HANDBOUND AT THE

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MISS BERRY'S

JOURNALS AND CORRESPONDENCE,

VOL. III.

LONDON

PBINTED BY 8POTTI8WOODE ASD CO. NEW-STBEET SQUARE

''&^ n&nui&fe tii'^h/Aeklif&iMffx, c-f

EXTRACTS

JOURNALS AND CORRESPONDENCE

OF

MISS BEEEY

FROM THE YEAR 1783 TO 1852.

EDITED BY

LADY THEEESA LEWIS,

1 7

IN THREE VOLUMES.

VOL. III.

LONDON: LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO.

1865

!6°- p. .-MED !

.:!W ATI- SERVICES

P.- PU SEf

V.3

JOUKNAL

CORRESPONDENCE OF MISS BERRY,

1814.

Thursday, January 6th. - - Dined with Madame de Stael at half-past five o'clock, with Palmella,* and an aide-de-camp of the Prince Koyal of Sweden, who had just landed. It was the same day that the news arrived of the entry of the Allies into Switzerland and France. One talked, thought, and breathed but of this news. I tried to persuade Madame de Stael to let us remain talk- ing by her fireside, instead of going out in the cold to the play ; but she had the Duke of Devonshire's box, and would take her Swedish aide-de-camp to the theatre.

Monday, IQfA. — Before dinner, Douglas Kinnaird f came in, bringing with him Dawson,J Lord Cathcart's aide-de- camp, just arrived with the despatches from the head- quarters of the Crown Prince. I was very glad to see him.

Saturday, 15th. — In the morning went to Mrs. Darner's to meet the Princess of Wales, who was there for her last sitting for a bust.

* Portuguese Minister.

t Hon. Douglas Kinnaird, brother to Lord Kinnaird. I The late Hon. George Dawson Darner, brother to the late Earl of Por- tarlington.

VOL. III. B

2 MISS BERRY'S JOURNAL. [1814

To the Countess of Hardwicke from Miss Berry.

North Audley Street, Monday, Jan. 17, 1814.

My dinner with the Genevans, at Mdme de StaeTs, turned out less amusing than I expected. They, none of them, know anything of their little Republic but what they see in the Eng- lish papers; but they talk with perfect satisfaction of the restoration of their old Government, in which (you may remem- ber) they were always upon the point of cutting one another's throats every three or four years ; but still, however, it seems they got on like man and wife with much satisfaction, 6 kissing to-day, to-morrow snarling.' I much doubt, however, if any of the very little States can return to this sort of independence upon the re-settlement of Europe in the present day. Made de Stael is in despair about France. She cannot bear what she calls the humiliation of the Allies marching to Paris. She wants the annihilation of Bonaparte (which she don't think will take place), and she don't want the return of the Bourbons. In short, I think she is rather dans le vague de Vinfinee in what she wants about France, except that she wishes for a liberty, a real constitutional liberty, for which, I believe, France is no more fit than Turkey ; but this she won't bear to hear. Pray, bring your Midnight Lamp to town as soon as possible. Re- member, that the only pleasant quiet society will be before Parliament meets in March, when all the world will go mad together.

I dined at the Princess's with Knight, Ward, Brougham, and somebody else, I forget who ; which is all at present from your half-animated, and from the animated half of your faithfully affectionate

M. B.

Thursday, 20th. — The streets were so full of snow, and it continued to fall so thick, that I would not take the servants and horses out. At about four o'clock Madame de Stael arrived, saying it was beautiful weather to pay visits, put her feet upon the fender, and stayed talking with me for nearly an hour. Her conversation always fexcites me.

1814] LETTERS. 3

Saturday, 22nd. — The evening at Madame de Stael's. M. * and Madame de Lieven and other strangers there.

Wednesday, 26th. — The thaw commenced to-day, after four weeks and three days of continual frost, accompanied by a whole week of thick fog, and after a. fall of snow such as I never remember to have seen before, even in the remarkable winters of 1788 and 1795. The streets have been in a state like a deep sandy road, and the few carnages that were out went in the same slow and silent manner. __J

Miss Berry to the Countess of. Hardwicke..

North Audley Street, Friday Morning, Jan. 28, 1814.

