"I believe not, your Majesty. Beauclerc has behaved very well since it happened; he has not left the Marquis for a moment, and has, they say, asked pardon most humbly for his offence, which was, indeed, a very gross neglect of the Marchesa no husband could pardon."
"So I heard," said the King, yawning. "The Marquis is very tiresome, and a great bore: but, for all that, he is a man of spirit; and I am glad he has shewn this young foreigner that Italian honour cannot be outraged with impunity!"
Such is the true version; and, let people smile as they like at the theory, I can a.s.sure them it is no laughing matter. It is, doubtless, somewhat strange to our northern ideas of domestic happiness that a husband should feel called on to punish a want of sufficient attention to his wife, from the man whom the world regards as her lover. We have our own ideas on the subject; and, however sensitive we may feel on this subject, I sincerely hope we shall never push punctilio so far as the Neapolitans.
Such, without the slightest exaggeration, are the pictures Italy presents, for more impressive on the minds of our travelling youth than all that Correggio has touched or Raphael rendered immortal. Will their contemplation injure us? Shall we become by habit more lenient to vice, and less averse to its shame? or shall we, as some say, be only more charitable to others, and less hypocritical ourselves? I sadly fear that, in losing what many call "our affected prudery," we lose the best safeguard of virtue. It was, at the least, the "livery of honour," and we shewed ourselves not ashamed to wear it. And yet there are those who will talk to you--ay, and talk courageously--of the domestic LIFE OP ITALY!
The remark has been so often made, that by the mere force of repet.i.tion it has become like an acknowledged truth, that, although strangers are rarely admitted within its precincts, there exists in Italy and in Italian cities a state of domestic enjoyment to which our boasted home-life in England must yield the palm. Never was there any more absurd a.s.sertion less propped by fact--never was the "_ignotum_" so easily taken "_pro beatifico_."
The domestic life of England has no parallel in any part of Europe, save, perhaps, in some of the French provinces, where the old "_vie du chateau_" presents something similar; but, even there, it rather lingers like the spirit of a departed time, the relic of bygone a.s.sociations, than in the full reign of a strong national taste. In Germany, notwithstanding the general impression to the contrary, there is still less of it: the pa.s.sion for household duties by the woman, the irresistible charms of beer and tobacco to the men, suggest different paths; and while she indulges her native fondness for cookery and counting napkins at home, he, in some wine-garden, dreams away life in smoke-inspired visions of German regeneration and German unity. In Italy, however, the points of contact between the members of a family are still fewer again: the meal-times, that summon around the board the various individuals of a house, are here unknown; each rises when he pleases, and takes his cup of coffee or chocolate in solitary independence--unseen, unknown, and, worse still, unwashed!
The drawing-room, that paradise of English home-existence, has no place in the life of Italy. The lady of the house is never seen of a morning; not that the cares of family, the duties of a household, engross her--not that she is busied with advancing the education of her children, or improving her own. No: she is simply _en deshabille_. That is, to be sure, a courteous expression for a toilet that has cost scarce five minutes to accomplish, and would require more than the indulgence one concedes to the enervation of climate to forgive.
The master of the family repairs to the cafe: his whole existence revolves around certain little tables, with lemonade, sorbets, and dominoes; his physical wants are, indeed, few, but his intellectual ones even fewer; he cares little for politics--less for literature; his thoughts have but one theme--intrigue; and his whole conversation is a sort of _chronique scandaleuse_ on the city he lives in.
There is a tone of seeming good-nature--an easy, mock charity, in the way he treats his neighbours" backslidings--that have often suggested to strangers favourable impressions as to the kindliness of the people; but this is as great an error as can be: the real explanation of the fact is the levity of national feeling, and the little impression that breaches of morality make upon a society dead to all the higher and better dictates of virtue--such offences being not capital crimes, but mere misdemeanours.
The dinner-hour occasionally, but not always, a.s.sembles the family to a meal that in no respect resembles that in more civilised communities.
The periodical return of a certain set of forms--those _convenances_ which inspire, at the same time, regard for others and self-respect--the admixture of courtesy with cordial enjoyment--have no representatives around a board where the party a.s.semble, some dusty and heated, others wrapped up in dressing-gowns--all negligent, inattentive to each other, and weary of themselves--tired of the long, unbroken morning, which no occupation lightens, no care beguiles, no duty elevates. The Siesta follows, evening draws near, and at last the life of Italy dawns--dawns when the sun is setting! It is the hour of the theatre--the Theatre, the sole great pa.s.sion of the nation, the one rallying point for every grade and cla.s.s. Thither, now, all repair; and for a brief interval the silent streets of the city bustle with the life and movement of the inhabitants, as, on foot or in carriages, they hasten past.
