CHAPTER V.
FRANCE REVISITED—CHANTILLY—PARISIAN SOCIETY—THE COURT OF THE BOURBONS—THE PRINCE DE CONDÉ—MARSHAL MARMONT—THE FRENCH STAGE—INVITATIONS FROM THE PRINCESS CHARLOTTE.
Montreuil, May, 1816.—The appearance of France is exactly what it was when I first travelled, but the inhabitants wear a different aspect. The women are not much altered; if anything, rather graver; the men more stern and sententious than before the Revolution. The people we met looked pale and wretched, and, except the postilions, we saw scarcely a single young man. The woman of the inn at Montreuil seemed a good Royalist, and talked with much feeling of thebon Roi, who had kissed her child when she saw him at Calais. Some of our Horse Artillery and of the 7th Light Dragoons (Lord Anglesea’s) are still quartered inthis neighbourhood. The woman did not speak ill of our troops, but owned that our young officers were twice nearly setting fire to her house.
12th.—Some of our party walked into the church at Clermont, and found the curate and vicar instructing the children. The shops, however, were mostly open, though it was Sunday; and the last stage to Montreuil we were driven by a priest, brother of one of the postilions, the other one being absent.
We had a pleasant drive from Clermont to Chantilly; the people dancing in the fields. We passed through the ruined and desolate park of the Prince of Condé; but, melancholy as its appearance was, it was pleasant to think he is again the master, and every one looking forward to his passing some time here this spring. When we came to the inn, which is called “Bourbon Condé,” the mistress of the house, a very intelligent and loyal person, told us she was now sure of the Prince coming, for three hampers of Champagne had arrived. She gave a dreadful account of the sufferings of the people from the conscription under Bonaparte, and other acts of oppression. We did not, however, find that the English were much liked, though a Mr. Jolliffe, who had been there with Lord Combermere, had given an order for purchasing four hundred cub foxes, which are to be sent over fifty at a time. We saw some ofthese creatures ready for transportation. The French pay forty sous a head for their destruction.
Paris, May 16.—I called on Lady Elizabeth Stuart, who had sent me a card. Her husband, Sir Charles Stuart, ambassador from our Court, is son of the late General Sir Charles Stuart, son of Lord Bute, the Prime Minister at the beginning of our present King’s reign. The house inhabited by our ambassador was the palace of Pauline, Princess Borghese, sister of Bonaparte, and is a magnificent and elegantly fitted-up dwelling; perhaps rather too showy. I called, also, on the Duke de Sérent and his daughter, Madame de Narbonne, whose husband, ambassador at Naples, has lately been made a Duke, as a compliment for his negotiating the marriage between the Duke de Berri and Princess Caroline of Naples. The Duke de Sérent’s hotel is beautiful, both with respect to situation and neatness: it has a terrace overlooking a garden.
I engaged a very pretty lodging in Rue Grenoble, Faubourg St. Germain, where I have a hall, dining-room, drawing-room, and three bedrooms, all remarkably well furnished in silk and muslin, besides servants’ rooms, closets, stable, and coach-house, for four hundred francs a month.
Sunday, May 19.—I had a note from the Duchess de Sérent, to say that Madame, Duchess d’Angoulême, would see me at three. I first calledon Madame de Sérent, whom I found on a ground-floor of the Tuileries, her room filled with plants and flowers. At three I crossed the court, and entered an apartment of the palace to the right. In the first hall were guards, and in the ante-room pages, who announced me. Madame came out of an inner room into the salon, where she made me sit down beside her, and kept me for more than half an hour. She spoke of Princess Charlotte’s marriage, of the forthcoming one of the Duke de Berri, and of her regard for the late mother of the Duchess, whom she had known at Vienna. She expressed much gratitude towards the Regent, but seemed rather surprised that he had not dismissed Sir Robert Wilson from the service. Sir Charles Stuart had sent my name in for presentation to the King and Madame for the following Monday; but the Duchess de Sérent advised me to put it off as a useless ceremony if I could see them in private.
