The Letter-Bag of Lady Elizabeth Spencer-Stanhope Part 21

"It would not be doing justice to Napoleon to omit the case of Captain Fane. That gallant officer had been taken prisoner in an attack that he had made upon some town on the coast of Spain. He had landed with the greater part of his crew, and carried the place with great bravery; but success was fatal to the discipline of his force. Unaccustomed as they were to fighting on sh.o.r.e, not all the efforts of Captain Fane could keep them together. They dispersed in all directions, plundering, and looking for wine. The French who had watched the whole proceedings from the heights, sent a force down, which, un.o.bserved, got between them and the sea, cut off their retreat and took the whole party prisoners.

"Captain Fane, who was a true English sailor, had some dispute with the officer into whose hands he was committed on the French frontier. The latter thereupon refused to accept his parole, so that Fane was conducted to Verdun by the _gendarmes_, treated with considerable harshness, and lodged in prison at the end of each day's march. This treatment was not calculated to produce a favourable impression on his already prejudiced mind, and not unnaturally there was not in the whole depot a more violent anti-Gallican than was Captain Fane.

"But his residence at Verdun was not long. A circ.u.mstance had occurred in the earlier part of his career which his friends justly thought likely to be of service to him in the unfortunate situation in which he now found himself. At the time of the Egyptian campaign, he had been mids.h.i.+pman on board a man-o'-war employed on the coast of Egypt. One day some French prisoners had been in danger of being drowned, when Fane jumped overboard and saved their lives at the risk of his own. The circ.u.mstance had at the time come to the knowledge of General Bonaparte, and he had expressed his high sense of the bravery of the young English officer.

"Now under the changed circ.u.mstances in which Captain Fane found himself, his friends did but justice to the Emperor in believing that if the occurrence were but recalled to the memory of Bonaparte, coupled with the knowledge that that once gallant mids.h.i.+pman was now a prisoner in his dominions, it would at least militate in favour of the captive. The information, of which Captain Fane himself would have scorned to make use, was therefore conveyed to Bonaparte, and not a moment did the Emperor hesitate. He at once ordered Captain Fane's unconditional liberation.--It is with great pleasure that I record this trait of magnanimity in Napoleon; similar instances of which more than once came under my notice."

Of Jerome Bonaparte, on the contrary, John Stanhope gives a very different description. He was one morning for a considerable time in the same room with the King of Westphalia, in fact, for over an hour, while the latter was occupied with the consumption of a lengthy breakfast, and his impression of the man whom he thus watched closely is summed up briefly:- "A more insignificant personage," he says, "I have never yet beheld!"

After which he dismisses Jerome as undeserving of further comment.

After a long and dreary residence at Verdun, John Stanhope heard by chance that a French lady was desirous of having any English prisoners of undoubted respectability _en pension_ at her Chateau de D., near Ligny. He therefore applied to the commandant for permission to pa.s.s there what was termed _la belle saison_; and this was granted on condition that he reported himself at Verdun at the end of the month. Much delighted at the prospect of such a change in his surroundings, he therefore set out for Ligny, with his gig, two horses, and an old field captain, who attended him in the capacity of servant. His experiences are not without interest while thus resident in a French country family who were singularly typical of the period in which they lived.

The family, of whom he purposely suppresses the names, consisted of Monsieur V., a kind-hearted man, about fifty years of age. Madame V., whom he describes as "one of the most singular specimens of a French woman that it ever was my lot to meet with"; and her son-in-law and married daughter, Monsieur and Madame M.

"Madame V.," he wrote long after, "was a thorough _intrigante_, never quiet for a moment, but always with some project in her head, a constant prey to all sorts of sharpers, who flattered her, fed upon her and converted her schemes into an abundant source of profit to themselves. The great object of her ambition at this moment was to obtain the post of governess to the King of Rome. _Madame!_--I have only to represent to myself that little round figure, nearly as large as it was long and much the shape of a ball, with her Parisian graces grafted on to her pretension to the manners of the _vieille Cour_, to enjoy, even now, a hearty laugh at her vanity in supposing that it was in her power to supersede and triumph over a Montesquieu. "As it may seem extraordinary that people in the position of the V.s should have admitted English prisoners _en pension_, I ought to mention that it was entirely a _galanterie_ on the part of Monsieur. He stipulated it should be no expense to him, excepting in the article of wine, which he would freely give; that whatever benefit arose from the money paid by us, should belong entirely to Madame V.; and a considerable profit she must undoubtedly have made, as little was the addition on our account to their domestic expenditure.

