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Rochecotte, March 5, 1841.– The following is a passage from a letter which I received yesterday from M. Molé: "The coalition has prevented the powers of good from triumphing henceforward; power can only be exerted now at the price of concessions, which I will never make, so I consider my political or rather my ministerial career as terminated. When any question seems to be worth the effort, I shall do my duty to the Chamber of Peers, but neither more nor less than that. On that point I am irrevocably decided. Blindness is everywhere paramount, and in particular where clear-sightedness should reign. This reason makes me doubt the future, which I regard in the darkest colours and with many apprehensions of approaching disaster."
M. de Salvandy writes saying that he has to go to Toulouse this month on family business and will ask me to put him up on his way. He adds, "The campaign upon the question of the secret service funds has been waged as mercilessly as that upon the fortifications question. M. Thiers emerges defeated and without prospects; M. Guizot triumphant in word but weakened in reality, for the majority are disturbed by the observations of M. Dufaure. The session seems to be concluded, but the vote of credit will arouse it to fresh life at the expense of M. Thiers, and the discussion upon the law of the fortifications, if it should end in the Chamber of Peers according to the wishes of M. Molé, which seems unlikely, would complicate the situation more than ever."
The newspapers announce the death of M. de Bellune, who received the sacraments from the hands of my cousin, the Abbé of Brézé, in the presence of M. de Chateaubriand, the Marquis de Brézé and M. Hyde de Neuville. No one could come to an end as a more thorough-going Carlist than he. M. Alexandre de La Rochefoucauld has also died, but not in so Legitimist a fashion.
M. Royer-Collard is sad, depressed and ill, and is angry that M. Ancelot should have been elected to M. de Bonald's seat in the Academy instead of M. de Tocqueville.
Rochecotte, March 7, 1841.– I am delighted to hear that you like the letters of Madame de Maintenon,12 and am deeply flattered by the likeness that you find between the nature of her intellect and of mine. However, the Duc de Noailles has several times made the same observation to me. I wish I were more capable of living up to the resemblance. Apart from her mental qualities and a certain weakness due to her position and to the time in which she lived, she had a loftiness of soul, a firmness of character and a purity of principle and of life which raised her very high in my esteem and provided a better explanation of the astonishing fortunes which followed her, than her beauty, her grace and her lofty thoughts can do.
Rochecotte, March 8, 1841.– Yesterday evening my son-in-law read us a delightful article upon Mlle. de Lespinasse in the Revue des Deux Mondes of March 1. The article is well written and reminds me of several incidents which M. de Talleyrand told me of this personage, who was no favourite of his. He thought that she was wanting in simplicity, for one of the best features of M. de Talleyrand's taste was his respect and liking for simplicity. He admired it in every case, in mind, manner, language and feeling, and only a strange conjuncture of circumstances or a very strained position could ever prevent this noble instinct of simplicity from influencing his own character and actions. Exaggeration and affectation he always hated. My own failings in this respect were corrected in a remarkable degree by my intercourse with him. At the time of my marriage I was somewhat to blame in those directions, though I hope that is not the case now. The improvement is due to him, as are many other things, for which I cannot sufficiently thank his memory. To return to Mlle. de Lespinasse, I well remember reading her Letters which appeared shortly after those of Madame du Deffant. I was not greatly attracted by them; affected enthusiasm is by no means the same as real feeling, and passion is not tenderness. In view of the want of principle that characterised the eighteenth century, the one safeguard for the individual was the yoke imposed by society with its customs and demands. If one were ever so little outside that circle, there was no check, and imagination carried people very far and very low. Mlle. de Lespinasse, having neither family nor fortune, was not obliged to consider a society to which she only half belonged, and led the life of a clever man who is also a lady-killer. But now I seem to be writing an article on the subject myself and what we read yesterday is much better than this.
Rochecotte, March 9, 1841.– The following is an extract from a letter which I have from the Duchesse de Montmorency: "People here think only of fortifications: those who usually trouble but little about politics are full of them and society looks very askance upon those who are supposed likely to vote in support of the law. My husband says that he has not yet been enlightened; our family interprets this to mean that the King has won him over. The fact is that he is influenced by my son who has been commissioned by the Château for this purpose, all of which vexes me exceedingly.