22nd.—Went to Calaghan’s, the banker, where, for 65l.sterling, I received 1788 francs, the exchange being considerably in our favour. I dined with Prince Castelcicala, to meet Princess Broglie and (her daughter) Baroness Nicolay; and afterwards went with them to the Théâtre des Variétés, on the Boulevards, where we saw four “petites pièces,” performed by good actors with great spirit, and altogether very laughable. There were some political allusions, which were clapped with greatloyalty, as was also the air of “Henri Quatre,” which was played twice. All the ladies were in morning dresses, with great bonnets. It is a pretty little theatre, and the manner of lighting it is much better for the eyes than ours, and more advantageous for the performers.
23rd.—M. de Bernis called upon me, and said the reason why three magistrates of Amiens had been dismissed from their employments was that they had obliged a gentleman to say that the Duke of Orleans[66]had a right to the crown of France after the present royal family. They had threatened him with instant death if he refused. Their defence was, that they meant it as a joke; but the Government took it up seriously.
26th.—I went out to make some visits, but found no one at home except Cardinal de Bayane, who is old and deaf, but otherwise not much altered from what he was at Rome. I am afraid he has “incensed” the idol, and lowered himself in the opinion of many by so doing; particularly by obliging his niece to become lady of the bedchamber to Madame Mère.
27th.—In the evening, a little before eight, 1 went to the Tuileries to be presented to the King. The guards, who lined the grand staircase, and were stationed in the hall, presented arms as theladies passed, and an officer showed us the way. We stopped in the salon which forms the ante-room to that in which the Duchesses and wives of the Ambassadors and Marshals waited for the King. When they had had their audience, the English ladies were the first admitted. Lady Hardwick, Lady Caledon, Lady le Despenser, the two beautiful Ladies Bingham, Lady Belmere, and two or three others, formed the group. We had long trains, and lappets, but no hoops. The King was very gracious, and spoke to me in English. The Dukes d’Angoulême and Berri were standing near him, and Monsieur stood by their side: the latter talked to me about Princess Charlotte. We were introduced by the Duke de la Châtre, “premier gentilhomme de la chambre,” and the “grand maître des cérémonies,” M. de Brézé. We passed on to the great gallery, and going down another flight of stairs, found our carriages at the further gate. The gentlemen go to Court in the morning. The apartments were well lighted, and the whole had an appearance of decorum and state which was very striking. I felt a most pleasing sensation from seeing the King in his own palace after so long and dreadful a revolution.
28th.—In the morning we went with the Marquis de Dolomieu to the King’s Library, where he introduced an Orientalist, a M. Langlés, who was very obliging, and showed us autographs of Racine,La Fontaine, Voltaire, Boileau, Louis XIV., Madame de Maintenon, &c., and a set of drawings (coloured), in a manuscript, describing everything relating to tournaments. He asserted they were the work of Réné of Anjou, father of Margaret, Queen of Henry VI. I should rather have supposed them to be of the time of Pietro Perugino, the master of Raphael. They are excellent, and truly interesting. M. Langlés is celebrated for his skill in Asiatic researches, and he showed us Arabic and Tartar manuscripts, &c.
29th.—Breakfasted with the Chevalier de Bayane: chickens, lampreys, petits pâtés, fruit, green peas, cream, tea, coffee, wine; in short, everything that can be imagined. He lives with his brother, the Cardinal, and several of their relations, male and female, in a very handsome house purchased by the Cardinal. They are both aged, but in good health and spirits.
31st.—Dined at the Duke de Sérent’s, where I met M. de B——, a distinguished deputy, who is a pure Royalist, and has written well on the subject of divorce. It appears that these pure Royalists have a great objection to the Charter and the Ministers, whom the allies timorously support, to the great annoyance of the former. The ministerial party give the Royalists the character of enthusiasts, and tell you they are revengeful and unconscionable; and Society suffers by all these dissensions.The Royalists, however, are much to be pitied. They have recovered little more than the privilege of remaining in France, while the others preserve their property, or the power of disposing of it to the best advantage.