As the frost is over, and there is no danger of your catching cold' by leaving o/your perpetual wrath, even against me, who you have distinguished above tout le genre humain by its excess, I will just soothe you in a moment, and reduce you to a cool, pleasant, fresh tranquillity of agreement, by telling you that there is nobody who desires and hopes for peace so earnestly as myself; nobody who so deprecates the entrance of a.Bburbon into France in, with, or by our armies. If they want them, let them send for them unbidden, unthreatened, as we did for Charles II. to Breda. If they don't want them, let them con- tinue to bow the neck under the iron yoke of Bonaparte, or let them again try their hand at their ridiculous and impossible Republic, which, however it begun, would surely end in a second' edition of military despotism under some of Bonaparte's apprentices. If you were to ask me, or if you were tb ask your- self, what Government (as an. English patriot) you would prefer to see established in France, I should say, and you too, a mo- narchy under the Bourbons. We know their individual value, and both them and their country will be sufficiently anxious for repose during the next fifteen, or twenty years. But to attempt putting them upon the throne, or even to advance one step further in France merely on their account, is a madness of which • I really believe neither ourselves or our Allies are going to be guilty. I am persuaded by all I hear that peace will be signed

* llussian Ambassador during many years in England.

[1814

with Bonaparte bfore the meeting of Parliament. I have three wagers on this, and should be willing to take more. Every town to which the Allies have advanced, and every place they have occupied in France, have been defended, not with spirit, not with effect, but with the almost exhausted efforts of people incapable even of the energy necessary to relieve themselves, or frightened at what might be the possible consequences of that relief. I verily believe that Lord Castlereagh is wisely deceiving the Prince, and that while he is paveeing to Mon- sieur, and promising to be at his coronation, the Ministry are letting all the French Princes depart with the blessing one used to give to the beggars in Eome — ' Andate in pace et Dio vi provede;' while they sign a peace with Bonaparte, which, unless France willingly, spontaneously, and generally calls for a Bourbon, is the best thing they can do. What say you to my politics now ? Have I any need of recantation from these opinions ? Let me add, that I honour you for your maxim about retaliation, which I believe you made yourself, and fancied you found in H. More. What, indeed, would they do, even if at the gates of Paris ? Destroy It to destroy Him ? Nothing but a Cossack could think of it. It is of the Cossacks and Eussians that Madrae de Stael is so afraid, and so indignant at the disgrace of the French being invaded by them. I tell her the disgrace of the French in their Eevolution was accom- plished long before they ever saw a Cossack. She knows what I mean, and agrees with me; but asks me with a quickness that would delight you, * Voulez vous donque conseillez aunefemme galante de tricher au jeu ? ' I am going to dine with the said Stael. She always entertains me, sometimes too much — that is to say, more than my poor nerves can bear. She is impatient for your coming to town ; hopes I am to contrive your meeting, as your manner, air, and countenance struck her as something that she should like much. And I really want you to keep up the credit of our sex with her, which, between ourselves, en fait d'agremens d'esprit, I know is not very high in her opinion. She expected our women to be more superior, and our men less so.

Sunday, 30$. — In the evening went to Madame de Stael, who had had a dinner of gentlemen — some Genevese,

1814] VISITS MADAME DE STAEL. 5

Murray the publisher, &c. &c,, and two musicians, who accompanied Albertine [Madlle. de Stael].

Tuesday, February \st. — Went in the evening with Madame de Stael to Sir J. Mackintosh's house. The drive from here to George Street, Westminster, in the present state of the streets, is actually not without danger. We braved it alone, and were amply recompensed by the very agreeable hour and a half we passed at Sir James's, where there were Mr. Sharpe and Mr. Wishaw, &c. Madame de Stael was very talkative, and made me some curious confidences.

Friday, kth. — Before ten o'clock went to Madame de Stael, where the Duke of Gloucester had dined, arid there was also a pleasant small society of thirty or forty people.

Sunday, 13th. — At Madame de Stael's at seven o'clock, with Kemble, Mrs. Siddons, Lord Dillon, Sir James and Lady Mackintosh, and an American, Mr. Bazeley. In the evening, several others, who did not go very well together ; and Madame de Stael was not well, and not in her usual force.

Tuesday, 22nd. — Dined at Mr. Knight's with Lord and Lady Stafford, Lord and Lady Lansdowne, the three De Staels, &c. Madame de Stael had lost her way, and had been to the door of two other Mr. Knights.

Saturday, 26th. — Dined at Madame de Stael's ; there were, besides, Madame de Vandreuil, the Comte Ed. Dillon, GrefFuhle, William Spencer, and the young Chinnery. Not a well-composed dinner ; but as she will invite everybody, that must happen sometimes.