"M. Gobert, treasurer of the fund for the orphans of those who died of cholera, was very devoted to the memory of the late Mgr. de Quélen, and had a terrible scene with Mgr. Affre at a meeting of the committee, when the Archbishop wished to dismiss him. M. Gobert replied that he would not stir; in short, the whole business was very scandalous and it is impossible to understand how these scenes of fury and abuse of authority will end.
"The Duc de Rohan is marrying his daughter to the Marquis de Béthisy, a very suitable match.
"In the newspapers you will see the filial comedy that has been played by the Prince de la Moskowa. M. Pasquier is praised for not having allowed him to speak. I am told that the Duc d'Orléans induced the Prince de la Moskowa to enter the House of Peers in order that he might vote for these stupid fortifications. It is also the Duc d'Orléans who influences the Journal des Débats. Old Bertin and the chief editors are strongly opposed to the fortifications, but young Bertin, orderly officer to the Duc d'Orléans and M. Cuvillier Fleury, private secretary to the Duc d'Aumale, insert what they please in the newspaper, or rather what the Château pleases. I know that Bertin de Veaux said the other day to one of my friends, 'Pray do not think that I am inclined to support so fatal a measure.'"
Rochecotte, March 14, 1841.– It was so fine yesterday and I had owed a call so long to the wife of my sub-prefect,13 that I resolved to go to Chinon with my son-in-law between lunch and dinner. The road from this house to Chinon is pretty and easy. At Chinon itself I visited the great and noble ruins of the castle which overlook the rich and smiling valley of the Vienne: the room where Joan of Arc offered her holy sword to Charles VII.; the tower where Jacques Molay, the grand master of the Templars was long confined; and the subterranean passage leading to the house of Agnes Sorel; all these things can still be seen and one regards them with the eye of faith, which is the most important element in archæology. If this ruin were restored as that of Heidelberg has been, the result would be most picturesque. I stayed for a quarter of an hour at the office of the charity organisation where the Sister Superior now is who spent fourteen years in the household of Valençay and who had several times expressed a desire to meet me. She is a thoroughly good person and liked everywhere, and her departure was much regretted at Valençay. When I rang the bell a sister came to tell me that the Mother Superior was at the point of death and had received the last sacraments a few hours before. However, I asked her to tell the invalid that I was there and she insisted upon seeing me. I was much saddened by the interview which cheered the failing life of this excellent person. She told me, as the late Mgr. de Quélen once told me, that from the first day when she had seen me to the day of her death which was now at hand she had never passed a day without praying for me. It is good to be loved by Christian souls and their loyalty is to be found nowhere else.
When I returned from Chinon I found two letters which will influence my movements during the summer; one was from the King of Prussia who had heard of my travelling proposals and asks me to go and see him at Sans Souci. This induces me to go to Berlin about May 12 and so one point is settled. The other letter is from my sisters who tell me that they will remain at Vienna until July 1, and that I ought to carry out the proposal I had formed to go and see Madame de Sagan there if she had lived. I am anxious that the tie between my sisters and myself should be maintained. This is only as it should be and it is also a comfort; we are now reduced to a very small group and the tie of blood has a strength which one is surprised to find persisting in spite of all that should naturally destroy it or at any rate weaken it.
Rochecotte, March 16, 1841.– Yesterday I had a letter from Madame de Lieven who says: "The Firman conferring heredity seems sheer humbug; such was the opinion of the Pasha and even more so the opinion of Napier, the English admiral. He has advised the Pasha to refuse it, which he has done very politely. While these events were in progress in the East, we here received a very polite invitation from London to rejoin the concert of Europe in order to settle the Eastern Question in general, and this invitation was preceded by a protocol announcing that the Egyptian question was entirely settled. As the terms of invitation seemed to be suitable, there was a disposition here to open negotiations. Your Government has proposed some verbal changes which were immediately accepted, and the matter was almost concluded when the news that I have just told you arrived. M. Guizot immediately brought the matter to a standstill, for the Egyptian affair, instead of being terminated, is beginning again, and the Sultan and the Pasha are as far from an understanding as ever. The Firman was dictated by Lord Ponsonby and the other three representatives opposed it. The English at Paris are ashamed of this despicable trick; every one regards it as an act of bad faith, and there is some small amusement at the embarrassment which will be caused to the northern Powers, as the document will have to be drawn up again unless the whole quarrel is to be reopened as if no Treaty of July 15 had ever been made. Meanwhile the Germans are yearning to see the isolation of France come to an end, as this position forces them to undertake great expense in the way of armaments, while France will not hear of any understanding as long as the difference with Egypt persists.
