On this page
-
Text (1)
-
Untitled Article
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
-
-
Transcript
-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Untitled Article
competent and useful yiews- ^—in the interests of humanity , or , at least , what-we deem to be such . Uncertainty as to " Colburn" and tile . w enormous expense" was soon dispelled : —v Attffyst .-r-Tbis mqraing , as I Was on ray knees , all dust and dowdyism r comes the English post—old Colburn- —no ! not old at all , but young , enthusiastic Colburn , in love with "Florence Macarthyj" and a little epris with the author ! " Italy , by Lady Morgan ! " he is " not touched but rapt , " and makes a dashing offer of two thousand pounds—to be printed in quarto like " France "— -but we are to start off immediately , and I have " immediateiy" answered him in the words of Sileno in " Midas' *—" Done ! strike hands—I take your offer .
Further on I may fare worse , " Morgan , of coarse , consenting ; he is , in fact , charmed . How he will come out with his Dante and Tasso I above all , with his favourite Machiavelli , of whom he has been longing to give a new reading , the Very reverse of generally-received opinions . For me , I must rub up xny Goldoni , and flirt and flutter with Pastor Fido and Metastasio . So Sir Charles and his lady set out at once from Kildare-street for Florence and Rome ; but the . reader who did not happen to know already that they reached those parts , and that Lady Morgan ' s
" Italy , " the first ! of her travels , was duly published by the liberal " Colburn ; " would look in vain for any evidence of it in this book ; for the travellers loitered in London and in Paris , fetedand caressed by grand folks of all parties , and were so long upon the road that this volume only takes us to Geneva , where the record ceases .. The reader , howe ver , wfill find himself in eye ' ry page in such good society that he must be a discontented reader indeed if he should complain of the delays . Nothing below baronets and their ladies , unless they were the great literary lions of the day , have been permitted to enter upon these pages . " How very fashionable is the diary of those days readers will see from pasr sages like this : —
Sir George is good-humoured and courteous , though a petit diaifle boiteux in person . It was a marriage de convenance on the part of Lady Cecilia , to please her family ( for he is old enough to be her father ); but she looked as happy asif it had been made to please herself . Sir George is enormously rich , and she has as fine diamonds as any duchess in the land , par compensation . Oh , those diamonds ! We were in the midst of some Dublin cancan when the door opened , and His Royal Highness the Duke of Sussex was announced . Grand mouvementl We all rose up , and then all sat down . Morgan and myself were presented , to him : the rest
• were old acquaintances . The duke kept up a pleasant bantering conversation with me on the subject of my work on France , not agreeing with noe in many of my opinions , occasionally appealing to Morgan , and saying many civil things on hia part of the work , which pleased me more than any Mcige he could have given on mine . Bint , sir , " interrupted , Lady Cecilia , "do tell us something about the royal wedding now ; '' and Lady Arran pressing him close , and wanting to learn details , he said , " Why , ma ' am , you did not expect me to have stayed for the wine-posset and the throwing of the slipper ?" At which we all threw down our eyes , and affected
prudery . His royal highness , I thought , looked grave , and said , after a pause , "A wedding is no , joke , arid least of all a royal one , " He probably thought of his own marriage , recently broken , and the similar position Of Wa brother , stilj , perhaps , devoted to the mother of his beautiful children . " How did the duke look , sir ?" said Lady Arran . " Humph , " said he , " not very brilliant . " " And the Puchesa of Clarence , sir , " said Lady Cecilia ; "is she as plain aa is reported ?" " Quite , " said the Duke of Sussex , emphatically ; "but so amiable and gentle ; her goodness is unmistakable . " He then , I thought , rather hastily throw off the subject , and talked to Morgan on French polltica . Wo were all chatting entro hup et chat , and more people had dropped
in , when the grands battants of the back drawing-room were thrown open , A nd exhibited an interior brilliantly lighted , with a card-table on one side , and a buffet with refreshments of all sorts on the other . The Puke , Sir George and Lady Cecilia , and Lady Arran sat down to cards , The Douglases and ourselves attacked the buffet , and chatted of ' our Priory days : and so wo parted , they for Argyll House , to inquire for his sister , Lady Aberdeen , who is not well , and wo for homo , ami a pull at the proofs of " Florence McCarthy . " , The much sought-after authoross was not to lcavo London until tho whole manuscript of' " Juoronoo Maqarthy'' was in tho hands of tho publisher , who had taken lodgings , for her in Conduit-sliroofc , to bo Close to him . His " " render , " wo are told , was charmed with the novel as ho reooivod tho manuscript shoots , and Oalbum ( more praotioal man I ) was in ecstasy with his third edition of " Franoo . " He , says the fair diarist , " as usual , Jias indulged his puffing vooation by sending our . arrival to the
