I frankly answered that I had thought her charming; gay, intelligent, well-bred, well-informed, and amiable.
He instantly drew back, as if sorry he had named her so roughly, and looked at Sally for thus surprising him; but I immediately continued that I could now no longer think the same of her, as I could no longer esteem her; but I confessed my surprise had been inexpressible at her duplicity.
"He allowed that, some years ago, she might have a better chance than now of captivation - for the deeper she had immersed in politics, the more she had forfeited of feminine attraction. "Ah!" he cried, " with her talents-her knowledge-her parts-had she been modest, reserved, gentle, what a blessing might she have proved to her country! but she is devoted to intrigue and cabal, and proves its curse."
He then spoke with great asperity against all the femmes de lettres now known; he said they were commonly the most disgusting of their s.e.x, in France, by their arrogance, boldness, and mauvais moeurs.
GRACEFUL OFFERS OF HOSPITALITY.
I inquired if Mr. Young had shown him a letter from the Duke of Grafton, which he had let me read in the morning. It was to desire Mr. Young would acquaint him if the Duc de Liancourt was still in Bury, and, if so, to wait upon him, in the Duke of Grafton"s name, to solicit him to make Euston his abode while in England, and to tell him that he should have his apartments wholly unmolested, and his time wholly unbroken; that he was sensible, in such a situation of mind, he must covet much quiet and freedom from interruption and impertinence; and he therefore promised that, if he would honour his house with his residence, it should be upon the same terms as if he were in an hotel-that he would never know if he were at home or abroad, or even in town or in the country - and he hoped the Duc de Liancourt would make no more scruple of accepting such an asylum and retreat at his house than he would himself have done of accepting a similar
Page 28
one from the duke in France, if the misfortunes of his own country had driven him to exile.
I was quite in love with the Duke of Grafton for this kindness. The Duc de Liancourt bowed to my question, and seemed much gratified with the invitation; but I see he cannot brook obligation; he would rather live in a garret, and call it his own. He told me, however, with an air of some little pleasure, that he had received just such another letter from Lord Sheffield. I believe both these n.o.blemen had been entertained at Liancourt some years ago.
I inquired after Madame la d.u.c.h.esse, and I had the satisfaction to hear she was safe in Switzerland. The duke told me she had purchased an estate there.
He inquired very particularly after your juniper colony, and M.
de Narbonne, but said he most wished to meet with M.
d"Arblay, who was a friend and favourite of his eldest son.
THE EMIGRANTS AT JUNIPER HALL DESCRIBED.
[It is hoped that some pages from Mrs. Phillips"s journalizing letters to her sister, written at this period, may not be unacceptable , since they give particulars concerning several distinguished actors and sufferers in the French Revolution, and also contain the earliest description of M. d"Arblay.(27))
(Mrs. Philips to f.a.n.n.y Burney.) Mickleham, November, 1792.
It gratifies me very much that I have been able to interest you for our amiable and charming neighbours.
Mrs. Locke had been so kind as to pave the way for my introduction to Madame de la Ch?tre, and carried me on Friday to juniper Hall, where we found M. de Montmorency, a ci-devant duc,(28) and one who gave some of the first great examples of sacrificing personal interest to what was then considered the public good. I know not whether you will like him the better when I tell you that from him proceeded the motion for the abolition of t.i.tles in France; but if you do
Page 29
not, let me, in his excuse, tell you he was scarcely one-and- twenty when an enthusiastic spirit impelled him to this, I believe, ill-judged and mischievous act. My curiosity was greatest to see M. de Jaucourt, because I remembered many lively and spirited speeches made by him during the time of the a.s.sembl?e L?gislalive, and that he was a warm defender of my favourite hero, M. Lafayette.
Of M. de Narbonne"s abilities we could have no doubt from his speeches and letters whilst ministre de la guerre, which post he did not quit till last May.(29) By his own desire, he then joined Lafayette"s army, and acted under him; but on the 10th of August, he was involved, with perhaps nearly all the most honourable and worthy of the French n.o.bility, accused as a traitor by the jacobins, and obliged to fly from his country M. d"Argenson was already returned to France, and Madame de Broglie had set out the same day, November 2nd, hoping to escape the decree against the emigrants.(30)
Madame de la Ch?tre received us with great politeness. She is about thirty-three; an elegant figure, not pretty, but with an animated and expressive countenance; very well read, pleine d"esprit, and, I think, very lively and charming.
A gentleman was with her whom Mrs. Locke had not yet seen, M.
d"Arblay. She introduced him, and when he had quitted the room, told us he was adjutant-general to M. Lafayette, mar?chal de camp, and in short the first in military rank of those who had accompanied that general when he so unfortunately fell into the hands of the Prussians; but, not having been one of the a.s.sembl?e Const.i.tuante, he was allowed, with four others, to proceed into Holland, and there M. de Narbonne wrote to him. "Et comme il l"aime infiniment," said Madame de la Chatre, "il l"a pri? de venir vivre avec lui."(31
He had arrived only two days before. He is tall, and a good figure, with an open and manly countenance; about forty, I imagine.
It was past twelve. However, Madame de la Chatre owned
Page 30
she had not breakfasted--ces messieurs were not yet ready. A little man, who looked very triste indeed, in an old- fashioned suit of clothes, with long flaps to a waistcoat embroidered in silks no longer very brilliant, sat in a corner of the room. I could not imagine who he was, but when he spoke was immediately convinced he was no Frenchman. I afterwards heard he had been engaged by M. de Narbonne for a year, to teach him and all the party English. He had had a place in some college in France at the beginning of the Revolution, but was now driven out and dest.i.tute. His name is Clarke. He speaks English with an accent tant soit Peu Scotch.
