Part 6 (1/2)

They sometimes affect a fastidiousness of stomach which is quite laughable, and not at all peculiar to the Germans, who are in general blessed by nature with especial good appet.i.tes; and they spend so much money that the English officers who have not had the advantages of plunder that these Prussians have had must appear by the side of them stingy and n.i.g.g.ardly.

I was witness one day to a whimsical scene, which will serve to give you an idea of the airs of importance these gentlemen give themselves. I was one day at Versailles and after having visited the palace and gardens I entered the Salon of a restaurateur and called for a veal cutlet and _vin ordinaire_. There was a fat Prussian Major with two or three of his companions at one of the tables, who had been making copious libations to Bacchus in Burgundy and Champaign. He heard me call for _vin ordinaire_, and whether it was to show his own magnificence I know not, but he called out to the _cafetiere_: ”Madame, votre vin ordinaire est il buvable? car j'en veux donner a mon trompette, et s'il n'est pas bon, il n'en boira pas.

Faites venir mon trompette.” Now I dare say in his own country this Major would not have disdained even the ”schwarze Bier” of Brandenburgh.

Scarcely any quarrels, I believe, take place between the English and French, nor did I hear of any violent fracas but one. In this instance, the English officers concerned must have been sad, brutal, vulgar fellows.

They, however, after behaving in a most gross insulting manner, were compelled by some Frenchmen not to eat but to drink their words, and that out of a vessel not usually employed in drinking. I shall not repeat the contemptible affair, but it furnished the subject of a caricature.

The English officers in general behave in a handsome and liberal manner, and their conduct was spoken of in high terms of encomium by very many of the French themselves. I regret however exceedingly that any of the British officers should have imbibed the low prejudices and vulgar hatred against the French, which certain people preach up in England to cover their own peculations and interested views. A young friend of mine, with whom I was one day talking on political subjects, said to me: ”I cannot help agreeing with you in many things, but I am staggered when I think that your ideas and reasoning are so contrary to the ideas in which I have been brought up; so that I rather avoid entering at all on political questions.”

I do not wonder at all at this, for I recollect when I was at school at Eton, the system was to drill into the heads of the boys strong aristocratic principles and hatred of Democracy and of the French in particular; we were ordered to write themes against the French Revolution and verses of triumph over their defeats, with now and then a sly theme on the great advantage of hereditary n.o.bility; in these verses G.o.d Almighty was to be represented as closely allied to the British Government and a _sleeping partner_ of the Administration. One of the fellows of Eton College actually told the late Mr Adam Walker, the celebrated lecturer on natural and experimental philosophy, who was accustomed to give lectures annually to the Etonians, that his visits were no longer agreeable and would be dispensed with in future; as ”Philosophy had done a great deal of harm and had caused the French Revolution.”

With respect to my visit to Versailles, I was much struck with the vast size and magnificence of the buildings and with the ingenuity displayed in the arrangement of the grounds and the numerous groups of statues, grottos, aqueducts, fountains and ruins. Still it pleases me less than St Cloud, for I prefer the taste of the present day in gardening and the arrangement of ground, to the ponderous and tawdry taste of the time of Louis XIV, and I prefer St Cloud to Versailles, just as I should prefer a Grecian Nymph in the simple costume of Arcadia to a fine court lady rouged and dressed out with hoops, diamonds, and headdress of the tune of Queen Anne. Napoleon must have had an exquisite taste.

[32] Exceptions to this are, I understand, the Gallery at Florence, and the Museo Vaticano at Rome, which are both open to all and no fees allowed.

[33] Johann Wilhelm Archenholz (1743-1812), author of the _Geschichte des Siebenjahrigen Krieges_, 1789.--ED.

[34] In February, 1781, before the declaration of war was generally known in the West Indies, Rodney's fleet surrounded the Dutch island of Eustatius, which had become a sort of entrepot for supplying America with British goods; two hundred and fifty s.h.i.+ps, together with several millions worth of merchandise, were seized and sold at a military auction. The plunder of Eustatius was bitterly commented upon In the British House of Commons.--Lee Richard Hildreth, _The History of the United States_, vol. III, p. 335.--ED.

[35] The name is in blank. Major Frye may have meant Beauchamp Bagenal Harvey (1762-1798), the squire of Wexford who deserted to the Irish rebels.--ED.

[36] Ta.s.so, _Jerusalemme liberata_, canto XVI, ottava 15.--ED.

[37] For instance, a Cuira.s.sier, a Dragoon, a Grenadier, a Tirailleur, an Artilleryman.

[38] Major G. Colclough, senior major of the 33rd Regt.--ED.

[39] Virgil, _Aen_., II. 325.--ED.

[40] La Bedoyere (Charles Huchet, Comte de) distinguished himself in several of the Napoleonic wars, in particular at Ratisbonne and Borodino. Being a colonel at Gren.o.ble, in March, 1815, he deserted to Napoleon's cause and was nominated by him general and _pair de France_. In July, 1815, he was arrested in Paris, tried for high treason and shot, August 19, in spite of Benj. Constant's efforts to save him.--ED.

[41] Charlotte Smith (1749-1806), author of _Emmeline, or the Orphan of the Castle_ (1788), _Celestina_ (1792), _The Old Manor House_ (1793), etc.--ED.

CHAPTER IV

From Paris to Bruxelles--Visiting the plains of Waterloo--The Duke de Berri at Lille--Beauvais--Return to Paris--Remarks on the French theatre-- Talma--Mlle d.u.c.h.esnois--Mlle Georges-French alexandrine verse--The Abbe Delille--The Opera Comique.

I met with my brother-in-law and his nephew at Paris, and hearing from them that they had an intention of returning to England by the way of Bruxelles, with the idea of visiting the plains of Waterloo, I was induced to accompany them. We started on the 18th August, taking the exact route from Paris that was taken by Napoleon. Pa.s.sed the first night at St Quentin; the second at a small village on the line between Mons and Charleroy in the Belgian territory. The next morning, after breakfasting at Nivelles, we proceeded to Quatre Bras and Mont St Jean. At the little cabaret called _a la belle Alliance_ we met a host of Englishmen who had been to behold the field of battle; Lacoste, the peasant who was Napoleon's guide on the day of battle, was about to conduct them across the fields to Hougoumont. We followed them. The devastation of the place, every tree being pierced with bullets, and the whole premises being nearly burned to the ground, seemed to astonish their _weak minds_; one of them was not contented till he had measured the length and breadth of the garden and orchards.

Cuira.s.ses, helmets, swords and various other spoils of war found on the spot, were offered for sale by some boys and eagerly bought up as relics.

My brother-in-law made a purchase of a helmet, sword and cuira.s.s, intending to hang it up in his hall. For my part I have seen, and can see no reason whatever to rejoice at this event. I fear it is pregnant with infinite mischief.

We arrived at Bruxelles on the afternoon of the 20th August and after visiting thePark, _Alee verte_ and Palace of Laeken, we proceeded the next morning on our journey to Lille.

The Duke of Berri was at Lille and a grand _fete_ was given in the evening to celebrate the second restoration of the Bourbons. Fireworks were let off, the city was brilliantly illuminated and boys (hired of course) went about the streets singing the following refrain

a bas, a bas Napoleon!