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diff --git a/37344.txt b/37344.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a663dfb --- /dev/null +++ b/37344.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9980 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Four Years in France, by Henry Digby Beste + +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: Four Years in France + or, Narrative of an English Family's Residence there during + that Period; Preceded by some Account of the Conversion + of the Author to the Catholic Faith + +Author: Henry Digby Beste + +Release Date: September 7, 2011 [EBook #37344] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FOUR YEARS IN FRANCE *** + + + + +Produced by KarenD, Julia Miller and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by the +Bibliotheque nationale de France (BnF/Gallica) at +http://gallica.bnf.fr) + + + + + + + +FOUR YEARS IN FRANCE. + + * * * * * + +FOUR YEARS IN FRANCE; + + OR, + + NARRATIVE + OF AN + ENGLISH FAMILY'S RESIDENCE THERE + DURING THAT PERIOD; + PRECEDED BY SOME ACCOUNT OF + THE CONVERSION OF THE AUTHOR + TO THE CATHOLIC FAITH. + + * * * * * + +Rien n'est beau que LE VRAI. + + * * * * * + +LONDON: + +HENRY COLBURN, NEW BURLINGTON STREET. + + * * * * * + +1826. + + +Printed by A. J. Valpy, Red Lion Court, Fleet Street. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + Page + +SOME ACCOUNT OF THE CONVERSION OF THE AUTHOR TO THE CATHOLIC FAITH, IN +1798. + + The author's father and grandfather, prebendaries of + Lincoln.--The Cathedral service described.--The service in + Magdalen College Chapel at Oxford.--The author's mother and his + maternal ancestry.--November 5th.--School at which the author + studies.--Mrs. Ravenscroft, a Catholic neighbour.--Dr. + Geddes.--The author matriculates at Oxford.--The Tale of a Tub, + its speciousness.--The Douay Translation of the New + Testament.--Advice of a schoolmaster.--Gibbon the + Historian.--Defence of the Reformed Church.--Argument derived + from the exclusive antiquity of the Roman Catholic Church.--The + Kirk of Scotland denies that it can be in the wrong, as + strenuously as the Church of England + does.--Infallibility.--Richard Paget.--Archbishop Laud.--The + author takes the degree of Master of Arts.--In Deacon's orders: + he fills a curacy in Lincoln.--Becomes a fellow of his + college.--He resides on his fellowship.--His probationary + exercise.--His sermon at St. Mary's Church, Oxford.--Its + success.--He preaches against non-residence.--Decease of his + mother.--The author resigns his fellowship, and removes to + Lincoln.--The Bampton lecture.--Dr. Routh.--M. l'Abbe Beaumont, + an emigrant priest at Lincoln.--A disputation.--Catholic + arguments which impress the author's imagination.--Nicole and + Arnaud.--Bossuet.--Ward's errata.--Of the sacraments.--Of + purgatory.--Chillingworth.--Of abstinence.--The author + convinced, after investigation, of the genuineness of the Roman + Catholic doctrines, visits London.--He attends high mass.--His + conversation with Dr. Douglas, the R. C. metropolitan + bishop.--Rev. Mr. Hodgson appointed to be his priest and + confessor.--His conversion completed.--The author baptised.--The + author's apology to the Protestants, on account of his having + been in holy orders of the Established Church.--He receives + confirmation in the chapel of Virginia-street.--The author's + idea that the Roman Catholic worship should be by law the + established religion in Ireland.--Anecdote of Archdeacon Paley; + who declared that he considered such a concession to the Irish + nation expedient. 3 + + +CHAP. I. + + Spirit of adventure of the English.--English + fox-hunters.--Money spent abroad.--Migration through France and + Switzerland into Italy.--Return.--The English associate + together.--In what consist their reasons for foreign + residence.--Distrust with respect to Napoleon.--Gallery of the + Louvre.--Its dispersion.--Exaggeration of the number of English + absentees.--The foreign notions of our motives for + travelling.--Reflections on international intercourse.--Nature + of the author's observations gleaned during a long residence + abroad.--Remarks on the character of the French revolution.--Its + effects.--Elevation of Napoleon.--Great results that have + accrued from the French revolution in the West Indies, in South + America; and that may possibly take place in Africa. 75 + + +CHAP. II. + + The author repairs with his two sons to Southampton.--They set + sail for Havre de Grace.--Gale of wind.--Fecamp in + sight.--Continue their course for Havre.--Land after a long + passage.--The routes from London to Paris compared.--Port + regulations.--The English Hotel.--Hotel de la Ville du + Havre.--Damp sheets, how aired.--Strong + coffee.--Mass.--Douanier.--Extortion by porters.--Imposition + respecting passports.--Ill-breeding of certain + parrots.--Commissaire de Police.--Embouchure of the + Seine.--Legend and statue of St. Denis.--Inquiring + peasant-boy.--French exactness.--The Rogation days.--Insolence + of vulgar assistants in travelling abroad.--Commodious + diligence.--Normandy.--Norman predilection.--Petition in + verse.--The king of Yvetot.--Rouen.--Magny.--Abstinence, + variously understood, and how practised.--Road along the banks + of the Seine.--Village of St. Clair.--Pontoise.--Arrival at + Paris.--Rate of travelling.--Lodge in the Rue de la Chaussee + d'Antin. 92 + + +CHAP. III. + + Description of Paris.--Place Louis XV.--Palais + Bourbon.--Triumphal arch of Neuilly.--Champs Elysees.--The + Louvre.--Its gallery of paintings, and museum.--Excellent + arrangement of the statues.--The Italian school.--Progress of + the French school of painting.--The Jardin des Plantes.--Museum + of Natural History.--Menagerie.--Manners of the + Bourgeois.--Palais du Luxembourg.--King's library.--New + structure at the Place du Carousel.--Pont Neuf.--Eglise de + Notre Dame.--Ste. Genevieve.--Sepulture in that church.--Church + of St. Sulpice.--Dome of the _Invalides_.--The Halle aux + Bleds.--Pillar of the Place Vendome.--Young Napoleon.--Duc de + Bordeaux.--Preponderance of Russia.--History of the "Victoires + et Conquetes, &c."--Model of the elephant, designed for the + Place de la Bastille.--Le Marais.--Agreeableness of the + Boulevards.--Great advantage of _quais_.--Hotel Dieu.--La + Morgue.--Manufactory of the Gobelins.--Le Palais Royal. 118 + + +CHAP. IV. + + Cemetery of Pere la Chaise.--Graves there become a + property.--Reflections respecting church-yards.--Computation of + deaths, and room requisite for graves.--The Catacombs.--Arrival + at Paris of the author's family.--Palace of Versailles + described.--Royal chapel.--Anecdote of a mandarin.--Orange + trees.--The gardens.--The Grand and Petit Trianon.--St. + Germains.--Its terrace.--St. Cloud.--Its park.--Remark of George + III.--Malmaison.--Marly.--Fine prospect.--Stability of the + peace.--Meudon.--The Dauphiness (Duchesse + d'Angouleme).--Manufacture of porcelain.--St. Denis.--The abbey + of St. Denis.--Sceaux, popular festivities here.--Castle of + Vincennes.--Duc d'Enghien.--Ancient oak.--Confluence of the + Seine and the Marne.--The author attends mass in the Royal + Chapel at the Tuilleries. 141 + + +CHAP. V. + + Celebrated statues.--Various political opinions + detailed.--Bargaining.--Two prices.--English travellers reputed + to be very rich.--Parties.--The military.--Spoliation of the + clergy.--Ambition of Bonaparte.--Prudence of Louis + XVIII.--Increase of Paris.--Explanation of 'a la + lanterne.'--Observations on the main streets of Paris.--High + rents.--The Fauxbourg St. Germain.--The allied armies evacuate + France. 168 + + +CHAP. VI. + + Inventory of a furnished apartment.--The pane of glass.--The + author quits Paris.--Voiturier.--Berline with three + horses.--Travelling arrangements.--Agreement for stipulated + sums.--Comparison betwixt travelling by a voiture, thus agreed + for, and travelling post.--Louis the coachman.--Sup at Essonne. 184 + + +CHAP. VII. + + The family of Fitz-James, settled at Essonne.--Description of + Fontainebleau.--The Forest.--The King's bed.--The + garden.--Marechal de Coigny.--Tomb of a Dauphin at + Sens.--Auxerre.--Banks of the Yonne.--Use of the + hot-bath.--Cleanliness of the French.--Hilly country.--Vintages + injured by the cold of 1816.--The coopers in activity.--The + Plain of the Saone.--Coche d'eau.--Tournus.--Image of the + Virgin.--Arrival at Lyons.--Fete de St. Louis.--The + Cathedral.--Place Bellecour.--Cathedral at Vienne.--The + Isere.--Valence.--Memoranda discovered at the 'Grand Monarque' + Inn.--Country of the olive.--Flat roofs.--Bad inns.--Triumphal + arch at Orange. 193 + + +CHAP. VIII. + + The entrance into Avignon.--The Place de la Comedie.--Warm + baths.--Expense of the journey from Paris to Avignon.--A + _negociant_ serves for a banker.--The Duke of Gloucester passes + through Avignon.--Imprisonment of the hostess.--M. + Moulin.--Visit paid by the author to the Prefect.--Also to the + Mayor; an old noble.--His confiscated house repurchased.--The + author inspects various houses.--Conditions of + tenure.--Description of the house which he takes.--He furnishes + it.--Observations on French trades-people. 210 + + +CHAP. IX. + + Description of Avignon.--The city walls.--Closing of the + gates.--Inconvenience of this custom.--Public walk near the + Rhone.--Tolls of the bridge.--Building of the bridge over the + Rhone.--St. Benezet.--Of miracles.--Inundations.--The Rock of + Avignon.--Palace of the Popes.--Cathedral.--The Glaciere + Tower.--Horrid history relating to it.--Avignon participated in + the calamities of the revolution.--Conduct of the + vice-legate.--Department of Vaucluse, of what it consists.--View + from the summit of the Rock.--Chateau and town of + Villeneuve.--Impressions left by the proscriptions and + confiscations.--Rue Calade.--Public + Library.--Museum.--Infirmary.--Jesuits' College.--Stone of + which the palace and the city walls were built. 219 + + +CHAP. X. + + English families.--The Pretender.--Further account of the + Revolution.--The revolutionary tribunal.--Condemnation of a + mother and son.--Present state of society at Avignon.--Fetes and + card parties.--The author's tea-parties and dinners.--Contrast + betwixt French and English cookery.--Mode of + invitation.--Balls.--_Etiquette_ of the town.--Difficulty of + acquiring a thorough knowledge of the French language. 230 + + +CHAP. XI. + + Education.--Drawing-master.--Other private teachers.--Climate of + England and of Avignon compared.--Degree of heat.--The _bise_ or + north-wind.--Rent.--Society.--Avignon inhabited by provincial + gentry.--Number of French nobility.--Mode of letting farms.--On + what tenure and for what consideration.--Excellent wines of the + Rhone and of Provence.--On the duties upon French wines in + England.--The author sets the example of burning coals at + Avignon.--Dearness of fire-wood.--Domestic economy in + France.--Comparison of expenses in the two countries.--Amount of + savings.--The author's advice on this head is the result of + experience. 245 + + +CHAP. XII. + + Remains of antiquity at Avignon, Nismes, St. Remy, and + Arles.--Visit to Vaucluse.--Cavern of the Sources.--Dinner at + Lisle.--_Henry Kenelm_, elder son of the author.--His + birth.--Educated at Stoneyhurst in Lancashire.--The regulations + and course of studies at that college.--He accompanies the + author to the continent.--His scruples.--Observations on the + study of the learned languages and of French. 263 + + +CHAP. XIII. + + Excursion to the Pont du Gard.--The author meets with an Irish + officer in the French service.--The stately aqueduct + described.--Arrival at Nismes.--The Maison Quarree.--Its + surprising beauty.--The amphitheatre of Nismes.--Temple of + Diana.--The Tour Magne.--Frejus.--Remarks on the neighbouring + coast.--The Protestants of Nismes.--Supper and a political + discussion at the inn (_The Louvre_) at Nismes.--Affray between + the Catholics and Protestants soon after the restoration. 289 + + +CHAP. XIV. + + Executions at present uncommon.--Mission preached at + Avignon.--An account of the Missionnaires.--An old French + officer.--The author makes acquaintance with the grandson of the + President de Montesquieu.--Election of a deputy.--Henry Kenelm + visits England.--On theatres and comedians.--The author's son + returns to Avignon.--His journey detailed.--He copies an Infant + Jesus after Raphael.--Fine season.--Ice required at a + ball.--Olives.--Artificial grasses.--Haricots.--The French + agriculture described.--Vines.--Silk-worms.--Mulberry trees + stripped of their leaves.--Threshing-floors.--_Abattoir_ for + slaughtering cattle. 301 + + +CHAP. XV. + + Intended journey to Italy.--Character and studies of _Henry + Kenelm_.--He resolves on the military profession.--Fair of + Beaucaire.--Visit to Arles.--Ancient buildings.--St. + Remy.--Cross the Durance.--Deficiency of gooseberries, + strawberries, &c.--Cherries.--Mausoleum.--Triumphal arch.--Biere + de Mars.--Maison des Fous.--Return to Avignon. 326 + + +CHAP. XVI. + + Joute d'eau on the Rhone.--_Henry Kenelm_ is seized with + fever.--The disorder at first is mistaken by the physician, who + afterwards perseveres in a wrong treatment although he discovers + it to be the typhus fever.--Symptoms.--Delirium.--The author's + second son falls sick, and is neglected by Roche the physician. 339 + + +CHAP. XVII. + + M. Guerard, an old physician, is called in, and countenances M. + Roche in his deception.--Guerard's neglect.--The author is + farther deceived, and the secret kept from him.--Result of this + ill-conduct.--M. Breugne, another medical man. 352 + + +CHAP. XVIII. + + M. Breugne, on visiting the patients, declares the truth.--He + gives hope only of the younger brother.--The sacrament of + extreme unction administered to Kenelm.--His piety.--His + decease.--Visits of condolence.--The funeral.--His + monument.--Resemblance which an antique bust has to the deceased + youth.--Consolation.--Affecting vision, luminous, and similar to + others on record.--Arguments and doctrine relating thereunto. 365 + + +CHAP. XIX. + + M. Breugne detains the author in conversation until the funeral + has quitted the house.--Zeal of M. Breugne for the recovery of + the remaining patient.--Moment of anxiety.--Success of M. + Breugne's treatment.--Convalescence.--Care in the administering + diet, as well as medicines.--The author engages a voiture for + his projected journey.--Passports. 382 + + +CHAP. XX. + + The author narrates the circumstances of a dream, which coincide + with his subsequent history.--St. Clair.--The author's + sentiments.--His idea of a rule or mode of living. 394 + + +CHAP. XXI. + + The author and his family quit Avignon.--Antoine accompanies + them.--His history.--Orgon.--Aix.--The baths described.--Arrival + at Marseilles.--The Hotel de Ville.--Curiosities.--Bad + inns.--Romantic approach to Toulon.--Description of that fine + sea-port.--The Mediterranean.--Hyeres.--Frejus.--The Foret + d'Estrelles.--Danger of being overturned in crossing a + river.--Arrival at Cannes. 403 + + +CHAP. XXII. + + Journey to Nice continued.--Antoine's amusing account of the + Rhone.--Spot on which Napoleon landed from Elba.--Antibes.--The + river Var is the limit of France on this + route.--Douanier.--Passage of the wooden bridge.--Nice.--Quarter + of La Croix de Marbre.--The author rents a house.--His landlord + is a French general.--Account of this officer.--Carnival. 420 + + +CHAP. XXIII. + + Description of Nice.--Place Victor.--The Corso and + Terrace.--Details of the Carnival.--Franciscan + friars.--Devotional exercises.--Stations for their observance + during Lent.--The orange tree.--Its blossoms.--Its + fruit.--English Protestants build a chapel at Nice.--The port of + Nice.--Villefranche.--Galley slaves.--The cathedral.--Marshal + Massena.--The author departs for the Col de Tende on his way to + Italy. 432 + + * * * * * + +SOME ACCOUNT + +OF THE + +CONVERSION OF THE AUTHOR + +TO THE + +CATHOLIC FAITH, + +IN 1798. + + * * * * * + + + + +SOME ACCOUNT, &c. &c. + + +Eight and twenty years ago, when I became a catholic, I was told that I +owed it, both to those whom I had joined, and to those whom I had +quitted, to publish something in defence of the step I had taken. I +answered, that the former had better apologists, and the latter better +instructors than myself. My advisers were protestants, who, having thus +defied any arguments I might by possibility adduce against them, were +contented with my refusal of the challenge. + +Even at this day I consider as utterly superfluous a serious refutation +of protestantism, or a laboured vindication of the catholic faith, and, +by consequence, of my conversion to it. Some account of this change in +my opinions is prefixed to the book now offered to the public, in the +hope of removing the prejudices with which the book may be read, or, +what would be still worse, through which it may not be read at all. It +is not my intention to enter into controversy, but merely to state how +the thing happened that I _turned papist_ at the moment when the pope +was a prisoner at Valence, when Rome was in possession of the French +armies, and all around me cried out "Babylon is fallen." + +I must first ask pardon of the Anglican clergy, for having engaged in +the service of their church so lightly and unadvisedly. If I am blamed +only by those who have taken, on this matter, better pains than myself +to be well informed, I shall not be overwhelmed by the number of my +censurers; for the solidity of the ground of the Reformation is usually +taken for granted: _popery_ is exploded. + +Indeed, I have found the clergy of the establishment to be the most +tolerant and moderate of my opponents. Some of them expressed their +regret, some smiled, but most of them respected my motives, and none +were angry. The Bishop, now of Winchester, approved of my acting +according to the dictates of my conscience; said that my conduct was +evidently disinterested; expressing only his surprise, that a man of +sense, as he was pleased to say he understood me to be, should be so +convinced. Such was the purport of his lordship's observations, which +was, as probably it was intended, repeated to me. His brother, Precentor +of Lincoln, continued still to be my very good friend and neighbour. + +A few years later, the ex-governor of ---- said, in speaking of me,--"I +knew his father well; a very worthy man: but this young man, they tell +me, has taken an odd turn; but I will return his visit when I get out +again." He did not, however, get out again: he had been ill for some +days; feeling himself dying, he called for a glass of wine and water, +drank it off, returned the glass to his servant, shook the man by the +hand, and saying kindly, "Good b'ye, John!" threw himself back in his +bed and expired, at the age of more than fourscore years. Here was no +_odd turn_; the coolness with which his excellency met the grim king, +was generally admired. But I am making a long Preface to a short Work; I +must begin with my infancy, for reasons which the story of that infancy +will explain. + +I was born on the 21st October, 1768. My father was prebendary of the +cathedral church of Lincoln, as his father had been before him. My +grandfather's prebend was a very good, or, as they say, a very fat one; +my father's prebend was but a lean one, but he had sense enough to be a +doctor in divinity, whereas my grandfather had sense enough not to be a +doctor in divinity. They both rest behind the high altar of the +cathedral with their wives. + +So accustomed are we to a married clergy, that we are not at all +surprised to see them, during life, with their wives and children; and +in death it is perfectly decent that the husband and wife should repose +together. All this is natural and in order, to those who are used to it. +But the feeling of catholics on this subject is very different. The +story of the poor seminarist of Douay, in the 17th century, is an +instance: he went to England on a visit to his friends; on his return to +the seminary, he was asked "Quid vidisti?" He mentioned what had most +excited his astonishment: "Vidi episcopos, et episcopas, et +episcopatulos." A French emigrant priest entered my house one day, +bursting with laughter: "Why do you laugh, M. l'Abbe?" said I.--"I have +just met the Rev. Mr. ---- with the first volume of his theological +works in his arms."--"What is there to laugh at in that?"--"He was +carrying the eldest of his children,"--"La coutume fait tout," said I: +"you see the Rev. Mr. ---- is not ashamed." Marriage is allowed to the +priests, though not to the bishops of the Greek church. I think the +catholic discipline is the best. The merriment of M. l'Abbe was excited, +I am inclined to believe, not so much by a sense of the incongruous and +ridiculous in the very natural scene he had just before witnessed, as by +his own joke--"le premier tome de ses oeuvres theologiques." + +My father's house, in which I was born, was so near the cathedral, that +my grandmother, good woman! when confined to her chamber by illness, was +wont, with her Anglican translation of the Bible, and Book of Common +Prayer on the table, before her, to go through the service along with +the choir, by the help of the chant and of the organ, which she heard +very plainly. From my earliest years, my mother took me regularly every +Sunday to the cathedral service, in which there is some degree of pomp +and solemnity. The table at the east end of the church is covered with a +cloth of red velvet: on it are placed two large candlesticks, the +candles in which are lighted at _even-song_ from Martinmas to Candlemas, +and the choir is illumined by a sufficient number of wax tapers. The +litanies are not said by the minister in his desk, but chanted in the +middle of the choir, from what I have since learned to call a +_prie-Dieu_. The prebendary in residence walks from his seat, preceded +by beadles, and followed by a vicar or minor canon, and proceeds to the +altar; the choir, during this sort of processional march, chanting the +_Sanctus_. This being finished, and the prebendary arrived at the altar, +he reads the first part of the Communion Service, including the Ten +Commandments, with the humble responses of the choir; he then intones +the Nicene Creed, during the music of which he returns to his seat with +the same state as before. Here are _disjectoe membra ecclesioe_: no +wonder that the puritans of Charles the First's time called for a +"godly, thorough reformation." At _even-song_, instead of the Antiphon +to the Blessed Virgin, which is, of course, rejected, though the +Magnificat is retained, with its astonishingly-fulfilled prophecy of the +carpenter's wife, "all generations shall call me blessed;" at vespers +was sung an anthem, generally of the composition of Purcell, Aldrich, +Arne, or of some of the composers of the best school of English music. + +Removed afterwards to St. Mary Magdalen College, Oxford, I found, in a +smaller space, the same ceremonial; nay, the president even bowed to the +altar on leaving the chapel, without any dread lest the picture of +Christ bearing the Cross, by Ludovico Caracci, should convict him of +idolatry. Here we all turned towards the altar during the recital of the +Creed; at Lincoln this point of etiquette was rather disputed among the +congregation: my mother always insisted on my complying with it; I +learned to have a great respect for the altar. Whence this tendency of +my mother's religious opinions or feelings was derived, is now to be +told. + +She was daughter of Kenelm Digby, Esq. of North Luffenham, in the county +of Rutland. A younger brother of this ancient family, in the reign of +Edward IV. became the progenitor of this branch, which, illustrated by +the names and the fame of Sir Everard and Sir Kenelm Digby, adhered to +the religion of our forefathers down to the time of my maternal +grandfather: he was the first protestant of his family: he had married a +protestant: he died while my mother was very young, but she was able to +remember his leading her one day to the private burial vault, which had +been, at the Reformation, consecrated for the use of the family in a +retired part of the garden, and in which he was soon after deposited +himself. His abjuration does not seem to have carried with it that of +all his relations, at least not immediately or notoriously; for, on the +approach of Prince Charles Edward, in 1745, when my mother was about +twelve years old, the horses and arms of the family were provisionally +taken from them, as being suspected papists: a precaution not +unreasonable if their wishes were considered; for the children, as my +mother told me, ran about the house, singing Jacobite songs, among which +the following may vie, in poetical merit, though not in political +effect, with the memorable Lilleburlero: + + As I was a walking through James's Park, + I met an old man in a turnip cart; + I took up a turnip, and knocked him down, + And bid him surrender King James's crown. + +It is eighty years since: twenty years since the publication of Waverly. +The cultivation of turnips, by which our agriculture has been so much +improved, was introduced from Hanover. + +I am much inclined to doubt the fact of my grandfather's having +renounced the _errors of popery_: his interment in the sepulchre of his +ancestors, the suspicion attached to his family, as above stated, the +advantage from the supposition of the fact to those who wished to +educate his children in protestantism,--these are my reasons for +doubting its truth. However this be, many catholic families fell away +from their religion after the battle of Culloden: at this time the +whole Digby family was decidedly protestant, excepting three respectable +virgins, aunts of my grandfather; and my mother, under the care of an +uncle, became, at the age of twenty-two, the meet and willing bride of a +young Anglican divine. + +Nevertheless, some "rags of popery" hung about her; she was very devout, +and made long prayers: she had not her breviary indeed, but the psalms +and chapters of the day served equally well: she doubted whether the +gunpowder treason was a popish or a ministerial plot: the R. R. Dr. +Milner had not yet written the dissertation, in his "Letters to a +Prebendary," which proves that it was the latter. For want of this +well-argued and convincing statement, I was called on to read, on the +5th of November, while squibs and crackers sounded in my ears, and Guy +Faux, suspended over the Castle Hill, was waiting his fate,--to read, I +say, the life of Sir Everard Digby in the Biographia Britannica, where +his character is treated with some kindness and respect. Sir Kenelm +Digby is, of course, the next article in the "Biography:" all this while +I was detained from the dangerous explosions of the fire-works, which +was in part my mother's purpose, though she had, no doubt, her +gratification in the lecture. + +The youth of the present day are quite indifferent to the celebration of +the 5th of November; they have not the grace to thank God for delivering +them from "the hellish malice of popish conspirators;" few of them even +know that this delicate phrase is to be found in their Book of Common +Prayer. But five and forty or fifty years ago, before the repeal of the +penal laws against catholics, when not a chapel was permitted to them, +but by connivance, those of catholic ambassadors alone excepted; before +the French Revolution had driven a catholic priest into almost every +town in England,--the case was widely different: let the riots of 1780 +bespeak the popular feeling of the people towards the religion of their +forefathers. Here then, while they sung, + + O then the wicked papishes ungodly did conspire + To blow up king and parliament with gun-pow-dire,-- + +I was taking a febrifuge draught, prepared by maternal caution and +family pride. + +I went every day to learn Greek and Latin at the school founded for the +use of the city out of the spoils of some monastery abolished at the +time of Henry the Eighth's schism. The sons of citizens are here taught +gratis; others give a small honorarium to the master. The school was +held in the very chapel of the old religious house; the windows looked +into a place called the Friars or Freres, and over the east window +stood, and still stands, the _cross_, "la trionfante croie." But this +was not all. Opposite to the door of the school-yard lived three elderly +ladies, catholics, of small fortunes, who had united their incomes and +dwelt here, not far from their chapel, in peace and piety. One of these +ladies was Miss, or, as she chose to call herself, Mrs. Ravenscroft. Now +my great grandfather, James Digby had married a lady of that family: it +followed therefore that my mother and Mrs. Ravenscroft were cousins. My +father's house was about a third of a mile from the school: Mrs. +Ravenscroft obtained leave for me, whenever it should rain between nine +and ten in the morning, the hour at which the school-boys went to +breakfast, that I might call and take my bread and milk at her house. +Some condition, I suppose, was made, that I should not be allowed to +have tea: but they put sugar in my milk, and all the old ladies and +their servants were very kind, and, as I observed, very cheerful; so +that I was well pleased when it rained at nine o'clock. + +One day it chanced to rain all the morning, an occurrence so common in +England, that I wonder it only happened once. I staid to dine with Mrs. +Ravenscroft and the other ladies. It was a day of abstinence. My +father, to do him justice as a true protestant, "an honest man who eat +no fish," had not accustomed me to days of abstinence; but, as I had had +no play all the morning, I found the boiled eggs and hot cockles very +satisfactory, as well as amusing by their novelty. The priest came in +after dinner, and Mrs. Ravenscroft telling him that I was her little +cousin, Master ----, he spoke to me with great civility. At that time +catholic priests did not dare to risk making themselves known as such, +by wearing black coats. Mr. Knight was dressed in a grave suit of +snuff-colour, with a close neat wig of dark brown hair, a cocked hat, +almost an equilateral triangle, worsted stockings, and little silver +buckles. By this detail may be inferred the impression that was made on +my mind and fancy. I believe I was the only protestant lad in England, +of my age, at that time, who had made an abstinence dinner, and shaken +hands with a jesuit. + +When the rain gave over, I returned home, and related to my father all +the history of the day. This I did with so much apparent pleasure, that +he said, in great good-nature, "These old women will make a papist of +you, Harry." He sent them occasionally presents of game in return for +their attentions to me. + +The wife of the Earl of Traquair was also of the family of Ravenscroft, +and Lord and Lady Traquair, in coming from or returning to Scotland, +passed part of a day with my father and mother. Dr. Geddes, since so +well known, accompanied his patron. I remember going with the party to +see the ruins of the bishop's palace. Dr. Geddes's conversation was +lively and pleasing. He was sure, he said, that my sister, some years +older than myself, was a judge of poetry, since she read it so well: and +he requested her acceptance of a copy of a satire of Horace which he had +lately translated and printed. I know not if he ever pursued this work. + +Catholic gentry, every now and then, made visits to my mother; I +suppose, for the sake of "auld lang-syne." Amongst these, Mr. and Mrs. +Arundel, afterwards Lord and Lady Arundel, called on her so soon after +the death of my father, that she could not go with them to the cathedral +where he had been but lately interred. I accompanied them, and, on +entering the south door, pointed out the pedestal on which, and the +canopy under which stood, in catholic times, an image of the Blessed +Virgin, under whose invocation the church is dedicated. + +Comparing the behaviour of these gentry to my mother with the conduct of +all of the same class, with three or four exceptions only, towards +me,--I infer that the best way to be treated by them with common +civility is, to be, not a convert, but a renegado. + +My father died while I was yet in the fourteenth year of my age: in less +than three years after this event, when I was not quite sixteen years +and a half old, I became a commoner of University College, Oxford; and, +having kept there three terms, was nominated, at the election held +immediately after the feast of the Patroness Saint; a Demy of St. Mary +Magdalen College. I passed the long or summer vacations at my mother's +house. During the second of these vacations, when rummaging among my +father's books, I found, thrown aside among waste papers in a neglected +closet, an old copy of the Rheims or Douay translation of the New +Testament. The preface to this work is admirable, and might be read by +managers of Bible Societies, if not to their advantage, at least to +their confusion. + +By what chance the book came there, how long it had lain there, whether +my father had even ever known of its existence, I cannot tell. The notes +are equal in bulk to the text: they attracted my attention, and I read +them greedily. + +It will be observed, from the account given of my infancy, that I had +been from the first familiarized with popery; that I had been brought +up without any horror of it. This was much: but this was all. I knew +nothing of the doctrines of the catholic church, but what I had learned +from the lies in Guthrie's Geographical Grammar, and from the witticisms +in the "Tale of a Tub,"--a book, the whole argument of which may be +refuted by a few dates added in the margin. My English reading had +filled my head with the usual prejudices on these topics. Of popes I had +conceived an idea that they were a succession of ferocious, insolent, +and ambitious despots, always foaming with rage, and bellowing forth +anathemas. + +I now perceived that there was some ground in Scripture for believing +that St. Peter was superior to the other apostles, ("Simon Peter, lovest +thou me more than these?" "A greater charge required a greater love," +argues one of the Fathers;) and that, by the consent of all antiquity, +the Bishops of Rome were the successors of St. Peter. Of other doctrines +I found rational, and what appeared to me plausible explanations. +Transubstantiation was still a stumbling-block. + +I talked without reserve to my mother of my book, and of the impression +it had made on me. She had no theological knowledge, but she had a +great deal of religious feeling, and this feeling was all on the side of +catholicism. Had she consulted an able catholic priest, perhaps had she +consulted no one, I had at this time become a catholic: she would have +been well pleased with my conversion, and her own would have followed. +For her sake, as well as for many other reasons, I most sincerely regret +that it did not at this time take place. Not that I doubt of the mercy +of God towards innocent, involuntary error, but because, when we want to +go to a place, it is better to be in the right road. + +She consulted my old schoolmaster, a wise and prudent man, as well +acquainted with the question as the Anglican clergy in general are. As +my mother was perfectly free from poperyphobia, she proposed the matter +at once: "Henry has been reading this book, and has a great mind to be a +catholic: you know all my family were catholics." My counsellor, without +looking even at the outside of the book, put on a grave face,--a +tremendously grave face: "I had rather give five hundred pounds than +that such a thing should come to pass." I well knew the value he set on +five hundred pounds, and conceived an analogous idea of his repugnance. +Nevertheless, I pressed the book on his notice. "All this has been said +a thousand times over;" meaning, and I so understood him, that it ought +to have no more weight with me than with others; though the argument +proved nothing but the usual obstinacy of those to whom arguments are +addressed. + +My old master was too wise a man to argue even with a woman and a boy. +"What would the world think of such a step? What would your father say +if he could come to life again? What will become of your education and +future prospects?" My mother was alarmed at her own responsibility in +the passive encouragement she had given. I was but seventeen years old. +I did not, however, quite give up the point. "These people have a great +deal to say for themselves."--"You think so? There's Christianity enough +in the church of England." A few years later I found he thought there +was too much. + +I had subsequent conversations with him: I indirectly consulted others: +I still read my book; but a book of notes has not the effect of a +dissertation, well followed up, and leading to a conclusion. I found +some insurmountable difficulties, and for the rest I said, "Le roi +s'avisera." I had no other catholic work, and no catholic adviser. I +went back to my college, where other studies occupied me; yet I may say, +I never lost sight of the subject. + +Gibbon, who was a gentleman-commoner of Magdalen College, a few years +before my time, declared himself a catholic before his twentieth year. +He was still remembered in college as a young man who seldom or never +associated with other young men, who always dressed in black, and always +came into the hall or refectory too late at dinner time. He found +catholics to help him in the work of his conversion. His father put him +_en pension_ with a Calvinist minister, to be re-made a protestant, no +matter of what sort. He saw, and throughout his great work shows that he +continued to see, that the truth of the Christian religion rests on the +authority of the catholic church. "The predictions of the catholics are +accomplished: the web of mystery has been unravelled by Arminians, +Arians, and Socinians, whose numbers must be no longer counted from +their separate congregations; and the pillars of revelation are shaken +by men who profess the name without the substance of religion, who +assume the licence without the temper of philosophy." Pity that such a +man should have been led away by the spirit of the age, so as not to +perceive that true philosophy is the good and natural ally of the +catholic faith. + +If any grave doctor of the Anglican church had, at this time, attempted +to lay the foundations of my belief in his own form of religion, he +would probably have failed in his work; partly, because the respect due +to such a personage from a youth like me would have hindered that +freedom of question, reply, and rejoinder, by which satisfactory +conviction is at length produced; partly, because I should have +considered him as bound in honour and interest to maintain his own +opinions, and require implicit submission; and because also I should +probably have found, as I have since found, the arguments, which such an +one would have adduced, to proceed on misrepresentation, and to be +logically absurd. + +There are two methods of defending the reformed church of England; one +is, by asserting the right of private judgment; but this method is +inconsistent with the authority of Scripture, and with the truth of the +promises of Christ;--with the authority of Scripture, because it is +absurd to allow to any body of men the right or power to say, "this book +is Scripture, and this book is not Scripture," and to refuse to the +same body the right of deciding on its sense in case of dispute. Had +this body the privilege of infallibility while deciding on the canon, +and were they immediately deprived of it? Infallibility--I dispute not +about words: were they providentially preserved from error during this +important operation, and ever afterwards abandoned to error? Common +sense and the rules of criticism may enable us to decide on the +historical credit due to any work laid before us; but _Scripture_, _the +word of God_,--something more is necessary to men who are thus to +arbitrate between mankind and their faith; and it is absurd to suppose +that this _something more_ was taken from them when called on to +determine matters of faith, by the help of this same Scripture, united +to the tradition of the church. I might make my argument stronger, by +remarking on the length of time which elapsed before the canon of +Scripture was settled: was the church infallible during all that time, +or only at intervals, by fits and starts? I will quote the words of St. +Augustin, a Father often cited by the Anglican church: "Thou believest +Scripture; thou doest well: ego vero Scripturae non crederem nisi me +ecclesiae catholicae urgeret auctoritas." + +Indeed, so difficult is it to reconcile the more than human authority +of the Bible with the right of private judgment, that I believe the +historical Christians, as they may be called, to be very numerous, and +daily increasing in number. + +This right of private judgment is also inconsistent with the truth of +the promises of Christ. He sent his apostles to teach all nations, +promising to be with them,--it must be presumed, in their teaching,--to +the consummation of the age. In the exercise then of that private +judgment, which the reformers of the sixteenth century asserted, all the +Christian world fell into error: yes, all of them; for Luther says, "in +principio solus eram." The clergy, it may be said, pretended to +authority, and even persecuted to the death those who differed from +them. Persecution is no theological argument, though it is one which +Calvin and Cranmer and other reformers did not object to resort to. But +the clergy merely pretended to authority: by the supposed case, each +man's particular opinion is his rule of faith, and therefore the Church +of England is justified in its reformation. But, by following this rule, +all the Christian world, according to the reformers, had fallen into +error. Jesus Christ therefore, though he promised to be with his +disciples to the end of the world, was unable or unwilling to keep his +promise. + +The other method of defending the reformation of the Church of England, +is by admitting, that the Church of Rome, as the Anglicans call it, has +been, and is, a true church, teaching with authority all doctrines +necessary to salvation; that the Church of England, having purified +itself from errors and abuses, is also a true church, an integral +portion of the catholic or universal church, with all the authority to +such a body ecclesiastical, of due right, appertaining. + +This statement compels the Church of England to assert for itself +something like infallibility; for, as Voltaire expresses it, "L'eglise +catholique est infaillible, et l'eglise Anglicane n'a jamais tort." This +must be so; for the authority of a church which may be in the wrong, +must be always questioned. + +This statement also deprives the Church of England of all advantage in +arms (theological arms I mean,) against the dissenters and other +reformers: they turn upon her, and ask how she is more infallible, or +even more in the right, than the Church of Rome. The Kirk of Scotland +will no more allow itself to be in the wrong than the Church of England. +Thus disputes are endless; appeals to remote antiquity, instead of +uninterrupted tradition, involve the matter in hopeless intricacy; and +the private judgment of nations has no more weight than the private +judgment of individuals. + +Such are the two modes of defending England's reformation adopted by the +low and the high church parties, which once declaredly and still +insensibly divide its clergy. I have explained both methods, as they are +better understood by being contrasted: I have noted the vice of each, +that I may give in part my reasons for rejecting both in due time. Till +this due time arrived, I was induced to embrace, and, for the time, +conscientiously embraced, the opinions of a high churchman; and I was +induced to this by the arguments and example of my friend Richard Paget. + +At the time when I became a member of Magdalen College, he had just +taken the degree of Bachelor of Arts. A young under-graduate cannot help +regarding with some deference one already in possession of the first of +those academical honours to which himself aspires. Paget was besides +three or four years older than me. This advantage of degree and age was +not so great as to cause any subjection on my part; I looked up to him, +but, if the pun may be allowed, did not suspect him. He, on his part, +treated me with the greatest kindness and familiarity. He was, as he +said, the second son of a second son of a second son of a younger branch +of a noble family. He had not much given himself to classical studies, +but he was well skilled in antiquities, including heraldry; witness the +exactitude of his own pedigree: he was well read in English history, +particularly that of the time of Charles I. with every personage of +which he might be said to be intimately acquainted. He had a great love +and good taste for the fine arts and for music. His conversation was, in +the highest degree, pleasing; it was lively, allusive, full of anecdote: +his manner of expressing himself was at once forcible and easy; his +judgment was discriminating, his temper gentle and equal. I never think +of him without regretting his loss; and he is often recalled to my +memory by the benefit and instruction which I have derived from his +friendship. + +We used to sit together hour after hour, cozing: I believe I must thus +spell the word we have derived from the French _causer_; no other word +has the same meaning. He would take up scraps of paper, and draw +admirable caricature likenesses of the members of the college, not +sparing the person before him; then a stroll round the walks; and then, +as we passed by the door of my rooms on our return, "come in again," and +so, another hour's coze. Soon after the commencement of our +acquaintance, he began the studies which he thought requisite as a +preparation for being ordained a minister of the Church of England. I +had the result of these studies, which he pursued according to his own +taste, for there is or was no rule in this matter: great admiration of +the character of Archbishop Laud; lamentation of the want of splendor +and ceremonial in the Anglican service; blame of those clergy who +allowed church authority to slip from their hands, lowering themselves +into teachers of mere morality. He gave himself very little trouble +about the opinions of the dissenters, condemning them all in a lump by a +sort of ecclesiastical and political anathema; but he took great pains +to convince himself that the Church of England was in the right in its +polemical dispute with the Church of Rome. He was willing to allow to +the bishop of that city a preseance above all other bishops, not merely +on account of the former imperial dignity of the city, but also on +account of his succession to St. Peter, who had the same precedence +among the apostles, though the privileges of the apostles were equal, as +those of bishops ought to be. He saved the indefectibility of the +church, by declaring that the Church of Rome was a true church, though +not a pure church; that papists might be saved, since what they believed +amiss did not destroy the effect of what they believed aright. He +affirmed, that the separation of the Church of England from the Church +of Rome was the pope's fault; that England had not separated from Rome, +but had exercised its right of reforming errors in faith, and abuses in +discipline, and approached nearer to the primitive model; that the pope, +in excommunicating England for having done thus, had in fact, +excommunicated himself. On several points he showed the practice of Rome +to be right; on others, to regard things indifferent. + +Many other matters relating to this subject were discussed in our +conversations, occasionally resumed during the continuance of my +friend's residence in college. He was ordained deacon, and some two +years after died. + +In the year 1791 I took my Master of Arts' degree in Act term, that is, +in the beginning of summer, and went to Lincoln to pass some time with +my mother, before I should put into execution a project which I had long +meditated of a journey to France and Italy. Between my Bachelor's and +Master's degrees, as I had no excuse for non-residence in college, I +had been obliged to reside: indeed I was sufficiently fond of the +literary leisure which this mode of life secured to me. I had always +considered myself as destined to Anglican orders; it was the profession +which my father had chosen for me, and I had, in some sort, prepared for +it: I had confirmed myself in high church principles, and read a little +Hebrew; but I had also studied the French and Italian languages for the +use and service of my foreign travels, as also because it was rather my +wish and ambition to enter on the diplomatic career, if I should find +occasion and protection. But how could any one propose to himself to +pass any length of time on the continent, agitated, as it now was, by +the beginnings of the French revolution? Many ventured to go abroad; but +I was alarmed: the unsuccessful attempt of the king and queen of France +to escape to Montmedi had thrown France into confusion: it was evident +that a crisis was at hand. + +I waited. During this time a violent inflammation in my eyes (a +complaint to which I had been often subject, and which will, I fear, in +its consequences, finally deprive me of sight,) confined me to the +house, and prevented me from reading for some weeks. Deprived of the use +of books, at all times my chief employment and consolation, and +compelled to occupy myself with my own thoughts, I passed in review the +topics by which men are usually induced to devote themselves to the more +immediate service of God. My education, whatever may have been its +influence on my virtue, had been regular, monkish even, if any one +please to call it so: the feeling of piety had never been entirely +renounced by me; and I now easily brought myself to entertain the hope +that, by entering into the ecclesiastical state, I might be of some use +to the cause of religion. The first day that my eye-sight was restored +to me, I wrote to the president of Magdalen College, then bishop of +Norwich, requesting to be admitted as a candidate for deacon's orders at +the next ordination in September. + +The same motives which influenced me to this step, induced me also, +three months afterwards, to take the curacy of a large parish in +Lincoln; to engage, that is, to do the duties of him _qui curat_, as far +as my inferior degree of deacon permitted. The stipend, about one fifth +of the wages of an able mechanic, was known to be no object with me: I +had an income more than sufficient for my wants as a single man, and, +besides, lived in the house of my mother. As usual, in similar cases, +some applauded my zeal, while others laughed at it. + +Within a few months, a fellowship became vacant on my county. I went up +to college to pronounce my probationary oration. In this discourse, +enumerating the former worthies of the house, I commended our +predecessors at the time of the Reformation for having been of the +number of those who did not wish that reformation to be +excessive--_nimia_ was the word; and of those who did not think, "the +further from Rome, the nearer to truth." The orator, on this occasion, +is introduced between the first and second course of the grand dinner of +the 22d of July; his voice may be clear as his stomach is empty: his +task completed, he is placed at the right hand of him who presides at +the "strangers' table," ranged down the middle of the hall, and is +served with the first slice of the haunch of venison. I took the place +reserved for me; and not perceiving that my high church sentiments had +displeased any of my auditors, found the second course of a public +dinner, under such glorious and hopeful circumstances, an ample amends +for being excluded from the first. + +I was so much pleased with a college life, that I determined to return +to my abode in college, on my admission as _actual_ fellow. I thought I +had done enough to testify my devotion to the church by one year's +volunteer service of the parish of St. Martin; for volunteer it was in +the spirit, and almost in the letter. "Let all those who look for high +preferment in the church, do as much," said I. My mother, who seemed +quite to have forgotten the Rheims Translation of the New Testament, of +which I was too besotted to remind her, received my promise to pass two +or three months of every year with her. I soon found myself settled in a +handsome apartment of the new building of Magdalen College. + +It is the usage to require of every one, to be admitted actual fellow of +Magdalen College, what is called a probationary exercise. On this +occasion I composed a treatise, bearing for title, "The Christian +Religion briefly defended against the Republicans and Levellers of +France." There was no especial reason for levelling this treatise +against the French levellers; but the French republic was, at this time, +in England, the _black dog_ upon every occasion: my work was a defence +of general Christianity, upon a plan suggested by the _pensees de +Pascal_. I had, however, my quarrel with the French legislators for +making marriage a municipal ceremony and permitting divorce. I had not +a sense of justice clear enough to blame the English law, for insisting +that the marriages of catholics and dissenters shall be celebrated +according to the rite of the English church. I did not bring forward the +remark, that divorce is permitted in England; nor did I observe, that by +the French law on the subject, no yoke was imposed on the conscience, +since no married persons were required to divorce themselves, but only +allowed to do so. I am entirely of opinion that such a law is highly to +be reprobated in a civil point of view; but in what concerns religion, +let each man's conscience take care of itself. + +But my main grief against the French legislators was the plunder and +degradation of their church. In treating this matter, I as much forgot, +as if I had never heard or read, that, not much more than two centuries +before this period, all the bishops of England, (excepting only him of +Llandaff,) and about ten thousand clergy, were deprived of their +benefices, and sent to beg their bread all over Europe; and this, not +because they would not accept a civil constitution, but because they +would not accede to a new religion; and this, not in a time of civil +tumult, and under the pressure of foreign invasion; but at the bidding +of a young woman of five and twenty. But "tua res agitur paries cum +proximus ardet," was a sentiment pretty generally felt at this time in +England: to this sentiment, more than to any love of their religion, the +French clergy may attribute the hospitable reception they met with in +England. The deed was benevolent whatever its motive, and in the deed I +had more than my share. + +In writing this essay, I struggled, and, as Longinus says, lashed my +sides through two or three pages of introduction, and immediately +afterwards found my composition to flow from me with tolerable ease: I +wrote with less difficulty than I now experience, and am surprised that +I so soon acquired a style by no means faulty. I do not say this for my +_petite gloriole_, but because it seems a part of my story to give the +reader a measure of my juvenile ability. I consulted two friends on the +question of publication: they advised against it, told me I could do +better, and pointed to the first part. Richard Paget also desired me to +write the introduction over again, but did not, as my other +better-judging friends had done, counsel the suppression. I went to +London to find a printer: it was impossible here to sit down to correct; +and I made a book of it as it was. Valenciennes was, at that time, +besieged by the Duke of York, and it was generally supposed that the +allied armies were a better bulwark of Christianity than a shilling +pamphlet. The printer told me that Christianity was a very good thing, +and that nobody doubted it. + +In November following I preached before the university, at St. Mary's +church, a sermon on the text, "Whosesoever sins ye remit, they are +remitted unto them; and whosesoever sins ye retain, they are retained." +I asserted, that the power of absolving sin neither had been, nor could +have been, abandoned by our reformers; defended the power against all +impugners and repugners; and indicated the evil consequences resulting +from allowing it to lie in abeyance. After some declamation respecting +the horrors then perpetrated in a neighbouring nation, and some fears +respecting the removal of our candlestick,--I concluded by trusting, +that all whom it might concern would acquit themselves as faithful +stewards of the mysteries of God. The leading members of the university +were prodigal in praise of this discourse. One of them, afterwards a +bishop, preached the Sunday following at St. Mary's, to assure the +university that I was in the right; a confirmation which, considering my +youth and inexperience, he justly deemed by no means superfluous. +Another, whom I should be proud to name were there no indiscretion in +doing so, bought the sermon when published; a compliment which, my +printer told me, he had not paid to any of those published for many +years past. He might do this, it may be said, as finding the sermon +supremely ridiculous; but this supposition is negatived by the gracious +manner in which, from this time, though I had not yet the honour of his +acquaintance, he always saluted me in passing; his high station and +character permitted to him this mode of signifying his approbation to +one unknown, and rendered it peculiarly gratifying to me. + +Some, however, cried out "flat popery;" but the words in which the +priest is directed to give absolution in the "Order for the Visitation +of the Sick," are so precise; the assertion of the right in all cases is +here so formal; (for it is not supposed that a physician is to be sent +for to determine whether the penitent patient is sick enough to be +absolved) the practice, in respect to penance, of those early ages to +which the church of England appeals, is so well known;--that the cry of +"flat popery" could not be sustained. Indeed, the sermon bears on the +face of it some very outrageous abuse of the Romish church; but this +abuse is so much a matter of course, that it would hardly have served as +a justification, had one been wanted. I professed myself contented to +be as popish as the church of England. + +One of the heads of the university said to me: "The doctrine of your +excellent discourse is clearly the doctrine of the church of England: +she asserts the right of absolution to be inherent in her clergy, but +the people will not submit to the exercise of the power." This is true; +it is true also, that the clergy very prudently abstain, in general, +from sounding the inclinations of the people on the subject. My attempt +must rather be considered, from the place in which the discourse was +delivered, as a sort of _concio ad clerum_. + +I have heard of one clergyman who made the attempt; he preached to his +people of the power belonging to him, as a priest, of absolving them +from their sins, and of the benefit which they would derive, if truly +penitent, from confession and absolution; concluding by fixing a time, +at which he would be at home, to hear all those who should have any +communications to make to him with such intention. This discourse caused +a mighty hubbub in the parish; people did not know what to make of it; +some doubted if their clergyman could seriously mean what he had said: +one old woman did not hesitate to declare "she would be d----d if she +would tell him all she knew." The confusion ceased in due time; but the +people neglected to avail themselves of the offer of their pastor. + +Some time before, a book had been recommended to me, which I found +great difficulty in procuring; at last I found it in the very centre +of the fashionable world. I went into Faulder's shop, in Bond Street. +"Have you _Pluralities Indefensible_, by Dr. Newton, founder of +Hertford College?"--"It is a book which I always take care to have +by me, for the best of all possible reasons,--I am always sure of +selling it."--"I should not have supposed that. Who buy it? Any +clergymen?"--"Yes."--"What use do they make of it?" Mr. Faulder +understood my question. I have forgotten his answer, but it was +discreet. + +Non-residence on benefices with cure of souls, was one of those abuses +in catholic discipline, which, more than any other, tended to bring on +the Reformation; it is an abuse which that Reformation has not yet +reformed. + +I read my book on Pluralities, and was convinced that they were +indefensible. Having not yet learned,--perhaps having yet to learn, that +"the better part of valour is discretion,"--soon after my sermon on +absolution, I preached in the same church as before, to a congregation +composed as before, a discourse, in which I detailed the evils of +pluralities, as necessitating non-residence, and the appointment of +"hired substitutes, improperly called curates," to perform those duties, +which the principal has engaged to perform, and which, unless disabled, +he is in conscience bound to perform personally. This discourse was not +heard with the same approbation as the former. + +"Religious persuasion" is a phrase bandied about by men who have no very +accurate notion of the sense in which they employ the words. One cannot +be persuaded of a truth: he may believe that to be true which is not so; +but then he judges it to be true,--he is not persuaded; one cannot even +be persuaded of a fact; the judgment and the senses are not to be +persuaded. In religion, a man either believes, or doubts, or rejects: if +he believe, his belief, on account of the supernatural authority to +which he submits himself, is called faith. But, if in religion there be +sects and parties, he may be persuaded by circumstances to choose one +party rather than another; but this is a persuasion that respects the +accessaries to religion, not the religion itself. If he adopt or profess +the religion, without believing it, he is a hypocrite. I have laid down +these principles by which to try my own conduct during my stay in +Magdalen College. + +If I were conscious of any insincerity in my adherence to the church of +England, during this period, I would now declare it; I hold myself bound +to tell the truth, and not intentionally to lead the reader into any +misapprehension. I had certainly committed a great fault in not +prosecuting the inquiry begun by the reading of the Rheims Translation +of the New Testament: it was the fault of my boyhood,--a fault of which, +on human grounds even, I have but too much cause to repent. By not +bringing this inquiry, at that time, to the point to which I afterwards +brought it, I lost twelve years of my life, dating from seventeen years +old,--a time which might have been employed in diverting my education to +other purposes, in adopting and following another profession, and in +forming other connexions and friendships, than those which I have, of +course, forfeited by my conversion. But, during these twelve years, +excepting the last year only, passed in doubt and research, I firmly +believed that "the church of Rome had erred, not only in matters of +discipline, but also in matters of faith." Transubstantiation was the +great stumbling-block; and a church which had erred in so grave a +matter was not a teacher to be implicitly confided in. I thought +catholics were, not intentionally, but in fact, guilty of idolatry; and +I thought the sin pardonable in them on account of the intention. Having +once set myself at liberty to reject the authority of the church in +communion with the bishop of Rome, I followed, among the various +interpretations of which Scripture is capable, that given by the church +of England, judging it to be most reasonable. Not sufficiently +instructed in the distinction between matters of faith and questions of +discipline, I believed the differences and points in dispute between +these two portions of the catholic church, to be more numerous than they +really are. + +Archimedes said, "Give me where to stand, and I will move the earth." At +Oxford I was on the peculiar ground, the _terra firma_, if firm it be, +of the church of England: there I could not move or weigh it, or see it +at a due distance, to judge of its form or proportion. Indifference was +hardly to be obtained amidst so many sympathies. An event however +occurred, which removed me to a distance from this scene, leaving my +mind free for an investigation which, with the opinions and feelings +which my friend, Richard Paget, had taught and infused, and Oxford had +confirmed, was soon brought to a fair conclusion. + +On the 10th of April, 1797, I received, by an express at ten o'clock in +the evening, a letter from a physician at Lincoln, acquainting me with +the dangerous state of my mother's health, informing me, that it was +hardly probable that on my arrival at her house, I should find her +living. In an hour's time I was in a post chaise, and hastened by the +shortest road through Northamptonshire. Though obliged to wait at every +inn during the night time for fresh horses, and delayed two hours by +being overturned, I got to Lincoln, a distance of a hundred and thirty +miles, by seven the next evening. My mother had died at the hour at +which the express had reached Oxford. + +The estate which devolved to me by her death being freehold, my +fellowship was not tenable with it. I quitted Magdalen College within +three months, sent my books to Lincoln, and established myself there in +a mode of life very much according with my former collegiate habits. +Before I left Oxford, I acquainted the president of my college with my +wish to be appointed to preach the Bampton lecture; he acquiesced, and +desired me to write him word when I should be prepared, that he might +propose me to the heads of houses, with whom rests the nomination of +the lecturer. This institution is so well known, that no account of it +here is necessary. The subject of my lecture, as I mentioned to the +president, was to be, Christianity proved against the objections of the +Jews. Dr. Routh, with that amenity of manners, which distinguishes him +as much as his great learning, gave me the titles of several books that +might be useful to me. + +While meditating the conversion of the Jews, I received one day at +dinner a French emigrant priest and an Anglican clergyman. The _esprit +de son etat_ in the former, and the total absence of it in the latter, +were equally remarkable. However, we talked _about_ religion. My +Anglican attacked the catholic on account of certain practices which +this one easily proved to be common to both communions, the only +difference being that the church of England does not observe its own +ordinances. The clergyman would not take refuge in the "slow and silent +reformation," by which such deviations are usually excused: he knew he +should not have me for an auxiliary; he retreated to transubstantiation. +Here the Frenchman, who talked English well but not currently, was soon +overpowered by two opponents; and the Anglican, his retreat thus +covered by me, carried off with him the honour of the day. + +The emigrant was M. l'Abbe Beaumont, who had formerly been rector of the +university of Caen, and appointed canon of the cathedral of Rouen: he +was about to take possession of his stall, when the order was issued, on +account of the approach of the Duke of Brunswick, that every priest who +should still refuse to take the oath prescribed by the civil +constitution of the clergy, should be banished from France within +fifteen days. He had been brought to Lincoln by a gentleman of the +neighbourhood, who had retained him for some time in his family to teach +French to his children. On the death of Mr. Knight, whom I have +mentioned above, he was appointed to the care of the little catholic +congregation of Lincoln. When visiting at my mother's house, I had +formerly known him; and, on this occasion, renewed my acquaintance with +him. + +After the Anglican had taken his leave, he talked for some time on +indifferent topics, but at length renewed the former conversation with +an air, as if he had recollected something, though I rather suspect he +had prepared himself. "Pray, at what time did the change take place from +your doctrine, respecting the Eucharist, to that professed by all +Christians three hundred years ago?" I begged of him to put his +question more clearly. "If your doctrine on this point be the true one, +it was taught by the apostles, and received by the first Christians; +then, our interpretation must have been introduced at some subsequent +period: I ask you to fix that period." There were better reasons than I +at the time supposed for my inability to give a precise answer. "It was +introduced gradually during the dark ages."--"In the first place, +_gradually_--that is impossible: the question is, whether the body of +Christ is really or figuratively present: the people must have known in +which sense they believed it to be present, and would have resisted +innovation. Do you think it would be easy at this day to make the people +of England believe in the real presence?"--"No; because they have +already rejected it."--"I admit the difference; but at any time it must +have been impossible to change the faith of the people without their +perceiving it; and the controversy, which the attempt must have excited, +would have come down to our days in works written on both sides: the +memory of the Arian controversy is not lost." I was struck by the +argument and the parallel. He pressed me. "What do you call the dark +ages?"--"The tenth century is called by Cave, a learned English divine, +_seculum tenebrosum_."