"The daughter of this couple was married to a man of talent, who, however, had a brusquerie of manner which rendered him rather forbidding. He seemed to aim rather at the rough independence of Revolutionary France than at the _politesse_ which marked the _vieille Cour_ of which Madame was an exponent. He treated me, however, with the utmost kindness and attention.

Originally he had been but clerk to Monsieur V. and lived in the house. As is not unusually the case under such circ.u.mstances, an attachment grew up between him and Mlle. V.; but when did the course of true love run smoothly? Madame V. had other designs for her daughter; she destined her to the arms of one of Napoleon's generals, and had already opened negotiations with a view of carrying these intentions into effect. The father, unable to resist the daughter's tears, joined with her in endeavouring to extort from Madame V. a reluctant consent; but the latter remained inflexible. After all other arguments had been exhausted in vain, Monsieur M., her daughter and even her husband threw themselves on their knees before her in tears, and entreated her to yield to their wishes.

Such a scene was too much for a Frenchwoman. She yielded, and abandoning her ambitious project, gave her daughter to Monsieur M.!

"Monsieur V. thereupon built a nice house for the young couple at the extremity of the garden, so that his daughter had the advantage of being perfectly independent, and yet of living as much as she chose with her father and mother. In general they formed but one family, and great was their contentment, though this was not, in reality, increased by the circ.u.mstance of Monsieur M. having recently been raised to the dignity of Mayor of D. and Secretary to the Prefect of the Department, a situation which gave him considerable power, and made him a person of greater consequence than his father-in-law.

"Our life was very uniform. At eight o'clock punctually we met at a little building at the end of the garden which Madame had dignified by the t.i.tle of _La Ferme_, though it had not a pretension of any sort to such a denomination. It was in fact a small cottage consisting of a kitchen fitted up in cottage style, a small pantry, two bedrooms above, furnished with all the luxury of modern refinement--so much for the cottage. From what books Madame V. had drawn her ideas of rural felicity I know not, but she deemed it more sentimental to breakfast in the cottage than to enjoy that meal comfortably in her dining-room, so to the _ferme_ we were to go, and, whether the weather was hot or cold, to sit near the blazing fire in the little kitchen and enjoy the rural felicity of making our own toast.

At one we dined, took a ride or walk in the afternoon, and at eight sat down to supper.

"The house was not an uncomfortable, though somewhat singular one.

Monsieur V. having been called away from home during the time that he was building it, Madame took advantage of his absence to take care of herself, and, in so doing, to spoil the house. She had a fancy that she could only breathe freely in a large room; she therefore constructed out of the body of the house an enormous bedroom for herself. It was square, with a dressing-room at each angle. Her husband, upon his return home, found his house completely spoilt, as this room occupied the main part of the first floor. However, as the mischief was done, he bore it with the greatest philosophy, venting his feelings with his usual exclamation on such occasions--'_Oh, ma femme! ma femme!_'

"The drawing-room was a pleasant and well-furnished room, it opened by a door, partly of gla.s.s, on to a flight of steps which served also as a bridge over a rivulet which ran close to the walls of the house. These steps led to the flower garden which was laid out in the old-fas.h.i.+oned style. In the centre was a fountain, round which there were beds of flowers. At the extremity of the garden there was a large orangery which had no pretentions to architectural beauty, but contained a magnificent collection of orange trees. During the warm weather, these ornamented the garden, and at a more wintry period, being ranged in rows in the orangery, afforded us an agreeable promenade.

"The gardens extended a considerable distance. They included on one side a kitchen garden and a vineyard, and on the other, to give the effect of what the French call an English garden, a wood had been considered a necessary requisite. It was cut out in walks, one of which led to the _ferme_ and another to the hermitage, so that the garden may be said to have possessed every requisite for a perfect garden. But absurd as this reunion of _bois_, hermitage and _ferme_, may sound, the gardens were really pretty, and the connecting of the kitchen garden and the vineyard with the pleasure ground not only added to its extent, but its variety. I have often thought that our English kitchen gardens, by a little more variety in their form and by an intermixture of shrubbery, might be converted into an ornamental instead of a formal addition to our country houses.