"And what of America? Lady Palmerston writes to me every week and says in her last letter, 'We are very pleased with the news from America, and everything will be settled.' This means that poor MacLeod will be hung and the English territory will be seized. If this will satisfy them, all well and good.14 In China, English affairs are also going badly.
"Bresson will certainly return to Berlin. M. de Sainte-Aulaire has recently arrived. He will go to London, when, I cannot say, probably when you send an ambassador there. I do not know who will go to Vienna.
"Lord Beauvale had an attack of gout during the celebration of his marriage;15 he told the priest to hurry up, and was taken home very ill. The next day he was in bed and his wife had dinner at a small table at his bedside. They will come to Paris on their way to England.
"Adèle de Flahaut is dying; her father is behaving like a madman, but her mother shows a man's courage.
"I have decided to send you Lady Palmerston's letter so that Pauline may read the details that interest her."
The following is Lady Palmerston's letter to the Princess: "I must tell you that my daughter Fanny is engaged to Lord Jocelyn. He is a charming young man of twenty-eight, handsome, cheerful, loyal, clever and pleasant, and he has travelled in every part of the world. He has just come back from China, of which he gives very interesting accounts. We are all very pleased with the marriage, which is quite romantic. He sent his proposal in writing from Calcutta a year and a half ago but could not wait for an answer as he was obliged to start for Chusan; so he has been nearly two years wavering between hope and fear and reached Liverpool without knowing whether he would not find her married to some one else, for in the English papers which he sometimes saw he occasionally found announcements of Fanny's marriage with some other person. Lord Jocelyn's father is Lord Roden, a great Tory, but that, you know, is a trifle which does not disturb us, as Fanny's happiness is our first object, and love and politics do not go together. Moreover, he is not a fanatic like his father, but very reasonable and steady in his ideas.
"The news from America is pretty good upon the whole: it is all a matter of talk and party spirit; the out-goers wish to make the position difficult for the in-comers, almost in European style."
I now propose to copy a little romance which was composed by Henry IV. and which I have found in the Memoirs of Sully. It seems to me full of elegance and charm, and to be even more graceful than Charmante Gabrielle:
Dawn of day
Come, I pray,
Gladden thou mine eyes;
My shepherdess
My heart's distress
Is redder than thy skies.
She is fair
Past compare;
See her slender form,
Eyes that are
Brighter far
Than the star of morn.
Though with dew
Touched anew,
Roses are less bright,
No ermine
So soft is seen
Nor lily half so white.
How pretty it is! Henry IV.'s letters are also charming; in fact his figure alone lends interest to this extraordinary work which is as heavy and diffuse as possible, though interesting to any one who has the patience to delve in it.
Rochecotte, March 27, 1841.– My son-in-law hears that the speech of M. Molé against the proposed fortifications has not answered the general expectation; that the speech of M. d'Alton Shée, which was said to have been written by M. Berryer, sparkled with wit and clever mockery and delighted the Chamber of Peers, which is really as much opposed to the law as the Chamber of Deputies was, though it will probably vote as the other Chamber has done.
Rochecotte, March 29, 1841.– I have now reached my last week of country life which will be filled with a thousand details, arrangements, accounts, and orders to be given. I shall greatly miss my solitude, my peace, the regularity of my daily life, the simplicity of my habits, the health-giving work without fatigue or agitation, which profits others and therefore myself. I cannot help feeling some anxiety at leaving the protecting haven where I have been taking shelter to set sail again. Society is a troublesome and stormy sea to sail, for which I do not feel in the least fitted. I have no pilot and cannot steer my ship alone, and am always afraid of running upon some reef. My wide experience has not given me cleverness, but has merely made me distrustful of myself, which does not conduce to the possibility of a good passage.