--"Berenger of Angers, in the eleventh century, +who first taught the figurative sense, found all the world in the belief +of the real presence."--"First? you forget the apostles."--"It is for +you to prove that they taught the figurative sense. St. John Chrysostom, +who lived in the fourth age, preached on this subject like a catholic +doctor of the present day."--"Really? I have his works; I will refer to +the passages."--"Will you give me leave to send you a treatise on this +subject, entitled _La perpetuite de la foi de l'eglise touchant +l'eucharistie_?" As I was going to convert the Jews by a Bampton +lecture, I said I did not wish to engage in reading a great work in old +French: I inferred that it was old French from the word _touchant_. Mr. +Beaumont assured me that it was written in very good French of the +present time, as also in a very agreeable style: he told me, that at any +rate I should have time to read the tract of Nicole, of a few pages +only, stating the argument; that if I did not approve of it, I need not +read the _Perpetuite_ by Arnaud, which was the development of Nicole's +text. I assented, and he wished me a good evening. + +I immediately referred to my edition of Chrysostom, by Sir Henry Savile, +in eight volumes folio,--a master-piece of Greek typography, which I +had bought for three shillings a volume. I had read at hazard some of +the homilies. As these are in the form of a running commentary on the +gospels and epistles, it was easy for me to turn to the texts in which +the institution of the Lord's Supper is narrated, and to the Epistle to +the Corinthians in which it is spoken of. I have no means at present of +making quotations; those who are so inclined may refer as I did. I +showed these passages afterwards to two protestant friends, who +affirmed, "they must be figurative, because they were so strong for the +literal meaning." Sacramentarians are obliged to treat in this way the +words of Christ himself: this mode of begging the question (for it is +nothing else) showed me the advantage of another sort of argument, which +I found in Nicole and Arnaud. + +They take it for granted that if it were certain Christ meant the words, +"this is my body," in the literal sense, protestants would give up the +cause. In the time of these writers it might be so: I would not be too +sure of that in the present day: I think many would reject, perhaps have +already rejected, the divinity of Christ, and his authority to teach +such a doctrine, rather than admit the doctrine itself. I, however, was +not thus daring: I was prepared to admit the conclusion, if the premises +were proved. Unbelievers and catholics are consistent: protestants are +philosophers by halves. + +The apostles then, according to Nicole, understood in what sense Christ +spoke the words, "this is my body," &c. and taught that sense to the +first Christians, and the same sense was delivered to succeeding ages. +But, if this were the figurative sense, all the Christian world must, at +some time, have gone to sleep in the belief of the figurative sense, and +awaked in the belief of the literal. The change, if there was one, was +effected without the least disturbance, nobody knows how; and this, not +in a question of abstract doctrine, but in one which included the +adoration of _latria_, or the divine honour paid to the consecrated +elements, in which worship every individual Christian was interested. + +Arnaud, in the _Perpetuite_, proves, century by century, that the real +presence and transubstantiation were believed, not only by the catholic +church, but by the Greeks, after their schism as well as before, and by +other communions separated from Catholic unity. At this distance of time +I cannot do justice, nor could I at any time have done justice, by any +summary of mine, to the force and ability with which these two authors +conduct the argument. To them I must refer the well-disposed, the +impartial, the disinterested, the honest inquirer. + +The French theologians justly hold the first rank amongst all those of +the Christian world. I was now to become acquainted with him who may +take his place among the Fathers of the church,--the great Bossuet. + +The church now re-entered on that claim to infallibility which it had +lost with me by the supposed mistake touching the Eucharist. The book of +"Les Variations des Eglises Protestantes" showed that the protestants, +by their own admission, had no claim to this privilege, since they were +continually changing and contradicting themselves; asserting, however, +the inspiration of the Holy Spirit in the enunciation of dogmas and +formulas, which subsequent inspirations correct and amend. + +"La reforme n'a jamais raison la premiere fois." How sharp, how cutting, +how penetrating, how conclusive is this sarcasm! + +That book or section of the "Variations" which treats of "the church," +ought to be published as a separate tract. I recommend a translation of +it to the pious and zealous catholic clergy of England; it would be a +_good work_: no men know better than they in what sense I use the +words. + +"Quaerimus ecclesiam ubi sit," says St. Augustin; and from the words "The +gospel shall be preached in all nations, beginning at Jerusalem," he +infers, that the church is that body which began to teach at Jerusalem. + +Of the four marks of the church, set down in the Nicene creed, "one, +holy, catholic, apostolic,"--the first mark is exclusive and +indisputable. Any church may say of itself that it is holy, and every +good Christian will wish that it may be so. The church of England calls +itself apostolic, because, as it affirms, its doctrine is apostolical; +it also calls itself catholic, or a portion of the catholic church: but +then it is apostolical in one sense, and catholic in another; +apostolical by doctrine, and catholic by unity: then has the catholic +church failed, since its doctrine was lost for so many ages: then may +there be union without communion. + +It is curious to observe with what facility the English church can +distinguish between itself and the catholic in a question of persecution +or civil exclusion, and how readily its portion of catholicity, when +pressed by the argument of unity, is re-asserted and resumed. + +A protestant Anglican friend said to me, one day, "We are all catholics; +you are a Roman catholic, and I am--." He hesitated. "What?" said I; "an +English catholic?" + +No Christian community, separated from the church, can claim to be the +church; the date of its separation precludes the claim. "Prior venio," +says Tertullian. Neither can it be a portion of the church; community in +things sacred being essential to unity. A mark is also given by Christ +himself, by which his one church may be known: "Thou art Peter, and on +this rock I will build my church." All antiquity has recognised the pope +of Rome as successor of Peter. + +Having obtained this view of the subject, from reading several works of +the Fathers, I gave up the absurd notion of a true church teaching a +false doctrine, and only wondered how I could have retained it so long. +A church is essentially a teaching society, and, if it teach falsely, it +has failed in the very end and purpose of its existence. There is +another mode by which it is attempted to save the indefectibility of the +church, namely, by supposing that, as there were seven thousand in +Israel, known only to God, who had not bowed the knee to Baal, so there +always existed somewhere some protestants. This fancy I had never +adopted. The church is a city on a hill, not a candle under a bushel. +Having recognised the church by these marks, which are found united in +it alone, I admired that Providence which supplied to the unlearned +Christian or convert sufficient motives for submitting his judgment to +the doctrine of the church, instead of laying him under the necessity of +judging of the church by the doctrine: which, enabling him to verify the +credentials of the ambassador, makes him confidently and joyfully +receive the embassy of grace and peace. + +In this disposition of mind not much road remained for me to travel, and +I followed henceforward the guidance of the church; studying for +instruction, not for dispute; to remove prejudices, and correct +misapprehension. + +Communion under one kind, as at present practised in the catholic +church, is ridiculed by Swift, who tells how my lord Peter locked up his +cellars. Swift might have added to his buffoonery, by telling how the +same lord Peter, many hundred years before John or Martin were born or +thought of, served no mutton to his wine. In the early ages, it was the +use to give the blessed Eucharist, under the species of wine only, to +sick persons and to children. While inquiring on this subject, an +ingenious mistake of the Anglican translation of the Bible was pointed +out to me: the Apostle says, "he that eateth this bread _or_ drinketh +this cup of the Lord unworthily, is guilty of the body and blood of the +Lord:" _or_ being altered into _and_, this text can no longer be quoted +to justify communion under one kind: it still remains, however, a strong +argument for the real presence, since it would be impossible to be +guilty of the body and blood of the Lord, if they were there only in +figure. He who stabs the portrait of the prince commits an insolent +outrage, but the prince is safe. + +Ward's "Errata to the Protestant Translation of the Bible" is a book +that will set many matters right in the minds of those who are not +averse from conviction. The author was obliged to fly his country on the +publication of his work; as was Bishop Challoner, on account of "Memoirs +of Missionary Priests." + +Of the seven sacraments, two are retained under that name by the +Anglican church: I had already proclaimed myself the advocate of what +is, to all intents and purposes, the sacrament of penance. Confirmation +is administered by a bishop, as among catholics. The form of giving +benediction by the imposition of hands is as ancient as the patriarch +Jacob, who thus blessed his grandsons, the sons of Joseph. Does any +spiritual grace follow the blessing of the bishop? If so, it is a +sacrament. The ordering of priests, in the church of England, is +evidently sacramental; for the bishop, laying his hands on the person to +be ordained, bids him "receive the Holy Ghost." Matrimony is called by +the apostle "a great mystery;" mystery is the Greek word for sacrament: +grace is required to sanctify so important a contract. The church of +England celebrates it as a religious rite. + +Thus far the dispute about the number of the sacraments seems to be a +"question of words and names." Extreme unction is totally rejected by +the church of England, because miraculous effects no longer follow the +administration of it. It is not very clear that restoration to bodily +health is promised by the apostle, St. James, c. 5. v. 14.; but "the +prayer of faith shall save the sick man, and the Lord shall raise him +up," may mean this, or may mean spiritual help; doubtless, however, the +promise, "if he be in sins they shall be forgiven him," authorises the +continuance of this rite. I have also heard it observed, that it fails +in that condition annexed to the definition of a sacrament in the +Anglican catechism; it is not "ordained by Christ himself." But, if it +was attended with miraculous effects, it is satisfactorily proved that +the apostle was sufficiently authorised in its institution. + +If the church of England will believe purgatory to be "a fond thing," +far from recommending the book of the Macchabees as good for an example +of life, it ought not to allow it to be read in churches at all; for +there it is related that, after a victory, part of the spoil was sent to +Jerusalem that prayer might be offered for the dead, "seeing it is a +good and wholesome thing to pray for the dead." This was a downright +popish practice, justified by a popish reason. Thus All Souls College +was founded to pray for the souls of those slain at the battle of +Agincourt. Of this ancient, this almost universal, this consolatory +practice of praying for the dead, I shall say no more, than that it may +be inferred from the words of Christ, that sins are forgiven after +death; since he says, "all sins and blasphemies shall be forgiven to +man," that is, are pardonable on repentance; "but the sin against the +Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven, neither in this world, nor in that +which is to come." There are then sins that are forgiven in the world to +come: but when? immediately on the entrance of the soul into its future +state of existence? This would be equivalent to forgiveness in this +world. After a delay then? this delay is itself a purgatory. + +On this head, the catholic church has defined simply that there is a +purgatory, and that souls, therein detained, receive help from the +suffrages of the faithful: that this belief may be abused, does not +prove it to be unfounded, or vain, or "fond." + +Men abuse every thing, even the goodness and long-suffering of God. They +rely on a death-bed repentance: they rely on purgatory. It is to be +feared that many, by the hope of heaven after purgatory, have been +betrayed into a state of final reprobation. On a death-bed repentance +St. Austin remarks, that there is but one instance of its assured +success,--that of the penitent thief; and he adds, very beautifully, +"unus erat, ne desperes; unus tantum, ne praesumas." + +The Reverend Father O'Leary replied to an Irish bishop of the +establishment, who said to him, "Mr. O'Leary, I do not like your +doctrine of purgatory,"--"My lord, you may go further, and fare worse." + +Amongst its thirty-nine articles, the Anglican church has one against +works of supererogation, for the purpose of casting a censure on +certain popish practices. The article bears a plausible show both of +argument and humility; but the humility, taken as argument, proves too +much, since it proves that our good works are useless to ourselves as +well as to others. I will give the reader an instance of a work of +supererogation, in which he will at least be at a loss to discover any +"impiety." My mother wrote to me at Oxford,--"I went into a shop the +other day to order some Gloucester cheese; a poor man was there, buying +a cheese for his family; I paid for it for him: for this, I hope, God +will bless _you_." My mother was no theologian, and suspected no more +harm in giving an alms for me than in praying for me. + +Every protestant, who thinks much about the matter, dresses up a certain +bugbear in his own imagination, calls it popery, and holds it in horror. +I had done thus, although my high-church principles had hindered me from +surcharging the phantom with the usual quantity of deformity. "The +Exposition of the Catholic Faith," by Bossuet, is well adapted to show +the religion of our forefathers in its due proportions and real +lineaments. I will own I was somewhat shocked at first to hear him talk +of "Messieurs de la pretendue reforme:" I had not been used to be +treated so unceremoniously: but he could not help it; the reform was +either pretended or real. + +The council of Trent,--those decrees of the council of Trent which +relate to matters of faith, and which are very few in number, at least +comprised in few words; together with the catechism of the council of +Trent, composed under the auspices of our countryman cardinal Pole,--are +also excellent works for setting such matters in a right point of view. + +I know many protestants who, if they would read these books, would be +astonished at their own ignorance, which they have as yet neither +discovered nor exposed, because they have talked only with each other, +and have read books calculated rather to excite their passions than +dispel their ignorance. Such a book is Chillingworth's. + +I had formerly been scandalized by the non-observance of the days of +fasting and abstinence appointed by the church of England: I once got +myself laughed at for talking about it. Example and roast beef are +powerful persuasives, and I continued to do as others did. While M. +Beaumont was carrying on with me conversations tending to my conversion, +he called one morning at a house where, the breakfast not being removed, +he was civilly invited to eat something. He excused himself because it +was the season of Lent. The lady of the house said, "We have no +superstitious way of keeping Lent."--"You keep it in your book, Madam." +When M. Beaumont reported this to me, I observed, "That pun would not do +in French." He agreed, adding, "They do not know what is fast; they know +what is breakfast." + +Another superstitious practice is the use of images: to set the people +against this practice, and against those who practise it, the word +"image" is lugged in at the beginning of the second commandment: in the +original, the word is the participle passive of the verb, and ought to +have been translated "graven thing," or "any thing graven;" but "image" +was good for the iconoclasti. + +But I cannot pursue any further the railing and raillery continually +poured forth in England against the religion which all England professed +for eight centuries; which those who converted our Saxon ancestors found +to be the same as that professed by the ancient Britons in all points, +except the time of the celebration of Easter; a conformity, which proves +the faith of the church to have been, through the early ages, perpetual, +not in respect to the Eucharist only, but in the whole body of its +doctrine. Let this argument be well weighed; it weighed much with me; +and I think I shall be allowed to have made out a case, though I say +nothing of indulgences, or celibacy, the invocation of the blessed +Virgin and other saints, relics, or monastic vows, pilgrimages, +ceremonies, or holy water. + +I told M. Beaumont that, as he was subjected to the alien act, I would +not draw on him the responsibility of receiving my abjuration; that I +would go to town for the purpose of making it. Subsequent machinations +against him proved my apprehensions to have been well-founded. He asked +what I meant by my abjuration: "You will abjure nothing; you will +continue to believe all that you believe at present: but you can go to +London, if you think right, and the bishop will appoint a priest to +reconcile you to the church." On the 17th of May, 1798, I was present at +high mass in St. Patrick's chapel: it was the feast of the Ascension. My +emotion betrayed itself in tears which, in a man of my age, might be +regarded as rather a violent symptom; but it called forth no indecorous +signs of surprise or curiosity in those near me. I forgot to inquire at +the sacristy the address of the bishop, and next morning found myself +walking in Hyde Park, alarmed at the step I was about to take, and +almost undecided. A friend, who was in my confidence, met me by chance, +and, out of regard for my tranquillity, though a protestant, encouraged +me to persevere. We turned into Grosvenor Square, and up Duke Street: +old Mr. Keating informed us that the bishop lived at No. 4, Castle +Street, Holborn. "We please ourselves by calling it the Castle." I +parted from my friend, and proceeded to the Castle alone. An elderly, +rather pompous, duenna-looking woman, opened the door of the house, for +such it was; not the gate of a castle: his lordship was engaged, but I +was desired to walk into the dining-room, which, no doubt, served as an +anti-room for want of any other. While I waited here, a French priest +came in, who, evidently alarmed at his approaching interview with the +bishop, from whom probably he had "something to ask or something to +fear," inquired of me, "Faut-il faire une genuflexion a Monseigneur?"[1] +I answered, that I was unacquainted with the ceremonial expected by +Monseigneur; but that he, M. l'Abbe, had better do as he would on being +presented to his own bishop. He took me for a countryman, but "my speech +betrayed me." He was called for before me; this I thought unjust; but in +a few minutes after the bishop came in, and addressed me with, "Qu'est-ce +que vous demandez, Monsieur?"[2] Again, thought I, my country is about +to be lost to me; but let us hope for a better. I told Dr. Douglass the +purport of my visit: he, seeing the affair was one not quickly to be +dispatched, requested me to walk up stairs. We seated ourselves on each +side of the fire in an old-fashioned wainscotted room with corresponding +furniture, the floor half covered by a well-worn Turkey carpet. On the +walls, yellow with smoke, hung portraits, which, through the soot that +incrusted them, I hardly discerned to be ecclesiastical worthies; +Cardinal Allen, perhaps, founder of the college of Douay; a Campion, or +Arrowsmith, or other martyrs of the Reformation. A crucifix was set in a +conspicuous place: over the chimney a little engraving of Pius VI, then +a prisoner. The bishop was a tall thin man, between sixty and seventy, +of a healthy look, with a lively and good-natured countenance: he wore a +suit of black, not very fresh, with a little, close, white wig. Martinus +Scriblerus was proud of being able to form an abstract idea of a Lord +Mayor without his gold chain, or red gown, or any other _accidents_. I +had no difficulty in detecting the bishop in the plain man before me; for, +being in his own house, he showed without reserve his pectoral cross, and +I saw on his finger a ring in which was set an amethyst. + +"This is a very important step, sir; no doubt you have given it due +consideration." I gave a succinct account of my studies and motives. +"May I ask, have you consulted your family and friends?"--"My parents +are not living: I am their only surviving child. For my friends, I know +beforehand what they would say."--"Are you aware of all the _civil_ +consequences? The penal laws are repealed; but you will lose your _etat +civil_." I bowed my head. "As you are in orders of the church of +England, your conversion will excite more than ordinary surprise, and (I +say it only to warn you,) ill-will against you."--"I trust not; people +are sufficiently indifferent about such matters."--"Perhaps you will +lose some ecclesiastical benefice?"--"I have proceeded no further than +deacon's orders, and therefore have no preferment."--"But your +expectations?"--"I must live without them." + +After a little more probing of this sort, and a short pause,--"There is +a business which is very distressing to those who are not used to it, +as it is very consoling to those who are; I mean confession: we all go +to confession; I, who am bishop,--the pope himself. You know, I presume, +that you must begin by that?"--"I come to beg of your lordship to +appoint me a priest." After a little consideration, "Would you wish your +priest to be an old man or a young one?"--"My lord, you know your +subjects better than I do: I leave the choice to you: his age is to me a +matter of indifference."--"Many people think otherwise: however, if you +will be pleased to call here to-morrow at this hour, I will introduce +him to you." I took my leave without a genuflexion, but with a strong +sentiment of respect and kindness for this worthy, amiable, old man. + +The next day I found, in Castle Street, the Reverend Mr. Hodgson, one of +the priests of the chapel in St. George's Fields. Of him, as I do not +know but that he is still living, I shall only say, that I had every +reason to be pleased and satisfied with his conduct and his counsels, +and that I think of him with gratitude. I passed with him a part of +every morning of the following week, except Sunday and Thursday, at his +house near the chapel; and in this chapel of St. George, on the 26th of +May, the feast of St. Augustin, apostle of England, was admitted into +the one fold, under the protection, as I humbly hope, of the one +Shepherd. + +Before Mr. Hodgson took me to the altar, where I was to read, for this +purpose, the creed of Pope Pius V, he inquired how baptism was +administered in the Church of England. I told him, by aspersion. He +said, "We have reason to believe that baptism is given with you +sometimes very carelessly, and it is a rule to baptise conditionally +every convert under fifty years of age."--"How do _you_ administer +it?"--"By affusion; and the rule is, that there be so much water ut +gutta guttam sequatur."--"That was very probably not the case in my +baptism."--"There are other ceremonies, not of the essence of the +sacrament, which I shall omit." He added, "Do not suppose that I +question the validity of your baptism, if it were duly performed. Had +you been a Quaker--" Even the grave circumstances in which I found +myself did not repress a slight movement of offended pride, at its being +supposed possible that I could have been a Quaker. "Had you been a +Quaker, I should have been sure that you were not baptized, and should +not even have received your confession."--"But you do not allow the +orders of the Anglican church?"--"True: but even lay persons are not +only permitted, but enjoined to administer baptism, as an act of +Christian charity, in case of necessity." Another distraction, as the +French call it. Not having been used to belong to a tolerated and +despised sect, I had felt my bile rise at the word Quaker; and now +memory recalled the interesting scene in the "Gerusalemme Liberata," the +helmet, the fountain, Tancred baptizing the dying Clorinda. I kneeled +down, however, and the priest poured water on my head, repeating at the +same time, "Si non es baptizatus, Henrice, ego te baptizo in nomine," +&c. I then made my profession of catholic faith, and was thus reconciled +to the church. The next morning I received the blessed Eucharist from +the hands of the same priest. + +It was Whitsunday: Bishop Douglass was to give confirmation in the +chapel of Virginia Street. It was plain, for a reason above-stated, that +I had not been confirmed. After breakfast, I walked with Mr. Hodgson +over London Bridge, towards Ratcliffe Highway. It is usual for the +person confirmed, to be addressed by the bishop, either by his name of +baptism, or any other at his choice: I took the name of John, in honour +of John, surnamed Chrysostom, to whom, as having removed the great +obstacle _in limine_, I owed the beginning of my conversion. May the +good work be aided by his prayers! + +I have made my apology to the protestants of England, especially to +those with whom I was engaged, whose reform was conducted by the civil +power, who are the national church. But, that a church is national is +inconclusive in argument: a nation may be in possession of truth, but +truth is not national; and civil power enters for nothing into a +question of religious truth. But justice is civil truth, the genuine +attribute, the appropriate ornament, the best defence of civil power. +Let the civil power cease to deprive of their civil rights those who +adhere to that religion which the same civil power protected, +encouraged, and maintained, from the time of Ethelbert of Kent, down to +the reign of the boy king, Edward the Sixth. + +The religion of the people of Scotland is the established religion of +Scotland: a great principle is here recognised: truth is out of the +question; for more than one religion cannot be true. Let the principle +be applied to Ireland: the people of that country still adhere to the +ancient faith; let it be established there for them: to make them good +subjects it is only necessary to treat them as such. Men quarrel not +about religion; there is nothing about which they are more indifferent, +when the state does not quarrel with them about it; and every statesman, +every reader of history, knows that, for the uses of the state, the +catholic religion is at least as good as any other. + +Extravagant as this project of establishing the catholic religion in +Ireland will seem to those who "like to hear reason when they are +determined, because then reason can do no harm;"--ridiculous, and even +insolent as it will appear to the maintainers of protestant +ascendency,--it is not my project, nor will I take on myself the +undivided responsibility of it. It is the proposition of a much wiser +man. + +When I lived at Lincoln, after the death of my mother, the celebrated +William Paley was sub-dean of the cathedral: I was in the habit of daily +and familiar intercourse with him. One day, before one of those dinners +which are given to the residentiary in a course as regular as that of +the dinners of the cabinet-ministers, the company was standing in a +circle round the fire; I stood next to Paley. He, almost pushing me out +of the circle by a certain turn of his shoulder, to signify that what he +was about to say would not be said out of complaisance to me as a +catholic, while, at the same time he looked over his other shoulder to +assure himself that I was listening,--Paley, I say, began to assert the +justice, the expediency, and the utility of establishing by law in +Ireland the catholic worship, defending the measure by the arguments, +and almost in the words set down by me; ending, by declaring himself +persuaded that the catholic clergy of Ireland would be well contented +when they were well paid, and the catholic population would, in that +supposed case, be as good subjects as they are every where else under +the same circumstances. + +The greater part of Poland is subject to a schismatic; Silesia to a +Lutheran; the Low Countries, formerly Austrian, to a Calvinist: the +sovereigns of those several countries have not yet taken away the +ecclesiastical revenues from the catholic clergy, nor their civil rights +from the catholic people. + +Having made out a case, as I express myself above, I mention several +topics on which, for brevity's sake, I forbear to enlarge. I beg to be +understood as having a due sense of the importance of these objects, of +each in its kind, and as entertaining in regard to them the opinion held +by the catholic church. I say this the rather, because many protestants, +after talking with me on religion, have found me, as they said, so +reasonable, that they would not believe that I was really and truly a +papist. The unreasonableness of the catholic faith exists only in the +imagination of the protestants, who, in general, know nothing about it. +One of them asked me why the prayers were translated into Latin: I +answered, that the pope had ordered them to be subtracted in this manner +from the curiosity of the good people of ----, naming the town nearest +the country residence of my interrogator. Another, a little perplexed on +the subject of unity, asked, "What is the catholic church?" as an +answer, I asked, "What is the church of England?" An Anglican clergyman +put the question, "What is the mass?" I told him it was what he had +engaged to oppose. He was a worthy, quiet man, and did not want to +oppose any thing. + +In short, it is only from political causes that opposition, alienation, +or dispute about this matter arise. Foreigners are astonished that a +nation, so wise, so just, so tolerant as the English, should disqualify +one-third of its people from serving the state, and perpetuate +animosities which are laid at rest in every other country in Europe. The +Baron ---- was the only man in France who saw through the whole matter +at once: "You have your interests of the Reformation, as we have ours of +the revolution." + +It is a matter in which I have no interest but that of truth. I have +given not as a polemic, but as a humble narrator, an account of my +motives and reasons for adopting as truth that which has been believed +as such by the bulk and great majority of the Christian world in all +nations and in all ages, from the foundation of Christianity. I have +done this in the hope of removing prepossessions, and to persuade the +reader that he may accompany me abroad without any apprehension that I +shall enter into controversy. Some extraordinary events are related in +my narrative, which a regard for truth has alone induced me to set down, +at the risk of being considered as enthusiastic or superstitious. +Against such an interpretation, formed on a view of part only of this +work, I am not afraid to appeal to the judgment of those who will take +the pains to read and consider the whole. + + _Ad Clari Montem. + Clermont, en Auvergne. Clermont-Ferrand, Puy de Dome. + 21st March, 1826._ + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] Is it necessary to bend the knee before his Lordship? + +[2] What is your pleasure, Sir? + + * * * * * + +FOUR YEARS + +IN + +FRANCE. + + * * * * * + + + + +FOUR YEARS IN FRANCE. + +CHAP. I. + + +The English are assuredly a most enterprising and restless people: they +form establishments at the Antipodes, and plant colonies on the banks of +the Loire, in an enemy's country, after a war of twenty years: their +merchant-vessels cover the seas, and their opulent and unoccupied gentry +inundate the continent of Europe: their hardy mariners search out the +north-west passage, and the idle and curious among them strive, with no +less difficulty, to discover lakes, mountains, and cascades, unvisited +by former adventurers, + + ------qua nulla priorum + orbita.------ + +English reading-rooms are set up at Tours and in other great towns; +English seminaries of education are founded in France, Switzerland, and +Italy; and English horse-races are exhibited at Naples. Fox-hunters and +fox-hounds penetrate to covers where even the foxes never saw them +before; where, coming from their holes, they gaze quietly upon them; +where there is no sport, because no pursuit; no pursuit, because no +flight; no flight, because no fear; no fear, because no experience of +former enmity. + +The French calculated, with some degree of satisfaction, that, during +the occupation of their frontier by the army of observation, the English +spent as much money at Paris as was contributed by themselves to the +support of that army. At Florence, towards the end of the year 1822, I +was informed by good authority, that there were twelve thousand +foreigners in the city, of whom seven thousand were English. + +By a migration, very much resembling the flight of birds of passage, +they usually leave their country in the spring, and after a few weeks at +Paris, set off to pass the summer in Switzerland, arrive in Italy in the +autumn, cross the Apennines before the winter; the beginning of which +season they spend at Florence: they go to Rome for the Carnival, to +Naples for a month or five weeks of Lent, return to Rome for the holy +week, and then, much edified and instructed, they find their way home, +during the ensuing summer, through France or Germany. I asked Lady A. at +Rome, when she went to Naples: "I don't know;--when the others go:" so +much is this route recognised as a matter of course. + +The route is in truth admirably well traced, and eighteen months might +thus be passed to great advantage by a well-prepared and impartial +traveller. Rarely however are these English sufficiently acquainted with +the languages of the countries through which they pass, to be able to +sustain a conversation: they carry with them their insular prejudices, +their pride of wealth, their unpliant manners, their attachment to their +own customs, amusements, and cookery: though treated with indulgence and +even civil attentions by the governments of the continent, they are +suffered, rather than received by the inhabitants. For their choice of +the objects of curiosity they visit, and the opinion to be formed upon +them, they are at the mercy of guides and ciceroni: for society, they +are guided by instinct, and reduced by necessity, to herd together. An +Italian lady at Florence opened her salon for the reception of a mixed +company of Florentines and English: the English occupied, first one +corner, and then a whole side, of the salon, their numbers increasing, +but the chasm between them and the natives still remaining. The lady, +fatigued with doing the honours of her house to two separate companies +on the same evenings, and disgusted with these appearances of distrust +and resiliency, invented some decent pretext for receiving no more. + +Observing this propensity in the English to associate with each other, +foreigners seem persuaded that Yorick alone did not quit England to seek +Englishmen. I was asked if I had been at Tours, because there were so +many of my countrymen there. "My countrymen," said I, "choose well; +Touraine is said to be the garden of France." My interlocutor recurred +to the idea with which he had first proposed the question. "Il y a la +tant de vos compatriotes."--"Il y en a encore plus en Angleterre:"[3] +and Sterne's argument prevailed. + +Many persons of small incomes; many who wish to retrench their expenses, +but are ashamed of doing so at home; some for the purpose of having wine +and fruit at a cheaper rate; and some for the sake of a better +climate,--pass several years abroad, fixed at the place of their +first choice, or travelling but little, and at great intervals of time. +The economical residents abroad seldom proceed further from home than to +the towns near the southern shore of the channel, and to those on the +banks of the Loire. Some parents take their children abroad to enable +them to acquire the use of those living languages, which, though very +generally taught, are very rarely learned in England. Excluded from the +greater part of the continent of Europe during twenty years of +revolution and of war, English travellers had been obliged to waste +their activity in voyages to the western isles of Scotland, or in +picturesque tours to the Giant's Causeway, or the Lake of Killarney: +some cooled their ardour amid the snows of Scandinavia, and others +roused their classical enthusiasm by the view of Salamis and Thermopylae: +some measured the Pyramids of Egypt, others performed pilgrimages to the +Holy Land. The peace of Amiens opened to them, though but for a few +short months, the road to Paris, and the gallery of the Louvre, enriched +with the spoils of nations. + +It is not forgotten how, on the rupture of that peace, they were +arrested, throughout the whole extent of the French republic and its +dependencies, and detained as prisoners of war, in reprisal of the +seizure of French ships and citizens throughout the maritime empire of +England: succeeding English travellers, twelve years later, remembered +it well: the crowds, again attracted to Paris on the restoration of the +king, fled in all directions on the landing of Napoleon from Elba. +"Pourquoi me fuient-ils?" said he: "je ne me repete pas."[4] + +Perhaps the outlawry fulminated against him by the congress of Vienna +would have been as good a reason for doing again what he had done +before, as the sweeping the seas without declaration of war was alleged +to be on the former occasion: perhaps he regretted the failure of a +second opportunity of retorting on England, in this way, the hatred and +insult with which he had ever been treated by its government. At any +rate, the distrust of the English travellers was founded on experience, +and the reproach conveyed in this manifestation of it was answered by an +ingenious, spirited, and in some sort conciliatory pleasantry. + +After the battle of Waterloo, the travellers, some of whom had retired +no further than to the Low Countries, followed in the train of the +victorious, and invading armies: all were impatient to return to Paris; +in truth their impatience was not without good cause. All the monuments +of the fine arts were now to be dispersed: the _fruits of victory_ +deposited at Paris were soon to be restored to their former owners. + +It was evidently the interest of England, that this superb collection +should remain within three days journey of London; but the principle +"suum cuique" forbad it. Yet the republic of Genoa had the same right to +its ancient constitution as to the far-famed emerald dish, which I saw +in the Hotel de Ville at Genoa, with a piece broken out of it. The union +of the littoral to the dominion of Sardinia is an advantage to both +parties: but then what becomes of the principle which dictated the +restitution of the emerald dish? + +Notwithstanding the necessity thus imposed on our travellers of +wandering all over Europe in search of objects once assembled near their +own doors,--the nations of the continent are not too much inclined to +believe in the _bonhommie_ of English politicians; nor indeed can it be +certainly known how far their good will was an ingredient in this, so +called, act of justice. + +Since the second restoration of the King of France, peace, and the +visits of the English to the countries to which ingress is no longer +prohibited, have continued without interruption: residence abroad has +assumed an appearance of stability and design. An outcry has been raised +in England against these emigrations, and it has been proposed to tax +absentees; a measure which, in its application to those who take a +journey for a few months, would be at once vexatious and ridiculous, and +in its operation on those who retire abroad on account of contracted +income, would be severe and unproductive; and which could, in neither +case, be effected without a partial income-tax. The number of travellers +and residents abroad, though great, has been much exaggerated: wherever +exact inquiry has been made, it has turned out to be less than was +reported. I could not hear of more than six or eight English families +resident by the year in each of the three great towns of Italy, +Florence, Rome, and Naples. + +The French, persuaded that society can no where else be so well enjoyed +as in France, feel little inclination to travel. The Italians, satisfied +that all that is best worth beholding both in art and nature is to be +found on their side of the Alps, seldom take the trouble of passing that +barrier. I speak of the same class of persons, in both nations, as that +in which the English traveller is to be found,--the rich and idle; for +the poorer French and Italians are more adventurous, and more frequently +leave their own country to gain their living abroad, than those of the +lower condition of life in our sea-girt isle. I have therefore +frequently been called upon to explain the phenomenon of the British +spirit of excursion. My friends at Avignon could hardly believe that +curiosity, the desire of instruction, the purpose of employing usefully +a portion of time which would otherwise be employed in the ordinary +routine of life, were motives sufficient for incurring the expense, +trouble, and risk of long journeys: the expense, they allowed, might be +a consideration of no importance to a people so rich as the English; +besides, they travelled cheaper in France than in England; yet it would +cost still less to stay at home: the defiance of fatigue and danger were +very gravely accounted for by the supposition of something peculiar to +the English character, a certain restlessness and locomotive propensity, +which dislodged them from the centre of repose, and impelled them to +wander in wide and extravagant orbits. The astonishment of the +Avignonais was excessive, when a lady, who intended to pass some years +in the south of France, coming to visit my family, and changing her +purpose, returned to Paris within a fortnight. "Les Anglois font tout +ce qu'ils veulent: un voyage de trois cents lieues pour une visite de +quinze jours."[5] Like the rustic in the fable, they waited to see the +end of this current of travellers; and I could hardly obtain credit when +I assured them that, though some extraordinary degree of expansion was +to be expected after twenty years compression, yet when the present +generation should cease, the succeeding one would still supply the +stream. + +May this stream still hold on in an equal and uninterrupted course; may +no wars arrest it; no jealousies divert it; no disgusts dry up its +source! The division of mankind into nations is the great calamity of +the human race. War, with all its horrors, and all its crimes, (for +crimes there must be; since no war can be just on both sides, and may on +both sides be unjust,) war, with all its inflictions, is the first great +evil arising from this separation of those who ought, as creatures and +sons of the same Creator and Father, to be "a band of brothers." From +war results that other great evil, seen in the administration of the +internal concerns of each country; the government being of necessity +entrusted, for the defence of the people, with the power of the sword, +the people are governed by the sword of power. Hostile prejudices, the +strife of interests ill understood, false judgments, and the jargon of +languages mutually unintelligible, fears, suspicions, and precautions +perpetuate the evil of disunion when the work of havoc and desolation +is suspended. Short and feverish are the periods of suspension: they are +put out to inestimable profit when the means are employed of making the +several peoples of the earth better known to each other, of softening +asperities, removing misunderstandings, and conciliating mutual +good-will. + +Such ought to be, over and above the peculiar advantage and pleasure of +each individual traveller, the object of foreign travel. To the +furtherance of this object it is hoped that this account of a long +residence in France and Italy may in some slight degree contribute: it +is written without prepossession, in good-will towards the people I have +visited, in the conviction that human nature, though not virtuous, is in +all countries capable of, and inclined to virtue. For variety of usages, +which makes men appear more alien from each other than they really +are,--either it regards things indifferent, or there exists a good +reason for it, which observation enables us to discover. To me in truth +this difference in European customs appears so slight, that, were it not +for the language, I could easily forget that I was abroad. "Omne solum +forti patria:" but it requires still more fortitude to have no _patria_ +at all, as is the case of an English catholic: for political rights are +included in the idea of _patria_. + +Having lived between three and four months in Paris, and between three +and four years in the south of France with my family, I have made +observations, which I hope may be useful to those who have the same plan +of foreign residence or travel, and not less interesting, both to them, +and to those who are content with their English home, than the remarks +of a more hasty tourist. The care of a household and of the education of +children brings the head of a family to the knowledge of many +circumstances and combinations which escape the notice of the single +traveller; and intercourse with the society of a place during a sojourn +gives some insight into the character, some perception of the manners +and opinions of a people. + +I have also lived three years and a half in Italy, of which country I +seem to myself to have much to say; but for reasons that may be +conjectured by the reader of this book, I defer my Italian narrative +till the present work shall have undergone the judgment of the public. +Meantime, this is a separate composition, and independent of any thing I +may hereafter write on Italy. + +I have lived so long in the world, that, although, from motives of +charity, I wish to have the good report of all, few remain for whose +commendation I am anxious, even as an author. I think it right however, +to request the reader's indulgence for a style of writing by no means +current or easy,--a fault owing to the habitual, daily use of two, or +even three languages: often does the foreign phrase present itself, and +then the English one is to be sought for. I have besides, for these last +eight years, had but a very sparing intercourse with English literature. + +For the sake of obviating misconstruction of my occasional remarks on +political subjects, I think it right, in this introductory chapter, to +make a few general observations on the French revolution. I detest, or +obtest, against all revolutions, for two reasons: change of forms and +names, and, generally speaking, of persons even, does not always produce +a change of principles or of conduct; tyrannical democracies and +benevolent despotisms are no new things in the history of the world: +secondly, revolutions cannot change the condition of the great bulk of +mankind, of persons without property, of the poor: poor they must be; +for property is necessary to the existence of society; work they must, +because they are poor. A man of this class at Paris, whom I wanted to +engage to talk on the late revolution, cut short the matter by saying, +"pour nous autres, on ne demande a nous qu'a travailler."[6] That some +of them may benefit by a political change, proves nothing against the +uselessness of such a change to them, considered as, what they are in +effect, the mass of mankind, and in reference to the continued duration +of the social state. + +On the 23d of June, 1789, Louis XVI offered to the states-general a +constitution very much resembling the charter since given by Louis +XVIII. What has the French nation gained by the refusal of the Etats +Generaux, to accede to the project of this _seance royale_? Their church +is impoverished; they are endeavouring to form an aristocracy, of which +destruction has hardly left them the elements; and the number of +electors,--of persons represented,--is now much smaller than it would +have been in the Etats Generaux. Since that day, little permanent +advantage has been obtained, except the abolition of feudal rights; but +of these, exemption from taxation had been abandoned; all that was unjust +or grievous besides, would soon have followed. A deficit of fifty millions +of francs caused the revolution; and in its consequence it has trebled the +taxes: it rejected titles and ribands as unworthy of the dignity of man, +and it has produced a second set of nobles, and a new order of knighthood. + +True liberal principles cannot be disgraced; like religion, they may be +the pretext, but are not the cause of excesses and of crimes; but the +conduct of the revolution has retarded their spread and influence, by +making every wise and prudent man afraid to trust to the professors of +them. After the perpetration of horrors, on which the human mind cannot +bear to look fixedly, a military despotism is quietly submitted to, as +if nothing but, "res novae," new wealth, new power, had been sought for. + + ------"Ubi nunc facundus Ulysses?" + +The leaders of the revolution and of the republic did not recognise the +true limit of civil authority: it has nothing to do but to defend the +state against foreign enemies, and the citizens against each other: +whatever government attempts to do more, only supplies means of vexation +to subordinate agents. They tyrannised over the religious and political +conscience of the people by the civil constitution of the clergy, who, +when their property was taken away, ought to have been let alone; by +persecutions which belied the tolerance of philosophy; by oaths of +hatred of royalty, which kept up the memory of the cowardly murder of +the king,--that aping of the English under circumstances totally +different. War, after the promulgation of perpetual peace, seemed +interminable; and the offer to assist all nations in the recovery of +liberty, was seen to be a scheme for domineering in all nations by means +of civil dissension. + +These things prepared the way for Napoleon Bonaparte, whose elevation +was, at first, by no means unpopular in Europe. He must be admired by +the present age, and by posterity, as a great man: he offered himself as +pacificator, and in a few years subjected a hundred millions of +Europeans: such a force as this,--the arts, the knowledge, and by +consequence, the power of those whom he commanded taken into the +account,--no man ever yet had wielded. "He gave not God the glory:" in +this he was not alone; such was, such is, the spirit of the age: his +fall was caused by the coming on of the snow and frost in Russia a week +or fortnight sooner than usual. History records nothing equal to his +elevation and his fall. That fall must be dated at the retreat from +Moscow; the rest was but the struggle of the dying lion. The French +revolution seems like a bloody tragedy, after the representation of +which, the actors put on their every-day clothes, and resume their +ordinary occupations: it has disappointed the hopes of the +philanthropist, and delayed the effect of the moral revolution, prepared +long before, and working in the minds of enlightened men. This sort of +revolution is the only one that can be permanent or beneficial to +mankind. Christianity itself is, in its influence on civil society, a +revolution of this sort, and, in respect to this life only, has done +incalculable good. + +The great results of the French revolution are to be looked for beyond +the Atlantic. Owing to the distracted state of Europe, a continent, more +abounding than the old world in the means of prosperity and power, is +become independent: the slaves of Hayti have broken their chains, and +may carry civilization and freedom to the country of their origin. Yet +another century, and Europe itself may sink into comparative +insignificance. But let the wise and virtuous unite in opinion; and +Europe, though no longer the proprietor, may still be the teacher of the +new world, and in the old may aid suffering humanity. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[3] "There are so many of your countrymen there."--"There are still more +of them in England." + +[4] "Why do they run away from me? I do not do the same thing twice +over." + +[5] "The English do whatever they have a mind to: a journey of three +hundred leagues for a visit of a fortnight!" + +[6] As for us, nothing is required of us but that we should work. + + + + +CHAP. II. + + +On the 23d of April, which the English now know to be the feast of St. +George, though, before the accession of King George IV. who observes +that day as his birth-day, few of them knew the name of their patron or +the day of his feast; "such honour have the saints" in England;--on that +day, in the year 1818, I arrived with my two sons at Southampton, on the +shore of that sea, which on the morrow was to separate me from my native +country. + +The son of the captain (for by courtesy he is called captain,) of the +Chesterfield packet came to us at the Dolphin Inn, and informed us that +the tide would serve at two o'clock the next afternoon. We had hastened +through rain and darkness, during the last stage, with a grumbling +postilion; for, though we knew the day, we knew not the hour of +embarkation. The time we had to spare we might have passed more +agreeably at Winchester. Southampton, a very pretty town, is so +regularly built, that we had time more than enough to see it, and not +enough to go to enjoy the beautiful view from the heights which command +the bay, the channel between Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, and the +isle itself. All this, however, we saw from the deck of our vessel, more +advantageously than in what is called a bird's-eye view, which is only +useful when necessary for peeping into the inside of amphitheatres, and +the hollows of ravines and craters. + +Our travelling trunks were sent to the custom-house. A year before, +owing to a discussion concerning cotton yarn, which Mr. Brougham may +perhaps remember, an old lady, of seventy years of age, had been +despoiled of a pound of cotton thread which she was taking with her to +amuse herself with knitting: the stockings or garters thus fabricated +she would have brought back to England, without the least injury to its +manufacturing interests. But, on such important occasions, how can +discretionary powers be entrusted to custom-house officers? We, being +not knitters of stockings, on this occasion, had the good fortune to +excite very little of their curiosity. They did not even wish us a good +voyage. + +A boat conveyed us to the packet: we set sail, if setting sail it might +be called, when there was hardly wind to swell the canvass. The air was +sultry, the sky was cloudy; and when we had cleared the Isle of Wight, +and night was coming on, there was every appearance of an approaching +storm: Captain Wood even allowed that there might be "a puff." I admired +the self-possession he maintained, notwithstanding the troublesome +questions put to him, and expressions of fear and anxiety from the +passengers: answering every one with the greatest civility, he yet never +turned aside from the conduct of the vessel. "It is silly in us, +captain, to disturb you thus: we might trust to you."--"Sir, my son and +I are on board: the vessel cost me three thousand pounds." I drew the +inference desired, and left him. + +With every inclination, after the event, to begin my book with a +description of a storm at sea, as Virgil begins his AEneid, I forego this +attempt at amusing my reader, for two reasons: without the machinery of +Juno, AEolus, and Neptune, the storm even of Virgil would hardly be +raised in dignity above a common occurrence; and next, because _my +storm_ was really a very moderate one, hardly sufficient to excite that +degree of terror in me, and of pity in others, which is necessary to +sublimity. In sober guise then, I have to relate that it rained, +lightened, and thundered; but thunder at sea, I remarked, is not so loud +as thunder heard on land, re-echoed by houses and buildings: and +lightning in that vast space does not seem so directly aimed at one, as +when flashed into one's face through the narrow boundary of a window. +The rolling of the sea was not very violent; but the wind drove us out +of our course, and we found ourselves, in the morning, to the eastward +of Fecamp. We could with the greatest ease have entered the port of +Dieppe: I proposed to the captain to do so; but his affairs and his port +papers, which this little stress of weather was not a sufficient excuse +for contravening, recalled him to Havre. The other passengers also were +desirous of landing at Dieppe; but rules and regulations,--a phrase +which I translated into English for the benefit of a certain provincial +book club, which had thus entitled its by-laws, rules, and +_rulations_,--at every step vexatiously and uselessly embarrass the +intercourse of mankind. + +In the present case we had to employ sixteen hours in working our way +back again towards Havre. The voyage was, however, pleasant. We were, +all the while, almost within a stone's throw of the French coast: we +talked with several fishermen: we seemed to be all but landed. The +clouds, which had so thickly covered the sky, and poured down so much +rain the preceding night, had passed away to the eastward. In the +afternoon, a brilliant rainbow was stretched across the channel, and +seemed to unite, by an aerial arch, the countries of France and England. +Our impatience was put to the proof by a calm, which arrested our +progress for two hours: the elements seemed to have conspired to treat +us with a specimen of every sort of weather that can be experienced at +sea. At last a breeze sprung up; slowly we crept along towards the mouth +of the Seine; and a quarter of an hour before midnight entered the port +of Havre, after a voyage of thirty-two hours, the latter half of which +was useless to my purpose of coming to France, and would have been +dangerous had the storm come on again, as we were close on the rocks, +and had very little sea-room. + +The passage by Dover takes the traveller from London to Paris about a +hundred miles out of his way. Brighton is the point of the English coast +nearest to Paris; but, though the opposite harbour of Dieppe is good, +the embarkation and disembarkation at Brighton is exposed to all the +violence of the winds and waves. The passage from Southampton may be +performed in ten hours, and Havre is very little further than Dieppe +from the capital of France. + +Before we entered the harbour, our steward descended to extinguish a +large lamp that burnt in the cabin: he gave us (that is, to me and my +sons) our choice of going on deck, or staying below in the dark: we +loitered, and were punished afterwards for our delay by breaking our +shins against the cabin stairs. The vessel was not allowed to enter the +port with a light on board; a lantern is hung out on the prow. The use +of the lantern is evident: it is not quite so clear why our lights were +to be put out: against an accidental fire this was no sufficient +precaution; had we wished to set our vessel in a state of conflagration, +and run her amongst the French shipping, nothing was requisite but a +tinder-box, or a gallipot of phosphorus. Regulations seem to be made +sometimes, in order that those who are in employment may have something +to do: work is invented for places, instead of places being created on +account of work. + +We waited some little time for the officer of the port, who was to +receive our passports. I stood on the deck, and looked around on the +light-house, the shipping, and the lights from the windows; heard the +mixture of French and English bandied in talk between us on board and +those on shore, and was delighted with these assurances that we were +restored to human life and society, and no longer tossed on the sea, +where, as Homer says, there are no vintages. I quote this expression, +not because I am insensible to the beauty of a poetical amplification, +but for three reasons: first, to show my learning,--a motive which I by +no means approve, but leave it to be appreciated by other authors: +secondly, because this epithet conveys precisely the reason of my +dislike of sea voyages: Edie Ochiltre says, "the worst of a prison is, +that one can't get out of it;" and I say, the worst of the sea is, that +it is not dry land; an objection in both cases essential and fatal: +thirdly, I wish to make a remark, which has, I believe, escaped all +former commentators,--that Homer had probably no more notion of lands in +which there were no grapes, than the African prince of walking on the +surface of a river. + +The tide had raised our deck to the level of the quay: the clock struck +twelve; it was now the anniversary of the birth of my younger son, and +we set our feet on the soil of France. The other passengers had +announced their intention of going, in a mass, to the English inn, where +a part of my family, three months later, found, what was to be expected, +high charges; and, what was not to be expected, plenty of bugs. Fearing +a contest for beds amongst such a number, (for there were ten or twelve +of us,) and the delay of getting them ready for so many, I went to the +Hotel de la Ville du Havre, recommended by Captain Wood, who conducted +us thither, roused the sleeping family, introduced, and left us! M. and +Madame Marre appeared in night-cap and dressing-gown, very much +resembling (I say it with all due respect for very worthy persons,) the +caricatures of French physiognomy exhibited in our print-shops. Madame +Marre told the chamber-maid to show me the beds: I went up stairs, and +on my return was asked if I was contented with what the "bonne" had +shown me. I have heard of an old lady who was very much offended by +being called good woman; and the expression "la bonne" appeared to me a +contemptuous one: such a novice was I, that I looked at the girl to see +whether she took it as an affront or a compliment; she was quite +unmoved. I told the mistress that the three beds were very good, and +desired to see the sheets: they were more than damp; they might be said +to be wet: to have them aired at one in the morning was out of the +question; our resource was to do without them for that night. I know an +English family who, arriving early in the evening at an inn in France, +and, as a matter of course, ordering the sheets to be aired, were +charged, the next morning, five francs for fire-wood. Our sheets were +aired, on the next day, without any instructions on our part to that +effect, according to the custom of the country, _au soleil_. + +This sun enabled us to sit at an open window during our breakfast: for +this meal we had French rolls, excellent Norman butter, and cafe au +lait. The coffee usually served in England is considered by the French +as no better than coffee and water; what was now furnished to us was so +strong, that, though mixed with an equal quantity of boiling milk, it +had more of the taste of coffee than I have found in what was called +very good coffee at those splendid and fatiguing assemblies, which the +ladies call routs, at Bath and other towns,--where, in order that four +persons may amuse themselves at whist in a creditable way, forty others +are crowded together for the same laudable purpose. + +It was Sunday: we went to mass: the church was crowded to excess: so +many churches have been confiscated to the use of the nation, that, in +the great towns, not enough of them remain for the use of the people. We +went to the port to inquire after our trunks: it was low water; and our +packet-boat, which rode so high in the night, was now hardly afloat: we +went down into it by a ladder, and found that our goods had been sent +to the custom-house: thither we bent our steps: the officer attended, a +smart young man in a military dress: he ascertained the nature of the +contents of my boxes, and the object of my journey, and gave no +unnecessary trouble: he talked much of English commerce, and did not +affect to conceal his satisfaction that it was "ecrase par les +impots."