Sunday, March 6th. — We were both at the Princess's, by command, before three o'clock. I dined at Mr. Locke's with Madame de Stael, her daughter, Mr. Luttrell, Eogers, William Spencer, Campbell the poet, &c. Madame de Stael exerted herself to shine before Mr. Luttrell, arid succeeded.

Wednesday, 9th. — I dined with Madame de Stael ;

6 MISS BERRY'S JOURNAL.

nobody but Campbell the poet, Kocca,* and her own daughter. Madame de StaeTs conversation at her own fireside is excellent — always amusing and always brilliant. After dinner, Campbell read to us a discourse of his upon English poetry and upon some of the great poets. There are always signs of a poet critic and of genius in all he does, often encumbered by too ornate a style.

Sunday r, 13^.— In the evening at Lady Stafford's, where there was a large assembly ; but the bad news from Holland, the loss of so many English officers of the small army which made the unfortunate attack upon Bergen-op- zoom,f arriving with the bulletin from the Government, had saddened everyone.

Tuesday, 15th. — In the evening I accompanied Lady Ellenborough to Lady Derby's, who had some music, and to Lady Keith's, where there was a valtzing ball.

Thursday, 17 'th. — Dined at the Princess's. She was in very bad humour, and when I was going to leave she took me by the arm and made me pace up and down the drawing-room for nearly three-quarters of an hour with her. She is perplexed, and with reason, about the lady she must find to replace Lady C. Campbell, if obliged by her health to leave her.

Friday, 25th. — Dined, for the first time, at Mr. Wilmot's,J in Montague Square, with Lady W. Bentinck

* Bocca, privately married to Madame de Stael, by whom she had one son.

f The attack upon the strong fortress of Bergen-op-zoom was ordered by Sir Thomas Graham, with 4,000 men, divided into four columns. The right column, commanded by Major-General Skerret and Brig. -Gen. Gore, forced its way into the body of the place ; but the fall of the latter and the dangerous wounds of the former threw the column into disorder. The centre column was driven back by the heavy fire of the place, and surrender was all that was left to General Cooke to save the remainder of his troops. The number killed was 300, and 1800 wounded or made prisoners.— Ann. Reg.

\ Mr. Wilmot, afterwards Sir Robert Wilmot Horton, born 1784, suc- ceeded to his father's baronetcy in 1834. He was in Parliament and in

1814] GOES TO THEATEE WITH LADY CONYNGHAM. 7

and her sister, Lady Milicent, Mrs. Fraser, Mr. Eden, Mr. Campbell (Cawdor), Mr. F. Douglas, Mr. C. Grant, Mr. Nugent, and Mr. Adair.

Saturday, 26th. — Went in the morning to Madame de Steel's. I found there Lord Lansdowne alone with her, and we had a very interesting conversation, and a very reasonable one, upon the affairs of France and the Allies.

Sunday, 27th. — We went to Madame de Stael. Catalani had dined with her, and was still singing when we got there ; that is to say, they made her sing French romances, without her knowing how to sing them, or how to pronounce them.

Monday, 28th. — I went with Lady Conyngham to the play, to see Kean for the first time.* It was ' Eichard the Third.' It pleased me, but I was not enthusiastic. His expression of the passions is natural and strong, but I do not like his declamation; his voice, naturally not agree- able, becomes monotonous. When I have seen him in ' Hamlet ' I shall be better able to judge if he will ever reach what is now expected of him. Lady Conyngham left me at Mrs. Wellesley Pole's, where there was a very good assembly. The soi-disant deputies of Bordeaux were there — two men who had not the least idea of good

office some years, and was appointed to the Governorship of Ceylon, and died 1841.

Mrs. Wilmot was much admired for her personal appearance, and was the subject of Lord Byron's beautiful lines, written after he had seen her at a ball, dressed in mourning, with silver spangles on her head : — ' She walks in beauty, like the night

Of cloudless climes and starry skies, And all that 's best of dark and bright

Meet in her aspect and her eyes,' &c, &c.

* Edmund Kean, born between 1787 and 1790, the son of a stage carpen ter and an actress at minor theatres. He appeared as a boy with his mothei at booths, and on one occasion performed before George III. with success. His first appearance at Drury Lane was on Jan. 26, 1814, in the character of Shylock. The latter years of his life were neither reputable nor prosper- ous. He died 1833.

