Part 10 (1/2)
[57] Of course, _Silva Beleni_.--ED.
[58] Perhaps Clement Francois Philippe de Laage Bellefaye, mentioned in the _Souvenirs_ of Baron de Frenilly, p. 94. His large estates had been confiscated in the Revolution.--ED.
AFTER WATERLOO
PART II
CHAPTER VI
MARCH-JUNE,1816
Ball at Cambray, attended by the Duke of Wellington--An Adventure between Saint Quentin and Compiegne--Paris revisited--Colonel Wardle and Mrs Wallis--Society in Paris--The Sourds-Muets--The Cemetery of Pere La Chaise--Apathy of the French people--The priests--Marriage of the Duke de Berri.
March, 1816.
This time I varied my route to Paris, by pa.s.sing thro' St Omer, Douay and Cambray. At Cambray I was present at a ball given by the munic.i.p.ality. The Duke of Wellington was there. He had in his hand an extraordinary sort of hat which had something of a shape of a folding c.o.c.ked hat, with divers red crosses and figures on it, so that it resembled a conjurer's cap. I understand it is a hat given to his Grace by magnanimous Alexander; St Nicholas perhaps commissioned the Emperor to present it to Wellington, for his Grace is ent.i.tled to the eternal grat.i.tude of the different Saints, as well as of the different sovereigns, for having maintained them respectively in their celestial and terrestrial dominions; and it is to be hoped, after his death, that the latter will celebrate for him a brilliant apotheosis, and the former be as complaisant to him and make room for him in the Empyreum as Virgil requests the Scorpion to do for Augustus:
...Ipse tibi jam brachia contrahit ardens Scorpios, et coeli jusia plus parts reliquit.[59]
I met with an adventure in my journey from St Quentin to Compiegne, which, had it happened a hundred years ago in France, would have alarmed me much for my personal safety. It was as follows. I had taken my place at St Quentin to go to Paris; but all the diligences being filled, the _bureau_ expedited a _caleche_ to convey me as far as Compiegne, there to meet the Paris diligence at nine the next morning. It was a very dark cold night, and snowed very hard.
Between eleven and twelve o'clock at night, half way between St Quentin and Compiegne, the axle tree of the carriage broke; we were at least two miles from any village one way and three the other; but a lone house was close to the spot where the accident happened. We had, therefore, the choice of going forward or backward, the postillion and myself helping the carriage on with our hands, or to take refuge at the lone house till dawn of day. I preferred the latter; we knocked several times at the door of the lone house, but the owner refused to admit us, saying that he was sure we were _gens de mauvaise vie_, and that he would shoot us if we did not go away.
The postillion and I then determined on retrograding two miles, the distance of the nearest village, and remaining there till morning. We arrived there with no small difficulty and labour, for it snowed very fast and heavily, and it required a good deal of bodily exertion to push on the carriage. Arrived at the village, we knocked at the door of a small cottage, the owner of which sold some brandy. He received me very civilly, gave me some eggs and bacon for supper, and a very fair bed.
The next morning, after having the axle tree repaired, we proceeded on our journey to Compiegne. I suffered much from the cold during this adventure, and did not sleep well, having fallen into a train of thought which prevented me from so doing; and I could not help bringing to my recollection the adventure of Raymond in the forest near Stra.s.sburg, in the romance of _The Monk_. Nothing worthy of note occurred during the rest of the journey; but this adventure obliged me to remain one day at Compiegne to wait for the next diligence.
PARIS, April 8th, 1816.
I delivered my letters to the Wardle family and am very much pleased with them. I meet a very agreeable society at their house. Col Wardle is quite a republican and very rigid in his principles.[60] His daughter is a young lady of first rate talents and has already distinguished herself by some poetical compositions. I met at their house Mrs Wallis, the sister of Sir R. Wilson.[61] She is an enthusiastic Napoleonist, and wears at times a tricolored scarf and a gold chain with a medal of Napoleon's head attached to it; this head she sometimes, to amuse herself, compels the old emigrants she meets with in society to kiss. The trial of her brother is now going on for aiding and abetting the escape of Lavalette. I sincerely hope he will escape any severity of punishment, but I more fear the effects of Tory vengeance against him in England, in the shape of depriving him of his commission, than I do the sentence of any French court. Yet tho' I wish him well, I cannot help feeling the remains of a little grudge against him for his calumny against Napoleon in accusing him of poisoning the sick of his own army before the walls of St Jean d'Acre. I have always vindicated the character of Napoleon from this most unjust and unfounded aspersion, because having been in Egypt with Abercrombie's army and having had daily intercourse with Belliard's division of the French army, after the capitulation of Cairo, and during our joint march on the left bank of the Nile to Rosetta, I knew that there was not a syllable of truth in the story. Mrs Wallis, however, tells me that her brother has expressed deep regret that he ever gave credence and currency to such a report; and that he acknowledges that he was himself deceived. But he did Napoleon an irreparable injury, and his work on the Egyptian campaign contributed in a very great degree to excite the hatred of the English people against Napoleon, as well as to flatter the pa.s.sions and prejudices of the Tories.
In the affair however of Lavalette Wilson has n.o.bly retrieved his character and obliterated all recollection of his former error. It is amazing the popularity he and his two gallant a.s.sociates have acquired in France by this generous and chevaleresque enterprise.
I meet at Col Wardle's a very pleasant French society: conversation, music and singing fill up the evening.
April 15th.
I have been presented to a very agreeable lady, Madame Esther Fournier, who holds a _conversazione_ at her house in the Rue St Honore every Wednesday evening. Here there is either a concert, a ball or private theatricals; while in a separate room play goes forward and _crebs_, a game of dice similar to hazard, is the fas.h.i.+onable game. Refreshments are handed round and at twelve o'clock the company break up. Mme Fournier is a lady of very distinguished talent and always acts a princ.i.p.al role herself in the dramatic performances given at her private theatricals.
I have become acquainted too with a very pleasant family, M. and Mme Vanderberg, who are the proprietors of a large house and magnificent garden in the Faubourg du Roule. M. Vanderberg is a man of very large fortune.[62]
He has three daughters, handsome and highly accomplished, and one son; one of them was married to General R----, but is since divorced; the second is married to a young colonel of Hussars, and the third is still unmarried; but being very young, handsome, accomplished and rich, there will be no lack of suitors whenever she is disposed to accept the connubial chain. I have dined several times with this family. There is an excellent table. The choicest old wines are handed about during dinner, and afterwards we adjourn to another room to take coffee and liqueurs.