"Adjoining the drawing-room was a room, prettily furnished, in which I slept, and which also formed a not uncomfortable sitting-room when I wished to be alone. Behind the drawing-room was the dining-room, which, like all French dining-rooms, had the appearance of an anteroom. It opened into the library where there was a good collection of books and also of minerals, indeed, there was hardly anything of which there was _not_ a collection.

"On one occasion I incurred Madame V.'s serious displeasure. A hornet's nest had been discovered, and, as it was voted a great curiosity, was placed by Madame's orders among the other specimens of Natural history in the library. Warmed into life by the heat of the room, some of the hornets began to show signs of activity. The prospect was far from pleasant, and, alarmed at the disagreeable interruption about to be offered to my studies, I secretly commissioned a servant to throw the hornet's nest into the water. Boundless was the indignation of Madame V, on finding that I had deprived her museum of so great a treasure; and it was a considerable time before an act of such temerity on my part was forgiven.

"We sometimes took advantage of a fine evening to form a party in the woods. On an occasion when the Chevalier de la Lance was staying with us accompanied by his fifteen-year-old daughter, one of the prettiest of our Verdun belles, we had one of these excursions to the forest. After dinner some of the most musical of our party were requested by the young belle to enliven the evening by music. Madame M., my hostess's daughter, had a most beautiful voice, and had, of course, enjoyed all the advantages to be derived from Parisian masters. Whilst she was singing, we all observed that a nightingale perched upon one of the neighbouring trees continued silent; the moment she stopped, he began to warble forth his 'wood-notes wild.' This occurred not once, but repeatedly. He was far, however, from showing the same attention to the chevalier. Apparently not entertaining an equally good opinion of the old man's musical talents, from the moment that gentleman began to take up the song, the nightingale began also, and evidently did all in his power to drown the chevalier's voice!"

Another diversion at Ligny was _la cha.s.se_. Monsieur M. was a great sportsman and very fond of shooting; he kept a small pack of hounds and seldom went out with them without inviting young Stanhope to accompany him. "One day," relates John Stanhope, "we were out fox-hunting on foot, our business being to head the fox and--_horresco referens_--to shoot him! The hounds were running, and all of a sudden came to a check and ceased giving tongue. At that moment Lord Boyle, who was out with us, and who was not far from me, levelled his gun and took, as it proved, a deadly aim. I looked at him in some astonishment, at a loss to imagine what game he could have seen when the hounds were not running. He fired, and then throwing up his arms in horror, cried out, at the same time stamping and raving, 'Oh! Monsieur M., I have killed your best dog!' Vexed as I was at such a disaster, I could not help laughing at the gesticulations of my friend, and at Paddy, with eyes quick enough for anything, having mistaken a _dog for a fox_. It was quite a practical Bull. No one could have behaved better than Monsieur M. He concealed his regret and said everything in his power to rea.s.sure and recompose the distracted culprit."

There was, Stanhope remarks, not much game in the neighbourhood of Ligny, though there could not be a country better adapted to it, as the house was situated between two forests, both of which abounded in wolves. "However,"

writes Stanhope, "I was only out one day at _la cha.s.se aux loups_. I had been so long deprived of the amus.e.m.e.nts of a sportsman that an invitation from Monsieur M., to accompany him on the following morning produced so much excitement in my mind that I lay awake half the night ... and I was not too late for the appointed hour of six o'clock. Monsieur M., another sportsman and myself, proceeded to a distant part of the forest. We were all stationed, in advance, at different posts where it was thought likely that the wolf might cross the path. The hounds were soon in full cry. My heart beat high as I heard them approach me, but, alas! instead of the _grand gibier_ I expected, a poor little hare stole quietly by! It was a terrible falling off, and no wolf crossed our path that morning.

"Yet at the time of which I am speaking, we had pretty good proof of their being in our immediate vicinity, for one morning, when I was out walking, I heard, close to the house, a piercing yell. I ran to ascertain what was the matter and found that a favourite setter of Monsieur M., itself as big as a wolf, had just been carried off by one of these ferocious animals.

Poor M. could hardly be consoled for the loss of another favourite dog, and was some days before he recovered his usual spirits. After I left Ligny, Lord Blayney and some other Verdunites killed six or seven wolves in one day's sport."

The warfare against both wolves and foxes at Ligny was, however, very essential, in view of the fact that Madame V., in order to further her favourite project of becoming Governess to the King of Rome, had resorted to a singular plan to ensure her popularity at Court.