8 MISS BERRY'S JOURNAL. [is 14

company. The lady of the house, her family, and all her party, had mounted the white cockade.

Wednesday, 30^/. — A small party at home in the even- ing, consisting of about ten ladies and twenty-six gentle- men. Joanna Baillie has been less reserved than usual, and much pleased with Madame de Stael, but the latter does not know how to take to a person whose life is so totally different from her own.

Extract of a Letter from Sir Uvedale Price to Miss Berry.

Foxley, March 29, 1814.

Since I wrote to you last, I have read f L'Allemagne,' not in the usual way of reading, car je ne commencais pas, par le com- mencement. My neighbour Peploe,* who had read it, called upon me just as I had received it. He told me the first volume was highly entertaining ; the second less so, though still very amusing; the third very abstruse, and not very entertaining. He liked, however, particular parts which he did comprehend as much as anything in the work. He told me, at the same time, that the subject of the third volume was distinct from those of the other two, being entirely on German philosophy. Upon this information, Lady Caroline f and my daughter having eagerly seized on the first volume, I began with the third, in which I found so many new and striking thoughts and reflec- tions, that, in order to recollect and dwell upon them again, I marked them as I went on, and a pretty task I set myself ! The mere references make a little volume. Though I have lately, from the nature of my warfare, been obliged to write on metaphysical subjects, mine is not a very metaphysical head, and there are parts of the third volume out of my depth ; but whenever I met with anything of that kind, I satisfied myself with applying that excellent maxim, il faut comprendre Vin- comprehensible comme tel. ... I have now returned again to the first, and am reading the whole through de suite, and I find

* Samuel Peploe, Esq., of Garnston, Herefordshire, t Lady Caroline Carpenter, daughter of George, first Earl of Tyrconnel, married Uvedale Price, Esq., 1774 ; died 1826.

1814] DEFEAT OF BONAPARTE'S ARMY. 9

great pleasure in reading on without interruption, and great plea- sure also in observing, en passant, the passages I had marked, and to which, if I had not determined not to stop, I might add many more. I now can follow the general plan of the work ; before, I was dazzled with the blaze of diamonds and rubies. As far as I can judge, her thoughts are not less just than bril- liant. It must be owned, however, that one is not a very accurate judge. Cum stupet innumeris acies fulgoribus ; in this second reading I shall endeavour to judge more soberly.

JOUKNAL.

Thursday, 3~Lst. — Went, in the Duke of Devonshire's box, to see Kean in ' Hamlet.' I must confess I am dis- appointed in his talent. To my mind he is without grace and without elevation of mind, because he never seems to rise with the poet in those sublime passages which abound in ' Hamlet,' and for what is called reci- tation of verse he understands nothing.

Friday, April 1st. — Dined with Madame de Stae'l, with Lord and Lady Hardwicke, Mr, York, Duke of Grafton, Lord Darnley, Sir J. Mackintosh, Comte Palmella, and Eocca. In the evening she had a very numerous society.

Tuesday, bth. — In the morning we heard the news of the defeat of Bonaparte's army, near Paris. Lady Hard- wicke, who was at my house at the time when Mrs. Eobinson * brought the bulletin, went with me directly to Madame de Stae'l. We found Augustus Foster coming out of her room, he having just heard the grandissime arguments of the capitulation of Paris to the Allies on the 30th March, which had arrived since the bulletin that we had seen. Madame de Stae'l was completely overcome. No arguments, no reply, no wit ; she showed true feeling for what she always calls her country. Albertine also powerfully affected, either for that or another cause — I

* Sister of the first Lord Malmesbury, and widow of the Hon. Frederick Robinson.

10 MISS BERRY'S JOURNAL. [is 14

think rather a mixture of both. Madame de Stael was touched with the interest and sympathy that Lady Hard- _ wicke and I showed her. At Lansdowne House there was a very pleasant party. All the men were in groups talking of the great news of the day ; all the Foreign Ministers arrived in fiocchi, who came from a dinner that Lord Liverpool had given to the Grand Duchess of Ol- denburg.*

Saturday, 9th. — A dinner party at home. In the evening, about eleven o'clock, we took our party to Madame de StaeTs, where we heard the astonishing news of the abdication of Bonaparte, which had just been published in a ' Gazette ' of ten lines long. One could hardly believe it ; one could hardly persuade oneself that one was already at peace with all the world. That the struggle was over — not faute de cvmbattans, but mais faute de quelque ennemi a combattre. Nobody could think or talk of anything but the wonderful news that we had * just heard.

