the utmost alarm at the consequences likely +to result from it. Is Charles the Tenth ignorant of the actual state of +things in Paris, and of the power of public opinion? or does he hope to +vanquish the resistance likely to be offered to this act? I hope his +majesty may not acquire this knowledge when it has become too late to +derive advantage from it. + +The unpopularity of the present ministry, and above all of its leader, +the Prince Polignac, is surprising, when one considers how estimable +his private character is, and that theirs are irreproachable. They are +rendered responsible for the will of the sovereign, who, if report +speak truth, is very pertinacious in exacting a rigid fulfilment of it +whenever it is exercised. + +The present are not times to try experiments how far the will of a +monarch can be pushed; and it is not in France, as in England, where +our law supposes that a king can do no wrong, for the French are prone +to pay no more respect to sovereigns than to their supposed advisers, +and both may suffer a heavy penalty for incurring the dislike of the +people. + +The prosperity of France, which is acknowledged by all, has failed to +silence the murmurs of discontent which, loud and deep, are heard every +where save in the palace,--too frequently the last place where public +opinion gets an impartial hearing. The success of the Algerine +expedition has buoyed up the confidence of the ministry in their own +strength; but, if I may credit what I hear, it has by no means really +added to it. + +Concessions too long delayed come with a bad grace when at length +extorted, and the change of ministry factiously demanded, even if +complied with, would have placed the sovereign in any thing but a +dignified position. The dissolution of the Chambers in March, after a +session of only ten days, might be considered as a demonstration of +discontent on the part of the monarch, as well as a want of power of +quelling the spirit that evoked it. + +A circumstance, trivial in itself, added to this unpopularity, which +was, that several of the deputies were on their route to Paris when the +unexpected intelligence of the dissolution reached them, and they could +not pardon the expense to which they had been put by this unnecessary +_frais de route_, their places in the diligence being paid for. How +frequently do trifles exercise a powerful influence over grave affairs! + +The portion of the public press that advocates the defence of the +government is even more injudicious than that which assails it; and the +monarchy has decidedly suffered in general opinion by the angry +excitement produced by the recrimination of both parties. The +prosecutions entered into against the editors of the liberal papers are +considered by the party to which they belong to be persecutions; and +the sentiments avowed by the _Gazette de France_ are received as those +of not only the government but of the sovereign. The discussions +occasioned by these prosecutions, as well as by the principles of +monarchical absolutism maintained by the adverse party, have greatly +extended the ranks of the liberals, who, looking on the editors who +expound or promulgate their opinions as martyrs, become more +exasperated against their opponents, and more reckless in the modes +likely to be adopted for marking their disapprobation. + +_27th_.--On returning from a late drive last night we passed near the +hôtel of the Minister _des Finances_, around which some fifty or sixty +persons, chiefly youths, were assembled, crying out "_Vive la charte!_" +"_A bas les ministres!_" A patrol passed close to these persons, but +made no attempt to disperse them, which I think was rather unwise, for, +encouraged by this impunity, their numbers, I am told, increased +rapidly. + +I have just heard that the post of _gendarmes_ was tripled this +morning, and that a crowd of persons have assembled around the hôtel of +the Prince Polignac, where a cabinet council was held. It is said that +the ministers were insulted as they entered. This looks ill; +nevertheless, I trust that it is nothing more than a demonstration of +the spirit that is rife in the people, and that no more violent ones +will be resorted to. The visitors I have seen to-day seem much alarmed. + +The Duc de Guiche set off for St.-Cloud yesterday morning, the moment +he had read the ordonnances. Had his counsel been listened to, they +would never have been promulgated; for he is one of the few who, with a +freedom from prejudice that enables him to judge dispassionately of the +actual state of public opinion, has the moral courage to declare the +truth to his sovereign, however unpalatable that truth might be, or +however prejudicial to his own interests. + +I have this moment returned from a drive through the streets, and, +though far from being an alarmist, I begin to think that affairs wear a +more serious aspect than I dreaded. Already has a collision taken place +between the populace and the soldiers, who attempted to disperse them +near the Palais-Royal; and it required the assistance of a charge of +cavalry to secure the dangerous victory to themselves. + +Crowds were hurrying through the streets, many of the shops were +closed, and not above three or four carriages were to be seen. Never +did so great a change take place in the aspect of a city in so few +hours! Yesterday the business of life flowed on in its usual current. +The bees and the drones of this vast hive were buzzing about, and the +butterflies of fashion were expanding their gay wings in the sunshine. +To-day the industrious and orderly seem frightened from their usual +occupations, and scarcely a person of those termed fashionable is to be +seen. Where are all the household of Charles the Tenth, that vast and +well-paid crowd who were wont to fill the anterooms of the Tuileries on +gala days, obsequiously watching to catch a nod from the monarch, whose +slightest wish was to them as the laws of the Modes and Persians? Can +it be that they have disappeared at the first cloud that has darkened +the horizon of their sovereign, and increased the danger that menaces +him by shewing that they have not courage to meet it? Heaven send, for +the honour of France, that the _noblesse_ of the court of Charles the +Tenth may not follow the disgraceful example furnished by that of his +unfortunate brother, Louis the Sixteenth! In England how different +would it be if danger menaced the sovereign! + +---- has just been here, and, in answer to my question of where are the +men on whose fidelity the king could count, and in whose military +experience he might confide in such a crisis as the present, he told me +that for the purposes of election interests all the general officers +who could be trusted had unfortunately been sent from the court. + +The sound of firing has announced that order, far from being restored, +seems less likely than ever to be so. People are rushing wildly through +the streets proclaiming that several persons have been killed by the +military. All is confusion and alarm, and every one appears to dread +what the coming night may produce. + +Intelligence has just reached us that the mob are demolishing the +lanterns, and that they have broken into the shops of the gunsmiths, +and seized all the arms they could find. The Duc de Raguse commands the +troops, and already several charges have taken place. This selection, +under present circumstances, is not considered to be a good one. + +The people are forming barricades in various parts of the town, and +some of our servants, who have been out to collect intelligence, assert +that no hinderance seems to be opposed to this mischievous measure. +Where are the civil authorities during all this commotion? is the +natural question that suggests itself to one who knows how in London, +under any disturbance, they would oppose themselves to check such +proceedings. And why, if the civil authorities are too weak to resist +the torrent, is there not a sufficient military force to stem it? is +the next question that presents itself. No one seems to know where the +blame lies, but every one foretells a dangerous result from this +unaccountable state of things. + +The promulgation of the ordonnances which had led to this tumult, ought +to have been accompanied by a display of force sufficient to maintain +their enactment. If a government _will_ try the hazardous measure of a +_coup d'état_, it ought to be well prepared to meet the probable +consequences. + +I feel so little disposed to sleep that, instead of seeking my pillow, +I occupy myself by noting down my impressions, occasionally looking out +of my window to catch the sounds that break the stillness of the night. +The heat is intense, but the sky is as pure and cloudless as if it +canopied a calm and slumbering multitude instead of a waking and +turbulent one, filled with the most angry emotions. + +Comtes d'Orsay and Valeski have just returned, and state that they have +been as far as the Place de la Bourse, where they saw a scene of the +utmost confusion. The populace had assembled there in great force, +armed with every kind of weapon they could obtain, their arms bared up +to the shoulders, and the whole of them presenting the most wild and +motley appearance imaginable. They had set fire to the Corps-de-Garde, +the flames of which spread a light around as bright as day. Strange to +say, the populace evinced a perfect good-humour, and more resembled a +mob met to celebrate a saturnalia than to subvert a monarchy. + +Comtes d'O---- and V---- were recognised by some of the people, who +seemed pleased at seeing them. On returning, they passed through the +Rue de Richelieu, which they found in total darkness, all the lanterns +having been broken. Comte d'O---- luckily found his cabriolet in the +Rue de Ménars, where he had left it, not being able to take it farther, +owing to a portion of the pavement being broken up, and had only time +to reach the club-house in the Rue de Gramont, in the court of which he +placed his cab, before the populace rushed by, destroying every thing +they met, among which was the carriage of the Prince Tufiakin. A +considerable number of the members of the club were assembled, a few of +whom witnessed, from the balcony on the Boulevart, the burning of the +chairs placed there, the breaking of the lamps, and other depredations. + +Some gentlemen went to the battalion of the guards stationed in front +of the Prince Polignac's, and suggested to the officer in command the +propriety of sending a few men to arrest the progress of the +insurgents, a thing then easily to be accomplished; but the officer, +having no orders, declined to take any step, and the populace continued +their depredations within three hundred yards of so imposing a force as +a battalion of the guards! + +What may not to-morrow's sun witness, ere it goes down? But conjecture +is vain in a crisis in which every thing appears to go on in a mode so +wholly unaccountable. The exhibition of a powerful force might and +would, I am persuaded, have precluded the collision that has occurred +between the populace and the military. Blood has been shed on both +sides, and this has rendered the breach between people and sovereign +too wide to be repaired except by something almost miraculous, and +alas! the time of miracles is past. + +I cannot help wondering at the calmness I feel on this occasion. I +experience no personal alarm; but I am apprehensive for my friends, +some of whom are deeply interested in this struggle. How may their +destinies, lately so brilliant, be overclouded by the change that +menaces to take place! + +Well may Monsieur Salvandy have observed at the ball so recently given +by the Duc of Orléans to the royal families of France and Naples, "This +may be termed a Neapolitan _fête_, for they are dancing over a +volcano." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + + +All now seems quiet, so I will go to bed. Heaven only knows if +to-morrow night we may be allowed to seek our pillows in safety. + +_28th_.--My _femme-de-chambre_ undrew my curtains this morning, "with +such a face--so faint, so spiritless, so dull, so dead in look, so +woe-begone"--proclaiming that barricades had been erected during the +night, and that the bodies of those killed in the encounter yesterday +have been paraded through the streets in order to excite still more the +angry feelings of the people. This last measure reminds one of the +appalling exhibitions in the fearful and memorable Revolution of former +days; and the reminiscences it awakens are not calculated to +tranquillize the mind. + +She states that the shops are all closed, and that no provisions can be +obtained; the cook complains that his stockpots want replenishing; and +the _femme de charge_ hints that the larder is not so well supplied as +it would have been had she known what was to occur. Each and all of +these functionaries seem wholly occupied by the dread of not being able +to furnish us with as copious repasts as usual, unmindful that a mighty +throne is tottering to its foundation, and that a struggle is going on +in which many lives may be sacrificed. + +The Duc de Raguse has incurred great blame for his intercourse with the +supposed leaders of the Revolution. This conduct has had the effect of +destroying the confidence of the troops in their chief, and of +weakening their attachment to the cause they were to support. The +Maréchal was the Commandant appointed by the King, and as such, bound +to treat as rebels those who opposed themselves to his government; +instead of which, he seemed more like the _confident_ of a party who, +it is alleged, owe their victory to his supineness. + +The Duc de Guiche has not left his post, near the royal family, since +the 26th, except to pass and repass with instructions from the King to +the Duc de Raguse, twice or thrice a-day. He has been repeatedly +recognised by the people, though in plain clothes, and experienced at +their hands the respect so well merited by his honourable conduct and +devotion to his sovereign. How often have I heard this noble-minded man +censured for encouraging the liberal sentiments of the Dauphin; and +heard this, too, from some of those who are now the first to desert +Charles the Tenth in the emergency which is the result of the system +they advocated! + +---- has been here; he tells me that to Marshal Marmont the king has +confided unlimited power, and that Paris has been declared in a state +of siege. + +He says that the military dispositions are so defective, that there is +not a young officer in the army capable of committing a similar +mistake. The regiments are crowded into narrow streets, in which even +children may become dangerous enemies, by throwing from the windows +every missile within their reach on the heads of the soldiers. He is of +opinion that, in twenty-four hours, the populace will be in possession +of Paris. The tri-coloured flag is now floating from the towers of +Notre-Dame; while the white flag of the luckless Bourbons, as often +stained by the faithlessness of its followers, as by the blood of its +foes, still waves from the column of the Place Vendôme,--that column +erected to commemorate the glory of the great chief now calmly sleeping +in his ocean-washed grave. + +The civil authorities seem paralyzed: the troops have been twelve hours +on duly without any refreshment, except that afforded by the humanity +of the people, who have brought them wine and bread; can it be hoped +that these same soldiers will turn their arms against those who have +supplied their necessities? + +The royal emblems are destroyed wherever they are found, and the bust +of the king has been trampled on. The disgusting exhibition of the dead +bodies has had the bad effect calculated upon, and all is tumult and +disorder. Every one wonders where are the authorities, and why a +sufficient military force does not appear, for there has been ample +time, since the disposition to insurrection manifested by the people, +to assemble the troops. + +Every visitor, and, notwithstanding the disturbed state of Paris, we +have already had several to-day, announces some fresh disaster, each +representing it according to the political creed to which he adheres. +The Royalists assert that the outbreak is the result of a long and +grave conspiracy, fomented by those who expect to derive advantage from +it; while the Liberals maintain that it has arisen spontaneously and +simultaneously from the wounded spirit of liberty, lashed into a +frenzied resistance by the ordonnances. I pretend not to know which of +these statements is the most correct; but I believe that the favourite +opinion of the worthy Sir Roger de Coverley, that "much could be said +on both sides of the question," might now fairly be urged; for, +according to the march of events, it is but too probable that the +melodrama now enacting before our eyes has not been an impromptu; and +it is quite clear that the ordonnances have furnished the occasion, and +the excuse (if such were required), for the performance. + +Well might a great Italian writer pronounce revolutions to be the +carnivals of history. This one seems to be not only a carnival but +Saturnalia, for the ebriety of the slaves of liberty is well calculated +to disgust the friends; and those who witness this intoxication are +reminded of the observation of Voltaire, that "_Les Français goûtent de +la liberté comme des liqueurs fortes avec lesquelles ils s'enivrent."_ +A revolution affected by physical instead of moral force, is a grave +wound inflicted on social order and civilization--a wound which it +takes ages to heal. + +When on the point of sitting down to our _déjeûner a la fourchette_ +(for people will eat while thrones are crumbling), repeated knockings, +at the _porte-cochère_ induced us to look from the window in order to +see who the persons were who thus loudly demanded admittance, when it +was discovered that they were Doctors Pasquier and De Guise. They had +been dressing the wounded at the hospital in the Faubourg du Roule, and +finding on their return that the Champs-Élysées and Rue St.-Honoré were +the scenes of combat, had bethought themselves of our vicinity, and +sought shelter. When our unexpected visitants, deeming themselves +fortunate in having found a refuge, prepared to join our repast, it was +ludicrous to observe the lengthened faces of our servants at this +addition to our party. They, having previously lamented the paucity of +provisions in the larder, and being aware of the difficulty, if not +impossibility, of procuring a further supply, looked on the new-comers +as interlopers, who would inevitably diminish the already too limited +stock. + +We had not been seated above five minutes at table, when the report of +fire-arms announced that hostilities were renewed, and we hurried to +the drawing-room to observe what was going on. The servants looked as +if they rather enjoyed the interruption to the morning's meal, thinking +no doubt that it would preserve the provisions, now so precious in +their eyes, and they prepared to remove the viands with unusual +alacrity; but their visages lengthened when told to let them remain on +the table, and became still longer when we shortly after resumed our +places at the board. + +An Englishwoman, in the kitchen establishment, has just performed a +feat that has elevated her into a heroine in the eyes of the rest of +the servants. Finding the larder not sufficiently supplied, she sallied +forth into the street, passed through the Rue St.-Honoré, while the +fighting was going on, and returned bearing a basket of meat, obtained +certainly at the risk of her life, as shots were flying around her. As +none of the men offered to undertake this action, she is now considered +little less than an amazon, and her _amour-propre_ being excited by the +commendations bestowed on her courage, she declares that she will go +forth for all that may be required, as she despises fear. + +We have now entrenched ourselves in the front drawing-rooms, with the +external shutters, which are stuffed to exclude noise, closed, but +which we open occasionally, in order to see what is going on. Sitting +in darkness, with the sound of firing, and the shouts of the people, +continually in our ears, I can hardly bring myself to think that all +that is now passing is not a dream. + +The populace, ten minutes ago, rushed from the Rue St.-Honoré towards +the Champs-Élysées, assailing the troops stationed in the latter place; +and were in turn assailed by these last, and forced to retreat to the +Rue St.-Honoré. The scene was one of the utmost confusion. + +The firing is going on; stragglers are rushing to and fro; a body of +troops are stationed at the bottom of this street, and some pieces of +cannon have been placed. A thousand rumours are afloat, each more +improbable than the other. One moment it is announced that several +regiments have fraternized with the people; another, that the royal +family have fled to Belgium; the next, that Paris is to be fired by the +insurgents; but it would be impossible to repeat one-half the wild +rumours in circulation. + +There is a mixture of the sublime and of the ridiculous in the scenes +now passing before my eyes that is quite extraordinary. Looking from my +window, twenty minutes ago, I saw a troop of boys, amounting to about +fifty, the eldest of whom could not be more than ten or eleven years +old, and some who appeared under that age, march through our streets, +with wooden swords, and lances pointed with sharp nails, flags flying, +and crying, "_Vive la charte! Vive la liberté_!" The gravity and +intrepidity of these _gamins de Paris_ would, at any other period, have +elicited a smile; but now, this demonstration on the part of mere +children creates the reflection of how profound and general must be the +sympathy enlisted against the government and the sovereign in the +hearts of the people. + +Many are those who, like their children, shout "_Vive la charte!_" and +"_Vive, la liberté!_" who are as ignorant of the true sense and value +of both as they are. Well might the victim, when being led to execution +in the days of the past revolution in France, exclaim, "O Liberty, what +crimes are committed in thy name!" + +One of our servants has this moment informal me that the children, +whose warlike demeanour I was disposed to smile at an hour ago, have +rendered (_not_ the state, but the popular cause) some service. The +troops, more amused than surprised at the appearance of these mimic +soldiers, suffered them to approach closer than prudence warranted, and +the urchins, rushing among the horses, wounded several of the poor +animals severely, and effected their retreat before the soldiers were +aware of what had occurred. + +A fatality seems to prevail in the preset crisis that is little less +than marvellous. A want of provisions for the troops is now added to +the catalogue of excitements against the cause of royalty. Harassed by +the repeated attacks of the populace, and exhausted by long exposure to +the intense heat of a burning sun, they are little prone to consider as +enemies those who approach them with food to allay the pangs of hunger, +and drink to cool their scorching thirst. ----, and others who have +mingled with the crowd, tell me that they have beheld repeated examples +of soldiers throwing down their arms, to embrace those who came to +seduce them with the most irresistible of all seductions--refreshment, +when they were nearly exhausted by the want of it. + +I shall begin to consider myself half a heroine, after an exploit I +performed this evening. The men who shared our dinner having gone out +to observe what was passing, I determined, _coûte que coûte_, to pay a +visit to my friend Madame Craufurd. I attired myself as simply as +possible, and, attended by a _valet de pied_, sallied forth. Having +traversed the short distance that separates this house from the Rue +St.-Honoré, I arrived at the barricade erected in front of the entrance +to the Rue Verte, and I confess this obstacle seemed to me, for the +first minute or two that I contemplated it, insurmountable. My servant, +too, expressed his belief of the difficulty, if not impossibility, of +climbing over this mountain of loose stones, that I felt half disposed +to retrace my steps. + +The shouts of a mob approaching along the Rue St.-Honoré quickly +decided me on the course to pursue; I clambered up as best I could, not +without considerable risk; nor was the danger and difficulty of the +descent on the other side of this rude pyramid less imminent. The +evening was more sultry than I ever experienced an evening to be, even +in Italy; the houses were all closed, the streets deserted, except when +a few occasional stragglers rushed along, glancing at me with surprise, +and uttering their comments on my courage. Now and then a dog ran by, +with a terrified air and drooping tail, keeping close to the houses as +if for protection. One might have fancied oneself in some city ravaged +by the plague, and the burning heat of the atmosphere, and lurid red of +the clouds, might have strengthened the notion. + +It more than once occurred to me how singular it was for me, a woman +and a stranger, to find myself with only one attendant in the streets, +on foot, in a city declared to be in a state of siege, and with the +noise of firing in the distance, and the shouts of the populace, +continually breaking on my ears. + +Having passed the Rue de la Ville-l'Évêque, and entered the Rue +d'Anjou, I soon reached the _porte-cochère_ of my friend. My servant +knocked, and very loudly, but before the Swiss porter would open the +door, he reconnoitred from the window in the _entresol_ of his lodge. +He could hardly credit his eyes when he saw me; and while he unbolted +and unchained the door, an operation which took him more time than I +thought necessary, I could hear him muttering that, "_Les dames +Anglaises n'ont peur de rien, positivement rien_." I was not sorry when +I heard the massive door closed after me, with its bolts and chains +again secured; but, as I crossed the courtyard, the different aspect of +the house, with its closed windows, reminded me so forcibly of the +change that had occurred since my last visit, only three days +previously, that I felt more agitated than while traversing the +streets. + +When I entered the drawing-room, in which a large circle were +assembled, Madame Craufurd, though the servants announced my name, +could hardly believe I was indeed come. She wept bitterly while +embracing me, and observed on the hardship of a person so aged as +herself being called on to witness two revolutions. All the horrors of +the first are recalled vividly to her mind, and her terror of what may +occur is proportioned to what she remembers to have formerly taken +place. Nothing seemed to pacify her terror so much as the fact of my +having been permitted to pass unmolested to her house, though she +considered me little less than insane to have undertaken the task. + +"For myself," said Madame C----, "I have little fear (though her +blanched cheek and trembling hand told another story); but for those +dearer to me than life, what have I not to dread? You who know the +chivalrous sentiments of the Duc de Guiche, and the attachment +entertained by him and my granddaughter for the royal family, will +understand how much I have to dread for them from the vengeance which +their devotion to their sovereign may draw on their heads. _They_ are +not, as you are aware, time-servers, like so many others, who will +desert their king in his hour of need. No; they will brave death, I am +assured, rather than forsake in adversity those whose prosperity they +shared." + +The marquis d'Aligre, one of, it not the, richest landed proprietors in +France, was among the circle at Madame Craufurd's, and evinced no +little composure and courage in the circumstances in which we found +ourselves. He joined me in endeavouring to soothe her fears; and +probably the fact of his having so immense a stake to risk in the +crisis now taking place, added not a little weight to the arguments he +urged to quiet her alarms. When people have so much to lose, their +calmness has an imposing effect; and the rhetoric of the most +accomplished orator would have probably been less successful than was +the composed manner of the marquis d'Aligre, in restoring the wonted +courage of our amiable hostess. + +When I rose to take leave, Madame C---- tried all her efforts to +persuade me to remain to sleep at her house, and I had no little +difficulty to escape from her importunity. She would fain send all her +men servants to escort me home, and the Marquis d'Aligre also +pressingly offered his services; but I was obstinate in my refusal to +allow anyone to accompany me, being convinced that there was even less +danger in proceeding with a single servant than more numerously +attended. I tore myself from the embraces of Madame C----, whose tears +flowed afresh, and bedewed my cheeks, and I once more passed through +the court-yard, followed to the porter's lodge by the _dames de +compagnie, femmes de chambre_, and _valets de chambre_, wondering at my +courage, offering up their prayers for my safety, and proclaiming that +only an Englishwoman would have faced such danger. The old Swiss porter +would not risk opening the gate until he had assured himself, from the +window, that the coast was clear, and closed it so rapidly when I had +passed it as almost to have endangered my heels. + +On returning, I found a cord drawn across the street in front of the +barrack in the Rue Verte, and some forty or fifty ill-dressed and +riotous men assembled, half-a-dozen of whom held the cord. Having +approached close to it, I paused, and, looking calmly at those who held +it, I appealed by looks to their politeness. Some of them laughed +aloud, and asked me if I could not leap over the barrier that impeded +my progress, drawing the rope still higher while they spoke. I +answered, though I trembled at being exposed to their rude mirth, and +still more rude gaze, "That I felt sure Frenchmen would not compel me +to such an unfeminine exertion, or give me cause to tell my compatriots +when I returned to England that deference to women no longer existed in +France." + +"Let her pass! let her pass!" exclaimed nearly all the voices of the +group; "she is courageous, and she speaks rightly, _Vivent les +Anglaises! Vivent les Anglaises!_" and the cord was instantly lowered +to the ground, and I hastily stepped over it, glad to get out of +hearing of the rough compliments bestowed on me. + +My servant had attempted to address them before I spoke, but they one +and all assailed him with a torrent of reproach, demanding if he was +not ashamed to wear a livery, the badge of servitude, when all his +countrymen were fighting for their liberty. I had again to clamber over +the barricade, assisted by my servant, and, before I could cross the +Rue St.-Honoré, encountered various groups of men rushing along, all of +whom uttered such invectives against my footman that I determined not +again to go out attended by this symbol of aristocracy. + +On reaching my home, the porter observed, with a self-complacency his +prudence could not conceal, that he "knew Madame la Comtesse had +nothing to dread from the people, they were brave and _bons enfans_, +and would not injure a lady;"--a commendation that clearly indicated +the state of his feelings. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + + +I have observed a striking change in the manners of the servants during +the last three days. They are more familiar, without, however, evincing +the least insolence; their spirits seem unusually exhilarated, and they +betray an interest in the struggle in which the people are engaged that +leaves no doubt as to the side that excites their sympathy. Every +rumour of the success of the insurgents is repeated by them with +ill-suppressed animation and pleasure, and the power of the people is +exaggerated far beyond the bounds of truth. I confess this folly on +their part annoys me, and the more especially as the class to which +they belong, are totally incapacitated by ignorance from being able to +comprehend even the causes alleged for this popular outbreak. + +Misguided men! can they hope that servitude will be lightened by their +being employed by some _parvenus_, elevated from the dregs of the +people by a revolution which sets floating to the top the worst +ingredients of the reeking caldron from which it is formed, instead of +owning the more gentle and infinitely less degrading sway of those born +to, and accustomed to rule? + +Comte ---- and ---- have just come in, and report that the last story +current is, that fifty thousand men from Rouen are marching to Paris to +espouse the cause of the _people_. They say there is no end to the +desertions among the troops. + +The people--the people! I hear of nothing but the people; but those who +speak of them as all and every thing, seem to me to mistake the +populace for the people, yet surely the words are not synonymous. The +people, according to my acceptation of the word, are the sober and +respectable portion of the community of all countries, including the +husbandmen who till the earth, and the artisans who fabricate the +objects applicable to our positive wants, and superfluous luxuries. How +different are these from the populace who fill the streets shouting for +liberty, by which they mean license; fighting for a charter of the real +meaning of which they are ignorant; and rendering themselves the blind +instruments by which a revolution is to be accomplished, that will +leave them rather worse off than it found them; for when did those who +profit by such events remember with gratitude the tools by which it was +effected? + +_Thursday_.--Repeated knocking at the gate drew me to the window ten +minutes ago. The intruder presented a strange mixture of the terrible +and the ridiculous, the former predominating. Wearing only his shirt +and trousers, both stained with gore, and the sleeves of the former +turned up nearly to the shoulder, a crimson handkerchief was bound +round his head, and another encircled his waist. He brandished a huge +sword with a black leather string wound round his wrist, with one hand, +while with the other he assailed the knocker. Hearing the window +opened, he looked up, and exclaimed, "Ah! madame, order the gate to be +opened, that I may lay at the feet of my generous master the trophies I +have won with this trusty sword," waving the said sword over his head, +and pointing to a pair of silver-mounted pistols and a sabre that he +had placed on the ground while he knocked at the gate. + +I recognised in this man a helper in the stables of Comte A. d'Orsay, +of whom it had a short time previously been reported to us, that when a +party of the populace had attempted to force the gate of the stable +offices, which are situated in the Rue Verte, and the English grooms +and coachman were in excessive alarm, this man presented himself at the +window, sword in hand, declaring that he, though engaged in the same +cause as themselves, would defend, to the last moment of his life, the +horses of his master, and the Englishmen whom he considered to be under +his protection. This speech elicited thunders of applause from the +crowd who retreated, leaving the alarmed servants, whose protector he +had avowed himself, impressed with the conviction that he is little +short of a hero. + +This man--these same servants, only a few days ago, looked on as the +stable drudge, who was to perform all the dirty work, while they, +attired in smart liveries, and receiving triple the wages given to him, +were far more ornamental than useful in the establishment of their +employer. They offered him money as a reward for his spirited conduct +(the English of all classes, but more especially of that to which they +appertain, think that money pays all manner of debts), but he +indignantly refused the proffered gift. This revolutionary hero had +been fighting for several hours to-day, and is said to have evinced a +courage and enthusiasm that remind one of all we read of the spirit of +the old Imperial Guard, when animated by the presence of their mighty +chief. + +---- has just brought the intelligence, that the Tuileries and the +Louvre are taken by the people! Comte A. d'O---- sent two of his +servants (Brement, formerly drill-serjeant in the Guards, and now his +porter, and Charles who was an hussar, and a brave soldier) to the +Tuileries to endeavour to save the portrait of the Dauphin by Sir +Thomas Lawrence--an admirable picture. His instructions as to its +_emplacement_ were so correct, that the servants found it instantly, +but torn in pieces, and the fragments strewed on the floor. + +These men report that even in this feat a strange mixture of the +terrible and the comic was exhibited, for _while_ a dead body was +placed on the throne of Charles the Tenth, some men appeared in the +windows of the palace attired in the gold and silver tissue dresses of +the Duchesse de Berri, with feathers and flowers in their heads, and +fans in their hands, which they waved to the multitude beneath, with +all the coquettish airs and graces of _would-be-fine_ ladies. + +The busts of Charles the Tenth were broken and trampled upon; the +wardrobes of the royal family were scattered, torn, and thrown among +the people, who seemed to regard them only as trophies of the victory +they had achieved, and not for their intrinsic value. + +The palace of the Archbishop of Paris has been sacked, and every object +in it demolished. ---- told me that the ribaldry and coarse jests of +the mob on this occasion were disgusting beyond measure; and that they +ceased not to utter the most obscene falsehoods, while they wreaked +their vengeance on the property of this venerable prelate, against whom +they can bring no charge, except the suspicion of jesuitical +principles, and of having encouraged the king to issue the ordonnances. + +---- and ---- have just been here. They state that Charles the Tenth +sent a deputation to the provisional government offering to withdraw +the ordonnances, and to form a new ministry. The offer came too late, +and was rejected. Concessions from the vanquished are seldom valued; +and to offer terms to those who are now in the position to dictate them +is as unavailing as it is undignified. ---- and ---- say that the +general opinion is, that if the Duchesse de Berri was now to present +herself, with her son, to the people, her popularity, and his youth and +innocence, would accomplish an event that would satisfy most parties; +namely, the calling of the Duc de Bordeaux to the throne. The Duchesse +de Berri has courage enough to take this step; what a pity it is that +she has not wisdom enough to adopt it! + +While the fighting was going on in the streets, ---- and ---- met our +ambassador, Lord Stuart de Rothesay, walking along as usual. The +secretaries and _attachés_, too, of the English embassy have been +continually seen in places where their presence evinced more courage +and curiosity than caution; but fear is, I firmly believe, an unknown +guest in the breast of English gentlemen. + +Comte ---- has just been here; he has been to the Collége of Ste.-Barbe +to take charge of the sons of the Duc de Guiche, in order to conduct +them to the country; a service of no little danger, as all connected +with the court, and known to be faithful to the royal family are liable +to be maltreated. How painful and trying a part is the Duc de Guiche +now called on to act: compelled to leave his wife and family in a town +in a state of siege, or to desert the monarch to whom he has sworn +fealty! But he will perform it nobly; and if Charles the Tenth had many +such men to rally round him in the present hour, his throne might still +be preserved. + +The Duchesse de Guiche, in the trying situation in which she finds +herself, has displayed a courage worthy of olden times. The devotion of +her husband and self to the royal family is so well known that their +house has been a marked one during the last three days, the mob +repeatedly stopping before the gate uttering cries and menaces. All her +friends have urged her to leave Paris, and to remove with her children +to the country, for she would not consent to seek an asylum with her +grandmother or brother; urging, as a reason, that, in the absence of +the Duc, she felt it her duty to remain, that her presence might induce +the household to a more strict discharge of theirs, in protecting the +property of the Dauphin. + +---- and ---- have been here, and have told us that the provisional +government were installed in the Hôtel-de-Ville, General La Fayette at +its head, and my old acquaintance Monsieur Alexandra de Laborde taking +an active part. How all this is to end I cannot imagine; the cry for a +republic, though strongly echoed, will, I think, be unavailing; and the +reasonable part of the community cannot desire that it should be +otherwise, inasmuch as the tyranny of the many must ever be more +insupportable than that of one, admitting that even a despotic monarchy +could in our day exercise a tyranny, which I am not disposed to admit. + +The tri-coloured flag now floats on many of the churches, while that of +the _Fleur-de-lis_ still waves from the column in the Place Vendôme, on +other public buildings, and the Tuileries. What a strange state of +things! but every thing is strange in this eventful crisis. + +---- has just been here, and reports that yesterday a meeting of the +Deputies took place at the house of M. Casimir Périer, in order to +consult on what measures they ought to pursue in the present state of +affairs. He says, that pusillanimity, and want of decision consequent +on it, marked the conduct of the assembly. They lost the time, so +precious in a crisis like the actual one, in disputing about words, +when deeds ought to have been had recourse to. They are accused of +being influenced by a dread of offending the now tottering power, lest +it should once more be solidly reinstated, and yet of being anxious to +remain well with those opposed to it; and they are said to have +temporised with both, allowing the time for serving either to have +passed away. + +A bitter feeling towards the royal family seems to pervade the minds of +the populace; and this has been fomented by the most gross and +disgusting falsehoods dispensed around by the medium of obscene +_brochures_, and songs which are sung and distributed through the +streets. Even now beneath my window two men are offering, and crying +aloud, the Amours of the Duchesse d'Angoulême and the Archbishop of +Paris. The most spotless woman in France and the most devout man! The +same hand that would pull down the throne would raze the altar! + +---- and ---- have been among the fighting, and report wonders of the +bravery of the populace. They fight with an enthusiasm and courage +worthy of a better cause, and have evinced a humanity to their wounded +adversaries that elicits admiration even from those who are the most +opposed to the cause they have espoused. The citizens, and the women +too, have come forth from the sanctuaries of their dwellings to dress +the wounds, and administer refreshment to the combatants, without +distinction with regard to the side on which they were engaged. + +This amalgamation of soldiers and people has been destructive to the +cause of royalty, for the humanity experienced has induced the former +to throw down their arms rather than use them against generous foes, +and cries of "_Vive la Ligne_!" are often heard from those so lately +opposed to it. All parties agree in stating that not a single example +of pillage, except in the instances of the gunsmiths' shops, has +occurred. Various houses have been entered by the people for the +purpose of firing from the windows; and, having effected their object, +they have retired without taking a single article of the many tempting +ones scattered around in these dwellings. + +This revolution, if indeed the result should prove it to be such, will +offer a striking contrast to that fearful one that has ever since left +so black a stain on France, and Frenchmen. Heroic courage, great +humanity, and a perfect freedom from cupidity, are the peculiar +attributes that mark those who are now subverting the throne of the +Bourbons; what a pity it is that such qualities should not have found a +better cause for developing themselves! + +_29th_.--The subject now circulated and believed is, that Lafayette and +his followers have placed themselves at the head of the people. This +rumour has quieted the fears of many, for his name exercises a great +influence. The fighting is still going on, and the report of the guns +comes booming on the ear continually. + +Hearing a noise in the street, ten minutes ago, I looked forth, and +beheld some four or five men covered with stains of blood, their faces +blackened by gunpowder, and streaming with perspiration, endeavouring +to draw away a piece of cannon, of which they had taken possession in +the Champs-Élysées. Hearing the opening of my window, they entreated +me, if there were any men in the house, to send them to their +assistance, in order to draw away the gun from the reach of the enemy. +"And if there are no men," continued the speaker, "let the women come +out and help us in the good cause." While they yet spoke, a party of +soldiers were seen rushing to the rescue of the gun, and its temporary +conquerors were compelled to make a rapid retreat towards the Rue +St.-Honoré. + +The name of M. Laffitte is now mixed with that of Lafayette among the +crowds in the streets, and has a great effect on them. His vast wealth, +and the frequent and extensive aid it has afforded to the working +classes, have rendered him one of, if not the most popular man in +Paris: so that those most conversant with the actual state of affairs, +pronounce that with Lafayette and Laffitte now rest the destiny of +France. How strange is the alteration which has occurred within so +short a space of time! Five days ago, Charles the Tenth reigned in the +Tuileries; at present, on Lafayette and Laffitte it depends whether he +ever enters his palace again! The tocsin is now sounding! How +strangely, how awfully it strikes on the ear! All this appears like a +dream. + +The formation of a provisional government is to-day spoken of. The cry +of "_Vive Napoleon!_" has been heard repeatedly shouted from one mass +of people, while "_Vive la république!_" has been as loudly vociferated +by another. Various persons connected with both the royalist and +popular party, have been here to-day, so that I hear the opinions +entertained by the adherents of both sides of the question. Which to +credit I know not: there is but one point on which both agree, and that +is in praising the bravery and forbearance of the people. + +When I look around on the precious objects that cover the tables, +consoles, and cabinets in the salon where I am now writing, and reflect +that these same people are not only in arms, but I may say masters of +the town, I cannot help wondering at their total avoidance of pillage +when such rich booties might be so easily acquired. Perhaps there is no +European city in which so many and such splendid collections of rare +and precious articles are to be found, as at Paris. In England, our +nobility possess equal treasures, but they are contained in their +country seats; whereas it is in the Parisian dwellings of the French +noblesse, that their valuable possessions of rare objects are to be +found, and at the present crisis, how soon could an armed mass seize +them! + +_28th_.--The Duchesse de Guiche was exposed to considerable danger to +day, and evinced a courage nearly allied to temerity in speaking her +sentiments on the occasion. Alarmed for the safety of her eldest son, +she was proceeding to his college in search of him, when she was +stopped by a vast crowd of people assembled around the house of one of +the tradespeople of the royal family, over whose door were the arms of +France. + +The frightened tradesman was in the act of removing this badge, of +which only a few days previously he had been so proud, when the +duchesse, seeing him so employed, remarked aloud, that "after having so +often solicited permission to place the royal arms over his door, he +ought to have had the courage to defend them." The populace, enraged at +this reproof, hissed and yelled; but seeing that she remained unmoved, +the greater number cheered her, exclaiming "that young woman is as +courageous as she is beautiful; let us shew her that we know how lo +value courage, and protect her to her home," They placed themselves +around her, and with every mark of respect, escorted her, to the gate +of her dwelling. + +A person among the crowd who witnessed this incident, told me that +never had he seen the Duchesse de Guiche look so dazzlingly beautiful, +as when she was reproving the tradesman--her tall and majestic figure +elevated even above its usual height by the indignation she experienced +at the insult offered to the royal family, to whom in these their days +of trial, she is even more chivalrously devoted than when they reigned +with undisputed sway, and thousands of those who now desert, professed +to worship them. + +Before the duchesse regained her abode, she encountered several +skirmishing parlies in the streets who were absolutely fighting, and +probably owed her safety lo the protection afforded her by those whom +her courage had won to be her champions. + +The intelligence reached us two hours ago, that the populace had +attacked the hotel of the Duc de Guiche, and placed two pieces of +cannon before the gate. My terror may more easily be imagined than +described, for the duchesse and her youngest children are in the house, +and the duc is with the royal family. I hardly knew whether to be +thankful or sorry, that her brother Count Alfred d'Orsay was not at +home when this news reached us, for he would certainly have proceeded +to her house, and would probably have, by his presence and +interference, rendered her danger still greater. + +Fearful of compromising the safety of her children, the duchesse left +the hotel by another gate, opening into the Rue de Montaigne, and is, I +trust, ere this, safe on her route to St.-Germain, where her +father-in-law, the Duc de Gramont, has a residence. + +How like a troubled dream all this appears! Would that it were but a +dream, and that those whom I so much love, were not exposed to pay +dearly for their fidelity to a sovereign, whose measures their +enlightened minds are the last to approve, but whose misfortunes, if +they cannot ameliorate, they will at least share! + +I know not a more painful position than that of the Duc and Duchesse de +Guiche, at the present moment. With highly cultivated minds and liberal +opinions, possessing a knowledge of the world, and of the actual state +of public opinion in France, they must be aware of the utter +hopelessness of the cause in which they find themselves embarked, yet +such is their chivalrous sentiments of honour, that they will sacrifice +every thing rather than abandon those whose prosperity they have +partaken, and thus incur all the penalty of the acts of a government +whose policy they did not approve. Had Charles the Tenth many such +devoted adherents, he would not find himself deserted in his hour of +need. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + + +I have but just returned from the Rue d'Anjou, and now that I find +myself once more within the sanctuary of my home, I am surprised at my +own courage in having ventured to pass through the streets, and +_alone_, too, at such a moment. I do not think I should have risked it, +had I not known how much my excellent friend Madame C---- stood in need +of consolation, after having seen her grandchildren and great +grandchildren driven from their late peaceful and happy dwelling, +uncertain when she may behold them again, as they have determined on +not forsaking the royal family. + +I had ascended nearly to the top of the barricade at the entrance to +the Rue Verte when a head and shoulders rose from the opposite side so +suddenly as to alarm me not a little. My trepidation was infinitely +increased when I discovered that the individual to whom the said head +and shoulders appertained, was in a state of extreme intoxication, and +when with rolling eyes, flushed checks, and thick articulation he +addressed me with a familiarity, yet good nature, that I would most +willingly have dispensed with. + +"Give me your hand, _ma belle_, fear nothing, I am one of the _bons +enfans_ of the revolution, take my arm and no one will molest you. We, +_les braves des braves_, wage no war against women; _au contraire_, we +love the pretty creatures. Here take my hand, and I will assist you +over the barricades." + +Suiting his action to the word, he extended his hand towards me, and +reaching forward lost his equilibrium and rolled over; at which moment, +the proprietor of a wine shop at the corner of the Rue Verte came to my +assistance, and leading me through his house, opened a door on the +other side of the barricade, through which I hastily passed, he civilly +offering to open the same door when I returned if I would knock at it. +And here, _en passant_, let me render justice to the politeness I have +invariably experienced from all classes of men, and on all occasions, +in France--a politeness so general that I should be ungrateful if I did +not record it. + +When I passed the barrack in the Rue Verte, it was in the possession of +the people, who had seized it by the right of conquest an hour or two +previously. Proud of the achievement, they were looking out of the +windows, shouting, singing the Marseillaise, embracing each other, and +proclaiming that they were _les bons enfans_, etc. They paid me many +homely compliments as I passed, but not a single indelicate allusion +escaped their lips; and I hurried on, not meeting a human being until I +entered the courtyard of Madame C----'s hotel, into which I found +considerable difficulty to penetrate, owing to the extreme caution of +her Swiss porter who seemed to think it very dangerous to open even the +little door to admit me. + +I found dear, good Madame C---- depressed and agitated. I rejoiced to +find that she was ignorant of the scene that took place between her +grand-daughter and the populace, for a knowledge of it would have +served to increase her alarm. She was surrounded by the usual circle of +_habitués_ who endeavoured in vain to calm her fears, but my presence +re-assured her a little, and Count Valeski, who came in soon after, +succeeded in mitigating her terror. Having witnessed the horrors of the +former revolution, it is no wonder she should tremble at the thoughts +of another, and she looks on my calmness and courage as little short of +heroism. + +I remained a couple of hours with her, and having resisted all her +persuasions to induce me to stay all night, I left the Rue d'Anjou, and +had reached the Rue Verte, when I heard the report of guns, and saw a +party of soldiers attacking the barracks, out of the windows of which +the people, who had taken forcible possession of it some hours before, +were firing on their assailants. I retraced my steps as hastily as +possible, fear lending swiftness to my feet, and returned to the Rue de +Matignon by the Faubourg du Roule and the Rue St.-Honoré. Our trusty +porter, having heard the shots, and knowing they proceeded from the +_quartier_ through which my route lay, was much alarmed for my safety, +and evinced great pleasure when he saw me safe again within the portal +under his charge, while I congratulated myself on having once more +proved my friendship to my dear old friend, by a personal exertion +entailing no more disagreeable consequences than a temporary alarm. + +---- and ---- have just been here: they say that it is reported that a +negotiation has been opened between the king and the provisional +government, and that even still a reconciliation may be effected. I do +not believe it, though I wish it were true. The blood that has flowed +during the last days has, I fear, created an impassable gulf between +the sovereign and the people. Each party has made discoveries fatal to +the good understanding necessary to subsist between both: one having +proved his want of power to carry his wishes into effect, and the other +having but too well evinced its power of resistance. + +While the negotiations are pending, the royal cause becomes every hour +more hopeless. Success has rendered the people less tractable; and the +concession implied by the king's holding out terms to them, has less +chance of producing a favourable result. + +The populace attempted to force an entrance into the _Hôtel des Pages_, +and, having fired through the iron gate, killed a fine youth, the son +of General Jacquinot, one of the royal pages, and a protégé of the Duc +de Guiche. It was of this general that the Emperor Napoleon +said--"_Celui-là est brave tous les jours, en mon absence comme sous +mes yeux_." It is not more than ten days ago, since I met the mother +and sister of this promising youth with him at the Duchesse de +Guiche's. They came to return thanks to her and the duc for the +generous protection they had afforded to him; they were elate with joy +at his promotion, looked forward to his further advancement, and now--. +My heart bleeds for the poor mother who doted on her son! + +Count Alfred d'Orsay, having heard that he had no relations in Paris at +this moment, has gone to arrange for the interment of this poor youth, +who yet scarcely more than a child, has lost his life at but a short +distance from the threshold of that door where he had been so often +received with kindness. How glad I am that the duchesse was spared the +horror of being so near the scene of this murder, and that she and her +children are safe from the reach of personal violence! + +The interesting countenance of this fine youth, as I lately saw it, +haunts me. Beaming with affection towards his mother and sister, and +with gratitude towards his friends, it was pleasant to behold it; and +now,--how fearful is the change produced in so brief a space! That +bereaved mother and fond sister will never more look on that face so +dear;--before the fatal intelligence can have reached them, he will +have been consigned to the grave, and will owe to a stranger those last +rites which they little dream are now performing. + +The number of persons killed during the last three days has excited +much less interest in my feelings than the death of this poor youth. I +cannot picture to my mind's eye any other distinct image among the +slain. They present only a ghastly mass, with all the revolting +accompaniments of gaping wounds and blood-stained garments, I never saw +them in life,--knew not the faces that will be steeped in tears, or +convulsed in agony at their deaths; but this poor boy, so young, so +fair, and so beloved, and his fond mother and gentle sister seem ever +to stand before me! + +I remember reading, long years ago, the example given of a person +recounting all the details of a great battle, in which hundreds were +slain, and the listeners hearing the account unmoved, until the relater +described one individual who had been killed, and drew a vivid picture, +when those who had heard of the death of hundreds without any deeper +emotion than general pity, were melted to tears. This is my case, with +regard to the poor young page, cut off in the morning of his life; for, +having his image present to my mind, his death seems more grievous to +me than that of hundreds whom I have never seen. + +_30th_.--The last news is, that the Dauphin has been named +Generalissimo, that he has placed himself at the head of the vast body +of troops that still adhere to their allegiance, and that he is to +advance on Paris. This determination has been adopted too late, and can +now, in my opinion, avail but little. + +Comte d'O---- has just returned from seeing the last sad duties paid to +the remains of the poor young page. He brings the intelligence that the +royal family left St.-Cloud last night, and are now at Versailles. This +step proves that they consider their case hopeless. Unhappy Bourbons! a +fatality seems to impend over the race; and Charles the Tenth appears +doomed to die, as he has lived the greater portion of his life, in +exile. The absence of the Dauphine at this eventful period has been +peculiarly unfortunate for her family; for, with her firmness of +character and promptitude of decision, her counsel might have served, +while her presence would have given an impetus to, their cause. + +I have just seen ----, who told me, that on the King's departure for +Versailles he left the Dauphin in command of the troops that still +adhered to their allegiance, and that the Prince placed himself at the +head of a battalion of the _garde royale_, charged the enemy on the +Pont de Sèvres, and took possession of it; but the troops, with the +exception of a few officers, refused to follow, and left him to receive +the fire of the insurgents, which it is wonderful that he escaped. With +what feelings must he have bent his course to Versailles, deserted by +troops on whom he had bestowed so many favours and acts of munificence, +to meet his sovereign and father, with the sad news of their revolt! + +I have just had the gratifying intelligence that the Duchesse de Guiche +and her children reached St.-Germain's in safety. This is a great +relief to my mind. The royal arms on the carriage, and the liveries, +were recognised at the Barrière, and the populace crowded around, many +of them expressing their dissatisfaction at beholding these memorials +of a family so lately respected, if not beloved. It had been +represented to the Duchesse, previously to her leaving Paris, that she +ran no inconsiderable risk in venturing out with the royal arms on her +carriage;[9] but she declared that she would not consent to their being +effaced. She courageously, and with a calm dignity, addressed the angry +crowd, explained her sentiments and feelings to them in a few brief +words, and they, won by her beauty and noble bearing, even perhaps +still more than by her courage (though intrepidity has always a +peculiar charm for Frenchmen), cheered her, and suffered the carriage +to proceed unmolested. + + +_July 30th_.--I am again alarmed for the safety of the Duchesse de +Guiche. The populace having yesterday assembled at the Place +St.-Germain, in which is the residence of her father-in-law, the Duc de +Gramont, they evinced so hostile a feeling towards all attached to the +royal family, that a friend, becoming apprehensive of violence, scaled +the wall of the garden, and entering the house, implored the Duchesse, +ere it was yet too late, to seek safety by flight. + +Alarmed for her children--for this noble-minded woman is a stranger to +personal fear--she sought refuge with them in the Forest of +St.-Germain, in the Château du Val, the abode of the Princesse de Poix, +where she experiences all the kindness and hospitality which her +amiable hostess can practise, in order to soothe the anxiety of her +guest. + +What a change in the position of the Duchesse, and in so brief a space! +A fugitive in that forest where, every year during the _Fête des +Loges_, she dispensed kindness to the poor, and amiability to all, +doing the honours of the Duc de Gramont's house, where her +condescension and goodness were the themes of every tongue! And now, +harassed in mind and body, terrified for the safety of her husband, who +is with the royal family, and for her two eldest sons, who are in their +college, in the Rue St.-Marceau, which is rendered inaccessible, owing +to the barricades. + +_31st_.--Lafayette is now said to be the oracle of the provisional +government, and the idol of the populace. Advanced far in the vale of +life, his energies and vigour are gone, and his _name_ serves the party +more than his counsel can; for with the republicans, at least, it is a +guarantee for honest motives. What a strange destiny has his +been--called on to perform so conspicuous a part in two revolutions! + +---- has just been here, and announced that the Duc d'Orléans is named +Lieutenant-general of France. It is asserted, that this appointment has +been effected by the influence of General Lafayette over the +provisional government; but how little in accordance is this measure +with the well-known Utopian scheme of a republic, which has for years +been the favourite dream of this venerable visionary? + +_August 1st_. ---- now has brought the intelligence that Charles the +Tenth has nominated the Duc d'Orléans Lieutenant-general, so that his +Royal Highness has been chosen by both sides--a flattering proof of the +confidence reposed in him by each. Were he ambitious, here is an +opportunity of indulging this "infirmity of noble minds," though at the +expense of the elder branch of his family; but he will not, I am sure, +betray the trust they have confided to him. Order seems now to be in a +great measure restored; the people appear in good-humour; but there is +a consciousness of power evident in their hilarity that too forcibly +reminds one of their victory. + +The Duc of Orléans has been to the Hôtel-de-Ville, where he presented +himself to the people from the balcony; embraced General Lafayette, who +stood by his side; and was applauded with enthusiasm by the immense +multitude who witnessed the _accolade_. + +_2nd_.--The news of the day is, that Charles the Tenth has abdicated +the crown in favour of the Duc de Bordeaux, who is now styled Henri V. +This act might, four or five days ago, have produced some salutary +effect; but it now comes too late--at least, so think those who profess +to know more on the subject than I do. The position of the +Lieutenant-general, in this case, reminds me of that of a _confidante_ +in a quarrel between lovers, in which the interest of the absent is too +often sacrificed, owing to the dangerous opportunity furnished for +forwarding that of the supposed friend. + +_3d_.--Again, considerable excitement has prevailed in the town, +produced by the proclamation, that the dethroned sovereign had +determined to take up his position, with the strong military force that +still adheres to him, at Rambouillet. The publicity given to this news +was a very injudicious measure, if conciliation, or even forbearance to +the deposed family, was desired. + +The populace, that many-headed monster, only seen abroad when evil +passions dictate violence, again rush through the streets, breathing +vengeance against the poor old man, whose grey hairs, more exposed by +the absence of the crown his _ci-devant_ subjects have wrested from his +head, should have claimed more respect at their hands. Truly has the +poet said, + + "He who has worn crown, + When less than king is less than other men,-- + A fallen star, extinguish'd, leaving blank + Its place in heaven." + +This fickle people, or, at least, the dregs of them, for it would be +unjust to confound all in their enormities, will efface the credit they +have gained by the forbearance from crime that has as yet characterised +this revolution, by some act of brutality towards the royal family. But +even the very dregs of the people have not appeared desirous to adopt +any such course, until excited into it by the wicked rumours set +afloat, that Charles the Tenth had carried off all the crown jewels--a +rumour peculiarly calculated to excite their ire and meet a ready +credence, each individual of the motley train looking on himself as +having an interest in these national riches, and judging from _self_, +of the possibility--nay, more, probability, of so vile an action. How +little can such minds identify themselves with the feelings of those +who, sated with the gewgaws and trappings of grandeur, forget them in +the deep, the powerful excitement of beholding a throne crumbling into +ruin beneath them--a diadem rudely torn from their brows--the power +they wielded, even that of doing good, wrested violently, with the +sceptre, from their hands; and more than all, behold the loved, the +_trusted_--those on whom they had showered benefits with prodigality, +turn from them in their hour of need and join their foes! + + "If thou canst hate, as, oh! that soul must hate + Which loves the virtuous and reveres the great; + If thou canst loathe and execrate with me + That gallic garbage of philosophy,-- + That nauseous slaver of these frantic times, + With which false liberty dilutes her crimes; + If thou hast got within thy free-born breast + One pulse that beats more proudly than the rest + With honest scorn for that inglorious soul + Which creeps and winds beneath a mob's control. + Which courts the rabble's smile, the rabble's nod, + And makes, like Egypt, every beast its God!" + +_August 4th_.--The King has left Rambouillot, alarmed by the report of +the approach of the vast multitude who had left, or were leaving, +Paris, with hostile intentions towards the royal family. The scenes +that took place then, previously to his departure, are represented as +being most affecting. + +An old man, overpowered by mental and bodily sufferings, remembering +the terrible days of a former revolution, brought with a fearful +vividness to his mind by the appalling change effected within the last +few eventful days, he had lost all presence of mind, and with it his +confidence in those whom he might have safely trusted, while he yielded +it to those whose interests were wholly opposed to his. Nor is the +deplorable effect produced on his mind by recent events to be wondered +at. + +Adversity is the only school in which monarchs can acquire wisdom, and +it almost always comes too late to enable them to profit by its bitter +lessons. The defection of those hitherto supposed to be devoted +friends, the altered looks of faces never before beheld without being +dressed in smiles, the unceremoniousness of courtiers who never +previously had dared to have an opinion before royalty had decided what +it should be, might well have shook firmer nerves, and touched a +sterner heart, than belonged to the old, grey-headed monarch, who saw +himself betrayed without comprehending by whom, and who used his +authority as sovereign and father, over his religiously obedient son, +to extort an abdication of his right, as well as an approval of the +resignation of his own. + +Like another Lear, this poor old man has been driven forth "to bide the +pelting of the pitiless storm" of a revolution, followed by his widowed +daughter-in-law and her helpless son, that child orphaned ere yet he +saw the light, and by Frenchmen who now condemn him to exile! + +They have taken the route to Cherbourg, there to embark; and of those +who lately bent the knee before them, how few have followed their now +gloomy fortunes! One, at least, has not left, and will not forsake +them. The Duc de Guiche, the kindest husband and father perhaps in +France, sacrifices his feelings of domestic affection to his sense of +duty, and accompanies the exiled family! + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + + +_August 5th_.--There are rumours today that the son of the Emperor +Napoleon will be called to fill the vacant throne. This seems to me to +be very improbable, when I reflect that General Lafayette, whose +influence is omnipotent at present, appears wholly devoted to the Duc +d'Orléans. The minds of the people are as yet wholly unsettled; a dread +of how their late exploits may be looked on by the foreign powers +allied to the deposed sovereign, pervades the multitude, and the +republicans begin to discover that their Utopian schemes are little +likely to be advanced by the revolution effected. + +I was forcibly struck this morning on reading, in an Italian writer, +the following passage, which is strongly applicable to the present +time: + + "When a revolution is ripe, men are always found who are + ready to commence it, and make their bodies the steps to the + throne of him who is to profit by their labours, without + having shared their dangers." + +I have a presentiment that the truth of this axiom will be verified in +France. + +_August 6th_.--Reports are now afloat that the crown of France has been +offered to the Duke of Orléans, but that the offer was not unanimous, +and that consequently he has not accepted it. Other rumours state, that +if he should be induced to do so, it will only be to hold it as a +sacred deposit to be restored to the rightful owner when, with safety +to both parties, it can be transferred. Should this be the case, then +will the Duke of Orleans deserve well of the elder branch of his family +who have behaved so kindly towards him, but I confess I am not one of +those who believe in the likelihood of such an abnegation of self, as +this voluntary abdication would display. + +Rich possessions are seldom if ever willingly resigned, and a crown is +one said to have such irresistible charms to the person who has once +worn it, that history furnishes but few examples like that of Charles +the Fifth, or Christina of Sweden. Time will prove whether +Louis-Philippe d'Orléans will offer a _pendant_! + +I walked with Comte d'O---- this evening into the Champs-Elysees, and +great was the change effected there within the last few days. It looks +ruined and desolate, the ground cut up by the pieces of cannon, and +troops as well as the mobs that have made it a thoroughfare, and many +of the trees greatly injured, if not destroyed. + +A crowd was assembled around a man who was reading aloud for their +edification a proclamation nailed to one of the trees. We paused for a +moment to hear it, when some of the persons recognising my companion, +shouted aloud, "_Vive le Comte d'Orsay! Vive le Comte d'Orsay!"_ and +the cry being taken up by the mass, the reader was deserted, the fickle +multitude directing ail their attention and enthusiasm to tho new +comer. We had some difficulty in escaping from these troublesome and +unexpected demonstrations of good will; and, while hurrying from the +scene of this impromptu ovation to the unsought popularity of my +companion, I made him smile by hinting at the danger in which he stood +of being raised to the vacant throne by those who seem not to know or +care who is to fill it. + +Comte d'O---- was as much puzzled as I was how to account for this +burst of enthusiasm, for, taking no part in politics, and all his +family being attached to the legitimate cause, this demonstration of +regard appears more inexplicable. It seems, however, to establish one +fact, and that is, that though the monarch has fallen into disrepute +with the people, the aristocracy have not, and this alone proves how +totally different are the feelings of those who have effected the +present revolution with those of the persons who were engaged in the +former one, a difference, perhaps, not more to be attributed to the +change produced in the people by the extension of education, than in +the _noblesse_ by the same cause, aided by the habits and feelings it +engenders. Whatever may be the cause, the effect is salutary, for the +good understanding evident between the two classes tends greatly to the +amelioration and advantage of both. There is something very contagious +in popular feeling. It resembles an epidemic from which few of the +class more peculiarly exposed to it escape. + +Walked into the streets to-day, for a carriage cannot yet pass through +them. Never did any town, not actually sacked, present a more changed +aspect. Houses damaged by shots, windows smashed, pavements destroyed, +and trees cut down or mutilated, meet the eye along the Boulevards. The +destruction of the trees excited more regret in my mind than that of +the houses. There, many of them lay on the ground shorn of their leafy +honours, offering obstructions on the spots which they so lately +ornamented, while others stood bare and desolate, their giant limbs +lopped off, their trunks shattered by bullets, and retaining only a few +slight branches oh high, to which still adhered the parched, +discoloured, and withered leaves, sole remnants of their lately +luxuriant foliage. + +The houses may be rebuilt and the streets newly paved, but how many +years will it take before these trees can be replaced! Those who loved +to repose beneath their shade, or who, pent in a city, were solaced by +beholding them and thinking of the country of which they brought +pleasant recollections, will grieve to miss them, and, like me, own +with a sigh, while contemplating the ravages occasioned by the events +of the last few days, that if good ever is effected by that most +dangerous of all experiments, a revolution, it is too dearly bought. + +The people seem as proud and pleased as possible with the +accomplishment of the task they took in hand. How long will they +continue so? They are like a too-spirited horse who, having mastered +his rider, requires a bolder and more expert hand to subjugate him +again to obedience, and the training will be all the more painful from +the previous insubordination. Of one thing the people may be proud, and +that is, their having not stained this revolution with any of the +crimes that have left so indelible a blot on the former one. + +How soon does the mind habituate itself to an unnatural state of +excitement! My _femme de chambre_ positively looked blank and +disappointed this morning, when, on entering my _chambre à coucher_, +she answered in reply to my question, whether any thing new had +occurred during the night, "_Non, miladi, positivement rien_." Strange +to say, I too felt _désoeuvré_ by the want of having something to be +alarmed or to hope about,--I, who meddle not with politics, and wish +all the world to be as quiet and as calm as myself. Every one I see +appears to experience this same flatness, just like the reaction +produced on the spirits the first day or two after the Italian +Carnival, when the cessation of gaiety, though felt to be a relief to +the frame, leaves the mind unfitted for repose. + +I find this feeling is generally experienced, for several of the +shop-keepers, whose profit,--nay, whose very bread, depends on the +restoration of social order, confess it. One person, the wife of a +jeweller, owned to me to-day that Paris was now beginning to be very +_triste_. + +"To be sure they were no longer afraid to open their shops, and +commerce they hoped would soon become active again, but there was no +more the same interest continually awakened, as when every hour,--nay, +every minute brought some new event, and she and her neighbours looked +out to behold the fighting in the streets, the wounded and the dying +dropping around, and trembled for their own lives, and for the safety +of those dear to them." In short, as she admitted, the want of +excitement was experienced by all those who had lately become +accustomed to it, as much as it is felt by the habitual gamester who +cannot live without play. + +This is a dangerous state for the people of a great city to find +themselves in. Vastly more dangerous than if subdued by a +long-continued excess of excitement, their moral as well as their +physical force required repose, and they gladly resigned themselves to +it. + +To a sober-minded denizen of England, the ungovernable pride, +insatiable vanity, and love of fighting, inherent in the French, appear +really little short of insanity, to so great an excess do they push +these manias. This will always render them so difficult to be governed, +that it will require no ordinary abilities and firmness in him who +undertakes the arduous task of ruling them. Yet the very excess of +these passions renders the French the most able, as they decidedly are +the most willing, instruments to be employed in achieving the aims of +the wildest ambition, or the most glorious enterprises. He will the +longest and most securely govern them, who calls these passions into +action, provided always that they meet no check, for the French not +only bear adversity impatiently, but soon turn against him who has +exposed them to it: witness their conduct to the Emperor Napoleon, who, +while success frowned his banner, was their idol. + +Playing at soldiers is the favourite game of Frenchmen of every class +and description, and every opportunity afforded them of indulging it is +gladly seized. When I compare the reluctance with which the yeomanry of +Ireland, or the local militia of England, leave their homes and their +business to "assume the spear and shield," with the enthusiasm evinced +by the _Garde Nationale_ when they are called to leave their +_boutiques_ and don their uniforms, I am more than ever struck with the +remarkable difference existing between two nations separated by so +short a distance. The English local militia man will fight when +occasion requires, and with determined courage, too, because he +believes it to be his duty, but the French National Guard will combat +for the mere love of combating, and forget home and interest in the +pleasure of the excitement. + +The Duchesse de Guiche has returned to Paris, while her amiable and +noble-minded husband has accompanied the royal family to Cherbourg, +where they are to embark for England. Nothing can exceed the courage +and dignity with which she supports her altered fortunes. She thinks +only of those to whom the Duc and herself have been so long and so +truly devoted; and in her chagrin for their sufferings forgets her own. + +The Duc has such a perfect confidence in her good sense and tact, that +he has sent her his _procuration_ to act for him in his absence. No +sooner had she arrived at her abode, than she sent to demand the +protection of General Gérard[10] for the house and stables of the +Dauphin, and ho immediately ordered a guard to be placed there. Heaven +grant that she may not be exposed to any annoyance during the absence +of her husband! + +The Duchesse de Guiche gave a new proof of her courage and presence of +mind yesterday. Early in the morning, having heard a noise in the +courtyard of her dwelling, she beheld from the window of her chamber an +officer gesticulating with violence, and menacing the grooms of the +Dauphin. The upper servant entered at the moment, and announced that +the officer insisted on seizing six of the finest horses in the stable, +by order of General Lafayette. + +The Duchesse descended to the courtyard, informed the officer that the +whole establishment was under the protection of General Gérard, without +whose orders no horse should leave the stables. He attempted to enforce +his pretensions; but the Duchesse desired the head groom to call out +his assistants, about thirty in number, who, armed with pitchforks and +other implements of their calling, soon came forth; and the Duchesse +assured the intruder that, unless he immediately retired, he should be +forcibly expelled. + +Seeing the courage and determination of this high-spirited and +beautiful woman, the officer withdrew, and the horses were saved. It +has since been ascertained, as the Duchesse anticipated, that General +Lafayette had never given any orders to the officer who had used his +name. + +_7th_.--The Duke of Orleans has at length accepted the crown; and +various are the conjectures and reports to which his doing so has given +rise. Many of them, as may be easily imagined, are not creditable to +him; but on this occasion, as on most others, the least charitable +motives are generally assigned to those whose conduct is judged by the +mass often wholly ignorant of the reasons on which it is based. The +vast wealth of the Duke of Orleans has a powerful influence; and those +who a few days ago exclaimed against royalty, and vaunted the superior +advantages of a government without a king, are now reconciled to having +one whose immense private fortune will exempt the nation from the +necessity of furnishing funds for a civil list. Should the new +sovereign hereafter demand one, his popularity will be endangered; and +the King of the French, as he is styled, will be likely to find as +little favour in the eyes of his subjects as the King of France +experienced. + +Popularity, always, and in all countries, an unstable possession, is in +France infinitely more so; and Louis-Philippe must have more luck, as +well as more wisdom, than falls to the lot of mankind, to retain this +fleeting good when the novelty of his reign has worn away. That he is a +man of great ability no one seems to entertain a doubt; but his wisdom +would, in my opinion at least, have been more surely manifested had he +declined instead of accepting the crown. + +Those who profess to be best acquainted with his sentiments declare, +that he only acceded to the wishes of the people in ascending the +vacant throne, in order to preserve the charter, and to preclude the +dangerous theoretical experiments into which the republican party was +so desirous to plunge. It remains to be proved whether, in a few years +hence, those who have subverted one monarchy by violence may not be +tempted to have recourse to a similar measure in order to free +themselves from the successor they have chosen; for even already it +appears clear to me, that the expectations entertained, not only by the +partisans of Louis-Philippe, but by the generality of the people, are +such as he never can fulfil. He may be their idol for a brief space, +but, like all other idols, he will be expected to perform miracles; and +not having the sanctity with which time invests even false gods, he may +be thrown from the pedestal to which he has been elevated as +unceremoniously as he was raised to it. + +I saw General Lafayette to-day, and never felt more disappointed, as +his appearance does not at all correspond with what I had imagined it +to be. The "Lafayette _aux cheveux blancs_," as the popular song +describes him to be, is, _au contraire_, a plain old man, with a dark +brown scratch wig, that conceals his forehead, and, consequently, gives +a very common and, to my thinking, a disagreeable expression to his +countenance. The _cheveux blancs_ would be a great improvement; for, +independently of the song thus describing him, one looks for the +venerable mark of age in this Nestor of revolutions, who in his youth +has seen his idol, Liberty, commit fearful crimes in France as well as +great deeds in America, and who now, when on the threshold of the +grave, in which ere long he must repose, beholds her regeneration in +his native land, redeemed from the cruelty that formerly stained her +course. + +"_Voilà le grand Lafayette_!" exclaimed one of the people as he passed +to-day; "_Oui, la ganache des deux mondes_," replied the other. Such is +popular favour! + +I walked in the Palais-Royal to-day; and felt much more disposed to +pity than envy the King of the French, as Louis-Philippe is styled, +when I beheld a crowd of idle miscreants, assembled in front of his +dwelling, rudely and boisterously vociferating his name, and in a tone +much more resembling command than entreaty, desiring his presence. He +at length came forward, bowed repeatedly, pressed his hand to his +heart, and then withdrew, looking, as I thought, rather ashamed of the +_rôle_ he was called on to enact, while his riotous audience seemed +elated at exhibiting his docility. + +The Queen was then called for, and, after some delay, was handed +forward by Louis-Philippe. It made me sad to look on the altered +countenance of this amiable woman, whom all parties allow to be a most +faultless wife and mother. She is hardly to be recognised as the same +being who only a very few months ago looked the personification of +happiness. Already have deep care and anxiety left their furrows on her +brow, proving that + + A diadem, howe'er so bright it be, + Brings cares that frighten gentle sleep away, + E'en when from buried ancestors it comes, + Who bless'd when they bequeath it to their heir; + For great is the responsibility + Of those who wear the symbol of a king, + In regular succession handed down + From sire to son through long antiquity. + But when th' anointed head that wore it once + Sleeps not in death--but exiled, worse than death-- + And scions legitimate live to claim + Their birthright, oh! how heavy is that crown + (Though loose it fits), which well the wearer knows, + A people's breath may blow from of his brow, + Sear'd by the burning weight, it yet would guard, + E'n though it crush him. + +I am told that no day passes in which a crowd does not assemble beneath +the windows of Louis-Philippe and loudly vociferate for his presence. +M. Laffitte is not unfrequently seen with the king on these occasions, +and when they embrace the crowd applauds. + +I cannot imagine a more painful position than that of the Queen of the +French. Devotedly attached to her husband and family, she will have +often to tremble for their safety, exposed, as it must be, to the +inconstancy and evil passions _soi-disant_ subjects, who may, ere long, +be disposed to pull down the throne they have erected for +Louis-Philippe as rapidly as they raised the barricades for its +elevation. + +Had the King of the French succeeded to the throne by the natural +demise of those who stood between him and it, how different would be +his position; for it is agreed by all who know him, that he has many +qualities that eminently fit him to fill it with credit to himself and +advantage to the people; but as it is, I foresee nothing but trouble +and anxiety for him,--a melancholy change from the domestic happiness +he formerly enjoyed. Any attempt to check the turbulence of the people +will be resented as an act of the utmost ingratitude to those who +placed the crown on his head; and if he suffers it with impunity, he +will not only lose his empire over them, but incur the contempt of the +more elevated of his subjects. + +I saw the King of the French walking through the Place Vendôme to-day, +attended only by one person. He was recognised, and cheered, and +returned the salutation very graciously. And there stood the column +erected to commemorate the victories of one now sleeping in a foreign +grave; one whose very name was once the talisman that excited all +Parisian hearts into the wildest enthusiasm! + +Louis-Philippe passed near the base of the column, which seemed to +return a sullen echo to the voices that cheered him; did he, or those +around him, remember their vicinity to this striking memorial of the +inconstancy of the nation? The scene awakened more reflections in my +mind than I dare say it did in that of those whose voices rent the air; +but though it might be only fancy, I thought the King of the French +looked very grave. + +Monsieur Mignet spent last evening here; his conversation is full of +interest, being the overflowing of a rich mind, free from prejudices, +and his ideas, though methodically arranged and subjected to the ordeal +of a sober judgment, bear the warm tint of a brilliant imagination, +that might have rendered him a poet, had he not chosen to be a +historian. The Revolution has produced no visible change in this clever +and agreeable man, who, filling the office of Keeper of the Archives, +devotes his time to studies and researches in harmony with the pursuits +to which he has many years been accustomed, and hears the success of +the popular cause, to which he has long been attached, with a +moderation and equanimity highly indicative of a philosophical mind, +allied to an amiable disposition. There is something so striking in the +appearance of Monsieur Mignet, that all strangers, who meet him here, +remark the fine character of his head and the expression of his +countenance. + +The celebrated General Peppé dined here yesterday, and is very unlike +the revolutionary hero I had pictured him to be. Mild, well-bred, and +amiable in his manner, he seems much more suited to command a regiment +in support of a legitimate monarchy, than to subvert one. Although +liberty appears to be with him a monomania, the warmth with which he +advocates it in conversation never urges him beyond the bounds of good +breeding. + +It is a strange infatuation to suppose that as civilisation extends its +influence, men will have faith in the Utopian schemes of well-meaning +visionaries, and risk evils they know not, in exchange for a state +which, if not quite faultless, has at least much of good. How many +brave and honourable men become the dupes of heated imaginations and +erroneous opinions, which, urging them to effect an amelioration of +some grievances, incur the penalty of imparting greater ones! General +Peppé is liked by all who know him, though all lament the monomania +that has gained such an ascendency over his mind. His brother, General +Florestan Peppé at Naples, whom we esteem so much, is one of the most +excellent men I ever knew. + +The Duc de Guiche has returned to Paris, after having seen the royal +family safely embarked at Cherbourg. The departure of the aged monarch +presented a melancholy scene. At his time of life, he can never hope to +behold his country again, and the sudden change from the throne of a +great kingdom to a compelled exile in a foreign land is a reverse of +fortune that demands a philosophy to support, with which few are blest. + +There is something touching in the attachment of the Duc and Duchesse +de Guiche to this unfortunate family, and above all, to the Dauphin and +Dauphine. Always aware of their affection for them, I never imagined +the strength of it, until the adversity which has sent so many of those +who had previously loudly professed their devotion to them away, but +which has increased the feelings of reverence towards them in this +estimable couple, by mingling with it a sentiment of deep +commiseration, that induces a still greater display of respect, now +that so many others dispense with evincing it. The Duc is charged with +the disposal of the property of the Dauphin; and, when this task is +accomplished, he and his family will follow the fallen fortunes of +Charles the Tenth, and join him at Holyrood. + +Loving France as they do, and wishing their sons to be brought up in +the land of their birth, strong indeed must be the affection that +induces them to abandon it, in order to devote themselves to the exiled +Bourbons. This devotion to the fallen is the more meritorious when the +liberality of the Duc's political opinions is taken into consideration. +How few sovereigns find such devotion in adversity! and how seldom are +men to be met with capable of sacrificing their own interests and the +future prospects of their children to a sense of duty! + + * * * * * + +A lapse in my journal.--All seems now settled. The foreign powers have +acknowledged the King of the French; and this acknowledgment has not +only delighted his subjects, but confirmed them in the belief of their +own right to make or unmake sovereigns according to their will and +pleasure. + +The English are very popular in Paris at this moment, and the ready +recognition of Louis-Philippe by our government has increased this good +feeling. A vast crowd escorted the carriage of Mr. Hamilton, the +Secretary of the Embassy, to his door, as he returned from his first +accredited audience of the new monarch, and cries of _Vivent les +Anglais!_ filled the air. As Mr. Hamilton resides in the house next to +the one I occupy, I had an opportunity of beholding this ovation +offered to him, and the people certainly evinced very groat enthusiasm +on the occasion. + +M. Thiers, M. Mignet, Count Valeski, and Mr. Francis Raring, dined here +yesterday. M. Thiers was very brilliant and amusing. It is impossible +to meet him even once without being struck with the remarkable talent +that characterises every sentence he utters; and yet each observation +comes forth with such spirit and vivacity, that it is easy to see it +has been elicited at the moment by some remark from another, and not +from meditation. + +There is a hardiness in his conceptions, and an epigrammatic terseness +in the expression of them, that command attention; and the readiness +with which he seizes, analyses, and disposes of a question, betrays +such a versatility of mental power as to convey a conviction that he is +a man who cannot fail to fill a distinguished place in France, where, +at present, abilities furnish the master-key that opens the door to +honours and fortune. M. Thiers appears to entertain a consciousness of +his talents, but does not, I really think, overrate them. + +The Prince and Princess Soutzo with their family, spent yesterday with +us. Their eldest daughter, the Princess Helena, is a beautiful girl, +with captivating manners, and highly cultivated mind, and the little +Mary, though still in infancy, is one of the cleverest children I ever +saw. Never did I see young people better brought up than are the sons +and daughters of this excellent couple, or a more united family. + +Mr. and Miss Poulter, and William Spencer the poet, I dined here +yesterday. Mr. Poulter is a sensible man, and his sister is well +informed and intelligent. + +It is now decided that we go to England! Two years ago I should have +returned there with gladness, but now!--I dread it. How changed will +all appear without _him_ whose ever-watchful affection anticipated +every wish, and realised every hope! I ought to feel pleased at leaving +Paris, where the heaviest trial of my life has occurred, but _here_ I +have now learned to get inured to the privation of his society, while +in England I shall have again to acquire the hard lesson of +resignation. + +_November_, 1830.--This is the last entry I shall make in my journal in +Paris, for to-morrow we depart for England. + +I have passed the day in taking leave of those dear to me, and my +spirits have failed under the effort. Some of them I shall probably +never again behold. The dear and excellent Madame Craufurd is among +those about whom I entertain the most melancholy presentiments, because +at her advanced age I can hardly hope to find her, should I again +return to France. She referred to this to-day with streaming eyes, and +brought many a tear to mine by the sadness of her anticipations. + +The Duc and Duchess de Guiche I shall soon see in England, on their +route to Edinburgh, to join tho exiled family at Holyrood, for they are +determined not to forsake them in adversity. + +Adieu a Paris! two years and a half ago I entered you with gladness, +and the future looked bright; I leave you with altered feelings, for +the present is cheerless and the future clouded. + + + * * * * * + + +NOTES + + +[1: Now Baron d'Haussey.] + +[2: The hermitage was lent him by Madame d'Epinay, to whom his +subsequent ingratitude forms a dark page in her _Mémoires_.] + +[3: The present Lord Abinger.] + +[4: Now Lord Glenelg.] + +[5: Now Lord Francis Egerton.] + + +[6: Now Madame Émile de Girardin.] + +[7: "Where thou beholdest Genius, + There thou beholdest, too, the martyr's crown."] + +[8: The present Earl of Cadogan.] + +[9: The Duc de Guiche, being _premier menin_ to the Dauphin, used, +according to custom, the arms and liveries of that prince.] + +[10: Now Maréchal.] + + + +INDEX TO THE CONTENTS. + + +CHAPTER I. + + + +NISMES. + +Antiquities of this City--The Hôtel du Midi--Articles of +Merchandise--History of the Maison Carrée--Work of Poldo d'Albenas--The +Building described--Origin of it--Now used as a Museum--Monument to +Marcus Attius--Cardinal Alberoni--Barbarous Project--Removal of +Antiquities--The Amphitheatre described--Charles Martel--Excellent +Precaution in Roman Theatres--Inscription--Officious Cicerone--Gate of +Augustus--La Tour-Magne--Excavations--Fine Fountain--Temple of +Diana--Brevity of Human Life, 1. + + + +CHAPTER II. + + +TOWN OF ARLES. + +Beaucaire--Wooden Houses--Castle of King René--Church of St. +Martha--Fabulous Monster--The Hôtel described--The Hostess--Antique +Furniture--Plentiful Dinner--Scrutiny--Visit to the Amphitheatre--The +Prefect of Arles--Subterranean Excavations--Ancient Church of St. +Anne--Altar to the Goddess of Good--Venus of Arles--Granite +Obelisk--Primitive Manners--A Liberal Landlady, 14. + + + +CHAPTER III. + + +ST.-RÉMY. + +Situation of the Town--Antiquities--The Triumphal Arch described--Male +and Female Figures--The Mausoleum--Bassi-relievi of Battles, Infantry, +etc.--Figure of a Winged Female--Latin Inscription--Variously +explained--Interpretation of Monsieur P. Malosse--Respect for the +Departed--On The Triumphal Arch and Mausoleum at St.-Remy, 21. + + +CHAPTER IV. + + +LYONS. + +The _Fête Dieu_--Procession through the Streets--Ecclesiastical and +Military Pomp--Decorations in the Streets--Effect produced on the Mind +by Sacred Music--Excitements to Religious Fervour--the _Miserere_, 30. + + +CHAPTER V. + + +PARIS. + +Fatiguing Journey--Landau Accident--The Hôtel de la Terrasse, in the +Rue de Rivoli--Six Years' Absence--The Duc and Duchesse de Guiche--Joy +of Meeting--Fashion at Paris--Visit to Herhault's Temple of +Fashion--Mademoiselle La Touche--Extravagant Charges--Caution to +Husbands--A Word, also, to Wives--Visit to Madame Craufurd--Her +prepossessing Appearance--House-hunting--Residence of the Maréchal +Lobau--Review in the Champ-de-Mars--Splendid _Coup d'oeil_--The +Marchioness de Loulé--Restrictions at Court--Accident to the Comte de +Bourmont--Alarm of the Ladies--Charles the Tenth, the Dauphin, and the +Dauphine--Melancholy Physiognomy of Charles the First--The Duchesse +d'Angoulème--Her Trials and Endurance--French Love of Country--The +Duchesse de Berri--Dinner at the Duchesse de Guiche's--William +Lock--The Comte de l'Espérance de l'Aigle--His high breeding--The +Opera--_Début_ of Taglioni--Her Poetical Style of Dancing--The Duc de +Cazes--French and English Manners contrasted--Attentions to the Fair +Sex in France--The Comtesses de Bellegarde--Character of the Duc de +Gramont--Lady Barbara Craufurd--Count Valeski--Anger of the Maréchal +Lobau--Defect in French Houses--The _Muette de Portici_--Noblet--An old +_Danseuse_--Gaiety at Tivoli--Similarity in the Exterior of Parisian +Ladies--A Quadrille Party--_Demi-toilette_--Late Tea-Party--Luxurious +Chair--Delightful House in the Rue de Bourbon--Its costly +Decorations--Its Interior described--The Princesse de la Moskowa--Sad +Interview--Maréchal Ney, 32. + + +CHAPTER VI. + +Custom of letting out Furniture--The Prince and Princesse +Castelcicala--Lady Hawarden--Lady Combermere--Tone of Society at +Paris--Attentions paid by Young Men to Old Ladies--Flirtations at +Paris--Ceremonious Decorum--Comic Charles de Mornay--Parisian +Upholsterers--Rich Furniture--Lord Yarmouth--Elegant Suite of +Apartments--Charles Mills--Warm Affections between Relatives in France, +56. + + +CHAPTER VII. + +Domestic Arrangements--Changes in Young People--Pleasant +Recollections--Lord Lilford--The Marquis and Marquise Zamperi--Comte +Alexander de Laborde--The Marquis de Mornay--Mode of passing the +Time--Evening Visits in France--Dinner-party--The Duc Dalberg--The Duc +de Mouchy--Party to Montmorency--Rousseau's Hermitage--Sensibility, a +Characteristic of Genius--Solitude--Letter of Rousseau to +Voltaire--Church, of Montmorency--Baths at Enghien--The Comtesse de +Gand--Colonel E. Lygon--The Marquis de Dreux-Brezé--Contrast between +him and the Duc de Talleyrand--The Baron and Baroness de Ruysch--Mr. +Douglas Kinnaird--Sir Francis Burdett--Colonel Leicester Stanhope--The +Marquis Palavicini--Charms of Italian Women--Lords Darnley and +Charlemont--Mr. Young, the Tragedian--Lord Lansdowne--Estimate of his +Character--Sir Robert Peel--Respect for the Memory of Sir William +Drummond--Lady Drummond--"Vivian Grey"--Mr. Standish--Intermarriages +between the French and the English, 64. + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +Charles Kemble--His Daughter's Tragedy of "Francis the +First"--Recollections of John Kemble--The Opera--_Count Ory_--Sir A. +Barnard--Secret of Happiness--Visit to Mademoiselle Mars--Her Residence +described--Memorial of her Theatrical Career--The Duchesse de la +Force--Madame Grassini--Anecdote of her--Visit to Orsay--Its +Situation--The Princesse de Croy--Hamlet of Palaiseau--Drama of _La Pie +Voteuse_--Family of the Duc de Guiche--The Vaudeville Théâtre--Scribe's +_Avant, Pendant, el Après_--Its Dangerous Tendency--French +Ambition--Parisian Shopkeepers--Their Officious Conduct, 78. + + +CHAPTER IX. + +Lord and Lady Stuart de Rothesay--French Politeness--Mr. D---- and Mr. +T---- --Study of Shakespeare--Attractions of Mrs. T---- --Lady +Charlotte Llndsay and the Misses Berry--Sir William Gell--Mr. and Mrs. +Hare--Female Amiability--Shopping--Hints on Female Dress--Brilliancy of +French Conversation--Mr. J. Strangways--A severe Trial--The +Plague-spot--Miraculous Escape--Dinner given by Comte A. de +Maussion--Goethe's _Faust_--Character of "Margaret"--The witty Mr. +M---- --Lord Byron--French Quickness of Apprehension--_Sept +Heures_--Character of Charlotte Corday--Degenerate Taste of the +Parisians--Hasty Conclusions, 91. + + +CHAPTER X. + +The celebrated Dr. P---- --Society of Medical Men--Dr. +Guthrie--Requisites for a Surgeon--Celebrity and Merit--The Road to +Fortune, as related by Dr. P---- --Successful Stratagem--Fancied +Illness--Superfluity of _Embonpoint_--Mode of Treatment--Another +Patient--The Doctor à-la-mode--Mr. P. C. Scarlett--Lord Erskine--Mr. +H.B---- --Visit to the Théâtre Italien--Madame Malibran's +"Desdemona"--Defect in her Singing--The Princesse Pauline Borghese--The +Family of Napoleon--Particulars of the Duchesse d'Abrantes--The +Luxembourg Palace and Gardens--A Loving Couple--Holiness of +Marriage--Story of the Old Bachelor and his Crafty Housekeeper, 105. + + +CHAPTER XI. + +Groups of Children in the Gardens of the Luxembourg--Joyous Sounds--The +Nurses--The Child of Noble Birth and that of the _Parvenu_--Joys of +Childhood--Contrast between Youth and Age--Meeting with Dr. P---- +--Arrival of General and the Comtesse d'Orsay--Attractions of the +latter--Remark of Napoleon--Affection in Domestic Circles in +France--The Duchesse de Guiche--The Comtesse d'Orsay--The Duc de +Gramont--Madame Craufurd--The _ci-devant Jeune Homme_--Potter, the +actor--Sir Francis Burdett--Advantages of French Society--Topics of +Conversation--Pedigrees of Horses--French Politeness--Deferential +Treatment of the Fair Sex--Domestic Duties of the Duchesse do +Guiche--Influence of Courts--Visit to the Théâtre des Nouveautés--_La +Maison du Rempart_--Inflammable Exhibitions--Mr. Cuthbert and M. +Charles Lafitte--advance of Civilization--Lady Combermere--Mr. Charles +Grant (now Lord Glenelg)--Curiosity Shops on the Quai Voltaire--Madame +de Sévigné--Objects that have belonged to celebrated People--A Hint to +the Ladies--Pincushion of Madame de Maintenon--The Marquis de +Rambouillet--Molière's _Précieuses Ridicules_--Pangs of Jealousy--Julie +d'Angennes--Brilliant Coterie, 120. + + +CHAPTER XII. + +The Marquise de Pouleprie---The celebrated Madame du +Barry--Anecdote--Mademoiselle Mars in _Valerie_--Her admirable Style +of Acting--Playing to the Galleries--Exclusive Nature of Parisian +Society--French Conversation--Quickness of Perception--Walk in +the Gardens of the Tuileries--Comparative Beauty of French and +English Ladies--Graceful Walking of the Former--Difference of +Etiquette--Well-bred Englishmen--Flight of Time--Colonel Caradoc, son +of Lord Howden--New Year's Day--Custom of making Presents--Gallery of +the Louvre--The Statues therein--Works of Art--_Chefs-d'oeuvre_ of the +Old Masters--Consolation for Men of Genius--Nicolas Poussin, 134. + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +Visit to the Hotel d'Orsay--Sad Change in it--Mr. Millingon, the +Antiquary--Liberality of Comte d'Orsay--A Fanciful Notion--General +Or-nano--Unhappy Marriages accounted for--_La Gazza Ladra_--Mallbran's +"Ninetta"--_The Calamities of Authors_--Mr. D'Israeli--The Princesse de +Talleyrand--Her Person described--Her Dress and Manners--Amusing Story +told by the Abbé Denon--Unexpected Arrival--_Yes and No_, by Lord +Normanby--Lady Dysart-Comte Valeski--Influence of Agreeable +Manners--Effects of opposite ones--Injudicious Friends--A Candid +Admission--Lord ---- --Love of Contradiction--Remarks on the Novel of +_Pelham_--Misery of receiving stupid Books--Malibran in _La +Cenerentola_--French Customs--Proofs d'_Amilié_--Wedding Dresses, 146. + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +Comte Charles de Mornay--His Wit and Good Nature--Mademoiselle Mars, in +_Henri III_--Some Account of the Play--Love and Ambition--Curious +Incident--Romantic Notions--Passion of Love--Wordsworth's +Poems--Admiration of his Writings--Religion displayed by the Upper +Classes--The Duc de Bordeaux--Piety of the Great--Popularity of the +Duchesse de Berri--Anecdote of her--Walter Savage Landor--His +_Imaginary Conversations_--Sir William Gell--The Duc d'Orléans--His +Enviable Situation--The Duc de Chartres--Genius of Shelley--Beauty of +his Writings--His Wild Theories--William Spencer the Poet--Melancholy +Change in Him--French Prejudices towards the English--Example of +it--Accomplishments of French Ladies--Talent for Conversation, 169. + + +CHAPTER XV. + +Consequences of the Revolution in France--Corruption of the +Regency--Sarcastic Verses of St.-Evremond--Reign of Louis the +Fifteenth--Lessons taught by Affliction--Dangers of Anarchy--The _Haute +Noblesse_ previously to the Revolution--Want of Affection between +Parents and Children--Superficial Judgments erroneous--Power of +Fashion--The Novel of _Devereux_--Infrequency of Elopements in +France--Les Dames de B---- --Their Attachment to each other--Old +Maids--Servitude in England and France contrasted--French Masters and +Mistresses--Treatment of Servants--Avoidance of Politics--French +Discontent--Charles the Tenth--National Prosperity--The Duchesse de +Guiche and her two Sons--Position of the Duc de Guiche, 171. + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +Approach of Spring--Fogs on the Seine--The Jardins des +Tuileries--Impurity of the London Atmosphere--Exhilaration of the +Spirits--Anecdote--The Catholic Question--Lord Rosslyn--The Duke of +Wellington--Merits of a Cook--_Amour-propre_ of a Parisian +Cook--English Sauce--A Gourmand and an Epicure--The Duc de +Talleyrand--A perfect Dinner--The Marquis de L---- --House-hunting +again--Letter from Lord B---- --The Hôtel Monaco--College of +St.-Barbe--The Duchesse de Guiche and her Sons--A Mother's +Triumph--Spirit of Emulation--The Quarter called the Pays Latin--An +Author's Dress--Aspect of the Women--A Life of Study--Amable Tastu's +Poems--Effect of Living much in Society--Mr. W. Spencer--His +Abstraction--Disadvantages of Civilization--Confession of Madame de +---- --A Hint to Comte ---- on visiting London--Suspicion of Poverty--A +_Diner Maigre_--Luxurious Bishops, 182. + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +Romantic Feelings of Lady C---- --True Love--Disagreeable +Neighbours--Credulity--Mademoiselle Delphine Gay--French Novels--French +Critics--Eligible Mansions--Comforts of Seclusion--Genius of +L.E.L.--The Comtesse d'O---- --A Brilliant Talker--Letter from +Mrs. Hare--Extreme Hospitality--Longchamps--Exhibition of +Spring Fashions--French Beauties--Animated Scene--Promenade at +Longchamps--Extravagance of Mademoiselle Duthé--Modern Morals--_Cinq +Mars_, by Comte Alfred de Vigny--His Style--Strictures on Mankind--The +best Philosophy--Speech of Lord Grey--The Caterpillar--A Voracious +Appetite--A Refined Lady--_La Chronique du temps de Charles +IX_, by Prosper Merimée--Estimation of Sir Walter Scott--Jules +Janin--Injudicious Praise--Renewal of Youth--Self-Deception--Grey +Hairs, 194. + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +Victor Hugo's _Dernier Jour d'un Condamné_--Value of Common +Sense--Conscience--Cunning--Curiosity Shops on the Quai +d'Orsay--Expensive and Tasteful Gifts--An Avaricious Vender--A +Moral--Anonymous Scribbler--Weakness of Mind--Poems of Mrs. Hemans--The +Minds of Genius--Poetesses of England--Arrival of Lord D---- --The +Catholic Question carried--Irish prejudices--Letters from Absent +Friends--Sir William Gell--The Archbishop of Tarentum--Discoveries at +Pompeii--Novel of _The Disowned_--Advantages to be derived from the +Perusal of Works of Fiction--Politics--Charles the Tenth +unpopular--Charles the First--The House of Bourbon--"Uneasy lies the +Head that wears a Crown"--The Duc de T---- --Mr. Hook's _Sayings and +Doings_--_Visit to the Hotel Monaco_, 207. + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +A new Resilience--Consolation in Sickness--House in the Rue de +Matignon--Its Interior described--The Library--Drive in the Bois de +Boulogne--Atmospheric Influence--The Rocher de Cancale--A _Diner de +Restaurant--_A Gay Sight--Good Taste in Dress innate in +Frenchwomen--Well-appointed Carriages--Soldier-like Air of the Male +Population--Observation of the Emperor Napoleon--Characteristics of the +British Soldier--National Anthem--Changes in the Journey of +Life--Captain Marryat's _Naval Officer_--Performance of _La Tour +d'Auvergne_--Letter of Carnot--Distinction awarded to Merit by +Napoleon--National Glory--Effect of Enthusiasm--Villa of the Duchesse +de Montmorency--Residences on the Banks of the Thames--Bagatelle, the +Seat of the Duc de Bordeaux--Earthly Happiness--Domestic +Alterations--High Rents at Paris--Terrace and Aviary--Unsettled Slate, +219. + + +CHAPTER XX. + +Unexpected Events--Mr. and Mrs. Mathews--Their son, Charles--Evening +Party--Recitations and Songs--Pleasant Recollections--Visit +to the _Jardin des Plantes_--Amusing Incident--Humorous +Imitations--Intellectual Powers--Recourse to Reading--The Comte +Montalembert--His Grief on the Death of his Daughter--Restraint +imposed by Society--Fate of the Unfortunate--The Prince and Princess +Soutzo--Particulars relative to them--Reverse of Fortune--Mr. Rogers +and Mr. Luttrell--Memory of Lord Byron--His Lampoon on Rogers--Love +of Sarcasm--Conversation of Mr. Luttrell--Lord John Russell--His +Qualifications--Monsieur Thiers--Monsieur Mignet--His Vigorous +Writings--Friendship between Thiers and Mignet--The Baron +Cailleux--Visit to the Louvre--Taste for the Fine Arts--The Marquis +and Marquise de B---- --Clever People--Lord Allen and Sir Andrew +Barnard--The Culinary Art, 230. + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +Mr. Rogers and Mr. Luttrell--Society of Refined Englishmen--Mercurial +Temperament of the French--Opposite Characters--M. Erard's Collection +of Pictures--Antique _Bijouterie_--Lord Pembroke--The Duke of +Hamilton--Dr. Parr--Reproof of the Duc de Blacas--Monsieur Mignet--His +great Knowledge--A Clever Man--Influence of Conscience--Abilities of +Lord Palmerston--Lord Castlereagh--His Uncle, the late Marquess of +Londonderry--Dangers of Fashion--Mr. Cutlar Fergusson--The Baron and +Baroness de Ruysch--A Mind at Ease--Dreary Weather--Sad State of the +Streets--Fogs--Fascination of Madame Grassini--Sledge Party--Sledge of +the Duc de Guiche--That of Comte d'Orsay--Picturesque Night +Scene--Revival of an Old Fashion--The Prince Polignac--His Amiable +Manners--His Difficult Position, 242. + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +Effects of Indisposition--Instability of Earthly Blessings--Captain +William Anson (Brother of Lord Anson)--His varied Acquirements--The +pretty Madame de la H---- --Prince Paul Lieven--Captain Cadogan (now +Earl Cadogan)--Life at Sea--Visit to the Duchesse de Guiche--Her +Warmth and Gentleness of Manner--Political Crisis--The Conquest of +Algiers--General Excelmans--Rash Measure--Charles the Tenth--His +Ministry unpopular--Prosperity of France--Extorted Concessions-- +Dissolution of the Chambers--The Public Press--Controversy--Commotion +before the Hôtel of the Ministre des Finances--The Ministers +insulted--Counsel of the Duc de Guiche--Serious Aspect of +Affairs--Crowds in the Streets--Household of Charles the +Tenth--Noblesse of his Court--Confusion and Alarm--Riotous +Conduct--Firing on the People--Formation of Barricades--Absence of the +Civil Authorities--Nocturnal Impressions--Comtes d'Orsay and +Valeski--Scene in the Place de la Bourse--The Corps-de-Garde set on +Fire--Darkness in the Rue Richelleu.--Further disturbances--Continued +Depredations--Breach between the People and the Sovereign--Anecdote of +Monsieur Salvandy, 225. + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +The Dead paraded through the Streets to inflame the Populace--The +Shops closed--The Duc de Raguse censured--His Supineness--Devotion +of the Duc de Guiche to his Sovereign--The Military Dispositions +defective--Flag of the Bourbons--Troops in Want of Refreshment-- +Destruction of the Royal Emblems--Disgusting Exhibition--Rumours +of Fresh Disasters--Opinion of Sir Roger de Coverley--Revolutions +the Carnivals of History--Observation of Voltaire--Doctors +Pasquier and de Guise--Report of Fire arms--Paucity of +Provisions--Female Courage--Domestic Entrenchment--Further +Hostilities--Conflicting Rumours--The Sublime and the +Ridiculous--Juvenal Intrepidity--Fatality--The Soldiers and +the populace--Visit to Madame Craufurd--Barricade in the Rue +Verte--Approaching Mob--Safe Arrival in the Rue d'Anjou--Terror of +Madame Craufurd--Her Anxiety for her Relatives--Composure of the +Marquis d'Aligre--Riotous Assembly in the Rue Verte--Their Conduct +towards the Author--Dangerous Symbol of Aristocracy--Arrival at +Home, 282. + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +Familiarity of French Servants--Power of the People--Misguided +Men--Further Rumours--Who are the People?--An Intruder--A Revolutionary +Hero--The Tuileries and the Louvre taken--Sir Thomas Lawrence's +Portrait of the Dauphin--The Terrible and the Comic--Trophies of +Victory--The Palace of the Archbishop of Paris sacked--Concessions of +Charles the Tenth--The Duchesse de Berri--Lord Stuart de +Rothesay--Noble Conduct--The Duchesse de Guiche--Her trying +Situation--The Provisional Government--The Tri-coloured Flag--Meeting +of the Deputies--Bitter Feeling towards the Royal Family Bravery of the +Populace--Lafayette and his followers--Scene in the Street--"The Good +Cause"--The wealthy M. Laffitte--Valuable Collections at +Paris--Courageous Conduct of the Duchesse de Guiche--Her +Champions--Attack on the Hôtel of the Duc de Guiche--Comte Alfred +d'Orsay--Painful Position, 272. + + +CHAPTER XXV. + +Sanctuary of Home--Madame C---- --Intoxicated Revolutionist--His +Good-Nature--the Proprietor of a Wine-Shop--Politeness of all Classes +in France--Barracks in the Rue Verte--Difficulty of obtaining +Admission--Agitation of Madame C---- --Comte Valeski--The Barracks +attacked and taken--Dangerous Route--Impassable Gulf between the +Sovereign and the People--The Royal Cause hopeless--A Fine Youth +killed--Reflections on his Death--Number of Persons killed during +the last Three Days--Details of a Battle--Rumour respecting +the Dauphin--Interment of the Page--Fatality attending the +Bourbons--Absence of the Dauphine--Revolt of the Troops--The Duchesse +de Guiche at St.-Germain--Her noble Bearing--The Duc de Gramont--The +Château du Val, the Residence of the Princesse de Poix--The Fugitive +Duchess--Popularity of Lafayette--The duc d'Orléans named +Lieut.-General of France--Order restored--Abdication of Charles the +Tenth--Renewed Excitement--Clamour against the King--A Fickle +People--Wicked Rumours--The King quits Rambouillet--School of +Adversity--Desertion by Friends--Route to Cherbourg, 294. + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + +Rumour relative to the Son of Napoleon--Unsettled State of +Affairs--Conflicting Rumours--The Duke of Orleans--Charms of a +Crown--Aspect of the Champs-Elysées--Unsought popularity--Comte +d'Orsay--Scene of Destruction--Shattered Trees--Pride of the +People--Re-action after Excitement--Anecdote--The Jeweller's +Wife--Passion of the French--Playing at Soldiers--Enthusiasm +of the _Garde Nationale_--Return to Paris of the Duchesse de +Guiche--Confidence of the Duc--Courage of the Duchesse--General +Gèrard--The Duke of Orleans accepts the Crown--Popularity, an +unstable Possession--Abilities of Louis-Philippe--Expectations +formed of him--Person of Lafayette--Appearance in Public of +the new Sovereign--The Queen--Her painful Position--The King +of the French in the Place Vendôme--Monsieur Mignet--His +varied Acquirements--The celebrated General Peppé--Strange +Infatuation--Charles the Tenth embarks at Cherbourg--Devotion +to the exiled Bourbons--The English Popular at Paris--Mr. +Hamilton, Secretary of the Embassy--Brilliant conversation of +M. Thiers--The Prince and Princesse Soutzo--Mr. Poulter--Lesson +of Resignation--Departure for England--Leave-taking--Adieu to +Paris, 294. + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13044 *** diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..438b8cb --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #13044 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13044) diff --git a/old/13044-8.txt b/old/13044-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f956504 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/13044-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10930 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Idler in France, by Marguerite Gardiner + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: The Idler in France + +Author: Marguerite Gardiner + +Release Date: July 28, 2004 [eBook #13044] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE IDLER IN FRANCE*** + + +E-text prepared by Robert Connal, Keith M. Eckrich, and the Project +Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + +THE IDLER IN FRANCE + +By MARGUERITE GARDINER, THE COUNTESS OF BLESSINGTON + +1841. + + + + + + +CHAPTER I. + + +NISMES. + +I have omitted to notice the route to this place, having formerly +described the greater portion of it. I remarked a considerable +improvement in the different towns we passed through: the people look +cleaner, and an air of business has replaced the stagnation that used +to prevail, except in Marseilles and Toulon, which were always busy +cities. + +Nismes surpasses my expectations, although they had been greatly +excited, and amply repays the long _dtour_ we have made to visit it. + +When I look round on the objects of antiquity that meet my eye on every +side, and above all on the Amphitheatre and _Maison Carre_, I am +forced to admit that Italy has nothing to equal the two last: for if +the Coliseum may be said to surpass the amphitheatre in dimensions, the +wonderful state of preservation of the latter renders it more +interesting; and the _Maison Carre_, it must be allowed, stands +without a competitor. Well might the Abb Barthlemy, in his _Voyage +d'Anacharsis_, call it the masterpiece of ancient architecture and the +despair of modern! + +The antiquities of Nismes have another advantage over those of Italy: +they are kept wholly free from the disgusting _entourage_ that impairs +the effect of the latter; and in examining them in the interior or +exterior, no risk is incurred of encountering aught offensive to the +olfactory nerves, or injurious to the _chaussure_. + +We devoted last evening to walking round the town, and so cloudless was +the sky, so genial the air, and so striking the monuments of Roman +splendour, that I could have fancied myself again transported to Italy. + +Our inn, the Htel du Midi, is an excellent one; the apartments good, +and the _cuisine soigne_. In this latter point the French htels are +far superior to the Italian; but in civility and attention, the hosts +of Italy have the advantage. + +We had no sooner dined than half-a-dozen persons, laden with silk +handkerchiefs and ribands, brocaded with gold and silver, and silk +stockings, and crapes, all the manufacture of Nismes, came to display +their merchandise. The specimens were good, and the prices moderate; so +we bought some of each, much to the satisfaction of the parties +selling, and also of the host, who seemed to take a more than common +interest in the sale, whether wholly from patriotic feelings or not, I +will not pretend to say. + +The _Maison Carre_, of all the buildings of antiquity I have yet seen, +is the one which has most successfully resisted the numerous assaults +of time, weather, Vandalism, and the not less barbarous attacks of +those into whose merciless hands it has afterwards fallen. In the early +part of the Christian ages it was converted into a church, and +dedicated to St.-tienne the Martyr; and in the eleventh century it was +used as the Htel-de-Ville. It was then given to a certain Pierre Boys, +in exchange for a piece of ground to erect a new htel-de-ville; and +he, after having degraded it by using a portion of it as a party-wall +to a mean dwelling he erected adjoining it, disposed of it to a *Sieur +Bruyes, who, still more barbarous than Pierre Boys, converted it into a +stable. In 1670, it was purchased by the Augustin monks from the +descendants of Bruyes, and once more used as a church; and, in 1789, it +was taken from the Augustin monks for the purposes of the +administration of the department. From that period, every thing has +been done for its preservation. Cleared from the mean houses which had +been built around it, and enclosed by an iron palisade, which protects +it from mischievous hands, it now stands isolated in the centre of a +square, or _place_, where it can be seen at every side. Poldo +d'Albenas, a quaint old writer, whose book I glanced over to-day, +attributes the preservation of the _Maison Carre_ to the fortunate +horoscope of the spot on which it stands. His lamentations for the +insults offered to this building are really passionate. + +The _Maison Carre_ is not square, though its denomination might lead +one to suppose it to be so, being nearly eighty feet long, and only +thirty-eight feet wide. Elevated on a base of cut stone, it is ascended +by a flight of steps, which extends the length of the base in front. +The walls of the building are of a fine white stone, and are admirably +constructed. + +The edifice has thirty fluted columns, with Corinthian capitals +beautifully sculptured, on which rests the architrave, with frieze and +cornice. This last is ornamented with sculpture; and the frieze, with +foliage finely executed. + +The entrance is by a portico, open on three sides, and supported by two +columns, included in the thirty already named, of which six form the +front, and extend to the fourth, when commences the wall of the +building, in which the other columns are half imbedded, being united in +the building with its architrave. The fronton, which is over the +portico, has no ornament in the centre; neither has the frieze nor +architrave: but some holes mark where the bronze letters of an +inscription were once inserted. + +This inscription has been conjectured, by the ingenious mode of placing +on paper the exact dimensions of the holes which formerly contained the +letters of it, and is now said to be as follows:-- + + C. CSARI AUGUSTI. F. COS. L. CSARI AUGUSTI F. COS. + DESIGNATO PRINCIPIBUS JUVENTUTES. + +But as more holes are found than would be filled by these letters, the +conclusion does not seem to me to be justified. + +At the far end of the portico is the door of entrance, the only opening +by which light is admitted to the building. It is very lofty, and on +each side is a pilaster; beneath the cornice are two long cut stones, +which advance like a kind of architrave, pierced by a square hole of +above twelve inches, supposed to have been intended to support a bronze +door. + +The original destination of this beautiful edifice still furnishes a +subject for discussion among the antiquaries; some asserting it to have +been erected by the Emperor Adrian in honour of Plotina, while others +maintain it to have been a forum. + +At present, it is used as a museum for the antiquities discovered at +Nismes, and contains some admirable specimens. Among these are a torso +in marble of a Roman knight, in a cuirass, and another colossal torso, +with a charming little draped statue seated in a curule chair, and +holding a cornucopia in the left hand; a cinerary monument, enriched +with bassi-relievi, representing a human sacrifice; a bronze head of +Apollo, much injured; and a Janus. + +A funereal monument found in the neighbourhood of Nismes in 1824, +offers a very interesting object, being in a good state of +preservation. It is richly decorated, and by the inscription is proved +to have been that of Marcus Attius, aged twenty-five years, erected to +him by his mother Coelia, daughter of Sextus Paternus. + +So fine is the proportion, so exquisite is the finish, and so wonderful +is the preservation of the _Maison Carre_, that I confess I had much +more pleasure in contemplating its exterior, than in examining all that +it contains, though many of these objects are well worth inspection. + +I should like to have a small model of it executed in silver, as an +ornament for the centre of a table; but it would require the hand of a +master to do justice to the olive leaves of the capitals of the +columns; that is, if they were faithfully copied from the original. + +It was, if I remember rightly, Cardinal Alberoni who observed that this +beautiful building ought to be preserved in a golden _tui_, and its +compactness and exquisite finish prove that the implied eulogium was +not unmerited. + +I have nowhere else noticed the introduction of olive leaves in +Corinthian capitals instead of those of the acanthus; the effect of +which is very good. A design was once formed of removing the _Maison +Carre_ to Versailles. Colbert was the originator of this barbarous +project, which, however, was fortunately abandoned from the fear of +impairing, if not destroying, the beauty of the building. The Emperor +Napoleon is said to have entertained a similar notion, and meant to +grace Paris with this model of architectural perfection; but it was +found to be too solidly built to admit of removal, and he who could +shake empires, could not stir the _Maison Carre_. + +The transportation of antiquities from their original site can never be +excused, except in cases where it was the only means of insuring their +preservation. All the power of association is lost when they are +transferred to other places; and the view of them ceases to afford that +satisfaction experienced when beheld where they were primarily destined +to stand. I can no more fancy the _Maison Carre_ appropriately placed +in the bustle and gaiety of Paris, than I could endure to see one of +the temples at Pstum stuck down at Charing Cross. + +One loves, when contemplating such precious memorials of antiquity, to +look around on the objects in nature, still wearing the same aspect as +when they were reared. The hills and mountains, unlike the productions +of man, change not; and nowhere can the fragments of a bygone age +appear to such advantage as on the spots selected for their erection, +where their vicinity to peculiar scenery had been taken into +consideration. + +We spent a considerable time in examining the Amphitheatre, and so well +is it preserved, that one can hardly bring one's self to believe that +so many centuries have elapsed since it was built; and that generation +after generation has passed away, who have looked on this edifice which +now meets my view, so little changed by the ravages of that ruthless +conqueror Time, or the still more ruthless Visigoths who converted it +into a citadel, flanking the eastern door with two towers. In 737 +Charles Martel besieged the Saracens, and set fire to it, and after +their expulsion it continued to be used as a citadel. + +The form of this fine building is elliptical, and some notion of its +vast extent may be formed, when it is stated to have been capable of +containing above 17,000 spectators. + +Its faade consists of two rows of porticoes, forming two galleries one +over the other, composing sixty arcades, divided by the same number of +Tuscan pilasters in the first range, and of Doric columns in the upper, +and an attic, which crowns all. Four principal doors, fronting the four +cardinal points, open into the amphitheatre, divided at nearly equal +distances one from the other. + +The attic has no arcades, pilasters, or columns; but a narrow ledge +runs along it, which was probably used for the purpose of approaching +the projecting consoles, 120 in number, placed in couples at equal +distances between two columns, and pierced with a large hole, which +corresponds with a similar one in the cornice, evidently meant for +securing the awnings used to prevent the spectators from being +inconvenienced by the rain or sun. + +These awnings did not extend to the arena, which was usually left open, +but were universally adopted in all the Roman amphitheatres, after +their introduction by Q. Catullus. The vast extent and extraordinary +commodiousness of the amphitheatres erected by the Romans, prove not +only the love of the sports exhibited in them entertained by that +people, but the attention paid to their health and comfort by the +architects who planned these buildings. The numerous vomitories were +not amongst the least important of these comforts, securing a safe +retreat from the theatre in all cases of emergency, and precluding +those fearful accidents that in our times have not infrequently +occurred, when an alarm of fire has been given. The mode of +arrangements, too, saved the spectators from all the deleterious +results of impure air, while the velarium preserved them from the sun. +But not only were the spectators screened from too fervid heat, but +they could retreat at pleasure, in case of rain or storm, into the +galleries, where they were sheltered from the rain. Our superior +civilization and refinement have not led to an equal attention to +safety and comfort in the mode of our ingress and egress from theatres, +or to their ventilation; but perhaps this omission may be accounted for +by the difference of our habits from those of the Romans. Public +amusements were deemed as essential to their comfort, as the enjoyment +of home is to ours; and, consequently, while we prefer home--and long +may we continue to do so--our theatres will not be either so vast or so +commodious as in those times and countries, where domestic happiness +was so much less understood or provided for. + +The erection of this magnificent edifice is attributed to Vespasian, +Titus, or Domitian, from a fragment of an inscription discovered here +some fourteen or fifteen years ago, of which the following is a +transcript:-- + + VII. TRI. PO..... + +And as only these three filled the consulate eight times since +Tiberius, in whose age no amphitheatre had been built in the Roman +provinces, to one of them is adjudged its elevation. + +Could I only remember one half the erudition poured forth on my addled +brain by the cicerone, I might fill several pages, and fatigue others +nearly as much as he fatigued me; but I will have pity on my readers, +and spare them the elaborate details, profound speculations, ingenious +hypotheses, and archaiological lore that assailed me, and wish them, +should they ever visit Nismes, that which was denied me--a tranquil and +uninterrupted contemplation of its interesting antiquities, free from +the verbiage of a conscientious cicerone, who thinks himself in duty +bound to relate all that he has ever heard or read relative to the +objects he points out. + +Even now my poor head rings with the names of Caius and Lucius Csar, +Tiberius, Trajan, Adrian, Diocletian, and Heaven only knows how many +other Roman worthies, to whom Nismes owes its attractions, not one of +whom did this learned Theban omit to enumerate. + +Many of the antiquities of Nismes, which we went over to-day, might +well command attention, were they not in the vicinity of two such +remarkable and well-preserved monuments as the Amphitheatre and _Maison +Carre_. + +The Gate of Augustus, which now serves as the entrance to the barracks +of the gendarmerie, is worthy of inspection. It consists of four +arches--two of equal size, for the admittance of chariots and horsemen, +and two less ones for pedestrians. The centres of the two larger arches +are decorated by the head of a bull, in alto-relievo; and above each of +the smaller arches is a niche, evidently meant for the reception of a +statue. + +A Corinthian pilaster divides the larger arches from the less, and a +similar one terminates the building on each side; while the two larger +arches are separated by a small Ionic column, which rests on a +projecting abutment whence the arches spring. The Gate of France has +but one arch, and is said to have been flanked by towers; of which, +however, it has little vestige. + +The inhabitants of Nismes seem very proud of its antiquities, and even +the humbler classes descant with much erudition on the subject. Most, +if not all of them, have studied the guide-books, and like to display +the extent of their _savoir_ on the subject. + +They evince not a little jealousy if any preference seems accorded to +the antiquities of Italy over those of their town; and ask, with an air +of triumph, whether any thing in Italy can be compared with their +_Maison Carre_, expressing their wonder that so few English come to +look at it. + +La Tour-Magne stands on the highest of the hills, at the base of which +is spread the town. It is precisely in the state most agreeable to +antiquaries, as its extreme dilapidation permits them to indulge those +various conjectures and hypotheses relative to its original +destination, in which they delight. They see in their "mind's eye" all +these interesting works of antiquity, _not_ as they _really_ are, but +as it pleases them to imagine they _once_ were; and, consequently, the +less that actually remains on which to base their suppositions, the +wider field have they for their favourite speculations. + +This tower is said by some to have been intended for a lighthouse; +others assert it to have been a treasury; a third party declares it to +be the remains of a palace; and, last of all, it is assumed to have +been a mausoleum. + +Its form, judging from what remains, must have been pyramidical, +composed of several stages, forming octagons, retreating one above the +other. It suffered much from Charles Martel in 737, who wished to +destroy it, owing to its offering a strong military position to the +Saracens; and still more from the ravages of a certain Francis Trancat, +to whom Henry IV granted permission to make excavations in the interior +of it, on condition that three parts of the product should be given up +to the royal coffer. + +The result did not repay the trouble or expense; and one cannot help +being rejoiced that it did not, as probably, had it been otherwise, the +success would have served as an incentive to destroy other buildings. + +In the vicinity of the Tour-Magne are the fountain, terrace, and +garden, the last of which is well planted, and forms a very agreeable +promenade for the inhabitants of Nismes. The fountain occupies the site +of the ancient baths--many vestiges of which having been discovered +have been employed for this useful, but not tasteful, work. + +It was not until the middle of the eighteenth century, that it was +suspected that the water which served to turn a mill in the immediate +vicinity had been obstructed by the ruins which impeded its course. +This obstruction led to excavations, the result of which was the +discovery of the remains of buildings, columns, statues, inscriptions, +and fragments of rare marbles. + +The obstructions being thus removed, and the town enriched by the +precious objects found, the persons to whom the direction of the +excavation was confided, instead of vigorously pursuing the task, were +content with what they had already discovered, and once more closed up +the grave in which so many treasures of antiquity were still +interred--using many of the materials disinterred for the formation of +the terraces which now cover it. + +The architect selected to execute this work was Philip Marchal, an +engineer, never previously employed, except in military architecture: a +fact to which may be attributed the peculiar style that he has +exhibited--bastions and trenches being adopted, instead of the usual +and more appropriate forms generally used for terraces and canals. + +To these are subjoined ornaments of the period in which the work was +completed--the fitness of which is not more to HBO commended than that +of the work itself: the whole offering a curious mixture of military +and _rococo_ taste. + +It was in the freshness of early morning that I, yesterday, again +visited the garden of the fountain and its fine chesnut trees and +laurel roses; the latter, growing in great luxuriance, looked +beautiful, the sun having not yet scorched them. The fountain, too, in +its natural bed, which is not less than seventy-two French feet in +diameter, and twenty feet in depth, was pellucid as crystal, and +through it the long leaves that nearly cover the gravel appeared green +as emerald. + +The hill above the fountain has been tastefully planted with evergreen +trees, which shade a delicious walk, formed to its summit. + +This improvement to the appearance, as well as to the _agrments_, of +Nismes, is due to Monsieur d'Haussey[1], prefect, whose popularity is +said to be deservedly acquired, by his unremitting attention to the +interests of the city, and his urbanity to its inhabitants. + +Nismes is a gay town, if I may judge by the groups of well-dressed +women and men we have observed at the promenade. + +It has a considerable garrison, and the officers are occasionally seen +passing and repassing; but not, as I have often remarked in England, +lazily lounging about as if anxious to kill time, but moving briskly as +if on business. + +The various accomplishments acquired by young men in France offer a +great resource in country quarters. Drawing, in which most of them have +attained a facility, if not excellence, enables them to fill albums +with clever sketches; and their love of the fine arts leads them to +devote some hours in most days to their cultivation. + +This is surely preferable to loitering in news-rooms, sauntering in the +shops of pretty milliners, breaking down the fences of farmers, or +riding over young wheat--innocent pastimes, sometimes undertaken by +young officers for mere want of some occupation. + +The Temple of Diana is in the vicinity of the fountain, which has given +rise to the conjecture that it originally constituted a portion of the +ancient baths. Its shape is rectangular, and a large opening in the +centre forms the entrance. + +Twelve niches, five of which open into the partition of the temple, and +two on the right and left of the entrance, are crowned by frontons +alternately circular and triangular, and are said to have contained +statues. This is one of the most picturesque ruins I ever saw. Silence +and solitude reign around it, and wild fig-trees enwreath with their +luxuriant foliage the opening made by Time, and half conceal the wounds +inflicted by barbarian hands. + +I could have spent hours in this desecrated temple, pondering on the +brevity of life, as compared with its age. There is something pure and +calm in such a spot, that influences the feelings of those who pause in +it; and by reminding them of the inevitable lot of all sublunary +things, renders the cares incidental to all who breathe, less acutely +felt for the time. + +Is not every ruin a history of the fate of generations, which century +after century has seen pass away?--generations of mortals like +ourselves, who have been moved by the same passions, and vexed by the +same griefs; like us, who were instinct with life and spirit, yet whose +very dust has disappeared. Nevertheless, we can yield to the futile +pleasures, or to the petty ills of life, as if their duration was to be +of long extent, unmindful that ages hence, others will visit the +objects we now behold, and find them little changed, while we shall +have in our turn passed away, leaving behind no trace of our existence. + +I never see a beautiful landscape, a noble ruin, or a glorious fane, +without wishing that I could bequeath to those who will come to visit +them when I shall be no more, the tender thoughts that filled my soul +when contemplating them; and thus, even in death, create a sympathy. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + +ARLES. + +We stopped but a short time at Beaucaire, where we saw the largo plain +on the banks of the Rhone, on which are erected the wooden houses for +the annual fair which takes place in July, when the scene is said to +present a very striking effect. + +These wooden houses are filled with articles of every description, and +are inhabited by the venders who bring their goods to be disposed of to +the crowds of buyers who flock here from all parts, offering, in the +variety of their costumes and habits, a very animated and showy +picture. + +The public walk, which edges the grassy plain allotted to the fair, is +bordered by large elm-trees, and the vicinity to the river insures that +freshness always so desirable in summer, and more especially in a +climate so warm as this. + +The town of Beaucaire has little worthy of notice, except its +Htel-de-Ville and church, both of which are handsome buildings. We +crossed the Rhone over the bridge of boats, from which we had a good +view, and arrived at Tarascon. + +The chteau called the Castle of King Ren, but which was erected by +Louis II, count of Provence, is an object of interest to all who love +to ponder on the olden time, when gallant knights and lovely dames +assembled here for those tournaments in which the good Ren delighted. + +Alas for the change! In those apartments in which the generous monarch +loved to indulge the effusions of his gentle muse, and where fair +ladies smiled, and belted knights quaffed ruby wine to their healths, +now dwell reckless felons and hopeless debtors; for the chteau is +converted into a prison. + +In the Church of St. Martha we saw a relic of the barbarism of the dark +ages, in the shape of a grotesque representation of a dragon, called +the Tarasque. This image is formed of wood, rudely painted in gandy +colours. + +Twice a-year it is borne through the streets of Tarascon, in +commemoration of the destruction of a fabulous monster that long +frequented the Rhone, and devoured many of the inhabitants of the +surrounding country, but was at length vanquished by St. Martha; who, +having secured it round the neck by her veil, delivered it to the just +vengeance of the Tarascons. This legend is received as truth by common +people, and our guide informed us that they warmly resent any _doubt_ +of its authenticity. + +The monument of St. Martha is shown in the church dedicated to her, and +her memory is held in great reverence at Tarascon. + +The country between this place and Tarascon is fertile and well +cultivated, and the cheerfulness of its aspect presents a striking +contrast to the silence and solitude of the town. The streets, however, +are as clean as those of Holland, and the inhabitants are neat and tidy +in their attire. + +The houses are for the most part old and dilapidated, looking in nearly +as ruined a condition as the fragments of antiquity which date so many +centuries before them. Nevertheless, some of the streets and dwellings +seem to indicate that a spirit of improvement is abroad. + +Our htel is a large, crazy, old mansion, reminding me of some of those +at Shrewsbury; and its furniture appears to be coeval with it, as +nothing can be more homely or misshapen. Oak and walnut-tree chairs, +beds, and tables form the chief part, and these are in a very rickety +condition; nevertheless, an air of cleanliness and comfort pervades the +rooms, and with the extreme rusticity of the _ameublement_, give one +the notion of being in some huge old farm-house. + +Nor is the manner of the good hostess calculated to dispel this +illusion. When our three carriages drove to her door, though prepared +for our arrival by the courier, she repeatedly said that her poor house +had no accommodation for such guests, and we had some difficulty in +persuading her that we were easily satisfied. + +She had donned her fte dress for our reception, and presented a very +picturesque appearance, as she stood smiling and bustling about at the +door. She wore a high cap reminding me of those of the women in +Normandy: brown stays; linsey-woolsey, voluminous petticoats; +handkerchief and apron trimmed with rich old-fashioned lace; and long +gold ear-rings, and chain of the same material, twisted at least ten +times round her neck. + +She explained to us, in a _patois_ not easily understood, that her +house was only frequented by the farmers, and their wives and +daughters, who attended the fetes, or occasionally by a stray traveller +who came to explore the antiquities. + +Before I had travelled much on the Continent, I confess that the +appearance of this dwelling would have rather startled me as a _sjour_ +for two days, but now I can relish its rusticity; for cleanliness, that +most indispensable of all requisites to comfort, is not wanting. + +The furniture is scrubbed into brightness, the small diamond-shaped +panes of the old-fashioned casements are clean as hands can make them; +the large antique fireplace is filled with fresh flowers; and the +walnut-tree tables are covered with white napkins. + +No sooner had we performed our ablutions, and changed our travelling +dresses for others, than our good hostess, aided by three active young +country maidens, served up a plentiful dinner, consisting of an +excellent _pot-au-feu_, followed by fish, fowl, and flesh, sufficient +to satisfy the hunger of at least four times the number of our party. + +Having covered the table until it literally "groaned with the weight of +the feast," she seated herself at a little distance from it, and issued +her commands to her hand-maidens what to serve, and when to change a +plate, what wine to offer, and which dish she most recommended, with a +good-humoured attention to our wants, that really anticipated them. + +There was something as novel as patriarchal in her mode of doing the +honours, and it pleased us so much that we invited her to partake of +our repast; but she could not be prevailed on, though she consented to +drink our healths in a glass of her best wine. + +She repeatedly expressed her fears that our dinner was not sufficiently +_recherch_, and hoped we would allow her to prepare a good supper. + +When we were descending the stairs, she met us with several of her +female neighbours _en grande toilette_, whom she had invited to see the +strangers, and who gazed at us with as much surprise as if we were +natives of Otaheite, beheld for the first time. Cordial greetings, +however, atoned for the somewhat too earnest examination to which we +had been subjected; and many civil speeches from our good hostess, who +seemed not a little proud of displaying her foreign guests, rewarded +the patience with which we submitted to the inspection. + +One old lady felt the quality of our robes, another admired our +trinkets, and a third was in raptures with our veils. In short, as a +Frenchwoman would say, we had _un grand succs_; and so, our hostess +assured us. + +We went over the Amphitheatre, the dimensions of which exceed those of +the Amphitheatre at Nismes. Three orders of architecture are also +introduced in it, and it has no less than sixty arcades, with four +large doors; that on the north side has a very imposing effect. The +corridor leading to the arena exhibits all the grandeur peculiar to the +public buildings of the Romans, and is well worthy of attention; but +the portion of the edifice that most interested me was the +subterranean, which a number of workmen were busily employed in +excavating, under the superintendence of the Prefect of Arles, a +gentleman with whose knowledge of the antiquities of his native town, +and urbanity towards the strangers who visit them, we have every reason +to be satisfied. + +Under his guidance, we explored a considerable extent of the recently +excavated subterranean, a task which requires no slight devotion to +antiquities to induce the visitor to persevere, the inequalities of the +ground exposing one continually to the danger of a fall, or to the +still more perilous chance--as occurred to one of our party--of the +head coming in contact with the roof. + +We saw also fragments of a theatre in the garden of the convent of La +Misricorde, consisting of two large marble columns and two arches. + +In the ancient church of St. Anne, now converted into a museum, are +collected all the fragments of antiquity discovered at Arles, and in +its vicinity; some of them highly interesting, and bearing evidences of +the former splendour of the place. + +An altar dedicated to the Goddess of Good; the celebrated Mithras with +a serpent coiled round him, between the folds of which are sculptured +the signs of the zodiac; Medea and her children; a mile-stone, bearing +the names of the Emperors Theodosius and Valentinian; a basso-relievo +of the Muses; several sarcophagi, votive altars, cornices, pillars, +mutilated statues, and inscriptions, are here carefully preserved: but +nothing in the collection equals the statue known by the title of the +Venus of Arles, found here, and which is so deservedly admired at the +Louvre. + +An obelisk of granite, about sixty feet high, said to be the only +antique one in France, stands on the place of the Htel-de-Ville. +Discovered in 1389, it was not disinterred from the earth in which it +was embedded until the reign of Charles IX, and was erected on its +present site in 1676, with a dedication to the then reigning sovereign, +Louis XIV; A globe, ornamented with _fleurs de lis_ placed on its +point, deteriorates, in my opinion, from the beauty of its effect. It +was originally in one block, but it was broken in two by its overturn. + +Many houses in the streets have portions of columns, friezes, and +cornices embedded in their walls; and one of them, occupied by a +barber, had a column in front, to which the insignia of his profession +were attached. Ruins, said to be those of the palace of Constantine, +were pointed out to us, as well as fragments of a forum and baths. + +Arles is certainly one of the most interesting towns I have ever seen, +whether viewed as a place remarkable for the objects of antiquity it +contains, or for the primitive manners of its inhabitants and its +picturesque appearance. + +The quays are spacious and well built, presenting a very different +aspect to the streets; for the former are very populous, being +frequented by the boatmen who ply their busy commerce between Lyons and +Marseilles--dpts for the merchandise being erected along them, while +the latter are comparatively deserted. + +With this facility of communication with two such flourishing towns, it +is extraordinary that Arles should have so long retained the primitive +simplicity that seems to pervade it, and that a good hotel has not yet +been established here. + +Our good hostess provided nearly as substantial a supper for us last +night as the early dinner served up on our arrival, and again presided +at the repast, pressing us to eat, and recommending, with genuine +kindness, the various specimens of dainties set before us. Our beds, +though homely, were clean; and I have seldom, in the most luxurious +ones, reposed equally soundly. + +When our courier asked for the bill this morning, the landlady declared +she "knew not what to charge, that she never was in the habit of making +out bills, and that we must give her what we thought right." + +The courier urged the necessity of having a regular bill, explaining to +her that he was obliged to file all bills, and produce them every week +for the arrangement of his accounts,--but in vain: she could not, she +declared, make one out; and no one in her house was more expert than +herself. + +She came to us, laughing and protesting, and ended by saying, "Pay what +you like; things are very cheap at Arles. You have eaten very little; +really, it is not worth charging for." But, when we persisted on having +her at least name a sum, to our infinite surprise she asked, if a +couple of louis would be too much?--And this for a party of six, and +six servants, for two days! + +We had some difficulty in inducing her to accept a suitable +indemnification, and parted, leaving her proclaiming what she was +pleased to consider our excessive generosity, and reiterating her good +wishes. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + +ST.-RMY. + +The town of St.-Rmy is delightfully situated in a hollow that +resembles the crater of an extinct volcano, and is surrounded by +luxuriant groves of olive. The streets, though generally narrow, are +rendered picturesque by several old houses, the architecture of which +is striking; and the _place_--for even St.-Rmy has its Place Publique +and Htel-de-Ville--is not without pretensions to ornament. In the +centre of this _place_ is a pretty fountain, of a pyramidal form. + +The antiquities which attracted us to St.