papers , as if anybody cared about it ! " Delightfully modest diarist ! though we subsequently hear that this has brought down " a shower of visiting-cards and notes to me . " I once more take the road , the hour of attack approaches , . Hark ! I hear the sound of coaches ! Lady Gharleville ' s the first — her two tall footmen actually looking in at our drawing-room windows frpra behind the carriage . And here we have the same Lady Gharleville at home , and the literary lioness in her drawingroom : ——
The next night was one of Lady Charleville ' s conversaziones . There was the Rev . Mr . Milman there , author of " Fazio , " the play a la mode , —which he might be himself , if he chose to take the trouble ; but he .. retiring , and kept in the background , where , however , many sou ght him . My old crony , Mrs . Opie , was there , en grand costume as usual , and lots of grandees , ambassadors , and ambassadresses , &c . My hero of the night , however , was Jekyll , the wit par excellence , but always so much pleasanter than wits generally are , particularly as he made my " France" the subject * of his conversation . He told ine he was at Lord Sheffield ' s when the book came out , the circle chiefly consisting of the Ministerial people ; and the sensation it made among them said he
was very curious : and even old . George Rose could not let it out of his hands till he had read it through ; " , " added Jekyll i " what was comical , "he said with a dry air , ¦¦ and I believe in m / heart every word of it is true . ' " But what pleased me most was , that he said Morgan ' s Appendix had opened the eye 3 of many , for people had known so little of the interior of France till lately ; and what he , "Morgan * had said , were considered as things of authority by all parties , as they were evidently written with great temperance and simplicity . " As for the ' Quarterly Review , ' said Jekyll , " that , instead of exciting , has damped party prejudice against you , and by none was it more cried down than by some of the Ministerialists themselves ; in fact , they , are ashamed of it *"
This was all curious , coming from the personal friend of the Regent , which Jekyll is . He is certainly . the most delightful creature I ever met , partlyj perhaps , because he flatters me up to my bent , and partly because he is delightful . It is in Paris , however , that Lady Morgan is really spoiled and petted . There diary and letter sparkle with famous names of statesmen , artists ^ orator , and poets . Denon arid Humbbldt , and La Payette , Benjamin Constant , Cuvier , Auguste Thierry , Scheffer , Se ' gur , de Tracy , Sisniondi , and Talma , were the chief stars of that brilliant firmament , and the diarist , after some time , thus records her complete success :- —r
My popularity here increases daily ; and , without either vanity or affectation , my notoriety is now more a charge and tiresome to me than the profoundest obscurity could possibly have been . I never know the enjoyment of one day , one hour to myself . Strangers of all countries not only write to me to receive them , but actually force the door , dispute the point with , my servant , enter my room , and then think they excuse this intrusion by talking to me of my " reputation European , " You have no idea howl pant for silence , solitude , an , long journey , which , t hank Heaven , we are now about to begin . .. ' ...
Sprinkled up and down , amid the bowings and scrapings of these gentlemen , and the minor characters who play merely the chorus in the scene , are pictures of life during the Restoration in Prance , which are of some historical interest . Here is the lady ' s account of the «• Opening of tho Chambers inX 818 ;"There never was known ouch a desire to get tickota , &c , on such an occasion , or such difficulty ; We succeeded in getting three . Tho opening of the stance waa most imposing—tho splendour of the throne was dazzling : peers in their robes—the conseild ^ tat in their livery at the foot of the throne—deputies to the left—tabourets for the princes ., When La Fayatte entered , every eye waa turned on him , and every tongue pronounced his name as admiration , fear , or hopo dictated . When tho chancellor read out tho list of names , each answered
with French impetuosity or petulance , save La Fayotto , whoi > o calm nnd distinct tones produced a great effect . Who there had not ejaculated their " Jig jure" to all forms of government undor heaven , and yielded to all turn save La Fuyotto ? I observed that before ho pronounced tho word he strotohed out his hand in a rcry ompliatio attitude . Wo were aeatod near tho princesses and their suite , and therefore in the very foyer of ultra legitimacy ; and after tho king had passed to the throne , and they were nil about to disperse , I hoard some of thorn any , " I will wait to noo how La Fayotto condupta himself . " The lady who eat next mo , " uno tr 6 s-gramlo damo , " was reading eoa " Houroa" all tho tinio . Th ' o external forma of Oatholloiam have greatly gained ground since tho rot urn of tlio Bourbons , and tho petitea mattroaaea of tho Faubourgs toddle about with eplondldlybound ?• Hourea" and magnificent rotlouloa . Lady Morgan missod sooing Berangor , who in
those days of royalty and gilded saloons refused to come out of his " cave . " Unlike the Irish song writer , Tom Moore , the folks who invited Beranger now were , he said , all " trop grands seigneurs . " They invited , but he would not come . Our diarist says , philosophically :- ^ - Mbpre , in his love of the society of the great—Be * - ranger , in his aversion to it—only show in inverted forms the same over value for external and accidental advantages .