Rochecotte, April 2, 1841.– I see a notice in the newspapers of the death of the Vicomtesse d'Agoult, mistress of the robes to the Dauphine. The loss of so old and devoted a friend must be a severe blow to the Princess, especially during her exile. There are few griefs and trials through which she has not passed.
Rochecotte, April 3, 1841.– The newspapers announce that the amendment which would have sent back the law upon the fortifications to the Chamber of Deputies, has been rejected by the House of Peers by a considerable majority. This means that the law will pass in its original form. The Château will be delighted.
The Duchesse de Montmorency tells me that I shall find hypnotism again the rage in Paris: every one has his own medium, and little morning and evening parties are given at which experiments are performed. This fashion was introduced by Madame Jules de Contades, the sister of my neighbour, M. du Ponceau. Her brother, who has been three months in Paris, has obtained a woman of Anjou who is very susceptible to hypnotism. She was with him at Benais16 last autumn, and Dr. Orye tells me wonderful things about her. He was formerly very incredulous, but what he has seen of this woman has shaken his unbelief.
Rochecotte, April 4, 1841.– Certainly Paris is now to have its fortifications. The Duc de Noailles writes me a letter upon the subject which is very politic and probably very judicious, but which I found very wearisome. He adds, "I may tell you as a piece of news that the Princesse de Lieven is giving dinners; she has very fine silver and china, and invited me last Monday with M. Guizot, Montrond, M. and Madame de la Redorte, Mr. Peel (brother of Sir Robert Peel) and Mrs. Peel. This was the second dinner she has given. The first was to her Ambassador and his niece Apponyi. She also gave an evening reception for the Duchess of Nassau, the widow and the daughter of Prince Paul of Würtemberg, who came to spend a fortnight in Paris to see her father who has been at death's door and is still very ill. The Duchess of Nassau is deaf but she is very pleasant and agreeable. She did not wish to call at the Tuileries but her father insisted. The whole of the Royal Family, except the King, called upon her the next day. Three days later she was invited to dinner and refused, saying that she was obliged to go to Versailles on that day. She refused before mentioning the subject to her father, who is certainly not a supporter of the Philippe party, but felt the unpleasantness of the refusal. He has insisted that she should make an appointment with the Queen for her farewell call: the Queen replied that she was very sorry, but that the engagements of Holy Week would not allow her to receive her. As soon as she arrived, the Court placed its theatre boxes at her disposal; she refused, saying that she would not go to the theatre at all, though she has been to the Opera in the box of the Duchesse de Bauffremont. In our faubourg people are delighted with this conduct, which seems to me utterly stupid and in bad taste." I also think such pranks are ridiculous.
As you are reading the little Fenelon,17 remember that I especially recommend the third and fourth volumes; I consider it is equal to Madame de Sévigné and La Bruyère. The whole work is pervaded with the inimitable grace and the fine and gentle austerity of the Christian bishop, an aristocrat, a man of God and of the world, whose intellect was terrifying, as Bossuet said.
I was starting in an hour and am very sorry to go. When and how shall I return? The unforeseen plays too large a part in the life of each of us.
Paris, April 6, 1841.– At length I am in this huge Paris and my impressions are by no means favourable.
Paris, April 9, 1841.– Madame de Lieven wrote asking me to come and see her, and I asked her to a quiet dinner with myself. She accepted the invitation and appeared in full dress, less thin than before, and in good spirits. She told me that her Emperor is as unsociable as ever; that the little Princess of Darmstadt cannot endure the climate of St. Petersburg and that the cold has given her a red nose; the young heir is by no means in love with her, but will marry her. The Princess assures me that nothing has been settled as regards diplomatic changes; that Sainte-Aulaire will go to London and Flahaut to Naples and the rest remains a matter of chance. It is thought that Palmerston is secretly encouraging the strange actions of Ponsonby, as the Eastern Question is by no means settled. Lord Granville has been obliged to resign on account of his health. Lady Clanricarde is very anxious to come to Paris, but the little Queen and Lady Palmerston do not like her; however, she has been reconciled to Lord Palmerston, whom she used to hate. It is said that the Queen would like to appoint Lord Normanby to Paris, as he is a weak member of the Cabinet.