Napoleon was exceedingly anxious to promote the progress of agriculture in France, and as a first step in that direction to introduce the breed of Merino sheep into the country. "Madame V. therefore determined to have her flock of Merinos. But as the pure breed could only be procured at a considerable cost, she resolved to arrive at the completion of her purpose in a more economical manner. She succeeded in purchasing some rams of the Merino breed, and she calculated that by crossing the sheep of the country with them she would in eight years succeed in establis.h.i.+ng a flock of perfectly pure blood. She did not trouble herself about the evil results attributed by agriculturists to breeding in and in. Her speculation was the more extraordinary from the circ.u.mstance of her having no farm, nor any land upon which to keep her sheep; but for this difficulty she found an easy remedy. She sent out her flock under the guidance of a shepherd boy, to feed wherever food they could find, but princ.i.p.ally in the Imperial forests.

"In order to give a greater _eclat_ to her favourite hobby, she built a magnificent sheep-shed which was finished whilst I was there. But before the sheep were introduced to their new abode, the priest was sent for to give it his blessing. This he did in due form by sprinkling holy water in all directions and consecrating it with as much solemnity as if he had been dedicating a church to the service of G.o.d. Further, to celebrate the event with yet greater pomp, she had likewise promised to give a ball; but, to the disappointment of the prisoners resident with her, she finally decided that the religious ceremony must suffice, and the Merinos were allowed to enter upon their new career with no secular demonstration to succeed the ecclesiastical."

Various indeed were the methods employed by the ambitious in order to attract the attention and win the coveted favour of Napoleon. "A person of great distinction," writes Stanhope, "the Marechal Oudinot, who resides in the town of Bar, has built a large manufactory for the purpose of making sugar from beetroot. He does not appear to entertain any sanguine expectations of profit, for upon General c.o.x asking him one day, when he was dining at Bar, what had been the success of his manufactory, the Marechal replied with rather more honesty than discretion, 'Ce n'est que pour plaire a l'Empereur!' Certainly in this point of view it was a magnificent piece of flattery!

"That this Marechal is a _nouveau riche_ the appearance of his house at Bar sufficiently indicates. It stands in the middle of the town, and is surrounded by a high wall, upon the top of which a range of sh.e.l.ls and bombs are represented in stone. At the entrance door stand two sentinels-- two wooden grenadiers painted in full uniform and as large as life, which certainly cannot be considered as any _preuves de n.o.blesse_, or marks of a refined taste. One day Madame M. grievously offended this important person. Gazing at his mansion and its surrounding tokens of magnificence, she enthusiastically gave vent to a compliment which, however clever she might think it, was not calculated to flatter the pride of a _parvenu_.

'Ah! Monsieur le Marechal!' she exclaimed indiscreetly, 'vous montez, nous descendons!'

"Indeed, what the Marechal's origin may be, I know not; but I am told that, till quite recently, he conducted himself with the best possible feeling towards his old friends and relations, and was universally praised for the kindness and condescension of his manners. A great change, however, has lately been observed, perhaps because he has married a young and pretty girl belonging to the _ancienne n.o.blesse_. His old friends are now treated with the greatest _hauteur_; he even requires the company at his parties to remain standing in a circle round him, and he appears to feel the regal coronet already budding upon his brows.

"Singular times, in truth, are these, when a man of the very lowest birth may indulge in such _reveries_ without the faintest absurdity!"

CHAPTER VI

1812-1813

LETTERS FROM AN ESCAPED PRISONER

At length the prospects of the luckless prisoner brightened. John Stanhope obtained leave to change his place of detention for Paris, where existence promised to be far more agreeable than at Verdun or Ligny. Having journeyed thither with a light heart, and some of the hopefulness of youth restored, he was not disappointed. He found himself warmly welcomed by many of his fellow-countrymen; while the French savants, having learnt the original object of his journey and all the circ.u.mstances which had led to his imprisonment, received him unhesitatingly as one of their body and give him free access to the Inst.i.tute.

Forthwith life became once more full of interest, and as agreeable as it was practicable for that of an exile to be. He rapidly made friends amongst both the French and English residents in Paris, while one of his fellow-prisoners on parole in the capital at this date was the well-known banker, Mr Boyd [1] with whom his family had long been acquainted, and in whose vicinity he now took rooms.