Madame de la Chatre, with great franchise entered into details of her situation and embarra.s.sment, whether she might venture, like Madame de Broglie, to go over to France, in which case she was dans le cas ou elle pouvoit toucher sa fortune(32) immediately. She said she could then settle in England, and settle comfortably. M. de la Chatre, it seems, previous to his joining the king"s brothers, had settled upon her her whole fortune. She and all her family were great favourers of the original Revolution and even at this moment she declares herself unable to wish the restoration of the old r?gime, with its tyranny and corruptions--persecuted and ruined as she and thousands more have been by the unhappy consequences of the Revolution,
M. de Narbonne now came in. He seems forty, rather fat, but would be handsome were it not for a slight cast of one eye. He was this morning in great spirits. Poor man! It was the only time I have ever seen him so. He came up very courteously to me, and begged leave de me faire Sa Cour(33) at Mickleham, to which I graciously a.s.sented.
Then came M. de jaucourt, whom I instantly knew by Mr.
Locke"s description. He is far from handsome, but has a very intelligent countenance, fine teeth, and expressive eyes. I scarce heard a word from him, but liked his appearance exceedingly, and not the less for perceiving his respectful and affectionate manner of attending to Mr. Locke but when Mr. Locke reminded us that Madame de la Chatre had not breakfasted, we took leave, after spending an hour in a manners so pleasant and so interesting that it scarcely appeared ten minutes.
Page 31 MONSIEUR D"ARBLAY.
NOV. 7.- --Phillips was at work in the parlour, and I had just stepped into the next room for some papers I wanted, when I heard a man"s voice, and presently distinguished these words: "Je ne parle pas trop bien l"Anglois, monsieur."(34) I came forth immediately to relieve Phillips, and then found it was M. d"Arblay.
I received him de bien bon coeur, as courteously as I could. The adjutant of M. Lafayette, and one of those who proved faithful to that excellent general, could not but be interesting to me. I was extremely pleased at ]its coming, and more and more pleased with himself every moment that pa.s.sed. He seems to me a true militaire, franc et loyal--open as the day; warmly affectionate to his friends; intelligent, ready, and amusing in conversation, with a great share of gai?t? de coeur, and, at the same time, of na?vet? and bonne foi. He was no less flattering to little f.a.n.n.y than M. de Narbonne had been.
We went up into the drawing-room with him, and met w.i.l.l.y on the stairs, and Norbury capered before us. "Ah, madame," cried M.
d"Arblay, "la jolie pet.i.te maison que vous avez, et les jolis pet.i.ts hotes!"(35) looking at the children, the drawings, etc. He took Norbury on his lap and played with -him. I asked him if he was not proud of being so kindly noticed by the adjutant-general of M. Lafayette? "Est-ce qu"il sait le nom de M. Lafayette?"(36) said he, smiling. I said he was our hero, and that I was thankful to see at least one of his faithful friends here. I asked if M.
Lafayette was allowed to write and receive letters. He said yes, but they were always given to him open.
- Norbury now (still seated on his lap) took courage to whisper him, "Were you, sir, put in prison with M.
Lafayette?" "Oui, mon ami," "And--was it quite dark?" I was obliged, laughing, to translate this curious question.
M. d"Arblay laughed too: "Non, mon ami," said he, "on nous amis abord dans une a.s.sez jolie chambre."(37)
i lamented the hard fate of M. Lafayette, and the rapid and wonderful reverse he had met with, after having been, as he
Page 32
well merited to be, the most popular man in France. This led M.
d"Arblay to speak of M. de Narbonne, to whom I found him pa.s.sionately attached. Upon my mentioning the sacrifices made by the French n.o.bility, and by a great number of them voluntarily, he said no one had made more than M. de Narbonne; that, previous to the Revolution, he had more wealth and more power than almost any except the princes of the blood.
For himself, he mentioned his fortune and his income from his appointments as something immense, but 1 never remember the number of hundred thousand livres, nor can tell what their amount is without some consideration. . . .
The next day Madame de la Ch?tre was so kind as to send me the French papers, by her son, who made a silent visit of about five minutes.
M. DE JAUCOURT. MADAME DE STAEL.
Friday morning.-I sent Norbury with the French papers, desiring him to give them to M. d"Arblay. He stayed a prodigious while, and at last came back attended by M. de Narbonne, M. de Jaucourt, and M. d"Arblay. M. de Jaucourt is a delightful man--as comic, entertaining, unaffected, unpretending, and good-humoured as dear Mr Twining, only younger, and not quite so black. He is a man likewise of first-rate abilities--M. de Narbonne says, perhaps superior to Vaublanc(38) and of very uncommon firmness and integrity of character.
The account Mr. Batt gave of the National a.s.sembly last summer agrees perfectly with that of M. de Jaucourt, who had the misfortune to be one of the deputies, and who, upon some great occasion in support of the king and const.i.tution, found only twenty-four members who had courage to support him, though a far more considerable number gave him secretly their good wishes and prayers. It was on this that he regarded all hope of justice and order as lost, and that he gave in sa d?mission(39) from the a.s.sembly. In a few days he was seized, and sans forme de proces(40) having lost his inviolability as a
Page 33
member, thrown into the prison of the Abbaye, where, had it not been for the very extraordinary and admirable exertions of Madame de Stael (M. Necker"s daughter, and the Swedish amba.s.sador"s wife), he would infallibly have been ma.s.sacred.