-Rmy are at a short distance +from the town, on an eminence to the south of it, and are approached by +a road worthy the objects to which it conducts. They consist of a +triumphal arch, and a mausoleum, about forty-five feet asunder. + +Of the triumphal arch, all above the archivault has disappeared, +leaving but the portico, the proportions of which are neither lofty nor +wide. On each side of it are two fluted columns, said to have been of +the Corinthian order, but without capitals, and the intercolumniations, +in each of which are figures of male and female captives. + +A tree divides the male from the female; their hands are tied, and +chained to the tree; and a graceful drapery falls from above the heads +down to the consoles on which the figures stand. + +On the eastern side of the arch are also figures, representing two +women, by the side of two men. One of the women has her hand on the arm +of a chained warrior, and the other has at her feet military trophies; +among which bucklers, arms, and trumpets, may be seen. The pilasters +that bound the intercolumniations are of the Doric order, and their +capitals support the arch. + +The cornice and astragals form a frieze, in which military emblems and +symbols of sacrifice are intermingled. The archivault is ornamented on +each side with sculptured wreaths of ivy, pine cones, branches of +grapes and olives, interlaced with ribands. The ceiling of the portico +is divided into hexagons and squares, enriched by various designs in +the shape of eggs and roses, finely executed. + +This interesting monument appears to have been ornamented with equal +care and richness on every side, but its decorations have not enabled +any of the numerous antiquaries who have hitherto examined it to throw +any light on its origin; and the destruction of its architecture must +have caused that of its inscription, if, indeed, it ever bore one. + +The mausoleum is even more curious than the arch, as being the only +building of a similar character of architecture to be seen. + +Placed on a large square pediment, approached by two steps, the edifice +rises with unequalled lightness and beauty against the blue sky, +forming two stages supported by columns and pilasters, united by a +finely sculptured frieze. The first stage retreats from the pediment; +and the second, which is of a round form, and terminated by a +conical-shaped top, is less in advance than the first, giving a +pyramidal effect. + +The four fronts of the pediment are nearly covered by bassi-relievi, +representing battles of infantry; the figures of which are nearly as +large as life, and admirably designed. + +On the north front is a combat of cavalry; on the west, an engagement, +in the midst of which the body of a man is lying on the ground, one +party of soldiers endeavouring to take possession of it, while another +band of soldiers are trying to prevent them. + +The basso-relievo of the south front represents a field of battle, +strewed with the dead and wounded, and mingled with warriors on +horseback and on foot. On one side is seen a wild boar between the legs +of the soldiers; and on the other, a female figure, quite nude, +prostrate on the earth before a rearing horse, which some soldiers are +endeavouring to restrain. + +In the centre of the basso-relievo is an old man expiring, surrounded +by several persons; and at one end a soldier, bearing arms on his +shoulder, has been left unfinished by the sculptor; there not being +sufficient space for the figure, which is partly designed on the +adjoining pilaster. + +On the east front is a winged female bearing the attributes of Victory, +with several women and warriors, and an allegorical personage said to +represent a river, because it holds in one hand a symbol of water. This +last figure, also, is partly sculptured on the contiguous pilaster, as +is the one previously noted, which proves that these ornaments were not +executed at the time of the erection of the edifice. + +The pediment has a simple cornice around it, and the angles are +finished by voluted pilasters without a base, but with Ionic capitals, +which have an extraordinary effect. Above the basso-relievo is a +massive garland, supported by three boys, at equal distances; and +between them are four heads of old men, as hideously grotesque as the +imaginations of the sculptors could render them. + +The first stage of the mausoleum which rises from this pedestal is +pierced by an arch on each side, in the form of a portico, and their +archivaults are ornamented by foliage and scrolls. + +The arches rest on plain pilasters, with capitals more resembling the +Doric than any other order of architecture. On the keystone of each +arch is the mark of a youthful male head, surmounted by two wings. The +four angles of the first stage are finished by a fluted column, with a +capital charmingly executed, like, but not quite, the Corinthian. These +columns sustain an entablature or two, which terminate this stage, and +its frieze is enriched with sculpture representing winged sea-monsters +and sirens with sacrificial instruments. + +Above the first stage rises the second, which is of a round form, with +ten fluted columns, which support its circular entablature; the +capitals of these columns are similar to those of the first stage, and +the frieze is ornamented with foliage delicately sculptured. + +A round cupola terminates this building, through which the light shines +in on every side, although two male statues in togas occupy the centre +of it. + +To view the height at which these figures are placed, one would suppose +they were safe from the attacks of the mischievous or the curious; +nevertheless, they did not escape, for, many years ago, during the +night, their heads were taken off, and those that replaced them reflect +little credit on the taste or skill of the modern sculptor who executed +the task. + +On the architrave of the entablature of the first stage, and on the +north front, is the following inscription:-- + + SEX. L. M. JVLIEI. C.F. PARENTIBUS. SVEIS. + +Various are the opinions given by the writers who have noticed this +monument as to the cause for which, and person, or persons for whom, it +was erected. Some maintain that the triumphal arch from its vicinity +has a relation to the mausoleum, while others assert them to have been +built at different epochs. + +The inscription has only served to base the different hypotheses of +antiquaries, among which that of the Abb Barthlemy is considered the +most probable; namely, that in the three first words are found two +initials, which he considers may be rendered as follows:-- + + SEXTUS LUCIVS MARCVS; + +and the two other initials, C.F., which follow the word JVLIEI, may be +explained in the same manner to signify Caii Filii, and, being joined +to Juliei, which precedes, may be received to mean Julii Caii Filii. + +Mantour's reading of the inscription is, Caius Sextius Lucius, Maritus +JULI Incomparabilis, Curavit Fieri PARENTIBUS SUIS; which he +translates into Caius Sextius Lucius, Husband of Julia, caused this +Monument to be erected to the Memory of his Ancestors, and the +victories achieved by them in Provence, which on different occasions +had been the theatre of war of the Romans. + +Bouche's version of it is,-- + + + {Lucius, } + Sextus {Llius, } Maritus Juli. + {Liberius,} + + Istud Cenotaphium,} + or, } Fecit Parentibus Suis; + Intra Circulum, } + +which he asserts to mean,--Sextus, in honour of his Father and Mother, +buried in this place, and represented by the two statues surrounded by +columns in the upper part of the mausoleum. + +Monsieur P. Malosse, to whose work on the antiquities of St.-Rmy I am +indebted for the superficial knowledge I have attained of these +interesting objects, explains the inscription to mean,-- + + + SEXTVS LVCIVS MARCVS JVLIEI CVRAV + ERUNT FIERE SUEIS; + +which he translates into Sextus, Lucius, Marcus (all three), of the +race of Julius, elevated this monument to the glory of their relations. + +M. Malosse believes that the mausoleum was erected to Julius, and the +arch to Augustus Csar--the first being dead, and the second then +living; and that the statues in the former, in the Roman togas, were +intended to represent the two. + +He imagines that the subjects of the bassi-relievi on the four fronts +of the mausoleum bear out this hypothesis. That of the east, he says, +represents the combat of the Romans with the Germans on the bank of the +Rhine (of which river the one on the basso-relievo is the emblem), and +the triumph of Csar over Ariovistus, whoso women were taken prisoners. + +The basso-relievo on the south front represents Csar's conquest of the +Allobroges, and the capture of the daughter of Orgetorix, one of the +most powerful men of the country, and instigator of the war. The +basso-relievo on the north front, representing a combat of cavalry, +refers to the victory over the Britons; and that of the west front, to +the battle gained by the Romans over the Gauls, in which the general of +the latter was killed in the midst of his soldiers, who endeavoured to +prevent his being seized by the enemy. + +Passages from the _Commentaries of Csar_, favour this ingenious +interpretation of M.P. Malosse; but the abbreviations adopted in the +inscription, while well calculated to give rise to innumerable +hypotheses, will for ever leave in doubt, by whom, and in honour of +whom, these edifices were erected, as well as the epoch at which they +were built. + +Who could look on these monuments without reflecting on the vanity of +mortals in thus offering up testimonials of their respect for persons +of whose very names posterity is ignorant? For the identity of those in +whose honour the Arch of Triumph and Mausoleum of St.-Rmy were raised +puzzles antiquaries as much as does that of the individual for whom the +pyramid of Egypt was built. Vain effort, originating in the weakness of +our nature, to preserve the memory of that which was dear to us, and +which we would fain believe will insure the reverence of ages unborn +for that which we venerated! + + ON THE TRIUMPHAL ARCH AND MAUSOLEUM AT ST.-RMY. + +1. + +Yon stately tomb that seeks the sky, + Erected to the glorious dead, +Through whose high arches sweeps, the sigh + The night winds heave when day has fled; + +2. + +How fair its pillared stories rise + 'Gainst yon blue firmament so pure; +Fair as they met admiring eyes, + Long ages past, they still endure. + +3. + +Yes, many a race hath left the earth + Since first this Mausoleum rose; +So many, that the name, or birth, + Of dead, or founder, no one knows. + +4. + +The sculptured pictures, all may see, + Were by a skilful artist wrought; +But, Time! the secret rests with thee, + Which to unravel men have sought. + +5. + +Of whom were they, the honoured dead, + Whose mem'ry Love would here record? +Lift up the veil, so long o'erspread, + And tell whose dust yon fane doth guard. + +6. + +Name those whose love outlived the grave + And sought to give for aye to fame +Mementos of the good and brave, + Of whom thou hast effaced the name. + +7. + +We know but that they lived and died,-- + No more this stately tomb can tell: +Here come and read a lesson, Pride, + This monument can give so well. + +8. + +They lived--they hoped--they suffered--loved-- + As all of Earth have ever done; +Were oft by wild Ambition moved, + And basked, perchance, 'neath glory's Sun. + +9. + +They deemed that they should leave behind + Undying names. Yet, mark this fane, +For whom it rose, by whom designed, + Learned antiquaries search in vain. + +10. + +Still doth it wear the form it wore, + Through the dim lapse of by-gone age; +Triumph of Art in days of yore, + Whose Hist'ry fills the classic page. + +11. + +To honour Victors it is said + 'Twas raised, though none their names can trace; +It stands as monument instead, + Unto each long-forgotten race, + +12. + +Who came, like me, to gaze and brood + Upon it in this lonely spot-- +Their minds with pensive thoughts imbued, + That Heroes could be thus forgot. + +13. + +Yet still the wind a requiem sighs, + And the blue sky above it weeps; +Thu Sun pours down its radiant dyes, + Though none can tell who 'neath it sleeps. + +14. + +And seasons roll, and centuries pass, + And still unchanged thou keep'st thy place; +While we, like shadows in a glass, + Soon glide away, and leave no trace. + +15. + +And yon proud Arch, the Victor's meed, + Is nameless as the neighbouring Tomb: +Victor, and Dead, the Fates decreed + Your memory to oblivion's gloom. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + +LYONS. + +I see little alteration at Lyons since I formerly passed through it. +Its manufactories are, nevertheless, flourishing, though less +improvement than could be expected is visible in the external aspect of +the place. + +This being Sunday, and the _Fte-Dieu_, the garrison, with flags +flying, drums beating, trumpets sounding, and all in gala dress, +marched through the streets to attend Divine worship. The train was +headed by our old acquaintance General Le Paultre de la Motte, (whom we +left at Lyons on our route to Italy), and his staff; wearing all their +military decorations, attended by a vast procession, including the +whole of the clergy in their rich attires and all the different +religious communities in the town. + +The officers were bare-headed--their spurred heels and warlike +demeanour rendering this homage to a sacred ceremony more picturesque. +The gold and silver brocaded vestments and snowy robes of the priests +glittering in the sun, as they marched along to the sound of martial +music, looked very gorgeous; and this mixture of ecclesiastical and +military pomp had an imposing effect. + +The streets through which the procession passed were ornamented with +rich draperies and flowers, reminding me of Italy on similar occasions; +and the intense heat of a sun glowing like a fiery furnace, aided the +recollection. + +Since I have been on the continent, it has often struck me with +surprise, that on solemn occasions like the present, sacred music has +not been performed instead of military. Nay, I have heard quadrilles +and waltzes played, fruitful in festive associations little suited to +the feelings which ought to have been excited by solemn ceremonials. + +Knowing, by experience, the effect produced on the mind by sacred +music, it is much to be wished that so potent an aid to devotional +sentiment should not be omitted, _malgr_ whatever may be said against +any extraneous assistance in offering up those devotions which the +heart should be ever prompt to fulfil without them. + +I leave to casuists to argue whether, or how far, music, sculpture, or +painting, may be employed as excitements to religious fervour: but I +confess, although the acknowledgment may expose me to the censure of +those who differ with me in opinion, that I consider them powerful +adjuncts, and, consequently, not to be resigned because _some_--and +happy, indeed, may they be deemed--stand in no need of such incitements +to devotion. + +Who that has heard the "_Miserere_" in the Sistine chapel at Rome, and +seen, while listening to it, "The Last Judgment," by Michael Angelo, on +its walls, without feeling the powerful influence they exercised on the +feelings? + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + +PARIS. + +_June_, 1828.--A fatiguing journey, over dusty roads, and in intensely +hot weather, has brought us to Paris, with no accident save the failure +of one of the wheels of our large landau--a circumstance that caused +the last day's travelling to be any thing but agreeable; for though our +courier declared the temporary repair it received rendered it perfectly +safe, I was by no means satisfied on the point. + +We have taken up our abode in the Htel de la Terrasse, Rue de Rivoli, +are well-lodged, but somewhat incommoded by the loud reverberation of +the pavement, as the various vehicles roll rapidly over it. We were +told that "it would be nothing when we got used to it"--an assertion, +the truth of which, I trust, we shall not remain sufficiently long to +test; for I have a peculiar objection to noise of every kind, and a +long residence in Italy has not conquered it. + +So here we are, once more, at Paris, after six years' absence from it; +and I find all that has hitherto met my eyes in it _in statu quo_. How +many places have I seen during that period; how many associations +formed; how many and what various impressions received; and here is +every thing around looking so precisely as I left them, that I can +hardly bring myself to believe that I have indeed been so many years +absent! + +When we bring back with us the objects most dear, and find those we +left unchanged, we are tempted to doubt the lapse of time; but one link +in the chain of affection broken, and every thing seems altered. + +On entering Paris, I felt my impatience to see our dear friends there +redouble; and, before we had despatched the dinner awaiting our +arrival, the Duc and Duchesse de Guiche, came to us. How warm was our +greeting; how many questions to be asked and answered; how many +congratulations and pleasant plans for the future to be formed; how +many reminiscences of our mutual _sjour_ in dear Italy to be talked +over! + +The Duchesse was radiant in health and beauty, and the Duc looking, as +he always does, more _distingu_, than any one else--the perfect _beau +idal_ of a nobleman. + +We soon quitted the _salle manger_; for who could eat during the joy +of a first meeting with those so valued?--Not I, certainly; and all the +rest of our party were as little disposed to do honour to the repast +commanded for us. + +It was a happy evening. Seated in the _salon_, and looking out on the +pleasant gardens of the Tuileries, the perfume of whose orange-trees +was wafted to us by the air as we talked over old times, and indulged +in cheerful anticipations of new ones, and the tones of voices familiar +to the ears thus again restored, were heard with emotion. + +Yes, the meeting of dear friends atones for the regret of separation; +and like it so much enhances affection, that after absence one wonders +how one has been able to stay away from them so long. + +Too excited to sleep, although fatigued, I am writing down my +impressions; yet how tame and colourless they seem on paper when +compared with the emotions that dictate them! How often have I +experienced the impossibility of painting strong feelings during their +reign! + +[_Mem_.--We should be cautious in giving implicit credit to +descriptions written with great power, as I am persuaded they indicate +a too perfect command of the faculties of the head to admit the +possibility of those of the heart having been much excited when they +were written. + +This belief of mine controverts the assertion of the poet-- + + "He best can paint them who has felt them most." + +Except that the poet says who _has_ felt; yes, it is after, and not +when most felt that sentiments can be most powerfully expressed. But to +bed! to bed!] + +I have had a busy day; engaged during the greater portion of it in the +momentous occupation of shopping. Every thing belonging to my toilette +is to be changed, for I have discovered--"tell it not in Gath"--that my +hats, bonnets, robes, mantles, and pelisses, are totally _passe de +mode_, and what the _modistes_ of Italy declared to be _la dernire +mode de Paris_ is so old as to be forgotten here. + +The woman who wishes to be a philosopher must avoid Paris! Yesterday I +entered it, caring or thinking as little of _la mode_ as if there were +no such tyrant; and lo! to-day, I found myself ashamed, as I looked +from the Duchess de Guiche, attired in her becoming and pretty +_peignoir la neige_ and _chapeau du dernier got_, to my own dress +and bonnet, which previously I had considered very wearable, if not +very tasteful. + +Our first visit was to Herbault's, the high-priest of the Temple of +Fashion at Paris; and I confess, the look of astonishment which he +bestowed on my bonnet did not help to reassure my confidence as to my +appearance. + +The Duchesse, too quick-sighted not to observe his surprise, explained +that I had been six years absent from Paris, and only arrived the night +before from Italy. I saw the words _ la bonne heure_ hovering on the +lips of Herbault, he was too well-bred to give utterance to them, and +immediately ordered to be brought forth the choicest of his hats, caps, +and turbans. + +Oh, the misery of trying on a new _mode_ for the first time, and before +a stranger! The eye accustomed to see the face to which it appertains +enveloped in a _chapeau_ more or less large or small, is shocked at the +first attempt to wear one of a different size; and turns from the +contemplation of the image presented in the glass with any thing but +self-complacency, listening incredulously to the flattering encomiums +of the not disinterested _marchand de modes_, who avers that "_Ce +chapeau sied parfaitement Madame la Comtesse, et ce bonnet lui va +ravir_." + +I must, however, render M. Herbault the justice to say, that he evinced +no ordinary tact in suggesting certain alterations in his _chapeaux_ +and caps, in order to suit my face; and, aided by the inimitable good +taste of the Duchesse, who passes for an oracle in _affaires de modes +Paris_, a selection was made that enabled me to leave M. Herbault's, +looking a little more like other people. + +From his Temple of Fashion we proceeded to the _lingre la mode_, +Mdlle. La Touche, where _canezous_ and _robes de matin_ were to be +chosen and ordered; and we returned to the Htel de la Terrasse, my +head filled with notions of the importance of dressing _ la mode_, to +which yesterday it was a stranger, and my purse considerably lightened +by the two visits I had paid. + +Englishwomen who have not made their purchases at the houses of the +_marchandes de modes_ considered the most _recherch_ at Paris, have no +idea of the extravagance of the charges. Prices are demanded that +really make a prudent person start; nevertheless, she who wishes to +attain the distinction so generally sought, of being perfectly well +dressed, which means being in the newest fashion, must submit to pay +largely for it. + +Three hundred and twenty francs for a crape hat and feathers, two +hundred for a _chapeau fleurs_, one hundred for a _chapeau nglig de +matin_, and eighty-five francs for an evening-cap composed of tulle +trimmed with blonde and flowers, are among the prices asked, and, to my +shame be it said, given. + +It is true, hats, caps, and bonnets may be had for very reasonable +prices in the shops in the Rue Vivienne and elsewhere at Paris, as I +and many of my female compatriots found out when I was formerly in this +gay capital; but the bare notion of wearing such would positively shock +a lady of fashion at Paris, as much as it would an English one, to +appear in a hat manufactured in Cranbourn Alley. + +Here Fashion is a despot, and no one dreams of evading its dictates. + +Having noticed the extravagance of the prices, it is but fair to remark +the elegance and good taste of the millinery to be found at Monsieur +Herbault's. His _chapeaux_ look as if made by fairy fingers, so fresh, +so light, do they appear; and his caps seem as if the gentlest sigh of +a summer's zephyr would bear them from sight, so aerial is their +texture, and so delicate are the flowers that adorn them, fresh from +the _ateliers_ of Natier, or Baton. + +Beware, O ye uxorious husbands! how ye bring your youthful brides to +the dangerous atmosphere of Paris, while yet in that paradise of fools +ycleped the honey-moon, ere you have learned to curve your brows into a +frown, or to lengthen your visages at the sight of a long bill. + +In that joyful season, when having pleased your eyes and secured your +hearts, your fair brides, with that amiability which is one of the +peculiar characteristics of their sex, are anxious to please all the +world, and from no other motive than that _your_ choice should be +admired, beware of entering Paris, except _en passant_. Wait until you +have recovered that firmness of character which generally comes back to +a Benedict after the first year of his nuptials, before you let your +wives wander through the tempting mazes of the _magasins de modes_ of +this intoxicating city. + +And you, fair dames, "with stinted sums assigned," in the shape of +pin-money, beware how you indulge that taste for pretty bonnets, hats, +caps, and turbans, with which all bountiful Nature has so liberally +gifted you; for, alas! "beneath the roses fierce Repentance rears her +snaky crest" in form of a bill, the payment of which will "leave you +poor indeed" for many a long day after, unless your liege lord, melted +by the long-drawn sighs heaved when you remark on the wonderfully high +prices of things at Paris, opens his purse-strings, and, with something +between a pshaw and a grunt, makes you an advance of your next +quarter's pin-money; or, better still, a present of one of the hundred +pounds with which he had intended to try his good luck at the club. + +Went yesterday to the Rue d'Anjou, to visit Madame Craufurd. Her htel +is a charming one, _entre cour et jardin_; and she is the most +extraordinary person of her age I have ever seen. In her eightieth +year, she does not look to be more than fifty-five; and possesses all +the vivacity and good humour peculiar only to youth. + +Scrupulously exact in her person, and dressed with the utmost care, as +well as good taste, she gives me a notion of the appearance which the +celebrated Ninon de l'Enclos must have presented at the same age, and +has much of the charm of manner said to have belonged to that +remarkable woman. + +It was an interesting sight to see her surrounded by her grand-children +and great-grand-children, all remarkable for their good looks, and +affectionately attached to her, while she appears not a little proud of +them. The children of the Duc de Guiche have lost nothing of their +beauty since their _sjour_ at Pisa, and are as ingenuous and amusing +as formerly. + +I never saw such handsome children before, nor so well brought up. No +trouble or expense is spared in their education; and the Duc and +Duchesse devote a great portion of their time to them. + +All our friends are occupied in looking out for a house for us; and I +have this day been over, at least, ten--only one of which seems likely +to suit. + +I highly approve the mode at Paris of letting unfurnished houses, or +apartments, with mirrors and decorations, as well as all fixtures (with +us, in England, always charged separately) free of any extra expense. +The good taste evinced in the ornaments is in general remarkable, and +far superior to what is to be met with in England; where, if one +engages a new house lately papered or painted, one is compelled to +recolour the rooms before they can be occupied, owing to the gaudy and +ill-assorted patterns originally selected. + +The house of the Marchal Lobau, forming the corner of the Rue de +Bourbon, is the one I prefer of all those I have yet seen, although it +has many _dsagrmens_ for so large an establishment as ours. But I am +called to go to the review in the Champ-de-Mars, so _allons_ for a +_spectacle militaire_, which, I am told, is to be very fine. + +The review was well worth seeing; and the troops performed their +evolutions with great precision. The crowd of spectators was immense; +so much so, that those only who formed part of the royal _cortge_ +could reach the Champ-de-Mars in time to see its commencement. No +carriages, save those of the court, were allowed to enter the file. + +The dust was insupportable; and the pretty dresses of the ladies +suffered from it nearly as much as did the smart uniforms of the +officers. + +The _coup d'oeil_ from the pavilion (where we had, thanks to our +_chaperon_, the Duchesse de Guiche, front seats) was very fine. The +various and splendid uniforms, floating standards, waving plumes, +glittering arms, and prancing steeds, gave to the vast plain over which +the troops were moving a most animated aspect, while the sounds of +martial music exhilarated the spirits. + +Nor was the view presented by the interior of the pavilion without its +charms. A number of ladies, some of them young and handsome, and all +remarkably well-dressed, gave to the benches ranged along it the +appearance of a rich _parterre_, among the flowers of which the +beautiful Duchesse de Guiche shone pre-eminent. + +I was seated next to a lady, with large lustrous eyes and a pale olive +complexion, whose countenance, from its extreme mobility, attracted my +attention; at one moment, lighting up with intelligence, and the next, +softening into pensiveness. + +A remarkably handsome young man stood behind her, holding her shawl, +and lavishing on her those attentions peculiar to young Benedicts. The +lady proved to be the Marchioness de Loul, sister to the King of +Portugal; and the gentleman turned out to be her husband, for whose +_beaux yeux_ she contracted what is considered a _msalliance_. + +The simplicity of her dress, and unaffectedness of her manner, invested +her with new attractions in my eyes; which increased when I reflected +on the elevated position she had resigned, to follow the more humble +fortunes of her handsome husband. + +How strange, yet how agreeable too, must the change be, from the most +formal court, over which Etiquette holds a despotic sway, to the +freedom from such disagreeable constraint permitted to those in private +life, and now enjoyed by this Spanish princess! + +She appears to enjoy this newly acquired liberty with a zest in +proportion to her past enthralment, and has proved that the daughter of +a King of Portugal has a heart, though the queens of its neighbour, +Spain, were in former days not supposed to have legs. + +During the evolutions, a general officer was thrown from his horse; and +a universal agitation among a group of ladies evinced that they were in +a panic. Soon the name of the general, Count de Bourmont, was heard +pronounced; and a faint shriek, followed by a half swoon from one of +the fair dames, announced her deep interest in the accident. + +Flacons and vinaigrettes were presented to her on every side, all the +ladies present seeming to have come prepared for some similar +catastrophe; but in a few minutes a messenger, despatched by the +general, assured Madame la Comtesse of his perfect safety; and tears of +joy testified her satisfaction at the news. + +This little episode in the review shewed me the French ladies in a very +amiable point of view. Their sensibility and agitation during the +uncertainty as to the person thrown, vouched for the liveliness of +their conjugal affection; and their sympathy for Madame la Comtesse de +Bourmont when it was ascertained that her husband was the sufferer, +bore evidence to the kindness of their hearts, as well as to their +facility in performing the little services so acceptable in moments +like those I had just witnessed. + +Charles X, the Dauphin and Dauphine, and the Duchesse de Berri, were +present--the two latter in landaus, attended by their ladies. The king +looked well, his grey hair and tall thin figure giving him a very +venerable aspect. + +The Dauphine is much changed since I last saw her, and the care and +sorrow of her childhood have left their traces on her countenance. I +never saw so melancholy a face, and the strength of intellect which +characterises it renders it still more so, by indicating that the marks +of sorrow so visible were not indented on that brow without many an +effort from the strong mind to resist the attacks of grief. + +I remember reading years ago of the melancholy physiognomy of King +Charles I, which when seen in his portrait by a Florentine sculptor, to +whom it was sent in order that a bust should be made from it, drew +forth the observation that the countenance indicated that its owner +would come to a violent death. + +I was reminded of this anecdote by the face of the Duchesse +d'Angoulme; for though I do not pretend to a prescience as to her +future fate, I cannot help arguing from it that, even should a peaceful +reign await her, the fearful trials of her youth have destroyed in her +the power of enjoyment; and that on a throne she can never forget the +father and mother she saw hurried from it, to meet every insult that +malice could invent, or cruelty could devise, before a violent death +freed them from their sufferings. + +Who can look on this heroic woman without astonishment at the power of +endurance that has enabled her to live on under such trials? Martyr is +written in legible characters on that brow, and on those lips; and her +attempt to smile made me more sad than the tears of a mourner would +have done, because it revealed "a grief too deep for tears." + +Must she not tremble for the future, if not for the present, among a +people so versatile as those among whom she is now thrown? And can she +look from the windows of the palace she has been recalled to inhabit, +without seeing the spot where the fearful guillotine was reared that +made her an orphan? + +The very plaudits that now rend the skies for her uncle must remind her +of the shouts that followed her father to the scaffold: no wonder, +then, that she grows pale as she hears them; and that the memory of the +terrible past, written in characters of blood, gives a sombre hue to +the present and to the future. + +The sight of her, too, must awaken disagreeable recollections in those +over whom her husband may be soon called to reign, for the history of +the crimes of the Revolution is stamped on her face, whose pallid lint +and rigid muscles tell of the horror and affliction imprinted on her +youth; the reminiscence of which cannot be pleasant to them. + +The French not only love their country passionately, but are +inordinately proud of it; hence, aught that reminds them of its +sins--and cruelty is one of a deep dye--must be humiliating to them; so +that the presence of the Duchesse d'Angoulme cannot be flattering to +their _amor patri_ or _amour propre_. I thought of all this to-day, as +I looked on the face of Madame la Dauphine; and breathed a hope that +the peace of her life's evening may console her for the misfortunes of +its morning and its noon. + +The Duchesse de Berri has an animated and peculiarly good-natured +expression of countenance. Her restored gaiety makes the French forget +why it was long and cruelly overclouded, and aids the many good +qualities which she possesses, in securing the popularity she has so +generally acquired in the country of her adoption. + +House-hunting again, and still unsuited. Dined yesterday at the +Duchesse de Guiche's; a very pleasant party, increased by some +agreeable people in the evening. Our old acquaintance, William Lock, +was among the guests at dinner, and is as good-looking and +light-hearted as ever. + +The Marquis l'Esprance de l'Aigle was also present, and is a perfect +specimen of the fine gentleman of _la Vieille Cour_--a race now nearly +extinct. Possessing all the gaiety and vivacity of youth, with that +attention to the feelings of others peculiar only to maturity and +high-breeding, the Count l'Esprance de l'Aigle is universally beloved. + +He can talk over old times with the grand-mother with all the wit that +we read of, oftener than we meet with; give his opinion of _la dernire +mode_ to the youthful mother, with rare tact and good taste; dance with +the young daughter as actively and gracefully as any _garon de +dix-huit ans_ in Paris; and gallop through the Bois de Boulogne with +the young men who pride themselves on their riding, without being ever +left behind. I had frequently heard his praises from the Duchesse de +Guiche, and found that her description of him was very accurate. + +The house of the Duc de Guiche is a picture of English comfort and +French elegance united; and that portion of it appropriated to its fair +mistress is fitted up with exquisite taste. Her _salons_ and _boudoir_ +are objects of _vert, bijouterie_, and vases of old Svre, enough to +excite envy in those who can duly appreciate such treasures, and tempt +to the violation of the tenth commandment. Order reigns in the whole +arrangement of the establishment, which, possessing all the luxurious +appliances of a _maison monte_, has all the scrupulous cleanliness of +that of a Quaker. + +Went to the Opera last night, where I saw the _dbut_ of the new +_danseuse_ Taglioni. Hers is a totally new style of dancing; graceful +beyond all comparison, wonderful lightness, an absence of all violent +effort, or at least of the appearance of it, and a modesty as new as it +is delightful to witness in her art. She seems to float and bound like +a sylph across the stage, never executing those _tours de force_ that +we know to be difficult and wish were impossible, being always +performed at the expense of decorum and grace, and requiring only +activity for their achievement. + +She excited the most rapturous applause, and received it with a "decent +dignity," very unlike the leering smiles with which, in general, a +_danseuse_ thinks it necessary to advance to the front of the +proscenium, shewing all her teeth, as she lowly courtesies to the +audience. + +There is a sentiment in the dancing of this charming votary of +Terpsichore that elevates it far beyond the licentious style generally +adopted by the ladies of her profession, and which bids fair to +accomplish a reformation in it. + +The Duc de Cazes, who came in to the Duchesse de Guiche's box, was +enthusiastic in his praises of Mademoiselle Taglioni, and said hers was +the most poetical style of dancing he had ever seen. Another observed, +that it was indeed the poetry of motion. I would describe it as being +the epic of dancing. + +The Duc de Cazes is a very distinguished looking man, with a fine and +intelligent countenance, and very agreeable manners. + +_ propos_ of manners, I am struck with the great difference between +those of Frenchmen and Englishmen, of the same station in life. The +latter treat women with a politeness that seems the result of habitual +amenity; the former with a homage that appears to be inspired by the +peculiar claims of the sex, particularised in the individual woman, and +is consequently more flattering. + +An Englishman seldom lays himself out to act the agreeable to women; a +Frenchman never omits an opportunity of so doing: hence, the attentions +of the latter are less gratifying than those of the former, because a +woman, however free from vanity, may suppose that when an Englishman +takes the trouble--and it is evidently a trouble, more or less, to all +our islanders to enact the agreeable--she had really inspired him with +the desire to please. + +In France, a woman may forget that she is neither young nor handsome; +for the absence of these claims to attention does not expose her to be +neglected by the male sex. In England, the elderly and the ugly "could +a tale unfold" of the _navet_ with which men evince their sense of +the importance of youth and beauty, and their oblivion of the presence +of those who have neither. + +France is the paradise for old women, particularly if they are +_spirituelle_; but England is the purgatory. + +The Comtesses de Bellegarde called on me to-day, and two more +warm-hearted or enthusiastic persons I never saw. Though no longer +young, they possess all the gaiety of youth, without any of its +thoughtlessness, and have an earnestness in their kindness that is very +pleasant. + +Dined yesterday at Madame Craufurd's--a very pleasant party. Met there +the Duc de Gramont, Duc and Duchesse de Guiche, Colonel and lady +Barbara Craufurd, and Count Valeski. + +The Duc de Gramont is a fine old man who has seen much of the world, +without having been soured by its trials. Faithful to his sovereign +during adversity, he is affectionately cherished by the whole of the +present royal family, who respect and love him; and his old age is +cheered by the unceasing devotion of his children, the Duc and Duchesse +de Guiche, who are fondly attached to him. + +He gives up much of his time to the culture of flowers, and is more +interested in the success of his dahlias than in those scenes of +courtly circles in which he is called to fill so distinguished a part. +It pleased me to hear him telling his beautiful daughter-in-law of the +perfection of a flower she had procured him with some trouble; and then +adding: "_ propos_ of flowers, how is our sweet Ida, to-day? There is +no flower in my garden like her!--Ay, she will soon be two years old." + +There is something soothing to the mind in the contemplation of a man +in the evening of life, whose youth was spent in all the splendour of a +court, and whose manhood has been tried by adversity, turning to Nature +for her innocent pleasures, when the discovery of the futility of all +others has been made. This choice vouches for the purity of heart and +goodness of him who has adopted it, and disposes me to give ample +credit to all the commendation the Duchesse de Guiche used to utter of +him in Italy. + +Lady Barbara Craufurd is an excellent specimen of an English woman. +Pretty, without vanity or affectation; gentle, without insipidity; and +simple, yet highly polished, in mariners. She has, too, a low, "sweet +voice, an excellent thing in woman," and, to me, whose ears offer even +a more direct road to the heart than do the eyes, is a peculiar +attraction. + +Colonel Craufurd seems to be the quintessence of good nature and of +good sense. Count Valeski is an intelligent young man, greatly _ la +mode_ at Paris, and wholly unspoilt by this distinction. Handsome, +well-bred, and agreeable, he is very popular, not only among the fine +ladies but fine gentlemen here, and appears worthy of the favour he +enjoys. + +Several people of both sexes came in the evening to Madame Craufurd's, +and we had some excellent music. Madame C. does the honours of her +_salon_ with peculiar grace. She has a bright smile and a kind word for +every guest, without the slightest appearance of effort. + +Still house-hunting; continually tempted by elegantly decorated +_salons_, and as continually checked by the want of room and comfort of +the rest of the apartments. + +We have been compelled to abandon the project of taking the Marchal +Lobau's house, or at least that portion of it which he wishes to +dispose of, for we found it impossible to lodge so large an +establishment as ours in it; and, though we communicated this fact with +all possible courtesy to the Marchal, we have received a note in +answer, written in a different style, as he is pleased to think that, +having twice inspected his apartments, we ought to have taken them. + +In England, a person of the Marchal's rank who had a house to let +would not show it _in propri person_, but would delegate that task, +as also the terms and negotiations, to some agent; thus avoiding all +personal interference, and, consequently, any chance of offence: but if +people _will_ feel angry without any just cause, it cannot be helped; +and so Monsieur le Marchal must recover his serenity and acquire a +temper more in analogy with his name; for, though a brave and +distinguished officer, as well as a good man, which he is said to be, +he certainly is _not Bon comme un mouton_, which is his cognomen. + +Paris is now before us,--where to choose is the difficulty. We saw +to-day a house in the Rue St.-Honor, _entre cour et jardin_, a few +doors from the English embassy. The said garden is the most tempting +part of the affair; for, though the _salons_ and sleeping-rooms are +good, the only entrance, except by a _passage drob_ for servants, is +through the _salle manger_, which is a great objection. + +Many of the houses I have seen here have this defect, which the +Parisians do not seem to consider one, although the odour of dinner +must enter the _salons_, and that in the evening visitors must find +servants occupied in removing the dinner apparatus, should they, as +generally happens, come for the _prima sera_. + +French people, however, remain so short a time at table, and dine so +much earlier than the English people do, that the employment of their +_salle manger_ as a passage does not annoy them. + +Went to the opera last night, and saw the _Muette de Portici_. It is +admirably got up, and the costumes and scenery, as well as the +_tarantulas_, transported me back to Naples--dear, joyous +Naples--again. Nourrit enacted "Massaniello," and his rich and flexible +voice gave passion and feeling to the music. Noblet was the "Fenella," +and her pantomime and dancing were good; but Taglioni spoils one for +any other dancing. + +The six years that have flown over Noblet since I last saw her have +left little trace of their flight, which is to be marvelled at, when +one considers the violent and constant exercise that the profession of +a _danseuse_ demands. + +When I saw the sylph-like Taglioni floating through the dance, I could +not refrain from sighing at the thought that grace and elegance like +hers should be doomed to know the withering effect of Time; and that +those agile limbs should one day become as stiff and helpless as those +of others. An _old danseuse_ is an anomaly. She is like an old rose, +rendered more displeasing by the recollection of former attractions. +Then to see the figure bounding in air, habit and effort effecting +something like that which the agility peculiar to youth formerly +enabled her to execute almost _con amore_; while the haggard face, and +distorted smile revealing yellow teeth, tell a sad tale of departed +youth. Yes, an old _danseuse_ is a melancholy object; more so, because +less cared for, than the broken-down racer, or worn-out hunter. + +Went to Tivoli last night, and was amused by the scene of gaiety it +presented. How unlike, and how superior to, our Vauxhall! People of all +stations, of all ages, and of both sexes, threading the mazy dance with +a sprightliness that evinced the pleasure it gave them. + +We paused to look at group after group, all equally enjoying +themselves; and the Duchesse de Guiche, from her perfect knowledge of +Paris, was enabled, by a glance, to name the station in life occupied +by each: a somewhat difficult task for a stranger, as the remarkably +good taste of every class of women in Paris in dress, precludes those +striking contrasts between the appearance of a _modiste_ and a +_marquise_, the wife of a _boutiquier_ and a _duchesse_, to be met with +in all other countries. + +But it is not in dress alone that a similarity exists in the exteriors +of Parisian women. The air _comme il faut_, the perfect freedom from +all _gaucherie_, the ease of demeanour, the mode of walking, and, above +all, the decent dignity equally removed from _mauvaise honte_ and +effrontery, appertain nearly alike to all. The class denominated +_grisettes_ alone offered an exception, as their demonstrations of +gaiety, though free from boisterousness, betrayed stronger symptoms of +hilarity than were evinced by women belonging to a more elevated class +in society. + +The dancing, too, surprised as well as pleased me; and in this +accomplishment the French still maintain their long-acknowledged +superiority, for among the many groups I did not see a single bad +dancer. + +Around one quadrille party a more numerous audience was collected than +around the others, and the _entrechats_ of one of the gentlemen were +much applauded. Nods and smiles passing between the dancers and the +Duchesse de Guiche, revealed to me that they were among the circle of +her acquaintance; and, approaching nearer, I recognised in the +gentleman whose _entrechats_ were so much admired, my new acquaintance +the Marquis l'Esprance de l'Aigle, of whose excellence in the mazy +dance I now had an opportunity of seeing that Fame had not said too +much. + +The ladies who formed the quadrille were la Marquise de Marmier, the +Vicomtesse de Noailles, and Madame Standish; all excellent dancers, and +attired in that most becoming of all styles of dress, the +_demi-toilette_, which is peculiar to France, and admits of the +after-dinner promenades or unceremonious visits in which French ladies +indulge. A simple robe of _organdie_, with long sleeves, a _canezou_ of +net, a light scarf, and a pretty _chapeau_ of _paille de riz_, form +this becoming toilette, which is considered a suitable one for all +theatres, except the Opera, where ladies go in a richer dress. + +On our return from Tivoli, we had a small party to drink tea, and +remained chatting till one o'clock--a late hour for Paris. Among the +guests was our old friend Mr. T. Steuart, the nephew of Sir William +Drummond, who continues to be as clever and original as ever. His +lively remarks and brilliant sallies were very amusing. + +Having complained of the want of a comfortable chair last evening, I +found a _chef d'oeuvre_ of Rainguet's in my _salon_ this morning, sent +me by my thoughtful and ever-kind friend the Duc de Guiche. A +connoisseur in chairs and sofas, being unhappily addicted to "taking +mine ease" not only in "mine inn," but wherever I meet these requisites +to it, I am compelled to acknowledge the superiority of Rainguet over +any that I have previously seen; and my only fear is, that this +luxurious chair will seduce me into the still greater indulgence of my +besetting or _besitting_ sin, sedentary habits. + +At length, we have found a house to suit us, and a delightful one it +is; once the property of the Marchal Ney, but now belonging to the +Marquis de Lillers. It is situated in the Rue de Bourbon, but the +windows of the principal apartments look on the Seine, and command a +delightful view of the Tuilerie Gardens. It is approached by an avenue +bounded by fine trees, and is enclosed on the Rue de Bourbon side by +high walls, a large _porte-cochre_, and a porter's lodge; which give +it all the quiet and security of a country house. + +This htel may be viewed as a type of the splendour that marked the +dwellings of the imperial _noblesse_, and some notion of it may be +conceived from the fact that the decorations of its walls alone cost a +million of francs. These decorations are still--thanks to the purity of +the air of Paris--as fresh as if only a year painted, and are of great +beauty; so much so, that it will be not only very expensive but very +difficult to assort the furniture to them; and, unfortunately, there is +not a single _meuble_ in the house. + +The rent is high, but there are so many competitors for the htel, +which has only been three days in the market, that we consider +ourselves fortunate in having secured it. + +A small garden, or rather terrace, with some large trees and plenty of +flowers, separates the house from the Quai d'Orsay, and runs back at +its left angle. The avenue terminates in a court, from which, on the +right, a gate opens into the stable offices; and a vestibule, fitted up +as a conservatory, forms an entrance to the house. A flight of marble +steps on each side of the conservatory, leads to a large ante-room, +from which a window of one immense plate of glass, extending from the +ceiling to the floor, divides the centre, permitting the pyramids of +flowers to be seen through it. A glass door on each side opens from the +vestibule to the steps of the conservatory. + +The vestibule, lofty and spacious, is lighted also by two other +windows, beyond the conservatory, and is ornamented with pilasters with +Corinthian capitals. + +On the right hand is the _salle manger_, a fine room, lighted by +three windows looking into the court-yard, and architecturally arranged +with pilasters, a rich cornice and ceiling: the hall is stuccoed, +painted in imitation of marble, and has so fine a polish as really to +deceive the eye. In the centre of this apartment is a large door +between the pilasters, opening into a drawing-room, and at the opposite +end from the door that opens from the vestibule is that which leads to +the kitchen offices, and by which dinner is served. + +_Vis--vis_ to the _salle manger_, and divided from it by the large +vestibule, is a dressing and bed-chamber with an alcove, both rooms +being ornamented with columns and pilasters, between which are mirrors +of large dimensions inserted in recesses. A corridor and _escalier +drob_ at the back of these two apartments admit the attendance of +servants, without their passing through the vestibule. + +In the centre of this last, and opposite to the large plate of glass +that divides it from the conservatory, large folding doors open into +the principal drawing-room, which is lighted by three large and lofty +windows, the centre one exactly facing the folding doors, and, like +them, supported by pilasters. + +This room is of large dimensions, and finely proportioned; the sides +and ends are divided by fluted pilasters with Corinthian capitals +richly gilt. At one extremity is a beautifully sculptured chimney-piece +of Parian marble, over which is a vast mirror, bounded by pilasters, +that separate it from a large panel on each side, in the centre of +which are exquisitely designed allegorical groups. + +At the opposite end, a mirror, of similar dimensions to that over the +chimney-piece, and resting like it on a white marble slab, occupies the +centre, on each side of which are panels with painted groups. Doors at +each end, and exactly facing, lead into other _salons_; opposite to the +two end windows are large mirrors, resting on marble slabs, bounded by +narrow panels with painted figures, and between the windows are also +mirrors to correspond. The pictorial adornments in this _salon_ are +executed by the first artists of the day, and with a total disregard of +expense, so that it is not to be wondered at that they are beautiful. +Military trophies are mingled with the decorations, the whole on a +white ground, and richly ornamented with gilding. The Seine, with its +boats, and the gay scene of the Tuilerie Gardens, are reflected in the +mirrors opposite to the windows, while the groups on the panels are +seen in the others. + +Nothing can exceed the beauty of this room, in which such fine +proportion, architectural decoration, and exquisite finish reign, that +the eye dwells on it with delight, and can trace no defect. + +The door on the right-hand end, on entering, opens to a less richly +ornamented _salon_, inside which are two admirable bed-chambers and +dressing-rooms, communicating by an _escalier drob_ with a suite of +servants' apartments. + +The door on the left-hand end of the large _salon_ opens into a +beautiful room, known as the _Salle de la Victoire_, from its being +decorated by paintings allegorical of Victory. This apartment is +lighted by two large windows, and opposite to them is a deep recess, or +alcove. + +A cornice extends around the room, about four feet beneath the ceiling, +and is supported by white columns, projecting into the chamber, on each +of which stands a figure of Victory offering a wreath of laurels. This +cornice divides the room from the recess before mentioned. + +The chimney-piece is in a recess, with columns on each side; and the +large mirror over it, and which is finished by the cornice, is faced by +a similar one, also in a recess, with white columns, standing on a +plinth on each side. The windows are finished by the former cornice, +that extends round the rooms, and have similar columns on each side +with Victories on them, and a mirror between. The room is white and +gold, with delicate arabesques, and medallions exquisitely painted. + +This _salon_ communicates with a corridor behind it, which admits the +attendance of servants without the necessity of their passing through +the other apartments. Inside this _salon_ is a _chambre coucher_, +that looks as if intended for some youthful queen, so beautiful are its +decorations. A recess, the frieze of which rests on two white columns +with silvered capitals, is meant to receive a bed. + +One side of the room is panelled with mirrors, divided by pilasters +with silver capitals; and on the opposite side, on which is the +chimney, similar panels occupy the same space. The colour of the +apartment is a light blue, with silver mouldings to all the panels, and +delicate arabesques of silver. The chimney-piece and dogs for the wood +have silvered ornaments to correspond. + +Inside this chamber is the dressing-room, which is of an octagon shape, +and panelled likewise with mirrors, in front of each of which are white +marble slabs to correspond with that of the chimney-piece. The +mouldings and architectural decorations are silvered, and arabesques of +flowers are introduced. + +This room opens into a _salle de bain_ of an elliptical form; the bath, +of white marble, is sunk in the pavement, which is tessellated. From +the ceiling immediately over the bath hangs an alabaster lamp, held by +the beak of a dove; the rest of the ceiling being painted with Cupids +throwing flowers. The room is panelled with alternate mirrors and +groups of allegorical subjects finely executed; and is lighted by one +window, composed of a single plate of glass opening into a little spot +of garden secluded from the rest. A small library completes the suite I +have described, all the apartments of which are on the ground floor. +There are several other rooms in a wing in the court-yard, and the +whole are in perfect order. + +I remembered to-day, when standing in the principal drawing-room, the +tragic scene narrated to me by Sir Robert Wilson as having taken place +there, when he had an interview with the Princesse de la Moskowa, after +the condemnation of her brave husband. + +He told me, years ago, how the splendour of the decorations of the +_salon_--decorations meant to commemorate the military glory of the +Marchal Ney--added to the tragic effect of the scene in which that +noble-minded woman, overwhelmed with horror and grief, turned away with +a shudder from objects that so forcibly reminded her of the brilliant +past, and so fearfully contrasted with the terrible present. + +He described to me the silence, broken only by the sobs that heaved her +agonised bosom; the figures of the few trusted friends permitted to +enter the presence of the distracted wife, moving about with noiseless +steps, as if fearful of disturbing the sacredness of that grief to +offer consolation for which they felt their tongues could form no +words, so deeply did their hearts sympathise with it. + +He told me that the images of these friends in the vast mirrors looked +ghostly in the dim twilight of closed blinds, the very light of day +having become insupportable to the broken-hearted wife, so soon to be +severed for ever, and by a violent death, from the husband she adored. +Ah, if these walls could speak, what agony would they reveal! and if +mirrors could retain the shadows replete with despair they once +reflected, who dare look on them? + +I thought of all this to-day, until the tears came into my eyes, and I +almost determined not to hire the house, so powerfully did the +recollection of the past affect me: but I remembered that such is the +fate of mankind; that there are no houses in which scenes of misery +have not taken place, and in which breaking hearts have not been ready +to prompt the exclamation "There is no sorrow like mine." + +How is the agony of such moments increased by the recollection that in +the same chamber where such bitter grief now reigns, joy and pleasure +once dwelt, and that those who shared it can bless us no more! How like +a cruel mockery, then, appear the splendour and beauty of all that +meets the eye, unchanged as when it was in unison with our feelings, +but which now jars so fearfully with them! + +I wonder not that the bereaved wife fled from this house, where every +object reminded her of a husband so fondly loved, so fearfully lost, to +mourn in some more humble abode over the fate of _him_ who could no +more resist the magical influence of the presence of that glorious +chief, who had so often led him to victory, than the war-horse can +resist being animated by the sound of that trumpet which has often +excited the proud animal into ardour. + +Peace be to thy manes, gallant Ney; and if thy spirit be permitted to +look down on this earth, it will be soothed by the knowledge that the +wife of thy bosom has remained faithful to thy memory; and that thy +sons, worthy of their sire--brave, noble, and generous-hearted--are +devoted to their country, for which thou hadst so often fought and +bled! + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + +To my surprise and pleasure, I find that a usage exists at Paris which +I have nowhere else met with, namely, that of letting out rich and fine +furniture by the quarter, half, or whole year, in any quantity required +for even the largest establishment, and on the shortest notice. + +I feared that we should be compelled to buy furniture, or else to put +up with an inferior sort, little imagining that the most costly can be +procured on hire, and even a large mansion made ready for the reception +of a family in forty-eight hours. This is really like Aladdin's lamp, +and is a usage that merits being adopted in all capitals. + +We have made an arrangement, that if we decide on remaining in Paris +more than a year, and wish to purchase the furniture, the sum agreed to +be paid for the year's hire is to be allowed in the purchase-money, +which is to be named when the inventory is made out. + +We saw the house for the first time yesterday; engaged it to-day for a +year; to-morrow, the upholsterer will commence placing the furniture in +it; and to-morrow night we are to sleep in it. This is surely being +very expeditious, and saves a world of trouble as well as of wailing. + +Spent last evening at Madame Craufurd's. Met there the Prince and +Princesse Castelcicala, with their daughter, who is a very handsome +woman. The Prince was a long time Ambassador from Naples at the Court +of St. James, and he now fills the same station at that of France. + +The Princesse is sister to our friend Prince Ischetella at Naples, and, +like all her country-women, appears sensible and unaffected. She and +Mademoiselle Dorotea speak English perfectly well, and profess a great +liking to England and its inhabitants. The Dowager Lady Hawarden, the +Marquise de Brehan, the Baroness d'Etlingen, Madame d'Ocaris, Lady +Barbara Craufurd, and Lady Combermere, composed the rest of the female +portion of the party. + +Lady Hawarden has been very pretty: what a melancholy phrase is this +same _has been_! The Marquise de Brehan is still a very fine woman; +Lady Combermere is very agreeable, and sings with great expression; and +the rest of the ladies, always excepting Lady Barbara Craufurd, who is +very pretty, were very much like most other ladies of a certain time of +life--addicted to silks and blondes, and well aware of their relative +prices. + +Madame Craufurd is very amusing. With all the _navet_ of a child, she +possesses a quick perception of character and a freshness of feeling +rarely found in a person of her advanced age, and her observations are +full of originality. + +The tone of society at Paris is very agreeable. Literature, the fine +arts, and the general occurrences of the day, furnish the topics for +conversation, from which ill-natured remarks are exploded. A +ceremoniousness of manner, reminding one of _la Vieille Cour_, and +probably rendered _ la mode_ by the restoration of the Bourbons, +prevails; as well as a strict observance of deferential respect from +the men towards the women, while these last seem to assume that +superiority accorded to them in manner, if not entertained in fact, by +the sterner sex. + +The attention paid by young men to old women in Parisian society is +very edifying, and any breach of it would be esteemed nothing short of +a crime. This attention is net evinced by any flattery, except the most +delicate--a profound silence when these belles of other days recount +anecdotes of their own times, or comment on the occurrences of ours, or +by an alacrity to perform the little services of picking up a fallen +_mouchoir de poche, bouquet_, or fan, placing a shawl, or handing to a +carriage. + +If flirtations exist at Paris, they certainly are not exhibited in +public; and those between whom they are supposed to be established +observe a ceremonious decorum towards each other, well calculated to +throw discredit on the supposition. This appearance of reserve may be +termed hypocrisy; nevertheless, even the semblance of propriety is +advantageous to the interests of society; and the entire freedom from +those marked attentions, engrossing conversations, and from that +familiarity of manner often permitted in England, without even a +thought of evil on the part of the women who permit these +indiscretions, leaves to Parisian circles an air of greater dignity and +decorum, although I am not disposed to admit that the persons who +compose them really possess more dignity or decorum than my +compatriots. + +Count Charles de Mornay was presented to me to-day. Having heard of him +only as-- + + "The glass of fashion and the mould of form, + The observed of all observers," + +I was agreeably surprised to find him one of the most witty, +well-informed, and agreeable young men I have ever seen. Gay without +levity, well-read without pedantry, and good-looking without vanity. Of +how few young men of fashion could this be said! But I am persuaded +that Count Charles de Mornay is made to be something better than a mere +man of fashion. + +Spent all the morning in the Htel Ney, superintending the placing of +the furniture. There is nothing so like the magicians we read of as +Parisian upholsterers; for no sooner have they entered a house, than, +as if touched by the hand of the enchanter, it assumes a totally +different aspect. I could hardly believe my eyes when I entered our new +dwelling, to-day. + +Already were the carpets--and such carpets, too--laid down on the +_salons_; the curtains were hung; _consoles_, sofas, tables, and chairs +placed, and lustres suspended. In short, the rooms looked perfectly +habitable. + +The principal drawing-room has a carpet of dark crimson with a +gold-coloured border, on which is a wreath of flowers that looks as if +newly culled from the garden, so rich, varied, and bright are their +hues. The curtains are of crimson satin, with embossed borders of +gold-colour; and the sofas, _bergres, fauteuils_, and chairs, richly +carved and gilt, are covered with satin to correspond with the +curtains. + +Gilt _consoles_, and _chiffonnires_, with white marble tops, are +placed wherever they could be disposed; and, on the chimney pieces, are +fine _pendules_. + +The next drawing-room, which I have appropriated as my sitting-room, is +furnished with blue satin, with rich white flowers. It has a carpet of +a chocolate-coloured ground with a blue border, round which is a wreath +of bright flowers, and carved and gilt sofas, _bergres_, and +_fauteuils_, covered with blue satin like the curtains. + +The recess we have lined with fluted blue silk, with a large mirror +placed in the centre of it, and five beautiful buhl cabinets around, on +which I intend to dispose all my treasures of old _Svre_ china, and +ruby glass. + +I was told by the upholsterer, that he had pledged himself to _milord_ +that _miladi_ was not to see her _chambre coucher_, or dressing-room, +until they were furnished. This I well knew was some scheme laid by +Lord B. to surprise me, for he delights in such plans. + +He will not tell me what is doing in the rooms, and refuses all my +entreaties to enter them, but shakes his head, and says he _thinks_ I +will be pleased when I see them; and so I think, too, for the only +complaint I ever have to make of his taste is its too great +splendour--a proof of which he gave me when I went to Mountjoy Forest +on my marriage, and found my private sitting-room hung with crimson +Genoa silk velvet, trimmed with gold bullion fringe, and all the +furniture of equal richness--a richness that was only suited to a state +room in a palace. + +We feel like children with a new plaything, in our beautiful house; but +how, after it, shall we ever be able to reconcile ourselves to the +comparatively dingy rooms in St. James's Square, which no furniture or +decoration could render any thing like the Htel Ney? + +The Duc and Duchesse de Guiche leave Paris, to my great regret, in a +few days, and will be absent six weeks. He is to command the encampment +at Luneville, and she is to do the honours--giving dinners, balls, +concerts, and soires, to the ladies who accompany their lords to "the +tented field," and to the numerous visitors who resort to see it. They +have invited us to go to them, but we cannot accept their kindness. +They are + + "On hospitable thoughts intent," + +and will, I doubt not, conciliate the esteem of all with whom they come +in contact. + +He is so well bred, that the men pardon his superiority both of person +and manner; and she is so warm-hearted and amiable, that the women, +with a few exceptions, forgive her rare beauty. How we shall miss them, +and the dear children, too! + +Drove in the Bois de Boulogne yesterday, with the Duchesse de Guiche: +met my old acquaintance, Lord Yarmouth, who is as amusing and original +as ever. + +He has great natural talent and knowledge of the world, but uses both +to little purpose, save to laugh at its slaves. He might be any thing +he chose, but he is too indolent for exertion, and seems to think _le +jeu ne vaut pas la chandelle_. He is one of the many clever people +spoilt by being born to a great fortune and high rank, advantages which +exclude the necessity of exercising the talents he possesses. + +It is, however, no trifling merit, that born to immense wealth and high +station, he should he wholly free from arrogance, or ostentation. + +At length, the secret is out, the doors of my _chambre coucher_ and +dressing-room are opened, and I am delighted with both. The whole +fitting up is in exquisite taste, and, as usual, when my most gallant +of all gallant husbands that it ever fell to the happy lot of woman to +possess, interferes, no expense has been spared. + +The bed, which is silvered, instead of gilt, rests on the backs of two +large silver swans, so exquisitely sculptured that every feather is in +alto-relievo, and looks nearly as fleecy as those of the living bird. +The recess in which it is placed is lined with white fluted silk, +bordered with blue embossed lace; and from the columns that support the +frieze of the recess, pale blue silk curtains, lined with white, are +hung, which, when drawn, conceal the recess altogether. + +The window curtain is of pale blue silk, with embroidered muslin +curtains, trimmed with lace inside them, and have borders of blue and +white lace to match those of the recess. + +A silvered sofa has been made to fit the side of the room opposite the +fire-place, near to which stands a most inviting _bergre_. An +_critoire_ occupies one panel, a bookstand the other, and a rich +coffer for jewels forms a pendant to a similar one for lace, or India +shawls. + +A carpel of uncut pile, of a pale blue, a silver lamp, and a Psyche +glass, the ornaments silvered to correspond with the decorations of the +chamber, complete the furniture. The hangings of the dressing-room are +of blue silk, covered with lace, and trimmed with rich frills of the +same material, as are also the dressing-stools and _chaise longue_, and +the carpet and lamp are similar to those of the bed-room. + +A toilette table stands before the window, and small _jardinires_ are +placed in front of each panel of looking-glass, but so low as not to +impede a full view of the person dressing in this beautiful little +sanctuary. + +The _salle de bain_ is draped with white muslin trimmed with lace, and +the sofa and _bergre_ are covered with the same. The bath is of white +marble, inserted in the floor, with which its surface is level. On the +ceiling over it, is a painting of Flora scattering flowers with one +hand while from the other is suspended an alabaster lamp, in the form +of a lotos. + +A more tasteful or elegant suite of apartments cannot be imagined; and +all this perfection of furniture has been completed in three days! Lord +B. has all the merit of the taste, and the upholsterer that of the +rapidity and excellence of the execution. + +The effect of the whole suite is chastely beautiful; and a queen could +desire nothing better for her own private apartments. Few queens, most +probably, ever had such tasteful ones. + +Our kind friend, Charles Mills, has arrived from Rome,--amiable and +agreeable as ever. He dined with us yesterday, and we talked over the +pleasant days spent in the Vigna Palatina, his beautiful villa. + +Breakfasted to-day in the Rue d'Anjou, a take-leave repast given to the +Duc and Duchesse de Guiche by Madame Craufurd. Lady Barbara and Colonel +Craufurd were of the party, which was the only _triste_ one I have seen +in that house. The Duc de Gramont was there, and joined in the regret +we all felt at seeing our dear friends drive away. + +It was touching to behold Madame Craufurd, kissing again and again her +grandchildren and great-grandchildren, the tears streaming down her +cheeks, and the venerable Duc de Gramont, scarcely less moved, +embracing his son and daughter-in-law, and exhorting the latter to take +care of her health, while the dear little Ida, his granddaughter, not +yet two years old, patted his cheeks, and smiled in his face. + +It is truly delightful to witness the warm affection that subsists +between relatives in France, and the dutiful and respectful attention +paid by children to their parents. In no instance have I seen this more +strongly exemplified than in the Duc and Duchesse de Guiche, whose +unceasing tenderness towards the good Duc de Gramont not only makes his +happiness, but is gratifying to all who behold it, as is also their +conduct to Madame Craufurd. + +I wish the encampment was over, and those dear friends back again. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + +Took possession of our new house to-day, and are delighted with it. Its +repose and quiet are very agreeable, after the noise and bustle of the +Rue de Rivoli. Spent several hours in superintending the arrangement of +my books, china, _bijouterie_, and flowers, and the rooms look as +habitable as if we had lived in them for weeks. How fortunate we are to +have found so charming an abode! + +A chasm here occurs in my journal, occasioned by the arrival of some +dear relatives from England, with whom I was too much occupied to have +time to journalise. What changes five years effect in young people! The +dear girls I left children are now grown into women, but are as artless +and affectionate as in childhood. I could hardly believe my eyes when I +saw them, yet I soon traced the same dear countenances, and marvelled +that though changed from the round, dimpled ones of infancy, to the +more delicate oval of maidenly beauty, the expression of gaiety and +innocence of their faces is still the same. + +A week has passed rapidly by, and now that they have returned to +England, their visit appears like a dream. I wish it had been longer, +for I have seen only enough of them to wish to see a great deal more. + +The good Mrs. W. and her lively, clever, and her pretty daughter, Mrs. +R., dined with us yesterday. They are _en route_ for England, but give +many a sigh to dear Italy. It was pleasant to talk over the happy days +passed there, which we did with that tender regret with which the past +is always referred to by those who have sensibility, and they possess +no ordinary portion of this lovable quality. Les Dames Bellegarde also +dined with us, and they English friends took a mutual fancy to each +other. I like the Bellegardes exceedingly. + +Our old friend, Lord Lilford, is at Paris, and is as amiable and +kind-hearted as ever. He dined with us yesterday, and we talked over +the pleasant days we spent at Florence. Well-educated, and addicted to +neither of the prevalent follies of the day, racing nor gaming, he only +requires a little ambition to prompt him to exertion, in order to +become a useful, as well as an agreeable member of the community, but +with a good fortune and rank, he requires an incentive to action. + +Met last evening at Madame Craufurd's the Marquis and Marquise Zamperi +of Bologna. She is pretty and agreeable, and he is original and +amusing. They were very civil, and expressed regret at not having been +at Bologna when we were there. + +Had a visit from Count Alexandre de Laborde to-day. His conversation is +lively and entertaining. Full of general information and good sense, he +is no niggard in imparting the results of both to those with whom he +comes in contact, and talks fluently, if not always faultlessly, in +Italian and English. + +The Marquis de Mornay and his brother Count Charles de Mornay dined +here yesterday. How many associations of the olden time are recalled by +this ancient and noble name, Mornay du Plessis! + +The Marquis is agreeable, sensible, well-informed, and well-bred. +Though justly proud of his high descent, the consciousness of it is +never rendered visible by any symptom of that arrogance too often met +with in those who have less cause for pride, and can only be traced by +a natural dignity and bearing, worthy a descendant of the noble Sully. + +Count Charles de Mornay is a very remarkable young man. With a +brilliant wit, the sallies of which can "set the table in a roar;" it +is never used at the expense of others, and, when he chooses to be +grave, the quickness and justice of his perception, and the fine tact +and good sense which mark his reflections, betray a mind of no common +order, and give the promise of future distinction. + +Nothing can be more agreeable than the mode in which I pass my time +here. I read from nine until twelve: order the household arrangements, +and inspect the _menu_ at twelve: write letters or journalise from one +until four; drive out till six or half-past; return home, dress, dine, +pay visits, or receive them at home, and get to bed at one o'clock. + +How much preferable is the French system of evening visits, to the +English custom of morning ones, which cut up time so abominably! Few +who have lived much abroad could submit patiently to have their +mornings broken in upon, when evening, which is the most suitable time +for relaxation, can be enlivened by the visits that are irksome at +other hours. + +Paris is now nearly as empty as London is in September; all the _lite_ +of French fashionable society having taken their departure for their +country houses, or for the different baths they frequent. I, who like +not crowds, prefer Paris at this season to any other, and shall be +rather sorry than glad when it fills again. + +Madame Craufurd, Lady Barbara and Colonel Craufurd, the Ducs de +Gramont, Dalberg, and Mouchy, dined with us yesterday. We had music in +the evening, The Duc Dalberg is agreeable and well-bred, and his manner +has that suavity, mingled with reserve, said to be peculiar to those +who have lived much at courts, and filled diplomatic situations. + +The Duc was Minister Plenipotentiary from Baden at Paris, when Napoleon +was First Consul, and escaped not censure on the occasion of the +seizure of the unfortunate Duc d'Enghien; of the intention of which it +was thought he ought to have apprised his court, and so have prevented +an event which has entailed just blame on all concerned in it, as well +as on some who were innocent. + +There is nothing in the character of the Duc Dalberg to warrant a +belief of his being capable of lending himself to aught that was +disloyal, for he is an excellent man in all the relations of life, and +is esteemed and respected by as large a circle of friends as most +persons who have filled high situations can boast of. + +The Duc de Mouchy is a very amiable as well as high-bred man; he has +been in England, and speaks English with fluency. + +Letters from the camp of Luneville, received from our dear friends +to-day, give a very animated description of their doings there. The Duc +de Mouchy told me yesterday that they were winning golden opinions from +all with whom they came in contact there, by their urbanity and +hospitality. He said that people were not prepared to find the +handsomest and most fashionable woman at Paris, "the observed of all +observers," and the brightest ornament of the French court, doing the +honours to the wives of the officers of the camp with an amiability +that has captivated them all. The good Duc de Gramont was delighted at +hearing this account, for never was there a more affectionate father. + +Went with a party yesterday to Montmorency. Madame Craufurd, the +Comtesse de Gand, the Baronne d'Ellingen, Comte F. de Belmont, and our +own circle, formed the party. It was gratifying to witness how much +dear Madame Craufurd enjoyed the excursion; she even rode on a donkey +through the woods, and the youngest person of the party did not enter +into the amusement with more spirit and gaiety. Montmorency is a +charming place, but not so the road to it, which, being paved, is very +tiresome. + +We visited the hermitage where Rousseau wrote so many of his works, but +in which this strange and unhappy man found not that peace so long +sought by him in vain, and to which his own wayward temper and +suspicious nature offered an insurmountable obstacle. + +As I sat in this humble abode, and looked around on the objects once +familiar to his eyes, I could not resist the sentiment of pity that +filled my breast, at the recollection that even in this tranquil +asylum, provided by friendship [2], and removed from the turmoil of the +busy world, so repugnant to his taste, the jealousies, the +heart-burnings, and the suspicions, that empoisoned his existence +followed him, rendering his life not only a source of misery to +himself, but of pain to others; for no one ever conferred kindness on +him without becoming the object of his suspicion, if not of his +aversion. + +The life of Rousseau is one of the most humiliating episodes in the +whole history of literary men, and the most calculated to bring genius +into disrepute: yet the misery he endured more than avenged the wrongs +he inflicted; and, while admiring the productions of a genius, of which +even his enemies could not deny him the possession, we are more than +ever compelled to avow how unavailing is this glorious gift to confer +happiness on its owner, or to secure him respect or esteem, if +unaccompanied by goodness. + +Who can reflect on the life of this man without a sense of the danger +to which Genius exposes its children, and a pity for their sufferings, +though too often self-inflicted? Alas! the sensibility which is one of +the most invariable characteristics of Genius, and by which its most +glorious efforts are achieved, if excited into unhealthy action by +over-exercise, not unseldom renders its possessor unreasonable and +wretched, while his works are benefiting or delighting others, and +while the very persons who most highly appreciate them are often the +least disposed to pardon the errors of their author. + +As the dancer, by the constant practice of her art, soon loses that +roundness of _contour_ which is one of the most beautiful peculiarities +of her sex, the muscles of the legs becoming unnaturally developed at +the expense of the rest of the figure, so does the man of genius, by +the undue exercise of this gift, acquire an irritability that soon +impairs the temper, and renders his excess of sensibility a torment to +himself and to others. + +The solitude necessary to the exercise of Genius is another fruitful +source of evil to its children. Abstracted from the world, they are apt +to form a false estimate of themselves and of it, and to entertain +exaggerated expectations from it. Their morbid feelings are little able +to support the disappointment certain to ensue, and they either rush +into a reprisal of imaginary wrongs, by satire on others, or inflict +torture on themselves by the belief, often erroneous, of the injuries +they have sustained. + +I remembered in this abode a passage in one of the best letters ever +written by Rousseau, and addressed to Voltaire, on the subject of his +poem, entitled _Sur la Loi Naturelle, et sur le Dsastre de Lisbonne_; +in which, referring to an assertion of Voltaire's that few persons +would wish to live over again on the condition of enduring the same +trials, and which Rousseau combats by urging that it is only the rich, +fatigued by their pleasures, or literary men, of whom he writes--"_Des +gens de lettres, de tous les ordres d'hommes le plus sdentaire, le +plus malsain, le plus rflchissant, et, par consquent, le plus +malheureux_," who would decline to live over again, had they the power. + +This description of men of letters, written by one of themselves, is a +melancholy, but, alas! a true one, and should console the enviers of +genius for the want of a gift that but too often entails such misery on +its possessors. + +The church of Montmorency is a good specimen of Gothic architecture, +and greatly embellishes the little town, which is built on the side of +a hill, and commands a delicious view of the chestnut forest and +valley, clothed with pretty villas, that render it so much and so +justly admired. + +It was amusing to listen to the diversity of opinions entertained by +our party relative to Rousseau, as we wandered through the scenes which +he so often frequented; each individual censuring or defending him, +according to the bias of his or her disposition. On one point all +agreed; which was, that, if judged by his actions, little could be said +in mitigation of the conduct of him who, while writing sentiments +fraught with passion and tenderness, could consign his offspring to a +foundling hospital! + +Having visited every object worthy of attention at Montmorency, we +proceeded to Enghien, to examine the baths established there. The +building is of vast extent, containing no less than forty chambers, +comfortably furnished for the accommodation of bathers; and a good +_restaurateur_ furnishes the repasts. The apartments command a +beautiful view, and the park of St.-Gratien offers a delightful +promenade to the visitors of Enghien. + +Our route back to Paris was rendered very agreeable by the lively and +clever conversation of the Comtesse de Gand. I have rarely met with a +more amusing person. + +With a most retentive memory, she possesses the tact that does not +always accompany this precious gift--that of only repeating what is +perfectly _ propos_ and interesting, with a fund of anecdotes that +might form an inexhaustible capital for a professional diner-out to set +up with; an ill-natured one never escapes her lips, and yet--hear it +all ye who believe, or act as if ye believe, that malice and wit are +inseparable allies!--it would be difficult to find a more entertaining +and lively companion. + +Our old friend, Col. E. Lygon, came to see us to-day, and is as amiable +as ever. He is a specimen of a military man of which England may well +be proud. + +The Ducs de Talleyrand and Dino, the Marquis de Mornay, the Marquis de +Dreux-Brez, and Count Charles de Mornay, dined here yesterday. The +Marquis de Brez is a clever man, and his conversation is highly +interesting. Well-informed and sensible, he has directed much of his +attention to politics without being, as is too often the case with +politicians, wholly engrossed by them. He appears to me to be a man +likely to distinguish himself in public life. + +There could not be found two individuals more dissimilar, or more +formed for furnishing specimens of the noblemen of _la Vieille Cour_ +and the present time, than the Duc de Talleyrand and the Marquis de +Dreux-Brez. The Duc, well-dressed and well-bred, but offering in his +toilette and in his manners irrefragable evidence that both have been +studied, and his conversation bearing that high polish and urbanity +which, if not always characteristics of talent, conceal the absence of +it, represents _l'ancien rgime_, when _les grands seigneurs_ were more +desirous to serve _les belles dames_ than their country, and more +anxious to be distinguished in the _salons_ of the Faubourg St.-Germain +than in the _Chambre de Parlement_. + +The Marquis de Dreux-Brez, well-dressed and well-bred, too, appears +not to have studied either his toilette or his manners; and, though by +no means deficient in polite attention to women, seems to believe that +there are higher and more praiseworthy pursuits than that of thinking +only how to please them, and bestows more thought on the _Chambre des +Pairs_ than on the _salons la mode_. + +One is a passive and ornamental member of society, the other a useful +and active politician, I have remarked that the Frenchmen of high birth +of the present time all seem disposed to take pains in fitting +themselves for the duties of their station. They read much and with +profit, travel much more than formerly, and are free from the narrow +prejudices against other countries, which, while they prove not a man's +attachment to his own, offer one of the most insurmountable of all +barriers to that good understanding so necessary to be maintained +between nations. + +Dined yesterday at St.-Cloud with the Baron and Baroness de Ruysch; a +very agreeable and intellectual pair, who have made a little paradise +around them in the shape of an English pleasure ground, blooming with +rare shrubs and flowers. + +Our old friend, Mr. Douglas Kinnaird--"the honourable Dug," as poor +Lord Byron used to call him--paid me a visit to-day. I had not seen him +for seven years, and these same years have left their traces on his +brow. He is in delicate health, and is only come over to Paris for a +very few days. + +He has lived in the same scenes and in the same routine that we left +him, wholly engrossed by them, while + + "I've taught me other tongues, and in strange eyes + Have made me not a stranger;" + +and wonder how people can be content to dwell whole years in so +circumscribed, however useful, a circle. + +Those who live much in London seem to me to have tasted the lotus +which, according to the fable of old, induced forgetfulness of the +past, so wholly are they engrossed by the present, and by the vortex in +which they find themselves plunged. + +Much as I like England, and few love it more dearly, I should not like +to pass all the rest of my life in it. _All, all_: it is thus we ever +count on futurity, reckoning as if our lives were certain of being +prolonged, when we know not that the _all_ on which we so boldly +calculate may not be terminated in a day, nay, even in an hour. Who is +there that can boast an English birth, that would not wish to die at +home and rest in an English grave? + +Sir Francis Burdett has arrived, and means to stay some time here. He +called on us yesterday with Colonel Leicester Stanhope, and is as +agreeable and good-natured as ever. He is much _fted_ at Paris, and +receives great attention from the Duc d'Orlans, who has offered him +his boxes at the theatres, and shews him all manner of civilities. + +Colonel Leicester Stanhope gave me some interesting details of poor +Byron's last days in Greece, and seems to have duly appreciated his +many fine qualities, in spite of the errors that shrouded but could not +eclipse them. The fine temper and good breeding that seem to be +characteristic of the Stanhope family, have not degenerated in this +branch of it; and his manner, as well as his voice and accent, remind +me very forcibly of my dear old friend his father, who is one of the +most amiable, as well as agreeable men I ever knew, and who I look +forward with pleasure to meeting on my return home. + +The Marquise Palavicini from Genoa, her daughter-in-law the Princesse +Doria, sir Francis Burdett, and Colonel Leicester Stanhope, dined with +us yesterday. The marquise Palavicini is a very sensible and agreeable +woman, and the Princesse Doria is very pretty and amiable. Like most of +her countrywomen, this young and attractive person is wholly free from +that affectation which deteriorates from so many of the women of other +countries; and the simplicity of her manner, which is as remote from +_gaucherie_ as it is from affectation, invests her with a peculiar +charm. + +We talked over Genoa, where we have spent so many pleasant days, and +the beautiful gardens of the villa Palavicini, the possession of which +has always tempted me to envy its owner. I have never passed an hour in +the society of Italian women without feeling the peculiar charm of +their manner, and wishing that its ease and simplicity were more +generally adopted. + +The absence of any effort to shine, the gentleness without insipidity, +the liveliness without levity, and above all, the perfect good nature +that precludes aught that could be disagreeable to others, form the +distinguishing characteristics of the manner of Italian women from the +princess to the peasant, and are alike practised by both towards all +with whom they converse. + +Lord Darnley and Lord Charlemont dined here yesterday. It is pleasant +to see old and familiar faces again, even though the traces of Time on +their brows recall to mind the marks which the ruthless tyrant must +have inflicted on our own. We all declared that we saw no change in +each other, but the looks of surprise and disappointment exchanged at +meeting contradicted the assertion. + +Mr. Charles Young, the tragedian, dined here to-day. We were very glad +to see him again, for he is a very estimable as well as agreeable +member of society, and reflects honour on his profession. + +Lord Lansdowne came here with Count Flahault this evening. It is now +seven years since I last saw him, but time has dealt kindly with him +during that period, as it ever does to those who possess equanimity of +mind and health of body. Lord Lansdowne has always appeared to me to be +peculiarly formed for a statesman. + +With a fortune that exempts him from incurring even the suspicion of +mercenary motives for holding office, and a rank which precludes that +of entertaining the ambition of seeking a higher, he is free from the +angry passions that more or loss influence the generality of other men. +To an unprejudiced mind, he joins self-respect without arrogance, +self-possession without effrontery, solid and general information, +considerable power of application to business, a calm and gentlemanly +demeanour, and an urbanity of manner which, while it conciliates good +will, never descends to, or encourages, familiarity. + +A lover and liberal patron of the fine arts, he is an encourager of +literature, and partial to the society of literary men; irreproachable +in private life, and respected in public, what is there wanting to +render him faultless? + +I, who used to enjoy a good deal of his society in England, am of +opinion, that the sole thing wanting is the warmth and cordiality of +manner which beget friends and retain partisans, and without which no +minister can count on constant supporters. + +It is a curious circumstance, that the political party to which Lord +Lansdowne is opposed can boast a man among those most likely to hold +the reins of government, to whom all that I have said of Lord Lansdowne +might, with little modification, be applied. I refer to Sir Robert +Peel, whose acquaintance I enjoyed in England; and who is much younger, +and perhaps bolder, than Lord Lansdowne. + +Happy, in my opinion, is the country which possesses such men; though +the friends and admirers of each would probably feel little disposed to +admit any comparison to be instituted between them, and would deride, +if not assail, any one for making it. + +Sir Francis Burdell dined here yesterday, and we had the Count +Alexandra de Laborde and Count Charles de Mornay, to meet him. Several +people came in the evening. I have lent a pile of books to Sir F. B., +who continues to read as much as formerly, and forgets nothing that he +peruses. His information is, consequently, very extensive, and renders +his conversation very interesting. His thirst for knowledge is +insatiable, and leads him to every scientific resort where it may be +gratified. + +Spent last evening at Madame Craufurd's. Met there, the Princesse +Castelcicala and her daughter, Lady Drummond, Mr. T. Steuart, and +various others--among them, a daughter of the Marquess of Ailesbury, +who has married a French nobleman, and resides in Paris. + +Lady Drummond talked to me a good deal of Sir William, and evinced much +respect for his memory. She is proud, and she may well be so, of having +been the wife of such a man; though there was but little sympathy +between their tastes and pursuits, and his death can produce so little +change in her habits of life, that she can scarcely be said to miss +him. + +He passed his days and the greater portion of his nights in reading or +writing, living in a suite of rooms literally filled with books; the +tables, chairs, sofas, and even the floors, being encumbered with them, +going out only for a short time in a carriage to get a little air, or +occasionally to dine out. + +He seldom saw Lady Drummond, except at dinner, surrounded by a large +party. She passed, as she still passes her time, in the duties of an +elaborate toilette, paying or receiving visits, giving or going to +_ftes_, and playing with her lap-dog. A strange wife for one of the +most intellectual men of his day! And yet this total dissimilarity +produced no discord between them; for she was proud of his +acquirements, and he was indulgent to her less _spirituelle_ tastes. + +Lady Drummond does much good at Naples; for, while the _beau monde_ of +that gay capital are entertained in a style of profuse hospitality at +her house, the poor find her charity dispensed with a liberal hand in +all their exigencies; so that her vast wealth is a source of comfort to +others as well as to herself. + +I have been reading _Vivian Grey_--a very wild, but very clever +book, full of genius in its unpruned luxuriance; the writer revels +in all the riches of a brilliant imagination, and expends them +prodigally--dazzling, at one moment, by his passionate eloquence, and, +at another, by his touching pathos. + +A pleasant dinner-party, yesterday. The Duc de Mouchy, the Marquis de +Mornay, Count Flahault, the Count Maussion, Mons. de Montrond, and Mr. +Standish, were the guests. Count Flahault is so very agreeable and +gentlemanly a man, that no one can call in question the taste of the +Baroness Keith in selecting him for her husband. + +Mr. Standish has married a French lady, accomplished, clever, and +pretty. Intermarriages between French and English are now not +unfrequent; and it is pleasant to observe the French politeness and +_bon ton_ ingrafted on English sincerity and good sense. Of this, Mr. +Standish offers a very good example; for, while he has acquired all the +Parisian ruse of manner, he has retained all the English good qualities +for which he has always been esteemed. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + +Charles Kemble dined here yesterday, and in the evening read to us his +daughter Fanny's Tragedy of _Francis the First_--a very wonderful +production for so young a girl. There is considerable vigour in many +parts of this work, and several passages in it reminded me of the old +dramatists. The character of "Louisa of Savoy" is forcibly +drawn--wonderfully so, indeed, when considered as the production of so +youthful a person. The constant association with minds deeply imbued +with a love of the old writers, must have greatly influenced the taste +of Miss Kemble. + +_Francis the First_ bears irrefragable evidence that her reading has +lain much among the old poets, and that Shakspeare is one of her most +favourite ones. "Triboulet," the king's jester, may be instanced as an +example of this; and "Margaret of Valois" furnishes another. "Franoise +de Foix" is a more original conception; timid, yet fond, sacrificing +her honour to save her brother's life, but rendered wretched by +remorse; and not able to endure the presence of her affianced husband, +who, believing her pure and sinless as he left her, appeals to her, +when "Gonzales" reveals her shame. + +This same "Gonzales," urged on by vengeance, and ready to do +aught--nay, more than "may become a man,"--to seek its gratification, +is a boldly drawn character. + +The introduction of the poet "Clment Marot" is no less happy than +judicious; and Miss Kemble gives him a very beautiful speech, addressed +to his master "Francis the First," in which the charm that reigns about +the presence of a pure woman is so eloquently described, as to have +reminded me of the exquisite passage in _Comus_, although there is not +any plagiary in Miss Kemble's speech. + +A poetess herself, she has rendered justice to the character of Clement +Marot, whose honest indignation at being employed to bear a letter from +the amorous "Francis" to the sister of "Lautrec," she has very +gracefully painted. + +The "Constable Bourbon" is well drawn, and has some fine speeches +assigned to him; and "Gonzales" gives a spirited description of the +difference between encountering death in the battle-field, surrounded +by all the spirit-stirring "pomp and circumstance of glorious war," and +meeting the grisly tyrant on the scaffold, attended by all the +ignominious accessories of a traitor's doom. + +This Tragedy, when given to the public, will establish Miss Kemble's +claims to distinction in the literary world, and add another laurel to +those acquired by her family. + +There are certain passages in the speeches of "Gonzales," that, in my +opinion, require to be revised, lest they should provoke censures from +the fastidious critics of the present time, who are prone to detect +evil of which the authors, whose works they analyse, are quite +unconscious. Innocence sometimes leads young writers to a freedom of +expression from which experienced ones would shrink back in alarm; and +the perusal of the old dramatists gives a knowledge of passions, and of +sins, known only through their medium, but the skilful developement of +which, subjects a female writer, and more particularly a youthful one, +to ungenerous animadversion. It is to be hoped, that the friends of +this gifted girl will so prune the luxuriance of her pen, as to leave +nothing to detract from a work so creditable to her genius. + +Charles Kemble rendered ample justice to his daughter's Tragedy by his +mode of reading it; and we counted not the hours devoted to the task. +How many reminiscences of the olden time were called up by hearing him! + +I remembered those pleasant evenings when he used to read to us in +London, hour after hour, until the timepiece warned us to give over. I +remembered, too, John Kemble--"the great John Kemble," as Lord +Guildford used to call him--twice or thrice reading to us with Sir T. +Lawrence; and the tones of Charles Kemble's voice, and the expression +of his face, forcibly reminded me of our departed friend. + +I have scarcely met with a more high-bred man, or a more agreeable +companion, than Charles Kemble. Indeed, were I called on to name the +professional men I have known most distinguished for good breeding and +manners, I should name our four tragedians,--the two Kembles, Young, +and Macready. + +Sir Francis Burdett dined here yesterday _en famille_, and we passed +two very pleasant hours. He related to us many amusing and interesting +anecdotes connected with his political life. + +Went to the Opera in the evening, whither he accompanied us. I like my +box very much. It is in the centre of the house, is draped with pale +blue silk, and has very comfortable chairs. The Parisians are, I find, +as addicted to staring as the English; for many were the glasses +levelled last night at Sir Francis Burdett who, totally unconscious of +the attention he excited, was wholly engrossed by the "Count Ory," some +of the choruses in which pleased me very much. + +A visit to-day from our excellent and valued friend, Sir A. Barnard, +who has promised to dine with us to-morrow. Paris is now filling very +fast, which I regret, as I dislike crowds and having my time broken in +upon. + +I become more convinced every day I live, that quiet and repose are the +secrets of happiness, for I never feel so near an approach to this +blessing as when in the possession of them. General society is a heavy +tax on time and patience, and one that I feel every year less +inclination to pay, as I witness the bad effect it produces not only on +the habits but on the mind. + +Oh! the weariness of listening for hours to the repetition of past +gaieties, or the anticipation of future ones, to the commonplace +remarks or stupid conversation of persons whose whole thoughts are +engrossed by the frivolous amusements of Paris, which are all and every +thing to them! + +How delicious is it to shut out all this weariness, and with a book, or +a few rationally minded friends, indulge in an interchange of ideas! +But the too frequent indulgence of this sensible mode of existence +exposes one to the sarcasms of the frivolous who are avoided. + +One is deemed a pedant--a terrible charge at Paris!--or a _bas bleu_, +which is still worse, however free the individual may be from any +pretensions to merit such charges. + +Paid a visit to the justly celebrated Mademoiselle Mars yesterday, at +her beautiful htel in the Rue de la Tour des Dames. I have entertained +a wish ever since my return from Italy, to become acquainted with this +remarkable woman; and Mr. Young was the medium of accomplishing it. + +Mademoiselle Mars is even more attractive off the stage than on; for +her countenance beams with intelligence, and her manners are at once so +animated, yet gentle; so kind, yet dignified; and there is such an +inexpressible charm in the tones of her voice, that no one can approach +without being delighted with her. + +Her conversation is highly interesting, marked by a good sense and good +taste that render her knowledge always available, but never obtrusive. +Her features are regular and delicate; her figure, though inclined to +_embonpoint_, is very graceful, and her smile, like the tones of her +voice, is irresistibly sweet, and reveals teeth of rare beauty. +Mademoiselle Mars, off the stage, owes none of her attractions to the +artful aid of ornament; wearing her own dark hair simply arranged, and +her clear brown complexion free from any artificial tinge. In her air +and manner is the rare and happy mixture of _la grande dame et la femme +aimable_, without the slightest shade of affectation. + +Mademoiselle Mars' htel is the prettiest imaginable. It stands in a +court yard, wholly shut in from the street; and, though not vast, it +has all the elegance, if not the splendour, of a fine house. Nothing +can evince a purer taste than this dwelling, with its decorations and +furniture. It contains all that elegance and comfort can require, +without any thing meretricious or gaudy, and is a temple worthy of the +goddess to whom it is dedicated. + +It has been well observed, that a just notion of the character of a +person can always be formed by the style of his or her dwelling. Who +can be deceived in the house of a _nouveau riche_? Every piece of +furniture in it vouches, not only for the wealth of its owner, but that +he has not yet got sufficiently habituated to the possession of it, to +be as indifferent to its attributes as are those to whom custom has +rendered splendour no longer a pleasure. + +Every thing in the house of Mademoiselle Mars bespeaks its mistress to +be a woman of highly cultivated mind and of refined habits. + +The boudoir is in the style of Louis XIV, and owes its tasteful +decorations to the pencil of Ciceri. The pictures that ornament it are +by Grard, and are highly creditable to his reputation. The library +serves also as a picture-gallery; and in it may be seen beautiful +specimens of the talents of the most esteemed French artists, offered +by them as a homage to this celebrated woman. Grard, Delacroix, +Isabey, Lany, Grvedon, and other distinguished artists, have +contributed to this valuable collection. A fine portrait of Madame +Pasta, and another of Talma, with two exquisite pictures of the mother +of Mademoiselle Mars, not less remarkable for the rare beauty of the +subject than for the merit of the artists, complete it. + +One book-case in the library contains only the presentation copies of +the pieces in which Mademoiselle Mars has performed, magnificently +bound by the authors. + +On a white marble _console_ in this gallery is placed an interesting +memorial of her brilliant theatrical career, presented to her by the +most enthusiastic of its numerous admirers. It consists of a laurel +crown, executed in pure gold; on the leaves of which are engraved on +one side, the name of each piece in which she appeared, and, on the +other, the _rle_ which she acted in it. A very fine statue of Molire +is placed in this apartment. + +Never did two hours glide more rapidly away than those passed in the +society of this fascinating woman, whose presence I left penetrated +with the conviction that no one can know without admiring her; and that +when she retires from the stage, "we shall not look upon her like +again." + +Passed a very agreeable evening, at Madame Craufurd's, Met there la +Duchesse de la Force, and the usual circle of _habitus_. Talking of +theatres, some of _la Vieille Cour_, who happened to be present, +remarked on the distinction always made between the female performers +of the different ones. Those of the Thtre Franais were styled "_Les +Dames de la Comdie Franaise_"; "those of the Thtre Italien," "_Les +Demoiselles du Thtre Italien_;" and the dancers, "_Les Filles de +l'Opra_." This last mode of naming _les danseuses_, though in later +times considered as a reproach, was, originally, meant as an honourable +distinction; the king, on establishing the _Acadmie Royale de +Musique_, having obtained the privilege that the performers attached to +it should be exempt from excommunication. Hence they were named, "_Les +Filles de l'Opra_," as persons sometimes said "_Les Filles de la +Reine_." + +_ propos_ of the Opera, Madame Grassini, once no less celebrated for +her beauty than for her voice, was of the party last night. She is, and +deservedly, a general favourite in Parisian society, in which her +vivacity, good-nature, and amiability, are duly appreciated. Her lively +sallies and _nave_ remarks are very amusing; and the frankness and +simplicity she has preserved in a profession and position so calculated +to induce the reverse, add to her attractions and give piquancy to her +conversation. + +There are moments in which Madame Grassini's countenance becomes +lighted up with such animation, that it seems to be invested with a +considerable portion of the rare beauty for which she was so +remarkable. + +Her eyes are still glorious, and, like those only of the sunny South, +can flash with intelligence, or melt with tenderness. It is when +conversing on the grand _rles_ which she filled as _prima donna_, that +her face lights up as I have noticed,--as the war-horse, when hearing +the sound of the trumpet, remembers the scene of his past glory. + +When in Italy, some years since, Madame Grassini's carriage was stopped +by brigands, who, having compelled her to descend, ransacked it and +took possession of her splendid theatrical wardrobe, and her +magnificent diamonds. + +She witnessed the robbery with calmness, until she saw the brigands +seize the portrait of the Emperor Napoleon, presented to her by his own +hand, and set round with large brilliants, when she appealed to them +with tears streaming down her cheeks to take the settings and all the +diamonds, but not to deprive her of the portrait of her "dear, dear +Emperor!" When this circumstance was referred to she told me the story, +and her eyes glistened with tears while relating it. + +Went to Orsay yesterday, and passed a very agreeable day there. It was +a fortified chateau, and must have been a very fine place before the +Revolution caused, not only its pillage, but nearly total destruction, +for only one wing of it now remains. + +Built in the reign of Charles VII, it was esteemed one of the best +specimens of the feudal _chteau fort_ of that epoch; and the +subterranean portion of it still attests its former strength and +magnitude. + +It is surrounded by a moat, not of stagnant water, but supplied by the +river Ivette, which flows at the base of the hill on which the chteau +stands. The water is clear and brisk and the chteau looks as if it +stood in a pellucid river. The view from the windows is very extensive, +commanding a rich and well-wooded country. + +The chapel escaped not the ravages of the sacrilegious band, who +committed such havoc on the chteau; for the beautiful altar, and some +very interesting monuments, were barbarously mutilated, and the tomb of +the Princesse de Croy, the mother of General Count d'Orsay, on which a +vast sum had been expended, was nearly razed to the ground. + +If aught was required to increase my horror of revolutions, and of the +baleful consequences to which they lead, the sight of this once +splendid chteau, and, above all, of its half-ruined chapel, in which +even the honoured dead were insulted, would have accomplished it. + +An heiress of one of the most ancient houses in the _Pays-Bas_, the +Princesse de Croy brought a noble dowry to her husband, himself a man +of princely fortune. Young and beautiful, her munificence soon rendered +her an object of almost, adoration to the dependents of her lord; and +when soon after having given birth to a son and heir, the present +General Comte d'Orsay, she was called to another world, her remains +were followed to her untimely grave by a long train of weeping poor, +whose hearts her bounty had often cheered, and whose descendants were +subsequently horror-struck to see the sanctity of her last earthly +resting-place invaded. + +We passed through the hamlet of Palaiseau, on our return to Paris; and +saw in it the steeple where the magpie concealed the silver spoons he +had stolen, and which occasioned the event from which the drama of _La +Pie Voleuse_, known in so many languages, has had its origin. + +The real story ended not so happily as the opera, for the poor girl was +executed--the spoons not having been discovered until after her death. +This tragedy in humble life has attached great interest to the steeple +at Palaiseau, and has drawn many persons to the secluded hamlet in +which it stands. + +The Duc and Duchesse de Quiche returned from Luneville yesterday; and +we spent last evening with them. The good Duke de Gramont was there, +and was in great joy at their return. They all dine with us to-morrow; +and Madame Craufurd comes to meet them. + +Never have I seen such children as the Duc de Quiche's. Uniting to the +most remarkable personal beauty an intelligence and docility as rare as +they are delightful; and never did I witness any thing like the +unceasing care and attention bestowed on their education by their +parents. + +Those who only know the Duc and Duchesse in the gay circles, in which +they are universally esteemed among the brightest ornaments, can form +little idea of them in the privacy of their domestic one--emulating +each other in their devotion to their children, and giving only the +most judicious proofs of their attachment to them. No wonder that the +worthy Duc de Gramont doats on his grandchildren, and never seems so +happy as with his excellent son and daughter-in-law. + +Went to the Vaudeville Thtre last evening, to see the new piece by +Scribe, so much talked of, entitled _Avant_, _Pendant, et Aprs_. There +is a fearful _vraisemblance_ in some of the scenes with all that one +has read or pictured to oneself, as daily occurring during the terrible +days of the Revolution; and the tendency of the production is not, in +my opinion, calculated to produce salutary effects. I only wonder it is +permitted to be acted. + +The piece is divided, as the title announces, into three different +epochs. The first represents the frivolity and vices attributed to the +days of _l'ancien rgime_, and the _tableau des moeurs_, which is +vividly coloured, leaves no favourable impression in the minds of the +audience of that _noblesse_ whose sufferings subsequently expiated the +errors said to have accelerated, if not to have produced, the +Revolution. + +Nothing is omitted that could cast odium on them, as a preparation for +the Reign of Terror that follows. The anarchy and confusion of the +second epoch--the fear and horror that prevail when the voices and +motions of a sanguinary mob are heard in the streets, and the terrified +inmates of the houses are seen crouching in speechless terror, are +displayed with wonderful truth. + +The lesson is an awful, and I think a dangerous, one, and so seemed to +think many of the upper class among the audience, for I saw some fair +cheeks turn pale, and some furrowed brows look ominous, as the scene +was enacted, while those of the less elevated in rank among the +spectators assumed, or seemed to assume, a certain _fiert_, if not +ferocity, of aspect, at beholding this vivid representation of the +triumph achieved by their order over the _noblesse_. + +It is not wise to exhibit to a people, and above all to so inflammable +a people as the French, what _they_ can effect; and I confess I felt +uneasy when I witnessed the deep interest and satisfaction evinced by +many in the _parterre_ during the representation. + +The _Aprs_, the third epoch, is even more calculated to encourage +revolutionary principles, for in it was displayed the elevation to the +highest grades in the army and in the state of those who in the _ancien +rgime_ would have remained as the Revolution found them, in the most +obscure stations, but who by that event had brilliant opportunities +afforded for distinguishing themselves. + +Heroic courage, boundless generosity, and devoted patriotism, are +liberally bestowed on the actors who figure in this last portion of the +drama; and, as these qualities are known to have appertained to many of +those who really filled the _rles_ enacted at the period now +represented, the scene had, as might be expected, a powerful effect on +a people so impressible as the French, and so liable to be hurried into +enthusiasm by aught that appeals to their imaginations. + +The applause was deafening; and I venture to say, that those from whom +it proceeded left the theatre with a conviction that a revolution was a +certain means of achieving glory and fortune to those who, with all the +self-imagined qualities to merit both, had not been born to either. + +Every Frenchman in the middle or lower class believes himself capable +of arriving at the highest honours. This belief sometimes half +accomplishes the destiny it imagines; but even when it fails to effect +this, it ever operates in rendering Frenchmen peculiarly liable to rush +into any change or measure likely to lead to even a chance of +distinction. + +As during the performance of _Avant, Pendant et Aprs_, my eye glanced +on the faces of some of the emigrant _noblesse_, restored to France by +the entry of the Bourbons, I marked the changes produced on their +countenances by it. Anxiety, mingled with dismay, was visible; for the +scenes of the past were vividly recalled, while a vague dread of the +future was instilled. Yes, the representation of this piece is a +dangerous experiment, and so I fear it will turn out. + +I am sometimes amused, but more frequently irritated, by observing the +_moeurs Parisiennes_, particularly in the shop-keepers. The airs of +self-complacency, amounting almost to impertinence, practised by this +class, cannot fail to surprise persons accustomed to the civility and +assiduity of those in London, who, whether the purchases made in their +shops be large or small, evince an equal politeness to the buyers. + +In Paris, the tradesman assumes the right of dictating to the taste of +his customers; in London, he only administers to it. Enter a Parisian +shop, and ask to be shewn velvet, silk, or riband, to assort with a +pattern you have brought of some particular colour or quality, and the +mercer, having glanced at it somewhat contemptuously, places before you +six or eight pieces of a different tint and texture. + +You tell him that they are not similar to the pattern, and he answers, +"That may be; nevertheless, his goods are of the newest fashion, and +infinitely superior to your model." You say, "You prefer the colour of +your pattern, and must match it." He produces half-a-dozen pieces still +more unlike what you require; and to your renewed assertion that no +colour but the one similar to your pattern will suit you, he assures +you, that his goods are superior to all others, and that what you +require is out of fashion, and a very bad article, and, consequently, +that you had much better abandon your taste and adopt his. This counsel +is given without any attempt at concealing the contempt the giver of it +entertains for your opinion, and the perfect satisfaction he indulges +for his own. + +You once more ask, "If he has got nothing to match the colour you +require?" and he shrugs his shoulders and answers, "_Pourtant_, madame, +what I have shewn you is much superior," "Very possible; but no colour +will suit me but this one," holding up the pattern; "for I want to +replace a breadth of a new dress to which an accident has occurred." + +"_Pourtant_, madame, my colours are precisely the same, but the quality +of the materials is infinitely better!" and with this answer, after +having lost half an hour--if not double that time--you are compelled to +be satisfied, and leave the shop, its owner looking as if he considered +you a person of decidedly bad taste, and very troublesome into the +bargain. + +Similar treatment awaits you in every shop; the owners having, as it +appears to me, decided on shewing you only what _they_ approve, and not +what you seek. The women of high rank in France seldom, if ever, enter +any shop except that of Herbault, who is esteemed the _modiste, par +excellence_, of Paris, and it is to this habit, probably, that the want +of _biensance_ so visible in Parisian _boutiquiers_, is to be +attributed. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + +An agreeable party dined here yesterday--Lord Stuart de Rothesay, our +Ambassador, the Duc and Duchesse de Guiche, the Duc de Mouchy, Sir +Francis Burdett, and Count Charles de Mornay. Lord Stuart de Rothesay +is very popular at Paris, as is also our Ambassadress; a proof that, in +addition to a vast fund of good-nature, no inconsiderable portion of +tact is conjoined--to please English and French too, which they +certainly do, requires no little degree of the rare talent of +_savoir-vivre_. + +To a profound knowledge of French society and its peculiarities, a +knowledge not easily acquired, Lord and Lady Stuart de Rothesay add the +happy art of adopting all that is agreeable in its usages, without +sacrificing any of the stateliness so essential in the representatives +of our more grave and reflecting nation. + +Among the peculiarities that most strike one in French people, are the +good-breeding with which they listen, without even a smile, to the +almost incomprehensible attempts at speaking French made by many +strangers, and the quickness of apprehension with which they seize +their meaning, and assist them in rendering the sense complete. + +I have seen innumerable proofs of this politeness--a politeness so +little understood, or at least so little practised, among the English, +that mistakes perfectly ludicrous, and which could not have failed to +set my compatriots in a titter, if not in a roar, have not produced the +movement of a single risible muscle, and yet the French are more prone +to gaiety than are the English. + +Mr. D---- and Mr. T---- dined here yesterday. The former, mild, +gentlemanlike, and unostentatious, seems to forget what so many would, +if similarly situated, remember with arrogance, namely, that he is +immensely rich; an obliviousness that, in my opinion, greatly enhances +his other merits. + +Mr. T---- is little changed since I last saw him, and is well-informed, +clover, and agreeable,--but his own too-evident consciousness of +possessing these recommendations prevents other people from according +him due merit for them. + +In society, one who believes himself clever must become a hypocrite, +and so conceal all knowledge of his self-complacency, if he wishes to +avoid being unpopular; for woe be to him who lets the world see he +thinks highly of himself, however his abilities may justify his +self-approval! + +The sight of Mr. T---- recalled his amiable and excellent mother to my +memory. I never esteemed any woman more highly, or enjoyed the society +of any other person more than hers. How many pleasant hours have I +passed with her! I so well remember John Kemble fancying that if I went +through a course of reading Shakspeare with his sister Mrs. T----, I +should make, as he said, a fine actress; and we were to get up private +theatricals at Mountjoy Forest. + +In compliance with the request of Lord Blessington, I studied +Shakspeare with this amiable and gifted woman for many months, which +cemented a friendship between us that ended but with her life. Her +method of reading was admirable; for to the grandeur of her sister Mrs. +Siddons, she united a tenderness and softness, in which that great +actress was said to be deficient. I never open any of the plays of +Shakspeare which I studied with her without thinking I hear her voice, +and I like them better for the association. + +To great personal attractions, which even to the last she retained +enough of to give a notion of what her beauty must have been in her +youth, Mrs. T---- added a charm of manners, a cultivation of mind, and +a goodness of heart seldom surpassed; and, in all the relations of +life, her conduct was most praiseworthy. Even now, though six years +have elapsed since her death, the recollection of it brings tears to my +eyes. Good and gentle woman, may your virtues on earth find their +reward in Heaven! + +I passed last evening at Madame Craufurd's, where I met Lady Charlotte +Lindsay and the Misses Berry. How perfectly they answered to the +description given of them by Sir William Gell; who, though exceedingly +attached to all three, has not, as far as one interview permitted me to +judge, overrated their agreeability! Sir William Gell has read me many +letters from these ladies, replete with talent, of which their +conversation reminded me. + +Francis Hare and his wife dined here to-day. They are _en route_ from +Germany--where they have been sojourning since their marriage--for +England, where her _accouchement_ is to take place. Francis Hare has +lived with us so much in Italy, that we almost consider him a member of +the domestic circle; and, on the faith of this, he expressed his desire +that we should receive _madame son pouse_ as if she were an old +acquaintance. + +Mrs. Hare is well-looking, and agreeable, appears amiable, and is a +good musician. I remember seeing her and her sisters with her mother, +Lady Paul, at Florence, when I had little notion that she was to be +Mrs. Hare. I never meet Francis Hare without being surprised by the +versatility of his information; it extends to the fine arts, +literature, rare books, the localities of pictures and statues; in +short, he is a moving library that may always be consulted with profit, +and his memory is as accurate as an index in rendering its precious +stores available. + +It is strange, that the prominent taste of his wife, which is for +music, is the only one denied to him. He afforded an amusing instance +of this fact last night, when Mrs. Hare, having performed several airs +on the piano-forte, he asked her, "Why she played the same tune so +often, for the monotony was tiresome?"--an observation that set us all +laughing. + +Took Mrs. Hare out shopping--saw piles of lace, heaps of silk, pyramids +of riband, and all other female gear. What a multiplicity of pretty +things we women require to render us what we consider presentable! And +how few of us, however good-looking we may chance to be, would agree +with the poet, that "loveliness needs not the foreign aid of ornament, +but is, when unadorned, adorned the most." + +Even the fairest of the sex like to enhance the charms of nature by the +aid of dress; and the plainest hope to become less so by its +assistance. Men are never sufficiently sensible of our humility, in +considering it so necessary to increase our attractions in order to +please them, nor grateful enough for the pains we bestow in the +attempts. + +Husbands and fathers are particularly insensible to this amiable desire +on the parts of their wives and daughters; and, when asked to pay the +heavy bills incurred in consequence of this praiseworthy humility and +desire to please, evince any feeling rather than that of satisfaction. + +It is only admirers not called on to pay these said bills who duly +appreciate the cause and effect, and who can hear of women passing +whole hours in tempting shops, without that elongation of countenance +peculiar to husbands and fathers. + +I could not help thinking with the philosopher, how many things I saw +to-day that could be done without. If women could be made to understand +that costliness of attire seldom adds to beauty, and often deteriorates +it, a great amelioration in expense could be accomplished. + +Transparent muslin, the cheapest of all materials, is one of the +prettiest, too, for summer's wear, and with the addition of some bows +of delicate-coloured riband, or a _bouquet_ of fresh flowers, forms a +most becoming dress. The lowness of the price of such a robe enables +the purchaser to have so frequent a change of it, that even those who +are far from rich may have half-a-dozen, while one single robe of a +more expensive material will cost more; and having done so, the owner +will think it right to wear it more frequently than is consistent with +the freshness and purity that should ever be the distinguishing +characteristics in female dress, in order to indemnify herself for the +expense. + +I was never more struck with this fact, than a short time ago, when I +saw two ladies seated next each other, both young and handsome; but +one, owing to the freshness of her robe, which was of simple +_organdie_, looked infinitely better than the other, who was quite as +pretty, but who, wearing a robe of expensive lace, whose whiteness had +fallen into "the sere and yellow leaf," appeared faded and _passe_. + +Be wise, then, ye young and fair; and if, as I suspect, your object be +to please the Lords of the Creation, let your dress, in summer, be +snowy-white muslin, never worn after its pristine purity becomes +problematical; and in winter, let some half-dozen plain and simple silk +gowns be purchased, instead of the two or three expensive ones that +generally form the wardrobe, and which, consequently, soon not only +lose their lustre but give the wearer the appearance of having suffered +the same fate! + +And you, O husbands and fathers, present and future, be ye duly +impressed with a sense of your manifold obligations to me for thus +opening the eyes of your wives and daughters how to please without +draining your purses; and when the maledictions of lace, velvet, and +satin-sellers full on my hapless head, for counsel so injurious to +their interests, remember they were incurred for yours! + +Mr. and Mrs. Hare dined here yesterday. They brought with them Madame +de la H----, who came up from near Chantilly to see them. She is as +pretty as I remember her at Florence, when Mademoiselle D----, and is +_piquante_ and _spirituelle_. Counts Charles de Mornay and Valeski +formed the party, and Count Maussion and some others came in the +evening. + +I observe that few English shine in conversation with the French. There +is a lightness and brilliancy, a sort of touch and go, if I may say so, +in the latter, seldom, if ever, to be acquired by strangers. Never +dwelling long on any subject, and rarely entering profoundly into it, +they sparkle on the surface with great dexterity, bringing wit, gaiety, +and tact, into play. + +Like summer lightning, French wit flashes frequently, brightly and +innocuously, leaving nothing disagreeable to remind one of its having +appeared. Conversation is, with the French, the aim and object of +society. All enter it prepared to take a part, and he best enacts it +who displays just enough knowledge to show that much remains behind. +Such is the tact of the Parisians, that even the ignorant conceal the +poverty of their minds, and might, to casual observers, pass as being +in no way deficient, owing to the address with which they glide in an +_ propos oui, ou non_, and an appropriate shake of the head, nod of +assent, or dissent. + +The constitutional vivacity of the French depending much on their +mercurial temperaments, greatly aids them in conversation. A light and +playful sally acquires additional merit when uttered with gaiety; and +should a _bon mot_ even contain something calculated to pique any one +present, or reflect on the absent, the mode in which it is uttered +takes off from the force of the matter; whereas, on the contrary, the +more grave and sententious manner peculiar to the English adds pungency +to their satire. Our old and valued friend, Mr. J. Strangways, has +arrived at Paris, and very glad were we to see him once more. He passed +through a severe trial since last we parted; and his conduct under it +towards his poor friend, Mr. Anson, does him credit. + +The two companions--one the brother of the Earl of Ilchester, and the +other of Lord Anson--were travelling in Syria together. They had passed +through Aleppo, where the plague had then appeared, and were at the +distance of several days' journey from it, congratulating themselves on +their safety, when, owing to some error on the part of those who +examined their firman, they were compelled to retrace their steps to +Aleppo, where, condemned to become the inhabitants of a lazaretto until +the imagined mistake could be corrected, they found themselves +_tte--tte_. + +The first two or three days passed without any thing to alarm the +friends. Engaged in drawing maps for their intended route, and plans +for the future, the hours glided away even cheerfully. + +But this cheerfulness was not long to continue; for Mr. Anson, having +one morning asked Mr. Strangways to hold the end of his shawl while he +twisted it round his head as a turban, the latter observed, with a +degree of horror and dismay more easily to be imagined than described, +the fatal plague-spot clearly defined on the back of the neck of his +unfortunate friend. + +He concealed his emotion, well knowing that a suspicion of its cause +would add to the danger of Mr. Anson, who, as yet, was unconscious of +the fearful malady that had already assailed him. Totally alone, +without aid, save that contained in their own very limited resources, +what must have been the feelings of Mr. Strangways, as he contemplated +his luckless companion? + +He dreaded to hear the announcement of physical suffering, though he +well knew it must soon come, and marked with indescribable anguish the +change that rapidly began to be manifested in his friend. But even this +most terrible of all maladies was influenced by the gallant spirit of +him on whom it was now preying; for not a complaint, not a murmur, +broke from his lips: and it was not until Mr. Strangways had repeatedly +urged the most affectionate inquiries that he admitted he was not quite +well. + +Delirium quickly followed; but even then this noble-minded young man +bore up against the fearful assaults of disease, and thought and spoke +only of those dear and absent friends he was doomed never again to +behold. It was a dreadful trial to Mr. Strangways to sit by the bed of +death, far, far away from home and friends, endeavouring to cool the +burning brow and to refresh the parched lips of him so fondly loved in +that distant land of which he raved. + +He spoke of his home, of those who made it so dear to him, and even the +songs of infancy were again murmured by the dying lips. His friend +quitted him not for a minute until all was over; and _he_ was left +indeed alone to watch, over the corpse of him whom he had tried in vain +to save. + +That Mr. Strangways should have escaped the contagion, seems little +less than miraculous. I, who have known him so long and so well, +attribute it to the state of his mind, which was so wholly occupied by +anxiety for his friend as to leave no room for any thought of self. + +Made no entry in my journal for two days, owing to a slight +indisposition, which furnished an excuse for laziness. + +Dined at Lointier's yesterday--a splendid repast given by Count A. de +Maussion, in consequence of a wager, lost on a subject connected with +the line arts. The party consisted of all those present at our house +when the wager was made. The Duc and Duchesse de Guiche, Mr. and Mrs. +Francis Hare, the Duc de Talleyrand, Duc de Dino, Count Valeski, Mr. J. +Strangways, and our own large family circle. + +The dinner was the most _recherch_ that could be furnished: "all the +delicacies of the season," as a London paper would term it, were +provided; and an epicure, however fastidious, would have been satisfied +with the choice and variety of the _plats_; while a _gourmand_ would +have luxuriated in the quantity. + +Nothing in the style of the apartments, or the service of the dinner, +bore the least indication that we were in the house of a _restaurant_. + +A large and richly furnished _salon_, well lighted, received the +company before dinner; and in a _salle manger_ of equal dimensions, +and equally well arranged, the dinner was served on a very fine service +of old plate. + +Count de Maussion did the honours of the dinner _ merveille_, and it +passed off very gaily. It had been previously agreed that the whole +party were to adjourn to the Porte St. Martin, at which Count de +Maussion had engaged three large private boxes; and the ladies, +consequently, with one exception, came _en demi-toilette_. + +The exception was Mrs. Hare, who, not aware that at Paris people never +go _en grande toilette_ to the theatres, came so smartly dressed, that, +seeing our simple toilettes, she was afraid of incurring observation if +she presented herself in a rich dress with short sleeves, a gold tissue +turban with a bird-of-paradise plume, and an _aigrette_ of coloured +stones; so she went to our house, with a few of the party, while I +accompanied the rest to the theatre. + +The piece was _Faust_, adapted from Goethe, and was admirably +performed, more especially the parts of "Mephistopheles" and +"Margaret," in which Madame Dorval acts inimitably. This actress has +great merit; and the earnestness of her manner, and the touching tones +of her voice, give a great air of truth to her performances. The +prison-scene was powerfully acted; and the madness of "Margaret" when +stretched on her bed of straw, resisting the vain efforts of her lover +to rescue her, had a fearful reality. + +The character of "Margaret" is a fine conception, and Goethe has +wrought it out beautifully. The simplicity, gentleness, and warm +feelings of the village maiden, excite a strong interest for her, even +when worked upon by Vanity; that alloy which, alas for Woman's virtue +and happiness! is too frequently found mixed up in the pure ore of her +nature. + +The childish delight with which poor "Margaret" contemplates the +trinkets presented by her lover; the baleful ascendency acquired over +her by her female companion; and her rapid descent in the path of evil +when, as is ever the case, the commission of one sin entails so many, +render this drama a very effective moral lesson. + +Of all Goethe's works, _Faust_ is the one I most like; and, of all his +female characters, "Margaret" is that which I prefer. A fine vein of +philosophy runs through the whole of this production, in which the +vanity of human knowledge without goodness was never more powerfully +exemplified. + +"Faust," tempted by the desire of acquiring forbidden knowledge, yields +up his soul to the evil one; yet still retains enough of the humanity +of his nature to render him wretched, when her he loves, and has drawn +ruin on, suffers the penalty of his crime and of her love. + +Exquisitely has Goethe wrought out the effects of the all-engrossing +passion of the poor "Margaret"--a passion that even in madness, still +clings to its object with all woman's tenderness and devotion, +investing even insanity with the touching charm of love. How perfect is +the part when, endeavouring to pray, the hapless "Margaret" fancies +that she hears the gibbering of evil spirits interrupting her +supplications, so that even the consolation of addressing the Divinity +is denied her! + +But the last scene--that in the prison--is the most powerful of all. +Never was madness more touchingly delineated, or woman's nature more +truly developed;--that nature so little understood by those who are so +prone to pervert it, and whose triumphs over its virtues are always +achieved by means of the excess of that propensity to love, and to +believe in the truth of the object beloved, which is one of the most +beautiful characteristics in woman; though, wo to her! it is but too +often used to her undoing. + +The feelings of poor "Margaret" are those of all her sex, ere vice has +sullied the nature it never can wholly subdue. + +Mr. and Mrs. Hare left Paris to-day. I regret their departure; for she +is lively and agreeable, and I have known him so long, and like him so +well, that their society afforded me pleasure. + +A large party at dinner, yesterday; among whom, was Mr. M----, who has +acquired a certain celebrity for his _bons mots_. He is said to be +decidedly clever, and to know the world thoroughly: appreciating it at +its just value, and using it as if formed for his peculiar profit and +pleasure. He is lately returned from England, where he has been +received with that hospitality that characterises the English, and has +gone a round of visits to many of the best houses. + +He spoke in high terms of the hospitality he had experienced, but +agreed in the opinion I have often heard Lord Byron give, that the +society in English country-houses is any thing but agreeable. + +I had heard so much of Mr. M----, that I listened to his conversation +with more interest than I might have done, had not so many reports of +his shrewdness and wit reached me. Neither seem to have been overrated; +for nothing escapes his quick perception; and his caustic wit is +unsparingly and fearlessly applied to all subjects and persons that +excite it into action. + +He appears to be a privileged person--an anomaly seldom innoxiously +permitted in society: for those who may say _all they_ please, rarely +abstain from saying much that may displease others; and, though a laugh +may he often excited by their wit, some one of the circle is sure to be +wounded by it. + +Great wit is not often allied to good-nature, for the indulgence of the +first is destructive to the existence of the second, except where the +wit is tempered by a more than ordinary share of sensibility and +refinement, directing its exercise towards works of imagination, +instead of playing it off, as is too frequently the case, against those +with whom its owner may come in contact. + +Byron, had he not been a poet, would have become a wit in society; and, +instead of delighting his readers, would have wounded his associates. +Luckily for others, as well as for his own fame, he devoted to +literature that ready and brilliant wit which sparkles in so many of +his pages, instead of condescending to expend it in _bons mots_, or +_rparties_, that might have set the table on a roar, and have been +afterwards, as often occurs, mutilated in being repeated by, others. + +The quickness of apprehension peculiar to the French, joined to the +excessive _amour propre_, which is one of the most striking of their +characteristics, render them exceedingly susceptible to the arrows of +wit; which, when barbed by ridicule, inflict wounds on their vanity +difficult to be healed, and which they are ever ready to avenge. + +But this very acuteness of apprehension induces a caution in not +resenting the assaults of wit, unless the wounded can retort with +success by a similar weapon, or that the attack has been so obvious +that he is justified in resenting it by a less poetical one. Hence +arises a difficult position for him on whom a wit is pleased to +exercise his talent; and this is one of the many reasons why privileged +persons seldom add much to the harmony of society. + +Went last night to the Porte St. Martin, and saw _Sept Heures_ +represented. This piece has excited a considerable sensation at Paris; +and the part of the heroine, "Charlotte Corday," being enacted by +Madame Dorval, a very clever actress, it is very popular. + +"Charlotte Corday" is represented in the piece, not as a heroine +actuated purely by patriotic motives in seeking the destruction of a +tyrant who inflicted such wounds on her country, but by the less +sublime one of avenging the death of her lover. This, in my opinion, +lessens the interest of the drama, and atones not for the horror always +inspired by a woman's arming herself for a scene of blood. + +The taste of the Parisians has, I think, greatly degenerated, both in +their light literature and their dramas. The desire for excitement, and +not a decrease of talent, is the cause; and this morbid craving for it +will, I fear, lead to injurious consequences, not only in literature, +but in other and graver things. + +The schoolmaster is, indeed, abroad in France, and has in all parts of +it found apt scholars--perhaps, too apt; and, like all such, the +digestion of what is acquired does not equal the appetite for +acquisition: consequently, the knowledge gained is as yet somewhat +crude and unavailable. Nevertheless, the people are making rapid +strides in improvement; and ignorance will soon be more rare than +knowledge formerly was. + +At present, their minds are somewhat unsettled by the recentness of +their progress; and in the exuberance consequent on such a state, some +danger is to be apprehended. + +Like a room from which light has been long excluded, and in which a +large window is opened, all the disagreeable objects in it so long +shrouded in darkness are so fully revealed, that the owner, becoming +impatient to remove them and substitute others in their place, often +does so at the expense of appropriateness, and crowds the chamber with +a heterogeneous _mlange_ of furniture, which, however useful in +separate parts, are too incongruous to produce a good effect. So the +minds of the French people are now too enlightened any longer to suffer +the prejudices that formerly filled them to remain, and have, in their +impatience, stored them with new ideas and opinions--many of them good +and useful, but too hastily adopted, and not in harmony with each other +to be productive of a good result, until time has enabled their owners +to class and arrange them. + +I am every day more forcibly struck with the natural quickness and +intelligence of the people here: but this very quickness is a cause +that may tend to retard their progress in knowledge, by inducing them +to jump at conclusions, instead of marching slowly but steadily to +them; and conclusions so rapidly made are apt to be as hastily acted +upon, and, consequently, occasion errors that take some time to be +discovered, and still more to be corrected, before the truth is +attained. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + + +Made the acquaintance of the celebrated Dr. P----, today, at Madame +C----'s. He is a very interesting old man; and, though infirm in body, +his mind is as fresh, and his vivacity as unimpaired, as if he had not +numbered forty instead of eighty summers. + +I am partial to the society of clever medical men, for the +opportunities afforded them of becoming acquainted with human nature, +by studying it under all the phases of illness, convalescence, and on +the bed of death, when the real character is exposed unveiled from the +motives that so often shadow, if not give it a false character, in the +days of health, render their conversation very interesting. + +I have observed, too, that the knowledge of human nature thus attained +neither hardens the heart nor blunts the sensibility, for some of the +most kind-natured men I ever knew were also the most skilful physicians +and admirable, surgeons. Among these is Mr. Guthrie, of London, whose +rare dexterity in his art I have often thought may be in a great degree +attributed to this very kindness of nature, which has induced him to +bestow a more than usual attention to acquiring it, in order to abridge +the sufferings of his patients. + +In operations on the eye, in which he has gained such a justly merited +celebrity, I have been told by those from whose eyes he had removed +cataracts, that his precision and celerity are so extraordinary as to +appear to them little short of miraculous. + +Talking on this subject with Dr. P---- to-day, he observed, that he +considered strength of mind and kindness of heart indispensable +requisites to form a surgeon; and that it was a mistake to suppose that +these qualities had any other than a salutary influence over the nerves +of a surgeon. + +"It braces them, Madame," said he; "for pity towards the patient +induces an operator to perform his difficult task _con amore_, in order +to relieve him." + +Dr. P---- has nearly lost his voice, and speaks in a low but distinct +whisper. Tall and thin, with a face pale as marble, but full of +intelligence, he looks, when bending on his gold-headed cane, the very +_beau idal_ of a physician of _la Vieille Cour_, and he still retains +the costume of that epoch. His manner, half jest and half earnest, +gives an idea of what that of the Philosopher of Ferney must have been +when in a good humour, and adds piquancy to his narrations. Madame +C----, who is an especial favourite of his, and who can draw him out in +conversation better than any one else, in paying him a delicate and +well-timed compliment on his celebrity, added, that few had ever so +well merited it. + +"Ah! Madame, celebrity is not always accorded to real merit," said he, +smiling. "I have before told Madame that mine--if I may be permitted to +recur to it--was gained by an artifice I had recourse to, and without +which, I firmly believe I should have remained unknown." + +"No, no! my dear doctor," replied Madame C----; "your merit must have, +in time, acquired you the great fame you enjoy." The Doctor laughed +heartily, but persisted in denying this; and the lady urged him to +relate to me the plan he had so successfully pursued in abridging his +road to Fortune. He seemed flattered by her request, and by my desire +for his compliance with it, and commenced as follows:-- + + "I came from the country, Mesdames, with no inconsiderable + claims to distinction in my profession. I had studied it _con + amore_, and, urged by the desire that continually haunted me + of becoming a benefactor to mankind--ay! ladies, and still + more anxious to relieve your fair and gentle sex from those + ills to which the delicacy of your frames and the sensibility + of your minds so peculiarly expose you--I came to Paris with + little money and few friends, and those few possessed no + power to forward my interest. + + "It is true they recommended me to such of their acquaintance + as needed advice; but whether, owing to the season being a + peculiarly healthy one, or that the acquaintances of my + friends enjoyed an unusual portion of good health, I was + seldom called on to attend them; and, when I was, the + remuneration offered was proportioned, not to the relief + afforded, but to the want of fame of him who lent it. + + "My purse diminished even more rapidly than my hopes, though + they, too, began to fade; and it was with a heavy heart that + I look my pen to write home to those dear friends who + believed that Paris was a second _El Dorado_, where all who + sought--must find--Fortune. + + "At length, when one night stretched on my humble bed, and + sleepless from the cares that pressed heavily on my mind, it + occurred to me that I must put some plan into action for + getting myself known; and one suggested itself, which I next + day adopted. + + "I changed one of the few remaining _louis d'or_ in my purse, + and, sallying forth into one of the most popular streets, I + wrote down the addresses of some of the most + respectable-looking houses, and going up to a porter, desired + him to knock at the doors named, and inquire if the + celebrated Doctor P---- was there, as his presence was + immediately required at the htel of the Duc de ----. + + "I despatched no less than twenty messengers through the + different streets on the same errand, and having succeeded in + persuading each that it was of the utmost importance that the + celebrated Doctor P---- should be found, they persuaded the + owners of the houses of the same necessity. + + "I persevered in this system for a few days, and then tried + its efficacy at night, thinking that, when knocked up from + their beds, people would be sure to be more impressed with + the importance of a doctor in such general request. + + "My scheme succeeded. In a few days, I was repeatedly called + in by various patients, and liberal fees poured into the + purse of the celebrated Dr. P----. Unfortunately my practice, + although every day multiplying even beyond my most sanguine + hopes, was entirely confined to the _bourgeoisie_; and though + they paid well, my ambition pointed to higher game, and I + longed to feel the pulses of _la haute noblesse_, and to + ascertain if the fine porcelain of which I had heard they + were formed was indeed as much superior to the delf of which + the _bourgeoisie_ are said to be manufactured, as I was led + to believe. + + "Luckily for me, the _femme de chambre_ of a grand lady + fancied herself ill, mentioned the fancy to her friend, who + was one of my patients, and who instantly advised her to + consult the _celebrated_ Dr. P----, adding a lively account + of the extent of my practice and the great request I was in. + + "The _femme de chambre_ consulted me, described symptoms + enough to baffle all the schools of medicine in France, so + various and contradictory were they, and I, discovering that + she really had nothing the matter with her, advised what I + knew would be very palatable to her,--namely, a very + nutritious _rgime_, as much air and amusement as was + possible in her position, and gave her a prescription for + some gentle medicine, to prevent any evil effect from the + luxurious fare I had recommended. + + "I was half tempted to refuse the fee she slipped into my + hand, but I recollected that people never value what they get + for nothing, and so I pocketed it. + + "In a few days, I was sent for to the Htel--to attend the + Duchesse de ---- the mistress of the said _femme de chambre_. + This was an event beyond my hopes, and I determined to profit + by it. I found the Duchesse suffering under a malady--if + malady it could be called--to which I have since discovered + grand ladies are peculiarly subject; namely, a superfluity of + _embonpoint_, occasioned by luxurious habits and the want of + exercise. + + "'I am very much indisposed, Doctor,' lisped the lady, 'and + your prescription has done my _femme de chambre_ so much + good, that I determined to send for you. I am so very ill, + that I am fast losing my shape; my face, too, is no longer + the same; and my feet and hands are not to be recognised.' + + "I drew out my watch, felt her pulse, looked grave, + inquired--though it was useless, her _embonpoint_ having + revealed it--what were her general habits and _rgime_; and + then, having written a prescription, urged the necessity of + her abandoning _caf au lait_, rich _consomms_, and + high-seasoned _entres_; recommended early rising and + constant exercise; and promised that a strict attention to my + advice would soon restore her health, and with it her shape. + + "I was told to call every day until further orders; and I, + pleading the excess of occupation which would render my daily + visits to her so difficult, consented to make them, only on + condition that my fair patient was to walk with me every day + six times around the garden of her htel; for I guessed she + was too indolent to persevere in taking exercise if left to + herself. + + "The system I pursued with her succeeded perfectly. I was + then a very active man, and I walked so fast that I left the + Duchesse every day when our promenade ended bathed in a + copious perspiration; which, aided by the medicine and + sparing _rgime_, soon restored her figure to its former + symmetry. + + "At her htel, I daily met ladies of the highest rank and + distinction, many of whom were suffering from a similar + cause, the same annoyance for which the Duchesse consulted + me; and I then discovered that there is no malady, however + grave, so distressing to your sex, ladies, or for the cure of + which they are so willing to submit to the most disagreeable + _rgime_, as for aught that impairs their personal beauty. + + "When her female friends saw the improvement effected in the + appearance of the Duchesse by my treatment, I was consulted + by them all, and my fame and fortune rapidly increased. I was + proclaimed to be the most wonderful physician, and to have + effected the most extraordinary cures; when, in truth, I but + consulted Nature, and aided her efforts. + + "Shortly after this period, a grand lady, an acquaintance of + one of my many patients among the _noblesse_, consulted me; + and here the case was wholly different to that of the + Duchesse, for this lady had grown so thin, that + wrinkles--those most frightful of all symptoms of decaying + beauty--had made their appearance. My new patient told me + that, hearing that hitherto my great celebrity had been + acquired by the cure of obesity, she feared it was useless to + consult me for a disease of so opposite a nature, but even + still more distressing. + + "I inquired into her habits and _rgime_. Found that she took + violent exercise; was abstemious at table; drank strong green + tea, and coffee without cream or milk; disliked nutritious + food; and, though she sat up late, was an early riser. I + ordered her the frequent use of warm baths, and to take all + that I had prohibited the Duchesse; permitted only gentle + exercise in a carriage; and, in short, soon succeeded in + rendering the thin lady plump and rosy, to the great joy of + herself, and the wonder of her friends. + + "This treatment, which was only what any one possessed of + common sense would have prescribed in such a case, extended + my fame far and wide. Fat and thin ladies flocked to me for + advice, and not only liberally rewarded the success of my + system, but sounded my praises in all quarters. + + "I became the doctor _ la mode_, soon amassed an + independence, and, though not without a confidence in my own + skill--for I have never lost any opportunity of improvement + in my profession--I must confess that I still retain the + conviction that the celebrated Doctor P---- would have had + little chance, at least for many years, of acquiring either + fame or wealth, had he not employed the means I have + confessed to you, ladies." + +I cannot do justice to this _spirituel_ old man's mode of telling the +story, or describe the finesse of his arch smile while recounting it. + +Mr. P.C. Scarlett, a son of our excellent and valued friend Sir James +Scarlett[3], dined here yesterday. He is a fine young man, clever, +well-informed, and amiable, with the same benignant countenance and +urbanity of manner that are so remarkable in his father. + +I remember how much struck I was with Sir James Scarlett's countenance +when he was first presented to me. It has in it such a happy mixture of +sparkling intelligence and good-nature that I was immediately pleased +with him, even before I had an opportunity of knowing the rare and +excellent qualities for which he is distinguished, and the treasures of +knowledge with which his mind is stored. + +I have seldom met any man so well versed in literature as Sir James +Scarlett, or with a more refined taste for it; and when one reflects on +the arduous duties of his profession--duties which he has ever +fulfilled with such credit to himself and advantage to others--it seems +little short of miraculous how he could have found time to have made +himself so intimately acquainted, not only with the classics, but with +all the elegant literature of England and France. + +How many pleasant days have I passed in the society of Lord Erskine and +Sir James Scarlett! Poor Lord Erskine! never more shall I hear your +eloquent tongue utter _bons mots_ in which wit sparkled, but ill-nature +never appeared; nor see your luminous eyes flashing with joyousness, as +when, surrounded by friends at the festive board, you rendered the +banquet indeed "the feast of reason and the flow of soul!" + +Mr. H---- B---- dined here yesterday, and he talked over the pleasant +days we had passed in Italy. He is an excellent specimen of the young +men of the present day. Well-informed, and with a mind highly +cultivated, he has travelled much in other countries, without losing +any of the good qualities and habits peculiar to his own. + +Went to the Thtre Italien, last night, and heard Madame Malibran sing +for the first time. Her personation of "Desdemona" is exquisite, and +the thrilling tones of her voice were in perfect harmony with the deep +sensibility she evinced in every look and movement. + +I have heard no singer to please me comparable to Malibran: there is +something positively electrical in the effect she produces on my +feelings. Her acting is as original as it is effective; Passion and +Nature are her guides, and she abandons herself to them _con amore_. + +The only defect I can discover in her singing is an excess of +_fiorituri_, that sometimes destroys the _vraisemblance_ of the _rle_ +she is enacting, and makes one think more of the wonderful singer than +of "Desdemona." This defect, however, is atoned for by the bursts of +passion into which her powerful voice breaks when some deep emotion is +to be expressed, and the accomplished singer is forgotten in the +impassioned "Desdemona." + +Spent last evening at Madame C----'s, and met there la Duchcsse de la +Force, la Marquise de Brhan, and the usual _habitus de la maison_. La +Duchesse is one of _l'ancien rgime_, though less ceremonious than they +are in general said to be, and appears to be as good-natured as she is +good-humoured. + +The Marquise de B---- told me some amusing anecdotes of the Imperial +Court, and of the gaiety and love of dress of the beautiful Princesse +Pauline Borghese, to whom she was much attached. + +The whole of the Buonaparte family seem to have possessed, in an +eminent degree, the happy art of conciliating good-will in those around +them--an art necessary in all persons filling elevated positions, but +doubly so in those who have achieved their own elevation. The family of +the Emperor Napoleon were remarkable for the kindness and consideration +they invariably evinced for those who in any way depended on them, yet +a natural dignity of manner precluded the possibility of familiarity. + +The Marquise de B---- having mentioned the Duchesse d'Abrantes, Madame +C---- inquired kindly for her, and the Marquise told her that she had +been only a few days before to pay her a visit. + +Anxious to learn something of a woman who filled so distinguished a +position during the imperial dynasty, I questioned Madame de B----, and +learned that the Duchesse d'Abrantes, who for many years lived in a +style of splendour that, even in the palmy days of her husband's +prosperity, when, governor of Paris, he supported almost a regal +establishment, excited the surprise, if not envy, of his +contemporaries, is now reduced to so limited an income that many of the +comforts, if not the necessaries of life, are denied her. + +"She supports her privations cheerfully," added the Marquise; "her +conversation abounds in anecdotes of remarkable people, and she relates +them with a vivacity and piquancy peculiar to her, which render her +society very amusing and interesting. The humanity, if not the policy, +of the Bourbons may be questioned in their leaving the widow of a brave +general in a state of poverty that must remind her, with bitterness, of +the altered fortunes entailed on her and many others by their +restoration." + +When indemnities were granted to those whom the Revolution, which drove +the royal family from France, nearly beggared, it would have been well +if a modest competency had been assigned to those whose sons and +husbands shed their blood for their country, and helped to achieve for +it that military glory which none can deny it. + +Went over the Luxembourg Palace and Gardens to-day. The only change in +the former since I last saw it, is that some pictures, painted by +French artists at Rome, and very creditable to them, have been added to +its collection. + +I like these old gardens, with their formal walks and prim _parterres_; +I like also the company by which they are chiefly frequented, +consisting of old people and young children. + +Along the walk exposed to the southern aspect, several groups of old +men were sauntering, conversing with an animation seldom seen in +sexagenarians, except in France; old women, too, many of them holding +lapdogs by a riband, and attended by a female servant, were taking +their daily walk; while, occasionally, might be seen an elderly couple +exhibiting towards each other an assiduity pleasant to behold, +displayed by the husband's arranging the shawl or cloak of his wife, or +the wife gently brushing away with her glove the silken threads left on +his sleeve by its contact with hers. + +No little portion of the love that united them in youth may still be +witnessed in these old couples. Each has lost every trace of the +comeliness that first attracted them to each other; but they remember +what they were, and memory, gilding the past, shews each to the other, +not as they actually are, but as they were many a long year ago. No +face, however fair,--not even the blooming one of their favourite +granddaughter, seems so lovely to the uxorious old husband as the one +he remembers to have been so proud of forty years ago, and which still +beams on him with an expression of tenderness that reminds him of its +former beauty. And she, too, with what complacency does she listen to +his oft-repealed reminiscences of her youthful attractions, and how +dear is the bond that still unites them! + +Plain and uninteresting in the eyes of others, they present only the +aspect of age; alas! never lovely: but in them at least other gleams of +past good looks recall the past, when each considered the other +peerless, though now they alone remember that "such things were, and +were most sweet." + +Their youth and their maturity have been passed together; their joys +and their sorrows have been shared, and they are advancing hand in hand +towards that rapid descent in the mountain of life, at whose base is +the grave, hoping that in death they may not be divided. + +Who can look at those old couples, and not feel impressed with the +sanctity and blessedness of marriage, which, binding two destinies in +one, giving the same interests and the same objects of affection to +both, secures for each a companionship and a consolation for those days +which must come to all, when, fallen into the sere and yellow leaf, the +society of the young and gay can no longer charm them, and the present +requires the recollections of the past to render it less cheerless; +recollections only to be found in those who have grown old together? + +Yonder old man, leaning on the arm of a middle-aged woman, who seems +less like his housekeeper than his domestic tyrant, offers an example +of the fate of those who have lived in what is commonly called a state +of single blessedness. A youth and maturity of pleasure have been +followed by an old age of infirmity. + +He had a thousand pleasantries ready to utter on the subject of +marriage whenever it was mentioned; could cite endless examples of +unhappy couples (forgetting to name a single one of the happy); and +laughed and shook his head as he declared that _he_ never would be +caught. + +As long as health remained, and that he could pass his evenings in gay +society, or at the theatres, he felt not the want of that greatest of +all comforts, _home_; a comfort inseparable from a wife to share, as +well as to make it. But the first attack of illness that confined him +to his room, with no tender hand to smooth his pillow, no gentle voice +to inquire into his wants, or to minister to them; no one to anticipate +his wishes almost before he had framed them; no loving face to look +fondly and anxiously on him; made him feel sensible, that though a +bachelor's life of pleasure may pass agreeably enough during the season +of health, it is a most cheerless and dreary state of existence when +deprived of it. + +The discovery is, alas! made too late. All that he had ever heard or +urged against matrimony applies tenfold to cases where it is contracted +in old age. He can still admire youth and beauty, but he knows that +with such there can never exist any reciprocity with his own feelings. + +The young beauty who would barter her charms for his wealth, would be, +he knows, no suitable companion for his fire-side; and to wed some +staid dame whose youth has been passed with some dear, kind, first +husband--of whom, if not often speaking, she might in all human +probability be sometimes thinking--has something too repugnant to his +feelings to be thought of. + +An elderly maiden with a lap-dog, or a parrot, would be even more +insupportable; for how could one who has never had to consult the +pleasure or wishes of aught save self be able to study his? No! it is +now too late to think of marriage, and what, therefore, is to be done? +In this emergency, a severe attack of rheumatism confines him to his +chamber for many days. His valet is found out to be clumsy and awkward +in assisting him to put on his flannel gloves; the housekeeper, who is +called up to receive instructions about some particular broth that he +requires, is asked to officiate, and suggests so many little comforts, +and evinces so much sympathy for his sufferings, that she is soon +installed as nurse. + +By administering to his wants, and still more by flattery and +obsequiousness, she soon renders herself indispensable to the invalid. +She is proclaimed to be a treasure, and her accounts, which hitherto +had been sharply scrutinised and severely censured, are henceforth +allowed to pass unblamed, and, consequently, soon amount to double the +sum which had formerly, and with reason, been found fault with. The +slightest symptom of illness is magnified into a serious attack by the +supposed affectionate and assiduous nurse, until her master, in +compliance with her advice, becomes a confirmed hypochondriac, whom she +governs despotically under a show of devoted attachment. + +She has, by slow but sure degrees, alienated him from all his +relatives, and banished from his house the few friends whom she +believed possessed any influence over him. Having rendered herself +essential to his comfort, she menaces him continually with the threat +of leaving his service; and is only induced to remain by a considerable +increase to her salary, though not, as she asserts, by any interested +motive. + +She lately informed her master, that she was "very sorry--very sorry, +indeed--but it was time for her to secure her future comfort; and M. +----, the rich grocer, had proposed marriage to her, and offered a good +settlement. It would be a great grief to her to leave so kind a master, +especially as she knew no one to whom she could confide the care of +him; but a settlement of 4000 francs a-year was not to be refused, and +she might never again receive so good an offer." + +The proposal of the rich grocer, which never existed but in her own +fertile brain, is rejected, and her continuance as housekeeper and +nurse secured by a settlement of a similar sum made on her by her +master; who congratulates himself on having accomplished so +advantageous a bargain, while she is laughing with the valet at his +credulity. + +This same valet, finding her influence to be omnipotent with his +master, determines on marrying her secretly, that they may join in +plundering the valetudinarian, whose infirmities furnish a perpetual +subject for the coarse pleasantries of both these ungrateful menials. + +She is now giving him his daily walk on the sunny side of the +Luxembourg Gardens. See how she turns abruptly down an alley, in +despite of his request to continue where he was: but the truth is, her +Argus eyes have discovered his niece and her beautiful children walking +at a distance; and, as she has not only prevented their admission to +his house, but concealed their visits, intercepted their letters, +making him believe they are absent from Paris and have forgotten him, +she now precludes their meeting; while to his querulous murmurs at +being hurried along, she answers that the alley she has taken him to is +more sheltered. + +It is true the invalid sometimes half suspects, not only that he is +governed, but somewhat despotically, too, by the worthy and +affectionate creature, whose sole study it is to take care of his +health. He considers it hard to be debarred from sending for one of his +old friends to play a party at picquet, or a game at chess with him, +during the long winter evenings; and he thinks it would be pleasanter +to have some of his female relatives occasionally to dinner: but as the +least hint on these subjects never fails to produce ill-humour on the +part of the "good Jeanette," who declares that such unreasonable +indulgence would inevitably destroy the precious health of Monsieur, he +submits to her will; and while wholly governed by an ignorant and +artful servant, can still smile that he is free from being henpecked by +a wife. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + + +In no part of Paris are so many children to be seen us in the gardens +of the Luxembourg. At every step may be encountered groups of playful +creatures of every age, from the infant slumbering in its nurse's arms, +to the healthful girl holding her little brother or sister by the hand +as her little charge toddles along; or the manly boy, who gives his arm +to his younger sister with all the air of protection of manhood. + +What joyous sounds of mirth come from each group--the clear voices +ringing pleasantly on the ear, from creatures fair and blooming as the +flowers of the rich _parterres_ among which they wander! How each group +examines the other--half-disposed to join in each other's sports, but +withheld by a vague fear of making the first advances--a fear which +indicates that even already civilisation and the artificial habits it +engenders, have taught them the restraint it imposes! + +The nurses, too, scrutinise each other, and their little masters and +misses, as they meet. They take in at a glance the toilettes of each, +and judge with an extraordinary accuracy the station of life to which +they appertain. + +The child of noble birth is known by the simplicity of its dress and +the good manners of its _bonne_; while that of _the parvenu_ is at once +recognised by the showiness and expensiveness of its clothes, and the +superciliousness of its nurse, who, accustomed to the purse-proud +pretensions of her employers, values nothing so much as all the +attributes that indicate the possession of wealth. + +The little children look wistfully at each other every time they meet; +then begin to smile, and at length approach, and join, half-timidly, +half-laughingly, in each other's sports. The nurses, too, draw near, +enter into a conversation, in which each endeavours to insinuate the +importance of her young charge, and consequently her own; while the +children have already contracted an intimacy, which is exemplified by +running hand-in-hand together, their clear jocund voices being mingled. + +It is a beautiful sight to behold these gay creatures, who have little +more than passed the first two or three years of life, with the roses +of health glowing on their dimpled cheeks, and the joyousness of +infancy sparkling in their eyes. + +They know nought of existence but its smiles; and, caressed by doating +parents, have not a want unsatisfied. Entering life all hope and +gaiety, what a contrast do they offer to the groups of old men who must +so soon leave it, who are basking in the sunshine so near them! Yet +they, too, have had their hours of joyous infancy; and, old and faded +as they are, they have been doated on, as they gambolled like the happy +little beings they now pause to contemplate. + +There was something touching in the contrast of youth and age brought +thus together, and I thought that more than one of the old men seemed +to feel it as they looked on the happy children. + +I met my new acquaintance, Dr. P----, who was walking with two or three +_savans_; and, having spoken to him, he joined us in our promenade, and +greatly added to its pleasure by his sensible remarks and by his +cheerful tone of mind. He told me that the sight of the fine children +daily to be met in the Luxembourg Gardens, was as exhilarating to his +spirits as the gay flowers in the _parterre_ and that he had frequently +prescribed a walk here to those whose minds stood in need of such a +stimulant. + +The General and Countess d'Orsay arrived yesterday from their +_chteau_, in Franche-Comt. A long correspondence had taught me to +appreciate the gifted mind of Madame, who, to solid attainments, joins +a sparkling wit and vivacity that render her conversation delightful. + +The Countess d'Orsay has been a celebrated beauty; and, though a +grandmother, still retains considerable traces of it. Her countenance +is so _spirituelle_ and piquant, that it gives additional point to the +clever things she perpetually utters; and what greatly enhances her +attractions is the perfect freedom from any of the airs of a _bel +esprit_, and the total exemption from affectation that distinguishes +her. + +General d'Orsay, known from his youth as Le Beau d'Orsay, still +justifies the appellation, for he is the handsomest man of his age that +I have ever beheld. It is said that when the Emperor Napoleon first saw +him, he observed that he would make an admirable model for a Jupiter, +so noble and commanding was the character of his beauty. + +Like most people remarkable for good looks, General d'Orsay is reported +to have been wholly free from vanity; to which, perhaps, may be +attributed the general assent accorded to his personal attractions +which, while universally admitted, excited none of the envy and +ill-will which such advantages but too often draw on their possessor. +There is a calm and dignified simplicity in the manners of General +d'Orsay, that harmonises well with his lofty bearing. + +It is very gratifying to witness the affection and good intelligence +that reign in the domestic circles in France. Grandfathers and +grandmothers here meet with an attention from their children and +grandchildren, the demonstrations of which are very touching; and I +often see gay and brilliant parties abandoned by some of those with +whom I am in the habit of daily intercourse, in order that they may +pass the evenings with their aged relatives. + +Frequently do I see the beautiful Duchesse de Guiche enter the _salon_ +of her grandmother, sparkling in diamonds, after having hurried away +from some splendid _fte_, of which she was the brightest ornament, to +spend an hour with her before she retired to rest; and the Countess +d'Orsay is so devoted to her mother, that nearly her whole time is +passed with her. + +It is pleasant to see the mother and grandmother inspecting and +commenting on the toilette of the lovely daughter, of whom they are so +justly proud, while she is wholly occupied in inquiring about the +health of each, or answering their questions relative to that of her +children. + +The good and venerable Duc de Gramont examines his daughter-in-law +through his eyeglass, and, with an air of paternal affection, observes +to General d'Orsay, "How well our daughter looks to-night!" + +Madame Craufurd, referring to her great age last evening, said to me, +and a tear stole down her cheek while she spoke: + + "Ah, my dear friend! how can I think that I must soon leave + all those who love me so much, and whom I so dote on, without + bitter regret? Yes, I am too happy here to be as resigned as + I ought to be to meet death." + +Saw Potier in the _Ci-devant Jeune Homme_ last night. It is an +excellent piece of acting, from the first scene where he appears in all +the infirmity of age, in his night-cap and flannel dressing-gown, to +the last, in which he portrays tho would-be young man. His face, his +figure, his cough, are inimitable; and when he recounts to his servant +the gaieties of the previous night, the hollow cheek, sunken eye, and +hurried breathing of the "Ci-devant Jeune Homme" render the scene most +impressive. + +Nothing could be more comic than the metamorphose effected in his +appearance by dress, except it were his endeavours to assume an air and +countenance suitable to the juvenility of his toilette; while, at +intervals, some irrepressible symptom of infirmity reminded the +audience of the pangs the effort to appear young inflicted on him. +Potier is a finished actor, and leaves nothing to be wished, except +that he may long continue to perform and delight his audience as last +night. + +Dined yesterday at the Countess d'Orsay's, with a large family party. +The only stranger was Sir Francis Burdett. A most agreeable dinner, +followed by a very pleasant evening. I have seldom seen any Englishman +enjoy French society as much as the worthy baronet does. He speaks the +language with great facility, is well acquainted with its literature, +and has none of the prejudices which militate so much against acquiring +a perfect knowledge of the manners and customs of a foreign country. + +French society has decidedly one great superiority over English, and +that is its freedom from those topics which too often engross so +considerable a portion of male conversation, even in the presence of +ladies, in England. I have often passed the evening previously and +subsequently to a race, in which many of the men present took a lively +interest, without ever hearing it made the subject of conversation. +Could this be said of a party in England, on a similar occasion? + +Nor do the men here talk of their shooting or hunting before women, as +with us. This is a great relief, for in England many a woman is doomed +to listen to interminable tales of slaughtered grouse, partridges, and +pheasants; of hair breadth "'scapes by flood and field," and venturous +leaps, the descriptions of which leave one in doubt whether the +narrator or his horse be the greater animal of the two, and render the +poor listener more fatigued by the recital than either was by the +longest chase. + +A dissertation on the comparative merits of Manton's, Lancaster's, and +Moore's guns, and the advantage of percussion locks, it is true, +generally diversifies the conversation. + +Then how edifying it is to hear the pedigrees of horses--the odds for +and against the favourite winning such or such a race--the good or bad +books of the talkers--the hedging or backing of the betters! Yet all +this are women condemned to hear on the eve of a race, or during the +shooting or hunting season, should their evil stars bring them into the +society of any of the Nimrods or sportsmen of the day, who think it not +only allowable to devote nearly all their time to such pursuits, but to +talk of little else. + +The woman who aims at being popular in her county, must not only listen +patiently, but evince a lively interest in these _intellectual_ +occupations; while, if the truth was confessed, she is thoroughly +_ennuye_ by these details of them: or if not, it must be inferred that +she has lost much of the refinement of mind and taste peculiar to the +well-educated portion of her sex. + +I do not object to men liking racing, hunting, and shooting. The first +preserves the breed of horses, for which England is so justly +celebrated, and hunting keeps up the skill in horsemanship in which our +men excel. What I do object to is their making these pursuits the +constant topics of conversation before women, instead of selecting +those more suitable to the tastes and habits of the latter. + +There is none of the affectation of avoiding subjects supposed to be +uninteresting to women visible in the men here. They do not utter with +a smile--half pity, half condescension,--"we must not talk politics +before the ladies;" they merely avoid entering into discussions, or +exhibiting party spirit, and shew their deference for female society by +speaking on literature, on which they politely seem to take for granted +that women are well informed. + +Perhaps this deferential treatment of the gentler sex may not be wholly +caused by the good breeding of the men in France; for I strongly +suspect that the women here would be very little disposed to submit to +the _nonchalance_ that prompts the conduct I have referred to in +England, and that any man who would make his horses or his field-sports +the topic of discourse in their presence, would soon find himself +expelled from their society. + +Frenchwomen still think, and with reason, that they govern the tone of +the circles in which they move, and look with jealousy on any +infringement of the respectful attention they consider to be their due. + +A few nights ago I saw the Duchesse de Guiche, on her return from a +reception at court, sparkling in diamonds, and looking so beautiful +that she reminded me of Burke's description of the lovely and +unfortunate Marie-Antoinette. To-day I thought her still more +attractive, when, wearing only a simple white _peignoir_, and her +matchless hair bound tightly round her classically shaped head, I saw +her enacting the part of _garde-malade_ to her children, who have +caught the measles. + +With a large, and well-chosen nursery-establishment, she would confide +her precious charge to no care but her own, and moved from each little +white bed to the other with noiseless step and anxious glance, bringing +comfort to the dear little invalid in each. No wonder that her children +adore her, for never was there so devoted a mother. + +In the meridian of youth and beauty, and filling so brilliant a +position in France, it is touching to witness how wholly engrossed this +amiable young woman's thoughts are by her domestic duties. She incites, +by sharing, the studies of her boys; and already is her little girl, +owing to her mother's judicious system, cited as a model. + +It was pleasant to see the Duc, when released from his attendance at +court, hurrying into the sick chamber of his children, and their +languid eyes, lighting up with a momentary animation, and their +feverish lips relaxing into a smile, at the sound of his well-known +voice. And this is the couple considered to be "the glass of fashion +and the mould of form," the observed of all observers, of the courtly +circle at Paris! + +Who could behold them as I have done, in that sick room, without +acknowledging that, despite of all that has been said of the +deleterious influence of courts on the feelings of those who live much +in them, the truly good pass unharmed through the dangerous ordeal? + +Went to the Thtre des Nouveauts last night, where I saw _La Maison +du Rempart_. The Parisians seem to have decided taste for bringing +scenes of riot and disorder on the stage; and the tendency of such +exhibitions is any thing but salutary with so inflammable a people, and +in times like the present. + +One of the scenes of _La Maison du Rempart_ represents an armed mob +demolishing the house of a citizen--an act of violence that seemed to +afford great satisfaction to the majority of the audience; and, though +the period represented is that of the _Fronde_, the acts of the rabble +strongly assimilated with those of the same class in later times, when +the revolution let loose on hapless France the worst of all tyrants--a +reckless and sanguinary mob. I cannot help feeling alarmed at the +consequences likely to result from such performances. Sparks of fire +flung among gunpowder are not more dangerous. Shewing a populace what +they can effect by brutal force is a dangerous experiment; it is like +letting a tame lion see how easily he could overpower his keepers. + +Mr. Cuthbert and M. Charles Laffitte dined here yesterday. Both are +excellent specimens of their countries; the former being well-informed +and agreeable, and the latter possessing all the good sense we believe +to be peculiar to an Englishman, with the high breeding that appertains +to a thoroughly well-educated Frenchman. + +The advance of civilization was evident in both these gentlemen--the +Englishman speaking French with purity and fluency, and the Frenchman +speaking English like a born Briton. Twenty years ago, this would have +been considered a very rare occurrence, while now it excites little +remark. But it is not alone the languages of the different countries +that Mr. Cuthbert and M. Charles Laffitte have acquired, for both are +well acquainted with the literature of each, which renders their +society very agreeable. + +Spent last evening in the Rue d'Anjou, where I met Lady Combermere, the +Dowager Lady Hawarden, and Mrs. Masters. Lady Combermere is lively and +agreeable, _un peu romanesque_, which gives great originality to her +conversation, and sings Mrs. Arkwright's beautiful ballads with great +feeling. + +Mr. Charles Grant[4] dined here yesterday. He is a very sensible man, +possessing a vast fund of general information, with gentle and +highly-polished manners. What a charm there is in agreeable manners, +and how soon one feels at ease with those who possess them! + +Spent, or mis-spent, a great portion of the day in visiting the +curiosity shops on the _Quai Voltaire_, and came away from them with a +lighter purse than I entered. There is no resisting, at least I find it +so, the exquisite _porcelaine de Svres_, off which the dainty dames of +the reign of Louis the Fourteenth feasted, or which held their +_bouquets_, or _pot pourri_. An _tui of_ gold set with oriental agates +and brilliants, and a _flacon_ of rock crystal, both of which once +appertained to Madame de Svign, vanquished my prudence. + +Would that with the possession of these articles, often used by her, I +could also inherit the matchless grace with which her pen could invest +every subject it touched! But, alas! it is easier to acquire the +beautiful _bijouterie_, rendered still more valuable by having belonged +to celebrated people, than the talent that gained their celebrity; and +so I must be content with inhaling _esprit de rose_ from the _flacon_ +of Madame de Svign, without aspiring to any portion of the _esprit_ +for which she was so distinguished. + +I am now rich in the possession of objects once belonging to remarkable +women, and I am not a little content with my acquisitions. I can boast +the gold and enamelled pincushion of Madame de Maintenon, heart-shaped, +and stuck as full of pins as the hearts of the French Protestants were +with thorns by the revocation of the Edict of Nantes; to which she is +said to have so greatly contributed by her counsel to her infatuated +lover, Louis the Fourteenth. I can indulge in a pinch of snuff from the +_tabatire_ of the Marquise de Rambouillet, hold my court-plaster in +the _bote mouches_ of Ninon de l'Enclos, and cut ribands with the +scissors of Madame de Deffand. + +This desire of obtaining objects that have belonged to celebrated +people may be, and often is, considered puerile; but confess to the +weakness, and the contemplation of the little memorials I have named +awakens recollections in my mind fraught with interest. + +I can fancy Madame de Svign, who was as amiable as she was clever, +and whose tenderness towards her daughter is demonstrated so naturally +and touchingly in the letters she addressed to her, holding the +_flacon_ now mine to the nostrils of Madame de Grignan, in whose health +she was always so much more interested than in her own. + +I can see in my mind's eye the precise and demure Madame de Maintenon +taking a pin from the very pincushion now before me, to prevent the +opening of her kerchief, and so conceal even her throat from the prying +eyes of the aged voluptuary, whose passions the wily prude is said to +have excited by a concealment of a portion of her person that had, in +all probability, ceased to possess charms enough to produce this +effect, if revealed. + +This extreme reserve on the part of the mature coquette evinced a +profound knowledge of mankind, and, above all, of him on whom she +practised her arts. The profuse display of the bust and shoulders in +those days, when the ladies of the court left so little to the +imagination of the amorous monarch on whose heart so many of them had +designs, must have impaired the effect meant to have been achieved by +the indelicate exposure; for--hear it ye fair dames, with whose snowy +busts and dimpled shoulders the eyes of your male acquaintance are as +familiar as with your faces!--the charms of nature, however beautiful, +fall short of the ideal perfection accorded to them by the imagination, +when unseen. The clever Maintenon, aware of this fact, of which the +less wise of her sex are ignorant or forgetful, afforded a striking +contrast in her dress to the women around her, and piquing first the +curiosity, and then the passions, of the old libertine, acquired an +influence over him when she had long passed the meridian of her +personal attractions, which youthful beauties, who left him no room to +doubt their charms, or to exaggerate them as imagination is prone to +do, could never accomplish. + +This very pincushion, with its red velvet heart stuck with pins, was +probably a gift from the enamoured Louis, and meant to be symbolical of +the state of his own; which, in hardness, it might be truly said to +resemble. It may have often been placed on her table when Maintenon was +paying the penalty of her hard-earned greatness by the painful task of +endeavouring--as she acknowledged--to amuse a man who was no longer +amusable. + +Could it speak, it might relate the wearisome hours passed in a palace +(for the demon _Ennui_ cannot be expelled even from the most brilliant; +nay, prefers, it is said, to select them for his abode), and we should +learn, that while an object of envy to thousands, the mistress, or +unacknowledged wife of _le Grand Monarque_, was but little more happy +than the widow of Scarron when steeped in poverty. + +Madame de Maintenon discovered what hundreds before and since have +done--that splendour and greatness cannot confer happiness; and, while +trying to amuse a man who, though possessed of sovereign power, has +lost all sense of enjoyment, must have reverted, perhaps with a sigh, +to the little chamber in which she so long soothed the sick bed of the +witty octogenarian, Scarron; who, gay and cheerful to the last, could +make her smile by his sprightly and _spirituelles_ sallies, which +neither the evils of poverty nor pain could subdue. + +Perhaps this pincushion has lain on her table when Madame de Maintenon +listened to the animating conversation of Racine, or heard him read +aloud, with that spirit and deep pathos for which his reading was so +remarkable, his _Esther_ and _Alhalie_, previously to their performance +at St.-Cyr. + +That she did not make his peace with the king, when he offended him by +writing an essay to prove that long wars, however likely to reflect +glory on a sovereign, were sure to entail misery on his subjects, shews +that either her influence over the mind of Louis was much less powerful +than has been believed, or that she was deficient in the feelings that +must have prompted her to exert it by pleading for him. + +The ungenerous conduct of the king in banishing from his court a man +whose genius shed a purer lustre over it than all the battles Boileau +has sung, and for a cause that merited praise instead of displeasure, +has always appeared to me to be indicative of great meanness as well as +hardness of heart; and while lamenting the weakness of Racine, +originating in a morbid sensibility that rendered his disgrace at court +so painful and humiliating to the poet as to cause his death, I am +still less disposed to pardon the sovereign that could thus excite into +undue action a sensibility, the effects of which led its victim to the +grave. + +The diamond-mounted _tabatire_ now on my table once occupied a place +on that of the Marquise de Rambouillet, in that htel so celebrated, +not only for the efforts made by its coterie towards refining the +manners and morals of her day, but the language also, until the +affectation to which its members carried their notions of purity, +exposed them to a ridicule that tended to subvert the influence they +had previously exercised over society. + +Molire--the inimitable Molire--may have been permitted the high +distinction of taking a pinch of snuff from it, while planning his +_Prcieuses Ridicules_, which, _malgr_ his disingenuous disavowal of +the satire being aimed at the Htel Rambouillet, evidently found its +subject there. I cannot look at the snuff-box without being reminded of +the brilliant circle which its former mistress assembled around her, +and among which Molire had such excellent opportunities of studying +the peculiarities of the class he subsequently painted. + +Little did its members imagine, when he was admitted to it, the use he +would make of the privilege; and great must have been their surprise +and mortification, though not avowed, at the first representation of +the _Prcieuses Ridicules_, in which many of them must have discovered +the resemblance to themselves, though the clever author professed only +to ridicule their imitators. _Les Femmes Savantes_, though produced +many years subsequently, also found the originals of its characters in +the same source whence Molire painted _Les Prcieuses Ridicules_. + +I can fancy him slily listening to the theme proposed to the assembly +by Mademoiselle Scudry--the _Sarrades_, as she was styled--"Whether a +lover jealous, a lover despised, a lover separated from the object of +his tenderness, or him who has lost her by death, was to be esteemed +the most unhappy." + +At a later period of his life, Molire might have solved the question +from bitter personal experience, for few ever suffered more from the +pangs of jealousy, and assuredly no one has painted with such +vigour--though the comic often prevails over the serious in his +delineations--the effects of a passion any thing but comic to him. +Strange power of genius, to make others laugh at incidents which had +often tormented himself, and to be able to give humour to characters in +various comedies, actuated by the feelings to which he had so +frequently been a victim! + +I can picture to myself the fair _Julie d'Angennes_, who bestowed not +her hand on the _Duc de Montausier_ until he had served as many years +in seeking it as Jacob had served to gain that of Rachel, and until she +had passed her thirtieth year (in order that his passion should become +as purified from all grossness, as was the language spoken among the +circle in which she lived), receiving with dignified reserve the finely +painted flowers and poems to illustrate them, which formed the +celebrated _Guirlande de Julie_, presented to her by her courtly +admirer. + +I see pass before me the fair and elegant dames of that galaxy of wit +and beauty, Mesdames de Longueville, Lafayette, and de Svign, +fluttering their fans as they listened and replied to the gallant +compliments of Voiture, Mnage, Chapelain, Desmarets, or De Raux, or +to the _spirituelle causerie_ of Chamfort. + +What a pity that a society, no less useful than brilliant at its +commencement, should have degenerated into a coterie, remarkable at +last but for its fantastic and false notions of refinement, exhibited +in a manner that deserved the ridicule it called down! + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + + +Spent last evening in the Rue d'Anjou: met there la Marquise de +Pouleprie, and the usual _habitus_. She is a delightful person; for +age has neither chilled the warmth of her heart, nor impaired the +vivacity of her manners. I had heard much of her; for she is greatly +beloved by the Duchesse de Guiche and all the De Gramont family; and +she, knowing their partiality to me, treated me rather as an old than +as a new acquaintance. + +Talking of old times, to which the Duc de Gramont reverted, the +Marquise mentioned having seen the celebrated Madame du Barry in the +garden at Versailles, when she (the Marquise) was a very young girl. +She described her as having a most animated and pleasant countenance, +_un petit nez retrouss_, brilliant eyes, full red lips, and as being +altogether a very attractive person. + +The Marquise de Pouleprie accompanied the French royal family to +England, and remained with them there during the emigration. She told +me that once going through the streets of London in a carriage, with +the French king, during an election at Westminster, the mob, ignorant +of his rank, insisted that he and his servants should take off their +hats, and cry out "Long live Sir Francis Burdett!" which his majesty +did with great good humour, and laughed heartily after. + +Went last night to see Mademoiselle Mars, in "Valrie." It was a +finished performance, and worthy of her high reputation. Never was +there so musical a voice as hers! Every tone of it goes direct to the +heart, and its intonations soothe and charm the ear. Her countenance, +too, is peculiarly expressive. Even when her eyes, in the _rle_ she +enacted last night, were fixed, and supposed to be sightless, her +countenance was still beautiful. There is a harmony in its various +expressions that accords perfectly with her clear, soft, and liquid +voice; and the united effect of both these attractions renders her +irresistible. + +Never did Art so strongly resemble Nature as in the acting of this +admirable _artiste_. She identifies herself so completely with the part +she performs, that she not only believes herself for the time being the +heroine she represents, but makes others do so too. There was not a dry +eye in the whole of the female part of the audience last night--a +homage to her power that no other actress on the French stage could now +command. + +The style, too, of Mademoiselle Mars' acting is the most difficult of +all; because there is no exaggeration, no violence in it. The same +difference exists between it and that of other actresses, as between a +highly finished portrait and a glaringly coloured transparency. The +feminine, the graceful, and the natural, are never lost sight of for a +moment. + +The French are admirable critics of acting, and are keenly alive to the +beauties of a chaste and finished style, like that of Mademoiselle +Mars. In Paris there is no playing to the galleries, and for a simple +reason:--the occupants of the galleries here are as fastidious as those +of the boxes, and any thing like outraging nature would be censured by +them: whereas, in other countries, the broad and the exaggerated almost +invariably find favour with the gods. + +The same pure and refined taste that characterises the acting of +Mademoiselle Mars presides also over her toilette, which is always +appropriate and becoming. + +Accustomed to the agreeable mixture of literary men in London society, +I observe, with regret, their absence in that of Paris. I have +repeatedly questioned people why this is, but have never been able to +obtain a satisfactory answer. It tells much against the good taste of +those who can give the tone to society here, that literary men should +be left out of it; and if the latter _will_ not mingle with the +aristocratic circles they are to blame, for the union of both is +advantageous to the interests of each. + +Parisian society is very exclusive, and is divided into small coteries, +into which a stranger finds it difficult to become initiated. Large +routes are rare, and not at all suited to the tastes of the French +people; who comment with merriment, if not with ridicule, on the +evening parties in London, where the rooms being too small to contain +half the guests invited, the stairs and ante-rooms are filled by a +crowd, in which not only the power of conversing, but almost of +respiring is impeded. + +The French ladies attribute the want of freshness so remarkable in the +toilettes of Englishwomen, to their crowded routes, and the knowledge +of its being impossible for a robe, or at least of a greater portion of +one than covers a bust, to be seen; which induces the fair wearers to +economise, by rarely indulging in new dresses. + +At Paris certain ladies of distinction open their _salons_, on one +evening of each week, to a circle of their acquaintances, not too +numerous to banish that ease and confidence which form the delight of +society. Each lady takes an evening for her receptions, and no one +interferes with her arrangements by giving a party on the same night. +The individuals of each circle are thus in the habit of being +continually in each other's society; consequently the etiquette and +formality, so _gnant_ among acquaintances who seldom meet, are +banished. + +To preserve the charm of these unceremonious _runions_, strangers are +seldom admitted to them, but are invited to the balls, dinners, or +large parties, where they see French people _en grande lenue_, both in +dress and manner, instead of penetrating into the more agreeable +parties to which I have referred, where the graceful _nglig_ of a +_demi-toilette_ prevails, and the lively _causerie_ of the _habitus de +la maison_ supersedes the constraint of ceremony. + +Such a society is precisely the sort of one that literary men would, I +should suppose, like to mingle in, to unbend their minds from graver +studies, and yet not pass their time unprofitably; for in it, politics, +literature, and the fine arts, generally furnish the topics of +conversation: from which, however, the warmth of discussion, which too +frequently renders politics a prohibited subject, is excluded, or the +pedantry that sometimes spoils literary _causerie_ is banished. + +French people, male and female, talk well; give their opinions with +readiness and vivacity; often striking out ideas as original as they +are brilliant; highly suggestive to more profound thinkers, but which +they dispense with as much prodigality as a spendthrift throws away his +small coin, conscious of having more at his disposal. Quick of +perception, they jump, rather than march, to a conclusion, at which an +Englishman or a German would arrive leisurely, enabled to tell all the +particulars of the route, but which the Frenchman would know little of +from having arrived by some shorter road. This quickness of perception +exempts them from the necessity of devoting much of the time and study +which the English or Germans employ in forming opinions, but it also +precludes their being able to reason as justly or as gravely on those +they form. + +Walked in the gardens of the Tuileries to-day. What a contrast their +frequenters offer to those of the Luxembourg! In the Tuileries, the +promenaders look as if they only walked there to display their tasteful +dresses and pretty persons. + +The women eye each other as they pass, and can tell at a glance whether +their respective _chapeaux_ have come from the _atelier_ of Herbault, +or the less _recherc magasin de modes_ of some more humble _modiste_. +How rapidly can they see whether the Cashmere shawl of some passing +dame owes its rich but sober tints to an Indian loom, or to the fabric +of M. Ternaux, who so skilfully imitates the exotic luxury; and what a +difference does the circumstance make in their estimation of the +wearer! The beauty of a woman, however great it may be, excites less +envy in the minds of her own sex in France, than does the possession of +a fine Cashmere, or a _garniture_ of real Russian sable--objects of +general desire to every Parisian _belle_. + +I met few handsome women to-day, but these few were remarkably +striking. In Kensington Gardens I should have encountered thrice as +many; but there I should also have seen more plain ones than here. Not +that Englishwomen _en masse_ are not better-looking than the French, +but that these last are so skilful in concealing defects, and revealing +beauties by the appropriateness and good taste in their choice of +dress, that even the plain cease to appear so; and many a woman looks +piquant, if not pretty, at Paris, thanks to her _modiste_, her +_couturire_, and her _cordonnier_, who, without their "artful aid," +would be plain indeed. + +It is pleasant to behold groups of well-dressed women walking, as only +French women ever do walk, nimbly moving their little feet _bien +chauss_, and with an air half timid, half _espigle_, that elicits the +admiration they affect to avoid. The rich and varied material of their +robes, the pretty _chapeaux_, from which peep forth such coquettish +glances, the modest assurance--for their self-possession amounts +precisely to that--and the ease and elegance of their carriage, give +them attractions we might seek for in vain in the women of other +countries, however superior these last may be in beauty of complexion +or roundness of _contour_, for which French women in general are not +remarkable. + +The men who frequent the gardens of the Tuileries are of a different +order to those met with in the Luxembourg. They consist chiefly of +military men and young fashionables, who go to admire the pretty women, +and elderly and middle-aged ones, who meet in knots and talk politics +with all the animation peculiar to their nation. Children do not abound +in the walks here, as in the Luxembourg; and those to be seen are +evidently brought by some fond mother, proud of exhibiting her boys and +girls in their smart dresses. + +The Tuileries Gardens, so beautiful in summer, are not without their +attractions in winter. The trees, though leafless, look well, rearing +their tall branches towards the clear sky, and the statues and vases +seen through vistas of evergreen shrubs, with the gilded railing which +gives back the rays of the bright, though cold sun, and the rich +velvets of every hue in which the women are enveloped, giving them the +appearance of moving _parterres_ of dahlias, all render the scene a +very exhilarating one to the spirits. + +I observe a difference in the usages _de moeurs_ at Paris, and in those +of London, of which an ignorance might lead to give offence. In +England, a lady is expected to bow to a gentleman before he presumes to +do so to her, thus leaving her the choice of acknowledging his +acquaintance, or not; but in France it is otherwise, for a man takes +off his hat to every woman whom he has ever met in society, although he +does not address her, unless she encourages him to do so. + +In Paris, if two men are walking or riding together, and one of them +bows to a lady of his acquaintance, the other also takes off his hat, +as a mark of respect to the lady known to his friend, although he is +not acquainted with her. The mode of salutation is also much more +deferential towards women in France than in England. The hat is held a +second longer off the head, the bow is lower, and the smile of +recognition is more _amiable_, by which, I mean, that it is meant to +display the pleasure experienced by the meeting. + +It is true that the really well-bred Englishmen are not to be surpassed +in politeness and good manners by those of any other country, but all +are not such; and I have seen instances of men in London acknowledging +the presence of ladies, by merely touching, instead of taking off, +their hats when bowing to them; and though I accounted for this +solecism in good breeding by the belief that it proceeded from the +persons practising it wearing wigs, I discovered that there was not +even so good an excuse as the fear of deranging them, and that their +incivility proceeded from ignorance, or _nonchalance_, while the glum +countenance of him who bowed betrayed rather a regret for the necessity +of touching his beaver, than a pleasure at meeting her for whom the +salute was intended. + +Time flies away rapidly here, and its flight seems to me to mark two +distinct states of existence. My mornings are devoted wholly to reading +history, poetry, or _belles lettres_, which abstract me so completely +from the actual present to the past, that the hours so disposed of +appear to be the actual life, and those given up to society the shadowy +and unreal. + +This forcible contrast between the two portions of the same day, gives +charms to both, though I confess the hours passed in my library are +those which leave behind them the pleasantest reflections. I +experienced this sentiment when in the hey-day of youth, and surrounded +by some of the most gifted persons in England; but now, as age +advances, the love of solitude and repose increases, and a life spent +in study appears to me to be the one of all others the most desirable, +as the enjoyment of the best thoughts of the best authors is preferable +even to their conversation, could it be had, and, consequently to that +of the cleverest men to be met with in society. + +Some pleasant people dined here yesterday. Among them was Colonel +Caradoc, the son of our old friend Lord Howden. He possesses great and +versatile information, is good-looking, well-bred, and has superior +abilities; in short, he has all the means, and appliances to boot, to +make a distinguished figure, in life, if he lacks not the ambition and +energy to use them; but, born to station and fortune, he may want the +incitement which the absence of these advantages furnishes, and be +content to enjoy the good he already has, instead of seeking greater +distinction. + +Colonel Caradoc's conversation is brilliant and epigrammatic; and if +occasionally a too evident consciousness of his own powers is suffered +to be revealed in it, those who know it to be well-founded will pardon +his self-complacency, and not join with the persons, and they are not +few, whose _amour-propre_ is wounded by the display of his, and who +question, what really is not questionable, the foundation on which his +pretensions are based. + +The clever, like the handsome, to be pardoned for being so, should +affect a humility they are but too seldom in the habit of feeling; and +to acquire popularity must appear unconscious of meriting it. This is +one of the many penalties entailed on the gifted in mind or person. + +_January 1st_, 1829.--There is always something grave, if not awful, in +the opening of a new year; for who knows what may occur to render it +memorable for ever! If the bygone one has been marked by aught sad, the +arrival of the new reminds one of the lapse of time; and though the +destroyer brings patience, we sigh to think that we may have new +occasions for its difficult exercise. Who can forbear from trembling +lest the opening year may find us at its close with a lessened circle. +Some, now dear and confided in, may become estranged, or one dearer +than life may be snatched away whose place never can be supplied! The +thought is too painful to be borne, and makes one look around with +increased affection on those dear to us. + +The custom prevalent at Paris of offering an exchange of gifts on the +first day of the new year was, perhaps, originally intended to banish +the melancholy reflections such an epoch is calculated to awaken. + +My tables are so crowded with gifts that I might set up a _petit +Dunkerque_ of my own, for not a single friend has omitted to send me a +present. These gifts are to be acknowledged by ones of similar value, +and I must go and put my taste to the test in selecting _cadeaux_ to +send in return. + +Spent several hours yesterday in the gallery of the Louvre. The +collection of antiquities, though a very rich, one, dwindles into +insignificance when compared with that of the Vatican, and the halls in +which it is arranged appear mean in the eyes of those accustomed to see +the numerous and splendid ones of the Roman edifice. Nevertheless, I +felt much satisfaction in lounging through groups of statues, and busts +of the remarkable men and women of antiquity, with the countenances of +many of whom I had made myself familiar in the Vatican, the Muse of +the Capitol, or in the collection at Naples, where facsimiles of +several of them are to be found. + +Nor had I less pleasure in contemplating the personifications of the +_beau idal_ of the ancient sculptors, exhibited in their gods and +goddesses, in whose faultless faces the expression of all passion seems +to have been carefully avoided. Whether this peculiarity is to be +accounted for by the desire of the artist to signify the superiority of +the Pagan divinities over mortals, by this absence of any trace of +earthly feelings, or whether it was thought that any decided expression +might deteriorate from the character of repose and beauty that marks +the works of the great sculptors of antiquity, I know not, but the +effect produced on my mind by the contemplation of these calm and +beautiful faces, has something so soothing in it, that I can well +imagine with what pleasure those engaged in the turmoils of war, or the +scarcely less exciting arena of politics, in former ages, must have +turned from their mundane cares to look on these personations of their +fabled deities, whose tranquil beauty forms so soothing a contrast to +mortal toils. + +I have observed this calmness of expression in the faces of many of the +most celebrated statues of antiquity, in the Aristides at Naples, I +remember being struck with it, and noticing that he who was banished +through the envy excited by his being styled the Just, was represented +as unmoved as if the injustice of his countrymen no more affected the +even tenour of his mind, than the passions of mortals disturb those of +the mythological divinities of the ancients. + +A long residence in Italy, and a habit of frequenting the galleries +containing the finest works of art there, engender a love of sculpture +and painting, that renders it not only a luxury but almost a necessary +of life to pass some hours occasionally among the all but breathing +marbles and glorious pictures bequeathed to posterity by the mighty +artists of old. I love to pass such hours alone, or in the society of +some one as partial, but more skilled in such studies than myself; and +such a companion I have found in the Baron de Cailleux, an old +acquaintance, and now Under-Director of the Muse, whose knowledge of +the fine arts equals his love for them. + +The contemplation of the _chefs-d'uvre_ of the old masters begets a +tender melancholy in the mind, that is not without a charm for those +addicted to it. These stand the results of long lives devoted to the +developement of the genius that embodied these inspirations, and left +to the world the fruit of hours of toil and seclusion,--hours snatched +from the tempting pleasures that cease not to court the senses, but +which they who laboured for posterity resisted. The long vigils, the +solitary days, the hopes and fears, the fears more frequent than the +hopes, the depression of spirits, and the injustice or the indifference +of contemporaries, endured by all who have ever devoted their lives to +art, are present to my mind when I behold the great works of other +times. + +What cheered these men of genius during their toils and enabled them to +finish their glorious works? Was it not the hope that from posterity +they would meet with the admiration, the sympathy, denied them by their +contemporaries?--as the prisoner in his gloomy dungeon, refused all +pity, seeks consolation by tracing a few lines on its dreary walls, in +appeal to the sympathy of some future inhabitant who may be doomed to +take his place. + +I seem to be paying a portion of the debt due by posterity to those who +laboured long and painfully for it, when I stand rapt in admiration +before the works of the great masters of the olden time, my heart +touched with a lively sympathy for their destinies; nor can I look on +the glorious faces or glowing landscapes that remain to us, evincing +the triumph of genius over even time itself, by preserving on canvass +the semblance of all that charmed in nature, without experiencing the +sentiment so naturally and beautifully expressed in the celebrated +picture, by Nicolas Poussin, of a touching scene in Arcadia, in which +is a tomb near to which two shepherds are reading the inscription. "I, +too, was an Arcadian." + +Yes, that which delighted the artists of old, they have transmitted to +us with a tender confidence that when contemplating these bequests we +would remember with sympathy that they, like us, had felt the charms +they delineated. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + + +Went to see the Htel d'Orsay, to-day. Even in its ruin it still +retains many of the vestiges of its former splendour. The _salle +manger_, for the decoration of which its owner bought, and had conveyed +from Rome, the columns of the Temple of Nero, is now--hear it, ye who +have taste!--converted into a stable; the _salons_, once filled with +the most precious works of art, are now crumbled to decay, and the vast +garden where bloomed the rarest exotics, and in which were several of +the statues that are now in the gardens of the Tuileries, is now turned +into paddocks for horses. + +It made me sad to look at this scene of devastation, the result of a +revolution which plunged so many noble families from almost boundless +wealth into comparative poverty, and scattered collections of the works +of art that whole lives were passed in forming. I remember Mr. +Millingen, the antiquary, telling me in Italy that when yet little more +than a boy he was taken to view the Htel d'Orsay, then one of the most +magnificent houses in Paris, and containing the finest collection of +pictures and statues, and that its splendour made such an impression on +his mind that he had never forgotten it. + +With an admirable taste and a princely fortune, Count d'Orsay spared +neither trouble nor expense to render his house the focus of all that +was rich and rare; and, with a spirit that does not always animate the +possessor of rare works of art, he opened it to the young artists of +the day, who were permitted to study in its gallery and _salons_. + +In the slate drawing-rooms a fanciful notion of the Count's was carried +into effect and was greatly admired, though, I believe, owing to the +great expense, the mode was not adopted in other houses, namely, on the +folding-doors of the suite being thrown open to admit company, certain +pedals connected with them were put in motion, and a strain of music +was produced, which announced the presence of guests, and the doors of +each of the drawing-rooms when opened took up the air, and continued it +until closed. + +Many of the old _noblesse_ have been describing the splendour of the +Htel d'Orsay to me since I have been at Paris, and the Duc de +Talleyrand said it almost realised the notion of a fairy palace. Could +the owner who expended such vast sums on its decoration, behold it in +its present ruin, he could never recognise it; but such would be the +case with many a one whose stately palaces became the prey of a furious +rabble, let loose to pillage by a revolution--that most fearful of all +calamities, pestilence only excepted, that can befall a country. + +General Ornano, his stepson Count Waleski, M. Achille La Marre, General +d'Orsay, and Mr. Francis Baring dined here yesterday. General Ornano is +agreeable and well-mannered. We had music in the evening, and the +lively and pretty Madame la H---- came. She is greatly admired, and no +wonder; for she is not only handsome, but clever and piquant. Hers does +not appear to be a well-assorted marriage, for M. la H---- is grave, if +not austere, in his manners, while she is full of gaiety and vivacity, +the demonstrations of which seem to give him any thing but pleasure. + +I know not which is most to be pitied, a saturnine husband whose +gravity is only increased by the gaiety of his wife, or the gay wife +whose exuberance of spirits finds no sympathy in the Mentor-like +husband. Half, if not all, the unhappy marriages, accounted for by +incompatibility of humour, might with more correctness be attributed to +a total misunderstanding of each other's characters and dispositions in +the parties who drag a heavy and galling chain through life, the links +of which might be rendered light and easy to be borne, if the wearers +took but half the pains to comprehend each other's peculiarities that +they in general do to reproach or to resent the annoyance these +peculiarities occasion them. + +An austere man would learn that the gaiety of his wife was as natural +and excusable a peculiarity in her, as was his gravity in him, and +consequently would not resent it; and the lively wife would view the +saturnine humour of her husband as a malady demanding forbearance and +kindness. + +The indissolubility of marriage, so often urged as an additional cause +for aggravating the sense of annoyance experienced by those wedded but +unsuited to each other, is, in my opinion, one of the strongest motives +for using every endeavour to render the union supportable, if not +agreeable. If a dwelling known to be unalienable has some defect which +makes it unsuited to the taste of its owner, he either ameliorates it, +or, if that be impracticable, he adopts the resolution of supporting +its inconvenience with patience; so should a philosophical mind bear +all that displeases in a union in which even the most fortunate find +"something to pity or forgive." It is unfortunate that this same +philosophy, considered so excellent a panacea for enabling us to bear +ills, should be so rarely used that people can seldom judge of its +efficacy when required! + +Saw _la Gazza Ladra_ last night, in which Malibran enacted "Ninetta," +and added new laurels to the wreath accorded her by public opinion. Her +singing in the duo, in the prison scene, was one of the most touching +performances I ever heard; and her acting gave a fearful reality to the +picture. + +I have been reading the _Calamities of Authors_ all the morning, and +find I like the book even better on a second perusal--no mean praise, +for the first greatly pleased me. So it is with all the works of Mr. +D'Israeli, who writes _con amore_; and not only with a profound +knowledge of his subjects, but with a deep sympathy, which peeps forth +at every line, for the literary men whose troubles or peculiarities he +describes. + +His must be a fine nature--a contemplative mind imbued with a true love +of literature, and a kindness of heart that melts and makes those of +others melt, for the evils to which its votaries are exposed. + +How much are those who like reading, but are too idle for research, +indebted to Mr. D'Israeli, who has given them the precious result of a +long life of study, so admirably digested and beautifully conveyed that +in a few volumes are condensed a mass of the most valuable information! +I never peruse a production of his without longing to be personally +acquainted with him; and, though we never met, I entertain a regard and +respect for him, induced by the many pleasant hours his works have +afforded me. + +Met the Princesse de Talleyrand last night at Madame C----'s. I felt +curious to see this lady, of whom I had heard such various reports; +and, as usual, found her very different to the descriptions I had +received. + +She came _en princesse_, attended by two _dames de compagnie_, and a +gentleman who acted as _chambellan_. Though her _embonpoint_ has not +only destroyed her shape but has also deteriorated her face, the small +features of which seem imbued in a mask much too fleshy for their +proportions, it is easy to see that in her youth she must have been +handsome. Her complexion is fair; her hair, judging from the eye-brows +and eye-lashes, must have been very light; her eyes are blue; her nose, +_retrouss_; her mouth small, with full lips; and the expression of her +countenance is agreeable, though not intellectual. + +In her demeanour there is an evident assumption of dignity, which, +falling short of the aim, gives an ungraceful stiffness to her +appearance. Her dress was rich but suited to her age, which I should +pronounce to be about sixty. Her manner has the formality peculiar to +those conscious of occupying a higher station than their birth or +education entitles them to hold; and this consciousness gives an air of +constraint and reserve that curiously contrasts with the natural +good-humour and _navet_ that are frequently perceptible in her. + +If ignorant--as is asserted--there is no symptom of it in her language. +To be sure, she says little; but that little is expressed with +propriety: and if reserved, she is scrupulously polite. Her _dames de +compagnie_ and _chambellan_ treat her with profound respect, and she +acknowledges their attentions with civility. To sum up all, the +impression made upon me by the Princesse Talleyrand was, that she +differed in no way from any other princess I had ever met, except by a +greater degree of reserve and formality than were in general evinced by +them. + +I could not help smiling inwardly when looking at her, as I remembered +Baron Denon's amusing story of the mistake she once made. When the +Baron's work on Egypt was the topic of general conversation, and the +htel of the Prince Talleyrand was the rendezvous of the most +distinguished persons of both sexes at Paris, Denon being engaged to +dine there one day, the Prince wished the Princesse to read a few pages +of the book, in order that she might be enabled to say something +complimentary on it to the author. He consequently ordered his +librarian to send the work to her apartment on the morning of the day +of the dinner; but, unfortunately, at the same time also commanded that +a copy of _Robinson Crusoe_ should be sent to a young lady, a +_protge_ of hers, who resided in the htel. The Baron Denon's work, +through mistake, was given to Mademoiselle, and _Robinson Crusoe_ was +delivered to the Princesse, who rapidly looked through its pages. + +The seat of honour at table being assigned to the Baron, the Princesse, +mindful of her husband's wishes, had no sooner eaten her soup than, +smiling graciously, she thanked Denon for the pleasure which the +perusal of his work had afforded her. The author was pleased, and told +her how much he felt honoured; but judge of his astonishment, and the +dismay of the Prince Talleyrand, when the Princesse exclaimed. "Yes, +Monsieur le Baron, your work has delighted me; but I am longing to know +what has become of your poor man Friday, about whom I feel such an +interest?" + +Denon used to recount this anecdote with great spirit, confessing at +the same time that his _amour propre_ as an author had been for a +moment flattered by the commendation, even of a person universally +known to be incompetent to pronounce on the merit of his book. The +Emperor Napoleon heard this story, and made Baron Denon repeat it to +him, laughing immoderately all the time, and frequently after he would, +when he saw Denon, inquire "how was poor Friday?" + +When the second restoration of the Bourbons took place, the Prince +Talleyrand, anxious to separate from the Princesse, and to get her out +of his house, induced her, under the pretence that a change of air was +absolutely necessary for her health, to go to England for some months. +She had only been there a few weeks when a confidential friend at Paris +wrote to inform her that from certain rumours afloat it was quite clear +the Prince did not intend her to take up her abode again in his house, +and advised her to return without delay. The Princesse instantly +adopted this counsel, and arrived most unexpectedly in the Rue +St.-Florentin, to the alarm and astonishment of the whole establishment +there, who had been taught not to look for her entering the htel any +more; and to the utter dismay of the Prince, who, however anxious to be +separated from her, dreaded a scene of violence still more than he +wished to be released from his conjugal chains. + +She forced her admission to his presence, overwhelmed him with +reproaches, and it required the exercise of all his diplomatic skill to +allay the storm he had raised. The affair became the general topic of +conversation at Paris; and when, the day after the event, the Prince +waited on Louis the Eighteenth on affairs of state, the King, who loved +a joke, congratulated him on the unexpected arrival of Madame la +Princesse. + +Prince Talleyrand felt the sarcasm, and noticed it by one of those +smiles so peculiar to him--a shake of the head and shrug of the +shoulders, while he uttered "_Que voulez-vous, Sire, chacun a son vingt +Mars_?" referring to the unexpected arrival of the Emperor Napoleon. + +I have been reading _Yes and No_, a very clever and, interesting novel +from the pen of Lord Normanby. His writings evince great knowledge of +the world, the work-o'-day world, as well as the _beau monde_; yet +there is no bitterness in his satire, which is always just and happily +pointed. His style, too, is easy, fluent, and polished, without being +disfigured by the slightest affectation or pedantry. + +Had a long visit to-day from Dr. P----, who has lent me the works of +Bichat and Broussais, which he recommends me to read. He is a most +agreeable companion, and as vivacious as if he was only twenty. He +reminds me sometimes of my old friend Lady Dysart, whose juvenility of +mind and manner always pleased as much as it surprised me. + +Old people like these appear to forget, as they are forgotten by, time; +and, like trees marked to be cut down, but which escape the memory of +the marker, they continue to flourish though the lines traced for their +destruction are visible. + +The more I see of Count Waleski the more I am pleased with him. He has +an acute mind, great quickness of perception, and exceedingly good +manners. I always consider it a good sign of a young man to be partial +to the society of the old, and I observe that Count Waleski evinces a +preference for that of men old enough to be his father. People are not +generally aware of the advantages which agreeable manners confer, and +the influence they exercise over society. I have seen great abilities +fail in producing the effect accomplished by prepossessing manners, +which are even more serviceable to their owner than is a fine +countenance, that best of all letters of recommendation. + +Half the unpopularity of people proceeds from a disagreeable manner; +and though we may be aware of the good qualities of persons who have +this defect, we cannot conceal from ourselves that it must always +originate in a want of the desire to please--a want, the evidence of +which cannot fail to wound the self-love of those who detect, and +indispose them towards those who betray it. By a disagreeable manner I +do not mean the awkwardness often arising from timidity, or the too +great familiarity originating in untutored good nature: but I refer to +a superciliousness, or coldness, that marks a sense of superiority; or +to a habit of contradiction, that renders society what it should never +be--an arena of debate. + +How injudicious are those who defend their absent friends, when accused +of having disagreeable manners, by saying, as I have often heard +persons say--"I assure you that he or she can be very agreeable with +those he or she likes:" an assertion which, by implying that the person +accused did not like those who complained of the bad manner, converts +them from simple disapprovers into something approaching to enemies. + +I had once occasion to notice the fine tact of a friend of mine, who, +hearing a person he greatly esteemed censured for his disagreeable +manner, answered, + + "Yes, it is very true: with a thousand good qualities his + manner is very objectionable, even with those he likes best: + it is his misfortune, and he cannot help it; but those who + know him well will pardon it." + +This candid admission of what could not be refuted, checked all further +censure at the moment, whereas an injudicious defence would have +lengthened it; and I heard some of the individuals then present assert, +a few days subsequently, that Lord ---- was not, after all, by any +means to be disliked: for that his manners were equally objectionable +even with his most esteemed friends, and consequently meant nothing +uncivil to strangers. + +I tried this soothing system the other day in defence of ----, when a +whole circle were attacking him for his rude habit of contradicting, by +asserting, with a grave face, that he only contradicted those whose +talents he suspected, in order that he might draw them out in +discussion. + +---- came in soon after, and it was positively amusing to observe how +much better people bore his contradiction. Madame ---- only smiled +when, having asserted that it was a remarkably fine day, he declared it +to be abominable. The Duc de ---- looked gracious when, having repeated +some political news, ---- said he could prove the contrary to be the +fact; and the Comtesse de ---- looked archly round when, having +extravagantly praised a new novel, he pronounced that it was the worst +of all the bad ones of the author. + +---- will become a popular man, and have to thank me for it. How angry +would he be if he knew the service I have rendered him, and how quickly +would he contradict all I said in his favour! ---- reminds me of the +Englishman of whom it was said, that so great was his love of +contradiction, that when the hour of the night and state of the weather +were announced by the watchman beneath his window, he used to get out +of bed and raise both his casement and his voice to protest against the +accuracy of the statement. + +Read _Pelham_; commenced it yesterday, and concluded it to-day. It is a +new style of novel, and, like all that is very clever, will lead to +many copyists. The writer possesses a felicitous fluency of language, +profound and just thoughts, and a knowledge of the world rarely +acquired at his age, for I am told he is a very young man. + +This work combines pointed and pungent satire on the follies of +society, a deep vein of elevated sentiment, and a train of +philosophical thinking, seldom, if ever, allied to the tenderness which +pierces through the sentimental part. The opening reminded me of that +of _Anastatius_, without being in the slightest degree an imitation; +and many of the passages recalled Voltaire, by their wit and terseness. + +I, who don't like reading novels, heard so much in favour of this +one--for all Paris talk of it--that I broke through a resolution formed +since I read the dull book of ----, to read no more; and I am glad I +did so, for this clever book has greatly interested me. + +Oh, the misery of having stupid books presented to one by the author! +----, who is experienced in such matters, told me that the best plan in +such cases was, to acknowledge the receipt of the book the same day it +arrived, and civilly express the pleasure anticipated from its perusal, +by which means the necessity of praising a bad book was avoided. This +system has, however, been so generally adopted of late, that authors +are dissatisfied with it; and, consequently, a good-natured person +often feels compelled to write commendations of books which he or she +is far from approving; and which, though it costs an effort to write, +are far from satisfying the _exigeant amour propre_ peculiar to +authors. + +I remember once being present when the merits of a book were canvassed. +One person declared it to be insufferably dull, when another, who had +published some novel, observed, with rather a supercilious air, "You +know not how difficult it is to write a good book!" + +"I suppose it must be very difficult," was the answer, "seeing how long +and how often you have attempted, without succeeding." + +How these letters of commendations of bad books, extorted from those to +whom the authors present them, will rise up in judgment against the +writers, when they are "gone to that bourne whence no traveller +returns!" I tremble to think of it! What severe animadversions on the +bad taste, or the want of candour of the writers, and all because they +were too good-natured to give pain to the authors! + +Went to the Thtre Italien last night, and saw Malibran in _la +Cenerentola_, in which her acting was no less admirable than her +singing. She sang "Non pi Mesta" better than I ever heard it before, +and astonished as well as delighted the audience. She has a soul and +spirit in her style that carries away her hearers, as no other singer +does, and excites an enthusiasm seldom, if ever, equalled. Malibran +seems to be as little mistress of her own emotions when singing, as +those are whom her thrilling voice melts into softness, or wakes into +passion. Every tone is pregnant with feeling, and every glance and +attitude instinct with truthful emotion. + +A custom prevails in France, which is not practised in Italy, or in +England, namely, _les lettres de faire part_, sent to announce deaths, +marriages, and births, to the circle of acquaintances of the parties. +This formality is never omitted, and these printed letters are sent out +to all on the visiting lists, except relations, or very intimate +friends, to whom autograph letters are addressed. + +Another custom also prevails, which is that of sending _bonbons_ to the +friends and acquaintance of the _accouche_. These sweet proofs +_d'amiti_ come pouring in frequently, and I confess I do not dislike +the usage. + +The godfather always sends the _bonbons_ and a trinket to the mother of +the child, and also presents the godmother with a _corbeille_, in which +are some dozens of gloves, two or three handsome fans, embroidered +purses, a smelling-bottle, and a _vinaigrette_; and she offers him, _en +revanche_, a cane, buttons, or a pin--in short, some present. The +_corbeilles_ given to godmothers are often very expensive, being suited +to the rank of the parties; so that in Paris the compliment of being +selected as a godfather entails no trifling expense on the chosen. The +great prices given for wedding _trousseaux_ in France, even by those +who are not rich, surprise me, I confess. + +They contain a superabundance of every article supposed to be necessary +for the toilette of a _nouvelle marie_, from the rich robes of velvet +down to the simple _peignoir de matin_. Dresses of every description +and material, and for all seasons, are found in it. Cloaks, furs, +Cashmere shawls, and all that is required for night or day use, are +liberally supplied; indeed, so much so, that to see one of these +_trousseaux_, one might imagine the person for whom it was intended was +going to pass her life in some far-distant clime, where there would be +no hope of finding similar articles, if ever wanted. + +Then comes the _corbeille de mariage_, well stored with the finest +laces, the most delicately embroidered pocket handkerchiefs, veils, +_fichus, chemisettes_ and _canezous_, trinkets, smelling-bottles, fans, +_vinaigrettes_, gloves, garters; and though last, not least, a purse +well filled to meet the wants or wishes of the bride,--a judicious +attention never omitted. + +These _trousseaux_ and _corbeilles_ are placed in a _salon_, and are +exhibited to the friends the two or three days previously to the +wedding; and the view of them often sends young maidens--ay, and +elderly ones, too--away with an anxious desire to enter that holy state +which ensures so many treasures. It is not fair to hold out such +temptations to the unmarried, and may be the cause why they are +generally so desirous to quit the pale of single blessedness. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + + +Count Charles de Mornay dined here yesterday, _en famille_. How clever +and amusing he is! Even in his liveliest sallies there is the evidence +of a mind that can reflect deeply, as well as clothe its thoughts in +the happiest language. To be witty, yet thoroughly good-natured as he +is, never exercising his wit at the expense of others, indicates no +less kindness of heart than talent. + +I know few things more agreeable than to hear him and his cousin open +the armoury of their wit, which, like summer lightning, flashes rapidly +and brightly, but never wounds. In England, we are apt to consider wit +and satire as nearly synonymous; for we hear of the clever sayings of +our reputed wits, in nine cases out of ten, allied to some ill-natured +_bon mot_, or pointed epigram. In France this is not the case, for some +of the most witty men, and women too, whom I ever knew, are as +remarkable for their good nature as for their cleverness. That wit +which needs not the spur of malice is certainly the best, and is most +frequently met with at Paris. + +Went last evening to see Mademoiselle Marsin _Henri III_. Her acting +was, as usual, inimitable. I was disappointed in the piece, of which I +had heard much praise. It is what the French call _dcousue_, but is +interesting as a picture of the manners of the times which it +represents. There is no want of action or bustle in it; on the +contrary, it abounds in incidents: but they are, for the most part, +puerile. As in our own _Othello_, a pocket handkerchief leads to the +_dnouement_, reminding one of the truth of the verse,-- + + "What great events from trivial causes spring!" + +The whole court of Henry the Third are brought on the scene, and with +an attention to costume to be found only in a Parisian theatre. The +strict attention to costume, and to all the other accessories +appertaining to the epoch, _mise en scne_, is very advantageous to the +pieces brought out here; but, even should they fail to give or preserve +an illusion, it is always highly interesting as offering a _tableau du +costume, et des moeurs des sicles passs_. The crowd brought on the +stage in _Henri III_, though it adds to the splendour of the scenic +effect, produces a confusion in the plot; as does also the vast number +of names and titles introduced during the scenes, which fatigue the +attention and defy the memory of the spectators. + +The fierce "Duc de Guise," the slave at once of two passions, generally +considered to be the most incompatible, Love and Ambition, is made to +commit strange inconsistencies. "Sant-Mgrin" excites less interest +than he ought; but the "Duchesse de Guise," whose beautiful arm plays a +_grand rle_, must, as played by Mademoiselle Mars, have conquered all +hearts _vi et armis_. + +_Henri III_ has the most brilliant success, and, in despite of some +faults, is full of genius, and the language is vigorous. Perhaps its +very faults are to be attributed to an excess, rather than to a want, +of power, and to a mind overflowing with a knowledge of the times he +wished to represent; which led to a dilution of the strength of his +scenes, by crowding into them too much extraneous matter. + +A curious incident occurred during the representation. Two +ladies--_gentlewomen_ they could not be correctly styled--being seated +in the _balcon_, were brought in closer contact, whether by the crowd, +or otherwise, than was agreeable to them. From remonstrances they +proceeded to murmurs, not only "loud, but deep," and from +murmurs--"tell it not in Ascalon, publish it not in Gath"--to violent +pushing, and, at length, to blows. The audience were, as well they +might be, shocked; the _Gendarmes_ interfered, and order was soon +restored. The extreme propriety of conduct that invariably prevails in +a Parisian audience, and more especially in the female portion of it, +renders the circumstance I have narrated remarkable. + +Met Lady G., Lady H., and the usual circle of _habitus_ last night at +Madame C----'s. The first-mentioned lady surprises me every time I meet +her, by the exaggeration of her sentiment and the romantic notions she +entertains. Love, eternal love, is her favourite topic of conversation; +a topic unsuited to discussion at her age and in her position. + +To hear a woman, no longer young, talking passionately of love, has +something so absurd in it, that I am pained for Lady C., who is really +a kind-hearted and amiable woman. Her definitions of the passion, and +descriptions of its effects, remind me of the themes furnished by +Scudry, and are as tiresome as the tales of a traveller recounted some +fifty years after he has made his voyage. Lady H., who is older than +Lady G., opens wide her round eyes, laughs, and exclaims, "Oh, +dear!--how very strange!--well, that is so funny!" until Lady C. draws +up with all the dignity of a heroine of romance, and asserts that "few, +very few, are capable of either feeling or comprehending the passion." +A fortunate state for those who are no longer able to inspire it! + +To grow old gracefully, proves no ordinary powers of mind, more +especially in one who has been (oh, what an odious phrase that same +_has been_ is!) a beauty. Well has it been observed by a French writer, +that women no longer young and handsome should forget that they ever +were so. + +I have been reading Wordsworth's poems again, and I verily believe for +the fiftieth time. They contain a mine of lofty, beautiful, and natural +thoughts. I never peruse them without feeling proud that England has +such a poet, and without finding a love for the pure and the noble +increased in my mind. Talk of the ideal in poetry? what is it in +comparison with the positive and the natural, of which he gives such +exquisite delineations, lifting his readers from Nature up to Nature's +God? How eloquently does he portray the feelings awakened by fine +scenery, and the thoughts to which it gives birth! + +Wordsworth is, _par excellence_, the Poet of Religion, for his +productions fill the mind with pure and holy aspirations. Fortunate is +the poet who has quaffed inspiration in the purest of all its sources, +Nature; and fortunate is the land that claims him for her own. + +The influence exercised by courts over the habits of subjects, though +carried to a less extent in our days than in past times, is still +obvious at Paris in the display of religion assumed by the upper class. +Coroneted carriages are to be seen every day at the doors of certain +churches, which it is not very uncharitable to suppose might be less +frequently beheld there if the King, Madame la Dauphine, and the +Dauphin were less religious; and hands that have wielded a sword in +many a well-fought battle-field, and hold the _bton de marchal_ as a +reward, may now be seen bearing a lighted _cierge_ in some pious +procession,--the military air of the intrepid warrior lost in the +humility of the devotee. + +This general assumption of religion on the part of the courtiers +reminds me forcibly of a passage in a poetical epistle, written, too, +by a sovereign, who, unlike many monarchs, seemed to have had a due +appreciation of the proneness of subjects to adopt the opinions of +their rulers. + + "L'exemple d'un monarque ordonne et se fait suivre: + Quand Auguste buvait, la Pologne tait ivre; + Et quand Louis le Grand brlait d'un tendre amour, + Paris devint Cythre, et tout suivait sa cour; + Lorsqu'il devint dvot, ardent la prire, + Ses lches courtisans marmottaient leur brviaire." + +Should the Duc de Bordeaux arrive at the throne while yet in the +hey-day of youth, and with the gaiety that generally accompanies that +period of life, it will be amusing to witness the metamorphosis that +will be effected in these same courtiers. There are doubtless many, and +I am acquainted with some persons here, whose religion is as sincere +and as fervent as is that of the royal personages of the court they +frequent; but I confess that I doubt whether the general mass of the +upper class would _afficher_ their piety as much as they now do if +their regular attendance at divine worship was less likely to be known +at the Tuileries. The influence of a pious sovereign over the religious +feelings of his people must be highly beneficial when they feel, +instead of affecting to do so, the sanctity they profess. + +When those in the possession of supreme power, and all the advantages +it is supposed to confer, turn from the enjoyment of them to seek +support from Heaven to meet the doom allotted to kings as well as +subjects, the example is most salutary; for the piety of the rich and +great is even more edifying than that of the poor and lowly, who are +supposed to seek consolation which the prosperous are imagined not to +require. + +The Duchesse de Berri is very popular at Paris, and deservedly so. Her +natural gaiety harmonises With that of this lively people; and her love +of the fine arts, and the liberal patronage she extends to them, +gratify the Parisians. + +I heard an anecdote of her to-day from an authority which leaves no +doubt of its truth. Having commanded a brilliant _fte_, a heavy fall +of snow drew from one of her courtiers a remark that the extreme cold +would impede the pleasure of the guests, who would suffer from it in +coming and departing, "True," replied the Duchesse; "but if they in +comfortable carriages, and enveloped in furs and cashmeres, can suffer +from the severity of the weather, what must the poor endure?" And she +instantly ordered a large sum of money to be forthwith distributed, to +supply fuel to the indigent, saying--"While I dance, I shall have the +pleasure of thinking the poor are not without the means of warmth." + +Received a long and delightful letter from Walter Savage Landor. His is +one of the most original minds I have ever encountered, and is joined +to one of the finest natures. Living in the delightful solitude he has +chosen near Florence, his time is passed in reading, reflecting, and +writing; a life so blameless and so happy, that the philosophers of +old, with whose thoughts his mind is so richly imbued, might, if envy +could enter into such hearts, entertain it towards him. + +Landor is a happy example of the effect of retirement on a great mind. +Free from the interruptions which, if they harass not, at least impede +the continuous flow of thought in those who live much in society, his +mind has developed itself boldly, and acquired a vigour at which, +perhaps, it might never have arrived, had he been compelled to live in +a crowded city, chafed by the contact with minds of an inferior +calibre. + +_The Imaginary Conversations_ could never have been written amid the +vexatious interruptions incidental to one mingling much in the scenes +of busy life; for the voices of the sages of old with whom, beneath his +own vines, Landor loves to commune, would have been inaudible in the +turmoil of a populous town, and their secrets would not have been +revealed to him. The friction of society may animate the man of talent +into its exercise, but I am persuaded that solitude is essential to the +perfect developement of genius. + +A letter from Sir William Gell, and, like all his letters, very +amusing. Yet how different from Landor's! Both written beneath the +sunny sky of Italy, both scholars, and nearly of the same age, +nevertheless, how widely different are their letters! + +Gell's filled with lively and comic details of persons, seldom fail to +make me laugh; Landor's, wholly devoted to literary subjects, set me +thinking. Cell would die of _ennui_ in the solitude Landor has +selected; Landor would be chafed into irritation in the constant +routine of visiting and dining-out in which Gell finds amusement. But +here am I attempting to draw a parallel where none can be established, +for Landor is a man of genius, Gell a man of talent. + +Was at the Opera last night, and saw the Duc d'Orlans there with his +family. They are a fine-looking flock, male and female, and looked as +happy as they are said to be. + +I know no position more enviable than that of the Duc d'Orlans. +Blessed with health, a princely revenue, an admirable wife, fine +children, and many friends, he can have nothing to desire but a +continuance of these blessings. Having experienced adversity, and nobly +endured the ordeal, he must feel with an increased zest the happiness +now accorded to him,--a happiness that seems so full and complete, that +I can fancy no addition possible to it. + +His vast wealth may enable him to exercise a generosity that even +sovereigns can rarely practise; his exalted rank, while it places him +near a throne, precludes him from the eating cares that never fail to +attend even the most solidly established one, and leaves him free to +enjoy the happiness of domestic life in a family circle said to contain +every ingredient for creating it. + +The fondest husband, father, and brother, he is fortunate beyond most +men in his domestic relations, and furnishes to France a bright example +of irreproachable conduct and well-merited felicity in them all. In the +possession of so many blessings, I should, were I in his position (and +he probably does, or he is not the sensible man I take him to be), +tremble at the possibility of any event that could call him from the +calm enjoyment of them to the giddy height and uneasy seat of a throne. + +The present king is in the vale of years, the Dauphin not young, and +the Duc de Bordeaux is but a child. Should any thing occur to this +child, then would the Duc d'Orlans stand in direct line after the +Dauphin. I thought of this contingency last night as I looked on the +happy family, and felt assured that were the Duc d'Orlans called to +reign in France, these same faces would look less cloudless than they +did then, for I am one of those who believe that "uneasy lies the head +that wears a crown." + +With a good sense that characterises the Duc d'Orlans, he has sent his +sons to public schools--a measure well calculated not only to give them +a just knowledge of the world, so often denied to princes, but to +render them popular. The Duc de Chartres is an exceedingly handsome +young man, and his brothers are fine youths. The Princesses are brought +up immediately under the eye of their mother, who is allowed by every +one to be a faultless model for her sex. + +The Duc d'Orlans is said to be wholly engrossed in the future +prospects of his children, and in insuring, as far as human foresight +can insure, their prosperity. + +I have been reading Shelley's works, in which I have found many +beautiful thoughts. This man of genius--for decidedly such he was--has +not yet been rendered justice to; the errors that shroud his poetry, as +vapours rising from too rich a soil spread a mist that obstructs our +view of the flowers that also spring from the same bed, have hindered +us from appreciating the many beauties that abound in Shelley's +writings. Alarmed by the poison that lurks in some of his wild +speculations, we have slighted the antidote to be found in many others +of them, and heaped obloquy on the fame of a poet whose genius and +kindness of heart should have insured our pity for the errors of his +creed. + +He who was all charity has found none in the judgment pronounced on him +by his contemporaries; but posterity will be more just. The wild +theories and fanciful opinions of Shelley, on subjects too sacred to be +approached lightly, carry with them their own condemnation; and so +preclude the evil which pernicious doctrines, more logically reasoned, +might produce on weak minds. His theories are vague, dreamy, always +erroneous, and often absurd: but the imagination of the poet, and the +tenderness of heart of the man, plead for pardon for the false +doctrines of the would-be philosopher; and those who most admire his +poetry will be the least disposed to tolerate his anti-religious +principles. As a proof that his life was far from being in accordance +with his false creed, he enjoyed, up to his death, the friendship of +some of the most excellent men, who deplored his errors but who loved +and valued him. + +William Spencer, the poet, dined here yesterday. Alas! he has "fallen +into the sere and yellow leaf," for though sometimes uttering brilliant +thoughts, they are "like angel visits, few and far between;" and total +silence, or half-incoherent rhapsodies, mark the intervals. + +This melancholy change is accounted for by the effects of an indulgence +in wine, had recourse to in consequence of depression of spirits. Nor +is this pernicious indulgence confined to the evening, for at a +_djener la fourchette_ at two o'clock, enough wine is drunk to dull +his faculties for the rest of the day. What an unpoetical close to a +life once so brilliant! + +Alas, alas, for poor human nature! when, even though illumined by the +ethereal spark, it can thus sully its higher destiny. I thought of the +many fanciful and graceful poems so often perused with pleasure, +written by Mr. Spencer amid the brilliant _ftes_ in which he formerly +passed his nights, and where he often found his inspirations. His was +ever a courtly Muse, but without the hoop and train--a ball-room +_belle_, with alternate smiles and sentimentality, and witty withal. No +out-bursting of passion, or touch of deep pathos, interrupted the +equanimity of feeling of those who perused Spencer's verses; yet was +their absence unmissed, for the fancy, wit, and sentiment that marked +them all, and the graceful ease of the versification, rendered them +precisely what they were intended for,--_les vers de socit_, the +fitting volume elegantly bound to be placed in the _boudoir_. + +And there sat the pet poet of gilded _salons_, whose sparkling sallies +could once delight the fastidious circles in which he moved. His once +bright eyes, glazed and lustreless, his cheeks sunken and pale, seeming +only conscious of the presence of those around him when offered +champagne, the excitement of which for a few brief moments produced +some flashing _bon mot propos de rien_ passing at the time, after +which his spirits subsided even more rapidly than did the bubbles of +the wine that had given them their short excitement. + +It made me sad to contemplate this wreck; but most of those around him +appeared unconscious of there being any thing remarkable in his +demeanour. They had not known him in his better days. + +I am often amused, and sometimes half-vexed by witnessing the +prejudices that still exist in France with regard to the English. These +prejudices prevail in all ranks, and are, I am disposed to think, +incurable. + +They extend to trivial, as well as to more grave matters, and influence +the opinions pronounced on all subjects. An example of this prejudice +occurred a few weeks ago, when one of our most admired _belles_ from +London having arrived at Paris, her personal appearance was much +canvassed. One person found her too tall, another discovered that she +had too much _embonpoint_, and a third said her feet were much too +large. A Frenchman, when appealed to for his opinion, declared "_Elle +est trs-bien pour une Anglaise_." I ought to add, that there was no +English person present when he made this ungallant speech, which was +repeated to me by a French lady, who laughed heartily at his notion. + +If an Englishwoman enters a glover's, or shoemaker's shop, these +worthies will only shew her the largest gloves or shoes they have in +their _magasins_, so persuaded are they that she cannot have a small +hand or foot; and when they find their wares too large, and are +compelled to search for the smallest size, they seem discomposed as +well as surprised, and inform the lady that they had no notion "_une +dame anglaise_ could want small gloves or shoes." + +That an Englishwoman can be witty, or brilliant in conversation, the +French either doubt or profess to doubt; but if convinced against their +will they exclaim, "_C'est drle, mais madame a l'esprit minemment +franais_." Now this no Englishwoman has, or, in my opinion, can have; +for it is peculiar, half-natural and half-acquired. + +Conversation, in France, is an art successfully studied; to excel in +which, not only much natural talent is required, but great fluency and +a happy choice of words are indispensable. No one in Parisian society +speaks ill, and many possess a readiness of wit, and a facility of +turning it to account, that I have never seen exemplified in women of +other countries. + +A Frenchwoman talks well on every subject, from those of the most grave +political importance, to the _dernire mode_. Her talent in this art is +daily exercised, and consequently becomes perfected; while an +Englishwoman, with more various and solid attainments, rarely if ever, +arrives at the ease and self-confidence which would enable her to bring +the treasures with which her mind is stored into play. So generally is +the art of conversation cultivated in France, that even those with +abilities that rise not beyond mediocrity can take their parts in it, +not only without exposing the poverty of their intellects, but with +even a show of talent that often imposes on strangers. + +An Englishwoman, more concentrated in her feelings as well as in her +pursuits, seldom devotes the time given by Frenchwomen to the +superficial acquisition of a versatility of knowledge, which, though it +enables _them_ to converse fluently on various subjects, _she_ would +dread entering on, unless well versed in. My fair compatriots have +consequently fewer topics, even if they had equal talent, to converse +on; so that the _esprit_ styled, _par excellence, l'esprit minemment +franais_, is precisely that to which we can urge the fewest +pretensions. + +This does not, however, dispose me to depreciate a talent, or art, for +art it may be called, that renders society in France not only so +brilliant but so agreeable, and which is attended with the salutary +effect of banishing the ill-natured observations and personal remarks +which too often supply the place of more harmless topics with us. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + + +Much as I deplore some of the consequences of the Revolution in France, +and the atrocities by which it was stained, it is impossible not to +admit the great and salutary change effected in the habits and feelings +of the people since that event. Who can live on terms of intimacy with +the French, without being struck by the difference between those of our +time, and those of whom we read previously to that epoch? The system of +education is totally different. The habits of domestic life are wholly +changed. The relations between husband and wife, and parents and +children, have assumed another character, by which the bonds of +affection and mutual dependances are drawn more closely together; and +_home_, sweet _home_, the focus of domestic love, said to have been +once an unknown blessing, at least among the _haute noblesse_, is now +endeared by the discharge of reciprocal duties and warm sympathies. + +It is impossible to doubt but that the Revolution of 1789, and the +terrible scenes in the reign of terror which followed it, operated in +producing the change to which I have referred. It found the greater +portion of the _noblesse_ luxuriating in pleasure, and thinking only of +selfish, if not of criminal indulgence, in pursuits equally marked by +puerility and vice. + +The corruption of the regency planted the seeds of vice in French +morals, and they yielded a plentiful harvest. How well has St.-vremond +described that epoch in his playful, but sarcastic verses!-- + + "Une politique indulgente, + De notre nature innocente, + Favorisait tous les dsirs; + Tout got paraissait lgitime, + La douce erreur ne s'appelait point crime, + Les vices dlicats se nommalent des plaisirs." + +But it was reserved for the reign of Louis the Fifteenth to develope +still more extensively the corruption planted by his predecessor. The +influence exercised on society by the baleful example of his court had +not yet ceased, and time had not been allowed for the reign of the mild +monarch who succeeded that gross voluptuary to work the reform in +manners, if not in morals, which his own personal habits were so well +calculated to produce. It required the terrible lesson given by the +Revolution to awaken the natural feelings of affection that had so long +slumbered supinely in the enervated hearts of the higher classes in +France, corrupted by long habits of indulgence in selfish +gratifications. The lesson at once awoke even the most callous; while +those, and there were many such, who required it not, furnished the +noblest examples of high courage and self-devotion to the objects dear +to them. + +In exile and in poverty, when all extraneous sources of consolation +were denied them, those who if still plunged in pleasure and splendour +might have remained insensible to the blessings of family ties, now +turned to them with the yearning fondness with which a last comfort is +clasped, and became sensible how little they had hitherto estimated +them. + +Once awakened from their too long and torpid slumber, the hearts +purified by affliction learned to appreciate the blessings still left +them, and from the fearful epoch of the Revolution a gradual change may +be traced in the habits and feelings of the French people. Terrible has +been the expiation of their former errors, but admirable has been the +result; for nowhere can be now found more devoted parents, more dutiful +children, or more attached relatives, than among the French _noblesse_. + +If the lesson afforded by the Revolution to the upper class has been +attended with a salutary effect, it has been scarcely less advantageous +to the middle and lower; for it has taught them the dangers to be +apprehended from the state of anarchy that ever follows on the heels of +popular convulsions, exposing even those who participated in them to +infinitely worse evils than those from which they hoped to escape by a +subversion of the legitimate government. + +These reflections have been suggested by a description given to me, by +one who mixed much in Parisian society previously to the Revolution, of +the habits, modes, and usages of the _haute noblesse_ of that period, +and who is deeply sensible of the present regeneration. This person, +than whom a more impartial recorder of the events of that epoch cannot +be found, assured me that the accounts given in the memoirs and +publications of the state of society at that epoch were by no means +exaggerated, and that the domestic habits and affections at present so +universally cultivated in France were, if not unknown, at least +neglected. + +Married people looked not to each other for happiness, and sought the +aggrandizement, and not the felicity, of their children. The +acquisition of wealth and splendour and the enjoyment of pleasure +occupied their thoughts, and those parents who secured these advantages +for their offspring, however they might have neglected to instil +sentiments of morality and religion into their minds, believed that +they had fully discharged their duty towards them. It was the want of +natural affection between parents and children that led to the cynical +observation uttered by a French philosopher of that day, who explained +the partiality of grandfathers and grandmothers towards their +grandchildren, by saying these last were the enemies of their +enemies,--a reflection founded on the grossest selfishness. + +The habit of judging persons and things superficially, is one of the +defects that most frequently strike me in the Parisians. This defect +arises not from a want of quickness of apprehension, but has its source +in the vivacity peculiar to them, which precludes their bestowing +sufficient time to form an accurate opinion on what they pronounce. +Prone to judge from the exterior, rather than to study the interior +qualifications of those with whom they come in contact, the person who +is perfectly well-dressed and well-mannered will be better received +than he who, however highly recommended for mental superiority or fine +qualities, happens to be ill-dressed, or troubled with _mauvaise +honte_. + +A woman, if ever so handsome, who is not dressed _ la mode_, will be +pronounced plain in a Parisian _salon_; while a really plain woman +wearing a robe made by Victorine and a cap by Herbault, will be +considered _trs-bien, ou au moins bien gentille_. The person who can +converse fluently on all the ordinary topics, though never uttering a +single sentiment or opinion worth remembering, will be more highly +thought of than the one who, with a mind abounding with knowledge, only +speaks to elicit or convey information. Talent, to be appreciated in +France, must be--like the wares in its shops--fully displayed; the +French give no credit for what is kept in reserve. + +I have been reading _Devereux_, and like it infinitely,--even more than +_Pelham_, which I estimated very highly. There is more thought and +reflection in it, and the sentiments bear the stamp of a profound and +elevated mind. The novels of this writer produce a totally different +effect on me to that exercised by the works of other authors; they +amuse less than they make me think. Other novels banish thought, and +interest me only in the fate of the actors; but these awaken a train of +reflection that often withdraws me from the story, leaving me deeply +impressed with the truth, beauty, and originality of the thoughts with +which every page is pregnant. + +All in Paris are talking of the _esclandre_ of the late trial in +London; and the comments made on it by the French prove how different +are the views of morality taken by them and us. + +Conversing with some ladies on this subject last night, they asserted +that the infrequency of elopements in France proved the superiority of +morals of the French, and that few examples ever occurred of a woman +being so lost to virtue as to desert her children and abandon her home. +"But if she should have rendered herself unworthy of any longer being +the companion of her children, the partner of her home," asked one of +the circle, "would it be more moral to remain under the roof she had +dishonoured, and with the husband she had betrayed, than to fly, and so +incur the penalty she had drawn on her head?" They were of opinion that +the elopement was the most criminal part of the affair, and that Lady +---- was less culpable than many other ladies, because she had not +fled; and, consequently, that elopements proved a greater +demoralisation than the sinful _liaisons_ carried on without them. + +Lady C---- endeavoured to prove that the flight frequently originated +in a latent sense of honour and shame, which rendered the presence of +the deceived husband and innocent children insufferable to her whose +indulgence of a guilty passion had caused her to forfeit her right to +the conjugal home; but they could not comprehend this, and persisted in +thinking the woman who fled with her lover more guilty than her who +remained under the roof of the husband she deceived. + +One thing is quite clear, which is, that the woman who feels she dare +not meet her wronged husband and children, if she dishonours them, will +be more deterred from sin by the consciousness of the necessity of +flight, which it imposes, than will be the one who sees no such +necessity, and who dreads not the penalty she may be tempted to incur. + +Lady C---- maintained that elopements are not a fair criterion for +judging of the morality of a country; for that she who sins and flies +is less hardened in guilt than she who remains and deceives: and the +example is also less pernicious, as the one who has forfeited her place +in society serves as a beacon to warn others; while she whose errors +are known, yet still retains hers, is a dangerous instance of the +indulgence afforded to hardened duplicity. It is not the horror of +guilt, but the dread of its exposure, that operates on the generality +of minds; and this is not always sufficient to deter from sin. + +Les Dames de B---- dined with us yesterday. They are very clever and +amusing, and, what is better, are excellent women. Their attachment to +each other, and devotion to their nephew, are edifying; and he appears +worthy of it. Left an orphan when yet an infant, these sisters adopted +their nephew, and for his sake have refused many advantageous offers of +marriage, devoting themselves to forwarding his interests and insuring +him their inheritance. They have shared his studies, taken part in his +success, and entered into his pains and pleasures, made his friends +theirs, and theirs his; no wonder, then, that he loves them so fondly, +and is never happier than with them, taking a lively interest in all +their pursuits. + +These good and warm-hearted women are accused of being enthusiasts, and +romantic. People say that at their age it is odd, if not absurd, to +indulge in such exaggerated notions of attachment; nay more, to give +such disinterested proofs of it. They may well smile at such remarks, +while conscious that their devotion to their nephew has not only +secured his happiness, but constitutes their own; and that the warmth +of affection for which they are censured, cheers the winter of their +lives and diffuses a comfort over their existence unknown to the +selfish mortals who live only for self. + +They talked to me last night of the happiness they anticipated in +seeing their nephew married. "He is so good, so excellent, that the +person he selects cannot fail to love him fondly," said La Chanoinesse; +"and we will love her so dearly for ensuring his happiness," added the +other sister. + +Who could know these two estimable women, without acknowledging how +harsh and unjust are often the sweeping censures pronounced on those +who are termed old maids?--a class in whose breasts the affections +instinct in woman, not being exercised by conjugal or maternal ties, +expand into some other channel; and, if denied some dear object on +which to place them, expends them on the domestic animals with which, +in default of more rational favourites, they surround themselves. + +Les Dames de B----, happier than many of the spinsters of their age, +have an estimable object to bestow their affections on; but those who +are less fortunate should rather excite our pity than ridicule, for +many and severe must have been the trials of that heart which turns at +last, _dans le besoin d'aimer_, to the bird, dog, or cat, that renders +solitude less lonely. + +The difference between servitude in England and in France often strikes +me, and more especially when I hear the frequent complaints made by +English people of the insolence and familiarity of French servants. +Unaccustomed to hear a servant reply to any censure passed on him, the +English are apt to consider his doing so as a want of respect or +subordination, though a French servant does not even dream that he is +guilty of either when, according to the general habit of his class and +country, he attempts an exculpation not always satisfactory to his +employer, however it may be to himself. + +A French master listens to the explanation patiently, or at least +without any demonstration of anger, unless he finds it is not based on +truth, when he reprehends the servant in a manner that satisfies the +latter that all future attempts to avoid blame by misrepresentation +will be unavailing. French servants imagine that they have the right to +explain, and their employers do not deny it; consequently, when they +change a French for an English master, they continue the same tone and +manner to which they have been used, and are not a little surprised to +find themselves considered guilty of impertinence. + +A French master and mistress issue their orders to their domestics with +much more familiarity than the English do; take a lively interest in +their welfare and happiness; advise them about their private concerns; +inquire into the cause of any depression of spirits, or symptom of ill +health they may observe, and make themselves acquainted with the +circumstances of those in their establishment. + +This system lessens the distance maintained between masters and +servants, but does not really diminish the respect entertained by the +latter towards their employers, who generally find around them humble +friends, instead of, as with us, cold and calculating dependents, who +repay our _hauteur_ by a total indifference to our interests, and, +while evincing all the external appearance of profound respect, +entertain little of the true feeling of it to their masters. + +Treating our servants as if they were automatons created solely for our +use, and who, being paid a certain remuneration for their services, +have no claim on us for kindness or sympathy, is a system very +injurious to their morals and our own interests, and requires an +amelioration. But while I deprecate the tone of familiarity that so +frequently shocks the untravelled English in the treatment of French +employers to their servants, I should like to see more kindness of +manner shewn by the English to theirs. Nowhere are servants so well +paid, clothed, fed, and lodged, as with us, and nowhere are they said +to feel so little attachment to their masters; which can only be +accounted for by the erroneous system to which I have referred. + +---- came to see me to-day. He talked politics, and I am afraid went +away shocked at perceiving how little interest I took in them. I like +not political subjects in England, and avoid them whenever I can; but +here I feel very much about them, as the Irishman is said to have felt +when told that the house he was living in was on fire, and he answered +"Sure, what's that to me!--I am only a lodger!" + +---- told me that France is in a very dangerous state; the people +discontented, etc. etc. So I have heard every time I have visited Paris +for the last ten years; and as to the people being discontented, when +were they otherwise I should like to know? Never, at least since I have +been acquainted with them; and it will require a sovereign such as +France has not yet known to satisfy a people so versatile and +excitable. Charles the Tenth is not popular. His religious turn, far +from conciliating the respect or confidence of his subjects, tends only +to awaken their suspicions of his being influenced by the Jesuits--a +suspicion fraught with evil, if not danger, to him. + +Strange to say, all admit that France has not been so prosperous for +years as at present. Its people are rapidly acquiring a love of +commerce, and the wealth that springs from it, which induces me to +imagine that they would not be disposed to risk the advantages they +possess by any measure likely to subvert the present state of things. +Nevertheless, more than one alarmist like ---- shake their heads and +look solemn, foretelling that affairs cannot long go on as they are. + +Of one thing I am convinced, and that is, that no sovereign, whatever +may be his merits, can long remain popular in France; and that no +prosperity, however brilliant, can prevent the people from those +_meutes_ into which their excitable temperaments, rather than any real +cause for discontent, hurry them. These _meutes_, too, are less +dangerous than we are led to think. They are safety-valves by which the +exuberant spirits of the French people escape; and their national +vanity, being satisfied with the display of their force, soon subside +into tranquillity, if not aroused into protracted violence by unwise +demonstrations of coercion. + +The two eldest sons of the Duc and Duchesse de Guiche have entered the +College of Ste.-Barbe. This is a great trial to their mother, from whom +they had never previously been separated a single day. Well might she +be proud of them, on hearing the just eulogiums pronounced on the +progress in their studies while under the paternal roof; for never did +parents devote themselves more to the improvement of their children +than the Duc and Duchesse de Guiche have done, and never did children +offer a fairer prospect of rewarding their parents than do theirs. + +It would have furnished a fine subject for a painter to see this +beautiful woman, still in the zenith of her youth and charms, walking +between these two noble boys, whose personal beauty is as remarkable as +that of their parents, as she accompanied them to the college. The +group reminded me of Cornelia and her sons, for there was the same +classic _tournure_ of heads and profiles, and the same elevated +character of _spirituelle_ beauty, that painters and sculptors always +bestow on the young Roman matron and the Gracchi. + +The Duc seemed impressed with a sentiment almost amounting to solemnity +as he conducted his sons to Ste.-Barbe. He thought, probably, of the +difference between their boyhood and his own, passed in a foreign land +and in exile; while they, brought up in the bosom of a happy home, have +now left it for the first time. Well has he taught them to love the +land of their birth, for even now their youthful hearts are filled with +patriotic and chivalrous feelings! + +It would be fortunate, indeed, for the King of France if he had many +such men as the Duc de Guiche around him--men with enlightened minds, +who have profited by the lessons of adversity, and kept pace with the +rapidly advancing knowledge of the times to which they belong. + +Painful, indeed, would be the position of this excellent man should any +circumstances occur that would place the royal family in jeopardy, for +he is too sensible not to be aware of the errors that might lead to +such a crisis, and too loyal not to share the perils he could not ward +off; though he will never be among those who would incur them, for no +one is more impressed with the necessity of justice and impartiality +than he is. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + + +The approach of spring is already visible here, and right glad am I to +welcome its genial influence; for a Paris winter possesses in my +opinion no superiority over a London one,--nay, though it would be +deemed by the French little less than a heresy to say so, is even more +damp and disagreeable. + +The Seine has her fogs, as dense, raw, and chilling, as those of old +Father Thames himself; and the river approximating closer to "the gay +resorts" of the _beau monde_, they are more felt. The want of draining, +and the vapours that stagnate over the turbid waters of the _ruisseaux_ +that intersect the streets at Paris, add to the humidity of the +atmosphere; while the sewers in London convey away unseen and unfelt, +if not always unsmelt, the rain which purifies, while it deluges, our +streets. Heaven defend me, however, from uttering this disadvantageous +comparison to Parisian cars, for the French are too fond of Paris not +to be proud even of its _ruisseaux_, and incredulous of its fogs, and +any censure on either would be ill received. + +The gay butterflies when they first expand their varicoloured wings and +float in air, seem not more joyous than the Parisians have been during +the last two days of sunshine. The Jardins des Tuileries are crowded +with well-dressed groups; the budding leaves have burst forth with that +delicate green peculiar to early spring; and the chirping of +innumerable birds, as they flit from tree to tree, announces the +approach of the vernal season. + +Paris is at no time so attractive, in my opinion, as in spring; and the +verdure of the foliage during its infancy is so tender, yet bright, +that it looks far more beautiful than with us in our London squares or +parks, where no sooner do the leaves open into life, than they become +stained by the impurity of the atmosphere, which soon deposes its dingy +particles on them, "making the green one"--black. + +The Boulevards were well stocked with flowers to-day, the +_bouquetires_ having resumed their stalls; and many a pedestrian might +be seen bargaining for these fair and frail harbingers of rosy spring. + +How exhilarating are the effects of this season on the spirits +depressed by the long and gloomy winter, and the frame rendered languid +by the same cause! The heart begins to beat with more energetic +movement, the blood flows more briskly through the veins, and the +spirit of hope is revivified in the human heart. This sympathy between +awakening nature, on the earth, and on man, renders us more, that at +any other period, fond of the country; for this is the season of +promise; and we know that each coming day, for a certain time, will +bestow some new beauty on all that is now budding forth, until glowing, +laughing summer has replaced the fitful smiles and tears of spring. + +And there are persons who tell me they experience nought of this +elasticity of spirits at the approach of spring! How are such mortals +to be pitied! Yet, perhaps, they are less so than we imagine, for the +same insensibility that prevents their being exhilarated, may preclude +them from the depression so peculiar to all who have lively feelings. + +"I see nothing so very delightful in spring," said ---- to me, +yesterday. "_Au contraire_, I think it rather disagreeable, for the +sunshine cheats one into the belief of warmth, and we go forth less +warmly clad in consequence, so return home chilled by the sharp cold +air which always prevails at this season, and find, as never fails to +be the case, that our stupid servants have let out the fires, because, +truly, the sun was shining in the cold blue sky." ---- reminds me of +the man mentioned in Sterne's works, who, when his friend looking on a +beautiful prospect, compared a green field with a flock of +snowy-fleeced sheep on it, to a vast emerald studded with pearls, +answered that _he_ could see nothing in it but grass and mutton. + +Lord B---- set out for London to-day, to vote on the Catholic question, +which is to come on immediately. His going at this moment, when he is +far from well, is no little sacrifice of personal comfort; but never +did he consider self when a duty was to be performed. I wish the +question was carried, and he safely back again. What would our +political friends say if they knew how strongly I urged him not to go, +but to send his proxy to Lord Rosslyn? I would not have consented to +his departure, were it not that the Duke of Wellington takes such an +interest in the measure. + +How times are changed! and how much is due to those statesmen who yield +up their own convictions for the general good! There is no action in +the whole life of the Duke more glorious than his self-abnegation on +this occasion, nor is that of the Tory leader of the House of Commons +less praiseworthy; yet how many attacks will both incur by this +sacrifice of their opinions to expediency! for when were the actions of +public men judged free from the prejudices that discolour and distort +all viewed through their medium? That which originates in the purest +patriotism, will be termed an unworthy tergiversation; but the reward +of these great and good men will be found in their own breasts. I am +_triste_ and unsettled, so will try the effect of a drive in the Bois +de Boulogne. + +I was forcibly reminded yesterday of the truth of an observation of a +clever French writer, who says, that to judge the real merit of a cook, +one should sit down to table without the least feeling of appetite, as +the triumph of the culinary art was not to satisfy hunger but to excite +it. Our new cook achieved this triumph yesterday, for he is so +inimitable an artist, that the flavour of his _plats_ made even me, +albeit unused to the sensation of hunger, feel disposed to render +justice to them. Monsieur Louis--for so he is named--has a great +reputation in his art; and it is evident, even from the proof furnished +of his _savoir-faire_ yesterday, that he merits it. + +It is those only who have delicate appetites that can truly appreciate +the talent of a cook; for they who devour soon lose the power of +tasting. No symptom of that terrible malady, well named by the +ingenious Grimod de la Reynire _remords d'estomac_, but vulgarly +called indigestion, follows my unusual indulgence in _entres_ and +_entremets_, another delightful proof of the admirable skill of +Monsieur Louis. + +The English are apt to spoil French cooks by neglecting the _entres_ +for the _pice de rsistance_, and, when the cook discovers this, which +he is soon enabled to do by the slight breaches made in the first, and +the large one in the second, his _amour-propre_ becomes wounded, and he +begins to neglect his _entres_. Be warned, then, by me, all ye who +wish your cooks to retain their skill, and however your native tastes +for that English favourite dish denominated "a plain joint" may +prevail, never fail to taste the _entre_. + +_ propos_ of cooks, an amusing instance of the _amour-propre_ of a +Parisian cook was related to me by the gourmand Lord ----, the last +time we dined at his house. Wishing to have a particular sauce made +which he had tasted in London, and for which he got the receipt, he +explained to his cook, an artist of great celebrity, how the component +parts were to be amalgamated. + +"How, mylord!" exclaimed _Monsieur le cuisinier_; "an English sauce! Is +it possible your lordsip can taste any thing so barbarous? Why, years +ago, my lord, a profound French philosopher described the English as a +people who had a hundred religions, but only one sauce." + +More anxious to get the desired sauce than to defend the taste of his +country, or correct the impertinence of his cook, Lord ---- immediately +said, "On recollection, I find I made a mistake; the sauce I mean is _ +la Hollandaise_, and not _ l'Anglaise_." + +_A la bonne heure_, my lord, _c'est autre chose_; and the sauce was +forthwith made, and was served at table the day we dined with Lord +----. + +An anecdote is told of this same cook, which Lord ---- relates with +great good humour. The cook of another English nobleman conversing with +him, said, "My master is like yours--a great _gourmand_." + +"Pardon me," replied the other; "there is a vast difference between our +masters. Yours is simply a _gourmand_, mine is an epicure as well." + +The Duc de Talleyrand, dining with us a few days ago, observed that to +give a perfect dinner, the Amphitryon should have a French cook for +soups, _entres_ and _entremets_; an English _rtisseur_, and an +Italian _confiseur_, as without these, a dinner could not be faultless. +"But, alas!" said he--and he sighed while he spoke it--"the Revolution +has destroyed our means of keeping these artists; and we eat now to +support nature, instead of, as formerly, when we ate because it was a +pleasure to eat." The good-natured Duc nevertheless seemed to eat his +dinner as if he still continued to take a pleasure in the operation, +and did ample justice to a certain _plat de cailles farcies_ which he +pronounced to be perfect. + +Our landlord, le Marquis de L----, has sent to offer us the refusal of +our beautiful abode. The Duc de N---- has proposed to take it for +fourteen on twenty-one years, at the same rent we pay (an extravagant +one, by the bye), and as we only took it for a year, we must eithor +leave or hire it for fourteen or twenty-one years, which is out of the +question. + +Nothing can be more fair or honourable than the conduct of the Marquis +de L----, for he laid before us the offer of the Duc de N----; but as +we do not intend to remain more than two or three years more in Paris, +we must leave this charming house, to our infinite regret, when the +year for which we have hired it expires. Gladly would we have engaged +it for two, or even three years more, but this is now impossible; and +we shall have the trouble of again going the round of house-hunting. + +When I look on the suite of rooms in which I have passed such pleasant +days, I am filled with regret at the prospect of leaving them, but it +cannot be helped, so it is useless to repine. We have two months to +look about us, and many friends who are occupied in assisting us in the +search. + +A letter from Lord B----; better, but still ailing. He presided at the +Covent Garden Theatrical Fund Dinner, at the request of the Duke of +Clarence. He writes me that he met there Lord F. Leveson Gower[5], who +was introduced to him by Mr. Charles Greville, and of whom he has +conceived a very high opinion. Lord B---- partakes my belief in +physiognomy, but in this instance the impression formed from the +countenance is justified by the reputation of the individual, who is +universally esteemed and respected. + +Went again to see the Htel Monaco, which Lord B---- writes me to close +for; but its gloomy and uncomfortable bed-rooms discourage me, _malgr_ +the splendour of the _salons_, which are decidedly the finest I have +seen at Paris, I will decide on nothing until Lord B----'s return. + +Went to the College of Ste.-Barbe to-day, with the Duchesse de Guiche, +to see her sons. Great was their delight at the meeting. I thought they +would never have done embracing her; and I, too, was warmly welcomed by +these dear and affectionate boys, who kissed me again and again. They +have already won golden opinions at the college, by their rare aptitude +in acquiring all that is taught them, and by their docility and manly +characters. + +The masters paid the Duchesse the highest compliments on the progress +her sons had made previously to their entrance at Ste.-Barbe, and +declared that they had never met any children so far advanced for their +age. I shared the triumph of this admirable mother, whose fair cheeks +glowed, and whose beautiful eyes sparkled, on hearing the eulogiums +pronounced on her boys. Her observation to me was, "How pleased their +father will be!" + +Ste.-Barbe is a little world in itself, and a very different world to +any I had previously seen. In it every thing smacks of learning, and +every body seems wholly engrossed by study. + +The spirit of emulation animates all, and excites the youths into an +application so intense as to be often found injurious to health. The +ambition of surpassing all competitors in their studies operates so +powerfully on the generality of the _lves_, that the masters +frequently find it more necessary to moderate, than to urge the ardour +of the pupils. A boy's reputation for abilities soon gets known, but he +must possess no ordinary ones to be able to distinguish himself in a +college where every victory in erudition is sure to be achieved by a +well-contested battle. + +We passed through the quarter of Paris known as the Pays Latin, the +aspect of which is singular, and is said to have been little changed +during the last century. The houses, chiefly occupied by literary men, +look quaint and picturesque. Every man one sees passing has the air of +an author, not as authors now are, or at least as popular ones are, +well-clothed and prosperous-looking, but as authors were when genius +could not always command a good wardrobe, and walked forth in +habiliments more derogatory to the age in which it was neglected, than +to the individual whose poverty compelled such attire. + +Men in rusty threadbare black, with books under the arm, and some with +spectacles on nose, reading while they walked along, might be +encountered at every step. + +The women, too, in the Pays Latin, have a totally different aspect to +those of every other part of Paris. The desire to please, inherent in +the female breast, seems to have expired in them, for their dress +betrays a total neglect, and its fashion is that of some forty years +ago. Even the youthful are equally negligent, which indicates their +conviction that the men they meet seldom notice them, proving the truth +of the old saying, that women dress to please men. + +The old, with locks of snow, who had grown into senility in this +erudite quarter, still paced the same promenade which they had trodden +for many a year, habit having fixed them where hope once led their +steps. The middle-aged, too, might be seen with hair beginning to +blanch from long hours devoted to the midnight lamp, and faces marked +with "the pale cast of thought." Hope, though less sanguine in her +promises, still lures them on, and they pass the venerable old, +unconscious that they themselves are succeeding them in the same life +of study, to be followed by the same results, privation, and solitude, +until death closes the scene. And yet a life of study is, perhaps, the +one in which the privations compelled by poverty are the least felt to +be a hardship. + +Study, like virtue, is its own exceeding great reward, for it engrosses +as well as elevates the mind above the sense of the wants so acutely +felt by those who have no intellectual pursuits; and many a student has +forgotten his own privations when reading the history of the great and +good who have been exposed to even still more trying ones. Days pass +uncounted in such occupations. Youth fleets away, if not happily, at +least tranquilly, while thus employed; and maturity glides into age, +and age drops into the grave, scarcely conscious of the gradations of +each, owing to the mind having been filled with a continuous train of +thought, engendered by study. + +I have been reading some French poems by Madame Amabel Tastu; and very +beautiful they are. A sweet and healthy tone of mind breathes through +them, and the pensiveness that characterises many of them, marks a +reflecting spirit imbued with tenderness. There is great harmony, too, +in the versification, as well as purity and elegance in the diction. +How much some works make us wish to know their authors, and _vice +vers_! I feel, while reading her poems, that I should like Madame +Amabel Tastu; while other books, whose cleverness I admit, convince me +I should not like the writers. + +A book must always resemble, more or less, its author. It is the mind, +or at least a portion of it, of the individual; and, however +circumstances may operate on it, the natural quality must always +prevail and peep forth in spite of every effort to conceal it. + +Living much in society seldom fails to deteriorate the force and +originality of superior minds; because, though unconsciously, the +persons who possess them are prone to fall into the habits of thought +of those with whom they pass a considerable portion of their time, and +suffer themselves to degenerate into taking an interest in puerilities +on which, in the privacy of their study, they would not bestow a single +thought. Hence, we are sometimes shocked at observing glaring +inconsistencies in the works of writers, and find it difficult to +imagine that the grave reflection which pervades some of the pages can +emanate from the same mind that dictated the puerilities abounding in +others. The author's profound thoughts were his own, the puerilities +were the result of the friction of his mind with inferior ones: at +least this is my theory, and, as it is a charitable one, I like to +indulge it. + +A pleasant party at dinner yesterday. Mr. W. Spencer, the poet, was +among the guests, He was much more like the William Spencer of former +days than when he dined here before, and was occasionally brilliant, +though at intervals he relapsed into moodiness. He told some good +stories of John Kemble, and told them well; but it seemed an effort to +him; and, while the listeners were still smiling at his excellent +imitation of the great tragedian, he sank back in his chair with an air +of utter abstraction. + +I looked at him, and almost shuddered at marking the "change that had +come o'er the spirit of his dream;" for whether the story touched a +chord that awakened some painful reflection in his memory, or that the +telling it had exhausted him, I know not, but his countenance for some +minutes assumed a careworn and haggard expression, and he then glanced +around at the guests with an air of surprise, like one awakened from +slumber. + +It is astonishing how little people observe each other in society! This +inattention, originating in a good breeding that proscribes personal +observation, has degenerated into something that approaches very nearly +to total indifference, and I am persuaded that a man might die at table +seated between two others without their being aware of it, until he +dropped from his chair. + +Civilization has its disadvantages as well as its advantages, and I +think the consciousness that one might expire between one's neighbours +at table without their noticing it, is hardly atoned for by knowing +that they will not stare one out of countenance. I often think, as I +look around at a large dinner-party, how few present have the slightest +knowledge of what is passing in the minds of the others. The smile worn +on many a face may be assumed to conceal a sadness which those who feel +it are but too well aware would meet with little sympathy, for one of +the effects of modern civilization is the disregard for the cares of +others, which it engenders. + +Madame de ---- once said to me, "I never invite Monsieur de ----, +because he looks unhappy, and as if he expected to be questioned as to +the cause." This _nave_ confession of Madame de ---- is what few would +make, but the selfishness that dictated it is what society, _en masse_, +feels and acts up to. + +Monsieur de ----, talking of London last evening, told the Count ---- +to be on his guard not to be too civil to people when he got there. The +Count ---- looked astonished, and inquired the reason for the advice. +"Merely to prevent your being suspected of having designs on the hearts +of the women, or the purses of the men," replied Monsieur de ----; "for +no one can evince in London society the _empressement_ peculiar to +well-bred Frenchmen without being accused of some unworthy motive for +it." + +I defended my countrymen against the sweeping censure of the cynical +Monsieur de ----, who shook his head and declared that he spoke from +observation. He added, that persons more than usually polite are always +supposed to be poor in London, and that as this supposition was the +most injurious to their reception in good society, he always counselled +his friends, when about to visit it, to assume a _brusquerie_ of +manner, and a stinginess with regard to money, by which means they were +sure to escape the suspicion of poverty; as in England a parsimonious +expenditure and bluntness are supposed to imply the possession of +wealth. + +I ventured to say that I could now understand why it was that he passed +for being so rich in England--a _coup de patte_ that turned the laugh +against him. + +Mr. de ---- is a perfect cynic, and piques himself on saying what he +thinks,--a habit more frequently adopted by those who think +disagreeable, than agreeable things. + +Dined yesterday at Madame C----'s, and being Friday, had a _dner +maigre_, than which I know no dinner more luxurious, provided that the +cook is a perfect artist, and that the Amphitryon, as was the case in +this instance, objects not to expense. + +The _soupes_ and _entres_ left no room to regret the absence of flesh +or poultry from their component parts, and the _relevs_, in the shape +of a _brochet rti_, and a _turbot la hollandaise_ supplied the place +of the usual _pices de rsistance_. But not only was the flavour of +the _entres_ quite as good as if they were composed of meat or +poultry, but the appearance offered the same variety, and the +_ctelettes de poisson_ and _fricandeau d'esturgeon_ might have +deceived all but the profoundly learned in gastronomy,--they looked so +exactly like lamb and veal. + +The second course offered equally delicate substitutes for the usual +dainties, and the most fastidious epicure might have been more than +satisfied with the _entremets_. + +The bishops in France are said to have had the most luxurious dinners +imaginable on what were erroneously styled fast-days; and their cooks +had such a reputation for their skill, that the having served _ +Monseigneur d'glise_ was a passport to the kitchens of all lovers of +good eating. There are people so profane as to insinuate that the +excellence at which the cooks arrived in dressing _les dners maigres_ +is one of the causes why Catholicism has continued to flourish; but +this, of course, must be looked on as a malicious hint of the enemies +to that faith which thus proves itself less addicted to indulgence in +the flesh than are its decryers. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + + +The more I observe Lady C---- the more surprised I am at the romantic +feelings she still indulges, and the illusions under which she +labours;--yes _labours_ is the suitable word, for it can be nothing +short of laborious, at her age, to work oneself into the belief that +love is an indispensable requisite for life. Not the affection into +which the love of one's youth subsides, but the wild, the ungovernable +passion peculiar to the heroes and heroines of novels, and young ladies +and gentlemen recently emancipated from boarding-schools and colleges. + +Poor Lady C----, with so many estimable qualities, what a pity it is +she should have this weakness! She maintained in our conversation +yesterday that true love could never be extinguished in the heart, and +that even in age it burnt with the same fire as when first kindled. I +quoted to her a passage from Le Brun, who says--"L'amour peut +s'teindre sans doute dans le coeur d'un galant homme; mais combien de +ddommagements n'a-t-il pas alors offrir! L'estime, l'amiti, la +confiance, ne suffisent-elles pas aux glaces de la vieillesse?" Lady +C---- thinks not. + +Talking last night of ----, some one observed that "it was disagreeable +to have such a neighbour, as he did nothing but watch and interfere in +the concerns of others." + +"Give me in preference such a man as le Comte ----," said Monsieur +----, slily, "who never bestows a thought but on self, and is too much +occupied with that interesting subject to have time to meddle with the +affairs of other people." + +"You are right," observed Madame ----, gravely, believing him to be +serious; "it is much preferable." + +"But surely," said I, determined to continue the mystification, "you +are unjustly severe in your animadversions on poor Monsieur ----. Does +he not prove himself a true philanthropist in devoting the time to the +affairs of others that might be usefully occupied in attending to his +own?" + +"You are quite right," said Mrs. ----; "I never viewed his conduct in +this light before; and now that I understand it I really begin to like +him,--a thing I thought quite impossible before you convinced me of the +goodness of his motives." + +How many Mrs. ----'s there are in the world, with minds ductile as wax, +ready to receive any impression one wishes to give them! Yet I +reproached myself for assisting to hoax her, when I saw the smiles +excited by her credulity. + +Mademoiselle Delphine Gay[6] is one of the agreeable proofs that genius +is hereditary. I have been reading some productions of hers that +greatly pleased me. Her poetry is graceful, the thoughts are natural, +and the versification is polished. She is a very youthful authoress, +and a beauty as well as a _bel esprit_. Her mother's novels have +beguiled many an hour of mine that might otherwise have been weary, for +they have the rare advantage of displaying an equal knowledge of the +world with a lively sensibility. + +All Frenchwomen write well. They possess the art of giving interest +even to trifles, and have a natural eloquence _de plume_, as well as +_de langue_, that renders the task an easy one. It is the custom in +England to decry French novels, because the English unreasonably expect +that the literature of other countries should be judged by the same +criterion by which they examine their own, without making sufficient +allowance for the different manners and habits of the nations. Without +arrogating to myself the pretension of a critic, I should be unjust if +I did not acknowledge that I have perused many a French novel by modern +authors, from which I have derived interest and pleasure. + +The French critics are not loath to display their acumen in reviewing +the works of their compatriots, for they not only analyze the demerits +with pungent causticity, but apply to them the severest of all tests, +that of ridicule; in the use of which dangerous weapon they excel. + +House-hunting the greater part of the day. Oh the weariness of such an +occupation, and, above all, after having lived in so delightful a house +as the one we inhabit! Many of our French friends have come and told us +that they had found htels exactly to suit us: and we have driven next +day to see them, when lo and behold! these eligible mansions were +either situated in some disagreeable _quartier_, or consisted of three +fine _salons de rception_, with some half-dozen miserable dormitories, +and a passage-room by way of _salle manger_. + +Though Paris abounds with fine _htels entre cour et jardin_, they are +seldom to be let; and those to be disposed of are generally divided +into suites of apartments, appropriated to different persons. One of +the htels recommended by a friend was on the Boulevards, with the +principal rooms commanding a full view of that populous and noisy +quarter of Paris. I should have gone mad in such a dwelling, for the +possibility of reading, or almost of thinking, amidst such an +ever-moving scene of bustle and din, would be out of the question. + +The modern French do not seem to appreciate the comfort of quiet and +seclusion in the position of their abodes, for they talk of the +enlivening influence of a vicinity to these same Boulevards from which +I shrink with alarm. It was not so in former days; witness the +delightful htels before alluded to, _entre cour et jardin_, in which +the inhabitants, although in the centre of Paris, might enjoy all the +repose peculiar to a house in the country. There is something, I am +inclined to think, in the nature of the Parisians that enables them to +support noise better than we can,--nay, not only to support, but even +to like it. + +I received an edition of the works of L.E.L. yesterday from London. She +is a charming poetess, full of imagination and fancy, dazzling one +moment by the brilliancy of her flights, and the next touching the +heart by some stroke of pathos. How Byron would have admired her +genius, for it bears the stamp of being influenced no less by a +graceful and fertile fancy than by a deep sensibility, and the union of +the two gives a peculiar charm to her poems. + +Drove to the Bois de Boulogne to-day, with the Comtesse d'O----, I know +no such brilliant talker as she is. No matter what may be the subject +of conversation, her wit flashes brightly on all, and without the +slightest appearance of effort or pretension. She speaks from a mind +overflowing with general information, made available by a retentive +memory, a ready wit, and in exhaustible good spirits. + +Letters from dear Italy. Shall I ever see that delightful land again? A +letter, too, from Mrs. Francis Hare, asking me to be civil to some +English friends of hers, who are come to Paris, which I shall certainly +be for her sake. + +_ propos_ of the English, it is amusing to witness the avidity with +which many of them not only accept but court civilities abroad, and the +_sang-froid_ with which they seem to forget them when they return home. +I have as yet had no opportunity of judging personally on this point, +but I hear such tales on the subject as would justify caution, if one +was disposed to extend hospitality with any prospective view to +gratitude for it, which we never have done, and never will do. + +Mine is the philosophy of ----, who, when his extreme hospitality to +his countrymen was remarked on, answered, "I can't eat all my good +dinners alone, and if I am lucky enough to find now and then a pleasant +guest, it repays me for the many dull ones invited." I expect no +gratitude for our hospitality to our compatriots, and "Blessed are they +who expect not, for they will not be disappointed." + +Longchamps has not equalled my expectations. It is a dull affair after +all, resembling the drive in Hyde Park on a Sunday in May, the +promenade in the Cacina at Florence, in the Corso at Rome, or the +Chaija at Naples, in all save the elegance of the dresses of the women, +in which Longchamps has an immeasurable superiority. + +It is at Longchamps that the Parisian spring fashions are first +exhibited, and busy are the _modistes_ for many weeks previously in +putting their powers of invention to the test, in order to bring out +novelties, facsimiles of which are, the ensuing week, forwarded to +England, Italy, Germany, Holland, and Russia. The coachmakers, +saddlers, and horse-dealers, are also put in requisition for this +epoch; and, though the exhibition is no longer comparable to what it +was in former times, when a luxurious extravagance not only in dress, +but in equipages, was displayed, some handsome and well-appointed +carriages are still to be seen. Among the most remarkable for good +taste, were those of the Princess Bagration, and Monsieur Schikler, +whose very handsome wife attracted more admiration than the elegant +vehicle in which she was seated, or the fine steeds that drew it. + +Those who are disposed to question the beauty of French women, should +have been at Longchamps to-day, when their scepticism would certainly +have been vanquished, for I saw several women there whose beauty could +admit of no doubt even by the most fastidious critic of female charms. +The Duchesse de Guiche, however, bore off the bell from all +competitors, and so the spectators who crowded the Champs-Elyses +seemed to think. Of her may be said what Choissy stated of la Duchesse +de la Vallire, she has "_La grace plus belle encore que la beaut_." +The handsome Duchesse d'Istrie and countless other _beauts la mode_ +were present, and well sustained the reputation for beauty of the +Parisian ladies. + +The men _caracoled_ between the carriages on their proud and prancing +steeds, followed by grooms, _ l'Anglaise_, in smart liveries, and the +people crowded the footpaths on each side of the drive, commenting +aloud on the equipages and their owners that passed before them. + +The promenade at Longchamps, which takes place in the Holy Week, is +said to owe its origin to a religious procession that went annually to +a church so called, whence it by degrees changed its character, and +became a scene of gaiety, in which the most extravagant exhibitions of +luxury were displayed. + +One example, out of many, of this extravagance, is furnished by a +publication of the epoch at which Longchamps was in its most palmy +state, when a certain Mademoiselle Duth, whose means of indulging in +inordinate expense were not solely derived from her ostensible +profession as one of the performers attached to the Opera, figured in +the promenade in a carriage of the most sumptuous kind, drawn by no +less than six thorough-bred horses, the harness of which was of blue +morocco, studded with polished steel ornaments, which produced the most +dazzling effect. + +That our times are improved in respect, at least, to appearances, may +be fairly concluded from the fact that no example of a similar +ostentatious display of luxury is ever now exhibited by persons in the +same position as Mademoiselle Duth; and that if the same folly that +enabled her to indulge in such extravagance still prevails, a sense of +decency prevents all public display of wealth so acquired. Modern +morals censure not people so much for their vices as for the display of +them, as Aleibiades was blamed not for loving Nemea, but for allowing +himself to be painted reposing on her lap. + +Finished the perusal of _Cinq Mars_, by Count Alfred de Vigny. It is an +admirable production, and deeply interested me. The sentiments noble +and elevated, without ever degenerating into aught approaching to +bombast, and the pathos such as a manly heart might feel, without +incurring the accusation of weakness. The author must be a man of fine +feelings, as well as of genius,--but were they ever distinct? I like to +think they cannot be, for my theory is, that the feelings are to genius +what the chords are to a musical instrument--they must be touched to +produce effect. + +The style of Count Alfred de Vigny merits the eulogium passed by Lord +Shaftesbury on that of an author in his time, of which he wrote, "It is +free from that affected obscurity and laboured pomp of language aiming +at a false sublime, with crowded simile and mixed metaphor (the +hobby-horse and rattle of the Muses.") + +---- dined with us yesterday, and, clever as I admit him to be, he +often displeases me by his severe strictures on mankind. I told him +that he exposed himself to the suspicion of censuring it only because +he had studied a bad specimen of it (self) more attentively than the +good that fell in his way: a reproof that turned the current of his +conversation into a more agreeable channel, though he did not seem to +like the hint. + +It is the fashion for people now-a-days to affect this cynicism, and to +expend their wit at the expense of poor human nature, which is abused +_en masse_ for the sins of those who abuse it from judging of all +others by self. How different is ----, who thinks so well of his +species, that, like our English laws, he disbelieves the existence of +guilt until it is absolutely proved,--a charity originating in a +superior nature, and a judgment formed from an involuntary +consciousness of it! + +---- suspects evil on all sides, and passes his time in guarding +against it. He dares not indulge friendship, because he doubts the +possibility of its being disinterested, and feels no little +self-complacency when the conduct of those with whom he comes in +contact justifies his suspicions. ----, on the contrary, if sometimes +deceived, feels no bitterness, because he believes that the instance +may be a solitary one, and finds consolation in those whose truth he +has yet had no room to question. His is the best philosophy, for though +it cannot preclude occasional disappointment, it ensures much +happiness, as the indulgence of good feelings invariably does, and he +often creates the good qualities he gives credit for, as few persons +are so bad as not to wish to justify the favourable opinion entertained +of them, as few are so good as to resist the demoralising influence of +unfounded suspicions. + +A letter from Lord B----, announcing a majority of 105 on the bill of +the Catholic question. Lord Grey made an admirable speech, with a happy +allusion to the fact of Lord Howard of Effingham, who commanded the +English fleet in the reign of Elizabeth, having, though a Roman +Catholic, destroyed the Armada under the anointed banner of the Pope. +What a triumphant refutation of the notion that Roman Catholics dared +not oppose the Pope! Lord B---- writes, that the brilliant and justly +merited eulogium pronounced by Lord Grey on the Duke of Wellington was +rapturously received by the House. How honourable to both was the +praise! I feel delighted that Lord Grey should have distinguished +himself on this occasion, for he is one of the friends in England whom +I most esteem. + +---- dined here to-day. He reminds me of the larva, which is the first +state of animal existence in the caterpillar, for his appetite is +voracious, and, as a French naturalist states in describing that +insect, "Tout est estomac dans un larve." ---- is of the opinion of +Aretus, that the stomach is the great source of pleasurable +affections, and that as Nature "abhors a vacuum," the more filled it is +the better. + +Dining is a serious affair with ----. Soup, fish, flesh, and fowl, +disappear from his plate with a rapidity that is really surprising; and +while they are vanishing, not "into empty air," but into the yawning +abyss of his ravenous jaws, his eyes wander around, seeking what next +those same ravenous jaws may devour. + +On beholding a person indulge in such gluttony, I feel a distaste to +eating, as a certain double-refined lady of my acquaintance declared +that witnessing the demonstrations of love between two persons of low +and vulgar habits so disgusted her with the tender passion, that she +was sure she never could experience it herself. + +I have been reading _la Chronique du Temps de Charles IX_, by Prosper +Mrime, and a most interesting and admirably written book it is. Full +of stirring scenes and incidents, it contains the most graphic pictures +of the manners of the time in which the story is placed, and the +interest progresses, never flagging from the commencement to the end. +This book will be greatly admired in England, where the romances of our +great Northern Wizard have taught us to appreciate the peculiar merit +in which this abounds. Sir Walter Scott will be one of the first to +admire and render justice to this excellent book, and to welcome into +the field of literature this highly gifted brother of the craft. + +The French writers deserve justice from the English, for they +invariably treat the works of the latter with indulgence. Scott is not +more read or esteemed in his own country than here; and even the +productions of our young writers are more kindly treated than those of +their own youthful aspirants for fame. + +French critics have much merit for this amenity, because the greater +number of them possess a peculiar talent, for the exercise of their +critical acumen, which renders the indulgence of it, like that of the +power of ridicule, very tempting. Among the most remarkable critics of +the day Jules Janin, who though yet little more than a youth, evinces +such talent as a reviewer as to be the terror of mediocrity. His style +is pungent and vigorous, his satire searching and biting, and his tact +in pointing ridicule unfailing. He bids fair to take a most +distinguished place in his profession. + +Spent last evening in the Rue d'Anjou, where I met the usual circle and +----. He bepraised every one that was named during the evening, and so +injudiciously, that it was palpable he knew little of those upon whom +he expended his eulogiums; nay, he lauded some whom he acknowledged he +had never seen, on the same principle that actuated the Romans of old +who, having deified every body they knew, erected at last an altar to +the unknown Gods, lest any should by chance be omitted. + +This habit of indiscriminate praise is almost as faulty as that of +general censure, and is, in my opinion, more injurious to the praised +than the censure is to the abused, because people are prone to indulge +a greater degree of sympathy towards those attacked than towards those +who are commended. No one said "Amen" to the praises heaped on some +really deserving people by ----, but several put in a palliating +"_pourtant_" to the ill-natured remarks made by ----, whose habit of +abusing all who chance to be named is quite as remarkable as the +other's habit of praising. I would prefer being attacked by ---- to +being lauded by ----, for the extravagance of the eulogiums of the +latter would excite more ill-will towards me than the censures of the +other, as the self-love of the listeners disposes them to feel more +kindly to the one they can pity, than to the person they are disposed +to envy. + +I never look at dear, good Madame C---, without thinking how soon we +may,--nay, we must lose her. At her very advanced age we cannot hope +that she will be long spared to us; yet her freshness of heart and +wonderful vivacity of mind would almost cheat one into a hope of her +long continuing amongst us. + +She drove out with me yesterday to the Bois de Boulogne, and, when +remarking how verdant and beautiful all around was looking, exclaimed, +"Ah! why is no second spring allowed to us? I hear," continued she, +"people say they would not like to renew their youth, but I cannot +believe them. There are times--would you believe it?