[7] I ought therefore to believe in the sincerity of his wishes, +that my journey in France might be as agreeable and advantageous as I +myself desired. I now had to disengage myself from three out of five +stout porters, who stood in readiness to bear away my two hair trunks +and writing-desk: I told them, two men could carry the whole: they +assured me it was impossible. I then endeavoured to get rid of one at +least of the five, by placing the writing-desk on one of the trunks, +making a civil leave-taking sign, at the same time, to the man who +seemed to consider the desk as his share in this weighty matter: the man +answered me by a low reverence, and by taking the desk under his arm; +the other four seized each the ring of a trunk, and all set off at full +speed to the inn. Nothing remained but to follow, and pay them according +to their number. + +Our passport, granted by the Marquis d'Osmond, the French ambassador at +the English court, allowing us to circulate freely within the kingdom of +France, had been forwarded to Paris, and we were to receive another for +the limited purpose of following our passport. I had not found the +Bureau open: this was no inconvenience, as I intended to rest this day +at Havre. M. Marre gave us a very good dinner, at three francs a head, +and claret at the same price a bottle: he sat down with us, and did the +honours, and animated the conversation, "like any other gentleman." +Among the company was a priest, who showed at once his gratitude and his +discontent, by telling me that the English government, which had taken +nothing from him, allowed him, during his emigration, a larger pension +than the French government now paid him, though it was in possession of +the property of which he had been deprived: he forgot that the +spoliators and those who compensated were different parties; that in +1818, nothing was left of the _biens nationaux_ of 1789. + +We viewed the town and the port, and saw nothing particularly +remarkable, but the great number of parrots hung at doors and windows, +and crying out--"damn" and "damn your eyes." Their voyage from the +tropics had been performed under English auspices. Havre is a great +depot of colonial produce; and this bird may probably be in great demand +in a nation, so loquacious as we, in our vulgar prejudices, suppose the +French to be. The commerce of the place assumed at this time a great +degree of activity in objects of more importance than parrots, however +accomplished. But the day was a day of rest. + +The next morning I went to the Bureau de Police for my passport: the +Commissaire, for reasons or from feelings best known to himself, desired +me to call again in two hours. I have seen many instances of the hatred +of the French towards the English, which the imperial government had +excited to the utmost degree of intensity, and which did not begin to +subside till the removal of the army of observation. M. le Commissaire, +I suspect, indulged in a little ebullition of this unamiable sentiment: +in vain I represented that my passport had been in his office the whole +of the preceding day, during which I had called there three times: this +seemed to increase his triumph; and he coolly, though very civilly, +repeated his request that I would call again in two hours. + +He procured for us a very pleasant walk on the hills, which command a +view of the town, the mouth of the Seine, and the channel. The trees, in +this land of cyder, were in full blossom; the rye was in ear; all seemed +to be a month earlier than in the northern region we had left a week +before, when we quitted our home. We entered the church; the parish is +called St. Vic: I was surprised to see the exact resemblance of this +church to those edifices, the remains of former times, which, in our +villages, are opened once a week for divine worship: the altar and +images excepted, it was the same sort of interior: there was indeed the +holy water pot, but of that the trace at least is to be found in almost +all our old churches: but the images; ay, there was St. Denis, with his +head, not under his arm, but held between his hands. On this I shall +only remark, that he who, on account of the legend of St. Denis, +believes the catholic religion to be false, may deceive himself in a +matter of the greatest moment; whereas he who believes the legend to be +true, may be deceived, but in a matter of no moment at all. + +A farmer's lad, of about fourteen, came up to us in the church-yard, and +entered into a conversation, which he conducted without bashfulness, and +with the greatest propriety. He told us, that mass was said every +morning at break of day, and that the peasantry attended it before +going to their labour. He talked of the principal tombs before us, and +of the families in two or three large houses within our view: he asked +questions respecting England, where, he supposed, there were no poor, +because he had never seen any: undeceived on this point, he inquired +after the state of these poor, with marks of fellow-feeling; what wages +they gained: and when I, in my turn, was informed of the wages and price +of bread in his country, and showed him, that though the Englishman +gained more sous, the Frenchman gained more bread, he clearly +apprehended the nature of the case, pitying at the same time those who +had less bread to eat than he had himself. He took leave of us, and +certainly had not the least expectation of a present to make him drink: +that we were strangers,--that we talked his language with +difficulty,--all that would have repelled an English peasant,--excited +his curiosity, and even his good-will. + +We returned to the town, found a commis who expedited our passport in +five minutes, and went to take our places in the Paris diligence. A +woman gave me a receipt for my _arrhes_. I told her it would save +trouble to include my luggage in the same receipt. "When you shall have +sent it, sir," was the answer. A distinguishing character of the French +is exactness; in criticism, in style of writing, in calculation, in +affairs, they are exact. I give my own opinion, not perhaps that of +others. + +It was the first of the Rogation days, which an Anglican may see, in his +book of common-prayer, noted as days of abstinence. M. Marre, profiting +by the neighbourhood of the sea, gave us a very fine turbot, part of a +good dinner, at which appeared some dishes of meat. I paid my bill, +(about fifty francs for three persons during two days,) and took my +departure, but was arrested, in my way to the diligence, in a curious +manner. I had given a franc to a boy for taking my two trunks in a +wheel-barrow a short distance to the coach-office; _Boots_, at an inn in +England, would have been contented with a sixpence; but the _porte-faix_ +of the _douane_ had admonished me of the high expectations from English +wealth and generosity. The father of this boy stopped me in the street; +charged me with having robbed his son by paying only one franc instead +of three, to which he had a right; threatening to take me before the +commissary of police, "who," said he, "will put you in prison." He acted +his part very well; he could not have been more angry, had I in reality +committed an act of injustice towards so dear a part of his family as +this son, dressed, like himself, in a stout jacket of English fustian, +and the heir apparent of all his impudence, who took his share in the +scene by barring the passage to my elder son, not so stout, though +rather taller than himself. I dreaded some act of vivacity on the part +of my son, and called out to him at all events to be quiet. The boy of +the inn, who carried my writing-desk and great coats, had no need of +such a caution. My younger son, now in the first day of his thirteenth +year, though alarmed by the hubbub, had the sense to see that the only +way to get out of the affray was to pay the man, and begged me to do so. +The clock struck five, the hour of the departure of the diligence,--a +circumstance which made compliance with this sage counsel no longer a +matter of choice, and on which the man had calculated with more reason +than on the assistance of the police. After all, the lad was not much +better paid than the _porte-faix_ of the _douane_, who had attacked me +only with the smell of garlic and tobacco, issuing from their mouths +together with bad French. So much for Havre, _ci-devant, de Grace_. + +We found the diligence to be a convenient and even handsome public +carriage, made to hold six persons within, and three in the cabriolet +or covered seat attached to it in front: at first, we had all this space +to ourselves. After about an hour's ride, we got out of the coach to +walk up a steep hill, and took our last leave of the semblance of +English landscape. France and Italy offer no views of luxuriant +pastures, with herds and flocks grazing in them, of trees irregularly +planted, of enclosures unequally distributed, of fine swelling clouds +hanging in the horizon,--themselves a beautiful object, and adding +variety of light and shade to the picture. These we were to exchange for +vines, like bushes, planted in rows, or trained in festoons from one +pollard elm to another; for the pale leaf of the olive, for skies almost +always cloudless, for fields abundant in produce, but without any thing +living or moving in them. But we were as yet unable to make the +comparison. As night came on, we took up other passengers who were going +to a short distance: they were Normans; at least such I judged them to +be from the great breadth of their bases, which took up a considerable +space on the seats of the coach: in manners as well as in form they were +different from Frenchmen; they were not indeed reserved, they had no +_mauvaise honte_, but they were rude and selfish. The French proverb +however says, and it is certainly right, "il y a des honnetes gens +partout, meme en Normandie;"[8] a proverb, cited by way of reprisal for +a saying reported by a Norman; in contempt of the people of Champagne; +"quatre-vingt dix-neuf moutons et un Champenois font cent bonnes +betes."[9] It is curious to find jokes, like our own on Yorkshire +honesty and Gloucestershire ingenuity, repeated in a foreign land. + +To return to the country through which I am passing; the Normans are +said to be very litigious; in proportion to the frequency of the +discussion of questions of _meum_ and _tuum_, are the illegal attempts +at appropriating what belongs to another; an offence which the law calls +theft, and punishes capitally. It seems that, before the Revolution, +this capital punishment was administered at the gallows; a machine of +which our Norman conqueror brought with him perhaps a model into +England,--an excellent subsidiary to the curfew, as lately tried in +Ireland; for our Saxon legislators are recorded to have hung offenders +on trees, but I am ignorant that any proof exists of their having +contrived a gallows. + +The invention of the guillotine was a still further improvement; but, +either from dislike to the shedding of blood, or from attachment to +long-established modes, the Normans are said to have prepared for the +king, on his restoration, a petition, of which here follows a copy:-- + + _Petition adressee par les Normands a S. M. Louis + XVIII. a son Retour en France._ + + Sage Prince! quand tu nous rends + Tous nos anciens usages, + Accepte les hommages + Et comble les voeux des Normands! + Que la potence + Revive en France, + Daigne d'avance + Nous donner l'assurance + Que sous le regne des vertus + Les gibets nous seront rendus; + Heureux Normands! nous serons donc pendus! + Sous un roi debonnaire, + Comme on pendait nos peres!! (bis) + + Oui, les bons Normands vont ravoir + L'antique privilege + D'aller en grand cortege + Danser a la Croix du Trahair;[10] + Nouvelle etude + Nous semble rude, + De l'attitude + Nous avons l'habitude, + Avec le sang de pere en fils + Ce penchant nous etait transmis: + Venez encore orner notre pays + Gibets hereditaires + Ou l'on pendait nos peres!! + +I am sorry I cannot give the notes of the music to which this song or +petition was set, as that doubtless lent to it additional charms in the +ears of His Majesty. + +We arrived at Yvetot: I heard some talk, amongst my companions, +concerning the king of Yvetot, but was unable to obtain from them a +satisfactory explanation of its import. I have since been told, that +there is a family in this neighbourhood, the head of which, by an +immemorial traditionary usage, bore the title of King of Yvetot, with +the consent and approbation of the king of France, which consent was +regularly asked for, on every demise of the crown of Yvetot, and never +refused till the time of Louis XIV: he refused it, however, saying, he +was determined to be the only king in France: since this time the king +of Yvetot has disappeared from among the sovereigns of Europe, or, +according to the form of anathema of republican or imperial France, "has +ceased to reign." The family still subsists, and its chief is, no +doubt, contented to be a private gentleman. I have forgotten his name. + +We breakfasted at Rouen, at five in the morning: I much regretted the +want of time to visit this great city, so well worthy of the curiosity +of strangers. Here our companions left us, and we were again "all alone +by ourselves." + +At Magny they served soup and bouilli as the first part of our dinner, +or _dejeune a la fourchette_: I protested against the use of meat on a +Rogation day. "C'est egal,"[11] said the landlady, an elderly woman of +dry and quiet comportment. "I thought France was a catholic country," +said I. "C'est egal," repeated the imperturbable landlady. She gave us, +however, with some symptoms of approbation of our conduct, and of +compassion for my young fellow-travellers, plenty of coffee and its +accompaniments, with boiled eggs at discretion. I have often been +ridiculed, by those who never dine without roast beef or its equivalent, +for "taking thought what I should eat," on a day of abstinence; they +have told me, that if mortification was my purpose, it would be most +effectually accomplished by dining on bread and water. They forgot, or +chose not to remember, that fasting or abstinence is a _positive_ duty +consequent on a precept, and that it suffices to comply with a precept +to the extent of the precept. I find fault with no one for eating meat +on whatever day of the year, but for so doing in defiance of a precept, +the obligation of which he himself recognizes, while he aggravates his +inconsistency by thinking scorn of those who comply with it. + +An old relation of mine, in Devonshire, told me he went to dine with a +catholic family, in that county, who made an excuse for being obliged to +give him what he would find a bad dinner: "They set me down," said he, +"to eleven dishes of fish, and, d--n 'em, they called that fasting." My +relation was gourmand enough to have preferred eleven dishes of meat. +Besides, none but those who have made the experiment know how insipid +fish is to those who do not eat it, as all men of true taste do eat it, +for variety only. So sensible are catholics of this insipidity, that +one, at whose house I dined with a large party, called out to us on +entering his dining room,--"No fish, gentlemen: we have enough of that +on other days." + +There is another road from Rouen to Paris, called the lower road, +following, at a little distance, the course of the Seine, and exhibiting +a great variety of fine scenery: that taken by our coach passed over a +high plain of land of little fertility, but very well cultivated; it was +in a straight line, and bordered by rows of apple trees, which, for some +time before the season of gathering the fruit for cyder, are guarded in +the night by dogs: during the day, their situation by the side of the +road secures them from all but petty pilfering. At intervals were seen +farm-houses, which seemed adapted for large farms; and the country bore +signs of being occupied on the plan of what is called grand cultivation, +except near the towns, where small patches of land, of different crops, +marked the minute subdivision of property. + +We passed through the village of St. Clair. A very particular +circumstance, which had occurred five months before, caused me to be +much affected, while in sight of this town. My elder son, who sat +opposite to me, remarked the change of my countenance, and asked the +reason: I eluded his question for the present: I was not aware how much +what I then revolved in my mind regarded the fate of this son. St. Clair +was an English priest, who, in the eighth century, retired into the pays +de Vexin, led there an eremitical life, and occupied himself in the +religious instruction of the inhabitants. His name and memory are held +in great honour, particularly in the dioceses of Beauvais and Paris. + +We crossed the bridge of Pontoise without entering that ancient town, in +which the Etats Generaux were sometime held. The building of a bridge +was formerly so great an exploit, and the possession of one an advantage +so uncommon, that the word enters into the composition of many names of +towns: we find even Deuxponts, and Bracebridge. The waters of all the +rivers which fall into the Seine seem to be of the same colour; all +bring with them chalk and clay. The soil of the whole basin, or valley +of the Seine, is generally uniform. + +Paris is hidden, from those who approach it by the road of St. Denis, by +the interposition of Montmartre, a bare hill of no pleasing form. No +increasing populousness or bustle, or passage of exits and entrances, +announces the vicinity of a great town: Paris is all within its own +walls. We were stopt at the gate; for every gate is a douane, as all +provisions pay a tax on entering the city, except bread, corn, and +flour, which receive a premium: even one of my trunks was opened. As the +parts of a town, remote from its centre, are, of course, inhabited by +the poorer classes, it is unreasonable to expect magnificence on the +first entering, even of Paris; but it improved as we proceeded. We +crossed the Boulevards, and were set down at the Messageries, the grand +establishment of all the public carriages, whence we proceeded to the +Hotel de Conti, at a little distance, and near the Palais Royal. We had +performed the whole journey in twenty-five hours, at the rate of about +six miles an hour, all stoppages included. During the night, and where +the road was bad, we went slowly; but from Rouen to Paris we went more +than seven miles and a half an hour, the rate of an English mail coach; +the relays of horses always being in readiness at the door of each +post-house. The expense for three persons, including breakfast and +dinner, was about five pounds. + +A friend, whom I had hastened to see before his departure from Paris, +and who, to my very great satisfaction, prolonged his stay there for +four weeks after my arrival, came to us in the evening: we passed the +next day with him, and on Thursday, after attending mass, on the feast +of the Ascension, at the magnificent Gothic church of St. Eustache, +settled ourselves in an apartment in the Rue de la Chaussee d'Autin, +called otherwise, while Savoy was a department of France, Rue Mont +Blanc, a name not yet entirely forgotten. It is, for length and width, +one of the best in Paris, but very noisy. Garcons, however, did not mind +noise: I too was a garcon, waiting the arrival of the female part of my +family. We had two sitting-rooms with cabinets, and three good beds. The +house supplied us with hot water for our tea; we had our mid-day repast +of fruit; and, when we did not dine at a cafe, which we did but rarely, +were supplied with our dinner by a neighbouring traiteur. Thus we lived +for nearly three months: a French master and drawing-master attended my +sons; I superintended their other studies; and we employed our time in +the attainment of the object immediately within our reach--in becoming +acquainted with Paris and its environs. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[7] Overwhelmed by duties. + +[8] There are honest people every where, even in Normandy. + +[9] Ninety-nine sheep and one native of Champagne make a hundred good +beasts. + +[10] The Tyburn of Paris. + +[11] It is all the same. + + + + +CHAP. III. + + +He, who, on his return to Edinburgh from London, should publish his +remarks on the latter city, would not take more superfluous pains, for +the instruction of his countrymen, than the Englishman who should +publish in England an account of Paris: it is there almost as well known +as London itself. Still it is a foreign city: and many, who would scorn +to take up a London Guide, may, for the hundredth time, amuse themselves +with notices of Paris. + +"Il n'y a qu'une Paris dans le monde,"[12] say the French, and of that +world they consider it as the capital: they are in some measure +justified in so considering it, by the universality of their language, +by the general imitation of their manners, and, above all, by the +liberality with which every thing that a stranger can desire to view is +offered to his inspection. There is certainly a greater resort of +foreigners to Paris, independently of commerce, than to any other city +of Europe. + +I followed the advice of a former tourist, and went, first of all, to +the Place Louis XV. It is almost the only object I have seen in my +travels, that I have heard much praised beforehand, which has not +disappointed me. Perhaps I was thus well contented, because the feeling +of admiration was now, for the first time, excited in the beginning of +my tour in foreign parts; and I pleased myself in expecting a frequent +renewal of it; and I have since admired less, because I have seen more +things to admire. But, to the Place Louis XV. Entering it from the +north, you have the Seine, with its bridge, and the Palais Bourbon +before you; advancing to the middle of the square, you have public +buildings with magnificent colonnades behind you; on the left is the +garden of the Tuilleries, at the end of the central allee of which is +seen the chateau; on the right, the Champs Elysees; and, at the end of +the grand avenue, the triumphal arch, which shared the fate of the +triumphs of its founder, being left incomplete: it has since been +finished in honour of his Royal Highness the Duc d'Angouleme on account +of his Spanish campaign of 1823. A very good taste dictated to Napoleon +the site of this arch; without it the fourth side of this magnificent +square was trees and country only; but the arch seems to enclose the +Champs Elysees, as the Palace encloses the garden of the Tuilleries; the +extent of the _Place_ is increased by making the Champs Elysees appear +as a part of it, and the whole is perfected. The daughter of Louis XVI. +and Marie Antoinette avoids this Place with a pious horror, in which +every honest heart is disposed to sympathise. + +The Museum of the Louvre consists of the lower apartments, in which the +statues are placed, and of the gallery of paintings; but as it has +become usual to call the gallery by the name of the Gallery only, the +lower rooms have retained sole possession of the name of Museum. At the +door may be bought catalogues of the statues and paintings, which enter, +in some cases, into a short detail of their history and merits. The +statues are well placed: one may go round them, and see them on every +side. Common sense directs, that a statue should be placed thus; yet at +Rome, statues, the admiration of the world, are placed in dark cabinets, +in niches, close to the wall; as if statues, like paintings, were to be +seen only on one side: they are thus robbed of half their glory, nay of +all their glory; since, to judge of a statue, it must be contemplated as +a whole. "They order these things better in France." + +It is easy to say, and it has often been said, that the gallery is too +long,--too long, that is, for its breadth: but who would wish it to be +shorter? and as, on each side, there is sufficient distance to allow a +good view of the pictures opposite, it cannot be said to be too narrow +for its use. By two arches, thrown across the ceiling, it seems to be +divided into three compartments; and thus the length is, in some sort, +broken. The paintings of the Italian school have the place of honour, in +the compartment at the end furthest from the door; the French school is, +however, in a most flourishing state, and boasts great names: it will +soon rival, if it does not already rival, the old Italian school; to +surpass it, is, I suppose, impossible. + +This gallery, originally intended as a passage from the Louvre to the +Tuilleries, from the town-house to the country-house of the kings of +France,--is now, with the rooms on the ground-floor, and some large +chambers that have been added, the repository of the finest collection +of monuments of the arts, that is to be found out of Italy. Indeed no +single Italian collection equals it, saving always the reverence due to +certain renowned and incomparable chefs-d'oeuvre. + +The Museum of Natural History, in the Jardin des Plantes, is said to be +the first in the world. That class of society which has but one day in +the week of relief from labour is admitted here as well as at the +Louvre. Sunday is not the day on which the museums are closed; as the +French government has not discovered the wisdom of driving the people +into the cabaret by depriving them of all other amusement on that day. I +have attended on that day at both museums, and have been equally +surprised and pleased in witnessing the behaviour of those who on that +day only have leisure to attend in great numbers. They had not the +pretensions of savans and connoisseurs; though probably there might be +found amongst them their fair proportion of connoisseurs and savans. +There was no crowding or jostling,--not so much as I have sometimes +observed in assemblies of people more fashionably dressed: there was no +noise or clamour; they conducted themselves with the greatest decorum: +in the botanical garden, they kept themselves on the walks and allees +without ever stepping among the plants; they did not even teaze the poor +animals imprisoned in the menagerie. No apprehension seemed to be +entertained by any one that they would injure any object of art or +science. This love of mischief is only excited in the people by the +jealousy or disdain of their superiors, refusing to share with them +pleasures that may, at so cheap a rate, be made common to all. Dr. +Willis used to have some of the persons entrusted to his charge as his +daily guests at dinner: he was asked how he succeeded in making his +patients behave so well at table,--"By treating them as if they were in +their senses." + +The palace of the Luxembourg contains many very fine paintings, the +works chiefly of living authors: its beautiful garden is a source of +health and enjoyment to the inhabitants of this distant quarter of the +city; and this garden, as well as that of the Tuilleries, is open every +day to the public. Even the passage from the Place du Carousel to the +garden, through the chateau, or from the front door to the back door of +the king's palace, is a public thoroughfare; a practice not very +respectful to the king, say some: I say it is a mark of his kindness; +and I hope the people, to reward him for it, and show their gratitude, +will cry "Vive le Roi" whenever his Majesty appears on the balcony. + +The library of the king of France is second only to that of the Vatican, +and superior to the imperial library at Vienna, and to the Bodleian at +Oxford: it is not generally known, even to the English, that this +last-named ranks as the fourth library in Europe. The king of France +gives the use of his library to the public during four hours every day +of the week not a festival, except Thursdays. Persons are in attendance, +who, with an air of civility, as if pleased with the service required of +them, find and present every book that may be asked for; and although +the number of readers is great, the most perfect decorum and silence +prevail. There are five or six other great public libraries at Paris, at +all of which the same accommodation is afforded. The apartment in which +the king's library is kept is handsome, but not sufficiently so, and is +in the midst of other buildings: if a fire should happen, a risk is +incurred of an irreparable loss. When the building, now in construction, +opposite to the Museum of the Louvre, shall be completed, and the Place +du Carousel shall form one vast quadrangle, it is to be hoped that this +building will contain a gallery, like that of the paintings, in which +may be deposited this superb and useful collection of books. With two +palaces united by two such galleries, the king of France will be more +magnificently lodged than any monarch of ancient or modern time: he need +not envy the golden palace of the Caesars: he may even be contented under +the inconvenience consequent on his condescension to the wants of his +people,--of having no place where he can take the air, but that very +balcony, on which I augur to him the continuance of their felicitations. +The Pont Neuf is a fine point of view from which to see the eastern and +southern fronts of this edifice, with the garden and Champs Elysees and +country beyond. + +Of the churches of Paris, the cathedral of Notre Dame may rank with the +cathedral churches of the second order in England. Ste. Genevieve, +sometime the Pantheon, although the inscription, "aux grands hommes la +patrie reconnoissante,"[13] was still legible in 1818, is now restored +to the use for which it was built. The portico is so extremely +beautiful, that the architect was blamed by a pun, not transferable into +English, for having turned all his architecture out of doors,--"mis a la +porte toute son architecture." A greater and more unequivocal fault than +this was committed; it was found necessary to support the dome by a +double thickness of wall within. This church is not equal in grandeur to +St. Paul's, which the little boy called "the church of England;" but the +inside is more beautiful, and would appear larger, (as the pillars do +not occupy so much space,) were it not too short in the part beyond the +dome; shorter than the due proportion of the cross demands. + +A traveller, soon after the restoration, having visited the tombs below +the pavement of this church, and seen the torch, typical of philosophy, +issuing from that of Voltaire,--observed a monument which seemed to him +a new one; he inquired whose it was, and was told by the attendant, +"that of a member of the ancient Senate."--"But," said the traveller, "I +thought this edifice was the place of interment for great men."--"C'est +vrai; mais, en attendant, on y enterre des senateurs."[14] It is not +certain whether this was said in simplicity or in _persiflage_. + +I recommend to the attention of those who visit the church of St. +Sulpice an image or statue of the Blessed Virgin, with the infant +Saviour in her arms, seated on a globe, and surrounded by angels. The +light, from an unseen opening above, falls on the figures in such a +manner, as to give to the whole scene an appearance of animation beyond +what the sculptor, however great his merit, could have produced. There +are other objects in this church worthy of notice. The double portico, or +rather two porticos, one above the other, are much to be admired. I +cannot be persuaded, however, even by the numerous examples of this +practice, that it is not absurd for pillars to support pillars: it seems +as if children were playing at architecture, and trying how high they +could make their building reach. Yet there is nothing childish in these +porticos; they are grand and imposing. + +The gilded dome of the Church of the Invalids, from whatever point it +can be seen, is the ornament of Paris, and it is an ornament because it +is gilded. A dome is, on the outside, an ugly and heavy object to the +view; and therefore gilding, or what is better, architectural ornament, +like that left incomplete at Florence, is well employed on a dome. I +know I have Cicero against me, who speaks in high praise of the dome of +the Capitol. Cicero and the Capitol are great names; but, much as I +venerate that great orator and philosopher, I hope there is no harm in +saying, that I have seen more domes than he had an opportunity of +seeing. I reserve what I have to say on the interior of domes till I +shall arrive at St. Peter's and the Pantheon. The Church of the Invalids +is a very handsome one: I attended military mass there: none but those +who have proved it can judge of the fine effect produced, on such an +occasion, by the military music and ceremonial. + +The Halle aux Bleds is an object very likely to be overlooked by an +elegant traveller. I have heard of a young man of fashion, who, being +requested to call at Child's bank, declared he never had been so far in +the city in his life. In this Halle is deposited the corn and flour +brought for the supply of Paris: it is conveniently situated for the +distribution of this supply, being in the most populous quarter of the +city; but the streets leading to it are narrow; and it has, +unfortunately both for its commercial uses and for the view of it, no +open space around it. It is in form and dimensions exactly like the +Pantheon at Rome, without the portico: no timber is employed in its +construction; it is built entirely of stone and iron; even the doors are +of iron. I know not if I saw it on a gloomy day, or if the sky of Italy +be clearer than that of France, or if the corn and flour sacks hindered +the reflection of the sun; but, though the opening at the top be equally +large, it did not seem to admit so much day-light as that of the +Pantheon. + +Napoleon did much, and projected still more, for the embellishment of +Paris. The pillar in the Place Vendome is superior to those of Trajan +and Antonine in every thing, but in the veneration due to antiquity and +the name of Rome. His son bore the title of King of that ancient capital +of the world; and for him,--for the king of Rome,--was projected a +palace on the right bank of the Seine opposite the Hotel des Invalides, +that from his infancy the view of these _emeriti_ of French valour might +inspire him with an ardour for military exploits, and that these +warriors also might find a part of their recompense in being continually +under the eye of the heir of so much glory. This project has, of course, +been abandoned. Yet why should not the education of the young Henry, the +future heir of the French monarchy, be conducted in the same spirit as +would have been that of the young Napoleon? There exists, indeed, but +too much cause why it should be so conducted, as to form a leader fit to +head the armies and direct the energies of France. A million of bayonets +threaten Europe from the north, and France only can array itself against +them, Russia has already absorbed, within its empire, that great +limitrophe nation which might have been a barrier against its further +progress: its nearest neighbour has a force not more than a third of +that which Russia itself can wield: the first military power of Germany, +Prussia,--a camp rather than a kingdom, a state rather than a +nation,--must continue the voluntary or involuntary ally of Russia: the +rest of Germany is divided into petty sovereignties. Russia has an army, +the half of which is sufficient for its own defence; nay, it is secure +from attack: what then may it do, What will it do, with the other half? +The irruption of the now half-civilised and well-disciplined hordes of +the north, directed by one will, which rules from the Aleutian isles to +the banks of the Vistula, is an event that may take place before the +infant Henry shall have attained the age of manhood: then, instead of +the prospect of the Invalides, he may have that of the "tented field;" +instead of mimic war and reviews on the Champ de Mars, he may join in +real battle for the security of France and the protection of Europe. + +The building which was to have been a monument dedicated to the grand +army, is converted into a church, for which, by its form, it was well +adapted. But, instead of this edifice, a monument has been raised to the +glory of the French warriors, _aere perennius_;--a work in twenty-six +volumes, by a society of military men and men of letters: it is entitled +"Victoires et Conquetes" in very large capitals, "desastres et revers" +in very small capitals, of the French armies, from 1792 to 1815. It is +composed in the spirit of the liberal party, but with great moderation: +it speaks with constant respect of the royal family of France, with +unreserved freedom of Bonaparte, and with severe censure of the faults +of the republican government: its hatred of England is more than +patriotic,--plus quam civilia: it is written in a very respectable +style, itself a history, and forming a collection of materials to be +embodied into future, general, or partial histories of the revolution. +Even "the Great Unknown" himself, than whom no one has a better right to +disprove the assertion of Pindar, that fable delights more than truth, +since so much of what is delightful in fable is of his own creation, and +every one may do what he wills with his own;--even he, who may dispute +with Cervantes, Shakspeare, and Ariosto, the title of "the greatest liar +that ever lived,"--may have recourse to more than the latter half of +these twenty-six volumes, in the composition of that story, in which +every thing shall be true, yet every thing shall be astonishing. It is +superfluous to wish him success: of that he is assured, both by his +subject, and by the novel manner in which it will be handled; but I wish +he would take the trouble of once revising his manuscript before +impression, to correct the blunders of rapid composition. + +I saw the model in plaister of the statue in marble, of an elephant, +which statue was to have been raised upon a high pedestal in the Place +de la Bastille: a staircase, beginning within one of the fore-legs of +the elephant, was to have led to the top of a tower on his back, from +which would have been seen all Paris and its environs: from his +proboscis was to have issued a fountain. The model, I am told, is now +broken in pieces. Perhaps this is fortunate: the elephant might in +future times have answered the purpose, if not of the Bastille, of the +bull of Phalaris: after the pleasant jests we have heard of _la petite +fenetre nationale_,[15] and the _bapteme republicain_[16],--who knows +whether the sovereign people, calling to mind the bull of Phalaris oh +the site of the Bastille, and justifying, according to custom, its own +tyranny by that of others,--might not have amused itself with the +bellowing of an elephant? Despots, of one or many heads, resemble each +other: + + ----facies non omnibus una, + Nee diversa tamen. + +Still it is a pity that the elephant is not to be erected: he would +have been at once a curious and majestic figure; and his absence will +not deprive cruelty, if the disposition to it should unhappily again +exist, of the means of inflicting vengeance. It is always an easy +matter, says the English proverb, to find a stick to beat a dog; and +when one portion of society become dogs to the other and more powerful +portion, of course the dogs must be beaten. + +The model of the elephant drew me into the neighbourhood of the Marais: +this quarter of Paris was once the court end of the town, and Vincennes +was what St. Cloud has since become. The streets of the Marais are much +wider and cleaner, and better built than the other ancient streets of +Paris; and this quarter, with the Place Royale, is well worth visiting, +though seldom visited: it is inhabited by an old-fashioned set of +gentry, who prefer Paris, as a residence, to any country town, but take +no part in its amusements; who go to church, and do not go to the opera; +who persist obstinately in the more ancient mode of dining at one +o'clock; who gave no assistance or encouragement to the revolution, it +may be, because it brought in so many innovations. I am assured that, +during the most tumultuous scenes of that period, the Marais was always +tranquil. Strangers who mean to spend some time in Paris, and who have a +carriage, or can do without one, would do well to establish themselves +in the Marais: they would indeed be at a great distance from their +astonished friends and from the places of amusement, but the line of the +Boulevards would lead them any where. + +The Boulevards are a great, and precious, and a peculiar advantage, +which the city of Paris enjoys above all cities that I have seen or +heard of. This ancient enclosure of the town is now at about half-way +from the Seine to the walls; so much have the Fauxbourgs increased; for +all beyond the Boulevards is called Fauxbourg. Thus, in the midst of +Paris, for the whole of the distance from the bridge of the Jardin des +Plantes to the Place Louis XV. in a line running at first from south to +north, then westward, and then inclining to the south, is found a wide +street, with a broad walk on each side, shaded by two rows of trees. +Here you may walk in safety, without fear of the cabriolets or one-horse +chairs, which, in all the streets of Paris, even on the trottoirs, +endanger life and limb. Here you may see exposed to sale, on tables +niched in between the trees on one side, and between the trees and +houses on the other, all kinds of wares; millinery and bon-bons, +literature and jou-jous, maps, prints, and cutlery. "Voila," says a boy, +flashing in your eyes his string of steel watch-chains, "voila des +chaines superbes."--"Voila le regne de Napoleon," says a moralist, out +of time and place. Here you may find petits gateaux and eau de +groseille, to allay both hunger and thirst; and chairs, for a sous +a-piece, to repose while you refresh yourself. The houses are lofty, and +many have balconies: the shops are well supplied; at every step are +theatres, and spectacles, and cafes, and public gardens and diversions +of every sort: an infinite variety of physiognomy, character, and +occupation is continually flitting before you. It is the most amusing +morning scene of this amusing metropolis. + +Napoleon gave to Paris the bridges of Austerlitz and Jena: the names +have been changed to those of "du Jardin du Roi," and "des Invalides;" +but the benefit remains: thus the extension of the city, at both +extremities, was encouraged, and the value of property increased. Along +the Seine, on both banks, from the one to the other of these bridges, is +a space of the width of a very broad street between the houses and the +river. This too, as well as the Boulevards, is an advantage peculiar to +Paris. In London, to get a view, or a peep at the Thames, you must go to +the ends of the streets at right angles with it: the projected terrace, +when accomplished, will, I hope, form a magnificent answer to this +reproach. At Florence, the _lungarnata_ extends for about one third only +of the course of the Arno through that beautiful city. + +The Hotel-Dieu is in a central situation, more convenient, both for the +patients and their medical attendants, than the sites now often chosen +for such institutions in the precincts of cities. The course of the +Seine supplies it with air and water. An admirable cleanliness is +observed in the wards: even the beds of the patients are free from all +offensive odour. This infirmary is a school of medicine: young surgical +practitioners flock to Paris for instruction. The French have unhappily +had of late so many opportunities of perfecting themselves in this +science, that they are well qualified to give lessons. If honour hath no +skill in surgery, he is obliged to lead in his train many who have. The +Hotel-Dieu is a credit to the country. + +It is very easy to find your way in Paris: between the Seine and the +Boulevards you may always arrive quickly at a point where you may know +whereabouts you are. This is facilitated too by a trifling, but +ingenious arrangement: the streets parallel to the river are +distinguished from those at right angles with it, by inscribing the +names of the one set in black letters on a light ground, and of the +other set in white letters on a black ground. + +The Morgue is an excellently well-contrived establishment. It is a +little building, on the bank of the river, where are deposited the +bodies of persons found drowned or otherwise accidentally slain. These +bodies are laid on an inclined plane, in a space partitioned off by +glass doors and windows, stript of part of their clothes, which are hung +up over their heads. By this simple method, the members of a family, of +whom one is lost or missing, have the means of finding and reclaiming +their own, if there, without inquiry,--without exposing to public remark +a mischance which may be only temporary. Calling here one day, I was +witness to a scene on which the genius of Sterne would have lived and +revelled most sentimentally. The body of a middle-aged man, who, by the +clothes suspended above, appeared to have been a sailor, was laid in its +place to be recognised. After gazing on this sight for some little time, +I was retiring, when I met, at the outer door, an elderly woman +accompanied by a lad of about fourteen years old. Their steps were +hurried: their countenances full of anxiety and terror. "They have +lost," said I, "a son and a father." I waited the event. They advanced +to the window, with what I will call, if the phrase may be allowed, a +precipitate irresolution,--dreading to find what they sought. They +returned consoled, but still dejected: the expression of their faces +said plainly,--"It is not he; but then, where is he?" He was not found +there, yet still he was lost. + +There are several manufactures at Paris worthy of attention. Old renown +led me to the Gobelins: it was not in a state of great activity at this +time, but I saw some works both finished and carrying on, worthy of that +old renown. The process of making this tapestry is exceedingly tedious. +I observed that the workmen, like clock-makers, and printers, and other +_men of letters_, were almost all short-sighted. + +The Palais Royal, as a centre of wealth and dissipation, deserves all +the celebrity it has acquired: it is besides a very handsome quadrangle, +as I once was used to call the interior of buildings of this form: it is +not a square; it would be pedantic to call it a parallelogram, and not +according to usage to call it an oblong. The arches are not wide enough; +and the arcade (the space, I mean, between the arches and the shops,) +is not broad enough. Here is more splendour, but less of variety to be +seen, than on the Boulevards. The shop-keepers are not dearer here than +in other quarters of Paris: the greater number of their transactions +pays their higher rents, though their profits may be only equal to those +of their brethren in trade. I took ice at the Cafe de Mille Colonnes, +and found that, counting shadows or reflections in the mirrors with +which the rooms are lined, the number, though indefinite, may not be +exaggerated. + +The garden is enclosed by iron palisades between the arches: it is +closed in the night, the arcade being still left as a thoroughfare. I +found no reason to avoid passing through it with my elder son, a youth +of seventeen, though I should have been most unwilling to lead him in +the evening into any street in London. When will the police of the +capital of the British empire take shame to themselves? + +The colonnade of the Louvre, which the Gascon said was very much like +the _back_ front of his father's stables, is justly admired. The court I +thought to be too much ornamented, and the ornaments too much +subdivided, and the height of the building within too great for its +extent of area. It is, however, an exceedingly handsome building: I was +glad to see it completed, at least as to the exterior. I was told it had +been nearly two centuries in building. He who had Versailles wanted no +other dwelling. + +I shall be well pleased to have excited the reader's attention to my +remarks also on the curiosities of Paris: at any rate I have not +detained him long. I hope he will not be disinclined to accompany me to +the environs. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[12] There is but one Paris in the world. + +[13] To great men their grateful country. + +[14] That is true; but, in the mean time, they bury senators. + +[15] The little national window--the hole of the guillotine that +receives the neck. + +[16] Republican baptism--drowning people by boatsfull. + + + + +CHAP. IV. + + +The cemetery of Pere la Chaise is on a height commanding a view of Paris +and of the whole extent of country from Vincennes to St. Cloud. Le Pere +la Chaise was confessor to Louis XIV. and sometime proprietor of this +large field, now the burying-ground of a great proportion of the +population of Paris. It is laid out, with due regard to the irregularity +of the ground, in walks and allees; and the care of adorning and +planting is left to the relations and friends of the deceased here +interred. It is adorned with tombs and monuments, some of which display +more taste than is usually brought to such designs: around these tombs +are planted poplars and cypresses, roses and jasmines; and thus the +quarter where the rich are buried, (for even here "the people of quality +flock all together,") has the air of a pretty shrubbery. The price of so +much land as may suffice for one corpse is now three hundred francs, and +the ground, with whatever may be erected upon it, becomes the property +of "heirs and assigns for ever." The money so raised is, I believe, +applied to the maintenance of infirmaries or other public charities. +That part of the cemetery where the poor, or those who do not buy their +graves, are buried, is dug very deep on the occasion of each interment: +the ground is taken up regularly; and it is supposed that the bodies +first buried will be reduced to earth before it shall be necessary to +dig over the same ground a second time. + +Such is, by law, the mode of sepulture throughout France: no one can be +buried in a church, nor even in his own garden or field, unless at a +certain distance from all habitation; and cemeteries, regulated like +that of Pere la Chaise, are every where provided. These burying-grounds +are to be restored to cultivation, wholly or in part, as the case may +require, during the time necessary for the complete rotting of the +bodies beneath; a space of fourteen years, says Hamlet's grave-digger, +for "all but your tanner:" this however must depend more on the nature +of the soil than on the former occupation of the persons deceased; but +Shakspeare is allowed to jest on every subject. + +I will own that the view of the great cemetery of the capital of France +displeased, and even disgusted me; and that the law in regard to this +matter appeared to me a scheme of irreligious legislators for putting +out of sight all that might remind them of death, and for desecrating +church-yards, and for rooting out of the minds of the people their +veneration for ancient usages and consecrated places. An enclosure, +destined to the uses of a church-yard, turned into a flower-garden,--or +a flower-garden, still retaining its finery, turned into a +church-yard;--monuments surmounted, not by the symbol of salvation, but +by vases in which no ashes were contained, and which are absurd in a +place where bodies are not burned, but buried;--inscriptions, which +spoke not of eternity, but were such as if the person beneath had died +without hope or fear,--all this offended me. The provisions of the law +of burial, which does not allow families to repose together even in +death, since each corpse must take its place in the row or line,--this +law, which destroys all sepulchral memorials of families or +individuals,--(for if the land be restored to cultivation the sepulchres +cannot well be preserved,) all this shocked my habitual notions and +ancient prejudices. + +Yet what can be more dangerous to the health of a great city, than that, +in every populous part of it, there should be a small enclosure, +containing, at a little depth under ground, dead bodies in every stage +of putrefaction,--a dunghill of most noxious exhalation, slightly +covered with mould? How much is this danger increased by the contagious, +(I was going to say pestilential, but it is now doubted whether +pestilence be contagious or not,) by the contagious nature of many +diseases! What can be more indecent, and at the same time dangerous, +than that, at the digging of a grave, bodies should be disturbed before +they are assimilated to the dust to which they are committed, and that +skulls and other bones should be thrown out for play-things to +thoughtless children? Such things I have seen, and so has every man who +has been present at the digging of a grave in any town in England; such +things are even represented on the stage, to the disgrace of our +national character, for the sake of the grave-diggers' puns, and an +ingenious moralizing on the skull of Yorick. Custom reconciles us to +things in themselves most shocking. Medea might have slain her children +_coram populo_, if the people had been used to it. They _were_ used to +gladiators. + +Yet custom will not prevent infection: we ought, in spite of custom, to +be sensible of the indecency of our mode of interment, and of the risk +we run by heaping our dead on each other in a narrow boundary, yearly +encroached upon by the altar-tombs of the wealthy, and rendered still +narrower by a predilection, foolish as it may seem, for the sunny side +of the church-yard. How then are the dead to be disposed of? a question +to my mind more difficult to answer than "how are the dead raised up?" + +In populous cities,--a situation unfavourable to human life,--of thirty +persons, one dies yearly: each individual requires for his grave two +square yards of earth; grown persons rather more, as every grave ought +to be separated from that nearest to it; and children will require less +than two square yards; but upon an average, a population of seventy-two +thousand six hundred souls, or more properly on this occasion, bodies, +will cover with their dead, in the space of one year, an acre of land. +The dead of the city of Paris in fourteen years,--Shakspeare's period +for entire decomposition,--would take up a hundred and forty acres. If +cemeteries are not restored to cultivation, the dead, after a few +generations, will starve the living; at least it must be borne in mind +that cemeteries, near great towns, must be allotted in situations where +land is most valuable. Unwillingly I abandon all my prepossessions in +favour of holy ground and other "circumstance" of christian burial. The +dead ought not to be carried into the church before interment: that +practice is still allowed in France, but ought, for obvious reasons, to +be suppressed: the coffin ought to have no lid or cover; thus the +compression of the ascending vapour will be more complete, and the +assimilation of the body to the surrounding mould will not be retarded: +if the horrible accident of burying any one alive should unhappily +occur, at the least, that which most aggravates the horror of such a +misfortune,--the lingering torments of the interred,--are prevented: +portions of land ought to be appropriated, in the neighbourhood of great +cities, to the uses of sepulture and cultivation successively: lastly, +the rich ought to be contented with cenotaphs and inscriptions to their +memory on the walls and pavements of churches, while masses and other +commemorations may be celebrated in the presence of catafalques. + +The catacombs are, or is, (for I have forgotten my English grammar,) one +of the _lions_ of the environs of Paris; and such a _lion_! Let the word +"lumen" mean "life," and call it "monstrum horrendum, informe, ingens, +cui lumen ademptum." When the Cimetiere du Pere la Chaise was +substituted for church-yards, out of these latter, now to be applied to +secular uses, were dug the human bones that were found in laying the +foundations of buildings: these bones were carried to certain stone +quarries, now no longer worked, a little to the south of Paris. So far, +so good: but it came into the heads of the managers of this affair to +make a pretty thing of it: on the sides of the passages of the quarry, +and in the wider spaces, they ranged these bones in squares and circles, +and wheels and stars; a skull in the middle, and rays of thighbones, +brachia, and lacerti; of the ossa, ilium, ischium, and coccygis,--there +was no os _sacrum_,--they made obelisks and pyramids; and this "region +of horror,"--these "doleful shades,"--under the abused name of the +catacombs, attract the idle and curious traveller to see by what +fantastic devices that which is most respectable and venerable to +humanity and to faith can be tricked out into raree-show. This place +cannot be visited without inconvenience: it were to be wished, as in the +case of the opera tune, that, instead of difficulty, there might be +impossibility: it is excessively damp; moisture issues from above, +though on the sides it is hidden by the choice tapestry with which they +are decorated; but the ground is slippery; each person gropes along with +a wax taper in his hand, sometimes obliged to curve himself. It is some +consolation, at length, to find here an altar, on which, once in the +year, on All Souls' Day, a _missa pro defunctis_ is said. I trust in +the good taste, if not in the piety of the French people, so far, as to +hope that this altar will be set up in a chapel above-ground, and that +the catacombs will be filled with earth, and closed till the +consummation of all things. + +The cimetiere and the catacombs are, strictly speaking, in the environs +of Paris, being without the walls. I made however with my sons several +excursions to places in the neighbourhood, setting out in the morning, +passing the day at the place of our visit, and returning in the cool of +the evening. Mrs. ----, and my daughters, who had remained in England +for the purpose of spending some time with her relations before quitting +the country, arrived at Paris, under the conduct of one of her brothers, +towards the middle of July,--in fact, as it happened, on the memorable +fourteenth. I took an apartment for a month in the Rue Neuve des +Mathurins, and during that month also we made excursions. I shall make a +few observations on what I saw; and "first with the first," the pride of +Louis XIV and of France, the deserted palace or chateau of Versailles. + +It is rather a handsome and extensive building, than a monument to the +glory of a great king and a great nation. The front toward Paris, +composed in part of some corps-de-logis of the ancient hunting-seat of +Louis XIII. is irregular, and this grande cour, (and a grand court it +certainly is,) does not form a whole. The approach to the garden front +is through a passage, and to take a view of this front one must first go +away from it. At the edge of the terrace one does not see the wings, +which recede, and form a line with the back of this part of the palace: +below the steps of the terrace, the lower part of the building is hidden +by the intervening ground. This inversion of the wings has not the +effect of breaking the too great length of the building: it is said to +have been the project of Napoleon to erect a magnificent colonnade or +portico in front of that part which stands forward on the terrace; thus +the wings, if such they may be called, would be thrown into the back +ground: for this they are indeed too handsome; but in the back ground +they have been placed by the plan of Louis XIV. One would suppose that +they retire to form, on the other side, a part of the eastern front; but +they are not even seen from the grand court. The architectural ornaments +of the garden facade are not many; slight Corinthian pilasters only; the +entrance, even, is what may be called a garden door, hardly +distinguishable from the other windows of the ground floor. + +The staircase is handsome, but not sufficiently so for that to which it +leads. I shall not pretend to describe the suite of state apartments. +One wonders that men of five feet and some inches high should build, for +their own use, rooms so disproportionate to their stature. The chamber +in which Louis XIV. died is amongst the largest of these rooms: from its +windows are seen the three avenues, called _la patte de corbeau_, or of +some other bird: the ends of these avenues are not near enough to the +palace; a defect easily to be supplied. This chamber, the central one of +the grande cour, remained unoccupied, in token of respect for the memory +of that great monarch, who rendered null the efforts of a powerful +coalition against him, put his grandson in quiet possession of Spain and +the Indies, carried the frontier of France to the Rhine, made all Europe +begin to learn French, and exemplified the truth of William of Wykeham's +motto,--"manners maketh man." + +When I saw the palace of Versailles, it was unfurnished; they were +renewing the gilding, and repairing the damages of revolution and +neglect. The celebrated gallery runs the whole length of the central +part of the garden front. The side opposite the windows is panelled with +mirrors in a manner exactly resembling the old wainscot which I remember +in my youth, and which has now given place to stucco, silk, and paper. +What splendid scenes have these mirrors reflected! and all that was then +so glorious is now as unsubstantial as the shadowed form. + +The chapel is such an one as may be expected in such a palace. The seat +of the royal family is in what is called the tribune, which is entered +from the state apartments, and is at the height of half the chapel from +the pavement, looking down on the altar at the opposite end. In all the +royal chapels, the place of the king is thus situated, thus elevated +above the altar. Of this I cannot approve: let me quote a story which +will explain my meaning. King George III. sent, as a present to the +Emperor of China, a handsome town-built chariot. On board the vessel +which conveyed it, (it was packed up in separate pieces) a mandarin +attended, to see it mounted and put together, that he might inform +himself of the uses of the several parts.--He readily understood all the +rest; but the two seats, the one within, and the coachman's seat, +covered, of course, with a superb hammer-cloth, perplexed him. "For whom +is that seat?" said he, pointing to the inside of the carriage. He was +told that it was for the Emperor. "And that?" pointing to the +coach-box. "For the man who guides the horses." "Do you think," said he, +with a sudden burst of indignation, "that our glorious sovereign, the +son of the sun, &c. &c. will allow any one to be placed higher than +himself?" + +From the southern end of the terrace is seen the orangery below, +sheltered from the north by the terrace, and the southern end of the +central part of the palace; and from the east by that wing in which are +the _petits appartements_. Oranges, in this climate, endure the open air +during five months in the year: those of the Tuilleries had already +taken their station in the garden when I arrived at Paris, in the end of +April. It is said that Louis XIV. received a Turkish ambassador at a +first audience in this orangery. This envoy having learned at Paris that +Versailles was a most magnificent palace, and at the Sublime Porte that +flattery was a most important part of his trade, began to offer to the +king his prepared compliments. The king quietly allowed him to proceed +and finish; and then taking him on the terrace, and into the state +rooms, enjoyed his surprise, mingled, as may be supposed, with some +confusion, at having repeated his lesson rather too soon. + +The formal arrangement and straight lines of the garden have, of course, +been blamed by those who, according to the present English taste, wish +every thing in this kind to be tortured into irregularity. I do not +desire that the trees should be clipt, but sympathize rather with the +old duchess, who said it made her melancholy to see so many millions of +leaves, not one of which was permitted to grow as it pleased. But a +garden near a house ought to partake of the regularity of the building; +and the house ought not to look, according to the ingenious expression +of the author of Waverly, as if it had walked out of the town, and found +its place in the fields by chance. The grand central walk leads down to +the water-works, which are, doubtless, very fine, when the water spouts +forth from the shells of tritons and the mouths of dolphins. On each +side of this allee, are bowers and bosquets, statues and fountains, +vases and beds of flowers. Turning to the right, through avenues of +well-grown, unclipt trees, one arrives at the Grand and Petit +Trianon,--two very pretty country-seats, at which grandeur was pleased +to escape from itself. In the Jardin Anglois, the good taste of Marie +Antoinette has shown itself superior to rules for avoiding rule, and +planned all according to the advantages of the site. + +The view of the country from Versailles is pleasing: but how was it +possible for him, who had the choice of this spot or of St. Germains for +his purpose, to choose the former? I will not believe the reason that +from the latter are seen the towers of St. Denis: his piety, or, if not +his piety, that force by which most men are unhappily but too well +enabled to shut their eyes on death, and all that may remind them of it, +would have surmounted this objection. A superbly-elevated natural +terrace, with a wide and varied prospect; the Seine, here a lordly +stream; an extensive forest abounding with game; a proud height, from +which his palace would have shown majestically to the country +around;--all these advantages, not one of which is possessed by +Versailles, ought to have induced Louis XIV. to prefer St. Germains. The +only unpleasing feature in the view from the terrace is the aqueduct, +made to carry to Versailles the water of the Seine raised by the machine +of Marly. Certainly he who can command money can command labour; and +labour can erect a series of arches on the side of a high hill. Let this +fault be redeemed by the canal of Languedoc. + +The handsome tower-like chateau of St. Germains, when I saw it, was used +as a caserne: the chapel was filled with military stores. We entered the +apartment in which our James II. lived and died an exile, chased from +his house and home by his son-in-law. History records many deeds more +atrocious, but none more disgraceful, than this violation of family +confidence,--of the pledge of good faith given and received. But, what +is more disgraceful still, the English nation, besotted by prejudices, +sees nothing disgraceful in the transaction. + +The palace of St. Cloud is an agreeable, and, according to the favourite +English phrase, a comfortable habitation, splendidly, but not too richly +furnished. The salle-a-manger particularly attracted my notice, being +the first good specimen I had seen of a French dining-room. It is a room +large enough for about forty persons to dine in it conveniently. A round +table of mahogany, or coloured like mahogany, one fauteuil, and half a +dozen chairs, seemingly not belonging to this room, but brought from +another, standing round the table on a mat which went underneath it; a +chandelier, or lustre, hanging over the tables;--such, with a few +articles for the use of the attendants, was the furniture of the room. +Instead of a sideboard, a painted shelf went round the room at about +four feet from the floor. On one of the panes of the window, a +thermometer, with the scale marked on glass, was fixed on the outside: +thus the temperature of the outer air might be known without opening +the casement. + +An English family of moderate fortune lives very much in the +dining-room: a French family would as soon think of sitting in the +kitchen as in the salle-a-manger at any other than eating hours. The +English think it marvellous that a French lady should receive visits in +her bed-room; but to this bed-room is annexed a cabinet; which conceals +all objects that ought to be put out of sight: the bed is either hidden +by the drapery, or covered by a handsome counterpane, with a _traversin_ +or bolster at each end, which, as it is placed lengthways against the +wall, the two ends resembling each other in the woodwork also, gives it, +during the day-time, the appearance of a couch. + +The park of St. Cloud is not a park in the English sense of the word; it +is a pretty pleasure-ground, with great variety of surface. If King +George III. had been as much accustomed to the continental notion of a +park as the king his grandfather probably was, he would not have +expressed so much surprise, when, on his visit to Magdalen College, +Oxford, he was asked if he would be pleased to see the park. "Park! +what, have you got a park?"--"We call it a park, sir, because there are +deer in it."--"Deer! How big is it?"--"Nine acres, an it please your +Majesty."--"Well, well, I must go and see a park of nine acres: let us +go and see a park of nine acres." + +From the elevated ground of the park of St. Cloud, where the lantern +rears its head, Paris is seen over an extent of flat and marshy ground, +over which the Seine winds with as many evolutions and curvatures as a +serpent. The fable of the sun and the wind contending which of them +could first induce a traveller to quit his cloak, might be paralleled by +one invented on the sinuosity of rivers in plain countries. Let nature +oppose rocks and mountains, the river holds on its way by torrent and by +cataract: arrived at a level country, it seems to amuse itself by delay. +If it were told, at an English gaming club, that the mountain and the +plain had engaged in a contest, which of them should most effectually +divert the course of a river from its direct line to the ocean, the odds +would, most likely, be in favour of the mountain. But the result is +otherwise. + +The road from Paris to St. Germains en Laye is the most varied and +agreeable of any in the environs. From the avenue and bridge of Neuilly +it passes by Mont Valerien, a finely-wooded hill; through Nanterre, the +birth-place of Ste. Genevieve, patroness of Paris; near Malmaison, the +last abode of Napoleon in France; by Marly, where all is beautiful +except the aqueduct. There is a steam-engine to raise the water, and +pipes to conduct it, which workmen were repairing. We clambered up by +the side of the pipes, at every step induced to mount higher by the +beauties of the prospect, the same as that from the terrace of St. +Germains. It reminded me of the view from Richmond Hill, but it is +bolder and more romantic; and the Seine, being nearer to the hill than +the Thames at Richmond, appears an equally important feature in the +landscape. + +One of the roads to St. Cloud passes through the Bois de Boulogne: this +wood was much injured while the allied armies remained in the +neighbourhood of Paris: young trees had been planted, and appeared +thriving. Let us hope that a long, a very long peace, may obliterate all +traces of a war which desolated all Europe, and more than Europe, for a +quarter of a century. Indeed, I cannot help agreeing in the wish +expressed by one of the common people, in answer to another who +congratulated him on the good news of the peace of Amiens:--"Ay," said +the first, "I wish we may never have such good news again." A third +cried out, "D--n your jacobin eyes, what do you mean by that?" The +congratulator explained, "Why, doesn't see, that, for us to have good +news of peace again, we must first have war again? and he wishes we may +never have another war." The wish, it seems, was then a symptom of +jacobinism; but in the present day, it must be considered as laudable to +join in it, as I do most cordially, since it is the end proposed by the +Holy Alliance. + +At Meudon, is a very pretty palace, from the terrace of which the eye +looks down on a beautiful ravine, and then traverses the plain which is +seen from the park of St. Cloud. While my sons and I were loitering on +the bridge of this latter place, the daughter of Louis XVI. passed by on +horseback. She returned our salute by an inclination of the body, while +the principal person in attendance (a general officer he seemed to be,) +took off his hat, as Dr. ---- said, determinately. Three years only +after the restoration, to see this princess for the first time was an +interesting occurrence; and I certainly regarded her with a very +different feeling from that of the Parisian, who, on her entrance into +the capital, after five and twenty years of suffering and exile, showed +what he was _not_ thinking of, by exclaiming, "Comme son chapeau est +petit!"