June 1.—I went with Prince Castelcicala to the old Duchess of Orleans. She has a fine house, which was formerly that of the director Cambacérès. She seemed very good natured, and invited me to dine with her the first day the Prince could bring me. She had a lady in attendance, and an old Abbé, whom she calls her chancellor, and to whom some people have thought her to be privately married. An old Bishop was visiting her, and two ladies, one of whom was Baroness de Talleyrand, formerly ambassadress at Naples. We afterwards called on Lady Hardwick, and on the Duchess d’Escars, who, as the wife of the grand maître d’hôtel, lives in the Pavillon de Flore, at the Tuileries, very high up, and, of course, commanding an extensive view. Her apartments are attics, and small, but finely furnished and fitted up, which was done by Bonaparte for Madame C——, one of his favourites, and reader to Marie Louise.
3rd.—In the evening I went to pay my visit to Monsieur and the Duke de Berri, who live in the Pavillon Marsan. Their apartments are simply and elegantly furnished. They were both verycourteous, Monsieur particularly so, and everybody about them attentive.
4th.—I called on Mrs. and Miss Rawdon, who are just arrived; and we afterwards went to see the house of Cardinal Fesch, Bonaparte’s uncle, who is at Rome, and his furniture here is selling off. The King of Holland and the Prince of Orange lived here, and the chairs and sofas are not the better for their servants. We saw many pictures, but none struck me as very fine. There were some beautiful vases and busts, and some good antique bas-reliefs. The house is spacious, and was built by the Cardinal, who endeavoured to make it an Italian palace, but his taste was not perfect enough for the undertaking.
6th.—In the morning I went to the Palais Royal, and to M. Vien, a painter, son of the senator Vien, who was formerly director of the French Academy at Rome. I saw some beautiful small paintings, historical compositions, which he did at the age of ninety-three. He has been dead only six years. The son told me he had a Prussian officer lodging in his house, and liked him so well that he begged him to remain beyond the time allotted for his quarters. The inhabitants of Versailles also spoke of the Prussians as doing no more harm than they could possibly help. In the orangery there, by-the-by, we were shown a statue of Louis XIV., whose head had been cut off to make room forthat of Brutus. M. Vien had in a small room the bust of a Garde du Corps, his friend, which he had begun before Bonaparte’s landing, and worked at by stealth during the three months of his usurpation, the original having gone to the King at Ghent. He said it was incredible what he and his family had suffered. Yet his father had been made a senator, and was buried in the Pantheon. In the evening I went to the Duchess of Narbonne’s, where I saw Prince Hohenlohe, who has just entered the service of France. He is to have the command of a German brigade, and has the promise of a Cordon Bleu. Afterwards I went to the Countess de Chastellux, where I saw some drawings made by her second daughter, illustrative of events in the war of La Vendée, witnessed by her cousin, Madame de la Rochejacquelein, who has written her Memoirs.
8th.—I dined with the Dowager-Duchess of Orleans. There were several ladies present, and Prince Hohenlohe and Prince Castelcicala also dined there. The dinner was very good, chiefly consisting of fish, and when we went into the drawing-room the Duchess and two other ladies worked. A card-party was formed, and a backgammon-table set out. They were cheerful and pleasant, and the Duchess extremely affable.
9th.—In the evening I went with M. and Madame de Béthisy to the Prince de Condé’s, who inhabits a pavilion of the Hôtel de Bourbon, which, notwithstandingthe bad weather, appeared to be very beautifully situated in the midst of a garden. The good old Prince is wheeled about in his arm-chair, and his memory often fails him, but he received us with great politeness. His premier gentilhomme de la chambre, Count Banqui du Cayla, introduced me; and Madame de Rully, the natural daughter of the Duke de Bourbon, assisted in doing the honours. She is mild and pleasing. Amongst other ladies who came in, Madame de Béthisy pointed out one who, she said, was a daughter of the grandfather of the present Duke of Orleans.