--that I forget my +age, and feel so young in imagination that I can scarcely bring myself +to think this heart, which is still so youthful, can appertain to the +same frame to which is attached this faded and wrinkled face," and she +raised her hand to her cheek. "Ah! my dear friend, it is a sad, sad +thing to mark this fearful change, and I never look in my mirror +without being shocked. The feelings ought to change with the person, +and the heart should become as insensible as the face becomes +withered." + +"The change in the face is so gradual, too," continued Madame C----. +"We see ourselves after thirty-five, each day looking a little less +well (we are loath to think it ugly), and we attribute it not to the +true cause, the approach of that enemy to beauty--age,--but to some +temporary indisposition, a bad night's rest, or an unbecoming cap. We +thus go on cheating ourselves, but not cheating others, until some day +when the light falls more clearly on our faces, and the fearful truth +stands revealed. Wrinkles have usurped the place of dimples; horrid +lines, traced by Time, have encircled the eyelids; the eyes, too, no +longer bright and pellucid, become dim; the lips dry and colourless, +the teeth yellow, and the cheeks pale and faded, as a dried rose-leaf +long pressed in a _hortus siccus_." + +"Alas, alas! who can help thinking of all this when one sees the trees +opening into their rich foliage, the earth putting forth its bright +verdure, and the flowers budding into bloom, while we resemble the hoar +and dreary winter, and scarcely retain a trace of the genial summer we +once knew." + +This conversation suggested the following lines, which I wish I could +translate into French verse to give to Madame C----: + + GRAY HAIRS. + + Snowy blossoms of the grave + That now o'er care-worn temples wave, + Oh! what change hath pass'd since ye + O'er youthful brows fell carelessly! + In silken curls of ebon hue + That with such wild luxuriance grew, + The raven's dark and glossy wing + A richer shadow scarce could fling. + The brow that tells a tale of Care + That Sorrow's pen hath written there, + In characters too deeply traced + Ever on earth to be effaced, + Was then a page of spotless white, + Where Love himself might wish to write. + The jetty arches that did rise, + As if to guard the brilliant eyes, + Have lost their smoothness;--and no more + The eyes can sparkle as of yore: + They look like fountains form'd by tears, + Where perish'd Hope in by-gone years. + The nose that served as bridge between + The brow and mouth--for Love, I ween, + To pass--hath lost its sculptured air. + For Time, the spoiler, hath been there. + The mouth--ah! where's the crimson dye + That youth and health did erst supply? + Are these pale lips that seldom smile, + The same that laugh'd, devoid of guile. + Shewing within their coral cell + The shining pearls that there did dwell, + But dwell no more? The pearls are fled, + And homely teeth are in their stead. + The cheeks have lost the blushing rose + That once their surface could disclose; + A dull, pale tint has spread around, + Where rose and lily erst were found. + The throat, and bust--but, ah! forbear, + Let's draw a veil for ever there; + Too fearful is 't to put in rhyme + The changes wrought by cruel Time, + The faithful mirror well reveals + The truth that flattery conceals; + The charms once boasted, now are flown, + But mind and heart are still thine own; + And thou canst see the wreck of years, + And ghost of beauty, without tears. + No outward change thy soul shouldst wring, + Oh! mourn but for the change within; + Grieve over bright illusions fled, + O'er fondly cherish'd hope, now dead, + O'er errors of the days of youth, + Ere wisdom taught the path of truth. + Then hail, ye blossoms of the grave, + That o'er the care-worn temples wave-- + Sent to remind us of "that bourn, + Whence traveller can ne'er return;" + The harbingers of peace and rest, + Where only mortals can be blest. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + + +Read Victor Hugo's _Dernier Jour d'un Condamn!_ It is powerfully +written, and the author identifies his feelings so strongly with the +condemned, that he must, while writing the book, have experienced +similar emotions to those which a person in the same terrible position +would have felt. Wonderful power of genius, that can thus excite +sympathy for the erring and the wretched, and awaken attention to a +subject but too little thought of in our selfish times, namely, the +expediency of the abolition of capital punishment! A perusal of Victor +Hugo's graphic book will do more to lead men's minds to reflect on this +point than all the dull essays; or as dull speeches, that may be +written or made on it. + +Talking of ---- to-day with ---- ----, she remarked that he had every +sense but common sense, and made light of this deficiency. How +frequently do we hear people do this, as if the possession of talents +or various fine qualities can atone for its absence! Common sense is +not only positively necessary to render talent available by directing +its proper application, but is indispensable as a monitor to warn men +against error. Without this guide the passions and feelings will be +ever leading men astray, and even those with the best natural +dispositions will fall into error. + +Common sense is to the individual what the compass is to the +mariner--it enables him to steer safely through the rocks, shoals, and +whirlpools that intersect his way. Were the lives of criminals +accurately known, I am persuaded that it would be found that from a +want of common sense had proceeded their guilt; for a clear perception +of crime would do more to check its perpetration, than the goodness of +heart which is so frequently urged as a preventive against it. + +Conscience is the only substitute for common sense, but even this will +not supply its place in all cases. Conscience will lead a man to repent +or atone for crime, but common sense will preclude his committing it by +enabling him to judge of the result. I frequently hear people say, "So +and so are very clever," or "very cunning, and are well calculated to +make their way in the world." This opinion seems to me to be a severe +satire on the world, for as cunning can only appertain to a mean +intellect, to which it serves as a poor substitute for sense, it argues +ill for the world to suppose it can be taken in by it. + +I never knew a sensible, or a good person, who was cunning; and I have +known so many weak and wicked ones who possessed this despicable +quality, that I hold it in abhorrence, except in very young children, +to whom Providence gives it before they arrive at good sense. + +Went a round of the curiosity shops on the Quai d'Orsay, and bought an +amber vase of rare beauty, said to have once belonged to the Empress +Josephine. When I see the beautiful objects collected together in these +shops, I often think of their probable histories, and of those to whom +they once belonged. Each seems to identify itself with the former +owner, and conjures up in my mind a little romance. + +A vase of rock crystal, set in precious stones, seen today, could never +have belonged to aught but some beauty, for whom it was selected by an +adoring lover or husband, ere yet the honeymoon had passed. A chased +gold _tui_, enriched with oriental agates and brilliants, must have +appertained to some _grande dame_, on whose table it rested in a +richly-decorated _salon_; and could it speak, what piquant disclosures +might it not make! + +The fine old watch, around the dial of which sparkle diamonds, and on +the back the motto, executed in the same precious stones, "_Vous me +faites oublier les heures_," once adorned the slender waist of some +dainty dame,--a nuptial gift. The silvery sound of its bell often +reminded her of the flight of Time, and her _caro sposo_ of the effects +of it on his inconstant heart, long before her mirror told her of the +ravages of the tyrant. The _flacon_ so tastefully ornamented, has been +held to delicate nostrils when the megrim--that malady peculiar to +refined organisations and susceptible nerves--has assailed its fair +owner; and the heart-shaped pincushion of crimson velvet, inclosed in +its golden case and stuck with pins, has been likened by the giver to +his own heart, pierced by the darts of Love--a simile that probably +displeased not the fair creature to whom it was addressed. + +Here are the expensive and tasteful gifts, the _gages d'amour_, not +often disinterested, as bright and beautiful as when they left the +hands of the jeweller; but the givers and the receivers where are they? +Mouldered in the grave long, long years ago! Through how many hands may +these objects not have passed since Death snatched away the persons for +whom they were originally designed! And here they are in the ignoble +custody of some avaricious vender, who having obtained them at the sale +of some departed amateur for less than half their first cost, now +expects to extort more than double. + +He takes them up in his unwashed fingers, turns them--oh, +profanation!--round and round, in order to display their various +merits, descants on the delicacy of the workmanship, the sharpness of +the chiseling, the pure water of the brilliants, and the fine taste +displayed in the form; tells a hundred lies about the sum he gave for +them, the offers he has refused, the persons to whom they once +belonged, and those who wish to purchase them! + +The _flacon_ of some defunct prude is placed side by side with the +_vinaigrette_ of some _jolie danseuse_ who was any thing but prudish. +How shocked would the original owner of the _flacon_ feel at the +friction! The fan of some _grande dame de la cour_ touches the +diamond-mounted _tui_ of the wife of some _financier_, who would have +given half her diamonds to enter the circle in which she who once owned +this fan found more _ennui_ than amusement. The cane of a deceased +philosopher is in close contact with the golden-hilted sword of a +_petit matre de l'ancien rgime_, and the sparkling _tabatire_ of a +_Marquis Musqu_, the partaker if not the cause of half his _succs +dans le monde_, is placed by the _chapelet_ of a _religieuse de haute +naissance_, who often perhaps dropped a tear on the beads as she +counted them in saying her Ave Marias, when some unbidden thought of +the world she had resigned usurped the place of her aspirations for a +brighter and more enduring world. + +"And so 't will be when I am gone," as Moore's beautiful song says; the +rare and beautiful _bijouterie_ which I have collected with such pains, +and looked on with such pleasure, will probably be scattered abroad, +and find their resting places not in gilded _salons_, but in the dingy +coffers of the wily _brocanteur_, whose exorbitant demands will +preclude their finding purchasers. Even these inanimate and puerile +objects have their moral, if people would but seek it; but what has +not, to a reflecting mind?--complained bitterly to-day, of having been +attacked by an anonymous scribbler. I was surprised to see a man +accounted clever and sensible, so much annoyed by what I consider so +wholly beneath his notice. It requires only a knowledge of the world +and a self-respect to enable one to treat such attacks with the +contempt they merit; and those who allow themselves to be mortified by +them must be deficient in these necessary qualifications for passing +smoothly through life. + +It seems to me to indicate great weakness of mind, when a person +permits his peace to be at the mercy of every anonymous scribbler who, +actuated by envy or hatred (the invariable causes of such attacks), +writes a libel on him. If a person so attacked would but reflect that +few, if any, who have acquired celebrity, or have been favoured by +fortune, have ever escaped similar assaults, he would be disposed to +consider them as the certain proofs of a merit, the general +acknowledgment of which has excited the ire of the envious, thus +displayed by the only mean within their reach--anonymous abuse. +Anonymous assailants may be likened to the cuttle-fish, which employs +the inky secretions it forms as a means of tormenting its enemy and +baffling pursuit. + +I have been reading the poems of Mrs. Hemans, and exquisite they are. +They affect me like sacred music, and never fail to excite religious +sentiments. England only could have produced this poetess, and peculiar +circumstances were necessary to the developement of her genius. The +music of the versification harmonises well with the elevated character +of the thoughts, which inspire the reader (at least such is their +effect on me) with a pensive sentiment of resignation that is not +without a deep charm to a mind that loves to withdraw itself from the +turmoil and bustle incidental to a life passed in a gay and brilliant +capital. + +The mind of this charming poetess must be like an olian harp, that +every sighing wind awakes to music, but to grave and chastened melody, +the full charm of which can only be truly appreciated by those who have +sorrowed, and who look beyond this earth for repose. Well might Gothe +write, + + "Wo du das Genie erblickst + Erblickst du auch zugleich die martkrone"[7] + +for where is Genius to be found that has not been tried by suffering? + +Moore has beautifully said, + + "The hearths that are soonest awake to the flowers, + Are always the first to be pierced by the thorns;" + +and so it is with poets: they feel intensely before they can make +others feel even superficially. + +And there are those who can talk lightly and irreverently of the +sufferings from which spring such exquisite, such glorious music, +unconscious that the fine organization and delicate susceptibility of +the minds of Genius which give such precious gifts to delight others, +receive deep wounds from weapons that could not make an incision on +impenetrable hearts like their own. Yes, the hearts of people of genius +may be said to resemble the American maple-trees, which must be pierced +ere they yield their honied treasures. + +If Mrs. Hemans had been as happy as she deserved to be, it is probable +that she would never have written the exquisite poems I have been +reading; for the fulness of content leaves no room for the sweet and +bitter fancies engendered by an imagination that finds its Hippocrene +in the fountain of Sorrow, whose source is in the heart, and can only +flow when touched by the hand of Care. + +Well may England be proud of such poetesses as she can now boast! +Johanna Baillie, the noble-minded and elevated; Miss Bowles, the pure, +the true; Miss Mitford, the gifted and the natural; and Mrs. Hemans and +Miss Landon, though last not least in the galaxy of Genius, with +imaginations as brilliant as their hearts are generous and tender. Who +can read the productions of these gifted women, without feeling a +lively interest in their welfare, and a pride in belonging to the +country that has given them birth? + +Lord B---- arrived yesterday, and, Heaven be thanked! is in better +health. He says the spring is three weeks more advanced at Paris than +in London. He is delighted at the Catholic Question having been +carried; and trusts, as I do, that Ireland will derive the greatest +benefit from the measure. How few, with estates in a province where so +strong a prejudice is entertained against Roman Catholics as exists in +the north of Ireland, would have voted as Lord B---- has done; but, +like his father, Lord B---- never allows personal interest to interfere +in the discharge of a duty! If there were many such landlords in +Ireland, prejudices, the bane of that country, would soon subside. Lord +B---- came back laden with presents for me. Some of them are quite +beautiful, and would excite the envy of half my sex. + +Received letters from good, dear Sir William Gell, and the no less dear +and good Archbishop of Tarentum, both urging us to return to Italy to +see them, as they say, once more before they die. Receiving letters +from absent friends who are dear to us, has almost as much of sadness +as of pleasure in it; for although it is consolatory to know that they +are in life, and are not unmindful of us, still a closely written sheet +of paper is but a poor substitute for the animated conversation, the +cordial grasp of the hand, and the kind glance of the eye; and we +become more sensible of the distance that divides us when letters +written many days ago arrive, and we remember with dread that, since +these very epistles were indited, the hands that traced them may be +chilled by death. This fear, which recurs so often to the mind in all +cases of absence from those dear to us, becomes still more vivid where +infirmity of health and advanced age render the probability of the loss +of friends the greater. + +Italy--dear, beautiful Italy--with all its sunshine and attractions, +would not be the same delightful residence to me if I no longer found +there the friends who made my _sjour_ there so pleasant; and among +these the Archbishop and Sir William Gell stand prominent. + +Gell writes me that some new and interesting discoveries have been made +at Pompeii. Would that I could be transported there for a few days to +see them with him, as I have beheld so many before when we were present +at several excavations together, and saw exposed to the light of day +objects that had been for two thousand years buried in darkness! There +was a thrilling feeling of interest awakened in the breast by the first +view of these so-long-interred articles of use or ornament of a bygone +generation, and on the spot where their owners perished. It was as +though the secrets of the grave were revealed; and that, to convince us +of the perishable coil of which mortals are formed, it is given us to +behold how much more durable are the commonest utensils of daily use +than the frames of those who boast themselves lords of the creation. +But here am I moralizing, when I ought to be taking advantage of this +glorious day by a promenade in the Bois de Boulogne, where I promised +to conduct Madame d'O----; so _allons en voiture_. + +Read the _Disowned_, and like it exceedingly. It is full of beautiful +thoughts, sparkling with wit, teeming with sentiment, and each and all +of them based on immutable truths. The more I read of the works of this +highly gifted writer, the more am I delighted with them; for his +philosophy passes through the alembic of a mind glowing with noble and +generous sentiments, of which it imbibes the hues. + +The generality of readers pause not to reflect on the truth and beauty +of the sentiments to be found in novels. They hurry on to the +_dnoment_; and a stirring incident, skilfully managed, which serves +to develope the plot, finds more admirers than the noblest thoughts, or +most witty maxims. Yet as people who read nothing else, will read +novels, authors like Mr. Bulwer, whose minds are overflowing with +genius, are compelled to make fiction the vehicle for giving to the +public thoughts and opinions that are deserving of a higher grade of +literature. + +The greater portion of novel readers, liking not to be detained from +the interest of the story by any extraneous matter, however admirable +it may be, skip over the passages that most delight those who read to +reflect, and not for mere amusement. + +I find myself continually pausing over the admirable and profound +reflections of Mr. Bulwer, and almost regret that his writings do not +meet the public as the papers of the _Spectator_ did, when a single one +of them was deemed as essential to the breakfast-table of all lovers of +literature as a morning journal is now to the lovers of news. The merit +of the thoughts would be then duly appreciated, instead of being +hastily passed over in the excitement of the story which they +intersect. + +A long visit from ----, and, as usual, politics furnished the topic. +How I wish people would never talk politics to me! I have no vocation +for that abstruse science,--a science in which even those who devote +all their time and talents to it, but rarely arrive at a proficiency. +In vain do I profess my ignorance and inability; people will not +believe me, and think it necessary to enter into political discussions +that _ennuient_ me beyond expression. + +If ---- is to be credited, Charles the Tenth and his government are so +unpopular that his reign will not pass without some violent commotion. +A fatality appears to attend this family, which, like the house of +Stuart, seems doomed never to conciliate the affections of the people. +And yet, Charles the Tenth is said not to be disposed to tyrannical +measures, neither is he without many good qualities. But the last of +the Stuart sovereigns also was naturally a humane and good man, yet he +was driven from his kingdom and his throne,--a proof that weakness of +mind is, perhaps, of all faults in a monarch, the one most likely to +compromise the security of his dynasty. + +The restoration of the Stuarts after Cromwell, was hailed with much +more enthusiasm in England than that of Louis the Eighteenth, after the +abdication of the Emperor Napoleon. Yet that enthusiasm was no pledge +that the people would bear from the descendants of the ill-fated +Charles the First--that most perfect of all gentlemen and meekest of +Christians--what they deprived him of not only his kingdom but his life +for attempting. + +The house of Bourbon, like that of Stuart, has had its tragedy, +offering a fearful lesson to sovereigns and a terrific example to +subjects. It has had, also, its restoration; and, if report may be +credited, the parallel will not rest here: for there are those who +assert that as James was supplanted on the throne of England by a +relative while yet the legitimate and unoffending heir lived, so will +also the place of Charles the Tenth be filled by one between whom and +the crown stand two legitimate barriers. Time will tell how far the +predictions of ---- are just; but, _en attendant_, I never can believe +that ambition can so blind _one_ who possesses all that can render life +a scene of happiness to himself and of usefulness to others, to throw +away a positive good for the uncertain and unquiet possession of a +crown, bestowed by hands that to confer the dangerous gift must have +subverted a monarchy. + +Pandora's box contained not more evils than the crown of France would +inflict on him on whose brow a revolution would place it. From that +hour let him bid adieu to peaceful slumber, to domestic happiness, to +well-merited confidence and esteem, all of which are now his own. +Popularity, never a stable possession in any country, is infinitely +less so in France, where the vivacity of perception of the people leads +them to discover grave faults where only slight errors exist, and where +a natural inconstancy, love of change, and a reckless impatience under +aught that offends them, prompt them to hurl down from the pedestal the +idol of yesterday to replace it by the idol of to-day. + +I hear so much good of the Duc and Duchesse d'O---- that I feel a +lively interest in them, and heartily wish they may never be elevated +(unless by the natural demise of the legitimate heirs) to the dangerous +height to which ---- and others assert they will ultimately ascend. +Even in the contingency of a legitimate inheritance of the crown, the +Tuileries would offer a less peaceful couch to them than they find in +the blissful domestic circle at N----. + +A long visit from the Duc de T----. I never meet him without being +reminded of the truth of an observation of a French writer, who +says--"_On a vu des gens se passer d'esprit en sachant mler la +politesse avec des manires nobles et lgantes_." The Duc de T---- +passes off perfectly well without _esprit_, the absence of which his +noble manners perfectly conceal; while ----, who is so very clever, +makes one continually conscious of his want of good breeding and _bon +ton_. + +Finished reading _Sayings and Doings_, by Mr. Theodore Hook. Every page +teems with wit, humour, or pathos, and reveals a knowledge of the world +under all the various phases of the ever-moving scene that gives a +lively interest to all he writes. This profound acquaintance with human +life, which stamps the impress of truth on every character portrayed by +his graphic pen, has not soured his feelings or produced that cynical +disposition so frequently engendered by it. + +Mr. Hook is no misanthrope, and while he exposes the ridiculous with a +rare wit and humour he evinces a natural and warm sympathy with the +good. He is a very original thinker and writer, hits off characters +with a facility and felicity that few authors possess, and makes them +invariably act in accordance with the peculiar characteristics with +which he has endowed them. The _vraisemblance_ is never for a moment +violated, which makes the reader imagine he is perusing a true +narration instead of a fiction. + +House-hunting to-day. Went again over the Htel Monaco, but its +dilapidated state somewhat alarms us. The suite of reception rooms are +magnificent, but the garden into which they open pleases me still more, +for it is vast and umbrageous. The line old htels in the Faubourg +St.-Germain, and this is one of the finest, give one a good idea of the +splendour of the _noblesse de l'ancien rgime_. The number and +spaciousness of the apartments, the richness of the decorations, though +no longer retaining their pristine beauty, and above all, the terraces +and gardens, have a grand effect. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + + +House-hunting all the day with Lord B----. Went again over the Htel +Monaco, and abandoned the project of hiring it. Saw one house newly +built and freshly and beautifully decorated, which I like, but Lord +B---- does not think good enough. It is in the Rue de Matignon. It is +so desirable to get into a mansion where every thing is new and in good +taste, which is the case with the one in question, that I hope Lord +B---- will be satisfied with this. + +Sat an hour with General d'O---- who has been unwell. Never was there +such a nurse as his wife, and so he said. Illness almost loses its +irksomeness when the sick chamber is cheered by one who is as kind as +she is clever. Madame d'O---- is glad we have not taken the Htel +Monaco, for she resided in it a long time when it was occupied by her +mother, and she thinks the sleeping-rooms are confined and gloomy. + +"After serious consideration and mature deliberation," we have finally +decided on taking the house in the Rue de Matignon. It will be +beautiful when completed, but nevertheless not to be compared to the +Htel Ney. The _salons de rception_, are very good, and the +decorations are rich and handsome. + +The large _salon_ is separated from the lesser by an immense plate of +unsilvered glass, which admits of the fireplaces in each room (they are +_vis--vis_) being seen, and has a very good effect. A door on each +side this large plate of glass opens into the smaller _salon_. The +portion of the house allotted to me will, when completed, be like fairy +land. A _salon_, destined to contain my buhl cabinets, _porcelaine de +Svres_, and rare _bijouterie_, opens into a library by two +glass-doors, and in the pier which divides them is a large mirror +filling up the entire space. + +In the library, that opens on a terrace, which is to be covered with a +_berceau_, and converted into a garden, are two mirrors, _vis--vis_ to +the two glass doors that communicate from the _salon_; so that on +entering this last, the effect produced is exceedingly pretty. Another +large mirror is placed at the end of the library, and reflects the +terrace. + +When my books and various treasures are arranged in this suite I shall +be very comfortably lodged. My _chambre coucher_, dressing-room, and +boudoir, are spacious, and beautifully decorated. All this sounds well +and looks well, too, yet we shall leave the Rue de Bourbon with regret, +and Lord B---- now laments that we did not secure it for a long term. + +Drove in the Bois de Boulogne. A lovely day, which produced a very +exhilarating effect on my spirits. I know not whether others experience +the same pleasurable sensations that I do on a fine day in spring, when +all nature is bursting into life, and the air and earth look joyous. My +feelings become more buoyant, my step more elastic, and all that I love +seem dearer than before. I remember that even in childhood I was +peculiarly sensible to atmospheric influence, and I find that as I grow +old this susceptibility does not diminish. + +We dined at the Rocher de Cancale yesterday; and Counts Septeuil and +Valeski composed our party. The Rocher de Cancale is the Greenwich of +Paris; the oysters and various other kinds of fish served up _con +gusto_, attracting people to it, as the white bait draw visitors to +Greenwich. Our dinner was excellent, and our party very agreeable. + +A _dner de restaurant_ is pleasant from its novelty. The guests seem +less ceremonious and more gay; the absence of the elegance that marks +the dinner-table appointments in a _maison bien monte_, gives a +homeliness and heartiness to the repast; and even the attendance of two +or three ill-dressed _garons_ hurrying about, instead of half-a-dozen +sedate servants in rich liveries, marshalled by a solemn-looking +_matre-d'htel_ and groom of the chambers, gives a zest to the dinner +often wanted in more luxurious feasts. + +The Bois de Boulogne yesterday presented one of the gayest sights +imaginable as we drove through it, for, being Sunday, all the +_bourgeoisie_ of Paris were promenading there, and in their holyday +dresses. And very pretty and becoming were the said dresses, from those +of the _femmes de ngociants_, composed of rich and tasteful materials, +down to those of the humble _grisettes_, who, with jaunty air and +roguish eyes, walked briskly along, casting glances at every smart +toilette they encountered, more intent on examining the dresses than +the wearers. + +A good taste in dress seems innate in Frenchwomen of every class, and a +confidence in their own attractions precludes the air of _mauvaise +honte_ and _gaucherie_ so continually observable in the women of other +countries, while it is so distinct from boldness that it never offends. +It was pretty to see the gay dresses of varied colours fluttering +beneath the delicate green foliage, like rich flowers agitated by a +more than usually brisk summer's wind, while the foliage and the +dresses are still in their pristine purity. + +The _beau monde_ occupied the drive in the centre, their vehicles of +every description attracting the admiration of the pedestrians, who +glanced from the well-appointed carriages, whose owners reclined +negligently back as if unwilling to be seen, to the smart young +equestrians on prancing steeds, who caracoled past with the air half +dandy and half _militaire_ that characterises every young Frenchman. + +I am always struck in a crowd in Paris with the soldier-like air of its +male population; and this air does not seem to be the result of study, +but sits as naturally on them as does the look, half fierce, half +mocking, that accompanies it. There is something in the nature of a +Frenchman that enables him to become a soldier in less time than is +usually necessary to render the natives of other countries _au fait_ in +the routine of duty, just as he learns to dance well in a quarter of +the time required to teach them to go through a simple measure. + +The Emperor Napoleon quickly observed this peculiar predisposition to a +military life in his subjects, and took advantage of it to fool them to +the top of their bent. The victories achieved beneath his banner +reflect scarcely less honour on them than on him, and the memory of +them associates his name in their hearts by the strongest bonds of +sympathy that can bind a Frenchman--the love of glory. A sense of duty, +high discipline, and true courage, influence our soldiers in the +discharge of their calling. They are proud of their country and of +their regiment, for the honour of which they are ready to fight unto +the death; but a Frenchman, though proud of his country and his +regiment, is still more proud of his individual self, and, believing +that all eyes are upon _him_ acts as if his single arm could accomplish +that which only soldiers _en masse_ can achieve. + +A pleasant party at dinner at home yesterday. The Marquis de Mornay, +Count Valeski, and General Ornano, were among the number. Laughed +immoderately at the _navet_ of ----, who is irresistibly ludicrous. + +Madame ---- came in the evening and sang "God save the King." Time was +that her singing this national anthem would have electrified the +hearers, but now--. Alas! alas! that voices, like faces, should lose +their delicate flexibility and freshness, and seem but like the faint +echo of their former brilliant tones! + +Does the ear of a singer, like the eye of some _has-been_ beauty, lose +its fine perception and become accustomed to the change in the voice, +as does the eye to that in the face, to which it appertains, from being +daily in the habit of seeing the said face! Merciful dispensation of +Providence, which thus saves us from the horror and dismay we must +experience could we but behold ourselves as others see us, after a +lapse of years without having met; while we, unconscious of the sad +change in ourselves, are perfectly sensible of it in them. Oh, the +misery of the _mezzo termine_ in the journey of life, when time robs +the eyes of their lustre, the cheeks of their roses, the mouth of its +pearls, and the heart of its gaiety, and writes harsh sentences on +brows once smooth and polished as marble! + + Well a-day! ah, well a-day! + Why fleets youth so fast away, + Taking beauty in its train, + Never to return again? + + Well a-day! ah, well a-day! + Why will health no longer stay? + After youth 't will not remain, + Chased away by care and pain. + + Well a-day! ah, well a-day! + Youth, health, beauty, gone for aye, + Life itself must quickly wane + With its thoughts and wishes vain. + + Well a-day! ah, well a-day! + Frail and perishable clay + That to earth our wishes chain, + Well it is that brief's thy reign. + +I have been reading Captain Marryat's _Naval Officer_, and think it +exceedingly clever and amusing. It is like himself, full of talent, +originality, and humour. He is an accurate observer of life; nothing +escapes him; yet there is no bitterness in his satire and no +exaggeration in his comic vein. He is never obliged to explain to his +readers _why_ the characters he introduces act in such or such a +manner. + +They always bear out the parts he wishes them to enact, and the whole +story goes on so naturally that one feels as if reading a narrative of +facts, instead of a work of fiction. + +I have known Captain Marryat many years, and liked him from the first; +but this circumstance, far from rendering me more indulgent to his +novel, makes me more fastidious; for I find myself at all times more +disposed to criticise the writings of persons whom I know and like than +those of strangers: perhaps because I expect more from them, if, as in +the present case, I know them to be very clever. + +Dined yesterday at the Cadran Bleu, and went in the evening to see _La +Tour d'Auvergne_, a piece founded on the life, and taking its name from +a soldier of the time of the Republic. A nobler character than that of +La Tour d'Auvergne could not be selected for a dramatic hero, and +ancient times furnish posterity with no brighter example. A letter from +Carnot, then Minister of War, addressed to this distinguished soldier +and admirable man, has pleased me so much that I give its substance: + + "On fixing my attention on the men who reflect honour on the + army, I have remarked you, citizen, and I said to the First + Consul--'La Tour d'Auvergne Corret, descendant of the family + of Turenne, has inherited its bravery and its virtues. One of + the oldest officers in the army, he counts the greatest + number of brilliant actions, and all the brave name him to be + the most brave. As modest as he is intrepid, he has shewn + himself anxious for glory alone, and has refused all the + grades offered to him. At the eastern Pyrnes the General + assembled all the companies of the grenadiers, and during the + remainder of the campaign gave them no chief. The oldest + captain was to command them, and he was Latour d'Auvergne. He + obeyed, and the corps was soon named by the enemy the + Infernal Column. + + "'One of his friends had an only son, whose labour was + necessary for the support of his father, and this young man + was included in the conscription. Latour d'Auvergne, broken + down by fatigue, could not labour, but he could still fight. + He hastened to the army of the Rhine; replaced the son of his + friend; and, during two campaigns, with his knapsack on his + hack and always in the foremost rank, he was in every + engagement, animating the grenadiers by his discourse and by + his example. Poor, but proud, he has refused the gift of an + estate offered to him by the head of his family. Simple in + his manners, and temperate in his habits, he lives on the + limited pay of a captain. Highly informed, and speaking + several languages, his erudition equals his courage. We are + indebted to his pen for the interesting work entitled _Les + Origines Gauloises_. Such rare talents and virtues appertain + to the page of history, but to the First Consul belongs the + right to anticipate its award.' + + "The First Consul, citizen, heard this recital with the same + emotions that I experienced. He named you instantly first + grenadier of the Republic, and decreed you this sword of + honour. _Salut et fraternit_." + +The distinction accorded so readily to Latour d'Auvergne by the First +Consul, himself a hero, who could better than any other contemporary +among his countrymen appreciate the glory he was called on by Carnot to +reward, was refused by the gallant veteran. + +"Among us soldiers," said he, "there is neither first nor last." He +demanded, as the sole recompense of his services, to be sent to join +his old brothers-in-arms, to fight once more with them, not as the +_first_, but as the _oldest_, soldier of the Republic. + +His death was like his life, glorious; for he fell on the field of +battle at Neubourg, in 1800, mourned by the whole army, who devoted a +day's pay to the purchase of an urn to preserve his heart, for a niche +in the Pantheon. + +Another distinction, not less touching, was accorded to his memory by +the regiment in which he served. The sergeant, in calling his names in +the muster of his company, always called Latour d'Auvergne, and the +corporal answered--"_Mort au champ d'honneur_." If the history of this +hero excited the warm admiration of those opposed to him in arms, the +effect of its representation on his compatriots may be more easily +imagined than described. Nothing could exceed the enthusiasm it excited +in their minds. Men, women, and children, seemed electrified by it. + +There is a chord in the hearts of the French that responds +instantaneously, and with vivid emotion, to any appeal made to their +national glory; and this susceptibility constitutes the germ so easily +fructified by those who know how to cultivate it. + +Enthusiasm, if it sometimes leads to error, or commits its votaries +into the ridiculous, also prompts and accomplishes the most glorious +achievements; and it is impossible not to feel a sympathy with its +unsophisticated demonstrations thus evinced _en masse_. Civilization, +more than aught else, tends to discourage enthusiasm; and where it is +pushed to the utmost degree of perfection, there will this prompter of +great deeds, this darer of impossibilities and instigator of heroic +actions, be most rarely found. + +Drove yesterday to see the villa of the Duchesse de Montmorency, which +is to be let. The grounds are very pretty, and a portion of them opens +by iron rails to the Bois de Boulogne, which is a great advantage. But +neither the villa nor the grounds are to be compared to the beautiful +ones in the neighbourhood of London, where, as an old French gentleman +once observed to me, "the trees seem to take a peculiar pride and +pleasure in growing." + +I have seen nothing to be compared with the tasteful villas on green +velvet lawns sloping down to the limpid Thames, near Richmond, with +umbrageous trees bending their leafy branches to the earth and water; +or to the colonnaded mansions peeping forth from the well-wooded +grounds of Roehampton and its vicinage. + +I can remember as distinctly as if beheld yesterday, the various +tempting residences that meet the eye in a morning drive, or in a row +on the silvery Thames, compelling the violation of the tenth +commandment, by looking so beautiful that one imagines how happily a +life might glide away in such abodes, forgetful that in no earthly +abode can existence be passed free from the cares meant to remind us +that this is not our abiding-place. + +Went to see Bagatelle yesterday with the Duchesse de G----. Here the +Duc de Bordeaux and Mademoiselle, his sister, pass much of their time. +It is a very pleasant villa, and contains many proofs of the taste and +industry of these very interesting children, who are greatly beloved by +those who have access to them. Various stories were related to us +illustrative of their goodness of heart and considerate kindness for +those around them; and, making all due allowance for the partiality of +the narrators, they went far to prove that these scions of royalty are +more amiable and unspoilt than are most children of their age, and of +even far less elevated rank. "Born in sorrow, and nursed in tears," the +Duc de Bordeaux's early infancy has not passed under bright auspices; +and those are not wanting who prophesy that he may hereafter look back +to the days passed at Bagatelle as the happiest of his life. + +It requires little of the prescience of a soothsayer to make this +prediction, when we reflect that the lives of even the most popular of +those born to the dangerous inheritance of a crown must ever be more +exposed to the cares that weigh so heavily, and the responsibility that +presses so continually on them, than are those who, exempt from the +splendour of sovereignty, escape also its toils. "Oh happy they, the +happiest of their kind," who enjoy, in the peace and repose of a +private station, a competency, good health, a love of, and power of +indulging in, study; an unreproaching conscience, and a cheerful mind! +With such blessings they may contemplate, without a feeling of envy, +the more brilliant but less fortunate lots of those great ones of the +earth, whose elevation but too often serves to render them the target +at which Fortune loves aim her most envenomed darts. + +Passed the greater part of the morning in the house in the Rue de +Matignon, superintending the alterations and improvements to be carried +into execution there. It has been found necessary to build an +additional room, which the proprietor pledges himself can be ready for +occupation in six weeks, and already have its walls reached nearly to +their intended height. The builders seem to be as expeditious as the +upholsterers at Paris, and adding a room or two to a mansion appears to +be as easily accomplished as adding some extra furniture. + +One is made to pay dearly, however, for this facility and expedition; +for rents are extravagantly high at Paris, as are also the prices of +furniture. + +Already does the terrace begin to assume the appearance of a garden. +Deep beds of earth inclosed in green cases line the sides, and an +abundance of orange-trees, flowering shrubs, plants, and flowers, are +placed in them. + +At the end of the terrace, the wall which bounds it has been painted in +fresco, with a view of Italian scenery; and this wall forms the back of +an aviary, with a fountain that plays in the centre. A smaller aviary, +constructed of glass, is erected on the end of the terrace, close to my +library, from the window of which I can feed my favourite birds; and +this aviary, as well as the library, is warmed by means of a stove +beneath the latter. The terrace is covered by a lattice-work, formed +into arched windows at the side next the court: over the sides and roof +there are trailing parasitical plants. Nothing in the new residence +pleases me so much as this suite, and the terrace attached to it. + +Already do we begin to feel the unsettled state peculiar to an intended +change of abode, and the prospect of entering a new one disturbs the +sense of enjoyment of the old. Gladly would we remain where we are, for +we prefer this htel to any other at Paris; but the days we have to +sojourn in it are numbered, and our regret is unavailing. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + + +September, 1829.--A chasm of many months in my journal. When last I +closed it, little could I have foreseen the terrible blow that awaited +me. Well may I exclaim with the French writer whose works I have been +just reading, "_Nous, qui sommes borns en tout, comment le sommes-nous +si peu quand il s'agit de souffrir_." How slowly has time passed since! +Every hour counted, and each coloured by care, the past turned to with +the vain hope of forgetting the present, and the future no longer +offering the bright prospect it once unfolded! + +How is my destiny changed since I last opened this book! My hopes have +faded and vanished like the leaves whose opening into life I hailed +with joy six months ago, little dreaming that before the first cold +breath of autumn had tinted them with brown, _he_ who saw them expand +with me would have passed from the earth! + +_October_.--Ill, and confined to my chamber for several days, my +physician prescribes society to relieve low spirits; but in the present +state of mine, the remedy seems worse than the disease. + +My old friends Mr. and Mrs. Mathews, and their clever son, have arrived +at Paris and dined here yesterday. Mr. Matthews is as entertaining as +ever, and his wife as amiable and _spirituelle_. They are excellent as +well as clever people, and their society is very agreeable. Charles +Mathews, the son, is full of talent, possesses all his father's powers +of imitation, and sings comic songs of his own composition that James +Smith himself might be proud to have written. + +The Duc and Duchesse de Guiche, the Marquise de Poulpry, Lady +Combermere, Madame Craufurd, and Count Valeski, came in the evening, +and were all highly gratified with some recitations and songs given us +by Mr. Mathews and his son. They were not less pleased with Mrs. +Mathews, whose manners and conversation are peculiarly fascinating, and +whose good looks and youthfulness of appearance made them almost +disbelieve that she could be the mother of a grown-up son. + +How forcibly did the recitations and songs bring back former times to +my memory, when in St. James's Square, or in his own beautiful cottage +at Highgate, I have so frequently been delighted by the performances of +this clever and worthy man! The recollection of the past occupied me +more last night than did the actual present, and caused me to return +but a faint echo to the reiterated applause which every new effort of +his drew forth from the party. There are moments when the present +appears like a dream, and that we think the past, which is gone for +ever, has more of reality in it! + +I took Mr. and Mrs. Mathews to the Jardin des Plantes to-day, and was +much amused by an incident that occurred there. A pretty child, with +her _bonne_, were seated on a bench near to which we placed ourselves. +She was asking questions relative to the animals she had seen, and Mr. +Mathews having turned his head away from her, gave some admirable +imitations of the sounds peculiar to the beasts of which she was +speaking, and also of the voice and speeches of the person who had +exhibited them. + +Never did he exert himself more to please a crowded and admiring +audience than to amuse this child, who, maintaining an immovable +gravity during the imitations, quietly observed to her nurse, "_Ma +bonne, ce Monsieur est bien drle_." + +The mortification of Mr. Mathews on this occasion was very diverting. +"How!" exclaimed he, "is it possible that all my efforts to amuse that +child have so wholly failed? She never moved a muscle! I suppose the +French children are not so easily pleased as our English men and women +are?" + +He reverted to this disappointment more than once during our drive +back, and seemed dispirited by it. Nevertheless, he gave us some most +humorous imitations of the lower orders of the French talking loudly +together, in which he spoke in so many different voices that one could +have imagined that no less than half-a-dozen people, at least, were +engaged in the conversation. + +I think so highly of the intellectual powers of Mr. Mathews, and find +his conversation so interesting that, admirable as are his imitations, +I prefer the former. He has seen so much of the world in all its +phases, that he has a piquant anecdote or a clever story to relate +touching every place and almost every person mentioned. Yet, with all +this intuitive and acquired knowledge of the world, he possesses all +the simplicity of a child, and a good nature that never can resist an +appeal to it. + +Spent all yesterday in reading, and writing letters on business. I +begin to experience the _ennui_ of having affairs to attend to, and +groan in spirit, if not aloud, at having to read and write dry details +on the subject. To unbend my mind from its painful thoughts and +tension, I devoted the evening to reading, which affords me the surest +relief, by transporting my thoughts from the cares that oppress me. + +Had a long visit from my old acquaintance the Count de Montalembert, +to-day. He is in very low spirits, occasioned by the recent death of an +only and charming daughter, and could not restrain his deep emotion, +when recounting to me the particulars of her latter days. His grief was +contagious, and found a chord in my heart that responded to it. When we +last met, it was in a gay and brilliant party, each of us in high +spirits; and now, though but a few more years have passed over our +heads, how changed are our feelings! We meet, not to amuse and to be +amused, but to talk of those we have lost, and whose loss has darkened +our lives. He spoke of his son, who already gives the promise of +distinguishing himself, and of reflecting credit on his family. + +How little do we know people whom we meet only in general society, in +which every one assumes a similar tone and manner, reserving for home +the peculiarities that distinguish each from the other, and suppressing +all demonstration of the feelings indulged only in the privacy of the +domestic circle! + +I have been many years acquainted with the Count de Montalembert, yet +never really appreciated him until today. Had I been asked to describe +him yesterday, I should have spoken of him as a _spirituel_, lively, +and amusing man, with remarkably good manners, a great knowledge of the +world, and possessing in an eminent degree the tact and talent _de +socit_. Had any one mentioned that he was a man of deep feeling, I +should have been disposed to question the discernment of the person who +asserted it: yet now I am as perfectly convinced of the fact as it is +possible to be, and had he paid this visit before affliction had +assailed me, he would not, I am convinced, have revealed his own grief. +Yes, affliction is like the divinatory wand, whose touch discovers +deep-buried springs the existence of which was previously unknown. + +---- called on me to-day, and talked a good deal of ----. I endeavoured +to excite sympathy for the unhappy person, but failed in the attempt. +The unfortunate generally meet with more blame than pity; for as the +latter is a painful emotion, people endeavour to exonerate themselves +from its indulgence, by trying to discover some error which may have +led to the misfortune they are too selfish to commiserate. Alas! there +are but few friends who, like ivy, cling to ruin, and ---- is not one +of these. + +The Prince and Princesse Soutzo dined with us yesterday. They are as +amiable and agreeable as ever, and I felt great gratification in +meeting them again. We talked over the many pleasant days we passed +together at Pisa. Alas! how changed is my domestic circle since then! +They missed _one_ who would have joined me in welcoming them to Paris, +and whose unvaried kindness they have not forgotten! + +The "decent dignity" with which this interesting couple support their +altered fortunes, won my esteem on our first acquaintance. Prince +Soutzo was Hospodar, or reigning Prince of Moldavia, and married the +eldest daughter of Prince Carraga, Hospodar of Walachia. He maintained +the state attendant on his high rank, beloved and respected by those he +governed, until the patriotic sentiments inseparable from a great mind +induced him to sacrifice rank, fortune, and power, to the cause of +Greece, his native land. He only saved his life by flight; for the +angry Sultan with whom he had previously been a great favourite, had +already sent an order for his decapitation! Never was a reverse of +fortune borne with greater equanimity than by this charming family, +whose virtues, endowments, and acquirements, fit them for the most +elevated station. + +My old acquaintances, Mr. Rogers the poet, and Mr. Luttrell, called on +me to-day. Of how many pleasant days in St. James's Square did the +sight of both remind me! Such days I shall pass there no more: but I +must not give way to reflections that are, alas! as unavailing as they +are painful. Both of these my old friends are unchanged. Time has dealt +gently by them during the seven years that have elapsed since we last +met: the restless tyrant has been less merciful to me. We may, however, +bear with equanimity the ravages of Time, if we meet the destroyer side +by side with those dear to us, those who have witnessed our youth and +maturity, and who have advanced with us into the autumn of life; but, +when they are lost to us, how dreary becomes the prospect! + +How difficult it is to prevent the mind from dwelling on thoughts +fraught with sadness, when once the chord of memory vibrates to the +touch of grief! + +Mr. Rogers talked of Byron, and evinced a deep feeling of regard for +his memory, He little knows the manner in which he is treated in a +certain poem, written by him in one of his angry moods, and which I +urged him, but in vain, to commit to the flames. The knowledge of it, +however, would, I am convinced, excite no wrath in the heart of Rogers, +who would feel more sorrow than anger that one he believed his friend +could have written so bitter a diatribe against him. And, truth to say, +the poem in question is more injurious to the memory of Byron than it +could be painful to him who is the subject of it; but I hope that it +may never be published, and I think no one who had delicacy or feeling +would bring it to light. + +Byron read this lampoon to us one day at Genoa, and enjoyed our dismay +at it like a froward boy who has achieved what he considers some +mischievous prank. He offered us a copy, but we declined to accept it; +for, being in the habit of seeing Mr. Rogers frequently beneath our +roof, we thought it would be treacherous to him. Byron, however, found +others less scrupulous, and three or four copies of it have been given +away. + +The love of mischief was strong in the heart of Byron even to the last, +but, while recklessly indulging it in trifles, he was capable of giving +proofs of exalted friendship to those against whom he practised it; +and, had Rogers stood in need of kindness, he would have found no lack +of it in his brother poet, even in the very hour he had penned the +malicious lampoon in question against him. + +Comte d'Orsay, with his frank _navet_, observed, "I thought you were +one of Mr. Rogers's most intimate friends, and so all the world had +reason to think, after reading your dedication of the _Giaour_ to him." + +"Yes," answered Byron, laughing, "and it is our friendship that gives +me the privilege of taking a liberty with him." + +"If it is thus you evince your friendship," replied Comte d'Orsay, "I +should be disposed to prefer your enmity." + +"You," said Byron, "could never excite this last sentiment in my +breast, for you neither say nor do spiteful things." + +Brief as was the period Byron had lived in what is termed fashionable +society in London, it was long enough to have engendered in him a habit +of _persiflage_, and a love of uttering sarcasms, (more from a desire +of displaying wit than from malice,) peculiar to that circle in which, +if every man's hand is not against his associates, every man's tongue +is. He drew no line of demarcation between _uttering_ and _writing_ +satirical things; and the first being, if not sanctioned, at least +permitted in the society in which he had lived in London, he considered +himself not more culpable in inditing his satires than the others were +in speaking them. He would have laughed at being censured for putting +on paper the epigrammatic malice that his former associates would +delight in uttering before all except the person at whom it was aimed; +yet the world see the matter in another point of view, and many of +those who _speak_ as much evil of their _soi-disant_ friends, would +declare, if not feel, themselves shocked at Byron's writing it. + +I know no more agreeable member of society than Mr. Luttrell. His +conversation, like a limpid stream, flows smoothly and brightly along, +revealing the depths beneath its current, now sparkling over the +objects it discloses or reflecting those by which it glides. He never +talks for talking's sake; but his mind is so well filled that, like a +fountain which when stirred sends up from its bosom sparkling showers, +his mind, when excited, sends forth thoughts no less bright than +profound, revealing the treasures with which it is so richly stored. +The conversation of Mr. Luttrell makes me think, while that of many +others only amuses me. + +Lord John Russell has arrived at Paris, and sat with me a considerable +time to-day. How very agreeable he can be when his reserve wears off, +and what a pity it is he should ever allow it to veil the many fine +qualities he possesses! Few men have a finer taste in literature, or a +more highly cultivated mind. It seizes with rapidity whatever is +brought before it; and being wholly free from passion or egotism, the +views he takes on all subjects are just and unprejudiced. He has a +quick perception of the ridiculous, and possesses a fund of dry caustic +humour that might render him a very dangerous opponent in a debate, +were it not governed by a good breeding and a calmness that never +forsake him. + +Lord John Russell is precisely the person calculated to fill a high +official situation. Well informed on all subjects, with an ardent love +of his country, and an anxious desire to serve it, he has a sobriety of +judgment and a strictness of principle that will for ever place him +beyond the reach of suspicion, even to the most prejudiced of his +political adversaries. The reserve complained of by those who are only +superficially acquainted with him, would be highly advantageous to a +minister; for it would not only preserve him from the approaches to +familiarity, so injurious to men in power, but would discourage the +hopes founded on the facility of manner of those whose very smiles and +simple acts of politeness are by the many looked on as an encouragement +to form the most unreasonable ones, and as an excuse for the indulgence +of angry feelings when those unreasonable hopes are frustrated. + +Lord John Russell, Mr. Rogers, Mr. Luttrell, Monsieur Thiers, Monsieur +Mignet, and Mr. Poulett Thomson, dined here yesterday. The party was an +agreeable one, and the guests seemed mutually pleased with each other. + +Monsieur Thiers is a very remarkable person--quick, animated, and +observant: nothing escapes him, and his remarks are indicative of a +mind of great power. I enjoy listening to his conversation, which is at +once full of originality, yet free from the slightest shade of +eccentricity. + +Monsieur Mignet, who is the inseparable friend of Monsieur Thiers, +reminds me every time I see him of Byron, for there is a striking +likeness in the countenance. With great abilities, Monsieur Mignet +gives me the notion of being more fitted to a life of philosophical +research and contemplation than of action, while Monsieur Thiers +impresses me with the conviction of his being formed to fill a busy and +conspicuous part in the drama of life. + +He is a sort of modern Prometheus, capable of creating and of vivifying +with the electric spark of mind; but, whether he would steal the fire +from Heaven, or a less elevated region, I am not prepared to say. He +has called into life a body--and a vast one--by his vigorous writings, +and has infused into it a spirit that will not be soon or easily +quelled. Whether that spirit will tend to the advancement of his +country or not, time will prove; but, _en attendant_, its ebullitions +may occasion as much trouble to the _powers that be_ as did the spirit +engendered by Mirabeau in a former reign. + +The countenance of Monsieur Thiers is remarkable. The eyes, even +through his spectacles, flash with intelligence, and the expression of +his face varies with every sentiment he utters. Thiers is a man to +effect a revolution, and Mignet would be the historian to narrate it. + +There is something very interesting in the unbroken friendship of these +two men of genius, and its constancy elevates both in my estimation. +They are not more unlike than are their respective works, both of +which, though so dissimilar, are admirable in their way. The mobility +and extreme excitability of the French, render such men as Monsieur +Thiers extremely dangerous to monarchical power. His genius, his +eloquence, and his boldness, furnish him with the means of exciting the +enthusiasm of his countrymen as surely as a torch applied to gunpowder +produces an explosion. In England these qualities, however elevated, +would fail to produce similar results; for enthusiasm is there little +known, and, when it comes forth, satisfies itself with a brief +manifestation, and swiftly resigns itself to the prudent jurisdiction +of reason. Napoleon himself, with all the glory associated with his +name--a glory that intoxicated the French--would have failed to +inebriate the sober-minded English. + +Through my acquaintance with the Baron de Cailleux, who is at the head +of the Muse, I obtained permission to take Lord John Russell, Mr. +Rogers, and Mr. Luttrell, to the galleries of the Louvre yesterday, it +being a day on which the public are excluded. The Baron received us, +did the honours of the Muse with all the intelligence and urbanity +that distinguish him, and made as favourable an impression on my +countrymen as they seemed to have produced on him. + +Rogers has a pure taste in the fine arts, and has cultivated it _con +amore_; Luttrell brings to the study a practised eye and a matured +judgment; but Lord John, nurtured from infancy in dwellings, the walls +of which glow with the _chefs-d'oeuvre_ of the old masters and the best +works of the modern ones, possesses an exquisite tact in recognizing at +a glance the finest points in a picture, and reasons on them with all +the _savoir_ of a connoisseur and the feeling of an amateur. + +It is a pleasant thing to view collections of art with those fully +capable of appreciating them, and I enjoyed this satisfaction +yesterday. The Baron de Cailleux evinced no little pleasure in +conducting my companions from one masterpiece to another, and two or +three hours passed away rapidly in the interesting study. + +The Marquis and Marquise de B----, Comte V----, and some others, dined +here yesterday. The Marquise de B---- is very clever, has agreeable +manners, knows the world thoroughly, and neither under nor overvalues +it. A constant friction with society, while it smoothes down asperities +and polishes manners, is apt to impair if not destroy much of the +originality and raciness peculiar to clever people. To suit themselves +to the ordinary level of society, they become either insipid or +satirical; they mix too much water, or apply cayenne pepper to the wine +of their conversation: hence that mind which, apart from the artificial +atmosphere of the busy world, might have grown into strength and +beauty, becomes like some poor child nurtured in the unhealthy +precincts of a dense and crowded city,--diseased, stunted, rickety, and +incapable of distinguishing itself from its fellows. + +As clever people cannot elevate the mass with which they herd to their +own level, they are apt to sink to theirs; and persons with talents +that might have served for nobler purposes are suffered to degenerate +into _diseurs de bons mots_ and _raconteurs de socit_, content with +the paltry distinction of being considered amusing. How many such have +I encountered, satisfied with being pigmies, who might have grown to be +giants, but who were consoled by the reflection that in that world in +which their sole aim is to shine, pigmies are more tolerated than +giants, as people prefer looking down to looking up! + +Lord Allen and Sir Andrew Barnard dined here yesterday. They appear to +enter into the gaiety of Paris with great zest, go the round of the +theatres, dine at all the celebrated _restaurateurs_, mix enough in the +_beau monde_ to be enabled to observe the difference between the +Parisian and London one, and will, at the expiration of the term +assigned to their _sjour_ here, return to England well satisfied with +their trip and with themselves. + +Lord A---- has tasted all the _nouveaux plats la mode_, for at Paris +new dishes are as frequently invented as new bonnets or caps; and the +proficiency in the culinary art which he has acquired will render him +an oracle at his clubs, until the more recent arrival of some other +epicurean from the French capital deposes his brief sovereignty. + +But it is not in the culinary art alone that Lord Allen evinces his +good taste, for no one is a better judge of all that constitutes the +_agrmens_ of life, or more _au fait_ of the [* omitted word?] of +contributing to them. + +Sir A. B----, as devoted as ever to music, has heard all the new, and +finds that the old, like old friends, loses nothing by comparison. It +is pleasant to see that the advance of years impairs not the taste for +a refined and innocent pleasure. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + + +Mr. Rogers and Mr. Luttrell spent last evening here. The minds of both +teem with reflection, and their conversation is a high intellectual +treat to me. There is a repose in the society of clever and refined +Englishmen to be met with in no other: the absence of all attempts to +shine, or at least of the evidence of such attempts; the mildness of +the manners; the low voices, the freedom from any flattery, except the +most delicate and acceptable of all to a fastidious person, namely, +that implied by the subjects of conversation chosen, and the interest +yielded to them;--yes, these peculiarities have a great charm for me, +and Mr. Rogers and Mr. Luttrell possess them in an eminent degree. + +The mercurial temperaments of the French preclude them from this +calmness of manner and mildness of speech. More obsequiously polite and +attentive to women, the exuberance of their animal spirits often +hurries them into a gaiety evinced by brilliant sallies and clever +observations. They shine, but they let the desire to do so be too +evident to admit of that quietude that forms one of the most agreeable, +as well as distinguishing, attributes of the conversation of a refined +and highly-intellectual Englishman. + +---- and ---- spent last evening here. Two more opposite characters +could not easily have encountered. One influenced wholly by his +feelings, the other by his reason, each seemed to form a low estimate +of the other; and this, _malgr_ all the restraint imposed by good +breeding, was but too visible. Neither has any cause to be vain, for he +becomes a dupe who judges with his heart instead of his head, and an +egotist who permits not his heart to be touched by the toleration of +his head. ---- is often duped, but sometimes liked for his good nature; +while ----, if never duped, is never liked. + +I took Lord John Russell, Mr. Rogers, and Mr. Luttrell yesterday to La +Muette to see M. Erard's fine collection of pictures, with which they +were very much pleased. Our drive to the Bois de Boulogne was a very +agreeable one, and was rendered so by their pleasant conversation. + +I have presented Mr. Rogers with some acquisitions for his cabinet of +antique _bijouterie_, with which he appears delighted. I outbid M. +Millingen, who was bargaining at Naples for these little treasures, and +secured a diminutive Cupid, a Bacchus, and a small bunch of grapes of +pure gold, and of exquisite workmanship, which will now be transferred +to the museum of my friend, Mr. Rogers. He will not, I dare say, be +more grateful for the gift of my Cupid than his sex generally are when +ladies no longer young bestow their love on them, and so I hinted when +giving him the little winged god; but, _n'importe_, the gift may +please, though the giver be forgotten. + +Lord Pembroke dined here yesterday, he is peculiarly well-bred and +gentlemanlike, and looks a nobleman from top to toe. He has acquired +all the polish and _savoir-vivre_ of the best foreign society without +having lost any of the more solid and fine qualities peculiar to the +most distinguished portion of his countrymen. Lord Pembroke maintains +the reputation of English taste in equipages by sporting horses and +carriages that excite the admiration, if not the envy, of the +Parisians, among whom he is, and deserves to be, very popular. + +The Duke of Hamilton paid me a long visit to-day. We talked over old +times, and our mutual friend Dr. Parr, in whose society we formerly +passed such agreeable hours in St. James's Square. The Duke is a very +well-informed man, has read much, and remembers what he has read; and +the ceremoniousness of his manners, with which some people find fault, +I have got used to, and rather like than otherwise. The mixture of +chivalric sentiments, Scotch philosophy, and high breeding of the old +French school which meet in the Duke, render his conversation very +piquant. + +He has, indeed, the dignity of his three dukedoms; the _fiert_ of that +of Chatelherault, the reserve of that of England, and the spirit of +that of Scotland: witness his dignified reproof to the Duc de Blacas at +Rome, when that very unpopular personage, then Ambassador from the +court of France, presumed to comment on the frequency of the Duke of +Hamilton's visits to the Princess Pauline Borghese, who, being a +Buonaparte, was looked on with a jealous eye by Blacas. + +Monsieur Mignet spent last evening here. The more I see of him the more +I am pleased with his society. To a mind stored with knowledge he joins +a happy facility of bringing forth its treasures, never as if +ostentatious of his wealth, but in illustration of any topic that is +discussed, on which he brings it to bear most aptly and appropriately. +His countenance lights up with expression when he converses, and adds +force to an eloquence always interesting and often instructive. + +Though Monsieur Mignet shines in monologue more than in dialogue, there +is nothing either dictatorial or pedantic in his manner, he utters +opinions new and original, which it is evident he has deeply reflected +on, and elucidates them to the comprehension of his auditors with great +felicity. I like listening to the conversation of such a man; and +clever people, when they find an attentive listener, are incited to +talk well. + +In general society, in which many persons of totally opposite tastes, +pursuits, and opinions, are thrown together, a clever man has seldom an +opportunity of bringing forth the treasures of his mind. He can only +dispense the small coin, which is easily changed with those he comes in +contact with; but the weighty and valuable, metal is not brought into +use, because he knows the greater number of those, around him could +give him no equivalent in exchange. + +----, conversing with Lady ---- to-day, she observed that in early life +conscience has less influence than in advanced life, and accounted for +it by the nearer approach to death rendering people more alarmed, and +consequently more disposed to listen to it. Some persons attribute all +good impulses to fear, as if mortals were more governed by its +influence than by that of love and gratitude. + +If conscience is less frequently heard in youth, it is that the +tumultuous throbbing of the heart, and the wild suggestions of the +passions, prevent its "still small voice" from being audible; but in +the decline of life, when the heart beats languidly and the passions +slumber, it makes itself heard, and on its whispers depends our +happiness or misery. + +My old acquaintance, Lord Palmerston, has arrived at Paris, and dined +here yesterday, to meet the Duc and Duchesse de Guiche, Count Valeski, +and Mr. Poulett Thomson. Seven years have produced no change in Lord +Palmerston. He is the same intelligent, sensible, and agreeable person +that I remember him to have been for many years. + +Lord Palmerston has much more ability than people are disposed to give +him credit for. He is, or used to be, when I lived in England, +considered a good man of business, acute in the details, and quick in +the comprehension of complicated questions. Even this is no mean +praise, but I think him entitled to more; for, though constantly and +busily occupied with official duties, he has contrived to find time to +read every thing worth reading, and to make himself acquainted with the +politics of other countries. + +Lively, well-bred, and unaffected, Lord Palmerston is a man that is so +well acquainted with the routine of official duties, performs them so +readily and pleasantly, and is so free from the assumption of +self-importance that too frequently appertains to adepts in them, that, +whether Whig or Tory government has the ascendant in England, his +services will be always considered a desideratum to be secured if +possible. + +Lord Castlereagh, Mr. Cutlar Fergusson, and Count Valeski dined here +yesterday. Lord C. has just arrived from England, and is a good +specimen of the young men of the present day. He reminds me of his +uncle, the late Marquess of Londonderry, one of the most amiable and +well-bred men I ever knew. Lord C---- is very animated and piquant in +conversation, thinks for himself, and says what he thinks with a +frankness not often met with in our times. Yet there is no _brusquerie_ +in his manners; _au contraire_, they are soft and very pleasing; and +this contrast between the originality and fearlessness of his opinions, +and the perfect good-breeding with which they are expressed, lend a +peculiar attraction to his manner. If Lord C---- were not a man of +fashion he would become something vastly better, for he has much of the +chivalrous spirit of his father and the tact of his uncle. Fashion is +the gulf in whose vortex so many fine natures are wrecked in England; +what a pity it is that they cannot be rescued from its dangers! + +Mr. Cutlar Fergusson is a clever and amiable man, mild, well-informed, +and agreeable. + +The Baron and Baroness de Ruysch spent yesterday with us. They are an +estimable couple, and very pleasant withal. His philosophy, which has +nothing of the ascetic in it, harmonises very well with her vivacity, +and her sprightliness never degenerates into levity. It is the gaiety +of a mind at ease, pleased with others, and content with self. How +unlike the exuberant spirits of ----, which always depress mine more +than a day's _tte--tte_ with the moodiest hypochondriac could do! + +Nothing can be more dreary and cheerless than the weather; and a second +winter's residence at Paris has convinced me that London is infinitely +preferable at this season, except to those who consider gaiety an +equivalent for comfort. The negligence and bad management of the +persons whose duty it is to remove the snow or mud from the streets, +render them not only nearly impassable for pedestrians but exceedingly +disagreeable to those who have carriages. + +Previously to the heavy fall of snow that occurred a week ago, and +which still encumbers the streets, a succession of wet days occasioned +an accumulation of mud that gave forth most unsavoury odours, and lent +a damp chilliness to the atmosphere which sent home to their sick +chambers, assailed by sore throats and all the other miseries peculiar +to colds, many of those who were so imprudent as to venture abroad. The +snow, instead of being swept away, is piled up on each side of the +streets, forming a wall that increases the gloom and chilliness that +reigns around. The fogs, too, rise from the Seine, and hover over the +Champs-Elyses and streets adjacent to it, rendering a passage through +them a service of danger. + +Lord Castlereagh and Madame Grassini dined here last evening. He was +much amused with the raciness and originality of her remarks; and she +was greatly gratified by the polite attention with which he listened to +them. At one moment, she pronounced him to be "_la vraie image de ce +cher et bon Lord Castlereagh_," whom she had so much liked; and the +next she declared him to be exactly like "_ce preux chevalier, son +pre_," who was so irresistible that no female heart, or, as she said, +at least no Italian female heart, could resist him. + +Then she spoke of "_ce cher et excellent Duc de Wellington_," who had +been so kind to her, asked a thousand questions about him, the tears +starting into her brilliant eyes as she dwelt on the reminiscences of +those days when, considered the finest singer and most beautiful woman +of her time, she received a homage accorded to her beauty and talent +never since so universally decreed to any other _prima donna_. The +Grassini cannot be known without being liked, she is so warm-hearted, +unaffected, and sincere. + +The prettiest sight imaginable was a party of our friends in sledges, +who yesterday passed through the streets. This was the first time I had +ever seen this mode of conveyance, and nothing can be more picturesque. +The sledge of the Duc de Guiche, in which reclined the Duchesse, the +Duc seated behind her and holding, at each side of her, the reins of +the horse, presented the form of a swan, the feathers beautifully +sculptured. The back of this colossal swan being hollowed out, admitted +a seat, which, with the whole of the interior, was covered with fine +fur. The harness and trappings of the superb horse that drew it were +richly decorated, and innumerable silver bells were attached to it, the +sound of which was pleasant to the ear. + +The Duchesse, wrapped in a pelisse of the finest Russian sable, never +looked handsomer than in her sledge, her fair cheeks tinged with a +bright pink by the cold air, and her luxuriant silken curls falling on +the dark fur that encircled her throat. + +Count A. d'Orsay's sledge presented the form of a dragon, and the +accoutrements and horse were beautiful; the harness was of red morocco, +embroidered with gold. The Prince Poniatowski and Comte Valeski +followed in sledges of the ordinary Russian shape, and the whole +cavalcade had a most picturesque effect. The Parisians appeared to be +highly delighted with the sight, and, above all, with the beautiful +Duchesse borne along through the snow in her swan. + +My medical adviser pressed me so much to accede to the wishes of my +friends and try the salutary effect of a drive in a sledge, that I +yesterday accompanied them to St.-Cloud, where we dined, and returned +at night by torch-light. Picturesque as is the appearance of the +sledges by day-light, it is infinitely more so by night, particularly +of those that have the form of animals or birds. + +The swan of the Duchesse de Guiche had bright lamps in its eyes, which +sent forth a clear light that was reflected in prismatic colours on the +drifted snow, and ice-gemmed branches of the trees, as we drove through +the Bois de Boulogne. Grooms, bearing lighted torches, preceded each +sledge; and the sound of the bells in the Bois, silent and deserted at +that hour, made one fancy one's self transported to some far northern +region. + +The dragon of Comte A. d'Orsay looked strangely fantastic at night. In +the mouth, as well as the eyes, was a brilliant red light; and to a +tiger-skin covering, that nearly concealed the cream-coloured horse, +revealing only the white mane and tail, was attached a double line of +silver gilt bells, the jingle of which was very musical and cheerful. + +The shadows of the tall trees falling on an immense plain of snow, the +light flashing in fitful gleams from the torches and lamps as we were +hurried rapidly along, looked strange and unearthly, and reminded me of +some of the scenes described in those northern fictions perused in the +happy days of childhood. + +This excursion and exposure to the wintry air procured me a good +night's sleep,--the first enjoyed since the severity of the weather has +deprived me of my usual exercise. This revival of an old fashion (for +in former days sledges were considered as indispensable in the winter +_remise_ of a grand seigneur in France as cabriolets or britchkas are +in the summer) has greatly pleased the Parisian world, and crowds flock +to see them as they pass along. The velocity of the movement, the +gaiety of the sound of the bells, and the cold bracing air, have a very +exhilarating effect on the spirits. + +Met the Prince Polignac at the Duchesse de G----'s today. His +countenance is remarkably good, his air and manner _trs-distingu_, +and his conversation precisely what might be expected from an English +gentleman--mild, reasonable, and unaffected. If I had not previously +known him to be one or the most amiable men in the world, I should have +soon formed this judgment of him, for every expression of his +countenance, and every word he utters, give this impression. + +The Prince Polignac has lived much in England, and seems to me to be +formed to live there, for his tastes are decidedly English. Twice +married, both his wives were English; so that it is no wonder that he +has adopted much of our modes of thinking. Highly as I am disposed to +estimate him, I do not think that he is precisely the person calculated +to cope with the difficulties that must beset a minister, and, above +all, a minister in France, in times like the present. + +The very qualities that render him so beloved in private life, and +which make his domestic circle one of the happiest in the world, are +perhaps those which unfit him for so trying a post as the one he is now +called on to hold--a post requiring abilities so various, and +qualifications so manifold, that few, if any, could be found to possess +the rare union. + +A spirit is rife in France that renders the position of _premier_ in it +almost untenable; and he must unite the firmness of a stoic, the +knowledge of a Machiavelli, and the boldness of a Napoleon, who could +hope to stem the tide that menaces to set in and sweep away the present +institutions. If honesty of intention, loyalty to his sovereign, +personal courage, attachment to his country, and perfect +disinterestedness could secure success, then might Prince Polignac +expect it. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + + +May.--Some months have elapsed since I noted down a line in this book. +Indisposition and its usual attendants, languor and lassitude, have +caused me to throw it by. Time that once rolled as pleasantly as +rapidly along, seems now to pace as slowly as sadly; and even the +approach of spring, that joyous season never before unwelcomed, now +awakens only painful recollections. Who can see the trees putting forth +their leaves without a dread that, ere they have yet expanded into +their full growth, some one may be snatched away who with us hailed +their first opening verdure? + +When once Death has invaded our hearths and torn from us some dear +object on whose existence our happiness depended, we lose all the +confidence previously fondly and foolishly experienced in the stability +of the blessings we enjoy, and not only deeply mourn those lost, but +tremble for those yet spared to us. I once thought that I could never +behold this genial season without pleasure; alas! it now occasions only +gloom. + +Captain William Anson, the brother of Lord Anson, dined here yesterday. +He is a very remarkable young man; highly distinguished in his +profession, being considered one of the best officers in the navy, and +possessing all the accomplishments of a finished gentleman. His reading +has been extensive, and his memory is very retentive. He has been in +most quarters of the globe, and has missed no opportunity of +cultivating his mind and of increasing his stock of knowledge. He is, +indeed, a worthy descendant of his great ancestor, who might well be +proud of such a scion to the ancient stock. Devoted to the arduous +duties of his profession, he studies every amelioration in it _con +amore_; and, if a long life be granted to him, will prove one of its +brightest ornaments. + +The Marquis and Marquise de B---- spent last evening here, and several +people dropped in. Among them was the pretty Madame de la H----, as +piquant and lively as ever, as content with herself (and she has reason +to be so, being very good-looking and amusing) and as careless of the +suffrages of others. I like the young and the gay of my own sex, though +I am no longer either. + +Prince Paul Lieven and Captain Cadogan[8] dined here yesterday. The +first is as _spirituel_ and clever as formerly, and the second is as +frank, high-spirited, and well-bred--the very _beau idal_ of a son of +the sea, possessing all the attributes of that generous race, joined to +all those said to be peculiar to the high-born and well-educated. + +I like the conversation of such men--men who, nursed in the lap of +luxury, are sent from the noble dwellings of their sires to be +"cabined, cribbed, confined," in (to my thinking) the most unbearable +of all prisons--a ship; pass months and years exposed to hardships, +privations, and dangers, from the endurance of which even the poor and +lowly born often shrink, and bring back to society the high breeding +and urbanity not to be surpassed in those whose lots have been exempt +from such trials; and, what is still more precious, the experience and +reflection acquired in their perilous profession, and in the many hours +of solitude and anxiety that appertain to it. + +Sat a considerable time with the Duchesse de Guiche today. How amiable +and kind-hearted she is, and how unspoilt by all the brilliancy of her +position! While I was there the mother and son of a young page, for +whom the Duc and Duchesse have obtained that office at court, came to +thank her. The boy is a very fine youth, and the mother and sister seem +to dote on him. They reminded me of the mother and sister that a +sentimental writer would have created for the occasion, being +exceedingly interesting in their appearance and manner. The boy was +evidently as fond and proud of them as they were of him, and the group +formed a charming picture. + +The warmth and gentleness of the manners of the Duchesse de G----, and +the remarkable beauty of her face and figure, never appeared more +captivating in my eyes than when I beheld her to-day, evincing such +good nature to the youthful page and his mother and sister; and I saw +by their eyes, when they took leave of her, that she sent away grateful +hearts. + +_July_ 1830.--Indisposition has interrupted my journal for several +weeks, and idleness has prolonged the chasm. The noting down the daily +recurrence of uninteresting events is as dull as the endurance of them. + +If reports may be credited, we are on the eve of some popular commotion +in France, and the present ministers are said to be either ignorant of +the danger that menaces, or unprepared to meet it. The conquest of +Algiers has produced much less exultation in the people than might have +naturally been expected; and this indifference to an event calculated +to gratify the _amour-propre_ which forms so peculiar a characteristic +of the nation, is considered a bad sign by those who affect to be +acquainted with the people. I have so often heard rumours of discontent +and revolts that I have grown incredulous, and I think and hope the +French are too wise to try any dangerous experiments. + +_26th July_.--This morning General E---- came to breakfast with us, and +announced that the ordonnances were yesterday signed in council at St.- +Cloud. This good man and brave soldier expressed the liveliest regret +at this rash measure, and the utmost alarm at the consequences likely +to result from it. Is Charles the Tenth ignorant of the actual state of +things in Paris, and of the power of public opinion? or does he hope to +vanquish the resistance likely to be offered to this act? I hope his +majesty may not acquire this knowledge when it has become too late to +derive advantage from it. + +The unpopularity of the present ministry, and above all of its leader, +the Prince Polignac, is surprising, when one considers how estimable +his private character is, and that theirs are irreproachable. They are +rendered responsible for the will of the sovereign, who, if report +speak truth, is very pertinacious in exacting a rigid fulfilment of it +whenever it is exercised. + +The present are not times to try experiments how far the will of a +monarch can be pushed; and it is not in France, as in England, where +our law supposes that a king can do no wrong, for the French are prone +to pay no more respect to sovereigns than to their supposed advisers, +and both may suffer a heavy penalty for incurring the dislike of the +people. + +The prosperity of France, which is acknowledged by all, has failed to +silence the murmurs of discontent which, loud and deep, are heard every +where save in the palace,--too frequently the last place where public +opinion gets an impartial hearing. The success of the Algerine +expedition has buoyed up the confidence of the ministry in their own +strength; but, if I may credit what I hear, it has by no means really +added to it. + +Concessions too long delayed come with a bad grace when at length +extorted, and the change of ministry factiously demanded, even if +complied with, would have placed the sovereign in any thing but a +dignified position. The dissolution of the Chambers in March, after a +session of only ten days, might be considered as a demonstration of +discontent on the part of the monarch, as well as a want of power of +quelling the spirit that evoked it. + +A circumstance, trivial in itself, added to this unpopularity, which +was, that several of the deputies were on their route to Paris when the +unexpected intelligence of the dissolution reached them, and they could +not pardon the expense to which they had been put by this unnecessary +_frais de route_, their places in the diligence being paid for. How +frequently do trifles exercise a powerful influence over grave affairs! + +The portion of the public press that advocates the defence of the +government is even more injudicious than that which assails it; and the +monarchy has decidedly suffered in general opinion by the angry +excitement produced by the recrimination of both parties. The +prosecutions entered into against the editors of the liberal papers are +considered by the party to which they belong to be persecutions; and +the sentiments avowed by the _Gazette de France_ are received as those +of not only the government but of the sovereign. The discussions +occasioned by these prosecutions, as well as by the principles of +monarchical absolutism maintained by the adverse party, have greatly +extended the ranks of the liberals, who, looking on the editors who +expound or promulgate their opinions as martyrs, become more +exasperated against their opponents, and more reckless in the modes +likely to be adopted for marking their disapprobation. + +_27th_.--On returning from a late drive last night we passed near the +htel of the Minister _des Finances_, around which some fifty or sixty +persons, chiefly youths, were assembled, crying out "_Vive la charte!_" +"_A bas les ministres!_" A patrol passed close to these persons, but +made no attempt to disperse them, which I think was rather unwise, for, +encouraged by this impunity, their numbers, I am told, increased +rapidly. + +I have just heard that the post of _gendarmes_ was tripled this +morning, and that a crowd of persons have assembled around the htel of +the Prince Polignac, where a cabinet council was held. It is said that +the ministers were insulted as they entered. This looks ill; +nevertheless, I trust that it is nothing more than a demonstration of +the spirit that is rife in the people, and that no more violent ones +will be resorted to. The visitors I have seen to-day seem much alarmed. + +The Duc de Guiche set off for St.-Cloud yesterday morning, the moment +he had read the ordonnances. Had his counsel been listened to, they +would never have been promulgated; for he is one of the few who, with a +freedom from prejudice that enables him to judge dispassionately of the +actual state of public opinion, has the moral courage to declare the +truth to his sovereign, however unpalatable that truth might be, or +however prejudicial to his own interests. + +I have this moment returned from a drive through the streets, and, +though far from being an alarmist, I begin to think that affairs wear a +more serious aspect than I dreaded. Already has a collision taken place +between the populace and the soldiers, who attempted to disperse them +near the Palais-Royal; and it required the assistance of a charge of +cavalry to secure the dangerous victory to themselves. + +Crowds were hurrying through the streets, many of the shops were +closed, and not above three or four carriages were to be seen. Never +did so great a change take place in the aspect of a city in so few +hours! Yesterday the business of life flowed on in its usual current. +The bees and the drones of this vast hive were buzzing about, and the +butterflies of fashion were expanding their gay wings in the sunshine. +To-day the industrious and orderly seem frightened from their usual +occupations, and scarcely a person of those termed fashionable is to be +seen. Where are all the household of Charles the Tenth, that vast and +well-paid crowd who were wont to fill the anterooms of the Tuileries on +gala days, obsequiously watching to catch a nod from the monarch, whose +slightest wish was to them as the laws of the Modes and Persians? Can +it be that they have disappeared at the first cloud that has darkened +the horizon of their sovereign, and increased the danger that menaces +him by shewing that they have not courage to meet it? Heaven send, for +the honour of France, that the _noblesse_ of the court of Charles the +Tenth may not follow the disgraceful example furnished by that of his +unfortunate brother, Louis the Sixteenth! In England how different +would it be if danger menaced the sovereign! + +---- has just been here, and, in answer to my question of where are the +men on whose fidelity the king could count, and in whose military +experience he might confide in such a crisis as the present, he told me +that for the purposes of election interests all the general officers +who could be trusted had unfortunately been sent from the court. + +The sound of firing has announced that order, far from being restored, +seems less likely than ever to be so. People are rushing wildly through +the streets proclaiming that several persons have been killed by the +military. All is confusion and alarm, and every one appears to dread +what the coming night may produce. + +Intelligence has just reached us that the mob are demolishing the +lanterns, and that they have broken into the shops of the gunsmiths, +and seized all the arms they could find. The Duc de Raguse commands the +troops, and already several charges have taken place. This selection, +under present circumstances, is not considered to be a good one. + +The people are forming barricades in various parts of the town, and +some of our servants, who have been out to collect intelligence, assert +that no hinderance seems to be opposed to this mischievous measure. +Where are the civil authorities during all this commotion? is the +natural question that suggests itself to one who knows how in London, +under any disturbance, they would oppose themselves to check such +proceedings. And why, if the civil authorities are too weak to resist +the torrent, is there not a sufficient military force to stem it? is +the next question that presents itself. No one seems to know where the +blame lies, but every one foretells a dangerous result from this +unaccountable state of things. + +The promulgation of the ordonnances which had led to this tumult, ought +to have been accompanied by a display of force sufficient to maintain +their enactment. If a government _will_ try the hazardous measure of a +_coup d'tat_, it ought to be well prepared to meet the probable +consequences. + +I feel so little disposed to sleep that, instead of seeking my pillow, +I occupy myself by noting down my impressions, occasionally looking out +of my window to catch the sounds that break the stillness of the night. +The heat is intense, but the sky is as pure and cloudless as if it +canopied a calm and slumbering multitude instead of a waking and +turbulent one, filled with the most angry emotions. + +Comtes d'Orsay and Valeski have just returned, and state that they have +been as far as the Place de la Bourse, where they saw a scene of the +utmost confusion. The populace had assembled there in great force, +armed with every kind of weapon they could obtain, their arms bared up +to the shoulders, and the whole of them presenting the most wild and +motley appearance imaginable. They had set fire to the Corps-de-Garde, +the flames of which spread a light around as bright as day. Strange to +say, the populace evinced a perfect good-humour, and more resembled a +mob met to celebrate a saturnalia than to subvert a monarchy. + +Comtes d'O---- and V---- were recognised by some of the people, who +seemed pleased at seeing them. On returning, they passed through the +Rue de Richelieu, which they found in total darkness, all the lanterns +having been broken. Comte d'O---- luckily found his cabriolet in the +Rue de Mnars, where he had left it, not being able to take it farther, +owing to a portion of the pavement being broken up, and had only time +to reach the club-house in the Rue de Gramont, in the court of which he +placed his cab, before the populace rushed by, destroying every thing +they met, among which was the carriage of the Prince Tufiakin. A +considerable number of the members of the club were assembled, a few of +whom witnessed, from the balcony on the Boulevart, the burning of the +chairs placed there, the breaking of the lamps, and other depredations. + +Some gentlemen went to the battalion of the guards stationed in front +of the Prince Polignac's, and suggested to the officer in command the +propriety of sending a few men to arrest the progress of the +insurgents, a thing then easily to be accomplished; but the officer, +having no orders, declined to take any step, and the populace continued +their depredations within three hundred yards of so imposing a force as +a battalion of the guards! + +What may not to-morrow's sun witness, ere it goes down? But conjecture +is vain in a crisis in which every thing appears to go on in a mode so +wholly unaccountable. The exhibition of a powerful force might and +would, I am persuaded, have precluded the collision that has occurred +between the populace and the military. Blood has been shed on both +sides, and this has rendered the breach between people and sovereign +too wide to be repaired except by something almost miraculous, and +alas! the time of miracles is past. + +I cannot help wondering at the calmness I feel on this occasion. I +experience no personal alarm; but I am apprehensive for my friends, +some of whom are deeply interested in this struggle. How may their +destinies, lately so brilliant, be overclouded by the change that +menaces to take place! + +Well may Monsieur Salvandy have observed at the ball so recently given +by the Duc of Orlans to the royal families of France and Naples, "This +may be termed a Neapolitan _fte_, for they are dancing over a +volcano." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + + +All now seems quiet, so I will go to bed. Heaven only knows if +to-morrow night we may be allowed to seek our pillows in safety. + +_28th_.--My _femme-de-chambre_ undrew my curtains this morning, "with +such a face--so faint, so spiritless, so dull, so dead in look, so +woe-begone"--proclaiming that barricades had been erected during the +night, and that the bodies of those killed in the encounter yesterday +have been paraded through the streets in order to excite still more the +angry feelings of the people. This last measure reminds one of the +appalling exhibitions in the fearful and memorable Revolution of former +days; and the reminiscences it awakens are not calculated to +tranquillize the mind. + +She states that the shops are all closed, and that no provisions can be +obtained; the cook complains that his stockpots want replenishing; and +the _femme de charge_ hints that the larder is not so well supplied as +it would have been had she known what was to occur. Each and all of +these functionaries seem wholly occupied by the dread of not being able +to furnish us with as copious repasts as usual, unmindful that a mighty +throne is tottering to its foundation, and that a struggle is going on +in which many lives may be sacrificed. + +The Duc de Raguse has incurred great blame for his intercourse with the +supposed leaders of the Revolution. This conduct has had the effect of +destroying the confidence of the troops in their chief, and of +weakening their attachment to the cause they were to support. The +Marchal was the Commandant appointed by the King, and as such, bound +to treat as rebels those who opposed themselves to his government; +instead of which, he seemed more like the _confident_ of a party who, +it is alleged, owe their victory to his supineness. + +The Duc de Guiche has not left his post, near the royal family, since +the 26th, except to pass and repass with instructions from the King to +the Duc de Raguse, twice or thrice a-day. He has been repeatedly +recognised by the people, though in plain clothes, and experienced at +their hands the respect so well merited by his honourable conduct and +devotion to his sovereign. How often have I heard this noble-minded man +censured for encouraging the liberal sentiments of the Dauphin; and +heard this, too, from some of those who are now the first to desert +Charles the Tenth in the emergency which is the result of the system +they advocated! + +---- has been here; he tells me that to Marshal Marmont the king has +confided unlimited power, and that Paris has been declared in a state +of siege. + +He says that the military dispositions are so defective, that there is +not a young officer in the army capable of committing a similar +mistake. The regiments are crowded into narrow streets, in which even +children may become dangerous enemies, by throwing from the windows +every missile within their reach on the heads of the soldiers. He is of +opinion that, in twenty-four hours, the populace will be in possession +of Paris. The tri-coloured flag is now floating from the towers of +Notre-Dame; while the white flag of the luckless Bourbons, as often +stained by the faithlessness of its followers, as by the blood of its +foes, still waves from the column of the Place Vendme,--that column +erected to commemorate the glory of the great chief now calmly sleeping +in his ocean-washed grave. + +The civil authorities seem paralyzed: the troops have been twelve hours +on duly without any refreshment, except that afforded by the humanity +of the people, who have brought them wine and bread; can it be hoped +that these same soldiers will turn their arms against those who have +supplied their necessities? + +The royal emblems are destroyed wherever they are found, and the bust +of the king has been trampled on. The disgusting exhibition of the dead +bodies has had the bad effect calculated upon, and all is tumult and +disorder. Every one wonders where are the authorities, and why a +sufficient military force does not appear, for there has been ample +time, since the disposition to insurrection manifested by the people, +to assemble the troops. + +Every visitor, and, notwithstanding the disturbed state of Paris, we +have already had several to-day, announces some fresh disaster, each +representing it according to the political creed to which he adheres. +The Royalists assert that the outbreak is the result of a long and +grave conspiracy, fomented by those who expect to derive advantage from +it; while the Liberals maintain that it has arisen spontaneously and +simultaneously from the wounded spirit of liberty, lashed into a +frenzied resistance by the ordonnances. I pretend not to know which of +these statements is the most correct; but I believe that the favourite +opinion of the worthy Sir Roger de Coverley, that "much could be said +on both sides of the question," might now fairly be urged; for, +according to the march of events, it is but too probable that the +melodrama now enacting before our eyes has not been an impromptu; and +it is quite clear that the ordonnances have furnished the occasion, and +the excuse (if such were required), for the performance. + +Well might a great Italian writer pronounce revolutions to be the +carnivals of history. This one seems to be not only a carnival but +Saturnalia, for the ebriety of the slaves of liberty is well calculated +to disgust the friends; and those who witness this intoxication are +reminded of the observation of Voltaire, that "_Les Franais gotent de +la libert comme des liqueurs fortes avec lesquelles ils s'enivrent."_ +A revolution affected by physical instead of moral force, is a grave +wound inflicted on social order and civilization--a wound which it +takes ages to heal. + +When on the point of sitting down to our _djener a la fourchette_ +(for people will eat while thrones are crumbling), repeated knockings, +at the _porte-cochre_ induced us to look from the window in order to +see who the persons were who thus loudly demanded admittance, when it +was discovered that they were Doctors Pasquier and De Guise. They had +been dressing the wounded at the hospital in the Faubourg du Roule, and +finding on their return that the Champs-lyses and Rue St.-Honor were +the scenes of combat, had bethought themselves of our vicinity, and +sought shelter. When our unexpected visitants, deeming themselves +fortunate in having found a refuge, prepared to join our repast, it was +ludicrous to observe the lengthened faces of our servants at this +addition to our party. They, having previously lamented the paucity of +provisions in the larder, and being aware of the difficulty, if not +impossibility, of procuring a further supply, looked on the new-comers +as interlopers, who would inevitably diminish the already too limited +stock. + +We had not been seated above five minutes at table, when the report of +fire-arms announced that hostilities were renewed, and we hurried to +the drawing-room to observe what was going on. The servants looked as +if they rather enjoyed the interruption to the morning's meal, thinking +no doubt that it would preserve the provisions, now so precious in +their eyes, and they prepared to remove the viands with unusual +alacrity; but their visages lengthened when told to let them remain on +the table, and became still longer when we shortly after resumed our +places at the board. + +An Englishwoman, in the kitchen establishment, has just performed a +feat that has elevated her into a heroine in the eyes of the rest of +the servants. Finding the larder not sufficiently supplied, she sallied +forth into the street, passed through the Rue St.-Honor, while the +fighting was going on, and returned bearing a basket of meat, obtained +certainly at the risk of her life, as shots were flying around her. As +none of the men offered to undertake this action, she is now considered +little less than an amazon, and her _amour-propre_ being excited by the +commendations bestowed on her courage, she declares that she will go +forth for all that may be required, as she despises fear. + +We have now entrenched ourselves in the front drawing-rooms, with the +external shutters, which are stuffed to exclude noise, closed, but +which we open occasionally, in order to see what is going on. Sitting +in darkness, with the sound of firing, and the shouts of the people, +continually in our ears, I can hardly bring myself to think that all +that is now passing is not a dream. + +The populace, ten minutes ago, rushed from the Rue St.-Honor towards +the Champs-lyses, assailing the troops stationed in the latter place; +and were in turn assailed by these last, and forced to retreat to the +Rue St.-Honor. The scene was one of the utmost confusion. + +The firing is going on; stragglers are rushing to and fro; a body of +troops are stationed at the bottom of this street, and some pieces of +cannon have been placed. A thousand rumours are afloat, each more +improbable than the other. One moment it is announced that several +regiments have fraternized with the people; another, that the royal +family have fled to Belgium; the next, that Paris is to be fired by the +insurgents; but it would be impossible to repeat one-half the wild +rumours in circulation. + +There is a mixture of the sublime and of the ridiculous in the scenes +now passing before my eyes that is quite extraordinary. Looking from my +window, twenty minutes ago, I saw a troop of boys, amounting to about +fifty, the eldest of whom could not be more than ten or eleven years +old, and some who appeared under that age, march through our streets, +with wooden swords, and lances pointed with sharp nails, flags flying, +and crying, "_Vive la charte! Vive la libert_!" The gravity and +intrepidity of these _gamins de Paris_ would, at any other period, have +elicited a smile; but now, this demonstration on the part of mere +children creates the reflection of how profound and general must be the +sympathy enlisted against the government and the sovereign in the +hearts of the people. + +Many are those who, like their children, shout "_Vive la charte!_" and +"_Vive, la libert!_" who are as ignorant of the true sense and value +of both as they are. Well might the victim, when being led to execution +in the days of the past revolution in France, exclaim, "O Liberty, what +crimes are committed in thy name!" + +One of our servants has this moment informal me that the children, +whose warlike demeanour I was disposed to smile at an hour ago, have +rendered (_not_ the state, but the popular cause) some service. The +troops, more amused than surprised at the appearance of these mimic +soldiers, suffered them to approach closer than prudence warranted, and +the urchins, rushing among the horses, wounded several of the poor +animals severely, and effected their retreat before the soldiers were +aware of what had occurred. + +A fatality seems to prevail in the preset crisis that is little less +than marvellous. A want of provisions for the troops is now added to +the catalogue of excitements against the cause of royalty. Harassed by +the repeated attacks of the populace, and exhausted by long exposure to +the intense heat of a burning sun, they are little prone to consider as +enemies those who approach them with food to allay the pangs of hunger, +and drink to cool their scorching thirst. ----, and others who have +mingled with the crowd, tell me that they have beheld repeated examples +of soldiers throwing down their arms, to embrace those who came to +seduce them with the most irresistible of all seductions--refreshment, +when they were nearly exhausted by the want of it. + +I shall begin to consider myself half a heroine, after an exploit I +performed this evening. The men who shared our dinner having gone out +to observe what was passing, I determined, _cote que cote_, to pay a +visit to my friend Madame Craufurd. I attired myself as simply as +possible, and, attended by a _valet de pied_, sallied forth. Having +traversed the short distance that separates this house from the Rue +St.-Honor, I arrived at the barricade erected in front of the entrance +to the Rue Verte, and I confess this obstacle seemed to me, for the +first minute or two that I contemplated it, insurmountable. My servant, +too, expressed his belief of the difficulty, if not impossibility, of +climbing over this mountain of loose stones, that I felt half disposed +to retrace my steps. + +The shouts of a mob approaching along the Rue St.-Honor quickly +decided me on the course to pursue; I clambered up as best I could, not +without considerable risk; nor was the danger and difficulty of the +descent on the other side of this rude pyramid less imminent. The +evening was more sultry than I ever experienced an evening to be, even +in Italy; the houses were all closed, the streets deserted, except when +a few occasional stragglers rushed along, glancing at me with surprise, +and uttering their comments on my courage. Now and then a dog ran by, +with a terrified air and drooping tail, keeping close to the houses as +if for protection. One might have fancied oneself in some city ravaged +by the plague, and the burning heat of the atmosphere, and lurid red of +the clouds, might have strengthened the notion. + +It more than once occurred to me how singular it was for me, a woman +and a stranger, to find myself with only one attendant in the streets, +on foot, in a city declared to be in a state of siege, and with the +noise of firing in the distance, and the shouts of the populace, +continually breaking on my ears. + +Having passed the Rue de la Ville-l'vque, and entered the Rue +d'Anjou, I soon reached the _porte-cochre_ of my friend. My servant +knocked, and very loudly, but before the Swiss porter would open the +door, he reconnoitred from the window in the _entresol_ of his lodge. +He could hardly credit his eyes when he saw me; and while he unbolted +and unchained the door, an operation which took him more time than I +thought necessary, I could hear him muttering that, "_Les dames +Anglaises n'ont peur de rien, positivement rien_." I was not sorry when +I heard the massive door closed after me, with its bolts and chains +again secured; but, as I crossed the courtyard, the different aspect of +the house, with its closed windows, reminded me so forcibly of the +change that had occurred since my last visit, only three days +previously, that I felt more agitated than while traversing the +streets. + +When I entered the drawing-room, in which a large circle were +assembled, Madame Craufurd, though the servants announced my name, +could hardly believe I was indeed come. She wept bitterly while +embracing me, and observed on the hardship of a person so aged as +herself being called on to witness two revolutions. All the horrors of +the first are recalled vividly to her mind, and her terror of what may +occur is proportioned to what she remembers to have formerly taken +place. Nothing seemed to pacify her terror so much as the fact of my +having been permitted to pass unmolested to her house, though she +considered me little less than insane to have undertaken the task. + +"For myself," said Madame C----, "I have little fear (though her +blanched cheek and trembling hand told another story); but for those +dearer to me than life, what have I not to dread? You who know the +chivalrous sentiments of the Duc de Guiche, and the attachment +entertained by him and my granddaughter for the royal family, will +understand how much I have to dread for them from the vengeance which +their devotion to their sovereign may draw on their heads. _They_ are +not, as you are aware, time-servers, like so many others, who will +desert their king in his hour of need. No; they will brave death, I am +assured, rather than forsake in adversity those whose prosperity they +shared." + +The marquis d'Aligre, one of, it not the, richest landed proprietors in +France, was among the circle at Madame Craufurd's, and evinced no +little composure and courage in the circumstances in which we found +ourselves. He joined me in endeavouring to soothe her fears; and +probably the fact of his having so immense a stake to risk in the +crisis now taking place, added not a little weight to the arguments he +urged to quiet her alarms. When people have so much to lose, their +calmness has an imposing effect; and the rhetoric of the most +accomplished orator would have probably been less successful than was +the composed manner of the marquis d'Aligre, in restoring the wonted +courage of our amiable hostess. + +When I rose to take leave, Madame C---- tried all her efforts to +persuade me to remain to sleep at her house, and I had no little +difficulty to escape from her importunity. She would fain send all her +men servants to escort me home, and the Marquis d'Aligre also +pressingly offered his services; but I was obstinate in my refusal to +allow anyone to accompany me, being convinced that there was even less +danger in proceeding with a single servant than more numerously +attended. I tore myself from the embraces of Madame C----, whose tears +flowed afresh, and bedewed my cheeks, and I once more passed through +the court-yard, followed to the porter's lodge by the _dames de +compagnie, femmes de chambre_, and _valets de chambre_, wondering at my +courage, offering up their prayers for my safety, and proclaiming that +only an Englishwoman would have faced such danger. The old Swiss porter +would not risk opening the gate until he had assured himself, from the +window, that the coast was clear, and closed it so rapidly when I had +passed it as almost to have endangered my heels. + +On returning, I found a cord drawn across the street in front of the +barrack in the Rue Verte, and some forty or fifty ill-dressed and +riotous men assembled, half-a-dozen of whom held the cord. Having +approached close to it, I paused, and, looking calmly at those who held +it, I appealed by looks to their politeness. Some of them laughed +aloud, and asked me if I could not leap over the barrier that impeded +my progress, drawing the rope still higher while they spoke. I +answered, though I trembled at being exposed to their rude mirth, and +still more rude gaze, "That I felt sure Frenchmen would not compel me +to such an unfeminine exertion, or give me cause to tell my compatriots +when I returned to England that deference to women no longer existed in +France." + +"Let her pass! let her pass!" exclaimed nearly all the voices of the +group; "she is courageous, and she speaks rightly, _Vivent les +Anglaises! Vivent les Anglaises!_" and the cord was instantly lowered +to the ground, and I hastily stepped over it, glad to get out of +hearing of the rough compliments bestowed on me. + +My servant had attempted to address them before I spoke, but they one +and all assailed him with a torrent of reproach, demanding if he was +not ashamed to wear a livery, the badge of servitude, when all his +countrymen were fighting for their liberty. I had again to clamber over +the barricade, assisted by my servant, and, before I could cross the +Rue St.-Honor, encountered various groups of men rushing along, all of +whom uttered such invectives against my footman that I determined not +again to go out attended by this symbol of aristocracy. + +On reaching my home, the porter observed, with a self-complacency his +prudence could not conceal, that he "knew Madame la Comtesse had +nothing to dread from the people, they were brave and _bons enfans_, +and would not injure a lady;"--a commendation that clearly indicated +the state of his feelings. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + + +I have observed a striking change in the manners of the servants during +the last three days. They are more familiar, without, however, evincing +the least insolence; their spirits seem unusually exhilarated, and they +betray an interest in the struggle in which the people are engaged that +leaves no doubt as to the side that excites their sympathy. Every +rumour of the success of the insurgents is repeated by them with +ill-suppressed animation and pleasure, and the power of the people is +exaggerated far beyond the bounds of truth. I confess this folly on +their part annoys me, and the more especially as the class to which +they belong, are totally incapacitated by ignorance from being able to +comprehend even the causes alleged for this popular outbreak. + +Misguided men! can they hope that servitude will be lightened by their +being employed by some _parvenus_, elevated from the dregs of the +people by a revolution which sets floating to the top the worst +ingredients of the reeking caldron from which it is formed, instead of +owning the more gentle and infinitely less degrading sway of those born +to, and accustomed to rule? + +Comte ---- and ---- have just come in, and report that the last story +current is, that fifty thousand men from Rouen are marching to Paris to +espouse the cause of the _people_. They say there is no end to the +desertions among the troops. + +The people--the people! I hear of nothing but the people; but those who +speak of them as all and every thing, seem to me to mistake the +populace for the people, yet surely the words are not synonymous. The +people, according to my acceptation of the word, are the sober and +respectable portion of the community of all countries, including the +husbandmen who till the earth, and the artisans who fabricate the +objects applicable to our positive wants, and superfluous luxuries. How +different are these from the populace who fill the streets shouting for +liberty, by which they mean license; fighting for a charter of the real +meaning of which they are ignorant; and rendering themselves the blind +instruments by which a revolution is to be accomplished, that will +leave them rather worse off than it found them; for when did those who +profit by such events remember with gratitude the tools by which it was +effected? + +_Thursday_.--Repeated knocking at the gate drew me to the window ten +minutes ago. The intruder presented a strange mixture of the terrible +and the ridiculous, the former predominating. Wearing only his shirt +and trousers, both stained with gore, and the sleeves of the former +turned up nearly to the shoulder, a crimson handkerchief was bound +round his head, and another encircled his waist. He brandished a huge +sword with a black leather string wound round his wrist, with one hand, +while with the other he assailed the knocker. Hearing the window +opened, he looked up, and exclaimed, "Ah! madame, order the gate to be +opened, that I may lay at the feet of my generous master the trophies I +have won with this trusty sword," waving the said sword over his head, +and pointing to a pair of silver-mounted pistols and a sabre that he +had placed on the ground while he knocked at the gate. + +I recognised in this man a helper in the stables of Comte A. d'Orsay, +of whom it had a short time previously been reported to us, that when a +party of the populace had attempted to force the gate of the stable +offices, which are situated in the Rue Verte, and the English grooms +and coachman were in excessive alarm, this man presented himself at the +window, sword in hand, declaring that he, though engaged in the same +cause as themselves, would defend, to the last moment of his life, the +horses of his master, and the Englishmen whom he considered to be under +his protection. This speech elicited thunders of applause from the +crowd who retreated, leaving the alarmed servants, whose protector he +had avowed himself, impressed with the conviction that he is little +short of a hero. + +This man--these same servants, only a few days ago, looked on as the +stable drudge, who was to perform all the dirty work, while they, +attired in smart liveries, and receiving triple the wages given to him, +were far more ornamental than useful in the establishment of their +employer. They offered him money as a reward for his spirited conduct +(the English of all classes, but more especially of that to which they +appertain, think that money pays all manner of debts), but he +indignantly refused the proffered gift. This revolutionary hero had +been fighting for several hours to-day, and is said to have evinced a +courage and enthusiasm that remind one of all we read of the spirit of +the old Imperial Guard, when animated by the presence of their mighty +chief. + +---- has just brought the intelligence, that the Tuileries and the +Louvre are taken by the people! Comte A. d'O---- sent two of his +servants (Brement, formerly drill-serjeant in the Guards, and now his +porter, and Charles who was an hussar, and a brave soldier) to the +Tuileries to endeavour to save the portrait of the Dauphin by Sir +Thomas Lawrence--an admirable picture. His instructions as to its +_emplacement_ were so correct, that the servants found it instantly, +but torn in pieces, and the fragments strewed on the floor. + +These men report that even in this feat a strange mixture of the +terrible and the comic was exhibited, for _while_ a dead body was +placed on the throne of Charles the Tenth, some men appeared in the +windows of the palace attired in the gold and silver tissue dresses of +the Duchesse de Berri, with feathers and flowers in their heads, and +fans in their hands, which they waved to the multitude beneath, with +all the coquettish airs and graces of _would-be-fine_ ladies. + +The busts of Charles the Tenth were broken and trampled upon; the +wardrobes of the royal family were scattered, torn, and thrown among +the people, who seemed to regard them only as trophies of the victory +they had achieved, and not for their intrinsic value. + +The palace of the Archbishop of Paris has been sacked, and every object +in it demolished. ---- told me that the ribaldry and coarse jests of +the mob on this occasion were disgusting beyond measure; and that they +ceased not to utter the most obscene falsehoods, while they wreaked +their vengeance on the property of this venerable prelate, against whom +they can bring no charge, except the suspicion of jesuitical +principles, and of having encouraged the king to issue the ordonnances. + +---- and ---- have just been here. They state that Charles the Tenth +sent a deputation to the provisional government offering to withdraw +the ordonnances, and to form a new ministry. The offer came too late, +and was rejected. Concessions from the vanquished are seldom valued; +and to offer terms to those who are now in the position to dictate them +is as unavailing as it is undignified. ---- and ---- say that the +general opinion is, that if the Duchesse de Berri was now to present +herself, with her son, to the people, her popularity, and his youth and +innocence, would accomplish an event that would satisfy most parties; +namely, the calling of the Duc de Bordeaux to the throne. The Duchesse +de Berri has courage enough to take this step; what a pity it is that +she has not wisdom enough to adopt it! + +While the fighting was going on in the streets, ---- and ---- met our +ambassador, Lord Stuart de Rothesay, walking along as usual. The +secretaries and _attachs_, too, of the English embassy have been +continually seen in places where their presence evinced more courage +and curiosity than caution; but fear is, I firmly believe, an unknown +guest in the breast of English gentlemen. + +Comte ---- has just been here; he has been to the Collge of Ste.-Barbe +to take charge of the sons of the Duc de Guiche, in order to conduct +them to the country; a service of no little danger, as all connected +with the court, and known to be faithful to the royal family are liable +to be maltreated. How painful and trying a part is the Duc de Guiche +now called on to act: compelled to leave his wife and family in a town +in a state of siege, or to desert the monarch to whom he has sworn +fealty! But he will perform it nobly; and if Charles the Tenth had many +such men to rally round him in the present hour, his throne might still +be preserved. + +The Duchesse de Guiche, in the trying situation in which she finds +herself, has displayed a courage worthy of olden times. The devotion of +her husband and self to the royal family is so well known that their +house has been a marked one during the last three days, the mob +repeatedly stopping before the gate uttering cries and menaces. All her +friends have urged her to leave Paris, and to remove with her children +to the country, for she would not consent to seek an asylum with her +grandmother or brother; urging, as a reason, that, in the absence of +the Duc, she felt it her duty to remain, that her presence might induce +the household to a more strict discharge of theirs, in protecting the +property of the Dauphin. + +---- and ---- have been here, and have told us that the provisional +government were installed in the Htel-de-Ville, General La Fayette at +its head, and my old acquaintance Monsieur Alexandra de Laborde taking +an active part. How all this is to end I cannot imagine; the cry for a +republic, though strongly echoed, will, I think, be unavailing; and the +reasonable part of the community cannot desire that it should be +otherwise, inasmuch as the tyranny of the many must ever be more +insupportable than that of one, admitting that even a despotic monarchy +could in our day exercise a tyranny, which I am not disposed to admit. + +The tri-coloured flag now floats on many of the churches, while that of +the _Fleur-de-lis_ still waves from the column in the Place Vendme, on +other public buildings, and the Tuileries. What a strange state of +things! but every thing is strange in this eventful crisis. + +---- has just been here, and reports that yesterday a meeting of the +Deputies took place at the house of M. Casimir Prier, in order to +consult on what measures they ought to pursue in the present state of +affairs. He says, that pusillanimity, and want of decision consequent +on it, marked the conduct of the assembly. They lost the time, so +precious in a crisis like the actual one, in disputing about words, +when deeds ought to have been had recourse to. They are accused of +being influenced by a dread of offending the now tottering power, lest +it should once more be solidly reinstated, and yet of being anxious to +remain well with those opposed to it; and they are said to have +temporised with both, allowing the time for serving either to have +passed away. + +A bitter feeling towards the royal family seems to pervade the minds of +the populace; and this has been fomented by the most gross and +disgusting falsehoods dispensed around by the medium of obscene +_brochures_, and songs which are sung and distributed through the +streets. Even now beneath my window two men are offering, and crying +aloud, the Amours of the Duchesse d'Angoulme and the Archbishop of +Paris. The most spotless woman in France and the most devout man! The +same hand that would pull down the throne would raze the altar! + +---- and ---- have been among the fighting, and report wonders of the +bravery of the populace. They fight with an enthusiasm and courage +worthy of a better cause, and have evinced a humanity to their wounded +adversaries that elicits admiration even from those who are the most +opposed to the cause they have espoused. The citizens, and the women +too, have come forth from the sanctuaries of their dwellings to dress +the wounds, and administer refreshment to the combatants, without +distinction with regard to the side on which they were engaged. + +This amalgamation of soldiers and people has been destructive to the +cause of royalty, for the humanity experienced has induced the former +to throw down their arms rather than use them against generous foes, +and cries of "_Vive la Ligne_!" are often heard from those so lately +opposed to it. All parties agree in stating that not a single example +of pillage, except in the instances of the gunsmiths' shops, has +occurred. Various houses have been entered by the people for the +purpose of firing from the windows; and, having effected their object, +they have retired without taking a single article of the many tempting +ones scattered around in these dwellings. + +This revolution, if indeed the result should prove it to be such, will +offer a striking contrast to that fearful one that has ever since left +so black a stain on France, and Frenchmen. Heroic courage, great +humanity, and a perfect freedom from cupidity, are the peculiar +attributes that mark those who are now subverting the throne of the +Bourbons; what a pity it is that such qualities should not have found a +better cause for developing themselves! + +_29th_.--The subject now circulated and believed is, that Lafayette and +his followers have placed themselves at the head of the people. This +rumour has quieted the fears of many, for his name exercises a great +influence. The fighting is still going on, and the report of the guns +comes booming on the ear continually. + +Hearing a noise in the street, ten minutes ago, I looked forth, and +beheld some four or five men covered with stains of blood, their faces +blackened by gunpowder, and streaming with perspiration, endeavouring +to draw away a piece of cannon, of which they had taken possession in +the Champs-lyses. Hearing the opening of my window, they entreated +me, if there were any men in the house, to send them to their +assistance, in order to draw away the gun from the reach of the enemy. +"And if there are no men," continued the speaker, "let the women come +out and help us in the good cause." While they yet spoke, a party of +soldiers were seen rushing to the rescue of the gun, and its temporary +conquerors were compelled to make a rapid retreat towards the Rue +St.-Honor. + +The name of M. Laffitte is now mixed with that of Lafayette among the +crowds in the streets, and has a great effect on them. His vast wealth, +and the frequent and extensive aid it has afforded to the working +classes, have rendered him one of, if not the most popular man in +Paris: so that those most conversant with the actual state of affairs, +pronounce that with Lafayette and Laffitte now rest the destiny of +France. How strange is the alteration which has occurred within so +short a space of time! Five days ago, Charles the Tenth reigned in the +Tuileries; at present, on Lafayette and Laffitte it depends whether he +ever enters his palace again! The tocsin is now sounding! How +strangely, how awfully it strikes on the ear! All this appears like a +dream. + +The formation of a provisional government is to-day spoken of. The cry +of "_Vive Napoleon!_" has been heard repeatedly shouted from one mass +of people, while "_Vive la rpublique!_" has been as loudly vociferated +by another. Various persons connected with both the royalist and +popular party, have been here to-day, so that I hear the opinions +entertained by the adherents of both sides of the question. Which to +credit I know not: there is but one point on which both agree, and that +is in praising the bravery and forbearance of the people. + +When I look around on the precious objects that cover the tables, +consoles, and cabinets in the salon where I am now writing, and reflect +that these same people are not only in arms, but I may say masters of +the town, I cannot help wondering at their total avoidance of pillage +when such rich booties might be so easily acquired. Perhaps there is no +European city in which so many and such splendid collections of rare +and precious articles are to be found, as at Paris. In England, our +nobility possess equal treasures, but they are contained in their +country seats; whereas it is in the Parisian dwellings of the French +noblesse, that their valuable possessions of rare objects are to be +found, and at the present crisis, how soon could an armed mass seize +them! + +_28th_.--The Duchesse de Guiche was exposed to considerable danger to +day, and evinced a courage nearly allied to temerity in speaking her +sentiments on the occasion. Alarmed for the safety of her eldest son, +she was proceeding to his college in search of him, when she was +stopped by a vast crowd of people assembled around the house of one of +the tradespeople of the royal family, over whose door were the arms of +France. + +The frightened tradesman was in the act of removing this badge, of +which only a few days previously he had been so proud, when the +duchesse, seeing him so employed, remarked aloud, that "after having so +often solicited permission to place the royal arms over his door, he +ought to have had the courage to defend them." The populace, enraged at +this reproof, hissed and yelled; but seeing that she remained unmoved, +the greater number cheered her, exclaiming "that young woman is as +courageous as she is beautiful; let us shew her that we know how lo +value courage, and protect her to her home," They placed themselves +around her, and with every mark of respect, escorted her, to the gate +of her dwelling. + +A person among the crowd who witnessed this incident, told me that +never had he seen the Duchesse de Guiche look so dazzlingly beautiful, +as when she was reproving the tradesman--her tall and majestic figure +elevated even above its usual height by the indignation she experienced +at the insult offered to the royal family, to whom in these their days +of trial, she is even more chivalrously devoted than when they reigned +with undisputed sway, and thousands of those who now desert, professed +to worship them. + +Before the duchesse regained her abode, she encountered several +skirmishing parlies in the streets who were absolutely fighting, and +probably owed her safety lo the protection afforded her by those whom +her courage had won to be her champions. + +The intelligence reached us two hours ago, that the populace had +attacked the hotel of the Duc de Guiche, and placed two pieces of +cannon before the gate. My terror may more easily be imagined than +described, for the duchesse and her youngest children are in the house, +and the duc is with the royal family. I hardly knew whether to be +thankful or sorry, that her brother Count Alfred d'Orsay was not at +home when this news reached us, for he would certainly have proceeded +to her house, and would probably have, by his presence and +interference, rendered her danger still greater. + +Fearful of compromising the safety of her children, the duchesse left +the hotel by another gate, opening into the Rue de Montaigne, and is, I +trust, ere this, safe on her route to St.-Germain, where her +father-in-law, the Duc de Gramont, has a residence. + +How like a troubled dream all this appears! Would that it were but a +dream, and that those whom I so much love, were not exposed to pay +dearly for their fidelity to a sovereign, whose measures their +enlightened minds are the last to approve, but whose misfortunes, if +they cannot ameliorate, they will at least share! + +I know not a more painful position than that of the Duc and Duchesse de +Guiche, at the present moment. With highly cultivated minds and liberal +opinions, possessing a knowledge of the world, and of the actual state +of public opinion in France, they must be aware of the utter +hopelessness of the cause in which they find themselves embarked, yet +such is their chivalrous sentiments of honour, that they will sacrifice +every thing rather than abandon those whose prosperity they have +partaken, and thus incur all the penalty of the acts of a government +whose policy they did not approve. Had Charles the Tenth many such +devoted adherents, he would not find himself deserted in his hour of +need. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + + +I have but just returned from the Rue d'Anjou, and now that I find +myself once more within the sanctuary of my home, I am surprised at my +own courage in having ventured to pass through the streets, and +_alone_, too, at such a moment. I do not think I should have risked it, +had I not known how much my excellent friend Madame C---- stood in need +of consolation, after having seen her grandchildren and great +grandchildren driven from their late peaceful and happy dwelling, +uncertain when she may behold them again, as they have determined on +not forsaking the royal family. + +I had ascended nearly to the top of the barricade at the entrance to +the Rue Verte when a head and shoulders rose from the opposite side so +suddenly as to alarm me not a little. My trepidation was infinitely +increased when I discovered that the individual to whom the said head +and shoulders appertained, was in a state of extreme intoxication, and +when with rolling eyes, flushed checks, and thick articulation he +addressed me with a familiarity, yet good nature, that I would most +willingly have dispensed with. + +"Give me your hand, _ma belle_, fear nothing, I am one of the _bons +enfans_ of the revolution, take my arm and no one will molest you. We, +_les braves des braves_, wage no war against women; _au contraire_, we +love the pretty creatures. Here take my hand, and I will assist you +over the barricades." + +Suiting his action to the word, he extended his hand towards me, and +reaching forward lost his equilibrium and rolled over; at which moment, +the proprietor of a wine shop at the corner of the Rue Verte came to my +assistance, and leading me through his house, opened a door on the +other side of the barricade, through which I hastily passed, he civilly +offering to open the same door when I returned if I would knock at it. +And here, _en passant_, let me render justice to the politeness I have +invariably experienced from all classes of men, and on all occasions, +in France--a politeness so general that I should be ungrateful if I did +not record it. + +When I passed the barrack in the Rue Verte, it was in the possession of +the people, who had seized it by the right of conquest an hour or two +previously. Proud of the achievement, they were looking out of the +windows, shouting, singing the Marseillaise, embracing each other, and +proclaiming that they were _les bons enfans_, etc. They paid me many +homely compliments as I passed, but not a single indelicate allusion +escaped their lips; and I hurried on, not meeting a human being until I +entered the courtyard of Madame C----'s hotel, into which I found +considerable difficulty to penetrate, owing to the extreme caution of +her Swiss porter who seemed to think it very dangerous to open even the +little door to admit me. + +I found dear, good Madame C---- depressed and agitated. I rejoiced to +find that she was ignorant of the scene that took place between her +grand-daughter and the populace, for a knowledge of it would have +served to increase her alarm. She was surrounded by the usual circle of +_habitus_ who endeavoured in vain to calm her fears, but my presence +re-assured her a little, and Count Valeski, who came in soon after, +succeeded in mitigating her terror. Having witnessed the horrors of the +former revolution, it is no wonder she should tremble at the thoughts +of another, and she looks on my calmness and courage as little short of +heroism. + +I remained a couple of hours with her, and having resisted all her +persuasions to induce me to stay all night, I left the Rue d'Anjou, and +had reached the Rue Verte, when I heard the report of guns, and saw a +party of soldiers attacking the barracks, out of the windows of which +the people, who had taken forcible possession of it some hours before, +were firing on their assailants. I retraced my steps as hastily as +possible, fear lending swiftness to my feet, and returned to the Rue de +Matignon by the Faubourg du Roule and the Rue St.-Honor. Our trusty +porter, having heard the shots, and knowing they proceeded from the +_quartier_ through which my route lay, was much alarmed for my safety, +and evinced great pleasure when he saw me safe again within the portal +under his charge, while I congratulated myself on having once more +proved my friendship to my dear old friend, by a personal exertion +entailing no more disagreeable consequences than a temporary alarm. + +---- and ---- have just been here: they say that it is reported that a +negotiation has been opened between the king and the provisional +government, and that even still a reconciliation may be effected. I do +not believe it, though I wish it were true. The blood that has flowed +during the last days has, I fear, created an impassable gulf between +the sovereign and the people. Each party has made discoveries fatal to +the good understanding necessary to subsist between both: one having +proved his want of power to carry his wishes into effect, and the other +having but too well evinced its power of resistance. + +While the negotiations are pending, the royal cause becomes every hour +more hopeless. Success has rendered the people less tractable; and the +concession implied by the king's holding out terms to them, has less +chance of producing a favourable result. + +The populace attempted to force an entrance into the _Htel des Pages_, +and, having fired through the iron gate, killed a fine youth, the son +of General Jacquinot, one of the royal pages, and a protg of the Duc +de Guiche. It was of this general that the Emperor Napoleon +said--"_Celui-l est brave tous les jours, en mon absence comme sous +mes yeux_." It is not more than ten days ago, since I met the mother +and sister of this promising youth with him at the Duchesse de +Guiche's. They came to return thanks to her and the duc for the +generous protection they had afforded to him; they were elate with joy +at his promotion, looked forward to his further advancement, and now--. +My heart bleeds for the poor mother who doted on her son! + +Count Alfred d'Orsay, having heard that he had no relations in Paris at +this moment, has gone to arrange for the interment of this poor youth, +who yet scarcely more than a child, has lost his life at but a short +distance from the threshold of that door where he had been so often +received with kindness. How glad I am that the duchesse was spared the +horror of being so near the scene of this murder, and that she and her +children are safe from the reach of personal violence! + +The interesting countenance of this fine youth, as I lately saw it, +haunts me. Beaming with affection towards his mother and sister, and +with gratitude towards his friends, it was pleasant to behold it; and +now,--how fearful is the change produced in so brief a space! That +bereaved mother and fond sister will never more look on that face so +dear;--before the fatal intelligence can have reached them, he will +have been consigned to the grave, and will owe to a stranger those last +rites which they little dream are now performing. + +The number of persons killed during the last three days has excited +much less interest in my feelings than the death of this poor youth. I +cannot picture to my mind's eye any other distinct image among the +slain. They present only a ghastly mass, with all the revolting +accompaniments of gaping wounds and blood-stained garments, I never saw +them in life,--knew not the faces that will be steeped in tears, or +convulsed in agony at their deaths; but this poor boy, so young, so +fair, and so beloved, and his fond mother and gentle sister seem ever +to stand before me! + +I remember reading, long years ago, the example given of a person +recounting all the details of a great battle, in which hundreds were +slain, and the listeners hearing the account unmoved, until the relater +described one individual who had been killed, and drew a vivid picture, +when those who had heard of the death of hundreds without any deeper +emotion than general pity, were melted to tears. This is my case, with +regard to the poor young page, cut off in the morning of his life; for, +having his image present to my mind, his death seems more grievous to +me than that of hundreds whom I have never seen. + +_30th_.--The last news is, that the Dauphin has been named +Generalissimo, that he has placed himself at the head of the vast body +of troops that still adhere to their allegiance, and that he is to +advance on Paris. This determination has been adopted too late, and can +now, in my opinion, avail but little. + +Comte d'O---- has just returned from seeing the last sad duties paid to +the remains of the poor young page. He brings the intelligence that the +royal family left St.