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

Dresden, July 3, 1841. – I have now returned to my starting point of a month ago. I came here from Tabor without stopping, except for dinner at Prague and for lunch this morning at Teplitz. I am never wearied by the country between Teplitz and Dresden. It is Saxony in all its beauty, rich and smiling and pleasantly united to the strength and wildness of Bohemia. It is the only picturesque part of the journey between Vienna and Dresden apart from Prague and its neighbourhood.

At the gates of Teplitz I saw a procession of pilgrims descending from a chapel upon a hill with rosaries in their hands, singing psalms; it was a touching sight and I should like to have gone up to worship in my turn but the approach of a storm obliged me to continue my journey without stopping.

I am reading the History of the Life, the Writings and the Doctrine of Luther by M. Audin. It is the most learned, impartial, interesting and Catholic study of the subject that I have come across. As I left Vienna I finished the Life of the Saint Dominic by the Abbé Lacordaire, which is written with a view to effect and pleased me only moderately.

I hear in the inn that M. Thiers has been expected for the last three days. I hope he will not arrive until after my departure to-morrow. I propose to reach Königsbruck this evening and to stay a few days with my nieces.

Königsbruck, July 5, 1841. – I reached here yesterday at five o'clock. At Dresden I had a call from Duke Bernard of Saxe Weimar who was staying in the same hotel as myself. He was coming from Berlin where he had been spending a fortnight with his niece, the Princess of Prussia.

In the same hotel I also met Countess Strogonoff, formerly Countess Ega, whom I had seen last year at Baden and who then pleased me greatly. She told me that as soon as I had left Baden, Madame de Nesselrode spent every evening until she started for Paris at the public gaming-table, playing Benacet, opposite the old Elector of Hesse, and that she lost or won during the evening with the same imperturbable calmness the twenty louis which she had made her limit. What a strange person!

At Dresden during mass I saw the widow of Prince Maximilian of Saxony, who had returned from Rome where she married her chamberlain, a certain Count Rossi, a cousin of the husband of Fraulein Sontag. She is obliged to return to Dresden from time to time under the terms of her marriage settlement. Her husband accompanies her and continues to act as chamberlain. She seems to me to be neither young nor pretty, well made nor fashionable; he is a tall man with an imperial beard and the air peculiar to the husband of a princess.

I also found here the Count of Hohenthal, his wife and Fanny, my two nieces, who received me most affectionately and were full of their travels in Italy. The weather is beautiful and the peace and silence of the country are delightful. I have also found letters from Paris. M. Molé writes four pages which seem to contain no news except that Madame de Lieven reigns and governs at Paris, to say the least of her.

The Duchesse d'Albuféra tells me that the Princesse de Lieven is giving little musical evenings to bring out her niece, Countess Annette Apponyi. The princesse is resuming all the tastes of her youth and happiness. It will be fortunate if the powers of M. Guizot would also revive the destinies of France and make them flourish.

The Duchesse de Montmorency writes to say that the Vicomtesse de Chateaubriand has gone to take up her duties with the Duchesse de Berry. Would any one have suspected that she was a court lady? She has sought this distinction long ago. She took with her the nurse of the Duc de Bordeaux, the one who was only able to nurse him for three days. It is a strange journey and I do not understand the meaning of it.

The Duc de Noailles writes to say that in view of Eastern events brought about by the successive revolt of the provinces, a movement at Paris is being prepared similar to that which took place to meet the case of Greece some years ago. A committee is being formed for the relief, that is to say, for the revolt of the Christian populations in the East. This committee is composed of men from the Left and the Centre; the Legitimists have been asked to join and have been offered the presidency which would be given to the Duc de Noailles himself. The question has been complicated by the Royalist party which also wished to act in the same direction but tactlessly began upon too small a scale.

My son, M. de Dino, informs me that a recent decree issued by the Archbishop of Paris, orders that there are to be no doors in the middle of the confessionals. This is said to be thought very ridiculous. It is a somewhat humiliating precaution for the clergy and is also quite superfluous, for the sides of the confessional boxes are shut in so that the penitents and the confessors are always separated and when the middle is closed the confessor can listen to the penitents without distraction. Mgr. Affre can devise nothing that is not ridiculous.

Königsbruck, July 6, 1841. – I am grieved to hear the news which has just reached me of the death of the Queen of Hanover; 32 32 The Queen of Hanover was the Duchess of Cumberland, by birth a Princess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. She died on June 29, after suffering for three months from a form of consumption. another figure of my London life thus disappears.

The Duchesse d'Albuféra writes that the Princesse de Lieven is leading quite a pastoral life in her little house at Beauséjour, where she spends the day. She has a little garden which she waters with little watering-pots which M. Guizot was seen to bring to her door in the Rue Saint-Florentin. He goes to dinner at Beauséjour every day. At the funeral of M. Garnier-Pagès, the radical deputy, the crowd was so great that the procession extended from the Bastille to the door of Saint-Denis. The speeches delivered over the tomb were all full of revolutionary and religious maxims in the style of The Words of a Believer by M. de Lamennais. The editor of the Peuple wrote, "We offer you our regrets, but these are not enough, we offer you also our promises!" Such is my delightful news from Paris.

Hohlstein, July 11, 1841. – I left my nieces the day before yesterday after dinner and arrived here yesterday morning. 33 33 Hohlstein was the estate of the Princess of Hohenzollern Hechingen, by birth a Princess of Courlande. I crossed the whole of Lusatia which is a fine province. The weather had cleared up but as soon as I arrived here the rain began furiously; it has rained all night and is now falling heavily, to the detriment of the fine view which I ought to have from my bedroom windows which look upon the Silesian mountains.

Hohlstein, July 13, 1841. – Yesterday I took advantage of several intermissions in the bad weather to visit the park, the kitchen garden and the surroundings. It is all pretty and well kept and sometimes picturesque. I have a letter from Madame d'Albuféra from which I extract the following: "Madame de Flahaut is starting to-morrow with her daughters for Ems. She is deeply grieved concerning the talk about her husband. Yesterday she was in tears at Beauséjour while visiting Princesse de Lieven. It does not seem to be entirely settled whether they will go to Vienna or not. There is a general idea that M. Bresson will be appointed to Vienna and that the Marquis of Dalmatia will take his place at Berlin. Turin and Madrid will then remain vacant. Madame de Flahaut told me that if either of them were offered to her husband, she would be inclined to refuse but that the decision would lie with him. I know that his friends would advise him to accept. He is staying at Paris to see the end of the business and hides his agitation better than his wife; but he is plainly ill at ease for several reasons. Naples is out of the question, as it is said that the King will not have them there.