The "business of the _scene_" is the very least among the attractions of a theatre in Italy. The opera-box is the drawing-room, the only one of an Italian lady; it is the club-room of the men. Whist and faro, ombre and piquet, dispute the interest with the _prima donna_ or the _danseuse_ in one box; while in another the fair occupant turns from the ardent devotion of stage-pa.s.sion to listen to the not less impa.s.sioned, but as unreal, protestation of her admirer beside her.
That the drama, as such, is not the attraction, it is sufficient to say that the same piece is often played forty, fifty, sometimes seventy nights in succession, and yet the boxes lose few, if any, of their occupants. Night after night the same faces reappear, as regularly as the actors; the same groupings are formed, the selfsame smiles go round; and were it not that no trait of _ennui_ is discernible, you would say that levity had met its own punishment in the dreariness of monotony.
These boxes seldom pa.s.s out of the same family; from generation to generation they descend with the family mansion, and are as much a part of the domestic property of a house as the rooms of the residence.
Furnished and lighted up according to the taste and at the discretion of the owner, they present to eyes only habituated to our theatres the strangest variety, and even discordance, of aspect: some, brilliant in wax-light and gorgeous in decoration, glitter with the jewelled dresses of the gay company; others, mysteriously sombre, shew the shadowy outlines of an almost shrouded group, dimly visible in the distance.
The theatre is the very spirit and essence of life in Italy. To the merchant it is the Bourse; it is the club to the gambler, the _cafe_ to the lounger, the drawing-room and the boudoir to the lady. But where is the domestic life?
CHAPTER III.
Another note from Favancourt, asking me to dine and meet Alfred de Vigny, whose "Cinque Mars" I praised so highly. Be it so; I am curious to see a Frenchman who has preferred the high esteem of the best critics of his country, to the noisy popularity such men as Sue and Dumas write for.
De Vigny is a French Washington Irving, with more genius, higher taste, but not that heartfelt appreciation of tranquil, peaceful life, that the American possesses. As episode, his little"tale, the "Canne de Jonc," is one of the most affecting I ever read. From the outset you feel that the catastrophe must be sad, yet there is nothing hara.s.sing or wearying in the suspense. The cloud of evil, not bigger than a man"s hand at first, spreads gradually till it spans the heavens from east to west, and night falls solemn and dark, but without storm or hurricane.
I scarcely antic.i.p.ate that such a writer can be a brilliant converser.
The best gauge I have ever found of an authors agreeability, is in the amount of dialogue he throws into his books. Wherever narrative, pure narrative, predominates, and the reflective tone prevails, the author will be, perhaps necessarily, more disposed to silence. But he who writes dialogue well, must be himself a talker. Take Scott, for instance; the very character of his dialogue scenes was the type of his own social powers: a strong and nervous common sense; a high chivalry, that brooked nothing low or mean; a profound veneration for antiquity; an innate sense of the humorous, ran through his manner in the world, as they display themselves in his works.
See Sheridan, too, he talked the School for Scandal all his life; whereas Goldsmith was a dull man in company. Taking this criterion, Alfred de Vigny will be quiet, reserved, and thoughtful; pointed, perhaps, but not brilliant. _Apropos_ of this talking talent, what has become of it? French _causerie_, of which one hears so much, was no more to be compared to the racy flow of English table-talk, some forty years back, than a group of artificial flowers is fit to compete with a bouquet of richly scented dew-spangled buds, freshly plucked from the garden.
Lord Brougham is our best man now, the readiest--a great quality--and, strange as it may sound to those who know him not, the best-natured, with anecdote enough to point a moral, but no storyteller; using his wit as a skilful cook does lemon-juice--to flavour but not to sour the _plat_.