[17] + +We returned to the restaurateur's to dine; and, passing the bridge in +the evening, saw the water works play in honour of the arrival of the +king; a sheet of water thrown down artificial rocks; a pretty play-thing +enough. + +We saw at Sevre a most splendid collection of china, for the greatest +part ornamental. Every one has seen some of this china, but it is well +worth while to see it _en masse_ in a great quantity at this repository. +The working part of the manufacture was not opened to us; as I had not +been aware that, for this purpose, it was necessary to be fortified, +_muni_, with a permission of the director. If I translate _muni_ by +_fortified_, it is in the sense of the Englishman, who being invited to +be present at a mass, "assister a une messe,"--asked what it was +expected of him to _do_ there. + +We went to St. Ouen, celebrated by Madame de Staeel as the birth-place of +the revolution and of the _charte_; and thence, along the bank of the +Seine, to the port of St. Denis,--the point, that is on the river, +towards which one of the streets of the town extends itself. It is a +small _bourg_; but the seat of a sous-prefecture. On the abolition of +royalty, the ashes of the kings of France, who for many ages had been +interred in the church of St. Denis, were dug up and thrown to the +winds: they were punished for the crime of having been kings, as +Cromwell was punished for having been an usurper. Royalty was called an +usurpation on the sovereign people. The roof of the church was stripped +of its lead to be melted into bullets for the use of the armies, and the +windows were broken for no use at all. The building was thus left +exposed to all the injuries of the seasons, till that great +counter-revolutionist Napoleon undertook to repair it as a burial-place +for the monarchs of "the fourth dynasty,"--a phrase by which he +ingeniously reminded the French that, as the race of Capet was not the +first, it had no imprescriptible right to be the last race of their +sovereigns. The force of this argument prevailed, while maintained by +the argument of force. The audacious _roturier_ who had seized on the +sceptre of royalty, like the daring mortal who stole fire from heaven, +was chained on a barren rock, with vultures,--their prey a fallen great +man,--to gnaw his entrails: on this rock he found his grave. The +reparations of the church of St. Denis, continued by order of the king, +were, at this time, nearly completed. Some remains of the bodies of +Louis XVI. and his queen, rescued from the unseemly sepulture to which +infuriated republicanism had consigned them, had been here honourably +deposited. We had seen the mortal spoil of the brave Prince de Conde +lying in state at the Palais Bourbon; it had here also found its place. +The church resembles that of Notre Dame; it is not so large, but +proportionably loftier; and the pillars, with the whole of the +architecture, are lighter. + +Sceaux is a small town, six miles to the south of Paris, situated on a +ridge commanding a fine view to the south and north. It is, as well as +St. Denis, the seat of a sous-prefecture. Hither the Parisians resort +during summer on Sundays to dance under arbours in gardens, and enjoy +other sports, with the zest of those who have been "long in populous +cities pent." + +James I. issued an ordinance in favour of Sunday sports: Charles I. +renewed it: the spirit of those who observe no festival but Sunday, and +who keep Sunday like a fast, prevails in England. Such persons will +hardly think it a sufficient set-off against the enormities of the +amusements of Sceaux, that, during four months residence at Paris, I did +not see one drunken man, not even on a Sunday. + +The chateau of Vincennes is an ancient feudal castle with modern +additions: it has a chace before it, an extensive open space left for +military exercises and sports of chivalry, and to prevent surprise from +an enemy, who might, under the shadow of a wood, have approached too +near without being discovered. In the moat, surrounding the castle, the +Duc d'Enghien was put to death. Every one must lament the early fate of +this prince, and the extinction of an illustrious house. The duke +perished for having done or attempted to do what he thought to be his +duty, and Bonaparte, in causing him to suffer death, regarded himself as +acting according to his own. He is said to have declared at St. Helena +that, were the deed to be done again, he would do it. The "greenest +usurpation," to use a phrase of Burke's, has never scrupled to inflict +capital punishment on those who endeavoured its overthrow. In the +beginning of the reign of William III. a man was guilty of intending the +death of the king; and having nothing to plead in his defence except the +defect, according to his reasoning, of the king's title, and that +"murderare" was bad Latin,--both which pleas were considered as equally +valid by the court,--received the sentence of a traitor. But some time +must elapse ere the conduct of Bonaparte be judged by principles applied +to that of other men. + +Seventeen years ago, I entertained the design of writing the history of +the French revolution, which then appeared to be terminated by the +assumption of the imperial title by Bonaparte: a counter-revolution was +in reality effected; all was reversed that had been done during the +revolution; republican principles,--the very name of republic,--was +extinguished, and, as a Frenchman well expressed himself, "a la chute de +Bonaparte les Bourbons n'avoient qu' a monter le trone tout dresse."[18] +I was told it was too soon to write the history of so stormy a period. +Yet Thucydides, Tacitus, Davila, Clarendon, were contemporary with the +times of which they wrote. It was not too soon, at the time of +Bonaparte's elevation, to write with impartiality, as I was disposed to +do, the history of the preceding events, but it was too soon for readers +to judge without passion. + +In the chateau is a small room, hung with black, with an altar, on +which, by the care of the family of Conde, masses are said for the +repose of the soul of their unfortunate relative; and some military +accoutrements, said to have been his, are shown to strangers whom +sympathy may render credulous. He desired to have the assistance of a +priest before the execution of the sentence of the commission. "Veux-tu +mourir en capucin?"[19] is said to have been the answer. I pass over all +other obvious reflections on this circumstance, to remark that it +implied an eulogy on the Capucins, which, from all that I have seen and +know of them, they well deserve. Brutus and Cassius were called the last +of Romans; the Capucins may perhaps be the last of Christians. + +The bottom of the fosse is flat, about twelve feet broad: a wall, of the +height of a man, supports the earth of the outer side: the spot, where +the execution took place, was pointed out to us. The sign of the cross +fortified him in the absence of that other spiritual succour which had +been refused to him. + +In front of the castle is shown an oak under which Saint Louis was wont +to sit. The title of saint was given to this king _honoris causa_: in +his time it was honourable; at the present day, the recollection of his +valour, probity, piety, disinterestedness, and great talents is +necessary to rescue Louis IX. from the ridicule of having been a saint +and a crusader. The fashion of this world passeth away: religion would +have passed away with it, had it depended on the fashion of this world. +Veritas Domini manet in aeternum. Let those, who now wish to maintain it, +remember that it is not truth because useful, but useful because truth. + +Forty years ago, who could return into the country, after having made +the visit of a countryman to London, without having seen Bedlam? I was +contented with the view of the two admirable statues of furious and +melancholy madness at the entrance of the court. I went to Charenton +without seeing the Maison des Fous. Such an asylum ought not to be an +object of passing curiosity: there may be among the patients some who +are amused by visits, but there are others who are very much afflicted +by them. Besides, my sons were with me: it requires long experience and +observation of the miseries of human life to harden the mind to the +endurance of such a scene as a mad-house presents. Terror and pity have +sometimes too strong an influence on young imaginations, when excited by +theatric exhibition of fictitious woe; how much more when called forth +by the sight of real misery such as this,--of man in his lowest state of +degradation and wretchedness! + +We made our remarks on the confluence of the Seine and Marne: the latter +is by far the more rapid river of the two, and, though not quite so +broad, seems to bear along a greater quantity of water. It flows, for +some distance, in the same bed with the river in which its independent +existence is merged, and its name lost, without mingling with it, as if +resenting the injustice of its own lot. This appearance I afterwards +looked for in vain at the junction of the Rhone and Saoene, though it is +recorded, if I mistake not, by classical authority. The Saoene has no +pretension to an equality with the Rhone, and ought quietly to submit to +its fate. + +On the day of my departure from Paris, I attended mass in the chapel of +the Palace of the Tuilleries. This is one of the sights that the English +go to gaze at, it being new to them not only in deed, but in thought; +and even "Augusto mense," there was great resort of them. To me it +appeared nothing wonderful that the Most Christian King should assist at +mass; that, supported by his attendants on account of his great bulk, he +should place himself on his knees, and his guards present arms, at the +moment of the elevation of the host. Monsieur, now Charles X. and other +members of the royal family, passed through the room in which we were, +in their way to the tribune of the king. + +Before I leave Paris, I must indulge in a few remarks on the spirit of +the times, and the state of the public mind at this epoch. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[17] What a little hat! + +[18] At the fall of Bonaparte the Bourbons had only to mount the throne +that had been set up again. + +[19] Dost thou want to die like a capucin? + + + + +CHAP. V. + + +O Fortunatos nimium! O too fortunate those who visited Paris in the year +1814! They knew not however their own advantage, as they foresaw not the +events of the following year, and all the changes consequent on those +events. The pictures and statues of the Louvre were sent back in 1815 to +the countries which had produced them, where, says an enthusiast for +Italy, it is more natural to see them: just as a whig chancellor of the +exchequer said that ten per cent was the natural limit of the income +tax. Venus and the Graces fled to climes resembling those of Paphos and +Cythera; Apollo and Laocoeon went to be shut up in dark closets at Rome; +the horses of St. Mark galloped off to Venice, leaving the beautiful +arch, constructed by Napoleon as a pedestal for this trophy of his +victories, to be a misplaced entrance to an iron palisade. + +But this was not all, nor the worst: it even served the English as an +excuse, though a superfluous one, for travelling further from home: the +spirit of the French people was changed, both in regard to foreigners, +and towards each other. + +In 1818, I found it to be pretty generally believed in France, that the +English government contrived and connived at the return of Napoleon from +Elba, as an expedient for dividing, weakening, humbling, and despoiling +a rival nation. It was in vain that I argued, that the experiment was +too hazardous a one to have been ventured upon; that the imperial +government was implacably hostile to England, while the royal government +was, for the present at least, friendly, and likely to continue so; that +the English people were overwhelmed by a load of debt and taxation, and +needed repose after so long a war; that, had the battle of Waterloo been +lost, they were very ill disposed for the struggle that must have +ensued. + +I was answered point by point; that, happen what might as to the success +or discomfiture of Napoleon, England was secure, fearing no invasion so +long as France had no marine; that it was the rival of France under +whatever government; that, spite of its debt, it would find means to +hire the troops of the continent; that, had the Prussians not come up in +time to gain the battle of Mont St. Jean, the Austrians and Russians +would have arrived shortly after, and the whole force of Europe would +have been set in array. + +Before the "hundred days," all that had happened from 1789 was +considered as the result of a concatenation of circumstances neither to +be foreseen nor controlled;--as a visitation of Providence, a fatality, +a delirium. This explanation had been given and received between the +restored government and individuals, and by individuals amongst each +other: all things proceeded towards union and amnesty. But during the +"cent jours," the medal was reversed: many were compelled or persuaded, +or joyfully availed themselves of the occasion to manifest opinions and +engage in acts contrary to royalty: jacobinism or republicanism, which +Napoleon in the vigour of his sway had stifled, began again to take +breath during his short and fleeting apparition; so that the second +restoration of the king found the people in every town, in every +society, divided and discordant. + +After the battle, which it was unkind and unjust to refuse to call by +the name of "La Belle Alliance;"--after this battle, in which so many +thousand human beings lost their lives,--the French submitted to +sacrifices, galling to every man of every party among them; for in +France it is permitted to every man to be a patriot. Their +frontier-line was remeasured in a manner unfavourable to them, in a +sense contrary to that in which it had been marked out the year before: +then all that was enclave was ceded to them; now, whatever stretched out +into the neighbouring territory was taken from them; some fortresses +were abandoned; others were to be temporarily occupied by allied forces, +for whose sustenance the French paid what they regarded as enormous +sums: "the spoils of victory," and such they really were, at the Louvre, +were yielded up. + +Let any Englishman suppose what would be his own feelings were such +treatment dealt out to England by a hostile country; and how much the +soreness of his mind would be irritated, if he imagined, (whether truly +or falsely imports not,) that these evils were the result of the +machinations of the government of that country. He would think the +display of a little ill-humour towards individuals of that country to be +very natural at least, if not very reasonable. I was therefore not much +surprised nor offended by the "civil god-dems," with which we were +occasionally saluted at Paris. At Auxerre, I overheard a god-dem which +rather amused me. My younger son had placed a table on the balcony, and +was drawing a view of the church. "Voila un petit god-dem qui +dessine,"[20] said they: this might even have been good-naturedly meant. +At Chalons-sur-Saone, as we walked in the evening by the side of the +river, we were greeted by hisses, low and suppressed, but still audible +hisses. At Lyons, some soldiers, contrary to the rule of military +discipline, (for they were marching in their ranks,) and contrary to the +gallantry of the military profession, cried out "a bas les Anglois." +From several instances of resiliency, coldness, and alienation, +inconsistent with the genius of the people, and their well-known +politeness, it was evident that the spirit of enmity was not yet +subsided. + +The practice of barter is not so well understood in France as in +England. A French shop-keeper, (many of them at least, though the number +of such is, I believe, daily diminishing,) proposes to himself to gain, +not a certain profit on each article, but as much as he can obtain, the +wealth, ignorance, and other circumstances of the customer taken into +consideration. A French gentleman, or, rather let us put the case, a +French lady, after beating down the price of an object for half an hour, +will, as a last effort, leave the shop; and, if this valedictory +demonstration does not succeed, will return in the course of the morning +to complete her purchase, in a renewed treaty, of which the basis is the +price last named: if, by these manoeuvres, a few francs are saved, the +morning has been well employed. If the French thus bargain amongst +themselves, it may easily be imagined how they would treat, in money +matters, with the English, supposed to be indefinitely rich, coming +from a country where prices were, during the currency of paper money, +higher than in France, ignorant of French prices, and affording an +occasion of political revenge. + +I really believe that, in many instances, the gratification of this +passion was an incitement to overcharging, stronger even than private +interest. At any rate, during the first years of peace, the English are +said to have thrown their money out of the window: I knew one of them at +Avignon who did so literally. They paid English prices and gave English +gratifications; sometimes they paid more than was demanded, as they +said, for the honour of old England: having deposited a certain sum with +a banker, if the sum was spent sooner than they expected, they had only +to return home so much the sooner; like the young Oxonian, who being +asked how long he should stay in town, answered "twenty pounds." + +The French, who had any thing to dispose of for money naturally wished +to profit by this disposition of the English, which they flatteringly +termed generosity; and to have the advantage of the highest prices which +these latter were willing to give: but, at this time, these prices were +unknown and unsettled, and every affair of bargain and sale rose into a +contest. "Quel est _votre_ prix, Monsieur?"[21] said one, of whom I was +buying a parasol. The Parisian shop-keepers, when they saw an +Englishman, nodded, and cried, "Speculation." "On ne dit plus god-dem, +on dit speculation,"[22] said my informant. "As you are an Englishman, +you ought to pay double," said one, whose opinion was asked on occasion +of an over-charge. My voiturier, who, for a certain sum, paid my +expenses on the road, told me that he would do this for a German family +for half the money. "The inn-keepers set no bounds to their charges," +said he, "when they know you to be English;" muttering besides some +words, from which I inferred the hostile mind above-mentioned. + +_La jeunesse Francaise_ (so the young men of an age for military service +affected to call themselves, as if they were a corps apart,) seemed +still to breathe war and defiance, and to endeavour by fierceness of +look to make up for the want of cockades and epaulettes. An especial +ordinance was required to prevent all who were not officers in the army +from wearing moustaches. These symptoms of a warlike temper were not +pleasing to a peaceful visitant. The whole French nation was, at this +time, discontented; and it was evident that some years must pass away +before it could resume that amenity of manners which rendered it +heretofore the delight of strangers. All parties were discontented. + +The prudent and conciliatory conduct of the king displeased the +royalists. The emigrants said, that the restoration was to them no +restoration, since they had lost their estates; and they complained +bitterly of that provision by which the purchasers of the national +domains were confirmed in their possessions: had nothing been said on +this matter,--had silence been observed on a subject on which themselves +only had a right to speak,--a great part of the lands confiscated +during the revolution would have been restored unconditionally, or on +terms of easy compromise, to the ancient titulars. The clause by which, +as the emigrants said, their estates were thus a second time given away +without their consent or avowal, was reported to have been of +ecclesiastical suggestion. It would be unfair to suppose any man, least +of all an ecclesiastic, capable of deriving an uncharitable consolation +from having companions in misfortune; but it is remarkable, that no +mention was ever made of the restitution of ecclesiastical property. It +"died and made no sign." The French clergy endured this spoliation with +the patience of Christians and the good humour of Frenchmen, as every +one can witness who knew them in their emigration: but, on their return +home, they found their appointments inadequate to their services and to +the augmented price of the necessaries of life. + +That Napoleon should descend from the throne when he could no longer +maintain himself upon it,--that France should re-enter within her former +limits,--that what was gained by victory should be lost by defeat;--all +this was in order. But military glory had consoled many for the loss of +liberty and republican forms,--synonymes in their vocabulary: though +they needed not to go very far back in history to discover that they +did not always subsist together. Of military glory Napoleon had obtained +for the French more, beyond all comparison, than was ever gained by any +people within an equal number of years. Possessed of absolute power over +a great empire, he had used the means, at his disposal, of drawing to +himself many adherents,--of founding the fortunes of many. Frequent +suicides took place, after his fall, of persons whose hopes were ruined +by that event. Some of these chose, in preference to any other mode of +self-destruction, to throw themselves from the top of the column erected +by Napoleon in the Place Vendome: insomuch that, when I was in Paris, an +order was still in force that no one should be allowed to ascend the +column without a permission, that it might be ascertained that they had +no motive but curiosity. Such were the discontents of the Bonapartists. + +Had Bonaparte contented himself with being the first magistrate of the +republic,--had he allowed its name and forms to subsist,--he would have +identified himself with the cause and party of the revolution. But he +had put down the revolution; and in 1814 the question was no longer +between a monarchical and democratic government, but between the ancient +claimant and the recent possessor. One of the evils, (and they were +many,) resulting to Napoleon from the assumption of the imperial purple, +was that he himself became personally the object of hostilities. Of this +no one was more sensible than himself: he said to his friends, "They +will crush, first me, then you, then France." France was not crushed: +the king returned, and the charter was given. The republicans could not +complain that a monarchy, a government by _one_, was imposed upon them; +they had themselves submitted to it. But an argument drawn from a former +defeat was not suited to make them quite pleased with a second. They +reposed; but it was the repose of lassitude, not of contented +acquiescence. + +The prudence of Louis XVIII. succeeded in uniting all parties, though +blamed by all; in obliterating, if not the memory, at least many of the +sensible traces of what France had endured. Both Royalists and +Napoleonists complained that whatever the court had to dispose of was +given to the other party. Just before I left England, I was advised by a +friend, lately returned from Paris, by no means to venture into France. +"If the king dies," said he, "and his health is very bad, there will +certainly be a kick-up." My counsellor saw a very little way into +futurity: he himself, being about the age of Louis XVIII. died within +two years after. Five years later the king terminated in peace an +anxious but successful reign: the demise of the crown caused not the +least disturbance; its quiet devolution on his successor seems rather to +have strengthened the ancient notion of hereditary right. + +Paris, since the time to which my account of it refers, has been +improved and increased. It is the lot of all old cities in a state of +great prosperity to have a new town built near them: of this London, +Edinburgh, Marseilles, Lyons, Bath, and Liverpool are examples. "Mend +_you_?" said the chairman to Mr. Pope, in reply to his accustomed +exclamation,--"God mend me," "Mend _you_? it would not be half the +trouble to make another." Old Paris is, however, worth mending: the case +is by no means so desperate as that of a deformed man like Pope. They +have begun to make trottoirs. When I was in Paris, the trottoirs being +paved like the middle of the street, persons on foot had no inducement +to walk on them in preference to the middle of the street; people +exposed merchandises there, roasted coffee, blacked shoes, or played at +cards: the cabriolets ran along them where there was a vacant space, +sometimes where there was no vacant space at all. When the trottoirs +shall be such as carriages cannot drive on, the foot passengers will +occupy them, and the encumbrances, above-mentioned, will be removed of +course. + +I went up to a man who was cleaning a lantern in the Rue Neuve des +Mathurins, and made him understand that I wished to be instructed in +what manner the popular sentence of condemnation "a la lanterne" was +executed in the beginning of the revolution. I had remarked, that he was +old enough to have remembered such scenes; when near him, I saw a face +that testified that he had in all probability been an agent in them: he +told me drily, "On ote la lanterne, et on monte l'homme a sa place."[23] +He spoke in the present tense, be it observed: the recollection of such +achievements was fresh in his mind, and he showed no symptom that it was +unpleasant to him. These lanterns have a cumbrous and heavy appearance +in the day time; and hanging over the middle of the street, they stop +all passing while they are cleaned or lighted. They have begun to light +the streets of Paris with gas: the pipes, I am informed, are not +air-tight; but, once undertaken, this enterprise will no doubt be soon +brought to perfection, as well as others already in contemplation. + +Paris, in the old parts of it, is, as the French express it, _mal +percee_. The way to remedy this evil is obvious. I will venture to +suggest one improvement,--that the Rue St. Honore be continued, no +matter whether in a straight or curved line, through the streets of St. +Denis and St. Martin, by piercing these two streets, to the line of +streets which lead to the Place de l'Elephant and the Rue du Fauxbourg +St. Antoine. + +I will also take the liberty of hinting that a populous city can well +afford to keep its streets clean: the streets themselves pay this +expense; and the greater the quantity of dirt, the better they defray +it. I have sometimes passed into the most thickly-inhabited parts of the +city of London, and have been surprised to observe the streets to be +cleaner than in Mary-la-bonne and at the west end of the town, where the +population is less condensed. The reason is plain: it oftener becomes +worth while to carry away the material of the dung-heap from the streets +of the city, than from the quarter where they are wider in proportion to +the population. But every parish of the English capital receives a sum +towards its poor-rate, in exchange for the privilege of cleaning its +streets. At Paris nothing is wanting but a reglement de police. + +Paris is extending itself, towards the west and the north especially: in +time, the Boulevard without the walls may become a second interior +Boulevard. While I doubted whether I should continue in Paris, or go to +live in a provincial town, I looked at several hotels, houses with a +_porte cochere_,[24] in the Fauxbourg St. Germain: the rent demanded for +these was three or four thousand francs: at present they are let for ten +thousand francs a year. The speculators in building, of course, find +their profit in what they undertake so largely. + +I congratulated those who had visited Paris in 1814. Many highly +estimable works of art of the French school begin however now to supply +the place of those taken away by their old owners. English travellers in +France, and those with whom they have to do, understand each other +better than at the time when I began my journey; and more accommodations +to the English taste are provided. The rivalry between France and +England will subsist as long as the geographical position of the two +countries: but no people are more willing than the French, in ordinary +cases, and when not stimulated by strong incitements, to distinguish +between the nation and the individual. Thus far we may all be +cosmopolites; though nations be divided, let men be united. Indeed, I +observed a sensible difference in the behaviour of my neighbours at +Avignon, from the day which Louis XVIII. wisely declared to be the +happiest of his life,--when no banner but that of France floated within +its territory. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[20] Look at that little god-dem who is drawing. + +[21] What is _your_ price, Sir? + +[22] They do not say, "god-dem" any longer; they say "speculation." + +[23] They take down the lamp, and mount the man up in its place. + +[24] Gate at which a coach can enter. + + + + +CHAP. VI. + + +On the sixteenth of August, at one in the afternoon, the carriage came +to the door which was to convey us from Paris. We took a light and hasty +lunch, or nuncheon, or noonshine, or meridian repast, while the trunks +were tying on; and at two, were ready to depart; when up steps the +mistress of the house, requesting me to verify the inventory. "Why did +you not come sooner?"--"We were unwilling to disturb you while you were +dining."--"Why did not you propose this business to me this morning when +I paid my rent?"--"We did not know you were going away." It is very +improbable that I should not have made them understand that it was +because I was going away that I paid my rent; but it is one disadvantage +of being a foreigner, that all, who find it their interest, may choose +to misunderstand. + +I had taken lodgings for short periods in London, and at what are called +watering-places in England, where no inventory was made, consequently +none was verified: but here confidence was not so well established, or +there were other reasons. It was the usage of the country; it was +necessary to submit. + +The apartment was furnished with an abundance of mirrors, some handsome +pieces of mahogany, a rare wood in France; sofas, and fauteuils, and a +most plentiful lack of almost every necessary article. My cook had +hardly wherewithal to prepare our meals, and was obliged to sleep in the +kitchen: a chamber had been promised; but the key of this chamber was +not to be found when the lodging was taken, and the door was never +opened afterwards. Kitchen utensils had been promised, and, during the +first fortnight, frequently demanded: at last the silence of despair +succeeded to hopeless importunity, as a fine writer might perhaps +express himself. But, to the inventory. + +The grand articles were quickly dispatched: luckily my children had +broken no looking-glasses, though surrounded by them. But when we came +to the china and the crockery,--ay, then was the question: after the +bona fide broken had been disposed of, about which there could be no +dispute, except that some were broken only because they were already +cracked,--then was the question whether such or such articles were +damaged by us, or before we came to the house. An ornamental china vase +had been supplied, and its fellow promised: this fellow jar was now +found to have but one ear, whereas its mate had two. The edges of the +fracture were rounded by use, and dirt was seen in the interstices. But +I paid what was required, for the carriage was at the door. + +I have heard of a travelling Englishman, of whom was demanded, on his +leaving his apartment, the price of a cracked pane of glass: his +conscience acquitted him of the deed: after having for some time +fruitlessly pleaded his innocence, he quietly raised his cane, and broke +in pieces the cause of the altercation. "This pane shall be paid for no +more," said he, patriotically mindful of the interests of his +successors. + +At length we were seated in our coach. It was a roomy, handsome berline, +holding conveniently six persons: on the outside was a covered seat or +cabriolet: the place of the voiturier, conductor, or coachman was +between the fore-wheels: the carriage was drawn by three horses. When +three horses were proposed to me by the master voiturier, I started with +amazement. "Why not four?"--"That would be too many."--"Why not +two?"--"That would be too few." He gravely assured me that such was the +practice, and he spoke truth. English travellers and readers of travels +are, by this time, well acquainted with voitures drawn by three horses; +but in 1818, I believe many of my compatriots shared my surprise at so +_odd_ a number. + +I engaged this voiture to convey me to Avignon for eight hundred francs. +For forty-eight francs a day, the coachman was to pay my expenses at the +inns: the price was rather extravagant, as four of my six children +might, as the master himself calculated, be rated as two grown persons: +but I insisted on coffee in the morning before we should set off, my +family being not yet accustomed to travel till ten or eleven o'clock +in the morning without any breakfast, though such is the usual practice +on the continent. Besides, this part of the agreement was revocable +at my pleasure. I was also at liberty to quit my carriage at +Chalons-sur-Saone, paying a proportionate share of the price. + +I had seen, at the master's stables, three very good horses which I +engaged for my journey. The day before my departure, he told me these +horses were gone in another direction, but that I should have three +others equally good. As I saw no reason why he should prefer another +customer to me, I assented. He supplied me with two stout horses and a +very weakly one. Louis, my coachman, told me, afterwards, that his +master had found an opportunity of selling the three horses I had first +seen, and to make up my number had been obliged to buy one from a fiacre +the very day of my departure. It is impossible to be aware of all the +oblique means and motives of men of the character of this voiturier. All +the defence that can be prepared against them is, to see every thing, +write down every thing, and, above all, to have time at command. + +This mode of travelling by the voiturier is now generally adopted by +travellers of the first respectability, and where the whole voiture is +engaged, differs in no respect from travelling in a private carriage, +except that the right of property in the horses and carriage is but +temporary, and the coachman does not wear a livery. I am acquainted with +persons, who would not choose to be considered otherwise than as persons +of distinction, who have travelled in this way. I have seen attestations +of the good conduct of the coachman or voiturier signed with names, some +of which were known to me, and sealed with armorial bearings, according +to the English use abroad. I dwell on this point, because voituriers are +unknown in England, and the mode of travelling is in low repute abroad, +where, from the way in which it is practised, it is impossible it should +be creditable. + +In France and Italy there are but few stage-coaches, and no good ones +but between the towns on the channel and Paris. The post-houses furnish +no carriages, but horses only. In every great town there are persons +whose trade is to keep carriages ready for those who want to take +journeys, but have no carriage of their own. Two or three places being +engaged, the voiturier, now afloat, makes up his cargo as he can: rather +than have any vacant space in his carriage, he will sell it at a low +rate to such as can afford to pay but low prices; he then makes up with +dead lumber what is wanting in weight of live stock; and the good +people, thus assembled, thus encumbered, proceed as they can under the +auspices of the conductor, who presides at their meals. All this +accounts very well for some English making a difficulty in avowing their +having travelled by the voiturier, and for the French aubergistes and +others confounding, at first, all inmates of carriages of the same +denomination. I do not suppose that any respectable English family has +travelled in the manner above described. I do not know that any single +persons have done so. It is evident that a voiture, engaged for the sole +use and service of him who hires it, is "quite another thing." + +I would have purchased a berline at Paris, and travelled post,--a plan +not more expensive, as I could have gone twice as far in the day as with +the same horses it was possible to do,--but the regulations of the post +not only require six horses for six persons, but make no provision for +any number more than six in the same carriage,--a case as little +contemplated as parricide among the ancient Romans. I must therefore +have had two carriages, or disputed the question at every post-house. +Add to this, that a travelling carriage is not well-suited for a town, +nor a town carriage for travelling. + +The places in the cabriolet were a perpetual subject of contest among my +children, and I had enough to do to arbitrate who should ride outside. +Louis, the coachman, was very good-natured to them, and never complained +of the frequent interruptions and trouble which they caused him. This +was the more laudable in him, as he was a Breton; and the Bretons, like +those from whom they derive their origin,--the ancient Britons of +Wales,--are said to have _la tete chaude_:[25] Louis, on several +occasions, was hot-headed enough. He had served, as had almost every man +at this time in France, and had been a sous-officier; and, while my +eldest son and I walked by his side in mounting the hills, regaled us +with accounts of his military exploits, amongst which he seemed to +consider his duels as giving the most indisputable proof of personal and +individual courage. He said that there had been a great deal of +_coquinerie_[26] in the revolution,--an opinion in which he was by no +means singular; and that, if it should break out again, there would be +more assassination than ever. Neither was he singular in his +apprehension of new troubles: a priest, whom I met at Paris, told me, +"la revolution ne fait que commencer."[27] His wish assuredly was not +"father to that thought." All this was pleasant hearing to a man who had +embarked his family in an expedition like mine. The event proves the +wisdom of the king, whom his party declared not to be a royalist. + +The horse, that had passed the morning in the streets of Paris in his +quality of hackney-coach horse, was in no condition for a journey. Louis +said he was tired with waiting so long in the street: he seemed to allude +to the time employed in verifying the inventory; he explained afterwards +how and why the expression was equivocal. I had made, on this subject, +useless because tardy reproaches to the master. The horse had, however, +time to recover his strength, as I would not quit Paris till the +afternoon of the first day of my journey, it being Sunday, and had +planned to pass the evening of the second, and morning of the third day, +at Fontainebleau. We arrived by the light of the full moon at Essonne, +where a good supper, with a fine dessert of fruit, and the air of the +country, gave us high expectations of the pleasures of a journey to +the south of France. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[25] To be hot-headed. + +[26] Roguery. + +[27] The revolution is only just beginning. + + + + +CHAP. VII. + + +The son of the aubergiste at Essonne was, as almost every Frenchman is, +a conversable man: he talked to me, while I waited to set off in the +morning, of the English who lived or had lived near Essonne; among +others, of the Duc de Fitzjames, who, if I understood him right, had a +country house in the neighbourhood. "Why do you call him English?" said +I. "The name is English."--"The family has been French for more than a +century." He wished for an explanation. "It is descended from James II. +of England, whom we chased away because he was an honest man, as you put +to death Louis XVI. because he was Bienfaisant." He answered, with much +discretion, "On s'oublie quelquefois."[28] + +The fine old oaks and the green rocks of the forest of Fontainebleau +pleased us much: at intervals and openings of the wood we caught very +agreeable views of the distant country. We descended into the town, by +no means a handsome one; but our business was to see the palace. + +It is in a low situation, surrounded by hills, not bold or romantic, but +of pleasing forms; at a sufficient distance, so that it is sheltered +without being straitly enclosed. It is a convenient and very large +house, with ample space for the display of all the pomp of royalty, The +chapel is equal in size, though not in ornament, to that of Versailles. +There is a handsome gallery which Napoleon furnished with busts of great +men, whose pretensions to the title of "great" are so different, that +they certainly would never have met except as busts in a gallery. There +is a theatre, a banquetting room, and several suites of fine apartments. +One apartment, or set of rooms, had been inhabited successively by the +Comte d'Artois, now King Charles X. by the Pope Pius VII. and by his +grace the Duke of Wellington. The Indian fable says, that a palace is a +caravansera; but such a succession of guests surpasses fable in +strangeness. + +In the chamber of the king was a state bed of suitable magnificence: +passing into a second chamber, in which was a very low bed, I remarked +to our conductor that this bed would be more convenient for his majesty; +and the conductor, after a little hesitation, allowed that, as I +suspected, the king did, in effect, sleep on this bed. George III. +inhabited the Queen's palace in London, and the lodge near the castle at +Windsor: he was said to live always next door to himself. The king of +France, at Fontainebleau, sleeps in the next room to his own; at least, +Louis XVIII. did so. + +A small, ordinary, round table was pointed out as a curiosity: it was +that on which Napoleon signed the act of his abdication in favour of +Napoleon II. The cession was enforced; the condition was of course +neglected. Napoleon retired to Elba, an emperor without empire, a father +of a family deprived of the company of his wife and son; too weak to be +safe, yet too great not to be feared: disgusted with the anomalies, of +his situation, he made an effort that, in its consequences, plunged him +into one, in which there were, at least, no inconsistencies to be +complained of: all was plain and intelligible: the high blood of Europe +avenged itself on the Avocat's son, who, if he had been _Monsieur le +Comte de Bonaparte_, would have been treated with more consideration. + +The garden of Fontainebleau is handsomely laid out in straight walks, +square pieces of water, and abundance of shade, at this season very +desirable. As we left the garden, my younger son ran off in pursuit of a +water rat, and we followed, in pursuit of him, the course of one of +those beautiful fountains from which the place derives its name. As I +looked round for him, I observed an elderly man, decorated with one or +more orders, who accosted me with much politeness, and asked what I was +looking for. Wishing to obtain information respecting any further object +of curiosity, I began:--"Monsieur, je suis etranger, et--" He +interrupted: "Je le vois bien, Monsieur, et c'est pourquoi je veux vous +etre utile."[29] He asked if we had seen the chateau; and, on my +replying in the affirmative, expressed his regret that he had not met +with us sooner. I learned afterwards that he was the Marechal Duc de +Coigny, at that time gouverneur du chateau de Fontainebleau. + +He directed me to a treillis which ran the whole length of a garden wall +exposed to the south. The situation was even too favourable for the +vines that covered the treillis; as, though very fine and healthy, they +had pushed out many large branches without fruit. Grapes however, there +were in abundance; and, had they been ripe, no doubt M. le Gouverneur +would have invited us to eat of them. At any rate, the fox's reasoning +had here no place. + +The next day we arrived at Sens. In the cathedral of this place is a +very fine piece of sculpture, the tomb of the Dauphin son of Louis XV. +It will hardly be believed that, during the revolutionary fury, the +populace were only restrained by force from breaking in pieces the +statues of this tomb, out of hatred to royalty. I observed to the +sacristan:--"Le bon peuple de Sens n'est pas apparemment un peuple de +bon sens."[30] In a chapel, under the invocation of St. Thomas of +Canterbury, is a painting representing his interview with the pope at +this place, to which he retired during his unjust exile. The memory of +Thomas a Becket has been unmercifully slandered by our philosophical and +protestant historians. It is their way. + +At Auxerre we found an inn very pleasantly situated on the banks of the +Yonne with the vine-covered hills of Burgundy in full view. It was +fortunate that the inn was agreeable, and the people of the house very +good-humoured, the chances being very much against both the one and the +other; for here we were detained one day by the illness of Mrs. ----. A +physician attended, who, on his second visit, recommended the use of +the hot bath, which removed the cause of the complaint, and all was well +again. + +Hot baths are to be found in every great town in France, at a very +moderate price,--a circumstance which proves that they are much in use, +as it is the number of customers only that renders the article cheap. +The French are in general cleanly in their persons, whatever their +streets may be: they are also cleanly in their houses, though they have +not the fastidious and troublesome neatness of the English, nor the +perpetual scrubbings and polishings of the Dutch. Household linen, both +for bed and table, is plentiful amongst them. I began at Auxerre the use +of the hot bath, which I have continued every summer that I have not +passed on the sea coast. In winter it is too cold,--not to go into hot +water, but to come out of it. + +As we travelled neither with great speed, nor far in one day, nor in the +heat of the day, the physician, on calling to take leave, said we might +continue our journey without any risk of inconvenience to his patient. +We ascended therefore that range of hills among which are found the +sources of those rivers which flow into the ocean by the Seine and the +Meuse, and of those which, however slowly they glide at first, are +precipitated into the Mediterranean by the Rhone. This tract of country +continued for two days, and is a very interesting one. Let those who +fancy all riches to be derived from commerce only, compare this broad +ridge with the plain on each side of it, and they will perceive that a +fertile soil ought to enter for something into the computation of the +wealth of nations. This mountainous region, in the part where we crossed +it, and, by parity of reasoning, in every part of it, is cultivated with +the greatest care and industry: it produces wine that ranks in the +highest estimation both at home and in foreign countries: yet the +inhabitants seem poor, the towns are large villages, the villages are +collections of ruinous huts. Yet had this poverty not found its way into +the inns, it would have been a most pleasing country to travel through. + +The summits of the hills were covered with wood, wherever there was a +sufficient depth of earth to admit a tree to be planted; the sides were +overspread with vines ranged in order, well pruned, and glowing with +fruit now nearly ripe. At the lowest declivities of the hills were corn +fields; in the valleys, through almost every one of which ran a stream +of the purest water, were pastures; and here was seen, what is so much +wanted in southern landscape,--verdure and cattle. + +It may be remembered that, in the year 1816, large masses of ice +detached themselves from the coasts of the Arctic regions, where they +had been accumulating for centuries, and that huge mountains of ice were +met with at a very low latitude in the Atlantic, where it finally +thawed, and mingled with the waters of the ocean, but not without having +spread cold and moisture over almost every country of the west of +Europe. I grew my own corn at this time; but was obliged this year to +buy corn of the preceding harvest, as, of my own, could be made nothing +better than an unwholesome paste instead of bread. The three vintages +before this season of fusion of icebergs, and diffusion of humidity, had +been but indifferently good: perhaps the god Mars has been more +worshipped than the god Bacchus, and thence, notwithstanding the +well-known confidence of Napoleon in the principle of population, hands +were wanting to prune and hoe the vines. The vintages of 1816, and of +the following year, had almost entirely failed. France was now +absolutely threatened with a dearth of wine: the stock in hand was +nearly exhausted. But the promise of the present vintage put every one +in high spirits: I was assured by the delighted Burgundians that it +would equal in produce, and far surpass in quality, those of the five +preceding years. In effect, the wine of 1818 was afterwards compared +with that of the year of the comet, still cited at this time in +advertisements of sales of wine. + +At every step, we met with long cars laden with barrels or staves of +barrels; the coopers were all in full activity at the doors of their +shops; all the world was in high expectation; and our sympathy with +their pleasure was heightened by the cool refreshing air, bringing with +it cheerfulness, health, and elasticity. + +Something in very deed was required to put or keep us in good humour, +for the inns were bad enough to try the patience of that old patriarchal +exemplar of patience more frequently cited than imitated. Of eatables +indeed there was enough, and the beds were not bad; but the wine was +sour; the peaches as hard as those found on the chimney-piece of a +lady's boudoir; and the grapes, though very pretty to look at, wanted a +month's longer exposure to the sun: the apples even were not ripe. When +any thing was asked for beyond objects of the first and most obvious +necessity, the answer, was, "il n'y en a point."[31] I asked for an +extinguisher. "Il n'y en a point."--"How do they put out candles in this +country?"--"Ma foi, Monsieur, mais on les souffle."[32]--"Not always," +said I, pointing to black and greasy spots on the wall. Of the seven +ways of putting out a candle which Dean Swift has taught, I prefer, in +cases of necessity, that by which the light and the odour are +extinguished at once; and here the floor was the better for it. + +To account for the poverty of a country, in which is found, in +abundance, so rich a product as wine, it must be recollected how small a +proportion the land covered with vines bears to the whole tract. This +reasoning may be usefully applied to other countries similarly +circumstanced. + +On the third day after leaving Auxerre, we arrived, by a very steep +descent, on the plain of the Saone;--a plain at some time covered with +water, which, depositing a loamy and fertile sediment, retired gradually +into beds of rivers. The surface of the earth clearly indicates that it +has once been sea without shore; the rivers that are still supplied by +perennial sources in the higher elevations, hold on their course; many +are dried up, leaving valleys to be watered by the dews and the clouds +of heaven. + +The plain of the Saone continues below Macon: its products are such as +may be expected on strong land in such a climate; among others, bled de +Turquie, as the French call maize or Indian corn. Arthur Young, in his +admirable Tour, divides France into four agricultural regions: in the +first the vine is not; in the second maize is not; in the third the +olive is not; in the fourth, Minerva, Ceres, Bacchus, Pomona, all +conspire and dispense their united gifts. I was pleased to hear some +French speak highly of Young's Tour: they said it had told them many +things they did not know before, and had been of great service to them. +It is thus that, while nation wars against nation, man may communicate +good to man. + +The coche d'eau, as it is whimsically called, is a passage-boat which +plies between Chalons and Lyons: places are reserved in it for those who +may arrive by the diligence from Paris. It is roomy enough, but I found +it very dirty: to remain under the deck, at this season of the year, +would have been stifling, and on the deck there was no tent or awning. I +determined to proceed in my berline. + +We made our noon-tide repast at Tournus, where I walked into the +church; for in France the churches are open every day, and all day long; +and there I saw an image of the Blessed Virgin in the dress of a lady of +the court of Louis XIV. I talked afterwards with a well-meaning Catholic +on the absurdity of this costume: he observed, that if the Blessed +Virgin were exhibited in the dress of a carpenter's wife, the people +would not respect her. The people are not so silly: they, at least, are +"not ashamed of the cross of Christ," whatever the great may be: why +should the poor be ashamed of the poverty of the mother of the Redeemer? + +Macon, where we slept, is a flourishing town: we left it at sun-rise, as +we were to pass a steep and lofty hill in our road to Lyons. From this +height we descried the mountains of Switzerland and Savoy, amongst which +Mont Blanc was seen with his snow-topped summit. The view was +indistinct, but imagination supplied the defects of the "visual nerve." +The Alps are in the domain of history and poetry. + +We alighted, or descended as the French say, at Lyons, at the Hotel du +Parc. It was the fete de St. Louis; the city was illuminated: of these +splendors we had a good view, as the Hotel de Ville was opposite our +windows. The people danced in the Place Terreaux all night, and all +night we listened to the sound of their rejoicings, for the bugs +hindered us from sleeping. In the morning I complained of them to the +femme de chambre, who positively denied that there were any in the +house. I showed her five that lay slain on the sheet: she still +positively denied that there were any in the house. A modest assurance +is certainly very becoming. I laughed in anger, which, though not quite +so poetical as laughing in tears, is equally natural, when unqualified +anger avails nothing. I complained to the mistress of the house: she +admitted the fact without requiring ocular demonstration,--a superfluous +motive of credibility; and promised other beds: but, as probably no +change could be made for the better, we changed not. + +The cathedral church of Lyons is worthy of the metropolitan see of +France; it is in the style of the florid or latest Gothic, and highly +ornamented: it is very _large_; a word that may be here taken in its +French sense of _broad_; for it is in breadth that it exceeds other +churches equally long. It had been much injured during the revolution; +but what is most beautiful in it could not be destroyed without the +destruction of the building itself. The chapel of St. Louis is superbly +decorated. + +Place Bellecour, or Place Louis XIV. or Place Bonaparte, by the +pertinacity of prescription, retains its first name, and is indeed a +square which great men might be ambitious of having named after them. It +is almost too vast: that is, the distance of the sides from each other +destroys its unity: its extent, however, makes it an agreeable +promenade; on the south side are rows of trees. The streets in the +neighbourhood of this square are handsome and well built: the rest of +the town is what an old manufacturing populous city may be supposed to +be: the quay on the majestic Rhone is a striking sight. Following the +course of the river along a raised road or dike, we arrive at the piece +of ground recovered from the river by means of this dike; which ground +was given by the municipal authorities to Napoleon, who intended to +build a palace on this spot, at the junction of the Saone and Rhone. I +talked with a labourer who had been employed in levelling the land: +further than this, the work was not proceeded in. The situation is +admirable: a lofty edifice,--and can one suppose that the palace of +Napoleon would have been any other than a lofty edifice?--would have +commanded a view of Lyons and of the surrounding hills and country: +besides all this, the river presents here the appearance of a large and +beautiful lake, its stream being hidden, at a little distance from the +point of confluence, by intervening ground. Whether Paris, Lyons, or +Constantinople was destined to be the capital of the French empire is a +doubt, for the solution of which we must now interrogate the grave. + +The cathedral of Vienne is a very fine church, and the loftiest within +of any I have ever seen, and I have seen all the cathedrals in England. +In the earliest age of Christianity, at Vienne, Lyons, and Tournus, +those whom the church honours under the common name of the martyrs of +Vienne, sealed their faith with their blood. + +We passed the Isere by a ferry; the bridge, destroyed four years before, +during the war, not having been yet rebuilt; and this on the high road +from Paris to Marseilles. + +Valence was the last prison of Pope Pius VI. for here he died. +Philosophers and protestants flattered themselves that he was the last +of the popes: they forgot the reasoning of Gamaliel. + +At an indifferent inn where we rested at mid-day, at the sign of the +Grand Monarque, among other scribblings on the wall of our apartment, I +observed a note to the following effect:--"Englishmen, beware of the +Grand Monarque! I paid five francs for my bed,--a bed in this +chamber!!! I paid seven francs for my supper." The writer states of +what dishes his moderate supper consisted, complains of the wine, and +concludes with some indignant and patriotic effusions. + +We were now in the country of the olive, and the flat roofs indicated +that we were to pass a winter very different from any that we had +hitherto experienced; a winter without snow. The whole road from Lyons +to Avignon may be considered as beautiful: we rarely quitted the banks +of the Rhone, and always with regret: on each side of the river are fine +hills, surmounted with chateaus, many of which had the picturesque +advantage of being in ruins. + +The heat did not incommode us, except in the beginning of the afternoon +of two days out of the five employed in this journey from Lyons, where, +as an Avignonais observed, the north begins, and where, of course, the +south began to us. Madame de Stael says--"Le vrai midi commence a +Naples."[33] Ask where's the north? + +The badness of the inns would have been, at this season of the year, but +a trifling inconvenience, but for the bugs; at the last inn at which we +slept on the road they were in swarms. I complained to the innkeeper: he +said there might, perchance, be one or two, "mais cela doit etre une +espece de miracle."[34] Almost every one has poor relations or friends +of whom he is ashamed, but of whom he cannot get rid without adopting +the ingenious expedient of the Vicar of Wakefield,--an expedient +unfortunately not applicable to bugs, "non missura cutem nisi plena +cruoris;" although their hosts and entertainers are sufficiently +unwilling to acknowledge their presence. + +At Orange we passed under a triumphal arch, called of Caius Marius, much +finer and better preserved than any edifice of the same kind at Rome. +Here are also the remains of an amphitheatre encumbered with buildings. +Here we saw the process of winding the silk from the worm: the cocon or +egg is thrown into boiling water to dissolve the gum. At Skegness, on +the Lincolnshire coast, I have seen panier-fulls of living shrimps +treated in the same manner. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[28] People forget themselves sometimes. + +[29] "Sir, I am a stranger."--"So I perceive, Sir, and for that reason I +wish to be of service to you." + +[30] The good people of Sens are, apparently, not a people of good +sense. + +[31] There is none. + +[32] Faith, Sir, they blow them out. + +[33] The true south begins at Naples. + +[34] That must be a sort of miracle. + + + + +CHAP. VIII. + + +The entrance into Avignon prepossesses a stranger in its favour: he +passes through a gate of modern construction into a square in which are +several well-grown trees; in front is the theatre, on each side a large +inn and other houses: this is called the _Place de la Comedie_. We were +set down at the Palais Royal, where we found good chambers and beds. Hot +baths, _a l'instar de Paris_, as the sign expressed it, were opposite +our inn, and the next morning some of the family took advantage of them. +I paid Louis, my coachman, the balance of his account, for I had +advanced him money on the road; and gave him such a generous bonne main, +that he was, I saw, ashamed of having once or twice made us fare ill on +the road. The sum of the expenses of my journey from Paris, not +including the bonne main, was a little more than sixteen hundred francs. + +A banker, or dealer in money only, is not to be found, except in the +largest commercial towns of France, and provincial notes are unknown. +The Parisian banker had referred me to a _negociant_ and manufacturer +of silk, who, during my stay at Avignon, supplied the absence of a +regular priest of Plutus; loading me, at my pleasure, with heavy +five-franc pieces, for which he required only good bills on Paris, or on +London, where also he had a correspondence. I am obliged to call him a +_negociant_, as _marchand_ means a shop-keeper; nay, a dealer in the +pettiest wares is called a merchant: a seller of milk is a _marchand de +lait_. As for shops, they have disappeared: every shop is a _magasin_, +so that France is not a _nation boutiquiere_, whatever England may be. I +called on my banker this morning, and consulted him on my establishment. + +We retired to rest early in the evening, but were soon after disturbed +by the noise of loud voices below: it ceased after a short hubbub. On +inquiring the cause next day, the waiter told us that the English prince +had descended at the Palais Royal, but that the authorities had +presented themselves, and had engaged him to pass to the Hotel d'Europe, +where they had prepared for his reception; and that the noise was caused +by the passage of the prince and his suite, attended by the authorities. + +This was a very prudent, but rather an imperfect statement: it was the +truth, but not the whole truth. The fact was that the Duke of +Gloucester, in his tour through France, arrived at Avignon: he had sent +forward a courier, who had given orders for his reception at our inn, +where he was set down; but, while he was taking tea, the prefect of the +department and the mayor of the city waited on him to request that he +would accept of the hospitality of the town, and representing that +preparations had been made accordingly at the Hotel d'Europe. His Royal +Highness thought proper to accede to this polite invitation. Madame +Moulin, the mistress of our inn, enraged at the loss of the honour and +profit of the prince's company, and transported beyond the bounds of +discretion, broke out into violent invectives against M. le Prefet and +M. le Maire, who, to punish an insult offered to them in the presence of +the English prince, committed Madame Moulin to prison. Moulin told me +this story, adding, "Ma femme est tres sensible."[35] If her sensibility +provoked her to make all the clamour we heard at ten o'clock the evening +before, she certainly merited, and was probably benefited by, the +restraint imposed on her, which, by the intercession of the prince, +lasted only twenty hours. + +Moulin has as much the appearance of a _bon vivant_ as if he were an +English landlord, but with a cast of French manners. A very pretty young +English lady (so she was described to me,) admired his great +Newfoundland dog, but said, "M. Moulin, I am afraid of him: will he bite +me?"--"Non, Mademoiselle; mon chien ne vous mordera pas: fut il un +tigre, il lecheroit une si belle main."[36] + +I called on the Prefet, who received me with much politeness; and, when +I announced my intention of settling at Avignon, felicitated the city on +the acquisition it was about to make. It is regulated that no one shall +be prefect of a department of which he is a native, or to which his +family belongs. This rule proceeds on the principle, recognised amongst +us by the circuits of the twelve judges, which supposes that justice +will be more impartially administered by strangers than by those who may +be liable to the influence of local connexions. The prefect of Vaucluse +was of the department of the Rhone, and member of the chamber of +Deputies for that department. + +I called on the Mayor, and was much surprised to find, invested with +that office, not a man resembling an English alderman or a good +bourgeois, but a meagre, old noble, adorned with the croix de St. Louis, +and with the manners of his caste. In the American war he had been +captain of a ship of the line; he had emigrated, and been despoiled of +his property during the revolution; had passed three years of his +emigration in London, where he had learned to admire tea and _tost_. On +his return, he had married a rich wife who had just left him a widower; +he showed me the weepers on his coat sleeves as an excuse for not +returning my visit. He had recovered some of the wrecks of his fortune, +and had repurchased his house; part of which had been pulled down by him +who had bought it as national property, that, when compelled to +restitution, as was expected, on the return of the king, he might secure +at least the price of the materials. M. le Maire had built a house for +himself on the ruins of the part pulled down: of the part left standing +he had already made a detached house, which he offered to me. I promised +to look at it. + +And now began my search for a house, which I conducted according to my +English notions and prepossessions. In the south of France, or in Italy, +a man of twenty thousand francs a year lives in a larger house than a +man of an income of as many pounds sterling inhabits in London. In +England, a nine months winter, an enormous tax on windows, a duty on +bricks, timber, and glass, reduce us to content ourselves with small +houses; but in these countries, large rooms, lofty ceilings, wide +staircases, are required by the climate, and by no means astonish the +minds of those who are used to them. Things on this scale of vastness I +had frequently seen in England, particularly in country-houses, but had +not been, as yet, familiarized with them. + +I visited an hotel in which Charles IV. of Spain had been lodged on his +journey from Paris to Rome, after his abdication at Bayonne. I was +desired, by the man of affairs, to determine what apartments I should +want, and then the rent might be fixed. The house was an agreeable one, +but appeared in too grand a style for me: I told the man of business it +might do very well for a prince, or, par occasion, for a king of Spain, +and declined all further treaty. I have no doubt, I might have been as +cheaply lodged here as I was in the house I afterwards rented. There +occurred besides another English prejudice: I was to have but a part of +the house: who might they be who should inhabit the other part? An +Englishman likes to have his house to himself; it is his castle: a +privilege, by the by, which the present chancellor of the exchequer has +restored to him, by taking off the tax on internal windows. Another +apartment I visited; but here the proprietor, who lived on the +rez-de-chaussee, or ground floor, had, as well as myself, a family of +young children: besides, he refused me the privilege of walking in his +garden. From this refusal, and from the intercourse of the children, I +anticipated future misunderstandings. The use of a garden in this +climate is, that, in the shade, or after sunset, it serves as an +additional room, loftier than any in the house. In winter, a town +garden, surrounded by high walls, or houses, is absolutely useless. + +At length I took the house of M. le Maire. It consisted of a vestibule, +a small dining-room, servants hall, kitchen, and offices: on the first +floor was a salon, twenty-four feet square; on one side of this salon +was a space partitioned off, about six feet wide: at half the height of +this room, a floor had been laid, and thus two cabinets were procured: +there was a second salon twenty-one feet by fifteen; there were three +chambers with two cabinets, three servants rooms, and on the second +floor two chambers for my sons. I had besides a small stable, and +coach-house for a cabriolet, but no garden. The house was built on three +sides of a small court. My lease was for four years, at a thousand +francs a year, determinable by me at the end of each year on two months +notice, determinable also on payment of a quarter's rent in case of war, +or any event of a public nature that might affect my personal security. +This last clause I copied from a lease I had seen at Paris; a prudent, +and, at that time, no one could say, a superfluous caution. I paid no +taxes. + +This house I furnished, as one furnishes a house which he is to quit in +three or four years. It was curious to observe how, from want of money +or of confidence, some of the tradesmen followed their goods to my +house, and required payment on delivery. I had even a sort of _run_ upon +me one morning, performed by some one who had not taken the +above-mentioned precaution. The run was probably caused by some silly +report. I have known a run on a country bank to originate with a +farmer's declaration that such run existed; the question then being only +who should run fastest. I dissipated the alarm by giving, with great +tranquillity, _bons_ on my banker: yet some tradesmen were careful to +give a receipt, not for the amount of the bill, but for the _bon_: this, +indeed, I suggested. + +Seven years later, I have found the merchants of a provincial town, in +which I am utterly unknown, ready to give me credit for my orders +without the least symptom of suspicion or anxiety. In seven years I +believe the wealth of France to have increased by one half; in seven +years, the funds have risen from sixty-five to ninety-five: money might +have been invested in land, seven years ago, at four and a half per +cent; now, not more than three, or three and a half, can be obtained: +but I am going beyond the limits of my four years residence. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[35] My wife has a great deal of sensibility. + +[36] No, Miss, my dog will not bite you; if he were a tiger, he would +lick such a beautiful hand. + + + + +CHAP. IX. + + +Avignon is surrounded by walls, as are most of the cities of France, and +of the countries of the continent: a very great evil and inconvenience. +These walls hinder the influx of fresh air from the country, and thus +make the cities more unhealthy; give to those who want to enter or go +out of the town the trouble of going first to a gate; and crowd and +embarrass the inlets and outlets, by diminishing their number. Indeed, +after sunset, this number, in order to save porters, is reduced to two; +the two principal gates only, at opposite sides of the town, being +attended by their guardians to watch and ward during the night. Often +have I been obliged, at Avignon and at Florence, to shorten my evening +walk, for the sake of arriving at the nearest gate before the Ave Maria +of the evening. If I still continued without the walls, I was obliged to +perform a circuit, first along a dusty road to a distant gate; and then, +accompanied, it may be, by the females of my family, through the main +street to my own habitation, more distant from this gate than from that +by which I had gone out. + +All this mischief, all this restraint, is endured, because, instead of a +tax on the houses in which food is consumed, a duty is levied, at the +gates, on the food itself; a duty, partial, because not paid by the +inhabitants of the country; vexatious, because descending to so many and +so minute objects; and expensive in its collection, because requiring +perpetual superintendence. It is to be hoped the Chamber of Deputies of +France will take some lessons, on the art of taxing, from the House of +Commons, by whom that art has been so long and so successfully +practised. Part of these tolls defray municipal expenses. + +The walls of Avignon are about three miles in circumference. A good +road, bordered by trees, goes round the town; and, on the western side, +is a public walk near the Rhone. The river is here divided into two +branches by a long, narrow island: over each branch is carried a bridge +on wooden piers, with a causeway across the island, uniting the two +bridges into one road from bank to bank. The tolls, on this bridge, are +let, by the city, at about fifty thousand francs a year; a large sum, +and indicating an active intercourse in the direction of Bordeaux and +Toulouse. There is a barrier at each end of the bridge, and the +passengers pay on setting foot upon it, but go off from it scot-free. +Why there are two receivers of one toll I know not, except that one may +be a check on the other; but, as every "receiver is as bad as a thief," +this expedient amounts only to "setting a thief to watch a thief." + +That in the twelfth century,--an age of Cimmerian darkness, according to +the Protestants,--a poor shepherd should have conceived the project of +building a bridge over the Rhone; that he should have been prompted to +this undertaking by motives of Christian charity, on observing how many +were drowned in attempting the passage by boats; that he should have +devoted his life to the collection of alms for his purpose;--all this +might procure for St. Benezet more favour than he will ever meet with in +our _dis_-enlightened country. I leave it to my reader to judge of my +reasons for not saying _un_-enlightened. The mischief is, they made the +poor man a saint, instead of knighting him, like Sir Richard Arkwright. +A punster might have entitled him Pontifex Maximus; but this would have +been still worse for his reputation. + +The Reverend Alban Butler, in his learned, discreet, and pious work, +"The Lives of the Saints," relates, that the building of this bridge +was attended by many miracles. Part of these may have been contrived to +encourage those to the enterprise who would not have been moved by the +single consideration of its utility; as the liberation of the Holy +Sepulchre, and "Deus vult," roused those who would never have made a +common effort to defend Christendom against the Saracen. In part also, +these miracles may have been real, notwithstanding the bold assertion +that miracles have ceased. This assertion may be easily made, while +every fact proving the contrary is rejected with supercilious +incredulity; but it is an assertion in its own nature incapable of +proof: the denial of the possibility of miracles would be inconsequent +in the mouths of those who, by affirming them to have ceased, admit them +to have existed. These men are not Deo a secretis. + +Butler tells us also that, on occasion of part of the bridge falling +down by the impetuosity of the waters, in 1669, nearly five hundred +years after the death of St. Benezet, his body, which had been buried in +a little chapel on the bridge, was taken up, and found entire, without +the least sign of corruption: even the bowels were sound, and the colour +of the eyes lively and sprightly, though the bars of iron around the +coffin were much corroded by rust, on account of the dampness of the +situation. Butler did not know that animal muscle is changed by moisture +into a substance resembling spermaceti, as proved by the experiments of +Lavoisier, and Sir George Gibbes. The substance is called by the French +chymists _adipocire_. The philosopher will, I hope, allow his obligation +to me for having attempted to account for one miracle in a natural +manner. Let him say, "The man is reasonable, _quand meme_."[37] + +The remains of the bridge of St. Benezet still bestride the eastern +branch of the Rhone, and are an object of great picturesque beauty. The +arches are very lofty: under the first of them, the great public road is +now carried; a circumstance which seems to show that the river has +formed for itself a narrower, it may be, a deeper bed. Inundations +however are not unfrequent, particularly in the beginning of summer, on +the melting of the snows of the Alps; and I am told at this time, +December 1825, that there has lately been five feet depth of water in +the town of Avignon. I have seen the water wash the walls of the city. + +The Rock, as it is called, of Avignon, has every appearance of having +been separated by the Rhone from the hills on the other side of the +river. How or when this separation was effected, is a question that +might puzzle a writer of theories on the formation of the earth. If we +can believe, what philosophers would readily enough believe were not the +fact asserted in the Bible,--that the earth was at one time covered with +water, even the tops of the mountains,--and if we can suppose also that +currents existed in this deluge;--then, on the subsiding of the waters, +these currents might meet with the summits and ridges of hills, and work +and wear for themselves a passage, the waters of the deluge gradually +retiring, but, in the mean time, sustaining the currents at the +requisite height. But humility in Scriptural interpretation is +recommended by the remark, that the very first word of Scripture, "In +the beginning," is incomprehensible and inexplicable. + +On the southern slope of this rock is built the Palace of the Popes; as +its roof is continued in one horizontal line, the height of the building +at the southern extremity is enormous: its principal front is towards +the west, overlooking a part of the city and the hills of Languedoc: it +is now in a ruined and neglected state, as far as a building can be so +which is still in use: part of it serves for a prison: another part is +a caserne, of which the pope's chapel is the dormitory. Close upon the +northern end of the palace is the cathedral; a church which, at the +beginning of the revolution, was plundered of an immense quantity of +silver and some gold plate, which was sent off to the national crucible +at Paris; amongst other treasures was a silver bell of no very +diminutive size. The tombs even were ransacked; a skull was brought to +my house by my children's drawing-master, from which my younger son +designed an admirable and edifying death's head. The model, I was +assured, had been the cranium of a pope. They were beginning to repair +this church, with the purpose of restoring it to its former destination. +On one side of it is a little chapel with a dome, which served as the +model for the dome of Ste. Genevieve. The copy is sufficiently exact. + +Behind the palace, on the east, rises a tower, which, from having been +used as an ice-house, was called the _glaciere_; and the glaciere of +Avignon is a name ever memorable in the annals of horror. From the top +of this tower five hundred, according to those who exaggerate; thirty, +according to those who extenuate,--of the principal inhabitants of the +city, after receiving a stunning blow on the head, were thrown down on +the ice within, and their bodies immediately covered with quick lime. + +Such was the vengeance of the people on those who, without trial, from +the notoriety of the fact, were convicted of the crime of aristocracy. +The Revolution had been quietly accomplished: the people declared that +it was their will to unite themselves to France; sent a deputation to +the national assembly; and cried "Vive le Roi." The vice-legate, who +governed the city for the pope, addressed the people from his balcony; +told them he had no force to oppose this their movement, that they had +his prayers for their happiness, and that he would retire. This was all +on his part. The national assembly accorded to the Avignonais their +wish; and formed of this papal territory and that of Orange, (formerly a +patrimony of the princes of that house,) the department of Vaucluse. + +The summit of the rock commands a very beautiful view. The eye traverses +a fertile plain, bounded by the hills of the Venaissin, among which are +distinguished those of the vallis clausa, where the far-famed fountain +has its source: between the trees are caught glimpses of the Durance, +which throws itself into the Rhone two miles below; almost under your +feet, are seen the windings of the Rhone with its islands: on the +opposite bank rises the chateau and little town of Villeneuve, +surmounted by hills covered with the vine and the olive: immediately +beneath, to the south, and west, lies Avignon, with its population of +five and twenty thousand souls, which number still remained to it after +massacres, confiscations, and proscriptions. By these revolutionary +measures, it had suffered more perhaps than any other city in France +except Lyons, the "ville affranchie" of the Convention. "How would you +have us be gay?" said a noble to me: "we see every day, we live in the +midst of the assassins of our relations, and the possessors of our +property." Virgil describes his Jove as viewing, from Olympus' height, +the earth, "hominumque labores:" the rock of Avignon is but one of many +elevated spots from which we look down on the bounty of Providence and +on the misery of man. + +The city contains a great many handsome hotels or family houses, but is +not generally well-built; the streets, all but one,--the Rue +Calade,--are narrow: the pavement is of small sharp-pointed pebbles. +Here is a public library, formed out of the libraries of the suppressed +convents; a Museum, in which, among other objects, a valuable +collection of coins deserves particular mention, as containing some very +rare specimens of the coins of the Greek cities anciently founded in +this part of France. There is also annexed to the Museum a small +botanical garden. Here is a good infirmary or hospital for the sick. A +large convent has been turned into a _succursal_ or subsidiary house to +the invalids at Paris, insufficient to receive the increased number of +disabled soldiers. The seven parishes of Avignon have been +revolutionized into four, with churches not large enough for the +congregations. I entered a fine Pantheon-like building, and found it to +be a church, with vast Ionic columns supporting large galleries; the +whole capable of containing two thousand people: it was used as a +manufactory of saltpetre. The Jesuits' college is become a _college +royal_: thus it retains its destination as a place of instruction; but +its handsome church has been spoiled by laying a floor across it at +mid-height: for this there was no reason, but that an administrator +thought, as my informant said, that it was a clever thing to cheat the +Almighty of a church, _escamoter une eglise au bon Dieu_. + +The walls of the town are particularly well-built and handsome, if +walls can ever be handsome: they are of the same sort of stone as the +palace, and it is said that each contains precisely the same quantity of +stone. They both date from the fourteenth century, when the popes sat, +as the phrase is, at Avignon. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[37] Notwithstanding. + + + + +CHAP. X. + + +Thirty English families, it was calculated, were settled, before the +Revolution, in Avignon and its territory. The grandson of James II. had +lived here for some time. I used to enter, with some little feeling of +Jacobitical enthusiasm, the house of the Marquise D. which he had +inhabited. The Pretender was accompanied by some who "thought his +pretensions well-founded:" others were attracted by the sort of court, +held here by the vice legate, and by the attentions which it was then +the usage of the court of Rome to pay to foreigners, particularly to the +English. It was convenient also that a war between England and France +did not affect a subject of the former country at Avignon. The +intercourse betwixt this city and Italy had caused more attention to be +paid to literature and the fine arts than is usual in provincial towns: +that these flourished here, the names of Vernet, Flechier, Poole, and +others bear honourable testimony. + +Avignon was now become French, and as such, on a par with other French +towns. I chose it as a place in which to live for a few years, and +superintend the education of my children: it was in my way to Italy, my +ulterior object. I determined on the south of France on account of the +health of Mrs. ----, who, though subject to violent coughs, which had +more than once threatened her life, has not suffered from them since we +have been to the southward of Lyons. + +But the wounds inflicted by the Revolution, and during the reign of +terror, were hardly stanched; the recollection of the evils they had +endured was still recent,--still afflicted the spirits of those who +formed the first class of society at Avignon. I have already mentioned +the feeling with which one of them expressed himself on this subject. +The most fortunate amongst them,--at least he told me he so considered +himself,--was the Marquis ----, who, after being obliged to fly and +absent himself for fifteen years, recovered his estate with the loss +only of the rents during those years. Almost every lady, at that time +old enough to have been an object of persecution, had been put in +prison, and there, with her companions, had discussed the question +whether the guillotine was an easy mode of death. One of them said to +me, "You see us _tristes_; but sometimes we forget ourselves, and then +_le caractere national perce_."[38] + +In 1795, almost every large house in Avignon bore on its walls a +notice,--"Propriete nationale a vendre;"[39] and even houses not +confiscated, as well as other property, were sold to relieve the +immediate distress of their owners. A house, which I considered as the +best in the town, which had been but lately built at an expense of two +hundred thousand francs, was sold for thirty thousand to the father of +my banker: its noble proprietor gave as a reason for acceding to so +disproportionate a bargain, that his wife and daughter had nothing to +eat. + +Great wealth was a crime as well as royalism or nobility. Two persons, +in authority at Avignon during the reign of terror, were making out a +list of emigrants: a third was present, who, having nothing else to do, +was holding the candle to the two municipal revolutionists. "Shall we +set _him_ down in the list?" whispered one of them to the other, meaning +the third, the candle-holder.--"Ce seroit un peu trop fort, puisqu'il +est present."[40]--"Qu' importe? il n'osera pas reclamer, et il est +riche."[41] Danton, who by the by, was minister of _justice_, said "La +revolution est une mine qu'il faut exploiter."[42] + +A revolutionary tribunal held its permanent sitting at Orange, and every +day carts full of victims were sent off thither from Avignon. My friend +the Marquise ---- was then a child of six years old; a plan was laid to +take her in the cart and throw her into the Rhone by the way: she could +not be convicted of _incivisme_, but she was an heiress. The plot was +defeated by her _bonne_ or nurse-maid, who took care that the child +should be out of the way at the time of the departure of the cart. + +The trials at Orange were the pleasantest scenes imaginable. "Tu n'es +pas royaliste? Tu n' as pas conspire contre l'etat?"[43] or some such +questions, in an ironical tone, decided the fate of the prisoner. "Voila +des hommes qui tranchent sur tout,"[44] said I to my narrator. He +forgave the pun. + +An elderly woman,--her understanding childish through age, and who was +deaf withal,--was put in accusation with her son. "Tu as pleure la mort +du roi,"[45] said the judges to the mother, charging her also with +having put on mourning on the occasion. "O yes," said the old woman, "I +was very sorry for the king, poor, dear, good man; and I put on a black +silk apron and a black ribbon round my cap." The judges, seeing the +people inclined by this simplicity to a sentiment of compassion, +advanced to something more serious. "Tu as conspire contre l'etat."[46] +Here the son put himself forward: "Messieurs, do what you will with me; +but my mother--you see her imbecillity; she is deaf: how can she have +conspired against the state?" "Elle est sourde?" said the judge: "ecris, +greffier, qu'elle a conspire sourdement contre l'etat."[47] This pun is +not to be forgiven. Arrived at the place of execution, the mother, +seeing the assembled crowd, asked her son the meaning of it; whether it +was a fair, or some _fete_. He obtained as a favour from the +executioner, that his mother might be the first to suffer death. + +A noble had a conversation with a man who, though known as one of the +chief assassins of that aera, lived quietly at Avignon. "I should imagine +that, since you have failed of your purpose, you must feel some regret +at having uselessly shed so much blood."--"Au contraire, our regret is +that we did not shed more: mais ce sera pour une autre fois."[48] + +In expectation of this _autre fois_, some of the few nobles to whom any +wealth was left were making up a purse in readiness for a second +emigration:--let it be remembered this was in the year 1818. Others of +them lived economically, indifferent as to the consideration in which +they might be held after so many mortifications; or disgusted with the +law of equal partition of inheritance, which reduced all their children +to mediocrity of wealth,--an evil they wished to remedy by their +savings. I recollect, in passing, that I was well acquainted with a +noble, an aristocrat, who detested every act of the constituent +assembly, but thought this law of _partage_ perfectly just and +reasonable: he was a younger brother. + +From all that has preceded, it will be inferred that the public mind at +Avignon was not in a state to abandon itself unreservedly to the +pleasures of society. Yet fetes were occasionally given; balls, with, +now and then, a petit souper, were not uncommon during carnival; and +every evening might be passed in company, in the salon of some lady who +had taken her day of the week for receiving. At these parties cards were +supplied, but paid for by those who used them, at a price which, though +moderate, covered the expense both of cards and wax candles. This +practice, pretty well established in England, was defended by the +example of the court, where it is permitted. We could not do better than +follow the practice of the court. Ordinarily no refreshments were given: +one conscientious lady, however, told her friends that her surplus +card-money enabled her to treat them with ices and petits gateaux. No +invitation was sent after the first notice, which was considered as good +so long as the weekly reception should continue. + +Besides these reunions, to which all the acquaintance of the mistress of +the house were of course admitted, there were sometimes parties by +invitation, when the refreshments were sufficient and decorous. I +endeavoured to set the fashion of tea, and gave a _the_, as much in +conformity, as to the mode of it, with the notions of the country, as +my imagination could make it out. A large table, covered with a cloth as +at dinner time, bore upon it not only the tea equipage, with its usual +accompaniments of tartines and toast, but also fruits, and cakes, and an +immense round flat tart, showing preserve through a gridiron of pastry, +with wine and syrups for those whom tea would deprive of sleep. The +Marquise ---- followed my example, and gave a _the_, of which she +condescended to ask my opinion: I told her, that in order that the tea +should be good, it was indispensable that the water should be not only +hot, but boiling; excusing at the same time the boldness of my counsel, +on the ground that it was not obtruded, but demanded. She tried again, +and succeeded to admiration. Tea is now in pretty general use at evening +parties in the north of France. + +While my elder children even were yet too young to bear their part in +soirees, I contented myself with entertaining, now and then, a few +Messieurs at dinner, after consulting a friend on the enterprise, with a +declaration that I could not invite ladies, as their taste would require +more research and delicacy of preparation than I could hope to arrive +at. He admitted the difficulty would be lessened by this restriction +however ungallant, and proceeded to tell me, that a dinner invariably +begins by soup and bouilli: as this latter however must be insipid if +the the soup is good, it is well to accompany it by a sausage, or some +high-tasted meat: then come the entremets, then the roti with its salad: +after which, said he, "tout naturellement on fait monter le +poisson."[49] Nothing could appear to me more unnatural than fish after +meat; but I was in such a complaisant disposition, that I agreed to +every thing. The douceurs terminate the repast, succeeded by the +dessert. + +So many English travel in France, and so many write their travels, that +these matters are well known: the repetition may be endured as a part of +a family history; I speak of them with a due sense of their importance: + + ----------qualia vincant + Pythagoram, Anytique reum, doctumque Platona. + +Having discovered what might be considered as a good French dinner, en +province, I set to work, not neglecting the improvements suggested by an +English education, by no means so useless, on this head, as the French +imagine. + +It will be seen, that the arbitrary parts of a French dinner are the +made dishes and the sweets: the bouilli and roti are obligatory; the +former because you are hungry, the latter, lest you should still be so. +I approve of the order in which the fish appears, having seen many +persons choke themselves in England by eating of it with an appetite as +yet unsatiated. Even to the fried fish I ventured, contrary to usage, to +add a sauce, (in a sauce-boat be it well understood,) which those who +partook of it admitted to be an improvement. A stuffed turkey, with +sausage balls, was allowed to be better than a dry roti: a hare, with a +pudding and currant jelly, was declared to be delicious. I obtained +permission to serve the cheese, as a thing of mauvaise odeur, by itself, +recalling only the salad, instead of making it a part of the dessert. By +these means, and by the help of stuffed loins of mutton, roasted +tongues, or boiled, with but little flavour of salt, new college +puddings, and other unknown luxuries too tedious to mention, (a phrase I +ought to have employed long ago,) I have the patriotic consolation of +thinking that I gave a favourable idea of the English kitchen, which, in +defiance of popular opinion, I affirm to be better than the French, +though their artists in this line are superior. The chief differences +are, that the French make prepared and high-seasoned dishes of their +vegetables, and think it barbarous to eat them, au naturel, along with +their meat; and that they will not believe that their meat contains any +juice, or gravy, or flavour, till they have extracted it by culinary +process, and laid it beside the meat in the dish. Indeed their climate, +which provides for them so many excellent things, refuses them pasture +to fatten beef; but they have fine artificial grasses and hay: of every +other object of gourmandise, except fat beef, they have all that the +most voracious, or the most delicate appetite can demand. + +An invitation to dinner is always taken au pied de la lettre; it never +trenches on the evening parties;--all retire immediately after coffee. + +Nothing can be more easy than the entrance into society in a provincial +town in France: you have only to send billets of invitation, taking care +first to make a general visit to all whom you invite; which visit is +returned by those who mean to accept that or any future invitation. In +the second winter of my residence, we took an evening for weekly +reception, beginning by an invitation to a ball. Dancing was, for this +time, prevented by the arrival of the news of the death of King George +III. On occasion of another ball, I observed that those who, from +whatever reason, had been prevented from assisting at the ball, took +particular care to present themselves at the following weekly soiree, +when, as on other soirees, no refreshments were given, as we thought it +right to conform to the usage of the place. Indeed this mode of visiting +has its advantages: the visited is thus the obliged party; insomuch that +those, who themselves do not receive, make no scruple of repeating their +visits. Those who do thus receive, expect of course to be visited in +their turn. + +It is perhaps in consequence of this mode of receiving, that the custom +is established, that the newly-arrived shall make the first _call_. +However agreeable it might be to a stranger to be invited to cards and +conversation only, the inhabitants of a town cannot know that it would +be agreeable, till they are, by implication, told so. One exception to +the rule confirms my opinion of its origin. The Duc--, who, in my first +winter, gave a ball every week, called on me to invite my family. The +rule was, nevertheless, so far observed, that the Duchesse did not call +till after we had accepted the invitation. The practice, from whatever +it may arise, is very embarrassing to the mauvaise honte of an +Englishman: this may easily be surmounted, when it is perceived that +the first visit is always considered as a polite attention. + +But the only serious _social_ embarrassment I experienced, arose from my +imperfect use of the language: I had learned French when a boy; when I +left England I had long read it, almost as easily as English; arrived in +France, I found I had two studies to perform, two difficulties to +encounter; to make myself understood, and to understand: the first I +could do indifferently well; but I passed a twelvemonth in France before +I could understand what was said by the men, and two years before I +could understand what was said by the ladies. I found that not to +understand was more disadvantageous than not to be understood; since +those who endured my bad French with patience were, very naturally, +displeased on discovering that they had been throwing away their words +on one who could not fully comprehend their meaning. I seriously advise +every Englishman who purposes to establish his family for some years in +France, if he is not competent to follow a conversation in the language +of that country, to go thither first himself alone, and establish +himself for a few months in French society: he will thus make more +progress in a month, than afterwards, with his family, in a year: for +the frequent use of an old language indisposes the organs of speech to +the acquisition of a new one. The ears too require their lesson. + +I will also repeat the counsel given to me by a friend, a _detenu_, +whose son, at the age of seventeen, spoke English like a foreigner; it +was, constantly to talk English in the family. Notwithstanding my exact +compliance with this advice, my youngest child, from having learned +three languages before entering her tenth year, speaks English less +perfectly than the others: she left England when but three years old, +and, a year after, said, somewhat boastingly, "J'ai oublie mon Anglois." +In truth, seven or eight years absence has produced in all the family +some little forgetfulness of our native tongue; nay, I fear that my +reader may find some Gallicisms in the writing of one, who did not quit +his native land till far advanced in the fiftieth year of his age. + +No parent will be content that his children should forget their native +language: whether it may be necessary, in order to avoid this +inconvenience, to enjoin the use of it within the family, will depend on +circumstances, on the age of the children, on the length of the intended +stay or residence abroad. The means will, so far forth, hinder and +delay the attainment of the language of the country, without which both +improvement and amusement are utterly hopeless, as social intercourse is +impossible. The French are not the less impatient of bad French, on +account of the imperturbable politeness with which they hear it. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[38] The national character pierces through. + +[39] National property to be sold. + +[40] That would be a little too bad since he is here present. + +[41] What does it signify? he will not dare to appeal, and he is rich. + +[42] The revolution is a mine that must be worked. + +[43] Thou art not a royalist? Thou hast not conspired against the state? + +[44] See the men who cut through every thing. + +[45] Thou hast wept for the death of the king. + +[46] Thou hast conspired against the state. + +[47] She is deaf?--write, clerk, that she has conspired in a secret way +against the state. + +[48] But that will be for another time. + +[49] The fish is served quite naturally. + + + + +CHAP. XI. + + +I found a very good drawing-master at Avignon, an eleve of David, one +who had studied in Italy, an intelligent man; his conversation pleased +and instructed me. I had much difficulty to meet with a master of the +French language: no one here wanted to learn French; they were contented +with such as they talked: there was no demand for institutors in this +branch of education. At last I found a professor of the royal college, +an ingenious man, but utterly unpractised in the art of teaching French, +which he might suppose "came by nature;" and being besides unacquainted +with English, he was unable to explain to his scholars of my family, any +rules of grammar, whether general or particular. That I may dismiss him +with honour in this my mention of him, I will recite an epigram of his +composition at the beginning of the Revolution: + + O liberte cherie! en vain je te poursuis: + Par tout je vois ton arbre, et nulle part tes fruits.[50] + +Of dancing-masters and music-masters I need not speak; their art is at +the end of their fingers or of their toes. I had some trouble in +managing the temper of the professor of the first of these arts, who was +a Gascon; and the natural pride of the professor of music, who was a +noble: but, by the help of some tact united with good-will, I obtained +my end, which was, that they should depart contented. The climate did +not permit dancing lessons to be taken, except in the winter. + +I do not advise any one, habituated to the climate of England, and in +good health, to come abroad for the sake of climate. Charles II. was +certainly right when he said, one may in England be out of doors more +days in the year, and more hours in the day, than in any other country. +I quoted this saying to a friend, who replied, "Mais c'est toujours en +souffrant;"[51] and, being accustomed to heat, he reckoned all suffering +from that cause as nothing: he had been in England, and recollected how +his nose was bitten, and his fingers benumbed by the frost. A friend at +Avignon called on me in the middle of the day, having crept along the +shady side of the streets. It is there the custom in summer to keep the +windows shut during the heat of the day. I complained to my visitant +of this practice, as depriving one of air when gasping for it. "Mais +que voulez-vous? l'air est en feu."[52] I put the thermometer out at +a north window, and it rose two degrees. During the greatest heat of +the hot summer of 1820, I observed the thermometer pretty regularly +at midnight, and found it to stand at 80 Fahrenheit. + +One may rise early, and enjoy the coolness of the morning: true; but for +this end it is necessary to go to bed early, and be deprived of the +coolness of the evening. I knew, however, one man who had the good-sense +and resolution to dispose of his day during summer in the following +manner: he went to bed at midnight, rose at four in the morning, took +his exercise, transacted his affairs, eat his dejeune a la fourchette, +as may be supposed, with a good appetite, and went to bed again at +mid-day: at four p. m. he rose again, made his toilette, eat his dinner, +and went into society, till the end of the second of the two days which +he thus contrived to form out of twenty-four hours. I have been told +that such is the practice of the English in the East Indies. + +The plague of bugs may be avoided by care and cleanliness: the defence +against gnats is a gause net surrounding the bed; but wo be to those who +find one or more gnats enclosed within the net itself, as happens not +unfrequently from the carelessness of the femme de chambre: the hum of +the insect, and the dread of his attack, deprive you of sleep: there is +no remedy but to wait till he settles upon the face; and then, while he +is busy with his first bite, with an expectant and prepared hand to +crush him. Flies are also very troublesome in these envied regions of +the south; but flies are not like those Cassiuses, the gnats;--"they +sleep o'nights." + +The _bise_ or north wind, coming from the frozen Alps, following the +course of the Rhone, and spreading wide to right and left, is very +delightful and refreshing during the summer at Avignon: but, in the +winter, it penetrates even to the marrow of the bones, and sometimes, +for several days together, blows with such violence, that people are +afraid to walk the streets, lest they should be knocked on the head by +falling tiles or chimneys. This _bise_ is supposed to render the climate +healthy: the Avignonais have a proverb:--"Avenio ventosa; si ventosa, +fastidiosa; si non ventosa, venenosa." How far it is "venenosa," I have +but too much reason to know. + +The Rhone is sometimes frozen over at Avignon: I have seen people walk +across it on the ice. The cold during part of the winter is sometimes +greater than that of Paris; and I have seen the cold of the _hyver +moyen_[53] of Paris marked, on a French thermometer, as two degrees of +Reaumur lower, that is stronger, than the cold of the _hyver moyen_ of +London. All the world knows that in summer it is much hotter at Paris +than at London: the vine bears witness to it; but both heat and cold are +tempered to England by passing over the sea. + +To sum up all that I have to say at present on the subject of climate, I +believe lat. 45, half way between the pole and the equator, to be, all +other circumstances being equal, the best of the climes that are +"mortalibus aegris Munere concessae Divom." Habit reconciles both to cold +and heat. One consideration may not be unimportant to families that wish +to economize: cold is costly. Returning into France from Italy, I find +the difference between the rent of a house in Naples and that of a house +in a country town, to be filled up by the expense of firing; and, at the +beginning of my first winter, am almost ruined in manteaus, great coats, +pelisses, blankets, and other flannels. + +A country town in France is better supplied with society than a country +town in England, inasmuch as the French country gentry do not disdain to +live in a country town. All of them have an hotel, an apartment, or at +least a _pied a terre_, as they called it, in the largest country town +in their neighbourhood, and resort thither during the winter. From the +time of the wheat harvest, which in the south is towards the end of +June, till the time for planting is ended, they not only live, but are +very busy in the country. The practice of letting land for the half of +the produce compels them to be on the spot to take charge of their own +share: but, in bad weather, and during the long evenings, they seek +shelter in the town. Here the members of the ancient noblesse, now +without fortune, without privilege, still viewed by the many with +sentiments of political dislike,--maintain their superiority over men, +their equals in moral honesty, more wealthy and better instructed than +themselves. And how do they maintain it? By manners. It is admirable to +see with what grace and ease, without arrogating any thing to themselves +or derogating from others, without art or design,--they assert their +dignity, and contrive that it be recognised by those with whom they +have to do. Some of those who have not the advantage, if such it may be +called, of noble birth, endeavour to imitate, while others affect to +despise, these manners, which throw such a charm over society; but it is +impossible to despise, and very difficult to imitate them: they seem to +result from an early, an almost perpetual consciousness of +self-importance, corrected by a constant intercourse with others +entitled to equal respect and deference. The manners of military men, +more frank, and open, and manly than those of the noblesse, want the +polish attained by the latter: for military men, while they derive +confidence from the glory of their profession, are chiefly conversant +with those whom they command or obey. "The depot of good manners is to +be found with the nobles of ancient families," said one of them to me. + +Before the revolution there were in France twenty-seven thousand +families of the noblesse. By the charte the nobles of imperial creation +preserve their titles, the ancient nobles resume theirs. Of titles, +however, very little use is made in conversation; the little particle +_de_ answers all demands of noble self-love; and even a Duc or Duchesse +is contented to be addressed, in familiar parlance, as Monsieur de ---- +or Madame de ----. This little particle _de_ multiplies itself with +astonishing rapidity, like the English addition Esq.; and the act by +which it is assumed is no more contested in France, than that which, +with us, niches a man of merit between knight and gentleman. Three or +four _de_ were brought into the world at Avignon, during my stay there. + +What shows the practice of unauthorised assumption of the _de_ to be by +no means so novel as its censurers pretended, is, that I found the _de_ +sometimes to precede names which signified trades: of these there are +many in all countries; whereas the _de_ ought only to indicate the +_terre_, or estate, like the d'Igby of my maternal ancestors, and can +with propriety be used for no other purpose. + +But the ambition of nominal distinction was not always thus cheaply to +be gratified, if I may believe the feeling lament of an old noble, that +is a noble of old family, "Such an one fancies, some fine morning, that +he is a count or marquis: he calls himself so: the world laughs."--"But +the title passes current?" A shrug of the shoulders gave me to +understand that the subject was too distressing to be further pursued. O +chivalry, thou act fallen on grievous,--on money-loving times! + +The title of Baronet is insignificant, having its origin too in a paltry +sum of money paid to a needy king. The list (for it is not an order,) +contains names that do honour to it: yet I heard in my youth a young man +of one of the first families in Ireland, afterwards Marquess of ----, +talk peevishly of "a parcel of d----d baronets." In endeavouring to be +superior to their equals, or equal to their superiors, they undertake a +task which must make them unacceptable to both parties. The ancient +noblesse of France has neither feudal rights nor political power; but it +has its origin in what may be called the heroic ages of Europe: the +peerage of France must look up to the nobles with respect; and the +people, that it may honour them, asks only to rank them among its +friends. + +It is a pity that the nobles should be generally reproached with want of +instruction: many of them plead in excuse that they are _enfans de la +revolution_, born at a time when their education was of necessity +neglected. I mentioned this excuse to an avocat. "Bah! they well know +that their fathers were as ignorant as themselves." The avocat's +argument was not conclusive; the nobles of the present day might, but +for the unsettled time of their youth, have partaken of the gradual +improvement in knowledge which pervades all classes; and the remark, +"je suis meilleur gentilhomme que mon pere, parceque j'ai une generation +de plus,"[54] might have applied to other advantages than that of +counting one generation more. The French nobles have now no longer that +which, according to Juvenal, makes ignorance tolerable: let us hope they +will avail themselves of their diminished wealth to acquire that +learning, which, according to the proverb, though I do not believe it, +is better than house and land. + +The practice of letting farms to a _metayer_, who retains a share of the +produce, and pays his rent with the remainder, is resorted to and +continued from necessity. The farmer has not capital enough to stock a +farm. If the proprietor, after having made the necessary advances for +the occupation of the land, were to let the whole for a money rent, the +farmer would soon be in arrears, and would end by running away. +_Metairie_ I suppose to be derived from the Italian _meta_, which +signifies _half_. The landlord's share is however not always in this +proportion: on fertile soils, and on account of rich products, he +receives more than where more labour is required to reap an equal +or less benefit. I believe the half to be the minimum. + +After having passed through nearly the whole length of Europe, with a +taste prepared by a youth passed, as Gibbon says, "in port and +prejudice;" and in the same college too, I venture to assert, that wine +is good in proportion as the country in which it is produced is near the +all-enlivening sun. The wine of Champagne, which cannot remain for a +minute and a half in the glass without growing flat; that of Burgundy, +which is hardly ever found but in an acid state; that of Bordeaux, +"claret for boys;"--not any one of these wines is to be compared (not +for strength only, but for flavour also,) to the wines of the Rhone and +of Provence. Such is my opinion: experto credat who will. + +It may amuse my reader to learn that he may perhaps have been drinking +French wine, when he little suspected that it lay concealed in "humble +port." A trade, which in its first stage is not contraband, whatever it +may be in its second, is carried on between the French shores of the +Mediterranean and Portugal: wines are shipped off to Oporto, which, by +the help of brandy and other manipulation, become good port wine for the +London market. + +I was told by a negociant, an intelligent man, not a wine-merchant, +that it was the wish of the wine-growers of France, that wine imported +into England should pay a duty _ad valorem_, on the price, not on the +quantity. He did not expect that the English government should be +content to receive a less amount of duty on the same quantity of wine, +the mean quality supposed the same: but he asserted that wines of +inferior quality, which could not be imported in the face of the duty +per gallon, would then find their way; that the consumption of wine +would be much increased; and the English government, as well as the +French wine-dealer and proprietor of vineyards, would both be benefited. +As fiscal regulations have spoiled our malt liquor, it would be but fair +to allow to those who are now ruining their health with rum and water, +the pleasure of drinking sometimes a bottle of small French wine. What? +A bottle of Burgundy at a farmer's ordinary? Gentlemen travellers +drinking claret? So much are men the slaves of habit, that the +supposition appears extravagant; and, after a twelvemonth, the thing +itself would be no more astonishing than it is now in France. + +The French, who have seen the atmosphere of smoke in which London is +enveloped, and the sea-coal pouring its volumes of smoke up the +chimney, have disseminated throughout France a certain horror of coal +fires. There are, near Lyons, mines of coal of a quality superior to any +I have yet seen, like the Wednesbury, but better. I had some difficulty +in making the blacksmith comprehend what ought to be the form of such +machines as grate, poker, fender. "Things by their name I call;" though +to my blacksmith I was obliged to use every sort of periphrasis. _My_ +poker was made with a hook at the end of it; the fender had a handle to +it; the bars of the grate were too small and too near each other. The +hook of the poker was soon straightened in the fire: of the fender +handle I was contented to declare, "il n'y a pas de mal a cela:"[55] as +the bars of my grate, though near, were not thick; they did not +intercept more heat than usual. + +Taking the precaution to have a wood fire in my second salon, I ventured +to invite my friends to see my fire de charbon de terre. They were much +surprised and pleased. "Il n'y a pas de mauvaise odeur: ce feu se fait +respecter: quelle chaleur!"[56] The combined advantages of greater heat +and less cost, (for the coal fire was maintained at about half the +expense of a wood fire,) procured imitators. The general commanding +the department had a grate set up: the smith made it after his own +faulty model, declaring, no doubt, that it was _a l'Anglaise_: the +general was, however, well satisfied, telling me that the coal fire +warmed the three rooms of his apartment as well as a wood fire in each +and every one of them. The woods have been especially ravaged during an +aera of insecure possession; and fire-wood, always an expensive article, +is generally, throughout France, become dearer than formerly, except in +the neighbourhood of great forests. + +I will endeavour to enable any one to judge how far it may be worth his +while to come to reside in France from motives of economy. With his +motives for being economical I have nothing to do: any one may be +economical at home who pleases; but it does not please some people to be +economical at home: others wish to have more for the same money. The +French are sometimes puzzled to make out why the English come abroad; +perhaps the English are sometimes equally puzzled themselves: but, with +reference to economy, sometimes the English seem to them to be +travelling for the sake of spending money; sometimes to be staying in +France for the purpose of saving it: the riches as well as the high +prices of England are exaggerated; the latter to a degree that would +make the riches to be merely nominal: then, the difference between +French and English prices is supposed to be so great, that the saving, +by living in France, must be enormous. Many English have, at first, no +clearer notions than the French on these subjects. + +The price of almost every article, the produce of agricultural or +manufacturing industry, has been increased one-third, some say +two-fifths, in France since the beginning of the Revolution: the taxes +have been trebled. We know that, within the last thirty years, prices +and taxes have been augmented in England at about the same rates; so +that, on both sides of the water, the proportion has been preserved: but +the English knew very little of France during the war; whereas the +French knew England by their emigrants, who reported truly the high +prices then prevalent: thus some unsettled or erroneous opinions on +domestic economy may be accounted for. I left England while paper +currency was still in _force_, and before prices were lowered as since +they have been: my estimate must be corrected accordingly. + +The result of between three and four years experience is, that about +one-sixth is saved by living, not in Paris, but in a provincial town in +France, or that a franc will go as far as a shilling. Set against this +saving the expenses of the journey, and the saving will not be great to +those who do not retrench in their mode of life, but live in France in +the same style as at home. The exchange on bills drawn on England may be +favourable; but some little money sticks in every hand through which +money passes, which balances this advantage. + +House-rent is higher in France than in England; fuel much dearer: some +manufactured articles, as woollen cloth for coats, and linen or cotton +for shirts, are equally dear: colonial produce, as sugar and coffee, is +of a variable price, but not much cheaper: tea is cheaper, as the +Americans supply it, or England with a remission of the duty. But there +are no assessed taxes, no poor-rates: provisions I found to be cheaper +by about one-third than I had left them in England; and my younger +children, instead of small beer, with half a glass of wine each after +dinner, now drank wine, with discretion indeed, but at discretion. The +more numerous my family, the greater was the advantage to me of this +diminution of the daily expense of food. + +Yet I calculate that at the end of forty-two months, including what the +journey to Avignon cost me, and the difference between the price at +which my furniture was bought, and that at which it was sold,--I had +spent, within one twentieth, as much as it would have cost me to live in +my county town in England with the the same establishment and in the +same manner. The smaller the income annually expended, the greater in +proportion will be the saving; because it is chiefly on the necessary +articles of living, that expense is spared; but a man of large, or even +of moderate fortune, will hardly think it worth his while to dwell many +years in a foreign country merely for the sake of saving five pounds in +a hundred. The less the distance to which he travels, and the longer his +stay; the more he becomes acquainted with the mode of dealing, and +learns what are just prices;--the greater proportionably will be the +savings of the economizing resident. A saving of five per cent is at +least not a loss. Wise men should not entertain extravagant +expectations, and prudent men should know what they are about to +undertake. Those who are neither wise nor prudent had better stay at +home: I do not write for such; but to give to family men such advice as +I found no one capable of giving me; but which, through much toil and +cost and peril, I had obtained the faculty of offering to others. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[50] O cherished liberty! in vain I follow after thee: + I see thy _tree_ every where, and thy fruits no where. + +[51] But it is in suffering continually. + +[52] But what would you have? the air is on fire. + +[53] A mean or medium winter. + +[54] I am a better gentleman than my father, because I have one +generation more. + +[55] There is no harm in that. + +[56] There is no bad smell. This fire makes itself respected. What a +heat! + + + + +CHAP. XII. + + +Excepting only Rome and its immediate neighbourhood, no part of Italy +can exhibit so many remains of Roman antiquity as are to be found within +a short distance of Avignon. The Romans seem to have united Provence to +Italy, as the French have since united Piedmont to France. Our English +travellers, who, according to the plan mentioned in the first chapter, +pass one summer in going to Italy and another in returning from it, will +do well to make Avignon their head quarters for some time, and visit the +curiosities around. There is Nismes with the Pont du Gard, Arles, St. +Remy, Orange, already mentioned, and other places. There is also the +far-famed fountain of Vaucluse. A commission of antiquarian research is +established within the department; at Nismes also much attention is paid +to these objects, and with good reason; for no town in Europe, Rome +excepted, possesses such precious remains. + +In the beginning of the month of September of my second year, I hired a +coach with three horses again, (for no god of them all is so fond of an +uneven number as these coach-masters,) and, with part of my family, took +the road to Vaucluse. It passes first over a fertile alluvial plain, +formed, in remote ages, by the Rhone and Durance when they overflowed +their banks, as the Oby and Tobol do now. Then we traversed a country of +corn, wine, and oil, and descended to Lisle, a little town on the +Sorgues, the river of Vaucluse, from whose fountain it is distant about +four miles. For three of these four miles as far as the village, we were +able to proceed in our carriage; but, from this point, the Naiad +requires to be reverentially approached on foot. We ascended a gentle +steep, the Sorgues on our right-hand,--a stream, which, even here, so +near its head, has force to turn several mills that harmonise well with +the landscape. Above the mills it began to assume more and more a +torrent-like appearance; the rocks approached nearer on each side, and +confined us within a still closer valley. Whither has the nymph of the +stream retired? At length the termination of the valley appeared before +us; a lofty curtain of rock, at half the height of which was seen a wide +and dusky arch, overshadowed by a fig-tree growing out of the precipice +above. Over a shelving rock, at the foot of this arch, the water throws +itself. + +But there was at this time no cascade; the fountain was more than +ordinarily low; streams gushed through fissures at the foot and sides of +the rock below the arch, and indicated their source. The shelf or lip, +at the mouth of the cavern, forms a natural bridge over these streams: +we ascended to this shelf, and went down into the cavern a considerable +depth before we arrived at the water: here, a rock projecting into the +water prevented us from going into a second cavern; but we could see, +(for the opening above afforded sufficient light,) that this second +cavern was the last. + +I thought it very fortunate that the fountain was so low: had it been +full, we should have seen a water-fall; but I had now seen the Helicon +of Petrarch,--had penetrated to the source of his inspiration, + + ------atque sacri libamina palleo fontis, + +as was written by a young man of genius at Oxford, in my time, whose +name I do not remember, though I have not forgotten this striking and +beautiful expression. In sober sadness, I think it an advantage to +understand the nature and situation of the fountain better than I +should have done had I seen only a picturesque cascade. I do not +believe the immediate source of the fountain to be within the cavern, +but that its waters are supplied in subterranean courses by the +surrounding country: this is proved, I think, by their quantity being so +much affected by rain or drought. St. Winifred's well at Holywell, in +Flintshire,--a fountain as copious as that of the Sorgues,--is not at +all increased or diminished by any change of the seasons. + +We loitered for two hours on the bank of the tumbling torrent, sat under +the shade of walnut trees, and eat of their fallen fruit; drank water +from the fountain, talked about Petrarch and Laura, and refused, from +incredulity, and on account of the heat of the sun, to mount a hill to a +house which, we were assured, had been inhabited by the bard. At the +village of Vaucluse, we took into our carriage some delicious grapes, +and returned to Lisle, where we dined on eels and trout, the boasted +fare of the place, prepared in three several ways. As the landlord at +Lisle is said sometimes to over-charge, I will do his reputation the +justice to observe that, for a dejeune a la fourchette, and dinner for +five persons, with good vin du pays, he demanded twenty-five +francs,--perhaps ten sous a head too much. We got into our coach as the +sun set and the moon rose, and our three horses took us back to Avignon +in two hours. + +In the very heart and centre of the romantic scenery of the Vallis +Clausa, a little to the right of the cavern out of which issues the +fountain, on the ledge over which it falls, is stuck a mean ugly pillar, +put there by somebody to commemorate something. I mention this pillar +only in the hope that good taste will command its demolition. Even if it +were fine and rare, it would be there misplaced: "fortasse cupressum +scis simulare," but what has that to do with a shipwreck? + +My younger son had accompanied to Vaucluse the lady whose visit of +fifteen days had so much astonished the Avignonais a few months before. +Our excursion thither was made under the conduct of my elder son, and +was rendered more agreeable by his frank manners and cheerful +attentions. As the fate of this young man, now in his nineteenth year, +is the occurrence the most important to me, and, I am persuaded, the +subject most interesting to my readers in the contents of this +narrative,--I will give some account of the infancy of this son, that he +may be introduced to their acquaintance, and the last scene of his life +in some sort prepared for. Alas! within two years, on the anniversary +of our journey to Vaucluse, the delirium of his fever deprived me for +the remainder of my life of the comfort of his society, excepting only +one short and consoling conversation immediately before his death. I +trust, in the divine mercy, to rejoin him in the abodes of the just. + +His birth was announced to me at three o'clock in the morning of the 5th +of May 1801. In anxious expectation of this news I had forborn to retire +to rest. It was still necessary for me to wait some little time before I +could be admitted to see my first-born. I then lived at Bath, in the +west wing of Lansdown Crescent: behind each house of this building is a +long strip of garden, of the breadth of the house. In the tumult of new +affections I went out into my garden: the twilight of the morning was +visible: I offered to God this child, who, by the ancient law, would +have been consecrated to him, to serve at the altar, if such were the +divine will; praying that, in whatever state, he might so live as to +secure his own salvation, and contribute to the edification of others: +that if he were not to fulfil this only worthy purpose of existence, he +might now die in infancy; but that rather his days might be prolonged, +if that were to the glory of God, and the increase of his own merit and +reward. My prayer was heard: I returned into the house, and gave a +father's blessing to the stranger. + +He received in baptism the names Henry Kenelm; the former adopted in his +family for the last four generations, the latter derived from my +maternal grandfather. His sponsors were Sir Thomas Fletewood, the last +of an ancient and pious family of Cheshire; and his lady, afterwards +married to the Count St. Martin de Front, Sardinian ambassador at +London. To her it is no doubt a source of Christian consolation to know, +even in this life, that her godson fulfilled the engagement contracted +in his name. + +They who have attentively observed the early years of children must be +convinced that each and every one of them is born with a distinct and +individual character. Two men of fifty, "stained with the variation of +each soil," will differ from each other in manners and opinions more +than two children of the same family: but two children of the same +family will, in character, differ from each other as much as two men of +fifty. Pascal suggests a doubt whether, as custom is called a second +nature, nature itself may not be a former custom. This profound thought +leads to the question whether human souls have existed previously to +their imprisonment in this "body of our humiliation." That they have so +existed I think extremely probable for many very cogent reasons: it is +an opinion which I could defend, merely as an opinion, by many powerful +arguments. I am contented "not to be wise beyond what is written." Yet +it is written that, when the disciples asked our Lord, "Did this man sin +or his parents, that he was born blind?" our Lord, without reproving the +supposition that the man might have sinned before his birth, simply +answered, "Neither did this man sin, nor his parents." + +Henry Kenelm manifested, as early as the natural character can be +manifested, a proud, impetuous, obstinate, angry temper: that he wanted +any thing was, with him, a reason why he should have it; that any other +child was younger or weaker than himself, entitled him, as he thought, +to domineer. He had also the good qualities usually opposed to these +faults in the same character; he was generous, grateful, confiding, +compassionate. As no one, in so short a life, ever more completely +subdued than he did the faults of his natural temper, I record them for +the sake of doing homage to that religion by the aid of which he was +enabled to correct them. + +His understanding was quick and lively, and he learned readily and with +pleasure. A cause of hindrance and delay that occurred to him in +learning to read shall here be mentioned as a caution to parents, +institutors, and governesses. To play at learning to read is regarded as +a great improvement on the "Reading-made-easy," of less enlightened +times. A lady made him a present of a cylindrical ivory box containing +counters, on which were inscribed the letters of the alphabet. He +trundled the box on the carpet, he threw the letters on the carpet, and +viewed them in all directions, sometimes sideways, sometimes +topsy-turvy; so that he no longer knew them again when he saw them +upright in a book: b and q and d and p more especially puzzled him: +besides, the place of letters in words is of great use towards learning +their power, and this help his counters did not afford him. To impose on +him the task of arranging the letters in _verbal_ order, would have +included all the restraint of a formal lesson. The conclusion is, that +if children play, they do not learn; and while they learn, they must not +play: there is a time for all things: their lessons must be short on +account of the softness of the brain, but attention must be insisted on; +they cannot be cheated as to the nature of the occupation, but they +have sense enough to find pleasure in the consciousness of improvement. + +When Kenelm was little more than five years and a half old, his elder +sister died: she was thirteen months younger than himself. Never was +child more lovely in death than this little girl. I gazed on her with +the feeling, since portrayed in the inimitable lines of the Giaour, +beginning + + He who hath bent him o'er the dead. + +These lines I read fourteen years afterwards at Avignon; they thrilled +and electrified me: the touch of genius recalled the scene I had +witnessed. Yet it should seem that associations supplied by reason and +experience are requisite to the contemplation of such an object with the +sentiments described by Lord Byron. I led Kenelm to see his sister two +hours after her death: terror was his predominant emotion; the +immobility of what still so much resembled life appalled him. He burst +into tears. "If I had thought she would have looked _so_, I would not +have come to see her;" nor could he for some time pass the door of that +chamber without shuddering. + +When he was twelve years old, I placed him at Stoneyhurst college in +Lancashire. This society of English Jesuits, the dreadful Jesuits of +St. Omers, of the Popish plot, had, within half a century, suffered +three removes or _demenagemens_, which both the French and English +proverb says are worse than a fire. They had been expelled from St. +Omers by the French government, had been obliged by Joseph II. to quit +Bruges, and had been driven from Liege by the approach of the French +armies. They had now been established for some years in a country-seat +of the family of Lulworth castle. Mr. Weld had given them a beneficial +lease of the house and domain of Stoneyhurst, for which they expressed +much gratitude. It is good to be grateful: gratitude is a Christian +virtue, and well-becoming those who by their missions, their literary +labours, and their institutions for education, have acquired so much +glory to themselves, and rendered such signal services to the Christian +world. Let them always be grateful. + +An account of their plan of education may not be unacceptable, and may +furnish some hints to the heads of our great schools. I am inclined to +think that the Jesuits, though as much spoken against, are very little +more known in England than at the time when I left it. + +The whole number of boys, about two hundred and fifty, is divided into +six schools or classes, to each of which a master is appointed, who, in +the course of six years, conducts his set of boys, from the elements of +grammar in the French, Latin, and Greek languages, to rhetoric, or the +reading of the best classical authors. The fifth year, or that before +rhetoric, is set apart for the study of the poets only. After this +course of six years, lectures are given by the professors of moral and +natural philosophy. + +The masters have no intercourse with their scholars except during the +holding the class or saying the lesson: prefects are appointed to +superintend them at all other times. They study in a large room destined +to this use only: a prefect, in a lofty tribune, enforces application: a +prefect attends them while at play to prevent violence, quarrelling, or +indecorous language: a prefect sleeps in a little room with a glass door +at the end of the dormitory. + +The play-ground is divided into two equal portions, one of which is +allotted to the boys of the three higher, the other to the boys of the +three lower schools, and no one is allowed to cross the bisecting line. +Thus the tyranny of the great boys over the little ones, and the +requisition of petty, irregular, or mischievous services is prevented: +thus also the years and strength of those who play together are +generally more equal. + +No master or other superior, who conceives that a boy has deserved +punishment, is allowed to inflict that punishment himself, but is +obliged to send such boy to the prefect appointed for the time +administrator of the ferula: the boys, either from custom or the point +of honour, or the fear of worse, always ask for the number of strokes of +the ferula which they may be ordered by the superior to receive. A +whimsical result of subordination, that a lad of seventeen shall go to a +man of five and twenty, and say, "Please, Sir, to give me nine ferulas." +Horace talks of the ferula; he does not say that he petitioned for it +himself; and I saw, by an al fresco at Portici, that boys were flogged, +two thousand years ago, just as they now are in our country schools. + +The dormitory is a lofty room, in which each boy has his bed-place to +himself, separated from his neighbours by a wainscot partition six feet +high; a curtain, with a number upon it, is drawn at the foot of the +bed-place, which is open at the top. During the day-time the dormitory +is locked, and none but the servants of the house are, on any account, +permitted to go into it. + +The eleves of Stoneyhurst wear an uniform: this regulation, I am +persuaded, has a better moral influence on their minds than ferulas and +disciplines: "their feet are accommodated," as a fine writer once +expressed it, with very thick shoes; "and their heads are protected" by +a leathern cap: this cap is made to shade the face or to be turned up at +pleasure; it is trimmed with fur, and, while fresh, looks very smart: +but it is soon _degraded_, as the French phrase is, by the various uses +to which caprice or convenience induces the boys to apply it: they sit +upon it; they kneel upon it; they blow, or rather fan the fire with it; +they use it for a bag, and perhaps sometimes, when unseen by the +prefect, they give each other slaps on the face with it;--a trait +d'ecolier for the which its form, when folded, is admirably well +adapted. A blue jacket and red waistcoat of coarse cloth, dark velveteen +pantalon, and worsted stockings, a black velvet stock round the collar +of a very coarse shirt, complete the habiliments of the Stoneyhurst +collegian. "Forsan et haec olim," &c. + +The boys rise at half past five in the morning and go to bed at half +past eight in the evening. Prayers in the chapel begin and end every +day, and they assist at mass daily. Those who are of sufficient age +confess and communicate once a fortnight. + +Such are, in the main, the regulations of this Jesuits' college. During +their unsettled state, the society had admitted but few new members; in +consequence, the education of their youth was, at this time, conducted +chiefly by old men without activity, and young men without experience. +The course of a few years has remedied this evil. + +When Kenelm arrived at Stoneyhurst, his heart bounded within him at the +sight of the spacious buildings, and of between two and three hundred +playfellows: he immediately procured a cap and black collar, and was as +vain of them as a young ensign of his cockade and sword. The superior +led me over the college; Kenelm followed and considered all as provided +for his use and convenience. I tried to persuade him that his visits to +the library, the academy-room, the strangers' apartment, and the garden +of the superiors, would not hereafter be very frequent; that his repasts +in the refectory, though sufficient and wholesome, would not be +luxurious. I was unable to moderate his transport: hardly could I +prevail on him to show some signs of regret at parting from me. I +appealed to "Philip when sober." + +The next summer, I found him sober enough: he had discovered that he was +only one of a crowd; he felt the want of domestic affections, and of +those comforts which home only can supply. I consoled him however, and +left him, after three days spent at Whalley, in a disposition to endure +all that his duty and the destined course of his studies might require. + +"O Athenians," said Themistocles, "how much do I suffer to gain your +applause!" Children have but too much reason to exclaim, "O +Themistocles, how much do we suffer to be able to read your history!" + +The next summer, I sent for him to Park Gate, where he rejoined his +brother and sisters after two years absence. To the number of his +sisters was added one, whose infancy, unsuited for travelling, delayed +my journey to France. At this time he was gay and cheerful: he did not +know the world, and was not afraid of it; yet his behaviour was directed +by an ever sure sense of propriety. I was pleased and satisfied with +him:--he passed five weeks with us. I had given him the meeting at +Liverpool, whither he had been conducted by a prefect: I now took him +back to the same town, where we found a prefect with whom he returned to +his college. + +In the month of July of the following year, 1816, I received a letter +from one of the superiors of the college, informing me that my son, with +thirty-six other boys, had fallen ill of the measles; that my son had +recovered, but, having been allowed to go out too soon, had again fallen +ill. The letter was couched in terms so ambiguous, and implying so much +doubt of the event, that it caused great alarm. I set off immediately: +no other letter was written, and Kenelm's mother was kept in a state of +fearful anxiety, till I wrote to her from Stoneyhurst that her son was +recovered from the relapse. He was however so much weakened, that I +thought it advisable to take him to the sea-coast. I passed ten days +with him alone, and had an opportunity of appreciating his character, of +observing his unaffected good sense, his gentle and amiable manners, his +watchfulness over his conscience, his dutiful affection to his father, +his piety towards God. + +We returned to college to be present at the academy-day, and the +distribution of the prizes. Kenelm had been assured that, but for his +illness, one of these prizes would have fallen to his share. I +comforted him as well as I could, quoting--"satis est potuisse videri." + +In the spring of the following year, I took my younger son to +Stoneyhurst, in the hope that the brothers would find present pleasure +in each others' company, and hereafter talk over together the scenes of +their boyhood. I observed that Kenelm's spirits appeared depressed: I +questioned him; he assured me he had nothing to complain of: I +interrogated the master: he spoke of Kenelm with great regard, and knew +not that any cause of uneasiness existed for him. I passed three days +with my sons, during which time Kenelm's cheerfulness returned, or +seemed to return; and I left them together. + +Towards the end of this year, I finally resolved to put in execution my +long-projected, long-delayed, continental plan. I advised the brothers +of my purpose, who were, of course, delighted with the news. A kind and +much-esteemed friend, who wished to see Stoneyhurst college, brought +them back with him into Lincolnshire at the end of March following. + +In the month that intervened between the return of my sons and our +arrival in Paris, the expectation of the journey, the preparation for +the journey, and the journey itself, so far occupied the mind of +Kenelm, that I had not remarked in him any extraordinary want of gaiety: +I perceived only that he was more serious, that his manner was less +frank, and even his carriage less easy than heretofore. At Paris, the +first discovery I made respecting him was that he was become +short-sighted. As we were viewing the statues of the Louvre, he +exclaimed, "I see nothing but blocks of marble;" and he went off +immediately to Chevalier's, the optician, to buy himself a lorgnette. I +sympathized with him, knowing by experience that a short sight deprives +us of a great part of the pleasure of existence, besides being an +incalculable disadvantage in society. He imputed his short-sightedness +to his having imprudently given himself up to study, before his health +was fully re-established after the measles, in the hope of gaining, at +the next academy-day, the medal which he had lost by his illness; that +he had read a great deal by the flaring gas lights with which the +college is illuminated. + +Something remained behind, a reserve, a sadness even, which I entreated +him to account for. He gave me his full confidence; and I learned, with +very great sorrow, that, for the last eighteen months of his stay in +college, his mind had been a prey to scruples. This "pious awe, and +fear to have offended," carried to excess through inexperience and a +want of due apprehension that it is by the will only that we +offend,--had destroyed his gaiety, retarded his improvement, and +doubtlessly much injured his health. + +I asked him, "What advice did your director give you?"