Dino Dorothée - Memoirs of the Duchesse De Dino (Afterwards Duchesse de Talleyrand et de Sagan), 1841-1850

"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 14 During the Canadian rebellion in 1837 and 1838, the steamship Caroline had been burnt on the Niagara River, and an Englishman, Mr. Amos Durfee, was killed. Mr. Alexander MacLeod, a United States citizen, was accused as his murderer, but Mr. Gridley, judge at Utica succeeded in proving his innocence. 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 15 See p. 22 for the announcement of the marriage of Lord Beauvale with Mlle. Maltzan. 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 :

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 Benais 16 16 Benais, the country residence near Rochecotte, then belonged to M. and Madame de Messine, the parents of Madame du Ponceau. 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.