Sunday, IQth. — At four o'clock we drove to the park, and there walked about. There was an immense number of people, a bright sun, universal gaiety, although the people had not yet been able to take in the idea that we were already at peace.

Tuesday, I2th. — We went out to see the illuminations as far as Whitehall ; Carlton House, the Horse Guards, and the Admiralty were the only places worth seeing. Those three were very beautiful. The crowds in the streets were in the best possible humour, and there was neither accident, difficulty, nor confusion in any place.

Saturday, 16th. — I went to Madame de StaeTs, and I stayed with her and Eocca for some time. She talked with much warmth and much sentiment on the subject of France, but at this moment her feelings obscure her

* The Grand Duchess of Oldenburg, sister to the Emperor Alexander of Russia, landed in England on the 31st of March.

1814] THE KIXG OF FRANCE. 11

judgment. Because France has not delivered herself from her tyrant she will not hope anything really good for her, and will only believe in the re-establishment in totality of all the old prejudices, which is not possible.

Wednesday, 20th. — I went this evening to see Lady H. Leveson, to arrange our going to her sister's empty house to see the entry of the King of France. The streets and the park were, before twelve o'clock, filled with people and carriages ; the latter were not allowed to enter the park. At five o'clock we saw seven car- riages of the Prince Eegent's pass, drawn by six horses, in dress livery, preceded by several hundreds of gentle- men on horseback, and accompanied and followed by a detachment of Light Horse and the Blues ; but that was all we saw, because from Park Street the distance was too great to see well into the carriages, and, if we could have seen so far, the people on foot, and the crowd on the rails and walls of the park, would have prevented our doing so. The people took off" their hats and saluted the carriages as they passed with much goodwill, but with- out the least enthusiasm. /

Thursday, 2lst. — Everybody who wished to see the King of France went to Grillon's, in Albemarle Street, where he lodged. I was not amongst the number, but during all the day one could hardly pass through the streets, there were so many carriages and people on foot. He went to see the Prince, and in the evening there were a great many people at Carlton House. All who were not there went to Lady Jersey's, where there was a very agreeable, and not too numerous a society.

Saturday, 23rd— The King of France left London at nine o'clock this morning. If about the same interval elapses between the visits of the Kings of France to , London, we shall not see another for 500 years.*

* Sixteen years later, Charles X. sought an asylum on British ground j and in eighteen years more, Louis Philippe was driven to do the same.

12 MISS BEERY'S JOURNAL. [isu

Sunday, 24:th. — At seven o'clock dined with the Prin- cess at Kensington, with Lord and Lady Charlemont, Lord G. Leveson Gower, Lord Boringdon, Mr. Canning, Lady Crewe, Mr. Gell, Lord Byron, Mr, and Miss Grattan, and Mr. Plunket. A well-composed dinner and tolerably agree- able ; but the Princess has not the same cheerfulness to excite others as she had at one time.

Tuesday, May 3rd. — Dined at Lady Stafford's, with Madame de Stael, her daughter, Mr. Schlegel, Eocca, Lord J. Eussell, Dr. Holland, &c. In the evening we went with Madame de Stael and her party to the Exhibition of Pictures, lighted up in Pah1 Mall, where we found every- body, and, amongst others, the Princess of Wales.

Friday, 6th. — At six o'clock Madame de Stael came, and had an agreeable tete-a-tete with me. She made me, as usual, some extraordinary confidences, speaking with perfect openness. She always amuses and interests me ; I take leave of her with great regret.

Saturday, 1th. — In the evening at Lady Komilly's.* Dr. Marcet has arrived from Paris, which he left last Wed- nesday, at five o'clock in the morning. The moment he entered, Madame de Stael seized upon him. He was instantly surrounded by a circle, whilst she examined and cross-examined him. He bore this trial very well, answering to all with much intelligence. He had seen the King enter ; was upon the steps of the Tuileries when he went upstairs. Louis XVIII. was received with much joy, much goodwill, but no enthusiasm. He conducted himself wonderfully under the trying circumstances in which he found himself placed, I left Lady Komilly's with Madame de Stael, in order to. have a few minutes e with her. I left her at the door, and not without emotion ; but emotion is not what she excites, nor what she feels (except momentarily). She does not

* Wife of Sir S. Eomilly, daughter of Mr. Garbett, of Knill Court, Here- fordshire; married 1798 ; died 1818.