--"None."--"Any +other superior?"--"None." Yet his state was sufficiently evident: he +joined in no play; he did not seek the company of his brother. Alone, or +with one or two companions, he employed the time allowed for play in +walking up and down, indulging the workings of his own mind. I regretted +that I had not taken him home when he requested, after his illness: I +regretted that, instead of taking his brother to college,--a measure so +inefficient for his consolation,--I had not come to France a twelvemonth +sooner: I regretted the time lost, and the time that was still to be +lost in regaining it. But Kenelm's mind was now at ease; feelings, +originating probably in a weak state of health, and continued only +through want of good counsel and sympathy, were at an end, when he found +himself with those whom he loved, by whom he was beloved: his +understanding was too clear for him to persevere either in inadequate +notions of the divine goodness, or in false judgments respecting duty. + +Scruples are, by no means, of the nature of religious melancholy; they +are not inconsistent with the Christian grace of hope: they suppose +innocence; for the sinner may be hardened, may be penitent, may be +wavering, but cannot properly be said to be scrupulous: scruples not +only preserve from sin, but have also the good effect (the gift of +divine mercy,) of purging the heart from all affection to sin, as was +manifested in the future life of Kenelm. + +Yet this fear, "the beginning of wisdom," acting on an ill-informed +conscience, is hurtful, as it indisposes to a cheerful energetic +performance of duty. I said to Kenelm, "If there are beings, (and we are +told that such there are,) who are interested that man should do ill, +they could by no other means so effectually obtain their purpose as by +fixing our attention on that by which we may offend." A priest, whom I +had known in England during his emigration, and whom I had the advantage +of meeting again at Paris; a man whose sanctity inspired Kenelm with +respect and confidence,--said to him, "Unless you shall be as sure that +you have offended God in the way in which you apprehend, as you would be +sure of having committed murder, I forbid you to mention it even to me +in confession." I will own that the vigour and prudence united in this +counsel struck me with awe. The saints are men of great minds: +philosophers are mistaken in thinking them fools. + +A kind and discreet priest, at Avignon, talked to Kenelm in the same +sense, reminding him of the saying of St. Francis of Sales, "that +scruples are the worst things in the world except sin." Kenelm's mind +recovered its wonted cheerfulness and activity: family affections, +change of scene, and new occupations soon completed what good advice had +begun. He was yet too young to enter into society: he laboured to +perfect himself in the French language; he was delighted with drawing, +declaring that, were it consistent with duty, he could pass the whole +day in that amusement. He continued his classical studies from the point +at which they had been interrupted by his leaving college, where he was +in his fifth or poetical year. I read with him Homer and Virgil. + +Of the Iliad he said, that, a few well-known sublime passages excepted, +the rest, was vulgar: and when I mouthed forth the Greek, in order to +impose on him the conviction that it was very fine,--"I grant you that +Homer has the advantage of a sonorous language and the hexameter line; +but there is very little grace in the expression, nor is the thought +deserving of it." He admired the delicacy of sentiment in the AEneid: he +discovered in it traces of more advanced civilization and more improved +knowledge than are to be found in Homer, as well as a more correct and +refined taste. I recommended the Odyssey to him, not only on account of +its varied fable and "specious wonders," but for the justness with which +human character and natural feeling are there rendered. We also read +together that Machiavel of historians, Tacitus, who, as I endeavoured to +persuade Kenelm, has treated the fame of Tiberius with great injustice, +by representing him, on every occasion, as a cunning and cruel tyrant; +whereas he was always wise, habitually just, and often beneficent. Let +any one fairly and impartially analyse the actions of this sovereign and +the comments of the historian, and he will perhaps be inclined to allow +that my opinion is not altogether unreasonable. Concerning the personal +vices of Tiberius there is here no question. + +I was delighted with one of the results of my continental plan,--that my +children were now all of them under my own care. To what purpose subject +boys to all the privations, restraints, and severities,--all the +consequences of the ignorances and negligences of the managers of great +schools,--that they may acquire a very moderate knowledge of two dead +languages, which they generally neglect during the rest of their lives; +and this for six years or more? Who doubts but that he could learn to +read French in six months? And why should he not be equally capable of +learning Latin in the same space of time? And in six months more he may +learn to read Greek, which is rather the easier language of the two: he +may thus obtain admission to the treasures of wisdom and good taste +contained in those languages, in one-sixth of the time now usually +thrown away in a vain attempt to that purpose; for, I repeat it, boys +are compelled to employ the time of their education in _not_ learning +what is of no use to them. + +Latin is no longer the language of literary composition, diplomatic +intercourse, or epistolary correspondence. It is sufficient that a few +men, in every generation, write Latin, like Bishop Louth, or Dr. Martin +Joseph Routh. The principal nations of Europe have their classics, +formed indeed upon the ancient classical model; and these, therefore, +will be better understood and more enjoyed by those who cultivate an +acquaintance with that model. Still, however, such previous acquaintance +is not indispensable: its advantage consists chiefly in being able to +note allusions and institute comparisons. + +Let me not be understood to express a wish that the Greek and Latin +authors were less read than they are at present; on the contrary, I hope +that they will always be considered as an essential part of the studies +of a literary man. That the Greek especially should be so little known +as now it is, is to me a cause of regret. This language has the singular +privilege of having been, during twelve centuries, the language of the +most ingenious and enlightened people of all that existed during that +long aera. We have their authors from Hesiod to Photius, and still lower +down; a library superior to that of any modern nation; for the trash has +been swept away. + +Far, very far from me, be the desire, that it should be said of such a +people in any sense, literary or political, + + 'Tis Greece, but living Greece no more. + +I have been led into this train of reflection, on recording the +contentment with which I saw my children under my own superintendence at +Avignon. How far it may be reasonable to continue to inflict on our sons +all the suffering which they endure, when banished from the paternal +roof, and consigned to the coarse, undiscriminating care of strangers +for the sake of the instruction acquired by this plan, I leave every one +to determine for himself. + + + + +CHAP. XIII. + + +Three days after our excursion to Vaucluse, I went with my sons to the +Pont du Gard and Nismes. Our coach stopt, for three hours, at Foix; we +took our dejeune, at which we had delicious grapes and execrable wine: +one instance amongst a thousand of the ingenuity of man in spoiling the +gifts of Providence, and its agent, Nature. We walked to the Pont du +Gard, about a mile from our inn. As it is at an equal distance from +Avignon and from Nismes, parties, from each of these towns, make it a +point of rendezvous, establish a pic-nic, and pass the day together. +When we arrived near the Pont, we saw a large company from Nismes, +regaling themselves in a spacious, dry cavern, well situated for their +purpose, and affording a most agreeable shade. We passed them to go +nearer to the bridge: one of them followed us; his accent announced him +to be an Irishman, and his uniform to be an officer in the French +service. He conversed with us a few minutes, and promised to call on me +at Nismes. + +At the side of the lower part of the Pont du Gard and forming part of +it, is a bridge over the Gardon: this bridge has been widened in modern +times, but the ancient wheel-track is still seen on the side nearest to +the aqueduct. Above the bridge rise three tiers of arches, each tier +diminishing in the size, and increasing in the number, of its arches. +Along the top is the canal, through which flowed the water for the +supply of Nematia at the distance of seventeen miles. The whole has the +appearance of a magnificent screen of arcades, thrown across the narrow +and rocky valley through which the Gardon forces its way. Both the sides +of this screen are beautiful, but the lower side is most to be admired. +The ground falls away before it, and gives it the appearance of being +loftier: it is in a quite secluded scene, in which no road or bridge +appears. + +This precious remain of antiquity is sufficiently ruined and touched by +time to harmonize well with the landscape, but yet so fresh and entire +as to call up no idea of decay or desolation. The aqueducts of Frejus +and of Rome are curious, but they possess no beauty in themselves, and +derive none from the surrounding scenery. Suppose the Pont du Gard in a +plain, it would still be beautiful as a piece of architecture: see it, +where it is, enclosed by the sides of a deep valley and bestriding a +rapid river, you will admit it to be an object at once grand and +picturesque. + +We arrived at Nismes at three in the afternoon, tired and overpowered by +the heat and dust. We gave up three hours to rest and cool ourselves, +and at six set down to dinner; we then walked out by the moon-light of a +southern clime. We passed several handsome buildings; at length I beheld +one which immediately arrested my attention: "that _shall_ be the Maison +Quarree," exclaimed I. Never had I seen, nor have I since seen any thing +in architecture so graceful: it seemed by the "uncertain moon-light" +rather to be descending from the skies than standing on the earth. + +We returned the next morning. The portico, from its having been in the +shade the preceding evening, we had then been hardly able to +distinguish: this, with the interior and every part of this exquisitely +beautiful building, and all its fine proportions and finished ornaments, +filled us with delight and wonder. + +The amphitheatre is close by the Maison Quarree: the site of the larger +building may very fairly be indicated by that of the smaller, when the +smaller edifice is the more interesting of the two. Milton, without any +such excuse, talks of "the earth close by the moon;" though his critic +Bentley has indeed corrected the punctuation, "the earth, close by, the +moon." This is what may be called punctilious. Had I not since seen the +Coliseum, I should consider the amphitheatre of Nismes as +indestructible: luckily no builders of palaces have tried the +experiment. It is composed of enormous stones, large in all the three +dimensions, length, breadth, and thickness, which must have required +powers of mechanism, known to the Romans, but now lost, to raise them to +the height at which they now are seen. This amphitheatre is said to be +rather less in size and rather more ruined than that of Verona: it is +entire, however, all but the lower ranges of seats: the arena is +occasionally used for a spectacle somewhat resembling bullfights. + +In the gardens are found remains of ancient baths, many pieces of mosaic +pavement, and the ruins of the temple of Diana, in which are shown other +objects found in digging in the neighbourhood. They were blowing up rock +on the side of the hill near the garden, to improve and extend it still +further, and to facilitate the approach to the Tour Magne, or great +tower of Roman construction. To this tower we ascended; the tower itself +we could not ascend: it is a hollow cylinder, without staircase, or +roof, or platform; the view, however, even at the bottom of the tower +is sufficiently extensive all around. Southward, it reaches to the +Mediterranean; and though I do not believe that the sea reached to +Nismes, though such is the popular notion;--yet its shores have much +receded on this coast. Aigues Mortes, where St. Louis embarked for the +crusades, is now three leagues from the sea. Frejus, Forum Julii, is no +longer a port: it is probable, then, that the Tour Magne was once a +light-house or a land-mark. + +Nismes, like almost every other ancient town, is ill-built, ill-paved, +and ill-pierced; but then, in compensation, it has a Boulevard all +around, or broad road lined with trees; and houses and buildings are +continued all along with very few intervals of interruption. The city +being in the centre, here, on these Boulevards, are united the +accommodations of a town with the fresh air and promenades of the +country: indeed, of fresh air there is rather too much; it often amounts +to wind, and then the dust becomes inconvenient; but the gardens are +delightful. In this town are thirteen thousand protestants. I know not +that English protestants can choose a better town than Nismes for a +retreat in the South of France: they will find places of public worship, +the want of which many of them regret when abroad: there are also +schools kept by protestants. The protestantism is Genevan; but +_n'im__porte_; all protestantism is, to a protestant, equally true: we +have seen a Calvinist and a Lutheran King become good members of the +Church of England at the end of the seventeenth, and beginning of the +eighteenth century. + +In the evening we rambled among the vineyards on the slopes, and reached +the summits of the hills at the foot of which Nismes is situated at the +edge of a vast plain. A locality like this seems favourable to a great +town. It draws its supply of wood, wine, and water, from the one sort of +country, and its corn, meat, and forage, from the other. + +We supped in the salon of our inn, the Louvre: there were several +tables. At one of these was seated a party of Spaniards, who vociferated +and gesticulated in a manner which they meant perhaps to impose on us +for dignity, but which I thought inconsistent with Castilian gravity. At +the time, it did not occur to either party that our opinion of each +other was perfectly insignificant to both. At our table, besides other +persons, we met a gentleman with whom I was acquainted at Avignon; and +another who, after supper, (for he economized his time for eating,) +began a political tirade, which, though addressed to the French, derived +its chief zest from the presence of the English. He asserted that the +Duke of Wellington was surprised by the approach of Napoleon to +Brussels, quitted the ball-room in silk stockings, and went to lose the +battle of Waterloo, which battle was gained by the Prussians. As a sort +of appeal was made to me to defend the military reputation of my Irish +countryman, I objected the improbability of a surprise, as two battles +had just been fought in the neighbourhood. He reverted to the conclusion +to be drawn from the silk stockings: I replied "Puisqu'il y a des +improbabilites des deux cotes, il faut demander au Duc lui-meme."[57] +_En attendant_, (for the answer, though, no doubt, it would have been +satisfactory, could not be quickly obtained,) the politician began a +discussion on the wealth of England, the existence of which he +questioned on account of its debt and paper currency. Again appealed to, +I admitted that the taxes raised for the payment of the interest of the +debt made every individual by so much the poorer, but that the national +wealth was not diminished, as the taxes passed into the hands of the +fund-holders. He then went off to paper money, on which he talked with +great good sense: "Reste a savoir si l'Angleterre est veritablement +riche; pour moi je crois que la chose representee n'equivaut pas ce qui la +represente."[58] I quote the purport of his words, and the words as +nearly as I can remember them. + +He hit, I think, upon the cause of late and present commercial +embarrassments: wealth is over-represented. The quantity of paper in +circulation at any given time is not a sufficient criterion whether this +be or be not the case. Every re-issue or new issue of a bank note is in +fact a new coinage: in this, as well as in the facility of their +creation, bank notes differ from metallic currency, and this difference +is, to the state, the more important of the two. Representation is +continually "pressing on the limits" of real wealth, and is from time to +time regorged. "Pay your bank notes in money," said Napoleon in answer +to some boasting statement of the wealth of England. This too is the +only security against bankruptcies. + +Our politician was evidently seeking a quarrel. In this purpose he was +by no means encouraged by the rest of the company, who, every now and +then, threw in some qualifying, temperate remark. At the pressing +instance of Kenelm, who, not having sufficient experience to be +impartial, felt his choler rising, we retired to rest. The next day, +after a farewell view of the Maison Quarree, we returned to Avignon, +which we reached in six hours. + +A protestant friend, being at Avignon, wished to see the Maison Quarree, +and inquired of me if it was safe to go to Nismes. "Will not the papists +murder me?" The cause of this dread is curious; the explication of it +may amuse the impartial, that is, almost nobody; but I will venture. The +protestants of Nismes had all been favourable to the Revolution. The +ancient royal government of France had not indeed, like the queen and +parliament of England, insisted on every man's changing his faith, but +it had resisted the introduction of a new religion: these two cases are +very different, though perpetually confounded both by the tolerant and +intolerant amongst us. However, the protestants of Nismes very naturally +threw their weight into that balance, the preponderance of which +promised them the assurance of their civil rights and political +consideration. The catholics on the contrary, not having these motives, +and carrying into politics that love of stability, the principle of +which they find in their religion, disliked political change, and were +well pleased with the return of the king. + +"C'est la le beau cote de la religion catholique; elle n'approuve pas +les revolutions,"[59] said a protestant minister of a protestant king. +He regarded the matter like a statesman, and no further. + +During the republican and imperial governments the protestants were the +stronger party at Nismes, and had made the catholics feel that they were +so. On the restoration, a scuffle took place between the parties, in +which some half dozen protestants were killed. Of this unlucky affray +great advantage was taken in England: committees were appointed and +subscriptions raised for the purpose of succouring "our distressed +brethren, the protestants of the south of France." The "no popery" cry +being once well set up, it was thought right to inquire into the extent +of the mischief. A letter was returned from France, reporting nearly +what has been stated above; this letter the noble person to whom it was +addressed kept in his pocket some days before he sent it to the +committee, that the "no popery" cry might not go down too soon. The fear +entertained by my friend of being murdered by the papists at Nismes need +not now be wondered at: it was only three or four years since such +things had happened; and it is well known, that what has happened once, +may happen again. + +Hatred of popery is, in England, an amiable sentiment originating in a +love of religious truth and confirmed by political wisdom. In such a +sentiment, so pure in its source, so wise in its direction, heroes of +all sorts may glory. In them it is distinguishable from poperyphobia: +they are not afraid of popery: popery is afraid of them. + +Shakspeare's Hotspur cries out, "A plague o' this quiet life: I want +work." For myself, being no hero, I love a quiet life; but I cannot +refuse to heroes the tribute of admiration that is due to them and their +laurels. + +For the catholics of Nismes, I believe them to be more devout and more +decorous than those of the rest of France. The circumstances in which +they are placed render this probable. The catholics of England are the +most zealous and the most decent of all Christendom: an Italian +nobleman, who knew them well, said to me, in speaking of them, "ce sont +des saints:"[60] a papal nuncio to the Brazils, thrown by a sort of +shipwreck on the English coast, and going to chapel in London, was +delighted to find what he called "so precious a portion of the church of +Christ." I went into some of the churches of Nismes, and found, on the +inner door of one of them, an _ecriteau_ requesting the faithful not to +allow their dogs to follow them to church. At Avignon the dogs made +love, or war, and barked in the churches at pleasure. + +Reluctant to approach to the catastrophe of my residence in France, I +loiter on my way, and turn aside into by-paths. Yet a little more of +detail, I hope neither tedious nor uninstructive,--yet a few more +notices respecting the principal personage in this drama of woe;--and I +will proceed to fix the reader's admiration of the character of that +person, to call forth his compassion for my sufferings, and his +indignation at the conduct of those medical men, whom, though I have +described their conduct as it deserves, I endeavour to pity and to +pardon. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[57] Since there are improbabilities on both sides, it is necessary to +ask the duke himself. + +[58] It remains to be known if England be really rich; for me, I believe +that the thing represented is not equal in value to that which +represents it. + +[59] That is the fair side of the catholic religion; it does not approve +of revolutions. + +[60] They are saints. + + + + +CHAP. XIV. + + +During the forty months that I resided at Avignon two capital executions +only took place; one at Avignon, which I did not witness, and one at +Carpentras, at which town, on account of its being in the centre of the +department, the tribunals or assizes are held. During the last year that +I passed in Lincolnshire four criminals were hanged. Lincolnshire is +smaller and much less populous than the department of Vaucluse. The +disproportion is enormous. This subject has frequently been brought +before the public, and before the public I leave it. + +In the second year of my sojourn, a mission was preached at Avignon. On +the expediency or prudence of these missions, concerning which so much +difference of opinion prevailed among the French themselves, a stranger +is hardly competent to decide. Many were offended that catholic France +should be treated like a country that had never heard of the gospel; but +this view of the matter was formed rather on a strict and somewhat +captious interpretation of the word _mission_, than from any thing in +the scheme itself justifying such an interpretation. The gospel was not +preached by the missionaries as new, but as having been neglected. Yet +this supposition of neglect threw a blame somewhere; and these +extraordinary means taken to repair it excited animosity. + +Six thousand parishes throughout France were said, at this time, to want +pastors; and it was regretted that funds should be diverted from the +maintenance of the seminaries or their more effectual support, to supply +the expense of desultory efforts, of evanescent enthusiasm. + +On the other hand it was argued that, for a quarter of a century, +religion had been discouraged; for one year of that time it had been +proscribed, and the churches closed; during all that time Christian +education had been notoriously neglected; so many clergy had been +banished, that the remainder had been insufficient to the various +functions required of them; that to recover from such a state, +extraordinary remedies were called for. + +After all, there was nothing so very extraordinary in these missions: +from three to six priests, men of some talent, zeal, and eloquence, +arrived in a town, stayed there a greater or less number of days +according to the population, or, it may be, the spiritual wants of the +place, preached, and heard confessions. Yet let any one suppose what +would be the effect of the presence of half a dozen methodist teachers +in any town in England, and he will be able to form an idea of the state +of Avignon, pending the mission which lasted, as well as I can remember, +about a fortnight. + +The churches were crowded; those who wished to have seats to hear the +sermon at six in the evening, were obliged to take their places at +mid-day; these were chiefly women: men, who could bear the fatigue of +standing during the sermon, occupied every space large enough for a pair +of feet. + +The _lessive_, so the washing is called from the wood ashes employed in +it, was neglected; dirty shirts and sheets were too common to be +complained of: the men were obliged to cook their own dinners; children +were grouped together by scores under the care of some one contented or +paid to stay at home. Then came the general confessions, which occupied +some days; then one day for the communion of the male and another for +that of the female penitents; lastly, the procession of the cross, which +was to be set up as a perpetual memorial of the mission, and a mean of +recalling to every one the good resolutions he had then made. + +An ill-carved crucifix, larger than life, borne on the shoulders of the +devout, was followed by the missionaries and people singing cantiques, +and was finally placed on the terrace near the great door of the +cathedral, to which it gives the appearance of a place of public +execution. + +I venerate the images of Christ and his saints; they are, as St. Austin +calls them, the books of the illiterate, and they speak to the heart +even of those who can read. But they should be so made and so placed as +to inspire, not terror, but sentiments of peace, hope, and gratitude. + +The missionaries turned many from the evil of their ways: some sums of +money were deposited in their hands to be by them restored to those who +had been robbed or defrauded of them; these sums, so unexpectedly +recovered, were in general given to the poor. I have read an account of +the conduct of these missionaries to the galeriens at Toulon, which was +very interesting and edifying. On leaving Avignon they were accompanied +for several miles by the people, who, by way of taking leave, tore the +cassock off the back of the chief missionary and divided it into shreds, +that all or as many as possible of their zealous admirers might have a +relic. In this _procede_ there was a little too much of the _fougue du +midi_,[61] and the missionary by no means liked the process of popular +canonization. How long the good effects of the mission may last is +doubtful. It seems as if it were necessary that some strong excitement +should exist in order that religion should be present to the mind. Holy +men create this excitement to themselves by the aid of divine grace, and +by prayer, a powerful mode of self-persuasion: for the multitude, this +excitement must be created for them. I was assured by a very worthy and +experienced cure, who remained in France during the whole of the +revolution, that, in the reign of terror, when the churches were shut +up, many followed the clergy into caverns and hiding-places, who +afterwards could not be persuaded to go to church. + +I formed an acquaintance with an old gentleman of eighty-five years of +age, who had served in the seven years war: he had been present at the +affair of St. Cas. Two brothers, of a Lincolnshire family, every member +of which I have always esteemed as a friend, were officers in the +regiments landed on this occasion. I remember when a boy to have heard +one of them relate how his brother called to him, when they were both +driven back into the sea, to share a bottle of wine which chance had +supplied. They were waiting for the boat to take them to their ship: +there was no cork-screw; he broke off the neck of the bottle with his +sword. It was pleasant to me, at such a distance of time and place, to +meet with one whom this trifling anecdote could amuse. He spoke with +respect, as does all the world, of English valour, but said, no one +could conceive why they disembarked their troops on the coast, as it was +utterly impossible for them to penetrate ten miles into the country: in +this he was in accord with the English public at that time. He is dead; +the brothers are dead: very few survive, who fought in the war concluded +by the peace of Paris, in 1763. + +I was also acquainted with two young men of celebrated names, officers +of a regiment in garrison at Avignon. One of them was grand nephew of +that archbishop of Marseilles, whose conduct, when the plague raged in +that city, in the year 1720, has ever been spoken of with justly-merited +eulogium; the other was grandson of the author of the "Esprit des Lois." +This latter made me much ashamed, not _of_ my country, she is too great +for that; but _for_ my country. Talking of military discipline, he +said, "Vos soldats sont des braves gens,[62] but you vippe dem; you +vippe dem." I was, as I have said, ashamed, and knew not what to answer, +but that such punishments were not so frequent since certain debates in +the Parliament. "Den you vippe dem," and forgetting the word +_sometimes_, "quelquefois," twirling his hand as if brandishing a +cat-o-nine tails; then added with a serious look, "quelquefois; c'est +trop."[63] Sir Francis Burdett's endeavour to place the representation +of the people in the Commons House on a rational basis, will meet with +the fate of my proposal to establish the Catholic religion in Ireland; +but his efforts to rescue the soldier from a cruel and degrading +punishment deserve the thanks of every friend of mankind. He has +relieved human nature from more suffering than a legislator who should +abolish the _question_; for there are, or were, more soldiers flogged +than, in any equal time, state-prisoners tortured. If the sentiment of +reproach and contempt with which young Montesquieu spoke of our military +punishments,--a sentiment in which he is joined by every man of sense +and honour throughout Europe,--may contribute to abolish the odious +practice, he too may share in the praise of the "legislateur du genre +humain."[64] The great object of all legislation is to prevent evil, +injustice, and misery. Alas! Alas! How much does it itself inflict! + +An election of a deputy to the chamber was held while I was at Avignon. +Of this election I can give but a negative account. There was no ringing +of bells; no flags displayed; no parading the streets by day-light or +torch-light; no canvassing; no kissing the women; no rioting; no +drunkenness. The town was as quiet as if no election had been going on. +The number of electors for the department was about six hundred. What +influenced their votes I cannot say; certainly not those glorious +concomitants of an English election in all towns large enough to enjoy +them,--festive noise and indecent tumult. + +In the spring of the year 1820, my elder son set off for England, which +was to him an unknown land, as he had been immured in college from his +thirteenth year, and with which he was anxious to become acquainted. At +his departure, he asked and received on his bended knee the blessing of +his parents. This may seem strange to some; yet Sir Thomas More, when +Chancellor of England, began the day by kneeling at the bed-side of his +aged father, to implore, through him, the blessing of God, and then went +and served at mass in his own chapel. Sir Thomas More was a wise and +amiable man, whose life and death are beyond all praise. The act of +submission above-mentioned might, however, for reasons that may easily +be divined, be more laudable in a young man of nineteen, than in a Lord +High Chancellor of England. Besides other considerations, the one acted +in conformity, the other in contradiction, to the spirit of his age. + +From Lyons, where he passed two days, Kenelm took the road to Paris by +Moulins, in order to see a different country from that by which he had +come to Avignon. He passed five days in Paris, three of which he +dedicated to the Museum of the Louvre, which he now saw with advantage, +derived from the progress he had made in drawing. He spent ten days in +London. A friend who had known him two years before in Paris, +good-naturedly bore testimony to the improvement which two years had +produced: "You were then a great boy; you are now a fine young fellow." +He passed also ten days, at Bath, at the house of his mother's sister. + +I know not whether it may have been remarked that, in my chapter of +Paris, I have said not a word of the theatres. The fact is, we never +once were present at any of them. The opinion of Catholics as to the +lawfulness of attending the theatrical representations of the present +day, is by no means uniform. The English Catholic clergy in general +advise to abstain from them: the pious and excellent priest at Paris, to +whose counsels Kenelm owed so much, gave the same injunction. Our kind +and prudent director at Avignon rather requested than required us to +abstain from attending the theatre at that place. "It is no great loss, +considering the merit of the performance: when you shall be in Italy, I +give you up to my successor." + +Kenelm, on this journey, made some stay in Paris, London, and Bath, +without going to a theatre. This must be considered as no slight +sacrifice for a young man of nineteen; master, for the time, of his own +actions; solicited by his curiosity and by the invitations of friends, +who regarded the stage as a source of innocent amusement, and even of +instruction. + +Following the lights, such as they were, of my own common sense, I had +occasionally, even after becoming a Catholic, assisted at theatrical +representations both in Bath and London, when the inducement was in +accord with good taste and good morals. I could see no harm in allowing +those "purifiers of the affections," terror and pity, to be administered +by those masters of the scenic art, Kemble and Siddons. There were +others, second to these, but of great merit, whom I saw with pleasure: +amongst them Cooke, when he was sober; Elliston, at all times. Arrived +in France, I refrained from going to the theatre as the safer line of +conduct, seeing I was now no longer alone. Besides, I was told that +comedians, so they call all actors, were in a state of excommunication; +that they could not accomplish the sacrament of penance without +promising to renounce their profession; and that if they died comedians, +their right to Christian burial was at least disputable. + +I cited the example of the capital of the Christian world. "In Rome +itself there are theatres." "The holy Father is under the necessity of +permitting, as sovereign, what, as head of the church, he condemns." +This reminded me of Sir Jonathan Trelawney, sometime Bishop of +Winchester, who was much given, according to the custom of his time, to +profane cursing and swearing--a custom which he adopted perhaps to show +that he was no puritan, as men neglected days of fasting and abstinence +to prove that they were no papists. This reverend prelate being reproved +for this mal-practice, declared that he swore as Sir Jonathan Trelawney, +not as Bishop of Winchester. He was asked how he would _hereafter_ make +a distinction in his personal identity, or divide what Sir Kenelm Digby +calls "a man's numerical self;"--a phrase which my friend Sir ---- was +so good as to translate for me into "number one." + +In fact, the argument drawn from the double character of the Pope to +justify the permission of what was bad in itself, excited my +indignation. "The Pope," said I, "is no hypocrite." "True: the Pope is +no hypocrite; but sovereigns are in some cases obliged to permit evils +which they palliate and diminish by superintendence and regulation." I +understood the allusion, but felt a strong repugnance to class actors, +many of them persons of exemplary morals, and none of them necessarily +otherwise, with those unfortunate outcasts, so well watched in France +and Italy, and so piously allowed to roam at large in London: neither +could I be all at once persuaded that stage-plays were of the nature of +a violation of one of the ten commandments. I alleged the example of +all, or almost all the Catholic sovereigns of Europe, who assisted at +them without scruple. I was answered, that the example of sovereigns +could not justify what was wrong in itself. The great Bossuet was +quoted, who replied to Louis XIV., by whom his opinion was asked on the +lawfulness of stage plays which the monarch himself frequented, "Sire, +il y a de grands exemples pour, et de grandes autorites contre."[65] + +"Reste a savoir," said I to myself, with the disputant at Nismes. The +question did not press: we abstained from plays in France. I resolved, +if possible, to reconcile these contradictions in Italy. + +In Italy I was instructed, that there exists no excommunication of +actors by the universal church, but only by the decrees of some +particular dioceses, in remote ages, when the scenic art was reputed +infamous on account of the representations, then almost always contrary +to good morals: that they who exercise the profession of actors are +guilty of great sin, if they exhibit on the stage any thing shameful or +obscene, but not otherwise: that there exist indeed sentences of the +holy see and of general councils against scenic representations, but +that they refer always to such as may be indecent and contrary to sound +morality: that the Fathers condemn the theatres of their time, not only +because of the indecencies there represented, but also because, as the +pagans acted plays in honour of their false gods, the Christians could +not assist at them without the stain of idolatry: that a decent play +cannot be called _absolutely_ a proximate occasion of sin, but may +become such _relatively_ to certain individuals on account of their +personal fragility; and that such, admonished by their own experience, +are bound to fly a danger which, though it may be _remote_ to others, is +to them _proximate_: finally, that there cannot be any positive judgment +nor any fixed or constant rule respecting theatres; since the lawfulness +or unlawfulness of them may vary at every moment, according as scenic +representations are agreeable or repugnant to good morals. + +Priests go to plays in Italy, generally retiring before the ballet. I +have seen a cardinal at a private theatre: that it was a private +theatre, was a circumstance of some importance in point of decorum, but +of none in point of morality, concerning which it is fair to presume +that his eminence entertained no doubt or scruple. + +Kenelm, however, abstained all his life from going to the theatre: in +this he acted according to the information which his conscience had +received. Conscience is not the rule of action: the rule is THE LAW +divine or human; conscience is the measure which each individual +applies, first to the rule, then to his own actions. He who does a bad +action, thinking it a good one, is not excused; it is his duty to inform +his conscience: he who abstains from that which is innocent because he +thinks it wrong, has merit in conforming his actions to his sense of +duty, as well as he who, from a motive of duty, performs an action in +itself indifferent. + +Kenelm proceeded from Bath to the country-house of his mother's father +in Somersetshire, where he passed three or four months, making short +excursions and visits in the neighbourhood. Towards the end of September +he returned to Bath, his native place, visited Bristol and the shores of +the Severn. He then went through the midland counties into Lincolnshire, +where his family, originally from Yorkshire, had been settled for four +generations. Here visits and business detained him some time: he +returned to London: the theatres were again opened; but not for him. + +During his former stay in London he had received the sacrament of +confirmation on the feast of Pentecost: he wrote to me, that that day +had been the happiest of his life. On this occasion he took the name of +Aloysius or St. Lewis of Gonzaga, whom a conformity of character seems +to have induced him to regard with peculiar sympathy. Is it fanaticism +or imbecility to hope and believe, as I sincerely believe, that these +two happy souls, after their short trial, now enjoy the society and +converse of each other in a state of unchangeable felicity? + +After a short visit in the neighbourhood of Southampton, Kenelm once +more embarked at that port and returned to France. He was desirous of +following a route, not unusual with English tourists, by Orleans, +Bordeaux, and the line of the Garonne, to Avignon; but the season was +too late: in truth he complained that he suffered from cold in his +journey from Paris. His family had the satisfaction of receiving him +again on the eleventh of November. + +The judgment formed of him by those who became acquainted with him +during his stay in England, may be known by the following extract from a +letter written by his mother within a short time after his death, that +is, within a twelvemonth after his return to France. + +"Your son was perfect, as far as human nature can be so: so much +self-denial, tenderness to the feelings of others, such strict +attention to his religious duties, whatever pleasures might be offered +him, I never met with in any character; and in so young a man, at a +distance from all who had a right to control him, it was most +extraordinary, and bespoke a mind whose every feeling was governed by +religion. Could you have heard the general regret for his loss, and the +remarks made on his conduct and manners by all who knew him, you would +have been gratified; but you have a higher source of comfort," &c. + +I will cite another testimony; that of the priest who was his director +during his visit to his native land:--"I was much affected by the news +of the death of the amiable Henry Kenelm; and yet I cannot but regard it +as a great mercy in Almighty God to snatch him in his innocence from the +horrid corruptions and impieties of the world. Now he is gone, it is not +unlawful for me to say that I thought him one of the most innocent, +watchful, and mortified souls I had ever met with of his age." + +On the morrow of his return he began a drawing of an infant Jesus from +an engraving of a picture by Raphael in the Palazzo Pitti: it was to be +finished in the French style, with much exactness and labour. He said, +"the infant shall be ready for his birth-day;" and in effect he +concluded his work on Christmas eve. I saw the features of this infant +Jesus with an astonishment, the motive of which I explained to Kenelm; +it is not yet time to reveal it to the reader. + +This winter Kenelm took lessons in fencing, and, after having acquired +some skill in the noble science of defence, he engaged a sous-officier +to come daily to the house to teach him the manual exercise. He had +learned dancing in his college, where masters attended for that purpose. +During his first winter at Avignon he refused to take dancing lessons, +from scruples suggested to him by a devout person, who also endeavoured +to engage me to forbid my children to learn to dance, supporting his +opinion of its unlawfulness by the usual topics. I replied, "I should be +ashamed for my children, if I thought they could not dance without +finding in it a proximate occasion of sin: the thing is innocent in +itself; let those who find it, or make it otherwise, avoid it." In his +second winter Kenelm surmounted the scruples of our devout friend, and +resumed his dancing lessons, and now continued them, not so much out of +a desire to perfect himself, as for the sake of joining in the amusement +of the family party. + +The summer which Kenelm passed in England had been excessively hot in +the south of France. I was in the habit of observing my thermometer at +midnight, and, during July and August, usually found it, at that hour, +at 84 Fahrenheit. The autumn was very mild: we were to give a ball on +new year's day, and there was no ice in the town, as the master of the +cafe, who was to furnish ice creams, announced to me in a tone of due +despondency. He proposed to send a cart to Mont Ventoo, a lofty and +remarkable mountain fifteen miles off, where there was ice at all times; +this carriage would cost thirty francs. I asked him if he would bear a +part of the expense, as the ice would be of use to him for his other +customers. He said, if it should freeze, his share of the load would +become useless; moreover that, if there should be ice of the thickness +of a ten-sous piece, that would be enough for my purpose. That very +night, the last of the year 1820, a frost set in, so severe, that almost +all the olive-trees of Provence and of the east of Languedoc were +destroyed to the root. The preceding open weather had sustained the sap; +so that this sudden and violent check was fatal. It was a great +calamity: the government came in aid of the more indigent of the +sufferers; but four years must pass ere the olive-trees could be in +full bearing as before. + +Besides the "fatness" of the olive, they reckon in this country four +other _recoltes_ or harvests: the hay of the artificial grasses, of +which lucerne is the chief; with this hay they fatten cattle and make a +great deal of manure: indeed I saw at Avignon a symptom of covetousness +of dung, much to the credit of their agricultural management; those who +sweep the streets bring straw, cut into little bits about three inches +long, which they throw into the kennels and dirty puddles to suck up the +fertilizing moisture. Manure must be in great demand, and an article of +the first necessity in a country, where, besides extensive gardens, they +intercule, after the wheat, reaped usually at the end of June, a crop of +haricots or French beans,--a standing dish, during the winter, at all +tables. I remembered at how high a price I had formerly bought a few of +these beans for seed, that I might have this vegetable, young and green, +as a side-dish or in pickle: yet these _haricots secs_, or the dried +grain of the French bean, is the cheapest food at Avignon, cheaper even +than bread; and it was without cause that I was alarmed at my own +extravagance, when I saw them spread in such abundance on the table in +my kitchen. _Gar__rence_, or madder, is another _recolte_, and a source +of great wealth. Add to these harvests, their wine, which, by the help +of the climate and good manipulation, is, in my opinion, the best in the +world, except perhaps that of Xeres and Madeira. Melons and _pastecs_, +or water-melons, are here delicious, and the food of the common people. +Bread is excellent, light, white, and nutritious; many degrees whiter +than that which I made of my own wheat in England, though not so white +nor so quickly dry and tasteless as the adulterated bread of London. + +I consider French agriculture, as far as I was able to observe it in the +south, to be in a flourishing condition. They have not the grand +cultivation: the subdivision of property and the nature of the products +forbid it. They have no "expensive plans For deluging their +dripping-pans." They would regard almost as thrown away, a rich plot of +land given up to the fattening sheep and bullocks. In the southern +moiety of France, indeed, they have no choice: there are water meadows, +where irrigation is possible, but no pastures. Their cattle are fed on +the mountains and hills and poorest lands, during summer, and brought +home in winter. + +The end of agriculture is to obtain the greatest value of produce from +land at the least expense, and that for ever; and in this end the +French, the spirit of calculation coming in aid of their soil and +climate, succeed in a great degree. The chattels (the word is French), +the stock, both live and dead, belongs to the proprietor; he +superintends; the land is not worse managed on that account. Indeed, as +Pythagoras or Plato said, that states would never be well governed, till +philosophers were kings or kings were philosophers; so it may be said, +that land will never be well cultivated, till proprietors shall be +farmers or farmers shall be proprietors: their interests are opposite, +and not to be reconciled by leases or conditions of obligation; one +desires immediate, the other continued, profit: but the interest that a +French proprietor has in his share of the produce, is not great enough +to induce him to diminish his capital by deteriorating the land, which +the tenant always will do if he can: even the _materiel_ of the farm, no +unimportant part of its value, is better cared for by the landlord than +by a tenant. In short, France, in the southern part of it, is rapidly +advancing towards garden culture, the perfection of all cultivation; +since the more a farm is cultivated like a garden, the more will the +management of it be applauded, and the greater will be its produce in +proportion to its extent. The spade and hoe are very much used in +fields, especially where, as is often the case, these fields are +traversed by rows of mulberry or other trees; and the vines trimmed into +the form of bushes, and the _garence_, and _haricots_, and lucerne in +rows and drills, and the slight fences, occupying the least possible +space, and set rather as limits than as guards, give, to a rich tract, +as much of the appearance as it really has of the nature of a garden. + +The silk-worm, though silk is a most valuable _recolte_ of this country, +has no connexion with agriculture, except that this worm feeds on the +leaves of the mulberry tree. These leaves are plucked as soon as they +have attained their full spread, and before they are at all dried or +even hardened by the sun. While nature is preparing the food of the +silk-worm, art is forcing into existence the worm itself. The eggs are +hatched by artificial warmth, and, from the time that the worm can eat +till it becomes a cocon, this savoury food is administered. The mulberry +is of the white sort; but the _fruit_ is hardly known to the Avignonais; +it is of course destroyed by plucking off the leaves. I surprised my +friends by telling them I had eaten excellent black mulberries in +England, and, as is usual in such cases, they gave no credence to my +word. These trees look very miserable without leaves under so fine a +sky: by the end of summer a second crop of leaves is plucked off, and +given to cattle. + +It was pleasing to me, as carrying memory back into former ages, to see +the threshing-floors of the Avignonais: they are on the outside of the +building that serves for the granary: the sheaves are laid in a circle, +in the centre of which stands a man who drives two or more horses round, +over the ears of corn: another man stands without the circle to correct +any irregularities in the work. The moral meaning of the command, not to +muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn, is evident; and it is to be +hoped that, in practice, it was interpreted according to its moral +meaning: otherwise the work would not have proceeded very quickly, and +would soon have been stopped altogether by the strangulation of the +beast. + +They built, while I was at Avignon, a very good _abattoir_ near one of +the gates of the town. I saw here the process of skinning an ox: air is +thrown in under the skin by a pair of bellows, which air is then forced +forward by beating the inflated hide with clubs. A beast, whose turn it +was to be killed next, was standing by with his nose fastened to a ring +in the floor. How far did his intelligence enable him to presage the +fate that awaited him? + +French agriculture has made rapid strides within twenty years: they +procure and disperse improved machinery: in the breed of their sheep +they pay attention to the quality of the fleece. They call the English +their masters in the science of agriculture, but entertain confidence, I +hope well-founded, of soon equalling those masters. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[61] The impetuosity of the south. + +[62] Your soldiers are brave people, but you whip them. + +[63] Sometimes--that is too much. + +[64] Legislator of the human race. + +[65] Sire, there are great examples _for_, and great authorities +_against_. + + + + +CHAP. XV. + + +There was a very great difference in the ages of my elder and younger +children; it was impossible for me to suit my plan to them all: for the +sake of the younger it would have been advisable to stay some time +longer in France; but for the advantage of the elder I thought it right +to hasten my journey to Italy. I fixed the time of my departure from +Avignon for the month of October following, 1821. + +No master of the Italian language was here to be found. Kenelm soon +acquired the use of it, as far as books, without conversation, could +teach him; and, in the evenings of the spring and summer, after our +promenade, gave lessons to his sisters and brother, whom he required to +prepare themselves in the morning: he also gave them lectures in +geography. In this employment he gratified his kind affections, and +derived pleasure from the performance of what he imposed on himself as a +duty. + +In truth his whole life seemed to be regulated by a sense of duty: he +endeavoured to please others from a principle of benevolence: in +speaking of others he was careful to avoid all censure or rash judgment, +all contemptuous or angry expressions; he followed after that charity, +which "beareth all things, hopeth all things;" it was evident that, +without excluding the innocent and laudable motives of action, he +endeavoured to sanctify all he did by referring it to the glory of the +Author of all good. His mind had been cultivated as far as his years and +opportunities had allowed. The love of God had supplied to him the +principle of true sensibility, and his judgment of moral objects was +correct and delicate. His reading had been chiefly of French literature +and of history. In England he had passed much of his time in society and +other engagements, and he had not had leisure for reading: he regretted +that he could not stay another twelvemonth there for the purpose of +going through a course of English literature. + +I had always encouraged him to discuss with me whatever questions arose, +to enter into argument and try the ground of his opinions: in criticism, +in politics, in religion even, he had followed this method. I held it +useful thus to call forth and exercise his powers; I wished to establish +his judgment on a surer basis than that which can be laid by authority +alone; a basis so liable to be shaken, so likely to be removed by an +intercourse with the world, which surprises, enchants, and often fatally +deceives those who are unprepared for it. + +I was conversing one day with him and his brother on the subject of the +massacre at Thessalonica, in the reign of the emperor Theodosius,--and +of the father who, being arrested with his two sons going out of the +amphitheatre, entreated the soldiers, who were about to put them both to +death, at least to spare him one of them; the soldiers consented, +leaving the choice to the father: he, in an agony of grief, ran from one +son to the other, unable to resign either of them: the soldiers, +becoming impatient, at length slew them both. + +Kenelm's remark was, "the father was more happy afterwards than he would +have been had he decided. If he had saved one son, he would have +continually reproached himself, during the rest of his life, with the +death of the other." + +Within a few short months I was myself to witness the death of one son, +and to pass some weeks in dreadful suspense as to the fate of the son +that remained to me. The Father of Mercies inflicted not on me the +horrible necessity of choosing between them. He spared one, to alleviate +and repair the loss of him whom he took to himself. + +If I seem to any to have dwelt too long on the praise of Kenelm, let +this be allowed to the remembrance of his kind, confiding, and grateful +affection to me, his gentle and amiable manners towards the rest of his +family, the well-grounded hope of virtuous and meritorious conduct in +his passage through life. All this is now only in remembrance; but "the +remembrance is sweet." + +I had said to Kenelm on his return from England, "You have behaved in +such a manner during the time that you have been your own master, that I +may now trust that your character and principles are fixed and +established: you have acquired an entire right to my confidence." + +The trial of the ground of this confidence was short, and, towards the +end, most painful; but it was conclusive and satisfactory. + +In the spring of 1821, arrived the news of the beginning and end of what +was called for a time the revolution of Piedmont, and of the +insurrection of the garrison of Alexandria. + +The difficulty of obtaining protection or employment in diplomacy, the +career to which, in his own purpose, he had destined himself, and to +which he had in some degree directed his studies, offered itself at this +time so forcibly to the mind of Kenelm, that he inclined to enter into +the military profession. He said, "The King of Sardinia must, at this +time, want soldiers. I will go to him at Nice: I shall see you all again +in your way to Italy." He added, "I cannot choose the French service, as +I should run the risk of being employed against my own country: a great +variety of circumstances shows that the English service must be at least +_unpleasant_ to a catholic: there remain only Austria and Sardinia." On +inquiry, however, we found that no commission was granted in the army of +this latter power, unless to those who had been educated in the military +academy, or who had served four years in the ranks as private soldiers. +Kenelm retained the purpose of making inquiries concerning the Austrian +service when he should arrive in Italy. Austria, though now removed to a +distance from England by the cession of the Low Countries, had been for +more than a century its almost constant ally. I was not sorry that +inquiries, and any measures to be adopted in consequence, were delayed +for some time, and advised that the interval should be employed in +reflecting how far the military profession might suit a character of +great vivacity indeed, but thoughtful and given to literary pursuits. I +could account for this sudden ebullition of Kenelm's warlike ardour, +only by the delight which he took in reading the "Victoires et +Conquetes," which publication began about this time; and by his +intercourse with some of the officers in garrison. He asserted too that +the trade of a soldier is the most independent of any, and brought in +defence of his assertion some very specious arguments. His ardour, +though restrained, was by no means extinguished: he was steady to his +purpose, and never relinquished it. + +In the month of July a fair is held at Beaucaire, on the Rhone, a small +town twelve miles from Avignon, opposite Tarrascon. This is one of the +few fairs in Europe that are still the scene of great commercial +operations; commis, travellers, and the post office are rapidly causing +the disparition of less convenient institutions. To Beaucaire, however, +as yet, resort merchants from Germany, Italy, and Spain; and to +Beaucaire also resort the idle and curious of the district for many +leagues around. The Avignonais wondered that we could pass two summers +without visiting it; and, as I could now no longer say "I will go next +year," I was obliged to avow that my real reason for absenting myself +from a scene which they thought so interesting, was my unwillingness to +subject any of the females of my family to the inconvenience of +finding, or, what would have been worse, not finding beds in so crowded +a town; and to stay all night was indispensable, as the finest sight of +all was the illumination of the streets of booths erected as a +supplement to the insufficient buildings of the town. One friend +proposed to me his example. He had left Avignon, with ladies in company +of course, three hours before sunset; arrived at Beaucaire in time to +lead his ladies about, both by owls-light and lamp-light; supped in a +room which, he allowed, had not the recommendation of being either +retired, or cleanly, or free from the fumes of tobacco; and brought his +ladies home again at three in the morning. + + Men are but children of a larger growth, + +said some one without suspecting that he was launching any thing but a +sarcasm: it is however a profound reflection. Children must be amused +because they cannot know any thing of the world into which they are +about to enter; and men must be amused on account of their unwillingness +to think of a future state of existence. The childish mortal is however +less silly than the manly mortal immortal. + +I recommended to my sons to visit Arles, taking Beaucaire in their way +at the time of the fair, at which they might stay as long as they +pleased, and no longer. They got into a boat early in the morning, and +descended the Rhone as far as Tarrascon; passed four hours, including +repast and repose, at the fair; then again took to their boat, which +conveyed them to the ancient and once important city of Arles. From +Avignon to Tarrascon they found the banks of the Rhone varied and +picturesque: lower down, the river displays a great spread of water, but +its shores are flat. They slept at Arles, viewed its ancient monuments, +obelisk, amphitheatre, sarcophagi, and walked to St. Remy. In the +evening of the next day they returned home, and regaled us with a +pleasant account of their "voyage par mer et par terre."[66] They were +particularly pleased with St. Remy, and we resolved on a family party to +that place: the excursion was, however, deferred for a month, on account +of a visit to a friend's campagne or country house. + +St. Remy is four leagues from Avignon: at the end of the second mile, we +crossed by a ferry the Durance, a mighty Alpine torrent. I had before +observed that its waters are colder and more turbid than those of the +Rhone at the point of their confluence. The Rhone deposits in the Leman +Lake a part of the soil it brings with it in its course through the +Valais. The Durance is so impetuous, that its bridge on the road to +Marseilles is almost always insecure. A company of Dutchmen undertook to +confine this river to a certain bed by embanking, on condition of +receiving all the land they should recover: but though they could, no +doubt, deal very well with placid and stagnant canals, they found the +Durance so impatient of dykes, as the Araxes was indignant at a bridge, +that they abandoned the enterprise. + +My sons, who were our stewards and ciceroni, had ordered a basket of +provisions to be brought by the carriage, that we might dine _au frais_ +near the monuments, the objects of our visit. We took cafe au lait, +however, on arriving at the village, supplying the place of milk by +beating the yolks of fresh eggs into a liquid foam here called _lait de +poule_, and well known as a substitute for an article, the want of which +is not much felt by those who are used to be without it. We had no +butter: beurre frais de Lyon is sent down the Rhone to Avignon, and +sometimes contains maggots. I paid ten sous a day for a small quantity +of beurre du jour made on purpose for our family breakfast,--the only +demand for it in all the town. + +The want of butter, and the scarcity of our four pleasant early fruits, +gooseberries, currants, raspberries, and strawberries, a rare and +short-lived luxury in the south of France,--are great privations; and +this must be added to the inconveniences of a hot climate. Even cherries +quickly become uneatable, breeding worms within them as soon as ripe. + +We walked to the Mausoleum and triumphal arch at half a league's +distance. They are situate near the side of the road now leading from +Nismes to Marseilles, which probably, at the time even of the erection +of these monuments, led from one to the other of these ancient cities. +We had risen by a very slight ascent to a great height, and now enjoyed +a fine prospect all around, except that, for about one fourth of the +horizon, the view was bounded by a range of rocks of most curious and +fantastic forms. Not far from the foot of this range, and very near to +each other, are placed the arch and Mausoleum. The arch itself and all +below it, is still perfect; but all above it has been pulled down and +carried away: the vault of the arch is highly ornamented. The Mausoleum +is a most elegant structure. If I say that it resembles a detached +campanile of a church of Grecian architecture, it is more for the sake +of indicating its form, than from having seen any thing in that kind +resembling or equal to it. On a lofty basement rises a square building +surmounted by a circular colonnade, of the Corinthian order, supporting +a dome or cupola. At the four corners of the square building are +Corinthian pillars; on each side, the wall is pierced by an arch, and, +on the frieze above, is the inscription + + Sex. M. Julii C. F. parentibus suis. + +In the centre under the cupola stand two statues: there is no door or +opening below. + +My sons amused themselves with taking drawings of the objects before +them. The air, notwithstanding the season of the year, was cool and +fresh at the elevation at which we were placed; and we took our dinner +under the arch, having brought from the cafe of St. Remy some beer, +which, in the spirit of contradiction, is much liked in this country of +the vine. I thought it vile stuff, and preferred our wine from Avignon: +those of my children who had not tasted or forgotten the taste of +home-brewed, thought it a luxury: it is rather dearer than wine, being, +very justly, equally taxed. It is called _biere de Mars_;--a proof that +the right season is known for "corrupting barley into a certain +similitude of wine." Caesar's word _corruptum_ ought to be translated +"fermented," but it is happily ambiguous. + +My servant told me that while he was waiting with the basket of +provisions for our coming from the village, a gentleman, whom he took +for English, followed by his groom, came up to the monuments, walked his +horse once quietly round them, looked at him, Antoine, without saying a +word, and then rode away. + +There is not a single house near these edifices except a Maison des +Fous, an extensive establishment, and celebrated for good management. I +visited a house of this sort at Avignon, where the patients seemed to +have every comfort their situation permitted. Several of them were +amusing themselves in the large court: we passed by them in going out. +One of them addressed himself to the gentleman who accompanied me: "Sir, +I entreat you to interest yourself for me; it is horrible for me to live +amongst these unhappy mad people. You see I am not mad; I am placed here +by my relations that they may keep possession of a little estate that +belongs to me." My friend asked, "Why do you not speak to the +administrators?"