CHAPTER X.
GENOA—THE PALLAVICINI FAMILY—CHARACTER OF THE GENOESE—RETURN TO ENGLAND—THE ROYAL FAMILY AT BRIGHTON—LONDON—GLOOMY RETROSPECT—ANECDOTES.
Genoa, January 1st.—The accounts of the weather from all quarters very extraordinary. In London terrible fogs; at Paris the Seine frozen over; at Turin and at Milan more snow than has ever been known before; and here, a greater succession of north-east and north-west winds than can be remembered for sixty years.
23rd.—The Prince of the Peace was at the Opera last night with his wife.[110]He is on his way toParis, where, not long ago, or at least in the neighbourhood of Paris, died the Lady of the House of Bourbon, whom he married, and it was reported that he had another wife. M. de B—— said that in Spain he was assured that the Prince had not been married to this other lady, but that he had now married her. I remember meeting a son of theirs at the house of a Spanish lady, at Paris, a few years ago; and at Rome I heard that, in company with the King and Queen of Spain, the Prince of Peace, with his daughter by the Lady of the House of Bourbon, were arrived in Italy. The governor of this place, the Marquis d’Hyène, has been greatly beloved wherever he has commanded. At one place the good people wished to pay him particular attention, and, among other decorations for his reception, had a transparency representing a hyæna surrounded by little Cupids caressing it. To explain the meaning of this, they
said to the Marquis d’Hyène: “Noi siamo gli amorini, e la bestià è l’eccellenza vostra.”
In the memoirs of the Pallavicini family, it appears that a nobleman[111]of that name went to England on a mission from the Pope to receive money due to the Holy See, and that, after getting possession of it, he became a Protestant, and appropriated the money to his own use. His wife was with him, and after his death she married a son of Cromwell, and returned with her second husband to Genoa, where they inhabited the villa still belonging to the Pallavicini family, called La Peschiera. If this be true, it must have happened during the short reign of James II., for, otherwise, what hope could the Pontiff have of getting money from England? It seems odd, however, that he should have sent a secular, and a married one, too;but that might have been to avoid exciting suspicion. I remember that when I was at Genoa, many years ago, with my mother, we were told that a son of Cromwell had lived in a villa over the Zerbino, a little way out of the gate. This answers to the Pallavicini villa.
Genoa is sadly altered and degraded. Many of its finest buildings are falling to decay, and the grass grows luxuriantly in their court-yards. And yet trade flourishes more than ever. The principal nobility and merchants are still very rich, and the King of Sardinia does all in his power to render it a flourishing seaport and an agreeable residence. But it is more difficult to make the Genoese amuse themselves than it is to make them get money—the former implies spending it. There is great inequality of fortune—great riches and great poverty.
April 27.—This day was celebrated, outside the gates, the feast of a saint held in great veneration by the common people. On the eve there were illuminations and fireworks, and the church was crowded with people either from devotion or for the sake of amusement. They say that this saint was once upon a time servant to a baker, and used to take a great many loaves every morning for the poor. The baker missed his bread, and suspected his servant. He watched her, and saw her go out with her apron filled. On stopping her, he wasmuch surprised, for he saw nothing but flowers. This is celebrated as a miracle.
When Lord Exmouth was at Genoa, he took everything he could take, even to the brass rings which received the chain of the port. How different was this from the conduct of Lord Nelson and Sir Thomas Troubridge when in the Mediterranean!Theycame to rescue nations, and not to plunder them.
It is said to be a custom here, that when a man is displeased with another, as a token of resentment and defiance, he lets his whiskers grow. Perhaps this may be the reason why the King expressed his dissatisfaction with a young nobleman who allowed his whiskers to grow, though he was not in the army. The young man cut them off, but is so displeased that he will not go to Court.
The Marchesa Durezzo says, that of the lower classes in Genoa the most courteous and good natured are the sailors, whom I have always heard spoken of as the best seamen of the Mediterranean. There is a harshness in the lower orders, and a stiffness in the higher classes of the Genoese, which one does not meet with in other Italians. But they have understanding and acuteness, and I believe that, in reality, they have the affectionate heart peculiar to their common country—but you must get at it.