J814] LETTER FROM HON. J. W. WARD TO MISS BERRY. 13

dwell long enough upon anything ; life, characters, and even feelings pass before her eyes like a magic lantern. She spends herself upon paper, and runs through the world to see all, to hear all, and to say ah1 — to excite her- self, and to give it all back to the world, and to the society from whence she has drawn it.*

Extract of a Letter from Miss Berry to Mrs. Darner.

London, May, 1814.

. . . I parted with Madame de Stael, non sans atten- 1 drissement de ma part, late on Saturday evening. She set off for Paris early on Sunday morning. I own I much regret her absence. She had a frankness with me, and a power of exciting my mind. Now she is gone, while / am regretting her, she will never think more of me till we meet again.f I know her well, with all her faults, ridicules, and littlenesses, and yet she ( is a very superior creature.

From the Hon. J. W. Ward to Miss Berry.

Paris, Wednesday, May 11, 1814.

I should have written to you before, but I wished first to look about me and see what the place contains. Paris is cer- tainly at this moment the most wonderful show-box in the world. It has within its walls as many live emperors, kings, generals, and eminent persons of all kinds, as the ingenious Mrs. Salmon ever exhibited in wax. Of the five great sovereigns of the Christian world, four are here actually present, and we

* Lord Byron appears to have had the same impression of Madame de Stael's ready means of finding consolation by exciting sympathy. Her second son was killed in a duel in Germany, to which Lord Byron thus alludes : — ' Madame de Stael Holstein has lost one of her young barons. . . . Corinne is of course what all mothers must be, but will, I venture to pro- phesy, do what few mothers could — write an essay upon it. She cannot exist without a grievance, and somebody to see or read how much grief be- . comes her.'

f Madame de Stael certainly appreciated Miss Berry more than she was inclined to believe, judging by the following passage in a letter from a friend to Miss Berry, dated 1815 : — ' Madame de Stael told a person who repeated it to me, that she had loved you the best, and thought you by far the cleverest woman in England.'

14 MISS BERRY'S JOURNAL. [isu

have every eminent military commander in Europe except Bonaparte and Bernadotte. I say nothing of princes and prime ministers, though they are here in plenty ; but under the present circumstances they are not sufficiently considerable to deserve notice. This is very curious ; at least to those that, like me, partake largely in the gratification the vulgar feel in staring at famous people. But what is a matter of greater interest and greater surprise is to see France — to see the great nation that only a few months ago seemed so near realising its old plan of universal dominion — not only beaten, but delivered over bound hand and foot to foreign masters. ' Ukases ' in the Russian tongue, addressed to the non-ruling part of the popu- lation of France, are everywhere stuck upon the walls. One walks in safety about the streets of Paris, under the protection of Count Sacken, the governor of the place. You are stared at when you speak French at the gate of the French garrison town through which you are going, and are obliged, if you can, to explain yourself in German to the Keiserlic/ie that receives your passport. This appears very strange to me, and you that have seen France under such different circumstances would hardly think yourself awake. In this pleasant and honourable situa- tion, the common people seem as gay and self-satisfied as ever. The day I got to Paris, it happened that the Emperor of Russia went out to Compiegne to welcome the King. In every village and town through which I passed, I found the in- habitants collected ; their houses were adorned with flowers and laurels, and everything seemed to indicate that they were awaiting the approach of some victorious French generals, or celebrating the anniversary of some great national triumph. I must observe, however, that tho' they received the foreign princes better than one could expect, they showed no great enthusiasm at the first appearance of their own sovereign. The place from whence I saw the ceremony of his entrance into Paris was near the gate of St. Denis. The ceremony was as magnificent as possible, and the crowd, of course, prodigious ; but I thought the applause feeble for the occasion. They cried 4 Vive le Roi ' from a recollection that, under those circumstances, it would be wrong to omit it. In short, the applause resembled a little that which, at private theatricals, is, by the well-bred part of the company, bestowed upon the lady of the house.

1814] LETTER FROM HON. J. W. WARD TO MISS BERRY. 15

The fact, I believe, is, that the people have become quite callous by what they have suffered for the last twenty years, and that no public event makes much impression upon them. They are generally well inclined to the Bourbons — not, however, as a positive good, but as the least of the evils they are likely to endure. There are, however, I understand, a great many mal- contents ; and the army is still, in general, attached to the late Emperor. But the different bodies of which it is composed have no means of union, or indeed of communication ; no indi- vidual in whom they confide, and round whom they could rally ; and in peace (if the Court manages tolerably well) they will rapidly crumble away, so that I see no great danger from that side.