-Cloud last night, and are now at Versailles. This +step proves that they consider their case hopeless. Unhappy Bourbons! a +fatality seems to impend over the race; and Charles the Tenth appears +doomed to die, as he has lived the greater portion of his life, in +exile. The absence of the Dauphine at this eventful period has been +peculiarly unfortunate for her family; for, with her firmness of +character and promptitude of decision, her counsel might have served, +while her presence would have given an impetus to, their cause. + +I have just seen ----, who told me, that on the King's departure for +Versailles he left the Dauphin in command of the troops that still +adhered to their allegiance, and that the Prince placed himself at the +head of a battalion of the _garde royale_, charged the enemy on the +Pont de Svres, and took possession of it; but the troops, with the +exception of a few officers, refused to follow, and left him to receive +the fire of the insurgents, which it is wonderful that he escaped. With +what feelings must he have bent his course to Versailles, deserted by +troops on whom he had bestowed so many favours and acts of munificence, +to meet his sovereign and father, with the sad news of their revolt! + +I have just had the gratifying intelligence that the Duchesse de Guiche +and her children reached St.-Germain's in safety. This is a great +relief to my mind. The royal arms on the carriage, and the liveries, +were recognised at the Barrire, and the populace crowded around, many +of them expressing their dissatisfaction at beholding these memorials +of a family so lately respected, if not beloved. It had been +represented to the Duchesse, previously to her leaving Paris, that she +ran no inconsiderable risk in venturing out with the royal arms on her +carriage;[9] but she declared that she would not consent to their being +effaced. She courageously, and with a calm dignity, addressed the angry +crowd, explained her sentiments and feelings to them in a few brief +words, and they, won by her beauty and noble bearing, even perhaps +still more than by her courage (though intrepidity has always a +peculiar charm for Frenchmen), cheered her, and suffered the carriage +to proceed unmolested. + + +_July 30th_.--I am again alarmed for the safety of the Duchesse de +Guiche. The populace having yesterday assembled at the Place +St.-Germain, in which is the residence of her father-in-law, the Duc de +Gramont, they evinced so hostile a feeling towards all attached to the +royal family, that a friend, becoming apprehensive of violence, scaled +the wall of the garden, and entering the house, implored the Duchesse, +ere it was yet too late, to seek safety by flight. + +Alarmed for her children--for this noble-minded woman is a stranger to +personal fear--she sought refuge with them in the Forest of +St.-Germain, in the Chteau du Val, the abode of the Princesse de Poix, +where she experiences all the kindness and hospitality which her +amiable hostess can practise, in order to soothe the anxiety of her +guest. + +What a change in the position of the Duchesse, and in so brief a space! +A fugitive in that forest where, every year during the _Fte des +Loges_, she dispensed kindness to the poor, and amiability to all, +doing the honours of the Duc de Gramont's house, where her +condescension and goodness were the themes of every tongue! And now, +harassed in mind and body, terrified for the safety of her husband, who +is with the royal family, and for her two eldest sons, who are in their +college, in the Rue St.-Marceau, which is rendered inaccessible, owing +to the barricades. + +_31st_.--Lafayette is now said to be the oracle of the provisional +government, and the idol of the populace. Advanced far in the vale of +life, his energies and vigour are gone, and his _name_ serves the party +more than his counsel can; for with the republicans, at least, it is a +guarantee for honest motives. What a strange destiny has his +been--called on to perform so conspicuous a part in two revolutions! + +---- has just been here, and announced that the Duc d'Orlans is named +Lieutenant-general of France. It is asserted, that this appointment has +been effected by the influence of General Lafayette over the +provisional government; but how little in accordance is this measure +with the well-known Utopian scheme of a republic, which has for years +been the favourite dream of this venerable visionary? + +_August 1st_. ---- now has brought the intelligence that Charles the +Tenth has nominated the Duc d'Orlans Lieutenant-general, so that his +Royal Highness has been chosen by both sides--a flattering proof of the +confidence reposed in him by each. Were he ambitious, here is an +opportunity of indulging this "infirmity of noble minds," though at the +expense of the elder branch of his family; but he will not, I am sure, +betray the trust they have confided to him. Order seems now to be in a +great measure restored; the people appear in good-humour; but there is +a consciousness of power evident in their hilarity that too forcibly +reminds one of their victory. + +The Duc of Orlans has been to the Htel-de-Ville, where he presented +himself to the people from the balcony; embraced General Lafayette, who +stood by his side; and was applauded with enthusiasm by the immense +multitude who witnessed the _accolade_. + +_2nd_.--The news of the day is, that Charles the Tenth has abdicated +the crown in favour of the Duc de Bordeaux, who is now styled Henri V. +This act might, four or five days ago, have produced some salutary +effect; but it now comes too late--at least, so think those who profess +to know more on the subject than I do. The position of the +Lieutenant-general, in this case, reminds me of that of a _confidante_ +in a quarrel between lovers, in which the interest of the absent is too +often sacrificed, owing to the dangerous opportunity furnished for +forwarding that of the supposed friend. + +_3d_.--Again, considerable excitement has prevailed in the town, +produced by the proclamation, that the dethroned sovereign had +determined to take up his position, with the strong military force that +still adheres to him, at Rambouillet. The publicity given to this news +was a very injudicious measure, if conciliation, or even forbearance to +the deposed family, was desired. + +The populace, that many-headed monster, only seen abroad when evil +passions dictate violence, again rush through the streets, breathing +vengeance against the poor old man, whose grey hairs, more exposed by +the absence of the crown his _ci-devant_ subjects have wrested from his +head, should have claimed more respect at their hands. Truly has the +poet said, + + "He who has worn crown, + When less than king is less than other men,-- + A fallen star, extinguish'd, leaving blank + Its place in heaven." + +This fickle people, or, at least, the dregs of them, for it would be +unjust to confound all in their enormities, will efface the credit they +have gained by the forbearance from crime that has as yet characterised +this revolution, by some act of brutality towards the royal family. But +even the very dregs of the people have not appeared desirous to adopt +any such course, until excited into it by the wicked rumours set +afloat, that Charles the Tenth had carried off all the crown jewels--a +rumour peculiarly calculated to excite their ire and meet a ready +credence, each individual of the motley train looking on himself as +having an interest in these national riches, and judging from _self_, +of the possibility--nay, more, probability, of so vile an action. How +little can such minds identify themselves with the feelings of those +who, sated with the gewgaws and trappings of grandeur, forget them in +the deep, the powerful excitement of beholding a throne crumbling into +ruin beneath them--a diadem rudely torn from their brows--the power +they wielded, even that of doing good, wrested violently, with the +sceptre, from their hands; and more than all, behold the loved, the +_trusted_--those on whom they had showered benefits with prodigality, +turn from them in their hour of need and join their foes! + + "If thou canst hate, as, oh! that soul must hate + Which loves the virtuous and reveres the great; + If thou canst loathe and execrate with me + That gallic garbage of philosophy,-- + That nauseous slaver of these frantic times, + With which false liberty dilutes her crimes; + If thou hast got within thy free-born breast + One pulse that beats more proudly than the rest + With honest scorn for that inglorious soul + Which creeps and winds beneath a mob's control. + Which courts the rabble's smile, the rabble's nod, + And makes, like Egypt, every beast its God!" + +_August 4th_.--The King has left Rambouillot, alarmed by the report of +the approach of the vast multitude who had left, or were leaving, +Paris, with hostile intentions towards the royal family. The scenes +that took place then, previously to his departure, are represented as +being most affecting. + +An old man, overpowered by mental and bodily sufferings, remembering +the terrible days of a former revolution, brought with a fearful +vividness to his mind by the appalling change effected within the last +few eventful days, he had lost all presence of mind, and with it his +confidence in those whom he might have safely trusted, while he yielded +it to those whose interests were wholly opposed to his. Nor is the +deplorable effect produced on his mind by recent events to be wondered +at. + +Adversity is the only school in which monarchs can acquire wisdom, and +it almost always comes too late to enable them to profit by its bitter +lessons. The defection of those hitherto supposed to be devoted +friends, the altered looks of faces never before beheld without being +dressed in smiles, the unceremoniousness of courtiers who never +previously had dared to have an opinion before royalty had decided what +it should be, might well have shook firmer nerves, and touched a +sterner heart, than belonged to the old, grey-headed monarch, who saw +himself betrayed without comprehending by whom, and who used his +authority as sovereign and father, over his religiously obedient son, +to extort an abdication of his right, as well as an approval of the +resignation of his own. + +Like another Lear, this poor old man has been driven forth "to bide the +pelting of the pitiless storm" of a revolution, followed by his widowed +daughter-in-law and her helpless son, that child orphaned ere yet he +saw the light, and by Frenchmen who now condemn him to exile! + +They have taken the route to Cherbourg, there to embark; and of those +who lately bent the knee before them, how few have followed their now +gloomy fortunes! One, at least, has not left, and will not forsake +them. The Duc de Guiche, the kindest husband and father perhaps in +France, sacrifices his feelings of domestic affection to his sense of +duty, and accompanies the exiled family! + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + + +_August 5th_.--There are rumours today that the son of the Emperor +Napoleon will be called to fill the vacant throne. This seems to me to +be very improbable, when I reflect that General Lafayette, whose +influence is omnipotent at present, appears wholly devoted to the Duc +d'Orlans. The minds of the people are as yet wholly unsettled; a dread +of how their late exploits may be looked on by the foreign powers +allied to the deposed sovereign, pervades the multitude, and the +republicans begin to discover that their Utopian schemes are little +likely to be advanced by the revolution effected. + +I was forcibly struck this morning on reading, in an Italian writer, +the following passage, which is strongly applicable to the present +time: + + "When a revolution is ripe, men are always found who are + ready to commence it, and make their bodies the steps to the + throne of him who is to profit by their labours, without + having shared their dangers." + +I have a presentiment that the truth of this axiom will be verified in +France. + +_August 6th_.--Reports are now afloat that the crown of France has been +offered to the Duke of Orlans, but that the offer was not unanimous, +and that consequently he has not accepted it. Other rumours state, that +if he should be induced to do so, it will only be to hold it as a +sacred deposit to be restored to the rightful owner when, with safety +to both parties, it can be transferred. Should this be the case, then +will the Duke of Orleans deserve well of the elder branch of his family +who have behaved so kindly towards him, but I confess I am not one of +those who believe in the likelihood of such an abnegation of self, as +this voluntary abdication would display. + +Rich possessions are seldom if ever willingly resigned, and a crown is +one said to have such irresistible charms to the person who has once +worn it, that history furnishes but few examples like that of Charles +the Fifth, or Christina of Sweden. Time will prove whether +Louis-Philippe d'Orlans will offer a _pendant_! + +I walked with Comte d'O---- this evening into the Champs-Elysees, and +great was the change effected there within the last few days. It looks +ruined and desolate, the ground cut up by the pieces of cannon, and +troops as well as the mobs that have made it a thoroughfare, and many +of the trees greatly injured, if not destroyed. + +A crowd was assembled around a man who was reading aloud for their +edification a proclamation nailed to one of the trees. We paused for a +moment to hear it, when some of the persons recognising my companion, +shouted aloud, "_Vive le Comte d'Orsay! Vive le Comte d'Orsay!"_ and +the cry being taken up by the mass, the reader was deserted, the fickle +multitude directing ail their attention and enthusiasm to tho new +comer. We had some difficulty in escaping from these troublesome and +unexpected demonstrations of good will; and, while hurrying from the +scene of this impromptu ovation to the unsought popularity of my +companion, I made him smile by hinting at the danger in which he stood +of being raised to the vacant throne by those who seem not to know or +care who is to fill it. + +Comte d'O---- was as much puzzled as I was how to account for this +burst of enthusiasm, for, taking no part in politics, and all his +family being attached to the legitimate cause, this demonstration of +regard appears more inexplicable. It seems, however, to establish one +fact, and that is, that though the monarch has fallen into disrepute +with the people, the aristocracy have not, and this alone proves how +totally different are the feelings of those who have effected the +present revolution with those of the persons who were engaged in the +former one, a difference, perhaps, not more to be attributed to the +change produced in the people by the extension of education, than in +the _noblesse_ by the same cause, aided by the habits and feelings it +engenders. Whatever may be the cause, the effect is salutary, for the +good understanding evident between the two classes tends greatly to the +amelioration and advantage of both. There is something very contagious +in popular feeling. It resembles an epidemic from which few of the +class more peculiarly exposed to it escape. + +Walked into the streets to-day, for a carriage cannot yet pass through +them. Never did any town, not actually sacked, present a more changed +aspect. Houses damaged by shots, windows smashed, pavements destroyed, +and trees cut down or mutilated, meet the eye along the Boulevards. The +destruction of the trees excited more regret in my mind than that of +the houses. There, many of them lay on the ground shorn of their leafy +honours, offering obstructions on the spots which they so lately +ornamented, while others stood bare and desolate, their giant limbs +lopped off, their trunks shattered by bullets, and retaining only a few +slight branches oh high, to which still adhered the parched, +discoloured, and withered leaves, sole remnants of their lately +luxuriant foliage. + +The houses may be rebuilt and the streets newly paved, but how many +years will it take before these trees can be replaced! Those who loved +to repose beneath their shade, or who, pent in a city, were solaced by +beholding them and thinking of the country of which they brought +pleasant recollections, will grieve to miss them, and, like me, own +with a sigh, while contemplating the ravages occasioned by the events +of the last few days, that if good ever is effected by that most +dangerous of all experiments, a revolution, it is too dearly bought. + +The people seem as proud and pleased as possible with the +accomplishment of the task they took in hand. How long will they +continue so? They are like a too-spirited horse who, having mastered +his rider, requires a bolder and more expert hand to subjugate him +again to obedience, and the training will be all the more painful from +the previous insubordination. Of one thing the people may be proud, and +that is, their having not stained this revolution with any of the +crimes that have left so indelible a blot on the former one. + +How soon does the mind habituate itself to an unnatural state of +excitement! My _femme de chambre_ positively looked blank and +disappointed this morning, when, on entering my _chambre coucher_, +she answered in reply to my question, whether any thing new had +occurred during the night, "_Non, miladi, positivement rien_." Strange +to say, I too felt _dsoeuvr_ by the want of having something to be +alarmed or to hope about,--I, who meddle not with politics, and wish +all the world to be as quiet and as calm as myself. Every one I see +appears to experience this same flatness, just like the reaction +produced on the spirits the first day or two after the Italian +Carnival, when the cessation of gaiety, though felt to be a relief to +the frame, leaves the mind unfitted for repose. + +I find this feeling is generally experienced, for several of the +shop-keepers, whose profit,--nay, whose very bread, depends on the +restoration of social order, confess it. One person, the wife of a +jeweller, owned to me to-day that Paris was now beginning to be very +_triste_. + +"To be sure they were no longer afraid to open their shops, and +commerce they hoped would soon become active again, but there was no +more the same interest continually awakened, as when every hour,--nay, +every minute brought some new event, and she and her neighbours looked +out to behold the fighting in the streets, the wounded and the dying +dropping around, and trembled for their own lives, and for the safety +of those dear to them." In short, as she admitted, the want of +excitement was experienced by all those who had lately become +accustomed to it, as much as it is felt by the habitual gamester who +cannot live without play. + +This is a dangerous state for the people of a great city to find +themselves in. Vastly more dangerous than if subdued by a +long-continued excess of excitement, their moral as well as their +physical force required repose, and they gladly resigned themselves to +it. + +To a sober-minded denizen of England, the ungovernable pride, +insatiable vanity, and love of fighting, inherent in the French, appear +really little short of insanity, to so great an excess do they push +these manias. This will always render them so difficult to be governed, +that it will require no ordinary abilities and firmness in him who +undertakes the arduous task of ruling them. Yet the very excess of +these passions renders the French the most able, as they decidedly are +the most willing, instruments to be employed in achieving the aims of +the wildest ambition, or the most glorious enterprises. He will the +longest and most securely govern them, who calls these passions into +action, provided always that they meet no check, for the French not +only bear adversity impatiently, but soon turn against him who has +exposed them to it: witness their conduct to the Emperor Napoleon, who, +while success frowned his banner, was their idol. + +Playing at soldiers is the favourite game of Frenchmen of every class +and description, and every opportunity afforded them of indulging it is +gladly seized. When I compare the reluctance with which the yeomanry of +Ireland, or the local militia of England, leave their homes and their +business to "assume the spear and shield," with the enthusiasm evinced +by the _Garde Nationale_ when they are called to leave their +_boutiques_ and don their uniforms, I am more than ever struck with the +remarkable difference existing between two nations separated by so +short a distance. The English local militia man will fight when +occasion requires, and with determined courage, too, because he +believes it to be his duty, but the French National Guard will combat +for the mere love of combating, and forget home and interest in the +pleasure of the excitement. + +The Duchesse de Guiche has returned to Paris, while her amiable and +noble-minded husband has accompanied the royal family to Cherbourg, +where they are to embark for England. Nothing can exceed the courage +and dignity with which she supports her altered fortunes. She thinks +only of those to whom the Duc and herself have been so long and so +truly devoted; and in her chagrin for their sufferings forgets her own. + +The Duc has such a perfect confidence in her good sense and tact, that +he has sent her his _procuration_ to act for him in his absence. No +sooner had she arrived at her abode, than she sent to demand the +protection of General Grard[10] for the house and stables of the +Dauphin, and ho immediately ordered a guard to be placed there. Heaven +grant that she may not be exposed to any annoyance during the absence +of her husband! + +The Duchesse de Guiche gave a new proof of her courage and presence of +mind yesterday. Early in the morning, having heard a noise in the +courtyard of her dwelling, she beheld from the window of her chamber an +officer gesticulating with violence, and menacing the grooms of the +Dauphin. The upper servant entered at the moment, and announced that +the officer insisted on seizing six of the finest horses in the stable, +by order of General Lafayette. + +The Duchesse descended to the courtyard, informed the officer that the +whole establishment was under the protection of General Grard, without +whose orders no horse should leave the stables. He attempted to enforce +his pretensions; but the Duchesse desired the head groom to call out +his assistants, about thirty in number, who, armed with pitchforks and +other implements of their calling, soon came forth; and the Duchesse +assured the intruder that, unless he immediately retired, he should be +forcibly expelled. + +Seeing the courage and determination of this high-spirited and +beautiful woman, the officer withdrew, and the horses were saved. It +has since been ascertained, as the Duchesse anticipated, that General +Lafayette had never given any orders to the officer who had used his +name. + +_7th_.--The Duke of Orleans has at length accepted the crown; and +various are the conjectures and reports to which his doing so has given +rise. Many of them, as may be easily imagined, are not creditable to +him; but on this occasion, as on most others, the least charitable +motives are generally assigned to those whose conduct is judged by the +mass often wholly ignorant of the reasons on which it is based. The +vast wealth of the Duke of Orleans has a powerful influence; and those +who a few days ago exclaimed against royalty, and vaunted the superior +advantages of a government without a king, are now reconciled to having +one whose immense private fortune will exempt the nation from the +necessity of furnishing funds for a civil list. Should the new +sovereign hereafter demand one, his popularity will be endangered; and +the King of the French, as he is styled, will be likely to find as +little favour in the eyes of his subjects as the King of France +experienced. + +Popularity, always, and in all countries, an unstable possession, is in +France infinitely more so; and Louis-Philippe must have more luck, as +well as more wisdom, than falls to the lot of mankind, to retain this +fleeting good when the novelty of his reign has worn away. That he is a +man of great ability no one seems to entertain a doubt; but his wisdom +would, in my opinion at least, have been more surely manifested had he +declined instead of accepting the crown. + +Those who profess to be best acquainted with his sentiments declare, +that he only acceded to the wishes of the people in ascending the +vacant throne, in order to preserve the charter, and to preclude the +dangerous theoretical experiments into which the republican party was +so desirous to plunge. It remains to be proved whether, in a few years +hence, those who have subverted one monarchy by violence may not be +tempted to have recourse to a similar measure in order to free +themselves from the successor they have chosen; for even already it +appears clear to me, that the expectations entertained, not only by the +partisans of Louis-Philippe, but by the generality of the people, are +such as he never can fulfil. He may be their idol for a brief space, +but, like all other idols, he will be expected to perform miracles; and +not having the sanctity with which time invests even false gods, he may +be thrown from the pedestal to which he has been elevated as +unceremoniously as he was raised to it. + +I saw General Lafayette to-day, and never felt more disappointed, as +his appearance does not at all correspond with what I had imagined it +to be. The "Lafayette _aux cheveux blancs_," as the popular song +describes him to be, is, _au contraire_, a plain old man, with a dark +brown scratch wig, that conceals his forehead, and, consequently, gives +a very common and, to my thinking, a disagreeable expression to his +countenance. The _cheveux blancs_ would be a great improvement; for, +independently of the song thus describing him, one looks for the +venerable mark of age in this Nestor of revolutions, who in his youth +has seen his idol, Liberty, commit fearful crimes in France as well as +great deeds in America, and who now, when on the threshold of the +grave, in which ere long he must repose, beholds her regeneration in +his native land, redeemed from the cruelty that formerly stained her +course. + +"_Voil le grand Lafayette_!" exclaimed one of the people as he passed +to-day; "_Oui, la ganache des deux mondes_," replied the other. Such is +popular favour! + +I walked in the Palais-Royal to-day; and felt much more disposed to +pity than envy the King of the French, as Louis-Philippe is styled, +when I beheld a crowd of idle miscreants, assembled in front of his +dwelling, rudely and boisterously vociferating his name, and in a tone +much more resembling command than entreaty, desiring his presence. He +at length came forward, bowed repeatedly, pressed his hand to his +heart, and then withdrew, looking, as I thought, rather ashamed of the +_rle_ he was called on to enact, while his riotous audience seemed +elated at exhibiting his docility. + +The Queen was then called for, and, after some delay, was handed +forward by Louis-Philippe. It made me sad to look on the altered +countenance of this amiable woman, whom all parties allow to be a most +faultless wife and mother. She is hardly to be recognised as the same +being who only a very few months ago looked the personification of +happiness. Already have deep care and anxiety left their furrows on her +brow, proving that + + A diadem, howe'er so bright it be, + Brings cares that frighten gentle sleep away, + E'en when from buried ancestors it comes, + Who bless'd when they bequeath it to their heir; + For great is the responsibility + Of those who wear the symbol of a king, + In regular succession handed down + From sire to son through long antiquity. + But when th' anointed head that wore it once + Sleeps not in death--but exiled, worse than death-- + And scions legitimate live to claim + Their birthright, oh! how heavy is that crown + (Though loose it fits), which well the wearer knows, + A people's breath may blow from of his brow, + Sear'd by the burning weight, it yet would guard, + E'n though it crush him. + +I am told that no day passes in which a crowd does not assemble beneath +the windows of Louis-Philippe and loudly vociferate for his presence. +M. Laffitte is not unfrequently seen with the king on these occasions, +and when they embrace the crowd applauds. + +I cannot imagine a more painful position than that of the Queen of the +French. Devotedly attached to her husband and family, she will have +often to tremble for their safety, exposed, as it must be, to the +inconstancy and evil passions _soi-disant_ subjects, who may, ere long, +be disposed to pull down the throne they have erected for +Louis-Philippe as rapidly as they raised the barricades for its +elevation. + +Had the King of the French succeeded to the throne by the natural +demise of those who stood between him and it, how different would be +his position; for it is agreed by all who know him, that he has many +qualities that eminently fit him to fill it with credit to himself and +advantage to the people; but as it is, I foresee nothing but trouble +and anxiety for him,--a melancholy change from the domestic happiness +he formerly enjoyed. Any attempt to check the turbulence of the people +will be resented as an act of the utmost ingratitude to those who +placed the crown on his head; and if he suffers it with impunity, he +will not only lose his empire over them, but incur the contempt of the +more elevated of his subjects. + +I saw the King of the French walking through the Place Vendme to-day, +attended only by one person. He was recognised, and cheered, and +returned the salutation very graciously. And there stood the column +erected to commemorate the victories of one now sleeping in a foreign +grave; one whose very name was once the talisman that excited all +Parisian hearts into the wildest enthusiasm! + +Louis-Philippe passed near the base of the column, which seemed to +return a sullen echo to the voices that cheered him; did he, or those +around him, remember their vicinity to this striking memorial of the +inconstancy of the nation? The scene awakened more reflections in my +mind than I dare say it did in that of those whose voices rent the air; +but though it might be only fancy, I thought the King of the French +looked very grave. + +Monsieur Mignet spent last evening here; his conversation is full of +interest, being the overflowing of a rich mind, free from prejudices, +and his ideas, though methodically arranged and subjected to the ordeal +of a sober judgment, bear the warm tint of a brilliant imagination, +that might have rendered him a poet, had he not chosen to be a +historian. The Revolution has produced no visible change in this clever +and agreeable man, who, filling the office of Keeper of the Archives, +devotes his time to studies and researches in harmony with the pursuits +to which he has many years been accustomed, and hears the success of +the popular cause, to which he has long been attached, with a +moderation and equanimity highly indicative of a philosophical mind, +allied to an amiable disposition. There is something so striking in the +appearance of Monsieur Mignet, that all strangers, who meet him here, +remark the fine character of his head and the expression of his +countenance. + +The celebrated General Pepp dined here yesterday, and is very unlike +the revolutionary hero I had pictured him to be. Mild, well-bred, and +amiable in his manner, he seems much more suited to command a regiment +in support of a legitimate monarchy, than to subvert one. Although +liberty appears to be with him a monomania, the warmth with which he +advocates it in conversation never urges him beyond the bounds of good +breeding. + +It is a strange infatuation to suppose that as civilisation extends its +influence, men will have faith in the Utopian schemes of well-meaning +visionaries, and risk evils they know not, in exchange for a state +which, if not quite faultless, has at least much of good. How many +brave and honourable men become the dupes of heated imaginations and +erroneous opinions, which, urging them to effect an amelioration of +some grievances, incur the penalty of imparting greater ones! General +Pepp is liked by all who know him, though all lament the monomania +that has gained such an ascendency over his mind. His brother, General +Florestan Pepp at Naples, whom we esteem so much, is one of the most +excellent men I ever knew. + +The Duc de Guiche has returned to Paris, after having seen the royal +family safely embarked at Cherbourg. The departure of the aged monarch +presented a melancholy scene. At his time of life, he can never hope to +behold his country again, and the sudden change from the throne of a +great kingdom to a compelled exile in a foreign land is a reverse of +fortune that demands a philosophy to support, with which few are blest. + +There is something touching in the attachment of the Duc and Duchesse +de Guiche to this unfortunate family, and above all, to the Dauphin and +Dauphine. Always aware of their affection for them, I never imagined +the strength of it, until the adversity which has sent so many of those +who had previously loudly professed their devotion to them away, but +which has increased the feelings of reverence towards them in this +estimable couple, by mingling with it a sentiment of deep +commiseration, that induces a still greater display of respect, now +that so many others dispense with evincing it. The Duc is charged with +the disposal of the property of the Dauphin; and, when this task is +accomplished, he and his family will follow the fallen fortunes of +Charles the Tenth, and join him at Holyrood. + +Loving France as they do, and wishing their sons to be brought up in +the land of their birth, strong indeed must be the affection that +induces them to abandon it, in order to devote themselves to the exiled +Bourbons. This devotion to the fallen is the more meritorious when the +liberality of the Duc's political opinions is taken into consideration. +How few sovereigns find such devotion in adversity! and how seldom are +men to be met with capable of sacrificing their own interests and the +future prospects of their children to a sense of duty! + + * * * * * + +A lapse in my journal.--All seems now settled. The foreign powers have +acknowledged the King of the French; and this acknowledgment has not +only delighted his subjects, but confirmed them in the belief of their +own right to make or unmake sovereigns according to their will and +pleasure. + +The English are very popular in Paris at this moment, and the ready +recognition of Louis-Philippe by our government has increased this good +feeling. A vast crowd escorted the carriage of Mr. Hamilton, the +Secretary of the Embassy, to his door, as he returned from his first +accredited audience of the new monarch, and cries of _Vivent les +Anglais!_ filled the air. As Mr. Hamilton resides in the house next to +the one I occupy, I had an opportunity of beholding this ovation +offered to him, and the people certainly evinced very groat enthusiasm +on the occasion. + +M. Thiers, M. Mignet, Count Valeski, and Mr. Francis Raring, dined here +yesterday. M. Thiers was very brilliant and amusing. It is impossible +to meet him even once without being struck with the remarkable talent +that characterises every sentence he utters; and yet each observation +comes forth with such spirit and vivacity, that it is easy to see it +has been elicited at the moment by some remark from another, and not +from meditation. + +There is a hardiness in his conceptions, and an epigrammatic terseness +in the expression of them, that command attention; and the readiness +with which he seizes, analyses, and disposes of a question, betrays +such a versatility of mental power as to convey a conviction that he is +a man who cannot fail to fill a distinguished place in France, where, +at present, abilities furnish the master-key that opens the door to +honours and fortune. M. Thiers appears to entertain a consciousness of +his talents, but does not, I really think, overrate them. + +The Prince and Princess Soutzo with their family, spent yesterday with +us. Their eldest daughter, the Princess Helena, is a beautiful girl, +with captivating manners, and highly cultivated mind, and the little +Mary, though still in infancy, is one of the cleverest children I ever +saw. Never did I see young people better brought up than are the sons +and daughters of this excellent couple, or a more united family. + +Mr. and Miss Poulter, and William Spencer the poet, I dined here +yesterday. Mr. Poulter is a sensible man, and his sister is well +informed and intelligent. + +It is now decided that we go to England! Two years ago I should have +returned there with gladness, but now!--I dread it. How changed will +all appear without _him_ whose ever-watchful affection anticipated +every wish, and realised every hope! I ought to feel pleased at leaving +Paris, where the heaviest trial of my life has occurred, but _here_ I +have now learned to get inured to the privation of his society, while +in England I shall have again to acquire the hard lesson of +resignation. + +_November_, 1830.--This is the last entry I shall make in my journal in +Paris, for to-morrow we depart for England. + +I have passed the day in taking leave of those dear to me, and my +spirits have failed under the effort. Some of them I shall probably +never again behold. The dear and excellent Madame Craufurd is among +those about whom I entertain the most melancholy presentiments, because +at her advanced age I can hardly hope to find her, should I again +return to France. She referred to this to-day with streaming eyes, and +brought many a tear to mine by the sadness of her anticipations. + +The Duc and Duchess de Guiche I shall soon see in England, on their +route to Edinburgh, to join tho exiled family at Holyrood, for they are +determined not to forsake them in adversity. + +Adieu a Paris! two years and a half ago I entered you with gladness, +and the future looked bright; I leave you with altered feelings, for +the present is cheerless and the future clouded. + + + * * * * * + + +NOTES + + +[1: Now Baron d'Haussey.] + +[2: The hermitage was lent him by Madame d'Epinay, to whom his +subsequent ingratitude forms a dark page in her _Mmoires_.] + +[3: The present Lord Abinger.] + +[4: Now Lord Glenelg.] + +[5: Now Lord Francis Egerton.] + + +[6: Now Madame mile de Girardin.] + +[7: "Where thou beholdest Genius, + There thou beholdest, too, the martyr's crown."] + +[8: The present Earl of Cadogan.] + +[9: The Duc de Guiche, being _premier menin_ to the Dauphin, used, +according to custom, the arms and liveries of that prince.] + +[10: Now Marchal.] + + + +INDEX TO THE CONTENTS. + + +CHAPTER I. + + + +NISMES. + +Antiquities of this City--The Htel du Midi--Articles of +Merchandise--History of the Maison Carre--Work of Poldo d'Albenas--The +Building described--Origin of it--Now used as a Museum--Monument to +Marcus Attius--Cardinal Alberoni--Barbarous Project--Removal of +Antiquities--The Amphitheatre described--Charles Martel--Excellent +Precaution in Roman Theatres--Inscription--Officious Cicerone--Gate of +Augustus--La Tour-Magne--Excavations--Fine Fountain--Temple of +Diana--Brevity of Human Life, 1. + + + +CHAPTER II. + + +TOWN OF ARLES. + +Beaucaire--Wooden Houses--Castle of King Ren--Church of St. +Martha--Fabulous Monster--The Htel described--The Hostess--Antique +Furniture--Plentiful Dinner--Scrutiny--Visit to the Amphitheatre--The +Prefect of Arles--Subterranean Excavations--Ancient Church of St. +Anne--Altar to the Goddess of Good--Venus of Arles--Granite +Obelisk--Primitive Manners--A Liberal Landlady, 14. + + + +CHAPTER III. + + +ST.-RMY. + +Situation of the Town--Antiquities--The Triumphal Arch described--Male +and Female Figures--The Mausoleum--Bassi-relievi of Battles, Infantry, +etc.--Figure of a Winged Female--Latin Inscription--Variously +explained--Interpretation of Monsieur P. Malosse--Respect for the +Departed--On The Triumphal Arch and Mausoleum at St.-Remy, 21. + + +CHAPTER IV. + + +LYONS. + +The _Fte Dieu_--Procession through the Streets--Ecclesiastical and +Military Pomp--Decorations in the Streets--Effect produced on the Mind +by Sacred Music--Excitements to Religious Fervour--the _Miserere_, 30. + + +CHAPTER V. + + +PARIS. + +Fatiguing Journey--Landau Accident--The Htel de la Terrasse, in the +Rue de Rivoli--Six Years' Absence--The Duc and Duchesse de Guiche--Joy +of Meeting--Fashion at Paris--Visit to Herhault's Temple of +Fashion--Mademoiselle La Touche--Extravagant Charges--Caution to +Husbands--A Word, also, to Wives--Visit to Madame Craufurd--Her +prepossessing Appearance--House-hunting--Residence of the Marchal +Lobau--Review in the Champ-de-Mars--Splendid _Coup d'oeil_--The +Marchioness de Loul--Restrictions at Court--Accident to the Comte de +Bourmont--Alarm of the Ladies--Charles the Tenth, the Dauphin, and the +Dauphine--Melancholy Physiognomy of Charles the First--The Duchesse +d'Angoulme--Her Trials and Endurance--French Love of Country--The +Duchesse de Berri--Dinner at the Duchesse de Guiche's--William +Lock--The Comte de l'Esprance de l'Aigle--His high breeding--The +Opera--_Dbut_ of Taglioni--Her Poetical Style of Dancing--The Duc de +Cazes--French and English Manners contrasted--Attentions to the Fair +Sex in France--The Comtesses de Bellegarde--Character of the Duc de +Gramont--Lady Barbara Craufurd--Count Valeski--Anger of the Marchal +Lobau--Defect in French Houses--The _Muette de Portici_--Noblet--An old +_Danseuse_--Gaiety at Tivoli--Similarity in the Exterior of Parisian +Ladies--A Quadrille Party--_Demi-toilette_--Late Tea-Party--Luxurious +Chair--Delightful House in the Rue de Bourbon--Its costly +Decorations--Its Interior described--The Princesse de la Moskowa--Sad +Interview--Marchal Ney, 32. + + +CHAPTER VI. + +Custom of letting out Furniture--The Prince and Princesse +Castelcicala--Lady Hawarden--Lady Combermere--Tone of Society at +Paris--Attentions paid by Young Men to Old Ladies--Flirtations at +Paris--Ceremonious Decorum--Comic Charles de Mornay--Parisian +Upholsterers--Rich Furniture--Lord Yarmouth--Elegant Suite of +Apartments--Charles Mills--Warm Affections between Relatives in France, +56. + + +CHAPTER VII. + +Domestic Arrangements--Changes in Young People--Pleasant +Recollections--Lord Lilford--The Marquis and Marquise Zamperi--Comte +Alexander de Laborde--The Marquis de Mornay--Mode of passing the +Time--Evening Visits in France--Dinner-party--The Duc Dalberg--The Duc +de Mouchy--Party to Montmorency--Rousseau's Hermitage--Sensibility, a +Characteristic of Genius--Solitude--Letter of Rousseau to +Voltaire--Church, of Montmorency--Baths at Enghien--The Comtesse de +Gand--Colonel E. Lygon--The Marquis de Dreux-Brez--Contrast between +him and the Duc de Talleyrand--The Baron and Baroness de Ruysch--Mr. +Douglas Kinnaird--Sir Francis Burdett--Colonel Leicester Stanhope--The +Marquis Palavicini--Charms of Italian Women--Lords Darnley and +Charlemont--Mr. Young, the Tragedian--Lord Lansdowne--Estimate of his +Character--Sir Robert Peel--Respect for the Memory of Sir William +Drummond--Lady Drummond--"Vivian Grey"--Mr. Standish--Intermarriages +between the French and the English, 64. + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +Charles Kemble--His Daughter's Tragedy of "Francis the +First"--Recollections of John Kemble--The Opera--_Count Ory_--Sir A. +Barnard--Secret of Happiness--Visit to Mademoiselle Mars--Her Residence +described--Memorial of her Theatrical Career--The Duchesse de la +Force--Madame Grassini--Anecdote of her--Visit to Orsay--Its +Situation--The Princesse de Croy--Hamlet of Palaiseau--Drama of _La Pie +Voteuse_--Family of the Duc de Guiche--The Vaudeville Thtre--Scribe's +_Avant, Pendant, el Aprs_--Its Dangerous Tendency--French +Ambition--Parisian Shopkeepers--Their Officious Conduct, 78. + + +CHAPTER IX. + +Lord and Lady Stuart de Rothesay--French Politeness--Mr. D---- and Mr. +T---- --Study of Shakespeare--Attractions of Mrs. T---- --Lady +Charlotte Llndsay and the Misses Berry--Sir William Gell--Mr. and Mrs. +Hare--Female Amiability--Shopping--Hints on Female Dress--Brilliancy of +French Conversation--Mr. J. Strangways--A severe Trial--The +Plague-spot--Miraculous Escape--Dinner given by Comte A. de +Maussion--Goethe's _Faust_--Character of "Margaret"--The witty Mr. +M---- --Lord Byron--French Quickness of Apprehension--_Sept +Heures_--Character of Charlotte Corday--Degenerate Taste of the +Parisians--Hasty Conclusions, 91. + + +CHAPTER X. + +The celebrated Dr. P---- --Society of Medical Men--Dr. +Guthrie--Requisites for a Surgeon--Celebrity and Merit--The Road to +Fortune, as related by Dr. P---- --Successful Stratagem--Fancied +Illness--Superfluity of _Embonpoint_--Mode of Treatment--Another +Patient--The Doctor -la-mode--Mr. P. C. Scarlett--Lord Erskine--Mr. +H.B---- --Visit to the Thtre Italien--Madame Malibran's +"Desdemona"--Defect in her Singing--The Princesse Pauline Borghese--The +Family of Napoleon--Particulars of the Duchesse d'Abrantes--The +Luxembourg Palace and Gardens--A Loving Couple--Holiness of +Marriage--Story of the Old Bachelor and his Crafty Housekeeper, 105. + + +CHAPTER XI. + +Groups of Children in the Gardens of the Luxembourg--Joyous Sounds--The +Nurses--The Child of Noble Birth and that of the _Parvenu_--Joys of +Childhood--Contrast between Youth and Age--Meeting with Dr. P---- +--Arrival of General and the Comtesse d'Orsay--Attractions of the +latter--Remark of Napoleon--Affection in Domestic Circles in +France--The Duchesse de Guiche--The Comtesse d'Orsay--The Duc de +Gramont--Madame Craufurd--The _ci-devant Jeune Homme_--Potter, the +actor--Sir Francis Burdett--Advantages of French Society--Topics of +Conversation--Pedigrees of Horses--French Politeness--Deferential +Treatment of the Fair Sex--Domestic Duties of the Duchesse do +Guiche--Influence of Courts--Visit to the Thtre des Nouveauts--_La +Maison du Rempart_--Inflammable Exhibitions--Mr. Cuthbert and M. +Charles Lafitte--advance of Civilization--Lady Combermere--Mr. Charles +Grant (now Lord Glenelg)--Curiosity Shops on the Quai Voltaire--Madame +de Svign--Objects that have belonged to celebrated People--A Hint to +the Ladies--Pincushion of Madame de Maintenon--The Marquis de +Rambouillet--Molire's _Prcieuses Ridicules_--Pangs of Jealousy--Julie +d'Angennes--Brilliant Coterie, 120. + + +CHAPTER XII. + +The Marquise de Pouleprie---The celebrated Madame du +Barry--Anecdote--Mademoiselle Mars in _Valerie_--Her admirable Style +of Acting--Playing to the Galleries--Exclusive Nature of Parisian +Society--French Conversation--Quickness of Perception--Walk in +the Gardens of the Tuileries--Comparative Beauty of French and +English Ladies--Graceful Walking of the Former--Difference of +Etiquette--Well-bred Englishmen--Flight of Time--Colonel Caradoc, son +of Lord Howden--New Year's Day--Custom of making Presents--Gallery of +the Louvre--The Statues therein--Works of Art--_Chefs-d'oeuvre_ of the +Old Masters--Consolation for Men of Genius--Nicolas Poussin, 134. + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +Visit to the Hotel d'Orsay--Sad Change in it--Mr. Millingon, the +Antiquary--Liberality of Comte d'Orsay--A Fanciful Notion--General +Or-nano--Unhappy Marriages accounted for--_La Gazza Ladra_--Mallbran's +"Ninetta"--_The Calamities of Authors_--Mr. D'Israeli--The Princesse de +Talleyrand--Her Person described--Her Dress and Manners--Amusing Story +told by the Abb Denon--Unexpected Arrival--_Yes and No_, by Lord +Normanby--Lady Dysart-Comte Valeski--Influence of Agreeable +Manners--Effects of opposite ones--Injudicious Friends--A Candid +Admission--Lord ---- --Love of Contradiction--Remarks on the Novel of +_Pelham_--Misery of receiving stupid Books--Malibran in _La +Cenerentola_--French Customs--Proofs d'_Amili_--Wedding Dresses, 146. + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +Comte Charles de Mornay--His Wit and Good Nature--Mademoiselle Mars, in +_Henri III_--Some Account of the Play--Love and Ambition--Curious +Incident--Romantic Notions--Passion of Love--Wordsworth's +Poems--Admiration of his Writings--Religion displayed by the Upper +Classes--The Duc de Bordeaux--Piety of the Great--Popularity of the +Duchesse de Berri--Anecdote of her--Walter Savage Landor--His +_Imaginary Conversations_--Sir William Gell--The Duc d'Orlans--His +Enviable Situation--The Duc de Chartres--Genius of Shelley--Beauty of +his Writings--His Wild Theories--William Spencer the Poet--Melancholy +Change in Him--French Prejudices towards the English--Example of +it--Accomplishments of French Ladies--Talent for Conversation, 169. + + +CHAPTER XV. + +Consequences of the Revolution in France--Corruption of the +Regency--Sarcastic Verses of St.-Evremond--Reign of Louis the +Fifteenth--Lessons taught by Affliction--Dangers of Anarchy--The _Haute +Noblesse_ previously to the Revolution--Want of Affection between +Parents and Children--Superficial Judgments erroneous--Power of +Fashion--The Novel of _Devereux_--Infrequency of Elopements in +France--Les Dames de B---- --Their Attachment to each other--Old +Maids--Servitude in England and France contrasted--French Masters and +Mistresses--Treatment of Servants--Avoidance of Politics--French +Discontent--Charles the Tenth--National Prosperity--The Duchesse de +Guiche and her two Sons--Position of the Duc de Guiche, 171. + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +Approach of Spring--Fogs on the Seine--The Jardins des +Tuileries--Impurity of the London Atmosphere--Exhilaration of the +Spirits--Anecdote--The Catholic Question--Lord Rosslyn--The Duke of +Wellington--Merits of a Cook--_Amour-propre_ of a Parisian +Cook--English Sauce--A Gourmand and an Epicure--The Duc de +Talleyrand--A perfect Dinner--The Marquis de L---- --House-hunting +again--Letter from Lord B---- --The Htel Monaco--College of +St.-Barbe--The Duchesse de Guiche and her Sons--A Mother's +Triumph--Spirit of Emulation--The Quarter called the Pays Latin--An +Author's Dress--Aspect of the Women--A Life of Study--Amable Tastu's +Poems--Effect of Living much in Society--Mr. W. Spencer--His +Abstraction--Disadvantages of Civilization--Confession of Madame de +---- --A Hint to Comte ---- on visiting London--Suspicion of Poverty--A +_Diner Maigre_--Luxurious Bishops, 182. + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +Romantic Feelings of Lady C---- --True Love--Disagreeable +Neighbours--Credulity--Mademoiselle Delphine Gay--French Novels--French +Critics--Eligible Mansions--Comforts of Seclusion--Genius of +L.E.L.--The Comtesse d'O---- --A Brilliant Talker--Letter from +Mrs. Hare--Extreme Hospitality--Longchamps--Exhibition of +Spring Fashions--French Beauties--Animated Scene--Promenade at +Longchamps--Extravagance of Mademoiselle Duth--Modern Morals--_Cinq +Mars_, by Comte Alfred de Vigny--His Style--Strictures on Mankind--The +best Philosophy--Speech of Lord Grey--The Caterpillar--A Voracious +Appetite--A Refined Lady--_La Chronique du temps de Charles +IX_, by Prosper Merime--Estimation of Sir Walter Scott--Jules +Janin--Injudicious Praise--Renewal of Youth--Self-Deception--Grey +Hairs, 194. + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +Victor Hugo's _Dernier Jour d'un Condamn_--Value of Common +Sense--Conscience--Cunning--Curiosity Shops on the Quai +d'Orsay--Expensive and Tasteful Gifts--An Avaricious Vender--A +Moral--Anonymous Scribbler--Weakness of Mind--Poems of Mrs. Hemans--The +Minds of Genius--Poetesses of England--Arrival of Lord D---- --The +Catholic Question carried--Irish prejudices--Letters from Absent +Friends--Sir William Gell--The Archbishop of Tarentum--Discoveries at +Pompeii--Novel of _The Disowned_--Advantages to be derived from the +Perusal of Works of Fiction--Politics--Charles the Tenth +unpopular--Charles the First--The House of Bourbon--"Uneasy lies the +Head that wears a Crown"--The Duc de T---- --Mr. Hook's _Sayings and +Doings_--_Visit to the Hotel Monaco_, 207. + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +A new Resilience--Consolation in Sickness--House in the Rue de +Matignon--Its Interior described--The Library--Drive in the Bois de +Boulogne--Atmospheric Influence--The Rocher de Cancale--A _Diner de +Restaurant--_A Gay Sight--Good Taste in Dress innate in +Frenchwomen--Well-appointed Carriages--Soldier-like Air of the Male +Population--Observation of the Emperor Napoleon--Characteristics of the +British Soldier--National Anthem--Changes in the Journey of +Life--Captain Marryat's _Naval Officer_--Performance of _La Tour +d'Auvergne_--Letter of Carnot--Distinction awarded to Merit by +Napoleon--National Glory--Effect of Enthusiasm--Villa of the Duchesse +de Montmorency--Residences on the Banks of the Thames--Bagatelle, the +Seat of the Duc de Bordeaux--Earthly Happiness--Domestic +Alterations--High Rents at Paris--Terrace and Aviary--Unsettled Slate, +219. + + +CHAPTER XX. + +Unexpected Events--Mr. and Mrs. Mathews--Their son, Charles--Evening +Party--Recitations and Songs--Pleasant Recollections--Visit +to the _Jardin des Plantes_--Amusing Incident--Humorous +Imitations--Intellectual Powers--Recourse to Reading--The Comte +Montalembert--His Grief on the Death of his Daughter--Restraint +imposed by Society--Fate of the Unfortunate--The Prince and Princess +Soutzo--Particulars relative to them--Reverse of Fortune--Mr. Rogers +and Mr. Luttrell--Memory of Lord Byron--His Lampoon on Rogers--Love +of Sarcasm--Conversation of Mr. Luttrell--Lord John Russell--His +Qualifications--Monsieur Thiers--Monsieur Mignet--His Vigorous +Writings--Friendship between Thiers and Mignet--The Baron +Cailleux--Visit to the Louvre--Taste for the Fine Arts--The Marquis +and Marquise de B---- --Clever People--Lord Allen and Sir Andrew +Barnard--The Culinary Art, 230. + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +Mr. Rogers and Mr. Luttrell--Society of Refined Englishmen--Mercurial +Temperament of the French--Opposite Characters--M. Erard's Collection +of Pictures--Antique _Bijouterie_--Lord Pembroke--The Duke of +Hamilton--Dr. Parr--Reproof of the Duc de Blacas--Monsieur Mignet--His +great Knowledge--A Clever Man--Influence of Conscience--Abilities of +Lord Palmerston--Lord Castlereagh--His Uncle, the late Marquess of +Londonderry--Dangers of Fashion--Mr. Cutlar Fergusson--The Baron and +Baroness de Ruysch--A Mind at Ease--Dreary Weather--Sad State of the +Streets--Fogs--Fascination of Madame Grassini--Sledge Party--Sledge of +the Duc de Guiche--That of Comte d'Orsay--Picturesque Night +Scene--Revival of an Old Fashion--The Prince Polignac--His Amiable +Manners--His Difficult Position, 242. + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +Effects of Indisposition--Instability of Earthly Blessings--Captain +William Anson (Brother of Lord Anson)--His varied Acquirements--The +pretty Madame de la H---- --Prince Paul Lieven--Captain Cadogan (now +Earl Cadogan)--Life at Sea--Visit to the Duchesse de Guiche--Her +Warmth and Gentleness of Manner--Political Crisis--The Conquest of +Algiers--General Excelmans--Rash Measure--Charles the Tenth--His +Ministry unpopular--Prosperity of France--Extorted Concessions-- +Dissolution of the Chambers--The Public Press--Controversy--Commotion +before the Htel of the Ministre des Finances--The Ministers +insulted--Counsel of the Duc de Guiche--Serious Aspect of +Affairs--Crowds in the Streets--Household of Charles the +Tenth--Noblesse of his Court--Confusion and Alarm--Riotous +Conduct--Firing on the People--Formation of Barricades--Absence of the +Civil Authorities--Nocturnal Impressions--Comtes d'Orsay and +Valeski--Scene in the Place de la Bourse--The Corps-de-Garde set on +Fire--Darkness in the Rue Richelleu.--Further disturbances--Continued +Depredations--Breach between the People and the Sovereign--Anecdote of +Monsieur Salvandy, 225. + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +The Dead paraded through the Streets to inflame the Populace--The +Shops closed--The Duc de Raguse censured--His Supineness--Devotion +of the Duc de Guiche to his Sovereign--The Military Dispositions +defective--Flag of the Bourbons--Troops in Want of Refreshment-- +Destruction of the Royal Emblems--Disgusting Exhibition--Rumours +of Fresh Disasters--Opinion of Sir Roger de Coverley--Revolutions +the Carnivals of History--Observation of Voltaire--Doctors +Pasquier and de Guise--Report of Fire arms--Paucity of +Provisions--Female Courage--Domestic Entrenchment--Further +Hostilities--Conflicting Rumours--The Sublime and the +Ridiculous--Juvenal Intrepidity--Fatality--The Soldiers and +the populace--Visit to Madame Craufurd--Barricade in the Rue +Verte--Approaching Mob--Safe Arrival in the Rue d'Anjou--Terror of +Madame Craufurd--Her Anxiety for her Relatives--Composure of the +Marquis d'Aligre--Riotous Assembly in the Rue Verte--Their Conduct +towards the Author--Dangerous Symbol of Aristocracy--Arrival at +Home, 282. + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +Familiarity of French Servants--Power of the People--Misguided +Men--Further Rumours--Who are the People?--An Intruder--A Revolutionary +Hero--The Tuileries and the Louvre taken--Sir Thomas Lawrence's +Portrait of the Dauphin--The Terrible and the Comic--Trophies of +Victory--The Palace of the Archbishop of Paris sacked--Concessions of +Charles the Tenth--The Duchesse de Berri--Lord Stuart de +Rothesay--Noble Conduct--The Duchesse de Guiche--Her trying +Situation--The Provisional Government--The Tri-coloured Flag--Meeting +of the Deputies--Bitter Feeling towards the Royal Family Bravery of the +Populace--Lafayette and his followers--Scene in the Street--"The Good +Cause"--The wealthy M. Laffitte--Valuable Collections at +Paris--Courageous Conduct of the Duchesse de Guiche--Her +Champions--Attack on the Htel of the Duc de Guiche--Comte Alfred +d'Orsay--Painful Position, 272. + + +CHAPTER XXV. + +Sanctuary of Home--Madame C---- --Intoxicated Revolutionist--His +Good-Nature--the Proprietor of a Wine-Shop--Politeness of all Classes +in France--Barracks in the Rue Verte--Difficulty of obtaining +Admission--Agitation of Madame C---- --Comte Valeski--The Barracks +attacked and taken--Dangerous Route--Impassable Gulf between the +Sovereign and the People--The Royal Cause hopeless--A Fine Youth +killed--Reflections on his Death--Number of Persons killed during +the last Three Days--Details of a Battle--Rumour respecting +the Dauphin--Interment of the Page--Fatality attending the +Bourbons--Absence of the Dauphine--Revolt of the Troops--The Duchesse +de Guiche at St.-Germain--Her noble Bearing--The Duc de Gramont--The +Chteau du Val, the Residence of the Princesse de Poix--The Fugitive +Duchess--Popularity of Lafayette--The duc d'Orlans named +Lieut.-General of France--Order restored--Abdication of Charles the +Tenth--Renewed Excitement--Clamour against the King--A Fickle +People--Wicked Rumours--The King quits Rambouillet--School of +Adversity--Desertion by Friends--Route to Cherbourg, 294. + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + +Rumour relative to the Son of Napoleon--Unsettled State of +Affairs--Conflicting Rumours--The Duke of Orleans--Charms of a +Crown--Aspect of the Champs-Elyses--Unsought popularity--Comte +d'Orsay--Scene of Destruction--Shattered Trees--Pride of the +People--Re-action after Excitement--Anecdote--The Jeweller's +Wife--Passion of the French--Playing at Soldiers--Enthusiasm +of the _Garde Nationale_--Return to Paris of the Duchesse de +Guiche--Confidence of the Duc--Courage of the Duchesse--General +Grard--The Duke of Orleans accepts the Crown--Popularity, an +unstable Possession--Abilities of Louis-Philippe--Expectations +formed of him--Person of Lafayette--Appearance in Public of +the new Sovereign--The Queen--Her painful Position--The King +of the French in the Place Vendme--Monsieur Mignet--His +varied Acquirements--The celebrated General Pepp--Strange +Infatuation--Charles the Tenth embarks at Cherbourg--Devotion +to the exiled Bourbons--The English Popular at Paris--Mr. +Hamilton, Secretary of the Embassy--Brilliant conversation of +M. Thiers--The Prince and Princesse Soutzo--Mr. Poulter--Lesson +of Resignation--Departure for England--Leave-taking--Adieu to +Paris, 294. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE IDLER IN FRANCE*** + + +******* This file should be named 13044-8.txt or 13044-8.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/1/3/0/4/13044 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + diff --git a/old/13044-8.zip b/old/13044-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..fc0d0c3 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/13044-8.zip diff --git a/old/13044.txt b/old/13044.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c399cab --- /dev/null +++ b/old/13044.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10930 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Idler in France, by Marguerite Gardiner + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: The Idler in France + +Author: Marguerite Gardiner + +Release Date: July 28, 2004 [eBook #13044] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE IDLER IN FRANCE*** + + +E-text prepared by Robert Connal, Keith M. Eckrich, and the Project +Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + +THE IDLER IN FRANCE + +By MARGUERITE GARDINER, THE COUNTESS OF BLESSINGTON + +1841. + + + + + + +CHAPTER I. + + +NISMES. + +I have omitted to notice the route to this place, having formerly +described the greater portion of it. I remarked a considerable +improvement in the different towns we passed through: the people look +cleaner, and an air of business has replaced the stagnation that used +to prevail, except in Marseilles and Toulon, which were always busy +cities. + +Nismes surpasses my expectations, although they had been greatly +excited, and amply repays the long _detour_ we have made to visit it. + +When I look round on the objects of antiquity that meet my eye on every +side, and above all on the Amphitheatre and _Maison Carree_, I am +forced to admit that Italy has nothing to equal the two last: for if +the Coliseum may be said to surpass the amphitheatre in dimensions, the +wonderful state of preservation of the latter renders it more +interesting; and the _Maison Carree_, it must be allowed, stands +without a competitor. Well might the Abbe Barthelemy, in his _Voyage +d'Anacharsis_, call it the masterpiece of ancient architecture and the +despair of modern! + +The antiquities of Nismes have another advantage over those of Italy: +they are kept wholly free from the disgusting _entourage_ that impairs +the effect of the latter; and in examining them in the interior or +exterior, no risk is incurred of encountering aught offensive to the +olfactory nerves, or injurious to the _chaussure_. + +We devoted last evening to walking round the town, and so cloudless was +the sky, so genial the air, and so striking the monuments of Roman +splendour, that I could have fancied myself again transported to Italy. + +Our inn, the Hotel du Midi, is an excellent one; the apartments good, +and the _cuisine soignee_. In this latter point the French hotels are +far superior to the Italian; but in civility and attention, the hosts +of Italy have the advantage. + +We had no sooner dined than half-a-dozen persons, laden with silk +handkerchiefs and ribands, brocaded with gold and silver, and silk +stockings, and crapes, all the manufacture of Nismes, came to display +their merchandise. The specimens were good, and the prices moderate; so +we bought some of each, much to the satisfaction of the parties +selling, and also of the host, who seemed to take a more than common +interest in the sale, whether wholly from patriotic feelings or not, I +will not pretend to say. + +The _Maison Carree_, of all the buildings of antiquity I have yet seen, +is the one which has most successfully resisted the numerous assaults +of time, weather, Vandalism, and the not less barbarous attacks of +those into whose merciless hands it has afterwards fallen. In the early +part of the Christian ages it was converted into a church, and +dedicated to St.-Etienne the Martyr; and in the eleventh century it was +used as the Hotel-de-Ville. It was then given to a certain Pierre Boys, +in exchange for a piece of ground to erect a new hotel-de-ville; and +he, after having degraded it by using a portion of it as a party-wall +to a mean dwelling he erected adjoining it, disposed of it to a *Sieur +Bruyes, who, still more barbarous than Pierre Boys, converted it into a +stable. In 1670, it was purchased by the Augustin monks from the +descendants of Bruyes, and once more used as a church; and, in 1789, it +was taken from the Augustin monks for the purposes of the +administration of the department. From that period, every thing has +been done for its preservation. Cleared from the mean houses which had +been built around it, and enclosed by an iron palisade, which protects +it from mischievous hands, it now stands isolated in the centre of a +square, or _place_, where it can be seen at every side. Poldo +d'Albenas, a quaint old writer, whose book I glanced over to-day, +attributes the preservation of the _Maison Carree_ to the fortunate +horoscope of the spot on which it stands. His lamentations for the +insults offered to this building are really passionate. + +The _Maison Carree_ is not square, though its denomination might lead +one to suppose it to be so, being nearly eighty feet long, and only +thirty-eight feet wide. Elevated on a base of cut stone, it is ascended +by a flight of steps, which extends the length of the base in front. +The walls of the building are of a fine white stone, and are admirably +constructed. + +The edifice has thirty fluted columns, with Corinthian capitals +beautifully sculptured, on which rests the architrave, with frieze and +cornice. This last is ornamented with sculpture; and the frieze, with +foliage finely executed. + +The entrance is by a portico, open on three sides, and supported by two +columns, included in the thirty already named, of which six form the +front, and extend to the fourth, when commences the wall of the +building, in which the other columns are half imbedded, being united in +the building with its architrave. The fronton, which is over the +portico, has no ornament in the centre; neither has the frieze nor +architrave: but some holes mark where the bronze letters of an +inscription were once inserted. + +This inscription has been conjectured, by the ingenious mode of placing +on paper the exact dimensions of the holes which formerly contained the +letters of it, and is now said to be as follows:-- + + C. CAESARI AUGUSTI. F. COS. L. CAESARI AUGUSTI F. COS. + DESIGNATO PRINCIPIBUS JUVENTUTES. + +But as more holes are found than would be filled by these letters, the +conclusion does not seem to me to be justified. + +At the far end of the portico is the door of entrance, the only opening +by which light is admitted to the building. It is very lofty, and on +each side is a pilaster; beneath the cornice are two long cut stones, +which advance like a kind of architrave, pierced by a square hole of +above twelve inches, supposed to have been intended to support a bronze +door. + +The original destination of this beautiful edifice still furnishes a +subject for discussion among the antiquaries; some asserting it to have +been erected by the Emperor Adrian in honour of Plotina, while others +maintain it to have been a forum. + +At present, it is used as a museum for the antiquities discovered at +Nismes, and contains some admirable specimens. Among these are a torso +in marble of a Roman knight, in a cuirass, and another colossal torso, +with a charming little draped statue seated in a curule chair, and +holding a cornucopia in the left hand; a cinerary monument, enriched +with bassi-relievi, representing a human sacrifice; a bronze head of +Apollo, much injured; and a Janus. + +A funereal monument found in the neighbourhood of Nismes in 1824, +offers a very interesting object, being in a good state of +preservation. It is richly decorated, and by the inscription is proved +to have been that of Marcus Attius, aged twenty-five years, erected to +him by his mother Coelia, daughter of Sextus Paternus. + +So fine is the proportion, so exquisite is the finish, and so wonderful +is the preservation of the _Maison Carree_, that I confess I had much +more pleasure in contemplating its exterior, than in examining all that +it contains, though many of these objects are well worth inspection. + +I should like to have a small model of it executed in silver, as an +ornament for the centre of a table; but it would require the hand of a +master to do justice to the olive leaves of the capitals of the +columns; that is, if they were faithfully copied from the original. + +It was, if I remember rightly, Cardinal Alberoni who observed that this +beautiful building ought to be preserved in a golden _etui_, and its +compactness and exquisite finish prove that the implied eulogium was +not unmerited. + +I have nowhere else noticed the introduction of olive leaves in +Corinthian capitals instead of those of the acanthus; the effect of +which is very good. A design was once formed of removing the _Maison +Carree_ to Versailles. Colbert was the originator of this barbarous +project, which, however, was fortunately abandoned from the fear of +impairing, if not destroying, the beauty of the building. The Emperor +Napoleon is said to have entertained a similar notion, and meant to +grace Paris with this model of architectural perfection; but it was +found to be too solidly built to admit of removal, and he who could +shake empires, could not stir the _Maison Carree_. + +The transportation of antiquities from their original site can never be +excused, except in cases where it was the only means of insuring their +preservation. All the power of association is lost when they are +transferred to other places; and the view of them ceases to afford that +satisfaction experienced when beheld where they were primarily destined +to stand. I can no more fancy the _Maison Carree_ appropriately placed +in the bustle and gaiety of Paris, than I could endure to see one of +the temples at Paestum stuck down at Charing Cross. + +One loves, when contemplating such precious memorials of antiquity, to +look around on the objects in nature, still wearing the same aspect as +when they were reared. The hills and mountains, unlike the productions +of man, change not; and nowhere can the fragments of a bygone age +appear to such advantage as on the spots selected for their erection, +where their vicinity to peculiar scenery had been taken into +consideration. + +We spent a considerable time in examining the Amphitheatre, and so well +is it preserved, that one can hardly bring one's self to believe that +so many centuries have elapsed since it was built; and that generation +after generation has passed away, who have looked on this edifice which +now meets my view, so little changed by the ravages of that ruthless +conqueror Time, or the still more ruthless Visigoths who converted it +into a citadel, flanking the eastern door with two towers. In 737 +Charles Martel besieged the Saracens, and set fire to it, and after +their expulsion it continued to be used as a citadel. + +The form of this fine building is elliptical, and some notion of its +vast extent may be formed, when it is stated to have been capable of +containing above 17,000 spectators. + +Its facade consists of two rows of porticoes, forming two galleries one +over the other, composing sixty arcades, divided by the same number of +Tuscan pilasters in the first range, and of Doric columns in the upper, +and an attic, which crowns all. Four principal doors, fronting the four +cardinal points, open into the amphitheatre, divided at nearly equal +distances one from the other. + +The attic has no arcades, pilasters, or columns; but a narrow ledge +runs along it, which was probably used for the purpose of approaching +the projecting consoles, 120 in number, placed in couples at equal +distances between two columns, and pierced with a large hole, which +corresponds with a similar one in the cornice, evidently meant for +securing the awnings used to prevent the spectators from being +inconvenienced by the rain or sun. + +These awnings did not extend to the arena, which was usually left open, +but were universally adopted in all the Roman amphitheatres, after +their introduction by Q. Catullus. The vast extent and extraordinary +commodiousness of the amphitheatres erected by the Romans, prove not +only the love of the sports exhibited in them entertained by that +people, but the attention paid to their health and comfort by the +architects who planned these buildings. The numerous vomitories were +not amongst the least important of these comforts, securing a safe +retreat from the theatre in all cases of emergency, and precluding +those fearful accidents that in our times have not infrequently +occurred, when an alarm of fire has been given. The mode of +arrangements, too, saved the spectators from all the deleterious +results of impure air, while the velarium preserved them from the sun. +But not only were the spectators screened from too fervid heat, but +they could retreat at pleasure, in case of rain or storm, into the +galleries, where they were sheltered from the rain. Our superior +civilization and refinement have not led to an equal attention to +safety and comfort in the mode of our ingress and egress from theatres, +or to their ventilation; but perhaps this omission may be accounted for +by the difference of our habits from those of the Romans. Public +amusements were deemed as essential to their comfort, as the enjoyment +of home is to ours; and, consequently, while we prefer home--and long +may we continue to do so--our theatres will not be either so vast or so +commodious as in those times and countries, where domestic happiness +was so much less understood or provided for. + +The erection of this magnificent edifice is attributed to Vespasian, +Titus, or Domitian, from a fragment of an inscription discovered here +some fourteen or fifteen years ago, of which the following is a +transcript:-- + + VII. TRI. PO..... + +And as only these three filled the consulate eight times since +Tiberius, in whose age no amphitheatre had been built in the Roman +provinces, to one of them is adjudged its elevation. + +Could I only remember one half the erudition poured forth on my addled +brain by the cicerone, I might fill several pages, and fatigue others +nearly as much as he fatigued me; but I will have pity on my readers, +and spare them the elaborate details, profound speculations, ingenious +hypotheses, and archaiological lore that assailed me, and wish them, +should they ever visit Nismes, that which was denied me--a tranquil and +uninterrupted contemplation of its interesting antiquities, free from +the verbiage of a conscientious cicerone, who thinks himself in duty +bound to relate all that he has ever heard or read relative to the +objects he points out. + +Even now my poor head rings with the names of Caius and Lucius Caesar, +Tiberius, Trajan, Adrian, Diocletian, and Heaven only knows how many +other Roman worthies, to whom Nismes owes its attractions, not one of +whom did this learned Theban omit to enumerate. + +Many of the antiquities of Nismes, which we went over to-day, might +well command attention, were they not in the vicinity of two such +remarkable and well-preserved monuments as the Amphitheatre and _Maison +Carree_. + +The Gate of Augustus, which now serves as the entrance to the barracks +of the gendarmerie, is worthy of inspection. It consists of four +arches--two of equal size, for the admittance of chariots and horsemen, +and two less ones for pedestrians. The centres of the two larger arches +are decorated by the head of a bull, in alto-relievo; and above each of +the smaller arches is a niche, evidently meant for the reception of a +statue. + +A Corinthian pilaster divides the larger arches from the less, and a +similar one terminates the building on each side; while the two larger +arches are separated by a small Ionic column, which rests on a +projecting abutment whence the arches spring. The Gate of France has +but one arch, and is said to have been flanked by towers; of which, +however, it has little vestige. + +The inhabitants of Nismes seem very proud of its antiquities, and even +the humbler classes descant with much erudition on the subject. Most, +if not all of them, have studied the guide-books, and like to display +the extent of their _savoir_ on the subject. + +They evince not a little jealousy if any preference seems accorded to +the antiquities of Italy over those of their town; and ask, with an air +of triumph, whether any thing in Italy can be compared with their +_Maison Carree_, expressing their wonder that so few English come to +look at it. + +La Tour-Magne stands on the highest of the hills, at the base of which +is spread the town. It is precisely in the state most agreeable to +antiquaries, as its extreme dilapidation permits them to indulge those +various conjectures and hypotheses relative to its original +destination, in which they delight. They see in their "mind's eye" all +these interesting works of antiquity, _not_ as they _really_ are, but +as it pleases them to imagine they _once_ were; and, consequently, the +less that actually remains on which to base their suppositions, the +wider field have they for their favourite speculations. + +This tower is said by some to have been intended for a lighthouse; +others assert it to have been a treasury; a third party declares it to +be the remains of a palace; and, last of all, it is assumed to have +been a mausoleum. + +Its form, judging from what remains, must have been pyramidical, +composed of several stages, forming octagons, retreating one above the +other. It suffered much from Charles Martel in 737, who wished to +destroy it, owing to its offering a strong military position to the +Saracens; and still more from the ravages of a certain Francis Trancat, +to whom Henry IV granted permission to make excavations in the interior +of it, on condition that three parts of the product should be given up +to the royal coffer. + +The result did not repay the trouble or expense; and one cannot help +being rejoiced that it did not, as probably, had it been otherwise, the +success would have served as an incentive to destroy other buildings. + +In the vicinity of the Tour-Magne are the fountain, terrace, and +garden, the last of which is well planted, and forms a very agreeable +promenade for the inhabitants of Nismes. The fountain occupies the site +of the ancient baths--many vestiges of which having been discovered +have been employed for this useful, but not tasteful, work. + +It was not until the middle of the eighteenth century, that it was +suspected that the water which served to turn a mill in the immediate +vicinity had been obstructed by the ruins which impeded its course. +This obstruction led to excavations, the result of which was the +discovery of the remains of buildings, columns, statues, inscriptions, +and fragments of rare marbles. + +The obstructions being thus removed, and the town enriched by the +precious objects found, the persons to whom the direction of the +excavation was confided, instead of vigorously pursuing the task, were +content with what they had already discovered, and once more closed up +the grave in which so many treasures of antiquity were still +interred--using many of the materials disinterred for the formation of +the terraces which now cover it. + +The architect selected to execute this work was Philip Marechal, an +engineer, never previously employed, except in military architecture: a +fact to which may be attributed the peculiar style that he has +exhibited--bastions and trenches being adopted, instead of the usual +and more appropriate forms generally used for terraces and canals. + +To these are subjoined ornaments of the period in which the work was +completed--the fitness of which is not more to HBO commended than that +of the work itself: the whole offering a curious mixture of military +and _rococo_ taste. + +It was in the freshness of early morning that I, yesterday, again +visited the garden of the fountain and its fine chesnut trees and +laurel roses; the latter, growing in great luxuriance, looked +beautiful, the sun having not yet scorched them. The fountain, too, in +its natural bed, which is not less than seventy-two French feet in +diameter, and twenty feet in depth, was pellucid as crystal, and +through it the long leaves that nearly cover the gravel appeared green +as emerald. + +The hill above the fountain has been tastefully planted with evergreen +trees, which shade a delicious walk, formed to its summit. + +This improvement to the appearance, as well as to the _agrements_, of +Nismes, is due to Monsieur d'Haussey[1], prefect, whose popularity is +said to be deservedly acquired, by his unremitting attention to the +interests of the city, and his urbanity to its inhabitants. + +Nismes is a gay town, if I may judge by the groups of well-dressed +women and men we have observed at the promenade. + +It has a considerable garrison, and the officers are occasionally seen +passing and repassing; but not, as I have often remarked in England, +lazily lounging about as if anxious to kill time, but moving briskly as +if on business. + +The various accomplishments acquired by young men in France offer a +great resource in country quarters. Drawing, in which most of them have +attained a facility, if not excellence, enables them to fill albums +with clever sketches; and their love of the fine arts leads them to +devote some hours in most days to their cultivation. + +This is surely preferable to loitering in news-rooms, sauntering in the +shops of pretty milliners, breaking down the fences of farmers, or +riding over young wheat--innocent pastimes, sometimes undertaken by +young officers for mere want of some occupation. + +The Temple of Diana is in the vicinity of the fountain, which has given +rise to the conjecture that it originally constituted a portion of the +ancient baths. Its shape is rectangular, and a large opening in the +centre forms the entrance. + +Twelve niches, five of which open into the partition of the temple, and +two on the right and left of the entrance, are crowned by frontons +alternately circular and triangular, and are said to have contained +statues. This is one of the most picturesque ruins I ever saw. Silence +and solitude reign around it, and wild fig-trees enwreath with their +luxuriant foliage the opening made by Time, and half conceal the wounds +inflicted by barbarian hands. + +I could have spent hours in this desecrated temple, pondering on the +brevity of life, as compared with its age. There is something pure and +calm in such a spot, that influences the feelings of those who pause in +it; and by reminding them of the inevitable lot of all sublunary +things, renders the cares incidental to all who breathe, less acutely +felt for the time. + +Is not every ruin a history of the fate of generations, which century +after century has seen pass away?--generations of mortals like +ourselves, who have been moved by the same passions, and vexed by the +same griefs; like us, who were instinct with life and spirit, yet whose +very dust has disappeared. Nevertheless, we can yield to the futile +pleasures, or to the petty ills of life, as if their duration was to be +of long extent, unmindful that ages hence, others will visit the +objects we now behold, and find them little changed, while we shall +have in our turn passed away, leaving behind no trace of our existence. + +I never see a beautiful landscape, a noble ruin, or a glorious fane, +without wishing that I could bequeath to those who will come to visit +them when I shall be no more, the tender thoughts that filled my soul +when contemplating them; and thus, even in death, create a sympathy. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + +ARLES. + +We stopped but a short time at Beaucaire, where we saw the largo plain +on the banks of the Rhone, on which are erected the wooden houses for +the annual fair which takes place in July, when the scene is said to +present a very striking effect. + +These wooden houses are filled with articles of every description, and +are inhabited by the venders who bring their goods to be disposed of to +the crowds of buyers who flock here from all parts, offering, in the +variety of their costumes and habits, a very animated and showy +picture. + +The public walk, which edges the grassy plain allotted to the fair, is +bordered by large elm-trees, and the vicinity to the river insures that +freshness always so desirable in summer, and more especially in a +climate so warm as this. + +The town of Beaucaire has little worthy of notice, except its +Hotel-de-Ville and church, both of which are handsome buildings. We +crossed the Rhone over the bridge of boats, from which we had a good +view, and arrived at Tarascon. + +The chateau called the Castle of King Rene, but which was erected by +Louis II, count of Provence, is an object of interest to all who love +to ponder on the olden time, when gallant knights and lovely dames +assembled here for those tournaments in which the good Rene delighted. + +Alas for the change! In those apartments in which the generous monarch +loved to indulge the effusions of his gentle muse, and where fair +ladies smiled, and belted knights quaffed ruby wine to their healths, +now dwell reckless felons and hopeless debtors; for the chateau is +converted into a prison. + +In the Church of St. Martha we saw a relic of the barbarism of the dark +ages, in the shape of a grotesque representation of a dragon, called +the Tarasque. This image is formed of wood, rudely painted in gandy +colours. + +Twice a-year it is borne through the streets of Tarascon, in +commemoration of the destruction of a fabulous monster that long +frequented the Rhone, and devoured many of the inhabitants of the +surrounding country, but was at length vanquished by St. Martha; who, +having secured it round the neck by her veil, delivered it to the just +vengeance of the Tarascons. This legend is received as truth by common +people, and our guide informed us that they warmly resent any _doubt_ +of its authenticity. + +The monument of St. Martha is shown in the church dedicated to her, and +her memory is held in great reverence at Tarascon. + +The country between this place and Tarascon is fertile and well +cultivated, and the cheerfulness of its aspect presents a striking +contrast to the silence and solitude of the town. The streets, however, +are as clean as those of Holland, and the inhabitants are neat and tidy +in their attire. + +The houses are for the most part old and dilapidated, looking in nearly +as ruined a condition as the fragments of antiquity which date so many +centuries before them. Nevertheless, some of the streets and dwellings +seem to indicate that a spirit of improvement is abroad. + +Our hotel is a large, crazy, old mansion, reminding me of some of those +at Shrewsbury; and its furniture appears to be coeval with it, as +nothing can be more homely or misshapen. Oak and walnut-tree chairs, +beds, and tables form the chief part, and these are in a very rickety +condition; nevertheless, an air of cleanliness and comfort pervades the +rooms, and with the extreme rusticity of the _ameublement_, give one +the notion of being in some huge old farm-house. + +Nor is the manner of the good hostess calculated to dispel this +illusion. When our three carriages drove to her door, though prepared +for our arrival by the courier, she repeatedly said that her poor house +had no accommodation for such guests, and we had some difficulty in +persuading her that we were easily satisfied. + +She had donned her fete dress for our reception, and presented a very +picturesque appearance, as she stood smiling and bustling about at the +door. She wore a high cap reminding me of those of the women in +Normandy: brown stays; linsey-woolsey, voluminous petticoats; +handkerchief and apron trimmed with rich old-fashioned lace; and long +gold ear-rings, and chain of the same material, twisted at least ten +times round her neck. + +She explained to us, in a _patois_ not easily understood, that her +house was only frequented by the farmers, and their wives and +daughters, who attended the fetes, or occasionally by a stray traveller +who came to explore the antiquities. + +Before I had travelled much on the Continent, I confess that the +appearance of this dwelling would have rather startled me as a _sejour_ +for two days, but now I can relish its rusticity; for cleanliness, that +most indispensable of all requisites to comfort, is not wanting. + +The furniture is scrubbed into brightness, the small diamond-shaped +panes of the old-fashioned casements are clean as hands can make them; +the large antique fireplace is filled with fresh flowers; and the +walnut-tree tables are covered with white napkins. + +No sooner had we performed our ablutions, and changed our travelling +dresses for others, than our good hostess, aided by three active young +country maidens, served up a plentiful dinner, consisting of an +excellent _pot-au-feu_, followed by fish, fowl, and flesh, sufficient +to satisfy the hunger of at least four times the number of our party. + +Having covered the table until it literally "groaned with the weight of +the feast," she seated herself at a little distance from it, and issued +her commands to her hand-maidens what to serve, and when to change a +plate, what wine to offer, and which dish she most recommended, with a +good-humoured attention to our wants, that really anticipated them. + +There was something as novel as patriarchal in her mode of doing the +honours, and it pleased us so much that we invited her to partake of +our repast; but she could not be prevailed on, though she consented to +drink our healths in a glass of her best wine. + +She repeatedly expressed her fears that our dinner was not sufficiently +_recherche_, and hoped we would allow her to prepare a good supper. + +When we were descending the stairs, she met us with several of her +female neighbours _en grande toilette_, whom she had invited to see the +strangers, and who gazed at us with as much surprise as if we were +natives of Otaheite, beheld for the first time. Cordial greetings, +however, atoned for the somewhat too earnest examination to which we +had been subjected; and many civil speeches from our good hostess, who +seemed not a little proud of displaying her foreign guests, rewarded +the patience with which we submitted to the inspection. + +One old lady felt the quality of our robes, another admired our +trinkets, and a third was in raptures with our veils. In short, as a +Frenchwoman would say, we had _un grand succes_; and so, our hostess +assured us. + +We went over the Amphitheatre, the dimensions of which exceed those of +the Amphitheatre at Nismes. Three orders of architecture are also +introduced in it, and it has no less than sixty arcades, with four +large doors; that on the north side has a very imposing effect. The +corridor leading to the arena exhibits all the grandeur peculiar to the +public buildings of the Romans, and is well worthy of attention; but +the portion of the edifice that most interested me was the +subterranean, which a number of workmen were busily employed in +excavating, under the superintendence of the Prefect of Arles, a +gentleman with whose knowledge of the antiquities of his native town, +and urbanity towards the strangers who visit them, we have every reason +to be satisfied. + +Under his guidance, we explored a considerable extent of the recently +excavated subterranean, a task which requires no slight devotion to +antiquities to induce the visitor to persevere, the inequalities of the +ground exposing one continually to the danger of a fall, or to the +still more perilous chance--as occurred to one of our party--of the +head coming in contact with the roof. + +We saw also fragments of a theatre in the garden of the convent of La +Misericorde, consisting of two large marble columns and two arches. + +In the ancient church of St. Anne, now converted into a museum, are +collected all the fragments of antiquity discovered at Arles, and in +its vicinity; some of them highly interesting, and bearing evidences of +the former splendour of the place. + +An altar dedicated to the Goddess of Good; the celebrated Mithras with +a serpent coiled round him, between the folds of which are sculptured +the signs of the zodiac; Medea and her children; a mile-stone, bearing +the names of the Emperors Theodosius and Valentinian; a basso-relievo +of the Muses; several sarcophagi, votive altars, cornices, pillars, +mutilated statues, and inscriptions, are here carefully preserved: but +nothing in the collection equals the statue known by the title of the +Venus of Arles, found here, and which is so deservedly admired at the +Louvre. + +An obelisk of granite, about sixty feet high, said to be the only +antique one in France, stands on the place of the Hotel-de-Ville. +Discovered in 1389, it was not disinterred from the earth in which it +was embedded until the reign of Charles IX, and was erected on its +present site in 1676, with a dedication to the then reigning sovereign, +Louis XIV; A globe, ornamented with _fleurs de lis_ placed on its +point, deteriorates, in my opinion, from the beauty of its effect. It +was originally in one block, but it was broken in two by its overturn. + +Many houses in the streets have portions of columns, friezes, and +cornices embedded in their walls; and one of them, occupied by a +barber, had a column in front, to which the insignia of his profession +were attached. Ruins, said to be those of the palace of Constantine, +were pointed out to us, as well as fragments of a forum and baths. + +Arles is certainly one of the most interesting towns I have ever seen, +whether viewed as a place remarkable for the objects of antiquity it +contains, or for the primitive manners of its inhabitants and its +picturesque appearance. + +The quays are spacious and well built, presenting a very different +aspect to the streets; for the former are very populous, being +frequented by the boatmen who ply their busy commerce between Lyons and +Marseilles--depots for the merchandise being erected along them, while +the latter are comparatively deserted. + +With this facility of communication with two such flourishing towns, it +is extraordinary that Arles should have so long retained the primitive +simplicity that seems to pervade it, and that a good hotel has not yet +been established here. + +Our good hostess provided nearly as substantial a supper for us last +night as the early dinner served up on our arrival, and again presided +at the repast, pressing us to eat, and recommending, with genuine +kindness, the various specimens of dainties set before us. Our beds, +though homely, were clean; and I have seldom, in the most luxurious +ones, reposed equally soundly. + +When our courier asked for the bill this morning, the landlady declared +she "knew not what to charge, that she never was in the habit of making +out bills, and that we must give her what we thought right." + +The courier urged the necessity of having a regular bill, explaining to +her that he was obliged to file all bills, and produce them every week +for the arrangement of his accounts,--but in vain: she could not, she +declared, make one out; and no one in her house was more expert than +herself. + +She came to us, laughing and protesting, and ended by saying, "Pay what +you like; things are very cheap at Arles. You have eaten very little; +really, it is not worth charging for." But, when we persisted on having +her at least name a sum, to our infinite surprise she asked, if a +couple of louis would be too much?--And this for a party of six, and +six servants, for two days! + +We had some difficulty in inducing her to accept a suitable +indemnification, and parted, leaving her proclaiming what she was +pleased to consider our excessive generosity, and reiterating her good +wishes. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + +ST.-REMY. + +The town of St.-Remy is delightfully situated in a hollow that +resembles the crater of an extinct volcano, and is surrounded by +luxuriant groves of olive. The streets, though generally narrow, are +rendered picturesque by several old houses, the architecture of which +is striking; and the _place_--for even St.-Remy has its Place Publique +and Hotel-de-Ville--is not without pretensions to ornament. In the +centre of this _place_ is a pretty fountain, of a pyramidal form. + +The antiquities which attracted us to St.-Remy are at a short distance +from the town, on an eminence to the south of it, and are approached by +a road worthy the objects to which it conducts. They consist of a +triumphal arch, and a mausoleum, about forty-five feet asunder. + +Of the triumphal arch, all above the archivault has disappeared, +leaving but the portico, the proportions of which are neither lofty nor +wide. On each side of it are two fluted columns, said to have been of +the Corinthian order, but without capitals, and the intercolumniations, +in each of which are figures of male and female captives. + +A tree divides the male from the female; their hands are tied, and +chained to the tree; and a graceful drapery falls from above the heads +down to the consoles on which the figures stand. + +On the eastern side of the arch are also figures, representing two +women, by the side of two men. One of the women has her hand on the arm +of a chained warrior, and the other has at her feet military trophies; +among which bucklers, arms, and trumpets, may be seen. The pilasters +that bound the intercolumniations are of the Doric order, and their +capitals support the arch. + +The cornice and astragals form a frieze, in which military emblems and +symbols of sacrifice are intermingled. The archivault is ornamented on +each side with sculptured wreaths of ivy, pine cones, branches of +grapes and olives, interlaced with ribands. The ceiling of the portico +is divided into hexagons and squares, enriched by various designs in +the shape of eggs and roses, finely executed. + +This interesting monument appears to have been ornamented with equal +care and richness on every side, but its decorations have not enabled +any of the numerous antiquaries who have hitherto examined it to throw +any light on its origin; and the destruction of its architecture must +have caused that of its inscription, if, indeed, it ever bore one. + +The mausoleum is even more curious than the arch, as being the only +building of a similar character of architecture to be seen. + +Placed on a large square pediment, approached by two steps, the edifice +rises with unequalled lightness and beauty against the blue sky, +forming two stages supported by columns and pilasters, united by a +finely sculptured frieze. The first stage retreats from the pediment; +and the second, which is of a round form, and terminated by a +conical-shaped top, is less in advance than the first, giving a +pyramidal effect. + +The four fronts of the pediment are nearly covered by bassi-relievi, +representing battles of infantry; the figures of which are nearly as +large as life, and admirably designed. + +On the north front is a combat of cavalry; on the west, an engagement, +in the midst of which the body of a man is lying on the ground, one +party of soldiers endeavouring to take possession of it, while another +band of soldiers are trying to prevent them. + +The basso-relievo of the south front represents a field of battle, +strewed with the dead and wounded, and mingled with warriors on +horseback and on foot. On one side is seen a wild boar between the legs +of the soldiers; and on the other, a female figure, quite nude, +prostrate on the earth before a rearing horse, which some soldiers are +endeavouring to restrain. + +In the centre of the basso-relievo is an old man expiring, surrounded +by several persons; and at one end a soldier, bearing arms on his +shoulder, has been left unfinished by the sculptor; there not being +sufficient space for the figure, which is partly designed on the +adjoining pilaster. + +On the east front is a winged female bearing the attributes of Victory, +with several women and warriors, and an allegorical personage said to +represent a river, because it holds in one hand a symbol of water. This +last figure, also, is partly sculptured on the contiguous pilaster, as +is the one previously noted, which proves that these ornaments were not +executed at the time of the erection of the edifice. + +The pediment has a simple cornice around it, and the angles are +finished by voluted pilasters without a base, but with Ionic capitals, +which have an extraordinary effect. Above the basso-relievo is a +massive garland, supported by three boys, at equal distances; and +between them are four heads of old men, as hideously grotesque as the +imaginations of the sculptors could render them. + +The first stage of the mausoleum which rises from this pedestal is +pierced by an arch on each side, in the form of a portico, and their +archivaults are ornamented by foliage and scrolls. + +The arches rest on plain pilasters, with capitals more resembling the +Doric than any other order of architecture. On the keystone of each +arch is the mark of a youthful male head, surmounted by two wings. The +four angles of the first stage are finished by a fluted column, with a +capital charmingly executed, like, but not quite, the Corinthian. These +columns sustain an entablature or two, which terminate this stage, and +its frieze is enriched with sculpture representing winged sea-monsters +and sirens with sacrificial instruments. + +Above the first stage rises the second, which is of a round form, with +ten fluted columns, which support its circular entablature; the +capitals of these columns are similar to those of the first stage, and +the frieze is ornamented with foliage delicately sculptured. + +A round cupola terminates this building, through which the light shines +in on every side, although two male statues in togas occupy the centre +of it. + +To view the height at which these figures are placed, one would suppose +they were safe from the attacks of the mischievous or the curious; +nevertheless, they did not escape, for, many years ago, during the +night, their heads were taken off, and those that replaced them reflect +little credit on the taste or skill of the modern sculptor who executed +the task. + +On the architrave of the entablature of the first stage, and on the +north front, is the following inscription:-- + + SEX. L. M. JVLIEI. C.F. PARENTIBUS. SVEIS. + +Various are the opinions given by the writers who have noticed this +monument as to the cause for which, and person, or persons for whom, it +was erected. Some maintain that the triumphal arch from its vicinity +has a relation to the mausoleum, while others assert them to have been +built at different epochs. + +The inscription has only served to base the different hypotheses of +antiquaries, among which that of the Abbe Barthelemy is considered the +most probable; namely, that in the three first words are found two +initials, which he considers may be rendered as follows:-- + + SEXTUS . LUCIVS . MARCVS; + +and the two other initials, C.F., which follow the word JVLIEI, may be +explained in the same manner to signify Caii Filii, and, being joined +to Juliei, which precedes, may be received to mean Julii Caii Filii. + +Mantour's reading of the inscription is, Caius Sextius Lucius, Maritus +JULIAE Incomparabilis, Curavit Fieri PARENTIBUS SUIS; which he +translates into Caius Sextius Lucius, Husband of Julia, caused this +Monument to be erected to the Memory of his Ancestors, and the +victories achieved by them in Provence, which on different occasions +had been the theatre of war of the Romans. + +Bouche's version of it is,-- + + + {Lucius, } + Sextus {Laelius, } Maritus Juliae. + {Liberius,} + + Istud Cenotaphium,} + or, } Fecit Parentibus Suis; + Intra Circulum, } + +which he asserts to mean,--Sextus, in honour of his Father and Mother, +buried in this place, and represented by the two statues surrounded by +columns in the upper part of the mausoleum. + +Monsieur P. Malosse, to whose work on the antiquities of St.-Remy I am +indebted for the superficial knowledge I have attained of these +interesting objects, explains the inscription to mean,-- + + + SEXTVS . LVCIVS . MARCVS . JVLIEI . CVRAV . + ERUNT . FIERE . SUEIS; + +which he translates into Sextus, Lucius, Marcus (all three), of the +race of Julius, elevated this monument to the glory of their relations. + +M. Malosse believes that the mausoleum was erected to Julius, and the +arch to Augustus Caesar--the first being dead, and the second then +living; and that the statues in the former, in the Roman togas, were +intended to represent the two. + +He imagines that the subjects of the bassi-relievi on the four fronts +of the mausoleum bear out this hypothesis. That of the east, he says, +represents the combat of the Romans with the Germans on the bank of the +Rhine (of which river the one on the basso-relievo is the emblem), and +the triumph of Caesar over Ariovistus, whoso women were taken prisoners. + +The basso-relievo on the south front represents Caesar's conquest of the +Allobroges, and the capture of the daughter of Orgetorix, one of the +most powerful men of the country, and instigator of the war. The +basso-relievo on the north front, representing a combat of cavalry, +refers to the victory over the Britons; and that of the west front, to +the battle gained by the Romans over the Gauls, in which the general of +the latter was killed in the midst of his soldiers, who endeavoured to +prevent his being seized by the enemy. + +Passages from the _Commentaries of Caesar_, favour this ingenious +interpretation of M.P. Malosse; but the abbreviations adopted in the +inscription, while well calculated to give rise to innumerable +hypotheses, will for ever leave in doubt, by whom, and in honour of +whom, these edifices were erected, as well as the epoch at which they +were built. + +Who could look on these monuments without reflecting on the vanity of +mortals in thus offering up testimonials of their respect for persons +of whose very names posterity is ignorant? For the identity of those in +whose honour the Arch of Triumph and Mausoleum of St.-Remy were raised +puzzles antiquaries as much as does that of the individual for whom the +pyramid of Egypt was built. Vain effort, originating in the weakness of +our nature, to preserve the memory of that which was dear to us, and +which we would fain believe will insure the reverence of ages unborn +for that which we venerated! + + ON THE TRIUMPHAL ARCH AND MAUSOLEUM AT ST.-REMY. + +1. + +Yon stately tomb that seeks the sky, + Erected to the glorious dead, +Through whose high arches sweeps, the sigh + The night winds heave when day has fled; + +2. + +How fair its pillared stories rise + 'Gainst yon blue firmament so pure; +Fair as they met admiring eyes, + Long ages past, they still endure. + +3. + +Yes, many a race hath left the earth + Since first this Mausoleum rose; +So many, that the name, or birth, + Of dead, or founder, no one knows. + +4. + +The sculptured pictures, all may see, + Were by a skilful artist wrought; +But, Time! the secret rests with thee, + Which to unravel men have sought. + +5. + +Of whom were they, the honoured dead, + Whose mem'ry Love would here record? +Lift up the veil, so long o'erspread, + And tell whose dust yon fane doth guard. + +6. + +Name those whose love outlived the grave + And sought to give for aye to fame +Mementos of the good and brave, + Of whom thou hast effaced the name. + +7. + +We know but that they lived and died,-- + No more this stately tomb can tell: +Here come and read a lesson, Pride, + This monument can give so well. + +8. + +They lived--they hoped--they suffered--loved-- + As all of Earth have ever done; +Were oft by wild Ambition moved, + And basked, perchance, 'neath glory's Sun. + +9. + +They deemed that they should leave behind + Undying names. Yet, mark this fane, +For whom it rose, by whom designed, + Learned antiquaries search in vain. + +10. + +Still doth it wear the form it wore, + Through the dim lapse of by-gone age; +Triumph of Art in days of yore, + Whose Hist'ry fills the classic page. + +11. + +To honour Victors it is said + 'Twas raised, though none their names can trace; +It stands as monument instead, + Unto each long-forgotten race, + +12. + +Who came, like me, to gaze and brood + Upon it in this lonely spot-- +Their minds with pensive thoughts imbued, + That Heroes could be thus forgot. + +13. + +Yet still the wind a requiem sighs, + And the blue sky above it weeps; +Thu Sun pours down its radiant dyes, + Though none can tell who 'neath it sleeps. + +14. + +And seasons roll, and centuries pass, + And still unchanged thou keep'st thy place; +While we, like shadows in a glass, + Soon glide away, and leave no trace. + +15. + +And yon proud Arch, the Victor's meed, + Is nameless as the neighbouring Tomb: +Victor, and Dead, the Fates decreed + Your memory to oblivion's gloom. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + +LYONS. + +I see little alteration at Lyons since I formerly passed through it. +Its manufactories are, nevertheless, flourishing, though less +improvement than could be expected is visible in the external aspect of +the place. + +This being Sunday, and the _Fete-Dieu_, the garrison, with flags +flying, drums beating, trumpets sounding, and all in gala dress, +marched through the streets to attend Divine worship. The train was +headed by our old acquaintance General Le Paultre de la Motte, (whom we +left at Lyons on our route to Italy), and his staff; wearing all their +military decorations, attended by a vast procession, including the +whole of the clergy in their rich attires and all the different +religious communities in the town. + +The officers were bare-headed--their spurred heels and warlike +demeanour rendering this homage to a sacred ceremony more picturesque. +The gold and silver brocaded vestments and snowy robes of the priests +glittering in the sun, as they marched along to the sound of martial +music, looked very gorgeous; and this mixture of ecclesiastical and +military pomp had an imposing effect. + +The streets through which the procession passed were ornamented with +rich draperies and flowers, reminding me of Italy on similar occasions; +and the intense heat of a sun glowing like a fiery furnace, aided the +recollection. + +Since I have been on the continent, it has often struck me with +surprise, that on solemn occasions like the present, sacred music has +not been performed instead of military. Nay, I have heard quadrilles +and waltzes played, fruitful in festive associations little suited to +the feelings which ought to have been excited by solemn ceremonials. + +Knowing, by experience, the effect produced on the mind by sacred +music, it is much to be wished that so potent an aid to devotional +sentiment should not be omitted, _malgre_ whatever may be said against +any extraneous assistance in offering up those devotions which the +heart should be ever prompt to fulfil without them. + +I leave to casuists to argue whether, or how far, music, sculpture, or +painting, may be employed as excitements to religious fervour: but I +confess, although the acknowledgment may expose me to the censure of +those who differ with me in opinion, that I consider them powerful +adjuncts, and, consequently, not to be resigned because _some_--and +happy, indeed, may they be deemed--stand in no need of such incitements +to devotion. + +Who that has heard the "_Miserere_" in the Sistine chapel at Rome, and +seen, while listening to it, "The Last Judgment," by Michael Angelo, on +its walls, without feeling the powerful influence they exercised on the +feelings? + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + +PARIS. + +_June_, 1828.--A fatiguing journey, over dusty roads, and in intensely +hot weather, has brought us to Paris, with no accident save the failure +of one of the wheels of our large landau--a circumstance that caused +the last day's travelling to be any thing but agreeable; for though our +courier declared the temporary repair it received rendered it perfectly +safe, I was by no means satisfied on the point. + +We have taken up our abode in the Hotel de la Terrasse, Rue de Rivoli, +are well-lodged, but somewhat incommoded by the loud reverberation of +the pavement, as the various vehicles roll rapidly over it. We were +told that "it would be nothing when we got used to it"--an assertion, +the truth of which, I trust, we shall not remain sufficiently long to +test; for I have a peculiar objection to noise of every kind, and a +long residence in Italy has not conquered it. + +So here we are, once more, at Paris, after six years' absence from it; +and I find all that has hitherto met my eyes in it _in statu quo_. How +many places have I seen during that period; how many associations +formed; how many and what various impressions received; and here is +every thing around looking so precisely as I left them, that I can +hardly bring myself to believe that I have indeed been so many years +absent! + +When we bring back with us the objects most dear, and find those we +left unchanged, we are tempted to doubt the lapse of time; but one link +in the chain of affection broken, and every thing seems altered. + +On entering Paris, I felt my impatience to see our dear friends there +redouble; and, before we had despatched the dinner awaiting our +arrival, the Duc and Duchesse de Guiche, came to us. How warm was our +greeting; how many questions to be asked and answered; how many +congratulations and pleasant plans for the future to be formed; how +many reminiscences of our mutual _sejour_ in dear Italy to be talked +over! + +The Duchesse was radiant in health and beauty, and the Duc looking, as +he always does, more _distingue_, than any one else--the perfect _beau +ideal_ of a nobleman. + +We soon quitted the _salle a manger_; for who could eat during the joy +of a first meeting with those so valued?--Not I, certainly; and all the +rest of our party were as little disposed to do honour to the repast +commanded for us. + +It was a happy evening. Seated in the _salon_, and looking out on the +pleasant gardens of the Tuileries, the perfume of whose orange-trees +was wafted to us by the air as we talked over old times, and indulged +in cheerful anticipations of new ones, and the tones of voices familiar +to the ears thus again restored, were heard with emotion. + +Yes, the meeting of dear friends atones for the regret of separation; +and like it so much enhances affection, that after absence one wonders +how one has been able to stay away from them so long. + +Too excited to sleep, although fatigued, I am writing down my +impressions; yet how tame and colourless they seem on paper when +compared with the emotions that dictate them! How often have I +experienced the impossibility of painting strong feelings during their +reign! + +[_Mem_.--We should be cautious in giving implicit credit to +descriptions written with great power, as I am persuaded they indicate +a too perfect command of the faculties of the head to admit the +possibility of those of the heart having been much excited when they +were written. + +This belief of mine controverts the assertion of the poet-- + + "He best can paint them who has felt them most." + +Except that the poet says who _has_ felt; yes, it is after, and not +when most felt that sentiments can be most powerfully expressed. But to +bed! to bed!] + +I have had a busy day; engaged during the greater portion of it in the +momentous occupation of shopping. Every thing belonging to my toilette +is to be changed, for I have discovered--"tell it not in Gath"--that my +hats, bonnets, robes, mantles, and pelisses, are totally _passee de +mode_, and what the _modistes_ of Italy declared to be _la derniere +mode de Paris_ is so old as to be forgotten here. + +The woman who wishes to be a philosopher must avoid Paris! Yesterday I +entered it, caring or thinking as little of _la mode_ as if there were +no such tyrant; and lo! to-day, I found myself ashamed, as I looked +from the Duchess de Guiche, attired in her becoming and pretty +_peignoir a la neige_ and _chapeau du dernier gout_, to my own dress +and bonnet, which previously I had considered very wearable, if not +very tasteful. + +Our first visit was to Herbault's, the high-priest of the Temple of +Fashion at Paris; and I confess, the look of astonishment which he +bestowed on my bonnet did not help to reassure my confidence as to my +appearance. + +The Duchesse, too quick-sighted not to observe his surprise, explained +that I had been six years absent from Paris, and only arrived the night +before from Italy. I saw the words _a la bonne heure_ hovering on the +lips of Herbault, he was too well-bred to give utterance to them, and +immediately ordered to be brought forth the choicest of his hats, caps, +and turbans. + +Oh, the misery of trying on a new _mode_ for the first time, and before +a stranger! The eye accustomed to see the face to which it appertains +enveloped in a _chapeau_ more or less large or small, is shocked at the +first attempt to wear one of a different size; and turns from the +contemplation of the image presented in the glass with any thing but +self-complacency, listening incredulously to the flattering encomiums +of the not disinterested _marchand de modes_, who avers that "_Ce +chapeau sied parfaitement a Madame la Comtesse, et ce bonnet lui va a +ravir_." + +I must, however, render M. Herbault the justice to say, that he evinced +no ordinary tact in suggesting certain alterations in his _chapeaux_ +and caps, in order to suit my face; and, aided by the inimitable good +taste of the Duchesse, who passes for an oracle in _affaires de modes a +Paris_, a selection was made that enabled me to leave M. Herbault's, +looking a little more like other people. + +From his Temple of Fashion we proceeded to the _lingere a la mode_, +Mdlle. La Touche, where _canezous_ and _robes de matin_ were to be +chosen and ordered; and we returned to the Hotel de la Terrasse, my +head filled with notions of the importance of dressing _a la mode_, to +which yesterday it was a stranger, and my purse considerably lightened +by the two visits I had paid. + +Englishwomen who have not made their purchases at the houses of the +_marchandes de modes_ considered the most _recherche_ at Paris, have no +idea of the extravagance of the charges. Prices are demanded that +really make a prudent person start; nevertheless, she who wishes to +attain the distinction so generally sought, of being perfectly well +dressed, which means being in the newest fashion, must submit to pay +largely for it. + +Three hundred and twenty francs for a crape hat and feathers, two +hundred for a _chapeau a fleurs_, one hundred for a _chapeau neglige de +matin_, and eighty-five francs for an evening-cap composed of tulle +trimmed with blonde and flowers, are among the prices asked, and, to my +shame be it said, given. + +It is true, hats, caps, and bonnets may be had for very reasonable +prices in the shops in the Rue Vivienne and elsewhere at Paris, as I +and many of my female compatriots found out when I was formerly in this +gay capital; but the bare notion of wearing such would positively shock +a lady of fashion at Paris, as much as it would an English one, to +appear in a hat manufactured in Cranbourn Alley. + +Here Fashion is a despot, and no one dreams of evading its dictates. + +Having noticed the extravagance of the prices, it is but fair to remark +the elegance and good taste of the millinery to be found at Monsieur +Herbault's. His _chapeaux_ look as if made by fairy fingers, so fresh, +so light, do they appear; and his caps seem as if the gentlest sigh of +a summer's zephyr would bear them from sight, so aerial is their +texture, and so delicate are the flowers that adorn them, fresh from +the _ateliers_ of Natier, or Baton. + +Beware, O ye uxorious husbands! how ye bring your youthful brides to +the dangerous atmosphere of Paris, while yet in that paradise of fools +ycleped the honey-moon, ere you have learned to curve your brows into a +frown, or to lengthen your visages at the sight of a long bill. + +In that joyful season, when having pleased your eyes and secured your +hearts, your fair brides, with that amiability which is one of the +peculiar characteristics of their sex, are anxious to please all the +world, and from no other motive than that _your_ choice should be +admired, beware of entering Paris, except _en passant_. Wait until you +have recovered that firmness of character which generally comes back to +a Benedict after the first year of his nuptials, before you let your +wives wander through the tempting mazes of the _magasins de modes_ of +this intoxicating city. + +And you, fair dames, "with stinted sums assigned," in the shape of +pin-money, beware how you indulge that taste for pretty bonnets, hats, +caps, and turbans, with which all bountiful Nature has so liberally +gifted you; for, alas! "beneath the roses fierce Repentance rears her +snaky crest" in form of a bill, the payment of which will "leave you +poor indeed" for many a long day after, unless your liege lord, melted +by the long-drawn sighs heaved when you remark on the wonderfully high +prices of things at Paris, opens his purse-strings, and, with something +between a pshaw and a grunt, makes you an advance of your next +quarter's pin-money; or, better still, a present of one of the hundred +pounds with which he had intended to try his good luck at the club. + +Went yesterday to the Rue d'Anjou, to visit Madame Craufurd. Her hotel +is a charming one, _entre cour et jardin_; and she is the most +extraordinary person of her age I have ever seen. In her eightieth +year, she does not look to be more than fifty-five; and possesses all +the vivacity and good humour peculiar only to youth. + +Scrupulously exact in her person, and dressed with the utmost care, as +well as good taste, she gives me a notion of the appearance which the +celebrated Ninon de l'Enclos must have presented at the same age, and +has much of the charm of manner said to have belonged to that +remarkable woman. + +It was an interesting sight to see her surrounded by her grand-children +and great-grand-children, all remarkable for their good looks, and +affectionately attached to her, while she appears not a little proud of +them. The children of the Duc de Guiche have lost nothing of their +beauty since their _sejour_ at Pisa, and are as ingenuous and amusing +as formerly. + +I never saw such handsome children before, nor so well brought up. No +trouble or expense is spared in their education; and the Duc and +Duchesse devote a great portion of their time to them. + +All our friends are occupied in looking out for a house for us; and I +have this day been over, at least, ten--only one of which seems likely +to suit. + +I highly approve the mode at Paris of letting unfurnished houses, or +apartments, with mirrors and decorations, as well as all fixtures (with +us, in England, always charged separately) free of any extra expense. +The good taste evinced in the ornaments is in general remarkable, and +far superior to what is to be met with in England; where, if one +engages a new house lately papered or painted, one is compelled to +recolour the rooms before they can be occupied, owing to the gaudy and +ill-assorted patterns originally selected. + +The house of the Marechal Lobau, forming the corner of the Rue de +Bourbon, is the one I prefer of all those I have yet seen, although it +has many _desagremens_ for so large an establishment as ours. But I am +called to go to the review in the Champ-de-Mars, so _allons_ for a +_spectacle militaire_, which, I am told, is to be very fine. + +The review was well worth seeing; and the troops performed their +evolutions with great precision. The crowd of spectators was immense; +so much so, that those only who formed part of the royal _cortege_ +could reach the Champ-de-Mars in time to see its commencement. No +carriages, save those of the court, were allowed to enter the file. + +The dust was insupportable; and the pretty dresses of the ladies +suffered from it nearly as much as did the smart uniforms of the +officers. + +The _coup d'oeil_ from the pavilion (where we had, thanks to our +_chaperon_, the Duchesse de Guiche, front seats) was very fine. The +various and splendid uniforms, floating standards, waving plumes, +glittering arms, and prancing steeds, gave to the vast plain over which +the troops were moving a most animated aspect, while the sounds of +martial music exhilarated the spirits. + +Nor was the view presented by the interior of the pavilion without its +charms. A number of ladies, some of them young and handsome, and all +remarkably well-dressed, gave to the benches ranged along it the +appearance of a rich _parterre_, among the flowers of which the +beautiful Duchesse de Guiche shone pre-eminent. + +I was seated next to a lady, with large lustrous eyes and a pale olive +complexion, whose countenance, from its extreme mobility, attracted my +attention; at one moment, lighting up with intelligence, and the next, +softening into pensiveness. + +A remarkably handsome young man stood behind her, holding her shawl, +and lavishing on her those attentions peculiar to young Benedicts. The +lady proved to be the Marchioness de Loule, sister to the King of +Portugal; and the gentleman turned out to be her husband, for whose +_beaux yeux_ she contracted what is considered a _mesalliance_. + +The simplicity of her dress, and unaffectedness of her manner, invested +her with new attractions in my eyes; which increased when I reflected +on the elevated position she had resigned, to follow the more humble +fortunes of her handsome husband. + +How strange, yet how agreeable too, must the change be, from the most +formal court, over which Etiquette holds a despotic sway, to the +freedom from such disagreeable constraint permitted to those in private +life, and now enjoyed by this Spanish princess! + +She appears to enjoy this newly acquired liberty with a zest in +proportion to her past enthralment, and has proved that the daughter of +a King of Portugal has a heart, though the queens of its neighbour, +Spain, were in former days not supposed to have legs. + +During the evolutions, a general officer was thrown from his horse; and +a universal agitation among a group of ladies evinced that they were in +a panic. Soon the name of the general, Count de Bourmont, was heard +pronounced; and a faint shriek, followed by a half swoon from one of +the fair dames, announced her deep interest in the accident. + +Flacons and vinaigrettes were presented to her on every side, all the +ladies present seeming to have come prepared for some similar +catastrophe; but in a few minutes a messenger, despatched by the +general, assured Madame la Comtesse of his perfect safety; and tears of +joy testified her satisfaction at the news. + +This little episode in the review shewed me the French ladies in a very +amiable point of view. Their sensibility and agitation during the +uncertainty as to the person thrown, vouched for the liveliness of +their conjugal affection; and their sympathy for Madame la Comtesse de +Bourmont when it was ascertained that her husband was the sufferer, +bore evidence to the kindness of their hearts, as well as to their +facility in performing the little services so acceptable in moments +like those I had just witnessed. + +Charles X, the Dauphin and Dauphine, and the Duchesse de Berri, were +present--the two latter in landaus, attended by their ladies. The king +looked well, his grey hair and tall thin figure giving him a very +venerable aspect. + +The Dauphine is much changed since I last saw her, and the care and +sorrow of her childhood have left their traces on her countenance. I +never saw so melancholy a face, and the strength of intellect which +characterises it renders it still more so, by indicating that the marks +of sorrow so visible were not indented on that brow without many an +effort from the strong mind to resist the attacks of grief. + +I remember reading years ago of the melancholy physiognomy of King +Charles I, which when seen in his portrait by a Florentine sculptor, to +whom it was sent in order that a bust should be made from it, drew +forth the observation that the countenance indicated that its owner +would come to a violent death. + +I was reminded of this anecdote by the face of the Duchesse +d'Angouleme; for though I do not pretend to a prescience as to her +future fate, I cannot help arguing from it that, even should a peaceful +reign await her, the fearful trials of her youth have destroyed in her +the power of enjoyment; and that on a throne she can never forget the +father and mother she saw hurried from it, to meet every insult that +malice could invent, or cruelty could devise, before a violent death +freed them from their sufferings. + +Who can look on this heroic woman without astonishment at the power of +endurance that has enabled her to live on under such trials? Martyr is +written in legible characters on that brow, and on those lips; and her +attempt to smile made me more sad than the tears of a mourner would +have done, because it revealed "a grief too deep for tears." + +Must she not tremble for the future, if not for the present, among a +people so versatile as those among whom she is now thrown? And can she +look from the windows of the palace she has been recalled to inhabit, +without seeing the spot where the fearful guillotine was reared that +made her an orphan? + +The very plaudits that now rend the skies for her uncle must remind her +of the shouts that followed her father to the scaffold: no wonder, +then, that she grows pale as she hears them; and that the memory of the +terrible past, written in characters of blood, gives a sombre hue to +the present and to the future. + +The sight of her, too, must awaken disagreeable recollections in those +over whom her husband may be soon called to reign, for the history of +the crimes of the Revolution is stamped on her face, whose pallid lint +and rigid muscles tell of the horror and affliction imprinted on her +youth; the reminiscence of which cannot be pleasant to them. + +The French not only love their country passionately, but are +inordinately proud of it; hence, aught that reminds them of its +sins--and cruelty is one of a deep dye--must be humiliating to them; so +that the presence of the Duchesse d'Angouleme cannot be flattering to +their _amor patriae_ or _amour propre_. I thought of all this to-day, as +I looked on the face of Madame la Dauphine; and breathed a hope that +the peace of her life's evening may console her for the misfortunes of +its morning and its noon. + +The Duchesse de Berri has an animated and peculiarly good-natured +expression of countenance. Her restored gaiety makes the French forget +why it was long and cruelly overclouded, and aids the many good +qualities which she possesses, in securing the popularity she has so +generally acquired in the country of her adoption. + +House-hunting again, and still unsuited. Dined yesterday at the +Duchesse de Guiche's; a very pleasant party, increased by some +agreeable people in the evening. Our old acquaintance, William Lock, +was among the guests at dinner, and is as good-looking and +light-hearted as ever. + +The Marquis l'Esperance de l'Aigle was also present, and is a perfect +specimen of the fine gentleman of _la Vieille Cour_--a race now nearly +extinct. Possessing all the gaiety and vivacity of youth, with that +attention to the feelings of others peculiar only to maturity and +high-breeding, the Count l'Esperance de l'Aigle is universally beloved. + +He can talk over old times with the grand-mother with all the wit that +we read of, oftener than we meet with; give his opinion of _la derniere +mode_ to the youthful mother, with rare tact and good taste; dance with +the young daughter as actively and gracefully as any _garcon de +dix-huit ans_ in Paris; and gallop through the Bois de Boulogne with +the young men who pride themselves on their riding, without being ever +left behind. I had frequently heard his praises from the Duchesse de +Guiche, and found that her description of him was very accurate. + +The house of the Duc de Guiche is a picture of English comfort and +French elegance united; and that portion of it appropriated to its fair +mistress is fitted up with exquisite taste. Her _salons_ and _boudoir_ +are objects of _vertu, bijouterie_, and vases of old Sevre, enough to +excite envy in those who can duly appreciate such treasures, and tempt +to the violation of the tenth commandment. Order reigns in the whole +arrangement of the establishment, which, possessing all the luxurious +appliances of a _maison montee_, has all the scrupulous cleanliness of +that of a Quaker. + +Went to the Opera last night, where I saw the _debut_ of the new +_danseuse_ Taglioni. Hers is a totally new style of dancing; graceful +beyond all comparison, wonderful lightness, an absence of all violent +effort, or at least of the appearance of it, and a modesty as new as it +is delightful to witness in her art. She seems to float and bound like +a sylph across the stage, never executing those _tours de force_ that +we know to be difficult and wish were impossible, being always +performed at the expense of decorum and grace, and requiring only +activity for their achievement. + +She excited the most rapturous applause, and received it with a "decent +dignity," very unlike the leering smiles with which, in general, a +_danseuse_ thinks it necessary to advance to the front of the +proscenium, shewing all her teeth, as she lowly courtesies to the +audience. + +There is a sentiment in the dancing of this charming votary of +Terpsichore that elevates it far beyond the licentious style generally +adopted by the ladies of her profession, and which bids fair to +accomplish a reformation in it. + +The Duc de Cazes, who came in to the Duchesse de Guiche's box, was +enthusiastic in his praises of Mademoiselle Taglioni, and said hers was +the most poetical style of dancing he had ever seen. Another observed, +that it was indeed the poetry of motion. I would describe it as being +the epic of dancing. + +The Duc de Cazes is a very distinguished looking man, with a fine and +intelligent countenance, and very agreeable manners. + +_A propos_ of manners, I am struck with the great difference between +those of Frenchmen and Englishmen, of the same station in life. The +latter treat women with a politeness that seems the result of habitual +amenity; the former with a homage that appears to be inspired by the +peculiar claims of the sex, particularised in the individual woman, and +is consequently more flattering. + +An Englishman seldom lays himself out to act the agreeable to women; a +Frenchman never omits an opportunity of so doing: hence, the attentions +of the latter are less gratifying than those of the former, because a +woman, however free from vanity, may suppose that when an Englishman +takes the trouble--and it is evidently a trouble, more or less, to all +our islanders to enact the agreeable--she had really inspired him with +the desire to please. + +In France, a woman may forget that she is neither young nor handsome; +for the absence of these claims to attention does not expose her to be +neglected by the male sex. In England, the elderly and the ugly "could +a tale unfold" of the _naivete_ with which men evince their sense of +the importance of youth and beauty, and their oblivion of the presence +of those who have neither. + +France is the paradise for old women, particularly if they are +_spirituelle_; but England is the purgatory. + +The Comtesses de Bellegarde called on me to-day, and two more +warm-hearted or enthusiastic persons I never saw. Though no longer +young, they possess all the gaiety of youth, without any of its +thoughtlessness, and have an earnestness in their kindness that is very +pleasant. + +Dined yesterday at Madame Craufurd's--a very pleasant party. Met there +the Duc de Gramont, Duc and Duchesse de Guiche, Colonel and lady +Barbara Craufurd, and Count Valeski. + +The Duc de Gramont is a fine old man who has seen much of the world, +without having been soured by its trials. Faithful to his sovereign +during adversity, he is affectionately cherished by the whole of the +present royal family, who respect and love him; and his old age is +cheered by the unceasing devotion of his children, the Duc and Duchesse +de Guiche, who are fondly attached to him. + +He gives up much of his time to the culture of flowers, and is more +interested in the success of his dahlias than in those scenes of +courtly circles in which he is called to fill so distinguished a part. +It pleased me to hear him telling his beautiful daughter-in-law of the +perfection of a flower she had procured him with some trouble; and then +adding: "_A propos_ of flowers, how is our sweet Ida, to-day? There is +no flower in my garden like her!--Ay, she will soon be two years old." + +There is something soothing to the mind in the contemplation of a man +in the evening of life, whose youth was spent in all the splendour of a +court, and whose manhood has been tried by adversity, turning to Nature +for her innocent pleasures, when the discovery of the futility of all +others has been made. This choice vouches for the purity of heart and +goodness of him who has adopted it, and disposes me to give ample +credit to all the commendation the Duchesse de Guiche used to utter of +him in Italy. + +Lady Barbara Craufurd is an excellent specimen of an English woman. +Pretty, without vanity or affectation; gentle, without insipidity; and +simple, yet highly polished, in mariners. She has, too, a low, "sweet +voice, an excellent thing in woman," and, to me, whose ears offer even +a more direct road to the heart than do the eyes, is a peculiar +attraction. + +Colonel Craufurd seems to be the quintessence of good nature and of +good sense. Count Valeski is an intelligent young man, greatly _a la +mode_ at Paris, and wholly unspoilt by this distinction. Handsome, +well-bred, and agreeable, he is very popular, not only among the fine +ladies but fine gentlemen here, and appears worthy of the favour he +enjoys. + +Several people of both sexes came in the evening to Madame Craufurd's, +and we had some excellent music. Madame C. does the honours of her +_salon_ with peculiar grace. She has a bright smile and a kind word for +every guest, without the slightest appearance of effort. + +Still house-hunting; continually tempted by elegantly decorated +_salons_, and as continually checked by the want of room and comfort of +the rest of the apartments. + +We have been compelled to abandon the project of taking the Marechal +Lobau's house, or at least that portion of it which he wishes to +dispose of, for we found it impossible to lodge so large an +establishment as ours in it; and, though we communicated this fact with +all possible courtesy to the Marechal, we have received a note in +answer, written in a different style, as he is pleased to think that, +having twice inspected his apartments, we ought to have taken them. + +In England, a person of the Marechal's rank who had a house to let +would not show it _in propria persona_, but would delegate that task, +as also the terms and negotiations, to some agent; thus avoiding all +personal interference, and, consequently, any chance of offence: but if +people _will_ feel angry without any just cause, it cannot be helped; +and so Monsieur le Marechal must recover his serenity and acquire a +temper more in analogy with his name; for, though a brave and +distinguished officer, as well as a good man, which he is said to be, +he certainly is _not Bon comme un mouton_, which is his cognomen. + +Paris is now before us,--where to choose is the difficulty. We saw +to-day a house in the Rue St.-Honore, _entre cour et jardin_, a few +doors from the English embassy. The said garden is the most tempting +part of the affair; for, though the _salons_ and sleeping-rooms are +good, the only entrance, except by a _passage derobe_ for servants, is +through the _salle a manger_, which is a great objection. + +Many of the houses I have seen here have this defect, which the +Parisians do not seem to consider one, although the odour of dinner +must enter the _salons_, and that in the evening visitors must find +servants occupied in removing the dinner apparatus, should they, as +generally happens, come for the _prima sera_. + +French people, however, remain so short a time at table, and dine so +much earlier than the English people do, that the employment of their +_salle a manger_ as a passage does not annoy them. + +Went to the opera last night, and saw the _Muette de Portici_. It is +admirably got up, and the costumes and scenery, as well as the +_tarantulas_, transported me back to Naples--dear, joyous +Naples--again. Nourrit enacted "Massaniello," and his rich and flexible +voice gave passion and feeling to the music. Noblet was the "Fenella," +and her pantomime and dancing were good; but Taglioni spoils one for +any other dancing. + +The six years that have flown over Noblet since I last saw her have +left little trace of their flight, which is to be marvelled at, when +one considers the violent and constant exercise that the profession of +a _danseuse_ demands. + +When I saw the sylph-like Taglioni floating through the dance, I could +not refrain from sighing at the thought that grace and elegance like +hers should be doomed to know the withering effect of Time; and that +those agile limbs should one day become as stiff and helpless as those +of others. An _old danseuse_ is an anomaly. She is like an old rose, +rendered more displeasing by the recollection of former attractions. +Then to see the figure bounding in air, habit and effort effecting +something like that which the agility peculiar to youth formerly +enabled her to execute almost _con amore_; while the haggard face, and +distorted smile revealing yellow teeth, tell a sad tale of departed +youth. Yes, an old _danseuse_ is a melancholy object; more so, because +less cared for, than the broken-down racer, or worn-out hunter. + +Went to Tivoli last night, and was amused by the scene of gaiety it +presented. How unlike, and how superior to, our Vauxhall! People of all +stations, of all ages, and of both sexes, threading the mazy dance with +a sprightliness that evinced the pleasure it gave them. + +We paused to look at group after group, all equally enjoying +themselves; and the Duchesse de Guiche, from her perfect knowledge of +Paris, was enabled, by a glance, to name the station in life occupied +by each: a somewhat difficult task for a stranger, as the remarkably +good taste of every class of women in Paris in dress, precludes those +striking contrasts between the appearance of a _modiste_ and a +_marquise_, the wife of a _boutiquier_ and a _duchesse_, to be met with +in all other countries. + +But it is not in dress alone that a similarity exists in the exteriors +of Parisian women. The air _comme il faut_, the perfect freedom from +all _gaucherie_, the ease of demeanour, the mode of walking, and, above +all, the decent dignity equally removed from _mauvaise honte_ and +effrontery, appertain nearly alike to all. The class denominated +_grisettes_ alone offered an exception, as their demonstrations of +gaiety, though free from boisterousness, betrayed stronger symptoms of +hilarity than were evinced by women belonging to a more elevated class +in society. + +The dancing, too, surprised as well as pleased me; and in this +accomplishment the French still maintain their long-acknowledged +superiority, for among the many groups I did not see a single bad +dancer. + +Around one quadrille party a more numerous audience was collected than +around the others, and the _entrechats_ of one of the gentlemen were +much applauded. Nods and smiles passing between the dancers and the +Duchesse de Guiche, revealed to me that they were among the circle of +her acquaintance; and, approaching nearer, I recognised in the +gentleman whose _entrechats_ were so much admired, my new acquaintance +the Marquis l'Esperance de l'Aigle, of whose excellence in the mazy +dance I now had an opportunity of seeing that Fame had not said too +much. + +The ladies who formed the quadrille were la Marquise de Marmier, the +Vicomtesse de Noailles, and Madame Standish; all excellent dancers, and +attired in that most becoming of all styles of dress, the +_demi-toilette_, which is peculiar to France, and admits of the +after-dinner promenades or unceremonious visits in which French ladies +indulge. A simple robe of _organdie_, with long sleeves, a _canezou_ of +net, a light scarf, and a pretty _chapeau_ of _paille de riz_, form +this becoming toilette, which is considered a suitable one for all +theatres, except the Opera, where ladies go in a richer dress. + +On our return from Tivoli, we had a small party to drink tea, and +remained chatting till one o'clock--a late hour for Paris. Among the +guests was our old friend Mr. T. Steuart, the nephew of Sir William +Drummond, who continues to be as clever and original as ever. His +lively remarks and brilliant sallies were very amusing. + +Having complained of the want of a comfortable chair last evening, I +found a _chef d'oeuvre_ of Rainguet's in my _salon_ this morning, sent +me by my thoughtful and ever-kind friend the Duc de Guiche. A +connoisseur in chairs and sofas, being unhappily addicted to "taking +mine ease" not only in "mine inn," but wherever I meet these requisites +to it, I am compelled to acknowledge the superiority of Rainguet over +any that I have previously seen; and my only fear is, that this +luxurious chair will seduce me into the still greater indulgence of my +besetting or _besitting_ sin, sedentary habits. + +At length, we have found a house to suit us, and a delightful one it +is; once the property of the Marechal Ney, but now belonging to the +Marquis de Lillers. It is situated in the Rue de Bourbon, but the +windows of the principal apartments look on the Seine, and command a +delightful view of the Tuilerie Gardens. It is approached by an avenue +bounded by fine trees, and is enclosed on the Rue de Bourbon side by +high walls, a large _porte-cochere_, and a porter's lodge; which give +it all the quiet and security of a country house. + +This hotel may be viewed as a type of the splendour that marked the +dwellings of the imperial _noblesse_, and some notion of it may be +conceived from the fact that the decorations of its walls alone cost a +million of francs. These decorations are still--thanks to the purity of +the air of Paris--as fresh as if only a year painted, and are of great +beauty; so much so, that it will be not only very expensive but very +difficult to assort the furniture to them; and, unfortunately, there is +not a single _meuble_ in the house. + +The rent is high, but there are so many competitors for the hotel, +which has only been three days in the market, that we consider +ourselves fortunate in having secured it. + +A small garden, or rather terrace, with some large trees and plenty of +flowers, separates the house from the Quai d'Orsay, and runs back at +its left angle. The avenue terminates in a court, from which, on the +right, a gate opens into the stable offices; and a vestibule, fitted up +as a conservatory, forms an entrance to the house. A flight of marble +steps on each side of the conservatory, leads to a large ante-room, +from which a window of one immense plate of glass, extending from the +ceiling to the floor, divides the centre, permitting the pyramids of +flowers to be seen through it. A glass door on each side opens from the +vestibule to the steps of the conservatory. + +The vestibule, lofty and spacious, is lighted also by two other +windows, beyond the conservatory, and is ornamented with pilasters with +Corinthian capitals. + +On the right hand is the _salle a manger_, a fine room, lighted by +three windows looking into the court-yard, and architecturally arranged +with pilasters, a rich cornice and ceiling: the hall is stuccoed, +painted in imitation of marble, and has so fine a polish as really to +deceive the eye. In the centre of this apartment is a large door +between the pilasters, opening into a drawing-room, and at the opposite +end from the door that opens from the vestibule is that which leads to +the kitchen offices, and by which dinner is served. + +_Vis-a-vis_ to the _salle a manger_, and divided from it by the large +vestibule, is a dressing and bed-chamber with an alcove, both rooms +being ornamented with columns and pilasters, between which are mirrors +of large dimensions inserted in recesses. A corridor and _escalier +derobe_ at the back of these two apartments admit the attendance of +servants, without their passing through the vestibule. + +In the centre of this last, and opposite to the large plate of glass +that divides it from the conservatory, large folding doors open into +the principal drawing-room, which is lighted by three large and lofty +windows, the centre one exactly facing the folding doors, and, like +them, supported by pilasters. + +This room is of large dimensions, and finely proportioned; the sides +and ends are divided by fluted pilasters with Corinthian capitals +richly gilt. At one extremity is a beautifully sculptured chimney-piece +of Parian marble, over which is a vast mirror, bounded by pilasters, +that separate it from a large panel on each side, in the centre of +which are exquisitely designed allegorical groups. + +At the opposite end, a mirror, of similar dimensions to that over the +chimney-piece, and resting like it on a white marble slab, occupies the +centre, on each side of which are panels with painted groups. Doors at +each end, and exactly facing, lead into other _salons_; opposite to the +two end windows are large mirrors, resting on marble slabs, bounded by +narrow panels with painted figures, and between the windows are also +mirrors to correspond. The pictorial adornments in this _salon_ are +executed by the first artists of the day, and with a total disregard of +expense, so that it is not to be wondered at that they are beautiful. +Military trophies are mingled with the decorations, the whole on a +white ground, and richly ornamented with gilding. The Seine, with its +boats, and the gay scene of the Tuilerie Gardens, are reflected in the +mirrors opposite to the windows, while the groups on the panels are +seen in the others. + +Nothing can exceed the beauty of this room, in which such fine +proportion, architectural decoration, and exquisite finish reign, that +the eye dwells on it with delight, and can trace no defect. + +The door on the right-hand end, on entering, opens to a less richly +ornamented _salon_, inside which are two admirable bed-chambers and +dressing-rooms, communicating by an _escalier derobe_ with a suite of +servants' apartments. + +The door on the left-hand end of the large _salon_ opens into a +beautiful room, known as the _Salle de la Victoire_, from its being +decorated by paintings allegorical of Victory. This apartment is +lighted by two large windows, and opposite to them is a deep recess, or +alcove. + +A cornice extends around the room, about four feet beneath the ceiling, +and is supported by white columns, projecting into the chamber, on each +of which stands a figure of Victory offering a wreath of laurels. This +cornice divides the room from the recess before mentioned. + +The chimney-piece is in a recess, with columns on each side; and the +large mirror over it, and which is finished by the cornice, is faced by +a similar one, also in a recess, with white columns, standing on a +plinth on each side. The windows are finished by the former cornice, +that extends round the rooms, and have similar columns on each side +with Victories on them, and a mirror between. The room is white and +gold, with delicate arabesques, and medallions exquisitely painted. + +This _salon_ communicates with a corridor behind it, which admits the +attendance of servants without the necessity of their passing through +the other apartments. Inside this _salon_ is a _chambre a coucher_, +that looks as if intended for some youthful queen, so beautiful are its +decorations. A recess, the frieze of which rests on two white columns +with silvered capitals, is meant to receive a bed. + +One side of the room is panelled with mirrors, divided by pilasters +with silver capitals; and on the opposite side, on which is the +chimney, similar panels occupy the same space. The colour of the +apartment is a light blue, with silver mouldings to all the panels, and +delicate arabesques of silver. The chimney-piece and dogs for the wood +have silvered ornaments to correspond. + +Inside this chamber is the dressing-room, which is of an octagon shape, +and panelled likewise with mirrors, in front of each of which are white +marble slabs to correspond with that of the chimney-piece. The +mouldings and architectural decorations are silvered, and arabesques of +flowers are introduced. + +This room opens into a _salle de bain_ of an elliptical form; the bath, +of white marble, is sunk in the pavement, which is tessellated. From +the ceiling immediately over the bath hangs an alabaster lamp, held by +the beak of a dove; the rest of the ceiling being painted with Cupids +throwing flowers. The room is panelled with alternate mirrors and +groups of allegorical subjects finely executed; and is lighted by one +window, composed of a single plate of glass opening into a little spot +of garden secluded from the rest. A small library completes the suite I +have described, all the apartments of which are on the ground floor. +There are several other rooms in a wing in the court-yard, and the +whole are in perfect order. + +I remembered to-day, when standing in the principal drawing-room, the +tragic scene narrated to me by Sir Robert Wilson as having taken place +there, when he had an interview with the Princesse de la Moskowa, after +the condemnation of her brave husband. + +He told me, years ago, how the splendour of the decorations of the +_salon_--decorations meant to commemorate the military glory of the +Marechal Ney--added to the tragic effect of the scene in which that +noble-minded woman, overwhelmed with horror and grief, turned away with +a shudder from objects that so forcibly reminded her of the brilliant +past, and so fearfully contrasted with the terrible present. + +He described to me the silence, broken only by the sobs that heaved her +agonised bosom; the figures of the few trusted friends permitted to +enter the presence of the distracted wife, moving about with noiseless +steps, as if fearful of disturbing the sacredness of that grief to +offer consolation for which they felt their tongues could form no +words, so deeply did their hearts sympathise with it. + +He told me that the images of these friends in the vast mirrors looked +ghostly in the dim twilight of closed blinds, the very light of day +having become insupportable to the broken-hearted wife, so soon to be +severed for ever, and by a violent death, from the husband she adored. +Ah, if these walls could speak, what agony would they reveal! and if +mirrors could retain the shadows replete with despair they once +reflected, who dare look on them? + +I thought of all this to-day, until the tears came into my eyes, and I +almost determined not to hire the house, so powerfully did the +recollection of the past affect me: but I remembered that such is the +fate of mankind; that there are no houses in which scenes of misery +have not taken place, and in which breaking hearts have not been ready +to prompt the exclamation "There is no sorrow like mine." + +How is the agony of such moments increased by the recollection that in +the same chamber where such bitter grief now reigns, joy and pleasure +once dwelt, and that those who shared it can bless us no more! How like +a cruel mockery, then, appear the splendour and beauty of all that +meets the eye, unchanged as when it was in unison with our feelings, +but which now jars so fearfully with them! + +I wonder not that the bereaved wife fled from this house, where every +object reminded her of a husband so fondly loved, so fearfully lost, to +mourn in some more humble abode over the fate of _him_ who could no +more resist the magical influence of the presence of that glorious +chief, who had so often led him to victory, than the war-horse can +resist being animated by the sound of that trumpet which has often +excited the proud animal into ardour. + +Peace be to thy manes, gallant Ney; and if thy spirit be permitted to +look down on this earth, it will be soothed by the knowledge that the +wife of thy bosom has remained faithful to thy memory; and that thy +sons, worthy of their sire--brave, noble, and generous-hearted--are +devoted to their country, for which thou hadst so often fought and +bled! + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + +To my surprise and pleasure, I find that a usage exists at Paris which +I have nowhere else met with, namely, that of letting out rich and fine +furniture by the quarter, half, or whole year, in any quantity required +for even the largest establishment, and on the shortest notice. + +I feared that we should be compelled to buy furniture, or else to put +up with an inferior sort, little imagining that the most costly can be +procured on hire, and even a large mansion made ready for the reception +of a family in forty-eight hours. This is really like Aladdin's lamp, +and is a usage that merits being adopted in all capitals. + +We have made an arrangement, that if we decide on remaining in Paris +more than a year, and wish to purchase the furniture, the sum agreed to +be paid for the year's hire is to be allowed in the purchase-money, +which is to be named when the inventory is made out. + +We saw the house for the first time yesterday; engaged it to-day for a +year; to-morrow, the upholsterer will commence placing the furniture in +it; and to-morrow night we are to sleep in it. This is surely being +very expeditious, and saves a world of trouble as well as of wailing. + +Spent last evening at Madame Craufurd's. Met there the Prince and +Princesse Castelcicala, with their daughter, who is a very handsome +woman. The Prince was a long time Ambassador from Naples at the Court +of St. James, and he now fills the same station at that of France. + +The Princesse is sister to our friend Prince Ischetella at Naples, and, +like all her country-women, appears sensible and unaffected. She and +Mademoiselle Dorotea speak English perfectly well, and profess a great +liking to England and its inhabitants. The Dowager Lady Hawarden, the +Marquise de Brehan, the Baroness d'Etlingen, Madame d'Ocaris, Lady +Barbara Craufurd, and Lady Combermere, composed the rest of the female +portion of the party. + +Lady Hawarden has been very pretty: what a melancholy phrase is this +same _has been_! The Marquise de Brehan is still a very fine woman; +Lady Combermere is very agreeable, and sings with great expression; and +the rest of the ladies, always excepting Lady Barbara Craufurd, who is +very pretty, were very much like most other ladies of a certain time of +life--addicted to silks and blondes, and well aware of their relative +prices. + +Madame Craufurd is very amusing. With all the _naivete_ of a child, she +possesses a quick perception of character and a freshness of feeling +rarely found in a person of her advanced age, and her observations are +full of originality. + +The tone of society at Paris is very agreeable. Literature, the fine +arts, and the general occurrences of the day, furnish the topics for +conversation, from which ill-natured remarks are exploded. A +ceremoniousness of manner, reminding one of _la Vieille Cour_, and +probably rendered _a la mode_ by the restoration of the Bourbons, +prevails; as well as a strict observance of deferential respect from +the men towards the women, while these last seem to assume that +superiority accorded to them in manner, if not entertained in fact, by +the sterner sex. + +The attention paid by young men to old women in Parisian society is +very edifying, and any breach of it would be esteemed nothing short of +a crime. This attention is net evinced by any flattery, except the most +delicate--a profound silence when these belles of other days recount +anecdotes of their own times, or comment on the occurrences of ours, or +by an alacrity to perform the little services of picking up a fallen +_mouchoir de poche, bouquet_, or fan, placing a shawl, or handing to a +carriage. + +If flirtations exist at Paris, they certainly are not exhibited in +public; and those between whom they are supposed to be established +observe a ceremonious decorum towards each other, well calculated to +throw discredit on the supposition. This appearance of reserve may be +termed hypocrisy; nevertheless, even the semblance of propriety is +advantageous to the interests of society; and the entire freedom from +those marked attentions, engrossing conversations, and from that +familiarity of manner often permitted in England, without even a +thought of evil on the part of the women who permit these +indiscretions, leaves to Parisian circles an air of greater dignity and +decorum, although I am not disposed to admit that the persons who +compose them really possess more dignity or decorum than my +compatriots. + +Count Charles de Mornay was presented to me to-day. Having heard of him +only as-- + + "The glass of fashion and the mould of form, + The observed of all observers," + +I was agreeably surprised to find him one of the most witty, +well-informed, and agreeable young men I have ever seen. Gay without +levity, well-read without pedantry, and good-looking without vanity. Of +how few young men of fashion could this be said! But I am persuaded +that Count Charles de Mornay is made to be something better than a mere +man of fashion. + +Spent all the morning in the Hotel Ney, superintending the placing of +the furniture. There is nothing so like the magicians we read of as +Parisian upholsterers; for no sooner have they entered a house, than, +as if touched by the hand of the enchanter, it assumes a totally +different aspect. I could hardly believe my eyes when I entered our new +dwelling, to-day. + +Already were the carpets--and such carpets, too--laid down on the +_salons_; the curtains were hung; _consoles_, sofas, tables, and chairs +placed, and lustres suspended. In short, the rooms looked perfectly +habitable. + +The principal drawing-room has a carpet of dark crimson with a +gold-coloured border, on which is a wreath of flowers that looks as if +newly culled from the garden, so rich, varied, and bright are their +hues. The curtains are of crimson satin, with embossed borders of +gold-colour; and the sofas, _bergeres, fauteuils_, and chairs, richly +carved and gilt, are covered with satin to correspond with the +curtains. + +Gilt _consoles_, and _chiffonnieres_, with white marble tops, are +placed wherever they could be disposed; and, on the chimney pieces, are +fine _pendules_. + +The next drawing-room, which I have appropriated as my sitting-room, is +furnished with blue satin, with rich white flowers. It has a carpet of +a chocolate-coloured ground with a blue border, round which is a wreath +of bright flowers, and carved and gilt sofas, _bergeres_, and +_fauteuils_, covered with blue satin like the curtains. + +The recess we have lined with fluted blue silk, with a large mirror +placed in the centre of it, and five beautiful buhl cabinets around, on +which I intend to dispose all my treasures of old _Sevre_ china, and +ruby glass. + +I was told by the upholsterer, that he had pledged himself to _milord_ +that _miladi_ was not to see her _chambre a coucher_, or dressing-room, +until they were furnished. This I well knew was some scheme laid by +Lord B. to surprise me, for he delights in such plans. + +He will not tell me what is doing in the rooms, and refuses all my +entreaties to enter them, but shakes his head, and says he _thinks_ I +will be pleased when I see them; and so I think, too, for the only +complaint I ever have to make of his taste is its too great +splendour--a proof of which he gave me when I went to Mountjoy Forest +on my marriage, and found my private sitting-room hung with crimson +Genoa silk velvet, trimmed with gold bullion fringe, and all the +furniture of equal richness--a richness that was only suited to a state +room in a palace. + +We feel like children with a new plaything, in our beautiful house; but +how, after it, shall we ever be able to reconcile ourselves to the +comparatively dingy rooms in St. James's Square, which no furniture or +decoration could render any thing like the Hotel Ney? + +The Duc and Duchesse de Guiche leave Paris, to my great regret, in a +few days, and will be absent six weeks. He is to command the encampment +at Luneville, and she is to do the honours--giving dinners, balls, +concerts, and soirees, to the ladies who accompany their lords to "the +tented field," and to the numerous visitors who resort to see it. They +have invited us to go to them, but we cannot accept their kindness. +They are + + "On hospitable thoughts intent," + +and will, I doubt not, conciliate the esteem of all with whom they come +in contact. + +He is so well bred, that the men pardon his superiority both of person +and manner; and she is so warm-hearted and amiable, that the women, +with a few exceptions, forgive her rare beauty. How we shall miss them, +and the dear children, too! + +Drove in the Bois de Boulogne yesterday, with the Duchesse de Guiche: +met my old acquaintance, Lord Yarmouth, who is as amusing and original +as ever. + +He has great natural talent and knowledge of the world, but uses both +to little purpose, save to laugh at its slaves. He might be any thing +he chose, but he is too indolent for exertion, and seems to think _le +jeu ne vaut pas la chandelle_. He is one of the many clever people +spoilt by being born to a great fortune and high rank, advantages which +exclude the necessity of exercising the talents he possesses. + +It is, however, no trifling merit, that born to immense wealth and high +station, he should he wholly free from arrogance, or ostentation. + +At length, the secret is out, the doors of my _chambre a coucher_ and +dressing-room are opened, and I am delighted with both. The whole +fitting up is in exquisite taste, and, as usual, when my most gallant +of all gallant husbands that it ever fell to the happy lot of woman to +possess, interferes, no expense has been spared. + +The bed, which is silvered, instead of gilt, rests on the backs of two +large silver swans, so exquisitely sculptured that every feather is in +alto-relievo, and looks nearly as fleecy as those of the living bird. +The recess in which it is placed is lined with white fluted silk, +bordered with blue embossed lace; and from the columns that support the +frieze of the recess, pale blue silk curtains, lined with white, are +hung, which, when drawn, conceal the recess altogether. + +The window curtain is of pale blue silk, with embroidered muslin +curtains, trimmed with lace inside them, and have borders of blue and +white lace to match those of the recess. + +A silvered sofa has been made to fit the side of the room opposite the +fire-place, near to which stands a most inviting _bergere_. An +_ecritoire_ occupies one panel, a bookstand the other, and a rich +coffer for jewels forms a pendant to a similar one for lace, or India +shawls. + +A carpel of uncut pile, of a pale blue, a silver lamp, and a Psyche +glass, the ornaments silvered to correspond with the decorations of the +chamber, complete the furniture. The hangings of the dressing-room are +of blue silk, covered with lace, and trimmed with rich frills of the +same material, as are also the dressing-stools and _chaise longue_, and +the carpet and lamp are similar to those of the bed-room. + +A toilette table stands before the window, and small _jardinieres_ are +placed in front of each panel of looking-glass, but so low as not to +impede a full view of the person dressing in this beautiful little +sanctuary. + +The _salle de bain_ is draped with white muslin trimmed with lace, and +the sofa and _bergere_ are covered with the same. The bath is of white +marble, inserted in the floor, with which its surface is level. On the +ceiling over it, is a painting of Flora scattering flowers with one +hand while from the other is suspended an alabaster lamp, in the form +of a lotos. + +A more tasteful or elegant suite of apartments cannot be imagined; and +all this perfection of furniture has been completed in three days! Lord +B. has all the merit of the taste, and the upholsterer that of the +rapidity and excellence of the execution. + +The effect of the whole suite is chastely beautiful; and a queen could +desire nothing better for her own private apartments. Few queens, most +probably, ever had such tasteful ones. + +Our kind friend, Charles Mills, has arrived from Rome,--amiable and +agreeable as ever. He dined with us yesterday, and we talked over the +pleasant days spent in the Vigna Palatina, his beautiful villa. + +Breakfasted to-day in the Rue d'Anjou, a take-leave repast given to the +Duc and Duchesse de Guiche by Madame Craufurd. Lady Barbara and Colonel +Craufurd were of the party, which was the only _triste_ one I have seen +in that house. The Duc de Gramont was there, and joined in the regret +we all felt at seeing our dear friends drive away. + +It was touching to behold Madame Craufurd, kissing again and again her +grandchildren and great-grandchildren, the tears streaming down her +cheeks, and the venerable Duc de Gramont, scarcely less moved, +embracing his son and daughter-in-law, and exhorting the latter to take +care of her health, while the dear little Ida, his granddaughter, not +yet two years old, patted his cheeks, and smiled in his face. + +It is truly delightful to witness the warm affection that subsists +between relatives in France, and the dutiful and respectful attention +paid by children to their parents. In no instance have I seen this more +strongly exemplified than in the Duc and Duchesse de Guiche, whose +unceasing tenderness towards the good Duc de Gramont not only makes his +happiness, but is gratifying to all who behold it, as is also their +conduct to Madame Craufurd. + +I wish the encampment was over, and those dear friends back again. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + +Took possession of our new house to-day, and are delighted with it. Its +repose and quiet are very agreeable, after the noise and bustle of the +Rue de Rivoli. Spent several hours in superintending the arrangement of +my books, china, _bijouterie_, and flowers, and the rooms look as +habitable as if we had lived in them for weeks. How fortunate we are to +have found so charming an abode! + +A chasm here occurs in my journal, occasioned by the arrival of some +dear relatives from England, with whom I was too much occupied to have +time to journalise. What changes five years effect in young people! The +dear girls I left children are now grown into women, but are as artless +and affectionate as in childhood. I could hardly believe my eyes when I +saw them, yet I soon traced the same dear countenances, and marvelled +that though changed from the round, dimpled ones of infancy, to the +more delicate oval of maidenly beauty, the expression of gaiety and +innocence of their faces is still the same. + +A week has passed rapidly by, and now that they have returned to +England, their visit appears like a dream. I wish it had been longer, +for I have seen only enough of them to wish to see a great deal more. + +The good Mrs. W. and her lively, clever, and her pretty daughter, Mrs. +R., dined with us yesterday. They are _en route_ for England, but give +many a sigh to dear Italy. It was pleasant to talk over the happy days +passed there, which we did with that tender regret with which the past +is always referred to by those who have sensibility, and they possess +no ordinary portion of this lovable quality. Les Dames Bellegarde also +dined with us, and they English friends took a mutual fancy to each +other. I like the Bellegardes exceedingly. + +Our old friend, Lord Lilford, is at Paris, and is as amiable and +kind-hearted as ever. He dined with us yesterday, and we talked over +the pleasant days we spent at Florence. Well-educated, and addicted to +neither of the prevalent follies of the day, racing nor gaming, he only +requires a little ambition to prompt him to exertion, in order to +become a useful, as well as an agreeable member of the community, but +with a good fortune and rank, he requires an incentive to action. + +Met last evening at Madame Craufurd's the Marquis and Marquise Zamperi +of Bologna. She is pretty and agreeable, and he is original and +amusing. They were very civil, and expressed regret at not having been +at Bologna when we were there. + +Had a visit from Count Alexandre de Laborde to-day. His conversation is +lively and entertaining. Full of general information and good sense, he +is no niggard in imparting the results of both to those with whom he +comes in contact, and talks fluently, if not always faultlessly, in +Italian and English. + +The Marquis de Mornay and his brother Count Charles de Mornay dined +here yesterday. How many associations of the olden time are recalled by +this ancient and noble name, Mornay du Plessis! + +The Marquis is agreeable, sensible, well-informed, and well-bred. +Though justly proud of his high descent, the consciousness of it is +never rendered visible by any symptom of that arrogance too often met +with in those who have less cause for pride, and can only be traced by +a natural dignity and bearing, worthy a descendant of the noble Sully. + +Count Charles de Mornay is a very remarkable young man. With a +brilliant wit, the sallies of which can "set the table in a roar;" it +is never used at the expense of others, and, when he chooses to be +grave, the quickness and justice of his perception, and the fine tact +and good sense which mark his reflections, betray a mind of no common +order, and give the promise of future distinction. + +Nothing can be more agreeable than the mode in which I pass my time +here. I read from nine until twelve: order the household arrangements, +and inspect the _menu_ at twelve: write letters or journalise from one +until four; drive out till six or half-past; return home, dress, dine, +pay visits, or receive them at home, and get to bed at one o'clock. + +How much preferable is the French system of evening visits, to the +English custom of morning ones, which cut up time so abominably! Few +who have lived much abroad could submit patiently to have their +mornings broken in upon, when evening, which is the most suitable time +for relaxation, can be enlivened by the visits that are irksome at +other hours. + +Paris is now nearly as empty as London is in September; all the _elite_ +of French fashionable society having taken their departure for their +country houses, or for the different baths they frequent. I, who like +not crowds, prefer Paris at this season to any other, and shall be +rather sorry than glad when it fills again. + +Madame Craufurd, Lady Barbara and Colonel Craufurd, the Ducs de +Gramont, Dalberg, and Mouchy, dined with us yesterday. We had music in +the evening, The Duc Dalberg is agreeable and well-bred, and his manner +has that suavity, mingled with reserve, said to be peculiar to those +who have lived much at courts, and filled diplomatic situations. + +The Duc was Minister Plenipotentiary from Baden at Paris, when Napoleon +was First Consul, and escaped not censure on the occasion of the +seizure of the unfortunate Duc d'Enghien; of the intention of which it +was thought he ought to have apprised his court, and so have prevented +an event which has entailed just blame on all concerned in it, as well +as on some who were innocent. + +There is nothing in the character of the Duc Dalberg to warrant a +belief of his being capable of lending himself to aught that was +disloyal, for he is an excellent man in all the relations of life, and +is esteemed and respected by as large a circle of friends as most +persons who have filled high situations can boast of. + +The Duc de Mouchy is a very amiable as well as high-bred man; he has +been in England, and speaks English with fluency. + +Letters from the camp of Luneville, received from our dear friends +to-day, give a very animated description of their doings there. The Duc +de Mouchy told me yesterday that they were winning golden opinions from +all with whom they came in contact there, by their urbanity and +hospitality. He said that people were not prepared to find the +handsomest and most fashionable woman at Paris, "the observed of all +observers," and the brightest ornament of the French court, doing the +honours to the wives of the officers of the camp with an amiability +that has captivated them all. The good Duc de Gramont was delighted at +hearing this account, for never was there a more affectionate father. + +Went with a party yesterday to Montmorency. Madame Craufurd, the +Comtesse de Gand, the Baronne d'Ellingen, Comte F. de Belmont, and our +own circle, formed the party. It was gratifying to witness how much +dear Madame Craufurd enjoyed the excursion; she even rode on a donkey +through the woods, and the youngest person of the party did not enter +into the amusement with more spirit and gaiety. Montmorency is a +charming place, but not so the road to it, which, being paved, is very +tiresome. + +We visited the hermitage where Rousseau wrote so many of his works, but +in which this strange and unhappy man found not that peace so long +sought by him in vain, and to which his own wayward temper and +suspicious nature offered an insurmountable obstacle. + +As I sat in this humble abode, and looked around on the objects once +familiar to his eyes, I could not resist the sentiment of pity that +filled my breast, at the recollection that even in this tranquil +asylum, provided by friendship [2], and removed from the turmoil of the +busy world, so repugnant to his taste, the jealousies, the +heart-burnings, and the suspicions, that empoisoned his existence +followed him, rendering his life not only a source of misery to +himself, but of pain to others; for no one ever conferred kindness on +him without becoming the object of his suspicion, if not of his +aversion. + +The life of Rousseau is one of the most humiliating episodes in the +whole history of literary men, and the most calculated to bring genius +into disrepute: yet the misery he endured more than avenged the wrongs +he inflicted; and, while admiring the productions of a genius, of which +even his enemies could not deny him the possession, we are more than +ever compelled to avow how unavailing is this glorious gift to confer +happiness on its owner, or to secure him respect or esteem, if +unaccompanied by goodness. + +Who can reflect on the life of this man without a sense of the danger +to which Genius exposes its children, and a pity for their sufferings, +though too often self-inflicted? Alas! the sensibility which is one of +the most invariable characteristics of Genius, and by which its most +glorious efforts are achieved, if excited into unhealthy action by +over-exercise, not unseldom renders its possessor unreasonable and +wretched, while his works are benefiting or delighting others, and +while the very persons who most highly appreciate them are often the +least disposed to pardon the errors of their author. + +As the dancer, by the constant practice of her art, soon loses that +roundness of _contour_ which is one of the most beautiful peculiarities +of her sex, the muscles of the legs becoming unnaturally developed at +the expense of the rest of the figure, so does the man of genius, by +the undue exercise of this gift, acquire an irritability that soon +impairs the temper, and renders his excess of sensibility a torment to +himself and to others. + +The solitude necessary to the exercise of Genius is another fruitful +source of evil to its children. Abstracted from the world, they are apt +to form a false estimate of themselves and of it, and to entertain +exaggerated expectations from it. Their morbid feelings are little able +to support the disappointment certain to ensue, and they either rush +into a reprisal of imaginary wrongs, by satire on others, or inflict +torture on themselves by the belief, often erroneous, of the injuries +they have sustained. + +I remembered in this abode a passage in one of the best letters ever +written by Rousseau, and addressed to Voltaire, on the subject of his +poem, entitled _Sur la Loi Naturelle, et sur le Desastre de Lisbonne_; +in which, referring to an assertion of Voltaire's that few persons +would wish to live over again on the condition of enduring the same +trials, and which Rousseau combats by urging that it is only the rich, +fatigued by their pleasures, or literary men, of whom he writes--"_Des +gens de lettres, de tous les ordres d'hommes le plus sedentaire, le +plus malsain, le plus reflechissant, et, par consequent, le plus +malheureux_," who would decline to live over again, had they the power. + +This description of men of letters, written by one of themselves, is a +melancholy, but, alas! a true one, and should console the enviers of +genius for the want of a gift that but too often entails such misery on +its possessors. + +The church of Montmorency is a good specimen of Gothic architecture, +and greatly embellishes the little town, which is built on the side of +a hill, and commands a delicious view of the chestnut forest and +valley, clothed with pretty villas, that render it so much and so +justly admired. + +It was amusing to listen to the diversity of opinions entertained by +our party relative to Rousseau, as we wandered through the scenes which +he so often frequented; each individual censuring or defending him, +according to the bias of his or her disposition. On one point all +agreed; which was, that, if judged by his actions, little could be said +in mitigation of the conduct of him who, while writing sentiments +fraught with passion and tenderness, could consign his offspring to a +foundling hospital! + +Having visited every object worthy of attention at Montmorency, we +proceeded to Enghien, to examine the baths established there. The +building is of vast extent, containing no less than forty chambers, +comfortably furnished for the accommodation of bathers; and a good +_restaurateur_ furnishes the repasts. The apartments command a +beautiful view, and the park of St.-Gratien offers a delightful +promenade to the visitors of Enghien. + +Our route back to Paris was rendered very agreeable by the lively and +clever conversation of the Comtesse de Gand. I have rarely met with a +more amusing person. + +With a most retentive memory, she possesses the tact that does not +always accompany this precious gift--that of only repeating what is +perfectly _a propos_ and interesting, with a fund of anecdotes that +might form an inexhaustible capital for a professional diner-out to set +up with; an ill-natured one never escapes her lips, and yet--hear it +all ye who believe, or act as if ye believe, that malice and wit are +inseparable allies!--it would be difficult to find a more entertaining +and lively companion. + +Our old friend, Col. E. Lygon, came to see us to-day, and is as amiable +as ever. He is a specimen of a military man of which England may well +be proud. + +The Ducs de Talleyrand and Dino, the Marquis de Mornay, the Marquis de +Dreux-Breze, and Count Charles de Mornay, dined here yesterday. The +Marquis de Breze is a clever man, and his conversation is highly +interesting. Well-informed and sensible, he has directed much of his +attention to politics without being, as is too often the case with +politicians, wholly engrossed by them. He appears to me to be a man +likely to distinguish himself in public life. + +There could not be found two individuals more dissimilar, or more +formed for furnishing specimens of the noblemen of _la Vieille Cour_ +and the present time, than the Duc de Talleyrand and the Marquis de +Dreux-Breze. The Duc, well-dressed and well-bred, but offering in his +toilette and in his manners irrefragable evidence that both have been +studied, and his conversation bearing that high polish and urbanity +which, if not always characteristics of talent, conceal the absence of +it, represents _l'ancien regime_, when _les grands seigneurs_ were more +desirous to serve _les belles dames_ than their country, and more +anxious to be distinguished in the _salons_ of the Faubourg St.-Germain +than in the _Chambre de Parlement_. + +The Marquis de Dreux-Breze, well-dressed and well-bred, too, appears +not to have studied either his toilette or his manners; and, though by +no means deficient in polite attention to women, seems to believe that +there are higher and more praiseworthy pursuits than that of thinking +only how to please them, and bestows more thought on the _Chambre des +Pairs_ than on the _salons a la mode_. + +One is a passive and ornamental member of society, the other a useful +and active politician, I have remarked that the Frenchmen of high birth +of the present time all seem disposed to take pains in fitting +themselves for the duties of their station. They read much and with +profit, travel much more than formerly, and are free from the narrow +prejudices against other countries, which, while they prove not a man's +attachment to his own, offer one of the most insurmountable of all +barriers to that good understanding so necessary to be maintained +between nations. + +Dined yesterday at St.-Cloud with the Baron and Baroness de Ruysch; a +very agreeable and intellectual pair, who have made a little paradise +around them in the shape of an English pleasure ground, blooming with +rare shrubs and flowers. + +Our old friend, Mr. Douglas Kinnaird--"the honourable Dug," as poor +Lord Byron used to call him--paid me a visit to-day. I had not seen him +for seven years, and these same years have left their traces on his +brow. He is in delicate health, and is only come over to Paris for a +very few days. + +He has lived in the same scenes and in the same routine that we left +him, wholly engrossed by them, while + + "I've taught me other tongues, and in strange eyes + Have made me not a stranger;" + +and wonder how people can be content to dwell whole years in so +circumscribed, however useful, a circle. + +Those who live much in London seem to me to have tasted the lotus +which, according to the fable of old, induced forgetfulness of the +past, so wholly are they engrossed by the present, and by the vortex in +which they find themselves plunged. + +Much as I like England, and few love it more dearly, I should not like +to pass all the rest of my life in it. _All, all_: it is thus we ever +count on futurity, reckoning as if our lives were certain of being +prolonged, when we know not that the _all_ on which we so boldly +calculate may not be terminated in a day, nay, even in an hour. Who is +there that can boast an English birth, that would not wish to die at +home and rest in an English grave? + +Sir Francis Burdett has arrived, and means to stay some time here. He +called on us yesterday with Colonel Leicester Stanhope, and is as +agreeable and good-natured as ever. He is much _feted_ at Paris, and +receives great attention from the Duc d'Orleans, who has offered him +his boxes at the theatres, and shews him all manner of civilities. + +Colonel Leicester Stanhope gave me some interesting details of poor +Byron's last days in Greece, and seems to have duly appreciated his +many fine qualities, in spite of the errors that shrouded but could not +eclipse them. The fine temper and good breeding that seem to be +characteristic of the Stanhope family, have not degenerated in this +branch of it; and his manner, as well as his voice and accent, remind +me very forcibly of my dear old friend his father, who is one of the +most amiable, as well as agreeable men I ever knew, and who I look +forward with pleasure to meeting on my return home. + +The Marquise Palavicini from Genoa, her daughter-in-law the Princesse +Doria, sir Francis Burdett, and Colonel Leicester Stanhope, dined with +us yesterday. The marquise Palavicini is a very sensible and agreeable +woman, and the Princesse Doria is very pretty and amiable. Like most of +her countrywomen, this young and attractive person is wholly free from +that affectation which deteriorates from so many of the women of other +countries; and the simplicity of her manner, which is as remote from +_gaucherie_ as it is from affectation, invests her with a peculiar +charm. + +We talked over Genoa, where we have spent so many pleasant days, and +the beautiful gardens of the villa Palavicini, the possession of which +has always tempted me to envy its owner. I have never passed an hour in +the society of Italian women without feeling the peculiar charm of +their manner, and wishing that its ease and simplicity were more +generally adopted. + +The absence of any effort to shine, the gentleness without insipidity, +the liveliness without levity, and above all, the perfect good nature +that precludes aught that could be disagreeable to others, form the +distinguishing characteristics of the manner of Italian women from the +princess to the peasant, and are alike practised by both towards all +with whom they converse. + +Lord Darnley and Lord Charlemont dined here yesterday. It is pleasant +to see old and familiar faces again, even though the traces of Time on +their brows recall to mind the marks which the ruthless tyrant must +have inflicted on our own. We all declared that we saw no change in +each other, but the looks of surprise and disappointment exchanged at +meeting contradicted the assertion. + +Mr. Charles Young, the tragedian, dined here to-day. We were very glad +to see him again, for he is a very estimable as well as agreeable +member of society, and reflects honour on his profession. + +Lord Lansdowne came here with Count Flahault this evening. It is now +seven years since I last saw him, but time has dealt kindly with him +during that period, as it ever does to those who possess equanimity of +mind and health of body. Lord Lansdowne has always appeared to me to be +peculiarly formed for a statesman. + +With a fortune that exempts him from incurring even the suspicion of +mercenary motives for holding office, and a rank which precludes that +of entertaining the ambition of seeking a higher, he is free from the +angry passions that more or loss influence the generality of other men. +To an unprejudiced mind, he joins self-respect without arrogance, +self-possession without effrontery, solid and general information, +considerable power of application to business, a calm and gentlemanly +demeanour, and an urbanity of manner which, while it conciliates good +will, never descends to, or encourages, familiarity. + +A lover and liberal patron of the fine arts, he is an encourager of +literature, and partial to the society of literary men; irreproachable +in private life, and respected in public, what is there wanting to +render him faultless? + +I, who used to enjoy a good deal of his society in England, am of +opinion, that the sole thing wanting is the warmth and cordiality of +manner which beget friends and retain partisans, and without which no +minister can count on constant supporters. + +It is a curious circumstance, that the political party to which Lord +Lansdowne is opposed can boast a man among those most likely to hold +the reins of government, to whom all that I have said of Lord Lansdowne +might, with little modification, be applied. I refer to Sir Robert +Peel, whose acquaintance I enjoyed in England; and who is much younger, +and perhaps bolder, than Lord Lansdowne. + +Happy, in my opinion, is the country which possesses such men; though +the friends and admirers of each would probably feel little disposed to +admit any comparison to be instituted between them, and would deride, +if not assail, any one for making it. + +Sir Francis Burdell dined here yesterday, and we had the Count +Alexandra de Laborde and Count Charles de Mornay, to meet him. Several +people came in the evening. I have lent a pile of books to Sir F. B., +who continues to read as much as formerly, and forgets nothing that he +peruses. His information is, consequently, very extensive, and renders +his conversation very interesting. His thirst for knowledge is +insatiable, and leads him to every scientific resort where it may be +gratified. + +Spent last evening at Madame Craufurd's. Met there, the Princesse +Castelcicala and her daughter, Lady Drummond, Mr. T. Steuart, and +various others--among them, a daughter of the Marquess of Ailesbury, +who has married a French nobleman, and resides in Paris. + +Lady Drummond talked to me a good deal of Sir William, and evinced much +respect for his memory. She is proud, and she may well be so, of having +been the wife of such a man; though there was but little sympathy +between their tastes and pursuits, and his death can produce so little +change in her habits of life, that she can scarcely be said to miss +him. + +He passed his days and the greater portion of his nights in reading or +writing, living in a suite of rooms literally filled with books; the +tables, chairs, sofas, and even the floors, being encumbered with them, +going out only for a short time in a carriage to get a little air, or +occasionally to dine out. + +He seldom saw Lady Drummond, except at dinner, surrounded by a large +party. She passed, as she still passes her time, in the duties of an +elaborate toilette, paying or receiving visits, giving or going to +_fetes_, and playing with her lap-dog. A strange wife for one of the +most intellectual men of his day! And yet this total dissimilarity +produced no discord between them; for she was proud of his +acquirements, and he was indulgent to her less _spirituelle_ tastes. + +Lady Drummond does much good at Naples; for, while the _beau monde_ of +that gay capital are entertained in a style of profuse hospitality at +her house, the poor find her charity dispensed with a liberal hand in +all their exigencies; so that her vast wealth is a source of comfort to +others as well as to herself. + +I have been reading _Vivian Grey_--a very wild, but very clever +book, full of genius in its unpruned luxuriance; the writer revels +in all the riches of a brilliant imagination, and expends them +prodigally--dazzling, at one moment, by his passionate eloquence, and, +at another, by his touching pathos. + +A pleasant dinner-party, yesterday. The Duc de Mouchy, the Marquis de +Mornay, Count Flahault, the Count Maussion, Mons. de Montrond, and Mr. +Standish, were the guests. Count Flahault is so very agreeable and +gentlemanly a man, that no one can call in question the taste of the +Baroness Keith in selecting him for her husband. + +Mr. Standish has married a French lady, accomplished, clever, and +pretty. Intermarriages between French and English are now not +unfrequent; and it is pleasant to observe the French politeness and +_bon ton_ ingrafted on English sincerity and good sense. Of this, Mr. +Standish offers a very good example; for, while he has acquired all the +Parisian ruse of manner, he has retained all the English good qualities +for which he has always been esteemed. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + +Charles Kemble dined here yesterday, and in the evening read to us his +daughter Fanny's Tragedy of _Francis the First_--a very wonderful +production for so young a girl. There is considerable vigour in many +parts of this work, and several passages in it reminded me of the old +dramatists. The character of "Louisa of Savoy" is forcibly +drawn--wonderfully so, indeed, when considered as the production of so +youthful a person. The constant association with minds deeply imbued +with a love of the old writers, must have greatly influenced the taste +of Miss Kemble. + +_Francis the First_ bears irrefragable evidence that her reading has +lain much among the old poets, and that Shakspeare is one of her most +favourite ones. "Triboulet," the king's jester, may be instanced as an +example of this; and "Margaret of Valois" furnishes another. "Francoise +de Foix" is a more original conception; timid, yet fond, sacrificing +her honour to save her brother's life, but rendered wretched by +remorse; and not able to endure the presence of her affianced husband, +who, believing her pure and sinless as he left her, appeals to her, +when "Gonzales" reveals her shame. + +This same "Gonzales," urged on by vengeance, and ready to do +aught--nay, more than "may become a man,"--to seek its gratification, +is a boldly drawn character. + +The introduction of the poet "Clement Marot" is no less happy than +judicious; and Miss Kemble gives him a very beautiful speech, addressed +to his master "Francis the First," in which the charm that reigns about +the presence of a pure woman is so eloquently described, as to have +reminded me of the exquisite passage in _Comus_, although there is not +any plagiary in Miss Kemble's speech. + +A poetess herself, she has rendered justice to the character of Clement +Marot, whose honest indignation at being employed to bear a letter from +the amorous "Francis" to the sister of "Lautrec," she has very +gracefully painted. + +The "Constable Bourbon" is well drawn, and has some fine speeches +assigned to him; and "Gonzales" gives a spirited description of the +difference between encountering death in the battle-field, surrounded +by all the spirit-stirring "pomp and circumstance of glorious war," and +meeting the grisly tyrant on the scaffold, attended by all the +ignominious accessories of a traitor's doom. + +This Tragedy, when given to the public, will establish Miss Kemble's +claims to distinction in the literary world, and add another laurel to +those acquired by her family. + +There are certain passages in the speeches of "Gonzales," that, in my +opinion, require to be revised, lest they should provoke censures from +the fastidious critics of the present time, who are prone to detect +evil of which the authors, whose works they analyse, are quite +unconscious. Innocence sometimes leads young writers to a freedom of +expression from which experienced ones would shrink back in alarm; and +the perusal of the old dramatists gives a knowledge of passions, and of +sins, known only through their medium, but the skilful developement of +which, subjects a female writer, and more particularly a youthful one, +to ungenerous animadversion. It is to be hoped, that the friends of +this gifted girl will so prune the luxuriance of her pen, as to leave +nothing to detract from a work so creditable to her genius. + +Charles Kemble rendered ample justice to his daughter's Tragedy by his +mode of reading it; and we counted not the hours devoted to the task. +How many reminiscences of the olden time were called up by hearing him! + +I remembered those pleasant evenings when he used to read to us in +London, hour after hour, until the timepiece warned us to give over. I +remembered, too, John Kemble--"the great John Kemble," as Lord +Guildford used to call him--twice or thrice reading to us with Sir T. +Lawrence; and the tones of Charles Kemble's voice, and the expression +of his face, forcibly reminded me of our departed friend. + +I have scarcely met with a more high-bred man, or a more agreeable +companion, than Charles Kemble. Indeed, were I called on to name the +professional men I have known most distinguished for good breeding and +manners, I should name our four tragedians,--the two Kembles, Young, +and Macready. + +Sir Francis Burdett dined here yesterday _en famille_, and we passed +two very pleasant hours. He related to us many amusing and interesting +anecdotes connected with his political life. + +Went to the Opera in the evening, whither he accompanied us. I like my +box very much. It is in the centre of the house, is draped with pale +blue silk, and has very comfortable chairs. The Parisians are, I find, +as addicted to staring as the English; for many were the glasses +levelled last night at Sir Francis Burdett who, totally unconscious of +the attention he excited, was wholly engrossed by the "Count Ory," some +of the choruses in which pleased me very much. + +A visit to-day from our excellent and valued friend, Sir A. Barnard, +who has promised to dine with us to-morrow. Paris is now filling very +fast, which I regret, as I dislike crowds and having my time broken in +upon. + +I become more convinced every day I live, that quiet and repose are the +secrets of happiness, for I never feel so near an approach to this +blessing as when in the possession of them. General society is a heavy +tax on time and patience, and one that I feel every year less +inclination to pay, as I witness the bad effect it produces not only on +the habits but on the mind. + +Oh! the weariness of listening for hours to the repetition of past +gaieties, or the anticipation of future ones, to the commonplace +remarks or stupid conversation of persons whose whole thoughts are +engrossed by the frivolous amusements of Paris, which are all and every +thing to them! + +How delicious is it to shut out all this weariness, and with a book, or +a few rationally minded friends, indulge in an interchange of ideas! +But the too frequent indulgence of this sensible mode of existence +exposes one to the sarcasms of the frivolous who are avoided. + +One is deemed a pedant--a terrible charge at Paris!--or a _bas bleu_, +which is still worse, however free the individual may be from any +pretensions to merit such charges. + +Paid a visit to the justly celebrated Mademoiselle Mars yesterday, at +her beautiful hotel in the Rue de la Tour des Dames. I have entertained +a wish ever since my return from Italy, to become acquainted with this +remarkable woman; and Mr. Young was the medium of accomplishing it. + +Mademoiselle Mars is even more attractive off the stage than on; for +her countenance beams with intelligence, and her manners are at once so +animated, yet gentle; so kind, yet dignified; and there is such an +inexpressible charm in the tones of her voice, that no one can approach +without being delighted with her. + +Her conversation is highly interesting, marked by a good sense and good +taste that render her knowledge always available, but never obtrusive. +Her features are regular and delicate; her figure, though inclined to +_embonpoint_, is very graceful, and her smile, like the tones of her +voice, is irresistibly sweet, and reveals teeth of rare beauty. +Mademoiselle Mars, off the stage, owes none of her attractions to the +artful aid of ornament; wearing her own dark hair simply arranged, and +her clear brown complexion free from any artificial tinge. In her air +and manner is the rare and happy mixture of _la grande dame et la femme +aimable_, without the slightest shade of affectation. + +Mademoiselle Mars' hotel is the prettiest imaginable. It stands in a +court yard, wholly shut in from the street; and, though not vast, it +has all the elegance, if not the splendour, of a fine house. Nothing +can evince a purer taste than this dwelling, with its decorations and +furniture. It contains all that elegance and comfort can require, +without any thing meretricious or gaudy, and is a temple worthy of the +goddess to whom it is dedicated. + +It has been well observed, that a just notion of the character of a +person can always be formed by the style of his or her dwelling. Who +can be deceived in the house of a _nouveau riche_? Every piece of +furniture in it vouches, not only for the wealth of its owner, but that +he has not yet got sufficiently habituated to the possession of it, to +be as indifferent to its attributes as are those to whom custom has +rendered splendour no longer a pleasure. + +Every thing in the house of Mademoiselle Mars bespeaks its mistress to +be a woman of highly cultivated mind and of refined habits. + +The boudoir is in the style of Louis XIV, and owes its tasteful +decorations to the pencil of Ciceri. The pictures that ornament it are +by Gerard, and are highly creditable to his reputation. The library +serves also as a picture-gallery; and in it may be seen beautiful +specimens of the talents of the most esteemed French artists, offered +by them as a homage to this celebrated woman. Gerard, Delacroix, +Isabey, Lany, Grevedon, and other distinguished artists, have +contributed to this valuable collection. A fine portrait of Madame +Pasta, and another of Talma, with two exquisite pictures of the mother +of Mademoiselle Mars, not less remarkable for the rare beauty of the +subject than for the merit of the artists, complete it. + +One book-case in the library contains only the presentation copies of +the pieces in which Mademoiselle Mars has performed, magnificently +bound by the authors. + +On a white marble _console_ in this gallery is placed an interesting +memorial of her brilliant theatrical career, presented to her by the +most enthusiastic of its numerous admirers. It consists of a laurel +crown, executed in pure gold; on the leaves of which are engraved on +one side, the name of each piece in which she appeared, and, on the +other, the _role_ which she acted in it. A very fine statue of Moliere +is placed in this apartment. + +Never did two hours glide more rapidly away than those passed in the +society of this fascinating woman, whose presence I left penetrated +with the conviction that no one can know without admiring her; and that +when she retires from the stage, "we shall not look upon her like +again." + +Passed a very agreeable evening, at Madame Craufurd's, Met there la +Duchesse de la Force, and the usual circle of _habitues_. Talking of +theatres, some of _la Vieille Cour_, who happened to be present, +remarked on the distinction always made between the female performers +of the different ones. Those of the Theatre Francais were styled "_Les +Dames de la Comedie Francaise_"; "those of the Theatre Italien," "_Les +Demoiselles du Theatre Italien_;" and the dancers, "_Les Filles de +l'Opera_." This last mode of naming _les danseuses_, though in later +times considered as a reproach, was, originally, meant as an honourable +distinction; the king, on establishing the _Academie Royale de +Musique_, having obtained the privilege that the performers attached to +it should be exempt from excommunication. Hence they were named, "_Les +Filles de l'Opera_," as persons sometimes said "_Les Filles de la +Reine_." + +_A propos_ of the Opera, Madame Grassini, once no less celebrated for +her beauty than for her voice, was of the party last night. She is, and +deservedly, a general favourite in Parisian society, in which her +vivacity, good-nature, and amiability, are duly appreciated. Her lively +sallies and _naive_ remarks are very amusing; and the frankness and +simplicity she has preserved in a profession and position so calculated +to induce the reverse, add to her attractions and give piquancy to her +conversation. + +There are moments in which Madame Grassini's countenance becomes +lighted up with such animation, that it seems to be invested with a +considerable portion of the rare beauty for which she was so +remarkable. + +Her eyes are still glorious, and, like those only of the sunny South, +can flash with intelligence, or melt with tenderness. It is when +conversing on the grand _roles_ which she filled as _prima donna_, that +her face lights up as I have noticed,--as the war-horse, when hearing +the sound of the trumpet, remembers the scene of his past glory. + +When in Italy, some years since, Madame Grassini's carriage was stopped +by brigands, who, having compelled her to descend, ransacked it and +took possession of her splendid theatrical wardrobe, and her +magnificent diamonds. + +She witnessed the robbery with calmness, until she saw the brigands +seize the portrait of the Emperor Napoleon, presented to her by his own +hand, and set round with large brilliants, when she appealed to them +with tears streaming down her cheeks to take the settings and all the +diamonds, but not to deprive her of the portrait of her "dear, dear +Emperor!" When this circumstance was referred to she told me the story, +and her eyes glistened with tears while relating it. + +Went to Orsay yesterday, and passed a very agreeable day there. It was +a fortified chateau, and must have been a very fine place before the +Revolution caused, not only its pillage, but nearly total destruction, +for only one wing of it now remains. + +Built in the reign of Charles VII, it was esteemed one of the best +specimens of the feudal _chateau fort_ of that epoch; and the +subterranean portion of it still attests its former strength and +magnitude. + +It is surrounded by a moat, not of stagnant water, but supplied by the +river Ivette, which flows at the base of the hill on which the chateau +stands. The water is clear and brisk and the chateau looks as if it +stood in a pellucid river. The view from the windows is very extensive, +commanding a rich and well-wooded country. + +The chapel escaped not the ravages of the sacrilegious band, who +committed such havoc on the chateau; for the beautiful altar, and some +very interesting monuments, were barbarously mutilated, and the tomb of +the Princesse de Croy, the mother of General Count d'Orsay, on which a +vast sum had been expended, was nearly razed to the ground. + +If aught was required to increase my horror of revolutions, and of the +baleful consequences to which they lead, the sight of this once +splendid chateau, and, above all, of its half-ruined chapel, in which +even the honoured dead were insulted, would have accomplished it. + +An heiress of one of the most ancient houses in the _Pays-Bas_, the +Princesse de Croy brought a noble dowry to her husband, himself a man +of princely fortune. Young and beautiful, her munificence soon rendered +her an object of almost, adoration to the dependents of her lord; and +when soon after having given birth to a son and heir, the present +General Comte d'Orsay, she was called to another world, her remains +were followed to her untimely grave by a long train of weeping poor, +whose hearts her bounty had often cheered, and whose descendants were +subsequently horror-struck to see the sanctity of her last earthly +resting-place invaded. + +We passed through the hamlet of Palaiseau, on our return to Paris; and +saw in it the steeple where the magpie concealed the silver spoons he +had stolen, and which occasioned the event from which the drama of _La +Pie Voleuse_, known in so many languages, has had its origin. + +The real story ended not so happily as the opera, for the poor girl was +executed--the spoons not having been discovered until after her death. +This tragedy in humble life has attached great interest to the steeple +at Palaiseau, and has drawn many persons to the secluded hamlet in +which it stands. + +The Duc and Duchesse de Quiche returned from Luneville yesterday; and +we spent last evening with them. The good Duke de Gramont was there, +and was in great joy at their return. They all dine with us to-morrow; +and Madame Craufurd comes to meet them. + +Never have I seen such children as the Duc de Quiche's. Uniting to the +most remarkable personal beauty an intelligence and docility as rare as +they are delightful; and never did I witness any thing like the +unceasing care and attention bestowed on their education by their +parents. + +Those who only know the Duc and Duchesse in the gay circles, in which +they are universally esteemed among the brightest ornaments, can form +little idea of them in the privacy of their domestic one--emulating +each other in their devotion to their children, and giving only the +most judicious proofs of their attachment to them. No wonder that the +worthy Duc de Gramont doats on his grandchildren, and never seems so +happy as with his excellent son and daughter-in-law. + +Went to the Vaudeville Theatre last evening, to see the new piece by +Scribe, so much talked of, entitled _Avant_, _Pendant, et Apres_. There +is a fearful _vraisemblance_ in some of the scenes with all that one +has read or pictured to oneself, as daily occurring during the terrible +days of the Revolution; and the tendency of the production is not, in +my opinion, calculated to produce salutary effects. I only wonder it is +permitted to be acted. + +The piece is divided, as the title announces, into three different +epochs. The first represents the frivolity and vices attributed to the +days of _l'ancien regime_, and the _tableau des moeurs_, which is +vividly coloured, leaves no favourable impression in the minds of the +audience of that _noblesse_ whose sufferings subsequently expiated the +errors said to have accelerated, if not to have produced, the +Revolution. + +Nothing is omitted that could cast odium on them, as a preparation for +the Reign of Terror that follows. The anarchy and confusion of the +second epoch--the fear and horror that prevail when the voices and +motions of a sanguinary mob are heard in the streets, and the terrified +inmates of the houses are seen crouching in speechless terror, are +displayed with wonderful truth. + +The lesson is an awful, and I think a dangerous, one, and so seemed to +think many of the upper class among the audience, for I saw some fair +cheeks turn pale, and some furrowed brows look ominous, as the scene +was enacted, while those of the less elevated in rank among the +spectators assumed, or seemed to assume, a certain _fierte_, if not +ferocity, of aspect, at beholding this vivid representation of the +triumph achieved by their order over the _noblesse_. + +It is not wise to exhibit to a people, and above all to so inflammable +a people as the French, what _they_ can effect; and I confess I felt +uneasy when I witnessed the deep interest and satisfaction evinced by +many in the _parterre_ during the representation. + +The _Apres_, the third epoch, is even more calculated to encourage +revolutionary principles, for in it was displayed the elevation to the +highest grades in the army and in the state of those who in the _ancien +regime_ would have remained as the Revolution found them, in the most +obscure stations, but who by that event had brilliant opportunities +afforded for distinguishing themselves. + +Heroic courage, boundless generosity, and devoted patriotism, are +liberally bestowed on the actors who figure in this last portion of the +drama; and, as these qualities are known to have appertained to many of +those who really filled the _roles_ enacted at the period now +represented, the scene had, as might be expected, a powerful effect on +a people so impressible as the French, and so liable to be hurried into +enthusiasm by aught that appeals to their imaginations. + +The applause was deafening; and I venture to say, that those from whom +it proceeded left the theatre with a conviction that a revolution was a +certain means of achieving glory and fortune to those who, with all the +self-imagined qualities to merit both, had not been born to either. + +Every Frenchman in the middle or lower class believes himself capable +of arriving at the highest honours. This belief sometimes half +accomplishes the destiny it imagines; but even when it fails to effect +this, it ever operates in rendering Frenchmen peculiarly liable to rush +into any change or measure likely to lead to even a chance of +distinction. + +As during the performance of _Avant, Pendant et Apres_, my eye glanced +on the faces of some of the emigrant _noblesse_, restored to France by +the entry of the Bourbons, I marked the changes produced on their +countenances by it. Anxiety, mingled with dismay, was visible; for the +scenes of the past were vividly recalled, while a vague dread of the +future was instilled. Yes, the representation of this piece is a +dangerous experiment, and so I fear it will turn out. + +I am sometimes amused, but more frequently irritated, by observing the +_moeurs Parisiennes_, particularly in the shop-keepers. The airs of +self-complacency, amounting almost to impertinence, practised by this +class, cannot fail to surprise persons accustomed to the civility and +assiduity of those in London, who, whether the purchases made in their +shops be large or small, evince an equal politeness to the buyers. + +In Paris, the tradesman assumes the right of dictating to the taste of +his customers; in London, he only administers to it. Enter a Parisian +shop, and ask to be shewn velvet, silk, or riband, to assort with a +pattern you have brought of some particular colour or quality, and the +mercer, having glanced at it somewhat contemptuously, places before you +six or eight pieces of a different tint and texture. + +You tell him that they are not similar to the pattern, and he answers, +"That may be; nevertheless, his goods are of the newest fashion, and +infinitely superior to your model." You say, "You prefer the colour of +your pattern, and must match it." He produces half-a-dozen pieces still +more unlike what you require; and to your renewed assertion that no +colour but the one similar to your pattern will suit you, he assures +you, that his goods are superior to all others, and that what you +require is out of fashion, and a very bad article, and, consequently, +that you had much better abandon your taste and adopt his. This counsel +is given without any attempt at concealing the contempt the giver of it +entertains for your opinion, and the perfect satisfaction he indulges +for his own. + +You once more ask, "If he has got nothing to match the colour you +require?" and he shrugs his shoulders and answers, "_Pourtant_, madame, +what I have shewn you is much superior," "Very possible; but no colour +will suit me but this one," holding up the pattern; "for I want to +replace a breadth of a new dress to which an accident has occurred." + +"_Pourtant_, madame, my colours are precisely the same, but the quality +of the materials is infinitely better!" and with this answer, after +having lost half an hour--if not double that time--you are compelled to +be satisfied, and leave the shop, its owner looking as if he considered +you a person of decidedly bad taste, and very troublesome into the +bargain. + +Similar treatment awaits you in every shop; the owners having, as it +appears to me, decided on shewing you only what _they_ approve, and not +what you seek. The women of high rank in France seldom, if ever, enter +any shop except that of Herbault, who is esteemed the _modiste, par +excellence_, of Paris, and it is to this habit, probably, that the want +of _bienseance_ so visible in Parisian _boutiquiers_, is to be +attributed. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + +An agreeable party dined here yesterday--Lord Stuart de Rothesay, our +Ambassador, the Duc and Duchesse de Guiche, the Duc de Mouchy, Sir +Francis Burdett, and Count Charles de Mornay. Lord Stuart de Rothesay +is very popular at Paris, as is also our Ambassadress; a proof that, in +addition to a vast fund of good-nature, no inconsiderable portion of +tact is conjoined--to please English and French too, which they +certainly do, requires no little degree of the rare talent of +_savoir-vivre_. + +To a profound knowledge of French society and its peculiarities, a +knowledge not easily acquired, Lord and Lady Stuart de Rothesay add the +happy art of adopting all that is agreeable in its usages, without +sacrificing any of the stateliness so essential in the representatives +of our more grave and reflecting nation. + +Among the peculiarities that most strike one in French people, are the +good-breeding with which they listen, without even a smile, to the +almost incomprehensible attempts at speaking French made by many +strangers, and the quickness of apprehension with which they seize +their meaning, and assist them in rendering the sense complete. + +I have seen innumerable proofs of this politeness--a politeness so +little understood, or at least so little practised, among the English, +that mistakes perfectly ludicrous, and which could not have failed to +set my compatriots in a titter, if not in a roar, have not produced the +movement of a single risible muscle, and yet the French are more prone +to gaiety than are the English. + +Mr. D---- and Mr. T---- dined here yesterday. The former, mild, +gentlemanlike, and unostentatious, seems to forget what so many would, +if similarly situated, remember with arrogance, namely, that he is +immensely rich; an obliviousness that, in my opinion, greatly enhances +his other merits. + +Mr. T---- is little changed since I last saw him, and is well-informed, +clover, and agreeable,--but his own too-evident consciousness of +possessing these recommendations prevents other people from according +him due merit for them. + +In society, one who believes himself clever must become a hypocrite, +and so conceal all knowledge of his self-complacency, if he wishes to +avoid being unpopular; for woe be to him who lets the world see he +thinks highly of himself, however his abilities may justify his +self-approval! + +The sight of Mr. T---- recalled his amiable and excellent mother to my +memory. I never esteemed any woman more highly, or enjoyed the society +of any other person more than hers. How many pleasant hours have I +passed with her! I so well remember John Kemble fancying that if I went +through a course of reading Shakspeare with his sister Mrs. T----, I +should make, as he said, a fine actress; and we were to get up private +theatricals at Mountjoy Forest. + +In compliance with the request of Lord Blessington, I studied +Shakspeare with this amiable and gifted woman for many months, which +cemented a friendship between us that ended but with her life. Her +method of reading was admirable; for to the grandeur of her sister Mrs. +Siddons, she united a tenderness and softness, in which that great +actress was said to be deficient. I never open any of the plays of +Shakspeare which I studied with her without thinking I hear her voice, +and I like them better for the association. + +To great personal attractions, which even to the last she retained +enough of to give a notion of what her beauty must have been in her +youth, Mrs. T---- added a charm of manners, a cultivation of mind, and +a goodness of heart seldom surpassed; and, in all the relations of +life, her conduct was most praiseworthy. Even now, though six years +have elapsed since her death, the recollection of it brings tears to my +eyes. Good and gentle woman, may your virtues on earth find their +reward in Heaven! + +I passed last evening at Madame Craufurd's, where I met Lady Charlotte +Lindsay and the Misses Berry. How perfectly they answered to the +description given of them by Sir William Gell; who, though exceedingly +attached to all three, has not, as far as one interview permitted me to +judge, overrated their agreeability! Sir William Gell has read me many +letters from these ladies, replete with talent, of which their +conversation reminded me. + +Francis Hare and his wife dined here to-day. They are _en route_ from +Germany--where they have been sojourning since their marriage--for +England, where her _accouchement_ is to take place. Francis Hare has +lived with us so much in Italy, that we almost consider him a member of +the domestic circle; and, on the faith of this, he expressed his desire +that we should receive _madame son epouse_ as if she were an old +acquaintance. + +Mrs. Hare is well-looking, and agreeable, appears amiable, and is a +good musician. I remember seeing her and her sisters with her mother, +Lady Paul, at Florence, when I had little notion that she was to be +Mrs. Hare. I never meet Francis Hare without being surprised by the +versatility of his information; it extends to the fine arts, +literature, rare books, the localities of pictures and statues; in +short, he is a moving library that may always be consulted with profit, +and his memory is as accurate as an index in rendering its precious +stores available. + +It is strange, that the prominent taste of his wife, which is for +music, is the only one denied to him. He afforded an amusing instance +of this fact last night, when Mrs. Hare, having performed several airs +on the piano-forte, he asked her, "Why she played the same tune so +often, for the monotony was tiresome?"--an observation that set us all +laughing. + +Took Mrs. Hare out shopping--saw piles of lace, heaps of silk, pyramids +of riband, and all other female gear. What a multiplicity of pretty +things we women require to render us what we consider presentable! And +how few of us, however good-looking we may chance to be, would agree +with the poet, that "loveliness needs not the foreign aid of ornament, +but is, when unadorned, adorned the most." + +Even the fairest of the sex like to enhance the charms of nature by the +aid of dress; and the plainest hope to become less so by its +assistance. Men are never sufficiently sensible of our humility, in +considering it so necessary to increase our attractions in order to +please them, nor grateful enough for the pains we bestow in the +attempts. + +Husbands and fathers are particularly insensible to this amiable desire +on the parts of their wives and daughters; and, when asked to pay the +heavy bills incurred in consequence of this praiseworthy humility and +desire to please, evince any feeling rather than that of satisfaction. + +It is only admirers not called on to pay these said bills who duly +appreciate the cause and effect, and who can hear of women passing +whole hours in tempting shops, without that elongation of countenance +peculiar to husbands and fathers. + +I could not help thinking with the philosopher, how many things I saw +to-day that could be done without. If women could be made to understand +that costliness of attire seldom adds to beauty, and often deteriorates +it, a great amelioration in expense could be accomplished. + +Transparent muslin, the cheapest of all materials, is one of the +prettiest, too, for summer's wear, and with the addition of some bows +of delicate-coloured riband, or a _bouquet_ of fresh flowers, forms a +most becoming dress. The lowness of the price of such a robe enables +the purchaser to have so frequent a change of it, that even those who +are far from rich may have half-a-dozen, while one single robe of a +more expensive material will cost more; and having done so, the owner +will think it right to wear it more frequently than is consistent with +the freshness and purity that should ever be the distinguishing +characteristics in female dress, in order to indemnify herself for the +expense. + +I was never more struck with this fact, than a short time ago, when I +saw two ladies seated next each other, both young and handsome; but +one, owing to the freshness of her robe, which was of simple +_organdie_, looked infinitely better than the other, who was quite as +pretty, but who, wearing a robe of expensive lace, whose whiteness had +fallen into "the sere and yellow leaf," appeared faded and _passee_. + +Be wise, then, ye young and fair; and if, as I suspect, your object be +to please the Lords of the Creation, let your dress, in summer, be +snowy-white muslin, never worn after its pristine purity becomes +problematical; and in winter, let some half-dozen plain and simple silk +gowns be purchased, instead of the two or three expensive ones that +generally form the wardrobe, and which, consequently, soon not only +lose their lustre but give the wearer the appearance of having suffered +the same fate! + +And you, O husbands and fathers, present and future, be ye duly +impressed with a sense of your manifold obligations to me for thus +opening the eyes of your wives and daughters how to please without +draining your purses; and when the maledictions of lace, velvet, and +satin-sellers full on my hapless head, for counsel so injurious to +their interests, remember they were incurred for yours! + +Mr. and Mrs. Hare dined here yesterday. They brought with them Madame +de la H----, who came up from near Chantilly to see them. She is as +pretty as I remember her at Florence, when Mademoiselle D----, and is +_piquante_ and _spirituelle_. Counts Charles de Mornay and Valeski +formed the party, and Count Maussion and some others came in the +evening. + +I observe that few English shine in conversation with the French. There +is a lightness and brilliancy, a sort of touch and go, if I may say so, +in the latter, seldom, if ever, to be acquired by strangers. Never +dwelling long on any subject, and rarely entering profoundly into it, +they sparkle on the surface with great dexterity, bringing wit, gaiety, +and tact, into play. + +Like summer lightning, French wit flashes frequently, brightly and +innocuously, leaving nothing disagreeable to remind one of its having +appeared. Conversation is, with the French, the aim and object of +society. All enter it prepared to take a part, and he best enacts it +who displays just enough knowledge to show that much remains behind. +Such is the tact of the Parisians, that even the ignorant conceal the +poverty of their minds, and might, to casual observers, pass as being +in no way deficient, owing to the address with which they glide in an +_a propos oui, ou non_, and an appropriate shake of the head, nod of +assent, or dissent. + +The constitutional vivacity of the French depending much on their +mercurial temperaments, greatly aids them in conversation. A light and +playful sally acquires additional merit when uttered with gaiety; and +should a _bon mot_ even contain something calculated to pique any one +present, or reflect on the absent, the mode in which it is uttered +takes off from the force of the matter; whereas, on the contrary, the +more grave and sententious manner peculiar to the English adds pungency +to their satire. Our old and valued friend, Mr. J. Strangways, has +arrived at Paris, and very glad were we to see him once more. He passed +through a severe trial since last we parted; and his conduct under it +towards his poor friend, Mr. Anson, does him credit. + +The two companions--one the brother of the Earl of Ilchester, and the +other of Lord Anson--were travelling in Syria together. They had passed +through Aleppo, where the plague had then appeared, and were at the +distance of several days' journey from it, congratulating themselves on +their safety, when, owing to some error on the part of those who +examined their firman, they were compelled to retrace their steps to +Aleppo, where, condemned to become the inhabitants of a lazaretto until +the imagined mistake could be corrected, they found themselves +_tete-a-tete_. + +The first two or three days passed without any thing to alarm the +friends. Engaged in drawing maps for their intended route, and plans +for the future, the hours glided away even cheerfully. + +But this cheerfulness was not long to continue; for Mr. Anson, having +one morning asked Mr. Strangways to hold the end of his shawl while he +twisted it round his head as a turban, the latter observed, with a +degree of horror and dismay more easily to be imagined than described, +the fatal plague-spot clearly defined on the back of the neck of his +unfortunate friend. + +He concealed his emotion, well knowing that a suspicion of its cause +would add to the danger of Mr. Anson, who, as yet, was unconscious of +the fearful malady that had already assailed him. Totally alone, +without aid, save that contained in their own very limited resources, +what must have been the feelings of Mr. Strangways, as he contemplated +his luckless companion? + +He dreaded to hear the announcement of physical suffering, though he +well knew it must soon come, and marked with indescribable anguish the +change that rapidly began to be manifested in his friend. But even this +most terrible of all maladies was influenced by the gallant spirit of +him on whom it was now preying; for not a complaint, not a murmur, +broke from his lips: and it was not until Mr. Strangways had repeatedly +urged the most affectionate inquiries that he admitted he was not quite +well. + +Delirium quickly followed; but even then this noble-minded young man +bore up against the fearful assaults of disease, and thought and spoke +only of those dear and absent friends he was doomed never again to +behold. It was a dreadful trial to Mr. Strangways to sit by the bed of +death, far, far away from home and friends, endeavouring to cool the +burning brow and to refresh the parched lips of him so fondly loved in +that distant land of which he raved. + +He spoke of his home, of those who made it so dear to him, and even the +songs of infancy were again murmured by the dying lips. His friend +quitted him not for a minute until all was over; and _he_ was left +indeed alone to watch, over the corpse of him whom he had tried in vain +to save. + +That Mr. Strangways should have escaped the contagion, seems little +less than miraculous. I, who have known him so long and so well, +attribute it to the state of his mind, which was so wholly occupied by +anxiety for his friend as to leave no room for any thought of self. + +Made no entry in my journal for two days, owing to a slight +indisposition, which furnished an excuse for laziness. + +Dined at Lointier's yesterday--a splendid repast given by Count A. de +Maussion, in consequence of a wager, lost on a subject connected with +the line arts. The party consisted of all those present at our house +when the wager was made. The Duc and Duchesse de Guiche, Mr. and Mrs. +Francis Hare, the Duc de Talleyrand, Duc de Dino, Count Valeski, Mr. J. +Strangways, and our own large family circle. + +The dinner was the most _recherche_ that could be furnished: "all the +delicacies of the season," as a London paper would term it, were +provided; and an epicure, however fastidious, would have been satisfied +with the choice and variety of the _plats_; while a _gourmand_ would +have luxuriated in the quantity. + +Nothing in the style of the apartments, or the service of the dinner, +bore the least indication that we were in the house of a _restaurant_. + +A large and richly furnished _salon_, well lighted, received the +company before dinner; and in a _salle a manger_ of equal dimensions, +and equally well arranged, the dinner was served on a very fine service +of old plate. + +Count de Maussion did the honours of the dinner _a merveille_, and it +passed off very gaily. It had been previously agreed that the whole +party were to adjourn to the Porte St. Martin, at which Count de +Maussion had engaged three large private boxes; and the ladies, +consequently, with one exception, came _en demi-toilette_. + +The exception was Mrs. Hare, who, not aware that at Paris people never +go _en grande toilette_ to the theatres, came so smartly dressed, that, +seeing our simple toilettes, she was afraid of incurring observation if +she presented herself in a rich dress with short sleeves, a gold tissue +turban with a bird-of-paradise plume, and an _aigrette_ of coloured +stones; so she went to our house, with a few of the party, while I +accompanied the rest to the theatre. + +The piece was _Faust_, adapted from Goethe, and was admirably +performed, more especially the parts of "Mephistopheles" and +"Margaret," in which Madame Dorval acts inimitably. This actress has +great merit; and the earnestness of her manner, and the touching tones +of her voice, give a great air of truth to her performances. The +prison-scene was powerfully acted; and the madness of "Margaret" when +stretched on her bed of straw, resisting the vain efforts of her lover +to rescue her, had a fearful reality. + +The character of "Margaret" is a fine conception, and Goethe has +wrought it out beautifully. The simplicity, gentleness, and warm +feelings of the village maiden, excite a strong interest for her, even +when worked upon by Vanity; that alloy which, alas for Woman's virtue +and happiness! is too frequently found mixed up in the pure ore of her +nature. + +The childish delight with which poor "Margaret" contemplates the +trinkets presented by her lover; the baleful ascendency acquired over +her by her female companion; and her rapid descent in the path of evil +when, as is ever the case, the commission of one sin entails so many, +render this drama a very effective moral lesson. + +Of all Goethe's works, _Faust_ is the one I most like; and, of all his +female characters, "Margaret" is that which I prefer. A fine vein of +philosophy runs through the whole of this production, in which the +vanity of human knowledge without goodness was never more powerfully +exemplified. + +"Faust," tempted by the desire of acquiring forbidden knowledge, yields +up his soul to the evil one; yet still retains enough of the humanity +of his nature to render him wretched, when her he loves, and has drawn +ruin on, suffers the penalty of his crime and of her love. + +Exquisitely has Goethe wrought out the effects of the all-engrossing +passion of the poor "Margaret"--a passion that even in madness, still +clings to its object with all woman's tenderness and devotion, +investing even insanity with the touching charm of love. How perfect is +the part when, endeavouring to pray, the hapless "Margaret" fancies +that she hears the gibbering of evil spirits interrupting her +supplications, so that even the consolation of addressing the Divinity +is denied her! + +But the last scene--that in the prison--is the most powerful of all. +Never was madness more touchingly delineated, or woman's nature more +truly developed;--that nature so little understood by those who are so +prone to pervert it, and whose triumphs over its virtues are always +achieved by means of the excess of that propensity to love, and to +believe in the truth of the object beloved, which is one of the most +beautiful characteristics in woman; though, wo to her! it is but too +often used to her undoing. + +The feelings of poor "Margaret" are those of all her sex, ere vice has +sullied the nature it never can wholly subdue. + +Mr. and Mrs. Hare left Paris to-day. I regret their departure; for she +is lively and agreeable, and I have known him so long, and like him so +well, that their society afforded me pleasure. + +A large party at dinner, yesterday; among whom, was Mr. M----, who has +acquired a certain celebrity for his _bons mots_. He is said to be +decidedly clever, and to know the world thoroughly: appreciating it at +its just value, and using it as if formed for his peculiar profit and +pleasure. He is lately returned from England, where he has been +received with that hospitality that characterises the English, and has +gone a round of visits to many of the best houses. + +He spoke in high terms of the hospitality he had experienced, but +agreed in the opinion I have often heard Lord Byron give, that the +society in English country-houses is any thing but agreeable. + +I had heard so much of Mr. M----, that I listened to his conversation +with more interest than I might have done, had not so many reports of +his shrewdness and wit reached me. Neither seem to have been overrated; +for nothing escapes his quick perception; and his caustic wit is +unsparingly and fearlessly applied to all subjects and persons that +excite it into action. + +He appears to be a privileged person--an anomaly seldom innoxiously +permitted in society: for those who may say _all they_ please, rarely +abstain from saying much that may displease others; and, though a laugh +may he often excited by their wit, some one of the circle is sure to be +wounded by it. + +Great wit is not often allied to good-nature, for the indulgence of the +first is destructive to the existence of the second, except where the +wit is tempered by a more than ordinary share of sensibility and +refinement, directing its exercise towards works of imagination, +instead of playing it off, as is too frequently the case, against those +with whom its owner may come in contact. + +Byron, had he not been a poet, would have become a wit in society; and, +instead of delighting his readers, would have wounded his associates. +Luckily for others, as well as for his own fame, he devoted to +literature that ready and brilliant wit which sparkles in so many of +his pages, instead of condescending to expend it in _bons mots_, or +_reparties_, that might have set the table on a roar, and have been +afterwards, as often occurs, mutilated in being repeated by, others. + +The quickness of apprehension peculiar to the French, joined to the +excessive _amour propre_, which is one of the most striking of their +characteristics, render them exceedingly susceptible to the arrows of +wit; which, when barbed by ridicule, inflict wounds on their vanity +difficult to be healed, and which they are ever ready to avenge. + +But this very acuteness of apprehension induces a caution in not +resenting the assaults of wit, unless the wounded can retort with +success by a similar weapon, or that the attack has been so obvious +that he is justified in resenting it by a less poetical one. Hence +arises a difficult position for him on whom a wit is pleased to +exercise his talent; and this is one of the many reasons why privileged +persons seldom add much to the harmony of society. + +Went last night to the Porte St. Martin, and saw _Sept Heures_ +represented. This piece has excited a considerable sensation at Paris; +and the part of the heroine, "Charlotte Corday," being enacted by +Madame Dorval, a very clever actress, it is very popular. + +"Charlotte Corday" is represented in the piece, not as a heroine +actuated purely by patriotic motives in seeking the destruction of a +tyrant who inflicted such wounds on her country, but by the less +sublime one of avenging the death of her lover. This, in my opinion, +lessens the interest of the drama, and atones not for the horror always +inspired by a woman's arming herself for a scene of blood. + +The taste of the Parisians has, I think, greatly degenerated, both in +their light literature and their dramas. The desire for excitement, and +not a decrease of talent, is the cause; and this morbid craving for it +will, I fear, lead to injurious consequences, not only in literature, +but in other and graver things. + +The schoolmaster is, indeed, abroad in France, and has in all parts of +it found apt scholars--perhaps, too apt; and, like all such, the +digestion of what is acquired does not equal the appetite for +acquisition: consequently, the knowledge gained is as yet somewhat +crude and unavailable. Nevertheless, the people are making rapid +strides in improvement; and ignorance will soon be more rare than +knowledge formerly was. + +At present, their minds are somewhat unsettled by the recentness of +their progress; and in the exuberance consequent on such a state, some +danger is to be apprehended. + +Like a room from which light has been long excluded, and in which a +large window is opened, all the disagreeable objects in it so long +shrouded in darkness are so fully revealed, that the owner, becoming +impatient to remove them and substitute others in their place, often +does so at the expense of appropriateness, and crowds the chamber with +a heterogeneous _melange_ of furniture, which, however useful in +separate parts, are too incongruous to produce a good effect. So the +minds of the French people are now too enlightened any longer to suffer +the prejudices that formerly filled them to remain, and have, in their +impatience, stored them with new ideas and opinions--many of them good +and useful, but too hastily adopted, and not in harmony with each other +to be productive of a good result, until time has enabled their owners +to class and arrange them. + +I am every day more forcibly struck with the natural quickness and +intelligence of the people here: but this very quickness is a cause +that may tend to retard their progress in knowledge, by inducing them +to jump at conclusions, instead of marching slowly but steadily to +them; and conclusions so rapidly made are apt to be as hastily acted +upon, and, consequently, occasion errors that take some time to be +discovered, and still more to be corrected, before the truth is +attained. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + + +Made the acquaintance of the celebrated Dr. P----, today, at Madame +C----'s. He is a very interesting old man; and, though infirm in body, +his mind is as fresh, and his vivacity as unimpaired, as if he had not +numbered forty instead of eighty summers. + +I am partial to the society of clever medical men, for the +opportunities afforded them of becoming acquainted with human nature, +by studying it under all the phases of illness, convalescence, and on +the bed of death, when the real character is exposed unveiled from the +motives that so often shadow, if not give it a false character, in the +days of health, render their conversation very interesting. + +I have observed, too, that the knowledge of human nature thus attained +neither hardens the heart nor blunts the sensibility, for some of the +most kind-natured men I ever knew were also the most skilful physicians +and admirable, surgeons. Among these is Mr. Guthrie, of London, whose +rare dexterity in his art I have often thought may be in a great degree +attributed to this very kindness of nature, which has induced him to +bestow a more than usual attention to acquiring it, in order to abridge +the sufferings of his patients. + +In operations on the eye, in which he has gained such a justly merited +celebrity, I have been told by those from whose eyes he had removed +cataracts, that his precision and celerity are so extraordinary as to +appear to them little short of miraculous. + +Talking on this subject with Dr. P---- to-day, he observed, that he +considered strength of mind and kindness of heart indispensable +requisites to form a surgeon; and that it was a mistake to suppose that +these qualities had any other than a salutary influence over the nerves +of a surgeon. + +"It braces them, Madame," said he; "for pity towards the patient +induces an operator to perform his difficult task _con amore_, in order +to relieve him." + +Dr. P---- has nearly lost his voice, and speaks in a low but distinct +whisper. Tall and thin, with a face pale as marble, but full of +intelligence, he looks, when bending on his gold-headed cane, the very +_beau ideal_ of a physician of _la Vieille Cour_, and he still retains +the costume of that epoch. His manner, half jest and half earnest, +gives an idea of what that of the Philosopher of Ferney must have been +when in a good humour, and adds piquancy to his narrations. Madame +C----, who is an especial favourite of his, and who can draw him out in +conversation better than any one else, in paying him a delicate and +well-timed compliment on his celebrity, added, that few had ever so +well merited it. + +"Ah! Madame, celebrity is not always accorded to real merit," said he, +smiling. "I have before told Madame that mine--if I may be permitted to +recur to it--was gained by an artifice I had recourse to, and without +which, I firmly believe I should have remained unknown." + +"No, no! my dear doctor," replied Madame C----; "your merit must have, +in time, acquired you the great fame you enjoy." The Doctor laughed +heartily, but persisted in denying this; and the lady urged him to +relate to me the plan he had so successfully pursued in abridging his +road to Fortune. He seemed flattered by her request, and by my desire +for his compliance with it, and commenced as follows:-- + + "I came from the country, Mesdames, with no inconsiderable + claims to distinction in my profession. I had studied it _con + amore_, and, urged by the desire that continually haunted me + of becoming a benefactor to mankind--ay! ladies, and still + more anxious to relieve your fair and gentle sex from those + ills to which the delicacy of your frames and the sensibility + of your minds so peculiarly expose you--I came to Paris with + little money and few friends, and those few possessed no + power to forward my interest. + + "It is true they recommended me to such of their acquaintance + as needed advice; but whether, owing to the season being a + peculiarly healthy one, or that the acquaintances of my + friends enjoyed an unusual portion of good health, I was + seldom called on to attend them; and, when I was, the + remuneration offered was proportioned, not to the relief + afforded, but to the want of fame of him who lent it. + + "My purse diminished even more rapidly than my hopes, though + they, too, began to fade; and it was with a heavy heart that + I look my pen to write home to those dear friends who + believed that Paris was a second _El Dorado_, where all who + sought--must find--Fortune. + + "At length, when one night stretched on my humble bed, and + sleepless from the cares that pressed heavily on my mind, it + occurred to me that I must put some plan into action for + getting myself known; and one suggested itself, which I next + day adopted. + + "I changed one of the few remaining _louis d'or_ in my purse, + and, sallying forth into one of the most popular streets, I + wrote down the addresses of some of the most + respectable-looking houses, and going up to a porter, desired + him to knock at the doors named, and inquire if the + celebrated Doctor P---- was there, as his presence was + immediately required at the hotel of the Duc de ----. + + "I despatched no less than twenty messengers through the + different streets on the same errand, and having succeeded in + persuading each that it was of the utmost importance that the + celebrated Doctor P---- should be found, they persuaded the + owners of the houses of the same necessity. + + "I persevered in this system for a few days, and then tried + its efficacy at night, thinking that, when knocked up from + their beds, people would be sure to be more impressed with + the importance of a doctor in such general request. + + "My scheme succeeded. In a few days, I was repeatedly called + in by various patients, and liberal fees poured into the + purse of the celebrated Dr. P----. Unfortunately my practice, + although every day multiplying even beyond my most sanguine + hopes, was entirely confined to the _bourgeoisie_; and though + they paid well, my ambition pointed to higher game, and I + longed to feel the pulses of _la haute noblesse_, and to + ascertain if the fine porcelain of which I had heard they + were formed was indeed as much superior to the delf of which + the _bourgeoisie_ are said to be manufactured, as I was led + to believe. + + "Luckily for me, the _femme de chambre_ of a grand lady + fancied herself ill, mentioned the fancy to her friend, who + was one of my patients, and who instantly advised her to + consult the _celebrated_ Dr. P----, adding a lively account + of the extent of my practice and the great request I was in. + + "The _femme de chambre_ consulted me, described symptoms + enough to baffle all the schools of medicine in France, so + various and contradictory were they, and I, discovering that + she really had nothing the matter with her, advised what I + knew would be very palatable to her,--namely, a very + nutritious _regime_, as much air and amusement as was + possible in her position, and gave her a prescription for + some gentle medicine, to prevent any evil effect from the + luxurious fare I had recommended. + + "I was half tempted to refuse the fee she slipped into my + hand, but I recollected that people never value what they get + for nothing, and so I pocketed it. + + "In a few days, I was sent for to the Hotel--to attend the + Duchesse de ---- the mistress of the said _femme de chambre_. + This was an event beyond my hopes, and I determined to profit + by it. I found the Duchesse suffering under a malady--if + malady it could be called--to which I have since discovered + grand ladies are peculiarly subject; namely, a superfluity of + _embonpoint_, occasioned by luxurious habits and the want of + exercise. + + "'I am very much indisposed, Doctor,' lisped the lady, 'and + your prescription has done my _femme de chambre_ so much + good, that I determined to send for you. I am so very ill, + that I am fast losing my shape; my face, too, is no longer + the same; and my feet and hands are not to be recognised.' + + "I drew out my watch, felt her pulse, looked grave, + inquired--though it was useless, her _embonpoint_ having + revealed it--what were her general habits and _regime_; and + then, having written a prescription, urged the necessity of + her abandoning _cafe au lait_, rich _consommes_, and + high-seasoned _entrees_; recommended early rising and + constant exercise; and promised that a strict attention to my + advice would soon restore her health, and with it her shape. + + "I was told to call every day until further orders; and I, + pleading the excess of occupation which would render my daily + visits to her so difficult, consented to make them, only on + condition that my fair patient was to walk with me every day + six times around the garden of her hotel; for I guessed she + was too indolent to persevere in taking exercise if left to + herself. + + "The system I pursued with her succeeded perfectly. I was + then a very active man, and I walked so fast that I left the + Duchesse every day when our promenade ended bathed in a + copious perspiration; which, aided by the medicine and + sparing _regime_, soon restored her figure to its former + symmetry. + + "At her hotel, I daily met ladies of the highest rank and + distinction, many of whom were suffering from a similar + cause, the same annoyance for which the Duchesse consulted + me; and I then discovered that there is no malady, however + grave, so distressing to your sex, ladies, or for the cure of + which they are so willing to submit to the most disagreeable + _regime_, as for aught that impairs their personal beauty. + + "When her female friends saw the improvement effected in the + appearance of the Duchesse by my treatment, I was consulted + by them all, and my fame and fortune rapidly increased. I was + proclaimed to be the most wonderful physician, and to have + effected the most extraordinary cures; when, in truth, I but + consulted Nature, and aided her efforts. + + "Shortly after this period, a grand lady, an acquaintance of + one of my many patients among the _noblesse_, consulted me; + and here the case was wholly different to that of the + Duchesse, for this lady had grown so thin, that + wrinkles--those most frightful of all symptoms of decaying + beauty--had made their appearance. My new patient told me + that, hearing that hitherto my great celebrity had been + acquired by the cure of obesity, she feared it was useless to + consult me for a disease of so opposite a nature, but even + still more distressing. + + "I inquired into her habits and _regime_. Found that she took + violent exercise; was abstemious at table; drank strong green + tea, and coffee without cream or milk; disliked nutritious + food; and, though she sat up late, was an early riser. I + ordered her the frequent use of warm baths, and to take all + that I had prohibited the Duchesse; permitted only gentle + exercise in a carriage; and, in short, soon succeeded in + rendering the thin lady plump and rosy, to the great joy of + herself, and the wonder of her friends. + + "This treatment, which was only what any one possessed of + common sense would have prescribed in such a case, extended + my fame far and wide. Fat and thin ladies flocked to me for + advice, and not only liberally rewarded the success of my + system, but sounded my praises in all quarters. + + "I became the doctor _a la mode_, soon amassed an + independence, and, though not without a confidence in my own + skill--for I have never lost any opportunity of improvement + in my profession--I must confess that I still retain the + conviction that the celebrated Doctor P---- would have had + little chance, at least for many years, of acquiring either + fame or wealth, had he not employed the means I have + confessed to you, ladies." + +I cannot do justice to this _spirituel_ old man's mode of telling the +story, or describe the finesse of his arch smile while recounting it. + +Mr. P.C. Scarlett, a son of our excellent and valued friend Sir James +Scarlett[3], dined here yesterday. He is a fine young man, clever, +well-informed, and amiable, with the same benignant countenance and +urbanity of manner that are so remarkable in his father. + +I remember how much struck I was with Sir James Scarlett's countenance +when he was first presented to me. It has in it such a happy mixture of +sparkling intelligence and good-nature that I was immediately pleased +with him, even before I had an opportunity of knowing the rare and +excellent qualities for which he is distinguished, and the treasures of +knowledge with which his mind is stored. + +I have seldom met any man so well versed in literature as Sir James +Scarlett, or with a more refined taste for it; and when one reflects on +the arduous duties of his profession--duties which he has ever +fulfilled with such credit to himself and advantage to others--it seems +little short of miraculous how he could have found time to have made +himself so intimately acquainted, not only with the classics, but with +all the elegant literature of England and France. + +How many pleasant days have I passed in the society of Lord Erskine and +Sir James Scarlett! Poor Lord Erskine! never more shall I hear your +eloquent tongue utter _bons mots_ in which wit sparkled, but ill-nature +never appeared; nor see your luminous eyes flashing with joyousness, as +when, surrounded by friends at the festive board, you rendered the +banquet indeed "the feast of reason and the flow of soul!" + +Mr. H---- B---- dined here yesterday, and he talked over the pleasant +days we had passed in Italy. He is an excellent specimen of the young +men of the present day. Well-informed, and with a mind highly +cultivated, he has travelled much in other countries, without losing +any of the good qualities and habits peculiar to his own. + +Went to the Theatre Italien, last night, and heard Madame Malibran sing +for the first time. Her personation of "Desdemona" is exquisite, and +the thrilling tones of her voice were in perfect harmony with the deep +sensibility she evinced in every look and movement. + +I have heard no singer to please me comparable to Malibran: there is +something positively electrical in the effect she produces on my +feelings. Her acting is as original as it is effective; Passion and +Nature are her guides, and she abandons herself to them _con amore_. + +The only defect I can discover in her singing is an excess of +_fiorituri_, that sometimes destroys the _vraisemblance_ of the _role_ +she is enacting, and makes one think more of the wonderful singer than +of "Desdemona." This defect, however, is atoned for by the bursts of +passion into which her powerful voice breaks when some deep emotion is +to be expressed, and the accomplished singer is forgotten in the +impassioned "Desdemona." + +Spent last evening at Madame C----'s, and met there la Duchcsse de la +Force, la Marquise de Brehan, and the usual _habitues de la maison_. La +Duchesse is one of _l'ancien regime_, though less ceremonious than they +are in general said to be, and appears to be as good-natured as she is +good-humoured. + +The Marquise de B---- told me some amusing anecdotes of the Imperial +Court, and of the gaiety and love of dress of the beautiful Princesse +Pauline Borghese, to whom she was much attached. + +The whole of the Buonaparte family seem to have possessed, in an +eminent degree, the happy art of conciliating good-will in those around +them--an art necessary in all persons filling elevated positions, but +doubly so in those who have achieved their own elevation. The family of +the Emperor Napoleon were remarkable for the kindness and consideration +they invariably evinced for those who in any way depended on them, yet +a natural dignity of manner precluded the possibility of familiarity. + +The Marquise de B---- having mentioned the Duchesse d'Abrantes, Madame +C---- inquired kindly for her, and the Marquise told her that she had +been only a few days before to pay her a visit. + +Anxious to learn something of a woman who filled so distinguished a +position during the imperial dynasty, I questioned Madame de B----, and +learned that the Duchesse d'Abrantes, who for many years lived in a +style of splendour that, even in the palmy days of her husband's +prosperity, when, governor of Paris, he supported almost a regal +establishment, excited the surprise, if not envy, of his +contemporaries, is now reduced to so limited an income that many of the +comforts, if not the necessaries of life, are denied her. + +"She supports her privations cheerfully," added the Marquise; "her +conversation abounds in anecdotes of remarkable people, and she relates +them with a vivacity and piquancy peculiar to her, which render her +society very amusing and interesting. The humanity, if not the policy, +of the Bourbons may be questioned in their leaving the widow of a brave +general in a state of poverty that must remind her, with bitterness, of +the altered fortunes entailed on her and many others by their +restoration." + +When indemnities were granted to those whom the Revolution, which drove +the royal family from France, nearly beggared, it would have been well +if a modest competency had been assigned to those whose sons and +husbands shed their blood for their country, and helped to achieve for +it that military glory which none can deny it. + +Went over the Luxembourg Palace and Gardens to-day. The only change in +the former since I last saw it, is that some pictures, painted by +French artists at Rome, and very creditable to them, have been added to +its collection. + +I like these old gardens, with their formal walks and prim _parterres_; +I like also the company by which they are chiefly frequented, +consisting of old people and young children. + +Along the walk exposed to the southern aspect, several groups of old +men were sauntering, conversing with an animation seldom seen in +sexagenarians, except in France; old women, too, many of them holding +lapdogs by a riband, and attended by a female servant, were taking +their daily walk; while, occasionally, might be seen an elderly couple +exhibiting towards each other an assiduity pleasant to behold, +displayed by the husband's arranging the shawl or cloak of his wife, or +the wife gently brushing away with her glove the silken threads left on +his sleeve by its contact with hers. + +No little portion of the love that united them in youth may still be +witnessed in these old couples. Each has lost every trace of the +comeliness that first attracted them to each other; but they remember +what they were, and memory, gilding the past, shews each to the other, +not as they actually are, but as they were many a long year ago. No +face, however fair,--not even the blooming one of their favourite +granddaughter, seems so lovely to the uxorious old husband as the one +he remembers to have been so proud of forty years ago, and which still +beams on him with an expression of tenderness that reminds him of its +former beauty. And she, too, with what complacency does she listen to +his oft-repealed reminiscences of her youthful attractions, and how +dear is the bond that still unites them! + +Plain and uninteresting in the eyes of others, they present only the +aspect of age; alas! never lovely: but in them at least other gleams of +past good looks recall the past, when each considered the other +peerless, though now they alone remember that "such things were, and +were most sweet." + +Their youth and their maturity have been passed together; their joys +and their sorrows have been shared, and they are advancing hand in hand +towards that rapid descent in the mountain of life, at whose base is +the grave, hoping that in death they may not be divided. + +Who can look at those old couples, and not feel impressed with the +sanctity and blessedness of marriage, which, binding two destinies in +one, giving the same interests and the same objects of affection to +both, secures for each a companionship and a consolation for those days +which must come to all, when, fallen into the sere and yellow leaf, the +society of the young and gay can no longer charm them, and the present +requires the recollections of the past to render it less cheerless; +recollections only to be found in those who have grown old together? + +Yonder old man, leaning on the arm of a middle-aged woman, who seems +less like his housekeeper than his domestic tyrant, offers an example +of the fate of those who have lived in what is commonly called a state +of single blessedness. A youth and maturity of pleasure have been +followed by an old age of infirmity. + +He had a thousand pleasantries ready to utter on the subject of +marriage whenever it was mentioned; could cite endless examples of +unhappy couples (forgetting to name a single one of the happy); and +laughed and shook his head as he declared that _he_ never would be +caught. + +As long as health remained, and that he could pass his evenings in gay +society, or at the theatres, he felt not the want of that greatest of +all comforts, _home_; a comfort inseparable from a wife to share, as +well as to make it. But the first attack of illness that confined him +to his room, with no tender hand to smooth his pillow, no gentle voice +to inquire into his wants, or to minister to them; no one to anticipate +his wishes almost before he had framed them; no loving face to look +fondly and anxiously on him; made him feel sensible, that though a +bachelor's life of pleasure may pass agreeably enough during the season +of health, it is a most cheerless and dreary state of existence when +deprived of it. + +The discovery is, alas! made too late. All that he had ever heard or +urged against matrimony applies tenfold to cases where it is contracted +in old age. He can still admire youth and beauty, but he knows that +with such there can never exist any reciprocity with his own feelings. + +The young beauty who would barter her charms for his wealth, would be, +he knows, no suitable companion for his fire-side; and to wed some +staid dame whose youth has been passed with some dear, kind, first +husband--of whom, if not often speaking, she might in all human +probability be sometimes thinking--has something too repugnant to his +feelings to be thought of. + +An elderly maiden with a lap-dog, or a parrot, would be even more +insupportable; for how could one who has never had to consult the +pleasure or wishes of aught save self be able to study his? No! it is +now too late to think of marriage, and what, therefore, is to be done? +In this emergency, a severe attack of rheumatism confines him to his +chamber for many days. His valet is found out to be clumsy and awkward +in assisting him to put on his flannel gloves; the housekeeper, who is +called up to receive instructions about some particular broth that he +requires, is asked to officiate, and suggests so many little comforts, +and evinces so much sympathy for his sufferings, that she is soon +installed as nurse. + +By administering to his wants, and still more by flattery and +obsequiousness, she soon renders herself indispensable to the invalid. +She is proclaimed to be a treasure, and her accounts, which hitherto +had been sharply scrutinised and severely censured, are henceforth +allowed to pass unblamed, and, consequently, soon amount to double the +sum which had formerly, and with reason, been found fault with. The +slightest symptom of illness is magnified into a serious attack by the +supposed affectionate and assiduous nurse, until her master, in +compliance with her advice, becomes a confirmed hypochondriac, whom she +governs despotically under a show of devoted attachment. + +She has, by slow but sure degrees, alienated him from all his +relatives, and banished from his house the few friends whom she +believed possessed any influence over him. Having rendered herself +essential to his comfort, she menaces him continually with the threat +of leaving his service; and is only induced to remain by a considerable +increase to her salary, though not, as she asserts, by any interested +motive. + +She lately informed her master, that she was "very sorry--very sorry, +indeed--but it was time for her to secure her future comfort; and M. +----, the rich grocer, had proposed marriage to her, and offered a good +settlement. It would be a great grief to her to leave so kind a master, +especially as she knew no one to whom she could confide the care of +him; but a settlement of 4000 francs a-year was not to be refused, and +she might never again receive so good an offer." + +The proposal of the rich grocer, which never existed but in her own +fertile brain, is rejected, and her continuance as housekeeper and +nurse secured by a settlement of a similar sum made on her by her +master; who congratulates himself on having accomplished so +advantageous a bargain, while she is laughing with the valet at his +credulity. + +This same valet, finding her influence to be omnipotent with his +master, determines on marrying her secretly, that they may join in +plundering the valetudinarian, whose infirmities furnish a perpetual +subject for the coarse pleasantries of both these ungrateful menials. + +She is now giving him his daily walk on the sunny side of the +Luxembourg Gardens. See how she turns abruptly down an alley, in +despite of his request to continue where he was: but the truth is, her +Argus eyes have discovered his niece and her beautiful children walking +at a distance; and, as she has not only prevented their admission to +his house, but concealed their visits, intercepted their letters, +making him believe they are absent from Paris and have forgotten him, +she now precludes their meeting; while to his querulous murmurs at +being hurried along, she answers that the alley she has taken him to is +more sheltered. + +It is true the invalid sometimes half suspects, not only that he is +governed, but somewhat despotically, too, by the worthy and +affectionate creature, whose sole study it is to take care of his +health. He considers it hard to be debarred from sending for one of his +old friends to play a party at picquet, or a game at chess with him, +during the long winter evenings; and he thinks it would be pleasanter +to have some of his female relatives occasionally to dinner: but as the +least hint on these subjects never fails to produce ill-humour on the +part of the "good Jeanette," who declares that such unreasonable +indulgence would inevitably destroy the precious health of Monsieur, he +submits to her will; and while wholly governed by an ignorant and +artful servant, can still smile that he is free from being henpecked by +a wife. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + + +In no part of Paris are so many children to be seen us in the gardens +of the Luxembourg. At every step may be encountered groups of playful +creatures of every age, from the infant slumbering in its nurse's arms, +to the healthful girl holding her little brother or sister by the hand +as her little charge toddles along; or the manly boy, who gives his arm +to his younger sister with all the air of protection of manhood. + +What joyous sounds of mirth come from each group--the clear voices +ringing pleasantly on the ear, from creatures fair and blooming as the +flowers of the rich _parterres_ among which they wander! How each group +examines the other--half-disposed to join in each other's sports, but +withheld by a vague fear of making the first advances--a fear which +indicates that even already civilisation and the artificial habits it +engenders, have taught them the restraint it imposes! + +The nurses, too, scrutinise each other, and their little masters and +misses, as they meet. They take in at a glance the toilettes of each, +and judge with an extraordinary accuracy the station of life to which +they appertain. + +The child of noble birth is known by the simplicity of its dress and +the good manners of its _bonne_; while that of _the parvenu_ is at once +recognised by the showiness and expensiveness of its clothes, and the +superciliousness of its nurse, who, accustomed to the purse-proud +pretensions of her employers, values nothing so much as all the +attributes that indicate the possession of wealth. + +The little children look wistfully at each other every time they meet; +then begin to smile, and at length approach, and join, half-timidly, +half-laughingly, in each other's sports. The nurses, too, draw near, +enter into a conversation, in which each endeavours to insinuate the +importance of her young charge, and consequently her own; while the +children have already contracted an intimacy, which is exemplified by +running hand-in-hand together, their clear jocund voices being mingled. + +It is a beautiful sight to behold these gay creatures, who have little +more than passed the first two or three years of life, with the roses +of health glowing on their dimpled cheeks, and the joyousness of +infancy sparkling in their eyes. + +They know nought of existence but its smiles; and, caressed by doating +parents, have not a want unsatisfied. Entering life all hope and +gaiety, what a contrast do they offer to the groups of old men who must +so soon leave it, who are basking in the sunshine so near them! Yet +they, too, have had their hours of joyous infancy; and, old and faded +as they are, they have been doated on, as they gambolled like the happy +little beings they now pause to contemplate. + +There was something touching in the contrast of youth and age brought +thus together, and I thought that more than one of the old men seemed +to feel it as they looked on the happy children. + +I met my new acquaintance, Dr. P----, who was walking with two or three +_savans_; and, having spoken to him, he joined us in our promenade, and +greatly added to its pleasure by his sensible remarks and by his +cheerful tone of mind. He told me that the sight of the fine children +daily to be met in the Luxembourg Gardens, was as exhilarating to his +spirits as the gay flowers in the _parterre_ and that he had frequently +prescribed a walk here to those whose minds stood in need of such a +stimulant. + +The General and Countess d'Orsay arrived yesterday from their +_chateau_, in Franche-Comte. A long correspondence had taught me to +appreciate the gifted mind of Madame, who, to solid attainments, joins +a sparkling wit and vivacity that render her conversation delightful. + +The Countess d'Orsay has been a celebrated beauty; and, though a +grandmother, still retains considerable traces of it. Her countenance +is so _spirituelle_ and piquant, that it gives additional point to the +clever things she perpetually utters; and what greatly enhances her +attractions is the perfect freedom from any of the airs of a _bel +esprit_, and the total exemption from affectation that distinguishes +her. + +General d'Orsay, known from his youth as Le Beau d'Orsay, still +justifies the appellation, for he is the handsomest man of his age that +I have ever beheld. It is said that when the Emperor Napoleon first saw +him, he observed that he would make an admirable model for a Jupiter, +so noble and commanding was the character of his beauty. + +Like most people remarkable for good looks, General d'Orsay is reported +to have been wholly free from vanity; to which, perhaps, may be +attributed the general assent accorded to his personal attractions +which, while universally admitted, excited none of the envy and +ill-will which such advantages but too often draw on their possessor. +There is a calm and dignified simplicity in the manners of General +d'Orsay, that harmonises well with his lofty bearing. + +It is very gratifying to witness the affection and good intelligence +that reign in the domestic circles in France. Grandfathers and +grandmothers here meet with an attention from their children and +grandchildren, the demonstrations of which are very touching; and I +often see gay and brilliant parties abandoned by some of those with +whom I am in the habit of daily intercourse, in order that they may +pass the evenings with their aged relatives. + +Frequently do I see the beautiful Duchesse de Guiche enter the _salon_ +of her grandmother, sparkling in diamonds, after having hurried away +from some splendid _fete_, of which she was the brightest ornament, to +spend an hour with her before she retired to rest; and the Countess +d'Orsay is so devoted to her mother, that nearly her whole time is +passed with her. + +It is pleasant to see the mother and grandmother inspecting and +commenting on the toilette of the lovely daughter, of whom they are so +justly proud, while she is wholly occupied in inquiring about the +health of each, or answering their questions relative to that of her +children. + +The good and venerable Duc de Gramont examines his daughter-in-law +through his eyeglass, and, with an air of paternal affection, observes +to General d'Orsay, "How well our daughter looks to-night!" + +Madame Craufurd, referring to her great age last evening, said to me, +and a tear stole down her cheek while she spoke: + + "Ah, my dear friend! how can I think that I must soon leave + all those who love me so much, and whom I so dote on, without + bitter regret? Yes, I am too happy here to be as resigned as + I ought to be to meet death." + +Saw Potier in the _Ci-devant Jeune Homme_ last night. It is an +excellent piece of acting, from the first scene where he appears in all +the infirmity of age, in his night-cap and flannel dressing-gown, to +the last, in which he portrays tho would-be young man. His face, his +figure, his cough, are inimitable; and when he recounts to his servant +the gaieties of the previous night, the hollow cheek, sunken eye, and +hurried breathing of the "Ci-devant Jeune Homme" render the scene most +impressive. + +Nothing could be more comic than the metamorphose effected in his +appearance by dress, except it were his endeavours to assume an air and +countenance suitable to the juvenility of his toilette; while, at +intervals, some irrepressible symptom of infirmity reminded the +audience of the pangs the effort to appear young inflicted on him. +Potier is a finished actor, and leaves nothing to be wished, except +that he may long continue to perform and delight his audience as last +night. + +Dined yesterday at the Countess d'Orsay's, with a large family party. +The only stranger was Sir Francis Burdett. A most agreeable dinner, +followed by a very pleasant evening. I have seldom seen any Englishman +enjoy French society as much as the worthy baronet does. He speaks the +language with great facility, is well acquainted with its literature, +and has none of the prejudices which militate so much against acquiring +a perfect knowledge of the manners and customs of a foreign country. + +French society has decidedly one great superiority over English, and +that is its freedom from those topics which too often engross so +considerable a portion of male conversation, even in the presence of +ladies, in England. I have often passed the evening previously and +subsequently to a race, in which many of the men present took a lively +interest, without ever hearing it made the subject of conversation. +Could this be said of a party in England, on a similar occasion? + +Nor do the men here talk of their shooting or hunting before women, as +with us. This is a great relief, for in England many a woman is doomed +to listen to interminable tales of slaughtered grouse, partridges, and +pheasants; of hair breadth "'scapes by flood and field," and venturous +leaps, the descriptions of which leave one in doubt whether the +narrator or his horse be the greater animal of the two, and render the +poor listener more fatigued by the recital than either was by the +longest chase. + +A dissertation on the comparative merits of Manton's, Lancaster's, and +Moore's guns, and the advantage of percussion locks, it is true, +generally diversifies the conversation. + +Then how edifying it is to hear the pedigrees of horses--the odds for +and against the favourite winning such or such a race--the good or bad +books of the talkers--the hedging or backing of the betters! Yet all +this are women condemned to hear on the eve of a race, or during the +shooting or hunting season, should their evil stars bring them into the +society of any of the Nimrods or sportsmen of the day, who think it not +only allowable to devote nearly all their time to such pursuits, but to +talk of little else. + +The woman who aims at being popular in her county, must not only listen +patiently, but evince a lively interest in these _intellectual_ +occupations; while, if the truth was confessed, she is thoroughly +_ennuyee_ by these details of them: or if not, it must be inferred that +she has lost much of the refinement of mind and taste peculiar to the +well-educated portion of her sex. + +I do not object to men liking racing, hunting, and shooting. The first +preserves the breed of horses, for which England is so justly +celebrated, and hunting keeps up the skill in horsemanship in which our +men excel. What I do object to is their making these pursuits the +constant topics of conversation before women, instead of selecting +those more suitable to the tastes and habits of the latter. + +There is none of the affectation of avoiding subjects supposed to be +uninteresting to women visible in the men here. They do not utter with +a smile--half pity, half condescension,--"we must not talk politics +before the ladies;" they merely avoid entering into discussions, or +exhibiting party spirit, and shew their deference for female society by +speaking on literature, on which they politely seem to take for granted +that women are well informed. + +Perhaps this deferential treatment of the gentler sex may not be wholly +caused by the good breeding of the men in France; for I strongly +suspect that the women here would be very little disposed to submit to +the _nonchalance_ that prompts the conduct I have referred to in +England, and that any man who would make his horses or his field-sports +the topic of discourse in their presence, would soon find himself +expelled from their society. + +Frenchwomen still think, and with reason, that they govern the tone of +the circles in which they move, and look with jealousy on any +infringement of the respectful attention they consider to be their due. + +A few nights ago I saw the Duchesse de Guiche, on her return from a +reception at court, sparkling in diamonds, and looking so beautiful +that she reminded me of Burke's description of the lovely and +unfortunate Marie-Antoinette. To-day I thought her still more +attractive, when, wearing only a simple white _peignoir_, and her +matchless hair bound tightly round her classically shaped head, I saw +her enacting the part of _garde-malade_ to her children, who have +caught the measles. + +With a large, and well-chosen nursery-establishment, she would confide +her precious charge to no care but her own, and moved from each little +white bed to the other with noiseless step and anxious glance, bringing +comfort to the dear little invalid in each. No wonder that her children +adore her, for never was there so devoted a mother. + +In the meridian of youth and beauty, and filling so brilliant a +position in France, it is touching to witness how wholly engrossed this +amiable young woman's thoughts are by her domestic duties. She incites, +by sharing, the studies of her boys; and already is her little girl, +owing to her mother's judicious system, cited as a model. + +It was pleasant to see the Duc, when released from his attendance at +court, hurrying into the sick chamber of his children, and their +languid eyes, lighting up with a momentary animation, and their +feverish lips relaxing into a smile, at the sound of his well-known +voice. And this is the couple considered to be "the glass of fashion +and the mould of form," the observed of all observers, of the courtly +circle at Paris! + +Who could behold them as I have done, in that sick room, without +acknowledging that, despite of all that has been said of the +deleterious influence of courts on the feelings of those who live much +in them, the truly good pass unharmed through the dangerous ordeal? + +Went to the Theatre des Nouveautes last night, where I saw _La Maison +du Rempart_. The Parisians seem to have decided taste for bringing +scenes of riot and disorder on the stage; and the tendency of such +exhibitions is any thing but salutary with so inflammable a people, and +in times like the present. + +One of the scenes of _La Maison du Rempart_ represents an armed mob +demolishing the house of a citizen--an act of violence that seemed to +afford great satisfaction to the majority of the audience; and, though +the period represented is that of the _Fronde_, the acts of the rabble +strongly assimilated with those of the same class in later times, when +the revolution let loose on hapless France the worst of all tyrants--a +reckless and sanguinary mob. I cannot help feeling alarmed at the +consequences likely to result from such performances. Sparks of fire +flung among gunpowder are not more dangerous. Shewing a populace what +they can effect by brutal force is a dangerous experiment; it is like +letting a tame lion see how easily he could overpower his keepers. + +Mr. Cuthbert and M. Charles Laffitte dined here yesterday. Both are +excellent specimens of their countries; the former being well-informed +and agreeable, and the latter possessing all the good sense we believe +to be peculiar to an Englishman, with the high breeding that appertains +to a thoroughly well-educated Frenchman. + +The advance of civilization was evident in both these gentlemen--the +Englishman speaking French with purity and fluency, and the Frenchman +speaking English like a born Briton. Twenty years ago, this would have +been considered a very rare occurrence, while now it excites little +remark. But it is not alone the languages of the different countries +that Mr. Cuthbert and M. Charles Laffitte have acquired, for both are +well acquainted with the literature of each, which renders their +society very agreeable. + +Spent last evening in the Rue d'Anjou, where I met Lady Combermere, the +Dowager Lady Hawarden, and Mrs. Masters. Lady Combermere is lively and +agreeable, _un peu romanesque_, which gives great originality to her +conversation, and sings Mrs. Arkwright's beautiful ballads with great +feeling. + +Mr. Charles Grant[4] dined here yesterday. He is a very sensible man, +possessing a vast fund of general information, with gentle and +highly-polished manners. What a charm there is in agreeable manners, +and how soon one feels at ease with those who possess them! + +Spent, or mis-spent, a great portion of the day in visiting the +curiosity shops on the _Quai Voltaire_, and came away from them with a +lighter purse than I entered. There is no resisting, at least I find it +so, the exquisite _porcelaine de Sevres_, off which the dainty dames of +the reign of Louis the Fourteenth feasted, or which held their +_bouquets_, or _pot pourri_. An _etui of_ gold set with oriental agates +and brilliants, and a _flacon_ of rock crystal, both of which once +appertained to Madame de Sevigne, vanquished my prudence. + +Would that with the possession of these articles, often used by her, I +could also inherit the matchless grace with which her pen could invest +every subject it touched! But, alas! it is easier to acquire the +beautiful _bijouterie_, rendered still more valuable by having belonged +to celebrated people, than the talent that gained their celebrity; and +so I must be content with inhaling _esprit de rose_ from the _flacon_ +of Madame de Sevigne, without aspiring to any portion of the _esprit_ +for which she was so distinguished. + +I am now rich in the possession of objects once belonging to remarkable +women, and I am not a little content with my acquisitions. I can boast +the gold and enamelled pincushion of Madame de Maintenon, heart-shaped, +and stuck as full of pins as the hearts of the French Protestants were +with thorns by the revocation of the Edict of Nantes; to which she is +said to have so greatly contributed by her counsel to her infatuated +lover, Louis the Fourteenth. I can indulge in a pinch of snuff from the +_tabatiere_ of the Marquise de Rambouillet, hold my court-plaster in +the _boite a mouches_ of Ninon de l'Enclos, and cut ribands with the +scissors of Madame de Deffand. + +This desire of obtaining objects that have belonged to celebrated +people may be, and often is, considered puerile; but confess to the +weakness, and the contemplation of the little memorials I have named +awakens recollections in my mind fraught with interest. + +I can fancy Madame de Sevigne, who was as amiable as she was clever, +and whose tenderness towards her daughter is demonstrated so naturally +and touchingly in the letters she addressed to her, holding the +_flacon_ now mine to the nostrils of Madame de Grignan, in whose health +she was always so much more interested than in her own. + +I can see in my mind's eye the precise and demure Madame de Maintenon +taking a pin from the very pincushion now before me, to prevent the +opening of her kerchief, and so conceal even her throat from the prying +eyes of the aged voluptuary, whose passions the wily prude is said to +have excited by a concealment of a portion of her person that had, in +all probability, ceased to possess charms enough to produce this +effect, if revealed. + +This extreme reserve on the part of the mature coquette evinced a +profound knowledge of mankind, and, above all, of him on whom she +practised her arts. The profuse display of the bust and shoulders in +those days, when the ladies of the court left so little to the +imagination of the amorous monarch on whose heart so many of them had +designs, must have impaired the effect meant to have been achieved by +the indelicate exposure; for--hear it ye fair dames, with whose snowy +busts and dimpled shoulders the eyes of your male acquaintance are as +familiar as with your faces!--the charms of nature, however beautiful, +fall short of the ideal perfection accorded to them by the imagination, +when unseen. The clever Maintenon, aware of this fact, of which the +less wise of her sex are ignorant or forgetful, afforded a striking +contrast in her dress to the women around her, and piquing first the +curiosity, and then the passions, of the old libertine, acquired an +influence over him when she had long passed the meridian of her +personal attractions, which youthful beauties, who left him no room to +doubt their charms, or to exaggerate them as imagination is prone to +do, could never accomplish. + +This very pincushion, with its red velvet heart stuck with pins, was +probably a gift from the enamoured Louis, and meant to be symbolical of +the state of his own; which, in hardness, it might be truly said to +resemble. It may have often been placed on her table when Maintenon was +paying the penalty of her hard-earned greatness by the painful task of +endeavouring--as she acknowledged--to amuse a man who was no longer +amusable. + +Could it speak, it might relate the wearisome hours passed in a palace +(for the demon _Ennui_ cannot be expelled even from the most brilliant; +nay, prefers, it is said, to select them for his abode), and we should +learn, that while an object of envy to thousands, the mistress, or +unacknowledged wife of _le Grand Monarque_, was but little more happy +than the widow of Scarron when steeped in poverty. + +Madame de Maintenon discovered what hundreds before and since have +done--that splendour and greatness cannot confer happiness; and, while +trying to amuse a man who, though possessed of sovereign power, has +lost all sense of enjoyment, must have reverted, perhaps with a sigh, +to the little chamber in which she so long soothed the sick bed of the +witty octogenarian, Scarron; who, gay and cheerful to the last, could +make her smile by his sprightly and _spirituelles_ sallies, which +neither the evils of poverty nor pain could subdue. + +Perhaps this pincushion has lain on her table when Madame de Maintenon +listened to the animating conversation of Racine, or heard him read +aloud, with that spirit and deep pathos for which his reading was so +remarkable, his _Esther_ and _Alhalie_, previously to their performance +at St.-Cyr. + +That she did not make his peace with the king, when he offended him by +writing an essay to prove that long wars, however likely to reflect +glory on a sovereign, were sure to entail misery on his subjects, shews +that either her influence over the mind of Louis was much less powerful +than has been believed, or that she was deficient in the feelings that +must have prompted her to exert it by pleading for him. + +The ungenerous conduct of the king in banishing from his court a man +whose genius shed a purer lustre over it than all the battles Boileau +has sung, and for a cause that merited praise instead of displeasure, +has always appeared to me to be indicative of great meanness as well as +hardness of heart; and while lamenting the weakness of Racine, +originating in a morbid sensibility that rendered his disgrace at court +so painful and humiliating to the poet as to cause his death, I am +still less disposed to pardon the sovereign that could thus excite into +undue action a sensibility, the effects of which led its victim to the +grave. + +The diamond-mounted _tabatiere_ now on my table once occupied a place +on that of the Marquise de Rambouillet, in that hotel so celebrated, +not only for the efforts made by its coterie towards refining the +manners and morals of her day, but the language also, until the +affectation to which its members carried their notions of purity, +exposed them to a ridicule that tended to subvert the influence they +had previously exercised over society. + +Moliere--the inimitable Moliere--may have been permitted the high +distinction of taking a pinch of snuff from it, while planning his +_Precieuses Ridicules_, which, _malgre_ his disingenuous disavowal of +the satire being aimed at the Hotel Rambouillet, evidently found its +subject there. I cannot look at the snuff-box without being reminded of +the brilliant circle which its former mistress assembled around her, +and among which Moliere had such excellent opportunities of studying +the peculiarities of the class he subsequently painted. + +Little did its members imagine, when he was admitted to it, the use he +would make of the privilege; and great must have been their surprise +and mortification, though not avowed, at the first representation of +the _Precieuses Ridicules_, in which many of them must have discovered +the resemblance to themselves, though the clever author professed only +to ridicule their imitators. _Les Femmes Savantes_, though produced +many years subsequently, also found the originals of its characters in +the same source whence Moliere painted _Les Precieuses Ridicules_. + +I can fancy him slily listening to the theme proposed to the assembly +by Mademoiselle Scudery--the _Sarraides_, as she was styled--"Whether a +lover jealous, a lover despised, a lover separated from the object of +his tenderness, or him who has lost her by death, was to be esteemed +the most unhappy." + +At a later period of his life, Moliere might have solved the question +from bitter personal experience, for few ever suffered more from the +pangs of jealousy, and assuredly no one has painted with such +vigour--though the comic often prevails over the serious in his +delineations--the effects of a passion any thing but comic to him. +Strange power of genius, to make others laugh at incidents which had +often tormented himself, and to be able to give humour to characters in +various comedies, actuated by the feelings to which he had so +frequently been a victim! + +I can picture to myself the fair _Julie d'Angennes_, who bestowed not +her hand on the _Duc de Montausier_ until he had served as many years +in seeking it as Jacob had served to gain that of Rachel, and until she +had passed her thirtieth year (in order that his passion should become +as purified from all grossness, as was the language spoken among the +circle in which she lived), receiving with dignified reserve the finely +painted flowers and poems to illustrate them, which formed the +celebrated _Guirlande de Julie_, presented to her by her courtly +admirer. + +I see pass before me the fair and elegant dames of that galaxy of wit +and beauty, Mesdames de Longueville, Lafayette, and de Sevigne, +fluttering their fans as they listened and replied to the gallant +compliments of Voiture, Menage, Chapelain, Desmarets, or De Reaux, or +to the _spirituelle causerie_ of Chamfort. + +What a pity that a society, no less useful than brilliant at its +commencement, should have degenerated into a coterie, remarkable at +last but for its fantastic and false notions of refinement, exhibited +in a manner that deserved the ridicule it called down! + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + + +Spent last evening in the Rue d'Anjou: met there la Marquise de +Pouleprie, and the usual _habitues_. She is a delightful person; for +age has neither chilled the warmth of her heart, nor impaired the +vivacity of her manners. I had heard much of her; for she is greatly +beloved by the Duchesse de Guiche and all the De Gramont family; and +she, knowing their partiality to me, treated me rather as an old than +as a new acquaintance. + +Talking of old times, to which the Duc de Gramont reverted, the +Marquise mentioned having seen the celebrated Madame du Barry in the +garden at Versailles, when she (the Marquise) was a very young girl. +She described her as having a most animated and pleasant countenance, +_un petit nez retrousse_, brilliant eyes, full red lips, and as being +altogether a very attractive person. + +The Marquise de Pouleprie accompanied the French royal family to +England, and remained with them there during the emigration. She told +me that once going through the streets of London in a carriage, with +the French king, during an election at Westminster, the mob, ignorant +of his rank, insisted that he and his servants should take off their +hats, and cry out "Long live Sir Francis Burdett!" which his majesty +did with great good humour, and laughed heartily after. + +Went last night to see Mademoiselle Mars, in "Valerie." It was a +finished performance, and worthy of her high reputation. Never was +there so musical a voice as hers! Every tone of it goes direct to the +heart, and its intonations soothe and charm the ear. Her countenance, +too, is peculiarly expressive. Even when her eyes, in the _role_ she +enacted last night, were fixed, and supposed to be sightless, her +countenance was still beautiful. There is a harmony in its various +expressions that accords perfectly with her clear, soft, and liquid +voice; and the united effect of both these attractions renders her +irresistible. + +Never did Art so strongly resemble Nature as in the acting of this +admirable _artiste_. She identifies herself so completely with the part +she performs, that she not only believes herself for the time being the +heroine she represents, but makes others do so too. There was not a dry +eye in the whole of the female part of the audience last night--a +homage to her power that no other actress on the French stage could now +command. + +The style, too, of Mademoiselle Mars' acting is the most difficult of +all; because there is no exaggeration, no violence in it. The same +difference exists between it and that of other actresses, as between a +highly finished portrait and a glaringly coloured transparency. The +feminine, the graceful, and the natural, are never lost sight of for a +moment. + +The French are admirable critics of acting, and are keenly alive to the +beauties of a chaste and finished style, like that of Mademoiselle +Mars. In Paris there is no playing to the galleries, and for a simple +reason:--the occupants of the galleries here are as fastidious as those +of the boxes, and any thing like outraging nature would be censured by +them: whereas, in other countries, the broad and the exaggerated almost +invariably find favour with the gods. + +The same pure and refined taste that characterises the acting of +Mademoiselle Mars presides also over her toilette, which is always +appropriate and becoming. + +Accustomed to the agreeable mixture of literary men in London society, +I observe, with regret, their absence in that of Paris. I have +repeatedly questioned people why this is, but have never been able to +obtain a satisfactory answer. It tells much against the good taste of +those who can give the tone to society here, that literary men should +be left out of it; and if the latter _will_ not mingle with the +aristocratic circles they are to blame, for the union of both is +advantageous to the interests of each. + +Parisian society is very exclusive, and is divided into small coteries, +into which a stranger finds it difficult to become initiated. Large +routes are rare, and not at all suited to the tastes of the French +people; who comment with merriment, if not with ridicule, on the +evening parties in London, where the rooms being too small to contain +half the guests invited, the stairs and ante-rooms are filled by a +crowd, in which not only the power of conversing, but almost of +respiring is impeded. + +The French ladies attribute the want of freshness so remarkable in the +toilettes of Englishwomen, to their crowded routes, and the knowledge +of its being impossible for a robe, or at least of a greater portion of +one than covers a bust, to be seen; which induces the fair wearers to +economise, by rarely indulging in new dresses. + +At Paris certain ladies of distinction open their _salons_, on one +evening of each week, to a circle of their acquaintances, not too +numerous to banish that ease and confidence which form the delight of +society. Each lady takes an evening for her receptions, and no one +interferes with her arrangements by giving a party on the same night. +The individuals of each circle are thus in the habit of being +continually in each other's society; consequently the etiquette and +formality, so _genant_ among acquaintances who seldom meet, are +banished. + +To preserve the charm of these unceremonious _reunions_, strangers are +seldom admitted to them, but are invited to the balls, dinners, or +large parties, where they see French people _en grande lenue_, both in +dress and manner, instead of penetrating into the more agreeable +parties to which I have referred, where the graceful _neglige_ of a +_demi-toilette_ prevails, and the lively _causerie_ of the _habitues de +la maison_ supersedes the constraint of ceremony. + +Such a society is precisely the sort of one that literary men would, I +should suppose, like to mingle in, to unbend their minds from graver +studies, and yet not pass their time unprofitably; for in it, politics, +literature, and the fine arts, generally furnish the topics of +conversation: from which, however, the warmth of discussion, which too +frequently renders politics a prohibited subject, is excluded, or the +pedantry that sometimes spoils literary _causerie_ is banished. + +French people, male and female, talk well; give their opinions with +readiness and vivacity; often striking out ideas as original as they +are brilliant; highly suggestive to more profound thinkers, but which +they dispense with as much prodigality as a spendthrift throws away his +small coin, conscious of having more at his disposal. Quick of +perception, they jump, rather than march, to a conclusion, at which an +Englishman or a German would arrive leisurely, enabled to tell all the +particulars of the route, but which the Frenchman would know little of +from having arrived by some shorter road. This quickness of perception +exempts them from the necessity of devoting much of the time and study +which the English or Germans employ in forming opinions, but it also +precludes their being able to reason as justly or as gravely on those +they form. + +Walked in the gardens of the Tuileries to-day. What a contrast their +frequenters offer to those of the Luxembourg! In the Tuileries, the +promenaders look as if they only walked there to display their tasteful +dresses and pretty persons. + +The women eye each other as they pass, and can tell at a glance whether +their respective _chapeaux_ have come from the _atelier_ of Herbault, +or the less _recherce magasin de modes_ of some more humble _modiste_. +How rapidly can they see whether the Cashmere shawl of some passing +dame owes its rich but sober tints to an Indian loom, or to the fabric +of M. Ternaux, who so skilfully imitates the exotic luxury; and what a +difference does the circumstance make in their estimation of the +wearer! The beauty of a woman, however great it may be, excites less +envy in the minds of her own sex in France, than does the possession of +a fine Cashmere, or a _garniture_ of real Russian sable--objects of +general desire to every Parisian _belle_. + +I met few handsome women to-day, but these few were remarkably +striking. In Kensington Gardens I should have encountered thrice as +many; but there I should also have seen more plain ones than here. Not +that Englishwomen _en masse_ are not better-looking than the French, +but that these last are so skilful in concealing defects, and revealing +beauties by the appropriateness and good taste in their choice of +dress, that even the plain cease to appear so; and many a woman looks +piquant, if not pretty, at Paris, thanks to her _modiste_, her +_couturiere_, and her _cordonnier_, who, without their "artful aid," +would be plain indeed. + +It is pleasant to behold groups of well-dressed women walking, as only +French women ever do walk, nimbly moving their little feet _bien +chausse_, and with an air half timid, half _espiegle_, that elicits the +admiration they affect to avoid. The rich and varied material of their +robes, the pretty _chapeaux_, from which peep forth such coquettish +glances, the modest assurance--for their self-possession amounts +precisely to that--and the ease and elegance of their carriage, give +them attractions we might seek for in vain in the women of other +countries, however superior these last may be in beauty of complexion +or roundness of _contour_, for which French women in general are not +remarkable. + +The men who frequent the gardens of the Tuileries are of a different +order to those met with in the Luxembourg. They consist chiefly of +military men and young fashionables, who go to admire the pretty women, +and elderly and middle-aged ones, who meet in knots and talk politics +with all the animation peculiar to their nation. Children do not abound +in the walks here, as in the Luxembourg; and those to be seen are +evidently brought by some fond mother, proud of exhibiting her boys and +girls in their smart dresses. + +The Tuileries Gardens, so beautiful in summer, are not without their +attractions in winter. The trees, though leafless, look well, rearing +their tall branches towards the clear sky, and the statues and vases +seen through vistas of evergreen shrubs, with the gilded railing which +gives back the rays of the bright, though cold sun, and the rich +velvets of every hue in which the women are enveloped, giving them the +appearance of moving _parterres_ of dahlias, all render the scene a +very exhilarating one to the spirits. + +I observe a difference in the usages _de moeurs_ at Paris, and in those +of London, of which an ignorance might lead to give offence. In +England, a lady is expected to bow to a gentleman before he presumes to +do so to her, thus leaving her the choice of acknowledging his +acquaintance, or not; but in France it is otherwise, for a man takes +off his hat to every woman whom he has ever met in society, although he +does not address her, unless she encourages him to do so. + +In Paris, if two men are walking or riding together, and one of them +bows to a lady of his acquaintance, the other also takes off his hat, +as a mark of respect to the lady known to his friend, although he is +not acquainted with her. The mode of salutation is also much more +deferential towards women in France than in England. The hat is held a +second longer off the head, the bow is lower, and the smile of +recognition is more _amiable_, by which, I mean, that it is meant to +display the pleasure experienced by the meeting. + +It is true that the really well-bred Englishmen are not to be surpassed +in politeness and good manners by those of any other country, but all +are not such; and I have seen instances of men in London acknowledging +the presence of ladies, by merely touching, instead of taking off, +their hats when bowing to them; and though I accounted for this +solecism in good breeding by the belief that it proceeded from the +persons practising it wearing wigs, I discovered that there was not +even so good an excuse as the fear of deranging them, and that their +incivility proceeded from ignorance, or _nonchalance_, while the glum +countenance of him who bowed betrayed rather a regret for the necessity +of touching his beaver, than a pleasure at meeting her for whom the +salute was intended. + +Time flies away rapidly here, and its flight seems to me to mark two +distinct states of existence. My mornings are devoted wholly to reading +history, poetry, or _belles lettres_, which abstract me so completely +from the actual present to the past, that the hours so disposed of +appear to be the actual life, and those given up to society the shadowy +and unreal. + +This forcible contrast between the two portions of the same day, gives +charms to both, though I confess the hours passed in my library are +those which leave behind them the pleasantest reflections. I +experienced this sentiment when in the hey-day of youth, and surrounded +by some of the most gifted persons in England; but now, as age +advances, the love of solitude and repose increases, and a life spent +in study appears to me to be the one of all others the most desirable, +as the enjoyment of the best thoughts of the best authors is preferable +even to their conversation, could it be had, and, consequently to that +of the cleverest men to be met with in society. + +Some pleasant people dined here yesterday. Among them was Colonel +Caradoc, the son of our old friend Lord Howden. He possesses great and +versatile information, is good-looking, well-bred, and has superior +abilities; in short, he has all the means, and appliances to boot, to +make a distinguished figure, in life, if he lacks not the ambition and +energy to use them; but, born to station and fortune, he may want the +incitement which the absence of these advantages furnishes, and be +content to enjoy the good he already has, instead of seeking greater +distinction. + +Colonel Caradoc's conversation is brilliant and epigrammatic; and if +occasionally a too evident consciousness of his own powers is suffered +to be revealed in it, those who know it to be well-founded will pardon +his self-complacency, and not join with the persons, and they are not +few, whose _amour-propre_ is wounded by the display of his, and who +question, what really is not questionable, the foundation on which his +pretensions are based. + +The clever, like the handsome, to be pardoned for being so, should +affect a humility they are but too seldom in the habit of feeling; and +to acquire popularity must appear unconscious of meriting it. This is +one of the many penalties entailed on the gifted in mind or person. + +_January 1st_, 1829.--There is always something grave, if not awful, in +the opening of a new year; for who knows what may occur to render it +memorable for ever! If the bygone one has been marked by aught sad, the +arrival of the new reminds one of the lapse of time; and though the +destroyer brings patience, we sigh to think that we may have new +occasions for its difficult exercise. Who can forbear from trembling +lest the opening year may find us at its close with a lessened circle. +Some, now dear and confided in, may become estranged, or one dearer +than life may be snatched away whose place never can be supplied! The +thought is too painful to be borne, and makes one look around with +increased affection on those dear to us. + +The custom prevalent at Paris of offering an exchange of gifts on the +first day of the new year was, perhaps, originally intended to banish +the melancholy reflections such an epoch is calculated to awaken. + +My tables are so crowded with gifts that I might set up a _petit +Dunkerque_ of my own, for not a single friend has omitted to send me a +present. These gifts are to be acknowledged by ones of similar value, +and I must go and put my taste to the test in selecting _cadeaux_ to +send in return. + +Spent several hours yesterday in the gallery of the Louvre. The +collection of antiquities, though a very rich, one, dwindles into +insignificance when compared with that of the Vatican, and the halls in +which it is arranged appear mean in the eyes of those accustomed to see +the numerous and splendid ones of the Roman edifice. Nevertheless, I +felt much satisfaction in lounging through groups of statues, and busts +of the remarkable men and women of antiquity, with the countenances of +many of whom I had made myself familiar in the Vatican, the Musee of +the Capitol, or in the collection at Naples, where facsimiles of +several of them are to be found. + +Nor had I less pleasure in contemplating the personifications of the +_beau ideal_ of the ancient sculptors, exhibited in their gods and +goddesses, in whose faultless faces the expression of all passion seems +to have been carefully avoided. Whether this peculiarity is to be +accounted for by the desire of the artist to signify the superiority of +the Pagan divinities over mortals, by this absence of any trace of +earthly feelings, or whether it was thought that any decided expression +might deteriorate from the character of repose and beauty that marks +the works of the great sculptors of antiquity, I know not, but the +effect produced on my mind by the contemplation of these calm and +beautiful faces, has something so soothing in it, that I can well +imagine with what pleasure those engaged in the turmoils of war, or the +scarcely less exciting arena of politics, in former ages, must have +turned from their mundane cares to look on these personations of their +fabled deities, whose tranquil beauty forms so soothing a contrast to +mortal toils. + +I have observed this calmness of expression in the faces of many of the +most celebrated statues of antiquity, in the Aristides at Naples, I +remember being struck with it, and noticing that he who was banished +through the envy excited by his being styled the Just, was represented +as unmoved as if the injustice of his countrymen no more affected the +even tenour of his mind, than the passions of mortals disturb those of +the mythological divinities of the ancients. + +A long residence in Italy, and a habit of frequenting the galleries +containing the finest works of art there, engender a love of sculpture +and painting, that renders it not only a luxury but almost a necessary +of life to pass some hours occasionally among the all but breathing +marbles and glorious pictures bequeathed to posterity by the mighty +artists of old. I love to pass such hours alone, or in the society of +some one as partial, but more skilled in such studies than myself; and +such a companion I have found in the Baron de Cailleux, an old +acquaintance, and now Under-Director of the Musee, whose knowledge of +the fine arts equals his love for them. + +The contemplation of the _chefs-d'oeuvre_ of the old masters begets a +tender melancholy in the mind, that is not without a charm for those +addicted to it. These stand the results of long lives devoted to the +developement of the genius that embodied these inspirations, and left +to the world the fruit of hours of toil and seclusion,--hours snatched +from the tempting pleasures that cease not to court the senses, but +which they who laboured for posterity resisted. The long vigils, the +solitary days, the hopes and fears, the fears more frequent than the +hopes, the depression of spirits, and the injustice or the indifference +of contemporaries, endured by all who have ever devoted their lives to +art, are present to my mind when I behold the great works of other +times. + +What cheered these men of genius during their toils and enabled them to +finish their glorious works? Was it not the hope that from posterity +they would meet with the admiration, the sympathy, denied them by their +contemporaries?