"Mr Boyd," relates Stanhope, "was in a singular position. He had originally been one of the first, if not _the_ first banker in Paris. He stood, as I have heard, in a pre-eminent position, admitted, as an Englishman, to those highest circles which were closed to the monied men of France, and aspiring to that commanding influence in the commercial world which although often maintained in England is seldom countenanced in France, unless we may consider Lafitte as an exception. At the breaking out of the Revolution, the temptation offered by Mr Boyd's wealth was too great to be resisted. The French Government chose to consider him as an _emigre_, and seized upon the funds of the bank, which are said to have consisted of 600,000. At the Peace of Amiens he returned to Paris to reclaim his property, but upon the renewal of the war he was detained as a prisoner, being included in the cla.s.s of _detenus_. In vain he remonstrated with the Ministers, and said, 'If I am a Frenchman, give me my liberty; if I am an Englishman, restore me my money; you cannot be ent.i.tled to detain me prisoner as an Englishman and to keep my money as that of a Frenchman!'

"All his remonstrances were in vain; but distressed as his circ.u.mstances were at this date, his heart was warm and his board as hospitable as ever.

Many an evening have I pa.s.sed with him talking over the events of former times and of his financial schemes. I have never met with a spirit more buoyant nor a disposition more sanguine. In that Paris where he had once stood at the head of the mercantile interest, and enjoyed, with a zest of which few men were capable, every luxury that the luxurious capital could supply, he was now the double bankrupt, the prisoner of war. But to the credit of the French financiers--then, indeed, the men of most distinction in the world of fas.h.i.+on--he was not neglected. He still lived in that society of which he had formerly been so distinguished a member, nor was he treated with contempt because his wife and daughters now went to parties in their fiacre. On one of these occasions he met Talleyrand, who could not help exclaiming, 'Ah! _Monsieur Boyd, vous voir comme cela!_'

"An application was at one time made to Boyd for his opinion on the financial affairs of England. This, although not avowed, he was perfectly aware was made by the Emperor's desire and for his Majesty's private information. Mr Boyd was not a man, be the consequences what they might, to bend before the Imperial footstool or to disguise the truth. He was placed upon his hobby-horse--Pitt's financial system and the sinking fund.

His statement proved anything but satisfactory to the high quarter for which it was desired; and never again was Mr Boyd applied to on the subject of English finance."

With regard to his acquaintance amongst the French, John Stanhope speaks with the greatest interest of a man who became his great friend, Monsieur de Baure, a Member of the Inst.i.tute and President of the Cour Imperiale.

"I do not know," he writes, "that I ever remember to have seen a countenance expressive of brighter intelligence than his. His was indeed the eye of genius, and gave me a perfect conception of the meaning of an _eagle eye_. Yet I have seen it alight with a much greater disposition to fun than I expected to have found in one occupying so high a judicial situation. Indeed, in one instance, I was more amused than I can express by the extremely dry manner in which he completely took in an a.s.sembly of the wisest men in France!"

On this occasion young Stanhope was seated amongst a number of distinguished men at the Inst.i.tute, when M. de Baure rose to his feet, and a hush fell on the a.s.sembly of savants, who waited with profound attention for the words of wisdom about to flow from the lips of their learned colleague. As he rose, however, de Baure caught Stanhope's eye with a glance which the latter says "spoke as plainly as a glance could speak, 'Now I am about to have some fun with these wiseacres!'"

Drawing himself up, the speaker announced with the most profound solemnity, "Gentlemen, I must preface my remarks by stating how I consider that a cook who discovers a new dish deserves a seat in the Inst.i.tute more than a man who discovers a new star...."

Loud were the interruptions of horror which burst from the Members of the Inst.i.tute, who, to the unutterable amus.e.m.e.nt of Stanhope and certain of his friends, took the remark literally.

"_Que me fait une etoile?_" continued de Baure with impa.s.sioned eloquence.

"_Que me fait une etoile_ whilst a chef who discovers a new dish which tempts me to begin again after I have satisfied my appet.i.te confers upon me the greatest obligation which it lies in the power of one human being to confer upon another!" [2]

Urged by his grave and astounded colleagues to elaborate his reasons for his extraordinary statement, de Baure declined on the following ground: "A king of France," he said, "was pa.s.sing through a provincial town when a pompous mayor, addressing his Majesty, regretted that he had twenty very urgent reasons for not having fired the guns in honour of the Royal visit, the first of which was that he had not any powder. 'Stop there!' said the King, 'I will excuse you the other nineteen.'"