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    14,0 T HE LEADED. [Ko. 462, JAyTJABY2Q >...

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    Diary Of Lady Mougan. . Passages From Li...

    competent and useful Views—in the interests of humanity , or , at least , what we deem to be such . TJricertainty as to " Colburn" and the " enormous expense ' . was soon dispelled : — August . — -This morning , as I was oa my Knees , all dust and' dowdyism , comes the English post—old Colbum— -no ! not old at all , but young , enthusiastic Colburn , in loye with '' Florence Maearthy , " 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 Dff immediately , and 1 have" immediately ' answered him in the words of Sileno in " Midas "" Done ! strike hands—¦ ; I take your offer ,

    Further on I may fare worse , " Morgan , of course , consenting ; he is , in fact , charmed . How he will come out with his Dante and Tasso ! 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 my Goldoni , and flirt and flutter with Pastor Fidp and Metaatasio . So Sir Charles and his lady set out at once from KUdare-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 " Colbum , " would look in vain for any evidence of it in this book ; for the travellers loitered in London and in Paris , feted naA caressed by grand folks of all parties , arid were so long upon the road that this volume only takes us to Geneva , where the record ceases . The reader , however , will find himself in every 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 l iterary 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 ^ pas - sages like this - —

    Sir George is good-humoured and courteous , th ough a petit diable boiteux in person ; It was a marriage de convenance on the part of Lady Cecil ia , to please her family" ( forhe is old enough to be her father ); but she looked as happy as if 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 Uuke of Sussex was announced . Grand monvcment f 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 me in many of ray opinions , occasionally appealing to Morgan , and saying many civil things on his part of the work , -yvhich pleased me . more than any iloge he could have given on mine . "But , air , " interrupted Lady Ceoilia , "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 mo to have stayed for the wine-posset and the , throwing of the slipper ?" At which wo all threw down our eyes , and affected prudery . Hia royal highness , I thought ; lopked grave , and said , after a pause , "A wedding is no joke , and least of all a royal one . " He probably thought of his

    own marriage , recently broken , and the similar position of his brother , still , perhaps , devoted to the mother of bis beautiful children . " How did the duke look , sir ?" said Lady Arran , " Humph , " said ho , " not very brilliant , " " And the Duchess 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 politics . Wo were all chatting entreloup et chat , and more pooplo had dropped in , when tho grands battants of the back drawing-room were thrown open , and exhibited an interior brilliantly lighted , with a card-table on one aide , and n buffet with refreshments of all sorts on the other . Tho Duke , Sir

    papers , as if anybody cared about it V 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 Charleville ' s the first— -her two tall footmen actually looking in at pur drawing-room windows from behind the carriage . And here we have the same Lady Charleville at home , and the literary lioness in her drawingroom :- —

    The next night was one of Lady Charleville ' s conversaziones . There wa 3 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 was retiring , and kept in . the background , where , however , many sought 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 , hut . always so much pleasanter than wits generally are , particularly as he made my " France" the subject of his conversation . He told me he was at Lord Sheffield ' s when the book came out , the circle chiefly consisting of the Ministerial people ; and the sensattori it made among them

    was very , curious : and even old George Rose said he couid not let it out of his hands till he had read it through ; " , " added Jekyll , " what was comical , "he said with a dry air * ' and I believe in rriy heart every word of it is true . ' " But what pleased mo most was , that he said Morgan's Appendix had opened the eyes 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 par * ties , 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 as hamed of it . "

    This was all curious , -coming from the personal mend of the Regent , which Jekyll is . He is certainly the most delightful creature I ever met , partly , perhaps , be * cause 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 , orators , aiid poets . Denon and Humboldt , and La Fayette , Benjamin Constant , Cuvier , Auguste Thierry , Scheffer , Segur , de Tracy , Sismondi , and Talma , were the chiei stars of that brilliant firmament , and the diarist , after some time , thus records her complete success : —

    . 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 ray servant , enter my room , and then think they excuse this intrusion by talking tome of my " reputation European . " You have no idea how . I pant for silence , solitude , and a long journey , which , thank Heaven , we are now about to begin .

    those days of royalty and gilded saloons refused to come out of his * ' cave . " Unlike the Irish son " writer , Tom Moore , the folks Who invited Berauger no \ v were , he said , all " trop grands seigneurs . " They invited , but he would not come * Our diarist says , philosophically : — Moore , in his love of the society of the great—BeV 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 , " andall their catalogue , to their lawful guardians and boiinden worshippers of the Heralds ' Office and the Butler ' s Pantry , neither rejecting the amenities of politeness ( be the xank 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 Preachmen . 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 Prench history , with the most patient attention . Witness the following notes ~ a 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 of France , Marie Antoinette , leaning on your arm , the king knowing nothing 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 in the adventure was , that when I pointe d but 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 arm , the queen would not have objected to it ; such was the esprit d ' aventure 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 . "