10th.—Went to the Duchess of Orleans, and to a ball at Mrs. Hammond’s.[67]Mr. H. is residing here as commissary for settling commercial and boundary matters, &c. He inhabits the house which was formerly Joseph Bonaparte’s, and, what is singular enough, the same Joseph Bonaparte has just purchased in America the house in which Mr. Hammond was married.
11th.—Dined at Prince de Condé’s. M. and Madame de Béthisy and several officers were of the party. M. and Madame de Rully live with the Prince. The latter was very cheerful and kind, and after dinner sent for some little portraits to show me. One of them was of a natural sister of his own, excessively pretty, with a fly cap andcapuchin. Another was a little figure of Madame de Montespan as a Magdalen in the desert. Madame de Rully showed me the billiard-room, where I saw the busts of the great Condé and of Turenne on the chimney-piece. I was pleased to observe the respect the Prince paid to the memory of Turenne, whom he seemed desirous to praise equally with his own great ancestor. He has starts of recollection, and still retains the unassuming, steady character which distinguished him at the head of his army. At eight I went to the Duke de Sérent’s, where I heard much of the robberies committed by the Bonaparte family; including Cardinal Fesch, who pillaged the Villa Mattei at Rome to adorn his palace in Paris, and who has not yet paid the transport of his chairs and sofas from Rome, whither he had sent them to be gilt.
12th.—While I was at the Prince of Condé’s to-day, Marshal Marmont came in—a vulgar-looking man, without any military grace. The Prince, when he found out who it was, spoke civilly to him. The King went to Fontainebleau to meet the bride, and to give an opportunity for preparations at the Tuileries. Talleyrand sat beside him, and the Duke de la Châtre, premier gentilhomme de la chambre, with the captain of the Gardes du Corps, on the opposite seat. There was much crying “Vive le Roi!”
13th.—I was at a party at Sir Charles Stuart’s,chiefly English. All the rooms were thrown open, and some of the guests walked in the garden. The Duke of Wellington came in a cabriolet.
14th.—Everybody is most anxious to get tickets for the forthcoming fêtes, and ladies are to have only one each, choosing which they please. The King has given orders that all whose names are sent in by Sir Charles Stuart are to be accommodated. I found, too, when I returned home, one for the church, and one “pour le Jeu du Roi” on Monday.
15th.—I went to see the cabinet of cameos, intaglios, and medals at the King’s Library. In the first effervescence of the Revolution orders were issued for dissolving them all; but Barthélémi, the author of “Anacharsis,” found means to delay the execution of the warrant, and they were fortunately forgotten. I saw the bracelets of Diane de Poictiers, Duchess of Valentinois, the Twelve Cæsars worn as coat-buttons by Henri Quatre, an intaglio portrait of the Dauphin worn as a ring by Louis XVI., the bracelets of Madame de Pompadour, cameos of Louis XV. and Henri IV. set in emeralds, the beautiful intaglio of Michael Angelo worn by Louis XIV., and the fine one on an amethyst, by Glycon, of Achilles playing on the harp. Henri IV. seems to have had a decided taste for cameos. His town sword is adorned with them, and his fighting sword has a falcon on it.
16th.—I went out about ten to see the processions, as the Fête-Dieu is celebrated to-day. I believe this fête has been solemnised only once—the year before last—these twenty-five years. The procession of St. Sulpice was the most numerous, and many ladies walked in it. That of the parish of St. Thomas d’Aquin stopped at the gate of the Duchess d’Orleans, entered the court in which an altar had been erected, and gave the benediction to the Duchess, her ladies, and household. The people seemed pleased with the revival of these religious ceremonies. A large canopy for one of the processions was given by the Duchess de Bourbon, who has written a book on Theology. The National Guards, who escorted the processions, and who do duty in Paris on almost all occasions, are said to be very loyal. They are all “bourgeois,” but are well dressed and at their own expense, and have a soldier-like appearance. They had nosegays on their bouquets, and nearly everybody who attended the processions, priests included, had flowers, and the streets were hung with carpeting and tapestry. I was delighted to see the venerable priests, who had survived so many horrors, once more peaceably chanting through the streets. How innocent their errors in comparison with the crimes of their persecutors!