Vulgarity is setting store by " the things which are seen" They who are poets by the grace of God , ought to be able to look indifferently On outward show , to leave coronets and the household gods of " plate and gold , basins and ewers , " and all their catalogue , to their lawful guardians and bounden worshippers of the Heralds ' Office and the Butler ' s Pantry , neither rejecting the amenities of politeness ( be the rank of the person what it may ) , under pretence of being independent , nor seeking to affect familiarity , where there can be no social equality . It is , however , curious that both these men of genius should have sprung from the people , the master race of energetic ability ! La Fayette was the most constant of Lady Morgan ' s admirers among all those brilliant Frenchmen . He gossiped with her upon all subjects , chaperoned her with true old Court politeness , and submitted to all cross-examinations upon doubtful points of recent French history , with the most patient attention . Witness the following notesa small portion of the record of these
conversations : — "Is it true , general , " I asked , " that you once went to a bal masque at the Opera with the Queen pf France , Marie Antoinette , leaning on your arm , the . king knowing nothiilg of the matter till after her return ?" "I am afraid so , " said he , " she was so indiscreet , and I can conscientiously add , so innocent ; however , le Comte d'Artois was of the party , and we were all young , enterprising , and pleasure-loving . But what is
most absurd m the adventure was , that when I pointed out Madame du Barri to her- —whose figure and favourite domino I knew—the queen expressed the most anxious desire to hear her speak , and bade me intriguer her . She answered me flippantly , and I am sure if I had offered her my armj the queen would not have objected to it ; such was the esprit oVaventure at that time in the Court of Versailles , and in the head of the haughty daughter of Austria . " 1 said , " Ah , general , you . were their Cromwell Grandison . "
" Eas encore , " replied he , smiling , " that soubriquet was given me long after by Mirabeau . " " I believe , " said I , " the queen was quite taken with the American cause . " " She thought so , but understood nothing about it , " replied he . " The world said at least , " I added , with some hesitation , '« . ' that she favoured its 3 'oung champion , le hdros dea deux mondes . " ' Cancan de salon . ' " hereplied , and the subject was dropped . I asked him if it were true that the Emperor Napoleon had served under him ? , He replied , "No ; my intimacy with his compatriot Paoli gave rise to the supposition , Napoleon was the general-in-chief when hia name first penetrated into my dungeon at Olmutz . I was even ignorant of the events that followed the siege of Toulon . Buried alive , and , as I believed , almost
forgotten , my countrymen began at that period to apeak aloud of the prisoners of Olmutz , and allusions wera made to us—the Comte do Maubourg and myself—in the journals , the theatres , and even at the tribune . The leading generals expressed an interest in our fate , and the first act of one of the chiefs of the Directory , Barthdlomj , the moment ho hoard of his nomination , was to write on my behalf to the Emperor of Austria . So did tho directors , Carnot , Barras , and Rubel . The Directory , in fact , charged tho French plenipotentiaries with our deliverance , without any ' particu lar condition against my return to France ; but I know nothing of this negotiation until after my liberation . Bonaparte interested himself much for us , and hastened our deliverance by aome months ; our lottera of acknowledgment were addressed to the ministers of foreign relations , Talleyrand , General Clarke , and General Bonaparte . "
Wo arc glad that Lady Morgan has published this book ; but we cannot take lcavo of it without a regret that wo see in it , so little of the diarist hersqlf , and so much of tho external world in which she moved . Tho "liboral Colburn" may have dolightcd in tho highly fashionable porsons who season their discourse ( at least in novels and diurios ) with endless soraps pf IVonch ; but tho taste of renders has somewhat ohancrod since his day . May the next
forty volumos , which on this soalo will bo rorjuirocl for tho full record of Lady Morgan ' s life , give ua something bottor than this . It is porhnps too much tjo qxpoot tlrnt tho brilliant authoross should toll tho world tho story of her oarly life , or dopicfc'horsoU while living in any other form than as a public character ; but how gladly would wo givo fifty roams of Sydney Lady Morgan for ono shoot of tho autobiography of Miss Sydnoy Owonson ,
Untitled Article
140 THE LEADER . [ Ko ; 462 v JAyuAKY 29 , 1859 .
-
-
Citation
-
Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 29, 1859, page 140, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2279/page/12/
-