You see the King has rejected the Constitution with as little ceremony as he would send away a dish at dinner that he did not like. This event will probably excite quite as much sensa- tion in England as it does in France. I cannot find that anybody here cares about the matter. The Constitution was generally disapproved of, and the framers of it still more gene- rally despised ; so the rejection of it appeared quite a matter of course. So that for three weeks the King will reign in the old way — by divine right — at the end of which period he has graciously promised to produce a newer Constitution, more to his own taste, and, he flatters himself, more to that of his people. He will doubtless keep his word, but they don't seem to have been very particular in taking securities for the per- formance of it. He is now a Tory King, but he has engaged to become a Whig King by the beginning of June, and that is enough for them. What it will all end in, I am at a loss to guess ; I mean what it will end in practically — for it signifies mighty little what is the letter of the Constitution they go through the mummery of framing or swearing to, and printing and publishing in a double number of the ' Moniteur.' I am afraid, however, that a moderate pacific despotism is the best thing that awaits them.

I have seen hardly any French society, and I understand from persons that have far better means of access to it than myself that there is not much to see. It had been very much spoilt by the despotism of the last ten years, and particularly by that uni- versal employment of spies which formed so conspicuous a part

16 MISS BERRY'S JOURNAL. [isi4

of the Emperor's system. Very little company was collected except at the houses of the Ministers, some of which, it is said, were agreeable enough — that is, I suppose, as agreeable as any places can be without liberty and without confidence. The present circumstances of the country are not particularly well calculated to restore society to its ancient ease and gaiety. The old and new materials cannot mix very harmoniously, and it will probably end in there being two societies, each detesting and abusing the other. Besides, Paris is at this moment a garrison town, and, what is worse, a town garrisoned by foreign troops ; and tho' the lower order of people seem to take the pre- sence of all these strangers quietly enough, yet the better sort, I understand, feel a little more for the utter disgrace and sub- jugation of their country, and one ought not to be surprised if they don't open their houses for the purpose of entertaining Count Sacken and the Hetman Plato w. I honour them for being sorry for those events at which I feel nothing but joy. 'Lord Wellington was here for a few days : his dukedom met him on his arrival. He was received in a manner that could not but give great pleasure to every Englishman. He seems quite unspoilt by success. He has not even contracted that habit of silence and reserve which so often accompanies dignity and fa- vour, even when they produce no more unfavourable change. But he is just as he was — gay, frank, and ready to converse. I counted myself lucky in meeting him one of the days he was here, at Aberdeen's, with Schwartzenberg, Stadion, and Prince Maurice of Lichtenstein. Stadion observed that he believed he had never been engaged against Bonaparte in person. The Duke of W. answered instantly: 'No, and I am very glad I never was. I would at any time rather have heard that a reinforcement of forty thousand men had joined the French army, than that he had arrived to take the command.' I had heard the opinion ascribed to him before, but I was glad to find he had the liberality to repeat it after Bonaparte's fall. You know he is to be our Ambassador here. His presence may inspire the Marshals of France with some respect ; or, to speak more pro- perly, may keep up that sentiment in their minds. Nor is that such an easy matter as you will think, when I tell you the topic Ney chose to dwell upon the other day, at Lord Castle- reagh's table, in presence of Lord Wellington and seven or

1814] LETTER FROM HON. J. W. WARD TO MISS BERRY. 17

eight more foreign generals, by all of whom the French had at sundry times been defeated. It was the invasion of England ; a project which, Ney said, had always met with his warmest approbation, and of the success of which, if it were attempted, he had always felt quite confident. The Emperor, he owned, had treated it as more hazardous, and as an undertaking more fit for a partisan than a general, but that his own opinion had remained UD shaken.

Bonaparte's improvements in Paris are quite magnificent and in the best possible taste. They were all executed, too, for a sum of money which, compared with the resources of such a country, is quite trifling. Twelve millions (francs) were set aside annually for the purpose, and never touched upon on any pretence whatever. I hope the present Government will not, out of envy or stinginess, leave unfinished what he had begun so well. I understand that the tone at Court is to treat France as almost ruined by the late Government. I don't believe a syllable of it. The taxes and the conscription pressed hard for the last years of the war, but a country cultivated like a garden from one end to the other is far enough from ruin, and if there is but tolerable skill and honesty in the Grovernment, and if the people are but tolerably well affected, the financial difficulties must quickly disappear. If there is much fuss made about them, it must be considered as a symptom, not of poverty, but of mismanagement and discontent.