M. Decazes is so ill that people are thinking of his successor. Some mention M. Monnier as a possibility, and I have heard other names which I do not remember.
Paris, April 10, 1841.– I should be glad to have something interesting to say of Paris, where the clash and strife of interests is so strong, but I have nothing and seem to be more vacant and listless even than at Rochecotte. Many words buzz about my ears and leave no impression and merely prevent the quiet course of my reflections.
Yesterday after lunch I called upon Madame Adélaïde. She had heard through a third person that I was at Paris and had asked me to come. I had not proposed to appear at the Château until after Easter. I found her ill and strangely changed; thin, bent, tired and grown old. She was very pleasant, but really harassing with her interminable discourse upon the fortifications. I think she must have sent for me to discuss this subject, as if I had any opinion upon it or as if my idea could be of any importance. I was more interested by the portrait of Queen Christina of Spain which she showed me and which is an agreeable picture. This Queen did not go to Naples because her brother would not receive her. She should now be at Lyons, and it is thought that she will come back here where the Court seems to be favourably inclined to her. For the stout Infanta there seems to be less liking, and she has not increased her popularity recently by sending her three eldest daughters into a convent for no obvious reason. Since her arrival here she took the three Princesses to balls and other social functions, and now shuts them up in this way.
M. Molé came to see me towards the end of the morning, and is very depressed upon the subject of politics. The fact is quite clear that no one has gained either power or reputation. The Court seems to have been so entirely committed to these wretched fortifications which no one wants, not even those who have voted for them, that the consequences have been almost ridiculous. Many people's feelings have been hurt on this question and all who did not promise their vote were ridiculed and insulted point blank. It is said that the Prince Royal has not spared himself in the matter. I am very sorry, as I shall always be about anything that may injure his position. At the present moment he is at St. Omer.
Paris, April 12, 1841.– Some one has just come in to tell me a sad piece of news. The pretty Duchesse de Vallombrose, who was quite young, was confined of her second child a few days ago and was attacked with puerperal fever two days later. The servant whom I sent to inquire for her was told that she died last night. It is very dreadful. The little schoolmistress of Rochecotte was cured of this same disease by country doctors, while the Duchesse de Vallombrose, with the whole of the faculty about her, dies in spite of their supposed science. Life indeed realises but little of what it promises.
Paris, April 13, 1841.– The death of the Duchesse de Vallombrose was yesterday a general subject of conversation. The unfortunate woman seems to have had no suspicion of her danger. A priest was fetched who, fortunately on this occasion, was a capable man (the Abbé Dupanloup), and was obliged to prepare her mind for this terrible conclusion. Deaths of this kind in the time of Louis XIV. would have produced sudden conversions, but nothing can effect the worn-out emotions and the dead consciences of our age, where everything is flat and dull, at home and abroad.
Paris, April 14, 1841.– M. de Sainte-Aulaire came to lunch with me yesterday to ask some questions concerning the nature of the London Embassy and its social position, as he is preparing to move thither. M. Royer-Collard came in before he had gone and they talked of the French Academy and of a new Book which M. Nodier is preparing, The History of Words. People say that it will be a curious and serious work, excellently written by a clever man, and a book of real authority.
M. Royer-Collard told me that on the day of his daughter's death his study door opened three times in a quarter of an hour to admit M. Molé, who was quite simple; M. Thiers, who was less so; and M. Guizot, who was nothing of the kind. Their meeting made the incident stranger still. M. Guizot fell upon the neck of M. Royer-Collard, pale and in tears, and the bereaved father felt too weak to keep him back, and I think he was quite right. Two of M. Guizot's children had been dangerously ill, and had been saved by the care of M. Andral.18 M. Royer-Collard had called upon M. Guizot to congratulate him upon their recovery, and since that time when the two men met in the Chamber, they have shaken hands and exchanged a few words. As I am a supporter of peace in general, and think that the more we advance in life the more we should incline in that direction, I told M. Royer-Collard more than once that I was glad of the reconciliation.
