Chapter VII (3)

[26] Miss Cornelia Knight (_Autobiography_, vol. i. p. 148) gives testimony here to the perfect accuracy with which these little details are set down. ‘Before landing at Leghorn the Queen presented Lord Nelson with a medallion, on one side of which was a fine miniature of the King, and on the other her own cipher, round which ran a wreath of laurel, and two anchors were represented supporting the crown of the Two Sicilies. This device was executed in large diamonds.’—ED.

[27] This account of Lady Hamilton has been considered by some readers to depreciate even her external advantages. It may be worth while to observe that Goethe’s judgment of her singing some fourteen years earlier (_Italiänische Reise_, May 27, 1787) quite agrees with that of the text: ‘Darf ich mir eine Bemerkung erlauben, die freilich ein wohlbehandelter Gast nicht wagen sollte, so muss ich gestehen dass mir unsere schöne Unterhaltende doch eigentlich als ein geistloses Wesen vorkommt, die wohl mit ihrer Gestalt bezahlen, aber durch keinen seelenvollen Ausdruck der Stimme, der Sprache sich geltend machen kann. Schon ihr Gesang ist nicht von zusagender Fülle.’—ED.

[28] Mr. Elliot must have been a little too easily satisfied with his information; which under the circumstances is not very much to be wondered at. When Lord Nelson reached Hamburg there was no frigate waiting for him there, and he had to wait, I think, several days before one arrived.—ED.

[29] It is sometimes curious and instructive to contrast the records of the same events. Here is the stately historical record of the sojourn at Dresden, as given in Pettigrew’s very serviceable _Memoirs of Lord Nelson_, vol. i. p. 388:—‘In two days he reached Dresden, where Mr. Elliot was British Minister. Prince Xavier, the brother of the Elector of Saxony, here visited Nelson. The celebrated Dresden Gallery was thrown open for his inspection and his friends’, and they remained eight days in the city, admiring its worthy beauties and receiving entertainments at the Court, and when they took their departure, gondolas magnificently fitted up were in readiness to convey them to Hamburg.’—ED.

[30] There are various scandalous memoirs, both in French and German, of Prince Henry’s life at Rheinsberg, which I know only by name; one, printed at Paris, ascribed, but falsely, to Mirabeau. On a visit to Paris, in 1784, he was present at a sitting of the French Academy, and was hailed there by Marmontel as ‘_la Vertu couronnée de gloire_.’—ED.

[31] Beurnonville, born in 1752, distinguished himself at Valmy and Gemappes. Being sent by the Convention to arrest Dumouriez, he, with the four Commissioners who accompanied him, was by him arrested and delivered to the Austrians. Recovering his liberty by an exchange, he was, in 1800, sent as Minister or Ambassador to Berlin. Having taken service with the Bourbons at the first Restoration, he adhered to them during the Hundred Days, and for this fidelity was largely rewarded. He died in 1817, a Marquis and a Marshal of France.

[32] Gentz’s able political writings in the early part of this century, and his discreditable connexion with Fanny Elssler in his old age, have made him too well known to need any notice here.—ED.

[33] Antony, Count Rivarol, was born in 1753, and made literature his profession. His discourse _On the Causes of the Universality of the French Language_ was crowned by the Berlin Academy in 1784, and still keeps its place as a valuable contribution to the history of the French language. He fled from the Revolution, first to Hamburg and then to Berlin, where he died rather suddenly in 1801, aged 47. A sketch of his life and character, by M. Berville, prefixed to his _Mémoires_, Paris, 1824, exactly bears out this account of him.—ED.

[34] Mary Leadbeater, a member of the Society of Friends, resided at Ballitore, a village in the county of Kildare, in great part a colony of Friends; and like so many other spots in Ireland where they dwelt in large numbers, a centre of order and civilization to all the county round. Zealous in all good works, and the mistress of a graceful and ready pen, she exerted herself to the best interest of the Irish people. Her _Cottage Dialogues_, the most useful and popular of her works, still maintain their place. She died in 1826, aged sixty-eight.—ED.

[35] _Annals of Ballitore_, referred to already, p. 132.—ED.

[36] Among a few memoranda made by my father during his detention in France, I have found one of a somewhat later date, expressing exactly the same conviction of the effects which the Revolution had exercised on the moral character of the people. ‘We have observed continually amongst the middle and lower orders of the French, that those who have been educated since the Revolution have a degree of illiberality in all their transactions, accompanied with an insatiable desire of _present_ gain, even at the expense of permanent advantage, and a want of urbanity in their manners, which are by no means to be found in those of a generation before. We have often seen the mother rebuked, at least in looks, when by a direct and honest answer she has cut short the hesitating, over-reaching prevarication of the daughter. I might make a similar observation on the difference between men and women; and I have so often smarted in addressing myself to youth and the female sex in their _magasins_, that I now, when I wish to avoid being cheated, apply to the men in preference to the women, and even to the old in preference to the young. “_La jeunesse veut gagner_,” or in other words, “_tromper_” seems to be their motto.’—ED.

[37] Born, 1756; died, 1815. There is a full and carefully-written account of her in the _Biographie Universelle_.—ED.

[38] This, no doubt, is Captain Wright, whose mysterious death in the Temple has never been cleared up.—ED.

[39] Delille was born in 1738. He must have been, therefore, nearly sixty-six at this time.—ED.

[40] I have found the passage in his poem, _L’Imagination_, chant 5. Not to be compared with Goethe’s portraiture of Ariosto in his _Torquato Tasso_, it yet possesses a merit of its own, such as is ascribed to it here.—ED.