Painters and anglers, I have remarked, are always silent, thoughtful men. Of course I would not include under this judgment such as portrait and miniature painters, who are about, as a cla.s.s, the most tiresome and loquacious twaddlers that our unhappy globe suffers under. Wilkie must have been a real blessing to any man sentenced to sit for his picture: he never asked questions, seldom indeed did he answer them; he had nothing of that vulgar trick of calling up an expression in his sitter; provided the man staid awake, he was able always to catch the traits of feature, and, when he needed it, evoke the _prevailing_ character of the individual"s expression by a chance word or two. Lawrence was really agreeable--so, at least, I have always heard, for he was before my day; but I suspect it was that officious agreeability of the artist, the smartness that lies in wait for a smile or the sparkle of the eye, that he may transmit it to the panel.
The great miniature painter of our day is really a specimen of a miniature intelligence--the most incessant little driveller of worse than nothings: the small gossip that is swept down the back-stairs of a palace, the flat commonplaces of great people, are his stock-in-trade: the only value of such contributions to history is, that they must be true. None but kings could be so tiresome! I remember once sitting to this gentleman, when only just recovering from an illness, and when possibly I endured his forced and forty-horse power of small talk with less than ordinary patience. He had painted nearly every crowned head in Europe--kings, kaisers, archdukes, and grand-d.u.c.h.esses in every princ.i.p.ality, from the boundless tracts of the Czar"s possessions, to those states which emulate the small green turf deposited in a bird"s cage. Dear me! how wearisome it was to hear him recount the ordinary traits that marked the life of great people, as if the greatest Tory of us all ever thought Kings and Queens were anything but men and women!
I listened, as though in a long distressing dream, to narratives of how the Prince de Joinville, so terribly eager to burn our dockyards and destroy our marine, could be playful as a lamb in his nursery with the children. How Louis Philippe held the little Count de Paris fast in his chair till his portrait was taken. (Will he be able to seat him so securely on the throne of France?) How the Emperor of Austria, with a simplicity of a great mind and a very large head, always thought he could sit behind the artist and watch the progress of his own picture!
I listened, I say, till my ears tingled and my head swam, and in that moment there was not a "bounty man" from Kentucky or Ohio that held royalty more cheaply than myself. Just at this very nick my servant came to whisper me, that an agent for Messrs. Lorch, Rath; et Co., the wine-merchants of Frankfort, had called, by my desire, to take an order for some hock. Delighted at the interruption, I ordered he should be admitted, and the next moment a very tall pretentious-looking German, with a tremendously frogged and Brandenburged coat, and the most extensive beard and moustaches, entered, and with all the ceremonial of his native land saluted us both, three times over.
I received him with the most impressive and respectable politeness, and seemed, at least, only to resume my seat after his expressed permission.
The artist, who understood nothing of German, watched all our proceedings with a "miniature eye," and at last whispered gently, "Who is he?"
"Heavens!" said I, in a low tone, "don"t you know?--he is the Crown Prince of Hanover!"
The words were not uttered when my little friend let fall his palette and sprang off his chair, shocked at the very thought of his being seated in such presence. The German turned towards him one of those profoundly austere glances that only a foreign bagman or an American tragedian can compa.s.s, and took no further notice of him.
The interview over, I accompanied him to the antechamber, and then took my leave, to the horror of Sir C-----, who asked me at least twenty times, "why I did not go down to the door?"
"Oh, we are old friends," said I; "I knew him at Gottingen a dozen years ago, and we never stand on any ceremony together." My fiction, miserable as it was, served me from further anecdotes of royalty, since what private history of kings could astonish the man on such terms of familiarity with the Crown Prince of Hanover?
Talking of Hanover, and _apropos_ of "humbugs," reminds me of a circ.u.mstance that amused me at the time it occurred. Soon after the present King of Hanover ascended the throne, the Orangemen of Ireland, who had long been vain of their princely Grand Master, had sufficient influence on the old corporation of Dublin to carry a motion that a deputation should be despatched to Hanover, to convey to the foot of the throne the sincere and respectful gratulations of the mayor, aldermen, and livery of Dublin on the auspicious advent of his Majesty to the crown of that kingdom. The debate was a warm one, but the majority which carried the measure large; and, now, nothing remained but to name the happy individuals who should form the deputation, and then ascertain in what part of the globe Hanover lay, and how it should be come at.
Nothing but the cares of state and the important considerations of duty, could prevent the mayor himself accepting this proud task: the sheriffs, however, were free. Their office was a sinecure, and they accordingly were appointed, with a sufficient suite, fully capable of representing to advantage, abroad, the wealth, splendour, and intelligence of the "ancient and loyal corporation."