About three we went with Madame and Mademoiselle de Chastellux and their friend Madame deFontanes[68]to the apartments of Madame Montgolfier, widow of the inventor of balloons, to see the arrival of the King with the Duchess de Berri. His Majesty arrived a little after four in an open carriage. The Duchess d’Angoulême and the Duke and Duchess de Berri were with him. The bride was dressed in white and silver, with feathers, and had a small white parasol. The Duchess d’Angoulême was in blue, and looked remarkably well. The bride is very fair,[69]but the people said she was too thin. Cries of “Vive le Roi!” accompanied them. The military bore themselves particularly well, and the whole scene was very agreeable. The windows at which we were placed looked on the Boulevards, and the cheerfulness of the place, with its decorations of hangings, flowers, leaves, &c. &c., had a delightful effect.
17th.—In the evening the wedding ceremony was performed at Notre-Dame. I had a ticket, but did not go, as I was afraid of the crowd. I understand it was well regulated. At six I went to the Tuileries “au Jeu de Roi.” Card-tables were set in the Galerie des Cerfs, and in the midst a large round one for the King and Royal Family. They came in
about seven, the Duke de Berri dressed à la Henri Quatre, Madame leading the bride. I happened to be near the table, and she introduced me to her. The Peers who had been witnesses of the marriage wore mantles; the uniforms were very fine, and the scene splendid. Those who had tickets for seeing the banquet followed the King when he left the Gallery. As I passed out I observed the Place du Carrousel full of people, which, with the cries of “Vive le Roi!” and the illumination, had a very fine effect. At eleven I went to a ball at the Duke of Wellington’s: his house[70]handsome, and the gardens prettily illuminated.
18th.—Anniversary of the battle of Waterloo. There was a pause in the fêtes. The Royal Family went to dine at St. Cloud.
19th.—Colonel Palmer brought me a letter from Princess Charlotte, expressing a wish to see me in England, with a very handsome message from her husband. In the evening I was at the “bal paré” at the Tuileries, in the Salle de l’Opéra, where thebanquet had been held. The whole of the Royal Family were present. The Duchess de Berri danced a French and an English country dance with the Duke d’Angoulême, and waltzed with her husband. At ten they retired.
20th.—A review of twenty-four thousand men, and a “bénédiction des drapeaux” in the Champ de Mars. The old Archbishop of Rheims performed the ceremony, and Madame and the Duchess de Berri tied the “cravates,” white handkerchiefs, round the staffs of the colours. I was in the tent of the Etat-Major-General. It was a long ceremony, but very interesting.
24th.—I went in the evening in court dress to the Tuileries[71]“aux premières loges.” The King and all the Royal Family there to see the representation of “Adélaïde du Guesclin,” and “Les Etourdis, ou Le Mort Supposé.” Talma and Mademoiselle George acted in the first, and MademoiselleMars in the second. I admire Talma and Mademoiselle Mars exceedingly. The company produced a fine effect. The Maréchaux de France had seats on the left hand of the Royal Family, as also had the Ambassadors and their suites; the ladies being on the right hand. There were also upper boxes in which the company were dressed, but not in court dresses. The pit full of gentlemen with swords and bags, or uniforms.
25th.—I dined at the Ambassador’s, and found everybody much annoyed[72]at the allusions to England in “Adélaïde du Guesclin.” It was certainly an ill-chosen play, but I have since heard that it was selected by the actors. In the evening I went to a ball at the Duke of Wellington’s, where Monsieur, the Duke d’Angoulême, and the Duke and Duchess de Berri made their appearance and danced—Monsieur excepted. On my return home I heard that some confusion had been occasionedby a cartridge having been thrown into the kitchen window. Colonel Fremantle and another officer went down and extinguished the fire, but it gave rise to some conversation next day, though not so much as the allusions to England at the theatre.