--"I have done so often, but all to no purpose; _ce sont +des ours_."[67] I do not know the end of the affair. + +We returned in the cool of the evening. On repassing the ferry, I did +not get into the carriage again, but walked with my sons to the town. +The carriage had some difficulty in passing the gate, owing to a piece +of cheese and some other remains of our dinner, which the gate-keeper +perceived at the bottom of the basket. Antoine laughed at him: "C'est +mon souper:[68]" but it was no laughing matter; it was a question of the +droits reunis. The coachman explained that the provisions had been taken +out of the town in the morning, and the carriage passed on. + +We were much pleased with our excursion, and I promised my family to +take them to Nismes before we should set off for Italy; but we had found +the day, 18th of August, too hot, and determined to wait till the +weather should be somewhat cooler. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[66] Voyage by sea and land. + +[67] They are bears. + +[68] It is my supper. + + + + +CHAP. XVI. + + +Saturday, the twenty-fifth of August, the fete of the king was +celebrated with sports and rejoicings. A joute d'eau was held on the +Rhone; that is to say--two boats row as fast as possible in opposite +directions bearing each of them a man, standing on the prow, armed with +a long pole. At the moment that the boats pass by each other, each of +the two men strives to push the other with his pole into the water. If +both parties fail, the assistants are, for that time, disappointed; if +one of the two tumbles in, they laugh and are delighted. Sometimes it +happens, from the unsteadiness of their position and the effort which +each makes to overturn the other, that both fall in, and, in that case, +the joy of the standers and sitters-by is increased, as Malthus would +say, not in an arithmetical, but in a geometrical proportion: it is not +merely doubled; it is augmented a hundred-fold. Flags, and bells, and +music, and the presence of the authorities and of a vast concourse of +spectators, leave not the least doubt in the mind of any one but that +he has been well amused. In the evening there was a ball at the +prefecture. + +Being somewhat indisposed, I did not stir out on this day. Kenelm had +for some time past complained of languor and want of appetite, which he +attributed to the heat of the summer. At St. Remy he had been in +excellent spirits, passing on before us to hinder us from seeing the +monuments till arrived at the right point of view; and, on the fete of +St. Louis, he had been gay with the gay. No symptom of illness appeared +till the following evening at the house of the general commanding the +department; he then complained to me of a sensation of cold. I desired +him to remove from the open window; he soon felt himself better, and +joined in the dance with which the party concluded. This visit is to be +remarked as the last he made. + +During the three following days he was tolerably well, and, on the +alternate days, took his bath in the Rhone, as it had been his custom to +do during the summer, in a retired place at a small distance from the +town. While bathing the last time, he cried out to his brother, "My +pulse is gone." A sensation of cold had induced him to feel his pulse, +and he was somewhat alarmed at this symptom of its intermission. He +appeared to wish to make light of it when he came home, but it must be +supposed that his own feelings made him apprehensive of illness. +Afterwards it became evident that the predisposition to the fever, of +which the chilliness three evenings before had been a symptom, had again +manifested itself by this intermission of the pulse. + +He now reposed in me a confidence, the purport of which ought perhaps to +be numbered among the symptoms of the coming malady, though I was as yet +unable to account for it in this way. He said his scruples, such as he +had combated and surmounted three years before, had returned and had +distressed him of late, beginning from a time to which he referred; +since which time, and, as he believed, from the efforts he had made, he +had suffered from a head-ache and pains in his chest and limbs. Not +aware that an illness was at hand which would account for the sensations +of which he complained without reference to any mental uneasiness, I +endeavoured by reproaches and praises to restore his tranquillity. "You +are indebted for your head-ache and other pains to allowing your mind to +dwell on useless and groundless apprehensions. Cheerfulness, hope, and +gaiety are the best things in the world to make the blood circulate and +distribute equally the animal heat. Enough has been said to you on the +subject of scruples, and you have admitted the reasonableness of what +has been said: I had hoped they were gone for ever. You are a great +comfort and blessing to me: be satisfied with yourself. You were at +confession and communion five days ago: has any thing occurred since, on +which you would consult your director?" He replied, "No, nothing." This +we afterwards remembered with great comfort. + +In the evening we went to the promenade, and walked till it was dark. I +then asked if he would go home and play a game at chess: he said +playfully, "Yes, if you will let me rest my head on my hands, and stick +up my shoulders." This posture he had been used to take sometimes in the +study-room in college, where it was permitted, being neither a mortal +sin nor false grammar: of course he had since avoided and corrected the +habit. + +The next day the annual distribution of prizes took place at the Royal +College. This scene had some attraction for Kenelm as reminding him of +Stoneyhurst. He did not stay to the end of the ceremony, complaining of +a sense of fatigue. In the evening he walked out again for the last +time: we stopt to listen to some music on the walk, when I observed that +he was excessively chill. He said to his mother, "I hope my father will +be satisfied with my obedience; I have dragged myself along, cold and +tired." I had urged him to walk, in the hope of diverting him. We went +home; there was no question of chess; he retired early to rest. + +The day following, the last of the month of August, he appeared to be +well, and recovered from all sense of fatigue: he announced his +intention of bathing in the Rhone as usual. I requested him to give it +up, till it should be seen whether the chilliness, that seemed to renew +its attacks like the fits of an ague, should again come upon him. To +this he assented. He took his lesson of drawing without complaint; but, +almost immediately after the departure of the master, was seized with a +violent shivering: he put on a great coat; then wrapped himself in +blankets, lying on the sofa. The sense of cold still continuing, he took +soup, and afterwards tea. Towards evening he desired to have his bed +brought down from his chamber, and placed in the inner salon: this was +done. He soon broke out into a violent perspiration. Nothing more was +apprehended, than that he had taken cold at his last bathing in the +Rhone. + +His malady was however the dreadful typhus, so fatal in crowded +hospitals, in camps and prisons. To an insulated patient, well taken +care of, the danger is much diminished; and, but for error, and worse +than error, of the medical men who attended, my elder son had probably +not fallen a victim to it, and the younger would have been kept out of +the way of contagion. + +In the first spring that I had passed at Avignon, my children, owing to +the change of climate, all of them, beginning with the youngest, at +short intervals from each other, fell ill of the scarlet fever. At that +time I had sent for a physician, who treated them with much care, and, +as I judged from the event, with sufficient skill. In the course of +three years he had occasionally attended when his advice was wanted. His +practice was among the best families of the town; he was a middle-aged +man, married, and father of a family. He was entrusted by the +municipality with the place of physician to the hospital, in which +quality he gave lectures on anatomy, at which, so long as the dissected +subject was fresh, I had allowed my sons to attend. + +The typhus is an universal prostration of the forces of the body; it is +no wonder then that Kenelm felt no inclination to leave his bed. For two +days he remained there without seeming to himself to have any illness to +complain of. M. le Docteur Roche was sent for: he pronounced the +disorder to be a catarrhal fever; the symptoms nothing unfavourable; the +perspiration beneficial, but excessive; and ordered the removal of some +of the bed-clothes. He prescribed at this time no medicine. + +As this man was considered as devout, and had frequently conversed with +us on religious subjects, Kenelm, on account of the effect which he +supposed his scruples to have had on his health, and assured that they +would not be a subject of ridicule to a pious man, thought it right to +confide them to him. The doctor coincided entirely with the reasoning of +his patient: he said, "For some time past you have been forming +unwholesome chyle: the bowels must be relieved; perspiration, so as not +to weaken you, but to carry off the fever, probably caused by the cold +bath, must be sustained: all will soon be well again." Kenelm had talked +of his scruples in so edifying a manner, as to inspire the devout doctor +with great respect for his piety and humility: returning into the first +salon, he said to the mother: "Madame, votre fils est un ange:" she +replied, "Pas encore."[69] This is one of those prophetic expressions +launched at hazard, of which so many examples are on record. + +On the fourth day of the malady, the delirium commenced. Roche was one +of those physicians who never find out that they are in the wrong: he +added the epithet "nervous," to his former definition of the fever, and +ordered a calming draught at night. He called three times a day: he felt +the pulse of his patient: if the delirium had failed to alarm him, the +pulse might have indicated the typhus, by the "subsaltus tendonis," a +weak tremulous motion in the wrist, close by the pulse. From this fourth +day of his illness, I began to watch every night by the bed-side of +Kenelm till two o'clock in the morning: for several years past I had +been accustomed not to retire to rest till after midnight; to sit up an +hour or two longer was therefore no great fatigue. Antoine, who was +directed to go to bed at eight in the evening, then relieved me for the +rest of the night. We adopted this arrangement, not foreseeing how long +the illness would last, though the period of the typhus is well known to +be thirty days. Kenelm's brother and sisters attended and served him +during the day, without fear of contagion, the existence of which was +positively denied by Roche, and which indeed was not to be apprehended +in a case of "nervous catarrhal fever." The care of his mother extended +to every moment of the day and night: her chamber was the next room to +the salon in which her son lay: on the least noise she was at his +bed-side. What she endured of toil, seemingly beyond human strength, and +how her maternal feelings were tortured, will appear in the sequel. + +One of the symptoms of the malady was the induration of the belly: it +became hard and tight like a drum or inflated bladder; this proceeded +from the meteorized state of the bowels; and the vapour or fumes, +ascending thence to the brain, as in the case of drunkenness, caused +delirium. It was attempted to relieve this induration by emollient +fomentations. Kenelm's delirium was not so entire, but that his +attention might be directed by those around him to any object that might +require it: he spoke French or English, according to the nation of the +person whom he addressed; and it was remarkable, that he talked French +without hesitating or correcting his phrases, as he was wont to do in +health: the delirium in this also resembling drunkenness, which, in its +earlier stage, gives a firm and ready elocution. + +This mental alienation continued till within a few hours of his death: +it was the touchstone of his character: he talked much, even when +alone, or when, as in the watches of the night, by the faint light of a +lamp, he thought himself alone; and his talking was thinking aloud; so +that, had his mind or disposition concealed any thing inconsistent with +piety, purity, or charity, it must have been then revealed: if his +self-love had been excessive, it would have burst forth in vain-glorious +expressions: if he had entertained inordinate desires of any kind, they +would then have betrayed themselves. But there was nothing of all this. +He recited frequently and for a length of time together the prayers of +the church, or those used in the family: he uttered sentiments of piety +and devotion: "O my God, I love thee with my whole heart and soul, and I +beg rather to die than offend thee by any mortal sin;" with many other +aspirations of holy fervour. So little fear existed of his saying any +thing unfit for chaste or virgin ears to hear, that, not till after his +death, did it offer itself to my mind that this danger had actually been +incurred. It is worthy of remark, that he never said any thing on the +subject of those scruples which had given him uneasiness during his +health; a presumption that they were unfounded, and had their source in +timidity and inexperience. The charity "which thinketh no evil," did +not now forsake him; he spoke of the several persons of his +acquaintance, but not in dispraise of any. Of one who, as I knew, had +lately given him offence, he said, "M. de ---- is a very good, a very +pious man." It may be conjectured that he made an effort to say +something in this person's favour, as the sort of eulogy by no means +suited the character of him to whom it was given. + +His patience was admirable. On the twelfth of September, sinapism was +applied to the soles of his feet: it produced no good effect, being +taken off four hours after it was put on; but, during those four hours, +it caused excessive torture: he said, "it is a fire that burns without +consuming." Two days after the removal of the sinapism, Roche ordered +blisters on the legs, and insisted, in token of his good-will, on +putting them on himself: he put them on as one unaccustomed to the work: +the patient, unconscious of what he was doing, tore them off in the +night, and spread the blistering drug on different parts of his body. +The surgeon who attended to dress the blisters, advised that these +slight excoriations should be let alone, fearing to draw them by any +healing plaster, and hoping that they might heal of themselves. The +restlessness of the patient prevented this: plasters were then applied, +but four or five of these wounds situated on the parts on which he +rested in bed, continued till his death. By these wounds Kenelm was +urged to exclaim, "O why do I suffer so much?" but immediately corrected +himself: "I am very wrong--very impatient." He refused to take any thing +to remove the nauseous taste of the medicines: he once asked for a piece +of an orange for this purpose, and then rejected it. On some few +occasions he complained, as one suffering indeed, but not as without +resignation, or unwilling to suffer: he seemed at all times sensible of +the duty of bearing his illness in the spirit of penance: even his +delirium did not destroy the virtuous habits of his mind. + +About this time my younger son began to be ill; the predisposition to +the typhus manifested itself in listlessness and languor. Roche said, +"Il est triste a cause de son frere: il faut l'amuser; il faut le +promener."[70] He was still able, for some days longer, to amuse himself +with his pencil or at chess with me, and to walk out with the servant or +some of the family; but the malady gained upon him. + +After the event, I can blame myself, and may be blamed by others, for +allowing my confidence in Roche to continue so long. After the event, I +received hints, and more than hints, that he was not of skill enough for +a serious case; while he was still retained, no one spoke against him. +Besides, he had served me well in the serious case of the scarlet fever. +I did not place more reliance on him on account of his devotion, knowing +that devotion is but too often another mode of self-deceit: but I +thought him incapable of acting like a villain. The patient showed an +appearance of great strength, and Roche's daily promises of his speedy +recovery did not as yet bear the semblance of improbability. + +The silence of the surgeon, who came every morning and evening to dress +and keep open the blisters, also tended to deceive me. He might have +been the means of saving a valuable life, of rescuing the family from +the danger of contagion, all except the younger son, who had already +taken the infection; and for him might have procured timely aid: but he +prudently held his tongue, except to assure us that there was no danger. + +At length came the grand conspirator, he who set his seal to the deceit, +rendered the discovery of Roche's error impracticable, and assured its +result. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[69] "Your son is an angel."--"Not yet." + +[70] He is melancholy on account of his brother; he must be amused; he +must be taken out. + + + + +CHAP. XVII. + + +On the seventeenth of September, I proposed to Roche to call in another +physician, naming M. Guerard, a man of acknowledged ability, but old and +deaf. On account of these natural defects of Guerard, and out of +friendship for Roche, I did not discharge this latter. Roche said, "I +will call myself on M. Guerard, and bring him to the house." I saw +nothing in this proposal, but an act of civility towards Guerard. I have +since understood that this man sheltered himself, under the character of +_consulting_ physician, from the reproach of a treacherous abuse of my +confidence in him. It is possible that Roche called him in as such, from +unwillingness to seem to be superseded. But on his second visit, when he +came alone, on his observing, "M. Roche est votre medecin," I replied, +"vous l'etes aussi,"[71] and explained to him, that I expected from him +the service of a physician just as much as if Roche was not in +attendance; adding that, if I had been perfectly satisfied with Roche, I +should not have called in another. Besides he received his fee; a +circumstance which, if I understand aright, technically nullifies a +technical defence of a conduct too atrocious for me to suspect at the +time, and including too much cruelty to be justified by any +considerations. + +He came, accompanied by Roche. He said, "M. Roche has explained to me in +detail your son's illness and the treatment of it: we will go and see +him." He examined his patient with great attention. On leaving the room +he said, "this is a very serious malady, but I see no immediate danger." +He prescribed musk and bark: these medicines being proper for the +typhus, prove what indeed has never been questioned, that he knew, from +the first, the nature of the complaint. The languid state of my younger +son was mentioned to him; he smiled on him good-naturedly, took his +hand, but made no remark, giving at the same time a significant look at +Roche. + +The servant met them descending the stairs; Guerard wringing his hands, +and Roche looking, as the man expressed himself, like a scolded child, +"un enfant gronde." By some fatality, Antoine did not speak of this +till some days after the death of Kenelm: had it been mentioned at the +time, it might have changed the whole state of things. + +The next morning, Antoine asked Roche on his first visit, "Is M. Kenelm +worse, Sir? M. Guerard seemed much disturbed yesterday." Roche said, "O +no: all is going on well: he is better." + +Guerard did not even order Roche's treatment, though contrary to the +malady, to be discontinued; and Roche went on with his barley-water and +calming potion conjointly with Guerard's prescribed medicines. After +visiting four days, Guerard fell ill of the gout and was confined to his +house: it was then agreed that Roche should report to him daily the +state of the patient, and consult with him on the treatment. + +My eldest daughter, subsequently to Guerard's first visit, was ill of a +sore throat: had she taken the infection of the typhus, would these +medical men still have persevered in their silence? A good providence +was merciful. She recovered; we were less alarmed, as unaware of the +extent of the danger; and it is not proved that the medical men were +willing to assassinate more than two of the family. + +Kenelm appeared to be somewhat benefited by Guerard's medicines; and the +external application of camphor, now prescribed by Roche, mitigated the +delirium, though it did not remove the cause. His brother said one day, +"Let us try how far his mind is free:" and, taking the drawing +before-mentioned of the infant Jesus, which had been framed and hung up +in the first salon, he placed it at the foot of his brother's bed. +Kenelm looked at it for a short time with seeming pleasure, and then +said, "Perhaps that may hereafter do me some little honour." Other +indications he gave, that he thought his end to be near: he said to me, +with a pensive and composed look,--"Monument? what monument shall I +have?" He heard the bell of the church of St. Agricol, and cried, "Why +do they ring that bell? I am not dead yet." On the twenty-fourth of +September he said to his mother, "I dreamed last night that Mr. Roche +took me into a church, and left me there, promising to bring me every +day bread and water. He did so for some time; but one day he failed of +coming, and I died. I thought in my dream that I made a very happy +death: I am certain it is a very easy thing to make a happy death." + +This dream evidently tranquillized and spoke peace to his soul: it was a +merciful dispensation, when other means of spiritual comfort were +rendered impossible by the delirium, which however left to his pious +thoughts their direction and energy. + +He had been, for some days before, a little better. The delirium was +somewhat abated, and he seemed to have more strength; but on the +twenty-fifth these favourable symptoms disappeared; this lightening +before death vanished. On the evening of that day, the surgeon took upon +himself to apply healing plasters to the blisters, without asking the +opinion of Roche, who was present, and who, though unasked, to keep +himself in countenance, gave his assent, saying, "C'est tres bien fait +de M. Busquet."[72] Roche had evidently now lost all presence of mind: +he knew not what to do; and no confidence could longer be placed in one +who ceased even to affect to have any in himself. The next morning I +sent him his discharge: he wrote me a letter full of respect and +sensibility, complaining of this measure, and returning the fee. The +custom of France is, that the physician is not paid till the termination +of the malady: had Roche retained the fee, he would have acceded to his +own dismissal, which he earnestly wished to be recalled, foreseeing +that all must inevitably be known on the arrival of another physician. +Guerard too, who was still confined by the gout, made strong objections +to the calling in another physician, whom I named to him, and who had +studied with credit at Paris. He requested me to be contented that the +surgeon, an able man, should make his report as Roche had done, and +promised to call the next day in a "chaise a porteurs"--sedan-chair. + +I had taken with me my younger son, intending to consult Guerard about +him. In my confusion and anxiety, I forgot to do so; but Guerard, who +knew the nature of the malady, and that I had been kept in the dark +concerning it;--who knew that my younger son, ten days before, had been +ill for some days--must have apprehended his state, even from his looks, +and to this state consigned him. Roche, during his latter visits, had +sedulously avoided paying attention to the younger son; and so slow at +first was the advance of the illness, that we had neglected to call his +attention that way. Roche too knew all. Had he continued his visits, I +cannot tell what he would have done: perhaps he could not tell himself. +He could hardly have talked of a second "catarrhal nervous fever;" nor +could Guerard have borne him out in it. + +The next morning, the 27th, I called again on Guerard. On seeing me, he +cried out, "Sir, I should have come to your house yesterday, but for the +difficulty of mounting the stairs."--"You might have been carried up in +an armchair by the porters."--"That shall be done to-morrow, if I am not +strong enough to mount by myself: at any rate I will come to-morrow." He +now, by my desire, felt my younger son's pulse. "He has some fever: he +must be taken care of: I will come to-morrow." He well knew, though I +did not, how urgent the case was: though regularly called upon to +prescribe for my younger son, he thus evaded his duty. He added, +referring to the elder son,--"M. Busquet is a clever man: he has my +method, and will treat your son according to it. Another physician will, +very likely, wish to try experiments." + +If I admitted with such credulous facility the delays of this +cold-hearted man and the fear of empiricism, which he artfully threw in, +it was because I foresaw not the calamities that awaited me: could I +even have foreseen them, I should not have suspected any one capable of +thus trifling with a father of a family, who, in that quality, had +thrown himself on his good faith, and, in his quality of stranger, in +some sort on the good faith of his nation. + +I acted even worse on the morrow. Guerard failed to come; I waited for +him the whole day, and then did not even send to inquire after him. I do +not pretend to excuse a conduct so inconsistent with my principles and +feelings; yet be it remembered, sorrow and perturbation of mind are bad +counsellors. Desponding and sick at heart, overcome by lassitude--I +speak not of corporeal fatigue, for a messenger would have ascertained +the failure of Guerard, and brought a physician in his stead--but +overborne by the disappointment of the efforts I had made, and, later in +the day, becoming sensible of the danger of Kenelm, I felt as if, like +the father of Thessalonica, I could not help one son without abandoning +the other. I acted wrong: it is some consolation to reflect that, +whereas, on the following day, I found the physician who saved the life +of my younger son; had I this day sent for one, that one might not have +had the same success. For Kenelm, the delay imported not; his days were +numbered. It may also be a palliation that, when his mother asked the +surgeon what news she might send to her friends in England, he +replied,--"You may tell them, Madam, that there is no danger." + +In the evening of the same day, this same man said to me, "Your son is +worse: your younger son also requires attention: I will go immediately +to M. Guerard, and tell him it is absolutely necessary that a physician +should visit them." He said also, "It would be better that the young +ladies should not stay in their brother's chamber." I said, "We have +been assured that there is no danger of contagion."--"There is always +some danger." He spoke of the sisters who were present, and whose +presence had always seemed to give pleasure to Kenelm. His brother was +so weakened by the now rapid progress of his own malady, that, for two +days, he had hardly passed into this room, and had gone early to bed. It +was now with him, as was known afterwards, the twelfth day of the fever. +He himself, from his own feelings asserted that his disorder was the +same as his brother's. The medical diagnosis was the same; yet to me, +who could judge by appearances only, it seemed a perfectly different +illness; the prostration of all the strength of the body was the only +visible symptom, and this had come on gradually and quietly, had brought +with it loss of spirits and of appetite, had even affected the +eye-sight, but without any occasional excitement, without delirium. + +Towards midnight I took my station to watch by the bed-side of Kenelm +with a presentiment, very naturally to be accounted for, that it was +for the last time. He passed the night in tolerable tranquillity, but, +at day-break, he began to disturb and alarm us by loud and continued +talking. At the same time his understanding seemed to be returning, as, +amidst the extravagancies he uttered, he spoke of an occurrence in the +life-time of his eldest sister, (little Mary he called her,) "but that +was a long time ago; she has been dead fifteen years:" this was exact. +He said also, "I would give the world to be able to hold my tongue, but +I seem to have something within me that forces me to talk." He talked in +fact incessantly for six hours, till his voice even became hoarse. This +was the last effort of the victorious typhus: the gangrene of the bowels +was now in operation; sickness came on. + +Guerard had not rendered himself to the summons of the surgeon the +evening before, nor to the repeated summons of the same messenger this +morning. I hastened to his house: at eleven o'clock he was sitting in +his arm chair: he had not even sent word that he could not come. I +addressed him in a hurried manner:--"Is my son to take the bark, since +he is vomiting?" Guerard, being deaf, and supposing my question to be a +reiterated invitation, or complaint of his absence, declared his utter +inability to visit me, concluding his excuses, with "Voici le medecin +que je vous recommande,"[73] pointing to a person sitting near him, whom +I had before met with, but did not recognise. Suspecting that Guerard's +recommendation might proceed from jealousy of the other physician whom I +had once named to him, I requested the stranger to give me his address, +which he did; M. Breugne. I then repeated my question to Guerard, who, +not hearing to the end, advised that the bark should be continued. M. +Breugne said, "Puisqu'il vomit?"[74] Guerard then said the bark must be +suspended. I asked him what opinion he had formed on the report of the +surgeon: to this a vague answer was given. M. Breugne said, that a +physician could not judge of a patient's case by report: he gave some +reasons for this opinion, concluding, "the pulse cannot be described." I +took leave hastily and without explaining my intentions as to the +successor to Roche and Guerard. This latter had no claim to know them. I +wished to inform myself respecting M. Breugne. + +The physician whom I had in my mind, had a high reputation, but was +young, and consequently as yet had but little practice. I went up to my +younger son's chamber, "Who is this M. Breugne?" said I. "He is the +physician of the family of M. de R. of whom they all speak so highly." + +Had the question been proposed to him an hour later, he would have been +incapable of answering it, for then the stupor of the fever was fully +come upon him. Had the stupor come upon him twelve hours later, he must +have known of the death of his brother; and the effect of that +knowledge, in his weak state, would most probably have been fatal to +him. + +I now recollected, concerning M. Breugne, what was amply sufficient to +decide me in his favour. By way of making amends for my reserve, I went +to his house myself. He promised to come in ten minutes: that space of +time I employed in helping my younger son to dress, and come down +stairs: the fatigue of these operations was to him excessive; arrived at +the door of the first salon, he looked at the sofa, as if he wished it +to come to meet him, made a few hasty and tottering steps, and threw +himself upon it, quite exhausted. He desired that it might be turned +with its back to the windows, as the light importuned him: this was +done, and the large round table was pushed from the centre of the salon +towards one side, that there might be space between it and the sofa. +This trifling circumstance is not mentioned idly; it will be seen +hereafter to have its meaning. + +Who can deny the existence of a superintending, a particular Providence, +when he observes, that the mental faculties of my younger son were +continued to him, as if on purpose that he might assist me in +determining on the choice of the physician who rescued him from death, +and that they were then temporarily suspended precisely at the time when +it became necessary that he should be kept in ignorance of what, if +known, would have retarded or prevented his restoration to health? Is it +presumption in me to think, that even my negligence of the former day, +when I waited so long for Guerard without taking any steps to replace +him, may have been regulated, that the merciful dispensations of a good +Providence might have their way? I advance this conjecture in all +humility, and corrected by a sense of my own unworthiness. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[71] "M. Roche is your physician."--"_You_ are my physician also." + +[72] It is very well done of M. Busquet. + +[73] Here is the physician whom I recommend to you. + +[74] Since he is vomiting? + + + + +CHAP. XVIII. + + +M. Breugne, entering the room and seeing his younger patient stretched +on the sofa, went first to him: after a short examination, he said: "Il +a la fievre typhus, et, a en juger par la gravite des symptomes, il l'a +eu depuis huit a dix jours: il doit l'avoir gagnee de M. son frere aine, +que je n'ai pas encore vu."[75] I led him into the inner salon. He felt +the pulse of the elder son; his mother was standing by the bed-side: he +looked at what Kenelm had thrown from his stomach: the mother asked if +it was the bark; "Non, Madam, ce n'est pas cela;" and, with a look of +dreadful import, he led me out of the room, and, with a hurried under +voice, said, "C'en est fait de lui: sauvons l'autre: qu'il soit monte au +second; que ses soeurs ne mettent pas meme le pied sur l'escalier."[76] +All was now at once revealed. Breugne, overcome by the impetuosity of +his own feelings, did not give himself time to reflect with how little +preparation or management he made known to me the certain death of one +son, the uncertain fate of the other, and the danger of all the family. +I was stunned, but not surprised. + +He prescribed for the two brothers; "With respect to the elder, we will +do our duty; but it is useless, and may torment him; he has not two days +to live; indeed I fear he will not pass the night: for the younger, I +can assure you of nothing; I have hope: I have followed, as physician, +the armies of Italy, and have attended, it may be, a thousand persons +under this disorder; I have lost but two or three, and then only through +some fault of the patient; but here, in the case of your younger son, +this fault exists,--he has been ten days without treatment, without +medical aid." He returned at five o'clock in the afternoon, and gave +more particular directions concerning him, confirming his opinion, that +Kenelm could not live over the night. Two hours later, the surgeon +called as usual, but proposed not to dress the blisters till next +morning. How we cling to the possession of a beloved object! +Notwithstanding what she had heard and what she saw before her, the +mother was alarmed, and cried out, "You think he will not live till +morning?" Not less grieved, but more resolute, I touched the sole of +Kenelm's foot, and said to the surgeon, "He is already cold here:" the +surgeon, touching the upper part of the foot, said, "There is warmth +here:" "Yes," said I, "the natural heat is retiring." The surgeon made +no reply. To calm the mother's fears, he seemed to dress the blisters; +and so the work of these medical men was ended. + +Our director had called in the course of the morning: he pitied the +affliction of the family, and conversed with the excellent youth now +approaching to the close of a virtuous life. Kenelm wished to make a +general confession; the priest knowing this to be, in his case, +superfluous, and doubting if his mind or bodily strength were sufficient +to such a purpose, consoled him, and persuaded him to defer it. In the +evening he called again, and proposed to me the administration of the +sacrament of extreme unction; undertaking to prepare the cure of St. +Agricol, the parish-church. The viaticum was, of necessity, to be +omitted on account of the vomiting. Kenelm, though exhausted by this +discharge, yet on account of the movement which it occasioned, and from +painful and uneasy sensations, was unable to sleep: he called aloud +several times the name of his brother, recollecting perhaps that he had +not seen him during the day, adding, "He is playing alone in the field." +His three younger sisters had retired to their chambers, just before the +arrival of the priest with the holy oils. + +I said to him, "You will be glad to see M. l'Abbe:" he assented. The +priest, addressing him, said, "You see this is the crucifix?" he +answered, changing his language immediately into that of the priest, +"Oui, Monsieur;" and devoutly kissed the sign of salvation. The +expression of his countenance, during the extreme unction, was that of +joy mingled with surprise; as of one delighted with the approach of +death, and understanding now, for the first time, that it was near. No +doubt was entertained but that he knew what was going forward, and, in +hope, set the seal to his faith. The priest and his attendant retired. +Kenelm's mother approached the bed: "Will you pray for me------" she had +not force to add, as she wished, "when you are in heaven?" He said, +"Yes, I will, if you will not cry: why do you cry?"--"To see you so +ill."--"That is the reason; yes, I am very ill:" he expressed a wish to +repose himself, but could not sleep; the fermentation of the gangrene +was consuming his bowels. + +I sent for M. Breugne again at ten o'clock. "I am giving you an useless +trouble; but can any thing be done to relieve him?" Breugne looked at +him attentively, and turning away, said, "He has not two hours to live." +My eldest daughter, in a movement of grief and despair, cried out, "Sir, +you abandon him; you have not even felt his pulse." Breugne, in a +compassionate and placid manner, said, "If it will be a satisfaction to +you, Mademoiselle,--" and felt the wrist: "he has no pulse that can be +counted." I went up with Breugne into my younger son's chamber: "Il +dort; laissons-le; je viendrai demain de bonne heure."[77] + +Notwithstanding Kenelm's satisfactory behaviour during the religious +ceremony of which he had been the subject, I wished for more positive +assurance that his reason was restored to him, and that he was aware of +his state: I wished, as far as I might, to comfort him, and prepare him +for his end. The task was most difficult: thirty days before, youth and +the expectation of a long life were his: a month had been passed in a +dream from which he was now awakened but to die. In his weak state, how +enter on such a topic? I endeavoured to lead to it. "Do you love me, my +dear son?"--"Yes, I love you; as I ought; you have great virtues."--"And +great faults."--"It is not for me to judge of that."--"Do you forgive me +the faults I may have committed in regard to you?"--"Assuredly I do." He +signified that he should be obliged to vomit, and I withdrew; nor could +I afterwards excite him to speak, though I frequently drew near the bed +for that purpose, and, at times, gently called him by his name. + +His last words were words of charity, of pardon, and of peace. His +father and mother took one of his hands in theirs; it was cold, colder +than afterwards in death: he seemed unwilling to be thus disturbed; they +laid the hand down, and, with their eldest daughter, awaited the end in +painful and trembling anxiety: he appeared to suffer, but to be so +oppressed as to be unable to give expression to the sense of what he +suffered. The hour of midnight sounded: his last agony came on; and, +within ten minutes, he expired on Sunday morning, the thirtieth of +September, aged twenty years, four months, and twenty-five days. + +The affliction of his parents and sister, who were fully sensible of the +value of what they had lost, needs not to be described. The exclamation +of Antoine Leturge, the domestic, the other witness of this scene of +woe, was simple and expressive: "Il est mort, lui, qui etoit si +bon!"[78] As they gazed on the awful object before them, the sister +said, "His eyes ought to be closed;" the mother, without due +recollection at the moment, made a sign to the servant: he, with right +feeling, gently said, "C'est au pere a faire cela:"[79] and the father +did it. + +After attending to the due arrangement of the chamber, and of the +precious remains, I went up stairs: the doors of the chambers of my two +sons were close to each other; I was strangely struck by the sight of +the open door of the untenanted chamber, and stopt a moment to recover +force to enter into the other. I saw the flushed face of my only +surviving son through the gauze that surrounded the bed; I heard his +breathing, too full, but tranquil and equal. I withdrew, and took a few +hours troubled sleep on the couch on which both my sons had commenced +their dreadful malady. + +In the morning, a table was placed, according to the usage of the +country, at the door of the court of the house, with paper and pens for +those who wished to signify their condolence with the family, to write +their names. The list of names was numerous: among them some one wrote, +"Tous les honnetes gens de la ville d'Avignon."[80] It was never known +who paid this tribute to the virtues of the deceased. I cannot forbear +to mention, that the man who had given him lessons in fencing, a hardy +soldier who had seen much military service, was so shocked by the news +of his death, that he fainted in the street, and was led home in a weak +state: this man was not advanced in years, but of the middle age, stout, +and of high spirit. + +Before mid-day, the body in its coffin was taken to a room on the ground +floor: a shirt and sheet served, according to the custom of France, the +purpose of the woollen shroud: the head was raised on a pillow: the +hands were fixed, as we still see them on some ancient tombs, in the +posture of prayer: a small crucifix, the same which he had pressed to +his lips the evening before, was placed on the breast: wax tapers and +incense were burnt; the latter in more than ordinary quantity as a +preservative from infection. The lid of the coffin is not, at any time, +fastened in the south of France, not even at the time of interment: it +is then laid evenly upon it; till then it is placed obliquely, so that +the upper part of the body and the feet are seen. The face of the +deceased now bore no sign of suffering; the features were composed, +and seemed to indicate a tranquil state. Owing to the excessive cold +which, before death, had gradually spread itself over the body, the +muscles had become instantly rigid, and it had been impossible to close +completely the eyes and mouth: so that the separated eye-lashes, and a +fine set of teeth, white and regular, added to the illusion produced by +what seemed an expression of thoughtfulness. Death looked like sleep: it +required an effort of reflection to be convinced of the mournful +reality. + +On the morning of the first of October, the clergy of the cathedral came +to the house to convey the body to the church: they were requested not +to begin their chant of the office for the dead, till at such a distance +as not to be heard by the surviving brother. The church was filled by a +crowd whom divine charity, or the best feelings of humanity, brought to +assist at the solemn rite, and to witness a scene which the early youth, +the well-known virtues, the afflicted state of the family of him who lay +before them, conspired to render interesting. High mass was celebrated: +the body was then carried to the cemetery to the north of the city, and +interred towards the middle of the wall enclosing the cemetery on the +north; the head resting near the wall, the feet turned towards Avignon. +Eighteen masses, without chant, were said for the repose of the soul of +the defunct. On Friday following, high mass was again sung, when, +according to custom, the friends of the family were invited to be +present: a great concourse again attended to join their prayers to the +powerful intercession of the spotless victim, and testify their sympathy +and compassion. + +On a tablet of white marble, inserted in a sepulchral stone from the +quarries of Barbentanne, is inscribed, in the Latin language, his name, +his country, his religion, his age, and the date of the day and year of +his death. Henry Kenelm was tall, more than five feet ten inches in +height, strong and well-made, but not large-limbed; with light hair, +dark blue eyes, and dark eye-lashes, and a fair complexion. The +expression of his countenance was, like his mind, benevolent, frank, +cheerful, and intelligent. When we were at Florence, a year after his +death, a cast, from a statue in the public gallery, was sent to our +lodging as a model for drawing. All of us were struck by the resemblance +of this bust to him whom we regretted, whose features were still so +fresh in our recollection. Antoine was called; the bust was shown to +him; nothing was said: "It is like M. Kenelm," said he. My son took two +copies of this bust: the original is an _athleta_, as it is called, +bearing and looking down upon an urn: it is the third or fourth statue +from the entrance of the gallery on the left hand. We showed the bust to +a friend: "It is like the son whom we have lost."--"Your son was a very +fine young man." The face of the statue is certainly handsome: that of +Kenelm had more animation. His manners were those of good society, +wanting nothing but that ease and confidence which time and experience +would have given. + +The friends who endeavoured to console me, employed, among other topics, +that of the danger of the world to youth. The argument proves too much. +A father is not reconciled, by the apprehension of a danger, uncertain, +and (in this case it may not be presumption to say) improbable, to the +loss of a son whom he has reared with careful and anxious thought, to +whose future life he looks forward with pleasing hope. The Greek proverb +indeed says, "He, whom God loves, dies young;" but we trust that many +who do not die young are beloved by God. More effectually did the +priest at Avignon console me: he knew, as confessor, the interior and +the conscience of Kenelm: "Je vous reponds de son salut; c'etoit un +fruit mur pour le ciel: Dieu l'a cueilli, et l'a mis dans son +grenier."[81] The Almighty Father of all, whose wise providence sends +afflictions, who knows when those whom he is pleased to call to himself +have well finished their course,--he can give assured comfort, and this +assured comfort he was graciously pleased to impart to the parents of +Henry Kenelm. + +Mean time let me hope that this example of faith and piety, of filial +submission and fraternal love, of application to study, of patience, +mortification, chastity, will not be lost; that some will be reclaimed, +and many edified. + +To my children especially, I recommend this memorial, written with tears +of mingled joy and grief: they have lost a brother, but they possess the +remembrance of his virtues, the knowledge of his felicity, the benefit +of his intercession. May they ever bear in mind that "every good, every +perfect gift cometh from above;" that to + + "Him alone is glory," who "in crowning our merits crowneth his own + work." + + [Greek: Doron toi kai ego, teknon phile, touto didomi.] + +I will now relate an occurrence, on which I request the reader to +exercise his judgment temperately. He will readily believe that I have +not invented it: this is not an age in which credit is given to visions +or honor to visionaries. + +In the night between the 30th and 31st of October, thirty entire days +after the death of Kenelm, his parents retired late to rest; in fact, at +one o'clock of the morning of the 31st. As they were composing +themselves to sleep, they heard a noise as of the breaking of a small +stick. To me this noise seemed to proceed from the cabinet or +dressing-room behind the bed; my wife heard it as from the commode or +drawers opposite the foot of the bed. We asked each other what the noise +might be, and compared what we had heard. Within a minute, my wife, who +had raised herself in her bed, asked me, "What light is that?" I saw no +light, and asked, "Where?"--"On the drawers, brighter than any candle." +She proceeded to describe what she saw: "Now it rises and grows larger. +How beautifully bright! brighter than the most brilliant star. What can +it mean? it is very strange you don't see it." I thought so too; but, to +encourage her, said, "Compose yourself; it can mean no harm." She went +on: "It still rises and grows larger: now it turns towards the +window--it takes the form of a dove with the wings spread but--it has a +bright glory all around it--it looks steadily at me--it speaks to my +heart, and tells me that my dear Henry is happy--it fixes a piercing +look on me, as if it would make me feel what it means. Now I know he is +happy, and shall lament no more for him. There--now it has disappeared." +Though I had not seen the light, I could see the face of my wife while +she was looking at it, and the tears glittering as if a bright light +passed through them while they fell down her cheeks. The French word +would be _ebrillantees_. There still remained a suffused light in the +room, particularly on the wall above the drawers, as of the reflection +of a nearly extinguished fire. This was observed by both of us. It +lasted about five minutes, growing gradually fainter, and at length +failing entirely. While looking at this suffused and darkish red light, +and reasoning with myself how or why the bright light had not been seen +by me, I remarked, on the floor, by the open door of the cabinet, the +reflection of a veilleuse, or small night-lamp. These lights are made +of a single thread of cotton half an inch long, steeped in melted wax, +and, when dry, inserted in little flat pieces of cork, which are +floated, while the cotton is burning, in a small quantity of oil. This +night-lamp was placed in the remotest corner of the dressing room, which +went the whole length of the bed-room. I saw its reflection on the floor +only, and only so far as the open door permitted it to be seen. "This" +said I, "cannot be the cause of the suffused light; still less can it +have been the cause of the bright one." While I was looking, first at +the suffused light, then at the reflection of the lamp, the former +disappeared; it was plain, therefore, that it had not been caused by the +latter. + +In the morning we visited the tomb of our departed son, and returned +thanks to God. During the whole of the scene which I have described, +which lasted about half a quarter of an hour, my wife's behaviour was +sufficiently composed and recollected, was consistent and rational, free +from affectation or enthusiasm. A sudden and transient apparition of an +illuminated dove with a glory might be considered as the work of fancy; +but here this appearance was prepared for and followed by circumstances, +in which the imagination could have no part. The attention of her who +was to see the vision was directed, by the noise preceding it, to the +place where it first appeared; while I was roused by the same noise, but +heard by me in a different part of the chamber, as if I were to be, as +in the main I was, a witness only. I repeat, the suffused light was seen +by us _both_ for four or five minutes. Besides the form which the bright +light assumed to the eyes of my wife, the circumstance of its being seen +by one of the parties only, without weakening the force of her +testimony, is conclusive against its being either a natural or +artificial light; and her testimony, aided by mine, as to the +concomitant circumstances, proves it to have been a supernatural one. +The house looked into a court; there was no house opposite from which +lamp or candle could be seen; the moon, whatever witty people may be +inclined to say of the influence of the moon in this case, was but four +days old: besides, the window shutters were closed, and excluded all +lights, artificial or natural. + +To use the words of a learned, rational, and respectable old man, the +cure of St. Agricol, to whom I related the matter, "Ce qu'on voit, on +voit." True,--what one sees, one sees; but the scripture, with that +intimate knowledge of human nature evident in its every page, speaks of +some who "will not be persuaded even though one rose from the dead." + +The term of thirty days has been observed in the catholic church as that +at the end of which revelations have sometimes been made of the +happiness of departed souls. + +I will now proceed in order with my narrative, but will first, to +conclude this subject, transcribe the affecting prayer for the dead in +the canon of the mass, which, not having found its way into "The Book of +Common Prayer," will be new to many of my readers:-- + +"Memento, Domine, famulorum famularumque tuarum N. et N. qui nos +praeecesserunt cum signo fidei, et dormiunt in somno pacis: ipsis, +Domine, et omnibus in Christo quiescentibus, locum refrigerii, lucis, et +pacis, ut indulgeas, deprecamur; per eundem Christum Dominum nostrum. +Amen." + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[75] He has the typhus fever; and, to judge by the gravity of the +symptoms, he has had it for eight or ten days: he must have taken it +from his elder brother, whom I have not yet seen. + +[76] It is all over with _him_: let us save the other; let him be taken +up to the second story, and let his sisters not even set a foot on the +staircase. + +[77] He sleeps: we will leave him alone: I will come again early +to-morrow. + +[78] He is dead; he that was so good! + +[79] It is for the father to do that. + +[80] All the worthy people of the city of Avignon. + +[81] I answer to you for his salvation; it was a fruit ripe for heaven: +God has gathered it, and placed it in his granary. + + + + +CHAP. XIX. + + +On the morning of the funeral, M. Breugne called a little before ten +o'clock, the time appointed to the clergy, led me up into my son's +chamber, made there a long visit, gave me to understand the hour to be +earlier than it really was, returned into the salon, and kept me there +for some time in conversation. When he had retired, I went down to the +room where the body of Kenelm had lain: it was gone. I stood some time +lamenting the disappointment of my purposed farewell; blaming the +well-meant and successful efforts of Breugne to deprive me of this +sorrowful satisfaction, and renewing the impression of the view I had +taken the preceding evening of that which I was to behold no more. The +crucifix lay on the table; I took it up; and, before leaving the room, +was preparing to extinguish the tapers which were, by chance as I +thought, left burning. The femme-de-chambre called out to me, "Monsieur, +il ne faut pas faire cela: les cierges lient la famille a ce qui se fait +dans l'eglise."[82] + +It is easy to call this arrangement superstitious: there was good +sense, and a sense of decorum in thus declaring, by external signs, +our participation in the office in which we had so dear a concern. +Whatever man loves or esteems highly, he endeavours to represent to +himself by symbols. Friends set a great value on those tokens of +friendship which they may have received as presents; even to become +accidentally possessed of any object, however trifling, that belonged +to a friend, is a cause of pleasure. Portraits are precious, not merely +as works of art, but as reminding us of those whom we delight to +remember; and none refuse to venerate the images of saints, but +those who make no account of the saints themselves. In Italy, in the +salons of ambassadors, I have seen the thrones of their several +sovereigns, to connect by these emblems the representatives with the +represented,--ceremonial so necessary to the maintenance of authority, +that the Spanish minister told his king, "Your Majesty's self is nothing +but a ceremonial;"--etiquette so essential to the good order of society, +that not even the most unpolished reunion subsists without it: these are +but modes of expressing meaning by signs. In war, in politics, in civil +contracts, in common life, men universally thus express themselves; and +why not in religion? Those who quarrel with the shadow are angry with +the substance that throws it. + +I said to M. Breugne, "Have compassion on me. It is not my fault that I +did not know you sooner, but a great misfortune it has proved to me: you +might have saved my elder son. You would not have allowed the younger to +perish under your eyes." Breugne said, "What you have suffered is +horrible. On the second day of my visit to your younger son, I met at +the door the coffin of the elder. Do not let us despair as long as your +dear boy has life. I will not deceive you; you shall know of his state +all I know myself." He gave me to understand that he wished me to +determine the number of his visits each day, being unwilling, as I +supposed, to appear desirous of making up by their frequency for the +smallness of the fee usually given to French physicians. I said, "Save +my son; spare no pains that may be necessary to that end: come as often +as your visits may be of use to him." He said, "From the first I have +fixed on a plan in regard to him, which I shall not have occasion to +change: that plan will succeed, or nothing will. So many days have been +lost, that he must have as much both of nourishment and medicine as he +can take with advantage; but I must watch him very attentively to find +out the quantity of both, that he may be able in his weak state to bear +and to profit by." + +Never was greater zeal, activity, and judgment exerted than by this +worthy man: all was not more than enough; for never had human being such +a struggle for life as had this youth. His delirium inclined to stupor. +Fomentations of aromatic herbs were applied to the head; sinapism was +applied to the soles of the feet and kept on for eight and forty hours; +blisters were laid on the back and on the legs; yet it was with +difficulty that he could be awakened or excited to take nourishment or +medicines. In truth they were, for the most part, especially towards the +conclusion of his illness, poured into his mouth and swallowed +instinctively, without an effort of the will. In this manner he took, by +dessert-spoonfuls, more than a bottle of Malaga wine a day, and this for +several days following. On the last three days of his illness, the +quantity of musk administered was, fifteen, twenty, twenty-five grains. +I mention these particulars for the purpose of showing how perilous was +his state. I have not medical knowledge enough to do justice to M. +Breugne's treatment by any detail I could give of it. + +During these last three days the anxiety of Breugne was extreme. "I +suspect by her uncertain answers to my questions, that the old garde +malade sleeps in the night: let Antoine sit up and watch the nurse. We +do not know precisely when the fever began, but it must soon end: the +least negligence may be fatal." At his first visits, early in the +morning, he used to ask the servants, "Ou en sommes nous?"[83] before he +would enter the chamber of the patient. Every thing portended his death. +His mother afterwards said to me, "I had taken out the sheet to bury him +in; it was as well for it to be ready." Breugne, though he could neither +feel nor give hope, would not despair, nor relax his efforts. An +unfavourable symptom occurred,--the breaking out of red spots on the +skin. "It is all over," said I to Breugne; "the little girl, whom I lost +fifteen years ago, had the same appearance the day before she +died."--"Il ne mourra pas pour cela;"[84] and he did not die. On the +sixteenth of October, in the evening, the fever left him. At this time, +Breugne, after a careful examination, said, "Il n'a rien--there is +nothing the matter with him: but wait till to-morrow morning; it is too +soon yet for me to assure you of his safety." + +On the morrow, Breugne pronounced him out of danger. It was pleasant to +see with what delight, with what affectionate exaltation, he +contemplated his patient, standing by his bed-side, taking snuff, and +hardly refraining from tears. The patient, who had been too weak to say +any thing the evening before, had now recovered a little strength and a +little spirit of fun. "Why does he not go away? He has made his visit." +This was said to me in English. Breugne asked the meaning: I told him, +and then said in French, "Let Mr. Breugne enjoy the view of the good he +has done." He did enjoy it most cordially and disinterestedly. + +Now came the difficulty to conceal from my restored and surviving son +the death of his brother. Our mourning dress was accounted for, by +telling him that an aunt of his mother's had died and left her a large +legacy; and he was amused by discussing and settling how the legacy +should be spent in Italy. Often has his mother turned aside to hide her +tears while answering his inquiries after his brother, and while +entering into details to make her accounts more credible. Such traits of +heroism have been admired in a Roman matron: but heroism is more common +than is usually supposed. I said to him, "Really we are very much +obliged to you; but for our waiting for your recovery, we should now be +on our road to Italy."--"And my brother? is he well enough for the +journey?" I was stupified, and unable so far to recover myself as to +tell a falsehood. "He will be no hindrance." + +A new alarm succeeded. Convalescence after such a malady, uncured for +during more than the first third of its period, was no easy matter. "He +will die after all," said Breugne, "of what the English physicians call +_phthisis in toto corpore_. I order for him exactly the quantity of food +that may nourish him; for it is not by what we eat, but by what we can +turn into nutriment, that the body is supported. The nurse has given him +more than enough, and the organs of nutrition cannot do their office +with what surcharges them. We must have him down stairs: that old witch +must not be left alone with him." He had in fact asked _Goody Grope_, as +he called her, to give him to eat; and she, after discharging her +conscience by refusing, ended by complying. Breugne made me observe that +his pulse intermitted. I counted thirty-nine pulsations; the fortieth +failed. "If he were descending into a malady,"--I cannot well translate +his French, as he hesitated in the choice of his words,--"I should call +the symptom fatal; but as he is rising from one, it may not be of such +evil omen--mauvais augure." + +An inference may hence be drawn of no small import in the conduct of +life. How pernicious it must be, even in health, to eat too much; since, +a case of debility supposed, a little quantity more than enough hindered +the nutritive effect of the food, and in truth very nearly proved fatal! + +My son was now about to become again one of the family. Two days before +this took place, I told him that his brother was gone into the country, +for change of air, to the house of a friend whom I named. I anticipated +by two days, lest the story should seem invented for the occasion. On +the first of November, he was carried down stairs on a mattress, and +laid on a sofa, while his bed was prepared in the cabinet by the side of +the salon. "I will have him again put into bed as soon as possible," +said Breugne; "le lit est la force du malade."[85] His sisters were +shocked at his appearance; terror overcame their joy; they seemed to +doubt whether he too had not died and come forth again from the grave: +for myself, I wondered where his muscles, veins, and arteries had +retired, so complete seemed the adhesion of the skin to the bones. Three +days afterwards, asses milk was ordered and found to agree with him; and +Breugne cried out exultingly, "J'ai cinq sur sept pour moi."[86] This +was, however, but little more than two to one in his favour. + +Many awkward circumstances might have led him to suspect the death of +his brother. The secret was now to be kept by six or seven persons whose +looks betrayed it, although their tongues were silent: nay, silence was +itself of all circumstances the most suspicious. I dictated a message to +Antoine as from the Marquis de ----, with whom Kenelm was supposed to be +living in the country. This message was to convey a favourable account +of his health, and Antoine was ordered to deliver it in the salon. He +had not courage to speak loud enough, and I made a sign to him to talk +so as to be heard by _him_ in the cabinet: this gave him the air of one +acting a part. The Marquis and Marquise entered soon after. This was +unlucky: they could not have sent a message from their country-house +while they were in the town. They approached the door of the cabinet. I +said, "Madame, you bring us good news from your campagne?" Through pity +or astonishment at my resolution, she had not the force to give any +answer. + +I said to M. Breugne, "What am I to do? He suspects his brother's death: +he asked me yesterday, 'Why does he not write? is he not well enough to +write?' The suspicion will irritate his feelings, and do him more harm +than the certainty." Breugne said, "I will not take on myself the +responsibility of advising you; you must judge for yourself: you know +his character better than I do." + +On the tenth of November I said to him, "You have had the same illness +as your brother, and have recovered from it. Your present illness is +excessive weakness owing to your having been so long neglected; there is +no reason to fear the same--" Incautiously in my perturbation I had gone +further than I had intended to do at first. This was enough: the secret +was revealed, and we were relieved from this cruel embarrassment. + +Four weeks after the fever had left him, he was able to walk a few +steps. A month is sufficient for complete convalescence after the typhus +in ordinary cases. On the twelfth of December he went out in a carriage. +On the twentieth I left my house for the purpose of selling my +furniture by auction, and went to the Hotel d'Europe for better air, and +to be near the promenade. At this inn we staid ten days, till the +strength of the convalescent should be sufficiently restored to enable +us to set out on our long-delayed journey. At length I engaged a +voiture, having most happily found one, as if made on purpose for my +service, new, well-built and warm, with stout horses, and a respectable +coachman. + +To obtain a passport to quit France is a matter, not of difficulty, but +of many formalities. The demandant must first make his application to +the municipality, stating his reasons for leaving the kingdom, the +country to which he is going, and the point at which he means to quit +France. The municipality notifies these particulars to the prefect, who +addresses himself to the minister for foreign affairs, who, after due +perquisition at the legation of the country of the demandant, if a +foreigner, (for the same formalities, this inquiry excepted only, are +observed in regard to the French themselves,) authorizes the prefect to +grant the passport required. I stated that I was going to Nice to +restore the health of my son and of my afflicted family. All that family +had made frequent visits to the tomb of Henry Kenelm, except his +brother, whose visit was to be one of farewell on the day before our +departure from Avignon, which was now fixed for the last of the year. On +the 30th of December, a funeral was to take place at two in the +afternoon: the hour suited, and we were willing, as requested, to take +that opportunity of finding the gate of the cemetery open. We went to +the cemetery at the appointed hour; the funeral was delayed till after +sunset: it would have been dangerous, for one whose health was so +imperfectly established, to wait longer, and expose himself to the cold +of the evening; and he quitted this city of death without being able to +pay his last duties at the tomb of a beloved brother. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[82] Sir, you must not do that: the tapers connect the family with what +is doing in the church. + +[83] Whereabouts are we? + +[84] He will not die for that. + +[85] Bed is the strength of a sick person. + +[86] I have five to seven for me. + + + + +CHAP. XX. + + +I have mentioned the strong emotion which I felt in passing through the +village of St. Clair betwixt Rouen and Pontoise, as also the surprise +excited by the view of the features of an infant Jesus drawn by my +departed son immediately after his return from England. It is now the +proper time to explain to what I then referred. In saying that I alluded +to a _dream_, I know that I expose myself to ridicule: to pay regard to +dreams is justly considered as a sign of imbecillity of mind, and +generally condemned as superstitious: how far I may be exempted from +these censures by the prophetic nature of my dream, I leave to be +determined by those who shall compare it with the events lately +narrated, which seem to me to form a striking and full interpretation of +it. I no more affect the character of a dreamer, than that of a +visionary: but I am not deterred, by the fear of being laughed at, from +believing, in the case of the _vision_, the evidence of my senses, and +that a dream, portraying things future, ought to be distinguished from +the ordinary phenomena of that inexplicable faculty, (if that which is +involuntarily exercised may be called a faculty,) of our fearful and +wonderful nature. + +On Thursday, the 27th of November, 1817, being then at Lincoln, I +dreamed that I was in a large, lofty room, which was entirely unknown to +me. + +In the month of October, 1818, I hired a house at Avignon in which was a +salon, exactly resembling that of the dream; the situation of the doors, +windows, and chimney, and the appearance of them just the same. + +A person came out of the cabinet by the side of this salon, with whom I +was unacquainted, but whom I supposed to be an English catholic priest: +he wore a black coat, and had boots on: I did not observe that he had +with him any hat: he was of rather less than the middle age of life. + +This person resembled in features and expression of countenance the +infant Jesus drawn, three years afterwards, by my elder son: my +recollection did not serve me to recognise the likeness till after I had +seen my son's _drawing_ from the _engraving_: in the cabinet, +before-mentioned, was usually hung a small crucifix. + +This priest approached me in a serious, but civil and friendly manner: +two chairs were near us, not far from one of the windows: I invited him +to be seated. + +The chairs were like those I had at Avignon; they were placed near the +window: had this scene been represented as in the winter season, they +would have been near the fire: it was in the summer season that the +events occurred, which I suppose to have been now presignified. As it +was I who invited the other to sit down, it seems that I thought myself +to be in my own house. + +The priest then said to me, in a slow and distinct voice, "You are to +found a new order in the church, to be called 'The Society of the +Penitents of St. Clair;' you know under what rule; but not _sub +peccato_;" he repeated "not _sub peccato_," and, rising from his seat, +took out his watch, an ordinary silver watch with small seals, looked at +it, and returned it to its place: then taking leave of me, he passed, +not through the door of the stairs, but into the second salon. + +When the priest said, "You know the rule," I understood to what he +referred, without further explanation oh his part. When much younger +than I was at this epoch, I had thought of a rule of life, on the +observance of which it might be useful and desirable to form a society: +but I never had the presumption to conceive the idea of founding a new +order in the church. I will confess, so little were my dispositions at +this time penitential, that when the word "penitents" was pronounced, it +was to me displeasing and repulsive. I had regarded the rule which the +priest said, "you know," with a view to bodily health and temporal +convenience, not with any reference to religious mortification. I had +not thought of the rule for many years past, and had always considered +the formation of a society on the rule as an impracticable project. St. +Clair's name was unknown to me till I referred to "Butler's Lives of the +Saints." I had read of Sta. Clara, but was perfectly sure it was not she +that was intended. + +When the priest had left the room, I saw, seated and eating at a large +round table, placed, not in the centre, but towards one side of the +room, a young man, whom I went up to, and conversed with: he talked to +me of his sins, and his penitential dispositions, and wept much: I asked +him if he would observe the rule of the society, not telling him what it +was, but supposing him to know it: he answered in the affirmative, but +hesitatingly, as if he knew he should be prevented. His dress perplexed +me; it was white, loose over his shoulders and before him; without +coat, vest, or waistcoat; he seemed to have nothing on but this +shapeless white mantle, and his shirt. He rose suddenly from the table +at which he had continued to sit while talking with me: his long white +robe flowed behind him: he gathered it up round his knees as he went +away, and passed through the door, and hastily down stairs. + +I had no such table in England as this here described, but I had such an +one at Avignon. I have remarked in my narrative, that, on the day of my +son's death, this table was pushed aside to make room for the sofa +turned from the light by desire of my younger son. I have spoken of the +scruples of my elder son, and of the distress and uneasiness they caused +both to him and to me. The dress of the young man with whom I conversed +in my dream, was, in truth, (though then I knew it not, and had been +accustomed to see another sort of mortuary clothing,) the habiliments of +the dead in France. + +I followed this young man to the top of the stairs: my family, or +persons whom I considered as such, were behind me: the staircase was +winding in such a manner that we could not see to the bottom of the +stairs; where we stood was a staircase to the second floor on the left +hand; a window to the right: all this as at Avignon. + +As I stood looking down the stairs, my younger son said to me, "I'll go +after him:" accordingly he went quickly down the stairs. At this +interval, looking through the window, I saw a most beautiful garden, +with fruit-trees, and a light as of the reflection of the brightest +sunshine: it was reflected sunshine; the window is to the north. My +younger son came up stairs again, and standing by me, but turning to +look down stairs, and then turning to look at me, said, "He is gone." + +I have related that, on the day of the death of my elder son, the +younger took to his bed, ill of the same typhus fever; and that, during +his illness, that supernatural light was seen which assured us of the +happy state of the elder. The face of my younger, when he spoke to me in +the dream, was nearly on a level with mine: at the age at which he was +at the time of the dream in 1817, he was not higher than my shoulder; +soon after his illness, he grew to be taller than me, but in 1821 his +stature was such as it appeared in my dream. + +We returned into the room: those who had followed me to the top of the +stairs were in deep mourning, and it was understood we were about to +undertake a long journey. We set off for Italy at the end of the year, +the eventful year 1821. + +I awoke, and found it was near eight o'clock in the morning. + +The scenes exhibited in this dream, and the events prefigured by it, +according to my interpretation, are here set in juxtaposition: the +impression it made on my apprehension was lively and distinct as reality +itself. I relate it, because it is immediately connected with the +subject of my narrative. In the rule referred to by my imaginary +interlocutor there is nothing that I desire to keep secret, but to +explain it at this time might be foreign to my purpose: besides, +quicquid recipitur, recipitur ad modum recipientis; and I should be loth +to intrude on any what they may not be willing to read. Dr. Johnson +said, "There is often more in the title than in all the rest of the +book;" but it may be unfair to put into a book what cannot in any wise +be augured from the title. Yet, as the rule was enjoined in a dream +which had relation to my story, as the knowledge of the rule may help to +form an opinion of the nature and character of the dream itself, and as +moreover it may be told in very few words, I will here declare it. + +The three great enemies of youth and of mankind,--the three chief +sources of moral evil, of intellectual debility and derangement, and of +corporal sufferance--are, sins against chastity, drunkenness, and +gaming. Early in life, I made this observation; let any one, who doubts +the truth of it, cast his eyes on the world. Dr. Cheyne's works "on +health" and "on regimen," had persuaded me that animal food was +pernicious to health and to all the faculties and dispositions which +depend on health: it excites and gratifies the appetite to such a +degree, that few, very few, feed upon it without gluttony. Let any one +then observe chastity--abstain from animal food, and from wine and +vinous spirits, renounce all play for money, or engaging stakes on +hazard, and he will conform to the rule "of the penitents of St. Clair." + +When the priest said, and repeated, "not sub peccato," I of course +understood him to mean, not that chastity was not of precept and +obligatory on all as a Christian and moral virtue, but that sins against +it should not be aggravated by being an infraction of the rule. The +other parts of the rule regard things in themselves indifferent: among +the several persons whom I have known that abstained from animal food, +some there were who did so as believing it unlawful to take away life: +I admired their practice, but disapproved their reasoning; the Author +of Life has himself permitted it: on that ground it is justifiable; +though it might be an amusing question, whence they who disbelieve all +revelation derive authority to put to death these creatures except in +case of self-defence, as when attacked by a bear or a tiger. The +moderate use of alcohol is lawful, medicinal even; to interest and amuse +ourselves by engaging a moderate stake on hazard is perfectly innocent; +but he who renounces vinous spirits and gaming, strikes at the root of +many mischiefs and many perturbations. + +What I have related, I have related as it happened: the dream and the +reference in the dream to my opinions, could neither be sought for, nor +procured, nor prepared by any act of mine: my opinions here recorded +have this merit, that, according to our Lincolnshire phraseology, "they +won't do nobody no harm," and this is merit enough; merit, not negative, +but positive; for the phrase always implies the expectation of a great +benefit. In the hope that they may do somebody some good, I leave the +matter to favourable or unfavourable acceptation; and prepare to narrate +my journey to Nice,--that delicious climate, where is, + + ----ver perpetuum atque alienis mensibus aestas. + + + + +CHAP. XXI. + + +We drove out of the western gate of Avignon, and immediately turned to +the left hand. I said mentally, "Adieu, my dear son! may I and all this +family be reunited to thee in a better world." During the last six weeks +we had in some degree recovered from the terror and affliction of the +preceding period; but a final separation from him we so tenderly and +deservedly loved struck us with a feeling of depression, which we +endeavoured to surmount and disguise from each other lest the grief of +one should be the grief of all. "Are you well seated? do you feel any +cold?" and soon after, "How far is it to the bridge of the Durance?" by +such questions we tried in vain to conceal what the looks of all +betrayed. It was a relief to us to arrive at a country we had not yet +seen. + +Antoine accompanied us: in the year 1813, the year following the +campaign of Moscow, being then of the age for military service, he had +been summoned to leave his native plains of Picardy to fight under the +banners of Napoleon in the campaign of Dresden. "Vous l'avez vu, +l'Empereur?" he was asked. "Oui."--"Ou donc?"--"Sur le champ de bataille +sans doute."[87] Antoine was one of those raw recruits, who, as Napoleon +declared, fought more bravely than any men he had ever seen to fight +during seventeen years, that he had commanded the armies of France. +After the battles of Lutzen and Bautzen, Antoine was taken prisoner by +the Austrians in an affair near Dresden, and sent into the interior of +their country. "Into what part of their country?" I inquired of him. "I +do not know." I, in my quality of inquisitive traveller, expressed +surprise at his want of curiosity, and asked the names of the principal +towns he had past through. "Obliged to climb great hills, loaded like a +mule, huddled with my comrades at night, into a grenier, I had something +else to do than to amuse myself with inquiring the names of towns: I do, +however, remember that one town we were taken to was called Pest." It +may be inferred that the hills he climbed were the Carpathian +mountains. If the English public should find that they are overwhelmed +by "Tours," and "Travels," and "France," and "Italy," they have nothing +to do but to send us all abroad with knapsacks on our backs. Fiat +experimentum. Antoine was headstrong and full of jests, but faithful, +honest, and attached. I think I pay him a great compliment when I say he +resembled in character a Milesian Irishman. + +On account of our invalid, we were to travel by easy journeys: Aix was +too far off for one day. We slept at Orgon, the half-way house, an +ill-built inn, where we found good fires, good cooking, and good beds. +The next morning the frost had set in: I hurried the invalid into the +coach, and we turned our backs on the bise. Where we stopt at mid-day my +children began to show some little expansion of good spirits: it was +New-year's-day, and this calculation seemed to make the day different +from those that had gone before. Their attempts at renewed hilarity +manifested themselves in fantastical disputes about their repast. We had +taken tea and coffee in the morning: I required a repetition of it: some +disliked the same thing over again; some wanted fruit and their usual +mid-day dessert; others "would have a dejeune a la fourchette." It +ended by ordering all that was asked for by all. + +At Orgon we passed through a room of the inn, of which the windows were +broken. The door of our room could neither be shut nor opened without +trouble and loss of time: such are "the miseries of human life" in a +fine climate: in England these inconveniences would not be endured for +an hour in the winter: the glazier would be sent for in case of a broken +pane as surely as water would be called for if the house were on fire. I +have been assured that, if one could be contented to pass the winter +without stirring out of doors, he would feel less cold at St. +Petersburgh than any where else in Europe. Where nature does least for +man, man does most for himself. Ananas or pine-apples are reared at +Archangel: I saw none in the south of France or Tuscany. Our anomalous +repast detained us too long, and it was almost dark when we arrived, at +five o'clock, at a handsome, palace-like-looking inn, on the Corso at +Aix. + +It is a pleasant, airy, well-built town, so surrounded by hills, that, +in our walks next morning, we felt no cold. I expected to find hot baths +here, but was somewhat surprised to see a great basin of hot water in +the Corso, at which, as well as at other fountains in different parts of +the town, the washer-women ply their trade without the expense of fuel: +clean linen may here be called, by a perverted application of Burke's +phrase, "the unbought grace of life." The public baths are not so +convenient nor on so large a scale as I expected. We took a cursory view +of Roman remains of Aquae Sextiae. To the cathedral, a fine old structure, +is annexed a curious and perfect ancient temple which serves as the +baptistery. + +In the afternoon of this day we proceeded to Marseilles. I drove to the +Hotel Beauveau: they showed me two handsome salons, one of them with two +beds in it: I wanted more beds in the other salon, which they promised +to put up: I doubted what sort of beds these might be, and, in an +unlucky moment of distrust, went away to the Hotel des Empereurs. Every +thing at the Hotel Beauveau bespoke civility and good management; at the +Hotel des Empereurs every thing was quite the reverse. I had intended to +pass a week at Marseilles: the badness of this inn determined me to stay +but one whole day. That day was excessively cold; the bise had followed +us, and had established itself in full force: I trembled for my +invalid; he was in high spirits, and would not stay within doors; he +was in the right, for it would have been impossible to make the +atmosphere within doors warmer than it was without, unless we had made +fires of all the fine pieces of mahogany furniture which garnished our +apartment. + +I endeavour to make my accounts of towns and objects of curiosity ample +enough for those who are not acquainted with them, and not too long for +those who are: I may fail of both the ends proposed; a common result of +_mean_ measures: but I proceed, though I well know that a writer more +frequently meets with censure than indulgence: if self-love prompts him +to write, woe be to the poor author. My motive for writing may perhaps +by this time be guessed at, and will form an item of additional +reproach. + +Marseilles, except that it is built of stone, (a circumstance hardly +necessary to be particularized in a country where bricks are almost +unknown,) is very like Liverpool, a _nucleus_ of trade and dirt, +surrounded by handsome, airy, well-built streets: it is more populous +than Liverpool, but does not cover so much ground. The port is admirably +secure: a few days before our arrival, a tremendous storm had committed +very great ravages along the whole coast from Spain to the gulf of +Spezia. The shipping in the harbour of Marseilles had continued +perfectly sheltered and unhurt, while, on the Genoese coast, vessels had +been driven from their anchors, and stranded. On one side of the port +are lofty warehouses; on the other, rich and splendid shops. The Hotel +de Ville is a very handsome building, with a magnificent marble +staircase, too grand indeed for the rooms to which it leads. The +celebrated picture of the plague seems to have derived its fame from the +interest excited by its subject: it is well executed, but without +perspective; the people are dying all up the wall of canvass; the +archbishop, M. de Belzunce, is, of course, a prominent object. His +nephew, chief of the department for provisioning Paris, was, at the +beginning of the revolution, the first victim of the fury of the +Parisian mob, and "Belzuncer quelqu'un," was for some little time a +favourite form of menace, or of boast; but the name was soon lost in a +crowd of followers. They showed us, what they thought it would give us +great amusement to see, the room in which is performed the civil +contract of marriage before the municipality: what pleasure they +expected us to derive from the sight I cannot tell. In another room is a +portrait of Louis XIV at full length, in armour, with a fine flowing +wig: this costume did not then appear so absurd as now it does; besides +his wig was, to Louis XIV, essential and individual; he never was seen +without it; at night he gave it to his page, in the morning he received +it from his page, through the curtains of his bed. An academy of +painting and sculpture had lately been instituted, which seemed +prosperous; as much so as such an institution is likely to be in any +other town than the capital. More attention seems to be paid in France +to the fine arts than to literature. The members of the five hundred +book-clubs of England will be surprised to learn that, as far as my +information reaches, no similar establishment exists in France. + +We were told, as usual in such cases, of other objects of curiosity; but +some were too distant. Of those which we had visited, some had not been +worth the pains, and we feared that others might disappoint us equally. +We had put off hunger by eating some excellent confectionary, but our +dinner was ordered to be ready as soon as it should be dark, and the +mistress of the Empereurs,--there is no scandal in the title; she was +not such for her beauty. In plain English, our landlady, had promised us +a good dinner to make amends for the bad one of the day before, for +which she had offered an excuse, which I had rejected as unworthy of a +great inn in a great city,--that she was not prepared. We now hoped to +benefit by her preparations. The fish was excellent, thanks to the sea +at hand: the meat, had it made part of our hesternal meal, would not +have advanced so near to putridity: besides, it was raw. Say what you +will, you cannot persuade a foreign cook but that the English like raw +meat; so that we were obliged to accept it as a mark of deference to our +national taste. The fowls--this day there had been time to search the +market for the worst. A dish of douceur followed, which made me regret +the batter pudding and Lincolnshire dip, composed of coarse sugar, +melted butter, and vinegar, which I had enjoyed when a school-boy. The +wine was sour; they told me it was _vin ordinaire_; I asked for some +_extraordinaire_; it was extraordinarily bad: it is good logic in this +case, as well as in others, to argue from universals to particulars. +Indeed, it is as rare to meet with good wine at an inn in France, as at +an inn in England; in which latter country, as a Frenchman told me, they +got drunk with "vins etrangers."[88] On this occasion, I _blinked_ the +question of English ebriety, by saying that if they got drunk with +wine, they must do so with "vin etranger," as they had none of their +own: but foreign wine is as much a luxury in France as if that country +was not under the patronage of the jolly god. + +At the Hotel des Empereurs,--for, notwithstanding this digression, I am, +to my sorrow, still there,--I asked in the evening for pen and ink: they +brought me a pen and some ink in a little phial, with an intimation that +it cost three sous. + +My reader will, I hope, do me the justice to observe that I have arrived +at the shores of the Mediterranean without having made any complaint in +detail of grievances endured at any inn. I flatter myself that I am in +this respect a singular instance of patience and moderation. I have been +desirous of giving one example of my talent in this way, and promise +henceforward to forbear. Cuges was our next sleeping place, Toulon, like +Aix, being too far for a day's journey. Cuges is a little town with a +tolerable inn. Here the weather changed to rain; the air became mild, +and, for this season, we took leave of winter on the third of January. + +We were now on the road to Toulon. I have travelled over the Highlands +of Scotland, over the hills of Derbyshire, and those which separate +Lancashire from the counties to the eastward of it; countries well worth +visiting by those who seek for the wonders of nature further from home; +but in this day's journey, all that I had before seen in the same kind +was exceeded. The picturesque rises into the romantic, and the romantic +into the savage. We passed through gullies, where the torrent-river that +ran by the side of the road seemed not merely to have formed, but to +have scooped out for itself a passage under rocks which, at a great +height above, overhung the road and the torrent, and threatened to fall +in and fill up the narrow space below. Day-light descended to us through +an irregular ragged fissure, which seemed as if broken through expressly +for the purpose, so nearly did this defile resemble an under-ground +passage. At last we emerged from clefts and chasms into an open space, +and had a view of Toulon before us. As we entered the town, we saw, in +some sheltered spots, orange-trees, in full bearing, in the open earth: +in the open air they are seen in Paris; planted in boxes, they bear +fruit at Avignon; here they are children of the soil. + +We were pleased with Toulon, and loitered here two whole days. The town, +though a fortress, is a pretty and a cheerful-looking place. The +streams of water conducted through the streets, give it an air of +healthiness and cleanliness. In the evening we braved on the promenade +the cannon of the fortifications, and, our love of science being equal +to our courage, visited the botanical garden, very wisely provided here +by the government: it is much smaller than that of Paris; but, by the +help of the climate, surpasses it in the possession of rare exotics. +Some traveller (I think Eustace,) says that palm-trees are not to be +found in the open air any where to the north of Rome, and that at Rome +there are but two, remarkably placed on a hill visible to the whole +city: these two I saw not, and I saw palm-trees in the botanical garden +at Toulon. + +The next day was Sunday: it was passed in viewing the town and its +immediate environs, and in pour-parleys about a visit to the arsenal: a +ticket for this purpose was offered on condition that we should pass +ourselves for French. Besides the disagreeable consequences that might +justly have followed the discovery of such an imposition, the trick +itself appeared to me dishonourable. + +The next morning my convalescent, now rapidly recovering health and +strength, mounted the heights above Toulon, and, placing himself under +the shelter of a ruined building, sketched the scene before him. The +elevation gave us almost a bird's-eye view of Toulon and its ports: +islands or promontories that, on account of the winding of the shore, +looked like islands, were seen at a distance. Nothing ever called up to +my imagination and memory such a crowd of ideas and recollections, as +did the view of this great inland sea which washes the shores of Greece, +into which the waters of the Nile discharge themselves, and which +reposes at the foot of Lebanon and Carmel. We were at this time + + Fill'd with ideas of fair Italy, + +and it lay but a little on our left-hand. In a few months we shall be +there. + +I had purposed to visit Hyeres, about six miles distant, but was +deterred by what was told me of the badness of the road: it is a winter +colony planted by the English, a sort of succursal to Nice. It has not +the advantage of being near the sea, but is at three miles from it. I +have met with those who have wintered there with much satisfaction. Many +lodging-houses had lately been _run up_ for visitants. + +In the afternoon of the third day we left Toulon. The next day brought +us to the point where the cross-road from Toulon joins that which leads +directly from Aix to Nice. The inns were better, but the roads were +still bad. "It is not for want of money," said they; "government +supplies that in plenty; mais l'ingenieur donne a manger a l'inspecteur, +et tout est fini."[89] At Frejus I wished to take a hasty dinner, as we +had to pass the foret d'Estrelles: they kept me waiting for it two hours +and a half; in this time I might have examined the aqueducts and other +antiquities, which I saw only in passing. The aqueducts seemed more +ruined than those of Rome, but in other respects as like as one arch is +to another arch of the same span. The foret d'Estrelles exhibits all the +grandeur of the Alps united with all the beauty of cultivation, every +variety of prospect, hill and dale, and wood, and rock, and the distant +sea. + +So much did we enjoy the scene before and around us, that we thought but +little of the danger that awaited us. A river was to be crossed before +we could reach Cannes; we had received some intimation that it was +probable the bridge was broken down by the swell occasioned by the +late rains: our coachman was well aware that the bridges of this +country were usually insecure; "When they tumble down," said he, "they +build them up again." On descending the foret d'Estrelles, which it had +taken us three hours to mount and to pass, certain information was given +us, that the bridge had been carried away; "but, if your horses are +stout, there will be no danger in fording the river." We had lost time +at Frejus, as always happens when time is wanted, or as is always then +observed to happen, and were too late by half an hour. It was so nearly +dark when we arrived at the river, that the coachman, following the +road, hardly perceived when he reached the place where the bridge had +been; the horses stopped however of themselves. + +We got out of the carriage, while it was turned off the road, towards +the ford. At this moment Antoine launched some jest or other, which +provoked me to say, "Vous plaisantez tout a votre aise: vous etes +seul."--"Moi seul? Ai-je merite cela?"[90] He felt the reproach as +unjust, and so did I, and made my excuses; he admitted that his +pleasantry was unseasonable; and we proceeded to cross the ford, having +got some peasants to help us. My eldest daughter and I were in the +cabriolet, the rest of the family in the coach, Antoine on the +coachman's seat. The bank by which we went down into the river was not +steep; but, in ascending the opposite bank, I felt the carriage to be +balanced in such a way that I fully expected it to fall sideways before +it could get clear out of the water; it required all the force of +Antoine and the peasants, pulling at a rope tied to the carriage, to +prevent this, and keep it on all its wheels. It was a fearful moment. It +was not likely that any lives would be lost, so much help was at hand; +but what evil might be the consequence of an overthrow in the +water,--especially to one who had but just recovered from three months' +illness! + +When we had got on solid ground and reached the road again, we found +large blocks of stone, for the reparation of the bridge, lying in the +way: we were again obliged to dismount and thread our way through the +midst of these as well as we could, while the carriage went over uneven +ground by the side of the road. The moon rose as we reached the inn at +Cannes, thankful to that good Providence which had delivered us from +danger. This danger was not in crossing the stream, for the waters had +abated since they had carried away the bridge, and did not come up to +the bottom of the coach: the bed of the river too was good road; a cart +came across just before we went in; but in climbing the steep bank, had +not Antoine, who had leaped from his seat over the horses' backs, and +the peasants who had waded through the river, held the rope very +steadily in the direction opposite to that to which the coach inclined, +it must inevitably have fallen. When the fore-wheels got on the bank, I +was so satisfied, though still alarmed, that I would almost have +compounded for an overturn on dry land; the coachman, however, who +conducted himself perfectly well, "as a man and a minister," had the +pleasure of saving from scaith and harm both his fare and equipage. + +The sea dashed on the shore close under the windows of our apartment at +Cannes; we saw the reflection of the moon-light on the rippling waves; +the climate seemed still to improve; after mutual congratulation, and a +cheerful meal, we retired contentedly to rest. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[87] "Have you seen the Emperor?"--"Yes."--"Where?"--"On the field of +battle, of course." + +[88] Foreign wines. + +[89] But the engineer gives a dinner to the inspector, and all is ended. + +[90] "You are joking very composedly; you are alone."--"Me alone? have I +deserved that?" + + + + +CHAP. XXII. + + +It had been my plan to make this journey resemble as much as possible an +excursion of pleasure and curiosity, in the hope of doing away the +melancholy impression of our sufferings and prison at Avignon. I said to +my family at Cannes, "It is ten leagues to Nice, but we will not make a +toil of it; we will divide the rest of our journey into two days, taking +an airing of fifteen miles each day before dinner." My agreement with my +coachman admitted of this arrangement; I was to pay him thirty francs a +day for each day of journey; eighteen francs for a day of rest; and +twenty-five francs a day for the six days required for his own return, +by the direct road to Avignon. He agreed to consider the two days to be +employed in going ten leagues, as one day of advance and one of repose. + +After breakfast we basked on the sunny sandbank that rises from the +shore, and gathered sea-shells. By the by, Scipio and Laelius must have +had very bad sport in this way; for the Mediterranean, having no tide, +brings up very few of these pretty baubles; no wonder that they took to +ducks and drakes, as a supplementary recreation. We went to the little +town of Cannes, and saw a rope tied to the bell in the tower of the +church, and, most commodiously for the priest, conducted into his house +close by: "With that," said Antoine, "M. le Cure sonne les sourds."[91] +I met a very old man who asked for alms; I was in a disposition, not +only to grant his request, but to enter into conversation with him, and +inquired of him how old he was: "Quel age avez-vous?"[92] The words were +perfectly unintelligible to him. A lad of twelve years old, who had +heard the question, volunteered as interpreter: "Quanti anni ai?" said +he to the old man; and yet we were not in Italy. I have had frequent +occasion to remark that the language of France, as that country draws +near to Germany, Italy, or Spain, is shadowed off into the dialect of +those three great limitrophe nations: on the frontiers of every +continental nation, the same gradual melting of the languages of +neighbouring people into each other must necessarily take place. In +England, I believe the _patois_ of the several districts to have been +derived from the divisions of the Saxon Heptarchy; the midland +counties, or kingdom of Mercia, have nearly the same dialect; but the +language of Oxfordshire begins to resemble that of the west; while that +of Lincolnshire, (a proof of my skill in which I have already given,) is +like that of Yorkshire, except in the pronunciation of the vowels. We +set off at mid-day. + +Our road lay on a low cliff near the sea. Antoine, who had crossed the +Rhine, the Elbe, the Danube, and the Rhone, had never seen the sea till +he came on this journey: he persisted in calling it the Rhone, and "this +Rhone," said he, "goes to England." "Yes," said I, "and to the other side +of France: you may embark on this Rhone, and land at Calais in Picardy, +your own country." He called it the Rhone, by the name of the last great +river he had seen; as I have read somewhere that the dispersed tribes +after the Deluge called every great river they came to, "Phraat," +"Euphrates." I know not what idea was working in Antoine's mind: perhaps +it is natural to man to regard the sea as a river: it is to be presumed +that Homer so considered it, since, after mentioning the names of a few +of the great rivers known in his limited geography, he adds, + + [Greek: Oude bathurreitao mega sthenos okeanoio.]. + +I remember mentioning this opinion of Homer to Archdeacon Paley. "Why," +said he, "that is the modern theory of the tides; that the ocean is +nothing else but a great river, and that the tides are the current of +this river, which, having no where else to flow, flows into and upon +itself."--"Strange," said I, "that the extremes of ignorance and science +should thus meet!" I made an objection to the theory on account of the +increase and decrease of the tides according to the age of the moon: I +forget his reply: he had not proposed the notion as his own, and had no +need to defend it as such. + +After proceeding about two miles, we perceived a large stone reared +upright on the beach: this rude pillar marked the landing-place of +Napoleon from Elba. + +I care nothing about politics: I am of the opinion of Plato, that +mankind are not worthy that a wise man, (meaning himself or me,) should +meddle with their affairs: the history of the last war I read with the +same temper as I should read that of the three Punic or the +Peloponnesian: I will remark only that, if Napoleon was not to be +trusted, it was very silly to leave him at Elba; and, if he was to be +trusted, he should have been treated as trust-worthy, and every vestige +of resentment against him effaced, and nothing done that would make him +feel as if relegated into a little island, or give him reason to dread +further restraint: that the importance of leaving to him the title of +Emperor was not duly weighed; as it ought to have been evident, that, if +not honestly recognised by his enemies, this title would serve as a sign +of rallying to his friends. + +This Emperor on landing summoned the fortress of Antibes: the officer +commanding the garrison for the time, in the absence of his superior, +returned an answer that he had received no orders. I was personally +acquainted with this officer; he was the general commanding the +department of Vaucluse during the former part of my residence at +Avignon. Failing in this attempt on Antibes, Napoleon immediately struck +into the country over the hills covered with olive trees, the high land +that rises above the beach. We proceeded to Antibes, which opened its +gate to us without any difficulty. We found a good inn, walked on the +fortifications and about the town till sunset, and, after an English +breakfast the next morning, (for we carried tea with us,) on the +thirteenth day after our departure from Avignon, set off for Nice: we +passed through a pleasant country, and soon arrived at the right bank +of the Var, the political, but not the natural limit of France. + +I had some thoughts of making an apology for calling my book a narrative +of four years residence in France, when four months of that time were to +be passed out of that kingdom; but any one who will give himself the +trouble of coming to the banks of the Var, will see that all explanation +on this head is superfluous: or, if he does not like so much personal +fatigue, let him place himself there in imagination: he will see the +stony bed of a torrent half a mile broad, not a twentieth part of which +bed is covered with water. At two thirds of the distance from the right +bank he will see a stream large enough to be called a river, of no great +depth, but of great force and violence. Immediately beyond the left bank +he will see a fertile country resembling that he has just past, and +uniting with it but for the expanse of white stones. Let him then cast +his eyes on the awful, frowning barrier of Italy,--those Alps with their +rugged sides and lofty snow-covered tops, a barrier to all appearance +impervious to any thing but the flight of an eagle; he will allow that +it would be as easy to bring the Alps themselves to the left bank of the +Var, which, though they are but six miles off, would be an enterprise +of toil, as to imagine that he had left France on entering the county of +Nice. + +We had time given to us to enjoy this magnificent spectacle, and to +feast our minds with the expectation of what we should see beyond those +"perpetual hills," those "everlasting mountains," which we already +wished to pass. We waited for the douanier, the custom-house officer, a +civil and intelligent man, who had nothing to do with us but to +countersign our passport: the more we took out of France, the better for +its manufacturers. It would not be difficult to prove,--Adam Smith has +proved it,--that it would be as wise to permit unrestricted, I do not +say untaxed, importation as exportation, nor to show that the +prohibition of it is an act of injustice towards the community at large; +but governments are balloted about by contending interests, and +compelled to interfere in things out of their province, alien from those +objects for which they are constituted. + +While the French were in possession of the Department des Alpes +Maritimes, they began a stone bridge over the Var. The wall from which +the first arch was to spring is seen on their bank, and bears testimony +to their zeal for improvement. We went on the wooden bridge, and passed +a pallisade guarded by French sentinels. + +We were now in the dominions of the King of Sardinia. The first man I +met was an intendant or surveyor of the carpenters, whom I saw in great +numbers at work on the bridge. He accosted me: "Monsieur, il faut +descendre de voiture, decharger la voiture, faire porter les malles et +mener les chevaux, et traverser a pied le pont; il est en l'air, +suspendu par des cordes."[93] The invitation, though very civilly given, +and with due regard to our safety as well as that of the bridge, was +somewhat alarming. The fact was that the storm of the twenty-seventh of +December had come in time to make us regret that the bridge of stone, +undertaken by the French had been left incomplete. This storm had broken +the wooden bridge, the parts of which were now tied together by cords +while undergoing reparation; so that it was necessary to divide and +lighten as much as possible the weight of our carriage. This was done; +and, with this measure of precaution, each portion of our load got well +over: yet I cannot help, in defiance of the proverb, speaking ill of the +bridge. The Var is not a military barrier: why do not the two +governments revive the abandoned enterprise of a stone bridge with a +tete de pont and toll at each end? + +The approach to Nice on this side is through a quarter consisting almost +entirely of villas or country-houses let to visitants. The quarter is +called "de la Croix de Marbre," from a large marble crucifix placed at +the side of the road about a mile from Nice: it is situated lower, and +is, in consequence, warmer than the town; but the ground floors of the +houses are sometimes flooded by rains. Here we began to see all the +pride, pomp, and circumstance of an English watering-place;--carriages +open and close; ladies riding on donkies; parties on foot and on +horseback; footmen lounging at the doors of the houses; and grooms +dressing horses at the doors of the stables. We saw also orange trees +laden with fruit. We arrived at a bridge over another white and stony +bed of a torrent, in which we could hardly perceive any water; there was +a stream however over which people on foot were crossing by +stepping-stones. We were set down at the Hotel des Etrangers,--an +excellent inn. + +The next day I went to the police to take my carte de surete, or sejour, +and was informed that there were at this time at Nice seventy foreign +families, of which forty families were English. I left my card at the +commandant's: he returned his card with a note, containing an invitation +to a weekly ball at the Hotel du Gouvernement. A certain sum is allowed +by the king for frais de reception. The acts of the government are in +the Italian language; but French is universally spoken, not only in +society, but in the shops and in the streets. In truth, I did not hear a +word of Italian spoken while I was at Nice, except by my children's +Italian master. The people have a patois, not quite such pure Italian as +I heard at Cannes. + +Not liking the quarter of the Croix de Marbre on account of its distance +from the town, I took a house in an airy situation, looking towards the +sea, and into the great square, at one time called Place Napoleon, but +now Place Victor. The usual price for a house or lodging for a large +family for the whole of the season, from the first of November to the +first of May, is a hundred louis. I agreed to pay for mine twelve +hundred francs from the sixteenth of January to the end of the season. +Its proprietor was a French general, who had served with great +reputation in Italy and Egypt, had lost an arm, and had been appointed +commandant of Nice, where, second only to the prefet of the department, +he had given fetes and balls in this house, which he now found it +convenient to let, and live in a small one by the side of it. When the +French troops evacuated Nice, a party of them wanted to pillage the +town; he had prevented this evil, and, as a reward for the service thus +rendered, the King of Sardinia had permitted him to live in the city, +when other French officers were, of course, obliged to leave it. He told +me, "I am not ashamed to say, that all that I have gained, I have gained +on the field of battle." That all was not much,--his half-pay as +general, and the appointment annexed to the cross of the legion of +honour. When colonel, he had received a sabre d'honneur, to which a +pension of six thousand francs was attached; but the pension had been +withdrawn. He still was able to show the sabre; it was an ordinary arm, +with an inscription on it. He was an Alsatian by birth, and talked with +the accent of his country, saying of his former commander, whom he +enthusiastically admired, "Ponaparte etoit un crant sheneral." His +conversation and anecdotes were amusing. + +It was now the beginning of Carnival. Our recent loss left us no +disposition, and our mourning dress made it unsuitable for us, to appear +in large societies. I used to go, without any of my family, and stay for +about an hour at those parties to which we were invited, that I might +not be wanting to attentions thus paid us. Promenades in the delightful +environs of Nice, lessons in music and Italian, and small companies in +the evening, occupied and amused us till the beginning of Lent. Balls +were then succeeded by concerts: even the gay were serious, and sadness +might partake of the sober diversions then going forwards. The daily +improving health and increasing strength of our convalescent gave us +continual satisfaction; and, though our abode at Nice was as dull as a +sojourn under such a sky can be supposed to be, yet we were contented to +perceive that we did not fail of the main purpose for which we had fled +the rough blasts of the north, and sought the soft breezes of this +sheltered situation and genial climate. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[91] With that M. le Cure calls the deaf. + +[92] How old are you? + +[93] Sir, you must all leave the carriage, unload it, and go over on +foot; your trunks must be carried over after you; and the horses will be +led gently across: the bridge is suspended in the air by cords. + + + + +CHAP. XXIII. + + +The town of Nice is in the form of a triangle, of which the base rests +on the sea; one of its sides is a rampart or raised road against the +Paion, the other is a road from Place Victor to the Port. One side of +Place Victor forms part of the line of the third side of this triangle; +but the Place itself is an excrescence from it: it is a large handsome +square with arcades. Within this triangle, to the south-east corner, is +a high rocky hill, fortified and commanding the port and town; +commanding also, what interested me more than its artillery, most superb +points of view. Here my landlord, the general, had a garden to which he +climbed daily; and I used to see him coming down the steep with lettuces +in his only remaining hand, and his cane suspended to the button of his +coat. + +Many improvements were at this time carrying on at Nice: a new bridge +was building over the Paion, the torrent river, which, though I never +saw it fuller of water than I have at first described, bears with it the +"horned flood" on the melting of the snows and the descending of the +rain from the Alps. The galley slaves were employed in blowing up the +bottom of the rock on its east and south sides to obtain space for +continuing the line of houses from Place Victor to the port, and from +the port to the Corso. This Corso is a short, dark, damp promenade, from +which the view and the air of the sea are excluded by the terrace. The +terrace is nothing more than a flat roof of a line of shops and stables, +on which you may walk, at the height of about fifteen or twenty feet +from the ground, exposed to the heat of the sun, which, even in winter, +is too powerful to be agreeable, and blinded by the reflection of its +rays from the sea. In the evenings of winter it is too cold to walk on +this terrace: in the evenings of summer, that is, in April, it is +pleasant, but not so pleasant as would be a gravel walk on the beach, +which will, I hope, in due time replace it. By taking away the terrace, +the value of the houses on the Corso would be doubled: en attendant, you +have the choice of walking on the Corso without sea air, or on the +terrace without shade. + +I have spoken at some length on the subject of this terrace, because I +know it to be much admired. I am always most happy to be of the same +opinion as the "enlightened public," when I think this public to be in +the right, and in this, as in other cases, hold myself bound to give my +reasons for differing from it. + +The centre of Nice consists of very narrow streets and very lofty +houses. The square of St. Dominique however is large and handsome, and +there are some good, well-built streets in its neighbourhood. + +From the side or from the end of very many of the best houses of Nice +jut forth little square buildings at the height of the several stories: +these buildings would seem as if suspended in the air, but that the +fourth side of each is formed by that of the house itself; and in this +fourth side, that is, in the wall of the house, there is, no doubt, a +door of communication with these cabinets: from the bottom of each of +these closets proceeds a tunnel or pipe, which is attached to the side +or inserted into the wall of the house, and so conducted to a reservoir +below. These reservoirs are small, and, by consequence, must be +frequently opened: their contents form an article of precious and of +tasteful commerce to the gardeners of Nice. The word "tasteful" is not +to be understood in a metaphorical sense; as I was assured by an +eye-witness of the fact that he had seen a gardener put his finger first +into the article offered for sale, and then into his mouth, that a third +of his five senses might bear witness to its strength, in addition to +the testimony of his eyes and nose. The gardeners of Nice, to their +credit be it spoken, are so profuse in the dispersion of this +fertilizing substance, that some sensitive English, who remained there +during the summer, complained of the odour as an intolerable nuisance. + +The Nissard plan for having these conveniences at once within and +without the house, and for giving to each story or flat, as it is called +in Edinburgh,--a city to which one's thoughts cannot but revert while +engaged on this subject,--the Nissard plan, is ingenious enough: there +is nothing against it but the look of the thing: and qu'est ce que cela +fait?[94] All the world knows, both in France and England, that such +things must be; the only difference is, that in England nobody allows +it, while in France nobody denies it. The French seem to me in this +respect to be the nicer people of the two. An English friend told me +that, being at Toulon, after breakfast he inquired of the femme de +chambre, (for in France no one scruples mentioning such things to a +female,) the way to No. 100. She told him there was none in the house; +"Mais dans la rue la, vis-a-vis, pres du port il y a une commodite: +cela vous coutera un sous: mais si vous resterez ici quelque +tems, on peut s'abonner."[95] + +Strange that none of the great cities of civilized Europe have yet +adopted the plan of Pekin, which probably is also that of other cities +of China! One cannot wonder that the proportion of mortality between the +town and the country is as seven to six; the wonder is that it is not +greater: for every twentieth inhabitant of a great town, the calculation +is moderate; a reservoir, perpetually to be supplied, must be provided. +Fifty thousand for London! At Pekin the treasures of each day are +carried away early in the morning of the day following, by carts that +come from the country for that purpose; and the valet-de-chambre of the +Mandarin and the Mandariness's lady's-maid quarrel for the perquisite, +while the skill of the Chinese artisan is taxed to the utmost to make +close stools, nay, very close stools. + +I hope it will be granted that I have acquitted myself in this delicate +investigation with all possible decorum, and that Dean Swift himself +could not have done better. His affected naivete and matter-of-fact +simplicity, in telling of the labour of the Lilliputians, in carrying +away the ordure of Quinbus Flestrin, and numberless passages of his +works, show how little he prized "the drapery furnished from the +wardrobe of a moral imagination, which the heart owns and the +understanding ratifies as necessary to cover the nakedness of our weak +shivering nature, and raise it to dignity in its own estimation." + +I am well aware, as well as any one who may reproach me therewith, that +my book contains many things _disparate_; but such is the real history +of human life: by this reality I am justified: and, in discussing this +last subject, I have endeavoured to preserve decency, while avoiding +fastidiousness. + +The English have a notion that the Carnival in catholic countries is +instituted to make amends, by anticipation, for the austerities of Lent: +it is no institution; it is merely that season of the year in which +society can most conveniently be reunited; and, as this season is +interrupted and curtailed by Lent, parties, and balls, and fetes come +more nearly on each other than they need do in countries where Lent is +but little observed. In France, the Carnival makes very little +difference in the amusements of the common people: at Nice they parade +the streets in masks, with music, and dance, and play fools' tricks. I +was looking at a party of these: an Anglican clergyman stood near me, +and took occasion to observe, "This does no great honour to the catholic +religion." I replied, "It has no more to do with the catholic religion, +than with the discovery of the longitude." These people were all sober, +and each one was diverting himself innocently, for the same cause that +induced Lady A. to go to Naples at a certain season; that is, because +others did so at that time. + +Here first I saw Franciscans and other religious, walking about in their +proper habits. I had seen but one in France, a Carthusian or Trappist, +at the house of the bishop of Avignon: he was taking leave as I entered. +The bishop, an old man of fourscore and four years old, said to him +pleasantly, "Je vous souhaite beaucoup de richesses."--"Monseigneur vous +souhaite," said I, "ce que vous ne souhaitez pas pour vous-meme."--"Ah, +non,"[96] said he, with an air of placid and unaffected content. I +judged him to be full of pious resignation to the austerities of his +state. + +Devotional exercises are appointed on each of the five Sundays of Lent, +at different churches, within a short distance from Nice, which are +called, for the occasion, stations: people of all ranks resort thither +in crowds: fruit, wine, and provisions, are exposed to sale, and the +scene has the appearance of what would be called in England a pleasure +fair: but the church of the station is filled during the whole time by a +succession of those whom one of our tourists would assuredly represent +as mere revellers. I know that it is not superfluous to observe, that +the Sundays of Lent are not reckoned in the forty days of that season. +One of these stations is at the Croix de Marbre, to the great +entertainment of the residents in that quarter. Another, is at the +convent of Simia: no description can give an idea of the varied beauties +of the site of this convent, and of the view which it commands. Another +station is held at a convent four miles from Nice, situated on a fine +and lofty elevation. A Nissard of our acquaintance had a villa or +country-house a little above the convent: we called on him to take +refreshments, and afterwards walked in his garden. The very handsome +facade of this villa looks to the south; the garden is laid out in +terraces lined with orange trees, bearing, at this time, both blossom +and fruit. + +The blossom of the orange is a valuable part of the produce of the tree; +it is sold to those who make of it orange-flower water. The blossoms, +according to the usual prodigality of nature, are in such profusion, +that, were all to be allowed to become oranges, the tree would be unable +to support them. Another thinning takes place of the oranges themselves: +if all were to be allowed to ripen, the tree would be exhausted: most of +them are cropped at different stages of maturity, and made into +conserves: this is the case indeed even with those oranges that are +suffered to stay on the tree till fully ripe: they are not good enough +to be exported in their natural state: even in the market of their own +country they find rivals in the oranges of Naples and Majorca, sweeter, +heavier, and thinner of skin. + +The protestant English at Nice, with the permission of the government, +had caused to be erected for themselves a chapel, or, as it was here +called, a temple; but, as they had been unable to settle among +themselves what mode of faith should be admitted as orthodox, and +preached in this place of worship,--it was supposed that the +undertaking would of necessity be abandoned, and that the banker who had +advanced the funds on the security of the ground and building, would be +obliged to foreclose the mortgage, to save himself from the loss of his +principal and interest. According to some interpreters, the Tower of +Babel was abandoned for the same reason; the settlers of Sennaar had +fallen into the worship of the material agents of nature; their "tops to +the heavens," were to have been a temple or temples to the host of +heaven; and the confusion of tongues was nothing else but a dispute +concerning their confession of faith. + +The port of Nice has a handsome and strong pier, but is small and +shallow. On the other side of a promontory, about two miles distant by +land, is Villefranche, a commodious harbour, in which large vessels +remain, and send goods in boats to Nice. A party, in which my family was +included, took a pleasure-boat with a tent or awning to shade us from +the sun in March, which, though not engendering agues, as Shakspeare +says it does in that month, would have very much annoyed us: we doubled +the cape, and landed at Villefranche, saw the galley of the King of +Sardinia, and conversed with some of the galeriens, one of whom was +within eight days of the termination of his ten years of service, and +seemed but moderately delighted with his approaching liberation. We then +dined on the beach under the shade of olive trees, and enjoyed the +vernal breeze, and afterwards, having nothing else to do, returned, +having duly complied with all that constitutes a party of pleasure. + +The cathedral and several other churches of Nice are handsome and +spacious; the appearance of the town is, on the whole, rich and busy and +cheerful: it might be a good place for sea-bathing in the summer, if +accommodations were provided. I described to a person whom such an +undertaking might suit, the bathing machines used at Weymouth and +Brighton: he said it would be necessary to have the permission of the +government;--the permission of the government for two cart wheels to go +ten yards into the sea, and out again! No doubt the permission of the +government would be granted, but it seemed to me strange that it should +be wanted: it is lucky that governments leave us the independent +enjoyment of the non-naturals. I had thoughts of spending the summer +here, but impatience to see Italy prevailed: the last day of my abode at +Nice was the fifth of May, on which day my departed son would have +completed his twenty-first year: on the morrow we set off for the Col +de Tende. + +Nice is called, in Italian, _Nizza maritima_, to distinguish it from +other towns of the same name: [Greek: niche], _victory_, was a name of +good augury for a city. Massena, the "enfant gate de la victoire," was +born at Nice: I saw the house and shop in which he employed his youth in +the useful art of making and retailing vermicelli. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[94] What does that signify? + +[95] But there, in the street opposite, near the port, there is one: it +will cost you a sous; but, if you remain here for any length of time, +you may subscribe. + +[96] "I wish you a deal of riches."--"His lordship wishes you what you +do not wish for yourself."--"Ah! no." + + +THE END. + + +_Printed by A. J. Valpy, Red Lion Court, Fleet Street._ + + * * * * * + +INTERESTING WORKS, + +Just published by HENRY COLBURN, New Burlington Street. + + +1. THE HISTORY OF THE COMMONWEALTH of ENGLAND: from the Commencement of +the Civil War, to the Restoration of CHARLES THE SECOND. By William +Godwin. 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Two vols. 8vo. with Portrait, &c. + + +7. GASTON DE BLONDEVILLE; a Romance: St. Alban's Abbey; a Metrical Tale, +with some Poetical Pieces. By Anne Radcliffe, Author of "The Romance of +the Forest," "Mysteries of Udolpho," "Italian," &c. to which is +prefixed, a Memoir of the Author, with Extracts from her Diary. +Published from the Originals, in the possession of Wm. Radcliffe, Esq. +four vols. post 8vo. 1l. 18s. + + +8. SHERIDANIANA. Anecdotes of the Life of Richard Brinsley Sheridan; his +Table Talk and Bons Mots. One vol. post 8vo. 9s. 6d. + + +9. MEMOIRS of the COUNTESS DE GENLIS, illustrative of the History of the +Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries. Written by Herself. In 8 vols. +small 8vo. Price 3l. 6s. and in French, 2l. 18s. + +***This Work will be found to abound in +Anecdotes of the most Eminent Literary and Political Characters, who +figured at the latter end of the Eighteenth and the commencement of the +Nineteenth Centuries. + + +10. THE DIARY of an ENNUYEE. Second Edition, 1 vol. post 8vo. 10s. 6d. + + +11. LETTERS from the EAST. Written during a recent Tour through Turkey, +Egypt, Arabia, the Holy Land, Syria, and Greece. By John Carne, Esq., of +Queen's College, Cambridge. In one large volume, with a coloured plate, +18s. + + +12. GAIETIES and GRAVITIES, a Series of Sketches, Comic Tales, and +Fugitive Vagaries. By ONE of the Authors of "Rejected Addresses." Second +Edition, revised. In 3 vols. post 8vo. 27s. + + +13. LETTERS PROM SPAIN. By Don Leucadio Doblado. (The Rev. Jos. Blanco +White.) The second Edition, revised. In one large volume, 8vo. price +14s. + + +14. THE MISCELLANEOUS WRITINGS of JOHN EVELYN, Esq. the celebrated +Author of "Sylva; or, a Discourse of Forest Trees," Memoirs, &c. Now +first collected, and edited, with Notes, by William Upcott, of the +London Institution. Printed uniformly with Evelyn's Memoirs, in one vol. +royal 4to. and embellished with Engravings. Price 3l. 10s. boards. + +The miscellaneous writings of the Philosopher and Naturalist, Evelyn, +(most of which are extremely rare) are here presented to the public in a +quarto volume, to range with his "Diary and Correspondence." These +works, with his noble discourse on Forest-Trees, under the title of +"Sylva," (of which an edition in two vols. 4to. with Notes, has also +just appeared) comprise the whole body of Evelyn's productions. The +tracts forming the present volume are, more or less, on subjects of +great interest, including lively pictures of the manners and amusements +of his time; memoirs, political, domestic, and religious: treatises on +Morals, Horticulture, Art, Science, Commerce, &c.; in all of which the +sound intellect of this "amiable and high-minded English Gentleman" will +be traced. + + +15. THE NAVAL SKETCH BOOK; or, Service Afloat and Ashore, with +Characteristic Reminiscences, Fragments, and Opinions. By an Officer of +Rank. Second Edition, with considerable Additions. In two vols. post +8vo. 18s. + + +16. DIARY of the MARQUIS DE DANGEAU, kept during his Residence (above +thirty years) at the Court of France. Now first translated from the +French, with Historical and Critical Notes. In two vols. 8vo. 28s. + +A French Edition, with Supplementary Notes, three vols. 28s. + + "The Memoirs of the Marquis de Dangeau are curious, and + certainly include a great deal of valuable information. Those + who have a taste for this kind of writing, and some previous + knowledge of the personages to whom it relates, will be pleased + at meeting so many of their old friends, and amused with the + transactions, great and small, which Dangeau records of them; + while those who look still deeper into the work will find a + great deal of chronological and some historical information, + with many important views of the manners and morals of the age, + of the character of the Sovereign and his Ministers, and the + secret springs and personal motives of many considerable + events."--_Quarterly Review_. + + +17. THE PRIVATE JOURNAL of MADAME CAMPAN'S CONVERSATIONS, comprising +Original Anecdotes of the French Court; with Extracts from her +Correspondence, her Thoughts on Education, &c. Editions in French and +English. In one vol. 8vo. French 12s. English 14s. + + +18. MEMOIRS and RECOLLECTIONS of COUNT SEGUR, Ambassador from France to +the Courts of Russia and Prussia. Volume the Second, 8vo. 12s.; French +10s. 6d. + +The Count de Segur was connected by ties of friendship or consanguinity +with all the remarkable personages of the Courts of Louis XV. and XVI., +and was engaged in the intercourse of Affairs and Society with Catherine +II., Frederic the Great, Potemkin, Joseph II., Gustavus III., +Washington, Kosciusko, La Fayette, Mirabeau, and Napoleon, as well as +with the Chiefs of the Aristocratical and Democratical Parties, and the +most illustrious Writers of the times; of whom he records the most +interesting particulars. + + +19. THE REMINISCENCES of MICHAEL KELLY, of the King's Theatre; including +a Period of nearly half a Century. With numerous original Anecdotes of +Distinguished Persons, Royal, Political, Literary, and Musical. The +Second Edition, revised. In two vols. post 8vo. with a Portrait by +Meyer. Price 21s. + + +20. THE SPIRIT of the AGE; or, Contemporary Portraits. The Second +Edition, with Additions. In one vol. post 8vo. Price 10s. 6d. + +Contents:--Mr. Jeffery, Mr. Gifford, Mr. Southey, Sir Walter Scott, Lord +Byron, Mr. Campbell, Mr. Thomas Moore, Mr. William Godwin, Mr. Jeremy +Bentham, Mr. Cobbett, Mr. Coleridge, Mr. Leigh Hunt, Mr. Wordsworth, Sir +James Mackintosh, Mr. Brougham, Sir F. Burdett, Rev. E. Irving, Lord +Eldon, Mr. Wilberforce, Mr. Malthus, Mr. Crabbe, the late Mr. Horne +Tooke, &c. &c. + + +21. MEMOIRS of the MARGRAVINE of ANSPACH. Written by Herself. In two +vols, 8vo. with Portraits. Price 28s. + + +22. DON ESTEBAN; or, Memoirs of a Spaniard. Written by Himself. Second +Edition, three vols. post 8vo. 27s. + + "This work forms an excellent supplement and companion to the + admirable Letters of Don Leucadio Doblado."--_Globe and + Traveller._ + + +23. A PICTURE of GREECE in 1825: as exhibited in the Personal Narratives +of James Emerson, Esq., Count Pecchio, and W. H. Humphreys, Esq. In two +vols. post 8vo. with a Portrait of the Greek Admiral Miaulis. Price 18s. + + +24. THE FOURTH and LAST LIVRAISON of NAPOLEON'S HISTORICAL MEMOIRS. +Dictated at St. Helena, to Counts Montholon, Gourgaud, &c. and published +from the original manuscripts, corrected by himself. One vol. 14s.; in +French 12s. + +This important work is now completed in seven volumes, comprising four +of Memoirs, and three of Historical Miscellanies; and the public are +advised to complete their sets without delay. + + +25. CONVERSATIONS OF LORD BYRON, in which are detailed the principal +Occurrences of his private Life, his Opinions on Society, Manners, +Literature, and Literary Men. Being the substance of a Journal kept +during a Residence with his Lordship at Pisa, in the Years 1821 and +1822. By Thomas Medwin, Esq. of the 24th Light Dragoons. New editions, +uniform with the Works, in one vol. 8vo. and two vols. foolscap, price +14s. + + +26. THE LAST DAYS of NAPOLEON. By F. Antommarchi; recording his +Conversations with the Emperor on various interesting Subjects, during +the last two years of his Exile; and forming a Supplement to the +Journals of O'Meara and Las Cases. Editions in French and English, in +two vols. 8vo. 21s. + + +27. COUNT LAS CASES' JOURNAL of the PRIVATE LIFE and CONVERSATIONS of +the late EMPEROR NAPOLEON; a new Edition, illustrated with Portraits of +Napoleon and Las Cases; a View of the House in which Napoleon was born, +at Ajaccio in Corsica; four coloured Views of St. Helena, taken on the +spot; besides Maps, Plans, &c. complete in four handsome volumes, 8vo. +Price 2l. 12s. in French or English. + +As this work is universally acknowledged to form the most perfect +epitome of the Life, Character, and Opinions of this extraordinary Man, +it is presumed that this new Edition, compressed into four volumes, and +published at a very moderate price, will be extremely acceptable to the +public, and that there are few who will not be desirous of possessing +it. + + +28. A SERIES of ILLUSTRATIONS to the JOURNAL of COUNT LAS CASES, +comprising a Portrait of Napoleon, engraved by Cooper, after the +original well-known Painting by David, a Portrait of Count Las Cases, +and four coloured Views of St. Helena, from Drawings taken on the spot +by eminent Artists. 8vo. 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