One of the sheriffs, and the chief member of the mission, was, if I remember aright, a Mr. Timothy Brien; the name of the "lesser bear" I have forgotten. Tim was, however, the spokesman, whenever speaking was available; and when it was not, it was he that made the most significant signs.
I was at the period a very young _attache_ of the mission at Hanover; our secretary, Melmond, being _charge d"affaires_ in the absence of our chief, Melmond was confined to bed by a feverish attack, and the duties of the mission, limited to signing a pa.s.sport or two once a-month, or some such form, were performed by me. Despatches were never sent. The Foreign Office told us, if we had any thing to say, to wait for the Russian courier pa.s.sing through, but not to worry them about anything.
I therefore had an easy post, and enjoyed all the dignities of office without its cares. If I had only had the pay, I could have asked nothing better.
It was, then, of a fine morning in May that Count Beulwitz, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, was announced, and the same moment entered my apartment. I was, I own it, not a little fluttered and flattered by this mark of recognition on the part of a minister, and resolved to play my part as deputy a.s.sistant _charge d"affaires_ to my very utmost.
"I come, Mr. Templeton," said the minister, in a voice not quite free from agitation, "to ask your counsel on a question of considerable nicety; and as Mr. Melmond is still unable to attend to duty, you must excuse me if I ask you to bestow the very gravest attention upon the point."
I a.s.sumed the most Talleyrand of looks, and he went on.
"This morning there has arrived here in four carriages, with great pomp and state, a special mission, sent from Ireland to convey the congratulations of the government on his Majesty"s accession to the throne. Now we have always believed and understood that Ireland was a part of the British empire, living under the same monarchy and the same laws. If so, how can this mission be accredited? It would be a very serious thing for us to recognise the part.i.tion of the British empire, or the separation of an integral portion, without due thought and consideration.
"It would be also a very bold step to refuse the advances of a state that deputes such a mission as this appears to be. Do your despatches from England give any clue by which we may guide our steps in this difficulty? have you heard latterly what are the exact relations existing between England and Ireland? You are aware that his Majesty is at Berlin, and Barring and Von der Decken, who know England so well, are both with him?"
I nodded a.s.sent, and, after a second"s silence, a strong temptation to quiz the Minister crossed my mind; and without even a guess at what this mysterious deputation might mean, I gravely hinted that our last accounts from Ireland were of the most serious nature. It was certainly true that kingdom had been conquered by the English and subjected to the crown of England, but there were the most well-founded reasons to fear that the arrangement had not the element of a permanence. The descendant of the ancient sovereigns of the land was a man of bold and energetic and adventurous character; he was a prince of the house of O"Connell, of which, doubtless, his Excellency had heard. There was no saying what events might have occurred to favour his ambitious views, and whether England might not have found the advantage of restoring a troublesome land to its ancient dynasty.
"How does the present mission present itself--how accredited?"
"From the court of Dublin, with the great seal, so far as I can understand the representation, for none of the emba.s.sy speak French."
"That sounds very formal and regular," said I, with deep gravity.
"So I think it, too," said his Excellency, who really was impressed by the state-coach of Sheriff Timothy and three footmen in bag-wigs.
"At any rate," said he, "we must decide at once, and there can be no hesitation about the matter. I suppose we must give them an audience of the Crown Prince, and then let all rest till his Majesty returns, which he will do on Friday next."
Without compromising myself by any a.s.sent, I looked as if he had spoken very wisely, and his Excellency departed.
That same afternoon two state-carriages of the court, with servants in dress livery, drew up at the Hof von London, the hotel where the deputation had taken up their quarters, and a _Marechal de Cour_ alighted to inform the "Irish amba.s.sador" that his Royal Highness the Crown Prince would receive their homage in the absence of the King.
The intimation, more conveyed by pantomime than oral intelligence, was replied to by an equivalent telegraph; but the sheriffs, in all their gala, soon took their places in the carriage and set out for the palace.
Their reception was most flattering; enough to say, they had the honour to address and be replied to by one of the most courteous princes of Europe. An invitation to dinner, the usual civility to a newly arrived mission, ensued, and the Irish emba.s.sy, overwhelmed with the brilliant success of their journey, returned to the hotel in a state of exaltation that bordered on ecstasy.