[41] At this time only some wretchedly edited fragments of St. Simon’s great work had seen the light,—three volumes in 1788, and four somewhat later. It was not till 1829 that these memoirs were published with anything approaching to completeness.—ED.

[42] Isabey, born in 1770, a pupil of David’s, stands, and I believe deservedly, in the first rank of miniature painters. He lived in familiar intercourse with Napoleon; and some of the best portraits of the Emperor existing are by his hand.—ED.

[43] His _barber_ it should be.—ED.

[44] These must be, no doubt, Mrs. Grant of Laggan’s _Letters from the Mountains_.—ED.

[45] The only book of this name which I know is _The Microcosm_, by Gregory Griffin, Windsor, 1788, a collection of slight essays, very pale imitations of _The Spectator_.—ED.

[46] This letter was returned to the writer, with the seal unbroken. Mad. de la Gardie died before it reached her.—ED.

[47] John Woolman was a Quaker, who wrote _Serious Considerations on Various Subjects of Importance_, London, 1773, with other works. He did good service in his time in helping to awake the sleeping conscience of England to the iniquity of the slave trade and of slavery.—ED.

[48] Alluding to the sentiments of the wise and venerable Lady Hutchinson.

[49] _History of the Reign of James II._, by the Right Honᵇˡᵉ C. J. Fox. London. 1808.—ED.

[50] A mistake; these letters were by the late Edward Sterling, Esq.—ED.

[51] See p. 103.

[52] Mr. Lefanu was for many years the editor of _The Farmer’s Journal_, and in various ways actively engaged in promoting the moral and material prosperity of Ireland.—ED.

[53] The statement above is not perfectly accurate. Miss Seward bequeathed her _Poems_ to Sir Walter Scott, who published them, with only a few of her earlier letters, in 1810. The twelve volumes of her _Letters_ she left to Constable, and it was _he_ who reduced these to six, which he published in 1811.—ED.

[54] The two or three concluding words of this letter are lost.

[55] This same image reappears in a poem, too long to quote.

‘Yes, in the boundless hopes of dawning love
A foretaste of eternal bliss we prove;
Like him whose steps have gained an Alpine height;
The lower world has faded from his sight.
In gay confusion a bright veil of clouds
Her towers, her temples, and her pomp enshrouds.
He still advances to the illumined skies,
And feels new hope, a new existence rise;
Sublimely placed on his aërial throne,
All earth beneath, above him heaven alone.’

[56] _Hesiod; or, The Rise of Woman_, is properly the name of this poem.—ED.

[57]

‘Verschmerzen werd’ ich diesen Schlag, das weiss ich;
Denn was verschmerzte nicht der Mensch!’—ED.

[58] I quote concerning Mr. Marsh the following extract from Earl Stanhope’s _Historical Essays_, 1849, p. 242; and have permission to state that Sir Robert Peel was ‘the living statesman’ who made the observation, and who instanced Mr. Marsh in proof.—‘We have heard a most eminent living statesman observe how very erroneous an idea as to the comparative estimation of our public characters would be formed by a foreigner, who was unacquainted with our history, and who judged only from Hansard’s _Debates_. Who, for instance, now remembers the name of Mr. Charles Marsh? Yet one of the most pointed and vigorous philippics which we have read in any language stands in the name of Mr. Marsh, under the date of the 1st of July, 1813.’—ED.

[59] A pocket-book for 1819, in the title-page of which these words are written.—ED.

[60] The lines referred to are those beginning—

‘But man is born to suffer.’

In proof that not a word is said here more than was absolutely felt, I may quote a few sentences, apparently unfinished, and not meant I suppose for any eye, in which, three or four years later, the writer seeks to account for the somewhat cold reception a poem of such grace and beauty found. ‘Mr. Rogers’ little bark of _Human Life_, made for blue skies and light breezes, was launched in the moment most unfavourable for its prosperous voyage. The world was in a high state of effervescence, moral, physical, literary, political, and social. We were drinking deep of that intoxicating cup held out by _Childe Harold_, which at that time still sparkled to the brim. We had seen stars just rise above the horizon, awakening all the hope attendant on novelty, which have since disappeared. We were dazzled by the splendour of the Northern Lights, and we had not tasted the sedative waters of _St. Ronan’s Well_. The political world was full of commotion, and fear and hope have since subsided into certainty, which then perplexed not monarchs alone, but all who thought and felt. We were all craving for excitement, and the demand was indeed plentifully supplied. At that moment Mr. Rogers had the courage to produce a poem founded on the best and kindliest feelings of human nature—those feelings depicted with a truth and delicacy which can only be fully appreciated when there exists something corresponding to it in the mind of the reader.’—ED.

[61] This journal is one of the many which have never reached my hands.—ED.

[62] Marks indicate that a page had here been pinned into the journal; this, which no doubt contained the conclusion of this lecture, has dropt out and been lost.—ED.

[63] The _Monody_ referred to was on the death of Grattan. The lady to whom this letter is addressed was a relation of his.—ED.

[64] Fleury de Chaboulon, _Mémoires pour servir à l’Histoire de la Vie privée, du retour, et du règne de Napoléon en 1815_. London. 1819, 1820.—ED.

[65] _Letters of Mrs. Delany to Mrs. Frances Hamilton._ London. 1821.—ED.

[66] _Memoirs from 1754-1758._ London. 1821.—ED.

[67] This lady, wife of the Baron de Stierneld, Swedish Minister at the Court of London, was the daughter of Mad. Angeström, mentioned more than once in this volume, see pp. 118, 124. She died before the end of this year, see pp. 496, 497.—ED.

[68] Dr. Gregory was a physician at Edinburgh. He wrote _A Father’s Legacy to his Daughters_. Edinburgh, 1788.—ED.