[At the end of May, Miss Knight resumed herwanderings, halting, however, at Turin until the middle of July. She thence proceeded to Milan and across the Simplon to Geneva. Passing on by way of Neufchâtel, she again entered France, and arrived at Dijon on the 12th of August, under which date occurs the following entry: “The town was obliged to illuminate last night in honour of the new King, Louis Philippe, being proclaimed ‘Roi des Français.’ The people display no enthusiasm, and all is quiet in this district. Several officers have resigned their commissions. On the road I met some wounded Swiss and others of that corps, and also of the Royal Guards, both of which corps are now suppressed, and the men dismissed to their respective homes.” Three days later, Miss Knight arrived in Paris, and on the 9th of September at Dover. “On the road from Paris to Calais,” she remarks, “I perceived no signs of gaiety or enthusiasm. A person disposed to criticise the nation would, perhaps, divide it into three classes—knaves, dupes, and people intimidated by their recollection of the horrid scenes of the former revolution. Certain it is that the prosperity of France was great, and yearly increasing, and now all has become precarious, thanks to designing ambition and infamous journals. I am sick of the subject, and what I did not write while in the country from prudence, I now avoid writing from disgust.” In the following October, Miss Knighttook apartments at Brighton, where she was presented to William IV. and Queen Adelaide, and invited to an evening party on the 21st, at which “tableaux were represented by an actor from the theatre. The King and Queen were very civil to everybody.” She was again invited on the 27th of December, when “the Pavilion was lighted up and as hot as possible. I cannot admire the dragons and other Oriental fancies, having been spoiled for such things by being early accustomed to the dignified simplicity of classic taste. Besides the two Princesses, the Duke of Sussex was there, and some of the new Ministers, Lord Grey, Sir James Graham, Lord Holland, and Lord Durham.” The last entry of the year runs in these words: “A whale was caught near this place two days ago. It is sixty-five feet in length. It was almost dead, and had a harpoon in its body.” On the 28th of December, Miss Knight takes a gloomy retrospective view of the events of the previous twelve months. “This miserable year,” she writes, “is almost at its close. On the 26th of June, died George IV., who was succeeded by William Duke of Clarence. On the 29th of July, Charles X. lost his throne—the Dauphin as well as himself renouncing all right to it. The Duke of Orleans was crowned by four marshals in a very small assembly of the representatives of the nation, and without any religious ceremony. No etiquette, no distinctions, allowed.Popular tumults in France and England. The King and Queen of England deterred from dining in the City owing to a communication from the Lord Mayor, advising them of intended riots and the cutting of the gas-pipes. The Duke of Wellington left in a minority, and obliged to resign: Lord Grey and his party forming the new administration. The revolt of Belgium; disturbances in many parts of Germany; the Duke of Brunswick expelled in favour of his brother; the Grand-Duke Constantine and the Russians driven out of Poland; fires in many counties in England to destroy the haystacks and corn-ricks!”
Mrs. Fitzherbert, when William IV. visited her after his brother’s death, showed him the papers which proved her marriage with the late King, first by a Roman Catholic priest, and immediately afterwards by a clergyman of the Church of England. The King desired her to put on widow’s weeds. Mrs. Fitzherbert also showed these papers to the Duke of Wellington, then Prime Minister. She is constantly invited to the Queen’s parties, and is treated with much respect.
January 8.—Dined at General Egerton’s, and went in the evening with him and Mrs. E. to a great party at the Pavilion. The Prince of Orange was there. He came yesterday, and is to stay tillthe 10th. He has been some time in England, and brought a letter to the King from his father, requesting his Majesty to be kind to him, as he himself had forgiven him. There was dancing, and some musicians from Bohemia played and sang.
February 14.—The King after dinner drank to the memory of the Earl of St. Vincent, and of all the brave officers and men who fought on that day and are now no more, and to the health of those who survive.
London, March 6.—The son of Murat lives in this (Dover) street. He arrived lately from America, where he is naturalised, and practises at the bar. He often visits his cousin Lady Dudley Stuart, the daughter of Lucien Bonaparte. The Prince of Orange, I hear, is frequently at their parties. Murat was at Lord Grey’s last night.