Talma has not played often since I came to Paris, so that I did not see him at all till last night, then it was only in an act and a half of full play, the story of which is not well adapted to the French stage — ' Hamlet,' by Mr. Ducis. But I was ex- tremely struck with him, and think he deserves all his repu- tation. Perhaps I was more surprised than pleased at the manner in which he delivered some passages, but it would be quite idle to set one's own hasty notions against the deliberate system of so great an artist. It is not impossible, however, that, like Kemble, he may have his whims.

Altogether, these theatres are delightful. They are really a resource, which in London they are not. All within a stone's- throw of the good part of the town, and of a size for hearing and seeing. Then, too, the power of taking a box and keeping it to one's self all the evening, makes an immense difference.

VOL. III. C

18 MISS BERET'S JOURNAL. [isu

I complain of nothing but their changing the piece after the boxes are taken, which is a downright cheat. For instance, everybody to-night expected to see the ' Misantrope,' which had been in the bills these three days, and this morning, with- out any reason assigned, they changed it to ( Le Philosophe malgre lui.'

Literature seems to be at a low ebb. They may write what they please now, but the talent for liberal discussion is quite gone for want of use. I have not been able to get any pamphlet upon the present state of affairs that isn't absolutely contemptible — except Chateaubriant's, which you have seen, and which, to do it justice, is almost good enough to have been a prize declamation at either University. I have bought Mr. Schlegel's book about the drama, which they have translated and printed here, but I have not had time to read much of it. This, however, I see plainly ; that if these confounded Germans get only a little more into fashion, one must begin one's education anew. Not above one half of what they say is intelligible to me.

There are a great many English here ; however, I think the stock don't increase ; as many go as come. They proceed in the old way — grumbling and enhancing the price of everything. I am told that china in particular is now as dear as it is in London. Those that came first, however, got bargains. Kin- naird, I understand, has bought much and well.

The last twenty years have, I suspect, very much altered the relation betwixt the two countries on things in which the French used to be our acknowledged superiors. We have been advancing, and they have receded, so that in taste and elegance we are much nearer a match for them than we were. The Paris fashions in dress used to be regularly and servilely copied, and perhaps they will be so still, but I confess I see nothing in them worth following. The dress of the men has nothing remarkable in it, except that nobody looks clean. The women are chiefly distinguished by a sort of bonnet three stories high, and by far the most horrible superstructure that was ever piled upon the human head. It pervades the country like a pesti- lence, and you see nothing else from the pier of Calais to the Opera House at Paris. The rest of the dress by no means atones for the demerits of the bonnet. It is a slovenly con- fused-looking thing, which renders the female, and indeed the

1814] LETTER FROM HOX. KEPPEL CRAVEN. 19

human, form almost indistinguishable. There are many pretty, and a thousand agreeable-looking women here, but none that I have seen are very beautiful, except the Marechale Augereau and a Madame Dubois — to which list I must add a peasant girl in a village fifty miles off, handsomer than either.

I don't mean to stay here long, but to return to England and put ' mine house in order,' with a view to a longer flight. Before I go, however, I have a sort of project of going from here to Orleans, and down the Loire to Tours. All that I have hitherto seen of this ' beautiful France ' is as ugly as sin ; but everybody joins in praising the banks of the Loire, and I am therefore anxious to see them just at the beginning of the fine season*

Believe me, yours very sincerely,

J. W. W.

To the Miss Berrys from the Hon. Keppel Craven.

Paris, Saturday, March 14.

MY DEAR FRIENDS, — If I had been assisting at the expiatory mass, which is now performing,, for the murder of the Eoyal Family, I could not be expiating my neglect in not writing to you sooner, and I believe, of the two ceremonies, I am more pleased at the last, though I did everything I could to obtain a ticket. The nation, or rather the town of Paris, is highly pleased at this act of their sovereign, parc& que c'est dans les convenances, et puis il ne pewt aller an spectacle avant cela, so you may imagine how anxious they are to see it over. I send you some pamphlets, which daily abound, and are, as you will see, mostly very