--as the prisoner in his gloomy dungeon, refused all +pity, seeks consolation by tracing a few lines on its dreary walls, in +appeal to the sympathy of some future inhabitant who may be doomed to +take his place. + +I seem to be paying a portion of the debt due by posterity to those who +laboured long and painfully for it, when I stand rapt in admiration +before the works of the great masters of the olden time, my heart +touched with a lively sympathy for their destinies; nor can I look on +the glorious faces or glowing landscapes that remain to us, evincing +the triumph of genius over even time itself, by preserving on canvass +the semblance of all that charmed in nature, without experiencing the +sentiment so naturally and beautifully expressed in the celebrated +picture, by Nicolas Poussin, of a touching scene in Arcadia, in which +is a tomb near to which two shepherds are reading the inscription. "I, +too, was an Arcadian." + +Yes, that which delighted the artists of old, they have transmitted to +us with a tender confidence that when contemplating these bequests we +would remember with sympathy that they, like us, had felt the charms +they delineated. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + + +Went to see the Hotel d'Orsay, to-day. Even in its ruin it still +retains many of the vestiges of its former splendour. The _salle a +manger_, for the decoration of which its owner bought, and had conveyed +from Rome, the columns of the Temple of Nero, is now--hear it, ye who +have taste!--converted into a stable; the _salons_, once filled with +the most precious works of art, are now crumbled to decay, and the vast +garden where bloomed the rarest exotics, and in which were several of +the statues that are now in the gardens of the Tuileries, is now turned +into paddocks for horses. + +It made me sad to look at this scene of devastation, the result of a +revolution which plunged so many noble families from almost boundless +wealth into comparative poverty, and scattered collections of the works +of art that whole lives were passed in forming. I remember Mr. +Millingen, the antiquary, telling me in Italy that when yet little more +than a boy he was taken to view the Hotel d'Orsay, then one of the most +magnificent houses in Paris, and containing the finest collection of +pictures and statues, and that its splendour made such an impression on +his mind that he had never forgotten it. + +With an admirable taste and a princely fortune, Count d'Orsay spared +neither trouble nor expense to render his house the focus of all that +was rich and rare; and, with a spirit that does not always animate the +possessor of rare works of art, he opened it to the young artists of +the day, who were permitted to study in its gallery and _salons_. + +In the slate drawing-rooms a fanciful notion of the Count's was carried +into effect and was greatly admired, though, I believe, owing to the +great expense, the mode was not adopted in other houses, namely, on the +folding-doors of the suite being thrown open to admit company, certain +pedals connected with them were put in motion, and a strain of music +was produced, which announced the presence of guests, and the doors of +each of the drawing-rooms when opened took up the air, and continued it +until closed. + +Many of the old _noblesse_ have been describing the splendour of the +Hotel d'Orsay to me since I have been at Paris, and the Duc de +Talleyrand said it almost realised the notion of a fairy palace. Could +the owner who expended such vast sums on its decoration, behold it in +its present ruin, he could never recognise it; but such would be the +case with many a one whose stately palaces became the prey of a furious +rabble, let loose to pillage by a revolution--that most fearful of all +calamities, pestilence only excepted, that can befall a country. + +General Ornano, his stepson Count Waleski, M. Achille La Marre, General +d'Orsay, and Mr. Francis Baring dined here yesterday. General Ornano is +agreeable and well-mannered. We had music in the evening, and the +lively and pretty Madame la H---- came. She is greatly admired, and no +wonder; for she is not only handsome, but clever and piquant. Hers does +not appear to be a well-assorted marriage, for M. la H---- is grave, if +not austere, in his manners, while she is full of gaiety and vivacity, +the demonstrations of which seem to give him any thing but pleasure. + +I know not which is most to be pitied, a saturnine husband whose +gravity is only increased by the gaiety of his wife, or the gay wife +whose exuberance of spirits finds no sympathy in the Mentor-like +husband. Half, if not all, the unhappy marriages, accounted for by +incompatibility of humour, might with more correctness be attributed to +a total misunderstanding of each other's characters and dispositions in +the parties who drag a heavy and galling chain through life, the links +of which might be rendered light and easy to be borne, if the wearers +took but half the pains to comprehend each other's peculiarities that +they in general do to reproach or to resent the annoyance these +peculiarities occasion them. + +An austere man would learn that the gaiety of his wife was as natural +and excusable a peculiarity in her, as was his gravity in him, and +consequently would not resent it; and the lively wife would view the +saturnine humour of her husband as a malady demanding forbearance and +kindness. + +The indissolubility of marriage, so often urged as an additional cause +for aggravating the sense of annoyance experienced by those wedded but +unsuited to each other, is, in my opinion, one of the strongest motives +for using every endeavour to render the union supportable, if not +agreeable. If a dwelling known to be unalienable has some defect which +makes it unsuited to the taste of its owner, he either ameliorates it, +or, if that be impracticable, he adopts the resolution of supporting +its inconvenience with patience; so should a philosophical mind bear +all that displeases in a union in which even the most fortunate find +"something to pity or forgive." It is unfortunate that this same +philosophy, considered so excellent a panacea for enabling us to bear +ills, should be so rarely used that people can seldom judge of its +efficacy when required! + +Saw _la Gazza Ladra_ last night, in which Malibran enacted "Ninetta," +and added new laurels to the wreath accorded her by public opinion. Her +singing in the duo, in the prison scene, was one of the most touching +performances I ever heard; and her acting gave a fearful reality to the +picture. + +I have been reading the _Calamities of Authors_ all the morning, and +find I like the book even better on a second perusal--no mean praise, +for the first greatly pleased me. So it is with all the works of Mr. +D'Israeli, who writes _con amore_; and not only with a profound +knowledge of his subjects, but with a deep sympathy, which peeps forth +at every line, for the literary men whose troubles or peculiarities he +describes. + +His must be a fine nature--a contemplative mind imbued with a true love +of literature, and a kindness of heart that melts and makes those of +others melt, for the evils to which its votaries are exposed. + +How much are those who like reading, but are too idle for research, +indebted to Mr. D'Israeli, who has given them the precious result of a +long life of study, so admirably digested and beautifully conveyed that +in a few volumes are condensed a mass of the most valuable information! +I never peruse a production of his without longing to be personally +acquainted with him; and, though we never met, I entertain a regard and +respect for him, induced by the many pleasant hours his works have +afforded me. + +Met the Princesse de Talleyrand last night at Madame C----'s. I felt +curious to see this lady, of whom I had heard such various reports; +and, as usual, found her very different to the descriptions I had +received. + +She came _en princesse_, attended by two _dames de compagnie_, and a +gentleman who acted as _chambellan_. Though her _embonpoint_ has not +only destroyed her shape but has also deteriorated her face, the small +features of which seem imbued in a mask much too fleshy for their +proportions, it is easy to see that in her youth she must have been +handsome. Her complexion is fair; her hair, judging from the eye-brows +and eye-lashes, must have been very light; her eyes are blue; her nose, +_retrousse_; her mouth small, with full lips; and the expression of her +countenance is agreeable, though not intellectual. + +In her demeanour there is an evident assumption of dignity, which, +falling short of the aim, gives an ungraceful stiffness to her +appearance. Her dress was rich but suited to her age, which I should +pronounce to be about sixty. Her manner has the formality peculiar to +those conscious of occupying a higher station than their birth or +education entitles them to hold; and this consciousness gives an air of +constraint and reserve that curiously contrasts with the natural +good-humour and _naivete_ that are frequently perceptible in her. + +If ignorant--as is asserted--there is no symptom of it in her language. +To be sure, she says little; but that little is expressed with +propriety: and if reserved, she is scrupulously polite. Her _dames de +compagnie_ and _chambellan_ treat her with profound respect, and she +acknowledges their attentions with civility. To sum up all, the +impression made upon me by the Princesse Talleyrand was, that she +differed in no way from any other princess I had ever met, except by a +greater degree of reserve and formality than were in general evinced by +them. + +I could not help smiling inwardly when looking at her, as I remembered +Baron Denon's amusing story of the mistake she once made. When the +Baron's work on Egypt was the topic of general conversation, and the +hotel of the Prince Talleyrand was the rendezvous of the most +distinguished persons of both sexes at Paris, Denon being engaged to +dine there one day, the Prince wished the Princesse to read a few pages +of the book, in order that she might be enabled to say something +complimentary on it to the author. He consequently ordered his +librarian to send the work to her apartment on the morning of the day +of the dinner; but, unfortunately, at the same time also commanded that +a copy of _Robinson Crusoe_ should be sent to a young lady, a +_protegee_ of hers, who resided in the hotel. The Baron Denon's work, +through mistake, was given to Mademoiselle, and _Robinson Crusoe_ was +delivered to the Princesse, who rapidly looked through its pages. + +The seat of honour at table being assigned to the Baron, the Princesse, +mindful of her husband's wishes, had no sooner eaten her soup than, +smiling graciously, she thanked Denon for the pleasure which the +perusal of his work had afforded her. The author was pleased, and told +her how much he felt honoured; but judge of his astonishment, and the +dismay of the Prince Talleyrand, when the Princesse exclaimed. "Yes, +Monsieur le Baron, your work has delighted me; but I am longing to know +what has become of your poor man Friday, about whom I feel such an +interest?" + +Denon used to recount this anecdote with great spirit, confessing at +the same time that his _amour propre_ as an author had been for a +moment flattered by the commendation, even of a person universally +known to be incompetent to pronounce on the merit of his book. The +Emperor Napoleon heard this story, and made Baron Denon repeat it to +him, laughing immoderately all the time, and frequently after he would, +when he saw Denon, inquire "how was poor Friday?" + +When the second restoration of the Bourbons took place, the Prince +Talleyrand, anxious to separate from the Princesse, and to get her out +of his house, induced her, under the pretence that a change of air was +absolutely necessary for her health, to go to England for some months. +She had only been there a few weeks when a confidential friend at Paris +wrote to inform her that from certain rumours afloat it was quite clear +the Prince did not intend her to take up her abode again in his house, +and advised her to return without delay. The Princesse instantly +adopted this counsel, and arrived most unexpectedly in the Rue +St.-Florentin, to the alarm and astonishment of the whole establishment +there, who had been taught not to look for her entering the hotel any +more; and to the utter dismay of the Prince, who, however anxious to be +separated from her, dreaded a scene of violence still more than he +wished to be released from his conjugal chains. + +She forced her admission to his presence, overwhelmed him with +reproaches, and it required the exercise of all his diplomatic skill to +allay the storm he had raised. The affair became the general topic of +conversation at Paris; and when, the day after the event, the Prince +waited on Louis the Eighteenth on affairs of state, the King, who loved +a joke, congratulated him on the unexpected arrival of Madame la +Princesse. + +Prince Talleyrand felt the sarcasm, and noticed it by one of those +smiles so peculiar to him--a shake of the head and shrug of the +shoulders, while he uttered "_Que voulez-vous, Sire, chacun a son vingt +Mars_?" referring to the unexpected arrival of the Emperor Napoleon. + +I have been reading _Yes and No_, a very clever and, interesting novel +from the pen of Lord Normanby. His writings evince great knowledge of +the world, the work-o'-day world, as well as the _beau monde_; yet +there is no bitterness in his satire, which is always just and happily +pointed. His style, too, is easy, fluent, and polished, without being +disfigured by the slightest affectation or pedantry. + +Had a long visit to-day from Dr. P----, who has lent me the works of +Bichat and Broussais, which he recommends me to read. He is a most +agreeable companion, and as vivacious as if he was only twenty. He +reminds me sometimes of my old friend Lady Dysart, whose juvenility of +mind and manner always pleased as much as it surprised me. + +Old people like these appear to forget, as they are forgotten by, time; +and, like trees marked to be cut down, but which escape the memory of +the marker, they continue to flourish though the lines traced for their +destruction are visible. + +The more I see of Count Waleski the more I am pleased with him. He has +an acute mind, great quickness of perception, and exceedingly good +manners. I always consider it a good sign of a young man to be partial +to the society of the old, and I observe that Count Waleski evinces a +preference for that of men old enough to be his father. People are not +generally aware of the advantages which agreeable manners confer, and +the influence they exercise over society. I have seen great abilities +fail in producing the effect accomplished by prepossessing manners, +which are even more serviceable to their owner than is a fine +countenance, that best of all letters of recommendation. + +Half the unpopularity of people proceeds from a disagreeable manner; +and though we may be aware of the good qualities of persons who have +this defect, we cannot conceal from ourselves that it must always +originate in a want of the desire to please--a want, the evidence of +which cannot fail to wound the self-love of those who detect, and +indispose them towards those who betray it. By a disagreeable manner I +do not mean the awkwardness often arising from timidity, or the too +great familiarity originating in untutored good nature: but I refer to +a superciliousness, or coldness, that marks a sense of superiority; or +to a habit of contradiction, that renders society what it should never +be--an arena of debate. + +How injudicious are those who defend their absent friends, when accused +of having disagreeable manners, by saying, as I have often heard +persons say--"I assure you that he or she can be very agreeable with +those he or she likes:" an assertion which, by implying that the person +accused did not like those who complained of the bad manner, converts +them from simple disapprovers into something approaching to enemies. + +I had once occasion to notice the fine tact of a friend of mine, who, +hearing a person he greatly esteemed censured for his disagreeable +manner, answered, + + "Yes, it is very true: with a thousand good qualities his + manner is very objectionable, even with those he likes best: + it is his misfortune, and he cannot help it; but those who + know him well will pardon it." + +This candid admission of what could not be refuted, checked all further +censure at the moment, whereas an injudicious defence would have +lengthened it; and I heard some of the individuals then present assert, +a few days subsequently, that Lord ---- was not, after all, by any +means to be disliked: for that his manners were equally objectionable +even with his most esteemed friends, and consequently meant nothing +uncivil to strangers. + +I tried this soothing system the other day in defence of ----, when a +whole circle were attacking him for his rude habit of contradicting, by +asserting, with a grave face, that he only contradicted those whose +talents he suspected, in order that he might draw them out in +discussion. + +---- came in soon after, and it was positively amusing to observe how +much better people bore his contradiction. Madame ---- only smiled +when, having asserted that it was a remarkably fine day, he declared it +to be abominable. The Duc de ---- looked gracious when, having repeated +some political news, ---- said he could prove the contrary to be the +fact; and the Comtesse de ---- looked archly round when, having +extravagantly praised a new novel, he pronounced that it was the worst +of all the bad ones of the author. + +---- will become a popular man, and have to thank me for it. How angry +would he be if he knew the service I have rendered him, and how quickly +would he contradict all I said in his favour! ---- reminds me of the +Englishman of whom it was said, that so great was his love of +contradiction, that when the hour of the night and state of the weather +were announced by the watchman beneath his window, he used to get out +of bed and raise both his casement and his voice to protest against the +accuracy of the statement. + +Read _Pelham_; commenced it yesterday, and concluded it to-day. It is a +new style of novel, and, like all that is very clever, will lead to +many copyists. The writer possesses a felicitous fluency of language, +profound and just thoughts, and a knowledge of the world rarely +acquired at his age, for I am told he is a very young man. + +This work combines pointed and pungent satire on the follies of +society, a deep vein of elevated sentiment, and a train of +philosophical thinking, seldom, if ever, allied to the tenderness which +pierces through the sentimental part. The opening reminded me of that +of _Anastatius_, without being in the slightest degree an imitation; +and many of the passages recalled Voltaire, by their wit and terseness. + +I, who don't like reading novels, heard so much in favour of this +one--for all Paris talk of it--that I broke through a resolution formed +since I read the dull book of ----, to read no more; and I am glad I +did so, for this clever book has greatly interested me. + +Oh, the misery of having stupid books presented to one by the author! +----, who is experienced in such matters, told me that the best plan in +such cases was, to acknowledge the receipt of the book the same day it +arrived, and civilly express the pleasure anticipated from its perusal, +by which means the necessity of praising a bad book was avoided. This +system has, however, been so generally adopted of late, that authors +are dissatisfied with it; and, consequently, a good-natured person +often feels compelled to write commendations of books which he or she +is far from approving; and which, though it costs an effort to write, +are far from satisfying the _exigeant amour propre_ peculiar to +authors. + +I remember once being present when the merits of a book were canvassed. +One person declared it to be insufferably dull, when another, who had +published some novel, observed, with rather a supercilious air, "You +know not how difficult it is to write a good book!" + +"I suppose it must be very difficult," was the answer, "seeing how long +and how often you have attempted, without succeeding." + +How these letters of commendations of bad books, extorted from those to +whom the authors present them, will rise up in judgment against the +writers, when they are "gone to that bourne whence no traveller +returns!" I tremble to think of it! What severe animadversions on the +bad taste, or the want of candour of the writers, and all because they +were too good-natured to give pain to the authors! + +Went to the Theatre Italien last night, and saw Malibran in _la +Cenerentola_, in which her acting was no less admirable than her +singing. She sang "Non piu Mesta" better than I ever heard it before, +and astonished as well as delighted the audience. She has a soul and +spirit in her style that carries away her hearers, as no other singer +does, and excites an enthusiasm seldom, if ever, equalled. Malibran +seems to be as little mistress of her own emotions when singing, as +those are whom her thrilling voice melts into softness, or wakes into +passion. Every tone is pregnant with feeling, and every glance and +attitude instinct with truthful emotion. + +A custom prevails in France, which is not practised in Italy, or in +England, namely, _les lettres de faire part_, sent to announce deaths, +marriages, and births, to the circle of acquaintances of the parties. +This formality is never omitted, and these printed letters are sent out +to all on the visiting lists, except relations, or very intimate +friends, to whom autograph letters are addressed. + +Another custom also prevails, which is that of sending _bonbons_ to the +friends and acquaintance of the _accouchee_. These sweet proofs +_d'amitie_ come pouring in frequently, and I confess I do not dislike +the usage. + +The godfather always sends the _bonbons_ and a trinket to the mother of +the child, and also presents the godmother with a _corbeille_, in which +are some dozens of gloves, two or three handsome fans, embroidered +purses, a smelling-bottle, and a _vinaigrette_; and she offers him, _en +revanche_, a cane, buttons, or a pin--in short, some present. The +_corbeilles_ given to godmothers are often very expensive, being suited +to the rank of the parties; so that in Paris the compliment of being +selected as a godfather entails no trifling expense on the chosen. The +great prices given for wedding _trousseaux_ in France, even by those +who are not rich, surprise me, I confess. + +They contain a superabundance of every article supposed to be necessary +for the toilette of a _nouvelle mariee_, from the rich robes of velvet +down to the simple _peignoir de matin_. Dresses of every description +and material, and for all seasons, are found in it. Cloaks, furs, +Cashmere shawls, and all that is required for night or day use, are +liberally supplied; indeed, so much so, that to see one of these +_trousseaux_, one might imagine the person for whom it was intended was +going to pass her life in some far-distant clime, where there would be +no hope of finding similar articles, if ever wanted. + +Then comes the _corbeille de mariage_, well stored with the finest +laces, the most delicately embroidered pocket handkerchiefs, veils, +_fichus, chemisettes_ and _canezous_, trinkets, smelling-bottles, fans, +_vinaigrettes_, gloves, garters; and though last, not least, a purse +well filled to meet the wants or wishes of the bride,--a judicious +attention never omitted. + +These _trousseaux_ and _corbeilles_ are placed in a _salon_, and are +exhibited to the friends the two or three days previously to the +wedding; and the view of them often sends young maidens--ay, and +elderly ones, too--away with an anxious desire to enter that holy state +which ensures so many treasures. It is not fair to hold out such +temptations to the unmarried, and may be the cause why they are +generally so desirous to quit the pale of single blessedness. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + + +Count Charles de Mornay dined here yesterday, _en famille_. How clever +and amusing he is! Even in his liveliest sallies there is the evidence +of a mind that can reflect deeply, as well as clothe its thoughts in +the happiest language. To be witty, yet thoroughly good-natured as he +is, never exercising his wit at the expense of others, indicates no +less kindness of heart than talent. + +I know few things more agreeable than to hear him and his cousin open +the armoury of their wit, which, like summer lightning, flashes rapidly +and brightly, but never wounds. In England, we are apt to consider wit +and satire as nearly synonymous; for we hear of the clever sayings of +our reputed wits, in nine cases out of ten, allied to some ill-natured +_bon mot_, or pointed epigram. In France this is not the case, for some +of the most witty men, and women too, whom I ever knew, are as +remarkable for their good nature as for their cleverness. That wit +which needs not the spur of malice is certainly the best, and is most +frequently met with at Paris. + +Went last evening to see Mademoiselle Marsin _Henri III_. Her acting +was, as usual, inimitable. I was disappointed in the piece, of which I +had heard much praise. It is what the French call _decousue_, but is +interesting as a picture of the manners of the times which it +represents. There is no want of action or bustle in it; on the +contrary, it abounds in incidents: but they are, for the most part, +puerile. As in our own _Othello_, a pocket handkerchief leads to the +_denouement_, reminding one of the truth of the verse,-- + + "What great events from trivial causes spring!" + +The whole court of Henry the Third are brought on the scene, and with +an attention to costume to be found only in a Parisian theatre. The +strict attention to costume, and to all the other accessories +appertaining to the epoch, _mise en scene_, is very advantageous to the +pieces brought out here; but, even should they fail to give or preserve +an illusion, it is always highly interesting as offering a _tableau du +costume, et des moeurs des siecles passes_. The crowd brought on the +stage in _Henri III_, though it adds to the splendour of the scenic +effect, produces a confusion in the plot; as does also the vast number +of names and titles introduced during the scenes, which fatigue the +attention and defy the memory of the spectators. + +The fierce "Duc de Guise," the slave at once of two passions, generally +considered to be the most incompatible, Love and Ambition, is made to +commit strange inconsistencies. "Saint-Megrin" excites less interest +than he ought; but the "Duchesse de Guise," whose beautiful arm plays a +_grand role_, must, as played by Mademoiselle Mars, have conquered all +hearts _vi et armis_. + +_Henri III_ has the most brilliant success, and, in despite of some +faults, is full of genius, and the language is vigorous. Perhaps its +very faults are to be attributed to an excess, rather than to a want, +of power, and to a mind overflowing with a knowledge of the times he +wished to represent; which led to a dilution of the strength of his +scenes, by crowding into them too much extraneous matter. + +A curious incident occurred during the representation. Two +ladies--_gentlewomen_ they could not be correctly styled--being seated +in the _balcon_, were brought in closer contact, whether by the crowd, +or otherwise, than was agreeable to them. From remonstrances they +proceeded to murmurs, not only "loud, but deep," and from +murmurs--"tell it not in Ascalon, publish it not in Gath"--to violent +pushing, and, at length, to blows. The audience were, as well they +might be, shocked; the _Gendarmes_ interfered, and order was soon +restored. The extreme propriety of conduct that invariably prevails in +a Parisian audience, and more especially in the female portion of it, +renders the circumstance I have narrated remarkable. + +Met Lady G., Lady H., and the usual circle of _habitues_ last night at +Madame C----'s. The first-mentioned lady surprises me every time I meet +her, by the exaggeration of her sentiment and the romantic notions she +entertains. Love, eternal love, is her favourite topic of conversation; +a topic unsuited to discussion at her age and in her position. + +To hear a woman, no longer young, talking passionately of love, has +something so absurd in it, that I am pained for Lady C., who is really +a kind-hearted and amiable woman. Her definitions of the passion, and +descriptions of its effects, remind me of the themes furnished by +Scudery, and are as tiresome as the tales of a traveller recounted some +fifty years after he has made his voyage. Lady H., who is older than +Lady G., opens wide her round eyes, laughs, and exclaims, "Oh, +dear!--how very strange!--well, that is so funny!" until Lady C. draws +up with all the dignity of a heroine of romance, and asserts that "few, +very few, are capable of either feeling or comprehending the passion." +A fortunate state for those who are no longer able to inspire it! + +To grow old gracefully, proves no ordinary powers of mind, more +especially in one who has been (oh, what an odious phrase that same +_has been_ is!) a beauty. Well has it been observed by a French writer, +that women no longer young and handsome should forget that they ever +were so. + +I have been reading Wordsworth's poems again, and I verily believe for +the fiftieth time. They contain a mine of lofty, beautiful, and natural +thoughts. I never peruse them without feeling proud that England has +such a poet, and without finding a love for the pure and the noble +increased in my mind. Talk of the ideal in poetry? what is it in +comparison with the positive and the natural, of which he gives such +exquisite delineations, lifting his readers from Nature up to Nature's +God? How eloquently does he portray the feelings awakened by fine +scenery, and the thoughts to which it gives birth! + +Wordsworth is, _par excellence_, the Poet of Religion, for his +productions fill the mind with pure and holy aspirations. Fortunate is +the poet who has quaffed inspiration in the purest of all its sources, +Nature; and fortunate is the land that claims him for her own. + +The influence exercised by courts over the habits of subjects, though +carried to a less extent in our days than in past times, is still +obvious at Paris in the display of religion assumed by the upper class. +Coroneted carriages are to be seen every day at the doors of certain +churches, which it is not very uncharitable to suppose might be less +frequently beheld there if the King, Madame la Dauphine, and the +Dauphin were less religious; and hands that have wielded a sword in +many a well-fought battle-field, and hold the _baton de marechal_ as a +reward, may now be seen bearing a lighted _cierge_ in some pious +procession,--the military air of the intrepid warrior lost in the +humility of the devotee. + +This general assumption of religion on the part of the courtiers +reminds me forcibly of a passage in a poetical epistle, written, too, +by a sovereign, who, unlike many monarchs, seemed to have had a due +appreciation of the proneness of subjects to adopt the opinions of +their rulers. + + "L'exemple d'un monarque ordonne et se fait suivre: + Quand Auguste buvait, la Pologne etait ivre; + Et quand Louis le Grand brulait d'un tendre amour, + Paris devint Cythere, et tout suivait sa cour; + Lorsqu'il devint devot, ardent a la priere, + Ses laches courtisans marmottaient leur breviaire." + +Should the Duc de Bordeaux arrive at the throne while yet in the +hey-day of youth, and with the gaiety that generally accompanies that +period of life, it will be amusing to witness the metamorphosis that +will be effected in these same courtiers. There are doubtless many, and +I am acquainted with some persons here, whose religion is as sincere +and as fervent as is that of the royal personages of the court they +frequent; but I confess that I doubt whether the general mass of the +upper class would _afficher_ their piety as much as they now do if +their regular attendance at divine worship was less likely to be known +at the Tuileries. The influence of a pious sovereign over the religious +feelings of his people must be highly beneficial when they feel, +instead of affecting to do so, the sanctity they profess. + +When those in the possession of supreme power, and all the advantages +it is supposed to confer, turn from the enjoyment of them to seek +support from Heaven to meet the doom allotted to kings as well as +subjects, the example is most salutary; for the piety of the rich and +great is even more edifying than that of the poor and lowly, who are +supposed to seek consolation which the prosperous are imagined not to +require. + +The Duchesse de Berri is very popular at Paris, and deservedly so. Her +natural gaiety harmonises With that of this lively people; and her love +of the fine arts, and the liberal patronage she extends to them, +gratify the Parisians. + +I heard an anecdote of her to-day from an authority which leaves no +doubt of its truth. Having commanded a brilliant _fete_, a heavy fall +of snow drew from one of her courtiers a remark that the extreme cold +would impede the pleasure of the guests, who would suffer from it in +coming and departing, "True," replied the Duchesse; "but if they in +comfortable carriages, and enveloped in furs and cashmeres, can suffer +from the severity of the weather, what must the poor endure?" And she +instantly ordered a large sum of money to be forthwith distributed, to +supply fuel to the indigent, saying--"While I dance, I shall have the +pleasure of thinking the poor are not without the means of warmth." + +Received a long and delightful letter from Walter Savage Landor. His is +one of the most original minds I have ever encountered, and is joined +to one of the finest natures. Living in the delightful solitude he has +chosen near Florence, his time is passed in reading, reflecting, and +writing; a life so blameless and so happy, that the philosophers of +old, with whose thoughts his mind is so richly imbued, might, if envy +could enter into such hearts, entertain it towards him. + +Landor is a happy example of the effect of retirement on a great mind. +Free from the interruptions which, if they harass not, at least impede +the continuous flow of thought in those who live much in society, his +mind has developed itself boldly, and acquired a vigour at which, +perhaps, it might never have arrived, had he been compelled to live in +a crowded city, chafed by the contact with minds of an inferior +calibre. + +_The Imaginary Conversations_ could never have been written amid the +vexatious interruptions incidental to one mingling much in the scenes +of busy life; for the voices of the sages of old with whom, beneath his +own vines, Landor loves to commune, would have been inaudible in the +turmoil of a populous town, and their secrets would not have been +revealed to him. The friction of society may animate the man of talent +into its exercise, but I am persuaded that solitude is essential to the +perfect developement of genius. + +A letter from Sir William Gell, and, like all his letters, very +amusing. Yet how different from Landor's! Both written beneath the +sunny sky of Italy, both scholars, and nearly of the same age, +nevertheless, how widely different are their letters! + +Gell's filled with lively and comic details of persons, seldom fail to +make me laugh; Landor's, wholly devoted to literary subjects, set me +thinking. Cell would die of _ennui_ in the solitude Landor has +selected; Landor would be chafed into irritation in the constant +routine of visiting and dining-out in which Gell finds amusement. But +here am I attempting to draw a parallel where none can be established, +for Landor is a man of genius, Gell a man of talent. + +Was at the Opera last night, and saw the Duc d'Orleans there with his +family. They are a fine-looking flock, male and female, and looked as +happy as they are said to be. + +I know no position more enviable than that of the Duc d'Orleans. +Blessed with health, a princely revenue, an admirable wife, fine +children, and many friends, he can have nothing to desire but a +continuance of these blessings. Having experienced adversity, and nobly +endured the ordeal, he must feel with an increased zest the happiness +now accorded to him,--a happiness that seems so full and complete, that +I can fancy no addition possible to it. + +His vast wealth may enable him to exercise a generosity that even +sovereigns can rarely practise; his exalted rank, while it places him +near a throne, precludes him from the eating cares that never fail to +attend even the most solidly established one, and leaves him free to +enjoy the happiness of domestic life in a family circle said to contain +every ingredient for creating it. + +The fondest husband, father, and brother, he is fortunate beyond most +men in his domestic relations, and furnishes to France a bright example +of irreproachable conduct and well-merited felicity in them all. In the +possession of so many blessings, I should, were I in his position (and +he probably does, or he is not the sensible man I take him to be), +tremble at the possibility of any event that could call him from the +calm enjoyment of them to the giddy height and uneasy seat of a throne. + +The present king is in the vale of years, the Dauphin not young, and +the Duc de Bordeaux is but a child. Should any thing occur to this +child, then would the Duc d'Orleans stand in direct line after the +Dauphin. I thought of this contingency last night as I looked on the +happy family, and felt assured that were the Duc d'Orleans called to +reign in France, these same faces would look less cloudless than they +did then, for I am one of those who believe that "uneasy lies the head +that wears a crown." + +With a good sense that characterises the Duc d'Orleans, he has sent his +sons to public schools--a measure well calculated not only to give them +a just knowledge of the world, so often denied to princes, but to +render them popular. The Duc de Chartres is an exceedingly handsome +young man, and his brothers are fine youths. The Princesses are brought +up immediately under the eye of their mother, who is allowed by every +one to be a faultless model for her sex. + +The Duc d'Orleans is said to be wholly engrossed in the future +prospects of his children, and in insuring, as far as human foresight +can insure, their prosperity. + +I have been reading Shelley's works, in which I have found many +beautiful thoughts. This man of genius--for decidedly such he was--has +not yet been rendered justice to; the errors that shroud his poetry, as +vapours rising from too rich a soil spread a mist that obstructs our +view of the flowers that also spring from the same bed, have hindered +us from appreciating the many beauties that abound in Shelley's +writings. Alarmed by the poison that lurks in some of his wild +speculations, we have slighted the antidote to be found in many others +of them, and heaped obloquy on the fame of a poet whose genius and +kindness of heart should have insured our pity for the errors of his +creed. + +He who was all charity has found none in the judgment pronounced on him +by his contemporaries; but posterity will be more just. The wild +theories and fanciful opinions of Shelley, on subjects too sacred to be +approached lightly, carry with them their own condemnation; and so +preclude the evil which pernicious doctrines, more logically reasoned, +might produce on weak minds. His theories are vague, dreamy, always +erroneous, and often absurd: but the imagination of the poet, and the +tenderness of heart of the man, plead for pardon for the false +doctrines of the would-be philosopher; and those who most admire his +poetry will be the least disposed to tolerate his anti-religious +principles. As a proof that his life was far from being in accordance +with his false creed, he enjoyed, up to his death, the friendship of +some of the most excellent men, who deplored his errors but who loved +and valued him. + +William Spencer, the poet, dined here yesterday. Alas! he has "fallen +into the sere and yellow leaf," for though sometimes uttering brilliant +thoughts, they are "like angel visits, few and far between;" and total +silence, or half-incoherent rhapsodies, mark the intervals. + +This melancholy change is accounted for by the effects of an indulgence +in wine, had recourse to in consequence of depression of spirits. Nor +is this pernicious indulgence confined to the evening, for at a +_dejeuner a la fourchette_ at two o'clock, enough wine is drunk to dull +his faculties for the rest of the day. What an unpoetical close to a +life once so brilliant! + +Alas, alas, for poor human nature! when, even though illumined by the +ethereal spark, it can thus sully its higher destiny. I thought of the +many fanciful and graceful poems so often perused with pleasure, +written by Mr. Spencer amid the brilliant _fetes_ in which he formerly +passed his nights, and where he often found his inspirations. His was +ever a courtly Muse, but without the hoop and train--a ball-room +_belle_, with alternate smiles and sentimentality, and witty withal. No +out-bursting of passion, or touch of deep pathos, interrupted the +equanimity of feeling of those who perused Spencer's verses; yet was +their absence unmissed, for the fancy, wit, and sentiment that marked +them all, and the graceful ease of the versification, rendered them +precisely what they were intended for,--_les vers de societe_, the +fitting volume elegantly bound to be placed in the _boudoir_. + +And there sat the pet poet of gilded _salons_, whose sparkling sallies +could once delight the fastidious circles in which he moved. His once +bright eyes, glazed and lustreless, his cheeks sunken and pale, seeming +only conscious of the presence of those around him when offered +champagne, the excitement of which for a few brief moments produced +some flashing _bon mot a propos de rien_ passing at the time, after +which his spirits subsided even more rapidly than did the bubbles of +the wine that had given them their short excitement. + +It made me sad to contemplate this wreck; but most of those around him +appeared unconscious of there being any thing remarkable in his +demeanour. They had not known him in his better days. + +I am often amused, and sometimes half-vexed by witnessing the +prejudices that still exist in France with regard to the English. These +prejudices prevail in all ranks, and are, I am disposed to think, +incurable. + +They extend to trivial, as well as to more grave matters, and influence +the opinions pronounced on all subjects. An example of this prejudice +occurred a few weeks ago, when one of our most admired _belles_ from +London having arrived at Paris, her personal appearance was much +canvassed. One person found her too tall, another discovered that she +had too much _embonpoint_, and a third said her feet were much too +large. A Frenchman, when appealed to for his opinion, declared "_Elle +est tres-bien pour une Anglaise_." I ought to add, that there was no +English person present when he made this ungallant speech, which was +repeated to me by a French lady, who laughed heartily at his notion. + +If an Englishwoman enters a glover's, or shoemaker's shop, these +worthies will only shew her the largest gloves or shoes they have in +their _magasins_, so persuaded are they that she cannot have a small +hand or foot; and when they find their wares too large, and are +compelled to search for the smallest size, they seem discomposed as +well as surprised, and inform the lady that they had no notion "_une +dame anglaise_ could want small gloves or shoes." + +That an Englishwoman can be witty, or brilliant in conversation, the +French either doubt or profess to doubt; but if convinced against their +will they exclaim, "_C'est drole, mais madame a l'esprit eminemment +francais_." Now this no Englishwoman has, or, in my opinion, can have; +for it is peculiar, half-natural and half-acquired. + +Conversation, in France, is an art successfully studied; to excel in +which, not only much natural talent is required, but great fluency and +a happy choice of words are indispensable. No one in Parisian society +speaks ill, and many possess a readiness of wit, and a facility of +turning it to account, that I have never seen exemplified in women of +other countries. + +A Frenchwoman talks well on every subject, from those of the most grave +political importance, to the _derniere mode_. Her talent in this art is +daily exercised, and consequently becomes perfected; while an +Englishwoman, with more various and solid attainments, rarely if ever, +arrives at the ease and self-confidence which would enable her to bring +the treasures with which her mind is stored into play. So generally is +the art of conversation cultivated in France, that even those with +abilities that rise not beyond mediocrity can take their parts in it, +not only without exposing the poverty of their intellects, but with +even a show of talent that often imposes on strangers. + +An Englishwoman, more concentrated in her feelings as well as in her +pursuits, seldom devotes the time given by Frenchwomen to the +superficial acquisition of a versatility of knowledge, which, though it +enables _them_ to converse fluently on various subjects, _she_ would +dread entering on, unless well versed in. My fair compatriots have +consequently fewer topics, even if they had equal talent, to converse +on; so that the _esprit_ styled, _par excellence, l'esprit eminemment +francais_, is precisely that to which we can urge the fewest +pretensions. + +This does not, however, dispose me to depreciate a talent, or art, for +art it may be called, that renders society in France not only so +brilliant but so agreeable, and which is attended with the salutary +effect of banishing the ill-natured observations and personal remarks +which too often supply the place of more harmless topics with us. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + + +Much as I deplore some of the consequences of the Revolution in France, +and the atrocities by which it was stained, it is impossible not to +admit the great and salutary change effected in the habits and feelings +of the people since that event. Who can live on terms of intimacy with +the French, without being struck by the difference between those of our +time, and those of whom we read previously to that epoch? The system of +education is totally different. The habits of domestic life are wholly +changed. The relations between husband and wife, and parents and +children, have assumed another character, by which the bonds of +affection and mutual dependances are drawn more closely together; and +_home_, sweet _home_, the focus of domestic love, said to have been +once an unknown blessing, at least among the _haute noblesse_, is now +endeared by the discharge of reciprocal duties and warm sympathies. + +It is impossible to doubt but that the Revolution of 1789, and the +terrible scenes in the reign of terror which followed it, operated in +producing the change to which I have referred. It found the greater +portion of the _noblesse_ luxuriating in pleasure, and thinking only of +selfish, if not of criminal indulgence, in pursuits equally marked by +puerility and vice. + +The corruption of the regency planted the seeds of vice in French +morals, and they yielded a plentiful harvest. How well has St.-Evremond +described that epoch in his playful, but sarcastic verses!-- + + "Une politique indulgente, + De notre nature innocente, + Favorisait tous les desirs; + Tout gout paraissait legitime, + La douce erreur ne s'appelait point crime, + Les vices delicats se nommalent des plaisirs." + +But it was reserved for the reign of Louis the Fifteenth to develope +still more extensively the corruption planted by his predecessor. The +influence exercised on society by the baleful example of his court had +not yet ceased, and time had not been allowed for the reign of the mild +monarch who succeeded that gross voluptuary to work the reform in +manners, if not in morals, which his own personal habits were so well +calculated to produce. It required the terrible lesson given by the +Revolution to awaken the natural feelings of affection that had so long +slumbered supinely in the enervated hearts of the higher classes in +France, corrupted by long habits of indulgence in selfish +gratifications. The lesson at once awoke even the most callous; while +those, and there were many such, who required it not, furnished the +noblest examples of high courage and self-devotion to the objects dear +to them. + +In exile and in poverty, when all extraneous sources of consolation +were denied them, those who if still plunged in pleasure and splendour +might have remained insensible to the blessings of family ties, now +turned to them with the yearning fondness with which a last comfort is +clasped, and became sensible how little they had hitherto estimated +them. + +Once awakened from their too long and torpid slumber, the hearts +purified by affliction learned to appreciate the blessings still left +them, and from the fearful epoch of the Revolution a gradual change may +be traced in the habits and feelings of the French people. Terrible has +been the expiation of their former errors, but admirable has been the +result; for nowhere can be now found more devoted parents, more dutiful +children, or more attached relatives, than among the French _noblesse_. + +If the lesson afforded by the Revolution to the upper class has been +attended with a salutary effect, it has been scarcely less advantageous +to the middle and lower; for it has taught them the dangers to be +apprehended from the state of anarchy that ever follows on the heels of +popular convulsions, exposing even those who participated in them to +infinitely worse evils than those from which they hoped to escape by a +subversion of the legitimate government. + +These reflections have been suggested by a description given to me, by +one who mixed much in Parisian society previously to the Revolution, of +the habits, modes, and usages of the _haute noblesse_ of that period, +and who is deeply sensible of the present regeneration. This person, +than whom a more impartial recorder of the events of that epoch cannot +be found, assured me that the accounts given in the memoirs and +publications of the state of society at that epoch were by no means +exaggerated, and that the domestic habits and affections at present so +universally cultivated in France were, if not unknown, at least +neglected. + +Married people looked not to each other for happiness, and sought the +aggrandizement, and not the felicity, of their children. The +acquisition of wealth and splendour and the enjoyment of pleasure +occupied their thoughts, and those parents who secured these advantages +for their offspring, however they might have neglected to instil +sentiments of morality and religion into their minds, believed that +they had fully discharged their duty towards them. It was the want of +natural affection between parents and children that led to the cynical +observation uttered by a French philosopher of that day, who explained +the partiality of grandfathers and grandmothers towards their +grandchildren, by saying these last were the enemies of their +enemies,--a reflection founded on the grossest selfishness. + +The habit of judging persons and things superficially, is one of the +defects that most frequently strike me in the Parisians. This defect +arises not from a want of quickness of apprehension, but has its source +in the vivacity peculiar to them, which precludes their bestowing +sufficient time to form an accurate opinion on what they pronounce. +Prone to judge from the exterior, rather than to study the interior +qualifications of those with whom they come in contact, the person who +is perfectly well-dressed and well-mannered will be better received +than he who, however highly recommended for mental superiority or fine +qualities, happens to be ill-dressed, or troubled with _mauvaise +honte_. + +A woman, if ever so handsome, who is not dressed _a la mode_, will be +pronounced plain in a Parisian _salon_; while a really plain woman +wearing a robe made by Victorine and a cap by Herbault, will be +considered _tres-bien, ou au moins bien gentille_. The person who can +converse fluently on all the ordinary topics, though never uttering a +single sentiment or opinion worth remembering, will be more highly +thought of than the one who, with a mind abounding with knowledge, only +speaks to elicit or convey information. Talent, to be appreciated in +France, must be--like the wares in its shops--fully displayed; the +French give no credit for what is kept in reserve. + +I have been reading _Devereux_, and like it infinitely,--even more than +_Pelham_, which I estimated very highly. There is more thought and +reflection in it, and the sentiments bear the stamp of a profound and +elevated mind. The novels of this writer produce a totally different +effect on me to that exercised by the works of other authors; they +amuse less than they make me think. Other novels banish thought, and +interest me only in the fate of the actors; but these awaken a train of +reflection that often withdraws me from the story, leaving me deeply +impressed with the truth, beauty, and originality of the thoughts with +which every page is pregnant. + +All in Paris are talking of the _esclandre_ of the late trial in +London; and the comments made on it by the French prove how different +are the views of morality taken by them and us. + +Conversing with some ladies on this subject last night, they asserted +that the infrequency of elopements in France proved the superiority of +morals of the French, and that few examples ever occurred of a woman +being so lost to virtue as to desert her children and abandon her home. +"But if she should have rendered herself unworthy of any longer being +the companion of her children, the partner of her home," asked one of +the circle, "would it be more moral to remain under the roof she had +dishonoured, and with the husband she had betrayed, than to fly, and so +incur the penalty she had drawn on her head?" They were of opinion that +the elopement was the most criminal part of the affair, and that Lady +---- was less culpable than many other ladies, because she had not +fled; and, consequently, that elopements proved a greater +demoralisation than the sinful _liaisons_ carried on without them. + +Lady C---- endeavoured to prove that the flight frequently originated +in a latent sense of honour and shame, which rendered the presence of +the deceived husband and innocent children insufferable to her whose +indulgence of a guilty passion had caused her to forfeit her right to +the conjugal home; but they could not comprehend this, and persisted in +thinking the woman who fled with her lover more guilty than her who +remained under the roof of the husband she deceived. + +One thing is quite clear, which is, that the woman who feels she dare +not meet her wronged husband and children, if she dishonours them, will +be more deterred from sin by the consciousness of the necessity of +flight, which it imposes, than will be the one who sees no such +necessity, and who dreads not the penalty she may be tempted to incur. + +Lady C---- maintained that elopements are not a fair criterion for +judging of the morality of a country; for that she who sins and flies +is less hardened in guilt than she who remains and deceives: and the +example is also less pernicious, as the one who has forfeited her place +in society serves as a beacon to warn others; while she whose errors +are known, yet still retains hers, is a dangerous instance of the +indulgence afforded to hardened duplicity. It is not the horror of +guilt, but the dread of its exposure, that operates on the generality +of minds; and this is not always sufficient to deter from sin. + +Les Dames de B---- dined with us yesterday. They are very clever and +amusing, and, what is better, are excellent women. Their attachment to +each other, and devotion to their nephew, are edifying; and he appears +worthy of it. Left an orphan when yet an infant, these sisters adopted +their nephew, and for his sake have refused many advantageous offers of +marriage, devoting themselves to forwarding his interests and insuring +him their inheritance. They have shared his studies, taken part in his +success, and entered into his pains and pleasures, made his friends +theirs, and theirs his; no wonder, then, that he loves them so fondly, +and is never happier than with them, taking a lively interest in all +their pursuits. + +These good and warm-hearted women are accused of being enthusiasts, and +romantic. People say that at their age it is odd, if not absurd, to +indulge in such exaggerated notions of attachment; nay more, to give +such disinterested proofs of it. They may well smile at such remarks, +while conscious that their devotion to their nephew has not only +secured his happiness, but constitutes their own; and that the warmth +of affection for which they are censured, cheers the winter of their +lives and diffuses a comfort over their existence unknown to the +selfish mortals who live only for self. + +They talked to me last night of the happiness they anticipated in +seeing their nephew married. "He is so good, so excellent, that the +person he selects cannot fail to love him fondly," said La Chanoinesse; +"and we will love her so dearly for ensuring his happiness," added the +other sister. + +Who could know these two estimable women, without acknowledging how +harsh and unjust are often the sweeping censures pronounced on those +who are termed old maids?--a class in whose breasts the affections +instinct in woman, not being exercised by conjugal or maternal ties, +expand into some other channel; and, if denied some dear object on +which to place them, expends them on the domestic animals with which, +in default of more rational favourites, they surround themselves. + +Les Dames de B----, happier than many of the spinsters of their age, +have an estimable object to bestow their affections on; but those who +are less fortunate should rather excite our pity than ridicule, for +many and severe must have been the trials of that heart which turns at +last, _dans le besoin d'aimer_, to the bird, dog, or cat, that renders +solitude less lonely. + +The difference between servitude in England and in France often strikes +me, and more especially when I hear the frequent complaints made by +English people of the insolence and familiarity of French servants. +Unaccustomed to hear a servant reply to any censure passed on him, the +English are apt to consider his doing so as a want of respect or +subordination, though a French servant does not even dream that he is +guilty of either when, according to the general habit of his class and +country, he attempts an exculpation not always satisfactory to his +employer, however it may be to himself. + +A French master listens to the explanation patiently, or at least +without any demonstration of anger, unless he finds it is not based on +truth, when he reprehends the servant in a manner that satisfies the +latter that all future attempts to avoid blame by misrepresentation +will be unavailing. French servants imagine that they have the right to +explain, and their employers do not deny it; consequently, when they +change a French for an English master, they continue the same tone and +manner to which they have been used, and are not a little surprised to +find themselves considered guilty of impertinence. + +A French master and mistress issue their orders to their domestics with +much more familiarity than the English do; take a lively interest in +their welfare and happiness; advise them about their private concerns; +inquire into the cause of any depression of spirits, or symptom of ill +health they may observe, and make themselves acquainted with the +circumstances of those in their establishment. + +This system lessens the distance maintained between masters and +servants, but does not really diminish the respect entertained by the +latter towards their employers, who generally find around them humble +friends, instead of, as with us, cold and calculating dependents, who +repay our _hauteur_ by a total indifference to our interests, and, +while evincing all the external appearance of profound respect, +entertain little of the true feeling of it to their masters. + +Treating our servants as if they were automatons created solely for our +use, and who, being paid a certain remuneration for their services, +have no claim on us for kindness or sympathy, is a system very +injurious to their morals and our own interests, and requires an +amelioration. But while I deprecate the tone of familiarity that so +frequently shocks the untravelled English in the treatment of French +employers to their servants, I should like to see more kindness of +manner shewn by the English to theirs. Nowhere are servants so well +paid, clothed, fed, and lodged, as with us, and nowhere are they said +to feel so little attachment to their masters; which can only be +accounted for by the erroneous system to which I have referred. + +---- came to see me to-day. He talked politics, and I am afraid went +away shocked at perceiving how little interest I took in them. I like +not political subjects in England, and avoid them whenever I can; but +here I feel very much about them, as the Irishman is said to have felt +when told that the house he was living in was on fire, and he answered +"Sure, what's that to me!--I am only a lodger!" + +---- told me that France is in a very dangerous state; the people +discontented, etc. etc. So I have heard every time I have visited Paris +for the last ten years; and as to the people being discontented, when +were they otherwise I should like to know? Never, at least since I have +been acquainted with them; and it will require a sovereign such as +France has not yet known to satisfy a people so versatile and +excitable. Charles the Tenth is not popular. His religious turn, far +from conciliating the respect or confidence of his subjects, tends only +to awaken their suspicions of his being influenced by the Jesuits--a +suspicion fraught with evil, if not danger, to him. + +Strange to say, all admit that France has not been so prosperous for +years as at present. Its people are rapidly acquiring a love of +commerce, and the wealth that springs from it, which induces me to +imagine that they would not be disposed to risk the advantages they +possess by any measure likely to subvert the present state of things. +Nevertheless, more than one alarmist like ---- shake their heads and +look solemn, foretelling that affairs cannot long go on as they are. + +Of one thing I am convinced, and that is, that no sovereign, whatever +may be his merits, can long remain popular in France; and that no +prosperity, however brilliant, can prevent the people from those +_emeutes_ into which their excitable temperaments, rather than any real +cause for discontent, hurry them. These _emeutes_, too, are less +dangerous than we are led to think. They are safety-valves by which the +exuberant spirits of the French people escape; and their national +vanity, being satisfied with the display of their force, soon subside +into tranquillity, if not aroused into protracted violence by unwise +demonstrations of coercion. + +The two eldest sons of the Duc and Duchesse de Guiche have entered the +College of Ste.-Barbe. This is a great trial to their mother, from whom +they had never previously been separated a single day. Well might she +be proud of them, on hearing the just eulogiums pronounced on the +progress in their studies while under the paternal roof; for never did +parents devote themselves more to the improvement of their children +than the Duc and Duchesse de Guiche have done, and never did children +offer a fairer prospect of rewarding their parents than do theirs. + +It would have furnished a fine subject for a painter to see this +beautiful woman, still in the zenith of her youth and charms, walking +between these two noble boys, whose personal beauty is as remarkable as +that of their parents, as she accompanied them to the college. The +group reminded me of Cornelia and her sons, for there was the same +classic _tournure_ of heads and profiles, and the same elevated +character of _spirituelle_ beauty, that painters and sculptors always +bestow on the young Roman matron and the Gracchi. + +The Duc seemed impressed with a sentiment almost amounting to solemnity +as he conducted his sons to Ste.-Barbe. He thought, probably, of the +difference between their boyhood and his own, passed in a foreign land +and in exile; while they, brought up in the bosom of a happy home, have +now left it for the first time. Well has he taught them to love the +land of their birth, for even now their youthful hearts are filled with +patriotic and chivalrous feelings! + +It would be fortunate, indeed, for the King of France if he had many +such men as the Duc de Guiche around him--men with enlightened minds, +who have profited by the lessons of adversity, and kept pace with the +rapidly advancing knowledge of the times to which they belong. + +Painful, indeed, would be the position of this excellent man should any +circumstances occur that would place the royal family in jeopardy, for +he is too sensible not to be aware of the errors that might lead to +such a crisis, and too loyal not to share the perils he could not ward +off; though he will never be among those who would incur them, for no +one is more impressed with the necessity of justice and impartiality +than he is. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + + +The approach of spring is already visible here, and right glad am I to +welcome its genial influence; for a Paris winter possesses in my +opinion no superiority over a London one,--nay, though it would be +deemed by the French little less than a heresy to say so, is even more +damp and disagreeable. + +The Seine has her fogs, as dense, raw, and chilling, as those of old +Father Thames himself; and the river approximating closer to "the gay +resorts" of the _beau monde_, they are more felt. The want of draining, +and the vapours that stagnate over the turbid waters of the _ruisseaux_ +that intersect the streets at Paris, add to the humidity of the +atmosphere; while the sewers in London convey away unseen and unfelt, +if not always unsmelt, the rain which purifies, while it deluges, our +streets. Heaven defend me, however, from uttering this disadvantageous +comparison to Parisian cars, for the French are too fond of Paris not +to be proud even of its _ruisseaux_, and incredulous of its fogs, and +any censure on either would be ill received. + +The gay butterflies when they first expand their varicoloured wings and +float in air, seem not more joyous than the Parisians have been during +the last two days of sunshine. The Jardins des Tuileries are crowded +with well-dressed groups; the budding leaves have burst forth with that +delicate green peculiar to early spring; and the chirping of +innumerable birds, as they flit from tree to tree, announces the +approach of the vernal season. + +Paris is at no time so attractive, in my opinion, as in spring; and the +verdure of the foliage during its infancy is so tender, yet bright, +that it looks far more beautiful than with us in our London squares or +parks, where no sooner do the leaves open into life, than they become +stained by the impurity of the atmosphere, which soon deposes its dingy +particles on them, "making the green one"--black. + +The Boulevards were well stocked with flowers to-day, the +_bouquetieres_ having resumed their stalls; and many a pedestrian might +be seen bargaining for these fair and frail harbingers of rosy spring. + +How exhilarating are the effects of this season on the spirits +depressed by the long and gloomy winter, and the frame rendered languid +by the same cause! The heart begins to beat with more energetic +movement, the blood flows more briskly through the veins, and the +spirit of hope is revivified in the human heart. This sympathy between +awakening nature, on the earth, and on man, renders us more, that at +any other period, fond of the country; for this is the season of +promise; and we know that each coming day, for a certain time, will +bestow some new beauty on all that is now budding forth, until glowing, +laughing summer has replaced the fitful smiles and tears of spring. + +And there are persons who tell me they experience nought of this +elasticity of spirits at the approach of spring! How are such mortals +to be pitied! Yet, perhaps, they are less so than we imagine, for the +same insensibility that prevents their being exhilarated, may preclude +them from the depression so peculiar to all who have lively feelings. + +"I see nothing so very delightful in spring," said ---- to me, +yesterday. "_Au contraire_, I think it rather disagreeable, for the +sunshine cheats one into the belief of warmth, and we go forth less +warmly clad in consequence, so return home chilled by the sharp cold +air which always prevails at this season, and find, as never fails to +be the case, that our stupid servants have let out the fires, because, +truly, the sun was shining in the cold blue sky." ---- reminds me of +the man mentioned in Sterne's works, who, when his friend looking on a +beautiful prospect, compared a green field with a flock of +snowy-fleeced sheep on it, to a vast emerald studded with pearls, +answered that _he_ could see nothing in it but grass and mutton. + +Lord B---- set out for London to-day, to vote on the Catholic question, +which is to come on immediately. His going at this moment, when he is +far from well, is no little sacrifice of personal comfort; but never +did he consider self when a duty was to be performed. I wish the +question was carried, and he safely back again. What would our +political friends say if they knew how strongly I urged him not to go, +but to send his proxy to Lord Rosslyn? I would not have consented to +his departure, were it not that the Duke of Wellington takes such an +interest in the measure. + +How times are changed! and how much is due to those statesmen who yield +up their own convictions for the general good! There is no action in +the whole life of the Duke more glorious than his self-abnegation on +this occasion, nor is that of the Tory leader of the House of Commons +less praiseworthy; yet how many attacks will both incur by this +sacrifice of their opinions to expediency! for when were the actions of +public men judged free from the prejudices that discolour and distort +all viewed through their medium? That which originates in the purest +patriotism, will be termed an unworthy tergiversation; but the reward +of these great and good men will be found in their own breasts. I am +_triste_ and unsettled, so will try the effect of a drive in the Bois +de Boulogne. + +I was forcibly reminded yesterday of the truth of an observation of a +clever French writer, who says, that to judge the real merit of a cook, +one should sit down to table without the least feeling of appetite, as +the triumph of the culinary art was not to satisfy hunger but to excite +it. Our new cook achieved this triumph yesterday, for he is so +inimitable an artist, that the flavour of his _plats_ made even me, +albeit unused to the sensation of hunger, feel disposed to render +justice to them. Monsieur Louis--for so he is named--has a great +reputation in his art; and it is evident, even from the proof furnished +of his _savoir-faire_ yesterday, that he merits it. + +It is those only who have delicate appetites that can truly appreciate +the talent of a cook; for they who devour soon lose the power of +tasting. No symptom of that terrible malady, well named by the +ingenious Grimod de la Reyniere _remords d'estomac_, but vulgarly +called indigestion, follows my unusual indulgence in _entrees_ and +_entremets_, another delightful proof of the admirable skill of +Monsieur Louis. + +The English are apt to spoil French cooks by neglecting the _entrees_ +for the _piece de resistance_, and, when the cook discovers this, which +he is soon enabled to do by the slight breaches made in the first, and +the large one in the second, his _amour-propre_ becomes wounded, and he +begins to neglect his _entrees_. Be warned, then, by me, all ye who +wish your cooks to retain their skill, and however your native tastes +for that English favourite dish denominated "a plain joint" may +prevail, never fail to taste the _entree_. + +_A propos_ of cooks, an amusing instance of the _amour-propre_ of a +Parisian cook was related to me by the gourmand Lord ----, the last +time we dined at his house. Wishing to have a particular sauce made +which he had tasted in London, and for which he got the receipt, he +explained to his cook, an artist of great celebrity, how the component +parts were to be amalgamated. + +"How, mylord!" exclaimed _Monsieur le cuisinier_; "an English sauce! Is +it possible your lordsip can taste any thing so barbarous? Why, years +ago, my lord, a profound French philosopher described the English as a +people who had a hundred religions, but only one sauce." + +More anxious to get the desired sauce than to defend the taste of his +country, or correct the impertinence of his cook, Lord ---- immediately +said, "On recollection, I find I made a mistake; the sauce I mean is _a +la Hollandaise_, and not _a l'Anglaise_." + +_A la bonne heure_, my lord, _c'est autre chose_; and the sauce was +forthwith made, and was served at table the day we dined with Lord +----. + +An anecdote is told of this same cook, which Lord ---- relates with +great good humour. The cook of another English nobleman conversing with +him, said, "My master is like yours--a great _gourmand_." + +"Pardon me," replied the other; "there is a vast difference between our +masters. Yours is simply a _gourmand_, mine is an epicure as well." + +The Duc de Talleyrand, dining with us a few days ago, observed that to +give a perfect dinner, the Amphitryon should have a French cook for +soups, _entrees_ and _entremets_; an English _rotisseur_, and an +Italian _confiseur_, as without these, a dinner could not be faultless. +"But, alas!" said he--and he sighed while he spoke it--"the Revolution +has destroyed our means of keeping these artists; and we eat now to +support nature, instead of, as formerly, when we ate because it was a +pleasure to eat." The good-natured Duc nevertheless seemed to eat his +dinner as if he still continued to take a pleasure in the operation, +and did ample justice to a certain _plat de cailles farcies_ which he +pronounced to be perfect. + +Our landlord, le Marquis de L----, has sent to offer us the refusal of +our beautiful abode. The Duc de N---- has proposed to take it for +fourteen on twenty-one years, at the same rent we pay (an extravagant +one, by the bye), and as we only took it for a year, we must eithor +leave or hire it for fourteen or twenty-one years, which is out of the +question. + +Nothing can be more fair or honourable than the conduct of the Marquis +de L----, for he laid before us the offer of the Duc de N----; but as +we do not intend to remain more than two or three years more in Paris, +we must leave this charming house, to our infinite regret, when the +year for which we have hired it expires. Gladly would we have engaged +it for two, or even three years more, but this is now impossible; and +we shall have the trouble of again going the round of house-hunting. + +When I look on the suite of rooms in which I have passed such pleasant +days, I am filled with regret at the prospect of leaving them, but it +cannot be helped, so it is useless to repine. We have two months to +look about us, and many friends who are occupied in assisting us in the +search. + +A letter from Lord B----; better, but still ailing. He presided at the +Covent Garden Theatrical Fund Dinner, at the request of the Duke of +Clarence. He writes me that he met there Lord F. Leveson Gower[5], who +was introduced to him by Mr. Charles Greville, and of whom he has +conceived a very high opinion. Lord B---- partakes my belief in +physiognomy, but in this instance the impression formed from the +countenance is justified by the reputation of the individual, who is +universally esteemed and respected. + +Went again to see the Hotel Monaco, which Lord B---- writes me to close +for; but its gloomy and uncomfortable bed-rooms discourage me, _malgre_ +the splendour of the _salons_, which are decidedly the finest I have +seen at Paris, I will decide on nothing until Lord B----'s return. + +Went to the College of Ste.-Barbe to-day, with the Duchesse de Guiche, +to see her sons. Great was their delight at the meeting. I thought they +would never have done embracing her; and I, too, was warmly welcomed by +these dear and affectionate boys, who kissed me again and again. They +have already won golden opinions at the college, by their rare aptitude +in acquiring all that is taught them, and by their docility and manly +characters. + +The masters paid the Duchesse the highest compliments on the progress +her sons had made previously to their entrance at Ste.-Barbe, and +declared that they had never met any children so far advanced for their +age. I shared the triumph of this admirable mother, whose fair cheeks +glowed, and whose beautiful eyes sparkled, on hearing the eulogiums +pronounced on her boys. Her observation to me was, "How pleased their +father will be!" + +Ste.-Barbe is a little world in itself, and a very different world to +any I had previously seen. In it every thing smacks of learning, and +every body seems wholly engrossed by study. + +The spirit of emulation animates all, and excites the youths into an +application so intense as to be often found injurious to health. The +ambition of surpassing all competitors in their studies operates so +powerfully on the generality of the _eleves_, that the masters +frequently find it more necessary to moderate, than to urge the ardour +of the pupils. A boy's reputation for abilities soon gets known, but he +must possess no ordinary ones to be able to distinguish himself in a +college where every victory in erudition is sure to be achieved by a +well-contested battle. + +We passed through the quarter of Paris known as the Pays Latin, the +aspect of which is singular, and is said to have been little changed +during the last century. The houses, chiefly occupied by literary men, +look quaint and picturesque. Every man one sees passing has the air of +an author, not as authors now are, or at least as popular ones are, +well-clothed and prosperous-looking, but as authors were when genius +could not always command a good wardrobe, and walked forth in +habiliments more derogatory to the age in which it was neglected, than +to the individual whose poverty compelled such attire. + +Men in rusty threadbare black, with books under the arm, and some with +spectacles on nose, reading while they walked along, might be +encountered at every step. + +The women, too, in the Pays Latin, have a totally different aspect to +those of every other part of Paris. The desire to please, inherent in +the female breast, seems to have expired in them, for their dress +betrays a total neglect, and its fashion is that of some forty years +ago. Even the youthful are equally negligent, which indicates their +conviction that the men they meet seldom notice them, proving the truth +of the old saying, that women dress to please men. + +The old, with locks of snow, who had grown into senility in this +erudite quarter, still paced the same promenade which they had trodden +for many a year, habit having fixed them where hope once led their +steps. The middle-aged, too, might be seen with hair beginning to +blanch from long hours devoted to the midnight lamp, and faces marked +with "the pale cast of thought." Hope, though less sanguine in her +promises, still lures them on, and they pass the venerable old, +unconscious that they themselves are succeeding them in the same life +of study, to be followed by the same results, privation, and solitude, +until death closes the scene. And yet a life of study is, perhaps, the +one in which the privations compelled by poverty are the least felt to +be a hardship. + +Study, like virtue, is its own exceeding great reward, for it engrosses +as well as elevates the mind above the sense of the wants so acutely +felt by those who have no intellectual pursuits; and many a student has +forgotten his own privations when reading the history of the great and +good who have been exposed to even still more trying ones. Days pass +uncounted in such occupations. Youth fleets away, if not happily, at +least tranquilly, while thus employed; and maturity glides into age, +and age drops into the grave, scarcely conscious of the gradations of +each, owing to the mind having been filled with a continuous train of +thought, engendered by study. + +I have been reading some French poems by Madame Amabel Tastu; and very +beautiful they are. A sweet and healthy tone of mind breathes through +them, and the pensiveness that characterises many of them, marks a +reflecting spirit imbued with tenderness. There is great harmony, too, +in the versification, as well as purity and elegance in the diction. +How much some works make us wish to know their authors, and _vice +versa_! I feel, while reading her poems, that I should like Madame +Amabel Tastu; while other books, whose cleverness I admit, convince me +I should not like the writers. + +A book must always resemble, more or less, its author. It is the mind, +or at least a portion of it, of the individual; and, however +circumstances may operate on it, the natural quality must always +prevail and peep forth in spite of every effort to conceal it. + +Living much in society seldom fails to deteriorate the force and +originality of superior minds; because, though unconsciously, the +persons who possess them are prone to fall into the habits of thought +of those with whom they pass a considerable portion of their time, and +suffer themselves to degenerate into taking an interest in puerilities +on which, in the privacy of their study, they would not bestow a single +thought. Hence, we are sometimes shocked at observing glaring +inconsistencies in the works of writers, and find it difficult to +imagine that the grave reflection which pervades some of the pages can +emanate from the same mind that dictated the puerilities abounding in +others. The author's profound thoughts were his own, the puerilities +were the result of the friction of his mind with inferior ones: at +least this is my theory, and, as it is a charitable one, I like to +indulge it. + +A pleasant party at dinner yesterday. Mr. W. Spencer, the poet, was +among the guests, He was much more like the William Spencer of former +days than when he dined here before, and was occasionally brilliant, +though at intervals he relapsed into moodiness. He told some good +stories of John Kemble, and told them well; but it seemed an effort to +him; and, while the listeners were still smiling at his excellent +imitation of the great tragedian, he sank back in his chair with an air +of utter abstraction. + +I looked at him, and almost shuddered at marking the "change that had +come o'er the spirit of his dream;" for whether the story touched a +chord that awakened some painful reflection in his memory, or that the +telling it had exhausted him, I know not, but his countenance for some +minutes assumed a careworn and haggard expression, and he then glanced +around at the guests with an air of surprise, like one awakened from +slumber. + +It is astonishing how little people observe each other in society! This +inattention, originating in a good breeding that proscribes personal +observation, has degenerated into something that approaches very nearly +to total indifference, and I am persuaded that a man might die at table +seated between two others without their being aware of it, until he +dropped from his chair. + +Civilization has its disadvantages as well as its advantages, and I +think the consciousness that one might expire between one's neighbours +at table without their noticing it, is hardly atoned for by knowing +that they will not stare one out of countenance. I often think, as I +look around at a large dinner-party, how few present have the slightest +knowledge of what is passing in the minds of the others. The smile worn +on many a face may be assumed to conceal a sadness which those who feel +it are but too well aware would meet with little sympathy, for one of +the effects of modern civilization is the disregard for the cares of +others, which it engenders. + +Madame de ---- once said to me, "I never invite Monsieur de ----, +because he looks unhappy, and as if he expected to be questioned as to +the cause." This _naive_ confession of Madame de ---- is what few would +make, but the selfishness that dictated it is what society, _en masse_, +feels and acts up to. + +Monsieur de ----, talking of London last evening, told the Count ---- +to be on his guard not to be too civil to people when he got there. The +Count ---- looked astonished, and inquired the reason for the advice. +"Merely to prevent your being suspected of having designs on the hearts +of the women, or the purses of the men," replied Monsieur de ----; "for +no one can evince in London society the _empressement_ peculiar to +well-bred Frenchmen without being accused of some unworthy motive for +it." + +I defended my countrymen against the sweeping censure of the cynical +Monsieur de ----, who shook his head and declared that he spoke from +observation. He added, that persons more than usually polite are always +supposed to be poor in London, and that as this supposition was the +most injurious to their reception in good society, he always counselled +his friends, when about to visit it, to assume a _brusquerie_ of +manner, and a stinginess with regard to money, by which means they were +sure to escape the suspicion of poverty; as in England a parsimonious +expenditure and bluntness are supposed to imply the possession of +wealth. + +I ventured to say that I could now understand why it was that he passed +for being so rich in England--a _coup de patte_ that turned the laugh +against him. + +Mr. de ---- is a perfect cynic, and piques himself on saying what he +thinks,--a habit more frequently adopted by those who think +disagreeable, than agreeable things. + +Dined yesterday at Madame C----'s, and being Friday, had a _diner +maigre_, than which I know no dinner more luxurious, provided that the +cook is a perfect artist, and that the Amphitryon, as was the case in +this instance, objects not to expense. + +The _soupes_ and _entrees_ left no room to regret the absence of flesh +or poultry from their component parts, and the _releves_, in the shape +of a _brochet roti_, and a _turbot a la hollandaise_ supplied the place +of the usual _pieces de resistance_. But not only was the flavour of +the _entrees_ quite as good as if they were composed of meat or +poultry, but the appearance offered the same variety, and the +_cotelettes de poisson_ and _fricandeau d'esturgeon_ might have +deceived all but the profoundly learned in gastronomy,--they looked so +exactly like lamb and veal. + +The second course offered equally delicate substitutes for the usual +dainties, and the most fastidious epicure might have been more than +satisfied with the _entremets_. + +The bishops in France are said to have had the most luxurious dinners +imaginable on what were erroneously styled fast-days; and their cooks +had such a reputation for their skill, that the having served _a +Monseigneur d'Eglise_ was a passport to the kitchens of all lovers of +good eating. There are people so profane as to insinuate that the +excellence at which the cooks arrived in dressing _les diners maigres_ +is one of the causes why Catholicism has continued to flourish; but +this, of course, must be looked on as a malicious hint of the enemies +to that faith which thus proves itself less addicted to indulgence in +the flesh than are its decryers. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + + +The more I observe Lady C---- the more surprised I am at the romantic +feelings she still indulges, and the illusions under which she +labours;--yes _labours_ is the suitable word, for it can be nothing +short of laborious, at her age, to work oneself into the belief that +love is an indispensable requisite for life. Not the affection into +which the love of one's youth subsides, but the wild, the ungovernable +passion peculiar to the heroes and heroines of novels, and young ladies +and gentlemen recently emancipated from boarding-schools and colleges. + +Poor Lady C----, with so many estimable qualities, what a pity it is +she should have this weakness! She maintained in our conversation +yesterday that true love could never be extinguished in the heart, and +that even in age it burnt with the same fire as when first kindled. I +quoted to her a passage from Le Brun, who says--"L'amour peut +s'eteindre sans doute dans le coeur d'un galant homme; mais combien de +dedommagements n'a-t-il pas alors a offrir! L'estime, l'amitie, la +confiance, ne suffisent-elles pas aux glaces de la vieillesse?" Lady +C---- thinks not. + +Talking last night of ----, some one observed that "it was disagreeable +to have such a neighbour, as he did nothing but watch and interfere in +the concerns of others." + +"Give me in preference such a man as le Comte ----," said Monsieur +----, slily, "who never bestows a thought but on self, and is too much +occupied with that interesting subject to have time to meddle with the +affairs of other people." + +"You are right," observed Madame ----, gravely, believing him to be +serious; "it is much preferable." + +"But surely," said I, determined to continue the mystification, "you +are unjustly severe in your animadversions on poor Monsieur ----. Does +he not prove himself a true philanthropist in devoting the time to the +affairs of others that might be usefully occupied in attending to his +own?" + +"You are quite right," said Mrs. ----; "I never viewed his conduct in +this light before; and now that I understand it I really begin to like +him,--a thing I thought quite impossible before you convinced me of the +goodness of his motives." + +How many Mrs. ----'s there are in the world, with minds ductile as wax, +ready to receive any impression one wishes to give them! Yet I +reproached myself for assisting to hoax her, when I saw the smiles +excited by her credulity. + +Mademoiselle Delphine Gay[6] is one of the agreeable proofs that genius +is hereditary. I have been reading some productions of hers that +greatly pleased me. Her poetry is graceful, the thoughts are natural, +and the versification is polished. She is a very youthful authoress, +and a beauty as well as a _bel esprit_. Her mother's novels have +beguiled many an hour of mine that might otherwise have been weary, for +they have the rare advantage of displaying an equal knowledge of the +world with a lively sensibility. + +All Frenchwomen write well. They possess the art of giving interest +even to trifles, and have a natural eloquence _de plume_, as well as +_de langue_, that renders the task an easy one. It is the custom in +England to decry French novels, because the English unreasonably expect +that the literature of other countries should be judged by the same +criterion by which they examine their own, without making sufficient +allowance for the different manners and habits of the nations. Without +arrogating to myself the pretension of a critic, I should be unjust if +I did not acknowledge that I have perused many a French novel by modern +authors, from which I have derived interest and pleasure. + +The French critics are not loath to display their acumen in reviewing +the works of their compatriots, for they not only analyze the demerits +with pungent causticity, but apply to them the severest of all tests, +that of ridicule; in the use of which dangerous weapon they excel. + +House-hunting the greater part of the day. Oh the weariness of such an +occupation, and, above all, after having lived in so delightful a house +as the one we inhabit! Many of our French friends have come and told us +that they had found hotels exactly to suit us: and we have driven next +day to see them, when lo and behold! these eligible mansions were +either situated in some disagreeable _quartier_, or consisted of three +fine _salons de reception_, with some half-dozen miserable dormitories, +and a passage-room by way of _salle a manger_. + +Though Paris abounds with fine _hotels entre cour et jardin_, they are +seldom to be let; and those to be disposed of are generally divided +into suites of apartments, appropriated to different persons. One of +the hotels recommended by a friend was on the Boulevards, with the +principal rooms commanding a full view of that populous and noisy +quarter of Paris. I should have gone mad in such a dwelling, for the +possibility of reading, or almost of thinking, amidst such an +ever-moving scene of bustle and din, would be out of the question. + +The modern French do not seem to appreciate the comfort of quiet and +seclusion in the position of their abodes, for they talk of the +enlivening influence of a vicinity to these same Boulevards from which +I shrink with alarm. It was not so in former days; witness the +delightful hotels before alluded to, _entre cour et jardin_, in which +the inhabitants, although in the centre of Paris, might enjoy all the +repose peculiar to a house in the country. There is something, I am +inclined to think, in the nature of the Parisians that enables them to +support noise better than we can,--nay, not only to support, but even +to like it. + +I received an edition of the works of L.E.L. yesterday from London. She +is a charming poetess, full of imagination and fancy, dazzling one +moment by the brilliancy of her flights, and the next touching the +heart by some stroke of pathos. How Byron would have admired her +genius, for it bears the stamp of being influenced no less by a +graceful and fertile fancy than by a deep sensibility, and the union of +the two gives a peculiar charm to her poems. + +Drove to the Bois de Boulogne to-day, with the Comtesse d'O----, I know +no such brilliant talker as she is. No matter what may be the subject +of conversation, her wit flashes brightly on all, and without the +slightest appearance of effort or pretension. She speaks from a mind +overflowing with general information, made available by a retentive +memory, a ready wit, and in exhaustible good spirits. + +Letters from dear Italy. Shall I ever see that delightful land again? A +letter, too, from Mrs. Francis Hare, asking me to be civil to some +English friends of hers, who are come to Paris, which I shall certainly +be for her sake. + +_A propos_ of the English, it is amusing to witness the avidity with +which many of them not only accept but court civilities abroad, and the +_sang-froid_ with which they seem to forget them when they return home. +I have as yet had no opportunity of judging personally on this point, +but I hear such tales on the subject as would justify caution, if one +was disposed to extend hospitality with any prospective view to +gratitude for it, which we never have done, and never will do. + +Mine is the philosophy of ----, who, when his extreme hospitality to +his countrymen was remarked on, answered, "I can't eat all my good +dinners alone, and if I am lucky enough to find now and then a pleasant +guest, it repays me for the many dull ones invited." I expect no +gratitude for our hospitality to our compatriots, and "Blessed are they +who expect not, for they will not be disappointed." + +Longchamps has not equalled my expectations. It is a dull affair after +all, resembling the drive in Hyde Park on a Sunday in May, the +promenade in the Cacina at Florence, in the Corso at Rome, or the +Chaija at Naples, in all save the elegance of the dresses of the women, +in which Longchamps has an immeasurable superiority. + +It is at Longchamps that the Parisian spring fashions are first +exhibited, and busy are the _modistes_ for many weeks previously in +putting their powers of invention to the test, in order to bring out +novelties, facsimiles of which are, the ensuing week, forwarded to +England, Italy, Germany, Holland, and Russia. The coachmakers, +saddlers, and horse-dealers, are also put in requisition for this +epoch; and, though the exhibition is no longer comparable to what it +was in former times, when a luxurious extravagance not only in dress, +but in equipages, was displayed, some handsome and well-appointed +carriages are still to be seen. Among the most remarkable for good +taste, were those of the Princess Bagration, and Monsieur Schikler, +whose very handsome wife attracted more admiration than the elegant +vehicle in which she was seated, or the fine steeds that drew it. + +Those who are disposed to question the beauty of French women, should +have been at Longchamps to-day, when their scepticism would certainly +have been vanquished, for I saw several women there whose beauty could +admit of no doubt even by the most fastidious critic of female charms. +The Duchesse de Guiche, however, bore off the bell from all +competitors, and so the spectators who crowded the Champs-Elysees +seemed to think. Of her may be said what Choissy stated of la Duchesse +de la Valliere, she has "_La grace plus belle encore que la beaute_." +The handsome Duchesse d'Istrie and countless other _beautes a la mode_ +were present, and well sustained the reputation for beauty of the +Parisian ladies. + +The men _caracoled_ between the carriages on their proud and prancing +steeds, followed by grooms, _a l'Anglaise_, in smart liveries, and the +people crowded the footpaths on each side of the drive, commenting +aloud on the equipages and their owners that passed before them. + +The promenade at Longchamps, which takes place in the Holy Week, is +said to owe its origin to a religious procession that went annually to +a church so called, whence it by degrees changed its character, and +became a scene of gaiety, in which the most extravagant exhibitions of +luxury were displayed. + +One example, out of many, of this extravagance, is furnished by a +publication of the epoch at which Longchamps was in its most palmy +state, when a certain Mademoiselle Duthe, whose means of indulging in +inordinate expense were not solely derived from her ostensible +profession as one of the performers attached to the Opera, figured in +the promenade in a carriage of the most sumptuous kind, drawn by no +less than six thorough-bred horses, the harness of which was of blue +morocco, studded with polished steel ornaments, which produced the most +dazzling effect. + +That our times are improved in respect, at least, to appearances, may +be fairly concluded from the fact that no example of a similar +ostentatious display of luxury is ever now exhibited by persons in the +same position as Mademoiselle Duthe; and that if the same folly that +enabled her to indulge in such extravagance still prevails, a sense of +decency prevents all public display of wealth so acquired. Modern +morals censure not people so much for their vices as for the display of +them, as Aleibiades was blamed not for loving Nemea, but for allowing +himself to be painted reposing on her lap. + +Finished the perusal of _Cinq Mars_, by Count Alfred de Vigny. It is an +admirable production, and deeply interested me. The sentiments noble +and elevated, without ever degenerating into aught approaching to +bombast, and the pathos such as a manly heart might feel, without +incurring the accusation of weakness. The author must be a man of fine +feelings, as well as of genius,--but were they ever distinct? I like to +think they cannot be, for my theory is, that the feelings are to genius +what the chords are to a musical instrument--they must be touched to +produce effect. + +The style of Count Alfred de Vigny merits the eulogium passed by Lord +Shaftesbury on that of an author in his time, of which he wrote, "It is +free from that affected obscurity and laboured pomp of language aiming +at a false sublime, with crowded simile and mixed metaphor (the +hobby-horse and rattle of the Muses.") + +---- dined with us yesterday, and, clever as I admit him to be, he +often displeases me by his severe strictures on mankind. I told him +that he exposed himself to the suspicion of censuring it only because +he had studied a bad specimen of it (self) more attentively than the +good that fell in his way: a reproof that turned the current of his +conversation into a more agreeable channel, though he did not seem to +like the hint. + +It is the fashion for people now-a-days to affect this cynicism, and to +expend their wit at the expense of poor human nature, which is abused +_en masse_ for the sins of those who abuse it from judging of all +others by self. How different is ----, who thinks so well of his +species, that, like our English laws, he disbelieves the existence of +guilt until it is absolutely proved,--a charity originating in a +superior nature, and a judgment formed from an involuntary +consciousness of it! + +---- suspects evil on all sides, and passes his time in guarding +against it. He dares not indulge friendship, because he doubts the +possibility of its being disinterested, and feels no little +self-complacency when the conduct of those with whom he comes in +contact justifies his suspicions. ----, on the contrary, if sometimes +deceived, feels no bitterness, because he believes that the instance +may be a solitary one, and finds consolation in those whose truth he +has yet had no room to question. His is the best philosophy, for though +it cannot preclude occasional disappointment, it ensures much +happiness, as the indulgence of good feelings invariably does, and he +often creates the good qualities he gives credit for, as few persons +are so bad as not to wish to justify the favourable opinion entertained +of them, as few are so good as to resist the demoralising influence of +unfounded suspicions. + +A letter from Lord B----, announcing a majority of 105 on the bill of +the Catholic question. Lord Grey made an admirable speech, with a happy +allusion to the fact of Lord Howard of Effingham, who commanded the +English fleet in the reign of Elizabeth, having, though a Roman +Catholic, destroyed the Armada under the anointed banner of the Pope. +What a triumphant refutation of the notion that Roman Catholics dared +not oppose the Pope! Lord B---- writes, that the brilliant and justly +merited eulogium pronounced by Lord Grey on the Duke of Wellington was +rapturously received by the House. How honourable to both was the +praise! I feel delighted that Lord Grey should have distinguished +himself on this occasion, for he is one of the friends in England whom +I most esteem. + +---- dined here to-day. He reminds me of the larva, which is the first +state of animal existence in the caterpillar, for his appetite is +voracious, and, as a French naturalist states in describing that +insect, "Tout est estomac dans un larve." ---- is of the opinion of +Aretaeus, that the stomach is the great source of pleasurable +affections, and that as Nature "abhors a vacuum," the more filled it is +the better. + +Dining is a serious affair with ----. Soup, fish, flesh, and fowl, +disappear from his plate with a rapidity that is really surprising; and +while they are vanishing, not "into empty air," but into the yawning +abyss of his ravenous jaws, his eyes wander around, seeking what next +those same ravenous jaws may devour. + +On beholding a person indulge in such gluttony, I feel a distaste to +eating, as a certain double-refined lady of my acquaintance declared +that witnessing the demonstrations of love between two persons of low +and vulgar habits so disgusted her with the tender passion, that she +was sure she never could experience it herself. + +I have been reading _la Chronique du Temps de Charles IX_, by Prosper +Merimee, and a most interesting and admirably written book it is. Full +of stirring scenes and incidents, it contains the most graphic pictures +of the manners of the time in which the story is placed, and the +interest progresses, never flagging from the commencement to the end. +This book will be greatly admired in England, where the romances of our +great Northern Wizard have taught us to appreciate the peculiar merit +in which this abounds. Sir Walter Scott will be one of the first to +admire and render justice to this excellent book, and to welcome into +the field of literature this highly gifted brother of the craft. + +The French writers deserve justice from the English, for they +invariably treat the works of the latter with indulgence. Scott is not +more read or esteemed in his own country than here; and even the +productions of our young writers are more kindly treated than those of +their own youthful aspirants for fame. + +French critics have much merit for this amenity, because the greater +number of them possess a peculiar talent, for the exercise of their +critical acumen, which renders the indulgence of it, like that of the +power of ridicule, very tempting. Among the most remarkable critics of +the day Jules Janin, who though yet little more than a youth, evinces +such talent as a reviewer as to be the terror of mediocrity. His style +is pungent and vigorous, his satire searching and biting, and his tact +in pointing ridicule unfailing. He bids fair to take a most +distinguished place in his profession. + +Spent last evening in the Rue d'Anjou, where I met the usual circle and +----. He bepraised every one that was named during the evening, and so +injudiciously, that it was palpable he knew little of those upon whom +he expended his eulogiums; nay, he lauded some whom he acknowledged he +had never seen, on the same principle that actuated the Romans of old +who, having deified every body they knew, erected at last an altar to +the unknown Gods, lest any should by chance be omitted. + +This habit of indiscriminate praise is almost as faulty as that of +general censure, and is, in my opinion, more injurious to the praised +than the censure is to the abused, because people are prone to indulge +a greater degree of sympathy towards those attacked than towards those +who are commended. No one said "Amen" to the praises heaped on some +really deserving people by ----, but several put in a palliating +"_pourtant_" to the ill-natured remarks made by ----, whose habit of +abusing all who chance to be named is quite as remarkable as the +other's habit of praising. I would prefer being attacked by ---- to +being lauded by ----, for the extravagance of the eulogiums of the +latter would excite more ill-will towards me than the censures of the +other, as the self-love of the listeners disposes them to feel more +kindly to the one they can pity, than to the person they are disposed +to envy. + +I never look at dear, good Madame C---, without thinking how soon we +may,--nay, we must lose her. At her very advanced age we cannot hope +that she will be long spared to us; yet her freshness of heart and +wonderful vivacity of mind would almost cheat one into a hope of her +long continuing amongst us. + +She drove out with me yesterday to the Bois de Boulogne, and, when +remarking how verdant and beautiful all around was looking, exclaimed, +"Ah! why is no second spring allowed to us? I hear," continued she, +"people say they would not like to renew their youth, but I cannot +believe them. There are times--would you believe it?--that I forget my +age, and feel so young in imagination that I can scarcely bring myself +to think this heart, which is still so youthful, can appertain to the +same frame to which is attached this faded and wrinkled face," and she +raised her hand to her cheek. "Ah! my dear friend, it is a sad, sad +thing to mark this fearful change, and I never look in my mirror +without being shocked. The feelings ought to change with the person, +and the heart should become as insensible as the face becomes +withered." + +"The change in the face is so gradual, too," continued Madame C----. +"We see ourselves after thirty-five, each day looking a little less +well (we are loath to think it ugly), and we attribute it not to the +true cause, the approach of that enemy to beauty--age,--but to some +temporary indisposition, a bad night's rest, or an unbecoming cap. We +thus go on cheating ourselves, but not cheating others, until some day +when the light falls more clearly on our faces, and the fearful truth +stands revealed. Wrinkles have usurped the place of dimples; horrid +lines, traced by Time, have encircled the eyelids; the eyes, too, no +longer bright and pellucid, become dim; the lips dry and colourless, +the teeth yellow, and the cheeks pale and faded, as a dried rose-leaf +long pressed in a _hortus siccus_." + +"Alas, alas! who can help thinking of all this when one sees the trees +opening into their rich foliage, the earth putting forth its bright +verdure, and the flowers budding into bloom, while we resemble the hoar +and dreary winter, and scarcely retain a trace of the genial summer we +once knew." + +This conversation suggested the following lines, which I wish I could +translate into French verse to give to Madame C----: + + GRAY HAIRS. + + Snowy blossoms of the grave + That now o'er care-worn temples wave, + Oh! what change hath pass'd since ye + O'er youthful brows fell carelessly! + In silken curls of ebon hue + That with such wild luxuriance grew, + The raven's dark and glossy wing + A richer shadow scarce could fling. + The brow that tells a tale of Care + That Sorrow's pen hath written there, + In characters too deeply traced + Ever on earth to be effaced, + Was then a page of spotless white, + Where Love himself might wish to write. + The jetty arches that did rise, + As if to guard the brilliant eyes, + Have lost their smoothness;--and no more + The eyes can sparkle as of yore: + They look like fountains form'd by tears, + Where perish'd Hope in by-gone years. + The nose that served as bridge between + The brow and mouth--for Love, I ween, + To pass--hath lost its sculptured air. + For Time, the spoiler, hath been there. + The mouth--ah! where's the crimson dye + That youth and health did erst supply? + Are these pale lips that seldom smile, + The same that laugh'd, devoid of guile. + Shewing within their coral cell + The shining pearls that there did dwell, + But dwell no more? The pearls are fled, + And homely teeth are in their stead. + The cheeks have lost the blushing rose + That once their surface could disclose; + A dull, pale tint has spread around, + Where rose and lily erst were found. + The throat, and bust--but, ah! forbear, + Let's draw a veil for ever there; + Too fearful is 't to put in rhyme + The changes wrought by cruel Time, + The faithful mirror well reveals + The truth that flattery conceals; + The charms once boasted, now are flown, + But mind and heart are still thine own; + And thou canst see the wreck of years, + And ghost of beauty, without tears. + No outward change thy soul shouldst wring, + Oh! mourn but for the change within; + Grieve over bright illusions fled, + O'er fondly cherish'd hope, now dead, + O'er errors of the days of youth, + Ere wisdom taught the path of truth. + Then hail, ye blossoms of the grave, + That o'er the care-worn temples wave-- + Sent to remind us of "that bourn, + Whence traveller can ne'er return;" + The harbingers of peace and rest, + Where only mortals can be blest. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + + +Read Victor Hugo's _Dernier Jour d'un Condamne!_ It is powerfully +written, and the author identifies his feelings so strongly with the +condemned, that he must, while writing the book, have experienced +similar emotions to those which a person in the same terrible position +would have felt. Wonderful power of genius, that can thus excite +sympathy for the erring and the wretched, and awaken attention to a +subject but too little thought of in our selfish times, namely, the +expediency of the abolition of capital punishment! A perusal of Victor +Hugo's graphic book will do more to lead men's minds to reflect on this +point than all the dull essays; or as dull speeches, that may be +written or made on it. + +Talking of ---- to-day with ---- ----, she remarked that he had every +sense but common sense, and made light of this deficiency. How +frequently do we hear people do this, as if the possession of talents +or various fine qualities can atone for its absence! Common sense is +not only positively necessary to render talent available by directing +its proper application, but is indispensable as a monitor to warn men +against error. Without this guide the passions and feelings will be +ever leading men astray, and even those with the best natural +dispositions will fall into error. + +Common sense is to the individual what the compass is to the +mariner--it enables him to steer safely through the rocks, shoals, and +whirlpools that intersect his way. Were the lives of criminals +accurately known, I am persuaded that it would be found that from a +want of common sense had proceeded their guilt; for a clear perception +of crime would do more to check its perpetration, than the goodness of +heart which is so frequently urged as a preventive against it. + +Conscience is the only substitute for common sense, but even this will +not supply its place in all cases. Conscience will lead a man to repent +or atone for crime, but common sense will preclude his committing it by +enabling him to judge of the result. I frequently hear people say, "So +and so are very clever," or "very cunning, and are well calculated to +make their way in the world." This opinion seems to me to be a severe +satire on the world, for as cunning can only appertain to a mean +intellect, to which it serves as a poor substitute for sense, it argues +ill for the world to suppose it can be taken in by it. + +I never knew a sensible, or a good person, who was cunning; and I have +known so many weak and wicked ones who possessed this despicable +quality, that I hold it in abhorrence, except in very young children, +to whom Providence gives it before they arrive at good sense. + +Went a round of the curiosity shops on the Quai d'Orsay, and bought an +amber vase of rare beauty, said to have once belonged to the Empress +Josephine. When I see the beautiful objects collected together in these +shops, I often think of their probable histories, and of those to whom +they once belonged. Each seems to identify itself with the former +owner, and conjures up in my mind a little romance. + +A vase of rock crystal, set in precious stones, seen today, could never +have belonged to aught but some beauty, for whom it was selected by an +adoring lover or husband, ere yet the honeymoon had passed. A chased +gold _etui_, enriched with oriental agates and brilliants, must have +appertained to some _grande dame_, on whose table it rested in a +richly-decorated _salon_; and could it speak, what piquant disclosures +might it not make! + +The fine old watch, around the dial of which sparkle diamonds, and on +the back the motto, executed in the same precious stones, "_Vous me +faites oublier les heures_," once adorned the slender waist of some +dainty dame,--a nuptial gift. The silvery sound of its bell often +reminded her of the flight of Time, and her _caro sposo_ of the effects +of it on his inconstant heart, long before her mirror told her of the +ravages of the tyrant. The _flacon_ so tastefully ornamented, has been +held to delicate nostrils when the megrim--that malady peculiar to +refined organisations and susceptible nerves--has assailed its fair +owner; and the heart-shaped pincushion of crimson velvet, inclosed in +its golden case and stuck with pins, has been likened by the giver to +his own heart, pierced by the darts of Love--a simile that probably +displeased not the fair creature to whom it was addressed. + +Here are the expensive and tasteful gifts, the _gages d'amour_, not +often disinterested, as bright and beautiful as when they left the +hands of the jeweller; but the givers and the receivers where are they? +Mouldered in the grave long, long years ago! Through how many hands may +these objects not have passed since Death snatched away the persons for +whom they were originally designed! And here they are in the ignoble +custody of some avaricious vender, who having obtained them at the sale +of some departed amateur for less than half their first cost, now +expects to extort more than double. + +He takes them up in his unwashed fingers, turns them--oh, +profanation!--round and round, in order to display their various +merits, descants on the delicacy of the workmanship, the sharpness of +the chiseling, the pure water of the brilliants, and the fine taste +displayed in the form; tells a hundred lies about the sum he gave for +them, the offers he has refused, the persons to whom they once +belonged, and those who wish to purchase them! + +The _flacon_ of some defunct prude is placed side by side with the +_vinaigrette_ of some _jolie danseuse_ who was any thing but prudish. +How shocked would the original owner of the _flacon_ feel at the +friction! The fan of some _grande dame de la cour_ touches the +diamond-mounted _etui_ of the wife of some _financier_, who would have +given half her diamonds to enter the circle in which she who once owned +this fan found more _ennui_ than amusement. The cane of a deceased +philosopher is in close contact with the golden-hilted sword of a +_petit maitre de l'ancien regime_, and the sparkling _tabatiere_ of a +_Marquis Musque_, the partaker if not the cause of half his _succes +dans le monde_, is placed by the _chapelet_ of a _religieuse de haute +naissance_, who often perhaps dropped a tear on the beads as she +counted them in saying her Ave Marias, when some unbidden thought of +the world she had resigned usurped the place of her aspirations for a +brighter and more enduring world. + +"And so 't will be when I am gone," as Moore's beautiful song says; the +rare and beautiful _bijouterie_ which I have collected with such pains, +and looked on with such pleasure, will probably be scattered abroad, +and find their resting places not in gilded _salons_, but in the dingy +coffers of the wily _brocanteur_, whose exorbitant demands will +preclude their finding purchasers. Even these inanimate and puerile +objects have their moral, if people would but seek it; but what has +not, to a reflecting mind?--complained bitterly to-day, of having been +attacked by an anonymous scribbler. I was surprised to see a man +accounted clever and sensible, so much annoyed by what I consider so +wholly beneath his notice. It requires only a knowledge of the world +and a self-respect to enable one to treat such attacks with the +contempt they merit; and those who allow themselves to be mortified by +them must be deficient in these necessary qualifications for passing +smoothly through life. + +It seems to me to indicate great weakness of mind, when a person +permits his peace to be at the mercy of every anonymous scribbler who, +actuated by envy or hatred (the invariable causes of such attacks), +writes a libel on him. If a person so attacked would but reflect that +few, if any, who have acquired celebrity, or have been favoured by +fortune, have ever escaped similar assaults, he would be disposed to +consider them as the certain proofs of a merit, the general +acknowledgment of which has excited the ire of the envious, thus +displayed by the only mean within their reach--anonymous abuse. +Anonymous assailants may be likened to the cuttle-fish, which employs +the inky secretions it forms as a means of tormenting its enemy and +baffling pursuit. + +I have been reading the poems of Mrs. Hemans, and exquisite they are. +They affect me like sacred music, and never fail to excite religious +sentiments. England only could have produced this poetess, and peculiar +circumstances were necessary to the developement of her genius. The +music of the versification harmonises well with the elevated character +of the thoughts, which inspire the reader (at least such is their +effect on me) with a pensive sentiment of resignation that is not +without a deep charm to a mind that loves to withdraw itself from the +turmoil and bustle incidental to a life passed in a gay and brilliant +capital. + +The mind of this charming poetess must be like an AEolian harp, that +every sighing wind awakes to music, but to grave and chastened melody, +the full charm of which can only be truly appreciated by those who have +sorrowed, and who look beyond this earth for repose. Well might Goethe +write, + + "Wo du das Genie erblickst + Erblickst du auch zugleich die martkrone"[7] + +for where is Genius to be found that has not been tried by suffering? + +Moore has beautifully said, + + "The hearths that are soonest awake to the flowers, + Are always the first to be pierced by the thorns;" + +and so it is with poets: they feel intensely before they can make +others feel even superficially. + +And there are those who can talk lightly and irreverently of the +sufferings from which spring such exquisite, such glorious music, +unconscious that the fine organization and delicate susceptibility of +the minds of Genius which give such precious gifts to delight others, +receive deep wounds from weapons that could not make an incision on +impenetrable hearts like their own. Yes, the hearts of people of genius +may be said to resemble the American maple-trees, which must be pierced +ere they yield their honied treasures. + +If Mrs. Hemans had been as happy as she deserved to be, it is probable +that she would never have written the exquisite poems I have been +reading; for the fulness of content leaves no room for the sweet and +bitter fancies engendered by an imagination that finds its Hippocrene +in the fountain of Sorrow, whose source is in the heart, and can only +flow when touched by the hand of Care. + +Well may England be proud of such poetesses as she can now boast! +Johanna Baillie, the noble-minded and elevated; Miss Bowles, the pure, +the true; Miss Mitford, the gifted and the natural; and Mrs. Hemans and +Miss Landon, though last not least in the galaxy of Genius, with +imaginations as brilliant as their hearts are generous and tender. Who +can read the productions of these gifted women, without feeling a +lively interest in their welfare, and a pride in belonging to the +country that has given them birth? + +Lord B---- arrived yesterday, and, Heaven be thanked! is in better +health. He says the spring is three weeks more advanced at Paris than +in London. He is delighted at the Catholic Question having been +carried; and trusts, as I do, that Ireland will derive the greatest +benefit from the measure. How few, with estates in a province where so +strong a prejudice is entertained against Roman Catholics as exists in +the north of Ireland, would have voted as Lord B---- has done; but, +like his father, Lord B---- never allows personal interest to interfere +in the discharge of a duty! If there were many such landlords in +Ireland, prejudices, the bane of that country, would soon subside. Lord +B---- came back laden with presents for me. Some of them are quite +beautiful, and would excite the envy of half my sex. + +Received letters from good, dear Sir William Gell, and the no less dear +and good Archbishop of Tarentum, both urging us to return to Italy to +see them, as they say, once more before they die. Receiving letters +from absent friends who are dear to us, has almost as much of sadness +as of pleasure in it; for although it is consolatory to know that they +are in life, and are not unmindful of us, still a closely written sheet +of paper is but a poor substitute for the animated conversation, the +cordial grasp of the hand, and the kind glance of the eye; and we +become more sensible of the distance that divides us when letters +written many days ago arrive, and we remember with dread that, since +these very epistles were indited, the hands that traced them may be +chilled by death. This fear, which recurs so often to the mind in all +cases of absence from those dear to us, becomes still more vivid where +infirmity of health and advanced age render the probability of the loss +of friends the greater. + +Italy--dear, beautiful Italy--with all its sunshine and attractions, +would not be the same delightful residence to me if I no longer found +there the friends who made my _sejour_ there so pleasant; and among +these the Archbishop and Sir William Gell stand prominent. + +Gell writes me that some new and interesting discoveries have been made +at Pompeii. Would that I could be transported there for a few days to +see them with him, as I have beheld so many before when we were present +at several excavations together, and saw exposed to the light of day +objects that had been for two thousand years buried in darkness! There +was a thrilling feeling of interest awakened in the breast by the first +view of these so-long-interred articles of use or ornament of a bygone +generation, and on the spot where their owners perished. It was as +though the secrets of the grave were revealed; and that, to convince us +of the perishable coil of which mortals are formed, it is given us to +behold how much more durable are the commonest utensils of daily use +than the frames of those who boast themselves lords of the creation. +But here am I moralizing, when I ought to be taking advantage of this +glorious day by a promenade in the Bois de Boulogne, where I promised +to conduct Madame d'O----; so _allons en voiture_. + +Read the _Disowned_, and like it exceedingly. It is full of beautiful +thoughts, sparkling with wit, teeming with sentiment, and each and all +of them based on immutable truths. The more I read of the works of this +highly gifted writer, the more am I delighted with them; for his +philosophy passes through the alembic of a mind glowing with noble and +generous sentiments, of which it imbibes the hues. + +The generality of readers pause not to reflect on the truth and beauty +of the sentiments to be found in novels. They hurry on to the +_denoument_; and a stirring incident, skilfully managed, which serves +to develope the plot, finds more admirers than the noblest thoughts, or +most witty maxims. Yet as people who read nothing else, will read +novels, authors like Mr. Bulwer, whose minds are overflowing with +genius, are compelled to make fiction the vehicle for giving to the +public thoughts and opinions that are deserving of a higher grade of +literature. + +The greater portion of novel readers, liking not to be detained from +the interest of the story by any extraneous matter, however admirable +it may be, skip over the passages that most delight those who read to +reflect, and not for mere amusement. + +I find myself continually pausing over the admirable and profound +reflections of Mr. Bulwer, and almost regret that his writings do not +meet the public as the papers of the _Spectator_ did, when a single one +of them was deemed as essential to the breakfast-table of all lovers of +literature as a morning journal is now to the lovers of news. The merit +of the thoughts would be then duly appreciated, instead of being +hastily passed over in the excitement of the story which they +intersect. + +A long visit from ----, and, as usual, politics furnished the topic. +How I wish people would never talk politics to me! I have no vocation +for that abstruse science,--a science in which even those who devote +all their time and talents to it, but rarely arrive at a proficiency. +In vain do I profess my ignorance and inability; people will not +believe me, and think it necessary to enter into political discussions +that _ennuient_ me beyond expression. + +If ---- is to be credited, Charles the Tenth and his government are so +unpopular that his reign will not pass without some violent commotion. +A fatality appears to attend this family, which, like the house of +Stuart, seems doomed never to conciliate the affections of the people. +And yet, Charles the Tenth is said not to be disposed to tyrannical +measures, neither is he without many good qualities. But the last of +the Stuart sovereigns also was naturally a humane and good man, yet he +was driven from his kingdom and his throne,--a proof that weakness of +mind is, perhaps, of all faults in a monarch, the one most likely to +compromise the security of his dynasty. + +The restoration of the Stuarts after Cromwell, was hailed with much +more enthusiasm in England than that of Louis the Eighteenth, after the +abdication of the Emperor Napoleon. Yet that enthusiasm was no pledge +that the people would bear from the descendants of the ill-fated +Charles the First--that most perfect of all gentlemen and meekest of +Christians--what they deprived him of not only his kingdom but his life +for attempting. + +The house of Bourbon, like that of Stuart, has had its tragedy, +offering a fearful lesson to sovereigns and a terrific example to +subjects. It has had, also, its restoration; and, if report may be +credited, the parallel will not rest here: for there are those who +assert that as James was supplanted on the throne of England by a +relative while yet the legitimate and unoffending heir lived, so will +also the place of Charles the Tenth be filled by one between whom and +the crown stand two legitimate barriers. Time will tell how far the +predictions of ---- are just; but, _en attendant_, I never can believe +that ambition can so blind _one_ who possesses all that can render life +a scene of happiness to himself and of usefulness to others, to throw +away a positive good for the uncertain and unquiet possession of a +crown, bestowed by hands that to confer the dangerous gift must have +subverted a monarchy. + +Pandora's box contained not more evils than the crown of France would +inflict on him on whose brow a revolution would place it. From that +hour let him bid adieu to peaceful slumber, to domestic happiness, to +well-merited confidence and esteem, all of which are now his own. +Popularity, never a stable possession in any country, is infinitely +less so in France, where the vivacity of perception of the people leads +them to discover grave faults where only slight errors exist, and where +a natural inconstancy, love of change, and a reckless impatience under +aught that offends them, prompt them to hurl down from the pedestal the +idol of yesterday to replace it by the idol of to-day. + +I hear so much good of the Duc and Duchesse d'O---- that I feel a +lively interest in them, and heartily wish they may never be elevated +(unless by the natural demise of the legitimate heirs) to the dangerous +height to which ---- and others assert they will ultimately ascend. +Even in the contingency of a legitimate inheritance of the crown, the +Tuileries would offer a less peaceful couch to them than they find in +the blissful domestic circle at N----. + +A long visit from the Duc de T----. I never meet him without being +reminded of the truth of an observation of a French writer, who +says--"_On a vu des gens se passer d'esprit en sachant meler la +politesse avec des manieres nobles et elegantes_." The Duc de T---- +passes off perfectly well without _esprit_, the absence of which his +noble manners perfectly conceal; while ----, who is so very clever, +makes one continually conscious of his want of good breeding and _bon +ton_. + +Finished reading _Sayings and Doings_, by Mr. Theodore Hook. Every page +teems with wit, humour, or pathos, and reveals a knowledge of the world +under all the various phases of the ever-moving scene that gives a +lively interest to all he writes. This profound acquaintance with human +life, which stamps the impress of truth on every character portrayed by +his graphic pen, has not soured his feelings or produced that cynical +disposition so frequently engendered by it. + +Mr. Hook is no misanthrope, and while he exposes the ridiculous with a +rare wit and humour he evinces a natural and warm sympathy with the +good. He is a very original thinker and writer, hits off characters +with a facility and felicity that few authors possess, and makes them +invariably act in accordance with the peculiar characteristics with +which he has endowed them. The _vraisemblance_ is never for a moment +violated, which makes the reader imagine he is perusing a true +narration instead of a fiction. + +House-hunting to-day. Went again over the Hotel Monaco, but its +dilapidated state somewhat alarms us. The suite of reception rooms are +magnificent, but the garden into which they open pleases me still more, +for it is vast and umbrageous. The line old hotels in the Faubourg +St.-Germain, and this is one of the finest, give one a good idea of the +splendour of the _noblesse de l'ancien regime_. The number and +spaciousness of the apartments, the richness of the decorations, though +no longer retaining their pristine beauty, and above all, the terraces +and gardens, have a grand effect. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + + +House-hunting all the day with Lord B----. Went again over the Hotel +Monaco, and abandoned the project of hiring it. Saw one house newly +built and freshly and beautifully decorated, which I like, but Lord +B---- does not think good enough. It is in the Rue de Matignon. It is +so desirable to get into a mansion where every thing is new and in good +taste, which is the case with the one in question, that I hope Lord +B---- will be satisfied with this. + +Sat an hour with General d'O---- who has been unwell. Never was there +such a nurse as his wife, and so he said. Illness almost loses its +irksomeness when the sick chamber is cheered by one who is as kind as +she is clever. Madame d'O---- is glad we have not taken the Hotel +Monaco, for she resided in it a long time when it was occupied by her +mother, and she thinks the sleeping-rooms are confined and gloomy. + +"After serious consideration and mature deliberation," we have finally +decided on taking the house in the Rue de Matignon. It will be +beautiful when completed, but nevertheless not to be compared to the +Hotel Ney. The _salons de reception_, are very good, and the +decorations are rich and handsome. + +The large _salon_ is separated from the lesser by an immense plate of +unsilvered glass, which admits of the fireplaces in each room (they are +_vis-a-vis_) being seen, and has a very good effect. A door on each +side this large plate of glass opens into the smaller _salon_. The +portion of the house allotted to me will, when completed, be like fairy +land. A _salon_, destined to contain my buhl cabinets, _porcelaine de +Sevres_, and rare _bijouterie_, opens into a library by two +glass-doors, and in the pier which divides them is a large mirror +filling up the entire space. + +In the library, that opens on a terrace, which is to be covered with a +_berceau_, and converted into a garden, are two mirrors, _vis-a-vis_ to +the two glass doors that communicate from the _salon_; so that on +entering this last, the effect produced is exceedingly pretty. Another +large mirror is placed at the end of the library, and reflects the +terrace. + +When my books and various treasures are arranged in this suite I shall +be very comfortably lodged. My _chambre a coucher_, dressing-room, and +boudoir, are spacious, and beautifully decorated. All this sounds well +and looks well, too, yet we shall leave the Rue de Bourbon with regret, +and Lord B---- now laments that we did not secure it for a long term. + +Drove in the Bois de Boulogne. A lovely day, which produced a very +exhilarating effect on my spirits. I know not whether others experience +the same pleasurable sensations that I do on a fine day in spring, when +all nature is bursting into life, and the air and earth look joyous. My +feelings become more buoyant, my step more elastic, and all that I love +seem dearer than before. I remember that even in childhood I was +peculiarly sensible to atmospheric influence, and I find that as I grow +old this susceptibility does not diminish. + +We dined at the Rocher de Cancale yesterday; and Counts Septeuil and +Valeski composed our party. The Rocher de Cancale is the Greenwich of +Paris; the oysters and various other kinds of fish served up _con +gusto_, attracting people to it, as the white bait draw visitors to +Greenwich. Our dinner was excellent, and our party very agreeable. + +A _diner de restaurant_ is pleasant from its novelty. The guests seem +less ceremonious and more gay; the absence of the elegance that marks +the dinner-table appointments in a _maison bien montee_, gives a +homeliness and heartiness to the repast; and even the attendance of two +or three ill-dressed _garcons_ hurrying about, instead of half-a-dozen +sedate servants in rich liveries, marshalled by a solemn-looking +_maitre-d'hotel_ and groom of the chambers, gives a zest to the dinner +often wanted in more luxurious feasts. + +The Bois de Boulogne yesterday presented one of the gayest sights +imaginable as we drove through it, for, being Sunday, all the +_bourgeoisie_ of Paris were promenading there, and in their holyday +dresses. And very pretty and becoming were the said dresses, from those +of the _femmes de negociants_, composed of rich and tasteful materials, +down to those of the humble _grisettes_, who, with jaunty air and +roguish eyes, walked briskly along, casting glances at every smart +toilette they encountered, more intent on examining the dresses than +the wearers. + +A good taste in dress seems innate in Frenchwomen of every class, and a +confidence in their own attractions precludes the air of _mauvaise +honte_ and _gaucherie_ so continually observable in the women of other +countries, while it is so distinct from boldness that it never offends. +It was pretty to see the gay dresses of varied colours fluttering +beneath the delicate green foliage, like rich flowers agitated by a +more than usually brisk summer's wind, while the foliage and the +dresses are still in their pristine purity. + +The _beau monde_ occupied the drive in the centre, their vehicles of +every description attracting the admiration of the pedestrians, who +glanced from the well-appointed carriages, whose owners reclined +negligently back as if unwilling to be seen, to the smart young +equestrians on prancing steeds, who caracoled past with the air half +dandy and half _militaire_ that characterises every young Frenchman. + +I am always struck in a crowd in Paris with the soldier-like air of its +male population; and this air does not seem to be the result of study, +but sits as naturally on them as does the look, half fierce, half +mocking, that accompanies it. There is something in the nature of a +Frenchman that enables him to become a soldier in less time than is +usually necessary to render the natives of other countries _au fait_ in +the routine of duty, just as he learns to dance well in a quarter of +the time required to teach them to go through a simple measure. + +The Emperor Napoleon quickly observed this peculiar predisposition to a +military life in his subjects, and took advantage of it to fool them to +the top of their bent. The victories achieved beneath his banner +reflect scarcely less honour on them than on him, and the memory of +them associates his name in their hearts by the strongest bonds of +sympathy that can bind a Frenchman--the love of glory. A sense of duty, +high discipline, and true courage, influence our soldiers in the +discharge of their calling. They are proud of their country and of +their regiment, for the honour of which they are ready to fight unto +the death; but a Frenchman, though proud of his country and his +regiment, is still more proud of his individual self, and, believing +that all eyes are upon _him_ acts as if his single arm could accomplish +that which only soldiers _en masse_ can achieve. + +A pleasant party at dinner at home yesterday. The Marquis de Mornay, +Count Valeski, and General Ornano, were among the number. Laughed +immoderately at the _naivete_ of ----, who is irresistibly ludicrous. + +Madame ---- came in the evening and sang "God save the King." Time was +that her singing this national anthem would have electrified the +hearers, but now--. Alas! alas! that voices, like faces, should lose +their delicate flexibility and freshness, and seem but like the faint +echo of their former brilliant tones! + +Does the ear of a singer, like the eye of some _has-been_ beauty, lose +its fine perception and become accustomed to the change in the voice, +as does the eye to that in the face, to which it appertains, from being +daily in the habit of seeing the said face! Merciful dispensation of +Providence, which thus saves us from the horror and dismay we must +experience could we but behold ourselves as others see us, after a +lapse of years without having met; while we, unconscious of the sad +change in ourselves, are perfectly sensible of it in them. Oh, the +misery of the _mezzo termine_ in the journey of life, when time robs +the eyes of their lustre, the cheeks of their roses, the mouth of its +pearls, and the heart of its gaiety, and writes harsh sentences on +brows once smooth and polished as marble! + + Well a-day! ah, well a-day! + Why fleets youth so fast away, + Taking beauty in its train, + Never to return again? + + Well a-day! ah, well a-day! + Why will health no longer stay? + After youth 't will not remain, + Chased away by care and pain. + + Well a-day! ah, well a-day! + Youth, health, beauty, gone for aye, + Life itself must quickly wane + With its thoughts and wishes vain. + + Well a-day! ah, well a-day! + Frail and perishable clay + That to earth our wishes chain, + Well it is that brief's thy reign. + +I have been reading Captain Marryat's _Naval Officer_, and think it +exceedingly clever and amusing. It is like himself, full of talent, +originality, and humour. He is an accurate observer of life; nothing +escapes him; yet there is no bitterness in his satire and no +exaggeration in his comic vein. He is never obliged to explain to his +readers _why_ the characters he introduces act in such or such a +manner. + +They always bear out the parts he wishes them to enact, and the whole +story goes on so naturally that one feels as if reading a narrative of +facts, instead of a work of fiction. + +I have known Captain Marryat many years, and liked him from the first; +but this circumstance, far from rendering me more indulgent to his +novel, makes me more fastidious; for I find myself at all times more +disposed to criticise the writings of persons whom I know and like than +those of strangers: perhaps because I expect more from them, if, as in +the present case, I know them to be very clever. + +Dined yesterday at the Cadran Bleu, and went in the evening to see _La +Tour d'Auvergne_, a piece founded on the life, and taking its name from +a soldier of the time of the Republic. A nobler character than that of +La Tour d'Auvergne could not be selected for a dramatic hero, and +ancient times furnish posterity with no brighter example. A letter from +Carnot, then Minister of War, addressed to this distinguished soldier +and admirable man, has pleased me so much that I give its substance: + + "On fixing my attention on the men who reflect honour on the + army, I have remarked you, citizen, and I said to the First + Consul--'La Tour d'Auvergne Corret, descendant of the family + of Turenne, has inherited its bravery and its virtues. One of + the oldest officers in the army, he counts the greatest + number of brilliant actions, and all the brave name him to be + the most brave. As modest as he is intrepid, he has shewn + himself anxious for glory alone, and has refused all the + grades offered to him. At the eastern Pyrenees the General + assembled all the companies of the grenadiers, and during the + remainder of the campaign gave them no chief. The oldest + captain was to command them, and he was Latour d'Auvergne. He + obeyed, and the corps was soon named by the enemy the + Infernal Column. + + "'One of his friends had an only son, whose labour was + necessary for the support of his father, and this young man + was included in the conscription. Latour d'Auvergne, broken + down by fatigue, could not labour, but he could still fight. + He hastened to the army of the Rhine; replaced the son of his + friend; and, during two campaigns, with his knapsack on his + hack and always in the foremost rank, he was in every + engagement, animating the grenadiers by his discourse and by + his example. Poor, but proud, he has refused the gift of an + estate offered to him by the head of his family. Simple in + his manners, and temperate in his habits, he lives on the + limited pay of a captain. Highly informed, and speaking + several languages, his erudition equals his courage. We are + indebted to his pen for the interesting work entitled _Les + Origines Gauloises_. Such rare talents and virtues appertain + to the page of history, but to the First Consul belongs the + right to anticipate its award.' + + "The First Consul, citizen, heard this recital with the same + emotions that I experienced. He named you instantly first + grenadier of the Republic, and decreed you this sword of + honour. _Salut et fraternite_." + +The distinction accorded so readily to Latour d'Auvergne by the First +Consul, himself a hero, who could better than any other contemporary +among his countrymen appreciate the glory he was called on by Carnot to +reward, was refused by the gallant veteran. + +"Among us soldiers," said he, "there is neither first nor last." He +demanded, as the sole recompense of his services, to be sent to join +his old brothers-in-arms, to fight once more with them, not as the +_first_, but as the _oldest_, soldier of the Republic. + +His death was like his life, glorious; for he fell on the field of +battle at Neubourg, in 1800, mourned by the whole army, who devoted a +day's pay to the purchase of an urn to preserve his heart, for a niche +in the Pantheon. + +Another distinction, not less touching, was accorded to his memory by +the regiment in which he served. The sergeant, in calling his names in +the muster of his company, always called Latour d'Auvergne, and the +corporal answered--"_Mort au champ d'honneur_." If the history of this +hero excited the warm admiration of those opposed to him in arms, the +effect of its representation on his compatriots may be more easily +imagined than described. Nothing could exceed the enthusiasm it excited +in their minds. Men, women, and children, seemed electrified by it. + +There is a chord in the hearts of the French that responds +instantaneously, and with vivid emotion, to any appeal made to their +national glory; and this susceptibility constitutes the germ so easily +fructified by those who know how to cultivate it. + +Enthusiasm, if it sometimes leads to error, or commits its votaries +into the ridiculous, also prompts and accomplishes the most glorious +achievements; and it is impossible not to feel a sympathy with its +unsophisticated demonstrations thus evinced _en masse_. Civilization, +more than aught else, tends to discourage enthusiasm; and where it is +pushed to the utmost degree of perfection, there will this prompter of +great deeds, this darer of impossibilities and instigator of heroic +actions, be most rarely found. + +Drove yesterday to see the villa of the Duchesse de Montmorency, which +is to be let. The grounds are very pretty, and a portion of them opens +by iron rails to the Bois de Boulogne, which is a great advantage. But +neither the villa nor the grounds are to be compared to the beautiful +ones in the neighbourhood of London, where, as an old French gentleman +once observed to me, "the trees seem to take a peculiar pride and +pleasure in growing." + +I have seen nothing to be compared with the tasteful villas on green +velvet lawns sloping down to the limpid Thames, near Richmond, with +umbrageous trees bending their leafy branches to the earth and water; +or to the colonnaded mansions peeping forth from the well-wooded +grounds of Roehampton and its vicinage. + +I can remember as distinctly as if beheld yesterday, the various +tempting residences that meet the eye in a morning drive, or in a row +on the silvery Thames, compelling the violation of the tenth +commandment, by looking so beautiful that one imagines how happily a +life might glide away in such abodes, forgetful that in no earthly +abode can existence be passed free from the cares meant to remind us +that this is not our abiding-place. + +Went to see Bagatelle yesterday with the Duchesse de G----. Here the +Duc de Bordeaux and Mademoiselle, his sister, pass much of their time. +It is a very pleasant villa, and contains many proofs of the taste and +industry of these very interesting children, who are greatly beloved by +those who have access to them. Various stories were related to us +illustrative of their goodness of heart and considerate kindness for +those around them; and, making all due allowance for the partiality of +the narrators, they went far to prove that these scions of royalty are +more amiable and unspoilt than are most children of their age, and of +even far less elevated rank. "Born in sorrow, and nursed in tears," the +Duc de Bordeaux's early infancy has not passed under bright auspices; +and those are not wanting who prophesy that he may hereafter look back +to the days passed at Bagatelle as the happiest of his life. + +It requires little of the prescience of a soothsayer to make this +prediction, when we reflect that the lives of even the most popular of +those born to the dangerous inheritance of a crown must ever be more +exposed to the cares that weigh so heavily, and the responsibility that +presses so continually on them, than are those who, exempt from the +splendour of sovereignty, escape also its toils. "Oh happy they, the +happiest of their kind," who enjoy, in the peace and repose of a +private station, a competency, good health, a love of, and power of +indulging in, study; an unreproaching conscience, and a cheerful mind! +With such blessings they may contemplate, without a feeling of envy, +the more brilliant but less fortunate lots of those great ones of the +earth, whose elevation but too often serves to render them the target +at which Fortune loves aim her most envenomed darts. + +Passed the greater part of the morning in the house in the Rue de +Matignon, superintending the alterations and improvements to be carried +into execution there. It has been found necessary to build an +additional room, which the proprietor pledges himself can be ready for +occupation in six weeks, and already have its walls reached nearly to +their intended height. The builders seem to be as expeditious as the +upholsterers at Paris, and adding a room or two to a mansion appears to +be as easily accomplished as adding some extra furniture. + +One is made to pay dearly, however, for this facility and expedition; +for rents are extravagantly high at Paris, as are also the prices of +furniture. + +Already does the terrace begin to assume the appearance of a garden. +Deep beds of earth inclosed in green cases line the sides, and an +abundance of orange-trees, flowering shrubs, plants, and flowers, are +placed in them. + +At the end of the terrace, the wall which bounds it has been painted in +fresco, with a view of Italian scenery; and this wall forms the back of +an aviary, with a fountain that plays in the centre. A smaller aviary, +constructed of glass, is erected on the end of the terrace, close to my +library, from the window of which I can feed my favourite birds; and +this aviary, as well as the library, is warmed by means of a stove +beneath the latter. The terrace is covered by a lattice-work, formed +into arched windows at the side next the court: over the sides and roof +there are trailing parasitical plants. Nothing in the new residence +pleases me so much as this suite, and the terrace attached to it. + +Already do we begin to feel the unsettled state peculiar to an intended +change of abode, and the prospect of entering a new one disturbs the +sense of enjoyment of the old. Gladly would we remain where we are, for +we prefer this hotel to any other at Paris; but the days we have to +sojourn in it are numbered, and our regret is unavailing. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + + +September, 1829.--A chasm of many months in my journal. When last I +closed it, little could I have foreseen the terrible blow that awaited +me. Well may I exclaim with the French writer whose works I have been +just reading, "_Nous, qui sommes bornes en tout, comment le sommes-nous +si peu quand il s'agit de souffrir_." How slowly has time passed since! +Every hour counted, and each coloured by care, the past turned to with +the vain hope of forgetting the present, and the future no longer +offering the bright prospect it once unfolded! + +How is my destiny changed since I last opened this book! My hopes have +faded and vanished like the leaves whose opening into life I hailed +with joy six months ago, little dreaming that before the first cold +breath of autumn had tinted them with brown, _he_ who saw them expand +with me would have passed from the earth! + +_October_.