April 17.—Dined with the Duke and Duchess of Cumberland, at their apartments in St. James’s Palace. The Landgravine was also there. The apartments are handsome. On the ground floor a waiting-room, library, and dining-room; and up-stairs, a large and superb drawing-room; excellent bedchamber, dressing-room, &c. There are several portraits—George III., Queen Charlotte, Mr. Pitt, two sons of the Duchess, a bust of Goethe, &c. The dinner was very good, and well served: all in the most proper style. The Duchess has excellentmanners, and Prince George, who came in at the dessert, with two young companions, is really a delightful boy.
December 31.—This year has been one of the most painful to the feelings of those who have been accustomed to the principles of social order and morality, that I can remember. The French revolution in the last century cannot be recalled to mind without horror, as every period of it was marked by the most atrocious crimes, and a total contempt of morality and religion. But the insidious duplicity, the want of faith, and perversion of reason, which have brought about and coloured the progress of that of 1830, threaten Europe with a total disorganisation of political and moral principle. Alarm of every description is prevailing. The ties of blood and of alliance are forgotten; and while it is pretended that everything is being done for the maintenance of peace, no security is given for the preservation of internal tranquillity. France is still under the government of Louis Philippe and his Minister, Casimir Périer; Belgium, under that of Leopold. Poland is reoccupied by Russia. Italy, notwithstanding the efforts made to revolutionise her, is still quiet, except, perhaps, in the three Legations, and they are kept in awe by Austria.
[At the end of this lamentation, Miss Knight records various anecdotes she had picked up in thecourse of the year, a few of which are worth extracting.]
April 19.—Prince de Talleyrand wrote the other day to Louis Philippe, who had been intriguing to get the throne of Belgium for his second son, the Duke de Nemours: “Il faut que votre Majesté se rappelle qu’avant de pouvoir mettre le pied en Brabant, il faut avoir le pied en Europe.”
The Duke of Orleans was always making unjust complaints of Louis XVIII., and one day went so far as to say to M. de B. that it was very unwise to treat him in that manner, for, added he, “Je compte pour beaucoup en France.” M. de B. answered: “Cela n’est pas possible, monseigneur, car vous n’êtes ni brave, ni généreux;” and, turning his back on him, left the room. The Duke from that time overwhelmed M. de B. with civilities and flatteries.
Charles X. says that his conscience acquits him of having had anything in view contrary to the good of his people, whose lives he wished to spare, and whom he was only anxious to save from the artifices of faction. He was made to believe that there would be twenty-nine thousand troops in Paris, and that all would pass over quietly. The Dauphiness still speaks with tender affection of her native country, notwithstanding all she has suffered there. She said the other day to a lady: “Onnous calomnie cruellement; mais croyez-vous que l’histoire nous rendra justice?”
The Grand-Duchess Helena is now (July) at Sidmouth, and her father, Prince Paul of Würtemberg, is with her. An Irish family were presented to her amongst others, when she said to them: “What are you doing here? You ought to be in your own country, and spending your money there.”
Don Pedro, Duke of Braganza, ex-Emperor of Brazil, told a lady of very high rank, who repeated it to me, that the misfortune of the present age was that none of the sovereigns had a head to manage affairs.
One of the French papers says, that in the recent elections M. B., a Royalist, has been chosen, at which it manifests great surprise, but adds, that the department for which he had been elected had not attained that degree of civilisation which excludes the idea of legitimacy. From the well-known opinions professed by the journal in question, it cannot be suspected of jesting on the subject.
Somebody having said in conversation that Ministers had advised his Majesty to dismiss his household troops, a gentleman answered: “In that case he should begin by dismissing theGreys.”
It is said Prince Leopold has beenforcedtoaccept the crown of Belgium. The expression is, “a pistol has been held to his throat, and another to that of the King of Holland, to make the one accept and the other resign, to avoid bringing England and Holland into collision.” We are not, however, obliged to believe this. Louis Philippe has long had great influence over Prince Leopold.