    " Fas 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 young champion , le he * ros des deux mpndes . " / ' Cancan de salon f" he replied , 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 Faoli gave rise to the supposition . Napoleon was the general-in-chief when his name first penetrated into my dungeon at Olmut ? . I was even ignorant of the evonts that followed the siege of Toulon , Buried alive , and , as I believed , almost

    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 thp lady ' s account of the " Opening of the Chambers in 1818 : "There never was known such a desire to get tickets ^ & c , on such an occasion , or such difficulty . We succeeded in getting three . Tho opening of the . afance was most imposing— -the splendour of the throne was dazzling : peers in their robes—the conseil d ' etat in their livery at the foot of the throner-rdeputies to the Mt-r-tabdurets for tho princes . When La Fayette entered , every eye was turned on him , and evory tongue pronounced his narno as admiration , fear , or hope dictated . When the chancellor read out the liefc of names , each answered

    forgotten , ray countrymen began at that period to speak aloud of the prisoners of Olmutz , and allusions were 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 , BarthoHomi , the moment he hoard of his nomination , was to write on my behalf to the Emperor of Austria . So did the directors , Carnor , Barras , and Rubel . The Pirebtory , in fact , charged tho French plenipotentiaries with our deliverance , without any * particular condition against my return to Franco ; but I know nothing of this negotiation until after my liberation . Bonaparte interested himself much for us , and hastened our deliverance by some , months ; our letters of acknowledgment were addressed to tho ministers of foreign rolations , Talleyrand , General Clarke , and General Bonaparte . "

    We arc glad that Lady Morgan has published this book ; but we cannot Uko leave of it without a regret that we sec in it so little of tho diarist' herself , and so much of the oxtorual world in . winch she moved . The "liberal Golburu" may hu \ o delighted in tho highly fashionable persons who season their discourse ( nt least in novols and diaries ) with endless scraps of IVonch ; but tho tasto of readers has somowhat changed sinco his day . May the next forty volumog , whicTi on this sonic will bo rocjuirocl for tho full rooord of Lady Morgan ' s life , give us something bottor than this . U is porhaps too much to oxpool : that tho brilliant authoress should toll tho world tho story of her oarly lifo , or depict horsolt whilo living in any other form than as a publio character ; but how gladly would wo give fifty reams of Sydney Lady Morgan for one sheet of tho autobiography of Misa Sydnoy Owonson .

    witli French impetuosity or petulance , save La Fayotto , whoso calm and distinct tonos produced a groat effect . Who there had not ejaculatod their "Je Jure ' to all forma of government under heaven , and yielded to all turn save La Fttyotto i I observed that before ho pronounced tho word ho stretched out his hand in a tory emphatic attitude . Wo wore seated noar the princesses and their suite , and therefore in , tho very foyer of ultra legitimacy ; and nftor tho king had passod to the throne , and they woro all ubout to disperse , X heard some of them say , " I will wait to aoo how La Fayotto conducts himself / ' Tho lady who eat next me , t ' uijo trfcs-grando dame , " was rondlng ees " Houros" till Uib tlmo . Tho external forms pf Gathollolam have greatly gained ground since the roturn of tho Bourbons , and tho petiteg mattreenea of the . Faubourgs toddle about with splendidlybound " Houroa" and magnlflcont rotiquloa . Lady Morgan missed eooing B ( Jrangor , who in

    George and Lady Ceoilia , and Lady Arran sat down to cards , Tho Douglases and ourselves attacked the buffet , and chatted of our Priory days : and so wo partod , they for Argyll House , to inquire for his sister , Lady Aberdeen , who is not woll , and wo for homo , and a pull at the proofs of Florence M'Oarthy . " The much sought-after authoross was not to leave London until the whole manuscript of " Moronoo Macarthy" was in tho hands of tho publisher , who had taken lodgings for hpr in Conduit-street ,, to bo oloso to ' him . Ilia reader , " wo are told , was charmed with tho novel as ho received tho manusoripfc sheets , and Oolburn ( more praotioal man 1 ) waa in opstasy with his third edition of " l ? ranoo . " He , says tho fair diarist , " as usual , has indulged his puffUig voofttion by sending oui * arrival to tho

    14,0 T He Leaded. [Ko. 462, Jaytjaby2q >...

    14 , 0 T HE LEADED . [ Ko . 462 , JAyTJABY 2 Q 1859 .

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 29, 1859, page 12, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_29011859/page/12/