--Ill, and confined to my chamber for several days, my +physician prescribes society to relieve low spirits; but in the present +state of mine, the remedy seems worse than the disease. + +My old friends Mr. and Mrs. Mathews, and their clever son, have arrived +at Paris and dined here yesterday. Mr. Matthews is as entertaining as +ever, and his wife as amiable and _spirituelle_. They are excellent as +well as clever people, and their society is very agreeable. Charles +Mathews, the son, is full of talent, possesses all his father's powers +of imitation, and sings comic songs of his own composition that James +Smith himself might be proud to have written. + +The Duc and Duchesse de Guiche, the Marquise de Poulpry, Lady +Combermere, Madame Craufurd, and Count Valeski, came in the evening, +and were all highly gratified with some recitations and songs given us +by Mr. Mathews and his son. They were not less pleased with Mrs. +Mathews, whose manners and conversation are peculiarly fascinating, and +whose good looks and youthfulness of appearance made them almost +disbelieve that she could be the mother of a grown-up son. + +How forcibly did the recitations and songs bring back former times to +my memory, when in St. James's Square, or in his own beautiful cottage +at Highgate, I have so frequently been delighted by the performances of +this clever and worthy man! The recollection of the past occupied me +more last night than did the actual present, and caused me to return +but a faint echo to the reiterated applause which every new effort of +his drew forth from the party. There are moments when the present +appears like a dream, and that we think the past, which is gone for +ever, has more of reality in it! + +I took Mr. and Mrs. Mathews to the Jardin des Plantes to-day, and was +much amused by an incident that occurred there. A pretty child, with +her _bonne_, were seated on a bench near to which we placed ourselves. +She was asking questions relative to the animals she had seen, and Mr. +Mathews having turned his head away from her, gave some admirable +imitations of the sounds peculiar to the beasts of which she was +speaking, and also of the voice and speeches of the person who had +exhibited them. + +Never did he exert himself more to please a crowded and admiring +audience than to amuse this child, who, maintaining an immovable +gravity during the imitations, quietly observed to her nurse, "_Ma +bonne, ce Monsieur est bien drole_." + +The mortification of Mr. Mathews on this occasion was very diverting. +"How!" exclaimed he, "is it possible that all my efforts to amuse that +child have so wholly failed? She never moved a muscle! I suppose the +French children are not so easily pleased as our English men and women +are?" + +He reverted to this disappointment more than once during our drive +back, and seemed dispirited by it. Nevertheless, he gave us some most +humorous imitations of the lower orders of the French talking loudly +together, in which he spoke in so many different voices that one could +have imagined that no less than half-a-dozen people, at least, were +engaged in the conversation. + +I think so highly of the intellectual powers of Mr. Mathews, and find +his conversation so interesting that, admirable as are his imitations, +I prefer the former. He has seen so much of the world in all its +phases, that he has a piquant anecdote or a clever story to relate +touching every place and almost every person mentioned. Yet, with all +this intuitive and acquired knowledge of the world, he possesses all +the simplicity of a child, and a good nature that never can resist an +appeal to it. + +Spent all yesterday in reading, and writing letters on business. I +begin to experience the _ennui_ of having affairs to attend to, and +groan in spirit, if not aloud, at having to read and write dry details +on the subject. To unbend my mind from its painful thoughts and +tension, I devoted the evening to reading, which affords me the surest +relief, by transporting my thoughts from the cares that oppress me. + +Had a long visit from my old acquaintance the Count de Montalembert, +to-day. He is in very low spirits, occasioned by the recent death of an +only and charming daughter, and could not restrain his deep emotion, +when recounting to me the particulars of her latter days. His grief was +contagious, and found a chord in my heart that responded to it. When we +last met, it was in a gay and brilliant party, each of us in high +spirits; and now, though but a few more years have passed over our +heads, how changed are our feelings! We meet, not to amuse and to be +amused, but to talk of those we have lost, and whose loss has darkened +our lives. He spoke of his son, who already gives the promise of +distinguishing himself, and of reflecting credit on his family. + +How little do we know people whom we meet only in general society, in +which every one assumes a similar tone and manner, reserving for home +the peculiarities that distinguish each from the other, and suppressing +all demonstration of the feelings indulged only in the privacy of the +domestic circle! + +I have been many years acquainted with the Count de Montalembert, yet +never really appreciated him until today. Had I been asked to describe +him yesterday, I should have spoken of him as a _spirituel_, lively, +and amusing man, with remarkably good manners, a great knowledge of the +world, and possessing in an eminent degree the tact and talent _de +societe_. Had any one mentioned that he was a man of deep feeling, I +should have been disposed to question the discernment of the person who +asserted it: yet now I am as perfectly convinced of the fact as it is +possible to be, and had he paid this visit before affliction had +assailed me, he would not, I am convinced, have revealed his own grief. +Yes, affliction is like the divinatory wand, whose touch discovers +deep-buried springs the existence of which was previously unknown. + +---- called on me to-day, and talked a good deal of ----. I endeavoured +to excite sympathy for the unhappy person, but failed in the attempt. +The unfortunate generally meet with more blame than pity; for as the +latter is a painful emotion, people endeavour to exonerate themselves +from its indulgence, by trying to discover some error which may have +led to the misfortune they are too selfish to commiserate. Alas! there +are but few friends who, like ivy, cling to ruin, and ---- is not one +of these. + +The Prince and Princesse Soutzo dined with us yesterday. They are as +amiable and agreeable as ever, and I felt great gratification in +meeting them again. We talked over the many pleasant days we passed +together at Pisa. Alas! how changed is my domestic circle since then! +They missed _one_ who would have joined me in welcoming them to Paris, +and whose unvaried kindness they have not forgotten! + +The "decent dignity" with which this interesting couple support their +altered fortunes, won my esteem on our first acquaintance. Prince +Soutzo was Hospodar, or reigning Prince of Moldavia, and married the +eldest daughter of Prince Carraga, Hospodar of Walachia. He maintained +the state attendant on his high rank, beloved and respected by those he +governed, until the patriotic sentiments inseparable from a great mind +induced him to sacrifice rank, fortune, and power, to the cause of +Greece, his native land. He only saved his life by flight; for the +angry Sultan with whom he had previously been a great favourite, had +already sent an order for his decapitation! Never was a reverse of +fortune borne with greater equanimity than by this charming family, +whose virtues, endowments, and acquirements, fit them for the most +elevated station. + +My old acquaintances, Mr. Rogers the poet, and Mr. Luttrell, called on +me to-day. Of how many pleasant days in St. James's Square did the +sight of both remind me! Such days I shall pass there no more: but I +must not give way to reflections that are, alas! as unavailing as they +are painful. Both of these my old friends are unchanged. Time has dealt +gently by them during the seven years that have elapsed since we last +met: the restless tyrant has been less merciful to me. We may, however, +bear with equanimity the ravages of Time, if we meet the destroyer side +by side with those dear to us, those who have witnessed our youth and +maturity, and who have advanced with us into the autumn of life; but, +when they are lost to us, how dreary becomes the prospect! + +How difficult it is to prevent the mind from dwelling on thoughts +fraught with sadness, when once the chord of memory vibrates to the +touch of grief! + +Mr. Rogers talked of Byron, and evinced a deep feeling of regard for +his memory, He little knows the manner in which he is treated in a +certain poem, written by him in one of his angry moods, and which I +urged him, but in vain, to commit to the flames. The knowledge of it, +however, would, I am convinced, excite no wrath in the heart of Rogers, +who would feel more sorrow than anger that one he believed his friend +could have written so bitter a diatribe against him. And, truth to say, +the poem in question is more injurious to the memory of Byron than it +could be painful to him who is the subject of it; but I hope that it +may never be published, and I think no one who had delicacy or feeling +would bring it to light. + +Byron read this lampoon to us one day at Genoa, and enjoyed our dismay +at it like a froward boy who has achieved what he considers some +mischievous prank. He offered us a copy, but we declined to accept it; +for, being in the habit of seeing Mr. Rogers frequently beneath our +roof, we thought it would be treacherous to him. Byron, however, found +others less scrupulous, and three or four copies of it have been given +away. + +The love of mischief was strong in the heart of Byron even to the last, +but, while recklessly indulging it in trifles, he was capable of giving +proofs of exalted friendship to those against whom he practised it; +and, had Rogers stood in need of kindness, he would have found no lack +of it in his brother poet, even in the very hour he had penned the +malicious lampoon in question against him. + +Comte d'Orsay, with his frank _naivete_, observed, "I thought you were +one of Mr. Rogers's most intimate friends, and so all the world had +reason to think, after reading your dedication of the _Giaour_ to him." + +"Yes," answered Byron, laughing, "and it is our friendship that gives +me the privilege of taking a liberty with him." + +"If it is thus you evince your friendship," replied Comte d'Orsay, "I +should be disposed to prefer your enmity." + +"You," said Byron, "could never excite this last sentiment in my +breast, for you neither say nor do spiteful things." + +Brief as was the period Byron had lived in what is termed fashionable +society in London, it was long enough to have engendered in him a habit +of _persiflage_, and a love of uttering sarcasms, (more from a desire +of displaying wit than from malice,) peculiar to that circle in which, +if every man's hand is not against his associates, every man's tongue +is. He drew no line of demarcation between _uttering_ and _writing_ +satirical things; and the first being, if not sanctioned, at least +permitted in the society in which he had lived in London, he considered +himself not more culpable in inditing his satires than the others were +in speaking them. He would have laughed at being censured for putting +on paper the epigrammatic malice that his former associates would +delight in uttering before all except the person at whom it was aimed; +yet the world see the matter in another point of view, and many of +those who _speak_ as much evil of their _soi-disant_ friends, would +declare, if not feel, themselves shocked at Byron's writing it. + +I know no more agreeable member of society than Mr. Luttrell. His +conversation, like a limpid stream, flows smoothly and brightly along, +revealing the depths beneath its current, now sparkling over the +objects it discloses or reflecting those by which it glides. He never +talks for talking's sake; but his mind is so well filled that, like a +fountain which when stirred sends up from its bosom sparkling showers, +his mind, when excited, sends forth thoughts no less bright than +profound, revealing the treasures with which it is so richly stored. +The conversation of Mr. Luttrell makes me think, while that of many +others only amuses me. + +Lord John Russell has arrived at Paris, and sat with me a considerable +time to-day. How very agreeable he can be when his reserve wears off, +and what a pity it is he should ever allow it to veil the many fine +qualities he possesses! Few men have a finer taste in literature, or a +more highly cultivated mind. It seizes with rapidity whatever is +brought before it; and being wholly free from passion or egotism, the +views he takes on all subjects are just and unprejudiced. He has a +quick perception of the ridiculous, and possesses a fund of dry caustic +humour that might render him a very dangerous opponent in a debate, +were it not governed by a good breeding and a calmness that never +forsake him. + +Lord John Russell is precisely the person calculated to fill a high +official situation. Well informed on all subjects, with an ardent love +of his country, and an anxious desire to serve it, he has a sobriety of +judgment and a strictness of principle that will for ever place him +beyond the reach of suspicion, even to the most prejudiced of his +political adversaries. The reserve complained of by those who are only +superficially acquainted with him, would be highly advantageous to a +minister; for it would not only preserve him from the approaches to +familiarity, so injurious to men in power, but would discourage the +hopes founded on the facility of manner of those whose very smiles and +simple acts of politeness are by the many looked on as an encouragement +to form the most unreasonable ones, and as an excuse for the indulgence +of angry feelings when those unreasonable hopes are frustrated. + +Lord John Russell, Mr. Rogers, Mr. Luttrell, Monsieur Thiers, Monsieur +Mignet, and Mr. Poulett Thomson, dined here yesterday. The party was an +agreeable one, and the guests seemed mutually pleased with each other. + +Monsieur Thiers is a very remarkable person--quick, animated, and +observant: nothing escapes him, and his remarks are indicative of a +mind of great power. I enjoy listening to his conversation, which is at +once full of originality, yet free from the slightest shade of +eccentricity. + +Monsieur Mignet, who is the inseparable friend of Monsieur Thiers, +reminds me every time I see him of Byron, for there is a striking +likeness in the countenance. With great abilities, Monsieur Mignet +gives me the notion of being more fitted to a life of philosophical +research and contemplation than of action, while Monsieur Thiers +impresses me with the conviction of his being formed to fill a busy and +conspicuous part in the drama of life. + +He is a sort of modern Prometheus, capable of creating and of vivifying +with the electric spark of mind; but, whether he would steal the fire +from Heaven, or a less elevated region, I am not prepared to say. He +has called into life a body--and a vast one--by his vigorous writings, +and has infused into it a spirit that will not be soon or easily +quelled. Whether that spirit will tend to the advancement of his +country or not, time will prove; but, _en attendant_, its ebullitions +may occasion as much trouble to the _powers that be_ as did the spirit +engendered by Mirabeau in a former reign. + +The countenance of Monsieur Thiers is remarkable. The eyes, even +through his spectacles, flash with intelligence, and the expression of +his face varies with every sentiment he utters. Thiers is a man to +effect a revolution, and Mignet would be the historian to narrate it. + +There is something very interesting in the unbroken friendship of these +two men of genius, and its constancy elevates both in my estimation. +They are not more unlike than are their respective works, both of +which, though so dissimilar, are admirable in their way. The mobility +and extreme excitability of the French, render such men as Monsieur +Thiers extremely dangerous to monarchical power. His genius, his +eloquence, and his boldness, furnish him with the means of exciting the +enthusiasm of his countrymen as surely as a torch applied to gunpowder +produces an explosion. In England these qualities, however elevated, +would fail to produce similar results; for enthusiasm is there little +known, and, when it comes forth, satisfies itself with a brief +manifestation, and swiftly resigns itself to the prudent jurisdiction +of reason. Napoleon himself, with all the glory associated with his +name--a glory that intoxicated the French--would have failed to +inebriate the sober-minded English. + +Through my acquaintance with the Baron de Cailleux, who is at the head +of the Musee, I obtained permission to take Lord John Russell, Mr. +Rogers, and Mr. Luttrell, to the galleries of the Louvre yesterday, it +being a day on which the public are excluded. The Baron received us, +did the honours of the Musee with all the intelligence and urbanity +that distinguish him, and made as favourable an impression on my +countrymen as they seemed to have produced on him. + +Rogers has a pure taste in the fine arts, and has cultivated it _con +amore_; Luttrell brings to the study a practised eye and a matured +judgment; but Lord John, nurtured from infancy in dwellings, the walls +of which glow with the _chefs-d'oeuvre_ of the old masters and the best +works of the modern ones, possesses an exquisite tact in recognizing at +a glance the finest points in a picture, and reasons on them with all +the _savoir_ of a connoisseur and the feeling of an amateur. + +It is a pleasant thing to view collections of art with those fully +capable of appreciating them, and I enjoyed this satisfaction +yesterday. The Baron de Cailleux evinced no little pleasure in +conducting my companions from one masterpiece to another, and two or +three hours passed away rapidly in the interesting study. + +The Marquis and Marquise de B----, Comte V----, and some others, dined +here yesterday. The Marquise de B---- is very clever, has agreeable +manners, knows the world thoroughly, and neither under nor overvalues +it. A constant friction with society, while it smoothes down asperities +and polishes manners, is apt to impair if not destroy much of the +originality and raciness peculiar to clever people. To suit themselves +to the ordinary level of society, they become either insipid or +satirical; they mix too much water, or apply cayenne pepper to the wine +of their conversation: hence that mind which, apart from the artificial +atmosphere of the busy world, might have grown into strength and +beauty, becomes like some poor child nurtured in the unhealthy +precincts of a dense and crowded city,--diseased, stunted, rickety, and +incapable of distinguishing itself from its fellows. + +As clever people cannot elevate the mass with which they herd to their +own level, they are apt to sink to theirs; and persons with talents +that might have served for nobler purposes are suffered to degenerate +into _diseurs de bons mots_ and _raconteurs de societe_, content with +the paltry distinction of being considered amusing. How many such have +I encountered, satisfied with being pigmies, who might have grown to be +giants, but who were consoled by the reflection that in that world in +which their sole aim is to shine, pigmies are more tolerated than +giants, as people prefer looking down to looking up! + +Lord Allen and Sir Andrew Barnard dined here yesterday. They appear to +enter into the gaiety of Paris with great zest, go the round of the +theatres, dine at all the celebrated _restaurateurs_, mix enough in the +_beau monde_ to be enabled to observe the difference between the +Parisian and London one, and will, at the expiration of the term +assigned to their _sejour_ here, return to England well satisfied with +their trip and with themselves. + +Lord A---- has tasted all the _nouveaux plats a la mode_, for at Paris +new dishes are as frequently invented as new bonnets or caps; and the +proficiency in the culinary art which he has acquired will render him +an oracle at his clubs, until the more recent arrival of some other +epicurean from the French capital deposes his brief sovereignty. + +But it is not in the culinary art alone that Lord Allen evinces his +good taste, for no one is a better judge of all that constitutes the +_agremens_ of life, or more _au fait_ of the [* omitted word?] of +contributing to them. + +Sir A. B----, as devoted as ever to music, has heard all the new, and +finds that the old, like old friends, loses nothing by comparison. It +is pleasant to see that the advance of years impairs not the taste for +a refined and innocent pleasure. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + + +Mr. Rogers and Mr. Luttrell spent last evening here. The minds of both +teem with reflection, and their conversation is a high intellectual +treat to me. There is a repose in the society of clever and refined +Englishmen to be met with in no other: the absence of all attempts to +shine, or at least of the evidence of such attempts; the mildness of +the manners; the low voices, the freedom from any flattery, except the +most delicate and acceptable of all to a fastidious person, namely, +that implied by the subjects of conversation chosen, and the interest +yielded to them;--yes, these peculiarities have a great charm for me, +and Mr. Rogers and Mr. Luttrell possess them in an eminent degree. + +The mercurial temperaments of the French preclude them from this +calmness of manner and mildness of speech. More obsequiously polite and +attentive to women, the exuberance of their animal spirits often +hurries them into a gaiety evinced by brilliant sallies and clever +observations. They shine, but they let the desire to do so be too +evident to admit of that quietude that forms one of the most agreeable, +as well as distinguishing, attributes of the conversation of a refined +and highly-intellectual Englishman. + +---- and ---- spent last evening here. Two more opposite characters +could not easily have encountered. One influenced wholly by his +feelings, the other by his reason, each seemed to form a low estimate +of the other; and this, _malgre_ all the restraint imposed by good +breeding, was but too visible. Neither has any cause to be vain, for he +becomes a dupe who judges with his heart instead of his head, and an +egotist who permits not his heart to be touched by the toleration of +his head. ---- is often duped, but sometimes liked for his good nature; +while ----, if never duped, is never liked. + +I took Lord John Russell, Mr. Rogers, and Mr. Luttrell yesterday to La +Muette to see M. Erard's fine collection of pictures, with which they +were very much pleased. Our drive to the Bois de Boulogne was a very +agreeable one, and was rendered so by their pleasant conversation. + +I have presented Mr. Rogers with some acquisitions for his cabinet of +antique _bijouterie_, with which he appears delighted. I outbid M. +Millingen, who was bargaining at Naples for these little treasures, and +secured a diminutive Cupid, a Bacchus, and a small bunch of grapes of +pure gold, and of exquisite workmanship, which will now be transferred +to the museum of my friend, Mr. Rogers. He will not, I dare say, be +more grateful for the gift of my Cupid than his sex generally are when +ladies no longer young bestow their love on them, and so I hinted when +giving him the little winged god; but, _n'importe_, the gift may +please, though the giver be forgotten. + +Lord Pembroke dined here yesterday, he is peculiarly well-bred and +gentlemanlike, and looks a nobleman from top to toe. He has acquired +all the polish and _savoir-vivre_ of the best foreign society without +having lost any of the more solid and fine qualities peculiar to the +most distinguished portion of his countrymen. Lord Pembroke maintains +the reputation of English taste in equipages by sporting horses and +carriages that excite the admiration, if not the envy, of the +Parisians, among whom he is, and deserves to be, very popular. + +The Duke of Hamilton paid me a long visit to-day. We talked over old +times, and our mutual friend Dr. Parr, in whose society we formerly +passed such agreeable hours in St. James's Square. The Duke is a very +well-informed man, has read much, and remembers what he has read; and +the ceremoniousness of his manners, with which some people find fault, +I have got used to, and rather like than otherwise. The mixture of +chivalric sentiments, Scotch philosophy, and high breeding of the old +French school which meet in the Duke, render his conversation very +piquant. + +He has, indeed, the dignity of his three dukedoms; the _fierte_ of that +of Chatelherault, the reserve of that of England, and the spirit of +that of Scotland: witness his dignified reproof to the Duc de Blacas at +Rome, when that very unpopular personage, then Ambassador from the +court of France, presumed to comment on the frequency of the Duke of +Hamilton's visits to the Princess Pauline Borghese, who, being a +Buonaparte, was looked on with a jealous eye by Blacas. + +Monsieur Mignet spent last evening here. The more I see of him the more +I am pleased with his society. To a mind stored with knowledge he joins +a happy facility of bringing forth its treasures, never as if +ostentatious of his wealth, but in illustration of any topic that is +discussed, on which he brings it to bear most aptly and appropriately. +His countenance lights up with expression when he converses, and adds +force to an eloquence always interesting and often instructive. + +Though Monsieur Mignet shines in monologue more than in dialogue, there +is nothing either dictatorial or pedantic in his manner, he utters +opinions new and original, which it is evident he has deeply reflected +on, and elucidates them to the comprehension of his auditors with great +felicity. I like listening to the conversation of such a man; and +clever people, when they find an attentive listener, are incited to +talk well. + +In general society, in which many persons of totally opposite tastes, +pursuits, and opinions, are thrown together, a clever man has seldom an +opportunity of bringing forth the treasures of his mind. He can only +dispense the small coin, which is easily changed with those he comes in +contact with; but the weighty and valuable, metal is not brought into +use, because he knows the greater number of those, around him could +give him no equivalent in exchange. + +----, conversing with Lady ---- to-day, she observed that in early life +conscience has less influence than in advanced life, and accounted for +it by the nearer approach to death rendering people more alarmed, and +consequently more disposed to listen to it. Some persons attribute all +good impulses to fear, as if mortals were more governed by its +influence than by that of love and gratitude. + +If conscience is less frequently heard in youth, it is that the +tumultuous throbbing of the heart, and the wild suggestions of the +passions, prevent its "still small voice" from being audible; but in +the decline of life, when the heart beats languidly and the passions +slumber, it makes itself heard, and on its whispers depends our +happiness or misery. + +My old acquaintance, Lord Palmerston, has arrived at Paris, and dined +here yesterday, to meet the Duc and Duchesse de Guiche, Count Valeski, +and Mr. Poulett Thomson. Seven years have produced no change in Lord +Palmerston. He is the same intelligent, sensible, and agreeable person +that I remember him to have been for many years. + +Lord Palmerston has much more ability than people are disposed to give +him credit for. He is, or used to be, when I lived in England, +considered a good man of business, acute in the details, and quick in +the comprehension of complicated questions. Even this is no mean +praise, but I think him entitled to more; for, though constantly and +busily occupied with official duties, he has contrived to find time to +read every thing worth reading, and to make himself acquainted with the +politics of other countries. + +Lively, well-bred, and unaffected, Lord Palmerston is a man that is so +well acquainted with the routine of official duties, performs them so +readily and pleasantly, and is so free from the assumption of +self-importance that too frequently appertains to adepts in them, that, +whether Whig or Tory government has the ascendant in England, his +services will be always considered a desideratum to be secured if +possible. + +Lord Castlereagh, Mr. Cutlar Fergusson, and Count Valeski dined here +yesterday. Lord C. has just arrived from England, and is a good +specimen of the young men of the present day. He reminds me of his +uncle, the late Marquess of Londonderry, one of the most amiable and +well-bred men I ever knew. Lord C---- is very animated and piquant in +conversation, thinks for himself, and says what he thinks with a +frankness not often met with in our times. Yet there is no _brusquerie_ +in his manners; _au contraire_, they are soft and very pleasing; and +this contrast between the originality and fearlessness of his opinions, +and the perfect good-breeding with which they are expressed, lend a +peculiar attraction to his manner. If Lord C---- were not a man of +fashion he would become something vastly better, for he has much of the +chivalrous spirit of his father and the tact of his uncle. Fashion is +the gulf in whose vortex so many fine natures are wrecked in England; +what a pity it is that they cannot be rescued from its dangers! + +Mr. Cutlar Fergusson is a clever and amiable man, mild, well-informed, +and agreeable. + +The Baron and Baroness de Ruysch spent yesterday with us. They are an +estimable couple, and very pleasant withal. His philosophy, which has +nothing of the ascetic in it, harmonises very well with her vivacity, +and her sprightliness never degenerates into levity. It is the gaiety +of a mind at ease, pleased with others, and content with self. How +unlike the exuberant spirits of ----, which always depress mine more +than a day's _tete-a-tete_ with the moodiest hypochondriac could do! + +Nothing can be more dreary and cheerless than the weather; and a second +winter's residence at Paris has convinced me that London is infinitely +preferable at this season, except to those who consider gaiety an +equivalent for comfort. The negligence and bad management of the +persons whose duty it is to remove the snow or mud from the streets, +render them not only nearly impassable for pedestrians but exceedingly +disagreeable to those who have carriages. + +Previously to the heavy fall of snow that occurred a week ago, and +which still encumbers the streets, a succession of wet days occasioned +an accumulation of mud that gave forth most unsavoury odours, and lent +a damp chilliness to the atmosphere which sent home to their sick +chambers, assailed by sore throats and all the other miseries peculiar +to colds, many of those who were so imprudent as to venture abroad. The +snow, instead of being swept away, is piled up on each side of the +streets, forming a wall that increases the gloom and chilliness that +reigns around. The fogs, too, rise from the Seine, and hover over the +Champs-Elysees and streets adjacent to it, rendering a passage through +them a service of danger. + +Lord Castlereagh and Madame Grassini dined here last evening. He was +much amused with the raciness and originality of her remarks; and she +was greatly gratified by the polite attention with which he listened to +them. At one moment, she pronounced him to be "_la vraie image de ce +cher et bon Lord Castlereagh_," whom she had so much liked; and the +next she declared him to be exactly like "_ce preux chevalier, son +pere_," who was so irresistible that no female heart, or, as she said, +at least no Italian female heart, could resist him. + +Then she spoke of "_ce cher et excellent Duc de Wellington_," who had +been so kind to her, asked a thousand questions about him, the tears +starting into her brilliant eyes as she dwelt on the reminiscences of +those days when, considered the finest singer and most beautiful woman +of her time, she received a homage accorded to her beauty and talent +never since so universally decreed to any other _prima donna_. The +Grassini cannot be known without being liked, she is so warm-hearted, +unaffected, and sincere. + +The prettiest sight imaginable was a party of our friends in sledges, +who yesterday passed through the streets. This was the first time I had +ever seen this mode of conveyance, and nothing can be more picturesque. +The sledge of the Duc de Guiche, in which reclined the Duchesse, the +Duc seated behind her and holding, at each side of her, the reins of +the horse, presented the form of a swan, the feathers beautifully +sculptured. The back of this colossal swan being hollowed out, admitted +a seat, which, with the whole of the interior, was covered with fine +fur. The harness and trappings of the superb horse that drew it were +richly decorated, and innumerable silver bells were attached to it, the +sound of which was pleasant to the ear. + +The Duchesse, wrapped in a pelisse of the finest Russian sable, never +looked handsomer than in her sledge, her fair cheeks tinged with a +bright pink by the cold air, and her luxuriant silken curls falling on +the dark fur that encircled her throat. + +Count A. d'Orsay's sledge presented the form of a dragon, and the +accoutrements and horse were beautiful; the harness was of red morocco, +embroidered with gold. The Prince Poniatowski and Comte Valeski +followed in sledges of the ordinary Russian shape, and the whole +cavalcade had a most picturesque effect. The Parisians appeared to be +highly delighted with the sight, and, above all, with the beautiful +Duchesse borne along through the snow in her swan. + +My medical adviser pressed me so much to accede to the wishes of my +friends and try the salutary effect of a drive in a sledge, that I +yesterday accompanied them to St.-Cloud, where we dined, and returned +at night by torch-light. Picturesque as is the appearance of the +sledges by day-light, it is infinitely more so by night, particularly +of those that have the form of animals or birds. + +The swan of the Duchesse de Guiche had bright lamps in its eyes, which +sent forth a clear light that was reflected in prismatic colours on the +drifted snow, and ice-gemmed branches of the trees, as we drove through +the Bois de Boulogne. Grooms, bearing lighted torches, preceded each +sledge; and the sound of the bells in the Bois, silent and deserted at +that hour, made one fancy one's self transported to some far northern +region. + +The dragon of Comte A. d'Orsay looked strangely fantastic at night. In +the mouth, as well as the eyes, was a brilliant red light; and to a +tiger-skin covering, that nearly concealed the cream-coloured horse, +revealing only the white mane and tail, was attached a double line of +silver gilt bells, the jingle of which was very musical and cheerful. + +The shadows of the tall trees falling on an immense plain of snow, the +light flashing in fitful gleams from the torches and lamps as we were +hurried rapidly along, looked strange and unearthly, and reminded me of +some of the scenes described in those northern fictions perused in the +happy days of childhood. + +This excursion and exposure to the wintry air procured me a good +night's sleep,--the first enjoyed since the severity of the weather has +deprived me of my usual exercise. This revival of an old fashion (for +in former days sledges were considered as indispensable in the winter +_remise_ of a grand seigneur in France as cabriolets or britchkas are +in the summer) has greatly pleased the Parisian world, and crowds flock +to see them as they pass along. The velocity of the movement, the +gaiety of the sound of the bells, and the cold bracing air, have a very +exhilarating effect on the spirits. + +Met the Prince Polignac at the Duchesse de G----'s today. His +countenance is remarkably good, his air and manner _tres-distingue_, +and his conversation precisely what might be expected from an English +gentleman--mild, reasonable, and unaffected. If I had not previously +known him to be one or the most amiable men in the world, I should have +soon formed this judgment of him, for every expression of his +countenance, and every word he utters, give this impression. + +The Prince Polignac has lived much in England, and seems to me to be +formed to live there, for his tastes are decidedly English. Twice +married, both his wives were English; so that it is no wonder that he +has adopted much of our modes of thinking. Highly as I am disposed to +estimate him, I do not think that he is precisely the person calculated +to cope with the difficulties that must beset a minister, and, above +all, a minister in France, in times like the present. + +The very qualities that render him so beloved in private life, and +which make his domestic circle one of the happiest in the world, are +perhaps those which unfit him for so trying a post as the one he is now +called on to hold--a post requiring abilities so various, and +qualifications so manifold, that few, if any, could be found to possess +the rare union. + +A spirit is rife in France that renders the position of _premier_ in it +almost untenable; and he must unite the firmness of a stoic, the +knowledge of a Machiavelli, and the boldness of a Napoleon, who could +hope to stem the tide that menaces to set in and sweep away the present +institutions. If honesty of intention, loyalty to his sovereign, +personal courage, attachment to his country, and perfect +disinterestedness could secure success, then might Prince Polignac +expect it. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + + +May.--Some months have elapsed since I noted down a line in this book. +Indisposition and its usual attendants, languor and lassitude, have +caused me to throw it by. Time that once rolled as pleasantly as +rapidly along, seems now to pace as slowly as sadly; and even the +approach of spring, that joyous season never before unwelcomed, now +awakens only painful recollections. Who can see the trees putting forth +their leaves without a dread that, ere they have yet expanded into +their full growth, some one may be snatched away who with us hailed +their first opening verdure? + +When once Death has invaded our hearths and torn from us some dear +object on whose existence our happiness depended, we lose all the +confidence previously fondly and foolishly experienced in the stability +of the blessings we enjoy, and not only deeply mourn those lost, but +tremble for those yet spared to us. I once thought that I could never +behold this genial season without pleasure; alas! it now occasions only +gloom. + +Captain William Anson, the brother of Lord Anson, dined here yesterday. +He is a very remarkable young man; highly distinguished in his +profession, being considered one of the best officers in the navy, and +possessing all the accomplishments of a finished gentleman. His reading +has been extensive, and his memory is very retentive. He has been in +most quarters of the globe, and has missed no opportunity of +cultivating his mind and of increasing his stock of knowledge. He is, +indeed, a worthy descendant of his great ancestor, who might well be +proud of such a scion to the ancient stock. Devoted to the arduous +duties of his profession, he studies every amelioration in it _con +amore_; and, if a long life be granted to him, will prove one of its +brightest ornaments. + +The Marquis and Marquise de B---- spent last evening here, and several +people dropped in. Among them was the pretty Madame de la H----, as +piquant and lively as ever, as content with herself (and she has reason +to be so, being very good-looking and amusing) and as careless of the +suffrages of others. I like the young and the gay of my own sex, though +I am no longer either. + +Prince Paul Lieven and Captain Cadogan[8] dined here yesterday. The +first is as _spirituel_ and clever as formerly, and the second is as +frank, high-spirited, and well-bred--the very _beau ideal_ of a son of +the sea, possessing all the attributes of that generous race, joined to +all those said to be peculiar to the high-born and well-educated. + +I like the conversation of such men--men who, nursed in the lap of +luxury, are sent from the noble dwellings of their sires to be +"cabined, cribbed, confined," in (to my thinking) the most unbearable +of all prisons--a ship; pass months and years exposed to hardships, +privations, and dangers, from the endurance of which even the poor and +lowly born often shrink, and bring back to society the high breeding +and urbanity not to be surpassed in those whose lots have been exempt +from such trials; and, what is still more precious, the experience and +reflection acquired in their perilous profession, and in the many hours +of solitude and anxiety that appertain to it. + +Sat a considerable time with the Duchesse de Guiche today. How amiable +and kind-hearted she is, and how unspoilt by all the brilliancy of her +position! While I was there the mother and son of a young page, for +whom the Duc and Duchesse have obtained that office at court, came to +thank her. The boy is a very fine youth, and the mother and sister seem +to dote on him. They reminded me of the mother and sister that a +sentimental writer would have created for the occasion, being +exceedingly interesting in their appearance and manner. The boy was +evidently as fond and proud of them as they were of him, and the group +formed a charming picture. + +The warmth and gentleness of the manners of the Duchesse de G----, and +the remarkable beauty of her face and figure, never appeared more +captivating in my eyes than when I beheld her to-day, evincing such +good nature to the youthful page and his mother and sister; and I saw +by their eyes, when they took leave of her, that she sent away grateful +hearts. + +_July_ 1830.--Indisposition has interrupted my journal for several +weeks, and idleness has prolonged the chasm. The noting down the daily +recurrence of uninteresting events is as dull as the endurance of them. + +If reports may be credited, we are on the eve of some popular commotion +in France, and the present ministers are said to be either ignorant of +the danger that menaces, or unprepared to meet it. The conquest of +Algiers has produced much less exultation in the people than might have +naturally been expected; and this indifference to an event calculated +to gratify the _amour-propre_ which forms so peculiar a characteristic +of the nation, is considered a bad sign by those who affect to be +acquainted with the people. I have so often heard rumours of discontent +and revolts that I have grown incredulous, and I think and hope the +French are too wise to try any dangerous experiments. + +_26th July_.--This morning General E---- came to breakfast with us, and +announced that the ordonnances were yesterday signed in council at St.- +Cloud. This good man and brave soldier expressed the liveliest regret +at this rash measure, and the utmost alarm at the consequences likely +to result from it. Is Charles the Tenth ignorant of the actual state of +things in Paris, and of the power of public opinion? or does he hope to +vanquish the resistance likely to be offered to this act? I hope his +majesty may not acquire this knowledge when it has become too late to +derive advantage from it. + +The unpopularity of the present ministry, and above all of its leader, +the Prince Polignac, is surprising, when one considers how estimable +his private character is, and that theirs are irreproachable. They are +rendered responsible for the will of the sovereign, who, if report +speak truth, is very pertinacious in exacting a rigid fulfilment of it +whenever it is exercised. + +The present are not times to try experiments how far the will of a +monarch can be pushed; and it is not in France, as in England, where +our law supposes that a king can do no wrong, for the French are prone +to pay no more respect to sovereigns than to their supposed advisers, +and both may suffer a heavy penalty for incurring the dislike of the +people. + +The prosperity of France, which is acknowledged by all, has failed to +silence the murmurs of discontent which, loud and deep, are heard every +where save in the palace,--too frequently the last place where public +opinion gets an impartial hearing. The success of the Algerine +expedition has buoyed up the confidence of the ministry in their own +strength; but, if I may credit what I hear, it has by no means really +added to it. + +Concessions too long delayed come with a bad grace when at length +extorted, and the change of ministry factiously demanded, even if +complied with, would have placed the sovereign in any thing but a +dignified position. The dissolution of the Chambers in March, after a +session of only ten days, might be considered as a demonstration of +discontent on the part of the monarch, as well as a want of power of +quelling the spirit that evoked it. + +A circumstance, trivial in itself, added to this unpopularity, which +was, that several of the deputies were on their route to Paris when the +unexpected intelligence of the dissolution reached them, and they could +not pardon the expense to which they had been put by this unnecessary +_frais de route_, their places in the diligence being paid for. How +frequently do trifles exercise a powerful influence over grave affairs! + +The portion of the public press that advocates the defence of the +government is even more injudicious than that which assails it; and the +monarchy has decidedly suffered in general opinion by the angry +excitement produced by the recrimination of both parties. The +prosecutions entered into against the editors of the liberal papers are +considered by the party to which they belong to be persecutions; and +the sentiments avowed by the _Gazette de France_ are received as those +of not only the government but of the sovereign. The discussions +occasioned by these prosecutions, as well as by the principles of +monarchical absolutism maintained by the adverse party, have greatly +extended the ranks of the liberals, who, looking on the editors who +expound or promulgate their opinions as martyrs, become more +exasperated against their opponents, and more reckless in the modes +likely to be adopted for marking their disapprobation. + +_27th_.--On returning from a late drive last night we passed near the +hotel of the Minister _des Finances_, around which some fifty or sixty +persons, chiefly youths, were assembled, crying out "_Vive la charte!_" +"_A bas les ministres!_" A patrol passed close to these persons, but +made no attempt to disperse them, which I think was rather unwise, for, +encouraged by this impunity, their numbers, I am told, increased +rapidly. + +I have just heard that the post of _gendarmes_ was tripled this +morning, and that a crowd of persons have assembled around the hotel of +the Prince Polignac, where a cabinet council was held. It is said that +the ministers were insulted as they entered. This looks ill; +nevertheless, I trust that it is nothing more than a demonstration of +the spirit that is rife in the people, and that no more violent ones +will be resorted to. The visitors I have seen to-day seem much alarmed. + +The Duc de Guiche set off for St.-Cloud yesterday morning, the moment +he had read the ordonnances. Had his counsel been listened to, they +would never have been promulgated; for he is one of the few who, with a +freedom from prejudice that enables him to judge dispassionately of the +actual state of public opinion, has the moral courage to declare the +truth to his sovereign, however unpalatable that truth might be, or +however prejudicial to his own interests. + +I have this moment returned from a drive through the streets, and, +though far from being an alarmist, I begin to think that affairs wear a +more serious aspect than I dreaded. Already has a collision taken place +between the populace and the soldiers, who attempted to disperse them +near the Palais-Royal; and it required the assistance of a charge of +cavalry to secure the dangerous victory to themselves. + +Crowds were hurrying through the streets, many of the shops were +closed, and not above three or four carriages were to be seen. Never +did so great a change take place in the aspect of a city in so few +hours! Yesterday the business of life flowed on in its usual current. +The bees and the drones of this vast hive were buzzing about, and the +butterflies of fashion were expanding their gay wings in the sunshine. +To-day the industrious and orderly seem frightened from their usual +occupations, and scarcely a person of those termed fashionable is to be +seen. Where are all the household of Charles the Tenth, that vast and +well-paid crowd who were wont to fill the anterooms of the Tuileries on +gala days, obsequiously watching to catch a nod from the monarch, whose +slightest wish was to them as the laws of the Modes and Persians? Can +it be that they have disappeared at the first cloud that has darkened +the horizon of their sovereign, and increased the danger that menaces +him by shewing that they have not courage to meet it? Heaven send, for +the honour of France, that the _noblesse_ of the court of Charles the +Tenth may not follow the disgraceful example furnished by that of his +unfortunate brother, Louis the Sixteenth! In England how different +would it be if danger menaced the sovereign! + +---- has just been here, and, in answer to my question of where are the +men on whose fidelity the king could count, and in whose military +experience he might confide in such a crisis as the present, he told me +that for the purposes of election interests all the general officers +who could be trusted had unfortunately been sent from the court. + +The sound of firing has announced that order, far from being restored, +seems less likely than ever to be so. People are rushing wildly through +the streets proclaiming that several persons have been killed by the +military. All is confusion and alarm, and every one appears to dread +what the coming night may produce. + +Intelligence has just reached us that the mob are demolishing the +lanterns, and that they have broken into the shops of the gunsmiths, +and seized all the arms they could find. The Duc de Raguse commands the +troops, and already several charges have taken place. This selection, +under present circumstances, is not considered to be a good one. + +The people are forming barricades in various parts of the town, and +some of our servants, who have been out to collect intelligence, assert +that no hinderance seems to be opposed to this mischievous measure. +Where are the civil authorities during all this commotion? is the +natural question that suggests itself to one who knows how in London, +under any disturbance, they would oppose themselves to check such +proceedings. And why, if the civil authorities are too weak to resist +the torrent, is there not a sufficient military force to stem it? is +the next question that presents itself. No one seems to know where the +blame lies, but every one foretells a dangerous result from this +unaccountable state of things. + +The promulgation of the ordonnances which had led to this tumult, ought +to have been accompanied by a display of force sufficient to maintain +their enactment. If a government _will_ try the hazardous measure of a +_coup d'etat_, it ought to be well prepared to meet the probable +consequences. + +I feel so little disposed to sleep that, instead of seeking my pillow, +I occupy myself by noting down my impressions, occasionally looking out +of my window to catch the sounds that break the stillness of the night. +The heat is intense, but the sky is as pure and cloudless as if it +canopied a calm and slumbering multitude instead of a waking and +turbulent one, filled with the most angry emotions. + +Comtes d'Orsay and Valeski have just returned, and state that they have +been as far as the Place de la Bourse, where they saw a scene of the +utmost confusion. The populace had assembled there in great force, +armed with every kind of weapon they could obtain, their arms bared up +to the shoulders, and the whole of them presenting the most wild and +motley appearance imaginable. They had set fire to the Corps-de-Garde, +the flames of which spread a light around as bright as day. Strange to +say, the populace evinced a perfect good-humour, and more resembled a +mob met to celebrate a saturnalia than to subvert a monarchy. + +Comtes d'O---- and V---- were recognised by some of the people, who +seemed pleased at seeing them. On returning, they passed through the +Rue de Richelieu, which they found in total darkness, all the lanterns +having been broken. Comte d'O---- luckily found his cabriolet in the +Rue de Menars, where he had left it, not being able to take it farther, +owing to a portion of the pavement being broken up, and had only time +to reach the club-house in the Rue de Gramont, in the court of which he +placed his cab, before the populace rushed by, destroying every thing +they met, among which was the carriage of the Prince Tufiakin. A +considerable number of the members of the club were assembled, a few of +whom witnessed, from the balcony on the Boulevart, the burning of the +chairs placed there, the breaking of the lamps, and other depredations. + +Some gentlemen went to the battalion of the guards stationed in front +of the Prince Polignac's, and suggested to the officer in command the +propriety of sending a few men to arrest the progress of the +insurgents, a thing then easily to be accomplished; but the officer, +having no orders, declined to take any step, and the populace continued +their depredations within three hundred yards of so imposing a force as +a battalion of the guards! + +What may not to-morrow's sun witness, ere it goes down? But conjecture +is vain in a crisis in which every thing appears to go on in a mode so +wholly unaccountable. The exhibition of a powerful force might and +would, I am persuaded, have precluded the collision that has occurred +between the populace and the military. Blood has been shed on both +sides, and this has rendered the breach between people and sovereign +too wide to be repaired except by something almost miraculous, and +alas! the time of miracles is past. + +I cannot help wondering at the calmness I feel on this occasion. I +experience no personal alarm; but I am apprehensive for my friends, +some of whom are deeply interested in this struggle. How may their +destinies, lately so brilliant, be overclouded by the change that +menaces to take place! + +Well may Monsieur Salvandy have observed at the ball so recently given +by the Duc of Orleans to the royal families of France and Naples, "This +may be termed a Neapolitan _fete_, for they are dancing over a +volcano." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + + +All now seems quiet, so I will go to bed. Heaven only knows if +to-morrow night we may be allowed to seek our pillows in safety. + +_28th_.--My _femme-de-chambre_ undrew my curtains this morning, "with +such a face--so faint, so spiritless, so dull, so dead in look, so +woe-begone"--proclaiming that barricades had been erected during the +night, and that the bodies of those killed in the encounter yesterday +have been paraded through the streets in order to excite still more the +angry feelings of the people. This last measure reminds one of the +appalling exhibitions in the fearful and memorable Revolution of former +days; and the reminiscences it awakens are not calculated to +tranquillize the mind. + +She states that the shops are all closed, and that no provisions can be +obtained; the cook complains that his stockpots want replenishing; and +the _femme de charge_ hints that the larder is not so well supplied as +it would have been had she known what was to occur. Each and all of +these functionaries seem wholly occupied by the dread of not being able +to furnish us with as copious repasts as usual, unmindful that a mighty +throne is tottering to its foundation, and that a struggle is going on +in which many lives may be sacrificed. + +The Duc de Raguse has incurred great blame for his intercourse with the +supposed leaders of the Revolution. This conduct has had the effect of +destroying the confidence of the troops in their chief, and of +weakening their attachment to the cause they were to support. The +Marechal was the Commandant appointed by the King, and as such, bound +to treat as rebels those who opposed themselves to his government; +instead of which, he seemed more like the _confident_ of a party who, +it is alleged, owe their victory to his supineness. + +The Duc de Guiche has not left his post, near the royal family, since +the 26th, except to pass and repass with instructions from the King to +the Duc de Raguse, twice or thrice a-day. He has been repeatedly +recognised by the people, though in plain clothes, and experienced at +their hands the respect so well merited by his honourable conduct and +devotion to his sovereign. How often have I heard this noble-minded man +censured for encouraging the liberal sentiments of the Dauphin; and +heard this, too, from some of those who are now the first to desert +Charles the Tenth in the emergency which is the result of the system +they advocated! + +---- has been here; he tells me that to Marshal Marmont the king has +confided unlimited power, and that Paris has been declared in a state +of siege. + +He says that the military dispositions are so defective, that there is +not a young officer in the army capable of committing a similar +mistake. The regiments are crowded into narrow streets, in which even +children may become dangerous enemies, by throwing from the windows +every missile within their reach on the heads of the soldiers. He is of +opinion that, in twenty-four hours, the populace will be in possession +of Paris. The tri-coloured flag is now floating from the towers of +Notre-Dame; while the white flag of the luckless Bourbons, as often +stained by the faithlessness of its followers, as by the blood of its +foes, still waves from the column of the Place Vendome,--that column +erected to commemorate the glory of the great chief now calmly sleeping +in his ocean-washed grave. + +The civil authorities seem paralyzed: the troops have been twelve hours +on duly without any refreshment, except that afforded by the humanity +of the people, who have brought them wine and bread; can it be hoped +that these same soldiers will turn their arms against those who have +supplied their necessities? + +The royal emblems are destroyed wherever they are found, and the bust +of the king has been trampled on. The disgusting exhibition of the dead +bodies has had the bad effect calculated upon, and all is tumult and +disorder. Every one wonders where are the authorities, and why a +sufficient military force does not appear, for there has been ample +time, since the disposition to insurrection manifested by the people, +to assemble the troops. + +Every visitor, and, notwithstanding the disturbed state of Paris, we +have already had several to-day, announces some fresh disaster, each +representing it according to the political creed to which he adheres. +The Royalists assert that the outbreak is the result of a long and +grave conspiracy, fomented by those who expect to derive advantage from +it; while the Liberals maintain that it has arisen spontaneously and +simultaneously from the wounded spirit of liberty, lashed into a +frenzied resistance by the ordonnances. I pretend not to know which of +these statements is the most correct; but I believe that the favourite +opinion of the worthy Sir Roger de Coverley, that "much could be said +on both sides of the question," might now fairly be urged; for, +according to the march of events, it is but too probable that the +melodrama now enacting before our eyes has not been an impromptu; and +it is quite clear that the ordonnances have furnished the occasion, and +the excuse (if such were required), for the performance. + +Well might a great Italian writer pronounce revolutions to be the +carnivals of history. This one seems to be not only a carnival but +Saturnalia, for the ebriety of the slaves of liberty is well calculated +to disgust the friends; and those who witness this intoxication are +reminded of the observation of Voltaire, that "_Les Francais goutent de +la liberte comme des liqueurs fortes avec lesquelles ils s'enivrent."_ +A revolution affected by physical instead of moral force, is a grave +wound inflicted on social order and civilization--a wound which it +takes ages to heal. + +When on the point of sitting down to our _dejeuner a la fourchette_ +(for people will eat while thrones are crumbling), repeated knockings, +at the _porte-cochere_ induced us to look from the window in order to +see who the persons were who thus loudly demanded admittance, when it +was discovered that they were Doctors Pasquier and De Guise. They had +been dressing the wounded at the hospital in the Faubourg du Roule, and +finding on their return that the Champs-Elysees and Rue St.-Honore were +the scenes of combat, had bethought themselves of our vicinity, and +sought shelter. When our unexpected visitants, deeming themselves +fortunate in having found a refuge, prepared to join our repast, it was +ludicrous to observe the lengthened faces of our servants at this +addition to our party. They, having previously lamented the paucity of +provisions in the larder, and being aware of the difficulty, if not +impossibility, of procuring a further supply, looked on the new-comers +as interlopers, who would inevitably diminish the already too limited +stock. + +We had not been seated above five minutes at table, when the report of +fire-arms announced that hostilities were renewed, and we hurried to +the drawing-room to observe what was going on. The servants looked as +if they rather enjoyed the interruption to the morning's meal, thinking +no doubt that it would preserve the provisions, now so precious in +their eyes, and they prepared to remove the viands with unusual +alacrity; but their visages lengthened when told to let them remain on +the table, and became still longer when we shortly after resumed our +places at the board. + +An Englishwoman, in the kitchen establishment, has just performed a +feat that has elevated her into a heroine in the eyes of the rest of +the servants. Finding the larder not sufficiently supplied, she sallied +forth into the street, passed through the Rue St.-Honore, while the +fighting was going on, and returned bearing a basket of meat, obtained +certainly at the risk of her life, as shots were flying around her. As +none of the men offered to undertake this action, she is now considered +little less than an amazon, and her _amour-propre_ being excited by the +commendations bestowed on her courage, she declares that she will go +forth for all that may be required, as she despises fear. + +We have now entrenched ourselves in the front drawing-rooms, with the +external shutters, which are stuffed to exclude noise, closed, but +which we open occasionally, in order to see what is going on. Sitting +in darkness, with the sound of firing, and the shouts of the people, +continually in our ears, I can hardly bring myself to think that all +that is now passing is not a dream. + +The populace, ten minutes ago, rushed from the Rue St.-Honore towards +the Champs-Elysees, assailing the troops stationed in the latter place; +and were in turn assailed by these last, and forced to retreat to the +Rue St.-Honore. The scene was one of the utmost confusion. + +The firing is going on; stragglers are rushing to and fro; a body of +troops are stationed at the bottom of this street, and some pieces of +cannon have been placed. A thousand rumours are afloat, each more +improbable than the other. One moment it is announced that several +regiments have fraternized with the people; another, that the royal +family have fled to Belgium; the next, that Paris is to be fired by the +insurgents; but it would be impossible to repeat one-half the wild +rumours in circulation. + +There is a mixture of the sublime and of the ridiculous in the scenes +now passing before my eyes that is quite extraordinary. Looking from my +window, twenty minutes ago, I saw a troop of boys, amounting to about +fifty, the eldest of whom could not be more than ten or eleven years +old, and some who appeared under that age, march through our streets, +with wooden swords, and lances pointed with sharp nails, flags flying, +and crying, "_Vive la charte! Vive la liberte_!" The gravity and +intrepidity of these _gamins de Paris_ would, at any other period, have +elicited a smile; but now, this demonstration on the part of mere +children creates the reflection of how profound and general must be the +sympathy enlisted against the government and the sovereign in the +hearts of the people. + +Many are those who, like their children, shout "_Vive la charte!_" and +"_Vive, la liberte!_" who are as ignorant of the true sense and value +of both as they are. Well might the victim, when being led to execution +in the days of the past revolution in France, exclaim, "O Liberty, what +crimes are committed in thy name!" + +One of our servants has this moment informal me that the children, +whose warlike demeanour I was disposed to smile at an hour ago, have +rendered (_not_ the state, but the popular cause) some service. The +troops, more amused than surprised at the appearance of these mimic +soldiers, suffered them to approach closer than prudence warranted, and +the urchins, rushing among the horses, wounded several of the poor +animals severely, and effected their retreat before the soldiers were +aware of what had occurred. + +A fatality seems to prevail in the preset crisis that is little less +than marvellous. A want of provisions for the troops is now added to +the catalogue of excitements against the cause of royalty. Harassed by +the repeated attacks of the populace, and exhausted by long exposure to +the intense heat of a burning sun, they are little prone to consider as +enemies those who approach them with food to allay the pangs of hunger, +and drink to cool their scorching thirst. ----, and others who have +mingled with the crowd, tell me that they have beheld repeated examples +of soldiers throwing down their arms, to embrace those who came to +seduce them with the most irresistible of all seductions--refreshment, +when they were nearly exhausted by the want of it. + +I shall begin to consider myself half a heroine, after an exploit I +performed this evening. The men who shared our dinner having gone out +to observe what was passing, I determined, _coute que coute_, to pay a +visit to my friend Madame Craufurd. I attired myself as simply as +possible, and, attended by a _valet de pied_, sallied forth. Having +traversed the short distance that separates this house from the Rue +St.-Honore, I arrived at the barricade erected in front of the entrance +to the Rue Verte, and I confess this obstacle seemed to me, for the +first minute or two that I contemplated it, insurmountable. My servant, +too, expressed his belief of the difficulty, if not impossibility, of +climbing over this mountain of loose stones, that I felt half disposed +to retrace my steps. + +The shouts of a mob approaching along the Rue St.-Honore quickly +decided me on the course to pursue; I clambered up as best I could, not +without considerable risk; nor was the danger and difficulty of the +descent on the other side of this rude pyramid less imminent. The +evening was more sultry than I ever experienced an evening to be, even +in Italy; the houses were all closed, the streets deserted, except when +a few occasional stragglers rushed along, glancing at me with surprise, +and uttering their comments on my courage. Now and then a dog ran by, +with a terrified air and drooping tail, keeping close to the houses as +if for protection. One might have fancied oneself in some city ravaged +by the plague, and the burning heat of the atmosphere, and lurid red of +the clouds, might have strengthened the notion. + +It more than once occurred to me how singular it was for me, a woman +and a stranger, to find myself with only one attendant in the streets, +on foot, in a city declared to be in a state of siege, and with the +noise of firing in the distance, and the shouts of the populace, +continually breaking on my ears. + +Having passed the Rue de la Ville-l'Eveque, and entered the Rue +d'Anjou, I soon reached the _porte-cochere_ of my friend. My servant +knocked, and very loudly, but before the Swiss porter would open the +door, he reconnoitred from the window in the _entresol_ of his lodge. +He could hardly credit his eyes when he saw me; and while he unbolted +and unchained the door, an operation which took him more time than I +thought necessary, I could hear him muttering that, "_Les dames +Anglaises n'ont peur de rien, positivement rien_." I was not sorry when +I heard the massive door closed after me, with its bolts and chains +again secured; but, as I crossed the courtyard, the different aspect of +the house, with its closed windows, reminded me so forcibly of the +change that had occurred since my last visit, only three days +previously, that I felt more agitated than while traversing the +streets. + +When I entered the drawing-room, in which a large circle were +assembled, Madame Craufurd, though the servants announced my name, +could hardly believe I was indeed come. She wept bitterly while +embracing me, and observed on the hardship of a person so aged as +herself being called on to witness two revolutions. All the horrors of +the first are recalled vividly to her mind, and her terror of what may +occur is proportioned to what she remembers to have formerly taken +place. Nothing seemed to pacify her terror so much as the fact of my +having been permitted to pass unmolested to her house, though she +considered me little less than insane to have undertaken the task. + +"For myself," said Madame C----, "I have little fear (though her +blanched cheek and trembling hand told another story); but for those +dearer to me than life, what have I not to dread? You who know the +chivalrous sentiments of the Duc de Guiche, and the attachment +entertained by him and my granddaughter for the royal family, will +understand how much I have to dread for them from the vengeance which +their devotion to their sovereign may draw on their heads. _They_ are +not, as you are aware, time-servers, like so many others, who will +desert their king in his hour of need. No; they will brave death, I am +assured, rather than forsake in adversity those whose prosperity they +shared." + +The marquis d'Aligre, one of, it not the, richest landed proprietors in +France, was among the circle at Madame Craufurd's, and evinced no +little composure and courage in the circumstances in which we found +ourselves. He joined me in endeavouring to soothe her fears; and +probably the fact of his having so immense a stake to risk in the +crisis now taking place, added not a little weight to the arguments he +urged to quiet her alarms. When people have so much to lose, their +calmness has an imposing effect; and the rhetoric of the most +accomplished orator would have probably been less successful than was +the composed manner of the marquis d'Aligre, in restoring the wonted +courage of our amiable hostess. + +When I rose to take leave, Madame C---- tried all her efforts to +persuade me to remain to sleep at her house, and I had no little +difficulty to escape from her importunity. She would fain send all her +men servants to escort me home, and the Marquis d'Aligre also +pressingly offered his services; but I was obstinate in my refusal to +allow anyone to accompany me, being convinced that there was even less +danger in proceeding with a single servant than more numerously +attended. I tore myself from the embraces of Madame C----, whose tears +flowed afresh, and bedewed my cheeks, and I once more passed through +the court-yard, followed to the porter's lodge by the _dames de +compagnie, femmes de chambre_, and _valets de chambre_, wondering at my +courage, offering up their prayers for my safety, and proclaiming that +only an Englishwoman would have faced such danger. The old Swiss porter +would not risk opening the gate until he had assured himself, from the +window, that the coast was clear, and closed it so rapidly when I had +passed it as almost to have endangered my heels. + +On returning, I found a cord drawn across the street in front of the +barrack in the Rue Verte, and some forty or fifty ill-dressed and +riotous men assembled, half-a-dozen of whom held the cord. Having +approached close to it, I paused, and, looking calmly at those who held +it, I appealed by looks to their politeness. Some of them laughed +aloud, and asked me if I could not leap over the barrier that impeded +my progress, drawing the rope still higher while they spoke. I +answered, though I trembled at being exposed to their rude mirth, and +still more rude gaze, "That I felt sure Frenchmen would not compel me +to such an unfeminine exertion, or give me cause to tell my compatriots +when I returned to England that deference to women no longer existed in +France." + +"Let her pass! let her pass!" exclaimed nearly all the voices of the +group; "she is courageous, and she speaks rightly, _Vivent les +Anglaises! Vivent les Anglaises!_" and the cord was instantly lowered +to the ground, and I hastily stepped over it, glad to get out of +hearing of the rough compliments bestowed on me. + +My servant had attempted to address them before I spoke, but they one +and all assailed him with a torrent of reproach, demanding if he was +not ashamed to wear a livery, the badge of servitude, when all his +countrymen were fighting for their liberty. I had again to clamber over +the barricade, assisted by my servant, and, before I could cross the +Rue St.-Honore, encountered various groups of men rushing along, all of +whom uttered such invectives against my footman that I determined not +again to go out attended by this symbol of aristocracy. + +On reaching my home, the porter observed, with a self-complacency his +prudence could not conceal, that he "knew Madame la Comtesse had +nothing to dread from the people, they were brave and _bons enfans_, +and would not injure a lady;"--a commendation that clearly indicated +the state of his feelings. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + + +I have observed a striking change in the manners of the servants during +the last three days. They are more familiar, without, however, evincing +the least insolence; their spirits seem unusually exhilarated, and they +betray an interest in the struggle in which the people are engaged that +leaves no doubt as to the side that excites their sympathy. Every +rumour of the success of the insurgents is repeated by them with +ill-suppressed animation and pleasure, and the power of the people is +exaggerated far beyond the bounds of truth. I confess this folly on +their part annoys me, and the more especially as the class to which +they belong, are totally incapacitated by ignorance from being able to +comprehend even the causes alleged for this popular outbreak. + +Misguided men! can they hope that servitude will be lightened by their +being employed by some _parvenus_, elevated from the dregs of the +people by a revolution which sets floating to the top the worst +ingredients of the reeking caldron from which it is formed, instead of +owning the more gentle and infinitely less degrading sway of those born +to, and accustomed to rule? + +Comte ---- and ---- have just come in, and report that the last story +current is, that fifty thousand men from Rouen are marching to Paris to +espouse the cause of the _people_. They say there is no end to the +desertions among the troops. + +The people--the people! I hear of nothing but the people; but those who +speak of them as all and every thing, seem to me to mistake the +populace for the people, yet surely the words are not synonymous. The +people, according to my acceptation of the word, are the sober and +respectable portion of the community of all countries, including the +husbandmen who till the earth, and the artisans who fabricate the +objects applicable to our positive wants, and superfluous luxuries. How +different are these from the populace who fill the streets shouting for +liberty, by which they mean license; fighting for a charter of the real +meaning of which they are ignorant; and rendering themselves the blind +instruments by which a revolution is to be accomplished, that will +leave them rather worse off than it found them; for when did those who +profit by such events remember with gratitude the tools by which it was +effected? + +_Thursday_.--Repeated knocking at the gate drew me to the window ten +minutes ago. The intruder presented a strange mixture of the terrible +and the ridiculous, the former predominating. Wearing only his shirt +and trousers, both stained with gore, and the sleeves of the former +turned up nearly to the shoulder, a crimson handkerchief was bound +round his head, and another encircled his waist. He brandished a huge +sword with a black leather string wound round his wrist, with one hand, +while with the other he assailed the knocker. Hearing the window +opened, he looked up, and exclaimed, "Ah! madame, order the gate to be +opened, that I may lay at the feet of my generous master the trophies I +have won with this trusty sword," waving the said sword over his head, +and pointing to a pair of silver-mounted pistols and a sabre that he +had placed on the ground while he knocked at the gate. + +I recognised in this man a helper in the stables of Comte A. d'Orsay, +of whom it had a short time previously been reported to us, that when a +party of the populace had attempted to force the gate of the stable +offices, which are situated in the Rue Verte, and the English grooms +and coachman were in excessive alarm, this man presented himself at the +window, sword in hand, declaring that he, though engaged in the same +cause as themselves, would defend, to the last moment of his life, the +horses of his master, and the Englishmen whom he considered to be under +his protection. This speech elicited thunders of applause from the +crowd who retreated, leaving the alarmed servants, whose protector he +had avowed himself, impressed with the conviction that he is little +short of a hero. + +This man--these same servants, only a few days ago, looked on as the +stable drudge, who was to perform all the dirty work, while they, +attired in smart liveries, and receiving triple the wages given to him, +were far more ornamental than useful in the establishment of their +employer. They offered him money as a reward for his spirited conduct +(the English of all classes, but more especially of that to which they +appertain, think that money pays all manner of debts), but he +indignantly refused the proffered gift. This revolutionary hero had +been fighting for several hours to-day, and is said to have evinced a +courage and enthusiasm that remind one of all we read of the spirit of +the old Imperial Guard, when animated by the presence of their mighty +chief. + +---- has just brought the intelligence, that the Tuileries and the +Louvre are taken by the people! Comte A. d'O---- sent two of his +servants (Brement, formerly drill-serjeant in the Guards, and now his +porter, and Charles who was an hussar, and a brave soldier) to the +Tuileries to endeavour to save the portrait of the Dauphin by Sir +Thomas Lawrence--an admirable picture. His instructions as to its +_emplacement_ were so correct, that the servants found it instantly, +but torn in pieces, and the fragments strewed on the floor. + +These men report that even in this feat a strange mixture of the +terrible and the comic was exhibited, for _while_ a dead body was +placed on the throne of Charles the Tenth, some men appeared in the +windows of the palace attired in the gold and silver tissue dresses of +the Duchesse de Berri, with feathers and flowers in their heads, and +fans in their hands, which they waved to the multitude beneath, with +all the coquettish airs and graces of _would-be-fine_ ladies. + +The busts of Charles the Tenth were broken and trampled upon; the +wardrobes of the royal family were scattered, torn, and thrown among +the people, who seemed to regard them only as trophies of the victory +they had achieved, and not for their intrinsic value. + +The palace of the Archbishop of Paris has been sacked, and every object +in it demolished. ---- told me that the ribaldry and coarse jests of +the mob on this occasion were disgusting beyond measure; and that they +ceased not to utter the most obscene falsehoods, while they wreaked +their vengeance on the property of this venerable prelate, against whom +they can bring no charge, except the suspicion of jesuitical +principles, and of having encouraged the king to issue the ordonnances. + +---- and ---- have just been here. They state that Charles the Tenth +sent a deputation to the provisional government offering to withdraw +the ordonnances, and to form a new ministry. The offer came too late, +and was rejected. Concessions from the vanquished are seldom valued; +and to offer terms to those who are now in the position to dictate them +is as unavailing as it is undignified. ---- and ---- say that the +general opinion is, that if the Duchesse de Berri was now to present +herself, with her son, to the people, her popularity, and his youth and +innocence, would accomplish an event that would satisfy most parties; +namely, the calling of the Duc de Bordeaux to the throne. The Duchesse +de Berri has courage enough to take this step; what a pity it is that +she has not wisdom enough to adopt it! + +While the fighting was going on in the streets, ---- and ---- met our +ambassador, Lord Stuart de Rothesay, walking along as usual. The +secretaries and _attaches_, too, of the English embassy have been +continually seen in places where their presence evinced more courage +and curiosity than caution; but fear is, I firmly believe, an unknown +guest in the breast of English gentlemen. + +Comte ---- has just been here; he has been to the College of Ste.-Barbe +to take charge of the sons of the Duc de Guiche, in order to conduct +them to the country; a service of no little danger, as all connected +with the court, and known to be faithful to the royal family are liable +to be maltreated. How painful and trying a part is the Duc de Guiche +now called on to act: compelled to leave his wife and family in a town +in a state of siege, or to desert the monarch to whom he has sworn +fealty! But he will perform it nobly; and if Charles the Tenth had many +such men to rally round him in the present hour, his throne might still +be preserved. + +The Duchesse de Guiche, in the trying situation in which she finds +herself, has displayed a courage worthy of olden times. The devotion of +her husband and self to the royal family is so well known that their +house has been a marked one during the last three days, the mob +repeatedly stopping before the gate uttering cries and menaces. All her +friends have urged her to leave Paris, and to remove with her children +to the country, for she would not consent to seek an asylum with her +grandmother or brother; urging, as a reason, that, in the absence of +the Duc, she felt it her duty to remain, that her presence might induce +the household to a more strict discharge of theirs, in protecting the +property of the Dauphin. + +---- and ---- have been here, and have told us that the provisional +government were installed in the Hotel-de-Ville, General La Fayette at +its head, and my old acquaintance Monsieur Alexandra de Laborde taking +an active part. How all this is to end I cannot imagine; the cry for a +republic, though strongly echoed, will, I think, be unavailing; and the +reasonable part of the community cannot desire that it should be +otherwise, inasmuch as the tyranny of the many must ever be more +insupportable than that of one, admitting that even a despotic monarchy +could in our day exercise a tyranny, which I am not disposed to admit. + +The tri-coloured flag now floats on many of the churches, while that of +the _Fleur-de-lis_ still waves from the column in the Place Vendome, on +other public buildings, and the Tuileries. What a strange state of +things! but every thing is strange in this eventful crisis. + +---- has just been here, and reports that yesterday a meeting of the +Deputies took place at the house of M. Casimir Perier, in order to +consult on what measures they ought to pursue in the present state of +affairs. He says, that pusillanimity, and want of decision consequent +on it, marked the conduct of the assembly. They lost the time, so +precious in a crisis like the actual one, in disputing about words, +when deeds ought to have been had recourse to. They are accused of +being influenced by a dread of offending the now tottering power, lest +it should once more be solidly reinstated, and yet of being anxious to +remain well with those opposed to it; and they are said to have +temporised with both, allowing the time for serving either to have +passed away. + +A bitter feeling towards the royal family seems to pervade the minds of +the populace; and this has been fomented by the most gross and +disgusting falsehoods dispensed around by the medium of obscene +_brochures_, and songs which are sung and distributed through the +streets. Even now beneath my window two men are offering, and crying +aloud, the Amours of the Duchesse d'Angouleme and the Archbishop of +Paris. The most spotless woman in France and the most devout man! The +same hand that would pull down the throne would raze the altar! + +---- and ---- have been among the fighting, and report wonders of the +bravery of the populace. They fight with an enthusiasm and courage +worthy of a better cause, and have evinced a humanity to their wounded +adversaries that elicits admiration even from those who are the most +opposed to the cause they have espoused. The citizens, and the women +too, have come forth from the sanctuaries of their dwellings to dress +the wounds, and administer refreshment to the combatants, without +distinction with regard to the side on which they were engaged. + +This amalgamation of soldiers and people has been destructive to the +cause of royalty, for the humanity experienced has induced the former +to throw down their arms rather than use them against generous foes, +and cries of "_Vive la Ligne_!" are often heard from those so lately +opposed to it. All parties agree in stating that not a single example +of pillage, except in the instances of the gunsmiths' shops, has +occurred. Various houses have been entered by the people for the +purpose of firing from the windows; and, having effected their object, +they have retired without taking a single article of the many tempting +ones scattered around in these dwellings. + +This revolution, if indeed the result should prove it to be such, will +offer a striking contrast to that fearful one that has ever since left +so black a stain on France, and Frenchmen. Heroic courage, great +humanity, and a perfect freedom from cupidity, are the peculiar +attributes that mark those who are now subverting the throne of the +Bourbons; what a pity it is that such qualities should not have found a +better cause for developing themselves! + +_29th_.--The subject now circulated and believed is, that Lafayette and +his followers have placed themselves at the head of the people. This +rumour has quieted the fears of many, for his name exercises a great +influence. The fighting is still going on, and the report of the guns +comes booming on the ear continually. + +Hearing a noise in the street, ten minutes ago, I looked forth, and +beheld some four or five men covered with stains of blood, their faces +blackened by gunpowder, and streaming with perspiration, endeavouring +to draw away a piece of cannon, of which they had taken possession in +the Champs-Elysees. Hearing the opening of my window, they entreated +me, if there were any men in the house, to send them to their +assistance, in order to draw away the gun from the reach of the enemy. +"And if there are no men," continued the speaker, "let the women come +out and help us in the good cause." While they yet spoke, a party of +soldiers were seen rushing to the rescue of the gun, and its temporary +conquerors were compelled to make a rapid retreat towards the Rue +St.-Honore. + +The name of M. Laffitte is now mixed with that of Lafayette among the +crowds in the streets, and has a great effect on them. His vast wealth, +and the frequent and extensive aid it has afforded to the working +classes, have rendered him one of, if not the most popular man in +Paris: so that those most conversant with the actual state of affairs, +pronounce that with Lafayette and Laffitte now rest the destiny of +France. How strange is the alteration which has occurred within so +short a space of time! Five days ago, Charles the Tenth reigned in the +Tuileries; at present, on Lafayette and Laffitte it depends whether he +ever enters his palace again! The tocsin is now sounding! How +strangely, how awfully it strikes on the ear! All this appears like a +dream. + +The formation of a provisional government is to-day spoken of. The cry +of "_Vive Napoleon!_" has been heard repeatedly shouted from one mass +of people, while "_Vive la republique!_" has been as loudly vociferated +by another. Various persons connected with both the royalist and +popular party, have been here to-day, so that I hear the opinions +entertained by the adherents of both sides of the question. Which to +credit I know not: there is but one point on which both agree, and that +is in praising the bravery and forbearance of the people. + +When I look around on the precious objects that cover the tables, +consoles, and cabinets in the salon where I am now writing, and reflect +that these same people are not only in arms, but I may say masters of +the town, I cannot help wondering at their total avoidance of pillage +when such rich booties might be so easily acquired. Perhaps there is no +European city in which so many and such splendid collections of rare +and precious articles are to be found, as at Paris. In England, our +nobility possess equal treasures, but they are contained in their +country seats; whereas it is in the Parisian dwellings of the French +noblesse, that their valuable possessions of rare objects are to be +found, and at the present crisis, how soon could an armed mass seize +them! + +_28th_.--The Duchesse de Guiche was exposed to considerable danger to +day, and evinced a courage nearly allied to temerity in speaking her +sentiments on the occasion. Alarmed for the safety of her eldest son, +she was proceeding to his college in search of him, when she was +stopped by a vast crowd of people assembled around the house of one of +the tradespeople of the royal family, over whose door were the arms of +France. + +The frightened tradesman was in the act of removing this badge, of +which only a few days previously he had been so proud, when the +duchesse, seeing him so employed, remarked aloud, that "after having so +often solicited permission to place the royal arms over his door, he +ought to have had the courage to defend them." The populace, enraged at +this reproof, hissed and yelled; but seeing that she remained unmoved, +the greater number cheered her, exclaiming "that young woman is as +courageous as she is beautiful; let us shew her that we know how lo +value courage, and protect her to her home," They placed themselves +around her, and with every mark of respect, escorted her, to the gate +of her dwelling. + +A person among the crowd who witnessed this incident, told me that +never had he seen the Duchesse de Guiche look so dazzlingly beautiful, +as when she was reproving the tradesman--her tall and majestic figure +elevated even above its usual height by the indignation she experienced +at the insult offered to the royal family, to whom in these their days +of trial, she is even more chivalrously devoted than when they reigned +with undisputed sway, and thousands of those who now desert, professed +to worship them. + +Before the duchesse regained her abode, she encountered several +skirmishing parlies in the streets who were absolutely fighting, and +probably owed her safety lo the protection afforded her by those whom +her courage had won to be her champions. + +The intelligence reached us two hours ago, that the populace had +attacked the hotel of the Duc de Guiche, and placed two pieces of +cannon before the gate. My terror may more easily be imagined than +described, for the duchesse and her youngest children are in the house, +and the duc is with the royal family. I hardly knew whether to be +thankful or sorry, that her brother Count Alfred d'Orsay was not at +home when this news reached us, for he would certainly have proceeded +to her house, and would probably have, by his presence and +interference, rendered her danger still greater. + +Fearful of compromising the safety of her children, the duchesse left +the hotel by another gate, opening into the Rue de Montaigne, and is, I +trust, ere this, safe on her route to St.-Germain, where her +father-in-law, the Duc de Gramont, has a residence. + +How like a troubled dream all this appears! Would that it were but a +dream, and that those whom I so much love, were not exposed to pay +dearly for their fidelity to a sovereign, whose measures their +enlightened minds are the last to approve, but whose misfortunes, if +they cannot ameliorate, they will at least share! + +I know not a more painful position than that of the Duc and Duchesse de +Guiche, at the present moment. With highly cultivated minds and liberal +opinions, possessing a knowledge of the world, and of the actual state +of public opinion in France, they must be aware of the utter +hopelessness of the cause in which they find themselves embarked, yet +such is their chivalrous sentiments of honour, that they will sacrifice +every thing rather than abandon those whose prosperity they have +partaken, and thus incur all the penalty of the acts of a government +whose policy they did not approve. Had Charles the Tenth many such +devoted adherents, he would not find himself deserted in his hour of +need. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + + +I have but just returned from the Rue d'Anjou, and now that I find +myself once more within the sanctuary of my home, I am surprised at my +own courage in having ventured to pass through the streets, and +_alone_, too, at such a moment. I do not think I should have risked it, +had I not known how much my excellent friend Madame C---- stood in need +of consolation, after having seen her grandchildren and great +grandchildren driven from their late peaceful and happy dwelling, +uncertain when she may behold them again, as they have determined on +not forsaking the royal family. + +I had ascended nearly to the top of the barricade at the entrance to +the Rue Verte when a head and shoulders rose from the opposite side so +suddenly as to alarm me not a little. My trepidation was infinitely +increased when I discovered that the individual to whom the said head +and shoulders appertained, was in a state of extreme intoxication, and +when with rolling eyes, flushed checks, and thick articulation he +addressed me with a familiarity, yet good nature, that I would most +willingly have dispensed with. + +"Give me your hand, _ma belle_, fear nothing, I am one of the _bons +enfans_ of the revolution, take my arm and no one will molest you. We, +_les braves des braves_, wage no war against women; _au contraire_, we +love the pretty creatures. Here take my hand, and I will assist you +over the barricades." + +Suiting his action to the word, he extended his hand towards me, and +reaching forward lost his equilibrium and rolled over; at which moment, +the proprietor of a wine shop at the corner of the Rue Verte came to my +assistance, and leading me through his house, opened a door on the +other side of the barricade, through which I hastily passed, he civilly +offering to open the same door when I returned if I would knock at it. +And here, _en passant_, let me render justice to the politeness I have +invariably experienced from all classes of men, and on all occasions, +in France--a politeness so general that I should be ungrateful if I did +not record it. + +When I passed the barrack in the Rue Verte, it was in the possession of +the people, who had seized it by the right of conquest an hour or two +previously. Proud of the achievement, they were looking out of the +windows, shouting, singing the Marseillaise, embracing each other, and +proclaiming that they were _les bons enfans_, etc. They paid me many +homely compliments as I passed, but not a single indelicate allusion +escaped their lips; and I hurried on, not meeting a human being until I +entered the courtyard of Madame C----'s hotel, into which I found +considerable difficulty to penetrate, owing to the extreme caution of +her Swiss porter who seemed to think it very dangerous to open even the +little door to admit me. + +I found dear, good Madame C---- depressed and agitated. I rejoiced to +find that she was ignorant of the scene that took place between her +grand-daughter and the populace, for a knowledge of it would have +served to increase her alarm. She was surrounded by the usual circle of +_habitues_ who endeavoured in vain to calm her fears, but my presence +re-assured her a little, and Count Valeski, who came in soon after, +succeeded in mitigating her terror. Having witnessed the horrors of the +former revolution, it is no wonder she should tremble at the thoughts +of another, and she looks on my calmness and courage as little short of +heroism. + +I remained a couple of hours with her, and having resisted all her +persuasions to induce me to stay all night, I left the Rue d'Anjou, and +had reached the Rue Verte, when I heard the report of guns, and saw a +party of soldiers attacking the barracks, out of the windows of which +the people, who had taken forcible possession of it some hours before, +were firing on their assailants. I retraced my steps as hastily as +possible, fear lending swiftness to my feet, and returned to the Rue de +Matignon by the Faubourg du Roule and the Rue St.-Honore. Our trusty +porter, having heard the shots, and knowing they proceeded from the +_quartier_ through which my route lay, was much alarmed for my safety, +and evinced great pleasure when he saw me safe again within the portal +under his charge, while I congratulated myself on having once more +proved my friendship to my dear old friend, by a personal exertion +entailing no more disagreeable consequences than a temporary alarm. + +---- and ---- have just been here: they say that it is reported that a +negotiation has been opened between the king and the provisional +government, and that even still a reconciliation may be effected. I do +not believe it, though I wish it were true. The blood that has flowed +during the last days has, I fear, created an impassable gulf between +the sovereign and the people. Each party has made discoveries fatal to +the good understanding necessary to subsist between both: one having +proved his want of power to carry his wishes into effect, and the other +having but too well evinced its power of resistance. + +While the negotiations are pending, the royal cause becomes every hour +more hopeless. Success has rendered the people less tractable; and the +concession implied by the king's holding out terms to them, has less +chance of producing a favourable result. + +The populace attempted to force an entrance into the _Hotel des Pages_, +and, having fired through the iron gate, killed a fine youth, the son +of General Jacquinot, one of the royal pages, and a protege of the Duc +de Guiche. It was of this general that the Emperor Napoleon +said--"_Celui-la est brave tous les jours, en mon absence comme sous +mes yeux_." It is not more than ten days ago, since I met the mother +and sister of this promising youth with him at the Duchesse de +Guiche's. They came to return thanks to her and the duc for the +generous protection they had afforded to him; they were elate with joy +at his promotion, looked forward to his further advancement, and now--. +My heart bleeds for the poor mother who doted on her son! + +Count Alfred d'Orsay, having heard that he had no relations in Paris at +this moment, has gone to arrange for the interment of this poor youth, +who yet scarcely more than a child, has lost his life at but a short +distance from the threshold of that door where he had been so often +received with kindness. How glad I am that the duchesse was spared the +horror of being so near the scene of this murder, and that she and her +children are safe from the reach of personal violence! + +The interesting countenance of this fine youth, as I lately saw it, +haunts me. Beaming with affection towards his mother and sister, and +with gratitude towards his friends, it was pleasant to behold it; and +now,--how fearful is the change produced in so brief a space! That +bereaved mother and fond sister will never more look on that face so +dear;--before the fatal intelligence can have reached them, he will +have been consigned to the grave, and will owe to a stranger those last +rites which they little dream are now performing. + +The number of persons killed during the last three days has excited +much less interest in my feelings than the death of this poor youth. I +cannot picture to my mind's eye any other distinct image among the +slain. They present only a ghastly mass, with all the revolting +accompaniments of gaping wounds and blood-stained garments, I never saw +them in life,--knew not the faces that will be steeped in tears, or +convulsed in agony at their deaths; but this poor boy, so young, so +fair, and so beloved, and his fond mother and gentle sister seem ever +to stand before me! + +I remember reading, long years ago, the example given of a person +recounting all the details of a great battle, in which hundreds were +slain, and the listeners hearing the account unmoved, until the relater +described one individual who had been killed, and drew a vivid picture, +when those who had heard of the death of hundreds without any deeper +emotion than general pity, were melted to tears. This is my case, with +regard to the poor young page, cut off in the morning of his life; for, +having his image present to my mind, his death seems more grievous to +me than that of hundreds whom I have never seen. + +_30th_.--The last news is, that the Dauphin has been named +Generalissimo, that he has placed himself at the head of the vast body +of troops that still adhere to their allegiance, and that he is to +advance on Paris. This determination has been adopted too late, and can +now, in my opinion, avail but little. + +Comte d'O---- has just returned from seeing the last sad duties paid to +the remains of the poor young page. He brings the intelligence that the +royal family left St.-Cloud last night, and are now at Versailles. This +step proves that they consider their case hopeless. Unhappy Bourbons! a +fatality seems to impend over the race; and Charles the Tenth appears +doomed to die, as he has lived the greater portion of his life, in +exile. The absence of the Dauphine at this eventful period has been +peculiarly unfortunate for her family; for, with her firmness of +character and promptitude of decision, her counsel might have served, +while her presence would have given an impetus to, their cause. + +I have just seen ----, who told me, that on the King's departure for +Versailles he left the Dauphin in command of the troops that still +adhered to their allegiance, and that the Prince placed himself at the +head of a battalion of the _garde royale_, charged the enemy on the +Pont de Sevres, and took possession of it; but the troops, with the +exception of a few officers, refused to follow, and left him to receive +the fire of the insurgents, which it is wonderful that he escaped. With +what feelings must he have bent his course to Versailles, deserted by +troops on whom he had bestowed so many favours and acts of munificence, +to meet his sovereign and father, with the sad news of their revolt! + +I have just had the gratifying intelligence that the Duchesse de Guiche +and her children reached St.-Germain's in safety. This is a great +relief to my mind. The royal arms on the carriage, and the liveries, +were recognised at the Barriere, and the populace crowded around, many +of them expressing their dissatisfaction at beholding these memorials +of a family so lately respected, if not beloved. It had been +represented to the Duchesse, previously to her leaving Paris, that she +ran no inconsiderable risk in venturing out with the royal arms on her +carriage;[9] but she declared that she would not consent to their being +effaced. She courageously, and with a calm dignity, addressed the angry +crowd, explained her sentiments and feelings to them in a few brief +words, and they, won by her beauty and noble bearing, even perhaps +still more than by her courage (though intrepidity has always a +peculiar charm for Frenchmen), cheered her, and suffered the carriage +to proceed unmolested. + + +_July 30th_.--I am again alarmed for the safety of the Duchesse de +Guiche. The populace having yesterday assembled at the Place +St.-Germain, in which is the residence of her father-in-law, the Duc de +Gramont, they evinced so hostile a feeling towards all attached to the +royal family, that a friend, becoming apprehensive of violence, scaled +the wall of the garden, and entering the house, implored the Duchesse, +ere it was yet too late, to seek safety by flight. + +Alarmed for her children--for this noble-minded woman is a stranger to +personal fear--she sought refuge with them in the Forest of +St.-Germain, in the Chateau du Val, the abode of the Princesse de Poix, +where she experiences all the kindness and hospitality which her +amiable hostess can practise, in order to soothe the anxiety of her +guest. + +What a change in the position of the Duchesse, and in so brief a space! +A fugitive in that forest where, every year during the _Fete des +Loges_, she dispensed kindness to the poor, and amiability to all, +doing the honours of the Duc de Gramont's house, where her +condescension and goodness were the themes of every tongue! And now, +harassed in mind and body, terrified for the safety of her husband, who +is with the royal family, and for her two eldest sons, who are in their +college, in the Rue St.-Marceau, which is rendered inaccessible, owing +to the barricades. + +_31st_.--Lafayette is now said to be the oracle of the provisional +government, and the idol of the populace. Advanced far in the vale of +life, his energies and vigour are gone, and his _name_ serves the party +more than his counsel can; for with the republicans, at least, it is a +guarantee for honest motives. What a strange destiny has his +been--called on to perform so conspicuous a part in two revolutions! + +---- has just been here, and announced that the Duc d'Orleans is named +Lieutenant-general of France. It is asserted, that this appointment has +been effected by the influence of General Lafayette over the +provisional government; but how little in accordance is this measure +with the well-known Utopian scheme of a republic, which has for years +been the favourite dream of this venerable visionary? + +_August 1st_. ---- now has brought the intelligence that Charles the +Tenth has nominated the Duc d'Orleans Lieutenant-general, so that his +Royal Highness has been chosen by both sides--a flattering proof of the +confidence reposed in him by each. Were he ambitious, here is an +opportunity of indulging this "infirmity of noble minds," though at the +expense of the elder branch of his family; but he will not, I am sure, +betray the trust they have confided to him. Order seems now to be in a +great measure restored; the people appear in good-humour; but there is +a consciousness of power evident in their hilarity that too forcibly +reminds one of their victory. + +The Duc of Orleans has been to the Hotel-de-Ville, where he presented +himself to the people from the balcony; embraced General Lafayette, who +stood by his side; and was applauded with enthusiasm by the immense +multitude who witnessed the _accolade_. + +_2nd_.--The news of the day is, that Charles the Tenth has abdicated +the crown in favour of the Duc de Bordeaux, who is now styled Henri V. +This act might, four or five days ago, have produced some salutary +effect; but it now comes too late--at least, so think those who profess +to know more on the subject than I do. The position of the +Lieutenant-general, in this case, reminds me of that of a _confidante_ +in a quarrel between lovers, in which the interest of the absent is too +often sacrificed, owing to the dangerous opportunity furnished for +forwarding that of the supposed friend. + +_3d_.--Again, considerable excitement has prevailed in the town, +produced by the proclamation, that the dethroned sovereign had +determined to take up his position, with the strong military force that +still adheres to him, at Rambouillet. The publicity given to this news +was a very injudicious measure, if conciliation, or even forbearance to +the deposed family, was desired. + +The populace, that many-headed monster, only seen abroad when evil +passions dictate violence, again rush through the streets, breathing +vengeance against the poor old man, whose grey hairs, more exposed by +the absence of the crown his _ci-devant_ subjects have wrested from his +head, should have claimed more respect at their hands. Truly has the +poet said, + + "He who has worn crown, + When less than king is less than other men,-- + A fallen star, extinguish'd, leaving blank + Its place in heaven." + +This fickle people, or, at least, the dregs of them, for it would be +unjust to confound all in their enormities, will efface the credit they +have gained by the forbearance from crime that has as yet characterised +this revolution, by some act of brutality towards the royal family. But +even the very dregs of the people have not appeared desirous to adopt +any such course, until excited into it by the wicked rumours set +afloat, that Charles the Tenth had carried off all the crown jewels--a +rumour peculiarly calculated to excite their ire and meet a ready +credence, each individual of the motley train looking on himself as +having an interest in these national riches, and judging from _self_, +of the possibility--nay, more, probability, of so vile an action. How +little can such minds identify themselves with the feelings of those +who, sated with the gewgaws and trappings of grandeur, forget them in +the deep, the powerful excitement of beholding a throne crumbling into +ruin beneath them--a diadem rudely torn from their brows--the power +they wielded, even that of doing good, wrested violently, with the +sceptre, from their hands; and more than all, behold the loved, the +_trusted_--those on whom they had showered benefits with prodigality, +turn from them in their hour of need and join their foes! + + "If thou canst hate, as, oh! that soul must hate + Which loves the virtuous and reveres the great; + If thou canst loathe and execrate with me + That gallic garbage of philosophy,-- + That nauseous slaver of these frantic times, + With which false liberty dilutes her crimes; + If thou hast got within thy free-born breast + One pulse that beats more proudly than the rest + With honest scorn for that inglorious soul + Which creeps and winds beneath a mob's control. + Which courts the rabble's smile, the rabble's nod, + And makes, like Egypt, every beast its God!" + +_August 4th_.--The King has left Rambouillot, alarmed by the report of +the approach of the vast multitude who had left, or were leaving, +Paris, with hostile intentions towards the royal family. The scenes +that took place then, previously to his departure, are represented as +being most affecting. + +An old man, overpowered by mental and bodily sufferings, remembering +the terrible days of a former revolution, brought with a fearful +vividness to his mind by the appalling change effected within the last +few eventful days, he had lost all presence of mind, and with it his +confidence in those whom he might have safely trusted, while he yielded +it to those whose interests were wholly opposed to his. Nor is the +deplorable effect produced on his mind by recent events to be wondered +at. + +Adversity is the only school in which monarchs can acquire wisdom, and +it almost always comes too late to enable them to profit by its bitter +lessons. The defection of those hitherto supposed to be devoted +friends, the altered looks of faces never before beheld without being +dressed in smiles, the unceremoniousness of courtiers who never +previously had dared to have an opinion before royalty had decided what +it should be, might well have shook firmer nerves, and touched a +sterner heart, than belonged to the old, grey-headed monarch, who saw +himself betrayed without comprehending by whom, and who used his +authority as sovereign and father, over his religiously obedient son, +to extort an abdication of his right, as well as an approval of the +resignation of his own. + +Like another Lear, this poor old man has been driven forth "to bide the +pelting of the pitiless storm" of a revolution, followed by his widowed +daughter-in-law and her helpless son, that child orphaned ere yet he +saw the light, and by Frenchmen who now condemn him to exile! + +They have taken the route to Cherbourg, there to embark; and of those +who lately bent the knee before them, how few have followed their now +gloomy fortunes! One, at least, has not left, and will not forsake +them. The Duc de Guiche, the kindest husband and father perhaps in +France, sacrifices his feelings of domestic affection to his sense of +duty, and accompanies the exiled family! + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + + +_August 5th_.--There are rumours today that the son of the Emperor +Napoleon will be called to fill the vacant throne. This seems to me to +be very improbable, when I reflect that General Lafayette, whose +influence is omnipotent at present, appears wholly devoted to the Duc +d'Orleans. The minds of the people are as yet wholly unsettled; a dread +of how their late exploits may be looked on by the foreign powers +allied to the deposed sovereign, pervades the multitude, and the +republicans begin to discover that their Utopian schemes are little +likely to be advanced by the revolution effected. + +I was forcibly struck this morning on reading, in an Italian writer, +the following passage, which is strongly applicable to the present +time: + + "When a revolution is ripe, men are always found who are + ready to commence it, and make their bodies the steps to the + throne of him who is to profit by their labours, without + having shared their dangers." + +I have a presentiment that the truth of this axiom will be verified in +France. + +_August 6th_.--Reports are now afloat that the crown of France has been +offered to the Duke of Orleans, but that the offer was not unanimous, +and that consequently he has not accepted it. Other rumours state, that +if he should be induced to do so, it will only be to hold it as a +sacred deposit to be restored to the rightful owner when, with safety +to both parties, it can be transferred. Should this be the case, then +will the Duke of Orleans deserve well of the elder branch of his family +who have behaved so kindly towards him, but I confess I am not one of +those who believe in the likelihood of such an abnegation of self, as +this voluntary abdication would display. + +Rich possessions are seldom if ever willingly resigned, and a crown is +one said to have such irresistible charms to the person who has once +worn it, that history furnishes but few examples like that of Charles +the Fifth, or Christina of Sweden. Time will prove whether +Louis-Philippe d'Orleans will offer a _pendant_! + +I walked with Comte d'O---- this evening into the Champs-Elysees, and +great was the change effected there within the last few days. It looks +ruined and desolate, the ground cut up by the pieces of cannon, and +troops as well as the mobs that have made it a thoroughfare, and many +of the trees greatly injured, if not destroyed. + +A crowd was assembled around a man who was reading aloud for their +edification a proclamation nailed to one of the trees. We paused for a +moment to hear it, when some of the persons recognising my companion, +shouted aloud, "_Vive le Comte d'Orsay! Vive le Comte d'Orsay!"_ and +the cry being taken up by the mass, the reader was deserted, the fickle +multitude directing ail their attention and enthusiasm to tho new +comer. We had some difficulty in escaping from these troublesome and +unexpected demonstrations of good will; and, while hurrying from the +scene of this impromptu ovation to the unsought popularity of my +companion, I made him smile by hinting at the danger in which he stood +of being raised to the vacant throne by those who seem not to know or +care who is to fill it. + +Comte d'O---- was as much puzzled as I was how to account for this +burst of enthusiasm, for, taking no part in politics, and all his +family being attached to the legitimate cause, this demonstration of +regard appears more inexplicable. It seems, however, to establish one +fact, and that is, that though the monarch has fallen into disrepute +with the people, the aristocracy have not, and this alone proves how +totally different are the feelings of those who have effected the +present revolution with those of the persons who were engaged in the +former one, a difference, perhaps, not more to be attributed to the +change produced in the people by the extension of education, than in +the _noblesse_ by the same cause, aided by the habits and feelings it +engenders. Whatever may be the cause, the effect is salutary, for the +good understanding evident between the two classes tends greatly to the +amelioration and advantage of both. There is something very contagious +in popular feeling. It resembles an epidemic from which few of the +class more peculiarly exposed to it escape. + +Walked into the streets to-day, for a carriage cannot yet pass through +them. Never did any town, not actually sacked, present a more changed +aspect. Houses damaged by shots, windows smashed, pavements destroyed, +and trees cut down or mutilated, meet the eye along the Boulevards. The +destruction of the trees excited more regret in my mind than that of +the houses. There, many of them lay on the ground shorn of their leafy +honours, offering obstructions on the spots which they so lately +ornamented, while others stood bare and desolate, their giant limbs +lopped off, their trunks shattered by bullets, and retaining only a few +slight branches oh high, to which still adhered the parched, +discoloured, and withered leaves, sole remnants of their lately +luxuriant foliage. + +The houses may be rebuilt and the streets newly paved, but how many +years will it take before these trees can be replaced! Those who loved +to repose beneath their shade, or who, pent in a city, were solaced by +beholding them and thinking of the country of which they brought +pleasant recollections, will grieve to miss them, and, like me, own +with a sigh, while contemplating the ravages occasioned by the events +of the last few days, that if good ever is effected by that most +dangerous of all experiments, a revolution, it is too dearly bought. + +The people seem as proud and pleased as possible with the +accomplishment of the task they took in hand. How long will they +continue so? They are like a too-spirited horse who, having mastered +his rider, requires a bolder and more expert hand to subjugate him +again to obedience, and the training will be all the more painful from +the previous insubordination. Of one thing the people may be proud, and +that is, their having not stained this revolution with any of the +crimes that have left so indelible a blot on the former one. + +How soon does the mind habituate itself to an unnatural state of +excitement! My _femme de chambre_ positively looked blank and +disappointed this morning, when, on entering my _chambre a coucher_, +she answered in reply to my question, whether any thing new had +occurred during the night, "_Non, miladi, positivement rien_." Strange +to say, I too felt _desoeuvre_ by the want of having something to be +alarmed or to hope about,--I, who meddle not with politics, and wish +all the world to be as quiet and as calm as myself. Every one I see +appears to experience this same flatness, just like the reaction +produced on the spirits the first day or two after the Italian +Carnival, when the cessation of gaiety, though felt to be a relief to +the frame, leaves the mind unfitted for repose. + +I find this feeling is generally experienced, for several of the +shop-keepers, whose profit,--nay, whose very bread, depends on the +restoration of social order, confess it. One person, the wife of a +jeweller, owned to me to-day that Paris was now beginning to be very +_triste_. + +"To be sure they were no longer afraid to open their shops, and +commerce they hoped would soon become active again, but there was no +more the same interest continually awakened, as when every hour,--nay, +every minute brought some new event, and she and her neighbours looked +out to behold the fighting in the streets, the wounded and the dying +dropping around, and trembled for their own lives, and for the safety +of those dear to them." In short, as she admitted, the want of +excitement was experienced by all those who had lately become +accustomed to it, as much as it is felt by the habitual gamester who +cannot live without play. + +This is a dangerous state for the people of a great city to find +themselves in. Vastly more dangerous than if subdued by a +long-continued excess of excitement, their moral as well as their +physical force required repose, and they gladly resigned themselves to +it. + +To a sober-minded denizen of England, the ungovernable pride, +insatiable vanity, and love of fighting, inherent in the French, appear +really little short of insanity, to so great an excess do they push +these manias. This will always render them so difficult to be governed, +that it will require no ordinary abilities and firmness in him who +undertakes the arduous task of ruling them. Yet the very excess of +these passions renders the French the most able, as they decidedly are +the most willing, instruments to be employed in achieving the aims of +the wildest ambition, or the most glorious enterprises. He will the +longest and most securely govern them, who calls these passions into +action, provided always that they meet no check, for the French not +only bear adversity impatiently, but soon turn against him who has +exposed them to it: witness their conduct to the Emperor Napoleon, who, +while success frowned his banner, was their idol. + +Playing at soldiers is the favourite game of Frenchmen of every class +and description, and every opportunity afforded them of indulging it is +gladly seized. When I compare the reluctance with which the yeomanry of +Ireland, or the local militia of England, leave their homes and their +business to "assume the spear and shield," with the enthusiasm evinced +by the _Garde Nationale_ when they are called to leave their +_boutiques_ and don their uniforms, I am more than ever struck with the +remarkable difference existing between two nations separated by so +short a distance. The English local militia man will fight when +occasion requires, and with determined courage, too, because he +believes it to be his duty, but the French National Guard will combat +for the mere love of combating, and forget home and interest in the +pleasure of the excitement. + +The Duchesse de Guiche has returned to Paris, while her amiable and +noble-minded husband has accompanied the royal family to Cherbourg, +where they are to embark for England. Nothing can exceed the courage +and dignity with which she supports her altered fortunes. She thinks +only of those to whom the Duc and herself have been so long and so +truly devoted; and in her chagrin for their sufferings forgets her own. + +The Duc has such a perfect confidence in her good sense and tact, that +he has sent her his _procuration_ to act for him in his absence. No +sooner had she arrived at her abode, than she sent to demand the +protection of General Gerard[10] for the house and stables of the +Dauphin, and ho immediately ordered a guard to be placed there. Heaven +grant that she may not be exposed to any annoyance during the absence +of her husband! + +The Duchesse de Guiche gave a new proof of her courage and presence of +mind yesterday. Early in the morning, having heard a noise in the +courtyard of her dwelling, she beheld from the window of her chamber an +officer gesticulating with violence, and menacing the grooms of the +Dauphin. The upper servant entered at the moment, and announced that +the officer insisted on seizing six of the finest horses in the stable, +by order of General Lafayette. + +The Duchesse descended to the courtyard, informed the officer that the +whole establishment was under the protection of General Gerard, without +whose orders no horse should leave the stables. He attempted to enforce +his pretensions; but the Duchesse desired the head groom to call out +his assistants, about thirty in number, who, armed with pitchforks and +other implements of their calling, soon came forth; and the Duchesse +assured the intruder that, unless he immediately retired, he should be +forcibly expelled. + +Seeing the courage and determination of this high-spirited and +beautiful woman, the officer withdrew, and the horses were saved. It +has since been ascertained, as the Duchesse anticipated, that General +Lafayette had never given any orders to the officer who had used his +name. + +_7th_.--The Duke of Orleans has at length accepted the crown; and +various are the conjectures and reports to which his doing so has given +rise. Many of them, as may be easily imagined, are not creditable to +him; but on this occasion, as on most others, the least charitable +motives are generally assigned to those whose conduct is judged by the +mass often wholly ignorant of the reasons on which it is based. The +vast wealth of the Duke of Orleans has a powerful influence; and those +who a few days ago exclaimed against royalty, and vaunted the superior +advantages of a government without a king, are now reconciled to having +one whose immense private fortune will exempt the nation from the +necessity of furnishing funds for a civil list. Should the new +sovereign hereafter demand one, his popularity will be endangered; and +the King of the French, as he is styled, will be likely to find as +little favour in the eyes of his subjects as the King of France +experienced. + +Popularity, always, and in all countries, an unstable possession, is in +France infinitely more so; and Louis-Philippe must have more luck, as +well as more wisdom, than falls to the lot of mankind, to retain this +fleeting good when the novelty of his reign has worn away. That he is a +man of great ability no one seems to entertain a doubt; but his wisdom +would, in my opinion at least, have been more surely manifested had he +declined instead of accepting the crown. + +Those who profess to be best acquainted with his sentiments declare, +that he only acceded to the wishes of the people in ascending the +vacant throne, in order to preserve the charter, and to preclude the +dangerous theoretical experiments into which the republican party was +so desirous to plunge. It remains to be proved whether, in a few years +hence, those who have subverted one monarchy by violence may not be +tempted to have recourse to a similar measure in order to free +themselves from the successor they have chosen; for even already it +appears clear to me, that the expectations entertained, not only by the +partisans of Louis-Philippe, but by the generality of the people, are +such as he never can fulfil. He may be their idol for a brief space, +but, like all other idols, he will be expected to perform miracles; and +not having the sanctity with which time invests even false gods, he may +be thrown from the pedestal to which he has been elevated as +unceremoniously as he was raised to it. + +I saw General Lafayette to-day, and never felt more disappointed, as +his appearance does not at all correspond with what I had imagined it +to be. The "Lafayette _aux cheveux blancs_," as the popular song +describes him to be, is, _au contraire_, a plain old man, with a dark +brown scratch wig, that conceals his forehead, and, consequently, gives +a very common and, to my thinking, a disagreeable expression to his +countenance. The _cheveux blancs_ would be a great improvement; for, +independently of the song thus describing him, one looks for the +venerable mark of age in this Nestor of revolutions, who in his youth +has seen his idol, Liberty, commit fearful crimes in France as well as +great deeds in America, and who now, when on the threshold of the +grave, in which ere long he must repose, beholds her regeneration in +his native land, redeemed from the cruelty that formerly stained her +course. + +"_Voila le grand Lafayette_!" exclaimed one of the people as he passed +to-day; "_Oui, la ganache des deux mondes_," replied the other. Such is +popular favour! + +I walked in the Palais-Royal to-day; and felt much more disposed to +pity than envy the King of the French, as Louis-Philippe is styled, +when I beheld a crowd of idle miscreants, assembled in front of his +dwelling, rudely and boisterously vociferating his name, and in a tone +much more resembling command than entreaty, desiring his presence. He +at length came forward, bowed repeatedly, pressed his hand to his +heart, and then withdrew, looking, as I thought, rather ashamed of the +_role_ he was called on to enact, while his riotous audience seemed +elated at exhibiting his docility. + +The Queen was then called for, and, after some delay, was handed +forward by Louis-Philippe. It made me sad to look on the altered +countenance of this amiable woman, whom all parties allow to be a most +faultless wife and mother. She is hardly to be recognised as the same +being who only a very few months ago looked the personification of +happiness. Already have deep care and anxiety left their furrows on her +brow, proving that + + A diadem, howe'er so bright it be, + Brings cares that frighten gentle sleep away, + E'en when from buried ancestors it comes, + Who bless'd when they bequeath it to their heir; + For great is the responsibility + Of those who wear the symbol of a king, + In regular succession handed down + From sire to son through long antiquity. + But when th' anointed head that wore it once + Sleeps not in death--but exiled, worse than death-- + And scions legitimate live to claim + Their birthright, oh! how heavy is that crown + (Though loose it fits), which well the wearer knows, + A people's breath may blow from of his brow, + Sear'd by the burning weight, it yet would guard, + E'n though it crush him. + +I am told that no day passes in which a crowd does not assemble beneath +the windows of Louis-Philippe and loudly vociferate for his presence. +M. Laffitte is not unfrequently seen with the king on these occasions, +and when they embrace the crowd applauds. + +I cannot imagine a more painful position than that of the Queen of the +French. Devotedly attached to her husband and family, she will have +often to tremble for their safety, exposed, as it must be, to the +inconstancy and evil passions _soi-disant_ subjects, who may, ere long, +be disposed to pull down the throne they have erected for +Louis-Philippe as rapidly as they raised the barricades for its +elevation. + +Had the King of the French succeeded to the throne by the natural +demise of those who stood between him and it, how different would be +his position; for it is agreed by all who know him, that he has many +qualities that eminently fit him to fill it with credit to himself and +advantage to the people; but as it is, I foresee nothing but trouble +and anxiety for him,--a melancholy change from the domestic happiness +he formerly enjoyed. Any attempt to check the turbulence of the people +will be resented as an act of the utmost ingratitude to those who +placed the crown on his head; and if he suffers it with impunity, he +will not only lose his empire over them, but incur the contempt of the +more elevated of his subjects. + +I saw the King of the French walking through the Place Vendome to-day, +attended only by one person. He was recognised, and cheered, and +returned the salutation very graciously. And there stood the column +erected to commemorate the victories of one now sleeping in a foreign +grave; one whose very name was once the talisman that excited all +Parisian hearts into the wildest enthusiasm! + +Louis-Philippe passed near the base of the column, which seemed to +return a sullen echo to the voices that cheered him; did he, or those +around him, remember their vicinity to this striking memorial of the +inconstancy of the nation? The scene awakened more reflections in my +mind than I dare say it did in that of those whose voices rent the air; +but though it might be only fancy, I thought the King of the French +looked very grave. + +Monsieur Mignet spent last evening here; his conversation is full of +interest, being the overflowing of a rich mind, free from prejudices, +and his ideas, though methodically arranged and subjected to the ordeal +of a sober judgment, bear the warm tint of a brilliant imagination, +that might have rendered him a poet, had he not chosen to be a +historian. The Revolution has produced no visible change in this clever +and agreeable man, who, filling the office of Keeper of the Archives, +devotes his time to studies and researches in harmony with the pursuits +to which he has many years been accustomed, and hears the success of +the popular cause, to which he has long been attached, with a +moderation and equanimity highly indicative of a philosophical mind, +allied to an amiable disposition. There is something so striking in the +appearance of Monsieur Mignet, that all strangers, who meet him here, +remark the fine character of his head and the expression of his +countenance. + +The celebrated General Peppe dined here yesterday, and is very unlike +the revolutionary hero I had pictured him to be. Mild, well-bred, and +amiable in his manner, he seems much more suited to command a regiment +in support of a legitimate monarchy, than to subvert one. Although +liberty appears to be with him a monomania, the warmth with which he +advocates it in conversation never urges him beyond the bounds of good +breeding. + +It is a strange infatuation to suppose that as civilisation extends its +influence, men will have faith in the Utopian schemes of well-meaning +visionaries, and risk evils they know not, in exchange for a state +which, if not quite faultless, has at least much of good. How many +brave and honourable men become the dupes of heated imaginations and +erroneous opinions, which, urging them to effect an amelioration of +some grievances, incur the penalty of imparting greater ones! General +Peppe is liked by all who know him, though all lament the monomania +that has gained such an ascendency over his mind. His brother, General +Florestan Peppe at Naples, whom we esteem so much, is one of the most +excellent men I ever knew. + +The Duc de Guiche has returned to Paris, after having seen the royal +family safely embarked at Cherbourg. The departure of the aged monarch +presented a melancholy scene. At his time of life, he can never hope to +behold his country again, and the sudden change from the throne of a +great kingdom to a compelled exile in a foreign land is a reverse of +fortune that demands a philosophy to support, with which few are blest. + +There is something touching in the attachment of the Duc and Duchesse +de Guiche to this unfortunate family, and above all, to the Dauphin and +Dauphine. Always aware of their affection for them, I never imagined +the strength of it, until the adversity which has sent so many of those +who had previously loudly professed their devotion to them away, but +which has increased the feelings of reverence towards them in this +estimable couple, by mingling with it a sentiment of deep +commiseration, that induces a still greater display of respect, now +that so many others dispense with evincing it. The Duc is charged with +the disposal of the property of the Dauphin; and, when this task is +accomplished, he and his family will follow the fallen fortunes of +Charles the Tenth, and join him at Holyrood. + +Loving France as they do, and wishing their sons to be brought up in +the land of their birth, strong indeed must be the affection that +induces them to abandon it, in order to devote themselves to the exiled +Bourbons. This devotion to the fallen is the more meritorious when the +liberality of the Duc's political opinions is taken into consideration. +How few sovereigns find such devotion in adversity! and how seldom are +men to be met with capable of sacrificing their own interests and the +future prospects of their children to a sense of duty! + + * * * * * + +A lapse in my journal.--All seems now settled. The foreign powers have +acknowledged the King of the French; and this acknowledgment has not +only delighted his subjects, but confirmed them in the belief of their +own right to make or unmake sovereigns according to their will and +pleasure. + +The English are very popular in Paris at this moment, and the ready +recognition of Louis-Philippe by our government has increased this good +feeling. A vast crowd escorted the carriage of Mr. Hamilton, the +Secretary of the Embassy, to his door, as he returned from his first +accredited audience of the new monarch, and cries of _Vivent les +Anglais!_ filled the air. As Mr. Hamilton resides in the house next to +the one I occupy, I had an opportunity of beholding this ovation +offered to him, and the people certainly evinced very groat enthusiasm +on the occasion. + +M. Thiers, M. Mignet, Count Valeski, and Mr. Francis Raring, dined here +yesterday. M. Thiers was very brilliant and amusing. It is impossible +to meet him even once without being struck with the remarkable talent +that characterises every sentence he utters; and yet each observation +comes forth with such spirit and vivacity, that it is easy to see it +has been elicited at the moment by some remark from another, and not +from meditation. + +There is a hardiness in his conceptions, and an epigrammatic terseness +in the expression of them, that command attention; and the readiness +with which he seizes, analyses, and disposes of a question, betrays +such a versatility of mental power as to convey a conviction that he is +a man who cannot fail to fill a distinguished place in France, where, +at present, abilities furnish the master-key that opens the door to +honours and fortune. M. Thiers appears to entertain a consciousness of +his talents, but does not, I really think, overrate them. + +The Prince and Princess Soutzo with their family, spent yesterday with +us. Their eldest daughter, the Princess Helena, is a beautiful girl, +with captivating manners, and highly cultivated mind, and the little +Mary, though still in infancy, is one of the cleverest children I ever +saw. Never did I see young people better brought up than are the sons +and daughters of this excellent couple, or a more united family. + +Mr. and Miss Poulter, and William Spencer the poet, I dined here +yesterday. Mr. Poulter is a sensible man, and his sister is well +informed and intelligent. + +It is now decided that we go to England! Two years ago I should have +returned there with gladness, but now!--I dread it. How changed will +all appear without _him_ whose ever-watchful affection anticipated +every wish, and realised every hope! I ought to feel pleased at leaving +Paris, where the heaviest trial of my life has occurred, but _here_ I +have now learned to get inured to the privation of his society, while +in England I shall have again to acquire the hard lesson of +resignation. + +_November_, 1830.--This is the last entry I shall make in my journal in +Paris, for to-morrow we depart for England. + +I have passed the day in taking leave of those dear to me, and my +spirits have failed under the effort. Some of them I shall probably +never again behold. The dear and excellent Madame Craufurd is among +those about whom I entertain the most melancholy presentiments, because +at her advanced age I can hardly hope to find her, should I again +return to France. She referred to this to-day with streaming eyes, and +brought many a tear to mine by the sadness of her anticipations. + +The Duc and Duchess de Guiche I shall soon see in England, on their +route to Edinburgh, to join tho exiled family at Holyrood, for they are +determined not to forsake them in adversity. + +Adieu a Paris! two years and a half ago I entered you with gladness, +and the future looked bright; I leave you with altered feelings, for +the present is cheerless and the future clouded. + + + * * * * * + + +NOTES + + +[1: Now Baron d'Haussey.] + +[2: The hermitage was lent him by Madame d'Epinay, to whom his +subsequent ingratitude forms a dark page in her _Memoires_.] + +[3: The present Lord Abinger.] + +[4: Now Lord Glenelg.] + +[5: Now Lord Francis Egerton.] + + +[6: Now Madame Emile de Girardin.] + +[7: "Where thou beholdest Genius, + There thou beholdest, too, the martyr's crown."] + +[8: The present Earl of Cadogan.] + +[9: The Duc de Guiche, being _premier menin_ to the Dauphin, used, +according to custom, the arms and liveries of that prince.] + +[10: Now Marechal.] + + + +INDEX TO THE CONTENTS. + + +CHAPTER I. + + + +NISMES. + +Antiquities of this City--The Hotel du Midi--Articles of +Merchandise--History of the Maison Carree--Work of Poldo d'Albenas--The +Building described--Origin of it--Now used as a Museum--Monument to +Marcus Attius--Cardinal Alberoni--Barbarous Project--Removal of +Antiquities--The Amphitheatre described--Charles Martel--Excellent +Precaution in Roman Theatres--Inscription--Officious Cicerone--Gate of +Augustus--La Tour-Magne--Excavations--Fine Fountain--Temple of +Diana--Brevity of Human Life, 1. + + + +CHAPTER II. + + +TOWN OF ARLES. + +Beaucaire--Wooden Houses--Castle of King Rene--Church of St. +Martha--Fabulous Monster--The Hotel described--The Hostess--Antique +Furniture--Plentiful Dinner--Scrutiny--Visit to the Amphitheatre--The +Prefect of Arles--Subterranean Excavations--Ancient Church of St. +Anne--Altar to the Goddess of Good--Venus of Arles--Granite +Obelisk--Primitive Manners--A Liberal Landlady, 14. + + + +CHAPTER III. + + +ST.-REMY. + +Situation of the Town--Antiquities--The Triumphal Arch described--Male +and Female Figures--The Mausoleum--Bassi-relievi of Battles, Infantry, +etc.--Figure of a Winged Female--Latin Inscription--Variously +explained--Interpretation of Monsieur P. Malosse--Respect for the +Departed--On The Triumphal Arch and Mausoleum at St.-Remy, 21. + + +CHAPTER IV. + + +LYONS. + +The _Fete Dieu_--Procession through the Streets--Ecclesiastical and +Military Pomp--Decorations in the Streets--Effect produced on the Mind +by Sacred Music--Excitements to Religious Fervour--the _Miserere_, 30. + + +CHAPTER V. + + +PARIS. + +Fatiguing Journey--Landau Accident--The Hotel de la Terrasse, in the +Rue de Rivoli--Six Years' Absence--The Duc and Duchesse de Guiche--Joy +of Meeting--Fashion at Paris--Visit to Herhault's Temple of +Fashion--Mademoiselle La Touche--Extravagant Charges--Caution to +Husbands--A Word, also, to Wives--Visit to Madame Craufurd--Her +prepossessing Appearance--House-hunting--Residence of the Marechal +Lobau--Review in the Champ-de-Mars--Splendid _Coup d'oeil_--The +Marchioness de Loule--Restrictions at Court--Accident to the Comte de +Bourmont--Alarm of the Ladies--Charles the Tenth, the Dauphin, and the +Dauphine--Melancholy Physiognomy of Charles the First--The Duchesse +d'Angouleme--Her Trials and Endurance--French Love of Country--The +Duchesse de Berri--Dinner at the Duchesse de Guiche's--William +Lock--The Comte de l'Esperance de l'Aigle--His high breeding--The +Opera--_Debut_ of Taglioni--Her Poetical Style of Dancing--The Duc de +Cazes--French and English Manners contrasted--Attentions to the Fair +Sex in France--The Comtesses de Bellegarde--Character of the Duc de +Gramont--Lady Barbara Craufurd--Count Valeski--Anger of the Marechal +Lobau--Defect in French Houses--The _Muette de Portici_--Noblet--An old +_Danseuse_--Gaiety at Tivoli--Similarity in the Exterior of Parisian +Ladies--A Quadrille Party--_Demi-toilette_--Late Tea-Party--Luxurious +Chair--Delightful House in the Rue de Bourbon--Its costly +Decorations--Its Interior described--The Princesse de la Moskowa--Sad +Interview--Marechal Ney, 32. + + +CHAPTER VI. + +Custom of letting out Furniture--The Prince and Princesse +Castelcicala--Lady Hawarden--Lady Combermere--Tone of Society at +Paris--Attentions paid by Young Men to Old Ladies--Flirtations at +Paris--Ceremonious Decorum--Comic Charles de Mornay--Parisian +Upholsterers--Rich Furniture--Lord Yarmouth--Elegant Suite of +Apartments--Charles Mills--Warm Affections between Relatives in France, +56. + + +CHAPTER VII. + +Domestic Arrangements--Changes in Young People--Pleasant +Recollections--Lord Lilford--The Marquis and Marquise Zamperi--Comte +Alexander de Laborde--The Marquis de Mornay--Mode of passing the +Time--Evening Visits in France--Dinner-party--The Duc Dalberg--The Duc +de Mouchy--Party to Montmorency--Rousseau's Hermitage--Sensibility, a +Characteristic of Genius--Solitude--Letter of Rousseau to +Voltaire--Church, of Montmorency--Baths at Enghien--The Comtesse de +Gand--Colonel E. Lygon--The Marquis de Dreux-Breze--Contrast between +him and the Duc de Talleyrand--The Baron and Baroness de Ruysch--Mr. +Douglas Kinnaird--Sir Francis Burdett--Colonel Leicester Stanhope--The +Marquis Palavicini--Charms of Italian Women--Lords Darnley and +Charlemont--Mr. Young, the Tragedian--Lord Lansdowne--Estimate of his +Character--Sir Robert Peel--Respect for the Memory of Sir William +Drummond--Lady Drummond--"Vivian Grey"--Mr. Standish--Intermarriages +between the French and the English, 64. + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +Charles Kemble--His Daughter's Tragedy of "Francis the +First"--Recollections of John Kemble--The Opera--_Count Ory_--Sir A. +Barnard--Secret of Happiness--Visit to Mademoiselle Mars--Her Residence +described--Memorial of her Theatrical Career--The Duchesse de la +Force--Madame Grassini--Anecdote of her--Visit to Orsay--Its +Situation--The Princesse de Croy--Hamlet of Palaiseau--Drama of _La Pie +Voteuse_--Family of the Duc de Guiche--The Vaudeville Theatre--Scribe's +_Avant, Pendant, el Apres_--Its Dangerous Tendency--French +Ambition--Parisian Shopkeepers--Their Officious Conduct, 78. + + +CHAPTER IX. + +Lord and Lady Stuart de Rothesay--French Politeness--Mr. D---- and Mr. +T---- --Study of Shakespeare--Attractions of Mrs. T---- --Lady +Charlotte Llndsay and the Misses Berry--Sir William Gell--Mr. and Mrs. +Hare--Female Amiability--Shopping--Hints on Female Dress--Brilliancy of +French Conversation--Mr. J. Strangways--A severe Trial--The +Plague-spot--Miraculous Escape--Dinner given by Comte A. de +Maussion--Goethe's _Faust_--Character of "Margaret"--The witty Mr. +M---- --Lord Byron--French Quickness of Apprehension--_Sept +Heures_--Character of Charlotte Corday--Degenerate Taste of the +Parisians--Hasty Conclusions, 91. + + +CHAPTER X. + +The celebrated Dr. P---- --Society of Medical Men--Dr. +Guthrie--Requisites for a Surgeon--Celebrity and Merit--The Road to +Fortune, as related by Dr. P---- --Successful Stratagem--Fancied +Illness--Superfluity of _Embonpoint_--Mode of Treatment--Another +Patient--The Doctor a-la-mode--Mr. P. C. Scarlett--Lord Erskine--Mr. +H.B---- --Visit to the Theatre Italien--Madame Malibran's +"Desdemona"--Defect in her Singing--The Princesse Pauline Borghese--The +Family of Napoleon--Particulars of the Duchesse d'Abrantes--The +Luxembourg Palace and Gardens--A Loving Couple--Holiness of +Marriage--Story of the Old Bachelor and his Crafty Housekeeper, 105. + + +CHAPTER XI. + +Groups of Children in the Gardens of the Luxembourg--Joyous Sounds--The +Nurses--The Child of Noble Birth and that of the _Parvenu_--Joys of +Childhood--Contrast between Youth and Age--Meeting with Dr. P---- +--Arrival of General and the Comtesse d'Orsay--Attractions of the +latter--Remark of Napoleon--Affection in Domestic Circles in +France--The Duchesse de Guiche--The Comtesse d'Orsay--The Duc de +Gramont--Madame Craufurd--The _ci-devant Jeune Homme_--Potter, the +actor--Sir Francis Burdett--Advantages of French Society--Topics of +Conversation--Pedigrees of Horses--French Politeness--Deferential +Treatment of the Fair Sex--Domestic Duties of the Duchesse do +Guiche--Influence of Courts--Visit to the Theatre des Nouveautes--_La +Maison du Rempart_--Inflammable Exhibitions--Mr. Cuthbert and M. +Charles Lafitte--advance of Civilization--Lady Combermere--Mr. Charles +Grant (now Lord Glenelg)--Curiosity Shops on the Quai Voltaire--Madame +de Sevigne--Objects that have belonged to celebrated People--A Hint to +the Ladies--Pincushion of Madame de Maintenon--The Marquis de +Rambouillet--Moliere's _Precieuses Ridicules_--Pangs of Jealousy--Julie +d'Angennes--Brilliant Coterie, 120. + + +CHAPTER XII. + +The Marquise de Pouleprie---The celebrated Madame du +Barry--Anecdote--Mademoiselle Mars in _Valerie_--Her admirable Style +of Acting--Playing to the Galleries--Exclusive Nature of Parisian +Society--French Conversation--Quickness of Perception--Walk in +the Gardens of the Tuileries--Comparative Beauty of French and +English Ladies--Graceful Walking of the Former--Difference of +Etiquette--Well-bred Englishmen--Flight of Time--Colonel Caradoc, son +of Lord Howden--New Year's Day--Custom of making Presents--Gallery of +the Louvre--The Statues therein--Works of Art--_Chefs-d'oeuvre_ of the +Old Masters--Consolation for Men of Genius--Nicolas Poussin, 134. + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +Visit to the Hotel d'Orsay--Sad Change in it--Mr. Millingon, the +Antiquary--Liberality of Comte d'Orsay--A Fanciful Notion--General +Or-nano--Unhappy Marriages accounted for--_La Gazza Ladra_--Mallbran's +"Ninetta"--_The Calamities of Authors_--Mr. D'Israeli--The Princesse de +Talleyrand--Her Person described--Her Dress and Manners--Amusing Story +told by the Abbe Denon--Unexpected Arrival--_Yes and No_, by Lord +Normanby--Lady Dysart-Comte Valeski--Influence of Agreeable +Manners--Effects of opposite ones--Injudicious Friends--A Candid +Admission--Lord ---- --Love of Contradiction--Remarks on the Novel of +_Pelham_--Misery of receiving stupid Books--Malibran in _La +Cenerentola_--French Customs--Proofs d'_Amilie_--Wedding Dresses, 146. + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +Comte Charles de Mornay--His Wit and Good Nature--Mademoiselle Mars, in +_Henri III_--Some Account of the Play--Love and Ambition--Curious +Incident--Romantic Notions--Passion of Love--Wordsworth's +Poems--Admiration of his Writings--Religion displayed by the Upper +Classes--The Duc de Bordeaux--Piety of the Great--Popularity of the +Duchesse de Berri--Anecdote of her--Walter Savage Landor--His +_Imaginary Conversations_--Sir William Gell--The Duc d'Orleans--His +Enviable Situation--The Duc de Chartres--Genius of Shelley--Beauty of +his Writings--His Wild Theories--William Spencer the Poet--Melancholy +Change in Him--French Prejudices towards the English--Example of +it--Accomplishments of French Ladies--Talent for Conversation, 169. + + +CHAPTER XV. + +Consequences of the Revolution in France--Corruption of the +Regency--Sarcastic Verses of St.-Evremond--Reign of Louis the +Fifteenth--Lessons taught by Affliction--Dangers of Anarchy--The _Haute +Noblesse_ previously to the Revolution--Want of Affection between +Parents and Children--Superficial Judgments erroneous--Power of +Fashion--The Novel of _Devereux_--Infrequency of Elopements in +France--Les Dames de B---- --Their Attachment to each other--Old +Maids--Servitude in England and France contrasted--French Masters and +Mistresses--Treatment of Servants--Avoidance of Politics--French +Discontent--Charles the Tenth--National Prosperity--The Duchesse de +Guiche and her two Sons--Position of the Duc de Guiche, 171. + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +Approach of Spring--Fogs on the Seine--The Jardins des +Tuileries--Impurity of the London Atmosphere--Exhilaration of the +Spirits--Anecdote--The Catholic Question--Lord Rosslyn--The Duke of +Wellington--Merits of a Cook--_Amour-propre_ of a Parisian +Cook--English Sauce--A Gourmand and an Epicure--The Duc de +Talleyrand--A perfect Dinner--The Marquis de L---- --House-hunting +again--Letter from Lord B---- --The Hotel Monaco--College of +St.-Barbe--The Duchesse de Guiche and her Sons--A Mother's +Triumph--Spirit of Emulation--The Quarter called the Pays Latin--An +Author's Dress--Aspect of the Women--A Life of Study--Amable Tastu's +Poems--Effect of Living much in Society--Mr. W. Spencer--His +Abstraction--Disadvantages of Civilization--Confession of Madame de +---- --A Hint to Comte ---- on visiting London--Suspicion of Poverty--A +_Diner Maigre_--Luxurious Bishops, 182. + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +Romantic Feelings of Lady C---- --True Love--Disagreeable +Neighbours--Credulity--Mademoiselle Delphine Gay--French Novels--French +Critics--Eligible Mansions--Comforts of Seclusion--Genius of +L.E.L.--The Comtesse d'O---- --A Brilliant Talker--Letter from +Mrs. Hare--Extreme Hospitality--Longchamps--Exhibition of +Spring Fashions--French Beauties--Animated Scene--Promenade at +Longchamps--Extravagance of Mademoiselle Duthe--Modern Morals--_Cinq +Mars_, by Comte Alfred de Vigny--His Style--Strictures on Mankind--The +best Philosophy--Speech of Lord Grey--The Caterpillar--A Voracious +Appetite--A Refined Lady--_La Chronique du temps de Charles +IX_, by Prosper Merimee--Estimation of Sir Walter Scott--Jules +Janin--Injudicious Praise--Renewal of Youth--Self-Deception--Grey +Hairs, 194. + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +Victor Hugo's _Dernier Jour d'un Condamne_--Value of Common +Sense--Conscience--Cunning--Curiosity Shops on the Quai +d'Orsay--Expensive and Tasteful Gifts--An Avaricious Vender--A +Moral--Anonymous Scribbler--Weakness of Mind--Poems of Mrs. Hemans--The +Minds of Genius--Poetesses of England--Arrival of Lord D---- --The +Catholic Question carried--Irish prejudices--Letters from Absent +Friends--Sir William Gell--The Archbishop of Tarentum--Discoveries at +Pompeii--Novel of _The Disowned_--Advantages to be derived from the +Perusal of Works of Fiction--Politics--Charles the Tenth +unpopular--Charles the First--The House of Bourbon--"Uneasy lies the +Head that wears a Crown"--The Duc de T---- --Mr. Hook's _Sayings and +Doings_--_Visit to the Hotel Monaco_, 207. + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +A new Resilience--Consolation in Sickness--House in the Rue de +Matignon--Its Interior described--The Library--Drive in the Bois de +Boulogne--Atmospheric Influence--The Rocher de Cancale--A _Diner de +Restaurant--_A Gay Sight--Good Taste in Dress innate in +Frenchwomen--Well-appointed Carriages--Soldier-like Air of the Male +Population--Observation of the Emperor Napoleon--Characteristics of the +British Soldier--National Anthem--Changes in the Journey of +Life--Captain Marryat's _Naval Officer_--Performance of _La Tour +d'Auvergne_--Letter of Carnot--Distinction awarded to Merit by +Napoleon--National Glory--Effect of Enthusiasm--Villa of the Duchesse +de Montmorency--Residences on the Banks of the Thames--Bagatelle, the +Seat of the Duc de Bordeaux--Earthly Happiness--Domestic +Alterations--High Rents at Paris--Terrace and Aviary--Unsettled Slate, +219. + + +CHAPTER XX. + +Unexpected Events--Mr. and Mrs. Mathews--Their son, Charles--Evening +Party--Recitations and Songs--Pleasant Recollections--Visit +to the _Jardin des Plantes_--Amusing Incident--Humorous +Imitations--Intellectual Powers--Recourse to Reading--The Comte +Montalembert--His Grief on the Death of his Daughter--Restraint +imposed by Society--Fate of the Unfortunate--The Prince and Princess +Soutzo--Particulars relative to them--Reverse of Fortune--Mr. Rogers +and Mr. Luttrell--Memory of Lord Byron--His Lampoon on Rogers--Love +of Sarcasm--Conversation of Mr. Luttrell--Lord John Russell--His +Qualifications--Monsieur Thiers--Monsieur Mignet--His Vigorous +Writings--Friendship between Thiers and Mignet--The Baron +Cailleux--Visit to the Louvre--Taste for the Fine Arts--The Marquis +and Marquise de B---- --Clever People--Lord Allen and Sir Andrew +Barnard--The Culinary Art, 230. + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +Mr. Rogers and Mr. Luttrell--Society of Refined Englishmen--Mercurial +Temperament of the French--Opposite Characters--M. Erard's Collection +of Pictures--Antique _Bijouterie_--Lord Pembroke--The Duke of +Hamilton--Dr. Parr--Reproof of the Duc de Blacas--Monsieur Mignet--His +great Knowledge--A Clever Man--Influence of Conscience--Abilities of +Lord Palmerston--Lord Castlereagh--His Uncle, the late Marquess of +Londonderry--Dangers of Fashion--Mr. Cutlar Fergusson--The Baron and +Baroness de Ruysch--A Mind at Ease--Dreary Weather--Sad State of the +Streets--Fogs--Fascination of Madame Grassini--Sledge Party--Sledge of +the Duc de Guiche--That of Comte d'Orsay--Picturesque Night +Scene--Revival of an Old Fashion--The Prince Polignac--His Amiable +Manners--His Difficult Position, 242. + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +Effects of Indisposition--Instability of Earthly Blessings--Captain +William Anson (Brother of Lord Anson)--His varied Acquirements--The +pretty Madame de la H---- --Prince Paul Lieven--Captain Cadogan (now +Earl Cadogan)--Life at Sea--Visit to the Duchesse de Guiche--Her +Warmth and Gentleness of Manner--Political Crisis--The Conquest of +Algiers--General Excelmans--Rash Measure--Charles the Tenth--His +Ministry unpopular--Prosperity of France--Extorted Concessions-- +Dissolution of the Chambers--The Public Press--Controversy--Commotion +before the Hotel of the Ministre des Finances--The Ministers +insulted--Counsel of the Duc de Guiche--Serious Aspect of +Affairs--Crowds in the Streets--Household of Charles the +Tenth--Noblesse of his Court--Confusion and Alarm--Riotous +Conduct--Firing on the People--Formation of Barricades--Absence of the +Civil Authorities--Nocturnal Impressions--Comtes d'Orsay and +Valeski--Scene in the Place de la Bourse--The Corps-de-Garde set on +Fire--Darkness in the Rue Richelleu.--Further disturbances--Continued +Depredations--Breach between the People and the Sovereign--Anecdote of +Monsieur Salvandy, 225. + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +The Dead paraded through the Streets to inflame the Populace--The +Shops closed--The Duc de Raguse censured--His Supineness--Devotion +of the Duc de Guiche to his Sovereign--The Military Dispositions +defective--Flag of the Bourbons--Troops in Want of Refreshment-- +Destruction of the Royal Emblems--Disgusting Exhibition--Rumours +of Fresh Disasters--Opinion of Sir Roger de Coverley--Revolutions +the Carnivals of History--Observation of Voltaire--Doctors +Pasquier and de Guise--Report of Fire arms--Paucity of +Provisions--Female Courage--Domestic Entrenchment--Further +Hostilities--Conflicting Rumours--The Sublime and the +Ridiculous--Juvenal Intrepidity--Fatality--The Soldiers and +the populace--Visit to Madame Craufurd--Barricade in the Rue +Verte--Approaching Mob--Safe Arrival in the Rue d'Anjou--Terror of +Madame Craufurd--Her Anxiety for her Relatives--Composure of the +Marquis d'Aligre--Riotous Assembly in the Rue Verte--Their Conduct +towards the Author--Dangerous Symbol of Aristocracy--Arrival at +Home, 282. + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +Familiarity of French Servants--Power of the People--Misguided +Men--Further Rumours--Who are the People?--An Intruder--A Revolutionary +Hero--The Tuileries and the Louvre taken--Sir Thomas Lawrence's +Portrait of the Dauphin--The Terrible and the Comic--Trophies of +Victory--The Palace of the Archbishop of Paris sacked--Concessions of +Charles the Tenth--The Duchesse de Berri--Lord Stuart de +Rothesay--Noble Conduct--The Duchesse de Guiche--Her trying +Situation--The Provisional Government--The Tri-coloured Flag--Meeting +of the Deputies--Bitter Feeling towards the Royal Family Bravery of the +Populace--Lafayette and his followers--Scene in the Street--"The Good +Cause"--The wealthy M. Laffitte--Valuable Collections at +Paris--Courageous Conduct of the Duchesse de Guiche--Her +Champions--Attack on the Hotel of the Duc de Guiche--Comte Alfred +d'Orsay--Painful Position, 272. + + +CHAPTER XXV. + +Sanctuary of Home--Madame C---- --Intoxicated Revolutionist--His +Good-Nature--the Proprietor of a Wine-Shop--Politeness of all Classes +in France--Barracks in the Rue Verte--Difficulty of obtaining +Admission--Agitation of Madame C---- --Comte Valeski--The Barracks +attacked and taken--Dangerous Route--Impassable Gulf between the +Sovereign and the People--The Royal Cause hopeless--A Fine Youth +killed--Reflections on his Death--Number of Persons killed during +the last Three Days--Details of a Battle--Rumour respecting +the Dauphin--Interment of the Page--Fatality attending the +Bourbons--Absence of the Dauphine--Revolt of the Troops--The Duchesse +de Guiche at St.-Germain--Her noble Bearing--The Duc de Gramont--The +Chateau du Val, the Residence of the Princesse de Poix--The Fugitive +Duchess--Popularity of Lafayette--The duc d'Orleans named +Lieut.-General of France--Order restored--Abdication of Charles the +Tenth--Renewed Excitement--Clamour against the King--A Fickle +People--Wicked Rumours--The King quits Rambouillet--School of +Adversity--Desertion by Friends--Route to Cherbourg, 294. + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + +Rumour relative to the Son of Napoleon--Unsettled State of +Affairs--Conflicting Rumours--The Duke of Orleans--Charms of a +Crown--Aspect of the Champs-Elysees--Unsought popularity--Comte +d'Orsay--Scene of Destruction--Shattered Trees--Pride of the +People--Re-action after Excitement--Anecdote--The Jeweller's +Wife--Passion of the French--Playing at Soldiers--Enthusiasm +of the _Garde Nationale_--Return to Paris of the Duchesse de +Guiche--Confidence of the Duc--Courage of the Duchesse--General +Gerard--The Duke of Orleans accepts the Crown--Popularity, an +unstable Possession--Abilities of Louis-Philippe--Expectations +formed of him--Person of Lafayette--Appearance in Public of +the new Sovereign--The Queen--Her painful Position--The King +of the French in the Place Vendome--Monsieur Mignet--His +varied Acquirements--The celebrated General Peppe--Strange +Infatuation--Charles the Tenth embarks at Cherbourg--Devotion +to the exiled Bourbons--The English Popular at Paris--Mr. +Hamilton, Secretary of the Embassy--Brilliant conversation of +M. Thiers--The Prince and Princesse Soutzo--Mr. Poulter--Lesson +of Resignation--Departure for England--Leave-taking--Adieu to +Paris, 294. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE IDLER IN FRANCE*** + + +******* This file should be named 13044.txt or 13044.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/1/3/0/4/13044 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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