The King (William IV.) said the other day, in speaking of Don Pedro: “To be sure, we are both sovereigns—at least, hewasone: but there is a great difference between us for all that; for I am an honest man, and he is a thief.”
A Frenchman, lately arrived in London, was asked if he had caught the influenza: “Ah! non,” he replied; “je l’ai prise en grippe.”
Lady Talbot of Malahide is turned of ninety. She is of a very ancient and distinguished family in Ireland, and, in gratitude for certain favours bestowed, came over to the Coronation, and went also to the following Drawing-room. I met one evening one of her sons, who is an Admiral, with his niece, her grand-daughter, and they said she was not in the least fatigued.
It has been discovered that four persons were sent from Paris to take the life of the Duke de Bordeaux. Three of them went in separate stagecoaches to Edinburgh, but they have been forced to return, and additional sentinels have been placed at Holyrood. The child now does not walk outwith a servant as before, but only goes out in a carriage. The fourth assassin does not seem to have been found out.
A stranger happening to be in Paris soon after the revolution of July, 1830, was stopped by a young chimney-sweeper, who asked him if he had seen the King of the French. The other replied in the negative. “Would you like to see him?” continued the chimney-sweeper. “Only give me a piece of five francs and you shall see him.” The stranger agreed to do so, and they went away together to the Palais Royal. As soon as they were in sight of the balcony the boy began to call out, “Louis Philippe! Louis Philippe!” in which cry he was joined by the rabble near him. The King of the French came out to make his obeisance, and the gentleman gave a five-franc piece to the sweeper. “Now,” said the boy, “if you have a mind to hear him sing, only promise me five more, and you shall be satisfied.” The stranger assented, and his Majesty, at the command of the mob, joined in the Marseillaise Hymn, with all the appropriate grimaces.
At the time when Louis Philippe was shaking hands with everybody in the street, he held out his hand to a man, who said, “Stop a little.” Thrusting both hands in the mud he offered them to the King, saying, “Now they are fit for you.”
Thirty years ago Louis Philippe remarked: “Je n’aurai de paix que quand je serai Roi de France.”
Since the shameful business of the lawsuit respecting the late Duke of Bourbon’s will, they call Louis Philippe “Louis Filou.”
Le peuple! c’est le peuple qu’on loue et qu’on blâme:Hélas! le bon peuple n’a ni raison ni tort:Corps sain et vigoureux, dont un héros est l’âme,Ou machine du traître agissant à ressort.
Le peuple! c’est le peuple qu’on loue et qu’on blâme:Hélas! le bon peuple n’a ni raison ni tort:Corps sain et vigoureux, dont un héros est l’âme,Ou machine du traître agissant à ressort.
Le peuple! c’est le peuple qu’on loue et qu’on blâme:Hélas! le bon peuple n’a ni raison ni tort:Corps sain et vigoureux, dont un héros est l’âme,Ou machine du traître agissant à ressort.
Le peuple! c’est le peuple qu’on loue et qu’on blâme:
Hélas! le bon peuple n’a ni raison ni tort:
Corps sain et vigoureux, dont un héros est l’âme,
Ou machine du traître agissant à ressort.
The young Duke de Bordeaux, while playing at ball, was accosted by a Frenchman with many compliments, who told him he would certainly be king. “La place est prise,” answered the boy. The man kept teasing him, and at last said: “Mais j’ai envie d’assassiner celui qui a pris cette place.” “Et moi,” replied the young Duke, “je le défendrai.” This was said with an air of noble contempt, and he would not listen to anything more the man had to say.
The Countess de N. says she knows from certain authority that Casimir Périer in his ravings, during the last few days of his life, fancied himself Charles X., and that he was constantly ordering to the block the traitor Périer.
The Duke de B., who lived so many years on the most intimate terms with Louis XVIII., declares, that the Memoirs published in his Majesty’s name were never written by him, for he burnt all his papers a short time before his death. He thinksthey were revised by the Duke Decazes, but written by a M. Capefigue, of Marseilles.