My children came to dinner with me and after they had gone I went to bed. I might go into society if I pleased, or give receptions here, but I have an invincible dislike to these functions, and the hour during which I am at home to friends seems to me the longest in the day. Our dear M. de Talleyrand, whose insight was so profound and who spoke more truly of every one than I realised at the time, told me very correctly that when my children were married I should fall out of society. As a matter of fact I can no longer endure it. My priest, my White Sisters, my garden, my poor people and my workmen, are enough for me. What one knows as friends in society are quite uninteresting compared with them. Madame de Maintenon said, "My friends interest me, but my poor people touch my heart." I have often applied this phrase to my own case and understand its meaning fully.
Paris, April 16, 1841.– Yesterday the eldest daughter of the Duc de Rohan-Chabot, with whom we are connected, was married to the Marquis de Béthisy. It was a fine wedding, and all the high society of the Faubourg Saint-Germain were there. I was invited to the celebration. The Church of St. Thomas d'Aquin could hardly contain the crowd; the throng in the sacristy was overwhelming; people were elbowing one another on the steps, while the driving rain increased the confusion, far from diminishing the haste of the visitors to return home. The Abbé Dupanloup who daily baptizes, confesses, buries or marries some one from our quarter, uttered a discourse which was somewhat long, though it touched those who listened to it. But nearly every one was thinking of such wholly mundane affairs as dress and display. At Paris, and in our society, marriage is rarely an event of any solemnity, and the words of the priest are the only serious utterances amid the extreme frivolity, in which the marriage service can scarcely be heard. It was a sight which evoked more than one sad reflection, especially for those who remembered that in the same church the evening before the last prayers were said over the coffin of the young and beautiful Duchesse de Vallombrose.
Paris, April 17, 1841.– Yesterday I took advantage of the kindness of the Comte de Rambuteau, who offered me his box for the last performance of Mlle. Mars. There was a crowded audience and every one worth knowing was there, including the whole of the Royal Family. Mlle. Mars exhausted all the artifices of her dress with surprising success and all the resources of her talent with even greater success. Her voice was in no need of training or study: it was always fresh and perfectly modulated; if she would avoid parts that are too young for her and change her style she might have continued on the boards for a long time to come. Her farewell performance was a brilliant event and she was overwhelmed with flowers and applause. The Misanthrope was disgracefully murdered by the poor company and Mlle. Mars alone respected Molière. In les Fausses Confidences, there was more unity and vigour and Mlle. Mars was a triumphant success.
Paris, April 25, 1841.– M. Royer-Collard in the course of his last visit but one to my house told me that he had some twenty of M. de Talleyrand's letters which he would give me if I cared to have them. I accepted his offer, as I am glad to have as many of M. de Talleyrand's autographs as possible. He brought them to me the day before yesterday; yesterday I read them through and some are excellent for the gracious and studied simplicity which was peculiar to his style. Among them I found what I had long been seeking for, though I had never been able to put my hand upon it; a copy of the letter which M. de Talleyrand wrote to Louis XVIII. when the memoirs of the Duc de Rovigo on the subject of the Duc d'Enghien19 appeared. I knew that he had written it, but I had confused the dates and was under the impression that this letter had been addressed to Lord Castlereagh instead of to the King. M. de Talleyrand sent a copy of it to M. de Royer-Collard, which copy I am now delighted to find again.
M. de Villèle, who has not been at Paris since 1830 is now there. This is an event for the Legitimist party. They are keenly anxious that he should be reconciled to M. de Chateaubriand, and yet the two gentlemen have not met hitherto, simply for the reason that neither of them will make the first call, though both declare that they would be delighted to see one another again and to forget the past.
Paris, April 26, 1841.– Yesterday before the benediction I said good-bye to all my good friends of the Sacré Coeur. All these ladies are very proper and Madame de Gramont is quite an exceptional personage for her cleverness, her kindness and her graciousness combined with firmness. She is very kind to me and I am more at my ease with her than with any society personage. The fact is that I am out of touch with society and realise the fact daily; society not only disgusts me but irritates and displeases me. I am disturbed, wounded and agitated by it and go out less every day: the mental peace and balance which I have recovered with such difficulty in my retirement are lost here. I am dissatisfied with myself and by no means satisfied even with those concerning whom I have no complaint to make.