[During the year 1832, Miss Knight divided her time between Brighton, Tunbridge Wells, London, Tottenham Park, Cheltenham, and Oxford. At the close of the year she was again at Brighton. She sums up as follows the events of the preceding twelve months: “What an eventful year! The dreadful ravages of the cholera in many places, especially in London and Paris, have carried off many well-known persons. Charles X. and his suite left Scotland, attended by the blessings and regrets of the inhabitants. He is now at Prague. The Duchess de Berri a prisoner in the castle of Blois. The citadel of Antwerp, bravely defended by General Chassé, compelled at length to surrender to Marshal Gérard. The combined fleets of France and England, meanwhile, unable to approach the coast on account of the weather. Affairs not yet settled. Prince Otho, of Bavaria, now King of Greece, conveyed to the Piræus on board an English ship of war!”]
[The greater part of the year 1833 was passed by Miss Knight in London, but the only entry in her Diary worthy of notice is the following one:]
June 14th.—Dined at Lady Charleville’s, to meet Lady Charlotte Bury, Miss Porter, Mr. Disraeli,Lord Oxmantown, Mr. Campbell, and others. In the evening more company came. The manners of Miss Porter appeared to me as pleasing and unassuming as her novels are natural and entertaining, no less than well principled. Mr. Campbell, author of “The Pleasures of Hope,” &c., is grown very large, and appears to be in ill-health. Mr. Disraeli is an author, and the son of an author. He talked much of the government of Syria, Egypt, &c. Among those who came in the evening was Lady Morgan, but I had no opportunity of hearing her converse, as I came away early.
[A few anecdotes are inserted at the close of the year, from which the following are selected. The “local habitation,” assigned to the oft-quoted grace on rabbits, is on the authority of the Princess Augusta.]
The Duke of Richmond, great-uncle of the present one (recently deceased), was very fond of hares and rabbits, especially the latter, and used to have them constantly served at table, dressed in various ways. His chaplain in ordinary, who used to sit near the lower end, was not a little tired of them, more especially as by the time they came to him they were often quite cold. So, being asked to say grace, he recited:
“Rabbits young, and rabbits old,Rabbits hot, and rabbits cold,Rabbits tender, rabbits tough,Thanks to Heav’n, we’ve had rabbits enough.”
“Rabbits young, and rabbits old,Rabbits hot, and rabbits cold,Rabbits tender, rabbits tough,Thanks to Heav’n, we’ve had rabbits enough.”
“Rabbits young, and rabbits old,Rabbits hot, and rabbits cold,Rabbits tender, rabbits tough,Thanks to Heav’n, we’ve had rabbits enough.”
“Rabbits young, and rabbits old,
Rabbits hot, and rabbits cold,
Rabbits tender, rabbits tough,
Thanks to Heav’n, we’ve had rabbits enough.”
Sir Herbert Taylor says that “The English are never so happy as when they are discontented; the Irish never in such good humour as when they are breaking heads; and the Scotch never so much at home as when they are living upon others.”
Count de M., when Minister at Stockholm, was staying at the house of the Count d’Uglas, after the Countess and his young daughter, who was in a bad state of health, had left him on their way to Paris. One morning he told the Count and Countess d’Uglas that he had passed a very uncomfortable night, for that he had continually seen a kneeling figure, sometimes on one, sometimes on the other side of his bed, and that, though the back was turned to him, it perfectly resembled his daughter. The impression was so strong upon his mind that he sketched the figure, which, in fact, did resemble hers. On comparing dates, it afterwards appeared that his daughter had died at that very time.[112]
An old woman, who died a few years ago in Ireland, had a nephew, a lawyer, to whom she left by will all she possessed. She happened to have a favourite cat, who never left her, and even remained by the corpse after her death. After the will was read in the adjoining room, on opening the door the cat sprang at the lawyer, seized him by the throat, and was with difficulty preventedfrom strangling him. This man died about eighteen months after this scene, and on his death-bed confessed that he had murdered his aunt to get possession of her money.
Lord Nelson, writing to the Admiralty for supplies at a time when his squadron stood in great need of them (in the year 1799, I think), said: “We must have them from home, for Spainwould not, Naples and Sicilycould not, and Sardiniaought not, to supply them.”